Feathery Greetings

Todays ATC was made for this weeks challenge at Wicked Wednesday with the theme 'Happy Holidays' .  'Feathery Monster' certainly looks happy and he was more than a little chuffed to be asked to hold up a sign for all to see.

The background was blended using Distress Inks : Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick, spritzed with water to mottle the background, and the foreground foliage stamped in Peeled Paint.

'Feathery Monster' was stamped onto watercolour paper with 'Jet Black' archival ink before being coloured with watercolour pencils in two tones of green.  He was fussy cut before two dots of 'liquid pearls' for eyes and green 'stickles' for his spots were added to finish him off.   The sign was stamped and coloured the same way.  Both 'Feathery' and the sign were popped up on dimensionals.

I'm entering this in the challenge at Wicked Wednesday.

I wish you health, happiness and lots of crafty fun as we head into 2014.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy crafting!!!

 

Party Time!

I've been having a look at a few challenges and really wanted to play along, but first I had to clear a space on the table.

Just prior to Christmas I had packed up all my crafty stuff so we could use the table for Christmas lunch, and it had since been put back on the table but in no particular order.  I thought I should cull a few items as I sorted them out so I started off with two small-medium boxes and a basket of old samples.  At the end of this little cull, I was down to just the basket with a smidge of room to spare - woohoo!!  Next was the pile of cardstock and designer papers, most of which are still in the pile as they are reasonably new and are still very useable.  A few papers did go into the recycling bin though, as they simply were no longer of use to me or were damaged, and since I have so many offcuts already, I really didn't want to add to them.

So, I made space at the table (except the pile of papers is still on the kitchen bench, oops!) and was able to have a little play with this week's challenges.

As it is the holiday season and people have been busy, a couple of the challenges have the same theme at the moment "Anything Goes", such an easy theme.

 I started with 'Mustard Seed' followed by 'Spiced Marmalade' and finished with 'Picked Raspberry' distress inks, blending them together.  A quick little spritz with water letting it dribble in a couple of spots before blotting it with a tissue followed.

I stamped "Gooseneck" with 'Jet Black' archival ink and coloured her with watercolour pencils before fussy cutting around her outline. As it is a New Year party, some balloons were stamped directly onto the tag and extra colour added.   'Happy New Year' was stamped with alphabet letter stamps onto a piece of scrap, cut out and popped up on dimensionals.  A piece of washi tape grounds "Gooseneck" with a couple of extra little bits added.  "Gooseneck" is also popped onto dimensionals.

The bottom left of the tag seemed empty, so using a 'date' stamp (SU) (my new acquisition) was just what was needed (well, I thought so anyway, hee hee).   The top of the tag was finished off with various yarns in co-ordinating colours.

I'm entering this tag in the following challenges:

          CASology.blogspot.com.au - theme "Party"
          Stampotiquedesignerschallenge.blogspot.com.au - theme "Anything Goes"
          Tagalongchallenge.blogspot.co.uk - theme "Anything Goes"


Thanks for coming by to visit, and I wish you health, happiness and lots of crafty fun as we begin 2014.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy crafting!

Snow Birds

Phew!   This time of the year is getting so busy but since I was up early this morning, I thought I would play along with this weeks Wicked Wednesday Challenge.

I started with a piece of creamy coloured card/paper (it's not quite heavy enough for card  so I guess it would have to be thickish paper) and coloured it with 'Stormy Sky' and  'Shaded Lilac' Distress Inks, blending the two colours together.  I then lightly spritzed it with water for a mottled sky look.

Next I stamped the 'owl' (Inkadinkado) directly onto the background and then again on some cream scrap.  The branch was coloured using Distress Markers (which I had scribbled onto an acrylic block to use as my palette) and water brush.  The owl was coloured the same way and then cut out and glued directly over the original image.    I added a little Kindyglitz for a sparkly star and some googly eyes on the owl, and to finish off, I went around the edges with 'Black Soot' Distress Ink.

I'm entering this little owl in this weeks challenge at Wicked Wednesday.

It's a very hot day in Sydney today, over 40 degrees outside.  It's a bit cooler inside but I can feel the house heating up.  Hope the electrician turns up this afternoon to wire up our new air-conditioner!

As this will probably be my last post until after Christmas, I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS  and a fun but relaxing festive season with family and friends!

Happy Crafting!!!
 

Creepy Christmas

I've never considered Christmas to be 'creepy' however, the theme at Wicked Wednesday this week is just that, "Creepy Christmas".  Since I hadn't yet used the last of my new Stampotique stamps "Owl Tree", I thought it should just about fit the theme.

As this is an ATC challenge I started with a piece of black cardstock in the required size and stamped "Owl Tree" in white craft ink (SU) and clear embossed it, which gives it a grey look rather then white, but probably gives it a more  ghostly appearance.  The three larger owls have little coloured bling eyes and the tiny owls eyes were coloured with Gel pens.  The word "christmas" (SU Teeny Tiny Sentiments) was stamped in Versamark with gold Perfect Pearls brushed over the top.

I'm entering this in this weeks Wicked Wednesday challenge.

Happy crafting!

Snowflakes, in this heat?

CASology's theme this week is "Snowflakes", something that wouldn't dare make an appearance in our hot summer weather.  However I was looking in my Cuttlebug box for a die and came across a Couture Creations folder called "Tranquil Happiness" which is a snowflake tree with three little birds flying around the top.

I popped a piece of off-white cardstock in the folder and fed it through the Cuttlebug, then wrapped a length of sheer silver edged black ribbon around it before mounting it onto an appropriately blue piece of cardstock.  I stamped "Merry Christmas" (SU 'Christmas Greetings') with Archival 'Watering Can' ink and then thought I'd add some sparkle to the snowflakes with silver Kindyglitz.

I'm entering this card in this weeks CASology challenge.

Happy crafting!
 

A Beautiful Wedding

We're home again after attending a beautiful wedding yesterday in the Southern Highlands.  The happy couple had gone to so much trouble to create a perfect day - quaint, country church followed by a gorgeous outdoor reception at the Montrose Berry Farm.  They couldn't have asked for better weather although by nightfall it had become rather chilly, but not a whisper of a breeze.

Wedding Cake

Macarons

Reception

There were so many little details, even on the tables - vases of flowers along the whole length of each of the three tables, little bundles of books tied with string, even little teacups planted with succulents, and for each guest a little jar of homemade jam (mine is boysenberry, my DH's is pear & vanilla).

My DH and I stayed in a beautiful B & B, with each room having a different theme (we had the Swedish room) and this morning we were treated to a very yummy breakfast.  We had a bit of a look around Bundanoon (which is where we were staying) before heading home around 1pm as we need to be back around 3pm.  Such a lovely part of the country, we need to go back again but stay longer next time.

Anyhow, enough of the wedding.  I thought it time to show off my card.

I found the textured paper when I was in Melbourne recently and thought it rather elegant with its random hearts.   I stamped the words (SU 'Heard from the Heart') onto the shimmery cardstock in Jet Black Archival which fades slightly giving it a softer look.   A length of black satin ribbon with a touch of bling completes it.

I really should have photographed the inside prior to writing on it, but because I didn't want to goof up, I stamped the words (SU 'Occasional Quotes') and then wrote on the insert before sticking it inside the card.

For a wedding gift, the young couple had asked guests to contribute to the 'wishing well' so I made this little envelope pouch to match the front of the card and popped some money inside.  The finished card was then put inside a co-ordinating envelope and tied with a black ribbon.   This way I figured the 'gift' couldn't accidently get parted from the card.

I was very happy with the finished card and hope you like it too

Happy crafting!

Charmed Christmas

Just to be confusing, and I'm not hard to confuse, I thought I'd better do a second post as we're heading off to a wedding this weekend and I have a feeling I might just miss this challenge if I don't do it now.

At Wicked Wednesday, the theme is "A Charmed Christmas", so when I was playing this morning I came up with this, using stamps from Paper Smooches.

This little moose was stamped onto watercolour paper, his santa hat was then added before colouring with watercolour pencils  (my favourite colouring method at the moment).  I blended Fired Brick Distress Ink around the edges and lastly glued the little bell onto the end of the santa hat.

I'm entering this ATC in this weeks Wicked Wednesday challenge.

Happy crafting!

Challenge - Ribbon

This morning I joined the Friday Scrapbooking Ladies at Alice in Paperland.   While they are all occupied with their scrapbooking, I'm busy making cards or other little projects, so as the theme this week over on the CASology challenge is "Ribbon", this is what I made:

My friend from yesterday had brought along another of her new JOFY stamps and the lovely flower stem was among them.  The ribbon came from a little box of leftovers/offcuts that get collected in the store from time to time and someone had knotted it (goodness knows why?) and as I held it across the card, the knot lined up perfectly with the stems (woohoo).

After a quick search of the scrap paper bin I found this gorgeous pink shimmer paper which was the perfect colour to go with the flower.  I finished the card off when I got home by attaching the topper to a white card base and stamping 'wish big' (SU discountinued).

I'm entering this card in this weeks CASology Challenge.

Happy crafting!

Retirement Cards

Ah, the Retirement cards saga continues .......... not really, in the end after much thinking and searching of a suitable stamp, it came together rather well (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

This morning I was heading off to Alice in Paperland to 'play' in the last Dylusions class for this year.  Actually it's not really a class as it is very informal and there is usually only 3 of us, but we have lots of inky fun with much laughter and chatting.  Anyhow, one of the girls had brought along her new JOFY stamps and as I was stamping them onto my journal page, it suddently occurred to me that these would work rather well on the second retirement card (for which I was stuck for ideas).  They both agreed and as I had my watercolour paper and pencils with me, I quickly stamped and coloured some flowers.  The card was assembled after I went home.

I found a piece of cardstock to mat the flowers (it is much closer in colour to the flowers then it looks in the photo), stamped "dare to dream" (Tim Holtz), and popped in the insert.  The quote came from a book called "Words to the Rescue" and was computer printed.

For the first card (yes, I know I'm going backwards in time here) I used "Born to Ride" which is one of my recent purchases, with "enjoy the journey" (Tim Holtz) stamped in the bottom corner.

The same book was used for this quote too, although this time it is actually two quotes put together, but changed slightly.  This was also computer printed.

Tomorrow the school is having a presentation in honour of the two teachers who are retiring.  I'm not actually going but know the teachers as they were at the school prior to my children going there (and they have all finished school now).  After all those years of teaching students, they deserve a well earned retirement!

Now to finish the Wedding card for Saturday, and then next week I'll start sending out my Christmas cards.

Happy crafting!

Ramblings .......

Do you think there is such a thing as too much cardmaking in one day?  I didn't either until my brain decided to go to mush tonight and nothing was working.  I'm trying to tick things off my list and a couple of them have priority - they have to be done by Thursday or .......... (my life won't be worth living, eeeeekk).

So, today I :
1. did a letterbox drop route (for the Christmas service times for church).  The route I chose this time was fairly straightforward with no back-tracking, and I got to walk past a favourite house.  It's an old one but beautifully maintained with little diamond panes of glass in the windows.  They don't build them like this any more.
2. wrote up the Alice in Paperland blog, with the new Graphic 45 collections and upcoming classes.
3. made another batch of Christmas cards, which means I now have 58 cards (8 of these are leftover oddments, I normally make batches of 10) ready to write on.
4. made one of the two Retirement cards (the second one has a finished insert {I never do inserts first!} but no idea what to put on the front - BIG sigh!).

I still have a Wedding card to make and the wedding is this coming Saturday.  I don't think I'll have time tomorrow so it's looking like Thursday or Friday - I love doing things at the last minute - NOT!!!

So, I guess it's time to do the dishes and a little ironing for tomorrow before maybe an early night?

Ok, my ramblings are over - I'll be back again soon with something to show you.

Happy crafting!

Finished and Ready to Party!

Phew!  I've just finished tying the ribbons around the 40 packs of gift cards which will be put on each place setting at the Friendship Service this coming Wednesday.  As mentioned previously, this is held once a month for the old folk who can't otherwise get to church any longer, and after the service in December, they are all invited to stay for a lovely Christmas lunch, put on by a number of wonderful hardworking ladies; and while they are busy setting it all up, their terrific husbands are out in their cars picking up the old folk from their homes.

 Decorated

These cards are 4" x 4" and with the exception of a few which are hand stamped, they are decorated with 12" x 12" papers that are then cut into smaller squares ready to pop onto the blank card.

Oriental papers

I did however run out of suitable 12" x 12" papers, so looked through my stash and found some lovely oriental papers.  I was really happy with how these looked, but with only one A4 sheet of each patterned paper, could only make one set of cards.

Photo papers

These were the first batch I made, so easy as the paper had nine photos per sheet (1 each of tulips, roses & lillies), each just trimmed to size. 

Stampin'Up!

These cards came die cut from SU (discontinued) and overstamped using "Fresh Cuts" (discontined), with a touch of bling in the centre of some of the flowers.

Wild Flowers

This set is of Australian wildflowers and again there were nine squares to each sheet of paper, just trimmed to size.

All these cards were really easy to put together and each has been left blank inside, so are suitable for all occasions.    Apart from the SU cards, there are no greetings on any of the other cards either.

I hope everyone has a lovely lunch together on Wednesday and enjoy the musical items of entertainment between the courses.

I will be there to help set up, but then I have to head off to the hairdressers to cover up some grey bits, so I can look presentable at the wedding we're going to next Saturday. Since the hairdressers is only a block away from the church, I'll probably pop back in again to help clear away.

With these ticked off my list of 'things to do', next on the list is two Retirement cards, a Wedding card and the rest of my Christmas cards, so I'd better get started!

Happy crafting!