Goodbye 2013

Well I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas full of joy and fun and spending time with those you love! I was totally spoilt on the day being invited to spend Christmas with a good friend and her family and of course we spent much of the time talking about cards and stamps and new catalogues  - as you do!!
And here we are, its New Year's Eve already!! Doesn't time fly!! Time to look back briefly over the year that was and look forward to a new year of opportunities. (Including the new Occasions Catalogue!!)
In the meantime, here is a card made with current ( but NOT new!) items while we wait for the fun and fireworks to begin :-)

I was looking for a feminine and teenage-ish feel for this card and did CASE a card by Chrisine Gaydos and you can see her work here. I kept the basic layout and the use of both Six Sided Sampler and the Beautiful Wings Dies but I did change quite a bit too - added layers, bling, the colour scheme and changed the greeting and added the banner and how the butterfly die was used …

The card base is Whisper White and the Raspberry Ripple card layer is embossed with the Hexagons EF. The silver Glimmer card stock banner is added on top of a Doilly and the Hexagons are stamped with images from the Six Sided Sampler stamp set in both Raspberry Ripple and Coastal Cabana.

The greeting is also from this set and the stamp actually says "hello sweet friend" so I used a Post it Note over the bottom of the stamp to cover the two unwanted words and then cut these out with the Bitty Banner Framelits. The coastal cabana "Holey" Hexagon is easy to make - first punch a 3/4" circle then centre the hole in the Hexagon punch and Voila :-). Dimensionals help it to stand out too and allow the banner to be slipped through the punched hole.

The butterflies are all cut using the Beautiful Butterflies Die in Silver Glimmer and Raspberry Ripple card and blinged up with some Basic Rhinestones. 

Card Stock: Whisper White, Raspberry Ripple, Coastal Cabana

Specialty: Silver Glimmer and Doilly's

Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Coastal Cabana

Stamps: Six Sided Sampler

Accessories: Big Shot, Hexagon EF, Beautiful Wings Embosslits, Bitty Banner Framelits, 3/4' Circle Punch, Hexagon Punch, Basic Rhinestones, White Bakers Twine

Of course the year wouldn't be complete without the dogs having a last day's play so we popped in to see Monty at his house today and they had a little play and cuddle together.

(for those wondering, they do  stay "G" rated - if Monty tries anything more he is on the ground by his ears in about 3-5 seconds! ) 

Happy stamping until next year!

Jan

Its Not a Christmas card!

Yes! its time to have a brief break from the seasonal mad rush to get all the Christmas cards made and do something a little bit different! Its almost a Public Holiday in Melbourne today - tomorrow is Melbourne Cup day. So a lot of people take today off as well to make it a lovely long weekend. Although not all people - we ran into 20 odd pupils from a local Primary School having a bike ride day at the Park today! They were having  a great time feeding the ducks their lunches!!

Today's card is inspired by a challenging sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

And yes, I did TRY and come up with a Christmas card but instead decided to keep it simple and just stick to the sketch - somewhat :-)

Yes, somewhat indeed! As changed the squares to Hexagons and came up with a Clean masculine card. The gingham stamped hexagons are from the Six Sided Sampler Stamp Set and are punched out with the co-ordinating punch. The base of the card is embossed using the Chevron embossing folder. 

The Star is punched from the lovely Gold Foil card stock and it has such a bright shimmer!

 The button is made from Simply Pressed Clay. For this button I sprinkled some Dazzling Diamonds into the mold before pressing in the Clay. So that does two things a) it adds the glitter to the top of the button and b) the glitter also acts as a release agent for the clay making it easier to get out of the mold. You can put the molds with the clay inside into the freezer for half an hour if you like but I find leaving a piece of the Clay flat on the table for 20 mins before pressing into the molds works just as well. Both processes allow the Clay to dry out a bit and so you can use whichever is easier for you. This button I coloured with a red marker afterwards too. You can colour the Clay with reindeers before using in the molds or colour with markers afterwards. It is so versatile, I love it!!

The greeting is from the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set and is cut out with the co-ordinating framelits. So a pretty quick and easy card today :-)

Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red, Gold Foil

Inks: Black Stazon, Real Red (marker)

Stamps: Six Sided Sampler, Itty Bitty Banners

Accessories: Big Shot, Chevron EF, Bitty Banners Framelits, Hexagon punch, Star punch (retired), Simply Pressed Clay, Dazzling Diamonds, Bakers Twine

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Thinking of Hexagons

Its been a few days between posts....but am back with a thinking of you card based on an old Just Add Ink sketch - its a female version of the male card I submitted a couple of weeks back.

I'm sorry its not such a good photo - taken just before putting it in an envelope for a friend who'd had some bad news. I know she likes these colours and hope is a little something to bring comfort.

 The clay flower was made using Simply pressed clay molds with some Dazzling Diamonds glitter sprinkled into the mold before adding the clay. Then it was coloured with a marker. The pool party banner is stamped with a butterfly from the papillon set and then put through the Big Shot with the Woodgrain EF

Card stock: Pool party, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Polka Dot Parade

Inks: Rich  Razzleberry, Pool Party, Crumbcake

Stamps: Six Sided Sampler, Papillon Potpourri, So Happy For You (retired)

Accessories: Big Shot, Hexagon Punch, Wood grain EF, Basic Rhinestones, Simply Pressed Clay and molds, Dazzling Diamonds

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Hello Baby - SUO #80

Its another gorgeous day in Melbourne after a chilly start of only 6 degrees it has turned out to be a warm and sunny 21!
Today's card is an opportunity to take a short break from Christmas cards and to join in with SUO Challenges and make a Baby card. I know of a few people expecting babies in the next week or so - so it is good timing! So this card is for a boy - 50% chance it will be needed :-)

The Baby Tees's wheel is inked in Marina Mist and then coloured with a blender pen and cut out individually. I wanted the Tees to look like they were on a washing line.

So used a neutral brad (retired) and some Island Indigo Bakers Twine to make the "line". The background DSP is first run through the Big Shot with the honeycomb EF and then lightly sanded to make the hexagons stand out a bit more.

The individual Hexagon is stamped with the Six Sided Sampler stamp set using the polka dot image and the greeting is from the Tiny Tags set and is cut out with the Bitty Banner Framelits.

And the inside of the card is just run over with the Baby Tees wheel too.

Card stock: Marina Mist, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Polka Dot Parade

Stamps: Baby Tee's Jumbo Wheel, Tiny Tags, Six Sided Sampler

Accessories: Big Shot, Honeycomb EF, Bitty Banner Framelits, Basic pearls, Organza Ribbon, Island Indigo Bakers Twine, Blender Pen, Hexagon Punch, Corner Rounder punch, Neutral Brads (retired)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Six Sided Sampler for Just Add Ink

Its another lovely Melbourne Spring Day - so yes, that means warm and sunny one minute and cool and overcast the next but so far no rain so not quite the Four Seasons in One Day we are so well known for having. Today's card is for a sketch challenge over at Just Add Ink -#183

I had wanted to try to do a Christmas Card - but the attempt of using the triangles of Pennant Parade didn't really work with the sketch - they just didn't sit so well together.. well, not at ALL well together :-) So instead I decided to start with the DSP from Polka Dot Parade and a male card was born.

The Paper clip ribbon detail is inspired by the new ribbon clips in the current Holiday Catalog and I discovered they are much harder to make than I had thought! The knot here is tied and the ends tucked under the clip and secured with a Glue Dot.

Card Stock: Early Espresso, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Polka Dot Parade and a retired piece for the Espresso banner

Stamp Sets: Six Sided Sampler, Itty Bitty Banners

Inks: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Big Shot, Itty Bitty Banners Framelits, Hexagon Punch, Clips Assortment ( for the paper clip), Chocolate chip ribbon, Neutral Brads (retired)

This morning the dogs had fun at the Park as always....

Not quite sure how they got from resting quietly to this:

But it made for a fun time for all watching!!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan