Belated May the 4th be with you...

So my weekend was a little busy, but all good because I managed to have a "Craftanoon" with some friends. I still don't have a single friend nearby who stamps as seriously as I do (that also happen to be in my age group!). However, it turns out my friends are into a bit of crafts and already had their initial "Craftanoon" making candles, and wanted something new. Therefore, with Mothers' Day looming ahead this weekend, we proposed to hold a stamping session.

I do admit, I managed to drag most of my posessions and overwhelmed the crowd. They did think it was all very cool though!

It was a little difficult to get much done as I spent most of the afternoon showing how to stamp and explaining what on earth that green machine called Cuttlebug was for.

Anyway, I did manage to make a Mothers' Day card. I was determined to use my new sets that had arrived last week. Hello, Foxy was out of question since I ripped the stamp into two after 2nd use :(

But anyway, here it is...

I also made a card before my Hello, Foxy stamp split into two. I had to make a thank you card to someone at the hospital who kindly donated an old radio for my Girl Guides to pull apart one night! :)

Hope you liked the cards. I am a little tied up sorting out raffle tickets for Crohn's and Colitis Group, so will hold off on listing all my supplies. If anyone wants to know where I got things from, it's all from Papertrey Ink!

See you laters!

Last minute X-mas stuff...

Hello again everyone!

2012 is drawing to a close very soon and I figured I'd better post the Christmas productions before the year ends.

Sorry it is of not much help to those who needed these ideas a couple of weeks earlier!

Just a simple tag and a card. The wine tag uses the same technique as in the previous post with embossed image and blended inking in the background!

A close up image...

And a very simple Christmas card using Mat Stacks negative die cuts and kraft inked background images. I tried with a snowflake image as well and looked even better!

Anyway, a very quick post today.

Happy New Year everyone! :)

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

{Snowman Wine Tag}

STAMP: [PTI] Background Basics: Sheet Music, Winter Snow Globe

INK: [Adirondack] Pitch Black; [VersaFine] Onyx Black; [Versamark] Watermark ink pad

PAPER: [PTI] Stamper's Select White

OTHER: [PTI] Grosgrain ribbon (Hawaiian Shores), Winter Snow Globe die collection, Tag Sales #5; [SU!] Embossing Powder (white); foam tape; [Copic] Sketch Markers (Y35, 0, T1)

{Peace, Love & Joy}

STAMP: [PTI] Stocking Prints, Happiest of Holidays

INK: [PTI] Kraft, Dark Chocolate

PAPER: [PTI] Kraft

OTHER: [PTI] Mat Stack #5 die; foam tape

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

It has been far too long since my last post! My apologies for lack of updates. Life is busier than expected now that I've started being a real adult (aka started working!).

I did manage to whip out a few cards every now and then.

But tomorrow is Christmas in NZ (only 2 hrs to go!) and it just so happens to be my grandmother's birthday too. So I had to do the annual honours of making her birthday card.

I decided that I had to move away from the whole Christmas theme because I think I've done it before and it's her birthday we are celebrating, not somebody else's! ;)

So... I had this light bulb moment with this card using white base and white embossing powder for background and smudging several colours across with the Tim Holtz blending tool. It worked surprisingly well, especially with that scrap vellum I had lying around! All in all I am very pleased with the result :)

Hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Enjoy the silly season.

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAMP: [PTI] Friends 'Til the End, Over Under Easy

INK: [PTI] Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, Berry Sorbet; [Versamark] Watermark Ink Pad
PAPER: [PTI] Stamper's Select White; Vellum
OTHER: [SU!] Heat Embossing Powder (white); [Filigree] Heat Embossing Powder (black); [Tim Holtz] Inkssentials Blending Tool

Moved in!

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had a fab weekend. I've spent the last weekend moving houses and now I can officially say I've moved out of home.

Things have settled down in my new place (with one other flatmate) and I can now proudly say that I have a giant desk the size of a single bed for all my crafting goodies. It is a nice change having all those cardstock sitting on the table.

Remind me to show you all a photo later sometime...

Anyway, I have one card to share today (because I'm savouring the others for later). I was just told by a friend yesterday that she was getting married in January. She hadn't even told me she was engaged! Given that I have known both bride and the groom since beginning of high school, going back 11 years, I thought I'd better make them a special card. Especially knowing that they did a simple email wedding invites (if they had told me sooner, I could have made handmade ones!!!).

Note the new card background. No longer on my bed! Well, I might still if I get sick of moving downstairs for photos. Haha.

This card is hot off the press. And I thought I'd stick with the hexagons since I'm having so much fun with it. I used the sentiments from Love & Marriage set and heat embossed it in gold. Butterfly die cut was smudged with 3 different inks using the Tim Holtz Blending Tool and then sprayed with a bit of mist.

So that's it from me. Hope you all liked the card. Now I'd better get back into Christmas cards!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAMP: [PTI] Happy Hexagons, Love & Marriage
INK: [PTI] Berry Sorbet, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise; [Versamark] Watermark ink pad
PAPER: [PTI] Rustic Cream, Stamper's Select White

OTHER: [PTI] Cover Plate: Hexagons, Half & Half die collection, Beautiful Butterflies die collection; [Tim Holtz] Blending Tool; [Filigree] embossing powder (gold); foam tape

Alex & Kevin's Wedding Invites

Hello!

I had another graduation card to share, but I just realised I still hadn't shared those wedding invites I did for my good friends, Alex & Kevin earlier this year!

It was an absolute pleasure being their "invites consultant" (haha), and it turned out rather nicely. And it was a great team effort to get it all done before Alex dashed off to Europe on her Elective. I just hope they don't mind me posting the invites here... because

So... Alex is a very blues girl. She loves anything blue. And it's not surprising that her bridesmaids will be wearing blue dresses on the big day, and her shoes are royal blue too. And surprise surprise, the wedding invites had to have blue too. They were rather keen to have their engagement shoot photo in there somewhere so that made it rather tricky coming up with ideas.

Somewhere along the track, I had one of those 'lightbulb moments' and thought, "Hey! We can have a blue frame with your photo inside!" Well, it worked and here is the after-product. It's quite simple, but does the job. Alex and Kevin both liked it, and that's a really sweet photo from their engagement shoot (had to blur out their faces... just in case).

 

  

By the way, it was my birthday yesterday, and (as requested) I got a new camera for it from my parents ;) Not a fancy dSLR as I had been eyeing up for the past 5 years, but something that will do the job for my trip to the Cook Islands soon. I had to test it out to see how it was in the room lighting, because the old camera (the cr** one) took horrible photos with semi-reasonable lighting. I'm satisfied with the quality for a super-compact camera, and it's still better than that old one we have.

We, together, made 100 of these all by hand. I had the Embellishment die cut and the frame all stamped and heat embossed (believe me, it was a big job) whilst I was living in the dungeon room out in Timaru Hospital (because I had nothing better to do there!). I probably inhaled half the embossing powder and will get some lung disease 50 years later, but hey, it made the job so much easier on the day. The three of us literally sat around the table and punched out wedding invites like some Asian Sweat Shop. Lol.

Btw, that photo was printed straight onto the PTI cardstock on a laser printer. Kevin did an awesome job aligning them on A4 paper to get it bang in the middle and two on the same cardstock too!

So, something a little different this time round. Hope you all enjoyed the post. Thanks for coming by!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAMP: [PTI] Embellishments, Damask Designs
INK: [Versamark] Watermark Stamp Pad; [SU!] Not Quite Navy

PAPER: [PTI] Vintage Cream, Enchanted Evening
OTHER: [PTI] Mat Stack #5 die, Embellishments die collection; [Filigree] Embossing Powder (clear); Foam tape (lots of them lol)

Traffic Light Sunflowers

Hello again!

Back with another card. I just found a card in my harddrive that never got shared. So here it is! I actually submitted this card to a magazine but never got a happy mail from. I loved this card when I made it, but now that I look at it, I don't really like it so much. I think my style has changed slightly yet again since November last year!

I have to say I'm totally craving stamping atm. But I have nothing with me here in Timaru T_T And I still have another 5 1/2 weeks left here! Perhaps if I had a big Crop In Style tote, then I'd have an easier time taking things around with me. There's even a decent scrapbooking shop in Timaru, and they do crops every two weeks. If I only had my things!!!!! I need to find myself a way to get myself one of those Crop In Style totes. Can't get them new here, and those ppl trying to sell theirs are all in North Island and won't ship them to where I am :(

But anyway, card time.

So a fairly simpile card. Three pieces of different cardstock, put them all together side by side and heat emboss images. Separate them out slightly on a card base, wrap around some vellum and ribbon. Heat emboss sentiment. Easy as pie.

Anyway, I'll leave you with this card. I have two other cards that needs to be shared, but one of them is Stephinka's bday card. I will share it on her birthday unless it reaches her in the next 36hrs (which I highly doubt).

Thanks for coming by!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAMP: [PTI] Simple Sunflowers, Inside & Out: Birthday

INK: Versamark

PAPER: [PTI] Vintage Cream, Berry Sorbet, Summer Sunrise, New Leaf; Vellum

OTHER: [Filigree] Embossing Powder (clear); [SU!] Stampin' embossing powder (white); [Celebrate!] Satin Ribbon (cream); [PTI] Button (Simply Chartreuse); [KaiserCraft] Rhinestone (silver)

Make It Monday #45

Hello again everyone!

Just a quick post. I have to make this quick so that I can get back to work! I have lots to get done in the next 24 hours for school so I really shouldn't have even attempted this week's MIM, but I just bought Copics a couple of weeks ago (finally!) and had to put it to use ;)

So, this week's MIM is basically heat embossing in white and then colouring with a Copic marker over the embossed image. Simple huh?

 

So here's my card for this week's challenge. I admit it's not my usual style, but I'm quite happy with it.

 

     

I did notice that the tips of my Copic markers went white with the white emboss. Not sure if this will have long term effects on my marker, but it seems to be ok for now.

Anyway, off to do my project. Thanks for coming :)

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAMP: [PTI] Simple Sunflower, Inside & Out: Birthday

INK: [PTI] Fresh Snow; Versamark

PAPER: [PTI] Kraft, Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate

OTHER: [SU!] Stampin' Embossing Powder (white); Copic Sketch Markers (Y35, Y38, E13, E25)

Get Well Card + CASE

It's time I blogged the unblogged cards ;) I've lost track of them, so I'll have to flick through and figure out. 

 

I've also started my classes again today, so I'll have less time to get crafty now. Starting in Paediatrics with 2 weeks in paeds oncology and 2 weeks in paeds surgery. Not exactly the combo I was hoping for (I was hoping for some neonatology somewhere but I missed out on the spot).

Anyway, back to cards. This card, I just sent out to my friend last week. I found out that she'd been in hospital and had to get some surgery done. And she'd always wanted one of my cards, so I went and made her one. She's going to get lots of cards from me in the next few weeks. This, birthday and Christmas cards ;)

Her favourite colour is blue, so I had to grab out my blues. It's really royal blue she likes, but I really don't do well making cards with deeper blue shades. But anyway, a bit more on YOF: Carnations embossed in white with some blending goodness ;) And I gave my Mat Stack #3 some love it needed.

I used some cotton buds/swabs to add a bit more shading effect/depth on the carnation image over the Mat Stack die cut. It works rather well. This is how I do colouring without Copics (FYI - Steph is out buying me Copics this very moment!!! So excited!!!).

 

The next card is a CASE of Dawn McVey's card. I found some nice saddle stitch ribbons at the mall the other day! It was from a horrendously expensive Swedish (or somewhere thereabouts) stationery shop called kikki.k. A roll was $5 for 3m. Bit of an overkill, but can't find anything nicer around here locally, so I went and got the blue & red ones.

This card utilises the little wee stamp in the Vintage Labels set really well. I would never have thought to use it as a background. I initially thought it was from Damask Designs set.

 

Anyway, I'm needing some break. My timetable looks as confusing as ever and I just came back from 3hrs of GirlGuiding in the rain. I came home with my shoes and socks all wet and was desperate to have a hot shower - only to find my brother jumping in for his as I dropped my gear down. I had to wait agonising 15 minutes till he was done lol

Thanks again for popping around! :)

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

{Feel Better Soon}

STAMP: [PTI] Year of Flowers: Carnations, Mat Stack #3

INK: [PTI] Aqua Mist; [SU!] Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze; Versamark

PAPER: [PTI] Stamper's Select White, Hawaiian Shores

OTHER: [PTI] Mat Stack #3 die; [SU!] Stampin' Embossing Powder (white); foam tape; cotton swab; [Tim Holtz] Inkessentials Blending Tool

{Wish Big}

STAMP: [PTI] Vintage Labels, Star Prints

INK: [PTI] Aqua Mist, Fresh Snow; [SU!] Melon Mambo; Versamark

PAPER: [PTI] Kraft, Raspberry Fizz, Aqua Mist; Stamper's Select White

OTHER: [PTI] Scalloped Border die (medium); [Kaisercraft] rhinestone; foam tape; [kikki.k] saddle stitch ribbon

Make It Monday #37

I didn't exactly make this card specifically for this week's Make It Monday, but somehow... it sort of fit into it. So I thought why not link it in?

I've enjoyed seeing some amazing work by others here and there. Mine's not so much of a fancy frame (because I just didn't get around to it), but nevertheless... it's still a frame (I guess!).

This was my attempt at using my new Polka Dot Basics II set I bought from Jada. It's a small card, and a certainly unconventional colour scheme when it comes to Christmas cards, but hey, it's cute! ;) I can't wait to see the Tremendous Treats set arrive in the next couple of weeks - then I'd be all set to mass-producing Christmas cards! Hopefully, no more getting stuck at Customs *fingers crossed*

Okay, study break over! See you all laters! ;)

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
STAMP: PTI Polka Dot Basic II, Tiny Treats: Christmas, Christmas Labels, Tag Its #8
INK: Versamark, SU! Pool Party, Not Quite Navy, Calypso Coral, Real Red
PAPER: PTI Aqua Mist, Stamper's Select White

OTHER: PTI Limitless Layers 1 3/4" die set, Filigree Heat Embossing Powder (Clear), American Crafts Ribbon, Corner Chomper (Aqua), Faber Castell Watercolour Pencil

Snowflake Christmas Tree

I finished the last class of the year today. I've passed my Paediatrics run, which I believe means I've gained "terms" to sit my final exams starting in a week! Eeeek!

I'm just lost where to even start studying. But gotta start somewhere right?

I've just done a massive overhaul of *some* of my notes. Amazing how much handouts, notes and others I have accumulated in the space of 5 years. I'm sooo going to need a bookshelf soon, not to mention a total clean up of notes after exams!

Anyway, I'm sure you didn't come here to hear me rant. I have made more cards... in fact, quite a few. But I haven't any photos of them yet, so I'll share a card I made quite a while ago which has been sitting around waiting to be blogged.

I stamped the snowflake images from SU!'s Snow Swirled set. It was meant to look like a Christmas Tree... not sure about it any more. But the gold embossing over the Scarlet Jewel cardstock certainly makes it look Christmassy!

I finished it off with some bling with rhinestones ;)

I'm dying to share my other cards, but I'm trying really hard to resist!!! I just got myself a Plaid Royal Coat Dimensional Magic today... and they look magic with the PTI Holiday Lights set!!!

Anyway, I'll be back later with lots more! Just another 10 days or so and I'll be all done! Can't wait!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAMP: SU! Snow Swirled

INK: Versamark (for embossing)

PAPER: PTI Kraft & Scarlet Jewel Cardstocks

OTHER: Filigree Gold Heat Embossing Powder, KaiserCraft Rhinestone (Champaigne)

Happy World Card Making Day!

Hi everyone! A quick post to celebrate my first World Card Making Day!

 

I just made a card for mum's birthday next week. And more chipboard numbers (for PTI Make It Monday Challenge) - I sure am getting a lot out of one idea! lol

  

I would use other dies to use for chipboard, but I don't have all that many and I just can't come up with any ideas for my other dies to turn into beautiful chipboards!

 

 

It's another card featuring carnations. I kept it really simple, because that's what my mum likes. And it just had to be green on white. She loves them - to the point our house is pretty much white with stenciled green ivy on doors and curtains. Not to mention all the plants we have inside the house!

 

 A close-up view for the white heat embossed carnations and the chipboard. I only did 4 layers with the PTI coasters. I didn't want it out there too much.

I finished it off with some more ink "distressing" around the edges and over the flowers :)

Happy WCMD and thanks for coming by!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAMP: PTI Year of Flowers: Carnations

INK: SU! Certainly Celery, Versamark (for embossing)

PAPER: PTI Stamper's Select White, Spring Moss

OTHER: PTI By the Numbers Die Collection & Coasters, SU! White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Tim Holtz Inkssentials Blending Tool, Corner Chomper (Aqua)

Carnations + Half & Half

Hi everyone! Sorry for little update (I did warn you though). I've just finished two assessments today and have a practice run of my practical exam tomorrow (yeah, on a Saturday!).

Anyway, I've been in some dire need for some de-stressing, so I went and made some cards. My SU! order just came and along with it my long-awaited white embossing powder! I couldn't wait long enough for it to come back in stock at PTI lol

So I decided to go back to the good old Year of Flowers: Carnations set. I just love this set. It is so elegant and pretty <3

 

I love the next card soooo much! I couldn't believe how well the blending worked out on the flowers! I used my brand new Calypso Coral ink pad from SU! with the Tim Holtz Blending Tool to give some colour. Just head over heels in love how smooth the blending went (usually I do something stupid and get sharp edges in the blends).

I'm going to head over and make another one in yellow now!

Thanks for coming by!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS

{Wishing You Every Joy Card}

STAMP: PTI Half & Half, Year of Flowers: Carnations

INK: Versamark (for embossing), PTI Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo

PAPER: PTI Kraft, Simply Chartreuse

OTHER: PTI Half & Half die, Edgers #1 die, SU! White Stampin' Emboss Powder, KaiserCraft Rhinestones

{I Often Think of You Card}

STAMP: PTI Half & Half, Year of Flowers: Carnations

INK: Versamark (for embossing), PTI Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo, SU! Calypso Coral

PAPER: PTI Kraft, Melon Berry

OTHER: PTI Half & Half die, SU! White Stampin' Emboss Powde, Tim Holtz Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool

Keep It Simple

Today is about keeping it simple. It's something I try to live by, though not always easy - at least I can keep my cards simple!

 

This card is something I've made a few times already, before the blog was born. I thought I would share today seeing that I now have replenished my stock of Rustic Cream cardstock :)

 

I stamped a large sentiment from Paper Smooches and heat embossed it with black embossing powder. 

 

You can put just about any sentiment for this card. And I tied baker's twine arond the card with coordinating buttons to finish off!

Here's a close-up view which shows the embossing a little better.

 

I scored some lines where the baker's twine was to go, and found that it makes it easier to place the twine into place (and at an even intervals).

That's it for now! Will have to make more cards to share later since I've now run out of my stash!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAMP: Paper Smooches Pretty Phrases

INK: Versamark (for embossing)

PAPER: PTI Rustic Cream

OTHER: Baker's Twine, Buttons, Black Filigree Embossing Powder, ScorBuddy

Simplified

Hello again! 

Classes have started again and I haven't much time to share cards for the next couple of months, but I still have a couple left in the stash!

Here's a ridiculously simple looking card I made end of last week with Papertrey Ink's Banner Builders set. I love the set, but I have yet to discover more creative uses for them.

Kraft cardstock & yellow went so well together. I love this card. It is a little fiddly punching holes into the die cuts and putting baker's twine through with buttons and all. Some corners ripped as I tried to pierce holes into them :(

Banners are heat embossed and it turns out clear embossing on Lemon Tart cardstock = subtleness to the max. I also heat embossed the "celebrate" sentiment from Fillable Frames #5 with clear embossing powder at the bottom too. I overheated towards the end and hence the sort of cool looking gradient effect. It was unintended. LOL.

Thanks for coming again and hope everyone has a great week :)

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAMP: PTI Banner Builder & Fillable Frame #5

INK: Versamark (for heat embossing)

PAPER: PTI Kraft, Lemon Tart & Summer Sunrise cardstocks

OTHER: Baker's twine, buttons, PTI Banner Builder dies, Filigree clear embossing powder