Thinking of You

Hi there,
My *amazing* older sister has had major surgery within the last week :( and to make things worse she's over in the States, while I'm stuck over here.

Even though we email, text and talk on the phone regularly, I decided to make her a card and chose this mouse image from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.

I stamped the mouse in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured him with Copics. I also added glossy accents on his nose and stickles on the flowers. The decorative corner stamp is from Fiskars. The pink and white strips I used on the background is washi tape from WashiNZ. I've been looking for a good quality washi tape and was really chuffed to find them locally!

Thanks for visiting and do come back soon!
Hugs,
M

Sweet Stamp Shop April Challenge #2

Hi there,
I'm back again with my second entry for the Sweet Stamp Shop's Sweet April Challenge.

I had so much fun using the Happy Bugs set for my first card, that I used it again. You will find an additional wing in this set, which is ideal for paper-piecing. I chose to stamp two extra wings onto some acetate, using Stazon ink. Once they were dry I cut them out and glued them on top of the bee image. I stamped the bee image and sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

Here are some detail pics:

 

The baker's twine is from Timeless Twine and the buttons are from my stash. If you look carefully, you'll notice I added some Stickles dots as well.

Thanks again for looking!

Hugs,

M

Sweet Stamp Shop April Challenge #1

Hi there,
I'm back again with my first entry for the Sweet Stamp Shop's Sweet April Challenge.

I chose the Happy Bugs set for this card, and *loved* it! This is my creation:

I stamped the cute ladybug and the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured it with red and grey Copics. I added some glossy accents to the ladybug to give it some dimension. You can't see it very well in the picture, but I also added some Stickles to the ladybug's feelers and I used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder on the black card stock. The baker's twine is from Timeless Twine and the buttons are from my stash.

Some detail pics:

 

Thanks for looking! I always enjoy your feedback, so please don't be shy about leaving comments!

Hugs,

M

Art Deco & Other

Hi All,
Today I'm sharing a few new creations with you. I made some Art Deco cards a while back and you can view them in this post. The images are wood mounted rubber stamps from Hastings Rubber Stamps.

 

I also taught my very first cardmaking class yesterday! I was so excited and wanted to get the ladies to make something easy, yet effective. My first stop (yet again, LOL) was Melanie Muenchinger's 'A Year of Flowers' book and stamp set. I can't get enough of the book and all the ideas. The ladies couldn't stop drooling over the cards in the book and the card we made was such a big hit! If you have Melanie's book, you will find this card on p.40:

We stamped the entire card using Tim Holtz distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Barn Door and Peeled Paint. We also used pink and green coloured pencils to colour the flowers and leaves. I added the ribbon to my card (the ladies didn't) just for a bit of extra, and also put some Glossy Accents on the ladybug to give it more dimension.

Please don't be shy about leaving comments, as I always appreciate your feedback! 

See you soon!

Hugs,

M

Mother's Day

Hi there,
I'm back today with another Mother's Day card. When my friend asked me to make this card for her mum, she requested a bright, flowery kind of card. Of course my first stop was Melanie Muenchinger's "A Year of Flowers" book and stamp set. Melanie's card on p10 really caught my eye and also fit with what my friend requested.

I clear embossed the purple background paper and the 'Happy Mother's Day' tag. I also sponged a bit of Memento Cantaloupe around the edges of the image. I stamped all the images on white cardstock and after colouring them with Copics, fussy cut each image and layered the tulips using a Quickie glue pen. I then layered the lilies on top using foam dots to add dimension. Lastly, I added stickles and rhinestones for extra effect. Because of all the layers (and because it's a special card for a special person), I made a matching memory box envelope. I've discovered these cute little magnetic rectangles at my local stamp shop and have been using them on the lids of my memory boxes instead of making a belly band or using ribbon to keep the lid closed.

Some more detail pics:

 

 

Thanks for looking! Hope to see you again soon!

Hugs,

M

Altered Art

Hi,

I'm back today to show you my latest creation. I purchased a set of 4 box frames last year and used two at the time, but the other two have been sitting in a cupboard. Well, since I've taken over the spare bedroom and turned it into a craft room, I've been working on making it look more 'crafty'. I decided to use the two left over frames to make some art for my room:

My room's colour scheme is black, cream & lime green (my Cuttlebug kinda had a say in that LOL). I made this one a few months ago and used stamps from the GinaK Springtime Silhouette stamp set. The one flower stamp is from the GinaK Various Verses set. I stamped the two butterflies in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and the flowers were stamped with the 'thumping' technique. The cardstock is pure luxury from GinaK and is in Ivory and lime green.

I decided to do something totally different for the second frame and cut two squares using GinaK pure luxury cardstock in Black Onyx for the two squares to use as a background. I die cut the green butterflies from some DP, using Spellbinders butterfly dies and added some pearlies for dimension. The other butterflies are from the GinaK Whimsical Spring stamp set and I stamped them onto GinaK pure luxury Ivory cardstock in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and used a green glitter pen to add some bling.

Thanks for looking!

Hugs,

M

GinaK Designs - Card Swap #1

Hi guys,
I'm back today to share with you some of the cards I've created for the latest GinaK Designs Card Swap. If you click on the link, it will take you to the challenge and you can get all the 'deets' there. This round of swaps are due on 29 June, but I've had to start mine early as I have a very busy programme over the next month or so. More on that later.
The swap has three categories and I chose to participate in all three. One of the categories is to create cards using the colours of your country's flag.
This is the NZ flag:

These are the first two cards I created:

   

I've been itching to create something with the GinaK Make a 'state' ment stamps but haven't had the opportunity yet - I'm hoping to use this set for some scrapbooking at some stage. I am quite happy with how these cards turned out. Here are some close-ups of the glossy accents:

 

I created the next two cards using the GinaK Funny Farm stamps :

I paper-pieced her gumboots and dungarees pocket and added dots with my silver gel pen for 'bling'.

I added glossy accents to his gumboots and coloured the rake with a silver gel pen.

These are the last two cards, using the GinaK Vogue Vases stamp set:

I paper-pieced the vase and added glossy accents and stickles to the flower petals. I also double stamped the flowers, fussy cut one set and glued it on top of the other. The red rhinestones and blue ribbon add the final touch.

Thanks for looking. Do come back soon as I'll have the cards for the other two themes up within the next few days. Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell you, I've been asked to take a cardmaking class for the ladies at church one morning this week! That's quite daunting as I usually attend the classes not teach them! LOL I'll let you know how it went!

Catch you soon!

Hugs,

M

Love

Hi there and welcome back on this very special Easter Sunday! Easter holds a very special meaning for me personally and I would like to share one of my favourite Bible verses with you:

'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

I chose today to share one of my latest creations with you, as I was asked to make two Mother's Day cards for a friend of mine (my first official 'commissions' woohoo!!). I know it's not Mother's Day yet but I had to get started as I have other commitments coming up.

Because of all the layers on this card, I decided to make a box for it instead of using the usual envelope. The box also makes it more special. A video tutorial for the box can be found on the GinaK Designs StampTV website and is called a Memory Keeper.
There is a Part 1 and Part 2 video and the printable template in PDF format can be found under the Freebies tab on StampTV here. Just scroll down until you find the 'Memory Keeper' tag.

The image is from Melanie Muenchinger's 'A Year of Flowers' stamp set and I used the 'Paper Tole' technique of layering several portions of the same image over and over in order to build dimension. Melanie demonstrated this technique in her book titled 'A Year of Flowers' (p 28 & 29) and both the book and the stamp set are available over in the GinaK shop. I finished off the flower image with some stickles and glossy accents to add some texture. I rubbed all edges for the card and the box with Memento Cantaloupe and Desert Sand inks.

I stamped the image 4 times using Memento Rich Cocoa ink on GinaK pure luxury Ivory cardstock and coloured all 4 flowers using Copics. I cut one image using my Cuttlebug and Spellbinders large Deckled Rectangle die and fussy cut 2 more flowers to layer on top. The last image I fussy cut for the box.

  

The lacy corners on both the card and box were cut using the Cuttlebug and the Spellbinders Fair Isle pendant. I cut two of these (one for the card and one for the box) and then cut each pendant in half. The dainty leaves are from my stash (I purchased them in South Africa about 6 years ago and have had them since!). The green swirly bit was punched with an EK Success Wave Flourish punch.

I stamped the sentiment in Memento Rich Cocoa on GinaK pure luxury Ivory cardstock. The sentiment stamp is from Hastings Rubber Stamps. The pin is from The Ribbon Carousel.

Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your long weekend!
Hugs,
M
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Sweet Stamp Shop March Challenge #5

Hi there,
I came home this afternoon thinking I was going to clean my craft room after yesterday's creating session, instead I started playing around with different Sweet Stamp Shop sets and decided to squeak in with my last entry for the Sweet Stamp Shop March Challenge. When I recently ordered the Timeless Twine Sweet Sampler pack from Bella Creationz, I also ordered some small brown paper bags. I knew they would come in handy and thought they'd be ideal for some Easter treats.

   

I stamped the sentiment and the images in Memento Rich Cocoa. The bunny, tulips and sentiment are from the Sweet Spring set. The log is from the Furry Friends Forever set. The twine is from Timeless Twine and the grass die is from My Favourite Things. I coloured the bunny pink and used some liquid applique on his ears and tummy. The doilie is from GinaK Designs and I treated it with different distress inks (I actually made it for a different project but ended up not using it at the time).

Thanks for popping in and do hop over to the Sweet Stamp shop and check out all the other entries!

Hugs,
M

Sweet Stamp Shop March Challenge #4

Hi there,
I'm back again with yet another entry for the Sweet Stamp Shop's March Challenge.

This time, I combined the Against the Grain and Sweet Spring sets to create my card:

I inked the Against the Grain stamp using Tim Holtz distress inks in Barn Door, Scattered Straw and Tumbled Glass and then chopped it into strips. I adhered the strips to the base (all GinaK pure luxury cardstock) and then I stamped the sentiment from the Sweet Spring set in Memento Cantaloupe. The three crosses image is also from the Sweet Spring set and I stamped that in Memento tuxedo Black. The three red pearlies are from my stash.

Thanks for looking!
Hugs,
M