Monday, April 20, 2009

Debbie's Free Blog Candy


My Stampin' Up! buddy Debbie Pamment has just reached 15,555 hits on her blog which is fantastic seeing as she only started her blog in October last year!


What an achievement - why don't you pop over to see her amazing work and see what she has on offer to help celebrate her latest milestone.

Here is the link to her blog - I know you'll love visiting it as much as I do. Her cards and 3D items are just beautiful and she is truly talented, not just at stamping and cardmaking but also in other crafts - quilting, teddy bear making, dressmaking, etc.


Go on, check out her site now and join in the fun!



Congratulations Debbie - here's to reaching 30,000 hits!!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 8










Hello again,

Another week, another challenge! This week's MDUC theme was 'Cupcake' and was a good chance to use my new Stampin' Up! 'Crazy for Cupcakes' set which had just arrived in the post.

I also had a chance to finally play with my Nestabilities and cut and embossed the oval 'window' on my card.




I coloured Tilda in with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush then added some glitter to her wings and dress and added some SU Crystal Effects to glaze the little cake she is holding.


I stamped the tiered layers of cupcakes on white card and layered it to the inside of the card behind the oval window. The cakes were coloured and then I added some glitter 'icing' to each one.


I then stamped a greeting and punched it out using the larger SU Oval punch then sponged around the edges with contrasting ink and adhered it on the inside of the card just under the cupcakes.


Before I mounted the Tilda image on the front of the card, I stamped a background of little cakes in pink and green on the white base card then tied some pretty pink ribbon around the front of the card (cutting a slit in the spine of the card to thread the ribbon through) and attached a little foam flower with a brad in the centre.


I added some glitter to the flower so it co-ordinated with the glittered images.

Little Tilda was attached to the front of the card using 3D foam squares.


Here is a side-on view so that you can hopefully see the glitter on the cakes and on Tilda's wings and dress.







If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will see the full effect.

















SU supplies -


Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes, Short and Sweet.

Inks: Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink.

Cardstock: Whisper White


Extras -

Nestabilities - Scalloped ovals, Kindy Glitz - Crystallina, pink ribbon, foam flower, brad.


If you like this card, why not join in the fun and send us your entry for this week's challenge -
check out all the other beautiful cards from the other MDUC Design Team members too when you visit the site - here is the link for you.



Well, time to go and make some more cards for you to look at when you pop in again for another visit to my blog. Have a great week - come back again soon!

Easter Cards

Hi there,

Easter has now been and gone for this year and I thought I would share a couple of cards I made for family members. I am lucky enough to celebrate Easter twice each year - the second Easter is the Russian Orthodox one which I love as my partner and I visit his parents and family to celebrate with them each year and we always have a great time.

Card No.1 -

The first card is one I made for my sister-in-law. I love Penny Black stamps, especially the cute animal ones and I wanted to use this adorable rabbit and chick stamp which I had recently bought.




I coloured the image with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush and mounted it on some blue co-ordinating card.

I had bought the cute Easter themed paper awhile ago and thought it would match the stamped image perfectly.

I punched the border on the white card with my new Stampin' Up! Eyelet punch and tied some yellow ribbon around the top layers before mounting them over the patterned paper.

The stamped greeting is from Stampin' Up! too.


Card No. 2 -

As I love the new SU Fifth Avenue Floral stamp, I used it on the card I made for my Parents-in-Law.
I wanted something simple and not too fussy or cute and this set is just perfect - nice clean lines, yet beautiful images.



The Easter greeting is a stamp I had in my collection and after stamping it in blue on some white card, I cut around it then rounded the corners before sponging the edges with the green ink to match the flower images on the card.


To finish it off, I added the flower which was made up of 3 flowers in various sizes, layered and held together with a gold brad in the centre. I mounted it over the greeting with 3D foam dots.



Both cards were a hit and were gladly received. I was a bit pushed for time this year so didn't make many Easter cards but may do a few now when I have some spare time and get ahead for next year ! LOL



Well, thanks for stopping by - hope to see you again soon.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Inkedspirational Blog Candy!



Wow, there's so much Blog Candy on offer at the moment - here's another fabulous giveaway!

I checked out this great blog of Jodi's - Inked Inspirations and fell in love with her fantastic cards.
She uses all sorts of stamps and some of them are just so cute! Why don't you pop on over to check them out for yourself - you won't be disappointed! Here's the link to her site.

I have been looking through her blog and there's so much to see that I'm only a short way through it - I've been getting some great inspiration from her creations as I have similar stamps and now have new ways of using them!

That's what's so hard about 'blurfing' - when I find a great site, I spend ages just looking through everything on it instead of sitting down and creating some of my own designs! However, I do find lots of new ideas and techniques along with tips and helpful hints so that all adds to my creativeness as well.

It's wonderful to share all this creativity with everyone in the crafting world.

Well, 'bye for now - see you all again soon.

Free Blog Candy from Kellie!


While visiting my friend Kellie's blog today, I saw her post offering free Blog Candy to celebrate her 15000 blog hits - check out her site here to see the beautiful packet of goodies she's generously giving away !

If you haven't seen her blog before, do yourself a favour and visit it right now! Her cards are just gorgeous, especially her lovely Tilda creations - she's now got me hooked on them as well.
(Thanks Kellie - more money flying out of my account! )

I wasn't surprised that she's received so many hits in such a short time as her work is really lovely and she has such wonderful ideas. I'm always inspired by her creativeness each time I visit her blog.

Thanks Kellie for the kind offer and Congratulations again - you deserve it :-)

KWerner Colour Challenge # 49



Hi again,

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I've been busy making cards during the Easter break and here is another one.
Unfortunately, I just missed the deadline for Kristina Werner's challenge as I was out all day yesterday and when I tried to upload it this morning, it was too late.

It doesn't matter as I just love taking up these challenges for my own satisfaction.
I loved the colours in this one and immediately thought of using them with the flower stamps then while looking through my collection, I decided to add the bird and branch.


I mounted some Rose Red paper from the Designer Series Prints collection onto white card then onto the black base card. (I made a square card for a change as I thought it would suit the corner collection of flowers I wanted to use.)
The flowers were stamped in Rose Red and Pacific Point inks and the leaves in Kiwi Kiss ink.
I cut them out and mounted them using assorted 3D foam pads in different thicknesses.



The bird and branch were both stamped in black (to keep in line with the Challenge requirements) but I added leaves in Kiwi Kiss as a contrast and to tie in with the other leaves on the card.

The greeting is a rub-on from the set called 'A Perfect Day' .
I just love that striped Rose Red paper and now realise I should have bought another pack before it 'retired' - ah well, you live and learn!


SU supplies -
Cardstock - Basic Black, Whisper White.
Paper - Designer Series Prints (Rose Red)
Inks - Basic Black, Rose Red, Baha Breeze, Kiwi Kiss
Rub-ons - A Perfect Day set
Stamps - Eastern Blooms, Best Wishes and More, Cheep Talk, Always.


Thanks for dropping in - I hope you like my latest card. I had fun making it and have more ideas to try so stop by again to have another look at my latest work.


Come back soon :-)

Floral Birthday Card

Hi everyone,

I've been able to make a few cards over the Easter break so thought I'd share them with you.


This card is a special Birthday card I made for my sister using one of the new sets in our catalogue. The set is 'Fifth Avenue Floral' and I loved stamping with it as it's perfect for a card with 'clean lines' and not too much fussiness!




I stamped two of the flowers in different colours over the base card then stamped the greeting (which was very appropriate for this particular card) onto white card and punched it out using a mega scalloped circle punch.
To give it a bit of depth, I sponged around the scallops with the Baha Breeze ink.


I then cut a strip of Baha Breeze cardstock and punched one edge with the Scallop Border punch and attached a strip of co-ordinating paper from the Urban Oasis DSP set to this.

Before mounting these strips to the base card, I wrapped a piece of Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon around them and added a ribbon bow. To finish off the card I added 3 pale aqua adhesive pearls to the centre of the bow.


(For the card insert, I printed a greeting in matching green on my computer and stamped some of the flowers in the bottom corner to co-ordinate with the front of the card.)


My sister was hoping I'd give her one of my handmade cards and she was very pleased with this one. I have more ideas for using this set so will show my cards here when I've done them so you can have a look.


SU supplies -

Cardstock - Whisper White, Baha Breeze.
Inks - Baha Breeze, Kiwi Kiss.
Ribbon - Old Olive wide grosgrain
Paper - Designer Series Papers - Urban Oasis.
Punch - Scalloped Border.


Extras -
Pale aqua adhesive pearls, mega scallop circle punch.



Thanks for visiting and looking at my creations - come back again soon.

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 7










Hello again,

Well another week has gone by and it's time for another entry in the Magnolia Down Under Challenges.

This week's challenge is for a design in 'Sepia tones' which is a little difficult, trying to use only browns, beiges, etc. for the card without adding any other colour as a highlight.

I was lucky enough to find a sheet of childrens' vintage paper in my collection which was suitable for this design and I also found the lovely flower in my stash to go with it.


Here is my entry for this week - looking at the other designers' cards I realised that I could have added a highlight in a slightly brighter colour but my card was already finished so for better or worse, this is what I came up with.


I mounted the vintage paper onto Creamy Caramel card and sponged the edges with Close to Cocoa ink, then tied some caramel gingham ribbon around it before mounting this piece onto the Close to Cocoa base card.

I coloured Tilda in with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush and 'sat' her over the ribbon using 3D foam dots. For the top right-hand corner, my first thought was to use an embossed photo corner in Cocoa and attach a button in the centre but as it was a bit dark with all the other Sepia tones and looked a bit bland, I changed my mind and decided to add the flower instead just to pretty it up a little.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa

Ink - Close to Cocoa


Extras -

Gingham ribbon, Heidi Grace flower.


I'll be back soon with more cards for you to look at - thanks for dropping by.

Hope you're all having a lovely Easter and enjoying the extra long holiday break -go easy on the Chocolate eggs & bunnies though :-)


'Bye for now.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 6










Hi everyone,

I have been honoured by Kellie Winnell of Magnolia Down Under Challenges to become a Guest Design Team Member for the month of April.

This is my first design as a team member - it's for our Challenge No. 6 - 'A Baby Is Born'.



I love this image of baby Tilda and thought that her pink jumpsuit and yellow socks would team beautifully with the Spring Flowers paper from Stampin' Up!.

I layered this floral paper onto the yellow polka dot paper (which had been given a scalloped edge) then adhered them to the dark green base card.

The piece of striped paper was embossed using the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' Embossing Folder then positioned over the other papers.

I stamped the greeting in green ink on yellow cardstock, punched it out using the larger oval punch and then punched a hole at each end using my Crop-a-Dile. The sheer pink 'Baby' ribbon was then threaded through the holes and adhered to the card using double-sided tape.

Baby Tilda was then positioned over the ribbon using 3D foam dots and for the final touch I added a pale yellow flower with a gold brad.


I coloured Tilda with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush then added SU Crystal Effects to glaze her dummy, buttons and the yellow heart on her jumpsuit.

Here is a side-on view of the card so that you can see the glazing effect.


SU Supplies:

Cardstock - Mellow Moss, So Saffron
Ink- Wild Wasabi
Papers - Designer Series - 'Spring Flowers'
Punches - Scalloped border, large oval
Crystal Effects

Extras -
Pink ribbon, paper flower, gold brad.




Please join in this week's challenge - it's a lot of fun, gets your Mojo working and you'll be inspired by all the lovely entries from our other Design Team Members.
Click on the link here to take you to this site.


Hope to see lots of lovely entries for this Baby Challenge and don't forget, we have a new challenge every Sunday so come back each week to see what the new theme is and then start crafting !

Thanks for stopping by - I'll be posting another design next week!

See you soon.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 5










Hello again,

I've been busy today but have managed to make this little card for my entry to Kellie Winnell's
Magnolia Down Under Challenge this week.

The theme is Easter and as I had just bought a Magnolia stamp of Tilda with her bunny, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to use it.




The beautiful paper is from Stampin' Up! Prints Designer Series and it was just what I wanted for this card. I teamed it up with some pale blue and navy SU cardstock.

I coloured Tilda in with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush and I found the perfect ribbon to match in my container of ribbons. The little felt flower is from the SU Flower Fusion range.


Hope you like it - thanks for dropping in to visit today.



I hope to see you again soon.