One of a Kind Friend

And here's the second card I was able to make last night. It's been a while since I've been able to play with a Colour Throwdown Challenge, and I think this colour combo is fantastic. I was really tempted to make a baby book using these colours for a very special person in my life who is expecting, but ended up changing my mind. I will post that though when I get it done.

I realised I have had One of a Kind ever since it was in the Spring Mini last year, but don't have a sample using it for my display - I do now! I teamed it with Friendly Words Jumbo Wheel which I think is just gorgeous. I pierced the little spots on the flowers for a bit of interest - note to self, pierce the dots in the pointy part of the petal BEFORE cutting out the flower so the card doesn't distort... I love the Flower Fusion Too flowers, so they made an appearance and for a bit more interest I tied the Baja Breeze double stitched ribbon with a bit of twine to 'cinch' it before popping the flower on. A little bit of faux stitching tied the main panel in with the ribbon.

A lovely little card that will make it's way to a lovely friend at some stage.

Stamps: One of a Kind, Friendly Words Jumbo Wheel

Card: Pink Pirouette, Kraft, Whisper White

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze

Other: Baja Breeze Double Stitched Ribbon, Flower Fusion Too Felt Flowers, Twine, Pewter Brads, Paper Piercer, White Gel Pen

Bright Birthday Wishes

We had a great day yesterday - we went up to Pine Creek for the Gold Rush festival and practiced goldpanning (didn't actually go in the competition) and had a great lunch at Maisey's. Then last night, the Hawks were playing so Paul was parked in front of the TV and Luana went to bed a little earlier, so I was able to put together a couple of cards. Gotta love days like that!

My aim of the night was to put together a card for Leah's June challenge:

My original thought during the month was to pull out the Pretties Kit and play around with colouring some of the big flowers, but this is what I came up with instead for a gorgeous girl's second birthday coming up:

I love bright colours for little people's birthdays!! I am quite please with how this turned out. It's hard to see, but I used the seaweed from Ocean Commotion to lift some of the ink off the icing stamp before stamping it - you can see this effect a lot better using darker colours. The pink dots on the icing are courtesy of the crop-o-dile and I doodled the Lovely Lilac border around the Whisper White panel. Nice and bright!

Just to finish this post, here's a photo of Miss Luana attempting gold panning! I actually found a few flecks, but our little vial to collect them has more sand than gold in it courtesy of an eager little beaver!!

Stamps: Big Bold Birthday, Ocean Commotion

Card: Pink Passion, Lovely Lilac, Only Orange, Gable Green, Whisper White

Ink: Pink Passion, Lovely Lilac, Only Orange, Gable Green

Other: Dazzling Diamonds, Paper Piercer, Crop-o-dile

Celebrate With Tangerine

You know I am not a huge fan of orange (a legacy from my Mum!), so it makes me smile a bit with so many colour challenges in the past months featuring a shade of the colour - I'm always up for a challenge!! Stacey's latest Jewellery Challenge used Tangerine Tango this week.

Funnily enough, even though it has orange on it, this necklace looks like something Mum would wear!!

I created this card for a someone special... I really do like the combination of the Tempting Turquoise and Tangerine Tango. And Chocolate Chip always looks good!

I clear embossed the rounder flower from Fifth Avenue Floral onto Chocolate Chip - love that effect! In the silver hodgepodge circle, I've actually stamped the same flower in second generation Tangerine Tango, added a bit of ribbon on one side, and the greeting on top with the help of dimensionals. The part I really like about this card is the lily...

I cut out some of the petals separately and layered them to give a bit more dimension, and coloured the stamen with Tangerine Tango using my blender pen.

Just a quick shot of the inside - just a two dimensional lily this time.

Thanks for challenging me again Stacey!

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, A Little Birthday Cheer

Card: Tangerine Tango, Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Paper: Haiku

Ink: Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise, Versamark

Other: Clear Embossing Powder, Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, Tempting Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon

Dragonfly for Shanae

And here's Shanae's card (see Casey's card here) - this time with a pink dragonfly (last time was pink penguins). I've pulled the colours from the trusty colour wheel this time, starting with Pixie Pink and coordinating Brocade Blue and Ceetainly Celery. I was a bit stumped about what to do when I saw Makeesha's sketch this week, but I think it works well with the dragonfly. I love the sparkle on the wings!

Happy First Birthday beautiful girls xxxx

Stamps: Bugs and Kisses, Tidy Alphabet (retired)

Card: Pixie Pink, Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Paper: Brocade Blue Patterns (Level 1 Hostess), Certainly Celery Prints (retired)

Ink: Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery

Other: Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon, Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, white ric rac from Beachfront Ribbon Originals (retired), Dazzling Diamonds

Giraffe for Casey

I have 2 very gorgeous girls in my life celebrating their 1st birthday within the next couple of weeks, so this card was made for one of them. They are twins, but I like to make them quite distinct cards (you may recall their arrival cards) as they are quite different little people.

The differing colour schemes are made quite easy as from before birth one has been purple, and one pink, so I've gone with a purple giraffe for Casey this year (she had a purple elephant last time, see Shanae's card for this year here), and it just fit nicely with Karen's latest Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge:

The rest of the colours were inspired by Tea Party DSP - I love it!! The little flower is the one from Wild About You, just stamped in the two purples and with the centre coloured in using a Pretty in Pink marker. The giraffe and each of the letters are popped up with dimensionals.

A sweet card for a sweet little girl who I don't get to see enough!

Stamps: Wild About You, Tidy Alphabet (retired)

Card: Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac, Whisper White

Paper: Tea Party

Ink: Lovely Lilac, Pretty in Pink, Almpst Amethyst

Other: Certainly Celery 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon, Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write Marker

KWernerDesign Colour Inspiration #55

I was going to give Kristina's latest colour challenge a miss this week as I haven't been feeling 100% lately (dry season and the colds it brings......), but I pulled out a few scrap pieces of card tonight that I thought I could make them fit - don't you love it when that happens? Plus, it was such a funky inspiration photo this week...

I adore that skirt!! I don't think I'd get away with those heels up here though :-)

I popped up the Really Rust panel with dimensionals, so the stamped card underneath the star punch out is recessed, if you get what I mean. The edges of the Really Rust and More Mustard have also been swiped with their coordinating colours. Could even use this one for a guy!

Stamps: Circle Circus, A Little Birthday Cheer

Card: Basic Grey, Really Rust, More Mustard, Very Vanilla

Ink: Basic Grey, More Mustard, Really Rust

Accessories: 5/8" Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon, Pewter brads

Paper, Ribbons and Punches

Yesterday, I held a Stamp Camp with a fellow demonstrator; I've obviously held other stamping functions before, but this was my very first Stamp Camp. We each presented 3 projects - a card, a 6"x6" scrapbook page and a 3D project each fitting into the theme 'Paper, Ribbons and Punches' and had a lovely relaxing day stamping and chatting.

Here are the projects I prepared:
a masculine horizontal joy-fold card (because you can never have too many ideas for masculine cards!)

a simple beach page using Ocean Commotion;

and a funky triangle box - perfect for a teachers gift, or bomboniere, or made smaller for Christmas decorations. The tutorial for this can be found at SCS

Here's the little thank you gift we gave each of the participants (thank you Paper Pleasing Ideas for your tutorial)

and the projects Sharon prepared:

Pop on over and visit Sharon for the details on her projects.

Card:

Stamps: Best Yet, Circle Circus

Card: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White

DSP: Urban Garden

Ink: Kiwi Kiss

Other: 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Small Star Punch, 1 3/8" Square Punch, 1 1/4" Square Punch, Baja Breeze Double Stitched Ribbon

6"x6" Page:

Stamps: Ocean Commotion

Card: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

DSP: Patterns Brocade Blue

Ink: Pumpkin Pie

Other: 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Oval Punch, Small Oval Punch, pewter brads, white grosgrain ribbon, paper piercer

Triangle Box:

Stamps: Circle Circus

Card: Tangerine Tango, Very Vanilla

DSP: Haiku

Ink: Tangerine Tango, Old Olive

Other: Crop-o-dile, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, old olive grosgrain ribbon

Thank you Box:

Card: Kiwi Kiss

DSP: Raspberry Tart

Other: White grosgrain ribbon, Crop-o-dile

Shimmer Sand Inspiration

I've finally been able to join in one of Makeesha's Inspiration Challenges again! It's been a while, and yet again, it gave the creative processes a work out.

Aren't these cushions gorgeous? Maybe I can have something like this again in my house in about 20 years when Luana moves out.... I drew my inspiration mainly from the front cushion - I did want to try and use Kiwi Kiss too inspired by the back one, but it just didn't work out. By just using Sahara Sand and Whisper White, I completed the latest Colour Chef Challenge too! Gotta love the effect of using only neutrals too.

I chose to work with a square card to keep in line with the square cushions and I clear embossed the main image from Fresh Cuts to try and reflect the shimmery fabric. I also used the rounded leaves as inspiration, using the coordinating stamp (second generation) behind 'for you' and placing the scallop circle over the triangular leaves of the main image to hide them, if you get what I mean?! A little bit of shimmery organdy white ribbon finished it off.

Now, I know this photo is a bit shadowy, but at least you get the idea of the embossing - I only have a small window (no pun intended) of reasonable photography light at around 2pm (our house is very shaded), and Paul had the camera at work today (so this was taken after 5pm). I will attempt a better photo tomorrow.

ETA: I have tried to take a better photo, but the embossing hasn't been captured as much as I would have liked - any tips welcome!!

Have a great weekend!

Stamps: Fresh Cuts

Card: Sahara Sand, Whisper White

Ink: Sahara Sand, Versamark
Other: White Organdy ribbon (retired), scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, clear embossing powder

Wasabi Petals

I've been driving for 8 hours over the past 2 days for work (one of the joys of working in the Northern Territory, but I can't complain as this is the first trip I've had to do since mid-September), so have had plenty of time to think about layouts and things like that. But in all that time, I really couldn't come up with something I was happy with for the latest Sweet Sunday Sketch and Raspberry Suite Colour Challenges. I didn't necessarily want to put them together, but that's what eventuated when I sat down tonight.


Considering I've just done a black and white plus colour card, this colour combo of Dawn's threw me a bit... I'm really not sure why. I ended up using Wild Wasabi (retired) as the closest to Grass Green that I have. I initially wanted to do a shabby chic type card, maybe using Carte Postal or something like that.....

This sketch of Karen's has also intrigued me since I saw it on Sunday. I don't have a circle cutting system, so I was going to let this one pass, or maybe adapt it for a scrapbook page that I need to do before the end of the week, changing the big circle to a square...

And this is the card that evolved - and I mean evolved. It's been a while since I've played with so many different bits and pieces for a card, changing my mind a million times. Not really much at all like what I was first thinking... for either challenge.

It's a bit hard to see, but I have clear embossed the Scribble Jumbo wheel in the black right hand vertical panel, and also the swirl from Perfect Princess on the left hand side. I really am quite happy with the result - another July birthday card taken care of!

Thank you once again ladies for a couple of great challenges.

Stamps: Pick a Petal, Family Phrases, Perfect Princess, Scribble Jumbo Wheel

Card: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi (retired)

Ink: Wild Wasabi (retired), Basic Black, Versamark

Other: Clear embossing powder, Black grosgrain ribbon

Birthday Crocodile

I love the colours Kristina has chosen this week - funnily enough a few weeks ago I actually started (and still haven't finished) a scrapbook page with almost the same colour scheme, except at the moment I have Pixie Pink instead of Sky Blue.

I think Luana missed out having a boring grey carseat!! I thought these colours would work well for a kids birthday card, so made one for a little man turning 1 in July.

My original thought (in the wee hours of the morning when Luana decided to wake up...) was to have 2 or 3 balloons, but then I thought 1 would be more symbolic for a 1st birthday. The balloon was stamped in Versamark, then Pumpkin Pie then clear embossed to give the shiny effect of a real balloon. The balloon was tied to the crocodile's tail using silver cord, and the rest is pretty self explanatory.

I'm looking forward to popping this in the post in a few weeks!

Stamps: Wild About You, Big Bold Birthday, All Year Cheer II (retired)

Card: Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, Green Galore, Whisper White

DSP: Spring Silhouettes (retired), Summer Picnic (retired)

Ink: Taken with Teal, Green Galore, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark

Accessories: silver cord (retired), white gel pen

A Bit More than a Punch of Colour...

Another great blog I found in my recent hopping was Kelly Jo's Stamp Pad, and she hosts the colour chef challenge. Being a foodie, I really couldn't pass this one by... This weeks challenge was black, white and a punch colour of choice.

It's my brother's birthday soon, so I thought this could be a good opportunity to whip up something for him. I know I've used the Black, Red, White combo a bit this year but I was going to use Tempting Turquoise and Paul told me it was too much like Port Power colours (an AFL team for those who don't follow - we couldn't possibly have that colour combo in our family!!) - so Real Red it was. I think it's ended up as a bit more than a punch of colour - maybe a left hook!

I had seen a tutorial for a cool punched emblem over at Paper Pleasing Ideas, but didn't have all the punches, so made an abridged version. I used the two circle punches to make 'halos' which I adhered to a 1 3/8" base circle, then attached a star with dimensionals. The emblems themselves were popped up with dimensionals too. To add a bit of interest, I cut a strip from the right hand edge of the front of base card, edged it with a bit of Real Red, and adhered the Whisper White panel so it lined up with the back of the base card. Not sure if that makes a lot of sense...

I must have hit the mark with this one, because the first thing Paul said when he looked at it was 'it's a very masculine card'. Yay!!

Stamp: Big Bold Birthday
Card: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, small star punch

Soft Echoes

Gee, I love blog hopping - you come across some amazingly talented people and their creations. On one of my recent hops, I found Stacey's Stamping Stage. Stacey has some fabulous creations, and also holds a regular colour inspiration challenge inspired by gorgeous pieces of jewellrey, so I thought I'd join in this week. Isn't this bracelet just gorgeous? If you want specific details about it, pop over to Stacey's blog.




The colours Stacey pulled for the challenge were Garden Green, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White. I've been working with bolder stamps lately, so thought I'd pull out the ever so pretty Echoes of Kindness.


I was really trying to add some Garden Green card in here, but then decided I really did like the soft effect of just having the darker colour in the verse. I think the torn and distressed edges add to the softness of the rose, and I also sponged the edges of the base card to make it less harsh. I fussy cut extra roses too and popped them up with dimensionals.

Something a bit different from me this time. Thanks Stacey!


Stamps: Echoes of Kindness (Level 2 Hostess)
Card: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Garden Green

Sweet Birthday

I was a bit eager last month and arranged a new catalogue swap with a group of lovely ladies. We had to work to 3 criteria: use at least 1 stamp set brand new to the new catalogue, use at least 1 new In Colour, and use DSP. The card I ended up was was COMPLETELY different to what I was originally trying to work with, but it just was not happening for me - the only similarity was it contained Pink Pirouette. So on quite a different tack, this is what I sent out:

I had to get the new set Party Time. I think it's so cute!! I have paper pieced the icing of the little cake with Sweet Always DSP, and used the blender pen to colour the candle with Pumpkin Pie ink (and the flame ever so lightly before adding the Dazzling Diamonds). The scallop is popped up with dimensionals and I love how the taffeta ribbon just finishes it off. I was MUCH happier with how this one came together.

Stamps: Party Time, It's a Loop Thing (Level 3 Hostess Bundle)
Card: Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
DSP: Sweet Always
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, corner rounder punch, Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds

More Pink Passion

There must be something in the stars at the moment because it feels like I'm reaching for Pink Passion a lot for colour challenges - and it's not usually a colour I go for, so they have indeed been challenges for me. I love Pixie Pink (and for those of you who have been following me for a bit, you'll know that's the colour I fall to for Luana's birthdays), but Pink Passion stretches me a bit...

This week Makeesha has come up with the colour challenge combo of Pink Passion, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery and Whisper White. Her design team came up with some STUNNING examples.

This is actually the second card I made for the challenge. Circle Circus arrived this week, so I've been hanging to play with it!

I haven't pulled out the Ice rhinestone brads for a while either, but they work well with Flower Fusion. The circle are mounted with dimensionals and the piercing broke up the card base a bit.

This next card uses Pink Passion as a base, and it never ceases to amaze me how the same colours can look SO different.

Sorry, I didn't realise this hadn't photographed so good, you can barely see the Certainly Celery border around the left hand panel.
I had great expectations for this idea, but am still deciding whether I'm really happy with this or not. I sponged Pumpkin Pie and Certainly Celery ink onto Glossy White card, then clear embossed the large and small flowers from One of a Kind before braying over with Pink Passion (Joseph's Coat technique). This panel was mounted on Certainly Celery, which has been torm down one side. I stamped the big flower in the three colours, using the Certainly Celery as leaves, and mounting the Punpkin Pie centre with the Chunky Glitter with a dimensional. I quite like that flower! Not bad, but maybe this would have worked better if I had have used a thicker lined image....

Thanks Makeesha for moving me out of my comfort zone!


Circle Card:
Stamps: Circle Circus, Short & Sweet
Card: Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Certainly Celery, Pink Passion
Accessories: Flower Fusion, Circle Ice Rhinestone brads, 1 1/4" circle punch, scallop edge punch, small oval punch, large oval punch, paper piercer

Best Yet Card:

Stamps: One of a Kind, Best Yet (Level 1 Hostess)

Card: Pink Passion, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Glossy White

Ink: Pink Passionm Cetainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark

Accessories: sponges, brayer, clear embossing powder, Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Chunky Sprinkles, paper piercer

Crunchie Card

The first thing Paul said when he saw this card was 'it looks like a Crunchie' (for those of you who aren't familiar, Crunchie is a chocolate bar of honeycomb covered in chocolate). I guess it does a bit....

I wanted to make a card for a friend who celebrates her birthday on the weekend. She is not a girly girl and really doesn't like pink, so I couldn't use any of the colour challenges I've been playing along with lately... I love the Good Morning Sunshine DSP, so thought I'd work with that and the latest Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge sketch. And what do you know, I used a cupcake too!

I guess the yellow panel and the chocolate chip DSP and ribbon is what made Paul think of a Crunchie....

I used the seaweed from Ocean Commotion and twisted it on the top of the cake inked in Chocolate Chip to give the impression of icing. I used the flower stamp from Perfect Princess with seconf generation Summer Sun for the background of the cake panel and some piercing around the edge of the DSP just finished it off.

Happy Birthday Purdey!

Stamps: Big Bold Birthday, Perfect Princess, Ocean Commotion

Card: Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun, Pacific Point, Whisper White

DSP: Good Morning Sunshine

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun

Accessories: 5/8" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon, paper piercer

A Very Proud Granddaughter

I am always proud of my grandparents, I think they're wonderful, but today I am even more proud of my Grandad - as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours he has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the General Division for his service to the community, and to the road transport and fertiliser industries. We've always known how fantastic and dedicated he is, and now the rest of Australia knows too!

Of course, I couldn't let this wonderful occasion pass without making him a special card. Karen's latest sketch provided just the inspiration.

The lovely Urban Garden and Urban Oasis DSPs work wonderfully for masculine cards. I think you can never go wrong with stripes for men.

I cut 1 1/8" squares of DSP and mounted them on Baja Breeze card before mounting that on Kiwi Kiss card. The Congratulations circle, and the diamond centre panel have both been attached with dimensionals.

I have also decided to take a leaf out of the very talented Kim's book and start decorating the inside of cards a bit more often. I think it's a lovely touch. If you haven't seen her work yet, pop on over to her blog.

Congratulations Grandad. We are all so very proud of you.

Stamp: Greetings Eight

Card: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White

DSP: Urban Garden, Urban Oasis

Ink: Kiwi Kiss

Accessories: 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, paper piercer

It's a Hand Drawn Birthday

And here's the third card I've been able to make this evening, courtesy of Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.


We're going out to dinner for a friends birthday tomorrow night, so this is the card for her. As the DSP is so busy, I decided to keep the feature panel VERY simple.

I've popped the little cake up with dimensionals, but apart from that nothing real fancy with this one. The Baja Breeze panels only extend over the DSP a tiny bit... might adjust that next time.

Thanks for another great sketch Karen.

Stamps: It's a Loop Thing, A Little Birthday Cheer

Card: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Whisper White

DSP: Hand Drawn

Ink: Riding Hood Red