What do you do in your free time?

Our theme this month at Die Cut Diva was "Free Time" and our sponsor was Di's Digis.

I live near the beach so free time is often spend there in the summer.  Our local beach, Murrays Bay has a boating club and there are always yachts coming and going.  So this was my inspiration for this card.

I used Penny Black's Sunny Days set to stamp this cute cat in his boat.  I colour with Alcohol markers.  The circle die cut is from Simon Says Stamp.  My background is some patterned paper from my stash.  I thought it looked like the sea and sky.   I used a little die from Craft Creations Mega Nesting Rectangles for the sentiment and added a bronze anchor die cut with a freebie Nautical die set.

Today is the last day to enter our challenge.  Would love to have you join us.  Entries close at 9.00pm Pacific time.

This week's Christmas Cards.

Hi.  hope you are having a great weekend.  I got some crafting done on Saturday... getting a bit ahead with my design work and of course had to have a play over at Christmas Kickstart

This challenge theme is "Gifts"  I decided to make my own presents.....

Took a variety patterned paper and using some rectangle dies to make some presents.  I then used some Christmas striped ribbon to wrap them all together.  I added a little tag with the sentiment from a freebie Christmas set.

Earlier in the week I had entry the Hero Arts Fan Facebook challenge.  Cindy has set up a Facebook page to run the 90 minute challenges... do come and join if you love Hero Arts
Her first challenge was to use Inchies or make a grid card.   I have a cute set that was only of my first Hero Arts Christmas stamps (it was made in 2007) that has a couple little square images.  A bit bigger than an inchie... but here's how I used it.

I stamped the little squares in a row.  I used the little snow flakes from the set to stamp all around the grid.    It's nice to pull out the old stamps and give them some love. 

Today, we drove up to Mangawhai for lunch with our friends Yvonne and Michael and their family to celebrate Yvonne's 65th birthday.  It was lovely to be able to share this special time with them.  I put together a little gift package - 

Inside were a number of humorous gifts - some hair rollers and scarf, a pair of safety scissors (for elderly hands) , an eye mask (for daily naps)  some wool and knitting needles (for the spare time she will have when she retires in a month or so), a set of play tools for the garden, a puzzle book to keep Alzheimer's at bay,  a new hat for walking in the beach (to keep her ears out of the wind) and bucket and shopping list (for her bucket list!) - Yvonne really enjoyed it. 

Distressed at Sweet Stampin' Challenge

Hi there.  Time for another challenge at Sweet Stampin'.  Our theme this week is "Distressed"

For my card I have added Distress ink to the distressed edges of my card.

My background was made by mopping up some inks from my glass mat a while back.  I added the brown stamping with a Hero Arts background Stamp.   I rubbed bits off to give the distressed look.  I then took my scissors and dragged them around the panel and took some Distress ink and add it to the distressing.  I used Altenew Obsidian ink to stamp the Couture Creations little stamp.  I added some distress ink to the edge of the die cut feathers.  These were a lovely gift from one of my CCC swap partners.  The colours looked a bit distressed so fitted the theme perfectly.  Added a little string bow to the bottom of the feathers.

Would really love if you came and joined our challenge.

WWC240 Kath's "All About Occasions" Challenge

Hello there, it’s time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Kath is our hostess this week with an "All About Occasions" challenge.

I've made a Birthday card this week to share with you

I started this card by spraying a white panel with some gold Perfect Pearls spray.  To make the flowers I took some watercolour paper and smooshed some Altenew pink inks on to a watercolour palette and spritzed with water and the gold Perfect Pearls.  I did the same with some green inks.  Once the panels dried I stamped the flowers and leaves from a free stamp and die set from Simply Cards and Papercraft.  I die cut the big flower and two of the leaves with the dies and fussy cut the smaller flowers and one of the leaves.  I used Rosie's clear foil stickers for the sentiments.    I added the panel to some bright pink card stock (looks a bit red in my photo)

Come join in the fun.  Check out the projects that the artists at Watercooler Wednesday Challenges have created then take the challenge and link your creation to the challenge post. We’d love to have you join us.  You have until Mondays at 5 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (Tuesdays at 11.00am NZ time) to link up your project.

WWC239 Helen's Masculine Anything Goes Challenge

Hello there, it’s time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Helen is our hostess this week with a Masculine Anything Goes challenge.

My card today was made for my Dad for his recent 82nd birthday.  

I started by taking some heavy craft paper and using an embossing folder (a freebie from an older magazine).  I then used some brown ink to sponge over the raised areas.  I trimmed and added it to a cream base.  I used a scrap of the cream card to stamp the sentiment.  It's from a stamp set that was in a For the Boys card making magazine kit.   I has the little wine glass stamped from a Newton's Nook set, sitting on my desk.  I added the Copic colour and fussy cut them.  I added some Spectrum Noir glitter pen.  A very CAS masculine card. 

Come join in the fun.  Check out the projects that the artists at Watercooler Wednesday Challenges have created then take the challenge and link your creation to the challenge post. We’d love to have you join us.  You have until Mondays at 5 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (Tuesdays at 11.00am NZ time) to link up your project

Perfectly CAS - Flowers

I came across a new challenge via my friend Angie... she a designer team member on Perfectly CAS challenge.  Their first challenge is Flowers....

The rules are to use only one third or less on you card.  I like CAS but even I struggled with keeping my focal point to one third or less but here's what I came up with

I decided to stick to the bottom third of my card.  I used a layering flower from a Freebie set.  I did a bit of masking and layering.  I stamped the sentiment over the flower.  I struggled to keep it simple so added the little embossed lines around the edge.  Hope that counts for the rules.

Do come and support this challenge.  

AECP - Magical Markers Techniques.

I'm slowly getting to the end of my Level 2 classes.  Today I had a go at the Magical Markers Technique class.  I originally took this class some time ago, but only recently purchased some Altenew Markers.   The class was lead by Sara Naumann and it was all about Markers.  Not just using them to colour in with, but lots of incredible techniques for other ways to use your markers.    Each lesson gave different ideas and of course, Sara explained and demonstrated them beautifully.   I went through every lesson again and came up with a card that used several different ways to use my Markers,

So what did I do?  First off I used my ruler and the R217 Velvet marker to make the frame around my panel.  Next was to make the splatters. - How you ask?  Well it's quite easy.  Scribble some maker onto a craft sheet and spritz with Isopropyl Alcohol.  Quickly use a stippling brush to pick up and flick the colour onto the card.

I used the R217 Velvet, R705 Midnight Violet and some Black Copic marker.  Just love the misty look I achieved.

My final technique was again to scribble some of the markers onto the craft mat and spritz with the Isopropyl Alcohol and then taking some glossy card stock, smooshing it on the mat.  This give an amazing watercolour look.

I was very impressed with the idea of doing this for backgrounds.  My next step was to stamp a flower from the Wallpaper Art stamp set onto the pink piece.  (actually was the Velvet ink but the diluting with the IA makes it softer)  I added clear embossing over the stamping and carefully used the heat gun to set.  I fussy cut it out.

I added a leaf from the Wallpaper Arts set with some Industrial Diamond ink and a sentiment from the Leaf Canopy set.   I don't have a small Hello from Altenew so cut one from another die I have.  A few pink sequins and I called it a day.

I learnt so much from Sara and this class.  Alcohol Markers can be used for so many different techniques and ideas other than straight colouring.  This class was excellently presented and I can highly recommend it.

I am entering this into the Anything Goes challenge at The Flower Challenge.

Thanks for visiting my blog today.  All visitors are welcome.  If you liked this post, feel free to leave me a comment.  

Sweet Stampin' Challenge. - Cards for Kids

It's Team Susan's turn to inspire over at Sweet Stampin' Challenge and our challenge this week is

Cards for Kids (celebrating Roald Dahl Day 13 Sept )

My card was made with some gorgeous blue/grey patterned paper for the background.  I had the die cut black frame sitting in my bowl of bits together with the little dragon.  I stamped and coloured him a while back.  He's a sweet little dragon from My Favorite Things.  I used my Scan'N'Cut to cut him out.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set. 

Do come and share you Cards for Kids at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

A Scandinavian Christmas at Christmas Kickstart Challenge

It's a new challenge at Christmas Kickstart and Jo's theme is Scandinavian Holidays.  I'm enjoying the challenges as I'm building up a supply of different Christmas cards.

Scandinavian Christmas lends itself to lots of fun reds and whites, folk art type images and of course Swedish Tomte (Gnomes) so that's what inspired me.   I did some Pinterest viewing and saw a pretty card that I was inspired by, using the little Tomte gnomes.

I started by printing off some Nordic patterned paper that I had in my Digital stash - unfortunately I forgot to note who I purchased it from.  I trimmed it to fit a DL sized card base.  I stamped and coloured the 5 gnomes.  The gnome was a free set a couple of years ago.  Super cute!  I remembered that I had some Cuttlebug alpha dies from around 10 years ago - not even sure what it's called now!  I haven't used it in such a long time!  But it was the perfect size for my gnomes to hold.   I added the Christmas sentiment stamped onto white card.  The base card looks black here but it is in fact a very dark green - the letters are also die cut with this dark green card,   I finished off with some little pompoms.  I had these in my stash from making little bunny faceclothes for a baby shower.

And while I was in the mood I made a second card....

I used Simon Says Stamp Holiday Borders stamped in Catherine Pooler's Rockin' Red ink.  I stamped the border a number of times to cover the central panel.  The little deer is from a Sugar & Spice Studio paper pack called Nordic Christmas.  I used a die to cut it out.  Added some Wink of Stella to the deer.  I white embossed the sentiment (from the Gnomes set) onto black card and it was all done.
I'm adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Flickr group as well as to Jo's Christmas Kickstart.

Had a lovely 5 days with my Dad and we celebrated his birthday. He got to see his little great-granddaughter and spend some time with the family.  Little Grace was a sick - she tested positive for Salmonella and ended up spending overnight in hospital while they monitored her.  She was still full of smiles and has come right thank goodness.  A tad scary though at the time for her parents and us too.  She's 4 months now and is rolling over a lot these days.

Thanks for stopping by. 

WWC#238 Tristan's "All About Occasions Challenge

Hello there, it’s time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Tristan is our hostess this week with an "All About Occasions" challenge.

Last month my son and his partner took them little girl and went on holiday to meet up with Erin's parents in Hawaii.  While they were there Kieran proposed to Erin and she said YES... so today I am sharing the engagement card I made for them to celebrate this exciting moment. 

I wanted something CAS but elegant.  I did a bit of Pinterest searching and combined a couple of ideas to make this one.  I used a Creative Dies wine glass die to cut out two glasses.  I added some Kindyglitz as the bubbles.  I tied them together with some silver chiffon ribbon.  I used a lace embossing folder to emboss the middle panel.  The little sentiment (from a freebie set) was embossed with Altenew's Antique Silver embossing powder.   I finished the card with a few little pink heart sequins from Lucy's Little Bits. 

Come join in the fun.  Check out the projects that the artists at Watercooler Wednesday Challenges have created then take the challenge and link your creation to the challenge post. We’d love to have you join us.  You have until Mondays at 5 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (Tuesdays at 11.00am NZ time) to link up your project.

Eat Drink and Be Merry.... some Christmas cards

I've taken today and tomorrow off work to spend some time with my Dad...this morning I got a card made before we headed out to do some shopping.  I wanted to get him something he wanted for his birthday tomorrow... we found a lovely Merino jumper he liked.  Bonus for me was that it was $20 off.  So two happy people.  Plus I went to get some photos developed for a project I'm working on and got some black and white card stock while I was at the Stationery store. 

So back to my card from this morning...

When I first saw Jo's Christmas Kickstart challenge this time around, this was the card I first thought of making.   So here it is, just in time for the challenge!  I used a Sunny Studio stamp set called Holiday Style for my bells and baubles.  I used Altenew inks and was really happy that the aqua colour came through nicely.   The gold decorations are from a Sugarpea Designs that was part of a Catherine Pooler Stamp of Approval Box a couple of years ago!  I stamped them with Altenew Enchanted Gold ink.  I had picked up the aqua sequins this morning while we were out, so that finished the card perfectly.   

And while there was thunder and lightening this afternoon, I made a second Christmas card.   I saw the other day that CAS Christmas September challenge had a cue of Holiday Treats.

 

Here's what I came up with

I used some Candy canes and sweeties from a Catherine Pooler set for my treats.  I used some kraft card to make a plaid background with a Concord and 9th stamp and some Eucalyptus ink. I die cut an oval out to put my sentiment in.  Hope it is CAS enough for the challenge.  

Playful Plumeria

I love the name of this Altenew set.  I recently purchased this set but only got around to playing with it this afternoon while Hubby and my Dad watched some rugby.   I started by stamping the two flowers and 2 leaves in a variety of colours using my MISTI.    I used these to make two cards.

For this first one, I started by sponging a light layer of Mountain Mist ink in the lower corner and added some watered down black ink splatter.  I used the same Mountain Mist with Volcano Lakes and Lagoon inks for the leaves.  I used a variety of pinks and yellow inks sets to stamp the flowers.  I added the flowers to the corner and finished with a sentiment from Build a Flower Rose stamp set.

And for my second card I used the branch from the Playful Plumeria set

I stamped the branch with Milk Chocolate ink before using the Broken Chevron stencil to dry emboss the background.  I used the sentiment from the Plumeria set.  I smudged the bottom of the panel so added a strip of gold foil washi.  I then added the flowers to the branch with some dimensional tape.  The leaves were glued directly to the panel.  I added some clear yellow sequins to finish off. 

I'm entering this card into the Anything Goes at The Flower Challenge.

My Dad and his new partner Ngaire, arrived up yesterday to spend some time with us and to meet his latest great granddaughter, Grace.  Her second name is Georgina... named after my Dad (George)

Dad is staying till Tuesday, which is his 82nd Birthday.  So happy to be able to spend time with him on his birthday.  He drove the 650 kms (about 450 miles) over a day and a half.  Not bad for his age!

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Out and About at Southern Girls challenge.

See my Watercooler Wednesday post HERE 
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It's Team Trace's turn to inspire you at Southern Girls Challenge this week.

Our theme this week is Out and About.    I've chosen Out and About in my garden.

While I was a SENZ a couple of months ago, I visited the Three Buttons Studio booth and purchased some Cocoa Vanilla Studio die cut Ephemera.  There were lots of lovely bits and pieces.  I used the watercolour bouquet and some extra leaves.  My background was one of my Gelli plate prints from a couple of months ago.  This one was the second pull from an inked gelli plate.  Love the ghostly look.  I added a sentiment from a CAS-ual Fridays set called Casual Elegance.  As my gelli plate was a 3" x 5" one, I made my card 3 3/4" x 5 7/8 inches.    The ephemera die cuts make the card making process so quick. 

Do come and join us at Southern Girls.

WWC237 Michelle's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

Hello there, it’s time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Michelle is our hostess this week with a feminine "Anything Goes" challenge.  

I've made an encouragement card today to share.

I was going through my stamps and found this sentiment - haven't used it for such a long time.   I decided that I would make it the main focus of the card.  I used some Marble paper from an Anko pack (found them cheaply at KMart)  I added the sweet stamp from Stampin' Up (Beautiful You) and used some Altenew and Copic markers to colour her up.  

Come join in the fun.  Check out the projects that the artists at Watercooler Wednesday Challenges have created then take the challenge and link your creation to the challenge post. We’d love to have you join us.  You have until Mondays at 5 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (Tuesdays at 11.00am NZ time) to link up your project

Cards for Boys...

I have two boy cards to share today.

First up is a card I made for my grandson, Archie.  I like to send him cards every now and then.  This one was inspired by one of the cards in the May Making Cards magazine.  There were papers and images that came with the magazine.

I used the papers and images to layer on the card and the front.  I generated the sentiment on the computer.

My second card was a commissioned card for a 2 year old who loves diggers.

I found the image on the internet and printed it twice... I fussy cut the second image and added it with pop dots over the main image.  I added some glossy accents to parts of the digger.  Loved how I kept it CAS. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I appreciated everyone's visits.

Christmas Kickstart - Get a Head-er start!

An interesting challenge at Christmas Kickstart this fortnight.  -Get a Head-er Start - be inspired by the Header

I was inspired by the colour of the background and the red script plus of course, the snowman.

I found this sheet of snowmen in a paper pack from Reflections called Northern Nights.   It had the pretty aqua background.  I cut out a sentiment from red card.   I die cut the background die in vellum which looks great in real life, but doesn't show up so well in this photo.  This sentiment is one that was part of a magazine that my stationery shop was selling off cheap. I added some red 3D Liquid dots for embellishment. 

Thanks Jo for another challenging challenge and another card added to my Christmas supply.

AECP - Impressive Heat Embossing.

I have been a bit slack at doing my Level 2 classes at the Altenew Academy - so yesterday and today I worked on Impressive Heat Embossing.  This awesome class was lead by Svetlana Marchenko and challenge you with ways to use Heat Embossing.  The classes covered a number of different ways to use Heat Embossing. I learnt a lot taking this class when I first did it back in 2017.  I spend some time over the weekend reacquainting myself with the class.

My first idea was to use layering on vellum and I decided to use my Peony Bouquet set.  I got this set back in 2016 when it came out and have to say it is very well used - so well used I struggled to see through the staining to line up my layers...

 

I tried so many times, then asked advice from the Facebook page - Altenew Fan Group... Tried out what was suggest but still had not success.  Think I'll have to purchase a new set!   However I will be trying out the technique I was using with a newer set in the near future.

So onto idea number two.  This was using a stencil to do some embossing.  I ended up doing a very simple embossing and then used embossing powder to make a die sentiment embellishment. 

 I started my blending Baby Pink and Firefly inks through the Floral Garden stencils.  Once it had dried I used the stencil and a Versamark pen to added some dots of Altenew Rose Gold embossing powder.   I die cut the Mega Hello die and added versamark all over it and sprinkled the Rose Gold powder twice to get a lovely smooth die cut element.    I finished with a sentiment from Versatile Vases set, stamped with Obsidian Black ink (best ink EVER!) 

I really enjoyed re doing the class this weekend.   Svetlana was an awesome tutor and showed us 6 great ways to use Heat embossing on our cards.  

Thanks for stopping by today...