Black, White and Red all Over.

Its such a beautiful spring day today here in Melbourne!
 The sun is shining with some warmth and the spring flowers are starting to bloom....which brings out the bees and the butterflies.

So today's card is one I will be sending home to NZ to a special sister who loves butterflies - and shoes:-)

The design is based on a challenge, this time from the Paper Craft Crew  PCCCS #50 but I am not sure if it will be accepted as I changed the sketch a little....

 The Shoe is from the Fabulous You stamp set and is stamped in Encore Silver ink after the Greeting is Clear embossed first - so is stamped in Versamark ink and then the Real Red ink before applying the Clear embossing powder to Happy Birthday.

The butterflies are from Papillion Potpourri a set which has just come this week so this is  its first outing :-).  Many more to come I think! The black Monarchs are stamped in Black Stazon ink and then coloured with Markers and Blender pen in the case of the sliver and punched with the co-ordinating punches. How I love a stamp with its own punches or framelits for quick and easy cutting!

Card Stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, 

Designer Series Paper: Silver Glimmer Paper, Polka Dot Parade

Stamps: Fabulous You, Sassy Salutations, Papillon Potpourri

Inks: Real Red, Encore Silver, Black Stazon

Accessories: Big Shot, Oval Framelits, Elegant and Bitty Butterfly Punches,Basic Rhinestones, Red Polka Dot ribbon (retired)

Now for a happy Spring story!

Last week whilst at a local Park walking my dog Sally with a friend and her dogs we heard a sound like a stone dropping  - it was a little chick falling from its nest! As we saw it's Mum coming down to check on it we realised it was an Indian Miner bird which is considered a pest here so knew that no local Wildlife group would want to help it. So I decided to put it up in a nearby tree and its Mum did come over and alight on the branch so we hoped and prayed it might be ok - it didn't look that great. The next day we arrived and headed to the tree and yes! There was the chick looking bright eyed and healthy and a few more fluffs on its chest as no feathers yet. The next day I missed going to the Park and my friend sent me this lovely photo of "our chick" which looked so much bigger again!

The next day however, it was gone! We saw a feather at the base of the tree and were quite sad that it had done so well....yet the following day we saw it with its Mum! Hopping around the leaf litter looking for insects! So it was wonderful to see how with just a little help and prayer from us and a very diligent  and attentive mother it has grown and survived!

So on that happy note...

Happy Stamping until next time!

Jan

Hope Framed Art

I saw a wonderful framed Swallowtail based frame on Cindy Beach"s blog recently and decided to give it a go. I found a frame I liked and then started on the Swallowtail colouring. I realised as it was time to put it all together that my frame was a little larger than Cindy's so I needed to come up with an idea to cover the join in card stock.

I did borrow the wonderful Typeset Jumbo Bigz dies from wonderful Christine, and I changed the word from Cindy's "SOAR" to "HOPE". After all, I am always saying I "hope" so that is the word for me:-) And while talking to Christine I was inspired to use the now retired border punch to cover the card stock join.

The Swallowtail is stamped on Coaster Board and coloured with Markers.

And stamped the DSP with Clock works in Encore Gold Ink and the Collage Curios (retired) butterfly and placed inside a Soda Pop Top after running through the Big Shot.

Now its hanging in the Hall and does look as long as it belongs there!

Card Stock: Coaster Board, Coastal Cabana, Silver Glimmer Paper, Modern Medley DSP

Stamps: Swallowtail, Clock Works

Inks, (Markers: Pistachio Pudding, pool, Party, Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry) Encore Gold, Stazon Black

Accessories: Big Shot, Soda Pop Tops, Black Brads, Typeset Jumbo Bigz Dies

Happy Stamping till next time, 

Jan

 P.S WOW, my blog Heading has re appeared all on its own as hoped :-)

The Paper Players 162

Hello this is my first time of attempting to enter a challenge for The Paper Players. I was inspired by the colour combo as Rich Razzleberry is one of my all time favourite colours....and Pool Party a new favourite! In the end it was a challenge indeed especially to decide on the embellishments!

Card stock: Basic Black, Pool Party, Whisper White and Polka Dots DSP

Stamps: Chalk Talk

Inks: Pool Party and Rich Razzleberry (Marker)

Accessories: Big Shot, Chalk Talk Framelits, Honeycomb EF, Simply pressed clay, Basic Rhinestones, Hang up Cute Clips, Black Satin and Pool Party ribbons, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Corner Rounder Punch

To add a bit of texture I ran the DSP through the BS with the Honeycomb EF - although it is hard to see in the photo. I also made a larger tag layer in black using the Corner Rounder punch and paper snips for the top details.

And the Clay flower was made by sprinkling Dazzling Diamonds into the hold before inserting the Clay and then colouring with a Marker. 

I did try multi coloured buttons and roses but the Razzle one looked the best :-)

I must admit I am not sure about the Cute Clip though.

Happy stamping until next time and hopefully my blog's title will find its way home!

Jan

Blog problems...

Somehow have lost the blog Heading!!
Am working on fixing it but would be grateful for any advice..have even tried another Template to no avail so please be patient :-)
It does seem to be working fine on the Mobile site so I am not sure what has happened

Blog Resurrection!

It's been a long time since my last post but its Spring - my favourite time of year! So as the creative juices are starting to flow again I thought it might be time to resurrect this blog. It has had a little make over today :-) and I also hope to take part in some fun creative challenges.

So here we go...
Today's offering is for  Just Add Ink #183 

...and WOW! successfully posted image :-)
 If you don't have a Blog you can enter by email (details on their website) which is how I entered this week as wasn't sure if I'd have the blog working in time. 
This is my first ever Challenge entry and I look forward to seeing what others have made  and to be challenged to step outside my comfort zone

As always, all products used are from SU! unless otherwise mentioned.

For the background I used the Jumbo Wheel, Shop Around and sponged the edges with some Encore Silver ink.

The tags are created using the Chalk Talk Bundle - I used a marker to colour the Thank You and the same sized framelit as used for the swirl image to cut it and  a 1 3/8' circle punch to create the window which is layered with Dimensionals - of course! (yes, I tend to use a lot them!!)

Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper

Stamps: Chalk Talk, Shop Around Jumbo Wheel

Inks: Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Encore Silver

Accessories: Big Shot. Chalk Talk Framelits, Black Satin Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones, Non-SU black rhinestones.

Well, its time to take my gorgeous Sally for her evening walk and play with her best friend, a blonde Golden Retriever some years younger than her called Monty. 

Here's a little picture of them before they launch into tumbling and rolling around :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

P.S Its been such a long time between posts... its quite interesting looking back!

New and old together

With the wind blowing outside and plenty of showers between the odd sun break Melbourne is definitely living up to it's "four seasons in one day" tag. I have so many friends and family with birthdays over the next couple of months ( don't we all?) that I thought I'd try and get a little head start so here is today's effort.

After looking through the Catalogue for inspiration - there are so many great ideas -  I decided to case a card using an old favourite stamp set that I haven't pulled out so often lately - Cottage Garden.

As always, click on an image for a larger pic

I changed quite a bit from the original card I saw: the colours and greeting and added a couple of  layers and a background stamp of Medallion, stamped once onto scrap paper first. 

 Medallion and the sponging seem to give almost a vintage-like feel whilst the butterflies and flower are definitely more modern - so a bit of a mix of old and new but I think it works ok.

Card stock: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb cake, Very Vanilla
Inks: Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Regal Rose, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Marina Mist, Crumb cake
Stamps: Cottage Garden, Medallion, Well Scripted (retired)
Accessories: Miscellaneous circle cutters, Ribbon, Wide Oval Punch, Clear brad, dimensionals

Happy Stamping until next time.

Christmas Pennants

Spring is here at last!  So nice to feel the warmth of the sun and see the new growth and the days starting to become longer. It is absolutely my favourite time of year.
And of course with the first of September also being the time of the annual release of the New SU Catalogue  - which always has loads of new goodies to play with and inspire - it is doubly happy making!

I decided to delay the Fourth Friday monthly Stamp and Chat evening that I usually host for a few friends by one week so that we could have a little celebration -ie  some yummy chocolate cake!

Eventually we got around to making a card or two...this time I turned to Split Coast stampers for inspiration for the card I shared. With projects made and shared by people worldwide  it is fabulous for ideas - just look for the stamp set by name and see what other people are making with it.

I just made a couple of changes for this one - namely the ribbon and card stock colours.

As always, click on an image for a bigger picture

Again, it features Pennant Parade...yes, it's a favourite already! It just seems to have so many possibilities!

Having the punch does makes all the difference  - its all so easy - and it's lovely to have the first Christmas card made already! 

Stamps: Pennant Parade

Card stock: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Whisper Whte

Ink: Whisper White craft ink, Chocolate Chip 

Accessories: Big shot, Tulip EF, Petite Pennant Builder punch, Basic Rhinestones, ribbon, brad, Stamp -a-ma-jig. Jewellery Tag Punch

Happy Stamping until next time.