What's next

When it seems that I'm a little quiet on my blog, it's probably because I'm busy planning classes to teach.  I teach regularly at my local Little Bits, and occasionally at other stores and at shows.

I've added a section in the sidebar at the right to let you know what and where I'm teaching.

Next up is a card class - a Graphic 45 Christmas.  We'll be making 4 or 5 cards using beautiful papers from Graphic 45.

After that is another Copic class.  This one will be about adding in backgrounds around our coloured images.  See the brickwork here:

We'll cover simple ones like this and some more complicated ones in the class.

And then on Sunday 5th December, I'll be holding another Card Extravaganza where we will make around 20 cards in one day! Being so close to Christmas, most of these will have a Christmas theme so it's a great way to get at least some of your cards done for this year.  Lunch is included for this class.

Details of all of the Little Bits classes can be found on their website.

I hope to see you at one of my classes in the future!

Who wants to party?

 Here's a little banner I made using Rasberry products:

The white triangles are about 4 inches tall, and the coloured triangles are about 3 1/2 inches tall.

The letters themselves are stickers (too easy!):

Mounted onto various circles cut with my Nestabilities and punches:

The pennants are simply joined together with an epoxy brad, and each join is decorated with some coordinating ribbon:

This was fun to make. I might tackle a Christmas banner next!

rasberry layout

Here's a layout I made using Rasberry products:

The first thing I did was trim half an inch off the patterned paper, and distress the edges.  The sheet tore in just the spot I wanted for my title, so I tore into the sheet some more until it was big enough to accommodate the large sticker letters:

One of the sheets of patterned paper has masses of butterflies on it, so I cut some out and placed them along the stitching, adding some bling for highlight:

Here are the little photos of a couple of my favourite people (my niece and nephew) with some of my favourite handmade flowers - rolled roses:

Thanks for stopping by!

Handmade goodness + Cosmo Cricket = An awesome giveaway

There's a very talented girl on the Lime Tart design team by the name of Rachael Merrick. A little while ago she made the whole design team the cutest little fabric totes to store our unmounted stamps.

She has whipped one up in some divine Cosmo Cricket fabrics, and is giving it away on Zest blog now!  Here it is:

Told you it was cute!

To sweeten the deal, Philippa of Lime Tart is not letting this tote go empty - she'll be popping in a couple of fabulous stamps to boot!

All you need to do is share something with us - we'd love to know how you store your unmounted stamps. It's that easy!  Pop over to Zest blog now and put yourself in the running. You'd be mad to miss out!

In my garden....

I was woken by a very early phone call from my neighbour on Friday morning.

"Have a look at what's in your front garden!"

I thought it might be an elaborate prank, but no.......check this out:

Yeah - IN OUR GARDEN!

We live about 5km as the crow flies (or as the roo hops) from the nearest national park.  These guys must have been frightened out of there and into suburbia.

Well - you don't see that everyday!

 

Kraftin' Kimmie Kards

What a krazy title for a post LOL.

I'm back to show my cards that are in the November gallery at Lime Tart. They all feature the new range of stamps at Lime Tart - Kraftin' Kimmie.

Here's Marie Antoinette:

Vivienne:

 Suzette in white ink, coloured with a white pen:

Suzette:

The papers and most of the embellishments came from the delightful November Full Tart kit.

There are some close ups of these cards in the November gallery, along with some awesome work from the other DT girls. Thanks for looking!

 

Lime Tart news

The November gallery is open - it is absolutely brimming with inspirational work from the wonderful design team.  Here are some of my favourites:

This delightful layout from Julie:

 and this cute layout from Nikki:

 this amazing book by Renee:

 Love this card from Rachael:

 and this adorable set of tags from Tanya:

Pop over to the gallery and decide on your favourite.  I'll be back tomorrow with my cards.

Published. Sweet!

Oh sweet cupcakes - now there's something that never lets me down! I can always count on a cupcake LOL

I was invited to participate in a Stamper's Challenge using some Inkadinkado Eat Cupcakes stamp set, and these cards appear in the current Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft.  Here's the cover:

 and here are my cards:

 

I used gorgeous papers from Girl's Paperie, pearls and some brown ink sponged on the edges for an overall soft, subtle look.

Thanks for letting me share my news.

AnnaBelle Stamps Borders 1 release

Hi there! I'm back with the second of two sets being release this month.  This one is a very handy set called Borders 1:

Here's my first card:

 I used one of the borders to stamp a swag. Notice it isn't straight? I gave the border a bit of a wave (these are flexible acrylic unmounted stamps - you can do stuff like that LOL). The wave meant that the entire border fit onto the card front. I added a couple of leaves die cut from felt, and a red spiral rose.  The ribbon is seam binding I dyed myself, and the sentiment came from the other set we previewed this month called Christmas Wish.

I used the spotty border from this set for my next card:

 

Because these stamps are see through, I was able to position the border to make a seamlessly continuous background. I also stamped the twill trim.   This is another mini card - it's so cute - it fits in the palm of my hand. The word comes from the set called Teresa's Numbers.

Thanks for stopping by.  You've actually landed in the middle of a blog hop. Your next stop is Sue's blog, but if you've joined us half way through, you might like to start at the very beginning on the design team blog. Remember to leave a comment at each stop to be in the draw to win this set.

The stamps are now available in the shop, so pop on over and tell 'em Teresa sent ya ;)

AnnaBelle Stamps Christmas Wish release

Here's the stamp set:

Lots of possibilities for those last minute Christmas projects. Here's a quick and easy card:

I stamped the ornate vintage frame onto some Teresa Collins paper using Saddle Brown StazOn ink, punched out the inner circle, mounted it onto some red paper, and stuck some little music paper behind the window.

Here's an idea for some mini cards or gift tags:

You can get four of these little cards out of an A4 sheet of cardstock (just to give you an idea of their size).

As usual for every new release at AnnaBelle Stamps, the design team participate in a blog hop.  You can pop into Sue's blog now, or start at the start on Andrea's blog.  Be sure to leave a comment at every stop to be eligible to win this gorgeous set.

I'm off to play with the next set we're releasing tomorrow (17th November).  Be sure to stop by then!

Sweet baby

Here's a layout I did of my middle daughter Rachel.  The photo was taken over 7 years ago, but it's a favourite of mine:

 

Beautiful Webster's Pages paper, Prima flowers and lots of Twiddleybitz chipboard. I used acrylic paint and some Colour Sprays on the chipboard.

There's a feather and some bling in there just for fun.

a Twiddley Christmas

This is a card I made using some new pieces from Twiddleybitz:

I used some of the Colour Sprays (Blue Lustre and Delphinium) on the flying angel and Christmas lights border, and left the tree as naked chipboard.

The words are from a Purple Onion Designs stamp.  I cut each word up and mounted it on some scrap chipboard, then sponged brown ink on the edges. I also sprayed some colour spray (Delphinium) on them.

The patterned paper is Basic Grey. I've decided aqua might be my new favourite colour. It looks beautiful on kraft, don't you think?

Say It With...

...the Hold a Candle set.  That's this week's challenge at AnnaBelle Stamps.  Here's the set:

And here is my card:

 

Now we, realise that not everyone owns this set of stamps yet, so to make it a little easier on those who want to participate, you can use any candle stamp on your creation.  You'll find details on how and where to enter on the AnnaBelle Stamps blog.  Every entry into one of our challenges puts you in the running to win a fabulous prize at the end of the month - a $20 voucher to the store, so get busy!

Gearing up

I had a little play with some new Twiddleybitz pieces, and came up with this shadow box:

Webster's Pages paper in the background, some gold acrylic paint and a couple of colour sprays (Blue Lustre, Green Luscious). The frame was painted with a reasonably thick layer of paint to bring out the shine.  I rubbed the paint into the other chipboard pieces, which makes the finish a little duller and creates a wonderful contrast.  The gears on the outside were then sprayed with the colour sprays to give that oxidised/patina look.

This piece along with a few others I've made will be on display at the Twiddleybitz stand at the Penrith Paper Crafts Festival this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  If you're in the area, why not pop down, do a make and take with the fabulous Tiff Sawyer and grab yourself a bargain. Then come back and tell me all about it - I'll be waiting LOL.

Paris ATCs

Every month, Darkroom Door hosts an ATC swap and the theme for October was Paris.  How wonderful! I put my Notre Dame and Champs Elysee sets to good use:

 The patterned paper is the back of a sheet from Websters Pages. The calico that Paris is stamped on has been coffee stained, and the pearls were coloured with Copics.

Can't wait to see what everyone else does with the theme - I love when the returns arrive :)