Flashback Friday - Black and White

Today whilst visiting and leaving comments for all my Unity FWF Friends I followed a link to where Jen from Jen's Cup of Creations is guest designer over at Flashback Fridays.  This is a challenge blog where each challenge is set and you are asked to find a creation you have done in the past (your first creation to be exact) that fits into the criteria.  How fun is that?

As guest designer Jen chose a Black and White Challenge and is asking us to join in the fun and revisit our very first Black and White Project with all the girls over at Friday Flashbacks.  On going back through my old posts I discovered that the above pictured card was my very first Black & White Card, which I created for one of the Tangled Up in Creativity Challenges in August of 2010, you will find the original post here, the criteria of this challenge was to create a CAS Card using either a single stamped sentiment or image.  I had just at the time purchased these tiny wedding ring embellishments, I used them for the first time on this card.  

Do you know that I couldn't remember the last yet alone the first Black and White Creation I had made so it was fun having to search back through my old posts and I look forward to doing this again with the Flashback Friday girls soon.  

One lucky  FFC blog hop participant will win this fabulous prize 

Ooooops!  I almost forgot to mention - that as part of their 20th Challenge Celebrations some of the Past Guest Designers and Amy (FFC Blog Owner) are conducting a Flashback Friday Blog Hop with a fabulous prize (pictured above)  to we won by one lucky blog hop participant.  So be sure to check out all the details over at Flashback Fridays and see how you can join in the fun and be in the running to win.  Or better still join in the fun of the blog hop and the challenge and revisit your first Black and White Creation.

Now & Forever - A TUIC Challenge Card

This month our TUIC Blog Group is hosting two Challenges, the first of which is being hosted by Lynn and I shared my card and all the details with you in last Friday's post.  The second challenge for June is being hosted by Monica on her blog Gardner's Basket.  Some weeks ago Monica posted us all two pieces of patterned paper cut to A6 Card Size to use in our creation - this was to be her challenge to us all.

I decided for this card to also play along with the Super Sketchy Sunday Day 111 Challenge over at 365 Cards.  I rotated the sketch from portrait to landscape and blinged it up a little.

I used one of the pieces of patterned paper which was sent to us almost in it's entireity whilst the other piece I cut into the three small strips that I paper pierced and then did some faux stitching to connect the holes.  I mounted the paper on Very Vanilla Cardstock and Gold Metallic Paper and Embellished with a beautiful Gold Flower from Prima and some Olive Rhinestones, The gold and olive tonings I thought really coordinated beautifully with the colours in the papers Monica sent to us.

The Sentiment Now and Forever I stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Olive Ink which I also used to ink the edges of my patterned paper.  I thought being quite elegant, this card would be suitable to use for a Wedding or Anniversary Card.

Be sure to check out all the other entries to our second TUIC Challenge this month by visiting Monica's blog.

Scrap Lounge Cybercrop and a TUIC Challenge Card

This weekend is time for the ScrapLounge Cybercrop where the theme is Summer Lovin' chosen in order to help chase away some of the winter blues here in Australia.

My challenge that I set all the ladies was to design two Summer Themed Cards using images or things you would find/see at the beach.  The other criteria is that your card base has to be a neutral colour but not White, Black or Cream.  So Kraft, Sand or colours of bone or light browns would be appropriate and somewhere on your card there had to be the colour blue.

This is one of my card examples for this Cybercrop Challenge. 

I also made this one with one of this month's TUIC Challenges in mind.  Lynn over at Confessions of a Left Brained Stamper  has set us all a challenge to incorporate torn paper somewhere on our design.  My card was inspired by one of her creations where she uses the torn paper to look like water at the beach.

The beautiful seashells are from the Darkroom Door Seashells Stamp Set and the Sentiment is from the Darkroom Door Seaside Volume One Set.  I have used Kraft as my cardbase, 2 shades of Stampin' Up Blue Cardstock, Natural Netting Ribbon and have stamped my images with Sepia Archival Ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.

So if you are looking for some inspiration or a challenge this weekend, why not checkout the ScrapLounge or visit Lynn's blog - Confessions of a Left Brained Stamper.  I'd love for you to join in the fun and I am sure you will not be dissapointed by what you find.

TUIC May Challenge - Purple & Flowers

This month Kelly (Southpaw Paper Crafts) is hosting the TUIC Challenge for May and believe it or not I have done it early this time around.  The challenge is to use my favorite colour PURPLE and FLOWERS so when I saw this sketch I wanted to give a try over at Stamptacular Sunday's Challenge Blog I got straight  to it.

I have used one of my all time favorite SU Card and Paper Combinations along with the SU Cottage Garden Stamp Set, Martha Stewart Ribbon Loop Punch, SU Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Ribbon, Silver Bling and lets not forget my Spellbinders Label Die.  I have stamped the sentiment and surrounding floral/flourish design and then onto another piece stamped some of the flowers which I have cut out and mounted over the top so that they add dimension and hang over the spell binder cut label edge.

So there you have it, two great challenges for you to give a try this week.  The TUIC Blog Group's Challenge which is open to non TUIC Members over on Kelly's Blog and/or the Sketch Challenge #110 over at the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge Blog. 

Until next time happy stamping!

Have you ever had one of those days!

Yesterday I had one of those days where I needed to make a card, but no matter what I had in mind or tried, I was just not happy with the end result.  I cut up various bits of patterned paper, embossed them, shaped them and teamed them together swapped them about but just wasn't happy with the anything I came up with.

The card I am posting here is not that card I was trying to create yesterday but a card I created today using up the bits I tried to incorporate on the one yesterday.  I created this card today for the second TUIC Challenge this month.  Which was to create a card inspired by April Showers brings May Flowers which is being hosted by Heather on her blog Stamping Mommy.

May and Flowers brought Mother's Day to mind and knowing my mother prefers the Earthy Tones of Autumn which it is here in Australia and that she loves Green, my throwouts from yesterdays card were perfect for this challenge.

Papers:  Basic Grey (rec'd from this month's ScrapLounge Sponsor - Mad About Scrappin').
Cardstock:  Stampin' Up!
Stamps:  Mother's Day Sentiment from Verve Stamps (received from Molly as part of Secret Owlet Swap)
Ink:  Stampin' Up - Crumb Cake, Early Expresso, and Cajun Craze
Other items include:  Prima Flowers, Natural Netting Ribbon, River Rock Stitched Ribbon (SU), Skelton Leaves, Crystallina Kindy Glitz all from my Scrap Stash.

Other Challenges I have entered this card into are:

Papercutz Challenge #89 Anything Goes
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #109 Mum's the Word
Stamp Scrap and Doodle Saturday # Mother's Day Challenge
Creative Card Crew - For Mum

TUIC April Challenge #1

This month there are two great challenges being hosted by my fellow TUIC Blog Group Members the first of which has been set by Jenn (Jax Bean Stalks).

Her challenge is to use Newsprint as the background for your card.  We don't buy the paper but luckily companies such as Stampin' Up! have released a Newsprint Patterned Paper.
 

Card Recipe:  All items used to create this card are from Stampin' Up!
Papers:  Newsprint and Love Letter
Stamp Sets:  Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories and Sincere Salutations.

  

This past weekend my parents moved from their home of the past 40 years to live with us, so I needed to make some thank you cards for them to send to those people that helped make their move a little easier for them.  So I thought this was the perfect opportunity to create a Thank You Card in line with the criteria of Jenn's wonderful challenge.

Now in Casino, Mum and Dad have one more move ahead of them which is from our current home, into our new home next week.  It's all very exciting and stressful at the same time here at present.  As well as packing and unpacking, I now have to start thinking about all the WE HAVE MOVED CARDS, I will have to make.

Jenn's TUIC April Challenge is open to everyone so I am sure she'd love to see you play along too!    Simply visit Jenn's Blog for more details and to link your entry.

Mary had a little lamb and so do I now.

Talk about getting this done with not much time to spare.  The current TUIC Blog Group Challenge is being hosted by Dawn (Sunnyside Up)), and it was to create a card inspired by the saying "March comes in like a Lion and Goes out like a Lamb".  This I am told refers to the weather in the States and the passing of Winter into the Spring, which is the reverse of what is happening here in Australia as we are now in Autumn.

Spring is my favorite time of year, as here it is in September which is also my Birthday so it was here that I started my creative process.  I wanted to portray the magic of spring, representing new life so I chose to use a image of a little lamb.......the only thing was I didn't own a lamb stamp

My problem was solved rather quickly though, I simply googled and found a delightful Digitial Image from Tiffany Doodles.  I stamped on gloss card sponged the background in spring colours  and then cut out repeated images of my lamb and layered them so he popped off the card.

For my background I used black cardstock to represent Winter which is such a stark contrast to Spring and embossed with the embossing folder Endless Drift to represent the wind.  Added a bit of glitter and bling to represent the magic and there it was.........my Challenge Card.

Hope you like it.

Altered Notebook Challenge

This month Christy on her Lone Pine Designs Blog is hosting the second TUIC challenge which was to alter a notebook and add a little bit of Spring.  Given today is the first day of Autumn here in Australia, I thought it was the perfect day to post this, as very soon it will be Spring I will be looking forward too, as I hate the cold and become a bit of a hermit in winter........

I didn't have a Notebook I wanted to alter, but I thought my Diary which had a snowflake butterfly on the front would be the perfect thing to transform with a Touch of Spring.



My Diary Before Altering.



Wow what a transformation, I am so pleased Christy put this challenge to us all, as my Diary is now a beautiful reminder of Spring, the pretty colours, lots of lovely flowers to look forward to in my garden and of course the beautiful weather.







Vintage Summertime

One of the TUIC Challenges this month is being hosted by Bekky over at her Diamond in the Rough Blog, and her chosen theme is Vintage Summertime.

This is the card I came up with for her challenge using a Vintage Photo I downloaded off the net and some handmade paper I had from a class I did recently at Time to Create which was exploring the principals of Serendipity.  I added some other paper to this as well for a few more gold tones to match my flowers.  Other items used include Lace Ribbon, a Antique Brad, and Vintage Trinket Brads all from SU.  The Friend Sentiment I recently recieved as part of a RAK from my friend Jodi from the ScrapLounge, a small skeleton leaf and of course some bling.  I inked and distressed the edges.  I have to say this is so not my style, so I don't know if I like it or not......lol,  but I wanted to give it a try.

There is still a few days left to enter Rebecca's challenge, so why not check it out or check in on Christy's Blog, Lone Pine Designs who is also hosting a TUIC Challenge this month for an altered Notebook.

I am off to get some more challenge creations done, so until next time happy stamping.

And the Winner Is..............Drum Roll Please!

The votes are in and it was a close call for the entrants to my Yellow and Green Challenge in honour of Australia Day which was the very first of 2011 for the TUIC Blog Group.  Below is a picture of the winning Card which was created by Christy. 

Congratulations Christy I shall be sending you your prize shortly.  Thank you to everyone who entered this challenge and voted for their favorite. 

If you like this gorgeous card and want to see more examples of Christy's beautiful cards you should visit her blog, Lone Pine Designs.

TUIC Inspiration Challenge

As you may remember this month there are two Tangled Up In Creativity Blog Group Challenges being run.  I am hosting one and the other is being hosted by Molly at Miss Molly's Creations.

Molly's challenge is an inspiration challenge.  She wanted us to have a look at our Christmas Presents, and take a photo of one of these presents then use it for inspiration. 

Most of my Christmas presents last year were either vouchers or money, so I choose one of the shirts I brought with my vouchers as my inspiration piece.

What I love about this shirt is the irregular black and white pattern and the softness of the fabric and the way it drapes.  So these were three key elements for my inspiration.

For the card I found a black and white paper with a irregular pattern like my shirt and a brad with a similar look for the middle of the flower.  Instead of black cardstock I have used a felt paper to represent the soft fabric element and for the softness and drape of the fabric I have chosen to use the fabric flower and ribbon.

This card will actually also have a dual purpose as it will be one of the cards I will donate towards the Heart Cards Appeal.

To see the other great inspired creations of the TUIC Blog Group Members and the details of this challenge visit Molly's Blog here.

First TUIC Challenge of 2011

Yesterday I travelled three hours and crossed the border into Queensland the Sunshine State.  Unfortunately of late Queensland has experienced everything but Sunshine with December seeing some of the heaviest rainfalls in the last 100 years and the number of towns being flooded is increasing by the day.  The initial flood area was bigger than the size of Germany and France combined, and now this has expanded further heading South with further bad weather predicted for the coming days.  Some towns effected were victims of recorded flooding only ten months ago.

My thoughts for my Challenge, the very first for the TUIC Blog group this year was to gear it towards Australia Day which is celebrated on the 26th of January.  The national colours of Australia are Green and Gold.  As I sit in Brisbane at my parents, surrounded by areas in flood and not knowing whether I will be able to get home later in the week as the flood waters and the bad weather moves South over the border into Northern NSW and my local area, ......the yellow of my sample card has me thinking of Sunshine.  How nice it would be to see it.......  if I can't see it for real I will have to incorporate this and other bright colours into my cardmaking to brighten the day.

So without further ado, my Challenge Criteria is to incorporate the Colours Green and Yellow into your card and to make a card only utilising Cardstock - no papers, no ribbon, no bling etc.  Only stamping and more cardstock, you can of course emboss, distress and cut cardstock. 

This to many of you may be a big challenge.......to others it may be quite simple.

This is my sample, it uses SU cardstock colours, Yoyo Yellow, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss and Melon Mambo.  I have cut our my sentiment panel with a Spellbinders Label Die, and handcut out the Vintage Vogue Stamped Flowers.

Again please excuse my photo quality due to the miserable weather and the rush in wanting to take this picture and do this post.

As normal there will a small prize from the entries submitted by the TUIC Blog Group Members and voted as the best, and also a randomly drawn prize for the entries from Non TUIC Blog Group Members.  You have until end of the month to post your card, and the poll will run for the week following this.

For twice the fun Molly at Miss Molly's Creations is also hosting a TUIC Challenge on her Blog.  Her Challenge will run for the same time period, you can check her challenge details out by visiting her blog here.

Looking forward to seeing your wonderful creations.

 
   

Thankful Turkey

Jenn over at Jax Bean Stalks is hosting the last TUC Challenge for the year. She has challenged us to make a card with a cute Turkey, Stitching (can be faux) and Ribbon.

Because we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia I do not own a Turkey stamp, so I had to make a Turkey, so I took some inspiration from some of the other girls in the TUC Blog Group and this is what I came up with.

I have called my Card Thankful Turkey and made him quite festive in colour using up some scraps from my Christmas Card Making.  For his tail I used the scrap strips that you get from using your scallop border punch.  For his wings  I have used a scallop oval punch on some left over scallop borders pieces I stuck together to make my Christmas Trees on some of my cards and a Wide oval for his body.  His Head I cut from a Circle, his beak and the gobble bits are from a heart punch.  I finished him off with some googly eyes and silver glitter.

I incorporated ribbon - three small pieces under the red rhinestones and I used faux stitching across the top and bottom of the card.

Be sure to check out the other entries to this challenge by visiting Jenn's Blog, and don't forget to vote for your favorite.

Reindeer Gift Box for the latest Tangled Up in Creativity Challenge.

April over at April's Alley is hosting the latest Tangled Up in Creativity Challenge, check it out!

She has asked for us to design a holiday project suitable for the local boy scout's group to give to local nursing home.

I found a tutorial some time ago for a very cute Reindeer Ornament Gift Box, on the Paper Punch Addiction Blog, which I have taken the idea from for this post today, however instead of making my box from the Sizzix Scallop Envelope Dies and following exactly how they made their punch reindeer I have altered this slightly and used just a very quick and easy box made from folding a 6 x 6 inch piece of designer paper.  I think the reindeer is so cute, and this would make a cute gift filled with special treats, or like the original tutorial, a Christmas Ornament.

This was thrown together very quickly using some paper scraps and card leftovers I had on hand.   Punches used were the Stampin Up Ornament Punch, Wide Oval, Large Oval, 3/4" Circle and I hand cut the antlers, nose, ears and eyes.  The original tutorial used the Sizzix Bigz Tulipe Die for the antlers, and I am sure there are also other great dies or punches out there that would be suitable for the antlers, and facial features.  The sentiment is from the Best Yet Stamp Set (Retired - Hostess) by Stampin' Up!  The ric rac border was created from cardstock using a zigzag punch (non SU).

The girls at TUC are coming up with some great gift ideas so be sure to check these out by visiting April's Blog.  Better still why not enter this challenge.  April will randomly draw a winner from non Tangled Up in Creativity Members entries at the end of the voting period.

TUC Challenge - A Card for the Season

Yes its time for another Tangled Up in Creativity Challenge. This week it is being hosted by Karen at her Simply Said with Karen Blog.

She has asked us to create a card depicting what the upcoming season means to us!

This card was created using papers from the new Lap of Luxury Designer Paper Series and Just Believe Stamp Sets by Stampin' Up!

Spring is my favorite time of the year, as it not only marks the change of season, which means gardens bursting with new colour, and warmer days ahead, it also marks more time spent with family and friends enjoying the outdoors.  For my family September is a busy month with birthdays, including my own and my husband Rod and I usually take holidays during this time as well.

After a few wonderful days away with my best friend Toni and her husband John, we have returned to our garden filled with sweet scents, beautiful colours and many new feathered friends.

A Bottlebrush Tree is the centre piece of our outdoor entertaining area, providing adequate shade to our tropical garden.  Currently in full bloom, the rainbow lorikeets are frequenting our garden on a daily basis to feed.

During the first days of Spring, I mark the end of my winter hibernation by spending a pleasant day in the yard planting up several hanging baskets with purple, mauve and white petunias, and a few other new flowering plants.

 

These hanging baskets are also home to a rather large family of green frogs. It is a daily ritual during the warmer months for my husband and I to sit outside and watch them all emerge from their day retreats and plop into the garden and join the chorus of the night.

This spring we have seen the best ever display of purple and white flowers on our Yesterday, Today and Tommorrow Shrub and my favorite orchid having propagated itself into a section at the front of the garden in full flower.  It is these thoughts of Spring that were my inspiration for the card I am sharing with you today for the TUC Challenge.

Whatever the season where you are, I hope you enjoy spending time with the best it has to offer.

Voting for TUC Challenge Entries Now Open

Voting is now open to vote for your favorite entry to my Tangled Up In Creativity Group Challenge.

The challenge was to design a card using the Stampin' Up! Colour Pacific Point or something similar, suitable to give to a male and where possible try to incorporate ribbon or faux ribbon.

We had five entries as follows:

1.  Lynn McAuley

2.  Jenn

3.  Monica

4.  Karen Gilbert

5.  Christy

This is going to be a hard one to vote on, hence why voting is open for everyone to vote.  The poll is on my side bar, so please vote for your favorite entry to help us decide on a winner.  Voting will close 12.00pm US Pacific Time 2nd September which is 5.30pm on September 3rd here in Australia.

Tangled Up In Creativity Card Challenge - Something Blue

I am a day early with this post, however this week I am playing host for the Tangled Up in Creativity Card Challenge. 

I can't believe where the time has gone, we are almost in September.  I have been kept quite busy of late preparing for our stand at the Alstonville Craft Fair this weekend and also making up 100 goodies bags for a fundraiser I am hosting for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.  I will post more about this fundraiser in another post.

In Australia September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month as well as Fathers Day falling on the first Sunday, so with this in mind, my challenge is:

1.  Create a card using the colour 'Pacific Point' blue by Stampin' Up! or as similar a colour you have.
2.  Make it suitable for a male recipient
3.  Incorporate ribbon or the look of ribbon into your design.

This is the card I came up with this morning for this challenge.

Entries for this challenge will be accepted from August 24 - 30 with voting for TUC Group Members open from August 31 - September 2.  The winner will be announced on September 3.

Only entries from members of the Tangled Up In Creativity Blog Group will inclued in the poll to be voted for, and the person with the most votes will win a great prize.  However because we would love to see lots of entries from everyone, for the non TUC Members I will have a random draw for any entrants and you will also have a chance of winning some great goodies I have put aside.

TUC Challenge - Clean and Simple Card

Its time for another challenge with the Tangled Up in Creativity Blog Group Members.  This time the challenge is being hosted by Molly at Miss Molly Creations.

The challenge is to create a very simple card, using one stamp, either one sentiment or one image (if using an image, it should have no detailed colouring etc).  So in otherwords don't go overboard on the embellishments.

Here is my entry which is a Wedding Card.  I found these cute little ring embellishments some time ago and hadn't used them until now.  They are so sweet, the diamond ring has a rhinestone setting and they sit together so nicely.

Stamp Set:  For the Bride

Cardstock:  Whisper White, Basic Gray and Basic Black

Ink:  Basic Black

Accessories:  Circle Punch, Heart Border Punch (Non SU), Black 1/4 Inch Grosgrain Ribbon, and Wedding Ring Embellishment (Non SU).

If you would like to participate in this challenge it runs until 5th of August so you still have time to enter, or otherwise you can checkout everyone else's entry and vote for your favorite.  Simply head over to Molly's Blog for more details.

Tangled Up in Creativity - Christmas in July Card Challenge

Yes its time for another challenge with my Tangled Up in Creativity Blog Group.  This one is being hosted by Monica at Gardners Basket.  The challenge is to design a Christmas Card (Christmas in July) avoiding the use of non traditional christmas colours such as Red and Green.

This is my entry for the challenge, I have used the Stampin' Up! Colours of Soft Suede and Very Vanilla Cardstock, Candy Lane DSP with the Baroque Motifs Stamp Set.  I chose to use a non traditional christmas element on my card as well.  Hence the Baroque Motif Image.   My Sentiment is from Many Merry Messages.  The pleated ribbon is the reverse side of the Soft Suede Polka Dot Grosgrain and the I have used three clear Rhinestone Brads.  The corner punch is a non SU Punch.

If you would like to see all the other entries and vote for your favorite entry head on over to Monica's Blog.

Tangled Up in Creativity Challenge

With American Independence Day just around the corner, Paige the host of this challenge has set a timely colour challenge of Red, White & Blue.

The Step Card I have made for this challenge is a tribute to all my new found American Friends who are part of the Tangled Up in Creativity Blog Group.  I think I went a bit over board with the glitter, and as usual I wasn't patient enough to let the glitter glue dry before touching it, hence it got a little messy.

Don't forget you too can be part of this challenge and join in the fun.  Simply post to your blog a picture of your project and use the Mr Linky link found on Paige's blog, (you can get all the details about the challenge here as well), which is at the bottom of her post about this challenge.

There are a lot of things we Aussies have in common with America and sharing the same colours in our flags is just one of them. Both Flags also contain stars.

On the American Flag there is Fifty Stars which represent the Fifty States of the USA.

There are six stars on the Australian Flag, the Larger seven pointed Star on the bottom left hand side known as the Commonwealth Star (or Federation Star) originally only had six points representing the federated colonies however it was changed in 1908 to have seven points to symbolise the Territory of Papua and any future territories. It is now described as representing the Six States of Australia and its Territories.

The remaining five stars depict the most distintively visible constellation of the Southern Hemisphere the Southern Cross. Since early british settlement this image has been used to represent Australia.


Enough already with the history lesson, thanks Paige for a great Challenge, and I hope everyone enjoys the fun.

Danielle