Been awhile!

Yes, it's been quite awhile since I last posted. I've been focused on other stuff and have sadly been neglectful of my blog. I have been doing some stuff though and thought I'd share some Christmas goodies I made for Bailey and Nathan's kinder.

Here's a closer look at the card. I've used some heat set powder to adhere the glitter, but next time I think I'd stamp in versamark ink, then red so that I get more depth of colour.

I also tried my hand at some boxes. the first one can be used as a gift card holder and with some yummy choccies added is a nice gift to give someone.

This last box I was planning on putting some lollies in but it was just too small, so instead I stamped some gift tags and used it for to hold these. I plan to make it again but I'll re-sized it so it's bigger.

 Well that's it. I'm hoping to post a bit more often. I'm just putting the finishing touches to an Advent Calendar and I've been playing around with some glass baubles, which is lots of fun.

Till then. Hope you are having a good weekend.

Scrapbooking Party Page

A quick post today. This is a scrapbook page I did for a workshop recently. Just playing around with some stamps to see what would happen. I've got a whole wish list of stuff I want to get, including a DSI xl, which of course is a high priority!!! Still I'll keep plugging away and you never know what will happen.

Hope yours is a good day.

Nature's Delight

A quick post today. Last Friday we had a stormy day and Bailey was hiding under the couch (he's not a fan of rain, or dark clouds) he kept looking out the back windows and was super excited to see this rainbow. When we wento out to the backyard to take a photo I realised that there were actually two rainbows, one almost gone and one brand new. Rainbow's to me are nature's special gift. I hope you enjoy and should be back soon with some cards.

Father's Day

Hello, today I thought I'd share with you the frame I did for Andrew for his Father's Day present. I've use Boho Backgrounds stamp to stamp the small stars and then used a scrapbooking kit for the rest.

Bailey and Nathan also did their own cards for Father's Day at kinder, and here they are:

This one is Bailiey's card.

This one is Nathan's card.

I haven't actually done much cardmaking recently, I've been focusing on de-cluttering, which I never seem to win with, and spending money on more stuff! I also recently started an online course with Kal Barteski on nurturing creativity, and I'll share some stuff I do with that course as well.

Butterflies

Hello. Another month between posts. I've been busy trying to declutter the room I use to make stuff in. I'm a little overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that I actually own! So I've started a box for the don't need but not sure what to do with stuff, and in the mean time I try to use up the stuff I want. Still the new Stampin' Up catalogue starts September 1 and I want soooooo much more stuff out ot that. Onto some cards.

This first one I did awhile ago and I don't think I've posted it before. I've created the butterfly with a mask using a buttlerfly punch. It's quite effective, although difficult to see in the crappy photo I've taken!

The next card is also butterfly themed. I love butterflies, they are a gentle and beautiful gift from nature and on a sunny day to see them floating in your garden is amazing. This card is based on a design by another of my favourite cardmakers Andrea Walford. My sister, who's birthday it is today (happy birthday Jenni, and Mum!), suggested it looked very much like a birthday card for her, so I guess it is! Again my crappy photo doesn't show up all of the glittering goodness found on the butterfly's wings.

I've been working on a Father's day craft project for Andrew, but can't post that, so my next post might include some Christmas cards designs I've been working. Until then happy thoughts.

Some busy cards

I have decided, at least for the moment, to continue blogging even if it means I'm unlikely to get any comments - sigh! - I admit I'm jealous of people who have lots of comments.

Although the info on the side-bar says I'm a calligrapher and mixed media artist, but at the moment I don't seem to have the capacity to do much. Twin boys who at the moment are seriously pushing the boundaries leave me tired and with very little capacity for creativity. Add to this a 40,000 word thesis that is going along at a snail's pace and I'm thankful for stamping and card making. I can finish a card in 30 minutes and feel like I have achieved something creative and that makes me very happy. So to some cards.

This first one is a bit of a departure from my normal style, but that's okay. The style is a case from Kristina Werner (one of my fav cardmakers) and although I'm not unhappy with it, it's a bit busier than I normally like.

The second one is also a case from an SU demonstrator Sue Rowe, although she used ovals and circle and I have used a sizzix tag-die. Either way it's a cute card.

I hope you like these cards and I hope that I get at least one comment. Till next time . . .

Okay . . .

 . . . so after posting about the comments from porn spammers, the only comments I received were fromt the said spammers - I think this is trying to send me a message!! So after doing some research on blogger help I have decided to make comments available only to members of this blog. What that probably means is that I won't get any comments at all, but hey at least I won't have to constantly delete Tawainese/Chinese porn links from my blog. If that doesn't work then I'll be shutting my blog down and rethinking what I do.

blog hijacked

Yes I know I haven't blogged for a while, but at the moment I'm trying to decide whether to keep blogging or start a new one. Currently my blog has been hijacked by Tawainese porn sites that leave me comments linking to their porn sites. I have moderated my comments, but I see no way of getting rid of them other than this. It got me thinking that what does it say about my blog if the only people who can be bothered to leave a comment are porn sites!! So at the moment I'm not sure what to do. I like blogging, but I also like to believe that someone out there reads it. I could I suppose start a new one and hope that the porn sites leave me alone.

If anyone does read this blog and does know how to get rid of these sites I'd be grateful if you leave a real comment!

Karen

Some artwork . . .

Today I decided that instead of cleaning the toilet I would do some drawing. I've been looking at this image for a while and thought it would look nice. I decided to use soluable graphic pencil, which are really cool, except when you don't use watercolour paper (doh!), so I might have to have another go!!

This is another drawing I've done recently, I love working in pencil, although I have visions of her ending up in another media! Forgive the quality of the photos, I really need to work out a better place for taking photos.

Sadly, the toilets are still there to clean, so off I go . . .

Can't think of a title!

If you're a regular blog addict like me you've probably seen something similar around.

I love the new Vintage Vogue stamp set, it's so versatile (and pretty!). I like the simplicity of this type of card, but didn't realise how bad I am at drawing squares (lol!). Had the chance to make a few different cards this weekend, some new techniques that I have been wanting to try. I just need to take photos and you'll be able to see them.

I hope all of you lovely mothers out there had a great Mother's Day. We did; train to Camberwell, brunch with both sets of grandparents at Georges and then a browse at The Well and Borders; back home to a quiet afternoon; hubbie made tea!

Clean v Detailed

At the moment I either like to make clean cards with little embellishment, the stamping really speaks for itself or I like to use the stamps to build a scene.

This card is based on a clean & simple fall-to-layout but I can't remember which one. I like the clean lines on this type of card. It is simple but effective. I also love Kraft CS at the moment and find myself reaching for it in preference to coloured CS.

This one is, of course, much more cluttered, but the scene lends it self to lots of layers and shapes. I made this for a friend's 3-year old and I repeated it again for one of my Nathan one of my twins who loves trains. For Bailey I built a space theme, but can't find the card to take a photo (doh!).

I've managed to do a few cards this week and have found going back to basics in my stamping and keeping it simple has helped me to get things going again. I have work next week so I may not be able to make as many cards. I also have several calligraphy projects planned, but just can't find the right time to sit down and do them. Oh, well I'll get there eventually!! Till then . . .

Layered Emboss

Hello again. Last time I spoke about spilling all my embossing powder (doh!). One of the techniques I've been trying is a layered emboss technique that Jennifer McGuire shows on her website. She does it with distress ink and I wanted to see if it worked with SU ink, which it does.

 I started by applying ink direct to paper with the Stampin' spots. I just picked whatever came into my hand with a mix of dark and light. Then I clear embossed my flowers, I overstamped and embossed some of the black leaves in this card.

I then sponged Bravo Burgundy over the whole of my image (I did this quite hard to get a good colour). Once that was dry I wiped the image with a tissue to wipe of any excess in. I quite like the result and the different colours it achieved. Especially in the 'a note for you card' above, the effect is quite striking.

I think it will be a technique I'll play around with again when the mood strikes.

Not gone, just gone mad!!

Yes, I know it's been a long time since I blogged, but haven't really had the motivation. Today typifies my efforts of late, I've been trying to play with an emboss layer resist technique and just dropped my clear embossing powder all over the carpet! After swearing heaps I tried to save some of it, but think I've managed to pick up carpet fibres - seriously bummed.

I hope to have some cards posted soon, but given this type of effort it might not happen. 

Happy Day

It's been too long since I last posted, time gets away from me sometimes. I have two passions at the moment in cardmaking, either I do a scene like in this card or it's clean and simple, a stamp, an embellishment. I had no idea how to use this SS when I first got it, but I'm happy with this one.

It's a quick post today as Bailey is trying to cut something out, Nathan is running around outside and I have a roast to cook for my birthday - there's something not quite right about that lol!!

Hopefully it won't be as long between posts.

Die cuts part two . . .

Another play with diecuts. I really wanted to try something different with this one and I'm quite happy with the result.

I have stamped and embossed love from the love you stamp using white embossing powder. I've also white embossed the hearts and then filled with crystal effects and glitter. (my current fav technique). The circle in the middle I white embossed, which was very tricky and then I've done the same as the hears, and used a foam dot to make it sit up a bit. A bit of ribbon, some dots and we're done. If I did another one of these I'd white emboss the cherish sentiment to make it stand out a bit.

I've decided to enter this one in the Just Add Ink challenge.

I'm in TV heaven this week. Monday was Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters my two favourite tv shows - happy they are back. Scrapbooking with the girls on Friday night and then the weekend with my family, it's good, good, good.

Die cuts with a twist . . .

I decided to challenge myself to use some of the diecuts that were taking up space and this one of those cards that just worked.

Here's what I did:

• used the boho backgrounds stamp and clear embossed
• adhered the scallop cut out of DSP (left over chrissie paper)
• cut out the circle
• covered the small die cut with dsp and cut it out, embossed with cuttlebug and edged in ink
• traced the small die cut onto the larger one and then added glitter
• white embossed baroqe motifs onto the DSP and then cut out a strip
• stamped happy birthday on whisper white cut it out stuck it to DSP.

Here's a close up of the embossed DSP - I quite like this effect, I've also added some Night of Navy ink over the embossing to give it some dimension.

All in all quite happy with this card and some of the techniques I tried out. I'm thoroughly enjoying playing around with stamps, it's great stress relief while Bailey and Nathan are home full-time. I have some grand plans for some artwork, but need some time and headspace to be able to produce it. Bring on kinder next week!

My first challenge . . . what do you think?

This is my first go at doing any kid of challenge. It was fun, I got inspiration while making the salad for last night's tea. Having said that what I sketched out and what I produced were a little different, but that's okay creativity is an exploratory process. I must say I had some difficulty finding some very vanilla, but managed to find a scrap. I'm trying my hardest to use what I have - this also means that I'm almost out of adhesive (gasp!!). Needless to say I'm ordering some tomorrow.

While I'm not really a Valentine's Day celebrator, I'm really into hearts at the moment and I love the little hearts from the short and sweet set. I use them a lot and one of my fav things to do is to fill them with Kristal Effects and then put the Dazzling Diamonds over that. It takes a little while to dry but the effect is great, at least in my opinion.

I'd love to know what you think so please leave me some comment love . . . Karen

Some cards . . .

Okay so, finally some cards. This first one uses a Die Cut (currently on special) as well as the For Everything set from the Summer Mini.

The next one was inspired by Kirsty's easel card, although I made up the measurements as best I could. Now that I look at it I think it needs something in the top corners, maybe a small flower stamp or brads.

Here's another view. This card uses the Enjoy Every Moment and Hostess gift stamp.

I have sooooooooo much stuff in scraps that the next few cards I plan will be using those scraps. I also have some ideas on using the die cuts. Till then xx

New Year New Look

Happy New Year!

I've been trying to update my blog into the 21st century and this has taken up valuable stamping and artwork time! My computer belongs in another age and is starting to protest and take a long, long, long time to do anything . . . computer rage is becoming regular ! lol! I still can't get the buttons up the top of my blog to work, but have run out of time to play so will have a go at that next time. Hopefully my next post will be a card or some artwork.