Happy Bday 2U

I'm so excited that I've been able to do all four Viva La Verve sketches this month! It's been a loooong time. But I'm back into the swing of things now! I have three cards in this months issue of Australian Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft magazine, showcasing this stamp set from Flourishes. The issue will be available next week :) So I'll be able to show you those cards soon! This card I made today however, is similar to one of the magazine cards. I needed a birthday card for a friend of mine and she loved the one that's in the magazine. I didn't have it back from the publishers yet so I made her this one instead! I loved the sketch, but I added a few extra circles, and a sentiment tag too. I also used Whimsey Farm Twine and I'm very impressed with the quality. Some twines I've used have unraveled or freyed. This one from Whimsey Farm is great to use.

Stamps: Pinwheels & Popsicles (Flourishes)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Barely Blush (Stampin Up), Neenah Solar White
Papers: Flair (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Whimsey Farm twine, Spotlight buttons, Stampin Up circle punch, Black marker pen, Stampin Up scallop edge punch

Viva La Verve November Week 3

 

 

I love sketches and inspiration photo's that challenge my creativity. I always struggle with these panel sketches, but I do love how I get to use up a few patterened paper scraps :) The only variation I made to the sketch was the lace and sentiment tag. I just loved the beautiful orange and purlples in the inspiration photo and it reminded me of the My Mind's Eye Indie Chic collection. I used the Saffron paper pad and have all but used every single piece in it now! I absolutely adore it! The flower image is from Flourishes Mix n Mugs stamp set, and I only outlined the flowers with orange and razzleberry ink and a blender pen.

Stamps: Mix n Mugs (Flourishes)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi (Stampin Up)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry (Stampin Up)
Papers: Indie Chic - Saffron (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: We Are Memory Keepers twine, Stampin Up buttons, Spotlight lace, Spellbinders oval

Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge with Viva La Verve sketch

 

Hi! For those of you who have seen my blog before, you may have noticed a big change. I've had a new design installed by Smitten Blog Designs. What do you think of it? I have to say I love what my designer did, and it was such an easy process. I would definitly recommend them :) There's a lot of info I still have to add so bear with me while I do all that! My card today is for two challenges, the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes, and I used the Viva La Verve November sketch Week 2! I wanted to create another glittery card so I used some Stampin Up glimmer paper for the scallop circle and banner tags. My circle is a bit bigger than what is shown on the sketch, and I added a banner for the sentiment over the striped paper. So just a few subtle changes to the original sketch ;) I coloured the adorable hedgehog image with copic markers, and added some vellum over the backgroud paper for a more frosted look. I also shaded the Baja cardstock pennant with some white ink. I've almost finished my Christmas cards for the year and am super excited that they'll probably all be done before December even starts! Yay!

Stamps: Fur Collared (Penny Black), Holiday Greetings
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Vellum, Glimmer paper (Stampin Up), Copic Express It
Papers: So This Is Christmas (Carta Bella)
Accessories: Stampin up button and white thread, Spellbinders scallop circle and classic circle, MFT Fishtail Flag Stax

Country Christmas

Hi! I just want to share with you a set of Christmas cards I made for Australian Cardmaking Stamping and Papercraft a while back. They use Verve's Holiday Greetings stamp set. I love that this set has the tree outlines so I can stamp right on to the designer paper. And the wreath with the hearts in it is so cute.  

The papers I used are from the gorgeous Christmas Cottage collection by Teresa Collins. There are so many lovely green patterns in this collection, and everything co-ordinates so well. Some shabby stiching, Old paper ink shanding, and cream twine make for a real country feel.

Stamps: Holiday Greetings (Verve)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz), Copic markers
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up), Neenah Solar White
Papers: Christmas Cottage (Teresa Collins)
Accessories: Hemptique twine, Spotlight buttons, Stampin Up circle punch, Verve Scalloped Trim Trio star border, sewing machine

Christmas Gingerbread Gifts

 

Each year my mum asks me to make little gifts for her to give to her work friends. This is what I came up with this year! They are so cute that I decided to make a few extras for my son to give his friends and teachers at preschool. The clear pillow boxes are from a local variety store. And I added some dazzling diamonds to the edge of the doily. The tag is from Sizzix (Stampin up) Chalk Talk Framelits, and I sponged that with Old paper Ink.

Stamps: Poinsettia Christmas, Holiday Greetings (Verve)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Ruby Red (Stampin Up), Old paper (Tim Holtz)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up)
Papers: -
Accessories: Sizzix Chalk Talk Framelits (Stampin Up), Doily, Jillibean Soup red twine, Red ribbon (unknown!), Dazzling diamonds, Clear pillow boxes (K-Mart)

From Our House To Yours

I have made a lot of these card for family this year. I just love the sentiment, it's so personal. I used Verve's Poinsettia Christmas stamp set and stamped the solid poinsettia with Cherry Cobbler ink and added a layer of vellum underneath. The outline poinsettias on the tag are stamped with Old Paper ink. I also sponged around the tag and edges of the designer paper with the same ink. The black border around the red cardstock and the dotted the edges of the scallop border are just hand drawn with a black marker. Enjoy your weekend!

Stamps: Poinsettia Christmas (Verve)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Kraft (Stampin Up)
Papers: Home For Christmas (Fancy Pants)
Accessories: Spellbinders tag, Verve Sweet Scallop die, Bag O Buttons buttons, Stampin Up linen thread, spotlight lace, black Stampin Up marker

Viva La Verve - I'm Back!

 

Okay, so I'm sorry to be posting another Christmas card with this hedgehog on it!!! I hope you're not sick of them! I coloured a whole heap a while back, and can't help but use them :) Anyway, this card is for the Viva La Verve November Week 1 sketch. I havn't done a Viva La Verve sketch in so long :( I'm so excited to be back doing the Verve challenges! I'm a layers kinda girl, so I couldn't help but layer the orignal sketch up a bit ;) I used papers from Carta Bella's So This Is Christmas collection, as well as some gitter paper from Stampin Up for a bit of sparkle :) The Merry Christmas sentiment is from Verve's Holiday Greetings stamp set. Check back soon to see a set of cards I made with this awesome set featured in Volume 19 #12 of Australian Cardmaking Stamping & papercraft magazine!

Stamps: Holiday Greetings (Verve), Santas Hat (Penny Black)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Vellum, Glitter paper (Stampin Up), Copic X-Press It
Papers: So This Is Christmas (Carta Bella)
Accessories: We Are Memory Keepers twine, Spotlight lace and buttons, Fancy Pants large brown button, Spellbinders scallop rectangles

Christmas Spinner Card

 

 

I love love love spinner cards! They're always a hit with friends, and they're so easy to make. I'm sorry but I can't remember where I saw the original tutorial for this, but there are a heap out there. I don't follow the tutorials exactly because the size of the card is too small. So I add a few extra layers to make mine a bit bigger. It can be easily adapted to whatever size you want. This Christmas one was made from Teresa Collin's Christmas Cottage paper collection, and I couldn't help but add a doily :) I stamped snowflakes in white ink on the green paper, and for a bit of sparkle I added some dazzling diamonds to the santa and doily.

Stamps: Christmas Characters (Inkadinkado), Christmas Mini's (Impressions Obsession)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin Up), Neenah Solar White
Paper: Christmas Cottage (Teresa Collins)
Accessories: Doily, Spotlight buttons, dazzling diamonds, We Are Memory Keepers twine

Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge

 

 

I've just ordered some Simon Says Stamp Exclusive stamps and they should be arriving soon! Yay! There were so many I wanted but couldn't get so I'm entering the Anything Goes Challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp blog to try and win a $50 voucher to buy some more!!!! I made this card for a friend who loves blue and green. I used stamps from Penny Black's Sweet Wishes stamp set. To girly it up I added a doily I cut in half, some cute buttons and some zig zag stitching.

Stamps: Sweet Wishes (Penny Black)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Whisper White, Night of Navy (Stampin Up)
Papers: Indie Chic "Citron" (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Doily, Spotlight buttons, sewing machine

Another Hedgehog Card!

 

Is it Monday again already??? Boy the weeks are just flying by. My little girl is now 14 weeks old, and my little boy has almost finished his first year of preschool! It's crazy! The Christmas decorations are all up in the shops and yes, I have finally started my Christmas shopping :) But as promised, here is another hedgehog card! I love this one. It was super easy to make. I coloured the little guy in Copic markers and used some dazzling diamonds on his santa hat. The papers are from the gorgeous Santas List collection by Teresa Collins.

Stamps: Santa's Hat (Penny Black)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake (Stampin Up)
Papers: Santa's List (Teresa Collins)
Accessories: Spellbinders circle, Ellen Hutson doily, Teresa Collins enamel dots, Hemptique twine, Spotlight button & lace, sewing machine. dazzling diamonds

Merry Christmas

Hi everyone! I hope you had a lovely weekend! I'm right into making all my Christmas cards now and have coloured a few hedgehogs ready to use (so you'll see more in the coming days!) For this one I used the To have and To Hug stamp and coloured it with copic markers and added some dazzling diamonds to the star. The papers are from Teresa Collins' Santa's List collection. I added a few square/rectangle layers of vellum, designer paper and cardstock. I think a lot of my Christmas cards this year are going to include some glimmer paper. I used it on the banner here with some black pearls to join it.

Stamps: To Have and To Hug (Penny Black), Christmas Mini's (Impression Obsession)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Old Olive, Basic Grey (Stampin Up), Copic X -Press It, Vellum, Glimmer paper
Papers: Santa's List (Teresa Collins)
Accessories: Whimsey Farm twine, Spotlight button and lace, MFT Doily die, Dazzling Diamonds, MFT pennant die, Kaisercraft pearls

MFT Sketch 145



 

 

 Hi there! The card I have for you today is for the My Favourite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge #145. A friend of mine recently launched her website for her cupcake business. You can see it here. I have had the pleasure of being at a birthday, and a baptism where she's made the cupcakes and I have to say they're probably the best I've ever tried! So I had her in mind when I made this card with MFT's Cupcake Cutie stamp set. I coloured it in with copic markers and used papers from Fancy Pants' Hopscotch collection. The floral print on the backgroud paper was a little "busy" and I really wanted to use it so I put a piece of vellum over it to tone it down. I ran out of cotton for my sewing machine :( so I just added some faux stitching around the cupcakes with a grey marker. The rest of the details are below! Have a great weekend!


Stamps: Cupcake Cutie, Birthday Girl (My favourite Things)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Whisper White, Smokey Slate (Stampin Up)
Papers: Hopscotch (Fancy Pants)
Accessories: Kaisercraft flower, Stampin Up button (retired) and smokey slate marker, Spotlight lace, Teresa Collins enamel dots, Taylerd Expressions pennant border and notepaper border dies, vellum

Merry Christmas

 

 

Here's the card I promised you! I have to apologise about my photo editing though. I'm no expert and I know it's not perfect :( But I'll just tell you about the card a bit more so you get the idea. I used papers from Teresa Collin's Christmas Cottage collection. I'm a big fan of 6 x 6 paper pads, and have quite a stash! But I have to say there are few pads that I use almost every sheet from. This Christmas Cottage collection has to be my all time favourite Christmas selections. It's really country and rustic and I love it! Check back in a few weeks for my cards using this collection that were published in the Christmas mag you see below. On to my card - I distressed the edges and sewed around the edges of the prown paper. I layered that with the words paper and put a layer of vellum over the middle of it. The circle was cut from the snowflake layer and also added under the star border. I die cut the ornamets from the same red paper thats under the brown, and added some dazzling diamonds to their edges.

Stamps: Holiday Greetings (Verve)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz)
Cardstock: Whisper White 9Stampin Up)
Papers: Chistmas Cottage (Teresa Collins)
Accessories: Hemptique twine, MFT ornament die, Verve Scallop Trim Trio border die, Spotlight button, Spellbinders circle die, Tim Holtz edge distressor, sewing machine  

Christmas Card Season!

World Cardmaking Day, a few days ago, was the official start of the holiday cardmaking season. And you can see two projects I've done in this magazine. One is an easy and hard version of the same card, and the other is a set of 3 country style Christmas cards. There are a lot of cool ideas in the magazine so be sure to check it out! I'll be back soon with a Christmas card I made this morning :)

World Cardmaking Day

 

 

Happy World Cardmaking Day everyone! I started making cards about 5 years ago and never expected it to turn into such a passion of mine. I find it so rewarding and have met so many wonderful people. It really is an amazing hobby and I'm so glad it found its way into my life! The card I have to show you today is one that was in Volume 19 No. 7 of Australian Cardmaking Stamping & Papercraft magazine. It was for a feature they did on using felt. You can see I used felt for the clouds and the strip over the grass. I paper pieced the balloon with papers from Simple Stories Summer Fresh collection.

Stamps: Away We Go (The Cat's Pajamas)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pool Party (Stampin Up)
Papers: Summer Fresh (Simple Stories)
Accessories: MFT squiggle border, TCP cloud border, Spotlight lace and button, sewing machine

Wishing You A Special day

 

 

Hi everyone! I'm so excited about the new Taylored Expressions Christmas stamps and dies out soon! I'm determined to get a start on my Christmas cards early this year! After looking at the Baker's Dozen sneak peaks I'm super excited to make cards with these stamps :) In the meantime, here's another TE card using the Make A Wish stamp set. I made the frame from Tim Holtz grungeboard. I've had it for an age but never used it! It was very easy. I glued some designer paper from MME to the grungeboard and used two Spellbinders dies to cut it. I layered that over some white cardstock with the birthday sentiment on it.

Stamps: Make A Wish (Taylored Expressions)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Whipser White (Stampin Up)
Papers: Meadow (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Prima flower, Tim Holtz grungeboard, Doily, Liquid Pearls

A Little Birthday Wish

 

 

Hi Everyone, I hope you're having a great weekend so far! I'm trying to use a few of my older paper pads, to clear the way for some new ones :) :) For this card I used Country Boutique by Fancy Pants. The neutral tones are so versatile. I've previously made a Valentines Day card and a Sympathy card with these papers. But I was keen to use the new LJD Birthday Greetings stamp set from My Favourite Things. I'm always looking for larger birthday sentiments and this stamp set is great! I rounded the corners of some white cardstock for the sentiment, and shaded the edges with Old Paper ink.

Stamps: LJD Birthday Greetings (My Favourite Things)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up)
Papers: Country Boutique (Fancy pants)
Accessories: Hemptique twine, Prima flower, Spotlight button, sewing machine, Tim Holtz edge distressor

Bakers Dozen Pinterest Studio Challenge

 

 

I'm relatively new to pinterest, but I have to say I'm a a little obsessed. I love just browsing and adding things to my 23 Boards! Despite all the boards I've created for other stuff, I will have one of my own cards up and running soon and will pass on the details :) In the meantime, I had fun looking at the Taylored Expressions boards. So I decided I'd enter the Bakers Dozen Pinterest Studio Challenge. You can find the details for it HERE. I chose THIS picture for the inspiration for my card. I loved the colour combo, and stitched writing. I embossed the Kraft base with the Charles Cuttlebug embossing folder, and sponged across it with white ink. I Cut out a Taylored Expressions Pinking Circle in white cardstock and sewed two rough circles around it. I coloured the cupcake with Copics and added some dazzling diamonds.

Stamps: Build a Treat, Easter Doodles (Taylored Expressions)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Whisper White craft ink (Stampin Up), Copic markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Ruby Red, Pool Party, Crumb Cake (Stampin Up), Neenah Solar White
Papers: Flair (My Mind's Eye - Cut and Paste)
Accessories: My Mind's Eye Button, Stampin Up white thread, Spotlight lace, TE Pinking Circle stacklets die, sewing machine, Crumb Cake marker

Graphic Greetings - Birthday

 

 

I have another card for you today featuring a Taylored Expressions stamp set - Graphic Greetings Birthday. I wasn't sure how much use I would get out of this but I have to say I'm obsessed with it! And I'll be ordering more in the Graphic Greetings range too! I can't wait to use the Christmas one this year! I used My Minds Eye papers from their Indie Chic Ginger range, they match perfectly with grey cardstock which I'm really loving at the moment. I also stamped the Graphic Greetings stamp in grey ink and distressed the edges of the white cardstock.

Stamps: Graphic Greetings Birthday (Taylored Expressions)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin Up)
Cardstock: Whisper White, basic Grey (Stampin Up)
Papers: Indie Chic Ginger (My Minds Eye)
Accessories: Prima flower, Stampin Up button, We R Memory Keepers twine, Teresa Collins enamel dots, Tim Holtz Edge Distressor

Taylored Expressions Birthday Sketch Challenge

 

So I've completely fallen in love with Taylored Expressions! I have ordered some stamps and I'm ready to make a heap of cards with them :) And I must say, they arrived so quickly too! I'm in Austalia and some overseas orders take forever! But they were shipped on the same day I ordered them, and arrived in about a week! I highly recommend ordering from them! I've already made a couple of cards but you'll have to wait to see those because they're for magazine subbmission, but here's one I made using the Taylored Expressions Birthday Sketch Challenge. 



 

 

  

I turned the sketch on it's side because it wasn't quite working the original way. And I decided to make it a square card. I'm a layers kinda girl so I added a few extras, including a floral strip of paper over the pink chevron piece (which wasn't in the sketc). Other than that it's pretty close to the original. I used the new Chalkboard Elements stamp set. There are so many different styles you can do with this set! The flower is an old Prima flower that I ripped out the centre of and added a Kaisercraft crystal. The papers are My Mind's Eye.

 

Stamps: Chalkboard Elements (Taylored Expressions)

Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin Up), Old paper (Tim Holtz)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Grey (Stampin Up)

Papers: Honey (My Mind's Eye)

Accessories: Prima flower, Stampin up buttons, thread & scallop edge punch, Kaisercraft crystal, We are Memory Keepers corner rounder 

 

 

See My Cards Here!

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been submitting my work to this wonderful magazine, and am so lucky to be regularly featured. This month shows a set of baby cards I made including a gift tag and baby shower invitation. I'm also their featured stamper with a 20 question interview! It's out now so check it out!

I'm Back......Again!

 

 

I'm back.....again! This time it's for good. I gave birth to our second child 2 months ago (a little girl, Hannah!), and my pregnancy was quite difficult towards the end, and I was often just too tired to even look at my stamps :( Then, my husband got a new job two weeks before I gave birth, and is now away from 5:30am-8:30pm every day, so I spent the first few weeks at home getting used to having two kids and being at home by myself! I have made a few cards in the past 5 months, but they have been for magazine submissions. I started submitting to Australian Cardmaking Stamping & papercraft earlier this year and have had something in each months magazine since! They are such lovely people to deal with and I'm so glad they like my work! Recently they have asked me to do some product showcases. And that brings me to the two cards you see! I was given Fancy Pants - Down By The Shore to make a few cards. The style of papers and patterns were not really what I usually use, but I love a challenge! Rather than sticking too closely to the nautical theme of the papers, I made these two cards with as many of the products as I could. I really loved the flair (The oversized brad looking things on the card on the left). They were really cute, and I love the corrugated paper Fancy Pants are including in their collections at the moment. They have a lot of cool co-ordinating products. And for the scallop circle on the baby boy card, I used packaging from one of the products! It matched perfectly!
So if you're still following my blog, thanks for sticking around :) I'll be posting again soon!

Stamps: -
Ink: -
Cardstock: Whisper White
Papers: Down By The Shore colletion (Fancy pants)
Accessories: Down By The Shore colletion (Fancy pants), Hemptique twine, sewing machine, sandpaper






  

 

Spinner Cards

Here are two spinner cards I made for my son's birthday and his friends birthday recently. They're always a hit with the little kids! The original tutorial I used to make these from can be found here. However I have modified both cards to make them a little bigger, and to add a few more layers. It's easy enough to make your own templates for these so you can make whatever size you want.

BUTTERFLY CARD

Stamps: Butterfly (Stampin Up - Unknown set), Happy Birthday (Stampin Up - Create A Cupcake)
Ink: Ruby Red (Stampin Up), Early Espresso
Cardstock: Whisper White, Early Espresso
Paper: Ruby (My Minds Eye)
Accessories: Lace & Buttons (Spotlight), Felt number 3 (Prima), Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Stampin Up dazzling diamonds, Sewing machine, 2 x 5cent pieces (Australian money)

DINOSAUR CARD

Stamps: Dinoroar (Stampin up), Happy Birthday ( Stampin Up - unknown set)
Ink: omento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up), Neenah Solar White
Paper: Out Of The Blue (My minds Eye)
Accessories: Stacking stars (MFT), Felt number 3 (Prima), Buttons (Spotlight), White gel pen

Vintage and Lacey

 

Hi! And happy April! I can't believe we're already into April!!!! It's such a busy cardmaking month for me so I should have lots to show you soon :)
I was so excited to make a vintage style card for a great friend of mine not to long ago. Its a style I love, but don't do very often anymore. I used papers from My Minds Eye's Lost and Found Oliver collection. The rectangle panel with script writing on it, is actually the cardboard backing piece from the Oliver collection buttons. I sewed around it and distressed the edges, and inked it slightly with Old paper Ink.

Stamps: Wishing You (Verve)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old paper (Tim Holtz)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin up)
Papers: Oliver (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Doilie (Packaging Direct), Spotlight lace and white buttons, My Mind's Eye Oliver buttons, White flower (Imprint Rubber Stamps), Hemptique twine, Martha Stewart doilie edge punch, Edge distressor, Sewing machine, Black marker pen, My Favourite Things doilie circle

I"M STILL HERE!!!

Hi blog friends! I can't believe how time has flown by after Christmas. And how I've been so slack keeping my blog up to date. I actually have been making cards, but mainly for magazine submission, which can't be posted yet. I have cards coming up in the next three editions of Australian cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft if you want to check them out. In the meantime, here are the invitations I made for my son's 3rd birthday, and the favour bags. It was an ocean theme, and we were supposed to have it down near the beach, but mother nature didn't allow that with heavy rain, so we had to have it at our house. The fish stamps are from a retired Stampin Up set. Every time I do a clean out of my stamping supplies, I just can't bear to throw the set out, and I'm so glad I kept it for occaisions like this. I also made cake and food toppers with the other little creatures in the set. All were coloured with copic markers, and sprinkled with dazzling diamonds. My son also started preschool a couple of weeks ago, so I plan on making Monday my blog day, so rest assured, there are more cards to come!