Happy Birthday

It's Lenny again! I made this sunny card for a friend for her birthday last week and I am really happy with how it turned out. It is oh, so, bright! I LOOOVE that paper. The colours are so me! The stamp is Lenny's Love Me Not's and Amuse, Relax... It's your day.

I have been getting a few people ask me how I watercolour lately so if you want to know, check out the tutorial here. I am going to update it soon with some new piccies too. Stampin' Stuff is a bit low on Twinkling H2O's but I should have more in in the next week or two.

Consider Yourself Hugged

Hugging the cat like this is something our dog would do if the cat would let her. The dog LOVES that cat but the cat doesn't really feel the same. Sometimes she is caring and lets the dog lick her but other times she runs like a crazy woman away. I'd probably be the same if I weighed a couple of kilos and 40kg came bounding at me.

Anyway, to the card. This adorable little dog and cat is an Inky Antics clear rubber set and there are some sets still available at Stampin' Stuff and they are 30% off!

Happy Halloween!

I know Halloween isn't huge in Australia but that doesn't mean we can't get excited by the colours, right? I love this time of year for craft almost as much as Christmas. I don't do anything about Halloween but I just love looking at blogs and seeing the fun bold, bright purples, greens and oranges.

This year I decided I was going to make some cards so here is the first one, hopefully I will have a chance to make more! The stamp I used is from High Hopes and is called Witchy Poo Stirrin' Brew and I also used Silly Spider and Happy Halloween. I added a bit of Artistic Wire to the card and used some old paper I have in my stash... I don't even remember which brand it was but it had the colours I was looking for.

There is a category at Stampin' Stuff dedicated to Halloween and spooky stuff so, even if you aren't getting into Halloween this year, why not have a blast with the colours anyway... that's my plan!

The High Hopes Challenge for this week is also to make a Halloween card so if you want to go into the draw to win some rubber, hop on over there and take a look at what the Diva's have come up with!

Hoo, Hoo, Hoo

How cute is this little owl?! He is the Stitched Owl from Pink Cat Studio and he is just adorable like the QT Hooty Owls! I whipped this card up this afternoon and realised at the speed I am creating these days I really should get cracking with Christmas now! If you are after some Christmas goodies, check out the Christmas category at Stampin' Stuff. I have linked everything Christmassy to that category so you only have to go to one spot to see it all!

I used some old Kaisercraft paper for this one. The colours are so nice so you might see more of it as I work through my left overs! I have also used Kaisercraft pearls, Prima Holly and some Polar White Flower Soft for the hat.

The Village

I made this little village using a bunch of goodies from Collections Elements. I think in the time it took for me to make the houses I could have built a real village but that is just because I kept changing my mind and changing things around.

The houses themselves were covered in Collections Pattern Paper (a mixture of all of the packs) and the windows have little pieces of transparency in them so you can see through them. I used both house kits so there were a whole bunch of the little things!

I used a Collections Tree behind the houses and put some bent metal foliage on the branches too. When I was gluing it on a thought crossed my mind.... Cairns City Council would be right on to the owner of that house... if that came down in a cyclone there would be nothing left of the little thing! Matt had the idea to add a chimney to the big house so that is just made using left over chipboard from around the pieces of the kit and glued it on.

Discover Yourself

Look what I found! A tag that I haven't shown anyone on my blog. A long time ago I had my very first attempt at a Tim Holtz tag turned out to be pretty plain so I tried harder with my second attempt using Tim's Perfect Distress video for help because I had no ideas myself. I came up with this and it is so grungy that I quite like it.

The background is a few layers of Distress Ink where you rub the tag through ink that has been spritzed with water on the non-stick craft sheet. I love the blotchy look.

The bird is from Urban Tapestry and I stamped him in black ink and then put Glossy Accents all over the black bits so he stood out against the background a bit better.
I stamped the red branches then brushed Perfect Pearls all over them then sprayed it with water just like Tim did to make the red ink bleed out from underneath.

The bold words on the Discover stamp (raised on mounting foam) are accentuated with Glossy Accents and then I finished it off with some Rock Candy Crackle Paint at the bottom and top with Walnut Distress Ink rubbed in the cracks.

Embrace Imperfection

Last time my mum visited she kept looking at the mini clipboards that I had and saying they were really cute so I thought I would make one for her. I covered this one with Collections pattern paper and inked it up! I LOVE doing that! Everything looks great inked, I think. The Heart and Wings are also covered with Collections PP with a cute little crown charm on the top.

On the back I stamped 'Embrace Imperfection' from Mini Muse and cut out the little words from Collections Mini Melange which is a little sheet with heaps of words that are just perfect for embellishing this sort of thing.

Farmer Clemmm had a farm....

I just realised I completely forgot to show a piccie of the farm yard cards that were published recently! It was in Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft and the issue was Vol. 16 No. 3.

The three cards were using Party Cow, Party Pig and Farmer Clem!

Here are my pics so you can see them more closely.

The Journey

It has been a long time between posts, hey! Well, I had a nice break and caught up on things so I had a bit of an experiment today with my Tim Holtz stuff. I am a collector and I tend to think I should save things for a special project but I decided today that I am just going to use the stuff!

I will admit, gee it was fun just making a mess! I scrunched and ripped and just made things look tatty and it was great! I cut a piece of paper from Tim's paperstack without even thinking it though and.... I used scissors! The line is not even straight and I didn't even neaten it up... I just stuck it down just as I cut it... after some distressing of course! That is a big thing for me because I always think things over for at least a half hour before committing to cutting a piece of paper... and I ALWAYS use a guillotine so it is straight. I am way too particular and I can't be random with things that don't match properly. Ahhh.... it's great. I feel like I have been on a journey too!

Do you want to know what goodies I used? I used a piece from Lost & Found Paperstack, Mini Muse Stamp Set, a tag, Distress Ink, some Making Memories Postage Stamps, Long Fasteners and Washers (in random metal colours that don't match! Yay... but... eek!). I squished those with the Texture Hammer and I stapled ribbon on with the Tiny Attacher and put a Mini Pin in the top too.

Blog Hoppin'

I hope you have had a rest after the Dustin release Blog Hop because there is another one on right now!

Do you want win some fantastic MelJen's Design rubber? If you said yes (and who wouldn't!) go to the High Hopes Blog for the details and start the hopping! In order to go into the draw to win you need to leave a comment on each Diva blog including the High Hopes blog as there will be winners drawn randomly from random blogs so you wont know which ones!

The next blog from here is the amazingly, fabulous, brilliant..... LACEY!

HOP... HOP... HOP!

MelJen's Designs - Sneak Peek!

WOOHOO! High Hopes has another artist! Joining Dustin is Melissa Jenkins. Here is my very first MelJen's card and it is using Sunflower Buggies. I had a ball colouring this flower. It is so flourished and cute... ah! It was great!

NEW High Hopes Artist!

LOOK! High Hopes has a new artist! Melissa Jenkins is joining the ever growing High Hopes family and she has created the most beautiful stamps to keep the girly girls in their element! The line is called MelJen's Designs and they will be on sale on Friday 18 June 2010 at Stampin' Stuff!

Would you like to win a package of MelJen stamps? Head over to the High Hopes blog for details and there will also be a second Blog Hop so get ready for even more opportunities to win!

High Hopes Blog Hop

It's time to hop! If you would like to go into the draw to win some amazing High Hopes Rubber than head on over to the High Hopes Blog and start the hop.

To go into the draw, follow the hop order (starting at the HH Blog) to each of the Diva blogs and leave a comment on each one. Make sure you leave a comment on each blog because FOUR WINNERS will be drawn randomly from four Diva blogs and you won't know which one!

Now to my card! The stamp I used is quite a favourite of mine because a BBQ'ing dragon is just so funny and everyone knows Australian's like to BBQ! The stamp is called Flame Broilin' and the sentiment is Fire up the Grill. The card is pretty straight forward, watercolouring (tutorial here) with inks and Twinkling H2O's. I also hand drew some little sausages and glued them to some artistic wire so they could be twisted into shape.

Alright... that's enough from me... I don't want to hold up up along the way!

The next blog to visit from here is the lovely Alex's blog!

New Release - High Hopes Rubber Stamps

It's sneaky peeky time! Here is just one of the brand new High Hopes stamps that is being released on Monday. Dustin draws the cutest little animals and this one is one of my favourites of the release. The stamp is called Bear-ly Inspired.

All of the High Hopes Diva's are posting creations using the different stamps from this release so be sure to check them out!

The new stamps will be on sale on Monday 14 June 2010 at Stampin' Stuff.

Do you want to win some new release High Hopes stamps?

Then we would love you to help us spread the news about our blog hop and release.

To be entered into the draw:

1. Grab our blinkie from the sidebar of the High Hopes Blog and place on your blog. You just need to copy and paste the text underneath the blinkie into a html gadget. (In blogger click Customise in the top right of your blog then click add gadget and select HTML/Javascript). If you prefer please grab the static image below and remember to link to the High Hopes blog :-)

2. Please tell your friends about the news, blog hop and release on Monday, June 14th.

3. Become a follower of the High Hopes Blog. You don't want to miss out on the fun and there will be tons of prizes along the blog hop!!!

4. Leave a comment on Nikki's post with a link to your blog post spreading the word.

The contest ends 8pm EST (Midnight GMT) on Tuesday, June 15th!!

One for the men

This weeks High Hopes challenge is hosted by Danielle and it is to make a masculine card. I think it might be Fathers Day soon somewhere across the other side of the world! For us it is in October... I think... I should probably look in to that.

I used Tractor, Rocks and Sun on my card this week. The tractor was supposed to be red but comes across a bit pink after I put the Twinkling H2o's on. The paper is my trusty Crate Paper... GEE I love that stuff! I am getting a bit low now and it is pretty old so eventually I am going to have to part with it!

As always, if you are going to join in on the High Hopes Challenge, go by the High Hopes Blog for the details and to link to your card. Then you will go in the draw to win the weekly rubber prize from Tina! WOOHOO!

Blog Candy! - CLOSED

Who wants some candy?!

It has been a while so I thought it was about time I gave some goodies away!

Up for grabs:

• Tattered Angels Limited Edition Glimmer Mist - Sweet Clover
• Tattered Angels Calling Cards
• Adorable Messy Rabbit Stamp Set
• Deja Views Congrats Rubons
• Bella Rubbons
• VersaMark Metallic Ink Pad - Teal
  
• Kaisercraft Pearls
• 7 Gypsies Antique Mini Keys
• Queen & Co Brads
• Tinman Brads
• Flower Organdy Ribbon
• Prima Flowers

There are a few ways you can win and you can choose as many entry options as you like. Each option gets you an additional entry into the draw!

1. Put a quick link to this post on your blog
2. Become a fan of Stampin' Stuff on Facebook
   
3. Take my little hyper bee banner below and put that on your blog with a link to www.StampinStuff.com.au
   

Remember to leave me a comment on this post so I know how many times to enter you in the draw!

THE WINNER IS - TANIA M.
Thank you everyone for entering and taking the time to link to my blog or store!

Party Time!

It's party time at the High Hopes Challenge blog! This week we are making birthday cards and I chose to use Gavin the Gift Givin' Dragon on my card and some Basic Grey pattern paper. My Labels 1 Nestabilities also made an appearance (first time in AGES). If you would like to join in the party time fun, pop on over to the High Hopes Blog to see how you can go into the draw to win some rubber stamps from Tina!

It's a Girl

I made this card for my sister because she had a baby girl last week. It was quite a surprise because the whole time I pictured her having a boy! It was good timing too because this weeks High Hopes challenge is hosted by Sirpa and it is to make a card or project for a baby or young child.

The stamp I used was Kanga& Joey and put on some Prima Flowers, some ribbon, Kaisercraft Pearls and a Jenni Bowlin Stick Pin.

As always, if you would like to go into the draw to win some rubber (this week it is the adorable Cheeky Sean) then make your own High Hopes card and link to the High Hopes blog and Sean could be coming to your house!

WOOHOO!

I listed a whole BUNCH of new stamps and restocks last night from Stamp-It and High Hopes and I hit my all time high!

Stampin' Stuff now has over 500 different stamp designs to choose from!

What's more is I have NO intention of slowing down! I have goodies on their way right now from three different companies that I haven't stocked yet so keep an eye out for the newbies!