Hello Butterfly!

This is a simple card made with pretty patterned paper and die cuts:

The butterfly is by Spellbinders, and the word is by My Favorite Things. I think the paper might be FabScraps, but any pretty patterned paper would work.

Thanks for looking!

December 5

The 5th of 25 cards I'll be posting in the lead up to Christmas this year:

KaiserCraft Mistletoe collection and Collectables. The bauble is a Spellbinders die.

Thanks for stopping by - see you again tomorrow.

December 1

Cough cough. There's a lot of dust around here! I've been away for a long time, and thanks to a gentle nudge from a good friend, I have found the enthusiasm (and the time) to post something.

While my youngest was hunting around for some Christmas cards to write out for her friends, she happened to comment that I have LOADS of Christmas cards in my studio. So many in fact, that I think I will have enough to show one or two every day until Christmas. So here goes....today's card:

 

Darkroom Door Carved Bird Vol 1 and All Occasions stamps on KaiserCraft patterned paper. Spellbinders dies.

Well that was pretty harmless. Reckon I'll be back tomorrow with another one! See you then.

Glittery card

I have a tutorial up on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog showing how I made this card:

The most difficult card to photograph! I used Spellbinders dies to mask each area before sprinkling with different coloured glitters. Fun technique, and not too messy until someone sneezes LOL.

Thanks for looking!

Using Spellbinders dies to make a stencil

This is a layout I put together using Spellbinders dies, Bazzill cardstock and some Darkroom Door stamps:

I used the Grateful Lattice die to create a stencil, and applied Crackle Texture paste through it.

The full materials list can be found on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog. Thanks for dropping in!

Stylish Radiant Rectangles

Here's a simple yet stylish card using Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles:

The shoe is by Stamp It and the words are from the 1920's Chic set by Darkroom Door. The full materials list can be found on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog.

Thanks for looking!

Framed Fridge Magnets

A busy family means lots of notes going back and forth. In an attempt to keep things a little more organised, I made these magnets with Spellbinders dies - now we're sorted!

We can claim one door each for reminders to and from each other. Ever so striking in black with red and yellow!

Strong magnets are needed (our children take after me - they are prolific note writers!):
 

The full materials list is on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog.  Thanks for looking!

Simple and Sparkly

A very simple card, made extra special with a layer of glitter paper:

The shapes are Spellbinders In'spire dies, and the full materials list can be found on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog.

Thanks for dropping in!

Butterfly for hope

Butterflies are a symbol of hope, and I had occasion to make this card of encouragement for a male:

The butterfly body is stuck down within the frame, with the wings allowed to hang outside it.  Here's a side view:

 The word is from a Darkroom Door wordstrip, and the background is embossed using one of the new 3D embossing folders from Spellbinders. The detail you can achieve is amazing!

Whoever said butterflies can't be used on masculine cards? 

The full materials list can be found on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog. Thanks for dropping in today.

Modern Layout

Great balls of fun! These photos were taken on my Hipstamatic app on my iPhone a couple of years ago at the Dandenong Show. The children were inside those inflatable balls in a pool of water. Talk about almost setting off a panic attack - water, confined space, no air.....add fire and a boogey man and I would have run off screaming! The children thoroughly enjoyed it - completely oblivious to my hyperventilating in the corner LOL.

I kept the layout simple and bright, and added little die cuts here and there for interest:

I've had my square Spellbinders dies for ages, and I still use them all the time. Love my basic shapes!

Here's a side view:

The full materials list can be found on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog.

Thanks for dropping by - have a great weekend!

A Vintage Card using Radiant Rectangles dies

I just love all the intricate layers I can cut using Radiant Rectangles set of dies by Spellbinders. Here's a multi layer card making the most of this set's capabilities:

The lovely photograph is from a 12 x 12 sheet by Pion, and the flowers are I am Roses. It's ok to use flowers on a card featuring a boy, isn't it?

The full materials list can be found on Down Under Direct Inspiration blog.

Thanks for looking!

Mixed Media Charlie Chaplin Card

I'm totally loving the mixed media craze, and I'm always looking for ways to incorporate the bits and pieces I create into cards.  This card has a layer of a mixed media background I made under the clean stamped layer:

Texture paste, acrylic paints and Glimmermist mmmmm...... and you can almost guarantee there will be a Bazzill cardstock to match any colour I can come up with! The layers were cut with Spellbinders Modern Stationery dies, and the stamps are from Deep Red.

The full materials list can be found on the Down Under Direct Inspiration Blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

A birthday card with a view

Love how this card turned out! The gorgeous Spellbinders window opens up to a Gelatos® background:

Full details are on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog. Thanks for looking!

Spellbinders Create a Flower Peg

I love decorating wooden pegs and turning them into fridge magnets. They make bills and other demanding notes (sign this, buy this, do this, make this) a little more palatable.

The new Create a Flower dies from Spellbinders allow you to create a number of different flowers (daisies, irises, lilies etc). Each petal on this aster was painstakingly glued (with a toothpick!) onto the backing piece. Those who know me will understand this was no easy task for someone as impatient as me LOL. I love how it turned out however, so all that work was worth it!

The full details and material list can be found on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sticky Barc Cards

So excited to have my first post as an X-press Graph-X design team member go live on the Xpress It blog! I had a play with Sticky Barc (awesome product!), and I have a couple of cards to share:

I was delighted to find it cuts like butter with Spellbindes dies! Have a look at the detail it picks up in the feather dies:

I coloured the Sticky Barc with Copics and Distress Ink. I love this product and I look forward to incorporating it into more of my work.

Pop over and see more details about these cards on the Xpress It blog. Thanks for dropping in!

You make me smile layout

The photo on this layout was of a perfectly sunny day in Sydney last year. I wanted the layout to be bright and sunny too:

The dies are Spellbinders of course, and I layered the yellow die cut over the grey to create a drop shadow look. This technique is great for when a little dimension is required, but the layout has to remain flattish because it has to go in an album.
 

The bottom right hand corner has some brickwork (gesso through a stencil) and the gorgeous Spellbinders Bicycle die.

The full materials list can be found on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog.

Thanks for dropping by! Having you here sure does make me smile :)

Faux tile technique with Spellbinders dies

There's a tutorial up on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog to show you how I came up with this background:

Using a Spellbinders die and embossing folder, and coating it all in X-press Graph-X Triple-Tac adhesive. (I will admit, at this point, I deliberated about changing the title of this post to Faux Tile Tac-nique......yup.....you're welcome).

This is the card I made using the background:

Pop on over to the blog to see it all stepped out. Thanks for coming!

Birds on a Wire on a Gelatos background

The new Birds on a Wire dies from Spellbinders look fabulous in black on a coloured background. 

Here they are on cards with backgrounds made from Faber-Castell Gelatos on canvas paper:

The shimmer that can only just be seen here in this pic comes from Perfect Pearls mists.

The full materials list can be found on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog.  Thanks for dropping in!

Spellbinders Silhouette Card

I've always pictured a silhouette in black on a light background. With this card, I wanted to play around with colour a little (plus my new set of Gelatos was screaming to be used on something!).  Here's the silhouette in green:

I used the Gelatos to create the background, then cut the gorgeous silhouette shape from a white panel.  I used another Spellbinders die (Sprigs) to cut some greenery to add behind the flowers. This card is ready to have a sentiment attached in that space between the white panel and the flowers whenever I'm ready to give it away. The style and colour makes it suitable for lots of different occasions.

The full materials list can be found on the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Wreath Thank You Card

Here's a thank you card with a bit of a formal look:

I used the wreath die from the new Spellbinders In'Spire Silhouette die set to frame the words I cut from sparkly glitter paper. I used the French Harmony background die to emboss here - I quite like the effect.

Thanks for dropping in, and for the full materials list please pop over to the Down Under Direct Inspiration blog.