Shimmery Butterfly

Hi everyone.  Today's card is for the January Sketch challenge at Happy Little Stampers, where any style of card is welcome.  Kylie has designed another wonderful CAS sketch that is easy to use for any style of card.

I know it's only Dec. 31st :) ... but it is Jan. 1 in Australia where this challenge blog is based, so this is the January Sketch challenge and will be open until the end of the month (AEST time).  Lots of time to play along! :)

Our wonderful sponsor is -

Vanessa is offering a $5 gift certificate to her store!

PLEASE NOTE!

All entries for the month of January in any of HLS challenges that are on the blog and also at the forum, will be in a random draw to win an extra mystery prize!

For my card above, I used a beautiful two-layer die-cut butterfly that I received as a gift from my friend Peggy.  She die-cut it with pearl paper ... so beautiful, but it's hard to capture the shine with the photo above.  I sprayed the solid layer with pink and blue, which gave me a pretty soft purple shade.

The background and sentiment are stamped and heat embossed in Platinum embossing powder, which is also hard to capture in the photo because the light bounces off of it.  I had to get hubby to stand and block some of the light :)  Now you can actually see the embossed dots in the background and read the sentiment.

I tried a light box last year and decided it didn't really add to my photos, so gave it away, but I'm thinking I should try again because any type of shine or shimmer really doesn't come across well with the lighting I have.  So far hubby hasn't minded helping me out, but he might get tired of that.  :)

Come join in the fun and make a card using the above sketch.  We'd love to see you at Happy Little Stampers!

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I also wanted to share some news about Addicted to CAS Challenge blog ... our new Design Team term has started (Jan-Jun) and we have some amazing crafters joining us. We are happy to welcome to the team ...

Barb (Barb's Studio Creations)

Bonnie (Stamping with Klass)

Jan (LilyPuss Cards)

Joanna (Harty to Heart)

Rebecca (Mellymoo)

Welcome ladies!!

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU!); Be Happy Sentiments (Amy R)

Paper:  White, Pearl White

Ink:  Versamark

Accessories & Tools:  Butterfly die-cuts (gift from Peggy), Liquid Platinum embossing Powder (Ranger), heat tool; home-made sprays - mister bottles, rubbing alcohol, regal rose re-inker / bermuda bay re-inker

My Five Favourite Cards for 2014

Hi everyone.  Back with a new set of cards to enter the fun over at Debby's blog.  This time she wants us to show off our Five Favourite Cards that we made in 2014.

I made over 240 cards in 2014 ... so it was hard to narrow down the list to just five. But I did it ... and I noticed a couple of things.

First of all, I LOVE CAS cards ... no surprise there.  I guess I love mixed media too, because each of the five is CAS Mixed Media! :)  And, I definitely use my favourite sentiment stamp set (A Little Sentimental from Clearly Besotted), a bit too much :) Four of of the five cards use that set.  It's has around 30 sentiments, that work for almost every occasion, and it's just the perfect size, especially for adding as a banner. So that set gets a lot of love from me. :)

Here are my favourite five cards I made in 2014 ...

Brushos & Butterfly

I love trying new products and I was really into watercolouring this year ... so when I got my Brusho colour crystals, I couldn't wait to get started!

Thank you, Lee-Anne

I loved watercolouring this year ... it started out with a lot of frustration, but after trying different ways, I found what worked for me.  This is one of  my most favourite images to watercolour and I did several of these in different colours.

Faux Mother-of-Pearl

I love this technique ... and this is the card I made when I did my first youtube video tutorial.  :)

Autumn Leaves

I love working with copper ... and the combination of stenciled, sponged leaves, and stenciled embossing paste design really worked perfectly with the copper on this card.

Happy Birthday, Kylie

This is one of my first mixed media cards where I went all out. :)  I used clear embossing gel that I coloured with gold paint.  The leaves were watercoloured and then over-sprayed with gold mist and drops of gold paint --- so sparkly in real life.  And then I added the gold strands to finish.

I hope you enjoy my look back at the year.  And I hope you'll join in the fun at Debby's blog and share your favourite makes for 2014!

Edited to add:  My friend Lyndal is also having a celebration of favourite makes for 2014, so I'm joining in the link there as well.  Click HERE to check it out ...

Inspired by ... (continued)

Hi everyone.  This week at Splitcoast Stampers (SCS), the Free for All Challenge is "A CASE of Admiration".  Well, there are lots and lots of stampers that I admire.  I posted two a few days ago, and today I'm posting two more CASE (copy and share everything) cards.

I still have a huge list of people that I would like to honour, so my plan is to do this throughout the year.  I hope you'll be inspired to CASE some of the people you admire and share it with other crafters.  I'm hoping that through my CASE cards, you'll find some crafters that are new to you as well.

The card above is a CASE of this sweet card made by my friend, Debbie.  Debbie's style is CAS and she is amazing with her colouring.  I know that my card doesn't come close to the amazing talent of Debbie, but it is a tribute to her.  I hope to be able to colour like her when I grow up! :)  Thank you Debbie ... both for your inspiring cards you make, and for your wonderful friendship. xx

I changed it up only slight (I had the same stamp!), using embossing paste for the falling snow instead of the seed beads that Debbie used.  And I added some glitter to the snowbank the owls are standing on (hard to see in photo), and some glossy accents to their eyes.

Second card (below) is a CASE of this amazing card made by my friend, Bonnie (Stamping with Klass).  Bonnie makes the most beautiful and elegant CAS cards.  Thank you Bonnie for constantly inspiring me, and for our friendship that I treasure! xx

I kept the stitched mat card front and used polished stone technique for the leaf (although it was done on copper instead of glossy paper).  I changed up the colour of the card base to white, and kept it even more CAS by not adding any embossing on the front.  I wanted the sentiment to be stamped directly on the card front, but the paper shifted on me when I stamped :) ... so stamped again onto a piece of card stock and popped it up over top. :)

I hope you've enjoyed my CASE'ing of these two very talented ladies!

Debbie's card:
Stamps:  Winter Owl (Lawn Fawn); Handy Christmas Sentiments (Amy R)
Paper:  White (Neenha); Real Red (SU!)
Ink:  Black (Memento); Early Espresso (SU!); Copics
Accessories & Tools:  Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says), Embossing paste (Dreamweaver), Dazzling Details

Bonnie's card:
Stamps:  Sweet Sentiments (Amy R)
Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar (SU!); Alcohol inks: Poppyfield, Honeycomb (Ranger)
Accessories & Tools:  Copper sheet, Leave die (Sizzix), blending solution, cotton ball, twine

My Five Favourite Christmas Cards of 2014

A yearly tradition is happening over at Debby's blog.  Each year she holds a linky party for card makers to celebrate their favourite makes for the year.  I'm joining in again this year ... although last year, I think I participated in my Five Favourite Cards of the Year ... so that may be happening a little later. :)

For now I will share my Five Favourite Christmas Cards I made for 2014.  I hope you enjoy the look back ...

Joyful Poinsettia

Sparkly Tree

Vintage Christmas

Pine Branches and Cones

Peace Dove

I had fun looking through all the Christmas cards I made this year ... about 50 in all.  I hope you'll take a look through your own Christmas card gallery and join in the linky party at Debby's blog to share your favourites for 2014.

Here's to fun times crafting in 2015! :)

Inspired by ...

Hi everyone.  There's a challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers (Free For All 253 - A CASE of Admiration).  It's a chance for everyone to join in and CASE (copy and share everything) a card of someone they admire ... or someone that has inspired them.

I'm starting off with two CASED cards.  The first (above) is a CASE of this beautiful card made by my friend Nancy.  Nancy and I have been on-line friends for several years now and we have a mutual admiration the CAS style of card making.  Nancy always inspires me with her amazing creations, so I wanted to take this opportunity to let her know how much I appreciate her! :)  Not only is she a talented card maker, but she is a good friend and we often marvel at how similar we are about likes, dislikes, etc.  To Nancy, I hope you like my tribute to you, dear friend! :)

I used the same mesh look for the stenciled background, with a little bit of orange embossing paste dots on top, and then used my favourite maple leaf to finish.

The second card is for my good friend Susan.  Susan and I got to know each other on-line a few years ago through SCS, and found out that we lived in the same area.  We also have a mutual admiration for CAS cards and I am always inspired when I visit Susan's gallery at SCS.  We have gotten together a few times to get inky and exchange stamps and dies ... so much fun!  Can't wait until we meet up again, Susan! :)

The card below is a CASE of this gorgeous card made by Susan.  Orange and pink is my favourite colour combo, so I kept that for the background, but used watercolour instead of the alcohol inks that Susan used.  Unforunately, I only have black permanent ink and wanted to use brown, so needed to change up the background inks so I could use my waterbased brown ink on top.  Had trouble getting a good photo of this card ... it's dark outside and the lighting was playing havoc with the colours.  This is more true to the colours, but a little blurrier than it is in real life. :)

CASE of Nancy's card:
Stamps:  Gently Falling (SU!), A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted)
Paper:  White, Watercolour - for leaf (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Distress Inks:  Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Vintage Photo (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Textured Mesh Stencil (Memory Box), Embossing Paste (Dreamweaver), palette knife, water brush, Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint (Ranger)

CASE of Susan's card:
Stamps:  Lisa's Painted Maple (Hero Arts); Sentiment (unknown); En Francais (SU!)
Paper:  White, Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry (SU!); Distress Ink:  Vintage Photo (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Water mister

Inka Gold Christmas

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing a special Christmas card I made for my good friend, Nancy.  In my rush to get it into the mail, I forgot to take a picture of it.  So Nancy took this lovely picture and sent it to me.   Thanks Nancy! :)

I experimented with a new-to-me product called Inka Gold.  I first took a red watercoloured background that I had in my stash from experimenting with watercolours, and then stenciled over top with the Inka gold.  It's quite thick and I used a sponge to apply over the stencil.  Once dry, buffing it with a soft cloth or paper towel will bring up the shine.  So cool!  It also adds texture because it is thick.  Loved it so much that I ordered five more colours to try. :)  Looking forward to playing more with this fun product.

I just love this candles image from STAMPlorations and have used it a lot this year.  Also watercoloured, and then the candles were coated with wink of stella for some sparkle (hard to see in the photo).  The peace is die-cut using my Cameo cutting machine.

I'm entering this into the current challenge at STAMPlorations - December's Stamps + Designer's Choice.  Use stamps and pick from one of the previous challenges ... mine works for several:  April - Stamps & Favourite Technique (stenciling); August - Stamps and Die-cuts (die-cut stencil and sentiment); October - Stamps and Embossing (embossed with the Inka Gold); and November - Stamps & Layers (a few layers on this card). :)

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I want to take this opportunity to thank you for coming by to visit.  It's been a wonderful year full of creative fun.  Here's to more of the same for 2015.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Stamps:  Holiday Sketches - Christmas Candles (STAMPlorations)
Paper:  White (base); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press); gold foil
Ink:  Barn Door, Fired Brick, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  water brush, wink of stella, starburst stencil cut with my Cameo, Inka Gold (gold), Peace sentiment cut with my Cameo

Cooper's 1st Birthday

Hi everyone.  Yesterday was Cooper's birthday party and I made him my first pop-up box card.  I had so much fun making this! :)

I bought the pattern from Silhouette America and cut it with my Cameo.  I used a checkerboard stencil to make the sides and back of the card (stencil was cut with my Cameo too!).  I just love the racing car design.  There are several videos on youtube on how to make these box cards without a cutting machine.  I could see myself making many of these with different themes. :)

Nikki and Evan went to a lot of work making decorations for the party ... the theme was "Dumbo and Under the Big Top".  Everything they made was so perfect ... from the pennants that welcomed you at the door, to the large marquee with Cooper's name in lights, to the boxes of popcorn and yummy "Big Top" fondant covered cake ... it was so fun! :)

I've included a few pictures below of the birthday boy ... having a sweet treat for the very first time.  He didn't like the icing, but LOVED the cake :)

Two CASE'd Christmas cards

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing two cards I CASE'd (copy and share everything) from myself. :)

This year my Christmas gift to my sister Dee, is to make some Christmas cards for her to send to family and friends.  She received them a few months ago and they have now all been sent out, so I thought it was safe to share with you.

Dee picked out two CAS designs from earlier this year and asked for nine of each.  I wanted to change them up a little from my original, but as you can see from below, there's not too much difference with the card above.  I tried different sentiments, but decided that this one worked best, so stayed with it.  I did change up the snowflake to silver glimmer paper and added a circle frame from the same pretty paper.  And I added a silver foil backing to the aperture (the original was open to the inside of the card).

Here's the original ... like I said ... not too much different.  Click HERE for the original post and details.

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The second card Dee picked is fun and whimsical.  I love these three winter sparrows from Lawn Fawn.  I tried using different colors for the birds from my original card, but decided I'd stick with the same ... they just work.  I did change up the perspective, making some of the new cards portrait, and I added some embossing paste "falling snow" for the background.  The birds and branch are fussy-cut and popped up on top of the card base.

Here's one of the new versions ...

and here's the card I CASE'd.  Click HERE for the original post and details.

Love ...

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of a new challenge at ATS&M (#126 - Anything Goes with a twist).  The twist is that we are celebrating our team mate Marina's wedding that will be happening in just over one week's time.  Marina has been working so hard on organizing her wedding, so we took this opportunity while she was distracted, to set up this week's challenge in her honour. :)  We're sure she is going to be surprised! :)

This card has been done for a while and is currently winging it's way to Singapore ... I just hope it makes it in time :)  Congrats Marina!!  All the best to you and your hubby-to-be.  Enjoy your special day!!  xx

The challenge is sponsored by

Prize:  3 digital images

I had so much fun colouring this adorable image from DigiStamp Boutique.  I used Copics, and added some glossy accents to the beaks, and hearts ... and a little sparkle on the flower with Wink of Stella.  I fussy-cut the image and popped it up on a panel that was dry embossed with rows of tiny hearts.  A simple sentiment finishes the card.

Please click HERE to check out the challenge and see the wonderful cards made by the rest of the Design Team.

I wanted to let you know that this will be my last Design Team card for ATS&M.  I'm stepping down at the end of the year so wanted to thank all of you that take the time to check out the ATS&M challenges from my blog.  So appreciated!  And to all my team mates at ATS&M ... I have really enjoyed working with you!

I have been working on a new project for Kylie over at Happy Little Stampers Forum so you'll find me over there and on the Happy Little Stampers Blog with a new CAS monthly challenge starting January 3rd.  It's going to be fun!!  Hope you'll join us!

Stamps:  Merlin & Blinky - Love (DigiStamp Boutque); Forever (Fiskars)
Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Real Red; Copics:  G43, YG67, R29, R59, W4, E44, E49, YR24, V09, V25,
Accessories & Tools:  Glossy Accents, Wink of Stella, Hearts embossing folder (Sizzix for SU!)

Hippo Birdie :)

Hi everyone.  Here's a fun CAS birthday card that I made for my friend Lisa.  I thought she'd enjoy these adorable little creatures :)

I stamped the images onto white card stock and coloured them with Copics.  I used my clear Wink of Stella to add a little shimmer to the balloon, party hat and the chicks beak. The images were fussy-cut and popped up on a circle of brightly coloured, patterned paper.  A little different layout for me. :)

I've had this stamp set for a long time now ... so glad I finally got a chance to use it! :)

Stamps:  Year Four (Lawn Fawn)
Paper:  White (Neenah); Hello Sunshine (Bo Bunny)
Ink:  Black (Memento); Copics:  W4, E44, Y21, YR24, YR07, R17
Accessories & Tools:  Circle Nestability (Spellbinders), Clear Wink of Stella

Snow Family

Hi everyone.  Today's card is for the new challenge at ATCAS #54.  This one is being run by the very talented Shana (Stress-Free Stamping with Shana).  She chose this code word ...

This challenge is sponsored by

Prize:  5 digital images

I love my snow family image ... so adorable and lots of fun to colour.  I was smiling the whole time I was working on this card. :)

I printed off the digital image onto white cardstock, fussy-cut and then coloured it with Copics.  Sparkle was added to the scarves and hats with a clear Wink of Stella pen, and dimension and shine were added to the noses and heart with glossy accents.

The snowy background patterned paper and hill of snow are both cut with stitched-line detail dies and a fun sentiment was stamped in black to finish.

Click HERE to check out the challenge and see the rest of the design team's fabulous "family" cards.  There's lots of time to play along, the challenge is open until Dec. 27th.

Stamps:  Snow Family (Dilly Beans); Snowman Sayings (Amy R)
Paper:  White; Cheery & Jolly (Paper Studio)
Ink:  Black (Memento); Copics:  BG72, BG57, G43, YG67, YR24, R29
Accessories & Tools:  Clear Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents, Stitched mat die (Lil' Inkers); Stitched border die (Pretty Pink Posh)

Pine Branches

Hi everyone.  I made a reminder card for December's Sketch Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  I love this CAS sketch ... so easy to use.  I hope you'll play along and join in the fun.  The challenge is open until the end of the month.

Here's December's sketch challenge ...

I simply stamped a pine branch three times in dark green ink, and stamped a second, smaller branch, three times in light green ink.  I coated the sprigs with clear glitter glue for sparkle (hard to see in the photo, but it's very pretty in real life).  I splattered more of the two green inks over top and stamped a sentiment. Fun and easy card to make! :)

Come join in the fun ... the challenge runs for the whole month, so there's lots of time to join in.  There's two ways to enter ... on HLS Blog  ... or on HLS Forum (or both!). :)

If you upload your entry to the forum, you will be in the running for a randomly drawn prize --- don't miss out!

Also wanted to mention Happy Little Stampers is introducing a new challenge at the beginning of January.

We hope you'll check out the challenge at the beginning of January and play along!! :)

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And just a few more pics.  On Saturday, I hosted a High Tea for some friends and wanted to share a few pics.  I used to work with these lovely ladies and have known them for over 30 years.  Sorry for the poor quality of the pics ... my living room/dining room is very dark.

Here's the food (all made by me!) ... first the savory tray (chicken and cranberry croissants, egg salad sandwiches, Borsin cheese and sun-dried tomato pesto crostini)

Here's the sweet tray (raisin scones with devon cream and raspberry jelly), cherry winks, shortbread cookies, mincemeat tarts, brownies, gingerbread tartlets with pumpkin mousse filling)

... and we had an appearance by a very special guest (and his daddy) :) ...

Stamps:  Watercolour Winter (SU!), Branches (Inkadinkado); Christmas Greetings (SU)
Paper:  White (Neenah)
Inks:  Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint (Tim Holtz Distress Inks)
Accessories & Tools:  Dazzling Details (clear glitter glue) from SU!, paint brush for splattering, Stamp-a-ma-jig