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!?

20% Off Selected Stamp Sets & Makeesha's Colour Challenge

I just had to post this card I just made straight away because I am SO happy with how it turned out!! Also, it happens to serve 3 (yes, three!!) purposes - it will be sent to a beautiful little girl who is turning 1 next week, it was inspired by Makeesha's latest colour challenge and it uses one of the stamp sets in the current Stampin' Up! Birthday promotion. Apologies for the not so flash (...sorry!) photo, but fluoro light just doesn't quite cut it....

Makeesha's colour challenge was to use Elegant Eggplant, Pretty in Pink and Soft Sky and I adore this colour combo!!! Thanks Makeesha! I thought it would be just perfect for Miss Holly's birthday card too. As a bonus, Pretty Princess is one of the stamp sets available for 20% off with a $20 regular range order this month. If you would like to see some other examples of this set in action, check out my previous post for Luana's birthday.

• Stamps: Pretty Princess
• Card: Pretty in Pink, Sofy Sky, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
• Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Soft Sky, Pretty in Pink, and just a touch of Certainly Celery
• Other: Scallop Circle Punch, Soft Sky Double Stitched Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds, Blender Pens, Sponge

Other stamps in the 20% off promotion are:

• Big Bold Birthday (pg 37)
• Birthday Best (pg 51)
• Crab & Company (pg 55)
• Short & Sweet (pg 118)

Also, all Simply Sent kits (pgs 12-14) are 20% off from 4-11 Oct. These are fabulous Christmas presents!

If you would like more information, or are interested in taking advantage of these fabulous offers, please e-mail me.

Lucy & Luana in Darwin

One of our recent trips to Darwin was to catch up with some friends of ours visiting from Melbourne. Paul hadn't ever met their daughter, and the girls were so little last time they saw each other, I'm sure they had no idea who the other was! Anyway, we had a great time together, especially at Leanyer Water Park. As we have a waterproof camera, we took a heap of photos (being from Melbourne, Lucy hasn't had many opportunities to swim outdoors!) and instead of just sending down a boring CD of the photos, I thought I'd make a Squash book of the day (from SCS) and make a CD cover for the disc (thanks Makeesha for your pattern - it was exactly what I've been searching for!).

The CD cover

The cover of the Squash Book

The Squash Book opened

I used the retired Party Pieces Simply Scrappin' set as I thought the circles were perfect for the water scenes and all the colours were pulled from the paper. I'm really happy with how these turned out (getting a bit more practice with the scrapbooking now!) and really hope our friends like them too. Knowing our postal service, I'm sure they'll get them in the next week.... or 2!