Summer Card Camp - Week One

For those of you who haven't heard about Kristina Werner & Jennifer McGuire's Summer Card Camp 2011, you really need to check it out!

It's a 4 week online course with daily downloads including all sorts of great ideas, hints, tutorials, and giveaways. The best part is its not necessary that you participate in real time. You can upload the pdf's and use it any time.

After a really stale period in my crafting, it has been great to begin to get enthusiastic again about card making. I guess at times we all get a little 'safe', and lean towards the same look or same colour combos. This week's colour combo is one I wouldn't have dreamed up if my life depended on it! I've always been fond of simple designs and earthy colours, but this one really pushed me beyond my comfort zone... and can I say, I'm so glad it did!

It's still a simple design (I haven't had a personality transplant in this absence) but at the same time, I thought it made use of all the bright fun summery colours. For those of you sharing Melbourne winter, you would understand what a breath of fresh air it was after the blustery cold, grey, foggy days we've had of late!

The butterflies are die cut fromthe SU!Beautiful Wings embosslit die. I die cut them twice and then glued one on top of the other, with the top ones a little bent to give a 3D effect. Aren't they cute with the in-built flourish? The cardstock (as best I can tell given they were scraps) were: Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Ballet Blue and Rose Red. I used the WAMK Corner Chomper to round of the corners ever so slightly, and of course - what's a CAS layout without a little bling? (Boring, that's what!). The stamp is also from an SU! Hostess Set "Afterthoughts". I won it at the wonderful and super-sweet Sue Madex launch party for the Autumn Mini. Gotta love a freebie!

I bought the Martha Stewart Scoring board recently. Can I say, it's been great. It made scoring the double lines on either side of the velum easy peasy! I had been umming and ahhing for a while before getting it, but so glad I did. I also love it because it has regular intervals for those of us who flunked fractures in maths! [my maths teacher was right afterall .. who woulda thought!] hehe

And now.... to enter into it into the Summer Card Camp Week 1 Student Spotlight... *fingers crossed*

Welcome to my new-look blog!

Well after an admittedly longer than anticipated hiatus, I'm finally back! I'd apologise for my absence, but I'm not sure any one's reading any more!

For those of you who have managed to remember my little blog, keep an eye out over the next few weeks as I signed up for the Summer Card Camp run by the uber-talented Jennifer McGuire & Kristina Werner and am really looking forward to lapping up loads of inspiration and some new techniques. I hope to be uploading my new cards as I work through the classes.

I've also got a new little card-making project on the burner - soon to be unveiled. In the meantime, here's a little card to kick off a recent celebration. My big brother just turned 40 and this was the card I made him...

Apologies for the crappy photo, however it was taken at 7am, before the sun rose in Melbourne on a particularly bitter morning... thank god it turned out to be a wonderfully crisp and sunny day, with lots of laughs all round!

Have you ever made the same card more than once and each time refined it? That's what happened to this one. I'm just bummed that process didn't happen before my brother's 40th! I made an evolved as a standard birthday card for a fab friend. It feels nice making masculine cards that aren't themed with traditional male products. What do you think?