Card lovin'

Some more cards that I whipped up at the end of last year, that I loved but never got the chance to blog about!

 This one was Felicity's birthday card. I used my Hexagon punch from Stampin Up to punch out different coloured scraps of aqua Patterned Paper and I love it!! The sweet little owl juuuuuusssstttt fit inside the hexagon, so he had to be included too!

 Next I broke out my hexagon embossing folder (also from SU) and thought I'd mix it up a bit by cutting along the embossed line to make an interesting edge. I'm so happy with it! I had this really sweet red patterned paper with a very baroque image on it, and I had no idea how to use it so you could still see the image. Well, when I mounted it behind the hexagon panel, it was perfect! I added the sentiment, some ribbon and a paper flower and voila!

 And cos it was so good, I made another one, just slightly different {wink!}

 I Love Hot Air Balloons! Do you? I'm loving this set from SU, and it goes so perfectly with the tiny Memory Box cloud dies I bought! Don't they cut such cute little clouds?! I embossed a piece of grey card with my chevron embossing folder and this card has to be one of my faves!

 Here's one that I threw together using all the scraps left over on my desk. I love when these cards practically make themselves! Cos I pick up all the bits, throw them down and just tweak the placement a little and I love it! The colour combo on these 2 cards- grey, aqua & yellow is gorgeous too, you can't go wrong!

 And for a totally different colour scheme I went with pale pink and aqua for these next 2 cards. I embossed 3/4 of the pink card so the top of the card would be patterned but the bottom 1/4 would be plain so you can see the pattern on the paper. Me muchos likey! It's quite interesting!

 And I made another one, similar. Hehe.

 Here's another fave card (have I said that about all the cards today?? {giggles}. The background paper is sooooo cool! Its from a pad of 12x12 paper, maybe even an Aldi one. Love it! I used some hexagon embossed aqua card, silver glitter washi tape and a punched shape for the sentiment. I love the colours and the patterns and the texture on this card!

So again, I made another one. {smiles}. This colour scheme is perfect for a modern wedding card, but for birthdays, babies, thanks, anything!
Have you been making cards lately?
Thanks for dropping by!
:) C

New cards!

Lookie here! I'm posting twice in one month {gasp!} Don't fall of your chair! {giggles!}
Since having Flinders, and since Jaimeson gave up his day sleep (I nearly said since Will gave up his day sleep.... hahahaha! He wishes he got a day sleep!) I have had to be more efficient with my time, and do what I can when I can. Lately I have been getting to have some creative time once the boys have gone to sleep at night, so that means after 8pm. But after being up once overnight for a feed, then having my day start at 6 or 6:30am, means my creative juices aren't flowing so well by that time of night! I have mainly been doing Project Life, cos it's like a double page spread of little projects. My poor little card box is feeling very neglected! I can almost fit a closed fist in the box now, and usually they are jammed so tight in I can hardly fit any more!
So these last 2 weeks I've been trying to channel my nightly, drained brain's last ounces of creativity into some cards, and I'm happy to say it's been working quite well! Also, Will kindly distracted both the boys for an hour and a half on Sunday, so I got to have some crafting time {hugs Willy!}.
I just realized there's a bit of pink here, maybe that's to balance all the boy stuff that's going on in my life at the moment. LOL!
Baby Cards. Can't get enough of them. Can't make enough of them! It seems people are always having babies {tongue in cheek!} and these cards are always running thin in my card box.
I am still loving bunting banners, it's such a sweet way to show off a few patterned papers on one card, use up all your scraps, and get a bit of sewing on a card too! The gorgeous elephant is from Stampin Up & so is the sentiment.
Then I went ahead and made the same card in a different colour-way. Yeah for time management! Two cards are quicker than one! And it's not like people get together for a chat and are comparing my creativity, like "Oh look, she made us the same card, only in different colours!" LOL! As if!
Then I had this leftover piece of printed scalloped paper after I made an envelope using my new WRMK Envelope Punch Board (love it!) {hugging punch board quietly in the corner}, so I decided to try to use it in a clever way. I came up with this cool Blimp card, do you like it? I love it! I stuck the giant scallop paper over the top of some hot pink tiled paper I've had for, oh, about 400 years. Seriously. It's ancient. But I loved it, cos it's bright, funky & geometric. Just my kinda thing! Yay to have finally stopped hoarding it, and getting it out to use it! I put the pink & purple pearls around the scallop and it reminds me of the rivets on a submarine window, so maybe that suits a blimp too!
And then I had another weird shaped bit of paper leftover, so threw together this sweet whale Birthday Card which is my favourite card of the year so far! Plus the fact that I managed to tie the best bow I've ever tied with that pink ribbon. High Five {slap!} I love that whale, he's just gorgeous. Another Stampin Up set!
After a quick look through my Card Box I realised I needed more Thank You cards too, so here's one to add to the box. I love this paper, which came from a beautiful paper pad from Aldi of all places! Dad would be proud, he loves Aldi! I embossed the "Thanks" with a gorgeous American Crafts ZING glittery embossing powder. I think the pattern on the paper,looks a bit Scandinavian, is it the little birdies? Sweet anyway.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my latest card creations, and the fact that I've blogged again! LOL!

:) C

Cards!

Its been a little while since I posted some cards, so here they are! A little selection of some of my fave cards from the latter part of this year :)

This was Alicia's Birthday card, I love the hexagon stamp set and punch from Stampin Up! And it was fun to include some sequins on there too!

I am also loving Hot Air Balloons and I have this gorgeous set from Stampin Up. I think doilies on cards are so pretty too, so you'll see them quite a bit on my cards at the moment!

There was something about this patterned paper that I really loved, and there are those hexagons that I love again! This time in Embossing folder form, I have fallen in love with my Cuttlebug again recently and have been embossing and cutting out heaps with it! I love it! I also pulled out my old Circle Circus set and stamped them for some added interesting patterns. Loved this card!

 This card was super quick to make cos I used all buts and pieces off my desk! I love when a card comes together so easily!

 More embossing! More hexagons! This one was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest. Man I love Pinterest!

And so I made the same card in different, more muted colours cos I loved it! There is a different embossing folder. I think I've used my embossing folders more in the past 4 months than I have in 4 years! I love actually using the products I have, and not hoarding them! {tongue in cheek!} YOu know I'm a hoarder but I'm breaking the habit!!
Hope you like my cards!
:) C

Special cards for Special People

 Hi y'all!
I haven't posted any cards for a while! So here are a few of the recent cards I've made, for some very special people!
This first one was for my niece Venice when she was born! For some reason I didn't take a pic of the card after I stamped her name under the "Welcome" stamp. I had made a girl card and a boy card, waiting to see what flavour baby Alicia would have! And when Venice was born I personalised this card for her {smiles}. I LOVE the new hexagon embossing folder from Stampin Up, I love how it creates such an interesting layer on the card! And I nearly wore out my Martha Steward Doily Edge punch while punching through the grey cardstock, I think I might need a backup one of those! But I don't want to pay the $25 I saw it for at the most recent craft show. Boy I wish we had Michaels the craft shop over here in Australia, everything is so cheap in the USA!
This second card was for my nephew Cooper for his 5th Birthday which was a Construction Party! I knew that Road-print Washi Tape would come in handy for BOy Cards! How cool does that truck look driving along it? And I just love the Stampin Up set of big trucks, they are so cool! I used another Stampin Up embossing folder in the background layer of this card- the Woodgrain one. Another one of my faves! You know I love anything woodland-ish, so this is perfect for me. And then I found the screw-top brads in my collection and thought they were awesome to add to a Construction card! Was I right or was I right {tongue in cheek!}

This third card I made for Dad's birthday :) Dad is, and has always been, an enthusiastic and awesome photographer, so I knew the Amy Tangerine camera stamp would make a great birthday card for him! The yellow star cut-out card was actually still sitting on my desk after I made another card with the actual star I punched out, and when I chucked it on top of the other layers of this card I was like "Bing!" {Light bulb going on above head} "That looks so cool!" LOL! Do you every have those moments in card making? Where something accidentally happens and it turns out to make the best card? Yeah me neither {looking sheepish!}.

And this last card was for my sister Yvette's 40th Birthday! I do love Hot Air Balloons and seeing as Yvette was going on a Hot Air Balloon ride for her birthday, I knew I had to use this set (by Stampin Up!) I stamped it with Versamark ink and embossed with some aqua coloured Zing embossing powder I picked up at Spotlight. It's the bomb! The colour is sooooo rich and it created a lovely thick layer which looked so good! They make the Zing powder in about a million colours too, so I'm gonna have to go back and get some more (then force myself to do more embossing cos it's something I don't do often enough, yet it looks so good!) I hand drew on the little baskets under the balloons cos I didn't trust myself to line the stamp up right, and I was so pleased with the embossing result I didn't want to ruin it! Can you tell they're hand drawn?
So I hope you guys all enjoyed your welcome/birthday cards!
And I hope you're having a great week too!
:) C

Create a Cake Cards!

Hi y'all!
How about some cards to share today?

Sometimes I actually squeal out loud when I'm looking through the Stampin Up Catalogue for the first time, and spot a stamp set I HAVE to have. When I saw "Create a Cake", I squealed! It was a little, high pitched, barely audible, noise, but it happened! It's such a cute set, and I knew I would have heaps of fun using it!
So recently, I sat down with some pretty pink papers and made some cards.

The stamp set consists of a base cake on a pedestal, another stamp has the top 2 cake layers on it (as one stamp) and then there are cake embellishments, like a row of bunting, a pinwheel and butterflies. So sweet!
For these first 2 cards I also embossed some paper using my cuttlebug and the fancy fan embossing folder from Stampin Up. I love those fans!

For these birthday cards, I used the Happy Birthday sentiment from SU's Perfectly Penned set as well. Aren't those pennants so pretty!

I think the set would also be perfect for Wedding cards, especially with the 3-layer cake!
Happy Friday! Hope you get some creating done this weekend!
:) C

Time for some cards!

Hi Y'all!
I haven't posted many of my cards on here lately, so here some are for you!
I needed more lady Birthday Cards in my cardbox, cos they must have been my best-sellers lately, they were pretty scarce in the box!

 Found this packet of pretty blue Stampin Up printed papers that I had lots amongst my stash! I am so happy to have found them, they make lovely cards for all those people who don't like pink!

Still nice and soft, with pretty blue and kraft flowers. And the gorgeous Stampin Up Butterfly Wings die cut that I use in my Cuttlebug machine.

I love Deers! Do you? Aren't they so cute! I had this little strip of AC deer paper hanging out in my stash so built the card around that. Do you start with little offcuts like me? I find that I end up a bit more creative when I have an unusual small piece to start with, rather than staring at a big 12x12 sheet. Then I have to come up with all the ideas, when I start with a small piece, they ideas just seem to flow! The note paper piece was also a leftover scrap from my stash, I love it on this card! The sentiment is from a retired Stampin Up set called "Happy Everything". (Can you tell I had pulled out a big stack of SU stamps to use, cos I'd neglected them for too long!!)

Then I dug out some nice bright Stampin Up papers and made these 2 gems! Remember, when you're making one card, you may as well go ahead and make another one at the same time, it saves you time later!

And I already had someone in mind for this one, so there is now only one left in my cardbox. I love the bright colours, the orange and the pink are so unusual together, but I love them! ANd the doily stamp is gorgeous too! The flower and doily are both from the retired Stampin Up set "True Friend". I hadn't thought that doily looked like a doily til I used it on these cards, I love it now! Isn't it cool how you can look at an old set in a totally new way when a new trend comes along!
Have you been creating this weekend?
:) C

Some stuff off my desk....

Hi y'all!
Sometimes I have a offcut of paper on my desk, and I get really inspired to do something with it, right now!! {dashing around madly gathering complementary supplies!} This is not hard to imagine, seeing as my desk is covered and I only have a tiny clear area within which to work, there is bound to be something inspiring hiding there amongst the crap!

I had this pink spotty paper, egging me on to use it! For the first card I used my "Up in the Air" set by Stampin Up and some plain yellow BG paper. I stamped the sentiment included in the set on another spotty piece of paper I had hanging around on my desk. The little birds stamp is in the Up in the Air set too, I {heart} them! I finished the card off with some ribbon and jewels and voila! Done!

Next up I used another Stampin Up set, it's a retired Hostess set, but I can't remember it's name right now! D'oh! LOL! I thought this guy was pretty cute, but needed a bit of feminising with a pink hat and shirt! LOL! {giggles}. The black scallop rectangle I cut ages ago using my Nestabilities and it was hanging about on my desk too. Hooray for using it up! More of the ribbon (this time in a bow), more jewels and some corner rounding and this one was done too! Yay!
Hope you're having a good week!
:) C

Circle Circus Bunting

I love digging out old stamp sets and using them in a new design card, or in a totally different colour scheme to what I normally do. Do you get stuck in a certain colour scheme for a certain stamp set too? I've gotta shake off normality, and try new things! {shaking shoulders vigorously!}
So as I've been in a Bunting Mood lately I wondered if Circle Circus by Stampin Up would make a great string of "Bunting Flags". Kinda like a cross between the beautiful paper or crochet doily bunting I keep seeing on Pinterest, and a traditional string of flags.

I really like how they turned out! I used different colours to what I normally would work with too, like Kraft coloured base card and deep Eggplant purple paper with eggplant printed vellum sewn over the top. Then the inks for the Circles were Soft Sage, Summer Sun, Vintage Violet and Rose Red.

For this second card I used the same colours of circles and paper, but the base card is Rose Red. I sewed the circles onto the square of background paper before I mounted it on the base card, so the sewing doesn't show through on the inside.
Then I thought I would really switch it up by using some retro themed background paper, but still use Circle Circue (well, it was already out on my desk, and I'm lazy enough to not change sets! Lol!)

I used Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise and Summer Sun ink, and also the Perfectly Scripted set for the sentiment (Perfectly Scripted is one of my fave sentiment sets, the font is gorgeous. It's my pic for most used sentiment set!).

I like how the same set can look complimentary, or quite different, just by changing up the colours you use!
Have you dug out your old sets yet? Go on! Grab them, and some different colours to what you would normally use, and go for it!
:) C

Bunting Cards

Hi y'all!
Time for some cards? Yes, I think so! {high five} It's been ages since I posted some cards, so here are some for your perusal...
Do you know what craze I love and hope never goes away? Bunting. It's awesome. Not just as party decorations, but for bedroom decor, jewellry, on clothes, stamps, crafting, book covers and fabric. I'd love to be surrounded by bunting all day long. That would make me feel like my life was a constant party. Or circus. Actually, come to think of it, that may not be such a great idea...
But here are some cards I made using my current top fave thing (apart from Hot Air Balloons, which I've been telling Mum for about 18 months will be the next big thing and she didn't believe me til today!). I made Bunting cards! Hooray for me keeping all those ridiculously small pieces of patterned paper, and hooray for actually using them up {party poppers going off- at my constant party!}

I made a baby card..
The boat is a Hero Arts stamp, sentiment by Stampin Up.

And a Birthday card. The sweet fox is from Stampin Up's Fox and Friends, which sadly retired at the end of August. Boo! Sentiment also by SU.

And another baby card. Look, I sewed across the coathangers so it looks like they're hanging off the sewn line! I'm a genious!
It was fun to get out the sewing machine and ran along these cards in red thread. I think they look so cute! I sewed the bunting on the background paper before I stuck it down on the base card, so the sewing doesn't show from the inside of the card, and you don't have any loose thread ends hanging around. Up here's for thinking! {tapping head in a thoughful way}.
I encourage you to use up all those little scraps of paper to make Bunting Cards. It's fun!
:) C

Le Tour de France!

Hi y'all!
Are you watching Le Tour de France? Yes?! Me too! I just love it! Not sure why, but I do {smiles}. It's the combo of the beautiful vistas, and the excitement of who might win the sprints and who can survive the mountains, and the sound of Phil Liggett's voice. He's awesome. And the comentators can just talk constantly for hours and I never get sick of their voices. That is just so weird! If only the football comentators could learn how to do that!
Anyways, in celebration of the Tour de France, here are some cards I've made recently using my Hero Arts bike stamp. I bought it from a loose box from the Art Stamps Australia stall at a show in Feb. I'm so glad I did, cos I love it!

I LOVE this guy card I made. I think it's the chevron washi tape that really sells it for me, I love it! And the crossword paper. I think the navy and orange combo is really cool too! That's a Stampin Up sentiment along the side.

Then I finished off lots of pieces of manly Basic Grey papers on this card. I always pass by these papers in my stash cos they haven't inspired me much, but when I saw them and thought of the bike stamp I knew I was onto a winner. And I used some printed clear sticky tape on it too, which is uber cool! And an SU sentiment too!

Yes, Yvette, you might recognise a similar card to this! (It's inspired by the card I made for Yvette's birthday!) I love this turquoise and orange combo! I guess I'm into blue and orange at the moment! I love that SU sentiment too, so sweet, and different from just Happy Birthday. You could use this card for lots of occasions.
Enjoy the Tour de France! Go Cadel!!
:) C

More Holiday Cards

Hello! Good Morning! Oh, I think I just missed morning... Good Afternoon then!
Jai and I are off to the Doctor again this arvo to see about our colds/flus. Poor Jai's little voice is hoarse now after coughing for 2 weeks! And sometimes when he coughs he does a little whimper afterwards, it's so sad {tear rolling down cheek}. This will be our 3rd trip to the Doctor in 2 weeks so I'm hoping this time we might get some Antibiotics to clear it up for good! I've had a coughing fit with a little tickle in my throat the last 2 nights and it is so annoying!
Here are the other cards I made while we were away on holidays. I am happy to say some of these stamps are seeing ink for the very first time in these cards!
Of course, because it was holidays, I had to use some Ice Cream stamps! And bright colours to go with them makes them feel even more summery! I love the "thanks sweetie" sentiment, it's from Studio G, along with the Ice Creams. I do love making fun, bright cards in summer! And I don't think my card box has enough Thank You cards in it, I'm working on that!
Then the next 2 cards I made with a Fairy stamp I bought at Pineapple Cove Scrapbooking Shop in Hawaii. I don't have any other stamps like it in my collection so I bought it, but this is the first time it's seen ink! I guess 11 months in my collection without being inked is quite some time! Give me a break- I did move house and have a baby in between! Actually when I come to think of it, 11 months is probably not a long time compared to some other stamps I have which haven't seen ink yet. {slapping back of hand}. I really need to cull some unused stamps sometime!
I had fun colouring the fairy in with my Stampin Write Markers and some glittery gel pens. She turned out so pretty as both a blonde and a brunette! And Yay for using up more small paper scraps from my collection to make the Backgrounds for these cards. I may not be up to par on my New Year's Resolution to use up 20% of my stash of 12x12 papers, but I think I'm on my way with the scrap stash!
And one more card to finish off- I used my Wordsworth Stick People to create a Baby Card. I know so many people who have had babies lately, mostly from work or church, so having extra baby cards in the box never goes astray! And the last 3 babies have been girls too! I love these stick people too. They've seen ink many times over!
And lastly a pic of Jai. I can never get enough of how sweet he looks in his Car Seat! He is just soooooo gorgeous. He usually has both hands out flat on his lap, it's soooo cute! I have sooo many pics like this one, cos I go to get him out of the car and I am overwhelmed with his cuteness and I have to take a pic! Awe, love my little boy {hearts rising from head!} Can you believe he is 4.5 months already? {sigh} Time is whizzing past so fast. Soon it will be Christmas!
:) C