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.