Still working my way through new toys & rubba!

I have been dying to try out the Upsy Daisy stamp set since it's arrival in our house last week and last night finally got my chance. Oh, I like, I like! I initially stamped the image using Barely Banana ink and then using a stipple brush I added some Tangerine Tango (love this colour!!!) to the image before stamping. I used the large oval punch for the sentiment and then punched out 2 in Tangerine Tango to create the background for the sentiment. I then got to play with the new Eyelet Border punch ... it's so delicate it looks like lace! The main image is sitting on pop up glue dots - not sure you can pick this up in the photo.

Products used to create this card - Stamps - Upsy Daisy; Ink - Barely Banana & Tangerine Tango; Cardstock Barely Banana, Tangerine Tango and Whisper White, Accessories - Pop Up glue dots, large oval punch eyelet border punch & stamping sponge for inking around the edge of the main image. Non-SU item - stipple brush.

Fixing up the flower pot card

Had to fix the flower pot on my flower pot card today. I'd stuck the sides down with double sided tape and of course when you inserted the tag it got stuck! lol So I made a new pot for the card and instead of adding double sided tape down the edges of the pot I've just added 2 brads to the top which works much better! I've also eliminated the sentiment on the outside and used the background stamp sanded and inked the edges - I think I like this version better!

You can view the original card here: Mother's Day Flower Pot Card

S2GSC9 Twisted Thursday Sketch

Really loved the sketch from Shirley's 2 Girls - Twisted Thursday S2GSC9 this week so had to play along. The twist this week was to add dimension which I think I managed quite well. I added Crystal Laquer to the main image on the poinsettia flower and to the oval in the centre of the sentiment. A perfect chance to get a Christmas card or two done! Not sure if I'll mass produce this exact same card as it took AGES to colour the 3 images!

You can check out the sketch & all the details here: Paper Therapy

Products used to create this card: Stamps - A Flower for All Seasons & Cute & Curly; Cardstock - Confetti White (card base); Whisper White, Cranberry Crisp & True Thyme; DSP = Paper Holiday Thyme; Accessories - Curly Label Punch, blender pen; ruby red SU marker; Cranberry Crisp ribbon, Artichoke brads, Crystal Laquer & lots of dimensionals! :-) All SU products except the Sakura Crystal Laquer

Mother's Day Flower Pot Card

I've seen a number of these little beauties on SCS so just had to give one a try!

the flower pot

the tag insert

and finally the completed card - too cute!

Products used to create this card: Cardstock - Creamy Caramel, Apricot Appeal, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White; Ink - Close to Cocoa; Accessories - Scallop Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Crop-A-Dial (for dimension on flower centres), Tafetta Ribbon - Chocolate Chip & Dimensionals

New Home & Mother's Day

Oh, have I had some fun this afternoon. I managed to cram a lot of work into this morning so I had play time this afternoon. My first card is a Congratulations - this is for our nephew & partner who've recently finished building and moved into their new home. I don't have any house stamps but I figured trees are usually part of a garden ... so I got to play with some more new rubba today - Trendy Trees. I've used crystal effects on the popped up tree images (I think you can make that out) but other wise the card was fairly quick and simple.

My next card today is a Mother's Day card - isn't it great! It folds flat to fit in a standard envelope and I found the fab tutorial over at SCS - Free Standing Pop-Up Card

New rubba here too - Bird on a Branch ... Oh, I think I am going to really love both these new sets!

Products used to create

Congratulations card: Stamps - Trendy Trees, Congrats & Sanded; Ink - Close to Cocoa & Kiwi Kiss, Cardstock - Tangerine Tango (Love this colour!), Close to Cocoa, Whisper White & Old Olive, Accessories - Ribbon 1" Chocolate Chip double stitched grosgrain, Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain, crystal effects, & dimensionals.

Mother's Day card: Stamps - Bird on a Branch, Eastern Blooms & Occasional Greetings; Ink - Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Close to Cocoa; Cardstock - Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss (textured & plain); Accessories - Pewter brads & jumbo eyelets, Pumpkin Pie striped grosgrain ribbon & some hemp twine.

Inspired by Nature!

Well a visit to the post office today yielded a wonderful parcel from SU! My first lot of goodies from the new Australian catalogue so LOTS of new rubba!! I managed to get most sets mounted and even found some time to play. Main image & sentiment are both mounted on dimensionals.

A close up so you can see the shadow I created.

Products used to create this card: Stamps - Inspired by Nature, Cute & Curly; Ink - Baja Breeze & Pacific Point; Cardstock - Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point & Confetti White; Accessoreis - Curly Label Punch, Dimensionals & Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. I think I am going to get HEAPS of use from this set!

Ok - so two posts today

Saw this great sketch at Pat's Stamp, Paper & Ink blogspot last night - it's Shirley's 2 Girls Twisted Thursday Sketch & Challenge - cool huh! Anyway I was in need of a baby girl card and love the sketch so combined the two to come up with this It's a Girl Card. The 'twist' on this week's sketch is to use ribbon! I didn't use much but I did use some! I've just realised that my colours on my card almost match the sketch ... how bizarre! lol

DSP = Spring Flowers, Cardstock = Barely Banana, Cameo Coral & Whisper White; Ink = Stazon Black, Cameo Coral, Blush Blossom (for inking on Whisper White cardstock but I don't think it shows up so well in the photo). Accessories - Ribbon SU Sweet Shop and a couple of clear dew drops!

Had to give that SCS SC225 card sketch another go - it's such a great sketch to work with! Made this one for my cousin's boy Sean who is turning 11 next week. Boys are so hard to make cards for!

Products used: No Stamps! DSP = Summer Picnic, Cardstock = Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss, & Confetti White. Ink = Chocolate Chip. S monogram = non SU Prima chipboard alphabets

SC225 Cheers to You

Been a while since I've played with a SCS challenge but when I saw yesterday's sketch I just had to play along! FAB sketch to work with! I added liquid appliqué to the beer froth and crystal effects to the glass (which I allowed to nearly dry before 'swirling' it with a craft knife).

Products used (I tried to use all SU products but ...) Stamps - Cheers to You; Paper/Card - Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Naturals Ivory & DSP = Good Morning Sunshine; Accessories - Pop Up Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Crystal Effects and non SU products - Dew Drops (Fresh Mowed Lawn) Liquid Appliqué.

New Rubba!

I was keen to try the fun challenges posted this week by Shirley's 2 Girls so I combined the World Wide 222 Challenge and the Twisted Thursday S2GSC7. I got new rubba in the mail this week which I thought was perfect for the 222 Challenge. I don't normally use white as a back ground and I've added doodles so this was my challenge to me. The sentiment is computer generated (I also added bevels & shadows to give it depth). Cardstock colours - Whisper White, Basic Black. Stampin' Write Markers used to colour image - Pumpkin Pie, Lovely Lilac & Green Galore. Thanks for taking the time to take a peek!

Playing with Colour!

Saw a card make with these or very similar colours on SCS a while back and just had to give them a go! All products used are Stampin' Up! - some products are new and some are now retired but they are all SU! Cardstock colours are Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie & Pink Passion!

I went to Northam for the day today and this was the gorgeous sunset I was witness to on the way home! Of course the camera never captures the true beauty but I am sure you get the idea!

S2GSC5 Twisted Thursday

Oh, such fun! I really liked the Twisted Thursday sketch challenge #5 from this week so had to play along! You can check out the sketch on Karolyn's blog Paper Therapy. The twist on this week's sketch was to use emobossing so I've used two types of emobossing. I heat embossed the sentiment Surf's Up and clear embossed the surfer image too (although this doesn't seem to show in my photo) and I also dry embossed some dots along the left side (which didn't show up either hence the 2nd photo!). All products used are Stampin' Up!.

I changed my card a little from the sketch - being the sketch is for a square card and I used a normal A6 card front. I also made y main image a little higher as it seemed to balance the card better ... hope this is ok. Oh, just realised that the twill is under the right hand side panel and it should have been on top .... Sorry! Had major problems with getting the cows in this morning ... am still feeling a bit stressed over it. I was ready for an Irish Coffee at 8.50 this morning. I was working from memory to get the card finished ... guess I should have checked the sketch again. The basics of the sketch are still there I believe.

I think I would like to have another go at this sketch ... I am sure I can do better.

Thanks for taking the time to take a peek.

S2GSC4 Twisted Thursday

Have been wanting to try out one of the new sketches "Twisted Thursday" over the last 4 weeks but have only found time for last Thursday's last night. Twisted Thursday challenges are designed by one of the Shirley's 2 Girls design Team - Karolyn - who's blog Paper Therapy is just YUM! Recomendation - check out the blogs for all the DT members for Shirley's 2 Girls - they are all very talented ladies!

Watercolour Pencils

I made this card to just add to my stash and I didn't use any sketch or colour challenges! I did use the Stampin' Up! watercolour pencils on the poppy though - something I don't use very often.
Stamps - Bloomin' with Beauty, En Français and Cheer & Wishes. Cardstock - Rose Red, Certain Celery, Basic Black & Whisper White. Accessories - Celery grosgrain ribbon.

Sneak Peak #4

Today I thought I would share with you a quick card created with yet another new set from the new 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalogue. This set is called Window Dressing and is a level 2 hostess gift set. It's really neat with 6 different pictures to 'sit' into the window and 3 sentiments. I've used the new Pink Pirouette cardstock, which is such a lovely soft shade of pink along with Barely Banana & Chocolate Chip. I've double stamped the background with Polka Dots in Barely Banana and then Sanded with Chocolate Chip after being stamped off once as I didn't want the sanded background to be really dark! After colouring the main image with Stampin' Write Markers I assembled my card. Quite quick and easy really. Accessories used are pink brads from the Soft Subtles range and 1" chocolate chip double stitched grosgrain ribbon!

"Look mum, no crystal effects!" LOL

Snapped this shot of the local air force practicing their formations this morning - it must nearly be graduation time for the next round of cadets! We get treated to this free air show about 4 times a year - pretty neat huh!

Sneak Peak #3

What a wonderful sound .... raindrops on the roof! Can't say that the rain will last long however it's still one of those wonderful sounds I look forward to at this time of the year.

Ok - on with sneak peak #3 ... the main image is part of the gorgeous new Australian Blossom set Bloom Away - I just HAD to have this set! I can see it being used over & over.

Anway - I have water coloured the image and then used crystal effects (having a bit of a crystal effects craze at the moment - but it's so useful for so many things!) over the blossoms to give them some depth. I've mounted the image on the new in-colour cardstock Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red. The DSP = Good Morning Sunshine :-) The Celebrate Life embellishment I made with stamps from the current Simply Sent Kit - Lifelong Notes and after mounting it on the die-cut chipboard scallop from On Board Blossoms & Basics I again used crystal effects. I've mounted this over some 1" Chocolate Chip double stitched ribbon and 5/8" Old Olive Grosgrain ribbon.

Sneak Peak #2

I am so glad that this set is in the new catalogue - Cheers to You - a fun set with cocktails, a beer, a martini and some tinking wine glasses!

To create this card I have coloured one of the cocktails with Stampin' Write Markers and used the blender pen to blend them a bit. I've then added Crystal Effects to the cocktail glass to give it dimension. I've also spritzed the image with real red. I scored a border around the real red cardstock to frame the cocktail and adhered the image to a gift card (107312). Didn't take very long at all - which makes a nice change for me! :-)

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog!

First sneak peak!

Well, here is my first sneak peak of goodies from the new catalogue ... I'm really liking the new in-colours for this catalogue! Here I have used Kiwi Kiss cardstock and Tangerine Tango ink on the new Fresh Cut Notes using the Fresh Cuts Stamp Set. As I don't have any accessories to match the new colours I made my own embellishment using the 3 flower punch after stamping an image twice once using Tangerine Tango and once Kiwi Kiss then after punching the flower & adhering to each other I used Crystal Effects on top to make my own embellishment! I will upload a new card tomorrow using another new stamp set!

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Anthony & Karen's wedding card

Made a wedding card for my 2nd cousin Anthony and his wife to be Karen last week - today is the first chance I've had to take a pic and upload it. First time I've not used all SU products in a long time! What can I say but I love their product. Lighting was not the best today - grey and overcast so the card looks a little dull. However on the bright side - we've had a delightfully cool day! :-)

Anyway - the main heart image is Penny Black with the balance of products being SU! Cardstock - Whisper White, Chocolate Chip & card base - confetti white; ink - Sahara Sand & chocolate chip; Chocolate Chip taffetta ribbon to create the bow, metallic brads and Congrats stamp set for the Congratulations.

Inkspirations Team Swap

Went to Keesh's house for the first time for a Inkspirations Team meeting last night. Lots of fun and of course it was so nice to meet some of the other ladies in the team. We had to make a swap for the ladies ... well, that got me thinking hard about what to use. I wanted to use products that were not retiring which didn't leave many stamp sets for me ... so I went for old trusty - Lovely as a Tree. I ended up creating this male sympathy card using the thumping technique.

Cardstock - Creamy Caramel, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip & Mellow Moss, Stamps - Lovely as a Tree, Sanded & Close as a Memory, Ink - Mellow Moss & Close to Cocoa, Stampin' Write Markers - Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Garden Green & Mellow Moss, Accessories - Hemp Twine, Pop Up Glue Dots, Mat Pack.

Jingling Challenges

Jingling ... is there such a word! I combined two challenges to create this card - Kristina Werner's Colour Challenge #44 and Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #58. It took me two days to complete the card as I thought I was cheating and used Kindy Glitz on the snowflakes - but they took that long to dry and have given the flakes a slight green tinge ... I should have used Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds! On the whole though I am happy with the way it turned out. I now have 2 Christmas cards made this year! That puts me about 7 months ahead of last year :-)

Products used: Cardstock - Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip & Close to Cocoa (so love this combination!!); Stamp Sets - Snowflake Flurries & Cute Converse; Ink - Pretty in Pink; Accessories - Small & Large Oval Punches, pretty in pink brads, ribbon - SU Flirty, ... non SU products - Snowflake Embossing Folder & Kindy Glitz (Stickles).