By the Lake

Hi there,

Here is my attempt at getting a photo to be the right colours....It is sooo hard to photograph gloss card at the best of times.

I give many thanks to my Canadian friend, Christyne, in helping me through the minefield that is Photoshop! Without her help, I would be a beached whale!

Anyway...on to the scene. I was diligently following the lesson plan at Stampscapes...
http://www.stampscapes.com/lessenset.html which was supposed to be about the sunrays....ROFL....well, my rays ARE there, but not like they are supposed to be!

All stamps used are by Stampscapes except for the wording which is from the plate Viva La Flora by Darkroom Door. I mounted the wording on oval punched card. All card apart from teh white gloss is by Bazzill. The little pearl is by Kaisercraft and the ribbon is from who knows where?

And as suggested yesterday by Jennie, the scene has been raised with DS mounting tape! Even though I did not get the detail I wanted with the rays...and by that stage, I was too much the fraidy cat to stamp over what I had....in case I wrecked the whole thing.....I am somewhat pleased with the outcome. These things sure make dramatic cards!

Photoshop!

My many thanks to Christyne who has fixed my woeful attempt at catching this scene on camera and then with Photoshop!

It NOW looks pretty much as it does IRL.....significantly different to my poor attempt of Monday!

I have yet to get the Dummies book, but I think I just might send away for it today!

Thanks Chris.....I got another one I am going to practise on as soon as I have done the chores!

Stampscapes Scene

Hello there!

I ended up having a good sojourn last week and hope to be back on deck this coming week.

Here is a card I half made on the weekend. I have trouble with this type of scene adding finishing touches...mainly coz whatever I put with the scene detracts from the scene and that is not my purpose. I guess the scenes stand well enough alone. What do you think? Would YOU change it in any way?

I have used Marvy Brush Markers and India Ink for colour on white gloss card. The repeat stamping without reinking gives you dimension and distance within the image. I have used just the one stamp from Stampscapes...a line of pines. All card aside from the gloss is Bazzill, and I finally settled just on some paper piercing to create a frame for the image.

It always takes some time to get the colouring right with this type of stamping but the end result is pretty cool. This particular card was cased from one which was pictured with a stamp plate I bought from Stampscapes....It really doesn't look too much like the original even though I was trying to duplicate it at the time! My friend Cheryll and I were just practising our colouring skills...We NEED more practice....One shouldn't leave it so long in between scenes! But, I have to say, it does look pretty nifty IRL....Even the hubby has been studying it...and THAT says a lot!!!!

Calendar Page

Here is my calendar page which I have been stressing over for the last few weeks. The background was made using alcohol inks...in particular Denim and Stonewashed. I cut out the layers using Nesties (don't they make life easy!), layered on to Cuttlebugged Argyle and Just for Fun Borders. The little tag was stamped with SU Terrific Tags. All card, apart from the white gloss for the alcohol inks and the A4 sheet, was Bazzill.

And, of course, the stamp is by Inkadinkadoo...a really beautiful stamp to work with! I used the same sketch and colours as a previous card I did with this stamp....coz I didn't have time to think up something brilliant!

Some Piccies from Melissa's 21st

Melissa, Ashley, Magella and Carl

Melissa and Ashley

Neil and I

Neil and Ashley

Hi there....Here are some piccies from the 21st we went to on Saturday night, for my son Ashley's girlfriend, Melissa! Obviously fancy dress!

I am a bit disappointed with the quality of picture from my camera and will have to work on night time photography in a huge way, I think!

I am off to Airlie Beach tomorrow so will be autoposting.

Signature Book

Good morning everyone,

I could say on a fine morning but we are enveloped in a smoke haze and I cannot see any hills! At this point in time, we are hoping Neil does not have to go out fighting fires.

Here is the signature book I made for my son's girlfriend for her 21st birthday bash tomorrow night. It isn't QUITE finished as the youngsters are yet to send me along some piccie files. I want to cut them with my nesties and mount them on my nesties inside each of the covers.

I began with a Kaiser chipboard book in three pieces, painted the edges in Kaiser Pink, covered all three pieces with pretty DP and spent a huge amount of time sanding them back to the edges.

Then, I glued the 21 to the top board, stamped the Inkadinkadoo Flourishes and Hero Arts Happy Birthday in StazOn ink. I then sat, for what seemed like forever and stuck all the pearls and diamantes on the front. The name was created using Thickers and I added a few other embellishments as well. The key hanging from the book was the most frustrating part of the whole exercise. The cropodile did the hole beautifully but then it all went belly up! The key kept falling off...the pliers were working overtime! Hopefully, it will stay together now!

The inside pages were inked and sponged with Colour Box Pastel Pink with the owl and tree (both Hero Arts) stamped in Colour Box Lime Pastel and Pink Pastel. I thought the owl appropriate as people will be adding their words of wisdom to the book throughout the night!

Still to make the actual card!

Embossing Medium

Hello there,

After doing accounts for two days solid, I thought I would play around with Photoshop Elements with a card I made a while ago. The results aren't too bad!

I made the background hibiscus with white embossing medium and a hibiscus stencil from Dreamweavers. I stamped the wording feature (from Hero Arts) with StazOn white ink, twice, so I could raise the middle bit with foam dots. Then added lots of diamantes for effect. All card used is Bazzill.

T'is a simple card, but really pretty IRL!

Hedgies in a Row

Hello everyone!

I am bright and early with this one today. I am about to head off to Mackay to get my windscreen replaced and do a tonne of stuff!

I made this last Hedgie card late last night whilst listening/watching NCIS. My Cuttlebug ruled supreme with this creation...Lots of Nesties shapes and embossing with one of the new folders, more colouring with Prisma pencils with, lastly, the little wording..... being SU (along with the scallop frame it is sitting on!)

I have enjoyed giving this little stamp a workout but will be putting him away now for a while....Phew, say you all! ROFL!

Check out the Difference!

This is the right colouring!

This is the really sad one!!!!

Oh I have been playing with PSE7.

This has made a major difference to my photos.....to the better. Here is Carly's Wedding photo as I posted it back in May and as it is today....the one today is actually dead to rights on the colouring. I think I may like PSE7 after all!

Yet another PB Hedgie

Good morning everyone,

Here is yet another Penny Black Hedgie card. I used the same materials as yesterday except for the Hero Arts wording, which was stamped in StazOn black, the Hero Arts Swirl stamp, which was stamped in Adirondack Beachball Yellow and the paper piercing add-on.

In using the same materials, I am trying to cut down on all the scraps I end up with....the storage of scrap is becoming an issue of magnificent proportions!

I am going to see if I can make headway on my calendar pages today, since the entire day is my own! Have an idea....Now to see if it will work!

A Trip Down Penny Black Lane

Good morning everyone on this fine hot day in the tropics!

Here is a little trip down memory lane. I came across a very OLD stamp of mine and decided to dust it off and give it a whirl around the inkpads. Yesterday was the first outcome and it looked OK so I kept it out and did another few....all of which will be seen in good time! This one has a totally different feel to yesterday's, don't you think?

Penny Black hedgies are SO cute!

SS Card for October

Afternoon all,

I have finally spent some time carding!

Here is my SS card to go in the mail tomorrow. All is cool. The lady it is going to does not know I have a blog, so I am safe to post! Of course, she is going to work it out like straight away anyway...because of the postmark!

The challenges this month were:

1. Cute animals...check.

2. DL size card....check. and

3. Pastel colouring...check.

I have stamped the good old standby Hedgies by Penny Black in StazOn Black and coloured with Prisma Pencils and Odourless Mineral Solvent. (I noticed when I was uploading that I didn't colour the flowers, so will do that in a jiffy.) I tied some gorgeous pale teal ribbon and tied a bow.

I distressed the image layer and mounted onto the pink Cuttlebugged layer with black DSFT. I LOVE black. It is so much better than white foam tape, as it is less noticeable underneath! Go figure.

I popped all that on a distressed mauve layer and attached to the very pretty pale teal base.

Ok...another commitment out of the way! I found some card perfect for the calendar swap, so I can get those printed out ready to work on to....only, it is so nice and cool in this room with the aircon on, that I really don't want to leave it!

Ladies, Ink October Challenge

Good afternoon all...just...by a minute to be exact! It is a hot, dry, windy and unpleasant day in Koumala today. I wish it would rain just to settle the fires and the dust!

Ok...Today, I have my October challenge for my blogging group all done and dusted! Christyne would be proud of me!

The challenge was to have just the one layer (the base), one colour ink and the one embellishment.

Ok, I pulled out my old Amazing Creations stamps (all the stamps are by this company!) and this is the final result. I used Adirondack Eggplant and stamped the shadow stamp OFF three times before stamping onto the front of the card. All the other bibs and bobs....the corner frames, the butterfly and the wording were inked and stamped immediately using the Adirondack Eggplant once more. This gives you the variance using the one ink pad.

I added a wee flower to the wording and a tiny bit of glitter here and there and Voilà! T'is done.

Christyne, I have been studying the online PSE and mucking around here with it all....However...I could not figure out how to get rid of the two shadows on the left of the card. I managed to get one to be white...but not the same as the rest of the card and the other in the corner I could not do anything with....Beginning to think PSE is not for me!

Blog Candy

http://cabioscraftcorner.blogspot.com/

I was enthralled with the Tech Junkies Blog Hop this morning and chanced upon this excellent blog candy!!!!!!