Downhill run!

Ok still battling my list of Mad March Birthdays… I would ask why so many birthdays in March but since mine is one I better not!  Hehe…  This one is for a young man who is turning 9!

I am entering quite a few challenges with this one… I don’t think I will win any but it IS keeping me motivated to get these cards done in a timely and focused fashion! (Wonders never cease!) So thank you challenge makers… much appreciated!  Now in NO particular order…

First:  Colour challenge of GREEN… with CardMakinMamas.  Perfect for the month of March! 

Second: Simon Says Stamps Challenge of Anything goes with a highlight on Tim Holtz products… which I love especially for my male cards!

Third: Crafty Cardmakers Challenge of Masculine Birthday and Technology!

Fourth: Card marking and Papercraft wanted to see some results of using scraps!  That’s what my motorbike and happy birthday Panel is made out of!

Scraps... it's amazing what all those little bits can make!

Materials Used:

Green corrugated cardboard. 

Scrap card from stash.

Sizzix Tim Holtz embossing folder “steampunk”.

Cuttlebug “Celebration stamps” Die cut (the stamp shape).

Cuttlebug “Happy Birthday 2 x 2.75” folder.

Cuttlekids “Offroad” motorbike.

Thanks for stopping by…

Sarah x

Cuttlebug Challenge blog #48.

G'day,
Well this week we had to create a gift bag / box and birthday card for our theme... so... Pirate Treasure hunt had no other option it had to be a Treasure Chest! Now Brandon who will be 7 in November likes to keep all his treasures from previous Christmas' and Birthdays in a beaten up old transformers box so I figured I would make his Treasure Chest quite sturdy so he can upgrade (fingers crossed!) and I can get rid of the torn, beaten up box.

I used the Cuttlebug Skeleton Scroll embossing folder and the vintage cutting dies among lots of other things for the treasure chest.

It started with just flimsy cardboard but has a layer of card and woodgrain contact on each side so its now quite robust. The gold is gold foil paper, for the vintage die cuts you need to put double sided on the back before you cut it and roll it through the Cuttlebug once and then in reverse to get all the way through. If you are going to make a treasure chest do yourself a favour and do NOT have a round lid LoL it was a nightmare ;-)

Okay, the card, I have to admit I am going to re-do this when I have the use of my index finger back... I sliced the pad, not on the craft knife, not on the scissors, nope, not even on the guillotine... but on the plastic packaging as I tried to get the Cuttlebug Vintage cutting dies out of the pack!

Anyway back to the card. The photos are dark otherwise you only get the flash from the silver and gold foil cardstock.


The ship is from the 4 pack of pirate dies from Cuttlekids. The waves are done using a fiskars texture plate (works well in my Cuttlebug!), Circles were Spellbinders Nestibilities to make the port hole with black brads, background is of course Happy Birthday Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder, inside I embossed gold circles (coins) with two of the Happy Birthday 2x2.75 Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Set. The Christmas Chocolate coins should be out by Brandon's Birthday in November so I am thinking I will make up a heap of the coins as I did for the inside and fill his treasure chest up (since he inherited my sweet tooth).

Thanks for reading and have a great day,
Sarah

Cuttlebug Challenge #41 AND #42

Well it’s the last Cuttlebug Challenge for July and I have completed all 5 Challenges so far... with a few extra’s along the way... couldn’t help myself, crafting is addictive you know! Since I am still pretty new to crafting in general (less than 6 months) my creations probably aren't the most polished or perfect but I am having fun and learning lots along the way.

So we had:

Challenge #38 - Red, White and Blue with buttons.(My first ever entry) Using the dots embossing folder from the Cuttlebug With Love border set.


Challenge #39 - colour theme of orange, lime green and turquoise blue with woodsy creatures and something from nature. I used the Provo Craft embossing folder that came in the Cuttlebug Card Making Combos: Eveyday Greetings to make leaves (hope that counted).


Challenge #40 - Sketch Challenge plus a stamp. I used the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: Floral Fantasy for the background.



Now I was doing okay up until this point... then I got a house full of guests and lost the plot... made a lovely recycled pencil tin for the boys... but forgot the Cuttlebug embossing folder... doh! See >> Challenge #41 - Recycled element but NO cards.



So... Revisited

Challenge #41 - Recycled non-card WITH embossing folder!

Now last Mother's Day my boys brought me chocolates which I dutifully ate. Some of the chocolates were Turkish Delights that came in a lovely tin which I couldn't just throw out. I also turned out to be the perfect size for my pens and craft knife and since its a "girl colour" the boys stopped "borrowing" my craft pens and not bringing them back. So to make it pretty for my desk I covered it in pink and white flowered paper from my stash then I took some pink cardstock and ran it through the Cuttlebug Embossing folder that came in the Cuttlebug Card Making Combos: Eveyday Greetings. I then used the Versamark watermark ink then covered that with glitter embossing powder and heat melted. When it cooled I cut the embossed image out with my craft knife and mounted it on the side of the tin and added a butterfly from my stash (From Spotlight) to the fastener of the tin.

Challenge #42 - Make a gatefold card, with your favorite cuttlebug folder, for National Friendship Week.

Okay I found some gold shimmer cardstock in my stash that I just had to use, I scored and folded it into the gatefold card (okay I had to do it twice since it seemed the first time the ruler must have changed it measurements half way through hehe). I then took two pieces of white cardstock and used the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: Floral Fantasy twice then used some gold ink and a brayer and covered the raised embossing with ink and then heat embossed it with glitter embossing powder giving a bit of an antique look that I quite liked. I then mounted inked measured and inked the edges (in black) of a couple layers of gold shimmer cardstock. I measured some white cardstock and inked the edges in gold and added some star brads and used the same gold ink for the friendship sentiment stamp. I mounted these together then added this to the card and that's the outside done.

For the inside I took the corners off of a piece of white cardstock with my Fiskars circle punch then inked them with gold ink and added another friendship stamp then I mounted this onto another piece of gold shimmer cardstock which I inked the edges in black. This then got put into card... all done... hope you like it...

Thanks for visiting,
Sarah

Cuttlebug Challenge #40

This is my entry for the Cuttlebug Challenge Countdown to CHA Be Inspired #40 which is sponsored by 2 red bananas and the new Cuttlebug Folders by Provocraft!
The challenge was a sketch challenge with the bonus of using the Textile folder... well that’s on my wish list so I used the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: Floral Fantasy to emboss a piece of pink cardstock which I then covered the raised embossing with Versamark watermark ink then covered that with glitter embossing powder and heat melted.
I then stamped my image from a set I got from Kmart onto white cardstock and trimmed it down, then the fun began, trying to get even corners... never as easy as it sounds without a corner punch (that’s on my wish list too). I ended up using my Fiskars circle punch very, very carefully. I coloured and shaded the image using pencils. I mounted this panel and added a dark red panel of paper behind then added four Fiskars eyelets in the corners of the printed panel then two sets of three red hearts. I then added a ribbon from my stash and mounted it on grey Craft Market textured cardstock.
Now I made a tag for another challenge that matches so now I just have to make a photo disk to send to my Nanna... you know she just loves all those photos of great-grandsons!
Thanks for reading,
Sarah.

Okay there is a really cool competition for copic markers going that needs a coloured in stamped image... at Crafty Goings On so go enter for a chance to win some copic markers... you know they are on my wish list (with lots of other stuff!). Good Luck!

Cuttlebug Challenge #39

G’day, well this is my second entry for July in the Cuttlebug Challenge. The new Cuttlebug folders look great, maybe next year I can get my hands on some when I go to a city to go shopping (There goes the credit cards again!). I found the theme quite scary to start with a colour theme of orange, lime green and turquoise blue with woodsy creatures and something from nature. I had to convince my 6 year old boy that did not mean snails, lizards or the mealy worms we feed to the bird! (He wasn’t impressed)
Now we ended up doing a double entry as the kids are on holidays (vacation) and walked in as I was reading the new challenge.
My card is made from cardstock from my stash. The green papers for the leaves were glued onto cardstock then embossed in the Provo Craft embossing folder that comes in the Cuttlebug Card Making Combos: Eveyday Greetings. I then cut the “leaves” out and inked the edges (while watching the boys go round and round on their scooters.). I then used a brayer (roller) to ink over the top of the raised embossing. I then sprinkled with clear, glitter embossing powder and heated until it melted. We used the Nestabilities Scalloped Large Ovals by Spellbinders through the Cuttlebug to make a place for the sentiment “So Kind” from a Stampin’ Up stamp in black then we clear glitter heat embossed that. Then we found the perfect stick... and snails, and slugs... and assembled the card with sticky dots and double sided. Then we added an owl stamped on cardstock and took it off again, I really didn’t like it so we added some woodsy creatures, a bird, bee and dragonfly from a Craft Value pack from Kmart.



Okay, now *the box*, our family often has an extra member during the day, an 8 year old girl who often brings with her bits and pieces and my boys often make things for her (awwww). I am forever finding things around the house that are *girl things* and you know they can’t be tidied into *boy territory*! So I made Ms 8 year old a box to put her things in. The papers and card stock are all from my stash, the box is recycled. The butterflies and bees are Cuttlebugged from the Cuttlebug 2x2 (4) - Garden Creatures dies and decorated by the kids with stash bling. The tree’s are Cuttlebugged using the Nestabilities Scalloped Large Ovals by Spellbinders. The Kangaroo (which IS a woodsy creature here) is Cuttlekids 2-Step dies Kangaroo – Charlotte. The grass is shredded green paper and the flowers were punched in orange from my Stampin'Up Spring Bouquet and decorated by the boys with bling and orange flower brads.
I am happy to report the box is already well in use and filled with gifts made by the boys. These projects were really fun to make with the kids.

School Photo Time

Well the school photos are here and now I have to send them so bumper batch of cards in progress. To help me keep track of who I send what to I like to take photos so I figure I might as well pop them up here so here they are so far:

Well my 6 year old boy had to make a card first... so here is his card.... a wonderful effort with a very little help apart from the sandwich for the cuttlebug as "not everything fits mum."
He used blue craft foam through the large oval nestibilities, a blue paper flower and pink butterfly from my stash. Now he is a happy camper because its up here... ;-)


Now this one was quite simple, it used the Cuttlebug 2x6 - Flowers cutting die to make the flower and the Cuttlebug Card Making Combo: Eveyday Greetings to make the "hello". The buttons and ribbon came out of my stash. Most of the stuff I get is nice and cheap and whatever I can get since our nearest craft superstore would be about 8 hours drive away and I just can't convince hubby its a good reason to drive that far for matching buttons or ribbon hehe.
The patterned paper was from cre8tiv. The card was Craft Market textured cardstock A4 Cabaret light blue.



Okay this one is a little blurry sorry, but again using the same patterned paper from cre8tiv. The card was Craft Market textured cardstock A4 Cabaret dark blue. The brads were no name ones but Mr 6yo was proud to poke them through and split them ;-)
Once again I used the the Cuttlebug Card Making Combo: Eveyday Greetings to make the "hi there".






Okay these two were quick ones done with my favourite, the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: A2 Stylized Flowers on beige cardstock. Coloured with chalk and finished with hello and hi there from the Cuttlebug Card Making Combo: Eveyday Greetings in pink scrap cardstock.

This one was inspired by a card I got from my friend Andrea, so thanks Andrea! The patterned paper was from cre8tiv. The card was Craft Market textured cardstock A4 Cabaret dark blue. The stamp is a Stamp-it Filigree 3692G Laura Koh which I used Versamark watermark ink with glitter heat embossing and blue "bling" from my stash. Blue paper flower with the centre having a dark blue flower punched from the Stampin'Up Spring Bouquet then a Light blue Bella Jewel Bradz.

Okay last but not least the this card was made by my 8 year old without any help because he is much to big hehe. Concentric hearts from Cuttlebug die and pink craft foam, stickers from his solar system pack and light blue cardstock.


Thanks for reading, Happy crafting!

Cuttlebug Challenge Red, White and Blue with Buttons.

This is my first ever entry into the Cuttlebug Challenge so I am happy just to get it respectable with a 6 year old and 8 year old boy helping as much as they can since its school holidays! So the Challenge was 4th of July (which we don’t have here in Australia) or Meda’s Birthday (Happy Birthday Meda!) including red, white and blue with buttons and the bonus of using the swiss dots embossing folder. Well I fulfilled all except the swiss dots, since I do not yet own the folder and my nearest real craft store is 8 hours drive away!

So, with my boys helping, we chose the Cuttlebug 2x2 Stars to cut red, white and blue craft foam. We embossed some Craft Market light blue card stock with the dots folder from the Cuttlebug With Love border set. Then we used the Nestabilities Scalloped Large Ovals by Spellbinders to emboss and cut the blue foam and white cardstock to make the centre feature. Then we stamped the sentiment and used some embossing powder to add some sparkle and amusement for the boys as they watched it melt. Then we finished the card with a few heart buttons from our stash. The three of us had fun doing this challenge and I think I will have two eager helpers waiting for the next challenge!

I learned a lot doing this challenge since I have only been card making since about February. Firstly I finally found a way of getting the Cuttlebug border not to leave a mark where the edge of the folder sits; I had to put a layer of hot glue on the outside of the top of the folder and let it dry then run it through without the second B plate but with the silicone mat (embossing mat). There is probably a much easier way to do this I am sure but it did work! Feel free to enlighten me of any easier ways.

The second thing I learned was to use double sided tape to hold things in place with tape when embossing and cutting with Nestabilities. They have a habit of moving when I lift the silicone mat.

Thirdly, never dismiss the kids craft foam, it worked quite well for this I thought. It added height and took the embossing well.

Lastly but most importantly I learned to never turn my back on an 8 year old, a pile of buttons and glue... I will leave that one to the imagination but it took a while to remove the glue from my desk! Still we did have fun and that’s the main thing.

Thanks for reading, have a lovely day!