Challenges Galore!

Hi all.

Over the coming posts I will be showing you some of the cards (and 1 project) I recently completed for the latest series of Inkspirations4U. I had a lot of fun doing these and once again went outside the comfort zone to complete them.

Our very first challenge was to gain inspiration from this picture.....

Obviously a baby's room...so a baby card was needed. Some of the gals had produced some beautiful projects and I wanted to do something a little different. I had seen some beautiful side step cards similar to this one here. This was my card from the baby's room......

I drew on the elements of the colour, set of drawers, texture in the velvet seat and the teddy bear in the corner. I was so paniced about trying one of these cards out, I made a paper one first and wrote all the measurements all over it!! The texture is given by stamping the CS with the Weathered BGS in Versamark and then sponging all edges in Certainly Celery. The draw knobs have Crystal Effects on them to make them stand out a tad more.

The cut outs on the draw base was achieved with the Curly Label Punch. I was very happy with the end result. If you have not tried a Side Step card before, there is a tutorial on SCS, but I based my card on this one.

Thanks for popping by again.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White

Ink: (SU) Certainly Celery, Versamark, Close to Cocoa (ret), Rose Red SWM

Stamps: (SU) Weathered BGS, Button Bear (ret), Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Punches: (SU) Curly Label, Modern Label, Word Window

Other Bits: Crystal Effects, Pink 1/2 pearls.

Lynda xx



Baby Shower Fun

Given my age now, bay showers are not an event I go to very often. So, I was delighted when I received and invite for one. things were made a little easier by the fact the Mum-to-be knew the sex of the bubba (a girl)....so the creative cogs went into overdrive. The only thing I knew that I coukd not avoid was the inevitable....PINK!!!

So, to deal with this first....I altered the tones a little and used Pale Plum, Rose Red and Sahara Sand. This is what the shower gift looked like all together....

Given that all the gifts are for the baby, I made a suitcase with chocolates for Skye (Mum to be). Being female and pregnant...I thought chocolate was a fairly safe bet.

The card I was especially proud of as I had the pram image bouncing around in my head for a while. Here's a close up of the card....

I managed to carry the theme of the scallop border punch right throught the whole card, even fluking a similar shape on the tag with the sentiment.

The pram is made with a Nestabilities Scallop Circle with a 1/4 cut away and then embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. The Scallop Trim around the edge of the circle I learnt from Andrea Buckland here. It is a great technique, but does take a bit of practice. I HAVE to make mention of the pram spokes. You know those purchases...the impulse ones for rainy days....well these were one of them. Target were THROWING a bucketload of scrapbooking stuff out and there were 16 of this style of brad....for 25 cents!!!! Could not go past that at all!! A little bit of time down the track...and how perfect do they look??? They even sparkle!!

In putting the suitcase together, I used the same DP as the card, as well as Pale Plum and Rose Red. The wee pink flower brads finished off the handle just right.

Now I know you are all in total shock and disbleief that I have co-ordinated a pink gift set, but rest assured, things will return to their normal hues and tones from the next post onwards. Thanks for enduring a detailed post.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Pale Plum (ret), Rose Red, Whisper White, Sahara Sand, My Memories Scrapbook Paper # 140699

Ink: (SU) Rose Red

Stamps: (SU) Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Punches: (SU) Scallop Border Trim Punch and Word Window Punch, Carla Craft 1" and 3/4" circle punches and CP2 Spiral punch (Pram Handle), CM 1 1/4" circle punch (suitcase)

Other Bits: Nestabilities Classic Circles, Scallop Circles and Fancy Tags, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing folder, Vintage Plum and small white roses fm stash, Flower and wheel spoke brads fm stash, pink 1/2 pearls fm Bizzy Becs.

Lynda xx

Thinking on my Feet....

Hey there!!

During my recent "rest" period....I had an onslaught of birthdays....some of which I am still to catch up on!!! One thing I did do whilst resting was sketch a LOT of card layout ideas. One of them is featured here.

One of the secretaries I use to work with had a birthday in early March. I had intended to do her a suitcase (as shown in my previous post), but alas ran out of time adnd steam. I HAD the chocolates...just not the wrapping...so what to do??? I had made some fridge magnet calendars for the gals at work, so I co-ordinated what I had.......and this is what greeted her for ther birthday......

If all else fails....use cellophane!!!! True...not as intriguing as a suitcase, but I still think it looked ok...for a last ditch OMG....what-am-I-gunna-do effort. As you can see...T have done a diagonal cut for the DP and edged it with the Pinking Hearts Border Punch. Just adds that bit of interest I think.

It is also no secret that I LOVE (as most do) the Bliss stamp set. There is such detail in the flourish and the butterfly as seen here....

Margaret DID love her pressie (phew). You will see quite a few of this card's layout over the coming weeks...as I miscalculated and actually got DOUBLE the amount I needed as (dah) you get 2 cards from the one rectangle!!

Thanks for popping by.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Elegant Sioree DSP

Ink: (SU) Baja breeze, Soft Suede

Stamp: (SU) Bliss (SAB '11)

Other Bits: Pinking Hearts Border Punch, Dimensionals, Chocolate satin ribbon, Mini Calendars

Lynda xx



Packing it.......

Anyone who knows me well, knows I love boxes. I love to make them, giving gifts in them and the smile that they bring. Kerry Bunting showcased a cute-to-boot box here not so long ago. I immediately knew what had to be done (apart from make one that is). I have had a BGSin my hoard for such a long time....circa 1998 SU called World Map and it is great for male cards. Having said that...this is the 1st time I have used it, having owned it for 18 months...but shhhhhhh...OK!!!

I wanted to try and capture the look of one of those old suitcases that you see on the carousel at the airport that has been around the world a couple of times. This is what I came up with.......

I think the BGS worked a treat!!! I also stamped the sides of the inset too to complete the look.

I distressed and sponged all the edges of the straps and circles and finished it off with a couple of pewter brads. Did I also mention that it holds 6 Ferrero Rocher chocolates?????


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Oh yeah...and when made properly....the straps do go ALL the way around the bag!!! The tutorial for it can be found here. You may have to hit the "translate" button to get the English version.
 
I again wish to say a sincere thank you for all the well wishes and enquiries as to my pesky neck. For those of you who did not catch up...the Neurologist has said I can RETUEN to crafting (BIG happy dance there), but steady as she goes and I have to have an MRI later next month. It's GOOD to be crafting again.
 
Stuff used:
CS: (SU) Very Vanilla, Soft Suede,
Ink: (SU) Soft Suede
Stamps: (SU) World Map BGS (1998 SU)
Other bits: Pewter Brads, 1 1/4" circle punch
 
Lynda xx

It's Award Season!!!

Bonus post today.......

The universe is a very funny thing!! Last night....I posted the Leibster Award and passed it to Patrice....she posts )a scheduled post) this AM and awards ME!!!!! Wow. She has been kind enough to bestow upon me.....

Now...I was awarded this last year here........so if you missed the things last time around...you can revisit them. I will however pass this onto a new group of Stylish ladies....

Tanya Kitto

Leonie Schroder

Lisa Bullock

Kerry Bunting - But this is her OTHER non SU site with jaw dropping creations!!!

Madonna Dunn

All these ladies have MEGA creative style and flair. Check them out!!!

Lynda xx

An Award

I will open this post with an apology to the lovely person who gave me this award as it was bestowed upon me nearly a week ago.

The Divine and SUPER creative Helen Williams was kind enough to pass on this......

Loosely, it translates, from German, into "Dearest Blog".  The premise behind this award is to draw attention to new blogs, or blogs with fewer than 3,000 followers.

To fulfil and do justice to this award I must...

1- Create a post where I blog about the Liebster award & reveal my 3-5 blog picks (check)


2- Let the honorees know that I selected them (check)

3- Copy & paste the blog award on my blog (check)

Now I would pass this forward to some very talented ladies, whose blogs are an inspiration.

I would like to pass on this award to the following ladies...

Madeline Morcelo (Inkspirations4U founder and amazing creative soul)

Katie Ridden (whom I met thru We Stamp for Lara....and is as equally as mad as I!!)

Patrice (whom I came across whilst randomly blurfing one day...and love cruising by her blog)

Sheri (is in Canada and is an amazing gal with punches!!)

Christine (the sister of a blog fave of mine...Andrea (EnchantINK) who I love to visit and see her version of things and life!!)

Thanks so much Helen for spreading the LURVE. Have a wonderful evening all...and rest assured....normal postings will resume soon!!

Lynda xx

Elements of Sympathy

Hi there all who pop by!

Today is a somewhat sombre post as sadly the FIL of one of the gals I play neball with passed away suddenly. We all know how difficult sympathy cards are to do, let alone MALE sympathy cards. I was trawling through my CASE cards file and came across this one from the immensely talented Tashana Lundy. I decided very quickly and came up with my version.

As you can see mine is slightly different. I dropped the ribbon (being for a male) and I also did not sponge the edge of the Nesties die (forgot in the haste to get it done!!) I also did not use Close to Cocoa, instead using Sahara Sand. I DID however shadow the flourish, stamping it in Sahara Sand first and then the Soft Suede. Here tis up close.

You also may notice that the wing of the bird is outside the cut shape of the die. I owe the learning of this technique to Debbie Pamment. She has done a tutorial for it here. Debbie has MASTERED this technique and uses it on quite a few of her cards. I have a LONG way to go...but at least now I have a handle on it. The large flower image from the stampset is stamped in Sahara...seen here.

I am happy with the way this turned out and I think it is fitting of a male sympathy card.

Stuff Used:
CS: (SU) Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla
Ink: (SU) Soft Suede, Sahara Sand
Stamps: (SU) Elements of Style
Other bits: Nestabilities Labels 8

Looking very much forward to seeing the Neurologist next Tues. Thanks so much for all of your well wishes and messages of support.

Lynda xx

Punch Fun.....Again.......

I was looking back through my photos and found a card I had not posted!!! It is inly abt a month old...and was put together as a challenge card for Inspirations4U. Madeline set this......

I had to to a slight substitution, as I did not have Early Espresso or Marina Mist, so I used Chocolate Chip & Bashful Blue. For some odd reason, my mind went to nature. This is what I came up with...

Between you and I....it turned out a lot better than I had hoped. I was inspired but a version of this card here on SCS. To do the fence I cut 3cm wide strips of CS and then fed it in throught the top (underside) of the Small Tag punch so that just the top of the fence was nipped. hope that makes sense?? I then ran it through the Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug folder. I also sponged the clouds using a scallop circle punch. You can find the tutorial here. Looks better close up!!

This was the first time I had given my owl "wings"....also with the scallop circle punch, which also happened to be used to do the bushes on the fence. The vest on the owl was done by stamping the image from Itty Bitty Backgrounds onto the CS and then cutting it out as I did bot have any suitable blue DP.

           

This was such a fun and happy card. I hope it makes you smile too.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Whisper White,Old Olive DP (ret)

Ink: (SU) Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip

Stamps: (SU) Itty Bitty Backgrounds, So Happy For You (SAB '11 set)

Punches: (SU) Owl Punch, Small Tag Punch, Scallop Circle Punch

Other bits: Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

Lynda xx