One more, and then I'll go.....

I almost forgot - it's time for another monthly sketch at AnnaBelle Stamps.  We're up to sketch number 33, and here it is:

Here's my card:

As you can see, I spun the sketch around so that the words are now at the top. I thought I'd make a little boy's birthday card using the adorable L'il Monster's Balloon stamp set, which happens to be on special at the moment ;)

 I used papers from Kaisercraft, some Copic colouring and some paper piecing. I added some silver metallic sprinkles at the bottom right instead of the top right.  To add some extra sparkle, I used my Spica marker on the balloon:

 

Why not have a go at the sketch yourself? You could win yourself a neat little prize, like a voucher to spend in the store! You can find details on how to enter on the AnnaBelle Stamps blog.

Thanks for looking in! I promise this is the last for 2010. I'll be back soon in the new year.


 

No, THIS is the last post....

I just had to pop back to share this exciting bit of news.  I'll be joining the wonderfully talented girls on The Studio Challenges next year!  Read all about it here.

 

Thank you!!

That's the theme this week over at Papertake Weekly. I was honoured to be chosen as one of the guest designers this week - here's my card:

The patterned paper and alpha are Basic Grey, and the flower is Prima. There's also some scrunched seam binding behind the flower, and some coffee stained lace trim under the word.

From me to you - blog reader - I thank you for popping in to check out my blog from time to time. I hope you find something that inspires you. Thank you also for taking a moment to leave a comment - your comments make me feel loved.

It has been a year of ups and downs. I've lost two important people and I've had a few friends and family members who have been very ill. I've seen the ugly side of life too many times, and have been left wondering why people would go out of their way to hurt others, but I don't want to forget the year all together - I will look at it as a period of tremendous personal growth. I will learn from all that has happened and carry into the new year all of the positive things with the hope that they will grow and far outweigh the negative. A big fat raspberry to all the negative, and a huuuuuge big warm hug for the positive!

This will likely be my last post for 2010, so I wish all of you a very happy and safe new year.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

  

Last toot for 2010

I'm loving this quiet time between Christmas and New Year. Relaxing and catching up with friends that have been neglected during this hectic, busy year.

Anyway, I thought I'd better share this before the news becomes completely irrelevant. I had some cards published in a couple of Stampington publications. This one:

 and this one:

I'll be back soon with my last post for 2010 in a couple of days. Stay safe!

 

what the.........

Where on earth is time going? I think I blinked and missed most of December!

Before the big day arrives, I thought I'd better share some of the Christmas cards I made, mostly for my classes at Little Bits.

Simple black and white with Darkroom Door stamps and a Twiddleybitz nero scroll:

Here are a couple of cards using leaf trim. I loved the trim when I saw it, so I was glad to be able to include it in some projects. Here is is as a wreath with a bell:

And here it is as a wreath with a rolled paper rose:

I thought bright green and burgundy might be two colours that don't go well together, but I love them!

Here's a card using a Nestabilities shape and some paper rolls:

 They really add height, and they'll be pretty hard to squash in the post:

I have some store vouchers and cinema tickets to gift this Christmas, so I made a heap of these pocket cards:

Here's a chipboard swirly tree I coloured brown with a Copic marker. I added some Stickles in blue to match the paper (this is a colour scheme suggested by my daughter Rachel - I love it!):

Well, that's all time allows right now. I have sooooo many more to show, and I will try to be back soon.

Thanks for dropping in. I hope things aren't too hectic for you!

 

...and the winner is.....

The winner of the Twiddleybitz chipboard giveaway is......

Wendy Smith!!

Wendy, please send me your address so I can get your prize out to you. You'll find my email addy in the profile bit of the column on the right.

A huge thanks to everyone who dropped by and left a comment. The Twiddleybitz team love blog hops, so we'll bring you more in the new year for sure.

 

AnnaBelle Stamps New Release

Welcome to the very last release for the year from AnnaBelle Stamps.  It's called Backgrounds by Design 2, and here it is:

As usual with our new releases, we have a blog hop around the blogs of the design team members, so if you'd like to start at the very beginning, you'll need to pop over to the AnnaBelle Stamps blog now.

I have wanted a border/background stamp like the one on the very left for the longest time!  Here's what I did with it:

I added some Lagoon Sprinkles to some of the dots - it's such a bright and fresh look. The Lagoon Sprinkles were a perfect match for my Teal StazOn ink.  Here's a close up:

The words are from the Branch Out set.

I couldn't stop at just one card this time, so here's a very different look for my second card:

 

A little bit Gothic, isn't it? I embossed the border and words for extra pop with clear embossing powder. The border punched on the bottom was done with a Martha Stewart punch, and I stitched around the top with my sewing machine.Here's a close up:

 See the shine? Woo!

The words came from one of AnnaBelle Stamps very early sets called Holly Branch.  The vintage font was perfect for this card.

This set as well as the one we previewed on Wednesday will be available for purchase from today in the shop.

Thanks for stopping by, and for any comments you care to leave.  Ooh - just a reminder to leave comments as you hop around the design team blogs - you could win this new set.  The next stop on the hop is Sue.


 

Don't forget....

..to enter my little Twiddleybitz giveaway. The post is here.

I'll draw the winner on Saturday night. Good luck!

 

AnnaBelle Stamps New Release - Stemmed Flowers

Wahoo! It's the 15th of the month and time for another new release from AnnaBelle Stamps.  As usual, we'll put on a bit of a blog hop, so if you'd like to start from the beginning, pop over to the AnnaBelle Stamps blog now.

Here's the new set called Stemmed Flowers:

It will be available for purchase later this week along with another set we'll be previewing on Friday.

I had a little play with the flowers, and here's my card:

I used three of the little flower images to create the background, then I stamped a larger flower and a smaller flower, cut them out and made an embellishment with a peach Sprinkle in the centre.  The word is from the set called Teresa's Numbers. I left the 'o' at the end uninked, and replaced it with another little flower.

Thanks for looking, and don't forget to pop back in a couple of days for yet another new set!

The next stop on the hop is Sue - you're going to love her projects!


 

How's this for awesome??!!

I found this site - Cute'n'Cool blogs and decided to update my own blog.

I think I'm in love! Check out the little bird at the bottom! Isn't this just perfect for me?

Now, back to the housework :(

 

I've had my fill.....

...no more tart for me.  This is the last of my gallery work for Lime Tart. I have stepped down from the team.

Here's the image I showed in a previous post - I used her on a card:

This is an A4 layout with some hidden journalling under the photo. It's one of my favourite photos of Elouise (she was on her way to cut her cake on her birthday, hence the "hurry up" face):

Christmas just wouldn't be complete without the smell of shortbread, would it?

And here's a 12 x 12 canvas with thrinchies on it:

This last one is a card that wasn't added to the gallery. I made the little frame with a couple of nestabilities dies, and cut a window so that the patterned paper showed through to the front of the card:

 
Thanks for all of the comments about my work for the past three years or so. I have appreciated each and every comment :)

 

AnnaBelle Sketch #32

Here's our monthly sketch:

and here's my card:

 

Sometimes I like to "Christmatise" stamp sets (ie make Christmas cards from non-Christmas stamps).  This is the set I used:

  

It's called Branch Out.  Here's a close up of my card:

 I stamped the images with brown Memento, and used Copics to colour them in (E43 and E44).  To finish the card off, I used some Metallic Cocoa Sprinkles.

If you'd like to use this sketch to make a card, why not pop a link to your card here on the AnnaBelle Stamps blog. You could win a $20 voucher to the AnnaBelle Stamps store.


 

Lime Tart sneak peek...

Here's an image I've prepared to use with my beautiful December A la Tarte kit:

The image is called Angel Anya, and I have used a combination of paper piecing and Copics on her.

Stay tuned for the gallery opening - not long now.

 

Twiddleybitz Blog Hop

Welcome to my post for the Twiddleybitz Blog Hop. If you haven't come here directly from Lisa's blog, then you might want to start at the very beginning to make sure you don't miss a thing. Click here to be transported to the Twiddleybitz Ning now.

To say I'm thrilled to be on the Twiddleybitz design team would be an understatement. Not only do we get to work with the best quality chippy in the world, but I also have the honour of being associated with some of the most talented people in the country. A special mention must go to Tiff Sawyer our DT coordinator, who despite having a very difficult year herself has still managed to make us feel loved and important. Nic and Andy, the brains and brawn behind the Twiddleybitz name are just wonderful people - nothing is ever too much trouble, and they have the best sense of humour to boot. My only regret is that we live on opposite sides of the country so I don't get to see them as often as I'd like. Love you guys!

Ok. Onto my project. It's a landscape A4 layout of my daughter on her first day back at school way back in February. Doesn't time fly?

I started with an A4 sheet of kraft cardstock, and stamped the calendar stamp from Darkroom Door (love those lines!).  Then I sprayed some big droplets of Walnut Colour spray to add some interest and contrast to the background.

I left all the chipboard raw, and it matches really well with the cardstock base.

I had a small collection of  Twiddley Alpha Square letters left over, and decided to use them all without worrying about forming a particular word. I placed them in random order down the left hand side of my page.  I also used School Dayz kids to join up the letters with the photo way over on the right hand side of the page.

To finish it all off (and to fill in a huge space at the centre top), I used one of the curly arrows from the Basic Arrows bag to join the title 'cloud' to the photo. Some lines of text cut from an October Afternoon sheet of patterned paper filled up the spaces on the right of the layout.  Here's a close up:

Thanks for stopping by.  Anyone leaving a comment here on my blog will be put into a draw for a little pack of Twiddleybitz chipboard.

Don't forget to pop into the Ning to see some inspirational work from the rest of the design team, and for more chances to win some cool chippy.

 

Say it with....

...red and green.  That's the theme this week at AnnaBelle Stamps.  Here's my card:

I have used Michelle with Teddy for the main image, and I added a couple of the little images (words, teddy's hat and holly) from Hooo Loves Christmas. I used Copics to colour the images (of course!).

Don't forget to check out the blogs from the rest of the design team, and remember, each challenge you enter and link up to the AnnaBelle Stamps blog gets you an entry into the monthly prize draw.