Corrugated & Crimped

Practical Scrappers is showcasing ideas on corrugated and crimped elements on cards.  I was trying to come up with something different and eye catching when I remembered the butterflies my mum gave me when Sophia was born!  These little butterflies are made from wrapping paper, coloured wire and a couple of beads.

I've made these cute butterflies before and made a tutorial, so I'll add that to this post so you can try your hand at making them too.

For this card I used Sweet Stop Sketch SSS142 I love their sketches and will be using them more often I think!  I got to use up some scraps for this card.  I layered patterned paper on blue Bazzill, wrapped them in a pretty blue ribbon and topped it off with a pink button.  I made a little tag (cause this is for some one's birthday) and then added the butterflies.  They're fixed to the card with 3D foam dots and my ATG (just the top butterfly is raised).  I added some dimensional glaze to so of the little critters on the bottom layer of paper, and some bling.

Here's a little closeup of the tag, the butterflies and the bow.  It's such a bright spring themed card - considering it's pouring outside and I've had to build my own lightbox just to take this photo!!  We've had rain for 5 days straight now and it's not showing signs of letting up.  The floods have come as close as 500m to the house - looks like there will be more card making to come!!

Resolutions

Well it's this time of year that all the New Year's resolutions usually come out - the most popular would be "to lose weight" or "to be more healthy".  Me personally I like to just simply work on being happy.  I figure if I'm happy then everything thing else in my life will just flow.

Well for the month of January over at Doodle Pantry you can join in with Challenge #19 and get this cute little birdie FREE!!  All you have to do is create a card with any of the Doodle Pantry images and you will be sent the image.  It comes coloured, out-lined and with your choice of dumbells or ice-cream.  There are several digi-papers and sentiments with this image too - and it's all FREE!!

So I wanted to make someone at work something special for all her amazing efforts on losing weight - she's truly an inspiration!!  The card design you see at the left (the box) is also a digi file from Doodle Pantry - it's called the Treat Dish Card Template and comes in PDF, SVG and SCAL2.  I don't have any fancy tools to make this card, I simply printed out the template on my printer and then scored and cut out the design.  It then decorated the card with co-ordinating patters and colours and tied it together with some Doodle Bug green and white twine.

A few little extra details: I glossed up the dumbells, doodled around the edges of all the patterned papers and the digi image and the little sentiment on the front is raised on 3D foam dots and distressed around the edges.

PS. the lollies are sugar free lemon drops - didn't want to undo all the good work my friend has done!  Oh and if you are creating this card for someone and have to send it - the whole thing folds flat (except for the lollies of course).  More photos of a Christmas Designed treat box can be found at Doodle Pantry.

You

Not that long ago I took this random photo of Amber out the back, wearing a new outfit that she had bought.  She loves everything Paris, and buys anything with an Eiffel Tower on it, so of course this outfit just had to be bought.  She got a nice pair of pants, the top you see in the photo and a matching scarf.

I rarely get to photograph Amber now - she sees me as the paparazzi and refuses to smile or do anything when me and my camera are out.  This photo also reminds me that she's growing into a young lady.  She's starting to leave her Barbie dolls, her Littlest Pet Shop animals and her little kid clothes and she's moved onto accessories, iPods and computer games and chatting on the phone with her friends.

I've spent all these years looking forward to that day when she was truly independant and a teenager to now wondering where those years have gone and wishing she would stay little for a while longer.

At least I have Sophia - otherwise I'd have no-one to snap pictures of, no-one to really need me and no-one to laugh at my jokes and think I was funny all the time - cause according to Amber I'm just weird and "from the olden days" which is apparently 1985.

So there you have it, my gorgeous Amber, my first daughter and my first layout for 2012.  I created this layout for Practical Scrappers "ribbons on layouts" challenge.  I used my ribbons for the background!  I just adhered the ribbon with my ATG and layed them across my layout (they're deliberately placed slightly off straight)  I used the paper as a little tie into "little girls" and to add a touch of colour in the background.  Then I unrolled some of my yellow Doodlebug Twine and it created these neat little loops which I stapled to the layout.  I created some little triangles and popped them up with 3D foam tape.

I found this neat ribbon/twill in my stash and thought "measurement" is the perfect theme for my layout so I made it into a flower.  I adorned it with a button and sewed it all to the layout.

Don't you just love these little sewn letters!  I adhered them with ATG tape.  They're slightly quilted and super cute!  I'll have to try and make some I think!

Then to finish off the layout I added some shine to the little flags, and journalled in white pen around the edge of the ribbon background.

Get Well Soon!

So most of you probably live on the other side of the world to me, and it's probably either raining or snowing and in the middle of winter - so this post is for you!

I made this little get well card for a friend who was poorly.  I saw the card while searching google images for just the right digital stamp - which I found at Pink Cat Studio.  The little girl is called Sick Lily and there's a little boy too!

You'll see where I got the inspiration for this design of card - from Maria Bell.

I chose some nice bright colours - cause although little Lily is under the weather I thought the recipient would like some cheering up.

I used paper for the tissue behind the chair and lifted the main image with 3D foam dots.  I used my copics to colour the image and then fuzzed up Lily's pillow dots and the little kitty with some Sparkly Fluff!

Here's a little closeup so you can see the furry kitty on Lily's lap.  I just remembered that I fuzzed up the little bunny slippers too.

For the bottom of this card there's a compartment for a small packet of tissues - a must for anyone who has come down with the flu!  They slide in and out very easily, and I've made a little journaling card on top of the tissue holder to write a little note.

This card is perfect to stand alone next to a sick person or patient to remind them that someone is thinking of them xo

Is there a doctor in the house?

Here's a layout about Sophia being a doctor.  She loves to help and fix things - especially animals!  We had not long visited Australia Zoo when we came across this elephant at kindy that had popped a seam and his stuffing was falling out.  Sophia wrapped him up and brought him home for me to help her "fix" him.

We laid out a sheet on the table and Sophia put on her doctor jacket, shirt and pants.  She got her Doctor's bag full of stethoscopes, syringes, blood pressure cuffs and  bandages.

Then we got to work.

Sophia reassured the elephant and talked to it by telling it what she was going to to.  She gave "Elly" and needle to put her to sleep and I went about stitching up her "sore leg".  Then Sophia checked Elly's vitals, gave her some medicine and applied some bandaids and bandages.  We even managed to find some cotton wool balls and a lolly pop (for the Doctor) for after the operation!

When the whole operation was complete Sophia gave Elly a kiss on her head and monitored her for the afternoon.

Elly is now in full health and has returned to her life at kindy.

I've clustered these embellies and made some 3D by using some 3D foam dots.  I used a ticket, stickers, little doile papers (I cut one in half to create two), some ribbon that I pleated and a journalling card.

Because of the stitching that we did on Elly, I added some little stitches with thread and needle to the sticker letters in the title and the sticker loopy line (brown) that you can see in this photo.

This layout was created for the "clustering on layouts" theme that we have going over at Practical Scrappers.

Happy New Year 2012

Happy New Year everyone!!  Sorry I'm a bit late to the party, but I've been on holiday and getting back into the working groove.

Thank you to each and every person who has stopped by my blog during 2011, your comments, questions and gifts have been absolutely wonderful and heartfully appreciated - yes I made up that word and I'm keeping it.

I hope to inspire you all again this year with more projects, challenges and giveaways!

So lets get this party started - today I decked my blog out in new wallpaper.  I'm working on 3 cards at the moment and hope to show them over the next few days - I also have lots of photos to catch up on and create layouts for.  So who's coming with me to scrap?!

Happy Thanksgiving

At Practical Scrappers we were prompted to choose our favourite card for the year - well this is it!  I loved playing with this digital image from Doodle Pantry.  I coloured him in using my Copic markers and then raised him up on 3D foam dots.  Then I carefully trimmed and placed some red, yellow and black flowers - to act as tail feathers!  I tied a little twine around his neck and tucked in a couple of brown leaves, then snipped a little slit in his wing so that he could hold the sentiment.

I love paper piecing, layers, textures and fall colours and this card has it all!  I rarely get to create fall cards as we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia.

Here's a different angle so you can see the layers:

I used some gloss on his beak and feet to shine them up a bit.  Isn't he so cute? (for a turkey!)

Altered Match Box Centrepiece

Matchboxes are wonderful little things, they start out life holding matches and can become keepers of special treasures.  This year I decided to make table centrepiece from matchboxes.  I added a little tree, some pretend Christmas lights, a star, some candy canes and some stickers.

First up you'll need 24 matchboxes - I recycled mine as they once held matches but you can actually buy little boxes that are exactly the same only they're all white and have no match-strike strip.  Line them up 3 boxes at a time and then lay them end-side-end-side until you make a square.  Alternate them so that 6 drawers aren't lined up (like in the picture) and glue together with glue and an ATG gun.  I adhered the box tiers with ATG gun, and then finally glued everything with my hot glue.

Create a top and bottom card, cover and glue on.  Then all I did was decorate the inside of the boxes with paper and doodling and added a Christmas flower and brad to the front.

Finally I added my little tree.  I used two chipboard stars and glued them back to back.  Then I cut up a string of little lights and individually glued them to the branches.  I added a festive ribbon to the base, sprinkled on some snow (and Stickles for sparkle) and decorated around the tree.  The little elf carrying the presents is a sticker that I put on strong plastic packaging and then cut around.

Now you can fill the drawers with all sorts of treasures for your guests to find (candy, jewels, festive quotes, Secret Santa names, chocolate etc)

 

The snow I used was something made of strips of crumpled plastic, I really have no idea what it is, but I laid on a strip of hot glue and then sprinkled it on the branches.  Then I drizzled clear Stickles all over it to create that snowy sparkle.  The little lights come on a string.  I snipped the string off and glued them individually with a dab of glue, holding them upright until dry.

This little guy reminds me of all the Chipmunk and Donald Duck Christmas movies I've ever seen!  He's actually a princess or Barbie toy that Amber no longer uses, so I re-purposed him and he's guarding my tree now.  The little "good" list was made from some scrap card that I gently crumpled and rolled at the top.  I've added the names of all mine and my friends children (oh and my brother and sister) although I think my brother just barely made it onto the list *wink*.

This is one project that I'm going to want to keep out all year!

Christmas Bunting

I love the look of bunting and have wanted to make my own for ages.  Then Practical Scrappers game me the push I needed to give it a whirl!  This month is all about Christmas creations, and this week mine is about my Christmas Bunting.

It's made with Red and Green Bazzill as a base, then pp on top.  I cut them like this as something different from triangles.  I made some rosettes and then layered on a circle of matching Bazzill and a Candy Cane inspired font letter sticker.  The bunting spells out "Noel".  I've added some buttons, red and white twine, holly, tulle and some candy canes that I made from chenille sticks.  At the top of the bunting, each flag is adorned with a white paper doile and a strip of green and white ribbon for hanging.

 Here's a close-up of one of the flags.  I added some dimension with "snow" that sparkles because I added some Stickles.  There is also two pins - a heart and a crystal pin.

 This is the red flag where I added some holly.  To create the tulle flower, I cut a strip of tulle, then ran some running stitch along one edge and gathered it up til I was happy with the effect.  I secured the end and adhered it to the flag with hot glue.

The next two flags are duplicates of the first two.  They simply have different letters on them.

 I had so much fun with this bunting and it'll probably hang up all year, or maybe I should start planning for Easter, or Valentine's day or...........

I made a baby!

This right here is a nappy/diaper baby.  He or she is made entirely out of newborn nappies then dressed in a onesie, mittens, bib, beanie, sunnies, dummy and play toy.

I made this baby as something different from a nappy cake.  I was also going to be taking it to an outdoor baby shower in a park and I figured hauling a cake across carparks, stairs, water play toys and along paths was just not going to go well.  So I thought a baby would be better.

Now I can't take full credit for this idea as I happened apon some on the internet.  Apparently they've been around a while, some creative genius thought of it and I'm happy that by looking at some pictures I managed to quite easily make my own.

There are three rolls of nappies for the head and body and then I fashioned arms and legs from 2 nappies a piece.  It's all held together with strong rubberbands because I didn't want to damage any of the nappies so they could be used in the future.  The clothes are gender neutral as we didn't no whether the mother was having a boy or girl.

The nappy baby is newborn size and was quite often mistaken for the real thing until strangers took a closer look - considering the heat we are having I can't imagine dressing a real baby from head to toe like this at the moment!  Sophia picked the little toy the baby is hugging.

A side view of the baby sitting.

This is another baby that I made for Amber's school teacher.  Unfortunately I only took photos on my phone!  So this is the only one.  Sophia chose the colours and accessories.  This baby had a cute onesie that had flip-over mittens - they're created as part of the sleeves.

Both Mother-to-be's were delighted with their babies.  The first mother actually staged a family photo with hers and the second baby is already tucked into bed in his/her new home!  I can't wait to make more babies!!