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)

Postcard Birthday

I've got good news to share. I recently submitted a few cards to Paper Crafts's Stamp It Techniques V2. Mind you, I had been very busy and only managed to make one sentiment card using one of the techniques I learnt from the Online Card Class Summer Camp 2. I also submitted a few other cards including the one below which were previously made for other publication calls. The sentiment card got accepted. Yay! ... for Step-Outs... I think this means that they want step-by-step instructions on how the card was made. This magazine will come out in January 2014!
For this card I used  my favourite Big Postcard stamp from Hero Arts and added my other favourite flower and butterflies stampset. I'm adding this card to Moxie Fab World Birthday card challenge, Tuesday Trigger - It's Completely Collagical and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Airmail. Thanks for dropping by!

MFW TT - It's Completely Collagical

Ingredients:

Neenah Natural White, Basic Grey Serenade 6x6, Hero Arts Big Postcard, Antique Flowers and Butterflies and Find Joy, Ranger Archival Jet Black, Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs, Kaisercraft rhinestones and seam binding

Congradulations!

I'm attending a few Graduations this month! I have already blogged this card I made for my niece who just graduated with a double degree at Melbourne University (Bachelor of Science and Diploma in Language)! It certainly brought back memories as I graduated with the same colour for BSc Hons in 1981 from the same University!! The graduation ceremony is still held in Wilson Hall 32 years later! Oh my goodness, how time flies!!

I made two more graduation cards, the first with Retro sketch #75 for Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge - Sheer and Clear. It's the first time that I've inked up the newly arrived stampset from Paper Smooches. I can see more cards coming from this stampset in the future!

This second card was made a while ago for a publication submission but didn't make it. This is made with Fancy Pants Park Bench which gives it a bit of elegance to the card. Two quite completely different cards from two stamp sets!

Here are a couple of photos from my niece's graduation at Melbourne University. Aunty Cecilia was the official photographer!

Ingredients:

Congradulations Card

Neenah Solar White and Desert Storm, Paper Smooches Smarty Pants, Basic Grey Fiction 6x6, Ranger Archival Jet Black, Tim Holtz distress markers, Vellum, Twine from The Twinery.

Happy Graduation Card

Neenah Solar White, Fancy Pants Park Bench, Hero Arts CL498, Ranger Archival Jet Black, Twine from The Twinery, black brad

Nautical Wedding

I had the most wonderful time at my colleague's wedding yesterday. She married an Naval Officer and of course there was a nautical theme to the whole wedding from the wedding invitation to the dress code and the gifts for guests. Some of my blog followers would have seen the Nautical wedding card I made for the beautiful couple. I wrapped the presents which came in three parts with the same Nautical theme. To make them all match, I made some gift tags to match the card. Here are my gift wrapped presents which I'm going to link this to Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes challenge and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes.

Close up of the gift tag

The gift tag, money envelope and card

My iPhone cover made for the special day!

The lovely couple at St Michael's Uniting Church with a Naval Guard of Honour!

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Metallic cardstock in cream, gold, blue and silver

Paper, ribbon and Belly band - The Wrapping Paper Company

Dies - PTI Tag Die, PS Anchor Die, MFT DieNamics Tall Alphabets, SSS Holiday shapes

Others - Twine from The Twinery

Curiosity?

The Kaisercraft Curiosity collection is finally out! A few months ago, I submitted some cards to Kaisercraft for the 2013-2014 DT call and I got into the second round (Top 20)... I think I might have been #20. Anyway we were given some 12x12 papers from two new collections and had to make a card and a layout out of each collection. I'm showing my submissions for the Curiosity collection below. The photo I used in the layout was one that I took of all the cousins from my side of the family, taken at a wedding last year. My son is the only male, the girls are my sister's and brother's children.It's a rare shot of them all as one of my nieces live in Sydney and the rest are here in Melbourne.  I'm also linking this to Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes Challenge and Moxie Fab World's It's Completely Collagical challenge.

The projects that got through were fantastic, so I'm not surprised mine wasn't in the running. I was encouraged to try again.
As I had left over papers, I made a 'Sympathy' card for someone from work. As a lot of people had to sign it, I made it A4 size using heavy duty Canson Colorline cardstock as the base It's a struggle to make big sized cards as a lot of the smaller stamps will not work. I went for my biggest flower stamp, the PTI Year of the Flowers Rose stamp and this seems to fill up the card quite nicely. Banners always work well for these big cards as well.

MFW Tuesday Trigger - It's Completely Collagical!

Ingredients:
Kaisercraft Curiosity 12x12 used in all projects
DT Card
Neenah Desert Storm, Fiskars lacey punch, MS Butterfly punch, Kaisercraft rhinestones, Tim Holtz Distress Gathered Twigs
DT Layout
MT Tape, MS Butterfly punch, Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers, MFT Dienamics Scallop Die, Hemp from Hemptique, Kaisercraft pearls and pearl brads, Tim Holz Distress Gathered Twigs
Sympathy Card
Canson Colorline card, Kaisercraft Miss Match 12x12, Kaisercraft Recollectables These Days, Hero Arts CL508 and CG509, PTI Year of the Flowers Roses stamp, HA Cup O'Joe, Tim Holtz Distress Gathered Twigs