Create With Connie and Mary Sketch Challenge 160

This card came about because I saw this picture on the Moxie Fab World blog which I used for my colour inspiration and Renee's design team card for this week's Create with Connie & Mary challenge.

Here is the result.  I used very vanilla, early espresso and baja breeze card stock teamed with Springtime Vintage dsp, Subtles dsp and Botanical Gazette dsp.  The stamp sets used were French Foliage, Silhouette Sentiments, Clearly For You and Nature Walk.  The butterfly from Nature Walk was stamped in early espresso and then lightly water coloured with baja breeze ink.

Most of the edges were given the distressed treatment with my distressing kit which I think is great.

Some lace onto two punched borders gave a little bit of detail as per the sketch.

There's not much more to say other than I did try out a new (to me) idea I saw on Patty's blog which is to combine different buttons and accessories to make something completely different and so cool I reckon.

So I layered my antique brad onto my early espresso button and then wrapped the prongs around my scrunched seam binding and hey presto, something a little bit snazzy. lol  I do really like those antique brads and the vintage trinkets.  Think I've said that before.  rofl 

So do you like my card?  I hope someone likes it enough to buy it!!!!
Take care all and have a good night.

Gabrielle Butterfly

Once again using Bo Bunny Gabrielle papers I made this card.  Actually it's a case from one of Sharon's card at Stamp Simply.  The teal card stock is Bo Bunny's double dot with matches the papers exactly.  The ribbon banner I absolutely love, so easy to use. Stampin' Up very vanilla seam binding was scrunched into a bow and secured with flowers. The teal velvet ribbon is so yummy.

OK, must get on and hopefully today will get some more cards done.  I do have one half made so will get that finished too.

Enjoy your day everyone.

Watermelon Gabrielle.

I had been saving this Bo Bunny Gabrielle paper pad until I had more matching ribbons and accessories to go with it but just couldn't resist making this card after seeing Sharon's latest creation.

It's pretty self explanatory really, just very vanilla base, with matching coral double dot c/s for the next layer.  Watermelon lace and very vanilla SU satin ribbon with a antique brad, roses and some punches leaves finished off the right hand corner.  The greeting is a SU one which I 'found' the other day in amongst my stamps.  I then split the flourish and adhered it to top and bottom of the greeting.

Thanks for visiting today.

Another Day in Paradise!!

This card is a case from one that Jacki Topa made here.  I loved her card and I'm fairly happy with what I managed to make.

My card is smaller than Jackie's because I just used our cardstock and metric measurements.

Unfortunately my cat has a big backside, I think he's been sitting at that window a long time. pmsl  Now that I'm looking at him I wish I could have made him with the proper punches, oh well, not to worry.

The greeting is one I've had in my stash for some time and this was the perfect card to use it on.

Don't anyone go running away with the idea that making this card was easy....it was not!!   I spent some time getting those white rectangles reasonably even then when I stamped the image, it wasn't clear enough.  I had to start again!!!!   gggrrrrrrr
I have had an idea of how to perhaps make it easier for myself with those windows but I'll try that some other time.

My sponging leaves a lot to be desired but I was not going to do those blessed rectangles again. lol

All done eventually and I love the card.  Wouldn't mind doing him again one day if we got the Blossom Builder punch out here.

My girlfriend pounced on this card for her husband's birthday.  So I'll wait and see what our new catty brings before I attempt another one.

Thanks so much everyone for visiting my blog and leaving comments.  Love them all.

Motorbike on Navy & Orange.

Stampin' Up's a la carte Motorbike stamp is perfect for those male cards.  This card uses the now retired Travel Journal dsp.  I was at the time making another motorbike card and had this piece of embossed silver card leftover.  So to use it up I made this card.  Simple but reasonably effective I thought.  The cord at the bottom belongs to my camera and isn't part of the card.  Can't take the photo again 'cause I don't have the card anymore.  Wish I'd realised at the time.

Have a wonderful day everyone and thanks for visiting.

More Vintage!!

I became an admirer of Joanne Leddy, Creative Stamping Ideas, when I stumbled across her blog from several sources in my blog hopping around times.

I love the way this lady can mix and match papers, colours, ribbons and embellishments, things that I wouldn't think of putting together, to make a fabulous piece of artwork.

When I saw this card, I thought, wow, fancy putting the black spot with those papers but it works!! 

Here are my attempts to recreate Joanne's card.

My cards have extra layers on them, and use a die cut doily die instead of crochet. In the centre of the flowers are  SU Antique brads.  I did dye the seam binding with So Saffron reinker with a few sprays of pearl glimmer mist.  The hand made flower is liberally coated in pearl glimmer mist...love this stuff.  The cardstock is very vanilla, pale plum (retired) and so saffron.  The so saffron dsp is some that I had put away and I can't even tell you which pack it's from.  Long gone I think.

The images are from a gorgeous vintage set from Crafty Secrets which I stamped onto very vanilla and lightly water coloured with pale plum, so saffron, pear pizzazz and soft suede. I distressed the edges with tea stain ink from the new SU distressing kit. Am loving this kit.

Once again, my sewing machine came into use and overall I'm really happy with the results.

This morning I went to the Tourist Centre to book some cards in and before I could get them into the display racks, one of these cards below had sold.  Great hey?  I was so pleased.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day or what's left of it.
Take care and thanks for visiting my blog.

ETA: I must apologise for the quality of the photos.  I took them at night and the editing program didn't lighten them as much as I thought it would.

Botanical Gazette Bird Cage

Once again my card isn't a new idea.  I cased this one from Jo Dumbleton, a SU demo in the UK.

My bird is different, so is the bird cage and I felt I didn't need a greeting on my card. I used the same papers but unfortunately my music wheeling certainly isn't as straight as Jo's.  Not to worry.  The bird cage die is a Marianne one.

Yep, you've guessed it, I don't have this card either anymore. lol

So will have to get in and make something similar but different for the Tourist Centre.

Enjoy your day everyone.

Vintage Crafty Secrets Bird

Good morning everyone.  This card was my first attempt at the vintage look.  Linda Coughlin alias The Funkie Junkie was once again the source of my inspiration.  I used her sketch on this card but changed the elements, colour etc.  I was absolutely stoked with the way it turned out.  Once again, I hand dyed cotton crinoline and tulle with glimmer mists to make the flowers.  Tutorial on Linda's blog. The antique brads and safety pin are from Stampin' Up and I love them.

The cardstock is Stampin' Up and so are the papers except the music one which came from my stash.

This card has machine sewing on some of the layers and I'm quite proud that I managed to do it.
Before you ask, no I don't have this card anymore.  It too was snapped up very quickly.

Thank you once again for visiting.  Have a wonderful day.

Botanical Gazette Raspberry Card

I have another card here that I made at Kim's craft retreat.  This one uses a pattern that's on a sheet of paper from the Botanical Gazette dsp,  I cased this card from Julie Marshall

who cased her card from Ilina Crouse. I stamped the raspberry stamp from Clearly For You onto another sheet of Botanical Gazette with Early Expresso, but stamping off a couple of times first.

Then the three little birds out of the same set was stamped in the right hand corner using Cherry Cobbler.  A double row of the Stampin  Up lace with Cherry Cobbler seam binding was added along the middle.  A scrunchy bow secured with a gorgeous Antique Brad was the finishing touch.  Once again çause I like layers I added an extra layer of Very Vanilla cardstock.  The greeting is from a Stampin Up set and if anyone knows which set it is I'd be very grateful if you would let me know çause at the moment I'm blessed if I do and it's rolling around loose without a home. lol

I have to make another of these cards along the same lines çause once again I could have sold this one twice over.

Thanks for visiting my blog and have a wonderful day.

Strength and Hope

I decided I would purchase this Stampin' Up stamp set while the Strength and Hope campaign was still current.  It finishes on the 31st July.  For each Strength and Hope stamp set that Stampin' Up sell, they will donate $2 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).

These cards I made after seeing this card by Lianne Carper.  I used the same sketch but added another layer of cardstock (love layers), pearls on the butterfly and did my seam binding/lace differently.  The Antique Brads in our current SU catalogue are gorgeous to use as are the Vintage Trinkets currently on a carry over flyer.

My Rich Razzleberry version of Lianne's card used some retired pale plum cardstock and ink.

I don't have these cards anymore, they were snapped up very quickly so will have to get in and make some more versions.

Thanks for visiting today.

Vintage Crafty Secrets Card

Back again.  Last week I received these gorgeous vintage images in the mail from one of my favourite spots to shop...Sharon's Stamp Simply Store.

There are 6 images in a pack and they are all different.  I've also been wanting to try making my own flowers out of crinoline and tulle...like these and these that Linda, the Funkie Junkie makes.

The card that I used for inspiration is this one here by Linda.

There is a mixture of papers here but the cardstock is from Stampin' Up.

A new toy, the doiley die, was a joy to use.

The seam binding, crinoline and tulle were dyed using glimmer mist.

Another thing I've been wanting to try, is machine sewing on my cards so I gave that a go too.

The person it was made for is extremely happy with the result of my work.

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day.

Craft Retreat

OK, well I'm back again.  A couple of weeks ago Kim had one of her retreats in Brisbane at Brookfield.  I love these retreats.  They are soooo much fun.

Here is a photo of part of the room we were in.  Lots of craft stash and lots of crafting happening.

The last two photos are of our table, Jean, Jane, Vicki, Venessa and I.  As always Kim does a wonderful camp and has lots of goodies for us, make and takes, lucky door prizes and challenges.

I came home from this camp with so many cards made and some that were nearly finished.

Very productive weekend.

I'll be back shortly with a vintage card I've managed to make.