Wednesday 29 November 2017

CAS Thanks

It's my turn to post at Die Cut Divas.  Our theme is "Thanks"


A2Z scrapbooking are the main retailer of Hero Arts Digital kits and today I have used two different ones to make my card.   



I do my digital editing in Microsoft Word.  It gives me lots of options when using the images - such as adding shadows (as I did with my Thanks sentiment) and to change the colour and size of my images (as I did with the flowers).

I used the following digi sets
Say it in Pieces
Petty Blossoms Printable  

I snipped one of the blossoms and pasted it onto my page.  Then resized, recoloured and printed it onto some Canson Bristol card.  I used a Lil'Inkers die to cut it out.  I used Zig markers and my Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to colour (lots of sparkle in real life) .  A few Nuvo drops in Rhubarb Crumble and it done.

You still have a few days to join our challenge over at Die Cut Divas.  

Tuesday 28 November 2017

Christmas Ornament

When I got my new Catherine Pooler Spa inks I also got the Wonderful Time of the Year stamp.  I've used the sentiment from the set, but today I'm sharing a card I made using one of the ornaments in the set


I paired the ornament with the branches from a Sunny Studio set.  Just love these big full branches.  I stamped the ornament in Royal Treatment and Daydream blue.   I used some Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen to move the blue ink around.  I used a gold gel pen to add some more colour.  I did some splatters with the gold sparkle pen.  The sentiment is from a Penny Black stamp set. 

Thanks for stopping by.  

Sunday 26 November 2017

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

... making Christmas cards is always the most wonderful time of the year....
I was over at StampNation when I saw Melissa Miller's card using the new Most Wonderful Time of the Year stamp from CP Designs as a focal point on her card.   This is what she made....


And here are the two cards that I was inspired to do.
 





Can you see where I was inspired?   First up was the shaped panel.  For mine I used the corner of a couple of different scalloped dies.  I had a pile of the stamped plaid backgrounds the day my inks and stamps arrived so I pulled a couple out.  I also used Melissa's idea of doing some ombre stamping.  For the green I used Eucalyptus and Green Tea Inks.   I did some sparkle embossing (I can never get this to emboss nicely) and then stamped the little bitty snowflake in the Green Tea.   For my Purple card, I used Flirty Fuchsia and Royal Treatment and some Silver glitter ink for the snowflakes. 

And while I had the StampNation site open, I decided to take up Erika and Ingrid's challenge... to CASE either Erika's card or Ingrid's CASE of Erika's card.... quite the "Challonge"  I chose to CASE Erika's card

 Erika's card above


And my CASE of it.  Using Spa Inks and stamps and dies from the Candy Cane Lane collection (from last year)   You can see I used the same design,. 

Hubby has arrived safely down south and today went for a warm up walk around Lake Hayes.  He sent me this photo today that he took while they were out on the walk

Stunning scenery.  



Saturday 25 November 2017

Christmas cards galore!

It's been a few days since my last post and I've been busy... making a few quick cards.   So take note... lots of photos

First up a lovely teal poinsettia card inspired by Jennifer McGuire and my friend Kim



And two more Gnome cards



A couple of Sunny Studio Christmas Bells



and some Christmas Pine cones...


Hope you have enjoyed checking these out.  Please let me know what you think.

I'm off to play with my new Catherine Pooler inks and some stamps that arrived on Thursday evening.    I've got the whole week to play (after work that is!) as hubby is way doing a three day tramp down in the south of the South Island, with his brother and a group of his friends.  They flew down today and are coming back on the 3rd - Sunday week.   So lots of play time - might even resort to takeaways for dinner!

Tuesday 21 November 2017

Black and White Photos

Over at Facebook I have accepted the challenge set by my friend Prue, to share 7 days of a Black and White photo.... No people, no explanations...

Today was Day 1
So here I am doing a bit of explanation.   This was taken this morning of my window bench.  I have the flower sitting there next to an old coffee grinder and my cooking scales. 

While I was out on my walk today I took several Black and White photos that I might use over the next few days. 




It was awesome to take such notice of what is around me while I was out. looking for the ideal image to take in black and white

Looking forward to finding more images over the next week. 

Saturday 18 November 2017

Furry Friend and Poinsettias

I'm building up my stock of Christmas cards and the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp this week is "Furry Friends"   I have a stamp from a NZ coy called Kiwi Stamps that is a really cute little kitty



 The sentiment goes with the stamp and is also from the same company.    I used a doily that I die cut from white card with some patterned paper for a background.  I stamped and used Copic Markers with some Copic blender on a rag to give some texture to the kitty.   I added a lot of Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to the fur on the hat.   So this is entered into the challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Over the last weekend I did some watercolouring while I was away.... I stamped and white embossed a Poinsettia from a Rosie's Studio stamp set onto some Bristol card.  I did one red, one teal....




With both of the painting I used a Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to do the colouring.  In real life the flowers totally shine.  I used the same design for both cards.  The sentiment on the red card was white embossed (Kaisercraft stamp) and the one on the teal card is from Stamp It (an Australian company that no longer exists) 

I'm entering the teal one into The Flower Challenge - CAS  challenge.
 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you get some crafting time in this weekend.   Not a lot for me so far,  too busy doing chores and the last of the Christmas shopping done.   Hopefully tomorrow 
 

Thursday 16 November 2017

Peace Christmas Card

Today I have a card to share I made for the latest Southern Girls Challenge Blog.  Our challenge theme is Let's get Inky -use Sprays and or Inks.    I used a die from our sponsor Krafter's Cart.



I used some Pixie Powders to make my background .  I added lots of different colours and layers till I got what I liked.   I trimmed my piece down a bit and used the left over piece to die cut the Peace from a Hero Arts Stamp and Die set.  I layered the die onto some white card slightly offset.  The rest of the sentiment is from the same set.   The bird die was supplied by Meetu at Krafters Cart (no longer available but do go and visit her online store - it's full of superb supplies)  I used some glittery fun foam to cut out the dove.   Added a little die cut twig. 

So get your inks and sprays out and join us at Southern Girls Challenge. 

Wednesday 15 November 2017

Festive Wishes

Chalk'n'stock has it's monthly challenge under way.  As usual our challenge is Anything Goes and Bugaboo are our sponsors.    For our challenges you can now use any medium you wish.

For my card I chose to use a sweet little deer image.


I embossed the red background.    This card is a little smaller than the usual size card but it suits the smaller size.

Do come and join us at Chalk'n'stock

Tuesday 14 November 2017

Happy Birthday to my Son

Yesterday was my son's 29th birthday.  He is my youngest and I was able to go visit him last night to give him his card and the weed eater we go as his present.

Here is the card I made him



I used a variety of two sets of Altenew grey inks and the Altenew Halftone Circles.    He loved it.
Entering this into the For the Boys challenge at City Crafter Challenge Blog.

I also made him a cake as well.  Decorating cakes is not my forte... but I gave it ago.

 The cake was a chocolate one and turned out very yummy.    His partner also made a cake... a gin and lemon cake which was also very yummy.

And here is a collage of photos of have of Kieran growing up


I am so very proud of how my young man has grown up to such a handsome and delightful man.



Thanks for stopping by so I could share my proud Mum moment.

Monday 13 November 2017

Thanks with Die Cut Divas

It's my day over at Die Cut Divas,

Our theme this month "Give Thanks"  and our sponsor is a2z Scrapbooking.  Did you know that a2z are the sole retailer for Hero Arts digital images.



Today I have used a Digital set called "Chalkboard Frames and Messages" to make my card


For my background I used Hero Arts Asian Flowers stencil with some HA pale purple and blue inks.   I printed and fussy cut the Thanks label.  My butterflies are from an older Hero Arts stamp and die set.  I used Copic markers to colour them.   My card base was made with a Catherine Pooler Designs die.

Do come and join us with your Thanks cards and projects.

Entered into the following challenge
Come and Get It challenge  - Thank You/Thankful

Thursday 9 November 2017

Mood Board inspiration at StampNation

It's time for another challenge at StampNation.   This time round we have a Mood Board Inspiration



Here's a sneak peek at my card


Full reveal is over at the StampNation

I also did a tag for challenge.


Supplies:
Stamps: Christmas Carol (Kaisercraft)
Inks: Versamark ink (Tsukineko) Icing on the cake (Catherine Pooler Designs)
Paper: White (generic) Patterned Paper (Christmas This & That- Echo Park) Black (scrap) Vellum
Accessories: Cuttlebug Distress Embossing Folder, Nuvo Drops (Light Gold), Liquid Platinum embossing powder (Ranger), Poinsettia Die (Kaisercraft) Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers, ) Stitched circle die (Simon Says Stamp)

thanks for stopping by

Sunday 5 November 2017

Some "Me" Time

This weekend over at StampNation, Catherine is having a Care Weekend! And she was encouraging us to have some "me" time - to refill our personal tanks.   So I decided to carry on my usual Saturday afternoon "me" time and do some crafting  - doing some cards just for the fun of it.

First up was another Gnome card for Christmas


I'm in love with these really cute gnomes. 

Second one was playing with a doily die I recently picked up for $10.   It is a Star Doily and I thought it would make a great snowflake if I removed the outside rim.   So I gave it a try with some sparkly fun foam.... and it turned out awesome

 A simple white embossed sentiment and it was done. 

It was nice to have no deadlines and just to have fun.