Back to school

For some - well it is in the States. Reading blogs it seems like they've had a big summer break - so that's the theme for this week's Corrosive Challenge, as this is my last week of being on the design team I'll offer up a wee prize too of mixed card stock, designer paper, ribbons & a few extras ~$20 value to any "kiwi entries" this week. Well this I found to be the hardest of Janet's challenges so I fell back on my favourite stamp set & card design from last year (as seen on TV too). So Tart and Tangy reappears & I do remember how much I loved it & this is the first time I've used my Old Olive striped grosgrain ribbon - love it too, so may make a few of these as thank yous.

Stamp sets: Tart and Tangy, All Year Cheer I (retired)
Ink: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa (marker), Old Olive (marker)
Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Real Red
Punches: 1-¼" circle, 1-⅜" circle, scallop circle
Other: Old olive striped grosgrain ribbon. Crystal effects (to make my pips shiny)

Cutting dimensions:
Whisper White 6 x 5-½" - fold/score at 3"
Real Red 5-¼ x 2-¾"
Old Olive 4 x 1-¼"

Well I can't believe it's been 3 months on the design team has passed so quickly - I think this may possible be the best Challenge site as it has so many different challenges; sometimes colours ones, sometimes sketch ones, other times just themes - like last week we where in the jungle, so I do hope you can join us this week or in the future - they are a blast.

A HUGE thank you to Janet Rossi for organising this you are the best!

So from kiwi Karen Ka Kite (Maori for farewell)

Great Friend goes for a Walk in the Park

Janet's corrosive challenge this week is a sketch challenge & they certainly make creating a card easier. One of my stampin' team Lisa B AKA daffyscrapper had swapped with me recently & I loved how she made her own paper using the stamps in Great Friend so she was my inspiration. Her paper sample can be seen HERE - she has been busy with it I see, making invites too! I took the concept & colours from the divine piece of Walk in the Park DSP. Sponged the edges with So Saffron ink plus cut out the butterfly & popped him up on dimensionals plus added a few half pearls - pretty. Dare I say it - I liked working with Cameo Coral too.

Stamp set: Great Friend
Ink: Cameo Coral, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Kiwi Kiss
Paper: Baja Breeze, Basic Gray, Confetti White, Walk in the Park DSP
Other: Scallop oval punch (so in love with this), large oval punch, half cream pearls (Pretties kit), mini glue dots, dimensionals, sponge

Here's Janet's sketch for inspiration:


Hope you can join us this week. I only have 2 more weeks to go on the Design Team but I've really enjoyed it & will be an active participant in the future and it's been really great seeing all the kiwis entering (& occasionally winning).

I'll have to have a wee prize my LAST week so until then you'll have to rely on the random integer! GOOD LUCK.

Corrosive Challenge 24

Janet's challenge this week was to make a wedding/anniversary card & I was having one of those weeks where I was to busy getting ready for my spring mini launch to have a play so I may enter another card later in the week that is in my head.

It was Pete's birthday this weekend so wanted to have some quality time with him i.e. no blogging or stamping. We had a great time saw the amazing Drallion (Cirque du Soleil) & a yummy meal post-show at One Tree Grill - can highly recommend. Sunday brunch & watching Telethon (yah $ 2 million was raised for Kids Can charity & bought back lots of great memories of past Telethons).

I digress I just wanted to apologise for this week's card which was found by rummaging in my HUGE box of cards for something to use & found the above sensational card I made at my upline Jacque's popping pastel class a few months ago which I loved & thought perfect for the challenge.

Stamp set: Baroque Motifs
Ink: Craft white, Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Cameo Coral
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery
Other: Stampin' Pastels, sponge daubers, silver brads, blue tafetta ribbon, hemp twine, ½" circle punch
Technique: Poppin' Pastels

So don't forget to enter as this is one of those cards you need often & the prize this week from Janet is 6 clear stamps!

Corrosive Challenge 22

Free range this week (YAH) - it's a colour combo: Bermuda Bay, Ruby Red & Pumpkin Pie - I'm using Baja Breeze as we don't have Bermuda Bay - which is a new in-colour in the States.

I thought I'd use my Circle Circus stamp set which I got at Convention and haven't played with - it's really versatile as lots of circles (funny that) : set of 10 stamps for $62.95 - great value!

Stamp sets: Circle Circus, Occasional Greetings {thank you}
Ink: Ruby Red, Baja Breeze, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Baja Breeze, Ruby Red, Whisper White, Baja Breeze Patterns DSP
Other: Ruby red brads, scallop circle punch, 1-¼" circle & 1" circle punches, word window punch, dimensionals, Baja Breeze striped grosgrain ribbon

Don't forget to enter Janet Rossi's Corrosive Challenge there's always a wee prize too which is an added bonus - this week a Simply Scrappin' Kit - Christmas theme - well worth winning!

Corrosive Challenge 21

Our inspiration came from this & I could see bright colours & funky girls & I thought of Pink Flamingo DSP - could have sworn I ordered some but no, so Washington Apple DSP - which kind of sets the colours (Bashful Blue, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie). The funky girl (who I thought was perfect) comes from one of the following: my lovely SBS sisters Leslie or Janet or Tracy J from NZ who have kindly sent me stamped images before.

Don't ask me where the circle idea came from but it looks good with the cut out girl, and don't ask me why I wanted to cut her out (as it was harder than it looked & I only had one image i.e. no mistakes allowed). But I'm really pleased with the final card - it's fun & suitable for a teenage i.e. my nieces - they'll love it.

Stamps: Really Retro (word), ?? girl stamp
Ink: Black, various Stampin' Write Markers
Paper: Bashful Blue, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Washington Apple DSP
Other: Creative Memories cutting system, 1-¼" circle punch, 1" circle punch, word window punch, dimensionals

So hope you can play along too (there's always a wee random prize - this week a $10 voucher for Hanna stamps) - click HERE to see the other great entries. I'm really interested in what everyone comes up for this one!

Corrosive Challenge Week 21

This week's Corrosive Challenge from Janet Rossi is a sketch and I don't like ovals so this was as hard as making a DOG card!

Not sure if I like next week's one either but am always happy with the final card so that what is cool about challenges they push you outside your comfort zone!

Last week our challenge was to make a card with a dog image & I didn't own any dog stamps so thought I'd buy one at SENZ & yep you guessed right I bought another cat stamp - but isn't he GORGEOUS; so as I was being naughty I've coloured in the flowers with Twinkling H2Os (and I remembered how much I love them so I shouted myself some more today, I love them even more now that I own an aqua painter too)!

Not sure if you can see them twinkle in the photo but try clicking on the picture to enlarge. And I've used for my embellishments these sparkly iridescent flowers I bought at SENZ 2 years ago - well if you're going to be naughty & have a break from SU! I might as well be really naughty!

I do hope you can play along too, Janet always has a prize drawn randomly - my friend Judy won week 19 and wait for this Anne Brignall a fellow SU! demo from my team & based in Christchurch won week 20. The kiwis are on a roll! This week's prize is a SU! Simply' Scrappin' Christmas kit.

Going to the dogs!

Janet has chosen for the Corrosive Challenge this week the theme DOGS. I had to laugh when I saw it as I'm a CAT lover, first thought was to send her a cat card but thought no a challenge is a challenge & was going to resort to a punch art dog and then found in my stash of stamped images that I'd been sent this cute little pair - they're so sweet even I like them. It was my niece Mikaela's birthday in the week & she likes dogs so I've covered a post-it-note set as a wee gift. I've inked the for you from Fresh Cuts up with markers

Stamp set: ?? but not SU!
Ink: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Ruby Red, Sahara Sand, Pink Pirouette
Paper: Ruby Red, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Sweet Slumber Speciality DSP
Other: Blender pen, large & small oval, dazzling diamonds glitter, liquid applique (non-SU!) and a heat gun.

It's really cute so Mikaela better watch out or Aunty Karen may just forget to give it to her!!

The prize from Janet this week is 10 card kits - so what you waiting for, have a go.
Update: Judy from NZ won the last challenge (which is random) & gets a SU! set for her efforts - what fantastic news!!

Summertime??

Janet Rossi's Corrosive Challenge for the week is SUMMERTIME - down under it's winter time but I got into the swing of it - hey I'm a kiwi & I do know what summertime is.

I got out some retired sets from our Summer Mini 2007/2008 & cased the card on page 5 (it was the reason I bought the set in the first place as I just adore the deck chair) but have used 2009 in-colours and made my sand really glittery with heat & stick powder & Dazzling diamonds - perfect!

Stamp sets: Shore Thing (retired), Collage Alphabet (retired), Everyday Expressive Phrases (retired) - bit sad I still own so many retired stamps!
Ink: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Other: Copper HPH (retired), vanilla narrow grosgrain ribbon, riding hood red taffeta ribbon, linen thread, heat and stick powder (heat tool), dazzling diamonds glitter, dimensionals, craft knife

So hope you can play along - it was fun even when it's grey & wet outside. The challenge cards that are showing are AMAZING so I do hope you can join us & Janet is giving away a PMS stamp this week.

CC18: the colours of your country's flag

This week's Corrosive Challenge is to be inspired by "our country's flag colours". I think we're going to see a lot of red, white ± blue. The New Zealand Flag is pretty similar to the Australian flag but we have one star less.
I used Pacific Point for my blue as NZ is found in the Pacific Ocean, well this card didn't quite turn out how I thought but it is rather striking.

Stamp set: Fresh Cuts
Ink: Pacific Point (in places stamped off once)
Paper: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Pacific Point Patterns DSP
Other: Riding Hood Red striped grosgrain ribbon, scallop circle punch, 1-⅜" circle punch, 1-¼" circle punch, Ruby Red Brads

Hope you can play along too. Janet has a HUGE prize this week too - so well worth entering. It's
a roll of ribbon and a SU stamp set! (She will give you a choice!!) WOW is all I can say.

CC17: A different kind of fold

Janet Rossi's 17th Corrosive Challenge has asked for a different kind of fold (trifold, gate fold).

This is called a Trifold Shutter Card & is certainly "new" to me so I had to follow the excellent tutorial created by Bonnie Szwalkiewicz

It was easier than it looks & it looks amazing in real life, so not sure if I can bear to post away to my friend Mike who I created it for, but I'll certainly be reKReating this one again. I've been having a real clean up of my craft room this weekend so I have used up old stuff i.e. retired so I can make some room for the new.

Stamp set: In the Stars (retired)
Ink: Real Red, Wild Wasabi (retired)
Paper: Wild Wasabi (retired), Real Red, Tempting Turqiouse, Whisper White, East Coast Prep DSP (retired)
Other: Large & small star punch, Bold Brights brads

Hope you can play along too in the challenge (& Janet's giveaway this week is a vintage scrapbook & ribbon - sounds yummy) - love to see someone create one of these cards - it's well worth it.

This is what it looks closed for posting too. Happy stampin'

Corrosive Challenge 16

This week the Corrosive Challenge is a sketch to work with - I've never done one of those before but it actually made it easier so I did another one the next morning. Must admit that I whipped this card up in under half an hour as it was 1am & not surprisingly I was tired - last week I was a wee bit late - I do get confused with the time difference between my country (New Zealand) & Canada so was trying to be early this week. Janet is giving away a a Ketto stamp, and some lovely ribbon so get KReating!

It's dark, gloomy & wet as winter here so I've made a really bright card to cheer me up & hopefully the lucky recipient. The words have been coloured up using Stampin' Write Markers & I've used my Petal Party Simply Scrappin' kits to show that you can also make cards with them (in fact a lot of cards), I do love the die-cut flowers they look awesome in real life.

Stamp set: On Your Birthday
Paper: Pixie Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Petal Party DSP
Other: Stampin' Write markers (Old Olive, Summer Sun, Pixie Pink, Pumpkin Pie), Dimensionals, Petal Party self-adhesive die-cut flowers

Design Team Member announcement

I was asked to be on the 2nd design team for Janet Rossi's Corrosive Challenge - after I got over my initial shock & I thought yes I can do this, I know I need to be challenged & pushed outside my comfort zone to grow as a stamper.

The the list comes & yes I'm outside my comfort zone straight away with week one (week 15 for the challenge). The theme is Father's day (I think it's happening in the States soon) or masculine. Must admit this is an area we all struggle with. Lucky for me I've just been to Convention & Nicki Tidbold did a talk on "male projects". She suggested using the following images: trees, stars, circles, spots, sports. Techniques which are good to use: sponging, spritzing, thump & bump (with the ink pad), tearing, crumpling, crimping. Good accessories to include: hodgepodge hardware, chipboard, jumbo eyelets, twine or twill tape, brads and clips. PS lucky for me I also got one of her swaps which I've used as my inspiration.

For Leslie thumping and bumping is just touching the ink pad to the background - I really like the effect & perfect for those that have problems holding a BIG background stamp


Stamp set/s: Lovely as a Tree, Everyday Flexible Phrases (retired)
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, So Saffron, Bravo Burgundy
Paper: Old Olive, Watercolour paper, Four Seasons DSP (retired)
Other: Watercolour crayons, aquapainter, word window punch, vintage brads, sponge dauber, crimper, dimensionals

Here's Nicki's inspirational card made using Seaworthy. So we've thumped & bumped, torn, sponged, crimped & used brads. So hope you can play along too - lots of ideas above to use/inspire.
NOTE: Anyone from New Zealand that enters the challenge I'll put you in the draw to win some goodies from ME. Janet also has a random winner every week so what are you waiting for! this week it's a Gina K stamp set of a man & a golf bag sounds worth winning.

You can check out the bios of the rest of the team HERE too.

Corrosive Challenge 14

Well my lovely SBS sister Janet is upto the 14th Corrosive Challenge - if you haven't entered before you should as she always has a little something for the winner (who I might add is randomly drawn).

This weeks challenge is to make a sympathy card with flowers - easy & dare I say it handy to have.

I've made a card using the poor man's versions for some of my lovely team mates who as yet don't own 5th Avenue Floral. This is a take/case on this card using Embrace Life. I think it's worked out rather well.

Stamp set: Embrace Life, Sincere Salutations
Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Urban Oasis DSP
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Basic Gray
Other: Large oval punch, gray taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

To view the other great entries click HERE

Fall meets Spring down under!

Hi all my SBS sister Janet from Niagara Falls runs the Corrosive Challenge with goodies to win. I've been wanting to do one for ages but life seems to be getting in the way of crafting. Being a long weekend I was determined to do this week's one, only to find it's a Spring/Easter card. Me being the kind person I am have lent out all my Easter sets & it's not exactly spring like here down under!

Lots of bloggers have been making flower pot cards lately & I wanted to have a go - they're very easy but smaller than I imagined. To see how to create one for yourself just click HERE and follow the step by step instructions by Stephanie Luman. I must admit I just used up scraps in my off-cut drawer so even though I've made flowers when I look at my wee card it has autumnal tones to it but still a bouquet of spring!



Stamp set/s: Time Well Spent (retired), Background Sampler(retired), Stem Sayings
Paper: Kraft, Old Olive, Real Rust, So Saffron, Ruby Red & Vintage Violet (retired)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Real Rust
Other: Scallop edge punch, Kraft tafetta, 5-petal punch, sponge, dimensionals


So happy spring to my Northern Hemisphere readers, for those of us down under Happy Easter!

Happy GREEN day to ALL!

Well my SBS Janet has challenged us to do GREEN for this week's Corrosive Challenge. I know a day late but yesterday I had to pick my mum up from the hospital & take her home, so shopping, washing etc then had a card class last night - which for supper we had GREEN bubbly. I had challenged them all to wear green & Nickie was the lucky winner of the Wild Wasabi inkpad (my favourite from last year's in-colours).

So here's a few green images to celebrate St Paddys' day (& I did have an Irish grandfather called Patrick!)

A take on a 2,4,6,8 box but this one is 2.5" on all sides (2.5, 5, 7.5, 10")

A tri-fold card with my lovely wee frog from Unfroggetable (he is still available but low quantities)

Another mini album using the green or in this case Wild Wasabi piece of Afternoon Tea DSP.

So where ever you were I hope the luck of the Irish was with you.