Australia Day Long Weekend Card making

I've been pretty quiet both with my blogging, my card making and my general chat with my friends on my yahoo groups. Basically I've been too tired after work to worry about anything too much and when I get home from work I crash onto the lounge in front of the TV and don't really move. I've been checking emails and seeing all the great creations my friends have been making. That said, I decided that this Australia Day long weekend was not going to be wasted and I was going to make cards for all my committed swaps as well as some birthday cards. I still have a few cards to make for people, but I'll do that sometime this week. Anyway, below are the cards & ATC's that I made:

This card was made for the ACTSA January sketch challenge

This card was made for the ACTSA January sketch challenge

This is a birthday card to one of the ladies on the TSS RAK list
CASED from Lana Murray of K.I.S.S

I made 2 of these cards
Both birthday cards - 1 for TSS RAK List & 1 for WWRS Birthday List

I made 2 of these cards
Both birthday cards - 1 for WWRS Birthday List & 1 for my local girlfriend

I made 2 of these cards
Both made for the WWRS Valentine Swap

This is a birthday card for Wendy Pettifer of yahoo group cards_r_us
CASED from Lana Murray of K.I.S.S

These ATCs were made for the yahoo group cards_r_us 3 Theme ATC swap
Themes were: Music - 1920's - Nine

I'm really happy with the effort that I put in this long weekend to make these cards & ATCs. I am now on top of all my swaps, well, up to date with the due date, but there are more swaps I have committed myself to, so the cycle begins again ROFLOL.

Cheers FiLoMa

Cards made Sun 13 Jan 08

In amongst my reading, movie watching, eating and just being hot, I made three cards today.

This first card, see below, I made two of, sticking to my 2008 Art Resolutions to make 2 of each card I make. These two cards were made for no other reason than wanting to use my new Pink Cat Studio stamps. This stamp, stamps up really well. For a moment there I wasn't happy with what I had done, even though the stamp, stamped beautifully. I think next time instead of using my H2O's, I'll use shimmer chalks and I'll use black ink instead of brown. However, I am happy with the final outcome, the card has grown on me during the day and I do like the colour of the cardstock I selected. For those of you who may not know, I love bling, whether it be brads or stickles, I just love the cards to sparkle. Also, to help me with my card, I went to Isabel's little corner blog to see how she had used the stamp. This is why I think next time to use chalks.

Pink Cat Studio
Cat Plate #1

This second card was done as part of the yahoo group "cards_r_us" January 2008 sketch challenge. I have posted the sketch challenge earlier, but here it is again to see as well as my card. I am happy with the card, though I do find it is quite simple.

"cards_r_us"
January 2008 - Sketch Challenge

Even though I only made 3 cards in total today, it did take up about half of my day. I don't always have a clear picture of what I want my card to look like, so often when I identify a stamp I want to use, I then have to think about how I want that to turn out, what decorative paper and embellishments I want to use with it.

And, at the moment, it is just hot, hot, hot here in Canberra, Australia & it shows no signs of letting up.

Cheers FiLoMa

Stamping Bella stamps arrive

Hi everyone, just letting you know that I picked up my Stamping Bella stamps that I had ordered through Paper Addiction. This time round I got 9 Stamping Bella's. I absolutely love them, so will aim to use these also this weekend. At lunch today, my girlfriend, a non cardmaker, gave me some great ideas on how to use them, so I think I'll give it a go.

Cheers FiLoMa

Pink Cat Studio Stamps arrive

Hi everyone, I just had to share that when I got home tonight there waiting for me was my Pink Cat Studio Stamps - Cat Plate #1. I was so excited I wish it was the weekend already so I can make some cards. It was way to late when I got home, so I'm just quickly posting my excitement and sharing with you the stamp set that I purchased, see below.

Cat Plate #1

Click HERE, (or in the panel on the right under on-line craft shops) for the link to the Pink Cat Studio web site if you want to check out what other stamps they have. Also, check out Isabel's Little Corner blog, she has done some fantastic work using the Pink Cat Studio stamps. It is because of her creativity that pointed me in the direction of Pink Cat Studio and ultimately to purchase.

Cheers FiLoMa

ATCs for yahoo groups made

I am really late in my ATC swap for yahoo group "cards_r_us". The group generally does 3 themes for their ATCs and the themes for December 2007 were "Eight", "Christmas" and "Hats". Below are my ATCs that I made on Saturday 05 January and tonight, Tuesday 08 January.

ATC 3 Theme - Theme Eight
Stamps: The Angel Company
Made 9 of these Saturday 05 January


ATC 3 Theme - Theme Christmas
Stamps: An Unknown Company and Stampin' Up
Made 10 of these Saturday 05 January


ATC 3 Theme - Theme Hats
Stamps: Impression Obsession and See D's
Made 3 of these Tuesday 08 January

I did make extra of these ATCs so I could also fulfill two return ATC swaps as part of the yahoo group WWRS. By "return" I mean that I have already received 4 ATCs from two people on WWRS and I now have to send 4 ATCs back to them. I really like this "core" swap on WWRS, it is so much fun to participate in. One day I'm gonna send out ATCs first rather than always playing catch up with "returns". I am really pleased with how these have turned out.

Cheers FiLoMa

Card made by Lana Murray

Just wanted to share this beautiful card that was made for me by Lana Murray of Keep It Simply Stamping aka K.I.S.S. This card is a belated 2007 Happy Birthday, Christmas and Happy New Year for 2008. The colours, the layout and the overall quality of the card is just gorgeous. I'm going to try and CASE this card. The photo probably doesn't really do it justice.

In addition to this, Lana was very generous and gave me a 10g pot Cranberry H2O as well as the Impression Obsession stamp set 3014-LG Change the World - this is of dragonflies, which we both absolutely love. I was very spoilt indeed, but the gifts are very much appreciated.

Cheers FiLoMa

New Rubber Stamps received & ordered

I forgot to post on Wednesday, 02 Jan that I received my Paper Addiction order for four Great Impression stamps and four Stamping Bella stamps. I am really happy with my order. The Great Impression stamps are just gorgeous. However, before I can use them I have to protect the wood, as these stamps are wood mounted. The Stamping Bella stamps are also absolutely beautiful and Paper Addiction rang me today, 04 Jan to inform me that nine of the Stamping Bella stamps I had order were in, so I rang and paid for them over the phone. For those of you who are not aware, Paper Addiction is in Queensland and it is the only place that I know of in Australia that sell the Great Impression stamps. Debbie said my order will be posted next week, so I should have my stamps by the end of next week, in time for the weekend.

Also, last night I placed an order with Limetart for some "Just Johanna" stamps, so can't wait to collect them when I attend ACTSA at the end of the month. In addition, I placed an order with Pink Cat Studio, so can't wait to get them, which will be in a couple of weeks, so I will have to be patient there.

Cheers FiLoMa

Card Sketch Templates

I just want to say that the Card Sketch Templates that I post to my blog have originated from Becky Fleck's page map web site. I have not created these myself and do not want anyone to think that I have done these sketches. Unless otherwise indicated, all Card Sketch Templates posted on my blog for the yahoo group "cards_r_us" challenge will be from Becky's web site. I am posting them to my blog so that if you are not aware of these sketches via Becky's web site, you can find a select few from my blog.

However, I am now keen to try my hand at creating my own card sketch templates and if/when I do and am happy with what I create, I will post these to my blog to share.

I have done this post to eliminate any confusion that may have arose from people visiting my blog. I do not want to take credit for something that I have not done. It needs to be directed appropriately.

Cheers FiLoMa

How I Spent New Years Day - 01 January 2008

Today has been a great day. Even though I had a rough nights sleep, I didn't let it become an excuse for not getting up and exercising. I was up and on my treadmill just after 0730am, and I did 30 minutes at a steady walk. I know I probably could have gone faster in speed, but since I haven't exercised for a while, I'm going to ease myself into.

The next part of my time was spent reading and sending emails. I also uploaded a card sketch challenge for the yahoo group I'm in "cards_r_us". This will make 2 sketch challenge cards I'll be doing, one for ACTSA (see previous post) and cards_r_us. Below is the cards_r_us sketch challenge:

Sketch Template Challenge
for yahoo group "cards_r_us"

After spending time on the computer, I made myself some lunch, then it was time to do some card making. I made two cards. One for Isa, see Isabel's little corner blog, as I had promised her that I would send her an acetate card. The other acetate card is just for the sake of making a card. I have decided that when making a card for a swap, family member or friend, I will aim to make 2 cards. One to give to the person, the other for my newly established "spare box". This way I will always have a card on hand, for several occasions. Here are the cards I made today:

Front & Back/Inside view of card
This card made for Isabel Curtis

Front & Back/Inside view of card
This card made for the "spare box"

After doing my craft, I fixed myself a nice dinner. Once that was over, I decided to watch the movie "Becoming Jane". I really enjoyed this movie, one that I now want to get on DVD, as I could watch it over and over.

Now it is getting late, but thought I'd check my emails and add this post, showing my cards that I made today. On signing off, I'm going to go start my new book - "Crowner's Quest".

I hope that everyone had as great a New Years day as I did and I wish that 2008 is all that you want it to be.

Cheers FiLoMa