Saturday 30 October 2010

A little bit o bling

My daughter turned 10 yesterday and she's really into the drums so I thought I'd share the card I made for her. 

As I don't have a stamp set with drums...I know I can hardly believe it myself.....I went shopping for one but after searching in vain I settled for some Rock Chic paper and ribbon thinking that I'd have to improvise (pardon the pun).




The base of the drum is the 1/38" square punch in Rich Razzleberry and the drum skin is the small oval punch in watercolour paper - I chose the 270gsm rough because it has a bit of texture so it looks more authentic.  To get the rounded bottom on the drum I placed the oval punch shape over it and trimmed round it first.  Then I stuck the oval to the top of the drum.   I drew the design on with a gel pen and outlined the whole thing with silver Kindy Glitz.  The message is in white Staz On & Basic Black using the Happy Everything stamp set.  I hand wrote the number 10, also in Kindy Glitz on a metal edge tag.  The drum sticks are toothpicks that I chopped the end off because they were too long.   I "painted" the bottom halves with a two way glue pen and then "dipped" them into a glitter pot.  Lana loves drum sticks that are coloured or patterned on one end so I thought this would be a nice touch for her.  "You Rock" is from the Just Jawing set (retired) and the music notes are Kindy Glitz done freehand.

I hope you like it.

Thanks for looking.

Karen

Friday 29 October 2010

PaperLady Mojo Sketch Challenge Week 4

This is that last week of my sketch challenges, so c'mon ladies, have a go!
The sketch is on the side bar at the left.

This week's challenge is to use a monochromatic scheme plus a neutral.  That means one colour plus one neutral.  You can use shades of the same colour (i.e. you could stamp off to get a lighter shade of the same colour).  You can also turn your card on it's side (Tracy did last week, see the previous post). 

My sample uses Cherry Cobbler with Whisper White as the neutral.  I've put my gold cord horizontally as opposed to the vertical ribbon in the sketch, used more layers, and the focus shape is rectangular rather than a circle.


Snow Swirled, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Big Shot Textured Impressions & Red Rhinestones

This week's winner will get 5 sheets of Kiwi Kiss cardstock & some patterned paper to add to their stash of crafting goodies!



Mmmmmmm!

Karen

Mojo Entries Week 3

Here's the sketch I posted last week:





And here's the entries:

Tracy's card


Michelle's card

If you'd like to vote (voting is open to EVERYONE), please email me with your choice by midnight Sunday 31st.   This week's winner will get a gorgeous pack of ribbon. 

And what do you know, it's weekend again!   I'll be on a stall at the St. Scholasticas' Night Noodle Market tomorrow from 3 - 7pm, Avenue Rd Glebe.  Pop along for some great free trade shopping, entertainment, music and food.

Have a good one.
Karen

Tuesday 26 October 2010

PaperLady Mojo Sketch Winner Week 2

Congratulations Michelle!  You have won week 2's sketch challenge.   I'll be in touch to deliver your prize.

Here's Michelle's lovely card again for those that missed the earlier post:



Happy Stamping.

Karen

P.S.  Don't forget to check week 3's sketch on the side bar and email a picture of your card by midnight on Thursday for a chance to win.   And even if you don't win, you got your crafting stuff out and did yourself some good by feeding your creativity!

Friday 22 October 2010

PaperLady Mojo Entries Week 2

I'm a little late getting this out and I apologise, but the Cards for the Troops kind of took precedence this week.
Here's the sketch for week 2:
And there was also a challenge to use purple and green


And here's the entries:

Susie's card

Michelle's card


Yes, there's only 2 but they are both of the highest quality!    Please vote for your favourite by sending me an email - ANYONE can vote.


The next sketch is now located at the top of the page - week 3.  It will be there until Thursday 28th and you have till midnight on that day to do your card.   ANYONE can play.  And yes, there is a prize for the card with the most votes.

Happy Friday
Karen

Cards for the Troops Event 21/10/10

What a lovely day!  It started early, with me picking up Tracy, complete with her craft box and a platter of the most delicious brownies, then heading off to the neighbourhood centre to set up.  Susie arrived shortly after with (I think) her entire craft room!   I thought I collected a lot of stuff.   But that girl's got more bling than Tiffany's!!!   Anyway, the set up continued as the ladies all arrived with all sorts of wonderful things.   We even had a couple of new crafters that popped in to help, and what a lovely experience that was as we watched them have their first creative a-ha moments.  Ah, the memories.

Anyway, we were there a good while and then tidied up mid afternoon and trotted back to the real world.   I then returned for the evening session and the fun continued.   All together we made 150 cards - yes, some had done some earlier preparation, but basically, it was an extremely productive and fun day.

I did the counting this afternoon and I personally now have 523 cards in my possession.   I also got a message from a lady here in Sydney that couldn't come on the day so her and her craft group had made 160 cards and just popped them in the mail!!  How's that.    With the rest of the cards being collected for me on the Central Coast, I think we'll be around the 1500 mark by the closing date.

Here's some pics:

Happy Stampers

Margaret shares her creations with Trace

Susie's all smiles

Avril thinks I'm going to bite her ear!

Getting down to business

Happy Trace!

Overseeing the work

Concentration

Lily's first time making cards

Hayley's favourite card

Lisa's like the energizer bunny - she just keeps going!

Kate's going to quit school to take up craft full time!!

Just checking that everything is lining up - Liz

Christopher discovers that Stampin' Up! images are perfect for drawing

Having a chat

The tools of the trade

And the day wouldn't be complete without some really yummy treats.


Yummy brownies.  Oops Trace hasn't put the coconut on yet!

Just to make sure we've got all the food groups

It's that dip again - warm artichoke, yum yum


Choc Chip & Banana muffins for variety
 Sorry, that's a lot of pics and I didn't put any of the cards in!   There are so many, and I really wouldn't want anyone to feel left out, so a big hug and a thankyou to everyone for helping make the day a huge success.   

Lastly, thank you Rozelle Neighbourhood Centre for supporting the event by letting us use the hall, to Lisa for her tireless support of PaperLady, to Trace for helping me unload all those bags and cooking the beautiful brownies, to Margaret for driving all the way from Mt. Colah, to Susie for her endless supply of bling, to Avril for challenging us to open the new chalk pastels box, to Kristen for squeezing our session into her packed day, to Liz for coming out after an exhausting day, and to Kate for doing all her homework the night before so she could craft.  Not to mention Lily, for joining us without any prior knowledge and really getting into the spirit.  Lastly to my girls Hayley & Lana because they're just lovely to be with and I love the things they make.

And the craft giveaways, well that's just the kind of company Stampin' Up! is.  We had a lovely array of raffle items and it was a nice touch to be able to give something back to everyone who gave up their time, and their supplies for this lovely project.

Have a super weekend!

Karen

Thursday 21 October 2010

It's late, but.....

I wanted to tell you all what a fabulous day we had today at our Cards for the Troops card making day.  I will do a longer post with pics tomorrow, but I wanted to thank everyone for coming and crafting together.  What a lovely group of ladies.   I feel very blessed.

Goodnight!

Karen

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Mojo 161

Coordinating stamps and punches are big at Stampin' Up!  So when I saw this hostess set, I just had to have it.   There's 4 stamps in the set and they all have a corresponding punch, and I already own those!!  Well duh!

This week's Mojo Monday was a great chance to use the set so here it is:



Supplies used:
Stamp Sets - Punch Potpourri & Short & Sweet
Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Concord Crush, Basic Grey, Old Olive
Paper - DSP Lap of Luxury
Ink - Concord Crush & Basic Grey
Punches - Two Step Bird, Small Oval, Large Oval, Scallop Oval & 1/16" hole punch
Ribbon - Very Vanilla Taffeta, Vanilla embroidery thread

Happy Wednesday.
Karen

Tuesday 19 October 2010

Twiddly Bits Frames

This frame was featured in a cardmaking magazine, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was perfect for a friend of mine who had a birthday coming up.

Anyway, that was months ago (that I saw the magazine article) and I had almost forgotten about it until I went into a lovely shop at Tuggerah called Pages 2 Scrap.   They had these lovely frames and bits and pieces of ephemera from Twiddly Bits.   I bought the frame and some other bits and came home happily ready to create.

What I didn't realise was that I'd chosen the exact same one that I saw in the magazine!  How lucky was that.

Anyway, after adding the beautiful images from Artistic Etchings and some embellishments, this was the result:














And of course, because it's a gift, it had to have a matching bag and card:



Thanks for looking!  Leave me a comment if you like what you see. 


Monday 18 October 2010

Glitter is OK!

This is to all our wonderful cardmakers who are supporting the Christmas cards for our armed forces this year.   I have had a couple of questions about glitter, which I redirected to the Dept of Defence and was told that glitter on our cards is ok.  

I was wondering where I'd heard that it might be a problem - I actually said no glitter myself at one stage, and maybe I dreamt it or something!!  You know how it is, sometimes we get so busy we can't sort out what we thought happened from what really happened!    I also think that could be the curse of the blog surfer.  I know that I read so much info that it can get all muddled up until I don't know who said what to whom!

Anyway, for us Aussies, glitter is ok.   However, and this may be where the confusion lies, there is a U.S. website called Operation Write Home.  It specifically says NO to glitter.   But that applies to their military forces, so please don't be confused about ours.   Also, if you make cards for OWH you are not making them for the Australian Military.  This is not a problem, but you might not know it.  It's getting more and more difficult to know where a website originates now that our world is becoming smaller with all the cyber stuff available.

Meanwhile, whoever you make them for, the recipients thank you.   A random act of kindness is always welcomed.

Stamp Happy.
Karen

And the winner is....

AVRIL

Congratulations on winning the first of my mojo sketch challenges.   Here's Avril's card if you missed it in last week's post.




Reminder - this week's sketch challenge is on.   Here's the link to the post.  Get your entries in by midnight Thursday 21st October. 

Happy Monday
Karen

Saturday 16 October 2010

Frosting

As we're now halfway through October and starting to think about our Christmas cards (well, those of you helping with cards for the troops have been thinking about CC all year!), the frosting technique that we did earlier this year came to mind.

Then, while I was surfing the net, I came across a great idea by a fellow SU demonstrator, Nerida, at Stamping Joy.  Nerida's cards are absolutely lovely and very elegant.  She's taken her cards up a notch since I saw the original "Dasher", but here's my version:



I've used Versamark and gold embossing powder on the swirl from Baroque Motifs.   It's so pretty!  Then I stamped the cute little penguin from Sleigh Full of Toys (retired), embossed him in gold and coloured him with markers.   The greeting is from the same set and after embossing, I mounted it onto Cherry Cobbler cardstock.   The snow is a bit rough (I'll be playing with the technique some more this weekend!) but it's basically a frosting technique:   You mix white embossing powder with glitter in equal parts, then cover the area to be "frosted" with Tombow liquid glue leaving it with some texture.  Sprinkle your embossing powder/glitter mixture on top and heat with the heat tool until it bubbles.  Stop and let the bubbles go down, then heat it again to make sure the glue is dry.  The finished product looks like snow. 

Have a super weekend!
Karen

Friday 15 October 2010

Sketch Challenge No. 1 Entries

Off to a flying start:   

Here's the sketch that I posted last Thursday:



And here are the entries in the order I received them:



Card By Michelle

Card by Avril
Card by Susie



Please email me to vote for your favourite card.  You have until midnight on Sunday 17th.  Winner will be posted on Monday 18th.

This week's winner will win a Whisper White Craft Ink Pad.  Perfect for embossing - especially with Christmas coming up.

Hope you find your mojo!
Karen

Thursday 14 October 2010

Sketch Challenge No. 2

If you'd like to have a go at this Mojo, simply make your card, and email me a picture of it (or call me and I'll come by to pick it up and/or photograph it for you).  I will put it on the blog and let the masses do the voting!

Your cards/pictures must be received by me by midnight on Thursday 21st October.  

The winner will receive a gorgeous pack of assorted ribbons - approx 9m in total.

Mojo sketch 15 - 21 Oct
This mojo has an addtional requirement to use the colours purple and green in the design.   You can use more colours as well if you wish.

Here's my sample:


Stamp Happy all day long!
Karen

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Invitations

While watching an old Stampin' Up! DVD from the US I saw a great idea for invitations that's quick & easy.   And let's face it, who could refuse to come to a party when the invitation was a Kit Kat?!  

I wrapped the Kit Kat in our Designer Series Paper, but you could also use wrapping paper or any paper that will fold around the chocolate bar easily.   It's best to use sticky strip on these because it's less like to "pop" open.  But remember that you want the wrapping to slide off so the party details are kept otherwise the chocolate gets eaten and the party info goes in the bin!!

The alphabet set is Schoolbook Serif.  And I've stamped it in Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron & Old Olive.   For the party info (not pictured), I've  used one of the invitation stamps out of the set Please Come, which was retired in the last IB&C.  It's a long narrow stamp so it works well on the back of the Kit Kat.   

My prototype used the large Aero bar.  I kind of liked the shape better than the Kit Kat but I couldn't get any plain ones. hence the change.  But you could really use anything you think your guests would like as long as you've got a stamp set that's the right size.




Thanks for looking!

Karen

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Mojo Monday 160

All in the Family is the stamp set featured on my Mojo Monday card this week.   It's a set I love, but rarely use because it's quite time consuming.  But the results are well worth it.  Doesn't it look lovely with these new colours - Marina Mist & Daffodil Delight?    And how about the ribbon - so cute!




Supplies used:
Stamp Set:  All in the Family & the greeting is from Party This Way (I hand wrote the "From all of us")
Cardstock: Whisper White, Marina Mist
Paper:  DSP in Daffodil Delight
Ink:  Basic Black. 
I used markers and an aqua painter to colour the faces, hair & shoes.
The clothes are made by stamping the image onto cardstock & DSP scraps and cutting them out, then fixing them in place with tiny tiny tiny (!) bits of Dimensionals.
To make sure I got the placement right, I stamped all the people first, then did the layering.
Ribbon - Taffeta 1/8" Daffodil Delight
Jewls - Rhinestones.
Punch - Modern Label & Scallop Border
The little brackety thing on the left edge was made using one end of the Top Note die trimmed to size.

Thanks for stopping by.
Karen

Season of Joy

Christmas is coming yet again, far too quickly!   I am really struggling with my own card design this year, but maybe the mist will clear once the cards for the troops are finished.  Anyway, this is what I have for you today:




It's in the style I like with the squares and the set is a particular favourite of mine.
Supplies Used:
Stamp Set - Season of Joy & Heard from the Heart
Cardstock - Whisper White, Always Artichoke & Cherry Cobbler (love that red!)
Ink - Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive & Real Red
The brad I've used for the star is from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge.   And the rhinestone is from the new Jewels range.
I've edged everything with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and also put a few dabs of glitter on the tree and in the centre of the poinsettias.   To get the edging, I used a Zig Two Way glue pen - they're great because they have that flat tip so you can run it along the edge of a ruler to get the straight line that's an even width.  Then just sprinkle on your glitter and away you go!

Happy Stampin"
Karen

Monday 11 October 2010

Monday Musings

Musings on a Monday brought to you by Regina Brett:

  • If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
  • Envy is a waste of time.  You already have all you need.
  • The best is yet to come....

This is Holly's 7th birthday party - the chocolate lab is Humprhey, and the Retriever is Samba.  And yes, that's a doggy birthday cake iced with Peanut Butter & doggy popcorn!!  Yes, we've gone mad!
 
Have a happy day!
 
Karen

Friday 8 October 2010

Paper Scroll in Frame

I got this idea from something I saw in a stamping magazine.   This is my first attempt and maybe the paper scrolls are too fat because the frame is raised really high off the front of the card, so this is not one that I'd be mailing!!  

I started by measuring the frame and cutting my pieces of designer series paper to the same size.  Then I rolled them around a wooden kebab stick and stuck the end with snail.

Then ink the chipboard frame with Rich Razzleberry and let it dry overnight before glueing the scrolls to the back with fast grab tacky glue. 

I put it all together this morning keeping the rest of the card simple because the frame kind of speaks for itself.



Using a quilling tool to roll the paper might work better next time given that it's finer and the rolls will be tighter and smaller which should make them less bulky behind the frame.

Stamp happy all day!

Karen