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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Tim Holtz Clock….

Hello Everyone,

 

Just one more day to get into the draw for the Blog Candy, how good would it be to get those lovely little flowers!!!

 

So I thought I would make a card.  A while back Hez’s Scrapbooking from Townsville had some free die cuts with purchase and I was lucky enough to get this great die cut of the Sizzix Bigz Tim Holts clock and hands, so nice!!

 

 

And this is what I did with it.  The background is stamped with a Stamp It unmounted set clocks and the die is coloured with Colorbox Mica Magic ink pads (just love them) to give that bronze dirty look.

 

A couple of brads and the hands on, a sentiment and all done.  Such an easy male card.  I really like this for an anytime card for any man.

 

Hugs 🙂

 

Lauren

 

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Journals for Sarah and Beth…

Hello Everyone,

 

Gorgeous Autumn day here, sunny, beautiful and nice and warm (24 degrees), and tomorrow is going to be around the same.  So I went off to visit a friend of mine, it has been way too long, life keeps happening.  And of course her two girls who just make me feel so special, it is like and an adopted gran to them.

 

I am fairly hopeless and have been making and thinking about these journals for the girls for a long long time.  The one for Beth was easy, she loves ballet, pink and purple and cats.  So I made her journal with those things, so easy for me.  Charms, die cuts and fun.

 

 
The round charm tied to the spine says ‘love to the moon and stars’ and that about sums up how I feel about this girl.  She is no pushover, but is so very special.  Love her to bits.  Inside the journal is random stamping on various pages and an envelope with goodies and for storing bits and pieces for journalling or sticking in later.  Almost like a hand made smash journal.  I hope to see her arty adventures later in the year.

 

Now my little friend Sarah, who is 9 (almost) going on 29, she is so talented and intelligent, she is far more mature than I am, and I find it scary that she might figure this out.  She loves green and dragons.  She is incredibly creative and imaginative and can turn an idea into reality with no apparent problems at all.  Whereas I dither and over think things, I agonised for weeks on what do do about the dragon on this journal.  Eventually settling on this.

 

 

And you know she loved him.  She drew him in the journal quicker than you would believe.  I do love punchart or paper piecing, love the intricacy of it, the cleverness.  I am so pleased the girls liked their journals.

 

Now today I have a couple of My Minds Eye stamp sets to do a bit of practice with, so that I can challenge Lisa with them.  We love having stamps in common to have these little competitions. 🙂

 

Thanks for calling in.

 

Hugs 🙂

 

Lauren

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Playing with Inks…

Hello everyone,

 

Been missing in action a little bit lately, had my settings wrong and my auto posts did not happen, so I have stepped in to save the day.

 

I have been playing with Kaleidacolour Ink Pads, just love them, multicoloured little things they are.  So versatile too.

 

So to celebrate this, I made a card.

 

 

Yes that background is done with a Kaleidacolor Ink Pad (Autumn), just dragged over gloss paper keeping the high-rise plate mover out over the edge of the table.  Over the top I have placed a Die Cut from Lifestyle Crafts in black to make a great silhouette.

 

I have backed the panel in black, added some Dew Drops (remember I won them on a bloghop) and added a sentiment stamped in White Pigment Ink on Black.

 

This panel has been mounted onto a white embossed cardbase with a ribbon attached.

 

Fairly simple and easy, but I love the look.

 

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

Hugs

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Layered Scallops

Hello Everyone,

 

Just for fun I am using up a lot of my scraps and this card is an example of that.  You know that I like to layer my cards and (almost) never make a card of a single layer, I like my cards to be a bit sturdier than that.

 

 

So this is really just a simple card with die cut edged pieces of scrap in two different types of cardstock in cream.  A sentiment embossed in gold and a lace flower.

 

Hope you like it!!

 

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

Hugs

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A Little Bird…

Hello Everyone!!

 

What an overcast day! Overcast and no rain in sight, sad because it is so dry.  It is going to be humid over the next few days as the weather warms up a bit and maybe some rain then, so start thinking it in for us please!!

 

Well well what a photo I have for you today, no not a bird, but there probably is one somewhere in tha background, it goes for miles!!  Yes you got it a Kangaroo, you all know Australia is famous for its kangaroos.

 

 

Well what can I say, he hops on 2 legs and I am pleased he is on the other side of the fence.

 

So then I made a card for you, a card with a little birdie on it with a cage in a tree and a little nest with speckled eggs in it!

 

 

How cute is that?  It is made from No.20 Crochet Cotten, and glued together with Glossy Accents.  Things are a bit pathetic here at the moment, no white glue (PVA) and have not been able to get out to get any. Soon 🙂

 

I love making things like this and my own embellishments, I get such a thrill from the journey of making things, and the finished card is like an anticlimax.

 

 

The background is hand stamped using Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink in Creamy Brown with a set of Stamp-It A5 Unmounted red rubber stamps.  I have used a Memory Box Woodland Branch for the brances at the top of the card, the cage is a Sizzix Bigz die, the branches/leaves at the bottom are from a Sizzlets die called Branch.  The leaves on the brances at the top have been cut from pieces of the branches at the bottom.

 

The little flowers are made by a Fiskars plier type punch 1/4 flower and the sentiment is a Penny Black stamp on a handcut strip.

 

 

I love the SU Bird punch and use it a lot.  I have been playing with it using punchart techniques so that I can make different, real looking (or more real) birds.  I am so pleased with this guy and now I might have to also play with shading to make my birds look more dimensional.

 

Now you have so much to look forward to, don’t you?

 

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

Hugs

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Goanna up a Tree…. Oh My

Hello Everyone,

 

Today I had a crafting session with my friend Lisa (on Skype of course) and boy can that woman pump the cards out, while I tend to fiddle around and try this, try that and put extra things on my cards.  Am I really such a time waster?? No I think not, but I sure know how to enjoy the journey to the destination of a finished card.

 

Well I have a pic of a Goanna climbing a tree, he is beautiful, but I don’t like to get too close, thank heavens for zoom!!!

 

 

He is gorgeous, isn’t he??? Well I think not, I am not a reptile person, they give me the cold shivers.  But they live here too, so I don’t go looking for them usually, but I rarely leave the house these days to go anywhere around home without the camera in tow.

 

 

This is my favourite type of card, being 5×5 inches with a panel on the front.  I have tried a double punch border on this and if you look closely you will see on the area to the right of the ribbon, I have done a PATP and inked it in pink, and on the three corners I have punched the corners in about an inch from the border.  I love new techniques.

 

The top left of the card is stamped with SU Boroque Motifs big swirl and I have embellished this area with the sentiment banner, a butterfly and three brads that have been coloured pink with embossing powder.

 

The ribbon satin edged organza ribbon has been ruffled and finished with a double bow.

 

The area to the right of the ribbon has been embellished with die cuts, branches and some chipboard, a daisy and a little butterfly.  I am liking the pink and green colours.  I really am not a fashion or craze type of girl, I just put together what is pleasing to me.

 

Well I hope you like these offerings today.

 

Today I also watched a movie, love having movies on in the craft room as it lets me do two of my favourite passtimes at the same time.  So today it was  a Sandra Bullock movie called ’28 Days’ and it is a real scream, so funny.  Let me know if you want me to tell you about it.

 

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

Hugs

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Gift Tags or Tag Gifts…..

Hello Everyone!!

 

Well the other day I was Skyping/Organising with my friend Lynn and she is in the middle of a huge revamp and organise of her craft room, so exciting!  And I got to thinking that I do not stamp or use my inks so much because they are not so handy… so I have utilized the space right behind me by moving my double decker trolley (that holds some punches only) and put a small coffee table there and now have put my 9 drawer units with stamps and inks in them, right there behind my chair. 🙂 It is so much better, thanks Miss Lynn.

 

So with the new mojo given by the rearrangement, I went and took a photo of some wildlife for you.

 

 

This is a Bird of Paradise plant growing right next to the driveway and it has huge flowers on it.  The plant is huge, above my eye level and almost as wide.  Huge flowers on long long stems and surrounded by lush growth of other plants.  He looks magnificent, doesn’t he?

 

So to match the magesty of this bit of nature, I had to show you something really special.  A couple of decorator tags that I have made.    I might have to make some more and perhaps frame them. 🙂

 

 

This tag is made with white cardstock 6cm x 12 cm and sponged with Ranger Distress Ink Vintage Photo and then stamped with a solid script butterfly in the same ink.  I have added a chipboard flourish inked in Colorbox Fluid Chalk Pink Pastel, then stamped with SU Boroque Motifs (the big swirl) in CFC  Charcoal.  Then covered with Inkssentials Glossy Accents and sprinkled lightly with glitter.

 

The dress form is cut with a Sizzix Bigz die Sewing Room.  Stamped in Colorbox Fluid Chalk Creamy Brown with a Harlequin stamp and a script stamp from the same unmounted set from Stamp-It Australia.  Then I have sponged over this with Ranger Distress Ink Tattered Rose.

 

The little roses (gorgeous they are) are silk and I bought them a long time ago and was going to use them on a wreath, but didn’t do it.  The tag is finished with some natural twill printed with create and believe.  The little buterfly is inked  and then glossed.

 

 

This one is made on a cream 12cm x 6cm tag base.  I have sponged all over with darkened edges with Ranger Distress Ink Vintage Photo and then stamped it using differing stamps from an unmounted set from Stamp-It Australia, love the effect of this base.  🙂

 

The heart is an embellishement I made a while ago (I love fiddling and making embellies, have heaps lined up ready to use).  I diecut the heart from medium weight chipboard and inked it with Vivid ink Rasperry several times until the depth of colour seemed ok.  The piece was then covered in Inkssentials Glossy Accents and rhinestones placed on it.

 

When dry the lace was attached to the back with hot glue, first the white lace and then the pink.  When done pearls and cord was attached and then the little silk roses.  Having this piece already done made it an easy tag to finish off with an inked and glossed butterfly and some sheer ribbon.  The ring around the hole is just a cheap ring reinforcer which has been sponged and over stamped in Distress inks and left to dry for ages.  (a couple of days and they do not smear).

 

Hope you like these tage,  I know I do.

 

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

Hugs

 

 

 

 

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I am Sailing….

Hello Everyone!!

 

What a busy day today, well fun busy anyway.  I watched three movies today,  while I crafted, not that I got a lot done, most of my tasks today were fairly time consuming, hand sewing on cards and lots of Glossy Accents on chipboard.

 

The movies were, Veronica Guerin, I love that move with Cate Blanchette, but mainly because it is a true story of a journalist who is the catalyst in law changes and the drug war in Ireland with her investigations and death because of those investigations.
Next came The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock, I love that movie and I love her.  Fantastic actress and this is such a giving story, again a true story, heartwarming, funny and oh so watchable.  Yes I have seen it many times.
Oh and then I watch The DaVicni Code, not seen before by me and a surprising choice, but I do love Tom Hanks.  Bit more of a mystery, thriller than I am used to (I tend to not be good with suspense, sets the old heart a racing), but it was a good story and I kept up with most of it.  I will have to watch it again.  Crafting tends to allow me to miss bits here and there. 🙂

 

The other thing today was that we got up to find an unkown motor bike about 5 or 6 metres from the bedroom window.  Just parked there, minding its own business.  So I called our neighbour to find out if  it was anything to do with her family at all, the answer was no.  Although I am a mind my own business sort of person most of the time, this did seem a little sus to me, so I called the police.

 

Well the police turned up later in the day, two really nice coppers and asked a few quiestions, then went off to check it out.  They were a while and we thought they were going to arrest the bike and be off with it, but no.  They found out it had been stolen from Hamilton and the number plates were missing.  Bit suspect they said.

 

I really get a peed off with the increase in crime and the fact that it comes so close to my home.  Hope the police catch the mongrels before they have a change to use those plates for whatever they think they need them for.  I feel sorry for the person the bike belongs to, someone who obviously takes care of their things and now has to go to the expense of retreiving the bike (which cannot be ridden until it has either a permit or new plates) and the cost of the new plates for it.

 

So I took a photo of this little stolen bike, he is a cutie and in good nick with almost a tank full of petrol.

 

 

So that is the wildlife as it is, not very moveable by itself and gone now.

 

Well I had best show you a card I made yesterday.  A masculine card no less.

 

 

This is a fairly easy card to make, with an embossed background in blue with Cuttlebug Happy Birthday EF.  The stamp is by SU, one of my favourite man stamps is stamped in Colorbox Fluid Chalk Charcoal and heat dried (it becomes permanent when heat dried or set).  Then I cut it out with a label die and used a circle template to sponge the sun and the water was masked as well.

 

Then I stamped Happy Birthday with a SU word set and cut with a smaller label.  Then I pierced the holes around both labels and attached them to the op part of the embossed panel and added the ribbon and spiral clip before adding the completed panel to the card base.

 

Hope you like this.

 

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

Hugs

 

 

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Corset Stamp….

Hello Everyone!!

 

Oh I have had a day of  Skycraft!!  That is Skyping with people I craft with and crafting and getting the mojo going at the same time.  How good is that?

 

So I will show you a pic of a little birdie who playes in the Gardenias in the back yard.  He is so cute and pretty, he has lots of friends and between them all he makes a lot of noise.

 

 

This is him, what a cutie he is.  He moves fast, plays with his reflection in the mirror of the van and makes a little mess down the door because he stays there so long.  He is vain I think and loves his little mate in the mirror.

 

So I was thinking about how pretty he is and decided to make a dress-up card.  I have so many ideas for dresses, love them as embellishments either on little coathangers, or on dress forms or on real little people.  Must get doing this instead of thinking about it all the time.

 

 

So this card is made with a dress form stamp that my wonderful friend Miss Lisa (from Crafting Cottage) sent me ages ago and it needed to be trimmed close to the rubber image and I kept putting that little job off.  Finally did it, and isn’t it a beautiful card I made with it.

 

On this card if you look closely you will see I also did a little embossing with my dies in a different way.   I was so excited by this embossing tip on Selma’s Stamping Corner, the way she has embossed the top part of the window.  I did this with corners on the right and the border down the left of this card.  This is an awesome technique!!

 

I have used lace to make a skirt for the dressform and coloured the bodice in with gold gel pen.  Finished with some ribbon, and handmade flower and some liquid pearls.

 

Hope you like this.

 

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

Hugs

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