Some Masculine Cards

  

Life has been busy...we had a busy weekend...sometimes time just seems to fly on by...I dont know where it goes half the time!  I spent a few hours in the garden on Sunday.  I have been working on my front garden planting those 19 Nandinas and mulching and weeding etc etc.  Only half the garden is done so still another half to do...it is turning out really nice though and is a huge improvement on what is was when we moved in here in January.  I will post some pics of it soon.  Tonight I have some cards to share.  I needed some male cards on hand...for those male birthdays that pop up.  I hardly make male cards so I made six of these for my stash.  For the card below I made three that are exactly the same so I only took one photo of those.

I used papers from DCWV Alphabet Stack.  This has been my most used DCWV paper pack of all.  There isnt much left of it.  I love silver, black and white together.  I kept the cards clean and simple in style and used my silver gel pen on some for the stitching and just a black SU marker on the others.  The stamping I kept very simple - black ink on whisper white card.

I would like to play along with:

Totally Paper Crafts - Keep it Plain and Simple

I am working towards having a stall at the markets in December so am aiming to get a big stash of cards ready for that.  I have about 60 cards at the moment in my stash...so getting there.  How many cards do people make for market stalls?  I guess about 200 would be a nice collection.  I would be interested in what you think....

Am at work for four days this week so busy, busy, busy...will be hoping to catch up on all my commenting over the next few nights.  Hope your week has started off well...we have had three machines play up in the last couple of days...our ride on lawnmower, our pump (for water to the house) and now our washing machine.  I am so glad we have reached that number three and now hopefully things will start working again...

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Two Exciting Announcements

Hi Blogging Buddies,

I hope your weekend has started out well.  Last night we went out for dinner as a farewell for my brother.  He is leaving my Mum and Dad's business after working for them for ten years and going out on his own so we went to Safari Club (his fave restaurant in town) to celebrate.  On the way Ben and I hit a large pot-hole in the road and got a flat tyre so we were delayed an hour while we pulled over in the dark and fixed that up...we eventually got there and had a delicious dinner.

This morning I have been catching up on my emails and I have two very exciting things to announce.  I have been accepted into two DT teams and I am feeling very honoured and lucky. 

The first DT Team is a one off design team to showcase new goodies at The Craft Garden.  My little package is on its way now...heading across the oceans...and when it arrives I get to have a play!  Then I have to email my photos to Kerry so she can put them in her shop gallery.  I am extremely honoured to be a part of this team.

The second DT Team is for a new challenge blog that is starting up called Southern Girls Challenge Blog this blog has been started by two New Zealand crafters Tracey and Lou and will be a fortnightly Thursday Challenge.  Each week there will be 2 prizes, one for Australian and New Zealand entries and another for entrants from the rest of the world. 

I am so excited to be a part of this Design Team.

Well, I have lots planned for today...catching up on my emails, mowing my ever-growing lawn, some gardening and hopefully lots of crafting! I hope you have a great weekend planned.  Thank you so much for dropping by today.

DT Application for Southern Girls Challenge Blog

 Last night I was blog-hopping around and I came across this new challenge starting up called "Southern Girls Challenge Blog"

Their DT call ends today! I had to make a card for to post on my blog and so I decided to make a Christmas card.  This is the first Christmas card I have made so far this year.  The requirements are to use your favourite stamping products.  So I have used a Tilda stamp and Stampin' Up papers.  Everything I have used for this card except the red DP is from a Simply Scrappin' kit called "I Wish".  I bought it recently from the retired product list.  I have had a couple of these scrapping kits before and I have found them to be very good value.  This one was reduced - so even better value for money!

 I coloured Tilda with Copics and used my gold glimmer mist on the embellishments

from the kit. 

I added a wide Christmas ribbon and some gold metallic yarn I bought yesterday from Big W.

 While I am here I would also like to enter a few challenges:

Stamp With Fun - Card for a Girl

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch

One Stitch at a Time - Say it with Shapes

Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club - Tilda in Red

Totally Gorgeous - Star

Well thats it from me today...happy Friday to everyone reading. 

 I hope you have a relaxing weekend.  Thanks for visiting.

Lemon Magnolia Card

Goodevening Blogging Buddies,

It has been a few days since my last post. On Sunday we had a family lunch and also I have been working pretty steadily, which is good for the finances, but doesnt leave as much time for crafting....

Tonight I would love to share with you this sunshiney, yellow, sparkly Magnolia card.

I had lots of fun making this card.

I dont think I have ever made an all-yellow card before, and I didnt have a great range of papers...but I managed to rustle up two DPs from SU. I added Whisper White card as a contrast and some embossed gold card as well. I coloured Tilda and the butterflies with Copic markers. I added gold gel pen to her hair and gold glimmer mist to the whole image after I had finished colouring. I took these photos under the light so you can see the sparkle.

The flowers I bought as a bunch of hydrangers that you would put in a vase in your house, but I am just using them for cards. They werent really the right yellow so I coloured them with Copics and sprayed them with glimmer mist too. Then I added a pearl centre.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Crafts and Me - Petals and Pearls

Crafty Creations - Butterflies

Just Magnolia - Lets Get Sentimental

Magical Monday - Flowers

Totally Tilda - Stitching

Craft Your Days Away - Wings

Die Cut Dreams - Tilda In Lemon

Let's Ink it Up - Anything Goes - With a Twist of Yellow

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today,

Just a Quick Post

It is a gorgeous sunny day today and I have lots of plans for the day...some gardening, some house-cleaning, some organisation etc. So I just wanted to post these couple of cards quickly this morning. Just some clean and simple cards. I received some free papers when I bought a card magazine and so I was just having a little play around with them. You know when you dont really feel like thinking too much, but just making a card or two for pure enjoyment. The green one is for my Uncle's bday...so it is very masculine. The brown one could be a male or female card I think. Sometimes I really enjoy making simple cards...couldn't resist sharing them with you. I hope you have a happy Saturday. Thanks for popping by...

Paper Play DT Card - Pink, Pink, Pink!

 Hi Blogging Buddies,

Welcome to another Thursday PaperPlay Challenge! They seem to be coming around quicker and quicker!!!  This week the theme is "Pink, Pink, Pink!"  This week we are sponsored by Bunny Zoe Crafts.  I have hopped over to their store and they are having a Summer Sale at the moment! Ooooh...and they have such an amazing range of stamps and accessories!  I'll have to try and not look, or I will have no money to eat LOL!

I used some yummy pinks on my card and some lovely SU DP from the Rasberry Tart collection.  I bought this recently from the "about to retire" SU list.  I used gold card as well for my swirls, tag and leaves.  I have to appologise for my photos today.  It is pouring rain here and a very gloomy day.  I took these photos inside my kitchen window where I can get the most light.

I wanted to enter the challenge at Die Cut Dreams - A Tag but no Stamping...what a challenge! No stamping...I felt like my throat was cut he he he.  I was so wishing I had the new Magnolia Dies, the tag and the swirl I would love...but instead I looked on my Cricut Cartridges and found a tag and some swirls of my own.  I really dont use my Cricut enough and it has so much potential...I must use it more often.  I also punched my leaves out using a SU die and would like to enter the challenge at Charisma Cards - Die Cuts.

I also wanted to enter The Pink Elephant challenge - Ribbons and Sparkles.  I used two types of ribbon on my card, One is SU Regal Rose (the lighter pink) and the other is Rose Red (the darker pink).  These are also brand new.  I do love these two SU colours together.  They are my favourite pinks.  I added some Kindy Glitz to the gold swirls and tag to give them a bit of sparkle and texture. 

At Pollycraft Monday the challenge is "In stitches".  I added faux stitches around the edges of the paper and one ribbon has stitches as well.  At Creative Card Crew the challenge is "Sparkle and Shine".  My gold is very sparkly and shiny and the flowers have gold sparkle as well.

I haven't visited my blogging buddies for a few days.  I have been really busy! I have worked two days at a new school in town and work again tomorrow.  It is actually a really nice school and the staff are so friendly.  It make me miss my old school even more I think, because it reminds me of the beautiful people I used to work with...Anyway, I will be blog hopping tonight and catching up on all my favourite blogs, and hopefully a little card-making as well.

Thanks for visiting me.  I appreciate your comments : )

A Vintage Magnolia Card...

I really felt like making a Magnolia Card last night...you know when you are just in the mood for colouring? Over at Magnolia Down Under Challenges their theme this week is "It takes Two" which means you have to use both Tilda and Edwin on a card. So I found these two little cuties and glued their hands together so they look like they are running hand in hand awwww....

I followed the sketch from Just Magnolia which really suited having the two images on the card. I moved the ribbon to the right side of the card because of Edwin's butterfly net taking up all the room on the left hand side of the card.

Over at Creatalicious Challenges the theme is Vintage. I love having a go at Vintage challenges because I like the freedom of Vintage...the distressed edges, the not-so-perfect sewing, the frayed edges of a ribbon sticking out...I inked the edges with Vintage Photo ink and distressed with my SU distressor tool.

The inspiration for my colours came from Colour Create...they have this gorgeous picture on their blog at the moment. The colour combo is Ivory, duck-egg blue and one other from the photo below. I did my best to match the blue...but mine is a little brighter. if you look at the main colour in the shirt and dress you can see the duck-egg blue, but the darker clours on the outside give the idea of more a sky-blue. It was the closest I could get. The extra colour I used was Kraft which was the base card stock. The option at Colour Create is "Shabby Chic" which I tried to do with this card.

All That Scraps is starting their first Magnolia themed Challenge and so I wanted to join in there as well. It is an open theme, as long as you use something Magnolia. Sweet Stampin' Challenge blog is asking you to make a card with your favourite stamp or image...well Magnolias are my favourite stamp, but there is no way I could narrow it down to which one! I love them all!!!

I had a busy day today in town and then this afternoon I planted my Lavender plants. Might take a photo tomorrow to show you. I hope you had a happy Monday.

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

A Weekend of Gardening

This weekend has been quite a busy one. Mum and Dad came up to help us in the garden. We had some trees that needed transplanting so Dad drove up in the backhoe to save us some time and hard work by pulling them out with hand shovels. The backhoe is my Dad's favourite machine. He loves using it. We moved a Crepe Myrtle tree, an Orange tree and some rose bushes. They were all about 20 years old so they had large root systems underground. The photo is Dad in the backhoe and Mum helping out on the ground.

Then we went into town and bought plants. Another 19 Nandinas for the front garden where there are some gaps and 7 Lavender plants for a new garden we are planning at the side of the garage. There is lots happening! I am also working on beautifying the orchard. It has been neglected for many years and consists of some fruit trees, a lot of old rubbish and left over bricks, wire, metal etc etc. I want to make it really nice. I have began the task of mowing it and I want to paint my garden bench and put it in there for a seat, start a vegie patch...plant some flowers etc. It will definately take many months, possibly years to get it how I am imagining it. You gotta have dreams though right? Ben and I want to trade my red car in for a ute so we can cart things and then we can move all the large rubbish to wherever it needs to go (to Dad if he wants it or to the rubbish tip). We also need a ute for collecting fire wood, and for just general picking up of items from time to time.

So theres a few bits and pieces from my life happenings over the weekend...and a few hopes and dreams! I hope your weekend was enjoyable.

Take care,

"Scribble This" set of cards

Yesterday I was playing around with my old "Scribble This" stamp set from Stampin' Up. I hadnt used it for ages. I felt like embossing...even though it gets sooo messy, and I think I am allergic to the embossing powder...it gets in my eyes and down my throat...I must breathe it in I guess...don't ask me how! Anyway, I wanted to emboss white on black card. Then I stamped the flowers out onto white card and coloured them with Copic Markers.

I wanted to enter the challenge at Crafts and Me which is "Purple and Green". I coloured with these colours and added purple and green card. I added a button and tied it with a tiny bit of purple ric-rac. Added some faux stitching with my white gel-pen, some purple organza ribbon, some stickles and the card was done! I was having so much fun I wanted to make more...

Over at Allsorts Challenge they are also having a colour challenge and their's is Primary Colours: Red, Blue and yellow. This was my next inspiration. So I coloured these flowers red, blue and yellow and found some card stock to match.

I wanted to use buttons again, but didnt have any in the right colours so I coloured white ones with Copics and added some stickles on top.

I was still having fun so I decided to make another card! The Sir Stampalot Challenge for August is "Bring on the Bling" so I decided to make a shiny, "blingy" card. Instead of embossing in white I embossed using the heat and stick powder and then the silver glitter. It didn't photograph well unfortunately. I also embossed the white on black for the top flowers and added mini gemstones on the petals and in the corners of the card. I used my silver gel pen to do the faux stitching and the papers are from DCWV Alphabet Stack. The buttons I left white and just added glitter. The base of the card is sliver.

Finally I finished off with these two cards. The colour combo was pink and yellow. This time I stamped the flowers onto some DP and just cut them out. I coloured my buttons to make them pink and added glitter. One has a gold ribbon and one has the yellow ribbon. I added gold kindy-glitz to decorate.

I would like to enter all the cards in the challenge from Our Creative Corner: It's Embossable!

Thanks for visiting my blog today,

Smash Book Recipes - Quick Mix Chocolate Slice

In my quest to define some Scrapbooking goals for myself I have decided to add to my Recipe book.  This is a mini 6x6 Album that I want to hold all of my most favourite recipes.  It currently holds one (sad, I know) but now has this lovely recipe in as well so that makes two!

This slice is Ben's absolute favourite and it is so quick and easy to make.  Click on the pictures to enlarge and see the writing more clearly.  If you want to make it yourself ice the top with 1 cup of Icing sugar, 2 tablespoons of cocoa and some hot water, then cover with sprinkles.  I couldn't fit the icing onto the recipe card...I know if off by heart anyway, but I thought I would include it in this post for those of you who might like to give it a try. 

The Recipe card I kept fairly simple.  I followed the sketch from Crafty Calendar.  I used Rose Red SU Card Stock, Magnolia DP and a Magnolia Stamp.  I coloured the Magnolia Stamp with Copics and would like to enter the challenge at Mad For Markers - Colouring White.

I added some pretty ribbon and lace at the top of the card, some Prima flowers I sprayed with Gold Glimmer Mist and some pearls.  I would like to enter the challenges:

Lots to Do - Ribbons and Lace.

Sweet Stampin' - Pretty in Pink

Creative Card Crew - Cute and Girly

Cupcake Craft Challenges - Lace

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Paper Play DT Card - Bon Voyage

Can you believe it is Thursday again! My this week has flown by. Thursday is PaperPlay Challenge day for me and today I am excited to share with you this Bon Voyage card. That is our theme this week - to make a holiday, trip or moving card. I bought the Magnolia Stamp Club this time around and so I decided to use some of my new stamps from this set to make a Nautical themed holiday/summer fun card.

I followed the sketch from Crafting Life's Pieces. It was an enjoyable sketch to use...plenty to fill up a card! The base of my card is Craft Cardstock with Ballet Blue and Next to Navy. I used a Stampin' roller on the Ballet Blue with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I also distressed and inked a lot of the edges.

I used some newspaper as well as some blue and white DP scraps. I added some mesh and a blue rope/shoelace I had in my stash (I have no idea wher it came from!).

I added some Crystal effects on the water.

Over at Magnolia Stamp Lovers the challenge is to use Edwin.

I used this image of Edwin and I really like it. I think he looks quite handsome and confident in his sailor outfit...maybe its the "man in uniform" thing that has got me liking this stamp he he he. There was a little space in the corner so I added the pelican in as well. (Had to google the correct colours for a pelican...havent taken that much notice of the colours on one before.)

I saw this technique with the buttons in Issue 25 of "Australian Simply Cards" magazine and thought I would give it a go. In the magazine they used ribbon, but I used hemp twine to match with my sea theme. You thread the twine through two holes of the button, then go around the card, come back to the top and go through the other two holes.

Something a little different I guess.

I think this card will also suit The Pink Elephant and One Stop Craft Summer Fun challenges. Plenty of Summer Fun involved with sailing the ocean I think!

And lucky last, but certainly not least at Magnolia Down Under and Charisma Cardz their challenges this week is Easel cards. I dont make them very often, but I thought it might be nice to make this card extra special.

Phew! What a long post...if you are still reading you have done well to get here! I hope you join us over at PaperPlay this week with your Bon Voyage card. This week you can win a $15 voucher at Simon Says Stamp...I bet I could put that voucher to good use, I bet you could too!

Thanks for visiting my blog today.