Hero Arts Cling Challenge

Hi all, back again as I'm in a crafting mood again after a tiring week with Christmas and work. I been wanting to submit another card for 'The Classroom' Hero Arts Cling Stamp Challenge. I also want to give a new technique a try - double sponging with embossing as demonstrated by Rosemary on Our Daily Bread Designs. I love this technique and will try it again, it's not as daunting as it looks! The trick is to pick the right colours and stamps! As stipulated by The Classroom, here is my card with the HA Clings I used. I also used the Runway Inspired Challenge #26 -  Bibhu Mohapatra's photo for inspiration. A Blog Named Hero just announced their new challenge for 2013 - New Year, New You. As this is a new technique for me, it's a New Me done on New Year!
Thank you for dropping by and Happy New Year!

Ingredients:
Cardstock - Neenah Solar White, coloured card stock
Stamps - Hero Arts Lattice Background, Floral Framelits and Four Flowers
Ink - Versamark, Memento Paris Dusk, Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Peeled Paint, Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire and Seedless Preserve
Others - Clear EP, ribbon, twine from Hemptique

My Favourites for 2012

Here are my top 12 this year! Some of them have won prizes and some had lots of visits or comments on my blog and on Flickr.

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I made this signing album for my niece's 21st - she loved it!

This card was inspired and re-tweeted by Jennifer McGuire and is my post popular post!

This is an old favourite as it was my first online win on CR84FN!

This was inspired by Shari Carroll

This card was inspired by Kristina Werner and I won $100 worth of washi tape with this card!

Another card inspired by Jennifer Mcguire using distress inks and embossing.

No wins with this card, but I got a lot of visits on my blog!

Christmas card inspired by Online Holiday Card Workshop.

My last Christmas card for the year - made for my Mum!

A Basic Grey win for this card - casing Joy Taylor.

Mother's Day card - got repined the most on Pinterest on the day I posted!

Chinese Wedding Dolls - I made a lot this year, but this one is my favourite!

Christmas Day

I would like to share some photos of our Christmas day in Melbourne on a beautiful day. The trees in our street were dressed with pretty red ribbons. My neighbour down the road started doing this one year and he did his side of the street. I followed the trend and did the same on our side of the road, so now the two blocks of our street is covered with ribboned trees during Christmas every year!

Our table settings were all red themed. I saw on Pinterest last year, a nail polish gift with 'For Your Mistle Toes' and have wanted to do it ever since! So the females all got OPI nail polish and the males had 'Reindeer Noses' on their place settings. My son helped me die cut all the 40 Poinsettia flowers needed for the table of 20. I assembled them with crochet flowers made with Gold Shimmer twine and a brad.

Tiger, our cat even got into the festive mood. Although he was not too happy with all the visitors in the house!

A sample of what we had on our table on Christmas Day...

My photographer brother took a photo of all the Hsieh cousins in the same spot that another photo was taken 7 years ago!

We had a great dinner with both mine and Robin's families. We had a few minor mishaps (The Turkey Incident and a napkin caught on fire from the candles on the table) but everything turned out well in the end. The best part about Christmas dinner is the leftovers the next day or two! Hope everyone had a great day and would love to hear about your day!

Merry Christmas

It's been so strange this year, for the first time I am really organised. It is Christmas Eve and the table for 20 is set for tomorrow night. Dessert is made, cookies done, presents all under the tree, turkey stuffed (with help from a live-in Chef) and I even had time to make a very quick card. This card is for my Mum as I wanted to make her one with a religious message. I'm entering this card into Ellen Hutson's Hero Arts Clear Stamps challenge and also CASual Friday's 10 minute card (Dashing thru' the holidays). This card is one layer and so easy to make. The cardstock was sponged with 4 shades of distress inks. The stamps were stamped in black and then sprayed with Perfect Pearls. Sorry about the poor quality of photo -was been taken at night and my Nikon has finally been expired!
Merry Christmas everyone and enjoy the Festive season. I'll be back briefly tomorrow to show my table settings for tomorrow night!

Here's another shot taken the next morning! You can see the shimmer from the Perfect Pearls!

Ingredients:
Cardstock - Neenah Solar White 280gsm and 318 gsm
Stamps - Hero Arts CL559 Greatest Gift
Inks - Tim Holtz Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Tea Dye and Gathered Twigs, Ranger Archival Jet Black
Others - Ranger Perfect Pearls, Kaisercraft gem, Silver paint marker

Christmastravaganza at ABNH

I was so excited when I received an email from Linda and Mary Dawn from 'A Blog Named Hero' to participate in the Christmastravangaza. This is my first guest post on another blog and the list of participants included some of my favourite artists - such an honour! Please click on this link to see my blog on ABNH. There is a prize giveaway as well on each post up until the 24th of December.

Here's a sneak peak of what I made, details are on the ABNH blog.

All that Shimmer!

I've been so busy with Christmas preparations this week that I am crafting for just what I need for Christmas (cards, tags, placecards). I love the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger - Shimmer and Shine and I just have to make something! The trigger photo inspired me to make jewel encrusted baubles. I've also used the CAS(E) sketch for this card. Thanks for dropping by. Come back again tomorrow for my post on A Blog Named Hero's Christmastravaganza.

Ingredients:

Card - Gold metallic card, Neenah solar white, pearl metallic card

Stamp - Hero Arts Happy Holidays CL633

Ink - Versamark

Die - MFT DieNamics Ornaments

Others - Twine from The Twinery, Kaisercraft pearls and rhinestones, brads, Ranger stickles, silver embossing powder

Washi Goodness

I have a slight addiction to washi tape, just can't get enough of it! Last month, I submitted these two cards to the Paperpoint MT Washi tape contest and guess what? I won $100 worth of washi tape! 

I would like to share a card I made for a magazine submission that was rejected. The good news is that the other card got accepted! Yay! The flowers in this card was made with decorative tape from MME - I love the effect of diecuts on washi tape! I'm submitting this card to Simon Says Stamp's What's Your Favourite challenge - Washi Tapes and Dies of course! 

Please visit A Blog Named Hero - Christmastravaganza as I am making a guest appearance on 17th December, there are prize giveaways everyday until 24th December!

Ingredients:
Cardstock - Neenah Solar White
Paper - My Mind's Eye Indie Chic Saffron
Die - MFT DieNamics Layered Labels, Fishtail flags STAX, Upsy Daisy
Stamp - Hero Arts CL530
Ink - HA Soft Granite
Others - MME Decorative Tape, Hemp. Kaisercraft brads

Glad Tidings

I've been really busy this week with work and now I'm feeling the pressure of Christmas upon me. A bit of distraction with card making eases the pressure! I have a card for this week's Retro Sketch challenge, Simon Says Stamp Snowflakes challenge and Simply Less is More's Red/Green challenge.

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Via Vellum Kraft

Paper - Kaisercraft 25th December

Stamp - Simon Says Stamp Gnome for the Holidays

Ink - Hero Arts Cup O'Joe, Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs

Die - MFT Let it Snowflake

Others - White gel pen, American Crafts Brad

Mr and Mrs

I had an order from my niece for a wedding she is attending. She saw my previous card made with the PTI Lovely Layers stamp set and wanted something similar. Funny, I always challenge myself to make something unique each time! I decided to use the same patterned papers but the layout is different. I gave it to her yesterday and she loved it! I didn't make this card for any particular challenge, but there is still time to put it into the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge. Thanks for dropping by!

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Neenah Solar White

Paper - Pink Paislee London Market

Stamps - PTI Lovely Layers, SSS Festive Holiday stamp set

Ink - HA Soft Granite, Field Greens

Dies - PTI Lovely Layers, MFT DieNamics Fishtail Flags STAX

Others - Kaisercraft Pearl brad, Hemp, Silver gel pen

Retro Snowflakes

I'm totally addicted to Retro Sketches, I try to submit at least one card every week and it annoys me when I don't! I couldn't resist Sketch 39 of course. I'm also submitting this card to the Simon Says Stamp - Almost Goes challenge. Here is my card, submitted just before the deadline!

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Neenah Solar White

Stamps - My Favourite Things Christmas Ornaments, Seasonal Sentinments

Ink - Hero Arts Soft Granite and Pool, Tim Holtz Broken China

Die - MFT Let it Snowflake

Others - American Craft Jewel Brad, Kaisercraft rhinestones, Ranger stickles

Frame by frame

When I saw the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger - Frame by Frame, I knew what I had to do. I clicked on the image credit and found the crochet patterns for the frames. As I am still a novice at crochet, I picked the easiest pattern and made two in front of the TV (I didn't really pay much attention to what we were watching, but hey, I was spending quality time with my DH)! Once it was done the rest of the card was put together very easily! I'm also submitting this card to Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes challenge. Thanks for dropping by!

Image credit

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Neenah Solar White

Paper - Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden

Stamp - Hero Arts Antique Flowers and Butterflies, Florentine Messages

Ink - Hero Arts Wet Cement

Others - Panda Regal 4ply cotton, White gel pen

Grateful for You

Back with a quick card I made a while ago for the Graphic 45 Thank You card challenge on Facebook. The cards are due in by tomorrow and I thought I better get my act together to submit it. I used the G45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe papers for this card (I love this collection, especially from a Scientific point of view). Thanks for dropping by!

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Via Vellum Kraft, Black cardstock

Stamp - My Favourite Things Favourite Sentiments, Designs by Ryn CM-T3

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black, Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs

Dawny's Sketch

I had to make two cards this week, one for a wedding anniversary and one for a wedding. I recently received some stamp sets from Papertrey Ink and papers from Basic Grey. I've been dying to try out my newly acquired stash and I incorporated them in Simon Says Stamp's Sketch Challenge for both cards as I liked the sketch. A little tip to salvage more patterned paper - I diecut a  tag out of the bottom piece of patterned paper to be used again next time so not to waste my precious stash!
The first card is made with Pink Paislee's London Market collection. I've had this 6x6 pack for months and I have been waiting for the right card to use it. I based this card on the PDCC 158 challenge (Rose, Eucalyptus and Slate). This is for a couple celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary, hope they like it!

Ingredients:
Cardstock - Neenah Solar White
Paper - Pink Paislee London Market
Stamp - PTI Lovely Layers, Hero Arts CL272
Ink - Hero Arts Soft Granite
Die - PTI Lovely Layers, Martha Stewart Lacey edge punch
Others - Kaisercraft pearl brad

The second card is made with my new BG Lucille collection - this collection was inspired by Lucille Ball! I love the 60's look of these papers. This is an unusual wedding card for me as I usually stay with the neutrals or pink/red for Chinese wedding cards. I recently re-learned how to crochet (I prefer knitting) and have made lots of little flowers, I've actually made more than I need! So it was quite handy to pull out one of these beauties to add to the Lucille butterfly which came with the 12x12 pack. Thanks for dropping by!

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Dawny's Sketch

Ingredients:
Cardstock - Neenah Solar White
Paper - Basic Grey Lucille 12x12
Stamp - Hero Arts CL272
Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black, Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs
Dies - Memory Box Woven Circle, Fiskars edge punch
Others - Kaisercraft pearl brad, White gel pen, crochet flower

Second Chance

I made quite a few cards on the weekend for the Hero Arts Flickr group 24 hour (90 minute) scrambles. There was one card which was made in 25 minutes that I was not too happy with and I wanted to re-do it for the A Blog Named Hero Second Chances challenge. My new card is below - a better improvement on the one made on the weekend! I'm happy now!! Make sure you tune into ABNH's Christmastravaganza. There is going to be a Christmas project uploaded each day from 22nd November to 25th December with lots of guest designers and inspirational projects!

A close up of the glimmer from the Perfect Pearls

The original scramble card

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Neenah Natural White, Red cardstock
Stamps - Hero Arts CL558, CL633
Ink -Versanark, Hero Arts Red Royal, Green Hills

Others - Kaisercraft rhinestones, Perfect Pearls, Red hessian ribbon, Gold Embossing powder, Barn Door Distress Marker

Seeing Double!

Tonight is a night of doubles! My good friends in Queensland just delivered healthy twin boys this afternoon. I had a card prepared for them (as they had already announced the sex of the twins and their names a while ago) and I put the first born's name first. At work today, I was asked to make a double birthday card for a husband (51st) and wife (50th) celebrating their birthdays together. What a 'doubles' day! Here are my cards!

Ingredients:

Jeremy n Jayden Card

Cardstock - Via Vellum Kraft, Neenah Solar White

Paper - MME Blinking an Eye

Stamp - Hero Arts CL492, Hero Arts Studio Calico Roller Rink Kit stamp

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black, Tim Holtz Broken China

Dies - MFT DieNamics Fishtail Flags

Others - MME Enamel Dots, Hemp, Basic Grey Alpha stickers

Double Birthday Card

Cardstock - Neenah Solar White

Paper - MME Indie Chic Ginger

Stamp - Hero Arts CL530 657773

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black, Hero Arts Wet Cement

Dies - MFT DieNamics Tag Die, Numbers Die, Layered Labels Die

Others - MME Decorative Tape, Kaisercraft blossoms, hemp

Christmas Squares

Well, what a busy weekend with the 24 hour scramble! Thank you to everyone for all the lovely comments on my blog and Flickr account. A big welcome to my new followers on the blog and twitter! I was a bit tired after participating in 6 scrambles and hosting one myself. I cleaned up my Craft desk and floor yesterday and did not make any more cards....... Well, you can't keep me away for very long. I wanted to submit a card to the Moxie Fab World Square Punch challenge. I do not have a square punch but used a square die from the Spellbinders Nestabilities set instead. I have done a square punch challenge before when I didn't have any dies, it is damn hard to card a small square with the equipment I have! Here is my card - my tally is now 23 Christmas cards, Yay!!

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Via Vellum Kraft, Red textured card, Brown card

Paper - Kaisercraft Turtle Dove 6x6

Stamp - Tim Holtz Christmas Carol

Dies - Spellbinders Nestabilities Squares, MFT DieNamics Numbers

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black, Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs

Others - Red ribbon, Kaisercraft rhinestone

Sweet Christmas Sketch

My 99th blog post and 16th Christmas card - nearly there! I'm reserving my 100th post for the Hero Arts 24 hour scramble this weekend. Come and join in the fun - a 90 minute scramble every 2 hours for 24 hours! I will be hosting one at 7:30pm AEST (2:30am CST) this Saturday. Anyway onto my card. I haven't done a Sweet Sunday sketch for quite a while now and I quite liked this one, so I decided to submit a card. The stamp was part part of a freebie when ordering stamps or dies from MFT last month, I've had fun with some of these sentiments. I've stamped the sentiment on red paper with Versamark and clear embossed it before coating the paper with Viva Precious Metal. I'd also used this technique on another card done recently. The Snowflake was die cut from silver card and plain card with JAC paper on top. The crystal glitter was then sprinkled on top and burnished onto the snowflakes - I love this technique and have done all my snowflakes and edges this way! The background paper was embellished with stickles, silver gel pen and red rhinestones. Here's my card with the sketch below it:

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Neenah Solar White, Silver metallic

Paper - Basic Grey Aspen Frost

Stamp - MFT Christmas Sentiments

Ink - Versamark

EP - Clear and Clear Crystals

Die - MFT DieNamics Fishtail STAX, MFT Snowflakes

Others - Viva Precious Metal, Stickles, Silver Gel pen, Kaisercraft rhinestones, Rhinestone brad

Today Will Be...

... The Best Day Ever! A great sentiment for a wedding card! I've made this card for an Chinese/Aussie couple and did not want to use my Chinese Doll as the bride is not Chinese. I used the current MFT Wednesday sketch and Basic Grey's Konnichiwa papers to make this quick and easy card.

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Via Vellum Kraft, Neenah Solar White

Paper - Basic Grey Konnichiwa 6x6

Stamp - My Favourite Things My Favourite Sentiments

Ink - Hero Arts Pool

Die - MFT Fishtail STAX, Upsy Daisy

Others - Studio Calico MME Enamel dots, white gel pen