I am not really into cute - don't get me wrong..I Love all those beautiful Magnolia and Tilda stamps with their cute images. They are truly gorgeous and they make for some seriously stunning cards. I however don't own many cute stamps apart from the PSX range - only because I worked for the company who imported PSX stamps and they had some seriously beautiful stamps. So the other day I found this image amongst some ready stamped and embossed images from way back when. And so Mr mouse became a cute card.

The image was stamped in Black memories ink and then coloured with my Winsor & Newton watercolours. I love painting and so have not really made the transition from
paint to Copic markers. The fruit and veggies were highlighted with
orange and snowflake glitter on top of the paint.

Hope you have a peaceful Sunday afternoon!

Every year in October we have our Cardmaking retreat or Stamp Camp as some of us call it. A very informal get together with loads of stamping and crafting enthusiasts who attend the 3 day camp doing 6 different classes and projects. Here's a sneak preview of my little project to get people in the mood - although we are fully booked three months in advance! This is only the one part of my project and the fun stuff is inside! Once camp is over I will post some more photos and instructions. Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Look out for the winner of the Tim Holtz goodies on Monday!

This is one of my favourite techniques to do with Adirondack Colourwash from Ranger. I love the effect and how you can change things around and experiment for different looks. It also comes in a huge variety of colours so you can really go to town. A simple layout but with a nice technique adding some interest.


1. First stamp your image or lettering onto cream mulberry paper with Versamark.
2. Heat emboss with clear embossing powder until the powder is fully melted.
3. Place the mulberry paper on your craft sheet and spray the mulberry paper liberally with the Colourwash of your colour until it is fully saturated.
4. Once the Colourwash is dry, cover the embossed areas with a piece of scrap paper and iron with a very hot iron.
5. Check to see if the embossing powder has melted totally by trying to lift the scrap paper. If the paper lifts then you are done - if not keep on ironing.
6. Cover a piece of white cardstock with a glue stick and adhere the embossed and coloured mulberry piece to the white cardstock.
7. Use on your project as desired.

Supplies: Adirondack Colourwash by Ranger Industries. Foam lettering stamps by Making Memories.

Waiting for spring as the trees in our garden are showing small little green fluffs that I only noticed this morning. So I thought I would share this spring project I did a few years ago. The handbag itself is made of tin that I covered in pretty K&Company paper (who remembers that line?). The paper was basically modged to the 'tin'. The V-flap on the front and back was covered in paper and silk flowers decorated with buttons and brads. On the front,on top of the paper flowers is an acetate butterfly decorated with glitter glue.

Now the handles were a different story - as I recall it took me about 7 nights to cover the handles in little ribbon knots...what was I thinking? Every night after work I would tackle the handles and a couples of hours later it still looked and felt as id I was never going to finish.

And who the hell actually appreciated this spark of genius? The ribbon I used was a tiny 3mm embroidery ribbon - now had I used a thicker and bulkier ribbon it might have been a different story all together! Once the baby was done and decorated I took it to have flowers put in for the photo shoot...those tulips really were magical! Ok...so still waiting on Spring ...

I have been in a cardmaking mood for a while now - it just seems that for now they are uncomplicated and easy. I also have a couple of layout kits left from earlier this year and decided to use them as inspiration for a card kit. So from the cardstock ribbon, paper, and other embellishments included in the pack you can make about 16 cards. Not bad at all! This card is made with the paper and embellishments with only a stamped image and sentiment added. The stamps my newest and most favourite I got a couple of months ago from my friend Shamela in Cape Town - it's a Penny Black stamp - my first ever but certainly not my last. It really was a bargain buy at only about R90.00.

I am also doing a couple of card classes in the next few months amongst others. So hop on over to Sweet Scrappins in Pretoria (for the locals) and enquiry about their classes. The card classes are going to be loads of fun and I have some different and exciting ideas planned for them. Hope to see some of the regulars there.