My first award!!!!!!!!! - so chuffed!

Hey there everyone

I've received my first award!! I can't tell you how chuffed I am! I have seen these awards on other blogs and thought 'wow...it must be lovely to receive one of those'...and lo and behold, the lovely Linda from Pinklilacs sent me this award. Go visit her blog....she has done some beautiful work!

I have passed this on to 7 people and listed 7 of my favourite things.

I have passed this award to:

1. Amy at Tsuruta Designs - gorgeous blog…very creative & fun!

2. Ms Dee - a very creative lady…her blog is fabulous!

3. Lexie - a beautiful blog – gorgeous layouts! … and a fellow Aussie! J

4. Natty - one of the first to leave a comment on my blog – thanks so much – your blog is so creative and you are one talented lady!

5. Lillie - a blog blooming with artistic vibrancy….gorgeous!

6. Lori Boyd - incredibly talented lady…if you haven’t visited her blog, you need to…NOW! She is inspirational!!

7. CeeCee’s Creations - beautiful work!!

My seven favourite things....

1. My beautiful, divine, wonderful baby son who is 13 weeks old tomorrow. He is such a rich blessing in my life!! I am so very honoured to be his mummy.

2. My gorgeous husband who "keeps it real" and makes me laugh. He is a very beautiful spirit and I love him so much!

3. My Mum & Dad who I love heaps & heaps - they are a constant source of love and support - I don't know what I'd do without them.

4. My cardmaking. Since giving up music some time back, cardmaking has re-kindled my creative energy. I find it very meditative...I can go into my own space and it gives me so much pleasure.

5. Music festivals - I only go to one a year now (I'm a bit old for more than that)...but I love

Splendour in the Grass at Byron Bay. It is so much fun and Byron Bay is the best place on earth!

6.

McVities Dark Chocolate Digestives ...my favourite biscuits EVER!! Imagine my delight when I discovered this fabulous British biscuit on Australian shores!!

7. My new found addiction of blogging & card sketches - so much fun & so addictive! I get to meet lots of lovely cardmakers & crafters....who appreciate paper-addiction in all its forms and are always so encouraging and forthcoming with great advice!

'Mwah' xxx

CPS Challenge #100

Greetings bloggers!

CPS is celebrating their 2nd anniversary and their 100th Challenge!!CPS for all the details. It is VERY exciting!!!
For my card, I wanted to create something lush with my Basic Grey Infuse papers. I was hoping for a bit of a "Moulin Rouge" kind of feel...very decadent & over-the-top! I embossed the middle plate in Swiss Dots for the brown frame & Textile Textures for the "Purify" PP. I lightly dusted the "Swiss Dots" with Versamagic Pixie Dust.

Here's my interpretation of the sketch.....I sorta ran out of room on the card for the literal sketch layout though....

materials used:
Bazzill CS - red, fuschia, dark brown
PP - Basic Grey - Infuse - Purify & Lace & die-cut flower
Flowers - Kaisercraft - red, pink & mint
Brad - Delish diamante
Kaisercraft - red rhinestone
Cuttlebug - Swiss Dots, Textile Texture
Ribbon - Queen & Co - red scroll
Misc red feather
Ink - VersaMagic - Pixie Dust

Queen & Co Giveaway

Queen & Co are going green & are launching their new 'bucket' lines....they are celebrating with a giveaway HERE ON THEIR BLOG

Blog Candy!!!

Blog candy alert!

Mina has a beautiful blog and she has candy on offer until Tue 27 Jan. Please visit her HERE She is a very talented lady!!

Kim at Crafts by Kim also has some Valentine's Day Blog Candy to celebrate her 12,000 hits ....visit her HERE. Great stuff!!!

Peace & love
Alison xx

Cuttlebug Challenge - Sketch Hour

Greetings & Salutations!!

This week’s Sketch Hour from The Cuttlebug Challenge is a woven card tutorial from the very talented Lori Boyd

It is well worth visiting the links above to learn how to do this marvellous technique and to visit Lori’s inspirational gallery.

For my card, I cut ¼” strips of Basic Grey Vanilla, Posey & Queen Ann (8 pieces each) & 4 pieces of the green PP from the same set to put at the top & bottom & sides.I wove them together as per the tutorial, then stuck it all with scotch tape on the back. I then embossed the piece in my Cuttlebug using the Floral Fantasy EF.

I then cut out a window in my Basic Grey …… piece. Originally I used the 2nd largest Nestie scallop and I intended to emboss around this using the largest Nestie scallop…but it didn’t work. It kinda half cut, half embossed so I must have done something wrong here..but I can’t quite work out what I did. The window ended up being the largest size and I tore around the edges of the window to create a distressed look to try and cover up the mistake. I then inked the torn edges with Versa Chalk – Hint of Pesto.

I put the window over my embossed woven piece but it was missing something…it seemed to blend in a bit much with the main PP. I decided to chalk over the woven embossed piece with Versa Chalk – Perfect Plumeria….and it came up brilliant!!!

I fixed the window over my embossed piece with double-sided scrapbooking tape and then spent AGES trying to figure out an embellishment. I messed about with buttons, large flowers, large brads…nothing was coming to me until I fished about in my crate of felt fusion! The vine ‘spoke’ to me….and it worked!!! I finished it off with some Kaiser flowers, some mini flowers…then inked the edge of the card with Versa Chalk Perfect Plumeria. YEAY!!! My first woven card!!!!! THANKS LORI!!

Materials used:
PP in woven piece – Basic Grey – Lilykate (6” x 6” pad) – Vanilla, Queen Ann & Posey (and a green paper that I can’t find the name for)
Main PP - Chenille
Ribbon – Queen & Co – Green Vine Felt Fusion
Cuttlebug – Floral Fantasy Embossing Folder
Nesties – Petite Scallop Circle Large
Flowers – Kaiser flowers & misc mini flowers

Basic Grey Challenge #19

Hello everyone!

This week’s challenge from Basic Grey Challenge #19 is a card recipe:

2 Patterned paper

1 button
1 ribbon & bow

3 brads

On the day that this challenge was issued, I found out that my husband’s uncle is to receive a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia award today - Australia Day (26 January). This award is such an honour for a citizen of Australia to receive – we are all very proud of him!!!

fyi…the award is of a similar level of the “Order of Canada” or one of the US government medals/decorations. Click these links for more info on the The Australia Day Honours List or The Order of Australia

My card consists of Basic Grey – LilyKate – Chocolate & Vanilla. I embossed the vanilla PP with Cuttlebug Script texture. The sentiment plates are cut from my Nestabilities Standard Circle Large & Petite Scallop Circle Large. I inked the outside of the vanilla CS with VersaColor – Copper.

Congratulations Uncle Bill!! – hope you like my card!

Materials used:

PP – Basic Grey – Lilykate – Chocolate & Vanilla

Button – Basic Grey – Mellow

Ribbon & bow – misc ribbon from my stash

Brads – misc copper finish brads….they could be ‘Trimmings” brand

Cuttlebug – script texture Embossing Folder

Nesties – Standard Circle Large & Petite Scallop Circle Large
Sentiment - Deja Views - Wonderful Words "Graduation"

My first stamping class...

Hi there blog-land!

I went to my first class on stamping on Thursday - very exciting!!

I learned how to do embossing using the powder & the heat gun...I was terrified of burning myself ,however all was well & I walked out with 10 digits intact and this card...




I used some watercolour pencils then blended with the "water pen" (not sure what this is actually called) It is a bit more of a traditional card than what I am used to but I think I will have to play around with some stamps & colours.....I can tell it will be addictive. :)

At this same class, the teacher introduced me to the wonders of Nestabilites - I left the shop the proud owner of a set!!! :)