Some quick pics and then we're off to see Miley Cyrus...

Okay, so we're about to take off to drive to Sydney, do vast amounts of shopping, drop off my grandfather's Montblanc fountain pen to get serviced and last but not least (well, not least for the kids - I'm not quite sure where it sits on my list of priorities) we're going to go and see Miley Cyrus in concert.

I have incredible seats (if only they had been for the Bon Jovi or Pink concerts I've been to recently!) and we're all set to go and get rocked (teeny bopper rocked, but better than staying at home with Will, who has come down with the 'flu and looks like death warmed up - I have vague suspicions about his timing, but there you go....)

So, in a mad post before we leave, I thought I would put up some more cards for you to have a look at.  Since last post was the ones I had made for babies, I figured I would post the ones I had made for kids. 

All the images were ones I had coloured with Copics and put aside into my coloured image folder, which I grabbed when I went to craft camp.  Which makes for easy cardmaking, but is not much use when it comes to detailing which pens I used.  So sorry, but no details regarding that.

The Cowboy is a Bugaboo digistamp you can find here.  He is mounted onto paper from a 6x6 pad by Basic Grey called "Granola".  The circle sentiment is from a Stampin Up! set.  The rest of the stuff is from my stash.

The robot is a Tiddly Inks digistamp which you can find here.  The rest of the stuff is from my stash.

The Whatever girl is a Tiddly Inks digistamp you can find here.  The paper she is mounted onto is from a Creative Memories paper pack called "Rugged".  The Whatever message is from a Cricut cartridge, but I have no idea which one and haven't got the time to go find out (I borrowed a friends Cricut while at the craft camp).  The rest of the stuff is from my stash.

The fairy with the wand is one of a set of fairies digistamps by Mo Manning which you can find here.

The paper she was mounted on came from the 6x6 paper pad by Prima called "Fairy Flora" which you can find here.  The rest of the stuff is from my stash.

And that's all I've got for you at the moment.  I am in a crazy rush and we are already meant to be on the road.
I will catch up with you all when I get home and have recovered from our crazy four day girls weekend!

Until then,
Happy crafting!
Bron

Bye baby bunting, we went hunting...

For baby cards, that is!
I have been told that there is a need for baby cards, as I didn't have any in my stash and there are two pregnancies about to reach their end at one of the companies where I sell my cards.

So I wandered through my box of coloured images and grabbed a handful to make into cards at the craft camp I went to.  These are the results:

This image is a Bugaboo digistamp you can find here, which I have coloured with my Copics (mostly yellow-y ones and purple-y ones - does that help?!) and layered on to spotty paper from the 6x6 paper pad by Basic Grey called "Lime Rickey" and then coordinating card stock, including Elegant Eggplant by Stampin Up!  Three lime green brads and the purple ribbon from the stash finished it off.

This one uses one of Suzy's Zoo images, which used to be made by Rubber Stampede.  I went looking for a link to post for you all, but it's not a happening thing, unfortunately.  Rubber Stampede seems now to be Delta Craft.  And Suzy's Zoo seems to be collectors pieces.  So I am guarding  my set of 6 and my two single stamps fiercely!   The patterned paper is from the Basic Grey "Gypsy" 6x6 paper pad.  The layers of cardstock are Barely Banana and Summer Sun by Stampin Up!  And I've used "Waterfall" Stickles glitter glue around the dandelion clock, not that you can see it particularly well.  The "For You" sentiment is also Stampin Up!



The image is from a company called Paper Pleasure Plus.  Don't even bother to try and find them - they don't seem to exist anymore (this post is getting more and more like a "what once was" walk down memory lane, isn't it?  Paper Pleasure Plus had their closing down sale in September 2006.)  The cardstock is Not Quite Navy by Stampin Up! and a beautiful dark cream by Core'dinations (LOVE their stuff, which can be found here).  The patterned paper is from the 6x6 pad "Two Scoops" by Basic Grey.

And that's pretty much all I've got at the moment.  I had a commission of a wedding card for a friend at work, who is sending it overseas (to Italy - whooo hooo - I've gone international!), but I have had a crazy weekend and haven't had time to get the photos onto the computer, so that will have to wait until next time.

Until then,

Happy crafting!

Bron

So Long, Farewell, Auf wiedersehen, Goodbye...

Yes - it seems I have been making quite a few farewell cards recently, for members of my branch who have decided to go in different directions.  Only one of the three I've made recently has been for a friend who has left the job permanently - the other two have taken some time off, either to go on deployment to the Solomon Islands for 6 months with the Army Reserves, or to take some time off to be at home with her kids (not to mention, wandering off to the Netherlands next year to take in Floriade 2012, and the Chelsea Flower Show, to boot!)

So, with the friend who went back to Sydney to live (the Canberra weather got too much for him, I think!), I did this card:

The tags are cut out and popped up on foam squares.  The background Thankyou stamp is from a set by Hero Arts, but I can't remember the set name.  The tags are also Hero Arts "LL937 Tags With Words". Ink colours are by Stampin Up!: Old Olive, Not Quite Navy and Close to Cocoa. Mounted on Old Olive and Not Quite Navy cardstock, also by Stampin Up!

Then there was this one, for the guy going to the Solomon Islands with the Army Reserve:

The image is one I found on a US Defence (sorry, Defense!) site which had free clipart available.  And the quote is a fabulous one that I remember my Dad (ex-Army, Regular, not Reserve) saying, which I printed up after I had found it (had to make sure I got it right).  It says "We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful.  We have done so much for so long with so little, we are now capable of doing anything with nothing."  It seemed appropriate :)

The camouflage background paper is also one I downloaded from the Net.  The dog tags are the heavy duty foil from the top of a Milo tin, punched out using a punch by EK Success, with his name stamped onto one, and Good Luck on the other.  The "webbing" ribbon in olive green is from my stash.

I used the following copics to colour the image:
YG97, YG93, YG95, YG99, G94, BG99, E55, W8, with E42 for the skin and YG91 for the map.

And last but certainly not least is one I made for the friend who is taking time off to be with her kids and to go jet setting.  She told me her favourite colours are red and hot pink, she loves chocolate and retro things, and she is amazingly talented when it comes to cake decorating (she would bring cupcakes semi-regularly into work and they'd always have these incredible flowers and other designs made of icing.)  So, that was the challenge - to incorporate all those elements.  I started off with a digistamp I bought from Heather Ellis' shop in Etsy "Pure Innocence 030", which I coloured with Copics: R27, E29, RV25, R00, R01 and E25. 

Then I cut out and added the coloured image to papers from Basic Grey's 6x6 "Lime Rickey" pad, highlighted the cherry and the heart in her hair with Plaid's Royal Coat Dimensional Magic, added bling to her shoe and added the sentiment "Seize the Cupcake" from the Hero Arts set "CL158 Clear Design Cupcakes".  Mounted it on Bazzill cardstock in a chocolate brown, grabbed some co-ordinating ribbons and flowers from the stash and here you have it:  A retro style card in red, hot pink and chocolate with a cupcake.  Whoooo hooo!

And that's pretty much it, folks.  I'm hoping that the need for farewell cards will start to slow down - it's depressing getting to know all these people, only to say goodbye to them. 

We've got a long weekend this weekend, so I am hoping to get on top of all the housework and free up some time for stamping (not to mention, uploading and posting!)

So, until we meet again,
Happy crafting!
Bron

Running....running to catch up!

Hi all,
Well, I got back from my craft camp well and truly exhausted, but totally buzzed.  In two days (we got there Friday afternoon at about 5pm and left Sunday at 4pm), I managed to complete 17 cards and sell 7 of them - not a bad weekend's work, huh?!  Given that I went to create, not to sell, the customers had to make do with cards that didn't have envelopes or inserts, but they were all scrapbookers (I was the only stamper that weekend) and seemed to think that making their own envelopes was part of the fun and a bit of a challenge!  Whatever floats their boats, I suppose. No one baulked at the prices (I didn't change them from my normal prices - mostly because the first one I sold came completely out of left field and I just said what I normally sell them for) and every single card was a 6x6, even though I had the standard C6 and DL size cards there, too.  Apparently, big cards are in at the moment, with no complaints from me!

So I will start posting pics of those, as soon as I finish posting the last lot I've been talking about.

Be warned - I have almost no details for these following ones close to hand, although should you absolutely *need* them I can let you know :)

These three were commissions from a guy at work.  Two of them (kittens and wheat) were for his twin sisters' birthday.  The red "You Make Me Happy" card was for his girlfriend.

I used Copics on the image with the kittens - and I am very happy with how she and the fuzzballs turned out - much better than my first attempt at that image, I think; the other two are DTP with the various stamps and ink. Give me a yell if you need to know which stamps came from where.  I've got all the details, but this late on a Sunday night, there's no way I'm going to go rummaging around to find them.

I don't know about all of you, but I find that if the first time I use a set or an image, it doesn't work out so well, then I usually don't pick up that set or image again.  I will automatically reach for stamps which have "worked" for me in the past and didn't give me grief.  The set I used for the red card was just such a set.  I didn't take to the first card I made with the set, which was created at a class I attended and wasn't "me" at all.  The colours were wrong, mostly.  And I have barely reached for the set since.  But this guy saw the class card in my stash when I took them to work, and asked me to rework it in new colours.  Thank goodness he did, because it's pretty much given that old stamp set a new lease on life, in my eyes!  I'll not say that I'm in love with the set, but I am certainly seeing some potential in it now (which I must have seen when I first saw it, or I wouldn't have bought it).  And I'm thinking I should go on to Splitcoast Stampers and see what the galleries produce by way of inspiration.  You never know...

I think I'm going to leave it at that.  Still have miles to go before I sleep, so I'd best go and get started.

Until next time
Happy crafting!
Bron