Lovin' from the Oven...

Yippee - TGIF! We're hoping for some warm weather this weekend to get some work done in the yard and head out to see a couple of museums. Lots of relaxing to be had this weekend and I can't wait!

In the meantime stamping is relaxing too! 

This is my entry for this week's WSC challenge - to use a food/kitchen theme.

It's all pretty self explanatory I think - the image is paper pieced and I've added some Crystal Effects to the bowl. 

I decorated and stamped the inside of the card too - I love that sentiment!

Blogger has a habit of making some photos look blurry - you can always click the photo to see the original size.



Paper & Card: Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Rose Red
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Rose RedPunches: Scallop & Oval punches
Other: Rose Red Ribbon, White Taffeta, Crystal Effects

Stamps: Lovin' From the Oven - MFT Stamps
Paper & Card: Basic Grey DP
Other: Nestabilities, Stickles

I Knead You....

You know what Saturday means around here - another great OCC Challenge! This week Wendy has challenged us to use these colours in our creations. I can't wait to get my hands on Cherry Cobbler and Early Espresso - but for now Chocolate Chip and Riding Hood Red were great subs!

I spent awhile on this one, paper piecing every part of that cuteeeee image. The bowl and measuring cup were shaded with watercolour crayon in Bashful Blue and covered in a layer of Crystal Effects. I don't like the CE to be too smooth for this kind of application - a little texture looks great, so I apply it with a rubber brush.

The awesome layout comes from the ever talented Mercy!

For my interior sentiment, I only inked part of the word kneaded and added a couple of words from another set. This is a great way to get more out of any sentiment stamps.

I hope you'll play along with our wonderful design team this week - you can't go wrong with these colours!



Paper & Card: Spring Flowers DP, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red
Ink: Old Olive, Riding Hood Red
Punches: Handheld Circle, Square Punch, Scalloped Circle
Other: Ruby Red Button, Crystal Effects, Hemp Twine

Stamps: Lovin' from the Oven, Clearly Sentimental about Food - MFT Stamps
Paper & Card: Offbeat - Basic Grey
Punches: Apron Lace - Fiskars
Other: American Crafts Ribbon, Floral Screen Embossing Folder - Provocraft

Miss You

I had a great crafty weekend. Stamping with my friend Janine on Saturday and shopping for new supplies on Sunday! I couldn't wait to break out some new goodies, and Jen's SFYTT this week really appealed to me - lots of layers to play with!

The colour combo for this card is Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Soft Sky and Old Olive. I used some new (to me!) Eskimo Kiss paper, a new Daisies embossing folder and....

on the inside my new Upper Crest punch! There's nothing like new goodies to get the stamping mojo going! 




Paper & Card: Riding Hood Red & Very Vanilla CardSpring Silhouettes DPInk: Going Gray, Pink Pirouette, Soft Sky & Old Olive
Punches: Large & Scalloped Oval, Large Corner Rounder Punches
Other: Old Olive Ribbon, Dimensionals E-mail me to purchase.
Stamps: Call Me & Essential Sentiments - MFT
Paper & Card: Eskimo Kisses - Basic Grey
Punches: Upper Crest Punch
Other: Jumbo Brads, Daisies Embossing Folder

Hang in There!

Hi there peeps! I have a brand new creation to share with you this morning - seriously, the ink is barely dry! I've been up and stamping since 6:30am - I'm SO not a morning person so stamping is about all I can get my head around at that hour. Someoneeeeee might have set off the smoke alarm while toasting his crumpets this morning so it was a rude awakening to say the least - but out of my tired brain comes stamped cuteness, so that's ok!

I combined three of my fav challenges for this one. The cool sketch is from CPS. The colours, Ruby Red, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze & Pumpkin Pie are this weeks Color Dare and the AllSorts challenge this week was to use animals!

I've had this Hero Arts set since, oh goodness, 2008 so it was well past time to get it inky! All my colouring was done with inkpads on watercolour paper. I finally used that leafy cuttlebug embossing folder too - it added something subtle and fun to my background.

Doesn't this wee giraffe look rather somber? I think this would make a good "get well soon" card.

I hope the sun is shining bright where you are today! Happy stamping :-)



Paper & Card: Ruby Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White & Baja Breeze cardWalk in the Park & Ginger Blossom DP
Ink: Black, Kiwi Kiss, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel & Pumpkin Pie
Punches: Large Corner Rounder punch
Other: Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Felt Fusion Flowers, Earth Elements Buttons, Linen Thread, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals E-mail me to purchase.
Stamps: Playful Animals - Hero Arts
Other: Embossing Folder

Off-Kilter Life

I have a confession - I love my Stamp-a-ma-jig. I use it on almost every card. Some stamp sets however, while they look good having used a stamp positioner, look great without it! I just have to force myself to leave it in the drawer!

This is one of those two-step sets that I think looks great when it's not lined up perfectly...and I carried that through by being perfectly imperfect with the stitching on the card!

I used two challenges with this one - Jen's SFYTT and the Curtain Call Colour challenge to use Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery and White. I used wide ribbon as one of the panels from the sketch - it's a nice way to use those oversized rolls.

I stamped the flower panel first, then overstamped the outline images freehand (one of them is MUCH more freehand than the others!) The pleated ribbon was stitched down and I very roughly stitched around a couple of the panels.

Remember, handmade cards (and life!) shouldn't always be perfect! If something is a little off-kilter just run with it, embellish over it, make it part of your design (or invest in a stamp-ma-jig and become completely addicted like I am!)

I'll be back tonight with this week's Project Tuesday offering :-)



Stamps: Live Like You Mean It
Paper & Card: Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery & White card
Certainly Celery & Candy Lane DP
Ink: Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette& Certainly Celery
Punches: Wide Oval Punch
Big Shot: Lots of Tags Die
Other: Melon Mambo & Pink Pirouette Ribbon, Soft Subtles Brads, Dimensionals
E-mail me to purchase.
Punches: Apron Lace

Vintage Friend

Good morning everyone, I hope your week is starting out well! This is a card I made last week, using the new (to NZ!) Cottage Wall paper and Vintage Vogue stamp set.

It's SO nice to have a gorgeous SU! paper featuring purples and I just love the way this set stamps - it's one of those sets that just seems to have a texture to it.

A few details: I stamped and sponged my focal layer. I created the orchid ribbon border by winding ribbon through an apron punched layer. The flower was inked with Orchid Opulence then "rock 'n rolled" on Rich Razzleberry.

I had just as much fun on the inside of this card! I LOVE that border stamp, it's gorgeous. I used the rock 'n roll technique on this flower too before layering it with the smaller flower in the set. Layering is the challenge this week at Stamp Something - this card definitely qualifies!


Stamps: Vintage Vogue
Paper & Card: Rich Razzleberry & Whisper White card
Cottage Wall DP
Ink: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence
Punches: 1/2" Circle
Other: Grommets, Rich Razzleberry & Orchid Opulence ribbon, Sponge Daubers, Old Olive Button & Brad
E-mail me to purchase.
Punches: Apron Lace Punch
Other: Oval & Rectangle Nestabilities, Jumbo Brads

Pendant Park

Hi everyone - I guess I WAS in the mood to whip something up quickly after all! One of my favourite sets in the new Autumn Mini is this simply gorgeous Pendant Park. I knew I'd want it for the park bench image alone - my Dad calls me squirrel, so I couldn't resist! This set is just as much fun to play with as I thought it would be and it makes for a GREAT masculine card!

The colour combo I whipped up for this one is Soft Suede (my first time playing with it and I'm in love already!) Bashful Blue and Old Olive. I've used the SCS SC276 sketch. I found the perfect paper in a REALLY old DP pack - Holiday Thyme. This was the first double sided SU! paper I bought, I still love it. The Old Olive DP is from the new Cottage Garden pack.

I think pleating is the perfect way to add ribbon to a more masculine card - it really finished this one off.

Here's a shot of how I finished that tree panel. I know it looks labor intensive, but when you do as much cutting as I do, you get pretty speedy with the paper snips!

No photo of the inside yet as it's not finished - I was losing the light and had to get this photographed. I hope you love this set as much as I do!


Stamps: Pendant Park
Paper & Card: Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Very Vanilla & Soft Suede card
Holiday Thyme, Cottage Garden DP
Ink: Bashful Blue, Old Olive & Soft Suede
Punches: 1/4" Circle, Wide Oval, Small Corner Rounder punches
Big Shot: Lots of Tags die
Other: Soft Suede Ribbon, Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers, Antique Brass brads
E-mail me to purchase.

Soft Moments

Hi everyone, hope your weekend is going well so far. I found some time to stamp this morning, and had a lot of fun messing up my craft room! I plan to tidy up this evening, and make room for some goodies arriving soon.

This card is probably one of the softest I've made as far as colours go - it was the perfect time to try out my new apron lace punch (I'm in craft love!)

I was inspired by a bunch of challenges for this one. The sketch is Mojo 133, Stamp Something had me faux stitching around the sentiment panel, All Sorts focused on 'petals and pearls' and Crafty Creations is all about paper piecing!

In case you can't see it, there's the stitching around that gorgeous Verve sentiment.

I haven't stamped the inside yet - but repeated one of those lovely flowers and some of the Basic Grey paper.


Paper & Card: Certainly Celery, Bordering Blue, Barely Banana
Pale Plum & Very Vanilla Card
Ink: Black
Other: Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon, Piercing Tool, White Gel Pen
E-mail me to purchase.
Stamps: Beautiful You & Abundant Blessings - Verve
Paper & Card: Wisteria - Basic Grey
Punches: Apron Lace Punch
Other: Oval Nestabilities, Adhesive Pearls

OCC: Bows!

Hi everyone, it's time for another great Our Creative Corner challenge. This week the lovely Dana has challenged us to use bows (not knots!) on our creation.

I LOVE ribbon. It's rare that I make a card without it. So this week I made a different kind of bow from the kind I normally tie - anyone can do this, read on to find out just how simple it is!

I made this card for my parents 26th Anniversary last month. I started with the background paper and pulled my colours from there. I used Soft Sky, Always Artichoke, Vanilla and Kraft.

I stamped and sponged the three panels then used circle punches to cut out a space for that little dragonfly.

Here's a close up of my bow. It's really simple - cut five lengths of ribbon, making each length successively shorter by the same amount - for example: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 inches. Your longest length should be double the length you want your finished bow to be.

Glue the ends of each length of ribbon together to create a round. Stack your rounds and tie the shortest length around the middle and secure with glue. I used a liquid glue - but if I wasn't out of Sticky Strip I probably would have used that.

The great thing about this bow is it folds flat for easy mailing!

I repeated the stamped image and sponging on the inside of the card. The sentiment is from Cheer & Wishes. Head on over to OCC to see the wonderful design team creations and link your card featuring a bow!


Stamps: Cheer & Wishes, Organic Grace (hostess)
Paper & Card: Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla & Kraft
Ink: Soft Sky, Mellow Moss & Always Artichoke
Punches: 1 1/4" Circle & 1 3/8" Circle punches
Other: Sponge Daubers
E-mail me to purchase.
Paper & Card: Periphery DP - Basic Grey
Other: Satin Ribbon, Self-adhesive pearls