An Angel to Love

One of the things that Craftanoon does each time, is set a couple of challenges.  One of the challenges is to use something out of the 'goodie bag' which each person receives, and while most of the ladies are busy with layouts, I played with another new stamp on a tag.

Now I know this isn't the most exciting tag I've ever made but I was reasonably happy as this was the first time I had stamped up this lovely girl.  She is from the set "An Angel to Love" by Carabelle Studios and is available from Time to Create in Australia.

The flowers were in our goodie bags so I wanted the outfit to reflect those colours.  She is coloured using three different Distress Inks with just a pop of Gelly Roll ink to add a little sparkle.

See you again soon,

Happy Stamping!!!

Xmas calories don't count

Well, here I am again, hot on the heels of yesterday's post

with another Crazy Bird.

Yes, I know it's a little early for Christmas but ......

The background is Distress Inks blended together and the words are Dylusions.

I stamped Crazy Bird directly onto the tag and then again another two times and fussy cut around the two images. He was watercoloured using Distress Inks and a water brush.  The white fluffy edge and pompom on his Santa hat have a little sparkle thanks to my clear Wink of Stella pen.  Lastly I added the candy cane and finished with a red ribbon.

I can see it's going to be fun dressing up the Crazy Birds, can't wait to play again!

Happy Crafting!!!

 

Halloween already?

I skipped off to Craftanoon with my friend Jenni on Saturday, for a day of crafting fun.  I took along a few stamp sets including a new one I grabbed off the shelf last week which seems to be scarce as hen's teeth at the moment - squeeee!!!

I already had "Bird Crazy" but now I also have the accessories "Crazy Things", so I thought I'd start with a little halloween fun.

The background is created in a bokeh style using Distress Inks and the Crazy Bird stamped directly onto the tag.  He is then stamped again onto extra card along with the hat and pumpkin lantern and fussy cut before colouring.  A glittery purple ribbon finishes the tag off nicely.

I'll be back again shortly with another Crazy Bird, so don't go too far away!

Happy Crafting!!!

Floriade & More #2

After roaming the gardens of Floriade this morning, we went to the Australian War Memorial which currently has an ANZAC exhibition as 2015 is the centenary year.  There is much to look at/read about here and is well worth visiting.  Two hours just wasn't long enough.

Our visit to the War Memorial finished with a Service of Remembrance of a fallen soldier and the Last Post.

Looking from the Australian War Memorial to Parliament House.

We returned to our hotel briefly to grab some warm jackets before making our way to Floriade's night events (see previous post).

After a good night's sleep and a yummy brekkie, we decided to visit the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex which was really interesting.

There are quite a number of interesting artifacts and astronomy items exhibited here, including a piece of moon rock, space food and a space suit among other things.

Ah, nothing like pretending to be a spaceman!

Listening to the universe!

And so we headed home, having enjoyed our mini break away.

Floriade & More

..... and now for something completely different

(from craft, that is)

On Tuesday, my DH and I set off on a road trip to Canberra, mainly to look at the gorgeous flowers at Floriade, but also to stop and look at sights along the way.

Our first stop was at Fitzoy Falls in the Southern Highlands.  These falls are quite high and go straight down to the bottom, and although there is a viewing platform, to really see them you have to lean out a little.  Ugh!  not this little scaredy cat!  It really doesn't help when you can see through the platform you are standing on and you're looking at the floor of the valley - eeeek!

This is a view of the top of Fitzroy Falls through the trees along the track. 

We then followed the track around to another lookout with more falls

but this time we were standing on solid ground - phew!

As we returned to the car and the continuation of our drive to Canberra, the rain started but luckily only lasted half an hour or so.  We arrived at our hotel in Canberra around 6.30pm and then met up with our good friend for dinner.

We joined him again on Wednesday for our walk around the gardens of Floriade.

The theme for Floriade this year was ANZAC day as it is the centenary year.  This wall was full of poppies that people were placing and the word 'reflection' was actually a mirror.

There are such a beautiful assortment of tulips planted in the gardens with under-plantings of other spring flowers.  Here we have gorgeous little pansies.

I love poppies as they always remind me of my grandmother who grew them in her front garden.

These interesting critters were walking around the gardens.

Looking across the beds of tulips.

The tunnel of flower lights were beautiful by day and night!

We had tickets to return for the night event which only runs over 5 nights.  Lots of pretty lanterns, colours and entertainment.  T'was just a wee bit chilly though with the cold coming straight from Antartica!  We were glad of some hot soup for a dinner snack.

We then headed back to our hotel for the night.

I'll be back with part 2 of our short break later.

Half a Century

I've just finished making another ATC this morning, based on the theme at Wicked Wednesday this week - "Use Numbers".  

Coincidently, it also works with the Stampotique Designers Challenge which is "Milestone Celebrations".

Starting with the background, I blended 'mermaid lagoon', 'dusty concord' and 'peeled paint' Distress Inks together.  Using my handmade circle stencil, I created a 'bokeh' effect with Stampin' Up! 'Whisper White' ink.  Once that was dry, I stamped "50" onto three of the bubbles with black ink.

The steampunk snail is from PaperArtsy Eclectica EM04 and was stamped, fussy cut and coloured using Distress Markers in various colours.

This is the first outing for this rather distinguished snail - hope you like him.

This is my entry to this week's challenges which you can find here:

Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge

Stampotique Designers Challenge

Snarky Stampers

I'll be back again soon, so be sure to look in!

Happy Crafting!

  
 Edit - The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers currently has a Steampunk challenge - please have a look!

Queen of Everything

I always have good intentions to play along with challenges, but before I know it, the week has gone and I've missed yet another one!  Yesterday, I wrote down various challenges so that I could see exactly what each was, and today I got playing!

The tag background is a combination of Distress Inks 'mermaid lagoon' and 'abandoned coral'.  The triangles (Carabelle Studios "Woman & Bird") were stamped using Versamark, with Perfect Pearls 'blue smoke' dusted over the top.  A little more background was added using a Kaisercraft stamp (I don't know the name of it, oops!).  Next a layer of Distress Crackle 'clear rock candy' was added and then put aside to allow for drying.

"The Queen of Everything" was stamped onto white cardstock, fussy cut and coloured with Distress Ink and Gelly Roll pens.  I left a lot of white to contrast with the background.  The words were stamped directly onto the tag with Archival Ink.  The "Queen" was popped up on dimensionals, a border was created with black cardstock and the tag was finished with a scrap of black lace.

I am entering this tag in the following challenges:

Stampotique Designers Challenge

Take a Stamp - Craft Stamper Magazine

Tagalong Challenge

Thanks for coming by for a peek at today's playtime creation.

I love reading comments, so please leave one if you feel so inclined.

Happy Crafting!