Crafty Card Gallery

Hi there,

Welcome back! I have some very exciting news to share with you today: My friend Jennifer has asked me to be part of a brand new design team - The Crafty Card Gallery! I am super excited to be a part of this team and today I'm showing off my very first creation for this DT.

Jen's challenge for the DT this month was to create something with the things we already have - either sitting in your stash or sitting on your craft desk. No going out and buying new things! Well, when I first saw the challenge, I knew just what I'd use! I recently ordered some really cute clear stamps from Karber Stamps and they've been sitting on my craft desk just waiting to be played with!

Let's see if you recognise these characters:

Yes! It's the super cute guys from 'The Wizard of Oz'!

Thanks so much for popping in!

Hugs,

M

Tools ; Products used:

Cardstock: GinaK Design pure luxury in White & Turquoise Sea

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Copic Markers

Stickles (cloud & Dorothy's shoes) & Glossy Accents (everyone's eyes)

Pink Paislee: London Market (Clouds) & Indigo Bleu (yellow tiles & background DP)

Dies: Clouds (MFT) Yellow tiles (Sweet Stamp Shop)

Foam tape & glue dots

Puppy Love

Hi there and welcome back to another week's challenge.

I'm back this week with my creation for the latest challenge over on The Outlawz (Paper a la Mode team). This week, your challenge is to use the negative cuts from your die cuts.

The cardstock is GinaK Designs pure luxury in White, Little Boy Blue and Kraft. The image is by Penny Black, and the sentiment from the 'Whimsical Spring' stamp set by Theresa Momber and also available from GinaK Designs. Image and sentiment stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I coloured the puppy using Copic markers and sponged the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink in Tumbled Glass (not quite the right blue), so I sponged Faded Jeans over the top.

You can't see it in the picture but I popped the image up on foam tape to highlight it more. Before layering the cardstock, I die cut the scalloped circle from the Kraft, using my Cuttlebug and layered it onto the blue cardstock before using foam tape to adhere the layers to the white card base.

Thanks for popping in!

Hugs,

M

Eclectic Ellapu: Purple Team Challenge (Week 2)

Hi there,
I'm back with my creation for this week's Eclectic Ellapu Challenge. This awesome challenge blog started for the first time last week and the DT is super excited about all the entries we received!

This week's challenge is all about Halloween. Since I don't own any Halloween stamps or goodies, I had to improvise. Have a look:

I cut the large orange circle, the scalloped circle and the yellow moon with my Cuttlebug and some Spellbinders dies and used some circle punches (different sizes) to make the spider's head and body. I wanted the spider to have a fuzzy look, and added black flock (you can't really see that too well in the picture). I used Tombow liquid glue for the flock. Lastly, I added the googly eyes and some baker's twine from The Twinery for the legs. The silver twine is some embroidery thread from my stash. I added the sentiment using some glittery alphabet also stickers from my stash. All cardstock is by GinaK Designs.

Thanks for popping in. Do hop over to the other ladies' blogs to have a nosey and don't forget to play along!

Hugs,

M

Nature Inspiration Challenge - The Outlawz

Hi there,

Welcome back! Today I would like to show you my latest creation for this week's Paper a la Mode Challenge over on The Outlawz. I'm hosting this week's challenge, and I decided to make it a nature inspiration challenge after taking a walk in my neighbourhood earlier in the week. This is a picture I took of my neighbour's tree:

The tree is covered in millions of small blooms and they are just gorgeous!

I decided to use a Penny Black stamp image for this card, together with a sentiment by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.

I cut the image and pink matting layer using the Deckled Rectangles by Spellbinders (together with my Cuttlebug). The flourish was cut using a die by My Favourite Things. The image was coloured with Copic Markers.

All cardstock is by GinaK Designs.

Thanks for popping in!

Hugs,

M

Exciting News: Eclectic Ellapu Challenge Blog

Hi there,

I'm here today to share some SUPER EXCITING news: There is a new challenge blog starting today:

Eclectic Ellapu

And the best news is, that Elaine has invited me to be a part of her DT!! She has two DT teams, a Pink team and a Purple team and I am so privileged to be a member of the Purple team!

The theme kicking us off on our very first challenge is 

Anything Goes

I can't wait to see what some of you will come up with!

Catch you later!

'Use What You Don't' Challenge

Hi there,

I'm back today with this week's Paper a la Mode Challenge: 'Use What You Don't'

How many of you have been collecting crafty 'stuff' for a number of years now, and find that there's a few items you've never used? I know I have a few of those goodies floating around my craft room! Well, this week Theresa is challenging us to use those neglected goodies and be creative with it!

Before I show you my creation though, I have to share my exciting news! I won the main prize on the Digistamps4Joy blog hop and I was gifted the awesome 'Fall Fairy' digi as my prize! I couldn't wait to use that gorgeous fairy and decided to use her for today's challenge.

This is what I've come up with:

The cardstock is GinaK Designs pure luxury in Ivory, Sweet Corn & Sweet Mango and the DP is by BasicGrey (Indie Bloom).

Here is the list of 'what I don't':

• Digi - I never use digis because I've always had issues with the ink from my printer smearing/smudging when I use Copic markers to colour. Well, I've tried a new technique: heat setting the digis after printing, using my heat gun. Voila! It worked! I've now printed and heat set a whole heap of cute digis to colour in front of the TV at night!
• I received the green seam binding ribbon in an assorted pack about a year ago and never liked the colour! It just didn't inspire me! LOL Anyway, It was the ideal colour to combine with the fall leaves in the digi! (Sadly the picture doesn't do it any justice, but believe me, it looks great in real life!)
• The BasicGrey DP - I've had that pack sitting here for almost a year and have never used the fall colours.
• I really wanted to add some skeleton leaves, but since the challenge is to use the stuff we usually don't (and I didn't want to go and buy leaves), I used my Tim Holtz distress markers to make some leaves with the GinaK 'Fall Foliage' stamp set. I used the kiss technique to create the leaves. I've had the distress markers for about 3 months now and this was my first time using them - I know, that's really sad! LOL

Lastly, I added some stickles to her wings - all fairies have shiny wings!! LOL

That's me for today! Please hop over again soon!
Hugs,
M

Thinking of You

Hi there and welcome back!

As promised, I'm back today with this week's Paper a la Mode Challenge - making a 'Thinking of You' card. This week's sketch by MojoMonday really got my creative juices flowing:

 

and this is my creation for the challenge:

The cardstock is GinaK Designs Pure Luxury in White, Vibrant Violet, Lovely Lavender, Wild Lilac and Passionate Pink (butterflies). The  DP is 'Parisian Garden' also by GinaK Designs. The image and sentiment are from 'Buds & Vases' illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger and available from StampTV. Both were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and the image was coloured using Copic Markers. The lilac seam binding ribbon is from The Cat's Pajamas. I punched the pink butterflies with my Letack butterfly punch. Oh yes, and I added stickles and pink pearlies from my stash.

I'll be sending this card to a very special friend! I'm also entering this card into this week's  "Mix it up Monday Challenge" over on StampTV.

That's me for today folks!

Hugs,

M

Sweet Stamp Shop Challenge

Hi there and welcome back!

We've come to the end of our first week of the school holidays and I can't believe we only have one more week left! In today's post, I'll share the two cards I made for the latest challenge over at the Sweet Stamp Shop.

Nicole and the Sweet Tooth ladies now run a bi-weekly challenge and the latest challenge require some form of embossing. The SSS now also design their own metal dies and I jumped at the opportunity to order the 'Snapshot Fun' die, which can turn any stamped image into an instant 'polaroid'! I couldn't wait to use it!

For my first card, I used both dry and heat embossing. I stamped the image (from 'Under the Sea') in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured it using Copic markers. I cut the frame using 'Snapshot Fun'. The background paper was embossed in my Cuttlebug, using the Swiss Dots folder (Soft Sand by GinaK Designs) and the sentiment was heat embossed with black embossing powder. I also added some  Smooch and Stickles. The twine is Timeless Twine by Bella Creationz. The DP is from the Indigo Bleu pack by Pink Paislee.

I really liked the 'polaroid' look of the first card and wanted to use 'Snapshot Fun' again on my next card. I stamped the images in Memento Tuxedo Black (both images from the 'Lil Sweet Peps' set). I stamped the girl twice, once on the cardstock and again on a post-it note, which I then used as a mask before stamping the boy. I coloured the image using Copic markers. The white cardstock is GinaK Designs pure luxury White and the DP is by BoBunny (Alora Collection). I also heat embossed the sentiment and added some glossy accents to the heart-shaped clip in her hair.

Thanks so much for popping in! Please remember to come back again tomorrow as I'll be telling you all about the latest Paper a la Mode Challenge over on The Outlawz!

Hugs,

M