Helping Hudson Challenge 9 - Colour

The last challenge for the Helping Hudson fundraiser was a colour one. We could choose ANY colour we wanted, and could use as many shades as we wanted in that colour, but only ONE neutral. I didn't realised how little I worked with just one or two colours these days....

I really wanted to do a card in Pale Plum and Perfect Plum (especiall as Pale Plum is retiring in 9 days.....), but ended up with the pinks - Pretty in Pink and Pink Pirouette - with Whisper White as my neutral.

I used this sketch from Annabelle Stamps as a starting point (with a little bit of artistic licence), and also a card featured in this months Impressions.

I pulled out another couple of products in the new catalogue - the A La Carte stamp For You Flower with the coordinating Fancy Flower punch. I stamped the flower in Pink Pirouette 5 times and used the 1 3/8" Circle Punch to punch out the centres, then stamped the flower twice on Pretty in Pink and used the Fancy Flower punch. Four of the word circles were used for the base panel of Pink Pirouette mounted on Pretty in Pink. I added some Pretty in Pink brads in the corners. The petals of the flowers were curled a bit to add dimension and each layer was mounted with dimensionals. The little 'for you' was cut from one of the Pretty in Pink flowers and mounted in a little bit of Pretty in Pink card. To finish, I broke open (yes, it hasn't been used yet....) my wide Pink Pirouette ribbon (retired) and used a little bit of linen thread to tie it off at the side of the card.

This photo doesn't do the card justice - it really is quite sweet - so I'll try to take a better pic tomorrow.

Well done again the everyone and particularly the Helping Hudson team for helping Hudson get his KidWalker!!

Thanks for visiting.


Stamp: For You Flower
Card: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette
Punches: 1 3/8" Circle, Fancy Flower
Other: Soft Subtles Brads, Pink Pirouette 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Linen Thread

Fifth Avenue Rose with Dimension

I really should be heading to bed, but I'll just share this card with you tonight too...

For the first time, I have been a bit organised and actually registered to enter a couple of cards in the local show.... then the hard part was deciding which cards to actually put in; I haven't been to an Alice Springs Show, so have no idea what the standard is like or what the judges look for. Anyways, this is one of the cards I put together as an option, but it didn't make the cut (Paul preferred a different one).... but it fits a couple of challenges: Just Add Ink - Just Add Patterned Paper and ABC - X is for Xtra Dimension (there are 4 layers to that rose - I tried 6 but it looked a bit weird!!).

I used last weeks Mojo Monday Sketch (#144) as a basis. The satin ribbon is folded a bit at the edges, but the square panels are a bit big to show the full effect.

I'm quite happy with how this one turned out (especially as it was a late night effort). I just guess Paul doesn't like flowery/girly cards :)

Thanks again for visiting!

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral

Card: Kraft, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Urban Oasis DSP

Ink: Baja Breeze

Other: Vintage Brads, Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Fashion District Rubons (retired)

Mmmm... Melon Mambo

I know I am lamenting the retirement of Pixie Pink, but I am seriously loving playing with Melon Mambo, so my loss may not be as difficult as I first thought (plus, I've started to order more cardstock to keep me going....).

This weeks Sketch'n'Color Challenge gave me the excuse to play with Melon Mambo in a colour combination I never would have thought to use:

I'm quite happy with how this card turned out, but I do think it's hard to go wrong with Pick-a-Petal!

Hope you had a great weekend - we're enjoying the long weekend here!

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Pick a Petal

Card: Soft Suede, Kraft, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Ink: Melon Mambo

Other: Hidden Garden Rubons (retired), Sherbet Designer Buttons (retired), linen thread, scallop edge punch

Finally!!

Sorry for the long time between posts, but I have a good reason - honest!! I was busy making swaps for my first Convention, and I arrived home today, still buzzing after a great weekend.

We had an awesome time in Sydney (my first visit) and I was fortunate to share a room and spend lots of overdue time with my friend and upline Karen. I also met a couple of blog friends in the flesh, made some new friends too, received some AWESOME swaps, made some great projects and came home inspired!

So, here's the most popular of my swaps (by a narrow margin). I wanted to work with collaging again and think this wheel and set work perfectly for it. I wheeled the base card in Sahara Sand too to soften it (not easy to see in the photo) and keeping in with {my} Vintage style - a bit of sponging and lots of distressing added to the softeness.

Thank you to everyone who swapped with me - there we SO many awesome swaps. If you have popped over to visit because I swapped with you, please leave a message :) I'm going to try to visit everyone's blogs who I swapped with over the next week or so.

Will post my other swaps, the projects we made and some photos later!!

Thanks for visiting!






Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel (both Autumn-Winter Mini)
Card: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Sahara Sand
Other: Vintage Brads

An Unexpected Post

I wasn't planning on being able to join in with this weeks Scrapmaster's Paradise Colour Challenge, but I have been home today with a little girl who is not 100%. We've done a bit of resting, a bit of crafting and a bit of playing.

I must admit I was quite apprehensive about this colour combo - such bright colours! But the being woken up multiple times in the early hours of this morning must have worked for me, as I though they would work well with the citrus from Tart & Tangy and I think this latest Taylored Expressions sketch works well with the colours too.

For the base card I actually used glad/cling wrap to create the mottled effect - so happy with how it turned out!! I used the citrus stamp in the three challenge colours to represent oranges, lemon and limes :) A little bit of ribbon and a little bit of bling down the bottom and we're done!

Taylor is running a card drive over for the Neonatal Intensive Care Nurses from Sanford Medical Centre in Sioux Falls at the moment, to give cards to parents who have lost newborns. Please pop on over to her blog to check it out and donate. I will try to make a dragonfly card later in the week.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Best Yet (Level 1 Hostess)

Card: Green Galore, Only Orange, Summer Sun, Whisper White

Ink: Green Galore, Only Orange, Summer Sun

Other: Corner Rounder Punch, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Clear Rhinestone brads

Friendship

This is going to be quick as I must be off to bed... It's been ages since I've played with a Colour Throwdown challenge, so this is my latest offering.

Once again, I've had to substitute Perfect Plum for Rich Razzleberry (as it's not available in Australia).

I've fallen back on a tried and true 'technique' for my last couple of cards that I've noticed myself using quite a bit recently when I'm either a) a bit tired or b) not ENTIRELY comfortable with the colour combo I'm working with - one sheet wonder stamping. Although I don't always stamp a whole A4 sheet, generally a much smaller panel. It hasn't failed me yet!!

Must be off, but hope you enjoy my recent postings.

Stamps: Organic Grace (Level 1 Hostess), Wagon Full of Fun (Summer Mini)

Card: Garden Green, Perfect Plum, Mellow Moss, Whisper White

Ink: Garden Green, Prefect Plum, Mellow Moss

Other: Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware (retired)

Cocoa Daisies

We have had a busy weekend (to finish a heavy week), and the next few won't be any more relaxing than this one I'm sure! We did one of the walks at Edith Falls yesterday that we've been meaning to do for AGES. Paul has done it with the School Holiday program before, but I hadn't ventured in that direction yet - and the last time I did a walk at Edith Falls I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Luana!!
We had a lovely day paddling (me slipping on wet rocks into the water!), laughing and picnicking, only to find out just as we were walking back we'd only made it to Long Hole Pool, not Sweetwater Pool like we had intended... that was still a further 2km on. Oh well, it was a lovely spot to pass a few hours and we'll head back to Sweetwater when Luana is a bit older and won't have to be on Paul's shoulders quite so much!

After such an energetic day yesterday, we just caught up with a few things around the house and had coffee with a friend today. I was able to sit down tonight to make a card after Luana had gone to bed. It feels like ages since I've sat down and felt somewhat inspired.

Tonight I put together a card using the latest Scrapmaster's Paradise Colour Challenge and Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge:

I substituted Close to Cocoa for Soft Suede, although I do think this combo would work better with the Soft Suede. I shadow stamped the daisies from Upsy Daisy by using first and second generation stamping in Close to Cocoa, moving the stamped to the right a bit in between. This was mounted on a thin border of Close to Cocoa card. I also inked up the greeting from Great Friend in the Spring Mini with Close to Cocoa and used a blender pen to take the ink off 'friend' before using my Green Galore Stampin' Write marker to add colour. This was punched with the 1 3/8" circle punch and mounted just off a Close to Cocoa punched circle the same size. The strip of DSP comes from Candy Lane, and it's a bit hard to see but the edges of the Green Galore are sponged and swiped to soften the effect a little.

I'm not sure about the green, but I thinks it's a sweet card non-the-less.

I'm off to bed now for a well earned sleep! Pity I need to work tomorrow!

Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Great Friend (Spring Mini)

Card: Close to Cocoa, Green Galore, Whisper White

DSP: Candy Lane

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Green Galore

Punches: 1 3/8" circle

One for Birthday and One for a Best Friend

Luana's sleeping, Paul's been trying to figure out the Wii and is now watching footy, so that leaves me just to potter - don't you love lazy weekend days like this?! We have a long weekend here for this one; we had Show Day yesterday which was quite long (I'm glad it's only here once a year!) but a really good day. Luana's now at that age where she's really gets excited about things, but doesn't quite get the whole commercial aspect. I know that will come all too soon. Luana was lucky enough to have her face painted (twice! she rubbed the first one off):


This is the second one. The first was pink - of course! We also had the opportunity to go up in a helicopter for a quick ride. This was both Paul and Luana's first time in one and I'm not sure who was more excited! They even gave Luana little purple ear muffs to wear! We were lucky enough to see our house while we were up too:

It's in there! We live in a block of units.

Anyway, enough of our Show experience, onto a couple of the cards I have been making this week. I haven't had the time to play along with Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch much lately, but made the time for this one - it's great! I thought it would be just the layout for a little girl's birthday coming up.

I've rotated the sketch, and moved the brads a bit...

The centre of the flower is from Time to Party - such a cool set! I used the retired 1/4" circle punch to punch out a 3 stamped and edged in Apricot Appeal and attached it with a bit of a dimensional to make it stand our a little bit more. The 1 3/8" circle punch fits the large circle just right! A little bit of Certainly Celery card punched with the scallop edge punch provided the grass (and linked in with the scallop circle flower!). The Almost Amethyst DSP is the retired Prints from last year. So Swirly was wheeled in the background, and the ice rhinestone brads finished the sketch - albeit down the bottom instead of the top.

As I adjusted the sketch a little bit, I thought I'd make another card that fit it better, this time using the latest Scrapmaster's Paradise Colour Combo.

What great colours, but we don't have Rich Razzleberry (am SO hoping it will be released to us in a Mini or something - I think it's GORGEOUS and will be really disappointed if we miss out!), so I substituted Perfect Plum as another reddish-purple.

Quite a straight forward card, but I think we often forget about the versatility of wheels. Scatter Sunshine was wheeled in Baja Breeze and mounted in Perfect Plum. The greeting comes from Garden Whimsy, and I stamped the spiky flower from Simply Said across the diagonal for a bit of a background. A little bit of Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon and a couple of layered Baja Breeze felt flowers from Flower Fusion Too with pewter brads added the finishing touches.

Now, Luana's still sleeping, so I'm off to make some more cards!

Third Birthday Card

Stamps: Time to Party, So Swirly Jumbo Wheel

Card: Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Paper: Apricot Appeal Patterns, Almost Amethyst Prints (retired)

Ink: Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal, Almost Amethyst

Other: 1/4" circle punch (retired), 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch, scallop edge punch, Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon, Ice Rhinestone brads

Best Friends Listen card

Stamps: Simply Said, Garden Whimsy, Scatter Sunshine Jumbo Wheel

Card: Kiwi Kiss, Perfect Plum, Whisper White

Ink: Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum

Other: Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, Flower Fusion Too, pewter brads

One of a Kind Friend

And here's the second card I was able to make last night. It's been a while since I've been able to play with a Colour Throwdown Challenge, and I think this colour combo is fantastic. I was really tempted to make a baby book using these colours for a very special person in my life who is expecting, but ended up changing my mind. I will post that though when I get it done.

I realised I have had One of a Kind ever since it was in the Spring Mini last year, but don't have a sample using it for my display - I do now! I teamed it with Friendly Words Jumbo Wheel which I think is just gorgeous. I pierced the little spots on the flowers for a bit of interest - note to self, pierce the dots in the pointy part of the petal BEFORE cutting out the flower so the card doesn't distort... I love the Flower Fusion Too flowers, so they made an appearance and for a bit more interest I tied the Baja Breeze double stitched ribbon with a bit of twine to 'cinch' it before popping the flower on. A little bit of faux stitching tied the main panel in with the ribbon.

A lovely little card that will make it's way to a lovely friend at some stage.

Stamps: One of a Kind, Friendly Words Jumbo Wheel

Card: Pink Pirouette, Kraft, Whisper White

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze

Other: Baja Breeze Double Stitched Ribbon, Flower Fusion Too Felt Flowers, Twine, Pewter Brads, Paper Piercer, White Gel Pen

Soft Echoes

Gee, I love blog hopping - you come across some amazingly talented people and their creations. On one of my recent hops, I found Stacey's Stamping Stage. Stacey has some fabulous creations, and also holds a regular colour inspiration challenge inspired by gorgeous pieces of jewellrey, so I thought I'd join in this week. Isn't this bracelet just gorgeous? If you want specific details about it, pop over to Stacey's blog.




The colours Stacey pulled for the challenge were Garden Green, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White. I've been working with bolder stamps lately, so thought I'd pull out the ever so pretty Echoes of Kindness.


I was really trying to add some Garden Green card in here, but then decided I really did like the soft effect of just having the darker colour in the verse. I think the torn and distressed edges add to the softness of the rose, and I also sponged the edges of the base card to make it less harsh. I fussy cut extra roses too and popped them up with dimensionals.

Something a bit different from me this time. Thanks Stacey!


Stamps: Echoes of Kindness (Level 2 Hostess)
Card: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Garden Green

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 16

I have finally completed one of these challenges in time to submit it! I love Karen's sketches and have used them quite a bit, but this is a first!

Here's what she came up with this week:

And here's my offering:

I was a little thrown by the gap in the square border intially as don't have nestabilities or anything like that, but I think my alternative worked well.

I pulled out Garden Whimsy for this one - I do like those butterflies. I stamped the butterfly in Regal Rose, then rock'n'rolled it in Rose Red and added a bit of sparkle with Dazzling Diamonds. This was attached with dimensionals onto Whisper White that had been stamped with the tiny labybirds in second generation Regal Rose. The DSP is Hand Drawn from the Level 3 Hostess Set Hand Drawn Bundle - I fussy cut the little flowers in the corners and used the white gel pen in the centres. The felt flowers in the corner are from Flower Fusion Accents and Elements, held together with a silver brad.

Thanks for another great sketch Karen.

Makeesha's Sketch and Leah's Colours - again!

Hi all,

Until I was writing the title of this posting, I didn't realise that I have paired Makeesha and Leah's challenges more than once... Thanks girls! Love your work!

With todays card I have been just a bit organised with for Leah's challenge - it's not due until the end of the month! And I really liked Makeesha's latest sketch so just had to play.

Here's Leah's colour inspiration:

and here's Keesh's sketch:

I saw the Chocolate Chip flower in the bottom right hand corner of the inspiration photo and just had to use Eastern Blooms. I've used a base of Sahara Sand and stamped in the same for the background branch (also from Eastern Blooms). I've layered the double stitched Chocolate Chip ribbon first, then Pixie Pink with a bit of Turquoise grosgrain ribbon, then Mellow Moss which has been pierced. The greeting is from the Hidden Garden rub-ons, and the bling in the middle of the flower is the blue chunky glitter.

This one will be winging its way to a friend of mine who I miss SO much.

My friend (and upline) Karen has also put her hand up to donate 50 layouts to the Memories project which is donating albums, complete with layouts, to those who lost everything in the Victorian Bushfires. I love Keesh's sketch so much I thought I'd have a play with a 12x12...

It's very basic, but this way the recipient can add whatever title and personal embellishments they want - it does look a lot better with photos too. I've made the photo panel so it can hold 2 regular photos or a larger photo. I've used Petals and Paiselys DSP (going to miss that one!), Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, cast brads from Styled Silver Hodgepodge Harware, and Old Olive and Taken with Teal card. The edge is also pierced but it's a bit hard to see in the photo.

Thanks for the inspiration Keesh!

If you would like to help out with donating a layout or 2, time is running out so check out Karen's blog for more details: www.karenmrobinson.blogspot.com

Makeesha's Inspiration Challenge #4

Makeesha has had a few inspiration challenges now, but this is the first one I've actually been able to take part in. The inspiration picture was just lovely - very summery, blue and peaches. What more could I ask for!



I've drawn inspiration from the table runner and the peaches (of course!), and just a touch from the silver edged glasses...


I pulled Ballet Blue and Whisper White from the runner and scored Whisper White card then brayed over with the Ballet Blue (I'm sure that technique has a name, but I don't know what it is) and mounted on a border of Whisper White. The little stars are from Baroque Motifs (another one of the sets the contributes to the Bushfire Appeal), stamped in Ballet Blue on Whisper White. Drawing on the peaches for inspiration, I inked the medium flower from Baroque Motifs in So Saffron then rock'n'rolled it in Rose Red, added a clear rhinestone brad (silver edged glasses!) from the Pretties Kit and mounted it with dimensionals. I finished the panel with white grosgrain ribbon and a rub on from Cherished Memories.

Thanks Keesh for the inspiration and I'm glad I could finally play along!