Birthday Mojo

Hi there,

I was a bit ambivalent about this one when I finished it last night - but it is growing on me. I must admit I didn't find this sketch the easiest to work with - some how it just wasn't comfortable. Perhaps thats why I had to take a couple of liberties with the sketch to make it work for me.

My aim was to make a birthday card for an old friend who is reaching a significant milestone birthday – no, I’m not going to mention which one. I decided to try and use this weeks Mojo Monday sketch (or may 'be I should say last weeks given that its now the following Monday for us here in AUS).

I went for subtle girly colours – Close to Cocoa and Regal Rose and used Loves Me DSP (retired back in 2008). To give some impact I rock and rolled the large Eastern Blooms flower, and the matching smaller one, first in Regal Rose then Cocoa, then embossed them to give some shine.
A bit of distressing, cuttlebug, ribbon and some assorted rhinestones and that finishes it off.

Recipe
Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Warmest Regards
Card Stock: Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
Ink: Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, Versamark
Accessories: Loves Me DSP, Clear embossing powder, Heat gun, Dimensionals, Scallop edge punch, Mat pack and piercer, Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon, Fire Rhinestone, Kaiser rhinestones, snail adhesive, sanding block, distressing tool, Swiss dots cuttlebug folder

Kristina Werner Colour Challenge # 42

Hi there,

had an extra day at home this week as my little munchkin was sick so in between cuddles with him I worked on this card. I figured it had to either go the baby way or flower way, and in the end I went with flowers. I started by playing with scraps of the colours, which are lovely, see the box below.



Through a punched hole on one scrap I could see the DSP flowers below, through it - so I decided to try that as part of the design.



In the end the card came together with minimal stamping and lots of punching, and of course there was some embossing and I used crystal effects to make the centres of the little flowers and shine up the little layered ones under the buttons (and attach the buttons at the same time).

You can see the other great entries in Kristina's colour challenge here.

Recipe:
Stamps: Paisley, Lots of Thoughts
Card Stock: More Mustard, Really Rust, Whisper White, Old Olive
Ink: Old Olive, (Old Olive, More Mustard, Really Rust markers), Versamark
Accessories: Crimper, Silver Hodgepodge, Old Olive brads, Wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, narrow White grosgrain ribbon, Old Olive DSP, Crystal effects, Clear embossing powder, Heat gun, Earth Elements buttons, 5-petal flower punch, Spring bouquet punch, Old Olive textured flower, mat pack and piercer

Hoppy Birthday

Hi there,

Nope that is not a spelling mistake in the post title read further and all will be explained. We had a combined birthday party recently for my son and daughter, she turned four and he turned one. At some point over the last year Ellie , my little Miss 4 decided she wanted a frog for her birthday cake, so being an obedient Mum I made a frog cake.



The cake inspired a frog themed card for Alex, my now Mr 1, possible because I was able to borrow Unfrogettable from my good friend and very talented stamper Sam, ta Sam.

I stamped the frog, using Black Stazon on watercolour paper, then coloured him, using Green Galore and Gable Green markers and an aquapainter to spread the ink, then I cut him out so I could sit him on top of the mushroom. A little crystal effects on his eyes and he was done. To colour the chipboard number one, I pressed it into my real red ink pad and went around the edges with the red marker. Then I covered it with crystal effects. The rest was pretty straight forward but I think the overall result was quite good.

Oh by the way, the stamp in the set is Hoppy Birthday, but in deference to my husband who thinks that is a bit lame I changed it on the card to Happy Birthday, using my Real Red marker.

Recipe:
Stamps: Unfrogettable, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Card Stock: Green Galore, Real Red, watercolour paper
Ink: Green Galore, Real Red, Gable Green, Black Stazon
Accessories: Certainly Celery DSP, Crystal effects, Bella chipboard number, Dimensionals, Snail adhesive, Aquapainter, Green Galore brads

Summer time

Hi there,

this week Makeesha has an inspiration challenge - the idea being to use the theme and colours in the photo to inspire your card. The photo, to me, just said summer days, and the colours were such typical Aussie summer colours, bright and bleached by the sun at the same time. Since I liked the Mojo Monday 73 sketch so much this week I decided to use that again. Just click the MM73 link to see the sketch or scroll down to my previous blog entry. Anyway here is the inspiration pic.



I just got the Spring Break papers last week and when I looked through the pack there was this lovely flowery Hawaii shirt pattern in Soft Sky, that just said summer, beach, surf board to me. So thats what happened.



I used the ute from Loads of Love and drew a freehand surf board to go in the back, then cut that out from some So Saffron DSP and sponged and coloured some of it in with Rose Red. The colour palette ended up being Whisper white, Taken with Teal, Soft Sky, So Saffron with a few touches of Rose Red. Since the theme was summer I thought the Happy Holidays from Rivetting was a good match. I can just imagine driving off in that ute - OK may'be 10 years ago. These days the back would be full of travel cots and nappies not surf boards. Some crystal effects, assorted brads and ribbon - I love that Teal velvety ribbon - its so lucious to touch (sadly retired though) finish it off.


The inside is finished off simply with some stamped flowers that match the DSP (from Polka Dots and Petals and Eastern Blooms). Sorry the photos are a bit dull - still overcast here.

Recipe:
Stamps: Loads of love, Rivetting, Polka Dots and Petals, Eastern Blooms
Card Stock: Taken with Teal, So Saffron, Soft Sky, Whisper White
Ink: Taken with Teal, So Saffron, Rose Red, Soft Sky
Accessories: Crystal effects (on surf board, car windows and soft sky circle under rhinestone), Dimensionals, Snail adhesive, So Saffron brads, Ice Rhinestone, Teal ribbon from Flirty pack, Apricot Appeal narrow grosgrain ribbon - but this so looks like So Saffron, Soft Sky double stitched ribbon, 1 3/8 , 1 1/4 and 1/4 circle punches, Spiral punch, So Saffron DSP, clear Sakura glaze pen to outline the little cut out flowers.

Masculine Mojo

Hi there,

I really liked the sketch that Julee put up for Mojo Monday 73 this week. Here's the sketch.


Aside from the sketch my starting point was my choice of colours which were inspired by a t-shirt of my son. When I got out my colour wheel, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive and Black were the closest match to his t-shirt stripes, it seemed somewhat improbable a combination but I decided to give it a try. This is how it turned out...

I am quite pleased with the result actually. The only thing that doesn't come out clearly in the photo (overcast day here today) is that I used a clear glaze pen to go over the lighter bits of the tree leaves and trunk so you get a bit of a reflective sheen in the right light. I used the Forest branches cuttlebug folder on the top to complement the Old Olive DSP panel on the bottom, oh and the Happy Birthday tag was made by using the Terrifics Tag set and punching out a selected section using the word window punch. Finally to get the image I coloured in the tree with markers blending them a bit with a blender pen before stamping, after I stamped the image I went over it with an aquapainter to get a more blurry effect.

If I have time I will edit this later to add a pic of whatever I do to the inside - just haven't got there yet - and as the baby needs to go down for his nap soon and the computer is in his room I'm running out time. Not to mention Mr Linky closing.

I actually have another Mojo 73 card but I won't get that posted for a few hours at least (or worst case senario tommorrow) and might miss the cut off to please come back and check it out.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Terrific Tags
Card Stock: Tempting Turquise, Old Olive, Basic Black, Confetti White, Whisper White
Ink: Mellow Moss, Old Olive, Always Articoke, Chocolate Chip and Going Gray markers for the tree, Basic Black
Accessories: Pewter hodgepodge, Black Brads, Twill tape (19 mm), narrow Turquoise grosgrain ribbon, cuttlebug Forest branches folder, dimensionals, mat pack and piercing tool, snail adhesive

Kristina Werner Colour Challenge # 41

Hi there,

well it has been a few busy days and a very busy morning (first the food shopping then putting the baby to bed for his nap and once he was a sleep taking Miss 4 out to the playground to meet up with our playgroup). Finally I'm home, everyone's had lunch and I can try and get this posted before Kristina's Mr Linky closes. Here is her inspiration picture.




Anyway when I saw Kristina inspiration photo I decided to do something that would reflect the dresses and that evolved into ...do a dress. It came together pretty much as I had imagined in my head and I'm reasonably happy with it - it could be tweaked to be better but I'm not quite sure how. If anyone has any suggestions let me know - please :)

Here is a close up of the top cuttlebug panel that I outlined with white gel pen - I was very happy with how this bit turned out.

Lastly a pic of the inside
A card little girls might like - certainly my four year old did.

Recipe:
Stamps: Looks like Spring
Card stock: Ruby Red, Basic Black, Whisper White and Basic Gray
Ink: Basic Black, Ruby Red
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Floral screen folder, Silver hodgepodge, white gel pen, Dimensionals (to lift up the ends of the white pleats in the skirt), Snail adhesive, White, narrow grosgrain ribbon, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch, Scallop edge punch, Black sakura glaze (aqualip) pen

Inkspiration Challenge #4 - Thanks Mum

Hi there,

well there has been a little gap in transmission as we had a very busy weekend with a birthday party for my munchkins, more about that in a later post. Despite the chaos I did manage to eventually get a card made for Makeesha's latest colour challenge. These were the yummy and very girly colours she chose (no way I could figure out how to turn these into a blokey card !).




I wanted the central item to be a flower in the two gorgeous pink shades and decided to make a card that had a window cut out of the front with the flower peeping through from the inside, but because it is only a little card (10 x10 cm) I also thought there wasn't enough space to have the flower and write a message so I made the card a trifold. So, firstly you open it up to see the flower and sentiment on the cuttlebugged background, then you open that up to where you can write the message. The three photos below show the three different stages.








I embossed (again - I told you I just love embossing - and then highlighted all the images with the white gel pen. However the inside flaps were just wheeled with ink not embossed. I used the now retired Mixed Bouquet stamps to make the central flower (embossed and glittered). In its first version, on the Sage base, I used the accompanying Bouquet wheel but found the pattern was too big and loose to suit such a petite card and dug this one (Butterflies and Blossoms) out of my stash.

Some special thanks

Go to my good friend Sam who kindly let me use her circle nesties ( I so seriously need to get some of these...oh well eventually). I was pretty happy with how it turned out, not a bad effort for someone with a head cold and a house overflowing with kids and grandparents - OK that's a bit of an exaggeration - only two kids and my Mum is great she gets straight into looking after them and me - thanks Mum this one is for you.

Recipe:
Stamps: Mixed Bouquet, Butterflies and Blossoms wheel
Card Stock: Sage Shadow, Whisper White
Ink: Sage Shadow, Rose Red, Regal Rose
Accessories: Heat gun, Versamark, Heat and Stick powder, Clear embossing powder, Dazzling Diamonds, Circle Fire Rhinestone, Dimensionals, Cuttlebug, Swiss dots folder, Snail adhesive, White gel pen, Distressing tool from Cutter kit, Circle nestabilities, Word window punch

For a very sad occasion

Hi there,

recently some friends of our lost their little boy to leukaemia. I wanted to make condolence card for them. But since it was for the loss of a child I didn't want it very stark and grim. It did after all need to reflect that it was in memory of a vibrant little boy. I used the Jersey Shore DSP as the colour starting point (the blue/orange combo probably has to be my favourite for boys). Having said that I tried Bashful Blue and Brilliant Blue with highlights of Pumpkin Pie just recently (see Post of 4th Feb 2009) and that came out really well too.

Anyway for this card I borrowed some Brilliant Blue textured card stock ( hi Sam - ta :) to give the plain background an elegant feel, then used a horizontal strip of the DSP (laid over some Pumpkin cardstock) across the card. The helicopter was paper pieced together, using a basic sketch I made using a drawing program (with inspiration from clip art images). It was almost impossible to find a helicopter stamp at short notice. Crystal effects give the rotors and cockpit window some shine. I balanced the helicopter with 5 brads on the LHS. His starlight wish was to have a helicopter ride (which he did get) and the brads symbolize his age.

Recipe:
Stamps: In the Stars
Card stock: Brilliant Blue textured, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Brilliant Blue
Accessories: 2 way glue pen (to temporarily adhere the master image to the cardstock so I could cut out the shapes), Crystal effects, Antique silver diamond brads. Distressing tool from Cutter kit, Word window punch, Dimensionals, atyou Spica clear glitter pen (for the little blue star), Snail adhesive

Valentine Mojo Monday 72

Hi there,

well inspiration seized me again, and I found myself refining ideas to go with the new sketch last Tuesday. Given all that mental input I figured I had better put some time into actually DOING the card that evening once both munchkins were in bed. So they went to bed out came my boxes. My aim was a Valentines card for my hubby, so I wanted something that was masculine, elegant and rich but subtle and I had to figure out an alternative to the scallops. Took me an overnight sleep on it to think of the little ribbon tags but I think they work well with the card sketch as alternative. Speaking of the card sketch, here it is (oh and I turned this one on its side too):


There's a couple of firsts for the card - my first spotlight card - I do like the effect and my first time using River Rock - I used the Ginger Blossom DSP as the colour inspiration and I think it works great. Well enough of babble, here's the card...


And a close up of the crystal effects on the little spotlighted hearts (I did CE on the "with love heart" too).


Finally the inside was finished off with a River Rock panel, rolled with the Swirly J. wheel and stamped once with "With Love" .


Recipe:
Stamps: A Little Bit of Happiness, Yummy, Swirly J. wheel
Card stock: Ruby Red, River Rock, Watercolour Paper
Ink: Ruby Red, River Rock
Accessories: Aquapainter, Dimensionals, 1 3/8", 1 1/4", 1" , 1/2" and 1/4" circle punches, Pewter brads, mat pack and piercing tool, River rock double stitched ribbon, Ginger Blossom DSP, Crystal Effects, Sponges

Makeesha's Sketch Challenge #4

Hi there,

well after a blog deprived day on Monday (I started a new job and hubby was home looking after the kids) he said it was a "breeze" - but then he didn't have to do any washing or cook dinner when he got home either - hmmmmm.

Anyway Makeesha put up her new sketch challenge on Sunday and I plunged straight in - staying up a bit too late trying to get it finished. I decided to steer away from flowers for a change and turn the sketch on its side and make a birthday card for a boy.

Here's the sketch:

I went straight to my trusty boy colours, Brilliant Blue and Pumpkin Pie, but then decided to lighten it a bit by adding in Bashful Blue as the base, rolled in Brilliant Blue - came up well I reckon. I had fun trying something new - using DSP to paper piece the By Land truck together and I added a little bit of Going Gray in the drivers window to shade it then overlaid it with some acetate. I got to use my new Cropodile to set the eyelets, and dug some blue staples out of my stash to fix the Pumpkin ribbon in place. See what you think....


Card Recipe:
Stamps:By Land, Birthday Whimsy, Rough Texture J.wheel
Card stock: Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Confetti White, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Cutter kit, Cropodile, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie and Bordering Blue eyelets, Pumpkin Pie striped ribbon, Dimensionals, Jersey Shore DSP, Acetate, Going Gray marker, Aquapainter, Tag punch, Reflex blue staples