Another lot of Critters!!!

As promised in yesterday's post I have another crittery card for you. These little monsters from the 'Make a Monster' set are just too cute. I love how you can change their faces and expressions.

My lovely friend's little boy turns 3 next week and Elliot and I have been invited to his party. I decided to be super organised and make his card well before time. I'm entering this card into this week's Just Add Ink challenge as well.

Here it is:

 

Project Recipe

Stamp Sets:   Make A Monster; Party This Way

Ink:                 Real Red; Pacific Point; Black StazOn

Paper/Card:   Pacific Point; Pear Pizzazz; Whisper White; Real Red; Celebrations DSP; Watercolour Paper

Accessories: Real Red Polka-Dot Grosgrain; Word Window Punch; Big Deal Alphabet Dies; Big Shot; Crystal Effects

I'd love to know what you think of my crittery little cards.

Love,

  

 

Little Monstery Critters- Just Add Ink 46

Sooooo......yet again it's been a very long time between blog posts.

I have been missing in lots and lots of inky, stampy action!!!

I'm hoping to make up for all my missed time by showing you some of the things I have been up to over the last couple of months- not all at once of course but hopefully a little each day for the next while.

So lets get started............

One of the loveliest things about having a little more time to myself- now that my Christmas classes are finished and I don't have any workshops for a little while- is that I get to spend some time making just for me and playing with some challenges. And of course one of my favourite challenge sites is Just-Add-Ink. I've REALLY missed being able to play along these past weeks.


This week the girls have set a fun challenge........Just Add Critters.

I hope that monsters are critters because my card features this cute little monster from the Make A Monster stamp set. I decided to make a girly card using this cutie and my until-now-unopened pack of Sweet and Sour DSP. I loosely based my card on this gorgeous creation by one of my most favourite stampers, Teneale Williams. 


Here is my creation:

Project Recipe
Stamps Sets:   Make A Monster; Party Hearty; Party This Way; Crazy for Cupcakes
Ink:                   Pumpkin Pie; Rose Red; Black StazOn
Card/Paper:     Very Vanilla; Pumpkin Pie; Rose Red; Sweet & Sour DSP; Watercolour Paper
Accessories:   Circle Scissors; Word Window Punch; Pumpkin Pie Satin Ribbon; Designer Buttons (Subtles)


I hope you like this little card of mine- let me know what you think. I'll be back tomorrow with another crittery card for you- I promise.

Love, 

My Little Boy Turns Two!!!!

Last week my gorgeous little boy turned two!!!! I'm sure it was only yesterday that he was this big:

 

It's unbelievable how quickly those two years have flown by and hard to imagine how life was before he arrived in this world. He brings me more joy than I could ever have imagined and truly is the light of my life.

So to celebrate Elliot's 2nd birthday we had a party in the park for his closest little friends. It was so much fun!!! I made the invites and party bags for his very cute party guests. Elliot has been absolutely in love with dogs for quite a while now and likes to be a dog at least once or twice a day- so I decided that little dog invitations would be perfect. I got the template for these adorable little dogs from a swap I received at the Perth Regionals from Pat Carr (who makes amazing punch art creations). The colour scheme came from the really cute Celebrations DSP. To make the invites that more snazzy the little dog's nose and the number 2 were made shiny with Crystal Effects. 

Each of the little kiddy winks who came to Elliot's party got a party bag to take home. Again I used the gorgeous Celebrations DSP for the colour scheme and to add some extra colour and cuteness to the bags. Each bag had a different band of the paper and was individualised with a shiny, Crystal Effect'd first initial of their name. I did take photos of all the bags together before the party but somehow they disappeared from my camera (BOO HOO!!!) so I only have these bags from two little people who couldn't make it (both with "M" names as it turns out).

 

   

To go inside the goody bags I made these super cute crayon boxes. I got the idea from Lisa Jansen's  gorgeous colouring card swap that she made for Convention this year. They turned out so fantastic- I love them- so worth the effort!!! The bags also had some stickers, a cute little Postman Pat badge (that Mum got in England as a charity fundraiser) and a little cellophane bag wrapped in ribbon with yummy chocolate buttons inside. Really lovely!

We had such a fun and special day...........here is a photo of the birthday boy himself with his doggy birthday cakes made by his very clever Nanny.

 

Happy Birthday my darling boy xxx

Thanks for popping by for a look. See you soon with some more creations.

Hip-Hippo-Thankyou!!! JAI Challenge 37

Happy Sunday............


I have to tell you I have completely and totally fallen in love with creating again!!! I don't know what happened there for a while but I just felt that I was creating because I HAD to (for orders, stamp club, etc) not because I WANTED to. But something amazing happened for no reason at all and I am back doing what I love most because I truly want to. It's fantastic!!!


The joy that comes with loving stamping again is that ideas just bounce into my head without really having to think about them. And that is exactly what happened with this card for this week's Just Add Ink  challenge. The girls have set a colour challenge this week and when I first looked at them I thought "Whoa!!!" but that quickly turned into "Wow Fun Colours!!!". Here they are:

This is actually the first time EVER that I have used Always Artichoke and I would never have thought of putting it with the other colours. This is the fun (and just a little bit cute!) card I came up with using these fun colours:

Project Redipe

Stamp Sets:     Pun Fun; Short and Sweet

Inks:               Rose Red; Pumpkin Pie; Old Olive; Always Artichoke; StazOn Black

Card/Paper:    Rose Red; Always Artichoke; Pumpkin Pie; Old Olive; Watercolour Paper

Accessories:    Circle Scissors Plus; Big Shot; Polka Dot Embossing Folder; Trio Flower Punch (retired); Word Window Punch; Scallop Oval Punch (for the cute little tab around the sentiment); Designer Buttons (Brights); Adhesive Pearls; Rose Red Double Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon; Aqua Painter

Now this little hippo with her balloon is meant for a birthday card of course but I happened to need a thank you card so I changed her cute little balloon into a cute little button flower. I don't actually own the Scallop Circle Die for the Big Shot so I traced my Rose Red Scallop from a Carousel Note (retired) in my stash- not bad hey?!?!? I've been practicing, what I like to call, my Teneale Williams' bows and I think they are starting to look quite snazzy- what do you think????

Well that's enough from me for now. My parents arrive home from England today- Yippee- Elliot and I are both so excited to have them back. I'm also in the middle of making some goodies for the little guy's 2nd birthday party on Wednesday. I promise to come back and share them soon.

Have a lovely day.

Inkspirations Guest Designer- That's Me!!!

What a wonderful surprise it was last Friday when my card was announced the winner of the Inkspirations challenge.........very exciting!!! And what made it more exciting was the opportunity to be the Guest Designer for this week's challenge.
Makeesha has set this colour challenge for this week:

I have to admit I really struggled for a while with these colours. The bold navy and red are two colours that I would not normally think of putting together. Then I couldn't get the idea of flowers out of my head.......no matter how hard I tried. So here is my flowery card using the challenge colours:

Project Recipe

Stamp Sets:   Vintage Vogue; Flower Fancy; Curly Cute

Inks:             Not Quite Navy; Kiwi Kiss (retired); Riding Hood Red

Card/Paper:  Not Quite Navy; Very Vanilla; Kiwi Kiss (retired); Bella Bleu DSP (retired); Watercolour Paper

Accessories:  Circle Scissors Plus; Scallop Oval Punch; Corner Rounder Punch; Stampin Pastels; Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon (retired)

I'm actually really, really happy with how it has turned out. To get the muted effect of the Not Quite Navy flourishes on the circle I firstly slightly dampened some watercolour paper  and then stamped off the image twice before stamping on the circle. The scallop around the edge of the circle is created using the scallop oval punch. The little tab for the sentiment is made using the scallop oval punch and cutting off the top and bottom, an idea I got from Lisa Jansen. I was so excited to get the chance to use the truly gorgeous (and now retired) Kiwi Kiss and Very Vanilla satin ribbon again.


Thank you Makeesha for choosing my card as the winner and for the opportunity to guest design this week. Have loved every second xxx


Will be back later to show you Elliot's super cute 2nd birthday party invites that I have been working on this week.

Monkeying Around for JAI 36

Wowee I'm running late with my entry to Just Add Ink's challenge this week. Here is the sketch for this week's challenge:

You know when you have one of those weeks where you look at a sketch over and over but you come up with nothing- well that was what happened to me this week. Until today when this little idea popped into my head.............

Project Recipe

Stamp Set:     Fox and Friends; Crazy for Cupcakes

Inks:              Regal Rose; Baja Breeze; So Saffron; Pear Pizzazz; Pretty In Pink; Chocolate Chip

Card/Paper:   Pink Pirouette; So Saffron; Whisper White; Pear Pizzazz; Baja Breeze

Accessories:  Big Shot & Alphabet Dies; 1 3/8" Circle Punch; Circle Scissors Plus (to cut So Saffron circle); Regal Rose 5/8' Grosgrain ribbon; Baja Breeze button; Crystal Effects

This card honestly took me FOREVER!!! I stamped those little monkeys on a range of different cardstock and in a range of different coloured inks until I finally settled on these colourful little monkeys. What do you think of this little colour combo??? They are the colours from the new Nursery Suite designer series papers. I think they are cute, cute, cute.

Ok time to post my card before I miss the deadline.

Come back Friday to see my super special surprise.........My chance to be this week's Inkspirations Guest Designer. Soooo exciting.

 

A Few Things To Send On Holiday

As promised I'm back again to show some of the things I have been busy doing over the couple of months that I have been missing in action.......

At the moment my parents are over in England visiting my youngest brother and his partner who are living over there. I am missing them but also feeling very proud of how well I am coping all on my own. Elliot and I are actually having a really great time, just the two of us. Anyway....before Mum left she asked if I could make a couple of birthday cards and one of my baby frames for her to take with her to gift while she is over there.

The first one is for my cousin's daughter, Amy, who will be turning 11. I had been wanting to give one of these lollipop cards a go ever since seeing THIS card by the fabulous Sarah-Jane Kale. I was planning to make the lollipop just the same as SJ did but after stamping out the swirly image from Trendy Trees I realised I don't have the one inch punch. Poo!!! So instead I punched out the 1&3/8" circle and ran it through the big shot using the polka dot embossing folder and then sponged Whisper White ink on top- WhaLaa!!! My own lollipop.

Project Recipe

Stamps Sets:      Party This Way

Ink:                     Regal Rose; Whisper White

Card/Paper:     Pink Pirouette; Regal Rose; Whisper White; Sweet Always DSP (retired)

Accessories:      13/8" Circle Punch; Big Shot & Polka Dot Embossing Folder; Scallop Oval Punch; Oval Punch; Paper Piercing Tool; Pretty in Pink Grosgrain Ribbon; 

The next card is for my brother's partner, Scott, who celebrated his 22nd birthday with Mum and Dad over there. Happy Birthday Scott- miss you xxx. I case'd a card from the front page of the new Idea Book and Catalogue for this one. After putting the piece of card with all the bits of DSPs lined up through the Big Shot it left this really cute frame which I then put inside the card (but forgot to take a photo of).

Project Recipe

Stamp Set:       Perfect Punches

Ink:                   Chocolate Chip

Card/Paper:   Crumb Cake; Baja Breeze; Sweet Slumber DSP (retired); Chocolate Chip DSP (retired); Parisian Breeze DSP (retired); Baja Breeze DSP (retired); Big Shot & Top Note Die; Designer Button; Linen Thread; Baja Breeze 5/8" Double-stitched ribbon

Last but not least is one of my baby frames that I made for Mum's best friend's brand new grandson, Thomas. The proud new parents and Nanny and Grandad all live in England at the moment so this special frame was bubble-wrapped and suitcase packed for its long flight. Little Thomas's nursery is apparently decorated in egg-shell blue and cream hence the beautiful colour combo I chose of Baja Breeze; Very Vanilla and Soft Suede. Too cute!!!!

Project Recipe

Stamp Set:        Fox and Friends

Ink:                    Basic Grey; Baja Breeze; Soft Suede; Crumb Cake

Card/Paper:    Baja Breeze; Soft Suede; Baja Breeze DSP (retired)

Accessories:     Scallop Oval Punch; Oval Punch; Various ribbons & buttons; Rub-ons

Wow that was a mammoth post wasn't it??? Hope you like what I had to show today. More to come.

More Every Moment Flowers for Inkspirations Colour Challenge 40

I'm back again..........told you I have been creating!!!

This card and the one in my previous post are creations from my weekend. I have used the gorgeous Every Moment set for this card too. This card I made for the Inkspirations colour challenge set by Makeesha this week.

These are the gorgeous colours for this week:



And here is my card:



Not sure if you can see in this close up but the butterfly and the centre of the flowers are shimmering with Dazzling Diamonds.



Project Recipe:

Stamp Sets: Every Moment; Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Ink: Basic Grey; So Saffron; Rose Red; Old Olive
Card/Paper: Basic Grey; Rose Red; So Saffron; Whisper White; Raspberry Tart DSP (retired)
Accessories: Aqua Painter; Dazzling Diamonds; White Gel Pen; Scallop Edge Punch; Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch; White Taffeta Ribbon; Brights Buttons (gorgeous!!!); Adhesive Pearls

You may also notice that my little page in blogland is undergoing a little makeover (it's a work in progress) thanks to my fabulously talented and lovely brother, Brett. He's been doing all sorts of little bits and pieces for my inkyloulou business. Thanks Brett xxx.

Looking forward to seeing what you think of my card.

Will be back tomorrow to post some past creations.

With Sympathy- Just Add Ink Theme Challenge 35

Hello inky friends,

I hope I still have some inky friends after my very long absence from my blog. The last few months have been just a little bit crazy- moved house; market stall; Klass Act Team Day; 85 birth announcements; finally divorced; Father's Day; SU Regionals (40 swap cards); 3 baby frames; fun times with Elliot; cards, cards, cards; birthday party planning; parents overseas (very much a single mummy at the moment!!!)- you get the picture. It seems like a very long time since I have had the chance to create for the joy of creating and just for me. However, this week I have found the time to jump back into the swing of creating and I am loving it....absolutely loving it.

And what better way to enjoy creating just for me than to have a play with this week's Just Add Ink Challenge. I have been really missing entering the JAI challenges and have had to be happy with just looking at everyone elses creations.

So this week's challenge is a theme challenge- to Just Add Sympathy and create a sympathy card. I decided to use the 'Every Moment' stamp set we were given at Stampin' Up Regionals a couple of weeks ago. I, like so many others, wasn't too keen on the set when I saw it in the catalogue but after playing with it at regionals I am in LOVE with it!!! I am really practising my watercolouring when working with this set too. I also used one of the new Stampin' Up! colours too- Marina Mist- and I can already tell it is going to be a favourite- so pretty!!!

Here is my card:





Project Recipe:
Stamp Sets: Every Moment; Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Ink: Marina Mist; So Saffron; More Mustard; Old Olive; StazOn Black
Card/Paper: Marina Mist; Bashful Blue; Very Vanilla; Watercolour Paper
Accessories: Aqua Painter; White gel pen; Word Window Punch; Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch; Paper Piercer; Adhesive Pearls


I hope you like it. Let me know what you think- I LOVE getting comments.

I am planning, over the next few days, to share some photos of projects that have been sitting here all lonely waiting to be blogged.

It's Here!! It's Here!! The New Catalogue is Here!!

Hello, Hello...........

Ok so let's not waste any blog space discussing my absence from my little spot in blogland. It happened AGAIN and it's done with......

INSTEAD let's discuss the fact that it is September 1 and that means IT'S finally here.......

The Brand New Stampin Up 2010-2011 Catalogue is HERE.....Woo Hoo!!!!



Check out the whole catalogue HERE. You can also find the link in my side bar over there -->

One of the most exciting things about the new catalogue is the amazing new colours that have been introduced. They are just gorgeous and I can't wait to get them in my craft room and have a play. Stampin Up! have released some new colour kits and you can have a squizzy at those HERE.



If you have any questions OR would like to order your own catalogue to have in your own little hands to look at over and over OR would like to order some of the fabulous products in the new catalogue then please email me at inkyloulou@live.com.

I hope you are as excited about the new catalogue release as I am!!!!

Louise x

A Birthday Treat for my wonderful friend.....

Hello out there...here I am....back again.....my life has had a few more downs than ups of late and I have not been doing much creating at all. Thankfully though the sun seems to be shining again on my world and I am back doing what I love most.

So I thought I would share with you a couple of things I created last week. It was my very special and gorgeous friend Jaime's birthday last weekend. I decided that I would like to do something a little bit special for her. I asked her to book in a couple of hours child-free time last Saturday and I surprised her with a little outing for High Tea. It was sooooo lovely to spend some time just the two of us (without our little boys- who are the best of friends), the setting was beautiful and the food was super- yummy!!!!

A couple of days before I announced what her birthday surprise would be in the form of this cute little invitation box. I got the template for the box from Makeesha Byl's video here, it was really easy to make from just one sheet of A4 card. The circle feature on the box was CASE'd entirely and completely from the very lovely Sarah Jane Kale's creation here. I made a little invite and menu card to go inside the box. Oooooh it was just so pretty and Jaime loved it and the surprise that was inside.

Here are some piccies:

The box:


Invite:


Menu of scrummy, yummy treats:


The box opened up:


The birthday girl before we started munching down all the goodies:


Of course such a special friend had to have a special birthday card too. I made this card for her using my most favourite of colours - PINK of course!!! I also used this card in our "A Klass Act" team challenge- to use 3 or more similar colours on a card. I was really pleased with how it turned out- mostly because of all the pink-ness =).



I'm looking forward to doing a bit of creating this weekend- if I can fit it in while also doing some sorting and packing. Elliot and I move in only two weeks- just two streets away but still as much to do as if we were moving two cities away. Hopefully I will be back to show you some new creations after the weekend.

Louise xx

Pretty Blooms - Inkspirations Challenge #29

So here is my second post for the day (Wow), my second creation from my craft-fest and my second-ever Inkspirations challenge entry. Here is the Inkspirations sketch for this week:


Again I used some bits and pieces that I don't own- the En Francais BG stamp; Heartfelt Thanks and Occasional Greeting stamp sets. And the something from my stash that I haven't used for a while (part 2 of the challenge) is the Rose Red DS ribbon (not quite sure why I haven't used it as I LOVE it!). Here is my card:


Pretty Blooms Card Ingredients
Stamp Sets: En Francais; Heartfelt Thanks; Occasional Greetings
Card/Paper: Kraft; Whisper White; Pretty In Pink; Rose Red; Old Olive
Ink: Pretty In Pink; Rose Red; Old Olive; Versamark
Other: Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon; Rose Red DS Ribbon; Circle Scissors; Scallop Circle Punch; Word Window Punch

Thanks for pooping by to have a look

Nighty night

Louise xx

He is my world- JAI Challenge 23- Just Add Paper

Happy Sunday everyone!!!

I'm back from my overnight create-fest in Toodyay last night. It was a lot of fun and so great to have a whole afternoon and night to stamp, create and chat with no interruptions from a[ certain little mini-me =). Toodyay is super pretty (I've never been before) and I love the country feel but Brrrrr it was chilly!!! Thank you Hayley for having me to stay xx. Today has been a bit of a let down though as both myself and the small one have colds so have spent most of the day either in bed or on the couch. Urghhh- I hate colds!!!

Anyway enough babbling- onto the reason for my post today- which is to show you one of the two projects I created whilst in Toodyay (I will post the second separately as it is for another challenge). Now I don't often dabble in scrapbooking (cards always seem the quicker and easier option) but when I saw this week's Just-Add-Ink Challenge- which is to just add paper- I knew instantly that I wanted to create a scrapbook page. And here it is- titled "My World":



The subject of course is my beautiful boy, Elliot. He really is the centre of my universe and I can't remember what my life was like without him. The stunning photo can be credited to the amazingly talented baby and child photographer Katie Etherington. I absolutely loved creating this page using only Designer Series Paper and used the beautiful Sweet Slumber range.

Whilst on my little crafty overnighter I got to play with all the Stampin' Up! goodies which Hayley owns and I don't- FUN!!! I am a little embarrassed to admit that I don't yet own my very own Big Shot (Shock, horror!!!). I have asked Mum and Dad if they will get it for me for my birthday (3 months to wait!!!). So I made sure I got in there and used the Big Shot and created this "tab" using the Top Note Die. I used the Life Definitions stamp on the "tab" and thought that the 'Everything' definition was just perfect as it ends with".....All that you know; the whole world".



I created these cute little starry flowers using the Boho Blossoms punch and more DSP.


I wanted the lettering to be made out of DSP too but Hayley didn't have the Alphabet dies so I stamped the Schoolbook Serif Alphabet onto plain paper, adhered each letter to the DSP with Dotto, cut around the letters and da-da ended up with DSP lettering. I must be crazy!!! It took me ages.



A closer look:


"My World" Page Ingredients:
Stamp Set/s: Life Definitions; Schoolbook Serif Alphabet
Card/Paper: Sweet Slumber DSP; Baja Breeze; Kraft; Whisper White
Ink: Baja Breeze: Soft Suede
Other: Big Shot & Top Note Die; Baja Breeze DS ribbon; Soft Suede Polka-dot ribbon; Boho Blossoms punch; 1-1/4" Circle punch; Corner rounder punch; Silver brads; Sponge daubers


I hope you love this page as much as I do. It truly reflects how I feel about my little guy.

Check out my next post for the other post I created in Toodyay.

Lou xx

Some Tuesday Stamp Club Fun!!!

Whoa!!! Can you believe it?!?! Not only am I posting for the third time in as many days but I have actually kept to my word and posted something I said I would. Well I hope you are as proud of me as I am of myself- hahaha.

Last Tuesday it was time for monthly Stamp Club at my house. The girls and I have just finished our first six months of Stamp Club (which actually ran over about 9 months!!) and started again. Two girls from the first six months were unable to keep going (awww- bye Katherine and Tara xx) but I was overjoyed to have the wonderfully lovely and super talented Tanya Tahir become our newest member xx!

For this first "new" Stamp Club I wanted to make a really cute and special little project. Inspired by Bonnie Thurber's demo at Convention I decided to use the very cute "Share A Cup" stamp and create the project around that. I had also used the little stacked cups card when I created the Make & Take for our recent "A Klass Act" Team catch-up. Note to self and others though- If you are going to make this with a group of 7 eager stampers make sure you have more than one cup stamp :o). Thanks for being patient girls and a huge stamp to my super-wonderful Mum for letting me use her stamp. Love ya x

We started off making this little 3x3" box:



And then we went ahead and made 3 cute Love Note cup cards and 3 envelopes made from Designer Series Paper:




Each card was created differently:




This is my favourite little card. If you look closely you may be able to see that we used the glossy glitter that Bonnie showed us to give the cups a glittery shine:



Cute- Don't you think?!?!?!??!!?

Ingredients for Cuppy Box and Cards
Stamp Set: Share A Cup
Ink: Melon Mambo; Pretty In Pink; Pumpkin Pie; Old Olive marker
Card/Paper: Pretty In Pink; Melon Mambo; Pumpkin Pie; Pink Pirouette DSP
Other: Melon Mambo Polka Dot Ribbon; Old Olive 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon; 1-3/4" Circle Punch; 1-3/8" Circle Punch; 1" Circle Punch; Scallop Circle Punch; Word Window Punch; Trio Flower Punch; Paper Piercer; Silver Brads; Half Pearls (non-SU)

I'm off to the country tomorrow! I'm very excited to be traveling an hour out of Perth to the little town of Toodyay to have a crafty sleep-over at my stampin BFF Hayley's house. What a joy a whole day and night of stamping, chatting, creating, eating, fun, drinking and more stamping. Yay!!!

Hopefully I will have some fab creations to show off when I get home.

Louise xx