Glorious Greens

is the colour theme for the Gingersnap Creations challenge

& this is the card I made for my MIL's birthday tomorrow.

Firstly I used 3 or 4 green distress inks to make the background which I then cut into squares & backed with dark green.

I added the ribbon & buttons & the birthday sentiment stamped with green stazon ink, mounted on white card.

The flower/vase image was stamped using the green stazon again & cut out leaving the white border.

The butterflies were punched using my Martha Stewart punch in the dark green backing paper for the base & multi coloured greens for the top, which I enhanced with crackle medium (doesn't show too well in the photo)

So there you have it - Happy Birthday MIL!

Colours prescribed ..........

 Purple, green, pink & white are the colours for the colour challenge 29 at Creatalicious Challenges blog.

I stamped the heart stamp twice using olive ink, then coloured them in with inks using a cotton bud to give the naive feel to the card.

The heart stamp is the first ever stamp I got way back when in Australia when I was introduced to rubber stamping & gorgeous craft shops full of gorgeous goodies!

I used plain green bazil to back the card.

I added a white flower & pink clip & used my Martha Stewart branch punch for the foliage.

I finished with the 3 pink buttons.

A lovely start to the day :-)

I found out that I've won the Blog Hop over at 

the Anything Goes Challenge Blog

What a lovely start to the day & the sun is shining :-)

Now onto my entry for CHNC this week

The challenge is to use buttons on your Christmas card

I used red buttons as the berries on my holly

I stamped the image using green stazon onto card & then 

using my distress inks stamped the image again in pine needles 

& cut them out & layered them. 

I mounted the card onto green bazil & added the button 'berries'

To finish I stamped the sentiment again in the green stazon ink 

directly onto the card.

Can now reveal .................

...... Daughter's birthday card.

It's not actually her birthday until Tuesday but her Dad & I visited this weekend (she lives about 70 miles away) & she got her card & pressie so that we could have the fun of seeing her open them :-)

I used the free visage stamp from Craft Stamper magazine.

My Martha Stewart butterfly punch - layered & stickles round the edge.

Love the colours of the blooms :-)

Button embellishments - the background is a Martha Stewart punch.

And the birthday stamp was inked round with distress ink & mounted on a scalloped background again punched out.

Finished with the striped ribbon in coordinating colours.

A Challenge card

This is the sketch for this weeks challenge over on the Allsorts challenge blog

As I wanted to join in the challenge over at Dotties World which is Anything goes - Red I have combined the 2 challenges & used red mainly on my card.

I coloured the cute image with my copics & mounted it on the scalloped circle cut with my nesties & used my gel roller pen to do the faux stitching round the edge.

I added white buttons

and die cut snowflakes along with the merry christmas sentiment matted again in red card & raised on sticky fixers

and added the ribbon bow & pearls to finish ...............


I'd also like to enter this for the PB at Allsorts challenge - thanks Brenda for the heads up :-)

Quick post before I jet home

Quick post just before I leave for the airport to jet off home. This is a thank you card that i made.

I stamped the leaf motif & the tank you sentiment using stazon ink. I added the ribbon & buttons.

Sunday sketch & stamp challenge

This is the sketch for the challenge on Sunday sketch & stamp.

And this is my card made using the sketch. 

I used co-ordinating papers & some spotted ribbon.

and one of Mum's pergamano stamps. As I hadn't got the jewel colours I wanted for the peacock I let him speak for himself & left him uncoloured. I used the blooms & buttons in appropriate colours.

Again I've struggled with the photography.....

Crafting away from home

Just made this card using the sketch provided by Karen over on the Charmed Craft Talk forum. Apologies for the quality of the photo's but I'm away from home & struggling with the lighting to get good pics

I used papers from the 6x6 stack that I bought on my trip to Paper2 in Mornington - I've sent the stack home with my son & can't remember the details!

The cute little lady is one of my Mum's stamps & I used buttons bought from the local market which is held on a Sunday morning & blooms that I bought in Big W & I coloured the image using Mum's Prisma's - I miss my Copics which are still in my craft room at home ..................

The corner is stamped Just for you.

Hearts and flowers bag

This is the bag that I made for the members challenge over at Charmed Craft Talk, set this time by Carmen - thanks Carmen.

I'd got this bag cut out a while ago but hadn't got any further with it & then Carmen set the challenge! It is made from a not so old sweater that had shrunk in the wash!

The above photo shows a bit of both sides - hearts & bobbles on one side & flowers & buttons on the other.

  

This shows the flowers & buttons side.

The flowers are felt & cut out with my Big Shot using the Build a flower Sizzix die, then sewn onto the bag. The tag is backed with dark pink felt & again cut using the Scalloped tag die from Sizzix.

This shows the hearts side of the bag & the ribbon trim which also helps to shape the bag. I blanket stiched around the handles again in the co-ordinating dark pink wool to match.

This shows the magnetic clasp & also the felt ball that I cut in half & sewed either side of the fastening.

My Nesties Storage book

My Knight in Shining Armour.........

Helped me go from the above

to

This!

My Nesties storage book.

My Knight in Shining Armour is Calv who when he heard of my problem - solved it for me :-) 

I had finally got round to making my Nestibilities storage book & had covered the front & back covers then tried to use my Bind it All. I have an original blue Bind it All & had used official Zutter covers which I assumed (wrongly) would fit into my Bind it All. So I had my covers all ready for their binding but DISASTER!!

The covers wouldn't fit into the Bind it All!!!

After asking fellow crafters I found out that I wasn't alone with the problem & that was why Zutter had brought out the new Pink version of the Bind it All which addressed the problem. Not very helpful for those of us with the original!

So Calv came to the rescue & lent me his Pink (which is now white story here) Bind it All 

& SUCESS!!

I used the Zutter pages in black & then cut

Magnetic photo paper for the interleaves to 'stick' the nestibility dies onto.

I used some brown paper along three sides which overlap the pages as extra insurance when carrying my book around - I'd hate to lose any of my Nesties!!

This shows the book closed.

I used the Zutter Perfect Closure fastener. It has a real leather strap which I left plain but could have coloured.

I embellished the binding with beads ribbons & bits (you may recognise the keys from an earlier post :-)

The buttons were special, sent by a fellow crafter friend & the nail heads are one of my lastest purchases. The letters were cut on my Big Shot, it's the Go Slim alphabet & mounted on matts cut using of course my Nesties :-)

So I can now carry around my Nesties in a nice compact form instead of all the plastic packaging - I'm sure you agree that it looks prettier :-)

Whiff of Joy challenge card

This is my card for the Whiff of Joy challenge. This time it's a recipe 1 ribbon 2 buttons & 3 papers.



The leaves were punched using my Martha Stewart branch punch & the swirl was cut using my Big Shot & Sizzix Bigs die.



The sentiment was stamped & then punched out & matted onto the punched scalloped circle.



The image was coloured using Copic pens & I used my new dies to cut the shapes that she is mounted on.

Bookmark & Serendipity frame

It was my turn to set the member challenge over on Charmed Craft talk forum So the challenges I set were to make seredipity paper & use it in a project of your choice to include blooms & a charm, and to make a usable bookmark to include ribbons & buttons.



So this is how my frame started out..................



Blooms & a charm .........................



More blooms & charms ..............................



Serendipity paper covering the frame ..............



Pearl accents .....................................


The bookmark



To include ribbon & buttons..............



Buttons from my button collection ..................



The body of the bookmark is made from 2 strips of plain ribbon which I stamped with stazon ink. The top attached to a buckle decorated with lace & beads attached. The bottom is knotted with a large covered bead above the buttons.



I decorated the top with beads, lace & a buckle.

There are some lovely makes for the challenge - do pop over for a look .....................