MIA .....

Hi everyone,

Sorry but I too have been MIA lately though I see a lot of you have been very busy creating!

We were up in Queensland over the Australia Day long weekend for a wedding and I have been busy trying to catch up on all my emails plus the usual chores which have piled up in our absence.

I have missed the deadlines on a few recent challenges but still managed to finish one card since we came home very late on Sunday night - I will upload it in the next day or so to show you all.

The wedding was lovely but the hot and steamy weather up there really knocked us around -
we were so glad to get back home. Even though we are experiencing a heatwave here at the moment, it's a dry heat and bearable!!

Well, that's it for today - it's very late and I must go to bed or I'll never get up in the morning for work.

Will catch up with you all again by the weekend (and hopefully have some more things to show you).

'Bye for now - please come back again to visit very soon :-)

WOW ! I've reached over 1000 hits .....

I was checking my blog yesterday and noticed that I had received well over 900 hits then tonight when I checked it, the figure was 1,025 !

I can't believe that I've had so many people visiting my blog since I set it up just a couple of months ago - to all of you, I give you my heartfelt thanks.

It's an amazing feeling to know that you are interested in my artwork and keep coming back to see what I've done with stamps, paper, ink and ribbons - especially when it's something that I just love doing.

To all you 'seasoned' artists, thank you for taking the time to look at my work and for all your kind comments and your encouragement.

To all you fellow 'newbies' like me, together we will grow and create new exciting things, learning from each other and flooding the world with beautiful works of art!
So far, it seems that thousands appreciate what we're doing!! LOL


Here's a big HUG for all of you and once again THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. :-)

Luv from Ramona.

KWerner Colour Challenge #38

Hello,

I've managed to take up another challenge offered by Kristina Werner. I was a bit dubious about using these colours together but once I started to mix and match with cardstock and paper, it all fell into place.

Here is the card I created using the new Sale-A-Bration stamps - (if you like this card and want to try making it yourself, contact me for the brochure which features these beautiful stamped images).

For this card I used the Ruby Red as the base and stamped the beautiful corner flourish onto some DS paper. This was then matted on Ruby Red and Pretty in Pink cardstock.

The scalloped flower was made by stamping the image in Ruby Red onto pink and white polka dot DS paper then punching it out with the Scallop Circle punch.

The greeting was stamped in Ruby Red on Whisper White card then punched out using the large oval punch. I added red adhesive gems to the heart and the flower centre for a bit of bling.

I also added 3 more gems at the top of the card to co-ordinate with the main elements.

The striped DS paper was punched with the scallop border punch. I sponged the edges of this piece of paper, the oval greeting and the flower with Ruby Red ink to define them.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock: Ruby Red, Pretty In Pink, Whisper White

Stamps: Yummy, Polka Dot Punches - both from the 2009 Sale-A-Bration brochure

Ink: Ruby Red

DS Papers: Pumpkin pattern from the Bali Breeze set, Pink striped paper from the Petals and Paisley set

Punches: Scallop Circle, Scallop Border, Large Oval

Extras: Self-adhesive gems

It's fun doing these challenges as you stretch your mind to sometimes think outside of the square and use colours that you never thought would work together. You are usually surprised when you've finished !

Well, that's it for now. Come back again soon to see what else I have up my sleeve to show you ........

Thanks for stopping by.

Live Your Dream - another card .......

Hi everyone,

Like all of you who have the Live Your Dream stamp set, I just love using it and keep thinking of more card ideas to try. Here is my latest effort ......



For this one, I used Blue Bayou for the base card instead of one of the co-ordinating colours which match the Afternoon Tea DS papers. I wanted a blue that was a little darker and contrasted a little more with the pastel colours in the paper.

The flower image was coloured with Soft Sky and Wild Wasabi inks and I then inked another image of the flowers only, in Soft Sky and cut them out to attach them over the base image for a 3D effect.
I sponged the edges of the white card with the Soft Sky ink and attached this to a piece of Old Olive cardstock which had been punched at the bottom edge with the Scallop Border punch.

I then tied a piece of Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon around this panel and attached self-adhesive pearls to the flower centres.

The greeting from the 'Say it with scallops' set, was stamped in Old Olive onto white card then punched out with the Square Scallop punch. This was then attached to a square of Old Olive card.

To assemble the card, I cut a piece of the floral striped paper from the 'AfternoonTea' collection and attached it to the Blue Bayou base card. I then attached the stamped panel over this and using 3D foam squares, attached the greeting to the right side of the card.

SU supplies:

Cardstock - Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Whisper White.

Stamps - Live Your Dream, Say It With Scallops.

Inks - Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi.

Paper - DS Afternoon Tea collection.

Ribbon - Bashful Blue taffeta.

Punches - Square Scallop, Scallop Border.

Extras - Self-adhesive pearls.


I hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by - please come back again soon to see what else I've been up to!

Happy Stampin' !!

Hints and Tips

Hi again,

As I learn a lot of things from other stampers' tips and techniques, I thought that I would share a couple of mine with you - you may have heard of these before but for those who haven't, here they are.

As we don't have Stampin' Up! ribbons or embellishments in every colour to match our cardstock, I am always on the lookout for suitable ribbons, trims or other items when I go out shopping.

To take the guesswork out of picking a colour and hoping that it will match once I get home, I've punched out scalloped circles of all of our cardstock, labelled them with the relevant colours and colour 'families' and attached them to a metal ring which I keep in my handbag.

Then when I find myself in a shop that sells ribbons and other items I'd like to use with my SU supplies, I just take out my little circles of colour and try to match them up then and there.

Here is a photo of my little gadget - I keep it in a sealed plastic bag, it doesn't take up much room in my handbag and is always ready whenever I need it.

My second tip for you is a neat way of dealing with sticky areas on your cardstock or papers when you've used a bit too much adhesive and you've got little sticky areas around your cardstock or papers which then stick to everything else !





Your glue eraser will work but if you don't have one, you can always do this - just sprinkle a little talcum powder on your fingers and rub them over the sticky areas then wipe away the excess - you'll find that you no longer have any sticky residue.

This is not only great for your cards and scrapbook layouts, but also works on other items where you may have removed a price label and it's left glue on the actual item which you can't get off by washing - e.g. CD / DVD covers, books, stationery items, etc.

Try it - it works!

Well, I hope these two little snippets may help you. I'll upload more as I think of them in future posts.

Hope you've all had a great weekend. See you again soon!

'Bye for now.

Makeesha Byl's New Year Challenge

I thought I would try Makeesha Byl's New Year Challenge today and I ended up doing a 'Double Challenge' !
What's that, I hear you ask ? Well, you know how we stampers get when we see things around us in the home or at the shops and we suddenly get hit with an idea for a card, today I did just that.

I took a new tube of toothpaste out of the cupboard and loved the colours on the box so much, I decided to make a card using those colours!
Yes, it's sad I know, but I thought well, why not combine the 'Toothpaste Box colour challenge' with Keesh's sketch challenge!


Here is the box from the toothpaste so you can see the colours I wanted to work with,



they were aqua, orange, silver and navy. I started playing around with cardstock, papers & ribbon and voila, another card was born!

I used the DS floral paper to 'lighten' the contrast between all the strong colours and added a glittery silver flower for a bit of 'bling'.

I attached Tempting Turquoise to the Night of Navy base card, then attached a strip of DS floral paper to a piece of Only Orange cardstock and added some Turquoise grosgrain ribbon to this panel before attaching it to the base card.

The greeting is from the Occasional Greetings set and I used the Only Orange and Night of Navy markers to colour in the words then stamped it on Whisper White cardstock.

I then sponged the edges of the white card with Tempting Turquoise ink and distressed the edges before attaching it to Night of Navy card.

The glitter flower was in my stash of assorted flowers so I attached it with foam pads to a circle that I had punched out of Only Orange card.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Night of Navy, Tempting Turquoise, Only Orange.

Ink - Tempting Turquoise.

Stamps - Occasional Greetings (main catalogue)

Markers - Only Orange, Night of Navy.

Ribbon - Tempting Turquoise grosgrain.

Paper - DS Bali Breeze collection.

Extras - Circle punch, foam glitter flower.

This card is something different from my normal style as it's very bright but it worked out well.

I may do another card in softer colours for Keesh's challenge if I have the time so check back again soon.

Happy stampin' !

KWerner Colour Challenge #37

Well, I've started my New Year's Resolutions to take up more challenges from various blogs.

Here is the card I just made for Kristina Werner's Challenge #37.

I received the lovely felt flowers from my upline Yvonne at Christmas time included in a lovely gift she had made for me so I thought this would be the perfect time to use them.

I used some of the floral DS paper from the Bali Breeze set which co-ordinated with the cardstock and the felt flowers. We don't have the Baja Breeze cardstock here so I substituted Tempting Turquoise and I used the Scallop Border punch for the decorative edge.

I then added some Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon, gold brads for the flower centres and a rub-on greeting from the Eastern Elegance Rub-ons set.

SU Supplies:

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise

Felt Flowers - Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie

Grosgrain Ribbon - Pumpkin Pie

Rub-ons - Eastern Elegance

Extras - 3 gold brads

This was a very quick card to make and I loved the way the bright colours worked so well with the Chocolate Chip base.

I have another Challenge card to make so come back soon to see that one !

'Bye for now - happy crafting!