Reindeer Christmas.

Mmmm well I'm showing these two cards even though I don't feel that I've done very well with the sketch. I should have made square cards out of Card Patterns Sketch 86 but by the time I realised I had cut the dp and cardstock and couldn't waste it.

The papers are Basic Grey Jovial and the I used Poppy, Vanilla and Old Olive cardstock. The stamp is by Inkadinkado and doesn't have a name but I've had it since last Christmas.
You can see the glitter in the gold embossing which I thought looked good. Looking at one of the cards now, I can see that the panel is crooked. gggrrrrrr.
These cards have been in the making for 3 days and I'm sick of them. lol Please just imagine it's straight and even.

The ribbon is Stamp Simply ribbon from Sharon which I absolutely love.
I really think that this bug I've caught again has sapped my mojo and I really don't feel very motivated at all.
Then again, perhaps it's just worry over my son that's done it. Whatever it is, I want to be back to normal because I've only one week before Craft Camp and I've nothing prepared whatsoever.

Thanks for visiting and I do hope your creating skills are better than mine at the moment.

Owl Greetings!!

I made this card using The Sweet Stop sketch number 77 for this week. Once again, I've only just made it for a challenge. Around the owl I did sponge some Antique Linen ink to lessen the white but it hasn't shown up very well in the photo. The owl is a Penny Black stamp and I've coloured him with copics (Kathy, does he look alright?). As usual I've pretty well followed the sketch to the letter. The poppy red piece I embossed with the SU folder called Petals-A-Plenty. Papers are the Jovial range by Basic Grey. I used Whisper White, Poppy Parade and Old Olive cardstock and the image is stamped on the Xpress it c/s that is recommended in Australia for Copic work.
The spray of flowers are some I had in my stash and looked quite good I thought.
For some reason I was loath to add anymore embellishments because I didn't want to take away from my owl and the gorgeous papers.
Hope you like my card.

Kick Up Your Heels!!!!

I've made this card for the High Hopes Challenge 90. It's a sketch and I do like sketches. I've had this High Hopes stamp for a couple of months now but haven't been in the mood for colouring. Yes Kathy, I did try to use my copics but didn't have the colours I needed. So back to my good old faithfuls...Prisma Colour Pencils. Once again I've used Basic Grey Cappella paper. Love this stuff. lol I've followed the sketch pretty closely feeling that I wanted the image to be the focus not lots of embellishments. The doiley is cut from a Marianne Designs die, which I really like. Cardstock is SU Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss. The image panel was layered on a piece of Blush Blossom and I cut the Vanilla and Black pieces with Nesties. The border is a Martha Stewart punch called Deco Shells. Some Stamp Simply lace and velvet ribbon with Kaisercraft pearls finished off my card.

It's raining here once again with storms predicted. The power flickered a couple of hours ago and I see on the radar that Mackay and Sarina are getting the rain now. We had the storm about 11.30 and it pelted down.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my cards and taking the time for visit my blog.

Capella Birthday

Here is another card I've made using the Basic Grey Capella papers. The sketch this time is Week 39 from Create 4 fun challenge blog. I changed the centre panel to an oval and added pearls to the bare side to liven the card up a bit. The stamp is a Posh Impressions one that if I remember correctly I won on ebay. Chocolate Chip, Blush Blossom, Mellow Moss cardstock from SU goes perfectly with these papers. I stamped En Francais on the Blush Blossom background to take away the blankness of the card. Gorgeous Stamp Simply ribbon and lace with a matching Basic Grey brad finished off my card.

I've had to order another 6 x 6 Basic Grey Capella pad because yesterday I cut 8 more card kits using this paper and you could say that my original paper pad is just about had it. lol

I'm entering this card in the challenge so I hope my added pearls and the oval centre pass muster.
Thanks for visiting my blog today and I do appreciate all your comments.

Capella for 18th Birthday

I've been itching to use my Basic Grey Capella kit but just haven't got to it. This card was the perfect excuse. My son tells me I'm not up to date but I certainly hope this card passes for an 18th girl birthday card.
The stamps in the middle are by Just Rite and I've used vintage pink velvet ric rac and Champainge silk for trims. The cardstock is Basic Black, Mellow Moss, Blush Blossom all from SU. The little doiley was cut from a Marianne Designs die which I absolutely love. The sketch is from Viva la Verve September Week 3 which I immediately knew I could use for this card.
I don't this there's anything else to explain but please feel free to email me if you want to know anything.

My Clock!!!

Right O, now you must promise not to laugh. This is my clock!!

I finished it this afternoon. Instead of photos in the two squares, before joining the two pieces together, I decoupaged two pictures in both squares from 6 x 6 Webster's Pages, added rubons then Mod Podged over it all a few times then put the top layer on. After that I decorated to my heart's content. lol I used 6 x 6 Webster's Pages for the front too with an extra butterfly decoupaged on with a couple of rubon butterflies as well. The back of the clock is covered with 6 x 6 Webster's Pages too. It's a fact of life that I'm not a painter. Just ask my friends and my OH. I was only allowed to paint inside the pantry when we were building this house. When he saw what I'd done, I was excused from any more painting. pmsl

I'm not happy with what I used to attach the lace but it's too late now. Will know better next time. The saying under the clock face says "Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused". This describes me quite accurately I thought.
In the "Be Unique" square is a little egg timer charm which is so cute. A cluster of punched butterflies in the clock corner finished it off with punched branch leaves, pearls, roses, buds, gardenia and hat pin.
I'll be posting cards next, no more Off the Page projects for a while.

Old Houses

These cards were made using a photo stamp by Darkroom Door called Country Cottage. I've named the title of my post Old Houses because this house is just like some of the ones you see around this district on the older cattle properties and cane farms.
I must give credit to a very talented lady called Lisa Somerville. This is the card that inspired me to make the four cards below.

Once again, I used Versafine ink to stamp these images. The first two in Sepia and the bottom two in black with green brushed around the edges. All the edges have been distressed lightly to accentuate the 'country' feel of them. The purple/red weathered paint look paper is by Paper Inklings and the green/black paper is from Basic Grey's Origins range.

It's been sunny here again today but there is quite a breeze blowing. A bit of cloud around but it doesn't look like rain at this stage. Yesterday was reasonably productive and I hope to get some more cards done this afternoon.
Thanks for visiting and have a great day.

For The Men

Two more for the men in our lives. Again using Basic Grey Boxer papers but this time with a different stamp and sketch. The stamp is by Stamp It called Landrover. Again this stamp lends itself brilliantly to Versafine ink. I did try water based dye inks with this stamp and they just didn't cut it. The sketch is SCS262 with a couple of alterations. At this stage I like one with and one without the greeting but that may change.
Thanks for taking the time to look.

Oh and my other piece of news, last weekend Charlie and I went to Brisbane. Saturday night saw us at the AC/DC concert and it was AWESOME!!!!!!! They played for two hours straight and it was raining some of that time. The stage was getting wet and so were the people in the pit. Glad we were under cover. I'd go again in a heartbeat. Loved it. Thousands of people and before the concert the excitement and build up of the people there was fantastic.

Another sunny day here in Koumala. I'm off to make some cards, robots and rock stars this time. Again thanks for visiting my blog and all the comments you take the time to leave.

Over The Hill!!!!!

This is one of the male cards that I completed a few weeks ago when I had a male cardmaking frenzy on!! The papers are Boxer by Basic Grey and the stamps are by Darkroom Door. The sketch I used is one of Mercy's Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenges. Instead of the ribbon embellishment in the sketch, I added three black brads to the top RH corner instead.

The solid stamps I've been using lately really stamp beautifully with Versafine ink. The ink adheres to the rubber without beading like a lot of the waterbased dye inks tend to do on solid stamps. So instead of a patchy image you end up with a fabulous solid image as it should be.
The Boxer papers are fabulous and use earthy reds, blues, greens in the range, which as the name suggests, reminds one of the patterns used on mens boxer shorts.

The second day of full sun here which is drying up the soaked ground a bit. Thankfully there aren't any floods here but I feel for the people are flood bound further south. The washing is being hung out and dried in the sun for the first time in days and I do love sun dried towels.
Enjoy the rest of your day everyone and thanks for visiting.

Be Merry Again!

I've so enjoyed making these Christmas cards. Here are two more that I finished a few weeks ago. For the first card I cuttlebug embossed the Basic Grey pink background with my new snowflake flolder. I made a Christmas tree using punches like Francie did. I think it looks fabulous. The star at the top of the tree is an acrylic embellishment out of my stash as is the lace and bling. Stamps are by Papermania and the papers are My Minds Eye Be Merry and Basic Grey.

The second card uses Nesties for behind the Christmas trees which have been cut out of the Be Merry paper by My Minds Eye. I cuttlebug embossed the pink layer with another of my new embossing folders from the UK. Stamps are by Papermania with Stampin' Up punches used for the greeting. Lace and bling from my stash.

Today I received some gorgeous crystals in the mail so hope to get some more of these cards made using them.
Jennifer requested that I do a tutorial on making bows. Well all I use is the Bow Easy and sometimes the rabbit ears technique. I'm not allowed to put the link on here where I purchased my Bow Easy but if you email me, larleigh@bigpond.com, I'll be more than happy to send you the link to where I purchased mine from and also on that same website is a fabulous tutorial on how to use the Bow Easy.

This last week has been spent in non crafting activities for the most part. CWA is finished for the year, the crafting groups I go to have finished up for Christmas and Sunday afternoon was spent with 4 other girls that I went to Primary School with. We have an annual get together at this time of the year.
The fine tuning of my craft room clean up is nearly finished.
Thanks for the many wonderful comments on my blog, I truly appreciate each and every one of them.

Chocolate and Pink

Another birthday card, this time my card for Chris. She loves lace and bears so I thought these papers from Basic Grey teamed with pearls, pink velvet, roses and lace would do nicely.
She loved it. I cased a card I found on one of the blogs I look at, changing papers, colours embellishmets and picture, unfortunately I can't read the watermark on it. I'll have to make sure I print the pics for my idea book at a bigger size.
I thank the original maker of this card, fabulously easy to put together.

Another hot day, yesterday was 39C and today isn't much better. The fog at 5.30 this morning was so thick I couldn't see more than a metre or so in front of the car.
Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Time Passes, Friendship Stays.....

This is a birthday card for one of the girls in our craft group that meets at Jan's place every month. There's 8 of us altogether and it's a fabulous little group. We celebrate each other's birthdays and this is the card Jan asked me to make for Chris's birthday.

It's the same sketch as my last sympathy card but I wanted to use this curvy verse and felt the book theme went really well with it. The roses and pearl spray with the lace and sprinkles just finished it off. I gave it to Jan last week and she absolutely loved it, so much so, that I have to make another one in burgundy tones for someone else in our group.

Very hot day here and I'm so very thankful that we have the house airconditioned because I wouldn't be able to craft at all otherwise.
Thanks so very much for visiting my blog and the lovely comments I receive.
Have a wonderful day everyone.

Nook and Pantry Birthday

I made this card for a friend of mine. She's having a birthday. The sketch is one that I found on one of the many blogs I look at but unfortunately I neglected to put on a name when I printed it out. The sketch does say © by Nadine. If anyone knows where I found it, please let me know.
A lovely sketch to follow and the card came together really well. The roses have kindyglitz on them as does the pattycake icing.
Thanks for visiting and hope you have a wonderful day.

Pink and Blue Christmas

A couple more of the Christmas cards using my lovely papers. I'm totally happy with my Joy card but the other one is a bit iffy. I tried Jak Heath's technique of using the Diamond Dust over acetate snowflakes. Unfortunately mine are certainly not as good as Jak's. I know you can't see them very well. I had a terrible time with this card. It took ages and the snowflakes at one stage were going in the bin. Anyway, they are there now and I know I need more practice at them. If you want to try these, be careful as the acetate isn't easy to punch.
The sketch I used for this card is from the Inspirational Card Sketches blog # 43.
I love my lace and ric rac but had to put a piece of blue underneath to make that feature stand out. The wreath has been silver embossed with little bling placed over the stars. I can't put a link to where I purchased the lace and ribbon I used on this card but it was from the UK and the US.

The Joy card sketch is a version from one of Francie's cards that she was making on the stamping weekend. This card came together really easily compared to the other one. The little pot the Christmas tree is in, is just punched from the border of the MME papers. I thought it a perfect way to recycle the bit I would normally throw away. I managed to make the Christmas Tree using Francie's idea with a punch.
Thanks for looking and once again, a big thank you to all who take the time to comment on my blog.

Patterned Pines

Another Christmas card using my pretty papers, bling, lace and a charm. This one was made on Wednesday when I had a cardmaking session with a couple of girlfriends.
Thanks for looking and for the fabulous comments I receive.