Welcome to the August Blog Hop

WELCOME TO THE AUGUST BLOG HOP!

Hello Everybody!

   

 Last month we saw the first blog hop with Sean and Regina. There were some awsome prizes and I was lucky enough to receive one of them. 

Thanks for coming to play along with us in our August Blog Hop. This blog hop is featuring cards and sentiments celebrating FALL. 

OUR BLOG HOP SPONSOR



Scrapbook Stamp Society is our blog hop sponsor. The overall winner will receive digi's from our sponsor. Please visit them at http://scrapbookstampsociety.com/index.php? 

Some of our blog hop host/hostess designers will be offering blog candy on their blog sites so don't forget to visit his/her blog (and leave a comment) to be eligible for bonus blog hop prizes.

 As I live in Australia it is Winter here but I have made 2 cards which depicts the

As i live in Australia it is WINTER here but  I have made 2 cards that depicts FALL COLOURS as it would be here for our Autumn which has the falling leaves and crisp cool breeze in the air.

My first card has white base card and I stamped various leaves (from unknown stamp name sorry) with Tim Holtz distress inks. I used Victorian Velvet, Frayed Burlap and VersaColour Olive. The main image has been backed with popped brown cs The small orange dots are from SU Beyond the Basics. The sentiment is from a GinaK stamp.  I finished this card off by spraying the whole card with SU Champagne Mist to make it "glow"

I would like to thank Tanya Cordingly for the inspiration behind the making of this card. 

The second image (below) is a close up to try and show you the shimmer of the gold sprayed mist.

 

My second card has black card stock as the base. I topped it with a fawn mulberry paper which has gold swirls. The autumn leaves are cut out with a CB maple leaf die. The designer paper at the back is from the Fall Harvest Mat Pad from KCompany. The main focal image is a CB Fall embossing folder and the paper is burnished copper and backed again with black card stock.

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Now it is your turn to blog hop with all of our friends!  The rules are simple:

1.     Leave a comment on Sean's blog first
http://cardcraftyclub.blogspot.com

(and become a follower to enter a chance to win the grand prize from Scrapbook Stamp Society)

2.     Go down the list of blogs visiting all of them (see below).  Leave comments on their blog pages to be eligible for bonus blog candy from select blog hosts. The blog hop host/hostee offering bonus blog candy will indicate that he/she has a bonus blog candy prize so read their blog post carefully. Each blog will have the name and blog address for the next host/hostess in line for the blog hop. Our Number 2 is Regina at
http://cardsbyregina.blogspot.com

3.     At the end of the hop, a random winner will be chosen for the Blog Hop prize from our sponsor and select blog hop hosts for Bonus Blog Candy.  The deadline for leaving comments is Monday, August 20, 2012 at 8pm CST.   Winners of the Grand Prize and bonus Blog Candy will be announced Tuesday, August 21, 2012.

The Blog Hop participants are as follows:

Sean Fetterman	http://cardcraftyclub.blogspot.com
Regina Hardy	http://cardsbyregina.blogspot.com
Zenita Smith	http://scrappinwithz.blogspot.com
Melissa Cash	http://INKclinations.blogspot.com
Sharri Seffens	http://istamp4u.blogspot.com
Linda Anderson	http://stamperstouch.blogspot.com
Kay Simmons	http://livinlifeinthecreativelane.blogspot.com
Donna Rinckel	http://indianainking.blogspot.com
Ina Grehan	http://littlebitsofcraft.blogspot.com
Roxie Nitti	http://roxiesstampingroom.blogspot.com/
Aixa Mercado	http://www.cardjewels.com
Jennifer Restivo	http://craftycardgallery.blogspot.com
Tracy Palmer	http://craftymomfl.blogspot.com

******** BONUS BLOG CANDY HERE ********

Please sign up and leave a comment to be eligible to win blog candy here!
I am giving away the 2 cards I made, the small sentiment stamp and also a CB embossing/die cut with Halloween on it.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Now go to Roxie's at

http://roxiesstampingroom.blogspot.com/

Next Blog Hop with Sean and Regina is on Aug 17th

Hi Everyone!

 

  Last month we saw the first blog hop with Sean and Regina. There were some awsome prizes and I was lucky enough to receive one of them. 

 I will be one of the Hostesses for this one & I hope you'll plan on joining us for this month's hop on Friday, August 17th, starting at 8am.  

The theme is going to be....  FALL.  You'll see beautiful cards made by the blog hop hosts using the Fall theme to inspire you. 

 Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you here later in the week.

New Blog in Town

There is a NEW BLOG HOP IN TOWN

Sean and Regina have been really busy organizing a new blog hop.

The first one of many starts this Friday 20th July and the Theme is Christmas/Winter so be sure to pop on over and check out all the fabulous cards that will be there. There is also Blog Candy to be won and you have 12 chances to win from the 12 participants. Seeing these lovely cards will make you want to get started on those Christmas cards that we all leave so late to start.

Add this to your calendar of Must Do's.

Be sure to keep up to date with each of the hops and the dates by visiting 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blog-Hop-with-Sean-and-Regina/341457002595022

and of course join up for all the fun.

Hoping my blogger friends will come visit and leave lovely comments.

I will be part of the Blog Hop in August and I will remind you of this at a later date.

Enjoy your crafting my Friends and don't be afraid to make a mess as you can't create without it - well at least I can't.

My Latest Challenge DCC74

This week over at The House that Stamps Build the Rock Star hostess, Lynette Neus, is challenging us to create a card using the colors greena and purple.
http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/designers-choice-challenge/dcc74-color-challenge/

Here is my card.
Card base is white and covered with green paper which was embossed with cb leaf folder and edges punched with MS punch. The top layer has the Spellbinders Lotus die which I then popped the focal image of Waterlilies & Dragonflies from the Repeat Impressions Beautiful Days stamp set. This was stamped on mauve paper (same as lotus cutout) and heat embossed with Zing Metallic powder. Added purple and yellow flowers with liquid pearl drops in Avacado. Added liquid pearls to the centre of the waterlily to finish it off.

Challenges Challenges Challenges

I have been BUSY as a bee making cards for various challenges. The Outlawz  have had a 2000 Member's Party which I made cards for the different challenges there. It was based on Where in the World so being from AUSTRALIA that is what mine were based on but there was one where you could enter where you would like to visit etc so of course I had to make one from my homeland of SCOTLAND.http://outlawzchallenges.ning.com/
Also over at StampTV their challenges are always fun and you get to win some of GinaK's fabulous grab bags of stamps. http://stamptv.ning.com/
Here are a couple of entries.

Tracy's Blog Candy

Please go over to Tracy's blog
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDeUJsg8x8dTxfQJkPhU72mljpFzGcUIdGVcu7SQCij5sR2yfCBD9_Q3Gg4G9fYsJDVNLeOF0b5uhde4LkSOEzzf7N38vDCyRksm56qOjROdS11e5GhV8QnV000qZRyr7YY6hnYgeWb0T/s1600/My+B-day+Candy.jpg
and check out her awsome gallery and while you are there become a follower and get a chance to win her BIRTHDAY CANDY.

Trying out my new Repeat Impressions Stamps

I received my new stamps yesterday from Repeat Impressions and had to try them out. I also received the stamp set Beautiful Days. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to win that set and also purchase a few of the lovely stamps as well. The quality is superb.

Here is one I made from the stamp Vase of Tulips 1317W
I am entering this card in the following challenge.
http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/designers-choice-challenge/dcc66-2-images-1-sentiment-challenge/

Some more time to CRAFT

Another day and I got to play. This time I made a card for the What if Wednesday Sketch Challenge http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/sketch-challenges/what-if-wednesday-sketch-challenge-m3012/

It is so nice when a card comes together easily and this one did just that. I had already stamped the dp with butterflies as a background and my apricot poinsettia was cut and sitting on my desk (with a whole lot of other stuff - you know how it is) so put it all together and just added a few bits and bobs and there it was - all done.

My Latest Card Challenge.

I have at last found time to play in my craft room and make this card for the current Designers Choice Challenge over at The House that Stamps Built.

http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/designers-choice-challenge/dcc523-three-elements-challenge/

My 3 Elements are

1 The Swiss Dots Embossing

2 The Stamped Image by Kaisercraft

3 Die Cut or Punch - The Die Cut Tag with Sentiment.

Thanks for looking. Ina.

A card I made for the What if Wednesday Sketch Challenge.

I have been MIA for a while now - Life seemed to get in the way of my hobby but now I have made time to make a card for one of my favourite web sites http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/sketch-challenges/what-if-wednesday-sketch-challenge-m1612/

This is the sketch above and what I came up with.

This card was simple to make. White card stock was topped with swiss dots on white. I then added a small strip of floral dp and covered it with my new SU flower punch. The main focus was cut out with Spellbinders Labels 20, cuttlebugged and inked then added the smaller label stamped with SU Bliss in Rich Razzleberry inked around focal point and edges. Added pearls to the centre of the image and on each side. I finished it off with twine attached with a sinker.

Hope you like it and if so love to see your comment as it is appreciated. Thanks Ina.

Liebster Award.

"The origins of the Liebster Blog award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany, Liebster meaning favorite or dearest, to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Upon accepting the award the recipient must then pass it on to five more blogs of note."

 

I would like to thank my friend Regina Cooper Hardy for choosing me to receive the Liebster Award.  Regina has some fabulous creations and I urge you to go to her blog http://cardsbyregina.blogspot.com.au/ and check it out. You won't be disappointed.

This is  what you do as a presenter of this award!

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve it.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

So, now it's my turn and my picks for fellow bloggers with less than 200 followers are:
 

1. Cheri Weston. Her fabulous blog is http://stampnboomer.blogspot.com.au/

2. Joan LaBelle - http://joaniescraftycreations.blogspot.com/

3. Shirley and her blog is http://papercreationsbyshirley.blogspot.com/

4. Cindy's blog - http://toolsofacropingqueen.blogspot.com.au/

5. Darlene Lyons's blog http://scrappyduesbydarlene.blogspot.com.au/

 

I know the 5 ladies I chose all do fabulous work and I enjoy visiting them regularly.

Now,  the 5 people I have chosen need to choose 5 of their own! 

Thanks Regina for the Liebster Blog Award! 

Newest Challenge.

Over at The House that Stamps Built there is another
Designer’s Choice Challenge DCC425.. 
We have to create a card for a woman we love.
My card is for a dear lady who recently turned 90. She is what I call our adopted Mum as she took my husband under her wing with her own son when they went to school and played soccer together. She has been a part of our lives for such a long time and is such a precious person. We love her dearly.
http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/designers-choice-challenge/dcc425-card-for-a-woman-you-love/

My base card stock is irredescent silver topped in apricot embossed pearl paper, with scored lines in middle top and bottom. The Spellbinders Poinsettia Dies (flower and leaves) are popped on top of the Cherry Lynn Italian Flourish and finished with a pearl centre. Tagged with Spellbinders Fancy Tags, apricot ribbon and 90 cut out with Cuttlebug.

Hope you all have been able to spend some time doing what we love best - Crafting. Thanks for looking and do hope you like my card. Ina.

Repeat Impressions DC Challenge DCC411

I am entering this card in the Designer's Choice challenge at Repeat Impressions where the challenge is "Birds of a Feather". My good friend Cheri Weston is challenging us to use birds or a bird as our focal image. This is for her.

Repeat Impressions DCC411 Designer's Choice Challenge

This is how I made it

White card stock topped again with white cs which was inked with French Script and edges touched in red. I cut out the Spellbinders fleur de lis pendant and backed it with red and black cs. The bird image is from SU Garden Collage and heat embossed in black. Added MS punched sprigs and 3 little red flowers which had centres of white liquid pearls. The satin ribbon I heated embossed to crinkle it slightly. Added a simple Hi Friend sentiment on a cut out Spellbinders Labels 20 and added a spot of red liquid pearls each side.

I enjoyed making this card in honor of Cheri and hope you like it.

I know she would love you to check her blog out too. She is so very talented.

http://stampnboomer.blogspot.com/

Thank you for stopping by and hope you will leave a comment for me. They are so welcome and appreciated. Ina

The House that Staps Built Challenge

Over at The House that Stamps Built I am entering the following card for the current

What If Wednesday sketch challenge.

How I made it!

Red cs topped with white which was scored top and bottom. Own ribbon, Spellbinders 20 was cut out and inked with silver around edges and popped followed by white cs which was stamped with Kaisercraft Devonshire Collection and heat embossed with SU silver and again popped and inked edges with red. To the right I popped the smaller die which was stamped and embossed with Grace Taylor's Friendship Banner stamp. I also inked the edges with red. The flower was stamped in black with the Kaisercraft stamp and added a touch of silver around the edges topped with the white flower painted silver, finished off with a silver heart brad.

http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/sketch-challenges/what-if-wednesday-sketch-challenge-m2112/

A BIG THANK YOU

Hello to all those who have visited me here and left such kind encouraging and lovely compliments on my cards I have made for special occasions or challenges. I would like to THANK YOU for taking the time to do so. I am so encouraged by your thoughts of  kindness.
My blog is still a work in progress and hope to include much more in the future.

Thought I would post this photo of some beautiful orchids. Ina.

Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz

Over at The Outlawz I have entered this card for Wednesday's Sketch Challenge.

I used white cs as a base and popped another white cs embossed with CB Houndtooth. Cut inked floral image Gumnut Brush by Stamp It Australia with Spellbinders Labels 18 and sponged around edges. Flower tips have perfect pearls. Green twine was intertwined over ribbon. 3 pp drops finished the image.

A CAS card for the current Perfect Sentiments Challenge

Over at Perfect Sentiments their current challenge is to do a Distressed Thank You card and since I have been away I thought I would do a CAS one. So here it is -

Pretty simple really. Aqua cs has been topped with white for backing and a further aqua piece of cs has been embossed with CB Bird Call and distressed to show the outline. I distressed the edges also and added ribbon and sentiment from SU to say Thank You. There you have it.

http://perfectsentimentschallenge.blogspot.com.au/

Back Home to Craft

I have been MIA for a few weeks now. First I went to visit my sister who lives about 4 hours from me outside Toowoomba and stopped by to have lunch with an old work mate. We stayed longer than we expected but hey anytime spent with family is GOOD. After coming home from there we had to repack our port (as it is called here in Q'land) suitcase to all others and headed south to the Sunshine Coast to celebrate a 90th surprise birthday gathering where we caught up with more friends we hadn't seen for a few years. Lots of fun and laughter for the week end and again stayed longer than expected. Now we are finally home and settled I now have time to get back to crafting. I so missed doing challenges so have been busy since I got back and have got a few done.

Below is the card I made for this special occasion.

The cs is metallic grey and topped with metallic apricot It is scored in the middle and topped with cb folder cut and placed over the top. Behind the poinsettia is the Cherry Lynn Italian Flourish die which has the Spellbinders Poinsettia added and finished off with a centre pearl to match the leaves. Spellbinder Tag is popped and a 90 cut out from CB alphabet and pearls either side. Apricot ribbon added to finish it off. 

I wll be back soon to add some cards I recently finished for a few challenges I would like to enter.

What if? Wednesday Sketch Challenge F2212

Over at The House that Stamps Built this weeks challenge is a simple Sketch Challenge.
http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/


 

 Here is my entry.

I stamped SU Fifth Avenue Floral stamp in 2 different blues on the top half and scored the borrom half. Then topped it with Spellbinders Fleur De Lis with floral paper and added the smaller die from the same set in both blues. Added ribbon, pearls and MS hydrangea punched flowers to the top. Underneath is a small button tied with a bit of twine and cutout from Nellie Snellan's Round Lily.

I WON!



First of all I would like to thank Bugaboo for their generous sponsorship of the recent

Paper Pierced Holidays & Seasons Challenge over at http://perfectsentimentschallenge.blogspot.com.au/

which I won with my Rainbow Butterfly card.

This weeks challenge is a Get Well Sketch.

I will be back later to post this new card.

  

Challenge Time

I have made this card for 2 challenges. The first is Outlaws Monday Greeting Card Challenge where Rainbow colours were asked for. Rainbows and a pot of Gold go hand in hand. We just need to find it!
http://outlawzchallenges.ning.com/group/birthdaycard/forum/topics/greetings-challenge-february-13th

and the second is for Perfect Sentiments Challenge where we were asked to do a holiday/season card with paper piercing. I think of rainbows and it reminds me of St Patrick's Day and that pot of Gold that is supposed to be at the end.
http://perfectsentimentschallenge.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/psc19-all-holiday-and-seasons.htmlt

 Sizzix butterflies in rainbow colours are attached on top of CS painted around the edges and white cs spritzed. Rainbow twine added and paper pierced. Corner flourish is from Kaisercraft and heat embossed in red The large red butterfly is glittered and other butterflies are doubled layered.

My New Challenge for the week.



I am entering this card in the Just Us Girls latest challenge. We are to add buttons to our card. Here I have added a button on top of ribbon after threading a little thread to add a little bit of dimention. Products used are mainly SU. I have popped a second butterfly on top of the middle one and paper pieced underneath the SU sentiment.

http://justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/just-us-girls-challenge-123-technique.html





A New Link

I made a mistake when I uploaded my cards yesterday and put them all together for the DCC21 Challenge at The House that Stamps Built so I am posting this card again hoping I can link it up correctly.
The flowers are from SU Fifth Avenue Floral. The main flower I inked in purple and gold and attached a gold pearl. The other 2 flowers have the centres coloured. All flowers are heat embossed. Added gold strip with cuttlebug border. Border punch is from SU as is the sentiment. Above that I scored 3 lines but cannot be seen in the photo. Here is the link for it http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/designers-choice-challenge/dcc21-embossing-challenge/

More Challenges.

I have made 3 more cards for the challenges at The House That Stamps Built and these 3 cards are for the Repeat Impressions DCC21 Designers Choice Challenge where we had to do Heat Embossing.
The top 2 are heat embossed with SU Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set and the bottom one is heat embossed with SU Vintage Vogue.
http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/ Here is the link for this Challenge.

A New Challenge for me this week.

Over at The House that Stamps Built I am entering the following card in their What If? Wednesday Challenge. The background paper is glittered but is hard to see. Paper flower is spritzed and has heart brad in centre and backed with Fleur De Lis Nesty. Tag has glitter around edges and held with a multi coloured crochet cotton. Here is the link for this challenge.
http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/

This is a card I made with generous supplies from Pattie Jones for a kit swap over in Downunder Stampers at StampTV .
I spritzed the yellow cs with Rich Razzleberry from SU. The orange & pink cs is cut with the Hearts die from Spellbinders. The tiny hearts are from the cut outs. The white doily and base cs is spritzed with silver. The gorgeous ribbon was weaved through a Joy Craft die. The big and tiny flowers are embellishments. The flourish is a Marianne die and the branches were punches. Also gave the large flowers a spritz with the silver.
THANK YOU PATTIE FOR BEING SO GENEROUS.

and another card I made from Pattie's generous kit. I made the doily into a fan after painting it in silver. An idea I picked up from Pattie. Beautiful flourishes added. The ribbon I cut into squares and attached. Liquid pearls around the fan.
Again THANK YOU PATTIE

Site Seeing in London

This is the left side

and the 2 pages showing the middle is popped up

and the right side

Here is a few more pages of my UK trip. Checking out the tourist sites of London.

Some Scrappin'

I have just joined the group Let's Scrap so to move away from cards this time I am going to add a couple of my favourite Scrap Pages. This is a double page layout of my trip back to Scotland and my home town with my sister. Precious Memories here.