2 Challenges In 1!

Hi Ho everyone!! Hope you're all having a great weekend so far!! It's such beautiful weather for card making here in Mackay, with rain having drizzled for most of the afternoon - I just love it!
I could sit here all day just tinkering at my desk in weather like this.........such bliss!!

Anyhoooo before I waffle on too much, I thought you might like to see the card I finished just now........... I tackled 2 challenges with the one card - love it when I can do that! lol

The card layout was for a sketch challenge over at Keesh's website! I absolutely loved this layout, and found it a breeze to work with!

The actual "Valentine" theme was for my Splitcoast Stampers Blogger group 7 girls! A challenge was issued to create a Valentines Day card with no sign of Pink, Red or White on it!! It had me stumped for a bit I have to admit..........but I consulted my trusty colour coach and went with a Masculine kinda look.......and nobody mentioned I couldn't use Very Vanilla! lol

So here's the sketch challenge by Keesh.

And here's my card!

I haven't even edited this photo in photoshop today! The colours were true enough to life I thought so left it just as it was! For those who can't pick the colours though.........I used Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Brocade Blue and the DSP is from East Coast Prep.

Thanks Keesh for the sketch, Thanks Blogger Group 7 for the theme challenge and a HUGE Thanks to my colour wheel who came through yet again!! lol

Workshop Projects!

On Valentines day, I'm doing a workshop for a lovely group of girls, and I have to say.........I'm really excited about it and I know it'll be heaps of fun!
The hostess (wavin' at you Amanda!!:)mentioned a while back that she'd like to keep in with the Valentine's day theme, so I kept that in mind when I created the projects for her!
Here's what we'll be making - what do you think?

Each of Amanda's guests will get to make a Card, Box In A Bag and also a little Lolly Bag filled with Maltesers! The lolly bag was originally created by the wonderfully talented Makeesha Byl in WA! Thank's Keesh!!


The whole colour scheme is Rose Red, Regal Rose and White and we'll be using the gorgeous "Prints" DSP in Rose Red to compliment that colour scheme! The stamp set we'll be using is called "A Happy Heart" and it's currently available in our Summer Mini Catalogue!

I hope they enjoy the workshop as much as I've enjoyed putting everything together for them!

Birthday Wishes!

Just a really quick post today to show you a card I finished about an hour ago! I actually started it yesterday, but I really wasn't in a card making mood, hence nothing was going right! When I have days like that, I just sit everything aside, until I feel creative again!

This particular card is a "Kick Stand Card" and was made entirely from my scrapbox! I totally love it when I can make a card using up my scraps, cause I certainly have my fair share of them and more! lol

Thanks for stoppin' by!


Most supplies Stampin' Up!

Card Stock: Rose Red, Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Barely Banana.
Ink: Barely Banana, Certainly Celery, Rose Red
Stamps: Big Bold Birthday and matching wheel, Sanded Background.
Accessories: Wide Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals, Paper Piercing Tool and mat, Chunky Glitter, Crystal Effects, large Marvy Scallop Punch.

Fun With Punches!

I've been such a bad blogger lately, but I still have kids home on school holidays as well as my DH! We've been having a really nice time, but things get so busy sometimes and the days just seem to fly! I have to say though, that I'll be sad to see them go back to school and work - I just love having them home and it generally takes me a week to adjust to the silence of being at home by myself!

I've spent the last couple of days prepping for my upcoming Stamp A Stack, and workshops just to get a little bit ahead of myself. I love the feeling of being organised and tend to freak out a bit when I'm not! I need to learn to take a "chill pill" sometimes - truely I do!lol

Here's a card I managed to quickly make the other day anyway! While it's nothing fancy at all, it was super quick to do - gotta love that hey!


All Supplies Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Brilliant Blue, Wild Wasabi Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Inks: Brilliant Blue
Stamps: Sincere Salutations
DSP: Afternoon Tea
Accessories: Paper Piercing Mat Pack, Brilliant Blue Marker, Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Square Scallop Punch, 11/4" Circle Punch, 1" Circle Punch, Small Star Punch, Brads (Gold, Brilliant Blue), Rough Texture Wheel

Makeesha's Challenge!

Today's been the first day in weeks that we haven't airconditioned the house as soon as we woke up!! The temperature is so beautiful and cool and we've had a lovely lot of rain........perfect weather for card making!!!

This card is one I made today for a sketch challenge hosted by my ol' mate Keesh in WA!! ;)

Below is the sketch we had to follow!

And here's my card!

I have a few birthday's coming up soon, so I thought I'd make a card that I will in fact give away rather than keeping for a workshop display!

The simplicity of this layout is what I love the most, and instead of having a stamped image that I had to colour in the centre of the card, I thought I'd use a sentiment as the focal point instead! I think it works ok - do you?

All Supplies Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Whisper White
Ink: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky
Stamp Sets: Think Happy Thoughts, It's Your Birthday, One Of A Kind
Printed Paper: Spring Fling
Accessories: Old Olive Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Old Olive Brads, 1/4" circle punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Old Olive Stampin' write marker, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch.

Mel's Challenge!

Today's card is one that I finished late last night for Mel's Challenge! I should've been in bed catching some zzzzzzz's, but instead I hooked in and got it done! Yay for me!

For this one, we had to use Orchid Opulance, Barely Banana and Certainly Celery. We were also required to include the "kissing" technique somewhere on the card, and also use some dimensionals!

Here's my card!

I did the Rock-n-Roll technique just to add some interest to the flowers, but you can see that on the berries is where I incorporated the "kissing" technique! Of all the stamps in the world that I could have used for that technique.............I chose the "Big Ol' Ugly Flower"!! It worked a treat though I think! lol

I wanted to add a bit of sparkle too (not that you can see it!) but I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the flower centres, and then to finish it off, I used dimensionals to pop up the sentiment!

Thanks Mel for the challenge, I really enjoyed this one!

Oh, for those who have no clue what I'm referring to with the term "Big Ol' Ugly Flower'.............look up the Stampin' Up! set called Fabulous Flowers, you'll soon find it!lol

Cricut Cartridge For Sale!

Hey everyone, just a really quick post today cause it's my daughters birthday!!! I can't believe she's 11!!

I have for sale a brand new, never been used Cricut Cartridge - it's a font one called 'Stamped'! I've taken it out of it's plastic store packaging just to be a 'doris' and check it out, but its definitely brand spankin' new!

I'm asking $75 for it, which includes postage to anywhere in Australia!

If your interested please email me. I'll accept payment via paypal or direct deposit into my CBA bank account!

Have a great day - hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with something new to show you all!

Team Challenge #2!

Good morning everyone! Today, I thought I'd show you the card I made last night for our latest team challenge!

This time Judy issued the challenge, and below was her inspiration pic for us! When I first saw it....................GOOD LORD were the words that popped into my head!!

She told us we had to use Summer Sun (again..... GOOD LORD!!), More Mustard, Garden Green and Very Vanilla or Whisper White! I chose Very Vanilla, as I thought that went better with the earthy tones, but also added some Really Rust and a bit of Ruby Red, cause I could see those colours in there as well! A twist to the challenge was that we had to all use THE SAME STAMP SET, so "Seeing Spots" was chosen, as we all had that!

And here's my card!

I find when I'm really overwhelmed by the colours ( I took on a tip from Kristina Werner here) I use lots of a neutral colour and in this case, Very Vanilla!
I didn't try and use lots of the stamps in the set either, instead I opted for just a few! One was for the centre of the flowers, one is used as a pattern on the leaves (which I also lightly crimped) and the other is the greeting which I coloured just a section of with my Garden Green Marker!
I then stamped the greeting onto one side of the tab punch (this time the rounded end) and slipped it under to have it peeking from the side of the card! Somethin' a little different huh! lol

Hope you like it! Thanks for the challenge Judy, for a moment there I thought you had me stumped!!lol

Let The Cute Begin!!

Ages ago, I was reading a topic on Splitcoast Stampers which was all about the "how to's" of water colouring! I found it very interesting to say the least...............cause I'm hopeless at it! lol

Anyways, one lady pointed out that with water colouring, it was totally okay to not "stay in between the lines"!! I got so excited when I read that, because I spend so long trying to make things just perfect, and at times drive myself totally batty!

Getting back to the card though, I found myself needing one for a baby girl as one of my customers welcomed a new little bundle of joy into the world in the very early hours of New Years Eve - CONGRATS RENEE AND MAL!

I found this card along my blog surfing travels and I loved it, in fact all my inspiration came from it.............see how the colouring is out of the lines, but yet it looks rather cool! I virtually CASED everything, but just added a few little things to make it my own! I didn't dare try to do any of the sponging around the edges though...............am not good at that either! lol

This is my card!

You can only just see the shadowing effect from blending out of the lines, it looks really nice IRL!

The striped paper was gifted to me by my US demo friend! She did tell me the name of it, but for now it slips my mind! All I know is I hope we get it in our catty this year, cause its VERY pretty!

Hope you like this card anyway. Sorry it's such a quick blog entry, but I have a friend in the US going to do some work on my blog at any moment and I need to log out so she can log in!

Team Colour Challenge!

I love to take part in colour challenges because they always take me out of my comfort zone..........and this one was no exception. I think by far, it would have been one of the hardest challenges I've actually done.

Deb issued us with the inspiration picture below, and we all went on our merry way to make whatever we wanted, so long as it included Elegant Eggplant, Real Red, and it also had to have gold embossing on it somewhere! I spotted White in there as well (Moccona Title) so I incorporated that too, and it was definitely my saviour I think! lol

This is my card!

I haven't used Pick A Petal in what seems like forever, so it was really nice to dust the cob webs off it and ink it up! I sure hope this set doesn't retire next year, cause it's a favourite of mine!

Hope you like it!

Sale-A-Bration Has Started!

This is one of my most favourite times of the year with Stampin' Up? I love the opportunity to earn FREE STAMPS and you can too!

Here's how it works! For every $100 you spend (not including shipping), you get to choose 1 of the 4 exclusive stamp sets in the SAB Catalogue for FREE! Here's the great part though - there are no limits on how many you can get! Say for example, you purchase $400 worth of new Stampin' Up! products, then you get to choose 4 FREE SAB stamp sets!! How's that for a sweet deal!?

If you'd like your very own copy of the catalogue to flick through over a coffee, email me and I'll pop one in the mail for you! Alternatively, I've placed a link to the online catalogue on my left hand side margin! The promotion ends on February 28th.

So in a nutshell, now is a wonderful time to spend that Christmas money that Santa hopefully left you, and cash in on some great FREEBIES - gotta love that!

Playing With Papertrey Ink Stamps!

This is rather embarrassing, but I bought this stamp set from Papertrey Ink sooooolong ago (it was one of those "I just have to have that stamp set" kinda moments! lol) and I've only inked it up just recently to make this card!!

I was so excited when they arrived from the US, but little things along the way saw me get side tracked and consequently, they ended up in my drawer...... forgotten about!!


Again, it's a fairly simple card, very few layers, but it all seemed to fall into place really well! I'm finding simplicity is the key! lol

Hope you like it! I'm off to continue my search for my Old Olive Wide Grosgrain ribbon and my USB thumb drive thingy which has files on it that I'm desperate for! I cleaned up my beautiful stamp desk last week............a little too well it seems, and now I can't find them. I should have left things a bit messy - at least then I knew where everything was! lol