A Card for the Blokes :)

Helloooooo again :)

I'm back with another card to share. Confessions upfront first. I made this card for a birthday way back in June!!

A dear friend was celebrating 60 wonderful years of life in late June and I knew I had to make him an extra spesh card to mark the occasion. He has had a few health scares over the years and so every year he is here with us and doing well is a reason to go wild!! :)

As an "approaching mid-life" treat for himself he bought a beautiful, burnt-orange coloured Holden Monaro (GM/Opal Motors for all my non-Aussie readers) with which to transport himself and his gorgeous gal about town in.

The card took me a few days to get all the pieces together and a frantic search for the "right" buttons with which to finish the card. I absolutely loved it once I was done and the reactions from all those gathered at the party was very favourable too. More importantly the birthday boy took it home to frame and it now hangs in his study!! :)

This card was definitely a labour of love.

All I knew at the start was that it had to be in browns/oranges/rust colours and that I wanted to use the yummy car from PTI's Enjoy Your Ride stamp set. I had a look through the blog-o's and also at the PTI gallery and came upon this card by Michelle Wooderson. I copied her idea for the woodgrain stamp on some of the body of the car. Since I'd still had my heat embossing tool out from other crafty moments I decided to add lots of embossing embellishments to this card (no wonder it took me ages to get the whole thing together). The woodgrain was stamped in Choc Chip ink on Kraft paper and then clear embossed. Then I pulled out my Versamark Pen and applied it to the side mirrors and the headlight rims and bumper bar and then embossed all of these in silver. Used my neglected Copics to colour the orange panels and then, to finish off the the car (and only the car mind you...I still had the rest of the card to work on) I applied Crystal Effects to the windscreen and number plate to replicate glass. Of course, I touched the windscreen before it was completely set and had to apply another layer of CE. But wait, there's more......I touched it or 'bumped' it again!! Ha!! Three coats of CE later and I think the windscreen finally works and I left it alone out of harm's way for a whole day before touching it again. Though the CE made some of the ink run a wee bit, I reckon it just adds to the "rustic nature" of the bugmobile, doesn't it??

Some Verve Bountiful Backgrounds to the Really Rust cardstock, embossed of course, and we were gettin there.

The rest sort of all came together relatively easily but I didn't have any buttons that were "right" to finish the card. I hunted high and low - my stash, Mum's stash, Spotlight, Big W, Kmart and NADA!! Drama, drama, drama. I really felt the card needed something more so I tried Spotlight one more time and they had some new stock in!! Yippee. I eyeballed the pearlised/metallic orange buttons to be an "exact" match and hoped they were close enough to not matter. Then saw these gorgeous coconut shell buttons and grabbed a couple of packs as well!! Got them home and they were exactly what I wanted and matched colour-wise like they were made for each other.

Some PTI twine and distressing around all the edges (can't remember which ink I used, sowwy). Matted onto cream cardstock and then choc chip and onto a final base of Kraft and Bob's your Uncle, we were done.

CARD DEETS:

Paper/Cardstock: SU Really Rust, Kraft, Chocolate Chip; Basic Gray Kraft 6x6 pad (label diecut underneath the car)

Stamps: PTI Enjoy The Ride, Verve Bountiful Backgrounds

Ink: SU Chocolate Chip; Memento Tuxedo Black (tyres); Versamark + Distress Ink

Others: Copics, Clear + Silver Embossing Powders, Buttons as described, PTI Rustic Jute Twine

And just in case you made it this far, here is a picture of the birthday boy's awesome cake with a replica of his Broom-broom on top. Plus a photo of the happy fella reading his card. :)

Mojo Monday 133

I did it!! I made a card for this week's Mojo Monday challenge!! Sorry....but I'm a bit excited about that right now!! lol!!

My roomie and I have been watching the second series of a delightful BBC show, "Lark Rise to Candleford" and it really inspired me to give the whole shabby chic/vintage look a go!! I'm even talking with a delightful English accent atm (confession: I usually have a bit of an English accent, the by-product of working with so many English/Irish nurses (and my Irish ancestry rising to the fore). Not much ocker Aussie outta my mouth, most of the time)!! Ha ha ha

I was home alone and watching Saving Private Ryan when I started making this card though.

I was pretty keen on inking up this gorgeous new Verve stamp set I have and decided to bring out my inks and aquapens and have another attempt at watercolouring. My Copics got a rest - and I'm not sure they're entirely happy about it!!

Following this week's sneaky news from the US that some of the current SU colours are going to be retired.....I had to show my beloved Sage Shadow that I will never, ever forget!! In fact I'm adding a RE-inker to my growing SU order right now!! PLUS KRAFT!! How would I ever survive without my beloved Kraft, don't even go there Michey........ And I just happened to have these gorgeous Kraft DP's in my collection too that needed to be used.

Now, I'm uploading this at work and know what most of the items I used are....but can't quite remember the name of the DP's are .....so will add those when I get home tonight.

...I've added a photo of the dimension I've used on this card.....its definitely extreme. I think, if I can pull the flower layers apart with out causing tooo much damage I might change the dimensionals to ones I have that don't have as much height. It really is quite heavy and bulky in front and I'll need a box not an envie for this one. :)

CARD DEETS:

Stamps: Verve Love's Flower

Paper/Cardstock: SU Kraft, Sage Shadow, Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla

Inks: SU Cameo Coral, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Distress Inks Frayed Burlap, Tea Dye

Others: Fiskars Upper Crest Punch, Crystal Effects, Kaisercraft Rhinestones, Nestabilities, SU Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, Aquapainter pen, Corner Chomper

I'm am still around :)

Hello blog friends,

A sorta quick post to let you know I'm still here!! I've been peeking in from time to time - but haven't really had the time or the energy to hang around too long.

And, just for some eye candy, here are a couple of cards I made last year. One is for a fellow crafter's birthday and the other for a friend who has been through a tough time.

If I had to pick a card stock colour that was my all time favourite, it would be Kraft!! Anything goes with it....colour or black or even Kraft on its own - its sooo versatile. I had the idea for this card floating around in my head for a little while and was so grateful it came together as well as it did. The photo isn't the bestest, sorry, but I took it at night - about 10mins before the birthday girl came over to celebrate.

And the second card used the two colours that my sweet friend Rosa loves. I'm not much of a lover of yellow. I don't have anything against it, lol, I just can't wear it (is the one colour that makes me look ill and all washed out) and so tend to steer well clear of it......fortunately it is Rosa's all-time favourite colour and I had no choice but to get creative with it.

Can you believe that I have stamped only on both of these cards - not a single COPIC in sight!! They are definitely feeling the neglect here. I haven't even been able to pick up a single one of them to colour for almost 2 weeks now!!

My mojo and motivation is currently on holiday in the UK - and I wish, oh how I wish, it had taken me with it, hehe.

Michey xxx

CARD DEETS:

Priya's Birthday Card:

Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy

Cardstock: SU Kraft, Urban Oasis DSP, SU Basic Black

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Others: SU Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, SU Top Note Die

Rosa's Thinking of You Card:

Stamps: SU Botanical Blooms (Saleabration 2009)

Cardstock: SU Whisper White, Bazill Yellow and Pink Textured Card

Ink: SU Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink

Others: Random Pink Chiffon Ribbon, Pink Kaisercraft Rhinestones

And an update: for my dear friends who have read this far and care to know, life's throwing a few too many challenges my way at the moment. My mum went home from hospital on 26th Feb, however, was readmitted as an emergency via ambulance four days later with a widespread infection. This was managed fairly quickly with strong antibiotics, but she's not bouncing back quite so well this time. She's still in hospital now and I think the medical team looking after her are doing a better job of it this time. We've come to the realisation that treatment for Mum is now palliative and, at best, we probably have 6-9 months left. Mum has loads of medical issues, which, when looked at all together are pretty significant and challenging. I'm coping with the reality much better this week, last week was all about floods of tears and making some pretty tough decisions regarding surgery/palliative care. Its Mum's 63rd birthday at the end of this month and my brother and sister and I made the decision not to tell Mum how bad things are until after then. I think she has an idea, but it's not been voiced amongst us yet. I'm still believing for a miracle and all but at the same time, want what's best for my dear Mama, and I think a new, fabulous heavenly body might be just the thing.

So there you have it....plus works insanely busy with new patients at the moment and I'm supposed to be off to a church conference for the next few days and a work conference at the end of next week, eek!! There is little time left over to play. :(

So please excuse me if I'm not around as much as I want to be at the moment. I'm desperately in need of some crafting therapy and may well pack a few Copics and a couple of images along with me to play with at the Conference I'm going to for the next couple of days.

xxx

FFF, MTSC61, More Paper Piecing & CIC46

I've done it!! Two cards made from scratch and posted to my blog in the same day!! Woot......and I got the house cleaned & ran a few errands this morning too. I'm spent now though and will be climbing into bed in another moment or two.

What a line up of challenges this next card represents. I got my colour inspiration from TGF's Farm Fresh Friday Feb Colour Challenge and used Mercy's sketch to plan my layout. The colours also work for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge and I couldn't help but paper piece Stella's dress. I've been following Dawn McVey's technique for tying bows and then I had to dress it up a little (for the first time ever) with a button and some twine. The twine I recycled from an invitation to a party I recently received and the button is the "spare" that came with the shorts I'm actually wearing today!! This one's going in my stash...not sure what or who for atm, but I'm sure it will be used in the not-too-distant future. So glad I buy too much paper and had lots of options for guava from SU in my stash with matching ribbon on the side. :)

Thanks for having another peek.

Hugs, Michey xxxx

CARD DEETS:

Image: TGF WS Stella (by the uh-may-ZING Amy Young)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper/Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White, SU Choc Chip & Kraft + DSP Afternoon Tea (retired)

Other: SU Groovy Guava Grosgrain, COPICS!!, SU Top Note Die, Cuttlebug (cut before I broke my littel green machine), Fiskars Oval Shape Template, Button & Twine from stash.

Btw, remember how I was telling you I broke my beloved Cuttlebug!! *sob* *sob*

Well its being replaced!! Yay!! And replaced with a PINK Cuttlebug!! I'm so blessed and excited. I hope to pick up my new pink baby on Monday!! My local scrapping store is the BEST, I tell ya. I had to drop the A,B,C, plates in to them today so I can get a whole new box of goodies in return and they were dumbfounded when they saw my "A" plate. Its green...okay.....but also is really rigid and firm and whilst the bottom and sides are solid plastic, the top is hollowed out in a honeycomb pattern (the up side). They showed me their "A" plate and its white and solid and has some flexibility to it. Just wondering if anyone else has had the same "A" plate as me??? They are now thinking its rigid nature may have contributed to the "breaking" of my green baby.

Anywho....that's it from me for now. See ya later. M xxx

Darby & Bumbles & Challenge card!! SSSC55

(Hey Amy!! *waving*)

I've done it.....I made my first card using a Sweet November stamp on Saturday....actually make that Sunday!! My days are getting away from me.

I made it with 5mins to spare to get a new cartridge from Officeworks on my way home from church & work on Sunday so I could print off my new digi stamps. I printed them all baby!! Every digi stamp I have on my Mac to date was printed and is ready to get stuck into.....but I chose this gorgeous little urchin to start with.

Meet the darling Darby and her dear little friend Bumbles. I love, love, love Amy's drawings/images and am having so much fun colouring them. My prob is then finding matching DP in my stash to make my card. Darby was fine - I eventually got it together....but you'll see in my next post I had to add a dash to my local Scrapping shop on my list of things to do today (my day off!!).

This is a sorry card for my sis - she's a bit cranky pants with me atm (let's put it down to pregnancy hormones & maybe, just maybe, I've been a bit naughty) and I'll pop it in the post to her once I've taken it to work with me tomorrow and had a go at a decent photo. Midnight photography is such a dreadful thing (blast these tungsten bulbs!!).

Thanks for stopping by for a peek. Hugs, Michey xxx

Card Deets:

Image: Sweet November Stamps 'Darby and Bumbles'

Ink: Epson Printer Ink

Paper/Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White Paper; SU Whisper White; SU Petals and Paisley + Bali Breeze DSP (retired)

Others: Copics (of course!!); StarDust Stickles (my new fav); Kaiser Clear Rhinestones (coloured with Copic to match); MS Doiley Border Punch; American Crafts Ribbon

MTSC59

Wow!! Just realised its after midnight over here and I need to get my tuckus into bed as I have an early start for church in the morning.

This is a card I whipped up this afternoon (make that yesterday afternoon, lol) for one of my bestie's who has a birthday today (Sunday) - though I'm not seeing her until next weekend. Its a semi-big one.....the one before 40!!

I knew which stamp set I was going to use and then looked for the right paper before colouring this delicious Anya set in.

My dear friend is a Psychologist working mostly with children, youth and families. She's especially busy (sadly) and also has some presentations to make in the next couple of months and so is in a super busy time. I wanted to wish her a year of finding time for herself as well as everyone she cares for and these little Anya's were perfect.

I've based my card layout on Mercy's Tuesday Sketch for this week and am so proud of myself for continuing to participate in challenges atm. Hoping it will continue and I will get better at it as the year progress.

I actually decorated the inside of this card too......Cut some of the DP to fit and rounded the corners and used the "after" Anya to finish it off. I hadn't planned on distressing the edges of any of the papers, but clearly I need to replace the blade on my trimmer as it 'distressed' them all for me. :)

Yellow is definitely not my favourite colour to work with.....but I think I've pulled it off. My dear friend does great things with yellow as she has beautiful dark skin and luscious dark hair.

Card Deets:

Stamps: TGF "Me Time Anya"

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper: SU So Saffron, BG Two Scoops 'Creme Brulee'; Flourishes Classic White Paper

Others: Copics, Stickles 'Cotton Candy', PTI Ribbon "Sweet Blush", White Gel Pen, WeRMemoryKeepers Corner Chomper

Birthday Cards Part 2

Here are two more birthday cards I made this year.

Amy's Card:

Amy is my middle niece and is a very sporty girl. A real chip of her daddy's block (and he's my twin). I didn't think a girly girly card would fit her as well as my other niece....so hunted through my images to find the "right" one.

Rock the Farm Anya was right on the money!! Cute, but not too girly and feminine, if you know what I mean.

Amy's fav colours are purple and yellow - her football teams colours, go figure.

I didn't mind the purple - its my favourite colour too.....but the yellow, hmmmmm - well I did it - though its not in my top 10 of favourite colours or colour combos.

The photos all look a bit different in colour, I'm sorry - definitely need to think about setting myself up with some proper lighting and all for photos in the new year....can't get the right colour temp on my DSLR for night photos atm....and since that's often the only time I have to get a snap.....will have to consult my fellow photographer buddy for his opinion. :)

Jeanette's Card:

One of my Mama's dear friends needed a birthday card earlier in the year too!! She's a lovely older lady so I went with a card of lovely flowers.

I tried to remember what I had seen in Jeanette's garden when I was last there and themed my card around that. I used some of SU's past InColours. This was card was also CASE'd from someone's blog, but I can't for the life of me find the original post (if its you, please let me know so I can give credit). :)

This was also in the days before I discovered Copics....so my colouring is done by dabbing a fine paintbrush into the stamp pad and applying colour that way. Labourious and time consuming compared to my favourites, the Copics. :)

There also some razzle dazzle on this card - though its a little hard to see. I DD'd all the little blossoms on the lower panel. And made a matching envelope as well. Fancy, schmancy.

Thanks for taking a peek-a-boo.

Hugs, Michey xxx

THE DEETS:

Amy's Card:

Stamps: The Greeting Farm "Rock the Farm", Misc Alphabet stamps

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Perfect Plum, Barely Banana

Cardstock: SU Whisper White, Perfect Plum, Barely Banana

Others: Spellbinders Embossing Plate, SU Perfect Plum + Very Vanilla Ribbon, Copics

Jeanette's Card:

Stamps: SU Embrace Life

Inks: SU Basic Black, Groovy Guava, River Rock, Old Olive, Regal Rose

Cardstock: SU Whisper White, Ginger Blossom, River Rock, Groovy Guava

Others: Paintbrush, Dazzling Diamonds, Random Brads, Groovy Guava Grosgrain

More Birthday Cards

Here are some more birthday cards I made for some of my family throughout the year.

First up is the second card I made for my twin brother.

The first was sent to him whilst he was serving with the Army overseas.

This one was for the family celebrations we had on his return.

There were several birthdays whilst he was away and we just waited and had one big party when he was back in country.

He's an avid fan of fishing and loves to head out when he can get some free time.

This little Ian was just perfect for him.

And, then I also made this card for my brother's partner, Cutie, for her birthday.

She's not a girly-girl and I so struggled with making her a card that wasn't tooo over the top with embellies and the like.

Definitely no fluffy bits, nor kitschy pretty things and definitely no big bows or lace, BUT I did have to bling Anya up with some stickles!!

And a couple of rhinestone brads for the corners.

I couldn't help myself and I definitely couldn't give out a card with absolutely NO bling on it - esp not if it was for another girl!!

Cutie's favourite colour is blue, so I started there and it all came together.

These two are some of the cards I whipped together in a couple of hours, together with the one I made for my niece (see earlier post). My MoJo was definitely my friend that day. :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, MicheyMoo

( ) ( ) ( )

Card Deets:

Dan's Card:

Cardstock: SU Not Quite Navy, So Saffron, Kraft, Whisper White

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Not Quite Navy

Stamps: The Greeting Farm Ian "Rock the Farm"

Others: Multiple Copics, Misc Brads in Navy & Glittery Yellow; Nestabilities

Cutie's Card:

Cardstock: SU So Saffron, Whisper White, Urban Garden DSP, Vellum (over the DSP)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black; Not Quite Navy

Stamps: The Greeting Farm Princess Anya

Others: Various Copics; Baby Blue Stickles, Misc Brads in Yellow and Blue blingey, Giga scallop punch

Several Birthday cards....

Since its already been a wee while since I've been able to find the time needed to post.....I thought I'd upload a few of my creations in one post.

I'll try keep the chatter to a minimum with this one too (though I may find it a wee bit difficult). :) These were all cards I made for various birthdays.

Dave's Card:

Here's a card I made in May for my Pastor. His birthday is the day after mine and he and his wife have been great friends of mine for several years now. I first met them when they were just pregnant with their first bubba, and she's now a stunning girl of sixteen. You really see how the years have gone by when you see the little ones you used to babysit grow up, hey!!

I tried my hand at creating a graduated background for this card - a little challenging without a brayer (which I now have) and required lots of daubing. Again, the photos aren't so great - but my previous apartment was very light challenged. :)

Aunty Evelyn's Card:

Here's a card I made for my Mama to send to her oldest sister, who also happens to be my Godmother.

Not that I see her very often at all these days and she is no longer required to be my legal guardian should something happen to my folks.

Anyway, I really wanted to use Bella Rose DSP for her card and used that as my starting point.

The ideas sort of flowed from there and I played around with the layout for a little

bit until I was happy.

My Mama loved it and was more than willing to send it on to her sister. :)

Lesley's Card:

One of the longest and dearest friendships in my adult life has been with a treasure called Lesley. We met during my first year in Sydney and became firm friends. We just about did everything together even though she is just a year or two younger/older than my parents.

She got married to a lovely chappy 12 years ago and we've managed to keep the friendship alive over the years. She had a big birthday this year - 60!! And I wanted to make her a spesh card - trying not to resort to her favourite colours - being a Kiwi that means Black and White. I used this lovely set that I had just received from Verve and also used Julee Tilman's sneak peek card for the layout and design.

Fereen's B'day:

My dear Fijian friend Fereen (try saying that ten times fast) was seconded to Canada for the first seven months of this year and I missed her dreadfully. She's just a whole bunch of fun to be around. I was late in getting a birthday care package in the post for her, but when she did receive it she was very, very happy.

A box full of many different types of Tim Tams and some yummy, yummy tea from T2 (or so she said. I wouldn't know as I really don't like black tea at all).

The parcel arrived just as she was starting to pack up all the things in readiness for being sent back to us who love her here in Sydney. She had accumulated quite a bit of stuff during her stay and the Tim Tams got her through the trauma of packing (though most of it will be of no use here - we just don't have the same winters that you Northeners do). :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Michey xxx

RECIPES:

Dave's Card:

Cardstock: SU Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Inks: SU Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Blue Bayou

Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy

Others: Misc White Brads, SU Slit Punch (to make scallop border on sentiment), Clear Embossing Powder & Heat Gun (on flowers)

Aunty Evelyn's Card:

Cardstock: SU Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Bella Rose DSP

Inks: SU Old Olive (sentiment); Versamark + Versacolour Gold (on presents)

Stamps: Verve Birthday Surprise

Others: SU Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Curly Square Punches x 2, Kaisercraft Rhinestones (coloured with Copics to match cardstock)

Lesley's Card:

Cardstock: SU Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Kraft & Old Olive DSP

Inks: SU Old Olive, Baja Breeze, VersaColour White

Stamps: Verve Just For You, SU Oval All

Others: SU Hodgepodge, White Taffeta Ribbon, Kaisercraft Pearls

Fereen's Card:

Cardstock: SU Riding Hood Red (I know it looks quite orange, more poor lighting); Kiwi Kiss & Kiwi Kiss DSP

Inks: SU Riding Hood Red & Kiwi Kiss, Versamark

Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy & Verve Thankful Blossoms

Others: SU Kiwi Kiss Ribbon, Random Red Brads, Embossing Powder and Heat Gun

Mother's Day 2009

Universally, I think we all have the same date (more or less) for Mother's Day - 2nd Sunday in May for us Aussies.

This is the card I made for my darling Mama (she hates it when I call her that, but its my affectionate term for her, actually......I think she hates it when I shorten it to Ma - hehe). I had just received my first Copics and used them to add some shading and definition to the image.

Mum loved her card, so much in fact, that its still sitting on her dresser almost six months later. Makes my heart happy to know its truly appreciated. :)

Didn't have a better sentiment to use at that time....or one that said what I wanted it say anyways. :)

My mama's health isn't too good these days - lots of my free time (the 0.5mins spare I have each week, lol) is spent taking her to many different Drs appts and I think - from memory (that's how bad this year has been) she was in hospital not long after this....or was it just before??? It must have been a week or two after. Whatever, right!!??

Sorry for the not so good piccie.....I took it on my iPhone and have yet to remember to take my digi cam with me when I visit to get a better shot. :)

Card Deets:

Stamps: SU Friends 24/7; Verve Fairy Tales (Sentiment)

Paper: SU Riding Hood Red, SU Pink Pirouette, SU Chocolate Chip & SU Pretty In Pink

Ink: SU Chocolate Chip

Other: Fiskars Oval Shape template & cutter, Various Copics, Pink Rhinestone Brads, SU Chocolate Chip Ribbon, Misc Spotlight Pink Ribbon, Paper Piercer, Sponge Dauber, Dimensional Tape

Thanks again for stopping by for a peek. :)

Michey xxx

Why is everything so embarrassing at fourteen??

My oldest niece turned 14 in June and I can't believe how much she has changed in the past year or so. The innocent, wide-eyed child has been replaced by a too worldly-wise young lady who thinks she knows more than she does. (Don't they all!!)

She still has moments of delightfulness, though these are somewhat infrequent these days. And everything we do/say is just SO EMBARRASSING!!

I am yet to realise the blessing of marriage and children in my own life so make the most of my brother's and sister's little ones. Three girls (though one now lives in heaven - see my earlier post) and a darling little boy.

This gorgeous fourteen year old niece is actually a step-niece and joined our family as a blonde, 18mth old darling. She is the one who has the greatest hold on my heart as we have walked some incredibly sad days together and she used to have lots of sleep-overs at Aunty Michey's.

I don't get to see nearly as much of her as I'd love to these days, however, I try and get a visit in whenever I can. She and I have both recently discovered that gluten is definitely NOT our friend - so we have some funny conversations about what we can and cannot eat and how we get around it.

Anywho, in my previous post I mentioned that my brother had been away for the first half of the year and missed almost all of the family birthdays.

We mostly waited until he got home and had one big combined family birthday bash at his place. In order we celebrated: Jo's birthday (sister); Mum's birthday; Jo's 1st wedding anniversary; Dan's (twin brother) & my birthdays; Jess' birthday (niece) and Cutie's birthdays (Dan's partner). And now we've just had my other niece's 12th birthday and my brother-in-law's birthday.... and Dad's is coming up...then its the bubba's 1st birthday!! Phew. Christmas will be just around the corner then!!

So I had several cards to make for the party - and after all my fluffing around ended up with really only 1 day to do so!! Thankfully, I had stamped and coloured the images during the week, using my favourite new toys - Copics. But I still had to work out layouts and colour schemes etc.

I knew Jess was definitely not going to be impressed by the 'cutesy' images from TGF, so I used one of the Anya's from the Rain/Snow/Shine set and just hoped that I could make Miss Anya suitably appealing, and not toooooooo daggy. :)

IT WAS A WINNER!! Thankfully these gorgeous Anya images are right up Jess'alley - which is great as I have 5 more images that I can use for her cards now!! Yay!! Plus there are some new stamps that have been released recently that I think may need to find their way into my collection and are perfect for teens!!

My biggest difficulty with this card was finding cardstock that matched the Copic colours/blends I had used. I ended up digging out my retired Bali Breeze DSP and matted it with some random red from Kaisercraft paper that I'd picked up at the scrapbooking shop (I can't remember what the print is on the other side). My flatmate has a corner rounder punch - but I couldn't find it so decided to use my scallop circle punch and was even more pleased with this result than if I'd just had rounded the corners.

Recipe:

Card Stock: SU Soft Sky, SU Bali Breeze DSP, Kaisercraft, SU Whisper White

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Anya Rain/Snow/Shine "Rain"

Others: Various Copics ;), Scallop Circle Punch, Various Ribbons from Spotlight, Pearls coloured with a Copic to match (R46), Dimensionals & Cotton Candy Stickles on the umbrella, ella. ;)

Thanks for dropping by.

Michey xxx

Gurl Bubba

Its funny....towards the end of 2008 and early in 2009 there were six of my girlfriends/family having babies. I'm grateful and thankful that all mums and bubs (and dads) are safe and sound and continuing to thrive. Can you believe that there were five boys and only one little princess!! They were kind enough to space them out for me though, with one arriving every month from Sept through to January (December had two - though one (my darling nephew) arrived early in the month and the second (the princess, born to my cousin) in the middle). I'm sure they all had me in mind when they were planning their pregnancies too!! LOL!!

Since then.... no one in my immediate world has had a baby or announced that they're expecting. Though I'm off to a couple of weddings in the next few months - so now need to get cracking on some wedding cards.

Anywho, since I'm of an age where lots of my friends & family are procreating, or thus considering such for the near future, I thought I'd get ahead and have a little stock of both girl and boy baby cards on hand.

Here's a quick one I whipped up one afternoon.

The little bubba is a cute-as Stamping Bella image that I got at my local scrapbook shop. I coloured "her" in with my copics and then added a little fun sparkle with Stickles. Until I had actually decided on the colour of the bathmat and then matted this on the pink scallop circle it could have been either a boy or girl. Easy peasy. The sentiment is from SU.

Recipe:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pink Bazzill Textured 12x12

Stamps: SU 'For A Friend', Stamping Bella "Bella Baby Bubble Bath'

Ink: SU Basic Gray

Others: Various Copics ;), Stickles (Baby Blue on bubbles, Gunmetal on outer edge of bathtub, Cotton Candy on bathmat), Pink Rhinestone brads, Misc Pink Taffeta ribbon from Spotlight, SU Pewter Hodgepodge hardware.

She's still sitting in my stock box waiting patiently for the next little girl bubba to arrive in my world.

Thanks for taking a peek.

Michey xxx