Long Break!

It has been some time since I have added anything to my blog, especially since I began with a hiss and a roar!

Things have been pretty busy in my life over the last month. We had a 60th birthday party for Roger last weekend and it was a great success. The "children" made a great presentation about Roger and his life and we were able to share the evening with some very special friends.

I have also been really busy with cards as I have another market day coming up this weekend.

I have uploaded pictures of some of the cards I have made on my Photobucket gallery for people to check in to see.

This week, the photo here is related to the Tanda Teaser which is a musical theme. I found a decoupage Christmas theme which has music in it as well as the flowers. I used the Cuttlebug to emboss the background.

Brown, Russet and Gold

Today, I had some time so made another card. This one is for the Tanda Teaser this week. The theme is russet and gold. I have used a brown base card and stamped the leaves on the background with Versamark ink then brushed with gold sparkle powder. I stamped the same leaves onto gold coloured paper with brown ink and cut them out, then glued them onto the card.

The contrasting card on the side was punched with a new border punch that embosses a faux stitching line as it cuts. I stamped the other edge with a faux stitching stamp that I also used as a border around the text.

I checked out the Stamp Something blog and found that I could use it for that challenge this week as well.

Time to blog again!

It has been a very busy week this week and have not had time to make anything until today. Had a look at the Allsorts Challenge this week and liked the idea of a Kraft coloured card so here is my effort for the challenge.

Used kraft coloured card to make the base card. Layered with orange coloured Bazzil basic and some punched, striped paper that toned quite well, then added the ribbon trim. Stamped the owl (from CS magazine) onto kraft card, coloured with Tombow markers and cut it out. I cut an oval shape in some scrap brown card and stamped with a Hero Arts saying stamp that I acquired recently.

I added some shading to the edges of the oval and the actual card with coffee coloured Archival Ink, using the rubbadubba I also recently bought!

Christmas Cards Already

Well, this week I decided I should start making Christmas Cards for overseas. I always try to find something specifically New Zealand'ish for my overseas cards so this year I am using some photos I took of some NZ Pohutukawa flowers. Pohutukawa trees flower around Christmas time and the tree is sometimes called the New Zealand Christmas Tree as it is covered in a mass of bright red flowers - a little like the decorations on a Christmas tree.

I printed the photo on to glossy paper, then layered on black, then white to provide a contrast. I placed a tartan ribbon across a strip of red card, making pleats beside the space where the photo was to go, then placed it across the card.
I used a Fiskars punch to scallop the bottom edge of the front and used a white inner for the card to provide the contrast at the edge. The greeting is a Hero Arts stamp which I embossed with gold.

I have yet to discover the best way of taking a photo when there is a shiny surface on the card! I will have to practice a bit more I think. Anyway, you can get the general idea of the card from the photo.

Enjoy!

Allsorts challenge

This week I decided to enter the Allsorts Challenge which has an Autumn theme.

I made this card for a card swap. I used the Cricut to cut the words, and punched out the leaves from different coloured papers. The background paper was cut then stitched using a wide zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine.

Enjoy

Beaded Cards

I have been back into making beaded cards again this week. It is always interesting to see what results from the different combinations of beads and colours. On this card, I used mid-blue bugle beads and shimmery clear beads with silver thread. I punched the white layer card with the Fiskars punch and layered a lighter blue card on top, with the blue ribbon to cover the join.

I have uploaded some of my other beaded cards to my Gallery at Tanda. Take a look there!

Busy Busy still...

This card was one I made for a swap. The daffodils were cut using the Cricut - Walk in My Garden cartridge with the cut set on border. It cut three daffodils but I only wanted two so cut one away. The flower heads were cut separately on yellow and orange card then layered on to the green. I used the SCAL software to cut the word Spring using one of the fonts on the computer.

Enjoy!

Busy Busy

I really don't know where the time goes these days! I have had so many good intentions of entering all the challenges I have seen on the blogs that I am following and I haven't done any of them yet!

Mind you, I have had a bit of housework to do as I had to shift ALL my card making stuff out of
the spare room so we could accommodate a guest for a week or so. The study now contains my worktable and shelving as well as the computer and bookshelves. It is a bit cramped, but I will manage.

I have had some time to do a few cards and have posted a couple here.

This card uses a stamp from Design House Fashion Plates set. I stamped once on the background paper then again on coloured paper and cut out the dress, then layered on top of the first stamp.

A Sustainable Birthday Card

We were invited to the birthday celebration of a friend who is passionate about ensuring the earth is a sustainable place. In designing this card, I was conscious of this and tried to come up with a card that could be described as sustainable!

I used a new stamp I bought from Rubbadubbadoo at the Craft Show on Friday. It is a stylised koru pattern. The koru is a Maori design representing the unfurling of the fern frond and symbolising new life or growth. I stamped it three times without re-inking it, thus giving the shadow effect.

The "flower" is made from a flax leaf, one that I made some time ago.

It was a lovely evening to celebrate a special birthday!

Allsorts challenge

I made this card to try out the tie stamp (from Montarga). The ties were stamped on to the contrasting card and on to coloured papers, which I then cut out and layered on to the contrast card.

I inked the edges of the cut outs and layered on the card which had a strip of coloured paper complementing the ties.

Tanda Teaser - monochrome

After lots of thinking and trying out ideas, I finally settled on this one for the Tanda Teaser monochrome theme this week.

I bought the stamps from Tanda and have been playing with them for a couple of weeks before finally getting on to a card.

I used black cardstock and stamped the corner design directly on the card, embossing it with white. The other picture, I stamped and embossed onto black card then layered on to white.

I have other monochrome cards that I have pictures of and I will upload them to my Gallery at Tanda.

I went to the Craft Show being held in Christchurch this weekend. A wide range of hand crafted things on display and for sale. I navigated my way around the stamping stands quite well and managed to get out without spending too much money!

Tanda Teaser - Holiday fun

This is my holiday themed card. I have had the stamp for ages and needed an excuse to use it!

The orange layer was trimmed using a Fiskars edge punch; the green layer was embossed with the swiss dots Cuttlebug folder. I stamped the background with a crackle background stamp and used Pearlex powder to give it a shine. The stamps are from Montarga
The lettering was done with rub on lettering.

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day in New Zealand.
While Roger is not my father, he has been a wonderful father to our children so I made a card to recognise this and thank him.

The base for the design is some handmade, marbled paper that I tore into a triangle. The stamp is from Stampendous and I have cut the top part of it off.

The brads I wanted to use were very gold and quite tinny so I coated them with embossing ink and dipped them into thick gold embossing powder. This has given them a more antique look and not quite so bright and shiny!

My workspace

I did some sorting out at the weekend and took a picture of my workspace - at least one of them! This is where I make my cards and other papercraft activities. It seems to be expanding month by month. I keep thinking about more storage spaces and find them in all sorts of places. I recently bought the wire cube storage unit which has worked out well. The only problem is that you can't put anything too heavy in the upper shelves as they are not designed for heavy weights! Punches are therefore kept on the bottom!!!

I also found some large sized plastic envelopes - 12"x12" which are great for sorting papers and card into the different colours. Makes it so much easier to find just the right one.

Well, off to my crafting table to do some more cards...

Happy card making all!

Today's card

This is a card I made today as a first post!

I cut the flowers using my Cricut Expression - George and Basic Shapes Cartridge at 2, 3 and 4 cm.

I stamped a flourish on the bottom left corner and placed the flowers on top. The centres of the flowers are tiny buttons I picked up at a local craft shop.

The edge of the card was punched with a Fiskars border punch.

Happy Birthday stamped and embossed with gold.

Enjoy!

First Post

Hello
Welcome to my blog! I am in the process of setting this up so it is not yet in its final stage! Does a blog ever get to that stage - I wonder?

I have been motivated by the wonderful people who subscribe to the Tanda Stamps forum. They are all so friendly and chat regularly. A great place for sharing ideas too.

As I develop this blog, I will put pictures of my card creations as well as tips that I have found useful in my card making over the past four years or so.

Janet