Case This Sketch #65 and WMS Fanatics #12

Had a little bit of time on my hands today, before we get stuck into the gardening tomorrow.  After several days of humid, high temperature days, today was a welcome relief.  I wasn't quite sure where to go with this sketch till I thought I really should start to make use of my inspiration folder on Pinterest

This is the photo I decided to use - wish I had one myself

My card worked in well with the latest Case this Sketch and WMS Fanatics - For the Boys

What you need

Cardstock - BB white, navy

Stamps - WMS Ocean Bound;  MFT Washi Patterns

Ink - SU Midnight Muse, Real Red

Paper Players #183 - Stars

Now, this makes me very happy.  Not only do I get to use up another sheet of 12 x 12 but, I think I may have a vaguely masculine, pre-adolescent birthday card.  Hopefully we won't see the stars tonight, as we desperately need rain,  Brisbane has had high humidity and low rainfall for the past few weeks, a break would be nice.  However, way out west they are doing it much tougher - drought has claimed much of Western Queensland.  Maybe they have had a bit of rain out of the recent falls.  

We are back to school,  my daughter is with none of her best friends in class but with her extended friendship group and the teacher she really wanted.  So there is a silver lining.  She is coping well with dance commitments and Middle School band and Percussion Ensemble.  

I really like this card, inspired by a couple of techniques Jennifer McGuire has used in recent posts ie glitter and adding Glossy Accents to everything.  

What you need

Cardstock - SU Midnight Muse, white;  PTI orange

Patterned paper - Pebbles

Stamps - MFT

Punches - Fiskars, EK Success

Ink - SU Midnight Muse

Glitter - Glitter Ritz Champagne

Dies - MFT Fishtail Flags

I didn't realise mess could be so much fun ...

This is just way too much fun

The Day 2 challenge had me stumped for a while - different ways to use templates.  Kristina's card was the stand out from this stellar group of examples.  She used Inktense pencils to colour random parts of the stencil with that scribbly font that I love.  

I didn't have a stencil that lent itself to this technique, so I made my own with a couple of layered diecuts.  Orientation of the leaves was a bit of a trial but love how it turned out.  

What you need

Cardstock - PTI white, black;  SU Melon Mambo

Die - PTI Turning a new Leaf

Sequins

Inktense pencils - Apple Green

Day 3 - Dimension with Texture.  I wasn't able to do much with my Christmas acquisitions late last year as I ordered quite late.  So now is my time!  I used the embossing paste the sprinkled the wet paste with Distress glitter a la Debby Hughes. A beautiful subtle gleam, very hard to pick up in the photo. 

 So much fun.

What you need

Cardstock - Bazzill Navy;  SU white

Stamps - Wplus9 Winter Wishes;  The Craft's Meow Stitched Sentiments 2

Ink - SU real red;  Memento Paris Dusk

Die - MFT Fishtail Flag stax

Stencil - SSS Falling Snow

Wendy Vecchi Embossing paste

Distress Glitter - Clear Rock Candy

Bakers Twine

So while we are STILL on the subject of Christmas, this card popped into my head and was very quick and easy to do for the first Festive Friday challenge of 2014.

I love this window diecut and you cannot help but be entranced by the colours.  

What you need

Cardstock - PTI red, white:  SU Handsome Hunter

Stamps - PTI Holiday Sparkle

Ink - Memento Cottage Ivy

Die - Taylored Expressions

Punch - MS Medium Branch

Gems - Kaisercraft

Better late than never ......

Happy New Year and hope your Christmas holidays have been restful and spent with those closest to you.  I noticed that my posting has been non-existent since October, we had such a busy end to the school year, but my hands have not been idle.

Before school finished in early December, we had auditions for Percussion Ensemble and the Middle School band, a piano exam to endure, and the general worry about end of school reports.  Don't know why I bothered to waste energy over worrying, it all worked out well.  Then we had end of year ballet concerts, my daughter danced in all 4 concerts and was completely shattered by Sunday evening.  It is great  to see the progression of these poised young 11 year old girls, who have turned into wonderful dancers as well as delightful young ladies and close friends.

The following weekend was my daughter's belated birthday celebration.  She wanted to have friends for a sleepover - in a tent in our backyard!  A wise friend told me I will only do this once, I should have just taken the advice.  So my husband had the assistance of 8 girls in putting up the tent, a decision I think he later regretted.  Some slept very well, others not so much (darling daughter included), so apologies to those parents who had vile tempered children the next day. They behaved beautifully, ate well and were, on the whole, considerate of our neighbours.

We made these take home bags, inside which were a few camping essentials.

I stamped each child's name on the bag.  I was told in no uncertain terms NOT to put any bling what so ever on them.  Just not the same.

Along with Christmas cards, I also managed to do a few jobs that have been hanging around for a couple of years.  I am no scrapbooker, and my style is, well, basic to say the least.  But I have finally got all my daughter's dance photos mounted, along side the ones my husband had taken on open days, so it is a reasonably complete record of her dance career.  Then there was my recipe folder, overflowing with bits ripped out of magazines and printouts.  Now, they are all in the appropriate sections of the folder (bet I won't be able to find anything now!)

Christmas was a lovely family time, then some time at the beach.  My husband and daughter then went camping on Fraser Island with friends, right at the time when we had a spell of extremely hot weather (40C).  For me, camping doesn't happen and it was the start of my month of intensive TV viewing - the tennis.  We spent a day sweltering at the Brisbane International, the tennis was great.  Sadly it is nearly over and RF went out of the Australian Open last night!!

Next week we are back into the school routine, which I think will be welcome after 2 months off.  Her group of friends have  caught up periodically over the summer, mostly at birthday parties as they all seem to fall around this time.  The bags are packed with new books and pencil cases filled with brand new pens.  Just need to get the ipad cleaned up.  Here is one of the birthday cards I made, regrettably, I forgot to take a photo of the card I made for her ballet friend whose birthday was last night.

So, maybe after all that waffle, a challenge card is in order.  I can't resist pink and it has been a while since I have participated in a PTI blog hop.  I have just watched the videos for the latest Online Card class - Stenciled and I am inspired.  I resisted stencils for quite a while, the image in my hands is a bit blurry and not quite my taste.  but what the ladies have done is just breath taking.

It is a mixture of a ideas used by Jennifer, Laura and Debby and yes, it is a Christmas card, but I didn't post any on the blog this time.  I don't do much distress inking, I leave that to my daughter.  I get ink all over my fingers then all over the card.  But as I said, I very much wanted to try and it took a number of practice runs.

I still can't quite master the art of starting off the page without the corner of the sponge "stamping".  I adhered the stencil to card with adhesive spray, which seemed to work well.  

What you need
Cardstock - PTI white, black
Stamps - Background Basics:  Text Style;  Tree Trimming Trio
Inks - Ranger Distress Inks (Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry);  Versafine Onyx Black; Versamark
Stencil - SSS Ornament on a String
Embossing Powder - Judi Kins Extreme Peacock
Adhesive spray
Zig Wink of Stellar (clear)

Hope you made it to the end of this long winded post, as it is a long weekend in Australia, I may get round to more challenges.

Happy Australia Day to all Aussies for tomorrow (26th).

October WMS Pyjama Party

Yes, there is still someone lurking around this blog occasionally.  It has been a busy time, what with milestone birthdays, major heart surgery for my Father-in-Law (he is recovering well, and it was expected),  and life in general really.  But I have been making cards, just not for publication, and alot less frequently. 

So to one of my favourite challenges.  I didn't get myself organised and order some of Claire's lovely new stamps, so I have none of the beautiful Art Deco images.  Not to worry, Pinterest is a mine of information (well, images) so no shortage of inspiration.

Challenge:  Art Deco black and white and POP

I need a card for my best friends daughter (the youngest) who finishes school at the end of the year.  A little bittersweet for her I think and it seems like only yesterday since she was a babe in arms.  So I sorted a few fonts from Word and some wonderful vintage images from Pinterest.  Interestingly this lattice pattern came up a few times, which I didn't realise was Art Deco-ish.

But I REALLY wanted to do something like this one, classic and elegant, just like the  young lady in question and use silver as my splash of colour.  But there is minimal WMS stamping on it, well, one really.  But I think I will enter both of them.  Edited to Add:  forgot that you can't enter 2 images from the one post - really should blog more often!

What you need

Cardstock - BB black;  SU white, red; metallic silver cardboard

Stamps - WMS Heirloom Patterns, Vintage Labels 5

Ink - Memento London Fog

Brad and gems - SU

Feathers - Craft Supplies

Bedtime Story - Sketch Challenge

One of the best teachers my daughter had in Junior School had her first child last week, so while completely off the theme of this month's party, it was a card of necessity.  We had This wonderful lady for 2 years and she really knew her students.  We found her so easy to deal with and were delighted when we found out our daughter would have her for a second year.

So while the background stamps were still out, I created this girly card and highlighted the solid lines with a marker.  I don't know how much cardstock I wasted trying to get this right, nothing to do with lining up the stamp, that was the easy part.  The difficulty was using a light colour and thinking I had it completely covered in ink.

What you need
Cardstock - PTI shimmer pink;  SU Regal Rose, white
Stamps - WMS Heirloom Patterns, Nordic Baby
Ink - Memento Angel Pink;  SU Early Espresso
Marker - Regal Rose
Spellbinders - Classic and Scalloped ovals
Ribbon - PTI Hibiscus Burst
Gems - SU

Cant' wait to see all the other creations!

Uniko Challenge #2

As the challenge winner from the first Uniko Studio challenge, I got a guest spot on the DT for the second challenge.  You need to check out what these amazing designers have created this month.  And you can right here and have a bit of fun and play along.

Here is a peek at my card for this challenge, a sketch this time.  You can see the whole thing over on the Uniko Studio blog.

WMS Pyjama Party

Today has been the hottest winter day in Brisbane on record, reaching 30C.  This does not bode well for summer!  The past few weeks my daughter has been completely immersed in school assessment, her first real experience of what the years to come will hold.  For her, the holidays can't come soon enough.

So, to my challenge cards.  Unfortunately, I placed my WMS order too late to be able to play with all the new goodies but no matter, I had backup plans.

Challenge 2:  Get Nauty

This card possibly also qualifies for Golden Oldies as Vintage Labels 3 was my first WMS stamp set and I most particularly loved this rope label.  It is Father's Day in Australia tomorrow, so this is for my Dad and it will be an especially great day as they come home from a month's holiday in Europe.

What you need

Cardstock - PTI white, Pure Poppy

Patterned Paper - PTI Men of Life

Stamps - WMS Vintage Lablels 3, Compact Sentiments

Ink -  SU Real Red, Early Espresso; PTI Ripe Avocado

Twine - HA

Challenge 4:  Golden Oldies

While Vintage Labels 3 was still on my desk I decided to use one of the smaller images as a border.  I think Big Bloom Chrysanthemums came to live here not long after.

What you need

Cardstock - PTI white;  SU Rose Red

Stamps - WMS Big Bloom Chrysanthemums, Vintage Labels 3, Fancy Phrases

Ink - SU Rose Red, Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade, Baked Brown Sugar

Gem - SU 

Challenge 3 and 5: Colour challenge and Bedtime Story (sketch)

I really wanted to attack both  of these individually but time isn't on my side.  I have to say I am really pleased with the outcome.  Ooh and my first go at "generational" stamping.

.

What you need

Cardstock - SU black, basic grey,white, cherry cobbler; PTI soft stone

Stamps - WMS Fine Feathers, Vintage Labels 10

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black;  Memento Bahama Blue;  SU Cherry Cobbler

Die - MFT Bows

Gems - SU

PTI August 2013 Blog Hop

My how the months have flown!  We have almost finished our outdoor work, now it is just those little finishing touches of tidying up and working out what we want to go back there.  It could probably do with some new plants .... if I remember to water them.  

This is the colour palette and sketch I picked, seem to be a sucker for the neutrals at the moment, add to that my Mother-in-law has requested a few more masculine cards.  Really happy with this one, the plan had been to just use one of my new acquisitions - Sketched Shapes, but there we a couple of other designs I wanted to incorporate.  Alot of masking going on here and I cut small notches in the sides so the twine would sit better.

What you need

Cardstock - PTI cream; SU Early Espresso

Stamps - PTI Stylish Sentiments Birthday; Sketched Shapes, Background Basics: Retro

Ink - PTI Fine Linen, Classic Kraft;  SU Early Espresso; Versafine Onyx Black

Twine - Hero Arts, SU

I'll bet there are a few craft weary people after the all weekend Stamp a Faire, but I am sure there will still be plenty of wonderful inspiration on show.

Some old and some new stamps

We have had a beautiful week of warm to hot weather, highly unusual for August.  But it has been great for getting some outdoor renovations done.  We are only part way through but hopefully by next weekend we should be all done, then I will have a long awaited undercover area to keep laundry dry during our summer storm season.

I saw the cue word for this challenge and new exactly what I would do.

What you need

Cardstock - PTI white, New Leaf; X-Press It blending card

Stamps - PTI Vintage Picnic

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Copics

*****

Right at this moment, my daughter has 2 friends over and they are decorating a cake for Book Week at school this week.  Now this has been a challenge, as I have only very basic knowledge in this department and we had to find black icing, as the theme is All things to do with the Universe.  In the end it wasn't hard to find, and we are using cake pops for planets.

Oh Boy, the noise!!

So here is a peaceful card.  This is my first foray into the Clearly Besotted Challenge - a palette of my favourite colours.  Love the variety of butterflies in this set 

It's a little bit hard to see the pale pink stamped butterflies and they haven't shown up well in the close up.  

What you need

Cardstock - PTI white;  SU Pear Pizzazz

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Happy Everything, Butterfly Wishes

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black;  SU Regal Rose, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink; Memento Rose Bud

Dies - Clearly Besotted Butterfly Wishes

SU gems

Case This Sketch #40

Just dropping in with a quick card tonight - when I say quick it really means unexpected but the diecut took forever to get right.  At the risk of boring people with our ongoing orthodontic saga, my daughter had her braces tightened yesterday and all teeth now connected.  It caused her alot of grief overnight and as we can't allow school to give the pain relief that would work, she had to come home at lunchtime.  So that gave me a bit of crafting (and Pinterest) time.

Always one of my favourite sketch challenges and inspired by a card from Maureen Merritt, colour-wise, this is my entry.  It reminds me of SU Urban Garden DSP, one of my all time favourites.  

What you need

Cardstock - PTI white;  SU Bashful Blue, Kiwi Kiss, Night of Navy

Stamps - Cas-ual Fridays Woot Woot

Ink - SU Old Olive

Die - Memory Box Dancing Tulips