Masculine Foliage

I think it's been well established by now that masculine cards are what everyone struggles with. I always put them off when I know that I have to make one. Anyway I made a masculine card for Karl's Opa on night shift the other night and I'm so so so happy with it. I usually doubt weather the recipient will like what I made but I know that this card will go down a treat. Here's what I created for him...



If you compare this card to the previous one you'll be able to tell that I'm a bit in love with Tearing, Crumb Cake and French Foliage atm hahaha. Also need to highlight I used More Mustard... I never use more mustard. And I think it really sets the card off. I think I'll be challenging myself to use it again.

Stamp Set: French Foliage, Beautiful Butterflies
Ink: More Mustard, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade
Cardstock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Old Olive
Accessories: Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals

Thanks for looking,
Dani

JAI 87

Hi guys,

Guess what! I finally bought a new camera. Woo! That means lots more posts. It also means you need to bare with whilst I get used to it and work out how to use lighting with it as I didn't need to with my SLR. Anywho I'm excited I can back into challenges again. Today I used these beautiful colours from Just Add Ink...



Here's the card I made. Now the photo doesn't do it justice cos I need to play around with lighting and you can't tell dimension. It's a pity I already gave it to my dear friend Bec (Happy Birthday Bec) otherwise I'd work on another photo tomorrow. Anyway, here's the card



Stamp Set: Summer Solice, Creative Elements, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, French Foliage
Cardstock: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Ink: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake
Accesories: Aqua Painter, Dimsionals, Glue Dots, 1 3/4" Circle, Sponge Daubers, Crumb Cake Ribbon

TFL,
Dani

200 Posts, Woo!

Well I can't believe I would ever make 200 posts when I started my wee little blog years ago but I got here. How exciting!!!!

Also I really want to apologise for my quietness during the last month. Truth be told my SLR decided to die and I haven't had time to go camera shopping but hoping it will happen during the week when I finally have 3 days off work. So I have made lots of beautiful creations and haven't been able to share them. I do however have a card to share today. I was really desperate to be able to put something on my blog so the mr took this photo at Maccas on his phone and then I editted it on the computer lol. I made the card for my beautiful niece who turned 4 during the week. Shes growing up too quickly.



Unfortunatly the photo doesn't do the card the justice it deserves. There is stamping on the daffodil panel and dazzling diamonds on the wand that you just can't see. As well as the dimensions from the dimensionals. There are a few things I do love on this card from the new catty though:
1. The Princess- Will get alot of work out in my house of girls
2. Wisteria Wonder - need I say anymore?? Divine
3. The new 2 1/2" circle punch. Extra large and fabulous! Love it.

Stamp Set: Perfect Princess
Cardstock: Watercolouring paper, Wisteria Wonder, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Melon Mambo Prints DSP
Ink: Wisteria Wonder, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Peach Parfait, Blushing Bride
Accessories: 2 1/2" circle punch, Daffodil delight satin ribbon, Aqua Painter, Two way glue pen, dazzling diamonds, Rhinestones, Dimensionals, mini glue dots, Sponge Daubers

Thanks for looking and tanks to my loyal readers for sticking around and enjoying my creations

Dani

Woo Hoo!

Today is a good day! It's September 1st which means the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalogue is out! And it's stunning. Here's the front cover...



Don't you just want to tear it open? Well email me and I'll send you a copy but if you can't wait that long it's online on the stampin' up website and can be found here

Today is also a good day cos I have a scrapbook page to share. I know GASP! I scraped! It was my mission on my team weekend away to scrap at least one page and I did. I've used a new stamp set some new accessories and one of the new incolours. Here it is... (Now I have difficulty photographing scrap pages, I apologise in advance)


My gorgeous daughter Riley at 11mths old just after she had eye surgery. Isn't she beautiful? Now apart from her, Check out those doilies in the background, Aren't they so beautiful. I created the background myself with that nifty set. Here's a close up of the background and also one of the new border punches which I blinged up with some rhinestones.



I also made my own flower on the page in the beautiful new colour, Wisteria Wonder. I faux sueded the flower and stamped on it and then finished it off with the gold smooch spritz so you may be able to see a slight bit of glitter. Here's a close up



I haven't journaled it yet but intend to on the orange top note. I just haven't been able to get the right words together.

Stamp Set: Delicate Doilies
Ink: Melon Mambo, Wisteria Wonder, Pretty in Pink
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Wisteria Wonder, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: 2 3/8" scallop punch, Heart to Heart punch, Lace Ribbon Punch, 1 " circle punch, Big Shot, Scallop Circle Die, Top Note Die, Timeless Typ Junior Alphabet Die, Gold Smooch Spritz, Pretty in Pink Button, Rhinestones

Thanks for looking and I'll be back soon with some SPECIALS!! What a great way to kick off the new catty :)

Dani

Team Weekend Away Swaps

Hi guys,

I've been quiet this month cos I've been really busy working weird hours and vegging out with the kids which I haven't been giving myself time to do, I really believe you need to though. Anywho, last weekend I was lucky enough to have the best birthday present ever. I got to go away with The Inklings for the last Inklings Team Weekend Away. I have heaps to share with you over the next few weeks from the weekend. Tonight I thought I'd share with you my Swap Card. I really like how it came together but let me tell you I was sick of SAMJ-ing those damn cages by the end of it. I did two colours, let me know which you like best

Here's Marina Mist



And Cherry Cobbler



Stamp Set: Aviary, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, French Foliage
Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler/Marina Mist
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler/Marina Mist
Accessories: SAMJ, Basic Black Satin Ribbon

I'm also entering these cards in this weeks JAI Challenge. This week is Just Add... Something from your stash. I must admit when Aviary came into the spring mini I had to have it and I mounted it and never used it. These cards were the first time it saw ink which I'm really ashamed of cos I love love love it and am so excited it will be in the new catalogue which is released really soon.

Thanks for looking and be back soon for more creations from the weekend away

Dani

ESAD Retiring Blog Hop

Hi guys,

You may have arrived here from Karen Rogers blog or just a general visitor either way feel free to hop on board the ESAD blog hop. A bunch of 25 blogs all with great ideas using retiring product from the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalogue

What is ESAD?

ESAD stands for "Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators" and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin Up demonstrators.

We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors, but we share our love for what we do with each other as demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know-how, and cyberstamps, and we are always there to help and support each other when it is needed.

So if you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please fee free to click here to join our wonderful group

Today I have to share with you is a "One Sheet Wonder." I love doing these as they really show case a stamp set and help use up scraps and make a whole heap of simple cards in one go. So what I did was I chose a stamp set in this case Petal Pizzazz (A fav of mine, sniff sniff) and an A4 sheet of cardstock and stamped the whole sheet in different colours and stamps until it was covered. (I masked the Melon Mambo flower to add the leaves) I then cut them up into all sorts of shapes and made a whole set of 6 cards. I also made a matching box which holds all 6 cards and 6 envelopes perfectly. Fantastic for a simple gift. Here is the whole set of box and cards.



And then each colour set of cards. I had heaps of fun playing around with the layouts.







Stamp Set: Petal Pizzazz (Retiring, sniff sniff), Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Ink: Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Cardstock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Tasteful Trim XL die, Big Shot, Word Window Punch

I had planned to have alot more to share with you but time has slipped away from me this week. Thanks so much for coming and having a look at what I did have to share with you today. Please make your way now to Cathy Clarks beautiful blog to see what she has to share with you all.

Enjoy the hop!

Dani

Inkspirations #80

Hi guys,

FINALLY I have a girls card to make after then 10 billion boys parties we've had lately. The lucky girl is our friend's daughter Jessie who is about to turn 5. I used this weeks colours from Inkspirations. The colours were really fun to work with. I was also shocked to find I haven't yet used Concord Crush. I really need to play with my product more hahaha. Here are the fab colours...



What I did with them was very different for me but I like it. I took a long time fav stamp set (Priceless) that hasn't seen a lot of ink recently and will be retiring at the end of the month :( and tried to focus on lots of elements from the set. I'm really sad to see this set go but am happy with what I did with it. It ended up really fun and patchwork like.



Stamp Set: Priceless, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Ink: Concord Cruch, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz
Cardstock: Whisper White, Concord Cruch, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Big Shot, Simple Letters Alphabet die, 1 3/4" circle punch, 1 1/2" square punch, dimensionals

Want to see more projects using some of the stuff on the retiring list?? Come back to my blog on Saturday 6th August at 1:00pm to participate in the ESAD Retiring Blog Hop where me and my fellow ESAD girls will celebrate the gorgeous stuff that will be retiring on 31st August. If you haven't checked out the list, see it here

Thanks for looking,

Dani

Inkspirations #79

Hi guys gotta make this quick today as I'm about to literally fly out the door. Made this card today and then loved how quick and simple it was that I made a few extra up cos they were great for all the boys birthdays we've seemed to have lately. It's very simple for me and has no embellishments whatsoever and when I realised I was tempted to add some but I think it's nice to do something different sometimes. I used Inkspirations sketch


And here's the card. Bright and super cute for any boy!



Want anymore details email me! Have a great one I'm off for a night out with my bestie! Woo!

Dani

Bleached Medallion

Hi guys,

I've been seeing heaps of bleaching around recently since convention and although I didn't attend I've still been enjoying getting back to having some fun with bleaching and have a few more ideas I want to create in the next few days with bleach. I am absolutley in LOVE with this card. It's rare that I feel completely happy with my own work so it's nice to keep admiring this card before having to send it off to a friend who is going through a hard time at the moment.

Ok so what I did was I used the medallion background stamp. I did a few practice runs so here are my tips for getting the perfect medallion in bleach.
1. Wear gloves!!!!
2. Put bleach in a aqua painter (Make sure you mark that it has had bleach in it for next time you use it)
3. Ink stamp up really heavily using the bleach, even if you squeeze heaps don't be alarmed you need alot to get the great bleached out colour.
4. Ink it upside down so have the stamp rubber side up and place the cardstock on top
5. Rub the cardstock into the stamp as much as possible. Take as much time to make sure all the bleach gets in. Even if it means you won't get all the intricate details in the middle of the medallion it still is better then not enough bleach and an uneven look.
6. Leave the cardstock sitting on top of the medallion for a few minutes for good measure
7. Dry the bleach with you embossing heat tool to really accelerate the bleach coming out.
8. Have lots of fun with it :)

Now with all my tips out of the way here is how my card turned out... So stunning!



Stamp Set: Medallion, French Foliage, Friends 24-7
Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Peach Parfait
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Peach Parfait, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Bleach, Blender Pen, Dimensionals, Sponges, Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, Early Espresso Button, Heat Tool

If any of my tips don't make sense please feel free to email me danielle.fender@gmail.com. I'd be more then happy to explain it more for you.

Thanks for looking
Dani

Colour Q #94

Hi guys,

Every week I look at Colour Q's colours and I get an idea in my head and I never get the time to sit down and make a card. This week I didn't really have an idea and I made a card, go figure. Its a bit different from what I've been doing lately but I love it. It's quick, easy, bright and fresh. Here are this weeks stunning colours...



How much fun are they? Really bright and funky, totally up my alley. So I decided to pull out Petal Pizzazz to play with. This card would be very easy to mass produce and great for a SAS. Hope you like it.



Stamp Set: Petal Pizzazz, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Ink: Green Galore (Retired), Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry
Cardstock: Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Dimensionals, Post It notes (For masking), SAMJ, Rhinestones, Rich Razzleberry taffeta, Big Shot, Polka Dot Textured Impressions

I have a confession to make... This is the first time I've used Daffodil Delight in any form since the catalogue came out. And I really like it. One of my mates is coming over for some stamping on Thursday so my mission will be to make another card with Daffodil Delight cos I really like it.

Thanks for looking. Will schedule my Bleeching Post in a minute too as promised!

Dani

Sweet Inkspirations

Hi guys,

Today I have a card to share using two challenges. I used the colours from the Inkspirations team which are lush... Have a lookie....



And I combined them with a awesome Sweet Sunday Sketch. I always love the sketches there but rarely get a chance to play. Here's this weeks sketch...



Now the card I came up with is a little different from my usual style. Its a bit vintage. I don't think I LOVE it but I don't hate it either. I like that I changed it up and tried some new things on it so I'd really like your feedback on it cos I'm still a little not sure of myself.



Stamp Set: French Foliage, Friends 24-7, Sweet Little Sentiments
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum, Rose Red DSP Prints, Very Vanilla,
Ink: Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum, Rose Red
Accessories: Big Shot, Butterfly die, Sanding Block, Brayer, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Victoria Lace Ribbon

For the butterfly in the middle I used very vanilla cardstock and brayered perfect plum ink to get the cool faded in and out look and then stamped off once before stamping French Foliage (LOVE this set) on top. With the strip of prints DSP I stamped the florish from Friends 24-7 a few times then scrunched it into a ball several times, opened it back up and then went nuts with my sanding block all over. It gave a pretty cool effect on the strip.

I've got a really nice card made using bleaching that I will share with you in the next few days. I'm really happy with it so please come back in a few days to see it.

Thanks for looking
Dani

Happy Birthday Ethan

Hi Hi,

Yesterday was my friends son Ethan's 2nd birthday so I whipped him up a card for his birthday. I used the latest Inkspirations Sketch Challenge. I surprisingly did it from memory and got the card pretty accurate. I feel like I've been struggling with my mojo lately so it was nice to make this card and have my mojo just happen a bit more as I was making it. Here's this weeks sketch...



I used Fox and Friends to make the card. Ethan has a toy giraffe that he sleeps with and it looks just like the giraffe from Fox and Friends so I tried to make it the star of the card.



Stamp Set: Fox and Friends, Occasional Greetings
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Marina Mist
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Marina Mist, Peach Parfait Prints DSP pack
Accessories: Marina Mist Satin Ribbon, Marina Mist Brads, Dimensionals, SAMJ, Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die, Big Shot, Two Way Glue Pen

Thanks for looking!

Have a lovely night,
Dani

21 today, 21 today!

Well the party was actually last night but oh well! Anyway a family friend celebrated her birthday last night and I left the card making to the last minute as you do. Anyway so I set myself a goal to make a birthday card which featured a champagne glass, had a colour theme of light purple, dark pruple, and white and all made within an hour. And I must say I met all the goals plus decorated the inside which is very rare for me. Here's the outside



And the inside, simple but nice!



Stamp Set: Cheers to you
Ink: Black Stazon, Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant, Lavendar Lace (Retired)
Accessories: Big Shot, Alphabet die, 1 3/4" circle punch, Dimensionals, Black Satin Ribbon, White bakers twine, Sponges, Blender pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Two Way Glue Pen

You can't actually tell and none of my photos showed it but on the champagne glass I blender penned in some So Saffron ink to look like champagne and then I went over it with my two way glue pen and then added dazzling diamonds to make it sparkle. I really wish you could see it in the photo it looked really lovely.

Thanks for looking,
Dani

Welcome Baby Luke

Hi guys and gals,

A few weeks ago one of my dear friends I met through my mums group gave birth to baby number 2, another little (Ok maybe not so little he was 4.5kg) boy. When he was born I made him a card but its taken me a while to get it up on here. But when I saw this weeks challenge at Just Add Ink I thought it would suit perfectly. This weeks challenge is "Just Add Colouring In." I made this card with limited supplies on night shift and didn't have watercolouring paper with me so am not as happy with the colouring in as I would have been with watercolouring paper, That stuff is the bomb! Aside from that I am really happy with how the card turned out, except for my dodgy bow which I royally screwed up at 3 am when tiredness set in. I really hope you like it though...



Stamp Set: Baby Tees Jumbo Wheel, Nursery Necessities, Baby Bundle
Ink: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Black Stazon
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Marina Mist Prints DSP, Marina Mist, Very Vanilla,
Accessories: Aqua Painter, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Lots of Tags die, Big Shot, Certainly Celery Ribbon, Sponges, Dimensionals, SAMJ

Thanks for looking,

Dani

Riley's 2nd Birthday Invitations

On Sunday my little girl turned 2. I cannot believe that she is 2 already, It seems like only yesterday I was experiencing an awful pregnancy. She has brought us so much joy and I really enjoyed throwing her a birthday party. For her birthday we decided on a cookie monster theme cos she loves Sesame Street and she loves cookies. So I made her the cutest invites, the idea was cased from the lovely Clare McIllhatton. They were so super easy and great for replicating. Here they are...



And here is the cookie pulled out of the middle. On the back of the cookie were all the invite information. CUTE CUTE CUTE!



Stamp Set: Circle Circus
Ink: Early Espresso, Real Red
Cardstock: Real Red, Pacific Point, Whisper White, Creamy Caramel
Accessoires: 1/2" circle punch, Scallop circle punch, 1 1/2" circle punch, Circle die for big shot, Big Shot, Early Espresso Marker

Because my camera is still on the fritz I haven't got too many photos of the party to share I do however have a few shots of the cake and cutest cupcakes ever that me and a few helping friends made for the party. I'm so proud at how it all turned out. When I get a copy of the better photos I'll share them, These were the ones taken on my friends camera phone.

Cookie Monster Cake... Cooooooookieeeee!


The cutest ever cookie monster cupcakes, Full of sugar and yumminess!



Thanks for looking

Dani :)