I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

... or maybe just one that's not dreadfully hot :)
I'm back with another post, 2 in one day, I don't know what has gotten in to me. I think it's the general Christmas rush and panic rubbing off on everything else, I am already feeling like there are not enough hours in the day and i guess it will only get worse.
I'm back with my Xmas Sweeties, I think by Christmas the rubber might be worn away on these little darlings, they are definitely getting a work out!
So, every white surface on this card has been glittered. It shows a little in the photos but in real life it is amazing. I have stamped a 'Be Merry' sentiment next to Anya in silver and then went over the lettering in glitter, and then stamped a small 'Merry Xmas' sentiment across the front of the card, also in silver. The snowflakes are a Martha Stewart punch and the other 'snowflake' shapes are a spellbinders Fleur De Lis Die. Here is my sparkly little Ian, I am experimenting with a new colouring technique so he is a little bolder and brighter that he has been in the past.

Anya and a glimpse of the previously obscured 'Be Merry' sentiment

This card plays along with:

Anya Ink - Christmas

Cupcake Craft Challenges - Red and Green

Bizzy Becs Creatalicious Challenge - Christmas, snowflakes, sparkle (you know the drill, this is my 4th entry :) )

Crazy 4 Challenges - Punch Happy

Creative Card Crew - Favourite Things (glitter, glitter and more GLITTER!)

Papertake Weekly Challenges - Christmas

Wow, 6, that's got to be a personal best :)

Thank you for looking and leaving your lovely comments, I read and enjoy them all.

A Festive Magnolia Down Under

It's not quite December yet and there are Christmas themed challenges all over the place, and I'm loving it! This was my first chance to get out my new Christmas Magnolia stamps, I also got my Magnolia Ink magazine today (I'm all inspired now :) ) and I will be pre ordering the next one tomorrow, if you want one too check out the Magnolia Down Under Store.
Unfortunately it is another overcast and crappy day so the photos are looking a bit washed out and you cannot see the obscene amounts of glitter I have used (but that is nothing compared to the card I have just finished!) I'm a bit over this weather, it's either overcast or terribly hot, sometimes both at once. I have had these ornaments sitting waiting to be photographed for a couple of days and I just gave up waiting for good lighting, it's not going to happen. I thought this was going to be a simple project but I had several small disasters along the way which meant something I could have otherwise knocked out in an hour or two took me days!!
Anyways, the snowflakes have glitter around the edges, it is deliciously sparkly in real life, I have also glittered the white stripes on Tilda's stockings, the red ribbon in her hair, the fur trim on her hat and the holly leaves on the noel.

I am playing along with the following challenges:

Magnolia Down Under - Christmas decoration/card

Stamp with fun - Xmas

Bizzy Becs Creatalicious Challenge - Something for Christmas include snowflakes and sparkle/ glitter

Creative Card Crew - Favourite things (GLITTER!!!)

Papartake weekly challenges - Christmas

Roses on Paper Challenge - an altered christmas creation

Sigh, I really wish you could see the glitter, these photos are depressing me. Bring on some clear skys!!

Anya Ink goes vintage

When I saw the challenge at Anya Ink this week was vintage I thought 'Oh crap' none of my greeting farm stamps really seemed suitable for a vintage themed card, but after an enlightening visit to spotlight I was feeling a lot more excited. Unfortunately I have been having one of those stupidly busy weeks and it has taken me until last night to finish and then I had to wait for the sun to take pics.
I have used Anya from my Xmas Sweeties set. I Inked and slightly distressed all the edges of my card stock, you cannot see it in the photo but I went over the brown ink around the edges with copper ink so it has a gorgeous metallic sheen in real life. I have used my brand new spellbinders die under Anya and inked the edges the same as the card base. I stitched around the edge of the DP as I thought a vintage card should have some sewing on it. The Noel stamp is Magnolia from the So Jolly collection (I have more of those to show you soon!)
There are crystals in the center of the snowflakes on the base and on the holly berries on the noel. I also got to use my new Martha Stewart punches, the large snowflake and the doily border punch. Here is a closer shot of the top

and a side view

So, this card plays along with;

Anya Ink - Vintage

Anyone for Anya? - Make a fake (I used the border punch to fake a lace edge in my paper)

Bizzy Becs Creatalicious Challenge - Christmas inc. snowflakes and sparkle

Thank you everyone for looking and leaving your lovely comments, I appreciate every one!

Yummy time

Just a quickie post tonight, it's late and I have heaps of stuff to get ready as the boys and I will be out all day tomorrow.
i cane up with this for Simon Says Challenge - Animal Antics, and Stamp Something Challenge - Thank you somethings (it's intended as a thank you gift, so I hope it fits the criteria without actually saying 'thank you')
I have used my adorable Hilda from Motivet, and don't you just love the little tea pot button, i think it is so sweet. Here is a closer shot, you can see the crystals either side and in the center of the flower.

A close up of Hilda

Sorry the photos are a little washed out, I'm just not getting enough sun light to get a good pic.

Award time...

I would like the thank the wonderful and amazingly talented Stephanne for this award. Make sure you check out her work HERE, everything is so stunning you have to stop to say wow!

With this award I am required to tell you 5 interesting things about myself, I cannot guarantee they will all be interesting, but here goes;

1. I have 7 piercings. They are very addictive and I would have more but I am running out of places that I am willing to pierce.
2. I was nearly 20 when I first dyed my hair, now it changes on a regular basis, blonde to black and everything in between, depending on my mood.
3. I also love paper, and did not realise how deep the paper thing went until something Stephanne said about wrapping presents made me stop and go 'wow, it's worse than I thought'
4. I love The Little Mermaid, it is my favourite Disney movie EVER! I have a crystal cabinet with an entire shelf devoted to little mermaid snow globes and figurines, but I am still hunting for a snow globe I saw probably 10 years ago.
5. I love Terry Pratchett novels, I am halfway through his latest book. My fave would have to be 'The Thief of Time', which is also the first one I read (that's not why it is my fave, it's just a coincidence)
   

Well, there you go, I'm not sure they are interesting, but I did think of 5!

I am going to pass this on to;

Tracey - I especially love her work with Magnolia and Greeting Farm stamps, I think I will have to hold her responsible for my growing love of the Greeting Farm, I bought a couple on a whim and now I can't get enough of them!

Sammi - Another friend of the farm who consistently produces beautiful work

Debbie P - Debbie makes some of the most beautiful cards I have ever seen, I'm still stalking :)

Please visit these wonderful ladies blogs, you will not be disappointed when you see their amazing creations!

Santa Ian is coming to town... and he has brought along the little lady

I had the idea for this in my head for a couple of weeks now and have finally gotten around to putting it together. These are my Xmas Sweeties Ian and Anya. Due to extremely unfortunate weather these photos are pretty pathetic. You can see most of the details on the individual pic at the bottom of this post. I have gone around inside the edge of the red die (cut with my nesties) with white gel pen and then between the pen and the outside edge with glitter glue. The white card stock has been embossed with my Textile Cuttlebug folder. I have joined everything together with small jewellery rings. There is a small snowflake brad up the top hiding where the ribbon hanger attaches. I have also heavily glittered all the white fur areas on Anya and Ian. Hope I have not forgotten anything :) This pic shows the shape of the snowflake, it caught the light in most photos and just came up as a flash of light.Here is Ian up close, you can sort of see the embossing in the background and glitter around the edge and fur.

And here is a happy little Anya

This little hanger/decoration plays along with:

Farm Fresh Fridays - No designer paper

Bizzy Becs Creatalicious Challenge - something for Christmas including snowflakes and lots of sparkle/glitter

By the Cute and Girly - Winter Wonderland

Ahoy there Matey!

Hi everyone, this is a very late in the week entry for Anya Ink. The weather has been so disgustingly hot in my part of the world this week I have not been motivated to do anything much. The A/C is still on order, I was hoping it would come in this week but no luck :(

So, the theme at Anya Ink this week is a boys card, but I saw these door hangers the other week and thought this would be a great excuse to bring them out and have a play. I have used Pirate Ian from the Matey set from the greeting farm, I adore this little guy and take any excuse to whip him out for a project. I was a bit hesitant to use him in the end because I had seen a few other people using him for this challenge, but I went ahead and used him anyway :) So, it's not exactly a card but it is boy themed, so i hope to get away with it, lol.

Please excuse the appalling quality of the photo, for some reason today has decided to be overcast and miserable (but not stinking hot, so I will forgive it, just this once).

I'm sweet on you :)

I warned you that she would be making another appearance soon and here she is (I already started colouring another 60's Tilda in today , I can't help myself). This Tilda was one of those stamps that I knew I had to have as soon as I saw her, and when she arrived I knew she would be the perfect size to use with my Edwin! They make a cute couple, don't they?
When I started making this card I was following a sketch but I thought Tilda and Edwin were getting a little lost amongst all the papers and mats, so I left this one pretty simple, in fact, I have not used any DP's (I only just noticed this) but I did use my cuttlebug folder to emboss the mat the images are sitting on. The monthly challenge this month at Just Magnolia is distressing so I have distressed the mats under Tilda and Edwin with ink and scissors and inked the edges of the base card and the circle and scalloped circle of the sentiment.
The brads in the corners are glittered but it had not shown up in the photos and the lollipop in the middle of the sentiment is a brad, I bought some of these just to go with this Tilda. The hearts are actually shapes punched out when I was punching my border, they were so cute I wasted to use them somewhere. i am also entering this into Simon Says Challenges who's theme this week is 'Thinking of you'. This is a photo I took a few hours later when there was a bit more sun, the colours are a bit more true to life and you can see that the sentiment and Tilda and Edwin have been mounted with glue dots to give them a little dimension.

Here is a close up of the cute couple.

I'm not sure I'm happy with the card, but I love these stamps and was fairly happy with the colouring, which I usually am not. Oh well, I might have to have another go at this one.

On a completely unrelated topic, my other half came home with this today.

Despite the fact that it is not for another 18 days, this is my birthday present! I know what it is, so that is not the problem but he gave me the option to open it tonight. I don't really know why but I am reluctant to open it, I guess I like the anticipation :) What do you ladies think I should do?!

Meet my new Tilda

I was so excited to receive a new Magnolia stamp in the mail this week from the Magnolia Down Under Store, I could not wait to get her inked up, and she was a dream to colour! My other Tildas are a little smaller and fiddlier to colour than the 60's Tilda, my biggest problem was deciding what colours to use, somehow they usually end up pink! I don't know why that is, with this one I thought the image was so girly it seemed appropriate, but I really wanted to do her in green... maybe next time (I plan to colour another one of her when I finish posting, what can I say, she is fab!)
With this card I used the sketch from Magnolia Down Under Challenges, I did not realise how great a sketch it was until I started making my card and everything came together so easily, it almost made itself. I know, I know, another easel card! they are sooo much fun, but this will be the last one, for a little while anyways :)

So here it is, all propped up:

A close up of the top of the card:

And a close up of Tilda, adorable isn't she? I have used crystal effects on her lollipop to make it shiny and delicious. The colours in the pic are a little paler than in real life, the hair came out alright but the dress looks washed out.

Ok, down to business, this card plays along with:

• Magnolia Down Under Challenges - Sketch
• Cute Card Thursday - Glitter me silly (I have glittered all the white areas in Tildas dress and the flowers in the corner. It all shows up best in the last photo)
• Creative Inspirations Wednesday Challenge Blog - New or neglected (Tilda and the sentiment are new stamps and the border punch I have had for years and years and have, maybe, only used once or twice)
• Simon Says - Thinking of you (sentiment says it all really)
• Creative Card Crew Challenge - Doodles (around the frame surrounding Tilda)
• Creative Inspirations Challenge - Doodling (as above)
• Magnolia down Under Store Challenge - Use a Yummy for your tummy collection stamp (check and check, hope I can still make the cut off for this one)
• Susies Sassy Challenge #2 - Pink and sparkly

Phew! I crammed a lot in with that one, most of those were a coincidence as I really just focused on the sketch when I was putting it together.
Thank you all so much for dropping by an taking a look, I really appreciate you taking the time to come over :)

Anya Ink #6

Wow, 6 challenges at Anya Ink already, it has just flown by. This weeks challenge was to use blue and orange, this one was tough. I have made another easel card, because I am in love with them, they are just too much fun to do, but a bit of a pain to photograph. For this card I used my Xmas Sweeties Ian stamp, but you might not recognise him, I removed his fur trim and gave him a regular hat coat and scarf. This was my first attempt at altering a stamp but I am really happy with the way he turned out. I have used my snowflake sequins again (love these) with snowflake brads and the orange brads are glittered which is why they have come out a green colour in the second pic.
In this pic you can see my bub Levi pointing out the snowflake, I noticed when I was going through the photos picking out the good one he popped up in the background a few times, and he kept sneaking up and grabbing the card between pics, sneaky little devil!
'That's enough photos mum'

I am also entering this card over at Cupcake Craft Challenges, the theme over there is snow much fun.
In other news, when I got on the computer to do this post I saw that I had made the top 5 at the Stamp Something Challenge Blog, I was so thrilled to be chosen, and now I have a new badge for my side bar :)

Can you tell me how to get...

...How to get to Sesame Street! This one is fantabulous, but I think will probably be the last of the Sesame Street themed Google headers, I will miss them.

And this makes 5...

... 5 Google images from the Street, Ha Ha Ha!!!

Isn't this one clever, using the numbers as letters, what will they think of next?!

Easel-y amused

I have been wanting to make an easel card for weeks now and I was planning to definitely make one this week, then I saw that the challenge at Crazy 4 Challenges and Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge was an easel card! What perfect timing, and it was so much fun to do, I plan to make a few more of these in the near future, probably this week :) I used the sketch from over at Sketch Saturday, when I saw it I knew I would have to play along with this one, it was too fab not to! The giant snowflakes are sequins I found in Coles when I was grocery shopping :) They are blue but the colour has not really come out in the photos. I used the Winter Wonderland papers from Summertime Designs again, I am soooo in love with the snowflake DP. My stamp is one of the Xmas Sweeties from The Greeting Farm, I got these in the mail a couple of days ago and had them inked up as soon as I got a chance, they are so adorable. I have used my CuttleBug Textile embossing folder on the white card stock and whipped out my new nesties, yay! I have used glitter glue around the edge of the DP on the bottom of the card and down the edges of the striped paper strip, around the white card and on the fur parts of Anya's coat. I also got another chance to play with my new Fiskars snowflake border punch.

With this card I played along with the following challenges:

Crazy 4 Challenges - Easel card

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Easel card

Sketch Saturday - Sketch

Cupcake Craft Challenges - Snow much fun

Stamp Something Challenge - recipe - 1 ribbon, 2 papers, 3 embellishments

Thank you for looking, I had a lot of fun making this card and I hope you enjoy it too.

Magnolia Down Under and Anya Ink are tops!

You may have noticed a little love over on my side bar, I logged on this morning to find out I had made the top 5 at Magnolia Down Under and the top 3 at Anya Ink! Thank you so very much guys, I really do appreciate the recognition and I love joining in with these challenges every chance I get.

And finally, Elmo, I knew this furry little guy would have to show up eventually. I wonder if he will be the last muppet-tastic offering from Google?

Google gets grouchy

Here is your little bit of google love for today! Oh oscar, you are grouchy-licious!

Google for you

Just wanted to share with you today's stinkin' cute google buttons, I'm not sure how long they will be doing this but I'm loving it, yay Sesame Street!

Sketchtastic inspiration

I'm back with another Christmas card! When I saw the gorgeous sketch over at A spoon full of sugar I just HAD to play along, and considering I whipped out my trusty Christmas Tilda I thought I would get a little distressed and enter this over at Magnolia Down Under too (I hope they don't mind that I'm back with a second card). The second challenge at Creative Craft Challenges is Christmas fun and, because I am nuts, I just love wrapping presents, so what could be more fun for me than this image! I am quickly learning that all the silly little things I love about Christmas time are the parts everyone else hates and stresses over, like I said, I'm nuts. I love all the baking and planning and I have never met another person who enjoys gift wrapping so if your out there let me know! Today the fabulously talented Susie Sugar has started her own Susie's Sassy Challenge with a challenge of Christmas, and I think I might be the first entrant in the new challenge, yippi! The fabulous papers I have used are all from Summertime Designs and I am in love with them, they have just brought out a winter kit to die for. The red card stock is from my stash, along with the metal snowflake charm. I have punched out some small snowflakes and glittered them up. I feel like there is something missing with this card, can't quite put my finger on it though, it's probably the lack of ribbons, lace and crystals, hahaha :)

Anya Ink #5

First of all I would like to thank the lovely ladies at Anya Ink for selecting me in their top 3, again! that makes 3 times for 4 challenges, Marcia and Tracey, are you sure you are not confusing me with someone else? I am thrilled and surprised to have been chosen, thank you again :)

This weeks challenge is paper tole, so lots and lots of colouring and cutting, phew! This card actually came together quite quickly for me, I used papers from Summertime Designs, I am in love with the snowflake DP, I paper pieced the dress and when I was layering up the images I shaped the fringe, skirt and sleeves so they curved slightly and had a rounded shape (you can see this in the last photo). I punched and glittered 3 snowflakes, adding two to the corner of the card and the third to her crown (to make her into a snow princess, hehehe) I also glittered her crown wand and the under skirt on her dress. The second photo shows the layers of the image.

This is completely off topic but did you see google today, it's the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street and the google image today was too cute.

The Wonderful and talented Kellie, owner of Magnolia Down Under Store, has honoured me with my first blog award! If you have not seen Kellie's work, where have you been hiding?! Hop on over to her blog and be blown away.
This award comes with some questions which have to be answered with one word (this might be difficult!)

1. Where is your cell phone? Bedroom
2. Hair? Wet
3. Mother? Nuts! (I mean that in a good way, really)
4. Father? Passed on (ok, I know that's 2 words, but just putting down dead seemed a bit harsh)
5. Favourite food? CHOCOLATE!!!
6. Dream last night? craft (seriously, an idea came to me in a dream,if it works out alright you will get to see it soon)
7. Favourite drink? Coke
8. Your dream/ goal? Baby (but not for another year!)
9. What room are you in? Living room
10. Hobby? Crafting
11. Fear? Spiders!
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. Something you aren't? Thin
15. Muffins? If you are offering...
16. Wish list item? Shoes
17. Where did you grow up? Yallourn North
18. Last thing you did? Shower
19. What are you wearing? A smile
20. Your TV? Stupidly big, he picked it
21. Your pets? I have toddlers
22. Friends? Too far away
23. Your life? Busy
24. Your mood? Pooped
25. Missing someone? Usually
26. Vehicle? Territory (big arse baby mover)
27. Something your not wearing? socks (I never do)
28. Favourite store? Anything with craft, or Christmas stuff
29. Favourite colour? Green
30. When was the last time you laughed? This morning
31. Last time you cried? Last Tuesday
32. Best friend? Glenn
33. One place you go to over and over? Bathroom (that's where the nappies get changed)
34. Facebook? Nope
35. Favourite place to eat? Anywhere I don't have to clean up afterwards

Ok, So I really did not stick to the one word answer thing, it's just not possible!
I am also supposed to pass this on to 5 people, but I have seen this award doing the rounds the last few weeks so I will have to find some lovely ladies whom I stalk, sorry follow, online (Glenn calls it stalking, haha) who have yet to receive this.

• Alicia
• Debbie P
• Sammi
• Poppet

Ok, now off to leave comments on these fab blogs and let the these ladies know.

A gift for Hilda

I'm back again with another Christmas card... "It's starting to look a lot like Christmas"... I'm getting sooo excited, I never grew out of the excited about Christmas phase as a kid :) Soon I will start bullying the other half into putting up our outdoor Christmas lights, it always takes longer than expected and I really want to get them all up by the end of the month. I have pulled out my sweet little Hilda from Motivet again for this card, I figured I need some extra practice water colouring with red with the festive season approaching, it always seems to bleed into the other colours when i use it but i was pleased with the way this came out. I have glittered the snowflakes across the bottom of the card, around the edge of the striped mat, on the edge of the petals, in Hilda's gift box, on her hat's fur trim, on the berries on her bow and her gift box and on the twinkles of her eyes. It shows up a bit better on the second photo with the flash on and sparkles like crazy in real life! Here is a shot close up of my darling little Hilda:

This card played along with:

ABC challenges - Green (has to be my fave colour)

Simon says challenges - All that sparkles (i glittered so much on this card my hand cramped up from squeezing the glitter glue, and I added a little bling on the flowers for good measure!)

Papertake weekly challenges - Spots and stripes, you can use one or both (i have stripes on my background paper)

Creative card crew - snowflakes (on my new border punch I got just in time for Christmas, now i just have to get a snowflake punch to go with it :) )

Cupcake craft challenges - Sketch (pictured)