September's Banana Blog Hop!

Welcome if you have come from talented Michelle!

I recently received the 3 new Christmas stamp sets and set out to have a play! I love Xmas cards and I've been making them since the beginning of the year, just so I'm not stressed at the end when I've to give out that many! Anyway, today's post is to show you how you can 'dress up' your stamp images. 

I love the tree image from Winter Wonderland. There is so much possibilities with that particular image. It can look pretty plain when stamped on a sheet but with some glitter, you can give the tree a different dimension:

Here, I played with sticklers and glitter pen to transform the tree into an embellishment.

On the same stamp set is a rather cute snowman. Here's what I did to him: 

He was coloured with Copic markers and I added buttons on him. I created a topper out of him which I will later put on a card or even a tag!

Finally, I played with a tree in Christmas Elegance set: 

Another topper but this time I dressed the tree up. I added buttons to represent them as baubles and added a bit of glitter around. Then I grounded it by adding grass around its base. 

When I'm short of time, I usually create something fast and simple like these. They are then later used either in cards or projects that I may be involved in. Here's a example of how I used the embellished tree: 

I used it on a tag. 

With Christmas only 91 days away, these little toppers/embellishment will come in very handy later for Xmas projects! These Christmas stamp sets are fabulous. I've not played enough with them yet. And if you fancy a chance of winning any of them (or others), drop me a comment. It might just be your lucky day! 

Your next blog hop is Annlouise. Have a very' hopping' time! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 212 ~

This week, we were sponsored by Sparkle Creations. I received a lovely red rubber stamp named Cruisin' Chole. Today's challenge focus on the 3 Gs, girl, green and glitter. Here's my card: 

 Patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket Togetherness. Stamped image coloured using Copic markers. 

On the subject of cards, just found out that one of my card made it to Top 5 here. What a bonus! :) TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 205 ~

This week we are sponsored by Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps. 

Today's challenge is 'Sweet Smellin', which is to let the card be inspired by my favourite smells. I've chosen mulled wine. Luv the smell of it and currently, very appropriate for the weather we are in now! Here's my card: 

The papers used here were digitally printed as well as the fairy (courtesy of Robyn's Fetish), which was coloured using Copic markers. The colours of the papers was inspired by the spices used in mulled wine.

TTFN! 

~ Get Sketchy: Sketch 56 ~

I was in a mood to create a card and looked around and found this sketch from Get Sketchy: 

Here's my card: 

Patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket Togetherness. Stamped images from Unity's July 10 KOTM set.

Here's the inside of the card. The sentiment is from Elzbells while the journaling box is from the same set as above.

This card came in handy for a friend's 50th birthday although I doubt very much she would want a mega '50' on the card! TTFN!

~ Nesting Instinct?!! ~

No, I'm not pregnant but have developed a sudden urge to spring clean! Started at work (now that I've been promoted) and cleared the drawers and lockers and arranged everything so that it's much more organised! Today, it was the pantry that I tackled! Chucked out outdated food stuff (how they accumulated that long I do not know...) and re-organised the shelf. Told hubby he had better keep it neat as typical man, he simply stuff food items anywhere without realising that each shelf has a certain category! I then sent him to clear the side of our house as this particular area has been hoarding boxes of electrical equipment that we have bought. Why they have been kept is beyond comprehension but hubs cleared them out and took them to the dump. However, he only did halfway and there is still a large mess on the floor (which I suspect are stuff toys). I think a trip to the car boot sale is required as I'm determined to de-clutter before the weather gets too cold!

Speaking of cold, I think summer has come to an end. We have turn on the heater as it's get way too cold at nite now. In fact, read the news that it will get even colder soon! Urghh!

We have been busy attending Open Days in Secondary Schools as we have to fill in the form by 1st Oct. All I can say it's stressful! At least my eldest now has an idea which school he wants as his first choice!

Here's him trying on a helmet used in a war. Well, it's the history department!

The next room that I'm gonna tackle will be my craft room! It's due for a spring clean and a lot of stuff have to go as they have been sitting in there for years, untouched! Think I'm gonna be brutal and really clear out as my priority is slowly but surely shifting and I need to clear the space for future use! Where I'm gonna start clearing will be a good point..... TTFN!

~ Banana Frog ~

Well, it was my day to showcase on the Banana Frog blog and I made this canvas: 

The butterflies were created from transparency and coloured using Copic markers and glittered using sticklers: 

The flower embellishment were stamped and I added dimension to them by shading with Copic markers: 

Finally, I replicated the vine images at the side of the canvas: 

This canvas will be winging its way to my mom as her birthday gift. Having not done much creative work lately, it took me a while to get into the flow again. Can't say I have much time in the coming few weeks as I will be extremely busy (lots of things have come up and I don't have a lot of spare time these days). Until then, TTFN!

~ Chrismas Cards All Year 'Round: September's Challenge ~

Oops, forgot to post this!


The challenge for September is going to be a card that is any shape other than the standard 4 1/4 X 5 1/2. It can be suare, rectangular, curcular, big, small, whatever, but not the standard size. The card must also have gold, silver, crystal or pearl on it too!

Here's my card: 

Card is made using a transparency sheet. The centre of the poinsettia is dotted with gold sticklers. Patterned papers from Basic Grey Wassail collection. Poinsettia is from Unity.

The inside of the card. Stamped images from Unity's Bright & Merry Winter Wishes. 

Have to say, it was fun making this card but quite challenging too! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 198 ~

This week we are sponsored by DRS Designs Rubber Stamps.

Today's challenge's is 'Busy Background'. Here's the requirement: Use 3 different patterned papers to fill the entire background of your card, leaving no blank space. They do not have to be the same size, as long as they cover the background. Here's my card: 

Patterned papers by Basic Grey Offbeat collection (luv their 6x6 pack!) Stamped images by DRS Designs (cocoa cup & swirls). Images coloured using Copics.

TTFN!

~ Blockleton ~

Spent Sunday nite, helping the older one pack his stuff for his residential retreat to Blockleton for a week. He's going with his school mates. He has been on Cubs camp for 3 days but to be away for 5 days is gonna be a testing time for me! 

He couldn't contain his excitement and why not, 5 days away from home and with school mates!!! How fun!

The kids have to carry their own bags to the buses!

It will be weird not picking him up from school later! Well, the wee one will, no doubt, be getting a lot of attention this week! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 191 ~

After a 3 week hiatus, I'm back to creating! Took me a week to settle in after arriving home (laundry and unpacking took considerably time, not forgetting slight jet lag as well! The weather didn't help either, especially after basking in temperatures of 30ish degree Celcius for 5 weeks to suddenly experiencing 10ish upon returning! Talk about sudden shock to the human system.)

This week we are sponsored by Wink Wink Ink Digital Stamps: 

Today's challenge is 'All Creatures Great And Small' which should be included in the card. Well, I got to play with 2 adorable creatures and here's my card: 

Digi images coloured using Copic markers. Patterned papers from Basic Grey Granola collection. The musical sheet is 7 Gypsies Avignon paper tape, the only scrapbook item I picked up from the LSS in Singapore.

Enjoyed using my Copic markers. Bought a shedload while I was in Singapore as they are far cheaper there (at least nearly half what is sold in the UK!) and the store having a 15% discount helped tremendously! Rather than going for sets, I went for shades of colours instead, opting for different tones in each set of colours. I had originally Set B of 36 colours and realised I couldn't do much shading with them so based on those colours I had, I just bought the various tones. There are lots of tutorials and videos around and they helped tremendously. I still learning though .....

Hoping to do more creating but I think a spring clean is needed for my craft room.... losing sight of the floor at the moment! Sigh! Thankless task! TTFN!

~ New School Term! ~

Today saw the start of a new school term for my boys and the wee one has gone to Juniors and is now in the same school as his brother, just for this school year! The older one will be off to secondary school next year. Gosh, how time flies! Anyway, here they are, getting ready for school: 

I'm glad they are together if it's just for a year. Kinda help the wee one ease into the Junior school easily! TTFN!