I Tried Something Different!!!

My "gunna file" is nearly BUSTING at the seams. I am always "gunna" try this technique, "gunna" do this kind of folded card....but I never seem to get around to it!! Well ladies (and gents if you are out there reading...) I DID something from my GUNNA file....that being Reverse Masking!! Also after many, MANY sad neglected months untouched...I finally inked up a SAB set from this year!!

Some time ago I saw this card in my travels. Now I have Googled and e mailed trying to track down the post or indeed the person that is Trish Hughes...but alas...to no avail....so Trish....I still wanna say a BIG thank you for the inspiration for this card.

Whilst in Singapore, I did some rummaging for Andrea through the craft shops to find her some 1/2 metallic silver pearls. I was successful, and I included MY version of this card to go with the crafting happy mail to her...

Now this reverse mask in on a mini note card. I got to (finally) use my 2 3/8" scallop circle punch to form the outer mask and used a 1" circle punch for the sun/moon mask. From there it was a very (tenuous) job of sponging the background colours and then building the flowers. Lastly, the circle was removed and the bird image was stamped. Slightly close up versions here.....

For a first attempt, I thought it was OK. Andrea was very gracious in her appreciation and liking of the card. In a way it was karmic, because I received the note cards from Andrea as blog candy sometime ago.

May pluck up the guts to try this again at some stage, but I also have ANOTHER gunna file special coming up!! Stay tuned for that one.

Stuff Used:
CS: (SU) Whisper White Mini cards and Envelopes
Ink: (SU) Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, SWM's in Concord Crush, Regal Rose, Pear Pizzaz and Early Espresso
Stamps: (SU) Silhouette Sentiments (SAB 2010), Fresh Cuts
Punches: SU 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, Carla Craft 1" Circle Punch

Lynda xx

Pigeon Pair

Morning all....hope you all got the opportunity to get a little crafty over the weekend???

A couple of weeks back, my work place underwent accreditation. Now if any of you have been through this process, you'll be aware that it is very intense and high stress. Basically it is needed every 3 years in the medical field so that your medical practice/hospital/health facility is seen to be maintaining the standards it should.

This time around was our Medical Centre's first in it's new premises. the old rooms consisted of 5 doctors sharing 2 consulting rooms, NO treatment room (they did not have any nurses till recently) and a very small reception area. Where we are now consists of 6 consulting rooms, a treatment room, 7 doctors, 2 nurses, a physio, blood pathologists....basically MUCH bigger. Policies were written for the treatment room and a lot of other things that did not exist previously.

Happily, we passed accreditation and to say thank you to the Practice Manager and my fellow Practice Nurse (as she did A LOT of the policy work), I made them both a small pamper package. This is what they got.....

Now for all of you playing at home, yes, these are Gable Boxes. There is a tutorial on SCS here. I find them deceptively big in that they only 6" tall (the box bit is 3 1/2" x 2 1/4") but they HOLD a lot!!! This is what I had hidden in mine.....

The box contained from the "Body Shop": a Shea Butter soap, a scented small body lotion and a myriad of Lindt wafer chocolates. Needless to say the girls were wrapped. I made a co-ordinated note card and envelope too. I was ecstatic with the result. I really think I am starting to get the hang of this co-ordination thing??

Thanks for dropping by. If you wanna give someone a "WOW" gift, try a gable box. I altered mine ever so slightly so that it was made form 1 sheet of A4 CS.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Bravo Burgandy, Elegant Eggplant, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Mini Cards and Envelopes fm SU (107312)

Ink: (SU) SWM's in Bravo Burgandy, Elegant Eggplant, Pretty in Pink and Old Olive

Stamps: (SU) Inspired By Nature

Punches: (SU) Wide Oval Punch, Carla Craft CP1 3/16" circle punch

Other bits: SU Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die, Pink Organza/Satin Ribbon fm Stash, Double Sided tape

Lynda xx

CAS Cards

Good morning all. So nice to feel the warmth of the sun is Sydney....have missed it so much.

Recently I had occasion to send a card to a friend who was coming up on the anniversary of their Dad's passing. I wanted to let them know they were being thought of.

I found this card on SCS and was quite taken with its simplicity. Although for a birthday, a change of sentiment could easily fix that.

I made 2 of the cards. 1 for the occasion and a birthday version for the stash. This is my take.

I had to make the cards slightly smaller than the 1/2 A4 sheet size due to the Tulip Embossing frame. Here they are on their own...

As you can probably tell from the glare, the butterflies sit up a bit. So pretty. In my never ending quest to not have 2 cards exactly the same, I used 1/2 pearls on one and light green rhinestones on the other. The change of direction of one of the butterflies also helped create a "creative opportunity" to fix an extra ink spot that appeared!!

I was so taken with the simplicity of this card...I stepped it up with another birthday present that I will be back to show you soon.

Thanks for popping by.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Whisper White, Pear Pizzaz

Ink: (SU) Pear Pizzaz

Stamps: (SU) Elements of Style, Sincere Salutations

Other bits: SU Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die & Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, White 1/2 Pearls, Light Green Rhinestones, Green Grosgrain ribbon from stash, Dimensionals

Lynda xx

I got on the Bandwagon

Yes, yes....I know....I am such a groupie!!!!

I guess I should explain what the heck I am rambling about...shouldn't I??? Do you know when you 'um and ahhhhhh' about whether you should get a stamp or not, then somehow, but way of other talented folk out there showing you the stamp's potential, you end up getting it? Well this is what happened to me and "Sail Away". It is a single stamp and PERFECT for male cards.

These are my first 2 cards with this stamp......

I wanted an old world, vintage feel to them. It is also amazing what you find when you flip a piece of DP over. The paper I used on these cards was on the flip side of the paper I used here. So fitting for a nautically themed card. Here are the cards close up.......

I aged and distressed both these cards the same way. I used the cutter kit to distress all edges on the card and I then kind of fashioned my own labels for the sentiments. I stamped them on a Word Window punch towards one end and the re-punched it to make it smaller. The brown labels are done via the same method but with the Modern Label Punch. Close ups here.....

These have gone into my stash for those male birthdays that seem to come out of nowhere!!! Thanks for popping by and I hope you get the chance to be creative soon.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, River Rock,  Kaisercraft "Timeless Collection" ~ P657 - World map...flip side is the clocks!!)

Ink: (SU) Early Espresso, Soft Suede

Stamps: (SU) Sail Away, Vintage Labels

Punches: (SU) Word Window, Modern Label

Other bits: SU Jumbo Antique Brass Eyelets, Making Memories Mini Pewter Brads, SU Cutter Kit

Lynda xx

Farewell Friend

Morning kind readers and commenters.....

Don't you hate it when a workmate whom you have formed a great working relationship leaves???? I know I do. Sadly we lost our wonderful pathology collector a couple of weeks back. I wanted to give her something small but memorable as a parting gift. I had an appropriate card in my stash, and I was also aware of the fact she was an avid reader...so bookmark was the logical answer!! Here is what I gave to her...

This is a slight change up on the butterfly bookmarks I have done recently in that the top butterfly co-ordinates with the card.

I think I made her cry a bit, which was not my intention, but I knew it hit the spot. Hmmmmmm....I am starting to get the hang of this whole co-ordination thing I think!!

Just a quick one today, lots to (try) and get done. Hope you get creative and a little inky today!!

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Very Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry

Ink: (SU) Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Orchid Opulence (ret)

Stamps: (SU) vintage Vogue, Great Friend (retiring at the end of this month I think!!)

Other Stuff: SU Very Vanilla Grosgrain 5/8" ribbon, 1/2 Pearls fm stash, Dimensionals.

Lynda xx

A Little OTT Perhaps???

Good morning all!!

A courtesy head's up for you all....there are lots of pics in this post! You have been warned.

Miss 7 came home with a party invite for a school mate. She was FULL of ideas as to what she wanted to give her. So, we wrote them down, crossed off the "not quite appropriate" ones and focused on what we could achieve. She wanted the gift to be in her favourite colours (blues, read and greens) and also have butterflies. Definitely doable so far.....and.....she also wanted to give a candle!!! So....off to work I went......

Firstly the card. I had seen this card on SCS and put it to my CASE file. This was our version...

I sponged the edges of the embossed butterfly and mounted both on Dimensionals.

 Of course on the inside...I had to use my "ever so useful" big glittery numbers!!

Next....the reds and greens portion. I had recently acquired the Scallop Envelope Die and a basket was a good choice. We could fill it with red and green things perhaps?? The basket was born....

Now for the candle....

A little while ago through Debbie P's blog, I was introduced to The Craft's Meow stamp set - Butterfly Kisses here. I have used the large image on another candle which I have not yet posted, but I could not resist using it again. This was the candle....

Front



....and back

All together, this is what the present looked like...

Needless to say Miss 7 was over the moon with the gift and I must admit I was pretty chuffed with it too. I thought the wee tags with the birthday girl's initial on it were the perfect finishing touch. After the party, in the playground at school, the Mum of the birthday girl chased me down and told me how much she LOVED her gift. Mission accomplished (phew)!!

Thanks for enduring to the end of the post. Now there are quite a few things used in this set, so if you have any questions....please leave me it in the comments and I will get back to you.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, WW, Springtime Vintage DSP

Ink:(SU) Baja Breeze Not Quite Navy

Stamps: The Craft's Meow - Butterfly Kisses, Jemac "Happy Birthday"(W29B)

Dies: (SU) Bigz Beautiful Butterfly, Scallop Envelope Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet

Punches: (SU) Large and Small Tag Punch, Scallop Border Punch

Misc: Paper Fasteners "Blue Diamante" (fm Minibuckle), SU Designer Buttons - Sherbet, SU Square Lattice Embossing Folder, dimensionals and glue dots

Lynda xx

For A Friend

It is never nice to loose someone close to you, let alone 2 loved ones in quick succession. Sadly, this happened to a blog friend of mine. I wanted to let her know that she was being thought of and send her something to (hopefully) bring a smile to her face. Going through my files, I found this card on SCS. It appealed to me on a couple of levels.

1. It used Elements of Style....one of my fave go to sets at present
2. It had a vintage feel to it which I am luvin' also
3. It gave me a chance to bust out Life Definitions....ironically a set that I purchased second hand from this girl
and
4. There was no Whisper White or Very Vanilla to deal with.

This is my take on the card.......

Now there was a LOT of sponging involved with this card....but well worth the effort. I also changed the top left corner with the definitions as seen here....

The rest of the card is pretty much to the original, except for the wee tag. I did not have the jewellery punch nor the wording to go inside it....so I improvised with the word window punch (which I made smaller by double punching) and the sentiment form Wonderful Favourites.

The small piece of lace is from Singapore and I wrapped a small pewter brad around the end to keep with the vintage feel. Seriously.....pink ribbon?? (hee hee hee)

Now I also had a fair idea that this young lady was partial to the odd coffee.....so this led me to part 2 of the project. I think most of you are familiar with the chocolate pulls, well this was my (much) smaller version with some sachets of flavoured coffee....

and here is the set together........

Thanks for enduring all the pics in this post, but I was so very happy with the way this project turned out.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Crumb Cake (Kraft)

Ink: (SU) Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake

Stamps: (SU) Elements of Style, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Wonderful Favourites

Punches: (SU) Word Window Punch, Carla Craft 1" Circle Punch

Other Bits: Topaz Rhinestones fm stash, Lace fm Singapore, Mini Pewter brads, Chocolate Brown Ribbon fm stash.

Lynda xx

Asian Inspiration

Hi all.

When I was over in Singapore, I KNEW that my in-laws would be helping my DH a lot with kid wrangling and babysitting. I got them a special pressie from Singapore...and of course needed a suitable card to go with it.

Whilst blufing, I came across JUST the card on Kim Tonnet's blog .....in particular this post here. With the help of the tutorial Kim used for her 2nd card on the post, I came up with this......

Was soooooooooooooo happy with the way it turned out.....and made me look like I had put some decent thought into the whole thing...LOL!! I had not given Fresh Cuts an airing for some time and was considering selling it....but now I am having serious second thoughts. Many years back I received some GORJUS 6 x 6 Japanese papers....so these were perfect for this card too.

I used the colours in the Japanese paper to give me the inspiration for the colours on the flourish and background. There is actually a sparkle with metallic gold in the patterned paper. The hardest thing for me was doing her freehand eyes and mouth!!! Thankfully tracing around the base of a 1/4" circle was a great help. Best thing was the in-laws loved it!!

Thanks for popping by. Enjoy your day...whatever it may bring you.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Whisper White, Basic Black, Ballet Blue (ret), Very Vanilla (face), Japanese papers

Ink: (SU) Ballet Blue, SWM's in Rose Red, Brocade Blue (ret), Green Galore (ret) and Basic Black

Stamps: (SU) Fresh Cuts

Punches: As per listed in the tutorial Kim used

Other Bits: Pink Rhinestones fm stash

Lynda xx

Gratuitous Parental Post!!!!

No craft things this post....just gross parental pride!!!

A few weeks back Master 10 (nearly 11) had his sports carnival. It was freezing cold and very VERY overcast. I arrived in time to see him run 1 event, but I had heard rumblings that he had done well in other events too. The thought of him even making 800m was a little overwhelming....but he lined up for it with all the other boys. Long story short....he came in 2nd...and I will admit to perhaps having a little moisture around my eyes.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and he comes home very excited with the news that he has made it to the Zone Carnival at Homebush for the 100m and 800m. He then presents me with these.....

No less than 5 ribbons......2nd for the high jump and 800m and 3rds for the 100m, 200m and relay race. I was so very proud of him. He has since had the Zone Carnival this week and was up against kids that train and do Little Athletics (which he does not). I was so proud of his efforts and said to him that I would share this with you all.

Thanks for allowing me this wee parental boast.

Take care and create freely.

Lynda xx

Nicest Surprise

Yes...I am still here...although very infrequently and for that I am so sorry. There has been so much going on under our roof......mania has taken over with its close cousin chaos!!

Most of you I am sure are aware of the delightful Andrea Lowcock. Over a week ago (and I know I am so v v slow to do this) she passed on this to me....

I had to had to have a giggle at this...cause style is one thing I am rarely accused of!!!

Now as usual...there are things you have to do....and one is share 5 things about me...so here goes....

1. I am a passionate St George (Dragons) supporter

2. I so love Dirty Dancing (the movie) and watching it is my guiltiest pleasures

3. I am a "gunna" hoarder. I have lots of projects and techniques that I am gunna do...but never seem to get around to!!!

4. I am really loving "vintage" themed/looking crafts at the moment.

5. It IS really embarrassing getting sprung by your kids rocking out to 80's songs in the kitchen!!!

Now I also have to pass this onto 5 folks whom I believe have style.....

1. Debbie P

2. Kerry Bunting

3. Helen Williams

4. Katie Ridden

5. Patrice (I have just realised I cannot recall your surname...oops!!)

All of these uber talented ladies have amazing blogs and are wonderful talents. Please check them out if you feel so inclined.

Off to more madness......stay sane.

Lynda xx