This and that

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. One thing I've ticked off my to-do list is finish making my Christmas cards but I haven't sent them out yet. They've been sitting there waiting to be written in and, in some cases, mailed off and I've finally gotten off my backside and started.




I went with what I thought would be a simple card to make (similar to this one), but just doing 16 was a right pain! Each card takes almost half a metre of ribbon, so I went through 8 metres of red ribbon for this exercise. Thank goodness for the Bow-Easy, which is a fantastic invention that I can use to tie 16 bows in under 5 minutes. The paper on the front of the card is shimmery paper, but you can't see the sheen in the photos. Pretty paper, though. I can't imagine how people mass produce cards, as I don't have the patience. Take Jayne Mercer, for instance, who made over 300 cards! That's an insane number of cards to make! Then again, I've never been a one to give cards for birthdays etc, which I find hilarious seeing that I'm so into card making now. :D

Also, lookee what I bought!


I was given an Eckersley's (art supply store) voucher for my birthday last year and I had to use it before i expired. I normally buy loose patterned paper from there and you had to use the whole $20 at one go. Anyway, the amount bought be exactly 3 Copic Ciao markers so I gave in and bought them, adding in the extra for a colourless blender. I've yet to colour stamped images with them, but they blend together so easily and I love 'em!

As an aside, I was told two weeks ago that the lab wasn't awarded enough grants this year and they can't afford to keep me after my contract expires at the end of January, so I'm hunting high and low for a job. It's a bit difficult in Adelaide, as the market is smaller than cities such as Melbourne or Sydney and about half of the jobs advertised aren't within my area of expertise, so I don't qualify. So, the last two weeks have been a roller coaster and I'm really looking forward to the Christmas/new year break! I can't believe it's nearly the end of 2009!! Even though a lot has happened (like taking up stamping!), it feels like I've blinked and it's whipped by. Oh, another major thing that's happened is that I've finally gotten my learner driver's permit! This is a huge thing, as I'm 10 years over the age at which we can start learning to drive. Go me! :)

Anyway, enough of waffling on. I'd best get the housework done before I run out of weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Sketch challenge #17

It's Makeesha's final sketch challenge for the year and I can't believe 2009 is nearly over!

I kept the card quite simple and used PTI's Everyday Button Bits, Polka Dot Basics 2 and Birthday Basics stamp sets. I hope everyone has a merry christmas and a fantastic new year and many many thanks to Makeesha and the design team for all their inspiration throughout the year! Thanks for stopping by. :)

The case of the vanishing post...

I posted a blog entry yesterday and it definitely went up because someone else was able to view it......but it has since vanished into the vastness of the internet, never to be seen again. Oh dear. I'll try posting it again and see if it disappears again. Thankfully I wrote up the entry the night before and saved it (which I don't normally do!) so I won't have to write the entire post out again.
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I feel like a child let loose in a toy shop!!! I arrived home from work on Monday to find a parcel had arrived for me, and look at what was inside!


This is the second lot of stuff that I've been saving up to buy and bless my Aunt for having the patience to put up with all the boxes arriving on her doorstep and for posting the items all the way here! In fact, I had written off the non-PTI items as it looked like they had vanished in the postal system. I didn't know they had arrived at her place until I opened the box. So a massive THANK YOU to my Aunt for re-packing everything and posting not one, but two boxes over to Adelaide!! I can't wait to start playing with the PTI stamps, especially Giga Guide Lines, and I have so many ideas whirling in my head already. I just with I could take a day of leave off work just to stamp to my heart's content! :)

I came across some interesting 12 by 12 paper over the weekend, and bought two sheets to make cards with them. They're by a company called Stamp-It, and they have various different prints (eg. roses, tulips) on shimmery paper. The shop only had white tiger lily printed paper, so I bought them and made a really simple set of 9 cards, of which I took a photo of 4.


I like the simple and clean look, but in hindsight I realize that white lilies remind me of funerals (which didn't 'click' at the time). So now they look rather funeral-y to me. I planned on giving this set away with envelopes, but now I'm thinking twice. Opinions, anyone? I'd be glad to hear what you think. I took another photo to try and capture the shimmery-ness of the paper.


I think I'll try and get the paper with tulips on them, nice and colourful. We'll see. Anyway, thanks for looking!! :)

Sketch challenge #16

I was absolutely gobsmacked when I went to Keesh's site to have a look at the latest challenge, to find she'd picked my card as the winning entry for the inspiration challenge number #15!! I'm stunned, and thrilled to bits at the same time. :) Thanks Keesh!

And on to Keesh's latest sketch challenge.

I pulled out PTI's Everyday Button BIts set again, using heart shaped buttons as flowers.


I wasn't planning to add the strip of ribbon, but I wanted to hide the 'join' between the circle element and the saffron band. It's very similar to this card, down to the butterflies and the DSP. Thanks, Keesh, for another fabulous challenge!

All you need is love

I couldn't resist playing with PTI's Everyday Button Bits set again, this time using heart shaped buttons to make flowers. I used an older sketch from Keesh and made it into a card for a friend of mine who is getting married in 2 weeks.




Not your typical wedding card, but I love the little heart-shaped buttons. And here I was thinking I wouldn't be using this sentiment at all. Have I mentioned previously how much I love this set? :)

I made a card for a friend's 25th birthday and he had a cake in the shape of a pirate ship, so I thought it'd be fun to make him a pirate-themed card. I borrowed the SU! stamp set Ahoy Matey (retired) from a friend and it was fun using it, particularly the matching wheel.


I was colouring the little fellow in using my aquapainter and used a black SU! marker to simulate stubble on his face. In my impatience, I didn't think to let the cardstock dry and the ink bled into the paper, making him look like he had fungus growing on his face! It really bothers me (I'm soooooo obsessive compulsive sometimes), but I didn't have the time to make another one. Still, this set is so cute. :)

Anyway, I'm off to open all the windows in an attempt to cool the house down! The heat really saps all the energy out of you. Thanks for looking!

Starstruck

It' absolutely sweltering here in Adelaide, with the temperature hovering between 38-40 degrees (100-104 for those playing in Fahrenheit) for the last 8 or so days. Horrible! I'm really not looking forward to summer. Thankfully, the temperature should drop tomorrow to a lovely 28 degrees, which will be a very welcome change.

Anyway, on to Makeesha's latest challenge!


I paired this inspiration challenge with the Fall to Layout #65, and tied to showcase the cool silver foil pattered paper I picked up on sale a while ago.




Thanks for stopping by!

Black sheep

Octber was a hectic month for us at work, with several cohorts of animals running at once. How glad I am to have that month over and done with! For those of you who don't know, I work as a research assistant with a lab that uses sheep as the primary animal model to investigate the early origins of adult health. One of my colleagues is hosting a party this weekend to celebrate the completion of a part of her project, and she's gone with a sheep theme. The title of the party is "Thank ewe for the music" and there is to be a cake in the shape of a sheep along with a screening of the movie "Black Sheep" which is about zombie sheep. Sooooo, I decided to go along with the theme and a sheep-themed card for my friend!

And on the inside of the card:


I couldn't resist a little pun on the inside of the card. :) I can't for the life of me remember where I saw the little sheep made from punchies, but if anyone knows, please leave a comment so I can give credit where credit is due. I love the eyes on the sheep, especially when they're placed flat on the table and look cross-eyed.

And it makes me giggle every time. :D Anyway, it's almost dinner time, so I'd best be off. Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Cherries jubilee

I was itching to break out the Everyday Button Bits set again, and decided to make another card with Makeesha's latest sketch.




I accidentally glued the cherries to a piece of Old Olive cardstock, instead of Ruby Red as I originally intended. I only realized my mistake when I stuck the entire thing onto the card. D'oh! I'm sorely tempted to yank it apart and re-do it with Ruby Red, but it'll probably ruin the white CS with the cherries on it.

Anyway, the card has a rather Christmas-y feel to it, which reminds me that I haven't yet started on my Christmas cards. Eek! I have to say that before I got into papercrafts in such a big way I wasn't one to post/give Christmas cards or even birthday cards, so now I'm trying to decide whether or not to give out Christmas cards and if I do, who to send them to. Well, best decide quickly as I'm fast running out of time!

I must say thank you to all the wonderful people who have given me comment love. I really appreciate hearing what you think, especially since I didn't really like the little button bird card I made. It makes me appreciate the little dude more. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken licken

Makeesha has provided us with another great challenge, and it's a sketch!


I pulled out my fab Everyday Button Bits set from PTI and used the wee bird stamp, pairing it with Washington Apple DSP.


Am feeling rather 'blah' about this card. The brads in the corner are way too close but I had already pierced the holes, so I couldn't change their position. Still, the little bird is just too cute! And now I'm off to continue reading Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. TTFN!

Woohoo!!!!

As mentioned in the previous post, I have some new craft toys to play with! I have to thank my wonderfully patient Aunt who aided my obsession by consolidating various parcels and posting them all the way to Adelaide. Thank you, thank you, thank you Auntie Halcyon!!

I arrived home from work on Friday to find a small card from the post office saying there was a parcel for me to collect. The post office closes at 5pm and upon glancing at my watch, I was dismayed to find that it was already 4.55!! ACK! I dropped everything (literally), sprinted out of the house and only just made it before they closed the door. The lady at the counter must have thought I was rather odd, as I couldn't wipe a huge goofy grin off my face. My preciousness had arrived! It was all I could do to not jump around and squeal like a little girl while standing in the post office. That had to wait until I got home and thankfully, there was no one to see my display of apparent lunacy. I couldn't resist taking a photo of my stash.

It's all sooooooo purdy! I've been saving for a while to buy the craft spots from all 4 colour families from Stampin' Up! and I can't stop opening the boxes and gazing dreamily at their loveliness. No more shall I have to ink a stamp with Versamark and then with classic ink in order to emboss with a SU colour! Nay, I can now stamp with the correct ink and clear emboss to achieve that lovely, raised, shiny effect. Be still, my heart!

*cough* I do apologize. I'm still very excited and overjoyed.

I love love LOVE PTI stamps!!!! Especially the Everyday Button Bits set, because it's just so adorable. Lookee at this card I made:

Not the most spectacular of cards, but I just love it. The addition of buttons to the cute little hot air balloon baskets warms the cockles of my heart and makes me smile. Truly, the person who came up with the idea of pairing up buttons with stamps is a genius. Genius, I say! I've also caved in and bought more PTI stuff, but that's still over in the States. Dangerous company, PTI is.

Aside from some SU and PTI items, I also purchased more 12 by 12 papers from SEI's Mimosa collection. No, that obsession hasn't faded, either. In fact, I not only bought more of the papers, but also several (meaning about 7!) ink blocks to match with the colours on the papers! Now all I have to do is find space to put all this new stuff. Good thing I went on a small de-cluttering spree and threw out lots of old papers/receipts etc. I also found an old piece of Whisper White on which I had stamped the leaf image from Fresh Cuts to form a wreath. I saw it when I was blog-hopping but can't for the life of me remember where!


I used some of my brand new red Smooch to colour in the berries, and it has such a nice, pearly shine to it. I decided not to waste the cardstock and made it into a card. Not too shabby for a piece of card that was about to be thrown out.

And now I'm off to get ready for bed. I've been waking up at 6am (for no good reason) and it's making me really sleepy. I'm off to have one last peek at my goodies (for the hundredth time) before I sleep. TTFN!

Button mojo

A parcel of items I ordered from the States arrived on Friday, and I couldn't resist inking the stamps up immediately using the latest Mojo Monday sketch for inspiration!





I just LOVE PTI stamps!! This is the first time I've bought any, and they're awesome! I didn't do very much planning when I made this card, and in hindsight I should've used Old Olive card for the base and moved the ribbon lower down on the card. Still, it was great fun to play with the Everyday Button Bits stamp set and all the images are so irresistibly cute!!

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Three-in-one

I missed out on doing Makeesha's sketch challenge last week, so I just had to do this week's which happens to be a colour challenge. I combined it with the latest Mojo Monday sketch and made a birthday card for a friend.





This card is a bit 'blah', to me. The colours of the stamped panel don't stand out or have any pizzazz. I used my clear at you Spica glitter pen to go over the sentiment, giving it a nice sparkle, but I did this after I took the photo and I'm much too lazy to take and edit another. :) I had to use Confetti White cardstock for the base as Whisper White is just too thin and flimsy. I think I might try this challenge again tomorrow, depending on whether or not I can find the time.

Thanks for stopping by!

Glitter is like......

First off, apologies for not blogging sooner. I had a card made up last week, edited and ready to post, but the past 5 days at work were really hectic. We had a visiting researcher from the States showing us how to do a new procedure, which was absolutely fascinating! However, it made surgeries go for a lot longer and most days we didn't even make it to the office at all. Anyhoo......enough waffle!

This card was inspired by a challenge Makeesha had a few weeks back and it was stuck in my head for two weeks before I could attempt it. It didn't turn out how I envisioned it and I'm rather unhappy at how it turned out, but oh well. This is what the inspiration photo looked like:

I've been wanting to play with crushed velvet flock for a while, and the way the red design "popped" made me actually try it.


Crushed velvet flock (or at least, the brand I used) is a real pain! I was told by a friend that glitter is like the herpes of the craft world, because it sticks to everything. Well, I found this flocking powder even worse than glitter because it went everywhere! It didn't stick to the CS as well as I hoped, but I think it might ust be the way I used the Heat & Stick powder that resulted in a patchy look on the left of the design. Having said that, it left that slightly velvety feel so I guess my experiment didn't turn out to badly. :)

A break in transmission

Hi everyone! Apologies for the lack of posts in the last 7 days, but I've had to stay at work later and come in during the weekend because the basement of one of our buildings flooded almost to the ceiling last week. We've been salvaging what we can, cataloguing what was lost as well as cleaning up. It's a complete mess!! Pretty much everything is covered in mud and we had a lot of expensive equipment down there, most of which will now have to be thrown out. It's depressing, I tell you.

Anyway, transmission should resume within the next 4-5 days (fingers crossed!). Hope you're all having a good week so far! :)

Second time 'round

Hi again! I decided to try my hand at the latest Inkspiration sketch challenge for a second time, but this time with different colours.




The hummingbird from the previous card is a bit difficult to see in real life because the yellow is so light. The only other pigment inks I had were blues similar to Brilliant Blue and Tempting Turquoise, so I used the colour coach to pick complementary colours. I'm sure you can see the accident I had with the stamp where the ink didn't make it to the cardstock. I tried stamping the image a second time but it turned out even patchier and I didn't want to stamp the thing again.

I have to admit I was sceptical about using Garden Green, Brilliant Blue and More Mustard together, but it's turned out surprisingly well. My apologies for doubting you, colour coach! The dragonfly is from the same set as the hummingbird (Mindscapes from Inkadinkado) and I love this stamp!

Many many thanks to those lovely people who took the time to comment on my previous posts. I love hearing what you think about the things I make! And now I'm off to clear bits of glitter from my floor. There was a small cloud that came off when I was setting the heat & stick powder and now it's everywhere. TTFN!

Sketch challenge #13

I'm such a challenge junkie, and I especially love sketches. What I love the most is how challenges push me to create things I wouldn't normally come up with. Keesh has put up her latest sketch challenge and this is what it looks like.


I really wanted to use my Mindscapes acrylic set from Inkadinkado and teamed it up with SEI's Mimosa paper. I used heat and stick powder for the first time to add bling to the hummingbird, but in hindsight I should have clear embossed it. My stash of Kiwi Kiss CS is running very low, so I had to cheat slightly and sponge a piece of Whisper White cardstock with Kiwi Kiss ink to mat the main panel. Methinks it's time to put in another order!


I took another photo to try and capture the sparkle. Love that glitter!


Anyway, hope you're all having a great weekend, and thanks for taking a look! :)

Inspiration challenge #12

The colours in Makeesha's latest inspiration challenge are really bright and fresh. It just screams summer to me.


And this is the card I ended up making:


I used a Basic Grey acrylic set to stamp in Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise and Summer Sun. Thankfully the DCWV textured paper matches the SU! colours quite well and this colour combo is really growing on me. You almost need sunglasses to view it, though. :)

It's been a slow weekend in terms of mojo, as I started several cards but didn't finish them because they weren't turning out how I envisaged them. Most frustrating! Anyway, hope you enjoyed the card, and thanks for stopping by!

Hi, my name is Pam, and I'm an addict...

Yes, I admit that I have a problem. Please observe exhibit A:

The latest additions to my collection arrived yesterday, and I'm obsessed with the Mimosa collection from SEI. Only 2 items out of the lot were non-Mimosa items, and they are the Kaiser file set and 2 sheets of Basic Grey Patchwork Quilt paper. And I have another confession. See those two boxes at the bottom right of the photo? They're die cut shimmer accents and glittered chipboard accents that match the Mimosa papers.....and I bought two of each. The online store was having a sale on certain items and you get 20% off your first order. So I kinda went nuts.

Anyway, enough about my buying frenzy. I didn't have much time to make anything this weekend, but I did manage to make two cards. This first one seemed like a good idea at the time, but didn't turn out how I envisaged it.

The sentiment was stamped and I then used a black pen to draw the box around it. I really don't like the join from the word to the outline, though. It just looks wrong to me. Quite disappointing really, this card. But no matter, on to the next one.

I've always wanted to play with pink and grey, so I used Stampin' Up! Basic Grey and pasted a square of Ginger Blossom paper on it. I wasn't going to tie the ribbon into a knot, but it looked a bit empty without it. Apologies for the slightly washed out photo. The lighting wasn't very good.

I went to the Royal Adelaide Show over the weekend, and it was good fun! I haven't been for about 8 years, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I entered some cards of mine into one of the open art and craft categories in the show, and they were on display and I just had to take a photo. They look slightly different (better!) in a glass case. Or maybe that's just me. :) You can see the two cards that won second price at the front of the higher shelf, and they were so cool! I really want to try and make some like that.

And just before I sign off, I must share this photo I took at the show. At first I thought they were statues, but then discovered they were live ducks!

TTFN~

Simplicity

I was blog hopping the other day when I stumbled across this fantastic blog by Susan Raihala called Simplicity. The woman is a genius and I find her work soooo pretty and inspiring, especially since I have a bit of a fear of empty white space on cards. Make sure you stop by and have a look at her blog and read this absolutely hilarious post, which I'm sure many of us can relate to!

I made a couple of things over the weekend, but the first card I made for Keesh's sketch challenge (which you can see here) was really bugging me. The flourish cut-out was just not right so I ripped it off and replaced it with a smaller square sentiment box. The photo makes it look a wee bit washed out, and the text stamped in pink isn't that light IRL.



I wanted to make a simpler card after seeing Susan's wonderful projects and I picked another paper from SEI's Mimosa collection called Mint Julep, which is also shimmery. It goes really well with Kiwi Kiss, but I find it a challenge to match it up with any other colour aside from white.



I didn't like the first one I made (top), so I tried again and I think it's much better. There is a boo-boo with the first card, but thankfully the paper is forgiving enough that I can get away with it. I tried (again) to capture the shimmer of the paper, and I think you can just about see it in the next photo.



And last of all, I started making my christmas cards. I think it's a bit too much, though. I'll try a simpler (faster) version next time. I entered this card as part of a competition, so I put a lot of glue and glossy accents on that darn bow to make sure it doesn't come apart. That bow is goin' nowhere!



Anyway, have a great day and thanks for stopping by!