Baby Tales

Hi there,

Well as the heat is beating down on the house outside I’m tucked inside (with AC thankfully) and a little time to type up my post while its quiet as Mr almost 2 is having his nap and Miss almost 5 is having some quiet time watching kids tv. Just in time to take part in Makeesha’s last challenge for the year. This week it was a sketch, which in general is my favourite. Here’s the sketch.


And of course here is the card – a baby card this week. (It feels like a nice change to be making some other than Xmas cards – now my problem is that I have the cards but haven’t managed to write or post any yet !! Anyone else got the same problem ;)

I got to play with some new stuff again this week, from the new SU summer mini. I decided to go a bit bolder than I normally have for baby cards and use the Tall Tales DSP and the elephant from Animal Stories. Ahh the card is for a boy, which you could probably guess from the use of blue.

I knew I wanted to use the animal pattern on the bottom, but I just had to find the right pattern to go on the top. Finally I went with a Saffron dotty pattern also from Tall Tales on the top. So I started with a Brilliant Blue base then a Saffron layer, the two DSP’s over that, the 1” Choc Chip stitched grosgrain to cover the transition, a Brilliant Blue elephant, also layered on to Brilliant Blue and Saffron. The sentiment was likewise stamped in BBlue and layered onto BBlue and saffron. A BBlue brad was added at the end to accent that. For the two elements that Keesh had on the upper left of the sketch I added two PTI buttons, threading them with thin strips of Saffron cardstock. Finally to finish off the central panel I added a pierced border. (It was very tempting to add more stuff – bling etc but I restrained myself). The inside is just finished off simply to match the front. Given that I was working to the sketch from memory (the computer is in Mr almost 2’s room and I stamp at night when he’s in bed) I think it turned out quite well.

Finally not sure if I will get a post up next week, and since there is going to be an intermission for Christmas I just wanted to say thanks for visiting this year. I love hearing your comments and have really enjoyed meeting new people and the inspiration I’ve gained from all your wonderful work.

So wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Animal Stories, Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Brilliant Blue, So Saffron, Whisper White
Ink: Brilliant Blue
Accessories: Tall Tales DSP, 1” Chocolate Chip stitched grosgrain ribbon, Brilliant Blue brad, Enchanted Evening Papertrey Ink buttons, mat pack and piercing tool, SNAIL adhesive, dimensionals, glue dots.

The Gingerbread Man

Just a quick post,

to see the first Christmas card I made when I got back from hols , using some new “rubber” please go and visit my good friend Sam. I gave her the card, but forgot to photograph it before delivering to the family. But Sam has come to rescue and posted about it. Glad you like it Sam !! You can tell I was out of practice to forget basic blogging procedure.

Kim

Sometimes you're lucky

Hi there all,

Well I’m back on deck after being away for our annual family holiday, the kids loved the beach and playgrounds – its just so much fun to watch them play with the water, learning and experimenting. The other bonus is that they were just plain tuckered out after busy days in the sun and slept well !! I enjoyed it, but I can’t say it was relaxing, may’be that will come when they are older but then again may’be not – still it was great to get away and great to be back.

I didn’t want to miss anymore of Makeesha’s weekly challenges but I a string of nasty headaches and being flat out busy (you know the time of year – daughter’s dance concert, Christmas baking, working, an SU workshop and all that plus the normal shopping cooking (cleaning) of everyday life – whewww. I just couldn’t summon up the energy but as luck would have it I made a birthday card last year for a little girl, but changed my mind and then made another. The main reason being I thought she would be too young at the time to recognise her own name – however this year I think she will. So I had a card (that was still happy with a year one ) and it is a pretty darn good match as one to post for Makeesha challenge. See her inspiration pic below.

Ok here is the card.

I’m a bit rusty on the details but I’ll give it my best go. I started with a Regal Rose base, then a layered of Very Vanilla, I scalloped the bottom of that with the slit punch (I think – the scallop punch had only just been realized in Aus then I didn’t have it yet). I stamped the upper half using Polka Dot and Petals. At the bottom then I added a layer of Certainly Celery, rolled my Scribble wheel over in CC ink, then coloured selected spots in with a white gel pen. To finish off the bottom I added stamped and punched flowers using Spring Bouquet punch , the flowers were fixed in place with Regal Rose and Certainly Celery brads. Up the top I have added the birthday girl’s name, stamped in regal Rose using the big deal alphabet, then overstamped in versamark, added Heat and Stick, heated and then added Dazzling Diamonds fixed in place using dimensionals. The division between top and bottom is covered by some Regal Rose and Certainly Celery ribbon.

Hope you like, thanks for visiting.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless noted otherwise
Stamps: Big Deal alphabet, Polka Dots and Petals (R) , Looks like Spring (R), Scribble J.wheel
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery
Ink: Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Versamark
Accessories: Spring Bouquet punch (R), Slit punch, White gel pen, Heat and stick powder, Dazzling Diamonds, Regal Rose and Certainly Celery brads, Certainly Celery narrow grosgrain ribbon, Regal Rose ribbon ( Flirty Ribbon Originals - I think (R)), dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

Thanks You's

Hi there,

I wanted to show you a couple of cards I have been lucky to receive from some very talented ladies.

First, here's the card I received from Makeesha Byl as a thank you for being a guest designer on her weekly blog challenge in June. Not only did she send this gorgeous card but it was accompanied by some Valet Ribbon Originals and a pack of Button Bouquet. How lucky can a girl get !

Thanks Keesh

Next is this fantastic trifold card that a very dear friend of mine, and very talented stamper too I might add, Sam Post made for my birthday. Don't you just love the butterflies - the details are perfection. Thanks Sam.

Lastly I also wanted to say thanks to a lovely talented UK stamper Kate Lewis who has gifted me several blog awards. I never seem to find time to post them, I can barely squeeze completing a challenge and writing the accompany post in each week. But I did want to say a big "thanks Kate".

(This award asks that you share 5 things your addicted to - so here goes..

1) Stamping

2) Reading sci-fi fantasy - have loved it since I was little. I still re read all my Anne McCafferys - who would want to ride on a dragon and teleport around the world!)

3) Another one I totally agree with Kate on - chocolate. One of my fav's at the moment is an orange/almond dark choc you can buy at ALDI - yummmmm. OK and double coated TimTams are pretty special too

4) My family - hubby and two gorgeous little munchkins and I can't forget our first baby , Ramses a chocolate burmese cat

5) Something to go with the chocolate - a hot cup of Earl Grey tea - love it and even a better a friend to share both with :)

Ahh I'm supposed to pass the award on but all that linking will have to wait as those a forementioned gorgeous munchkins want their brekkie - hmm so do I !

Well thanks for visiting should be back to my usual schedule next week.

Kim

A Bronto sized birthday

Hi there,

I bought a present for my nephew’s first birthday months ago, wrapped it up in some really cute dinosaur patterned wrapping paper but then almost forgot to make his card now that his birthday was only days away!

So using the wrapping paper as inspiration I started out with a Wild Wasabi base (yes its retired but I still have plenty), layered that with Pumpkin Pie and then ran some Whisper White through the Cuttlebug using Tiny Mozaic Texture folder. It has, if you use your imagination, a bit of a reptilian texture. Well if you remember I said the wrapping paper had a dinosaur pattern and I had the perfect stamp to go with it. I stamped my brontosaurus (ahh that what they called them when I was a kid – but admittedly that was quite a while ago) in Pumpkin Pie, rolling the edges in Tangerine Tango. I used my circle nestabilities to cut him out and then to cut a Wasabi mat. I had a vague memory of a recent Mojo Monday sketch being three (circle ?) elements across the card and decided to try and do something like that. So my big bronto went in the middle, I punched out a Pumpkin circle and then a small Wasabi one and added them to the upper left. To the left side of that I stapled a small tab of Wasabi ribbon. The bronto has his head turned and I thought kind of looks like he might be saying happy birthday so I made a sort of speech bubble for him. Finally I added two palm trees on the bottom right. The last thing I did and then mostly undid was added some orange glitter to the bronto. It just looked too stark in this big stripe around the edges - so I kept scratching with my finernail till I had most of it off (orange glitter everwhere -of course). In the end, I hope, it just gave him a bit of a glittery mottled look around his edges. The inside was finished off simply with some more palm trees.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted

Stamps: A Little Birthday Cheer, Whimsical Numbers (R), Prehistoric pals

Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Cuttlebug folder Tiny Mosaic Texture, Circle nestabilities, 1 1/4 and 1 inch circle punch, 1/2 inch circle punch, Striped Wild Wasabi ribbon, Orange superfine glitter, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Coffee and Cake

Hi there,

well for a change this card isn’t for a challenge and isn’t a Christmas card. That’s because I actually made this card for my husbands birthday earlier this year. So with out any more ado here it is. Almost closed..

Almost open - up pops the wiper!

And with a hidden extra message panel.


I started out with two premises. Firstly that I knew my hubbie would like something interactive, and secondly that he really likes his coffee. Fortunately not long before I was going to make the card I saw a tutorial Beate Johns had posted about a wiper card. Think of a car windscreen wiper to give you an idea of the motion. It’s a bit hard to show through just taking pictures of a card (watch the video Beate did) how it works but it’s quite fun. For the basic dimensions and how to put one together (very simple) just get the details from Beate’s tutorial. I knew I wanted to use a Chocolate Chip and Riding Hood Red combo for the card, so for the main panel I started with a Chocolate Chip base, then added a layer of Vanilla , then some striped RRH pattern from the Washington Apple DSP. For the first of the two accent panels (only visible when you “open” up the card), I used the same layering but for the second I went Choc Chip, RRH then a layer of different DSP from the Washington Apple DSP. I used this same DSP pattern to underlie the actual pop up wiper, which has a little birthday cake on it. I loved being able to use my new Choc Chip glitter on the ends of the candles! For the main image panel I used the coffee cup from Pun Fun, kindly lent by my good friend and talented crafter Sam. I stamped that twice, once on a Vanilla panel, then again on some scrap Vanilla. I wanted to create a saucer for the cup, so I masked the coffee cup on the panel. Then using some scrap, which had an oval punched out from it I just sponged Choc Chip ink over till I got the colour depth I was after. I trimmed out the second coffee cup after I had coloured in the bottom part of the pattern, using a Ruby Red marker. The Vanilla panel was layered onto RRH and then Choc Chip. I mounted it up on dimensionals carefully placed at the edges, as, since the card doesn’t have an inside as such, I added a little pull out message panel that tucks in under the coffee cup panel. So you can actually pull it out I made a little handle using the Designer Label punch, a jumbo brass eyelet and some ribbon. To balance out the handle I added brass brads and ribbon tabs to the top and bottom corners on the opposite side of the panel.

I’m pleased to say that my DH was very happy with the end result and so was I.

Thanks for visiting.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless noted otherwise
Stamps: Pun Fun, Party Hearty, Birthday Whimsy (R)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Ruby Red marker
Accessories: Washington Apple DSP, Small oval punch, Designer Label punch, Large Brass brads (Bo Bunny), Brass Jumbo Eyelet, Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain ribbon, Chocolate Chip glitter, sponge, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Three times a flower

Hi there,

the Creatalicious challenge this month was to use only scrap DSP (of which I have an abundance) and to make a flower. Deciding on the DSP, for me at least, was certainly going to heavily influence my cardstock colour choices. But I ended up going with Bella Rose scraps and here is the result.

Finally a sideview, its quite bulky not something you could post easily but good if you can hand deliver!


Which I've got to say I was pretty happy with. So the Bella Rose DSP was one of my starting points, the other dictated the card shape, which ended up being square. Why square? Well I wanted to make a large sort of flower medallion to go in the middle of a decorative square scalloped frame. So starting from the outside in I first used my scallop edge punch to make a decorative punched internal border. This idea I first saw back in May, on Aussie blogs, after it was demonstrated at the 2009 convention. In the middle I wanted to construct my flower, and I decided to have a go at making a fan fold flower. I saw the tutorial on Beate Johns blog, once again watching the video really helps you get the idea of how to make the flower. By measuring the amount of space I had inside my Kiwi Kiss scalloped square I knew I wanted to make my fan fold flower no bigger than 3 inches. This meant starting with a strip of DSP about 1.5 inches wide and 12 inches long, after I had scalloped the edge. (Remember the final flower is twice the width of the starting DSP). Luckily enough I had the perfect scrap to use covered with a tiny rose pattern. I made the flower as per the tutorial and then decided I liked Beate’s example so much I would make another smaller one to overlay the first. I used the reverse of the DSP for this one, a Kiwi pattern that tied back in to the Kiwi scalloped square. To finish off the centre I added a small Pink Pirouette felt flower and a large green (Ice) rhinestone brad. I layered the scalloped Kiwi square/ fan flower onto of some Riding Hood Red to provide some contrast to the large Rose DSP I used over the RHR base of the card. It took some scratching of the head to finally come up with the idea of offsetting the whole flower panel on the card base and then adding a scalloped oval sentiment panel on the bottom RHS to balance it out. Finishing details include piercing of the scallop pattern on the square, adding brads to three corners a little red pearl to the sentiment, some Kiwi satin ribbon across the scalloped square, tied with a hitch (?) knot and finally faux stitching around the outside edge of the card. I used white gel pen to connect the pierced holes, so the effect is pretty subtle but nice.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Oval All
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
Ink: Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Bella Rose DSP, Felt Fusion Too, Ice Rhinestone, Mat Pack and Piercing tool, White Gel Pen, Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon, Scallop edge punch, Scalloped Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Red brads, Red pearl (Kaiser), Tombow multi, SNAIL adhesive