Hand-Made by Anne-Marie

Sympathy Cards

2012-02-02T09:00:00.005+11:00

It's always difficult to have to make someone a card during such difficult times, it's usually the moment your mojo is bound to desert you! So many I have seen are also floral and feminine which makes it difficult when you are either giving to a man, or when it is a male that has died.

I decided that having some sympathy cards on hand is a little sad, but necessary. This was an attempt to keep things clean and simple, but modest and toned down. I had made a few others but they were all so dark and depressing. I've decided that even though this one is quite 'white' by comparison, I thought it a better option. Let's face it, it's hard enough for those left behind without giving them a totally depressing card as well!

I know when my yiayia (grandma) died, I really appreciated the cards we received and the thoughts and memories people wrote down as they remembered her.

That's the kind of card I think I would like to give. Appropriate to the mood, but hopefully a little uplifting.

The detailed photo hopefully allows you to see that the paper is linen textured again. I have also distressed the edges (honestly, no pun intended, but perhaps a little prophetic!) The inside also has the partial medallion stamped on the opposite side in the same basic grey.

What do you think?

AM x

Supplies:

Stamps: SU! medallion, Sincere Salutations
Paper: PTI White, SU! Basic Grey, Vellum
Ink: SU! Basic Grey, StayzOn Jet Black
Misc: Tim Holtz distressing tool

Butterflies for all ages

2012-01-30T09:00:00.002+11:00

I was never a girly girl growing up, but there's something about butterflies that doesn't have to be naf. I think here they can also look a bit retro/vintage, without looking 'shabby chic' (a look I would love to pull off, but have not a hope in hell of doing so! hehe)

This is one of my new birthday cards, simple, but hopefully effective!

I also pulled out my old crimper after making an effort to pull out a lot of my old tools, ribbons etc and make good use out of them. The crimper was stuck in one of the back drawers. I don't know why I neglected it, It adds such great texture with little fuss!

The butterflies are three dimensional and I think they add a little extra whimsy that way. I initially made it for tweenage girls, but I don't think I would mind one myself! (young at heart at least - ahem!)

The entire card is textured with the linen/canvas impression plate from PTI. I have decided you may be hard-pressed to find a card I am not using it on lately!

Happy crafting! AM x

Supplies:

Stamps: SU! Hostess Afterthoughts
Paper: PTI White, SU! Crumb Cake, Real Red
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Misc: Ribbon Girl red striped twill, SU! Embosslits Beautiful Wings, PTI Linen/Canvas Impression Plate.

Busy Little Bee ...

2012-01-29T20:28:00.001+11:00

Just in case you thought I was disappearing again, I was actually busy working on an exciting new project ... I'm actually opening up a web store! Crazy I know!

In the meantime, I will be sending around a newsletter via email with a few of my more recent cards and an order form for those of you who are interested. For those card bloggers, I will still have a basic list of supplies at the bottom of my posts!

It's more than a little daunting, but hey - one can only try!

So in the spirit of recent card-making, here is a sample of a few of my latest creations!

I can see me making this is a variety of colours (in fact, I have used this design for a number of cards already) but if anyone likes the idea, it may even become a multi- pack in different colours with a whole variety of sentiments ready to adhere so that whoever buys the pack, can choose the sentiment, stick it on an viola! It can be as much as a farewell, thinking of you, or thank you card as much as it is a birthday card! What do you think? - Thanking Jennifer McGuire for that idea!

I've also posted a more detailed shot as I have run the front through the PTI bookprint impression plate. I LOVE these impression plates and the simple but fine texture they give to cards!

So here's the detailed shot -

I hope you like this one. I have to say I have become quite fond of the brightness of it without it being too girly.

It makes me smile - I hope it does the same for you!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

AM x

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! four frames, HA birthday sentiments.
Paper: PTI white, SU! real red, pretty in pink, Basic Black
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Misc: PTI bookprint Impression Plate

Clean & Simple Online Class - Pushing the boundaries

2012-01-15T13:38:00.000+11:00

When Jennifer McGuire gave a tutorial on 'Wet Inking' in the Clean & Simple Online class, I got myself into a right tizz! Not only was I lacking distress inks, but my attempts were going from dismal to pathetic...

These were Jennifer's cards:

Then to make the fear factor worse, a friend of mine Michelle Lupton went on to use the tutorial to make THIS amazing card which Jennifer herself twitted about!

So of course, it made me shake in my proverbial boots even further. I nearly gave up, but I did ultimately come up with a 'passable' card: I used Baja Breeeze SU classic ink on the craft mat and sprayed perfect pearls onto it. I used my acrylic block as the stamp.

This was ultimately the card I came up with.. Not sure that I should post it, but what's a learining curve without mistakes eh? Besides, I am protecting my ego a little by not posting the other previous attempts (which promptly made their way into the bin where they belonged!)

No laughing at the bit I messed up on the bottom left and had to place an askew sentiment which now doesn't let the card sit flush on the table top!

Well there you go!

Happy stamping people, not sure whether I'll brave this one again - it was very outside my comfort zone, but then again one never knows!

Take care, Anne-Marie x

New Valentines Card

2012-01-15T12:49:00.003+11:00

Last night, I was playing around in the craft room (there is a benefit to insomnia afterall!) and I came across THIS design by the amazing Julie Ebersole who is one of the designers of the Clear & Simple Online class and I fell in love with the simplicity of the design and the banners in conjunction with the circles.

This was my take on her design...

I am loving Real Red from SU! I recently bought it because Ruby Red was too muted (and retired) and Cherry Cobbler was too deep for a primary red. I took the cue from Susan Raihala who thinks real red is the best red ever - I must say, I'm tending to agree!

The banners are from a cheap paper pad I bought at a dollar store (they're all from the same sheet which is great as they're more likely to compliment each other). I am really struggling with using patterned paper on my cards, so this was a much simpler way of attempting it!

The 3D hearts were die cut and folded in the middle. I folded 3 of them, and put a flat one on the back to make them more sturdy. I got the dimension idea from this Christmas Card (PS: I forgot to write down the source, so feel free to claim it as yours in comments and I'll credit you properly) ... and because I was so happy with this card, I made a few more!

Gotta love it when things come together without much effort don't you!

Hope everyone else has a wonderful crafting day!

Cheers, Anne-Marie xxx

Background text 2

2012-01-13T18:35:00.002+11:00

This next card is a totally different vibe, despite it being a birthday card as well. It takes the texts and covers it in vellum (or in my case tracing paper). Its a fairly masculine card, but I like the cleanness of it!

I stuck the vellum down under the centred ribbon, it doesn't flap as much in real life but hopefully you get the idea...

The sentiment is stamped on a die set by My Favourite Things. It's really versatile and you can use each shape individually or in the nesting set like this is!

The texture on the card is Canvas - it's the reverse side of the PTI Linen Impression Plate.. talk about value for money!

Well that's it for me - that's a whole flurry of posts after a long absence! Anne-Marie x

Text Background Stamps

2012-01-13T18:30:00.001+11:00

I was soo happy to get some tips in relation to using texts stamps in the Clean & Simple online class! I lurve my text stamps - I only have two (SU En Francais and HA Friend definition). I love the Hero Arts stamp in particular, because it has great sized modern font and is versatile for both girly and masculine cards. This card I'd classify as unisex.. what do you think?

I love how festive it feels! For those of you who have enrolled (and I think you can late enrol because you get to keep the videos and PDF's forever) make sure you follow their advice and actually emboss the cardstock BEFORE die cutting the letters. Doing it backwards was rather disastrous! Once I got the hang of things it was much easier and now I have a whole bunch of letters which are embossesd and can make cards with the rest of the letters some other time without going to the hassle of heat embossing!

Next is card number 2 just with a different feel ....

Valentines Cards

2012-01-13T18:06:00.001+11:00

I have been a busy little bee over the Christmas break making Valentines Cards to sell at my local florist..

I got this idea from surfing Pinterest. It also works in with the online Clean & Simple class which in Day 2 focuses on the 'visual triangle'. That's what I tried to achieve here...

Here come a few more designs that will be for sale. If anyone is interested is buying any, feel free to leave me comments on the blog or on facebook (which will soon be linked to this site) each comes with a matching envelope in a plastic sleeve for protection for AU$7.00

I have become very addicted to using cardstock strips for texture and colour on cards.

The next card is again pretty simple but I love the texture of the PTI Linen Impression Plate and the popped up heart polka dot heart. The card is faux stitched so it doesn't come through on the inside of the card...

The letters are die cuts also from PTI. They are currently releasing matching upper case letters and numbers - YAY!

It's a shame the texture doesn't show up in the photos - I'll have to make a concerted effort to get close ups as that impression plate is so beautiful!

The last card for today is a retro-inspired Valentine's card .. For those of you who know me well, it's quite comical because I have an irrational and significant phobia of birds... These little cuties however don't pose a problem!

Here I have used the same Impression plate but on the actual card base. The heart-shaped wings and tails are paper pieced and are propped up on dimensionals which gives it a little whimsy...

Thisis also the first time I cracked open the Tope Note die from Tim Holtz. I've had it for ages (when it was all the rage), but it was never my go-to die.. now not so sure!

Happy stampin! Anne-Marie x

Negative die cuts

2012-01-13T13:53:00.000+11:00

In keeping with the jam packed techniques and ideas in the online card class for Clean & Simple, Day 1 also focused on negative die cuts and using the what ordinarily would be the leftovers from die cutting on cards.

Howzzat value for money? Maile Belles desined a card which I totally cased! .. My version is a bit busy ( I think its the Merci paper I chose) but hopefully gets some practice in for using this technique which I love!

I have been using PTU basic white paper which is fab. It's nice and thick and doesnt collapse as a stand-alone card. The sentiment is from SU hostess set 'Afterthughts' and the ribbon is your stock standard white polyester ribbon from the local $2 shop... That Merci paper is a 6x6 pack I got from Big W. They come in single colour packs which is good when you know you want a colour and dont have to make your own designer paper... Oh, and the die is also from PTI 'Wonderful words die collection'. I luurve them and have been using them lots.. especially "Happy" on birthday cards. It can give geat dimension and texture to an otherwise very basic card. Well that was point here! Its always so hard to put my cards next to fab cardmaker's but I'm biting the bullet ... Go easy on me, it was my first go!

Happy stampin!

Online Card Class

2012-01-13T13:12:00.004+11:00

Just in time for the last week of my quasi-holidays I signed up for an awesome card class called Clean & Simple which has been so informative and fun! Check out some of my posts uploading different daily techniques!

Each day there is a number of different techniques, so many in fact I have been unable to keep up! That said, here's a few of my more recent attempts...

Day 1 was about using existing sketches, one of which was using the masking technique. Here is my version - HINT Life is much easier with masking paper.. its on my next order!

I had previously purchased SU's Kiwi Kiss cardstock and was regretting it, but can I say I'm starting to fall back in love with it - particularly when you want a 'cheerier' colour than my all time favourite green - Old Olive. I used tons of post it notes to to mask this square and stamps the PTI harvest berries stamp around the outer rim. The faux stitching is just with that trusty white gel pen and three rhinestones - viola! (that said it took me ages because I'd never really masked like that before). It's quite addictive, but from now on with masking paper!

The sentiment is from my go to small sentiment from SU - Short & Sweet. It's not my favourite card, but its a work in progress...

Happy stampin peeps! Anne-Marie x

Apologies for the lengthy absence....

2012-01-08T09:59:00.000+11:00

For those few of you who (I hope) have not forgotten me totally here in my little patch of blogland, I'd like to apologize for such a lengthy absence.

As it turned out, my wonderful vivacious grandma who helped raise me developed very progressive dementia and needed effectively round the clock care. It felt rewarding to be able to return a little of the love and care she showed me all my life when she in return needed me.. Sadly however, as a result of a number of pre-existing health issues, she passed away just three months ago.

It's taken a while to get back on the proverbial horse, but as you crafters know, this hobby can be quite therapeutic! So I have been enjoying creating again and hope to bring you some of those creations on a more regular basis.

I also have been working on an exciting new project which will be unveiled soon... Watch this space!

Masculine Cards...

2011-08-16T09:00:00.001+10:00

There have been lots of circle-based cards of late, but I don't have a lot of punches, and frankly I am far to lazy to hand cut them. My solution? Use the only two punches I have and then run some through an embossing folder (in this case Lattice) and others through some Versamagic to create the effect of different circles... The result?

A multi-layered circle card which hopefully works well for those ever-difficult men.

I initially had left the Basic Grey cardstock plain, but it really was too bland. I've really been loving my background stamps (and ordered a few more today in a fit of therapeutic shopping - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

The background stamp is the Hero Arts friend definition. I love this type font. I find it's really modern and fresh.I usually swear by Colourbox White chalk Ink on coloured cardstock, but for this, it would have been far too vivid (which is exactly why I usually love it). Instead I used one of the first inkpads I ever purchased - Versa Magic White. It added a much more subtle walk/light grey tone which I also used to define the lattice design and to polish the plain grey circles.

The sentiment is from a SU Hostess Stamp set I won at the last launch. It has a third line, but since used my markers to just ink the words I wanted, and there you have it!

Paper napkins get a new lease of life...

2011-08-14T17:40:00.002+10:00

I was recently surfing Splitcoast Stampers during another night of insomnia, when I stumbled upon this tutorial on "Felted Cardstock". Basically, it's fusing the design on paper napkins to cardstock with cling wrap and a domestic iron. Very clever - and lord help me next trip to Ikea! ;)

I found these paper napkins at my local $2 store and it instantly reminded me of the tutorial. This is my take on the technique:

What the photo can't possibly show, is the gorgeous texture these cards ultimately have. It feels like a felty-fabric (hence Felted cardstock) Dah Duh!

I fused it onto Whisper White but instead of cutting the cardstock once the fabric is on, I actually cut the cardstock to size to begin, then cut a small border around the fabric and stuck it to the back which left a much smoother finish/edge.

I mounted the panel onto SU Night of Navy which was in turn mounted on Papertrey Ink white cardstock.

I thought it was a nice blank card for all occasions. Sort of a modern take on the bird theme.

I also took the same idea and applied it to the outside flap of the envelopes for a matching set. Viola!

EDIT: I guess it would help to have actually added the envelope image at this point ;)

Each of the envelopes have the birds facing in different directions, otherwise I just got bits of tails or beaks.

I was thinking that this technique might turn out well for a boxed set as a gift.

What do you guys think?

Pretty Flower Girl

2011-07-31T16:09:00.000+10:00

I was recently requested to make a number of cards by a bride to be. I thought it was such a lovely idea of hers to ask her bridesmaids/maid or honour and flower girl by giving them a personalised card inviting them.

Here's the first one - the flowergirl card (I'm posting tis one because the recipient is too young to check it out!) hehe I will post the rest once I give the order to the lovely bride.

EDIT: OK - for some reason today, everytime I'm adding a photo to blogger it's posting them sideways. So i thought I'd be clever and rotate them in paint - except miss not so clever has just discovered that it's a mirror image. Have nO idea what's going on, but will attempt at some later stage to re-post! hopefully you get the idea....

The card base is papertrey ink. I love how thick their cardstock is. My SU Whisper White was too flimsy. Lovely to stamp on, even better to print on (since its the only cardstock to go through the feeder in my printer) but not so great for a card base. The pink is SU pretty in pink and the white insert was run through the big shot with a cuttlebug embossing folder called [I think] life script.

The little dress I sketched out onto cardstock in pencil, cut it out and used the Faux Silk technique on it by stamping En Francais in pink on tissue paper, scrunching it all up [reminder - wait till dry!!!] then gluestick the surface of the dress, lay tissue on top, careful not to smooth away too many wrinkles, and cut around. viola - imitation fabric! a scrap of ribbon and some bling and she was done!

I made a second one at the same time for the envelope....

I just stuck it up on some dimensionals as I did with the one on the card front.

Oh, and the ribbon bow was hand-tied. Yes-I-have-exhausted-you-tube-till-I-got-it-right. hehe

Well hope you like it, and most importantly the bride and flowergirl love it!

Cheers,

Out of the comfort zone....

2011-07-20T22:45:00.003+10:00

Hi All ... (or should I say favourite few?)

Today, I'm featuring my most recent creation who's inspiration came from THIS image and latest Just Add Ink Challenge, and the colour combination came from The Summer Card Camp Week 4 challenge. Talk about two complimentary challenges! (mind you I just missed out on linking this to Just Add Ink by 45 min!)

This one is more than a little out of my comfort zone .... Firstly, it's in blues and greens, secondly it involves acrylic paint, and thirdly its all shimmery! So without further ado:

Ok - apologies for the REALLY bad photo (taken at 10pm on the kitchen bench). I could have sworn it looked better on the laptop, but alas no! Will take another and replace this weekend.

The image itself is actually the Hero Arts music background stamp embossed with Versamark onto glossy paper with white embossing powder. Since I never use glossy paper, I cheated and used HP photo paper, it's thinner than the usual glossy cardstock, but when mounted it does the job!

The only colours I had in ink pads was SU Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss, I had nothing else really remotely similar. So I cracked open some old little acrylic paints that were in a 24 mini-pack I had in a random cupboard from way back.

I painted them over the dried music image, and then wiped it back a little to show through the embossed music notes.

Here's the trick, instead of adding normal tap water to the paint - I added Ranger Perfect Pearls which I had mixed with water into my little mini mister and sprayed it directly into the paint as I was mixing the colours. Low and behold, a sweet little shimmer! here's a close up...

Pretty cool eh? I smudged the one colour into the next with my finger t avoid brush strokes (it was lots of fun getting messy - like being in pre-school finger-painting hehe).

The shimmer of the colours on the card remind me of the shimmer the beautiful Mediterranean water shimmering in the sunlight... oh to be back there again!

I matted it onto white and again onto SU Baja Breeze for a little contrast. I'm loving my new SU designer label punch!

So that's it! Hope you enjoy it :)

Summer Card Camp - Week Three (part #2)

2011-07-17T19:37:00.000+10:00

Ok - take two! This second card really did come together from scraps. It was literally made using the off cuts from what was left from the two A4 sheets in card #1!

The tag/label is actually a made using a Papertrey Ink labels die which was only $6 - Bargain! It cuts beautifully and even comes with the little round reinforcement for the hole (really adorable). You can really vintage it up or use it for scrapbooking. Same stamp and buttons, but with the addition of some SU lace that I won in a door prize at the SU autumn mini launch, the sentiment is from SU sort and sweet (which has probably been my most used sentiment set thus far), and the chocolate double-stitched ribbon is a $2 shop special.

So what do you think? Oh, and the Kraft cardstock is stamps with SU 'En Francais' in Kraft ink. I love that tone on tone look. It helps fill bland space without adding too much. I've been doing that a lot lately since I can't seem to pull of detailed cards with any measure of success!

Well, in any event, here goes! Have a lovely night and enjoy what's left of the weekend. Hope you all squezed in some crafting time :)

Summer Card Camp - Week Three

2011-07-17T19:31:00.001+10:00

Well since I totally missed last week's deadline, I thought I'd scrape in and participate in the challenge this week - and to make up or it, I'm submitting not one but TWO cards ;)

I'd love to say it's because I was being so industrious, but actually, it's more that I just wasn't as happy with this first one, so I kept going using the scraps and came up with one I preferred! hehe

So this week's challenge colours were totally up my alley, I thought it would be a breeze - but really it was just more pressure! That said it was heaps of fun pulling out my things and making something just for fun!

So attempt number one - I cracked out the SU Eastern Blooms set (yes.. again!) with SU Early Espresso and Kraft. The wide striped grosgrain ribbon is SU as well and my stock is seriously dwindling...

The red buttons are Pure Poppy vintage buttons from Papertrey Ink. The packs are great, they're only $5 and you get a big bag of various sizes and shapes. I just used 2 threads from a piece of kitchen twine for making the bow and stitching in the button. Thought it was a cute touch.

I've just discovered that I can't submit two cards from the same link.. so I'm about so split this post into two!

Stay tuned for attempt #2!

Little Leaves in ... winter....

2011-07-09T11:53:00.000+10:00

Despite signing up for the Summer Card Camp, it's hard to feel summery and light when you have the onset of flu and fever my fabulous hubby shared so graciously! So as I write, I'm holed up on the couch in the lounge room in trackies, wearing my favourite slippers "hoodies for feet" which the girls call 'adult booties' just to tease me, all rugged up, and drinking a hot cuppa. Strangely, I'm struggling to get that pesky work done, so I'm blogging instead! tee hee...

This week has been a bit nuts, so I wasn't able to make anything new, but I thought I'd post a card I made a couple of weeks ago for my friend Oli's birthday. Its in my absolute favourite colour Old Olive from SU and used together with Chocolate Chip and Kraft (sorry, I've tried to call it crumb cake, but it just doesn't float my boat!) The 'little leaves' die is super cute don't you think?.

I've used it to make a birthday card, but I think really the template could be used to make almost any card... maybe even a blank one (although there would be a glaringly empty spot right where the sentiment goes!).

I initially had the white paper plain in the background but it needed something. I tried to use the SU 'En Francais' background stamp, but it was too curly and ... well ... floral! (ironic I know, given the card has leaves on it!)

I settled for the HA friend definition stamp. It's a modern font and gives it a little of a younger edge I thought.

Hold your hats, I actually tied a bow! I used the ribbon to go the whole way round the front of the card given it's top folding and actually tied the two ends into a bow. It took a bit of fluffing about, and rejigging it, but got there in the end! Thank god for you tube. I've been watching tutorial after tutorial (there are benefits to being an insomniac!). The ribbon is SU choc chip taffeta. It's very forgiving as it holds nicely but doesn't crease to much when you screw up and have to re-tie over and over!

I liked the quirky-ness of making a top fold card that looks like a side fold card because of where the corners are rounded! Oh, and the Zig glue pen seemed not to stick the leaves down properly, so I busted out the glossy accents and just made tiny dabs here and there - worked like a charm.

Handy hint - Glossy Accents replaces super glue in our house. I've used it to bond the broom when the wooden pole came out of the wooden head, and used it to re-fix the paper towel holder to the shelf in the cupboard. Superglue and wood glue both failed. David burst out laughing when I ran up to the craft cupboard and grabbed it gleefully! I tried to use the old "see, all that money well spent" argument, but he rolled his eyes. better luck next time eh?

Enjoy your weekend, and hopefully we can all get a chance to squeeze in a little crafting!

AM x

Wedded Bliss

2011-07-05T12:18:00.000+10:00

Even though David and I had a wishing well for our wedding (we bought our house and had two separate return trips to Italy and got married in that same 12 month period!) I still always feel a little guilty giving people money. Somehow feels so last minute, even if it's not.

So I figure making the card is my way of saying "hey, this is a big deal and I'm putting a lot of effort into it". Problem? I'm largely a clean and simple girl, so it often doesn't look like I spent so much time on it. Check out this card for example:

I made this card for my cousin's wedding. The striped ribbon went right around the front of the card so I was able to tuck in the cash and make it part of the card. Nifty, but totally by accident! Hehe

I was kind of happy that it came out as clean and simple as it did. Finding a wedding card that's not too girly can be difficult. This was my way of keeping it unisex. (granted it did have a little flourish on the cake and some wedding rhinestone bling on the flowers!) but overall fairly plain and more about texture than colour. The fact that the card stock is linen-grained and the silver cake is embossed gives it a 'specialness' (is that even a word?) but hopefully doesn't look too plain and slapdash. What do you think?

Summer Card Camp - Week One

2011-06-30T22:51:00.003+10:00

For those of you who haven't heard about Kristina Werner & Jennifer McGuire's Summer Card Camp 2011, you really need to check it out!

It's a 4 week online course with daily downloads including all sorts of great ideas, hints, tutorials, and giveaways. The best part is its not necessary that you participate in real time. You can upload the pdf's and use it any time.

After a really stale period in my crafting, it has been great to begin to get enthusiastic again about card making. I guess at times we all get a little 'safe', and lean towards the same look or same colour combos. This week's colour combo is one I wouldn't have dreamed up if my life depended on it! I've always been fond of simple designs and earthy colours, but this one really pushed me beyond my comfort zone... and can I say, I'm so glad it did!

It's still a simple design (I haven't had a personality transplant in this absence) but at the same time, I thought it made use of all the bright fun summery colours. For those of you sharing Melbourne winter, you would understand what a breath of fresh air it was after the blustery cold, grey, foggy days we've had of late!

The butterflies are die cut fromthe SU!Beautiful Wings embosslit die. I die cut them twice and then glued one on top of the other, with the top ones a little bent to give a 3D effect. Aren't they cute with the in-built flourish? The cardstock (as best I can tell given they were scraps) were: Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Ballet Blue and Rose Red. I used the WAMK Corner Chomper to round of the corners ever so slightly, and of course - what's a CAS layout without a little bling? (Boring, that's what!). The stamp is also from an SU! Hostess Set "Afterthoughts". I won it at the wonderful and super-sweet Sue Madex launch party for the Autumn Mini. Gotta love a freebie!

I bought the Martha Stewart Scoring board recently. Can I say, it's been great. It made scoring the double lines on either side of the velum easy peasy! I had been umming and ahhing for a while before getting it, but so glad I did. I also love it because it has regular intervals for those of us who flunked fractures in maths! [my maths teacher was right afterall .. who woulda thought!] hehe

And now.... to enter into it into the Summer Card Camp Week 1 Student Spotlight... *fingers crossed*

Welcome to my new-look blog!

2011-06-29T22:01:00.000+10:00

Well after an admittedly longer than anticipated hiatus, I'm finally back! I'd apologise for my absence, but I'm not sure any one's reading any more!

For those of you who have managed to remember my little blog, keep an eye out over the next few weeks as I signed up for the Summer Card Camp run by the uber-talented Jennifer McGuire & Kristina Werner and am really looking forward to lapping up loads of inspiration and some new techniques. I hope to be uploading my new cards as I work through the classes.

I've also got a new little card-making project on the burner - soon to be unveiled. In the meantime, here's a little card to kick off a recent celebration. My big brother just turned 40 and this was the card I made him...

Apologies for the crappy photo, however it was taken at 7am, before the sun rose in Melbourne on a particularly bitter morning... thank god it turned out to be a wonderfully crisp and sunny day, with lots of laughs all round!

Have you ever made the same card more than once and each time refined it? That's what happened to this one. I'm just bummed that process didn't happen before my brother's 40th! I made an evolved as a standard birthday card for a fab friend. It feels nice making masculine cards that aren't themed with traditional male products. What do you think?

My take on those popular Christmas ornament cards

2010-12-31T16:00:00.002+11:00

After my wild rambings in the last post, I thought I'd keep this one short and sweet! (shock horror!) hehe

This is one of those Christmas ornament card variations that everyone seems to be doing lately using the Hero Arts 2010 Cling Stamp called 'decorative ornament' together with the Tim Holtz distressed snowflake again.

Admittedly I kept the Cherry Cobbler, Kraft and Whisper White ensemble, mainly because I liked it and just used Old Olive as the accent green. I liked how it lifted the card. I cut the ornaments once stamped out by hand which was easy enough and hole punched the stamped jump ring so i could thread through the ribbon for a more realistic look. Of course since I was making this at about 2am, I managed to screw up the centering of the hole punch on the red ornament, so once threaded, I stuck gemstones over it to make it less obvious. I added some bling too which never goes astray if you ask me!The red ornament is popped up on dimensionals for .. well... dimension!

One more coming and then I've done my dash for Christmas cards!

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas Time.. no wait, New Years!

2010-12-30T23:19:00.000+11:00

Where does time fly? It seems I only just finished the last post [in November] and it's already almost New Years Eve!

I thought I'd post a few of the Christmas cards I made this year.. granted, there were not many of them given I made 40 invitations to dad's surprise 70th birthday (say tuned) which was also in December.Therefore this year, those who got gift vouchers for Christmas, got a card to put them in (sort of to make up for the non-gift). Does anyone else feel guilty about giving vouchers? Even though I know some prefer them, I always have that pang of guilt that it wasn't thought out enough.

Anyhow, I managed to snaffle one of those gorgeous 'dasher' stamps from SU. I love it, I'm not sure how they managed to pull off a design that's both ornate but still CAS at the same time, but I'm not complaining!

I made two versions of this card, the simple stitched one and the distressed one. I would have taken photos of the inside, however yours truly managed to write in them before taking the pics!

The base cardstock is from SU - 'Cherry Cobbler' (CC) it's my new favourite rich red colour, and teams well with all my neutrals.

I simply stamped it once on Whisper White in Cherry Cobbler ink and mounted it with the CC cardstock on Kraft.. oops Crumb Cake. The faux stitching is still pierced holes with the matt pack with the white unigel signo pen run over them. For a little bling I added some rhinestones on the curls of the antlers which i thought gave he otherwise very simple design a bit of oomph. I also tied kitchen twine around the central image before mounting it with dimensionals which i think helped ground the reindeer a little.

For the next card, I took the same idea but tuned it sideways and distressed the edges for my nephew to make it a little more masculine...

The background was a distressed snowflake rubber stamp I received as a Christmas pressie from a colleague which was very sweet. It's from the Tim Holtz collection of a company called Stampers Anonymous. I'd never heard of them before but its really good quality deep etched rubber and Simon Say Stamp sells them. Other than the Stampin Up goodies, I pretty much buy everything else from there. Even though it's an American site, given how well the Australian Dollar is doing, and how efficient their shipping of orders are, I usually have my orders within less than a fortnight and for a flat rate of $15 for shipping only. Hard to look that particular gift horse in the mouth!!!

I stamped it using Kraft ink, which I am still raving about. Previously, I would have used Versamark, but this leaves a much crisper image I think without compromising the subtlety of tone-on tone. The sentiment makes me smile because I was all bummed out that I didn't have any cute Christmas sentiments, and I'm very partial to those half printed, have script/handwritten ones. I scoured my collection for something, and low-and-behold, I found this little gem amongst the SU 'Best Yet' set. (From recollection, it may have been a hostess set) but I never really noticed it... until now that is! Isn't it sweet?

The little itty bitty snowflakes are from one of the little single stamped in the 'short and sweet' sentiment set. Again, one of those looked-over stamps in a set I use often. So seriously, go back through your stamp sets, and try to look at those ones you usually pass over .. it's super-rewarding to find some gems. It's almost as good as buying a new set, but free!

I hope you like these and that Christmas found you and your families in good health and spirits and with less indigestion than I! (what is it about Christmas lunch and totally over-eating every time, no matter how many times you tell yourself, not this year!?!) hehe

Take care these holidays, and hope Santa was good to you all! x

More Pink!

2010-11-21T20:51:00.002+11:00

Can I apologise in advance for the poor quality photos of late .. its hard to get any half decent ones without skill or natural sunlight!

This card I made as an attempt to change from the standard size cards. When I went to the Craft Expo recently (the one at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne) I bought myself some textured paper and matching envelopes for square cards. I must say I was stumped at first to get any of my previous layouts to work for square cards. So as if I needed any encouragement, I surfed the net and you-tubed to my hearts content.

What I came up with was a take on all those wonderful CAS websites and the inspiration from this amazing card that I saw at Sue Madex's latest SU catalogue launch where someone (I think in her team... feel free to let me know Sue so I can give her credit) made an amazing card in two different ways using this stamp set. Her card looked both girly and chic at the same time and seemed to have beautiful detail. It stuck in my mind, so when I made my card, I looked down and it was clear that there was a distinct influence from that earlier card. I just hope I did it justice!

This stamp set is one of the level 1 SU hostess sets called Birthday Bakery. I simply stamped it with Versamark and heat-embossed it with black embossing powder. Once set, I coloured in with SU markers and then put glossy accents on highlighted points like the frosting or cherries on top! I know its not that visible in the photos but in real life it gives it a bit of a lift. I heat embossed the matching sentiment from the stamp set and the lines were just drawn in using the basic black SU marker and a trusty metal ruler. HINT: wipe your ruler with a cloth or paper towel after each line if you don't want to leave an ugly dark swipe across the face of the card when sliding the ruler across! (learnt that the hard way .. bugger!) Of course that was after I had done all the embosing and colouring :(

The inside is more of the same, just individually cut out and stuck on using dimensionals.

To be honest I thought cutting them out would be really fiddly, but these shapes are really forgiving and I was able to use the paper snips and cut a bunch out really quickly. It gets a bit mesmerising after a while. If you're looking to tune out and live in la-la land for a while - this is the quickest way I've found :)

So howzat mum? Two pink cards in as many posts .. I'm not a lost cause after all! hehe

The next post is what I have spent this weekend on - invitations to my dad's Surprise 70th birthday! (lucky he's totally computer illiterate otherwise the cat would have been let out of the bag. He called the Internet "Goggle" (like the swimming glasses) the other day, it was kinda cute :)

Till then, enjoy yourselves and here's hoping for some time to hit the Christmas Cards! x

Pretty in Pink

2010-11-17T12:30:00.001+11:00

My mum would be killing herself laughing if she were reading this blog right now, as she of all people know that the colour pink and I have not been good friends for a very long time!

My mum says that she was desperate for a little girl, so when I was born, she went mad on pink frilly things. Much to her dismay, I never really went through the 'girly' phase .. so my beautiful princess bedroom (queue whiter than white furniture with gold handles and pink accessories as far as the eye could see... curtains, doona covers, pillows, throws, and bed valance.. you get the picture!) was totally wasted on me. The first chance I got, I turfed all things pink and swapped them for British Racing Green and Maroon! Since then, I've never really been comfortable with pinks ... and indeed the last post was about as pink as I have ever gotten - until today that is!

I was on the hunt for a warm pink colour, and loved SU's Pink Pirouette, but cranky about the lack of matching embellishments/ribbons et al. So I went down the path of one of the new in-colours: Pretty In Pink. It's a little more vivid than I would have liked, but it seems to set off the choc chip accents, so maybe its okay after all :)

I played around with my base card this time as I wanted it to fit into a standard envelope, but was sick of the usual version of A4 CS cut in half horizontally with a side-fold or long top-fold. This time, I cut the A4 sheet in half lengthwise, and used it to make a portrait card but with the fold on top. I just rounded the corners with the punch to take away all those harsh angles.

Its that trusty old Kraft again, stamped using my new SU Kraft (Crumb Cake) Classic Stampin Pad (Yay!) Its so much better than relying on versarmark. I think it gives a much crisper image for that shade on shade look.

I've stamped it with the SU En Francais background stamp which I am totally in love with. Seriously so versatile. The Pretty in Pink CS has been run through the big shot with the Swiss dots embossing folder and matted onto WW.

Those gorgeous butterflies you've all seen around lately - again nifty SU embosslit dies for the big shot called 'Beautiful Wings'. It has 5 different butterflies in the single die which is great for matching accents.

I've used two of the largest butterflies in Choc Chip CS and stuck them on with Ranger Glossy Accents. (Crystal Effect should do the same thing). I shaped the top butterfly with my fingers and just stuck it on using a tiny line of Glossy accents. I had tried using dimensionals but they were always visible, so this did the trick and stuck it on nice and snug without losing its 3D-ness (is that even a word??) hehe. Here's a close up which may help explain ...

The butterfly path was just penciled in free-hand and pierced with the paper piercer and matt pack. I then rubbed out the pencil and traced it with my choc chip marker for that faux stitched look.

I wrapped some translucent white ribbon around the whole card front which I bought from the local $2 shop. It's width works well I think because the inside flap just has that lovely pattern pulled taught against the Kraft card stock and looks very elegant. (Me!.. elegant ... unbelievable I know!)

I've tied a knot but it needed something extra, so out came those gorgeous SU antique brads. I've secured them as normal, but then squirted a little glossy accents under them to hold them tight in place. I found it makes them more robust when handled without being visible.

The inside was quick and easy as I just used the off-cuts of the Pretty in Pink CS when I trimmed it down to fit off-centre and 2 of the remaining butterflies from the same die. I love the fact that you can whizz it nice through the die for 5 matching embellishments. Gotta love the laziness of it all :)

The matching envelope again was just alternating colours of the same die. See, so simple!

So that's my girly girl Pretty in Pink butterfly card. (Mum, stop hyperventilating - you have not gone colour-blind!)

I think I've done my dash at pink for a while, but .. well maybe there's one more in me before I head back to the safety of my earthy/neutral tones!

Until then, take care and Happy crafting x

Getting Clucky ... ?

2010-11-15T23:42:00.002+11:00

Sorry for the temporary absence, but one of my best friends arrived from the UK and we spent a wonderful week and a half having a fab time cruising around the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island and soaking up the Melbourne sun (while it lasted!) ... and rediscovering that I can get drunk just looking at the amount she can drink! hehe

That said, I have been a busy crafting bee and will be posting a number of cards I've made lately...

These are two baby cards I made recently... I just fell in love with the Stampin Up Baby Tees jumbo wheel from the moment I received the catalogue and wanted to make it the focal point of my card. There have been very many versions of this style of card, and this is mine ...

I just rolled the stampin wheel along whisper white CS in choc chip ink and then coloured them in.

Now because I'd spent far too much browsing you tube these days, I came across this colouring technique using pencils and odourless mineral spirits (I think the main American brand is called Gamsol). The pencils have to be wax based, and everyone has been raving about prismacolour pencils - but my budget didn't stretch that far. I did however find some called "Koh-i-Noor" which is a Czech brand and got great reviews.

Basically you colour in the images in the pencils and then use a paper stub (the rolled up paper in the shape of a pencil) dipped in the mineral spirits which spreads the colour around evenly and gives really good coverage and soft colour play. Its a shame the photo doesn't make it clearer but you get the ability to shade and give texture without that scratchy look you get with other pencils.

After colouring the images as described, I just cut them out with the trusty paper snips and 'hung' them on the kitchen twine line. I secured it by punching holes with my paper piercer and matt pack, and putting in a brad. I just wound the string around each before pressing them in - hey presto- washing line!

The scallop edge on the Kraft CS added that little bit of cutesy detail it needed once mounted on plain whisper white card stock.

Here's the girly version:
Exactly the same but in shades of pink.

Originally I had tried to colour these in with my SU markers, but the colour was too vivid and left 'texta marks'. I needed the pastel look which is totally not me!

I was going to try to watercolour them, but I hadn't yet gotten an aqua painter and my brush just wouldn't stay in the lines (well okay, I couldn't!) so this technique worked well for me.

I coloured in a whole A4 sheet at a time which sounds like a drag but it was actually really therapeutic! Really good to do when you need distracting or watching a 'take-it-or-leave-it' show on tellie!

So what do you think? I was really happy with the way they turned out, but maybe that's because I keep thinking of babies! x

Umm.. is there a word for Extra-Belated ?

2010-10-30T12:00:00.002+11:00

As most of you who actually read this blog (not counting you mum!) some of you would know that I was recently absent studying crazily for my specialisation exams ... Now for the record, I DID manage to make this card for my dad in time for Father's day in September .. but David liked it enough to ask me to make one for his dad .. except we discovered afterwards that Italian Father's Day is in March ... oops!

So does this make me ultra prepared or embarrassingly late??? hehe

I'm not sure if you can see from this picture, but the whisper white that's double mounted on SU basic black and on Kraft has been run through the bigshot with the Cuttlebug distressed stripes embossing. I like it for masculine cards - its a bit rustic and less girly than many of the others I think!

The stamp is one of my recent favourites from SU - the medallion stamp... although it did take a while to find the right kind of balance for this size card. I kept stamping not enough or too much, so ultimately this became a way to cut out the bit I wanted and then mount it on the card. Of course the green card stock and matching ink is SU Old Olive.

For the sentiment, given it says "Happy Father's Day" in Italian, I didn't have a stamp for it, but there's this cool video tutorial by Jennifer McGuire which shows you how to generate a typed sentiment to your liking on the computer and how to position it on your card stock to be exactly where you want it on the card! (and trust me, if I could work it out, anyone could!)

Given my printer doesn't seem to feed thicker paper, I can only print on SU Whisper White, which is a real bummer, and methinks my next large investment will be a decent colour printer that prints on cardstock.
Call me controversial, but I'm sort of liking the idea of Hybrid card-making .. combining the ease of digital images with the unmistakable texture and feel of hand-stamped and tactile embellishments. Does anyone have ideas or comments on good printers? I've heard the Kodax Pixma does great things, but I would be interested in everyone's experiences.

The inside of the card is the same medallion stamp repeated in Old Olive matted Basic Black.

It's a very simple design but I think it could be versatile!

I like the look of cards that are finished on the inside, the OCD part of me just couldn't get past the idea of opening up a card to get blank paper... :)

I think I'll made a few extras of these, I just have to work out what sentiments to put on them as you have to print them on the cardstock before running it through the big shot.

That's it from me for now... Happy stamping everyone!

Love Hearts

2010-10-28T12:15:00.003+11:00

Hello again (three posts in a week eh? Who woulda thought!)

I made this card for a friend who asked if I could make her a "love" card she could give her partner who has been a fabulous support to her while she was recently unwell. The request was "Just not too girly or cheesy Valentine-esque". GULP!

Well anyhow, this is what I came up with - and lucky she (and importantly he) loved it! YAY!

Ok, in the photo it looks a bit wonky, but I promise in real life it was all prettied up!

I'm really having a love affair with choc chip and Kraft lately... My stash is diminishing at an alarming rate but Kraft (Sorry, try as I might I just can't bring myself to call it Crumb Cake) is just so versatile!

I've used the SU matt pack to pierce the holes and used the faux stitching technique by running my choc chip marker over the holes. I found if you pause at the holes, it makes the stitching more realistic.

Despite the fact that my grandmother was a seamstress for 40 years, my sewing ability is horrendous! Although, after piercing all those holes (and making 5 more of them but this time with butterflies.. stay tuned) I'm starting to think I better learn quick smart!

The ribbon is the new SU Early Espresso striped Grosgrain which I just LOVE. (no pun intended hehe)
The hearts were die cut with the Sizzix heart dies that came free with my bigshot. The largest is in Choc Chip which I stamped with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye, and then distressed with the blade of my scissors and sponged around the edges to make it pop more.

The middle heart is on SU So Saffron cardstock which I stamped with the SU En Francais Background stamp in the same Tim Holtz tea dye distress ink. The mini heart is from a SU paper pack that the wonderful Sue Madex gave me as a free gift with my monthly Marker Club tutorials. (sorry, I have no idea which pack it is)

A vintage pewter brad attaches the tag which is die cut from the SU Sizzlits Lots of Tags Label 1 series.

I hope you like it!x

Elephant Stamp

2010-10-26T16:58:00.004+11:00

I love elephants .. or Eph-a-lants as i used to call them! (we've been so lucky in Oz to see two recent births) I'm trying to con David into taking me to see the one at Melbourne Zoo but to no avail!

This stamp set is from the same Hero Arts set as that of my previous post. I heat embossed them and then coloured them in using my new favourite colouring tool - the Ranger Inkessentials Blending tool It basically is a little handle with a velcro pad that you can constantly replace for each colour. I found that it blends really smoothly (no more patchy attempts to sponge for me). I just keep each colour attached with a glue dot to the bottom of my ink pad which means I never have to look for the matching pad.

I used SU Ruby Red and Ballet Blue inks which I just rubbed over used the tool. As you can see it gave pretty even coverage but still kept the texture of coloured in images instead of those stamped on plain coloured cardstock. The sentiment is from the SU 'Whimsical Words' set (which from memory was one of the free Sale-A-Bration sets). The elephants as always are up on dimensionals on WW which I ran though the bigshot using the polka dot embossing folder. The card base is SU Old Olive (my fave green of all time).

I've tried to make this card in the 'normal' size, but can't seem to ground the animals without them looking overwhelmed by the size of the card. Any tips or ideas will be appreciated!

Two children's cards in a row...anyone would think I'm getting clucky! ;)

welcome back laptop and happy birthday Jack!

2010-10-24T16:58:00.000+11:00

Hello again blogland... fancy waiting all that time to get back to blogland and then no having a laptop (nasty fairies first messed with my motherboard, then with the hardrive and then gave it a virus!) But it's finally all patched up and hopefully ok for the next little while...

I have been busy making cards of late, but like a muppet - forgot to take photos of some before giving them away, will make them up again as one or two were hits!

I recently purchased some clar stamps from Hero Arts online from Simon Says Stamps which is an online store as well as ebay store and has great shipping rates to Australia. The fact that the Aussie dollar is almost par with the US dollar also helps! Most of the hero art stamps which we pay $30-$35 for here are $15 which meant that some of my recent stamp purchases have been online...

This card I made for my nephew Jack who I usually call my cheeky lil monkey (genetics at play) ... This stamp set is the Hero Arts Clear Stamps PLAYFUL ANIMALS Cleardesign set and it has a good selection of cute animals. Here I used the two monkeys ...

I heat embossed the images on WW cardstock and then coloured them in with my SU markers - cut them out and popped them on dimensionals. The letters are from a die I bought at Lincraft but I managed to throw away the packaging so I can't remember the brand (oops) but I did coat them in Ranger Glossy Accents. Here's a tip by the way ... Don't get impatient and try to use the heat gun to dry glossy accents.... it bubbles up! (as you can see) I'm not sure if the SU Crystal Effects does, but air dry over night.. I'm a bit bumbed I screwed up the letters.

The card is SU Chocolate Chip and the bottom panel is Kraft CS which i ran through the crimper and then sponged with choc chip ink. The ribbon is one of my favourite SU taffeta ribbons - choc chip... i love the way its not so dark and has a great texture which works so well with all brown tones.

For the inside, I used some ivory textured cardstock I had left over from a Connoisseurs pack with another cut out monkey, and repeated the monkey again on the matching envelope.

I hope you like it, and in the next day or so, I'll show you a little gift card I made with the elephant stamp from the same set...

See you all soon! x

Back in Blogland!

2010-08-21T22:54:00.000+10:00

I kind of feel like the caption to this post ought to be backed with an AC/DC soundrack given how monumental it feels for me to be back. Studying for specialisation has been a tough slog and my little pea brain has been smoking from the effort! Thank you to all of you who wished me well... will let you know how goes late October/early November!

One of the fabulous things thats happened of late was the Helping Hudson Website. For any of you you haven't heard about it, seriously, take 10 min to head on over and check it out. Such a worthy cause and flooded with talent! (Let's face it, who of us ever needed much prompting to browse a little more about scrapbooking and cardmaking??) hehe

To celebrate getting back to blogging, I thought I'd take part in a challenge on the Helping Hudson website. (Excuse the dull image, it's about 10 pm and the lighting is leaving a lot to be desired)...

Pea brain strikes again! (As it turns out, it's an old challenge that since has closed) so it won't be linked to the website, but another donation can't hurt the cause!

This base card is Chocolate Chip, and the backround is WW that has been run through the big shot with the polka dot embossing folder.

The stamp set you would have seen before on my blog and is from the SU mostly flowers set. I havce used baja breeze and choc chip ink on WW which have been individually punched out with the 1 3/8 square punch and then stuck onto choc chip CS and mounted with dimensionals on the background.

The So Saffron grosgrain ribbon lifts this card and it was a wonderful colour challenge as i would never have thought to contrast those two colours with the pale yellow of SU So Saffron. (and because I'm still crap at bows, and I wanted something more special than a knot, I finally tried out this fancy but idiot-proof bow).

I hope you like it!

Will be back very soon with some more cards (especially in September when the new SU catalogue comes out and I've been saving my pennies for a haul of goodies!)

Till then, take care... :)

Birthday Hippo

2010-06-06T13:48:00.002+10:00

Can I just say that studying can be really crappy!?! It has been a while, and it sucks all the positive energy out of you if it's not a labour of love!

That said, June is a very busy month for birthdays and so I have taken a couple of hours out to make a few cards. Still have three more to go, and will be spreading them out as much as I can. David's is next, and I'm still trying to think up something special for him.

In the mean time, a good friend of mine Chris, had a gorgeous little boy called Isaac about a year ago. I missed Isaac's first birthday party a couple of weeks ago because I had a severe bout of gastro and it was U.G.L.Y. So even though I had a little card I had previously made, I decided to make something a little extra special to make up for missing it. I hope he likes it.

It also works out perfectly in entering (nervously for the first time) the Just Add Ink challenge to "Just add stitching"!!! (thank you Tina Gillespie for the idea!)

The hippo stamp is from the SU "Pun Fun" set. It's so cute and versatile.

I used the mat pack for the border of holes and the white uni-gel pen for the faux stitching. I would LOVE to learn how to sew, but until then, this will have to make do!

I have printed the hippo on vellum and coloured it in with markers from behind. I have double mounted it onto Whisper White CS and then Night of Navy CS. I have popped up the whole lot with dimensionals, (including the red balloon) and just drew in the string because I liked the idea of the balloon being off the mount.

The card is Ballet Blue (soon to be retired!) In my basic black marker I just free-hand wrote the "Hip-hippo-ray" sentiment which exists with the stamp but included Isaac's name in it to make it a little more tailor-made.

When it came to the envelope, I was going to repeat the process and then found some designer paper that I had bought from one of those $2 shops. The paper had a greeny-paisley design on it which I liked, but can't for the life of me match to any cardstock I have. The back of the paper low and behold had just the right grey! So it became the cardstock for the envelope and the inside of the card. Much quicker than vellum and colouring, and gives a much smoother finish. I am going to make this card again, this time using the grey paper for all of the hippos.

For the inside, I just went over the existing holes from the front with the white gel pen again for a reverse faux stitching as it was too close to the edge to mount paper over it.

The sentiment is from the SU "Best Yet" Hostess set. It's stamped in Ruby Red (also retiring! boo hoo) onto WW and mounted with the Night of Navy CS.

I have used the same mounted WW and Night of Navy CS for where the greeting goes, and made another little hippo (sans balloon) that straddles the two pages for some interest.

I hope you all like it. I can see me making this one again, with a range of the Pun Fun characters. They really are too cute!

Take care, and I hope to pop back in here in the next few days with a post of the birthday card I made for Sandra. I can't tell you much about it as she is one of the few existing friends I have who actually read this blog from time to time, so I don't want to spoil the surprise!

Well that's it from me for now. Hope you have a lovely time for what's left of the weekend. I'm back to hit the books (Alas the Federal Criminal Code is no where near as fun!).

Temporary Absence

2010-05-17T09:33:00.001+10:00

Hi everyone,

Whilst I miss blogging, and mostly miss my creativity time, I'm not going to be around too much for the next 3 months as I'm sitting my Specialist Accreditation exams in July and August and the majority of my down time will now be spent buried in legal books.

I will try to make a card or two here and there, [just so I don't go completely mad] and I have three birhdays in June so that will mean an enforced study break at some stage *grin* .

Until then, enjoy your crafts, and have a wonderful time!

Cheers,
AM xxx

Not Quite Right

2010-05-02T19:16:00.000+10:00

Do you ever make a card (or scrapbook page for that matter) that you finish, but fnd that it's not quite right? I'm posting this card, not because I'm really happy with it, but because I think it could do with some changes, but I can't put my finger on them. - Feel free to make comments/suggestions!

I have used Chop Chip and Ruby Red Red CS with Whisper White highlights.

I originally stamped the Eastern Blooms flowers in Versamark, but it didn't show up enough, so I used Ruby Red ink instead.

The Cherry Blossom is stamped on Whisper White with the Ruby Red and Choc Chip Markers and then cut out with my SU snips. I think in hindsight I shoudl have raised the image on dimensionals for a bit of oomph as it sticks down on the page somewhat blandly.

The sentiment also doesn't float my boat. It sort of just sits there taking up what was too empty space. I dont have many punches (not that would fit it anyway) so I'm not sure whether an oval punch would have helped or whether t still would have had that same 'plonked on' look.

The only other option I can think of is to have embossed the sentiment in White directly onto the Choc Chip Cardstock. What would you have done? As I was unhappy with the overall card, I didn't make a matching envelope! Bah hum-bug!

Here's to feeling a little extra creative very soon as I have to make a 1st birthday card for a boy and a Mother's Day card for mum in time for the weekend!

Retro Eastern Blooms

2010-04-30T20:51:00.001+10:00

On my crazy card making marathon last Friday, I also managed to make a card that was a little different to my usual style, or at least was a little hiatus from my standard colour schemes.

It came out having a sort of retro-theme, even though I wouldn't have thought that 'Eastern Blooms' would quite lend itself to that kinda mood. I thought it would be a fun card. It feels that way for me, but maybe it's just the colour scheme, no muted tones here!

I've used SU Basic Black CS with a crimped Whisper White panel with Old Olive grosgrain ribbon. I stamped various versions of the Eastern Blooms stamps onto Whisper White using Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive and then simply cut around them using my SU paper snips.

I used my Fiskars two-in-one corner rounder punch for the bottom corners. Unfortunately it won't do both the front and back together as the CS is too thick, but because it has a paper guide on it, it was pretty simple even for me to keep them even!

Not that you can necessarily tell from the picture, but the large Pumkin Pie flower has been propped up on dimensionals for some extra interest. One of the extra flowers was used on the envelope flap to keep the theme going.

To be honest I think I'm happier with the inside of the card:

I had gotten a little trigger happy with the stamping and cutting out of the flowers (I had stamped most of an A5 sheet with the idea that I could have them ready for when I have less time). However after cutting out a few for the front of the card, I found that I must have slipped into 'the zone' as low and behold, there were a pile of cut out flowers in front of me!

So instead of saving them all as originally intended, I used quite a few of them up for the inside!

I on purpose didn't stamp a greeting so hopefully I can use it for whatever occassion it will suit sometime later down the track.

Given the current 70s-80's revival maybe this will be popular with my [hard to please] teenage cousins?

Happy weekend everyone, hope we all get a little time for crafting! As for me, I'm going to kick back with a warm cuppa and raid the tin of yummy yo-yo's to make the most of the Art With Heart Blog Hop!

Crimping

2010-04-29T18:07:00.001+10:00

Was I the only one who didn't have a crimper? Initially I thought it might be something I would use so irregularly, that I wouldn't bother. Then we used it a couple of times in Sue's classes (http://www.madexcreations.com/madex_creations/class-dates-and-details.html) and I became addicted. Now its a regular feature in many of my cards. I think texture is underrated! hehe

This card actually came out of a mistake from a previous card. When I made sympathy cards not too long ago, I had used the mostly flowers stamp and punched out the circle, mounting it on the scallop square. I managed to be my usual clumsy self and get a piece of cheap double sided tape stuck on the choc chip card which I'd crimped. It tore a bit when I tried to pull it off. In the end, I cut around it and and tore off along the bottom, wrapping kitchen twine around it as a feature. I then had this tag, embelishment thingie and couldn't find anything to do with it... well until now that is:

I used the trusty Choc Chip CS, with lots of mounts. Kraft, Whisper White and then Choc Chip DSP. Because the scallop square was mounted using dimensionals, I simply used double sided tape to stick the entire thing to the DSP.

What do you think?

I'd been looking for a way to use it for a while now, just keeping it in the drawer with Choc Chip CS in the hope that I'd finally come up with something!

As I was geting lazy, I didn't have the patience to go out and stamp the mostly flowers image again, so I embellished the envelope with a scrap of the DSP and choc chip punched with the two circle punches - cheeky but hopefully I got away with it!

Have a lovely night and happy crafting!

Beautiful Blogger Award

2010-04-29T01:16:00.000+10:00

Have you ever had that urge to call out "Wow Mummy, LOOK AT ME!" - I mean after hitting puberty? I had that moment about 5 minutes ago when Sue Madex (http://www.madexcreations.com/) awarded me the Beautiful Blogger Award!

I mean lil ol' me! The one with the blog from umm.. Feb 2010 hehe

Anyway, given the array of wonderful bloggers around, I am very chuffed! Especially when you check out Art With Heart's Blog Hop Ladies... I mean really... :)

So now, as a BBA winner I'm supposed to tell you 10 things about me - where to start???

I'm a dag. Not the closet kind, but the out and proud kind - the one who is currently curled up on the couch with the laptop in flannel jamies and slippers known as "hoodies for feet" - the girls call them my adult booties!
I'm a criminal defence lawyer who loves her work and the rough and tumble of advocating for largely disadvantaged and disenfranchised people who screw up from time to time.
That despite being new to cardmaking and the ocassional scrapbooking, I have found a whole new world of people (in real life and blogland) who are amazingly talented and have turned what I find to be a relaxing creative outlet into an artform.
I love the look on people's faces when I give them a card that they actually like and want to keep.
That I have an amazing husband who when I open my eyes in the morning and see him sleeping next to me, still gives me butterflies.
That I've been blessed with a remarkably close and loving family, who although seem perpetually plagued with serious illnesses, are amazing, strong [slightly nutty] and inspirational people.
That I am genetically programmed to over-cater and find it impossble to cook for less than 4-6 people at any given time (even though there is usually only 2 of us). On the weekend, I made over 100 crumbed and pan fried mushroom risotto balls as 'nibblies' for friends.
That I love to travel, my current dream trips are to Morocco, Syria, India and North East Africa.
That I am the only person I know that has a whole spice cabinet instead of a rack or two, but still has a cardboard box of "back up spices".
My new found pride is that I have kept one lemon tree and a potted herb garden alive for 12 months. This from a person who has killed succulents, cacti and rosemary!

Well, scarily enough that's me :)

Happy scrapping and can't wait to pass on the award! Thank you Sue for passing it on to me too!

Baja Breeze DSP

2010-04-27T17:38:00.002+10:00

Up until fairly recently, I really didn't have any DSP. I was stamping images onto cardstock and using that. Now I've got a couple of packets, and it really does make life soooo much easier if you want just a simple card, with a little detail, ut very little time to do it in. This card took me about 5 minutes. Even when you include the inside, and the matching envelop I think I had change out of my 10 min. That said, sometimes the least fussy ones can work the best...

I used SU Choc Chip CS as the base, and used a panel of Baja Breeze DSP, together with a creamy textured paper called Fundamentals - Cardmaking for conoisseurs. It's made by Fynmark an usually sold at Spotlight and Lincraft et al. It comes in a pack of 20 in the 148 x 210 cm size and you can buy matching envelopes. It has a really lovely feel to it, I have used it for more formal cards (wedding cards etc) as a base. The texture is quite strong so I haven't had much success stamping directly onto it. Here is a close up so you can see the texture I'm talking about:

The ribbon is from SU. Its a polka dot grosgrain robbon and it double sided, so you can use either the dotted side or the plain side. The quality is fantastic, as its thick enough for the patterned side not to show through if you want to use the plain side. (I bought some cheaper ribbon and you could see the dots faintly through and it frayed really easily).

As you may have noticed, most of my ribbons usually are plain or have knots. It's not that I don't like bows, its just that I'm usually really crap at them! This video on Teneale Williams' blog (for those of who who are not aware - she is the Queen of bow makers) makes it do-able, even for me! That means you all can, no really! Check out the video: http://www.tenealewilliams.com.au/wp02/2010/03/17/close-to-blushing-14-days-to-go/ I used a little kitchen twine to tie the bow together in the middle. I like the contrast to the choc chip. With some matching panels on the flap of the envelope voila!

David thinks its a little TOO plain. Maybe it could do with a little sentiment above the ribbon on the left hand side. I guess I can always add that later when I decide who to give it to. What do you think?

Eastern Blooms

2010-04-26T17:24:00.001+10:00

My apologies for being so slack of late, work got a little crazy and I really didn't have much time at all to get crafty! That said, I finished early on Friday (5:30pm I was out the door, woo hoo!) and made up for lost time - making 8 cards!

I did start off by making another wedding card for a family friend Angie who got married yesterday. I made a card for my parents to give to her. Like a muppet however, I gave it to mum without remembering to tak a pic of it, so if I remember what I did, I'll make it again. There seem to be no shortage of weddings lately!

One of the new stamp sets I bought recently seems to be an old favourtite for most, the SU Eastern Blooms set. I really love the cherry blossom in particular... So my first card was using that with some of the fabulous choc chip DSP paper I won in a previous StampAMemory challenge...

I used SU Kraft CS (although I suppose I should start getting used to calling it crumb cake) and then mounted the choc chip DSP onto choc chip cardstock on the top third. I used Kraft tafetta ribbon to cover the join.

I stamped the cherry blossom onto whisper white using my choc chip and ruby red markers, and mounted on ruby red cardstock. I must admit this is one of my favourtite SU colour combinations. I'm going to really miss ruby red when it is discontinued soon. I used dimensionals to mount the image which i think gives it a little oomph as it otherwise quite simple.

As you can see, I used an offcut of the dsp together with a portion of the stamped punched with the smaller square punch, mounted using a larger square-punched piece of Choc Chip CS for the envelope. I think matching envelopes make it that little bit extra special.

I have also found a new spot to take some pics, as my blinds and fridge were perhaps not the greatest of backdrops for my photos come to think of it!

Hope you like this one, and keep an eye out over the next few days as I upload more (regularly) this time!

Take care, and enjoy what's left of the long weekend!

Happy Easter- Vellum suprise

2010-04-05T21:55:00.000+10:00

Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate it, and for those that don't may you have enjoyed the enforced break! (although with all that cooking and all that eating, I'm now officially exhausted!)

This year I was given strict instructions not to buy big easter eggs or copious amounts of chocolate for my nephews so I bought them a Lindt bunny each for Easter. Problem was it looked a bit folorn sitting there all on its lonesome, so here was my take on this year's Easter eggs.

The tag is made using kraft CS, overlayed by whisper white and basic black. On Nick's package, I just used chipbpard letters and painted them in my ruby red marker. The bunny image is from Stampin Up, however it's stamped on vellum in stays on. I then put my recent marker tutorial to good use! I turned the vellum image backwards, and coloured in the image using my markers in the style of the stained glass technique. On Jack's package I managed to screw up the chipboard by selecting a marker that was to dark a green which meant there was vey little contrast between that and the black backing paper. So I had to cover the letters in paper and file off the sides. Because the letters were small, and little cheap ones from a $2 shop, they kept bending and as such the overall effect was a bit rough, but thankfully he didn't seem to mind!

Hold onto your easter bonnets though because I found vellum tape that's invisible and that doesn't require you trying to hide the glue with ribbon, embellishments or relying on brads to fasten! Best thing is it doesn't cost the earth either! It's "Scotch" brand vellum tape from Big W. It comes in a smallish roll and is tacky on one side and has a waxed paper on the outside. You simply snip off how much you want and affix it to the back of the image. Using your finger just rub the waxed paper up and down a little to warm it, and then peel off the waxed paper the same way you would for double-sided tape. It leaves a transclusent tacky glue that's a little visible whilst you're holding the vellum, but as soon as you stick it to neutral card stock, Bam! it dissapeared! In this case I stuck it to whisper white CS and then cut around the image with my snips. I attached the cutout with dimensionals for fun.

The boys loved them and didn't take long to devour the bunnies, although in true testimony to how much they liked them, they carefully pulled the labels off and kept them aside! (If only they were always so easily pleased!)

The vellum trick also works a treat when you print out images directly onto the vellum with the laser printer. I printed a few easter images from free clipart sites and used the same stained glass technique to make labels for the easter egg packages for work collegues.

*holds tummy* I never thought I could get enough chocolate, but I think that last Ferrero Rocher did me in!

Dragon Fly

2010-03-25T08:00:00.001+11:00

I bought this stamp a while ago online from Addicted to Rubber Stamps. It's from Magenta which I understand is a Canadian brand. (Amazing variety and great prices on this website, but beware Aussies, shipping costs are steep so you're better off ordering in one big bundle!) It's all in one piece mounted on woodblock, but I guess you could use the Direct to Rubber technique with markers if you wanted only one or two of the images.

I haven't had much chance to play around with it, altough I did disover it looks much better when embossed rather than simply stamped. That said, after getting the "Stained Glass" tutorial in the recent marker club, I'd be tempted to stamp this on vellum with stays on, and play around with colouring the images!

That said, here it is,(sorry photo taken during that crazy Melbourne storm a few weeks back). I'v stamped it with versamark and embossed it in black on whisper white cardstock. I've mounted it on SU Basic Black cardstock and then mounted that with dimensionals onto Old Olive.

For a change, I've used 12x12 cardstock that I've cut into three equal pieces this one has a normal left hand side fold, however I wouldn't mind having this in a top-fold card which I think might work better.

And there's that 'best wishes' sentiment from short and sweet again! (I ended up embossing the sentiment too in the end as it looked a little dull simply stamped next to the embossed image). Thank god for the stamp-a-ma-jig is all I can say!

HINT: Dont forget to use the emobossing buddy. It really shows up badly when you forget!!!!

Hope you like this one.

Next I'm on the hunt for a simple but 'fiddly' card. All my cards seem to be very 'clean and simple'. It's generally what I prefer, but I'd love to pull off one of those very pretty detailed cards! Any ideas I can case would be greatly appreciated!

Mostly Flowers

2010-03-23T08:00:00.005+11:00

The Mostly Flowers set was the first stamp sets I bought online (thank you ebay).

I made a birthday card for David way back then. I actually think it was one of the first few cards I made if fact!. I found a photo of it here:

It's all a bit wonky but I was new then ok? (I wonder what my excuse is now? hehe)

I made it using the same mostly flowers set in the sympathy card, but this time left in it's original square shape. The cardstock is SU Always Artichoke and the images are stamped in SU Old Olive and Versa Magic Midnight Black, mounted with dimensionals.

The organza ribbon was nicked from a present I received the previous year, and the black stiched grosgrain ribbon was from one of the many $2 bargain stores that I love so much.

Well since then, I've taken the a similar theme, but played around with the layout. Since I discovered Kraft CS, I've found it hard to move away from - It's so versatile!

I've used SU choc chip CS for the background, and mounted the three images which were stamped in SU old olive and ruby red on whisper white cardsock.

I mounted them individually onto whisper white, but didn't like how they looked too individual and spaced out. So I double-mounted (mounted them again onto a single piece of whisper white) which seemed to bring them back together and created a crisper look which I must admit I preferred.

The sentiment is from SU Short and Sweet, and I embossed in in white.

I can freely admit this one didn't take much time at all. And now that I have the two sizes of square punches, this will be a breeze! A good one I think to make in quantities as it's quite versatile depending on the sentiment (hence why I used best wishes, I think it's a good all-rounder!)

Happy stamping!

Sympathy cards

2010-03-21T14:36:00.018+11:00

Sympathy cards are something I have not really turned my mind to, but unfortunately yesterday I got some very sad news that a friend lost her father after a long battle with illness and another friend lost her husband suddenly from a brain annurism. Sad and shocking news. They are two people who are trying to have a little space and and such, I wanted to send a card to say we were thinking of them, but looking through my stash, I didn't have anything I thought was appropriate.

So yesterday evening, I pulled out all my things and tried to come up with something I thought they would like, but that was not too bright or garish in the circumstances. Both of the recipients are into simple striking things, so this is what I managed to come up with:

I've used SU chocolate chip for the card, and the matting is SU very vanilla. The floral paper is called Making Memories diecut LgFloral Mocha Paperie. It came in a 12 x 12 sheet with die cut flowers through it at random intervals. I initially thoght I would put it directly onto the chocolate chip, but you couldn't really see the difference from the die cut detail to the printed flowers. Very vanilla did the trick I think.

Some satin ribbon in a mocha colour from my scrap ribbon collection finished it off.

The aim was to make something 'muted' befitting a sombre occasion, but also something beautiful to lift the spirits. I just hope it has that effect!

The second card was an idea that I had cased from Jenni Oliver long ago, but never had a crimper to be able to make my own version. Since my lovely mum was kind enough to get me a SU gift voucher from Sue Madex for my birthday, I finally got one of my own, along with lots of other lovely things on my wish list! Again I tried for muted colours, this time, SU Chocolate Chip, Kraft and Whisper White.

I have just crimped the front flap of the Kraft cardstock somewhere near the middle.

I then stamped the square mostly flowers stamp with choc chip on whisper white, punched it out with the 3.2cm circle punch. I mounted each design on 3.5cm circle punched whisper white paper which in turn was mounted on choc chip paper punched with the scallop square. (Phew! sounds complicated but actually nice and quick because of the punches).

Each of the three little stamped bundles were then mounted straight over the crimped bit using dimensionals.

The chocolate stiched grosgrain ribbon helped finish things off becuase I didn't have an appropriate sentiment stamp. (The idea was to have used something similar in size to the short and sweet sentiment but there was nothing appropriate in my stash).

Excuse the wierd white box on the bottom right had side of the inside picture. I only thought to take photos after writing in the card and didn't want to post such a personal message for the recipient online. I've blocked out that bit using my basic editing program (I sooo need photoshop).

The inserts are choc chip. I discovered my laser printer (which was purchased with work and study in mind prior to me getting into this card making gig) doesn't pick up cardstock which sucks, so the quote is printed on normal white printer paper in black. It would look better printed on whisper white in brown ink, but I guess we cant have everything!

There are more of the stamped images, but this time on Kraft scallops. I wrote in the panel with my choc chip marker.

Well that's it for now. I was deciding whether to post them, but I figured there's not a lot of examples of sympathy cards around, so I might as well. That said, I hope you never need them!

Take care and here's to crafting in happier times!

StampAMemory Challenge 5

2010-03-12T19:57:00.007+11:00

Well I finally plucked up the courage to enter a scrapbook challenge - I must admit, when I saw what other beautiful entries were submitted, it was pretty daunting to consider throwing my proverbial hat in the ring!

This scrapbook challenge is through StampAMemory (http://tanjawestwood.typepad.com/stampamemory/2010/02/quote-to-remember.html ) . The challenge was to create a layout using a quote that is special to you.

As some of you might know, David and I finally got married in December last year and ashamedly I am yet to scrapbook any of the beautiful photos our wonderful photographer Adrian Tuazon-McCheyne
( http://www.mccheynetuazon.com/ ) took for us.

So I thought, what better way to enter a challenge with a photo and quote that mean this much to me!

So here's my first attempt:

For this layout I used the following:

STAMPS: Vintage Labels (from the current SAB set)

CARDSTOCK: Basic Grey as the base with outline matting in Going Grey. I also used Night of Navy for the trimming and printed from my laser printer directly onto the vellum for the quote, and laid it over whisper white cardstock

INK: Versamark and Silver embossing powder

TOOLS: Embossing Buddy, heat gun, matt pack

ACCESSORIES: Bashful Blue and Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon, with small silver brads.

Here I embossed Night of Navy cardstock in silver and cut around it (see what happens when you don't have a cool scallop circle punch!?) and used my matt pack to pierce the hole before putting the brad in the middle. Of course some dimensionals never go astray eh?

I also embossed the same stamped image directly onto the basic grey cardstock for some extra bling and some light and shade to the two-toned grey theme.

The quote is: " The closer I look, the more I find to love. " and at the risk of sounding like a typical mushy newlywed, it is really true! When David was all the way away in Italy, I really didn't think I could love him more (I was pretty pathetically smitten from the beginning) - but somehow over these last 4 years we have shared, the little sneak weaseled his way further into my heart! hehe

It's a pretty simple layout, but I hope its one that you all like :)

Well, *bites fingernails* that's it for my first challenge!

Happy crafting ladies, and thanks again for all your lovely comments thus far.

Wedding Cards

2010-03-09T09:47:00.002+11:00

The thing about making your own cards, is that you end up always looking at shop-bought cards and wondering how something so expensive can be so banal at times. In this case, one of my best friends went wedding card shopping only to come back empty-handed. She asked if I could make something, and it was an interesting challenge because I wasn't sure I could pull off a card that wasn't too 'home -made' but not 'cold'! (does that make sense to anyone but me?)

In any event, this is what I came up with:

The embellishments were only $3 on sale at Spotlight. They came with some other bits and bobs and the veil was a lot longer (I just gave it a trim) but I mounted the outfits onto textured silver-grey paper which was in turn mounted on SU whisper white and back onto the grey before being mounted back onto the whisper white card stock.

It is a top folding card which was a bit different and the ribbon was American Craft in the discount sale box. (I promise the ribbon is straight in real life but it just won't play ball in the photos!)

The inside was an attempt to flow on from the outside, but when I stamped the greeting, my hand moved, and I botched the stamping! In a mad panic I was trying to work out how to patch it up, and after a few not so clever ideas, I did manage to use the scraps from the grey textured paper to matt the greeting I re-stamped properly onto another piece of the WW cardstock. In the end, I think it turned out better than the original look I had in mind!

The grey matting around the greeing helped break up the expanse of white, whilst still leaving room to write in the card. Dont you love it when mistakes can be positive!?

(I'm not sure why it stubbornly posts side-landscape when the photo is portrait) sorry about having to rotate your heads. Any hints would be welcomed! Hopefully you can still get the general gist of what I was getting at!

Of course, a wedding card is never complete without a matching envelope, so I kept the theme going with more scraps and the same greeting...

I hope you like it, and mostly I hope the couple likes it. (Its always so hard when you've never met the recipient of the card).

Happy scrapping people, and in keeping with the wedding theme, look out for my next post which will be my very first attempt at a scrapbooking challenge! http://tanjawestwood.typepad.com/stampamemory/2010/02/quote-to-remember.html . *Fingers Crossed!*

Craft Cupboard & Storage

2010-03-08T12:27:00.000+11:00

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a trip to Ikea. My storage space for all things crafty was an underbed box, which then turned into two underbed boxes, three plastic bags, four shoe boxes and almost a partridge in a pear tree!

What would end up happening is that every time I felt like crafting, it would turn into this great saga as essentially I had to unpack everything just to get at a handful of items. It got a little crazy and in the end I wasn't achieving much at all as I had to allow a long enough block of time to unpack - craft - and pack back up, and let's face it, who has that much time?

My solution was a bookshelf in the study. It's the expedit bookshelf from ikea and you can buy insert cupboards and/or drawers. I bought both together with some funky black storage boxes and so far so good! What I like best is the paper sorting drawers from Big W. I have all my favourite and commonly used colours in it and it makes life so much easier when I have an idea about what I want!

You can also buy a desk that fits in snugly off the side: It would be a great space saving option for those who have limited space, but to be honest I'm not so keen on being tucked away in a bedroom while I scrap. I usually spread out on the dining table so David and I can chat away and sill spend time together despite doing 'our own thing'.

So now all that is left is to make little tags for the storage boxes to indicate what's inside. What do you think? I'd love to see your solutions!

Till then, happy crafting!

Simple Masculine Birthday Card

2010-03-07T17:03:00.005+11:00

One of my best friend's boyfriend celebrated his birthday yesterday.. I wanted to make a masculine card but not a traditionally 'blokey' card with hammers, cars etc... well, (just for something new) I used the presents stamp from the SAB set to make his card.. simple but I thought effective. Just for a little pizzaz (and largely because I'm addicted to embossing lately) I actually embossed all the presents on the front - just used my stamp-a-ma-jig and did them all at once which was suprisingly easy - even for me!!!

I ended up just using black cardstock, with SU Kraft overlay that I pierced along the top and bottom (HINT: SU's Matt pack made this almost idiot proof!) I then matted the whisper white embossed image onto black cardstock and popped it up on some dimensionals. (I also discovered they're much more forgiving if your edges are slightly off!)

What I also discovered was that it was also a template which became easily modifyable if you were after a brighter version!

(This could also look lovely with simple patterned paper, just to break the expansiveness of the colour).

Just pick your favourite cardstock colour and away you go! This one is on SU Kraft cardstock matted with SU Ruby Red and black . "Easy Peasy" as my nephews would say!

Art With Heart Bloh Hop

2010-02-28T15:37:00.000+11:00

This morning after breakfast, I took a seat out in the courtyard with my laptop and my coffee, and spent a wonderfully inspring hour or so blog hopping and checking out the wonderful creations of some of the members of the Art With Heart SU team. This blog hop had an easter theme, and it really was fantastic looking at everyone's take on all things Easter..

Whether you make it in time for the hop's blog candy or not - I urge you to take a visit. (I've listed all the stops along the way in case you get lost), It's a really lovely way to see diffrent styles and grab more than a few great ideas!

Just a warning however - if you're anything like me, you'll have massive chocolate cravings!

Enjoy, I sure did! :

Ros Davidson
http://rosdavidson.typepad.com/ros_davi ... g-hop.html

Kristine Thompson
http://inkspotcreations.typepad.com/ink ... g-hop.html

Sue Madex
http://www.madexcreations.com/madex_cre ... g-hop.html

Di Dunk
http://stampartbydi.typepad.com/my-blog ... 2/....html

Nikki Sadler
http://www.inkyart.com.au/inkyart/2010/ ... g-hop.html

Judy May
http://judymay.typepad.com/just_judy_de ... g-hop.html

Erica Boxall
http://www.ericaboxall.com/2010/02/east ... .html.html

Kathryn Lowe
http://www.katlodesigns.com/stamping_with_kathryn_low/2010/02/easter-blog-hop.html

Kim Meiklejohn
http://www.paperenchantment.com.au

Gayatri Murali
http://scrapawayg3.blogspot.com/2010/02/art-with-heart-team-blog-hop-and-blog.html

Kathryn Mangelsdorf
http://klm55.blogspot.com/2010/02/art-w ... g-hop.html

Tanja Westwood
http://tanjawestwood.wordpress.com/2010 ... -blog-hop/

Tina Gillespie
http://scissorspapercard.blogspot.com/2 ... g-hop.html

Christine Blain

http://christineblain.typepad.com/happy_heart_cards/2010/02/easter-blog-hop.html

Using Scraps, Bits & Bobs

2010-02-25T23:05:00.000+11:00

Many moons ago I was given a gift of handmade recycled note paper which was really beautiful, but difficult to write on. I always loved the natural fibres but couldn't find a really constructive way to use it - well that is until I caught the card-making bug...!

Here I used a half-sheet that has the skeleton leaf on it, and mounted it simply on complimetary textured cardsock, remounted on SU chocolate chip. The ribbon was the dregs from the end of the roll (hence why it was too short, so a snip or two off the edges later, I affixed it with vintage style brads that had come with embelishments I already had used for something else and it was all done.

Its so satisfying when you can whip up a card but still be happy with it. That said, next time I think I would cut the recycled papr smaller and leave more room for the textured card to be torn, I think it would look less cramped. (As if needed another excuse to spend some more stolen moments cardmaking!)

Happy crafting ... and thank you to all the lovely ladies who have posted on my blog lately, it was a wonderful welcome to blogland - and given how beautiful your collective work is, I was honestly really chuffed that you liked some of my work :)

New tools are so much fun!

2010-02-24T22:18:00.000+11:00

Amongst my new stash of goodies, was a heat gun and embossing powders. In fact, I've been accumulating so many goodies lately, my darling husband and I spent last weekend putting together my new craft storage area (ikea to the rescue) .. keep an eye out for pics, I'm so wrapped with how it turned out!

Well of course when you get anything new, If you're anything like me, you have to bust it out and use it! Here I made a simple note card using the same stamps I already had out (snowflake and circular frame from the vintage labels) I just added the little mini snowflake from the SU short and sweet word set. I versamarked each colour, embossed it and set it, before moving on to the next one. Made life much easier than trying to control embossing powder!

I made a few of these notecards in the end... good all-rounders I thought! Hope you agree.....

Time to sparkle!

2010-02-23T22:57:00.000+11:00

The ease of the 2-way glue meant that I got a little trigger happy wth the glue and glitter theme... I had a simple flourish stamp (this would look even better if I had the florish one from SU's batik motifs! - hint hint honey!) and I just used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the florish to look like patterned paper from Florence. After stamping in choc chip, I traced over some parts with the 2 way glue and added the glitter to it... chopped out my favourite bits into a square, stuck it on the ruby red card and tore off the bottom. Bang on a knotted ribbon in chic chip and stuck onto choc chip cardsck, and it was made pronto! I hope you like it...

Sale-A-Bration

2010-02-21T10:18:00.001+11:00

As a result of a little shopping spree ($100) with Sue my SU demonstrator, I managed got a free stamp set from the SaleABration catalogue! I chose vintage labels, it's so versatile and I've had so much fun trawling though everyone's blogs and sites who've been using the sets as inspiration.

I really am addicted to my favourite few SU colours - chocolate chip, old olive, ruby red and ballet blue, as you might have seen, my cards usually involve some or most of these!

I bought a snowflake stamp for $3 at Christmas from Riot Art and it's ben really versatile for snowflakes or just for embellishments generally. In this card, I stamped the snowflake and the circle from vintage labels in old olive and chocolate chip. After letting the image dry a little, I just ran my 2-way glue pen over selected images, and then added some clear glitter (mine was Martha Stewart fine glitter but SU dazzling diamonds would be great for this). I think it really helped to lift it. I made an A5 sheet of it, and then just punched out bits of the images with my square punch.

I made the card with SU Kraft paper, with the old olive matting to the chocolate chip base. The old olive grosgrain ribbon is so easy to work with and since I'm not uch of a bow-maker, I took the simple knot option! The greeting is SU short and sweet stamped in old olive and sponged for effect...

For the insert, I wanted to follow through with the pattern (minus the glitter) so this is what I came up with...

Now that I'm happy with the design, these would be easy to make in multiples!

Happy stamping :)

Japanese Doll Voucher Holder

2010-02-20T16:24:00.000+11:00

One weeknight last week I was having trouble sleeping with the stifling heat, and I decided to make a voucher holder card for one of my best friend Anastasia's upcoming birthday. She loves the little japanese dolls, so here's what I came up with...

It's just basic black SU cardstock matted with whisper white and old olive. The stamp is from Hero Arts and stamped on whisper white and coloured in with markers. The grosgrain stitched ribbon is from my local $2 store (gotta love those places!). I dry embossed the WW cardstock inside where the greeting goes just to give it some extra oomph as I thought it was otherwise lacking something.(I found the Fiskars dry embossing template for under $20 at Aldi's of all places!) It makes lining them all up dead easy! The voucher sits inside the little pocket attached with a glue dot and the hole near the pocket was simple to make with my circle punch.

And just because she's extra special, I decided to make a matching envelope...

Thankfully it was a hit !

101 ways with Live Like You Mean It

2010-02-07T13:10:00.004+11:00

In December 08 I met a wonderful and talented woman called Sue Madex, who is an independant Stampin Up demonstrator who lives locally to me. I found her blog by accident whilst browing the net for ideas, and went along to one of her classes... (the first of many!) Check out my favourite links to Sue's page. In any event, Sue got me started with a few basic tools and papers, and even though I would have loved to have bought the majority of what was in the catalogue, I bought enough stuff to earn me my first free Hostess set - Live Like You Mean It. Given it was one of my only stamp sets to begin with, it wasn't too suprising that I used it over and over in different ways... Here's another which was a favourite of tweens and adults alike... Here I've used a chocolate base card I bought at Target on sale (I'm sorry I can't remember the brand name, but I know it wasn't Kaisercraft). The panels are stamped on whisper white with old olive, pumpkin pie and ballet blue (SU) and then mounted in the matching cardstock. The ribbon is chocolate double-stitched grosgrain that I bought from the local $2 shop. Well best be off, we have industrial masonry shelving to put up in the garage.. if our marriage survives this, it will survive anything! hehe

My first ever post!

2010-02-06T23:03:00.005+11:00

I thought that for my first ever post, I'd take a photo one of the first cards I made, a card for a baby boy. I loved the idea of a little jumpsuit, but wanted something smallish to affix to a gift but still amount to a stand-alone card... this is how I fared... Created using largely Stampin Up! products: Ballet Blue cardstock, The flower from the Live Like You Mean It Hostess Level 1 stamp, stamped on whisper white. The embellishments are half pearls.