SBS Challenge 9

Janet's latest challenge was to use up scraps - well all these goodies came from a small plastic tray I have on my desk. Normally my niece Michaela inherits these as she can definitely turn dross into gold.

This card was so easy to throw together - I love it thanks Janet - you certainly do rock!

Janet's entry can be found by clicking HERE - it's really adorable.

Kwerner Colour Challenge 17

Krystina Werner has the most amazing blog & I love her Make-A-Card Monday tutorials, she also does a weekly colour challenge. I loved this week's challenge colours: Sage Shadow, Regal Rose, Rose Red (not one of my favourite colours) & Whisper White.

I adore the dress & it so reminded me of Roses In Winter (now retired) which I can't seem to get back of my sister Tracey but glad to see that someone used it - hope Krystina picks it as it was along the lines of what I wanted to create. Update: Yes it was chosen - check it out HERE.

From "my team" my dear friend Judy made a really funky card; as did Anne Marie.

I used my inspiration from a card on the demo website which uses the Petals & Paisley DP which I love & will try to re-create it this week.


Stamp set/s: Warm words, Linen Background (have stamped off once & used on the sage shadow mat)
Card Stock: Whisper White, Sage Shadow, Regal Rose, Rose Red , Rose Red Palette of Prints DP
Ink: Sage Shadow
Other: Spring Flower Bouquet Punch, Silver Brads, Dimensionals

Well I'm too late for the challenge - just wanted to join in on the fun. I hope everyone's weekend wasn't too stormy. I escaped further south but was worried about leaving the house & my cats to the storm but all survived a OK.

Happy stamping from me.

The Venetian - a few scrapbook pages from me

Well I don't seem to have much time for scrapbooking lately but these are a few pages I started at a National Scrapbook Day workshop. The blown glass flowers are magnificent in real life & the garden sculptures made out of fresh flowers daily are also amazing. I was sent to Las Vegas in 2006 to a Focus on Fungal Infections meeting. Everything you've heard about the place is true - it's kinda unbelievable the sheer decadence & opulence in the casinos. These glass flowers are twice the size of me - unbelievable!

For those that know me I not a fussy scrap booker; I'd rather the pictures speak for themselves with a few embellishments to enhance (rather than them being the focus of the page). So I black embossed a few stamped images, used my blender pen to colour up & cut them out.

Personally I also think it's easy to do a title with stamps - so quick & easy.

Stamp set/s: Unfroggetable, Winged Things (retired), In Full Bloom (retired), Warm Words, Collage alphabet & numbers (retired)
Other: Black embossing powder, dimensionals, blender pen, various inks

Is it snowing OR is it magic??

Tonight the Braeburn Paperkrafters had a play with the Magic Snowflake Technique. It's an interesting technique & very simple.
- Emboss an image on glossy card stock (CS) with white embossing powder.
- Slightly wet a cotton wool ball with isoproponal alcohol - also known as rubbing alcohol (it's what you use to clean your heads in cassette & VCR players).
- Add 2 drops of one colour & 2 drops of another colour from re-inkers. In both my examples I used a 3rd colour as well. Dab in a circular motion all over the glossy CS, at this stage it looks really messy.
- Reheat with the heat tool & the colours actually run together & the white embossing becomes clean again as the alcohol evaporates.
- If still messy rub the cotton wool ball some more around CS. Reheat again with heat tool.
- Use an aquapainter to highlight some areas with a complimentary or contrasting colour - HAVE FUN!

See Split Coast Stampers for the full tutorial.



Stamps: Petal Prints, Small Sayings
CS: Glossy White, Bashful Blue, Green Galore
Reinkers: 2 drops of Apricot Appeal, 2 drops of Green Galore, 1 drop of Cameo Coral
Ink: Versamark, Green Galore
Other: aquapainter - painted centre of flowers with Pixie Pink ink, apple green grosgrain ribbon, 1/2 inch circle punch to "pinch out" edges



Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Warm Words
CS: Glossy White, Really Rust, Old Olive
Reinkers: 2 drops of Old Olive, 2 drops of Certainly Celery, 1 drop of Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Versamark, Old Olive
Other: aquapainter - painted tips of leaves & acorn with Bravo Burgundy ink, copper cord

Happy birthday Wendy, Lee & Kathryn

Wow 3 girlfriends having birthday at the same time. Thank heavens for home class as I got to make lots of the above card, with slight variations. I just love the effects of using the watercolour crayons directly onto a solid stamp & then wetting with a mist of water & stamping. I think this was the card that made me fall in love with watercolour crayons, they are so versatile.

Happy Birthday & tri-fold card:
Stamp-set: Petal Prints, Warm Words, Canvas & It’s Your Birthday
CS: Rose red (RR) , Very vanilla (VV), Garden green (GG)
Inks: Chocolate Chip (CC), Close To Cocoa, Creamy Caramel or Rose Red (RR).
Watercolour Crayons: Rose Red, Cameo Coral, So Saffron, Always Artichoke.

Remove ^6/8 inch from end of RR Card Stock leaving 8 ¼ x 11 inch piece of card. Cut in half vertically to give 4 ^1/8 x 11" piece of CS.

Score at 3 ½ & 7 ^1/16 (I found if you do the 2nd score line at 7" it doesn’t fold perfectly).

Using the Canvas background stamp & either CC, Close To Cocoa, Creamy Caramel or RR ink lightly stamp one side of CS.

Sponge edges with ink of choice. Add eyelet to panel that is biggest, stamp large birthday greeting with CC – remembering to leave room for clean outer edge. Stamp the tri-leaves from with RR randomly over outer 2 panels (leaving edge clean).

Stamp the open leaf around edge of 3 ^3/8 x 3 ^7/8 GG mat in an oval shape.

Using the pointed end of watercolour crayons colour in the solid flower, mist lightly with water ~12 inches away & stamp twice in middle of Very vanilla cardstock. Spritz with markers (Creamy caramel & Old Olive), sponge around edges with Creamy caramel ink. Remove an oval from centre panel. Stamp be merry or HB to middle panel. Attach all layers & thread an Ivory organdy ribbon through eyelet into a bow. Viola!!

First Home Class - watercolouring

Wow what a busy Sunday I had my first home class & was happy with the samples but enjoyed seeing the variations that were created by all. Must admit I liked my sister Tracey's colouring of these very cute reindeer from Sleigh Full of Toys. She coloured hers totally in bashful blue & also Jen's total black & white card - the snowflakes from Snow Flurries looked rather cool as plain black with glitter. A sterling effort done by all & a BIG thank you to my friend Judy who helped me with this layout which was cased from a card we made at class last week, let it SPARKLE!

Sparkle Card:
Stamp-sets: Sleigh Full of Toys, Snow Flurries & Warm Words
CS: Whisper White (WW) & Bashful Blue (BB)
Ink: BB & Basic Black.

First cut for “sparkle card” is at 4 ¼ horizontally using WW CS (4 ¼ x 8 ½) , when folded in half we have a 4 ¼ square card.Inner mats 2 ¼ square WW & 2 ½ square BB. Stamp snowflakes with BB randomly.

Stamp reindeers onto 2 ¼ square WW with Basic Black (permanent ink – so can water colour inside without the ink running) & either the penguin or present inside the card or BOTH. Colour using watercolour crayons or pastels (blender pen), sponge edge with BB & distress. Stamp the word sparkle using Basic Black.

Add glitter to snowflakes & mount up inner mats using dimensionals.