G'day!

G'day everyone. How are you today. Well, after a couple of days of much needed rain and cooler temperatures, the heat and humidity are back with a vengeance, blah!

I received some happy mail yesterday even though I was hoping it would come before Christmas so they could go under the tree. Two little Lawn Fawn stamps with dies. I had a little play overnight and here is what I came up with.

This little birdie is from the Winter Sparrows set. I decided that by adding the little music notes, I could change the earmuffs into headphones and have this little fella jiving away to some tunes.

I have coloured him with my Spectrum Noir markers and then die cut him and the branch

The stitched rectangle dies are from Lil' Inkers.

The G'day stamp is from a Inspired by Stamping set called Teeny Tiny Greetings.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges -

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

(I missed out on the last challenge which was a sketch)

I have recently joined up at Kit and Clowder and aim to do some of the colouring courses that Alyce has on offer. She is amazing (and an Aussie girl ;) )

Thank so much for looking xx

My Favourite 5 Christmas Cards for 2014

This is a first for me! I am going to play along in the Blog Hop organised by Debby at A Scrap Journey.

Debby would like us to link up to show off our favourite 5 Christmas cards that were made in 2014.

It was fun going back through my cards and here are my choices -

This was a DT card made for the ATCAS challenge - Cuddly. 

This was a DT card that I made for the ATSM challenge - Make your Mark

This was a DT card that I made for the ATSM challenge - Holiday

This was a DT card that I made for the ATCAS challenge - Sketch

This was a DT card made for the Happy Little Stampers December Sketch Challenge

I realised when choosing my cards that most of them were coloured with my Spectrum Noir markers. I do enjoy colouring in!

Thanks for looking xx

Life Is Good - Alcohol Marker Tutorial

Hi everyone, how are you all. In keeping on with the theme of no more Christmas Cards, I decided to put together a little tutorial on how to colour images with Alcohol Markers.

I use Spectrum Noir and don't practice nearly enough with them and I do love me some colouring in time :)

I am in no way an expert at this but I find my technique does the job for me and hopefully it may help you if you are wondering how I have coloured images in the past.

Here is the card that I have made -

Below is my video tutorial on how I made this card. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me or leave a comment below. I did have to hurry at the end to get the card finished as the sun was not being my friend :(

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges -

Animal Friends Challenge - Anything Goes with an Animal (Mr Crab is my animal)

Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper Challenge - Anything Goes

Dies R Us - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for looking xx

Winner of my Christmas Card Challenge

Hi there everyone! I hope you have had a wonderful weekend.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my Christmas Card challenge. I absolutely loved looking through your amazing creations. 

A big thanks to the ladies who helped out by providing inspiration xx

Now onto the winner - chosen by Random.org is

#12 Mary Marsh

Mary submitted this stunning card -

Congratulations Mary! You have won a personal watermark and blog signature created by moi, valued at US$40!

Please contact me at kyliepurtell@gmail.com within 5 days to claim your prize.

If you are interested in a personal watermark, blog signature or blog header please email me at kyliepurtell@gmail.com with your enquiry. You have until the 31st of December to receive 10% off the total price. 

Thank you!

Hi everyone and welcome back.

Over at the Inspired by Stamping Blog we are concentrating on 'Thank You' cards.  What I came up with doesn't have your 'normal' kind of theme.

I will be creating a set of cards to hand out to 5 special ladies next year. They are joining me on a 12 night cruise to the South Pacific and Fiji to celebrate my 40th birthday. It isn't a cheap holiday and I am overwhelmed and feel blessed that we are going on this trip. I'm going to make up little gift bags for them - perhaps some sunscreen, lip balm and stuff like that. We will be doing lots of swimming and snorkelling when we visit those amazing islands.

So, here is one card that I have made and gave it a holiday theme.

I have used the Summer Fun set for this one - how appropriate lol

I die cut a white circle and then adhered a textured paint swatch (from the hardware store) which was also die cut with a circle. Then I ran it through again to get a clean edge.

The thongs were stamped and fussy cut. The rubber tops were embossed with white powder.

The sentiment is from The Sky's the Limit set.

I was able to mask one side of the sentiment so I could stamp either side of my umbrella stand.

Quite quick and easy and a fun card to give to a wonderful friend.

Thank so much for popping by today xx

ATSM #126 - Anything Goes with a TWIST

Good monring everyone! I hope you are well. 

Today we have a very special challenge at ATSM. It is our last challenge for 2014 but also a challenge dedicated to our teamie, Marina. Yes, it is Anything Goes but there is an optional twist. 

The optional twist you may use is LOVE. This is because Marina is getting married at the end of this month and we wanted to create cards for her and Max. 

Congratulations to you both! Here's to a life full of happiness and laughter :)

I have used some Lil' Inker dies and some PTI dies to create my card. The sentiment is from the SU called Love and Laughter. 

Today also marks the last day for 3 of our DT members who are stepping down from the team.

Loll

Monika

Shana

These ladies are super duper awesome and I will miss them so much at ATSM. 

Loll, you are one of the most amazing and generous people I know. Thank you for all your help here at ATSM over the years. I can't thank you enough, really. I look forward to having you around more at Happy Little Stampers!!

Monika, it was amazing to meet you back in April. You will probably never know how much I appreciate the time and effort it took for you to come into London to meet me for lunch. You are awesome!! 

Shana - you are so beautiful and a wonderful crafter! I hope you are enjoying your teaching. Thank you so much for being part of my team here at ATSM xx

Thanks so much for looking xx

Watercoloured Spring Lilacs

Using my absolute favourite technique at the moment - Acrylic Block Stamping - I have come up with a card to showcase the Spring Lilacs stamp set from Inspired by Stamping.

I love Christmas and making cards but it's always nice to return to non-christmas creations.

I created my background by using acrylic blocks and distress inks - you can see my video tutorial HERE

Once my panel was finished, I added raindrop gems and sequins.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges

Thanks so much for looking xx

ATCAS - Family

Happy Saturday everyone.

Over at Addicted to CAS, we have a brand new challenge which is being hosted by the incredibly talented Shana. 

Here is the code word she has chosen for you -

This is a great code word for this time of year. I LOVE my family - here is my card 

I used the heart die from my PTI Shakers and Sprinkles kit to create my shaker element. I used one of the confetti dies as a filler and three little heart dies from Lil' Inkers

The stamp is from the same PTI set.

This is the last challenge for ATCAS for 2014. You still have two weeks to link up. Then we will be back with our first challenge on the 17th of January.

There are girls that are stepping down from the DT so they wont be joining us next year -

Michelle - thank you so very much for being part of the team. Your creations are always amazing and inspiring. Take care! xx

Sylvia - you are one of the most gorgeous ladies I know. It was an honour to meet you while I visited London. You made the big trip to the city so we could have lunch together. I will never forget that day or you. xx

Karen - my friend! You are always in my thoughts and prayers. You have been such an inspiring team member at ATCAS with your amazing cards. I wish we could have met in April but I was so lucky to meet your sister, Val. When you see each other before Christmas, you have to give each other a hug from me. xx

Marie - what's to say about ugly bum? Well, I do have to admit that when we met in Spain, we were like we had known each other all our lives. Marie was a bad influence especially when it came to drinking. Wow, we had a sensational 5 days and it was a time in my life I will never forget. From our sight seeing trips down the coast of southern Spain, the walk around the village visiting each bar, the lunch at the old bandit restaurant and then singing ABBA songs.... you crazy woman. Love ya guts xx

and last but not least - 

Sandie - my London bestie. Sandie opened up her home to me in April. All she and Callum did was look after me and spoil me. I saw nearly the whole of London, went shopping, ate sushi, went to the theatre, had Chinese food home delivered, was given chocolate on Easter Sunday, had cocktails made for me every night and got to make cards. My time with Sandie and Callum was unforgettable and I thank them so much for the wonderful memories. They are even talking about coming over to Australia in 2016 and it can't come soon enough! I miss you heaps, my friend and cherish our memories. 

So, as you can see my ATCAS designers are not just designers. They are my family too. I love them all dearly and appreciate all the work they put into ATCAS. 

******************************************

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges -

Daring Cardmakers - Shaker cards

Penny's Paper-Crafty - Anything other than Christmas

Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for looking xx

Mixing it up with Lil' Inker Stamps

Hi everyone, how are you all? Getting ready for Christmas, I bet. With all the Christmas Challenges out there and the fact that I have pretty much finished my cards and sent them out, it was good to create something different today.

For all of you that have birthdays in December - you can tend to get forgotten! I have a number of family and friends who celebrate their birthdays this month.

I had a lot of fun playing with a couple of Lil' Inker Designs stamp sets.

This card is for a very, very good friend of mine. We both have a stupid sense of humour. She isn't a girly girly woman and I pretty much bought these stamp sets just to use for her lol. 

There are so many fun sentiments in these sets that I wanted to create a collage of sorts.

These are the sets that I used -

I practised stamping the sentiments that I wanted to use onto a scrap piece of paper first so I could get a design that I liked. Then I cut out my 'art' with a square die. The backing paper I have used is from my PTI Shakers and Sprinkles kit. The little strip that I cut off the side has been used on the inside of the card.

Here is a close up of these funny sentiments -

The little star stamp is from a Lawn Fawn set called Life is Good. 

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges -

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes (optional twist to use)

Creative Card Crew - Birthday with Sentiment (I've used heaps!)

Through the Purple Haze - Use a Sentiment

A Little Bit Crafty - Anything Goes but NOT Christmas

Thanks so much for looking xx

Last minute CAS Christmas Cards

Hi everyone and thanks for popping in.

Over at Inspired by Stamping we are showing you how to create quick and easy last minute Holiday Cards.

You can't get quicker and easy then a one layer CAS card :)

Using the tree from the Build A Stocking set

I have stamped them with versamark ink and embossed with gold powder. A gold sequin was all that was needed to decorate these trees.

The sentiment is from the Poinsettias set

This card took me less than 10 minutes to make. The most time consuming part was the embossing. If you wanted to cut your time down even more, just stamp your trees and forget the embossing.

Head on over to the blog for more inspiration!

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges -

Inkspirational - Anything Goes with Gold

Fantasy Stampers - CAS Christmas

Frosted Designs - Holiday Project without Red or Green

Just Us Girls - Sparkle

Thanks so much for looking xx

STAMPlorations December Challenge + goodbyes

Hi everyone and welcome back. 

Today is the start of the new monthly challenge over at STAMPlorations. This challenge is

Choose any of our past challenges for inspiration (monthly or sketch).

I decided to choose a challenge that I missed creating for because I was off galavanting around London and Spain ;)

Back in April of this year our challenge was -

You could show us your favourite technique to use. I have chosen

ACRYLIC BLOCK WATERCOLOURING

(You can see my tutorial HERE)

Yep! That was hard to decide. It really is my favourite technique at the moment. 

Here is my card

I wanted to use this stamp from the TYPOGRAFIA: Encouragement set so I inked up my acrylic blocks with Distress Ink colours (Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed & Scattered Straw) I felt reflected the desert. I die cut a sun from another panel that I used the same technique for and inked the edges with a brown ink.

All the splats were made with my acrylic blocks as well. Just ink up the block and spray it really well with water. Let the drips fall onto your watercolour paper.

We also have a guest desinger joining us for this challenge - LauraJane

I would now like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to Shery of STAMPlorations. This will be my last post as a Design Team member for her. Thanks so much to all the other girls at STAMPlorations. They are an amazing team!!

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges -

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes (optional twist)

Thanks so much for looking xx

Christmas Card Challenge

Hi there everyone! Need a little inspiration to make last minute Christmas Cards?

I have a challenge that is going to run here on my blog until the 21st of December which is only for Christmas Cards. Any style you like, just make sure it is a Christmas Card.

I have some special designers joining me. These ladies are from my Design Teams at ATCAS and ATSM. I created each of them their own personal watermark to use on their projects and they are kind enough to join in my challenge to showcase them.

The prize on offer will be a watermark and signature valued at $40

Here is inspiration from myself and my wonderful guests -

Kylie

Barb

Hayley

Loll

Sandie

Lee-Anne

Julie

Marina Johan

Anita

Rahmat

 

I would also like to enter my card into the challenge over at

Now it is over to you. I would like to thank my lovely girls for creating something for this challenge.

EDITED: DEAR FOLLOWERS. AS OF 7.30PM (AEST) ON 19TH DECEMBER 2014, THERE SEEMS TO BE A PROBLEM WITH LINKING TO CHALLENGES THAT USE INLINKZ. UNFORTUNATELY I CANNOT FIND ANY NEWS OR REPORTS TO HELP WITH WHAT THE PROBLEM MAY BE. FOR THE TIME BEING, PLEASE ADD YOUR LINK TO THE COMMENT SECTION IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PLAY ALONG. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND I HOPE THAT INLINKZ RESOLVES THIS ISSUE SOON.

An InLinkz Link-up

HLS December Sketch Challenge

Hello! We are up to our next sketch challenge over at Happy Little Stampers. Wow, it is December.... hopefully this sketch will help you with the last minute cards you need to make.

Our sponsor is

and there will be a $5 gift certificate to her store!

Here is my card -

I received some really cool stencils from Loll and I put them straight to work.  You will also see inspiration from Loll over at the HLS blog. She has been working really hard with some new ideas for the forum and we are both really excited about what's coming up. Stay tuned!

I have used Versamark Ink over the stencil and then embossed with black powder. Then I used Distress Inks and sponged my sky. A silver pen was used to create the snow.

I'm not sure if you can tell but I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and then over the top again with black ink. It gives it a really cool shadow effect.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges -

Time Out - Embossing

Inkspirational - Christmas optional twist no red or green

Completely Christmas - AG with twist of something beginning with 'S" (Stencil, Santa, Snow, Sponging)

Thanks so much for looking xx

More Christmas Cards using Inspired by Stamping

Hi everyone,

Another quick post from me today.

Here is a vintage looking Christmas Card that I have created using products from Inspired by Stamping.

I did a lot of sponging with distress inks and then just layered my stamps over each other.

I have used the following supplies -

Build A Stocking

Poinsettias

Spring Lilacs http://www.inspiredbystamping.com/products/spring-lilacs-1

(see, you don't HAVE to only use Christmas themed stamps to create a Christmas card)

Thanks so much for looking xx