Snooze You Lose!

Hi there bloggers, this week I had a couple of cards on the go for some of my challenges which were near completion but not quite there.  Anyway, my sister and her family decided to descend on me (not that I mind, I love seeing them) and time got away from me with all the family activities we had planned to entertain the kids.  Hence I missed out on a couple of challenges, but never the less here is my card that I had planned to submit for Tickled Pink Stamps Challenge #2 (missed), Sketchy Saturday & Southern Girls "All Loved Up Challenge.  In  any case, I am still in time to submit this card to the later so here is a copy of the sketch:

    

And as usual bloggers, here is my card: 

Now the idea was to combine Tickled Pinks "I {heart} You" challenge with this sketch...  It didn't quite turn out the way I had pictured it in my mind. I didn't want to hide too much of that Marah Johnson paper (you can't really see it but I has this really metallic red foil finish over black - awesome).  I am still not sure whether I am happy with this or not.  But I thought I would submit it anyway.

(My apologies again, I am not the best photographer)

Papers: Kaisercrafts "After Five" Collection, Marah Johnson (by Creative Imaginations)

Stamps: Tickled Pink Stamps "Lil Lolita - Willow", Kaisercraft's "After Five" stamp set, Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Collection (Candelabra) 

Copics: E50, E51, E53, C1, C3, C5, C7, R02, R20, R22, R27, R29, G02, G21, G94

Miscellaneous Items include: Kaiser rhinestones in black, Kaiser sentiment die cut "After Five" collection 6 x 6 paper pad, paper doily obtained from Tickled Pink, "Love" charm from tickled pink, Bazzil cardstock in black, black ribbon and black and white ribbon from my stash, Magnolia DooHickey - Berry Lace?

My second card was intended to be submitted into the following challenges: Kraftin Kimmie's Fancy Florals Challenge, Crazy for Challenges' "Thank You" challenge & Friday Sketchers Challenge #137 (missed):

Once again, I am not sure whether I managed to pull this card off or whether it is just too busy.  I found the sketch difficult to work with and whilst I really, really wanted to use those papers, I think maybe I could have used some more subdued papers mingled in amongst it.  I am just not sure.  Any suggestions?  (Please feel free to provide me with some constructive criticism or suggestions, I am still learning and really appreciate the feed back).

Papers: TBA
Stamps: Kraftin Kimmie "Goldilocks", TBA
Copics: E50, E51, E53, E31, E33, E35, E37, R02, R20, Y11, Y06, BG10, BG15, YG02, RV000, RV02
Miscellaneous Items: Doiley, Lace, Flowers, Bazzil card strock in cream.

Crazy Desk Day

Hi there bloggers, today I stumbled across the site The Stamping Ground where they have a regular segment called "Crazy Desk Wednesday" seeing as my desk is ALWAYS messy, I thought I would join in for the fun of it.  So here is my desk as it currently is:

Hmmm so, what do you think? Messy, no room and child sized.....Wow anyone's dream come true huh....NOT!!!!  Notice the IKEA catalogue on the top of the pile...I just received that (thought I would check out some new craft room furniture!!).  Anyway bloggers I have to go and frantically finish a challenge card which is due today and I had nearly finished it but for my family dropping by to see me over the past two days. Arghhhhhhh!!! See you soon. :-)

Boggled Me!!

Hi there bloggers, well I must say I am a little down today....(as I was last night).  I finally got my car back on the road after being without it since just before Christmas (the car would not start and I had to wait for a booking at the mechanic) only to go to my sisters house for dinner and as I went to go to my car to go home, discovered that some yahoo had decided to smash my rear windshield in!!! Yup!! can you believe it, just for the fun of it. Nothing was stolen, there was no rock or bottle or anything else inside to indicate that maybe something was thrown.  Nope...instead some idiot just decided "hmmmm this looks like a good car to wreck tonight, lets smash the windshield in!!"  Now I am not just talking a little hole here, I am talking walked out to find the WHOLE rear windshield lying in little pieces all over my car!!!  My poor little girl (who is 7) had to drive home with me in the front seat and cried all the way because she was scared of the sound the glass was making as it fell about my car!  I mean really what goes through these people's heads? You really have to wonder...  It has totally got me baffled as to what someone gets out of doing that or why only my car was chosen! (I mean don't get me wrong not that I wish it on anyone and I am glad that it WAS only my car, but it just seems strange).  Anyway, now I can't go anywhere again for a couple of days until I wait for a replacement shield to be ordered in.....  My pocket is dwindling even further now.  I just had a major service and repairs in November, registration, a car crash (fairly minor, but had to have my bonnet replaced, then my battery died and several lights failed great....now this, all in 2 months, terrific!! Oh well I hope this is the end of my bad run...I am starting to wonder whether someone is trying to tell me something.  Anyway, nothing new in the way of cards from me yet bloggers so now that I have got that off my chest I will leave you all.  I pray that all in your life is good for you all..where ever you may be. :-)

You Light Up My Life

Hi bloggers, time to show you another challenge entry card.  Today I manage to combine three challenge requirements into the one care. Don't you just love that!! Yay me!.  Today I am submitting a card to The Greeting Farm's Monday Sketch.  I will also be entering it into Cute Cards Thursday's Challenge who's theme is "Monochromatic" and to Drunken Stampers who's theme is "fuzzy".  I loved the opportunity to work with an image that I have not yet used and have also been itching to use some of the new paper I bought from Kaiser's new "After Five" collection which has a mixture of acetate like printed paper, to flocked papers to just your regular matt papers, really pretty.  They also happen to be all black and white, so perfect really.  I was inspired to make this card in this particular layout because of the Greeting Farm's sketch challenge and felt that it would go nicely.  Let me know what you think.

  

  

Summer Is Here

Hi there bloggers, just thought I would share with you my latest challenge entry which I entered for The Greeting Farm, Club Anya, Saturday Sketch challenge.  Here is the copy of the sketch:

And as usual here is my interpretation.  Now I know most of you are still experiencing snow and cold, but here in OZ we have a heatwave as we are in the middle of our summer.  Therefore I felt like making a summer inspired card.

Isn't she cute!!! I love this stamp.  She is one of the Wild Sprouts" from the Greeting Farm and she is aptly named "Summer".  She is only available in the roll call kit.  I love her!!!

This card also includes papers from DCWV papers from their citrus collection (including co-ordinating cardstock) and some ribbons and flowers from my stash.  The image has been coloured using copic markers. Magnolia's picket fence doohickey has been used for the little fence and the die cut and rubbon used inside the card are from Kaiser's "Seaside" Collection.  Fortunately I only just made the submission deadline by the skin of my teeth!!  As a result we are now onto a new sketch!!!.....C'mon Tash keep up, keep up.

Be There Or Be Square

Hi bloggers, just a quick shout out to advise everyone that one of my favourite stamp companies is having a Valentine Blog Hop on 28th January.  Jump over to Tickled Pink's blog to check out the Ultra Awesome Prize.  I will definitely be there.  Hope you will be there too. 

In the meantime I am busy working away on some last minute challenge creations.  I hope to post some new one's up soon.  Cheers :-)

Doesn't Everyone Celebrate Christmas In July Like This?

Hi there bloggers, back again with yet another challenge entry.  This time it is for All That Scraps Magnolia Blog challenge # 5 themed "Winter Where You Live"  well I don't know about the rest of the world, but for us having lived overseas when I was younger, we still celebrate Christmas in July.  It is the only time we can have a "European" type of Christmas as during December the weather is too hot.  You know the kind where you sing carols around the fire and drink mulled wine or hot buttered rum and eggnog and eat warm Christmas pudding with brandied custard....YUMMMMM!! Anyway, this is my entry:

For this card, I made my own shadow box out of chipboard.  The papers used are from Kaiser's "Tis The Season" collection.  I have also stamped and embossed the papers including the sentiment using various Darkroom Door stamps.  The tree, fireplace, fire, ornaments and Tilda stamp are all from Magnolia and all have been coloured using copic ciao markers before applying Kindy Glitz in "Red and Antique Silver".  I hope you like it.  Ciao for now.

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"

Hi bloggers, today I am ready to show you a challenge entry I have been working on over the past 2 days.  It is for Challenge #49 at Drunken Stampers.  The challenge theme is "whiteout".  The first thing that came to my mind was a  white Christmas.  I know Christmas is now over and everyone (including myself to be honest) is over seeing or doing Christmas cards, however, I could not think of anything more white or more sparkly than a white Christmas snow globe card.  Now I can't take credit for the idea as I saw it a little while ago in "Card Making with Paper Sculpture magazine (ed # 2).  But I think that I have adapted it and played with it enough to make it my own.  So here it is:

I have decided to keep this card for this years Christmas as a very special card for my mum, who has a very elegant theme of white and silver in her formal lounge.  I think she will love it.   

Well that is it for me for this evening/morning as I have been up all night trying to finish this since I have guests arriving tomorrow and I have to go to the airport today to pick up my daughter.  So till next time, take care and have fun crafting.

Welcome Home Little One

Hi bloggers, I am back again with another entry for a challenge.  This time it is for the Greeting Farm's Farm Fresh Friday Sketch which has been prepared by Mercy Kerin.  I took the opportunity to create a card for my daughter who has been away with her father for the past 2 weeks.  This is the sketch that Mercy has set for us:

And as usual, this is my interpretation:

For this card I have used Bazzil cardstock in a cream colour. Paper from Kaisercraf'ts Hippie Girl collection. The stamp is Fluer Anya from TGF (isn't she cute?).  Some lace, ribbon, flowers, key charm and buttons from my stash.  The ticket is a digi that I got from Bizzy Bec's and I stamped the sentiment using a combination of words from Darkroom Door's "All Occassions" set  and TCP Studio's "So Delish" collection stamp set and distressed the ticket using distress inks (antique linen, spun sugar, tumbled glass).  Anya was coloured in using copics colours #E50, E51, E53, E31, E33, E35, BG10, R02, RV000, YG03, C1, Y11.  I made a mask for my little Anya by stamping her image again, cutting it out and covering the coloured stamp, affixing it with a little removable tape.  I then stamped the script (Tim Holtz) over her using distress in in "Tea Dye".  I then, whilst the mask is still on, used my distressing tool to apply distress inks (spun sugar, tumbled glass and shabby shutters) around the image.  I then further distressed the edge with a dauber using shabby shutters.  I then stamped a sheet of vellum with Kaisers "Sheet Music" in white ink before embossing the image with white powder.  I distressed the sides by tearing it to the adequate size. I finished my piece by attaching some pearls in mint green (also from Kaisercrafts) and applying "crystalina" Kindy Glitz to the edges of the paper, the flowers, Anya etc.  It think my little one will love this creation.  Lucky for me she loves anything I make her.

Cat In The Hat

Not THAT cat in the hat but a cat in a hat in any case.  I am back with an entry for another couple of challenges.  I recently made some purchases from Pink Cat Studio and whilst everything was fine with my order, one of the plates I received was the incorrect one.  I emailed the lovely Melissa to advise her of the error so that it could get corrected.  Melissa very kindly and promptly sent me the correct stamp plate but also generously allowed me to keep the also very cute incorrect stamp plate.  I have been sooooo busy over the Christmas period that I had not really had a chance to drop her a line of thanks, which I was so ashamed of.  So yesterday when I was looking at my long list of challenges I figured I would make Melissa a thank you card incorporating not only one of her stamps but some of my challenge criteria's.  As luck would have it one of my challenges is being hosted by Pink Cat Studio and could not be any more fitting.  The challenges that I am entering with the following card are: Friday Sketchers Sketch #136, Sunday with Chrissy Challenge #13 whose theme is "Ribbons" and Crazy4ChallengesC4C69 who had a colour challenge this week based on this picture:

 

The Sketch challenge set by Friday Sketchers was this one:

And here.......is my interpretation!  

Dah Dah!

Ok, so not the best of photo's once again I apologize for my terrible photography skills (or lack there of).  

For this card I used a pearlized cardstock for the base, some lace, ribbon and a "made with love" charm from my stash.  The stamp is of course from Pink Cat Studio (Cat Plate 1) and has been coloured using copic markers, C1, C3, C5, C7, V04, YR02, YG03, RV000, RV02 and RV04.  I also thought to attach a little flower to her hat to add a little more interest.  The "thank u" sentiment is from a stamp set from Friskars which matches their many punches. For the inside of the card I made a heart shape out of chipboard, sprayed it with glue adhesive and sprinkled with pink glitter.  I cut a slightly larger heart shape to mount it on and glittered both edges with Kindy Glitz "Dusty Rose" and "Antique Silver".  I the cut the edge of a doily and crinkled and glues it to the back of the heart shape to keep the colour consistent throughout.  I then used some "Fundamentals" alpha stickers on the heart for the inside sentiment.  That's pretty much it.  

I later added the two little 3D cat paws to the front of the card, but I am still not sure whether I was pleased with the result or whether there was just too much going on.  What do you think? I would really appreciate any feedback.  Thanks.