Friday 31 March 2017

Tag You're It #68

The delightful Gayatri (who I have personally meet!) is the Featured Artist over at Tag You're It and she has given us an awesome tag to inspire us..



I was inspired by the brickwork, the little hearts and the side-ways sentiment and of course the cute little puppy.
Here's my take on it


I started by stamping the little Tiddly Inks stamp onto my die cut tag (Pretty Pink Posh die).  I then made a mask so I could sponge the brick background stencil.  I used Altenew Silver Stone ink  for the bricks.  The image was coloured with Copic Markers.  My sentiment came from a set of 25 that came with a magazine I got this week.  I added a few little hearts that are from a Hero Arts set.   I used a fineline pen to outline the hearts.  

My Face Book feed reminded me today that March 2009 was when I first started blogging.  The last 8 years have simply flown by and I am enjoying this hobby even more.  

Thanks for stopping by today.

Wednesday 29 March 2017

Panda Birthday

Over at Die Cut Diva's this month our challenge is Love of Animals.

My little Grandie is turning one next month (20th April - doesn't time fly!)

So I made him this card


I used some soft blue card to emboss the hearts.  The folder and stamp set were freebies with a magazine I got a few weeks ago.  I stamped the Panda onto the centre of the card and then again onto some white card.  I then fussy cut the bear and balloon and over laid them.  I then used a Kaisercraft number die to cut the one and stamped the little "st"  I added some Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to the balloon and a few selected spots on the embossed hearts.

I'll be taking this with me at Easter when we head over to Perth to see the family.  And we get to spend Archer's first birthday with him and his Mummy and Daddy... super excited.   My daughter sends me photos and videos almost every day, so I keep up with what is happening in his life.  He's just started walking.... it's fun to see him tottering about.  Here he is in his bath


Thanks for stopping by.


Sunday 26 March 2017

My own personal craft retreat

WARNING: PHOTO HEAVY POST

This weekend was the Mangawhai Walking Weekend and my hubby and our friends went on a four hour tramp.  my knees can't handle the hills so I set myself up on three dinning table for my own private craft Retreat!

I started crafting at 8.45am and was still going good at 2.00pm when they arrived back.  got a total of 8 cards done.  One for an upcoming DT post and 7 just for fun Cards!

So here the are!
First up is wanted to try out the technique theater Jennifer McGuire did with veramark and Perfect Pearls.  I used a very dark blue base.   I used an Altenew stamps and then heat embossed the sentiment in white.  looking  good then I flipped to mark where I wanted to trim, did so and then when I flipped it back, I'd chopped off the last letter of the sentiment!  Urrrgh. Here's how I saved it

Next I tried the same technique but with Gold Perfect Pearls


 My next two cards in involved masking and sponging.  I die cut a circle with a Simon Says Stamp die and used both the positive and negative parts.   The positive circle was temporarily glued to the card and then start pedal with the goose half on and half off.  the entire masked the goose and did the sponging.


Entering this one into the Circle challenge at Crafting When We Can
For this one I sponged through the negative space as a mask


The goose is from a Stampin' Up and the Lighthouse is an Altenew set with a Rosie's Studio sentiment.

After a quick sandwich I got onto some pencil colouring using Altenew stamps and Faber-Castell pencils and Gamsol.


Next was to use a panel I'd made last week to make a card.


And finally a card I made a card for the Lawn fawn challenge

I made this one to entry into the new Lawn Fawnatics Challenge blog... I don't have many Lawn Fawn stamps but this one has been in my stash for sometime and never been used!   Some more masking of the little clouds and the balloon.

Thanks for staying long enough to reach this point I appreciate it.

Hope your weekend was a good as mine.

Wednesday 22 March 2017

Hero Arts Black Butterfly

It's my day to share at A2Z scrapbooking today and I am continuing with our theme of using a stencil on your project....

The other day I saw a video by Ingrid Blackburn where she used embossing paste with a stencil, shook on some Colourbursts/Brusho's and spritzed with water.  I have something called Pixie Powder which is similar to these with lots of mica powder in them.   I thought I'd give it a go.



It has produced such a pretty pale pastel background as I went lightly with the powders.  Did get a bit of seepage but it adds to the whole look.    I have used Hero Arts Swirl Stencil (currently out of stock but you can do a special order - check out the store HERE)

Once my panel had dried, I die cut it with a rectangle die from DieNamics (MFT) and layered onto black then onto a white base.  I die cut the Hero Arts Butterfly Fancy Die from black card.  The sentiment is from THIS Hero Arts stamp and die set.  (currently on sale in the A2Z store!)

Remember if you go shopping to use code Dawn15 at checkout to receive 15% off your purchase of $25 or more (before tax and shipping).  And don’t forget that we are on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.  Follow us on these different social media outlets so you won’t miss out on any fun promotions!

Plus during the month of March, we’re giving you a second way to win a $25 Gift Certificate to the a2z Store! Just comment on any blog posts here in March.
We’ll do a random draw from the blog comments during the month of March for one gift card. You can enter once a day by commenting on the blog post and earn up to 31 chances to win! If you’re feeling it, you’re welcome to enter both the Hero Arts with Stencils challenge and the commenting challenge…maybe you’ll win both!



Monday 20 March 2017

Tag You're It! - and some colouring....

Had a fabulous weekend just playing with my stash... I did some colouring, embossing paste and Pixie powders, and made a tag for the Tag You're It challenge. 

The guest designer for Tag, You're It this time is Marion Vagg and here is her delightful sample


Here's the tag I was inspired to make

I took my inspiration from her embossing paste background, focal flower, and use of black labels for the sentiment. 

I took a manilla tag and used a Hero Arts stencil and some light modelling paste and covered some of it.  I then gathered together some already cut die cut elements... blue vellum leaves, some green sprigs and an Altenew flower coloured with iridescent paint and fussy cut, and added them to my card.  I used my computer to print the sentiment which I trimmed and added to my tag.  All in all very happy with the result. 

And here is the technique piece I did with some embossing paste and Pixie Powders (similar to ColorBursts) - following a video by Ingrid Blackburn I watched.


It really shimmers in real life as the Pixie Powders have a lot of mica in them.   I also pulled a pattern off the watercolour on the stencil.  It's much less as bright and graphic, more smooshed and abstract but will use it for something.  Not sure what I will do with this one yet but it is too nice to cover up!

And finally I did some pencil colouring using Gamsol (mineral spirits) after watching a Gina K video, 


I did this on some 200GSM watercolour paper but feel it would have been better on a smoother card.  However, the result looked quite amazing.   I splattered some black ink on the background and white embossed the sentiment onto black card.  All the stamps are from an Altenew set. 


I'm entering this into the challenge at City Crafter Challenge - Spring is around the corner.  From the inspiration photo I took the word flowers and thought about spring flowers and also another entry into The Flower Challenge.... Anything Goes.   They generously allow you to enter up to 5 times... this will be my 4th entry. 

Hope your weekend was as much fun as mine... with all this crafting as well as quite a bit of socialising with friends! 

Friday 17 March 2017

Off The Edge.... CAS-ual Fridays challenge

CAS-ual Fridays is having a Design Team Call and part of it is to ensure you enter a card into the latest challenge... Off the Edge.



I don't have a lot of CAS-ual Friday stamps and dies... but luckily you can use whatever you have in your stash.   My card uses an Altenew flower and Spellbinders Nestibility die and a sentiment from a CAS-ual Fridays set I do have!

My card is a mixture of CAS and layers.... I used some PP from Craftworks, sponged with some Delicata Golden Glitz ink for my background panel.  I stamped the flower from Altenew's Botanical Garden set and then used a Spellbinders Nestibilities die, did some partial die cutting.   I coloured the flower with some Zig Markers and a Wink of Stella clear marker.    The sentiment is from Casual Elegance.

Also entered into the Anything Goes at The Flower Challenge.  

So off  to choose some more cards  to showcase my style -

Thanks for stopping by... hope your weekend is going to be crafty... I'm going to try an fit in some card making.

Tuesday 14 March 2017

Colourful background inspired by Greta

The weekend before last the Hero Arts Flickr Group had a scramble - hosted by Cat and it was about creating your main focus for your card, then CUT it up and only use a portion of it.  I didn't manage to get up to in time to take part - late night and scramble on at 6.00am!  But the idea was awesome.  There were some fabulous entries and I was inspired by Greta's sample - using a Hero Arts background stamp, embossed and some soft watercolours....



Isn't it gorgeous!  I love the pretty colours she used.    However for my focus piece I used much brighter colours. And took some inspiration from one of Cat's sample cards... 




I was really pleased with the results.  And even though I didn't join the scramble, I challenged myself to make these both within 90 mins... and achieved it.   Thanks to Cat and Greta for their inspiration.

Monday 13 March 2017

Crazy Cat Birthday

It's my day to share at Die Cut Divas today.  Our theme this month is Animals.....


I've used stamps and dies from Tim Holtz together with a sentiment from Catherine Pooler Designs and the speech bubble die cut is from Penny Black.  I did some selected die cutting to make the speech bubble longer to cover the sentiment. The background is a Tim Holtz embossing folder.

Entering into the challenge at Naughty or Nice this month - Feature a Creature,

This one is heading it's way to Australia for my son-in-law's birthday.    I forgot to take it with me when I say over the weekend. 


Here are a couple of photos of our few days away.






We had a fun day at Australia Zoo, spend a lot of time at the beach and generally had a great time with our grandson, daughter, son-in-law, my Mum and Dad and my son and his girlfriend.  As you can see our little man is growing up quickly and is a real water baby.

Thanks for stopping by


Thursday 9 March 2017

Sending Hugs with Southern Girls

It's Team Trace's turn to share at Southern Girls Challenge.  Our theme this time is "Pop it up with foam"  -

We have a few sponsor this month - 



I got to use a pretty little image from ppinkydolls.  


After printing the image in a grey colour onto some watercolour paper.  I used my Prismacolour pencils.  I cut out the panel and matted it in blue before adding fun foam behind the panel.  Sending stamped in some blue ink (from Catherine Pooler Inks)

Come and join us at Southern Girls Challenge - so long as you use foam on your card/project you're welcome!

Tuesday 7 March 2017

Flowers - Triple Time stamping

The theme for March for the NZ technique challenge is Triple Time stamping.  It is a fun technique that I haven't done for a awhile. 


I used a Peony Bouquet from Altenew.  I had a 13.4cm black card base, so trimmed my  first layer by a few centimetres then  2.5cm less and 2.5 cm less.  I used my MISTI which made it really easy - just turned the card around 180 degrees.   Added a sentiment from Catherine Pooler designs. 

I'm entering this into the Flower Challenge - Anything Goes

I'm not going to be around much for the next few days as I fly over to Australia to meet up with my family for a few days Family Time.  Looking fowrard to it.    I have a couple of posts scheduled for some up-coming DT samples.  


Stenciling and a Christmas card

It's my turn to share at A2Z Scrapbooking.  Our theme for the month is to use a stencil on your project. 

I made a Christmas card using a stencil on the background.


I used a stencil from Stamp Giraffe that is a splatter on.  I used a Hero Arts Digital kit - Chalkboard Christmas to add the sentiment to the card before using the stencil.  I then used the Tuttifruity ink colour to stamp the Poinsettia and Lime Rickey for the leaves.  I used the matching dies to cut out the layers. 

And I also used a stencil in a different way... to make my own colouring book page


I used a Hero Arts stencil and a fine line pen to trace around it.  I then used Faber Castel pencils to colour in.   I will use it on a card at some stage. 

If you need any Hero Arts supplies... you can get them through A2Z Scrapbooking and if you use my code DAWN15 to receive 15% off your purchase of $25 or more (before tax and shipping).  If you need craft items that you don’t see in the store, don’t forget you can special order them

thanks for stopping by today.  Please come and join us at A2Z this month.... and there is a second chance to win.... just by commenting on the blog posts each day in March to be in the draw for a $25 gift voucher.  Easy as!

Sunday 5 March 2017

Tres Chic!

I've had a lot of fun colouring and card making over the last few days..  Including using some new stamps from Stampin'Up.  I don't buy many SU stamps as I find they are fairly expensive compared to some of the other companies I like to use... but I've been coveting a couple for a while now.... Wetlands and Beautiful You.  The Beautiful You set is two stamp sets that have the most sweet Tres Chic - ladies...


This first one uses the dancing girl and the associated sentiment.  I was inspired by Pinterest with the design.   I have a pile of the white panels cut to this size that were off cuts from making inserts for my die storage.  Plus a great way to use up some of the multitude of Pattern Paper I have.  This card I gave to a friend who has been going through some health issues.  Inside says" Wishing you Brighter days to come"

My second card used the girl and the umbrella


I used some Copics to colour up this one. Die cut is from Lil' Inkers   Again some more PP used.  I added a few flat sequins to finish off.  

And I got one more coloured up but not made into a card yet



Today I did a lot of watercolouring and colouring which I'll share tomorrow... don't want to overwhelm you with too many photos all at once.    thanks for visiting.  I would love for you to leave me a comment. 

Thursday 2 March 2017

Babies, babies, babies....

It seems that lots of my friends are becoming Grandparents lately.  In the last month I know off two baby boys, Rueben and Owen and two girls, both called Harper! 

The ladies who have grandson's both work with me and I had a little something for each of the babies, so needed a couple of cards.

This worked perfectly as I needed a sample card for Chalk'n'Stock.  As usual Bugaboo are the sponsors and they have some awesome Baby images.    So my first card uses Chalk Ink with the Bugaboo image

 Isn't this just so cute.  I used some blue chalk ink with Stamp of Approval Candy Cane background.  Loved the result.  Used some Catherine Pooler inks (the blue) and some Zig markers to colour the image.  Added some little blue stars and a few gel ink highlights.   This one is for Rueben's grandmother.

And this one is for Owen's Oma.


Another Bugaboo image.   This time I printed it onto Kraft paper and used a white gel pen to highlight.  I used the sample on the Bugaboo site as my inspiration.  I added some stamped stars that also got white gel added as well as a few extra white dots.    Die cut with a scallop die and then matted with the blue - for the little boy. 

Another of my workmates is just waiting for her grandson to be born.  Her daughter was being induced today....so her baby boy will be here very soon. 

Hero Arts Stenciled Hello and Hearts

It's the start of the month and A2Z Scrapbooking's challenge is underway. Our challenge this month is Use a Stencil on your card. 

I used Hero Arts Asian Flowers stencil and a variety of Hero Art ink cubes to colour up  the background.  I then die cut the Hello out of the panel, carefully keeping all the little bits as I was inlaying the black hello.  I added those little bits back.  And then added the sentiment.  I added some little hearts with Hero Arts Punch chalk ink.  There's a bit of a story about the little heart.  I went to clean it on the block and it slipped off and disappeared under the desk (which is very tidy by the way!) - could not find it anywhere.  Still lost in space!  

Do come and join us with your stencils.