Hi all

Jeez we are all busy busy aren’t we?  We are heading off to Adelaide for an early Christmas with Paul’s family on Friday for a week so I have to be super organised with pressies etc for here when we return and of course over there too.  Mmmm, best check my list again I think.

I have managed to try my hand at some clay Christmas decorations which I saw here and I’m quite pleased with them.  What do you think?

I’ve used Fimo soft clay and a cookie cutter then simply pressed my stamps into the clay and baked them in the oven.  Once they hardened and cooled I used the SU Shimmer Paint Champagne Mist on the image and sentiment.  The snowflake is from a retired SU set The Snowflake Spot and the sentiment is PTI Signature Christmas.

Here’s a close up.  The shimmer doesn’t show up much in the photo but it’s quite specky in real life.

I got better as I went along so I’m sure by the time I’ve finished making more they’ll be spot on.  I think they make a nice teachers gift but I might also hang some on our tree!

Thanks for stopping by.  Merry Christmas!

Hi all.  I’ve had a much better week this last week and even managed to nut out a Christmas card design with my good stamping friend Julie.   This is what we came up for my card.

Stamps:  PTI 2009 Holiday Tags, Signature Christmas
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Inks:  Old Olive, Black Stazon
Accessories:  Various SU DSP, 1 3/4″ circle punch, white satin ribbon, PTI Mat Stack 3 die.

What do you think?  I’m really happy with it and it was quite simple to reproduce.  I used a couple of different DSP’s just to change it up a bit.

Thanks for looking.  Happy stamping!

Hello again!  Who’d have thunk I’d be back so soon?  This week’s challenge at Inkspirations is a sketch challenge.

Here is my entry.

Stamp set:  PTI On My Couch
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Rose Red,
Inks:  Black stazon
Accessories:  Sweet & Sour DSP, Pumpkin Pie ribbon, PTI die, Brights button, twine, Brights brads 

Thanks for looking.  Pop on over to Inkspirations to check out this week’s entries.

Well hello there!  Long time no blog hey?  Unfortunately my health has kept me away for a while but today I had the energy and inspiration to make a few long overdue thank you cards so I thought I’d share them with you.

Stamp set:  Papertrey Ink Flower Fusion #1
Cardstock:  Whisper White
Inks:  Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red
Accessories:  Brights button, 1/2″ circle punch

Stamp set:  Papertrey Ink Think Big Favourites #6
Inks:  Black Stazon
Card stock:  Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink
Accessories:  PTI Vine and Bloom Builders #3 dies, Neutral button, twine, Brights DSP

Thanks for looking.

Hi all

Just popping in quickly to upload this pic of the card I made for Keesh’s Inkspirations Colour Challenge 84.  The colours are pretty bold but just felt like having a play today.

and here is my card.

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink
Cardstock:  Daffodil Delight, Concord Crush, Tangerine Tango
Inks:  Concord Crush, Tangerine Tango (sponged)
Accessories:  Big Shot, Papertrey Ink dies, white satin ribbon, Bold Brights buttons, Bold Brights DSP
All supplies Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise stated.

What do you think?  Bright hey?  A nice cheery card for someone special.  I have to say it looks better in real life than in my pic but the wind was blowing and so I had to get the shot pretty quickly while the card was still upright after many attempts!

Hope you are having a nice week! 

The new 2011/12 Stampin Up! catalogue is available as of  TODAY!  As always it’s full of lots of tempting goodies, such as new colours, stamps, designer papers, dies, ribbons, etc.  You can click here to view online now. 

If you’d like to get your hands on a copy, you can collect from me in Manning for $10 or I can post to you for $17. 

 Happy browsing!

Hi all.  I hope you are travelling well this week.  I had a super lazy morning this morning and then suddenly felt inspired to stamp so hopped on to Keesh’s Inkspirations Challenge blog to find this In-Color challenge.

I decided to use the retiring stamp set Pick a Petal as I wanted something fun with these colours and here is my card:

Stamp sets:  Pick a Petal, Upsy Daisy
Cardstock:  Peach Parfait, Whisper White
Inks:  Peach Parfait, Concord Crush
Accessories:  In Color DSP (hostess), Bright buttons, white satin ribbon, 1″ circle punch, pop up glue dots

As you know it’s almost time for a new SU! catalogue and that means a retiring list!  Don’t forget this year’s In-Color’s continue on for another year and we’ll also get five new In-Colors too.  There are some bargains to be had with this year’s stamp sets and accessories so jump onto the link below and check it out.

Some items are discounted by 25% to 40%.  Click here to go to the Retiring List.

I also wanted to let you know that sadly this year Makeesha, Charmaine and I have decided not to hold a Stamp-a-thon.  It’s been a difficult decision and not one we have taken lightly as we know it’s such a great cause and you all enjoy it so much.  As you know Keesh recently gave birth to little Josiah and is very busy adjusting to life as a mum of 5 as well as being bridesmaid for two extremely special weddings coming up in the very near future, one being in the US.  Unfortunately Charmaine’s mother was just diagnosed with inoperable cancer and she has headed off to the UK to be with her and we are unsure of when she’ll return.  As for me, well, I’m still battling on with chemo and will be for sometime so thank you for all your past support and we hope to be able to bring you another Stamp-a-thon sometime soon, whether its on a smaller scale or at a different time of year, we’d like to try, so fingers crossed.

Thanks for popping in today.  I’m off to duck the showers at school pick up.

Hi all.  I hope you are having a nice weekend.  I’m still housebound with this bad cough.  I’m definitely feeling much better but hubby is being overprotective and I’ve only been out of the house once in two weeks and am going a little stir crazy.  Tomorrow I’m heading into hospital for another round of chemo and I’m actually looking forward to it just so I can get out of here!!  That’s a worry isn’t it?  Oh well, I’m going to visit the oncologist first and hopefully she’ll have more promising news that we are on the right track and my big sis Jule is coming with me as my buddy so that’ll be nice.  Oooh did I tell you that she shaved her head to raise money for Breast Cancer and has so far raised $2,000!  I think she’s very brave and inspiring and many people talk the talk, but she is walking the walk for cancer research!  x

Anyway, back to the reason you popped in… I’ve been inspired by a couple of challenges this week.  First the colour challenge over at Just Add Ink (JAI) and then a sketch challenge at Inkspirations.

and here is my card.

Stamps:  Medallion, Occasional Greetings
Inks:  Soft Suede, Black Stazon
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Big Shot Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Champagne Mist shimmer paint, Stampa-ma-jig, Build-a-brad, black satin ribbon

I’m really happy with how this card turned out although it is so far removed from the original idea I had when I sat down at my desk!  I tried a new technique using the Shimmer Paint.  I stamped the Medallion in Soft Suede and then daubered the shimmer paint directly onto the rubber stamp and realigned my image with the Stampa-ma-jig to give it a slight shadow effect. In real life it’s very shimmery and quite stunning (if I do say so myself) but my photo doesn’t really do it justice .

Thanks for popping in.  Have a great week!

Hi all.  How are you travelling?  I’ve had a week in bed with a bad cough and even though on the weekend I managed to get up and move around a bit, I’m back in bed today with big bad couging fits!  :-(   Hopefully rest will do the trick but I’m getting a little tired of morning television and infomercials so I thought I’d get the laptop out and say hi and share a card.

I made this card for Keesh’s gorgeous little boy Josiah a few weeks back.  I was absolutely stumped as I don’t make many baby cards so I went back to an old fave and pulled out the retired Wild About You set. 

Stamp set:  Wild About You, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock:  Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
Inks:  Marina Mist, Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Big Shot, Square Lattice embossing folder, circle punches, Marina Mist satin ribbon, bright buttons, twine

I’m really pleased with how this card came out and I think I might use this idea again and funky it up a bit for my boys’ friends birthday cards.  I always seem to need lots of those and I really should make a stack to have on hand.  When I get around to doing some, I’ll share them so you can see how to mix it up a bit.

Have a great week!

Hi guys.  I managed to get some stamping time in today and thought I’d have a go at the good old Mojo Monday sketch as a starting point and then I tied it in with Keesh’s Inkspirations colour challenge.

Here’s the sketch and the colour combo:

and this is my simple card reflecting both.

Stamps:  Share a Cup
Inks:  Melon Mambo
Cardstock:  Melon Mambo, Basic Gray, Whisper White
Accessories:  Old Olive pattern stack DSP, Perfect Polka Dot Big Shot embossing folder, 1″ and 1 3/4″ circle punch, jumbo brads, Melon Mambo polka dot ribbon (retired),  Nestabilities.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you like it!