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.

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.

Week 18 Sunny Challenges and Creations

Hello again everyone, this week's sketch was by Kris, and as soon as I saw the sketch I knew what I was going to do (doesnt happent very often). I decided that I would do the 'Black Magic' Technique because Upsy Daisy is one stamp set that really lends itself to so many different options. This is probably the reason it is my most favourite of stamp sets! To make my card I used Cherry Cobbler as my base. I ran a piece of Whisper White through the Big Shot using the tulips embossing folder. I stamped my image on Basic Black card stock using White Craft ink and when it was thoroughly dry I used my SU Watercolour Pencils to colour in the image. When I had finished I matted it onto a piece of Old  Olive card stock and ran a band of White Tafetta ribbon that I had dyed Cherry Cobbler around the botton of the card. The sentiment is also from Upsy Daisy and that was stamped using cherry Cobbler ink, punched out using the large oval and sponged and them placed on a scallop oval in Old Olive. I attached the scallop oval to the card using dimensionals. I love the 'Black Magic' Technique and I am really happy as to how this turned out. Dont forget to play along with us this week at Sunny Challenges and Creations and especially dont forget to check out Kris and Vicky's blogs and see what they too have done with the sketch for this week. Bye for now... 

Birthday card for Owen

Hello everyone, I thought that I would share with you a card I made my grandson who has just turned 16. I used whisper White Cardstock for the base and then run a piece of black metal through the Big Shot, purposely running through upside down. I then placed it under the embossing folder and ran it through again to flatten it out. I then put it back into the houndstooth embossing folder and ran it through the right way. He is mad about motorbikes so it was logical that I use our lovely motorcycle stamp and this I stamped in Basic Black ink onto Whisper White, and then matted it onto a piece of Real Red scrap that I had. It was then placed on dimensionals and placed on the front of the card on top of the metal sheet. I know he will like his card because it is not 'fancy'. I had fun making it and I hope you like it too! Bye for now and happy stamping.

SC 017/11

 

Hello everyone, It was my turn to do the sketch this week for the Sunny Challenges and Creations Challenge, and then I added the 'Nursery' Theme to make it just a little more interesting. Don forget to go along to Kris and Vicky's blogs and check out their wonderful creations! I also wanted to do minimal stamping in this challenge. I started with a Bashful Blue Base and topped that with Whisper White. I rolled the Baby Tees Jumbo wheel useing the Bashful Blue once again, then to add a little bit  of contrast I placed a small strip of Island Indigo acros the centre and topped that with A scrap of Whisper White that I had in my another day box. The Large Scallop Oval and the Large Oval were also out that box. The base of the boat is a Large Oval that has been cut in half, the waves are the trimmings from the Scallop Border Punch and the sails of the boat are Real Red and So Saffron and the flag on top is Pear Pizazz were all punched out using the Petite Pennants  Builder punch!  I sponged around the edges and made my clouds using Marina Mist and the sun could be no other colour than Daffodil Delight!The sentiment is stamped using Island Indigo and placed on cardstock of the same colour that had been punched out using the Scallop Oval. I think this card is pretty cute and it was so easy to put together. I do hope that you will play along with us this week and who knows you could be our very next Ray of Sunshine!! Till next time bye for now

Sunny Challenges Week 15

It has been 15 weeks since Kris, Vicky and I started the challenges on Sunny Challenges and Creations. Can you believe it? This week I supplied the sketch and the challenge this week was to us emboss resist on it. I cant believe how long it has been since I actually have used this technique and it is one I do really like. I love the way you can take a plain image and change it up so completely! I used the set Faith in Nature and the background stamp En Francais to create my 'base'. When I stamped my images onto Glossy White card stock I inked the image in Versamark first then Cajun Craze and then embossed using clear embossing powder. To add the colour to the pear I sponged on Old Olive and More Mustard, and used Old Olive on the leaf as well. The background was sponged with Crumb Cake. I started with a card base of Crumb Cake which I matted with Whisper White and embossed using the Tulips embossing folder, theimages were matted onto Marina Mist and the sentiment was stamped in Crumb Cake and the edges were sponged in Old Olive and punched out using the Large Oval Punch, and that in turn was placed onto Crumb Cake which was punched out using the Oval Scallop Punch and sponged in ink of the same colour. The pear image was mounted using dimensionals and the other images were placed straight onto the Whisper White Card Stock.  This challenge was a lot of fun, and we hope to see your creations on Sunny Challenges and Creations this week too. We look forward to you joining us,Bye for now.....