Spin, Twirl, Dance!

You could say that creativity has been somewhat lacking in our house lately.  We had been expecting to be moving until red tape put a rather abrupt hold on our plans, and the past few months of waiting around have not been especially inspirational! Creativity has not been happening.  

And then we spotted this t shirt in the clearance rack.  

  And I remembered the sewing machine tucked away in storage, that I had bought to help keep myself entertained after we do move.  And I realised that this t shirt very clearly wanted to be made into a dress!  

A quick google search revealed there were lots of instructions online for making t shirt dresses.  I decided to base my one on these instructions by Mormon Mommy Wars.  Nice and straight forward, and quick too.  Of course, me being me, I then proceeded to change every step - shorten the t shirt, make the skirt fuller, add a frill, add some lace....  Needless to say I made one dress in two hours, rather than six in two hours like it said in the instructions!  But the end result was worth it...

a pretty, inexpensive dress (with none of the fuss of having to put in sleeves or finish necklines!) 

and a very happy girl (giving the dress the 'spin twirl dance' test).

Best of all - some creativity at last!

A Number Birthday Card

This card was inspired by a sketch (126) over at the Clean and Simple Stamping Blog.  When it comes to birthday cards for children you cannot go wrong with a big old number on the front.  They are so proud of their newer, older status (so at what point does that change I wonder?!)  I find it particularly good for boys too, who don't necessarily appreciate a bunch of fuss and frill.

 I started by stamping up some white card using the Circle Circus stamp set, and three different ink colours (Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze and Marina Mist) to make my own, one of a kind, 'patterned paper'.  Then after all of that, I only ended up using a couple of little strips of it on the front of the card, and another on the inside.  The dies used for this card were Timeless Type Junior Alphabet, and Lots of Tags. The sentiment is from my favourite, and most used (but sadly now retired) birthday set - A Little Birthday Cheer.

Lots of Monster Valentines

It's that time of year again - Valentine production line!  I did think this year I might take the easy way out and just let the kids choose valentines from the shop, but both boys (and several of Hayden's friends) asked if I couldn't please make those same valentines we made last year?  

So we settled on a compromise. With coughs and sniffles in the house (mostly me!) I didn't think homemade treats would be a good idea, but we could still make the same matchbook style of valentine with chocolates from the shop.

As it turned out these valentines really don't take so long to make, when you don't make the chocolates too!  Both boys were keen for a monster theme so I got to have a play with the 'Make a Monster' stamp set.  4 sheets of white card and (apologies - I decided to use up some of my stash of retired card - taken with teal and green galore, and a splash of pumpkin pie) 12 sheets of coloured card later (and a bit of cutting, scoring, stamping and sticking) and we were good to go with 48 valentines.  

We stamped one of the greetings from the 'Something Sweet' set.  It seemed perfect for the occasion.  Bridie wants robots on her valentines, but she doesn't need them until Monday, so we still have a bit of time to work on them.  We just have to survive the boys impending sugar hit between now and then.  Wish me luck! 

Simple and Pretty Thank You Cards

So do you recognise the background 'stamp' for these cards? 

Truth be told, while there is some ink on these cards, I didn't use a single stamp.  For a quick and easy background I simple pressed my ink pad directly onto the white card - I love the textured look you get.  I ran some coordinating card (pear pizzazz) through my bigshot with the 'thanks' embossilit die and then cut out just the thanks word part to use.  Add one of the daisies from the paper daisies pack and it was almost done.  The final step was to pile up some punched card circles in the centre of the flower, and give them a glaze of crystal effects (for the glue and the shine!)

Waiting for the crystal effects to dry was the longest step of this card, but well worth it, as it makes such a pretty embellishment.  The finished card looked so pretty I made up a couple more in Peach Parfait and Daffodil Delight, to add to the collection.

Where has the time gone?!

Oh dear.  Is it too late to wish you all a Happy New Year?!   The past few months have been pretty hectic for our family, and the time just seems to be flying by.  Once again inspiration and the time to create have not often coincided, and the follow up step of blogging about it hasn't happened at all.  Now it is time to play some catch up!

Here is a quick card I made a while ago, inspired entirely by this fantastic quote from the 'Sense of Time' stamp set.  I am sure I am not the only would who could do with a few more hours in the day?!

The rest of the card involved simply freehand cutting a few wavy lines of card, and  rolling out some embossed butterflies using the 'beautiful wings' embosslit die and my under utilised (at the time!) Big Shot. 

It came together really quickly (from memory, time was short, and the 'to do' list was long!) but the therapeutic effects of having created something lasted a lot longer!

A Clipboard for the Teacher

Recently we needed to come up with a gift for Campbell's teacher. Something that would be useful, and not too flowery and frilly.  A nice, useful, masculine gift for the teacher.  After a bit of thought we decided to decorate a clipboard, and this is what we came up with:

We decided to go with an owl theme -  decorating the back with one wise owl on a branch (chipboard from the So Tweet On Board Pack, covered with card, and papers from the Good Morning Sunshine DSP pack) and lots of eager little owls awaiting instruction covering both sides of the clipboard (another sheet of paper from the Good Morning Sunshine pack).  We personalised it using letters made with the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies from the Autumn/Winter mini catalogue, and then finished it off with some strips of coordinating card (pacific point, kiwi kiss) and some ribbon.  Several coats of modge podge help to seal and protect it all.

Campbell was really pleased with his gift, and the teacher was most appreciative. Best of all it was a relatively quick and easy project, and inexpensive too.  Perfect for mass production!

The kiwi kiss cardstock, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, On Board So Tweet, Kiwi Kiss ribbon, and Pacific Point Ribbon used in this project are all on the 'last chance list'.  Available only until 31 August, or while stocks last.

You & Moi Scallop Notes

Okay, so one last valentine project to share - this time the little cards I made for my children.  I used a couple of the stamps from the 'You & Moi' set and the handy little scallop note cards that are in the current Summer Mini Catalogue. 

 

I stuck with baja blue for the boys, with a not so frilly stamp, and for Bridie - pink pirouette and a flower, of course.  

Both designs had a bit of silver thrown in as well, the image was popped up with dimensionals, and I added a little loop of ribbon to fancy it up.  I extended the front of the card with an extra white scallop, and finished it off with some more silver card.

Bridie asked if she could keep it forever?  Of course you can baby girl!

'Celebrate You' Scrapbook Layout

A few months back I made this carousel note card using the always lovely 'Fifth Avenue Floral' stamp set.  As I played around trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I ended up with two of those stamped circles.  When the card was done I set the spare stamped circle to the side, and imagined it on a scrapbook layout, with a few more circles, and another carousel note.  And it has been waiting ever since.  Well, until now that is.

It turns out that getting myself organised was the hardest part.  I already had that 'celebrate you' stamped circle, and the scalloped baja blue circle is a carousel note - all ready for me to just add some journaling.  I used my circle scissors to cut out the small kiwi kiss circle, and then all those blue and kiwi rings in varying widths.

The finishing touches were some butterflies from the 'Butterfly Prints' stampset, with a touch of bling to match Bridie's tiara.  I am really pleased with how it all came together, and Bridie is very happy to have another layout in her album.  Her favourite part?  Why, the tiara she is wearing in the photo - of course!

All the bits and pieces:

card - basic grey, kiwi kiss, baja blue, white

ink - basic grey, kiwi kiss, baja blue

stamps - Fifth Avenue Floral, Butterfly Prints, A little Birthday Cheer (the 'celebrate you')

other - baja blue carousel note, basic grey stampin' write marker, circle scissors, butterfly punch, rhinestone brads (ice, circles)

Simple but beautiful butterfly card

I am really loving the butterfly stamp from the 'Dreams du Jour' set right now.  I love the fact that it is an outline stamp, so if you want to colour it in, like I did for this Kristina Challenge card, you can.  I also love the fact that there is enough fine detail in that outline, that if you want to, you can just stamp it out in a single colour and it still looks fantastic - especially if you have a few in different colours:

For this card I really wanted the focus to be on those butterflies, and originally set out to have just some stamping on a single piece of white card.  Unfortunately the white card, while perfect for stamping on, is not the heaviest, and the card seemed a bit too flimsy.  Instead I trimmed it up and attached it to a teal card base, to match that teal sentiment.  I was pleased with the finished look - having the teal didn't take away from the butterflies at all, and I think I ended up with a more balanced card.

 

The colour combination of taken with teal, real red, and apricot appeal came straight from the latest Stamping 411 colour inspiration challenge.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to get everything positioned just where I wanted it, but other than that, this card was super simple, and I now I think I love those butterflies even more!

A flower for all occasions

At the Stampin' Up Convention last year, I was fortunate to have my achievements recognised.  Although I missed the opportunity to be congratulated in person by Shelli Gardner - the co-founder of SU (a small matter of me not actually being at the Convention in Canberra!) I did still get my name up on the big screen, and later, received congratulations, a pin, and the stampset 'A Flower for all Seasons'  I am a little ashamed to admit, that although I have often admired the stamps, I have only just now gotten around to using them.

As I sat using them I thought to myself that these really are the kind of stamps you could use for any occasion (and then I realised - duh - that will be why they are called a flower for all seasons).  After using most of my brain cells figuring that out, I decided I should probably keep the cards easy, so this is what I came up with:

I went with a kraft card base again - I really love the way you can pair this card up with any other colour combo, and it will look good.  I wanted to keep the embellishments to a minimum, and use up some of my card scraps that have been accumulating, so decided to go with a couple of card strips, with a scallop edge to one of them.  I ended up making a set of them, using three of the four different images, and several different sentiments (birthday, thanks, get well soon) and colour combos:

Best of all, these images, while perhaps not so great for those male recipients, are perfect for girls of all ages - so my girly birthday card pile has increased with the addition of these quick and easy cards.   That has got to be a good thing, right?!

More Last minute Holiday Cards

What happens when you sit down with the 'Occasionally' stamp set, some kraft card, assorted coloured card scraps and matching inks and ribbons, and your trusty crimper, in order to make just a couple of last minute  holiday cards?  There is a chance you may get a little carried away, and end up with something like this:

Not just Christmas cards, but cards for all occasions (and this photo was taken after we had given away a couple of the cards already).

After stamping the images on white card, it was a quick job to punch them out with a square punch, mat them on a kraft square made using the bigger square punch, and then attach those to some crimped card, using stampin' dimensionals.  Most of the cards got some coordinating ribbon to finish them off, but a few were left more simple. 

For the holiday cards I made little sets of cards in a couple of different sizes, and some without the ribbon.  They all had the stamped image on the crimped coordinating card though.

 

The snowman, Christmas Tree, and Candy Cane images were especially good for these cards.  And when I had more than enough of those, I couldn't help myself.  I had to keep going with some other occasion cards like these birthday ones:

I like the fact that this quick and easy design could be used for boys or girls of all ages, just with a quick change of colour.  I especially like them with the wider ribbon, but if you didn't have coordinating ribbon you could use a strip of card and perhaps stamp on a greeting instead.  Use some softer colours and swap the images and you have baby and first birthday cards:

You probably get the idea by now.  Quite a productive morning on the card making front - not so much the bed making and laundry!  Never mind that though, making cards was much more fun, and best of all, if you want to make some for yourself, the 'Occasionally' Stamp Set that I used here is one of several that are currently part of an inventory clearance sale, and is discounted 50% for a limited time.

  To see the full list of discounted products, (with discounts from 25-50%) you can click here, or see the link on my sidebar over there on the right.

Quick little gift tags

It is true that you can find gift tags pretty cheaply (especially from December 26 onwards) but there is something very nice about a hand made tag.  They don't have to take a long time to make, and they don't require a lot of supplies (although of course, you can make them just as fancy and embellished as you like!)

These ones fit right into the quick and easy category.  They are all made using stamps from the 'Occasionally' stamp set.

It really does have something for every occasion, although as you can see here, I have stuck with the Christmas theme for these ones (afterall, it was Christmas gifts I needed them for!) using white card, and then matching ink and coloured card for the back of the tag (real red, garden green, elegant eggplant, night of navy, and baja breeze with a splash of glitter for those little snowflakes).

Tomorrow I will show you the last minute cards I made using the same stamp set.  I might have gotten a little bit carried away!

The Perfect 'last minute' Christmas Card

Did you have plans to make your own Christmas cards this year, but time got away on you?  It isn't too late (says the person who hasn't sent too many Christmas cards for a few years now - oops!)  This is a card that was my favourite last year, and which, thanks to its quick and easy nature, is a favourite this year too.

Not only is it quick and easy (I timed myself making one and it took two minutes, including mucking around with the stamp-a-ma-jig to make sure the greeting was straight), economical (with just two layers of card and no extra embellishments) and perfect for mass production, it also has a wow factor that defies it's simplicity. 

The trickiest bit is preparing the template for the background.  I chose an oval, but any shape will do.  Once you have your template you can reuse it over and over.  I made the outside dimensions of my template card the same size as the vanilla piece that goes on the front of the Christmas card, so that I don't have to think too hard to get it in the right place.  Fast and simple is what it is all about!  In order to keep the template in place while you are working use a temporary adhesive.  I used my two way glue pen, and left it for a few minutes to become tacky and repositional.  This allows you to remove the template when you are done, without damaging the card underneath.  

If you use the two way glue pen remember that when the glue is blue - when you first put it on - it acts as a permanent adhesive, but if you wait a few minutes it dries off and will appear clear, and the adhesive will be temporary rather than permanent.

Now, it is a little tricky to see in this terrible photo, but the next step is really easy.  I used a piece of stampin' sponge to lightly sponge some mellow moss ink around the inside of my oval template.  It doesn't look too flash at this stage, but trust me, when you remove the template you will be wowed yourself.  If it isn't dark enough for you, you can always reattach the template and do a little more sponging.

When the sponging is done, and without removing the template, I used the line of trees stamp (Lovely as a Tree), inked with mellow moss ink, and stamped off gently (I want these trees to be a subtle background) then stamped onto my vanilla card.

Now the background is done, and you can remove the template.  I used Always Artichoke to stamp the single tree, and the greeting (from the Sincere Salutations stamp set) with help from my Stamp-a-ma-jig to make sure the greeting was straight.  Attach to a Mellow Moss card base and you are done.  Well, you could always add a bit of glitter to those branches if you have more than two minutes to spare.

Then comes the hard bit.  Actually sending it to someone!

Packaging for a Morning Tea Treat

I was inspired by the latest NZSU challenge based on the clever packaging idea that Donna Calley had on her blog, and especially loved that beachy theme that Donna had used.  I decided it could be a fun way to package up some muffins for a special morning tea treat for the teachers (except I don't think they call it 'morning tea'!) and went with a northern hemisphere autumny look instead.

Introducing the stunt muffin:

Since we haven't baked the actual muffins yet, and it is still a few days before we need them anyway, we decided that a nice piece of screwed up newspaper would double nicely as a stunt muffin - for blogging purposes anyway!

This pacakaging was a little shorter and wider than the original, to make room for a muffin without it being reduced to crumbs.  To fancy up that really rust card a bit I stamped it with one of the stamps from the 'Lovely as a Tree' stamp set - with a touch of old olive ink along with the rust ink.  The image on the tag is from the 'Window Dressing' hostess set.

Surely that has to be the best dressed stunt muffin in town!

And now a Christmas Carousel Note card.

While I was playing around making this carousel note card, I got to thinking that those carousel notes did look a little bit like a mighty big Christmas ornament, and how that could work well for a Christmas card.  So that became part two of my carousel note challenge.  To add to the fun I decided to work with a non-christmas stamp set that is another of my favourites, and which I know a lot of you have yourselves - the ever lovely Baroque Motifs.  (I should point out here that the greeting came from the 'Occasional Greetings' set and not Baroque Motifs).  I have probably said it before but this is such a versatile set - beautiful for backgrounds or the main focus, and any and all occasions - including Christmas.  I used a Ruby Red carousel note, and teamed it up with some kiwi kiss, for a more traditional red and green christmas look.

This time round I decided to work with just one of the carousel notes as the front of the card, and then attached a more conventionally shaped card behind it.  This way you get the scalloped circle look, but can still stand the card up easily, a bit like an easel. 

After stamping up the vanilla circle with the vines, flowers and greeting, I sponged the edge of the circle with kiwi kiss ink, and then used a two way glue pen to add a dash of diamonds to the flowers - Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without some glitter.  It doesn't show up so well here, but in real life - it's sparkly!

The top of the 'ornament' was made from a round tab punch of kiwi card, folded in half then adhered to the top of the carousel note (purely decorative this time, not an actual hinge like on the last card).  The finishing touch was a kiwi kiss ribbon bow at the top of the ornament, and some stamping and sponging on the inside of the card.

This really was a quick and easy card to make, but I think it looks really special, and definitely a little out of the ordinary. This card could even double as an ornament - just by threading some linen thread, or even some more ribbon, through the folded round tab at the top.  Might not work so well on those really little trees though!

Five Minute gift packaging

So first the background story.  Hayden's teacher has a collection of magnets from various places that she or her students have visited.  Whenever we go exploring he wants to get her one to bring back.  Then he forgets all about it until we get home again.  Except this time.  This time he remembered to get one.  He just forgot to give it to her today.  He remembered after he had gone to bed tonight, at which point he requested if we couldn't please wrap it up all nicely for her?

What's a mum to do?  Of course we can figure something else.  But something quick, because Hayden is supposed to be sleeping, and I am supposed to be listening to the sound of all three of them asleep - ahh the quiet!  Thank goodness for the very clever, super simple, and best of all, really quick triangle box.  Not to mention coordinating card, ink and ribbon (Tangerine Tango) and the always elegant Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set.

Five minutes later, pausing only for a photo, we were done, and Hayden was tucking it away in his bag all ready to take to school tomorrow.  It really is so very easy, and not only does it work well with the 5 minute simple approach, the 10 minute something special  variety looks fantastic too. (Hard to believe there is a humble magnet in that box!)

I think this might be my favourite gift packaging technique, athough I do really like the bag in a box (box in bag?) approach too.  It does take a few more minutes though, and to be honest, I really do like to hear the sound of those sleeping babies!

Making use of those little image stamps

In an attempt to get back into the crafting groove I have been setting myself some challenges.  The latest one is to make use of those little image stamps that you often find in a set.  In particular, I am looking at the great little 'short and sweet' stamp set.  This is a popular, value for money stamp set, but I find I am most often using the greetings, and not often the little images that go along.

So, over the next little bit I am hoping to share a few ideas using these little stamps.   The first, and easiest idea is of course to use those little stamps on little projects - gift tags and smaller cards.  The cute little 'Love Notes' (card and matching envelope) are the perfect size.  The second idea, and one I also used for these cards, is repetition.  Use that little image more than once, to make it look like a bigger image.  I used the stamp-a-ma-jig to help with even spacing.  Take that little flower and stamp it out nine times, and this is what you get:

This time I also set myself the challenge of using only the bold bright colours.  I do have a couple that I use often, but must confess, overall I am not so much of a bold brights girl (and in fact, I discovered that a couple of my BB ink spots hadn't even been opened before these cards!)  I am pleased to say that I have used every single bold bright colour in these cards - and I actually really like them!  The fact that the image is a small outline one, means that you get a nice splash of colour, but lots of white also helps to tone it down.  That's what I think anyway - what do you think?

Best of all, this idea works just as well on a more conventional sized card (and look - the last of those bold bright colours!)

Sweet Sunday Masculine Card

Today we have been busy spoiling ourselves just because we can. Because the kids haven't been fighting, because we got our jobs done, because we weren't the family standing on the side of the road in our pjs on Tuesday when the fire alarm went off (at 11am), and we all had to run from our apartments and wait for not one but two fire engines to arrive. We were in our outside clothes, waving to the firemen, and feeling very glad we weren't that family still in their pjs!!

Amongst other things we did to spoil ourselves, I spent some time working on a couple of cards to add to the pile. I wanted to try another sweet sunday challenge, and make a quick, stress free project, and if that could be a masculine project then so much better.

So here was the sketch I had to work with:

Here is the card I came up with. Blocks of patterned paper from the Urban Oasis collection, matted on chocolate chip, with a kraft card base. I love these papers - especially the fact that they work so well for both masculine and flowery projects.

A simple sentiment from the 'Sincere Salutations' stamp set, and a jumbo chocolate chip brad from the new spring mini to finish it off. Super simple, super quick, and best of all, super stress free!

Although, confession time. It wasn't actually the first card I came up with. Here is the first one...

This was also going to be a masculine card, but then I got sidetracked with that gorgeous floral paper, and suddenly it didn't work quite so well for the boys (but I am thinking if the flowers weren't on the top it still may have worked, with a different sentiment, perhaps?)

This time the papers were from the Urban Garden collection, and I sponged the edges of the paper pieces with Not quite Navy ink rather than mat them. Instead of a brad, I added a little bit of paper piercing as a finishing touch. Another stress free project completed - the best kind!

big and bold meets simple and elegant

Well I did manage to do a bit of creating today, but haven't managed to take a photo yet. Since I am determined to get a post done today, I instead went hunting through the photos I did have, and found this card. It may look familiar to some of you - this was one of the cards we made last year for my 'World Card Making Day' event. What a fun day that was!

So anyway, on with the card...

(Oh my, it is not the best photo, but if you do what I obviously did when I took the photo, and lean your head to one side, it does kind of look straight! I might try again in the morning and see if I can do better) * as it turns out the new photo wasn't really any better, so you might need to use your imagination a bit - sorry!

This was actually a very quick and easy card. The background stamping was done with the jumbo 'happy, happy birthday' wheel, inked up using the soft sky inkpad (rather than a cartridge) and stamped on soft sky card, for a nice subtle look.

The main image (which is easier to see in the close up below) was made using the 'Big Bold Birthday' stamp set, and was stamped using soft sky (for the box) and silver (for the bow) and matted onto a square of silver card.

And that was it! I really liked how simple and elegant the finished card looked (and did I mention it was quick?!)

Working on some 'train' stuff at the moment, to share soon, and I really should get some photos developed - I think I am overdue for some scrapbooking (might have to hunt through my photos again, for old projects not yet shared!!)

A quick colour challenge card

Time for another colour challenge from Kristina Werner. Pretty colours this week, although at first glance, all those colours were a little intimidating!

Time was short today, so just a quick card using the 'heart to heart' punch. It's like three punches in one, so a good time saver. Punch out a collection of hearts, add a dash of white pen around the outside of the card, and a greeting from the 'short and sweet' set and this is what you get...

Might have to have another try later on. I have an idea, and if you see a post about it, it worked out!