Welcome baby card

Over the holidays I made a card to welcome the safe arrival of a little girl named Annabeth to very proud parents.  

I love all the animals from the Fox and Friends stamp set (sadly now retired) and as I was in a bit of a hurry as usual I based the card around one I had previously done.  Of course it had to be in pinks.  I also used a stamp set from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue which starts later this month, Banner Blast.  Flags and bunting are now all the rage, and sometimes you just have to go with the flow. And check out the new embossing folder available soon too - Decorative Dots.  I can see myself using this one quite a lot.  It's a little more playful than Perfect Polka Dots.

Engagement card

And now for something completely different  - an engagement card.  

One of our neighbour's recently became engaged after being proposed to while doing the Harbour Bridge climb.  It doesn't get much more spectacular than that, although it could never beat mine.  Nah, I'm not going to tell. 

Had to whip up a quick card for her, and what else could I use other than hearts.  

  

All the hearts have been cut out and stuck down the angle of the card, and then the same again inside - can't have them looking at the back of a white heart shape when the card is open. 

Welcome to 2014

Thanks for checking in, and Happy New Year to you.  Hope your year has started off well and you enjoyed your Christmas break.  

We managed to have hubbie's family here for Christmas Day, and apart from all the cleaning, re-organisation of furniture and deciding where everyone would sit to eat, it was a very easy and relaxing day.  Then the kids and I drove up to visit my Dad, and along the way were able to catch up with all my sisters at some point during the trip.  I am quite pleased that I was able to drive all the way to Dad's in a day, a distance of about 740 kms.  I know to some people this is just a normal and easy trip, but to me it was an achievement.  But not something that I'd like to do too often.  

Anyway, back to crafty stuff.  

Thought I might show you some of the cards received for Christmas from my crafty and clever friends.  

 

What do you think?  A talented bunch with lots of beautiful embossing folders, die cuts, stickers and stamps used.  It's a shame they have to be taken down and put away. 

 

Happy Christmas

Well I knew I had not been on here for a while, but I was a little surprised to realise it has been almost 6 weeks.  So, if there is anyone still out there checking to see if I write any more on here, hello and thanks for popping back.

We had our last class for the year earlier in the month and the ladies all got to  make a card using the thinlits circle or label card dies.  These are great little sets that cut the card out to make a flip card and also have loads of different shapes that you can use to decorate the card like scalloped circles, arrows, and a few greetings.  

I decorated the labels card with some of the dies that are included, and then on the circle card used the scalloped circle and some patterned paper to pretty it up.  Both very easy cards to make and decorate.

 

We also had a go at making a starburst card.  This is one of the latest trends in the stamping world apparently.  It involves making a template up first with and then uses it as a mask. 

I wish I had taken photoes of the ones that were made because they were definitely better than my attempt.  I guess my two problems were that I chose the wrong colour to start with and then didn't stamp enough to define the edges.   Hopefully you get the idea.  

We also had got to make a few envelopes with the envelope maker.  It's so nice to be able to make any size envelope you need so easily.  

We also had lunch together with everyone providing something and there were lots of delicious foods to chose from.  And one of the ladies even provided us with an elegant chocolate table decoration.  Very pretty, and not bad to eat either.

These are photos of the little gift cards that I gave everyone when they left.  I love making owls and so he got dressed up as Santa.  Inside were some Rhinestone and Pearl Jewels for them to use on their own projects.

And finally, this is our Christmas card for the year.  I really wish Lucky Limeade didn't get retired off - it's one of my favourite colours and perfect for me for Christmas. If you haven't received your card yet blame it on the postman. 

Thank you again for visiting my blog throughout the year.  I hope to have more things to share with you next year, including all the great cards we have received this year.  I have some very clever and talented friends. 

And if you would like to leave a comment anytime, please do.  It's nice to know someone out there is reading this.

Finally, Happy Christmas to you and your family.  Enjoy the break and stay safe. 

My birthday cards

I don't have anything to share with you as I am working on my Christmas Cards, and I obviously can't put them up here for all to see yet, so I thought you might like to see some of the cards I received recently for my birthday. I was away visiting my Dad on the actual day but arrived home to some wonderful creations.   

Don't you love that oval die cut?

Have always wanted to see how this looked in real life - beautiful!

So much work went into this one, and I love that die cut flourish

So pretty with those lightly coloured  flowers from Bordering on Romance and the scalloped edges

One of my favourite stamp sets - Bliss - in soft pastel colours

And one of my favourite colours - Elegant Eggplant combined with Fifth Avenue Floral

This card was made with the Sweet Threads Simply Sent kit and looks great

Apologies if I have forgotten anyone's card.  I am currently in the process of re-organising my craft room and things are a little bit of a mess.  I may not be back blogging for a while, but will return when there is something productive to share.  

 

Another Sampler

As I had so much fun making the sampler for my sister I decided that I would make another.  This one is the final version of one for my recently born great niece.  

I had bought a sheet of 12 x 12 paper with a Holly Hobby design that I was planning to use, but after spending a lot of time cutting it all up I decided I didn't really like the look of it.  So I went back to my stamps and decided to stick with a limited colour scheme.  And I got to use a lot of my before Stampin' Up stamp sets that hadn't been used for a while.  

The big "mistake" that I made was using 4 colours when there are lines of 5 which made the order of things a little difficult.  You can see that the main colour turned out to be pink, but in the end I didn't mind that, although next time I will make sure I have 5 colours to make things easier.  

The hardest part about these frames is trying to get everything even when sticking them down.  

This is the layout without the frame -

And all framed up -

Stay tuned - I have one more to make, this time for myself. 

Another birthday

Guess what I forgot to do?  I went away to visit my Dad and had scheduled a few posts for while I was away, but then when I came back I completely forgot all about posting.  I guess I just assumed there were posts ready to go - oops.  

I seem to have lots of birthdays around October/November, and this one was for my 17 year old niece.  It gets a little hard thinking of a suitable gift so we thought a gift card might be the way to go.  I wanted to make a pocket style card for the gift card and this was the end result.  

I used the top note die for the lovely flap shape, sponged with Coastal Cabana and stamped with my favourite script from French Foliage.  Two buttons with a bit of string kept it all together and even though they weren't exactly the same colour I don't think it stands out too much.  Perhaps I should have used a softer colour for the flower stamp, but I didn't have enough time to re-do it.  

 

Male Lovely as a Tree birthday

Another borrowed set was used here - Lovely as a Tree.  This is a great stamp set as it can be used for many different occasions including Christmas or birthdays. 

This card opens in the centre and the main piece has some paper piercing around it.  The front panels were stamped with the leaf and then masked while I sponged around them.

Sampler

My sisters are very supportive of me and my stamping habit so for big sister's birthday I wanted to make something 3D using my stamps.  During one of my stints on Pinterest I saw something called a Sampler by Diana Gibbs and thought this might be just the thing.  

You can view Diana's version here  and Cecile Ortiz's original inspiration here.

Neither of them give much information about sizes and details, and you may just have to brush up on your French to read Cecile's blog, but sometimes all you need is the idea.  

I used my trusty square dies and a friend's scalloped square dies and then just went through all my stamp sets for appropriate images for each square.  A few are direct copies of Diana and Cecile, lots of stamps are borrowed, a few stamps are mine and most are from Stampin' Up sets. 

 All of the squares are sponged with Crumb Cake on Vanilla cardstock, some with backgrounds and all have parts of the square with something popped up on them.  In the end I had to call in some technical assistance to have the typewriter and sewing machine scanned from the catalogue cause I couldn't find anyone with these sets.  

Once the panels were all made up I stuck them down on a sheet of DSP that had grid lines on it to make it easier to line up.  Then I had the family searching the shops for frames.  We found a few different sorts but I came back to this one.  

Then there was the trouble to post it off.  I went to a local post office and asked for advice on how to send it to Queensland, but the helpful (NOT) assistant informed me that as it was glass she didn't know.  So I asked again the best way to post it and was pointed towards the boxes and padded bags.  Yes I did see them but what would be best to use, that was my question.  In the end I couldn't find a box big enough with packing so it came back home and hubbie found me a courier to deliver it.  Arrived next day with no damage. And my sister loves it.  Phew!

I had so much fun making this that I am working on a couple more for family members, and one for myself too.  I will make sure that I hand deliver these ones.

Cardstock Patchwork

My sister recently celebrated her birthday and as she is the Queen of patchwork I thought I should try to make her a patchwork card.  Now I don't sew that well and certainly don't do patchwork, so this is my version of a patchwork card. 

I used my trusty Big Shot with square dies to create the boxes - so much easier than relying on cutting straight lines all the time.  If you are thinking about trying a card like this, it's much easier to glue your squares in place on a piece of scrap paper first rather than sticking straight onto the cardstock.  That way if you do make a mistake it's easier to rip it off and start again. 

And the inside ... I would be lost without the French text stamp from French Foliage.  

 

Don't you love that brad.  It's a Designer Builder Brads that you can decorate using anything you want in the centre and then you pop a clear "dome" over the top to seal it.  So pretty.  

 

 

All products are from Stampin' Up except square dies.

French Style Birthday

When I look through the Stampin' Up catalogues there are so many stamp sets that I would like and this was one on my wish list.  Unfortunately I would be broke if I bought them all so it is nice to have friends who are happy to share. I was able to borrow Artistic Etchings (now retired) recently and made quite a few cards of similar design for family and friends.   

       

This time I went with vanilla and black cardstock and even pulled out the crimper instead of using ribbon.  Lots of sponging on here and a bit of bling.