Bronnies Stamping Spot

If you have been popping into my blog and seeing if there is anything new, then the news is not good for you. I am on holiday at the moment and on one of my adventures to far flung places. You can keep up with me at my Nepal and India blog. I will be back on board in January hopefully stamping in the cool of air conditioning.

Until then have a good time and don't get too caught up in the rush of Christmas and in forgetting what Christmas is all about

Bron

 And, I even got a couple of pink ribbons in there. These cards are so much fun to make but it would have been a bit easier if I had a heart punch instead of cutting by free hand!
I hope you enjoy it and it has added a smile to your day.
Bron

Hi there, I only have three more weeks left in Cairns this year before I have eight weeks off work (see me smile). I haven't had more than a week off at a time in more than two and a half years which has been a long haul. So, I am off to Nepal, India, Wagga Wagga (NSW) and then at last to New Zealand to see my family. Therefore, this weekend is probably the last time for the year that I will get to stamp for an extended period of time. Instead of studying (and getting my research proposal finished) I decided to head up to the coolness of the Tablelands and do some stamping with Adrianne.

I just realised how long it has been since I put a post on here. I have been stamping intermittently. I have had a bit of a time delimma for a couple of months. I desperately need to get my research proposal done for my doctorate before I go on holidays in 7 weeks time while trying to maintain a social life, doing a public speaking course and doing long hours at work. I feel guilty when I say that because I know I am not a mother and that mothers have lots more to juggle but everyone has different demands on their life (and I usually get slammed by mothers for saying that I am busy).

So, today is stamping day and I have finally gotten the chance to do one of Keesha's challenges
And only when I downloaded the picture did I realise that I did mine landscape instead of portrait! I think it is called interpretive freedom

Believe it or not, I have had requests for Christmas cards already...what the? It is only July...well it is almost over but it is still July. So yesterday while I was at Paula's I borrowed some stamps and created some Christmas cards. Today is a bit cloudy, as it has been in Cairns for the last five weeks (its not meant to be at the moment....DRY season time) hence the photos are a bit ordinary
I have not idea what the next stamp is called or where it came from, other than from Paula's box of old stamps

Years ago I went to the Cairns show (the only time I had been) and remember looking at the baking section and thinking, hey, I could beat that. So, this year I put my actions where my thoughts were and went for it and it turned out to be quite a fun experience. So here are the winners. I just had to enter the packet cake section...like how hard can that be? Note to self: don't try cooking a cake while studying! I burnt the bottom of the cake so chopped the bottom off and still ended up getting first. The thing is...that chocolate cake to the left looked real good and I would eat it before I would eat my cake

Just thought that I would put up some of the cards that I have made over the last wee while. I made these robot cards while at Paulas for a stamping day. I couldn't resist these little robots and they make nice little boy cards.
These cards I made after work at Atherton with Adrianne. She has now set up the 'shed' as a stamping room and I have a few more shifts in Atherton so the stamping gear may be going for a few more trips up the range to Yungaburra

Its dry season here...well it's meant to be. Here in Cairns we have two seasons, not four: wet and dry. Dry season is meant to be dry, sunny and warm instead it has been cloudy with periods of drizzle and very windy which makes it feel very winterish. Dont get me wrong it is still warm compared to the rest of Australia with overnight temperatures getting down to 20 degrees but all the clouds are a bit depressing
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So, I have finally unpacked the car of my stamping stuff and got stuck into it last night. I started out by just trying to get Keesha's challenge done. I have participated for a while as May and June were a bit hectic. So here is Keesha's challenge which I actually made three cards for (I don't get to play much so I am making up for it)
Here are the colours that I had to play with. I must say, I really do like rich razzleberry and old olive together.
So here is card number one. I consider this the warm-up card (you know what I mean). At the bottom of the card I add some card spagetti which looks quite cool.

Tis challenge time. I have had a big fortnight with having to do two big presentations of my PhD work and needed to de-stress when I got home from work yesterday.

Last week I was in Wagga Wagga (Now there is an Aussie place name for you! Pronounced Wogga Wogga!) and Bathurst for University and then this week I have been doing a three day workshop on how to deal with the ever increasing numbers of violent and aggressive patients. It was an informative workshop but I am feeling a little sore from all the man handling (though the man handling was particularly pleasant!).

My plan was to do the inkspirations sketch challenge and the Just add ink challenge and while I have done a card for both, I was too late getting the Just add ink challenge photographed and blogged. I did do other challenges last night and they are below on my blog.
So, here was the sketch challenge.
And here is my take on it. I am still hooked on rich razzleberry and old olive. They just go so well together.

Well, I have had a challenging challenge night. I thought that while I had all my stamping stuff out, I might as well polish off a few challenges for some fun.

I really do like the clean & simple challenges as they are just that....clean & simple. I am usually one for lots of layers, bling etc but these challenges force me to think simpler. Here is the sketch
And here is my interpretation. Again, sorry that the picture is not that good. The sun was setting while I was trying to take the pic.

Brown, blue and white...mmm. Sounds easy right? Sometimes it is those challenges that leave you with so many options that are the hardest. I dont have many shades of blue left in my scrap box or even in my box of card stock.

Brown, blue and white is the colour challenge from the stamping sisters in Christ blog. While most of the cards shown for this challenge have lovely Bible verses...mine does not. I dont seem to have a large supply of Bible verse stamps so went for something that was a bit sacred...a wedding card. I usually have a supply of these but the box is looking a bit empty. Anyway...here it is. The photo is not that good. I left for work before the sun rose and came home just as it was setting
Bron

And clean & simple it is. How quick is it to make a card? This has been made from scraps and I am surprised at how well it turned out. Here is the sketch from clean & simple
And here is my take on it

Well, it has been a really humid day here in Cairns. The journal articles that I am meant to be reading for my doctorate feel all damp and now when I go to stamp, my cardstock is all soggy. This means that you dont get the nice crisp images (hence stamps having a blotchy look). It is so humid today I have actually turned on the air con which is unusual for this time of year.

So my method of procrastination today was Keesha's challenge. Thinking that a card would be too quick (and then I would have to study again) I went for something a little 3D. Keesha's challenge this week was a colour challenge. I have never done a 3D thing like this. They are quite fiddly. Here are the colours:
And here is the creation. A little box. I am not sure I have used the right blue as it has come out of the scrap bag but I know the rest of the colours are right.

It has been a big week and the next couple are going to be even bigger. I have just recently got some new stuff and have been wanting to try them out but finding the time has been the challenge but finally I have got my stamping stuff out and given it a go, even if I have felt guilty for doing so when I know I have so much study to do before I go to Wagga NEXT WEEKEND! But the temptation got to me too much.

I think I have fallen in love with rich razzleberry. It goes so well with old olive. I have a wall in my bedroom painted in rich razzleberry (maybe more of a grape colour but similar). My first card is my attempt at two step stamping. You should have seen me twirling my stamp-a-majig around trying to work out which way to stamp. I got a few wrong before I got these four.
Cardstock: Old olive, rich razzleberry, soft suede and whisper white
Ink: Old olive and rich razzleberry
Stamp set: Cottage garden
Ribbon: Rich razzleberry grosgrain ribbon



Attempt number two was the two step stamping. I must remember to measure before cutting. My intention was for the main panel to be a bit shorter so that it didn't cover my hodgepodge but it didn't happen. I added some bling to give it just a bit more pop.
Cardstock: Old olive, melon mambo, soft suede, rich razzleberry and whisper white
Ink: Old olive, rich razzleberry
Stampset: Cottage garden, whimsical words
Ribbon: Old olive grosgrain ribbon

These two cards were the resurrection of a failed attempt at making tags and sort of happened at the end of the night when I found some scraps.