Clean & Simple Sketch 109

This is my entry for the Clean & Simple Sketch Challenge. I had to turn the sketch upside down for this card. It began the other way up, but then I struggled to make the image and sentiment work together so it became this...
With the new colour renovation we have now got markers for more colours. Yay!!! This includes Crumb Cake, which I have used with Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler to ink up the image. The stamp set is a new one called Just Believe. I embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder so it would stand out on the red. The scallop on the edge was created by stamping one of the images from the set, punching them with a circle punch and cutting them in half.
I am loving Cherry Cobbler. I still love Riding Hood Red, but Cherry Cobbler is definitely on my list of favourites!
We are about to go on an outing for the day so I need to go.
Have a great day!

OLW In Blue and Brown!

Ooooh it's been too long in between posts again... but here I am with another one finally!

I am away at the moment with my kids, staying with my parents while my hubby does some work in our house. I knew I would have a chance to do some blogging while here, so before I left, I uploaded some pictures (yes, that means I'll have more than just one post in the next couple of weeks!). I also brought a stack of stamping supplies so I can get creating, but I won't be able to post anything I make here until I get home as I don't have the camera and set-up to get them uploaded.

So today I have my entry for this weeks One-Layer Wednesday challenge.

I masked off the edges of the card and sponged the centre with Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy. I wanted to keep the colours simple so I have only used Early Espresso to stamp the images and fill in the body and wings of the dragonfly. I positioned the dragonfly so that it would mirror the blade of grass on the other side, but I'm not sure if it works as I imagined it would. It's one of those "good idea at the time" things. At least the card meets the challenge requirements - one layer of card and inspired by nature!

Clean & Simple Sketch 103

Yay! I have made the time do some creating today — and not sat looking blankly at my stamps wondering where to start (which seems to be happening a lot lately). The inspiration for this card came from the Clean & Simple sketch challenge.

I've had a few baby cards to make recently, all girls so far! For this card I pulled out my favourite baby stamp set Bundle of Joy. The images always look so cute when water coloured. I stamped the giraffe and bear in black Stazon ink on water colour paper. Once dry, I used my markers to apply some colour, then washed over it with an aqua painter. I gave the bear some buttons using couple of Pretty in Pink brads.

The sentiment is a stamp called Sweetness Unlimited which I inked up with pink and brown markers. Bundle of Joy is unfortunately a retired stamp set, but Sweetness Unlimited is in our new catalogue.

The colours are Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Chocolate Chip. I will have to try out a blue version some time (or maybe yellow)!

The Canberra Craft Fair

Last Friday I spent the day on our Stampin' Up! Stand down at the Craft Fair here in Canberra. Each year hundreds of people flock to Exhibition Park to visit the Fair which runs for four days.

This year I ran one of the Craft Circles again. Each person that attended made three projects which focussed on the Big Shot Die-cutting Machine. This cute little gift box was one of the projects.

To create this I have run some Old Olive card stock through the Big Shot twice — first with the Fancy Favor Die and then with the Little Leaves Die. I tied some Rich Razzleberry polka dot ribbon to the top to form a little handle. Inside there are some chocolates in a cello bag with a little "to you from me" tag.

After all the effort of organising for the Craft Fair, it has taken all week to get things in order at home — but today I feel a little in control again. Hope to have some time in the next few days to do some creating, and I can't wait to share with you some of what is coming in the new catalogue!

Beautiful Blogger Award

What a privilege to receive this award! It was given to me by the lovely Cathy Clark. Thank you so much Cathy.

Part of receiving the award is to share with you ten blogs that inspire, and also ten things about me. So I'll start with a little about me...

I have been married for 15 years.

I have four gorgeous children, play school through to high school age.

I am an artist (when I have the time!!!) and have sold my work in exhibitions locally and through a gallery on the coast.

I love anything creative and have dabbled in different crafts, but I'm loving stamping and card making the most, and I love being part of the Stampin' Up family.

I love to cook if it is creating a masterpiece, but the evening meal can be mundane when I'm trying to put something on the table every night!

I am allergic to peanuts.

I studied Landscape Architecture at the University of Canberra, which is also where my hubby studied Graphic Design!

I have always wanted to visit Italy and the surrounding countries (because of Art and Architecture etc), but ever since my brother and his wife traveled around the world I have added some more stops to the list including the Iguassu Falls in South America.

I love beautiful landscapes, from vast and overwhelming (mountains, plains, stormy skies etc) to 'up close' with nature (the form of a tree or the way sunlight falls on dry grass).

I love to stand on a hill top or mountain top, but I am afraid of heights and don't like to stand on the edge of a lookout.

Now, ten people I would like to pass this award on to...

Susan Raihala

Chantal Fleming

Jess Holland

Katharyn Brine

Elisabeth Stewart

Kylie Maher

Harriet Skelly

Sarah-Jane Kale

Susan Joyce

Teneale Williams

I hope that these people inspire you also. Thanks for stopping by!

One-Layer Wednesday Challenge 8

I have finally got around to entering one of Susan Raihala's One-layer Wednesday challenges. This week the challenge was to use a mask to create a background that you can then stamp an image on (and obviously to only use one layer of card). Here is my card...

I used a rectangle and a circle to mask the sky, which I sponged in three different shades of blue. Then I sponged over the circle with an even lighter shade of blue. The blues are Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze and Soft Sky.

The stamp sets used are Embrace Life and Sincere Salutations. I stamped in black ink and then coloured the leaves with an Old Olive marker.

I used those same stamp sets and a different masking technique to create the card below. I love this card by Jess and wanted to try my own version...

It is amazing what you can do with one layer of card and a little masking!

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #26

I have decided to play along in Keesh's colour challenge this week. I love the colour combo — Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Grey and Kraft.

There are so many ways the colours could be used so I found it quite challenging — and deciding what stamps to use took me forever! This is what I ended up with...

The stamp is the "Medallion" from the Autumn/Winter Mini Catty, and the sentiment is from a stamp set called "Whimsical Words" which was one of our Sale-A-Bration sets earlier in the year.

Little Leaves

I am really liking those little leaves, especially with Old Olive card stock. I wanted to see how I could work them in with the 'Watercolour Vine' wheel. Here is what I came up with...

I tried adding other elements and colours, but in the end it worked best with just the green and white and leaves. Sometimes just one colour is all you need!

Broken 'Bot'

Dad is in hospital at the moment with severe back pain. He was to have surgery yesterday, but it didn't go ahead. Now he has to wait until next Tuesday for the surgery, so he is feeling quite miserable.

I have made this little card for him — I wanted to make use of the 'Lots of Bots' stamp set (from the Autumn/Winter Mini Catty).

The colours are Bordering Blue, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. I thought that those colours would give the robot a rusty tin look. I think he looks pretty cute!

Pillow Box

I have been playing with the Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine this week and experimenting a little with what can be done. Isn't this the cutest little pillow box? And it was so quick and easy to create — you could easily do a lot of these for a special occasion.

I used the Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder with the Big Shot to emboss that beautiful flower image. Then I took that same piece of card and ran it through the Big Shot again with the Pillow Box Die — it cuts and scores so it is ready to form into the box. I crushed a strip of Riding Hood Red card stock, wrapped it around the box and tied some white taffeta ribbon around that. To complete, I attached some Old Olive leaves which were cut using the Little Leaves Die. I looooove those little leaves!!

It is cold and wet here in Canberra, so it is a good day for indoor activities!! Stamping perhaps :) Actually I have household duties to do, and some blog stuff, so I will not be stamping today. Hope you are having a good weekend!

Convention!!!

Convention... Wow, I am inspired! We had a great weekend.

I think I'll just show you some pictures. Some are not so good as I took them on my phone with not very good lighting etc, but you'll get the idea!

This is the gorgeous view from our hotel window.

The clouds were spectacular — Yep! I love cloudy skies ;)

On the last day we were all given a stamp set — I had to photoshop the images out because we are not aloud to show them — something coming in September!!!

Here I am with my 'roomie' Liz and our new stamp sets.

Our team at the Awards Dinner.

I had to get a pic with Debbie Yeomans too. We are not in the same team (that's another story!), but she is a friend here in Canberra. I am so proud of Debbie, she has achieved so much this year (lots of awards!) and she also did a fab job of her presentation at Convention.

And finally, it wouldn't be Stampin' Up Convention without the beautiful Shelli Gardner,

so I had to get a pic of Shelli & Shelley.

Simple Again

After yesterday's more artistic card, I have something simple to show...

The Trendy Trees stamp set is sooooo cute don't you think? It works well for a simple design, and I am really liking Old Olive at the moment.

I tried adding to the same design, mainly because I was trying to enter Makeesha's colour challenge a couple of weeks ago, but missed it. Well... here is what happened. The missing colour was Bashful Blue so I thought I would add some sky. Do I like cloudy skies or something??? ;)

It worked alright but I like the first card the best — it just has a nice crispness about it.

Well... Stampin' Up Convention is just around the corner. I leave this afternoon for Sydney — it is very exciting. I still have to pack and there are some last minute things to organise for the family before I go, so I had better get on with it :)

Have a great weekend everyone, and I hope to see some of you at Convention!

A cloudy sky...

Last week I was sitting at my desk trying to find some inspiration. Then I saw it... the artwork that I had produced a month ago was sitting there in it's frame and I was inspired. Cloudy skies are often a feature of my work as an artist and it was the inspiration for this card.

I have used a brayer over a punched out circle to create the moon and the graded colour in the background. Then I have stamped the Upsy Daisy image over the top and sponged on the clouds. A little glitter on the daisies gives the impression that the moonlight is glistening on dew. The colours are Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Bordering Blue and Basic Grey.

Oooops!! It is almost 3pm — have to race and pick up the kids from school :)

I'll be back tomorrow with one last post before Convention!! See you.

Pink & Brown!

Just a couple of cards I've made recently...

This birthday card is one of those cards that starts with a bit of an idea but then ends up being completely different. You know when you sit there trying different things until it comes together and it takes a whole evening when it should only take 15 minutes!! Yep, that was what happened with this one. But I think it turned out alright.

This next one was inspired by a card made by Teneale Williams, you can check hers out here. It was beautiful, I really loved what she had done and so I wanted to imitate it!

I decided to make a mother's day card using the style. Below is the one I made for my Grandma.

Anyway... it is getting late for me and I have an early start in the morning so I shall say goodnight. Also blogger isn't letting me do what I want to so I think it's time to quit before I really get frustrated! Goodnight all.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #20

Tomorrow is my daughter Alana's birthday, so I thought I would use this colour combo (Brocade Blue, Creamy Caramel, Choc Chip and Very Vanilla) from Keesh's latest challenge for the inspiration for her card. Blue is also one of Alana's favourite colours!

I really love Brocade Blue, I think it works so nicely with the earthy colours. I am a little sad that we will be saying goodbye to it later this year when the new Colour Collection is launched, although I do really like what is coming! I think the change will be good.

FTL84

Another Clean & Simple sketch challenge. As soon as I saw the layout I knew I wanted to use a flower image across the bottom. I searched through my collection for an image that would suit and decided on this one. Do you remember this stamp set? It was a hostess set from last year's SU catalogue. It's been a while since it has seen ink — I think it works for this design and these bold colours.

The colours evolved somewhat, but began with white and the new in colour, Melon Mambo (only because I wanted to use the polkadot ribbon I had!). It needed something more, so I added some Elegant Eggplant to the mix to give it more interest.

I think the card is growing on me — might try a rectangular version sometime!

Have a great Easter, thanks for visiting :)

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #19

Back with another challenge! This time the Inkspiration Colour challenge which is being hosted by Chantelle this week. I have made two cards for this because the stamp I wanted to use was yet to be shipped :( so I tried to find another that I could use in a similar way — today the stamp arrived so I just had to try out my original idea too!

I wanted to be subtle in the use of the colours so I chose an image that I could add the colours to. The first card uses the 'Scribble' wheel, the second uses the new 'Very Vintage' wheel from the Autumn Mini Catalogue. It was that image that inspired me to begin with but I had to wait for it to come. So here they are…

Card 1

Card 2

Not sure which one I prefer, but I love those new stamps from the Autumn Catty!

FTL #82 — Clean & Simple Sketch Challenge

I loved the sketch on the Clean & Simple blog this week, so I decided to have a play with it. This was the result!

I chose this leafy image from the Embrace Life stamp set, and filled the leaves in using a blender pen and black ink so that it was more like a silhouette. I felt that a bit of twine and some tearing would work well with the image, and I was pleased with the way the 'h' in the word 'much' worked so well with the torn edge!

I also tried another card using the same stamp, it is such an elegant image. I kept it very simple and have only used white and olive. The simple style is inspired by Susan Raihala, check out her blog — Simplicity. I think I've taken elements of some of her cards and created this one (it is her designs that have inspired my recent use of twine!).

I had the chance to make four cards today. These are the other two. I have chosen the simple approach again (white space is good!!), also inspired by Susan.

I have had fun this afternoon experimenting with 'simple'. I can't wait to get my Autumn/Winter Mini Catty pre-order so I can play some more, although I might have to be more controlled because this afternoons fun was at the expense of the housework — but you need to have some time to express your creativity sometimes, don't you? :)

Inspired again!

Life is always so full, but this weekend (which happens to be a long one!) has had a lot in it.

Because it is a long weekend, I didn't have to go to work today and was able to enjoy some other activities. This afternoon I decided to check out some blogs, which sparked my creativity, so I did some card making. Yay!! I felt so inspired, I made 5 cards!! Here is one of those creations. I have only used two colours, Not Quite Navy and Kraft, and no white or vanilla — not sure if I've ever done that before. Anyway, it seems to have worked alright.

The rest of the weekend went like this…

Friday afternoon I picked up the kids from school, and an additional two girls for a sleepover party for Zali. There was some wakefulness in the middle of the night which made us all tired the next day (but that is another story!) The girls went home in the morning and the rest of the day was spent cleaning house and preparing for a workshop.

Saturday night I did a workshop for some friends (the girls that keep me in business!) It was fun as always but I didn't get home until 11:30pm.

Sunday I was up early doing last minute preparation for the guests which were arriving!

My two uncles from the USA have come out to Australia for a short time to visit my grandma. My parents, aunty, grandma and uncles are going on a little holiday and decided to come via us so that we could see them. I haven't seen my uncles since I was a kid and my grandma hasn't had all four of her children together for 46 years, so this is a very special time for them! My cousin and her kids arranged to rendezvous at our house (from Parkes NSW) so that they could see everyone as well. So… on Sunday we had 16 in the house. My cousin went home that afternoon and we had 12 for dinner. We also spent until lunchtime today with everyone (and we squeezed some sightseeing in too!) It was a great time, I really enjoyed being with them all :)

Now that I have done some creating and blogging, it is time to get organised for the week ahead (school, work etc) so I had better go and do it!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Inspiration Challenge #18

It was my daughter Zali's 8th birthday on Wednesday, so I decided to use Keesh's challenge as the inspiration for the card. It has been a while since I have entered any challenges so it is good to get back into it (not sure when next time will be though!!).

Anyway, here is a cute little pic of Zali at the beach at Christmas - just sitting in the water waiting for the waves to wash over her and in her own little world. She is such a cutie, she is a little ray of sunshine :)

Hi there…

It has been sooooooo long since I have done any blogging. Life has been a whirlwind for the last couple of months with starting a new job and Christmas and all the end of the year stuff that happens.

Since the last post my youngest boy, Luke, has had a birthday and is now 3, I did a Wow Presentation at the Field Training event here in Canberra, my Hubby and I went away (yes, kids free) to celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary, and over the Christmas break we all travelled up to Cessnock and then to Grafton to visit family. They're just the main things!!

I am looking forward to the year ahead. My eldest daughter, Alana, starts highschool this year. That's a bit scary — it seems like only yesterday she was a baby. Now, four children on, my baby is 3 and heading off to Playschool one day a week. What ever shall I do in my spare time??? Actually, I won't be stamping the whole time (or doing housework etc). I would like to do some more art again. For those that don't know, I am an artist in my "spare" spare time! It has gone out the window a bit in recent years, but the fire was lit up again at the end of last year when I sold two of my works at an exhibition in November.

Anyway, it's about time I show you some cards!

I know Christmas has come and gone, but I wanted to share these with you :)

Last year I ran a couple of Christmas card stamp a stacks. These two cards are a couple of the designs that we did. Although I made these, I didn't get around to making and sending cards this year — I just had too much on.

I love the versatility of the Season of Joy stamp set. Here I have used the flower image, together with some sponging around the edges to create the background. The large image with the greetings is the focus and has just a touch of glitter. The colours are Whisper White, Riding Hood Red and Not Quite Navy.

I wanted create a Christmas card with an Australian feel to it. So for this second card I have used the gum blossom from the Bloom Away stamp set and a greeting from the Many Merry Messages set. The colours used are Very Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red. I love that red!!

Well… time has got away and I need to get dinner happening. I have some more things to show you, but that will have to wait until next time.

Thanks for visiting :)