Card Me Astray

Birthday flowers

2011-06-21T06:28:00.003+10:00

Here's my first creation from my US trip - staying up way too late in my friend's crafty space! Designed2Delight image in Spellbinder's oval, coloured with Prismacolours and blinged up with Kaisercraft gems, pale pink glitter glue and glossy accents on the vase. Papers are Basic Grey (green), K&Compancy (circles) and pink dots (unknown). I think the sentiment stamp might be Studio G. Recollection green gems; ribbon/ric rac and buttons from my friend's stash. All materials are from my friend's wonderful craft room. Submitted to the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday #160 Sketch
Basic Grey Challenges #46 Colour Combo - Hot Pink, Lime Green, Brown/Kraft
Charisma Cardz Pink and green
Shabby Tea Room #67 Classic Patterns - photo inspiration colours (pink and green), dots
Simon Says Stamp Bingo - Shape, Ribbon, Sentiment
Marks Finest Papers Use at least one button
Stamp Something Something with pretty papers
Crafty Emma Lots of Sparkly Flowers
Crafts & Me #39 Bling It On
Going Grey Scrap Creations - Anything Goes

Car #17 for the birthday boy

2011-06-01T00:01:00.005+10:00

Here's the card I made for a friend's son's 17th birthday. He hasn't got his driver's licence yet and she thought he could benefit from some gentle encouragement - that's why we have the "P" for his provisional licence. The car is dry embossed on Coredinations card using an old embossing template I got as a free gift with an English cardmaking magazine years ago. I sanded the car and customised it with stickers and blue brads. I've had the metal sentiment for many years (might be Making Memories). Kaisercraft paper; textured paper and white gel pen to create the road; brads from my stash.

Submitted to the following challenges:
Some Odd Girl Make a scene
One Crazy Stamper Boys & men
Woodware USA #29 Use a forgotten embellishment (metal Happy Birthday)
CES Challenges #38 Embossing (dry)
Truly Scrumptious #57 Anything goes
Joyful Stamper: Inspire me Fridays 8 Anything goes
2 Sisters Challenge #41 Anything goes

With sympathy tulips

2011-04-27T02:20:00.004+10:00

Made for a close friend who recently lost her grandmother. See D's tulip stamp coloured with Prismacolour pencils and Sugarloaf marker; Spellbinders scalloped & plain circles; Stampin' Up and Basic Grey papers; Cosmo Cricket letter stickers; brads, metal leaves and ribbon from my stash. Submitted to the following challenges:

Stamping Vacation April Pick 3 (circle, pink, sentiment)

Stamp Insanity #56 Heavy metal

Simply Create #42 Time to rock the metal

The Paper Shelter #10 Inspired by nature

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #99 Flowers

AiFactory #77 Flowers in bloom

Shelly's Images TTT Challenge Show us what you got

Delicious Doodles #22 Anything goes

Easter bunnies

2011-04-27T01:35:00.005+10:00

Here's my one and only Easter card for the year. I agreed with one of my cardmaking friends that we'd swap Easter cards instead of chocolates and this is what I came up with. Bunny stamp is from Stampin' Up's Forest Friends set-coloured with Tombows; Basic Grey papers; Prima flowers; SU sentiment rub on; SU & DCWV cardstock; brad and 2 ribbons from my stash. Submitted to the following challenges:

For Fun Challenges Easter

4 Crafty Chicks #34 Easter

PaperPlay Challenges #16 Easter Time

Crafty Sentiments Easter

A Gem of a Challenge #19 Pearls & Swirls-pick 1 or both (swirls)

Pile It On #17 Two or more ribbons

Stamping Vacation April Pick 3 (swirl, pink, sentiment)

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #99 Flowers

AiFactory #77 Flowers in bloom

Delicious Doodles #22 Anything goes

Feline Creative winter blog candy

2011-02-18T00:22:00.004+11:00

I just wanted to share with you the winter blog candy over at Feline Creative. What a fantastic selection of crafting goodies! Why don't you hop on over there and check out Karen's fantastic cards whilst you're visiting.

For my Valentine

2011-02-14T23:33:00.011+11:00

Here's the card that I made for my special guy for Valentine's Day. The glittery heart is a foam sticker that I picked up at a local art store and I designed my card around it as the focal point. The white heart background is made using a Fiskars embossing plate; black and silver ribbon and the clear "love" tile (attached with Francheville white brads) are both from a discount shop.

Submitted to the following challenges:

Creatalicious Challenges #18 Ribbon & love

Do you stack up? #6 Ribbon

Papertake Weekly Have a heart

Crazy 4 Challenges #74 Hearts

2 Sisters Challenge Blog #26 Hearts

The Crafty Pad #108 Hearts

Crafty Cardmakers #39 Hearts

Stamping Vacation Heart sticker

4 Crafty Chicks Valentine's

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #69 Valentine's/Love

Stamping Vacation Valentine's Day

Frosted Designs Love

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays Love is in the air

One Stop Craft Challenge #118 Love is in the air

Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog #35 Love is all around

Crafty Calendar Challenge #17 Love

Craft Us Crazy Anything goes

Stamping Vacation White space & 3 of anything (ribbons)

Stamping Vacation Pick 3 (heart, anything black, the word "love")

Stamping Vacation No flowers

Here be dragons

2011-02-03T00:19:00.006+11:00

I had fun making this card for my better half's birthday. He enjoys reading fantasy books, especially ones with dragons, so this Elusive Images dragon stamp is perfect for him. The sentiment and flourish are from the same set and I made them into a scroll. I've tried to give the card a distressed look as I imagine most papers would get pretty worn around fire-breathing dragons! Image is heat embossed in bronze; Kaisercraft papers; netting ribbon and big brads from my stash.

Submitted to the following challenges:

Oldie But A Goodie #11 Magical beings (dragons)

Stamping Vacation No tags

Do You Stack Up? #4 Patterned paper

Tellen's Place Male - Make it for the guys!

Crazy 4 Challenges #72 Vintage or shabby chic

Crafts 4 Eternity #4 Polka dots

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #96 Whateva! (with stamping)

Crafty Purple Frog Distressing

B&W vintage lady

2011-01-30T12:02:00.005+11:00

This gorgeous lady is one of my very early stamp purchases (Paper Pleasure Plus) and I still love it as much now as I did then. There's quite a lot of bling (black Kindy Glitz glitter glue on the hat and dress; clear Kindy Glitz on the beads hanging down from the hat; and black gem earrings) but it doesn't really show up in the pic. Martha Stewart Layered Arches border punch; oval Nestabilities; two ribbons from my stash. I've used glue dots behind some of the flocked spots on the beautiful white organza ribbon to give it a 3D gathered look.

Submitted to the following challengs:

Stampin' Sisters in Christ #73 Vintage

Paper Cupcakes Tic-Tac-Toe (something punched, ribbon, bling)

Stamping Vacation Pick 3 (gathered ribbon, punch, glitter)

Sundays with Crissy #13 Ribbons

Easy Craft Projects #30 Black and White

A birthday cake wish

2011-01-27T23:00:00.005+11:00

Making this card was quite a challenge to myself on several counts. Firstly, everything is from Stampin' Up's Confetti scrapping kit, except for the Kaisercraft gem and the Kindy Glitz glitter glue, and using all the coordinated elements from one kit is totally different from how I usually create. I also usually stamp my images rather than using something that's ready-made. Lastly, no ribbon! Can you believe it?!

Submitted to the following challenges:

Cupcake Craft Challenges #126 Food for thought

Tellen's Place Polka dots

7 Kids College Fund #13 Challenge yourself (using a kit & no ribbon)

Take the Belli Challenge #109 The letter P (polka dot patterned paper)

Paper Cutz Challenge #75 Anything goes

Wee Memories #40 Free your creativity (anything goes)

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #45 Anything goes

Never laugh at live dragons

2011-01-19T00:00:00.006+11:00

Here's the card that I made for our friend Steve's birthday. The dragon, sentiment and flourish are from a fantastic Elusive images stamp set. They're heat embossed with my new Iron Stone Red embossing powder from Print Blocks. The braid is really old - one of my very early purchases when I first started cardmaking. Nesties scalloped square and border inked with ColorBox chalk ink; We R Memory Keepers patterned paper.

Submitted to the following challenges:

Top Tip Tuesday #18 All sentimental

One Stop Craft Challenge #114 Card for a male

Delicious Doodles #8 3 colours (green, burgundy, cream)

The Crafty Pad #104 Something new

Stampin' Sisters in Christ #72 New supplies

One Stitch at a Time #45 New stash

Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog #32 Ring in the new but don't ring out the old

AiFactory #64 Anything goes

Pile It On #3 Anything goes

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays Anything goes

Let's Ink It Up #8 Anything goes (must use stamp)

Stamp Something Anything goes

Hanging around in a birdcage

2011-01-15T23:11:00.006+11:00

This is one of my favourite Basic Grey papers (Felicity from the Euphoria range) that I've never gotten around to using before. Finally I've cut into it and I thought the delicate lines of the Basic Grey birdcage stamp would go well with the paper. Bird is from the same stamp set. The ribbon is my something new - thanks to my friend Mel who found it whilst visiting family over Christmas. Blue textured paper from my stash; SU cardstock.

Submitted to the following challenges:

Aly's Sunday Challenge #33 Things with wings

Stampin' Sisters in Christ #71 Includes wings

The Crazy Challenge #49 Animals

Cupcake Craft Challenges #124 Something new (ribbon)

Pollycraft Challenge #75 New things (ribbon)

Crafty Purple Frog Challenge New goodies (ribbon)

Top Tip Tuesday #17 Anything goes

Gramaphone - the original iPod

2011-01-13T00:02:00.007+11:00

Funny to think that once upon a time, this was the latest in music technology! The gramaphone stamp (Paper Pleasures Plus) has been in my stash almost back to those days. I've had everything else used on this card for at least a couple of years. Script stamp is from Stamp It; all patterned paper is Stampin' Up Windsor Knot; SU cardstock; brown paper from my stash; Franchville eyelets; ColorBox chalk inks.

Submitted to the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday #146 Out with the old!

Easy Craft Projects #29 Only old stash

Paper Play Challenges '11 Week 1 Clean and simple

Crafty Sentiments Anything goes

Top Tip Tuesday #17 Anything goes

Craft Your Days Away #11 Anything goes

A stylish duo

2010-11-21T23:02:00.007+11:00

Made for a special birthday of one of my close friends. This stylish duo is from a Graphic 45 page of lovely ladies. Eleven more images to use! I layered them on dark brown Bazill punched with Martha Stewart's bubble bath corner and border punch set. SU red background edged with brown chalk ink; Bo Bunny brad; ribbon and sentiment sticker from my stash.

Submitted to the following challenges:

Creative Stamp Friends #12 Vintage

Papertake Weekly Autumn skies

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays No flowers

Pals Paper Arts #69 Ribbon or fabric

Digi Doodle Shop's Best #34 Anything goes

Purple Christmas trees

2010-11-14T21:01:00.009+11:00

I love using Christmas trees on my cards so of course I had to have these Hero Arts trees when I saw them at my local shop. The trees are stamped in various inks and clear embossed. I made this card during a crafternoon at a friend's house and I thought it needed some extra texture. As I didn't have my Cuttlebug with me, I dry embossed diagonal lines on the pink card using my bone folder and ruler (very low tech!). SU striped paper; brads from my stash.

Submitted to the following challenges:

Whoopsi Daisy It's Christmas

Stamp and Create #7 Tis the season

2 Sisters Challenge #13 Christmas

Shelly's Images Anything goes with Christmas

There's Magic in the Air (Paper Cupcakes) Non-traditional colours Christmas

Crafty Ann's #27 Christmas card using non-traditional colours

Wee Memories #31 Dust off that patterned paper

Crafty Cardmakers Dry embossing

For Fun Challenges Dry embossing

Autumn pheasant

2010-10-31T22:44:00.006+11:00

I recently bought some new autumn themed stamps and paper from Stampin' Up and this is the result of my first go at using them. It's a very simple card and I kept thinking to myself it's not quite finished but I think the Kaisercraft green gems gave it some balance. Ribbon from my stash.

Submitted to the following challenges:

Creative Inspirations #84 Brown, sage and cream

Crafty Creations Challenge #91 Halloween or perhaps autumn

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges #46 Keeping it clean and simple

Top Tip Tuesday #7 Anything goes

Digi Doodle Shop's Best #31 Anything goes

Vintage style - Oh what a hat!

2010-09-05T22:11:00.004+10:00

This very stylish vintage lady (by Paper Pleasure Plus) was one of my very early stamp purchases when I first started making cards in 2005. She's part of a set of stylish ladies and somehow I've never managed to use her before. The feather stamp is part of a recent Stampendous UM set purchase and I think they're a great match. The lady and the centre of the single feather are heat embossed for extra oomph. Stampin Up striped paper; pink braid from my stash.

Submitted for the following challenges:

Ooh La La Creations #61 Elegant Ladies

Stampin' for the Weekend #46 Shabby or Vintage

Creative Belli Challenge #99 Old Stamps

Elephant for the birthday boy: a challenge card

2010-09-02T23:16:00.009+10:00

One more card from my Kansas visit. I had so much fun sharing Linda's craft room. So many goodies! I had a friend's son in mind when I made this. Digital elephant image is designed by Bugaboo and coloured with Prismas; Nestabilities scalloped ovals dotted with Stickles; EK Success Swiss Cheese border punch; ribbon, paper and star from Linda's stash.

Submitted for the following challenges:

Sew Many Challenges #24 Happy Birthday

Papertake Weekly Challenge Just the One (1 patterned paper, 1 punch, 1 ribbon, 1 star)

Bee Crafty Anything Goes (using a digi image)

365 Cards Day 180 Keep it Simple (1 stamped image, 1 piece of patterned paper, 1 piece of ribbon)

Cupcake Craft Challenges #106 Let's get Digital (digi image)

Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges #16 Anything Goes (using a digi image)

Birdie just for you: a challenge card

2010-08-16T16:53:00.005+10:00

Another of my Kansas trip creations. Both stamps are SU with image coloured with Prismacolours; Nestabilities tags; K&Co paper; ribbon and yarn from Linda's stash.

Submitted for the following challenge:

Sunday Sketch and Stamp: sketch #34

Summer Butterfly: a challenge card

2010-08-14T16:32:00.012+10:00

I'm visiting my friend Linda in Kansas and this is from our first crafting session. The butterfly stamp is SU; ATD spotted paper; yellow, purple and green recycled paint samples used for backgrounds and Quickcutz flourishes; misc bling. Everything is from Linda's supplies.

Submitted for the following challenges:

Flutter By Wednesday #117 butterfly, fairy or angel

Crafty Creations #80 winged things

Incy Wincy Designs #54 A bug's life

Little Red Wagon #41 summer theme

Practical Scrappers summer theme

The Pink Elephant #79 summer fun

Creative Inspirations recycle element

Butterfly amongst the flowers

2010-05-24T23:17:00.003+10:00

This card started off with me wanting to use a Hero Arts flowers set and playing with metallic rubons (haven't used them in a while). The colouring has a lovely sheen which doesn't show up in the scan. Crafty Bitz butterfly; Fiskars border punch; Franchville purple paper; green paper and gold cord from my stash. I used this as a birthday card for a fried who has beautiful, butterfly-attracting garden.

Happy Mother's Day to my mum

2010-05-09T01:34:00.004+10:00

Here's the card I made for my mum for Mother's Day. The tiles, swirls and small text are Inkadinkadoo stamps and the 'Happy' is from Paper Xtra; SU paper; brad and ribbon from my stash. I stamped the sentiment in pale pink and clear embossed it it didn't stand out enough so I tried running a white gel pen over the embossing and then did a second embossed layer - I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Fire-breathing dragon

2010-04-25T11:04:00.003+10:00

I bought the most wonderful set of Elusive Images dragon stamps and made this for a friend's birthday. Can't wait to use the other two dragons and they come with some great sentiments too. Dragon is embossed in bronze; patterned papers are SU; decorative edge scissors; eyelets from my stash.

Cat in a hat (with a matching scarf of course!)

2010-04-14T23:07:00.004+10:00

I've been making birthday cards for a friend's two nieces for several years and I always have fun coming up with ideas for them. My friend loves hats and is an amateur millliner so I thought this would be a perfect image for a card from her. Isn't the Pink Cat Studio stamp just the cutest?! Kitty cat is coloured using Versacubes and a SU blender pen; sentiment uses two Studio G sets; Basic Grey Euphoria paper over blue mulberry paper; Kindyglitz; ribbons from my stash.

Dazzle and style dress

2010-04-14T22:57:00.004+10:00

I was watching "27 Dresses" with a friend whilst I made this. Hmmm... wonder where I got the inspiration. ;-) Stamps are all from a Hero Arts set; SU papers and card; Kaisercraft pearls; ribbon from my stash.

Flowery Congratulations

2010-03-08T11:42:00.004+11:00

One of my friends has just gotten a promotion and this is her congrats card. I have to give credit to Katie (Pretty-n-Ink) for the design as I made it a SU class that she held earlier this month. All materials are SU (flower is Pick a Petal stamp set) except for the Grace Taylor sentiment.

Butterfly-watching cats

2010-02-17T23:16:00.003+11:00

A birthday card for a cat loving friend. I made this not long after I went to a faux silk technique class. I thought this gorgeous Coronado Island stamp would work well with it. Renoir sentiment sticker; ribbon from my stash. You can't really tell from the pic but the white cardstock has a fine rib texture that adds a bit of interest to an otherwise plain white background.

iPod for the birthday boy

2010-02-17T22:57:00.003+11:00

A friend asked me to make birthday cards for her two kids. This one's for her son's 15th birthday. Main and background images from the web and I've digitally added the sentiment and added diamond glaze to the screen; Stampendous musical note stamped with Versamark; treble clef charm on a wooden star, brads on corrugated card and cord all from my stash.

Shoes for the birthday girl

2010-02-17T22:09:00.004+11:00

One of my friends asked me to make birthday cards for her two kids. This one's for her daughter's 12th birthday. Stamping Bella coloured with Tombows; my favourite Inkadinkadoo birthday stamp; DCWV patterned paper; ribbon and clip from my stash.

Celebrating with a gift

2010-02-03T00:29:00.007+11:00

This is one of those exasperating cards where my first idea just didn't work out and I wasn't sure how to fix it. I started off with the pink papers and sentiment which came as a freebie from a UK magazine. Everything I did with it originally was just too pink. A few days later I sat down with it again and added lots of colour - that sure made a difference! I love the green paper with the rainbow dots and think it gave this card the oomph that it needed. The gift box is cut from a border strip and topped with a flower brad. I've used two ribbons - the pink stripe is folded inside a silver edged white organza. I'm so glad it's finally finished!

Born to shop

2010-01-25T21:34:00.004+11:00

I recently bought a great set of stamps and just had to try them out. You can't really tell from the pic, but the stamps are embossed with black sparkle powder and look much more blingy (is 'blingy' a word?) in real life. Grace Taylor lady and sentiment stamps; DCWV Glitter Stack paper; ribbon, ric-rac and brad from my stash.

Masculine card for a friend's birthday

2010-01-24T23:51:00.001+11:00

With a male friend's birthday coming up, would you believe I didn't have a single masculine card in my stash! (not that there's much of anything in there at the moment) This is what I came up with. Kaisercraft jumbo brad; Sullivans Paper Xtra sentiment stamp; blue card done in Cuttlebug Forest Branches embossing folder and inked with Versamark; Basic Grey Boxer paper; various colours of Bazzill and other cardstock; brown twill from my stash.