I think it’s finally coming back.  I’m becoming more and more happy with what I am creating and I’m really enjoying it again.  Nearly enough to actually start scrapping again.  I haven’t scrapped a single page since I originally joined Stampin’ Up! back in September 2007.  That will be a goal of mine for the next couple of months, to at least scrap a couple of pages of each of my children!

This afternoon I sat down and tried out my first Mojo Monday sketch challenge.  I LOVED it!  I don’t own any circle cutting systems, so I’ve always stayed away from layouts with circles in them.  While I was looking at the sketch I remembered I used to have the Fiskars Shape Cutter (from about hmm a million years ago).  I never could figure it out so I never used it.  Until today.  I still don’t like the cutter, but it works in a pinch.

Here is the sketch..

And here is my take on it..

I even remember to put my watermark on it this time

Stamps - Oh So Lovely, Be Happy, Baroque Motifs, Scribble Jumbo Wheel

Cardstock - Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Whisper White, Watercolour paper

Ink - Jet Black StazOn, Versamark, Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Whisper White craft ink

Accessories - Corner rounder punch, ½” circle punch, 1¼” square punch, Aquapainter, Dimensionals

Another card with no ribbon.  What is this world coming to?!  For someone who hadn’t really used Ruby Red much before the last fortnight, I’m doing pretty well with it.  I’m actually starting to really like it.  I nearly used Close To Cocoa instead of Choc Chip on this card, but I’ve NEVER used Cocoa and just couldn’t bring myself to try it.  It seems too washed out for me.  If you’ve got a favourite colour combination that includes Close To Cocoa, let me know and I’ll have a go with it

Bedtime for me, I just downloaded New Moon (from the Twilight series in case you’ve never heard of it) to read on the laptop.  Yes, I am that desperate to read it!  Every bookshop I’ve called in Melbourne is sold out and has been since New Years.  I’ve called all the bookshops I can think of multiple times.  I think it’s time to go down to my local shop and put my name on a waiting list and suck up the extra $5 per book it’s going to cost me, *grumble*.

I’m a roll!  I’ve posted more this month than I have in ages.   I’m also stamping more than I have in ages and I’m really enjoying it again!

This card is definitely NOT one of my favourites but it is what kept me up until 1:45am so I am determined to post it!  I’m hoping to play along again during the week to get something I’m happier with.

Here is Makeesha’s challenge for us..

and here is the card I spent WAY too long trying to *fix* last night..

Stamp - Priceless, Boho Backgrounds, Baroque Motifs, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Blue Bayou, Ruby Red

Paper - Au Chocolat DSP (retired)

Inks - Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou, Ruby Red

Accessories - corner rounder punch (picked up the retired one by accident!)

I started this card with a totally different thought in mind.  It kind of took control of itself, and I’m not sure I like the way it turned!  Originally the whole card base was Blue Bayou with that little Very Vanilla strip down the bottom.  I had stamped the big swirl from Baroque Motifs in the top right corner and balanced it with the same image in the bottom left corner.  Halfway through making the card I remembered that I don’t own any Blue Bayou ribbon which through a huge spanner into my works!  You find many of my cards that don’t feature ribbon, so this was a little hard for me to deal with ;)  You get to that point where you think “ok, I really don’t like this card” and you start trying to fix it.  You do more to it, add Itty Bitty Backgrounds because it needs a little *something*.  You consider adding Dazzling Diamonds, but really, who wants to be covered in glitter at 1:30 in the morning?  “Oh my goodness I still have some Au Chocolat DSP left!!! Wheeee that will work!”  And it does, that’s probably the part of the card I like the best.

So I went to bed at 1:45am and decided to see what I thought of it in the morning.  And here I am.  It’s ok, not my favourite, but I don’t think it’s overly horrible.  What do you think?  It definitely needs ribbon

I was really looking forward to playing along with Kristina’s colour challenge this week.  The card I’m about to show you is the second one I made.  The other one just isn’t pretty, at all.  I think this one much more.  I hope you do, too!

I haven’t used Ruby Red much, but I really like it, especially combined with these colours.

Here’s my card..

Stamps - Scribble This, Be Happy

Cardstock - Whisper White, Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Pie Prints DSP, watercolour paper

Inks - Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Black StazOn

Accessories - Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon, 1¼” circle punch, 1 3/8″ circle punch, scallop punch, rhinestone brads (non-SU!), Dimensionals, Aqua Painter

Hope you like it

Yes, I know.  I’ve been very slack with my blog for ages.  I don’t really have an excuse, I think time just gets away from me.  I want to start blogging more.  I want to start stamping more.  Hopefully the two will go hand in hand and I’ll post more of my cards.  I guess time will tell.

So, here’s a card I’ve just finished.  I decided to play along with Makeesha’s Sketch Challage.

This is the sketch we had to follow..

And here is the card I made..

All supplies are Stampin’ Up!

Stamps -Heartfelt Thanks, Think Happy Thoughts.

Cardstock - Soft Sky, Really Rust, Whisper White.

Paper - Fall Flowers DSP.

Inks - Black StazOn, Really Rust, Soft Sky, Old Olive.

Accessories - Blender pen, 1¼” circle punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, corner rounder punch, Stamp-a-majig, Soft Sky double stitched ribbon,  Dimensionals.

I had fun making it.  I think I made the main square image too large.  I’m out of the habit and stamped before I cut.  I should have known better than that ;)  I have no idea why the photo is showing up blurry, or maybe it’s just my eyes.  It wasn’t blurry when I took it off the camera or when I edited it.  Oops forgot to add my watermark.  Lucky I’m not a demo at the moment, isn’t it

So, time has been short here and I didn’t end up making the challenge I set myself.  I figure that’s ok at this time of year.  There is a lot on!  One of my New Years Resolutions will be to keep up with my blog more.  If I don’t then it’s just a waste of money and we can’t have that!

Erin is sick at the moment, she’s had what appears to be gastro for four days (five if you count today).  I had her at the doctors this morning and we just have to keep an eye on her and get a stool sample.. oh joy!  She’s miserable, tantrumy and very hard to deal with at the moment.  Basically your average sick nearly two year old.  She threw her cup of water at me this morning when I wouldn’t get her a third biscuit.  I figured two was enough to see if she was going to throw up again, but no, she wanted three.  Luckily I had thought ahead and didn’t get dressed in the clothes I was going to leave the house in so it didn’t matter that I was soaked after her tantrum.

Christmas shopping is just about done, all the our kids’ presents are wrapped and hidden, just a couple of things to get for the family still.

Sean keeps telling us he wants a trumpet.  Can I find a toy trumpet anywhere?  I even looked at real ones until I noticed that the cheapest one was about $400.  Ack!  I’ll be on the hunt from now until Christmas.  If anyone knows of any, let me know!

Our Christmas shopping is nearly finished!  I am so happy about that.  I was worried I wasn’t going to find time to get to the shops without the kids, but thankfully my Mum was able to watch all three kids on Sunday for us.  Sean, Liam and Erin are completely finished, which was my main concern.

Somehow we managed to misplace one of the gifts.  I bought Dermot a car charger for his iPhone, but apparently we left it hanging over the shopping trolley or something because we cannot find it anywhere and we’ve both looked EVERYWHERE twice.  Thankfully it was only $30, but still it’s annoying.

I think the kids will be happy with what Santa brings.  They better be!

I haven’t forgotten the challenge I set myself, but I’ve been sick today and haven’t been near my stamps.  Hopefully I’ll get to that tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to playing with a colour I’ve never touched.  I think when I’m finished with Not Quite Navy I’ll pick another colour, or colour combo, and have a play with that.  It would be a good idea if I continued with that theme until I’d used every colour!

Yes, I know.  It’s been ages since I posted again.  Simone nudged me and pretty much gave me a kick in the bum to start posting again, thanks Sim

I’ve been stamping!  A lot.  I held a Stamp A Stack last night for some friends.  We made two each of five beautiful Christmas cards.  So they’ve got 20 handmade Christmas cards to send now.  It was a fun night, thanks Melly

I’ve also been making quite cards to add to my stash when I find a couple of spare minutes.  I’ve never really stamped when the kids are awake before.  Last week I took my supplies out to the kitchen bench with me while they watched a movie and I actually got four cards made in less than an hour.  I was shocked.  I think I’ll have to try that a couple more times!  I’m going through my cardstock like a crazy person and I really need to put in an order.  I’m trying to hold out until I’m an active demonstrator again, but I might not be able to wait much longer!  I had to modify my Christmas SAS cards because I was running out of my traditional Christmas colours.  It’s always good to think outside the box, ok well maybe not always!

I’m also trying to use colours I haven’t touched before, and yes, surprisingly there are quite a few I haven’t used before!  For some reason I never like Cameo Coral from the Earth Elements family.  Never liked it, didn’t want to touch it, yuck!  Some of those quick cards I mentioned earlier?  In Cameo Coral and Ruby Red.  Very, very pretty!  A CASEd design, which I’m hesitant to post, but still really pretty and a layout I’ll be using many more times.

I love Not Quite Navy, but I’ve never used it!  So that’s the challenge I’m setting for myself next week.  Use Not Quite Navy any which way and post the card I come up with!

The boys are having a sleep over at Nana’s house tonight which will be great for them (and for us!).  I think Erin is still too young to have a sleepover, so we’ll be dropping her over there early in the morning and then we’re going to go and try to finish off our Christmas shopping.

Speaking of Erin.. I think my breastfeeding career is coming to an end.  Erin is 22 months old and up until this week was still nursing first thing in the morning and right before bedtime.  She’s been messing around a lot with it lately and it’s just not a nice quite time for us anymore.  I decided to see how she’d go without a night feed.  And she did really well.  Surprisingly she actually slept later that next morning, a whole 1½ hours later!  It was lovely :)  She hasn’t had a 7pm feed for a couple of days now, maybe three days, and it seems to be going well.  I think she’s missing it, probably more the cuddles and tickles with Mummy than the actual milk, but we’ll get there.  She’s still nursing first thing in the morning.  My little baby girl is growing up.  I can’t believe she’ll be two in January!

On that note she must have heard me talking about her and she’s just woken up from her nap!

I should set a reminder in my phone to tell me to post!

I’ve been meaning to attempt a Kristina Werner Colour Challenge for a long time.  On the odd occasion I actually had the time to do it I realised I didn’t have the right colours.  Well today I had the time and the colours, but my creativity had flown out the window.  Ah well.

I copied the layout and nearly the design of another card I made last week (haven’t posted it yet!) and this is what I came up with for Colour Challenge # 26

Supplies: Priceless & Think Happy Thoughts stamp sets.  Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi, Rose Red, So Saffron and Whisper White cardstock.  Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi, Rose Red and So Saffron ink.  Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon. 3/4′, 1 1/4″ and 1 3/8″ circle punches.  Scallop circle punch and corner rounder punch.  So Saffron brad.  Dimensionals

For some reason (more than likely crappy lighting!) the Rose Red isn’t really looking very rosey in the photo.  Note to self - next time take photo before it gets dark and maybe even use the flash you hate so much

I had fun doing the challenge.  It WAS definitely a challenge.  And I was racing against the clock to get it done before I picked Sean up from school.  I might even attempt the next one!

I’m on a posting spree it seems

I have a few more cards to share from a recent Birthday Stamp A Stack and just a couple I whipped up quickly.  I have to admit more than a few of them are CASEd and some I just got inspiration from other fantastic cardmakers.  I’ll share their names if I can remember them!

I got the inspiration from this one from Kristina Werner I think!  I made it ages ago, but from what I can remember (and my memory is really bad after having three kids!)  she had a card that had the circle window with cupcakes I think.  I’ll have to hunt it down later.

Supplies: Seeing Spots and A Little Birthday Cheer stamp sets.  Kraft, Soft Sky and Whisper White cardstock.  Really Rust ink.  Fall Flowers DSP.  Soft Sky double stitched ribbon and dimensionals.  I think I used the 1¼” punch on this one.  I’d have to dig it out of my samples box to make sure.

I can’t remember where I saw this design, but it’s nearly completely a CASE.  The only difference is that I used Cool Caribbean ink and card instead of the Tempting Turquoise the original designer used.  That and she used Big Bold Birthday, but I don’t have that set.

Supplies: Birthday Whimsy (retired) stamp set.  Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Cool Caribbean (retired) ink and cardstock.  Whisper White cardstock.  Tempting Turquoise narrow grosgrain and dimensionals.

I was in a hurry to make my husband’s birthday card in July (yes July!) and this is what I came up with.  Something very quick and very simple.  I think it would look much better with the scallop circle punch surrouding the circles, but I thought it might be a bit girlie for my husband!

Supplies: Birthday Whimsy (retired) stamp set.  Wild Wasabi, Blue Bayou and Whisper White cardstock.  Wild Wasabi and Pumpkin Pie ink.  Pumpkin Pie Prints DSP, Le Jardin DSP.  Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon, 1 3/8″ and 1 1/4″ circle punches, dimensionals.

More tomorrow, time for a cuppa

I saw this card on Simone’s old blog.  She’s moved now, not sure if she’s giving out the new link or not, so I’ll wait for her to let me know :)  I loved it.  For some reason I have trouble using Seeings Spots.  I love the flower, but I struggle with the spots.  These are colours I love, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Certainly Celery and Whisper White so how could it go wrong?  I didn’t have any purple ribbon, so I made do with my celery.  When I told Simone that I’d CASEd her because my creativity had taken a vacaction she sent me a lovely card and some little goodies to get me on my way.  I’m back on y way, but sadly have STILL not used the goodies she sent me.  Must do that this week if I get the chance! Thanks again Simone!

I also made this card after I saw the beautiful one she sent me.  It’s a popsicle card and is super easy to make and very, very cute!  We made this one at my recent Birthday Stamp A Stack.  The girls all loved it, just like I knew they would!

Stamps used are Big Blooms (retired) and the So Swirly Jumbo Stampin’ Around Wheel.  The colours are Pretty in Pink, Taken with Teal and Whisper White.  I’ve used the Scallop Circle punch, the 1 3/8″ and 1 1/4″ circle punches, dimensionals and Pretty in Pink narrow grosgrain.  They’d be great for birthday invitations!

I’ll try to post the rest of the cards from that Birthday Stamp A Stack later.   The kids have woken up from their naps so it’s time to go and play with all of Liam’s new toys.  It was his 4th birthday yesterday and we’ve been celebrating since Friday!  I’m sooo tired