So I decided to utilise this lovely quiet time and make a couple of cards and continued on with the Christmas Theme from yesterday. Well the Christmas Classic set was still on my desk so why waste energy getting a new set out?

I remembered the pretty sketch challenge from Stamping 411 so decided to use that for my next card.

I do love to make cards from sketches as I find when I look at a sketch I can see so many cards with it whereas if I just go and pull out a stamp set to use I can deliberate for hours on colours, papers and layout.

You should give a sketch a try – use any of the ones I’ve done or just simply do a Google search on ‘sketch challenge’ and I’m sure you’ll be amazed at how many places have these challenges every week.

Here is my card ….

Recipe:

Stamps:  Christmas Classics, Baroque Motifs
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Ridinghood Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Ski Slope DSP
Inks:  Baja Breeze
Accessories:  Chocolate Chip Stampin’ Write Marker, Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker, More Mustard Stampin’ Write Marker, 1/4″ Chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, eyelet border punch, stampin dimensionals, snail adhesive.

This is another very quick and easy card and a great one to make for christmas as you could do a few in no time at all!

Now I think I might take this aching body back to bed for a little nap and try and get over this flu.

This week’s sketch comes from you from the lovely Carol and my sponsors this week being Nespresso, Ease a Cold (cold & flu tablets) and the makers of Ibuprofen!

Yes I’ve come down with the dreaded flu and just when the kids are due to go back to school and I have a few bookings this week so I hope I am ok to do those and not have to reschedule any.

As soon as I saw this sketch I had a few ideas running thru my head – yes it got quite noisy in there!  Now those ideas were put on the back burner as I have a “Christmas in July” stamp a stack on Monday so thought I’d go with a Christmas theme today and had to use one of my new Christmas sets – Christmas Classics … well it is new to me!

Here is my card …

This is a simple and ‘easy to put together’ Christmas Card with minimal colouring but colouring those baubles is so easy and they turn out so nice dont they?

I still have some of the gorgeous Ski Slope Designer Series Paper from last year’s Summer Mini Catalogue and I so so love these colours together. I should just have enough for Monday’s Stamp A Stack too.

I do hope you like my little card and now its time for you to skip along to the next Sketchy Saturday Diva being the lovely Ruthie B. So pop over to Ruthie’s blog to see what she has created.

Now if you get to a blog that hasnt got their challenge card up then you can view all those in the Sketch Design Team at the Utah Divas International Blog.

This month we have a swap for a Technique Book which I’m a part of.  All the participants had to choose a technique different to the other participants and make up an instruction and sample page for each participant. So I had to make 12 instructions & samples for this swap and the technique I chose was Collage Stamping.

I love doing Collage Stamping as you can make it your own and create lovely effects and it gives the look of your very own designer series paper.  Now while I was making my samples the other day one of my daughter’s friends was staying over and she asked why I was putting butterflies on the patterned paper – I then explained what I was doing and that I’d stamped all the images on the cardstock myself.  She then exclaimed “Wow how cool!!”  Now this does boost one’s self esteem to no end!

Here is the sample I made for the swap ….

After deliberating for what seemed like days on what set and style to make I decided on this gorgeous “All a Flutter” stamp as the main focus and then popped in some flower stems, leaves and script.

I really do love the final sample and I do love that butterfly!

I’ve coloured my piece using the Stampin Pastels. I love the soft muted tones you can get with the Pastels and they also blend so well!  Now to ensure that the Pastels dont keep rubbing off I’ve given them a light spray with my hairspray.  This just helps to set and protect your artwork from rubbing off.  You dont need an expensive fixative – just the  cheapest hairspray does the trick.

Now as part of the swap we also had to make one card or project using our technique so I thought I’d use my sample and do one of the challenges from the Cards and Things Challenges Blog run by the lovely Krista Driessen.

Here’s my card …

I love how this turned out and I’ve added another butterfly over the top of one to give it more dimension and make it that extra little bit special.

Recipe:
Stamps: All a Flutter, Organic Grace, En Francais
Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Blush Blossom
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Mellow Moss, Versamark
Accessories: Big Shot, Scallop Circle Die, Circle Scissor Plus, Stampin’ Pastels, Sponge Daubers, Crimper

Here’s a close up of the layered butterfly …

Starting September I will be starting new Technique Classes so if you’d like to book your spot please email me today.

My apologies for posting late (sorry Carol) we had a spanner thrown in the works last night with a call to let us know that an ambulance had been called for my Mother in Law.  She has had a bad cold and ended up with chest pains last night so everything was just dropped while we attended to her.

Here is this week’s sketch from the lovely Carol.

Diagonals?  What am I supposed to do with that?  So as I do I deliberated and deliberated and then …. I deliberated some more!

Then it dawned on me … pockets.

I have quite a bit of Designer Series Paper that I need to use over the next 2 months so I tried to think what paper I havent used for a while and I grabbed my Candy Lane Papers.  You dont see these pack used so much and I think its really lovely – or maybe I just dont go to the right blogs!

Here is what I came up with …

I’ve modelled this card on the Diagonal Pocket card but I’ve just used it for the pockets on the front so only used 1/3 sheet of 12×12 for the front pockets instead of using the whole  sheet as in the tutorial.  I’ve also added a bit of elegance using the Eyelet Border Punch on a piece of Very Vanilla.

Now here’s the card showing the insert.

I couldnt go past doing my “Latte Stack” on the tag with my gorgeous “Share A Cup” stamp.

I’ve left the tag mainly blank so you can put a little note or even attach a gift card for your favourite Coffee Place like Gloria Jeans or The Coffee Club.

Here is the inside of the card for you to write a message to your friend

Now I’ve added the Eyelet Border egde again with some of the stripes from the Candy Lane Designer Series Paper pack for continuation from the front.

Now I could have put another tag in the top pocket but after grabbing my little Pun Fun Latte stamp I thought what better than to put in a sachet for a Latte.  Its a nice way to say hello to a friend and give them a cuppa

I do hope you like what I made for this sketch and now all I have to do is to find someone to send it to!  Maybe you??

Now its time for you to skip along to the next Designing Diva being the loverly Ruthie Burkey so pop over to Ruthie’s blog and see what she has created for this week’s sketch challenge

Thanks for stoppin by

I even got some new coffee cups I’ve been after for a while so a good morning in all.

As its Saturday its time for another Utah Divas Sketch Challenge from the lovely Carol.

Now when I first saw this one I thought ‘hmmm ok’  but then it dawned on me what I could do and what sort of a challenge would it be if I didnt change it any?

So me being me gave it a good old rotation and this is what I came up with ….

I really do love this Rose is a Rose set and will be sorry to see it retire in 2 months however if you dont have this set and would like to get it before it goes then you can and if you buy it before 31st July then you can get it at 20% off!  Pretty good deal huh?

Now I did hear from the lovely Max today and she said she cant participate in this week’s sketch – something to do with her mother visiting from England and leaving on Monday and wanting to spend every waking minute with her.  Max I hope you have a wonderful few days and Mum has a lovely trip back home. So this week the next stop on the Utah Diva Sketch Hop is the lovely Ruthie Burkey.

So skip on over toRuthie‘s blog and see what she’s created for this sketch.

Thanks for stoppin by

Firstly my apologies for being so late with my cards today (hope Carol forgives me but I did make two!)

Here is this week’s sketch – a bit of a doozy and I do think Carol had one of those “this will fix them” moments!

I really struggled with this at first and started working on a card and then half way through it decided to scrap that one and go another direction.  So I do hope you like what I’ve come up with today.

This is the first card I came up with …

I wanted to make a card that would fit in with next month’s promotion but I’m not telling you what the promotion is so maybe you can work it out from my card – and maybe not!!  You’ll just have to wait till Thursday to see if you are right

Its that diagonal bit that threw me with the sketch so once I got over that I was fine.

I do love the Cottage Wall Designer Series Papers and the Cottage Garden stamp set. We are so blessed to be the only ones to have the Cottage Garden Stamp set as it is only available in Australia and New Zealand – so we really are the lucky country are we not?

Now as I was making this above card my mind was wondering and drifted over to the lovely Bella Bleu papers and the Echoes of Kindness Hostess set and this is what I came up with …

I do love the saying in this stamp set – and I just love the colours in the Bella Bleu Papers – I am so going to miss them when they retire at the end of August.

I do hope you like my cards today and its not time to pop along to the next Designing Diva and today its the lovely Tammy Fite

If you have ever looked for a Financial Year diary have you ever noticed just how drab and boring they are? Well I suppose there is such a big choice – you can have black, black or umm black!

I always go to Big W and look there first as they are just so affordable and looking at the ones they had last week we worked out (yes I was shopping with hubby) that we could remove the insert and I could then undo the binding, make a new cover and then re-do the binding.

Once I pulled the diary out it I wondered if our spiral punch would fit the binding.

Lo and behold it did!!

So now instead of having to undo the binding, make a new cover and then redoing the binding all I have done is cut a piece of Designer Series Paper the size of the pages in the diary and use the spiral punch down one side.

To give it a little more protection I added a sheet of Acetate over the piece of Designer Series Paper again by cutting it to the size of the pages of the diary and using the Spiral punch and slotting it into the binding.

Now since uploading this post I’ve found out about the latest Challenge over at Just Add Ink. Just Add Ink is a blog run by a couple of fellow Aussie demonstrators with a new challenge each week and this week’s challenge is to ‘Just Add Patterned Paper’ and think my diary fits the challenge.

Now when I need a change or the Designer Series paper becomes a little tatty or retired I can just slot in a new piece of DSP and its just like having a new diary!

Today’s is a little different as I’ve combined another challenge in the same card – a colour challenge from Inkspirations4U!

So I thought the title for today’s post is fitting as not only am I sharing two challenges in one card but I’m also using the very cute ‘Share A Cup’ a la carte stamp from the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue.

Here’s the colour challenge from Inkspirations4U …

My card was inspired by some gorgeous little cards that the lovely Bonnie Thurber (the Stamp Whisperer herself!) demonstrated.

Here is my card ….

I wasnt sure about the colours at first but then when I put them together I really like them!  I think they’d be great for boy birthdays too

I love this little stamp – it was so nice of Stampin Up! to make a stamp just for me dont you think? and then to make an actual mug with the image on it just so I could get one at the Manager’s Reception before Convention this year. So very thoughtful!

I hope you like this card as I did enjoy making it – well after I got those cups to sit right!

One definitely needs the Stamp-a-majig and a post it note for this card!

Now its time for you to skip along to the next Diva in the Saturday Sketch Design Team being the very lovely Maxine Conrad and see what she’s done with Carol’s sketch.

Have a great ‘rest’ of the Weekend!

Last week my lovely Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator friend Sonia Garbut announced she was a guest designer for a new online class called Inkspirations4U and was offering a free pass … well…. Sonia’s 2yo daughter pulled out my name so I won a free pass!

How exciting is that?  I never win anything!

Before the projects started rolling in Madeline gave us a colour challenge to get us started.

Now those colours happen to be some of my favourites but boy did I have a hard time putting them together!

Here is what I came up with ….

I love this flower image from Asian Artistry. Its just gorgeous … and so is that dragonfly!

I used my Stampin Write Markers to colour the image however I wanted it to have a soft feel to it so I coloured the leaves and stems with the Basic Grey marker and then stamped it off once. I then inked the flowers with the Pretty in Pink marker, huffed and then stamped onto Naturals Ivory cardstock.  I also sponged around the edge of the naturals ivory piece but again after dabbing the sponge on the Basic Gray Ink pad I dabbed it off first to give a softer edge – it tends to blend into the Basic Gray piece behind it this way.

Using the Rich Razzleberry as the base card fulfilled the ‘colour challenge’ although I wasnt totally sold on the card. I thought the Rich Razzleberry was too dark for this sympathy card so here are a couple of variations …

with ribbon

changed base card to Pink Pirouette

Now as much as I love Rich Razzleberry I think the softness of Pink Pirouette on this last card fits the ‘soft sympathy’ feel I was after.

The projects coming through the Inkspirations4U classes are so nice and its not too late to join and well worth the US$20 it costs so why not pop over to Inkspirations4U and join up – would love to see you there!

Its Saturday again so that means another Utah Divas International Sketch from the lovely Carol.

Now it wasnt until after I’d finished my card that I realise that maybe this one was supposed to be rotated into a landscape card going on the way the bow is but hey I always change something right?

Here is my card ….

I thought too with our Deals of the Week I’d use some of the Haiku DSP in my card.

Recipe
Stamps: Asian Artistry
Paper: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Haiku DSP
Inks: Jet Black Stazon, So Saffron, More Mustard, Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Aqua Painter, Apricot Appeal Grosgrain Ribbon

I’ve had this paper for a little while and not used it so I thought that this was the perfect opportunity!

It also goes so well with the lovely Asian Artistry Hostess Set which I’ve been wanting for a while.

Dont forget this week’s deals finish on Tuesday night so if you want some of the following Designer Series Papers please be sure to ring me before Tuesday to place your order.

Now its time to skip along to the next Designing Diva being the lovely Max and see what she has created using this great sketch.