Guest Designer and Sponsor for AAA Cards!

I am honoured to be Guest Designing and Sponsor for AAA Cards for their current challenge. 

Their theme this time around is'

Here is my card -

I created the colours of my hearts by smooshing watercolour paper through a mixture of Brilliant Red brushos and Gold Perfect Pearls.

I die cut the hearts once the paper was dry and used a small amount of double sided tape to adhere them to my card. I zipped it through the sewing machine then folded the edges of the hearts a little.

Products used from HLS

    

If you play along you will have a chance to win a $20 gift certificate from Happy Little Stampers!

Thanks for popping in xx

Less Is More - Guest Designer

Hello! I'm very excited to be joining the girls at Less Is More again as their Guest Designer and sponsor!

This week they have a very cool theme, which I have been told by Chrissie, was in my honour! Wow, thanks gals!

This week the theme is

"DOWN UNDER"

Why Down Under? I live in Australia and you have all probably heard that the country is referred to as the land down under.

"The term Down Under is a colloquialism which is variously construed to refer to Australia. The term comes from the fact that the country is in the Southern Hemisphere, 'below' many other countries on the globe."

So how will you interpret 'Down Under'. It certainly doesn't have to be an Australian theme. Think outside the box. I did!

Here is my card

My little birdie is upside down on the wire and saying hello. To me, this is a representation of me saying "Hello, from Down Under".

This was a very simple card to make. My bird was colour with WOS but the glitter is a little hard to see in this photo.

Here is the set I used from HLS

If you played along all this month, including this challenge, at Less Is More you are going to be in with a chance to win a stamp set from Happy Little Stampers!

I would like to thank the girls for having me as their Guest Designer this week!

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with using the Down Under theme.

Heartbreaking News

Over the weekend I received news from one of my best friends that her husband died suddenly at the age of 34. My friend is 37 and can you believe that this is her second husband to pass away. Too sad...

She has a little boy that turned 1 this month too and he has lost his dad at such a young age. I am still in shock and obviously saddened by her loss. 

Here is the card I have made her

I tried to keep it quite simple but a lot of thought and effort went into this one. More than usual.

I used a stencil and texture paste to create the background. Once dry, I replaced the stencil and sponged gold ink over the top. 

I stamped my butterfly in the same ink and embossed it with clear powder.

The sentiment was also embossed.

A few gold and black splatters finished it off.

"Take care my friend. You are in my heart and in my prayers."

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Just a reminder that the HLS Mixed Media Challenge is - STENCIL

Thanks for coming by xx

ATCAS #80 - RED

Hi there!

I have a couple of reasons for making this card today. 

I was really inspired by Hazel's card HERE that I wanted to CASE it. I had some left over smooshed panels that happened to be red and that was perfect for the challenge over at ATCAS that went live a couple of hours ago. PLUS Happy Little Stampers is the sponsor of this challenge!

I made a few little changes to the design of this card compared to Hazel's. I added a butterfly as the die cut instead of the 'Happy'. I also have just got in these new enamel dots at HLS and couldn't wait to break them out.

I haven't had much time in my craft room lately but got to have a quick play tonight. Even though it is after 8pm and I have a rule for not taking photos of my cards at night, I really wanted to get this one done and dusted. I used my phone and it worked out quite nicely. Not my usual style of photography but it did the job :)

I used the following products from Happy Little Stampers

                

My background was created by smooshing Brushos (Scarlet) into watercolour paper. There is a touch of gold Perfect Pearls in there too.

I embossed my sentiment and the butterfly.

Here is the challenge at ATCAS

I would also like to play along at

Stamping Boutique - Use Die Cuts Punches

Southern Girls Challenge - Anything Goes

and just a reminder about the current CAS challenge at Happy Little Stampers

Thanks for popping in xx

Happy 21st Aidan

Well! Today is the day my son turns 21. Aren't I feeling just a touch old this morning....

I am very grateful and blessed with my only child. Aidan is a wonderful and caring person. He has an old school attitude - open the door for others, give up a seat for ladies or the elderly and has the respect to call his seniors sir and ma'am when serving them at work. 

We've had our ups and downs but I wouldn't change anything. I wouldn't do it over again. He is my son and I love him dearly. 

Here is the card I've made for him using his favourite colours -

I used orange brushos sprinkled on my craft mat and misted with water. I then smooshed my watercolour paper into the ink. I have a black acrylic dabber so I dipped my wet paint brush into the bottle and flicked the paint over the panel. I die cut the numbers and used the HLS Mix Mash set for the OMG and Happy Birthday. 

OMG is right! 

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

Fantasy Stampers - All about the Boy

Seize the Birthday - Topping = CAS

Time Out - Birthdays

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For those of you who may be interested, here is a recap of my day back on the 17th of January 1995.

• Up at 7am to get ready for my obstetrician appointment. My son wasn't due until the 15th February so a few weeks to go yet! I also had other appointments scheduled for today.
• Mentioned to my dad that I had a feeling I was going to have the baby. Because I had my doctor appointment there was no concern and continued to get ready.
• Off I went to my appointment at 9am. My dad had taken my brother with him for the day as he was driving to a number of businesses he was looking to purchase. My step-mother was at work. My mum was away on holidays which had been planned knowing my due date was in Feb. Mum was to be my birthing partner.
• Saw my obstetrician and mentioned that I had a few 'signs' that I may have the baby. He didn't really take much interest, didn't examine me and sent me on my way. I was 19 :)
• Off I drove to the other side of town to have the baby capsule fitted in my car. The appointment was at 11am. I got there a bit early and waited for my turn.
• Once the capsule was fitted, I decided to go to a shopping centre and grab a few things.
• 12pm - My waters break in Woolworths. The staff are amazing and help me put my groceries through and offer to call me an ambulance. I told them I was ok and would drive to the hospital. When they found out the hospital was back on the other side of town they offered again. I declined and said I was fine! I did ask to use the phone (no mobile phone back in those days) to try and get hold of my dad or step mother. 
• Get in my car - starts to pour down rain!
• Driving to the hospital I get my first contraction. Wasn't too bad! That was easy, I thought!
• Get to the hospital and drive around for about 15 minutes looking for a car park. Couldn't find one that was close but that was ok.
• 1.10pm I get to the nurses station in the maternity section. I told her my waters had broken. She asked had I had any contractions to which I answered yes. When was your last contraction she asked. As soon as she finished her sentence I had a massive contraction. From there on in they were about 1 minute apart.
• My step mother, dad and brother arrive at the hospital. Jenny takes on the role of birthing partner due to my mum being away. 
• 5.35pm I gave birth to Aidan. 6pds and 48cm. AND I did it drug free! His APGAR score at birth was 3. Not good! I watched the midwife lift his arms and they fell lifeless down beside him. The next few minutes seemed like an eternity until they finally got him 'going' and ended up with an APGAR score of 8. Phew!
• Aidan was in the special care until for 3 days due to fluid on his lungs and low dextrose levels.

It was the most amazing experience I was ever to have. Happy Birthday, son. Love you to the moon and back. Mum xx

Guest Designer for Inkspirational's 100th Challenge!

What a milestone! Congratulations to Inkspirational! I am very honoured to be a Guest Desinger for the awesome team. Not only that but I am sponsoring this challenge too!

Their challenge 'Blast from the Past' is a colour challenge and you need to choose one of their previous colour challenges.

It wont take much to guess which colours I chose. NEON!

Paired with the HLS Mix Mash stamp set is a match made in heaven! Having a black base really helps those neon colours to pop!

Don't forget if you play along you have the chance to win a gift certificate from the shop!

See you over at Inkspirational!

Creatalicious Guest Designer

Good morning everyone! I am so happy today to be part of the newest challenge at Creatalicious Challenges.

Today I am their sponsor and Guest Designer. How exciting!

The theme for this challenge is 

SNOWFLAKES

I don't have much in the way of snowflakes so I had to improvise. I used the little asterix from the HLS Bold Birthday Sentiments set - cool huh?

Here is my card -

I used a die to cut my Mixed Media paper in half. I embossed my 'snowflakes' all over the panel. Once dry, I smooshed into Turquoise Brusho ink that I had on my craft mat. 

I used the sentiment from the HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments set and curved it on my acrylic block to try and follow the line of the die cut card. I embossed it in silver.

A very easy card to make!

Pop on over to Creatalicious and join in the fun as there is also a prize from Happy Little Stampers up for grabs :)

HLS Products used:

    

Thanks so much for popping in :)

Inspired by HLS Video Crew

Hi!

I was again totally inspired the HLS Video Crew. Ingrid shows us a wet on wet technique for watercolouring using the Butterfly Birthday set from HLS.

Here is my card 

I virtually CASED Ingrid's placement of her butterflies. My panel was larger so I added the sentiment on that panel too. A few little glitter enamel dots, some black acrylic paint splats and I was done. The difference with mine is I used Mixed Media paper and Ingrid used watercolour paper.

The Distress Inks I used are Victorian Velvet and Dusty Concord for the butterflies. The background is Salty Ocean.

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

ABC Challenges - Y is for Your Choice

The Mixed Media Card Challenge - Beginnings (I feel butterflies symbolise a new beginning)

Products from HLS

        

Thank you for popping by :)

Sponged Birthday

Hi there! Last night I had some fun in the craft room. I was so inspired by Kamila's video tutorial for Happy Little Stampers that I wanted to try my hand at sponging with Distress Inks. Plus Time Out has a great challenge on right now so that also gave me the nudge I needed :)

Here is my card -

This was created using Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries. I embossed the sentiment from the HLS Everyday Sentiments set and the stars from the HLS Bold Birthday Sentiments set.

I splattered a bit of water over the panel right at the end.

This card is nice and flat - perfect for mailing. 

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

Time Out - Birthdays with the optional Technique Twist of adding sponging

The Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes

Craft Rocket Challenges - Happy Anything

Thanks so much for popping in :)

I'm Sandie's Guest Designer at Fusion!

How exciting for me! Sandie asked me to be her Guest Designer for a special challenge at Fusion. It's their 2nd Anniversary!

Sandie told me that she had to choose someone she admired as a card designer. (Perhaps Sandie was scared that I would punch her when I see her in July if she didn't pick me lol.) Nah, in all seriousness I was completely honoured and tickled pink to be chosen :) Thanks Sandie!

Fusion have this amazing graphic as inspiration for you. You probably already know but you can choose the sketch, choose the photo or fuse them both together.

For my card I went with the photo -

I loved, loved, loved the colours and the chevrons on the table. I smeared Distress Inks onto my craft mat, misted them with water and smooshed my watercolour cardstock through the ink. Once dry I stamped the chevrons and sentiment from the HLS Mix Mash set.

I added three little glitter enamel dots to finish off.

    

Thanks to the girls at Fusion for having me for this challenge and a special thanks to Sandie for having me as her guest designer :)

HLS January Christmas Challenge

Welcome! I hope your New Year is going well so far :)

Over at Happy Little Stampers we have just started our latest Christmas challenge and we want you to use the word below -

You can't have Christmas without a little jingle, right?

I received an absolutely amazing card from Karen this year and it was such a delight opening it. While handling the envelope there was a slight jingle coming from within. Pulling the card out made an even more wonderful sound. There was this gorgeous Jingle Bell attached to the card. It really was beautiful!

With Karen's blessing I have recycled her bell for this challenge. Mind you, I have now ordered jingle bells from ebay lol.

This card was super easy to make! The sentiment is from the HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments set. The bakers twine is also from the shop and has a silver fleck through it.

    

There is wonderful inspiration over at the challenge blog for you so get over there and check it out!

This challenge is sponsored by

Thanks for popping by today :)