For The Bride

I've been making a few cards using some pre-stamped images lately, you might remember this little lady from my Just Add Ink Challenge #4 card...

This time I've kept it very simple, and left the elegance of the image do the work.

I did make some Designer Buttons though, (find the tutorial HERE), but instead of piercing holes and using it as a button, I glued it on top of the string as a stand out embellishment.  I'm really happy with how it looks.

I hope you like it too!

Materials:

Stamp set - For The Bride

Card Stock - Kraft, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper - Bella Bleu

Ink - Versamark

Accessories - White embossing powder, Heart to Heart punch, Crystal Effects, Kitchen String

Click HERE to visit my Stampin' Up! website.

Just Add Ink Challenge #6 - A Sketch Challenge

The Just Add Ink Design Team has been completed WOWED by the fabulous entries to last week's challenge - Just Add Dimension.  You're all making it so hard to keep up!  And we get the challenge before you!  LOL.

Onto this week's challenge - it's a sketch challenge and here's the layout:

I have to be honest and say I'm not terribly impressed with my efforts this week.  It looked so much better in my imagination!  I've just had a couple of friends visit who tell me I'm being ridiculous (thanks!), but I'm sure every crafter out there knows the feeling I'm talking about!  Anyway, here it is...

As you can see, I flipped the template over, because I just preferred the bird looking the other way for some reason...

I covered the On Board So Tweet shapes with Good Morning Sunshine DSP and Kiwi Kiss cardstock.

And the background is Baja Breeze cardstock with Tall Tales for the sunshine rays, and a layer of vellum over the top to soften the overall look.

And a rub-on from the Bright Delights set.


Be gentle with your comments!!


Materials:
Stamp set - Good Friend
Cardstock - Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss
Designer Series Paper - Good Morning Sunshine, Tall Tales
Inks - Versamark, Chocolate Chip marker
Accessories - On Board So Tweet, Bright Delights rub-ons, Mod Podge, Sanding Block






Click HERE to visit my Stampin' Up! website.

A Signature In Progress

Our daughter, Olivia, is 2 and 10 months, and like all proud parents, we're really pleased with how well she's progressing in lots of different areas.  Today she wrote her name for me and I thought I'd share it here (I added the 'v' - she forgot it!):

Just a bit of progress since the last time I posted Olivia's attempts at writing her name!  I wonder if this will be worth lots of money one day... ;)

If you've seen our challenge at Just Add Ink this week - Just Add Dimension - then you should have seen Sarah Klass' gorgeous headband.  What you may not have seen, is her fantastic video tutorial on how to make it.  It really is something to check out.  Go to Sarah's site HERE to watch the tutorial, and make sure you leave her some comment love too!

The gorgeous headband...

Click HERE to visit my Stampin' Up! website.

Just Add... Dimension! JAI #5 Challenge

It's that time again, and we have a brilliant challenge for you this week at Just Add Ink.

Just Add DIMENSION

Stamp it, colour it, dye it, punch it, stick it on, stand it up - it's up to you!

Your creation can be a card, scrapbooking LO or a 3D project.

The most important thing is to

THINK OUTSIDE THE SQUARE

I'm absolutely thrilled with the response we're getting for Just Add Ink.  We've all worked so hard to make it a great site and we couldn't be prouder.  The Design Team have some phenomenal inspiration pieces for you this week, so make sure you check them out.  Here's mine...

As Bronwyn put it, "A box full of things that add dimension!"  This little box is going to hold all the embellishments that I hand make.  When I'm making an embellishment, I often make a couple of extras to use later.  It can come in really handy.

You can see the centre is stamped with En Francais too.

I started with a Cosmo Cricket Plain Jane Cigar Box (left) and pre-prepared my kraft card stock by stamping it with En Francais in Versamark and trimming it to fit the inside top and side panels.  I then used Mod Podge (right) for the glue and the sealer.  It's fantastic stuff and I really like the matte finish.  I just brushed it on thinly, stuck my cardstock down, then applied another thin coat on top.  Voila!

For the top though, it was a little different.  I trimmed the cardstock to size and removed the centre panel.  Then I stamped the rose from Fifth Avenue Floral using Versamark and heat embossed it with black embossing powder.  I then used clear embossing powder to emboss one of the other flowers (sorry, I can't remember type of flower it is!) to form the background.  I did this flower second so I could mask the rose - that's what makes the roses appear to be in front.

I used Stampin' Up! Watercolour Wonder Crayons in Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip to colour the roses. I literally scribbled Creamy Caramel and Close to Cocoa on each petal (Creamy Caramel for the edges) and then blended with an aquapainter. Then I used the aquapainter to 'pick up' the colour from the tip of the Chocolate Chip crayon and used that to add depth.  If you've never coloured on kraft card stock before, give it a go.  I think it gives a gorgeous quality to the finished piece.  A word of warning though - it will eventually pill, so go easy!

I hope you like my embellishment box!  Make sure you visit Just Add Ink to check out the rest of our Design Team and their fabulous work.  And have a go at the challenge too!


Materials:
Stamp Sets - En Francais, Fifth Avenue Floral
Cardstock - Kraft
Inks - Versamark
Accessories - box, Mod Podge, Watercolour Wonder Crayons in Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip, aquapainter, black embossing powder, clear embossing powder, heat tool





Click HERE to visit my Stampin' Up! website.

Easy Bow with Button

For the JAI #4 challenge, I made a card with a really easy bow with a button featured on it.  I've been asked how it's done, so I've made a little tutorial for you.

Technique Tutorial

Easy Bow with Button

Supplies:

Ribbon

(I've used 1" (2.5cm) Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon in Rose Red)

Scissors

Button

Sticky Strip
Kitchen string or twine

Step One

Cut two pieces of ribbon.  One will go around the card and the other will form the bow.  The piece you cut for the bow should be only slightly longer than the final size you want your bow to be.  The top piece in the photo is the ribbon doubled over, so it's slightly bigger than the end product will be.

Step Two

Put a small piece of Sticky Strip at one end of the smaller piece of ribbon.

Peel the backing off the Sticky Strip and stick the two ends of the ribbon together - it will form a circle.

Step Three

Sandwich your layers together - the base ribbon, the bow with the join on the bottom in the centre, and the button with string already threaded (encircling all the layers) - as shown in the photo.

Step Four

This is the tricky bit.  Pinch the layers of ribbon together with your thumb and index finger.   You want to gather the base ribbon and the bow so they sit together well - this is how the bow will look at the end, so make sure you're happy with the gather.

Step Five

With your free hand, slide the button down the string (so you're pulling the string through the button) until it is sitting firmly against the ribbon.  Double check how everything is sitting, then pull the string very firmly and tie a double knot.

Trim the ends of the string.  This is where using no extra adhesive is a real benefit - you can now fine tune your bow and you can even pull the bow through the string if it's not centred.

Complete!

The finished bow!  All you need to do now is to attach the bow to your card however you wish.  The ends of the ribbon can be concealed inside the card by placing a piece of cardstock over the top.

Interested in learning how to make your own button like the one I've made here with More Mustard card stock?  Click HERE.

Love You Much

I married my husband 4 years ago, and I've been really slack with putting together our wedding scrapbook album.  So I decided that I'm going to use some of the challenges we're doing at Just Add Ink, and other great sites like Stamp a Memory, to do my wedding album.

The challenge at Stamp a Memory at the moment is to Create a layout in Black and White plus one other colour of your choice.  The design team have some fabulous pages, so make sure you visit this site!

Here is my entry - the colour I chose to add is Kraft. 

This photo was actually taken before we were married.  It's in the Leadlight Room at Hadleys Hotel in Hobart, where we held our reception.  The photographer was so excited about this shot, because the lighting from the overhead stained glass window was just perfect.

Well, I hope you like my page!  I now have a grand total of two wedding pages done... at least it's a start!  You can see the first one here.


All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless specified otherwise.

Materials:
Stamp sets - Fifth Avenue Floral, Well Scripted
Cardstock - Whisper White textured, Basic Black, Kraft
Inks - Versamark, Le Plume marker in Tan
Accessories - clear embossing powder, heat tool, dimensionals, lace (from my stash)




Click HERE to visit my Stampin' Up! website.

More with the JAI #4 Colour Challenge

I thought I'd share a few little gift cards I made while I was playing with the colours for this challenge.  There's still time to enter!  Head to Just Add Ink to link your creation.  Here are the colours:

Materials:
Stamp set - Pun Fun
Cardstock - Sage Shadow, Kraft
Inks - Sage Shadow, Rose Red, More Mustard
Accessories - Black embossing powder, White embossing powder, heat tool, embossing buddy, dimensionals, white Signo gel pen


Thanks for visiting!




Click HERE to visit my Stampin' Up! website.

Dr Olly...

Ever since I broke my wrist last year, our 2 and a half year old daughter has loved playing "Doctor".  So we have to sit and be poked and prodded, bandaged and injected...  She's only recently been able to say "doctor", it's always been "docker" - too cute!  She's managed to say stethoscope properly from the start though, go figure!

This morning Olivia needed a willing participant to play Doctor with her...

My husband, Brian, told me that he just missed getting the photo of the 'patient' with a blood pressure cuff around his neck!

Just Add Ink Challenge #4 - Colour Combination

We're up to Challenge #4 at Just Add Ink, and this week it's a colour combination.  The colours work beautifully together, but I still found it difficult to come up with a design that I was happy with.  I think it's because we have such an amazing Design Team and I worry that my creations won't come up to scratch.  If you haven't had a look at their creations for this week, make sure you do.  They're jaw-droppingly gorgeous!

Anyway, here's the colour palette: 

If you've been following Just Add Ink from the beginning, you'll notice that we've changed the 'look' of the colour challenge layout.  What it means is that each time we have a colour challenge, there will be 4 colours to use, plus your choice of neutral (to help add balance).  This way you're not restricted to the neutral we've chosen.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on our new 'look'!

Here's my creation for this week:

I've had this stamp set, For The Bride, for a few months now, but I hadn't been inspired to use it.  But when I saw the colours, it kept popping into my mind.  I had no idea why, because More Mustard really isn't a wedding colour!  So I tried a few different stamp sets, but I kept being drawn back to this one.  I think the bride looks gorgeous white embossed on Bella Bleu DSP.  What do you think?

Here's a close up of the button I made to go in the centre of the bow. 

They're surprisingly easy to make, and you can co-ordinate you buttons to suit your project perfectly.  You can find my Designer Button tutorial HERE.

I love reading your comments, so please leave me one!

Materials:
Stamp Sets - For The Bride, Garden Whimsy (Sage Shadow background), Season of Joy (flourish on the button)
Cardstock - Kraft, Sage Shadow, Whisper White, More Mustard
Designer Series Paper - Bella Bleu
Inks - Versamark
Accessories - White embossing powder, heat tool, Rose Red ribbon, circle punch, kitchen string, Stampin' Dimensionals


I'm looking forward to seeing your entries!





Click HERE to visit my Stampin' Up! website.

Building Progress...

It's five weeks into the building of our house so I thought it was time to post a few more pictures.  The last time I posted about our house, the bricks had just arrived...

Considering we have a sloping block, I think we've got a pretty large, flat backyard!

The space in the foreground is actually a void space. We figured we'd keep the potential there to extend later. We're building a fairly large house... but we're still going to be the tiny house in our street! There are so many huge homes being built in the area!

This is where the front door will be.  Apparently we're having keyless entry.  It won't be true keyless entry to me unless the ouside lights flash and the house goes "beep beep" when I press the button...

It's really starting to take shape!

Well, that's all I have for you at the moment.  More pictures soon!

Thanks for stopping by,