aliens among us!

Punch art Aliens created for my SU sister Clare. She lamented the lack of alien punch art online and this is something like what I came up with yesterday. The only thing they're lacking is some punny or catchy alien message... I was thinking they are perfect for boys birthdays but can't think of a good message. Drop me a note and let me know what you'd suggest!

China Dolls

I was so happy with my little punch-art Asian dolls, I suggested to Caitlyn that we make another similar card for her best friend Bronte who celebrates her birthday this weekend. Bronte is Chinese and her favourite colour is red so we made this little dolls to represent Bronte and Caitlyn. Aren't they cute?

Inklings Cyberstamp Punch Art Challenge

My final challenge for the evening is a Punch Art Challenge. Like my Russian doll last cyberstamp I hosted, this is inspired by images that Stampin' Up! Australia currently doesn't include in the Idea Book Catalogue. There's no reason why we can't create punch art of images we demonstrators might wish were in the catalogue, is there?? So here's my Asian Dolls card:

Inklings Cyberstamp Colour Challenge

The second challenge for tonight's cyberstamp is a colour challenge. I picked the colours and then used the ColorCombo picker to create this image. Its a great resource! Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green, Riding Hood Red and Perfect Plum

I set myself the additional challenge of creating an Aussie Christmas card with this colour combo, so here's my sample:

Inklings Cybercrop Sketch Challenge

The first challenge tonight is a sketch challenge. Here is my sample:

The sketch is the first of Becky Fleck's September CardMaps

I love using sketches as a starting point when I'm stuck for ideas and Becky Fleck's sketches include quite a bit of detail so you can use as much or as little of the sketch as you like!

Caitlyn's birthday

At the specific request of the birthday girl, we made her a rather large chocolate cake which ended up rising quite a lot in the middle. Since she wanted a rainbow in smarties, it turned out quite well. Everyone enjoyed it!

Here's the card I made for Caitlyn's birthday. She loves purple and she liked the flower-pot card I made for Alana's cyberstamp so the decision was quite easy! The photo is quite speckled with shadows because my favourite picture window is covered in dust streaks from the dust storms we've had in Sydney this week - so apologies!

Alana's Cyberstamp

Alana set the challenges for our most recent Inklings Cyberstamp. The first challenge was to use embellishments we've been hoarding. This one started out really simple but kind of grew... I even used one of Alana's tricks adding tiny strips of paper to the buttonholes.
The second challenge was to create a flowerpot card. I was going to make a really tiny one using the Boho Blossoms punch again, but this one evolved in my mind based on a recent card by Tessa. She's so clever - embossing in white on vellum and then shading underneath - Tessa's version is much softer with the shading just touching the centre of the flowers. Would you believe the colour under the vellum flowers is Only Orange? Love how this turned out! Its so soft and pretty and the Bashful Blue and orange go so well together!
Lastly, I'd like to show a picture of some of my Father's Day stall creations - little phone message fridge magnets. The phone is from "Taking Care of Business" set and I added the letters "note" to the bottom of the pegs using "Calendar Alphabet and Numbers" set. Very happy with how they turned out, but ended up with 8 left over from the stall. Still, I can change the sentiment and sell them elsewhere.
That's all for now! Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday!

Wow! Followers!

Wow! I just noticed I've got Followers! WOOHOO!

I just gotta post a link back to Tessa's amazing interpretation of my snowflake/ornament card using Tree Trimmings. She's a clever chick-a-dee! And a constant source of inspiration for me!

Okay, best dash away - its Darren's birthday today - 09/09/09. A bit auspicious! Reads the same in either date format too! ;) So, Happy Birthday my love! Its going to be a lovely day!

Project "just chuck it"

I don't have cards to show just now; I wanted to share that I've been working slowly at getting a few things in order. Darren lost his job in April and is still going to interviews trying to find somewhere he won't "be bored". *sigh* That's employer speak for "we don't really want you". Anyway, I've been rather glum about it all and been a particularly sad person to be around until I started going out to Westmead Children's Hospital as a volunteer with Play Therapy. Fellow Inkling Fiona and I travelled out two weeks in a row and sorted out our parking, volunteer badges, etc, as well as sat and created with some children having chemotherapy in both outpatients and the Oncology ward. After all my crappy behaviour for the last few months, I'm finally snapping out of it. I don't have anything to be gloomy about. I don't need to be an Eeyore. These kids and their families are going through so much more.

So I'm grateful that Darren is around so much. I've started running "Fun Friday" every week at my place (in an effort to get the housework going!!) and went and did some planned spending at Ikea buying some much needed storage, drawers for Ryan and desks for Ryan and Caitlyn. We have also started "chucking" with a couple of loads to the dump, scoping out neighbours recycling bins every second week to get rid of our overflow (we always overflow our recycling bin!), and a bit of tree surgery to get the yard starting to look a bit more friendly. Little steps and I'm getting there slowly - focussing on the accomplishments not the bunch of stuff left to do.

Okay, Universe, I'm now ready for Darren to get a job! Please? Pretty please? Wouldn't mind one myself - we'll see how that goes...

Footy Fascination

So attempting to find something fascinating about the footy the other week while hubby was watching and seeking a cuddle, I started messing with SU colours to find out what his favourite team colours would be. Yo-yo Yellow and Pacific Point are the answers - can you guess the team? Here's the card which made my footy watching much more enjoyable!
And here's a card that has been floating around my mess scrapbooking spot for a couple of weeks. Its a cyberstamp challenge from fellow Inkling Alison (will try and track down a blog). She posted a colour challenge using her curtains of Pumpkin Pie, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point and Basic Black (or gold). Inspired by both the striped curtain theme and the colour combo, here's my take on it using Faux Woodgrain which Jayne showed us at the team weekend. Oh, and Colleen, my bestie, suggested the puppies and sentiment cos she's a star!