Umm.. is there a word for Extra-Belated ?

As most of you who actually read this blog (not counting you mum!) some of you would know that I was recently absent studying crazily for my specialisation exams ... Now for the record, I DID manage to make this card for my dad in time for Father's day in September .. but David liked it enough to ask me to make one for his dad .. except we discovered afterwards that Italian Father's Day is in March ... oops!

So does this make me ultra prepared or embarrassingly late??? hehe

I'm not sure if you can see from this picture, but the whisper white that's double mounted on SU basic black and on Kraft has been run through the bigshot with the Cuttlebug distressed stripes embossing. I like it for masculine cards - its a bit rustic and less girly than many of the others I think!

The stamp is one of my recent favourites from SU - the medallion stamp... although it did take a while to find the right kind of balance for this size card. I kept stamping not enough or too much, so ultimately this became a way to cut out the bit I wanted and then mount it on the card. Of course the green card stock and matching ink is SU Old Olive.

For the sentiment, given it says "Happy Father's Day" in Italian, I didn't have a stamp for it, but there's this cool video tutorial by Jennifer McGuire which shows you how to generate a typed sentiment to your liking on the computer and how to position it on your card stock to be exactly where you want it on the card! (and trust me, if I could work it out, anyone could!)

Given my printer doesn't seem to feed thicker paper, I can only print on SU Whisper White, which is a real bummer, and methinks my next large investment will be a decent colour printer that prints on cardstock.
Call me controversial, but I'm sort of liking the idea of Hybrid card-making .. combining the ease of digital images with the unmistakable texture and feel of hand-stamped and tactile embellishments. Does anyone have ideas or comments on good printers? I've heard the Kodax Pixma does great things, but I would be interested in everyone's experiences.

The inside of the card is the same medallion stamp repeated in Old Olive matted Basic Black.

It's a very simple design but I think it could be versatile!

I like the look  of cards that are finished on the inside, the OCD part of me just couldn't get past the idea of opening up a card to get blank paper... :)

I think I'll made a few extras of these, I just have to work out what sentiments to put on them as you have to print them on the cardstock before running it through the big shot.

That's it from me for now... Happy stamping everyone!

Love Hearts

Hello again (three posts in a week eh? Who woulda thought!)

I made this card for a friend who asked if I could make her a "love" card she could give her partner who has been a fabulous support to her while she was recently unwell. The request was "Just not too girly or cheesy Valentine-esque". GULP!

Well anyhow, this is what I came up with - and lucky she (and importantly he) loved it! YAY!

Ok, in the photo it looks a bit wonky, but I promise in real life it was all prettied up!

I'm really having a love affair with choc chip and Kraft lately... My stash is diminishing at an alarming rate but Kraft (Sorry, try as I might I just can't bring myself to call it Crumb Cake) is just so versatile!

I've used the SU matt pack to pierce the holes and used the faux stitching technique by running my choc chip marker over the holes. I found if you pause at the holes, it makes the stitching more realistic.


Despite the fact that my grandmother was a seamstress for 40 years, my sewing ability is horrendous! Although, after piercing all those holes (and making 5 more of them but this time with butterflies.. stay tuned) I'm starting to think I better learn quick smart!

The ribbon is the new SU Early Espresso striped Grosgrain which I just LOVE. (no pun intended hehe)
The hearts were die cut with the Sizzix heart dies that came free with my bigshot. The largest is in Choc Chip which I stamped with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye, and then distressed with the blade of my scissors and sponged around the edges to make it pop more.

The middle heart is on SU So Saffron cardstock which I stamped with the SU En Francais Background stamp in the same Tim Holtz tea dye distress ink. The mini heart is from a SU paper pack that the wonderful Sue Madex gave me as a free gift with my monthly Marker Club tutorials. (sorry, I have no idea which pack it is)

A vintage pewter brad attaches the tag which is die cut from the SU Sizzlits Lots of Tags Label 1 series.


I hope you like it!x

Elephant Stamp

I love elephants .. or Eph-a-lants as i used to call them! (we've been so lucky in Oz to see two recent births) I'm trying to con David into taking me to see the one at Melbourne Zoo but to no avail!

This stamp set is from the same Hero Arts set as that of my previous post. I heat embossed them and then coloured them in using my new favourite colouring tool - the Ranger Inkessentials Blending tool It basically is a little handle with a velcro pad that you can constantly replace for each colour. I found that it blends really smoothly (no more patchy attempts to sponge for me). I just keep each colour attached with a glue dot to the bottom of my ink pad which means I never have to look for the matching pad.

I used SU Ruby Red and Ballet Blue inks which I just rubbed over used the tool. As you can see it gave pretty even coverage but still kept the texture of coloured in images instead of those stamped on plain coloured cardstock. The sentiment is from the SU 'Whimsical Words' set (which from memory was one of the free Sale-A-Bration sets). The elephants as always are up on dimensionals on WW which I ran though the bigshot using the polka dot embossing folder. The card base is SU Old Olive (my fave green of all time).

I've tried to make this card in the 'normal' size, but can't seem to ground the animals without them looking overwhelmed by the size of the card. Any tips or ideas will be appreciated!

Two children's cards in a row...anyone would think I'm getting clucky! ;)

welcome back laptop and happy birthday Jack!

Hello again blogland... fancy waiting all that time to get back to blogland and then no having a laptop (nasty fairies first messed with my motherboard, then with the hardrive and then gave it a virus!) But it's finally all patched up and hopefully ok for the next little while...

I have been busy making cards of late, but like a muppet - forgot to take photos of some before giving them away, will make them up again as one or two were hits!

I recently purchased some clar stamps from Hero Arts online from Simon Says Stamps which is an online store as well as ebay store and has great shipping rates to Australia. The fact that the Aussie dollar is almost par with the US dollar also helps! Most of the hero art stamps which we pay $30-$35 for here are $15 which meant that some of my recent stamp purchases have been online...

This card I made for my nephew Jack who I usually call my cheeky lil monkey (genetics at play) ... This stamp set is the Hero Arts Clear Stamps PLAYFUL ANIMALS Cleardesign set and it has a good selection of cute animals. Here I used the two monkeys ...

I heat embossed the images on WW cardstock and then coloured them in with my SU markers - cut them out and popped them on dimensionals. The letters are from a die I bought at Lincraft but I managed to throw away the packaging so I can't remember the brand (oops) but I did coat them in Ranger Glossy Accents. Here's a tip by the way ... Don't get impatient and try to use the heat gun to dry glossy accents.... it bubbles up! (as you can see) I'm not sure if the SU Crystal Effects does, but air dry over night.. I'm a bit bumbed I screwed up the letters. 

The card is SU Chocolate Chip and the bottom panel is Kraft CS which i ran through the crimper and then sponged with choc chip ink. The ribbon is one of my favourite SU taffeta ribbons - choc chip... i love the way its not so dark and has a great texture which works so well with all brown tones.

For the inside, I used some ivory textured cardstock I had left over from a Connoisseurs pack with another cut out monkey, and repeated the monkey again on the matching envelope. 

I hope you like it, and in the next day or so, I'll show you a little gift card I made with the elephant stamp from the same set...

See you all soon! x

Back in Blogland!

I kind of feel like the caption to this post ought to be backed with an AC/DC soundrack given how monumental it feels for me to be back. Studying for specialisation has been a tough slog and my little pea brain has been smoking from the effort! Thank you to all of you who wished me well... will let you know how goes late October/early November!

One of the fabulous things thats happened of late was the Helping Hudson Website. For any of you you haven't heard about it, seriously, take 10 min to head on over and check it out. Such a worthy cause and flooded with talent! (Let's face it, who of us ever needed much prompting to browse a little more about scrapbooking and cardmaking??) hehe

To celebrate getting back to blogging, I thought I'd take part in a challenge on the Helping Hudson website. (Excuse the dull image, it's about 10 pm and the lighting is leaving a lot to be desired)...

Pea brain strikes again! (As it turns out, it's an old challenge that since has closed) so it won't be linked to the website, but another donation can't hurt the cause!

This base card is Chocolate Chip, and the backround is WW that has been run through the big shot with the polka dot embossing folder.

The stamp set you would have seen before on my blog and is from the SU mostly flowers set. I havce used baja breeze and choc chip ink on WW which have been individually punched out with the 1 3/8 square punch and then stuck onto choc chip CS and mounted with dimensionals on the background.

The So Saffron grosgrain ribbon lifts this card and it was a wonderful colour challenge as i would never have thought to contrast those two colours with the pale yellow of SU So Saffron. (and because I'm still crap at bows, and I wanted something more special than a knot, I finally tried out this fancy but idiot-proof bow).

I hope you like it!

Will be back very soon with some more cards (especially in September when the new SU catalogue comes out and I've been saving my pennies for a haul of goodies!)

Till then, take care... :)

Birthday Hippo

Can I just say that studying can be really crappy!?! It has been a while, and it sucks all the positive energy out of you if it's not a labour of love!

That said, June is a very busy month for birthdays and so I have taken a couple of hours out to make a few cards. Still have three more to go, and will be spreading them out as much as I can. David's is next, and I'm still trying to think up something special for him.

In the mean time, a good friend of mine Chris, had a gorgeous little boy called Isaac about a year ago. I missed Isaac's first birthday party a couple of weeks ago because I had a severe bout of gastro and it was U.G.L.Y. So even though I had a little card I had previously made, I decided to make something a little extra special to make up for missing it. I hope he likes it.

It also works out perfectly in entering (nervously for the first time) the Just Add Ink challenge to "Just add stitching"!!! (thank you Tina Gillespie for the idea!)

The hippo stamp is from the SU "Pun Fun" set. It's so cute and versatile.

I used the mat pack for the border of holes and the white uni-gel pen for the faux stitching. I would LOVE to learn how to sew, but until then, this will have to make do!

I have printed the hippo on vellum and coloured it in with markers from behind. I have double mounted it onto Whisper White CS and then Night of Navy CS. I have popped up the whole lot with dimensionals, (including the red balloon) and just drew in the string because I liked the idea of the balloon being off the mount.

The card is Ballet Blue (soon to be retired!) In my basic black marker I just free-hand wrote the "Hip-hippo-ray" sentiment which exists with the stamp but included Isaac's name in it to make it a little more tailor-made.

When it came to the envelope, I was going to repeat the process and then found some designer paper that I had bought from one of those $2 shops. The paper had a greeny-paisley design on it which I liked, but can't for the life of me match to any cardstock I have. The back of the paper low and behold had just the right grey! So it became the cardstock for the envelope and the inside of the card. Much quicker than vellum and colouring, and gives a much smoother finish. I am going to make this card again, this time using the grey paper for all of the hippos.

For the inside, I just went over the existing holes from the front with the white gel pen again for a reverse faux stitching as it was too close to the edge to mount paper over it.

The sentiment is from the SU "Best Yet" Hostess set. It's stamped in Ruby Red (also retiring! boo hoo) onto WW and mounted with the Night of Navy CS.

I have used the same mounted WW and Night of Navy CS for where the greeting goes, and made another little hippo (sans balloon) that straddles the two pages for some interest.

I hope you all like it. I can see me making this one again, with a range of the Pun Fun characters. They really are too cute!

Take care, and I hope to pop back in here in the next few days with a post of the birthday card I made for Sandra. I can't tell you much about it as she is one of the few existing friends I have who actually read this blog from time to time, so I don't want to spoil the surprise!

Well that's it from me for now. Hope you have a lovely time for what's left of the weekend. I'm back to hit the books (Alas the Federal Criminal Code is no where near as fun!).

Temporary Absence

Hi everyone,

Whilst I miss blogging, and mostly miss my creativity time, I'm not going to be around too much for the next 3 months as I'm sitting my Specialist Accreditation exams in July and August and the majority of my down time will now be spent buried in legal books.

I will try to make a card or two here and there, [just so I don't go completely mad] and I have three birhdays in June so that will mean an enforced study break at some stage *grin* .

Until then, enjoy your crafts, and have a wonderful time!

Cheers,
AM xxx

Not Quite Right

Do you ever make a card (or scrapbook page for that matter) that you finish, but fnd that it's not quite right? I'm posting this card, not because I'm really happy with it, but because I think it could do with some changes, but I can't put my finger on them. - Feel free to make comments/suggestions!

I have used Chop Chip and Ruby Red Red CS with Whisper White highlights.

I originally stamped the Eastern Blooms flowers in Versamark, but it didn't show up enough, so I used Ruby Red ink instead.

The Cherry Blossom is stamped on Whisper White with the Ruby Red and Choc Chip Markers and then cut out with my SU snips. I think in hindsight I shoudl have raised the image on dimensionals for a bit of oomph as it sticks down on the page somewhat blandly.

The sentiment also doesn't float my boat. It sort of just sits there taking up what was too empty space. I dont have many punches (not that would fit it anyway) so I'm not sure whether an oval punch would have helped or whether t still would have had that same 'plonked on' look.

The only other option I can think of is to have embossed the sentiment in White directly onto the Choc Chip Cardstock. What would you have done? As I was unhappy with the overall card, I didn't make a matching envelope!  Bah hum-bug!

Here's to feeling a little extra creative very soon as I have to make a 1st birthday card for a boy and a Mother's Day card for mum in time for the weekend!

Retro Eastern Blooms

On my crazy card making marathon last Friday, I also managed to make a card that was a little different to my usual style, or at least was a little hiatus from my standard colour schemes.

It came out having a sort of retro-theme, even though I wouldn't have thought that 'Eastern Blooms' would quite lend itself to that kinda mood. I thought it would be a fun card. It feels that way for me, but maybe it's just the colour scheme, no muted tones here!

I've used SU Basic Black CS with a crimped Whisper White panel with Old Olive grosgrain ribbon. I stamped various versions of the Eastern Blooms stamps onto Whisper White using Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive and then simply cut around them using my SU paper snips.

I used my Fiskars two-in-one corner rounder punch for the bottom corners. Unfortunately it won't do both the front and back together as the CS is too thick, but because it has a paper guide on it, it was pretty simple even for me to keep them even!

Not that you can necessarily tell from the picture, but the large Pumkin Pie flower has been propped up on dimensionals for some extra interest. One of the extra flowers was used on the envelope flap to keep the theme going.


To be honest I think I'm happier with the inside of the card:

I had gotten a little trigger happy with the stamping and cutting out of the flowers (I had stamped most of an A5 sheet with the idea that I could have them ready for when I have less time). However after cutting out a few for the front of the card, I found that I must have slipped into 'the zone' as low and behold, there were a pile of cut out flowers in front of me!

So instead of saving them all as originally intended, I used quite a few of them up for the inside!

I on purpose didn't stamp a greeting so hopefully I can use it for whatever occassion it will suit sometime later down the track.

Given the current 70s-80's revival maybe this will be popular with my [hard to please] teenage cousins?

Happy weekend everyone, hope we all get a little time for crafting! As for me, I'm going to kick back with a warm cuppa and raid the tin of yummy yo-yo's to make the most of the Art With Heart Blog Hop!

Crimping

Was I the only one who didn't have a crimper? Initially I thought it might be something I would use so irregularly, that I wouldn't bother. Then we used it a couple of times in Sue's classes (http://www.madexcreations.com/madex_creations/class-dates-and-details.html) and I became addicted. Now its a regular feature in many of my cards. I think texture is underrated! hehe

This card actually came out of a mistake from a previous card. When I made sympathy cards not too long ago, I had used the mostly flowers stamp and punched out the circle, mounting it on the scallop square. I managed to be my usual clumsy self and get a piece of cheap double sided tape stuck on the choc chip card which I'd crimped. It tore a bit when I tried to pull it off. In the end, I cut around it and and tore off along the bottom, wrapping kitchen twine around it as a feature. I then had this tag, embelishment thingie and couldn't find anything to do with it... well until now that is:

I used the trusty Choc Chip CS, with lots of mounts. Kraft, Whisper White and then Choc Chip DSP. Because the scallop square was mounted using dimensionals, I simply used double sided tape to stick the entire thing to the DSP.

What do you think?

I'd been looking for a way to use it for a while now, just keeping it in the drawer with Choc Chip CS in the hope that I'd finally come up with something!

As I was geting lazy, I didn't have the patience to go out and stamp the mostly flowers image again, so I embellished the envelope with a scrap of the DSP and choc chip punched with the two circle punches - cheeky but hopefully I got away with it!

Have a lovely night and happy crafting!