Water Lily Watercolour

As I was making this card the other day, I received some terrible news - a tragic car accident at my son's school, resulting in the death of a father of 2 students, who was also the Husband of one of the teachers. I believe the driver was also connected to the school. Her foot slipped or she hit the wrong peddle and ploughed through the fence. As you can imagine, this has shaken the whole school community and will have changed the lives of the family's effected.   My heart goes out to them all.

I am entering this card in The Card Concept challenge.

On a Roll!

Yes it's my 4th post in 2 days! I'm keeping on going, whilst the inspiration is there!

This card is for the Ellen Hutson Mix It Up challenge - this month they are collaborating with Penny Black (one of my faves!).

I've used a Penny Black floral stamp from their Christmas release and a sentiment from Essentials by Ellen. Simple - but you can't go wrong with these beautiful stamps.

ETA: I am entering this card in the Addicted to CAS Challenge - Codeword: BLOOM.

More Cute Critters

Here is another stamp set I fell in love with! Happy Pandas from MFT! These little guys sure make me happy! Since I've given the panda a balloon - I'm adding this to the Inkspirational challenge too!

Cutest Elephant Ever!

I always say that I don't do 'cute' cards, but when I get together with all the gals at the craft retreat and see there beautiful, cute cards, I just can't resist. So you might see a few cute critters popping up in my blog. This one is a MFT stamp and I fell in love with these elephants.

I stamped the elephant and balloon with Hero Arts black ink and water-coloured the images with distress inks.
I decided to use a previously water-coloured tag and mounted them all on a white embossed background. The balloon and sentiment are from WPLus9 Unforgettable set (the other equally cute elephant stamp set). A bit of twine and some scattered sequins finished it all off.
NB: I can see I didn't do a great job with the die cutting!

I am entering this in the Inkspirational Challenge - the code word is 'POP' - I figure the balloon might pop!

Crafting in the Country

Hey there! I've just returned from a wonderful few days in Bright, in the beautiful Alpine region of Victoria, where I was lucky enough to join an AMAZINGLY talented group of papercrafters at a craft retreat.

As you have probably noticed from my infrequent posts, I have struggled with my creativity over the last year and it was so inspiring to spend quality time with some of the best artists in the cardmaking world!!! We crafted, ate, drank, laughed, ate, crafted and laughed some more! Some of us even managed to get some sleep, while others continued crafting in to the wee hours! I had fun getting back in to the swing of things and managed to complete a few cards.  So now it is up to me to keep the momentum going! All encouragement is welcome!

This card was made as a reminder for the Mixed Media Card challenge. The theme is *RED* and the optional element is *HEARTS*, which I haven't included this time.

This is a one layer card. I masked the sides of the card , then sponged Spun Sugar distress in over the card. Next step was to sponge Candied Aplle Distress ink over a STAMPlorations stencil and then spritz the entire panel lightly with water. I then stamped some background text from a Paper Artsy set.  When dry, I then put the stencil back in place and added a layer of Distress Crackle paint.  To finish off the card, I added the die cut sentiment and buttterfly (also painted with crackle medium). I always love peeling the mask away to reveal the white border!

Here are the gorgeous ladies I spent time with. Teresa Xanthos, Jenny Dix, Joy Taylor and Ashlee McGregor

You have until 25 February to join in the Mixed Media Card Challenge and you can find the details here.

ETA: I am entering this card in the Simon Wednesday Challenge. The theme is 'One Layer' , but we are allowed to add a die cut. I'm also entering the Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge - the theme is *PAINT* and I used Distress Crackle Paint.
Entering the Scrapbook Boutique Challenge, which is based on a mood board - I chose the rose as my inspiration.