Announcing the NEW stamping site.

Hi Blogger's,

Such exciting new for you today......Andrea from AnnaBelle Stamps has been working behind the scenes to put together a new site for us to share tutorials, hints and tips all manner of stamping goodness. Want to be a part of this new stamping community.......make some new friends?

We would love to see you there ........so why not go take a look........you're all welcome.....

We are very excited to share with you today Stamp, Embellish, Create!  This is a new social site we've been working on behind the scenes, and we hope you will love to come and visit...often!  We'll start a new regular Tuesday feature from next week!  We'll include all sorts of things like tutorials, hints, cards start to finish, and anything we can fit in!  We want to build a community of shared ideas and a catalogue of answers to anything "How to..." in the stamping world, and with your help I know we can! You can set up your very own page and customise it how you like.  Add your photos and share them with others.   Sign up today!  Invite your friends!  Membership is free, so why not!!   Come take a look at Stamp, Embellish, Create! AnnaBelle Stamps 290 River Road Kialla, Vic., 3631 Australia   facebook

Hope to see you there...............

The Roses - January Challenge.

Hello..........Last Sunday of the month means it's time for The Roses Challenge once more.  The very talented Kym got to pick the challenge this month and asked to see winter cards using blue. I decided on my first Christmas card for 2012~~~ Talk about starting early!

The image for my card is from Inkadinkaclings and is called Merry Christmas Snowman. Coloured with Copic markers and given some clear glitter for a little sparkle. The sentiment is from SU.  I've added snowflakes, some punched and one brad.  The DP is more of Kaisercraft's Blae & Ivy and I've also die cut a strip of icicles using a Die-namics die.

Want to see what the girls have made for Kym's challenge? All the links are under The Roses tab at the top of my page.

Thanks Kym....I'm one down with goodness knows how many to go.....Perhaps I should make one a week!!!!

Thanks for all the well wishes for Saturday's open house.......It was thankfully dry for us!  Thought I'd share one of the photos with you.  The good thing about all the rain is that the lawn has never looked better :)

Thanks for calling past this Sunday. Hope you have a relaxing day, see you soon.......

Fanciful Flowers

I consider myself so lucky to have great blog followers. My blog posts are all over the place at the moment! I'm sorry I will settle down again.....soon I hope!

Just thought I'd pop in with a quick post over the week end.

This little card uses AnnaBelle Stamps Fanciful Flowers as well as the new BBD7.

I've stamped to a textured white card which looks a bit random......which is perfect for me just now!  This stamped panel is then popped up over Kraft.  A little more positive/negative die cutting to finish off.

Hope you've a restful week end planned...........

ABSC046

Hello Blogger's,

It's time for the latest challenge here at AnnaBelle Stamps and this week is our sketch challenge.

We hope you'll find time to play along with us again this week.

Here's my card which used images from 'Love Birds'.  With so many sweet images to choose from this 'New Home' card came together well. A sponged oval with the birdhouse, bird and leaves stamped around. The DP is from KaiserCraft Blae & Ivy 6.5x6.5" paper pad. The sentiment was stamped to vellum  in SU close to cocoa.

Why not check in with the Belle's and our guest designer Cath for more inspiration. You will find all their links under the DT tab at the top of my page.

Thanks for calling past, you've brightened up what has been a very wet and miserable week here in Sydney!  I'm hoping for a little sunshine tomorrow morning......fingers crossed!

Happy Australia Day!

Hello Blogger's.

Today we Australian's are celebrating our National Day.  

However you celebrate Australia Day, have a safe and happy day!

On the move............

Hello Blogger's.

Thought I should explain my absence of late!  Walshie and I found a house we like 4 hours north of Sydney and are in the process of buying it.  I should say we first saw it back in November so it's been going on a while.  Our house in Sydney will go on the market on Saturday and we've been busy getting it ready to sell.  They came yesterday to take photos for the Internet and organise the floor plan. I felt physically sick for the hour and a half they were here.  I hate the whole process of people wandering through my home making judgement on it and just want it to be over quickly before I really get cold feet and back out:)  How silly right...... but we've been here so long......too long really.  Ian tells me this is another adventure and I should be looking at it as such.  After all it's not as bad as moving from one side of the world to another!

As I type this it's raining.....yet again.......I hope it's dry on Saturday!  Wish us luck...............

A Little Birdie Told Me......

Hello all,

I finally sat down to make a card for a couple of CAS challenges.  The girls from Less Is More #50 asked for 'one layer BIRDS' this week ......perfect for AnnaBelle Stamps new "Love Birds" set.  

Over at Splitcoast Stampers this weeks challenge is a sketch using colour blocking so I thought I might combine the two.

I sponged using Memento desert sand and tangelo as well as Ranger distress inks, Skattered straw. The image and sentiment uses SU close to cocoa.  To complete my card I rounded opposite corners and added an ABS pumpkin Sprinkle.

I'm running late for both the challenges but it's been like a mad house here so little time for any crafting.   

Thanks for popping past.........have a great weekend!

AnnaBelle Stamps Say It In......

Hello Blogger's,

Today at AnnaBelle Stamps we have a new Say It In challenge for you. ........Sorry about my picture but the colours are Yellow Lime and Turquoise.

Here's the card I made:

White ribbed card layered with the top layer stamped using one of the backgrounds from BBD7. After this I cut a section using a Spellbinder Labels 17 die.   A flower and sentiment from Fanciful Flowers, stamped using inks from VersaColor (lime), SU (baja breeze) and Ranger (scattered straw) is stamped to the base card.  I added AnnaBelle Stamps Sprinkles in lime and waterfall and also tied some paper cord and green twine to complete my card.

Don't forget to check out the Belle's cards and our guest designer Cath. All the links are under the DT tab at the top of my page.  So many people joined in last week, hope you can play along  again this week.

Till next time................

AnnaBelle Stamps.

No card to share today, just wanted to let you know that AnnaBelle's new sets were released Sat. 14th. 

If you've been watching the sneak peeks I don't need to tell you how good they are!!!

Andrea designed each of the sets in this release.   She's offering a great deal you'll want to check out, as well as a giveaway for one lucky person.

Go take a look for yourselves......but be quick!!!!!

AnnaBelle Stamps.

                                                    

Hello Bloggeroos,

Saturday again! Did you get through Black Friday without any mishaps? What about your plans for this week end?  We're hoping for a couple of days without wind. Then we can enjoy the garden looking tidy, as we sit  under the awning relaxing........yeah right, like that's going to happen!

We have soccer tonight and our team are top of the table and on a bit of a winning streak.....long may it last!  We, hopefully, will get a few photos as per our 'homework' assignment. This week we're delving into P, TV and AV....... having gone through full manual. P is pretty straight forward the other two should be fun!

I'm pleased to report that the Camera shop did a great job printing a few of our shots and will, from now on get the gig full time!!!  I'll share a couple soon.

OK enough babble I have a little card to share today. I was stoked you liked my quick and simple card of Thursday.........I'm thinking there might be a rush on wide tipped Copic markers....well maybe.

Today's card uses another of the AnnaBelle Stamps NEW sets available from the 14th January. It's called 'Love Birds' and is just packed with the cutest little images (20 in all) and ten sentiments. Check the blog to see some of the Belle's sneak peeks.

My card is a bit Laura Ashley...ish with the panel of stamped leaves and hearts sitting over a layer of pale mint green card. The central panel features two of the stamps from the set plus the sentiment and this panel is popped up on foam dots.   A nice little engagement or wedding card I think...... hope you like it.

Thanks for taking the time to call by again today........I enjoy your visits :).  See you next week.........

AnnaBelle Stamps - Say It With Anything Goes......

Hello, hello,


Back today with a huge smile on my dial..........:) I'll have to share that at a later date though cos it's AnnaBelle Stamps challenge day......so better get on with it.

I'm thinking this week will be a bumper challenge week here at AnnaBelle Stamps as Andrea asks us to 'Say It With ....Anything Goes'.  The Belle's could be hopping around the world with this one...........

Here's a sneak peek of another new set ..........Look who's back.....'Lil Monster's Valentine'......just in time  too, Valentine Day is just around the corner. He comes with 4 sentiments that work for lots more than just Valentines ....  I was thinking Birthday with my card and had fun using my Copics to colour this image.

My card starts with a Kraft pre-folded base followed by some bright yellow. I've stamped BBD5 to smooth white card and cut some ABS digital paper in green check, distressing the top edges. The flowers are from one of the older sets (Helen's Party) and so useful to fill in little spaces :)


Once coloured I cut him out with fine point scissors. The small die cut behind the sentiment is from Nellie's Multi Frame's MFD 005.


I'm entering this card in this weeks challenge at Catch The Bug - Anything goes at Bugaboo.


Don't forget to pay a visit to the Belle's and our January guest designer Cath. Links are under the DT tab at the top of my page.   Oooh and wish Sue K and Andrea 'Happy Birthday'. Both will be celebrating over the weekend.


Thanks for calling past today..............have a great week end.

About Our Challenges

- We post our challenges every Friday at 12:00pm AEST (AEDT during Daylight Savings).

- Each challenge runs for a week, and will close on the Friday 10.00am so that we can announce and showcase our weekly winners prior to the next challenge. 

- Each week’s winner will receive our special blinkie to display on their blog and a $10.00 Gift Voucher to spend in store at AnnaBelle Stamps (or something equivalent).  

How To Play Along: 

- Copy and save our challenge banner and include it and a link back to the ABS blog in your post.

- Please link directly to your entry not just to your blog.

- Please don't link to postings made prior to the date of our current challenge.  All projects submitted must be new.

- A maximum of 7 challenges may be combined including this one.        

- You may enter any of our challenges several times as long as each submission is with a new creation.

- We would love you to use AnnaBelle Stamps and embellishments, but you can play along without using them, it’s all about sharing ideas :)

A Rant and the beautiful Silhouette Gardens......

Hi Blogger's,

I have a confession to make (insert sheepish grin!). Remember  my WORD for the year?   Yes that one!!!  Oh dear,  I really 'lost it' on Tuesday with a boy, the manager as it happens (straight out of kindergarten - I think) in our local photo developing shop.  


To cut a long story short, the photos we took over Christmas for our photography class had been chopped and darkened so much they were horrid!  His answer to my reasonable (I thought) enquiry as to why this should be..... given that I had chosen the right settings on my (expensive) camera  was that I shouldn't expect what I see on  a computer screen AND their machines in store, for that matter,  which are calibrated to industry standard (Oh yeah). As these are both back lit.. and that apparently makes a big difference!
Well wish you could have heard the conversation from then on.......maybe it's good you didn't!!
I was offered a refund with them keeping our photos. I declined, preferring to show them to the class letting everyone know where I received this 'wonderful' service...... so much for Serenity ah! 


Needless to say our photography 'teacher' pulled all the excuses to pieces............Be warned......what you take on your camera is not always what you'll receive back.......'THEY' calibrate their machines so as not to disappoint  the average point and click photographer.  Me thinks they tweak the machines and can't be bothered to check what thay are actually printing.


Ah well I've ranted, I feel better, shame about my WORD though!  The boss has taken the photos to the Camera shop to have them developed this morning!

Perhaps I can make up for my rant by sharing a card today.

I've cased a card I saw here. Loved the idea and thought it would be perfect for AnnaBelle Stamps NEW set (due 14th January) Silhouette Gardens.  I've made mine very CAS just one layer over the card base with some silver twine to add the shine.  The swipes of red come from the one wide tipped Copic marker I own......think I'd like a few more of these though It's a great idea for quick cards....don't you think.

Thanks for listening to my grumble, I'm all good now........:)

Purple, Die Cuts and Challenges.......

Hi Blogger's,

Staying on track entering my cards in a few more challenges this year, I noticed Less Is More Week 49 challenges us to use Predominantly Purple in a CAS card.  I like purple, though I have a problem photographing it......it usually looks more like blue!  Over at SCS the CAS challenge is to use die cuts, so I thought I could combine the two.

My card is another using the positive and negative die cuts. Well my first one caused a little ripple ...... so why not :).

I've cut strips of purple card in various widths, then glued them to thin white card.  Die cut a butterfly from Spellbinders 'Fanciful Flight' from this colour blocked card. Then embossed it through the Cuttlebug using a Swiss dots embossing folder.   

I stamped the sentiment from AnnaBelle Stamps NEW* set 'Love Birds' in SU concord crush, using a stamp-a-ma-jig to help placement. 

My colour blocked, die cut panel was added to the card front using foam dots. Purple Stickles  gives a little sparkle to the die cut butterfly before adding this to the card front.

That's it today, thanks for stopping by. Till next time...........

* New sets go on sale January 14th.

Scrapbook Boutique - January Blog Hop and Inspiration Challenge.

I'm hopping today with Scrapbook Boutique, 

The Hop starts and ends at the Scrapbook Boutique Blog.  If you're following along you should have arrived from Sue K's  blog and when you leave me you hop over to Therese's Blog.

The hop is open for one week, closing at midday Tuesday 17th January. 

To be eligible to win the prize, leave a comment on each of the blogs, with the SB blog being the last one.  The random winner will be drawn from the  SB blog and announced on Wednesday 18th.

Unfortunately the blog hop prize (and the inspiration challenge) are only open to anyone with an Australian mailing address.

The Blog Hop prize this month is this beautiful set from Penny Black - Flower Gallery

Why not play along with our regular monthly inspirational challenge.

 The theme is Purple, Green and White. Make a project using the following picture as your inspirationand you could be the winner of a $30 gift voucher for Scrapbook Boutique.

(Link your project on the SB Blog before 31/1/12)

Take a look at these delicious cupcakes.....so pretty!
The detail on each of these little fancies is amazing.....wish I had this kind of patience.  Here's what I came up with using Heartfelt Creations stamps and dies.

Using the background stamp with one daisy popped up over a vellum sentiment strip. Some green leaves tucked in to finish the card front.  For those who are interested here's how:

1.     Trim Purple card from Core’dinations  Tim Holtz & Ranger Distress Collection to 4-1/8” x 5-3/8”.

2.     Stamp the Daisy Patch Background to smooth white card using distress inks in dusty concord. Trim image to 4-2/8” x 5-4/8”.

3.     Trim vellum to 1-4/8” and wrap around the bottom of the stamped background securing at the back.

4.     Using a Copic Multiliner add the faux stitching along the top and bottom of the vellum. Stamp Sentiment in onyx black and set aside to dry.

5.     Stamp the two largest daisy patch flowers using dusty concord ink. I stamped off the largest before stamping the image I would use, to give a lighter outline.

6.     Using the matching dies, die cut the two Daisy Patch flowers. Using Zip Dry glue attach the petals together and add some Glossy Accents to the centre of the flower. 

7.     From a scrap of green card die cut a leaf branch from the Spellbinders foliage dies and run it through a paper crimper to add some dimension.

8.     Arrange the leaf and Daisy over the vellum, using Zip Dry glue to adhere.

9.     Adhere the stamped background to the purple card before adding this to the 5.5” x 4.25” smooth white card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges this week:

Gingerloft Challenge - GL31 - Anything goes. (ends 21/1)

I thought I'd sneak in another little card to share.  I really liked the cupcake with the woven iced top so used that as the inspiration for this card......What do you think?

So simple to weave strips from paper scraps. Punch a few flowers and a dab of Stickles for the centre.  I added a sentiment from the same set as the first card and a Heartfelt Creations Posy Patch die cut flower.

Looking forward to seeing all your projects this month..........See yoou soon!

Call back tomorrow 8.30am for this month Scrapbook Boutique Blog Hop and  Challenge.

Daisy Delight

Happy Saturday Blogger's, any plans for the week end?

The start of the year is always a busy time for me where Birthday cards are concerned. Thank goodness for CAS cards!  

Here's one card using AnnaBelle Stamps Colour challenge this week, which is Black White and Silver. Hope you're playing along with us........details here.

ABS 'Daisy Delight' embossed in opaque vanilla to pure black card. A sentiment from 'Squared Posies' which is actually embossed in silver (though you can't really see that in my photo.....sorry). 

Corner chomped opposite corners.....love this.

To complete  I added ABS silver metallic Sprinkles. 

This card is my entry to 'I Brake For Stamps' CAS challenge this week

Thanks for calling past today. Enjoy the week end. See you soon......