Happy Birthday Matthew!

My eldest son turned six this week!  He asked me every day on the countdown to his birthday whether I had made his card and wrapped his presents yet.   He is growing up way too fast.

Here's the card I made him from a scrap of DSP and using my trusty star punches:

I think you could even turn this into a Christmas card if you changed the colours around.

Some girly cards and my son's Halloween card!

Hello!

I'm feeling in a girly mood, and I had some pretty DSP (designer series paper) lying around, so I've experimented with some "girly" cards:  the first two have almost no stamping at all!

Hmm.  Not sure why this ended up sideways.  

This little bird was embossed with my SU dye ink  by inking up my stamp in Versamark watermark ink (clear ink used in embossing) and then dipping the stamp into my Groovy Guava dye ink pad.  I then sprinkled clear embossing powder onto the image, and melted it with my heat gun.  Voila!

Here we have the bird again, but this time she's very sparkly!  The photo does not do it justice - glitter never photographs well.  I deliberately made one edge of the card shorter than the other and stuck in some co-ordinating DSP along the edge for fun.

My little butterfly was also glittered up using the same technique as the bird - stamped in Versamark, then pixie pink ink, then onto the whisper white cardstock.  I then sprinkled on Heat'n Stick powder, melted it until it was sticky, and sprinkled over Dazzling Diamonds glitter, and gave it a quick final blast with the heat gun to set it.   Can you get any girlier than a pink, glittery butterfly?  

Finally, here's the card my 6 year old son made with me earlier this month to send to his best friend for Halloween.  Didn't he do a great job?  I drew the tree and skull, he did the rest.

I've come to a decision.....

From now on, I'm only going to post Stampin' Up! cards on this blog.  After all, it's my business, and I'm not doing myself any favours by posting cards using stamps that people can get at their local shop, am I?

I will continue to post most of my creations on my Splitcoaststampers gallery (Gemini Mum) however.

And in breaking news.....my Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalogue just arrived!  As a Demo, I get it a month before it's release to customers and I can pre-order things from 1st November when the rest of the world has to wait until December.  I've had a flick through it and I have to say, it has some very cool stuff in it!

Michelle's cards

Michelle asked me to make her ten generic ("no sentiment") cards that could be used for any occasion. This is what I came up with:

I love this bold, graphic background stamp by Stamp-It Australia. I used the SU! glossy white cardstock again, and just layered it once to keep it simple. I liked the look so much, I tried some other colours:

Real red, Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi and Black & white again with an Only Orange mat. Hope you like them Michelle!

Kate, don't worry, yours are next.

Mum's cards (so far) as promised....

See? Promised I'd show you what I have been up to lately. Mum requested some notecards without sentiments and chose a lovely Stamp-It Australia small background stamp, called "Florentine - Yvette." With such a detailed image, fine embossing powder is essential. And because the cards are designed to be generic I stuck to keeping them simple. Also makes them easier to mass-produce. All cardstock is Stampin' Up!

Close up to show the detail:

Here are the first few Christmas cards Mum commissioned - again, the cardstock is SU! but the stamp is Stamp-It Australia. I had originally thought I'd emboss the lovely image, but it looked terrible, as you lost the details. Then I tried using my SU dye inks on glossy white paper, and I quite liked the result. I've done a dozen so far, some with paper pierced lines, some with gold brads, all with gold ribbon. Hope Mum likes them!

I dunno. Now that I'm seeing the photos of them, I'm not sure about these cards. Are they a little......blah? I'm open to suggestion/constructive criticism. Hit me with your thoughts!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have been busy lately, Stampin' Up! a storm (ha!  I am so punny!), making cards for Mum, and my dear friends Kate & Chelle....................but I haven't finished yet.  Mum wants 100 cards, and I am running out of cardstock!   Having taken terrible photos at night before,  I have learned my lesson!  You will have to wait until I can take a picture tomorrow morning to see some of my latest creations.

 

ciao, darlings!

Finally some cards and things

Today is a pupil-free day, so a long weekend for the kids, hooray!   I did manage to carve out some crafting time yesterday (11:00pm) so I could finish my sister Bridget's box of gift cards she commissioned me to make.  In case you are reading this Bid - hope you like them!

Here is the box (apologies for the dreadful photo taken at 11:00pm):

And the gift cards to go inside.  The brief was black. white and silver.  Simple but elegant.  I used the Baroque Motifs stamp set and it worked very well with such a pared-down colour scheme.

Then I made a few cards for kids as there are a few birthdays in our family at this time of year:

With the "Ahoy, Matey" stamp set:

 Now a girly one made with "One of a Kind" - I added some bling with heat 'n stick powder and Dazzling Diamonds glitter.   I had pictured this card completely differently before I made it, but this is how it ended up!  

Finally, my eldest son was invited to a classmate's birthday party, so I made the wrapping paper and matching gift card.  The invitation had a rocket ship on it, so I went with the space theme with the only rocket stamp I have, a cute clear acrylic stamp that I got in the cheapie bin at my local scrap shop.  I can't recall the manufacturer, but when I do I'll edit and post.  Hmmm, I've said that before, haven't I?

I love making wrapping paper to go with the cards I've made!  So easy and looks great (well, I think so anyway!).  I have a big roll of butcher's paper from IKEA that I use and I also found a big roll of white paper from that chain craft shop Riot.   I never have to buy wrapping paper (or cards) again!

I'm officially a Stampin' Up Demonstrator!

No new cards yet - it has been a busy week.  But I'm getting excited about starting my own business as a Stampin' Up! Demo and have been planning my launch workshop/party with my lovely upline, Linda .  Hopefully I'll have time to create this weekend and have some more to show soon.

Have a great weekend!

Guava Whimsy

Isn't this a sweet card?  I made it for my Mum who starts a new job this week (Hi, Mum!).  It was inspired by a card by  Marelle Taylor published in Australian Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine.  

I'm on a roll.....

Here is a Christmas card I made using my beloved Cuttlebug with the Christmas Tree embossing folder - When I posted it on my Splitcoast Gallery (I'm Gemini Mum over there, if anyone wants to look) I realised it looked rather plain and boring.  So I added a liberal dose of Kindyglitz  (thanks for the suggestion Linda) and voila!  It looks much better!

This is another card I turned around after a disaster.  I initially embossed poinsettia flowers all over the metallic bronze cardstock and brayered over some darker ink to try to get an the Metallic Brayering effect I saw over on Linda's blog , but sadly it just looked ugly.  So I flipped it over and left it plain.   As usual, the card stock is Stampin' Up! and so is this stamp set:  Season of Joy from the Spring Mini Catalogue.  

......and here it is again!

Ok, this one is a birthday card made for my son's prep teacher (Happy Birthday Mr B!).  I know I'm not the only one who struggles with masculine cards.  I "manned it up" by using Old Olive with a splash of bright colour.  I can't recall the manufacturer of this paper - I'll have to check and come back to edit when I find it.  The letters were cut with the trusty Cricut Expressions machine.   The sentiment is from a clear Hero Arts set.

And finally, a birthday card for one of my daughter's friends who turned 8 yesterday. 

This one used one of my favourite stamp sets, Garden Whimsy again, SU!  I also used one of my fave Cuttlebug embossing folders on the green layer - Swiss dots.    

Haven't I been productive?    Of course, my house looks like a cyclone hit it, and washing is still on the line from yesterday......ooops.  Better do something about that now!

Some wedding cards

This past weekend, a former work colleague of mine, was married - and it reminded me of my own wedding nine years ago on the first Saturday in October. Beautiful weather, a gorgeous dress and a wonderful day. My Mother in law also needed a wedding card, so I decided to duplicate my card in a different colour. I'm quite pleased with the result. The vellum reminded me of a wedding veil.

I first stamped the background stamp (En Francais by Stampin' Up!) on the Lavender card with Lavender ink and sponged around the edges, then heat-embossed the vellum layer in white with the swirl from the Baroque Motifs stamp set (also SU!) and attached it with adhesive and brads. A bit of celery ribbon to match the celery base card, and the sentiment and it was done. The apricot card was done the same way, but obviously used different colours - Blush Blossom card stock stamped with Apricot ink this time. I really love that colour combination! The beauty of these cards is that they were actually really simple and quick to make. Deciding which colours to use took longer than the time it took to make them!

I rarely get to make wedding cards, so I enjoyed the change from birthday and Christmas cards!

Thanks for looking.

Seriously, the ugliest cake, EVAH!

Not my best work.   Started well enough - vanilla cake mix with a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder chucked in to make it a chocolate cake per Her Highness' request.  Cake baked nicely, left to cool while we had visitors, but disaster struck at 6pm when it came time to decorate.  We had no icing sugar.  No icing sachet came with the cake mix.  I had nothing.  Nothing!  

So, I decided to improvise.  I dug through my "miscellaneous baking things" containers until I discovered:

I used the tube of glossy icing to glue on flowers, and write on the cake.  It turned out rather as you'd expect, especially after the children took turns gluing on their own artistic touches.

Please, those of you who are sensitive - look away now!

 

Bizarrely, my children - the same children who usually only ever eat the icing on any baked goods - declared this cake to be the BEST cake ever.  And gobbled it up.  

Happy Birthday Imogen!

My little girl ("I'm a BIG girl now, silly!") turned 4 today!  She is obsessed with the latest Barbie movie Barbie and the Diamond Castle and sings all the songs, with gusto and made-up lyrics, all day long.  Funny kid.   I made the wrapping paper for her presents, but didn't get time to make her a card, which she doesn't appear to have noticed yet thankfully.  We did make a cake together though, which I haven't put icing on yet, so I'd best hop to it.  I'll post a picture of the cake after the kids have decorated it, which should be good for a giggle.

Making a start on Christmas

This year, I am determined to be organised for Christmas. This year, I am not juggling a new baby, working three days a week as a lawyer, as well as the usual Mum stuff. THIS is the year I will be organised! Hmmmmm, let's see how that works out, shall we?

At least I've made a start on Christmas cards. Note: a start. Not finished or anything.

Here are a few of my cards so far:

I've used Stampin'Up! cardstock, and their Season of Joy stamps for the top four cards, and Stamp-It Australia's awesome unmounted rubber stamps for the last card there. I embossed that card with gold - easy way to achieve a "Christmassy" look, I think. (Is "Christmassy" a real word? It is now!)

Oooh, and I've discovered a great site that makes free watermarks for your photos: PicMarkr (one day I'll figure out how to make a hyperlink. Yes, I am a Luddite. ) Super-easy and quick.

Hmmm, I've managed to make this page all weird. Looks like I have a few kinks to iron out!

Better go, as a small boy has woken from his nap.

Oh, and Happy World Cardmaking Day!

Maiden Post!

Welcome to my corner of the internet!  Please be tolerant of me as this is my first foray into the blogosphere.   

At present, it is school holidays here, which means four bored, fighting children at home, sigh.  And not much time for craft.  Except for craft with the children, which can either be an enriching, creative experience for all of us, or..................not.  We've had both experiences so far this week.    Next week I should have some actual photos and things to show off.   When two of the four are back at school.

However, I wanted to have a play on the computer while my treasures are watching a DVD to see if I could make this blog thing happen.  

Until next time.............