Whiff of Joy Challenge #45 - Bling! - Stampin for Weekend #13 - Baby

The current challenge over on whiff of joy#45 is to use Bling!  I just love bling on my cards!

I started off trying to make a card for my nephew's upcoming wedding, but I kept looking at my new WOJ stamps and wanted to colour in some more!

I also came across Challenge 13 - Stampin for the weekend and the current challenge is Anything Baby Goes, so I guess it fits this challenge as well!

I used my favourite layout for this one.

Lots of bling - kindy glitz on mother & child, gold gel pen on wedding ring and flower in hair, diamontes added to flowers and Bazzil bling embossed with cuttlebug.

My niece is engaged!

Here is a card I have made for my niece, Lauren.  She has got herself engaged to a lovely young man, Brett.  I wish them every happiness!

I wanted to keep it simple, but have a little bit of glam - cuttlebug was used for this entire card - background, panels and embossed glasses. 

Bling added to glasses.

I used a gold charm that had been in my stash for such a long time - just goes to show that you will eventually use everything!

Blog Award

I received this lovely award from Cheryl - I just love this expression - Uber Amazing!

Thank you Cheryl - right back at ya! I think your blog is Uber Amazing as well!

Now to pass it on to some lovely people - I look forward to seeing what's new on all of your blogs.

to Merry - your blog has been a wonderful source of inspiration to me of late - keep up the good work!

to Linda - thank you for your constant support

to scrapperjulia & Linnie thank you for visiting regularly and for the lovely comments on my work - I love checking out your blogs!

EDITED: I just noticed I left out the link for Carolyn - thank you for visiting regularly and for leaving lovely comments on my blog

and last, but by no means least, carolyn (yes another carolyn) - I have recently discovered this blog in my quest for knowledge about inkscape and the CraftROBO. it is a wonderful source of information and I will be a frequent visitor there while I am learning my new toy!

Please check out these blogs, they are truly great!

Sarah Kay

Here is a card I made with the third stamp I purchased from BizzyBecs store

I just fell in love with this Sarah Kay image - it reminds me of the images I used for party invitations during the late 70's early 80's - I guess that officially makes me old!

I used several techniques to colour in. Some of the shading has been achieved by touching the brush to the actual pencil. Thanks Cheryl, that was a great tip!

I am really pleased with the way this image came together, so decided on a very simple layout for the card - I did not want to detract from the image.

This is a rare one for me! only a little bit of bling, and no Kindy Glitz! LOL

Whiff of Joy - Here comes the Bride

I couldn't wait to have a play with my new WOJ stamps, so ........ here is the Bride!

I used the sketch from the CreataliciousChallenges Design Team call - I love this sketch!

I have used a different technique to colour in this one - I used one of my Stampin' Up markers on acetate, and dipped my brush into that - I wanted to see if I could get better control of the blending. There are so many ways to hand colour images and I am enjoying trying them all!

Whiff of Joy #44

Over on Whiff_of_Joy_Challenge they have a sketch challenge, but you must use a WOJ image.

I was eagerly awaiting delivery of my new WOJ stamps from Bizzy_Becs_Store and am pleased to say that they did arrive in time for me to have a play with this sketch. This was my first order with this online store and the service was very prompt and courteous. Goods were posted promptly and they were WELL packed ;-)

I must say, the stamps are a beautiful quality and it is the poor colouring in and poor choice of cardstock that let me down in this instance. ;-(

The cardstock I stamped on, is beautiful for stamping, heat embossing, dry embossing and colouring in with chalks, but if you are a bit heavy handed with the water when you are watercolouring (like me), then the cardstock suffers - it starts to break down, and the colours do not 'blend' well.

Since I have really taken to this style of stamping, I need to investigate the best cardstock to get for watercolouring.

I also purchased the Willow Bride stamp, and have coloured that one in, I just have to put it on a card. Will post a piccie when I get a chance.

Creatalicious Challenge #1

Creatalicious_Challenge#1 have their first challenge up and running!

It is Fathers Day next month in Australia so we need make something for dad, it can be anything and it does not have to be specifically for Father's Day.......you just need to include the colour brown and some metal on your creation.

I was so impressed with the first entry, submitted by Sue, that I went here to see the instructions for this type of card. I have never tried anything like this before, so I thought I would give it a go.

so here is what I made!

Cardstock/papers: Brown bazzil, double-sided patterned paper

Gold stickers & sentiment, metal tools

Forever Friends image coloured with watercolour pencils, pewter paint used on some of the tools

The metal tools are quite heavy & make the card a bit unbalanced ;-(

I may have to rethink this one!

Here is a nice shot from an angle - shows the depth of the card a bit better.

I really enjoyed making up this card - the instructions are exceptional!

Thanks to Creatalicious for the challenge and special thanks to Sue for posting her card and sharing the instructions.

Delightful Sketches #4

My friend Merry posted on her blog the other day with a lovely card she had made following a challenge with digital images. I loved the card she made, and thought the image was cute!

I have not had much experience with digital stamps, so I thought I would give it a go.

I used one of the images from Freebie Friday on DigitalDelights and followed the sketch on DelightfulSketches.

I challenged myself to use a colour I don't use very often and picked green.

Patterned Polka dot paper used as a background, crossgrain ribbon layered over strip of checked paper. Spellbinder circle dies used in cuttlebug. Strip across top embossed with Cuttlebug with Happy Birthday folder. Freebie Friday image coloured in with watercolour pencils and highlighted with kindy glitz and mounted on dark green cardstock with 3D foam dots. Just for you rub-on sentiment mounted with 3D foam dots.

I was happy with the layout of this card.

I quite liked my colour combination, so I thought I would do another card using a different layout.

One thing I did notice, was that when I printed the larger images, there were tiny little dots over the page - I do hope that my printer is not developing a problem ;-(

ABC Challenge - Z for zero embellishments

Over on ABC the current challenge is Z = zero embellishments!

Whilst my cards are usually not overly busy, this got me thinking! I had to think about it for quite a while, and realised a sympathy card would fit that description.

So here is my card with zero embellishments - I hope the sticker sentiment does not count as an embellishment ;-(

Green cardstock used as a base. Gladioli image stamped three times on pearl paper and heat embossed with fine gold. Different layers cut out and layered in paper tole fashion. Flower mounted with 3D foam. Gold stickers used for sentiment - left over bits used for corners.

Sympathy cards are usually so very hard for me, but I like the way this one turned out.

Multiple Challenges - again!

I was so inspired by the Delicious Diva # 1 sketch, I decided to do some more cards with it ;-)

This card fits 4 challenges:

Pile_it_on- more than three flowers (in the stamp) I know, a bit cheeky ;-)

DeliciousDiva- sketch #1

StampSomething- charmed

PennyBlackSaturdayChallenge - summer

Items used: Polka dots & stripes DP, cross grain ribbon, charm, bling, spellbinder dies in cuttlebug Image: Penny Black - coloured in with watercolour pencils and highlighted with bling

I enjoyed myself so much, I made another one in completely different colours for me!

this seems so VERY bright! I think I need my sunglasses on!

DeliciousDiva Sketch #1

over on DeliciousDiva they have their first sketch challenge.

The sketch just seemed to talk to me, so I just had to have a go at it!

Forever Friends image watercoloured. Card embellished with flower & gems and ribbon.

I love the speed this card came together once I had decided on colour combination.

Panels cut with Spellbinder dies in cuttelbug. Centre of flowers highlighted with metallic gel pen - no kindy glitz for this card!

Magnolia Down Under #19 - Winter

Over on MagnoliaDownUnder the current challenge is to make a card using a magnolia image with a winter theme.

I have just got a whole new batch of magnolia images and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use Tilda & Edwin ice skating!

When I think of winter, I think of snow and ice skating. We don't get quite that cold where I live, so I have to rely on memory for my one trip to the snow when I was a teenager ;-)

this layout has been inspired by the Creatalicious Sketch again!

Metallic square card used as a base, 'winter wonderland' vellum used as background, panel embossed by cuttlebug using snowflakes folder.

Magnolia image coloured in with watercolours and highlighted with kindy glitz.

I used material paint for cuffs to imitate fur - not too sure it was successful ;-(

Snowflake was cut out using my CraftROBO and highlighted with a pearl.

Penny Black

Over on PennyBlack challenge #59 is a recipe - 3 ribbons, 2 flowers, 1 charm

I have just purchased some lovely Penny Black images and just had to give this one a try!

I love the combination of Black & White & Red, so here is my card.

Black leathergrain cardstock used as a base, three ribbons layered on top of each other, two flowers embellished with bling, one charm (placed over bag on stamped image). Image watercoloured and kindy glitz added.

I love the fun in this one!

Cuttlebug & spellbinder dies used to cut oval panels.

Blog Award - Circle of Friends

Circle of Friends Award

I am fairly new to the world of blogging - it has been a wonderful diversion to the disappointment and frustration of being unemployed and it has provided a wealth of inspiration for my creative juices.

I have been given this award by Cheryl, of MyCardmakingHaven, and will post it here on my blog with pride. thank you so much, Cheryl!

I agree with Cheryl, it is a wonderful way to communicate with someone that lives in another state, area or even country and hopefully, some lovely friendships will grow over time.

To keep the Circle of Friends going I must do my part and pass it along.....

Here are the rules for this award: To pick up the Circle of Friends Blog Award cut and paste the award logo and use it on your own blog. Nominate 5 other bloggers you feel have become part of your circle of friends. Link to your nominees within your blog post. Include these instructions on how to pick up the award in your blog post. Link back to the person who gave you the award in your blog post, to show your appreciation. Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.

It is so very hard to pick just 5 friends as I have 'met' some lovely people in blogland!

So, I will give this award to some very dear friends that have been around for quite some time ;-) and some very new friends, I hope these friendships continue to blossom! ;-)

Cheryl - right back at ya! It is so nice to receive this award and a big thank you for your support!

Linda & Merry - thank you for your constant support in all facets of my life, not just in relation to my blog.

Bec, Debby & Cassie - thank you for your blog support and wonderful comments.