Two new cards and the deets

Hey there, feels like its been forever since my last post.. the reason behind it was that I haven't been at home:-) Some of you might already know, I was out in Singapore for the weekend with my DH..
When I heard that we were going there the first thing I did was find out what scrap booking stores were around! It was a treat for me since I have never ever ever been to a scrap booking store as I buy everything online..

I finally managed to get something I have wanted for a couple of months now.. A CUTTLEBUG!!! Finally finally:-) yay!
Whats sad was that I couldn't do much shopping since prices there are through the roof and everything is over double the actual price I pay online! SO I used the oppertunity to buy stuff that I cant buy online (due to the weight and shipping cost), like my Cuttlebug and a new trimmer by Cutterbee ( EK success).

Anyways getting back to my cards for the day...

There was actually a reason I decided to make these cards, It's to show you some wonderful stamps I got from my favourite Copic Marker seller on Etsy; Shiela. I bought my very first markers from her, and they are the cheapest that I have found online!
What's great about her shop is that she designs her own stamps and is super talented, so I had to feature them here today..

This is the link to her shop, drop by to see some gorgeous unique stamps:-)

my favourites right now? the '1740's world map' and the 'Not so creepy crawlers' set!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SheilaOx


Now these stamps are what I won from her blog candy! I love them, and I also got a load of other cool stuff along with it and I put it to good use today:-) So here's the cards..

....and a close up, these two sets look incredible when embossed in gold..

Here is the other card, two different versions basically.. this ones more arty and grungy:-)

The trick is to dust off some embossing powder from your image before heat setting, that way you get a shabby aged patchy image:-)

....and a close-up,

So that's the two cards for today! well the second is actually to frame and not really a card:-)

Be sure to drop by Sheilas shop, she adds new stuff all the time, in fact I just discovered some stuff I may need to buy!

Supplies list,

Stamps: by Sheila, 'The keys to my heart' & Locked in love
Tim Holtz stamp- Flights of Fancy
Sentiment stamp (this is why I love you) by Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday
and a zig-zag stitch stamp I picked from Singapore

Ink: Distress ink s in Walnut, Shipped Sapphire, Black soot, Antique Linen and Tea dye and Black Stazon
Embossing powder: gold
Patterned paper: Cappella collection by Basic Grey
Metal Key hole: Tim Holtz Idea-ology
Ribbon by Memrie Mare: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MemrieMare
Navy and Natural Twine from my stash

Thanks for dropping by today! hugs!

Annes Itty bitty challenge:-)

Fine I admit, it was the challenge name that made me enter.. plus the fun of trying to figure out what I could do with my tiny stamps:-) I am new to the challenge at "Gaal Creative", I enjoyed it so much I think I will make time to play next time too...

Here's the link if you want to enter, not much time left so you would have to hurry:-)

http://www.gaalcreative.com/2010/06/02/junes-challenge-itty-bitty-stamps/


So here's what I came up with, I think the whole idea of summer is really making a mark on all the cards I create lately! For this one I used the Tic Tac Toe grid:-)

Close-up,



How's that for a simple quick card? I think the most time was spent preparing the perfect sized grid for these stamps!! he he


The supplies used:

Hero arts stamp sets: Cute Letters, Bugs and Kisses
Copics
Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Summer Fun!

So excited to share today's card with you!! Been very busy with it all morning:-)

I had this idea to create a concertina card which displays different elements in a interesting 3D format.
So I designed the fold on a scratch paper and then used my card stock to replicate it.

I stamped out all the images and coloured in with Copic markers, the palm tree was stamped twice and coloured since I needed another extra branch to make it look fuller..

I used masks to create the waves and the sun, I also added an extra layer of waves so that I could tuck the fish behind it to give it more dimension:-)
( Hero Arts blog has a great video on this technique which I came across, the sweet Lisa Spangler demonstrates it:-), check it out! )

http://www.heroarts.com/learning/technique.cfm?techID=148

The sand is a little vial of white sand from Maldives I picked up from a gift shop from my last trip there, it also has little bits of coloured particles in it to add some interest. I used my Tombow mono multi glue and glued it down in a nice layer.. This is the first time I am using this particular glue, it's really good! Holds down the sand real well.

Here are the close ups,




The main image doesn't show the fish very clearly as my smart camera didn't like to focus on it!!
If anyone knows how to photograph it in a nicer way focusing on all the images please drop me a comment, I would be eternally grateful :-)




Supplies Used:

Hero arts stamp: Lets Chill
Distress Ink: Tumbled glass, Chipped Sapphire, Mustard Seed
Copics

Would love to hear your comments and tips on photographing a card like this.

Happy stamping!

Sending smiles

I love this tiny bicycle by Hero arts, it's the most happy little bicycle I've seen! Perfect for the Moxie Fab challenge. I was so inspired by all the cute bicycle images they had in the post and decided to go for a clean card.

If you want to play as well:

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2010/06/moxie-fab-world-challenge-i-want-to.html

I wanted to keep the bicycle as the main focus, so I made sure all other elements are as neutral as possible. That's why the ribbon is left black, it also frames the proportions of the card well.

I picked this sentiment because this bicycle makes me smile how could I not smile with that cute basket of fresh flowers?

Anyways, after I made the card I realised this card perfectly fits the PDCC as well ( this time it was to make a card with black white and a bit of blue), I was planning to make another card to enter that but since this matched well I guess I will enter it there as well:-)

Here's the link if you would like to play:

http://theplaydatecafe.blogspot.com/

The background is a Hero arts cling stamp which I stamped and cut out.

( I inked it up sprayed water and stamped it. It comes out a bit blurry and patchy when you do this and gives the background a lovely rustic feel:-) ) I pre stamped the bicycle on my card base before hand since I wanted the wheels to hang out of the scallop circle.




So that's my quick post for the day!

Here's the Supplies list:

Hero arts stamps: Bicycle, Take good care greetings, Striped circle, sending happy thoughts set ( the leaves below the bicycle are from this set)

Ink: Tumbled glass distress ink, Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Copics

A perfect day

I have decided to finally put all my new stamps to good use starting today, have you ever sat down and thought 'boy do I have too many unopened stamp sets'? It hit me yesterday that I have been so busy buying the latest and the greatest, I just didn't have time to make something with them!!
Completely bugged by the pile of stamps (which were mocking me in their fresh packaging), I broke open my new house cling stamp. My first card was going to be for the Hero arts June challenge:-)

I picked a few other Hero arts stamps which have been neglected and started stamping away.. First I got a heap of my Dear Lizzy paper by American crafts and stamped the house on a yellow sheet and a red sheet. I stamped it again on a white scratch cardstock piece as well (this was to cut out the roof and the windows..). I then used my Copics and coloured the window blinds in light blue, and faintly coloured the glass in grey so that it looks like the lights reflecting off the glass.
I also coloured the strip on the roof in light blue as well. Used a red Copic and coloured in the window in a red that matched the door which I cut out from the house which was stamped on red paper. ( gosh that's a long sentence:-))

I stamped the little tree on the green patterned paper and on Kraft Card stock. Cut those out too. The hearts were cut out from a pink sheet.
Finally got to the sun which had a lot of detailed cutting! I stamped it on a bright orange sheet of Dear Lizzy paper. the tiny scallop took so long to cut! I had to use an exacto knife to get as close to the image as I possibly can,and selected a yellow button to go with it..

I also cut out some flags from the Dear Lizzy paper and made my little banner thingy..

The picket fence and grass is from a Dear Lizzy fabric paper sheet, it looks so cute when paired with the house stamp!

Here's the card! As you can see I did a bit of distressing in Tumbled glass so that the top looks like the sky..




Here's a close-up of the details, I also added some hand drawn butterflies to finish up the card:-)

Supplies used:

All stamps from Hero arts- 2 houses cling stamp, Circular Designs, Adorable baby girl, Sending happy thoughts.

All patterned paper and solid papers are from the Dear Lizzy collection

Ink, Color box chestnut ink, Tumbled Glass Ranger ink.

Thanks for dropping by:-)

Hugs,

Michelle.

PDCC 33 entry

Hey there , Hope you are having a great weekend:-)

Today I gave a go at making a shabby chic card, I have never attempted one before.. I think it has to do with finding the perfect ribbon or shabby embellishment to help it get there!

I used my Cabbage rose ribbon to achieve this look. I added some of these to my last giveaway hope my winner Isa has fun trying it out like I did:-) Need to get a few more colours, I dont have green..

So here is the colour scheme for the challenge, delicious as always!! had to try it out:-)
I missed playing the last two challenges but this week managed to squeeze in some time to submit an entry..

Why don't you hop over there and play along too!

http://theplaydatecafe.blogspot.com/

I started off the card with Kraft, I adhered a piece of patterned paper and stamped two white Lacey borders and white embossed it. I then look the Hero Arts Starburst Lace stamp and stamped it in Antique Linen Distress ink since its a colour very close to Kraft and wont stray too far from the challenge colours. I cut the stamped image so that it looks like a doily and set aside.

I then stamped the sentiment in 'Raspberry' and distressed the edges with Antique Linen.

Since the card base I prepared looked a bit bare I used a Fleur-de-lis and stamped out a row and clear embossed it. I layered on the home made doily and used dimensional adhesive to adhere the sentiment. I then look a length of my crinkly ribbon made a few loops and secured it from the middle with a piece of string, then fluffed it out to make a flower.

I covered the string with an antique button and added some Hero Arts Pearls ( they are barely visible with the busy aqua patterned paper )to finish off my card!

Here is a close up:

Supplies used:

Stamps: Star Burst Lace stamp by Hero arts, Christmas stamp by Kelly Panacci, Damask by Kelly Panacci, sentiment -Celebrate life by Penny Black

Ink: Magenta ink by Colorbox, and Antique Linen by Ranger.

Patterned paper by Pink Paislee 365 degrees collection paper.

Embossing powder by American Crafts.

Thanks for looking!

BTW, what do you think of my photography this time around? I kind of tilted it while taking it cos it looked very flat while shooting it straight, I like to hear your comments on that..

Hero arts challenge card, Summer theme

Hi, I made a card for the Hero Arts June challenge, I chose the summer theme:-) I love using birds and butterflies with my flower stamps, so I paired two great stamps by Hero arts and added a little green butterfly I punched out with my Martha Stewart punch.

First I stamped the Lace stamp on my base card stock and the circle stamp on a scratch piece. I coloured the flowers in with Copics and the little rim in silver to give it a metal feel.I them cut the circle out with a craft knife.. (which took forever!) I then stamped the circle again and cut out more flowers to pop up with dimensional adhesive and make my image a bit more fuller with flowers.

I cut out a circle in the middle of the lace stamp and adhered the flower circle on top framing it. I added some acetate behind so that the window looks nice and I can then add my butterfly on top to make it look like its floating:-)

I stamped the butterfly with a musical notes stamp by prima and coloured the butterfly in a light green Copic marker. I also added two gems to make it shine.

Lastly I added my new favourite sentiment stamp which is by Hero arts and Voila!

Here's the close-ups,

And another close-up,

Supplies:

Stamps- Starburst Lace, Little flower circle, Take good care greeting ( all by Hero arts)

Prima stamp- Song bird

Ink- Tattered Rose and Rich Cocoa Memento ink

Martha Stewart Punch

Copics

Hope you enjoyed my card,

It has to be one of my favourites:-) Love the new stamps Hero arts came out with this summer, I have stocked up, so get ready to see more cool stamps in the next few cards...

Hugs!!

Check out this blog candy!!

Great stuff at AniKraft!! Check out the blog candy, pretty simple to enter!

You only have to be a follower and post about it on your blog:-)
I personally love the Kraft note book ! great for altering. And the cork sheets, I really want them! Fingers crossed:-)

Here's the link:

http://anikraft.blogspot.com/2010/06/1st-anikraft-blog-candy-and-another.html

Good Luck!

P.S : blog about it and spread the word around, her goal is 50 followers, so lets try do it!

Imagination

I love the new colour Chipped Sapphire, the rich tones were perfect for this card:-) I used a few Tim Holtz and Hero arts stamps to make this .. and a load of distressing and embossing.




First I used Broken China and applied lots of ink to the right side stretching down to the bottom, I used some Chipped Sapphire on the lower right corner and made it dark as possible. Used a bit of Black Soot on the lower left corner and covered the rest with Walnut Stain. I then used a mini mister and sprayed a load of water so that all colours combine and run in together:-)

I used my heat gun and dried it well. Used the Cling dots stamp and embossed in gold, then I used the Ledger stamp and stamped over top. I also used my Versamark pen and drew on some distressed lines on the lower right corner and embossed that with gold as well.

Finally I used a few Tim Holtz stamps and created a collage using the same Distress ink pads.

Here's a close-up,

Supplies used:

Distress inks- Chipped sapphire, Broken China, Walnut Stain, Black Soot

Hero Arts Stamps- Ledger and Cling Dots

Tim Holtz stamps- Flights of Fancy and French Market

Versamark ink pad and pen

Gold embossing powder from stash

Tombow glue

Kraft paper

Hope you liked my quick post:-)

Have a great Wednesday!

Sending smiles!

Hope you are having a fab day! I finally managed to make a card today:-) yay!! talk about an achievement;-) took me quite a while to get this right as I was just not inspired all these days..
Sigh... Btw this is the second time I am posting this, used the wrong photograph the last time! he he, Sorry if anyone saw it and is now confused:-)

Used some fab paper I bought a while back, some of you might be familiar with it, its Japanese Washi paper. I love this stuff, almost like mulberry paper but with gorgeous prints.

Here's where to get them: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AnnieHowes

I also used Washi tape for this (the brown stripy background) they are very easy to use and also can be used for masking as they are removable..

This is where to check them out: http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlehappythings1


So here's the card:-)



The background is made with a Hero arts stamp (Asian fan border), I stamped all the fans with Tattered rose ink and then added more distress ink on the paper with my ink applicator to get the tone on tone look.

I then cut out a piece of white card stock and added strips of tape to form a continuous stripe and mounted it in the center.

Used the 'Four dolls' stamp also by H.A and stamped on my Washi paper and a piece of White card stock. I cut out the dress and coloured in my stamped doll with Copics and assembled. Since her hair was lacking embellishments, I gave her a little flower from the same stamp set and decorated it with a single pink jewel.

I adhered her with dimensional adhesive onto a little round scallop so that she stands out.

I used a new Hero arts sentiment set called 'Take good care' which I got recently from Ebay and stamped with Chestnut Roan ink by Colorbox. Been waiting to use this, and when my stamp-a-majig came, I finally did!! Love my stamp-a-majig to bits:-) If you use rubber stamps, YOU MUST GET ONE :-) trust me.

And that's it! hope you like my card:-)
Hugs!!
Michelle.

Winner!! or shall I say winners..

I have been very busy preparing my husband a special birthday dinner, most of the evening was spent in the kitchen. So now's my time to blog and check out other blogs and Flickr.

I know you are all excited to see who won the loot:-)

As you know I promised to post a winner by Monday so I got busy cutting out the names and picked a winner from my lucky Barret!

The lucky winner is Isa!!!!

I think Isa is new to the blog, and its always nice to see new faces here in my little corner of the world:-) So Isa please mail me as soon as you see this message!!

I was having so much fun picking a winner, I thought I should pick another one for some other extra stuff I had in my craft room, its some flowers and some ribbon, I will also include a few other embellishments too:-)

so the other winner is, Dawn!!

Dawn visited my blog through Barbs blog:-) I think she is new too, as I said before, I love getting new visitors! So Dawn please mail me your details too:-)

And if the prizes are not claimed by Wednesday midnight, I will have to pick another winner for the goodies:-)

Happy Monday guys!!

Fun with Brads!

Today is my darling husbands Birthday, here is the card I made for him:-) The metal brads were bought specially for this card a couple of months ago, when I saw them on sale at Two Peas I knew exactly what sort of a card I planned to use them on!

I love circle cards, I think they are the coolest; simply because they are not your average card shape; if you go to a card shop, you don't find tonnes of circle cards now do you? :-) That's what makes them special I guess ;-)




I made the base of this card with blue and green paper by Basic Grey ( Sugar Rush) to stop it from looking like a valentines day card since I was planning to use lots of hearts on it. The green paper also has a fun print of dots that looks like confetti, so it was perfect.

I used the 'Many hearts' stamp set and the 'Valentines sayings' stamp set by Hero arts and got busy stamping the patterned hearts in Magenta and Red Colorbox ink and then Clear embossed them.

Since some of the patterned hearts were too big for this card I took the patterned heart that I had stamped and pre cut, flipped it over, used a smaller heart and stamped on it and cut it out. This way I got patterned small hearts!!

Thats a fun little trick to get the most out of your stamps:-) So if you need smaller hearts in those fab patterns you can try this out..

The banner was drawn free hand and the sentiment was stamped using the fun small letters in the Hero arts 'Cute letters' stamp set, they are great for a card like this!

I then assembled the card by adding the Big Metal number brads by Around the block to finish it off :-)

Hope you enjoyed my card, sorry I have not been able to post much as hubby has been ill these days.. Will be back with the winner for the give away and hopefully another card by Monday!

Please feel free to leave some comments or questions about the card as I love reading them:-)

Hi

I wanted to share with you a few fun pics that was taken on my vacation last week:-)
I love the Maldives and we go there every so often when a long weekend comes by, its only a 1 hour 15 minute flight and we land on white sandy beaches.. Not that there aren't nice beaches in Sri Lanka, it's just that the white beaches and snorkelling inMaldives is simply amazing!

Here is the link if you want to see what I got up to last weekend..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49593547@N06/sets/72157624069990081/

Huge Hugs,
Michelle.

Give away Closed!!!

Here's the deal, one lucky person is going to walk away next week Monday with a fab goodie bag put together for your stamping pleasure:-) http://www.flickr.com/photos/49593547@N06/sets/72157624188328182/
follow the link if you want to see detailed pics!

Here is the list!

1.Over fifteen different shades of Ribbon, grosgrain, organza, printed with flowers and bugs:-)
2.Three shades of Cabbage rose ribbon ( distressed and hand dyed)
Colours: Rose water, Cherub blush and True love (1m each)
from Memriemare here, http://www.etsy.com/shop/MemrieMare

3. Jillibean Soup Kraft square journaling sprouts
4. Prima Fuchsia flowers
5. A set of cards that you could view here, http://www.flickr.com/photos/49593547@N06/4602909695/

6. And lastly, THREE sets of stamps:-) yes the best kind out there in my opinion! Hero Arts!! I included the Valentines sayings stamp set too, I love this set, dont let the name fool you 'cos it has many sentiments that could be used everyday as well:-)

There will also be a few extras included ;-) Well something thats authentic 'Sri Lankan'.

So are you excited?
Here is the info on how to win 'em..

You can comment on this thread, If you blog about it, add the link and comment again, you get another chance to win.. Now you dont have to be a follower to qualify, but I would love if you were ;-)

I will be keeping it open till Saturday night, Once its midnight in Sri Lanka the givaway will be closed, when I will count everything and pick a random winner the old fashioned way! from a hat!

If you are not sure of the time here, check out the clock on my blog:-) So best of luck, hope you win!

Congratulations

It's been over a week since my last post, I've been on vacation, a little beachy escape:-) will post some pics on Flickr soon.

Anyways, this is a card I made for a friend who is expecting, inspiration less and mojo less I set out to get it over with, this is my second attempt.. I used a cute Hero arts stamp for this creation.

I started out with stamping on a pink layering paper with my Heidi Swapp alphabet letters to make a cute 'ABC' background. I used Versamark for this and achieved a lovely watermark effect. So pretty..

I then stamped the baby buggy and coloured in with Copics, stamped the buggy again and cut out a pair of wheels to add more dimension. I stamped the sentiment and finished it off with some Hero arts Pearls:-)




Thats my CAS card for you today!


Supplies used:

Adorable baby girl stamp- Hero arts
Alphabet handwriting - Heidi Swapp
Chelsea sentiments - Inkadinkado
Hero arts Pearls
Memento Black Tuxedo Ink
Versamark Ink

Thanks for dropping by, and hope to see you when I post the Giveaway tomorrow:-) Its only going to be open for a couple of days so be on your toes and comment early...