Wetlands Stamp-a-Stack

Here are the cards that we made at my Wetlands Stamp-a-Stack on Wed evening.  We all had a good time, lots of laughs, creativity and the lovely ladies went home with 6 cards each.

Keeping things short and sweet today, lots of “stuff” going on in my life at present, mostly to do with a new kitchen that is starting to take shape.  So crafting has taken a bit of a back seat for a while, but I assure that won’t continue for long!! 🙂  So keep checking back, I might even post some kitchen photos soon.

Happy stamping!
Chris

Happy Birthday to my boy!

Today is Jamie’s 7th birthday, can’t believe how quickly the years have flown by!  Despite being a very hot 37degrees here today (that’s around 98.5 deg) we had a lovely picnic lunch in the park with friends.  And of course the hot afternoon means that it is perfect weather for staying inside and…. crafting, of course! 🙂

I made Jamie’s birthday card using this week’s Mojo Monday sketch:

zMojo274Sketch

I have used the I Dig You stamp set, and the greeting from Wacky Wishes (Hostess Set).

Jamie loved the idea of the digger putting lots of presents in the back of the dump truck, just for him!

Best get back to the birthday boy!
Happy stamping!
Chris

Freshly Made Sketches #57

I have made a Christmas card for this week’s sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. I am really enjoying getting into the spirit of Christmas this year, I have done a lot of Christmas shopping already, so thought it would be good to get started on some Christmas cards too.

I have made quite a few of these ornaments, to go on some Candy Canes to hang on the Christmas tree, and as I was making them, I thought how nice they would look on a card, and here is the result.  I will show you the Candy Canes in another post.
The card uses the Candlelight Christmas Specialty Papers, and the Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder.  And for the ornament I have used the Snow Flurry die, Real Red Glimmer Paper punched out with the scallop circle punch, and the greeting comes from the Mixed Medley hostess set.
Here is the sketch:    

Happy Stamping!

Chris

Christmas Gift Tag Class

Christmas Gift Tag Class

These are just a few of the designs you can make at this class.

Friday 2nd November at 10.30am

Saturday 3rd November at 2pm

Where: My house (details at time of booking)

Cost: $16

Make a stack of gift tags to go on your pressies for this Christmas, using a range of colours and images.  The class is suitable for all levels, and beginners are welcome.
Seating is limited, so please contact me asap to book your place.

Like to come along but the dates don’t work for you?  Why not get a group of friends, family and work colleagues together and I will bring the class to you.  Alternatively, contact me to see if we can work out another date for you and some friends to come to my place for the class.

Clean and Simple Kitchen

No, I am not asking you to go clean up your kitchen, it is this week’s challenge theme at Our Creative Corner.  Meihsia’s challenge is to create a Clean and Simple card featuring something you would see in the kitchen.

I have used the coffee cup from the fantastic Scentsational Season stamp set (page 16 Holiday Catalogue), and while this is definitely meant to be a Christmas set, I didn’t want to make a Christmas card this time, so I punched out the For You sentiment from the Mixed Medley stamp set, one of the new Hostess Sets in the Holiday Catalogue, and layered that over the snowflake image.  The image is cut using the matching dies, which can be bought in a bundle with the stamp set.
The patterned paper is from the Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack, and also the woodgrain is from the Natural Composition Specialty papers.

So please join in this week, we always love to see what you come up with for our challenges.  The rest of the projects from the Design Team can be seen here.

Happy Stamping!
Chris

The Tango

There are some colours within the Stampin’ Up! colour families that I don’t often use, most of them seem to be yellows and oranges, so I took this week’s Dynamic Duos Challenge of using the colours Tangerine Tango and Old Olive.  Now, Old Olive is a long time favourite, but combining it with Tangerine  Tango, hmmmm.
But I am glad I had a go at this one, I am pleased with how it turned out and think I may be using this colour a little more from now on.
The image is from the Serene Silhouettes stamp set, which has been coloured with markers.  And I have used the Two Tags die and the Apothecary Accents Framelits, both very useful and versatile.


I hope this inspires you to have a go at using a different colour combination.
Happy stamping!
Chris

October Stamp of the Month

I do apologise that this month I am running a little late, so Stamp of the Month for October will run until the end of November, so that you get extra projects to make with your stamp set.  This month’s stamp set is the very cute Bug Me (Page 66 of the Annual Catalogue).  This month’s cost will just be for the stamp set plus postage, so $22.95 plus $6.50 postage.  You will also get the kit to make up this cute card set, along with other ideas throughout the next month and a half.

If you wish to make the most of the Stampin’ Up! promotion for October, and wish to add  more to your order, then I can certainly help you with some suggestions so that you can get a free spool of gorgeous ribbon.

Be sure to send me an email so that I can get your goodies to you asap.  And I look forward to sharing some really cute ideas with you.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Freshly Made Sketches #55

I took some time out this afternoon to do some creating just for the fun of it, and thought I would have a go at this week’s sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  I also thought it was time I got on and made some Christmas cards, since it won’t  be long before Christmas is here.

I have used a few new goodies for this card, the patterned papers come from the Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack, they are gorgeous and great for card making (Page 20 of the Holiday Catalogue). The embossing folder is also new and is called Northern Flurry (Page 189 Annual Catalogue).  The stamp set is For the Birds (Page 34 of the Annual catalogue) – a fabulously versatile set with something for just about every occasion.  And the Cotton Ribbon and Slide are from the Holiday Catalogue.
Here is the sketch that I have used:
If you have any questions about how I have made this card, or if you would like to place an or

Hope you had a crafty weekend.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Cute Caterpillar

Just a short post today, but I wanted to share the cute little punch art caterpillar. Or is he a worm – perhaps a book worm 🙂

I have been incredibly busy just recently, with a lot of cards and gift tags going out to various charities for fundraising events.  I have one more lot of these to get done, but only a small one so that should be done this week.
I then have to focus on getting some things done for a display that I will be having at the Brighton Library in November.  So busy times for me, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t been crafting, just not doing much blogging.  I will do my best to keep you up to date though.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Let’s Be Royal

Our Creative Corner challenge for this week is a royal theme, and I had a real struggle with this one!

The requirements are:
– Create a card or project with a royal look using a crown, castle or a princess.
– Use the photo to inspire you.
– Your project must have something yellow or gold embossed.

Well, I don’t have any castle or princess stamps and the only crown stamp I have looks more like a jester’s hat than a crown!
So, I did a google search on princess images and decided to do some paper piecing, not something that I have done much of before.  Actually, truthfully, I have never done anything like this before so it really was a challenge!

Personally, I think she looks a bit evil, or angry, what do you think?
I have used patterned paper from the Floral District paper pack, and the Delicate Designs Embossing Folders to create the lacy underskirts, along with lots of fussy cutting and faux stitching.
I am not all that happy with the final result, but I guess for a first attempt it’s ok.
There is plenty of wonderful inspiration for this challenge from the rest of the Design Team though, so make sure you check it out, and lets see what you come up with – we would love it if you would share your creations.
Well, that’s it for now, but I will be back with some more real soon.
Happy stamping!
Chris