It is that time again.....Christmas card season + JAI 95

Afternoon stampers,

Well it is almost the silly season again, so for us crafters that means making a start on our Christmas Card list and also handmade Christmas gifts.

Well i have made a start on my Christmas cards, and will be making a start on the gifts soon.

This week over at Just Add Ink they have a great challenge to make us all think out side of the box, which suits perfectly with what i wanted to do

Here is their challenge

JAI 95 - Bah Humbug!

We've been seeing lots of Christmassy entries lately and we thought we would go BAH HUMBUG! lol

This week's challenge is to make a Christmas project but with NO Christmas paper, NO Christmas images (Christmas sentiment allowed) and definitely NO chocolate .. oh, okay scrap that ... you can give us chocolate!  

This card was created using a Tea bag fold star, another version of this fold can be found in my previous post

This is one that i saw a while ago and had to give it a go, i do not know who's design it is, so please let me know if you know who did it so i can give them credit. 

this is another clean and simple one (minus black mark, thanks to my work desk), i have made up many of these in different colours and using a different stamp from the same set, i am giving some to my mum, so she can send them out to her friends

Well as i have been away from my desk for a few days, i had better get back to the growing paper pile.

Out of the blue challenge FTL145

Hello Stampers,

The other night i got to talking to my sister online over at Crafters anonymous, 

and out of the blue she set a challenge.

 She gave us both 1 hour to do and complete this weeks sketch over at 

Clean & simple

Here is the sketch

at first i didn't want to do it, but i caved in and gave it a go.

Here is my attempt.

this is the result of being put on the spot ...a yuck moment, i don't do well put on the spot

I didn't like this at all.

So i gave it another go, when i wasn't put on the spot

This time i had my nephew in mind as it is his birthday next Monday.

This one turned out really great.

you can see yet again i went for punch art,

the idea came from

here.

It is an UK demonstrator. Lisa from Norfolk.

Today i'm off up to Auckland, in fact by the time this post goes live i will be up there and attending the SENZ craft show. so i will be back to tell you all about it maybe show you a new thing or two.

Happy 5th birthday

Afternoon Stampers,

I promised in my last post that i would be back to post the card i made for my new International swap.

But i didn't take one, i popped into to the post bag to send and just as i sealed it up i remembered that i didn't get my photo.

So i will have to re-create it to show.

Today the card i have to show is one i made for my Niece's birthday party (held last Sunday).

I love to do punch art for the younger ones, and this time is no different.

As normal i left it until the last minute to do. i mean last minute, i finished it as my daughter got into the car to leave

so i found this stunning princess and decided to copy it, sorry i cannot remember who it was as the photo has been in my CASE file for a while now, so if this is yours or someone you know please let me know so i can give them the credit.

I even managed to smudge the sentiment, but the outcome is fantastic, i was a bit worried about the colours, but i really like how they came together 

Happy 2nd Birthday

Morning Stampers,

opps i was supposed to schedule this not post it, oh well two posts in one day

Well it going to be a great day today, the morning started off with a surprising phone call from my local radio station, stating that i had won the weekly lunch shout....

They are coming to our business to make us a whole bunch of sandwiches using the amazing new bread from the Burgen range, and fresh salad....it will be well welcomed by all,
pity to the two who didn't come in to work.

Anyway today im going to share with you the two cards i made for my twin nieces who turned 2 on Saturday.

i haven't seen them for a while as they live in another town, and wow, they are little people now, not babies anymore, and they are so cute, if they hurt each other, they have been taught to turn around and give the other one a hug and say sorry...it was the cutest thing to see one twin trying to console the other by hugging her and patting her on the back and saying sorry.

Here are the cards i made...i love punch art for the younger ones

Being twins, i kept the bases the same but added a different center piece.

On the inside i added the same piece of DSP along the bottom half and a Whisper White top note as well to write on.

Try Stampin on Tuesday #13

Morning Stampers,

This is a quick post this morning, i have lots to do , and i am in the middle of creating again.

This week over at Try Stampin on Tuesday, they have a another great sketch.

As i have been really busy this week, i have gone for completely simple, in fact i started this sketch with one of my Twin nieces in mind, it is their 2nd birthday this Saturday.

 but i found it is not girly at all so it was back to the drawing board.

Anyway here is my creation

if time allows i might give this sketch another go, as i have a another card or so i have to come up with.

In the mean time i am busy creating a couple of cards for my twin nieces for this weekend which i will showcase later on.

Take care and if you are in the wet zone stay dry, (and Aucklanders ...stay safe).

Have a great weekend ahead

ATC swaps and yay me

  Morning Stampers,

The other day i received my ATC swaps, these were for the creative inkers team.

I must say these were amazing, this was my first ever ATC swap.

It was really neat to get these in the mail, there were 10 of us in the group, but unfortunately two of them got lost in the post, my heart goes out to those two ladies who's great swaps didn't turn up, but there is still hope yet that they will turn up.

Aprils theme was Easter

Here is my Swap

These swaps are only 2 1/2" x 3 1/2', so the space you get to work with is small

Here are the other great swaps

L - R Top: Bev Poullney, Debi Ryan, Rhonda fawcett

L-R Bottom: Lisa Bullock, Pam Cregeen, Narelle Hoggard

And this one i have to show you separate 

Here is a photo of the inside 

Isn't it cute, i love this, 

I am luckily enough to once again receive the top 3 pick over at Try Stampin on Tuesday

Click here to go and have a look at the card chosen for the top 3 pick.

here is my badge

Please go and have a look at this weeks great sketch and play along, i will be putting up my entry in a few days.

Until then have a great day and take care

Bunny Baskets

Afternoon Stampers,

This year with my kids being that little bit older, i didn't do the usual things i used to do with them, all they wanted was a bit of money to get through the last week of the holidays oh and maybe a  bit of choc.

So we got them a large choc bar of their choice and gave then both a bit of money.

But i was hanging out to do something a bit different.

 Between our staff down at our business there are 7 young ones, 

so i got busy and i made them all a little basket filled with a few chocy eggs.

Here are my baskets, 

and yes there is only one girl amongst the kids, well old enough to have chocolate anyway, 

(the youngest is just 3 weeks old).

Here is a close up of the front

And the back

The fronts are a bit wobbly, as i had a time limit in which i had to have them done by, if they were to receive them before the break.

As normal i leave it all to the last minute.....but the kids loved them.

New challenge blog........Try Stampin on Tuesday

Afternoon Stampers.

Boy my head is going around and around, 

so i apologize in advance if this post goes askew at all.

I have just finished doing my "almost end of the year" paper work, a time of year i really don't like.

There always seems to be so much to do, even though i manage to keep it all up to date on a weekly basis.

On to a lighter note.

I have done it again, i made the top 3 pick, over at 

Try Stampin On tuesday

Here is my badge.

Try Stampin on Tuesday have released their 5th weekly challenge.

I challenge all to go on over and have a play.

This week it is a fabulous sketch with so much potential.

My first attempt was so blah that i am not going to blog it at all. 

After checking out this weeks color challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers.

i found a new idea swimming in my head.

This weeks colors are.....

CC313

Concord Crush
Bashful Blue

Pear Pizzaz

Every week there is also an added bonus of adding a "dessert" to your creations.

The "dessert" this week was adding a touch of white gel pen, which i did do 

This one of my all time favorite color combinations.

So here is my (take 2) end result.

What the photo doesn't really show is the shading that i have added to the four non 3-D flowers, this is becoming a effect that is growing on me alot.

Do you see the white gel pen?.

One last thing i had to share was a photo of my blogging buddy. every time i sit down to blog, he sits right at my finger tips, and sometimes he even swipes at my fingers to remind me it's lunch time.

I am lucky as for some reason he will sit on the bed behind me until i have finished creating, than come up front when i hit the time to blog the creation.

 Have a great afternoon

Butterfly Birthday

Morning Stampers..

last night to fill in a bit of time before bed, i sat in my craft room and did a bit of blog surfing...

Which nearly always leads to a spot of creating...

And yes the creative juices started flowing.

I found this great card over at Splitcoast stampers.

I realized that i has actually saved this card a while back in to my have to CASE file.

And again last night it stood out to me, so i gave it a go, but have added my touch to it.

Click here to have a look at the original work.

I loved the colours she used, but i wanted to use different colours.

So i settled for a base of "Night of Navy"

and "Perfect Plum" & "Elegant Eggplant" for the butterflies

Another great quick and easy card.

This card is almost all embossing, with one stamped image - the sentiment

Well im off to go and enjoy my day.

Just Add Ink #58.....second entry

Morning Stampers,

Welcome to another week...is it me or are they just flying past.

I hope everybody had a great weekend, i did. 

My husband and i had a very relaxing night away...only to know that is was going to be the last one for quite a while...as with a new business venture we are going to be even busier in the coming months.

As i stated in my last post i had a few cards on my to CASE list from 

Amanda Reddicliffe.

As she is also leaving the DT team of Just Add Ink.

And the challenge over at Just Add Ink is 

to add Danielle or Amanda.

In the last post i did a CASE of Danielle, so in this post i have CASE'd one of Amanda's great creations.

After looking at her fantastic creations, i notice she is also a scrapbooker, it makes me want to give it a go, but at this stage im a card maker, although i do have plans to have a go at scrapbooking.

here is my CASE

i am happy with the outcome. a great quick and easy card for any occasion.

well im off to go and do battle with the phone company.

Have a great day

A challenge to all......

Afternoon Stampers,

This is a quick post as i put up a post this morning.

I put a challenge out there to everyone,

 to use a stamp/s yet to see any ink.

We all have a stamp or stamps sitting there just waiting to be inked. 

I am going to try this and see if it works, as i have many stamps i'm yet to use, some i couldn't wait to receive but am yet to use them.

As i do this i will post them

Try Stampin on Tuesday..... Take #2

I found the sketch in the last post to be addictive, so i had another go at it,

This time a true Valentine's card.

Elf poop.......

Afternoon stampers,

This will be a short post as i am melting as i sit here writing this.

I had a very productive night last night, in fact i didn't even see my hubby, or have dinner as i sat in my craft room and created until i couldn't create anymore.

There were a few things i had to do on my agenda.

Today i will show you the little gifts i made for a couple of my close freind's children.

These have featured on a few blogs, so it is hard to just give credit to one person, and have been around for years.

I ended up making about 10 of these, but with only one girl in the bunch i made her a special one.

All pink with kisses and not poop.

The kids loved them, even the three big ones i gave them to.

So i will be back tomorrow to post the other two items i made, as i had to make two birthday cards, which was a joy to do after all of the Christmas cards i have been doing

Santa's Britches....

Evening Stampers,

Yes it is evening i am sitting here trying to make the most of the day, at the moment there just isn't enough hours in the day to get everything done.

As i said in my last post i have a few different projects to do, and this evening i have managed to finish off my gift card holders.

The Internet is a wonderful place for inspirations, tonight while surfing the net i came across a really great idea for a gift card holder, it comes from an American scrapbooker by the name of wander. Click here to go on over and have a look at her site.

This is the outside, complete with belly band

Here is the inside

These were fun and easy to make.

The Real Red is cut at 6"x 4 1/4", scored at 1 1/2"and 4 1/2", the buttons are cut using the small oval and 3/4"punches. 

The belly band was cut at 6 1/2"x 1 1/4" (edged with white) with a more mustard square to make the buckle and a small black insert, then just loosely folded around and secured with a bit of adhesive.

I am now going to attach them to the top of a candy cane i have for each child,

so i have a Christmas/gift card and tag all in one.

 How easy could that be

Stop.... Ready......Go....have fun!

Morning Stampers,

Yesterday i had to make a card for my best friends youngest son's birthday, and after setting the bar high with a great sweet treat cup card for his older brother (earlier in the year) i had to come up with something just as good.

Well i think i hit the mark with this card. i decided to make one based on a set of traffic lights.

using the bottom colour Green for the sweet treat cup.

 A few people commented that it should have read..... ready...set....go...., so i added the little "get and &"

now it makes sense, i also cut out the letters in the same colours on the front to form the words 

"have fun" and put them on the inside, but i didn't get a photo of this.

Now i have the added bonus of trying to top this as the middle boy also has a birthday next week.

This one is going to be a bit late i think, as i might use a stamp set i currently have on order, so I'm waiting very patiently for this to arrive.

Until then have a great weekend ahead

Mojo Monday 168 + some eye candy

Morning stampers,

On Sunday night i was lucky enough to be able to go up to Auckland and catch my all time favourite 

band playing live........

The one and only Bon Jovi, and boy they were just brilliant.

 Their show was the best ever they are fantastic live, and put on a great show for all to enjoy.

It will take quite a while to wipe this smile.

He is some serious eye candy. 

Take a look for yourself.

Well after a slow start today i feel that i have finally achieved something.

After blog surfing while having breakfast, i came across this weeks challenge over at Mojo Monday.

Here is the sketch

The Mojo juices must be flowing as i had an idea as soon as i saw this one.

Excuse the bow, i fiddle with it for so long, 

Punch Art Snowman.....

Morning Stampers,

Wow another week has snuck by.

 At this time of year things seem to move in one speed, and that is very fast.

Once again i haven't had the time to be very creative, but this morning i thought blow the paper work for an hour or two and got busy.

Today's creation is a CASEd one, as soon as i saw this i know i had to give it a go.

It is so cute i love it. This came from the talented Leeann Greff, Who is an American Demonstrator, a blog i visit regularly as she has some wonderful punch art creations.

Click here to go on over and visit her blog.

Now here is my card

Once again there is very little stamping on here, only for the sentiment and the inside of the card.

 Well the paper work is calling so i had better go and finish it, but i would rather be sitting here and creating not up to my elbows in numbers and files

punch art.....xmas fun

Morning Stampers,

Boy oh boy where has the time gone since my last post, i have been a very busy little beaver.

I have been down at our business trying to get my new office built among doing other things. 

At the present time i use my spare room at home for an office, but now with business getting busier and busier i am needing to have my paper work close on hand, so we are converting and old staff room to my new office, and it has ment alot of re-arranging as this room has been used as a wrapping/packaging area for the past year. So before we could start on the office we have had to make another area available for this purpose.

On the plus side i can use the spare room completely as my craft area, not a office/craft room, there wasn't enough room for both, but now there will be Yahoo!!

Well today i decided while i waited for the washing to finish i would sit down and create something, and wouldn't you know i choose a card that is not an easy one, and then i have to finish it quickly as i have to head out and get some things done for the new office. I don't like starting something and then having to come back to it, if your on a roll you have to keep going until it's finished, just like reading a good book.

So as you can imagine this has not turned out like i would have like it to, 

it is a CASE, but im sorry i do not know where i found this, if it is yours let me know

Here is the inside

If i had a bit more time i would have gotten the sizing on the inside a little closer, 

i do have another one sitting there ready to go, so i will have to do it WHEN i have a bit more time, this time it might look a bit better.

Back again, after checking out Just Add Ink i see that their challenge this week is just add Christmas.

Which suits this card. so all is not lost today

Click here to go on over and have a look

I'm on a roll......for now

Morning stampers,

This morning for the first time in a week or two i had a creative streak.

Well saying that i have had to, i have another two family members with birthdays coming up shortly.

With all of these birthdays at this time of year, im glad i have made a start on my Christmas cards.

Todays card was one i had seen on the fabulous Australian Demonstrator's Bev Watt blog.

So i gave it a go and have added my take on her wonderful original. 

Bev's Blog is one i visit regularly as she has some fantastic creations that she shares.

 Click here to go on over and have a look for yourself 

I am really loving this colour combination, in fact im loving the whole range of SU In Colours this year.

As this is for a teenager i have added a bit of bling, a girl can never have enough bling. 

The only bit of stamping on this card is the sentiment.

Card/Paper:  Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Basic Black

Stamps:  Happy Moments

Ink:  Basic Black

Other:  SU Punches, White Ribbon, SU Matt Pack, Dimensionals, Diamantes, SU Embossing folder

Poodle Punch Art....

Morning stampers,

Well after my short holiday over on the Gold Coast, I'm now back and let me tell you after the five great relaxing days away I'm having a great deal of trouble settling back into the swing of things.

 The time away was fantastic, i managed to catch up with some friends, i shopped and shopped some more, ate out and had a wonderful time, i even went craft shop hunting, i found a great kaiser Craft shop in Robina, 

I didn't bring anything back as i can't seem to get past the products that Stamping Up offer, i find their products hard to beat

Now back to real life and paper work, that is the problem with going away things don't stop, they just pile up until your return.

 My mojo is still on holiday, hopefully it will return soon. I didn't even miss my craft room or feel the need to create something. In fact i still don't feel like creating, i must be coming down with something. 

For today's card i went to my box of pre-made items, as i needed a card for my niece's birthday tomorrow. See even my sentiment is not straight, mind you this was made quiet some time ago before my Stamp-a-ma-jig

The papers used are not Stamping up, and as you can see they don't match up very well, this is why i stick to Stampin up that way you can be guaranteed a match up of colours and accessories

Elephant Punch Art.....

Afternoon stampers,

Today's post is a birthday card made for a friend of mine who will be having her birthday while i'm over in Aussie. And as she lives just up the road from where im staying so i can personally give this to her.

 She is a huge fan of elephants, so i thought i would base my card around this.

After searching through my files with punch art i came across this great wee elephant.

i used the combination of a layout i also found, sorry i cannot remember names, if this is yours let me know so i can link this to you.
After finishing it, it does a little bit too young for a grown women, but i couldn't help myself i love these colours together, i might change the sentiment to age it a little

This will my last post for a week, as im off to the sunny Gold Coast this weekend for five days to relax and have fun oh and visit the many great craft shops over there, all i can say is bring it on... my bags are half empty and ready to go.

So until my next post take care and stay safe...