MY SECOND COLOUR CHALLENGE FOR THE DAY

Today's proving to be a productive one, in my craft room ... AND I'm managing to work my way through the washing pile, and cook tea.

I have made a simple card for this week's Inkspirations Colour Challenge #28, using these colours:







I think the colours are great for a male card.  Here's what I came up with:





Stamps: Starring You

Card: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Elegant Eggplant and Pumpkin Pie stampin' pads

Other: 1 3/4" circle punch, Spiral Punch, Small Star punch, sponge daubers, dimensionals



I love how easy it is to make a card using one stamp set (don't often do that, so it was refreshing!), and a few punches.  This card took all of about 15 minutes to make, and I like it a lot!





 

JUST ADD INK #15 : Happy 4th of May

Tonight I sat down to make a card based on theJust Add Ink sketch for this week.  I wanted to make a boy's birthday card, because lately I seem to be have been going all flowery on you.  As soon as I'd finished the card, and prepared to show hubby, I just KNEW he'd say "oh, that looks very American".  He didn't let me down.

So, even though it's not my intention (and, quite frankly, I think it's entirely the wrong blue), here's my "Happy 4th of May" card:





Stamps: Starring You

Card: Pacific Point, Whisper White, Glossy White, Real Red, Kraft

Ink: Sahara Sand and Pacific Point stampin' pads, Versamark inkpad

Other: Star punch, Pacific Point striped grosgrain ribbon, Top Note die, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, sponge dauber



It was so nice to sit down and make a card just for the fun of it tonight; the swaps for the looming Stampin' Up! Convention are getting a bit overwhelming!  I needed to just 'play'; thanks to the girls at Just Add Ink, for the inspiration! 


 

"WORLD'S GREATEST SHAVE" LAYOUT

Recently my youngest boy decided, of his own volition, to take part in the World's Greatest Shave - encouraging people to seek sponsorship to dye or shave their hair, to help raise funds for the Leukaemia Foundation.  Ethan is such a beautiful soul, with qualities that I really admire.  He was positively EXCITED about the prospect of shaving all his hair off, and fronting up to primary school the next day!  He wasn't the least bit embarrassed, or worried what others would think of him, because he knew that it was all for a good cause, and his hair would grow back soon enough.  How's that for a level head?  Have I mentioned I am proud of him??!!

Well, such a special event calls for a scrapbook page, I think.  Scrapbooking is waaaay outside my comfort zone (I love the smaller 'canvas' of a card, and feel a little intimidated by the large page!), but I wanted to do this layout to document what Ethan chose to do.  So, here is my photo-heavy layout!







A close-up of the accent on the bottom left of the page:





Here's a closer look at the title, cut out using two products NEW to Stampin' Up!, come 1st April:





And, finally, the little bit of journalling I squeezed in amongst all the photos:





Here's a list of all the supplies I used on this layout:

Stamps: Life Definitions, Starring You

Card: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Basic Black

DSP: Baja Breeze and Basic Gray Patterns DSP

Ink: Versamark inkpad, Baja Breeze stampin' pad, Basic Gray marker

Other: Baja Breeze corduroy brads (retired), sponge dauber, Star Punch, Large Star Punch, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, Clips assortment, dimensionals ... and Big Shot, with Timeless Type Alphabet Junior Sizzlits (both being released 1st April in Australia



 

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS

I am having a HEAP of trouble with Typepad, and have tried numerous times over the last few days to post, only to be thrown out repeatedly.  I had a rather lengthy post saved, and it has disappeared into oblivion, so today I am feeling just a bit grumpy!!  (Alright, a lot grumpy.)

I've been playing with my gorgeous new Christmas Classics stamp set (LOVE the crisp images it produces), and have a couple of cards to share, if only the uploading of images is successful, on my 247th attempt.  Here goes ..... 

Oh, wait, I just remembered I promised my sister, Lynda, that I'd post a photo of the birthday cards she and I made for Ethan recently.  Lynda and I are twins on one day of the year (she was born the day before my first birthday); for the other 364 days we do share thoughts, ideas and colour-choices in clothing.  It's a bit uncanny sometimes.  This year Lynda was super-organised and had made my little man a birthday card early.  Foolishly, I didn't think to check with her as to what colours and stamp set she used (you'd think that after 40+ years of 'twin-like' behaviour, I'd know better).  This was the result - Lynda's card on the left, mine on the right:



Now for the Christmas cards I have to show you - both using Christmas Classics stamp set and Ski Slope Designer Series Paper, from Stampin' Up!  I have tried several times to upload these photos, and add all the 'ingredients' used, and such is my frustration at failing repeatedly that I am going to try ONE MORE TIME to just get the pictures up.  I'll skip all the extra explanations - if you need any details, just email me!  Here's what I came up with:


How cute are those baubles?  Here's the next one (my favourite) - let me know which one you prefer!  I know some of my friends need no prompting to let me know, but I'm interested to see your feedback :)




Well, hallelujah, I've successfully uploaded 3 photos, and even managed to add some text -what progress!  I'm going to sign off here (don't want to push my luck).  Fingers crossed my next post will be smooth sailing, and will take less than 4 days to complete!  

Tomorrow my littlest love turns 9.  Can any other Mum out there relate to the slightly-sad feeling of their youngest growing up??  I LOVE seeing my boys grow and develop, and feel enormously proud of the beautiful human beings they are, but I can't help but see that shortly my cuddly little man will not be too keen to cuddle his Mum. Hopefully that will be a passing phase! (Jack, 13, has come back around and, amazingly, even lets me kiss and cuddle him in public.)

My boys are working at the Royal Melbourne Show tonight, which has afforded me some crafting time.  Just as well, because I have been totally under-prepared for Ethan's birthday tomorrow.  I have made my boy a card using one of his favourite stamp sets, Pun Fun (have to love that rocket for boys, especially!).  I was inspired by this card made by Sue Madex; love the look of stars punched out of cardstock, and adhered to the same coloured card.  Here is the end result:

Stamps: Pun Fun, Starring You

Card: Kraft, Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White

Ink: Pacific Point & Riding Hood Red stampin' pads, Versamark ink pad

DSP: Good Morning Sunshine and Candy Lane (for paper-pieced rocket parts)

Other: Small star punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch, scallop edge punch, rectangle & scalloped rectangle nestabilities

Despite the blurry photography, I hope you like it!  I think my boy will be happy with it - mind you, he may not pay much attention to the card, since there's cake and presents to be enjoyed.  May you all have as happy a Sunday as my boy is bound to have.

CHRISTMAS CARDS (yes, already)... and a sneak peek..

On Saturday I held a "Christmas in July" card-making class .... for once, I am making an early start so that I don't get too overwhelmed come December 20th!  The class went for 3 hours, and I'd like to thank Lynda, Dannika, Rachel, Cynthia, Marissa and Kerry for helping to make it a great afternoon.  I really enjoyed it, and think everyone else did too.  I had grand plans for us to make 3 cards, then continue on with a 'free time' session, so everyone could use my supplies to create a stash of cards.  Time flew, and we managed 3 cards and a candle - then it was time to wind it up.  I think we need another session, girls!  I was too excited about having my friends over, to remember to take photos of the day 'in action', but I thought I'd share with you all a shot of the cards we made on the day.

I showed the girls how a variety of Stampin' Up!'s stamp sets can be used to make Christmas cards.  You don't have to use traditional Christmas colours or Christmas-only stamps to make lovely festive cards.  One card we made was a traditional style, using Always Artichoke and Bravo Burgundy - love these colours together, even though it was a little out of my comfort zone at first! The main image is from "Lovely as a Tree"; not a Christmas set, but don't you think the tree looks "Christmassy"?  Next we made a "Season of Joy" (fantastic, versatile stamp set) card, using Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla, with Kiwi Kiss ribbon.  The third card, that had very little stamping on, and made good use of the large star punch, was made with Baja Breeze and Whisper White, with a little Basic Gray.  Take a look below:



It's now only a matter of days until Stampin' Up!'s Spring Mini catalogue 'goes live'.  In conjunction with the fabulous 2009/2010 Idea Book & Catalogue, we will have some new stamps, papers and accessories available for 4 months only.  If you'd like a copy of 'the mini', please email me and I'll be happy to send one out to you!

I am in love with the Parisian Breeze specialty designer series paper that will be available in Australia and New Zealand from August 1st.  This is a gorgeous, heavyweight, paper that contains some of my  favourite colours.  I have used it to make a card for my friend who is celebrating her 40th birthday tomorrow, and thought I'd share with you a sample of a couple new yummy products.  My card uses a great, versatile, new stamp set (called Oval All) and co-ordinating scallop oval punch. 



Stamps: Oval All

Card: Whisper White, Kraft

DSP: Parisian Breeze

Ink: Baja Breeze and Sahara Sand stampin' pads, Timber Brown Staz-on

Other: Large oval punch, scallop oval punch, aquapainter, Baja Breeze ribbon from Valet ribbon originals, kraft taffeta ribbon, sponge dauber, dimensionals, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Kaiser rhinestones

Introducing "PUN FUN"

Hi friends

I'm happy to be able to squeeze in one more post before jetting off into the sunset.  Over the weekend I have had the chance to play with Stampin' Up!'s very cute stamp set called Pun Fun.  I have used a couple of the images, but none of the matching sentiments, on my cards.  It's a great set, with a million different uses; unfortunately I was a little limited in the amount of time I had in which to create, so I'll give you just a small sample.

My favourite image from this set is the cup - it really tickles my fancy.  I have unashamedly 'CASE'd (copied and selectively edited) this first card from some gorgeous creations I found on Splitcoaststampers - a really inspirational online community.  The stand-out features on this card are the yummy papers from the Sweet Slumber collection; heavy weight double-sided papers, with gorgeous co-ordinating and complementary designs.  I simply stamped the cup onto 3 different papers, cut them out and mounted them on another piece of paper - so easy, but a cute, cute result.  Here it is:



Stamps: Pun Fun, Short & Sweet

Card: So Saffron

DSP: Sweet Slumber

Ink: Jet Black Staz-On, Baja Breeze stampin' pad

Other: Sponge dauber, Very Vanilla 5/8" grosgrain, Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon, scallop edge punch, craft knife, mini glue dots

I could happily have just made dozens of 'cup' cards whilst I have this set on loan, but branched out and used my next-favourite image, which is the rocket.  This is such a great stamp for boys' cards in particular.  I was inspired by my friend Claire to use Riding Hood Red and Pacific Point together - these are two of this year's "in colours", and whilst I LOVE the red, I am taking a little longer to warm to the blue.  I think I just need to use it more.  I've used a little, little bit of paper piecing, and used some of my fab-o star brads from Stampin' Up!  After I'd photographed the card, I actually raised up the scalloped sentiment on dimensionals (I made this card while we were away at our cabin on the weekend, and I took only double-sided tape with me), so just use your imagination a little with that!



Stamps: Pun Fun, Starring You

Card: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point

DSP: Washington Apple

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point stampin' pads

Other: 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch, star brads, Riding Hood Red striped grosgrain, dimensionals (added later!)

I mentioned above that I'd used Washington Apple DSP on my card.  This paper is really lovely, and inspires me to combine colours that I wouldn't have thought to put together.  A very simple card, jazzed up with my favourite Build-A-Brads, that I created by punching out 1/2" circles of Washington Apple DSP.  I really like how well the Starring You stamps go with this rocket image.



Stamps: Pun Fun, Starring You

Card: Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

DSP: Washington Apple

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue stampin' pads

Other: 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch, sponge dauber, Build-A-Brad, scissors to 'rough up' card edge (since I forgot to take my edge distresser away with me!)

Now I'm off to finalise washing and other bits and pieces before we finish packing for our big trip.  Please come back to visit after mid-July - I'll be back!

Christine :)