Here comes 2009

Wow. It's hard to believe it's the last day of 2008. This year has certainly been an interesting one for the Murray family - especially the last few months - but we wouldn't have it any other way.




I hope your Christmas was filled with love and laughter. We had a wonderful day with friends of ours that are moving tomorrow :-( The kids had a great time, the food was wonderful and we were with people we love (even though our families were on the other side of the country).


On this last day of the year, I thought I would share my contribution to the recent Summer Mini swap I was involved with. Once again, my apologies to the girls for being late, but I will fit too much onto my plate and decide to travel all around the country at short notice!

When I saw the Summer Mini Ocean Commotion caught my eye and I just had to use it for this swap. I had planned what I was going to do during a rather dry lecture at Uni, but this is not very much like I'd planned at all. I drew inspiration for the colours from the gorgeous Bali Breeze DSP, which also features. I stamped the fish in Purely Pomogranate on Whisper White, masked it and stamped off the Old Olive seaweed once before stamping over the fish. This was mounted on Old Olive and finished off with a bit of Purely Pomegranate double stitched ribbon and a couple of Styled Silver brads. This was all mounted with dimensionals on the torn DSP which was layered into Purely Pomegranate card. The greeting from Short & Sweet was stamped in Whisper White.

I am now heading off to help finish clean a house - it means our friends are one step closer to leaving though.

Wishing you all a festive New Years Eve and may 2009 bring you all you wish for.

Season's Greetings 2008

Merry Christmas to you!

As I write this, we are on floodwatch (which happens quite regularly through the Wet Season), but the river has been rising quite quickly today (was about 10m at the Railway Bridge at 4pm), there is a lot of rain around and A LOT of rain in the catchment area for the Katherine River. It looks like we're in for a wet Christmas - I'm just hoping not too wet! I have too much stuff to move up if we flood!

Despite my travels at prime Christmas card making time this year, I still wanted to make our cards, with a photo of Luana, to send people down South. It's just a nice way for everyone who we live so far away from to see our gorgeous girl (at least once a year). I thought I was all organised this year - I'd gone on-line to see the Christmas t-shirt I wanted to buy Luana, I'd ordered the additional card stock, and I'd taken down the stamp sets and card stock to Adelaide so I could start making them while we were down there. BUT, every time I went into the shop to buy the t-shirt, it hadn't arrived yet.... but the lovely sales lady showed me another VERY cute one which I just couldn't leave there, but didn't fit with my colour scheme. So, I just had to change it! Hence, part of the delay as I had to order different card stock and I didn't have any of the colour ink pads with me in the new colours..... Here's the result - hope it was worth the wait!

This didn't photograph as well as I hoped and I really do love it IRL. I chose Purely Pomegranate, Tempting Turquoise and silver to coordinate with Luana's t-shirt and used stamps from Season of Joy (retired) and Many Merry Messages (which is 20% off with a $20 order until Dec 31st). The greeting is silver embossed and looks so much better IRL. Very simple, but from the heart.

Luana always likes to try and help me stamp too, so one day I let her go her hardest for cards for her grandparents.

For Nana

For Nanny and Popsy

Both use Real Red and Glorious Green, and Luana used Season of Joy for the feature panels. I used gold cord (retired) for Paul's Mums. Mum and Dad's has noel from Many Merry Messages gold embossed, I used the new scallop edge punch for a bit of interest and added some red grosgrain underneath.

I hope your Christmas weekend is filled with love and laughter.

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Adelaide Regionals 2008

I was really lucky that my latest trip to Adelaide coincided with Regionals - and to think I was going to head down a week later!! As I mentioned in my previous post, it was a fantastic day. I learned so much, met some truly talented people and was thoroughly inspired! If you ever get the opportunity, attend one of these sessions, and take heaps of swaps!!

Here are the 2 swaps I contributed:

This one was actually taken from a farewell card I made for friends leaving the Territory. It uses Sahara Sand and Really Rust cardstock, and Apple Cider DSP (Spring Mini - retired). The crocodile from Wild About You (what else for the Top End?!) and the greeting from Sweet Serendipity (Spring Mini - retired) are stamped in Wild Wasabi, with the greeting stamped on the round tab punch out. Quite simple, but please remind me not to fussy cut swaps again, especially when I'm travelling across the country while completing them!! Lori from SU! in the USA quite liked this one!

I based this one on the photo board I made for Paul's birthday in October - I liked the diamonds! Once again quite simple (but I was quite happy for that when I was finishing them at 1am after travelling all day!). I used Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White card stock, with Certainly Celery Print DSP (Iran out of Chocolate Chip though and had to improvise! I used DSP swiped heavily with Chocolate Chip ink for the middle panel on a few....). The greeting and flowers are from Short & Sweet (I can't figure out know why it took me so long to get that set!) all stamped in Chocolate Chip and finished with Certainly Celery brads. The middle diamond was attached with dimensionals.

There were so many gorgeous swaps I received but I thought I would share my favourite 5 with you. From top left: Nicole Derendorf (http://stampingdownunder.wordpress.com/), Lorrae Weiss, Kari Hughes (http://www.karigail.wordpress.com/), the lady who made this cute little owl didn't put her name on it but it's just so cute!, Deb Darby.

Thank you to everyone who swapped with me!!

And here are the projects we made. They all use the new Live Your Dream stamp set, and a combination of Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi and Groovy Guava (inlcuding the new Afternoon Tea DSP). Not bad for a couple of hours!!

Thanks Card

Thanks Matchbook Card

Dreams 6"x6" Scrapbook Page (I put the photo in after I got home)

Thanks Card Folder

Thanks Card Folder Love Notes with lined envelopes

A fantastic day! Thank you Stampin' Up! for bringing Regionals to SA!!

KWernerDesign Colour Inspiration #35

I love to see what inspiration Kristina comes up with each week, and also seeing other people's entries. I have finally found the time to be able to make an entry for her latest challenge, but am not sure if I'll be able to get it in on time (I can never remember how far behind the USA is to us).... Here's this weeks inspiration

We don't have Baja Breeze here yet, so I substituted the retired Cool Caribbean. As ANOTHER friend has had a baby (I need to be careful of the company I keep I think!! No pitter patter of little feet in our house any time soon), I thought these colours would be nice for a welcome card. Here's what I came up with:

I used Sanded to add a bit of texture to the card base, Nursery Necessities provided the cute little elephant, the phrases and the caribbean stars, and the background stars in the cut out is from Season of Joy (from the finished Spring Mini; I love how you can use seasonal stamps all year round!). Cooper's name is created with the retired Pure and Simple Upper Alphabet. I thought the scalloping (using the fantastic new scallop punch) added a bit of softness to the card. I had to use some creative thinking to cut out the circle as I used the round tab punch, but it really doesn't like punching through more than 2 layers. A suggestion, if you would like to try this, punch out the circle on the base card first, then layer your strips, then cut them out with a craft knife! The last little extra I included was clear embossing the caribbean elephant and attaching him with Dimensionals.

This little elephant will be in the post today on his way down to meet little Cooper - congrats Kel!! I'm looking forward to meeting your little man soon!!

Zarna's Blog Candy

I found Zarna's blog through her entries into Makeesha's challenges - in fact, our styles are scarily similar!! It's her birthday this month (and mine too - could that be a reason for the scary coincidences?) and she's giving away the presents.
Check out her awesome blog at:
http://www.zarnasworld.blogspot.com/

Good luck and Happy Birthday Zarna!!

I'm Back!!

My apologies to those who have been checking in on me and finding nothing new for the past month or so. I spent some time down South and a couple days after coming back, we went on a family get away to Kununurra for a few days. I had my camera the whole time, but nothing to download photos with, and only had limited access to computers.

Anyways, in SA I was fortunate to attend Regionals. What a great day! I will post the cards I made for swaps and what we made on the day later when I have had time to photograph them all. I was truly inspired and the day reinforced why I love what I do! It was fabulous to meet some very talented ladies, and another Territorian too (Hi Christine!!!) - there were only 2 of us!

While away, I also attended the final week of Uni for my diabetes course (1 more assignment to go....), celebrated my sisters engagement, found all of our dresses for the wedding (NOT the colours she originally picked mind you, so I need to re-think what to do for the wedding card!), spent some wonderful time with family and friends and took Luana to The Wiggles concert (I'll post photos later). I did manage to fit some stamping in and held a workshop (Hi Suze, Jude and Mabel), but haven't photographed those cards yet. It was a busy few weeks. To top off this trip, the Murray's decided to head over to Kununurra for the weekend just gone. We had a lovely time; I just love the stunning environment we have up here, especially the boabs in the Kimberley, and everything we are able to experience. I'll post some photos later too.

What a month!!

Ok. I've been working on our Christmas cards and some swaps too for the Happy Stampers. I'm still working on the Summer Mini one (sorry guys, have been trying to find the time), but here's my Christmas contribution.

I used the fabulous Season of Joy stamp set, in Tempting Turquoise and River Rock. My Whisper White ink pad isn't brilliant at the moment, so 'Merry Christmas' is embossed in white. The star has Dazzling Diamonds for a bit of bling, and I pierced all the 'dots' on the Christmas tree and swirls. I used dimensionals to attached the tree. I'm also making a similar version of this (using Soft Sky instead of River Rock and different orientation) for my fellow volunteers, host families and students involved with AFS Katherine.

I can't believe there's only 10 days to go!!!

Butterfly Award - Thanks Leah!!

One time when I was able to access a computer while I was away, I was pleasantly surprised to find Leah had awarded me a Butterfly Award - thank you!! If you haven't already, check out Leah's blog - it's amazing (I love receiving your swaps Leah - my Summer Mini one is on the way) and she has a great monthly inspiration challenge.

Part of receveing the award is to forward this onto 10 other blogs. Most of the other blogs I visit have been awarded this in the past and they are all wonderful, but may I suggest you check out:

Kylie http://www.kyliestampinstuff.blogspot.com/

Nat http://www.happydaks.blogspot.com/

Check them out!!

Favourite Things

While I still have access to a computer, I'll share another card with you that I made a while ago but haven't yet posted. I am REALLY happy with how this one turned out - it was inspired by Mel's Toucan colour challenge (but I didn't get it made in time to enter); I love toucans and they can be found in many areas od my home, and Luana even has a toucan dress (incidentally, if anyone has a Just Beakause set they don't want anymore, let me know!). Also, I love black - in cards, for clothing (which my father really doesn't like), anything really, and tulips (see previous comment about the toucans in my home!!).

The colours I pulled out of the inspiration photo differed a little to Mel's - Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red, Summer Sun and Garden Green. I have clear embossed the So Swirly jumbo whell just on one half of the card for a subtle effect and have used the retired set Terrific Tulips (SO sad it's gone) for the focal point. For the tulip I stamped off the bigger part of the tulip once, and used the first generation stamping for the detail. I lightly sponged the Whisper White with Summer Sun around the edges and added a greeting from Eastern Elements rubons.

This ended up being a belated birthday card for my friend Catherine (hi!!!) and it's going into her treasure box!

From One Sister to Another

As you may be aware from previous posts, my sister and her fiancee (sorry, my French is appalling so not sure if that's spelled correctly) announced their engagement in July, and it has taken me a long time to create the right card for them. I wanted something just 'perfect' and it took forever for me to get the colours she was thinking of out of her..... I can post this now too as I have given it to them.

Cristy has decided that she wants light/dusty pink and silver, so I thought Pretty in Pink would meet the challenge. I have used the flourish from Baroque Motifs, stamped in Pretty in Pink on Whisper White for the panels and mounted these on brushed silver. On the larger panel I embossed a swirl in silver and on the smaller embossed 'wonderful' from Wonderful Favourites. To finish it off, I silver embossed the heart from Always in the Spring Mini. I'm rather happy with the result (!) and Cristy loved it too!!

Because Cristy is my only sister, I wanted to make something a little special just for her from me at this special time, so I made a Wedding Planning album for her.

Once again I used the flourish from Baroque Motifs stamped in Pretty in Pink and silver embossed on Berry Bliss DSP. I mounted one of my favourite photos of Cristy and Brad on Whisper White and it's really hard to see, but added an Eastern Elegance rub-on (just under the photo on the left). For the spine, I repeated the flourish so it's easy for Cristy to pick out on the bookshelf!!

Inside, I kept all 8 pages the same - Whisper white, stamped with Soft Sky, Sage Shadow and Silver Encore in the bottom corner (Sky and Sage because Cristy wants a sand ceremony with Mum and Brad Mum's favourite colours - blue and green), and Pretty in Pink in the top corner. I used round tab punch for the tabs, stamped with a bit of the flourish and wrote on them with silver pen. I was really happy with the end result!

Last but not least, I made a little Love Note to go with the planner with a special message just for Cristy - same colours as the card and the same flourish, and the 'always' is from Always too.

I really am happy with how this all turned out and couldn't wait to give it to Cristy - we have a wedding to plan now in a just a few months!!!

Inkspirations (aka Makeesha) Colour Challenge #1

I'm posting my entry to Makeesha's challenge a little earlier than usual this week - I love the colours she has chosen, and have borrowed Holiday Wishes from Kylie (thanks Kyles!!!) so wanted to play ASAP! Her latest challenge was a colour one (don't you just love the butterflies?!)

And this is my entry.

A friend who stayed with me last week wants me to do a workshop for her when I'm next down in Adelaide, and she fell in love with Holiday Wishes (understandably so). I thought Makeesha's colours would work well for a not-quite-traditional Christmas card. I stamped the main tree image in Chocolate Chip ink on Certainly Celery, as well as Very Vanilla and Regal Rose. I then cut the stars out of the Vanilla and the hearts and present out of the Rose to decorate the tree. It's a bit hard to see (sorry, not good picture, was lovely and overcast today - not stinking hot like it has been lately) but I also added Dazzling Diamonds to the little circles. For the base I mounted Very Vanilla, with piercing around the edge on Chocolate Chip and added a band of Regal Rose, wheeled with Baroque Border in Regal Rose on Chocolate Chip and finished with the gorgeous Chocolate satin ribbon from the current Mini. The decorated, torn tree was mounted with dimensionals over top.

Not a bad start to the Christmas card making season I think!!

Oops!!

As I clicked the link to enter my Harry card for Mel's challenge the other day, the phrase 'current SU product only' caught my eye - oops. So I made another one to meet the requirements.


This little cutie is for the girl I job share with (Hi Catherine!!), at the moment. She has just been introduced to the wonderful hobby that is SU!, and she has also just been successful in procuring another, more senior, position (no, it wasn't job sharing with me that made her apply for another job :-) ). I'm always so happy for people when they are offered the opportunity to reach their dreams. Well Done Catherine!!!
Anyways, she has fallen in love with cute little owl stamps, and the sentiment from this little fellow in Celebrate Everyday is just perfect. I stamped the image and phrase in Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla, and used the word window punch for the phrase. I used blender pens, Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel ink for the owl (and a touch of Yoyo Yellow for the beak) and after cutting him out, distressed him a little bit to make it look like he has 'feathers'. I created the tree with Close to Cocoa card which I wet and bent and scraped a bit with my nail (very technical!!) to make it look more like a tree. The leaves are from In the Spotlight - Old Olive stamped on Old Olive and Gable Green and randomly placed. All this was placed on Summer Picnic DSP, the phrase was attached with Aged Brass eyelets and all was attached to a Love Note. I'm giving this to Catherine in about 20 minutes... so we'll see what she thinks!!

Also, I have just finished something I have been working on for my sister, but am not sure if she reads this or not, so have to wait and see when I can post it......

Giraffe for Baby Harry

The owner/director of Luana's childcare centre had a baby boy yesterday morning, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to pull out my card and stamp stash - especially since I didn't do anything last week. I also wanted to participate in Mel and Makeesha's latest challenges, and thought I could make something to fit all 3. Here 'tis



Mel's latest challenge was to use distressing and include at least 1 eyelet, and Makeesha's was this sketch challenge.

The Summer Picnic DSP provided the colour inspiration for this one; Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Pumkpin Pie and Whisper White. I originally wanted to use the elephant from Wild About You but he was facing the wrong way, so the giraffe it was! Bashful Blue of course for boys. I used the very technical technique of tracing around whatever circular object looked right for the circles, and distressed the bigger one. I wheeled Nursery Letters in Bashful Blue, distressed the edges too and mounted it on Old Olive. I attached Bashful Blue ribbon to Old Olive cardstock using Aged Brass eyelets and stamped Harry with Pure and Simple Upper Alphabet (retired) in Pumpkin Pie and ran the letters through the Xyron to help tham stick to the ribbon.

The photo I have seen of Harry looks so cute, so we're looking forward to meeting him in the flesh (as are all the other kids in the centre!!)

Another Photo Board

Just another quick one tonight. We have had a few very busy days up in Darwin with a friend who came up on the Ghan (hi Suze!!); we did a few touristy things we haven't yet like the East Point Military Museum the IndoPacific Reef display which were very interesting, as well as some old favourites. There is just SO much to see and do up here - thank goodness for visitors otherwise we'd never get around to seeing anything!

Anyway, this is the photo board I made for my desk at work (I've already ok'ed it with the girl I job share with to have photos of my beautiful girl gracing our office! I've put the same photo as Paul's on it.)

Quite straight forward this one. I used Fall Flowers DSP (love this pattern, even though I'm not a huge fan of orange/rust usually) and the coordinating card stock - Soft Sky, Old Olive and Really Rust. I cut a flower out of the DSP, and finished it with a Eastern Elegance rub-on from the Spring Mini, and a bit of white grosgrain around the clip. I really am happy with the outcome!

Also, thank you to everyone for Paul's birthday greetings. He had a good day - Daddy time with Luana in the morning, and Cutta Cutta caves and swimming at Edith Falls in the afternoon, followed by dinner out. Here he is with Luana at the falls - we're waiting for the rains to come, hence the dismal looking falls in the background... It's such a beautiful place still.

Birthday Wishes for the Main Man in my Life

My darling husband celebrates his birthday at this 'spooky' time of year, and this year I really struggled (more than usual) with what to do for him... He has made a couple of large purchases in the past few months which we agreed would cover him for birthday and Christmas, but you need something to open on the day... He now has his own desk at work, and as yet doesn't have any photos up, so I made him one of Makeesha's photo boards.

I was so happy with how this turned out, and it's so hard not to show him until his day (he really is very good at indulging me!). I tried to use masculine colours so he would feel comfortable having on his desk, and colours that would suit a wide range of photos. The background DSP is from Summer Picnic in the mini. I stamped the background from Polka Dots & Paisley in Whisper White on Chocolate Chip sqaures, and for the middle square mounted a small square of Whisper White off-centre under Bashful Blue, which was stamped with the greeting from Short & Sweet in Chocolate Chip and held together with Bashful Blue brads.

I was so happy with how the photo board tuned out, that I thought I'd use the same colours for his card. Rather simple, but I like it. I used Big Bold Birthday for all the images, background and greeting, wheeling over the inked stamp with the So Swirly Jumbo Wheel to try and get the icing effect. The DSPs are from Summer Picnic and Spring Showers. I cut a little slit in the top of the icing to push the candle through, and finished it off with a couple of Bashful Blue brads.

And last but not least, this is Luana's card for her Daddy. She insisted on using brown crayons for her picture, even though I tried to get her to use the pretty colours.....

Happy Birthday Darling (even though I know you don't read this....)

Makeesha's Colour Challenge

I love Makeesha's website and have been trying to diligently enter her weekly blog challenges (I think I'm going to find it difficult when I'm down south - consider this an advance warning Mel and Keesh!). Her latest challenge was a colour one, using Soft Sky, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Grey and Whisper White. This is what I came up with, which will be winging it's way to Townsville this afternoon for Paul's cousins birthday.

I hadn't used the Simply Said set yet, which I have coveted since starting SU!, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to pull it out. It's a bit hard to see, but I stamped the Whisper White with Soft Sky and mounted it on Soft Sky. I then used the different flowers for the Rose and Pumpkin, using the respective colours and tearing the outside edge of each panel. Always from the current Mini provided the funky background flowers in Whisper White and the greeting is from Short & Sweet (you have until tomorrow to get this set at 20% off!!), punched out with the word window punched - the staple is more for decoration the holding it there! A bit of Soft Sky double stitch ribbon finished the main part of the card, but it was lacking something.... so the paper piercing around the edge evolved to echo the 'outline' flowers on the panels. I'm still not sure about this one, but I'm sure Kath will love it!

Happy 30th Kath. We'll celebrate soon!!!

Leah's Elmo Challenge

Leah is a regular contributer to Mel and Makeesha's blog challenges, and while I was cruising her blog a couple of weeks ago, I noticed she has also started a monthly blog challenge. This months was using a couple of gorgeous Elmo singlets as inspiration (couldn't let this one pass as Luana has just discovered who Elmo is and EVERY Sesame Street character is Elmo according to her!) - using either the colours (Bashful Blue, Real Red and Whisper White) and/or the shapes (stars and circles), so I used both.


I don't have a Coluzzle... yet, so I improvised and used a bowl to help me with the circles - pretty good cutting I think! I used the Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel for the Bashful Blue background, Little Pieces stamped in Whisper White on the Real Red and one of the 'background' patterns from Big Bold Birthday in Bashful Blue on Whisper White. The stars are courtesy of Nursery Necessities and 'happy' is from Polka Dots & Paisley. I think this is the most different stamp sets I have used in a single project, ever! The white was looking a bit.... yeah.... so a little bit of doodling with the Real Red Stampin' Write marker fixed that!

I'm happy with the result - hope you like it too Leah! I look forward to your next challenge!

Happy Birthday Helene!

Yes, there is meant to be an 'e' on the end of the name, although I can't get the song 'Happy Birthday Helen' out of my head now (is that showing my age......?).

Last weekend we travelled up the track to Darwin to spend a bit more time with my visiting brother, but also to celebrate my wonderful friend Helene's 30th. I managed to put this card together for her - I had 2 criteria; it had to be green and include paisley. Did it!

I have only recently bought the word window punch, so was itching to try it our with this Big Buckle Card from SCS. Once again, Petals and Paisleys DSP was the inspiration (I LOVE this white DSP), with the coordinating Petals Jumbo Wheel and Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set. Old Olive and Certainly Celery provided the green. I cut out a flower from the wheeled image in Tempting Turquoise and layered it onto the So Saffron belt with a Pretty in Pink brad. To finish it off, I used Tempting Turquoise and Pretty in Pink markers to colour in the Celebrate stamp from Sweet Serendipity and added some Styled Silver hodgepodge. I'm really happy with the result. Hallmark Volkan?!?

And here's a picture of me with the birthday girl (while the night was still young!). Thanks for a FABULOUS night!!

I know I haven't put a lot of photos on here in the past, but I thought I'd share these with you of my brother's visit - and they do fit into Helene's birthday theme..

At the Barrawei lookout, Katherine Gorge.

The people you run into.... With my cousin and brother while out for Helene's birthday.

Taking Luana in the waterslide at Leanyer Water Park.

Trifold for Grace (and Makeesha's challenge)

I received a lovely surprise last week in the form of a text message from a former work colleague (we both decided to move onto greener pastures about the same time). She's engaged!! I am so excited for her; she is a lovely young lady with so much potential and such a bright future, and she's into craft too! That makes the third engagement in my life at the moment (there's that 3 again!). I just had to make a special card for her using papers I know she loves. I had decided to make a Joy fold card as it showcases the DSPs beautifully before Makeesha set her challenge, so thought this could be my entry. Grace likes her cards simple, so I tried to keep it just that; no bling, no ribbons, no flourishes.

FrontOpen

I used the discontinued Enchante DSP (love those purple and greens) with Perfect Plum and Pale Plum card and ink, and images from Carte Postale. I stamped the flower image 3 times - twice in Perfect Plum, once in Pale Plum and cut out the middle flowers for layering, as well as using the Cetainly Celery marker to colour in the leaves. Inking the edges of the 'white' DSP with Perfect Plum added a little bit of depth.

I am so happy with how this turned out and can't wait to send it off to Grace.

Congratulations girl!!!! xxxxxxxx

Happiness Is....

This is just a quick one tonight - I had a full on day at work today so need to get to bed.

I made this card a while ago, not long after the current catalogue was released. It's quite simple but I like the way it turned out, and I think this was the first time I played with the current In Colours too.

I really should dig out this stamp again - it's a bit sweet!

No Stamps or Ink for Makeesha

I reckon Mel and Makeesha are in cahoots with their challenges at the moment! Stretching us well and truly out of our comfort zones!

Makeesha's challenge this week is to use no stamps or ink on a project. As I had just finished my assignment, I wanted to try this out straight away (plus, I'd missed her last Love Notes challenge because I was writing). As it was late, I was being lazy and not wanting to go downstairs where Paul has 'banished' my stamping supplies (so we can actually move in the house!), I used what I had up here on the table. These are what I came up with.

Lucky for me, I keep all my DSP upstairs, and I always seem to have Taken with Teal floating around too. I whipped us this little 4"x4" card with Petals and Paiselys DSP (yes, I do love it and use it on almost everything), adding a little bit of scalloping the edge. The stickers are courtesy of the retired Little Reminders Accents and Elements. Just a bit cute I think!

I pinched the idea for this little cutie ages ago from Nerine. I had covered the note pad with Spring Showers DSP, but that's as far as I'd got, so Makeesha's challenge encouraged me to finish it with a little bit of white organdy (retired) and Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon, a punched flower, one from the Blooms Die Cuts in the current Spring Mini and a brad. I wasn't sure at first, but I like it! Not sure who this will be going to yet though.

No layers for Mel

I know I'm a bit late posting this, but I've had a few people asking if I've put these cards on my blog yet, so here they are! Better late than never...

A couple of weeks ago now Mel set a challenge to use no layers - eeek I thought, how am I going to do that??? Anyway, I came up with a few cards (plus, it was a way of not writing my assignment, which really SHOULD have taken priority). The first one is the one I actually submitted, and the other two, well, they just evolved.

I love the Baroque background stamp, but really haven't used it anywhere near as much as I would have liked, so here it is stamped in Ballet Blue on Very Vanilla. I cut around some of the image so it would give the card some dimension and traced around the edge of the feathers with a silver pen, to link in with the silver brads. While I was in the middle of making this, a friend of mine rang to say she was engaged, so I thought this would be perfect for her (she's not a girly-girl at all), hence the greeting using Wonderful Favourites (it's a tad hard to see, but it says To a Wonderful Couple - I would have used Very Vanilla for couple if I had it). After submitting it to Mel's challenge, I added a backing piece of brushed silver behnd the cut outs.

This was actually the first card I thought of for this challenge and uses Solemn Stillness with Handsome Hunter and Sage Shadow. I really like the effect of embossing the squiggle tree over the darker background. I used the faux tearing technique for the background with Sanded but in hindsight think it may need something a bit fuller like Paisley.... All was finished with Silver Hodgepodge.

This was my last attempt and it almost didn't happen because I was behind on writing my assignment. I masked an oval (actually the 0 from the On Board Simon Lower Chipboard) and stamped flowers from Time Well Spent in Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, Garden Green and Green Galore for the background. 'Friends' in the main greeting was coloured using a blender pen and ink pad and I doodled inside the masked oval for a bit of definition. I really am quite happy how this turned out - considering Gestational Diabetes was the main topic on my brain at that moment!

See You Later, not Goodbye

As you may have figured out from some earlier posts, and if you read Mel's blog, one of my friends and fellow SU! demonstrators is in the process of moving to Queensland. As a little see you later gift (not goodbye), I whipped this up (in between writing my assignment. Not bad for being pressed for time!) using Bodacious Bouquet and Petals and Paisleys DSP, and filled it with chocolates, what else?!

Safe travels Mel and fingers crossed we'll catch up in Canberra in May.

Procrastination Thoughts

While I was procrastinating today about finishing my assignment (which is now handed in - yay!!) I was thinking about how much I LOVE Makeesha's colour challenge combo of Elegant Eggplant, Pretty in Pink and Soft Sky. In the course of my thoughts I realised that I had used a similar colour combo earlier this year to make calendars for the family and thought I had to share it with you - Elegant Eggplant, Pixie Pink (of course it has to be for Luana!!) and Tempting Turquoise (well, the Petals and Paisley DSP).

This was only the second ever scrapbook project I had finished (I'm still yet to replicate it for myself though) and I was quite proud of it. I fell in love with the colours so much, that they are what I have used for all my SU! folders too! Who thought Elegant Eggplant could look so cool!?