Retired Offerings

The colour combo this week over at Colour Throwdown was using some gorgeous retired colours, gee I miss them!

This is such a lovely colour combo and matches in PERFECTLY with the retired Afternoon Tea DSP. I had made a birthday card previously for my friend Grace, but thinking about it, it wasn't really right for her - she LOVES DSP, but not so keen on the ribbons and frilly stuff, so I thought using Afternoon Tea DSP as the main feature would be perfect for her.

Quite straight forward - the hardest part was figuring our how to place the squares. The DSP squares are 1 1/8" and the Chocolate Chip backing squares are 1 1/4" (all cut with trimmer - I don't have the punch yet!).

Much better for you Grace!!

Stamps: One of a Kind
Card: Groovy Guava (retired), Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky (retired), Whisper White
Paper: Afternoon Tea (retired)
Ink: Groovy Guava (retired)
Other: 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch

Thanks for Lending Us Your Car

During one of our recent stints in Adelaide, friends of ours loaned us their little car so we didn't have to hire one. I was forbidden to take any stamping supplies with me and couldn't make a card while we were down there, so I made this little card when we got back to send them as a thank you.

I just had to use the By Land car for this one, even though it's retired, and the Much Appreciated greeting (also retired). The little car was stamped in Rose Red (the colour of the car!!) and Basic Grey and was mounted on Almost Amethyst Prints DSP (retired) which has been mounted on distressed Almost Amethyst card. For the main panel I pierced Rose Red card stock, and on it mounted squares of So Saffron with So Saffron Prints DSP (also retired), which then had the circle mounted on top with dimensionals. This was all attached to a base of Always Artichoke (there it is again Sharon!).

I used the latest sketch from Taylored Expressions. I love her sketches, but this is the first one I've had the opportunity to play along.

I'm quite chuffed with how this one turned out! Thanks guys for the loan of the car!

Afternoon Tea Notes

I must apologise to those of you who have been checking my blog over the past few weeks to find nothing, then multiple posts. I have been down South for my sister's wedding, and had written and (thought I) scheduled post to come up while I didn't have computer access, only to find they didn't post when I scheduled them, although when I did post them, the dates were for when I wanted them to post originally..... sorry, that's a bit jumbled.

Anyway, I'm back now and made my first card tonight in almost 3 weeks - yay!! The new catalogue is here too and I LOVE it!! Nothing will quite replace Bold Butterfly, but I adore the Christmas stamps and there are some really funky flowers. E-mail me here of you would like to buy a copy, or you would like to host a workshop to receive one free and to have a play with the fantastic new products.

However, what I want to share with you tonight is a little gift I made my wonderful downline girls as a well done for all the fabulous work they do!! We are now spread all across the country so we can't have our little get togethers anymore :-(

I loved the Love Note folders we made at Regionals, and thought they would be just the thing to pop in the post. I used mainly retired product (now, it was current when I made them) - the colours were Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. I used Afternoon Tea DSP (from the Summer Mini) for the front of the folder, on the card and to line the envelopes. The stamps are from the retired sets Carte Postale and Live Your Dream (thought that one would make it to this years catalogue...) and I used the scallop circle, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches. The cover was all tied up with Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon.

Just a little token of appreciation girls for the great job you do - I miss having you around the corner!!

Another Luana Card

Here's the card Luana made for our friend Josette's birthday last weekend.

She chose the red ribbon and a few card scraps, and we worked from there!! We used the retiring Spring Flowers Bouquet Punch and Luana chose which flowers to punch out of which colour. I added a little bit of adhesive and she placed everything where she wanted it. The greeting is once again from Short & Sweet - I gave her a selection of 3 and this is what she chose!

We had a great night! Thanks Jo and glad you had an awesome birthday!

In Colour Combo Challenge

I had a bit of a giggle when I logged onto Makeesha's blog for her latest challenge - I only finished a card yesterday in the colours (minus the Whisper White) she had set!! Great minds think alike (GRIN)!! Nah, I can't take the credit, I pinched the colour combo from my friend who sent me a gorgeous Christening invitation.




I don't have a pic of the invite (a certain little one of mine wanted to look at it and smudged the printing.....), but here's the card I made:

As I said, I've missed out the Whisper White, but I'm sure I'll be forgiven!! This is VERY simple; I've clear embossed Classic Stars jumbo wheel on Soft Sky, torn it, added Real Red grosgrain ribbon, mounted this on pierced Blue Bayou and clear embossed the little man's initials (Best Friends Upper Alphabet - retiring).

And, coincidentally, Luana made a card a couple weeks ago in these colours for her best buddy who just became a big brother. In case you missed it, here 'tis:

She used Nursery Necessities with a little bit of double stitched Blue Bayou ribbon and a couple of stars punched out with the Large Star punch.

Thanks Keesh!! I'll try to have another play this week!!

Take Chocolate and Cocoa, and add Pink

This will be super quick today - no stories or details, but let me know if you want them!!

I got a bit carried away last night and made 3 cards for Kristina's latest colour challenge:

Love the colours!! The first one also fits Nerine's latest sketch, and the first two fit Mel's latest retired challenge.

I'm off to a pizza/paint the panel van/birthday party!!

Makeesha's Sketch and Leah's Colours - again!

Hi all,

Until I was writing the title of this posting, I didn't realise that I have paired Makeesha and Leah's challenges more than once... Thanks girls! Love your work!

With todays card I have been just a bit organised with for Leah's challenge - it's not due until the end of the month! And I really liked Makeesha's latest sketch so just had to play.

Here's Leah's colour inspiration:

and here's Keesh's sketch:

I saw the Chocolate Chip flower in the bottom right hand corner of the inspiration photo and just had to use Eastern Blooms. I've used a base of Sahara Sand and stamped in the same for the background branch (also from Eastern Blooms). I've layered the double stitched Chocolate Chip ribbon first, then Pixie Pink with a bit of Turquoise grosgrain ribbon, then Mellow Moss which has been pierced. The greeting is from the Hidden Garden rub-ons, and the bling in the middle of the flower is the blue chunky glitter.

This one will be winging its way to a friend of mine who I miss SO much.

My friend (and upline) Karen has also put her hand up to donate 50 layouts to the Memories project which is donating albums, complete with layouts, to those who lost everything in the Victorian Bushfires. I love Keesh's sketch so much I thought I'd have a play with a 12x12...

It's very basic, but this way the recipient can add whatever title and personal embellishments they want - it does look a lot better with photos too. I've made the photo panel so it can hold 2 regular photos or a larger photo. I've used Petals and Paiselys DSP (going to miss that one!), Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, cast brads from Styled Silver Hodgepodge Harware, and Old Olive and Taken with Teal card. The edge is also pierced but it's a bit hard to see in the photo.

Thanks for the inspiration Keesh!

If you would like to help out with donating a layout or 2, time is running out so check out Karen's blog for more details: www.karenmrobinson.blogspot.com

February Layout Swap

I've been wanting to post this for a while (and this is the one you've been waiting for Leah!!) but as it was for a swap, I wanted to wait until all had been received, which should be the case by now (plus, a friend in NSW told me she has hers now - hi Karen!).

The February swap was a layout one, using the layout of the middle card from page 85 of the current IB&C.

I used Elegant Notes which is a stamp set I fell in love with when the IB&C was released last year, but have only just ordered (and it's now being retired....). I am a muso from way back and this set made me think of my theory books!! But the treble and bass clefs are a lot nicer than my squiggles!! The background swirl is from Baroque Motifs, which is being continued - yay!! I have used the colours Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Very Vanilla, and have finished off with a couple of Antique Brass Brads from the Hodgepodge Hardware (another retiring product...) to echo the bass clef.

This is NOTHING like I originally had planned (think black and turquoise using Time Well Spent!) but I am really happy with how it turned out.

If you have also fallen in love with this set, or are in need of more hodgepodge, please contact me ASAP to place your order - products are running out fast.