You're too kind

I’ve recently (& not so recently – sorry Nikki) received some blog awards from some very generous ladies, so would like to acknowledge these & most importantly say a huge thank you for your kindness & encouragement, to the lovely ladies who have  awarded them.

First up, I received the Stylish Blogger Award from the lovely Nikki Stalker (so sorry it’s taken me so long to get this up Nikki – renovation brain I think) & last weekend from the lovely Janice Spencer, who’s blog I’ve just found. The rules of this award are apparently are:

1.       Thank and link to the person who passed the Award my way;

2.       Share 8 things about myself;

3.       Pass it on to 8 others; and

4.     Let them know about the Award.

So, 8 things about me...very random! That was hard on a Monday morning!

1.       I’m a Christian.

2.       I’m a converted e-book reader, since we got an i-pad. My hubby Damien & I are reading (I’m re-reading) the Miles Vorkosigan sci-fi book series together. Fantastic series!

3.       I’m a total chocoholic for milk chocolate (especially Lindt classic), but am not as fond of dark chocolate & don’t like white chocolate at all.

4.       My star sign is Virgo – which should be no surprise to anyone who knows me.

5.       I can’t wait to finish our renovations, so we can have a family room again....& get most of the family room furniture out of our bedroom.

6.       I’m really looking forward to going to Melbourne & the SU Convention in May, with my fabulous friend Kellie.

7.       My favourite song (& video) of the moment is “Hollywood by the fabulous Michael Buble. Check it out HERE if you want to see why.

8.       I’m gradually working my way re-watching all the Taggart TV series. If you haven’t heard of Taggart, it’s a police murder mystery show set in Glasgow, Scotland. As a Glaswegian by birth, I really enjoy hearing the accents, slang, humour & seeing scenes my first home town....plus the stories are really good!

Now to pass it on....

That’s so tricky, as so many bloggers inspire me... but here we go.

Sarah Milbourn – Sarah’s Stamping Style

Lyndell Andrews – Lyndell’s Card Corner

Andrea Karadimos – Stamp my Day

Cathy McLean – Happy Shack Stamping

I’m very proud & to say these first 4 nominees are part of my SU Diamond Stampers downline...Go girls!  Their styles are all different & very beautiful & most of them have just starting blogging, so please give them some encouragement.  These final 4 fabulous ladies blogs are always in my ‘check this out immediately if not sooner’ list. Say no more!

Kim Badelt – Kim’s Stamping Spot

Liam Pucher - Inspire Stampin

Sarah Klass

Sam Post - Ryemilan's Stamping & Scrapbooking

Phew! That was hard to narrow down.

Well, if that award wasn’t enough, I was thrilled to receive the Liebster Award from the amazing Helen or H2 as you may know her from her fab blog.

The idea behind this award is that you nominate 3-5 blogs that are pretty new or have less than 300 followers, so I’d like to nominate...

 Chrissie's World – Chrissie gave me such encouragement when I started blogging with her lovely comments & I am forever grateful for that.

 Leanne Dixon – Leanne has become a dear friend over the past couple of years & is also my SU Auntie. She’s a stamping technique queen & loves vintage.

Kellie Jupe – well,what can I say about the gorgeous Kellie? She definitely not a regular blogger, but her cards are fab & I hope this encourages her to do & post more (grin). Love ya Kellie!

Before, I go, I’d like to say a final thanks again to Helen, Nikki & Janice for these special awards. If you need any more inspiration, please check out the bloggers on the right column, as they’re all wonderful! 

I’ll be back later hopefully with my card for the latest Inkspirations challenge....if I can get some work done first.

Inky wishes, Di

Never ending birthday wishes for Renee

Today's card is one I made for my dear friend & SU team member Renee, who celebrated her 40^th birthday in style at the beginning of March. Renee herself gave me the idea to make her a never ending card, when we last caught up, as she said she'd like to try making one. So, I thought she might like a sample. If you haven't seen one before, the basic idea is that the card has four different panels that you can see as you fold the card. So, here we go with the front.

 I've mixed & matched Love Letter DSP for most of the panels, mixed with a little stamping. The happy birthday on the front is from 'Engraved Greetings'. A very elegant set in the IB&C I hadn't really noticed, until my friend Leanne kept using it & convinced me it was a must have – especially for a vintage look. Thanks Lea. I added some basic pearls to make to add some detail without adding much thickness. My Timeless Type alphabet came out again for the 40 & it got the pearl treatment too.

Then, you fold back the panel... & you can see the second view.

This page includes a panel to write a birthday greeting (& did you notice I managed to sneak in one of my favourite 'Fabulous Phrases' stamps again?) & more dsp, which I fussy cut to match panels. I've also included the happy birthday scallop greeting from the SAB 'Punch Bunch' set.

More folding & you see the third view, which also includes some more 'Fabulous Phrases' words, which I stamped & punched so they link to read 'happy birthday to you friend'.

One more fold & you have the fourth & final view. The saying I've used here is from the retired 'It's Your Birthday' set (I think) & is a birthday favourite of mine. 

Once you fold over this page, you're back to the front page again.

I have to say that using this dsp was a bit of a challenge for me, as while I love & use heaps of riding hood red, I very rarely use black & the paper design is a bit more vintage & combining all the patterns isn't my usual style. However, as one of my stamping goals this year is to challenge myself more (as well as just stamp more!), I was glad I used it & was pretty happy with the final result...although at times I'm not sure, lol. In any case, I hope Renee liked it, as that's always most important!

Anyway, hope this gives you some ideas to try. Never ending cards are really fun to make & always give a real wow...especially to guys who can't work out how you did it. If you'd like to see some more of my never ending cards, you can check out these ones I made ages ago & also check out this video by Dawn, which I very much needed, the first time I tried to make one. Hope you have a happy weekend. Thanks for popping in.

Inky wishes, Di

PS: In case you're wondering, the finished card front is 14cm x 14cm

Supplies:

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases (Summer Mini), Punch Bunch (SAB), Engraved Greetings, It's Your Birthday (retired)

Card/Paper: riding hood red, Love Letter DSP

Ink: Basic Black & riding hood red ink pads

Accessories: basic pearls

Tools: Big Shot, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies, square scallop punch

Twin birthdays – same but different

Today I have two birthday gift cards to show you, that I made for twin friends of Cara, who turned 10 at the beginning of this month. While the girls are twins, they like different things, so I wanted to make cards that would suit them both. I also needed to make a gift card holder, to hold i-tunes vouchers, as I knew they'd been given iPod touch's for their birthday. As an aside, the iPod touch seems to be THE present of the year for the 10 year old set. Lucky kids!

To start me off, I asked Cara what colours the girls liked & went from there. The first birthday girl likes pink & purple & is a very girly girl. Too easy! So this is what I came up...

The colours I've used are melon mambo & rich razzleberry & a touch of regal rose. Love this combination. The largest flower is part of the Island Floral die & the other is a punched Fancy Flower, with a 3/4 inch circle & retired button in the centre. The button stitching is just a little strip of card folded in the holes. The polka dot (razzleberry) & striped (regal rose) papers are from the Brights Patterns DSP stack. Love how you can mix & match these patterns & colours. The greeting is from my very well used Party this Way.

The theme is carried to the inside with some more DSP & scallops & little flowers from the super cute Itty Bitty Bits set.

Then I moved on to the second card. Birthday girl two's favourite colours are green & blue. Cara said she is also more of a tom boy, so flowers were no go. Apparently so were butterflies, when I showed her some I had planned to use (who knew?). Fortunately, a little punch owl I had made previously was deemed appropriate (phew), so that's what I went with & came up with this...

I repeated the scallops & striped DSP from the first card, this time in marina mist & baja breeze. Little owl looked a little small to be on his own, so I added a circle (circles #2 die) & some little leaves (2 step bird punch) for him to stand on.

On the inside, I repeated the scallops & DSP and then added a cute little stamped birdie (also from Itty Bitty Bits).

Finally, in case you're wondering about the card base dimensions, the card fronts are 10.5 x 10.5cm. Cut A4 sheet down to 10.5cm x 25cm, then score at 10.5cm & 21cm, so you have a flap to fold over for the gift card. You'll get 2 from an A4 sheet.

Cara really liked how they turned out & said the birthday girls liked them too, so it's all good! Hope you do too. Thanks for popping in. Hope to see you again soon.
Inky wishes, Di

PS: Some of these supplies are from the Summer Mini & only available until March 31.

Supplies:
Both cards
Stamps: Party This Way, Itty Bitty Bits
(Summer Mini)
Tools: Scallop edge punch

Flower card
Card/Paper: melon mambo, rich razzleberry card, Brights Patterns DSP stack – razzleberry & regal rose
Ink: melon mambo, rich razzleberry ink pads
Accessories: button (retired)
Tools: Island Floral die (Summer Mini), Fancy Flower Punch, ¾ inch circle punch

Owl card
Card/Paper: certainly celery, marina mist, old olive, whisper white card, Subtles Patterns DSP stack – marina mist & baja breeze
Ink: marina mist, not quite navy ink pads
Accessories: basic pearls
Tools: circles #2 die, punches - 2 step owl, scallop oval, 2 step bird

Zac’s Grunge Birthday

Well I'm back with a card I made for our family friend, Zac, who turned 13 today. How time flies.
I'm also excited to say it's an unexpected entry for Inkspirations sketch challenge 61. I check out Keesh's challenges each week, but never seem to be able to participate in time. Not so this week though, as the fantastic sketch was perfect for the elements I had in mind for the card – using 'Grunge Rock' & including a number. So here's what I came up with...

...& here's Keesh's sketch. This is one I'm definitely going to use again.

I'm sure you're thinking that 'Grunge Rock', is definitely not my usual style, but I kept going back to look at it in the Summer Mini as I thought it would be great for older kids who are over the 'cute' stage & male cards too. Soooo, I decided to order it in clear mount (grin).

Anyway, back to the card... I decided to try a bit of a collage stamping to make a background. First, I stamped a piece of naturals ivory card with the 'Sanded' background & random Grunge diamonds in crumb cake ink, added some rows of guitars in baja breeze ink, rows of happy birthdays in soft suede ink (some stamped off first), then a few random 'rock crowns'. As I was going with a grungy look, I just stamped free-hand, but it came out pretty straight anyway using the clear mount stamps. Finally, I embossed the panel with the square lattice embossing folder to add some more texture, distressed the edges & mounted it on a piece of baja breeze card.

The '13' medallion is made of a baja 2 inch circle (cut with the circles #2 die), an ivory ring punched with 1¾ & 1½ inch circle punches, both stamped with 'Sanded'. The baja piece also has the 'real' image from Grunge stamped in the centre. The 13 is again cut with the 'Timeless Type' sizzlet alphabet in soft suede. I've glued 4 numbers together to give a bolder look. The greeting strip is simply stamped on ivory & pierced using the mat pack template. Here's a closer pic, so you can maybe see the detail a bit better.

I carried the theme to the inside by including a stamped & embossed piece on the gift card/money holder side & a stamped & layered panel on the right.

Looking back at this card, the stamping is way out of my usual clean style, but I like how the final card turned out & think it still looks like me. What do you think? Either way, I hope Zac liked it.

I have a couple more girly clean & simple gift card holders to show you next time but it's time for bed now. Until next time, thanks for popping in for a visit.
Inky wishes, Di

PS: Grunge Rock & all the other gorgeous goodies from the Summer Mini (& Sale-a-bration too) are only available for 18 more days. Contact me ASAP if you'd like to place an order & earn some free SAB sets too.

Supplies
Stamps: Grunge Rock (Summer Mini), Sanded
Ink: soft suede, crumb cake, baja breeze ink pads
Tools: big shot, circles #2 die, timeless type junior alphabet dies, square lattice embossing folder, punches – 1 ¾ inch & 1 ½ inch circles, mat pack

A zebra for baby Thumper

Today, I have a happy baby card to show you – one I made to welcome beautiful baby Thumper to my lovely friend Sam’s family. I know Sam has received it, so it’s safe to show you all now.

My inspiration for the card came when I looked at the cute little zebra on the little baby gift set I bought for Sam. I thought I could make a punch zebra to match, so out came my many punches & off I went. It took a little fiddling & he looked a little strange for a while, but I was happy with how he turned out in the end.

Then, I made a little habitat for him using some retired kiwi ‘Walk in the Park’ DSP & scallop square die (again!). The ‘welcome sweet little baby’ message is made using some words from the Fabulous Phrases set from the Summer Mini, which is another favourite recent purchase.

I carried the theme to the inside of the card too using some of the ‘Wild About You’ animals which I inked up with markers, then repeated the scallop square & DSP. The sentiment is from’ God’s Blessings’.

Here’s a pic of the card with the Pumpkin Patch gift set I was inspired by. You can see the little zebra on the front of the bodysuit & some other very cute animals.

More about the punch zebra...

Here are the shapes I punched/cut if you’d like to make your own zebra. Some are cut freehand & some punches are retired, so you may have to improvise if you don’t have them.

head & muzzle: 2 step owl punch - body

ears: word window punch

hair:  2 x spring bouquet flowers punch (retired)

eyes: small crop-a-dile circle

nostrils & ear crease – horizontal slot punch

body: freehand rectangle – 1 corner rounded (retired corner rounder punch)

legs: - freehand

feet – quarter inch circle (retired) cut off at top

stripes & tail – freehand

Here is a final pic to show you the little tag I made for the wrapped pressie, also using ‘Wild About You’ & Fabulous Phrases. The package was wrapped in tissue paper stamped with the lion & giraffe from ‘Fox & Friends’ but photoshop has decided not to co-operate, so can't show you it!

Thanks for stopping by & hope you liked my little zebra. Just drop me a line or comment if you have any questions. Hope you're having a happy day.

Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases, God’s Blessings, Fox & FriendsWild About You

Card/paper: not quite navy, kiwi kiss (retired), marina mist, baja breeze, whisper white card, Walk in the Park DSP (retired)

Ink: not quite navy, marina mist, baja breeze ink pad/Stampin' Write® markers

Accessories: marina mist taffeta ribbon,

Tools: Big Shot, scallop square die, Square Lattice Embossing Folder (Summer Mini), crop-a-dile

Punches: scallop circle, 1 3/8 & 1 ¼ inch circles, 2 step owl punch, word window,

Retired punches: spring bouquet, horizontal slot, large corner rounder, ¼ inch circle

Breanah’s Birthday Bakery

Woo hoo, 3 posts in 3 days!...but don't get too excited! I'm still working on catching up on some past projects rather than making newies, but at least I'm here. Today's card is one I made for a very cute 6 year old friend of Cara back in October.

I've coloured the yummy little row of cakes from 'Birthday Bakery' (level 1 hostess set) with my markers & then added some glittery dazzling diamond highlights. The number 6 has been mounted on some circles & a scallop circle (with a little more glitter). To make the scallop circle look more like the scallop trim edge, I punched holes in each scallop with my crop-a-dile. I could have been a little more patient with this part, but think it works OK. You can see the details closer here (but don't look too close, LOL).

I think everything else is pretty clear, but if you'd like more info on anything, just drop me a line. Until next time, thanks for stopping by & leave some comment love if you're liking what you see...or not for that matter!
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:
Stamps: Birthday Bakery, (level 1 hostess set) Party This Way (birthday greeting)
Card/Paper: rose red, regal rose, whisper white card, Sweet Always DSP (I think!)
Ink: jet black staz-on ink pad, regal rose, pretty in pink, rose red, so saffron, certainly celery Stampin' Write® markers
Accessories: certainly celery 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon, dazzling diamonds glitter
Tools: punches – scallop trim, scallop circle, 1 3/8 & 1 ¼ inch circle, word window, crop-a-dile

Party This Way

Today, I'm heading back to last year to show you some cards I made for friends of Cara using the fun 'Party this Way' stamp set. All of these cards are variations of a make & take from the last SU Convention. I love the square layout as I it's really easy to make a very quick card or a more detailed one....depending on how much time is available. It's also a great way to use up scraps. Anyway, here we go...

...First up is my favourite – a very girly version in regal rose & chocolate with lots of DSP & raised stamped, punched or die cut layers. The number 10 was cut with the Timeless Type sizzlet alphabet

Next up is a much simpler version in razzleberry, using the original four square layout from the convention make & take.

Finally, a simple version for a boy. This also includes the 4 square layout, but this time, I used mainly stamping & placed the squares on a normal size base.

Hope this has given you some ideas of how you can use 'Party This Way' & vary a design to get different looks. If you have any questions, just let me know.
See you again soon....I hope.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:
All Stampin' Up!® unless stated
Stamps – all cards: Party This Way

Girly pink & chocolateCard/Paper: regal rose, pretty in pink, chocolate chip, whisper white card, Sweet Always DSP
Ink: Regal Rose, chocolate chip ink pads
Accessories: silver brad
Tools: Punches – heart to heart, boho blossoms, word window; Big Shot, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies

Razzleberry squareCard/Paper: rich razzleberry, whisper white card, Cottage Wall DSP
Ink: Rich razzleberry ink pad
Tools: Big Shot, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies (heart & number)

4 square boy
Stamps: Trendy Trees
Card/Paper: crumb cake, pacific point, kiwi kiss, tempting turquoise card, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: kiwi kiss, tempting turquoise, pacific point ink pads
Tools: word window punch, Big Shot, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies

Quick & simple as 1-2-3

Hi again!
When card making time is short (who am I kidding, isn't it always too short?), I try to simplify my cards by using a favourite layout, co-ordinated products & flexible images. Today's card is a good example of this:

...And here is a quick 1-2-3 guide so you can do it too.
1.  Choose some card & add a strip of matching dsp.
I've used blushing bride cardstock & some co-ordinating striped paper from the level 1 hostess 'In-Colour ' dsp pack. The card front is approx 9.9 x 9.9cm, so you can get 3 cards from an A4 sheet. Perfect for making a quick sets of cards or when you need multiples.
2.  Stamp a punch-able image.
I've used the very pretty floral stamp from the free 'Punch Bunch' Sale-a-bration set, which I love as it combines both a pretty image & sentiment and can easily be punched & layered.
3.  Add a little extra special detail.
I've added some pear pizzazz ribbon & a little pearl in the centre of the flower (still loving those pearls). You can see the image in more detail in this pic.

Another thing I like about this card is that I got lots of what I've used for free...

- The in-colour paper pack I've used includes a huge 60 sheets of 6 x 6 inch dsp to match our current in-colour selection & you can only get it free as a hostess benefit - by hosting a $300 workshop. With a $300 workshop, you'll also get to choose $30 of products of your choice to co-ordinate with it.
- Get the fantastic Sale-a-bration 'Punch Bunch' stamp set free only until the end of this month with a $100 order, or by hosting a $600 workshop.
If you'd like more info on workshops or Sale-a-bration, just drop me a line.
Inky wishes, Di

PS: sorry the pics are not so bright – it was a dull day when I made them & had to get them in the mail quick!

Supplies:
Stamps: Punch Bunch
Card/Paper: blushing bride, pear pizzazz, whisper white card, level 1 hostess 'In-Colour ' dsp pack
Ink: blushing bride, regal rose & pear pizzazz Stampin' Write® markers
Accessories: basic pearls, pear pizzazz poly ribbon
Tools: punches – scallop circle, 1 3/8inch & 1 ¼ inch circles, piercing tool.

Kellie’s Scallop Birthday

This morning, I'm tapping happily away in the relative calm of my stamping area, to get away from the noisy organised chaos of our kitchen/family room where our new kitchen cupboards are being installed. It's all going pretty well except for our new family room floor, where we found a damp spot that needs to dry out before we can lay the beautiful new timber. Unfortunately, this means that I probably won't be able to start my classes again until at the end of March at this stage, but trying to be patient with it all & look forward to our lovely new look. Anyhow, I'm sure you didn't come to hear about my renovations, so please say hello to today's card instead, which I made this for my dear & fabulous friend Kellie's birthday, which was on Feb 8^th.

As you can see, I'm still a bit obsessed with the new scallop square die from the Summer Mini & writing this now I realise that just about everything else I've used is from the Summer Mini too. The tree is from the 'Love Defined' set, cute birdie & flower stamps are from 'Itty Bitty Bits' (& punched with one of the co-ordinating 'Itty Bitty Shapes' punches) & the greeting is from the appropriately named 'Fabulous Phrases' set (which combines my love of stamps & gorgeous fonts). Of course, I had to add some pearls to finish it off.

Here's a close up of the images, so you can see them better.
The tree was inked with espresso, regal rose & razzleberry markers, the birdie & flowers with razzleberry ink, & the greeting was inked in regal rose & espresso markers. Oh & the razzleberry spotty paper is from the Brights collection Patterns stack. Finally, here's the inside, where I repeated some of the elements from the front.

Before I forget, if you want to make the card base with the scallop square die, just fold your piece of card & place it in the die, so that it the fold won't get cut. Then, attach a whole scallop square to the front to hide the side without scallops.
I was really happy with how this card turned out & hope Kellie really liked it too, despite it going for a bit of a holiday in the mail before getting to her. I'd love you to leave a comment if you like what you see, or just to say hello. Until, next time, Thanks again for visiting & being patient with my slow posting during our renovation.
Inky wishes from Di

PS: Don't forget that items in the Summer Mini are only available until March 31, as are all the gorgeous free Sale-a-bration sets. I can place orders anytime. Also, even though my home classes are not happening just now, I can still come to your place to run a workshop or class, so you can take advantage of all the extra Sale-a-bration benefits. Just call or e-mail me if you'd like more information.

PPS: Most products listed have links to their catalogue page, so you can see the whole set or item. Just click on the name.

Supplies (All Stampin'Up!)
Stamps: Love Defined, Fabulous Phrases, Itty Bitty Bits
Card/paper: Early Espresso, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Brights collection Patterns stack
Ink: Early Espresso, Regal Rose, Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Write® markers, razzleberry ink pad
Accessories: Pretty in Pink 1/8 inch taffeta ribbon, basic pearls,
Tools: Big Shot, scallop square die

Sunny square scallop easel

Hellllllllooo again. I have another easel card to show you today – this time a square scallop version I made for my lovely friend & SU team member Leesa.

Inspiration for the layout came from the fab Keesh's Inkspirations Challenge 55 sketch, as it was perfect for the scallop square I had in mind. I couldn't post it here while the challenge was live though, as I hadn't given the card to Leesa yet. Anyhoo, here's Keesh's sketch:

& here you can see the front in more detail:

The scallop square I used for the easel is the new clear die from the Summer Mini. For the front, I punched 1¼ inch squares from Sunny Garden DSP to make a patchwork base, then, added a punched birthday greeting from the 'Punch Bunch' free SAB set (loving this stamp – it's getting a real work-out) & a cute little owlie & cage from 'Aviary'. For the base, I fussy cut some more Sunny garden DSP & added a greeting from the beautiful 'Heard from the Heart' set. Some little pearls just finish it off (I'm obsessed with these at the moment).

Anyway, no time to stay & chat. We'll have no kitchen from tomorrow & I still have lots of little things to finish before then. Hope you have a lovely weekend when it comes. If you have any questions, just drop me a line.

Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:

Stamps: Aviary (Summer Mini) Punch Bunch (SAB), Heard from the Heart (IB&C)

Card/paper: peach parfait, pear pizzazz, poppy parade, Sunny Garden DSP

Ink: poppy parade, pear pizzazz

Accessories: 1/8 inch pear & daffodil delight taffeta ribbons, basic pearls

Tools: Big Shot, square scallop die, square scallop punch, 1¼ inch square punch