Merry Christmas to All

 Merry Christmas to All my Family and Friends.

Today I have pre-schedule this post.  As read this Christmas Day will be almost over for me. Our day will have started with breakfast with our son and daughter-in-law and the two granddaughters.  After they leave we will have headed north to have lunch with our friends in Mangawhai - going to be 19 of us for lunch!

Today is my day to share at Die Cut Divas 

Our sponsor this month is Altenew. They generously will be giving our winner a $50 gift certificate to their online store. 

Today I am sharing a Birthday card.   I have a friend who's birthday was only a few days ago.   Altenew kindly provided the team members with a Build A Garden set - and I chose Morning Asters.   I got it a few months back and have already used it a number of times.  It's a stunning set to use. 

I started by using some Altenew dark grey ink to stamp the bigger of the florals in the set.  I then used the matching stencils set to add the ink - Altenew's Burnt Red and Mahogany inks for the flowers and Eucalyptus and Forest Fern for the leaves.   The embossed background is Altenew Dotty Circle 3D folder inked with the ink left on my blender brush.  In my "magic mug" I have a few of the flag dies cut from an LDRS sentiment stack die and I took one and stamped the sentiment from Altenew's Sentiment Strips 2. 

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas 

It's birthday time at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

Yes it's our birthday at Sweet Stampin' Challenge... so what better for our challenge.... BIRTHDAYS 

 I'm sharing the card I made for my son who's birthday was last Sunday (13th November) He's my baby and turned 34.  Where did the time go? 

It seems a perfect card as we got him a mixture of different beers for his gift.   My card is quite simple.  I used an embossing folder that was a freebie a long time ago.  I used white card and embossed the card then used a few different inks from Altenew to cover the entire card.   I trimmed it a little and added to a black base.  The sentiment is a pre-printed one from Creative Expressions.  After trimming it, I added some of the green inks over it.  

Do come and join us at Sweet Stampin' Challenge with your Birthday projects. 

Happy Birthday Peter.

Today is my Hubby, Peter's Birthday.   I'm taking him out for brunch this morning.   And the kids are coming for an early dinner this evening.  

I decided to make a graphic card to celebrate.  

I started by taking a set of Spellbinder square nestibilities.  I layered three squares the four smallest dies one inside another and cut from brown, black and blue card.  This ended up giving me three sizes of square frames.   I added them onto the card, snipping some so that the while lot is flat.   I used a sentiment from  Altenew's Birthday Builder set.    A simple card but I'm so pleased how it turned out.  

Hubby asked me on Tuesday..."have you got me anything yet? "  And when I said not yet... he promptly showed me a Leaf Blower he wants.   "I'll buy it and you can transfer the money to my credit card!"  Well that was easy!

Have a great weekend all.   

Birthday Fairy Tale Florals

 Hi there.   Today I'm sharing the card I made for my daughter-in-law's birthday today.   It uses one of my new Altenew sets - Fairy Tale Florals - the stamp set and simple colouring stencil.  

I stamped the outline and then used the layering stamps.... I didn't quite get the layering right, so did some stenciling and then enhanced the layering with a Prismacolour pencil.  I used the left over ink on my little blending brush to add the colour around the image.  I then used the largest of the frames on the Mix and Match Frames die set.  The sentiment is from the Classic Beauty stamp set. 

Thanks for popping by today.  

Birthday Bear - for Die Cut Divas Birthday challenge.

 It's time for me to share a card with you over at Die Cut Divas... 

Our sponsor is Bugaboo this month and our theme is BIRTHDAYS.  Winner will receive a $12 voucher to the Bugaboo store.  

Here is my project.  

I did some paper piecing for my card using two co-ordinating papers.  I used my Gina K designs Master Layours to cut my layers.  I printed the image onto white card and also onto the patterned papers and fussy cut them to piece on the card.  I die cut some Simon Says Stamp hearts and added to the sentiment circle. 

Do come and join us at Die Cut Divas with your birthday cards. 

Let's Squash it - Nature and Watercolour - Take 2

 Hi there.  Thought I'd better do a card for the challenge at Let's Squash it... following the theme correctly 

So today I took some watercolour paper and embossed it with a Darice folder. 

After embossing I took my Altenew 36 pan watercolour pallette and took the aqua to add a wash of colour to the background.  I allowed it to dry and then added the light green for the leaves and yellow and orange for the daisies. I added some orange splatters.  Once it dried fully I added the sentiment from Couture Creations with Altenew Obsidian ink.   Added a few little black gems and it was done.

Today is my birthday and as I' still off on sick leave, it was great to spend some time in the craft room making this card.  I also tidied up a couple of my drawers.  I got a nice parcel delivered today from my son and daughter-in-law and grand daughter. 

Isn't it gorgeous.  I've eaten a couple of chocolates already.   And can't wait to have a hot bath and use the bath ball an the soap.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Let's Squash It... use Embossing folder and dies

 

Last year I bought a Sizzix emboss and cut set( See it here)  and I haven't used.  So challenge 3 at Let's Squash It got me thinking it was time to break it out.  

I was inspired by the picture on the packaging

I used some grey Altenew ink to add ink to the folder before running it through my Cuttlebug.  I then inked up the window opening.  I then die cut all the little flowers and leaves from white card and used blending brushes and variety of Altenew inks to colour them up.  Added a little Happy Birthday sentiment from a Whimsy stamp set sitting on my desk.  Perfect size!

I am entering this into the latest challenge at The Flower Challenge... use embellishments - I have added little silver gems to the flower centres.

Thanks to my blog friend Linda. I am adding this to Darnell's NBUS Challenge seeing as how this is the first time using this emboss and cut folder.   

Christmas is nearly here so it was fun to make a non-Christmas card. 

Take care out there people!

Happy Birthday Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

 Hi there.  It's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' Challenge this week.  It's our 11th birthday so it's a Birthday Theme for our challenge. 

I have a couple of friends with birthdays in December, so this was a great opportunity to get ahead of my cards.   I decided to use some paint chips to make this Altenew flower.   I used Fantasy Floral 3D die for the rose and the leaves are from Craft a Flower - Rose Layering die.   I used some patterned paper on my kraft base.  I stamped my sentiment from Altenew Birthday Bash with some pink ink and used one of the dies from Apothecary nesting dies go cut it out.

Do come and join us at Sweet Stampin' challenge blog this week with our birthday challenge. 

WWC 264 Helen's Challenge: All About Occasions

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

Today I am sharing a card I made using my Scan'N'Cut and We Are Memory Keepers Quill pen with a USB by Kelly Creates.

 

I took the floral heart design and incorporated the happy birthday.  I used gold foil with the black card stock.  Once I had finished foiling I took my Prismacolor pencils to colour the flower and leaves.   I added some bronze Nuvo drops to the panel before adding to the white base.

Come and join the fun.  Check out the projects that the other artists at Watercooler Wednesday

Challenge have created.  Then take our challenge and link your creation to the challenge post.  We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time (Tuesday at 12.00 noon NZ time ) to link up your project.

Polkadoodles Guest Designer - Digi Choosday

I'm super excited to have been chosen to Guest Design for Polkadoodles - Digi Choosday team.... and today is my first post...  As usual it's Anything Goes...our design team have chosen to go Vintage/Shabby Chic

So right into it... here is my card

I have used Ruby Boho  for my focal image.  She has been coloured with Prismacolor pencils.  All my papers are from Winnie Celebrations 3.  The sentiment comes from Winnie Special moments Quotes.  The die cut doily is a Catherine Pooler Design and has been embossed with a script folder.
My purple flowers are hand made by me from Foamrin and a freebie flower die from a Magazine.  I added a die cut flourish 

I'm entering this into the following challenges.
Color Inspiration Monthly 
Color Crazy - Anything Goes
Creative Knockouts - favourtie embellishment (my foamarin flowers)


 And here's a little bonus card I made with this gorgeous image.

This one came about as I initially printed out the image a little too large for my card base.  So I made this little scrapling. 

Do come and join the challenge..

Sweet Rose Bouquet...

I'm loving my Altenew stamps at the moment..... and a number of new sets have arrived over the last month or so, due to winning some gift vouchers and buying some stuff too.   I ordered two sets through Krafters Kart that arrived yesterday.... so with some time to play this afternoon, I broke out the Sweet Rose Bouquet set. 

It is a lovely layering set, but boy was it difficult to layer.... I didn't do too bad.   My card isn't exactly as how I planned.  The gold side was supposed to be on the left hand side, the flowers at the top and the sentiment at the bottom.... however as I went to stamp the greeting I did it upside down..... so I simply flipped the card and got it finished.    A few Nuvo drops to embellish and a thin stripe of pink card and I was happy with the result.

I'm entering this into the Happy Birthday challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.
And the "Throw on the Flowers" challenge at Star Stampz Challenge

Happy Birthday to my Son

Yesterday was my son's 29th birthday.  He is my youngest and I was able to go visit him last night to give him his card and the weed eater we go as his present.

Here is the card I made him

I used a variety of two sets of Altenew grey inks and the Altenew Halftone Circles.    He loved it.
Entering this into the For the Boys challenge at City Crafter Challenge Blog.

I also made him a cake as well.  Decorating cakes is not my forte... but I gave it ago.

 The cake was a chocolate one and turned out very yummy.    His partner also made a cake... a gin and lemon cake which was also very yummy.

And here is a collage of photos of have of Kieran growing up

I am so very proud of how my young man has grown up to such a handsome and delightful man.

Thanks for stopping by so I could share my proud Mum moment.

Happy Birthday to my Dad

Today is my Dad's birthday.  I made him a card using some of the Lovely Notes Collection from StampNation.  As he lives in Australia I made this a while ago to send over to him. 

My background is clear embossed on Grey card using the Lovely Lattice.  The bottom half of the grey was stamped with the polka dots stamp.  I used a Chalkboard technique to make the tag - stamped with the Fill in the blanks birthday stamps.  I used a white Prisma pencil to doodle around the edge.   Entering this into the challenge at Seize The Birthday.

I spoke with my Dad today.  I miss not being able to see him as often as I would like.

And my little man has headed off with his parents to LA for the rest of their holiday.  Weather much warmer for them as Thursday was the coldest day we've had all year.  It was only 6degrees C at midday!   I'll leave you with a photo of my two children with baby Archer and my son's dog Butch.

Have a blessed weekend

Happy 25th Birthday to my son.

Yes, 25 years ago my baby boy was born.  I can't believe how quickly the years have gone by.

I did this collage and up it up on Facebook today.  He loved it and called me this evening to say thank-you.

I made a card for him as well

I used some Tim Holtz water colour paper ( just love this paper... the best I've found) and stamped the smoother side to stamp the boat from Rubadubbadoo.  I used distress inks to colour the stamp.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts. 

So to our son... Happy Birthday Kieran.

Happy Birthday Mum

Today is my mum's birthday and I am able to spend it with her again this year as they don't fly home till tomorrow.    I took a photo of my parents this morning as Mum wanted to update her Facebook photo

And here is the card I made for her

I was inspired by a card that Karen made.  I used some cream card and distress ink and stamped the background, after masking off the centre.  I stamped the dogwood and butterflies with Wet Cement ink and coloured with watercolour pencils. The frame was cut with the largest Spellbinders Floral Oval and some dark green Bazzil card. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp. Love the font and how crisp it stamps.  Mum really loved it.

This afternoon, I 've been practising my Copic colouring.  I saw a card from Joy that used a stamp from Some Odd Girl.  I found that they have digital images too... so I bought a couple and have been practising my colouring with them

I did get a card made that I will share later.  It's nearly time for me to get ready to go out to celebrate Mum's birthday with Dad, hubby and son and his girlfriend... we are off to have dinner together.

thanks for visiting today


Dawn

Happy Birthday to my Mum

Today is my Mum's birthday.... dare I tell you how old?  Maybe I'll keep that a secret... A lady never tells her age!!!!

Happy Birthday Mum.

This photo was taken on Christmas morning.  Over the past 25 years or so, I haven't spent many birthdays with Mum, so am happy to do so today.  I think I'll take her out for a girls only Lunch!

Here's the card I made her



I used "smashin' acetate" technique with a twist to make my background colours.  I've done this technique with distress inks but last week on Stamp TV, Gina used watercolour markers. So I pulled out some Tombows and Marvey markers and gave it a go.  I then stamped Hero Arts "Garden Bouquet" twice in black ink and then added some Martha Stewart punched butterflies with Liquid Pearls.  The sentiment is from Docrafts.
Entered into Simon Says Stamp Challenge ~ Anything goes. 

  Today is my last day off - 9 days ~ so not looking forward to getting up at 6.30am tomorrow to go to work :-(  However it's only 2 days till the weekend again.

Everyone, take care out there.  Happy crafting

Dawn 

Happy Birthday Peter....

Today is my Hubby's birthday..   55 yrs old.... boy that means I'm getting old as I'm only 8 months younger~
Any hoo... HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER!!!!  I made him this card....

He liked it.

We went out last night to celebrate with our son and his partner... we went to a restaurant called Pasti.  This is a French restaurant in the City and last night it was amazing ~ packed to the gunnel's as last night was the Rugby World Cup Semi Final between France and Wales.  The tables were all placed together and you were sitting beside people you didn't know... the whole atmosphere was fabulous... and it really went off when the final whistle blew and France were the winners 9-8.  Here's some photos

My "Frenchman" in his beret from Paris last year

The two of us

Kieran and Isobel

At Pastis....the atmosphere.

We had a fabulous evening... for me after a great day stamping at Stamp Group... what a day. 

Tonight it's the All Blacks against the Wallabies (Australia)  for the spot in the final.  Could go either way!  But hope it is us... GO ALL BLACKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope your weekend has been good.  

Cheers 

Dawn

Happy Birthday to Me....

Yes... today is my birthday.... I like having a birthday in the middle of June.... right smack in the middle of the year.... 6 months since Christmas, 6 months to go.... Even though it is in winter time, I still enjoy sharing my happy day with family and friends...  Over the years I have had some memorable days.  My 15th birthday was interesting... I had invited 4 friends over for a sleepover.  We lived way out in the country on a farm (in Otago) at the time and it was a bit inclement weather so in the end only one friend came.  It was just starting to snow lightly when we picked her up around 7.30pm.... well come morning there was 6 foot of snow and we couldn't get out for 4 days...  For my 28th birthday ( which was 7 weeks after our first baby was stillborn) my darling hubby had organised a surprise dinner for me.... but at rugby on the day of the dinner he broke his jaw and we ended up at the Emergency dept of the hospital.  I was still in my causal clothes on the way home and he stopped at the restaurant... and there were all our friends all dressed up....  And a few years ago to celebrate being 50 and having been married for 30 years he organised a party ~ albeit 9 months after the 50th!!!!!! 

This year we had a lovely family dinner on Sunday night and tonight my wonderful friends, Yvonne and Michael, have invited us around to their place for a meal.And I've just spoken with my daughter too. 

Here's a selection of the birthday cards I received.  Thank you everyone.

Top row:  Susan, Emma, Sandie, Helen
Bottom row: Mum & Dad, Glenda, Vicky
All beautifully handmade.  I really appreciate them. Each one is so special.

Hope you have all had a great day... I have...
Take care

Dawn

Spoil yourself Silly...

Over at Penny Black at Allsorts, this month's challenge is to use "shaped' cards.  Plus it is also a design team call too...  I just got another set of PB stamps in the post on Saturday.. (thanks to the speedy delivery from Simon Says Stamps) This one is called "Bubbly" and is sure sweet..

So I decided to make a Heart Card.... something a bit different.

This little mouse on the wine cork is super cute.  I started by using my Spellbinders heart to make a card base.  As I cut the top of the heart on the fold, I cut another one and laid it on top.  I trimmed the bottom to let the card sit nicely.  I then cut a plain heart out of some PP and did some faux stitching around the edge.  I stamped the mouse directly on the PP and also onto some card stock.  I used Copics to colour and cut it out and pop dotted it.  Stamped the sentiment and mounted it onto the same cardstock as the base.    Added some flowers and gems.  I was really pleased with the results and I hope the team over at Penny Blacks at Allsorts do as well...

And here's another PB birthday card.  This was made for my niece, Vicky, turned 30 last week and this is what I sent her.

It was inspired by a card (here) by Elizabeth Allan.  I did some Paper Piecing, added some glitter and a bit of nice hot pink ribbon.

That's all from me for now... I'm off to watch "Dowton Abbey" ~ a period drama set in England.

Dawn

Paint the Town

Today is my daughter's 25th birthday......... and the first one with her living in a new country ~ a long way from home..... She is really loving her new home town ( Perth) and is currently still an International Lady of Leisure  (still looking for a job).  I will be ringing her and having a chat a bit later in the evening.  I sent off her birthday card earlier this week.... not too sure if it has arrived yet, but I will share it here.

This is another of the wonderful Penny Black stamps I won recently... "Paint the Town" set.  Once again, using my wonderfully versatile Distress inks as a paint medium.  I love using them like this.  I also used Tsukineko daubers for the sky and grass.   Part of my card was embossed with a new folder I recently purchased.  It's called In Stitches from Craft concepts.  The rest, patterned paper from a Rosie's Studio stack.

I have a number of family birthday's this month... SIL, daughter, niece, SIL, and at the end of the month 2 more nieces.  A very busy month for me particularly as most of the cards need to be sent overseas!

Tonight the New Zealand Rugby League team are playing an test against Australia.... know as the ANZAC test.   Go the Kiwis!!!!!!!!!!!!  I wonder which team my daughter will follow now?

Enjoy the weekend everyone.... I plan to...

Dawn