Yummo...Cupcakes

I have loved the Crazy for Cupcakes set since I saw it floating around cyber space, and purchased it as soon as it was available here is Australia, but I have to say that I have not used it very often. A little while a go I had a fish around on SCS and got some inspiration and came up with these two simple, but yummy cards!
My stamp-a-majig definitely came in very handy for this one...what would I do without it! And I finally used some of that gorgeous Bella Rose DSP I have been hoarding for this one
We have got some smashing weather here today in Melbourne. It's around 31 degrees. All Summer we have either been melting in the high 30's low 40's or it's been raining, but today was fabbo! We spent the morning splashing it out at our local pool, and with the kids sufficiently tired out & hubby off visiting, I think I have earned some well deserved time in the craft room :)

Inkspiration Challenge 17

Time again for a challenge over at Makeeshas blog. This picture is just stunning, and I took inspiration from the earthy tones and that gorgeous foliage, that reminded me so much of the embrace life set. Here is my submission:
I used the oval punch to create the vase, and piled on the choc chip ribbon to create a bit of interest, here is a close up:
I love these kinds of colours together, thanks for the inspiration!

I'm a Show Stopper!

Yay! Stacey awarded me with her "Show Stopper Award" for my cute little Easter box! I really have to give the credit to Amanda who brought the idea to our team meeting yeaterday, this box was completely inspired by her design! Thanks Amanda, and thanks Stacey too! I feel very special :) You should check out her new challenge for this week here, I cant wait to play along!

The Easiest, Cutest Box!

Laura at Crafty Angels set a "fold it" challenge for this week, and Amanda's swap at our team meeting provided the perfect platform for this sweet little Easter basket. Here is the link to the origonal creation made the by the clever Monika, and it is soooo simple! You take a 21cm x 21cm piece of cardstock, score at 7cm & 14cm on each side. Fold all score lines, then fold in each of the corners, punch a little hole in the four corners, tie up with some ribbon and decorate. Does it get any easier than that? Here is a side view.
And here is a photo of the little tag that I made using the Greetings 8 set.
The colours that I have used here are bashful blue, almost amethyst, orchid opulence and whisper white, which are perfect for the colour challenge at Stacey's Stamping Stage.

The pieces of my life came together when I met you

I know it is hard to see, but across the top section of this card, I have written with a bashful blue marker "The pieces of my life came together when I met you!" Valentines Day is not that big of a deal in Australia, and my husband and I have never been much into it, however, now that I make cards, I have given him a card the past few years, hand made, of course.

The "Valentine" challenge Shelli set over on her blog, So Shelli suggested using non-traditional colours, so apart from the red, I thought bashful blue & taken with teal certainly were not traditional Valentine colours. In addition to this, I have also stayed away from any traditional images such as hearts or kisses for this card too, and have let my handwritten sentiment set the tone of this card:Because some of the sentiment gets covered by the jigsaw pieces, I have also written it inside the card too, just so he knows what I am trying to say :)

I have used the colour palette from this weeks challenge at Colour Q, and the jigsaw challenge over at Tuesday Taggers. What fun this card was, and 3 challenges later, plus a card I will use? My job here is done...

Recipe: Bashful blue, real red, taken with teal ink and card stock, whisper white, petal pizazz stamp set, bashful blue marker.

Matching Set - Cupcake Challenge

The Cupcake Craft Challenge are having a "matching set" challenge, and as it is my good friend Philippa's birthday today, I took the opportunity to make her a matching card & gift box:I got the idea for a message board card from Becky at Inking Idaho. As soon as I saw her version I had the idea to use a calendar for someones birthday. Phil's fav colours are brown and teal so I went with kraft and taken with teal. There is a little photo of Edward and of course, a Stampin Up wish list, lol! Silver brads made the perfect "drawing pin".
Philippa is not one for surprises, so when I made her little box, I put a peep through hole so she would know what she was getting! lol!
I messed up a little on the window, but this was already my third attempt and if I don't get a wriggle on I am going to miss her birthday dinner...and that means miss out on cake? No way!

Happy Birthday Philippa, mwah!

Revisiting Sahara Sand

I was watching a re-run of "Friends" yesterday and Joey had on a sahara sand & bashful blue coloured shirt and I thought to myself "I love that combo, tomorrow I am going to make a card with those colours." Then I remembered how much I loved sahara sand with pinks, so I decided to go that way. So while I was dusting off my Sahara ink pad, I decided to dust of my "Kind Word" stamp set too. I just loved this set when the new catty came out, but I hardly ever use it :(I would never usually combine a distressed edge with polka dots but I do not mind the way it has turned out at all. I have used the following challenges for this card

The Pink Elephant - polka dots, bow & pink
Quixotic - ink up an old stamp
Crazy 4 Challenges - pretty in pink
Timeless Tuesday - the letter P
Midnight Madness - sketch
Recipe: Sahara sand, regal rose, pretty in pink, whisper white cardstock, polka dot background stamp, kind word stamp, 5 petal flower punch, filigree & soft subtles brads, pretty in pink taffeta ribbon, various inks and blender pen for colouring

Just Add Ink

Yay! A group of Aussie & NZ Stampin Up! Demo's have got together to create a new challenge blog "Just Add Ink." What a fabulous idea & I love, love, love the name too! Their first Challenge is a colour challenge, here is the palette:
Such bright, fun colours. I found them a bit tricky to combine actually. Earlier today I did a challenge over at Makeesha's blog, and so I got the inspiration for my card from her sample. Anywayz, here is my entry:
I had fun playing along with this challenge, and I am sure I will be back for more.

Take Two on Inkspirations Colour Challenge

OK, so this is take two of Makeesha's Inkspirations Colour Challenge, which I have to say, I am much happier with, and it came together in a few minutes, rather than the hour and a half the other one took! Frustrating!
A few people doing the challenge are not so fond of cameo coral, but I have to say that I love it! It goes so lovely with browns, greys, black, teal and I especially love it coupled with ruby red & old olive. For this submission, I used the circle circus set, which I do not use as often as I would like. It is a very cool set, one to use when you are in need of a quick card! On a couple of the smaller images, I have used the rock and roll technique just for a bit of interest, and I also got to use a build-a-brad for the very first time! Yeah! (I only brought them in April last year!) And I think it is also the first time I have used that saffron ribbon too!
The kids and I are having such a lazy Saturday morning...ooops, it is now afternoon! None of us are dressed yet and we are all crowded around my craft table creating! Love it! Hope you have a lovely weekend too :)

Inkspirations Colour Challenge

Ok, so today I have had some much needed craft time, but I am having trouble coming up with the goods! Anyway, I decided to use Makeesha'a colour challenge to try to boost my creative level; not so successfully though! This card is just missing something, alas, here it is:
I thought the white background was a little too stark so I added some clear embossed flowers, here is a close up:
It's ok, but not great, I hope I have time to have another go, I really think I can do better!

Challenging Weekend

Tina Fussell has chosen this awesome picture as inspiration for this weeks Trigger Tuesday challengeI love white & teal together, and I certainly love all of the clean lines in this picture, so here is my creation:
Pretty simple huh? The sentiment is from the "On your birthday" set and the sweet little flutterbys are from the "Hello again" set in the Summer Mini. I think this is also suitable for the Sweet Stop Challenge, which is to use a sentiment as the focal point :)

Cupcake Sketch Challenge

I thought that this sketch challenge from Cupcake Craft Challenges would make the perfect scrap page for my little "Bob the Builder" girl. Around the age of three, this costume was one of her favourites:
This is a colour combo I would never usually use, so I am really glad her outfit gave me the opportunity to use it! Also, who would have thought that I would be using the "Totally Tools" stamp set in my daughters scrap book! lol!

Thanks for a great sketch! This page came together so easily for me :)

Better Late Than Never

It is school holidays here in Australia, so craft time is a little difficult to find at the moment. I had all great intentions to participate in the Moxie Fab World's Challenge - Winter Garden combined with the Colour Challenge at Diva Coffee Break Designs - Black White & Grey, but what do you know, by the time I finished my cards, they both have set new challenges! So, I thought I would share my entry with you anyway! lol!
When I thought about what a winter garden means to me, I remembered our beautiful white roses in our old house and how pretty they used to look first think in the morning with little dew drops on their petals, and I thought they going grey colour would nicely depict our dreary Melbourne mornings to a tee! Pretty deep huh! lol! Its pretty hard to tell, but this card is actually much nicer IRL, I have embossed the back card stock with a gorgeous leafy folder (thanks Phil) Anyway, here is a close up of the rose:
Thanks for looking :)

Sketch & No Stamps Challenge

Two challenges in one, the Pink Elephant sketch set the perfect scene for this baby shower card, and I had seen a few of these "punched" baby prams around and knew I wanted to give one a go, so Bizzy Bec's "No Stamped Images" challenge was perfect for this one too!
This will be for my BFF baby shower, which is coming up in March! So very exciting.

Girly Challenge

Cupcake Craft Challenges have a "Girly" challenge and I thought what could be more girly than a couple of scrap pages about me and my girl, Logan:
I am quite a novice when it comes to scrapping, so I try to keep it simple. This is the first time I have used so many photos, usually I keep it to one or two, so it was quite a challenge to get them all in there, but overall, I am happy with the result. The actual colours are barely banana and regal rose, the sunshine has washed out my pictures a bit!
I have joined up the stamp from stem sayings that say "I made a wish and you came true!" which is so true when I think about my girls. I always wanted a daughter, and I felt like all my wishes came true at once when Logan was born (and doubly so when Matilda joined us 2 years later). I am trying to make a scrap book for Logan's first five years. I think I have done about six pages...getting there very slowly! lol!

Another Two Challenges

Tuesday Triggers over at Moxie Fab World has given us this fabulous place setting as inspiration for this challengeAnd this is my submission:
Which also qualifies for the Tuesday Taggers Challenge which is a Bird & a Tag! That turned out well:)

I used creamy caramel, close to cocoa & choc chip ink, very vanilla & choc chip card stock & vanilla taffeta ribbon. The bird stamp is from Friends 24/7, the nest was made up from pocket silhouettes and the sentiment is a level one hostess set, Best Yet. I punched the tag using the designer label, 1 3/8' & 1 1/4" punches. Had fun doing this one and it came together in no time. Well off now to give the kids some of my attention. OK, three posts in one day, I think I am done!

Five Challenges in One

I felt that it was time to get some creative juices flowing, and I have always found the best way to do that is by playing along with some challenges. So I took some time to peruse some challenge sites and found some that tickled my fancy.

Simon Says Stamp - Hot Chocolate (pink & brown)
Charisma Cards - Pink, brown, cream & toffee
Crazy 4 Challenges - Birthday
Quixotic - Hot Chocolate
The Pink Elephant - Birthday

So here is my brown & pink birthday card (creamy caramel, close to cocoa, chocolate chip, very vanilla & pirouette pink to be exact!)
Why not play along too?

It's like a heatwave...

Yikes, yesterday was a scorcher! And what a terrible nights sleep to boot! It was sooooo hot, I left our air con all night! My poor hubby had to work last night (at least he didnt have to work in the heat of the day) So when I went out to give my poor dying plants a drink, I found 5 of our baby ferrets dead. They were only a few weeks old the heat got the better of them. I rang hubby at work to let him know and when he got home this morning he found 4 more dead! The adults all survived but the male is not looking to good. What a day! They say today might reach 40 again, but with a cool change coming through...bring on that cool change, I am melting...

Anyway, on to a lighter note, here are a couple of cards I have made using some punches and my newest set "Stem Sayings" which I got for less than $20 in the inventory sale! Bargain! I have to say that I am loving textured paper at the moment. It is one of those things I buy and never use because I want to save it for a "special" card! I am trying to make some really simple cards at the moment because I am feeling very "uncreative". My girls have been punching their little hearts out too, they love punch art almost as much as me. They have made the most adorable mermaids. Matilda has made a sunflower and while Logan was messing about with some shapes she had punched, she ended up creating a bunny. I will have to take a photo and post them.

Anyway, here is card number two. I love, love, love ladybugs! I have always had a fascination with them for some reason. I thought I might save this one for Matilda's birthday ( I always forget to make my own kids cards) because the sentiment is perfect for her and she makes the most beautiful little ludy bug when she dresses up!
And here is a picture of the little lady bug herself at her 3rd birthday party in 2009.

Finally...

I have finally had some time in my craft room! Yay! I can not believe how fast these holidays are flying by. A couple more weeks and my big girl will be back at school and my little one starting 3 year old kinder! Where does the time go? Anyway, enough babble, here is my card:I love the trend at the moment to dry emboss just sections of card and so I took to my trusty paper trimmer/scorer to create a little border. It took me a couple of go's to get it right, but I think it was worth it. Such a simple card, but quite pretty I think. I am trying to go back to basics since my mojo seems to have left the building! lol!

And here is a page I did just before Christmas:
This is my daughter Logan and her friend Lily from a couple of years ago. It was hard to dress them in normal clothes at one stage, all they wanted to wear were fairy dresses! And I loved to watch them play in their land of make believe. They are so grown up now(at the ripe old age of 6), and Logan hardly ever dresses up, but when they get together, there is still a heap of make believe magic left in their play :) I was having trouble with this layout, so I used one of the sample layouts from the I wish scrapping kit and just changed it around slightly to suit my photo.

Anyway, that's about it for me today, I cant share all of my creations in one day, just in case it takes me another 3 weeks to create anything! And for all those covered with snow, Melbourne is set for a 43 degree day today! Yikes!

MIA

I would love to tell you that I have been missing in action from my blog because I have been on a fantastic trip to an exotic location, however the truth is that I have been hanging out with the kiddies having heaps of fun and when I finally have some creative time, I have absolutely no mojo! Sorry, I tried last night and produced 2 un publishable cards, so maybe today? Who knows? Happy holidays anyway :)

Clever Friends!

It was my daughters birthday a week before Christmas, and amongst all of the festivities, I didn't get to share the card that I made for her, here it is:
How cute huh? There are loads of these on SCS, I just typed in cheer leader into the search area and it came up with so many, so I am not sure who the original creator was, but thank you to who ever it was, Logan loved it!

And this one was made by my very good friend Sarah, she is so tricky, and has so many fabulous retired SU! sets that are just perfect for children's cards, this one is no exception:
And Philippa created this little doozy, isn't it just gorgeous?
It is so nice having clever friends!

Please Help!

I have just realise that when I post a comment on someone else's blog my old email address automatically appears, does anyone know how to change to my current address. I have looked through all of my settings and cant seem to find a record anywhere of my old email address! Tricky one!
Leonie

Merry Christmas to all...

Just wanted to wish you all a very, very MERRY CHRISTMAS. Thanks to all for your beautiful, and so very much appreciated comments on my blog, as well as to my faithful customers who make it possible for me to "play" for a living. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Tuesday Trigger Challenge - Pastels

I mentioned in my last post that I recently had a stamping night with some friends, well, this was my creation of the night...and it took me all night! I had about five different attempts at the box, but in the end, I was happy with the result. Anyway, my card and box were perfect for the "Pastels" challenge over at Moxie Fab World:I have used perfect plum, pale plum and white coupled with certainly celery, which is definitely one of my favourite colour combos. That fabulous box template is from the very, very talented Donna at Butternut Sage designs. Here is a closer look at my card:
I have used inspired by nature, butterfly prints, baroque motifs and the en francais background stamp. I love the way we can co-ordinate our sets so effortlessly. Here is a closer look at the top of the box:
So, as you can see, this was a timely project with loads of cutting, heat & dry embossing, sponging etc. A little time was saved with that new butterfly punch in the new mini, which is just fabulous!

Tuesday Taggers - Let it Snow

Only a couple of days out from Christmas, and I am definitely done with Christmas cards! But how can you resist the "Let it snow" challenge over at Tuesday Taggers? Well, the other night, a couple of my stamping buddies came over to stamp up a storm, and Philippa had made one of these awesome snowglobe cards using this tutorial by Roxy. So, of course, I was dying to have a go, but did not want to do anything "Christmassy", so for my snow globe, I came up with this very girly card:
I tried to get a close up of the "snow" but quite unsuccessfully:
Anyway, it is so much fun having some time to play along with some challenges, a huge thank you to the creative and generous people who spend the time to come up with these challenges for us to play along :) Merry Christmas!