Casing Kathy Racoosin

I was very excited when I saw this week's Case Study Challenge. The Case card is beautifully painted along with Kathy Racoosin's card. I usually don't do a lot of colouring and I have very limited Copic markers. When I finally received my prize this year from Australian Simply Cards from Cardmaker of the Year competition, I was very excited to receive a set of Ciao Copic markers. I have only used the black marker so far! So tonight I decided to give it a go after being inspired by Kathy. Here is my card made with the limited number of markers in the set. I used Kathy's white dots technique to highlight the petals. I'm submitting this to the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger - Honouring Ombre challenge as well. Thanks for dropping by!

Ingredients
Neenah Solar white, Express Card for Copics, Momento Tuxedo Black, Hero Arts Striped Flower and It's Your Day CL661, Copics markers, POSCA marker, Kaisercraft pearls and rhinestones.

Paper Couture

I was lucky to be given a front row seat at the recent launch of the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week. I went with a friend and we were also given two VIP Bar passes. We arrived an hour early so that we can check out the VIP Bar beforehand. The venue for the launch was at the Melbourne Town Hall. When we were shown to the VIP Bar area, I noticed a vase of beautiful white paper flowers and commented on them. Our Hostess then asked if we would like to see more. We were shown into the Portico Room (this is a historical room that leads out to the Balcony of the Town Hall, many stars have been on this Balcony over the years including the Beatles when they were given the key to the city back in the 60's). This room has been converted into the Hospitality Room for MSFW. The decorator for this room is none other than Cristina Re (she is paper stationery designer) - I'm a big fan of her papers and have used them in the past. She has decorated the whole room and the Balcony area with just WHITE PAPER - dresses, hats, flowers and also her signature tea sets. As we were there at night, the items from the Balcony were all inside this room. I took some photos, close ups as I was interested in all the intricate details. I later found a link on her blog. Here are my photos and I have also included a couple of shots from the parade, which we thoroughly enjoyed later in the night.

Happy 60th Rob

A very close colleague at work turned 60 this week and we couldn't let it slip without notice. This is an A6 card that I made for his birthday. I'm happy to publish this now that we have given it to him! I'm linking this card to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
I like to share a joke that we added inside the card:-

'My Grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety seven now, and we don't know where the hell she is! Happy 60th Birthday and don't get lost!'

Edited to Add - Moxie Fab World Handmade Cards Week - The Tapes and Stickers Challenge.

Ingredients:
Neenah Solar White, Black cardstock, Gold metallic cardstock, Kaisercraft After Five 12x12, MT Washi Tapes, MFT DieNamics Fishtail Flags STAX, Spellbinders Scalloped Squares dies, Paper Smooches Digits Dies, Versamark, White EP, Metallic gold pen.

CARDS August Issue

It's been a month since the CARDS magazine August issue was published and I can show my card now. Yay! This card was submitted for the sketch category and I inked up my Hero Arts Etched Flower for the first time when I made this card. The flower and leaves were coloured with distress markers using Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters and Picket Fence.

The Magazine -  CARDS August 2013 Pg68

The Card

The Sketch

Ingredients:
Neenah Natural White and Desert Storm, Hero Arts Leafy Vines, Etched Flower with Stem, It's Your Day, Ranger Archival Jet Black, Hero Arts Pool, Tim Holtz Distress Markers, PTI Tag#3, Twine from The Twinery, Ribbon from my stash and rhinestones from Kaisercraft.

Christmas in August?

Is it too early to start on Christmas cards? I guess it is never too early to start so that there is no mad rush towards December! There is a Christmas card challenge at Moxie Fab World and I would like to submit some cards that I have made. These never made it for a publication call. Yes I know, for every card that gets published, there are some that never made it to fame and glory. Never mind, they will get showcased here! I'm also linking this up to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes. Thanks for dropping by!

Ingredients:
Christmas Postcard

Neenah Desert Storm, Basic Grey True Love paper, Red textured card stock, Tin Holtz Tattered flower die, HA Big Postcard, HA Leafy Vines, HA Aspen Holidays, TH Tea Dye and Gathered Twigs, HA Red Royal, Ranger Archival Jet Black, Brad, Raffia ribbon, Hemp, AC Brad

Christmas Carol

Neenah Natural white cardstock, Kaisercraft Turtle Dove 6x6, Kaisercraft Turtle Dove Collections, Tim Holtz Christmas Carol stamp, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Gathered Twigs, Kaisercraft rhinestone

Ombre Card

I have not tried a lot of 'Ombre' card challenges in the past. One of the reasons is that I do not have different shades of coloured card stock in my stash and I cannot be bothered getting them just to do an 'Ombre' card! Anyway, when I saw the challenge on Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger this week, I wanted to give it a go. I was thinking of shading in shades of purple.. then maybe try different shades of patterned paper.. it all got too difficult again... until I found I had three perfect shades with my Core'dinations card pack (this comes with 2 of each shade in long 2.5 inch wide strips.  I was going to do this challenge with a normal sized card, but I was asked to make another A4 card for a maternity leave farewell at work. Here is my card, the inside reads 'Best Wishes, XOXO'. I'm also linking this card to Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.Thanks for dropping by!

Ingredients:
Canson Colorline Card (black and white), Core'Dinations Distress Cardstock, Paper Smooches Reflections and Bloom dies, PTI Bold Wishes, Ranger Archival Jet Black, Pink Paislee lace, American Crafts Brads, Hemp from Hemptique.

Today and Always

This has been a really busy weekend catching up with friends from overseas. I did manage to sneak into my craft room (after all the housework was done of course) to get this card done for the Fusion Card Challenge. I missed the deadline for the last challenge! Boo! I love the chalkboard technique which I used for the first time here. The difficulty with embossing on black cardstock is that you have to pick one that is not too absorbent. The first time I tried this, the embossing was terrible! Then I tried different card stock (the backing paper for scrapbooking) and got a lovely effect. Recently I was at the local Art and Craft store and spotted a stack of pre-cut papers for $3 and there was a lot of black cards in the stack. I was hoping that it would work and it did! Phew! My card is below with the Fusion trigger below that. I'm also submitting this card to Moxie Fab World Birthday card challenge, City Crafter's Polka Dot challenge (Thanks Lyndal!) and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Make the Cut.. Thanks for dropping by!

Ingredients:

Neenah Desert Storm and Solar White, Black cardstock, My Minds Eyes The Sweetest Thing Honey, PTI Boutique Borders Birthday, PTI A Sweet Life, Versamark, Versamark white chalk ink, HA Bubblegum, PTI Plum Pudding, White EP, MFT DieNamics Fishtail layers STAX, Hemp from Hemptique, white gel pen (Molotow)