Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark Challenge #4

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Good morning beautiful bloggy friends ~

It's been a little while between posts - I skipped the ATS&M challenge last week as I just had too much on my plate and wasn't in the right space.  In fact I've really been struggling to craft at all lately.  I think the old mojo has done a serious disappearing act on me.  Anyway I'm back today and it's Make your Mark challenge time again, yay!

I pulled out my Pleasant Poppies stamp this week and used copic markers (RV63, 66 & 69) to colour them.  I thought these colours went quite well with the Rich Razzleberry I'd chosen to use on my Crumb Cake base.  I've made some little dsp banners again ... very popular at the moment, and added a little bling to each.

Head over to Addicted to Stamps and More and check out the design team inspiration.  You just need to use markers on your project this week - copics, prismas, any kind of colouring medium you prefer.  Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Addicted to Stamps and More - CAS Challenge #3 + Fab Friday

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Hello hello ~

Not that I have anything to sing about ... gee this (so called) Spring weather has been rather miserable the past few days. Gorgeous Kid and I spent the long weekend in Merimbula and we got rained on and blown away with cold winds.  GK still managed to have lots of fun swimming, cycling and doing fun things with his buddy.  We even managed an afternoon at Magic Mountain so he was happy!  Get back to Canberra and the weather isn't far different, ho hum.

Not that you've visited to read about my whinge ... I'm sure you're here to check out the latest Addicted to Stamps and More challenge yes?  We've got a Clean and Simple (CAS) one for you today.

I stumbled across a great new (to me) challenge blog the other day - Fab Friday.  This week the lovely ladies have a sketch so I combined my ATS&M CAS with the Fab Friday 03 sketch using some little scraps from SU's delicious Floral District dsp.  I followed the same trend inside my card with the remaining scraps - but didn't photograph, sorry. There really isn't much more to say about my card this week - it's very Clean and Simple :o).

I hope you can join the challenge fun this week.  Pop over to ATS&M and check out the fabulous design team inspiration if you need a bit of a start.  I look forward to checking out your entries.

Thanks for stopping by today, and thanks so much to those of you who take the time to leave me lovely comments.  I really do enjoy reading them - they make my day!

Addicted to Stamps and More - Addicted to Halloween #3

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Good morning ~

I've been keeping fairly quiet lately.  Settling back into the routine of life after a busy couple of months...Gorgeous Kid and I went to Floriade Nightfest with lovely friends on the weekend.  The weather had been really crappy all day but thankfully cleared in time for our outing so I was grateful.

This week was a bit of a challenge for me over at Addicted to Stamps and More.  Kylie set us a Halloween challenge. We tend not to celebrate Halloween in a big way in Australia - although there seems to be a bit of change happening with the stores stocking all manner of costumes and paraphernalia so it may yet become a big thing.

As such I don't own a single Halloween craft item so I had to search the web for images, I had a few spider web ideas, thought of some punch art spidies...and ended up with these cute little witchy boots.  They were fun to colour and cut.

I've layered the boots, coloured with copics, on a doily die cut, using Basic Black c/s and the matching DSP.  I added a little satin ribbon, some silver cord and baubles along with a couple of punched tags and the 'boo' sentiment from the SU set Tiny Tags.

In my last post I mentioned blog candy.  Hmmmm well I think maybe people don't read my blog closely because most of you didn't even tell me your favourite season.  I will go through the comments though and draw a winner out of those who did and let you know by the end of the week ... hint hint, go back and add your fave!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and visit today.  Do pop over to ATS&M and check out what all the other girls have been up to - lots more inspiration for you now that we have a bigger design team ... and they're awesome!

Addicted to Stamps - Theme Challenge #3 - Spring & Blog Candy

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Good morning beautiful blog friends ~

Spring is definitely in the air over at Addicted to Stamps today.  We're up to our third Theme Challenge and this week it's Spring.  I love Spring, it's my absolute favourite season of all - it helps that I don't suffer hayfever I guess.

Originally I had wanted to go a lovely daffodil colour - that to me is Spring all over.  Couldn't go there though as my Bingo card last week was yellow and I'm already starting to think my cards are looking a bit same same lately.  Then I decided orange - still nice and bright right?  Well I've no clue how I ended up with the Melon Mambo in my hand but this is what happened lol.

I've been making a lot of square cards lately - that's because I've had a stash of PTI white c/s for some time and being US sized and quite sturdy I can get more use out of it this way rather than making an A5 card.  Too many scraps otherwise.  It is coming to an end I promise so not too many more square cards to come :).

I used the Blossoms 2 Nestabilities (that were a gift from BFF a couple of years back) to cut my flowers.  I sponged all the edges and bent the petals up and down and all around - as much as a neat freak can.  My mat is MM c/s with a layer of Pretty in Pink dsp.

Why don't you head over to the ATS Challenge blog and check out all the lovely Spring inspiration this week, and then get creating and link up.  I would love lots more card ideas for my favourite season.

Actually how about a little blog candy?  Tell me your favourite season and I'll draw a winner on the weekend (30 September) and send a little parcel of goodies out - couple of copic markers and prisma pencils, a roll of ribbon and a few other bits and pieces.  Yay!

Addicted to Stamps - Bingo Challenge #3

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Happy Wednesday friends ~

Gorgeous Kid and I had a lovely time in New Zealand visiting lots of family, eating lots of yummy food and generally having a relaxing time.  I took a few photos in Christchurch that I'm sure most of you will find interesting - when GK shows me how to download from the ipad lol.  I didn't manage to find ANY marmite ANYWHERE - so sad!  BUT one hardcore marmite fan family member got a jar on 'trade me' for $NZ50 so I had it for brekky one morning.  Yummo, you really don't know what you'll miss till it's gone!

Anyway ... it's Bingo challenge time over at Addicted to Stamps this week.  Here is the card for you:

I chose the centre line down - yellow, free (flowers) and ribbon.

I wanted a fairly clean card as this was for a friend who isn't fussy at all.  She was very good to me a few weeks back when I was sick, and even made some yummy chicken soup and delivered it.  How lucky am I to have such caring and kind friends?

This is a square card, with a Whisper White base and some matching satin ribbon (how am I going to live without the gorgeous SU satin ribbons?).  The dsp is So Saffron.  I used Blossom and Circle Nestabilities and a sentiment from PTI.  I tied the little roses with silver cord and made a bow underneath, adding a few gem stones for balance.  The card was spritzed with Champagne Shimmer Mist...of course!

So what's your favourite Addicted to Stamps challenge?  I think mine are the Make your Mark challenges.  I really enjoy colouring cute images, and there are just so many out there.  If you're bored with what's in your stash, go online and grab a digi - there are also lots of freebies around.

We hope you join our Bingo challenge this week.  Head over to ATS and see what the lovely design team have provided as inspiration this week.  I look forward to checking out your entries.

Addicted to Stamps - Make Your Mark Challenge #3

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Good morning ~

Wednesday rolls around pretty quickly doesn't it?  I'm off in the Land of the Long White Cloud right now, no doubt swallowing a stack of calories that I've missed for the past 20+ years and only get to enjoy when I visit home.  Whitebait is a true favourite of mine - this coming from someone who doesn't eat seafood! Whitebait isn't fishy at all, but it is seasonal.  There is a great little restaurant in Christchurch that stocks up so it's available all year round.  I've been known to eat there 10 out of 12 nights on previous visits home lol.

I can hardly believe we are up to our third round of Challenges over at Addicted to Stamps.  This week is Make your Mark - where we want you to use your markers on your creation.  They can be pencils, copics, whatever...

I made this card for my niece's 13th birthday recently.  She's into purple so I used all the purple I could lay my hands on.  Wisteria Wonder dsp to be precise.  I've wrapped a little of the matching WW twine around my mat piece as well.  I used my copics for this little girl and her big stack of presents.  Hope you like.

If you'd like to join the challenge fun this week pop over to ATS and check out the design team inspiration.  I look forward to checking out all your entries when I'm back from my holiday.

Addicted to Stamps - Sketch Challenge #2

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Happy Wednesday lovely friends ~

The weeks and months are just flying by...Gorgeous Kid and myself are off to New Zealand on Friday.  We're visiting family, particularly my dear grandmother.  I'm so looking forward to eating lots of my favourite foods again...Mays pies from Timaru, Joy Bars - and I don't care if it's too cold to eat ice cream, Perky Nanas, yams and so many other yummy treats.  I'm hoping to track down some Marmite too, although I have a feeling the Sanitarium factory in Christchurch was flattened in the earthquakes so that may be a tall order.  I'll try my best though!

This week at Addicted to Stamps we have our Sketch Challenge.  Check it out:

And this is what I came up with.  The beauty of design team work is that you get the schedule some weeks in advance.  Because I knew August and September were going to be busy months I got ahead of myself and prepared a number of challenges some time ago.  I now realise I missed a little something on my card.  The four little spots on each corner...ooops.

This is a cute little digi image from Tiddly Inks.  I used my copics and a bunch of different blues for this card - Island Indigo, Marina Mist and Bashful Blue.

We'd love you to join our Sketch Challenge this week, so pop over to the Addicted to Stamps blog and check out the design team inspiration.

I won't be at a computer too often over the next couple of weeks - I have a strong feeling Gran has only got dial-up internet.  Too slow for me!  I've got some posts scheduled for while we are away and I'll look foward to lots of blog browsing and catching up when I'm back.

Addicted to Stamps - CAS Challenge #2

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Good Wednesday morning ~

We've got a nice easy one for you over at Addicted to Stamps today - it's our second Clean and Simple Challenge. Well actually many of you don't find CAS easy I guess, but it's right up there for me with most of what I create being exactly that.

I've used a base of Crumb Cake c/s and cut a Whisper White banner using my Half & Half dies from PTI.  I've stamped a little flower and sentiment in Crumb Cake and added an Old Olive button threaded with twine and tied a little knot of matching satin ribbon.  Voila, nice and clean and simple.

Pop over to the Addicted to Stamps Challenge Blog and check out the design team inspiration.  We hope you find some time to join the fun this week.

Addicted to Stamps - Colour Challenge #2 - Gold

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Good morning & happy hump day ~

Well finally I got over my lurgy.  Eight long days of feeling crap...I didn't think I was ever going to feel good again.  I'm very happy to say that I now appreciate good health *wink*.

This week over at Addicted to Stamps we're having our second Colour Challenge - Gold.  It was a real challenge for me too because I'm not really a 'gold' person.  Although in saying that I wear gold jewellery over silver so go figure.  I just don't tend to craft with it very often.  Because of that I have next to NO gold in my stash other than embossing powder.

So...here it is.  I tried the same thing on Whisper White c/s but it didn't really look like much at all.  Here is the cute little Christmas tree from Season of Joy on a Basic Black c/s, with just a little bling added.The sentiment is from PTI.

Fairly CAS and it's not often you come across a black Christmas card is it?  I don't know if I'll actually end up posting this out to anyone - because it's black, but it met the challenge requirements at least *smile*.

Go over to ATS and check out the design team inspiration.  Hope you can join us this week with all your golden goodness!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I really do appreciate the time you take to visit and leave the lovely comments that you do.

Addicted to Stamps - Theme Challenge #2 - Cards for Boys

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Happy Wednesday ~

Over at Addicted to Stamps this week we're up to our second Theme challenge - Cards for Boys.  I'm cheating a bit this week because I've been really sick since the weekend.  I actually made this card in February this year but haven't posted it on my blog, so hope it's okay to share now even though it wasn't 'originally made for ATS'.

I've coloured up a The Greeting Farm Ian image - fairly poorly now that I look closely.  I think I was just starting to learn to use my copic markers back when I did this little guy.  I've got shadows in all the wrong places - and if I'm being honest I still have trouble working that part out.  You'd think it would be fairly straight forward right?  Hmmm not so much I'm embarrassed to say.

Anyway pop over to ATS and check out the other design team inspiration for yourself.  Hopefully you'll get a few ideas and join our challenge this week.

Other news...we had a fabulous weekend away.  Unfortunately due to very poor weather conditions our Whale Watching Cruise was cancelled.  The ocean was just too choppy.  Instead we were offered a Dolphin Watching Cruise in the Bay.  We rugged up (5 layers I think I had on) and headed out on the tour at Huskisson.  Our tour leaders were fabulous and lots of fun - they made sure we all got wet (I could have done without this bit of fun but Gorgeous Kid was in his element).

We saw some absolutely gorgeous dolphins, and one of the mum dolphins had her baby with her - so precious. They came up nice and close to the boat and gave us a show.  I'm not sure if it was getting so wet or the nasty wind but by later that day I was feeling crud.  I've gotten progressively worse since then and spent a couple of days in bed.

On a much happier note - a super dooper happy birthday to Gorgeous Kid's Godmother Sue for today.  We had a fabulous weekend.  Thank you so much for organising it and making it so special for our boy!

Addicted to Stamps - Make Your Mark Challenge #2

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Happy Wednesday ~

Wow August already!  I've got lots on this month (and next for that matter)...will keep you up to date as I go along.

Today is the first day of our second round of challenges over at Addicted to Stamps.  We're back to Make your Mark - you should use a colour medium of your choice in your creation this week.  I've used my copics on this little stack of pressies.

I found this awesome pic to colour over at Elizabeth Dulemba's Colouring Page Tuesday.  I've added some Dazzling Diamonds, Champagne Shimmer Mist and a touch of white gel pen before fussy cutting and popping up on dimensionals.  A pretty simple start to my Christmas card stash!

If you'd like to join the challenge fun over at ATS this week go check out what the design team has come up with and get your colouring tools out.  We love visiting your blogs!

Addicted to Stamps - Sketch Challenge #1

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Hello hello ~

I've been too busy zooming around in my new car to get other things done...not really, but it has been one of THOSE weeks.  I'm late with my Addicted to Stamps post so without further ado here it is.

Kylie gave us a sketch to work with this week and I must admit to taking a few creative liberties with this one.  Check out the sketch and you'll see what I mean.

I've used Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla with the cute Aviary stamp set.  I fussy cut the bird cage and popped it up on dimensionals and added a rhinestone to the top where it connects with the twine it is supposedly hanging from.

If you're up for a sketch challenge this week head over to ATS and check out the inspiration from the design team. We love visiting your blogs and checking out all the awesome creations you come up with.

Addicted to Stamps - CAS Challenge #1

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Wow Wednesday comes around quickly ~

Good morning!  The challenge over at Addicted to Stamps this week is 'Clean and Simple'.  I tend to do CAS more often than not so this was right up my alley.

Unfortunately I needed to make two sympathy cards last week.  I went for a nice simple 4x4" Whisper White card base and layered a 3.5x3.5" mat with my three layered flower from the Creative Elements stamp set.  I inked it up in the retired Ruby Red and added a little Champagne Shimmer Mist.  The sentiment is from PTI.

Take a look at what the ATS design team have come up with.  Lots of CAS goodness so I hope you're inspired to join the challenge this week.

I'll pop back and show you my other CAS card tomorrow.

Addicted to Stamps - Colour Challenge #1 - Blue

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Good Wednesday morning friends ~

It's challenge time again at Addicted to Stamps and this week it's a colour challenge - blue!

I found this wonderful little digi cupcake here and coloured it with my copics.  I added Crystal Effects to the cherry and spritzed it with my Frost White shimmer mist.  My photographic skills are sorely lacking and I haven't captured the gloss here unfortunately.

With a white card base I layered Crumb Cake c/s and Marina Mist dsp, and cut a blossom nestie to layer my cupcake on.  A little twine, a Marina Mist button and some bling finish my card.  Hope you like!

Well school holidays started here in Canberra this week so Gorgeous Kid has had a friend sleep over the last couple of nights.  They are glued to their Minecraft computer games.  Means a bit of spare time for me *wink* so I'm not complaining.  They only come out when they want food.

Before I go I just want to give a big shout out to my good friend Candace who welcomed a beautiful baby girl on Sunday - huge congratulations to your gorgeous family Ms C.  I'm going for cuddles on Friday!

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to head over to ATS and check out all the delicious design team inspiration.  I hope to be back to show you something else before the end of the week.

Addicted to Stamps - Theme Challenge #1 - Christmas in July

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Good Wednesday morning ~

Over at Addicted to Stamps we are up to our third challenge and this week it's a 'theme' - Christmas in July.

I had a bit of fun with my project this week BUT had a really hard time photographing it so I do hope you can see past that and know that the real life version is soooo much better - and stands higher than the squished looking version here lol.

Using a few strips of retired Bella Bleu designer papers I gave my Simply Scored Tool and hot glue gun a workout. To my bottom layer I added some of the yummy Champagne Glass Glitter around the edge. Once I had all my medallions ready I stacked them up and gave them a liberal spray with Champagne Shimmer Mist.  This is a gorgeous and inexpensive Christmas decoration that didn't take long to create.

If you'd like to join in the challenge fun this week head on over to ATS and check out the awesome design team inspiration this week.  You won't be disappointed!

As always thank you so much for taking precious time out of your day to stop by my little place in blogland.  Your comments really make me smile, I love reading reading them!

Addicted to Stamps - A Sneak Peek

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Good morning ~

I'm trying my hand at blogging a little more often and since I'm excited about the 'theme' challenge over at Addicted to Stamps this week I thought I'd pop in and give you all a sneak peek of what's to come.

Cheeky huh!  Hopefully that whets your appetite enough to have you stopping back tomorrow to check out the full project.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Addicted to Stamps Bingo Addict Challenge #1

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Good Wednesday morning lovely friends ~

There's a new challenge over at Addicted to Stamps today!  This week it's a Bingo card...I chose the line Flowers, Free and Stamp.

I've used a base of Very Vanilla c/s, layering some Crumb Cake and the same two designer papers - then I sewed two rounds of 'wonky stitching' as my free choice in this challenge.  On top of the gorgeous Pumpkin Pie satin ribbon I've layered one of the Framelits, that I've stamped and sponged.  I finished my card with some little paper rosettes and a touch of bling.  To be really honest I'm still not actually sure I like this card.  I thought it might grow on me...

So why don't you join the challenge fun and choose whichever line you want to use?  Head on over to Addicted to Stamps to check out the Bingo card for yourself and see what the rest of the talented design team have provided for your inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Addicted to Stamps - Make Your Mark Challenge #1

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Good Wednesday morning ~

I hope you've come back to check out the very first Addicted to Stamps challenge.  It's a very exciting day and Kylie has put a lot of effort into getting things up and running on time.  There will be a new challenge every Wednesday - for further information and details head on over to the Addicted to Stamps challenge blog for a browse.

This week is Make Your Mark - anything goes so long as you use your markers, or your preferred colouring medium on your creation.

I've coloured up a cute little Puddle Jumper image from LORi Boyd with my copics.  Look closely, there's even a little sponging!  I'm usually a bit heavy handed and end up binning what I sponge so I was just a tad excited to have this one work for me.

I've used a base of Whisper White c/s, popped a mat of Crumb Cake up on dimensionals and added some Bashful Blue and Island Indigo designer series paper, before wrapping some of the gorgeous matching ruffled ribbon around.  'Ella' has been cut with an oval nestie and popped up on dimensionals.  I finished my card off with a button and some bling.

I'm thinking this might be a good get well or feel better card (being that Ella is in her dressing gown) so I'll add the sentiment to the inside when an occasion arises.

I would so love you to support our very first Addicted to Stamps challenge this week.  Head on over to check out the design team inspiration then grab your markers, pencils, aqua pen...and have some colouring fun.  Don't forget to link up before next Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by today.