Runway Inspired ric#28 - Carolina Herrera

I'm back!!!!


I've been in Queensland with my son, who was competing in the
Australian Junior Chess Championships. He didn't do as well as he hoped,
but just taking part is amazing and I'm still very proud of him and his determination
 and resilience.

We got stuck in Queensland for an extra 36 hours due to the floods, so we
were both very tired and relieved when we landed in Melbourne.

I've been keeping my eye on all the amazing creations for the current
Runway Inspired Challenge - wow, there are some incredibly talented crafters taking part in this challenge every week - it really inspires me to think outside the square and be creative.
Here is my latest attempt ....

I used my favourite Memory Box bird on a wire die.
 I used paint daubers and a stamp and versamagic inks on the bird.
The branches are from one of my Christmas decorations and the tulle flowers are cut from a trim.
The sentiment is a very old stamp.

Runway Inspired #27 - Having fun

It's such a glorious day today (sorry to all you folks in the Northern Hemisphere), not too hot, blue sky,  warm enough to make you feel happy! If you've been watching the Australian Open, you'll know we've had some scorchers, 40 degrees celcius! So I am always thankful for these in between Summer days.


Over the last week I've decided to stop concentrating on challenges and just play with with all those things in my stash I haven't yet used. So I decided to get out some stencils, masks and spray mist etc and I've made some really different cards and had so much fun in the process.

While I was playing around, I realised I must still have been thinking about the Runway Inspired challenge...

The leaf flourish is made using a stencil, not a stamp. I used versamark ink (pad and pen) on the stencil and then used  black embossing powder. I have used canvas paper, which is more like very thin canvas than paper.  I then used spray mist as well as some jacquard dye ink. The butterfly has been randomly coloured with markers and glitter pen. The sentiment is glitter paper die cut. the stamps are from Kaisercraft.

Moxie Fab World- Challenge #49 Make your own Background

Over at Moxie Fab World there are lots of fun challenges to kick start our creativity.
This card is for  the 'Make your own background paper' challenge.

I decided to challenge myself and instead of doing a repetitive pattern, I used a collection of stamps and distress ink to create a watercolour background. The stamps are mostly from Kaisercraft and Pink Paislee.

The sentiment is die cut, inked with an ombre effect and then coated with glossy accents. The butterfly is die cut and then stamped and distressesed to match the background. I machine stitched a border for contrast.

I can see lots of mistakes (i.e. the words should be closer together), but I'm quite happy with the overall effect.

Case Study Challenge #123

A new month, a new year and a new muse at the Case Study Challenge!
I have only just recently discovered Amber's blog Damask Love and am in awe of her many talents!!! This is the card we have to case this week:-

Isn't this spectacular!

I've been trying to stretch myself and think outside the square when I case a card, so I have avoided using pink and hearts. If you put 2 hearts together you get a butterfly - so here is my idea!

The butterfly stamps are from Darkroom door - I tried to stamp randomly - it's quite a skill, which takes a lot of practice! The sentiment is computer generated. The butterfly embellishment is shrink plastic.
The orange card was originally white - I inked it with orange pigment ink and embossed with mystique
embossing powder. I'm getting in to making my own background papers in order to make the colours co-ordinate.

Moxie Fab World - Window cards

Just a quick post - i's dinner time!

I have just acquired a gorgeous stencil from Crafters Workshop (Balzer Designs _ Lotus) and I wanted to have a play with it.  I also had this gorgeous Japanese paper so I made this window card for the Moxie Fab World - Window card challenge.

I used versa magic ink and digress markers and a gold gel pen.
I also stamped the background of the insert with Hero Arts Japanese script.

I was having so much fun  I made a second card.

Runway Inspired -Ric 27 - Cacharel Spring

Have you seen the latest challenge at Runway Inspired? Oh to be young again (and have lots of money!). I love the beautiful pattern and the simplicity of the outfit. So many ideas are running around my head - this is one of them....

I've used a memory box die cut and coloured it with copics and distress markers and them added some glitter.

Casadia - I've joined the fun!

A case + an idea = Casadia

Have you been following the fun on Wida's blog.

It started with this super gorgeous card by Laura Bassen, which incidentally I had already put in my 'inspired by' album.

Next Laura's card was 'cased' by Jennifer Rzasa for a Case Study Challenge - this is the card she came up with

Then, Wida can up with her fun idea and Casadia was born.

Her idea was to start a card chain and see how far it would go.

This is Wida's card

Well so far the count is 27 and still going strong. 

The last card was made by Jackie Rockwell

and it is an absolute stunner!

My 1st thought was "Eek! how can I follow this beauty!???",

but I was inspired by the the use of the sentiment as the focal point and decided to have a go at creating a card using more than one sentiment 'subway art' style. I also went with the 'friendship' theme of Jackie's card. 

Most of the stamps are from Hero Arts, except  the flourish and last sentiment, which are from Micia Crafts. The black & white paper is from Kaisercraft. I used black versafine ink and clear embossed.

I will enter this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge  and Less is More Challenge- which both ask you to use B & W with a splash of colour.

I'll also enter this in the Hero Arts challenge, which is 'something' new. This is a new technique for me using several sentiments to make a focal point.

Playdate Cafe pdcc163 & Unscripted Sketches

I think my Mojo has gone on holidays! I just brought out a few of my supplies to get back in to rhythm

of creating and I've spent most of the day making a mess and procrastinating! 

Anyway, this is the card I ended up making - I'm not over the moon, but I guess it's a start.

Edited: Moxie Fab World are going to have a week of challenges - YAY!!!!! Just what i need to get my mojo back into gear!

I am entering this card in the Playdate Cafe Challenge, Unscripted Sketches and the Moxie FabWorld challenge to use 10 or more embellishments!

This card began with the panel - I white embossed watercolour paper and then painted the paper with distress
inks and Twinkling H2O.  The strip of paper is coloured with an ink pad and I've used the same colour ink pad to
stamp the flowers, but embossed with pearl powder to get the softer colour. The border punch is from American Crafts,  the background stamp is Penny Black (I love it!!!) The flower stamp is from hero Arts and the pearls are from
Kaisercraft and coloured with copic marker.

Moxie Fab World- TT Sweet Dreams

It's been fun reading all the posts at Moxie Fab World over the last week and voting for our favourite 3 in various categories. It's good to reflect on the trends of the last year - in fact, before I discovered MFW, I wasn't even fully aware that there were trends (apart from products) in the paper craft world.
So 2012 was a great year for me with my crafting and blogging.
I have really enjoyed entering challenges and getting to 'know' other crafters through their blogs.

It hasn't been such a great year health wise for my family, but hey, what can you expect when you have 86 yo parents and I spend way too much time sitting at the computer. So this year I need some balance,
I want to spend less time procrastinating over my creations and try to get my creative juices flowing away from the computer. I am going to take charge of my health and as soon as my foot is recovered I will start walking and bike riding.

Anyway, here is another card I have pondered over for the last week for the Tuesday Trigger, it definitely isn't what I had in mind at the beginning, but serendipity took over!

I really wish I had a natural talent for clusters - I intend to keep trying, because I really love a CAS with a
a cluster of elements.