HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HUBBY

Last weekend was Andrew's and my 17th wedding anniversary (gee, it feels so much longer), but we haven't yet celebrated as husband has been overseas.  He's back in the country today, so it's safe for me to post on my blog the card I made for him.  Here's what the don't-bother-with-cards man is getting:

Stamps: En Francais, Always, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Card: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black

DSP: Newsprint and Elegant Soiree Designer Series Papers

Ink: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler and Basic Black stampin' pads

Other: Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, Stampin' sponge, sponge dauber, Vintage trinkets, paper snips

HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO PHOTOGRAPH YOUR OWN HAND?

I'm here to tell you, it's not easy!  I am also a little disappointed, because I've long considered my hands (bent little fingers notwithstanding) to be one of my nicer features.  Well, now that I've seen through a camera lens what they ACTUALLY look like, it's not quite as pretty a sight as I have through my own eyes, LOL.

Anyway, the reason I had need to photograph my hand was so I could share the excitement of these with you:

No, I don't have a special announcement to make.  It's just a happy day for me because I haven't worn these rings for about 10 years!!  I finally relented and had them re-sized, to fit over the enlarged knuckles that I inherited from my mother (or, does that happen to everyone as we age??).  Today I picked them up from the jeweller, and they're all nice and sparkly, so I thought I'd share their prettiness with you.  That's all!

COLOR LAB CHALLENGE #34

I've made a couple of cards today, for colour challenges.  Unlike my earlier attempt at a challenge, I'm hoping I haven't missed the deadline for the Color Lab Challenge!  The idea is to use the following colours on a papercraft project:

My card turned out WAY differently to the plan I had in my head, but I am really pleased with it.  I coloured the fern using a blender pen and my Pear Pizzazz stampin' pad (I'm loving that technique at the moment ....  colouring in was my first love!).  Just in case your straining eyes can't detect the use of Chocolate Chip on this card, I stamped the sentiment in that colour!

Stamps: Growing Green, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, A to Z

Card: Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White

DSP: Greenhouse Garden Designer Series Paper

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Chocolate Chip and Daffodil Delight stampin' pads, Versamark inkpad

Other: Word Window Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch, Daffodil Delight brad, blender pen, Stampin' sponge, stampin' dimensional, sponge dauber

JUST ADD INK #61 (USING COLOR THROWDOWN #134 COLOURS)

Here are the colours in this week's challenge over at the Color Throwdown blog:

Unfortunately, I missed the deadline (darn these different time zones, and my inability to keep track! LOL). I have kept my card simple, as I plan to enter it in this week's Just Add Ink challenge (to use only stamps, ink and cardstock, but no embellishments).  It wasn't until I had reached the end, and realised I'd used my Color Spritzer tool, that I started to doubt if it qualifies.  I'll share it, anyway, as I had a lot of fun playing with these colours.

Stamps: En Francais, Inspired by Nature, Sincere Salutations

Card: Marina Mist, Watercolour paper

Ink: Versamark inkpad, Basic Black stampin' pad, Pumpkin Pie, Marina Mist and Old Olive markers

Other: Color Spritzer tool, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Stampin' sponge, water spritzer bottle

COLOR ROUND-UP COLOR CHALLENGE #27

This week's colour challenge at Rubber Redneck is a great one for a male card.  Check this out:

I have used the new Motorcycle stamp, that is in Stampin' Up!'s Autumn/Winter Mini catalogue coming out on 1st April.  I love how my card turned out:

Stamps: Motorcycle (available 1st April), Extreme Elements, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Card: Naturals Ivory, Cajun Craze, River Rock, Night of Navy

Ink: River Rock stampin' pad and marker, Cajun Craze stampin' pad, Night of Navy stampin' pad

Other: Square Lattice embossing folder, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Color Spritzer tool, Mat Pack and Paper Piercing Tool, Regals Brads, Stampin' sponge, sponge dauber

LUNCHING WITH FRIENDS, AND AN ANNIVERSARY

I have no hand-made cards to show you in this post, but thought I'd share a couple of personal things that have brought me a lot of pleasure in recent days.

On Friday I spent a few hours with some of my dear friends.  I met each of these women through stamping, and/or blogging, and can't imagine not having them in my life.

Here we all are (that's me on the left, in case you don't know.  I missed the memo that said to wear pink!):

..... and a picture of my beautiful friends, Kerry, Judy and Chris:

I am blessed to have these women in my life.  As well as being dear friends, they are all talented cardmakers and scrapbookers.  Click on their names, above, to visit their blogs and see for yourself!



Now, I'd like to devote the second part of this post to the wedding anniversary that Andrew (my husband) and I would have celebrated over the weekend, if he was in the country.  Ethan, our youngest, thought he'd do something special to mark the occasion; he made us an anniversary card.  He worked very quietly in my craft room, and came up with this gorgeous creation:

A couple of the little details I loved (he HAS been paying attention!) are the isolation of the "Happy" and "Anniversary", from different stamps, using a marker to ink up just the words he wanted.  Also, he found a little flourish stamp to complement the pattern on the paper, and used two coloured markers to ink that.  Here's a close-up to show what I mean:

What a sweetheart.  How lucky we are.

BLOG HOP - PAGE MAPS SKETCH

Today I am taking part, with 7 of my stamping friends (all Stampin' Up! demonstrators), in a blog
hop.  You may have come here from the blog of my talented and dear friend Judy May, but if not, you can start the "tour" here, and visit all 8 blogs.

Each of us is interpreting the following Page Maps sketch by Becky Fleck:

Some of us are solely cardmakers, and some scrapbookers, and others are talented at both.  I, for one, can't wait to see what everyone has come up with.  We hope you enjoy all of our creations! 

The strip of little baubles across the lower part of the sketch screamed "pompom trim" to me.  In Stampin' Up!'s new Mini catalogue, launching on 1st April, one of the exciting new offerings is gorgeous, bright, pompom trim.  I've used it in both cards I have to show you today.

I used my Stampin' Up! Color Coach to choose the colours for my first card.  How great do Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango and Old Olive look together?

Stamps: Party This Way, Seeing Stars, Confetti, Classic Stars jumbo stampin' around wheel

Card: Confetti White, Tangerine Tango textured, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive

Ink: Tangerine Tango, Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive stampin' pads

Other: Word Window punch, Star punch, Small Star punch (retired), Buttons #5 sizzlits die, Tangerine Tango Pompom trim (*available 1st April), sponge daubers, Old Olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, sticky strip

My second card uses another new product from the upcoming Autumn/Winter Mini catalogue - the gorgeous Sweet Stitches Designer Series Paper.  The colours in this paper determined the colours for my card.

Stamps: Punch Bunch

Card: Melon Mambo, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi textured

DSP: Sweet Stitches Designer Series Paper (*available 1st April), Newsprint DSP

Ink: Melon Mambo stampin' pad and marker, Wild Wasabi stampin' pad and marker, Baja Breeze marker, Basic Black stampin' pad, Crumb Cake stampin' pad

Other: 1 3/8" circle punch, Scallop Circle punch, 1" circle punch, Mat Pack and paper piercing tool, Eyelet Border punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Basic Pearls, Melon Mambo pompom trim (*available 1st April), stampin' dimensionals, sticky strip

The next stop on today's "tour" is Kathryn Ruddick's blog.  Make sure you do the whole circuit, and check out everyone's creations; I'm sure you'll get lots of ideas for your own projects.  Please leave us all some comment love - we like to know you've been to visit!



Here's a complete list of all the participants in today's blog hop.  If you lose your way, just pop back in here and click on the links.


Ros Davidson
http://www.rosdavidson.typepad.com/


Tina Gillespie
http://scissorspapercard.blogspot.com/


Amy Buchanan
http://fashioninggreatimpressions.com/


Nikki Sadler
http://www.inkyart.com.au/


Di Dunk
http://www.stampartbydi.typepad.com/


Judy May
http://www.judymay.typepad.com/


Christine Blain  (that's me!)
http://www.christineblain.blogspot.com/


Kathryn Ruddick
http://www.katlodesigns.com/




I hope you have a lovely weekend, that involves some stamping time!