Holidays at last ...... almost

Just one more ballet commitment to go and we will be on holidays officially!  My daughter has her ballet exam tomorrow afternoon, and they are very well prepared.  Yesterday, together with her "adventure" buddy, she did the Spartan Run.  Now you may ask what that is and you may also be asking what sort of mother lets her daughter do this before a ballet exam.  Well, I'll tell you ..... one that certainly wasn't thinking ahead when she cheerfully said, yes, nothing on that day, she is on holidays!!!

The Spartan Run is a an obstacle course cum exercise in lunacy.  Needless to say, the clothes that came home were destroyed with mud (make that 2 sets because my husband did the adults (or idiots) version.  Of course, now it's winter they held it west of Brisbane - absolutely freezing.  

It did give me a day to make cards though ....... YAY

This is the previous sketch from Cardabilities which I missed but really loved and, as you may know, I cannot resist Navy.  There were so many elements to this graphic and would have liked to use them all. 

I don't know that there was any driftwood or any other type of wood in fact, but wanted to use something like that, so cut very thin strips of kraft card.  

What you need

Cardstock - PTI Kraft, white

Patterned paper - MME Lush 2 (Navy Stripe)

Stamps - Cas-ual Fridays Bold Wishes; PTI Star Prints;  SU Ocean Commotion

Ink - Memento Nautical Blue; SU Marina Mist, Midnight Muse

Punch - Fiskars

******

Along with one of my standby challenges, I wanted to get a few birthday cards under my belt.  There are a few coming up in my family, including my best friend who is "enjoying" a significant birthday today.  I have seen a couple of beautiful cards done for this challenge, and I think this will be a very versatile sketch (notice using up more of the patterned paper - yay me!)

Turquoise is a tricky colour for me - not because I don't like it, just that my SU ink pad isn't the best and have no other colour close to it, so I have opted for the paper

What you need

Cardstock - PTI white

Patterned Paper - MME Lush 2 Turquoise stripe

Stamps - Avery Elle Petals and Stems;  PTI Stylish Sentiments: Birthday

Ink - SU Poppy Parade, Gumball Green;  Regal Rose

Corner Rounder

Die - PTI Ribbon Tails

OK, time to work on my PTI blog hop card - the theme is gold.  I have a few ideas but really need to settle on just one, before it looks just plain gaudy.

On Cloud 9 with Kate Spade

Cloud 9 challenge time again.  

I was looking to capture a bit of the watercolour-like background with the help of Jennifer McGuire's latest video using Inktense pencils, but it didn't quite work so went with watercolouring the flowers.  My collection of pencils is sadly restricted but had fun colouring on yet another dreary weekend.  

I used this elegant sketch for the layout and am always in need of birthday cards.  

What you need

Cardstock - BB apricot, dark brown;  SU white

Patterned paper - MME Miss Caroline Howdy Doody

Stamps - Wplus9 A Special Lady, Filigree Frames

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black;  SU Early Espresso

Embossing Powder - Coloriser (clear)

Inktense pencils

Die - Spellbinders Banners

Twine - Jillibean Soup

*****

Kate Spade would have to be one of my favourite designers - I have nothing of hers except perfume, and a burning desire for a particular bag.  So I had to participate in this challenge.  

And CAS(E) this Sketch compliments the simple patterns perfectly.  I wanted to pick up on the black stripes and the yellow in the skirt.  So hopefully the text stamp sort of looks like stripes and my yellow girls I just love.

What you need

Cardstock - PTI white, black;  BB yellow

Stamps - PTI Background Basics: Text Style;  Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Words

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Die - MFT

Pearls - Kaisercraft