Sunday, July 22, 2012

Week 50 Sunny Challenges and Creations

Goodness here we are at week 50. It seems hard to believe that it is almost 12 months ago that Sunny Challenges and Creations was 'born'. This week Kris set the challenge and it was to use the Reflection Technique. There is a wonderful tutorial for this at Splitcoast StampersNow I am the first to admit that when I read what the challenge was I groaned and thought I tried this once and it was a disaster! Michelle Zhindorf has always been an inspiration to me and even though I am not by any means a patch on her wonderful talent I thought that I would try doing a night scape and give the appearance of a deer standing by a lake with trees in the background. I think that I am going to have to make the brayer my best friend for a while to really get the hang of using it. To make the foreground I sponged the bottom and the edges around the 'lake' using Soft Suede and the lake was sponged using Tempting Turquoise. What will we ever do if Lovely as a Tree is retired? This stamp set would have to be one of the most versatile sets and it is loved by one and all. Please to be sure to check out Kris and Vicky's blogs and join us this week and play along and who knows you may be our next Ray of Sunshine.

Sunny Challenges Week 49


It was my turn to set the challenge for this week, and I chose anything circles and accordingly called the challenge Around and Around. What I chose to do was stamp circles which were images from the Delicate Doilies set, punch them out, adhere them to Whisper White cardstock and then run the card through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice embossing folder, therefore using the technique of embedded embossing. This was adhered to a Pretty in Pink and then attached to a Whisper White base. This was such a quick card to make and the colours can be changed to suit either a male or female and depending on the shapes that are embedded, it can be made for any age group or occasion. This truly was a five minute card. Be sure to check out the Sunny Challenges and Creations blog each week for a new and exciting challenge.

Sunny Challenges Week 48


I loved doing this challenge. Vicky set the sketch and the challenge was to use Old Olive and Choc Chip. It was good to reach for the old 'comfort' colours and use them for a bit. I think they are the ideal colours for Christmas cards, so that is what I decided to use. I used an Old Olive base and matted that with a piece of Choc Chip. The Brights Collection DP is fantastic and it is one I tend to reach for often. I decided too to emboss the star in gold and sponged the edge with Old Olive ink and this was matted onto Old Olive and Choc Chip. To add a bit of interest I placed a piece of Old Olive grosgrain ribbon around the centre and it was finished off with the sentiment from Teen Tiny Sentiments which I stamped in Real Red (another fabulous Christmas colour) and matted that onto a Piece of Choc Chip card stock. Please check out Vicky and Kris's blogs for more inspiration and we would love you to play along with us each week at Sunny Challenges and Creations

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Sunny Challenges and Creations Card Share 047/12

Goodness, another week has passed and here we are with yet another fabulous sketch and challenge from Kris. Along with the sketch this week, Kris set the challenge to use the colours River Rock, Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist. My card base is of River Rock and I matted it with a piece of Marina Mist and also a piece of Cherry Cobbler that I had punched using the Eyelet Border Punch. The Whisper White mat I randomly stamped the leaves from the Confetti stamp set in all three colours. Using Cherry Cobbler I stamped the main image from Friends never Fade and matted that onto a piece of River Rock and mounted it onto the background using dimensionals. Kris, Vicky and our guest designers would love for you to play along with us this week at Sunny Challenges and Creations. Till next time have lots of fun stamping and creating!

Monday, June 25, 2012

My Helper!

Before settling in my craft room to do some hard core stamping, I vacuumed the house first. One of my little shadows decided that she did NOT want to give up her bed while I did my chores and when I came back into the room with the cleaner this is what I found!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Sunny Challenges Week 46

Hi Stampers,
Here we are another week of Sunny Challenges and Creations. I was the one to set the challenge this week and the card was to be a Fancy Fold, but using any stamp set or colour combination that you wanted. I must apologise for the quality of the sketch picture...but that is another story lol. The stamp set I used was Fresh Vintage from the Sale-a-bration catalogue this year. The card base is Concord Crush from the 2010-12 In Colours. After I had folded my card base I stamped a piece of Whisper White card stock using off stamped Concord Crush and the large blossom from the Fresh Vintage set randomly over the entire piece. I then placed it  into the Very Vintage embossing folder and ran it through the Big Shot, then cut it in half. The focal area was a mat of Melon Mambo, Concord Crush and the Whisper White mat onto which the image was stamped. The image was coloured using Blender Pens and then was sponged with Old Olive around the edges. This is such a pretty card and was so quick and easy to make. Check out Kris and Vicky's entries this week as well as our guest designers and dont forget to have a bit of fun and play along with us each week, and who knows you may well be our next Ray of Sunshine! Till next time.....

Sunny Challenges Week 45

Hello Stampers,
I am posting this challenge a whole week late!! Why you might ask? We changed Telco's, and my haven't things changed since we last did that! No longer it seems are your telephone service and internet services linked. You change your telephone service one one day and your internet you get to have access to up to 14...yes you read that right 14 days later. It is made even more unpalatable by the fact that we werent told this would happen before we signed up with them.............grrrrrrrrrr. Nevermind that is all behind us now so now I can play a bit of catch up for last week and then I will post the challenge for this week. The winners for this challenge have been announced and this week it was given to our two most regular contributors Alison and Margaret who did a wonderful job with the challenge that was set by Vicky. As always please pop on over to Sunny Challenges and Creations and check out the beautiful samples by our very own Miss Vicky and Kris and also those of our guest designers. The challenge was that we had to use ribbon along with the sketch provided. I used Basic Black card stock for the base and layered that with som DP from the Brights Collection. The image I stamped in basic black and very lightly added some Marina Mist sponging in the sky and around the base of the boat. The boat itself I put a coat of Crystal Effects over it and the sails. I threaded a small piece of gold wire from the top of the mast to the boast and then I tied a small Nautical (I hope) knot and placed it on the top right hand corner of the image. Using the Edgelit die I cut 2 one in Basic Black and the other in Old Olive and used black brads to secure it to the Left Hand edge of the card front. The ribbon part of the challenge I laid the Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon onto Whisper White Card Stock into what I thought looked like 'waves'. I hope you like what I have done for this challenge it was a lot of fun. Till next time......

Monday, June 11, 2012

Sunny Challenges Weeks 43 and 44


Goodness Stampers it has been such a hectic time for me the last couple of weeks. I think the worst of all was the prepping for a Garage Sale to sell off some retired stock and other items of craft that hadnt seen the light of day in a few years. I am sure we all have some of those items around our homes. Seeing that Conventions is being held in Brisbane next year that gave me the added impetus to do something about raising the money to go. The Garage Sale is now over and I have enough money to pay for my registration, accommodation and to buy from the new catty when it hits our shores a little later down the track. Ok, now onto the Challenges for Sunny Challenges and Creations. Week 43 was a sketch that was set by me and I used the set Ocean Commotion.



This week for Challenge 44, the lovely Kris set the challenge and we were given a blank canvas! The challenge was that we were to make a fancy fold card of our choice. Below is the card I made from a Tutorial from Frenchie for this week and it was so easy to do I loved it!
With clever use of the Framelits, it was a breeze to make and it is such a wow card. I used a piece of Whisper White card stock and folded it so that the two outside edges met in the middle. This was the most important part of the creation. Each end was embossed, a strip of ribbon was placed to the back of the left hand side of the card and that was then covered with Real Red Cardstock.
The focal area framelit is adhered only to the the centre point on the left hand side, using plenty of adhesive to sit it on top of the ribbon. The frame on the right hand side is only adhered to the front of the card on the right hand side to the centre point of the frame.
I used the new Reason to Smile stamp set for my flowers an I stamped two in Real Red and one in Pumpkin Pie. Then I over stamped the flower using Early Espresso. The leaves were cut using the little leaves die and then divided up around the flowers; To make things just a little different I used my circle punch and punched out two Pumpkin Pie discs and a Real Red disc and placed them onto the opposite coloured flowers. I decided to add three little butterflies that were cut from So Safron card stock and attached these using Tombow.
We would love for you to play along with us this week at Sunny Challenges and Creations, so pop on over have a look at what the other designers have put together an join in! I do hope that you like what I have done and if you get a chance pop on over to Frenchie's blog and have a look for yourself at what she has been creating! Till next time....

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Sunny Challenges and Creations....weeks 40 and 41

Hi there stampers, I am so sorry that I have been absent this last couple of weeks but family matters have been calling, and we all know that they simply must come first! My first card is from my sketch in week 40, and there was no additional challenge attached to it. My card base was Pretty in Pink and I then added a layer of Sahara Sand which I stamped in the same colour an image from Artistic Etchings. This was topped with a piece of Cherry Cobbler and a piece of First Edition DSP was attached. The sentiment was stamped using Basic Black as was the Tower on Whisper White, which was matted on Pretty In Pink. This was such a simple card to make and for all its simplicity I really really like the way it finished.

Week 41 saw the sketch coming from our very talented Kris and the second part of the challenge was to use the In Colours from 2010 - 2012, which are retiring this year. I chose to use Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait and a touch of Concord Crush and Poppy Parade. First I rolled my Very Vintage wheel across the Whisper White base using Peach Parfait, I embossed a piece of Pear Pizzazz using the Textured Impressions embossing folder with the hearts. A piece of Peach Parfait Stitched ribbon was placed around the centre of that and I stamped the pile of cups from the set Morning Cup onto Whisper White then coloured it using my trusty Aqua Painter. The oval is the middle size oval on the Sizzix die and the edging around the oval is made from using the eyelet border punch and attaching it to the back of the stamped oval. This was then  attached to the card front using dimensionals. The sentiment too is from the Morning Cup set, and this I stamped in Concord Crush.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Sunny Challenges and Creations Challenge 042/12


Hi there stampers, Here we are again with a sketch from Vicky. Along with the sketch the added challenge was to use the baby wipe technique. Now I am ashamed to say I had not done this technique before so it was a learning curve for me too. I decided to do what I hoped would look like a sunset, it doesnt, but I quite like the result. On my baby wipes I used Night of Navy, Tempting Turquoise, Cajun Craze and More Mustard. It took me a while to get the hang of picking up the colours and transferring therm to my card stock. Once I was happy with the result, I then stamped Lovely as a Tree in Early Espresso. The sentiment is from Short and Sweet, and this I stamped in Early Espresso also. It didnt look right on Whisper White card stock (too stark) and Very Vanilla seemed to be lost in the colours. When I was practicing the technique I used some scrap of Whisper White and found a piece of that, stamped the image on it. The sketch also shows a shape in the bottom left hand corner and everything I put there looked to be too big so I punched out a small flower and added a black brad to the centre. Please make sure you go and check out Kris and Vicky's blogs as well as those from our Guest Designers and play along with us this week at Sunny Challenges and Creations. Till next time...

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Sunny Challenges 039/12





Hi Stampers,
This week the challenge is to use the sketch plus the colours Melon Mambo, Soft Suede and Tempting Turquoise. Wow, this one really made me think and I had decided that I did not want to make a feminine card this week, but how do you make a masculine card with Melon Mambo?  Well, I think I solved that problem, dont you? My card base is Whisper White and that was matted with Soft Suede and Tempting Turquoise. I then passed these through the Big Shot using the Lattice embossing folder. I used the colours Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy, Melon Mambo and More Mustard, and sponged Soft Suede around the edges and also at the bottom of the picture. I used Early Espresso to stamp my image and a small piece of Hemp Twine tied in a knot and distressed to give it the appearance of a sheath of wheat that has been tied. The Tempting Turquoise dots were made by punching the holes with the Crop-a-dile and I attached these using the mini glue dots..This is what I came up with. I hope you like it, its a little different to what I usually do. Dont forget to head on over to Vicky and Kris’s blogs to check out their creations for this week, and we hope you play along with us at Sunny Challenges and Creations. More info on my blog if you would like it.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Sunny Challenges and Creations 038/12



Hello again Stampers! This week the very talented Vicky set the challenge and it was to use the sketch and the current "In Colours". I decided to use a base of Poppy Parade, topped this with a piece of Whisper White that I had embossed using the Big Shot and the embossing folder Petals a Plenty. Before putting this piece through the Big Shot I stamped the sentiment from Upsy Daisy in the bottom right hand corner. The Designer Paper I used is from the Attic Boutique selection. A piece of Poppy Parade ribbon was placed across the centre of the card and it was topped then by a piece of Pool Party card stock and the Upsy Daisy image was inked in Pool Party, then I dabbed the Poppy Parade ink pad over the tops of the flowers. The stamped image was then attached to the card  and three large rhinestones were attached to the top right hand corner. This card came together so easily, and it looks such a happy card too.Dont forget to pop on over to Vicky and Kris's blogs and see the beautiful creations that they have made, and join in with us at Sunny Challenges and Creations and play along with this week's challenge. Till next time

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Sunny Challenges Week 37

Hi there fellow Stampers! This week it was Kris's turn to supply the sketch and it was one that would let the imagination go wild! We had a completely blank canvas to work with and the added challenge to meet the criteria this week was we had to make a window. I was so excited when I saw that, I have been really itching to use my new Framelits and what a better way to showcase these dies than to make a window! My card is Perfect Plum, and as I said, I cut my window out using the Framelits, I then turned the whole piece over and embossed it as well. The inside of the card uses a piece of Whisper White and the greeting is from one of my favourite sets Well Scripted, and this I stamped using Elegant Eggplant. Vintage Vogue was my choice of stamps for the flowers I needed for the front of the card and the flowers were stamped in Perfect Plum and Rose Red, the large flowers were off stamped first. After these were cut out I I attached them around the edge of the cut out. In the centre of each flower I added a rhinestone, and then attached 2 small butterflies to the card insert using mini glue dots. I really like the way this card turned out and I hope you do too! Make sure that you hop over to Sunny Challenges and Creations and see Kris and Vicky's Creations. Bye for now,

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Sunny Challenges Week 36

Hi there stampers! Here we are with another challenge for Sunny Challenges and Creations. I am back and this week it was my turn to supply the sketch. Being my first week back after a lengthy absence I thought I would make it nice and easy for you. Just follow the sketch! You are free to do whatever you wish with it. I apologise for the quality of the sketch pic but when the photo was taken I was having all sorts of trouble with my camera, and being very unco when it comes to technical stuff I did the best I could at the time. I love Poppy Parade and I really hope it is not one of the colours to go this year, I matted the Whisper White Card stock onto Basic Black after I had run the two smaller pieces through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. The stamp set I used was Field Flowers, and The Frame was from the Designer Frames embossing set, I cut around the frame after embossing it and put it up on dimensionals  to make it pop. The little heart was punched from the Owl punch. This card looks beautiful in so many colours and  I know you will have a lot of fun doing this sketch. Please come and play with us this week, its a lot of fun and you could be our next Ray of Sunshine!!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Delft Tile Technique

Hi again stampers, today the weather here on the coast has been to say the least very very ordinary, so what else is a girl to do when the chores are done, husband is comfortable and dogs are sleeping.....Craft of course!! I receive a newsletter from the lovely Angie Shen, which is always full of the most interesting information and tutorials and shares. Angie this month shared not one, but three projects and they are all lovely. It has been a while since I have had the embossing powders out and this project makes good use of them. I used the same set at Angie (Elements of Style) for my card, but really when you think about it Stampin Up have so many sets that would be suited to this technique. It really was a quick and easy card to make and lots of fun too. Till next time

Friday, April 13, 2012

Michelle Zhindorf says "Eat My Dust"

I know that I am amongst the thousands who just simply love Michelle Zhindorf's creations, and I must admit I have tried quite a few times have my finished project look just a tiny bit like Michelle's! Well today I tried her tutorial using the Need for Speed stamp set, and her creation which she aptly called Eat My Dust. Her tutorial was so easy to follow and I am so happy with the end result! I used Soft Suede as the base and then matted that with More Mustard and a piece of Woodland Walk (retired) DSP. Check out Michelle's Tutorial, I think its fantastic for those so hard to make masculine cards! Till next time

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Baby Shower 15th January 2012

On the 15th January, I was invited to a baby shower for the daughter of some very old friends. I left making the card till the last minute because I really didnt think that I would be able to make it. I decided to use So Saffron for the base of the card which I made in a DL size (2/3 of an A$ sheet) I topped that with Whisper White Card stock and randomly stamped images from the Baby Bundle stamp set all over it in various pastel colours. I used the pram as the main image, and coloured it using the pastels that I had stamped with. I looked in my little scraps of card stock and found four pieces in Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Bashful Blue and Pretty in Pink and using the Big Shot and the Alphabet dies I cut out the word Baby. This was such a quick card to make and Tracey loved it. Young Max decided to arrive 8 weeks early on the 19th January and weighed in at a tiny 3lbs. He spent the first 5 weeks of his little life in Rockhampton Hospital but he is home now and is absolutely gorgeous, and he is a real charmer. Till next time

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Special Request


A little while ago I was asked to make a birthday card for a young man’s mum who lives in Sweden. He gave me a piece of patterned paper and asked that I use this on the card because it had all his mum’s favourite colours in it, and also it had to have flowers. When I looked at it I saw Tempting Turquoise, Brushed Gold, and Bashful Blue.  I decided to use the Elements of Style stamp set and also the Four Frames. I made the card an A5 size, using a base of Bashful Blue, then matted it with Brushed Gold and Bashful Blue again. I stamped the image on Whisper White with Stazon because I was using my Aqua Painter to colour the image. The colours I used were Tempting Turquoise, Bashful Blue, Marina Mist and even a touch of Baja Breeze, Old Olive was used for the leaves and the stems. The Four Frames stamp I used and the sentiment from Sincere Salutations were all stamped using Stazon Ink as was the greeting on the inside of the card and the small portions of the main stamp. I punched the front sentiment out using the Decorative Label Punch, then punched it out again but this time in the Bushed Gold and layered them together. To finish the card off I used a strip of the paper that I was given to use and punched a decorative edge using the Eyelette Border Punch, then repeated the same but this time using Bashful Blue cardstock.  He loved the card, and so did his mum, and I thought it turned out pretty well too.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Time for me

This Easter weekend I have been really busy and I have had a real 'hankering' to go to the beach, like its only just down the road really about 3 kilometers and I never go there any more. I am so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world, and it really pulled me up short a couple of weeks ago when I realised it has been at least 5 years since I have actually gone to the beach to have a swim in the ocean. so  I did go to the beach for a bit today ... 1 whole hour woo hoo. 
Made several notes to self. Remember the following:
  1. Mooloolaba has the hardest sand in the whole world
  2. Do not under any circumstances lay on your tummy because you really do get to smell the sand which smells like the deck of an old fishing trawler!
  3. Dont go to the beach at 11am on a public holiday
  4. Dont forget your sunscreen
  5. Remember to take your camera
  6. Make sure the battery in your kindle isnt going to run out one page before the end of your book
  7. Take 2 bottles of water to the beach 1 to drink there and the other to drink when you leave the beach
  8. Remember not to put aforementioned 2nd bottle in the boot/back of the car for the drive home in the midday heat and previously mentioned Public Holiday
  9. Enjoy the sand free pool that you dive into as soon as you get home
I think that after today's excursion I will make more of them, but will take into consideration all of the above notes to myself that I made, now all I have to do is figure out how to get a picture from my mobile to the computer. Till next time, Gwen

Sunny Challenges Week 35

 Hi there! After quite a while of not being in here due to family commitments....I'm back!!!! Hopefully I will be able to at least post each week and continue working with Kris and Vicky at Sunny Challenges and Creations. I must firstly thank the girls for carrying the load while I have not been able to work on the Challenges with them. Not forgetting too the Guest designers that have stepped into the breech on short notice to help out , and a big thank you goes to all those ladies. I will never forget your kindness and your friendship is something that I will always value and cherish. I am so excited that I am able to partake in the challenge this week which was supplied by Vicky. She always makes me put my thinking cap on! The challenge this week had to have something to do with 'mums' on it and as Mothers day is fast approaching it is a particularly good choice of theme. I started with a plain white background and cut a piece of Flirtatious DSP and having the Wisteria Wonder colour and pattern on top. I stamped two flowers from the Fifth Avenue Floral and coloured them using my Aqua Painter and Wisteria Wonder again. The word Mother came from the set Blessed Mother that I won at Regional's and havent really used that much. I cut the flowers out and placed them on the Whisper White card stock, which I had backed wiht a piece of Wisteria Wonder card stock. I then went fossicking around in my another day box and found some Little Leaves that I had cut out on my Big Shot some time before when I was using up scraps. I decided to use the Wisteria Wonder again for the band at the bottom which I punched using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch. I stamped the word Love from the Tiny Tags stamp set and punched it out using the Small Jewelry Tag Punch, and attached that to the Wisteria Wonder using a Fire Square Rhinestone Brad. On the inside of the card I used the sentiment from Blessed Mother and then off stamped the flower from the Fifth Avenue Floral several times using Wisteria Wonder and Lucky Limeade. I had fun making this card for the challenge and look forward to many more.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sunny Challenges Week 22

Hello once again. I have been absent from this blog for just on 2 months now  family committments have prevented me from joining the girls at Sunny Challenges and Creations and  I will  be absent for a while longer unfortunately, but I will continue to take part in the challenges when I can. I am very fortunate to have such wonderful stamping friends  in Kris, Vicky and Shirley. Shirley stepped into the breech on very short notice and I will be forever grateful to her for doing this for me. The sketch this week is bought to you by Vicky and beside the colour scheme of Early Espresso and Pink Pirourette we also had to use this sketch.  These are not two colours that I would normally gravitate to, and once I got my head around it I thought that a baby card would be great in this colour combo. I used as base of Early Espresso and then placed the Pink Pirourette Card stock on that. I used the Baby Bundle Stamp set and and also the Jumbo Baby Tees Wheel that matches that set. I used the wheel to run along the long strip at the side and used just enough of the wheel to show the top of the little playsuits. The three panels on the right hand side I ran through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. I also cut the large and the medium oval from the Ovals Die. The largest in Early Espresso and the medium in Pink Pirourette card stock. I stamped the baby carriage using Early Espresso and  coloured the dots and the heart on the carriage using my Stamp and Write in the Pink  Pirourette and the wheels of the carriage in Early Espresso. I then cut around the image attached it to the ovals and then added some Basic Rhinestones to the carriage just to add a bit of bling. I stamped two sets of bootees from the same stamp set, coloured them and cut them out and attached them to the top of the oval, The sentiment was stamped in Early Espresso on Whisper White and then punched out using the Modern Label Punch, which I cut the two little 'knobs' off, The main image and the sentiment were placed on Dimensionals. I love the way it turned  out and hope you like it too! I have been able to do a couple of things and I will post them when I am able to have a bit of free time. They will be articles from the last 2 months that I have created. Till next time, happy stamping.
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