Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 28

Good morning everyone,

It's time for another MDU challenge - this time the theme is Bedazzled !!

It's an excuse to use lots of bling - glitter, rhinestones, pearls, beads, etc. I thought this image of Tilda would suit the theme and I had the colours in mind when I picked this stamp.

I embossed some silver paper with swirls and matted it on a dark plum piece of card then mounted this to the bottom of the pink base card.

I then embossed a square of the silver paper with a different pattern to look like tiny pebbles.Over this I mounted a square of the dark plum card and added a piece of pale green and silver glittery paper which I'd distressed around the edges.

I folded back the top right-hand corner and added a pale green pearl to the paper and some small rhinestones on the plum card.

Tilda was coloured in using watercolour pencils and I added some glitter dots to her dress and ribbon bow and also on her wings and the rose she's holding. (Here is a close up of the 'bling'.)

To finish off the card, I tied some pink taffeta ribbon over the bottom silver panel, added the Tilda image (mounted on 3D foam dots) and some pink fabric flowers. I then added some adhesive rhinestones among the swirls and also stuck them onto the silver brads in the flower centres.

Well, if you like this idea why not join us and send in your entry for our challenge today - just click on this link to take you to our challenge site.

Check out the gorgeous designs that the other Design Team members have come up with - they're awesome !

Please drop in again soon - I have some Christmas cards to show you and a few other things.

Thanks for stopping by - hope you're all having a great weekend. See you again soon !!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 27

Hi there,

Christmas is fast approaching - it's so scary, only a few weeks to go !!

I haven't even thought about Christmas shopping yet but I have started on my cards - I said 'started', have lots more to do but in keeping with this theme, here is my card for this fortnight's challenge.

The theme is 'Something for Christmas' - I made a card but if you would like to join us, feel free to make any project with a Christmas theme - a card, 3D object, scrapbook page, etc.

For my card, I chose this beautiful vintage paper as the background. It features some lovely flowers and text and I loved the colours in it.


I sponged around the edges of the paper with some ink to give it an antique finish then mounted it onto some dark green card and tied some gold glittery ribbon along the left side.

I then mounted this panel to the red base card. To highlight the flowers on the paper, I added some gold glitter glue to their centres.







The sleigh was one of two die-cuts I found in my stash of goodies - can't remember where I got them from but I had a gold one and a red one which I used for this card. I embossed it with an embossing folder then sponged around the edges with some brown ink to give it some definition.

I coloured in this gorgeous Tilda image with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush then added some gold gliiter to her buttons and the embroidery on her coat and also a little on the poinsettias in her basket.

For an added touch, I also put some crystalline glitter along the fur trim of her hood to simulate glistening snow - it looks beautiful on the card at night but as always, doesn't come up too well in photos.

To finish off the card I tied a sheer ribbon bow to the gold ribbon strip and then attached a little gold bell to the bow's centre.

To decorate the sleigh, I added a die-cut leafy branch and 3 red fabric flowers. I enjoyed making this card and I hope you like it.

Why don't you check out what the other team members have done for this challenge and join in the fun and create your own Christmas project.

Please share your creation with us by linking it to our site here. We'd love to see your work!!

Well, that's it for now. Drop in again soon to see what else I've been creating. Hope you're all having a good weekend.

'Bye until next time !

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #26

Hello there,

I'm sorry that my card for the recent MDUC is so late - have had a few other commissioned cards to make for family members and have been busy with other things and issues recently.




For this challenge we had to use this sketch designed by Shell Barnard.

As I had been asked to make a 70th birthday card featuring a Tilda image I made use of this sketch for the card.

It worked out very well I think.

Here is my take on the sketch.

I used some pretty patterned paper and attached it to a scalloped piece of cardstock then mounted it onto the base card.

I then embossed some pink card, cut around the edges in a random shape then cut out a piece from the centre and turned it into a frame so that I could put the main image inside it.

The white piece of card behind the frame was sponged with some pale yellow ink to match the scalloped border strip.

I coloured Tilda with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush and added some glitter glue to the flowers and the bow in her hair. 3D foam squares were used to attach her to the frame.

I used some gold peel-off stickers for the numerals and the Birthday greeting, attaching them to some yellow cardstock and then cut around the greeting with scissors and used a 1" circle punch around the numbers. (I edged the circle of cardstock with a gold ink pen.)

To finish off the card, I added a gold peel-off corner sticker and then attached a gold brad to a white flower and some pink flowers and leaves and adhered them to the embossed frame with 3D foam squares.

My Mother-in-Law was very happy with the card which she is giving to a friend of hers - I hope the Birthday 'Girl' will like it as well !

Please check out our MDUC site here to see what the other team members have done for this challenge and if you want to play along too, add your card creations to our link so that we can all have a look at them.


Thanks for stopping by - I hope you come back soon for another visit.


I have two more cards to show you which will be in my next post and I have to make another 2 cards by this weekend so will show you those as well when they're finished.

'Bye for now - see you again very soon!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 25

Hello again,

It's time for another Magnolia Down Under Challenge - this fortnight's theme is 'Distressed' -

no not me, just the card!! LOL

This was a challenge for me as I like things nice and neat so had to push myself to distress the papers on this card. Pathetic isn't it ?

I started with the base card in Sage Shadow then adhered a piece of So Saffron which I had stamped using the thumping technique - I took my So Saffron Stampin' Spot and thumped it all over the piece of card, creating distressed lines from the edges of the stamp pad.

It's a quick and effective way to get this sort of look on your cardstock or paper.

I then distressed the edges of the card using my fingernail to just scrape aloong the edges.

Then I used a small circle punch to cut out the corners and distressed those also. I then mounted this card onto the base card.

I punched a scallop edge along a piece of SU Designer Series paper and mounted this to the left side of the yellow card. A piece of lovely pale blue vintage paper with the butterfly image was then distressed along three edges and attached along the side of the blue strip.

The join was covered with some beige coloured lace.

I then coloured the Tilda image using markers and watercolour pencils, cut it out and attached it to the base card with 3D foam dots.

To finish off, I added some lovely blue flowers (attaching adhesive pearls to the centres) and pretty little daisies. I also added some adhesive pearls in the four corners of the card.

Why not join in the fun and visit the MDUC site to add your creation and share it with all of us -here is the link.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. Come back again soon to see more of my cards.

I'm sorry that I haven't had more for you lately but I've just finished a Forensic Medicine Course which I attended these last two weekends so haven't had time to 'play'.

It was a fabulous course and so interesting - I received my certificate today so may take a photo of it to show you in a later post.

Well, it's off to bed for some well earned sleep and back to work tomorrow.

Have a great week everyone and drop by again very soon !

See you then ........

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 24

Hello again,

It's time for another Magnolia Down Under Challenge - this week's theme is 'Trick or Treat' for all of you who celebrate Halloween this month.

I had to think about this one as I don't have any Halloween type Magnolia stamps but I improvised instead and used this Christmas Tilda stamp.

While I was out shopping last week I looked for some suitable papers and stickers at one of my local craft stores and came across this great paper. It was perfect for this card and the witch's hat on a sheet of stickers that I bought at the same time. was just the right size to sit on Tilda's head.

I coloured Tilda with markers and also used watercolour pencils and my trusty aquabrush for her face.

The ribbons came from my own stash - love that bright green one which goes so well with the black spotted ribbon and also with the background paper and card.

The spiderweb medallion was made using an embossing folder which featured various circles containing Halloween images - after embossing my piece of black card, I punched out the circle with the web and attached it to the two strips of ribbon in the top right-hand corner with 3D foam dots.

Tilda and the hat were attached using 3D foam dots as well. After attaching Tilda, the ribbons and the web medallion, I glitzed the bat, spider and the web with some glitter glue - it's just a basic crystal colour but changes colour depending on the cardstock or paper you're attaching it to.

In this case, when I applied it to the black surfaces, it changed to green ! How 'spooky' is that ?

I also added some to the buckle on Tilda's hat and also the bit of tinsel that she's holding and this time the colour changed to gold which is the effect I wanted.

Well, that's it for now. If you want to join in the fun and create your own Halloween card click here to link your entry to our challenge site. I'd love to see what you come up with - our designers have done some fantastic work with this theme so if you need inspiration, check out their entries - they're just fabulous !!

Thanks for dropping in - please come back again soon to see my next lot of cards.

Hope you've had a great weekend - see you all next time!

Birthday Tri-Shutter Card

Hi there,

Nice to see you again. I had a lovely weekend - very busy. Caught up with former workmates on Friday night for a quick drink to celebrate one girl's new job then it was on to a special birthday at one of my favourite craft shops.

The owner was celebrating her 10th year in the shop and had invited some regular customers to a VIP night at the shop to help her celebrate the special occasion.
Of course, I couldn't go empty handed so made this Tri Shutter Birthday card and gave her some yummy chocolates to share with her staff.

My S-I-L came with me and we had a great night - there were a lot of laughs (and a few tears) during the night's celebrations and some of the girls had made Birthday cards and treats which were a great hit !

One girl made (and decorated) the Birthday cake which was fantastic - she had 3 mini cards made out of icing sitting on top of the cake and get this, one of the 'cards' had been embossed with an embossing folder and fed through a regular die cut machine !

Who'd have believed that you could emboss royal icing using tools made for papercrafting !!


For this card I used the beautiful SU Designer Series - Tea Party papers and the Upsy Daisy stamp set for the main image.

I found the lovely pink and pale yellow flowers in my stash and they went so well with the papers and base cardstock. I also used Rub-ons for the greeting next to the flowers and stamped and cut-out the 3D butterfly on the right-hand panel.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Lovely Lilac, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White.

Stamps - Upsy Daisy (main floral image), Best Yet (Hostess Set) for greeting, Great Friend (butterfly and background leaves on pink panel).

Inks - Lovely Lilac, Gable Green, Almost Amethyst, Pretty in Pink.

Designer Series Papers - Tea Party.

Extras - Rub-ons, adhesive pearls, paper flowers on wire stems, small piece of SU - Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, glitter glue.

I love making these particular cards as you can decorate them as simply or as elaborately as you like to suit the occasion and the recipient.

Thanks for dropping in - I hope you like what you see here.

Please come back again to see my next creation!

'Bye for now - take care !

Magnolia Down Under - New Online Shop - BLOG CANDY !!

WOW, some very exciting news for all of you Magnolia Down Under Challenge followers - Kellie Winnell has just opened up her online store so you can buy all of your Magnolia stamps and accessories right here in Australia !

To visit her new shop, click on the MDU Shop logo on my sidebar which will take you there so you can see what she has in store and start your shopping now !!

To celebrate the grand opening, she is offering this fantastic prize of Blog Candy - have a look at all the goodies in this lot!

To join in the fun, click on this link and leave a comment and who knows, you may be the lucky winner.

Congratulations Kellie on your exciting new venture - I know it will be a huge success !!

Thanks for dropping by - hope you'll come back for another visit soon. I have some new

cards to show you.

'Bye for now. :-)

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 23

Good morning everyone,

It's like the depths of Winter in Melbourne this weekend - can't believe the first month of 'Spring' has nearly ended.
The wind is blowing a gale outside, it poured with rain all day yesterday and overnight and the heater is on at full blast in my house!!

Welcome to another Magnolia Down Under Challenge - this week's theme is 'Buttons' where we have to make a card using buttons as one of the elements.

I decided to make a bright card this time and after selecting the papers and cardstock, I rummaged through my container of blue embellishments and found these buttons that matched the base card perfectly.





I also found the cute felt 'Love' embellishment in there so added it to the mix too.

Of course I couldn't resist adding these gorgeous flowers which I had bought at the Picture to Page craft show last week. They were a perfect match for the base card and the lovely 'owl' paper from our SU Designer Series.

I mounted the blue paper onto the Brilliant Blue base card and added strips of yellow paper (which had been punched along the edges with the SU Scallop Border punch) to the top and bottom of the card. I then sponged the edges of the yellow paper with some Yellow Sun ink.

I then mounted some of the pale yellow printed paper (from the SU - Tea Party papers) onto another piece of Brilliant Blue card and attached it to the left of the card.

Tilda was coloured using watercolour pencils and an aquabrush, cut out and mounted on 3D foam dots and attached to the above frame. I then attached a small blue flower gem in the corner and the three flowers at the bottom, using buttons as the flower centres.

The knot in the pale blue button at top left was made with a fine strip of cardstock threaded through the buttonholes and tied in a knot at the front - see, you don't always need thread or ribbon !

To finish off, I added the obligatory 'Bling' using glitter glue on the Love embellishment and one of the flowers plus Tilda's wings. Here is a close up view of the glitter effect.

As always, the card looks much better in real life - I wish our cards came up the same way in our photos. If anyone out there has any tips for achieving this, please let me know.

(I don't have a whiz-bang professional camera - just your average digital but would welcome any tips for getting good results with it.)

For this card I also combined our MDU challenge with a Mojo Monday sketch challenge - two for the price of one! It was fun to do and I hope to do more of these double-challenges in the future.

SU supplies -

Cardstock - Brilliant Blue

Designer Series Papers - Good Morning Sunshine, Tea Party (pale yellow behind main image)

Ink - Summer Sun (for sponging the edges of the yellow checked paper)

Punch - Scalloped Border

Extras -

Magnolia stamp, felt word embellishment, flower gem, paper flowers, buttons, glitter glue.

If you like my card and you want to play along with us, make a card and link your entry to our MDUC site here. We'd love to see your creations so what are you waiting for ?
Go make your card !!

Well, that's it for this week's challenge - see you again next fortnight for our next challenge.
It'll be something to look out for !!

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend and stay warm (if you're in Melbourne that is !).

See you again soon :-)

Christmas Cards - (starting to plan now) .........

Hello there,

Well it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - frightening isn't it? How quickly the year has flown by.
Next week we'll be in October and now is the time that everyone is starting to make their Christmas cards!

I made a start on mine with one of the new stamps in the SU Spring Mini catalogue and another using a lovely set from our main catalogue.

This first card was made using the lovely Winter Post set (main catalogue) - I just love reindeer and this little image is just beautiful to use.


I cut a piece of this lovely paper from our Designer Series and cut out the corners (using a small circle punch) before mounting it onto red cardstock then attached gold brads in each corner.

I then attached this piece to the pale blue base card and wound some lovely sheer red ribbon across the top half of the card attaching it with double-sided tape.

The three reindeer were stamped onto white card and then mounted onto a piece of scalloped green card before attaching to some red cardstock.

The greeting stamp was coloured with red and green markers on white card and then punched out with the label punch. A lovely silver metal frame (which matched the label perfectly), was attached over it with two silver brads and then mounted at the top of the green card.

The cardstock co-ordinated with the patterned paper and it all matched beautifully.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White.
Stamps - Winter Post
Inks - Chocolate Chip
Markers - Real Red, Old Olive
Designer Series Papers - Ski Slopes (Spring Mini)
Punches - Scallop Border, Designer Label
Hodge Podge Hardware

Extras - Sheer red ribbon.


For my second card, I used the new stamps from the Spring Mini catalogue.


This lovely image is from the Good Cheer set.

This time I used papers from another Designer Series and using the same idea of cutting out the corners, attached it to some red card and added gold brads in each corner.

I mounted a stip of the spotted paper across the centre of the card then attached the lovely Christmas ribbon over the paper and secured it behind the red cardstock. This piece was then attached to the brown base card.

The main image was stamped on white card and coloured in with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush.
Once it had dried, I cut around the holly border and centred the image over the patterned papers using 3D foam dots.

I stamped a second image of the reindeer and after colouring it, cut it out (including the antlers, which was a real challenge as they were very narrow and I had to be careful not to cut them in half !) and finally attached it over the base image with 3D foam dots to make it stand out.

To finish off, I added Crystal Effects glaze to the reindeer's nose and red glitter glue to the holly berries on the wreath around Santa's head.

You can't see it very well in this photo, but it does add that little extra ! Isn't that reindeer just gorgeous - you almost want to touch it to feel it's hide.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Whisper White.
Stamps - Good Cheer (Spring Mini)
Inks - Basic Black
Designer Series Papers - Holiday Treasures
Crystal Effects glaze

Extras - Red printed ribbon, gold brads, red glitter glue, watercolour pencils, aquabrush.


Well, these are only two of my Christmas cards - I have more to show you in upcoming posts.
I hope you like them.

Thanks for dropping in - please come back again to see my next set of Christmas cards and others in my collection.

See you next time - take care :-)

Apologies - you're not going mad !

Hi again,

I'm so sorry if some of you have been searching my previous posts looking for my Meerkat card!

A friend of mine just told me that the photo of the card wasn't in my last Post so I double-checked and she was right. It was very late last night when I was editing my blog and I must have deleted the photo when I was trying to edit my text.

** Is it just me or do many of you have to edit your Posts a few times after creating them to get the text and photos to line up just right ? I always have to edit about 2-3 (or even more times) to get it the way I want.

If there is an easy way to do it, please let me in on the secret.

Thanks for any tips you can give me on Blog Posting.

Well, must get some shut-eye, it's getting late again and I'm still here in front of the screen !!

'Bye for now - see you again soon :-)

Fun projects to while away the afternoon .........

Hi there,

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a lovely relaxing day last Saturday and while trying (and I say 'trying') to clean up my craft desk, I found some scrapbook papers that just 'grabbed' me and gave me some ideas for a few quick, fun cards to make.

These cards were just made using various papers, embossing folders, stickers, etc. and the only stamping on them is the Birthday greeting.

This first card was made with some lovely Owl paper - the image was big enough to just cut out and filled the front of the card. I just sponged some green ink around the edges of the owl and the tree outline to give it a bit of definition and shading.

I added some lovely copper adhesive rhinestones for the owl's eyes and cut out a little orange beak which I attached using some 3D foam dots and added some adhesive gems in the corners to match the base card.

The black embossed card in the background features a vine and birds design which goes so well with the main image.

Still on the Owl theme, I decided to decorate this little gift box that I had lying around. I had cut out the template a long while ago and hadn't done anything with it until now.

In one of my many plastic bags of ribbons and laces, I found this lovely cream lace so attached it to the bottom of the box underneath the lovely green patterned paper.

The little owl was cut out from one of the other papers I had and I cut the tree branch by hand and using my embossing stylus, embossed some 'knots' in the tree branch - you can't see them very well in the photo but it looks good in real life.

The little mushrooms on the back of the box were also cut out from some patterned paper.

I thought they were cute and added to the 'woodland' theme I was thinking about.

Still on a roll, I decided to make a Halloween card with some cute felt stickers I had bought last week in one of our local craft shops.

I know we don't celebrate Halloween in a big way here in Australia but I just love the cards that our overseas designers make and I love the traditional combination of the orange, black, purple and bright green used on these cards and so mixed them on this card.

I used some embossing folders for the purple and green pieces of card and attached the cute adhesive letter tiles to a strip of black cardstock and added some gold brads at each end.

(The purple card actually looks quite blue here in the photo, but it is definitely purple in real life.)

The lovely striped ribbon came from my bag of Stampin' Up! ribbons - it was a perfect match for this card.

As I collect all sorts of images from magazines, boxes, leaflets, etc. I couldn't resist making a card using this cute little Meerkat wearinig a pink Tu-Tu.

(Meerkats are one of my favourite wild animals and I love watching their antics at the zoo and also in documentaries - e.g. Meerkat Manor which was on TV here awhile ago.)

I added some glitter glue to the little Tu-Tu and also on the lovely floral paper (from Stampin' Up!) then added some sheer pink ribbon and used a rub-on for the greeting.

This was just a fun card to make - the image just tickled my fancy so I had to do it !! LOL

Well, I hope you like these - it's nice to just make something quick and easy and a little bit different every now and then.

Thanks for dropping in - come back soon for my next creations.

Have a great week everyone!

Some new cards

Hello again,

Well as promised in my previous post, I thought I'd show you some of my latest cards.

A few of these were made at our recent Stamp Camp but weren't finished off so I finally got around to doing that yesterday.

For these floral ones I used SU Designer Papers - Bella Rosa set which is just beautiful - lots of pretty roses in pale pinks and also in darker reds as on these cards.

If you love floral papers, this is a beautiful set to use.

Stampin' Up! stamps used for these cards were from the current Spring Mini catalogue.

(Sorry about the darkness on the left of the card above - I took this photo at night.)

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip,

Kiwi Kiss, Close to Cocoa.

Inks and markers - Pretty in Pink, Ruby Red, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel

Stamps - Organic Grace (Hostess Set - Level 1), Soft Summer, Oval All, Great Friend,

On Your Birthday.

Designer Papers - Bella Rosa

Punches - Scallop Oval, Small Oval, Medium Oval, Eyelet Border, Scallop Border

Ribbon - Pretty in Pink (Taffeta).

Extras - Glitter glue, pink satin ribbon, adhesive pearl and pink gem.

Thanks for stopping by - come back again in the next few days to see what other things

I've done recently.

'Bye for now - see you again soon :-)

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 22

Good morning everyone,

It's Sunday morning and time for another MDUC entry.

After a lovely warm day yesterday, it's raining again here in Melbourne, but hey, what's new ?
A perfect day to stay in and join our fun challenge - this week's theme is 'Anything But A Card' so I came up with this little gift set.


I created a little handbag using the SU / Sizzix - Top Note Die and made a Post-It Note holder and a magnetic bookmark to match.



As the handbag is only small, I had to make a small bookmark to fit into it.

I decided on a folded strip for it and used magnetic tape at the bottom open ends so that it would close over the top of the book page, therefore it didn't need to be a full length bookmark.



Here is the handbag with the items in it.

















The papers I used are from our SU Designer Series - Holiday Treasures set.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery.
Ink - Regal Rose
Stamps - Riveting (Retired Hostess Set)
Ribbon - Pretty in Pink (Taffeta)
Papers - Designer Series - Holiday Treasures
Punches - Scallop Circle, Round Tab, Eyelet Border
Die - Top Note


Extras -

Magnolia Stamp, gold brads, glitter glue, pink Ric-Rac, magnetic tape.


I had great fun making this little set (and will no doubt, make more of these - I have other ideas brimming in my head).


Why not join us for this week's challenge and share your creations with us - we'd love to see your work!


Thanks for stopping by - have lots more to show you in the next few days.

I had a great day yesterday, just relaxing and my Mojo was working overtime - I finished off a few cards that had been lying around waiting for the final touches to be added and I also created more cards and a little gift box.


Drop in again soon to check these out once I've posted them here.


Have a great day today - see you again soon :-)

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 21

Hello again,

Another two weeks have gone by and it's time for another Magnolia Down Under Challenge - this time our card was made according to a 'recipe'.

Our theme was '1,2,3,4' - we had to use 1 flower, 2 ribbons, 3 brads and 4 colours or papers.

A bit daunting I thought at first but after playing around with papers, ribbons and brads, I came up with this card.

I used our SU 'Sweet Always' Designer Series Papers and co-ordinated them with matching cardstock.

Instead of the usual A6 size card, I decided to go with a square card this time. I layered the patterned paper onto Regal Rose and Whisper White card then onto the Pumpkin Pie base card.

A piece of the Rose card was then embossed with the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder and then die cut using the SU/Sizzix 'Top Note' die (which I was able to get from a friend).

I cut a piece off so that I could align it with the left side edge of the patterned paper. Once this piece was attached I then adhered the two ribbon strips underneath it.

For added interest in the top right-hand corner, I decided to fold back the patterned paper and attach a 3D greeting over the fold then added 3 white brads to the Rose card.

Looking in my container of flowers, I found this lovely white fabric flower and attached a little pink fabric rose to the centre so that it would pick up the colours on the rest of the card.

To finish off, I added some glitter to the little heart in the centre of the circular greeting and also to Tilda's dress along the hem and at the neckline and sleeve tops. It's a bit hard to see the details in the main photo but here is a close up which shows it a little better.

Tilda was coloured using alcohol markers for her clothes and watercolour pencils for her face and hands.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Regal Rose, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie

Inks - Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose

Stamps - Riveting (Retired Hostess Set)

Designer Series Papers - Sweet Always

Extras -

Ribbons - (pink taffeta, chocolate stitched grosgrain), white brads, fabric flowers, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Sizzix die, Stickles glitter glue.

If you would like to take up our challenge this week, please join in the fun along with us. We'd love to see your cards - just link your creation to our challenge site here.

Birthday Card - Urban Garden DSP

Well, another Birthday and another card. I made this card for my niece's 50th birthday last week.

I wanted to make a simple yet elegant card for her as she is not one for 'frilly ribbons and flowers' on her cards so our SU Urban Garden Designer Series Papers were the perfect choice for this card.

I layered the flower stems paper onto Baja Breeze card and then onto the Basic Grey base card.

I then cut two strips of co-ordinating paper - one in the pale Baja Breeze colour and the other in the Basic Grey which I punched out using the Scallop Border punch.

Both strips were then attached to the floral paper.

For the greeting I used the Birthday Celebrations stamp from the Upsy Daisy set and stamped it on white card using Baja Breeze ink. I then punched it out with the Scalloped Oval punch, sponged the edges with some Baja Breeze ink and attached it to the front of the card with some 3D foam dots.

To complete the card, I attached some adhesive pearls to the greeting and the scalloped strip of paper.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Basic Grey Baja Breeze

Stamps - Upsy Daisy set

Ink - Baja Breeze

Designer Series Papers - Urban Garden

Punches - Scalloped Oval, Scalloped Border

Extras - Self-adhesive pearls

(The birthday party was a lot of fun - it was lovely to catch up with my sister and my four nieces again. Everyone had a good time from what I've heard - we didn't stay all night but the 'stayers' partied on into the wee small hours .........)

Well, that's it for another creation - come back again soon to see what else I've made.

Thanks for dropping by - see you again soon !!

Animal Birthday Card

Hello,

On the weekend we went to a Birthday party for a little boy in our family who celebrated his first birthday.
I wanted to make a really bright birthday card for him so decided to use these lovely papers and stamps from our Stampin' Up! collection.




The stamps are from the 'Wild About You' set and the papers are from the 'Jersey Shore' Designer Series.

I stamped the three animals on white card then punched them out with a circle punch. They were then attached to contrasting scalloped circles made from some of the papers in the set.

I had then mounted the dotty paper onto some dark blue card then onto the orange base card.
I crimped a strip of the dark blue paper and attached it across the lower half of the card then added the animal circles and the birthday 'medallion' using 3D foam dots.

The birthday 'medallion' was made with a dark blue scalloped circle with contrasting smaller circles adhered over the top. I then added a blue holographic peel-off sticker which was the number 'one'.

The greeting was from the same stamp set and after stamping it on white card, I inked the edges then attached it to the centre of the crimped strip. I then added a self-adhesive gem either side of the greeting to finish off the card.


SU Supplies:-
Cardstock - Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
Inks - Brilliant Blue, Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie
Stamp set - Wild About You
Designer Series Papers - Jersey Shore
Punches - Scalloped circle, circle punches

Extras -
Crimper, adhesive gems, 3D foam dots, peel-off stickers


It was a great day and the Birthday Boy had a lot of fun with his cousins and other family members.


Well that's it for another day - thanks for stopping by. Come back again soon to see what else I've been up to.


'Bye for now !!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #20

Hi Everyone,

Well another challenge, another card!!

The theme for this challenge was Father's Day so I searched through my boxes of papers and found the perfect paper for this card.

Here is my creation for today.




I mounted the patterned paper onto green card then onto the navy base card.
Tilda was coloured using a combination of alcohol markers and watercolour pencils / aquabrush.

I added some 3-Dimensional glaze to the little heart on her envelope.

The green strip across the card was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I then stamped the greeting onto white card and mounted it onto a piece of pale blue card to co-ordinate with the background paper.

To finish off, I added a brown paper flower and 2 pale aqua brushed fabric flowers, using a gold brad and some self-adhesive gems for the flower centres.

Supplies:

Cardstock - Not quite navy, Certainly Celery, Whisper white - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Buckaroo Blue - Stampin' Up!
Greeting - Best Wishes and More - Stampin' Up! -
Crystal Effects - (dimensional glaze) Stampin' Up!
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Argyle

Extras - Flowers, gold brad, self-adhesive gems


I hope you like what I've done this week. Why don't you join in the fun and send in your version of a Magnolia - Father's Day card. Click on the link here to go to our Challenge site and upload your entry.

We'd love to see your work.


Well, that's it for this challenge - see you again in two weeks for the next one!!

'Bye for now.

My recent cards - July / August

Hi everyone,

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to our team members' Stamp Camp recently where we made lots of team 'Swap' cards. Just prior to leaving for the camp, I was feeling very inspired so made a few cards that week - I'd like to share a couple of them with you.

This first one is a pretty floral one I designed using one of the Level 1 Hostess sets - Organic Grace.




I stamped the background with the fern leaf and dragon fly stamps using Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss inks then added a little glitter to the dragonfly wings.

The main image is the floral branch from the set which was stamped on white card then mounted onto Baja Breeze card and then onto some brushed gold card.





I added some sheer spotted white ribbon across the lower part of the base card and tied some around the main mounted image too. The main image was then attached to the base card using some 3D foam squares.

I then stamped the greeting using the Oval All set from the Summer Mini catalogue, punched it out with the large oval punch and then attached it to a gold scalloped oval which I had made using the new oval punch, also from the Summer Mini.

To finish off the card, I added some glitter to the floral image and an adhesive pearl to the greeting.



My second card was a little bit of 'fun' which I designed while playing around with some of the DS papers in the main catalogue.



I love flamingos and couldn't resist cutting out this image from one of the DS sheets in the Pink Flamingo set. I then dressed it up with some 'bling' - I used self adhesive gems for the flower centres and the bird's eye and added some glitter to the tall flower.

The background paper from the same DS set was a perfect match for the 3D flowers. I cut out the corners of the pink paper with a circle punch before attaching it to the Baha Breeze cardstock then added a gem in each corner.

The butterfly and greeting (from the Great Friend set in the Summer Mini) were stamped on white card then cut out and attached to the base card with 3D foam squares.

I then added some glitter to the centre of the butterfly and also around the edges of the greeting frame.

I had cut out a piece of Baha Breeze card using the Word Window punch and attached it to the pink background paper before covering it with the greeting.

I added an adhesive pearl to the blue strip to finish off the card.


These two cards turned out very well - I hope you like them.


In my next post I'll show you some Christmas cards I made too - please drop by again to see those.


Thanks for stopping by - hope you'll come back again soon!


'Bye for now.

'Stamp Camp' - Swap

Hi there,


I have just returned from a weekend away at our team Stamp Camp held at Sunnystones homestead in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. It was lovely to get away from the household chores and spend two nights and two days just stamping and having fun with some of the girls in our team (upline - Yvonne Campbell) as well as some from Kerri Hunter's team.

We had just over 20 members and enjoyed a fun-filled weekend where we all stamped our hearts out and made lots of new cards in our 'Shoe-box Swaps' - each girl designed a 'swap' card and brought enough supplies for each of the others to make a copy of that card.

It's a great way to pick up new ideas and add more beautiful cards to your collection.

Here is the card I designed for my swap using some of the new stamps from our Spring Mini catalogue which has just been released this month.





Stampin' Up! Supplies -


Cardstock - Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White.
Stamps - Great Friend, Oval All, Soft Summer.
Inks and markers - Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery.
Designer Series Paper - Walk in the Park.


Extras - Crimper, scalloped oval punch, glitter.




I really enjoyed making all the cards designed by the other girls - I now have 22 new cards and lots of ideas for more - the talent I saw there on the weekend was awesome ! It was really great to pick up tips from everyone and share our designs as well as the stamp sets and other supplies which we all brought along.


When we weren't working on our swaps, we created new cards or scrapbook pages, ate lots of lollies and chocolate (a stamper's staple diet) and drank champagne, wine, or whatever took our fancy. We were spoiled with lovely meals cooked for us as well as snacks to keep our energy up
thanks to Leanne and her husband who run Sunnystones.


The resident pets (2 cats and a dog) loved the attention we gave them as they came by our tables to say Hello though I don't know what they thought of the Saturday night's entertainment when some of the girls were having a ball playing 'Sing Star' in the lounge area's conversation pit ! (Pity I don't have any video footage to show you.) LOL


I was relaxing on one of the couches watching the girls sing and the look on Misty's (the cat) face was priceless !! I would have loved to know what was going through her mind as she watched the girls belting out their songs at the top of their voices. LOL


We all had a fabulous time and got on so well - it was such a great weekend that we've booked in again for another one in November.



Drop in again soon to see what I have for you next time. I'll post some more photos of the weekend then.


'Bye for now.

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 19

Hello everyone,

Well this fortnight's MDUC theme is 'Winter is Here' so I thought of a snow scene for Tilda.

I embossed the white card with the Cuttlebug 'Snowflakes' embossing folder then stamped the trees on another piece of white cardstock which had been sponged with light blue ink.

I added some 'snow' below the trees using 3D white paint then sprinkled over some glitter before the paint dried. I also added some falling snow dots to the main image and also on the greeting label.

Tilda was coloured using watercolour pencils and an aquabrush. Glitter was added to the embossed snowflakes and I attached some white and silver snowflake brads to the main image and also to the white spotted ribbon.

Supplies:

Cardstock- Stampin' Up! Soft Sky, Whisper White

Stamps - Magnolia -Tilda, Stampin' Up! Lovely as a Tree

Rub-ons - for the greeting (Stampin' Up!)

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Snowflakes

White spotted ribbon, white and silver snowflake brads, glitter glue.

Why don't you join in the fun and send us your 'Winter' creations - here is the link to our MDUC site. Looking forward to seeing all your beautiful cards !!

Come back again soon to see my next Magnolia Down Under Challenge card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tri - Shutter Card - #2

Hello again,

I'm back with another creation that I made just the other night. A family member had asked me to make a card for their friend's 40th Birthday this weekend so as it was for a 'special' birthday, I thought I would make another of these brilliant Tri-Shutter cards.

I had so much fun making my first one (see my previous post to view my first attempt at this great design) that I wanted to try another.

This time I chose Pink / Pomegranate for the colours.

The cardstock and patterned papers are from Stampin' Up! as well as the rub-on quotes and the centre stamped images.

The stamped quote on the right-hand side is from Hero Arts - one of my favourites.

I added some pretty satin roses which were a perfect match for the Pomegranate base card and attached co-ordinating gems as well. To keep in with the floral / feminine theme, I added a lovely sticker of pink tulips and some pink satin-edged ribbon.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate (retired In-Color - 2008), Close to Cocoa

Papers - Designer Series - Berry Bliss

Inks - Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Purely Pomegranate

Stamps - 5th Avenue Floral (quote), One of a Kind

Rub Ons - Eastern Elegance

Extras -

Self-adhesive gems, Stickles glitter glue, ribbon, satin flowers, floral sticker, gold peel-off stickers (gift image and Birthday greeting which had been coloured with a pink marker),

Hero Arts stamp (quote).

I have plans for a few more of these so drop by again and check them out in my future posts.

Thanks for stopping by - please come back again soon!