A guest star and a start on Christmas!

Well, not so much a guest to my blog as me showing off a card I didn't make! My friend Barbara recently had an extremely gorgeous baby girl, and she was the baby I made my Butterfly Collage for not long ago. Barb is a very creative and talented girl herself, so naturally she handmade Thank You cards for the baby gifts she received. She and I spent a fun day together the other week designing the cards, and cutting out cardstock and this is the card she sent me:

I'm experimenting with outside photography given the horrible dark photos I've been taking, so apologies for the shadows and things. Didn't Barb do a great job? She used Regal Rose Cardstock and Raspberry Tart DSP. The R was made with my Cricut Expressions, and the circles were cut by hand I think. The photo just doesn't do it justice; it's truly a gorgeous card.

Last night I was supposed to be preparing for a workshop I'm doing at Barb's later this week, but I got inspired to use a stamp set I haven't inked up yet, called "A Holly, Jolly, Christmas." I guess the Christmas In July theme is still in my mind although it may end up being "Christmas in August" by the time it happens, LOL.

So these are two gift tags I made - such a fun idea, I can see me making a few packs of these to give as presents. The thing I hate about the little gift tags that you find at the shops is that you often don't have enough room to write the names of the people giving/receiving the gift. That won't be an issue with these tags!

Happy Birthday CASE

OK, as promised, I did unthaw and do some creating yesterday!

My friend Ingrid is a bibliophile (as am I), and of course, my gift to her was a book. I was really struck by the artwork on the cover and used it as my starting point for the card and wrapping paper I made.

Here's the book:

I thought the colours more or less approximated to Tangerine Tango, Elegant Eggplant and Pale Plum. Very bright and bold! A combination I'd never have thought to use but somehow it works.

I also looked through my stamps and decided - yes, AGAIN! - to use Fifth Avenue Floral. I also decided to CASE a card I've often admired from the cover of the 2009-10 Idea Book & Catalogue.

So here's how it turned out:

I am afraid this photograph isn't the best, but believe me when I say it looked fantastic in real life! It has faux stitching and the rose is popped up on Dimensionals. A scrap of tangerine tango ribbon, and it was all done. I think the white really tones down the brightness of the orange and purple, and balances it. I did change it slightly so it would fit into an envelope more easilly than the card on the Catty.

Then I made some co-ordinating wrapping paper:

And with the scraps I made an extra card for my niece's birthday next week. I added glitter to the centre of the popped up flower, and it looks gorgeous.

The sentiment is a sneak peek at the new Spring Mini which starts on 1st August. If you'd like to make sure you receive one, drop me a line!

Too cold to create!

I know Brisbane isn't exactly known for freezing weather, but we have had quite a cold snap this week. And as a result, instead of me going downstairs to my little craft lair and creating things until midnight, I've been holed up in my bed, reading, with the heater on.

As a result, I'll be doing a few things today - a 40th birthday party for a dear friend (need to make wrapping paper and card), a niece's birthday next week, etc.

Hopefully, that means I'll have some fun things to show you tomorrow!

xx L

Continuing with the male card theme....

I've been playing with some Father's Day ideas using this cute stamp from Eight Great Greetings. I used Pacific Point - I hardly ever use this colour, but I like how it looks in this combination! The first card is quite simple, just lots of layers:

The second is a slightly stepped up version of the first with brads, ribbon and some playing with markers and cutting out:

Then with the leftover Kiwi kiss I made this:

I used markers to colour the stamp and I really should have made them darker, but I'm happy with the way the branches worked out. This idea has been floating in my head for a while.

I have a few more cards that I don' think I'm allowed to show yet, because they are using some NEW stamps from the NEW Spring Mini, which runs from 1st August - 30th November. Stay tuned kids!

The Ultimate Aussie Male Card????

I'll let you be the judge.

I used Cheers to You and I die cut the "40" and the red splodgey thing with my Cricut Expressions. I coloured the beer with my blender pen and More Mustard ink.

School holidays + four children = no free time for stamping!

I had grand plans of doing a lot of prep for upcoming classes over these school holidays, but I have achieved nothing!

I'll get onto it ASAP. I'm late with my newsletter too!

On the upside, we've had playdates, rides on the Citycat, movies, and sleep ins.

I'll update with card stuff soon.

My attempt at a Dawn McVey.....

.....not entirely satisfied with how it turned out, but I'm keeping it real here and putting up a couple of cards that maybe aren't my best work.

I was going for this look (a CASE of the fabulous Dawn McVey's work) but wanted to use the colours set down by Makeesha in her challenge: Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, Whisper White and Ruby Red. I'm not entirely sure I pulled it off. I think I will try this technique again with different colours.

The first card I did I was OK with until I realised I had used Kiwi Kiss (not in the colour challenge), so I scrounged through my leftover cardstock and came up with this for Makeesha.

Unfortunately I was too late! Keesh's challenge has closed! Nevermind. Make sure to check out the winner's gorgeous card - maybe I can get the next challenge done on time!

Let me know what you think. Love it? Hate it?