Happy Birthday Dad

 Today is my Dad's 87th birthday.   He was a young dad - only 20 when I was born....so I'm very lucky to still have him my life. 

Here's the card I made and sent to him. 

I made myself a little stencil to do some colour blocking using Altenew inks and then over stamped with Stampin' Up Wetlands stamp set.  Part of the sentiment is from the same set and the DAD is from a Newton's Nook set.  A CAS card.  

Happy Birthday Dad 💖

Christmas Trees

 Myt lovely friend , Kim, gifted me a Stampin' Up set of  Christmas Trees when I was visiting her and I just had to ink one of them up.   Kim as almost a full set of Gina K inks - (and I don't have any!)  so I thought the Medium Spruce would be perfect to use

I made myself a mask from light weight card by cutting out a master layout die and then used whatever ink was on a green and blue brush.  I stamped once with the full strength Medium Spruce and once second generation.  Did this three times - added a sentiment from the set and my CAS Christmas card was done. 

I am still enjoying my time here in Perth.  Today was a bit of a wet one.  Emma and I (plus Finn) went to the outlet stores and I got some really good bargains - walking shoes more then 50% off, a $40 bra for $12.00 and a few other bits and bobs.   All in all, a good way to spend some time on a rainy day.  Home for lunch and then got my Finn cuddles as I held him while he slept - not as long as yesterday when he slept on my for more than 2 hours.  

We enjoyed sitting on the couch with the sun streaming in.    Only a few more days - heading home on Saturday evening.  

Sparkle and Shine

I really had fun taking part in the Online Card Class Sparkle and Shine.  There were heaps of different ways to make your projects Sparkle and Shine.... including using mica powders such as PearlEx and Perfect Pearls.   I have some of each.  With the PearlEx you need to use a fixative (such as cheap hairspray) and with Perfect Pearls the fixative is already in the formula.

My first card uses Perfect Pearls Interference Red on some black card with a Hero Arts Background.

The colour is stunning in real life - changes colours at different angles.    I CASE'd Debby Hughes by white embossing on vellum and used some Perfect Pearls - perfect pearls coloured powder onto the vellum.  I added some leaves and finished with a black die cut that was a freebie.  The little hearts came out of the die cut and were the perfect embellishment.

And the second card used PearlEx Blue Russet on white card.  A very interesting combination

I used the same Hero Arts background to make the central panel.  I used some Altenew Christmas Rose flowers and used the PearlEx powder to do the centres.  I die cut some Sizzix leaves in a pale green.  I added a vellum circle with an embossed Stampin' Up sentiment.  A few sequins and it was all finished.

I can highly recommend this class.

As these cards are full of shiny goodness I have entered the first one into the challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Tres Chic!

I've had a lot of fun colouring and card making over the last few days..  Including using some new stamps from Stampin'Up.  I don't buy many SU stamps as I find they are fairly expensive compared to some of the other companies I like to use... but I've been coveting a couple for a while now.... Wetlands and Beautiful You.  The Beautiful You set is two stamp sets that have the most sweet Tres Chic - ladies...

This first one uses the dancing girl and the associated sentiment.  I was inspired by Pinterest with the design.   I have a pile of the white panels cut to this size that were off cuts from making inserts for my die storage.  Plus a great way to use up some of the multitude of Pattern Paper I have.  This card I gave to a friend who has been going through some health issues.  Inside says" Wishing you Brighter days to come"

My second card used the girl and the umbrella

I used some Copics to colour up this one. Die cut is from Lil' Inkers   Again some more PP used.  I added a few flat sequins to finish off.  

And I got one more coloured up but not made into a card yet

Today I did a lot of watercolouring and colouring which I'll share tomorrow... don't want to overwhelm you with too many photos all at once.    thanks for visiting.  I would love for you to leave me a comment. 

Weekend fun

I had a fun Saturday stamping and creating.  Hubby was off on a fishing trip so Friday morning I send out an email to group of stamping friends inviting anyone who could come at short notice, that it was open home... and Sandie and Lei took up my invite.  So the three of us had a great day creating.  Nice with just the three of us so we could spread out...

 It was really was a very hot day and poor Lei was hot and tired so we told her to have a snooze on my couch

 I was able to get two cards and a box card done during the day.  We stopped for lunch outside for a bit and then back into it till around 4pm.

My box was a commission for an 80th birthday.  I used a Hero Arts Rose which I coloured with Copics and fussy cut.   PP from a new pack by MME - metallics
Entering into the Fabulous Flowers challenge over at Hero Arts blog

 

This card was inspired by one I saw by Vanessa Menhorn and from the CCC sketch on Deborah Nolan's February CCC.  I had a round three goes at getting this one finished.  Did the panel and then smudged a corner so re-did it, then got some smudges on the base stamping... finally got it finished - was able to save a smudge by using the white embossed sentiment on the black card.  The flowers are a mixture of some CASual Friday stamps fussy cut and a Stampin' Up! stamp and matching punch.  This is on it's way to Australia. 

And my final card was just some playing around with some Altenew stamps that arrived last week. 

Was really pleased at how these layered flowers turned out.  I finished with some Pretty Pink Posh sequins and a Kaisercraft sentiment.  I had put this one on my Face book page and one of my work colleagues asked me to bring it in and bought it off me.  Last week I sold 17 cards at work so my supplies are getting a bit low...

Hope you enjoyed seeing what I've done lately.  

Inspsired by......Jennifer McGuire

Isn't so much fun when you see a technique that just inspires you to create... well that's what happened to me watching Jennifer McGuire doing a white pencil highlighting technique (see her video here)

I so enjoyed this technique.  Here are three cards I've made so far....

 

This first one uses a large Stampin' Up! roses.  I don't know the name of the set as I got it second hand and it is not noted on it.   Added a white embossed sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.

The second one uses all Hero Arts stamps.  The florals are from Night and Day Flowers set.  And  I used the wood mounted Happy Birthday to You for the sentiment.   As this is a one layer card I have added this to the challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

 And my final one uses an Altenew floral set with another Hero Arts sentiment.  This time I cut it on an angle and mounted it with some black matting

I really am enjoying this technique.  It makes such a great CAS that you can dress up if you want.  Plus the beautiful bold colours are fabulous. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Dawn

Some rejects....

I recently submitted to Papercrafts magazine.... but my cards didn't make the cut.....I don't really mind, as I had great fun making them.

My first one was for the wedding theme



a very CAS card, using a Fiskars edge punch, some satin ribbon, pins and a Hero Arts Sentiment.

And this second one was for the Baby cards

I used an embossing folder for the background and some quilting fabric for the little giraffes.   Sentiment from Stampin' Up!

I haven't been up off submitting... will just keep trying.

Haven't done much crafting this week, as by the time I've spend 45mins to an hour at the gym, I find I've not have a lot of time left in the evenings.  Been at least 3 times a week for the last couple of weeks.    Hoping to get some more cards made this weekend.

As usual, I appreciate my visitors and your lovely comments.

Dawn

Last of the Workshop cards

The final cards we made at the workshop

This one involved some embossing and distressing.  Plus making our own flower.

And this one is my favourite of the day

Love the tulle we used... soft and wide.  Just love the vintagey look we achieved with the embossed panel, torn PP and soft spray of a home made glimmer mist in pink.

I have decided that I will be using the design of the Christmas card this year for some of my cards.  I've adapted it already.... pop over to my Flickr photo stream for a look.

Planning a nice quiet weekend... the forecast is for rain.. so hope to maybe spend some time crafting.   Enjoy your weekend.


Dawn

Workshop Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of Sunday's workshop.

We made the topper to go with the biscuit that Jacque's daughter made.  The snowflake was punched onto the biscuit with a Stampin' Up! biscuit stamp.   The topper uses a cute little snowman stamp.

This candle was made with a wheel stamp... stamped onto tissue paper.

The bird stamp was in the goodie bag we got, so of course, I had to order the matching punch....I like how this card turned out.

The last two cards we made, I'll share later in the week.   Tomorrow my hubby is back from his trip to Singapore.  I can imagine he will be tired after 12 hours travelling, 2 full days on his course, and then leaving Singapore at 9.00pm the same night....he gets in lunch time tomorrow so can have a rest in the afternoon.... I've missed having him around the last few nights....it's not so nice sitting on your own when you are not used to it!

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Dawn 

Sunday Workshop

NB- Photo heavy post!
This past Sunday I attended a Stampin' Up! workshop held by Jacque at her house.  I've not been to one of Jacque's fun days... but I'll certainly be doing more.  I had a great day.... 7 1/2 hours of full on fun.... ( you can see Jacque's post here)

There were 12 of us there...plus Jacque and her girls and cats!

The last photo is one of Jaque's daughters.  She is holding up Jacque's sample of our first project.  A beautiful Flower Wreath... made with heaps of flowers.

Here is my version.

This took around 3 hours.... luckily Jacque had the flowers all die cut so it was just a matter of choosing the combinations and sticking them together and onto the wrapped wreath.

We stopped and had lunch after this project and then worked on some more projects ~ cards, a candle...a topper for a cookie... but I'll share these later in the week....

Thanks for stopping by and making your way to the end of this long post... much appreciated.

Dawn