Addicted to ink

Hi all! I was scrolling through the photos on my phone when I came across a photo of a card I made in Feb. I forgot to take a proper photo before I gave it away, so apologies for the poor photo quality.

All I did was use a SU! roller with Versamark and then brush Ranger's Perfect Pearls over the top. I think I used 3 different colours, but I can't remember which ones.

On a completely different note, I'm having a lot of trouble with the SU! craft stampin' spots I bought from the States. They're really dry and I can't emboss with them because there isn't enough for the powder to stick to. Plus, the colours look washed out because the pads are dry. I bought them so I could be all matchy-matchy (to quote Susan), but they've been dry since I got them. GRRR!!!! They're not available in Aus, so I can't get the reinkers unless I ask someone in Canada or the States to post them to me, but that will not be a cheap exercise. I'm sorely tempted to buy Tsukineko Versacolour cubes and it's so frustrating to have all the spots but not be able to use them. *sigh* Still, it feels much better now that I've gotten that off my chest. :) Thanks for taking a look!

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!

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!! :)

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!

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! :)

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!

Beck, if you're reading this DON'T look any further!!

Hi all! It's my bestie's birthday on Sunday and I wanted to make a colourful card for her, and it sure is colourful!

Stamp set: Smile (retired).
CS/paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Elegant Eggplant, Bo Bunny Bubblegum paper.
Ink: Versacolour 82 Black, Summer Sun marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, Real Red marker.
Other: Maya Road butterfly rubons, paper piercer, mat pack, dimensionals, clear embossing powder.

Apologies for the poor photo. I'll try and take a better photo with natural light and update it later. I went crazy with the Heart to Heart punch and cardstock, and I spritzed the Whisper White slightly in an effort to make it look less stark. It detracts from the paper piercing, but it looks much better than with plain white card! The rubon butterfly is from Maya Road and stuck to Bo Bunny paper and then cut out. You can't see it from the photo, but the sentiment is heat embossed with clear powder.

As a complete aside, I just had to show you all my gumboots that I bought to wear to the farm. I think they're a hoot! Our lab currently has a cohort of lambs at a farm about an hour out of Adelaide, and we were required to go up everyday for the first month or so.

I bought these boots to wear so that I don't have to worry about water, blood or other bodily fluids from the sheep. :) We did get pus jetted out at us, too......but I'll leave it there and not gross anyone out any further!

Also, I now have a follower, which is very exciting!!!! Hi Nicole! And I have to thank Amy Fleming and Lee-Anne Barry for their lovely comments in the previous post. It's always great to hear from people. Hop over to their blog and have a look, their stuff is awesome! Anyway, better get back to it. Thanks for stopping by!

A new blog

Yokoso! After much thinking, I've decided to move from Xanga to Blogger and the fabulous Kirstie Morrison has designed a new header and background for me! Doesn't it look great? Thanks heaps, Kristie! Head over and visit her blog, her stuff is awesome!

So, welcome to my new blog, and thanks for stopping by!

It's a new Stampin' Up! year!!!

Happy new catalogue day! Yes, it's time for yet another fabulous catalogue from Stampin' Up! and what a gorgeous catalogue it is. You can view the latest catalogue on the SU! website.

No photos of cards today, but I'll probably put some up on Friday. TTFN!

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Hi again! I forgot to mention how lucky I was to win not one, but two prizes! One was from the fantastic Kerry Bunting, who sent me a sample pack of the new in colours!!!! The new in colours don't disappoint and I especially love Rinding Hood Read, which goes well with Garden Green (hello Xmas cards!), as well as Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango.

Another prize that I won was from the oh-so-talented Michelle Habib, who gave me a free pass to the UStamp '09 Spring session!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyhoo, on to cards. I also forgot to post two other cards that I made over the past 2 weekends. One was for a friend who has since left to do part of her PhD in Denmark for 3 months.






I folded a piece of A4 cardstock in half (non-SU!) to make the card big enough for everyone in the lab to sign. I used Versamark on the sanded background and stamped that twice (never done such a big card before!) and then applied Versamark and white embossing powder, which I then heated. I looooove bling, so I had to use the two-way glue pen to add dazzling diamonds to the embossed part of the card, although you can't quite see the dazzle in the second photo. I scraped the edges of the card over my black ink pad, just to make it more interesting.

This second card was made for a friend's birthday, using Wild Wasabi cardstock. I'll be so sad to see this colour go in April!!





I wanted to make it a really simple card, so all I did was use Versamark and the Flitting By Wheel and white embossing powder. And of course, the all important glitter! I don't know what I'd do without it. Thanks for looking!

DIY storage

And it's time for another of Makeesha's challenges! This time, it was a sketch challenge.

And this is what I made.





I used Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi, Certainly Celery and Whisper White cardstock, Pumpkin pie DSP, Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon,Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie Summer Sun and Versamark ink pads, clear embossing powder and finally some Vintage brads. Something about this card doesn't sit right with me. I think it's the position of the Whisper White CS. Can I just say how much I LOVE heat embossing?! I broke out my heat gun for the first time, and I've decided I can't live without it. I used the colour combo from the Spring Break DSP, and I love it! I must use it again sometime. The lighting makes the greens look kinda washed out, though.

It's been a while since my last post, mainly because I've been busy making an ink pad holder and have had not much time for cards.

I found the idea from an American demo by the name of Stacey King. Genius! It can fit 60 ink pads (12 in each section) but it sits flat, unlike Stacey's which sits on a slight angle down towards the back by lifting the front slightly. I also added in a shelf on top so I can keep small stuff (eg. SNAIL) within reach. I also made a holder for 12" by 12" paper, as a practice run before attempting the bigger project.



I had to borrow a glue gun to put it together, but after trying it out I had to buy my own. Picked up one from Dicksmith for about $18.93 and I absolutely LOVE it!! However, it took some getting used to and I might have used a wee bit too much glue. If you look carefully, particularly at the photo of the paper holder, you can see where I used too much glue causing it to ooze out and dry. I suppose I could cut it off with a knife, but I couldn't be bothered.

Can you tell I'm extremely pleased with myself? I used a 81cm by 102cm piece of foam core board to make the ink pad holder and shelf, with a little bit left over. At just under $10 for one sheet, it's a cheaper alternative to the Stampin Up! caddy. And a lot of fun to make. I think I was high on glue fumes by the end of the assembly! Ah, customizable storage......how I love thee.

Well, enough patting myself on the back. A friend asked me to make a baby card for her, and I came across this card by Angelique Kelly. It's sooooooooooo cute! I CASED it by using Pretty in Pink cardstock, cut out the shape and stamped the little hearts using Rose Red ink. The glitter was adhered to the hearts and the Baby stamp using a 2-way glue pen, and the scallop circle was punched out of Apricot Appeal cardstock.



Also, I've been working on make a set of square (~10cm by 10cm) cards, but have only finished two so far. The photo was taken under a fluoro light, and the yellow of the cardstock is darker IRL. Hopefully I'll get to finish the other two and post them up next week.



TTFN!