Back from Wherever I have been!

Seems like such a long time and also only a short time since I was last here and so much has happened. Teddy is excited about all these changes back to crafting and he wishes I was a funny as I used to be.

I lost my partner and husband of almost 40 years. He was a special man and I miss him every day.  I moved home from the Port Stephens area to the sunny north coast near the Queensland border. Beautiful area, but like the rest of the country, so dry.

I could not craft, but spent many an hour or several just sitting and looking at my craft things and now I am back, perhaps not as prolific as I was once, but much more diverse.  So we have a few things to show you in the coming days (I have also forgotten my photographic skills) so we hope you like what we have been doing.

Today is a card for this little monster turning one! She is my great great niece and I love this little bundle to bits, I could just squish and cuddle her all day if she would stay still long enough

The card base was cut on my Brother SNC from a file I made the rest is just embellishing and at the moment I seem to like using mesh or netting on my cards, it gives such a wonderful extra layer without obscuring the card base.

I am trying to remember to take photos of my projects as I do them, rather than asking the recipient to send me pics of what was given to them.  Well hoping this will sink in soon.

Love from me and from Teddy too! Make time for you and the things you enjoy!

Lauren and Teddy xx

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A2Z Papercraft Challenges

 

Oh Hello Everyone,

Well how lucky are you to have Lauren and Teddy up on the blog today??   What an exciting week it has been with the launch of our very first Facebook A2Z Papercraft Challenge, so today we thought we would show you the cards Teddy made to inspire you, it is after all an Inspiration Challenge for March.  This is the picture to give the inspiration.

Now doesn’t that picture give you great ideas of boys and play and boats and sand and beaches and pennants and blue and stripes and so much more!!!

So here is the first thought, a lighthouse on the headland surrounded by crashing waves.

 The background at the top is done with white ink in a Sizzix Embossing Folder from a due pack from Tim Holtz and I believe it is called rays, the bottom section is wax resist done with scrunched wax paper ironed onto glossy white cardstock and then inked with blue.  Hint: the more you scrunch, the smaller the pattern and more wax on your paper.

The gorgeous 18th Birthday Card Size Ebony from A2Z Scraplets came as is, coloured heavy card, so I left it as it was for this card.  The baker’s twine is made by me (I love to save money using my stash items) and if you would like to know how to do it, here is a link to Pictorial Tutorial Making Twisted String.

The next inspiration came from the canvas of beach scene on the right hand wall, look at those gorgeous beach boxes on it.  So cute.

This one is a beach house using a Kaszazz Stamp coloured with Ranger Perfect Pearls (love using these to make shimmer paints, keep them in the palette and let them dry and they work the same as watercolour paints.

Birthday Boy is from the A2Z Scraplets – Birthday Set 1 Ebony and it is covered with a lovely thick coat of Ranger Glossy Accents, love this stuff because it keeps its dimension and dries so thick.

This next card is one Teddy has made several times, it is such a fun card and inspired by the blue teddy sitting on the cabin of the big boat toybox.

It is an uneven gatefold card and kept closed by those lovely turn mounts.  The Teddies are stamped in blue on vellum and then layered on navy then white.  Little paw prints are stamped randomly over the card front.

We are loving these A2Z Scraplets Arrow Words in the February Release, they are just gorgeous and there are so many to choose from with colours available too!!!  This one has been left the colour as is and coated with Ranger Glossy Accents.  (I need buckets of that stuff) 🙂

The last card is a masculine card (sometimes so hard for us to do) and it is inspired by the overall nautical and ‘boaty’ feel to the picture, and we turned it to a very ‘aged’ project.

This card has lots of DTP edging with Ranger Distress Ink Walnut Stain and the curled corners add to the overall ‘old’ look to the card.  Backgrounds are stamped with Lucy’s Stamps Aged Cube and Rabbit Proof Fence (the text), edges torn or distressed, inked and curled.  The Happy Birthday is a Stamp-It Australia greeting.

Love the A2Z Scraplets Birthday Boy Set Cardinal and covered the birthday with Viva Crackling Colour Transparent very thickly as we find it really does give a great crackle.

The Anchor is die cut from a coke can, love to recycle things.

Hope you like these cards and find something in them you can take to call your own.

See you next time…. Lauren and Teddy

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Hello Everybody,

 

Well Teddy and I have had a little trip to the Gold Coast to attend the My2Angels Scrapbooking Retreat and we must say it was a serious hit with us, well run, learnt heaps and met the loveliest people you would ever want to meet.  We must save our little coins so we can go again next year 🙂

 

 

There he is sitting on his special chair in his place on my table, he is supervising and being cheeky as he does so well.

 

So I made a card for you.

 

 

Oh oh oh, just a 5″x5″ card decorated with die cuts and a little stamp for happy birthday and the lovely seagulls.  I love this bare tree, it would be one of my favourite dies and the piggies are beautiful running through the long grass.  Such a simple, cute card.

 

Hope you like it 🙂

 

Hugs

 

Lauren

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New Butterflies

Hello Everyone,

 

Oh WOW the year is getting away from me, mid July already and I have not even thought about Christmas yet, but then again, I have five months to think about that.

 

So with this in mind, I made a card.

 

 

This is so cute and such a minimalist card for me.  A6 card with a portrait oriention and a vertical opening, I have made the blue panel in textured cardstock, a Memory Box die (so lovely) in black placed directly on the panel, a sentiment  stamped from my new set from Wild Rose Studio (Everyday Sentiments)  and loads of bling, how simple is that?

 

Hope you like it.

 

Hugs 🙂

 

Lauren

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Toot Toot says Teddy!

Hello Everybody,

 

Feeling really well today and getting ready for Scrapbooking Retreat with My2Angels (the best little papercraft and embellishment shop on the Coast) coming up soon on the Gold Coast.  Lucky me, going!!

 

So just for fun, I made you a fun card.

 

 

Isn’t he so cute?  Simple square card with a tree and a train!! Die cut of course.  Handrawn railway line and chenille pom poms (stolen from the refills for my chalk applicators)  and a happy smiley sentiments.  Cute, Easy and Fun!!

 

Hope you like him.

 

Hugs 🙂

 

Lauren

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Party Time….

Hello Everyone,

 

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mummies out there, to all those mummies in waiting and especially to all those mummies who have lost a child, special hugs to you.  And a special mention to all those children or adults who have lost their mum.  Hope you all had a great day!!!

 

So I made a card with a little party dress for all of you!!!

 

Teddy loves that dress and has put his order in for one just the same for later in the year.  Love you Ted.

 

The top of the dress is cut with the Dress Form Bigz Die from Sizzix and the neckline and armholes are cut with a circle punch.  The skirt is pink lace in layers and the waistband is ribbon to hide the top of the lace 🙂

 

And look at those gorgeous shoes hanging on the doily.  Every dress deserves a lovely pair of heels to go with it!!

 

The little coathanger is made from a papeclip, perfect size with most of the bends already put in place. 🙂

 

Hope you like it, thanks for calling in.

 

Hugs 🙂

 

Lauren

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Baby You’re a Rock Star!

Hello Everyone,

 

Some time back I started collecting the dress-up doll and clothes from Quickutz.  I just think they are the cutest things going.  Gotta say I love them.

 

So I made this card for a little friend of mine, it is not one that was on my wish list, but I bought it because I find I have a rocker starring among my friends 🙂

 

 

Even Teddy is getting in on the act, with his new guitar, gotta love that boy.  The background is meant to be a stage area showing the rising star!.  She is a cutie, yes?

 

Have a great day, see you again tomorrow!!

 

Hugs 🙂

 

Lauren

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Vellum Flower

Hello Everyone,

 

Quick post again today.  Such a hot day and will be warm again tomorrow but it will be oh so lovely and cool on Friday and Saturday.  That makes me happier.

 

So, I made a card.  I made the flower I have thought about for so long now, and finally got around to it.  Using vellum and the Sizzix Tim Holtz Bigs Tattered Florals to cut about 6 die cuts, I then ran them through  the polkadot embossing folder and then curled the petals back.

 

 

Isn’t that just gorgeous??? So delicate and soft with the leaves cut from vellum as well.  The centre is a very prettty pearl surrounded by bling.  I only use these for special projects.

 

 

Finished off with a beautiful butterfly and sentiment.  All is matted onto a label mat in pink.  This is such a pretty card and really so easy to make.

 

See you again tomorrow!! Have a great day 🙂

 

Hugs 🙂

 

Lauren

 

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Make a Wish!!!

 

Hello Everyone,

 

How is your weekend going to shape up?  Mine is going to be fairly round I think, a round of craft, a round of housework (dirty word), a round of gardening and a round of reading.  Yep that sounds about the size of it, bit fat circles I will be running in.

 

So how do you like this spiney little fella??? He is an Echidna (Porcupine) and we see him a lot around here, he plays in the garden, walks across the grass and does not seem to be bothered by anyone.  If he is he just rolls himself into a little ball with all his spines out to protect his soft parts and just lays there until the danger goes away.

 

 

 

So thinking about him I took the time to make a card between trying to tidy the craft room.  Didn’t get far with that, I keep finding cool stuff to play with.

 

 

This is a simple card on a white A6 base with a  pink PATP.  I did not measure this, haha, and just punched, but it didn’t line up, but you use your mistakes don’t you?  Well I did.  A doily layered and some colourful ricrak, sp.??.

 

I stamped the sentiment with a Penny Black stamp and used a die cut from Quickcutz.  Decorated the cake with the flower punch outs from the border punch.

 

When I first got this die, it would not cut cleanly and I used a shim, another shim and another and thought oh boy I am going to bust my BigShot on this.  😦 Bummer my first die that would not work at all for me, it was just hopeless…..  I did not get around to sending it back and was going to bin it……. But I thought, I am going to take the ejection foam off it and see how bad this is made and write to the manufacturer and complain.

 

Well slap my thighs and call me Dusty, there was nothing wrong with it, cuts perfectly without the foam.  🙂  I looked at the foam carefully.  It seems to have a plastic coating on the die side of it… yep you guessed it, I cannot even cut it properly with scissors….

 

So I gave it some brand new foam  and Ta-Dah!!! Works like new!! Perfect cutting.  Lauren you are my hero, good girl!!  Gotta love it when you fix it yourself!! 😀

 

Thanks for calling in, hope your day is going well.

Hugs

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Flutterby Birthday Beads…..

Hello Blogland Friends!!

What a glorious warm beach weather type of day if only I were a beachy type person.  Today was gorgeous!!!

 

Well it made me want to hide inside and get stamping and beading.  So I made a pair of cards with vellum, beading and embossing on them.

Vellum gives such wonderful opportunities, it is so versatile, different and it is delicate too, but not so delicate that you cannot work with it.

So here they are.

 

 

 

I love the look of both of them, but the pink is oh so delicate and adorable.

These both have clear vellum with white ink stamped on the reverse side.  I used a rollagraph frangipani/tropical wheel, you know lots of solid stamp area.  It worked a treat layered over the pale blue or pale pink.  You can see the depth of colour around the edge of the vellum.

I attached the vellum with eyelets and Scotch Vellum Tape.  Do you know that this is only good on pale to mid colours (never disappears on dark colours) and takes about 24hours to disappear completely.  When applying you should ‘activate’ it by rubbing with your finger over the backing tape before peeling away and it should only ever be applied to the porous surface first (cardstock, not the vellum).

The beads are treaded onto 26gauge wire and attached through the eyelets with D/S tape behind and held in place at the front with the Happy Birthday panel.  I find it very messy to use glue to hold beads in place, always get into a mess, so I either do something like this, or use cotton and anchor from behind by sewing them down.

The flutterbys are embossed with a mix of white EP, pearl EP and perfect pearl powder.  It worked very well.  The EPs were about even amounts and the pearls enough to get the colour I wanted.  I tested it until I got the depth of colour I wanted.

Very simple card really, but I am very very happy with it.

The stamps used are both by Stamp-It Australia

Thanks for calling in.  Hope your day is a really great one.

 

These cards are being entered into the following challenges.

Twisted Tuesdays – 2TC26 ~ Rock, Paper, Scissors

Alphabet Challenge on SCS – Letter F

 

 

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