Strawberry Sketches #SS004

 Hi there,

I'm back again with another sketch challenge that I am participating in.  The lovely and super talented Sarah Berry has a new  sketch challenge  every Wednesday called Strawberry Sketches 

Click HERE to visit  Sarah's challenge Strawberry Sketches #SS004

Here is this week's sketch.

I was hoping my new Thoughtful Branches would have arrived, sadly it had not . Insert  a very sad face!   My basic idea for the card was the same.  I just substituted one of the tree images, from Thoughtful Branches that I had in mind with  an image from the ever faithful, Lovely as a Tree  stamp set  instead.

It's sooooo shiny and glittery!

 The details of the card are fairly obvious from the picture. But just in case you want a break down of all that it entails here you go:-

1. Softly Falling embossing folder used on the white card base and the elegant eggplant  angled piece of cardstock.

2. A piece of white cards stock, sponged with Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy, Marina Mist and Coastal Cabana ink.

3. I flicked water from the tap with my fingers over the  sponged card to give the impression of falling snow. They are  rather large snow flakes aren't they lol?

4.Once CS was dry, I used my markers, chocolate chip and garden green to ink up the stamp and then stamped over the sponged card.

5. I put drops of glue on the branches and then sprinkled dazzling diamonds over the top - my version of blingy snow!!!

6. Sentiment from Jingle all the Way (I think that may be retired now. I don't have any current smallish Christmas sentiments). The sentiment flag was popped up on dimensionals.

Here's a bit of a close up to show some more detail.

I took some photos of the card standing up, but you couldn't really see the embossing properly, so I had to make do with taking the photos of the cards lying flat on my window sill!

I'm not sure about the piece of angled elegant eggplant CS. I was going to not have it and I did prefer it without. But when I looked at the sketch again I noticed a large piece of CS sitting at a jaunty (love that word) angle. I did try a larger piece of angled CS initially but I  didn't like it. I think it's just me though, liking things in straight lines. I have noticed having a larger piece of card angled is all the rage at the moment. I'm not entirely sold on the whole idea of that though.

 Anywhoo, after trying a smaller angled piece of CS I could just sort of live with it. So that's the story of my card.

What do you think? Have I met the sketch brief ? What's your opinion on the angled piece of card that's so popular at the moment?

Have a lovely weekend. Don't forget to pop over to Strawberry Sketches #SS004

Cheers Donna :)

An aquarium of fish!

Hi there, 

as promised I have  another couple of cards featuring  the Seaside Shore stamp set from Stampin' Up.

I saw this card on pinterest, that led me to the blog of the lovely Kathleen. Click HERE to visit her amazing blog, Kathleen's Stamping Space. Kathleen has all the instructions, measurements, even an easy to follow video on how to recreate her fantastic  card.

 So recreate her card awesome I did. 

Here is a view of the inside of the card, which was sponged and stamped.

After case-ing Kathleen's card I decided to flip the design to landscape. I also flipped the embossed piece of card stock over so the embossed design was not raised, I hope that make sense.

And the inside of this card............

I have decided to give the landscape style card to my dad for Father's Day -in Australia it's the 1st Sunday in September. 

Here are both cards together. 

What do you think? Which one is your favourite, portrait or landscape?

 Make sure you pop over to see Kathleen's blog, it's fabulous.

Have a great week.

Cheers Donna :)

Strawberry Sketches #003

Hi there,

I am taking part in this weeks sketch challenge over at Strawberry Sketches #003 over at  the lovely Sarah Berry's Blog, Stamp With Sarah. Click HERE to go to the sketch challenge.

It's a great sketch this week. Decisions, decisions....mmmmm what image did I want to to do multiple times, or what 3 things would I like to stamp? Well it was easy in the end I punched out 3 cats, using the new Fox Builder punch.

I punched out two cats in smokey grey and one cat in basic black, a bit of stamping for their faces and front legs and what do you know three cats.

 All three cats have their heads popped up with dimensionals. The two smokey grey cats have their heads set at jaunty angles lol . The black cat in the middle is popped up on dimensionals  as well, not that you can see from the photo, whilst the grey cats are glued directly to the card front.

I did consider matting behind the 3 cats and did try with some dsp and plain card stock before I glued everything down. In the end I settled on the less is more adage. A little bit of calypso coral thick baker's twine and the little hello greeting and my card was complete.

What do you think? Do you like my interpretation of the sketch.?

So why don't you pop over to Strawberry Sketches #003 and see the other cards entered for the challenge and have a go yourself.

Cheers Donna :)

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming.....

Hi there,

Back again with another offering, this time with a nautical theme, no teddy bears or flowers in sight......thank goodness I here you sigh!

 Beware, though I have a plethora of ideas from pinterest and my mind that feature the stamp set, Seaside Shore from Stampin' Up. So onto today's creation. FYI today's photos do appear a little on the blurred side, not sure what happened there, apologies in advance.

I can't take credit for this creation. Once again the siren call of pinterest had me lost in it's thrall and I came upon THIS card from the lovely Sandy Mott. Click HERE to see the rest of her post featuring  her card and blog, The Scrap n' Stamp Shop. I loved Sandy's card so much that I had to re-create it. I have made a few slight changes. 

I used Wink of Stella on my the fish, seaweed and shells and a fine line runs along the top of the sponged sand ridges as well. Wink of Stella is ever so bashful when it comes to photography.  I did manage to get a close up, so you can see that I did actually use it and am not making it up!

 I actually made 2 of these cards  for my stash. I think they could be great masculine or children's cards. There is lots of fussy cutting on these cards, but it made for a relaxing afternoon of crafting. It also made me thankful that I don't have to fussy cut everything these days with the advent of coordinating punches and framelits/thinlits....  thank goodness there is a crafting god!

Here is the pair of cards together.

Do pop back later in the week for the next lot of cards using this stamp set. 

Cheers Donna :)

A Sketch Challenge

Hi there,

I'm back again with another challenge, but this time it's a sketch challenge. I found this sketch challenge over at the fantastically talented Sarah Berry's blog, Stamp with Sarah. She has just started introducing sketch challenges over at her blog and this is the second one ever. So if you pop over to Strawberry Sketches #SS002 you too can take part in the challenge. Click HERE to go to the challenge. Whilst your're  visiting  have a go yourself. I've only just started taking part in challenges and they have certainly got me stretching my creative wings.......so a little less "case-ing" for me I think!

OK you are here to see my card. What do you think? I love it.

Card details are as follows.

1. Thick extra white CS base with a smaller whisper white panel popped up with dimensionals.

2. A circle cut out just off centre on the front panel, then  ran  through the Softly Falling embossing folder.

3. Flowers and leaves cut out using the Botanical Builder framelits. Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz and Basic Black CS used.

4. Sentiment from Floral Phrases stamped in the aperture of the circle with Pumpkin Pie ink.

And that  my friends, is my card.

One last photo for viewing pleasure.

I am hoping my card is a good interpretation of the sketch.

Have a lovely weekend and keep warm if you are in Melbourne!

Cheers Donna :)

Crates of Cards.....

Hi there,

I trust you are well, as am I.

 Look what I made isn't it cute? A little crate ready to be filled with...well stuff, but more about that later.

I originally saw these over at Laura's blog, click HERE to visit Laura. Laura had in turn found these at Jackie Topia's blog who she linked back to. 

Well they were too cute not to make. So make I did.

Remember these darling little cards I made HERE?

And these cards I made HERE?

Well look at where these cards now live.......

How cute are these little cards in these crates?

There are 4 cards in each crate and there is plenty of room for envelopes. The cards are 4"x 4" or for those of us who like metric

 10 cm x 10 cm.  These would make a lovely gift all packaged up. What do you think?

It looks I will have to make more crates and obviously more small cards to fit inside.

FYI If you have a copy of the current Stampin' Up catalogue, take a look on page 148 and you will see a couple of these little crates too

Have a lovely week.

Cheers Donna :)

Ferrero in a Box

Hi there,

I'm back again with another Ferrero in a box! Once again this is another creation cased from  the super talented Heidi at her amazing blog flutterbyheidi. Click HERE to go to Heidi's post and video tutorial on how to make this gorgeous diamond shaped box.

What would I do if Pinterest was not around? Probably more house work and very limited crafting lo!. It would appear from all of my blog posts that I don't have an original idea at all and I keep CASE-ing everyone else. I make sure I always give credit if I have seen the idea somewhere and provide links back to the source I found. If CASE-ing isn't the highest form of flattery I don't know what is.

Anywhoo..... ta da inside this darling little box is surprise, surprise a Ferrero chocolate, everyone's favourite :)

Here is a side view. You can sort of see the diamond shaped sides in this photo

And a little group shot of them. These are for some work colleagues.

Thanks for stopping by......please leave a comment I'd love to hear what you think.

Cheers Donna :)