Happy Easter

We don't give Easter cards in our family but I just made this one very quickly for the occasion.  

Enjoy your weekend, hope you are going to be doing something fun with family and friends.  And don't eat toooooo much chocolate!

Animal birthday

This one is another version of one seen on Pinterest.  This one is by Monica Gale ad I loved the idea of the animals sitting in little wagon trains.  (To see Monica's card you will need to scroll down to her post from 13th March 2011).  

The design of the card is called a Side Step card, for obvious reasons, and the wagons are made using the Decorative Label punch.  I used the punch longways to accommodate two animals, whereas Monica has just cut the shape in half making it easier to fit three carriages across the card.  I liked the idea of just sticking to three colours on the card.  Another cute one. 

The Circus is in Town

A few people have been telling me how good Pinterest is for checking out card designs so over the last few weeks I have pinned a few cards I wanted to try.  This is one of those cards and with a bit of help from Heidi Van Laar and her tent template and Heather Holbrook this is my version. 

The inside animals are from the stamp set Fox and Friends, which has now retired, but still lives in my house, and the outside characters are from Under the Big Top, which I don't actually own so I photocopied the page from the catalogue and then coloured them in. They would look better if I had stamped them though.  On the inside there is a line that the monkeys are hanging off, but it's not clear in the photo.  They aren't just hanging there.   Lots of cutting out, but cute.    

Welcome Baby

Thought you might be sick of Pool Party, so broke out Pretty in Pink for a baby card.  I was lucky enough to get the Happy You hostess stamp set recently and have used one of the images from that set here with another one of the dies from Hearts A Flutter.  

Had a go at some diagonal scoring on the card but left off the corner for effect.  Not really, I just got lazy and had done enough.  

I photographed the cover of the stamp set so you could see the baby in the flowerpot better.  It's quite cute.  There is also a pinwheel and trio of mushrooms image that didn't make it into the shot.  I wish the images were just a little bigger but that's just me.

 

 

 

More Hearts

Seeing as though I had the Pool Party cardstock out I stayed with the colour and square theme and came up with this one.  

I think what makes this card stand out is the edge of hand drawn black "stitches" around the edges.  Such a simple thing to do but it gives it a bit more oomph.  Have layered a strip of DSP beind the squares and then stamped the wave splodge from Clockworks set.  Added some Baker's Twine in Pool Party and a key that was hanging around my desk for some reason.  I wanted to stamp a sentiment on the tag, but couldn't find anything small enough and didn't want to stuff it up by writing on it.  Was happy with this one too.

Miss me?

Apologies for my absence.  We were away last weekend at my nephew's wedding and during the week I just didn't have the time or the inclination to do any crafting, so hence the reason for no posts - nothing to show.  I did make a card for the wedding but then forgot to photograph it.  I wasn't really happy with it anyway - the design in my head was much better.  Ever have that when it just doesn't come out the way you planned?  Happens a lot around here. 

So this weekend I made time to create a little and this is almost the card I wish I had made for the wedding.  I have seen a few cards like this on the internet and have always been jealous of the number of embossing folders some people have.  Now I guess it looks like I own 9 myself, but really I only have 6.  Luckily I found a few pieces of cardstock that I had embossed using other people's stuff.  

I have used Pool Party as the background colour which combined with the white just looks so fresh, elegant and serene.  I really will miss the old 2011-2013 In colours when they retired in July. Will have to make sure I stock up on them before they are gone.  My favourite colour would have to be Lucky Limeade, then Pool Party and Wisteria Wonder.  But then again I also like Calypso Coral and Island Indigo.  Too hard to choose.  Which will you miss the most?

Last ones

The last couple of projects were a card using the Postage Due stamp set with lots of sponging and some of the Core'dinations Card Stock, and a bow to top off a gift.  And also the pinwheel card on last week. 

The Core'dinations Card Stock has been run through the Big Shot using the Honeycomb Embossing folder and then lightly sanded to show up the inside of the cardstock.  As I said, lots of sponging going on too. 

The bows were really easy to make.  You need 4 strips of DSP (or cardstock) measuring 7, 5, 4 and 2 inches and 3/4 inch wide.  You loop around the 7 and 5 inch pieces to form a circle and glue and then using the 2 inch strip secure together.  The 4 inch strip then has the V cut into it for the peaks and then attached to the back.  Guess you could make these bigger if you want.  A beautiful and easy way to decorate a present.

 

Another one from Saturday

This is another card made on Saturday.  They were able to chose whatever colour they wanted with this one, and I forgot to get photos of them.  Think my favourite was the Lucky Limeade version - I am quite taken with that shade of green - who would have thought!  

 

The hearts were cut from the Hearts a Flutter framelit with a embossed edge of the hearts from the Adorning Accents folder.  The greeting is embossed with white powder and some Baker's Twine bows added.  Nice and simple.  

Saturday's cards

Well, I got all confused last week and stuffed up.  My big sister is actually coming down this week, not last, and that depends too on whether she can get through from Brisbane after all the rain.  Hopefully things will have cleared up a lot by then cause we need all the roads and weather clear for next Saturday so I can get to see all my family again.  Big event.  More news later.

I had a class on the weekend, the first one for this year, and was able to catch up with most of my little group of stamping buddies.  I made them work a bit harder this time with 6 different projects to create.  

This first card had two different versions to it.  I think it's called a Criss Cross Card, but maybe that's just what I call it.  They are both made with retired DSP I had stashed away so I am not sure of the names of them.  My favourite is this first one, all Old Olive tones.  

Quite easy to make using a 4 x 12 inch strip of DSP.  You simply score at 4 and 8 inches for the folds, and then depending on which way you score and fold the front and back flaps changes the look of the card.  This one is scored from the top of the 4 inch mark to the bottom left edge and then scored from the top of the 8 inch mark to the bottom right edge.  You then fold the top down to the bottom corner to create the triangle and then stick the flap down. The insert is then stuck in the middle so it pokes through the top when folded.  

This next one is scored from the bottom of the 4 inch mark to the top edge and then the top of the 8 inch mark to the bottom and then folded back and stuck down.  On this version the last 4 inch section has been taped at the bottom to form a pocket for the insert or gift card.   Just remember this last one will not stand on its own.  Bit annoying but what can you do.  We did try reversing the flaps so it could stand on just the one flap, but then the insert is upside down and could fall out of the pocket. 

Hope you were able to understand what I was talking about.  Much easier to do than explain really.