Happy Birthday to my baby boy!!!!

He won't like me calling him that!!!!!  But 22 years ago today, that's what he was..... my new baby boy.   And he will always be my baby!!!!   He did some Father/Son bonding today as for his present, his Dad took him out shopping for trousers and a jacket to wear to his sister's wedding ( and also for his girlfriend's sister's wedding in 4 weeks time).

this is the card I gave him.  It was made a while back but I had saved it for his birthday.

I was still feeling a bit stiff and sore today so gave Stamp Group a miss.... but not entirely.  I did pop into the store to catch up and buy some new goodies.... Judi has been stocking some wonderful new items.. including some really cute Inkadinkado stamps and a Fluffles The Cat one by Stampendous.  I am half way through making some Fluffles cards.  Just waiting for the Glossy Accents to dry so will show it tomorrow.

Hope your weekend is going well.... I see on Barb's blog that winter is making it's presence felt in parts of USA.... and summer is definitely here in NZ with a beautiful warm day today.   take care

Penny Black Saturday challenge

I am still not feeling 100% - I have sprain my sacroiliac joints in my back and the right side one is causing my leg to go numb. And for some odd reason my left knee is in continual pain.... (getting old and falling to bits)  Today I gave in and went to my doctor.  Have to have some physiotherapy for my back and had to have an x-ray done of the knee....

But I did manage to make a card last night for Penny Black's Saturday Challenge this week.  It was to have SNOW on your card.  I stamped the Caroling Trio and added Diamond Dazzle glitter for snow.... under the little carollers and in dots for snow falling.

It is a bit hard to see the snow on the photo, but it is lovely and glittery in real life.

Am off to have a meal out... ( can't be bothered cooking) so we are heading out to a little Japanese place we have found.

Enjoy the weekend all...

I've been pottering.....

haven't felt much like doing anything the last couple of nights.... suddenly feeling a bit tired and grumpy!!!! Have put out my back and didn't sleep well last night....  Poor DH has copped it.... but have a couple of cards that I made recently to share.

First is for my friend Marnie's birthday is a couple of weeks.... she wears a lot of green colours so thought I'd do this green big flower

I coloured parts of the petal with a Copic.  I had a bit of an issue with the sentiment.... notice it is not straight.  I have misplaced my stamp positioner and am waiting for my new Stampin'Up one to arrive - still all in all, I am pleased with this CAS card.


Second card is for our nephew who is coming up 16.  He is a very good golfer - so thanks to some stamped images send to me by the lovely Paula, I was able to make this card.

Had fun using distress inks to colour in the image and then using some watered down Liquid pearls to give it shimmer.

Well that's it for tonight... am going to head off to bed with a hot wheat bag and my book and see if I can get some sleep.

The countdown to the wedding day is now well and truly underway.... 17 days to go.... have seen the dress almost finished.... magnificent!!!!! and everything else is falling into place thanks to one extremely organised daughter.  She has everything planned to the nth degree.  So very impressed with her.

Bye for now

WMC#30 - Birthday Bash

This week's challenge over at Wee Memories ( Jenny's blog) is "Birthday Bash" to celebrate Jenny's blog birthday!!!!  This is timely as I had to make a birthday card for my son's girlfriend.  Isobel's birthday is next week 3 days after my son's birthday.  They were over for dinner last night and I gave them their cards early as we won't see them before the birthdays.  I had already made Kieran's card a while ago but had left Isobel's.  Yesterday afternoon, I made this for her.... used similar design to my Christmas one of earlier in the day....

I used a pale blue patterned paper and stamped the Music background in Faded Jeans distress ink.  This background stamp is so versatile.  I can see me using it all year round.  I added a sentiment by Stamp-It and the butterfly was punched from the PP and sponged with the distress ink.  I then used some paper that I had made using Joy's watercolour technique ( see here) to roll a flower.  I inked the edges in the distress ink and then added some gems and stickles.

And I have one more Christmas card I made the other night.  I used watercolour paper and white embossed the snowflake stamp but instead of alcohol inks I used distress inks - a very basic resist technique but still very effective.

I stamped the Hero Arts sentiment straight onto the paper and added some ribbon and the snowflake.  Finally added some Enamel Accents.... love this stuff.... looks like a brad on the snowflake.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting.  Please feel free to leave a comment...

Barb's 90 minute Scramble....

I was able to take part in the 90 minute scramble today because it started at 9.00am NZ time.  In the past it was middle of the night for me....
So there I was at 9.00am sitting in front of the computer with my stuff around me,.. still in my PJ's, cuppa tea and jammy toast beside me... ( Sunday is my sleep in day and it's normally awake at 8.00 with cuppa tea and the morning papers and up at 9.00am)
Barb's challenge was to make a Christmas card with a non-traditional flower...... so I was off and racing. Grabbed the cuttlebug and cut out some yellow and blue flowers.... then couldn't find any papers or card to match - so scrapped that idea.... so what next.  Quickly searched through my stash of paper and found a nice snowflake background in blues and purples.... that will do.... now stamps?  Love my Music background.... and so it went.... got the background done, stamping around the edge of the base card,... got the sentiment stamped.... oh my gosh what about the flower!!!!!

Now I've been trying to make rolled circle flowers like Jennifer McGuire showed in one of her videos.... but alas they have always look awful and never worked out... always in the bin... but thought I'd just have one more try ........  well worth persevering - got one to work - yeah!!!!
Used some felt leaves I cut out and finally got it all together.... just on the hour.... then to photograph, load up onto Flickr and link to the discussion thread.... woohoo... made it.

so there it is..... and this is what the desk looked like at the end.....

Now on to the big clean up.....
Thanks Barb for such a fun challenge and doing it at a time that was good for me.


Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

Alcohol Thinking Inking

I have been following Jennifer McGuire's Holiday Thinking Inking over at twopeas.  One of her techniques this week involving Alcohol ink was to use it on Watercolour paper.  Now as most of you will know, Alcohol inks are usually used with Glossy paper... but the delicate look on watercolour paper is amazing.

Here's what I came up with.

I stamped the large snow flake from a Papermania Duo set onto the watercolour paper and embossed it with white EP.  I then used Stream, Aqua and Cool Peri inks with silver mixative.  I was really pleased with the results.  I added some Enamel Accents in white to the centre of the flowers  ( this stuff is amazing- just arrived in my Simon Says Stamp parcel this week)  As I didn't want to cover any of the wonderful colour or snowflakes with a sentiment, I stamped it with Stazon onto a sheer ribbon and added a double bow. 

I have been making the most of being home recuperating... have made a few cards, tried some other resist techniques, did my tutorial yesterday (here) and generally had fun in my craft room... today have to do the housework :-(  - but if I hurry I can get back to crafting later in the afternoon.  I've got new stamps and really really want to play!!!!

Hope your weekend is great - we have SUN!!!!! 

All well... and a card folder tutorial

All is well... my little op went well and I am feeling fit and in no pain... thanks for all the thoughtful comments and wishes.

Now onto a little tutorial.   I made this folder for a set of cards... and thought I'd share how I did it.  Note I can not claim this as my own idea... one of my friends had made it - this is just to show how it is done..

Card Folder

Material:
Scor-pal or other scoring tool

one piece  of card stock 28 cm x 23 cm

narrow double side tape

crop-o-dile or similar hole punch
ribbon -  60cm in length
scissors

Step by Step
Step 1

score card at 14 cm

step 2

Turn 90 degrees and score at 6 cm

Step 3

Trim an inverted V in the small part

add narrow tape to both sides

fold up and stick tape down to form flaps

Fold in half on centre crease

Find centre and punch small holes at each side - size will depend on width of ribbon you use

thread ribbon through so it is over the inside portions ( acts as support for the cards/envelopes

 Decorate front as desired

also inside can be decorated ( as shown above)

For those of you who do not work in metrics..... cut card to 11 inches by 9 inches.  Centre crease at 5 1/2 inches and flap crease at 2 3/8 inches.

Hope you can follow this okay... if not email me and I'll see if I can help.

Off to do some more card making.... I like being on recuperation when I feel so good!!!
take care and have a great weekend.

three of a kind....

Just a short post this morning before I head off to the hospital....
I had stamped off this image from Lei's Stampin'Up! set so managed to make 3 similar cards.... I used the same textured base for all three... just changed up the matting colours.

Made a nice and quick card.  I did have some issues with the Kindyglitz (glitter glue) making the Stampin'Up! soft suede ink run.... but it gave an awesome look to the trees.  Thanks to Lei for sharing her stamps and inks...
Entering into Jenny's Free for All challenge this week

Well off now.... being picked up in about 10mins.... should be home by lunch time tomorrow - as I am off with daughter to her final fitting for the wedding dress..... starting to get very exciting....

take care