Antonio Marras

When I first saw the Runway Inspired Challenge photo with Antonio Marras Spring 2014, I wanted to make a card straight away. I've had a very busy last two weeks at work with Phase One of a new process going live and lots of trouble shooting afterwards. It's not going to get any lighter as we have Phase Two going live next week. So I wanted to make this card so that I don't miss out. I used my new Hero Arts/Basic Grey Floral Blossoms stamp and pulled out an old Darkroom Door Sentiment stamp. I still need to get started on the Christmas cards…. I did however manage to send off three cards to the Australian Simply Cards Cardmaker of the Year 2013 competition! Thanks for dropping by!

Challenges
Retro Sketch#91
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Runway Inspired - RIC#48 Antonio Marras Spring 2014

Ingredients
Neenah Solar White, Black card stock, Hero Arts CG434 Floral Blossoms, Darkroom Door DDRS066 Stringed Sentiments, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Scattered Straw and Wild Honey, Ranger Archival Jet Black, Stickles and Twine from The Twinery

Blackboard Wedding Cards

I'm getting back into some crafting as I'm way behind with some of the cards I need to get to before starting on the Christmas cards. I decided to use the same technique for two wedding cards I needed to do. Typical me, I originally wanted the two cards to be the same, I then changed my mind halfway through and made them both different. Would love to know which one you prefer and why. Here are my two cards and they are for the following challenges: 

- Muse #44 - Marion Vagg

- Paper Crafts November Challenge - Sequins (second card)

- CAS-ual Fridays - Create with 8 (8 sequins in the second card)

Muse #44 - Marion Vagg

Ingredients:

Neenah Solar White and Desert Storm, black card stock, Paper Smooches Hubey and Wifey and Sentiment Sampler, Versamark, White and Gold EP, Basic Grey Cut and Paste, White Chalk ink, white gel pen and gold sequins.

On the safe arrival of your ...

….bundle of joy! This is a quick Farewell card for a work colleague going on Maternity leave. This card is an A5 size card based on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Heather's sketch. I wanted to use my new Paper Smooches dies for this card and I'm so happy with them - they have been on my wishlist for a while now! There is very little stamping with this card, I'm letting the colours of the beautiful papers do all the work. I'm also linking this card up for the following challenges:
- CASE Study #167 (Keisha Campbell)
- Paper Smooches Cool Shades Challenge
Must get started on Christmas cards soon! Thanks for dropping by!

Ingredients:

Neenah Solar White and Desert Storm, Basic Grey pb&j, MFT Dienamics Flags STAX, SSS Folded Banner die, PS Onesie and Notebook Basic dies, Kaisercraft Sentiment and Bloom, Chevron ribbon.

Deconstructed Sketch 127

I've been away from Blog Land for a little while due to various social commitments and it is not going to ease up before the mad Christmas month! Here is a 'quick' card I made on the weekend for a wedding. Well, it took nearly 2 hours to complete due to various techniques I was trying out. I wanted to do the flower embossed on vellum. Well the embossing came up nicely, but I wanted to add colour to the vellum by swiping with my ink cubes. Well, a few lessons learnt which I will share….
1. Vellum is not absorbent, so the ink does not dry quickly, you can use a heat gun to dry it.
2. Make sure the inked vellum is very dry before stamping in Versamark and wet embossing!
3. You can always ink on the bottom and emboss in the top of vellum. BUT make sure if you emboss first, let the inked surface dry properly naturally. IF you try to fasten the process by using your heat gun, the embossing on the other side will melt!
4. If all else fails, just use Neenah card stock and leave the vellum for another day!
Here is my finished card with the flower on card stock and not vellum! Thanks for dropping by!

Challenge - Deconstructed Sketch DS127

Ingredients

Neenah Solar White card, Kaisercraft Tigerlilly, PTI Daisy and Big Bold Wishes, Kaisercraft pearl brad, Ranger Archival Coffee, PTI Charteuse and Plum Pudding, Ranger liquid pearl, Twine from The Twinery

Vintage 50th Birthday Card

This is a card I made for someone at work and I wanted to make a vintage style card just to break away from all the modern CAS cards I have been making. This is an extra large card A5 21x14cm (8x5.5") made with papers from Kaisercraft with a little bit of stamping using the current Retro sketch #89. Thanks for dropping by!

Ingredients:
Canson Colorline card, Neenah Desert Storm, Kaisercraft Curiosity 12x12, Collectables Miss Match, Lace tape and blossom, MFT Dienamics Numbers, Cherry Lynn Designs Doily die, Hero Arts CL574, Darkroom Door French Script, Hero Arts Cup O'Joe, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Gathered Twigs, Ranger Archival Jet Black and chevron twill ribbon.

Mint Julep!

Followers of my blog will know that I love (hoard) lots of pretty 6x6 paper pads. My favourites include Basic Grey, MME and Kaisercraft. I recently received the BG Mint Julep and have not had a chance to use it until now. It is great that I can make a feminine as well as a masculine card from the same collection. Here are my two cards:
The first one is based on the current CAS(E) this Sketch #53 for a friend's baby.

The second one is based on the current Deconstructing Sketch 126 for little girl's first communion.

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Keep it Clean and Simple

Paper Smooches Sparks Trend Challenge - Stripes (second card)

Core'Dinations Hard Core Cropper - Creating with Tags (second card)

Ingredients:

Neenah Solar White and Desert Storm, Basic Grey Mint Julep, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, Kaisercraft Sentiment, Hero Arts Bubblegum and Navy, MFT Dienamics alphabet, butterfly and Flags STAX dies, PTI Tag Sale die, Basic Grey Vintage Button, ribbon, Hemp.

Sympathy cards

It's always hard to make Sympathy cards and I don't usually make them unless I need to. I was under pressure to make two tonight after hearing of the sudden death of a close friend's brother today. His nephew is staying with us and we are taking him to the airport tomorrow so that he can be there for the funeral on the weekend. These two cards I've made are for the two families. I have decided to use the PTI Boutique Borders again, this time with the flourish outside the frame. The flower is made using the Lovely Layers dies. Thank you for dropping by.

Challenges:

PTI Make It Monday - Stamped Square Frames

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Keep it Clean and Simple

Ingredients:

Neenah Solar White, Vellum, PTI Boutique Borders - Birthday, Lovely Layers and Everyday Photofinishers, Hero Arts Soft Granite and Navy, Ranger Archival Coffee, American Crafts Jewel Brads.

60th Birthday Card(s)

I was asked to make a 60th birthday card and wanted to use the Paper Smooches digits and stripes for the current PS Sparks challenge. I ended up with two cards as I wasn't happy with the first one. Both cards are based on separate sketch challenges. I finally got hold of some heavy weight vellum and couldn't resist trying out the Simon Says Stamp banner die. Let me know which one you like….

Muse Challenge #42

Challenges :

Muse #42 (first card)

Mojo Monday 318 (second card)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes Challenge

Paper Smooches Sparks Trend Watch - Stripes Challenge

Ingredients:
Neenah Solar White and Desert Storm, Gold metallic card stock, Heavy Vellum, Basic Grey Serenade 6x6, Paper Smooches Digits and Sentiment Sampler, PTI Tag, Paper Smooches Reflections die, Simon Says Stamp folded banner, Versamark, White and gold EP, Chalk ink.

Anniversary Card

I have an anniversary card to share made using the borders framing Dawn showed on PTI Make it Monday. When I first saw her card, I thought to myself that I would need to draw pencil lines to make everything square up, and then I watched her video… so I decided to make it the way she did, without any markings on the card.  I'm also linking up this card to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes Challenge. Thanks for dropping by, believe it or not, this is my 245th post! Need to do a giveaway for the 250th post!!

Ingredients:

Neenah Solar White and Desert Storm, PTI Think Big Favourites, Boutique Borders: Birthday and Happiness in Bloom, Hero Arts Red tomato, Cup O'Joe and Field Greens.

Two 21st Cards!

I have two 21st cards to share today, one for a female and one for a male. The first one is the one I made for Noelle who was born the same year as my son! I decided to use the chalkboard technique for this card and added some pink accents to a kraft background, the design is based on the current Seize the Sketch challenge.  As it is sponsored by MFT, I decided to dig out my MFT butterflies to finish off the card.

The second one is a masculine one based on the current CAS(E) this Sketch. I'm submitting both cards to Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge as well. Thanks for dropping by!

Ingredients:

Noelle

Neenah Desert Storm, Basic Grey Mint Julep, MFT DieNamics Butterflies, Hero Arts CL492, CG178, Paper Smooches Digits, Versamark, Memories Pigment Ink Unicorn, White EP, MME Enamel dots.

Will

Neenah Desert Storm, Authentique Free Bird series, MFT Dienamics Numbers and Fishtail Flags STAX, Simon Says Stamp Folded Banner and Banner Sayings, Hero Arts Navy, White gel pen.