Dark Hour tags

Halloween today. Not that we celebrate it much here in Australia. There's usually a horror movie marathon on tv, but I haven't checked the guide yet. I'm on call for work, so I don't like to make firm plans in case I get called in.

Anyway, while we're on the topic of Halloween, here are some tags I made for a swap. The theme was Dark Hour - hope these are 'dark' enough:

They smell fabulous - that piece of calico in the centre was coffee stained before being stamped. Stamps are from a few different companies - Tim Holtz, Prima, Papercraft Studio.

I used one of my Martha Stewart punches for the border (I think it's called Iron Gate), and some of my colour sprays from Twiddleyitz - Black Tulip for the seam binding, and Walnut to age the tag itself.

Here's a close up of the seam binding bow at the top:

The button in the centre started its life out as silver, but with a little help from my E37 Copic marker, and it's looking a little amber and a much better match for this project.

Thanks for looking, and enjoy your Halloween, whether you celebrate it or not.

AnnaBelle Stamps Sketch #31

Here's this month's sketch:

 

Soooo many possibilities with this one!  Here's what I came up with:

My regular readers know how much I love kraft cardstock.  Here it is teamed with some bright stripes (October Afternoon), Copic colouring and stamping with white ink (Stampin' Up).

The image I've used is from a mini set called Lil Michelle with teddy, and at just $9.95, it's brilliant value. The word comes from the Teresa's numbers set.  The Sprinkles are 4mm Artichoke.

I'd love it if you'd join us in this bling challenge (details are here on the blog), and remember when you make a card for any of our challenges your name is entered into a draw for a fabulous $20 voucher to spend on anything in the store.

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend!

Tooting

I'm honoured to say I have two layouts in this very special issue of Scrapboooking Memories:

I haven't had a chance to have a good look through, but I do know fellow Lime Tart Tanya has a layout in there too.  I'm looking forward to seeing all of the beautiful work in there when I get a quiet moment. Ha! A quiet moment!  I'm going to have to run away to get a quiet moment around here LOL.

A Whiff of Joy

That's one of the many brands of stamps stocked by Lime Tart.  WOJ images are hand drawn and boy are they cute!

Here's what I did with one of the images called Melinda reading book:

The image is just perfect for making bookmarks! I've got some orders from my daughter Rachel and her merry band of avid readers (I just love this age!).

And this is a card I made with the same image:

I plan to give this to Rachel at the end of the school year.  She has worked really hard and certainly deserves a reward, perhaps even a collection of Roald Dahl books (her current favourite author) might be in order.

I have used a die for the grass on this card - the Grass Die from Whiff of Joy, and Copics to colour the images on the card and bookmark.

Thanks for stopping by!

Say it in....

...black and white.  That's this week's challenge at AnnaBelle Stamps. 

Here's my card:

The background is from the Backgrounds by Design - Numbers set, and the hi! and asterisk are from the Teresa's Numbers set. 

Just a little reminder - you've got one more week to enter our sketch challenge for a chance to win a $20 voucher.  Details are here.

I'm thrilled to see so many people playing along with our weekly challenges - thanks for keeping us company!

Rasberry News

Rasberry is an Aussie company that makes scrapbooking and stationery product, and I'm delighted to have been asked to do some design team work for them.  I got a huuuuge pack of product today, so I can't wait to start on some exciting projects.

I wanted to let you know about a special event coming up next week here in Melbourne - Sheena will be opening the Rasberry showroom to firstly retailers (25-27 Oct), and then the general public (28-30 Oct).  You can read all about it here.

In the meantime, take a look at the delicious papers I get to play with:

Wahoo - go Lime Tarts!

Remember this card I made for the retail card contest at Sweet Pea Stamps?

Well, it won!  I'm in shock, there were some beautiful cards submitted, including the third prize winning card from Renee.

Looks like we're both fans of the Ching-Chou Kuik stamps from Lime Tart ;)

AnnaBelle Stamps - even MORE new releases

Here I am to show you the last two sets of the October release.  Remember to follow the links along the blog hop, leaving a comment along the way for your chance to win these sets.

First up we have another mini set - L'il Bee:

I couldn't help myself - this image just screams bright, doesn't it?  Here's my card:

 

I went back and added some Stickles to some of the flowers and the wings, so this card really sparkles in real life.  

Here's the second set we're releasing today - L'il Molly :

And here's my card using some gorgeous Basic Grey papers:

 The next stop on the hop is Sue, and don't forget to check out the special deal for this month's releases at the shop.  When purchasing the entire October release package for $75 AUD, you will receive free postage on your entire order!  Here's the special code: octoberfree.  The offer is only valid for 4 days - that's until midnight Friday here in Melbourne (see the clock in my sidebar).

Growwwwwwl.....

Check out this tiger print ribbon Lime Tart has in at the moment:

A few of the DT girls have had some fun with it.  Here's my card:
 

I coloured in the image of Oleander by CC Designs with Copics. It's not often I get to make any Halloween cards, so I seized the opportunity when I saw this image and the ribbon.  The seam binding bow at the top of the card was coloured with Copics too.  You can see my step by step tutorial here.

AnnaBelle Stamps - More October New Releases

I'm back with more new stamp sets.  I'm more than a little excited about this release - I had a little bit to do with these sets.  The AnnaBelle Stamps design team are having a blog hop to show you our ideas with the new stamps.

The first set I want to show you is a handy dandy set of numbers called Teresa's numbers:

As well as the numbers, we added some punctuation marks, shapes and some words too.  What do you think?

Here's one card making use of one number:

How easy is it going to be to customise birthday cards now?  Wahoo!

Here's another card using the numbers set.  Quick and easy:

I stamped the word directly onto the patterned paper, and coloured it in with a W3 Copic.  Here's a peek at the inside of the card:

 This is the second new set we're previewing today - Backgrounds by Design:

Andrea cleverly took all of the numbers and some shapes and made a border from them.  Aint it sweet?  I used it here in my sample:

 

Here's a close up of the border:

I embossed the number border with clear embossing powder, and then sponged some yellow ink over the top.  'Birthday Wishes' is embossed with white embossing powder - it really pops on the darker background.


The rest of the design team are busting to show you their cards, so I'll link you up to the next blog on the blog hop which belongs to:

Sue

Remember to leave a comment here, and on the blogs of the rest of the design team to put yourself into the running to win these stamp sets. They will be available for purchase at the shop from the 19th October.

Thanks for stopping by!

AnnaBelle Stamps - October New Releases

The observant people will have noticed I said 'releases" as I have two sets to reveal today.  We're trying something new at AnnaBelle - L'il Belles.  They're mini sets of some fantastic images. As is the custom for new releases at AnnaBelle, we like to show off our new stuff by way of a blog hop, so be sure to check out the samples from the rest of the design team. I'll link you to the next stop right at the end of this post.

First up is a set called L'il Michelle.  She's the most adorable little girl holding a teddy bear, and comes with some handy words too:

 

Here's my card:

 

I used some Cosmo Cricket paper, some Silver Sprinkles, and some red and white twine that just happens to match her stockings LOL.  I coloured the image in with....can you guess?......yeah - Copics.  Here's a close up of the colouring:

As I said, there's a second set being released today - L'il Monster.  Here he is:

 

And here's the card I made:

I wanted to use paper from one of my favourite ranges by Basic Grey called Archaic.  It was a matter of colouring the image in using Copics to match.  (When I'm organised I do it that way, usually I colour the image in first, then run around like a madwoman trying to match it up to something LOL). I find this image adorable, and it'll come in handy for birthdays for young boys.  Here's a close up of the colouring:

Thanks for stopping by.  Feel free to leave a comment, and that will put you in the draw to win these sets.

The next stop on the blog hop is :

Sue.

Simply Red

I was very fortunate to attend one of the Simply Red Farewell concerts here in Melbourne. We had tickets to go last year, but the concert at the Rochford Winery was cancelled due to its proximity to the Black Saturday bushfires.

My friend Jo had gone the night before, so I knew we were in for something special.  Marcia Hines was the support act - she was BRILLIANT!  Let me just say, any woman who has the confidence to go outside wearing a green velour pantsuit and sparkly belt deserves your undivided attention. The woman can sing - now that's what I'm talking about!

I knew from Jo that it would be ok to take my camera, so I'm sharing some of the shots I took.  Here's a shot of the entire stage with lighting:

 They sounded as fabulous as ever as they played ALL of my favourites.  At one stage, Mick removed his ear pieces to tell us that he couldn't hear a thing in one ear.  He had a cold/ear/sinus thing happening, and kept blowing his nose. I'm keeping an eye eBay for those used tissues LOL

Despite the man cold, he sang beautifully - not one off note.  Wish I could do that! I only sound great in the shower.  Here's a close up of the only red head I've ever wanted to marry:

Yeah - I'm pretty sure I've seen a face like that on the side of a bucket of fried chicken. I'd still kiss it every morning if he woke me up with a song ;)

I'm off to play my CD of greatest hits, and read the programme I bought at the concert and relive some of the magic. If you don't know me by now......

Cupcake weekend

I promised both Rachel and Elouise they could have birthday parties this year. Despite having celebrated their actual birthdays in March and July respectively, last Saturday was P-Day.  Two girly birthdays on the one day. I MUST be insane. But, a promise is a promise, right?

You can imagine the wonderful smell in my kitchen - over 60 cupcakes baked, and around 40 of them decorated. One thing I love about baking is that you eat your mistakes.....which is really no incentive to be at all perfect! My super tight jeans today are testament to that lack of perfection. Anyhoo....moving on.....

Here is the design for Rachel's cupcakes:

 

Quick and easy - chocolate cupcake with purple frosting because purple is her favourite colour.  I sent the cupcakes home in boxes:

 Elouise had some trouble deciding on her design, so we had some of these with a banana lolly:

and some of these:

 Yeah - wichety grubs sticking out of a pile of mud, snort. Cute eh?  Cute, but too tall for the cupcake carrier, so the grubs were pulled out and replaced with this:

 ...a flat freckle. These cupcakes took about three times as long as the first lot because I had a couple of "helpers".  I'll call them helpers, more because they were helping themselves to the lollies than actually helping me decorate cupcakes. And don't believe them when they say they weren't helping themselves to the chocolate frosting  - they were both lying through their pencil thin chocolate moustaches.

Our next birthday is not until December, which should give my pancreas enough time to recover. It has been worked hard this weekend!

Pushing friendships...

....this was my dinner the other night:

I'm happy to report that my friend tally is the same, pre and post garlic prawns.

Don't you love it when you can get away with garlic?

Sweet Pea Challenge

The very kind people at Sweet Pea have a very generous prize to give away. You can read about the challenge here on the Lime Tart blog.

Here's my card:

I used papers from a couple of companies (HOTP, Bo Bunny).  One of the papers had some flowers on it, so I cut them out and added a button:

The stamp is called Flowing in Blue, but I chose to colour it with Copics in warm greys:

I love colouring in grey.  Looks like an old sepia photograph.

Thanks for stopping by!

Say it with...

....no designer paper.  That's the challenge this week at the AnnaBelle Stamps blog.  I thought this was going to be hard - designer paper is often my starting point when designing a card. Then I thought - I could make my own pattern using stamps:
 

I chose the words from the Christmas Scene Baubles set - they are slightly rough and distressed (no surprise they would appeal to me LOL), lined them up in a straight line on an acrylic block, and stamped a whole card front.  I used aged mahogany Distress Ink (ranger).

All it needed was a little embellishment at the bottom right hand corner, in this case a hand made rolled fabric rose, a couple of holly leaves and a few Sprinkles from this pack. Done!

This week we welcome Iwona as a permanent member of the AnnaBelle Stamps Design Team.  Welcome Iwona!!

Together

That's the title I gave this layout I made for Paperific in August (I think I forgot to share it).  Lots of Twiddleybitz here:

I started on Webster's Pages patterned paper, then used some copper paint on the Opening Gate - with green patina, it looks like metal IRL.

Here's the gate close up, and you can see the picket fence and butterfly too.  The flowers are Prima (of course!):

 

Here's a close up of the branch and title:

I splodged the branch with green acrylic paint, and when dry, painted over it with Gold Colour Spray.  I used Quince Colour Spray on the title.  I find spraying the colour sprays although quick, convenient and fun, a little messy sometimes, so I shake the bottle up and use a paintbrush to apply them when I want a solid colour. 

Thanks for looking, and for any lovely comments you care to leave.

A Copic Technique - 'bleach stamping'

I taught this technique at Little Bits a few weeks ago, and I didn't have a name for it.  The ladies in my class settled on Copic bleach stamping, so I guess that's fine with me :) Just as long as there's no actual bleach around - me and my dark clothes don't get along well with bleach. Alcohol is another matter altogether.

Traditionally with bleach stamping, you'd make a little 'ink' pad - paper towel or felt soaked in bleach, but because alcohol is so volatile (ie it evaporates quickly), this wouldn't work for very long.  My solution is to spray the alcohol onto the rubber, just before stamping.  Here's what I do:

Start by colouring an area with a dark colour (something ending in a '9' works best.  I've used B29 here).  Using a spritzer filled with alcohol (eg rubbing alcohol, or methylated spirits), lightly spray the surface of a stamp.  I say lightly because if there are droplets running off the rubber, all the detail of the image will be lost. Then simply stamp onto the area you've just coloured.  Here's my sample:

I'm amazed at the level of detail that can be achieved when the spray is not overdone - this is quite an intricate background stamp.

So - what about an application for this technique?  Well - check out this dress:

You just need to remember to colour in the area you want to 'bleach out' first, before you colour all of the other areas like skin and hair, or those areas will have their colour messed with too.

Hope you find this useful!

Stampavie Challenge #34

The challenge on the Stampavie Design Team blog this fortnight is die cuts.  Too easy (for someone like me who owns too many dies! LOL).  Here's my card:

I used two dies here - the fence is from Sullivans, and the leaves are Sizzix.  The cute little image is called Happy Piggies, and I coloured it with Copics. The little butterflies are punches and I've added a touch of Stickles to the bodies.

I cut a few of the branches out, and left the leaves sticking up for extra dimension.  Here's a side view:

Thanks for looking!