Rachael's Class

It has taken me AGES but I have finally finished the layout from Rachael's class over at Scrapbook Diva's. It took me ages to actually think of something to do and surprise, surprise... its just another layout of Rouge! I looked at it for so long that I got sick of it and its been about a week since I last saw it and I like it now that I have had a break! The book idea is a great way to fit a heap of photos on one layout without it looking cluttered and I manged to cut a nice hole in my page protector so it can be opened without having to take it out the album.

Updated - Blog Candy!

Sorry for being a little late in posting the winner of the blog candy! The winner is comment number 5... BUBBLEFROG! I think this blog candy thing is hilarious! This is the second blog candy I have given away and its the second time the number was someone that I know from forum-world! Thanks for visiting Bubblefrog... I will get that in the post for you tomorrow!

Well, I thought it was about that time again! Truth be told, I just felt like sitting here and punching for a bit!! In this little lot I have a heap of scallop punchies using Stampin' Up! cardstock, some buttons and some grosgrain ribbon. If you would like this candy, feel free to leave a comment.... that could be anything... even LOOK AMY! There's a monkey on that powerline! (my niece and I had a laugh about that yesterday... when she was little she used to LOVE that one when we were in the car and she needed amusement).

Have a great weekend! oh, I will draw a number Monday 28 April 2008.

Find Joy

I'm happy with this one. I wasn't straight away but I am getting used to it now. This was an online class at Crafting In Style and I completley missed it!! I thought it was on the 31st of this month but it was actually the 15th. I couldn't have gotten that any more wrong! The 15th still would have been a hard time to make anyway seeing as we were in Brisbane then so it really doesn't matter. I even got out the sewing machine for this one too. I lost count of how many times it chewed up my paper and jammed but it didn't do too much damage. That aside, I love this photo! Rougie's spots always make me smile!

Dad

I did this layout last night and got the idea from a layout in Scrapbooking Memories at the beginning of the year. It is a really nice design being so simple yet really interesting still so I am really glad that I was shown another way of looking at paper like that. Originally I never would have got that paper seeing as I wouldn't have known the first thing to do with the tree piece! Anyway, this is my Dada and I took this photo during the week when he came over for lunch with my sister. I have never actually scrapped a page of my dad and I like the simplicity of this one so much that I might have to do more!

Tutorials

I have been busy today and yesterday doing some tutorials to put on my website. There are a few there now, one being on how I watercolour seeing as I have so many people ask me how I do it.

I would love to know what you think or if you have any ideas or even if you have any techniques you would like me to do!

Click here to Visit Amy's Tutorial Page.

Have a great weekend!!

Enjoy

Here is a card I made last night because I thought my Wanted stamps were feeling left out. Man I love that set! I don't know which I love more between Bronc Buster and Wanted... I can sit and stare at them for AGES! That being said though, I have only made two cards!

Stamps: Wanted & Sanded
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa & VersaMark
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa & Very Vanilla
Accessories: Crop-a-dile, Vintage Eyelets, Linen Thread & Sponge Daubers

Priceless

This technique is called Faux Tile and there is a tutorial over on my website! In person you can see a lot more of the detail but photo quality aside, I really like this card... its plain but effective.

Stamps: Priceless
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Regal Rose & VersaMark
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Regal Rose & Very Vanilla
Accessories: Trimmer, Scoring Blade, Bone Scorer, Regal Rose Grosgrain Ribbon.

Thanks... I needed that

This little birdy is from Fun & Fast Notes and isn't he sweet? While I was making this card I did another tutorial, this time on how I watercolour so feel free to pop over to my website for a squizz.

Stamps: Fun & Fast Notes & Paisley
Ink: So Saffron, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Old Olive, VersaMark & Stazon
Cardstock: So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Old Olive & Watercolour Paper
Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon & Blender Pen

Steve & Kelly

This is my sister, Kelly and her husband Steve. They were married last May and it has taken me all this time to actually do the layout and put it in the frame that I got them the day after the wedding! I made this the night before she came over for lunch so I left it to the last minute before she came over too.... its not as if I wasn't going to see her again for a while though. The pattern paper is so PRETTY! You can't see it in the photo but its all embossed and its from a wedding collection so it was perfect... I have had it for almost a year too so it was almost an antique before I used it too!

Love You

I made this card today using Priceless. I won this set at Convention in the Prize Patrol so I thought I had better make something with it seeing as it is a few weeks old now! I have used it a few times on small things but not an entire card like this one.

While I was at it I whipped up a tutorial on Emboss Resist so feel free to pop on over to my website and have a look. View the tutorial.

Stamps: Priceless
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie & VersaMark
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie & Very Vanilla
Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon, Powder Pal, Embossing Buddy, Heat Tool, Clear Embossing Powder & Large Oval Punch

My card is going to be published!

Yay... just thought I would add a little post to voice my news seeing as I can't remember who I have told and who I haven't!

I won't post a photo (just quietly though it is one of the ones in my older posts) but it will be in Stamping & Papercraft Magazine Vol. 13 No. 11.

Priceless

I LOOOVEE this set! I didn't think much of the old west stamps when I first saw them but then they grew on me fast like a scary vine in a silly horror movie! I just LOVE the Outlaw designer series paper too so that just made my need for these stamps even worse! The Priceless sentiment is from 'Priceless' which I won in the Prize Patrol at Convention! I was so chuffed seeing as I was going to order that stamp set this week anyway!!

Stamps: Bronc Buster & Priceless
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White and Outlaw Designer Series Paper
Ink: Chocolate Chip & Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Sponge Daubers, Paper Piercing Tool and Mat Pack, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon and Vintage Brads

Voila

I made these three a couple weeks back for something to do. These are the only In Colours I have at the moment which is why they are all in the same colour!

Stamps: Voila, Canvas & Wonderful Words

Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, River Rock & Watercolour Paper

Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, River Rock, So Saffron, Certainly Celery & Stazon

Accessories: Scallop Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch and Stampin' Dimensionals

Convention!

Well Convention was nothing short of WONDERFUL! I had such a fantastic time and it was well worth the two day drive to get there!

When we arrived for the first day on Friday, we were given a big blue bag with great little surprises in it! We received our two stamp sets, Fun & Fast Notes & Happiness and other great little things like a Dream Big pen, a Convention pin and all the stuff we needed for our make-and-take classes. After oohing and ahhing quickly over those we took off for Merchandise Mall. There were little stalls everywhere and it was great browsing and satisfying our shopping needs for a bit. I got a travel mug and a catalgoue carry bag.

As the two days went on it was like they were throwing fun stuff at us from every direction... we watched heaps of demonstrations and went to a few sessions and had a great time with our make-and-takes there were also Prize Patrols where they randomly picked names to win free stamp sets... I won 'Priceless' on the last day and I was STOKED! Senior Supervisors and above went to a night session and when we left they had a great big table with heaps of Garden Whimsy stamp sets for us and I also got a cute little set called Short & Sweet for my recruiting award!!

The awards night was amazing.. it was so classy... a waitress came and put my napkin thingy on my lap for me and everything... I felt so out of place! Lucky for us, Maxine came to the rescue at dinner and actually knew which fork to start with... it was hilarious... a whole table of blank faces when they put the plates in front of us!

Lastly, I had a chance to meet Shelli during the awards ceremony on stage! It was so scary and the whole time I was walking up the ramp I was thinking in my head... just get to Shelli; thats a safe spot then bolt across and back down the ramp and you will blend back in with the crowd! I hated being up there where everyone could see me!! Shelli is fantastic and I always expected her to be nice but she is also amazinly funny and entertaining too! When she talks and demonstrates projects you can't help but listen to every word she says!

Next year Convention will be in Canberra and I will be there! It is worth the travel and the cost of it all for two days full of experiences you aren't going to get anywhere else!

Convention Swaps!

YAY Convention is in a week!! It is almost in reach! We leave tomorrow for Brisbane so its all go, go, go trying to get things finished... I just know I will forget something... its almost a given! So, its Townsville tomorrow, Rocky the next night then BRISBANE! We will be there for about two weeks (maybe a couple days longer) so its going to be a while before I see my house again... OH and my little girl, Rougie!! *sniff sniff*

Anyway, these are my swaps for Convention and at rough count there are 90 card fronts! I am pretty impressed with my effort seeing as I did them about a month ago and it really only took me a weekend and a couple nights through the week. Talk about mass production!

Voila

This card is using Voila... one of the brand new sets that is coming up in the new 2008-09 Idea Book & Catalgoue plus these are some of the brand new In Colours that we are getting this year! I am so excited! I should have my catalgoue order here this week so let me know if you would like to pre-order your copy for the discounted price of $9.95! I cased this card from last years Summer US catty... if you click on it you can see a bit more detail.

Stamps: Voila & Canvas (for the chef's pants!)
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Certainly Celery and Staz-on
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, River Rock and Watercolour Paper
Accessories: Word Window Punch (to make the ticket corners), Colour Spritzer Tool (for a subtle splattered background), Linen Thread and Foam dots.

In Nine Lives

I did say that I was only going to do one layout of the cat because I don't really like her enough to spend too long scrapping her face but turns out, she is rather cute and its taken two years but she is slowly growing on me this week... I still stand by my 'a little bit boring' comment though... she doesn't do much. My next comment is I HATE Photoshop CS3!! I think I loved it a few days ago but I can't fix the colours on my photos to save myself and the auto function is rubbish!! 5.0 had a good auto function on it when I couldn't get the colour right any other way by myself but CS3.... ARGH! *rant over* Anyway, you may just have to take my word that the two photo's I have posted today look much better in real life.

Explore

I have been looking for a reason to buy these Kaisercraft papers for ages now and I got one of those little free Kaiser booklets they bring out and it has some great ideas on how to use their paper ranges. This one is quite similar to one of them but I am so happy with it anyway! I am having technical difficulties with Photoshop CS3 (I just upgraded from 5.0) so the colour isn't fantastic but I will work it out... I have mastered brushes now! Well, I'm off to do more!!

Natural Beauty

I made this little card tonight using Natural Beauty... a set I have had my eye on since I first discovered Stampin' Up! but never actually purchased until last week!

Stamps: Natural Beauty & Weathered
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Creamy Caramel, Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery & Stazon
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Elegant Eggplant, Always Artichoke & Certainly Celery
Accessories: Celery Grosgrain Ribbon

Once Upon A Time....

There was a cute, little.... actually..... rather large Dotweiler who sprouted wings!


This is my girl Rouge... as I have mentioned before, she is our Dotweiler (Dalmatian x Rottweiler) and she is getting bigger by the day! She is full grown but she is gaining weight faster than she can blink... 8kg in 5 months! Even on her diet I think I am still feeding her too much... I just like to feed her... it makes her happy!! This photo makes me laugh... not because I spent HOURS and HOURS and HOURS playing with Photoshop to give her wings but because she has a cute little belly roll hanging off the side of her leg... she is so cute and I love the fact that she either doesn't care that she is 38kg and more than half my body weight or she never lets it show that she cares! Whatever way she looks at it... its something I want to learn from her. Hmm... thats weird... I want to learn something from my dog!!

Anyway.... back to the layout.... I found this paper on the weekend at my LSS and loved it... I didn't know what I could do with it though. I showed Matt and said that I will probably just keep it and never use it... then I joked that I should put a princess hat on Rouge and do a funny layout. That lit the lightbulb and I figured that it was time to work out Photoshop! The lady at the photo store lauged when I picked up my prints the other day and I got quite a few "oh that poor dog!" comments from the people at work but I love it and thats the main thing! I actually don't think I could be happier with this layout now its finished!!