A Birthday in Paris

Doesn't everyone dream of visiting Paris.. It is the city of love and dreams.

My lucky niece has been working abroad for the past 3 years, but  for the past 12months, she has been living in Paris with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop on her morning run.  For her birthday, I decided to include something about Paris and Australia in her card. A tutorial on Splitcoaststampers came at just the right time and I created this peekaboo card for her.
 
The paper is from  'Handmade' by Hot Off the Press and the Eiffel Tower stamped from WaltzingMouse Stamps - Paris Nouveau. On the inside, I stamped 'Matilda with the Koala'  by Magnolia Stamps and coloured her with copics. The stamp was a special addition in 2012 and unfortunately is no longer available..The oval and Labels 28 dies from Spellbinders, were used to create the borders around the opening in the card.  Have a go at this type of card as it is so versatile for so many occasions.

I hope you are having a creative day,

xx   Liz

First Birthdays

Any one that has children knows, that the first birthday is always a very special occasion. It has been a year of firsts, with many ups and downs and their birthday marks the start of much growing up that is about to begin.

A dear friend contacted me the other day and asked me to create a card for her granddaughter's first birthday, so I knew that it had to be something special. I chose to colour  'Marci on a Swing" from LaLa Land craft stamps with copic markers. Using simply pressed clay and the alphabet mold from Stampin Up, I custom made her name and also coloured the letters with copic markers and glossy accents. Here is the card I made and I hope it gives you some inspiration to customise your cards too.

The background is stamped from a stitched border stamp from Waltzingmouse stamps in Hero Arts 'Mint Julep" shadow ink. Japanese designer paper is used down the left side for an accent. Sentiment stamp is from Inspired by Stamping.

I hope you are having a creative day,

xx   Liz

Autumn is Here!

March for us in Australia, means that autumn has arrived. Although the days have been lovely and warm, with the sun shining brightly, the nights have just got a hint of coolness about them. This makes sleeping just that little bit easier.

    Therefore with lots of sleeping behind me I am being very productive during the days when I am not working, that is..... I have fallen in love with the gilding flakes put out by Creative Expressions.
(I have linked to the video on how to use them in an older post) The colours that they bring to the front of a card is amazing. I found them a bit difficult at first to handle, but with patience, I think the effort is worth it.

You apply a light layer of the special glue to the stamp of choice, which you then stamp onto cardstock and when tacky, apply the flakes to the image and see the transformation. Remember to was the stamp immediately to get the glue off the rubber.  Once the flakes have 'set', you buff off the excess with a course sponge. Here are the results.

The flakes I used is called ' Harvest Moon'

The verse is from a set by Verve Stamps called "Let It Be". I embossed a cream button with clear embossing ink and then used 'Verdigris ' embossing powder by Ranger to give it a bit of texture and colour. The stamp I used for the Gilding flakes is from Hero Arts "Leaf and Floral Background".

I am off to do some more creating, so I will catch you all later.

I hope you are having a creative day,

XX   Liz

Another card for Another Birthday

Well, I am back again today with a card made for my best friend. Today is her birthday, and I am here wishing you a wonderful day Gail. Sorry I can't give you a hug in person.

Gail is into everything green, but also elephants. Her elephant collection must be in the thousands by now, and they are in all shapes and sizes. That is the reason that I had to use this delightful stamp from Sheena Douglas's collection, called A Taste of India.

 The gold edging on the rug is done with Smooch Accent paint. The rest is coloured in using copic markers. The sentiment came from a free set that I received with a magazine and fits perfectly with this set.

I hope you are having a creative day,

xx   Liz

Happy Birthday to my Husband

Today, is the day that I get to celebrate with the man that I love. It is his birthday and I am taking him out for dinner and to watch the new movie, "The Second Best Marigold Hotel". I get to have a great night out with my man and a good laugh too.

     Happy birthday to Iain and I wish you all the best for the year ahead, I am sharing his birthday with you, because I made a card copying one that I saw on You-tube. It is done by the very talented  Jennifer McGuire. Every night he has a bowl of ice cream and so I thought this appropriate. However, he didn't get the joke!  Never mind, I still enjoyed making it. I have coloured texture paste for the scoops of ice cream but I think I could have made them a bit darker. The waffle cone is embossed and then coloured with copic markers.

I hope you are having a creative day,

xx  Liz

Completed Art Journal

Today, I can finally post pictures of the completed art journal I have made.

 I coloured the embossed faux leather with distress inks in Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain. When that was completely dry I sprayed it with a Mat varnish to seal it. I then lined the inside with a lovely piece of butterfly fabric that I have in my quilting stash and sewed in the beautiful leaves of water colour paper rounding all the corners for a finished
 look.

A button on elastic keeps the journal securely closed.

The beautiful butterfly fabric I chose for the inside.

To see the full video by Sheena Douglas on how to put this journal together click here.

I hope you are having a creative day,

xx  Liz

Art Journal

The rain and mist is swirling around the Blue Mountains today and it is an ideal day to spend holed up in my creative parlour. This morning, I am starting to make faux leather which will be turned into the cover for an art journal, I have done this technique before but decided to revisit it again.  Here is a link to the Faux Leather technique by Sheena Douglas.

I have embossed it with Sheena's beautiful folder called "Flying Beauties"

It is sitting around trying to dry on this wet day, which is happening oh so slowly, so I will be back with another post later.

Hope you are having a creative day,

xx Liz

2015 has Arrived!

Should I start this post with a Happy New Year to you all??? 2015 has arrived!!! I know it is already half way through January, but it is my first post for the year.

January for our family sees me busy making lots of cards as there are about 10 birthdays this month. What a way to start the year........crafting. It is hard isn't it? I forgot to take photos of the first few cards so I could post them here but here is one I made today.

I have had those bottle cap thingys for years and today I remembered why I bought them. It was to make a watch......

The watch face was stamped and embossed in liquid platinium from a background stamp of watches that I have had for many years. The strap is a piece of black ribbon. The papers came from my stash and I used a few sentiments from a free set at Stampin Up called 'Big Day'.

Hope you are having a creative day

xx Liz

It's All About Christmas

With only one month until Christmas, the production of Christmas cards has been happening in my craft room. I always say that I will start earlier in the year but it never happens!!

Well, I have been watching lots of you-tube and visiting Pinterest regularly for inspiration and I have also been trying out new techniques to include in my cards.

Here are a few that I have made today.

This was copied from a you-tube video by Simon Says Stamps, but I didn't have the stencil so I used the Stampin Up tree punch  cut out in masking paper. I used distress ink pads in Festive Berries, Spiced Marigold, Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean. The greeting is from Waltzingmouse Stamps.

The Next card is using Gelatos to colour the focal image that has been stamped and embossed with white embossing powder.

The wonderful sentiment is another one from a set by Waltzingmouse Stamps called 'Tis the Season'. Gelatos were smoothed over the water colour paper with my finger and the colours were Metallic Blue and Green with Green tea mixed in as well, I then spritzed with water and blended them some more. The beautiful metallic shimmer unfortunately doesn't show in the photo.

Finally I have a third card which uses the beautiful Creative Expression Gilding Flakes,  (this is a link to the You-tube video showing how to use them.)

The Gilding flakes give this card a wonderful elegant dimension and I will be making different cards using these lovely flakes.

The sentiment is from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous: Old Fashioned Christmas stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.

This is just a taste of what I have been up to whilst trying to stay cool in my craft room. The air conditioning is keeping my room at a lovely 23 degrees Celsius, whilst outside it is 40 degrees. 

I hope you are having a creative day,

xx Liz

Playing with Simply Pressed Clay

I know it has been a while since I posted on here, but I have been playing in my haven!

What have I been up to you ask? Well, a bit of this and that. For this past month, I have been on holidays and enjoying time away from my regular job. This has given me the time to clean out my craft room, which led me to the realization that I DO NOT need any more things...........don't we all say that at times and then another great product takes our fancy.

Today I am showing what can be done with SU simply pressed clay. I discovered those molds used for cake decorating and tried them with the clay. They work just as well as the buttons and blossoms clay molds that SU sell. This then gives you so many more opportunities to use the clay. Here is the card that I made.

The cupcake is painted with twinkling H2O's Coral Berry and the wrapper in Lemon drop and Nutmeg. The background is created by white embossing a stamped image and then rubbing with gelatos in Bubblegum, Melon and Tangerine. All that was layered on a white cardbase stamped in Tuxedo Black with a stamp set  by Sheena Douglas called A Taste of India.The sentiment is from the same set.

I hope you are having a creative day,

xx Liz

Japanese Paper

Whilst out shopping with a crafty friend last week, she showed me a beautiful piece of Japanese paper that she had fallen in love with. "What can you do with this?" she exclaimed. So I rose to the challenge to create some cards using the sheet of paper that she so desperately wanted to buy. 

The photos below are my creations and I hope they will help to inspire.

I have used Darkroom Door Kimono Stamp Set for the main figure and the sentiment comes from Waltzing Mouse Stamps

This card showcases another stamp from Darkroom Door and again a sentiment from Waltzingmouse Stamps

I have used the paper to create the hanging lanterns by cutting circles
 and putting them through a crimper before adding the tops and bottoms
 out of a small piece of cardstock.
The tassle and topper comes from  WaltzingMouse Stamps and the sentiment from Stampin Up.

I have used a Japanese character stamp for the background . The weeping tree on the front panel comes from Jemac Stamps

I hope you are having a creative day,

xx Liz

Digital Stamping

Have you ever used digital stamps?

I have bought a lot of them over the years, but never seem to know how to use them. I have printed them out and have them lying around on my craft desk in piles waiting for that moment of inspiration on where to use them.

After moving the pile for the upteenth time, I decided that last week was the time to have another closer look at them. I chose a lovely little stamp of a mouse in a cocktail glass. For the life of me I don't even know which company this comes from any more! I used him/her on a birthday card for a friend that has a celebration coming up later this week. Colouring in with copic markers and then using glossy accents to make the glass look realistic, I mounted the cut out image on a background that I had water-coloured after heat embossing an image of cracked glass. Adding a sentiment to the bottom of the card completed the picture and here is the card:

I might need to play around a little more, but it was a bit of fun and something to not feel frightened about using. Digital stamps are now on my 'use list' which opens up a whole new world of stamping. If you haven't given it a go, then bite the bullet and have a go, you never know where it might lead you.

I hope you are having a creative day,

xx Liz

Creative Friday

Today, I have enjoyed a wonderful day of card making in my Craft Haven. This is the name that a dear friend of mine named her craft space the other day and I have adopted it!

The card I have made, is using the terrific stamp set from Art Impression called 'Celeste'. She is a beauty, and oh so right for our stage in life. I can see me making lots of cards for my friends using this delightful stamp. So, without keeping you in suspense any longer, here is my creation.

I have coloured her in using Copic markers in various colours. The floor is stamped with Darkroom Door 'Woodgrain' background stamp.  The couch stamped with Impression Obsession 'Distressed Corduroy' after I masked 'Celeste'. I have distressed the edges of the card with Vintage Photo distress ink and a blending tool.

                      

 I hope you are having a creative day,

xx Liz

Spring Has Arrived

Here is Sydney, Spring has arrived. The weather for the past two days has been amazing. It has been hard to be inside my craft room to be creative.

However, I have a special card today. I work 2 nights a week as a midwife and have a colleague who is just the best. When I get snowed under attending to patients, she just quietly gets all the necessary stuff done. I would be lost without her as my right hand man!

 Don't we often forget to thank those kind of people. Well today, I decided to let her know how much I appreciate all that she does. Here is the card that I will be giving her tonight.

I have used Memento Tuxedo Black to stamp the light image from Kaisercraft. The background is then coloured using Distress Inks in Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold, Dusty Concord and Peeled Paint. The 'Thanks' is cut using a Silhouette Cameo and then inked and raised up on tiny pieces of clear foam tape. The lace is just a piece that I had lying around my stash.

I hope you are having a creative day,

xx Liz

IBSIC # 85

I haven't been over to Inspired by Stamping for some time, but today I decided it was about time to enter into one of their challenges. If you wish to have a look then here is the link:Inspired by Stamping IBSIC#85.

 I am doing the colour challenge and here is my entry using all IBS stamps sets. Guitars and Petite Banners.

Hope you are having a creative day,

xx  Liz

Online Stamp Classes

For the past 2 weeks I have been 'attending' an online stamp class. The tutors are fantastic, and you get access for ever so you can watch the videos over and over till you get the hang of the techniques. BONUS!!

Can't we all do with a little help getting more from our stamps.
 I have created two cards from some of the techniques that I have learnt, so I thought I would share them with you.

My first card is using a background stamp that I white  heat embossed onto water colour paper and then painted an ombre effect over the embossed image with pink- red water colour paints. I only used a small part of the panel that I made, to place down the side of the card. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamps 'Sending Happy Thoughts'. The heat embossed hearts come from a lovely set of patterned hearts which have coordinating dies too. The set is called  'Bottom of my Heart' created by Sweet and Sassy Stamps

This second card is using a background stencil that I cut using my Silhouette cameo and sponging with Pistachio ink made by Memento. I had the perfect stamps to complete this card from Clearly Besotted Stamps "Honeycomb" with also comes with a matching die. I used different inks to make the focals and popped them up with foam dots to give dimension. The sentiment came from 'Blue Skies Ahead' a My Favourite Things set.

I hope you are having a creative Day

xx Liz

A Birthday Card for Amy

Winter has not been kind to me this year and I have been struggling to keep up with life so my blog has been suffering. I hope to rectify that in the next few weeks and catch up with challenges and keeping you posted.

 Today, we celebrate my husband's youngest daughter's birthday. Amy is turning 23 and I made her a card that suits her to a tee. She is classy and fabulous and uses the saying from Coco Chanel,frequently on her facebook page. I found the saying on a lovely set of stamps by Graphic 45. The doll stamps by Julie Nutting for Prima had to be the focus on her card so I paper pieced the clothing and stamped the image onto background tag.

Tag Pad

I love how it all came together and I think she did too. We had a lovely dinner in the oldest Italian restaurant in Sydney, which is near her new home in the city last night to celebrate the occasion. What a lovely night. Well, that's all from me today and I will catch you all later.

Hope you have a creative day,

XX Liz

Creative Time

Winter hit Sydney on the 1st June with icy winds and a drastic drop in temperature. The days are shorter and that means I feel like staying in and playing. I have been creative in a good way but have not been posting my creativity, which is a bad thing.

   I have added some more layers to a quilt I am hand piecing. I started this project on my cruise to New Zealand back in March. The quilt is called Lady Marmalade and is designed by Sarah Fielke. This means that I have come about half way now into the over all finished quilt. Am I sick of circles? Not on your life!!   I have have just done another 28 for the next round.

I am determined to keep going whilst I am still enjoying it, which I am.

Hope you are having a creative day,

XX Liz

MIUM at Gina K Designs

Well hello,
    I have finally got around to doing a challenge card. I have gone with the one over at Gina K Designs. If you want to play along here is the link:
http://stamptv.ning.com/photo/photo/listTagged?tag=STV14MON21

   I have used 2 stamp sets from GKD 'So Groovy' and 'Enjoy the Journey'. The idea of the challenge is to make lots of layers on the card. I think I have managed to do just that in this card.

The van is coloured in with copic markers and I have added Glossy Accents on the window panes to make them look like glass.

 My friends are about to embark on a road trip to the outback so I hope this gives them a fitting farewell.

Hope you are having a creative day,

xx Liz

Putting on the Ritz

Happy Birthday to my lovely Stepdaughter! Today is her 26th Birthday and although she received her quilt early (which I posted yesterday), I would like to show you the card that I made her. Here it is:

I used the lovely stamps from Waltzing Mouse Stamp 'Putting on the Ritz' collection and the the background is from the Art Deco Backgrounds that goes with this set. Love them both. Spellbinders Persian Motif made a perfect border around the circular design. The image is stamped using Versafine Black ink.The background is stamped in Memento London Fog ink. Silver grey organza ribbon completed the glamour of the card.

Hope you are having a creative day,

xx  Liz