In memory of my Dad

I've been very quiet on my blog over the last week or so because I have felt too sad to make cards or share my thoughts.

My Dad has been very ill for the last 6 months and yesterday he passed away peacefully in his sleep. I am so glad that he is no longer suffering, although I miss him dreadfully.  I feel blessed that I was able to spend so much time with him during these last months and  feel that we grew even closer during this time. Dad was my biggest fan, especially when it came to cardmaking. He loved to see my creations and I will miss sharing them with him. He may be gone, but he will be forever in my heart.

This next card, is for the Runway Inspired Challenge. My Dad took up painting and pottery when he retired and I have been playing around with watercolour techniques on my cards, which he really loved. I started this card last week and was hoping to show it to him - it's not perfect, but I know he would have had a big smile on his face when he saw it.

Curtain Call - Love letter take 2

I have another card for the Curtain Call - Love Letter challenge. I've had these cute little envelopes in my stash for a while, so I thought it would be perfect for this challenge.

Eek, there's no stamping on my card! I used the silhouette to cut the little love heart bunting. After I cut it I inked it and covered it with glossy accents.  Then I used some random die cut hearts and to make it quicker, I swiped them with Memento luxe ink and clear embossed. To finish off the card, I mounted it on a light blue base, then added the sequins and die - cut letters.

Case Study Challenge #174 - Just Playing!

I had a bit of fun yesterday, playing around with different media, inspired by Donna Mikasa's card that we are casing at Case Study Challenge this week.

In the first card I used pan pastels to shade the background and then created the splatter with distress ink, water and pearl-ex powder.

The sentiment is from Clearly besotted and the bird image I'm not sure about, maybe Pink Paislee.

In the next card I used gelatos.

The image and sentiment are from Clearly Besotted Stamps. I am entering this in the Clearly Besotted card challenge -  the theme is LOVE.

For the next card, I cut a Hero Arts silhouette image and used it as a mask. I then sponged distress inks over the mask and spritzed with pearlised water.

Since I have used my new fun tool - the Silhouette Portrait and it is using a new cut file from Hero Arts, I will enter this in A Blog Named Hero challenge - New! I am also entering this card in the Curtain Call Challenge - Love Letter.

Case Study Challenge #174

Hi! It's week 3 with Donna Mikasa as muse  at Case Study Challenge and we have another beauty to case. I am lucky enough to have all my crafty things set up on a table underneath our air-conditioner, but the computer is in a very hot spot, so I'll make this a quick post!

I've used Hero Arts brushstrokes stamps with distress ink for the background. The sentiment is from Kikki K and the butterfly is die-cut with a Penny Black Die.

I've used one of my new Enamel dots on the butterfly, so I am entering this in A blog Named Hero
challenge - New stash.

Feathers are the rage!

Feathers seem to be everywhere these days and I'm really enjoying this trend - there's something so dreamy about them.   I have to admit though, I much prefer the stamped and die-cut kind to the real thing!

Today I have made a card for the Stamplorations - Stamp and Feathers challenge and hopefully it fits their sketch challenge (in a subtle way). I came across this company when I saw that my friend Shirley Bampton was on their design team. Their stamps are very unique and I know I will have to own some in the near future!

The feathers have been made with MFT dies. The blue feather was coloured with Chipped Sapphire disress ink and then I glued the tulle on to the feather. Actually this was done before it was die cut.
I coloured the gold feather with perfect pearls and versamark ink and when dried I stamped the script.
I added the feather charm to be the 3rd element in the sketch! What do you think, is that a bit too liberal? The sentiment is from Wplus9. I embossed the base of the card to add a bit more depth and this means I can enter it in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Emboss It!

Penny Black Sending Hugs

I'm making this post short and sweet, because it's still HOT! It's expected to get to 44C today and over 40C tomorrow. My son's cricket was supposed to start back tomorrow, but they've had to postpone due to the heat rule! Mind you, the poor tennis players are slogging it out at the Australian Open - it surely must be bad for their health!

Penny Black have a card challenge running until the end of January - the theme is 'Sending Hugs'.
I hope this sentiment fits! You can see I'm rater smitten with this butterfly stamp! This time I used pretty, feminine colours and spritzed a bit more to make it more fluid.

I am also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - Anything Goes!

New Stamps!

Yesterday I was very excited to receive my 1st ever stamp set from Clearly Besotted. I have been admiring this set - Happy Everything for quite a while.  Check out Debbie Hughe's cards here and here , Gayatri Murali's cards here and Tasnim's cards here and here.

So today I have had lots of fun playing with them and this is my first card.

I stamped the image with versamark and white embossed on Arches watercolour paper.
I have coloured the image with gelatos - they have such a lovely creamy look.
I did think about adding a couple of sequins, but wanted it to look more like a painting.

Again, sorry for the photo - it;'s very challenging with these weather conditions. I've been thinking of making a light box, but would probably have to buy another light. Does anyone have an easy tutorial for this?

Case Study challenge #173 New Muse - Donna Mikasa

Hi there! This post is coming to you from the heat haze that has descended upon Melbourne! If I make any spelling errors, it is because I refuse to open the curtains or turn on a light!

There is a new at Case Study this month - it is the wonderful Donna Mikasa. I have admired Donna's CAS style for a long time, so I'm really looking forward to casing her amazing creations!

This weeks card is so CAS and effective - I just love it! I must admit to having tried to case Donna's card literally - I made a baby card actually, but it was no where near as good as Donna's, so I have taken a different route.  I've been doing a lot of watercolour lately so I thought I would stick with it and this is my result!

I have used a mixture of stamps from Hampton Art and Kaisercraft and distress ink and markers.
It was fun making this  and I think it would make a good going away card.
I'm sorry the photo is not that great, but again I'm not going outside or opening curtains because it is 40C!

I'm also entering this in Simon Says Monday Challenge - Anything goes.



I hope you like my grungy, artsy take on Donna's card. Have a great day!

An accidental card ...The Card Concept

Hi there everyone! I'm excited because there's another card challenge on the block! It's called
The Card Concept and it looks really fun and well, challenging!

Whilst I was racking my brain, trying to decide what style to use for this challenge, I saw this NBUS* stamp on my desk and thought it would look great stamped in brown ink. Once I had stamped it, I thought,  'it needs something simple, but contrasting to finish it off' and then I remembered my huge stash of washi tape and voila! I really have no idea what style this card fits in to - maybe CAS?

I added the pearls for a touch of bling and to get the vanilla colour and then mounted the white  stamped card on to a kraft base card. Not too bad for something that came about accidently!
Now I might go and make another one!

*Never before used stuff The stamp is from an Australian company - Stamp It!

Runway Inspired Challenge Ric 51- Take 2

This is my 2nd card for the Runway Inspired challenge. My first card was an arty style card and in this card I wanted the reflect the texture and colour of the suit.

For the background I embossed white card stock and then coloured it with Pan Pastel and Pearl-ex true blue. The rose is sure to be recognisable to everyone - Stampin Up 5th Ave Floral. I stamped the image twice in black and coloured with distress inks, then stamped some script over the images.  I then cut out the rose in 2 different sizes and layered them.
To finish it off, I swiped the rose with versamark and embossed with glitter embossing powder. The leaves have been diecut with a memory box die.
The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink Lovely Layers.

I'm thinking about having a 3rd go at this challenge, because I want to make a card with the brighter orange and darker blue.

Runway Inspired #51 - No 1 Arty interpretation

Hi there - happy Sunday! I am enjoying a lovely mild morning, before we get hit with a week of oppressive heat! If you follow tennis, you will know that the Australian Open begins tomorrow. The weather always hots up for this event!

Today I have made a card for the Runway Inspired challenge - I love the colours and I was also inspired by the water colour inspiration of some of the design team's cards and the umbrella. I have noticed some other elements of the photo, which means I will be back with another card soon, I hope!

I have used my favourite butterfly stamp from Penny Black, distress markers and perfect pearls for added shimmer. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions.

There are some wonderful new faces on the RIC design team, so hop on over to check it out!

Curtain Call - Smitten

I have noticed a lot of people playing at Curtain Call Challenge and I don't know why I haven't caught up with the fun yet! I saw the fun inspiration photo pop up on facebook and I didn't want to miss out this time - the deadline is a few hours away!

Yet again I have ended up with a card very different from my original vision! I used my silhouette to to get the rose cut out and was planning to use the die cut on the card. However, I started off using it as a stencil with some distress inks and then spritzed it to get the soft look and then I decided not to add the cut out shape. Next I added the washi tape and sentiment tape to get the idea of the black pattern on the mittens. To finish it off I mounted it on a black card base.

I'm not sure if anyone else will like this, but I'm feeling all artsy at the moment so I quite like the watercolour effect.

Another Star Card! Silhouette debut!

Yipee! I received my Silhouette Portrait in the mail the other day! I was so excited and hooked it up straight away. There was a bit of a hiccup, because the first *adapter plug I used didn't work - in fact it crackled! I found another one in our travel stuff and it worked!  (*I needed an adapter because I purchased it from the USA)

 The next step was to try it out! After playing around for a while, I took the plunge and let it cut!

It cut out the solid shapes ok, but tore  the sentiment to bits.  I have taken some advice from Fb friends to use smooth paper, slower cutting speed and higher blade setting and had some success.

I can see it will take time and  practice to get to know the capabilities and settings.

This is my first card using Silhouette and I love the little string of stars. I have used Hero Arts brush strokes and distress ink for the sky. This is my 2nd card for the MFW Constellation/ Trendy Star Power challenge.   I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge -  Something New and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Something Blue! Oh and I found a challenge another challenge called Silhouette Challenges - Anything Goes.

It's similar to my 1st, but simpler and a bit more artsy.

Fusion Card Challenge No1 2014

I started out making a completely different card , but as sometimes happens, this one took a life of it's own! I was inspired by the photo in the Fusion Card challenge and was going to use the sketch as well, but then I took a tangent. I'm also entering this in the Penny Black 'sending hugs' challenge, because I have a friend who needs  a hug and a good laugh and this card was made for her!

The top tag was stamped with Penny Black flower flourish in rose red and then embossed with pearl embossing powder to get the 'pearly' look, then I went over this with pan pastel in light blue tint and wiped the embossed image. I then used the same ink and embossing powder on a piece of white card stock and then die cut the butterfly with a Penny Black die.

After I had die-cut the butterfly I swiped it with more ink and embossed it again and whilst hot, I pressed it on to the Hero Arts lattice background. i love the texture of the butterfly and tag. The lattice was to echo the pattern on the cushions and the pattern on the tag, was inspired by the rug and the coral colour of the bedhead.

NB: the sequins reflected the sunlight in the photo, but on the card they pick up the colour of the cardstock!

Happy New Year! Moxie Fab returns! Constellation/Star Challenge

Well, I'm a few days late in saying it, but Happy New Year!
I think my mojo has taken a little break - I'm never very creative when zi have everyone home - too may interruptions and I'm in a different mindset!

Yesterday I noticed that Moxie Fab World had a challenge! After I did a double take,  I saw the theme of the challenge  and I was immediately inspired!

So here is my card ....

For the sky background I used Chipped Sapphire distress ink on watercolour paper and then brushed it with pearl-ex true blue powder and gave it a spritz of water. Once dry, I punched out the tiny stars and backed the blue background with gold shimmer paper. I was struggling on how to finish the card, when I discovered the gold star washi tape - perfect! Next i puched out a bigger star,  added some bling and stamped the sentiment.

I hope you like my card - I think I like this trend!

Case Study 172 Last week of Moxie Fab inspiration

I'm so glad we were given another week for Case Study Challenge #172, because I love this inspiration photo sooo much and would have hated to miss out!

My first thought was to break out my *NBUS Wplus9 Fresh Cut Florals, but I can see that has already been done, so I went for an old, but much loved Hero Arts stamp.

I white embossed the Flower Bird Garden image on textured watercolour paper, which gave the embossed area a really interesting effect. I coloured the image with a mixture of gelatos, distress markers and Twinkling H2Os. I love the vibrancy of the H2Os. The white embossing on kraft was another HA stamp - unfortunately I can't remember the name.  I got the idea to use the pearls from the little white dots of icing. These cookies are a work of art!
I think I may have to make another card for this challenge - I really love the Wplus9 stamps, so I think I may have a play!

*NBUS Never before used stuff (thanks Darnell!)