Hello Bloom

Welcome everyone to Winter in Melbourne :-) Actually today is a balmy 20 degrees! I don't quite know what happened to Winter - perhaps it has decided its time to move on? There will be no complaints from me if that is the case :-) Bring on Spring any day!!
And its also time for another sketch from The Paper Craft Crew. If it seems a long time between posts - you are right! An extra week was allowed for with the Convention in the US during the first week so I hope this finds you itching to go :-)

So without any further delay, here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

And no, its not a square card - I wanted to use a standard envelope and so it was a good opportunity to see how well this sketch would suit a standard card size. So what do you think? I think it works well :-)

For the colours inspiration I used this pretty page from the Moonlight DSP stack - perfectly sized for cards too :-) The card base is Pool Party and I coloured the flower from the Hostess Bloom With Hope with the Coastal Cabana Blendabilities and the Daffodil Delight ones for the butterfly. These pens are so fun to use and I found if you follow the Artist's lines on the stamped image it is quite quick and easy too - not that I am a colouring expert by any means, having only started colouring in the last few weeks!! - So what  I mean is, if I can make this look ok, anyone can :-)

Card stock:Pool Party, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Moonlight DSP Stack

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Coastal Cabana and Daffodil Delight Blendabilitiies Markers

Stamps: Bloom with Hope (Hostess), Papillon Potpourri, Four You

Accessories: Big Shot, Square Framelits, 7/8" Scallop Punch (under butterfly), Banner Punch, Dimensionals, Blue Sequins (Non SU)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out all the great cards from our Design Team this week at The Paper Craft Crew this week and I look forward to seeing what you create with this sketch too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Hawthorn Footy for the Paper Players

Good afternoon and welcome to Winter in Melbourne! The biggest sport here this time of year is Australian Rules Football - or Footy for short. And the Grand Final of the National competition is held each September so we are nearing the end of the Season and the games are becoming serious for some. I am not a fan myself….whilst I moved to Australia from New Zealand many years ago I have never really got into it…still preferring Rugby Union and the mighty All Blacks :-)

But I do have plenty of friends who are and this card is for one of them - a Hawthorn fan he is :-)
And this card also fits the brief for this week's fun challenge at the Paper Players!

Such a great challenge and their Design Team have come up with great samples to inspire you so I do hope you can go and check them out.

Here is my card:

The wonderful Work of Art stamp is used to create the stripes that are seen on the Footy Jerseys - not great colours to wear I reckon but hey, I didn't choose them LOL!! ( and I have to admit, these look mighty like the real colours...)

I've used my Oval punch to create the ball and stepped it up with some faux stitching using a marker. And I decided to colour the Basic Rhinestones on the stars - with my new Skin toned Blendabilities markers - who would of thought, brown rhinestones!!

Card stock: Chocolate Chip, Hello Honey, Whisper White

Inks: Hello Honey, Chocolate Chip, Skin Tone Assortment Blendabilites markers, Black Stampin Write marker

Stamps: Work of Art, Sassy Salutations

Accessories: Oval Punch, Small star punch (retired) Basic Rhinestones

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today  - and I promise the next card will have not one sign of footy or sport about it LOL :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Good World

Yesterday we woke to the sad news that a plane had been shot down over eastern Ukraine killing all 298 passengers on board. There are 28 Australians who will never come home to their families. And 100 of the passengers were Delegates of an HIV Conference being held in Melbourne this weekend including Conference Speakers.

So as a mark of respect to all the families around the world that have lost loved ones this week and to remind ourselves that there is more good in the world than evil I made this card:

And it is a CASE of a lovely card by Penny Tokens that she entered in the Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge last week. I loved how she used the world stamp from The Open Sea and so while I kept the basics of the card, I changed the greeting onto Squares and used just one circle behind the world.

The fun arrow is also topped with one of the long retired Rhinestone brads with the legs removed - such and instant bling effect :-)

Card stock: Midnight Muse, Real Red, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Maritime

Ink: Midnight Muse, Real Red

Stamps: The Open Sea, Perfect Pennants

Accessories: Big Shot, Square and Circle Framelits, Rhinestone Brads ( Retired), Stitched Satin Ribbon (Retired)

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today - and I hope wherever you are in the world today you may have a wonderfully good day and remember to hug those you love.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Young Case

Good afternoon! We have snow here in Victoria today- it only happens once every two years or so  - and although it is not snowing in the City (phew!) there is definitely a feeling of it in the air. Clear skies and CHILLY!!
 And I have quite a few cards to make in a hurry - some suitable for a present for a teenager and others that are more varied as another present….
So for inspiration I turned to our current SU Catalogue - it is full of ideas and I have taken Page 109 with the fabulous Just Sayin stamp set that comes with matching Framelits (hooray!!) to look at today and set about CASEing (Case And Share Everything) two of the three cards on the page. I love the clean look of these cards and I think they are teenage ish but would love to know what you think :-)

So this is almost the same as the version in the Catalogue - can you spot the differences? I'll give you a clue : There are 3

Yes, that's right!  A different embossing folder, 2 little rhinestones on the Greeting that I coloured with a permanent marker. And Dimensionals :-) 

Card stock: Smoky Slate, Strawberry Slush, Hello Honey, Whisper White, Vellum

Designer Series Paper: Moonlight Stack

Ink: Daffodil delight ( Marker), Black permanent marker for Rhinestones

Accessories: Big Shot, Chevron EF, Word Bubble Framelits, Itty Bitty Banner Framelits, 3 Flower Punch (Retired), Basic Rhinestones

Thanks to all the framelits sets this was a quick and easy card - so I had time to make one more :-) Also Cased from the Catalogue….

Again I changed basically what I didn't have…mainly the Washi tape! And the little arrow is actually cut in half so it appears longer than it really is :-)

Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Strawberry Slush, Gold Glimmer

Designer Series Paper: Moonlight Stack, Specialty Gold Vellum

Ink: Blackberry Bliss

Stamps: Just Sayin'

Accessories: Big Shot, Word Bubbles Framelits, Hearts A Flutter Framelits, Label Card Framelits, Polka Dots EF, 3 Heart punch (Retired) Retro Fresh Washi tape

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Something about babies

Welcome to another chilly afternoon in Melbourne! We have had one of our few and far between clear and sunny winter days - so much nicer than the grey days we never get used to!
And so it is time for another sketch from The Paper Craft Crew - such a wide array of lovely cards by our Design Team this week I do hope you can take some time to check them all out :-)

Here is the sketch for this week:

I decided I might get ready for the upcoming baby fever of Spring :-) So many friends and now family too expecting family additions it is a really special time :-)

Using the new Lullaby DSP and the Something for Baby stamp set  - this time without the matching framelits. I decided to keep it clean with lots of white - or whitish  - spaces :-)

And in keeping with the sketch, I used the Circle Framelits instead to cut out the main image of the pram. And the cute little greeting comes from Baby We've Grown and is cut out with the fabulous Starburst Framelits. To make the NEW stand out a little I coloured it with one of the lightest of the Skin Tone Blendabilities markers -aren't these so handy and useful! With a little added bling, some Crisp Cantaloupe twine to cover the paper join and a fun little bow and it is all ready to send!

Card stock: Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe

Designer Series Paper: Lullaby

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe

Stamps: Baby We've Grown, Something For Baby

Accessories: Big Shot, Circle and Starbursts Framelits, Polka Dots EF, Banner Punch, Crisp Cantaloupe twine, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have time to go and check out the other great Design Team member cards this week at The Paper Craft Crew.  And I hope you feel inspired to join us :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Work of Pink

We are getting back into some sort of routine with Sally now that she is allowed 2x 15 mins walks a day. She is now excited enough to "dance" waiting for her morning one and after a good rest (good for both of us!) she is more than ready for the second. Today I had to tell her off for "pulling " on the lead. Which is a good sign I guess, but also shows she may have been pandered too a little too much of late and is forgetting who is the Boss :-)  Yes, I know silly me, SHE is the boss! But I still like to have arms left when I get home!!

So while she was resting, I was able to make a card using one of my new favourite sets: Work of Art - kind of a stand alone Gorgeous Grunge I think…and we all know how much I love the Grunge :-)

I love how this set has greetings as well as all the different shaped images. Makes it so versatile and in this case an almost one layered card - and no Big Shot required, WOW!!

Card stock: Whisper White, Strawberry Slush

Inks: Encore Gold, Strawberry Slush, Pink Pirouette, Blackberry Bliss

Stamps: Work of Art

Accessories: Gold Sequins, Wisteria Wonder Bakers Twine (retired) dimensionals

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Thank you eclectic

Welcome to another grey day in Melbourne - well, not grey all day, thankfully there was the moment of sunshine in between the freezing showers :-) At one point we had the lounge doors open to let the sun in and young Sally was able to sun herself whilst my good friend Bernie and I worked on some cards. And yes….work we did!! I had been asked to make a card to say "thank you" to our local Priest who is leaving us for even colder pastures….on behalf of a group of the Parish. So we had a couple of ideas and set to work. We decided to make two cards for the ladies to choose between. I think I know which one they will choose tomorrow….can you guess?

Here is card one:

It features some current and one long retired stamp set - Good Neighbors - which Bernie used to make a pretty good looking Church….and some slivers of Gold Foil card stock for the steeple :-)

To colour the background I used a water colour wash and then added the suitcases and fun On Film  framelit once it was dry. 

Card stock: Whisper White, Island Indigo, Gold Foil, Smoky Slate, Basic Black

Designer Series Paper: I Am Me

Inks: Island Indigo, Gumball Geen (retired), Smoky Slate, Real Red

Stamps: All Around the World, Starburst Sayings, Good Neighbors ( Retired )

Accessories: Big Shot, On Film Framelits, Starburst Framelits, Paint brush, Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine, Basic Rhinestones

Now while this card explains the circumstances….I don't expect it will be the one the Ladies will choose…..Maybe Card 2 will be more popular?

This card is a CASE of Debbie Currier and you can see her creation here. I used the same colours and reversed the Sun image from the bottom of the card to the top… changed the greeting and added some bling. I hope the ladies will like this one :-) So lovely of Bernie to pop by and visit and bring this lovely set too!

Card stock: Whisper White, Lost Lagoon

Inks: Meadow Moss, Tangelo Twist, Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon

Stamps: Kinda Eclectic, Sassy Salutstions

Accessories: Basic Rhinestones, dimensionals

So which is your choice of card? I think they will choose card 2 :-)

In the meantime, a little update on Sally….she had a check up yesterday and all is going well. She is allowed to jump into the car occasionally so we can go for some long drives at least - as not to walk currently more than 15 mins twice a day - though she is keen to do more.  And it seems the Specialist may have found the cause of her original Right leg lameness - not hip or back as once thought - but her knee cap is dislocating frequently. And of course she gives little to no indication of pain….makes it so hard for the Vets to diagnose her problems but it seems we might have the answer to her lameness of the past four months. Time will tell if surgery needed and what might be done so one day at a time for now. But much better news than we were previously expecting :-)

EDITED TO ADD: Ok, I was totally wrong - the ladies chose Card 1 !!!!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

  

More Sea Street

There is no doubt about it - Winter has arrived with a bang! After months of being told "such warm weather for Autumn ( and winter) it is a grey, cold and very damp day outside today - and 50cm of snow forecast for the nearest ski slopes over the next couple of days. So it seemed a good time to make a summery card - as we need more summer obviously :-)

And this week's sketch is such a fun one at The Paper Craft Crew  it was perfect to get out my new favourite stamp set for boys…"Sea Street"! The Design Team have come up with some great ideas to inspire you again this week so I do hope you have a couple of minutes to have a look too.

So here is the sketch:

And here is my card :-)

So fun to create the frames with the Frameilits :-)

For the card base I used some Real Red card stock and added the lovely waves from the Maritime DSP to the dark blue layer. And yes, both the circle and Square framelits came in handy to create this week's shapes :-)

Card stock: Real Red, Midnight Muse (retired), Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Maritime

Inks: Midnight Muse, Coastal Cabana, Real Red

Stamps: Sea Street, A Dozen Thoughts

Accessories: Real Red Grosgrain ribbon, Big Shot, Circle and Square Frameits, Label Card Framelits, Decorative Dots EF, Hexagon Punch, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I do hope you can check out all the fabulous Design Team cards at The Paper Craft Crew this week and hopefully you too will be inspired to enter!

Happy stamping until next time :-)

Jan

Sea Street Shaker

Welcome to a chilly Sunday evening in Melbourne. A real Four seasons in One day kind of day - just like we are famous for having :-) And so when the rain started it was the perfect time to join in some challenges and make a card - now that we have a little more time with Sally the dog needing less intensive nursing :-)

Today's card is for TWO challenges :  to "Just Add a shaker" at Just Add Ink and the fabulous sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

Here is the card:

Doesn't the DSP just look like little waves?

In retrospect the window could've been a little higher….hence I felt the need to add the Twine to the top of the card.

The window is filled with a little mixture of Dazzling Diamonds glitter and some silver and blue sequins. And the little fish are stamped to replicate one of the layers in the sketch.

Card stock: Real Red, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Maritime

Inks: Island Indigo, Coastal Cabana, Real Red

Stamps: Sea Street, Happiest Birthday (Retired)

Accessories: Circle Framelits, Hexagon punch, Acetate sheet, Coastal Cabana Twine, Dazzling Diamonds, Silver and blue sequins (Non-SU)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and I hope you have time to check out the two challenge blogs for inspiration as they have some amazing cards for you : Just Add Ink and Freshly Made Sketches.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Special Delivery

This last week has been one of those weeks….with Sally still needing a lot of care and attention - not to mention waking at all hours still  - and the sad news of our beloved Meg's passing back home in New Zealand... So it was wonderful to hear from our favourite neighbours that their first born son arrived safe and all well on Tuesday. Little Benjamin :-) And so the news called for a special card of course!!

 I had in mind to make a Cascading card and found a good video with measurements to use an A4 sheet of card stock here.

And here is the card:

A fun card to make and give :-)

It uses two baby sets that I have quickly grown to love in the new Catalogue: Baby We've Grown and Something For Baby. Also Blendabilities markers were used to colour both images on the front panel and the gorgeous Lullaby DSP is used throughout the card layers.

The cute washing line posts were stamped with the Hardwood background stamp and cut and added to the back of the card - there is also a white layer on one of the back panels to write the message on :-)

Mini clothes pegs hold up the wash items on the Hemp Twine line.

Card stop: Coastal Cabana, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Lullaby

Inks: Crushed Curry, Coastal Cabana, Lost Lagoon, Sahara Sand, also Coastal Cabana and Daffodil Delight Blendabilities markers

Stamps: Baby We've Grown, Something For Baby, Hardwood

Accessories: Big Shot, Starburst, Banner and Baby's First Framelits, Hemp Twine, Miniature clothes pegs (Non SU) and Blue sequins (non SU)

Such a fun card to celebrate the arrival of a special new family member :-) 

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

100th Sketch for The Paper Craft Crew

Welcome to a mild Winter's Wednesday in Melbourne :-) So nice to see the sun shine after all the recent rain!
And it's a special week at the Paper Craft Crew with the 100th Sketch Challenge! I hope you can go and check out all the lovely cards by the Design Team and also check out the Blog Candy being offered too :-)

So here is sketch 100 :

And here is my card - to celebrate the life of a special family member who loved the colour pink and butterflies.

For the card base I used Whisper White card stock and next a layer of the bright and happy Strawberry Slush. I Embossed the sun image from Kinda Eclectic with gold embossing powder and then stamped the leaves image with Mossy Meadow - stamped off once each time. 

Both the butterflies from the set fit with punches which makes them so easy to cut out and I used the Scalloped Tag Topper punch to make the Tag, stamping the dots image with Encore Gold ink before adding the butterfly :-)

Card stock: Whisper White, Strawberry Slush

Inks: Versamark, Mossy Meadow, Strawberry Slush, Encore Gold

Stamps: Kinda Eclectic, Bloom With Hope ( Hostess)

Accessories: Paper Doilies, Gold Embossing Powder, Tag Topper Punch, Basic Pearls

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today and I hope you enjoy seeing all the Design Team cards and the Bog Candy for this week's 100th Sketch at the Paper Craft Crew this week.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan