Unity FWF - Stamping it out on Saturday!

Hi Everyone!  I hope you have had a great week!  Here today (Saturday) I am enjoying some sunshine and have been nutting out with hubby what work needs to be done in the garden.  I also had a few minutes spare to get a quick card made for this weeks Unity Friends with Flair.  I am sticking to my goal of using stamps I haven't inked up or stamped with in a while too.

My card today uses the Scallop Frame and Flowers which were part of the January 2012 Unity KOTM.
The sentiment is also a Unity Stamp from the My Thoughts are with you Sentiment Kit.

Just like a bride my card is also wearing something old - some scrap papers from the She Art Collection by Christy Tomlinson and one that came in a collection which was free with one of the crafting magazines I brought some time ago. The something new is my recently purchased Red Chevron Washi Tape.

Okay back to the garden for me! Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Cards in Envy - Love is in the Air

Staying in line with my goal of using stamps that I am yet to ink up or haven't used for ages, I created my card for the latest Cards in Envy Challenge - Love is in the Air.

Simple in both Design and Color here's a look at my Card it's the first time I have used these two stamps.

The Image and the Sentiment are both from Unity's December 2011 KOTM.  Paper is from Me to You with Love Paper Pack which was a freebie paper pack that came with a magazine purchase.

So if you are declaring your love this fortnight with a card for a loved one we'd love for you to share it and join in the fun at Cards In Envy.  All the details can be found over on the Cards In Envy Blog here.

Unity Friends with Flair 26/7/13

Hi Everyone!  Thanks for all the well wishes last week regarding my back.  I was prescribed stronger pain killers throughout the week and have had some physio and acupuncture.  I am now sitting typing this with my back all taped up for the next few days to stop me from bending and to give me some extra support in the hope that this may help settle things down.  The diagnosis apart from my Spondylitis flaring up is that I have two vertebrae rubbing together when I move.  Anyway thanks to the measures taken this week I have been able to sit for longer than a few minutes and have been in the craft room today playing.

I decided to play with my Flat Fabio Sprays from Lindy's Stamp Gang and my Inktense Pencils both of which give such vibrant color plus I just love the names of my Flat Fabios.  The three I am using today are Pineapple Paradise, Hibiscus Rose and Carribean Blue.

I am linking up both these cards with today's Friday Friends with Flair.

The first card is using off center masking and my Mists (I am using my Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabio's). 

 I started by using my mask first and spraying with blue.  I then stamped my image slighty off the white space left by my first mask.  I covered over the image and masked moving slightly each time twice more to use my Yellow and Pink Sprays.  As you can tell my Pink Spray is playing up a bit but I kinda liked the blobs.  I then highlighted where my yellow spray outlined the image further with my Yellow Inktense pencil. 

The sentiment is made up of some small preprinted wooden words which I brought when I was in Melbourne last month. I am now kicking myself that I didn't buy more.  The butterfly which was already out on my desk is from the Jan 2012 KOTM and I've stamped it using my Black Big Brush Marker Pen.

This week was CHA in the States, so Unity have been having a week long Creative Party to celebrate and as part of this were running a Coloring Contest with which they are giving you a free digital download to use.

Here's my entry.

I have water-colored the image with my Inktense Pencils and used my Yellow Flat Fabio to highlight an area on my embossed background which my sentiment sits over.  Both my image and sentiment were spritzed lightly with the blue and pink.

Here's a bit of a close up so you can see the light spritz.

Be sure to go over to the Unity Facebook Show and Tell Group and check out all the amazing entries using this image, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Anyway I am out of here, hope you all have a great weekend!

Time to Play!

I had a few minutes home alone before heading to the dentist today, so decided to play along with a couple of challenges and make a quick card.

I liked the look of the sketch at I heart Sketches and decided to use the color inspiration from the Black with Two Challenge Blog.

The die cut rose and leaves, the white oval and the scrap of green paper were already on my desk as they were left overs from a previous project.  Also on my desk already was my corner rounder punch, my scallop border punch and the rhinestones.  So it all fell together quite easily for a change.

Stamp:  Unity Stamp Co KOTM

Paper:  Stampin' Up and Bo Bunny

Other:  Rhinestones, Olive Ribbon, Flower and Leaf Dies, Watercolor Pencils, Scallop Border Punch, Round Corner Punch

Other Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps - #52 Make Your Mark where I have chosen to use my Water Color Pencils to add color to this stamped image.

Mixed Media - Fusion - Play

Hi Everyone, Happy Saturday!  In the wee cold hours of this morning I woke in pain following a Bowen Treatment yesterday, so I sneaked into my craft room not to wake anyone and decided to just have a play with whatever happened to be on or near my desk.

I had the latest Fusion Card Challenge in mind and given I was planning on playing with some of my Unity KOTM Stamps decided I would link up also with their Friday Friends With Flair.

Starting with a piece of white cardstock I misted this with my Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabio's Spray - Carribean Blue and then taking my Gelato's put some stripes across the lower section in colors to tie in with the inspiration photo and sketch of the Fusion Challenge.  Using a Wet Paint Brush I water-washed over my stripes.

I stamped and paper pieced the hot air balloons, whilst my cloud was stamped on white and cut out and my sentiment was stamped directly on to the background and then colored in with an Inktense Watercolor Pencil.    All of these stamps are from the Unity May 2012 KOTM.

I then rounded the corners with a punch and defined my Gelato stripes with some faux stitching like doodles.

Playing with the bright colors certainly warmed me a little too and the beautiful sunshine we experienced here today certainly would have been perfect for anyone brave enough to take a ride in a hot air balloon.

It is on my list of things to one day do. How about you?

Cards In Envy Sketch #4

Hi Everyone, this will be the first of two posts today!  It's that time again for another sketch challenge over at Cards in Envy!

For this one I have turned it on its side and gone with another CAS Card this time with a male birthday in mind, whilst trying to use some un-inked stamps.

The stamps are from one of my Unity KOTM.  The papers are from the Bo Bunny Enchanted 6 x 6 Collection.

I am going to use this wonderful sketch again, as I found the rest of the design team had so many wonderful ideas for this one, so be sure to see them for yourself here.

Alter Your Creativity Challenge - #2

With it being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Altered Pages has turned Pink and we want you to think Pink for our second challenge!

Be sure to pop over to the Challenge Blog to check out the wonderful inspiration from all the DT, which includes a Bra Mini Inspiration Book, Post It Note Holders, an assortment of tags and an Altered Barbie!  Whilst there you can also vote for your favorite project from the Design Team!

Here's what I came up with!  I took a Manilla Tag and using my new Gelato Pens colored it Pink!  I then cut the bra image out from the Support Collage Sheet and the image of the female looking in the mirror from the Waterhouse Maidens Collage Sheet both of which are from the Altered Pages store. A touch of Inka Gold - Old Silver from Viva Decor adds a bit of shimmer around the edges and  I then stamped an Awareness Ribbon on Shrink Plastic using a Unity Stamp from their October 2011 KOTM.  Once shrunk I colored this in with a pink marker and attached with a rose on top.  To finish my tag, some pink grosgrain ribbon, twine and my favorite can't be without bling - a dew drop from the Robin's Nest.

The Altered Pages Team would love it if you joined the fun, simply think pink and create something for our challenge this month.  One lucky winner will be rewarded with this fabulous prize jam packed with lots of wonderful pink goodness from the Altered Pages Store.

And the Top 3 as voted by the Design Team will each receive a Digital Collage Sheet of their choice.

For all the details head over to the Alter Your Creativity Challenge Post here!

My Heart Pieces Challenge - Use Squares or Circles

Hi Everyone, I hope you are all doing well!  It's time for another Challenge over at My Heart Pieces.  This fortnight we want to see you use either squares or circles on your creations.

I decided to go with Circles and have used a variety of them in my design.  Firstly the image - Ice Cream Cutie has been colored with my Tria Markers and then cut out with my spellbinders circle die.  I have layered the background with circles cut from one of my Echo Park Paper Scraps in both 1 3/4 inches and 1 inch size, and I have also cut spirals from the circles punched from a second patterned paper.  I think my hoping summer arrives here soon has me once again using lots of bright colors.

Buttons and my flowers also round out the circle theme.  A Sweet Birthday Wish Sentiment is from one of my Unity KOTM Sets.  

I do hope you will pop over to the My Heart Pieces Challenge Blog to see the lovely work from my fellow DT Members and also have the chance to play along with us this fortnight.

Platypus Creek Digitals Summer Release Day 2

Thanks for dropping back today for Day 2 of the Platypus Creek Summer Release.  Today you'll find Summer Oliver and Ella ready to have some fun at the beach.  For my card today I have used Oliver, who is looking forward to a carefree summer of playing ball on the beach with his friends and when it gets to hot going for a swim.

Digi:  Summer Oliver, Sentiment:  Unity KOTM

Cardstock:  Time to Create Ribbed Card Pack and Stampin' Up!

Other:  Circle Punches, Wave Brad from Eyelet Outlet, Tria Markers, and Pacific Point SU Ink

You can see all the DT Creations featuring Oliver and Ella over at the Platypus Creek Digitals Blog and all the new Summer Release Digis and Cutting Files are now available for purchase over at the Platypus Creek Digital Store.

Platypus Creek New Summer Digis & Cutting File Release Day 1

Good Morning Everyone and hello and welcome to my new followers. Although its mid winter here in Australia, I have been thinking of Summer not only because I hate the cold, but because I have been playing with the new Digital Images from Platypus Creek for their Summer Release.

Today sees the release of the Beach Icon's Digis and Cutting Files.

Digi:  Beach Icons from Platypus Creek, Sentiment:  Unity KOTM Stamps

Papers:  Echo Park , Other:  SU Ribbon, Clear Rhinestones.

For my card I have simply colored in the images with my Tria Markers, punched them out with my square punch, matted on a larger yellow square cut with my spellbinders nesting square die, mounted with a pop dot and added them to my card.  The sentiment is from one of my Unity KOTM Stamp Sets. And yes  I am definitely counting the days till summer if not spring is here!

Be sure to head over the Platypus Creek Blog to see more of the wonderful projects from the DT today and join us all again tomorrow for Day 2 of the Summer Release where you will find Summer Oliver and Ella having fun at the Beach.

Platypus Creek Digitals - Wonderland Release

Hi Everyone!  This is just a quick post today to share with you that yesterday and today saw the release of the Wonderland Images and Cutting Files at Platypus Creek Digitals, where you will find Alice, the Mad Hatter and Friends.  If you love Alice in Wonderland and Cute I am sure you will love these!

For my release project I chose to work with the Queen of Hearts.

The background paper is a very old Fiskars/Heidi Grace one that has been in my stash forever.  The Circle was cut with my spellbinders die, and then layered with 3 stripes of pink ribbon in between which are some embossed strips featuring Card Suits.  The To My Heart Ticket is from one of my Unity KOTM's and the flowers and heart brad are also from my stash.

Be sure to pop over and view both days for a full look at all the images and cutting files released and get tonnes of inspiration from the DT projects.

Anyway the rain has eased a little today so hubby and I are braving it and going to do a bit of shopping and go out for lunch, so I best be off.  I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Embrace Possibility!

Hi Everyone!

Having finished cleaning up my craft room I have been back in it creating more mess!  This time making a small mixed media canvas using lots of my favorite products.

Papers:  Background and Collage Pieces from Crafty Individuals, Stampin' Up! Cardstock

Stamps:  Unity Stamp Co - Christy Tomlinson Disttressed Criss Cross, Donna Downey Art & Possibility,
 Inspired by Ang Moment by Moment, Unity KOTM, Dark Room Door Wildflowers Volume 1 

Other:  Kaiser Craft Acrylic Paint, Tria Markers, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Punchinella,

Kindy Glitz, Robin's Nest Dew Drops, 

Initially the idea for this one started with the idea of making a small canvas about where I feel I am currently at in my life.  The past year has seen so much change with us moving house, having mum and dad come to live with us, losing Rod's Dad and one of our good friends to cancer to name a few.  Its been a time of reflection and reassessing what is important in my life and also identifying who and what I want to be part of it!  I am feeling that it's time for me to once again spread my wings and explore and discover new possibilities some of which I have been doing over the last few months.

Then this morning I had a question put to me totally out of the blue by a friend about perhaps travelling overseas to the USA where I do have family living.  Rod and I have discussed this before, but up until yesterday hadn't given it much thought, we'd always been saying we want to see our own country first.  But now recognizing the perfect opportunity could be presenting itself to us, with Rod due for Long Service at the end of this year and also with us about to sell our other house and having some money available, it definitely is one of the possibilities to embrace and explore.

I am linking up with my Unity Friends with Flair this week, as my canvas has lots of Unity Goodness on it, as well as entering this into the following challenges:-

Altered Elusions and Artitude - Challenge #1 Anything Goes 

One Layer Thank You!

Hi Everyone! I am going to start my post today by saying Thank You to all my lovely readers, Yes You!

I really do appreciate each and everyone of you for popping by, following and leaving your wonderful comments for me.  They really do brighten my day.  So Thank You!

 I haven't spent that much time in my craft room these past few days as my spare time has been taken up by setting up my new computer as well as learning the ropes of it all.   You might remember that my laptop had a coronary just before Christmas and since then I have been using my Dad's Laptop.  So we finally bit the bullet and we brought  a new computer for the office.  It's an All in One, Touchscreen with a big screen that has taken a bit of getting used to.  The fantastic thing about it apart from being able to read the screen easily, is the wireless router/modem because I can copy my files straight from my Dad's laptop without having to download them to disk and now that we have also had our laptop fixed, we all have a computer to use with internet and printer access so everyone is happy!.  Don't you just love new technology.

Stamp:  Poppies from Unity Stamp Co KOTM, Sentiment by Stampin' Up!

Cardstock/Paper:  Time to Create Ribbed Black Cardstock and White High Resolution Paper

Ink:  Ranger Archival Black, Stampin' Up Baja Breeze and Cherry Cobbler

Other:  Spellbinders Nesting Circles, Sponges, SU Black Brads

I had a request for a Thank You Card, so knowing how little time I have had I went for a bit of a CAS Design - a one layer card.  I created a simple mask by using my spellbinder circle die to cut a hole in a piece of cardstock the size of a card front.  I placed this over my card front, stamped my poppy (first time used) in black.  Then sponged with blue ink and filled in the circle avoiding the poppy.  Once done I took some red ink on another sponge and colored my poppy, and for a touch of shimmer went over the top of my red sponging with some Twinkling H20's.  To finish I stamped my sentiment in the bottom right hand corner and added three brads.

I love one layer cards such as this, as they are easy to reproduce in a matter of minutes when you have a few cards to make.  I made 10 in total, but used different base cards, some black, some baja breeze blue which I made without the brads for a bit of a different CAS look.

My Heart Pieces Challenge #3 Summer Loving & Relaxation

Hi Everyone!  I hope you have had a wonderful week.  I definitely have, even with a touch of bad luck thrown in.  I have had lots of good news this week, I found out I won a couple of crafty prizes and my week will be topped off by me attending a She Art Class at 'Time To Create' tomorrow and catching up with all my crafty friends who I haven't seen for what seems like ages.  Its been about 2.5 months since I last caught up with the ladies with everything happening here following the passing of Rod's Dad.  We are actually going with Rod's Mum to place his ashes in the Wall at the lawn cemetery today, so it will be a bit of a hard time for us all today.

This fortnight over at My Heart Pieces Challenge Blog we are celebrating all things Summer and what it is you love to do to relax during Summer.

For my family, Summer means leisurely Sundays enjoying a barbecue or cooked breakfast, reading the paper with a coffee in hand all whilst outdoors enjoying all that nature has to offer.  So when I saw this Busy Dad Image I new this would be perfect to best represent all that we love about Summer as well as being suitable for a Father's Day Card which is being celebrated in some Countries this month.

I have teamed the image up with some Echo Park Papers, added in some grass and sky and the cute clouds which I stamped using a Unity KOTM Stamp.  I am mixed about how I feel about the end result with this card.   I guess its a little different for me, but I also feel it's not quite balanced.  The jury is out! 

Anyway if you want to join in the Summer Fun of this Challenge head over to My Heart Pieces for all the details and some more wonderful inspiration for the DT.

Home is Where You Park your Heart

Home is Where you Park your heart! 

How True!

 Its wherever you love, wherever you are happy, wherever you are together with those you love, 

wherever you laugh, make memories and are at peace.

This was the thought and the sentiment behind my art journal page I am sharing with you all today!

Brayered Background, and lots of Unity KOTM Stamps and of course my Tria Markers!

Just playing, I added some water to my grass! 

Lots of Bright Color makes me Happy!

And as the rain has been keeping the days quite gloomy what better than some bright colored tags using up some paper scraps and featuring beautiful butterflies.

I have simply colored the tags using two tones of the same color ink pads.  Echo Park Papers, Darkroom Door Butterflies, Viva Decor Sunny Yellow Pearl Pen, Matching Ribbons and some paper and crocheted flowers from my stash.

A Strawberry Sweet Birthday Wish

My card today was created to join in the fun new challenges at Digi Haven, which is a new Challenge Blog especially for those lovers of Free Digital Images.

To play along with their very first challenge you are required to use a Freebie Forever Image ie.  A image that is offered by the creator for free on their site always, not just for a limited time period.

Image:  Strawberry from Jane's Doodles, Sentiment:  Unity KOTM

Paper/Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Real Red Cardstock, Paper unknown from Stash

Ink/Color:  Real Red Ink Stampin' Up! and Tria Markers.

Other:  Glossy Accents, Scallop Border Punch from Stampin' Up!

I went browsing for an image to use and came across this very sweet Strawberry on the site Jane's Doodles which I thought would go perfectly with the strawberry papers I have had in my stash for years.

I simply cut out the image twice, the first once I colored with my Tria Markers and then used glossy accents over the red flesh of the strawberry to give it some shine and dimension.  I cut the leaves and stem out from the second image , colored and used a pop dot to stick them over the leaves on the first image.

I hope you like my sweet card today.  If you would love to play along with the Digi Haven Challenge, they have a great list of sites who offer freebie digis on their blog, so be sure to pop over and take a look and while there check out all the wonderful inspiration from their DT too!

Other Challenges I have entered this card:

Clearly Inspired - Challenge #53 Fruity
Craft Punked - Happy Birthday/Celebration

Up, Up and Away - Sending Wishes Your Way

Three of the cutest hot air balloon stamps arrived earlier this week as part of the Unity May KOTM.  I just had to play with them, I have been doing lots of digi stuff for DT Projects of late so getting inky fingers and paper piecing was just on the cards today.

We have had cyclonic conditions up the entire East Coast this week, and snow was falling in the ranges just west of here.  It's rare for this to happen but when it does it means its freezing here!  So being rugged up, indoors out of the wind was called for as was some bright summery colors to warm my heart if nothing else.

My starting inspiration was the Card Sketch #20 at Frosted Designs.  I have twisted and expanded this a little.  My cardstock So Saffron and Pacific Point are from Stampin' Up, whilst my Papers are from the Echo Park Summer Days Collection.  As previously mentioned the hot air balloons are from the Unity May KOTM, as is the sentiment and the cute clouds.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Frosted Designs - Card Sketch #20
Quirky Crafts - #12 Up Up & Away (The Sky's the Limit)
Paper Take Weekly - Anything Goes
Try it On Tuesdays - Anything Goes
The Pink Elephant - TPE151 Vibrant Colors

Thanks Sew Much

Hi Everyone, I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I spent Saturday catching up with some housework, even managing to break the vacuum and then on Sunday we had lunch out with Rod's Mum and his sister and one of our nieces who were visiting.  Saturday would have been Rod's Mum and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary, and just over a month since his dad had passed so we were all trying to keep his mum's spirits up.   My niece than came back and spent a few hours with Rod and I,  helping Rod empty the spa out for winter, playing with the cats and then we did some crafting.  We made some collage fridge magnets, two had birds on which Tani was going to keep for herself and the other had a vintage girl and we put the word Cherish on it.  She was giving this one to grandma.  We so enjoy spending time with our nieces and nephews its just a shame they live so far away.  They grow up so quickly.

Apart from this I didn't venture into my craft room much at all over the weekend but was back into the swing of things this morning finishing off a few DT projects and making a Thank You Card for my Dad to give to a lady who did some adjustments to a pair of trousers he recently purchased.  It is this Thank You Card I am sharing with you today.

As the lady didn't want to be paid for doing this sewing task for my Dad, he brought her a box of chocolates and I said I would make him a card to give with them.

The Cardstock, Papers and Ribbon are from Stampin' Up!.  The image of Dress Form is from one of my Unity KOTM's and the sentiment I created using my Times New Roman Alphabet from Just Rite Stamps.  Flower and pearl are from my stash.

I'll be back tomorrow with my Magical Monday Post for Paper Cupcakes and my Party Time Tuesdays Project for our Monthly Anything Goes Challenge, and if you are looking for some other challenges to play along with today there is still time to join this months sketch challenge at Sketches with a Twist, the Color Inspiration Challenge at Platypus Creek Digitals and the very first challenge which is Anything Goes at My Heart Pieces Challenges.

A New Challenge with Unity Stamps

After being in bed sick for a couple of days I was longing to get back into my craft room and create so I decided to check out some new challenges and play along as it has felt like ages since I have been in my craft room.

I found a new Challenge which asks for you to use Unity Stamps so I couldn't resist.  The Challenge is over at the Craft A Lot Blog.  Craft A Lot is an Australian Site/Store which sells Unity Stamps and is the exclusive Distributor of their KOTM here.  The Craft A Lot Challenge was to use any Unity Stamp and Bling.

I also decided to incorporate the colors from the latest Paper Players Challenge which are Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight

Plus play along for the first time with the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge which is to pick a letter of the alphabet and use three things on your card which start with that letter.  I chose the Letter R - for Red, Roses and Rhinestones.

For this one I have used the gorgeous rose stamp from the Unity March 2012 KOTM and the Sentiment is from the Unity Stamp Set 'My Thoughts are with You'.  

I randomly stamped the rose in Poppy Parade onto the Daffodil Delight Cardstock and then took my Water Brush and very roughly coloured the rose in using Poppy Parade and the Baja Breeze.  Because its on the yellow the Baja Breeze sort of looks more green. I then took my White Gel Pen and went over some of the outlines of the stamp (similar to the Bandana Technique but without the Stazon Ink).  I also swirled some of the Baja Breeze Ink left on my waterbrush between my stamped Design.  

My sentiment I simply stamped with Poppy Parade on White and then punched it out using my SU Large Oval Punch and layered under the image.

Finishing with my rose embellishment which I simply stamped out again on the yellow and coloured but did not highlight with the white gel pen.  A few punched leaves layered underneath the rose, a eyelet scalloped border underneath the image panel and some bling and there you have it. 

I am going to send this one to a friend who has been a bit down of late to let her know I am thinking of her.

Challenges used for inspiration:

Craft A Lot - May Unity Challenge

The Paper Players - Challenge #95

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - Challenge #169

       

SWAT May Sketch

This month's fabulous Sketch over at Sketches with a Twist I must admit was a bit of a challenge for me to turn into a card.  But I got there in the end by simplifying and choosing those elements I really loved to translate into my card design and I am kind of happy how it turned out.

 

The twist this month is to include stitching somewhere on your design. No faux stitching it has to be hand or machine stitched. This for me I think was the hardest part of the challenge, because those of you who know me know I can't stitch for quids, and I loathe it.  Lucky for me I owned one gorgeous Martha Stewart Punch with a stitched edge,so easily made the holes and I do own a needle and floss.

The beautiful rose paper is another one from the Christy Tomlinson She Art Paper Pack I received as a free gift from the Unity Stamp Company, and I love how this stamp from their KOTM coordinates so beautifully with it.  The other thing I am finding about working with these beautiful papers, is that I am using colours I wouldn't normally reach for or team together.

I am really hoping to find some spare time to do some scrapbooking and if I do I can't wait to try this sketch for a layout too!  

Also don't forget to check out the fabulous designs by the rest of the DT over at the S.W.A.T. Blog.  I just love seeing how everyone translates it so beautifully and so differently and  if you are up to the challenge of using this design for either a page or card, I can't wait to see what you create either.