Craftmad Weekly Challenge Theme - Glitter

I am a bit organised this week and made a card especially for the weekly theme I have set for Craftmad. This is a very Blue Edge Crafts card. Everything bar the reindeers and the snowflakes comes from Blue Edge Crafts. I have used a pre-scored embossed lined white card, a layer of wonderful purple textured paper with threads running all through it. Then a layer of lilac Bazzill Bling card I have stitched around each of these using my sewing matching. The reindeer glitter die-cuts I found in Kmart. I punched some white snowflakes. Added some bling and a Letraset Christmas rub-on.

I am also entering this into the first ever Challenge over at Sketchy Colours #1 - Purple/Lilac

Edit: Just following through on an order from Avril Ann. Avril strongly suggested that I enter this card in the Sophisticats challenge. They are asking for sparkle and snowflakes. I agree with her as I think this card covers both.

Three Trees for Pick Three Challenge

Morning everyone, hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Decided it was time to try out the Pick Three challenge this week. So I checked out the list that we had to choose three items from. Brads, Buttons, Bows, Crystals, Beads, Glitter, Pearls, and Eyelets. Walked around and did a few jobs around the house and suddenly I thought of the three trees. Had fun creating this card...not quite what I had imagined but am happy with it.

I started with SU River Rock for the base card then added the background paper which is from a magazine. Such a wonderful pattern and colour. Next, I was able to use some of my new ribbons. Then I added my topper where I used my three choices - brads, eyelets and crystals. The stumps of the trees are brown bazzill card. I edged the edge of the white card with my metallic pen and then adhered this to a piece of scrap gold paper. Finished the card with a Merry Christmas sticker from the Sticker Store.

My prize of ribbons and another Christmas Box

I received my ten rolls of cross grain ribbon (5 yard lengths) from Cheryl over at Stamp-by-Step yesterday. I must say wonderful service and I am lucky as normally they don't ship to Australia. This is what I spent my $15.00 voucher on for randomly winning at Saturday Spotlight. I have never owned so much ribbon before. It will be nice to have the choice for my cards.

Edit: The papers used are SU Ski Slope DSP the image is from SU Snow Swirled stamp set.

This is another box that we created with Ruth from Arty Inkers or Stamping 4 Fun with Ruth last Thursday night. This one gave me a little problem when we were scoring and cutting. But now I think about it it was probably the glass of wine that was not helping. :-) This box is made from one A4 sheet of card which we scored and then cut in four places. We stamped the outside with a Stampin Up snowflake and fixed the box together with double sided tape. Finished with a lovely ribbon made of Stampin Up Design Papers.

If I happen to get my computer fixed before Christmas I will have a try at putting together a tutorial on here for this box and the last. I can't at the moment as this post has taken me literally 1/2 hour to do.

Thermomix

Hi everyone, I have had a couple of people ask me about the Thermomix . So I thought I would share the link with you so you can have a look at it and read up on it. http://www.thermomix.com.au/ If I was starting out in a house I would definetly get one. But for now we will stick with our food processor, blender, juicer. Apparently, in Europe it is called a Bimbi and has been over there for forty years.

A stack of Christmas boxes

Edit: The papers used are SU Ski Slope DSP.

Morning everyone, I had a bit of a late but very fun night last night creating this terrific stack of Christmas boxes. My wonderful friend decided to host a Stampin Up party with Ruth from Arty Inkers or Stamping 4 Fun with Ruth showing us how to create these terrific explosion boxes. You could use these to give gifts in or as an explosion box with photos in or as I plan on doing using as a Christmas decoration. I love the papers we have used. Sorry, once again I can't remember the name of the Stampin Up papers. I was too busy getting my head around some of the folds we had to do. I would share how to do this here but we all found this was a very hands on/visual project. The second photo show how the boxes come apart. There was no glue or tape used in the construction much to the relief of one of the ladies there.

I'm back!!!! with a Glitter Card

Hi everyone, it's only been a couple of days but I have missed checking out all your creations. Our modem decided it had had enough on Monday and finally yesterday arvo after buying a new modem I managed to get back online. Yay! Next challenge is to find someone to get rid of the bug we have.

I have been busy creating a couple of things in my time offline. One, is this card. I have finally got an entry for the Bizzy Becs Creatalicious Challenge #4. Every other month, I think I have a whole month to do this and then forget. The challenge was to create something for Christmas, include snowflakes and lots of sparkle/glitter.

So I have used SU Brocade Blue for the base card. White pearlescant paper that I have run through the cuttlebug with my Swiss Dots folder. I am not sure where I found this free digital image sorry. I printed her on white card and coloured her with my aqua pen and watercolour pencils. Added some Peacock embossing powder with PVA glue but didn't heat emboss as I like the fluffy look it has. Then put some double sided tape around all the edges of my image, took off the protective covering of the double sided tape and sprinkled red glitter all over. Added some sparkly snowflake buttons that I bought from Blue Edge Crafts and a Letraset gold rub on 'Let it Snow'.

I have some exciting news that has happened in those couple of days offline. I was picked in the Top Three for last weeks Pick Three Challenge. Thanks so much Denise, can't wait to try out this weeks challenge.

I have also won a prize from over at the amazing Jak Heath's Blog Crafter's Kitchen. Jak has two wonderful image available for 4 pounds each. The donation goes to raising funds for research into Meningitis to which she sadly lost her 16 month old great nephew. Jak generously started up a giveaway that you could enter with a creation using one of these wonderful images. I was so lucky to win. I thought I was winning one Flippin Christmas Die Cut but went back and reread the prize this morning and discovered it is the whole set of Flippin Christmas Die Cuts. How fantastic is that. I have always wanted to have a go at one of these Flippin designs as they look like so much fun.

Poinsettia Card

I have used this sketch from Pixie Cottage.

Morning everyone, I love the colours in this card and it is saying Mum and Dad to me. Luckily, they don't visit my blog so I can show it off today. I have used pale green bazzill card for the base card. A layer of sheer material with gold fleck through it. On the right side a piece of red paper that I have run through a Swirl embossing folder. The image I received in our latest image swap over at Craftmad. Isn't it a beautiful image. The person who sent it wrote this on top PSX K784. I am having a mental blank as to what stamp company that is at the moment. I coloured the poinsettia with my watercolur pencils and aqua pen. Added a touch red and gold glitter. Finished the card with the lovely red and gold ribbon that I found.

Iam going to enter this in the Tuesday Taggers Challenge - Red, Gold and Green.

Also entering into the Colour Create Challenge - Green, Red and White.

New Challenge Blog - Sketchy Colours

Morning everyone, just discovered a new challenge blog thanks to Kylie. This is a Norwegian blog called Sketchy Colours as the name suggests they will be having challenges with Sketches and Colours. The fun starts on the 29th November. Should be interesting.

Tilda Present Christmas Card and two challenges

Good morning everyone, hope your weekend is going well. Our Saturday was a little wet but found plenty to do. Checked out a machine for the kitchen called Thermomix yesterday. Amazing what it does and my hubby and I had some wonderful created by this machine. But have decided that we will make do with the gadgets we already have. As the price tag is $1939. I was talking to a friend about this and she made a good point....if you were just starting out in a household the Thermomix would certainly be the way to go.

Best get on with this card before I lose my connection. Yes, not only is our computer slow but the internet connection didn't come on yesterday until the afternoon. The lights are starting to flicker on the modem now. Arrrrrgggghhh!!

My card I have used the sketch from Everything but the Kitchen Sink.....great sketch. I have also used the Pick Three Challenge which we had to choose from a list of punches.

A corner punch - I used
A punch with a holiday theme
A snowflake punch - I used
A border punch with a winter theme
A circle punch
Any punch with scalloped edges
A heart punch - I used

I used SU Perfect Plum for the base card. Then cut rectangles from Design Paper from SU which I think is called Good Morning Sunshine. Next added the punched snowflakes with glitter. I cut out the Tilda image with my circle nestabilities and embossed the edge. I coloured Tilda with my aqua pen and watercolour pencils and some metallic gold pen highlights. Added the three punched hearts to the bottom of her dress with a touch of glitter. Finished with the rub-on greeting and star form Kaisercraft.

Winner if Buyster Lighting Giveaway

Winner if Buyster Lighting Giveaway is...................................

Congratulations Effie.....I will contact you with info.

You have to check this out Laura designed a card for me.

What a lovely surprise this morning as I was catching up on everyone's creations. Laura from over at Mi Sello Personal blog has posted the cutest card to celebrate the arrival of my little nephew. How special is that!!!! Laura is so clever drawing these images and cutting out all the fine details. Love it.

My daughter and I finally got to visit little Jack last night and both had a wonderful cuddle of him. He is toooooo cute. Mum is doing well too.

I don't have a card to share today as my hubby was home yesterday and I was playing nurse. My hubby rides a bike (bicycle) and was riding in a race on Wednesday night at the local track. He clipped the wheel of the guy in front and came off at about 40km and has bruises and skin off everywhere. One thing is good that he had a helmet on. It has at least three large cracks in it that we can see. The doctor told him to take it easy and have yesterday and today off work. But he will be back on a bike in no time I am sure. He is just feeling very stiff and sorry for himself at the mo.

Oh, I just have to do this and hopefully it is a post he visits........a huge wave to my brother and his wife in Florida. Wave, wave, wave.......do you recognise my hand this time? :-)

Giveaway for Australian Residents only

Can you believe this!!!! I'm very excited to announce a wonderful giveaway from the generous folks at buyster lighting. Buyster have a huge range of stylish and affordable lighting options from lamps to outdoor lights and everything in between. I had the choice to offer you a particular light but have opted to offer a voucher as the giveaway. That way you can have the fun of choosing a wonderful light to go with your decor. I have just added a couple of photos below as ideas to whet your appetite.

The giveaway is a $100 voucher to use on lighting of your choice. There are a lot of options available for $100 and under. How great is that?! Apologies to my international friends, this one's only open to Australian residents.

So just leave a comment and if you don't have a blog with an email please leave your email address so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner. This giveaway will close Friday 20th November and I will post the lucky winner Saturday 21st November. I will try and keep this post at the top for this time.

If you don't have a blog but know that I have your email address and live Australia please leave a comment. Just make sure I know who you are. :-) e.g. friend, bits and bots, craftmad, family

Some of the lights I like :-

It's a Boy! Card

Yes, I had to make a card for my new nephew. So I have used the above sketch from Create 4 Fun Challenge #46

I will also enter this card into the Allsorts Challenge this week - 'For a Child'.

I have used SU Brocade Blue for the base card. Then some wonderful blue and white striped paper. The corners and backing to the topper are SU Yoyo Yellow. The wonderful ribbon is from Blue Edge Crafts. And lastly, but by no means least the very cute image is from Squigglefly. Oh, and the gold letter stickers from the Sticker Store. I coloured the image with my aqua pen and watercolour pencils and my one and only Copic Pen E051. :-)

I must say that I am really starting to like these Digital Stamps.

A. I know that the image is going to turn out everytime (I always manged to blur or stick fingerprint on my rubber stamped images).

B. I know that I can have the size I want.

C. If I need an image I can just search the net and find what I am looking for in a matter of minutes.

So tonight we are off to see young Jack..... :-)

My computer is still sooooooo slow. It has taken 15mins to do just this post. So I am not commenting on the wonderful projects that I am seeing at the moment as the computer tends to freeze up. I am still checking out though on my Dashboard.

It's a BOY!!!!! I'm an Aunt again. :-)

Woohoo!!!! IT'S A BOY :-)

Jack Douglas arrived into this world at 9.09am 6 pounds 10 ounces (3kg approx) 48cm. He is five weeks early.....I think he was running out of room. :-) My brother is a very proud Dad as I am sure his wife and two daughters are.

We all thought it was going to be another girl.....but it's a BOY!!!!

2nd card for in Memory of Layton

Jak Heath at Crafters Kitchen has two digi images on offer to help raise money for research into meningtis. Sadly Jak lost her 16 month old, great nephew to this disease on the 27th October this year. Jak announced yesterday that these two images had raised 1000 pounds already. Isn't that fantastic.

Finally, had a go at the second image by Jim Harker. I must say when this snowman is uncoloured he looks a little evil to me. But when I showed my daughter last night I relieved to hear her say he doesn't look evil anymore. :-) I used brown Bazill for the base card then some wonderful cream vellum with a snowy flourish. Trimmed the vellum with gold border sticker from the Sticker Store. Along the bottom I stuck some wonderful snowflake buttons from Blue Edge Crafts. Next came the image which I backed with a layer of red card. I coloured the snowman with my water colour pencils and aqua pen. Finished him with some glitter and metallic pens. Then added the rub on from Letraset ' Festive Frolics'.

Now for my exciting news...........I am going to be an Aunt again today. :-) My sister-in-law went into hospital last night at 11.30pm when her waters broke and now they are waiting for the doctor to arrive to arrange a ceaser. As with all her other babies (this is number four) this baby can't wait to get into the world. My SIL was booked in for the 3rd December for a ceaser but this one just can't wait. So I have everything crossed that all goes well. I think we all have our breath held baby number three Harmony was only with us for three days.

Oh, and my computer is still really really slow.

Mustn't forget our dog is okay. Had to have an xray and discovered that his leg bone in his left hip socket doesn't sit as snuggly as the right. So this explains the limp when he gets up from sitting and nothing serious. Yay!!!!

Top Three at Stamping Vacation and slow computer.

Morning everyone, it was so nice this morning and every other morning to log on here and read such lovely comments. Thank you all for visiting and taking the time to comment on my cards. I really appreciate it.

I made the top three.....woohooo!!!!! first time ever. I made the Top Three of last weeks 'Pick Three' challenge. :-) Now it's time to get ready to work on this weeks challenge......a choice of punches to used.

I have no photo to post today as my computer is being extremely slow and I have a few things to do. Like wash the dog and take him to the vet as he is limping on his left hind leg. So if I happen to disappear sometime this week it is probably because my computer has had enough and we couldn't find the bug that is bugging it at the mo.

Just a reminder for those Australian readers.......remember to check out the Buyster Lighting Giveaway here.

In Memory of Layton

This wonderful digi image was drawn by the talented Mo Manning to help raise money for Meningitis Research. There are two images on offer, I will post my second one tomorrow....not finished yet. The images are available on Jak Heath's blog - Crafters Kitchen. Layton is Jak's great nephew who sadly died on the 27th October aged only 16months. He had meningitis. So be sure to visit Jak's blog.

For this card I have used the wonderful sketch from I Heart 2 Stamp. Before I go on about the card I have to let you know about this wonderful blog that Allison owns. I found her because she had listed me in one of her 'Newly Discovered' lists.....what an honour. Anyways, every day on her blog (Stampin When I Can) Allison posts a list of sketches for that day. That is where I discovered this sketch. I just looked through for the right one to fit my image and went from there. Brilliant!!!

So back to the card. I found some blue card to use for the base card then a layer of white perlescent paper from Blue Edge Crafts. Next I used the star paper which my Mum gave me years ago. I knew a card would come one day that it looked perfect on. The wonderful image I coloured with my aqua pen and watercolour pencils and touches of metallic pens. Finished with the red circle cut on my circle nestabilities and used a Letraset rub on.

Gardening and I won! - (Leichhardt Tree)

Edit: Thanks to a lovely lady Suze over at Craftmad I now know that this tree is a -

Nauclea orientalis - Leichhardt Tree. Large tree with prominent leaves approx 25cm x 10cm. Yellow & white flowers are crowded into a globular head about 2.5cm. dia. Plants require water at all times & can't be allowed to dry out. Distribution NT, Qld & WA

Hi everyone, hope you are having a wonderful weekend. No cards for me today as yesterday was such a beautiful day after a week and bit worth of rain. Perfect for gardening as those weeds come out very easily. So now the vegi garden is weeded and our front four garden beds. Also all the palm fronds have been picked up to stop the Dengue mosquito moving in.

While wandering around our yard yesterday my daughter and I discovered the above tree covered in the most amazing flowers. Love finding hidden surprises. Although we do find it each year it's still like finding it for the first time. These yellow ball flowers dry up into a wonderful brown seed pod. The seed pod we actually saw used at a recent craft show painted gold and used as a Christmas decoration. So my daughter and I will be out collecting soon. Sorry, I have no idea what the name of the tree is but if anyone does I would love to hear from you.

Oh and yes, exciting, I won the random draw over at Saturday Spotlight challenge. Lucky me gets to spend $15.00 at Stamp-By-Step. Yes, I have been over to check the shop out and would like to buy everything. lol But have decided on some ribbon to stock up my tiny collection.

Christmas Card Holder

Last night I spent a wonderful time with friends at one of Ruth's terrific Stampin Up workshops. You can see more of Ruth's creations here at Arty Inkers. We created nine cards and this wonderful Card Holder/Folder in three hours. I was really impressed as normally after a workshop I still have some card fronts to stick on. Not this time all done.

So today I am showing off the Folder and this is probably all you will see of these cards as I plan to send them to some online friends and can't ruin the surprise too much.

To create the folder you need an A4 sheet of card. We have used SU Kraft Card, fold in half. Now fold up approx 5cm. Cut a triangle away from the centre and a triangle shape from each corner of the flap. Now close the folder and with a hole punch (we used the crop-a-dile), punch a hole mid-way of each side of the folder. Now open out and thread through a length of ribbon approx 50cm long. Have the majority of the ribbon on the inside so that it can hold the cards or papers in place.

I decorated the front of the folder with the wonderful Stampin Up stamps that were available to use last night. Sorry...I can't remember what sets they belong to.

I am entering this folder into Stamping Vacation's 'Pick Three' Challenge. This week we had to pick three things from this list. Great fun!!

-Use anything you might find in a garage or workshop

-Use anything from your sewing box - Ribbon

-Use anything you would find in a junk drawer

-Use an image of something that is in your yard

-Use anything from your kitchen - Alfoil (snowflakes)

-Use traditional colors you would see on a holiday - Christmas - red, green and white

-Use anything that might be found in a jewelry box

-Use anything you might find in a library

Thanks to the heads up from Avril Ann I am entering this into the Tuesday Taggers Challenge which asks for a creations using no patterned paper.

Also entering into Saturday Spotlight challenge which as for a repeated stamp - snowflakes.
And Crafty Creations #41 - Snow

Red Holly Fairy

I so love this little Christmas Holly Fairy from Mo Manning. She is fun to colour. I am whispering this *The reason for this card is for our November card swap over at Craftmad. Theme - 2 cards with Red, White and Green. Yes, the card below is the second card.*** Shhhhh. I just hope my partner doesn't visit. :-)

I have used red felt card (Blue Edge Crafts) for the base card. Then I have used one of Ikki techniques over at Ikki's Cupboard and cut an octagon in the front of my card using my Nestabilities. Still using my Octagon Nestabilities I cut an acetate shape. Then a white textured from to cover the edge of the acetate where I adhered it to the card. At the bottom edge of the card I used a piece of white card that I had run through my Cuttlebug using the 'Swiss Dots' folder. Then added this wonderful red Christmas sticker from the Sticker Store.

For the inside of the card I printed out the wonderful Holly Fairy and coloured her with my aqua pen and watercolour pencils. Added some glitter to the frill on the bottom of her dress. I cut her out using my Octagon Nestabilities. Then attached her to the inside of my card ensuring she was all lined up when looking through from the front. Then..... I opened my card and saw that the Octagon was crooked....arrrrrggghhhh! Mental note:- circle cutouts would be much easier to line up. Luckily, though I have the Scalloped Edged Circle Nestabilities which I cut a frame and it has covered the mistake up very well. :-)

I will be entering this card into the following challenges:-
Sophisticat Challenge #10 - Wings
Whimsy Challenge #27 - Watercolours
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Digi Sparkle
Digital Tuesday Challenge #32 - Holiday Wishes - Digi Image
Sassy Designs Challenge #1 - Christmas

Just visited Blue Edge Crafts and they have this fun thing happening at the moment. With your order if you pay an extra $2.00 you will receive a 'Lucky Dip Surprise' with your goodies. You can have as many Lucky Dips as you like with any order. The Lucky Dip Surprise will be to the value of $2.00 or more. Sounds like fun to me. :-)

Red flower and ladybugs

I really had fun with this card and like the end results. I used the sketch challenge from Taylored Expressions #90. For the base card I used red felt card which I have just received from Blue Edge Crafts. It is such a lovely texture.....soft to touch. Next a layer of the ladybug paper which I have had in my collection for ages and never found the right use for. Next I used a flower image from SU Playful Petals. I cut around it using the scalloped edged nestabilities. Coloured the image with felt pen and aqua pen with watercolour pencils. I added a bling centre and went over the circle of dots with glitter glue. Finished the cards with four leaves I cut from some wonderful paper I had laminated ages ago to do a book cover.

I am also entering this card into Crafty Catz Challenge #7......Going Dottie

******Remember to enter the $100 voucher Lighting Giveaway closes 20 November. (Australian residents only)

New Papers and a couple of Challenges

Yesterday I received my parcel of goodies I had ordered from Blue Edge Crafts. So had to put some into use. So I have created this card for a couple of challenges.

I have used the sketch from over at Charisma Cardz Sketch Challenge #44. So I started with a lovely blue felt card for the base card. Added a layer of my new paper Bird Song from Kaiser Craft. Aren't the birds too cute. I added two strips to the side, one of which I stamped 'happy birthday' along the length of it. I then stamped up the bird from SU Good Friend set and gave him a silver paper glitter wing. I cut the bird out with my circle nestabilities and then used the embossing mat to emboss the edge. Finished with three loops of green ribbon on edge of circle and a little bling along the bottom of the card.

Craftmad Weekly Challenge - Garden

I set the themes for the weekly craft challenges over at Craftmad. This week it is 'Garden' as I have had these wheelbarrow and gardening stickers (Sticker Store) for a while and really wanted to use them. I am really happy with my card......although there was one stage I was going to toss it in the bin. Amazing how just taking one element off a card can change the whole thing.

I have used a white corrugated card (Blue Edge Crafts). The right hand side I attached Blue Bazzil Bling which I added the gardening tool stickers. I then punched holes down the side and hand stitched with gold thread. The wheelbarrow I coloured with gold and blue metallic pens and black permanent marker. I filled the wheelbarrow with a variety of yellow and orange punched out flowers and green leaves. I have added smaller white flowers to the centre of some, Kindy Glitz to others and a couple of pearl bling centres too. Finished the card with three little blue punched out butterflies.

An Interesting Challenge - Tear Bear - and a challenge prize

I have a card for you this morning. :-) My daughter had a ball at Laser Tag and I think that will be something she will be doing again maybe Christmas School Holidays. This card was created because of Stacie over at All Things Crafty. Stacie had posted a card with for a challenge which they had requested the use of 'TP'. Yes, curiosity got the better of me and I asked what was 'TP'. It's Toilet Paper......sorry Stacie but surely that can't be right I was thinking. Must be Tissue Paper. So off I go to Lawn Fawn Cards where they have a challenge called "Everything But the Kitchen Sink". And yes......Stacie was so right the item is Toilet Paper. Lol. I so had to have a try. :-)

I have used SU Blue Bayou for the base card. Three strips of silver paper which I have run through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing folder. I have then cut a square of white and blue card which I have hand stitched around. All the hand stitching I have been doing lately is inspired by a talented lady called Nancy over at 'Inspired by Stamps'. She creates the most amazing card with such beautiful stitching. Back to the card.......I added the silver 'Birthday Boy' Letraset rub-on. Two blue buttons and a wonderful embossed butterfly I received from a friend over at Craftmad. I added bling for the body. Oh.....and the bear is the Toilet Paper....which is from a packet I just opened and has been nowhere near a toilet.

I am also entering this card into a couple more challenges.

Creative Card Crew Challenge #35 Ribbons and Gems

Colour Create Challenge #31 - Blue, Sliver, and White

Cupcake Craft Challenge #64 - Sketch

The photo above shows the wonderful prize that arrived from Denise over at Stamping Vacation for my win in one of her 'Pick Three' challenges. Thanks so much Denise. Those buttons catch my eye every time I walk past my desk they are so pretty.

Challenges----- It has taken me a year but I have figured out a way to keep track of all these wonderful challenges that are around blog world. I now have an exercise book that I have divided the page up into approx four days. As I visit all the blogs I follow and spy a challenge I like I add that challenge and details to my book on the date that it closes. Now when I need a little inspiration I look at my book and find a sketch, colours, or theme and I get creating.

How do you all keep track of your challenges??????

Almost Finished

Morning everyone, I have a card that is almost finished. Had the plan to finish this morning and post it but that has just gone out the window. My daughter was heading off with her friend to go to Laser Tag as part of birthday celebrations. The Mum of the friend has just rang and asked for my help as her poor sister who was going to help with transport has woke up with one of those vomiting bugs. So will be a tad busy out in the car. Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday. Take care.

Best Wishes Flower Card and Chocolate Wax Melts

I began with the flower for this card last night. Jak Heath has a wonderful tutorial on her blog Crafter's Kitchen for this amazing nestabilities Chrysanthemum . I just had to have a go. I will be entering this card into the Digital Tuesday Challenge #31 which asks to have Flowers as a feature. Also entering into the Sew Many Cards Challenge #11 which asks for stitching of any form. I have hand stitched around the edge of the card using gold metallic thread. The background card I embossed in my 'Victoria' folder. I have used my Octagon Nestabilities from Blue Edge Crafts for the two toppers with alternating white card and gold metallic paper. The flower I cut from paper I made a couple of years ago. We had white paper and layered different colours of crepe on top and then sprayed with water. Let it sit for a little bit while the colours soaked into the paper. Finally, found a use for it.

Now check out what I received in the mail yesterday. I had just returned home from grocery shopping and had no lunch and opened this up. I really had to keep saying to myself 'no these are not real they are chocolate wax melts that smell like raspberry chocolate'. I showed my husband when he arrived home and he was drooling ...... I had to tell him quickly before his hand went into grab one to eat. So thanks so much Rebecca at Purple Sparkle.

Christmas Joy and Craftmad Journal

I have a card here today for Denise's 'Pick Three' Challenge at Stamping Vacation. The sketch I used was for the Taylored Expressions Challenge #89.

I used SU Certainly Celery for the base card then heat embossed snowflakes from the SU Snowflake set using clear embossing powder. Next I layered SU River Rock and SU Sahara Sand and ran them through the Cuttlebug embossing folder 'Swiss Dots'. Next I stamped up this wonderful stamp I won in a giveaway over at Manic Stamper. It is unmounted and I haven't got to and bought any ezi-mount yet. So, suddenly thought last night, if I ink it and leave it flat on the bench then place the card I am inking it onto on top with a mouse pad on top of that I could use it. That is what I did. To finish the card off I cut a scalloped edged circle from silver jak paper (Blue Edge Crafts) and a plain circle which I embossed the edge of with my nestabilities. Stamped 'Joy' from the SU Snowflake set. TaDah!! all done.

For the Pick Three challenge this week we had to choose from the following list of stamps. I have highlighted the ones I have used.

1. Snowman or snowflake
2. Winter mittens or hat
3. Tree
4. Boots or shoes
5. Any animal
6. Sentiment
7. Winter Scarf
8. Sled or Sleigh

Over at Craftmad we have just released our latest Online Craftmad Journal. This time it is crammed packed full of ideas to use you stickers/peel-offs on. Some of my cards even rated a mention :-) Click on the picture below to see the list of online Craftmad Journals available (FREE!!)

Holly Fairy - Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge

I decided to have a go at Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge #4. You have to do a fancy fold card using at least one of Mo's Digital images. Thought why not have a look at the images and purchase a Christmas image. Found this beautiful Holly Fairy which I have seen other people use, she is too cute and fun to colour.

I decided on a gate fold card which doesn't really show this photo but it does open in the centre. I used SU Certainly Celery for the base card which I used the little spots from a SU Snowflake set around the edge. Added a piece of SU Design Paper in Rose Red to each side of the card. Added some silver ribbon with some cute little bows on it that I received from Blue Edge Crafts. Some wonderful snowflake stickers from the Sticker Store and topped with silver bling. Three little green buttons in the right hand corner. I coloured the Holly Fairy with my aqua pen and watercolour pencils and added a touch of glitter on the frill of her skirt. Cut her out with my hexagon nestabilities.

I will be entering this into the Sophisticat Challenge #9 which asks for 'Buttons and Ribbons'.

Friend Award

The lovely Stacie over at All Things Crafty gave me this wonderful award. Thanks so much Stacie. To finish off this award I am meant to list five things about myself. Hmmmmmm......

1. I am lucky enough to live on 2 acres of land.....so have plenty of gardens to keep me outside at times.

2. I love the smell of the rainforest.....lucky I live in the tropics.

3. Feed me Mexican any day but if you want to prepare any meal and I don't have to cook I will be in that too. :-)

4. I am a quiet and shy person and am finding this really hard thinking of five things to talk about myself.

5. I enjoy playing sports. Grew up playing field hockey. When the kids started school I joined a small group of ladies for very social tennis of a Tuesday arvo. Our kids are now in high school. Also tried touch football for a couple of years. Now my brain is willing but my body just won't move so I enjoy watching my daughter play.

Next I am meant to pass this onto five wonderful people. I find this too hard to choose as I have enjoyed getting to know you all. If you visit I would like you to take this award and share a little of yourself.

Pick Three Challenge and Craftmad November Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone, thanks for visiting and leaving such lovely comments while I was away. My daughter and I had a wonderful but tiring weekend down in Townsville. We sat in sunshine, wind and rain. My daughter won her first three Touch Football games on the Saturday and lost the last one 2-0. The team came back Sunday morning bright and early 8.40am to play in the Quarter Finals which was 2-2 at full time so then they had to play extra time. In Touch Football this means a player drops off every minute until there are only three players left on the field....they start with six. So at every stage into extra time it's first to score. They did get down to the three players but the opposition ended up scoring the winning try. An exciting game to finish the weekend on.

Now for the card. I noticed that the Pick Three Challenge needs one more entry to put us in the running for prizes. Woohoo!! So couldn't resist the temptation to do another card with the challenge of using three elements from the above image. See Pick Three Challenge at Stamping Vacation. I have also used the November Card Sketch Challenge from over at Craftmad to help me create this card.

I have used SU More Mustard for the base card, strips of Su Ruby Red and SU Really Rust which I have run through the Cuttlebug using the Forest Branches embossing folder. Coloured this wonderful scarecrow image from Digital Delights. Finished with a strip of SU Old Olive and a white birthday sticker from 'The Sticker Store'.

The elements I have used from the image, colours, tree branches (embossing) and the scarecrow.