Good Bye Dad

This morning my darling dad George, lost his battle with dementia.
Ever feisty, he fought until the bitter end, not wanting to give up without a fight.
What can I say about my Dad? He was a cranky old bugger sometimes, that drove us round the twist. But he was there for his family and there for Naval Association-his passion. I loved him dearly and will miss him.
Rest in Peace.

Mostly Flowers

Today's offering is 3 cards made from the set Mostly Flowers. I bought this set a little while ago but only used it this week. It is a great set that has a lot of potential.

For this card, I stamped my image in Basic Grey on Whipser White and cut it out. I added some Grey taffeta ribbon to the Pomegranate and Guava cardstock. I stamped some small spots from the Itty Bitty Background set and added "Happiness" from Warm Words. Very simple card that could be made heaps and heaps.

I wanted to create a very neutral card so I chose a Kraft card base that I stamped with my Sanded Background stamp. I layered it with a strip of Sahara Sand that I tore one edge of and then wound hemp twine around. The flower images I stamped in Always Artichoke and then placed then just off centre. There is just something about this card that I really like!

My last card was inspired by one I saw on SCS but I can now no longer find it. I stamped the image stamp on the diagonal to make it look like tiles in Blue Bayou ink. I did it without my Stamp-a-ma-jig but if I was to do this again.. I would definitely use it.I layered it on Night of Navy Cardstock and added some Night of Navy ribbon. I then mounted it all on Blue Bayou cardstock and added the greeting from Wonderful Favourites.
I hope you enjoy my creations.. I had a lot of fun making them.
Cheers
Chrissie

Blog Awards

I am always very humbled when someone gives me an award. This week, I have been awarded to blog awards.

The lovely Hannah (aka Bubblefrog)has given me The Spread the Love Award.
The rules: you must post the award on your blog, name the person who awarded you, then pass the award to 6 other bloggers and leave a message on their blog that they've received the award.
So here goes:
Kim
Susan
Amy
Karen
I am going to leave it at 4 as I have another award to pass on and I am running out of people! LOL


This second award was given to me by my friend Nardi. I now have to pass it on to other bloggers.
I am going to firstly give it to my good friend Ness. She is a great cardmaker but not always a good blogger! LOL I hope that this will encourage her to keep on making posts on her blog!
Secondly I am going to give this award to Martyn. Martyn is an amazing stamper and I would love to see more of his creations on his blog!
So there you go... recieved and passed on!
Thanks Hannah and Nardi for blessing me with these awards!
Cheers
Chrissie

Baroque Motifs

Hi there... Well it is the weekend already... this last week has just flown by! I am continuing on with showing you 2-3 cards using the same set. Tonight, I have dragged out one of my favourite sets-Baroque Motifs.

This style of card has been made by everyone who as this set I think. But it is a beautiful way to present this set. I have stamped the swirly in Chocolate Chip a couple of times to fill the left hand side of the Very Vanilla card base. I then stamped the small flower in Cameo Coral. Now I have to admit, I am quite challenged when it comes to using bits from the Hodgpodge Hardware. I love it... I just can't seem to use it successfully on a card. I stamped a greeting from Short and Sweet and then put it inside the oval frame from the Stylised Silver HPH. I used Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon to secure it to the card. I then mounted it onto Coral. I like how it has turned out.

For this second card, I wanted to use my new Felt Fusion flowers. I also wanted to add some sparkle to the card. I stamped the swirly in Versamark and then embossed it in clear powder. But my clear powder somehow managed to get some Dazzling Diamonds in it so it is all glittery. I am not a big fan of Dazzling Diamonds... it is just too messy for me! And I am challenged with Heat and Stick powder too so this is the perfect solution! Please feel free to try it! LOL The card base is Brocade Blue and Pink Passion and the brads in the middle of each flower are Brocade Blue too

I got my inspiration for this last card from this card by Miss Boo at SCS. I loved how she used the square motif on the diagonal. For my card, I stamped the square motif in Orchid Opulence. I then stamped the small flower in Bashful Blue and cut it out. I secured the flower to the square with a small, purple, Ice Rhinestone brad also on the diagonal. I then matted it on an Elegant Eggplant. I stamped the Bashful Blue cardstock with the swirly and then ripped down one edge and then mounted the whole lot on Eggplant. I love this card! It could be used for just about any occaision.
I hope you enjoy my creations. Don't forget to say Hi!
Cheers
Chrissie

Boatloads of Love

I loved this set when I first got it. And I made heaps of cards but I haven't used it for ages. So on the weekend, after crusing SCS, I made these 2 cards.

I had a completely different card in mind when I started this. I love Blue Bayou and River Rock together... so that is where I started. I stamped the boat on watercolour paper and coloured in using only Bayou and River Rock inks and my Aqua painter. I cut it out using my Coluzzle and then cut out a bigger circle in River Rock. I added some black brads to make it look like a port hole. I added strips of Bayou and River Rock double stitched ribbon.

While at SCS, I found this card by Broom and although I don't have the witch set... I like the idea of this card. I stamped the boats using Basic Black on Going Grey cardstock and then trimmed it. To make the background, I made a mask for the moon and then just daubed lots of different colours- Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue Elegant Eggplant and Almost Amethyst. I stuck the boats in the foreground of the card and added some Stickles to make stars in the sky. This card is not like any card I have made before. I really like how it has turned out.
Hope you like them,
Cheers
Chrissie

Mini Envelope Album

While exploring SCS, I found this Mini Envelope Album by Maurine Henry that Susie Nelson made. It was made using a Big Shot die that we don't have here but I really wanted to make one of my own. So I got out my 5 in 1 envelope template but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. So then, I enlisted the help of my DH to make me a template on the computer using a drawing program. I just love clever people! :) I mean, I could have done it myself but he is much faster and had it done in no time flat!I decided that that this would make a great class, so on Sunday, I had 6 ladies come and make these with me! We used Afternoon Tea DSP from the Summer Mini and co-ordinating cardstock- Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip.

This is the front of the mini album. I used the words from the Warm Words set and punched it out with the oval punches. The album is bound using brads from the Stylised Silver Hodgpodge Hardware.

Each pocket has a pullout... photos can be placed on it... or a message.... or recipes.... the possibilites are endless !

I printed out the template on both the cardstock and the DSP and then cut them out! I just had to cut down the DSP to fit in my printer. It worked quite well- they were at least all the same size!

I love how it has turned out. I could decorate it more- stamping images or adding journalling or more pictures to the plain cardstock side of each pockets but at this stage, this is how it has turned out!
I hope you like it too!
Cheers
Chrissie

In the Stars

I have been on a mission lately. When I have sat down to make a card... I have made 3 cards using the same set. So here is today's offering!
I just love this set from the Summer Mini Catalogue. It has so many possibilites!

This first card uses one of my favourite In Colours- Purely Pomegranate. (I will be so sad to see this colour go at the end of next month!) I have used it with Pretty in Pink, Whisper White and Taken with Teal- a combination I would never have come up with but it just seemed to work! I stamped the 2 outer stars in Pretty in Pink and punched them out with the 1 1/4" punch and layered it with a Teal square. The "A Wish for You" was stamped in Pomegranate and punched out using the large star punch. I finished it off a greeting in Pomegranate.

For this card, I wanted to make a male card. So I used Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa and Creamy Caramel and stamped all over the Very Vanilla card base. I added some Chocolate taffeta ribbon and stamped the "A Wish for You" star in Chocolate on Caramel card and popped it up on dimentionals.

For my last card, I found myself using Apricot Appeal- a colour I have used a bit lately. It co-ordinates so well with the East Coast Prep DSP that I used on the bottom of the card. Although this card is very simple in design, I think it could be used with any colour combination...any DSP!
I will be back tomorrow with more cards! Enjoy!
Cheers
Chrissie

Polka Dot Punches

It's Sale-a-bration time and I have had lots of fun playing with the Sale-a-bration set called Polka Dot Punches. I made 3 cards this weekend... but they are all really different. That's what I love about SU sets- they are just soooo versatile!

With Valentine's Day on Saturday, I went looking through the gallery at SCS and found this card. I made a few slight changes- I added "Love You" from the Short and Sweet set and used red gingham ribbon. Even my DH thought it was cute!


While at SCS I found this card. I changed the colours to Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie and Cameo Coral. I also used my new Fire Rhinestone brads for the first time on this card. Thye are just so pretty and add some bling to cards! I used Pumpkin Pie ribbon and the greeting is from Sincere Salutations. I love how this card has turned out!

This card from SCS was my inspiration for my last card. I went through a stage of using crayon resist all the time but had forgotten about it until now. I stamped the flowers on glossy cardstock with black stazon and then coloured in parts of them with white crayon. I then sponged Perfect Plum ink over the top. I punched them out with the 1 1/4" circle punch and then layered it on Eggplant and then Perfect Plum scallop circle. I pierced each of the scallops and added 2 strips of white taffeta ribbon. I stamped the same flower stamp using Eggplant ink on Eggplant cardstock. I stamped the greeting from Short and Sweet in Whipser White craft ink.
I love all of these cards. I hope you do too!
Cheers
Chrissie

Bushfire Appeal

Stampin’ Up! have jumped at the chance to help raise money for the Victorian Bush Fire Appeal! From 12 February through 31 March 2009, Stampin' Up! will donate 50 percent of the retail value of all sales from a select group of 10 stamp sets to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfires 2009 Appeal.

Here is a list of the Bushfire Appeal sets:

Priceless- 112312- p105 $48.95
Seeing Spots- 108909- p89 $29.95
Baroque Motifs- 112380- p98 $39.95
Live Your Dream- 114261- p3(Summer Mini Catalogue) $55.95
Looks Like Spring*- 108864- p76 $58.95
The Snowflake Spot*- 108934- p27 $39.95
Bodacious Boquet*- 108756- p80 $58.95
Polka Dots & Paisley*- 110247- p46 $35.95
G'day Mate*- 111973- p115 35.95
Be Happy*- 108744- p51 $39.95

*These sets will appear on the upcoming list of retiring products, so they will only be available for the Bushfire Appeal--while supplies last.

Please let me know if you would like to order one or more of these sets. It is a great way to help the people of Victoria!

Cheers
Chrissie

A Big Apology

I am so sorry that I have not posted here for such a long time! The start of the school year is really, really busy... programs to plan, instruments to allocate to kids, new teachers to orientate to our school! Not to mention... the 800 kids I have to get organised for their music lessons! On top of all that, I have been to 3 Hungry Jacks birthday parties in just 8 days!!!! No wonder I haven't made anything or had time to post! LOL! Things have finally started to settle down and I have started to make cards again! yeah!!!
For my first creations, I have used the Sale-a-bration set called Botanical Blooms. Now, at first, I wasn't too excited about this set but after a wander through the SCS gallery, I was trully inspired!

I am not particularly fond of white cards but I must say I quite like this one. I started by putting my card base into the crimper and just crimping a small portion of the card. I then stamped the flowers in black Stazon and added some Turquoise, Lilac and Gable Green to give the card colour.To give some texture to the background, I added some Itty Bitty Backgrounds in Pixie Pink. I mounted the flowers on Turquoise cardstock and then stamped my greeting from Short and Sweet on Lilac card and punched it out with the Word Window Punch.

My second card is made using Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red and Cameo Coral. I stamped the outline images in Chocolate Chip and then added colour to the images. I punched out the images using the 1 1/4" square punch and then mounted it on Old Olive 1 3/8" squares. I then layered all of them on Chocolate Chip cardstock. I also added some yummy Chocolate taffeta ribbon.

For my last card, I used Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery and a touch of Creamy Caramel. Again I stamped the outline images in Caramel and added colour to the flowers and leaves. I mounted the images on Celery cardstock and added some some Apricot ribbon. I stamped the words from the set and then punched it out with the oval punch and mounted it on the larger oval in Celery.

I have made some more cards using another Sale-a-bration set, Polka Dot Punches, and I will post them for you tomorrow.
Cheers
Chirssie.