Some exciting news - there's a new CAS Challenge blog coming soon

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Happy Saturday to you all.

It's the weekend.  Yay!  The sun is shining and I've got some lovely social activities to look forward to over the next couple of days.  Nothing too taxing of course lol.

I'm popping in quickly to share some exciting news.  Addicted to Stamps and More challenge blog has a new addition ... Addicted to CAS.  Pop over and have a look around.  It's all about Clean and Simple (CAS).  There will be a Code Word to inspire your creations and we've got some fabulous sponsors lined up so there will be prizes too! The challenges will be fortnightly with the first commencing on 17 November.

Be sure to 'follow' Addicted to CAS so you don't miss out on the challenge fun.  We look forward to having you join us and seeing all your fabulous CAS creations.  Are you excited?

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.

Birthday Boy

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Good morning ~

I totally love Fridays don't you?  Silly question, of course you do!  Well that is if your working week is coming to an end.  Not so much if you're just starting out I guess...

A friend needed a birthday card for her nephew this month.  He really likes his cards personalised with his name, but as it's double figures this year I decided to go with numbers instead.

I truly had no idea where this card was going other than the Real Red c/s and Polka Dot dsp mat - I have been dying to crack open my new SU Polka Dot Parade dsp - I love love love spots and dots.  I drew inspiration for the layering of my die cuts from this lovely card by my dear friend Karen.

Hope you like.  Have a great weekend.

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.