The gorgeous Alexandra of Art Scrap and More is having a giveaway - check it out here.

The gorgeous Alexandra of Art Scrap and More is having a giveaway - check it out here.

❄︎ Noël ☞ It's a Giveaway! // C'est Cadeau!

For a chance to win this prize, all you have to do is:

- Become a Follower (right column)

- Copy Paste the picture above onto your blog with a link toward today's post.

- Come back here and leave me the deep link toward your post.

Mixed Media Celebration

It's the beginning of the Silly Season - yep December is upon us and not only that, but it's also time for another Mixed Media Card Challenge! Yay! The theme this month is 'CELEBRATION' and I'm sure we'll be doing a bit of that! The optional element is 'Vellum', (which I forgot to add - oops).

I have been really struggling with my mojo lately - lots of ideas, but when  I sit down to create, I just hit the wall! Consequently, I'm not really happy with card, but  it's a step in right direction.

I started with a piece of pale green card stock and did some layered stamping - the snowflakes with Tumbled Glass distress ink, the background christmas script with Hero Arts Silver shadow ink and then the white polka dots with hero Arts Unicorn White ink. Next I adhered the glitter paper stripes on the base card. I painted the chipboard tag with white gesso and then stamped the sentiment from Avery Elle and embossed with silver embossing powder. The edges of the frame have also been siver embossed. To finish I used some twine to anchor the frame and added the silver metal stars, which came off an old ornament.

So now it's your turn to make a Mixed Media Card about any type of celebration.
Head on over to our blog to see what the rest of the team have created and add your cards to the challenge here.

Loll's 12 Tags of Christmas

Hi there!.  I'm so happy and excited to be a guest designer this year for Loll's wonderful Twelve Tags of Christmas. I hope you've been following her event because this year, Loll is showcasing even more guest designers - 2 each day, along with one of her own. Today is Day 10. 

To make my tag, I began by creating a water-colour wash on some water-colour card stock and then, when dry, I die-cut the tag. Next I sprayed a bit of Heidi Swapp Color Shine for  a bit of a shimmer. Then I stamped some background 'Christmas' text with distress ink, for more depth. The foliage was die cut and coloured with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.
The Kookaburra was die cut from patterned paper and white card.
The sentiment is cut from patterned paper, because I thought the red and white looked more festive.

Have you ever heard the Aussie version of Twelve Days of Christmas? There are several different versions of kookaburras laughing, koalas cuddling, and dingos dancing etc. So many Australian animals it can get confusing ... but lots of fun too. I based my tag on one version, 'On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love sent to me .. a kookaburra in a Gum tree.' The most common version starts with an Emu up the gum tree, which I thought would look a bit strange, because everyone knows Emus' can't fly, but that shows the Australian sense of humour!  

I hope my tag looks festive, but also evokes the type of Christmas we have Down-under, due to it usually being hot!

The best part of Loll's event is that you can join in the fun and win prizes too! Here's how to play...

Make a MIXED MEDIA Christmas tag (any size, any style) and link up here.

More 'L' Letterpress Play

This is a very quick post, but I just wanted to share some more of my results from testing out my new 'L' Letterpress toy tool. It definitely is messy and I've noticed that the big plates are easier to manage, without accidents, than the very small Christmas plates. But hopefully practice will help.

So first I tried the red on watercolour paper and that looked yuck, so If I'm using red, 
it will have to be on Letterpress or thick white card stock.  
Next, I tried the Kraft, which is 300gsm and I love the possibilities!

Next I tried the teal on the watercolour paper and that looked good.
 Then I decided to try adding a bit of navy for an ombre effect and that made me HAPPY!
 I think if I try this again I'll have to use 2  acrylic blocks and 2 rollers so I don't waste ink 
and get it muddy.

So what do you think???

I'm also very relieved and happy to have received my parcel from Papertrey Ink - I'm so excited and will have to put aside some time to make Christmas goodies over the next few days!

Testing 'Letterpress'

Hi there! Just popping in to say hi! I've been busy getting ready for a market, which is happening this weekend.

I recently bought the Lifestyle Crafts (WE R Memories) Letterpress kit and I fully expected to be disappointed - I new it wouldn't be anything like what you can get in shops, because hey, they are made with professional Letterpress machines. I've been putting off using it, because I thought it would be fiddly and take me a while to work it out. However, today I watched a couple of videos and then gave it a go and I am pleasantly surprised and look forward to having more time to play!

      I apologise for the quality of the photo. I'll give you a better look when I turn them in to cards.

The Mixed Media Card Challenge #17 (FAMILY)

Hey there! It's November! Can you believe it?! A new month means a new Mixed Media Card Challenge and this month the the is 'FAMILY'.

I began with one of my stash of Geliplate backgrounds, made with acrylic paint,  bubble wrap and stencils on core board.
I then used some distress ink  to stamp some script to create a bit more depth. I used alphabet stamps and a Winnie & Walter stamp to create the sentiment and embossed it to make it stand out more. The bird is from Stamplorations (The Bees Knees) and was stamped on black card, white embossed and fussy cut. To finish of I used a Copic Outline pen to create a border on the panel and a frame for the word 'family'. Then it was mounted on a white card.
When I'd finished, I realised I'd forgotten the arrows, but in a way the leaf outlines look a bit like arrows!
 

Now it's your turn. I hope you will join in the fun - you can enter the challenge here and get lots more inspiration from the design team.

Spring is in the Air

I thought I should make a card and pop it on my blog, before I am forgotten! I'm working on trying to get more balance in my life and create at least one or 2 days a week. Now I just need to find my Mojo!

This card is inspired by an earlier card I made, which you can see here. I was asked to make 3 cards, the same as the original, but I didn't have any of the designer paper left, so I did a watercolour background using distress inks and Gansai Tambi paints. On this card, I decided to add a bird, rather than a flower.

The bird imaged is from Inspired by Stamping and  I've coloured on the back of the fussy cut bird with Copic markers.
The embossed background is one of my new favourites. 

I am entering this in the Simon Monday Challenge - the theme is Throwback - we are challenged  to choose a previous challenge! I chose a theme from July this year - No Ordinary Paper. I love stamping and colouring on vellum.

Mixed Media Card Challenge - Orange & Black

Hello strangers! Well I'm back from my Italian sojourn and have lots of wonderful memories.  I can definitely recommend getting an apartment and living like the locals - next time I'll stay for longer and maybe it will be a villa!

Now on to my card. The theme this month at the Mixed Media Card Challenge is 'Orange & Black' - perfect for Fall and Halloween. The optional element is glitter.

I decided to use some of my new WPlus9 stamps - Autumn Leaves and a NBUS die for the black butterfly. The sentiment is also new - it's from Inspired by Stamping, an Australian company.
Now when you look at this, you might not think it is Mixed Media, but I've used dye ink, and Memento Luxe (orange) and the outlines have been embossed with metallic embossing powder. I've also added some splatter with the memento luxe ink and perfect pearls and added Wink of Stella to the butterflies.  So although it doesn't look very artsy, it still fits the criteria*.
I really love Memento Luxe ink, because it is thick and when it dries it feels like paint!
I have included shimmer as opposed to glitter, by adding the perfect pearls and Wink of Stellar.

You still have lots of time to join in the challenge - the deadline is 25 October. Click here to add your card to the gallery.

I'm also adding my card to the Fusion Card Challenge, inspired by the colours in the photo.

*WHAT'S A MIXED MEDIA CARD?

Straight up, a mixed media card is a card that is created using a variety of mediums.

For this card challenge blog*, it means using any of the following in addition to the usual stamps and inks:

• Mediums that add texture. Some examples: fabric, stitching, embossing paste, texture gel, gel medium, modeling paste, gesso, textured paper, glitter, found objects
• Mediums that give dimension. Some examples: die-cuts, chipboard, embossing powders, epoxy/thick stickers, embellishments, found objects
• Mediums that allow you to use (and even combine) different techniques. Some examples: watercolor, pastels, alcohol inks, markers, chalks, acrylic paints, oils, crayons

Mixed Media Card Challenge Reminder

Hello there. We had a dreary, cold start to the day, but the sun is now shining, so I was inspired to make another spring themed card. Yes, for my Northern Hemisphere visitors, I live in Australia, so it's spring down here!

This card also serves as a reminder for the Mixed Media Card Challenge, which has an easy theme this month - FRIENDSHIP - and an option to include ribbon, which I only remembered when I was taking my photo!!!

This is the process I followed:-
1/ Used a Stamplorations stencil and distress ink to sponge the green border on the left of card.
2/ Stamped the vintage script
3/stamped the flowers and the bird using distress markers
4/Used a brush, water and markers to colour the images
5/Die cut butterflies and coloured with distress ink and wink of stellar for shimmer.
6/Die cut a branch to make a stencil and then using distress markers, brush and water added the branch
7/ Machine stitched a border and added sentiment
8/mounted the watercolour panel to a base card of shimmer blue card stock
9/added some crackle paint to the bird

Well I hope you like my card, which will be heading off to a special friend!

The Mixed Media Card Challenge goes through to 25 September,so you have plenty of time to join in the fun

I am also entering this in the Simon Monday Challenge, Trio of colors and the Simon Wednesday Challenge, Make it Colorful

Welcome Baby

I have a very quick post today to say congrats to the gorgeous Shery of STAMPlorations fame, who has just given birth to a darling little girl! I am so happy for her and her family!

The gang at STAMPlorations are having a surprise bloghop to send their love to Shery.
Anyone can join in, so go and check it out.

Vintage Flowers

Hello there. I have a quick post today to share a card I made for fun. I wanted to try out Altenew's new inks and I hadn't yet used their Vintage Flower stamps - this is the result ...

I found the pink bloom much easier to stamp. The yellow/orange inks didn't  look so good at first, but it's amazing how after a while the ink settles in and they seem to almost blend. I used M.I.S.T.I. to stamp this and I must say I'm in love with this tool!
I wanted the card to look 'vintage-y' (is that a word?) , so I added the ornate corners from Kaisercraft and the sentiment from Wplus9.

I'm entering this card in the Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge - the theme is masking.

Another Mixed Media Butterfly

Hi there. It's a glorious sunny day in Melbourne and Spring is in the air after a long cold winter, so I thought I'd share a Spring-like card today.

This is also a reminder for the Mixed Media Card Challenge - you still have a few days to enter the challenge. This month the theme is ** Butterflies **, with the option to include gold in your card.

To begin I embossed the panel and then stamped the background, masking off the edges. Then I added a few splatters of ink.
I decided to use some of my beautiful Japanese paper for the die-cut butterfly and some gold cord knotted for the butterfly's body. The leaves have some shimmer added with Wink of Stellar.

You should pop over to the Mixed Card Card Challenge to get more inspiration from the team and you have until 25 August to enter the challenge here
.

Playing with the Damsel of Distressed Cards

Well hello there friends! I've been missing again, but today I'm so excited to be back with a very special post.

One of my all time favourite blogs to visit is The Damsel of Distressed Cards - the creation of Becca Cruger. Becca's cards are always so bright, artsy and totally amazing and reading her posts never fails to put a smile on my face! Not only that, but Becca is so supportive and leaves the best comments on other people's blogs!

Bec has a great post once a month called Featured Friday in which she highlights another crafty blogger who is a huge inspiration to her. Well imagine my surprise when I got a message from her asking if I would be the featured blogger this month!  I really mean it, when I say I'm honoured, because she has featured some incredibly talented crafters!

Anyhow, as part of the feature, Becca has chosen one of mty card's to CASE and I have also CASEd it. Here is the original and the new card.

I have chosen to make my card more CAS, by having a white panel, but adding some texture with the dry embossing.
I used distress markers, applied directly to the stamp, spritzed with a little bit of water and then stamped. When they were dry, I fussy cut them. I love using vellum in this way, because it looks so 'dreamy'.
I used the same colours to dye the seam binding, which ties in with the original card.
I thought the stripes suited the CAS look.

Well I'd like to give a huge thanks to the gorgeous Becca for the shout out - it really has inspired me to get back in to card-making after a very long time without my crafty Mojo!

Mixed Media Card Challenge

Hey there! Yes it's a new month and that means a new challenge has started over at the Mixed Media Card challenge and this should be a favourite, because the theme is *Butterflies* and the optional element is *Gold*!

Here is my card - I have taken a very Artsy approach, because I wanted to try out my new Zig Gasai Tambai watercolours - they are soooo beautiful!

I swooshed some water on the watercolour paper and then added the colours and let them blend a little.
When it was dry, I stamped the Stampers Annonymous butterfly in black and heat embossed.
Then I masked the butterfly and stamped the background images and gold embossed.
I added some splatter with the paints and some acrylic gold ink, letting it drip.
I hope you like it and if you would like to join in, you can enter the challenge here.
There is lots more inspiration from the design team.

Becca's Birthday Bash

I've been MIA again! Well today I plan to make up for it, with  3 cards - Yay!
I've been for a card-making catch up with Lyndal (of Ideas and Paper) and so I took along my box of unfinished stuff and voila!

I decided to play along with the link-up over at Becca's blog (The Damsel of Distressed)  to celebrate her Birthday. The rules are to make something inspired by Becca's mood board. Luckily I had a few things in my stash that suited this theme.

The image in this card is from Hero Arts, it's coloured with distress markers and ink and I used a Lil' Inkers die to cut the circle shape.

This gorgeous image is from Penny Black and I used Inktense Pencils and Peerless watercolours to colour the image.

The bird stamp is from Dina Wakely and the sentiment is from STAMPlorations.
It may not be obvious, but I've used foil on the bird and on the grungy background. 

So there you go Becca - 3 cards for your Birthday linky - thanks for the inspiration!

Summer Romance Mixed Media

Hi there. I have a card to share today, which I'm hoping will warm me up as it's very chilly down under in Melbourne - brrrr!

Lots of challenges have a summer theme, so i thought I'd have some fun and join in.

I stamped beach scene from kaisercraft, using distress marker directly on the stamp and spritzing.
I have used various mediums to complete the scene including distress inks, brushos and inktense pencils. I used a stencil on the sand for added depth. I was trying to get colours reminiscent of a polaroid pic - not sure if I succeeded.
The flower was cut with Silhouette using designer paper with added highlights.

I'm entering this in the Anything But Cute Challenge (Summer Romance) and the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge (Summer Days).

Mixed Media Blues

Yay! I'm back. Have you been wondering what happened to me? Had you forgotten me?

Well, without going in to too many details, I lost my mojo, because I've been grieving due to the loss of my Mum, who passed away a few months ago. My Dad passed away last year and my Uncle also 5 weeks after my Mum. So I've been feeling sad and working out what I want to do now that my life has changed.

I'm slowly trying to get back in to crafting because that's always been such a relaxing and wonderful escape for me. I've also been remiss in keeping up with everyone else's blogs, so I hope to catch up with all my crafty friends to see what you've all been doing!

Anyhow, today I have made a card for the Mixed Media Card Challenge. The theme is really fun this month - *Blue* with an option to include a vase. There is so much gorgeous inspiration over on the blog - here and here.

I die cut lots of blooms from a Poppy stamp die and coloured them with Peerless watercolours, distress inks and Inktense watercolour pencils.  Then I layered them on a circle which had been shaped to make it pop in the centre. I added some micro beads for extra interest.
The jar and stem were drawn and coloured with Inktense pencil. I embossed the background for extra texture and added a splatter (oops - I should have done it before I mounted it on the blue card) and an acetate butterfly from Heidi Swapp for a bit of fun.


I hope you like it and decide to join in the challenge - it really is a fun theme.

I am also entering the Anything But Cute challenge - Summer Romance.

Inkspirational Fun

Hi there.  Today I'm very happy to be Guest Designer for the Inkspirational Challenge. How exciting is that! I discovered this fun challenge a few months ago and made something completely different for me and was totally amazed to be one of the top picks! You can see my creation here.  I was even more surprised when Marina asked me to be Guest Designer!

The theme this week is a word prompt and the word is  'WILD'.  I decided to use a wild animal and since I'm an Aussie, I chose a kangaroo. My design is  influenced by Aboriginal art with my own twist!

I made a kangaroo stencil and mask with the Silhouette and then used other stencils, distress inks and color shine spray   to create the patterns.  

Be sure to pop on over to the Inkspirational blog to see what the Design Team have created and join in the fun!

Mixed Media Card Challenge

Yes, it's the 1st of JUNE!!! Where is the year going? That means it is coming in to summer for a lot of you, but for some of us Winter has begun. It also means the start of a new Mixed Media Card Challenge and the theme this month is *Collage*, with an option to include a *frame*.

I had a lot of fun with this card. I didn't plan the design, so I think I can call this freestyle collage!
The stamps are oldies (but still available) from Kaisercraft. I stamped the dressform twice and used one as a mask to stamp the chicken wire, butterfly background. Then I stamped the butterfly again and fussy cut it and added some pearls. The dressform was stamped with pigment ink and the background with archival black ink. The butterflies were water coloured and I added some splatters - coz I love them! To finish,  I added a stitched border to represent my *frame*,  some buttons, the silver charm and dyed lace .

Mixed Media Blooms

I decided to have a play with some new stencils I received from STAMPlorations and this is what I came up with.

I will list my steps to make it easier to follow.
1. I used the shutters stencil with acrylic paint and acrylic ink  and my Gelliplate
2. Using the Happy Flowers stencil I added embossing paste
(Let dry)
3. mixed up some glass beads medium with gold acrylic ink and perfect pearls and added to centre of flowers
(let dry)
4. coloured petals with Liquitex acrylic ink
5. made a spray with the same acrylic ink and water and sprayed background lightly
6. cut panel and matted with gold panel
7. embossed white card and die cut butterflies then put it all together
8. added a sprinkle of sequins and pearls

I splurged on a portable light studio the other day and have used it to take this photo - what do you think? 

I would like to enter this card in the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - the theme is *Flowers* and the Inkspirational Challenge where the theme is to use at least 3 of these 4 elements Distressing, Flowers, Embossing, Pearls.  My elements are Flowers, Embossing paste and pearls (perfect pearls, pearlised paper and pearls).
ETA: entering the STAMPlorations Anything Goes Challenge.

Also just a reminder about the Mixed Media Card Challenge. The theme is *Wings* and there is an option to use *foil*. You have until 25 May to join in the fun. You can find more inspiration here and enter your card here.