Merry Christmas from Down Under

Merry Christmas everyone. It is Christmas morning here and I just wanted to take a few minutes to tell you all how much I love and appreciate your support of myself and my challenge blogs. It means the world to me and I am very grateful for all the friends I have made. 

Please be safe this holiday season. If you are travelling, take care on the roads!

Here are some Aussie Christmas images for you :)

Mixed Media Craziness!

Afternoon!

I spent a good part of my day creating this card. I love Mixed Media but the time it takes....ugh. I was hoping for a different look to what I have acheived but I'm not too unhappy.

Supplies: 

Mixed Media Paper. Cover lightly with gesso

Texture paste and stencil

Dylusions ink sprays

Ink Dabber

Distress Crackle Paint

HLS Butterfly Birthday

HLS Everyday Sentiments

HLS Butterfly Dies

HLS Mini Mister

            

I would like to link up to these challenges -

Thanks so much for popping by today :)

Mixed Media Canvas - No stamps

Hi there everyone.

I made a quick tutorial on how to create a Mixed Media Canvas. Enjoy!

Christmas Overload!

Happy Monday. I hope your weekend was fun and full of crafty time.

I am frantically trying to get my Christmas cards done. The last couple of days have been very productive with me making at least 20 cards. More to go, though...

I wanted to share with you a few that I have made. I'm very happy with how they have turned out.

Here is my first card -

This is super easy to create. I made a little triangle template and then randomly stamped the outline circles from the HLS Mix Mash set. The tiny dot is the 'full stop' from the HLS Bold Birthday Sentiments. The sentiment is from the HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments.

I coloured the circles in with WOS pens.

       

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

Time Out Challenges has this cool photo for inspiration. I love the circles!

Fantasy Stampsers - CAS Christmas

Christmas Cards All Year Round - Keep it Simple

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My next few cards use non-traditional Christmas colours -

This card was made using watercolour paper. I smeared my Festive Berries distress ink pad onto my craft sheet, misted it with water then smooshed my cardstock through the ink. Once it was dry, I did the same with Brillliance Galaxy Gold but just pounced the cardstock onto the ink to get various splotches.

I stamped the sentiment from the HLS Everyday Sentiments set and added some HLS Glitter Enamel dots.

    

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges

Card Mania - Christmas

The Artistic Stamper - Christmas

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My next card has LOTS of gold and sparkle -

For this card I tried my Brushos, Starch and Cling Wrap technique on Mixed Media paper. It didn't work as well as watercolour paper. Well not for me, anyway. I still got a good impression from the cling wrap. With the brushos, I added some perfect pearls to see how it would turn out. This was quite the experiment. It really does look pretty in real life.

Once it was all dry, I used a stencil and texture paste for the stars. Once they were dry, I replaced the stencil and used a sponge to add the gold. 

The sentiment is from the HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiment set.

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

ARTastic Challenges - Use Gold

Crafty Catz - Sparkle and Shine

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My next card was made VERY quickly. Brushos on the craft mat misted with water and then smooshed Mixed Media paper through the ink.

The sentiment is from the HLS Everyday Sentiment set. The Enamel Glitter dots finished it off.

    

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

Love the blue in this photo!

Thanks for sticking with me to the end! I hope you have a lovely day.

HLS Mixed Media Challenge - Anything Goes {I chose to Finger Paint!}

Hi there! Over at Happy Little Stampers this month we have our new Mixed Media challenge up and running. I'm not on the DT for this challenge but decided I wanted to play along and just spread the word about the challenge.

I got down and dirty today!

I created a canvas using Oil Pastels and my fingers :). What no stamps??

I started with applying gesso to the surface of my canvas. I scribbled my oil pastels around and blended with wet fingers. I kept repeating that until I was happy with the coverage and the colours.

I gave it all a quick dry off with my heat gun. Using black, I started to draw the circles for my flowers, then the stems and lastly the leaves.

I coloured in all the circles and leaves and with a wet finger I went around the outlines of everything just to soften it up.

I used a stencil and archival ink for the background texture.

Just to define things more I used a white gel pen as an outline. 

Lastly I sprayed the whole thing with a gloss sealer.

I have never attempted this sort of mixed media before so I was very happy with the result.

I am going to link up at

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

Thanks for popping in today xx

Happy Little Stampers December Christmas Challenge

Hello! Are you ready for a new Christmas challenge? Over at Happy Little Stampers our new challenge has just gone live. Time for you to get those last minute cards done and we have plenty of inspiration for you!

That's right - we would like you to use at least one star on your project. 

Here is my card -

I used a mixed media strip of paper. I slapped some texture paste through a memory box stencil (Stars Starry Nights). Once dry, I sprinkled red brushos all over and misted with water. Because of the white texture paste, the colour seemed to go pink but I really liked it.

When it was completely dry (again), I placed the stencil back on top and sponged gold ink over the stars. 

The sentiment (HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments) was embossed in gold on vellum. I tore the edge of the vellum for interest. This sentiment embossed like a dream.

If you play along this month, you have the chance to win a stamp set from Happy Little Stampers!

Pop on over to the challenge blog where you will find amazing inspiration from the designers!


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



Karleigh Sue Challenge - Anything Goes with a twist of Non-traditional Xmas colours
AAA Cards - Anything Goes Clean and Simple

Thanks so much for looking xx

Shake it Up for Christmas!

Hello!

I haven't felt like doing a lot of card making lately. I am so busy behind the scenes with all my blogs and challenges that time just doesn't permit me to craft 'for fun'. 

Today I made a conscious effort to make something that didn't 'need' to be made. Well, actually, I tell a lie. I haven't sent off one Christmas card yet.... I actually don't even have enough.... better start making some!

I love making shaker cards. I hate making shaker cards. Make sense?

I love the end result but to me it is a LOT of hard work with getting the tape just right and most the time my die cuts get out of shape while trying to put it all together. The sequins can stick to the tape on the inside of the shaker. All fixable but plenty more steps required. Anyway, as much as I love making them, I tend not to due to the time involved.

Today I decided I AM going to make a shaker card. I had seen where other crafters have used a fuse tool or even their sewing machine to create their shaker element. Not having a fuse tool left me with the sewing machine option - back to that in a minute.

Here is my card -

It was getting a little dark by the time I was trying to take my photo so it didn't turn out the best. 

A close up of the shaker element -

I even threw some snow-like 'stuff' in there which is very fine and it doesn't fall out!

You are probably thinking that the time spent sewing up everything and putting this together is just as time consuming as the traditional way to make a shaker card - well, it wasn't!

I made two cards which took me about 20 minutes all up to complete. I was lucky where I had backgrounds already made up that I could grab. This one here is where I was practising the Faux Mother of Pearl technique.

For this card I used a laminating pouch. I tore it in half and cut it down to size. I took it and the backing panel to my sewing machine and stitched up three sides leaving the top open.

Before I added all my sequins and 'snow', I embossed the sentiment (from Happy Little Stampers Bold Birthday Sentiments and Everyday Sentiments) with silver powder. This was really easy to do with the backing already in place. I find it hard at times to emboss on plastic or vellum but having it already attached it gave it extra stability.

I then just filled the pocket with my sequins and I was able to get heaps more in there than I would in a normal shaker card. I quickly stitched up the top and done!

I adhered it to my white panel with double sided tape and then again onto my card base. This was a seriously easy shaker card to make. 

My second card uses a vellum front but I will be posting that in a couple of days time :)

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

Stampotique Designers - Sequins

Ruby's Rainbow - Christmas with a Metallic Twist

Fresh Brewed Designs - Anything Goes Christmas

Dream Valley Challenges - Stitching Real or Faux

Thanks so much for popping by xx

Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge

Good morning! Hope you are well in your part of the world.

Today marks a new CAS challenge at Happy Little Stampers. Here is what we would like you to concentrate on:

Yep! That's right! This is going to be fun because how cool is it to just use your favourite technique and do whatever you like! Don't forget that you MUST keep it all Clean and Simple :)

Here is my card -

I love playing with my brushos. For this card, I have used Mixed Media paper. I first sprinkled my brushos onto my craft mat, misted with water and then picked up the colour with the card. I heated in between 'smooshings' to add different patterns and interest. My absolute favourite technique!

Once dry, I stamped my butterfly (from the HLS Butterfly Birthday set) and die cut it out using the coordinating dies. If you would like to preorder the dies please click HERE.

My sentiment is from the HLS Thinking of You set. 

Our sponsor for this challenge is.... you guessed it

and our Winner will receive this stamp set

We have a very talented Guest Designer with us this month. TaeEun creates THE most amazing cards so you need to check out her blog :)

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

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

Come and Get It - Anything Goes with a Sentiment

Thanks so much for popping by - 

HLS December Sketch Challenge

Hello! Welcome to December, woo hooo. It's starting to look a lot like Christmas!

Over at Happy Little Stampers there is a brand new sketch challenge for you.

Here it is

Lot's of scope here to play with this sketch. I decided to make a birthday card for this one ;)

My little hippo from the HLS Birthday Friends set was stamped onto a leftover panel that I had created using Brushos, Starch and Cling Wrap. I love making these backgrounds in advance to be used whenever I need them. You can check out my video tutorial HERE.

I have used the new HLS Enamel Glitter Dots (Pink) to finish off the card. Nice and easy to make :)

We have a wonderful guest designer with us this month - Darnell from djkardkreations. You know her, you love her. Thanks for joining us Darnell!

We have two sponsors for this challenge -

Winner will receive a $15 discount code to the Happy Little Stampers store!

You have the chance to win 5 digis

Pop on over to the challenge blog because there is wonderful examples from the Design Team to get you inspired and motivated :)

Thanks so much for popping by :)