H2 Designs

JAI #103 - Marianne Designs Butterfly Die

2012-02-03T23:48:00.000+11:00

This week's challenge from the team at JAI is to Just Add Red & White. I've gone with a very simple design to showcase this stunning butterfly die:-

I've used the die two ways, both as a cut out & an embossed background on the base card.

Here's a shot of the components before I assembled the card:-

I embossed the butterfly on Xpress It cardstock (which is actually for Copic colouring, but it is a nice heavyweight paper). I sprayed the paper with Isocol before I embossed, to give a nice deep impression & then sprayed the sheet with a white shimmer paint/alcohol mix to give the lovely sparkle. Here's a tip for you - I taped the embossed sheet to the back of my cutting mat while it was drying to stretch it out & prevent it from warping too much.

Here's the card before I attached the die-cut butterfly:-

& the completed card from above, so you can see both butterflies:-

A big thank you to the lovely Bronwyn Eastley for sharing her love of butterflies & "enabling" me with this purchase, lol!

Card Components
Cardstock: SU Real Red, Xpress It
Stamps: SU Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Ink: SU Real Red
Other: SU White Shimmer Paint, Isocol, Marianne Designs Butterfly Die, Kaiser Grosgrain Ribbon

Freshly Made Sketches #19 - Miss Anya

2012-01-31T00:40:00.000+11:00

This week I have managed to squeeze in an entry at the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge, where you can find this fabulous sketch by Jen:-

I have rotated the sketch anticlockwise by 90 degrees & come up with this:-

I've used a cute Miss Anya image which I orginally stamped on watercolour paper so I could colour her with my stamp pad inks & an aquapainter. Anyway, while I was away camping over the Australia Day weekend, I coloured her with prismacolor pencils instead. Here's a close-up:-

I did the colouring without any regard for cardstock colours, but really like the somewhat unusual combination of SU's peach parfait, perfect plum, white shimmer & razzleberry satin ribbon. Definitely not colours I normally would pull out to use together!

Miss Anya is fussy cut & popped up on dimensionals & the matted shimmer panel is also raised on dimensionals:-

This image was lots of fun to colour, as were her two sisters who might make an appearance some time soon. :)

The Freshly Made Design Team have some great inspiration pieces & there are some fabulous entries that you can check out at the FMS blog here.

Card Components (all SU except as noted)

Cardstock: Peach Parfait, Perfect Plum, Shimmer White, Watercolour Paper

Stamps: Vintage Labels (retired)

Other: Jewellery Tag Punch, Razzleberry Ribbon, Pearls, Dimensionals, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch

Non SU: Prismacolor pencils, Miss Anya stamp (by the Greeting Farm), Forever Jet Black Archival Ink

Faux Silk

2012-01-25T15:36:00.000+11:00

Hi there, unfortunately no challenge entries happening here this week, so I thought I might share a simple sympathy/support card with you:-

This one uses the easy, but very effective, faux silk technique. Here's a close up of the lovely texture it creates:-

It also allowed me to reverse the image, as you can see from the envelope.

All supplies except the tissue paper & string are SU. Please drop me a line if you'd like more details.

Hope you all enjoy your Australia Day celebrations tomorrow!

JAI #100 - Just Add Crowns

2012-01-16T16:12:00.001+11:00

After a nice long break, I thought I might try my hand at the challenge at Just Add Ink this week, to "just add crowns". So that's what I did (21 of them!)

Here's my card:-

I've made the background paper by versamark stamping & then black embossing the crown from SU's Artistic Etchings. It looks great when the light hits it:-

I have used the decorative label punch under the oval sentiment panel, but wanted to remove the spikey points. Here's how I did that:-

Make sure you go check out all the fabulous DT projects - JAI have put together a fun blog hop to celebrate their #100 Challenge milestone. Congratulations Ladies!

Card Components (all SU)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Poppy Parade
Stamps: Artistic Etchings, Tiny Tags, Afterthoughts (retired)
Inks: Versamark
Other: Decorative Label, Wide Oval & 1.3/8" Circle Punches, Black Embossing Powder, Silver Embossing Powder, Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Inkspirations Challenge #100 - The Final Challenge!

2011-12-16T19:00:00.000+11:00

Yes folks, you did read correctly - this is the final Inkspirations Challenge! After wowing us with her beautiful creations & running an amazing challenge site over recent years, Makeesha has decided it's time to move on to different things her in life.

I feel so privileged to have been part of the Inkspirations Team over the past 15 months & would like to take this opportunity to say a big "THANK YOU" - first & foremost to Keesh (you are one amazing lady!), to Renee (our techno guru), all the Design Team Members (both past & present), all the Guest Designers, all the Challenge players & all the lovely people who have taken the time to leave comments. You are an awesome group of crafters! :)

So to end it all, we have a Christmas Challenge for you & here is my project:-

One of my lovely crafting buddies (Hi Kim!) had asked if I could design a Santa with a sweet treat cup belly & this is what I came up with. (If you would like to try one for yourself, I have listed the tools used at the end of the post.)

I decided to create a little scene for him & made a tree & presents, all presented on an easel base with a slider behind Santa to get the M&Ms out. Here are another couple of views:-

We would love it if you could join us in this final Inkspirations Challenge & share a Christmas project with us. My fabulous team members have got some wonderful inspiration pieces for you to enjoy, so please visit & leave them some love:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Treat Cup Santa:
Body = 1.3/4" Circle Punch
Head = 1" Circle Punch
Beard = Cupcake Punch (frosting)
Nose = Owl Punch (medium circle)
Hat = Pennant Builder Punch
Pompom = Itty Bitty Flower Punch
Belt = Word Window Punch
Buckle = Owl Punch (smallest & largest circle)
Arms = Word Window Punch
Legs = Modern Label Punch
Hands = Boho Blossom Punch (smallest flower)
Boots = Scallop Square Punch
Fur Trim = Deckle Edge Scissors

Tree:
Greenery = Petal Cone Die & Tasteful Trim Die
Trunk = Modern Label Punch

Card Components:
All SU except for JAC paper & deckle edge scissors (used on fur trim) & the M&Ms, lol. :)

Inkspirations Challenge #99 - Sparkling Snowflake

2011-12-09T19:00:00.009+11:00

Hi all, how are your festive preparations coming along? Christmas will be here before we know it! :)

This week Keesh & the Inkspirations Team have another great sketch for you to try out:-

Here is what I have done with it:-

I love the combination of pale blue & white for Christmas cards - it's so serene. Here I've teamed some texture different textures with the embossing, vellum & dazzling diamond encrusted die-cut. I've added some interest to the sentiment panel by matting & raising it on dimensionals.

If you would like to play along in the Challenge with us, or see what the rest of the Team have created with this great sketch, here are the links:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Shimmery White, Vellum
Stamps: Four the Holidays
Ink: Bashful Blue
Other: Finial Press Embossing Folder, Petal Cone Die, 1.1/4" Square Punch, Basic Rhinestone Jewel, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals
Non SU: MFT Snowflake Die, JAC Paper

Inkspirations Challenge #98 - Masked Frame

2011-12-02T19:00:00.031+11:00

Well another week has flown by & the countdown to Christmas is really on!

This week's challenge at Inkspirations has some pretty colours for you to play with:-

I was inspired by the lovely, & very talented, Andrea over at Enchantink to create this card:-

Click on the phototo see it larger.

This is a really simple but effective technique where you mask the centre of the panel & build up layers of stamping around the perimeter of the mask. Once you remove the mask you have a nice crisp frame for your sentiment. I've utilised first, second & even third generation stamping, to get some graduation in the challenge colours. I've added a die-cut daisy & ribbon to finish it off.

If you would like to play along in the Challenge with us, or just check out the awesome inspiration from the rest of the Inkspirations Team, check out these links:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock: Rose Red, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
Stamps: Silhouette Sentiments & Well Scripted (retired), Autumn Days
Inks: So Saffron, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi
Other: Saffron Grosgrain Ribbon, Subtle Button, White Baker's Twine
Non SU: Corner Rounder Punch, Sizzix Daisy Die

Inkspirations Challenge #97 - School's Out.......FOREVER!

2011-11-25T19:00:00.006+11:00

Welcome to another Inkspirations Challenge. This week Keesh has another fab sketch for you to try & the possibilities with this one are endless:-

As for my blog title, last night our DD had her Year 12 Graduation, so it's the end of an era for our family - no more secondary school!

Here's the card I made her, using a cute digi image by Dustin Pike, which I thought summed things up pretty well:-

Simply click on the picture to see it larger. :)

The Inkspirations Team would love for you to be able to join us in the challenge this week & have provided you with lots of wonderful inspiration pieces. You can check things out here:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: (SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Very Vanilla
DSP: Retired
Inks: Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade
Stamps: Party Time
Other: Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon, Dimensionals
Non SU: Digi image by Dustin Pike, Prismacolor Pencils & Gamsol, CM Oval Patterns, ? Embossing Folder, Kaiser Teal Pearls, Glaze Pen

Inkspirations Challenge #96 - Thinking of You ....

2011-11-18T19:40:00.000+11:00

Hi all, this is my card for this week's Inkspirations Challenge, using these colours:-

I recently made a card similar to this & liked it so much I thought I would make a version in the challenge colours. I just love the armchair, which has been given some texture by kissing the chair stamp with the Texture wheel. Then the chair has been fussy cut & popped up on dimensionals.

The border print has been created by combining the Parlor Prints background stamp with the Texture wheel - makes for a fabulous pattern. The floor was created by masking, stamping & sponging.

As usual, the Design Team have a great mix of inspirational pieces for you to enjoy, so check them out at the links below:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: (SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Real Red, Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla
Inks: Real Read, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake
Stamps: Little Additions, Parlor Prints BG, Woodgrain BG, Texture Wheel, Greeting from PTI
Other: Scallop Oval Punch, Square Punch, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Inkspirations Challenge #95 - A Little Bit Layered!

2011-11-11T19:00:00.004+11:00

Happy Friday! This week at the Inkspirations challenge, Keesh has a great sketch for you to try:-

Now there are lots of layers here (which was a little scary at first) but I have embraced the challenge & added some fine black mats to incorporate more layers! I have even used a bold print & a kinda loud red, black & white palette:-

Hope you can join us & play along in the Challenge this week. The DT have lots of fabulous creations to inspire you, so pop on by:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

For anyone who has been waiting on the 3D sunflower tute, you can now find it here & the 3D poppy tute is here. Enjoy!

Card Components:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red
DSP: Retired
Inks: Basic Black, Real Red
Stamps: Happiest Birthday Wishes
Other: Black Brads, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

3D Sunflower Tutorial

2011-11-11T17:44:00.000+11:00

Hithere, recently a posted this card featuring a little sunflower I made using what I term "the mist & scrunch technique". I've made some more sunflowers now & have put together a tute for you on how I created them.

Here's my newest crop of sunflowers:-

They really are quite quick & easy to make. Here's what you need:-

5 Petal Flower Punch
Yellow Cardstock (I used Daffodil Delight)
Lattice Embossing Folder
1/2" Circle Punch
Brown Cardstock (I used Early Espresso)
1 x Dimensional
1 x Brad (any colour)
Piercing Tool & Mat
Post It Notes
Misting Bottle of Alcohol
Paper Towel
Hair Dryer with Cool Setting (optional)

Punch four of the 5 Petal Flowers in yellow. Stick one flower to the tacky edge of the Post It Note & using this as a "handle", slide it back into your upturned punch, offsetting the petals & punch:-

Your flowers will now look like this:-

Repeat for all four flowers & then pierce a hole in the centre of each one:-

Layer all four flowers together, staggering the points of the petals & secure with the brad. Then mist & scrunch the petals of each layer up around the brad, misting both sides of each flower as you go, to make them easier to scrunch. Once all the layers have been scrunched, gently uncurl one layer at a time. This is how this process looks, step by step:-

Set your flower aside to dry or give it a blast with a "no heat" hair dryer.

Emboss your piece of brown cardstock with the lattice embossing folder:-

Punch out some flower centres from this piece, using the 1/2" circle punch. You will be using the "cross" side facing up. Try & centre a full cross right in the middle of your circle:-

Turn the centre over, so the "waffle" side is up & sit it on a wad of paper towel. Give it a mist with alcohol & use either your finger tip or a rounded end pen to indent your circle & make the surface curved:-

Once the centre is dry, attach it to your flower using a trimmed down dimensional:-

Now it's ready to add to your project!

Here's mine again:-

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Also, if you post any projects using these flowers, could you please include a link back to my tute. Thank you. :)

Inkspirations Challenge #94 - Socks on the Line

2011-11-04T19:13:00.000+11:00

Hope everyone has had a great week & is ready for another Inkspirations Challenge. This week we have these fun colours to play with:-

When I first saw the new stitched stocking set, my initial thought was of socks on the washing line, so that's what I've done:-

To get the pair of socks I stamped them on white tissue paper. I glued one sock to a piece of white cardstock & then, when it was dry, punched it out. With the other sock, I punched the tissue with a piece of white cardstock at the same time, so the tissue didn't get caught in the punch. Then I flipped it over so it faced in the opposite direction to the first sock & then glued it to the white cardstock sock.

The socks have been popped up on dimensionals & "pegged" to the baker's twine line with heart "pegs" from the owl punch.

I wish I had a sentiment that said something like "a perfect pair", but sadly I don't, so I inked up portions of the Short & Sweet sentiments & made my own equation.

Hope my wonderful hubby likes it - our anniversary is coming up soon.

The rest of the Team have some fantastic projects to share with you & we would love it if you could join us in the Challenge. Here are the links:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Inks: Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant
Stamps: Stitched Stockings, Short & Sweet
Other: Silver Brads, Stocking Builder Punch, Owl Punch, Dimensionals
Non SU: Baker's Twine

BTW, there were no paper flowers in sight in this post, but I just had to share this one:-

This was made by my DS (a 20yo engineering student) who usually gives me a hard time over my papercrafting, with comments such as "are you doing paper again Mum?"

He pestered me to help him make a card for his girlfriend's birthday. He wanted a flower, so I explained to him how to make a slider card & he made this (all by himself). He was pretty chuffed with how it turned out & I was pretty chuffed that he wanted to make it. Young love! Happy Birthday Cassy! :)

3D Poppy Tutorial

2011-10-31T18:31:00.001+11:00

Recently I designed a paper poppy (you can see samples here & here) & received some lovely comments, as well as requests on how I created it. So here is a tutorial on how to put it together.

Grab yourself a cuppa, this is a BIG post. :)

Here are the supplies you need to make the poppy (you can click on any of the photos for a larger view.):-

Scraps of cardstock in Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black & a third colour for the stamens (I'm using Basic Gray)
Alcohol misting spray
Paper towel
Dark colour inkpad & sponge (I'm using Basic Gray on this sample)
1" Circle Punch (optional)
Boho Blossoms Punch
Ornament Punch
Owl Punch
Piercing Tool & Mat
Brad (any colour as it won't be seen)
1 Dimensional
Scissors
Post It Notes
Marker (any colour - it's being used with the lid on for shaping)
Gloves (the most important thing & I forgot to put them in the photo! Doh!!!)
Hairdryer for drying (if you can use it on a "no heat" setting)

Firstly, put on your gloves. I've found the dye in Cherry Cobbler cardstock runs a bit once it's wet & you don't want to end up with stained fingers. :(

Punch 4 ornaments in Cherry Cobbler, then use a 1" circle punchie as a guide to round off the point of each ornament. Trim the hanger section of each ornament to create a "tab" as shown in the photo.

(Oops, forgot to trim the point off that last one before I snapped the photo!)

Sponge each petal with Basic Grey in an arc shape, starting from the tab at the base of the petal, with the greatest concentration of colour through the middle section of each petal. Use your piercing tool to poke a hole through the centre of each tab.

Thread each petal onto your brad, making two pairs of petals. Mist your flower with alcohol.

To make the lengthways creases in the petals, first fold each individual petal in an accordian style across the petal, then gently scrunch it with you fingers & curl the petal towards the centre of the flower.

Very carefully, unfurl your petals & lightly mould them into shape. At this point I use a hairdryer to remove the moisture. Either cup your hand to hold the flower while you dry it or pinch it between your thumb & fingers.

If you don't have a dryer, set it aside on some paper towel to dry naturally.

To make the stamen, punch the 12 point (largest) flower from the Boho Blossoms punch in Basic Grey. Attach your punchie to the sticky corner of a post it note & place it back in your punch. Offset the petals by lining up the centres of the paper petals with the dips between the petals on the punch.

Punch to create a 24 point flower.

Pierce a hole in the centre of your multi-pointed flower, leaving it on the piercing tool. Mist with alcohol.

Scrunch the flower over the tool & then remove. At this point you can even roll it into a ball, then gently unfurl the flower. Sit the flower on your paper towel &, using the a marker with the cap on (or the other end of your piercing tool), put some pressure on the centre of the flower & curl up the edges around your marker.

Leave to dry.

Remove the brad from your petals.

Place the dry multi-pointed flower on the brad & then reassemble the petals in pairs. Close the brad.

If you look at the edges of your multi-pointed flower (stamen) you may see that the cardstock layers have separated. Using the point of your piercing tool, gently coax the layers of cardstock apart to give you a lovely fuzzy stamen effect.

(Just thought I'd add a little note here - I chose to make the petals & the stamen sections of the poppy in seperate steps to avoid staining the stamen with Cherry Cobbler dye caused by the misting & scrunching. If you were using black cardstock for both your stamen & centre, you could assemble the petals & multipoint flower (stamen) together, thereby missing a step or two.)

Punch one of the largest circles from the owl punch. Place on a soft surface (eg., a wad of paper towel), mist with alcohol & then rub your fingernail in a circular motion in the centre of the circle to make a "dished" shape.

When the circle is dry attach it to the centre of your poppy, using a trimmed down dimensional.

Voila!

Here are all three poppies together:-

Hope you enjoyed this tute. Drop me a line if you have any queries. :)

I'll be back later in the week with the sunflower tute.

BTW, when I first started thinking about making a poppy, I discovered some interesting facts:-

Poppies come in orange, pink, yellow, blue, purple & white, not just the well known red.
Poppies have 4 to 6 petals.
Some poppies have blue pollen (hence the Not Quite Navy stamen on my first poppy).

Bye :)

JAI #91 Colour Challenge

2011-10-31T18:22:00.003+11:00

Hello, it's the Cup weekend here in Melbourne & I have taken the opportunity to play along in this week's JAI Challenge. Every week the awesome Design Team come up with a fantastic challenge & beautiful samples to inspire. It's been sooooo long since I have joined in that I decided to do two entries with these challenge colours:-

Here's my first entry, using white as my neutral:-

This is a "10 minute" card (that blew out to 15 minutes when I decided to add the Cherry mat). I have stamped with an acrylic block to get the soft pink square. Then I stamped the butterfly, daisy & sentiment in one hit using Cherry Cobbler. I used Blushing Bride ink & a blender pen, to add some extra colour to the butterfly & bloom. Then I border punched each panel, added the ribbon & adhered the completed panel to the card base with dimensionals. Quick & easy!

For my second entry, I decided to try something very unusual (nobody else has tried it yet), & use BLACK as my neutral:-

Totally different look! Now there is not even a skerrick of white or vanilla on this card, I even used BB for the sentiment panel. I inked my embossing folder with BB too, to get the subtle colour variation in the striped panel. Before removing my pearls from the adhesive liner, I coloured them with a permanent black marker (a CD marker) to keep in with the one colour neutral theme.

Thanks for the inspiration JAI!

If you would like any details on these cards, please drop me an email. You can find a tutorial on how to create my poppy here. :)

ETA: Look what the lovely ladies at JAI have given me:-

Thank you. :)

Inkspirations Challenge #93 - 3D Sunflower

2011-10-28T18:00:00.003+11:00

Welcome to my Inkspirations challenge post.

First of all, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who left lovely comments on my poppy card. I hope to have a tute up for you during the week.

Now, down to business, this week Keesh has an awesome sketch for everyone to play with:-

I have mirrored & rotated the sketch to come up with this:-

I took inspiration from the lovely & very talented Christine Blain to spritz my seam binding with alcohol & scrunch it up to get a lovely vintage look.

How embarrassing, there's another flower on there, lol! I'll add details of this little sunflower to the poppy tute - so check back soon. :)

To play along in the Challenge & to see the amazing projects the Inkspirations Team have created, please check out the links below:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Daffodil Delight
DSP: Yellow Stripe from Brights 12x12 Stack, Other Yellow retired
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight
Stamps: Happiest Birthday Wishes, Parlour Prints BG
Other: Vanilla Seam Binding, Lattice Embossing Folder, 5 Petal Flower Punch, Circle Punch, Sponges
Non SU: Alcohol (for the flower, not me!), Nestabilities

Inkspirations Challenge #92 - 3D Poppy

2011-10-21T18:00:00.008+11:00

Hithere! It's Friday already & time for another Inkspirations challenge. This week Keesh has provided this awesome colour palette:-

Well, you may have noticed over the past couple of weeks that I have been adding paper flowers to my designs. There are some folk that are quite amused by this (*hi Lynne*) as, I have to admit, I was never a big fan of them. Frankly, I have to say I am now slightly "addicted" to flowers & this week I have created a poppy for you:-

I tweaked the size of the frame created with the Tulips Embossing Folder to make it narrower & added the Sahara Sand by way of sponging. Here's a close up of the bloom:-

I was really pleased about how my endeavour turned out. :) If anyone is interested in how I made it, let me know & I'll put a tute together. (ETA: You can find the tute HERE.)

Now the rest of the Team have some gorgeous creations for you to look at, so go take a peek. Hope you can join us in the Challenge this week.

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy, Basic Black
Inks: Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand
Stamps: Word Play
Other: Tulip E/Folder, Sponges, Various Punches, Brad, Dimensionals

Inkspirations Challenge #91 - Me & DSP!!!

2011-10-14T18:00:00.000+11:00

Hithere! Are you ready for another Inkspirations challenge? This week Keesh has a nifty sketch, with oodles of possibilities:-

I interpreted the large circle as a flower & the small one as a butterfly embellie:-

My fellow teammate, Brandi, inspired me to die-cut this bloom in DSP, something I never would have considered before. I really struggle with DSP, so pushed myself to use three on this card. You will note, however, that I chose three monotone prints. Is that cheating? lol

To see what the rest of the Team came up with for this super sketch, make sure you visit the links below:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Poppy Parade
DSP: All retired SU in Poppy Parade, Taken with Teal, Summer Sun
Inks: Poppy Parade, Tempting Turquoise
Stamps: Happiest Birthday Wishes
Other: Daisies #2 Die, Turquoise Button, Beautiful Wings Embozzlit, 1" Square Punch, Pearls, Embroidery Thread

Inkspirations Challenge #90 - Birthday Rose

2011-10-07T20:24:00.000+11:00

It's time for another challenge from the Team at Inkspirations & we have these yummy colours for you to play with:-

I've gone for a bit of a vintage look & used lots of dry embossing:-

I have inked my Finial Press embossing folder with white craft ink to get more definition on the lower panel. I've added a rose (the tutorial by Joanne Leddy is here), which sprayed with frost white "shimmer mist". It has a lovely, delicate sparkle.

To see what the rest of the Team came up with for these colours, make sure you visit the links below:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Rich Razzleberry, Pretty In Pink, Whisper White
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Craft White
Stamps: Create A Cupcake
Other: Finial Press & Tulip Embossing Folders, Choc Chip Satin Ribbon, Pearls, Floral Punches, Leaf Sizzlet, Frost White Paint,
Non SU: Rubbing Alcohol

Inkspirations Challenge #89 - Old School Embossing

2011-09-30T18:00:00.016+10:00

Hithere, this week's challenge from the Team at Inkspirations is a great & very versatile sketch:-

I whipped out the gold embossing powder & Versamark ink & did some old school embossing, trying to capture the look of oriental screen:-

I've kept this one really simple, with gold embossing on the Basic Black cardstock panels, which are layered on vanilla & then on metallic gold cardstock. The sentiment oval has been popped up on dimensionals & there is some vanilla taffeta ribbon between the layers.

The Inkspirations Team have some great ideas to inspire you, so please come & join us!

The Challenge Site Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: All SU
Cardstock: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Gold Metallic
Inks: Versamark, Basic Black
Stamps: Elements of Style, Petite Pairs
Other: Gold Embossing Powder, Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Oval Punch, Dimensionals

Inkspirations Challenge #88 - Shimmery Skies

2011-09-23T18:00:00.002+10:00

Hithere, this week's colour challenge from the Team at Inkspirations is bright & fun:-

These colours made me think of Spring & the outdoors, so I thought I would make a kite. Originally I had planned for a clean white card, with a few pops of bright colour, but I just wanted to add some fluffy (cupcake) clouds, so started the quest for a pacific point sky!

Well, as you know, pacific point is rather a strong blue & for the life of me, I couldn't get a clean brayered background, in a soft tone of this colour without faults in the brayered result. So I worked the brayer until I got a nice even coating of colour which was very dark. Then I sprayed it with Frost White "Shimmer Spray" that I had made up with rubbing alcohol. This left me with a much lightened sky, so I gave the glossy cardstock another blast of "shimmer spray" & lightened it even more. The fun part of the process was not knowing what I was going to end up with, as the cardstock colour changed quite considerably during the drying process. The end result is a lovely shimmery sky. You can see it a bit more in this photo:-

I made the kite using the Penant Punch & a 1" Square Punch, layering the DSP panels & sponging the edges. The ribbons on the kite string were also made with the penant punch - I simply cut a 1/2" strip which I folded in half to make it 1/4" wide, & with the folded side down near the pointy end of the penant (but not all the way down), punched out little triangle shapes that unfolded to become the bows. I sponged the edges of the bows using a cotton bud (Q Tip).

The kite & the front cloud have been raised on dimensionals & the string & bows have been attached using Crystal Effects:-

Wow, you should see what the rest of the Team have in store for you, so please come & join us!

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: (SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Glossy White
DSP: Brights Patterns Stack
Inks: Versamark, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie
Stamps: PTI Everyday Button Bits (sentiment)
Other: Kitchen String, Penant Punch, Square Punch, Cupcake Punch, White Embossing Powder, White Frost Shimmer Paint, Rubbing Alcohol, Brayer, Sponges, Dimensionals, Crystal Effects

Inkspirations Challenge #87 - Top Note Bloom

2011-09-16T18:00:00.004+10:00

Hithere, this week's challenge at Inkspirations is a fabulous sketch, offering all sorts of possibilities:-

I have picked up my favourite tool at the moment (SU's Top Note Die) & used it for one of the panels:-

The colours aren't very true here, but I've used Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Vanilla & Old Olive Cardstock. The bloom has been coloured up with Cherry Cobbler, Red Riding Hood, Old Olive & Lucky Limeade markers, then I have recoloured the image with a Versamark marker & clear embossed it. I've overstamped both the Vanilla & Crumb Cake panels with a soft script & sponged to "grunge" them up a bit. The Olive panel has also been stamped with Crumb Cake with the new Parlor Prints background stamp to give a soft hint of colour.

The rest of the Design Team have a fantastic range of inspirational pieces to get you motivated, so please come & join us!

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Drop me a line if you'd like any details. :)

Inkspirations Challenge #86 - Birthday Bunting

2011-09-09T18:00:00.004+10:00

Welcome to my Inkspirations post for this week. This week's colours are fabulous:-

& were super easy to put together:-

I have kept to a fairly simple design, with a touch of embossing & a string of bright bunting (or banner flags) for interest. The tops of the flags were folded over to form a channel which the string runs through. There is a knot between each flag & the string is simply attached to the top note die-cut with coloured brads.

We would love it if you could join us this week & play along in the challenge. Please make sure you check out the rest of the Design Team's fantastic creations!

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: (SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Real Red, Marina Mist, Old Olive, Whisper White, Shimmery White
Inks: Real Red, Marina Mist, Old Olive
Stamps: Perfect Punches & Playful Pieces (retired Hostess)
Other: Banner Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Top Note Die, Striped Embossing Folder, Dimensionals, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon
Non SU: Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Blue Brads, Soft White Kitchen String

Inkspirations Challenge #85 - Susan's Motorcyle

2011-09-02T18:00:00.012+10:00

It's Inkspirations Challenge time again. This week's challenge sketch is a really easy one (I'm sure a few people were scared by last week's colours, lol!):-

The best thing about our wonderful craft of stamping is meeting & making friends with lots of lovely people. One of these friends, Susan, very kindly lent me her motorcycle stamp recently, so I could make a card for a bit of a bike enthusiast. Thank you Susan. *Waving :)*

Here's how it turned out:-

The bike was stamped in Versamark & then embossed with black embossing powder. It has been coloured with markers & silver metallic gel pen & then been clear embossed over the duco. I wanted a soft background, so used chalks for the grass & sky.

The black stripes have been given a "knobbly tyre" feel, by rolling the strips through a crimper, then putting them back through the crimper again a second & third time at a 45 degree angle.

Please join us in the Challenge this week & see what fantastic projects the rest of the Team have to inspire you with:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: (SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Real Red, Metallic Silver, Basic Black, Whisper White
Inks: Versamark Pad & Marker, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler & Basic Gray Markers
Stamps: Motorcycle, Occasional Quotes (both retired)
Other: Crimper, Rivet, Square Punch, Dimensionals, Chalks (Stampin! Pastels), Clear Embossing Powder, Black Embossing Powder
Non SU: CM Circle Cutting Patterns, Cuttlebug Checkerplate Embossing Folder, Silver Gel Pen

3D Daffodil Tutorial

2011-09-01T21:35:00.000+10:00

Hithere, as promised, here is a tute on how to make the 3D daffodils I used on last week's Inkspirations Challenge card. (You can see the original card here.)

Warning: This post is very photo heavy, but hopefully it will give you clear instructions on how to make your own blooms. Please drop me a line if would like any more info. :)

Here is a new version of the daffodils, with 6 petals (rather than 5):-

They are very 3D:-

Here is what you need:-

2 x 5 Petal Flower punchies (Daffodil Delight)
1 x 1.3/4" Scallop Circle punchie (Tangerine Tango)
1 x small six point flower punchie from Boho Blossoms punch (Daffodil Delight)
1 x Brad
Piercing Tool
Spray misting Bottle (alcohol or water)
Adhesive
Scrap of thin paper (photocopy or notebook paper is great)
A few sheets of paper towel

First thing you need to do is pierce a hole in the centre of each punched piece. Take the two five petal pieces & trim away two petals, shaping your cutting out & around from the centre hole like this:-

Take your scalloped circle & attach it to the corner of your scrap paper:-

Using the scrap paper as a "handle", maneouvre the scallop circle back into the punch, lining up the dips in the punch with the centres of the scallops in the punched shape like this:-

Punch, & you will end up with this shape:-

Layer all the punched pieces onto your brad, starting with the small six petal flower, then the scalloped circle, then the two 3 petal pieces you created. It will look like this from the top:-

& look like this from the bottom:-

Next, with your flower sitting over the paper towel, give it a good misting with the water/alcohol. Using your fingers, scrunch up the first layer (you may need to spray the underside of the top layer to make it more pliable):-

Give the scallop circle layer a good misting & scrunch this up & around the brad:-

Mist the 3 petal sections, front & back, & scrunch these up around the brad. At this point, I gently roll the whole flower between my thumb & forefinger to compact it together:-

Once you are happy that your flower is well scrunched, you start gently opening up the layers, starting with the pointy petals:-

You can gently wiggle & scrunch these petals if you need to, to get the 6 petals sitting evenly.

Next, open up the scallop circle layer:-

Place the handle of your piercing tool into the centre of the daffodil:-

Pinch the scallop circle tightly up around the piercing tool to form the trumpet of the daffodil:-

You can use the point of your piercing tool to adjust the small inner petals of the daffodil if you wish. Leave your flower to dry or blast with a hairdryer. Here is the completed daffodil:-

When you want to attach the daffodil to your project, slide the handle of your piercing tool back into the centre of your daffodil, straighten the prongs on the brad, & then poke the brad through your project. Re-open the prongs on the brad.

Enjoy!

Daffodil Components
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango
Hardware: Gold brad,
Tools: 5 Petal Punch, 1.3/4" Scallop Circle Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Piercing Tool
Other: Misting Alcohol/Water, Paper Towel, Scrap Paper, Adhesive

Inkspirations Challenge #84 - Daffodils in 3D!

2011-08-26T18:00:00.002+10:00

Boy oh boy, you might just need a pair of sunnies for this week's Inkspirations Challenge colours, lol:-

Well, seeing as Spring is just around the corner, I thought I would "grow" some daffodils:-

A while ago I was making some paper roses, (the gorgeous ones created by Joanne Leddy - look HERE for Joanne's tute), & during the process I thought, hey with a bit of tweaking, this could be made into a daffodil, so here is what I did:-

Now IRL daffodils actually have six petals, so I have since made some more. I will put up a tute with some step by step photos during the week if anyone is interested in making them. :)

These blooms are very 3D!

So I had to make a matching box to post the card in!

Hope you can join us in the challenge this week. Please make sure you go check out what the rest of the Team has done with these rather LOUD colours, lol:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
I'll list them when I post the tute next week. :)

Inkspirations Challenge #83 - Embossed Circular Frame

2011-08-19T19:36:00.002+10:00

Hi all, it's Inkspirations time again:-

This week I have rotated the sketch anti-clockwise by 90 degrees & here is the result:-

(If you are wondering, that is a real life fishing net, lol! I couldn't help using this prop, seeing as it was on hand.)

My DT buddies, Renée & Carrie, are experts when it comes to cool distressing techniques, & I have used some dainty rolled corners on my map, in their style. Thanks for the inspiration ladies! :)

Last week I promised you a rundown on how I created my circular embossed frames, so I have incorporated one in this week's design:-

BTW, I want to send out a huge "thank you" to the gorgeous Nikki Spencer, who stamped some Open Sea images for me, while I patiently waited for the set I purchased (via a popular on-line auction site) to arrive! *waving madly Nikki!*

Now for the nitty gritty - I lightly coloured the compass image with a bashful blue marker & marina mist ink with a blender pen. I punched this out using a 7/8" circle punch.

I coloured the entire disk with my Versamark marker & then clear embossed it. I then did this a second & third time, to get a nice generous, glass-like coating. I punched a 1" black circle & layered my compass image onto it.

To make the embossed frame, I punched four 1.1/8" circles into a piece of cardstock, leaving a gap between each. Then, lining up each 1.1/8" circle in the centre of the 1.3/8" punch, I punched again, giving me four rings.

I created a "chipboard" ring by layering the four rings in a stack, using the adhesive from the Sizzix adhesive sheets. (You simply peel away one liner from your adhesive sheet, sit your punched shape on the adhesive sheet & then lift it off. It should give you a nice coating of adhesive on it, so you can stick it to another ring.)

Next I punched a 1.1/2" circle from gold cardstock. I centred the "chipboard" ring under the cardstock circle & added a tiny bit of masking tape to hold it in place. Then I misted my gold circle with alcohol to help with the embossing.

This is the Big Shot sandwich I made, starting from the bottom:-

Multi purpose platform (open at Tab 1)
Gold cardstock circle (with "chipboard" ring underneath)
Silicone rubber embossing mat
Both clear plates

(Please note: You may need to adjust this sandwich depending on your particular Big Shot, Cuttlebug or other embossing equipment.)

Now the cardstock circle will remain damp for a while, but you can very carefully remove the "chipboard" ring - just make sure you don't warp your circle. Otherwise, you can wait until it's fully dry (blast it with a hairdryer if you like) & remove it then.

Flip it back over & adhere your compass face to the indentation in the centre & you are ready to attach your "compass" to your project. :)

You could try this method with any shape, as long as you have enough concentric sizes.

Now the very talented ladies from the Inkspiration Team have some lovely projects to share with you, so go take a look at the Challenge site.

Card Components (all SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Basic Black

DSP: Newsprint

Stamps: Open Sea, Word Play

Inks: Marina Mist Pad & Marker, Basic Black, Bashful Blue Marker, Crumb Cake, Versamark marker

Other: Marina striped grosgrain ribbon, gold brads, clear embossing powder, dimensionals, circle punches (1", 1.3/8", 1.1/2")

Non SU: Circle punches (7/8", 1.1/8"), distressing tool

Inkspirations Challenge #82 - Father's Day is looming!

2011-08-12T18:00:00.031+10:00

Welcome to the Inkspirations Challenge for another week. This week you have these gorgeous colours to play with:-

Father's Day is not all that far away for us Aussies, so I thought I would try & be a little bit organised, & make a card:-

I've made embossed frames to house the "d", "a" & "d", which were inked from the words "wonderful" & "favourite", using a marker. I'll add details of how to make the frames in next week's post, but for now, here's another view:-

The background is a simple collage, using the Extreme Elements set, plus the key image from Artistic Etchings. A spot of die-cutting, embossing & sponging, & I'm all done. :)

The rest of the Team have some wonderful creations to get you pulling out your stamps & cardstock - go take a peek:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components (all SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Marina Mist, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Inks: Marina Mist, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake
Stamps: Extreme Elements, Artistic Etchings & Wonderful Favourites
Other: Lattice Embossing Folder, Top Note Die, Circle Punches, Marina Striped Grosgrain Ribbon
Non SU: Circle Punches

Inkspirations Challenge #81 - Marg's Hedgie :)

2011-08-05T18:00:00.010+10:00

Hello & welcome - it's Inkspirations time again! The lovely Keesh has provided this nice, easy sketch to try this week:-

I haven't done any watercolouring for quite a while, so I thought I would take the opportunity here:-

This cute little hedgie is from my lovely friend Margaret's collection (*waving to you Marg*) & I have used SU inkpads & an aquapainter to colour the image:-

I've pushed myself out on a limb here & combined some patterned papers for the layering as I know the recipient likes prints (even though I find them really hard to put together). :)

Here are the links for the rest of the team, please make sure you pop by to check out their fantastic work:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

PS Sorry this is so short & sweet, I am still having computer issues. You may have noticed that I haven't been leaving comments lately. :( Hopefully it will be all sorted soon.

Card Components
SU Cardstock, Papers, Ribbon & Buttons
PTI & Penny Black Stamps

Please drop me an email if you would like more info. :)

Inkspirations Challenge #80 - Blooming Step Card

2011-07-29T18:00:00.007+10:00

It's Friday again, (best night of the week), & it's Inkspirations time! This week Keesh has set these fun colours:-

I've gone a bit OTT this week, & made a very "full" step card, lol:-

Here's what the steps looked like, before I started adding flowers & grass:-

& this is what it looked like, before I decided to add a couple more flowers to accentuate the sentiment:-

Someone, somewhere in the world has probably used the scallop edge punch to make grass before, but if you are interested, here is how I made it:-

Firstly punch a strip of cardstock with the scallop edge punch:-

Then, with your punch turned upside down, place the strip back in & offset the bumps of the scallops on your cardstock between the dips of the scallops on the punch (don't line them up perfectly in the centre as you will have quite "chunky" grass):-

Your edge should look something like this (maybe not as blurry though, lol!):-

As you can see above, it's not an exact science & you don't have to be too particular, seeing as grass can be a pretty random thing.

Next you need to put your cardstock strip back in the punch again, lining up the thicker blades of grass in the dips between the bumps on the punch. This will be the result:-

As for the sentiment panel, I cut a 1" strip & achieved the fancy edge by using the piece on the outside of the punch (which would usually be waste). I turned the strip around & punched the other end to match. :)

Hope this has given you some ideas to play with. :)

If you would like to play along in the challenge & see the awesome creations that that rest of the DT have provided, please check out the links:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components

All SU - please drop me an email if you have any queries. :)

Inkspirations Challenge #79 - DYI Embossed Background

2011-07-22T18:00:00.073+10:00

Hello, thanks for coming to visit! This week's Inkspirations Challenge is a fantastic sketch, that you are sure to love. Here it is:-

Nice & easy, & oh so versatile. Here is what I have done with it:-

I decided to go for a nice, clean card, with this numeral DSP. The only thing was, I didn't want a plain white background, so I decided to add a bit of texture. You may have realised by now, I like to experiment!!! :D
So experiment I did, lol - I made by own embossed background....

I grabbed a sheet of cardstock, stuck a Sizzix Adhesive Sheet to it & then die cut a whole stack of numbers. For each number, I stuck three layers together, (easy to do with the sticky adhesive backing) which in effect made a "chipboard" number. Then I laid them randomly on a piece of A6 cardstock. (I didn't cover the entire piece as the centre was going to be covered by other layers of my card.)

I sat this sheet on top of my fully open multi-purpose platform, added my white cardstock panel, which I had misted with alcohol, layered the black Sizzix rubber embossing mat on top & then put my two clear plates on top. I cranked this sandwich through the Big Shot & voila, embossed numeral background:-

Here's the completed card again:-

The rest of the card is quite simple, but I like the sleek, graphic look.

Thanks for dropping by - I hope you are all inspired. As for me, I'm going back to play some more with the Big Shot!!!

Here are the links so you can see what the rest of the Team have done with this great sketch:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: (All SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Whisper White
DSP:  Celebrations
Stamps:  Party This Way
Inks: Real Red
Other:  Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals
Non SU: Alcohol, Baker's Twine

Inkspirations Challenge #78 - Flip Flop - Fast & Fabulous!

2011-07-15T18:00:00.084+10:00

Welcome to another Inkspirations Challenge. This week Keesh has these gorgeous colours for you to work with:-

I have made a Flip Flop (or Swing) card with this palette:-

These cards are really quite simple to make, but have a fun factor when you open them & the "flip flop" action happens:-

Here are both the front & reverse sides of the card, fully open:-

I have used the SU Hostess set "Fast & Fabulous" which has sweet two step floral images. I have combined this with the grungy splodges & script from the French Foliage set & added some pearl accents & sponging.

If you would like to try this style of card, I have added the measurements to the photo below:-

You can see the rest of the Team's amazing inspiration pieces, by heading over to the Inkspirations Challenges site.

Card Components (All SU unless noted)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla, Rose Red
Stamps: Fast & Fabulous, Woodgrain, French Foliage
Inks: Crumb Cake, Rose Red, Perfect Plum
Tools/Other: Modern Label Punch, Sponges, Dimensionals, Pearls, Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Masking Paper

Inkspirations Challenge #77 - A Bit of Brayering

2011-07-08T19:55:00.002+10:00

Hi & welcome to my weekly post, lol. It's Inkspirations Challenge time & here is this week's sketch:-

I am having some major computer issues this week. (My dear old desktop has died & I think the laptop is going out in sympathy, so I've moved on to DS's computer - hope I don't break this one too!)

I have to admit, I found the little box thingy down the bottom of the sketch a bit tricky - I tried all sorts of things on my card, but none actually worked, so I chose to omit that part of the sketch. Sorry Keesh! :)

Inspiration for my card comes from the very talented Paula Dobson, who is an absolute master with sponging. I have just unpacked this set & decided to use it as a silhouette image, a la Paula. I have created the background using a brayer & sponges.

Love this sentiment:-

Hop on over to the challenge blog & you can see what the rest of the team have been up to:-



Inkspirations Challenges Site
Makeesha
Brandi
Carrie
Cindy
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Marisa
Renée

Card Components (All SU unless noted)

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, White Vellum

Stamps: Every Moment

Inks: Basic Black pad & marker, Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy, Black StazOn

Tools: 1.3/4" Circle Punch, Post It Notes, Brayer, Sponges

Non SU: Black Brads, White Gel Pen

Inkspirations Challenge #76 - Button Birdies

2011-07-01T18:00:00.035+10:00

Welcome to another challenge for Inkspirations! This week you have these fun colours to play with:-

I decided to pull out a PTI set that hasn't seen a lot of love, even though it has cute line art images to use with buttons & lots of sentiments. Here is my card:-

I have chosen to make a layered, all white card, with a few spots of colour. Each layer of white has been popped up on dimensionals.

The buttons I used were not the same size as intended for the stamps, so I lightly traced around each button in pencil & then, using a marker to ink the stamp, added the details, one body part at a time! I have stamped their wings on matching cardstock using white ink & cut them out. Here are the little chickies:-

I created the band of colour at the bottom using a square punch & a strip of Sizzix adhesive sheet (this is great stuff) & added an organza ribbon.

Now make sure you head over to the Challenge blog & see what lovely creations the DT have to inspire you:-



Inkspirations Challenges Site
Makeesha
Brandi
Carrie
Cindy
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Marisa
Renée

Card Components (All SU unless noted)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade

DSP: Hostess 6x6 InColor, retired Baja print

Inks: Basic Black marker, White craft ink

Other: Organza Ribbon, 1.1/2" Square Punch (used for colour band), Sizzix Adhesive Sheets, Dimensionals

Non SU: PTI Everyday Button Bits stamp set, Black Pearls, mini Black Gems

Inkspirations Challenge #75 - Gatefold & Glitter Cupcakes

2011-06-24T18:00:00.000+10:00

Hi All, it's Friday again, so time to play at Inkspirations. :)

This week Keesh has a nice easy sketch for you to work with:-

This is a great sketch & has so many possibilities. I have made a gatefold card:-

& here it is open:-

I had a lovely time making the glittery frosting for the cupcakes using the Sizzix adhesive sheets. Here's how:-

Cut a piece of adhesive sheet larger than the size of the frosting, peel the liner (with the writing on it) off & stick adhesive sheet to a piece of cardstock:-

Punch out the frosting:-

Peel off the plain liner & drop cardstock piece into Dazzling Diamonds glitter & you will end up with this:-

Here it is, added to a stamped patty pan:-

Hope this inspires you to go & get glittery!!! :)

You can check out all the beautiful creations from the Inkspirations Team here:-



Inkspirations Challenges Site
Makeesha
Brandi
Carrie
Cindy
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Marisa
Renée

Card Components (All SU unless noted)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose

DSP: Brights 12x12 Patterns

Stamps: Create A Cupcake, A Word For You, Sweet Little Sentiments (retired)

Inks: Regal Rose, Early Espresso

Other: Dazzling Diamonds, Sizzix Adhesive Sheets, Lattice Embossing Folder, Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, Brad (to attach ribbon), Crystal Effects, Cupcake Punch

Inkspirations Challenge #74 - Inlaid Embossing with Die-Cut Letters

2011-06-17T18:00:00.002+10:00

Back again for another challenge!

When I first saw this week's colours I was rather stumped.... All that came to mind was flowers using the white, melon & olive, but I didn't want to do that!

So I headed off on a completely different tangent & created this:-

I recently had a play with the inlaid embossing technique, using lots of circles, but I thought "what if I try using letters?".... I was super duper pleased with how this technique worked out. :)

Here is the name panel before embossing:-

& here it is after it was cranked through the Big Shot:-

What a difference!!! :)

The rest of the card is pretty simple as I wanted to keep the embossed panel centre stage. The tag has been created using the word window, jewellery & 1" square punches (see my post here for a step by step tute). The embossed panel has been layered onto a grey mat & then onto an olive panel. The melon card has been versamark stamped with the vine pattern from the Elements of Style set. BTW I still added a flower, lol!

As a shout out to my teamie, Brandi, *waving madly* who creates awesome hand-drawn borders, I added a border to the inside panel. I definitely think I need to leave that job to Brandi, lol!

Here are the links so you can see what the rest of the Team came up with. Hope you can play along with us this week.



Inkspirations Challenges Site
Makeesha
Brandi
Carrie
Cindy
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Marisa
Renée

Card Components (All SU unless noted)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Basic Gray, Old Olive

DSP: Brights 12x12 Patterns plus retired DSP

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Heard from the Heart, Elements of Style

Inks: Versamark, Melon Mambo, Basic Gray, Old Olive Marker

Other: Olive Button, Jewellery Tag Punch, 1" Square Punch, Word Window Punch, Olive Brad, Lattice Embossing Folder

Non SU: Embroidery Floss, letters die-cut on Robo

Inkspirations Challenge #73 - Sew Suite Friend

2011-06-10T18:00:00.000+10:00

Wow, another week has flown by - it's hard to believe we are well into June already!!!

This week Keesh has set a challenge with this sketch:-

I found that little box down the bottom kinda tricky, lol, but this is what I came up with:-

I had a lovely time creating this card, with the Sew Suite set, & popped it in the post to my wonderful friend Lynne. Not only is Lynne a talented papercrafter (check out this cute hanger), she is also exceptionally handy with a sewing machine, so this card combines her two crafting loves. :)

I wanted the pattern to look like the real thing, so I aged a piece of white tissue paper with a teabag & hung it up to dry, then stamped the image with Staz On ink. I folded up the tissue sheet into a tiny rectangle & unfolded it again, to give it all the creases a regular size pattern has when you pull it out of the envelope. The pattern has been "pinned" to the background DSP with tiny staples, topped with the smallest pearls from SU.

The pin cushion has been stamped, paper pieced, fussy cut & popped up on dimensionals. I have coloured the pins with silver metallic pen & added pearl heads. The buttons have also been popped up on dimensionals & threaded with embroidery floss.

All the layers of the card have been sponged around the edges.

Hope you have fun playing with this sketch. You can check out how the rest of the Team tackled it here:-



Inkspirations Challenges Site
Makeesha
Brandi
Carrie
Cindy
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Marisa
Renée

Card Components (All SU unless noted)

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake

DSP: Brights 12x12 Patterns

Stamps: Sew Suite, Pattern Pieces, Fun & Fast Notes

Inks: Staz On Black, Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry

Other: Pearls, Dimensionals, 3/4" Round Punch, Bitty Button, Bright Button, Heart to Heart Punch

Non SU: Round button, Fine Satin Ribbon, Staples, Tissue Paper, Silver Gel Pen, Embroidery Floss, Teabag

Inkspirations Challenge #72 - Daisy Birthday

2011-06-03T18:00:00.019+10:00

Hithere, it's been a very exciting week for the Byl family with the arrival of Josiah Bryn! Big congratulations to Makeesha, Rod, Tiarne, Elijah, Mali & Jaye!

Now, onto this week's challenge:-

I have done something a little different (for me) & used a really big flower, with solid blocks of colour:-

I die-cut four layers of the largest daisy & then a single layer of the smallest daisy, curled all the petals & then finished it off with a gorgeous antique brad.

The card itself is very simple, with an embossed sentiment & white sponging around the edges.

For more inspiration on how to use this great sketch, go check out the rest of the team at Inkspirations. Hope you are inspired to play along with us this week:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: (All SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Peach Parfait, Whisper White
DSP: 6x6 In Color Hostess Pad
Stamps: Heard from the Heart
Inks: Versamark, Whisper White
Other: Peach Parfait Ribbon, Antique Brad, White Embossing Powder
Non SU: Sizzix Flower Daisy #2 Die (it's in the US catalogue!)

Inkspirations Challenge #71 - Two for One!!

2011-05-27T18:00:00.004+10:00

This week's challenge at Inkspirations is a cool sketch:-

Two very special little boys we know are celebrating their first birthday soon with a jungle themed party. I rotated the sketch 90 degrees & came up with these cards:-

I used a mix of DSP in bright colours for the panelling (using multiple DSPs is a bit of a challenge for me, so I figure I had a win!) I created the embossed, die cut #1 for each card, using a technique of Penny Duncan's, shared with me by my wonderful friend Lynne.

Here is a step by step on the #1.

First I die cut a #1 using my Robo (olive green on right in photo).

Then I cut 4 identical #1s that were approximately 3/16" (2mm) smaller than the original #1. I glued these four #1s together, to form a "chipboard" stack (emerald green on left in photo).

I made a big shot sandwich, consisting of MPP (fully open), 2 tan embossing mats, my cardstock number, my "chipboard" stack & then 2 clear plates.

How scratchy is my top plate???

Holding my breath, I cranked the whole lot through the Big Shot, & ended up with a beautifully embossed edge on the #1.

I coloured up the animals using So Saffron Ink, another darker yellow marker & a Pumpkin Pie marker. I matted & mounted the circles onto the small scalloped circle & popped them up on dimensionals. When I went to do the sentiments, I knew I wanted to use tags, but wanted to use a longer sentiment than those in the Tiny Tags set. I had a "Happy Dance Discovery", when I realised the Word Window Punch & the Jewellery Tag Punch are the same size. I stamped & punched the sentiment using the Word Window & then used the Jewellery Tag Punch to make my tag ends. Yippee!!!

Here's how:-

The options are endless, if you want, you can cut a 3/8' wide strip as long as you need & then punch the ends, see the bottom tag:-

For more inspiration on how to use this great sketch, go check out the rest of the team at Inkspirations. Hope you are inspired to play along with us this week:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: (All SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, So Saffron, Old Olive
DSP: A mix of retired papers
Stamps: Fox & Friends, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Inks: Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie marker, Choc Chip marker
Other: Scallop Circle, 1.3/8" Circle, Jewellery Tag Punch, Word Window Punch, Old Olive Brad, Dimensionals
Non SU: 1.1/2" Circle Punch, Yellow Marker, Yellow Brad

Inkspirations Challenge #70 - Selective Vintage

2011-05-20T18:00:00.012+10:00

This week's challenge at Inkspirations has lovely soft colours. Check these out:-

I decided to go a bit "vintage" with these colours:-

Here are some close ups:-

I only needed to have a small section of the card front embossed, so I got a little "selective". First I worked out how big an area I wanted to emboss (adding a slight margin which would be covered by the surrounding panels). I then created a substitute for my top Big Shot clear embossing plate - this was a stack of cardstock cut to the required size (I used 8 layers glued together, but your embossing machine may need more or less).

Here is the stack - it is the same thickness as my clear plate:-

I placed my open card blank inside the embossing folder (the lumpy, bumpy side of the folder is at the bottom). I lined the top edge of the pattern in the folder up with the fold line on my card. I then taped the cardstock "plate" in place, where I wanted the pattern to emboss.

I fed it into the Big Shot in the following recipe (bottom to top):-

MP Platform open at Tab 1

Clear Plate

Embossing Folder (lumpy side at bottom) & Cardstock

Cardstock "Plate"

This is what it looked like:-

Voila! Embossing in a selected area only:-

The inside got a little vintage too & the envelope got a sprinkling of buttons:-

To stamp the buttons, I punched a dimensional out, using the Itty Punch Pack Circle & attached it to a round Itty Bitty Button which I then adhered to a clear mounting block. I used this as my "stamp".

For more inspiration on how to use this awesome colour mix, go check out the rest of the team at Inkspirations. Hope you can play along with us this week:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: (All SU except as noted)
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, Perfect Plum
DSP: Hostess 6x6 InColor Pad
Stamps: Sew Suite, Tiny Tags, Priceless, A Word for You, Very Vintage Wheel
Inks: Sahara Sand, Blushing Bride, Perfect Plum
Other: Jewellery Tag Punch, Itty Punch Pack, 3/4" Circle Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Finial Press Embossing Folder, Top Note Die, Basic Pearls, Dimensionals, Itty Bitty Buttons, Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Crystal Effects, Mat Pack & Piercing Tool, Sponges
Non SU: Clear Glaze Pen (mannequin stand), Dimensional Tape (under measuring tape)

Inkspirations Challenge #69 - More Quilting & Polkadots

2011-05-14T10:09:00.002+10:00

Hello, it's time for another Inkspirations Challenge (actually it was time yesterday, but naughty Blogger wouldn't play nicely, lol!)

This week Keesh has a fantastic sketch for you to try:-

It's a nice easy one this week, so we hope to see lots of people playing along.

I had a blast last week making my "quilted" card, so I thought I would grab out the sewing machine, punches & polkadot stamps again & make this little number, which is actually a fridge magnet frame:-

Here are some close-ups of the details:-

I used the background stamp "Dot Dot Dot" to stamp the squares, which were punched with a 1.1/4" square. The hearts & button backgrounds were stamped with the reverse polkadot from the Playful Pieces Hostess Set. I created & die-cut the scalloped mat & frame surround with my Robo. The hearts, sentiment, buttons & frame have been raised with dimensional adhesives. If you'd like any further details, please drop me an email. :)

The rest of the Team have some wonderful pieces to inspire you, here are the links:-



Inkspirations Challenges Site
Makeesha
Brandi
Carrie
Cindy
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Marisa
Renée

Inkspirations Challenge #68 - A Baby Card

2011-05-06T18:00:00.036+10:00

Hello stampers, this week Keesh has a lovely pastel palette for you to work with:-

As soon as I saw these colours, I thought they would be perfect for a baby card for someone very special who is expecting! :) (Check out how fantastic a very pregnant Keesh looks here.)

Keesh has been a huge inspiration to many crafters & one of her signature techniques is stitching on cards. I have done a bit of straight stitching before, but this time I rustled up the courage & went for the zigzag stitching & here is the result:-

I used the SU background stamp "Dot, Dot, Dot", which I stamped in the three colours & then punched out 1.1/4" squares which I stitched to the blue panel to form a "quilt". This has been layered onto a pink mat & then onto a white scalloped square card which I die-cut on my Robo.

I fussy cut one of the elephants from the "Baby Steps" stamp, lifted it onto dimensionals & added a little heart to it's butt, as well as layering his/her dotty ear on a dimensional as well.

A tiny tag has been added to the organza ribbon to finish the card. Hope Baby Byl likes his/her card! :)

Make sure you check out all the gorgeous creations from the rest of the Team & we would love to have you play along:-



Inkspirations Challenges SiteMakeeshaBrandiCarrieCindyHelenIlinaKirstyLee-AnneMarisaRenée

Inkspirations Challenge #67 - Strength & Hope

2011-04-29T18:00:00.017+10:00

Well, it certainly has been a while since I was here last! Like everyone else, I have had a couple of those really busy weeks where you don't seem to manage to get everything done that you would like to, so the blogging & commenting have been sadly neglected. Hopefully I will get to have a big catch up over the next few days & see all the wonderful creations everyone has been sharing.

Anyway, this week Keesh has a great sketch to get the creative juices flowing:-

I have chosen to use the beautiful new SU set, Strength & Hope, a set which has been designed to help raise funds for Breast Cancer research:-

The main panel has been masked, sponged & stamped repeatedly with the powerful words from the Strength & Hope set. The Navy panel has been stamped with the Very Vintage Wheel. Here's a close up:-

Please make sure you check out the awesome inspiration pieces from the Design Team. We hope you can join us at Inkspirations this week:-



Inkspirations Challenges Site
Makeesha
Brandi
Carrie
Cindy
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Marisa
Renée

*** Please also consider purchasing this set to help fight the battle against Breast Cancer. ***

Card Components: (all SU)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Stamps: Strength & Hope set, Very Vintage Wheel
Inks: Night of Navy, Pretty in Pink
Other: 1.3/4" Circle Punch (for mask), Satin Ribbon

Playground Party Animals & A Colour Throwdown

2011-04-17T23:44:00.003+10:00

I have a lovely collection of Dustin Pike's awesome digital images & decided to put some to good use making a Never Ending card. This was such fun to make (& to play with). You essentially have four "card fronts" to cycle through. Here is my version:-

There are lots of tutorials available for this type of card, mostly for 6" square cards. I adjusted the measurements to make a 5.1/2" square card.

I have combined two challenges that I haven't entered before to create this card:-

Pike's Playground - "It's a Party!" Birthday Card Theme

Color Throwdown - Teal, Celery & Summer Sun

Love those party animals! :)

Card Components:
Cardstock: SU Taken with Teal, Pear Pizzazz (close to Celery), Express-It White
DSP: Mostly SU (some retired), teal & celery grungy spot pattern from Kaiser
Stamps: All Dustin Pike digital stamps (Zoo Collection, Freebies & Miscellaneous)
Other: Copic Markers, White Glaze Pen

Inkspirations Challenge #66 - Butterfly & Bleach

2011-04-15T18:31:00.002+10:00

Another great colour challenge from Keesh & the Team at Inkspirations this week:-

I have made a circular easel card using the Big Shot & the Scallop Circle Die:-

The background has been stamped with tempting turquoise & I have lightened up the blossoms by bleaching them out. I used a blender pen to pick up some turquoise ink from the pad to add some depth of colour to the leaves & stems.

The butterfly has been stamped on vellum with versamark ink & then heat embossed in white. It has been fussy cut & the wings curled to add dimension. Some organza ribbon & turquoise pearls complete the card.

Hope you can join us this week You can click on the link on my sidebar to enter the challenge & to check out the DT's inspiration pieces. :)

(My apologies for the poor colours of the photograph.)

Card Components:

Cardstock: SU Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Vellum

Stamps: SU All A Flutter & Elements of Style

Inks: SU Tempting Turquoise, Versamark

Other: Scallop Circle Die, Robo, Pearls, Dimensionals, White Embossing Powder, Organza Ribbon, SU Modern Label Punch & Word Window Punch

Inkspirations Challenge #65 - Copic Bunny

2011-04-08T18:00:00.001+10:00

Hi everyone, it's my favourite day of the week again - Inkspirations Challenge Day! Here is this week's sketch:-

This is the most versatile sketch, as you will see if you check out all the lovely DT samples here.

I chose to do a rather bright, multi-patterned card this week & to top off challenging myself with that, I borrowed my daughter's Copics (*thanks sweetie*) & printed out this rather quirky little digi stamp by Zlateona Gocheva (Zlateona Designs at CDAC) to colour. This is how it turned out:-

Be gentle with me, it was my first major colouring exercise with Copic markers & I don't think I will be giving up my aquapainter any time soon, lol!!!

I pulled out a couple of goodies from "the olden days" - the white gel pen & the deckle edge scissors! They added just enough interest to the die cut sentiment panel. :)

Now, if you haven't done so already, go check out the awesome DT inspiration pieces!



Inkspirations Challenges Site
Makeesha
Brandi
Carrie
Cindy
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Marisa
Renée

Card Components:
Cardstock: SU Pacific Point, X-Press It Blending Card
DSP: SU Brights DSP Patterns, SU retired 6x6 Hostess Pad
Stamps: Bunny by Zlatoena
Other: Copic Markers, CM Circle Cutting Patterns, Deckle Edge Scissors, White Gel Pen, Dimensionals, Versamark Marker & Clear Embossing Powder, Vinyl, Robo

Just Add Ink #62 - Blossom Box

2011-04-06T23:42:00.001+10:00

Well, I hope you haven't fallen off your chair! No, it's not Friday & yes, I am actually doing a mid-week post!. :)

It's been ages since I have played along in the JAI Challenge & this week the ladies have a fantastic challenge to create a bag or box.

I was given the perfect inspiration to create a 3D item, when I was lucky enough to catch up for a wonderful lunch with the very lovely Christine Blain yesterday. Look at these gorgeous blooms that Christine created (& sent home with me, along with one of her stunning cards):-

I was all inspired by these beauties to whip up a box this evening & opted to use the Pink flower to create this:-

I started with the lid, which was made from a 6x6 sheet of DSP, I centred the scallop border trim punch along each edge of the square & then folded each side down to give a 1" lip. The box was made from one & a half sheets of cardstock, which has been stamped with the woodgrain stamp & sponged along all the edges.

I added a loop of Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon to the bloom on the lid, which has been raised on dimensionals:-

Thank you so much Christine. :)

Box Components: (All SU)
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette
DSP: Retired 6x6 Hostess Pad (Regal Rose)
Stamps: Woodgrain
Inks: Pretty in Pink
Other: Pretty in Pink 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Scallop Border Trim Punch, Sponges, Dimensionals, Pearl, Fancy Flower Punch, 5 Petal Flower Punch, Boho Blossoms, Silver Brad (under Pearl), Sticky Strip

Inkspirations Challenge #64 - Autumn Medallion

2011-04-01T19:00:00.069+11:00

Hithere, back again for another great Inkspirations Challenge. This week Keesh has set these colours:-

I would have loved to use SU's new French Foliage stamp set to make some Autumn leaves with these colours, but alas, I don't have it (YET!) :) So I decided to drag out the Medallion stamp & create this:-

Now you may be wondering where the Poppy is, but it is there in the medallion, in between the Mustard & the Cajun. To get this graduated effect, I inked the entire stamp with the Mustard inkpad, then using the Cajun inkpad, I inked around the edges. Then I used a sponge, inked with Poppy to soften the area between the Mustard & the Cajun. (As I was sponging, I made sure to clean off my sponge before I inked it up again, so I didn't transfer any Mustard or Cajun ink onto the Poppy inkpad.)

To make the "spikey" Cajun ring, I used the scallop circle punch. I punched my shape & then used a small amount of snail to attach it to a piece of scrap paper. I then inserted this sheet back into the punch, lining up the inward points of the scallop with the centres of the original scallops. When you punch it gives a nifty spiked edge. This idea has been around for quite a while, but if you haven't seen it before, here's how it's done:-

As for the background, when I was rummaging through my ribbon collection I discovered a piece of tulle. Always keen to experiment, I sponged through this with Mustard ink to get the cool background. The entire main panel is raised with dimensional adhesive. Take a look:-

Although this was not the first idea that sprang to mind when I saw these colours, I was really happy with the result. :)

Make sure you go & check out what the rest of the team have created. You will be amazed at the range of ideas they have provided with these colours! Hope you can play along:-



Inkspirations Challenges Site
Makeesha
Brandi
Carrie
Cindy
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Marisa
Reneé

Card Components (SU unless noted)
Cardstock: Whisper White (oops, that should have been Vanilla!), More Mustard, Cajun Craze
Stamps: Medallion, Vintage Labels, Kaiser Prairie Lane (inner circle)
Inks: More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Poppy Parade
Other: Scallop Circle Punch, 1.1/2" Circle Punch, Jewellery Tag Punch, White Grommet, Miscellaneous Ribbon, Dimensional adhesive, Tulle

Inkspirations Challenge #63 - Penguin Gift Card Holder

2011-03-25T19:00:00.005+11:00

Ready for another challenge? This week Keesh & the Inkspirations Team have a sketch for you to try:-

We had a special 18th birthday to celebrate this week (Happy Birthday Ryan!), so I made a gift card holder with this layout:-

Which opens like this:-

I cut the basic holder from a single A4 sheet of Bashful Blue cardstock. The top & bottom flaps are 2" & 1" respectively. The flap on the right hand side is the full width of the gift card & the one on the left is 1/16" bigger than half the width of the gift card (this made the 1/8" blue vertical border line up perfectly in the centre of the holder). I also added a small spine to each of the side folds, to accommodate the bulk of the gift card plus the top & bottom flaps.

I embossed SU's Shimmery White paper to look (hopefully) like snow flurries. The inside panels are also Shimmery White paper & there was plenty of room for a greeting on the panel on the right. :)

I chose the penguin theme for the holder as Ryan is a keen snowboarder. Here is the birthday card I made to go with it:-

Ryan was very impressed with his snowy ensemble & I got away with using lots of Dazzling Diamonds! :)

The penguins & the snowman were made with the Owl Punch (love that punch), plus a few others for various bits & pieces. I have details of the basic penguin structure in this post (here) if you are interested.

Here's a close up of the little dudes:-

Hope this has you all inspired to play along. Please make sure you go & check out the inspiration from the rest of the Team:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components: (All SU except as noted)

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Pacific Point, Choc Chip, Shimmery White paper
Stamps: Playful Pieces, Afterthoughts
Inks: Pacific Point, Versamark
Other: Owl Punch, Bird Punch, Large Oval Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Punch Pack, Word Window Punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder
Non SU: Balloon Punch, JAC paper, Wire, Embossing Folder, Clear Glaze Pen

Inkspirations Challenge #62 - One Layer Card!!!

2011-03-18T19:00:00.048+11:00

Hello & welcome to my favourite night of the week. It's Inkspirations night & Keesh has an awesome colour challenge for you to work with:-

Aren't these colours yummy?

Last time we had a colour challenge, I had a go at a CAS card, but it just didn't work, so this week I was determined to try again & this is the result:-

Woohoo, I have made a one layer card!! I started with a sheet of white Bazzill, so at least I had a little texture. I have added wavy Espresso stitching lines with a clear cling stamp & then added punched flowers, with pearl centres. I have also added a little heart which has been covered with a bitty button, tied with embroidery floss. The sentiment has been stamped directly onto the card.

To raise the flowers & the heart, to give some form of dimension, I punched the corresponding shapes from very thin dimensional dots. This lifts them up off the backing card & leaves a nice neat finish but gives them a good firm grip.

Here's a neat tip when working with skinny stamps - I find they are prone to "rocking" & giving a poor imprint, so when working with a narrow stamp, I add another uninked stamp to the block (use one from the same set so it is the same height). This will result in a nice flat stamp surface & a clean stamped image.

Make sure you check out the rest of the Design Team's inspiration pieces, & take some time to come & play along:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock: Bazzill Linen White, SU Rose Red & Daffodil Delight
Stamps: SU Sock Monkey (sentiment), Stitching (Old Clear Cling set - sorry, don't know manufacturer)
Inks: SU Early Espresso
Other: SU Bitty Buttons & Punch Pack, Dimensional Dots, Kaiser Pearls, Embroidery Floss

Blog Award Thank Yous

2011-03-18T18:41:00.005+11:00

Well, I have been one lucky girl over recent weeks & have had a little collection of Blog Awards find their way to my inbox.

The Stylish Blogger award has been sent my way by these lovely ladies:-

Kim Singdahlsen at Joyful Creations with Kim

Makeesha Byl at Inkspirations

Nikki Spencer at My Sandbox (BTW, Nikki has just joined the DT at JAI - Congratulations Nikki!)

Fiona Harrison at Inkurable Krafter

& I have also been sent the Leibster Blog award by Christine Blain at Happy Heart Cards (who is also very lovely & I have had the pleasure of meeting IRL).

I would like to say a really big "thank you" for this recognition to each & everyone of you, & to thank you also for the inspiration, ideas & techniques you provide on your wonderful blogs as well as for your lovely comments.

The Stylish Blogger Award requires that I tell you 8-10 things about myself & then forward the award on, so here goes with the possibly damning information:-

I am allergic to bees. I had a couple of nasty bites & reactions as a kid, so now I keep my distance from them.
I think I am allergic to housework (unfortunately this is yet to be medically proven, lol.)
I am a totally messy crafter but I like everything stored away & out of sight when I'm done.
I've loved paper & rubber stamps since I was young - a trip to the stationers/newsagent was much more exciting than a trip to the toyshop.
I am a reformed Chocoholic.... (over 2 months & counting!!)
I love Pixar animated movies & have the whole collection.
H2 comes from my initials. I was called H at work & when I moved workplaces to one which already had a Helen (known as H), whose surname also started with H, I was christened H2. :)
My parents ingrained in me that "if I was going to do something, to do it properly", which now equates to me being totally AR about things.... (eg. I have serious trouble coping with anything crooked!)
I am an accredited Semen Handler - bet I've got you thinking now!! (Think dairy industry! Think cows! I have even handled a few frozen equine embryos in my time.)
I have an awesome family - My darling hubby is totally supportive of my papercrafting addiction, my wonderful son accepts it & my gorgeous daughter joins me in it. :)

Phew, now that wasn't too scary for me (or you I hope)!

Now seeing as it has taken me a while to pass on these awards, & I definitely would have given them to the ladies above, but they have beaten me to it, I have decided to pass on the Liebster Blog to some ladies you might not have heard of yet.

The Liebster Blog which translates, from German, into "Dearest Blog" is designed to bring attention to new blogs, or blogs with fewer than 300 followers.

I would like to give this award to three bloggers who I have come across playing in the Inkspirations Challenges. They are either fledgling blogs, or blogs that have a small group of followers. I have also chosen these bloggers as they either haven't received an award in a while, or have not had this lovely honour bestowed upon them as yet. I hope they get a kick out of receiving this award.

Please make sure you go & check out the work of these very talented ladies:-

Diane Barnes at Colour Me Happy

Sarah Milbourne at Sarah's Stamping Style &

Suzanne Barnard at Suzie's Papercraft

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Helen (aka H2) :)

Inkspirations Challenge #61 - Laugh, Love, Create....

2011-03-11T19:00:00.025+11:00

Well hello, I hope everyone has had a fantastic week. Keesh has another wonderful sketch for you today & you must, must, must check out the awesome inspiration pieces from the DT. Here's the sketch:-

I have chosen to make a little decor piece this week & have used my take on the "live, laugh, love" quote. I am ecstatic about how this little baby turned out & it makes me smile every time I look at it. Hopefully the recipient will like it half as much. :)

I've used a gorgeous Country Road, 3D frame, adding a Regal Rose Mat just under the glass. The flower has had each petal individually stamped, using the rock 'n' roll technique. They have then been coated in glue & covered in dazzling diamonds. Once I had them assembled into a flower shape, I added a cute, clear pink button & thread. It's very sparkly. :)

The letters were die-cut on my Robo:-

I scalloped the bottom edge of the white panel & added cute little pearls.

Here are the links so you can play along & leave the DT some comment love:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components

Cardstock: SU Whisper White, Regal Rose, Peach Parfait & Pretty in Pink

DSP: SU Sweet Always (retired)

Stamps: Large petal stamp from SU Playful Pieces Hostess Set

Inks: SU Regal Rose & Peach Parfait

Other: Peach Parfait Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds, Button, Thread, Scallop Edge Punch, Dimensionals, Pearls, Picture Frame

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #60 - Bliss Butterflies

2011-03-04T19:00:00.029+11:00

Well, another week has flown by & it's time for a challenge!

Keesh has set these gorgeous colours - Wild Wasabi, Rose Red, So Saffron & Whisper White.

Seeing as I only have one of these coloured inkpads I envisioned making one of those lovely CAS cards - you know the ones - all white, with a few pops of colour! Sadly, it just didn't work for me....

So I made this one this instead:-

Can you guess where the inspiration came from (*wink*)? Here's a hint:-

I stamped each of the butterflies in Versamark ink, clear embossed & then cut them out. They have been attached to a strip of white Shimmer paper, which has a lovely sparkly sheen. The rose layer has been stamped in Versamark with the large Baroque swirl, had the edges sponged (with Pomegranate) & then added to the black base card. It's still a reasonably simple card, but I think it turned out a treat - Thanks for the wonderful inspiration piece Keesh!! :)

Here's another look at those butterflies:-

Maybe now I should head back to my craft table & have another go at the "all white" version! :)

Please make sure you check out all the gorgeous creations the DT have created to inspire you & pop your creation in the challenge. Here are the links:-



Inkspirations Challenges Site
Makeesha
Brandi
Carrie
Cindy
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Marisa
Renée

Card Components

Cardstock: Rose Red, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, So Saffron, Basic Black & SU Shimmer White

Stamps: SU Short & Sweet, Baroque Motifs, Bliss

Inks: Versamark, Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate

Other: Clear Embossing Powder, Sticky Strip, SU Pearls

Inkspirations Challenges #59 - It's All About the Buttons!

2011-02-25T19:00:00.000+11:00

Hi Everyone, there were some great entries in last week's challenge (but I'm sorry that I didn't get time to visit everyone's individual blogs.)

Anyway, this week the Inkspirations Team have a nice, easy sketch for you:-

The first thing that struck me about the sketch was the three circular embellies down the right hand side. They screamed to me to be buttons - therefore my Inkspiration card is "All About the Buttons!"

I wanted to do something special with the buttons, so I bought a pack of white Fimo modelling clay to make my own. I rolled out a piece of Fimo onto baking paper & then used the lid of a large texta (marker) to cut out each button. (I dusted the lid with flour to help stop the clay from sticking, but it still took a bit of shaking to get each button out of the lid once it was cut.) Then I stamped into the surface of each button with a stamp featuring two concentric dotty circles. I then pierced two holes in each button & baked them in the oven to harden. Once they had cooled I gave them a blast of clear spray gloss, added some embroidery thread & attached them to my card.

Here are the buttons being made:-

The rest of the card is pretty simple, with an "Anya" image from the Greeting Farm being stamped & coloured with ink pads & an aquapainter. The white panel has been embossed with an embossing folder & the turquoise panel has been embossed with a texture plate, which gives a softer, less pronounced effect. Here is the card:-

You can click on any of the photos for a larger view. :)

Card Components:

Cardstock: SU Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise & Whisper White

Stamps: The Greeting Farm "Miss Anya", SU Seeing Spots (retired)

Inks: Ranger Forever Black Ink, SU Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Taken With Teal & Blush Blossom

Other: Fiskars Heart Texture Plate, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots E/Folder, Dimensional Adhesives, Satin Ribbon, Aquapainter, Clear Glaze, White Glaze, Fimo Modelling Clay, Clear Gloss Spray, Embroidery Thread

Inkspirations Challenge #58 - Orange 18!

2011-02-18T19:00:00.038+11:00

This week's challenge at Inkspirations is a great colour one. Feast your eyes on these awesome colours:-

This year we have lots of 18th birthdays happening, with the first family one coming up in March. One of our nephews has always loved orange, so when I saw these colours, I immediately thought of him. Here is the card I have created:-

I decided to try different proportions of the colours than I would normally use, with just a touch of white & LOTS of Tangerine Tango!!! I quite like the effect the heavier colours give.

I die-cut an "18" in Tangerine with a matching mat in Espresso & then gave the Tangerine numbers a very liberal coating of Crystal Effects to give it a beautiful gloss. I've discovered the rules to using Crystal Effects are use lots & then walk away!!! I left these numbers to dry overnight & didn't even peek at them while they were drying for fear of planting a great big fingerprint in them.... The orange layer has been popped up on dimensionals.

The circular tag has been created using a stamp from the Punch Bunch set. When I mounted the "genuine article" stamp I cut the centre out which read "true friend" & mounted it separately, to give more mileage to the stamp. The outer "HAPPY" ring is from a retired set. I then punched a small star which has had a coating of clear glaze & mounted it with a dimensional. The white layer is also raised from the Marina layer. The whole tag has been lifted up on a double layer of dimensionals, to make it sit above the "18". Here's a close up of the deets:-

For more inspiration on how to use this awesome colour mix, go check out the rest of the team at Inkspirations & make sure you play along...

The Challenge Site

Cindy

Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Tangerine Tango, Marina Mist & Whisper White
Stamps: Extreme Elements, Punch Bunch & Starring You (retired)
Inks: Pumpkin Pie (sorry, don't have any Tangerine), Marina Mist & Early Espresso
Other: Crystal Effects, Glaze Pen, Dimensional Adhesives, Star Punch, Mat Pack & Piercing Tool, Sponges, Robo

Inkspirations Challenge #57 - Skunky Love

2011-02-11T19:00:00.019+11:00

Woohoo, it's Inkspirations Challenge time again & this week the Team have a great sketch for you to play with, as well as lots of lovely inspiration to get you motivated. Make sure you hop on over to the Challenge Site to have a look & play along.

Here is the sketch:-

I have flipped the sketch on its side & created a little bit of skunky love:-

My daughter asked, "why do they put skunks on love themed things - they smell!!!" LOL. I actually think this little guy is quite cute.

The background, including the faux border stitching, & the fussy cut skunk have been taken from the same sheet of heavy designer paper that has been wallowing in my stash for a considerable amount of time. I have versamark stamped & heat embossed little sketched hearts along the black panel. Here's a close up including the skunk's glossy nose & heart:-

Now I actually made two cards for this week's challenge. Here is my first attempt:-

Does anybody else have a crafting adversary? I certainly do - it's patterned paper!!! I love how it looks in a full sheet but I tend to run in the other direction rather than use it. I see so many gorgeous creations that feature beautiful prints, but I tend to stick to rather safe patterns (& only ONE at a time!!) Anyway, I thought I would challenge (insert *force*) myself to use some prints when I found this gorgeous fruit & vegie paper. I ended up using 4 prints from 3 different companies but I'm still not convinced I like it. My daughter thought it was very cute & then asked who had made it. (Hmmm, does that tell you something about how often I pull out the prints?)

So, what scares you in your crafting?

It's been great to see so many people playing along in recent challenges, here are the links so you can play along too:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:

Skunk Card

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White

Printed Paper: Sorry, no markings on the sheet :(

Stamps: SU Short & Sweet - sentiment & hearts

Inks: SU Riding Hood Red, Versamark

Other: Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals, SU Modern Label Punch, Kaiser Black Pearls, Satin Ribbon, Clear Glaze Pen

Fruit & Veg:

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla

Printed Paper: SU Good Morning Sunshine (retired), October Afternoon Root Cellar & Cosmo Cricket Material Girl Measuring Up

Stamps: SU Afterthoughts

Inks: SU Soft Suede

Other: Twine, Sponges

Inkspirations Challenge #85 - Crimped Rubber

2011-02-09T22:21:00.001+11:00

Inkspirations Challenge #56 - Tic Tac Toe!!!

2011-02-04T19:00:00.017+11:00

Hi, ready for this week's challenge? By the look of things love is in the air & these great colours are perfect for a Valentine greeting:-

After last week's grid sketch, I have been itching to create a "tic tac toe" card. I was super excited to discover that the SU itty bitty punches provided me with perfect "crosses" &, with the addition of a smaller circle punch, a bunch of "noughts" as well. Here is my card:-

& look, no crazy cutting this week! LOL

I glazed the playing pieces with SU Crystal Effects & added some Cherry Cobbler cardstock to the back of one of the cute little heart buttons & tied it with fine satin ribbon. I wanted the grid to have a hand drawn look, so I stamped it using the stem from the "dandelion" of SU's retired Good Friend set. The sentiment has been added to a tag from the SU Medium Jewellery Tag Punch. The background stamp is a distressed grid pattern & I have stamped it repeatedly in Cherry Cobbler to achieve a natural fabric looking texture. Here's a close up of the details:-

Make sure you check out all the divine creations by the rest of the Team & play along yourself at the challenge site, we'd love to see what you have created. :)

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze
Stamps: SU Good Friend & Tiny Tags, Kaiser background stamp (Grid?)
Inks: Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler
Other: Itty Bitty Buttons, Itty Bitty Punches, Small Circle Handheld Punch, Heart to Heart Punch, Crystal Effects, Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #55 - Glittery 21!

2011-01-28T19:00:00.055+11:00

Hithere, are you ready for another great challenge this week? Here is the fun sketch that Keesh has for everyone to play with:-

& here is what I have done with it:-

I have to 'fess up & say I have several jars of beautiful AED glitter! Sadly, it hasn't been used much of late, so I thought I would pull it out & "BLING" up this twenty-first card.

To make the glittery letters I stamped the letters onto "JAC" paper (a double sided adhesive that has a liner paper on either side). I peeled the back liner off the JAC paper & stuck the group of letters onto some teal cardstock. Then I did some more "crazy lady smokin' scissors stuff" & cut out out each individual letter using small sharp scissors & a scalpel. I adhered each letter to the background panel & then peeled off each top liner & added the glitter, tapped off the excess & voila, gorgeous glittery letters!

Here's some step by step photos, with the an extra letter I made to go on a matching pillow box:-

& here is a close up so you can see the letters, stitching & embellie details:-

This was a fun idea to create & could be used for lots of different occasions that have 9 letters, ie., EIGHTEEN, CHRISTMAS, VALENTINE! What else can you think of?

Please make sure you visit the rest of the team & check out their gorgeous creations:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components

Cardstock: Taken with Teal, River Rock

Pattern Paper: Kaiser Lacey Bay (Prairie Lane Collection)

Stamps: SU Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Priceless & Jumbo Outline Alphabet (retired)

Inks: Soft Suede, Versamark

Other: Alison Ellis Design Peacock Green Glitter, JAC Paper, Organza Ribbon, Micro Stick On Rhinestones, Key Charm, Crystal Bead, Nylon Thread, Sewing Thread

Owl Calendars

2011-01-26T20:20:00.001+11:00

For last week's Inkspiration's Challenge I made a little calendar that was inspired by a gorgeous little calendar I received in the mail from the lovely Christine Blain.

Christine made this adorable little guy on the right & I absolutely love him. I have taken the main elements of Christine's design, added a little greenery & come up with the calendar on the left, which will be flying off to Tassie. (*waving "hi" to Lynne*)

Aren't these little guys cute? (You can click on the image to get a larger view.)

I've listed components for the calendar on the left.

Calendar Components:
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Soft Suede, Perfect Plum, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Basic Black
Stamps: PTI Everyday Button Bits, SU Tiny Tags
Inks: Versamark, Soft Suede, Perfect Plum
Other: SU Pastels (chalks), SU Owl, 2 Step Bird, Scallop Border & Itty Bitty Button Punch, CM Fancy Corner Punch, EK Corner Punch, Rhinestones, Fiskars Texture Plate, Calendar

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #54 - Fussy Blossoms

2011-01-21T19:00:00.006+11:00

It's Inkspirations Challenge time again & this week you have these gorgeous colours to play with:-

These colours work perfectly together! I seriously think that Pear Pizazz is nudging Old Olive out of my "favourite green" top spot, it's such a pretty & versatile colour.

Anyway, this week I have created a little magnetic calendar & a matching tri-fold card:-

Now, I have two big thank yous here. One to Christine for her sweet inspiration to make a calendar & one to Lynne for being such a wonderful friend & picking up & posting me some calendar pads. I had trudged to shop after shop without success, & then discovered you could get them in her state! Thanks so much lovely ladies!

So here is the card opened up:-

& here is the calendar:-

Call me crazy, but I actually find fussy cutting quite enjoyable (or maybe I just thrive on a good challenge) & these blossoms were VERY enjoyable/challenging to cut out! lol

I tried something different with these projects & that was watercolouring onto Very Vanilla cardstock instead of using watercolour paper. It certainly needed a different colouring technique but worked okay. To stamp my outline images, I first inked the stamp with Versamark & then, before stamping, inked it again with Early Espresso. I heat set the ink with clear embossing powder to get a raised outline.

The DT have some beautiful creations to show you, so pop along & have a peek:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizazz, Very Vanilla
DSP: Pear Pizazz Patterns from 6x6 Hostess Pad
Stamps: SU Elements of Style & Afterthoughts
Inks: Early Espresso, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizazz, Versamark
Other: SU Wide Oval Punch, Dimensionals, Pear Pizazz Ribbon, Calendar

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #53 - Graduate Owl

2011-01-14T19:00:00.002+11:00

This week the challenge at Inkspirations is a wonderful sketch:-

& here is the card I created for my niece, who recently completed her Bachelor of Science (woohoo, go Sarah!):-

I've kept to formal colours with this card, but added the quirky owl to make it fun. The entire card front has been embossed with SU's Lattice Embossing Folder. The texture this folder creates is just gorgeous & it looks great used either side up.

Both the mustard & the "latin script" panels have had the edges sponged.

I've punched the owl & given him a set of outstretched wings using the scallop oval punch (a big thank you to the lovely Christine Blain for this clever idea!) I've created a mortarboard for him using the curly label punch to get the peaked section over his eyes & then freehand cut the sides, top & the tassel. He has also been chalked, glazed & popped up on dimensionals:-

I thought I would be really brave this week & add a special ribbon detail to this card. Usually I will stick to a knot or bow, or just keep my ribbon flat but this time I have really challenged myself & used "scrunched ribbon". Gasp! Actually it's pleated, I couldn't challenge myself THAT much! lol

The ribbon is simply attached to the card by the decorative brad with a tiny dab of adhesive behind the pleats. The right tail of the ribbon is completely loose, but sits beautifully. :) I am really happy how it turned out.

Hope Ms. Sarah B.Sc. likes it!

Now there is lots of lovely eye candy from the rest of the Team to get you inspired & creating, so make sure you go check it out & play along:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components
Cardstock: SU Basic Black, Whisper White, More Mustard & Early Espresso, Bazzill Linen Black, White Photocopy Paper (Rolled Degree)
DSP: Kaiser Undercover
Stamps: SU Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Inks: SU Basic Black, More Mustard & Crumb Cake
Other: SU Scallop Oval, Wide Oval, Curly Label & Owl Punches, Dimensionals, Black Spica Glitter Pen, Clear Glaze Pen, Hodgepodge Hardware ("Genuine" Brad), Black Satin Ribbon (2 sizes)

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #52 - Spritzed Birthday

2011-01-07T19:00:00.025+11:00

Hello & a big "HAPPY NEW YEAR"! Hope you had a wonderful break & are all ready for 2011!

To start the Inkspirations Challenges off with a bang this year, Keesh has a colour challenge for you to play with:-

I thought I would have a bit of an experiment with these colours & here's my card:-

When you look at the rest of the Team's cards, you might think I've used the wrong colours! No, I just thought I would use them a little differently by making a spritzed background (details below). :)

Spritzed Background:

Whisper White Cardstock
Peach Parfait Inkpad
Baja Breeze Inkpad
Riding Hood Red Inkpad
Mist Spray Bottle of Water
Plastic Sheet (I used one of the thin plastic cutting mats)

Firstly, using an edge of the inkpad, I made horizontal bands of colour on the plastic sheet, starting with the peach stripes first, then the baja & making the red stripes last. Then I spritzed the ink bands with water. Next I lifted up one edge of the plastic mat to make the colours run into each other a bit. Then I laid the whisper white panel directly onto the wet plastic mat. I laid a piece of scrap paper over the top & pressed my hand over it to make sure the whisper white had picked up all the colour from the mat. I left this panel to dry & then created the card. The fun part about this technique is that you never know what you will get until you're done! :)

Here's a close up of the details:-

Come join in the fun & make sure you go & check out the rest of the DT's creations here:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components
Cardstock: Peach Parfait, Whisper White
Stamps: SU Perfect Punches & All A Flutter.
Inks: Peach Parfait, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red
Other: SU Wide Oval Punch, Dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds, Rhinestone, Satin Ribbon, EK Border Punch