First play with Trees

Good evening! I hope your weekend has started well. I had a good morning and even better afternoon and evening :-) During the morning I took Sally for a walk and also went to do some postal errands. This afternoon I got to make a card with a new set - Festival of Trees ! It comes as part of a bundle with a punch. so many little trees it is a lovely set. I wanted to make a shaker card - all those snow globes I have seen recently in the $2 Shop have inspired me :-) LOL! Just kidding - but I do love a good Shaker card and the new Confetti stars punch makes it so easy :-)

So here is the card:

For the card base I used some Pear Pizazz.  Next I cut the circle from the card using the wonderful Circle Framelits and embossed the rest of the front piece with the On Point EF. I stamped the trees ( including masking) onto the cut out circle from the front. The front Frame is cut from Silver Glimmer paper and is placed over some acetate sheet also cut with the handy circles :-)

To create the shaken snow I used the fabulous confetti Stars punch on all my Silver Glimmer scraps of card I'd kept in the packet   - I knew I'd find a use for them one day :-)

 To hold the stars inside the window I used the Shaker Card adhesive rings. The circle here is bigger than the largest frame so I just cut into the largest  circle and removed the backing tape and then you can create whatever shape you need - here a larger circle - so I used two rings and joined them together  which is easily done. Then I tipped my confetti stars on top of the Trees before lining up the card front and finishing off by placing the Glimmer frame over the top.

Even the greeting is from the same stamp set - I am in love with it already, can't you tell? LOL!  And I  stamped this one and then used the Itty Bitty Banners Frameits to cut it out. I also cut a 1" Pear Pizzazz circle and decided to emboss that too with the On Point EF although its hard to see. And finally, to complete the silver theme - a little Silver Twine to wrap around the top and a little bow.

When I look at redoing this card I will make a coupe of changes - move the frame so it sits more forward than back…and stamp the second tree further back so it doesn't need so much masking :-) What do you think?

Card stock: Pear Pizazz, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer

Inks: Pear pizazz

Stamps: Festival of Trees

Accessories: Big Shot, Circle Framelits, On Point EF, Itty Bitty Banner Framelits, Window Sheet, Mulitpurpose Tombow Glue, Confetti Stars punch, 1" Circle Punch, Silver Twine

And this evening I made a little journey to visit my good friend Katerina - so lovely to see her and the family and have a quackish catch up :-) We could've talked for many more hours I am sure but it had been a long day for both of us. It was so lovely to be able to see some of her Show and Tell - she is a very talented scrap booker! Always beautiful mixes of texture and colour :-) You can see a sample of her work here where she had decorated a gorgeous little paper bag to give me!

 Isn't it gorgeous!! And so is the inside -  a stamp set she managed to find on Ebay that I had been looking for - the retired  (Must Have for dog lovers!) D is for Dog! We have been waiting for this to come up for ages and finally it is here :-) So such a happy package it is! And just in time as will be needing to make a card to thank Sally's surgeon when she goes back for suture removal from her biopsy later this week. 

Here, the bag was plain to start with but Katerina has stamped it with the chevrons from the Work of Art in white . And while I don't recognise these beautiful papers that the banners were made from and  layered so beautifully. I do the butterflies - a retired SU punch and and the Beautiful Wings Dies :-) so beautiful together !!Such a special way to dress up such a wonderful package! Thank you so much Katerina!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Be You (tiful)

Well it's official - Spring fever is here  - the flies have arrived! Always a feature of an Australian summer the much loathed insects are out again in force. They are quite different from the flies in New Zealand that I grew up with. These ones you try to swat away with your hand and they are not scared at all and come straight back to be annoying!

So its time for some protection inside (despite the gorgeous sun! ) and some card making. Today's card also loosely uses the sketch at The Paper Craft Crew this week.

 This is a card I decided I wouldn't use for my Design Team member sample in favour of the Sea Street Shaker card you can see in my earlier post. For this version I decided to drop the multiple scallops in favour of a longer scalloped piece of Silver Glimmer card stock.

So I hope you like my clean version of the sketch :-) I've used one of my favourite new stamp sets  - Flower Patch. I love these new photopolymer stamps! So easy to layer as you can see exactly what you are doing! I used one of the greetings that come with the set - just stamped it before I embossed the white card stock :-)

Card stock: Lost Lagoon, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Card

Designer Series paper: Moonlight Stack

Inks: Strawberry Slush, Lost Lagoon, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizaz

Stamps: Flower Patch

Accessories: Flower Fair Framelits, Basic Rhinestones, Strawberry Slush Twine

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you are having a great week wherever you are in the world :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

CAS Christmas Card

Good afternoon and welcome to a beautiful Spring - like day in Melbourne, Australia. And yes, Winter seems to have vanished - and you'll hear no complaints from me :-)
Today I was looking forward to using my new Bright and Beautiful stars set and saw the CAS challenge this week at SUO Challenges and decided to join in. I do love CAS cards - even though the odd layer and some bling are usually present on all my cards, the CAS style is my favourite to make. So here is the first Christmas card of 2014:

So I kept a pretty simple colour theme - Pool Party, Silver and white :-)

The card base is some Pool Party Card topped with some White card that has been stamped lightly with the dots stamp from gorgeous Grunge using the Silver Encore ink (from SU), Next I heat embossed the stars in Pool Party EP on some Whisper White card and cut them out with the co-ordinating framelits and added in a piece of the beautiful Silver Glimmer paper too :-)

And for the sentiment I cut  the Noel from the Wonderful Wreath framelits and added that using a Glue pen. And last - but never least! - are some silver sequins from the Frosted Sequins assortment also available in the Holiday Catalog.

Card stock: Pool Party, Whisper white, Silver Glimmer

Ink: Versamark, Silver Encore

Stamps: Bright & Beautiful, Gorgeous Grunge

Accessories: Big Shot, Stars Framelits, Pool Party EP, Heat Tool, Wonderful Wreath Framelits,  Frosted Sequin

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I do hope you have time to check out all the cards by the team at SUO challenges this week!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Spring is Early!

Yes, that's right! Here in Australia it is still officially Winter - but with another gorgeous day over 20 degrees Celsius and all the Wattle out to disturb those allergy conscious eyes and noses….it must be Spring already :-) And I for one am not complaining!! (Despite the Sinusitis!) Spring is my favourite Season of them all - for it is full of the hope of a wonderful Summer :-)
But one thing that is not early is the day  - it's Wednesday so that means it is time for another Sketch from the Paper Craft Crew. A few Team members are taking a break this week it seems but there is still plenty of inspiration for you :-). Here is this week's sketch:

I was needing a boy's card so this quite feminine looking sketch initially seemed like it might be tricky but in the end it worked out ok I think :-)

So I changed the oval to a circle to fit the fun little Octopus and decided to make it a Shaker Card too. To do this I used my Circle Framelits to create the frame and then also cut the bottom layers and some acetate too. For the adhesive I used the Shaker Frames and cut through the largest of one of the Frames so I could shape it how I wanted it - and then also used a small adhesive frame and placed them so there were no gaps. Inside the Shaker window is a mixture of Silver and Blue sequins and some Silver Foil card stock stars punched with the Confetti Stars punch. And I replaced the layers of Scallops with some banners punched from the Sea Street DSP and topped this with some Coastal Cabana Twine:-)

Card stock: Real Red, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Maritime

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Midnight Muse (Retired) 

Stamps: Sea Street, Sassy Salutations

Accessories: Big Shot, Circle Framelits, Banner Punch, Shaker Frames, Confetti Stars Border punch, Coastal Cabana Twine, Silver and Blue Sequins (Non-SU)

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I do hope you have time to check out the rest of the cards by the Design Team at The Paper Craft Crew this week and hopefully you will be inspired to join us :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Work of Flower

Good afternoon! I hope your Monday is going well. Today it is a little cooller and there has been the odd shower but nothing too serious. Currently the sun is out - so a typical Four Seasons in One kind of day that Melbourne is famous for :-)
My good friend Katerina came over this morning to collect her stamp set and I thought I'd surprise her with a quick little card :-) I was intrigued by the Colour Challenge at Just Add Ink this week and was still wondering what I might do. These are such lovely colours and would suit flowers of course, but which ones??

Then I remembered Katerina was coming for Work of Art and so I decided that I would use that - as it would add to her surprise:-)  I have seen some cards in the past using this set for flowers but hadn't tried it myself. And I didn't have much time  so decided that Calypso coral would be the petals and then sat down and was quite surprised it came together on the first attempt! So unusual for that to happen but did love that it did!

For this quick card, I used the smaller of the "swish" images of the set and started from the middle to create a circle - I did keep the stamp turning in the same direction and the ink layers have provided a little layering effect all on their own. Next I added the Blackberry Bliss centre stamping a couple of times and finally the Meadow Moss stem and leaf and greeting. Of course, I had to add a little bling and as I had some orange tinged sequins in my stash they seemed perfect :-)

So while a little different than my usual kind of layered card, I did have fun making it and trying something new - I have never been able to draw and this seemed almost in that category! So I couldn't stop there and added a little flower to the inside of the card too :-)

Card stock: Calypso Coral, Whisper White

Inks: Calypso coral, Blackberry Bliss, Meadow Moss

Stamps: Work of Art

Accessories: Non- SU Orange Sequins

And Katerina did like her card - nothing like a little surprise!! We had so much to talk about  - and Show and Tell  - that time flew way too fast as it always does. And before we knew it, it was time to go. 

The boys next door have been busy too - demolishing the 2  1970's style units to make way for a 4 storey Apartment block. Not good to park too near the fence today! they have half demolished the roof and wall - the green horizontal bit is the roof guttering!!

Thanks you so much for stopping by today and I do hope you have to check out the amazing cards by the Design Team at Just Add Ink this week and maybe you too may be inspired to join in the Challenge :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Update on Sally…..and some Moustaches

The last few days have had an unexpected air to them. Sally went in for surgery on Wednesday but it did not turn out as planned. Instead of her knee cap dislocating and moving from side to side as she walked it turned out to be a large mass that was doing the moving. So she's had a biopsy taken and sent off. It was quite a shock - as much for the Surgeon I think as for me. Sally stayed in overnight and came home the next morning, and although no major work was done, she still has a hugely swollen and oozy knee which is a bit of a challenge dressing wise  - even for me the nurse :-) Yet, she is walking quite well on it all considering and is quite settled in herself - even smiling on occasion. Yes, she wants some extra pats and cuddles but Mum is quite happy to give her those and all the time she needs. It will be two weeks till we have the results of the Biopsy and then will need to confirm if any others. It will seem like an age I think.  But in the meantime, Sally is enjoying some afternoon naps and I have even had time to make a card - or two in this case! So we will keep ourselves busy, and hopefully the time will fly :-)

The first card  is a complete CASE of Justin Krieger and is a card of his that I just loved. You can see his original card with instructions here. I love the clean simplicity of this card and its plainly Masculine feel thanks to the black layer but lightened by all the gold :-)

And here is a similar version that I made based loosely on the same sketch 

For this card the base is some Smoky Slate topped with a layer of my new favourite colour - Lost Lagoon. It is one of the new In Colours this year :-) I ran that through the Big Shot using the On Point Embossing Folder  - soon available in the Holiday Catalogue  - to match the triangles on the DSP from the Moonlight Stack.

Next I stamped the moustache image from the Word Play stamp set in Versamark  on some Basic Grey card before heat embossing it with some White embossing powder. It really helps it stand out.

For the Twine, I used some of the new Silver Twine and topped it with a Silver button to finish.

Card stock: Smoky Slate, Lost Lagoon, Basic Grey

Designer Series Paper: Moonlight Stack

Ink: Versamark

Stamps: Word Play

Accessories: Big Shot, Moustache Framelit, On Point EF, White EP, Heat Tool, Silver Twine, Silver Button, Dimensionals, Snail

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful day  -  and a big thank you to those who have asked about Sally. Here she is enjoying the sunshine earlier today - and yes, a rock in her water, its called a "Dog Rock" it's supposed to help purify the water in an effort to save the grass outside. I must admit I am not yet convinced :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Be you (tiful) for Freshly Made Sketches

Well, I know it is still August - so officially still Winter here in Melbourne - but with beautiful sunshine and our highest temperature in 3 months (21 degrees Celsius!) it is impossible to deny that Spring is in the air! And I must say that makes me happy :-) Whilst I can cope with Winter…like most people, I much prefer Spring :-)

So when I saw this week's fabulous sketch at Freshly Made Sketches by Linda, I knew which stamp set I wanted to use…all that remained was the colours to choose. I  do hope you have time to check out the great cards their Design Team have made to inspire us!

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

Unfortunately the shadows are in play as it is evening here now but hopefully they don't detract too much from the colours. Please see the next photo as its clearer!

So I used the new Flower Patch stamp set and a combination of fussy cutting and the fabulous Framelits that co-ordinate with it. And bling - of course!! What is Spring without some shine LOL!

Card stock: Whisper White, Silver Glimmer 

Inks: Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate, Crushed Curry, Old Olive

Stamps: Flower Patch

Accessories: Big Shot, Flower Fair Framelits, Basic Rhinestones, Paper snips and dimensionals

And yes. I decided to take another photo without the pink background :-) I usually photograph my cards with a white base and background…but then what to do when the card is mainly white?? So I've tried wood and white as I found the pink background painful on my eyes!! And it distracted from the card I thought….

Anyway, thanks so much for stopping by today. And thanks also to those who have enquired after Sally - will have an update in the next post. 

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Stars shaker card

Last week I made a special card for my good friend Katerina's husband's birthday. He is a real star and this is a one of those "round birthdays" :-) And so the perfect thing to do was make a star card! And to make it extra special, I also made it into a Shaker card :-)

The card base is Lost Lagoon card stamped with the little stars from the Be the Star stamp set. I love this set! It is so versatile! Next I used the Star framelits to create the layers - some Silver Foil card, the Hello Honey stripes from the Moonlight DSP stack, another stamped star from the same stamp set and then some Window sheet to create the Shaker. To line the stars up to cut the Base card I used a pencil to draw around the inside of the star to give a template to place the framelit. The Window sheet is cut twice - once for each side of the card as I wanted the window to show through to the message  - and is cut a little larger than the seen window.

The shaker stars were easy to create using the Confetti Stars Punch from the Holiday Mini Catalogue - so cool! Just punched a few stars from all three colours of card used :-) The Numbers are from the long retired "Timeless Type Alphabet sizzlit dies but still so handy!

And because of the hole all the way through from the front, the inside also needed a little finishing too :-)

Card stock: Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey, Whisper White, Silver Foil 

Designer Series Paper: Moonlight Stack

Inks: Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey

Stamps: Be the Star 

Accessories: Big Shot, Stars Framelits, Confetti Stars punch, Window Sheet, Timeless Type Sizzlits (Retired)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a great day and a star filled night wherever you are tonight :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

You Rock Dad - Father's Day

Welcome to another Wednesday in Melbourne Australia.  I am actually writing this the night before (Tuesday!)   - so this will be a "scheduled" post and I hope it all comes through as it should.  It seems a bit strange to be writing for the future :-) But I have quite a busy day ahead -  with Sally the Lab having another big operation tomorrow  - his time to carve a groove in her Femur (thigh bone) for her knee cap to sit in to stop it dislocating so I have a bit of running around to do -  getting ready for playing Nurse again! Including a nasty Filling in a molar by the Dentist! So a fun day for both of us :-) Ok, not really!!

Anyway, I do have a great sketch and fun card to show you. Here is this week's sketch from the Paper Craft Crew:

And here is my somewhat cheeky card :1)

I had fun playing with some new toys here : the fun You Rock stamp and the Little Letters Framelits! So this card is one for Father's Day which in Australia and New Zealand is the first Sunday in September - so not far away at all now :-) And the sketch does call for three "dots" on the left hand side and I decided to be a creative and to use some background dots from my favourite set Gorgeous Grunge to fulfil that element :-)

As you can see I've used the negative images from the Little Letters - and just to be safe, even though I used my magnetic plate - I did place some Post It notes over the Letters. As they are truly quite little! I can see them getting loads of use too which is fabulous :-)

Card stock: Smoky Slate, Real Red, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper : I Am Me (retired)

Inks: Basic Grey, Momento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: You Rock, Gorgeous Grunge

Accessories: Little Letters Framelits, Stars Framelits, Hexagon punch, Red sequin ( Not SU)

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I do hope too you have time to check out all the fun cards from  the Design Team at The Paper Craft Crew this week, and maybe you too might be inspired to join in with the challenge with us!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

A Special Card for a Special Post

Its been another gorgeous day today - sunshine and 18 degrees! So pleasant for the middle of Winter and it feels as though there may even be a touch of Spring in the air! Today is my 150th blog post and whilst still a very small number compared to those who have been blogging for years, it still surprises me how much I have grown as a Card Maker since it was first suggested that I should start to enter some Challenges. During the last 150 posts I have entered many challenges and even won a few :-) And am honoured to now be a Design Team member for the Paper Craft Crew and also a Guest Designer for a challenge recently with the Team at Just Add Ink too. So thank you for your support of me and for all the wonderful encouragement from friends without which I never would've had the confidence to begin ( You know who you are :-) )

And so i have a special card for you today - it is one I made for Carolyn, from the Paper Craft Crew for her birthday last week and I know she likes it :-) So now I can share it with you too!

And funnily enough it is based on a Sketch Challenge too :-) This time from Freshly Made Sketches

I didn't enter it into the Challenge though as I didn't want to Post about it before the card arrived in Queensland (or it wouldn't be a surprise!) and of course the challenge finished some days ago now but here is the sketch anyway so you can see where the inspiration came from :

Yes, the card base is White and the striking DSP is from the Moonlight DSP Stack - such a handy little pack, so perfectly sized for card fronts! Next I cut some more White card using the On Film Framelits and added some dimensionals underneath before stamping the flower. It is one of the images from the Flower Patch set - photopolymer so is really good to have a stamp mat or I use a large Mouse Pad underneath (thanks Katerina!) so that you can get a clean image as the stamps are harder than rubber and need a soft mat to help transfer the ink - especially to solid images. I actually stamped the same stamp several times and hand cut out the layers - yes there are framelits, but not for all the layers of this particular image and I wanted to create a layered flower. For the leaves I stamped the larger image first and then the detail using the same ink - and it is so easy to line them up as being completely clear you can see right through them!

And next came a butterfly - this one from Kinda Ecelctic - as I know Carolyn loves butterflies it  seemed an essential element :-) and a little bling to finish.

Card stock: Whisper White, Pear Pizaz

Designer Series Paper: Moonlight Stack

Inks: Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizzaz, Blackberry Bliss

Stamps: Flower Patch, Kinda Eclectic

Accesssories: Big Shot, On Film Framelits, Flower Fair Framelits, Elegant Butterfly punch, Basic Rhinestones, Lucky Limeaid Bakers Twine (Retired)

I was so glad to hear that Carolyn loved her card - it is so lovely to be able to make a card for a friend and fellow card maker and tailor it to what you hope they will like :-)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today. I hope that you too continue to enjoy making cards and other projects if you haven't already started entering Challenges then I encourage you to give it a go!  You never know how much it might help you grow  - and what lovely friends you may meet along the way!

Happy stamping until next time

Jan

Starry Day

Welcome to another mild Winter's day in Melbourne! A pleasant 16 degrees and patches of sunshine  - even nicer than was forecast! Today was a special day for me - a favourite Aunt is visiting and we went into the city and enjoyed a special light lunch before going to a Matinee performance of The King And I. We were treated to fine food and the show was magnificent! Wonderful Cast ( and we did get the A Cast despite it being a Matinee) fabulous voices and dancing! Wow! Such a wonderful day!
So I am very glad I had prepared ahead for you the card for this week's sketch at The Paper Craft Crew! So here is the sketch:

Such a fun sketch! And so versatile too! I hope you have time to check out the great cards by the Design Team this week :-)

Here is my card:

So stars :-) This sketch would be great for a Christmas card but I wanted to ink up my new stamp set Be The Star -  and with the Framelits and Moonlight DSP Stack this all came together quite quickly :-) To get the variant colours of the paper all I did was turn over the piece of paper! And then I opened the In Colour Sequins only to find the Lost Lagoon sequins were stars - perfect!

Card stock: Lost Lagoon, Whisper White, Silver Foil Specialty

Designer Series Paper: Moonlight DSP Stack

Inks: Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey

Stamps: Be The Star

Accessories: Big Shot, Star Framelits, Hexagon punch, In Colour Sequins 

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you have time some to check out the rest of the cards by the Design Team at the Paper Craft Crew and maybe you might be inspired to join us this week too! And if you like a musical and are in Australia in the near future then I would highly reccomend seeing The King And I too :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

First Communion

Hello and welcome to a wet and miserably cold day! I am so glad it is only one month until Spring will be here :-)

Today's card has come about after a request from a friend for a card for a First Communicant so here is the finished card:

The request was for  "Clean but with Bling" so I turned to the wonderful Gold Glimmer Card stock for the  Chalice and for the cup part used the 21/2" Circle punch and then used some Vellum and Grid paper to come up with a template to trace for the stand which is cut by hand.

For the Host image I punched both Vellum and White card and joined them together with a touch of the   2 Way Glue pen - for whilst it is blue coloured when it is wet, it dries Clear - unlike most other adhesive. And it is then added to the card with a dimensional which is easily hidden by the white card stock :-)

The Sun image from Kinda Eclectic came in very handy as a background here - I inked up the stamp with the Encore Gold ink and then used a punched piece of  Post it Note to cover the middle of the stamp (with the same size circle punch as the Host image) before stamping. I do hope she likes it!

Card stock: Pool Party, Whisper White, 

Specialty Card stock: Gold Glimmer, Vellum

Ink: Encore Gold

Stamps: Kinda Eclectic

Accessories; 21/2" and 13/4" Circle punches, Gold Twine, Basic pearls

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Birdie for the Paper Craft Crew

Welcome to another lovely Wednesday! Today started out chilly and crisp with beautiful sunshine but this afternoon dark clouds are steadily moving in and there is a definite change in the air. But we managed to have a lovely walk with one of our wonderful friends and her two dogs so Sally is a happy girl enjoying a dream filled snooze after smooching and walking the streets with her friends  :-) She has her Post Operative X-rays later this week so hopefully we will get the "All clear " from the surgeon to return to the Park which we are all looking forward to doing.
And so it is time for another sketch from the Paper Craft Crew! I do hope you have a moment to check out the great cards from all the Design Team Members this week. Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

For my card I turned to the fun Hostess set called "Hello Love." I do love the "a little birdie told me" saying! I coloured the "Birdies" with my Blendabilities markers after first stamping in the Momento tuxedo black ink and cut one out to layer too :-) And I used a retired set from Saleabration in January called "Banner Blast" to stamp the banners.

And for something a little different texturally, I used the Starburst Framelit Dies to cut out firstly the Silver Glimmer paper peeping from behind the square panel, and the little Crushed Curry one on top…which once stamped was then topped with some Crystal Effects to look like a shiny button :-)

Card stock: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Crushed Curry

Specialty Card stock: Silver Glimmer

Inks: Bermuda Bay, Momento Tuxedo Black, Crushed Curry, Daffodil Delight and Coastal Cabana Blendabilities markers

Stamps: Hello Love (Hostess), Gorgeous Grunge, Banner Blast (Saleabration, Retired)

Accessories: Big Shot, Sunburst Framelits, Word Bubble Framelits, Banner Punch, Coastal Cabana Twine, Basic Rhinestones, Crystal Effects

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I do hope you have time to check out all the great cards by our Design Team this week at The Paper Craft Crew!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Fathers Day is Coming

It is a gorgeous Sunny Winter's day today - so nice to be able to enjoy it after the crisp morning but so worth the wait :-).
Here in Australia, we celebrate Father's Day on the first Sunday in September - so its not very far away! So when I saw the fabulous sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week I knew I had to give it a go :-)

Such an elegant sketch!

For my card I started by choosing papers from the Moonlight DSP Stack - and then cut out my letters using the retired Timeless Type Dies.

To add some interest I stamped with the addictive Gorgeous Grunge on the white card and to tie it all together ( literally!) I coloured some Whisper White Bakers Twine with the Mid colour of the Daffodil Delight Belendabilities Markers. So easy to get matching twine for all your colours now! And as usual, I couldn't resist a little bit of bling - despite the masculine feel of the card :-)

Card stock: Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Moonlight Stack

Inks: Crushed Curry, Daffodil Delight Blendabilities Markers

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge

Accessories: Big Shot, Baby's First Framelits, Timeless Type Sizlits (Retired) Whisper White Bakers Twine, Silver Sequins (Non-SU)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I do hope you have time to check out the great cards fro the Design Team at Freshly Made Sketches and maybe you too may be inspired to join in :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Graduation for JAI #225

Good afternoon! I hope your weekend is off to a great start and that you are keeping warm - or cool - whatever the weather is in your part of the world today :-) Here in Melbourne the sun is shining after yesterday which was the coldest day so far this winter - and the coldest in 33 years for some!

Today's card is for the colour challenge at Just Add Ink this week. I hope you have time to go and check out all the great cards from their Design Team :-)

I chose to go rather Clean and Simple as it is for a male graduation - I hope he likes it!

The background is created by stamping with one of my all time favourite stamp sets - Gorgeous Grunge :-) And then the Film strip and the punch art Cap are added on dimensionals.

To create the tassel I pulled apart two lengths of Whisper White bakers twine and then when all threads were separated I joined it back together and coloured it with the Middle of the Daffodil Delight Blendabilities marker. 

Card stock: So Saffron, Whisper White, Basic Black

Inks: Smoky Slate, Momento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight Blendabilities Markers

Stamps: Sassy Salutations, Gorgeous Grunge

Accessories: Big Shot, Film Framlelits Dies, 1" Square and 1" Circle punches, Silver Sequins ( Non - SU!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out all the great inspiration from the Team at Just Add Ink this week - and maybe you too might be encouraged to enter too!

EDITED to add that I am so honoured that my card was chosen for an Honourable Mention by the great team at Just Add Ink! Thank you all so much for choosing my card and for the encouraging comments you have made too :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Amazing Birthday

Good afternoon! Well after our warmest Winters' day on Wednesday today is the coldest for 33 years!! With snow in Melbourne's suburbs and rain, sleet and hail in the City it is a good time to be inside :-)
Today's card is a male birthday card with a more layered look and uses the stamp set Amazing Birthday which I was able to borrow from a good friend. It is such fun stamping with friends - we all have slightly different tastes with which to inspire each other and a larger stamp collection to pool :-)

And because I was teaming the stamp with the Maritime DSP the colours were already chosen for me - so easy!

Initially I used both Real Red and Night of Navy markers on the stamp before stamping. But some parts of the image seemed to stamp better than others. So I also stamped the two colours separately and added the red" Make" on dimensionals - and the "Amazing" banner is also cut out and layered on top.

The little banners on the side are simply punched with the Banner punch and their ends slipped under the main panel. 

And the cute birthday cake is punched out and layered onto Navy card too. 

Card stock: Not Quite Navy, Whisper White

Designer Series paper: Maritime

Inks: Not Quite Navy, Real Red,

Stamps: Amazing Birthday

Accessories: 11/4" and 13/8" circle punches, Banner punch, Real Red Grosgrain ribbon (retired), dimensionals

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan