Yo Ho, Yo Ho!

Melanie would like us to add texture to our cards for the High Hopes Challenge this week. I love Oberto... I always go back to the cute pirates at some stage or another because they always look so good coloured! My problem is though that I don't experiment with the colours much. I pretty much do them the same every time!

This week I used On Guard Oberto and Treasure Map and I created texture by ripping the edges of the map and curling them up and adding a bit of Crate Paper pattern paper behind which has a nice little texture to it. I put some netting behind Oberto and I did the Yo Ho, Yo Ho with one of those old label makers. Matt found mine the other day when he was looking for.... something.... in my craft room and he was surprised they still exist. I told him to keep it out on the off chance I find a use for it and LOOK! I did find a use!

So what are you waiting for! Get creative with texture and head over to the HH Blog to link your card for the chance to win some free rubber stamps!

It's a Jungle Out There

This is Timothy Tiger! Isn’t he is a little cutie. This is just a really quick and simple card that I whipped up. I didn’t really want to put too much on this one because I liked the colours and wanted to keep it plain so that you really just looked at Timothy. It was kinda nice not having to put too much thought into what I was going to do around him… it’s nice not having to think occasionally. The leaf in the corner is called Jungle Flower Corner and is just one of those handy little stamps to have around for when you don’t know what else to put on the page!

Picnic Time!

It's a recipe challenge this week for the High Hopes Challenge! I think recipe and chunky mocha fudge cookies comes to mind... but that's just because I have been dieting for goodness knows how long now and I am feeling rather deprived of the fantastic stuff like cookies!

Sirpa's recipe is 3 buttons, 3 DP (pattern paper) and 3 flowers! I have to say that I really do like recipe cards... and chunky mocha fudge cookies. With that being said... I broke out for the first time since Christmas today and had a Wendy's Mega Choc Shake and it made me feel sick for hours because of all of the chocolate... what's wrong with me!!

The stamp I used for my card is called Ants Picnic and it is one of my very favourite Crissy drawings but this is the very first time I have coloured it completely all the way though! I have started it a few times before moving on to something else though! I tend to do that a lot. I used Crate Paper for the three DP and Green Tara Batik Green and Brown flowers and clear buttons with some curly wire through them.

Metal Mania!

I am a TERRIBLE blogger aren't I! This is my challenge card for last Sunday. Karen would like us to use metal on our projects. Now, if you have been following my blog for a while now you would have noticed I go though wire phases where it's like I can't use anything else. One Christmas I went so crazy on wire that I had to put it away and force myself to use something else for months in order to break the habit! It just looks so cool when you have it all curly!

Back to this card... this stamp is called Dragon Go Round. The other stamps I used are Dragon Prints and Smile. I love the smile sentiment because it looks so good when you colour it! Now... to the hardware! I used a silver brad in the top corner and put a spacer between it and the paper like a washer. It creates a fantastic look. Wound around that is some wire with a gorgeous dragonfly charm hanging on the bottom.

High Hopes Blog Hop! - Closed

It's release day!! WOOHOO! The fantastic stamps drawn by Dustin Pike are available at Stampin' Stuff today!

Click here to check them out!

The stamp I used on my card here is called Bedtime Bear and he is just one of the cuties available!

Now to the Blog Hop! There will be four awesome prizes:

1st Prize - Full release package (that's every stamp!)
2nd, 3rd & 4th Prize - An awesome stamp package each with new release rubber!

The 4 winners will be from random chosen Diva blogs. To be eligible you must leave a comment on every Diva blog - CLOSED

So, once you have left a comment here... hop on over to Lacey's Blog and check out what she has made!

You've Got My Back

Here is another sneak peek! The new release of High Hopes Rubber Stamps will be available TOMORROW!! The stamps used on this card are Sir Dustin, Got My Back and Jolly Roger.

Cheeky Shawn

This is sneak peek number two... just for you! Introducing Cheeky Shawn (or Sean... not sure on that one!) Poor little dude has a litte conflict in his name. Bethany called him Shawn but his packaging says Sean. We will find out soon enough because he will be ON SALE THIS WEDNESDAY! Only TWO more sleeps!!

The new release stamps will be listed at Stampin' Stuff on Wednesday but there are limited numbers of each stamp so you wont want to miss out.

There are more sneak peeks at the Diva blogs (you can find links on the left hand side) and also at the High Hopes Challenge Blog. Also, don't forget there will be a great blog hop starting on Wednesday!

For My Friend

It's challenge time! This week Jeanne would like us to make cards using spacey colours of purple, blue and green. "But what is this stamp" you say? Well, today is the first day of sneak peeks of Dustin's new drawings for High Hopes! How cool is that!!

This stamp is called Dragon's Destiny and it will be available to purchase from Stampin' Stuff late Wednesday 20 January 2010. We Aussie's are a little ahead of the Canadian's timezone-wise so we have to wait until our Wednesday is almost over for theirs to begin.

So, as always, there is some rubber up for grabs for a lucky participant in the challenge who link on the High Hopes Blog to their card or project. What's better is the winner will get two brand new release stamps! If you would like to see some more of the range that is available on Wednesday, run over to the HH blog!

2010 High Hopes Release
Available Wednesday 20 January 2010

www.StampinStuff.com.au

Sir Dustin!

We have been keeping it a secret for what seems like so long now but it's finally official! Dustin Pike is the new artist for High Hopes Rubber Stamps! Dustin's first release will be 20 January 2010 and in the lead up to that there are some great prizes to be won!

How you can win some rubber...

Competition 1.

There will be a blog hop starting on release day so be sure to swing by the High Hopes blog and become a follower so you don't miss out on the announcements!

Competition 2.

Place an order at Stampin' Stuff before 23 January 2010 to go into the draw to win one of two great prizes with some brand new Dustin stamps!

Winners will be drawn 24 January 2010!

Competition 3.

Put the High Hopes blinkie on your blog! I am expecting this prize to be a great one so to go into the draw to win a package bursting with Dustin stamps from Tina, here's what you need to do:

1. Grab our blinkie from the sidebar and place on your blog.
2. Tell your friends about the news, blog hop and release on January 20th.
3. Become a follower of the High Hopes blog if you aren't already ;-) 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 the High Hopes blog with a link to your blog post sharing our news.

Competition 3 ends 8pm EST (Midnight GMT) on January 22nd!!

Snow

This is another tag I made before Christmas. It is another Tim Holtz case from his 12 Tags of Christmas 2008 . I didn't have the Grungeboard Christmas shapes that Tim used so I drew a snowman on Grungeboard and cut it out with scissors. The white on the snowman looks great in real life... it is Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint and gives a really great effect once it dries... I really have to find more uses for it!

The little scarf on Snowy is another of Tim's ideas but it is from the 12 Tags of Christmas 2009. It is two strips of ribbon with double sided tape and some wire in the middle. That gives it the strength to sit in any shape you like! Genius hey!

The tag itself it sponged with an Ink Blending Tool in Dusty Concord, Broken China and Faded Jeans Distress Ink and then I dripped some water over it to create splotches. The 'SNOW' letters are inked chipboard and then covered in Glossy Accents to make them stand out. Then at the bottom there is some Polar White Flower Soft for snow!

PHEW! Well, that's the lot!

Believe

If I didn't go on holiday just before Christmas I might have actually remembered to post the pictures of the things I made in the last week. I dedicated a whole day on the last weekend I was home to make Tim Holtz tags. I went through his website and found some that I thought I would be able to make (gee it's hard to work out where to start when it's a whole new look... I just fall back on casing). I made the background of this tag using a pearlised spray of Vintage Photo ink and Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls in a mini mister. I used a mask to keep spray off some of the areas then I went over with Fired Brick and a Ink Blending Tool to add some red to the edges of the tag and the masked area.

The reindeer is stamped in Embossing Ink and embossed with black embossing powder on Grungeboard. If you haven't seen the Ranger Embossing Ink, it is extremely wet and stays that way for ages giving you heaps of time to put on your powders... I love it! I then cut him out and painted some Green Patina Perfect Pearls over top. 'Believe' is stamped in black ink and then emphasized with a bit of Glossy Accents on top.

MAN I had a great time making this tag and I am SO happy with how it turned out! Here is a link to Tim's Tag that I CASEd. Sadly we are just on mobile internet so I can't get you any closer that page of Tim's blog but waiting for the whole page to load will chew up the downloads!

Merry Christmas... but just a little late....

We have been away for a about a week and a half now but I found this card on my hard drive that I forgot to upload to my blog before Christmas! This is Woodland Santa and I used some Kaisercraft paper that I had left over from last year. I still have heaps left too!

So anyway, we arrived in Canberra this afternoon and we are here until tomorrow then off to Sydney. We started in Cairns and worked out way down to Brisbane and across to the Western Plains Zoo yesterday in Dubbo. It was a really, really big day and I went to sleep picturing animals in my head but it was a fantastic day! You feel so close to the animals without fences in the way. If you haven't been there, they just mound the ground up so you are standing higher than the animals and put a fence at the bottom to keep them in... you barely even remember the fences are there and you feel like they could jump out and get you at any time!

One last thing before I go... if you don't subscribe to the Stampin' Stuff newsletter, I now have High Hopes Rubber Stamps back in stock. There are about 180 stamps to choose from now so make sure you check them out if you are a HH fan!

Count down til Christmas

I finally finished my advent house! I worked on this one for a couple of weeks and I did get it done in time to count down.... if you don't count the first three days! This is a wooden kit by Twiddleybitz and it comes with a box template to make the cute little boxes. I used the gorgeous Kaisercraft Dear Santa pattern paper. MAN do I love those colours! In my opinion it is the best Christmas range that Kaisercraft have brought out yet!
The numbers are stamped and I cut them out using a craft knife. It took about an hour and seemed like a good idea until I realised how many numbers I would have to do. They do look great in person so I wouldn't change them now given that I now know exactly how many numbers there are! I also put some Glossy Accents on the numbers to give them some shine and so they stand out nicely.
I put some metallic rubons on the filigree top. I was dying to cover it with paper but realised early on (unlike with the numbers) that I would be there until next Christmas working on that bit!

If you would like an advent calendar, there is still one available at Stampin' Stuff and it's 30% off at the moment! BARGAIN!

Remember, there is currently up to
30% off Christmas themed products
at Stampin' Stuff

Anyone for some sweets before Christmas?? (Closed)

The winner is..... Rihani!

It's candy time! Do I hear cheers? Do you want some CANDY for Christmas?!

Here's what could be yours!

• High Hopes Rubber Stamps - Monkey Mike
• Two Flower Soft Toppers
  
• Flower Soft - Polar White (for the toppers!)
  
• Flower Soft - Nut Brown (for Mike!)
• Monday's Metal - Scrap Metal Squares (look great with rubons)
• Green Tara Paper Flowers
• Green Tara Wire Heart
  
• Moss Green Eyelets
• Bullet Brads
  

What do I have to do you say? Just leave a comment! Sing me a song... babble about the weather... talk about craft.... I don't mind what you say... all you have to do is leave a comment and you will be in the running.

If you would like two entries into the draw, put a link to this post on your blog and you can increase your chances of giving Mike a home this Christmas!

Entries close on Wednesday 10 December 2009!

Juliette!

Jeanette has made a sketch for this weeks High Hopes Challenge! You can find the sketch on the High Hopes Blog. This week I used Juliette's Leap of Faith. She is a funny one, Juliette. I always have a chuckle when I colour her because for a hippo, she is doing a great job at sky diving!

Jeanette's sketch was really fun this week. It took all of the thinking out of making the card so I was really pleased to knock this one over in a few hours. Watercolouring is still the longest bit! It takes me FOREVER!

If you participate in this weeks challenge, swing by the High Hopes Blog and put a link to your card using Mr. Linky. Then you will be in the draw to the win Ashley & Jan's Pillow Fun stamp.

Skiing Santa

Everybody panic! The small lens for my camera is in a critical condition! I had to send of off for repair and I miss the little guy already! I had to use my big lens to take a photo of this card which meant standing a few meters away from it. Talk about difficult! I attempted a close up to show the watercolouring a bit better but ended up giving up... it wouldn't even focus.

Well to the card! This is Skiing Santa and he is the star of my card for the High Hopes Challenge this week. Michelle would like us to make Christmas cards which is a great one seeing as I have barely even started my cardmaking for this year. I used some cute Artful Collage Holly Leaves and Kaisercraft pearls to make the holly in the corner. Sadly Skiing Santa has sold out at Stampin' Stuff but the other Santa's are still calling out for new homes before Christmas!

Remember, if you join in the High Hopes Challenge you will go into the draw to win Snowlady Surprise!

Merry Christmas!

This is a 3D Flower Soft Topper! Isn't it cute? These toppers have a main image and then come with a die cut sheet of little components that you pop out and assemble in the order they have shown on the sheet. There are heaps of layers but it doesn't end there! You can also apply some glue with a fine little paint brush (I thought I was some sort of genius when I figured that out! ) then sprinkle over your flower soft, tap it off and you have even more dimension! These little bears go up to five layers high in some areas!

I used Christmas Green and Polar White on the tree behind the Festive Teddies.

Did you know Stampin' Stuff now has every Flower Soft colour available in Australia? That's 28 colours!

ETA - A question was asked in the comments - Do I ship overseas? YES! I ship worldwide. If you would like a shipping quote before you send payment (by PayPal only please) please let me know and I will estimate it for you. Otherwise you can choose the free shipping option of your order is over $60 AUD or the $5.70 parcel option and I will amend your invoice if it works out to be more or less!


Blog Candy Alert!
My friend Veronica has started a blog and she is offering some CANDY! So off you go... go get in that draw to win!

Happy Birthday to You

This card is for my brother's birthday in a couple days... I still haven't posted it though... I'm really bad at that. It has to go to Melbourne so hopefully it will arrive in time. Kelly, what is his address again?? EVERY SINGLE time there is a birthday in our family Jason sms's either me or my sister (sometimes both) to ask their address. It really is quite funny and we just expect it is a matter of time before the message comes. I'm just as bad. Every time I have to send Jason something I message my sister for his address so really, I'm no better! To tell you the truth right now... I'm going to publish this post and then go and email Kelly for the address. I won't lie. There really is no point!

For this card I used a stamp called Whimsy Owl. I have them in stock at Stampin' Stuff if you would like it new and there is also one in the pre-loved section too. The sentiment is by Amuse Art Stamps.

Dragons!

The latest issue of Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft (Vol. 15 No. 07 ) will be out really soon (already if you are lucky enough to be a subscriber) and it is full of fantastic tutorials, hints, tips and techniques! I was asked to do a watercolouring/shading tutorial and I am so stunned at how well it turned out. I love it! Here is a pic of the cards I made to go along with it!

I used Lenny's Love Me Nots, First Ride and Ace. Unfortunately they have already sold out at Stampin' Stuff but there is a pre-order on at the moment that ends on Saturday 14 November if you would like me to get them in for you!

Waddle I Do Without You

I made this card WAAAY back in June for Crissy. It turns out it took about two or three months to actually get to Canada and in that time I completely forgot about it. So! Here it is!

I used Dunno Ducky and even though he is only two colours I thoroughly enjoyed colouring him. I was so happy with the result. I am still not too sure what I was thinking with the colour combo but it's nice to have a change once in a while right? So anyway Crissy... I hope you liked it!

I