This week's little extra...

Over at DCM, this is the mid-week challenge:

"What we'd like you to do this time is to confine your colour choices to the three primary colours; Red, Yellow & Blue. You can use just one, two or all three and we'll let you have a bit of white or black just to make it nice and easy".

I decided to do a woven card with only the colours 'allowed' and no black or white - I was able to use some of your pretty flowers, Pearl, and the inks I recently purchased form Susie! Now I just hope Laraine doesn't see it before her birthday this Sunday - shhh!

ARRRGGGHH! I've been TAGGED!!

I've been tagged by a lovely lady named Andrea ('Frog') (Andrea's Card Creations)!! This is my first tag so here goes. You have to write seven facts/habits about yourself then tag another seven people.

1. I have played the flute since I was 13 years old and am still playing each week at my church. I LOOOVE to play Godly music and worship Him.
2. I LOOVE my husband and my children - really and truly!
3. I have realised that you have to pass on your skills to others, lest they be lost. None of us lives forever, so I am teaching some sweet young things how to play the flute and fife.
4. I have realised that my priorities have changed since I got older. People and relationships matter more than anything else I 'do' in my life.
5. I started stamping and scrapping last year and LOOOVE stamping and scrapping! (Surprise, surprise!)
6. I need to lose weight but will settle for not gaining any.
7. I LOOOOVE chocolate!

OK - now it's my turn to tag. I choose.... Iralamija, Wendy, Dolly, Kel, Leo, Rhi, and Suzanne!

Have fun, everyone!

Home Sweet Home

So, on to this week's Little Extra (from DCM) and another in our series of Boy Scout cards - you know - as in the scouting slogan "Be Prepared"! This time it's cards with a New Home theme.

Easy, eh? And, how nice are we? Helping you to get organised and always have the right card ready when you need it instead of scrabbling around to make one in a hurry!

Well, it just so happened that I had a need for such a card this week. I made the following with a 'cupboard door' fold on the front. Behind the door there is an old family recipe for Russion Tea Cakes - something to bake in the new home!

I used an orange card stamped with teal ink only for the frames, punched light orange card for the bg 'house' shape & doorknobs, and doodled the rest with copper gel pen. The scan didn't really do it justice - it is nicer in real life.

'Warming' card

I made a card for a friend who is going to Canada for 5 weeks and thinks she will be cold! I'm going to tell 'her to whip this card out and look at it whenever she feels chilly. He he!

I gold embossed the sun image on separate cardstock, then dug out my alphabet stamps and shadowed them (double-stamped using 2 colours of brown ink) in the bg, did the same with the sun stamp, Xyroned some ribbon , added the eyelets sponged the edges of the card with Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson ink and a lighter colour of plain red ink, then speckled the bg some more with a copper gel pen. I also sponged the edges of the eyelet card with a light brown ink.

Round the World card

For this card I decided to use some of Pearl's pretty flowers from Singapore, a background recently received from Amy who lives in Cairns, who cuttlebugged a design for me, some SU! ribbon and tag from Carla in Canada, so this is really a RAK from around the world! Thank you so much, everybody for making it possible for me to make a birthday card for a workmate tomorrow! My work friend doesn't read my blog to my knowledge, so I should be safe in posting this!

Generous Pearl!

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Just had to share my lovely prize received from Pearl in Singapore this week! She sent me a beautiful Easter card and lots of flowers and goodies to play with - thank you, Pearl! I used one of the flowers on the scrapped card below too - I couldn't wait to use SOMEthing! Thank you so much, Pearl - you are a real sweetie and you made my week! :-D

Birthday Scrap Card

Tonight I made a card for a friend using some scrap booking techniques - a photo, a mat, some eyelets and a flower and ribbon, and a sticker sentiment. Once I found the photo I wanted, it was a really quick card to do.

S'more

Today I completed another three cards for birthdays. They are for people of various ages and interests. It's nice ot be able to give them out to people and see the looks on their faces when they open them up! Well, it's nicer sometimes than others! Lol!

See what you think.

Last one for tonight (Yawn!)

I finished one more card - this one is for my friend who is about to undergo some cancer treatments. I am glad she has a strong faith in the Lord. Pearl, I found a card on your Blog that inspired me - thank you for the idea of the three ribbons and buttons (I used brads as you can see) and an image on top of them. The colours are nicer in real life, I think.

Got a few cards done tonight

This weekend marks the birthdays of four friends - have been able to complete two cards but the others are still in the wings. I also need to do a fare-thee-well card for a friend with cancer who is off to the other end of the country for some treatments. That all happened suddenly...you just never know what turns your life will take, do you?

The first card is for a friend's daughter who is turning 15 and is rather sweet, and the second is for her son who is turning 17 (he likes to dress formally with a tie and a fob watch!!) They weren't twins or I could have made them matching cards for the DCM challenge this week!

This time last year....

Today marks 12 months since category 5 Cyclone Larry ripped through Far North Qld. It's raining today again, but the comparison with this time last year is remarkable. Here are two shots of similar views, one from last year and one from today. See if you can spot the differences!!

A get well wish

I put this little card together in minutes today as I had to get it into my bag and out of the house in a hurry! It's for a young friend who has the mumps - for the second time. She is not too well, poor poppet. I hope it cheers her up. Thank goodness for having a few stamped images around, all ready to be coloured & mounted :-) Thank you, Carla, for encouraging me to do that!!

And it just so happens that the DCM's 'little extra' challenge this week is to make a get Well Card! What a coincidence!

Austrian Birthday

Well, I finally got to make a card!! A friend 's mother is visiting from Austria. We cannot converse as I do not speak her language, but she is turning 80 today. I made her a card with an Austrian greeting on it, thus joining in on an ancient dare from DCM that a card be made with a foreign greeting on it. I also worked in the more recent dare that I make something with 20 different things on it. Count the flowers. There are 20 and they are all punched out of different papers! It was fun to make and I do hope she likes it. I also hope I found the right Austrian words for 'Happy Birthday' and am not telling her something different!

Pages from my album

It's been awhile since I posted becasue things have been so hectic at work, I haven't had a chance to do much crafting. Also, y computer has been in the repair shop for over a eek! Oh well! I did manage to spend some time with my friend Vanessa and put together these pages of DH and I. It's the first time I have done any couple pages of us - usually one or the other of us is behind the camera, not standing in front of someone else's! I know - I should have taken the plastic page protectors off before I took this picture, and I will next time. Sorry for the glarey bit.

I will have to do a tour of Blogs and leave some comments for all of you who read this. I have not forgotten you - and I miss you!

Birthday card

I have been unable to craft much since I went back to work, but there are a few birthdays this month and i am going to need to find time to make some cards, thank goodness! I made this one for a friend tonight. I used some SU! stamps - the trees are from a 1997 stamp and the sentiment from a 2002 stamp. I stamped in black and embossed with gold. The background was done with watercolour pencils.

50th Birthday

I have a friend who is turning 50 very soon, and she is still mad about horses. Hence the theme and the lack of 'girly' embellishments! She is a no nonsense type of person and would think I had gone mad if I gave her ribbons and flowers :-) I had to hold myself back, mind you! I thought the blowsy black sponging sort of made the image look like a fresh brand or something that was burnt into the 'wood' of the card - what do you think?

This is an aperture card. I took the image from Clip Art and used stickers fro all of the lettering. The image is slightly raised behind the aperture as it is stuck to the body of the card with a cutout of the window behind it to pad it slightly. The horse bit is cut slightly larger than the aperture and is sponged round with brown and black on the inside.

And the winner is.....

Thank you everyone who took part in my VERY FIRST Blog Competition! It was lovely to have 11 entries to put into the Official Competition Blue Frisbee today (it usually does duty as my stamp cleaner holder! Lol!) Lacking anyone else in the house this morning, I dutifully shut my eyes and fairly drew out the winning entry. The Winner Is: (Drum role, please)

ANDREA! Congratulations!

If you would like to send me your address, Andrea, I will send you the card you have won. You can e-mail me at hurleylukeatstevens.net.au

In the Fold

At DCM this week, it was Jane's turn to dare us all: 'I'm daring you to make a card that has to have more than one fold - so it can be a gate fold card, or a 3 panel card with an aperture or a card with multiple folds OR you can incorporate paper folding on the actual card itself. It can be on any theme "

Well it just so happens I was taught how to make rosettes this week, by using nine little squares of paper folded into a flower shape! This challenge could not have come at a more perfect time for me so thank you, Jane. I even found an Irish blessing about being enfolded in God's love.

I have decided it is about time I had a competition on my blog and that that this card can be the prize. Anyone who posts something about this card will go into a draw to receive said card. Posts must be made before the next DCM weekly challenge is posted on Friday to qualify!

All Things Media

This week at DCMs You are being Dared to make a card that is inspired by 'All Things Media'. The dare has been set by our Gillian:

It's around us no matter which way we turn, and all designed to get our attention. Ads designed by graphic designers who know all the tricks & techniques to draw our eyes to the product in question. You only have to glance at a Newspaper quickly to read headings with 'Shock' titles & 'Clever' puns all designed to make you want to read what the article is all about!
Maybe you have been inspired by an Ad in a magazine, the colours or design that has been used. Or incorporate actual magazines & newspapers onto your card; maybe chop up letters (ransom note style) to create the sentiment So grab that latest edition of your favourite Mag, or pick up your newspaper, because there is so much inspiration there, Just waiting for you to discover!

At the very last minute, I came up with an idea inspired by an old photo on the 'Net advertising perfume - I caught a few more recent perfume images as you can see - have we really changed so much? Except maybe for the size of the bottles?? The SCENTiment is the same!! LoL!

Celebrate the Romance

"This week at DCM we're joining forces with the wonderful team of Scrapbookers over on the Everyone is Speshal blog. We're daring each other and you to make a Really Romantic Scrapbook Layout - but on a card! Scrapbookers are challenged to downsize your usual a 12x12 LO onto a teenyweeny one - maximum of 6x6, which can be sent safely through the mail. Cardmakers - you're used to working on a small space, and you know all about the ribbons, brads and other bits and bobs - but can you take on board all the other little touches that are used on a scrapbook page - the titles, the journalling, the photographs etc? "

This dare was actually sent out on February 2nd but I am just now catching up! I thought about this one a lot, and finally came up with something I think will amuse my Valentine. I used three shades of purple and some brown, some purple, blue green bg paper, deep purple ribbon, a heart & clip brad from SU!, an old key I had, and backed it all with beige cardstock. It says "You hold the key to my heart - a noble beau, a playful one, my only one, my Valentine". Awwww!