Crafty Cow Creations

spice up your scrapbooking

2012-01-26T14:49:00.000+11:00

the best way to spice up your scrapbooking is to use new stuff lol

here's the latest offering from stampin up from the new summer mini

it is a lovely dsp called spice cake and has matching fabric , stamp set, button and ribbon-how cool is that?

here i have used the lace border punch for some detail at the bottom.

i used the square punch which i inked around for the middle and i added a strip of crumb cake seam binding ribbon with some buttons

for the photos i used the large tag from the two tags die for the smaller photo with a flower for an accent. the larger photo i cut some suede card and added some pumpkin pie card with some baja seam binding ribbon for an accent

another accent was made from fabric put through the circles die and a button sewn onto them...you could do the same thing with paper if you like but the fabric is kinda cool isn't it?

nothing like spicing up your scrapbooking page with a mixture of textures :>

bonza oztraylia day to yous all

2012-01-26T01:18:00.001+11:00

today in aussie it is australia day

a day to be a real aussie-eat something burnt off a bbq, play two-up, wear your dinky die cricket hat, listen to some cold chisel or inxs or ac/dc, wear your thongs, munch on a lamington, grab a cold one from the esky and generally ponder the big things in life like should thorpey really going make a swimming comeback or should sir donald bradman be made a saint

so in honour of such whimsical aussie-ness i give you some australian goodies i have been making this week.

some pill tins sourced from reverse garbage using the all aboriginal stamp set and some beads and some crystal effects

some 2012 calendars using the all aboriginal stamp set and dsp and ribbon and buttons plus some leaves inked up

lastly a zigzag album perfect for putting your australia trip photos in with room for some journalling...and it all fits nicely in a little recycled box.

hope that makes your day and now i will toddle off and finish singing waltzing matilda while i nibble on a sanga

the dinosaur cave

2012-01-25T19:27:00.000+11:00

now given my last post was about the girl's bedroom it seems only fair to note that my son also got his dream room too for the same budget

my son wanted a dinosaur cave with a tree in it

simple huh?!

the entrance to his cave is a hessian sack cut into strips and stapled to the door frame

the tree was made using the tubing from the fabric used in the girl's room and we painted it brown. then i went into our garden and scrounged around the branches that had been chopped off a couple of our trees and poked them into the tube and also added some to the side. the tree is also in the process of getting leaves made from leaves cut out of fabric and threaded through some thin wire and wrapped around the branches.

the purple spotted dinosaur was made from corrugated card and so was the cave walls. i also added some fake grass by the tree.

we also found this fab sign made from polystyrene ready to stick on the wall with blu-tak

we found a dinosaur duvet cover and pillow case and added some green curtains made from a king size sheet cut in half that we have painted foot prints on to.

my son bought some great little wooden dinosaur models too that have pride of place on his shelves although his pteradactyl is hanging from the tree:>

corrugated card x 3 $4.50

paint $6

hessian sack $1

sign $2

sheet $2

duvet $4

grass $2

dinosaur models x6 $12

green fabric $2

wire $2

corrugated card

ask and ye shall receive

2012-01-24T19:24:00.000+11:00

my girls recently asked me if they could turn their room into a fairy princess room with pink stuff everywhere and have a castle

suuuuuuuuuuure

but i told them that we only had $50 to spend on it.

they thought that was very cool

and did the 'can we really spend that much money?' question

gotta love kids and their money sense huh!?

so we went to visit our favourite place reverse garbage

and our local favourite op-shop

and this is what we came up with

bedroom door has a lace curtain over it with beaded dangley bits (cut from necklaces) with the spare necklace being used as a tie

the curtains were made from some bright pink fabric and more lace curtaining stapled and wrapped around the old curtain rail

new pink fairy castle mat added

castle was made from corrugated cardboard painted pink and attached to beds with ties or staples.

then added and wrapped the rest of the lace curtain around the bunk beds to make it more fairy-ish.

we also added some new fairy duvet covers and pillows.

i have also added some pink cushions from fabric scraps near the book case for the girls to sit on and we still have a mirror we have to paint up and add to the room.

mat $5

corrugated card x3 $4.50

pink curtain fabric $5

duvet covers x 2 $8

necklaces x4 $4

mirror $10

paint $6

lace curtain $5

fabric scraps $2

not bad hey?

giving and recieving

2012-01-16T18:24:00.001+11:00

i love recieving gifts and getting gifts

come on now-who doesn't???

so i was VERY pleased to be part of the INKLINGS secret santa this year.

i have to fess up and say that my secret santa Belinda was landed

with the vague idea of 'anything orange' and boy did she do a great job!

amongst the chocolates, ribbon, material and other goodies she made this amazing card.

it is called a multifold card designed by the talented odette kermode

it works well as a card and as a scrapbooking layout too

i loved it so much i had to case it so i did!!

i used razzleberry, pumpkin pie and vanilla on mine.

i embossed the razzleberry with an embossing folder that i then rubbed over with white ink with touches of pumpkin and suede.

the vanilla i rolled vintage lace in white. then i quick dried it and stamped images from the established elegance set in pumpkin.

then i went over all of that with some friendly words in vintage sepia versamark ink. after that i sprinkled clear embossing powder over it all and heated it to give it a shine. to top it off i sponged the edges and a bit in the middle just to make it more vintagey

the belly band had a pin on it with some beads attached to a heart and some orange ribbon tied to it.

in the middle i added some ribbon, a square brad and an element from the friendly words roller. i wrote my message on a tag attached with dimensionals.

i also rolled suede over the back of the card to really finish it off.

i hope my recipient liked it :>

cheers ears

paper rosettes

2012-01-15T21:41:00.001+11:00

i saw some paper rosettes in a craft mag the other day and thought to myself how easy are they really?

so hunted the www and found one i liked

i had to tweak it for my use and this is what i came up with

get some 12 x 12 paper (i used scrap paper) and score it every inch.

this is where a scoring tool is VERY useful:>

then cut along the paper

i tried anything from 3cm to 7cm.

most of mine were 5cm

just make sure you cut 2 the same width :>

stick tape at each end

you could use glue but i foudn tape was waaaay easier

stick the two strips together end to end

then fold on the score lines.

if you are brave or infinitely tidier than me then feel free to do the folds free hand and do away with the whole scoring part.

the trick is to give it a squeeze every ten folds or so to really squish it all together.

stick the ends together to make a zig zaggy circle.

it doesn't matter what side is in the middle.

then i punched out the bits to go in the middle from a variety of punches. i used a brad in the middle. i have also used buttons which work well (especially when i don't have the colour brad to match :>) and you just hot glue the button into place.

now this can be the annoying part.

to get the zig zag like this all you do is push your circle into the middle and lay it flat. use all your powers of finger dexterity to stop it kapowing back out at you!!!

because it will....

..especially if some small child suddenly needs you right away to look at something very important like the poo they have done in the toilet (aahh toilet training-don't you just love it??!!)....

to get it staying put grab your glue gun and squeeze a bit of glue in the hole in the middle and spread a little bit around the top.

put a small circle (i used a 1" circle) on top of the glue and hold it there for about 10 seconds....hopefully your fingers wont burn too much :>

fingers crossed it is stuck enough for you to quickly flip it over and glue the other side and stick a circle down there too.

then you should be ok to decorate it.

add your middle bit with hot glue

and ta-da!!!

it should look something like this.

you can then add it to a scrapbook page or a card or turn into a 3-d flower or on a pennant or a wreath...a thousand zillion uses

for the flower grab a bamboo skewer

and poke it into the middle of the back gently

and you should end up with something like this

now if you wanted to be a little bit fancy

you can make your ends prettier by punching them with border punches. do this before you go and do the foldy zigzag bit. as you can see different punches make different results.

you can also sponge the edges or distress them-whatever takes your fancy really.

here's a selection of some i have made

hope this was easy for you to follow

and please leave a link to show yours off to me if you try to make some :>

merry christmas from the crafty cow

2011-12-30T21:51:00.000+11:00

hi all

we are currently chillaxing

(yes that IS a real word in australia!!)

while camping in beautiful outback australia

during our christmas holidays

check out miss 2 by our tent and the lovely outback sunset

we are away for 3 lovely weeks on a road trip from

sydney to adelaide

(to catch up with friends and family)

and back

that's about 2000 kilometres if you are wondering

no craft

no tv

and just the big boy with his i-pad :>

take care over the festive season and looking forward to getting all crafty again in the new year with you all

teacher gifts

2011-12-16T21:53:00.000+11:00

thankfully all my kids teachers like wine

love it actually

deserve a great big glass of it after having my precious little bundles all year

so their christmas presents are always easy

bottle of wine

something chocolatey

done up all pretty-like

i plonk some retired xmas paper around the middle

(so they can't see what cheap wine i have got them haahahaha !!)

stick some home made chocolate in a decorated bag

(this year it was white xmas'-recipe down below)

and i add some ribbon and a pretty thank you tag

all matchy matchy

yes that is season of joy stamp set!!

a very useful xmas set

white christmas recipe

500g white chocolate melts
1 1/2 cups rice bubbles
100g dried cranberries
160g pistachio nuts
160g sultanas
1 cup (90g) desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

line cupcake moulds with greaseproof paper

melt chocolate in a metal bowl over a saucepan of boiling water

stir in vanilla

add rest of ingredients stirring in between each one

splodge into cupcake moulds

leave to set in fridge

nom nom nom nom nom nom

customized xmas decorations

2011-12-13T21:09:00.000+11:00

sooooo easy

soooooo quick

and they look good too!!!

master 6 insisted on posing with his one!!!

check out that tongue!!

so each year i make/buy a xmas ornament for each kid

i date it and put their name on it so they have a collection of decorations all of their own to use when they finally move out of home and have their own celebrations

i know some of my favourite xmas decorations are the ones my parents kept of mine from my childhood.

so how did i make them?

firstly i got a silver bauble and tied a silver bell to the top.

then i tied a ribbon around the middle and added a silver snowflake to the ribbon with a glue dot

then i added a glittery silver letter ( for their name)

lastly i added a tag in the shape of a love heart with the date on it

took me all of 20 minutes and cost me maybe $1 each at a push

earrings

2011-12-06T08:13:00.000+11:00

i bet you never thought about making earrings out of paper huh?

well these beauties are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

easy to make-a bit time consuming-but so easy.

all you need is some earrings, some stamps, some beads and a bottle of crystal effects

and this is what you get!

these were made using the small oval punch and the bird from the four frames stamp set.

just splodged a bit of red on the belly and grey card for the back

these earrings were made from frightful sight dsp, 1" circle punch, some red card and ink

these were made from the domestic goddess dsp, 1" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, red card and ink

these were made from the forest friends set, 1"circle punch, red card and a sprinkle of glass glitter

the earrings are very simple to make.

just ink up a stamp onto card

punch it out

pour crystal effects all over one side

leave to dry for 24 hours

turn over

cover with crystal effects

leave to dry for 24 hours

punch out a little hole using your1/16" punch

add your earring attachments

it is really important to leave the crystal effects to dry

until it is hard otherwise you get fingerprints in it :>

pop on over to the creative crew for more awesome challenges

cheers ears

frosty the snowman

2011-12-04T08:06:00.000+11:00

so over at the creative crew this month we have been given a sketch to follow

as soon as i saw this i groaned because me and circles are not friends

we do not get on creatively and never inspire each other

so this was a hard one for me

but....when i turned it around...well...then we had some ideas

it totally looked like a snowman to me so that was what i went with

frosty was made using the following punches

13/4" circle-head

lace ribbon border-snowflakes

square-hat

owl-heart, eyes

3/4" circle-mouth

large circle die-tummy

i also used a snow inspired embossing folder for the background that i sponged with silver ink and stamped the sentiment from inviting down the bottom

meiow!!!

2011-12-03T16:55:00.000+11:00

we have a little black cat called mog

she is very adorable

and very friendly

except at 3am in the morning when we find out that someone left her outside for the evening....sigh....

she has a very forlorn meiow that is quite hard to ignore at that ungodly hour of the morning

this calendar was made with her in mind

this was one of those el cheapo $2 calendars from the reject shop that i have twiddled with

just added some red card, drawn some bricks onto it with a white gel pen

made a window with some grey and black card.

moon is made using a 13/8" circle punch and the star is made from trio blossoms flower

here are the pieces you will need to make the cat

the punches used were:

blossoms petal-front body, tail, ears

ornament-back body

word window-legs, paws

cupcake-eyes, tongue and nose

1/2" circle-cheeks

1" circle-face

i sponged around the edges of the black in white so the body can be seen better.

the front body has been stuck down with a dimensional to give it some lift.

cheers ears

a girly retirement card

2011-11-19T07:30:00.001+11:00

a teaching colleague of mine is retiring this year and i offered to make her a farewell card

this is what i came up with

the background paper is presto patterns and i have sponged some red, grey and gold ink to it

you can see the background better here when i show it in a better light

i added some vintage lace ribbon, some beaded pearls and a ribbon flower to the side.

the wooden mannequin was inked in black (with a touch of gold) and i added some red and white pearls to it.

the sentiment was done using the teeny tiny sentiments set-man oh man is that set useful!!!

with it being a group card i needed to have enough space on the inside for people to sign it.

so i added some 'shelves' with tags on them for people to pull out and sign

on the tags i used some plain black stain ribbon and stamped a squiggle from tiny tags in gold.

hope this special teacher likes her special card

cheers ears

cards for special people

2011-11-18T16:49:00.000+11:00

making a card on commission is always fun

i love the chance to make that one of a kind card that is specific for that person

this card is for a reading teacher

hence all the letters!!

she loves black and silver

and we needed a card that had space to write all the thank yous in it

i made a pocket card so that she can slip out the insert and read all the lovely messages inside it.

the card is from my stash which i bought when i was doing an alphabet album for my kids.

around it is some lovely whisper white all crimped up with some silvery bling on the edges

in the middle is some black ribbon and the sentiment.

the sentiment and its frame comes from the vintage labels (r) stamp set with a bit of bling there too!

behind it i added a decorative label x 3 in black, grey and white.

to top it off i added a small love heart button from my hoard of buttons :>

i just hope the recipient loves it

cheers ears

ps if you want a custom made card made by the cow please send me a message as i am happy to help out!

how to make a dora cake

2011-11-17T15:47:00.001+11:00

so last night at 7pm

just as she is heading for bed

miss almost 4 asks me if i can make her a cake for school

"a dora cake peeese mummy"

sigh

those big eyes looking soulfully at me i cannot resist

but given food shopping day is the next day

and i am home alone with the 4 kids it is not like i can zip out to the shops for stuff

so this is what went down instead

i am sorry if you came here for an insightful blog post about making an awesome cake

if anything i will possibly make a post at cake wrecks...who knows?

anyways here is what i made with very little ingredients and virtually no time

an egg free chocolate cake

egg free cos there were none not because of allergies i might add!! lol

i added grated apple instead-hope it will work.

miss wanted 'lellow' icing, sprinkles, pink lollies, candles, a happy birthday to me, and dora.

my printer is not working at the moment

so i attacked a tissue box and stuck a kebab stick on dora's head rofl

she went to bed as it was cooking

when she woke up this morning i heard the screams of delight

thank goodness miss 4 has such awesome expectations of what she wants

for her the cake was perfect

me, on the other hand...

cheers ears

dora the explorer

2011-11-14T20:11:00.000+11:00

dora is a bit of a favourite at our place

miss 4 especially adores her

why?

i have no idea as she drives me bonkers!!!

but she asked me for a dora card and a dora cake AND dora cupcakes AND dora toys AND...AND....

it is her birthday this week so i will indulge her a bit

it's not every day you turn 4 after all :)

so here is dora in punch art as a card that i will attach to a canvas to put on her wall.

the background of the card is big top birthday dsp

the ribbon is not stampin up (just in case you were wondering lol)

dora is made using the following punches

full heart -hair, sleeves

xl oval-face, tummy

ornament-t-shirt middle

word window-arms, legs, backpack straps, nose, eyes (white), shoes, sox, neck

itty bitty shapes circle-eyes (brown)

3/4" circle-mouth

spring blossoms-fingers, shoelaces

boho blossoms-sox

1 1/4" square-shorts

stamp set used is happiest birthday wishes (a hostess set)

which has a whole heap of great birthday sayings perfect for birthday cards

i added a teeny bit of white gel pen to the eyes to make her have her special little sparkle

close up of the fingers using one of the flowers from the spring blossoms punch (now retired unfortunately). just cut 1 petal off, then miss one

and then cut out 2 more and you get a hand...

of sorts anyways lol

boho blossoms flower for the top of her sox.

two word windows placed on top of each other

and then petals from a spring blossoms punch for the shoe laces

cheers ears

ps i have made the type a bit bigger to read-let me know if this works for whoever is reading it:>

baby gift

2011-11-08T10:26:00.000+11:00

at the creative crew this month we were asked to create a whole pile of things using many different card folds-some i had never tried before which was great!

so i had a play with the designs in smaller scale before committing to bigger and grander ideas :>

so i made a baby gift set of thank you cards for the new mum.

i used an old coffee jar and decorated it with just add cake paper keeping to a neutral purple and green theme so it can go to a boy or girl mum

so here it is!

6 tall cards, 4 easel cards and 4 quarter fold cards.

i used the baby tees jumbo roller and the baby bundle stamp set.

i also used the tasteful trim border die cut and some embroidery thread

all the pictures were coloured in using eggplant and wasabi ink and a blender pen

tall card

easel card

quarter fold card

simple and easy gift

cheers ears

pocket card mini album

2011-11-07T09:51:00.000+11:00

another idea popped into my head whilst i was making my huge pocket card for a scrapbooking page

what if i made a few of them and used them in a mini album as pages?

et voila!

here we are!

i used the cheerful treat dsp you can get with your hostess dollars

it is VERY pretty

here are the pages stuck together with the tab punch and ribbon on the pull out pages

and pretty flower using the flower folds die

so how do i make this you ask-eeeaaasssyyy!

take 4 pieces of 12x12 dsp, cut in half and fold in half.

cut off about 5cm from one end.

stick tape on sides and stick together

use craopadile to punch holes along bottom

add strip to top of shortest flap.

add flowers to each page

make cover using a 30x17cm piece of paper.

cut in half and add to a 7cm strip of card which has been folded at 3cm and 4cm

decorate cover-i used flowers and lace ribbon border punch.

attach all the pages together with twine and stick to inside of cover with sticky strip

cut out an A4 piece of card into 4.

add a tab punch and ribbon to these and use these for your journalling and photos

clear as mud?

good :P

feel free to ask any questions given how awesome my intructions usually are rofl

cheers ears

how else you can use the stampin up catalogue

2011-11-06T05:35:00.000+11:00

apart from buying everything in it of course hahahaahaha

it is an excellent source of ideas and inspiration.

this month the creative crew were asked to case a card from the catalogue and it had to be a tall card

i ummed and ahhed about a few and played with a couple but they were a bit poop

(so i am not showing you them here!!)

and finally was happy with this card inspired by page 78 and the nature's nest set.

the original used oranges and green and razzleberry i think

i swapped those colours for black, white and melon mambo

i changed the scallop trim punch for the lace ribbon punch

and the dragon fly for a butterfly.

the sentiment also got changed

i also wanted to change the medallion stamp from being subtle to being in your face!!

so i used the melon mambo embossing powder to really pop it out!

to finish it off i made a matching envelope using the very cool long envelopes from stampin up

i would love to see what card sketches have inspired you

feel free to leave your inspirations in the comments section and i will pop on over and say hi!

cheers ears

scrapbook page with a difference

2011-11-05T06:04:00.000+11:00

over at the creative crew this month we were taken out of comfort zones (well i was anyways lol) with the challenge of using a pocket card as a scrapbook page...hmmm...took some thinking...

so this is what my brain came up with!

one gigantic pocket card!!!

i used 2 pieces of love letter dsp (now retired sadly) as it fitted the colour scheme of my photos.

i just gave the edges a bit of a curve with the corner punch and folded over the top bits and stuck the sides together. then i inked around the edges.

inside are 2 big photos on bashful blue card with tags attached and journalling on the back

yes that is my handsome hubby :>

as well as him i have added a medallion stamp and added a bit of dsp and an antique brad. the edges of the medallion have been made using circle punches and cropadile out of a scallop die and some bling!

there is also some srtipey thick ribbon and a large silver tag with a felt flower and antique brad

up the top is a bevelled window pane with a sentiment inside it

used the simple letters alphabet for the title and added some bling

the bevelled window pane has a sentiment from best yet and i have added some ribbon and glitter brads

photo tabs have journalling on the back

tags are made using circle punches and dsp and an antique brad

hope this inspires you with your scrapbooking for an idea for loads of journalling

cheers ears

quarter fold card

2011-11-04T05:44:00.000+11:00

now here's a new one for me!

i have to say that i have never done a quarter fold card or heard of one before

until we were asked to make one for the creative crew challenge

they are very easy to make and perfect for adding a photo in!

here is my offering

i used black card stock with wasabi and white to off-set it a bit.

stamps were my jumbo rollers (sparling and sparkle and shine) with some versamark

and then some wasabi embossing powder heated over the top.

be sure to use your embossing buddy to stop the static on your card collecting the powder.

border is from the pennant die.

also soem tiny tags added to the ribbon.

here it is minus the ribbon

unfolded with the photo inside.

i also added some white inside so the kids can write xmas wishes to their grand parents :>

one side was done with the sparkle and shine roller with a white star added to break up all the green

sentiment is from season of joy and stamped in black

here is the card spread out before folding so you can see how it fits together.

it gets put together much like folding up a box with 4 flaps

here are the measurements i used to make a card to fit a normal sized photo in (14x10cm) with where to put the folds in as well.

now if you know anything about me these measurements are approximate lol and may need a bit of tweaking hahahahaha

cheers ears

letters to santa

2011-11-03T08:41:00.000+11:00

i remember as a kid writing loooong lists to santa well before december with all the presents i would love to recieve plus all the good things i had done to deserve them.

i get my own kids to do it now too

and they often get a reply back from him which they enjoy

stampin up have a new paper range called letters to santa which has some great graphics on it plus some matching plain patterned paper too.

they also have matching accents (thick stickers really) that are really cool

and make making stuff quick and easy.

over at the creative crew this month we are trying to get you to make an easel card using the colours from this set or even this set.

here is my idea.

used a combination of letters to santa paper plus accents.

santa and words are cut out of the dsp.

frame is from the accents and i have just cut around card stock to give it extra layers.

added some ruffled ribbon and some bakers twine

on its side so you can see how it is made

some stampin up ribbon attached to a safety pin plus a charm

a bit of bling on the accents and a button with some twine

santa has some crystal effects to give him some lift

inside of card with room for a sort note

making an easel card is easy.

there are plenty of instructions and tutorials over the net for them.

the way i make them is to get a piece of A4 card.

cut down the middle portrait way up to get 2 pieces of card.(approx 30cm x 11cm)

fold the card in the middle.

then fold one half at approx 5cms

and then the other side.

fold it so it looks like a w

take 1 half of your w and stick them to each other so you are left with a T shape

and you have a simple shape easel card with a lot less cutting and measuring :>

hope you have fun making these

cheers ears

notebooks

2011-10-25T20:42:00.000+11:00

here are some notebooks i covered recently.

these make easy christmas gifts for teachers, friends or

other people who have touched your life with their love

just get some patterned paper, ribbon, bling

and some punched out bits and pieces and you are on your way!!!

i find this is a perfect way to use up those bits of your stash that is in the "iamnotsureiwanttothrowthisawaysoiwillkeepitforabitlonger" pile :>

and i KNOW we allllll have one of those

hope you feel inspired

cheers ears

quick and easy xmas tags

2011-10-23T20:07:00.002+11:00

xmas tags are easy

especially when you have the tag punch and ornament punch like i do :>

it's juts a simple punch and stamp and punch and stamp and punch and.....

you get the picture huh? lol

the tags fit perfectly in a re-vamped mint container :>

the ornament ones fit nicely in a re-vamped storage container

i used the xmas accents to help em make these little cuties-very easy and quick!

cheers ears

if you have ever seen me knit...

2011-10-22T20:05:00.000+11:00

you would just completely pee yourself!!

i am officially the world's worst knitter.

i am sooo bad that the scarf i started last winter got finished just in time for summer

and it was in fact a triangle by the time i was finished with it...

so why oh sweet why would someone like me buy the hand knitted stamp set from stampin up???????

because the stamp set is cool...and it has a sheep in it

(and i am from nz and we love our sheep...bwahahahahahaha or should i say baaahaaahaaa)

and i have several knitty friends who desperately need cool tags and cards to go with their knitted items

a box of small gift cards and tags

a old storage container now used for a tag gift box

a gift box for small cards and tags

these are for sale at campbelltown craft cottage

pop on in and say hi!

cheers ears

flower fairy

2011-10-19T17:55:00.000+11:00

miss 3 turns four next month so i am getting in early for her birthday card

because knowing me i will forget about it

and be up doing it the night before with pink sticky cake icing all over my fingers...

you know how it is!!!

my fairy card was made using the blossoms petal builder.

i used it 'normally' for the flower building up the petals on the flower from

the different petals you can punch out.

i also used it to make the fairy with her dress and wings

the fairy's dress was made from 2 of the large petals with some scoring and sponging to give it definition. her wings were made from the rest of the petals and they were scored and sponged too. i added some arms and hair using the bird punch and the 1/2" circle for her head.

and of course, i added the obligatory fairy glitter to her :>

the flower was very simple to do.

i just punched out 6 shapes out of pink pirouette card.

then i scored the lines into each petal and then sponged with melon.

again i had to add an obligatory pearl and glitter to that so it didn't look plain next to the fairy....

excuses excuses...i know...who needs excuses for bling right?!!

after all, the recipient is a four year girly girl lol who i know her first reaction will be "oooo sparkley"

this card was an easel card so i added some much needed ribbon to the end as i had run out of room...cough cough...ahem....on the card...and it still needed 'something'.

so hopefully you will get another use out of your blossom petal punch from that!!

cheers ears

wow...a card.....

2011-10-13T21:41:00.000+11:00

yeah yeah i know

it's been a long time between cards rofl

but just when you thought it was safe to go outside

i made a card!!!!

this is a baby card for a friend of mine who has just had a lovely baby boy.

i used the very cute elebration stamp with some domestic goddess designer series paper.

i added a swirl from the swirls scribbles die cut and

made a ribbon with the dotted scallop ribbon punch.

added a few pearls and a paper suede flower

hope she likes it

cheers ears

christmas gift box

2011-10-12T19:37:00.000+11:00

i thought i had already posted this but...my bad...oops i haven't lol

over at splitcoast stampers this month we had a challlenge using any holiday-themed DSP.

and i made this little christmas box

i used the letters to santa designer series paper to make some christmas tags from the tag punch, ornament punch and the sock punch. also included in the set is a small mini album for passport size photos and a present list-perfect for christmas.

cheers ears

butterfly lantern

2011-10-07T13:59:00.000+11:00

i bought this orange lantern at the local $2 the other day.

it has a small fake battery operated candle inside which lights up the lantern quite prettily

so i added some butterflies to it!

i used the butterflies die cut from stampin up and embossed them.

then i added some fine supernova glitter to the wings

i stuck the butterflies to the lantern with mini glue dots

to finish it off i stuck some ribbon to the end and tied some ribbon to the handle

now i have a white one to play with as well...i am thinking pink butterflies for the girls' fairy room

what do you think?

cheers ears

xmas album

2011-10-05T13:47:00.000+11:00

love love love LOVE

the new letters to santa quick accents that match the letters to santa dsp from stampin up!!

it makes making easy.

the quick accents are sturdy stickers that are a mix of strips of borders and stickers that just peel off and stick and make your creations quick, easy and fantastic!!

here i have used the dsp and accents with a kaisercraft tab album

and added some ribbon and a bit of bling

to make a simple but lovely xmas album for your xmas photos and memorries

to colour the chipboard i rubbed old olive ink all over it and left it to dry for 24 hours before attaching dsp and stickers.

just beware

wear gloves ok otherwise you will end up with shrek hands like mine lol

this was for a creative crew challenge over at split coast stampers

join us this month for a great variety of challenges

cheers ears

simple easy pennants

2011-10-04T12:49:00.000+11:00

here are some simple pennants

i whipped up nice and quick

just used the retired pennant die to make these

cheers ears

pirates and princesses

2011-10-02T12:28:00.000+11:00

man oh man have i been a busy camper

being a fulltime working mum sure puts a dent in my crafting time

sure the money is great

and the adult interaction and professional development is awesome

but i miss my kids

and i am missing my me time

hence why the blog posts have been few and far between campers

sorry about that!

anyways here is what i have been up to

i have been making up some paper pictures using punches for kids rooms

with the pirate i have used the tasteful trim die to make the waves and the leaves are from the leaves die. the boat was taken from a picture from a colouring in book.

pirate pete can be made from this tutorial

the princess was also made suing the tasteful trim die for the grass. i also used the pennant punch, ornament punch and bird punch amongst others for her body. the castle was made using word windows and i added some cute buttons for flowers.

hope this inspires you with making something for your pirate or princess :>

cheers ears

punch art swaps

2011-09-11T09:01:00.000+10:00

yesterday i ran away to the stampin up sydney regionals

and had a blast catching up with inky friends and

getting inspired and

making some very neat make and takes

here were my swaps for the day

i have to apologize if you recieved one as i was very rushed and almost didn't make any

the first ones were made using the 2 step bird punch,

heart to heart punch and a large circle from the circles die.

i also used some fab striped grosgrain ribbon

and a stamp from teeny tiny sentiments

my other swap was a christmas angel using the pennant punch and the 1/2" circle

the lace border punch and the large circle from the circle die.

i punched out vellum for the wings and dress.

the setiment was made by punching 2 cherry cobbler word windows and sticking them behind the white one.

thanks to all those ladies who swapped with me-i have got a awesome little stash of ideas and inspiration here now to keep me occupied for the new few months!!

cheers ears

steam punk creative crew challenge

2011-09-03T21:45:00.001+10:00

steam punk and stampin up are 2 words that seemingly go together in my world but...meh...

the world is obviously tilting on its axis a bit this month and we have the combination!!

i was inspired by this amazing lady

hazel fisher

she does amazing paintings of animals

here is my take on two of her bird paintings

i have used the 2 step bird punch to make these birds.

i have also used a variety of stamps from various sets

artisitc etchings-key, crown

lots of bots-nuts and bolts

hope and strength-words

tiny tags-corner images

welcome christmas-seasons greetings

each bird was punched out several times and then each one was cut into segments.

these segments were inked and glued carefully into place with tombow and fine tweezers!

some nuts and bolts were cut out and added to wings

then i added rivets with a marker pen for more details and added some crystal effects to make it shiny.

finally the key was coloured in and added to the back

hope you feel inspired to try out steam punk with stampin up products too

feel free to post your ideas up at split coast stampers

cheers ears

creative crew challenge-domestic goddess

2011-09-02T20:18:00.000+10:00

another challenge this month from the creative crew is based

on the domestic goddess range from stampin up

because of pre-order restrictions here in oz and stamp set availability i have had to think a bit out of the square to bring you my challenge this month!

now anyone who knows me knows i am NOT a sewer

i am the.WORST. sewer in the world

-just ask my poor poor form 2 textiles teacher from havelock north intermediate

but i do own a sewing machine and do know what material looks like so thought i would give it a go

so for the challenge i made a birthday gift for a very special domestic goddess i know

i used the new flirtacious material from stampin up to pretty up some

plain tea towels and a boring old $2 shop apron

i decorated some jars and made a notice board from an old cupboard door

the cupboard door (thank you ikea seconds area!)

has got some speciality delicate doilies paper added to it-i have had to sponge the paper black

and have added some stamped images to the back with staz-on....

this is so you can write on the glass with white board marker.

down the bottom i have used the simple letters die cuts to write one of my favourite sayings

with the budget ikea tea towels i have just added a strip of material to them to make them prettier

the ikea spice jars got decorated with some delicate doilies dsp and some blossom party flower die cuts

i added some ribbon and rhinestone brads.

my apron was a $2 shop bargain and i have added material to it.

i also added some cut out letters that i have badly sewn on to the apron (on purpose!!)

and tied extra fabric to the edges.

i also made a matching coat hanger for the tea towels to rest on or the apron.

i used the delicate doilies dsp and blossom party die cuts with rhinestone brads and ribbon

phew!

hope the birthday girl likes her present

remember to come and visit the creative crew at split coast stampers

cheers ears

fathers day creative crew challenge

2011-09-01T22:04:00.001+10:00

well i actually have to fess up

this creative crew challenge was for a holiday theme

and seeing father's day is looming quite spectacularly on the horizon here in australia

i thought i would use the challenge sketch to make a card for my beloved

now i turned it around to make my strong man.

he is completely unashamedly copied from the be strong stamp from under the big top

to make my guy i have used the following punches

1"circle-head, weights

round tab-moustache!

ornament-torso and singlet

small oval(r)-arms, legs, bum

bird-feet, hands, ears

heart to heart-arms, legs

scallop oval-sentiment

large oval-sentiment (oval all stamp set)

he has a hodge podge buckle (r) for his belt with some brads on the corners and

a small library clip on the side.

it is going to the best daddy in the world...apparently.....

according to the 4 little monkeys that live at our house :>

cheers ears

timeless portrait creative crew

2011-09-01T17:00:00.003+10:00

for the next few months you will see my work for the creative crew at split coast stampers

woohoo!!!

it is soooo exciting to be part of their design team!!!

check out their challenges for september

here is my design idea for the timeless portrait challenge

our challenge was to use the colours from the timeless portrait collection

river rock, basic black, cherry cobbler, very vanilla and island indigo

and keep it to a school based or children theme

well here are my monkeys set in a frame (actually it is a mirror!) that i have transformed.

i have sanded down some of the edges and rubbed some indigo ink into the frame.

i also rolled some musical notes over the frame which you can only see in a certain light-obviously NOT the one i took the photo in lol

on the right hand side i added some cherry cobbler paper ribbon all rouged up

i added some basic black striped grosgrain ribbon

and stamped some elements from the forever young set with

some crystal effects on top of the cameo silhouette

the trees on the side are done with white embossing powder

(handy tip-if you are planning on doing this make sure you go over the frame extensively

with your embossing buddy to really get rid of any static!!)

down the bottom left i added another littler copy of the main photo

to some more ribbon and vintage brads.

i also coloured some retired christmas ribbon with a marker to add some indigo highlights

looking forward to seeing what everyone else creates with this challenge

cheers ears

the circus is in town!!

2011-08-24T21:04:00.000+10:00

well with 4 kids the circus is ALWAYS in town at my place

with the little monkeys and acrobats and clowns we have here lol

at a recent inklings retreat

i was able to sit quietly for a couple of hours and

concentrate and make something intricate and time consuming.

our challenge was to use a whole heap of colours and i immediately thought of the circus!

this layout originally started as a card which got too big and got turned into a scrapbooking page which then, because of the lumpy bumpy-ness (yes that is a real word!!)

is now a picture to be framed on a wall!!

the lion was made using the following punches

a 1"circle (face)

1/2"circles (ears)

word windows (arms, feet)

bird (legs, tail)

owl (ears, tummy, nose)

his mane was made from some exciting new dsp coming out in september

(which i can't tell you because it is secret squirrel lol) which i have sponged

the clown was made with the following punches

scallop circle (hair)

xl oval (tummy, pants, straps)

bird (arms, shoes)

1/2" circle (eyes, nose)

the flag at the top has words from a new secret squirrel dsp

and the tent is also made from the same secret squirrel new dsp lol

the flags at the side are from a new punch-woohoo!

balloons are from party this way and i have put crystal effects over them and tied twine to them

the opening at the front was made by gluing together two peices of dsp

and letting them dry with that fold in them

i have also added a spare peice of card under the tent top to help push it out to

make it more standy-outy (another real word haahaha)

and you know the coolest thing about this?

i won a prize for it!

<<blush>>

thanks to the inklings who voted for me :>

my daughter (the one in the photo) just loves it and now i have a grumpy little brother who is also wanting one...sigh....maybe some time soon when mummy gets the same luxury again :>

cheers ears

card in a box

2011-08-22T21:34:00.000+10:00

what is that you ask?

it is when you make a sample card and then put all the ingredients into a shoe box

(well in MY case it was a chocolate fundraising box lol)

and let others make your sample

this was mine recently i made up for a super fun weekend away with my inklings family

it involved a bit of embossing and sponging much to everyone's delight

(read some sarcasm there hehehehe)

the flower embellishment was made using crystal effects to get it all shiny.

1.Take 8x13 white/vanilla card stock and stamp phrase from inspired by nature approx 1/3 of way down in staz on. Use a samj if you want perfect placement :>
2. Rub over card with embossing buddy.
3. Take flower stamp from elements of style and stamp in top left and bottom right corners with versamark.
4. Sprinkle clear embossing powder all over and heat with heat gun until melted.
5. Using your nail (or distressing part of cutting tool) give the edges a bit of a rough up :>
6. Take river rock and sponge over middle of card.
7. Take suede and sponge around middle and edges.
8. Take choc chip and sponge edges.
9. Spray twice with gold spritz. Leave to dry.
10. Take peice of naturals ivory. Rub with embossing buddy.
11. Take for you stamp from elements of style and stamp ENDS ONLY onto edges of card with versamark.
12. Add clear embossing powder and melt with heat gun.
13. Take suede and sponge randomly over edges.
14. Take choc chip and sponge edges.
15. Attach choc chip card to middle.
16. Attach stamped cardstock to choc chip.
17. Punch scallop circle out of card stock.
18. Cut into middle on every second scallop. sponge edges with river rock ink.
19. Put flower through crimper. Attach to bottom left of car with a dimensional.
20. Punch out a ¾” circle from choc chip. Attach to middle of flower with dimensional.
21. Stamp small heart from tiny tags in stazon. Punch out with ½” circle punch.
22. Attach to choc chip circle in flower with tombow.
23. Cover middle of flower with crystal effects. Leave to dry.

waaaaaah!! sob... sob..... sob....

2011-08-06T13:00:00.000+10:00

why am i so sad?

the 2010/2011 catalogue is retiring

and a lot of great things are saying their last goodbye

we girls at ESAD thought it would quite nice to give them a fitting farewell

and give you one last chance to see retiring items in action before they are gone....

forever!

debbie has shown you some great ideas for retiring stuff and now it is my turn!

i want to show you 4 of the punches retiring

corner punch

small oval

large star

designer label

these are all punches i use on a regular basis...

especially the small oval-if you don't have this already you should totally buy it NOW

it is soooo useful for everything lol

i use mine for around words, as flower petals, various body parts (ears, torsos,faces, noses),

beaks, leaves...and the list goes on

the designer label is soooo useful for those hodgepodge hardware frames which are also retiring

sure beats cutting around the frames and trying to get them to fit perfectly!

this punch is also good for skeleton faces

i also use them to make frilly leaves for my flowers

also going is the pennant die which, apart from the obvious,

also has 2 different scallop borders for you to use

down below is a scrapbooking page i have made using a variety of the punches and pennant die.

i have used the playdate designer series papers for this page.

the flowers were made from the playdate dsp and some of the scallop circles from the pennant die. in the middle of the flowers are some hodge podge brads which are retiring.

at the top i have used the other side of the scallops from the pennant die to have a wave effect whilst down the bottom i have used the 2 types of scallop edging from the pennants to give a layered effect

on the side i have layered the small oval in a line to also give a scalloped effect

on this page i have used the star punch, the photo corner punch and the merry details die to add cute embellishments to the page.

using the xmas trees from the merry details die as arrows

gives you another use for this die apart from xmas cards

up in the corner i have used the bottom of the big bold cupcakes die as a tag with a snowflake from the merry details die as an accent with a square rhinestone brad

all the things i have used in these two scrapbooking pages are retiring at the end of this month.

if you suddenly have realised you now cannot craft without any of these cool things don't hesitate to contact your favourite stampin up demo today to order these goodies before they sell out!!!

now quickly go and check out michelle's creations to see what else you will need in that retirement order!

what is ESAD you ask?

ESAD stands for "extra special australasian demonstrators" and we are an on-line group of stampin up demos from australia and new zealand. we love what we do and we love sharing it with our customers, friends, blog visitors and other stampin up demonstrators. we run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know-how and cyberstamps. we are always there to help and support each other as well when needed. so, if you are a stampin up demo in nz or oz, then feel free to join us at http://www.facebook.com/groups/esadsu/

okies cheers ears and enjoy your weekend

blog hop tomorrow!

2011-08-05T22:29:00.000+10:00

come join me and 24 other awesomely fabulous stampin up demos for a blog hop using all those retiring goodies

tomorrow (saturday 6th of august) at 1pm sharp!!!

card swaps

2011-07-28T14:48:00.001+10:00

this month at essential baby

our card swap was using the diamond fold

i wanted to use up my stash of flowers and made these cards which are very not like me at all

but they were fun!

and the colours were very pretty

cheers ears

i have to apologize....

2011-07-27T10:30:00.001+10:00

for the over abundance of flowers and bling this week...

it seems i was over whelmed by something that forced me to use as much

bling and flowers as i could possibly fit on a card!!!!!!

actually this is a sketch challenge entry for just add ink this week...believe it or not.

this was the sketch

and if you look carefully i do have 3 flowers on the left and

something on the right and

a bit of writing down the bottom

it's just that it is all flowery and blingy!!

why you ask?

weeeeellllllll

i have a confession to make...

i am a hoarder :>

i hoard craft supplies

i am really really REALLY bad at not using my stash

so i thought it was a wise decision to attack my big box of flowers and do somethingn with them

hence this card!!

so...what have i used?

stamp set is best yet

butterfly is beautiful butterflies die

(yes leonie i ended up buying my own because i really can't keep borrowing yours lol)

glitter is pink supernova

ink is orchid and pink passion

oh and did i mention how much i love this diamond fold???

cheers ears

christmas in july inklings blog hop

2011-07-25T12:05:00.000+10:00

Welcome to The INKlings’ Team’s Christmas in July blog hop. You may have arrived here from Liz's amazing blog or just be visiting my blog, whichever way once you’ve checked out my creations you can continue the hop through the link at the end of this post to Janice's lovely blog.

How quick is this year going!

Have you started to think about your Christmas cards and projects yet?

The INKlings team has and we thought that this month was the perfect time to host a Christmas in July blog hop. You'll find lots of great ideas provided by 16 team members’ fantastic blogs.

Want to win some Blog Candy? Simply leave a comment on each blog and then email me and let me know you’ve done so and you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize from Inklings team members.
Sorry Blog Candy prize not available to SU! demonstrators but you're more than welcome to leave us a comment!

“Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together.”

snowflakes fascinate me

they are so intricate and delicate and beautiful

trying to imitate something that mother nature does so extraordinarily well

with punches is...well...difficult

these punched out snowflakes use a variety of punches

tag,circles, scallops, photo corner, boho blossoms and my trusty cropadile are used here.

stick together with tombow glue and sprinkle with glitter

tie with some fine white cotton and hang them around your home

or remember doing snowflakes with folded paper as a kid?

well you still can!

i let my 6 year old and 8 year old loose with my punches during the school holidays and these are what they came up with!

aren't they cool?

keeping with the snowflake theme i made this gift set.

i have used the lovely ice cream parlour ribbon and buttons

(did you know you can get these for FREE with an order over $100?)

underneath is some packaging paper stamped ready to be used as gift wrap!

for this part of the gift i decorated a little wooden box.

to do this i painted on some baja breeze ink with a paintbrush

(just squirt a little bit of ink from your re-inker to do this)

and then i added some ribbon to the bottom with sticky strip.

on the top is one of the snowflakes from above

that i have stuck some ribbon and buttons on to.

inside the box i have made a zigzag mini album using matching colours of

daffodil delight, pacific point and melon mambo

and a rikrak strip from the tasteful trim big xl die cut

my matching snow man card was made using some circle punches (body and head),

2 step bird punch (arms)

star (carrot)

owl (snowflakes, eyes)

tag (greeting on ribbon).

the stamp sets i have used here are the very versatile confetti set

season of joy and short and sweet.

another idea for a christmas gift that is very simple and very easy is jewellrey

here i have made a cute pair of earrings using the snowflake from short and sweet.

i stamped the image on and glued it all together and then carefully squeezed crystal effects over to strengthen them...

can't have your earrings getting all soggy in the rain now can we?

they come in a empty glitter container

interesting fact: did you know that the 13/48" circle punch fits exactly on the top of this jar?

did you also know that the 13/8" circle punch fits inside on the bottom?

if you want more stampin up sets with snowflakes try

playful pieces (hostess set) pg15

sparkling (jumbo wheel) pg22

punch pals pg24

sassy sparkles (jumbo wheel) pg 25

winter post pg26

snow swirled pg28

every little bit pg37

short and sweet pg111

dasher pg161

not so obvious sets include

to a classic pg 41

hello again pg68

medallion pg 87

Well that’s all from me.

Next stop on the INKlings’ Team Blog Hop is the lovely janice.

Have fun and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog to win some great Blog Candy.

If for any reason you find a missing link on the blog hop head back here to find links to all the members taking part.

clare http://www.crafty-cow.com

janice http://www.janicespencer.blogspot.com

christie http://www.christiescreativecorner.blogspot.com

Kari - http://www.karigail.wordpress.com

Joanna - http://www.joannawassens.com

Michelle - http://stampinground.wordpress.com

Alana - http://www.alanagalagher.blogspot.com

Carol - http://www.inkantations-and-inkarnations.blogspot.com

Cath - http://cathdeanpapercraft.blogspot.com/

Amy - http://amyandersonsblog.blogspot.com/

Vanessa - http://stampness.blogspot.com

Michelle D - http://stampinkpaper.blogspot.com

Ryn - http://rynscraps.blogspot.com

Fiona B - http://fionajanestamping.blogspot.com

Liz Halbisch - http://lizhalbisch.blogspot.com

cheers ears

christmas in july blog hop coming soon!

2011-07-22T15:04:00.002+10:00

MONDAY 25TH JULY FROM NOON

Get some great ideas for your Christmas projects

and be in running to win some great blog candy every time you comment!!

Here's a sneak preview

See you then!!

PS THANKS TO THE ANONYMOUS COMMENTER WHO POINTED THE ERROR OUT TO ME :>

complete utter meltdown

2011-07-19T22:16:00.000+10:00

i love capturing THAT moment with photos

especially a tantrum

and given that i have 4 kids

and that i am the meanest mother in the entire universe

i get them

on a regular basis

so imagine my delight when one gets caught on camera

for prosperity

mwahahahahahahaha

(oh my is that wrong of me??)

so i used some cool paper i have had for absolutely AGES

that i have never thought about using until now.

it comes already with the sewn bits in around the circles and

fitted in with the colour scheme of the photos so well :>

i also used a whole pile of brads too !

and check out the very cool little alien chipboard

i originally bought him pre-su demo days as a card topper and never got around to using him...

he fits in perfectly with the page

oh and what was she having a tantee about?

her hat

it broke

and she wanted everyone else to take theirs off and give them to her

hmmmmm....

ummmm....

and hence the meltdown

cheers ears

love, my boy

2011-07-18T22:07:00.000+10:00

another couple of midnight scrapping pages.

i love it when pages are easy to do and just work.

this paper is fab-had a place to put the photo and everything :>

i added a whole pile of matchy match buttons and ribbon to give it more bounce!

another page using up some stash that needed some dusting off.

see the envelope edge i used as journalling?

cheers ears

yeehaa!

2011-07-17T22:00:00.000+10:00

what i like about scrapbooking is using stuff that isn't necessarily for scrapbooking

take this page i recently did for example.

the background paper is gift wrap pimped up with some inks

the textured paper is recycled paper left to dry and moulded over chicken wire

the eyelets are actually fabric eyelets for real clothes lol

the buckle is from an old shoe of my kids that broke and i thought hmmmm i should probably keep that because it may come in handy one day.......

of course i still used some beautiful stampin up rub-ons and cherry cobbler card stock :>

what have you used in the past for your scrapbooking pages that isn't scrapbooking? I'd love to hear

cheers ears

the coolest sisters

2011-07-16T20:52:00.000+10:00

once a month i catch up with my midnight scrapping friends and we scrapbook away for a couple of hours on a friday night,

eat pizza and lollies

and gossip like old ladies

my aim on these nights is to NOT use my stampin up supplies

sssssshhhhhhh i know ssssssshhhhhh don't tell shelli

but to use my getting smaller stash of OTHER stuff

so i bravely used some patterned paper

some felt flowery ribbon stuff

and letter stickers

cheers ears

beach boy

2011-07-04T22:08:00.000+10:00

this month i am offering a vintage themed scrapbooking class

and here is what we shall be making if you are interested

instead of using real photos i got some old photos photocopied so i could play with them

we will learn how to make these pretty embellishments

how to use a blender pen to colour black and white photos

how to use a crimper, collage stamping and putting fancy corners on our pages :>

check out my classes page for more details

cheers ears

little flower

2011-07-02T21:07:00.000+10:00

over at the paper players this week was a sketch challenge for a card

i was inspired to use it for a scrapbooking layout

i used stampin up's celebrations dsp

with some retired fancy flowers punched out die cuts

and the circle circus stamp set.

i also used headline alphabet (retired)

and the tasteful trims xl die which totally rocks!!!

see how i have simply layered the die cuts on top of each other with a stamped circle on top-easy!

i often get people asking wondering how to use stamps with their scrapbooking.

using them to add to embellishments like here is a good way

plus it is an easy way to tie in your colour scheme

cheers ears

just add ink challenge

2011-07-02T20:56:00.000+10:00

over at just add ink this week

they have been doing some cool stuff with fancy schmancy card folding

all the cards were awesome and very inspiring

but

i have to say

i was mightily pleased that my new favourite diamond fold card

was shown off by mae collins

so inspired by mae i am showing off my two christmas in july efforts

using the welcome christmas stamp set

and attempting a vintagey look

here i have added an antique brad, some embossing and gorgeous satin ribbon

here i added a tiny tag onto my vintage ribbon plus a bit of scallop edging on the side

if you want a really simple diamond fold tutorial please check out my previous post

cheers ears

diamonds are a girl's best friend

2011-07-01T15:00:00.000+10:00

apparently

i prefer sapphires myself

however this week i find myself making a diamond fold card for a card swap

and found that this tutorial was great but it was not suited to my sized card stock

so i made one up for you using a4 card and not a ruler in sight!

although you may want a bone folder to get those folds nice and crispy

get an a4 sheet of card and cut down the middle

fold in half gently-you just want the middle bits as a guide really for the next bit of folding.

fold 1 side down...like half a paper aeroplane wing

then do the other side-haha! a paper aeroplane!

unfold all your hard work thus far

turn it over and fold it the same way again

tada-another paper aeroplane!

unfold all your hard work AGAIN!

fold down the ends

-use the previous folds as your guide

squish them together making a valleys and mountains fold

see what i mean? do both ends

flick it onto its front and it should look like this

and the back bit should look like this

eeeeaaassssyyyy!!!

now all you gotta do is make it all purdy and noice and lovely

stay tuned to see what i did with mine

cheers ears

when worlds collide

2011-06-28T14:00:00.000+10:00

i mixed things up this week.

i got out my fimo and used my stamps

i came up with these cute little key rings

they are really very simple to make

just roll out the fimo

stamp the image you like with black staz-on

cut the image out plus another one for the back

add a loopy stick thing (lol some jewellery finding piece)

add your back layer

dauber around the edges and add any extra colour

bake according to manufacturers guidelines ( i do 10 mins at 150c)

leave to cool

and a hoop and a key ring thing

plus any diamantes or pearls.

you could also cover it with crystal effects to make it shiny and glossy

you could also do the same thing and leave the key ring attachments out and just have them as embellishments for scrapbooking or cards

you could make exactly the same thing with several layers of card glued together instead of the clay

cheers ears

when elmo came to visit

2011-06-27T13:41:00.000+10:00

we love elmo

who doesn't?

seriously he is cute

a little annoyingly chirpy some days

and his voice..well less said about that the better

but he is so so SO SOOOOO HAPPY!!!!

and that makes me smile and the world a better place

my youngest is very taken by elmo

so he was the theme for her second birthday

mummy dutifully made the elmo cake complete with red icing with coconut mixed in. eyes were made with white and dark chocolate and his nose is a dried apricot :>

cake was chocolate but a egg-free, butter-free and dairy-free one due to guests with dietary requirements

if anyone would like a copy-it is soooo easy-please email me and i am happy to share!!

i also made her a name banner with elmo using the pennant die

elmo is made with scallop circles and poppy parade

she was stoked with it as well as the multitude of other gifts she was showered with :>

one very spoilt little princess

cheers ears

bananas in pyjamas

2011-06-21T21:57:00.000+10:00

you know when you have an idea in your head for a card and it

just

doesn't

work

out

???

yeah well today that happened to me

probably because i was tired and my brain was on too many other little things happening

but i thought i'd share anyways

because let's be completely honest

i don't like this card

but the 2 year old bananas in pyjamas fan this card is intended for really wont care lol

it has a banana on it

and really, when you are two, that's all that matters!!

bananas in pyjamas punch art is easy

a couple of tag punches for the pyjamas

corner punch for the collar

small oval punch for the banana (duh!)

trio flower punch (hand)

the pyjamas are done in white card and i got my pacific point marker to do the stripes

i do like the fact i found stripey su ribbon to match :>

but the rest of the card is blah

You know what I'm thinking B1 I think I am B2

we better have a clip of us

cheers ears

colouring in is not my friend

2011-06-19T20:30:00.001+10:00

over at just add ink this week is a colouring in challenge

as a kid i loved colouring in

as an adult however...meh...

so i find it out of my comfort zone to buy stamps for this use and then to actually use them

i have used a variety of stamps of various sets to make up my little setting

i wanted my card to be plain and simple without any frippery or fluff

i used a blender pen and ink pads to colour in with

and added a bit crystal effects to get some lift to the colours.

here's more of a close up so you can see the graduated colours and shading better

i also want to say that the stampin up paper snips ROCK

it was a complete biarch to cut this out but they made it sooo much easier

and thanks to chloe with her koalas i'll enter this in the secret crafters challenge too!!!

cheers ears

peppa pig

2011-06-17T17:19:00.001+10:00

around 5pm every evening there is a resounding shout of PIG PIG through out our home

Niamh is usually running towards the tv as the dulcet tones of peppa pig ring through our home

it is her favourite programme and the world stops for the 10 minutes it is on while niamh is engrossed in every word uttered from the tip of peppas little piggy mouth

so this is for niamh

and a tutorial for you!

you will need some poppy parade, pretty in pink, black and white card

you will also need

13/8" circle punch (head and sue for template for dress)

large oval punches-thin and fat (nose, ears)

boho blossoms punch (shoes)

owl punch (eyes)

and a spiral punch (tail)

(or failing that you can do the pig's tail from cutting around a 3/4" circle)

check out the picture above to see what i did with them!

make the hands by drawing on the wrong side with a pen and then cutting around

stick on arm in front and one behind

(soemthing i noticed to do after i had made the first one lol)

hopefully it will look a bit like this-or better!

stick oval to head and add nose. then add ears and eyes

draw around the face with a pink passion pen (or something similar)

mouth is real red and the cheek is pixie pink

and voila!

peppa pig in all her glory!

but she is a bit boring all by herself so put her on a card

here she is on a bright sunny day with flowers

she also likes jumping in muddy puddles:>

keep an eye out for the rest of her family coming soon :>

cheers ears

eta if you have never met peppa...check out this link to her

scrapbooking

2011-06-15T01:18:00.001+10:00

i belong to a local group of scrapbookers called the macarthur midnight scrappers

we catch up a couple of times a month and

scrapbook and munch on pizza and listen to awesome music

if you live in south west sydney and want something scrappy to do once and a while

please contact me for details or check out our facebook page

here are a few layouts i have done using a variety of papers and card and embellishments.

scrapbooking

2011-06-14T16:55:00.001+10:00

i have a pile of photos on my craft desk

waiting ever so patiently for me to scrap them

when i saw the challenges over at

less is more

and the paper players

i was like

AWESOME

i know exactly what photos will go with those challenges

and here we go......

the less is more challenge wanted one layer and a frame-check!

i used presto patterned paper inked up and coloured.

i am not sure if adding a photo counts as a layer but i am interpreting it as a no :>

the paper players had a colour challenge which totally matched the colours of my photos

wasabi, daffodil and mango

which were the colours i inked onto the presto patterned paper

i also stamped joy from welcome christmas and the key from artistic etchings both in wasabi

i used markers to highlight some areas as well.

i am resisting the urge to put in brads and chipboard...must.resist....

cheers ears

just add ink challenge

2011-06-11T10:03:00.000+10:00

over at just add ink this week

the colour challenge is black and white

WOOT!

it was an excellent opportunity to make up some tatty old trays

i have had lying around waiting for some love

i painted them black.

around the sides i used my embossing buddy to keep the static down.

i stamped with versamark and added white embossing powder and heated it up.

then on a peice of white card stock i inked up some stampin up stamps

(inspired by nature and elements of style) in black staz-on

then i laminated them and stuck them to the trays with sticky strip

now they look fab :>

gotta love recycling

cheers ears

pink and simple

2011-05-31T19:33:00.001+10:00

this week i have been making cards for my essential baby card swap.

our challenge was to use the quilting technique and to make it pink and girly!

i also went hunting for an online challenge blog to inspire me

and came across the less is more challenge this week which was perfect!!!

i punched out a 13/8" square out of scrap card and then stuck a variety of pink squares on top.

then i put it through an embossing folder to give it more texture and sponged it.

after that i added a tiny tag with a tiny flower sequin.

the side of the card was embossed and the flowers coloured with a blender pen.

a very simple card from me

i sooo wanted to add more stuff but kept to the challenge-it was hard not to lol

cheers ears

just add ink challenge

2011-05-27T01:18:00.002+10:00

over at just add ink this week

we have been given the challenge to get out our scissors and get cutting!

i had a birthday card to make for a little friend so thought who better than bob the builder to make!

for bob i have used a variety of punches

1 1/4 circle (face, hat)

1/2"circle (hand)

owl (shirt body, ears, eyes, nose, shoes)

slit (fingers)

word window (belt, arms)

decorative label punch (overalls)

i have also used the party this way stamp set

and a brick embossing folder

i also decorated the inside using similar elements

can you guess how old the birthday boy is going to be?

if you would like to know how to make bob

please come back next week

and a free tutorial will be up on my tutorials page

(hopefully i will have a link organised by then :>)

cheers ears

mamabakers morning tea fundraiser

2011-05-25T21:42:00.000+10:00

MAMABAKE FUNDRAISER

Your support will raise vital funds for cancer research, prevention and support services.

Tallowood Community Centre, Dickens Road, Rosemeadow.

27^th May 10-2:30

Door Donation $2

Come along and meet the Mamabakers and sample our delicious morning tea ideas!

Raffle tickets $2 each or 3 for $5

Prizes include 3 x $200 Stampin Up prize packs full of scrapbooking, cardmaking and papercrafting goodies. Includes Simply sent packs, ink pads, rub-ons, ribbons, designer series papers, card stock, punches, brads, buttons, and chipboard.

Contact Clare 0430482866 or at clare@crafty-cow.com for tickets.

Tombola tickets also available on the day to win many more Stampin Up prizes such as hodge podge hardware, ink pads, ribbons, designer series papers, chipboard and simply sent kits.

Tombola entries are $2 each or 3 for $5

Or feel free to donate via the official website.

Want to find out more about Mamabake check us out here!

Thank you for your support!!

just add ink challenge

2011-05-20T00:03:00.001+10:00

over at just add ink this week is a colour combo

oooooooooooooooo tricky!

here is what i came up with

this cute little bird was made using

large oval punch (head)

13/4" circle punch (body)

13/8" circle punch (tummy)

3/4" circle (white eye)

1/2" circle (black eye)

2 step bird (wings, hair)

cupcake (beak)

owl (legs)

trio flowers (white blossom)

leaves #2 die

i also used some botanical dsp for the branch and pear pizazz dsp for the leaves

and some pale plum diamantes to the flowers

i also added some rub ons

the background card is baja with whisper white sponged all over to give it a more subdued tone

the birds tummy has had a bit of roughing up courtesy of my finger nail lol

this is going to go up in my girls' room

cheers ears

white wedding

2011-05-18T17:13:00.000+10:00

in january i was delighted to head over to new zealand to be at my beautiful niece's wedding

i made her this wedding album

click here for more details

today i was sifting through some photos and decided to use some wedding photos for a scrapbook page as my sample for upcoming winter classes i am having

this is what i came up with!

i used the hope and strength stamp set along with the always set

i also used the so swirly wheel to create an embossed background for my paper

just wanted to show some of the details especially the stamping on twill tape and the faux stitching

i make my own mixture of embossing powder from 1/3 each of white, clear and dazzling diamonds.

on the background i gently sponged some poppy parade over one side just to help bring out the embossing i have done.

i am offering this page a a class during winter.

please check out my classes page for more details.

cheers ears

pirate pete

2011-05-18T01:18:00.000+10:00

ahoy me hearties!

i was a bit gutted this year about not going to stampin up's convention

but my sensible brain kicked in and made me use that valuable money for sensible stuff

like my children's ballet lessons and soccer registration...sigh...

but on the bright side i managed to make some swaps and get my lovely friends to swap on my behalf!

so if you were lucky enough to get one of my swaps and have come here to figure out how i did them-here is a very quick tutorial on how pirate pete was made!

pirate pete is made from only a few punches

3/4" circle (head, scarf)

1/2" circle (scarf, shoe)

small oval (body, sword)

star (peg leg)

heart to heart (handle of sword, eye patch)

plus squares and strips cut to size as needed

also don't forget to add all the features with a marker-i used a night of navy one

plus a googley eye (man those things rock!)

i put him on a pillow box so he can be used as a party treat-inside were some gold coins!

cheers ears

vroooooom!

2011-05-17T01:02:00.001+10:00

ride away on this motorbike!

finally a masculine card from me

made for the colorQ challenge this week

but i was a bit naughty and added some silver as well

because these are for this month's essential baby card swap as well

where we had to add foil to our creations

i highlighted the parts on the motorbike i wanted silver with my versamarker pen.

then added some silver embossing powder and heated it all up.

makes all those bike parts really shiney and chrome looking

this stamp is part of the a la carte range from stampin up.

you can buy a single stamp for only $14.95

contact me today for more details

especially if you want one for free!!!!!

cheers ears

orange bag

2011-05-16T01:18:00.000+10:00

this weekend saw a lot of stampin up demos at convention in melbourne

sadly i was not one of those demos

so i stayed home and did a few challenges from the

unconventional cybercrop over at the inklings forum

one of the challenges was to make our own convention bag

highlighting a colour used by this years convention goers....orange!

template and inspiration comes from here

some close ups of the flowers and the handle

just got to make something to go inside now!

what do you think should go inside?

cheers ears

hope and strength again

2011-05-15T08:45:00.002+10:00

another card made with the hope and strength stamp set

it was inspired by this weeks sketch over at mojo monday

i have added pearls and some gold twine to this one

as well as keeping to a pink theme

Join in with the friendship and hope that goes with a Biggest Morning Tea Fundraiser by incorporating a Stampin Up card making class especially designed for Breast Cancer research using our new Hope and Strength stamp set.

Make 2 beautiful cards for $10 with all class fees going towards your fundraising effort for breast cancer research.

Gather 4 or more friends around and book a class today.

Buy the Hope and Strength stamp set from only $28.95 and $2 will be given by Stampin Up to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation

cheers ears

hope and strength

2011-05-12T21:24:00.001+10:00

the hope and strength stamp set from stampin up is devine.

it recognises the feelings behind those who have had breast cancer touch their lives

stampin up is donating $2 from every set sold before 31st july towards breast cancer research

this is a card i made with the set.

it is for a challenge over at esad for UnConvention for all us demonstrators

who are not at Stampin Up's annual convention in Melbourne

it is also in a challenge over at su only

i have used a colour combination suggested at this site for my card

using different shades and hues of pink

i have added some bling and some lace.

the squares are blushing bride dsp with words embossed over the top using

a mixture of clear embossing powder, white embossing powder and dazzling diamonds

cheers ears

tooth fairy

2011-05-10T01:18:00.001+10:00

here is a tooth fairy punchie i made this week.

she is great to put in a little envelope for that loose tooth or can be used as a party bag decoration too with a pillow box.

she is made using the following punches

cupcake (hair, skirt)

small oval(body)

3/4" circle (head)

1/2" circle (feet)

boho blossom (crown)

heart to heart (hands, wand)

here she is!

just add some eyes (i like googley ones!)

and a mouth

and if you want you can also add some butterfly wings to her and even some glitter

i often get asked what do i use to stick them together with...

tombow

it rocks!

best.glue.ever.for.punch.art.

cheers ears

pirate party

2011-05-09T19:27:00.003+10:00

argh me hearties!

this post be about ye pirates!

a good friend's little boy had his birthday this weekend and i made him a cute pirate present.

i made him a pennant of his name using some really cute pirate paper

on the stampin up pennant die

i also made him a memory game with mr men and little miss characters on.

just print out colouring in pictures onto white card, add to coloured card and laminate.

i've put them into an old gypsies tin with a pirate on the front

hope he likes them

cheers ears

mother's day gift

2011-05-08T22:07:00.000+10:00

mother's day for me is generally a sleep in, breakfast in bed, followed by a lazy day of reading/crafting.

hubby usually takes the merry band of midgets off to a park for a few hours while i chillax.

for the last couple of years i also remember my own mum who passed away 2 years ago.

i miss ringing her on this special day that used to share.

today was no different

however i did spend a moment of it to remember that i do have another mum-my lovely mother-in-law and a fantastic granny to the kidlets.

so i made her this.

it is a chalkboard! the black background is chalkboard paper-how cool is that?

i also added a picture and some chipboard, flowers and ribbon.

now all i have to do is post it off to her in new zealand.

my eldest wrote her a note on it-i just hope it doesn't smudge too much in the post :>

cheers ears