heart to heart, hand in hand…

2009 December 8

Have you seen the gorgeous girly bedroom Keesh has given us for this week’s Inkspirations Inspiration Challenge #16? It is so sweet!! I love all those colours together, yummy!! I have taken my inspiration from the little white basket of flowers on the bottom of the rosey-red coloured throw on the end of the bed. I have used the ‘heart to heart, hand in hand’ stamp from the Sweet Little Sentiments hostess set, for the sentiment, it was stamped in staze-on ink onto a heart made from the large heart punch, and has a shimmery border of Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The base of the card is a 15cm square of Whisper White and I have matted the basket of flowers on a piece of spotty pink paper from the Sweet Always designer series paper and matted that onto Rose Red card stock, and the final matting is a 14cm square from the Rasberry Tart designer series paper. All the flowers have been punched from the Raspberry Tart DSP, and a little bit of the spotty pink paper. I used the trio flower punch for all the smaller flowers, and I popped a very small drop of Crystal Effects into their centres.  Then for the 3 larger ones I used the 5-petal flower, and the scallop circle punches. I layered the bigger flowers, finishing them off with tiny pink flower buttons from the summer mini’s Sherbet designer buttons that have been tied with some fine gold thread I found in my sewing stash. The little bit of taffeta ribbon and the cute little bow at bottom of the card is called Pretty in Pink. But the best part of this card my photograph isn’t showing up like I wanted it too….I have weaved strips of 1cm Whisper White card stock to make the white flower basket,  and gently stamped the Sanded background stamp, inked in Pink Pirouette onto the front of the basket to take the starkness of the white off a little bit. For the top of the basket I used a strip of the white card stock that I had punched out with the scallop edge punch. The whole basket is very hard to see in the top photo, but the bottom photo gives a better view.

Don’t forget to pop over to Keesh’s site (click here) and check out her gorgeous creation and the Designer Team’s brilliant work also. While you are over there check out all the stunning entries so far, they are all very clever chicks!! Thanks again Keesh for another great challenge, I had so much fun!

Thanks for dropping by this afternoon,

Sally x

shopping makes everything better…

2009 December 2

WOW !! Keesh has given us some lovely bright summery colours to play with this week for the Inkspirations Colour Challenge #16. They are Taken with Teal, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White, cheery hey? I don’t know why but when I saw these colours together I thought… mmmm tote bag!!(as you do!!!! lol lol!!) And so that is what I have made this week! I cut the bag shape from a  template that I have had for a little while, in Whisper White card stock and stamped it all over with the smaller flower from Scribble This (page 84 in the big 2009-2010 catty). I also stamped the cute little butterfly and tiny flower from the For Everything stamp set. There is a little pocket on the bottom right hand corner to hold the sentiment, which in this case says ’let’s celebrate’! I folded some real red ribbon for the pull and glued it between the white tag and the red matting. The ’shopping makes everything better’ is from Fashion District Rub-Ons from the Spring Mini catty. The small white grommet (the clip on the bag) is from the Designer Hardware in the new Summer Mini catty (on page 17) and it is holding in place the little piece of Real Red card stock that has been punched with the Word Window punch and folded in half. For the straps I have cut a 30cm length of  Real Red 1.25 cm striped grosgrain ribbon, and knotted it at both ends just like you see on most totes. I roughed up all the edges of the bag with the Cutter Kit to give it that material, well loved look!! To take some of the starkness off the white base of the card I sponged some Real Red and Pumpkin Pie very lightly over it, and that also accented the larger flowers. I am pretty happy with my creation and even my darling hubby thought it was worthy some ‘comment love’!!!! I tell ya, he’s too cute that man of mine!

Don’t forget pop over to Keesh’s site and check out her beautiful creation and have a look-see what everyone else has come up with too. Just click here and it will take you straight to Keesh’s site.

Thanks Keesh for another great challenge, I have loved playing with these colours.

Thanks for dropping by this arve,

Sally x

P.S. !! WOW !! thanks everyone for all the lovely comments on my tote-bag card. I had so much fun making it and I am glad you all liked it too. I am over the moon Cindy chose my card for an honourable mention, it was something I certainly didn’t expect, I am very very excited. I sure don’t envy the job of selecting winners, everyones’ entries are all winners to me. I am always inspired by the huge talent out there week after week, it’s amazing, you’re all amazing!! Big congratulations to Julie Leblanc for her stunning peacock, I love her card. Thank you again Cindy, you made my day!

Love Sally X

kind words…

2009 November 23

Hi all,

 I am so in love with the new butterfly punch…did anyone notice??? lol lol I was given some gorgeous shabby chic papers a while ago and just wouldn’t use them cos they were too pretty!!! Does anyone else do that? Anyhows  I decided to pull one of the sheets out and make a shabby chic card. The base of the card is Pink Pirouette with an Old Olive matting. The butterflies were first punched out in pink pirouette for the bottom of them and then out of the scraps of the rose paper I punched out another 3, then I glued them together down their backs. I put some tiny pink rhinestones down the back of each butterfly stamped their antennae onto the paper where I wanted them to float, and held them in place with Stampin’ Dimensionals so they were all lifted off the page, sort of like they are hovering over the roses looking for a sweet spot to land on the petals. Pretty in Pink ribbon is threaded through a tiny silver ribbon slide from the Hodgepodge Hardware tin and I placed a  small cream half pearl, from the Pretties Kit, in the centre of that slide for a vintage-y type of look. The sentiment is from a level 2 Hostess Gift called Echoes of Kindness, it is stamped in Old Olive ink on to Pink Pirouette card stock and matted on to Old Olive card stock. I loved making this card, and I am super happy with the way it turned out. It really looks very very pretty in real life, I am afraid my photography skills are  limited with my little camera.

That’s all for today, I have  little Miss 3 here, Akiah (aka Lily), she had a sleepover last night, so I have lots of tea parties to attend today, and lots of colouring in and story readings in between. It is way too hot for playing outside today so it’s an inside day!! ahhhh life is good!!

Have a great day yourselves, take care,

love Sally x

 

Love is like a butterfly…

2009 November 22

Hi everyone,

Keesh has given us a beautiful sketch to play along with for this week’s challenge. I sorta challenged myself to this one too! I wanted to make a card with no stamped image!! A girlfriend was over for a visit on Thursday evening (waving to you Leonie!!!) and she brought with her some of the most beautiful cards, a very pretty scrapbook page, boxes and invitations I have ever seen, that she had made recently, all done in gorgeous papers. There was not one stamped image anywhere and they were amazing, I was so inspired!! 

So above is my attempt…I used a stamp for the tag and for the butterfly antennae, but that was all, so I was nearly there!! lol lol!  These ‘kaleidoscope’  papers are from the new summer mini, aren’t they pretty? I love them. I also loooooove the butterfly punch, I think it is probably my fav punch at the moment, I punched out the 3 butterflies from paper left overs from the rectangular piece  and used the reverse side. I cut the circular piece out using my circle scissors and glass mat. The glass mat is magic when using the circle scissors, the blade doesn’t have to struggle like it does against rubber mats. It glides and gives a much sharper finish. I actually bought mine just before last Christmas and I love using them, so I was very excited to see that Stampin’ Up will have them available from December 1.  I have also used some cream half pearls from the Pretties Kit and some Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the butterflies and some little dots of glitter over the rest of the base matting, the actual card is Certain Celery and these are the only things used that are not out of the new Summer Mini, due for release Tuesday December 1st.  And there you have it…my entry for Makeesha’s Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #16. Pop over to Keesh’s blog and check out her stunning creation and see what everyone else has made. Thanks Keesh for a great play with this challenge.

Cheers,

Sally :)

Caree… we hope you dance!

2009 November 19

This is a cute card I made for my eldest daughter, Caree, to celebrate her life and the joy she is in our lives. I love this little ballerina stamp, she is from my stash of stamps and has been coloured in with a blender pen and water-colour crayons (both S U). I especially love the flower with the Dazzling Diamonds sprinkled over it after it has been softly coloured with ink from the Pink Pirouette refill bottle, then I added a white half pearl to the centre, both from the Pretties Kit. The word ‘dance’ has been made up with die cut letters and the Heart to Heart punch has been used to make the heart embellishments.  A couple of stripes of Bashful Blue taffeta  ribbon to finish it up and there you have it, a really pretty girly card, for a daughter we love so much. 

Darling Caree if you have the chance…we hope you dance!

Thanks for dropping by,

Sally x

Happy Birthday Sharon….

2009 November 18

Hi all, it was a friend’s 40th birthday recently and this is the card I made for her, she is an awesome lady, a real angel herself.  The flowers are from Sweet Stems and are coloured in with markers to give a bright cheery look. Did you spot those 2 darling little ladybirds making their way up one of the stems? Cute aren’t they? T hey are out of the Garden Whimsy set of stamps, and  I placed them with the Stamp-a-ma-jig so they sat just where I wanted them to be. The tag is from A Happy Heart but I only inked up the words and not the image that is also on this gorgeous stamp. The little angel is a stamp from my own stash and she is also coloured in with markers. I have added some green bling also from my stash and then I have added  3 little pieces of folded 1.27 cms striped grosgrain ribbon in Real Red down the side of the card before I matted it onto Real Red card stock for the base of the card. So there you have it….Happy Birthday Sharon!!!

Sally x

…with heartfelt sympathy…

2009 November 17

Hi everyone, sadly one of hubby’s work colleagues lost her Dad this week and I was asked to make a card for the staff to sign, so this is it. I used the new butterfly punch and the butterfly stamps from the new summer mini, this time I used the ‘houndstooth’ print on the top of the butterfly and I glued the ’swirly’ print underneath so when it’s wings are lifted there is some unexpected added interest…cute idea hey? The large red/pink rose from Fifth Avenue Floral has been coloured with a blend of reds and pinks from the Water Colour Wonder Crayons, I have actually coloured in 2 of them and layered them on top of each other with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Just around the edges I have used some Stampin’ Glitter in Dazzling Diamonds. The tag has been made up of 2 different stamp sets (which I love to do and it’s so easy!!), the secret is you must have a Stamp-a-ma-jig (available for $22.95 from the 2009-2010 idea book and catalogue, page155)!! It allows you to line up perfectly where you need to place the stamp, no stuff-ups, no errors, you get it right every time, isn’t that cool? I love mine and it gets a very good workout with the projects its needed in. I had always wondered how these people, who have gorgeous jaw dropping creations, made such awesome perfect alignments look so easy, I assumed that they must have wasted a lot of paper and time and I admired them for their determination to finish what they started out making!!! But at the very first Stampin’ Up party I went too their secret was out!!!! I think everyone at that party thought the same as me, and yes! … every one of us purchased that magic tool and now we too can align perfectly!!!! Ahh yes, back to the card,( ooops, those who know me well, know how I like to side-track at times.. lol lol lol) I have used the ‘heartfelt’ stamp from Heartfelt Thanks and the ‘with sympathy’ is from Kindred Spirits. I had to make this a large card for the many signatures so I used a 12×12 textured sheet of Baja Breeze, folded it in half and cut one side down by 7 cms. I used Urban Oasis designer series paper and chose the theme of Fifth Avenue Floral, the red spotty piece is from Riding Hood Red patterns designer series paper. The ribbon is the luscious satin Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla. I was pretty happy with the final result of this card and I was pleased to hear that hubby’s work mates also liked it and were very appreciative, its nice to know your work touches the hearts of others no matter what the circumstance.

 Thanks for dropping by this arve.

Sally x

for samantha, only 20….’forever young’

2009 November 12

garden 13.11.09 039

Hi all, Well some of this card is a little sneak peek of what is to come in our new summer mini catalogue to be released December 1st. There are lots of great things on offer again! So!!…. what’s new on this card you ask? Well the butterflies are new, aren’t they sooooo cute and we also have a butterfly punch that co-ordinates with this stamp set, coming out in the same catalogue. WoooHooo!!!! As you can see on my card, after you have stamped the image onto your card stock and punched it out, you will have a tiny border right around the butterfly, isn’t that just neat!!!! All other products used are Stampin’ Up and are available to purchase from the 2009 – 2010 Stampin’ Up Idea Book and Catalogue. The whimsical swirl stamp beneath the butterflies is from Scribble This (page 84) , the ~heartfelt~ tag is from Heartfelt Thanks (page 83) , Tempting Turquoise ink and card stock have been used, and so has Chocolate Chip ink and card stock, and some Designer Series Paper also in Chocolate Chip (page 135), has been selected for the matting.

I have made this sympathy card for my daughter, Caree, and her fiance, Adrian.  Adrian’s little sister passed away after a long battle with cancer on Saturday morning. Samantha was way too young, and she fought with so much courage that she has been an inspiration to her closest family and friends. She will be sadly missed by all that knew her and loved her. It has been a difficult time for Adrian and Caree, their hearts are sad and heavy, and as their family it is so hard to watch them hurt so deep inside, but they know that they are loved and that we are with them as we carry them in thought and prayer.

~for Samantha, only 20…. ’forever young’~

Love Sally x

just a quick pic of Ahria…

2009 November 7
by Sally Little

07.11.09 arhia 029Golden slumbers kiss your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise. Sleep pretty darling, do not cry, and I will sing you a lullaby. ~Thomas Dekker

You only live once,

2009 November 7

07.11.09 arhia 042

Hi again, WOWSERS!!!!  2 posts in one afternoon!!!! I had a really busy week last week and didn’t play along in Makeesha’s last challenge. But this week…now, that, is a different story. I must admit these were hard colours for me to work with, but that is what a challenge is, and I enjoy playing along with them because they do make me think outside the square. Plus I love to check out what everyone else has done with the same challenge, that always fascinates me!

So for this week’s challenge, Inkspirations Colour Challenge #15, Keesh has given us some warm colours to play with- Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust and Very Vanilla. I decided on a Chocolate Chip card stock base with a Really Rust card stock matting. For my inks, I chose the 3 darker colours, using them with a flower stamp from the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set, I randomly stamped over the Very Vanilla card stock and overlapped the flowers. In the centre of the Really Rust outlined flowers only, I used some of that gorgeous, gorgeous Fine Supernova glitter in ‘orange’ (it looks like Really Rust) to give the card some bling. I have also just roughly sponged some Really Rust from the Stampin’ Pastels onto the same flowers, being careful not to go outside the outlines, plus I didn’t want to colour those flowers in fully, I wanted it to look a bit sort of hit-and-miss…lol lol, does that make sense? It makes them more of a feature and they sort of jump off the front of the card. I don’t have one of those u-beaut cameras that take great photos like I see on other blogs,  just my little-one-that-I-take-everywhere type of camera, so sometimes my cards look way much more striking in real life, and this is one of them, so sorry! I think I may have to put a new camera on my wish list for next year. I punched out the title on Very Vanilla with the Wide Oval punch and mounted it twice, once on Really Rust card stock and once on Chocolate Chip card stock that have been punched out with the Designer Label punch and I cut them both in half and placed them underneath the Very Vanilla oval piece at each end. I finished the tag off with a Chocolate Chip button on the side, with a tiny bow of some Linen Thread that I dyed with some Chocolate Chip ink from the ink refill bottle.

I had so much fun doing this challenge, I was so determined to do it, because it would be soooo soooo easy for me to back out and stay in my comfort zone. Thank you Keesh for a wonderful chance to play along and broaden my colour palette. I hope you all like my card, I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Don’t forget to pop over to Makeesha’s blog and check out her gorgeous card and her Design Teams’ gorgeous creations too. One cannot help but be inspired, go have a look!

‘Never miss a rainbow because you are looking down’ -unknown

07.11.09 arhia 041

…love Sally xx