Hey there,

I hope your week is going okay so far! Flying by just like the last, and the one before that! It is going to be Christmas before we know it!

Yesterday I has hoped to post these two cards I made over the weekend, however I was very busily cleaning, cleaning, cleaning,……and 6 hours later, I had a clean house, and little energy for anything else. Especially because i was sporting a nasty headache (probably from breathing all the fumes from cleaning products!) and because I hurt my lower back from falling down the stairs (8 of them) whilst carrying a huge box of ’stuff”! I looked like a gymnast gone bad, and well whilst it hurt having one leg bent completely up my back, I am thankful that it wasn’t any worse…….which in that split second as I was falling thought to myself ‘this is going to be ugly!”

Okay so after a good dose of some wonderful tablet, and an early night, i am feeling chipper today

So here are the sketch challenge cards I had fun with over the weekend. First I played with Beate’s Weekend Sketch Challenge. Here is her Sketch:

www.beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com

And here is my creation:

Okay so for this card I started with Chocolate chip for the base, which I mounted with some Pretty in pink spotty paper from Stampin’Up’s Spring Fling paper pack. I then paper pierced around the edges and added the Dare to be Fabulous greeting from the Fabulous Flowers stamp set.

I have added the little punched out buttons on the side but using my 3/4″ punch of pumpkin pie, and a 1/4″ punch of chocolate chip cardstock. I added a rhinestone brad in the centres and added a mini glue dot to the tops, topping it off with some pink chunky glitter.

Now for the feature in the centre, I have added a strip of Chocolate chip, and spotty pumpkin pie DS paper to a square of Regal rose cardstock. I have then createda square of whisper white cardstock which I scalloped edge punched at top and bottom edges. I have then made a square of Pretty in pink cardstock, and that spotty paper again.

The stamp in the centre is from Stampin’Up’s One of a kind stamp set which I inked up with my Regal rose, Pumpkin pie, and Chocolate chip markers. I cut it out, and placed a pop up glue dot in the centre, and covered it with the same chunky pink glitter.

The next sketch that I did was from Taylor Vanbruggen of www.tayloredexpressions.com Taylor puts up a cupcake challenge each Friday, and she has great sketches. So when time permits I like to play along…..the aim is to use cupcakes, and usually I do, but I am a little tired of my Big bold birthday stamp set, and so just was dying to still use some of my new goodies!!!!

Here is her sketch:

And here is my creation:

This card is fairly simple realy. I started with Taken with teal for the base, which I have mounted some DS paper from the new Bali breeze paper pack. I then created the little squares with Tempting turquiose, Teal and Old olive cardstock, and squares of the DS paper.

In the centre I have used Certainly celery cardstock which I have paper pierced around the whole outer edge to create a frame, I then added the Whipser white cardstock which I have stamped the blossom stem from the Easter Blooms stamp set (to come) with Celery ink. I have cut out the little blooms from the DS paper and popped them up with cut up dimensionals. Lastly I added some white gel pen to the centre of the blooms, and some celery grosgrain ribbon tied around the middle.

I have to apologize that the photos isn’t the best……grr! Ah well I am still working on my photography skills. For me the problem is lighting and depending on what time of day it is too.

Right better get the kids to swimming lessons on time! Take care! 

Hi there,

Hopefully you are all having a fab weekend!

A couple of weeks ago, i had some Blog Candy up for grabs, and you needed to let me know what colours were your favourite, and which was your worst! The results were in some ways suprising, and others not. Yeah Yoyo yellow was up there, but so was Cameo coral!

SO I have finally gotten around to making my samples for you…starting with the good!

The top colors were Purely pomegranite, and Chocolate chip……hhmmmmm I have to say these are up there as my fave’s too, so this was a rather easy job to come up with something!

the GOOD:

So for this card, I started with Purely pomegranite for the base, which I stamped with Stampin’Up’s Linen background stamp with Pomegranite ink. I then added the strip of spotted Close to Cocoa DS paper which I have added the Very vanilla cardstock scalloped at the top. Along the bottom I have added two rows of paper piercing.

Next I stamped up the flowers from the Embrace life stamp set onto watercolour paper, with Stazon ink, and watercoloured them with my Aquapainter, and ink pads. I then added the dazzling diamonds glitter to the centre of each flower that I cut out and mounted with dimensionals onto Vanilla cardstock.

I have added the wide satin pomegranite ribbon, and the greeting is from the Define your life stamp set. I created those little { } with my round tab punch with pomegranite cardstock. Last of all I added two rhinestone brads in the top left hand corner.

the BAD:

This card didn’t photograph too well, and I have a suspicion that it is because it is too bright and it was reflecting off the camera lens!!! LOL!

So this is the card I made using Yoyo yellow. I wanted the yellow to be dominant, so I used it for the base, and have added 3 thin strips of real red, Certainly celery, and Tempting turquiose cardstock and matching ribbon tied to them.

I stamped the large star from the In the stars stamp set with Yoyo ink, then cut it out, I have then layered the star up with the different colours and cut it out by hand each time.

Lastly I punched out the little star with my star punch, and placed a silver brad into the centre, and placed it in the centre with a dimensional. I also have paper pierced two rows along the bottom, and added two silver brads into the top right hand corner for embellishement.

the UGLY:

Here is that big, ol’ ugly flower again…..kindly named by Karen Thomas of www.luvtostamp.blogspot.com  !!!

And I thought I woud do something in Cameo coral for you! I have used Coral for the base which I stamped with the Linen background stamp, and I also sponged around the edges with coral ink to make it deeper.

I have added a strip of Whisper white cardstock, and layered it up with some Soft sky DS paper that I have scalloped each edge with my corner rounder, paper piercing the centre of each scallop. I layed a strip of Coral cardstock on top of that, and added the Dare to be Fabulous greeting from the Fabulous flowers stamp set, which is embossed with White embossing powder and then added two white brads (non SU) at the end of the strip.

Now for the flower, I inked it up with Coral ink, then stamped it off. Next I took my Coral marker, and went over the flower on each petal, making it darker around the outside rim, and lightening it off as I worked my way to the centre. I stamped the flower onto Whisper white cardstock and cut it out. I have blinged it up with some dazzling diamonds glitter, and I mounted it with Dimensionals.

So there you have my good, bad, and ugly! I hope they have inspired you to pull out your least fave, colours and give it a workout! I have to say, I really enjoyed that challenge…..but don’t know if it has cured my of my dislike for Yoyo yellow, or Cameo coral!!!

Talk soon!

 Hey there!

Well I have had fun again with picking a new winner, AND a new challenge for you all!

Man oh Man it is getting harder each week to pick a winner, and well I just had to pick two this time!

I love this card by Claire Daly! The heart has been emossed 4 or 5 times and then cracked……so clever!

Thanks Claire for participating along with the challenge!!! You can see more of Claire’s beautiful work at www.clairedaly.typepad.com

But I also loved the following two cards…..

This one by Dani Fender…..

You can see more of Dani’s lovely work at www.danifender.blogspot.com

And I think this one by Caroline is really sweet also

You can see more of Caroline’s Beautiful work at www.carolinesstamppad.blogspot.com

It was really exciting to see all the beautiful entries come in this week…….it seems that you all liked this colour challenge and I am sooooo thankful for that! Thanks so much everyone!!!!

Right-o, you want to see some more oh-la-la projects, check out the other entries at the following:

Zarna - www.zarnasworld.blogspot.com

Ange - www.angeliquekelly.blogspot.com

Leah - www.stampinwithleah.blogspot.com

Natasha - www.natashamurraystamping.blogspot.com

Kristy - www.youngstamper.blogspot.com

Mel - www.melhanlon.blogspot.com

Mandy - www.mandyschiller.blogspot.com

Louise - www.stamp2it.com

Kristy - www.kraftykristy.blogspot.com

Chantelle - www.chan3boys.blogspot.com

Vicki - www.vickiwarnaarstamps.blogspot.com

Okay so you ready for the next one?????? _ Oh please say yes!

Since I LLLOOOOVVVEEE Inspiration Challenges so much, I thought I would give you one too……Come now don’t be scared!!! These are fun, and really get you to think hard, but they are so rewarding when you are chuffed with what you come up with!

So here is your Inspiration:

I found this great image at www.adairs.com And here is what I made with it:

I was rather stoked how this card turned out…….Hmmm I could give you all the details, but it is new stuff from the upcoming mini……I can’t resist not using it….I feel like a kid at a Carnival having new goodies, all too exciting!!! So if you are desperate for info, email me.

So want to play along? You have until 11:59pm, on Thursday evening to submit your entries. All you have to do is to load your photos of images onto your blog or a forum, and then leave me a comment under this post, with the link to your creation. Easy as that!

I really look forward to seeing what you come up with for this!

Have a great night! 

 Well you all know how much I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE doing Beate’s weekly inspiration Challenges!!!

I actually missed out on last weeks, just from being busy and not getting the chance to participate, but I didn’t want that to stop me because the image was just so cute, and certainly something different for me.

So here is last weeks image:

Dang that is a bright handbag!!! Whilst it is rather funky, I really don’t know if it is something I would have hanging off my shoulder……probably because it has yellow in it, and you all know my relationship with yellow! LOL!

So using this image as inspiration, I came up with this:

I thought I would make the card sit similar to the bag….with the cut angled down each side. I then stamped the little stamp randomly on the background with Tempting turquiose ink. I then paper pierced a border around the edges.

I added the strip of Black cardstock which I mounted with Olive DS paper  from the Fall flowers paper pack I have created the three layered flowers using the matching cardstock colous….Not quite navy, Tempting tuquiose, Yoyo yellow, Old olive, Basic black, and Whisper white.

I have also used the Eastern blooms stamp set and cut the little flowers out for the centres, adding either a brad, or glitter.

Last of all I added the greeting which is from the So many saying stamp set (hostess) and cut it into the little strips. I have also added 3 black brads at the right hand side of the strip.

Hmm….almost looks like it needs a handle hey!

Right for this weeks Inspiration challenge the inspirations piece was this:

Now Beate says on her blog…..that after she picked this image, she didn’t know what she was thinking…..I had the same thought cross my mind! LOL! But Beate’s own card is amazing!!!! You have to go and check it out for sure!

My little humble attempt at this HARD challenge is this:

Now the only little birdie I had was this one from the Always stamp set! I have used Lovely Lilac cardstock for the base, and added some swirly bits of Almost amethyst, and Lavendar lace cardstock at the top, to emulate the swirls in the picture. Followed by a strip of White taffeta ribbon.

Next I created the circle with my Creative Memories circle cutter, with Elegant eggplant cardstock. I punched out little 1/4′ circles in different colours (to match those in my birdie) and placed them on the underside to ge the multi-coloured scalloped edge.

Now for the bird I scribbled some different colours with my markers alongside each other. Then I have stamped the bird with my Versamark ink pad, and placed it over the colours. I then embossed it with White embossing powder, and cut the little birdie out. I mounted it onto the circle, and paper pierced around the edge of the circle.

The last step I added the greeting, which again is from the So many sayings stamp set (hostess) and cut it out, and finally added two white brads (not SU) to the top right hand corner. Oh and a little paper piercing in the bottom corners…….I can’t seem to make one thing without paper piercing these days!

Hope you liked them, and I will be back with the Challenge winners, and a new one for you

 Yep is it my hubby’s birthday….or do you write Hubbie???? hmm that secretarial mind of mind is not working because I didn’t get a whole load of sleep last night…….

Anyway it is the man that I am married to, his birthday today. Luckily my new box of Mini catty goodies arrived yesterday……..because I was desperate to get my hands on a particular stamp set to make his card!!!

Here is a sneek peek of the box on new mini gear…….Oh you are going to love this mini catty for sure!

Not that you can really see…..which is the whole point, BUT there is new ribbons, glitter, papers, flowers, punches, and stamp sets to die for!!! I hope I have a quieter week next week so that I can play till my hearts content!

Anyway back to hubby……..He has had a good day, out for coffee with the work collegues, and I had a glass of red and a board full of yummy’s here ready for when he got home tonight. I also made his Fave dinner…….Beef Stroganoff! He loved it.

So here is the card I made for his birthday…….I had a ball colouring the image….which I think too about 1 hour!

This stamp is from a stamp set called “For Father” which is in the new upcoming mini catty. It is one of those stamp sets that don’t always inspire you till you have seen what it can look like.

I have used Ruby red for the base which I stamped with Stampin’Up’s Linen background stamp. I added a wide strip of Bayou cardstock followed by a narrow strip of Chocolate chip, and ruby red spotted DS paper.

I have paper pierced two rows along the bottom, and added the greeting which is from the One of a Kind stamp set (from current mini catty) with Whisper white ink.

For the image, I have stamped it with Stazon black ink pad, onto watercolour paper. I then watercoloured the image with my aquapainter and stamp pads, slowly slowly building the colour. I mounted the image onto chocolate chip cardstock

Lastly I added the antique brass brads in the top right hand corner for embellishment.

Hmmm I thought I would share a little photo of my man, but it is from a little while ago….haven’t taken one of him for a few months now……But here he is

 ah isn’t he a spunk!

Well better go and give the man some attention especially since it is his birthday!

Talk soon!