Saturday 30 June 2012

Sparkle.........

I recently won some Gelatos over at Nancy's blog but have been a bit scared to use them... really 'cause I have no real idea how to use them.  Late this afternoon after a day of cleaning out my pantry I thought I'd give them a try.  I also have seen Nancy and Lin use a masking technique that was shown here by Nichole Heady and wanted to try it out.

Sparkle


So I decided to try my sentiment on an angle for a bit of a change.  I stamped it first, made a space by ruling a line above and below and then masked with Post-It notes.  I then coloured my stamp with the Gelatos.  I spritzed it with some water and then stamped it onto the masked card.  The darker colours of blue and green showed up better than the paler blue and green.  I wasn't sure if I had done this right, but after a bit of a look-see on You-Tube I found I had.  Anyhow despite the paler bits I think it looks a bit like Batik and I like how it turned out.  Added a few gems for a bit more sparkle.

And just to show I did do some work today....

Emptied out each shelf, washed it and repacked.   Got the lower shelf and 4 other shelves done... just left the highest top shelf as hubby was out this afternoon and I need his height to take all the bits and pieces off it.

Well, that the first day of the weekend almost done.  I'm off to bed to read some more.  I've just downloaded "The Hunger Games" onto my new Kindle Touch and have started the first book.  Starting to get interesting.  Very pleased with this new e-book.  Easier to use than my old Kobo with a better battery life.  Hopefully it won't die after one year!

Have a great weekend

Dawn 

Thursday 28 June 2012

Inspired by.....

Anne....
I was very impressed with a card Anne made for a challenge over at 2peas....
WSW12 Let's Dance - Polka Dot Birthday Card


Isn't delightful.  It inspired me so much, I went out and bought the Penny Black stamp set.  I wanted to make a card for someone who has been unwell so decided to CASE Anne's card.

Inspired by Anne


 I chose to use Hero Arts Punch ink to stamp my circles and the Lattice background.   The rest I did the same as Anne.   The card is now winging it's way to my friend.

Been a wet and wintery week here in Auckland... so have been cuddling up in the lounge with the laptop, not doing much crafting.   This weekend we are actually staying put!  Time to give the place a good cleaning.... including the craft room.

Thanks for stopping by
Dawn

Monday 25 June 2012

Mygrafico Challenge ~ Summer colours.

Sitting here in temperatures of around 10-13 degrees C ( around 50-55F) it was hard to think Summer... but that's this weeks challenge at Mygrafico.  The team got to work with this super Summer Cuties stamp set
And did they come up with some awesome projects.  Too right!

I decided to try something different today... 



My project started as a Slider Box. I made up the box as per the instructions but the slider part didn't work so stuck to a box only.  I printed the strawberries onto some white card - once together and then each one separately. I used a Spellbinders die to cut out the double strawberries.   I coloured in the single strawberries, cut out and layered onto the first double print.  One was laid straight onto card and the other one popped up.  Then  I covered them with glossy accents.   I cut the Labels 4 dies for the top and bottom and trimmed the green paper to fit.  The ribbon is some that the lovely Cathy Andronicou sent me.  It finished off my project perfectly.

Do join us with your summer coloured cards for the challenge. 

Have entered into the Allsorts Challenge blog.... using dies


I'm happy to say I will be continuing with Mygrafico for another 6 months.  I'm enjoying designing for them. 


Thanks for visiting today.
Dawn

Friday 22 June 2012

A lifetime isn't enough



Over at City Crafter Challenge blog this week's challenge is Time after Time.  While I was in Perth, I got to visit the Stamp-It store.  One of  sets I bought was this set


I decided it was perfect for this challenge.  

IMG_5643

 My design was a sketch from My Favourite Things. I used Tombow and Marvy markers to colour the stamp, spritzed it with water and stamped it.  I trimmed the  panel, found some lovely DCWV papers and hey presto, all done.  The rose is a Prima flower sprayed with some Color Wash.  

Well this has to be short and sweet as Hubby is champing at the bit to get on the road to Hamilton. 

Take care
Dawn 




Thursday 21 June 2012

Birthday candles.

Today is my friend Kathy's birthday and I made her a little present....

I got some candles from a Warehouse store for $3 each and took some tissue paper and stamped a Hero Arts flower stamp, masked it and added some leaves.  I decided to leave them black and white.  I used my heat tool to melt the tissue into the candle.

Kathy loved these so that was happy.  The card I gave her was one of my corset cards

Dress form


I've also been working on my CCC card for Arlene ~ in today's post and my Mygrafico project for next weeks challenge.  So some cards to share next week.

Once I get this finished, one more card to finish off then packing my weekend bag for another weekend away.  This time to visit BIL and SIL in Hamilton.  The All Blacks are playing Ireland on Saturday there, and Hubby and his brother have tickets to go.  SIL and I will stay home and watch it on TV ( in the warm!)  We are taking half a day off work tomorrow to head down Friday as the boys are going to a Rugby dinner that evening.

Have a great weekend all....
Dawn

Monday 18 June 2012

CASE Study # 95


If you want to see Mygrafico Monday Feature post ~ scroll on down, or pop in here.
********************************************************************************
Over at CASE Study this month,  the muse is none other than the uber talented Joy Taylor.  I didn't get time to play last week, and with only a day or so left, I decided I need to get organised and play along.

Here's the card Joy chose to inspire us to CASE. 

Isn't it just stunningly beautiful.

So here's my take on this wonderful card.

Case Study


I followed Joy's basic design, but used a Hero Arts/BasicGrey border stamp to represent the die cuts. I stamped in with Stone Wash mid-tone shadow ink.  I also used a big blue butterfly ( kindly sent to me ages ago by Arlene) with my flower.  It was a watercolour paper flower I was practising on.  I added some silver and pink gems for the centre.  My offering is inconsequential compare to the amazing creation by Joy, but I am happy with the outcome.  I really like the CAS look I achieved with this card.

I should be preparing for another job interview tomorrow... but it seems I've had heaps of practise of late..... maybe this time, I'll get a team leader job again... but if not.... well so be it.  As long as I give it my best shot...

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my little part of the blog world.

Dawn 



Mygrafico Monday Feature.~ Red, White & Blue



This week's Feature is all about patriotic colours and 4th of July over at Mygrafico.  The design team got to work with this awesome set from Riefka Designs

Fourth of July Party
 Lots of cool images to use.  The team came up with some wonderful projects for you to feast your eyes on, here.

Even though I don't celebrate this day, I decided to make a Happy 4th of July card. 

Mygrafico Feature~ Red, White & Blue

I used the banner and balloons.  I used dimensionals to pop them up after doing some fussy cutting.   I did the sentiment in Word using Word Art.   I like the colours together... always looks so clean and fresh.

Thanks for stopping by.

Dawn 

Friday 15 June 2012

Making your own backgrounds....

is always great fun.  I have two cards to share today, that I made a couple of weeks ago, when we were away for the weekend.   I had taken limited supplies with me, and while away I bought a magazine called "Cardmaking in Easy Steps"  It had a set of stamps, some card and PP plus a few other embellishments and a lot of inspiring cards to make.   I made two cards from the instructions in the magazine.

Eat Dessert


This first one used the Sundae stamp.  I used it together with some Hero Arts Punch ink to make the background.  I used the ink to colour some white card to make the mattes.  I coloured the main image with pencils and added some glitter and glossy accents.  I took a strip of the coloured card and made the pleated strip at the bottom.  Love the sentiment that came with the stamps.

Balloon Birthday


The second one, I used the same background technique.  This time I used the new Spring ink colour Shaded Lilac to stamp the balloons randomly on the white card.  I did the same inking on white card to make my coloured card.  The focal panel is the balloon stamped three times and coloured with distress inks.  I used a Sukura gel pen to colour over the inks and a white gel pen to highlight.   I used the Shaded Lilac ink to colour the seam binding ribbon as well.   The little sentiment is from Hastings Rubber Stamps.

It's amazing what you can do with some inks and a stamp.

Thanks for stopping by today.
Dawn 

Thursday 14 June 2012

Little Black Dress.

Always a great item to have in the wardrobe.... and I decided the LBD would make a great addition to a card.

Little Black Dress

My card is made for Anne's challenge (Black Cat Matte) over at 2 Peas  Her challenge is to use a black matte on your card ~ and some colour.  Wasn't sure if there was enough colour on my card, but Anne said it was fine!   My LBD is made from a Spellbinder's Scallop circle trimmed to a dress shape then embossed for texture.  The waistband is orange ( although it looks a bit yellow here).  I matted the white panel onto black card then onto a white card base.   I also matted the sentiment from Kaisercraft, onto some black card. 

I've just got back after being out for dinner with my hubby to celebrate my birthday.  I've had a lovely day with some beautiful cards arriving into today's post... thanks to the lovely ladies in my stamp group and my wonderful blog friends.  I got a new e-reader ~ Kindle Touch this time..... only because I had so much hassle with Kobo when my last reader decided to die 2 days before the warranty ran out, but due to being away I didn't take it in till 3 days after the end of the warranty and Kobo would not honour it.   Liking the new one better as it's much easier to turn the page.

Another busy weekend.... heading off to Papamoa ( around 3 hrs south-west of Auckland) to watch Peter's nephew, Jason, play rugby.  We'll stay the night and head home on Sunday.    Hope you all are having a great week.


Dawn 

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Spots and Dots

CFC56 



This weeks challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is all about using polka dots.  As CAS cards are my forte, I though I'd combine this challenge with Hero Arts sketch challenge.   I used the third sketch,  I used some of my dotty and spotty washi tape to make my card

spots and dots

I stuck the tape onto some white card stock to give it weight. I then trimmed and cut the banner shape with a square punch.  I layered them as per the sketch.  I stamped the sentiment from a Hero Arts/Basic Grey set and added the dotty flower.  A very CAS card. 

I hope you all got to visit Moxie Fab World today and saw who the Moxie Fabber of the Week is.... none other than the amazing Virginia Lu.  Isn't she just the best!  A big Congratulations Virginia. 

Have a great week...  I will as it's my birthday week.... Thursday is the day!  

Dawn

Monday 11 June 2012

Mygrafico Challenge ~ It's Graduation Time

This week's challenge over at Mygrafico is all about Graduations.  The Design Team got to work with a delightful Clip-art set from Cupcake Cuties

 
I teamed it up with some of the lovely papers we used last week.(see here) and came up with this card


I printed the cap out twice and cut one out and added with dimensional dots to the other panel.  I printed out the background papers and distressed with some Distress ink and around the edge of the focal panel. 

Do pop over the blog and see what the others came up with, and enter our challenge.

Heard that Emma made it home safely despite flying into a huge storm in the South Western part of Australia.   A bit bumpy she said, and the worst landing ever.  Perth was hit by a huge storm, wind, rain, the works... but she was glad to be back home where it was warmer!
Thanks for stopping by... 
Dawn

Sunday 10 June 2012

Love my Family....

This weekend has been just wonderful.... I had ALL my family home on Friday night.  Just magic.  My daughter had to sign some legal documentation so made a flying visit home from Perth.  She arrived in Auckland at 5.50 am on Friday.... and was home for breakfast by 7.15am.  Something to eat and a shower and her and I were ready for a day of catching up and shopping.  She signed her documentation, and we hit the shops.  She got a few new dresses and tops, me a dress and an anorak.  In the middle we stopped to visit Emma's friend, Tash and her new baby girl.  Little Bella is 8 days old and was so adorable. She was asleep while we were there, so no cuddles :(  Finally got home at 4.45pm... to find son and his girlfriend here to shower before we all headed out to celebrate ( early) my birthday

My two babies!

All of us

Kieran, his girlfriend Mel and Emma.

We had a delightful dinner at Gaku Teppanyaki in Browns Bay.  Emma said she hadn't had teppanyaki since she left Auckland.    Kieran and Mel stayed the night as they were in the process of moving house over the weekend.  

And I'll finish with a share of the card I made for Emma to give Tash


We saw Emma off just after lunch today... a 7 hour flight back to Perth.  Literally a flying visit for her.  Just loved having her home, even for such a short time.

Hope your weekend was a happy as mine has been.  

Dawn

Thursday 7 June 2012

A Psychedelic card..

This card was inspired by a movie I watched over the weekend..."Across the Universe"  ~ a musical using Beatles music.  Some parts  are really psychedelic.

Psychedelic fun

I had some wrapping paper that reminded me of it.  I used one of the Hero Arts sketches for June's challenge.  I stamped the Hero Arts flower in a variety of inks onto yellow and orange card and cut with the corresponding dies.  Die cut some little circles and added some multicoloured gems.     Sentiment also a Hero Arts one, fitting into one of the themes in the challenge as well.  As I used wrapping paper for my background, it's an entry in Die Cut Diva's June challenge as well.

Here are some more photos from the weekend
The local Farmers Market

Peter and Yvonne sitting round the open fire.  

Peter and Michael checking their I-phones for the weather forecast

Peter and I 

Some of the wonderful shells I picked up.  

I'm feeling really tired tonight.  I had to get up at 5.15am this morning to head to a work Forum that started with a 6.30am breakfast.  It was out by the Airport and took me 40 mins to drive there.... the Forum started at 7.30 so we could be finished by 3.00pm as some of the participants had 2 - 3 hours drives back to their home towns.   A full day of listening to different speakers and hearing our future plans for our area at work... so the brain is feeling like mush tonight.....

But an exciting bit of news is that our daughter is flying in for a very short visit.... in early tomorrow morning and back to Perth, Sunday afternoon.    We are having a family dinner to celebrate my birthday ( a few days early).  I am looking forward to have the family together. I am going to spend the day tomorrow with Emma, do some shopping, visit some of her friends. 

Hope you week is going well.  

Dawn

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Spring Card Exchange...

Over at the Hero Arts Flickr group there was a Spring Card exchange.... Now it might be spring over in the Northern but today is very wintery here in Auckland.   After the amazing weekend, the weather turned nasty today.    Anyway, I took part in the Spring exchange.  I got to make a card and sent to Janet in Texas.

Spring Card Exchange


I started with some pretty PP that I found here on Astrid's Pinterest.  It really looked spring like to me.  I printed it out to fit the front of the card, distressed and added some distress ink round the edge.  Added a Martha Stewart border punched edge and a ribbon.  The bird cage and bird are Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies.  The sentiment and the little dragonflies are by Hero Arts.   A little ribbon and it's finished.

And look at what came to me all the way from Cindy in Canada

HASE 2012 - card for Dawn

Isn't it awesome.  It really looks stunning and I like the added touch of a real stamp on it.   Thank you Cindy.


And a quick little peek at the sunset the other night.  It look really awesome.

Thanks for stopping by.

Dawn

Monday 4 June 2012

Mygrafico Monday Feature ~ Schools Out

I wasn't sure if I would have a card to share today as the past week was rather hectic and heading off for the a Long Weekend on Friday and not getting back till today.... but with a few limited supplies I managed to make something....

The DT got to use this lovely set by Lindsays Stamp Stuff
 I had printed out a few of the papers and took them with me.   I used one as a background on my card

Mygrafico Monday Feature ~ 4 June

I used a Basic Grey/Hero Arts set to make my flowers and the sentiment tag.  I coloured with Distress inks and did a couple of layers for dimension.   Added some glossy accents to finish.   Do pop over to the blog to see what the other's came up with

Had a superb weekend.  The weather was just lovely for the time of the year.  No rain and quite warm in the sun.   We went to the Local Market on Sat morning and I got a fabulous soap.... it looks like a cupcake, and Yvonne bought me one for my birthday in a week or so



Don't they look amazing.  Made from vegetable oils and natural colouring.  I'll share some photos during the week of the weekend.   

Thanks for stopping by and welcome to all my new followers.... everyone of you is appreciated. Dawn