Sandy Toes Challenge.

I saw a challenge on Michelle Grant's facebook group to use certain items....stapler, glitter, decorative scissors, clay, eyelets, and gloss varnish and I also had a sketch from the Mackay Project Lifers to do something with as well, so I combined the two.

  Unfortunately I couldn't use the clay, gloss varnish or the decorative scissors on this card.

The rope paper from Kaisercraft Sandy Toes 6 x 6 paper pad was perfect for what I had in mind - a male, distressed, boat card.

The base is Kraft card stock with a layer of Island Indigo.  All the edges have been sponged with Island Indigo.  This range of paper has a 12 x 12 piece filled with 3x4 images so I used a blank one with an anchor to tie in with the them.  I stamped the ship onto it in Black Archival Ink. Then the scalloped border was added and the banner piece after that.  The eyelet went through all the layers so it was good and sturdy.  The banner looked a bit bare so I stamped the Happy Birthday on it towards the bottom.   To use the stapler, I pushed in a tab collectable and stamped the word storm onto it.

  

Because the rope reminded me of a big cargo ship, I stamped some label stamps onto the side and added a compass point and north to the bottom.  Then to give the look of salt encrusted rope, I drenched the whole card in Distress Clear Rock Candy Stickles.   The bottom photo shows the look I wanted.

String has been tied around the top and to the anchor collectable and through the jumbo eyelet.  To finish off, I added the charms.

The stamps I used came from a set by Marianne Design called Eline's Beach House.  Love these stamps and being acrylic, I could stamp them a bit blurry to imitate the look of stamped wooden crates.

I don't know if I've explained it all very well but I'm very happy with the resulting card.

Have a very happy Monday everyone.
 

Blue Vintage Springtime

Good morning all.

Here is the next card the ladies will be making on Saturday in their class.  I wanted to use up some of these Vintage Springtime papers which Stampin' Up put out some years ago.  I love them and bought a few packs, but it's time to start using them. lol   I chose the blue papers to make this card which is a case of LeAnne's card here.

Base card is cream linen card stock with the next layer being Baja Breeze which is retired and a great pity.  The pleated ribbon is also SU Baja Breeze.  Among my collection of stamps is a butterfly set by Stamp It.  I purchased these stamps years ago and mounted them but only ever used one.  So out it came and I stamped the greeting with Not Quite Navy ink (yep also retired - sigh) on card stock weight vellum.  This was left to dry overnight to make sure it wouldn't smudge.

  

The large butterfly was done with a base of Baja Breeze stamped with a lace background stamp then die cut.  The top layer of the wings was die cut then embossed using Stampendous Frantage Shabby Blue Embossing Enamel.  I love the colours in this range of enamels....beautiful and vintagey.  I was going to add a sprinkling of enamel to the vellum panel but decided against it. A shabby rose completed the look I wanted.  Another couple of die cut butterflies layered with a pearl and the card was finished.

The whole card came together very well and I'm very happy with the end result.

Many thanks to Jean for her valuable assistance.

We've had lots of rain here and everything is beautiful and green.  Love it.   I was in Mackay yesterday and the rain absolutely bucketed down.  By the time I had finished getting the groceries to the car, I was saturated.  Oh well, the joys of living in the tropics.  lol

Have a wonderful day everyone.

 

McAleese Lookalike!!

Good morning everyone.

I'm back this time with a card that I made especially for a friend's brother's birthday.

He used to drive McAleese semis so Lex wanted a semi trailer in McAleese colours on the card.

Here is the result.   The inspiration for the layout and embellishments are from this card by Ans Gilbert.

At first this card just wouldn't work but once I coloured the darker blue stripe with a bit more Island Indigo, I forged ahead. 

The base is SU Naturals White with a layer of Island Indigo.  In my recent stash buying, I bought this dsp by Kaisercraft called Base Coat Cracked.  It's actually a picture of a brick wall that has been rendered a few times.  I picked out a corner that looked like bitumen coming off road base....which I might add is what quite a few of our roads look like.  lol

Then a piece of Silver Foil Sheet was run through the Tim Holtz Diamond Plate embossing folder.  I matted this onto Basic Grey.   For this card I had the wonderful opportunity to use my new Gilding Paste.  Love this stuff.  It smells like shoe polish.  I rubbed Black Gilding Paste over the checker plate, gears, number and had a marvellous time with it.  rofl

 My semi trailer is a Stamp It stamp coloured with Prisma Colour pencils with the dark blue stripe over coloured with Island Indigo ink and blender pen.  For the background of the semi, I stamped the World Map stamp after stamping off first.

Tyre tracks from Rev Up The Fun have been stamped on the Smokey Slate layer and to clean my stamp a bit, I stamped randomly over my checker plate piece.

The grid paper is from Soho Subway and then with my old spiral punch I made it look like paper from a notebook. 

Enjoy The Journey seemed appropriate for the card and this has been stamped onto another piece of Soho Subway dsp.

Black photo corners, screw top brads, gears, paper clip, an age number and ticket provided embellishments for the card.

I had a wonderful time distressing, gilding, stamping and embellishing this card.

Lex loved the card and she is positive her brother will too.

The rest of today will be spent in making a couple of cakes and two potato bakes.  I also have to cut up kabana, cheese, heat up cheerios, butter bread rolls and worst of all, cut up onions. sniff, sniff.

My son is having a 21st birthday party here tonight.  Eeeeekkkk!!!!

Wish me luck! lol

Enjoy the rest of your day and keep well.

 

The Big Catch!

Can you see it?   The big fish?? lol  I had a lovely time designing this card because I was having a chuckle all the while.  This card was inspired by a card made Cootje - here.

I used a base of Stampin' Up Early Espresso.  On to that I layered a piece of creek pebble dsp that I purchased while I was away at camp in March.  The image is from Joy Crafts Fishing Fun paper block. I chose this particular image because I felt that it was more of a creek or dam than the ocean and would go with my 'pebbles' well.   The green layer is Wild Wasabi (I think) and the hessian paper is one out of the Kaisercraft Base Coat range.

The woven jute ribbon is from Linda at the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  This jute ribbon is fabulous BUT it is interwoven with nylon, like fishing line so it's a bit of a nuisance to try and fold. The grass die is Impression Obsession and I use it a lot.  The man in the boat silhouette and fish dies are from Joy Crafts.  I die cut the smallest fish out of silver card and added a bling eye.  The fishing 'line' is some hemp twine.  The Big Catch stamp is from one of the matching stamp sets in the Joy Crafts Fishing Fun series.  Unfortunately I cannot purchase the other one. It's mostly in Dutch but I just love some the images and words in it.  Pity.

Last but not least, is my Gone Fishin' sign.....an old stamp by Stylish Images.  Love it.

The ladies in class who made this card were thrilled with it and they had a chuckle too. lol

Thanks for visiting my blog.

 

Paradise!!

Good morning.

I have another class card to show you.   When I first saw the range of Kaisercraft papers called Paradiso, lots of thoughts crossed my mind.  One, that the images looked so much like the photos of the 1970's after being in those sticky photo albums.  Two, that the images were all tropical, beach and totally appropriate for where I live.  Three, that these papers, images, and collectables would make absolutely fantastic cards for the class I teach in Mackay.  I knew the ladies would love them.  So with a view to creating a male class card I came up with this one.   A versatile card I feel, one could use it for a male card or just for someone who likes the beach, water or photography.

The sketch I used is this one from the Cardabilities blog.  I've altered the placement of the elements a bit, only because they seemed to fit better on the card.  The base card is Stampin' Up Early Espresso, then a layer of Stampin' Up Soft Suede.  I layered the image onto retired Stampin' Up River Rock and Blue Bayou.  The words 'beach' and 'escape' are from the Collectables that Kaisercraft put out to match their paper collections.  I love the Paradise sign and the camera which are also from the Collectables range.  The hessian, leaves and shells all add texture and dimension to the card and fit in with the theme of the image.  I've had the greeting 'Another Day In Paradise' for a long time.  It's a stamp by Stamp It in Australia.  Perfect and the ladies were very happy with their cards.

I do apologise for the way some of my cards are photographed.  For my classes, I tend to photograph the card on grid paper so the ladies can easily see where to place images, embellishments and other elements.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog today.  Hope you like my card.

Keep well.

   

A Little Bird Told Me.

I have another card to show you today.  My class of ladies in Mackay did this card as a class a few weeks ago.  They absolutely loved it.   The papers are by Kazzazz and matched the bird image perfectly.  The bird image is by Crafty Secrets.  It's a digital image that I purchased.  The flourish die is by Memory Box and I added cheesecloth, fabric leaves, feathers, flowers, berries and a pearl pin to make the floral arrangement.

The butterfly charm and pearl trail added a bit of interest in the corner.  To finish off, a little greeting by Stamp It.......A little bird told me.  

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

 

Square And Manly Friday Mash Up

Well finally I've made a card.  Just lately because I haven't felt well, my mojo has deserted me.  I've had a number of visits to the Chiropractor with more to come and hopefully it is doing me some good.  It's certainly costing enough!!!

I started a card for The Friday Mash Up challenge using The Open Sea by SU but it just wouldn't work.  So I decided on a whole new direction.  Once I found these papers in my stash which hadn't been used yet, the whole card came together really well.  The sketch is a good one and very suitable for a male card.  I embellished my oval with buttons and vintage brads. The red is SU Cherry Cobbler and by introducing it, picks up the red in the rims of the watches.  For some reason the quilted ribbon looked just right and added a bit of texture.

Thanks for visiting today and hope everyone is well.

Time is Valuable!!

I had a girlfriend visit me on Saturday. We had a lovely time making cards. This is one of them. Margaret wanted to make a male card so using SU Black and Not Quite Navy and Cajun Craze as an accent, this is what we came up with. I can't find the sketch we used but when I do I'll edit this post.
It's been a very busy week and I've still got a mail run to do tomorrow then I'm free again. lol
Enjoy your day everyone.

Versatile Christmas Cocoa

I love using these Stamp It Yesteryear images. Stampin' Up's Soft Suede matches perfectly. My Christmas Cocoa dsp was still unopened mainly because I couldn't bear to use it but I was brave!!!!! I cut into it to make this male birthday card using the Yesteryear truck image.
I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I started out with a sketch but the finished card is nothing like the sketch. Oh well. The greeting is from the current SU set Curly Cute.
Thanks for visiting and hope you all have a wonderful day or night as the case may be.

Male Mouse Tails

I've had these images coloured for months, so decided to make them into cards. Both are intended for male cards but looking at them now, they are suitable for females as well I suppose.
Once again, sorry I can't give credit for the sketches çause I can't remember which ones they were. These cards have been made for a month or so. Cardstock is Bazzill and Core'dinations, dp from my stash as too are the brads. I think the Happy Birthday greeting is a Stamp It one and the Best Wishes is Hero Arts.
Have a wonderful day everyone.

More for the Men!!!

Here are some more cards I made for the men in our lives. The top one is using a stamp from Stamp It called Surf's Up and a sketch by Papertake Weekly .
The second card uses a stamp I think by TAC. At the moment I can't find the wretched stamp so can't be sure. lol Same sketch as the top card.
Third and Fourth cards uses stamps by Stamp It called Pick Up Truck and Man of the House.
The sketch this time is from CCEE.
For the bottom two cards I used a TAC stamp and a Stamp It stamp called T Ford Coupe 1925.
Sketches for them were again Papertake Weekly and CCEE.
All the cards have Basic Grey Boxer papers on them with different embellishments. On one I've used Tim Holtz's gears, on another SU brads and Bizzy Bec's digi tickets.
The ink I used once again was Versafine, which once again I'll say is brilliant for solid stamps and with stamps with a bit of detail. Cardstock was mainly Core'dinations with SU Confetti White.
Nesties just gave the images a bit of interest instead of just being square or rectangle.
I'm pretty happy with them.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

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.

Lilac Avenue with a Flourish!!

This is the card I made for Jean's birthday. I used the brand new Flourishes set that Jean herself had given me for my birthday, a Year of Flowers, Calendar set 1. I used the sketch from the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge 52A and Cindy Haffner's idea of cutting my background pieces with Nesties. The flower is a Crocus and I have no idea whether you can get purple ones or not. These are because they matched the papers. lol
Ribbon is from my stash and matched perfectly. Jean absolutely loved her card.
It's still raining here but the sun has just come out. Wonder if it will last?
Have a wonderful day everyone and once again thanks for visiting.

Back again!

Yes, my blog has been neglected. Sorry about that. For the two weeks before this I've been on a cardmaking frenzy. April is coming up very fast and Jean and I must have a decent display.
Amongst others, which I'll put on my blog gradually, these are four male cards I've managed.
The first one I silver embossed the tyres, then with the other three, I used black Versafine with black embossing powder. Versafine is a fabulous ink to use for photo and solid stamps. It doesn't 'bead' on the stamp and stamps beautifully.
I've kept the cards a bit regimented with straight lines which I feel suited the sketches I used and also the Kaisercraft designer paper.

For the first card I used this sketch SCS259.
The second card uses this sketch SASSC48.
The third and fourth cards uses a sketch from the 2 sketches 4 You site, Kazan's sketch 43.

Onto other news, we've had rain for so long, that our feet are now webbed. pmsl I love the rain and to see green grass is fabulous. I hope the parts of Australia that need rain get it soon.
My son ended up in hospital with Glandular Fever the weekend before last so that was another episode to deal with. Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him now.

Once again, sorry about my absence. I have been checking up on all my blogs that I follow but rarely commenting at the moment. All your cards are wonderful. Hope you all have a happy day and thanks for visiting.

Kylie's very belated birthday card

I made this card using this sketch by Mary Jo. Much the same as this card but I do like this one much better. The dp is Lilac Avenue with the c/s from SU. I love the sprinkles from Annabelle, they are gorgeous. Flowers, pearls, lace etc from my stash. Both the girl and the sentiment stamps are by Stamp It. Kylie has now received the card and says she loves it.
It's not raining so much here now. We've had around 8 or so inches here in the last few days. Very wet.

Today 26th January, is Australia Day, the day that the First Fleet landed at Sydney Cove. Nowadays it's a day to celebrate what's great about Australia and being Australian.
So hope everyone is enjoying their day.
Take care,

Two challenges

I made this card for two challenges, Monday Lunchtime sketch challenge by Technostamper and this week's Cupcake Craft Challenge #73 Going Girly. I love the sketch, it's fabulous but I'm not really sure whether I've done a decent enough job of the card.
The image is by Stamp It and I've watercoloured it using Lyra crayons. The paper is by Kaisercraft and with pink Bazzill and a beautiful glitter cardstock that I've had for a few months now. Flowers, ribbon, lace and sprinkles all from my stash. I kindyglitzed the flowers to match the glitter cardstock.
The dp seemed appropriate, "made with love" for the way the girl is posed.
Do you think it will pass for a birthday card for a younger female?
Thanks for looking.
I hope everyone who is experiencing very cold weather is keeping warm and the rest of us, keep cool!

Cupcake Craft Challenge #72

I coloured this image yesteday while colouring my House Mouse image. The papers were out so why not make two cards using the same embellishments.
The challenge over on the Cupcake Challenge blog is to make a baby card, so this is my entry.

The image is by Stamp It and makes me laugh. The look on that stork's face is priceless. I've kindyglitzed the drops of perspiration to emphasize the effort of the stork. lol
Papers are Melissa Frances with the buttons and lace from my stash.
Another card I'm completely happy with.

BTW my friend's grandaughter loved her pink and black 21st birthday card, so much so, that there is talk of framing it. I feel so chuffed, that's what makes it all so worthwhile, when people love your work as much as that.

Raining here again today which doesn't worry me but I think my menfolk were hoping for another day of fine weather to get the mowing done.
Hope all my blogging friends who are experiencing the very, very cold freezing weather at the moment, are keeping warm. Everyone else, keep cool especially South Australian ladies who are suffering under a heat wave.

More Poinsettias

Another couple of creations from the Stamping Weekend. I used a new punch that I purchased in Brisbane while I was there. Very nice. The ribbon is a gorgeous organza that makes beautiful bows. Love those papers. lol The greeting is from the set Christmas Classics. I mention it because it is slightly curved and fitted on to my image nicely. Gold pearls in the corners.
We've had a little bit of rain so that is the best news I can give you at the moment and it's still overcast and looking very promising. The crushing is nearly finished here in the Plane Creek Mill area so it's all over for another year. Very early though.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Cheers!!

My cousin asked me to make a 50th male birthday card. The criteria being that he's a male's male. Mmmmm well I tossed up and decided to use this image from Stamp It called Cobbers.
It's great to watercolour, so I used my Lyra watercolour crayons which have been sitting quietly on my table waiting to be used. I stamped the image on watercolour paper with Archival black ink. Then away I went. I'm afraid I'm not good at watercolouring but I think it's turned out ok.

The paper is some that I bought from Sue and Robyn at their new shop, Papercraft Central. Cardstock is Bazzill and I coloured some silver peel off numbers black. Stampin' Up star and large oval punches were used. The Cheers is from the SU set called It's Maori, Mate. Also three of new the Sprinkles, yum yum with some green twill from a SU set and black grosgrain from my stash finished it off. The sketch is Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge 37. Oh, nearly forgot, added white liquid applique to the froth of the beer and heated it to puff it up.

Yep, this is my second post today. Had to show you my new card. Hope you like it.