Special Delivery

YAY! New Christmas stamps! I love these new stamps... Santa has a whole other life! I am going to have a blast this year with Christmas cards... the problem is, once I make a HH card, I have a REALLY hard time giving it away! I love this Basic Grey Blitzen paper I got last year... and shock horror... I am almost out! I found that realisation really sad last night!

Here's the first one!

WOOHOO! The brand new High Hopes stamps are now officially released so I finally get to show you some of the fun I have been having for the last few days!! This card is the frog prince and I have stamped him on the reflecting pond... I had SUCH a great time watercolouring these images... isn't froggie just so cute??

I will be posting some more in the coming days so be sure to pop back... these images are awesome... I just wish I had more time off work so I could stay home and stamp!!

So, go check out the High Hopes Rubber Stamps website to see the whole range of dragons, fairytale stamps, Christmas and HEAPS of co-ordinating stamps.... OH... I just love them all!! Crissy has gone above and beyond with these ones!

Now, there is one more thing before I whip off to make some more cards... The High Hopes Diva's have started a new CHALLENGE BLOG! This is going to be so much fun... each Sunday we are going to post a new challenge and we want you to come join in and show us your cards! Pop on over to have a look at our first one and see some more cards made using these new stamps! OH... its all too exciting for words!!

Wanna see a couple more?

Here they are.... more ADORABLE High Hopes stamps.... and the best bit is you only have to wait one more day!!

I can't wait! Pop back tomorrow for some fun cards made using some of these amazingly, fabulous, CUTE stamps and a link to another fun surprise we have planned... just for you!

Want a little sneek peek....

At the High Hopes brand new stamps??

The big day is Sunday 28 unless you live on my side of the world and it will be Monday 29!

We have been itching to let slip what is coming so stay tuned, I will be back tomorrow with some more cuties to feast your eyes on!

Friends

I made this card last weekend... the idea was from Rachael and I managed to almost master a sponge! Rachael gives a great tutorial on 'Faking it' and doing faux brayering. The only problem was, I forgot after I started the card that the challenge was to not use a brayer and I did for the base colour. I did manage however to work out the sponge for the other layers of ink... I am so happy with this card! I masked off the grass and sponged the sky leaving a 1 3/8" circle post it for the moon. Then I masked the sky around the moon and sponged that, then masked the sky and sponged the grass. I used a bit of wire and some white paint to do the stars and I was all done! I think I might try this again soon! Thanks Rach.

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by the lovely and fabulously creative Joanne and I need to list seven random things about myself. Hmmm.... thinking music....

1. I have a happy dance! Yep... I repetitively sing whatever I am happy about... foooor example, "wooooohhooo my stamps are here... wooooohhooo my stamps are here... wooooohhooo my stamps are here" and partner that with wriggling and jumping around in front of the dog and you have a situation that could cause concern if witnessed by another human being!

2. I am a watercolour addict... I watercolour images and then never make cards from them. I just watercolour for the fun of it and then set the images aside. It helps when I don't feel like watercolouring though... or sometimes when I watercolour too much I get sore hands and cant hold the blender so I turn to actually making cards from the images then!

3. I like to bake... but only if it has chocolate in it! I am ok at it too... I can make most things I try well but when I realise I am on to a good thing it all goes downhill... I make it all the time until we are so sick of eating it we can't even look at it. Thanks Mum... we both know I got that from YOU!

4. I love my nanna nap. I have afternoon sleeps after work a few times a week! I usually sleep until Matt comes in the driveway then I quickly get up and make it seem like I was awake the whole time so he doesn't tease me! What... ME?? NEVER! Hehehe

5. I am terrible at paying bills. It's not that I don't have the money, its the hassle of logging into my internet banking account... I am too lazy and I get my mobile phone cut off almost every month for paying it late! Well, that has been my trend lately anyway!

6. I am so scared the microwave at work is going to blow up I can't bring myself to stand in the room with it while its on! I turn it on and then leave until it beeps! It's not every microwave I have an un-natural fear of, its just this one....

and lastly, on the off chance you are still reading.....

7. I loooove ice-cream! I eat it pretty much every day, all year round and the only time I don't eat it is when we have run out and forgot to get it from the shops. My uncle said I have always loved ice-cream... he said that I used to call it E-cream and when my nanna would walk me to the shop I always wanted her to get me E-cream!

So now I am going to tag some lovely bloggers that I have been visiting lately... go have a look... their work is great!

Tori - Wild Stamping Sprinkles
Michelle - Just Painting Around
Chrissie - Chrissie's World

The day is here!

I have been waiting since July for my new car to get to Australia and today is finally the day! I say goodbye to IVY my little Echo and hello to my new RED Corolla! I cant wait... 4 o'clock today!

*UPDATE*

Well, here she is... two months wait for the red one was definately worth every second! Driving back to work this afternoon was the most horrific 2 km’s of my driving life. The car was too quiet I couldn’t work out if it was going or if it had stalled. Then I didn’t know how much to rev it, I kept looking at the radio for the speed (the echo had the dash in the centre)… it was a real ordeal. I found it so stressful that I gave myself a headache and I was shaking when I got back to my desk!! I had better get used to granny revs, bunny hops and teeth cleaning again! I am getting used to it now but it will still be wrapped up in cotton wool for a bit yet. 1.8L engine is certainly a lot better than 1.5L…. it takes off FAST… petrol is going to cost me a fortune!

Have a GROOVY Day!

This stamp was a freebie in my last High Hopes order and I really wanted to use it on a bright birthday card... so here she is... the grooviest flamingo you will ever see! This is Party Girl Florence and I think she is an absolute crack up! I finally managed to cut into the Basic Grey pattern paper I have been holding onto for a rainy day.... for years now.... this is Cairns.... it rains all the time... I think I just never found a project bright enough until now!

Happy Birthday To Ye!

AHOY! happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day! I know my post is a bit late but I just haven't gotten around to posting my card! I made this card on Friday especially for the occassion and I am really pleased with it! Had I have remembered before the morning when I read it in an email I probably would have whipped up a couple more using my beloved pirate collection... I just love these guys!

HO!

I used my brand new (and the right size!) Nestabilities today! I am really proud that I managed to use something the day I got it. I usually get things with heaps of ideas in mind, I get them and then I get stuck. I usually sit them in my room for a couple days before attempting to use them. You could say this was a break through!

Merry Kiss-Moose

This is my very first High Hopes Christmas card! When I saw this stamp I had to have it! Who can go past that adorable sentiment!! There are a couple other Mudzie Moose stamps I want to get... there is also another one (which cracks me up to no end everytime), Not a Creature was Stirring, Not Even a Moose!

Blog Candy Alert

Gina is giving away some excellent blog candy on her blog The Card Kabin... it ends 17th of September so make sure you get your comment in before her pooch draws a name! How cute!

Thinking of You

We got a Nintendo Wii this weekend so my plan of making a bunch of cards went out the window. Instead I have been trying my hand at bowling and tennis... I am getting surprisingly good too... I can actually beat Matt at bowling and I can actually win a couple games here and there at tennis... I am putting up a good fight anyway!

This is the card I finished just before the Wii came into our lives... I used a sketch from Sketches by Bunny-Zoe and changed it slightly because I couldn't find anthing to sit right behind the lion in the middle... it wasn't working out for me so I decided to add a couple Bravo Burgundy eyelets and put some linen thread between them.

I would love to know what you think!

Tons of Love

Tons of love! Guess what? I am not finished with the jungle animal stamps! I am giving it my best to get a heap of cards done this weekend... one day down... one to go... the only problem is we got a Nintendo Wii today so I have been bowling my little heart out... Matt keeps beating me though! I actually pulled a muscle in my arm earlier too! I think that was while I was playing baseball though... honestly... there are too many foul areas in that game! If I do actually manage to make contact with the ball it doesn't count! They could at least put a heap of chickens in the foul area to make it more exciting seeing as I spend so much time there!

Hippo Birdie Two Ewe

This is my very first card as a High Hopes Diva! I have been planning this card for months since two of my workmates remembered a card they had both once received in the 80's or 90's. I have never seen it but the concept was great! It was a normal newsagency card that had pictures and sung the words to Happy Birthday in animals. I would have loved to see it! Instead, I decided to start collecting the stamps I would need for such a card.... and finally, here it is!

*Update* Here is the link to the card from 1975... it great!! They have also made a newer version in 2002 - check it out! Thanks heaps Aunt Mis for sending the link!

I am so happy with my card but I want to know what YOU think?! I need more comments around here... I know there are people floating around.... I might just need to offer some blog candy to make you speak up. Leave a comment... come ooooon... I dare you! LOL

Best Fishes

When I saw this Diver Dan stamp I just had to have him! Isn't he just too cute? This card was a blast to make... I loved watercolouring the sea floor and making the seaweed and the coral as bright as I could possibly make it! In person this card looks a lot brighter and sparklier (hey, a new word from the weird and wonderful language of Amy)... there is kindyglitz on the coral, the rock and on Dan's flippers hair and hands where I thought he would be moving through the water.

Back in the day (the day being about three years ago) I had a housemate who was a dive master... he wasn't a Diver Dan... he was Diver Dave. Actually, if Dave read this he would be quite concerned about my return to the use of the word 'flippers'. He couldn't express more that they were called 'fins' and all use of the word flippers was banned! Ah well... flippers sounds funnier!

Tons of Love

This is the third card I made on the weekend using my left over Kaisercraft paper... seeing as I made my mum's birthday card so similar to Michelle's whale card I thought I would try and do something a bit different with the stamp. I tried to think but it just wasn't working so I took my stamps, sat on the couch and pondered some more while I watched some telly. That didn't really work either! I watched the telly hoping that just holding them would somehow make my brain think of something but the best thing I could come up with was to not stamp the water fountain thingy coming out of his blow-hole (what is that called?) Anyway, by the end I realised that Whitby Whale looks great with or without the water... it almost looks like a different stamp!

Oh, while I was watching telly that night I remembered a lame whale joke that I thought was reasonably funny... I told Matt and he just stared at me like I was temporarily insane... What do whales chew? Blubber Gum! Yeah... I know, I know... that joke was better kept to myself.... its like my work mates say, I don't need to be driven insane, I am so close I could get out and walk the rest of the way.

Blog Candy

After some great blog candy? Crissy and Nikki are offering some blog candy in the way of High Hopes stamps and paper... pop on over to their blogs and check out the amazing artwork they have to show for themselves!

I'm a High Hopes Diva!

No that doesn't mean I am going to run around screaming and demanding attention... well, not for much longer anyway... I am stopping to tell everything with legs that crosses the floor at this point! You could have knocked me over with a feather this morning when I was doing my usual routine of getting ready for work and checking my emails. Crissy from High Hopes Rubber Stamps had sent me an email asking if I would like to be on their design team! Almost 8 hours later I am still stunned!! This is huge for me... Matt and the Dotweiler better get used to me raving on about it because I am SOO not finished yet! I was telling Rouge all about it earlier and she seemed really excited but now that I look back at it she probably thought I was jumping around singing FOOD, FOOD, FOOOOOOD!

So, THANK YOU Crissy and Tina for this wonderful opportunity and for the amazing compliment that you like my work enough to want me on your design team! I will give it my all!

Relax... it's your day

I made a couple cards on the weekend trying to use up some of my paper. I just loved the colour combo of these cards that I just kept going! I made four!! This is Simon the Turtle from High Hopes Rubber Stamps!

If you haven't already noticed, I seem to rave on quite a bit about a few of my favourite HH design team members... well, great news! Crissy, aka #1artist4highhopes, has started a blog! WOOHOO.... check it out here... if you don't already know, she is the one behind the wonderful HH images too... I can't believe I know who actually draws these adorable animals!

Tons of Love

I made this card for my Mum's birthday (lets hope she doesn't look at my blog in the next week!). The reason I got these stamps was because I saw a card that Michelle made and loved it so much! When I went to make this card I had the idea in mind (I hadn't seen Michelle's card in AGES) and then once I was finished watercolouring I went to see what she had made with it only to find I managed to stamp it pretty much identical! I was so shocked! I even used the same seaweed and coral on the bottom... in the same order! Anyway, I managed to make the rest of the card different! I used some Kaisercraft paper I had laying around for ages and the colours were perfect! I also used some black wire all twisted around to put a bit of interest on the card.

Happy Birthday To Ye!

This card is one of my favourites... I love how it turned out. I got the idea for the white dots from Artfully Ila - it is absolute genious Ila! It is amazing how a few dots can really accent an area and make it really interesting... I don't think I can go back to no dots anymore! I also got the idea of colouring the parot in diffent colours from Ila too... I sat for a while trying to decide what colours to do him when I remembered we had hundreds of parots in the trees out the back a while ago so I went and found my photos!

This was the best photo I got that day. They were in the highest gum trees and I had the biggest lens we had on and they were still hard to catch. They move AMAZINGLY fast! It is any wonder they get anything from the flowers when they jump around that fast!

Ahoy Landlubber!

This is the second card I made on the weekend using my new pirate stamps! I really have this sunset thing worked out with my aqua painter although the tip is starting to get really whispy and messy... I'll admit though, sunset is a bit more interesting than just blue sky all the time... I'm hooked!