The BOUF Challenge Complete!

Hi everyone!

Well, what an eventful couple of days I've had trying to transfer files and information from my old laptop to my new one!! I've managed to get most of it done - the rest will just take time - of which I have very little of right now! If anyone knows of a sure way to add about 6 extra hours to each day, feel free to tell me, I'd be forever grateful!

So, Keesh and I had to play with the BOUF just one more time before we kiss it good bye and put it in the cupboard to collect dust.
I had to make a card using just one colour, no ribbon and no paper piercing. Initially I thought 'How the heck do I do that?', but when I sat down, I realised I just had to find different ways of adding interest and texture to the layers. It was as easy and simple as that really!

I chose to go monochromatic and use all shades of pink which was something new and fun for me to try. I used Regal Rose, Pretty In Pink and Pink Pirouette.

Here's my card!

I distressed the central layers of the card, and used my crimper to create the Faux Seer Sucker look on the half banner - not sure what else you'd call that thing! Since I wasn't allowed to use ribbon, I cut the thinest strip of card stock and thread it through the button holes and tied it in a knot - it worked a treat! There's a way around everything if you think hard enough ya know! ha ha!

So there you have it, another challenge bites the dust. I think Keesh is uploading hers around lunch time today, so I can't wait to see how she went!

Many thanks to my partner in crime for the challenge. I look forward to many more with our new fave set......just surrender yourself to lovin' it Keesh - you'll be fine!;0

Beautiful Australian Flowers!

I had so many things I had to get done today, and spent most of the morning running around making sure I got it all accomplished! I even managed to squeeze in a Gloria Jean's coffee and a good laugh with my beautiful cousin which always make's my day! Thanks Helly!

With my busy week, I was begining to wonder when I'd get a chance to get a card made, and to be honest, I was starting to get a bit stressed - not because I felt like I had to put something new up on my blog, but because lately, I don't seem to have time to scratch myself, and I love to try and do a little bit of stamping each and every day if I can! It keeps me sane, IYKWIM!

Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear my woes, so let me show you what I ended up doing today, cause I realllllllly, really like it and hope you do too!


For this card I did some watercolouring using my Aquabrush and inkpads! While I'm not very good colouring this way.....it was still fun!

I've used a new Stamp set called 'Bloom Away' which features gorgeous Australian Flowers. It's funny, cause when I saw this set I thought "nope, not my cup of tea", but the more I stared at it, the more I really liked it and knew I could make some nice cards with it!

The DSP I've used is also a new one from the 'Good Morning Sunshine' pack! I wasn't going to pre-order this paper, but I'm so glad I did, because its really lovely!

So all in all, it's a really simple card, just using the image as the feature! I'll have to make some cards using the other images in the set now!

Hope you like it!

One Last Big Ol' Ugly Flower Challenge!!

Morning all!

As you all know, our current Stampin' Up! Idea Book And Catalogue is very close to becoming "so yesterday" with our new one set to go live on April 1st! I'm really excited and totally thrilled with all the new stamps sets, papers and embellishments we're getting - it's just fantastic, you really need to get yourself a copy!

Alot of you have been following along with the fun, and often absolutely ridiculous challenges my friend Keesh and I have been setting each other using the BOUF (Big Ol' Ugly Flower), aka the Fabulous Flowers stamp set in our Current Catalogue!

Anyway, I got an email from Keesh yesterday asking me if I felt up to one last challenge to farewell this great beauty, and of course............................ I'd never say NO to a challenge!
We've both had heaps of fun doing these challenges in the past, and judging by the comments and emails we've both had, it seems you guys have enjoyed them just as much, which is awesome!

The challenge Keesh has issued me with will be up on her blog later today for you to see and I'm wondering if I should brace myself after the one she issued me with last time. In case you need to refresh your memory, you can see it here!

This time round, I'm asking Keesh to make a card using the BOUF in any Bold Brights colours of her choosing. There can be NO RIBBON and NO PAPER PIERCING done on the card! Let's see how she goes.

Our cards will be on on our blogs sometime next Tuesday, so be sure to check back to see what we come up with!

Lauren Meader's Sketch Challenge!

Sketch Challenge's are something I love to do! It saves me a ton of thinking with regards to the layout of a card, and they'll often take you way out of your comfort zone - which is a good thing!

This is the sketch challenge that Lauren Meader has put up on her website! It was another nice and easy one, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to use up some of the scraps I have on my desk.

So here's the sketch!

And here's my card!

I had a Stamp-A-Stack at my house yesterday, and we used the Wild About You stamp set to create our cards! I still hadn't put it away in the cupboard, so I thought I'd use it for this card while I had it handy! It needed a bit of jazzing up though, so out come the little googly eyes, which are always the perfect additon to this set!

The card is a good mixture of colours, which I guess is generally what happens when you try and use up scraps! I think it works though!

Thanks for the challenge Lauren!

Makeesha's Sketch Challenge!

Hope you're all having a wonderful relaxing Sunday! I've had a busy morning, mowing my lawn and getting my little house looking nice and neat, but I did manage to squeeze in a little time to make a card which I finished just now and thought you might like to see!

My card was made using the sketch challenge below issued by Keesh! I really loved this particular sketch and found it a dream to work with.

And here's my card! Once again I've used the 'Cheers To You' stamp set which will be available in our new Idea Book and Catalogue come April 1st. I just love this little set, its really fun to colour, and make's nice quick cards!

I used my colour wheel to come up with the colour combination of Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal, Almost Amethyst and Certainly Celery! These colours look so nice and fresh together.
The paper I used was from the Prints DSP in Certainly Celery! They are so gorgeous in real life and are still currently available if you'd like to order them!

You can't really see in the photo, but I did some paper piecing of the little umberella in the drink using some Almost Amethyst papers from the Pallet Of Prints promotion we had a while back! I just wanted to add a little bit of interest to it instead of colouring, and it looks so cute! lol

The rest of the image I coloured using the inks from my inkpad and a blender pen!

Can you see the cute little thing I did with the 'C' in Cheers? I stamped, cut out and coloured an extra little lime from the drink cause it kinda looks like a 'C' when you spin it around a little - in a Pac Man kinda way! I thought it made a sweet little embellishment! lol

Then came time for some ribbon, and as I didn't have any in the Almost Amethyst colour, I used my marker and coloured a piece of White Taffeta ribbon - it works a treat!

Well, that's it from me today - hope you like it! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

A House Mouse Challenge!

I had a few spare minutes today, so I thought I'd play along with my very first House Mouse Monday Challenge and ink up one of my new little mouse friends!

For my birthday yesterday, I got a full set of 132 Prismacolor Pencils and I was dying to try them out. While I still have such a long way to go with learning how to colour nicely, I was pretty happy with my first attempt.

Hope you like it!

But Wait........There's More!

I got home from getting the kids from school this afternoon, and my husband told me I had MORE flowers delivered!! Look at this beautiful arrangement sent to me by my friend's Clare and Deb! How lucky am I? Clare chose Native flowers because I have a little "cottage" type house! I love them!

Thanks so much to everyone who has emailed me privately with Birthday Wishes too - I've really been spoilt today and enjoyed every moment! I wonder if I could try for another birthday tomorrow? lol

Look What I Just Got!!!

Well................today is March the 18th, which also just happen's to be my birthday! I'm still only 21, and have been enjoying that age for the last 10 years or so - don't ya love it when you can do that! lol

Anyway, I've been having a lovely day, but I just wanted to share with you all something so beautiful which has just arrived at my door! As you can see, it's the most gorgeous flower arrangement, and they were sent to me by my special friend and fellow BOUF lover Keesh over in WA!

I have to be honest and say I actually shed a little tear when I read Keesh's message to me (that was after I went searching for a flower in the arrangement that slightly resembled the BOUF!roflol) - they were just so totally unexpected, and getting them has absolutely topped off what's already been a great day!



I consider myself so very lucky to be Keesh's friend - she is truely the most thoughtful, giving person I think I've ever met - along with my hubby of course!!

So Keesh if your reading this..............THANK YOU for being my friend and for all the lovely things you do for me! I luv ya heaps!! Mwaaaah!!

Making Froth!

Last night I was still having fun playing with the 'Cheers To You' stamp set, but this time I chose to use the beer mug!

I wanted to make the 'froth' of the beer stand out a little more, and normally I'd just reach for my little tube of Liquid Applique to give me a helping hand! As I don't have any at the moment though, I thought I'd try a mixture that I remembered seeing on this You Tube tutorial a while back, and it really works a treat!

For this particular card, I used Kraft, Close To Cocoa, Pacific Point and Very Vanilla card stock, as well as the soon to be retired DSP from the Notebook series.

The card itself is very simple, but perfect for when you need a card in a hurry!

Simplicity With Circles!

I'm just totally loving the 'Cheers To You' set as you might have noticed! lol

My craft table was still littered with left over bits and pieces from last nights session, so I thought I'd use a few of them up and make a really simple card.

As you can see, I made the focus purely on circle's and punched each new In Colour out with my 1 3/8" circle punch, and made a feature of the little cocktail glass in the centre!

The little blue circle on the word window punch out is actually going to be covered with a layer of Crystal Effects in a moment to make it look like a brad.


Hope you like it.............it's definitely a nice quick card to do!

A Fun Card!

Well whatdya know..........I'm back with another card!

Hope you're all having a beautiful sleep in this Sunday morning.........not me I'm afraid, but that's a whole other story! lol

I sat last night and had a bit of a play with the GORGEOUS new In Colours which will be in our 2009/10 Catalogue being released in just a couple of weeks time. I really love them, they're like a breath of fresh air to me!

Anyway, my inspiration for this card, came from my friend Alana Galagher's Blog. She has recently been to an awesome stamp camp, and one of the ladies attending taught some really cool things, one of which was this type of card. I don't know really what you'd call it, so how about for the sake of this post, I just call it the "lift back the top half to find your message" card! lol
I had no measurements or anything to go by, but it looked easy enough, so I just 'winged it' and it all worked ok.

For my card I used Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette and Pacific Blue! The top half of the card has been stamped with the Sanded Background using Versamark Ink, and on the bottom half, I stamped the round fruit from the 'Tart And Tangy' stamp set from our last Mini Catalogue! I'm hoping the Tart And Tangy set makes it into our new Catalogue because it really does go hand in hand with the other set I've used here called 'Cheers To You'!

Here's the front!

Here it is with the top half lifted back!

Here's a close up of the little glass. I coloured the image with my blender pen and inks, added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter and also some Crystal Effects, and then I used a Real Red brad for the cherry!

I had an absolute ball making this card. It was something new and different, and being able to use a new stamp set, and fresh new colours really added to the fun!

Have a great day everyone. I'm taking my daughter to the movies to see Confessions Of A Shopperholic this morning, so we're both looking forward to that!

ETA - I just found this tutorial on Dawns website, which walks you right through how to make this type of card! lol Why do I always find these things AFTER I make one! The measurements will be a little different being that the US have different sized card stock, but you'll be able to adjust that!

Patchwork Fun!

I've had a little bit of fun today, playing around with some scraps of my DSP as well as the little Top Note template that I've had sitting on my desk for what seems like months! I had just printed it out from the Demonstrator Website, and thought "I'll use that tomorrow" and of course that "tomorrow" only arrived today! lol

For the card below, I glued heaps of little 1 1/4" squares of the Spring Fling DSP onto a piece of Whisper White Card stock, and then I put the Top Note template over it, traced around it, and cut it out - seemed like the easiest way! Then, using my Paper Piercing Mat and template, I did some faux stitching vertically and horizontally to get the "Patchwork" kinda look!

Looking at the card in the photo, I think I should have gone with Pretty In Pink Ribbon, but I think one of the joys of Patchwork is anything goes..............isn't that right? lol

I did another patchwork card a while back for a friend who had a baby girl and you can see that one here!



Anyway, hope you like this card. I'm not sure how many creations I'll get posted this week for you all, as I plan to clean down the outside of my house and all the pathways with a gerny (is that how you spell it??) plus I have a full day out shopping with my cousin planned, as well as a lunch date with my friend Clare, so this week is pretty full on!

I'll see how I go anyway........I just might suprise you yet! lol

ETA - I neglected to say in my post today, that I was inspired by this card here which was an entry into Mel Hanlon's card competition. I just used the Top Note Template for mine, rather than do a full card!

A Card For A Little Girl!

Hi there everyone!!

Firstly, thanks to those who had concern for my family with regards to cyclone Hamish battering our coast line! Thankfully, we only got a bit of rain and some strong winds here and there over the weekend, and he's now moving south down the coastline! I hope he just ends up moving out to sea and does no harm to anyone, as they can certainly do some horrible damage should they hit land!

Anyways, onto all things crafty - I thought you might like to see the card I made this morning for a little girl I know who has a birthday coming up soon! It took me a while to work out what I was going to do for her, but I ended up going with the Pick A Petal Stamp set which I'm really loving at the moment, and made this cute lady bug which is flittering amongst the flowers!

Once I had it all done, I thought it looked very much like "spring" so it will also double as my entry into Shelli's creative challenge!

The colour scheme I used is Ballet Blue, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie and also Wild Wasabi!

Hope you like it!

Another BOUF Card!

Hi everyone!

Just thought I'd quickly jump on here and show you the card I made this arvy! I think I must be getting all sentimental or something knowing I have to farewell the BOUF very soon.............good lord what I am going to do without it??? lol

My inspiration came when I got to cleaning out and packaging up all my retired Designer Series Papers today in preparation for our new catalogue! I was looking at the gorgeous Berry Bliss papers and thought how lovely Purely Pomegranate, Close To Cocoa and Pretty In Pink look together!

Here's what I came up with based on those colours!

It's a very simple card, but I was pretty pleased with it! Hope you like it too!

Keesh's Colour Challenge!

Hi everyone!

Well today has been somewhat of a wet day here in Mackay, with cyclone Hamish heading our way! We're as prepared as we can be, so just have to sit and wait now to see what it does - I hate the unpredictability of cyclones, they really do have a mind of their own!

Anyway, I spent the morning working on my convention swaps again since the weather was perfect for it, and I'm very excited to say that I've now finished 60! I'm aiming for 120 so I'm half way there with a few weeks up my sleeve yet!

After I'd finished cleaning up my desk from the swap fiasco, I thought I'd try out Keesh's colour challenge for the week! I have to say I found it really hard to work with these colours Keesh, so you succeeded with your challenge!! I even thought I'd dig out the BOUF (Big Ol' Ugly Flower for those wondering what the??) to see if it would work some wonders for me.................but the inspiration............she just wasn't flowin'!! lol

Here's the colours.

Here's my card!

I have no idea what kind of look I've achieved with this card, and if I was to be totally honest with you all.......I'd say it's really not floating my boat alot, but hey, you get that sometimes! It might appeal to some poor thing who is totally in love with the BOUF though, right?

You can't really see it in the pic, but the BOUF has been stamped in Soft Sky and then I "kissed" it with the Sanded Background stamp inked up in Blue Bayou! It's all sparkly too, cause I thought I would spruce it up with a bit of glitter in an attempt to make it look kinda beautiful.............I used the word attempt......did you notice!! lol

Anyways, the rest of the card is pretty self explanitory I think, but if you have any questions, be sure to email me and I'll get back to you.

Have a great night..........I'm off to watch the cyclone updates on tv!

Easter Fun!

Hi everyone!

Sorry for such a long absence in posting............I don't really have an excuse other than I've had no inclination to be creative! Sad I know..........but very true!

The card I made today almost didn't get posted cause I stabbed my finger with my new paper piercing tool while making it! Those things are mighty dangerous when you get in a card making "zone" I tell ya! The funny thing is though............it's not the first time I've done it! lol

Anyway, I thought I would do the Mojo Monday sketch challenge!! From memory I've never done one, so thought I would give it a bit of a whirl!!

Here's the sketch!

Here's my card!

I was really happy with this card, and using the set called "A Good Egg" seemed a 'good' choice considering Easter will be upon us before we know it!!

Have a good day everyone..............

Retirement List Is Out!

Good morning everyone!

For those who have eagerly been awaiting the Retirement List to come out..........wait no longer because here it is!!!

There has been quite a few little shocks for me after reading it, but also a number of wonderful suprises with regards to sets that will stay!

If there's anything you'd like to order from it, I would honestly advise doing it very soon, as these will now only be available while stocks last, and I'd hate for you to be disappointed in missing out on your 'must have' goodies!

I'm also offering a 10 per cent discount on all orders over $100 (before shipping) in a bid to help you secure your last minute goodies from this catalogue!!

If you'd like to place an order, please email me!

ETA: Many thanks to Nicole for thinking of me when she saw the 'Big O'l Ugly Flower' was retiring ! I must add here, that Keesh sent me a text last night telling me I HAD to let her know STRAIGHT AWAY if it was on the list, and as heartbreaking as it was for me to do (cough! cough!) I broke the news to her just after midnight when the list was put up!! Now what the heck are we gonna have fun with? lol