Great News and A Special 1st Birthday!

Hi there bloggers, well haven't I just been so excited to share some news with you!!  Following the excellent response and comments I received for my "Christmas Snow Globe" post as part of the Drunken Stampers Whiteout" Challenge I am please to announce that they have extended an invitation to me to join them as one of their Design Team Members. Of course I said YES!! Whooopeeee!!!  Thanks very much ladies, I am so stoked to be joining such a talented team (make sure you stop by their blogs also).

So, here I am...  My first DT creation and what better time to be joining them than on their very first Birthday!  Happy Birthday Drunken Stampers!! In order to get into the swing of things for its very first Birthday, this weeks theme is all things "Birthday".  I took up the gauntlet and after meters of tape and a multitude of chipboard and paper I came up with a fun and perfectly themed gift/goodies box: Dah da!

This was a really fun project and I think it will come in handy for various special occasions by housing and presenting many goodies with flair. Of course you can make the box however high you like but because I wanted it to enclose a bottle of wine or liqueur I needed to ensure that it was tall enough to encompass all I wanted it to enclose.   

I hope this encourages you to put your thinking caps on, try something a little different and to have some fun while you're at it by joining us here at Drunken Stampers.  Perhaps get some girlfriends together while you make your creations over some good conversation and a nice bottle of wine (we are the Drunken Stampers after all).  But just make sure you submit your creations by 11:59 pm PST (Pacific Standard Time) each Friday.  The more the merrier so hop along and have some fun. We hope to see you there.  Make sure you also check back here often to see more Drunken Stamper creations.  See you again soon. :-)

Tash Daly


Other sites featuring this project: http://www.passionatelyartistic.com

What's Had Me So Busy?

Hi there bloggers....I thought I would give you a sneak peek into what has had me so busy this past week.  Any guesses??

Well this is all I can tell you and show you right now...but all will be revealed tomorrow, so make sure you come back to see what it is!  Till then, happy blogging and thanks for stopping by. 

Tash :-)

An Experiment In Wonderland

Hi there bloggers. I am still working on some cards for several challenges which I can show you, however, in the meantime, I thought I would share with you a little experiment.  I recently wanted to do an Alice in Wonderland themed card.  I was really looking to achieve a look which included the characters in the latest movie.  

After a search for stamps bearing the image of the "Mad Hatter" and "Cheshire Cat". I settled for the Mad Hatter from the Greeting Farm's "Alice in Wonderland" stamp set and tried to colour him so that he would look like the Mad Hatter from the latest Movie.  I then just googled a picture of the Cheshire Cat and proceeded to draft my own picture of him.  Because I wanted to use both images with shrinky dinks skrink plastic, I then proceeded to place the images under a sheet of shrinky dinks plastic and traced the images using a fine line pen.  I then proceeded to colour the images with colouring in pencils before cutting them out and shrinking them.  

Although I decided that in the end I did not want to use them for my project (and actually abandoned the project all together) I thought I would at least share the images with you and perhaps I will use them elsewhere. I can't say that I was all together happy with the end result.  I suppose that the Cheshire Cat is ok considering I had to try and draw him myself, but not quite right.   

As much as I tried to adapt the mad hatter it did not really work with this image.  I was happy to notice this week that Pink Cat Studio is currently previewing an "Alice In Wonderland" release that will work quite nicely for me in my future projects.  Go over and take a look at their range...Melissa has some wonderful images.  Thanks Melissa I can hardly wait for the new release.

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.