Nothin' Says Love Like.....

Morning all,

 

 

Now...today is February 14th!! Usually I do not partake in all things Valentine's, but this year I was asked to make a card for a friend for his wife!! (have to give him props for at least being somewhat organised I guess.)

 

I have recently (gone a little nuts) acquired many new play things from the new mini catalogue. One of them was the "Hearts a Flutter" stamp set and co-ordinating dies. Seriously...it makes things oh so easy. I have been cruising a lot around the creative world as well and sort inspiration from 2 cards here and here.

 

I basically did a Direct CASE of Kerry's card, but added and extra matt of Pool Party just to bolster it a little bit, this is my version of Kerry's card.....

 

 

I also got to use some more of the SAB benefits (the Pool Party Ribbon) and the wee "Love" sentiment is from the Ciao, Baby! stamp set and cut out with the Petite Curly Label Punch available free with SAB and a $100 purchase. The hearts and tag sit on the embossed area on dimensionals.

 

 

The second option was based on Rebecca's card. I loved the idea that she had of the banners and hearts and then the simple sentiment. I did however change the colour palate to a bolder black, red and white.

 

 

 

I also dry embossed the WW background and the white hearts. I had the wee red heart buttons FOREVER in my stash...and they suited it perfectly!!

 

 

 

Last "romantic" notion I have to share with you is my gift to the Mum's I sit with on a Thursday afternoon whilst our daughter's dance. Lots of laughter is always had and we quite often share stories about the MEN in our lives....and how crap they are sometimes about certain occasions!! With that in mind...and a little help from Angie Kennedy Juda here...I made these. I figured with a girl you cannot go wrong with handbags and chocolate right??

 

 

I used the Sycamore Street DSP (avail for SAB) with the matching ribbon for the handles. The closures are a wee heart (der for Valentine's day) and a tag from the Tiny Tags stamp set. Here they are from the back and close up on the closure.....

 

 

 

The purses hold 2 Hershey Miniatures quite comfortably. The other wonderful thing about these purses is that from one 3" strip of 12 x 12 DSP you can make 2 purses with NO WASTE. Gotta love that!! I have decided to add these wee purses to the ATCAS #6 challenge here - being Candy....as the bag does hold candy, so I hope that is qualifies!!

 

Thanks so much for enduring a very detailed and picture laiden post. I hope you got some inspiration form it. Again, as I have used sooooo much new stuff, I will try and list it all. The items in italics are available for SAB. Thanks for popping by.

 

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Primrose Petals, Pool Party, Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango, island Indigo, Sycamore Street DSP, Red Glitter CS - non SU

Ink: (SU) Primrose Petals, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Basic Black, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango

Stamps: (SU) Hearts a Flutter, Loving Thoughts, Itty Bitty Banners, Ciao Baby!, Tiny Tags

Dies, Punches, Framelits and Embossing Folders: (SU) Petite Curly Label Punch, Jewellery Tag Punch, Banners Framelits, Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Adorning Accents EF, Chevron EF, Carla Craft CP2 heart, Carla Craft CP8 Hearts

Other Bits: Sycamore Street Ribbon Pack, Dimensionals, Mini Gold Brads from stash, Red Heart Buttons

 

Lynda xx

Walk Like an Egyptian.......

Morning all.

Apologies now to all for putting the idea of the song in your heads....but when you see the card...you will get the title!!!

I was asked to make a card by one of the doctors at work (yes...he is one of my best customers!!). He was playing the part of Best Man for 2 friends of his that were getting married. To paraphrase him, I was given the brief of......"They are both Egyptian, doctors and they have a VERY good sense of humour. Make me an Egyptian themed wedding card....and take the mickey out if it if you wish!!" How could I say no??

Once again, Google cooped a real work out as to what ancient Egyptians wore when getting married and the common theme was gold, turquoise and a LOT of jewellery....so the seeds were sewn. I wanted to make the couple with the SU Owl Punch and after much trial and error, This was the final result........

 

Needless to say, there is a LOT of punch art and a lot of sponging on this card. The camel was CASED from Ellen Kemper here. I did however downsize the camel (used Lg Oval punch instead of Wide Oval Punch, Small oval replacing large etc) as her camel was slightly too big for my card. The blanket and hump for the camel was achieved by cutting out the smallest Fancy Flower Framelit and then punching it to the "hump" shape with the small oval punch. The belly tie was a left over petal cut straight to the centre. Does that make sense? The sand beneath was sponged using a post it as a mask. Given that the newlyweds had no card to drive off into the sunset in, I hung the "Just married" sign off the back off the camel!! It was generated from the computer.

 

 

 

 

 The bride and the groom were another challenge altogether! here they are close up......

 

The groom's Pharaoh-like hat is the chest of the owl turned upside-down. I used a wide oval punch and a 1"circle punch to achieve the Cleopatra-esque hair. The eyes ideally would have been almond shaped, but hard to get even. I ran a black SWM around the edge for the "eye liner" look.

 

Finally (and thanks for bearing with me) the pyramid. I masked off the section for the pyramid and lightly sponged it with River Rock ink. Then, to get the "brick" look, I carefully cut with a craft knife bricks from the sticky part, Put that across the top, and then sponged each layer in Crumb Cake ink row by row...offsetting as I went.

 

 

I received some feedback about a week later. Apparently the card was a hit (apparently I am also to expect a phone call form the bride when she is back from her honeymoon)!! The doctor that ordered it LOVED it and the bride and groom got such a giggle

 

Thanks for enduring a detailed post. I will try to list all things used, but if you feel I have missed something or have a question please leave it in the comments with an e mail contact and I will get back to you. Thanks for popping by.

 

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Whisper White, Close to Cocoa (ret), Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede,, Pumpkin Pie Textured Taken with Teal (ret), non SU brushed gold CS, turquoise embossed paper and groom's chest piece were scrap donations from another bride's invitation!!

Ink: (SU) Baja Breeze (sky), So Saffron and Sahara Sand (sand), River Rock, Crumb Cake, Black SWM

Stamps: NONE!!!!

Punches/Dies: SU Owl Punch, Large/small/extra small oval punches, 1/4", 1/2" circle punches, Boho Blossom Punch (camel's hair tuft), Word Window Punch, Fancy Flower Framelit dies

Other Bits: Latte 1/2 pearls from stash, Post it notes (lots of them), Dimensionals, Metallic Gold Cord

 

Lynda xx

 

Perfect Punch Art Pooch

Hi all,

Once again, apologies for the length of time in between posts. There has been MUCH going on under our roof. The children went back to school this week (Miss 8 into year 4 and Master 12 started HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!) where does the time go....seriously??

Now I have also been dropping some hints recently about some BIG NEWS that was happening....and well finally it came to be (and for all those incredibly funny folks out there NO I am not pregnant!!) On the 23rd of January, I (finally) signed up and I am now a Stampin' Up Demonstrator!!! I have had to read a lot, learn much more about my computer 9than perhaps I would have liked to) and I have had the UBER patient Angela Sargeant as my mentor and guide. I cannot thank her enough for helping me through all the oopses and lingo.

Now....onto the card. Also in the time since last posting, a friend of mine had a little boy who turned 1!! Such an occasion cannot go by unheralded. I have had this card in my CASE file for some time and thought it perfect for the birthday boy. It is punch art, which of course I LOVE, so it was an easy decision. I stepped up certain elements of the card and this is what I came up with.....(you can click on the image to make it bigger)

 

I just think punches are the best. Whilst I enjoy my stamping, punch art is what I did before I stamped and it is something I can combine with stamping with ease. The other huge effort in this card is that I used all brights...with the exception of pooch of course!!

I stamped the large banner from Pennant Parade in the same colour as the "flag" and then spaced them out across the card. Light bulb moment came when I realised that the birthday boy's name had 4 letters....so I cut out the letters and the #1 in gold glitter board and snap...easy peasy. A couple of dimensionals here and there and it was done.

 

 

Thanks for popping by, especially if you are visiting via Beth Beard's blog. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this card. Beth and I got to know each other via a crafting forum and she has been an amazing friend and supported, even though we have never met (given she is in the USA and I am here is Australia. It is a cool near 25000kms between us, if you believe Google Maps here. I hope you can drop by from time to time.

 

Stuff Used:

CS:(SU) Pacific Point, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Basic Black

Ink: (SU) Rich Razzleberry, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Chocolate

Stamps: (SU) Pennant Parade

Punches: (SU)2/12 inch Circle, Blossom Builder Punch, Pennant Builder Punch, Ornament Punch, Owl Punch (small circles for eyes)

Other bits: SU Chevron EF, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF, Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet, Ice Cream Parlour Buttons (ret), Gold Glitter CS

 

Lynda xx

 

 

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