Magnolia down under Challenge #21

Woo Hoo! i have finally come up with something to enter the magnolia down under challenge! i have wanted to do a challenge there for ages but i have not had any appropriate stamps for the last few, i think they were winter themed and fathers day, and of course in my first purchase i bought summer themed and very girly stamps (there is a christmas one too but she arrived a couple of days too late for the christmas in july challenge, bugger!) last week i became the proud owner of a couple more magnolias (feeding the addiction), and my first edwin, so he shall feature soon. he is all stamped up and just waiting for me to be bothered to colour him... it's been one of those weeks.
so challenge #21 with magnolia down under is a recipe:

• 1 flower
• 2 ribbons
• 3 brads and
• 4 papers

it was not until afterwards when i was taking pictures and thinking about the 2 ribbons, and perhaps i should have used 2 different ribbons. i used the same ribbon but i used it twice, hope that still counts :)

this pic without flash shows the colours better

but this one with the flash is a clearer/sharper image, so hopefully the 2 together give you a good idea of what the card looks like in real life

i think until i get a new camera, which could take years, knowing what we are like :), i may just have to post all my projects with flash on/off photos. oh well. thank you all for stopping by

it's a girl

i'm back. i know, it's been over a week but i have been feeling completely uninspired. i tried looking around challenges for ideas and sketches and nothing seemed to do it for me. i had the best intentions but nothing happend (from what i have read around the blogs it happens to everyone, i had no idea i had mojo until it was gone :) ) to top things off my little men have been teething lately and they have just turned into grumpy little buggers! oh, and this post has taken hours to publish because the internet keeps crapping itself, GGRRR!!!
so last night i sat down and combined the abc challenge theme, c is for circles, staurday challenges theme, flights of fancy (anything with wings) and cute card thursdays theme, new beginings (i chose a card for a baby), and came up with this:

my little magnolia bubby is looking a bit washed out with the flash, she is coloured in pale pinks which did not show up too well. i wanted to be very pink and girly with her. i have another card to post, hopefully i can get it done today, it depends on my moody internet connection :) thanks for coming and taking a look

a little something different

to start with i would like to thank Stephanne for directing me to the Create4fun Challenge blog. i really like making up little boxes and things and this challenge was a template, i was could not wait to do it. it was the first time i had seen a template as a challenge, i have only encountered sketch and colour ones really, and the occasional anything but a card, so i teamed up this template:

with the Delicious Divas Colour Challenge #1:this was my first colour challenge, and i find deciding on colours difficult at the best of times, so this time i just had to rat around in my supplies for a match.

I did not have the exact colours so i made do with what i had, and was a little surprised by what i found in my boxes of supplies.

Here's what i made (isn't the baby tingla stamp adorable, i just fell in love when i first saw her):

and a side/angled view:

it's christmas time

i was so excited to see some challenges doing christmas in august as i missed out on the july challenges and i just love christmas (yes, we do the whole christmas lights on the house thing and we have a huge tree, i can't wait until the boys are old enough to get excited by it too). anyways, i combined Simon Says Challenge and Dutch Dare Card Challenge (both christmas in august) with Saturday Challenge (fancy corners) and came up with this:

i have taken pictures with and without the flash because they highlight different things on the card which i can't seem to manage in the one shot at the moment with this overcast winter weather. i have been told things will be better when it warms up and the sky is clear long enough to take a photo. i swear it clouds over as soon as i pick up my camera. enough ranting about the weather, in the top photo you can sort of see (mainly due to the shadows) where i have used dimensionals and layered the image. the dress gifts and wings have been cut from a second image to give a 3-d effect. in the bottom photo you can see the sentiment a little better and the colours are a bit brighter. it also shows off the card framing the stamp, it is red with a metallic gold sheen and corrugated. neither photo really shows the ribbons very well. anyway, thats a massive rant from me, thanks for looking :)

project overload

Hi all. this is going to be a bit of a rant as i have two projects to show you combining 3 different challenges. the first one is Kellies sketch challenge #2
I just love this sketch, it was so easy to work with and i had several ideas, i was very excited to get started on this one, unfortunately the world was conspiring against me to get anything done this weekend so it took over two days before i finally got to put my ideas to paper!
Here she is, one of my new magnolia stamps. i just love this little Tilda, she is just so summer. At the top of this card i used my Stampin' up Friendly words jumbo wheel and clear embossed it and them sponged some ink on top of that to match the colours i used on my Tilda. it did not come out the way i was hoping, you can kind of see the words if you look hard (and squint, stick your tongue out the side of your mouth, hop on one foot, etc...) but that's ok the effect matched the papers i was using anyway :)

My next project combined Kellies sketch with Creative Inspirations challenge #22 (gift box, bag etc) and Simon says challenge (anything but a card)
I made a little pizza style box, the instructions can be found here
and here is a side view. i thought i would use this to hold a bracelet i made for my niece for her birthday to match a dress we got for her.
I was going to put glitter on both of their wings but i forgot and now they are all mounted up on their projects i think it will be a bit to messy, oh well, i will just have to put in the extra effort to remember next time :)

amazing blog candy

isn't this lot amazing, and there is more, it did not all fit in the picture! Bev over at All the things i love is giving this away for reaching 400,000 hits! she was up to 426,449 when i was there. anyways... hop over there and try your luck, you have until August 17, good luck!

Simon Says Challenge

Hello everyone, i finally got my magnolia stamps this week, they are divine, i'm so happy with them. as an excuse to have a play with them i whipped up a little something for the Simon Says Challenge. the challenge this week is anything but a card, so i made a little gift card holder. i have been wanting to make one of these for ages as i hate just sticking gift cards in with the card and think that this little holder is just perfect for making it a little more special! i have added little crystals in her hair and on the presents but they did not show up in the pic :(
Here is a pic of what it looks like when you open it up with the card inside. you can find all the instructions for the holder here.

Scrap the boys August challenge

The theme this month over at Scrap the Boys is Master Chef. You have to use photos of your boys with food, they can be cooking it, eating it, whatever. The second criteria for the challenge is to use a cooking term in your title. So here is what i came up with.

I used pictures of my boys with their dad on his birthday getting into the frosting on his birthday cake. This was his first birthday as a daddy.

Here is a close up of the title. you cant see it very well in the main pic but i have double mounted the lettering. My thinking was it was like frosting the letters onto a base, if that makes sense (it did in my head) :)

Delicious Divas: Take 2

Ok, I'm back again with i little creation for Delicious Diva Challenges that i am MUCH happier with.


I posted this second picture just because when shot without the flash you can see where i have used dimensionals under the stamped images.


Once again, thanks for looking!

Delicious Diva Challenge #1

Challenge #1 over at Delicious Diva Challenges is a sketch. There is a new challenge every 2 weeks and they will alternate between sketch challenges and colour challenges. I think this first sketch is just fantastic, i cant wait to see what they have in store for us next! Swing by the site and check out all the amazing DT work. You have until Monday the 17th of August to have a go!
Anyways, here is what i came up with.The top of the card is embossed but it does not really show up in the pic. I'm not overly happy with it to be honest so i might have another go with the sketch if i get a chance.

Thanks for looking, i might go and have a play with the sketch now (it's nap time) and see if i can come up with something more satisfying :)

My greatest creations

I know this is completely off subject but i thought i would share with you my two greatest creations to date: Levi, my eldest bubby, by one whole minute

and Dallas, my biggest bubby, by two and a half kilos at last check!

I am very proud because i made them all by myself (ok, i guess their father had a little input at the design stage, but i put in the hard work!) :)

Take 2

the weather is still not much better, still overcast and crappy but i had a second attempt at taking a photo of my LO and i'm happier with the way it turned out. you can see it a bit clearer, you can also see on the left where it has been man handled in my attempts to find somewhere in my house with decent sunlight. anyways, i think it is as good as i am going to get for now.

Inked Inspirations blog candy

Check out the delicious blog candy on offer at Inked Inspirations, don't you just love them. i am presently awaiting the arrival of my first Magnolia stamps and am sooo excited. You have until the 7th to enter so get over there and check it out.

my first layout!

It took a few hours (longer than i expected) but i created my first scrapbooking layout in ages. I can't remember when i last did one, certainly before the boys were born.

I started with the August layout sketch from Sweetie's Sketches

And here is what i came up with. the photo is pretty average, the colours look washed out but it was terribly overcast today so this was the best i could do (i suspect i may need a new camera too, how awful :))

I will try again tomorrow to take some less awful pictures!

Taking the plunge

Well, I finally did it. I have been toying with the idea of starting a blog for several weeks now, and today I finally took the plunge! It is really and excuse (and motivation) for me to get back into my scrapping and stamping. I stumbled into the world of blogging a couple of months ago when I was looking for a stampin' up demonstrator so I could get the new catalogue when I found Kellie Winnell and I was hooked. I check out her blog regularly, her stuff is amazing. Anyway, long story short, I loved looking at other peoples work and was so inspired, and I wanted to compete in challenges so I thought I would have a crack at a blog of my own. Now if only I have some work to put on here. I am definitely motivated, now to just find the time :) I have had my eye on a few sketch challenges so now i guess i will have to get to work.