WOYWW #232

Hi fellow deskers and crafty friends, it's Wednesday and I have finally made it onto my blog to link up with WOYWW after missing the last few weeks.

Christmas Card Making has been on my agenda the last few weeks when I have had a spare moment or two.  They have been somewhat limited however so my desk still resembles my picture I shared on Sunday.

We've had a crazy start to this week here.  The pleasant highlights of last week were that on Thursday I caught up for coffee with one of my crafting friends who I hadn't seen in a while and I spent a relaxing Saturday with the boys at the movies, doing a bit of shopping and having lunch out.

So the crazy started on Sunday when we had a hail storm that made our hot spring day look more like winter.  It was welcome however as it was the first rain we have had in months and our new water tank was needing to be filled.

As the hail started to fall

After the Storm had passed

A blanket of hail a couple of inches deep in parts

Monday I took my dad in for a routine day surgery procedure but that night he was in terrible pain so we drove him back to the Emergency Department (as instructed by his surgeon) and early Tuesday morning x-rays revealed he had a large amount of air trapped in his abdomen (a much better prognosis than the thought of him having a hole in his bowel as first suggested).  So they had to take him back into theater to suck out all the air, he's home again now and doing much better.

Anyhow in between all the visits to the hospital, I realized that I hadn't made an anniversary card to give hubby, so with the Donna Downey Poppy Stamps which were on my desk as I had just purchased them from Unity Stamp Co, I quickly put together the card below.  It was sort of fitting to as it was Remembrance Day.

Our 19th Wedding Anniversary was yesterday (Tuesday) and given that we both only had about 2 hrs sleep because of our early morning run to the emergency department with Dad and having to be up for work etc we had a very early night and our dinner plans were postponed......I did however on Saturday get to choose my present which is two prints of peacocks (one male and one female) which I will post a pic of once they are hanging on our lounge room wall.

Today I am in recovery mode so my taking it easy has allowed me the time to post here and I am looking forward to catching up with all the desks and goings on of my fellow deskers who I have missed visiting over the past few weeks.  So before this turns into a long post, I will end by wishing you all a happy WOYWW and wonderful week ahead.

To find out more about WOYWW and to join the fun pop over to Julia's Blog for all the details.

Cracked Glass Anniversary Card

Hi Everyone I'm back with another project for The Robin's Nest and also to announce the Winner from my Blog for our recent Home for the Holidays Blog Hop which was in conjunction with the Helmar Team.

The lucky winner of a $10 Gift Certificate to the Robin's Nest from my blog is Rhonda Helm.  The other winners from each blog along with the Grand Prize Winner have all been announced on the Robin's Nest Blog.   Thank you must go to Rhonda and everyone who left a comment and/or became a follower of my blog during this event.  I really appreciate your kind words about my project.  Rhonda please email Rachel at robinsnestscrap@gmail.com to claim your prize.  

Now for my project.  Tomorrow is my 18th Wedding Anniversary so I thought I would share with you all the card I made for my hubby, which uses the Cracked Glass Technique and the Glitter Black and White Paisley Cardstock  and Black Cardstock  from The Robin's Nest.

I have taken a 12.5 x 12.5 cm White Card Base and then cut a square measuring 12 x 12 cm from the black cardstock and two squares from the Glittered Black and White Paisley Cardstock.  One measuring 10 x 10 cm and the other 9 x 9 cm.  Taking three colors of my Stampers Big Brush Pens from Faber Castell I applied color to the smaller piece of the Paisley Cardstock and then to this I glued a heart I had cut using my spellbinders dies also out of the Paisely Cardstock.

To achieve the Cracked Glass Look I then applied Versamark Ink all over the colored piece and then applied UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel).  I heated this with my heat gun until it melted as you would any embossing powder and then kept repeating the process by added more Versamark Ink and UTEE until I had built up a thick layer over the colored piece.  I then set this aside to cool/dry.

Once Dry I then proceeded to bend the colored piece back and forth until the enamel started to crack alternating where I was bending the piece so the cracks formed in different directions to give the appearance of the Cracked Glass.  Once happy with the result.  I then adhered this to the other piece of Black and White Paisley Cardstock, then to the Black Square and then to my card base.  To finish I applied my stamped and punched sentiment and a couple of dew drops (from the Mens Collection) to the flower centers of my colored piece.

I love the effect of this technique and the colors are quite rich and perfect for a card to give to a male without being to over the top romantic, don't you think?

I have used this same Paisley Cardstock for another project I am posting a little later today, a Cute Christmas Themed Canvas which is my Project for trying out for another term on the Robin's Nest DT, so I'd love it if you popped back a bit later on to take a look and let me know what you think.

A Month of Anniversaries

May is a fabulous time of the year for weddings its seems with numerous anniversaries being celebrated this month.  My parents celebrated 51 years on the weekend, whilst one of my closest friends anniversaries was yesterday and it is Rod's parents Anniversary on Saturday.  A couple of other people I know also have celebrated in the past few days, so it is fitting that today I share a Anniversary Card I made which was a special order from one of my customers for a 60th Wedding Anniversary.  My design brief was simply that the female recipient liked flowers and birds.

For my special orders I try to use a fancy fold or make it extra special, so I decided to make a Tri Shutter Fold Card using papers from The Scarlet's Letter Collection Pack by Basic Grey (Retired).  I have had these sitting in my paper stand for some time, a good couple of years.  Put it this way the release of these papers was 2007.  It is one of those collections I love so much I don't really want to use them, but thought it would be the perfect range to make this type of card with a bird and flower theme.

Image:  Crafty Individuals Stamp CI220, Sentiment:  Stampin' Up! & Unknown

Paper:  Stampin' Up! Cardstock, Basic Grey Paper, Ink:  Black Archival, Tria Markers and Stampin' Up!

Other:  Zing Black Embossing Powder, Sizzix Leaves Die, Clear Rhinestones, Carl Sakura Punches, SU Scallop Border Punch.

Another item I haven't used in a while (over 12 mths) is the Sizzix Sizzilit Leaves Die, the leaves of which I have layered underneath my Crafty Individuals Stamped Image.  I have to apologize for the grainy appearance of my photos, it wasn't until doing this post I realized how bad they are, and as I have already delivered the card to my customer I cannot take any new ones.  I am really pleased with how this turned out, its been a while since I have made this type of fancy fold card and I am happy to report my customer loved it too.

I am entering this card into the following challenges some of which I am entering for the first time:-

Stamptacular Sunday - #164 In the Garden
Card Making Mama's - #45 May Flowers
Craft Your Day's Away -#45 All Creatures Great and Small
My Craft Spot - #57 Congratulations
Hooked on Crafts - #20 Flowers
Tuesday Throwdown - #99 3D Challenge
Tip Top Tuesday - #77 Dig out the Old (Papers and Sizzix Die)
Scrap It Girl - #May Flowers Challenge
Stamps & Fun = Creativity - #100 Anything Goes
The Crazy Challenge - #120 3D
Just Keep on Creating - #2 Anything Goes
Stampin Sisters in Christ - #140 Build Up Your Card
Basic Grey Challenges - #68 Anything Goes

A little bulk - A 365 Card Challenge

I spent the morning over at our other house today.  We have had the fireplace and flue renewed and I had arranged also to have a company come and give us a quote on carpets for the 3 bedrooms.  The new stainless steel flue and revamped fireplace look great but disappointingly the person coming to quote on the carpets didn't show, nor did they phone.  This sort of thing really annoys me, especially when I allowed them a four hour period in which they could come.  So needless to say I was needing to make a card this afternoon just to calm down.  I decided to play along with the Day 351 Adding a little Bulk Challenge over at 365 Cards in which you are required to use chipboard as the base of the decoration piece of your card.

For the bulky part of my card, I covered a die cut chipboard heart with a piece of die cut paper and layered this slightly offset over another heart cut from pink cardstock.  Some twine, a felt flower and my sentiment finished this decoration piece.

Love must be in the air given its was Valentine's Day earlier this week, and yesterday's post was a Wedding Card.  Today's card could be suitable for an engagement, anniversary or wedding celebration.

The cardstock colours are Stampin' Up's Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Pear Pizzazz and Pink Pirouette, the papers which are a great match are from Echo Park's Victorian Garden Collection.  I have to say I am really loving the Echo Park Range of Papers.

Well taking time out in my craft room this afternoon did help me calm down and it was probably a good thing to be thinking of a love themed card.  I will now have to ring and organize quotes for next week from some other companies.

I hope you are all having a great day whatever it is you are up to.

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.

A Month of Many Anniversaries and the Arrival of my new Stamps.

May is a busy month amongst my friends and family when it comes to Wedding Anniversaries, so I have been kept busy making cards.  My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Friday.  My best friend and her husband celebrated theirs this weekend and my In Laws 49th Wedding Anniversary is on the 26th.

Today I wanted to share with you one of the cards I made with one of my newly acquired stamps.

Stamps:  Unity April Kit of the Month

All other items used to make this card are from Stampin' Up!

This delightful bird on a tree branch stamp is part of the Unity Kit of the Month Stamp Set for April.  I joined this Kit of the Month Club in April and was absolutely blown away by the variety and value for money in this first kit.  For just $36 AUD inclusive of international postage I received a pack containing 38 quality Red Rubber Stamps on Cling Mount, which included a mix of backgrounds, images, quotes, and words.    I couldn't wait to break them out and use them and now I eagerly await the arrival of the May Kit.  I have had a sneak peek at the great stamps in this set coming my way and have ideas already buzzing around in my head which no doubt I will be sharing with you all real soon.

Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Playing with new Stamps!

Don't you love it when you get some new stamps to play with.  I finally had a chance to sit down and ink up some of my latest Stampin' Up! Sets, for the two cards I am sharing today.

First of all however please accept my apologies for my photo quality.  It's still raining here in this part of Australia so the natural light has been quite poor.  We are of course very fortunate not to be living in parts of Queensland who have seen the biggest ever rainfalls and floods recorded in history.  Many regions have been declared a National Disaster Area with families losing their homes, crops destroyed, businesses waterlogged and the damage bills continuing to climb.  More areas are due to flood with the river catchments and systems full and not being able to cope with the deludge of water moving downstream.  My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected, as they come to terms with their loss after the water recedes which could take weeks.

The first card I am sharing actually uses one of the free hostess sets by Stampin' Up!.  It is called Punch Potpourri and is designed to coordinate beautifully with a number of the Stampin' Up! Punches.  For this card I have used the bird stamp to co-ordinate with the XL Two Step Bird Punch.  The other set used on this card is from the Summer Mini, and is called Itty Bitty Bits.  This set coordinates with a range of 3 new small punches and clear buttons which are also available in the Summer Mini.

The sentiment for this card is from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments Set and the DSP is from the Lap of Luxury Series from Stampin' Up! also.  The White Leaf Designed Cardstock is a new find I made with my good friend Julie at Time to Create and is from Bazzill.  It comes in a range of colours and embossed designs.  I brought about seven different designs all in white to play with.

The second card today is also using a new SU hostess set, from the 2011 Idea Book and Catalogue called Birthday Bakery.  I just adore the sentiment of "This is no day for just a sliver" and what says Birthday more than a whole range of delicious looking cakes.  I wanted it all to be a bit off centre and bright so I used as many bright colours as possible.  The small white punched cupcake is another stamp in the Itty Bitty Bits Set.

I still haven't managed to completly clean my craft room, it is a never ending work in progress so to speak. 

Be sure to check in here on Monday for the very first TUIC Challenge of 2011.  I am hosting one here and Molly at Miss Molly Creations is hosting another, so it will be twice the fun.

No Christmas Cards Today

Yesterday I said I was going to be in Christmas Card Mode today, however I came home yesterday afternoon to the sad news that my Aunt Mary who resides in Wisconsin had passed away from a brief battle with Cancer.  My father is the youngest of eleven children, and is close to all of his brothers and sisters.  He and my mother had the opportunity to visit Mary and her family a number of times and they kept in touch on a regular basis.

My fondest memory of my Aunt Mary and her husband Harold, (who died some time ago) was always the beautiful Christmas Cards I recieved from them as a Child.  I so looked forward to receving them as they were always beautiful, usually glittered and so so different to what we saw here in Australia at the time.  Perhaps this is why I now enjoy card making.

My aunt is survived by her four sons, numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.  The card I am sharing with you today I will be sending to them, to let them know they are in our thoughts during this difficult time. 

The second card I am sharing is one I have made for my husband to celebrate our Wedding Anniversary, which is tommorrow.  Hard to believe we have been married for sixteen years.  Until yesterday and a phone call from my father, my husband and I had both forgotten, as this week our minds have been on other things and tommorrow our main concern is getting the Solar Power Panels installed on our roof as this didn't happen last week due to the weather.

Tommorrow is another day, as they say and hopefully I will get a wiggle on and get stuck into making the Christmas Cards.