Monday 30 April 2012

Mygrafico Challenge~ Mother's Day

It's time for another challenge over at Mygrafico... and this  challenge will run until May 11, plenty of time to share your Mother's day projects with us, so get your crafty hats on!  The design team came up with some amazing cards and projects.... pop over to Mygrafico and take a look.

I used a delightful sentiment and teamed it with some free patterned paper ( found here), a stamp and some flowers

Mygrafico ~ 30 April ~ For Mum


I started by printing out the patterned paper onto some Linen textured card and cutting it out to fit the card base.  I stitched around the edge of the card with some cream thread.  I stamped the dress form from Stampendous onto the PP and onto some white card stock.  I used some watercolour pencils to colour the stamp and then pieced it onto the PP.  I then made the pink flowers.  I added some heart stick pins and the printed sentiment, finishing with the flower and some punched leaves.   

I am entering this into Simon Says Stamp Challenge ~ anything goes.

So come and join us and be sure to link up your Mother's day card over at Mygrafico.  Remember you only link your post containing your project, please don't link just your blog.   Also, be sure you link back to MyGrafico challenge #127 too.



Dawn

Sunday 29 April 2012

Repurposed, recycled, reused

That's the challenge over at Stampendous for the month... I chose to repurpose some cards that came as a freebie with my Australian Women's Weekly this month.  The images on the cards did not appeal to me at all... but the colours of the bases were okay.  So I took this card
and created this:
The background PP is from this set (free over at Mygrafico) which I printed out onto Linen textured white card.  The dress form is a Stampendous one.  I stamped it onto white card and then PP from Authentique Splendid pack.  The lovely flowers were in the haul I got from winning on Clare's giveaway awhile back.  The colours tied in perfectly for what I wanted.  The lovely parcels ( yeap two big bags full of embellishments) arrived yesterday.  I cut the tag into bits so I got a smaller tag to fit the sentiment from Hastings Rubber Stamps.

Well, the weekend is nearly over :-(.  We are heading off this afternoon to visit BIL and family... they live around 15kms from our place, but as we all seem to lead such busy lives, we don't get to see them as much as we should.

Take care

Dawn 

Saturday 28 April 2012

Lots of Punch.....

Hero Arts Punch Ink that is..........  I got this awhile back but only just used it to ink up some stamps.  I have been watching with interest to Tina and Martha who are challenging each other to use various stamps/techniques.  For their third challenge they CASE'd a card of Tina's.  Their cards inspired me to make this card

With Love

I don't have the Sunburst stamp they used, but have a lovely doily stamp from Tea with Eloise by Kaisercraft.  I started by stamping it with the Punch ink directly onto the corner of my card.  Next I stamped Layered Flower by Hero Arts onto some scrap white card and cut it out.  I left it white only adding a red heart gem.  I added some ribbon and then popped the flower over the top.  I added the sentiment from Hero Arts in the top corner.  I masked off the word "made"  At this point, I stopped and looked at the card... I want to enter it into CAS-ual Friday's Flower challenge so had to be CAS ~ but it looked unfinished.  So a row of little red gems and I feel like it's now finished and still CAS enough!

It also reminded me of the picture for Virginia's View over at Lily Pad Cards and it fits the criteria for Paperplay Challenge ~ monochrome with ribbon.  Plus I'll throw it into the mix at Simon Says Stamp Challenge ~ anything goes

I've just got some Banana Nut Bread in the oven.  It's a recipe I haven't tried before, so hope it turns out okay.   If I make Banana Cake, it seems to not get eaten with just the two of us home these days, but I think the loaf/bread will.   I might even freeze some of it.

Hope you all have a great weekend.  The weather forecast is for overcast showery weather... perfect for inside stamping!
Dawn



Friday 27 April 2012

Purple Haze

I am a huge fan of PURPLE.... any shade or tone.... and recently bought a bottle of Tim Holtz Color Wash in Purple Twilight.  It is a very pretty deep purple colour.  I spritzed it onto some white card stock and used it to make a flower for this card

Birthday wishes

I started with a soft yellow card base and stamped it with Hero Arts Antique Flower background inked in Old Paper distress ink.  I added some purple washi tape (from SSS April kit) and then added a sticker from EAD ~ found these again in my tidy up ~  I stuck a doily in the bottom right corner and trimmed the excess off.  For my flower I stamped Hero Arts Raindrops in white ink Once it all dried I used the Hero Arts die from Bold Pop Flowers to cut 5 flowers.  I scrunched and then separated the layers and just used the top layers to make the flower.  I found some lovely lilac buttons that I then used on the flower and the tape layer.  I then added some punched leaves and the two heart stick pins.   This card is currently winging it's way over to Australia for my SIL's birthday.

I'm really pleased how this turned out and hope Julie likes it.  Had a giggle as I bought the stick pins in Perth, carried them home and now have sent them back to Australia.  I have entered this into a challenge I found called CES ~ this week to use buttons

Tonight I am enjoying some ME time as Hubby is out with "the boys"  ~ a group of guys he know through the shipping industry in which he works.  They all work for different companies in the industry and every 4 - 5 weeks get together to network over a few drinks.  And I get control over the TV remote  ~ not that there is much worth watching on a Friday night!!   So I get to craft and blog to my hearts content.  I'm redoing the tags I did for Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry class.... I have made some Bigger Tags with the TH die... so I'm working my way through the classes again.

So glad the weekend is here. Hubby's office is moving to a new building over the weekend and I'm getting a new chair for my craft room... albeit an old one from his office... no more pillows on the chair to get me to the height I need, no more towel over the back were the covering is ripped.... Yeah!

Well that's me for now.
Dawn

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Lest we Forget


Today is Anzac Day here in New Zealand and Australia.   It is to honour the soldiers of the Australian and Zealand Army Corps who fought in Gallipoli in 1915.  My husband got up this morning to go to the Dawn Service.

Here is an Ode that is often read at these services.

They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them.


The Ode comes from ‘For the Fallen’, a poem by the English poet and writer Laurence Binyon

And now a card I made the other day when I saw Martha and Tina's challenge between themselves.   They challenged each other to use the same stamp and patterned paper.   The stamp is a rose from the Two Birds set from Hero Arts.

Roses inpsired by Tina & Martha


Used PP (Authenique ~Splendid) and stamped the rose in Rich Cocoa Momento.  Coloured with Copics and then painted with some watered down Iridescent Medium.  Gives it a real shimmer. Added some seam binding and some gems.  Sentiment from Kaisercraft.


Hope the rest of your week is good.
Dawn

Tuesday 24 April 2012

More Butterflies.

I really LOVE butterflies.... so Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger really called to me.....here's the inspiration photo
In my tidy up the other day I came across some punched butterflies.   If I have a background I don't like or it didn't go well, I will punch out flowers or butterflies.  I'm not sure why I did this with the background I had.... but I had a whole bunch of butterflies.

Butterfly Waterfall

They reminded me of a waterfall of butterflies.  I just added lots of the butterflies to a piece of PP from MME that I had on my desk.  It has a subtle doily pattern.    I used a coral card from Rosies Studio as my base.  The sentiment is from Kaisercraft.

I had such fun putting this together.   I have also entered this one into Our Creative Corner's Challenge ~ Butterflies.

Tomorrow is a Public Holiday in NZ and Australia to celebrate Anzac Day.  It honours the soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli during World War I.  My hubby will be getting up super early to attend the Dawn Service at the local RSA (Return Serviceman's Association).   I'm planning a quiet day, doing some card making.  I might try some submissions for Papercrafts Mag.   Christmas cards in April!

Have a great week
Dawn

Monday 23 April 2012

Mygrafico Monday Feature ~Love, Trees and Birds

This week we are showcasing a very lovable set of images called Love, Trees & Birds, created by Baby Star Designs.

 Mygrafico April 23rd

 I printed the birds on the bench onto white card and added the sentimentI then used a Tim Holtz Tag die to make a tag.  I cut some of the bottom off and added a piece of red punched card.  I added the ribbon and a couple of stick pins
Do pop over to the blog and see what the others have done... some really pretty cards and projects.  And there's still time to join in our "Fun and Games Challenge" here

I hope your weekend was good... mine was!  Got lots of cards made... and did one this afternoon and evening.   So some cards to share later this week.

Cheers

Dawn


Sunday 22 April 2012

No Patterned Paper and oh so cute!

Recently I was inspired by Judy's use of a Penny Black set called "Hedgie Friends" that I just had to get it!  ( thanks for enabling me Judy) and I finally inked it up a couple of the stamps in the set, last night.  I found 5 challenges that inspired me to make these two cards

 First card
Hedgie Friends

 For this one, I die cut the doily (MFT die won over at Jay Gee's Nook - thanks Judith) and stamped the PB Hedgie.  I then stamped again on the scrap bits from the die and coloured and cut out. Added mini pop dots to the middle and glue round the edges to give dimension to the Hedgie.  All colouring done with Distress inks and a water pen.  I added the panel to a white embossed background before adding to the card base.  The coloured piece behind the sentiment was coloured with Evergreen Bough distress ink to match what I coloured on the circle. I added the daisy button ( cutting off the shank) and added the other button in the corner to balance the card,

Challenges entered with this one:
PaperPlay Challenges ~ Animal Antics
Penny Black Saturday Challenge ~ No Patterned Paper
Penny Black and More ~ Oh So Cute
CES Challenge ~ Button It
Die Cut Divas ~ Embossing

Card two is a mini one ~ 4"x3"

Just for you Hedgie


This used the smaller of the two MFT dies that I won.  Again I did decoupage with the Hedgie.  My background was some home made watercoloured paper with Hero Arts Envelope pattern stamped.  This was in my scrap pile.  Added some distressing.  Also added the ribbon and some faux stitching.  The little sentiment is from Hot of The Press, from a little set called Ticket.

this one is entered into
PaperPlay Challenges ~ Animal Antics
Penny Black Saturday Challenge ~ No Patterned Paper
Penny Black and More ~ Oh So Cute

I really was on a roll yesterday as I got half the room tidied, these two made and the butterfly card.  Thank goodness I like CAS (relatively anyway) cards.  They don't take that long to do!

This morning we had Brunch with our son and his girlfriend at the Catalina Cafe in Hobsonville.  A really nice place about half way between their place and ours.   So just going to potter about this afternoon... maybe another card or two... plus that dreaded ironing to do!

Take care
Dawn 

Saturday 21 April 2012

Tuesday Trigger.... beautiful butterflies

I don't usually enter Moxie Fab World's challenge.. ( daunted by so many more talented crafters there!) but this weeks trigger was a beautiful watercoloured butterfly dress.  And it did inspire me!

Tuesday Tigger.


I pulled out an older Stamp-It butterfly stamp and inked it up with Brilliance Twilight pigment ink ~ this is a beautiful shimmery ink in pink/purple/blue.  I trimmed it with a Spellbinders die and then distressed while the die was still in place.   I stamped the biggest butterfly again and fussy cut it and added for dimension.  Added some pink pearls and matted it onto some wine coloured card that had been embossed with a butterfly folder ( not that you got to see this in the end) The BG paper is from Hot of the Press.   I added a doily behind the butterfly panel and added a little purple double bow.  As it seem quite busy, I decided to go with the sentiment inside ...

Inside of card


stamped the butterflies again inside with with the Mother's Day sentiment - also from Stamp-It.  One of the ones I got when I went to their store in Perth.  It's an older one that was on sale down from $17.95 to $6.00.   With Mother's Day here in NZ on 13 May, it will be handy.  I'm making some cards to sell at work.

I've started to tidy up ( a continually exercise in my craft space!) and came across a pile of stamped and punched butterflies in a orangey colour so can see another card in my mind... now to get finished tidying so I can get it made.

Hope you have a great weekend

Dawn 

Friday 20 April 2012

Windows.....

There is another new challenge blog out in blogland that celebrates all things Hero Arts.... it's called "A Blog Named Hero".  Their latest challenge is " Cards with a View".
  I LOVE Hero Arts products and have quite a few of their stamps and love the quality.  So I just had to create a card for this challenge.

Window Card

I started my window panel by stamping my sentiment ( from Stamp-It) and then cutting out the window.  I then embossed the panel with Swiss Dots.  I then stamped on the cut out piece.   I started with Silhouette Grass inked up with Shabby Shutters and Rusty Hinge.  Over this I stamped one of the flowers from Real Garden Flowers inked up with Mustard Seed and a dark green Tombow marker.  The little red butterflies are from Antique Engravings set.   The window panel is raised on pop dots for some dimension.

I am also entering this into Die Cut Diva's monthly challenge ~ Embossing
and Lily Pad Cards ~ Flower Challenge

Glad that first week back at work is over.  It's been LOOONG.  Hoping to get some time in the craft room over the weekend.  I want to redo some of the tags  I made for Tim's Creative Chemistry classes now I have his Tag Die ~ it makes nice big tags and I only used little tags.

Hope your weekend is full of fun.

Dawn

Wednesday 18 April 2012

More Holiday photos..

I've only made one card since I got back, but it's for my niece and her partner, who just got engaged.  I posted it off today, so can't show it till she gets it... so I thought to share a few more photos from our trip to Australia.
Our first two days were spent in Melbourne, visiting with some friends who we hadn't seen for almost 20 years.... They picked us up at airport and we drove down to Torquay, about an hour south of the city for brunch.  Torquay is a very pretty beach town








Next day, James and Michelle took us to the Eureka Tower.  This is one huge skyscraper!  The 88th floor is the observation floor.  You walk all round it and can see all over the city.









And finally my friend had an amazing "Easter Egg Tree" in her house that really was so cute


Isn't that so sweet.  Just love the pastel eggs.

Thanks for visiting, hope I didn't bore you with all the photos.

Dawn

Monday 16 April 2012

I'm back.....

feeling super refreshed from my break over in Perth with my daughter.  I was so happy to see her and spend time with her.  We had such a great time.  The three of us went traveling down south of Perth to the Margaret River area for 6 days of sun, fun and wine -
oh and a visit to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory - totally awesome!



 We did some exciting things too.... a walk along the 2km Bussellton Jetty,



a trip into the Lake Cave (350 stairs down and 350 stairs up!)

walks over rocky outcrops to visit a natural spa and to watch some amazing surfing

a couple of swims in the Indian Ocean....

We did heaps more too... I'll show some more photos during the week.

Arrived back at Auckland airport at around 10.30pm Saturday night..... sans Peter's suitcase...  It was still flying over the Tasman Sea.... somehow didn't make our flight.  Came in later that night and arrived by courier at 9.30am the next morning.... so it was back to work this morning :-(  ~ managed the full day and then picked up new printer (old one died on me yesterday - hence no Mygrafico card tonight) and then the cat.  He had been at the Cattery for the two and a bit weeks... first time on holiday for him too... It was a little wary coming home but seems to have settled now.

Saw some exciting news on FB tonight, ~ my Kissing card (here) won over on the Lily Pad blog.... how exciting is that.... so $25US to spend at Simon Says.... what fun.  I did sneak in a wee trip to Stamp-It shop in Perth and got some Stamp-It stamps... one set and two singles plus a Bo-Bunny set.   

Well that's me for tonight.  I hope you enjoyed this little slice of my holiday.  
Dawn