Christmas in July

This card is made with another set from the new Spring Mini Catalogue - Season of Joy. It is such a fun set, I really love the swirl & it also has a gorgeous Christmas tree & mixed wording stamp that I will try & use on a card soon.
I pretty much CASEd this from a card I saw on Splitcoast because I loved the way the flower was stamped in green & the petals used for leaves. I have also stamped the flower twice in Purely Pomegranite & covered one of them with 2-way glue & dazzling diamonds.

Stampset: Season of Joy
Cardstock: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi
Ink: Purely Pomegranite, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: Purely Pomegranite Silk Ribbon, 2-way Glue, Gold Brad, Scalloped Circle * Round Tab Punches

KWerner Inspiration Challenge #17

While I was away on holidays I didn't get a chance to participate in Kristina's Inspiration Challenges which I was abit sad about. She posted another one today, so instead of doing all the other things that I should be tonight (like laundry) I've been making this ........

Have I told you that I love Bloomin with Beauty!! I was trying to keep this card very simple, so decided to make it one layer. I've added some dazzling diamonds to the flower for abit of interest.Have I also told you that the stamp sets in the New Spring Mini Catalogue are all DIE CUT!! This means no trimming of the rubber is required before assembling the stamps, simply peel away the adhesive backing & stick it on the wood block. Make sure that you don't throw away the backing piece as it makes a great mask. I have postitioned it over my stamped image & sponged Regal Rose ink over the top, once you remove the mask you have a perfect outline for your stamp.

Stampsets: Bloomin' with Beauty, Cheer & Wishes

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink: Regal Rose, Rose Red, Mellow Moss

Accessories: Aquapainter, Dazzing Diamonds, 2-way Glue Pen, Regal Rose Grosgrain, Mellow Moss Gingham

Now I'd better go & see if I can find some clean clothes to wear tomorrow :-)

Bloomin'

Not long now until you will be able to purchase some of the gorgeous new products in the Spring Mini. I'm loving just about everything in this one, but my absolute favourite is Bloomin' with Beauty - the images are perfect for watercolouring.

I will admit that I was abit worried about how my watercolouring would turn out, but am rather pleased with the finished result. One way to really make your image pop off the paper is to do a small outline with gray ink - this is the first time I have tried this, but it won't be the last, as it really looks effective.

Stampset: Bloomin' with Beauty

Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranite, Pretty in Pink, Watercolour Paper

Inks: Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranite, Pretty in Pink, Going Gray

Accessories: Purely Pomegranite Silk Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Crop-a-dile, Cutter Kit, Aquapainter

You will be able to order products from the new Spring Mini from 1st August until 3oth November 2008. If you would like a free copy of the mini catalogue send me an email with your address & I'll pop one in the mail to you - alana@aussiebroadband.com.au

Awards.......

Over the last few weeks some of my very talented blogging friends have seen fit to award me the following:

Thankyou to Sam from Ryemilan's Stamping who has honoured me with the Arte Y Pico award. The rules are:

1. You pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. Remember to leave the person a comment or email to let them know they received the award.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4. The award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

Now to choose five blogs that are 'Wow. The Best Art. Over the top.'

1. Jayne Mercer

2. Marelle Taylor

3. Claire Daly

4. Yvonne Campbell

5. Alisa Tilsner

Then the lovely Carol from Inkantations & Inkarnations & gorgeous Lin Mei nominated me for this award:

More rules for this one:

1) Put the logo on your blog.

2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4) Add links to those blogs on yours.

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

Now to nominate seven lucky *poor unsuspecting* souls - all these girls are members of the INKlings & I just love checking out their blogs :-)

1. Elisabeth Stewart

2. Kylie Swain

3. Kari Hughes

4. Karen Oliver

5. Joanna Wassens

6. Fleurie

7. Michelle

Phew - I think I have complied with all the rules, although feel that they should read 'Bad Blogger Award' as I haven't been here for awhile. I do have an excuse - I have been on holidays at the Gold Coast :-) We had heaps of fun catching up with relatives, went to Australia Zoo, the beach, shopping, rollerskating, BBQ's, Movie World, the beach again, more shopping & visiting relatives, so now I need a holiday to get over the holiday. I will be back soon with a card I made using a NEW Spring Mini stampset!

Pyramid Box

On Saturday night Kari set some great challenges for the monthly INKlings team cyberstamp - the first one was to make a pyramid box from this template. I decided to make mine an exploding box by reducing & enlarging the template by 10%.

This is the box closed .......

& here it is opened. I went a little crazy with the rub ons - they are so much fun!

Here is a close up of the flower. All 3 flowers come from the Stampin' Up! Pretties Kit - they only come in white, but the beauty of this is that you can dye them whatever colour you like. The gray one was dyed using Basic Gray ink & an aquapainter. I tried this method for the black one also, but the finished result wasn't dark enough so I just coloured it in using a black Stampin' Write Marker. Can you see the gorgeous brad in the centre ?? - it is from the new Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware that will be available from August 1st! It is just gorgeous, so keep an eye out for more projects made using some of the other pieces in the kit

This last pic is abit grainy, but still shows the rub ons nicely. They will attach to almost anything & look really great on photos - I had no trouble getting them half on the pics & half off either.

Stampset: spring Solitude

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Going Gray, Basic Gray

Ink: Basic Gray, Going Gray, Basic Black

Accessories: Silver Brads, Urban West Rub Ons, Black Hemp Twine, Gray Taffeta, Styled Silver Hodgepodge, Pretties Kit

2 challenges with the one card ......

Yep - Once again I couldn't resist the lure of a Kristina Werner colour challenge. Colours this week are Basic Black, Whisper White, Going Gray with the addition of River Rock & Ruby Red if you liked. I decided to leave out the last two & this is the card I came up with -

You know when you get an idea in your head & you HAVE to try it out! Well this was one of those times. I have inked the stamps up with Going Gray ink & then drawn around the edges with a black Stampin' Write marker before stamping - I knew it would look good, but wasn't keen on drawing around every petal on the large flower, however my mind would not let it rest so I had to give it a go. It wasn't as time consuming as I thought & I'm very happy with the result.

The 2nd challenge this card is for is over on Mel Hanlon's blog & it involves using buttons - thanks for the challenge Mel :-)

Stampset: Fabulous Flowers

Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black

Ink: Going Gray

Accessories: Urban West Rub Ons, Earth Elements & Neutral Buttons, Black Hemp Twine, Black Stampin' Write Marker

You may remember these cards from a while back. Well I thought they would also look good in the challenge colour scheme so made this card too - it also uses the same technique of drawing with the marker around the edges of the stamp.

Stampset: Baroque Background, Circle of Friendship

Cardstock: Whisper White, Going Gray, Basic Black

Ink: Going Gray

Accessories: Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Button, Urban West Rub Ons, Black Stampin' Write Marker

Stampin' Up! needs all kinds of Demonstrators

Have you ever considered becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator? Well there is no better time to join because until August 15th you will be able to purchase the already reduced Starter Kit for only $299. The kit contains $560 worth of Stampin' Up! products (you get to choose what stampsets & inkpad colours you would like) & business materials so you'll be saving over 46% off the retail price. One of the other great benefits of signing up now is that you will have a whole 6 months to meet the minimum sales requirement.

When I first became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I never dreamed that I would be having as much fun as I am. I have met so many fantastic people & it is also great to be able to fund my own stamping addiction & even be earning some extra money to help pay some of the household bills. If you have any questions or would like some more information on becoming a demonstrator just give me a call - 0428 964360, or send me an email - alana@aussiebroadband.com.au

More 6x6 Calendar Pages

Here are some more of the pages I made for my 6x6 calendar I mentioned previously. It was so much fun to make & one of the best things is that each page of the Stampin' Up! Desk Calendar is perforated, so once the month is over you can tear the pages out so you can put them in a 6x6 album for safekeeping.

No stamping at all on this one - the little sentiment is from the Urban West Rub Ons.

I got abit creative with the Crop-A-Dile for the next two - for this one I dry embossed circles on the scallops & for the next one I dry embossed the circles for a frame around the photo.

I used his one for a swap with some of my fellow INKlings team members - it was such fun to receive back some gorgeous 6x6 pages created by Kari, Beth, Dani, Ruth & Clare.