Le Romantique - A Wedding RSVP.

A friend asked me to make a wedding acceptance for her as she couldn't find anything in the shops that she liked. Once again I have used Graphic 45, the Le Romantique Collection (can you tell I have a little obsession with Graphic 45 at the moment?). I love that all their collections have image pages, taking all the guesswork out of finding the perfect image and there are always plenty of coordinated patterned papers to choose from.

This is what I printed inside:

We would love to share your special day with you.

I wanted to say something that felt warm and not as stiff as the mass produced ones.

And look at that bow!!! I am so proud of that bow. I usually tie bows the way I tie shoelaces (not the rabbit ears way, the other loop and through way) and they look bloody awful. I thought that I would try the rabbit ears way this time and even though it felt really awkward it looks soooo much better.

Happy papercrafting!!

A Sunshine Award For Little 'Ol Me!

Thankyou so much Vanessa for this very sweet award. You have made my day!!

Now according to the rules I must pass this on to 5 other blogs and tell you 5 things about myself

Firstly 5 things about myself:

1. I secretly wish I had long, blonde, curly hair
2. I HATE to cook
3. I rarely watch television
4. I will always miss my first ever, best four legged friend, Buffy. With me for the first 17 years of my life.
5. I am surrounded and loved by true and great, friends and family every day!

Next, the ceremonial bit. I would like to pass on a little bit of sunshine to:

Sam over at Purple Pumpkin (keep those flowers comin');

Monika at Creative with Monika (one of the busiest cardmakers I know);

All the Cards For Men DT (a whole challenge blog just for those dreaded MAN cards);

Mandy over at Busy Bee Handmade (Facebook conqueror); and

The 2 Little Crafters. (MY 2 Little Crafters for all the sunshine they spread in my life).

Lastly, it's not hard to understand why Vanessa received this award herself. Head on over to her blog here and and her Made It store here and have a look for yourself.

My Baby Is 8!

Well, actually, not until tomorrow but we have a such a jam-packed cheerleading rehearsal day tomorrow that we are celebrating her birthday today.

This is the card I made for her, using Kaisercraft Mumma Bushka papers. This collection is such fun and easy to use. It was like dressing up a doll, a little bit of this here and a little bit of that there.

She was thrilled to bits that I gave it to her because she had seen me making it awhile ago and had no idea that it was for her. She liked it so much, in fact, that she asked if she could have some Mumma Bushka papers too. They are great for kids because, really, it's just decorating the image and the cutting is not very detailed.

Here is a close up of the ribbon and buttons.

More Graphic 45.......

Another card using the gorgeous, scrumptious Graphic 45 papers. The Fashionista Collection this time. Look at the images in this paper, they're just beautiful and vintagey!

And yep, there's another one of my favourite, tooooo easy flowers. With a rolled ribbon and pearl center this time.

I'm entering this one in the following challenges:

Paper Sundaes - Make your own flower.

AUD Sentiments - No sentiment.

Wild Orchid - Say it with flowers.

I'm On A Roll!!

I have masculine card mojo by the bucketful! Another one created today using....yes....you guessed it! Graphic 45!

When I saw the tickets on this paper I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. They just had to be poking out of a pocket.

And...voila!

Christmas In July.

Well it's all over the cardmaking blogasphere! Christmas in July! If you're like me it might just give you the push you need to get started on Chrissy cards. I bet, though, I still leave most of it until the last minute!

Well, this is my first Christmas card for 2010 and I'm entering it in the following challenges:

2 Sisters;

Cards For Men;

Fab 'n' Funky; 

Cute Card Thursday; and

The Shabby Tearoom.

Again I have used Graphic 45 papers. This time from their Christmas Past collection. They have re-released it this year and it is bigger and better than ever!

I love the masculine colours of navy and gold. I'm getting into the swing of "man" cards but i must say it's been hard keeping away from flowers, lace, bling etc.

A Proper Gentleman And A Sketch.

Lynnette over at Everything But the Kitchen Sink has come up with this sketch for this month:

And this is my interpretation using papers from Graphic 45 "A Proper Gentleman" collection.

I rotated it (not sure if we were allowed but it didn't say not to) and the tag with the sentiment was my first go at using layers in Photoshop. It took me ages to figure out how to get the text inside the bookplate and print it at the right size. But I got there in the end. lol I've only used Photoshop to autofix photos before!

A closeup of the chipboard flourishes that I inked and marked with a gold gel pen and then wiped with a baby wipe while they were still wet.

I'm also going going to pop it on the 2 Sisters Challenge Blog.

A Canvas For Creatalicious.

Just a quick post to show you my canvas for this month's Creatalicious Challenge #12 - 3D.

LOL Pretty hard to capture 3D on a 2D computer screen!

One Of My Favourite Images!

I love using this retro image! I think I found it over at The Graphics Fairy, but I'm not sure, so if I have credited the wrong person, my apologies. That'll teach me to label and organise properly!!

It was originally green but I changed it to orange using Photoshop. I have also used it as black and white with the same layout and it was stunning. I've outlined the women in silver and used lots of silver accents to break up the orange. I just think the whole retro look of the image lends itself to using bold contrasting colours. I'm dying to do a red one!

I'm entering this one in Paper Sundaes "lots of layers" challenge this week , 2 Sisters "anything goes" and Pollycraft Monday "bold and bright".

When Things Go Wrong!

You know that saying? There are no mistakes, only unique creations. Well, what about this unique creation?

I tried to make one of those fabric flowers that have melted edges....obviously this is not the material to do THAT with. But I love it! It is a real "nylony" material and it literally melted over the candle, went all bubbly and shrunk a bit too. The fabric was quite soft and is now very stiff. Won't it look fabulous on a card?

My Little Project This Afternoon.

Who knew what you could do with some fabric, buttons, circle templates and pinking shears! Aren't they divine? I generally make my cards to go into envelopes so they can't be to lumpy and bumpy. I have seen these flowers on a card or LO somewhere and they are perfect for cards that you want to pop in an envelope. The fabric is from Elizabeth the Vintage Fabric Addict, you can find her fabulous store here and the buttons are courtesy of my Grandmother's button box that I inherited. Could it be any easier?

'Tween Boys.

I think I've said this before but I'll say it again. I find "boy" cards so hard to do, particularly 'tween boys! This Rewind paper from Kaisercraft makes the job a little easier though. I love the colours and the grungy/graffiti look of them.

You can't see on this photo that the smaller orange arrow and the number 10 are raised with foam tape.

My older daughter is turning 10 this year which means most of her friends will also be 10 in the next twelve months so I think this paper will be getting a workout. I'm also going to enter this one in the 2 Sisters Challenge - "Anything Goes".

A Birthday Card For Paper Sundaes

My entry for Paper Sundaes Challenge #24. Super easy one this week. Create a birthday card. I used Kaisercraft "Sugar Sugar" papers and the only embellishment is a red pearl as the cherry.

Time To Make A Card At Last!

My girls and I have had a lovely day getting all sticky, inky and papery. It's about 5:00pm, school holidays have started and we're still in our P.J's! In between requests for help and the lending of my tools (aaahhh!!) I managed to produce a couple of cards. I finished a "Rewind" card that had been sitting, half complete, on my desk for a couple of weeks and made a delicious vintage creation. I'm entering this one in the "Anything Goes" challenge over at the 2 Sisters Challenge Blog. Their very 1st challenge too!

I have had these Graphic 45 Botanicabella papers in my stash since the Sydney Stitches and Craft show last year. I remember two elderly ladies looking at them at the same time as me and pretending to wipe dribble from their mouths. They had everyone in stitches which was very appropriate as we were at the STITCHES and Craft show. Hahaha. What do you think of my first attempt at making this flower using a template from Kaisercraft that you can find here. Turned out pretty well I think.

And a close up of the fussy cut dragonfly.

I'm heading back to the "craft room" while I still have my mojo!! S'pose I should feed and water the kidlets first though.