# Male Birthday for 200th Post

Today has been a rather strange Sunday - there is still a Tiger Snake loose in the back yard somewhere and so the day has been spent inside ( for obvious reasons!) and have also had an eye out to see if the snake can be seen - the idea is to then call the Catcher as he came yesterday without success. And I hope he catches it shortly as I really am quite frightened of snakes! So while I've been waiting… I decided to play along with the great sketch this week at Just Add Ink. And here it is:

Indeed the design is perfect for Christmas…but I need a card for an Uncle with Tech savvy (teenage) daughters having a birthday……so here is my card:

So I've used the #Hello stamp set and the the fabulously big @ - stamped in Night of Navy and cut out with the circle framelits and layered with some dimensionals onto a Silver Foil Sunburst. A little simple for the sketch I think but hopefully it will be ok.

The greeting is stamped and then cut using the Itty Bitty Banners Framelits and then one end is hidden behind the starburst.  I  cut some DSP into the arrow shape and embossed a Silver Foil banner using the Star framelits. I hope my Uncle likes his card :-)

Card stock: Night of Navy. Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Silver Foil

Designer Series Paper: Flashback

Ink: Night of Navy

Stamps: # Hello

Accessories: Big Shot, Circle Framelits, Starburst Framelits, Arrow EF, Itty Bitty Banner Framelits, Basic Rhinestones. Night of Navy Blendabilitiies, 

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you can take a peek at al the great inspiration at Just Add Ink this week and maybe you might be the next to enter the Challenge!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Joyful Wreath and Snake alert!!

Good evening! It has been a warm Saturday today and one that has had a fair share of drama for us….it is Summer here in Australia and that means it is snake season. So supposedly they are commonplace. Except I grew up in New Zealand - snake free land - and I am not comfortable even walking into the reptile house in the Zoo. So you can imagine my shock and horror when I opened the French door to take out washing to hang and there on the doorstep was a snake - that quickly wiggled away! A Tiger snake by all accounts…venomous of course! First thing I did was scream as I closed the door and went to keep Sally the Lab away/ Of course, I had spent most of the afternoon at the craft table - leaving the French doors open…..Oh my goodness!! So a quick phone call and the "Snake catcher" came but by then the snake couldn't be found…so we are not going to sleep well tonight I suspect!! The Catcher will come tomorrow and I will certainly keep a look out in the meantime. Is amazing and a relief the snake didn't come inside …and I was working in the garden this afternoon too….is scary what might have been. I am told the Tiger snake is more afraid of me than I of it but those who know me will tell you that is not likely!!! We haven't had snakes here before but there is  major construction going on next door so that is the likely source….better not be any more is all I can say!

In the meantime, before the snake drama I was working on a couple of Christmas cards using the Wondrous Wreath set - the first is using Traditional Colours and some retired Tule Ribbon to match the Cherry Cobbler Embossing powder.

Card stock: Pear Pizzaz, Whisper White, Gold Foil Specialty

Inks: Pear Pizzaz, Garden Green, Versamark

Stamps: Wondrous Wreath

Accessories: Big Shot, Wonderful Wreath Framelts, Large Polka Dots EF, Gold Sequin Trim, Cherry Cobbler EP, Cherry Cobbler Tule Ribbon (retired)

And the second is a revisit of the Gold and Silver Themed Challenge card I made earlier in the week for the Friday Mash Up where I was Cindy's pick as a Glamette - such a lovely surprise!! And you can see my original  post here

This time I embossed the greeting on the card first and then embossed the white card with the Large Polka Dot EF only above the greeting.

So I started by embossing the many leaves in Silver, then allowed time for it to cool and rubbing with the Embossing Buddy before adding the other layers - also one at a time. And of course added some silver and gold sequins. 

Card stock: Brushed Silver, Whisper White, Gold Foil specialty

Inks: Versamark

Stamps: Wonderful Wreath

Accessories: Big Shot, Wonderful Wreath Framelits, Large Polka Dot EF, Silver, Gold and Cherry Cobbler EP, Silver Satin Ribbon, Gold Sequin trim, Frosted Sequin embellishments, Tombow glue, Dimensionals, glue dots

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope your preparations for Christmas are going well!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Birthday for The Paper Craft Crew

It's the silly season indeed - people doing silly things on the roads and especially in shopping centre car parks. Whilst I really love Christmas and  getting ready to celebrate with friends and family it almost  seems as though we are back in 1999 - remember how the world as we knew it was going to end at Y2K?? I'm glad I've done most of my shopping already - well, all the postal ones anyway!

And so today is Wednesday and time for another sketch from The Paper Craft Crew - so I thought I'd take a short break from Christmas cards as I have a couple of Uncles with birthdays coming up :-)

So here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

Such a fun sketch - especially for a male card I think :-)

The card base is some Basic Black topped with Island Indigo card and the World Map is first stamped and then sponged almost randomly to give some definition. It's been a long time since I did some sponging!!

The bottom half of the card is embossed with the Arrow EF and then I used some more of the map image (sponged ) for the inside of the postage stamp and the banner.  The Little Letter framelits make the Gold Foil HB to fit inside the postage stamp so easily (mounted on tiny pieces of dimensionals)  and the oval framelits create the central frame which has some more  dimensionals underneath to lift it like a real frame.

Card stock: Basic Back, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Gold Foil

Ink: Island Indigo, Momento Tuxedo Black,

Stamps: World Map, Really Good Greetings

Accessories: Big Shot, Ovaland Little Letters Framelits, Arrow EF, Postage and 1" square and Hexagon punches, Black Satin Ribbon, Blue sequins (non SU)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a moment to check out all the great inspiration by the rest of the Team at The Paper Craft Crew and I look forward to seeing what you will make with this  fun sketch this week.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Silver and Gold Christmas

It's been a typical "four seasons in one (Melbourne) day" - we woke at 5am to overhead crashes of thunder and flashes of lightening followed by heavy rain. This was blown away by a gentle breeze and replaced this afternoon with such glorious warm sunshine that as the rhyme goes "dried up all the rain" but as I type the clouds are closing in again and I'm sure there will be at least rain coming down through the "spout" again :-)
And "the patient" is resting comfortably (Sally, the black Lab had surgery to remove a mass from her leg mid week) so I will gladly take the opportunity to sit at the craft tablet and make a card!

At The Friday Mashup this week is a great challenge to use Silver and Gold - and for the Mashup, to make a Christmas project as well.

And as I still haven't quite finished all my Christmas cards, I thought I'd opt for the whole Mashup :-)

For the card base I used some Brushed Silver card and then there are three layers of embossing powder to make up the wreath - Silver,  Gold and the berries in Cherry Cobbler. The matching framelits mean cutting out the wreath is so easy and is added with dimensionals. The gold foil Joy is all part of the set too :-) A sprinkling of gold and silver sequins and a Silver Satin ribbon bow and the card is complete!

Card stock: Brushed Silver, Whisper White, Silver Foil

Inks: Versamark

Stamps: Wondrous Wreath

Access: Big Shot, Wonderful Wreath Framelits, Large Polka Dots EF,  Silver, Gold and Cherry Cobbler EP, Frosted Sequins assortment, Gold Sequins, Silver Satin Ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have a moment to check out the great challenge at The Friday Mashup and the wonderful projects their Team have made to inspire - and maybe you might be the next to enter :-)

EDITED TO ADD: A huge thank you to Cindy for choosing my card as your Glamette this week! Such a lovely surprise :-) 

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Live the Life

One of the best things about being creative is the friends that we make through sharing our love of stamping and card making. Today's card is for one such friend who is celebrating a special birthday and it was such a joy to be able to make her a special card to celebrate!

And no I didn't use a "Birthday" greeting here :-)  I wanted to focus instead on the 65 as that age has of course (until very recently) been associated with Retirement and looking forward to living your dreams of travel etc and enjoying a bit more free time. And so the ideas for this card began to flow :-) 

What better fun than a Shaker card for a sense of excitement at what life has yet to offer?

The card base is Basic Black topped with a layer of White and the gorgeous DSP is a mixture of Back to Black ( I love the Retro look of this!) and the In Colour Stacks. For the Shaker window I used the Circle Framelits and Shaker Frame adhesive to hold it all together. And because this is a little higher than regular Dimensionals I actually cut the DSP with the circle framelits too and added the Strawberry Slush piece on dimensionals to help the window feel more surrounded. For the inside shaker parts I punched a mixture of Strawberry Slush and Silver Glimmer card with the Confetti Stars punch and added some silver sequins for a further touch of bling. One little star also graces the middle of the butterfly. And the stars of the card - the numbers are first covered in Crystal Effects and left overnight to dry before being adhered in the morning. This adds a lovely thickness and shine to them :-)

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

Designer Series Paper: Back to Black, In Colour Stack

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Strawberry Slush

Stamps: Really Good Greetings, Kinda Eclectic

Accessories: Big Shot, Circle Framelits, Window Sheets, Confetti Stars, Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly punches, Frosted Sequins, Shaker Frames, Crystal Effects

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you too can "live the life you've imagined" or as near to as circumstance allows :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Christmas Wrap

Welcome to another wonderful - and a very busy Wednesday! This week has seen the family in New Zealand's presents for Christmas bought, wrapped and posted all within 24 hours -thats two Nieces, one  fabulous nephew, their parents.grandparents etc etc and other siblings too. So quite a feat! Normally I would have a little longer to get things ready but it was decided on Friday night when Sally (the Lab's) biopsy results came in, to book her in for removal of the mass in her leg this Tuesday. And  that means that I will be at home with her for a week at least till she is safe on her feet. Hence the mad Christmas shopping rush over the last couple of days...
And so now we are home and she is sleeping soundly at last and I can take a moment share with you the great sketch this week at The Paper Craft Crew. I hope you can check out the great inspiration the Team has for you this week. Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

The card base is some Cherry Cobbler card topped with some DSP from the beautiful Trim the Tree stack. Next is a label also from Cherry Cobbler card and is cut it in half, layered with the white label on top. The fun trees are from the new Festival of Trees set and are stamped in Garden Green as well as some Cherry Cobbler ink and the greeting is from the Good Greetings set.

And there is of course a good splattering of touches of bling - from the strip of gold glimmer card and gold and red Glimmer stars and a some basic rhinestones to finish.

Card stock: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Red and Gold Glimmer 

Designer Series Paper: Trim The Tree Stack

Inks: Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler

Stamps: Festival of Trees, Good Greetings

Accessories: Big Shot, Stylish Stripes EF, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Stars Framleits

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out all the great inspiration the rest of the Team at The Paper Craft Crew have for you and I look forward to seeing what you create with this sketch this week!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Engagement

It has been a very pleasant sunny day here in Melbourne and I have been blessed to hear some wonderful news - that of a good friend's  - more like a sister really - engagement. I have known the Bride to Be since she was about 10 years of age…and I wasn't that much older and now she is preparing for a wonderful new beginning in April next year. So a special time and a special card is of course needed.

And there is a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week that just fits the bill :-)

Yesterday's card had 3 vertical panels and today's is 3 horizontal - how fun is that :-)

The card base is Brushed Silver and is topped with a layer of Whisper White card which has the lovely Silver Foil Vellum hearts on top. And to attach the Vellum to the white card without showing the adhesive I simply used a little Two Way Glue behind each little heart.

The two hearts are each embossed - the Silver with the Chevon EF and the White with the a now retired (Christmas ) Embossing folder that I have forgotten the name of - it is a lovely oval frame that left room for the dasher or tree etc to sit inside, so if you can remember it's name please let me know!!

And the little pink stones are Basic Rhinestones that have been coloured with a Melon Mambo Blendabilities marker.

Card stock: Brushed Sliver, Whisper White, Silver Foil

Designer Series Paper: Vellum Specialty Silver Foil

Ink: Versamark, Melon Mambo Blendabilities marker

Stamp: Good Greetings

Accessories: Big Shot, Chevron EF, Retired (name?) EF, Silver EP, Basic Rhinestones, Silver ribbon, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a moment to go and check out the great sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches and the wonderful cards the Design Team have made to inspire you and maybe you will be the next to enter :-)

Happy stamping until next time

Jan