Paper Tree

Corrugated & Crimped

2012-01-29T12:17:00.002+10:00

Practical Scrappers is showcasing ideas on corrugated and crimped elements on cards. I was trying to come up with something different and eye catching when I remembered the butterflies my mum gave me when Sophia was born! These little butterflies are made from wrapping paper, coloured wire and a couple of beads.

I've made these cute butterflies before and made a tutorial, so I'll add that to this post so you can try your hand at making them too.

For this card I used Sweet Stop Sketch SSS142 I love their sketches and will be using them more often I think! I got to use up some scraps for this card. I layered patterned paper on blue Bazzill, wrapped them in a pretty blue ribbon and topped it off with a pink button. I made a little tag (cause this is for some one's birthday) and then added the butterflies. They're fixed to the card with 3D foam dots and my ATG (just the top butterfly is raised). I added some dimensional glaze to so of the little critters on the bottom layer of paper, and some bling.

Here's a little closeup of the tag, the butterflies and the bow. It's such a bright spring themed card - considering it's pouring outside and I've had to build my own lightbox just to take this photo!! We've had rain for 5 days straight now and it's not showing signs of letting up. The floods have come as close as 500m to the house - looks like there will be more card making to come!!

Resolutions

2012-01-23T18:04:00.003+10:00

Well it's this time of year that all the New Year's resolutions usually come out - the most popular would be "to lose weight" or "to be more healthy". Me personally I like to just simply work on being happy. I figure if I'm happy then everything thing else in my life will just flow.

Well for the month of January over at Doodle Pantry you can join in with Challenge #19 and get this cute little birdie FREE!! All you have to do is create a card with any of the Doodle Pantry images and you will be sent the image. It comes coloured, out-lined and with your choice of dumbells or ice-cream. There are several digi-papers and sentiments with this image too - and it's all FREE!!

So I wanted to make someone at work something special for all her amazing efforts on losing weight - she's truly an inspiration!! The card design you see at the left (the box) is also a digi file from Doodle Pantry - it's called the Treat Dish Card Template and comes in PDF, SVG and SCAL2. I don't have any fancy tools to make this card, I simply printed out the template on my printer and then scored and cut out the design. It then decorated the card with co-ordinating patters and colours and tied it together with some Doodle Bug green and white twine.

A few little extra details: I glossed up the dumbells, doodled around the edges of all the patterned papers and the digi image and the little sentiment on the front is raised on 3D foam dots and distressed around the edges.

PS. the lollies are sugar free lemon drops - didn't want to undo all the good work my friend has done! Oh and if you are creating this card for someone and have to send it - the whole thing folds flat (except for the lollies of course). More photos of a Christmas Designed treat box can be found at Doodle Pantry.

You

2012-01-19T20:25:00.000+10:00

Not that long ago I took this random photo of Amber out the back, wearing a new outfit that she had bought. She loves everything Paris, and buys anything with an Eiffel Tower on it, so of course this outfit just had to be bought. She got a nice pair of pants, the top you see in the photo and a matching scarf.

I rarely get to photograph Amber now - she sees me as the paparazzi and refuses to smile or do anything when me and my camera are out. This photo also reminds me that she's growing into a young lady. She's starting to leave her Barbie dolls, her Littlest Pet Shop animals and her little kid clothes and she's moved onto accessories, iPods and computer games and chatting on the phone with her friends.

I've spent all these years looking forward to that day when she was truly independant and a teenager to now wondering where those years have gone and wishing she would stay little for a while longer.

At least I have Sophia - otherwise I'd have no-one to snap pictures of, no-one to really need me and no-one to laugh at my jokes and think I was funny all the time - cause according to Amber I'm just weird and "from the olden days" which is apparently 1985.

So there you have it, my gorgeous Amber, my first daughter and my first layout for 2012. I created this layout for Practical Scrappers "ribbons on layouts" challenge. I used my ribbons for the background! I just adhered the ribbon with my ATG and layed them across my layout (they're deliberately placed slightly off straight) I used the paper as a little tie into "little girls" and to add a touch of colour in the background. Then I unrolled some of my yellow Doodlebug Twine and it created these neat little loops which I stapled to the layout. I created some little triangles and popped them up with 3D foam tape.

I found this neat ribbon/twill in my stash and thought "measurement" is the perfect theme for my layout so I made it into a flower. I adorned it with a button and sewed it all to the layout.

Don't you just love these little sewn letters! I adhered them with ATG tape. They're slightly quilted and super cute! I'll have to try and make some I think!

Then to finish off the layout I added some shine to the little flags, and journalled in white pen around the edge of the ribbon background.

Get Well Soon!

2012-01-17T19:58:00.001+10:00

So most of you probably live on the other side of the world to me, and it's probably either raining or snowing and in the middle of winter - so this post is for you!

I made this little get well card for a friend who was poorly. I saw the card while searching google images for just the right digital stamp - which I found at Pink Cat Studio. The little girl is called Sick Lily and there's a little boy too!

You'll see where I got the inspiration for this design of card - from Maria Bell.

I chose some nice bright colours - cause although little Lily is under the weather I thought the recipient would like some cheering up.

I used paper for the tissue behind the chair and lifted the main image with 3D foam dots. I used my copics to colour the image and then fuzzed up Lily's pillow dots and the little kitty with some Sparkly Fluff!

Here's a little closeup so you can see the furry kitty on Lily's lap. I just remembered that I fuzzed up the little bunny slippers too.

For the bottom of this card there's a compartment for a small packet of tissues - a must for anyone who has come down with the flu! They slide in and out very easily, and I've made a little journaling card on top of the tissue holder to write a little note.

This card is perfect to stand alone next to a sick person or patient to remind them that someone is thinking of them xo

Is there a doctor in the house?

2012-01-15T10:31:00.002+10:00

Here's a layout about Sophia being a doctor. She loves to help and fix things - especially animals! We had not long visited Australia Zoo when we came across this elephant at kindy that had popped a seam and his stuffing was falling out. Sophia wrapped him up and brought him home for me to help her "fix" him.

We laid out a sheet on the table and Sophia put on her doctor jacket, shirt and pants. She got her Doctor's bag full of stethoscopes, syringes, blood pressure cuffs and bandages.

Then we got to work.

Sophia reassured the elephant and talked to it by telling it what she was going to to. She gave "Elly" and needle to put her to sleep and I went about stitching up her "sore leg". Then Sophia checked Elly's vitals, gave her some medicine and applied some bandaids and bandages. We even managed to find some cotton wool balls and a lolly pop (for the Doctor) for after the operation!

When the whole operation was complete Sophia gave Elly a kiss on her head and monitored her for the afternoon.

Elly is now in full health and has returned to her life at kindy.

I've clustered these embellies and made some 3D by using some 3D foam dots. I used a ticket, stickers, little doile papers (I cut one in half to create two), some ribbon that I pleated and a journalling card.

Because of the stitching that we did on Elly, I added some little stitches with thread and needle to the sticker letters in the title and the sticker loopy line (brown) that you can see in this photo.

This layout was created for the "clustering on layouts" theme that we have going over at Practical Scrappers.

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-14T20:06:00.001+10:00

Happy New Year everyone!! Sorry I'm a bit late to the party, but I've been on holiday and getting back into the working groove.

Thank you to each and every person who has stopped by my blog during 2011, your comments, questions and gifts have been absolutely wonderful and heartfully appreciated - yes I made up that word and I'm keeping it.

I hope to inspire you all again this year with more projects, challenges and giveaways!

So lets get this party started - today I decked my blog out in new wallpaper. I'm working on 3 cards at the moment and hope to show them over the next few days - I also have lots of photos to catch up on and create layouts for. So who's coming with me to scrap?!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-12-30T01:00:00.000+10:00

At Practical Scrappers we were prompted to choose our favourite card for the year - well this is it! I loved playing with this digital image from Doodle Pantry. I coloured him in using my Copic markers and then raised him up on 3D foam dots. Then I carefully trimmed and placed some red, yellow and black flowers - to act as tail feathers! I tied a little twine around his neck and tucked in a couple of brown leaves, then snipped a little slit in his wing so that he could hold the sentiment.

I love paper piecing, layers, textures and fall colours and this card has it all! I rarely get to create fall cards as we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia.

Here's a different angle so you can see the layers:

I used some gloss on his beak and feet to shine them up a bit. Isn't he so cute? (for a turkey!)

Altered Match Box Centrepiece

2011-12-14T16:51:00.000+10:00

Matchboxes are wonderful little things, they start out life holding matches and can become keepers of special treasures. This year I decided to make table centrepiece from matchboxes. I added a little tree, some pretend Christmas lights, a star, some candy canes and some stickers.

First up you'll need 24 matchboxes - I recycled mine as they once held matches but you can actually buy little boxes that are exactly the same only they're all white and have no match-strike strip. Line them up 3 boxes at a time and then lay them end-side-end-side until you make a square. Alternate them so that 6 drawers aren't lined up (like in the picture) and glue together with glue and an ATG gun. I adhered the box tiers with ATG gun, and then finally glued everything with my hot glue.

Create a top and bottom card, cover and glue on. Then all I did was decorate the inside of the boxes with paper and doodling and added a Christmas flower and brad to the front.

Finally I added my little tree. I used two chipboard stars and glued them back to back. Then I cut up a string of little lights and individually glued them to the branches. I added a festive ribbon to the base, sprinkled on some snow (and Stickles for sparkle) and decorated around the tree. The little elf carrying the presents is a sticker that I put on strong plastic packaging and then cut around.

Now you can fill the drawers with all sorts of treasures for your guests to find (candy, jewels, festive quotes, Secret Santa names, chocolate etc)

The snow I used was something made of strips of crumpled plastic, I really have no idea what it is, but I laid on a strip of hot glue and then sprinkled it on the branches. Then I drizzled clear Stickles all over it to create that snowy sparkle. The little lights come on a string. I snipped the string off and glued them individually with a dab of glue, holding them upright until dry.

This little guy reminds me of all the Chipmunk and Donald Duck Christmas movies I've ever seen! He's actually a princess or Barbie toy that Amber no longer uses, so I re-purposed him and he's guarding my tree now. The little "good" list was made from some scrap card that I gently crumpled and rolled at the top. I've added the names of all mine and my friends children (oh and my brother and sister) although I think my brother just barely made it onto the list *wink*.

This is one project that I'm going to want to keep out all year!

Christmas Bunting

2011-12-06T17:26:00.000+10:00

I love the look of bunting and have wanted to make my own for ages. Then Practical Scrappers game me the push I needed to give it a whirl! This month is all about Christmas creations, and this week mine is about my Christmas Bunting.

It's made with Red and Green Bazzill as a base, then pp on top. I cut them like this as something different from triangles. I made some rosettes and then layered on a circle of matching Bazzill and a Candy Cane inspired font letter sticker. The bunting spells out "Noel". I've added some buttons, red and white twine, holly, tulle and some candy canes that I made from chenille sticks. At the top of the bunting, each flag is adorned with a white paper doile and a strip of green and white ribbon for hanging.

Here's a close-up of one of the flags. I added some dimension with "snow" that sparkles because I added some Stickles. There is also two pins - a heart and a crystal pin.

This is the red flag where I added some holly. To create the tulle flower, I cut a strip of tulle, then ran some running stitch along one edge and gathered it up til I was happy with the effect. I secured the end and adhered it to the flag with hot glue.

The next two flags are duplicates of the first two. They simply have different letters on them.

I had so much fun with this bunting and it'll probably hang up all year, or maybe I should start planning for Easter, or Valentine's day or...........

I made a baby!

2011-11-29T22:04:00.001+10:00

This right here is a nappy/diaper baby. He or she is made entirely out of newborn nappies then dressed in a onesie, mittens, bib, beanie, sunnies, dummy and play toy.

I made this baby as something different from a nappy cake. I was also going to be taking it to an outdoor baby shower in a park and I figured hauling a cake across carparks, stairs, water play toys and along paths was just not going to go well. So I thought a baby would be better.

Now I can't take full credit for this idea as I happened apon some on the internet. Apparently they've been around a while, some creative genius thought of it and I'm happy that by looking at some pictures I managed to quite easily make my own.

There are three rolls of nappies for the head and body and then I fashioned arms and legs from 2 nappies a piece. It's all held together with strong rubberbands because I didn't want to damage any of the nappies so they could be used in the future. The clothes are gender neutral as we didn't no whether the mother was having a boy or girl.

The nappy baby is newborn size and was quite often mistaken for the real thing until strangers took a closer look - considering the heat we are having I can't imagine dressing a real baby from head to toe like this at the moment! Sophia picked the little toy the baby is hugging.

A side view of the baby sitting.

This is another baby that I made for Amber's school teacher. Unfortunately I only took photos on my phone! So this is the only one. Sophia chose the colours and accessories. This baby had a cute onesie that had flip-over mittens - they're created as part of the sleeves.

Both Mother-to-be's were delighted with their babies. The first mother actually staged a family photo with hers and the second baby is already tucked into bed in his/her new home! I can't wait to make more babies!!

Altering a cookie tray

2011-11-27T16:48:00.001+10:00

I'm sure you've all been thinking about all the upcoming cooking that comes with Christmas, well what if I said you could have all the fun of baking, without any washing up AND it's 100% fat free!

Whip out your baking tray (keeping in mind that you won't be able to actually bake with it again!) you can pick these up relatively cheap from dollar stores too, mine only cost $5. Gather your supplies. I used two sheets of pp for the base of the tray, a printed calendar that I created in Microsoft Publisher, some Christmas themed embellies - but I did throw in some sparkly butterflies, some magnets, glue (hot and cold) and some little clear pebbles.
I bought the little notepad from Riot craft store and embellished the cover with scraps and twine.

Simply cut one of your 12x12 sheets in half and then use a corner rounder or scissors to sculpt the corners to fin in the tray. Adhere. Then place your other 12x12 sheet into the the tray. Of course all trays are not created equal so you may have to make minor adjustments to make your paper fit. The using any program that can create a calendar (I used Publisher), print out a little calendar that will be held on the tray with magnets. For my magnets I used some matching chipboard shapes and hot glued a little round magnet to the back. I used a gingerbread man, present and a star.

This little star has a magnet on the back and a shiny pebble rock on the top. I used clear glue to adhere it. This magnet can hold all sorts of things like receipts, reminders and hints!!

I made some more little pebble magnets by cutting out little circles of scrap pp and gluing them to the pebbles. Then I added a magnet to the back.

This little notebook has white pages inside to hold all sorts of reminders and scribbles. I just used scrap paper for the front, a little tag and some twine to embellish it a little. It can be glued or magnetized to the tray.

On the corners of the tray I added a butterfly and some diecut trees

This butterfly is playing with a snowflake.

So what do you think? Think you'd like to try my kind of cooking? Don't forget to leave me a link so I can come and see!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2011-11-21T00:30:00.000+10:00

And if you're in Australia that means long hot days, mirages coming off the bitumen and the odd kangaroo womping down your street - or perhaps that's the coldy you just threw back making you see things?

Over at Practical Scrappers you are going to see lots of inspiration to get a start on your Christmas cards! I chose this gorgeous image that is pre coloured for convenience (and who doesn't need that around this time of year!). The Quirky Kangaroo comes complete with brown tinting, little pink cheeks and some purple, yellow and green spots. Now I wanted her for my Christmas card so I made some adjustments. First I used another digital image from Doodle Pantry, the wreath. I used one and inverted it to sit on her head. Then I tilted it 90 degrees and tucked one in her pouch. The wreath come pre-coloured too! The I dug out my Stickles and got to work on the spots and the cherries in the wreath. No purple isn't a traditional Christmas colour so I chose my darkest red Stickles and liberally applied it to the purple half spots (on her neck and toe). You wouldn't even know they were purple! Once everything was dry I assembled my card with some fun matching papers, my new favourite thing TWINE, and added a little tagged sentiment. For something special I added a little gloss to the paper strips behind the image.

Happy card making!

Altered Cookie Cutters

2011-11-18T00:30:00.000+10:00

Ever wanted to make something really neat for your tree (or someone elses), that is different from the usual decoration? Well today I'm going to show you how to make altered cookie cutters that you're going to want to cover your tree in!

Firstly you're going to need a few things:

Some shaped cookie cutters - metal or plastic - I chose a reindeer and Santa himself :)
You'll also need some patterened paper and co-ordinating ribbon, scissors, a glue gun, adhesive (I used my ATG), pen/pencil and any embellishments you like.

First up, chose your paper and with the pattern you want to see in the cookie cutter facing up. Trace around your cookie cutter with your pen/pencil.

Using your scissors, cut around the drawn shape about 5mm away from the line. Then snip all around the edge, from the outside edge into the line.

Once the edge is completely snipped, add adhesive over the top of all the tabs. I used my ATG gun and just ran it around the entire outer edge. Sit the paper on the cookie cutter (so that the lines line up with the shape) and press down all the little tabs. The adhesive will stick to the cutter and stay put. Do this for the entire cookie cutter.

Take a strip of ribbon and add adhesive. Again I used my ATG gun. Then gently line up the ribbon with the edge of the cookie cutter, and over the little tabs created from the paper and press down. Do this for the entire cookie cutter.

Now you can embellish to your hearts content!

I used chipboard shapes that I frosted in white flocking. I created some candy canes and added a poinsettia flower. If you have a Crop-a-dile, you could put a hole in the top of the cutter and thread your ribbon through. I had to hot glue mine on.

A variation on this idea is to put in a piece of acetate before putting on the backing paper. You can then fill your cookie cutter with sweets/candy/tiny toys before gifting it.

A precious baby boy

2011-11-16T21:42:00.001+10:00

One of my dear friends had her precious little boy on Saturday, now she has one of each. I'm so happy for her, and her little bundle is just the cutest ever - with so much hair!

So I figured I would make her something nice - and I got to hand deliver it cause she lives right across the road from me!

I love making keepsake pails for new mums, it gives them somewhere special to keep all those little momentos that usually just end up in a drawer lost forever cause they're too bulky to go in an album.

I usually work with a large paint tin but the store I buy them from was all out. Then I found this little one and nearly danced for joy!! I chose some double sided papers because this pail actually has clear sides, so the paper can be seen from the inside. I added some ribbon, some gloss and dimension with 3D pictures. Then I covered the tin handle with ribbons of blue, green and lemon in many different textures. Inside the tin are two little jumpsuits and a pair of booties (it's seriously too hot to wear anything other than a nappy at the moment!)

To go with the tin I made a card.

Thankfully you can't really tell here, but I took 3 photos of this card and they all came out blurry! So since I've given the gift and card away now I can't retake the photo. But you get the idea.

The image you see is a pre-coloured image from Doodle Pantry. I've made him 3D by printing a second turtle and only added the two front legs and head and popping them up on 3D foam dots. I also added some boggly eyes.

I used a Cardabilities sketch for this card - I love using sketches for my cards and layouts. It makes the process so much easier and gives me more time to pick and choose colours!

Here's a little close up of the card so that you can see the 3D qualities that it has. Using the gloss on the shell and toes really lifted the card. And all good turtles deserve to have a shiny shell and toes right?!

The scallops you see in the card were made using my threading water punch.

The colour/pattern on the sentiment banner was created using my Martha Stewart stamp.

Use your Christmas stash

2011-11-15T00:30:00.000+10:00

Do you ever have so much Christmas or holiday paper that you don't know what to do with it once the holiday has passed? Well I say get it out and use it! Obviously some papers can be a little tricky as they are obviously themed but the papers you see to the left are ALL Christmas themed and I have used them on a non-Christmas layout.

When I look at these photos I knew that the "holiday" colours would fit nicely, and the patterns all seem to go well together. I used a sketch from Sketchabilities to help me put everything together and then added some embellies. I think I've had that background paper forever, so it was nice to pull it out of my stash and finally put it to use! As for the other papers, they were from my scrap bin. The butterflies are from my goodie bag that my Sassy sister Kelly sent me one swap. I glossed them up a bit, along with the spots on one of the strips of pp.

Here's a little close up of the butterflies, the stacked flower and my tags. The pink tag was made using my Cuttlebug.

If you want some more inspiration on what to use all the Christmas paper for - pop on over to Practical Scrappers - we've created a whole feature for you!

A late spooking

2011-11-10T22:06:00.001+10:00

Here's a little something I made for a neighbour. It's a thank you card for all that she did to create a huge neighbourhood party for Halloween night so that we could take our children out and trick-or-treat.

We live in a circular street, so we all met at one mailbox, all dressed in our finery and then started off. Each house that wanted to join in the Halloween fun had to put a balloon on their mailbox. This way the children knew that they were going to houses that were expecting them. There were at least 50 or more of us all walking around the street. There were witches, zombies, scary cheerleaders, famous characters, movie dress-ups and home-made creations. It was truly awesome!

We started our trick-or-treating just before 6pm, so as you can imagine the night started to fall and the fun only got better. We saw lit pumpkins, lanterns, glow sticks, glow masks and outfits and light up spinners. Sophia carried a flashing wand of light (it helped to keep an eye on her in the dark too!)

I of course decked out the front of my house with spider webs, ghosts, two lack-o-lanterns with flickering battery operated candles in them (this helped tremendously that they didn't blow out cause it was really windy and I wasn't home to keep an eye on them!) I also had two more big pillar candles in the window, a skeleton and black cat. I turned our porch light green and installed a witchy doorbell that (apart from being rediculously loud!) also popped out a spider when you pressed it!!!

Here are Amber (as a cute witch), Sophia (as little red riding hood), and Amber's besty (as a witch) before we set off on our trick-or-treating. All of us witches (yes even I was dressed up) did have hats on, but the wind kept blowing them off so the girls left theirs behind.

This is all the goodies that Amber got in her bag - after taking about an hour to walk around the houses she scored all manor of lollies, toys, biscuits, balloons and a few bits of jewellery.

I'm surprised Sophia had anything left as she started eating as soon as the lollies started going in her basket!! She did so well with all the walking. She wasn't too sure about going up to complete strangers, but got the hang of it as she walked up with her friends from kindy (we bumped in to so many people we knew!) and her sister. This was probably my only worry - teaching the girls to go up to strangers and ask for candy, it really felt wrong even though I was with them the whole time and it was all in fun.

Now for my card:

The little skirt was made from some pleated cardstock with some strips of organza ribbon underneath. Then I used my bow-easy to create a contrasting bow. The witches legs are just strips of pp.

The witches boots were hand-drawn onto some black Bazzill. Then using some purple ink I roughly touched around the edge of the boots. Then I added some bling for buttons. I can't take full credit for the design of this card. I saw one on google images that I loved and decided to give it a whirl. You can find the original {here}

Doodle Pantry Blog Hop

2011-11-06T08:58:00.000+10:00

Hi and welcome! If you haven't arrived here via the blog hop, the beginning can be found at Doodle Pantry - you're in for a fabulous treat as 17 designers show off how to use Laurie's wonderful 12 Days of Christmas Digital stamps! If you are following the blog hop you would have arrived from Sharon's blog Inklined To Stamp - isn't her house gorgeous!!!

So why join our blog hop?

Just enter your name, email, (and blog link optional) in the linky at Doodle Pantry
If we have 59 linky entries or less, we will use random.org to select 5 winners for a $10 coupon prize from the entries in the linky.
If we have more than 59 entries in the linky, we will have random.org choose 8 winners for a $10 coupon prize!!

BONUS PRIZES:

And to top all that off, we will be selecting TWO BONUS commenters from all the comments left on two of our Design Teams blogs to win a $15 coupon prize...... no one knows which blog from our blog roll list I will randomly choose a winner from, so just comment on them all to increase your chances at winning a bonus prize!

Okay, so what have I got to show you today. A sweet table centerpiece made from a circle pop-up album! I love these little albums!

I absolutely love creating for Christmas, and these mini digital images are just perfect. I used red and green Bazzill for the base of the centerpiece, then I used Dovercraft Christmas papers (they're all from the same pack so they match). I've added some gloss to all the images (the diamond on the ring, the water under the swan etc) and then around the edge I've added some Sparkly Fluff. The entire centerpiece can be folded flat for storage.

Have fun on the blog hop - your next stop is right back to the beginning at Doodle Pantry

Thanks Snow Much

2011-10-11T18:07:00.000+10:00

Oh am I running behind schedule - darn spring flu caught up with me!

Doodle Pantry have just released a whole stack of gorgeous digital images for the month of October. Among them is this cute little digi called "Snow Birdie". I've coloured them with my copics - which I found out one of them ran out! Don't you just hate running out of your favourite colour when you are colouring. It was absolutely bone dry! Thankfully I got it filled the very next day. Any way - I've created a little snowy sparkle with my Stickles on the snowman and snow and I used Sparkly Fluff on the snowman's hat band. There's also a tiny yellow pom pom on the top of his hat.

I got the inspiration for this card from Mojo Monday.

Please Vote!

2011-10-02T22:41:00.000+10:00

Practical Scrappers is having a card competition! The rules for the first round were to create a card with pink on it. This was my entry - AND I MADE IT!!

I chose an image (Cuddle Cloud Baby) from Meljen's Designs that I have actually used before, but for a boy - just goes to show how versatile the image is! I coloured the little baby and cloud with my copics and then added some Stickles and gloss to the dots and hearts. I used a sketch from The Sweet Stop (SSS127)

There's also some stitching in there, the sentiment is raised and I used my Bow-easy for my bow.

In this photo you can see the hearts are shiny, and the dots under the cloud are sparkly.

Now I need YOUR help - please come over to Practical Scrappers, that's right, just click on Practical Scrappers and then vote for my card. I would love to make it to the next round of voting. You can vote on three cards a day until Friday and I would really appreciate your help. All you have to do is leave a comment stating which card you are voting for - it's that easy!!

Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails

2011-09-26T01:00:00.000+10:00

That's what little boys are made of!

This card is for the Practical Scrappers White Core/ Colour Core Cardstock Challenge. I have used some Cordinations blue core cardstock. All I did was create my overalls shape and then roughly fold and bend the card randomly. This left little peaks in the card that I could sand over. Sanding removes the top layer of the card and the bottom lighter colour shows through. I then sanded some of the flat card to create "wear marks" on the little overalls, it also shows the texture of the card more. I did the same with the little pocket and then sewed around both. The pocket is attached with 3D foam dots.

Once the overalls were complete I made a little shirt to go underneith. I love making little clothes from paper, and used to create Tracerkins and Paperkins all the time.

Because this is a boys card, I added some rope (twine), a frog, some bunny brads and a cute little penny turtle in the pocket which is a pre-coloured digital image from Doodle Pantry.

I tucked the little turtle in the pocket so it looks like it's climbing out. The twine was gently teased at the end and sewn to the overalls with a couple of stitches. For the sewing around the edges of the overalls I made sure they were tiny stitches to look more realistic.

The little frog is a 3D sticker and the dirty marks on the overalls is Sparkly Fluff - grey.
I haven't added a sentiment yet as I don't know who or what the card is for, but it'll be easy to add when I need to.

Wild About You!

2011-09-21T20:49:00.000+10:00

Here's a little card I made for a sweet little boy I know. He has a little Giraffe blanket that he loves, and he likes to see my cards online and on Facebook, so I thought that I would make him his own!

Now I immediately went to my favourite Digital Stamp company - Doodle Pantry, for a giraffe stamp and was sad to find that there wasn't one, so I turned to Google Images to find a digital stamp that I loved. I searched everywhere until my eye caught the image to the left. It was cute, I loved the colours and well the style was just perfect. It seemed familiar, kind of like some of the digital images that I already had, so I figured I just like this particular style.

I clicked on the picture in Google Images and it took me to Clear Dollar Stamps and low and behold this little giraffe image is made by Laurie Wilson of Doodle Pantry!!! Was I excited or what!!! So as quick as you can say print, I had this little cutie on my desk and ready to put on my card. I can't wait for Coen to see it!

There's a few techniques I have used on this card. Firstly that big green felt shape you see there is actually a coaster! I found a bunch of them on sale at a homewares shop and simply chopped it in half to use on my card. I have also used cork as my background, I inked the edge of my little flag and I doodled some borders.

The inspiration for this card comes from a sketch from Mojo Monday

Stripping at the border

2011-09-20T01:00:00.000+10:00

Have you ever seen those patterned papers with strips of print, pattern, colour or a decorative edging? Well I've got a few examples right here on this card especially for the Practical Scrappers Border Strips Challenge!

First up I got all these border strips from the same piece of patterned paper. I simply trimmed them into separate strips and then laid them out evenly on a piece of blue patterned paper. I went for a symmetrical look as it's pleasing to the eye.

Second I took another piece of pink/red pp strip and used my Fiskars water threading punch on it. It gives a nice scalloped edge.

And lastly - my favourite, on the edge of this piece of 12x12 patterned paper was a nice red, white and yellow strip with a zig-zag border. I trimmed this into one long 12in strip and then using my stylis tool I made some crease marks evenly along it so that I could make many concertina folds. I joined one end to the other and then pushed down on the centre to create the rosette. You usually have to use a heavy duty glue to hold rosettes so I used my hot glue gun.

Once the background of my card was done I went ahead and did some doodling, I added some fussy-cut ants from Doodle Pantry and a sentiment.

Here's a little closeup of the rosette - the zig-zag edge and colours really make it pop. I tied some twine to the balloon and I added a new product that I now have - Glossy Accents. It goes on just like Stickles but dries to create a lovely shine. It didn't make my ink run and was very easy to use!

This is the bottom of my card with a few little loops in the twine. I fixed these with a couple of little stitches.

I also got the inspiration for this card from one of my favourite card sketch sites: Cardabilities - this is sketch number 39

So have you got unused border paper, tape, decorative edged scissors, edge punches? Then dust them off and get creating!!!

Going batty!

2011-09-19T01:00:00.000+10:00

This card has been created for two challenges. Firstly for the Practical Scrappers Masking & Misting Challenge, and secondly for the Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenge, which is sponsored by Doodle Pantry!

Okay so you want to know what on earth Masking & Misting is? and do you have to wear your underpants on the outside? Well I supposed you could if you wanted to, but no Super Hero attire is needed for masking. You can use anything! I used my scalloped ruler, layered it over my "Boo" paper and then using a paintbrush liberally dipped in white paint I then used my finger to flick the paint onto the paper. When you pull away the scalloped ruler you're left with the pattern of the splattered paint. You can also use specialty paints in sprayers, and fancy store bought masks, but I try to do things in a cost effective way.

The Misting was easy - it can't really be seen here cause I had to take the photo late in the afternoon and we have smoke all around us, so there was not enough light to glint off the mist. But it's on the very bottom layer of this card, and it's clear and sparkly. My Sassy Sister Colleen made it herself and sent it to me as part of my awesome Easter Swap! I guess I've been afraid to use it, cause I've never misted anything in my life - except perhaps my Hermit Crabs! I thought the sparkle would look nice behind the little bat - since this is a card for a child and all.

Now for the Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenge - the challenge was set to make a card for a child in the fall/halloween theme. So no really spooky or scary images, just some fun to help a child smile. I've even included a removable spider sticker up in the top left corner. I just cut around the spider on it's backing sheet and adhered it with a 3D foam dot!

For a bit more fun I added some purple/pink Sparkly Fluff to the little bat's spots.

Here's a little closeup of the masking that I did. It has a really random effect and some of the paint sort of flung itself over the paper and has dried quite textured, so you can rub the "webbing" and actually feel it. I ran a line of white marker along the edge of the scallops to help define it since the paper is patterned, the paint sort of got lost.

So come on over to Practical Scrappers or Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenges and join in the fun!

Would you like a cup of tea?

2011-09-16T23:38:00.001+10:00

There is something that we love to do in our house - and that's have cups of tea on the patio when the weather is warm. Sophia absolutely loves having tea parties, sometimes they are with real food and drink and other times it's with her favourite tea set from Gramma. She will sit for ages and drink cups of tea, pouring into all the cups and then giving them out to her gather of friends or to family members.

There is never a shortage of "tea" around when you have little girls that's for sure. It's so wonderful to watch both of the girls playing together in the sunshine, pretending and role playing. Everything seems right in the world when you have a tea cup and a tea pot full of pretend tea!

For this layout I used lots of colour, texture and of course flowers! We're actually growing our own sunflowers out in the garden, so watch for that layout soon! The last batch grew to 7ft tall! Amber was only Sophia's age when we last did that!

Any way. I've also used letter stickers, ribbon, tickets and a little die-cut tab that I got at Easter from my Sassy Sister Colleen.

It's hard to believe I picked these flowers up at the dollar store! I love them. They are so detailed and beautifully layered. I added a little Stickles to the leaves, they they come beautiful on their own. The tickets are Sticko stickers in the Valentines theme.

This layout uses a sketch from Page Maps

Bill

2011-09-08T21:03:00.001+10:00

Well if you liked the snake that I featured here the other day, then you'll love this next layout!

In this photo you'll find three very brave girls. First is Katelyn (Amber's besty), then there's Sophia and on the tail is Amber.

This close encounter was only going to be me and katelyn, then Sophia found us and said she wouldn't go near the snake cause she was "afwaid". Then Amber said "I'm not going near that thing" but gave up as the line moved along. Well we finally made it to the head of the line and Amber was convinsed to come and meet Bill. She made sure the snake handler knew that she would only go near the tail though, nowhere else!

Just as we began to approach the big bench, Sophia came flying across the photo area and decided to join us. Well since the girls were all sitting on the bench, I was going to be the odd one out up the back - so I decided to leave them to the snake! Bill the Python is only 5 years old and half his growing size! He was quite heavy so most of his body is around the back of the girls. Katelyn insisted that she hold his head, and Sophia just sort of squirmed in the middle. She wasn't upset or anything, as I wasn't forcing the girls to do this, but I think she felt a little squashed under Bill's weight! They all got a nice long hold, a pat, and of course Sophia had to have her little chat with him (along with all 535674 other animals at Australia Zoo!)

Now this layout was created for Practical Scrappers - chipboard on a layout challenge. I used raw chipboard letters and simply doodled inside the shapes. This was really different for me as I always cover my chipboard either with paint or paper.

Here's a few closeups of the title (I raised it on foam dots) and the journalling box which is a Doodlebug sticker. The stick is also a sticker which I raised on foam dots. The black ribbon you see on the top photo was knotted in several places and then I hand stitched little crosses with white thread. The layout for this page comes from a Page Maps sketch