Take Ten......finally!

My contributor copy of the latest Take Ten magazine has arrived at last.  I have a few cards in it - come now, my own blog is no place for modesty LOL - I have 18 cards in there!

Here's the cover:

I even had a card accidentally credited to me on page 6. It's the Go Confidently card, and it actually belongs to the talented Melisa Waldorf.

Thanks for listening to my toot!

Perspective

I'm sitting here tonight (gosh, it's morning already - where did this evening go?), thinking about a remarkable lady.  Her name was Stacey Apeitos, and she passed away on Thursday night.

I'm remembering her smile and her eyes, her voice, her glasses.  I'm remembering she knew my name, and always greeted me using it. I'm remembering her amazing art in any number of forms - felting, soul collage, miniatures, stamping.  I'm remembering my first contact with her through her stamp company Studio Astarte.  I'm remembering that she started the fabulous Paperific Shows, and the shorter lived Paper Arts Tarts days. I'm remembering seeing her a few times during her battle with cancer. Sometimes she looked thin and unwell, but she always had a sparkle in her eye, always ready to smile. She was innovative and a trend setter, a motivator and facilitator. She was a mother and a wife. She explored more than I could ever hope to explore.

She contacted Lesley of Little Bits a couple of weeks ago, saying she had some things for her.  Stacey had gone through her immense stash of craft supplies, and put together some activity packs and wanted Lesley to sell them in her shop.  They are available now at Little Bits for $15 (excellent value, let me tell you!), with all proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Network.

There will be a service for Stacey this Tuesday.  Details will be in the Herald Sun.

I'm off to bed now, for tomorrow is another day I will try to fill with meaningful things.  Life is too short!

AnnaBelle Stamps Sketch #30

Time for our monthly bling sketch challenge.  Here's the sketch:

and here's my card:

I used stamps from the new Santa's Star set, and did some simple masking to put the tree behind the little birdie. I drew in some floor boards around the bottom of the images to ground them, and used a couple of the snowflakes to make more background.  The images are stamped in black, and the snowflakes in grey. Papers are Basic Grey.

The Sprinkles I used came from the Gypsy mix, and were put in place with some funky new stuff called Embellie Gellie.  You pop it onto the end of a stick, and it helps pick little things up so you can place them wherever they're needed. Makes things so much easier for someone with big man hands LOL.

To add a little extra sparkle, I went over the tree, gift and little hat with my clear Spica pen. The sparkle is so delicate, it needs to be seen to be believed.  Here's a close up, but I don't think photography does it justice:

If you'd like to join us this month with your version of the sketch, pop over to the AnnaBelle Stamps blog for details.  You don't need to own any AnnaBelle Stamps to participate, and the best bit is you could win yourself a wonderful AnnaBelle prize.

Thanks for stopping by!

ETA: after a little visit from Samantha, I've added this to the ABC Christmas Challenge blog.  The theme is T for Tree, so this cards fits in beautifully!

Clare's card

This is a card I made for my friend Clare:

I started by wanting to use that gorgeous Prima flower, and the rest of the card was built up around it.  Twiddleybitz fern leaves and butterfly, coloured with colour sprays.  The paper is from a 6x6 Prima pad, and the stamp is Tim Holtz.

Thanks for stopping by!

AnnaBelles stamps new release - Christmas Scene Baubles

I'm certainly in the mood to make some Christmas cards!  Check out this new set from AnnaBelle Stamps:

Aren't they clever? All of the little scenes down the middle of the set can fit inside the baubles.  Awesome!

Here's my card:

All three new sets are available for purchase now at the AnnaBelle Stamps store.

As usual with a new release, AnnaBelles stamps design team are holding a blog hop.  Your next stop is Sue's blog. Don't forget to leave a comment at each stop on the blog hop for your chance to will this set.

Thanks for stopping by.

AnnaBelle Stamps New Release - Hooo Loves Christmas

Yay!  This is the second of three releases this month.  It's only a little bit Christmas:

I say that because many of the images can be used for occasions other than Christmas.  Here's my card as an example:

The owls are adorable, aren't they?  I have used my Copics to colour the image in (all warm greys - W1, W3, W5, W7), and I've left the eyes white so they really stand out.

As usual, for every new release the AnnaBelle Stamps design team have a blog hop.  The next person on the hop is Sue.  For your chance to win this set, you'll need to leave a comment at every stop on the hop.

I'll be back on Sunday with yet another new release and sample, at which time the three sets become available for purchase.  Until then!

A Lime Tart layout

Here's one layout I did with my Lime Tart kit this month.  I got to play with the September Full Tart, and it seemed the more I did with it, the more product I found in the box!  Seriously - I made heaps with it, and there's heaps left over!

There are my children rock climbing!  No fear at all - I'm still surprised at their bravery.  I get vertigo, so all of this activity just amazes me.

The kit contained some gorgeous papers and little metal flower embellishments.  They weren't quite the right colour, so I whipped out my Copics and altered them a little:

My love affair with the A4 layout continues....LOL.

I also altered the metal embellishments on this other layout:

Here:

and here:

Thanks for stopping by.  To see more of my projects as well as some beautiful work from the other DT ladies, pop into the Lime Tart gallery.

Twiddley Christmas

Here's a card I made using one of the new Ornate Christmas Stars:

I

I painted the star with gold acrylic paint, and added some patterned paper to the back of it.  I finished it off with some shiny red satin ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to pop in to the Twiddleybitz Ning for heaps of chipboard inspiration.

AnnaBelle Stamps New Release - Santa's Star

We're back with this month's new release set.  It's called Santa's Star, and I think it's my favourite set so far:

Here's my first card:

Coloured with Copics, and the patterned paper is October Afternoon.

Here's my second card:

I stamped, coloured, and then cut out each individual stocking to make a banner from them.  I used mounting squares to lift them off the card a little.

We're having a blog hop to promote this new set, so after you leave a comment here, pop on over to Sue's blog to see what she's done with these stamps.  Everyone who leaves a comment goes into a draw to win this set, so hop to it!

Hey Dude!

Get your sunglasses on - this one's a bright one!

The beautiful bright papers are Sunkissed from Bo Bunny, and the owl is Twiddleybitz, coloured with my Copic marker (100).  The words are from a word strip from Darkroom Door.


Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrate

This is a quick card I made using a shooting star from Twiddleybitz:

I used some really bright patterned paper on kraft cardstock, and left the chipboard star raw to match.  I added a little tab at the bottom right - it has been Cuttlebugged.  The celebrate stamp is from my most used Darkroom Door set.

Thanks for looking!

Say it with......

.....Sprinkles!  I used Sprinkles from the Gypsy mix.  These 6mm drops of gorgeousness are just the right size for my fat fingers to be able to place on tiny drops of Diamond Magic.  Here's my (little bit late) card:

I coloured the mouse image from the Party Animals II set with my Copics, and the paper I used is from a Kaisercraft 6x6 pad.

Don't forget to check out the blogs of the other design team members for their work with Sprinkles, and you've got a little bit of time to get your entry in for the AnnaBelle Bling Sketch Challenge number 29.

Pull up a Chair

This is the card I made for a friend Cheryl:

I have used one of the new Victorian Collection chairs from Twiddleybitz.  I painted it with gold acrylic paint, and then arranged a bunch of roses on the seat.  I used a Martha Stewart punch for the ferny leaf things.

Here's a close up:

The paper is from Prima, and the word is a Melissa Frances rub on. Flowers are Green Tara.

Thanks for stopping by.

Notre Dame ATCs

The rest of the ATCs I made for Darkroom Door are now showing on their blog.

I had a play with the Notre Dame set this time.  This set is fabulous because it has one beautiful large image of the Pont Alexandre - the must-see bridge in Paris, as well as heaps of smaller images like the Notre Dame cathedral, some beautiful script, and a cancelled stamp.  In other words - it's a very versatile set.

Here's one ATC I made:

I stamped the image onto acetate with StazOn, then machine stitched it onto an old book page (actually a page from a really old little bible that belonged to someone's Aunt Tillie 1929). I added some German scrap to the top and bottom borders - it ended up looking a little Gothic, which really suits the cathedral, n'est pas?

Pop over to the Darkroom Door blog to see my other very different ATCs, as well as some divine work from the immensely talented Godelieve.

Happy Birthday to AnnaBelle Stamps

Can you believe it's been a whole year since AnnaBelle Stamps released its first set?  Of course, we're celebrating!

We'd love for you to follow along in our blog hop for a chance to win. Start at the beginning (what better place to start? LOL) at the AnnaBelle Stamps blog, and pop in to each blog and leave a comment. One winner will be chosen at random to win a $20 voucher to spend in store.  We'll announce the winner next Friday.

Our theme this week is Yellow and Grey.  Here's my card:

I've used stamps from the Floral Silhouettes set. The border was made with a Martha Stewart punch.

The next stop on the blog hop is Sue.  Enjoy the blog hop, and don't forget to leave a comment at each stop!

Paperific August 2010

As I've already mentioned, there was a fantastic buzz at the show this year. I loved each and every minute!  Here are some photos from the weekend.

This is the Twiddleybitz booth - note the tremendous number of samples by the design team - I was just blown away:

and just around the corner was this gallery wall.  Each of the design team members has a plaque with a couple of layouts underneath it:

Here's a make and take in progress with the delightful Tiff Sawyer (goodness me they were popular!):

This is the motley Saturday crew - Jennnifer, Andrew, Bec, me (Teresa) and Nicole:

I was entertained the whole weekend by the mysterious pole dancer at the Collections booth:

just kidding - this is the irrepressible and always hilarious Jen Crossley.  She said she had a sore back, but the moves she was pulling on that pole.....wow!

Thanks to everyone who attended my classes both for Twiddleybitz and Scraptacular- I hope you learned a little something that you'll add to your projects in the future. I had a lot of fun teaching them.

The next show I've got on the calendar is the Picture to Page show in November.  Stay tuned for details of classes I may be teaching there.