Childs Birthday Card

This card was inspired by a sketch on the Stamping 411 blog. I have a little boy's birthday party to go to soon. :-)

Keep it Simple Card

Another lovely sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping. I have a couple iof friends with birthdays coming up, and these will be very useful.

Mojo Monday Card

I love the Mojo Monday sketches. I haven't managed to get any cardmaking time for a while, but when I knew I had cards to make this week, I looked immediately on this site and found the current sketch.

Clean and Simple

It's been a very very very long time since I posted anything, and it's about time I did. I have been busy crafting though - I've been really enjoying making cards for people. I made these two last night from a sketch I got on the Clean and Simple blog, one of my favourite challenge sites. I love starting with a sketch, it takes so much thinking time out of my projects.

For both these cards I used Stampin Up products: Lap of Luxury papers, Concord Crush ribbon, ink and Cardstock, the Big Shot, butterflies embosslits die, and the word window.

Cheeky Giggle-Puss

I created a page this week for the Stampin Sisters in Christ challenge, and I absolutely love it. The challenge was to use something new: a technique, embellishment, colour combo etc. Well, I tried all sorts of new things on my page and I am so glad I did.

The paper I used is from the CM Fabulous Designer Prints range - the design is very helpful on one side for giving you layout ideas. It's the first time I've used this range. I drew on the swirls up the right hand side of the page using the new Doodling Templates and Double tipped grey pen. The grey and pink is also a new colour combo for me... it seems a little girlier than my usual pages, but I was colour matching Emma;s clothes, and the colours work.

Just Add Fussy Cutting

I loved making these wedding cards recently. One was for my sister in law's wedding, and the second for a friend who needed a wedding card also. I made them both at the same time and the idea is a total CASE from a design I found on the internet. I love the Bliss set of stamps, and I love the whole effect of the butterflies. The butterflies were the fussy cutting for this challenge at Just Add Ink.

A Card for a Child

The Stampin Sisters in Christ blog this week has one of my favourite passages of Scripture as an inspiration. Here is my card for a child, which I made during the week for a birthday party that Matthew and Emma went to. I took inspiration from the wrapping paper. I used paper from the Cheerful power palette, and the Creative Cuts system tool with the balloon shape on the LOVE template. Actually I think it's meant to be a petal, but it makes a lovely balloon!

My Kind of Sketch

I love the Clean and Simple blog page. Not only do I get great sketch layouts each week for very versatile designs, I get to look at the variety of ways people have used the same sketch. It is truly awe-inspiring what creativity some people have!! I love perusing other's blogs; I get so many new ideas.

For this card I have used elements of the Delight Power palette, sadly now on the "While Stocks Last" list. However, if you love this colour range, have a look at the brand new Fabulous set - the colours are very similar.

Ingredients: Creative Memories Delight paper buttons, Delight paper ribbon, Delight milestones album kit, Foam Squares, SU's word window and sentiment from the Pocket Silhouettes set stamped in Amethyst.

I love Punchcraft!

I have really been enjoying making the Creative Memories Girlfriends, and using them to dress up cards. This little recipe card was one I made after Christmas in order to pass on a popular Christmas salad.

The challenge at Pals Paper Arts this week is punchcraft.

These are the CM punches I used to make Oprah: the circle punch, tag maker, scallop circle maker, sweetheart maker, friendship punch, heart punch, and stardust maker.

Combined Challenges

This is the first time I have combined so many challenges into one. I am quite pleased with the result. I used the sketch from Diva Coffee Break Designs, plus I added stitching for the Creative Belli Blog, also paper piecing for the Stampin Sisters in Christ challenge, and spots for the One Stop Craft challenge. The stitching was quite a challenge: this is the fist time I have stitched onto a card, and feeling a bit lazy about getting the machine out, I poked the holes using a paper piercer then added the stitches by hand. It took a little while, and might have been better to get the sewing machine out!!!

Ingredients: Chocolate Chip cardstock, Bella Rose DSP, Kiwi Kiss cardstock, Chocolate Chip DSP, and a favourite stamp of my own design.

Just Add Ink Challenge

Just Add Ink's challenge this week is to create a bag or a box, and this was a beautiful little bag that Helen showed us at my party a few weeks back. I made a little folded paper bag to go between two pieces of cardstock cut with the Top Note die, and there are jelly beans inside.

Ingredients: Tea Party DSP, Pink Pirouette cardstock, the Top Note die and the Butterflies die.

A Popular Disguise

This is a wonderful costume passed down from the cousins, and Matthew loves it. I made a page to show off the lovely photos of Oscar, George and Matthew being Dash Incredible.

Ingredients: Creative Memories Cheerful paper, orange and bacl cardstock, black sassy ABC, corner rounder.

Slide

The slide at Caroline Bay is one of Matthew's favourite play areas. Here's a page spread I recently completed showing off some fun he had on it in the summer.

Ingredients: the Creative Memories Cheerful papers and ribbon, and the Creative Cuts tool.

Butterflies again!

Yes, the butterflies are getting a bit of a thrashing at present. In fact almost all my cards at the moment feature either the Butterflies or the Top Note die... I am loving my Big Shot!!

I discovered the "Less is More" blog last night when I was perusing people's lovely work. I love the way one blog leads you to another and before you know it you've visited a dozen new sites and enjoyed them all. Anyway, this site is definitely along my lines of card making, and the current sketch is lovely - so simple and elegant... here is my submission for this week.

Ingredients: Elegant Soiree DSP, Very Vanilla cardstock, Baja Breeze cardstock, and the Butterflies die with the Big Shot. Some nights it's nice to take a break from stamping; no mess!

Clean and Simple Butterflies

I just loved Harriet's butterflies on the Clean and Simple blog this week - and I had to try it for myself. So, I got the sizes a little wrong and my butterflies were a little too HUGE for the card, but it worked ok in the end by rotating the background. Thanks so much for this beautiful and versatile sketch - I just loved using it and I know I will again!

The ingredients for this cards are all Stampin Up: Elegant Soiree DSP, Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla cardstock, the Butterflies die with the Big Shot, and the Word Window for the sentiment.

ABC Christmas Card

Another Christmas Card! This time on ABC Christmas, a sketch was posted. I enjoyed using the sketch since it featured a circle, and gave me the perfect excuse to use my Madonna and Child stamp. This is one of my own creations, so I love using it because it is original.

I used the DSP from the Elegant Soiree pack, and the co-ordinating cardstock colours: Basic Grey, Crumb Cake and Baja Breeze. I used Basic Grey ink to stamp the image and then pieced paper to "colour" it in.

Just Add Ink Colour Combination

Lovely SU party at Ann's last night (thanks, Helen) where we made these gorgeous cards. I love the colour combination! Concord Crush has been on my wishlist for a while.

Anyway, the challenge at Just Add Ink this week is a colour combo, and for the first time EVER, I have all the colours, so I knew I just had to enter. Here is my entry, based on the ideas Helen gave us last night.

The colours are Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Old Olive and Crumb Cake. The stamp set is "Pocket Silhouettes", which I use a lot. The tools are Creative Memories: scallop punch, friendship maker, CCS ovals, and circle maker. All except for the Big Shot which is my newest gift to myself, with the top note die. I tend to use at least one piece of DSP on my cards, so this one, put together purely from cardstock, is a bit plain for me, but it will be easy to exchange the background for a piece of Cottage Wall DSP.

Emma's Happy Place

I thought I had blogged this layout, but I can't find it - so here we are (possibly) again! I love this page, mainly because of the subject matter I suppose. Emma is watching Hi-5, sitting in her favourite chair, and snuggling with Edwina... all her favourite things!

I used the absolutely gorgeous Hummingbird Papers and embellishments, which I adore. I think they are so pretty and feminine, but also a bit "vintage" looking. And I don't do vintage very well, so I love it when I can get away with letting the papers all do it for me!

Mainly Music Page

Time for another scrapbook page! I haven't written any new posts for a while, and it's been a long time since I showed you all what I've been working on... so it's about time!

I made this page with photos taken at the Life Church Mainly Music sessions last winter. Matthew, Emma and I go to these every Monday, and we all love them. Here you can see Matthew enjoying Ann's buzzy bee rhyme about the bees in the hive. He's trying to copy what she does with her hands.

The carpet at Life Church is a vivid red - not easy to scrapbook - but CM's cranberry cardstock co-ordinated perfectly, and I used papers from the Cheerful power palette to go with the bright, kiddy theme.

I made the bees using my circle punch and punched vellum for the wings with the sweetheart maker.

Just Add Love

This is the box I made for Just Add Ink's challenge this week. I followed the directions from a magazine, but they can also be found here.

I used the CM Valentine Additions for the gorgeous "love" paper, and matching Cranberry cardstock. It's for fudge, which I made last night. A flavour of my own concoction called "love is in the air" which involves mini marshmallows and strawberry flavouring. Yum! Unfortunately it's not fully set. But still tastes good!!!

Love is in the Air

This is the card I have made for my other half. It's filled with "Love tokens" on the inside, perforated so that he can tear them off.

It is for One Stop Craft Challenge this week.

To create it, I used cranberry cardstock, the CM Valentine Additions, and the "Love" template to cut out the letters. It matches the box of fudge I made him too. Yum!

My first ATC!

I have been looking at ATCs for a while, and have been wanting to try making them. What I enjoyed the most about making this one is that it was SO QUICK! From whoa to go, it took me 15 minutes. And it was so much fun... I knew what I wanted to try adn I just tried it, without worrying to much about whether it looked "right" or not.

This little ATC is for this week's One Stop Craft Challenge.

ABC Christmas

The challenge for ABC Christmas this week is to make your card black and white. Plus you have to use the little digi freebie they have posted on their site. It's very cute! I enjoyed being forced out of my confort zone and using something new - so thank you ABC!

Plus I tried something else new too - I have been wanting to try making a tri-shutter card for ages, and I found this tutorial online. It was easy to follow and the measurements worked very well. Thanks!

The cardstock and Designer Prints are all Creative Memories. I made the scalloped edge around the main image by punching a scallop circle and cutting it into pizza segments, then glueing them around the outside of the back. The sentiment stamp is a local Montarga favourite.

JAI Inspiration challenge

Just Add Ink's challenge this week was to be inspired by a very pretty picture of a Sunflower. I loved the bright fresh colours, but have so little in the way of brights, that I decided to go with the theme of flowers instead. So here is my floral card - Whisper White cardstock, Cottage Garden DSP, and the Scallop flower is the wonderful Rich Razzleberry. I tied a ribbon on the card! Yay! This is the very first time! (Shhh!)

I used a sketch from a magazine I borrowed form the library.

Chocolate Chip Box and Bow

This was so much fun! I used a guide in a Paper crafting magazine that I borrowed from the library to teach me how to make these cute (and surprisingly sturdy) origami boxes plus the bow ontop. Actually, the measurements for the bow were just ridiculous (240mm x 150mm??), and the instructions were undecipherable, so I went online and found a tutorial here. Great! Thank you Kim.

I am entering my "bowed" creation into Pals Paper Arts challenge this week. I think their rules are any project - I'm not sure if it has to be a card. I hope not. Anyway, the box is for fudge, which is something I have been perfecting recently, and I have to say - my oh my - after the third batch, it's tasting pretty good.

Ingredients for the project: Chocolate Chip DSP and Chocolate Chip cardstock. Both Stampin Up.

Birthday Bird

I used the sketch from Peachy Keen Stamps this week to design this little square card for a friend of Mum's whose birthday is this weekend.

The papers are from SU's Cottage Garden pack, the punches are CM's double circle punch and SU's XL Bird punch. A cute and simple card, it was very quick to make.

Card for a Male

Here's a card I made last night for a lovely friend who starts a new job soon. He's renovating his house, hence the strange looking picture - yes that is a house in the back of the truck!

This is for One Stop Craft Challenge this week.

Baja Breeze Thank you card

Last night I looked up a few challenges and rolled them into one. This card is for Just Add Ink's Monochrome challenge and also Clean and Simple stamping's sketch. Unfortunately I didn't have the specified blues for Diva Coffee Break design's colour challegne, so this is my closest: I have used Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy and Very Vanilla. The cute stamp is from the Pocket Silhouettes set and is one of my favourites.

New Beginnings

The theme at One Stop Craft Challenge this week is "New Beginnings". I'm still on a Christmas kick, and decided that babies tie in well with new beginnings, so I used my lovely Mary and Jesus stamp. I used papers from the Kaisercraft "Dear Santa" set and also the flourish stamp from teh same set to add a bit of fanciness to Mary's garment. I love the effect of paper piecing with this stamp.

I am also entering this card into the ABC Christmas challenge this week. I am determined to keep up with them this year, so "A is for Anything" seemed an easy one to do.

Tea Party

More of Nancy O'Dell's lovely Hummingbird set! This time I scrapbooked an afternoon tea

that we held for Mum and Dad on their 4oth wedding anniversary. It was a fab day. I think the papers complement this event really well. The setting was absolutely fantastic - we went to Sweethearts at Berryfields in Christchurch - it was a gorgeous garden on the edge of town, almost in amongst the raspberry canes and apple trees. Fabulous!

Emma's Baptism

I am finally uploading some pages I completed at the end of last year. This is a layout that I did for Emma's baptism at the end of October. The photos were taken by lovely Ian - they capture the event so beautifully, and he is just magic wtih his camera. The papers and ribbons and die cuts and lettering is all part of Nancy O'Dell's beautiful "Hummingbird" line. I adore this set. I love the colours and the patterns and the wee hummingbirds which appear right through the range. They are just delightful.

Still loving my Christmas Cards!

I am determined to get ahead with Christmas cards this year, so I went along to Artfull Crafts when they had their Christmas crafts sale. I have lots of lovely Christmassy papers and stamps - and I'm all set up now to do the ABC Christmas challenges all year. Well, that's my intention, anyway!

I had fun last night with two sketch challenges. This is the first one, for the Mojo Monday sketch. I'm particularly proud of it, because I used a stamp I designed and had made for myself. I used flourishes from the Kaisercraft Dear Santa collection to add a bit of fanciness. The cardstock and ink are Stampin Up's Not Quite Navy and Baja Breeze. The DSP is from their Urban Garden pack, sadly now retired.

The second sketch is from the Stamping 411 site. I used the Dear Santa papers and mini ink pads. The Christmas tree stamp is an Inkadinkado one I have had for a while - I like the ornate style very much.