Cards

It's my Moms Birthday tomorrow and one of the gifts I have made her are these cards. It is always handy to have a batch of them ready for any occasion. She really appreciates it when someone spends time on her, so this is my gift to her.

Here are just three of the ones I have created tonight. I have been madly testing my Vagabond and so I have lots of die cuts and embossed items to choose from. It makes putting cards together so much easier if it is all to hand.

Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday 112

Well this Wednesday finds me in the throws of finally getting my kits to the shop! I am seeing one of the shop owners tomorrow and so am packaging and labeling everything. This always takes me longer than I anticipate, so this is where I left off last night some time.

Today I have given you two views of my desk so you can really get the feel of the chaos that has taken over right now.

There are rolls of ribbon, a pile of tags, piles of piles of stuff every where, perhaps I should have taken a pic of the floor too to give you a realistic view of the reality around me!

Now that you have seen my desk, head off to Julia's one to join in the fun. Happy WOYWW112 everyone!

Pink and Turquoise creation for Simon Says Anything Goes!

I pushed my boundaries with this creation! Over at Simon Says Stamp and show it is anything goes and boy did I have fun with this one!

I just love the soft creations over at Tracey's blog Running with Scissors but it is SO VERY out of my comfort zone to work with pastel colours and pinks. So I set out on a mission today to push every limit I have with flowers and the like!

I was inspired by Tracey's Journal page that she covered with book pages and painted and inked on top of. So I decided to try the same on an old picture block I had. Of course my latest Tim Flourish stamp set got used too, in fact it was my starting point and I worked the pages round them. The rest is a case of trial and error, the cupcakes have been various colours on route to brown and you could almost do an archaeological dig through all the layers!

Christmas in July

Christmas in July is a popular thing to celebrate here in South Africa as we traditionally have all the hot roasts and steamed puddings in a heat wave at the real Christmas! A group of us started the Christmas in July thing to be able to enjoy this feast in mid winter about 6 years ago and have kept it up, each year hosting it at one of our respective houses. We were 19 adults and 11 kids this year.

This is the card I made to go with the gift for our hosts.

I used my coveted flourish Tim Stamp and embossed the Christmas ornaments onto a scalloped square I cut on my eCutter. (that pink beastie I am still trying to tame...just when I think I have it sorted it throws me a curve ball)

Whats on your workdesk Wednesday 111

Wednesday again in Blogland and it is WOYWW 111. In cricket, that is a known as a Nelson and you have to lift your feet off the ground till the score changes! Goodness knows where that little funny legend comes from!

Here is my desk to peruse, nothing happening, just the chaos after making my card for Nelson Mandela's birthday on Monday. And in fact, the card is still lurking in the corner of the photo....

Oh and then there is my work office folder (seems like Julia and I have something in common - our desks are dual purpose) and my long coveted and just acquired Tim Holtz flourish stamp by Stampers Annon. The first time I have seen this brand for sale here in South Africa, I could not believe my eyes, I pounced on it so ecstatically that the shop assistant thought I was loosing the plot and came running over to see if everything was ok!

Now that you have finished perusing my desk, go to Julia's desk where you will find the links to lots of other desks all across the world on full view in all their neat or chaotic glory!

Happy WOYWW everyone!

Bella

Free as a Bird!

Well Hello Bloggers

Here is my Simon Says Stamp and show some embossing, even while we are still on Monday! Well only just as it is nearly 11pm here in South Africa as I post this.

Today was Nelson Mandela's 93rd Birthday and the whole nation celebrated with him! He is such an inspiration to us all in our rainbow nation.

So here is my card made in his honor!

I started with the Blue Bird Cage which I embossed by putting a lazer cut through my Vagabond with my paper.

To enhance it further, I covered it with Distress ink and clear embossing powder. I then sprayed the whole thing with perfect pearls mist and left it to dry before punching the edge with a MS punch. I die cut the bird and cage from Tim Holtz's Sizzix range on shiny card stock which I then used alcohol inks on to make them bright and interesting.

Our flag I stamped on Shrink plastic, colored with alcohol inks and shrank it to look like a waving flag. To make the background more textured I used my music stamp with clear embossing ink to create a watermark on the paper.

I hope you enjoyed my tribute to an amazing man! Please let me know what you think of it by leaving a comment below.

Have a great week.

Bella

Grungy Monday 15 on Sunday!

Its almost time for the next one and I have just got this weeks Grungy Monday under my belt!

The technique for my background is to be found over at Tims blog from way back when... So go over there and check it out and give it a go, it really is easy when you know how! I did the stamp first so it would show through the embossing powder.

I have also spied Hels challenge for Sundays and this week it is to make something. I am so into making these flowers at the moment, that I have added this to the challenge list for today!

Simon Says Stamp and Show some Stitching

I am rather late uploading this but go over to Simon Says Stamp to see what the others have done. It has been very busy here with the last week of school hols.

I decided to use my stitching templates and chose the cup cake. I am such a child at heart and you will always find me at the kids tables at parties...

I used the Cuttlebug dots embossing folder as well as the Disney cut and emboss set for the Cuttlebug to create the streamers and distress inks for the tag as well as some Ranger Turquoise embossing powder on the Happy Birthday. Lastly for some bling I added Diamond Stickles.

What's on your workdesk Wednesday? 110

Yay, today is Wednesday which means it is the great desk hop around the world. Go over to Julia's place at Stamping Ground and you can view all the desks that people have put out there for your perusal and the best part is, that you can join in too!

I missed last week because we were driving back home from our holiday and I really felt like something was missing in my week, funny how these things have become a part of what I do in a week and what I look forward to.

Here is my desk with its new toy and permanent fixture! Yes! I got a Vagabond from Sizzix, invented by none other than Tim Holtz! Man oh man, if you have ever felt like your arm is going to go numb or fall off cos of all the turning you have to do with a Cuttle Bug, well then this machine is pure heaven! It cuts all the different dies, embosses everything perfectly and well, is just amazing all at the push of a button! I have cut, embossed and tested everything I could find and am going to have to have a serious card making session to use up all the bits and pieces I have created.

Also on my desk today are some of the tags I have made. I am not sure what to do with them now that I have made them and would love some suggestions from you as to what you do with yours (assuming that you also make them that is...) Mostly I have made them for challenges, some I can use for a birthday or thank you, but the rest are just for fun.

I got a Bond - Vagabond!

Oh my word, I have been eyeing the Vagabond ever since it landed in this country a few months ago. I have saved up and finally today was the day! I went shopping this morning and got the second last one! It is just the most brilliant invention for someone who uses dies and embossing envelopes a lot. I hurt my arm yesterday winding my cuttlebug and that just clinched it for me! I craft a lot and boy oh boy have I had fun today testing all the things I can put through it!

This is the first finished product I have made with it using the tag die, the cogs embossing folder and the heart wings die too. Not to mention the paint dabbers, distress stains and the distress inks as well as some idea-ology thrown in for good measure! All of the above created by none other than the man himself Tim Holtz!

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Grungy Monday and Simon Says

I have been away on my winter holiday down what we call the Garden Route. It is a beautiful part of our country with some still untouched areas of natural vegetation. We did a detour on our way home yesterday and visited the Cango Caves with their beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. Then we did a SERIOUS dirt road detour on our way to finding the National road again through some simply beautiful landscapes, I have to paint a few of them.

Back to the reason I am posting, well I had serious creative withdrawals, so I am playing catch up and here is my post for both Grungy Monday 14 and Simon Says Stamp and show a flourish!

Grungy Monday with Linda Ledbetter is all about using Tim Holtz's technique from 2008 where you make your own perfect pearl spray mister and use paint dabbers as resist on stamps. But to get the real low down on how to do it, go to the masters site and check it out for yourself.

The Simon Says Stamp and show a flourish is just that, show a flourish, so I decided to use the paint dabber on my flourish as the resist part of the Tim Technique and there you have both challenges rolled into one!