Another go at Keesh's Challenge, with a Sweet touch.

Hi,

I've had another go at Keesh's challenge (see previous post) only this time I've combined it with Karen's Sweet Sunday sketch challenge. I need a sketch to get me going at the moment.

Here's my card:

I also took inspiration from this card on Andrea Lowcock's blog, Enchantink. The 'Fresh Cuts' stamp set was one I 'just had to have' but have hardly used. I must ban myself from buying any new sets and use the ones I own more often. I used the emboss resist technique, clear embossing the stamped image and the sponging over the top using inks in 'So Saffron', 'Regal Rose' & 'Real Red', of course. I then wiped over the image to remove the ink from the embossing, revealing the image. I've used the So Saffron DSP from the 'Washington Apple' pack, and the 'Regal Rose' print from the 'Sweet Always' DSP pack. The sentiment is from 'Short and Sweet' and cut out using the Word Window' punch. I do love a punch. Once again, I've added some of the new free 'So Saffron' ribbon (see here on how to receive it). In all, this is not really any of my ideas, just a collaboration of other people's inspiration. Anyway that's all from me.

Must go & get ready for work,

Have a good night,

Cheers,

Fi xox

Keesh's Colour Challenge #12 mixed with Taylored Expressions #81

These are the colours we got to play with in Keesh's latest Colour Challenge. I wasn't sure at first about the Real Red but I really like how they come together. Click here to see Keesh's blog and to view the other entries.

I took the layout from the latest Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge but I left off the vertical stripe as I couldn't make it work with my image.

And here is the final result. It is quite different to how I first imagined it but I'm pretty pleased with it. I've inked up another stamp from my new 'Crazy for Cupcakes' set. I stamped the cupcake twice and cut out a separate 'top' so that I could decorate it with 'Dazzling Diamonds' and mount it on 'Pop-Up Glue Dots'. I also covered the balloons, flame & little flower (on the sentiment) with 'Crystal Effects' which gives them a lovely shiny 3D effect. The 'Regal Rose' paper is from the level 1 hostess gift pack. It is a great little pack. The sentiment comes from the 'Think Happy Thoughts' set, which I only recently purchased despite it being a long-term product. Note that I've used the new, and free, 'So Saffron' ribbon from the latest Stampin' Up promotion (see here).

Thanks for visiting.

Catch you soon,

Love Fi xox

A wet camping trip & engagement party

Warning, long post ahead!

Why is it that I can go for weeks without a single social event and then have a whole bunch happen at once. My mate Ian had his overnight camping party (see the card I made here). It was a really fun night, with a bonfire (fire permit & water trailer so no risk of setting Hunter valley ablaze) good friends, toasted marshmallows and beautiful food. Joy ventured into the art of camp oven cooking and Jo (Joy's 'other' best mate & my SU upline) did a great job of cooking lamb & pork on a spit. I so meant to take a pic of the spit, made by Jo's hubby Pete out of a beer keg. Pure genius. The only hiccough was the massive thunderstorm that hit at about 1 am. Thankfully it was sunny again in time for brekky & pack-up. I whoosed out when my tent started leaking & slept in my car.

That arvo I went to the engagement party of a lovely young lady, Tamara, & her English fiance. She went on a 'short' trip to try out nanny-ing in the UK & has been there for 2 years & is now moving there to live. As such, they requested money for gifts.

I made a card that I CASEd from here. As you can see, I had a bit of trouble with the silver ink smudging, but the SU silver embossing powder worked like a dream. I used stamps from the sets 'Always', 'Priceless' and 'Occasional Greetings'. The frame is 'Hodepodge Hardware' in styled silver. The ribbon came from Spotlight.

In the top of the card I made a little pocket to hold the money. I stamped images from the 'Priceless' set with versamark ink & then used white embossing powder.

It was a nice afternoon, I hope the happy couple enjoyed it & I wish them every happiness for the future.

I've still got Father's Day lunch (on Monday) and visiting friends for tea (Monday night) to go. Lucky that I'm in the middle of six days off!

Will go & write up my post for Keesh's latest challenge.

Cheers, Fi xox

My niece's 13th!

Having my niece, the youngest of my brother's 3 kids, heading towards her 13th birthday is making me feel old! her birthday isn't until December but we are sending all their Christmas things this week and we send her b'day gifts in the box as well. As such, I made her a card last week. I finally gave in and bought 'Crazy for Cupcakes' so used the tiered cupcake image on Beck's card. It is so cute. I CASEd it from here, right down to the colors & DSP (Candy Lane, such pretty colours & designs), why mess with something you like. I added 'Dazzling Diamonds' glitter to the cake tops using my '2-way Glue Pen'. I meant to do the pop up inside but realised I'd made the base card open the wrong way, duh. Though '13' is probably getting a bit too 'mature' for pop ups. I added the glittery '13' as you need to make a big thing of turning this age.

I've seen some other' cupcake store' cards on Splitcoast, you should check them out.

Thanks for dropping by,

Fi xox

New promotion, Free Ribbon!!!

For the month of September Stampin Up are holding a promotion where you can receive two free spools of ribbon! The bundle consists of:

• Certainly Celery 5/8" (1.59 cm) poly-twill ribbon (9.144 metres)
• So Saffron 5/8" (1.59 cm) grosgrain ribbon (9.144 metres)

How do you get it? You can receive this great gift by either placing a single order of $100 worth of SU product or hosting a $600 workshop.

Contact me (see box to the right) if you are interested.

Catch you later,

Fi xox

Mate's 40th

My good friend Ian is having his 40th party tonight , an overnight camp up the valley (Hunter Valley, that is, I hope the rain clears!!). He is a 4WD nut. I was happy to see the 'Just Beachy' set come out just in time to make his card. I CASEd (of course, LOL) this card from Splitcoast. There's now a few on there with a similar theme.

Ian didn't want gifts, he preferred money to put towards something he wants to buy for said 4WD. I got him a choccy to put with his card, so, to make it look a bit more interesting I made a 'choc pull' package. The tutorial is here.

You pull on the ribbon & the choc bar appears. I made one for my Dad earlier this year & he really liked it.

Must go & hang out my washing & get everything together for tonight. I have an engagement party tomorrow too. Will come back with that card later,

Cheers,

Fi xox

My First 'Taylored Expressions' challenge

Just a quick post. I saw this sketch and thought it would be a good one to use for my friend's son's birthday (yes another one, LOL). I have never had a go at a 'Taylored Expressions' challenge before and this is #80. Its about time, I say. You can find her blog here.

I was quite happy with this card -

I've used retired SU DSP, I love the colours in it for kids. I've used the engine stamp from the 'Choo Choo' set (this is such a cute stamp set) and the matching track which is a wheel stamp. I added the 'look who's turning' stamp from the 'On Your Birthday' set. I like this stamp cause you can write in any age. I hope the style of the card prevents it from being too 'young' for a big boy of 6!

Must head,

Cheers,

Fi xox