The Lion Sleeps tonight.......

Hi all.

Woo hoo...it is now cool in Sydney. For those of you overseas, on Friday it hit 45.6 degs C (that's 114 degs F) and we sweltered!!! Friday night a cool change came through and all was slightly better with the world. Sadly however with such extreme temps, bush fires broke out all around NSW and Vic. Our thoughts go out to all fighting the fires and those who have battled.

I still have one last batch of Christmas cards to share, but I thought I would give you a break and share something slightly more fun and goes back to my Punch Art roots. A patient of mine asked if I could create a card for her niece (aged 24) who was going to Africa to volunteer for nearly a year. Her sister had found an appropriate card with a hippo on it, but alas, she could not give 2 of the same card!!!

So, with the animal theme in mind....I went to work. I have a MASSIVE file of punch art animals and card ideas on my laptop. I was inspired by the cards here, here and here. The lion is indeed an animal of Africa, but I loved the idea of it peeking through a window or similar as in the 1st card. I based my Lion on the one from Jackie Topa's Cute Critters here. So...I combined all ideas and came up with this......

 

I will admit to a small happy dance being under taken when this was finished as it turned out MUCH better than expected!!

The lion is based around simple circles and the Blossom Punch. ALL pieces were sponged in the same colour as the CS which really gave some dimension. How can you not smile at a face this cute??

 

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments. I also stamped the leaves from Summer Silhouettes in Versamark on the pink to fill in some blankness (if there is such a word. The "window" is just a series of strips run through a woodgrain EF and then layered.

Thanks for popping by today and I hope this card has made you smile. I will TRY and list all the punches used, but if you have a questions, leave it for me in the comments and I will get back to you.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) More Mustard, Soft Suede, Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black, Pretty In Pink, Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana (ret), Textured White Linen White CS (Non SU)

Ink: (SU) More Mustard, Soft Suede, Soft Suede SWM, Versamark, White Gel Pen

Stamps: (SU) Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Summer Silhouettes

Punches: (SU) Blossom Punch, Boho Blossoms, XL Bird Punch, 1 3/4" circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, 1/4" Circle Punch, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Carla Craft CP8 heart punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Carla Craft Vinca A Punch, Carla Craft 1/8" Circle Punch

Other Bits: Darice Woodgrain EF, Dimensionals

Lynda xx

....and Some More Christmas Cards...

Hey there,

I am still persisting with my Christmas cards, in the hope that it may give you some inspiration for this coming Christmas!!

Today's cards were inspired but this one I saw on someone's Pintrest board. One think I like to do is see a card and, CASE it and then see what other ways I can twist it a little to make it different from the original card. These are my efforts......

Traditional Olive and Red..... (the difference is the embossed backings!!)

Vintage or neutrals.......

 

And a selection all together.

 

These were a hoot to do and went together very easy en masse too.  Thanks for popping by. 1 more lot of Christmas cards to go and then a WHOLE heap of birthdays!!

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Ink: (SU) Old Olive, Real Red, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

Stamps: (SU) Ornament Keepsakes, Lovely Letters 

Embossing Folders: SU Chevron and Fancy Fan EF's, Cuttlebug Snowflake and Wickerweave EF's

Punches and Dies: (SU) Scallop Square Punch, Holiday Ornament Dies, Carla Craft CP20 Square

Other Bits: Dimensionals, Gold and Silver Cord fm Stash.

Lynda xx

More Christmas Cards......

Morning all.

Sadly, uploading pictures on Blogger persists, so I am STILL posting via Firefox....PITA!!!!

I know we are in January, but given that I was such a HUGE slacker before Christmas, I thought I may inspire you for NEXT Christmas with the cards I put together. This year I made the designs relatively easy to mass produce and just changed the colour schemes to suit.

I used the reindeer stamp from the "Teacher's Gifts" post for the cards today. I basically did one in landscape, one in portrait and then in 6 different colour combinations. The red noses were achieved bu colouring in a 2mm adhesive pearl with a red Sharpie marker...too easy.

Olive and Rich Razzleberry

 

 Bashful Blue and Night Of Navy

 

Pink Pirouette and Perfect Plum (yes...v v girly)

 Soft Suede and Early Espresso (to balance out the girly!!)

 

Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant

 

Old Olive and Bravo Burgandy

They were indeed EASY PEASY!!!

Thanks for popping by. More Chrissy cards to Share, but also some 3D fun and some REALLY big news coming...that has indeed been a LONG time coming....hee hee hee.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) as listed above plus Whisper White and Very Vanilla

Ink: (SU) as listed above

Stamps: (SU) Many Merry Messages (ret), Curly Cute, Reindeer stamp fm LSS

Punches: (SU) Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Dotted Scallop Border Border Punch

Other Bits: Dimensionals, Red Sharpie, 2mm pearls fm stash

Lynda xx

1st Cards for the New Year

 Morning all,

I had hoped to get this post up a couple of days ago, but it appears that my techno issues of 2012 are more than slightly hanging over to 2013...this time it is in Blogger....so I am now on a very different and unfamiliar server!!

I have a glut of male birthdays in January, so with this in mind I decided to bolster my male stash. In my blog travels, I saw this magnificent trio. I was hooked and knew I had to give it a go and CASE them....but starting off one at a time.

This is my effort.....

 

I did not have some of the product they used, so I winged it. Warning...if you wish to CASE this card...there are 17 individual pieces and each has to be sponged too...well at least I did anyhow. Here they are close up... (you can click on the image to make larger if you wish)

 

 

 

The background is collaged and then the edge sponged. all the clock components are stuck together and then popped up on dimensionals.

 

I did change the colours for one of the cards, making it Night of Navy instead of Not Quite Navy.

Thanks for popping by today. I hope you all had a magical New Year and I will be back soon with the last of my Christmas cards.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Not Quite Navy, Night Of Navy, Early Espresso, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Well Worn DSP (ret)

Ink: (SU) NQN, NON, Espresso, Crumb Cake

Stamps: (SU) Clockworks, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Punches & Dies: SU Large Scallop Edgelit, CM 1 1/4" Circle, Carla Craft 1", 3/4" and 1/2" circles

EF: Coture Creations Houndstooth

Other bits: Dimensionals, Mini Pewter Brads, Sponges, 2 Way Glue Pen

Lynda xx

Oops...nearly forgot.....

Morning all....and Happy 2013 to everybody!!!

It occured to me just now...that today I am celebrating.....

 

Wow has the time really flown!!! Who'd have thought that after the encouragement and cajoling of a couple of very close blog buddies that 3 years down the track I am still creating and all of you out there are being so very kind with all your comments and I have nearlyhit 23,000 hits......a BIG THANK YOU TO YOU ALL!!!!

 

I have one quick thing to share with you today. It was a very simple gift I received for Christmas this year from one of the secretaries at work. She has received a couple of my creations for birthdays and the like and if there is a big event coming up asks me to make something "speccy" especially for it. This is what I found on my desk....

 

 

The kicker for me however was the card.....it made me smile so much.....

 

 

I wish all out there and inspiring and creative 2013. Thanks you so much for your continues support and comments. I deeply appreciate every one of them.

 

Dream, inspire and create!

 

Lynda xx