Springtime Green

G’day and welcome J

Today’s make is my first ever make with a Magnolia stamp… I happened upon a Christmas magazine while at the shops and it had a Christmas Tilda with Puppy on the front so happy Newsagent and happy me! Hehe  Now on stamping her I realized she loans herself to all year so here she is.

 

This is one more of the Mad March birthdays down… lots more to go!

A few challenges in this card… in no particular order… well ok… in the order they are written down on my notepad…

Cupcake Craft Challenge… Sparkle… beautiful sparkly bella brad on that flower just finishes it off nicely!

The Crafting Café… favourite colour… Green!  The colour of my garden J

Lej Designs Challenge blog… Spring… Real Spring to me was when I was in England… the white snow would melt and vibrant green shoots would burst out of the thaw with tenacity and throw out delicate flowers.

Flourishes .org has a challenge of using Cardboard which worked brilliantly to give my leaves texture and add interest.  I will use your stamps when I can manage to buy one :-)

CardMakingMamas have a challenge of using Green…. I think I might have covered that one!

Emmas Cards UK has a challenge of vintage… now I am hoping this is vintage enough as it all reminds me of old times (and Aunty Nora with her doilies)…

Materials:

All cardstock/paper/doilies right from my stash!

Stamps: Magnolia Christmas Tilda with Puppy; “Happy Birthday” stamp from Papercraft Inspirations stamps Issue 72.

Flower: Stampin’ Up! Punches.

Leaves: Create-a-flower Cuttlebug die and Spellbinders leaves.

Spellbinders Circle and Scalloped Circle.

Brad:  Bella!

Inks: Memento “New Sprout” and “Pear Tart”; Black ink – Memories Dye inkpad.

Pencils: Faber Castell

Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper.

Thanks for stopping by… happy crafting…

Sarah x

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

Sky-blue-pink-with-polka-dots!

Todays make is a card to enter The Ribbon Girls March Challenge.  The must have is “twine or ribbon” so since yesterday I had to explain to my dear Husband and Sons WHY I received a bag of bakers twine by post from a lovely friend it seemed bakers twine was the order of the day! (Thank-you Sam!)

The challenge is also sponsored by Lili of the Valley which made me go digging in my stash!  A while back I bought a magazine and with it came a whole heap of gorgeous printed images from… you guessed it… Lili of the Valley so I decided to use those since I haven’t got my hands on any of their stamps as yet!

I am also entering this in the Cupcake Crafts Challenge for *Sparkle* as the cardstock is pearlescent and the brad is as one of my darling boys pointed out "pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny."  So I hope that qualifies as Sparkle :-)

In Mad March we have a whole string of birthdays so that is my focus this week… get them all done and posted. My Nanna’s birthday is one of the first so I picked out a beautiful Lili of the Valley image that lended its self to the colour that my Nanna used to tell us was her favourite… 

Sky Blue Pink with Polka dots!

So this is my interpretation of that with bakers twine featuring down the side with a happy birthday slider so it’s a little tactile and interactive.

I used:

Image: Lili of the Valley

Flower: Stampin’ Up! Punches.

Brad: Making Memories “Paperie Rouge”

Leaves: Create-a-flower Cuttlebug die and embossing folder.

Slider: “Fruit and tags” Cuttlebug cutting die and “Happy Birthday 2x2.75” embossing folder.

Patterned Paper: “The birthday brights” from Australian Simply Cards Magazine.

Punch: Martha Stewart Doily Lace.

Spellbinders Circle and Scalloped Circle.

Souffle white pen (for lettering).

Faber Castell Pencils for colouring the stamp.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah

There is always time for a party!

It has been forever since I did a challenge (we moved!) but its Mad March which means a mega amount of Birthdays all clumped together sooo what better way to get motivated and some direction than challenges? 

The first inspiration & direction I am taking is from a Simon Says Stamps challenge which was Anything goes with a focus on Tim Holtz… what is not to love about this?  Now the majority of my Tim Holtz seems to be my “masculine” and “steampunk” themed folders and dies along with my Adirondack/Tim Holtz inks so that made my decision easy… a card for Pop!

I accidentally stumbled on Simon Says Stamp and Show’s blog (so glad I did!) and voila my decision was made as to what to do… a challenge of “By the Numbers”… Now Pop who is turning 84 years young has rebuilt many clocks and has fascinated my boys with winding and chiming them!

Tim Holtz’s Alterations Texture Fades Sizzix Embossing Pocket Watches folder… Try saying that fast!  A celebration of Pop’s birthday and his love of clocks and the order that the numbers on the faces bring him… Perfect for both challenges!  So here is the result:

I embossed the copper coloured Spellbinders craft foil through my Cuttlebug in the Pocket Watches folder and cut it to size, matted it on black cardstock then made a white card blank and mounted it.

I also used Tim Holtz’s idea-ology Game spinners on the pocket watch cut from my Spellbinders Timeless Heritage Die.  I highlighted the numbers on the pocket watch with a black sharpie (awesome on Spellbinders foil!) and then added some texture to the foil with a few light dabbings of Tim Holtz and Adirondack Rust coloured alcohol inks…

That’s about it… Have a great day!

Sarah.

It's been too long!

Well, its been too long but this year I am making the effort to make time to craft... so the year so far has seen my first Christmas card for 2012...

and 2 asian inspired cards that I have used designs out of magazines to get me back on track... yes I lost my mojo big time...

Anyways thats it from me, I have cards to make and procrastination to avoid...

Cuttlebug Challenge Be Inspired #49.

Okay I will come back and give details... it's been a busy week with house inspections, Mr. ADHD, sick 6 year old etc anyway you don't want to know so.... here's my Mini Album covers Front, Back and Inside... the only way I could get them to photograph was to dismantle and lay them on the trampoline otherwise all I got was *flash* (Technically Challenged by the camera LoL) Folders were swiss dots, happy birthday and swirls. I will redo the photos as soon as I can.

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 Be Inspired #47

G'day, well I hope I make the deadline as I am on the other side of the world and have no idea what the time is EDT. Okay without further ado, here is my entry for the Cuttlebug Challenge Birthday Palooza, challenge #47. We were asked to create a birthday party invitation and since my youngest son turns 7 in November I thought I would get ahead of the game. Well that's the theory!We decided on Pirates and in particular a Pirate treasure hunt as the theme for the party:
The outside was made using:
Invitation Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder
Cuttlebug Cutting Die: Ahoy Matey! (Pirate ship)
Fiskars texture plate: Ocean.

All cardstock came from my stash.

The waves were highlighted in white and blue chalk. The paper piecing took ages for the pirate ship since my bird decided it was FUNNY to swoop and send them all flying LoL. (I had to share!)

I tried to make the inside treasure map like so I used the Invitation Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder again and then aged and distressed it using Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen. On the inside cover I used the Typewriter Dies for the X, the Cuttlekids 4-Pack Pirate set for the Treasure Chest and the Crop-A-Dile to punch out the pieces of 7 ;-) The treasure chest is covered in wood grain contact stuck to cardstock with detail in gold foil cardstock (not sure it shows well). To get the Treasure Chest to cut right through the foil cardstock and double sided (pre-stuck on back) I had to add two shims of cardstock to the A, B, C sandwich.

Lesson learned during this make... put double-sided on the back of the paper BEFORE punching out fiddly, thin or difficult bits. Well this was a whole lot of fun, my 6 year old wants his birthday NOW! LoL. Can't wait for the next challenge.

My eldest has unmedicated ADHD (our choice no meds) so anytime he engages in a task and follows through is great and he saw me distressing and decided to have a go with one of the pieces I experimented on... and boy did he, even taking to his piece with a hammer and scissors... so that's his attempt below! Would have worked great but for the holes from the hammer ;-)
Don't forget to go join in the birthday celebrations at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot!