Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Mojo Monday - week 114



I haven't participated in one of these Mojo Monday challenges for quite a while either...but last night I needed some inspiration, and this one looked good to me.

This week is week 114, and here is the sketch:



This is my card:





List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock:
Riding Hood Red textured, Very Vanilla and Brushed Gold
Accessories: Christmas Ornaments Cuttlebug Folder, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Gold Cord (retired), Scallop Edge Punch, Chit Chat Rub-Ons, Metallic Eyelets, Crop-a-dile, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals and SNAIL Adhesive.


If the Christmas sentiment kinda looks like an after-thought, that'd be because it was! I got to the end and realised I'd forgotten to put a sentiment on (not an unusual occurrence for me, I'm a pictures person). Then I had a bit of difficulty working out where it would go. Ooops!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and thank you for all of your lovely comments. You guys rock!

:-)
Sam.

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Crazy Shakespearean Cinema Couture...



I thought I'd play along with this week's Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge because the movie was one that lent itself to bling, and I just felt like some bling! I felt like lots of bling in fact ;-).



I decided to use this image (from the Costumer's Guide website) as my inspiration:



I called this blog post 'Crazy...' because when I'd finished playing with all my bling I thought...now what on earth will I do with this card?

Truth be told, it'll probably be carefully dismantled (all bling salvaged), and this will just have been a playful bling-art experience...but as I was taking the photo I thought that you could probably give the card as a Christening card for a baby girl. Maybe?!?

Anyway...here it is:





List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Soft Sky Carousel Notes (retired), Whisper White and Brushed Silver
Ink: Soft Sky Classic Ink
Stamps: Linen Background Stamp
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8 inch Circle Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Crop-a-dile, Pretties Kit, Clear Rhinestone Brads, Silver Ribbon (miscellaneous), Sticky Strip, Mini Glue Dots and SNAIL adhesive.


I made the three silver ribbon flowers (in the foreground of the first image) because I was originally going to make a different style of card...but I gave up on those (waaaay too fiddly).

Ok......gonna go do something about lunch now.
Have a wonderful day!

Sam.

PS. Thank you to Karen Giron for my new Christmas-themed watermark. It is so cute!

Monday, 23 November 2009

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #45



I haven't participated in one of Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenges for a while now, but I just felt like one last night. The sketch for this challenge is:



...and this is my card:



 

List of ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock:
Riding Hood Red Textured, Very Vanilla Plain
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink
Stamps: Merry, Merry (retired)
Accessories: Scallop edge punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, 1 1/4 inch circle punch, Crop-a-dile, 1 1/4 inch striped grosgrain ribbon, 5/16 inch Neutrals Jumbo Brads, Chocolate Chip Patterns DSP, On Board Essentials, Versamark, Heat and Stick Powder, Heat Tool, Romantic Red Glitter, Dimensionals, Anywhere Glue Stick, Sticky Strip and SNAIL adhesive.


...it always surprises me how such a simple looking card can have such a long list of ingredients! Given the state of my desk though...it should really be no surprise at all.

Have a nice day!
Sam.

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Another case of CASEing...



...and this time I am CASEing the beautiful work of Paula from Precioso Designs

Now I am not sure about these colours exactly. They are a bit of a mish mash, as I challenged myself to use only scrap bits of DSP. As a result, I was a bit limited with colour choice...and it also made working out which DSPs I'd used (for the ingredients list) somewhat of a challenge too!



List of ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip and Whisper White plain cardstock
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink
Stamps: Good Friend
Accessories: White Gel Pen, Paper Piercer, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Bali Breeze DSP, Summer Picnic DSP, Bright Delights Rub-ons, Button Bouquet Designer Buttons, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip and SNAIL adhesive.

I think I got all those DSPs right....I had to go back through some of the old minis to work out what they were!

Thanks so much for the inspiration Paula, I had a lot of fun making this wee birdie!

I won't say have a nice day again...just in case I come back AGAIN! Not likely, but then two posts in one day wasn't likely either!

Ciao,
Sam.

Santa is a Christmas CASE!



I first saw him here on nitestamper's beautiful blog, and I could NOT resist. He is soooooo cute....dontcha think?



List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Basic Black Textured, Whisper White, Real Red and Creamy Caramel plain
Stamps: Merry Merry (retired)
Ink: Real Red and Creamy Caramel Classic Ink
Accessories: Crimper, White Gel Pen, Stampin' Sponge, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, 1 inch circle punch, 3/4 inch circle punch, Swirly Cuttlebug Folder, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip and SNAIL adhesive.


I know, I know....Creamy Caramel as a skin tone for Santa is a bit of a stretch...but I really like how the colours go together. Guess he is a bronzed Aussie Santa....hope he uses SPF 50+!

Speaking of which...guess I'd better go find my 50+, seems like it is going to be significantly warm again today...

Have a lovely day!
Sam.

Saturday, 21 November 2009

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh...

 

The whole time I was making this little bracelet, I was humming 'We Three Kings'. I think it's the colours. The purple in particular was making me think of royalty, and given Christmas is almost upon us (YES, I know! Where did the year go?)... it seems appropriate.

The gorgeous purple and gold glass lampwork beads are by the very talented Marie of Bleu Verre, the silver is all sterling, and the crystals are by Swarovski:



Not much else going on here, just a peaceful weekend...thank goodness :-).

Hope your weekend is peaceful too!

Sam.

PS. I went and saw New Moon. I was going to wait until the crowds died down a bit before venturing out...but instead I treated myself to a Dendy Premium seat...(well worth it IMO ;-). It was a great pic...will definitely go see it again in the next few weeks!

Sunday, 15 November 2009

Christmas Elves and Face Paint



I have been wanting to CASE Karen's gorgeous Christmas Elf card ever since I laid eyes on it...and today, I did just that!



 

List of ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Stamps:
Holiday Print (retired) background stamp
Cardstock: Blush Blossom, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla and Basic Black
Ink: Old Olive and Riding Hood Red Classic Ink
Accessories: Scallop edge punch, 1 inch circle punch, 3/4 inch circle punch, half inch circle punch, five petal blossom punch, Maya Road Iridescent Pearl Mist, White Gel Pen, Dauber, Riding Hood Red Striped Ribbon, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive and mini glue dots.


Karen used Stampin' Up!'s Top Note Die, but as I don't have that, I have used my Nestabilities Labels 8 to create the face shape. Hopefully you can see in the second photo where I have applied the Maya Road Iridescent Pearl Mist to the hat pom pom and trim.

In other weekend news... today Miss 5 was desperate for me to paint her face...so I did (well, I drew on her face...using Lyra skin colouring pencils):






...and then, not wanting to miss out on the action, Master 3 consented to Miss 5 creating art on his face too:

 ...check out the look of tender brotherly trust...




...was that trust misplaced? It is a dinosaur face of course...see the sharp silver teeth around the mouth? I thought it looked fab, but Master 3 needed a bit of convincing. He warmed to it after a while, and was making suitably dinosaur-ish noises around the garden.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend too!

:-)
Sam.

Sunday, 1 November 2009

May your Merry be Very!



I love this Christmas sentiment! It is not a new one, but it still appeals to me...lots :-).

I have just made a very simple card this time...but simple is very, very good if you are considering making 20 or more (IMHO ;-).





List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise indicated):

Stamps: Merry Merry
Cardstock: Real Red and Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black Classic Ink
Accessories: Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Metal-Edged Tag, 1 1/4 inch Circle Punch, Cherry Metallic Mist (Maya Road), Mini Cosmic Bubbles 6 x 6 Template (The Crafter's Workshop), SNAIL adhesive, Mini Glue Dots and Dimensionals.


Yesterday was such an amazing day here. Warm and sunny. Beautiful!

I found this fabulous red Bottlebrush bursting forth in the garden:



...and I even managed to sneak in a little beading time too (lampwork beads by Marie of Bleu Verre):



 

Today is also going to be a stunner...so I might go do some weeding I think, or sitting under a tree with the kids ;-).

Sam.

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

A Picture Perfect Day in Canberra


As the title says, today is a picture perfect day in our Nation's Capital. The sky is blue, the temperature is mild (23 degrees celcius), the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing. I have a cold...still, but it'll go away...eventually.

I should be hanging washing, but I'm not (yesterday I had an email from a friend who told me she was doing the ironing...to which I thought, I wonder if we still have one of those here? ;-). I am being a bit of a slacker, but you know what? I don't care. I've been inspired to do a CASE of a scrapbook page. My inspiration was the layout on page 4 of the current Stampin' Up! Spring Mini Catalogue. I have been meaning to make this page for a while now, but after recently seeing more lovely renditions of it, on Rachel Capps' blog here, and by Keryn Campbell on the NZSUblog here....finally last night I got to it.

and so....I have just finished, and now I have craft STUFF littered from one end of the house to the other. My efforts are often a bit uncoordinated. I kind of start in one place, run out of room, move to another...decide I need to do some printing...move there, shuffle different types of glossy paper all over the place, decide I need some thread so rather than bringing it to my work...I take the work to the thread...I have opened packets of rub-ons scattered here and there, unrolled rolls of ribbon adorning the dining table, my camera is on the bedroom floor, my house is CHAOS! But I'm pretty darn chuffed with the way the page turned out:





List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up!):

Cardstock: Baja Breeze and Basic Gray Textured, Whisper White plain
Stamps: Great Friend
Ink: Baja Breeze Classic Ink
Accessories: Walk in the Park DSP, Summer Love Rub-ons, Baja Breeze Corduroy Buttons, Baja Breeze 1 Inch Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, White Taffeta Ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Sanding Block, White Thread, Mini Glue Dots, Sticky Strip and SNAIL Adhesive.


While I was trimming the photo down to size I accidently managed to scratch some of the ink off the edges....never one to waste the glossy photo paper (it costs a bomb) I pulled out my Stampin' Up! Sanding Block and scratched up all the edges for a purposeful-looking distressed look. Obviously, I mean't to do that!

Guess I'd better go do some tidying up now.....SIGH!
Have a wonderful day :-)
Sam.

PS. Thanks for the lovely comments on my busy bee photos. I can't take all the credit for those. My macro lens is the true champion. It is a beauty. I started out with a tripod and remote shutter release, but those little bees are very, very tricksy and tres quick, and the tripod was just slowing me down...so I lay down on the ground and basically climbed on into the lavender bush and started shooting. I might add that for the handful of decent shots I got, I have about 40 near useless ones. What on earth did I ever do without a digital camera and super huge compact flash card? Frankly, I am amazed I even managed to get out of bed in the morning ;-).

PPS. I thought you might like to see the photo that I used in the above page, before, during and after my tinkering with Pioneerwoman Photoshop Actions:



This is it in the beginning, I have cropped it a little, and cloned out some stray hair across the face...it was annoying me.



...with Pioneerwoman Boost and Define and Sharpen actions applied (sounds like a new bra!)



...with Pioneerwoman Seventies action applied



...with a Pioneerwoman B & W Beauty action applied, then erased out the eyes so that the colour could show through from the background layer.

I love them all, but thought that the black and white worked best with the colours on the layout.

PPPS. More gardeny goodness:


Tuesday, 27 October 2009

More Outlined For Fun...



I am enjoying having the Outlined For Fun stamp set out on my desk. It really is a fun set, and gives the project a fresh and happy look!

I still had cardstock strewn all over the dining room table from the past few days' crafting efforts ...including a huge amount of Pink Pirouette ;-)...so I decided to go with the flow and just go right ahead and keep using it!



List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette and Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink
Stamps: Outlined For Fun
Accessories: Baja Breeze Patterns DSP, Bella Rose DSP, Metal Edge Tags, Pink Pirouette Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, 5/16" Jumbo Brads, Scallop Edge Punch, Crimper, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots and SNAIL Adhesive.

I love these colours together! They definitely say Spring/Summer to me...

While I'm here...I also want to say thanks to Aneesh for his tutorial on how to add a 'Related Posts' Widget to your Blogger Template. This is an alternative to using the LinkWithin widget. I'll let you know how it goes after I've run it for a while. Just FYI, the 'related-ness' is determined using the Post Labels that I apply to each of my blog posts.

Last, but not least...some of my favourite little furry friends were very busy in the garden today:





LOVE THEM!

Thanks so much for visiting me, and thank you for all of your lovely comments. You guys are the best!

Sam.