The Christmas card

Hello, hello, hello there,

I hope everyone had a very happy Christmas. We had a lovely time visiting my parents, the kids got to go to the beach a couple of times, Mum (me) got to go to the movies for the first time in three years! and do some shopping. I bought myself a new border punch that I have been wanting to get my hands on (Apron Lace from Fyskars). It's nice to be home though and aside from some decluttering (every surface in our house seems to attract some) and preparing for a BBQ tonight I couldn't resist posting. Actually I have a few things I'd like to post but given that Christmas is rapidly disappearing I thought I had better post my "official" Christmas card for 2009.

I played around with Tree Trimmings, for a few weeks trying to find a layout that I liked. I'd seen some great cards but wanted to come up with something that was easy to reproduce but looked good and was mostly mine in design. I can't remember what triggered it but I was seized by an idea and then was able to make up a prototype very quickly - hooray!! In fact I prepped up the pieces for 20+ cards and took them with me on holiday in November and then just assembled two cards a day till I was done.

I wanted to do a traditional colour version and a non traditional version, the blue/olive mix was mostly DSP inspired, the Ski Slope DSP available then used those together as did the (long retired) Holiday Thyme DSP I used on those cards. Enough blather - the design pretty simple, the base of the card is stamped with stars/snowflakes, over that is a Old Olive panel scalloped down one edge. Then the image panel goes over that. DSP at the bottom, the greeting and a bauble raised on dimensionals. A strip of ribbon goes over to blend the join.

Thanks for visiting through this first year of blogging - its been a great fun and I love to hear your comments.

Have a Happy New Year,

Kim

Recipe: Trad colours (All SU unless otherwise noted)

Stamps: Sleigh Full of Toys (R), Tree Trimming, Sincere Salutations

Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, White Craft

Accessories: Ski Slope DSP (R), Scallop Edge punch, wide Real Red and Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Silver brad, dimensionals, Double sided tape, SNAIL adhesive

Recipe: Non-Trad colours (All SU unless otherwise noted)

Stamps: Sleigh Full of Toys (R), Tree Trimmings, Sincere Salutations

Cardstock:Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Bashful Blue, Old Olive

Accessories: Holiday Thyme DSP (R), Scalloped Edge punch, 1" Double stitched Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon, narrow Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, silver brad, dimensionals, double sided tape, SNAIL adhesive

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

An Ornate Trimming

Hi there,

Well once again its time for me to load my entry for Makeesha weekly challenge – this week a sketch. Here’s the sketch.

I’m still on my Christmas card crusade so the type of card was easy to decide on, and this is what I came up with.

I’ve been doing a lot of fairly white cards lately so I decided to try something a bit richer and more ornate. With that in mind I started off with a Real Red base, on the top I added a new Cuttlebug folder I aquired recently- Victoria in Baja, which gives a nice ornatish effect that ties in with the broad stripy Ski Slope DSP (I really love this DSP - for some reason Christmas ones are often so dark and muted but this has lovely bright patterns). I also decided to crack open some new Spellbinder dies - Labels 9 which I thought would suit the feel. So I cut out a large red label 9 shape then the next size down in white (making sure it was just big enough to fit my Tree Trimming ornament on). To get the white border on the red layer I left the die on and traced around the inside edge with a white gel pen. I was quite happy with the effect. I simply stamped the largest ornament in real red on white and then trimmed it out, mounting it on dimensionals in the label 9 panel. Before doing that I did add the ribbon and white brad. The sentiment I stamped then punched out with the curly label punch, just doodled around the edges with a red marker and then slipped the end under the ribbon. Three little red pearls (timely aquired only just on Sat) finished off the card. My overall feeling about it is that I do like it (90%)but I feel like something isn't quite there but I haven't been able to figure out what that factor is. So it will just have to stay as is.

Thanks for visiting.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Tree Trimmings, Short and Sweet

Cardstock: Real Red, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Real Red ink pad and marker

Accessories: Ski Slope DSP, Spellbinders Labels 9, Curly Label punch, Cuttlebug Victoria folder, Wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Narrow Real Red grosgrain ribbon, White gel pen, Red Half Pearls (Kaiser), Small white brad (Bo Bunny), dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Christmas trees in threes

Hi all,

yep I'm still trying to turn all my many ;) challenges every week into Christmas cards. So when Makeesha put up her weekly challenge, an inspiration one this week, see the pic below my first aim was to extract a Christmas card from it. Strangely enough I came up with an idea pretty quickly but couldn't find the time to actually put idea to paper till yesterday.

And here is what I came up with.

I wanted to use the primary colours in the picture and get some horizontal element in. So I rifled through my DSP stash and managed to find dotty Tempting Turqouise, Old Olive and Basic Grey DSP enough for one tree each. To provide a horizontal but neutral background I ran some Whisper White through my Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug folder. I just used my paper cutter to cut the trees to size and then punched out trunks using the slot punch. The trees were mounted on the Cuttlebug layer, the larger Olive one slightly overlapping the two smaller ones. below the trees I added some Old Olive ribbon, a white button latte button was added as a feature in the middle. I was sorely tempted to add more stuff - rhinestones, brads etc to the trees but I decided it would clash with the button so just added some Dazzling Diamond using the 2 way glue pen. The tree panel was layered onto some Old Olive and then onto a white card base. I stamped the mixed Christmas sentiment all the way round to form a border.

No inside as usual for a Christmas card

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe:All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Crazy for Christmas (R)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Grey
Ink: Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes folder, Petals and Paisley DSP (R), Basic Grey DSP, Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon, Button Latte, glue dots, 2-way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

A Very Merry Pink Christmas

Hi all,

I’m trying my hardest to convert any challenge to a Christmas card at the moment as a way of making a dint in my Christmas cards this year. But when I saw the colour challenge that Makeesha had set this week I had my doubts about whether I could do it. Here’s her colour pick.

However I saw that Cindy Major had put together a really nice Christmas card with the colours so I thought why not! And this was the result.

The card design was very heavily influenced by a card Nichole Heady made recently (see the first one in this post); I also used her snowdrift templates for my DSP at the bottom. Although I had to extend the templates both width wise and height wise. That suggested to me that the standard US card size is smaller than the one we use here in Oz which is something I hadn’t realized. So I started with a Pretty in Pink base and I stamped this with stars from Holiday Spirit (R) using white craft ink. Over this I added two contoured strips of DSP along the bottom, first a remnant piece from Berry Bliss (R), then over that some Basic Gray DSP from the Hostess pack in our catalogue this year. The edges of the DSP have been roughed up with the distressing tool and I also added dazzling diamonds along the top edges using two way glue. You can't see the sparkle in the picture unfortunately. The central image is the Christmas tree from Holiday Spirit, I first inked up the stamp in versamark then in Basic Gray, stamped it onto Pretty in Pink and sprinkled over clear embossing powder. It came out darker than I expected – closer to Black actually. But then since black is one of the challenge colours that was fine with me. Next I tried something I have been wanting to do for a while – try out my Prismacolour pencils – well the white anyway. I used the white pencil to colour all the pink areas within the tree. To finish off the tree I added some pink rhinestones as baubles for the tree. Under the tree I added a little strip of black checked gingham ribbon. Then matted the pink layer onto gray and white. First rounding all the corners. The final element is the sentiment added in the bottom left, also with a couple of rhinestones. I quite like how it turned out.

Thanks for visiting.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Holiday Spirit (R), Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Basic Gray
Ink: White craft, Versamark, Basic Gray, Basic Black
Accessories: Berry Bliss DSP (R), Basic Gray DSP, Word Window punch, Corner Rounder punch, Clear embossing powder, Prismacolour pencils, Black checked gingham ribbon, pink rhinestones (Kaiser), Distressing tool from Cutter Kit, Two way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

Breezy Birthday and Sleigh Time

Hi there,

time again for Makeesha challenge this week a sketch. Here it is:

I liked the sketch as soon as I saw it , but for some reason struggled to come up with an idea. Late Sunday, like 10:30 Pm (this is really late for me) I was still browsing through my stamp file (this was a fantastic idea I picked up several years ago from Tracey Harp, basically when you get a new set, you photocopy the label stickers before you mount them on the stamps and you put that set image in a little folder. That way you can always see everything you have just by flicking through the folder). Ok back to the cards, anyway thankfully courtesy of inspiration from flicking through my stamp file and just plain lots of mulling on it I did some up with some ideas. In the end I couldn't help myself I had to make two if them.

The first one "Breezy Birthday" is intended for my Dad for his birthday (today - its going to be a little late). Here is it.

A close up of the dragonfly

I used the Parisian Breeze DSP as inspiration for the colours. I did the image panel first - stamping the tips of the grass from Inspired by nature across the panel. I decided to wanted to have a dragonfly up on the top LHS as per sketch. So I dug out my Winged Things set (retired) and I wanted it to be sort of translucent. So first I stamped it in Brown Satzon on acetate. Then I tried colouring in his wings with Copics - but it was just too faint. I then stamped a second dragonfly on vellum, and coloured the vellum in with two copics (BG13 and BG18), cut out the wings from the vellum, and adhered them to the acetate dragonfly (also trimmed out). Now I got the effect I wanted - his wings were a lovely bluey colour but still translucent. To finish it off I added a silver brad through the head and stuck it on the the grass panel with two glue dots. The sentiment (from Upsy Daisy) was added at the bottom, accented with a little Baja circle. Below the image panel I added a strip of Kraft taffeta that had been knotted three times - it was that or hemp and I decided to go with this in the end. The broad stripes from the Parisian Breeze DSP seemed to complement the image so that what I went for as the main matte on the card. The inside is just finished off very simply with a bit more of the DSP.

Now for card two - this time a christmas card. I realised in the process of thinking this one up that all my Christmas sets are retired bar Tree Trimmings - sorry about that but retired sets are part of my stash and so far have stayed with me.

Obviously a red and white theme, (real red and Whisper White) I think my initial thought was that I wanted to white emboss the sleigh onto red, so all the layering worked out from there. The white main layer is stamped with stars also from the same set. The embossed central panel was set off with the holiday sentiment from Rivetting (also retired but so very useful) at the top and with a Button Latte button threaded with red embroidery cotton and backed by a little looped white grosgrain ribbon. I added the scalloped border at the bottom to represent the element Keesh had at the bottom of the sketch.

Hope you liked them and thanks for visiting.

Kim

I am running really late with getting dinner ready so I am going to have to leave this without adding the recipes, any questions please just ask.

Pink, plum and burgundy

Hi there,

The guideline for the second Creatalicious challenge was to use pink or plum with burgundy and green oh and some ribbon or lace. I did include the green but I also changed it to pink and plum and here is the result.

And here's a side view to show you the layering and a glimpse of the inside.

To balance out using several colours I started by using a white base. I stamped out several flowers in a mix of Pink Pirouette, Pale and Perfect Plum and Bravo Burgundy, mostly onto Whisper White but I did stamp two Perfect Plum ink onto Pale Plum cardstock flowers. Then I punched or trimmed them out and layered them up in a sort of descending cascade from right to left. I decided on using Kiwi Kiss as the green as it seemed to lift and brighten the whole colour combo – so I stamped three leaves and fitted those into the flower cascade. The ribbon component is a bow of Kiwi Kiss satin added onto the largest layered flower. To finish off the flowers I added some retired buttons (Pretty in Pink and Burgundy) and some pale pink brads. To balance out the flower cascade I’ve added the sentiment in the top LHS corner, framing it with a little paper piercing.

I finished off the inside with a little simple stamping and masking of flowers.

Hope you like it – I must admit I thought it was an unusual colour combo but I am quite happy with how it turned out. It’s certainly making me think about using my Plums and Burgundy inks a bit more frequently.

Thanks for visiting.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Petal Pizzazz, Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pale Plum
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Bravo Burgundy, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Scallop circle punch, Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon, Soft Subtle and Riche Regal buttons (R), Bo Bunny pale pink brads, Mat pack and piercing tool, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

An Aussie Christmas

Hey ho,

welcome back it's time for my card for Makeesha weekly challenge, it was an inspiration challenge this week, a very white and red, bright festive lunch from the looks of it. Here's the pic.

I decided to go with the festive idea anyway and make a Christmas card, fairly straight forward but I was quite happy with the result. Here it is.

The idea of using a red flower as/on a Christmas bauble sprang to my mind when I was mulling over the image (while as usual putting my Mr 1.5+ to bed). So I got out my Eastern Blooms (I so love the big flower in this set, but its been a while since I've used it - too much new rubber - Petals Pizzazz for example, just finished a card with that set last night too - so stay posted for when I can find the time to get it online - sorry I digress). Ok I stamped the big flower in Real Red on Whisper White, then using my circle cutter system (Martha Stewart) there were a few curses as what I was cutting slipped and I had to start again but eventually I managed to get my flower cut out and a larger circle border in Real Red. I layered my flower layer onto the red base, add one end of the word window punch with a hole for hanging and there you have a bauble! To finish it off I did add another flower trimmed out over the top and mounted on dimensionals, and just added a subtle hint of glitter on the little white spots in the middle. The bauble was hung from some of the lovely extra wide striped RRH ribbon in our current mini using some silver cord. I fished around in my white scraps and found a large piece of white cuttlebuged with the snowflakes folder and decided that it gave a subtle but nice texture to the background and in keeping with the festive spirit. Finally right down the bottom I just stamped the sentiment simply below the snow flakes.

Sorry no inside today - I usual keep most of the space free in Christmas cards so I can write a fair bit in there.

Hope you like it. Thanks for visiting and drop by soon as I should have more things to post in the near future.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Eastern Blooms. Short and SweetCardstock: Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: Extra wide striped Riding Hood Red ribbon, silver cord (R), Cuttlebug snowflakes folder, 2 way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Hoot hoot hooray

Hi there,

this week Makeesha Byl's challenge was colour based. Here is her combo.

For some reason when I was mulling over ideas of what to do, while putting my Mr 1.5 to bed, and my mind turned to owls. The colour combo was a good match - yes but why owls? and then I remembered that I had gone for a walk around the annual flower festival we have here in Canberra (Floriade), apparently its the biggest in the Southern hemisphere, and it is quite spectacular. Anyway at the little shopping village at the festival I went past a little shop selling an iron worked owl (very cute) with his wings out spread and sitting on top of a 1.5 M long pole. It would have been just lovely to have him flying over the garden at home, and it was my DH's birthday so I seriously contemplated buying him - except I would have had to carry him all the way back to work!! a tad awkward to say the least. However if he is still there next time we all go for a visit he might just come home with us. So that's where the idea for the owl came from and here he is.

I've seen lots of cute animals made from punched shapes and I'm sure I could have found an owl out on the web but I decided to have a go myself first and see how I went - and I reckon he turned out quite well. I used the large oval to make his head, then nipped a dip out using my 5 petal punch, his eyes are made layering 3/4, 1/2 and 1/4 inch punched circles. His ears are two of the petals from the 5 petal punched flower. His body is another large oval, covered with overlapping "feathers" made using the small oval punch each cut in half and then the bottom edge sponged with chocolate chip ink. For his wings I used the large oval punch to punch one oval from Good Morning Sunshine DSP then cut it in half. Then using the small oval punch I punched out three ovals, one was cut exactly in half the other two roughly at one third of the way - so that I had a small, bigger and biggest "feather" for each wing. His feet are just three of the petals cut from one of the Spring Bouquet flower punch. He is perched on branch (narrow twill tape pressed into my choc chip ink pad), and leaves were just cut freehand from old olive DSP stock. The clouds were created by sponging some Not Quite Navy ink carefully over the top of a punched out scallop circle. Finally I pinched the "Hoot Hoot Hooray" from the SU set " Owl Together Now" and added "its your birthday" for the sentiment . I just used my mini alphabet set to stamp it out on scraps of Very Vanilla using the challenge colours and there you have it.

Recipe:
sorry about this but have an overabundance of sick chlidren this week so I don't have the time or hands to type this in, any questions just ask.

Thanks for visiting.

Kim