Lilac Avenue

I made this card some weeks ago now using Lilac Avenue papers, Prima crochet flower, stunning double faced satin ribbon and a gorgeous MS punch. There card that I used for inspiration was a card made by Sherry Cheever back in February. The sentiment is in one of the sets available this year from SU SAB. The centre shapes are nestabilities.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments I've received on my Convention swaps and my Team swap boxes. I love reading them and thank you for taking the time to comment.

Sydney Convention 2010

Here are some photos from Sydney Convention. We all had such a good time together. It was wonderful to meet other people and yet still stick together as a team. I met heaps of people this time round at Convention and it was a fabulous experience. The whole feeling around me was friendliness, enthusiasm, with little exclusiveness.

Judy and Jane general session first day

Mandy, Jenny, Katrina general session first day

Jean and I general session first day. I do wish I had a more photogenic face.

Table decoration for Saturday night

Judy, Jane, me, Jean Saturday night

Chrissie, Vanessa Saturday night

Vanessa, Kim, Tina Saturday night

Jane after her stage walk

Mandy after her stage walk

Kim after her FIRST stage walk.

Autumn Days and Autumn Traditions

This card was inspired by this card by Vicki Burdick. I've been wanting to use both my stamp set Autumn Days and the papers that match, Autumn Traditions for some time now. This is the result. I love the All of a Flutter butterfly and it's a dream to colour after I had clear embossed it over Soft Suede ink. The colours I used on the butterfly Ruby Red, More Mustard and Always Artichoke mixed in with gorgeous, gorgeous shimmer paint. Yummo, this stuff is fabulous. Here's hoping we have it in the new catty due out in September. The buttons are Ruby Red and are now retired. Base card is Naturals Ivory, with More Mustard underneath the dp. I'm not sure that the curly label punch was the right thing to use but it's stuck down now so I can't change it. Hope you like my card and thanks so much for visiting.

Team Swaps

This year at Sydney Convention, Kim our Team Leader organised a get together and a team swap on the Thursday. These are the boxes I made for that swap. The box is copyright by Donna from Butternut Sage Designs but you can purchase the instructions to make this box for a very reasonable price.
I had moments while making these boxes wondering what the heck I was doing this for!!!! lol
These are pics I took in the process. The trays of some of the embossing I did, before cooking and after cooking. Then the finished results. I used Donna's colours for one lot and my own for the others. Sage Shadow, Lavender Lace and Elegant Eggplant and the other boxes used Real Red, Basic Black and Brushed Gold. The stamp set is Pendant Park.
Thanks so much Donna for the inspiration. I'm pretty sure my swaps were very well received and that everyone liked them. Inside each one was a little choccie, cherry ripe for the red and twirl for the purple. I actually made 24 for the team swap and 4 that a friend ended up with.
I've got some photos of convention which I'll put up next post.
Thanks for looking,

Convention Swaps

The below swaps are what I've been up to for the past few weeks in between working etc.
These are the swaps I have made for this year's SU convention in Sydney. Tomorrow I fly out and I'm all packed ready to go.
This card uses Whisper White, Sage Shadow, Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy card stock with gold embossing and Night of Navy stamping. The stamp sets are Pendant Park and Pocket Silhouettes.
Permission to use case this card for a swap came from Donna from Butternut Sage Designs, one very clever lady. I did add another layer to the card in a vague hope of making it a bit different. Sorry about the crooked photo.

Next swap was a card I saw on Selene Kempton's blog and wanted to try it out. Thank you Selene for the tutorial on your blog of how you did the floating ink technique. I used the same colours but changed the stamp and added another layer I think, again in a vague hope of trying to make the card different from the original.
Bordering Blue, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White are the colours used here.

I originally wanted to make a white on white card with the ribbon roses that Petronela showed on her blog but after doing one and working out that I would need 30!!!!, I decided on punched flowers instead. I love the way they turned out, looking a bit like waterlilies. The Very Vanilla was used to do something a little different. Actually I'm very very happy with this card.
The only colour is the Soft Suede used to stamp the wording.

This next swap card again is a case from someone else. I have permission from Carole'Anne Sluchinski to use her design. I had to change a couple of things because the original card used shimmer white card stock and shimmer paint which unfortunately aren't in our Australian catty.
I devised a way of making a similar background using En Francais and baby wiping pretty in pink and green galore ink over the whole piece. It gives it a creamy look with the script faintly showing through. This card was the most time consuming out of all my swaps. I had to watercolour the flower from Bloomin' With Beauty then meticulously cut every one of them out. Believe me, by the time I had cut out the 40 flowers required for these swaps, I was getting pretty expert at it. lol
The colour combination was originally what caught my eye and the different elements used on this card. Thanks Carole'Anne. Pretty in Pink, Green Galore and Basic Black card stock with the greeting stamped on Very Vanilla to complement the creamy gloss background.

I've seen these baby bibs on quite a few blogs now so I can't give credit to actually one person. I do know that Sandy MacIver has them on her blog. I love them and once you get the hang of where to place the card stock on the die to have the fold, they are very quick to make.
Pink Pirouette, Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink card stock with coordinating dp, ribbon and buttons were used.

My last swap, yep, once again is a case. With permission from Liane Peden (Canada) I used her design for this swap card. There is an extra layer added, the brushed gold and my sponging is certainly not as good as Liane's. I used the gorgeous black velvet ribbed ribbon out of the Valet Ribbon Originals for these swaps. My placement of the stamp used for the embossing leaves a lot to be desired but anyway I think they will pass. Hope so!!!
Real Red, Basic Black, Brushed Gold card stock with Asian Artistry and Vintage Vogue stamp sets embellished with black brads are the basic components for this card.

I have made some boxes especially for a team swap but I'll post them when I get back. It's a bit of a long story. lol I will say that I am very pleased with the way they turned out.
Thanks for visiting and hope you like my swap cards.

Nobody's Happy!!

Another update and a card. My back is good again thank goodness, thanks for everyone's best wishes. I'm still in the middle of convention swaps. I've done 90 and was going to do another 10 when I decided, in a fit of madness, to make some boxes for our team swap. Mmmmm I think I was mad, what started out as 24 boxes somehow has become 28. Either I can't count or they are just multiplying behind my back!!!!!

All the bases are done and now I'll start on the lids. Then the decorating. I won't show you a pic until the final product. A girlfriend of mine has also ordered two of my decorated clocks, so that is another thing that has to be done this week.

This card was made some weeks ago and I just love the image. Cracks me up everytime. I'm sorry but just at the moment, I can't remember the sketch I used. The dp is K & Co and the c/s is SU.
Sorry I'm just having another chuckle at the image.
Take care all and I'll get back to show you my swaps. I'm just so glad I started on them early this year. I wonder if I can get another 10 done to make it a round 100. Could be pushing it I think. lol

Still around

Just to update my blogging friends that I'm still around but at this stage haven't anything to put on my blog. I've been doing convention swaps and last weekend was spent at Mt Tamborine at a Craft Retreat. Wow, didn't we have a wonderful time. Jean, Jane, Kerry, Bethel and I all went shopping on the Friday at 2 different papercraft shops. We had a ball. Then four of us, not Bethel unfortunately, went on to Mt Tamborine where Kim had organised our retreat. Just imagine, crafting all weekend, all meals prepared for you and nothing to do but enjoy yourself. Well we did enjoy ourselves.
I spent last week up at Sue and Robyn's shop in Sarina with the intention of breaking the back of my convention swaps. I've done it too!!! Nearly 80 swaps finished and still 3 weeks to go until convention.
Everything was going too well I suppose. Saturday morning, I hurt my back. So that was that. I couldn't participate in Anzac Day which to me is so important. The two loaves of bread that I had to make into sandwiches for the morning tea were done sitting down and took three times as long to do because I had to have a break in between each sandwich. Thankfully Charlie helped me with them.
I'm managing to sit here at the computer at the moment, but any sudden moves are agony.
It's so very frustrating not being able to move around like I want to and really brings into prospective how well off one really is when healthy.
Happy crafting everyone.

Heather's Clock

After doing my own clock, I decided to do another one for a girlfriend's birthday. I've used Webster's Pages again but this time with Paper Inklings rub ons and velvet flowers. The bottom picture shows the charm close up and my spray of flowers that I managed to make myself. Definitely need more practice though. The bow is using gorgeous wrinkled ribbon that I received in the mail on Friday. Yummo!!!
What do you think? Hope Heather likes it.
Thanks for visiting my blog.

Renaissance

A few years ago I purchased a card display box. It came flat packed and you put it together yourself, which I did. The colour was white. Over the time that I've been using it in the Tourist centre is had become grubby and looked very tired.
So here is the revamped card display box. I used Graphic 45 Renaissance papers and a lot of Mod Podge Gloss Lustre. lol The label on the front is also from the Renaissance range with my stamp on it. More Mod Podge over that to hold it in place.
I think it came up really well and certainly looks better than the poor taped up thing it was.
Thanks for visiting and all the wonderful comments you leave.

Ribbon and Bows

I've seen quite a few cards made using Webster's Pages but I like Sharon's idea best. I took the liberty of using Sharon's idea to make my cards and hope she takes it as a compliment. Two of them are very similar using the same pages that Sharon used but I did change the verse on one and the ribbon on the other.
The Webster Pages are absolutely gorgeous and I hope I have not detracted from them in any way. I love using these double faced satin and silk ribbons. Can you tell I love bows and ribbon? lol
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day.