Craft's Meow fairy cards

I guess it must be that time of year - one of my daughters was invited to three (yes three!) parties. All little girls turning 6. Fortunately, I received a cute little stamp set from the Craft's Meow, and thought the fairy would be perfect.

Here's the card design I came up with:

I stamped the image with chalk ink, cut it out carefully, and mounted it onto some Nestabilities ovals.  A seam binding bow and an acrylic flower finish it off.

I popped the cards into a vellum envelope, and attached a Thickers letter to the front:

I ended up with some scraps, and squeezed out one more:

Thanks for looking!


 

Copics fundraiser class

A few weeks ago, we ran a fundraiser with Copics Australia to raise money for women's cancer research. This was the project we made at our Girls Night In:

We used a La-La Land image called Princess Marci, and coloured her pink of course. I had the colours I used written on a scrap of paper that I kept losing on the night. I've got little hope of remembering the colours now! Here's a close up of the colouring anyway:

 

We were so proud that our little shop raised over $900!!  We really do have the best, most generous customers :) I'm so pleased that even someone like me who plays with paper can do something tangible to help the cause. Boo to cancer!

 

Sweet ATCs

These are some ATCs I made for the group of girls that meet at Little Bits.  The theme was 'Sweets' so I grabbed some Darkroom Door images from the Sweet Treats Montage sheet and stitched a border around each image:

 

I coloured some texture paste with pink acrylic paint, and embedded some edible pearls and a word from a Sweet Treats Wordstrip.

Love how they looked all piled up together:

Thanks for dropping in today!

 

Waves layout

This is a layout I did for DownUnder Direct using one of my favourite photos of Jake:

 

I used various shades of blue Bazzill cardstock,  and one of my scalloped rectangle dies to cut pieces that look like waves.  There's some gauze in there too:

You can find all the details on the DownUnder Direct Inspiration blog.  Thanks for dropping in today :)

.....

silhouette and cameo cards

These are the cards from a class I ran a week or two ago. The theme was sillhouettes (or cameos).

This first one uses a cameo from some Jenni Bowlin paper. Unfortunately, the shape of the oval on the paper didn't fit any of my Nestabilities dies exactly, but leaving a large enough pink border around it, and layering it on a black scalloped oval no one would know. If you look really closely you can see that I've used one of the Spellbinders Fancy Tags dies to emboss under the cameo:
 

This next one uses a Unity image stamped with StazOn onto some mint green gloss paper. I embossed the background with a Cuttlebug folder. The sentiment is from a Darkroom Door set called Sweet Treats:

I used some Maya Road cameo chipboard pieces for this next one.  The oval directly under the cameo has been coloured with Precious Metal Colour available through Darkroom Door:

 

I used a Hero Arts cameo stamp for this next one. I did a kissing technique using one of the Tim Holtz reverse stamps to print some text onto the head.  I cut the image out with one of my new Nestabilities postage stamp dies.  With the die still in place, I sponged some ink around the image, and when I removed the die, a white border was left - just like a real stamp.

 

For this last card, I stamped the cameo in a frame image from the Teresa Collins Posh range, cut it out carefully, and put it in the centre of a big black daisy. Love the black and cream colour scheme - so elegant!

Thanks for dropping in today!


 

Another Spellbinders birdcage card

 This die set is a little bit lovely! Here's another card I made with it:

It looks involved, but it's really simple. Just a matter of piling up some flowers for the bird to sit in.  Here's a close up:

If you look closely, you can see I used an ornate JustRite stamp to fill in a bit of the background. Lots of layers.

As always, a list of everything I used can be found on the DownUnder Direct Inspiration Blog. Thanks for dropping in!

 

Girl's Paperie Jubilee stamps

I ran my Stamp of the Month class at Little Bits with this set in September:

I found it to be quite a versatile set of stamps.  Here's a few of the cards I came up with:

I used the frame here under an image by Collections, and finished it off with some Green Tara roses and a feather.  With this card I wanted to show that an image needn't necessarily fit inside a frame.

I think everyone knows by now how much I love banners! I've also added adhesive pearls to the letters in the word to accentuate it a little more without having to colour it in.

Tickets, popcorn, and some Graphic 45 papers. An easy circus themed card.  I embossed the stamped images to make the black pop a little.

Thanks for dropping in today :)

 

Gumboots layout

This is a layout I did of my niece Isabel:

The photos were taken when her local park was flooded earlier this year. 

I used Bazzill cardstock and a pack of 8x8 patterned paper called Divinely Sweet that's new from Bazzill.  The colours in this paper are just delicious - I love how the rosette turned out.  Another new product is the pleated Bazzill. Here's a close up:

And here you can see the stitching on my layout and the beautiful Scrapware alpha I inked ever so lightly with pink chalk ink:

All the product details can be found on the DownUnder Direct Inspiration blog.

Thanks for looking!

 

Monochromatic cards

Monochromatic cards are those that use any number of different shades of one colour. In my world, white doesn't count as a colour ;)

These are some of the cards I taught at our monthly 5 Quick Cards class a couple of months back

Meet the silver card:

 A big silvery wedding type embellishment, and a Purple Onion scroll stamp underneath it. I used Dove Gray StazOn ink, and added some sparkle with different sized adhesive bling. Could do with a word on it I guess - congratulations, or many happy returns if you don't think the couple will stay together very long LOL.

 This is the aqua card:

Big mulberry daisies stacked, with a silver centre that has been coloured with Copics. The words come from a Darkroom Door set of stamps called Enjoy Life. The background has been spritzed with some Glimmermist.

Last but not least, the pink card:

The webbing is ribbon from Green Tara, underneath some satin ribbon. The  flowers are from Crafty Koala, and stamp is from Stamp It. It has been stamped onto white cardstock and then mounted onto some scrap chipboard for extra dimension.

Quick, easy, monochromatics. Love 'em! Thanks for dropping in today.

 

Spellbinder Birdcage card

I had a little play with the new Bird Sanctuary set of dies and came up with this card:

I used a couple of shades of pink Bazzill, and tied some coffee stained seam binding to the top of the cage with a pink button.  Here's a side view:

Mmmmm....pink and pearls. They're great for a soft, feminine look.

All the details are on the DownUnder Direct Inspiration Blog. Thanks for dropping in today :)

 

A vintage chic printer's tray

Here's a full pic of the sample I made for the class I taught at Paperific this year:

I also taught this class last night at Little Bits. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun teaching a class. There were lots of smiles and people looking pretty chuffed with themselves when they completed their trays. I love seeing that!

I must say a huge thanks to Julie of Collections - she keeps bringing out amazing products that I just grow to love. She's a creative inspiring soul, and so generous with her knowledge.

I'll walk you around the compartments now.  Here's the top row up close:

That's tea-stained muslin glued to a chipboard heart in the first compartment. The second has a couple of little weeny glass bottles sitting on top of an antique ruler shelf. The third has a couple of chipboard keys, stained with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink (they look rusted, don't they?), then there's a pile of little buttons and a Love Letters image from Darkroom Door (about the only thing not Collections in the whole project!).

This is the second row:

Here we have an image of the two little girls (sisters maybe?), fussy cut and sitting on top of another piece of antique ruler.  The next compartment has the letters a that come with the tray. These are glued together and inked with Frayed Burlap.  The last compartment has another image fussy cut, sitting on some muslin all behind a broken window (it's really some acetate that has been torn with a jagged edge - bit hard to photograph).  She's in front of a background that looks like pressed tin - it's really just Cuttlebug embossed chipboard that's got a coat of paint on it.

This is the bottom row:

This is a fussy cut butterfly (I tell you, everyone who did my class said "Please Teresa, can we cut out more things? We love cutting little things out."  Not really - just about everyone whinged about that part LOL).  The butterfly has one image glued flat, and the other has only its body glued - the wings are bent up.  The very last compartment has a couple of  Labels Six Nestabilities as a base, and some fun paper rolls holding up some words. I love making paper rolls - I feel that I failed to pass on this love to the majority of the people in my class. ( More whingeing at this point).

Hope you found my little tour at least a little interesting. If it inspires you to make your own printers tray, I'd love to check it out.

 

Sitting Marci project

I run the occasional Copic project class at Little Bits, and I mentioned a while ago that one of my samples had spend a chilly night on the lawn when it dropped out of my car in the dark.  Here's what's left of it:

It's a little warped, and a possum probably ran off with the missing orange pearl LOL, but you get the picture, right?

We made a cloud shaped mask with a Labels Six Nestabilities die, and airbrushed the sky background.  The flowers started life out as white, and were airbrushed too.  Marci was coloured and cut out (try not to think of her sitting on the spike of a fence too much -ouch!).

Thanks for dropping in today - hope it's a good one for you :)

 

DIY Bazzill Swatch Book

This is how I keep track of my favourite Bazzill colours:

I made it using a Grand Nestabilities die - Labels Eleven.  Here's a look at the inside:

I love that I can carry this in my bag when I go shopping. It's handy for matching up papers and cardstock.

You can see the details on the DownUnder Direct Inspiration Blog.


 

This year's collaborative book

A whole month or more ago, my friend Greta came over and we bound this year's ArtyOz collaborative book. The theme was the 7 deadly sins, and each sin was assigned a different colour. We decided to make the covers multi coloured, and they turned out beautifully, even if I do say so myself!

Lots and lots of different trims and embellishments - I love running my hand over it and feeling all the different textures.

 

 You can see here, it ended up being quite a chunky book:

 Here's my page (Sloth in Sepia):

 I used an old book page stained with shellac, a piece of brown satin fabric scrunched up behind the photo, a piece of mica on top of the photo, some Prima flowers and a Green Tara flower. The Green Tara flower started life out as spearmint green would you believe? It's coffee stained.   The title was done using the Darkroom Door alphabet. Love this alpha - you don't need to be too accurate with it, it always looks good.

A huge thanks to Greta for getting me motivated to finish these covers - I couldn't have done it without your help and advice, and I loved spending some creative time with you. We should do it more often!!!

Thanks for looking!