CAS-usal Fridays CFC126 Challenge

My first ever challenge entry! I'm so nervous but hey, how bad can it be?? I'm entering a challenge at the blog CAS-ual Fridays which is all about 'Colour Blocking'. Its not something I do very often but quite enjoyed doing cards that were a big different.

My first card is based on one I saw on Pinterest a few months ago. I thought the angles were really modern but found it so hard to cut. I wasn't too sure about it and was going to try it with patterned paper but thought I would enter this one first.

I made this card last night. Was trying to do something different and spent ages layering the colours in different ways. The stamp is from Hero Arts 'Year Round Sentiments'. My daughter loves it!!

Will now try to link this to the blog and see what happens. Wish me luck!!

Shona


 

Papertrey Ink January 2014 Blog Hop

Its raining today, yippee! Both of the kids have had friends over and I didn't have any jobs to do inside, so.....I made some cards!



Papertrey Ink had a blog hop today where their inspiration was the colour pink. Anyone could participate and you can load photos of your cards onto their blog. I spent ages looking at all the wonderful creations and leaving lots of comments for very talented people. Was lots of fun. I then thought 'why don't I try it?' So have spent the past 2 hours putting together three cards and hopefully I can link them to the blog.

For some reason today I was really inspired by polka dots. Its not usually my thing but no other pattern seemed to fit. For this first card I used my heart paper punch to cut out hearts from Echo Park 'Dots and Stripes' 12x12 paper. I stamped in the middle 'love' with my new Simon Says Stamps 'Tags Sayings', stamped the heart in a pinky red and then used my Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents to make it shine.

For this card I used my punch again along the bottom of the card and put the same polka dot paper behind. I stamped this from Simon Says Stamps 'Only have Eyes for you' and added some pink pearl dots.

For my last card I used the same paper again and stamped on white cardstock with a stamp from Simon Says Stamps 'Tag Sayings'. I then used a rhinestone heart in pale pink and some silver thread I found at christmas.

I just tried to add my cards to the blog but found that the link had closed!!! Am really disappointed but oh well, at least I made some cards and was able to view some amazing projects with so many wonderful ideas.

Must make sure next time I work out the time difference between New Zealand and the U.S. correctly so I don't miss another hop!

Take care
Shona
 

Desperate for crafting time!!!

Finding it so hard at the moment to get any crafting time. By the time we have had a wonderful day of adventures (today was fishing from a jetty) and everyone is in bed, I don't sit down till around 10.30pm. The first thing I do is finally go thru all my emails from the blogs I follow, which leads me to Pinterest and then time just disappears.......

Like now, its 11.30pm and I'm so tired but also so desperate to create. I have a feeling my tired body will win tonight but must find some time tomorrow to make something...I have card making withdrawal symptoms!!!

So decided I would share another two cards that I made last weekend when staying with my Mum.

I absolutely love my Lawn Fawn 'Into the Woods' 6x6 pad but don't seem to use it enough. So decided to play around with different colours, patterns and paper lengths to see what I could come up with. I'm not usually a person who likes orange but it fits so perfectly with the light blue and green (and of course I had to fit in a 'hello'!!).

This card started life as something else. I actually wanted the triangle to cover 2/3's of the card front but got all my angles wrong and cut in the wrong place. I decided to try and stick to papers from the same collection. This is Lori Whitlock 'Here and Now'. The Happy Life bubble I hand-cut from a 12x12 sheet covered in bubbles with all sorts of wonderful comments. I'm a sucker for light blue and white every time!!

Keep your fingers crossed for me to at least start a card tomorrow. Maybe I can suggest a craft session with the kids......

Take care
Shona
 
 

I love my Wink of Stella!!

Having looked at so many blogs, the one product I see used over and over is a 'Wink of Stella' clear glitter pen. So my wonderful friends at Artful Crafts were able to source one for me. Even they were impressed by it and now stock it themselves!! So I decided I needed to test it out asap. While washing the dishes last night (strange I know....) I had an idea for a card.

Luckily I had seen on a blog somewhere how to mask off part of a stamp with washi tape so I could stamp the heart in red. The paper is from 'Hello Again' from Carta Bella.

I was really worried that I would smudge the ink so let it dry till this morning. I painted the heart with the Wink of Stella pen (which looked AMAZING) and then covered in Glossy Accents. It turned out better than I thought it would and can imagine me 'winking' all of my cards!!

I'm just itching to make some more cards today but is so hard with kids around, wanting to be entertained. I love playing with them, just wish I didn't have to wait till 11pm to finally get some craft time......

Take care
Shona

Using Black Cardstock

White cardstock always seems to be my 'fall-back' colour when it comes to making cards, so decided to step out of my comfort zone and try some black on for size.

I think I had seen something similar to this idea on Pinterest. I have 3 scrunchy bits of paper that I scribble card ideas on to when I suddenly think of something or I'm looking at blogs/pinterest. I usually don't copy it 100% (mainly because I don't have all the products to do that) but also because I don't want to copy someone else's design, doesn't seem fair.

So I thought black would be good with the bright 'candy' colours and I really like it.

Yes, 'hello' came out again, even my husband (who I show all my designs to) said its about time I bought some new die cuts. So must try to squeeze some money out of the budget and buy something new.

Very lazy day today with it raining the whole day. Kids and I have been working on Lego projects and I'm shortly going to try and re-string(?) our fishing rods, so we can go fishing off the jetty in Picton. Wish me luck!!

Shona
 

Crafting Weekend!!

Well, what a wonderful time I had spending the weekend with my Mum, chatting, crafting and eating. I almost needed to put a trailer on my car to get all my craft products to her house but was so worth it. Was a very relaxed couple of days.

I actually made five cards while I was there and will show one each day.  This is my first one:

I decided it would be nice to step out of my comfort zone and use some different colours. I had planned to only do one triangle and stamp above it but I cut the angle wrongly and ended up with 2, so tried them like this and thought it looked pretty good. The paper is from Teresa Collins 'Family Stories' 6x6 pad. 

I actually had a disaster when I was doing the stamping. When I stamped it had funny black lines over the letters. Turned out it had fluff all over the stamp and it took ages to get it all off. So I had to keep stamping to make sure it was clean again. You should see the back of this card........

Will share another card tomorrow. Just catching up with the kids now and will hopefully go for swim later. As much as I love spending time with my Mum, its always nice to be back at home.

Take care
Shona
 
 

My Mum's 74th Birthday

Its my Mum's birthday today and we are going around to her house for a family dinner tonight. The idea was for us to take around the meal/dessert/birthday cake but my Mum had other ideas. She is now retired and so bored, she said that she will do it all, no arguements! Doesn't quite seem right for someone to cook on their own birthday but I'm going to spend the weekend with her so will make it up somehow.

I decided to make her card last night using the beautiful peacock paper. Once again, I wanted the paper to be the star:

 My Mum is very much like me, doesn't like anything too flowery or frilly, so kept it simple. I used the reverse side of the paper underneath. It still has the pearl shimmer and has this gorgeous green ombre shading. Can't live without my enamel dots so still had some matching shades.

The kids has made some fantastic pictures for her and I bought her a whole lot of CD's of music from the fifties and sixties. Since being on her own she is listening to alot more music so hopefully she will get alot of enjoyment from these.

I'm not back home till Sunday night but I'm taking ALL of my craft gear with me, so will surely have some cards to share on Monday. 

Enjoy your weekend!!
Shona

Beautiful pattern paper

On Friday my husband and I took the kids and his visiting mother-in-law to Nelson for the day. Was fantastic to have a look around and we even went to Tahuna Beach. The water was so warm it was like being in Fiji!! 

On the way home I managed to get a few minutes to pop into Spotlight to have a look at their craft section. That's where I spotted a beautiful sheet of scrapbook paper by Bella! At Last Paperz (which I had never heard of before). Its called Wild Thing and has the most beautiful pearl-like shimmer to it, I couldn't resist buying a few sheets.

I sat down with it yesterday to make a card. I didn't want to put anything over the pattern, so this is what I came up with:

Have had this peachy coloured washi tape for months and never used it. It matched perfectly! Also found I had peachy coloured enamel dots, so this paper was definitely meant to be in my hands.

I really love how it turned out and even the kids think its beautiful. Will see if I can sneak in some more craft time today. Rather hard being the holidays but can use the excuse that I need to make a birthday card for my Mum (Nana) for Friday, so wish me luck!!

Take care
Shona

 

A little inspiration.....

Every morning I look forward to sitting down and reading all the blog posts from amazing crafters. They have such wonderful ideas and know SO MUCH!!! 

On Friday I received a blog post from Jennifer McGuire titled 'Video: Striped Die Cutting. It was amazing and showed her cutting up strips of cardstock, placing them on another piece of card and then die cutting.

This is what she comes up with and then she makes this one:

This is made with the left-over parts of her die cut. I thought this was absolutely amazing but with it being nearly midnight I decided to not try the strips of paper technique but to use some striped paper. This is what I came up with:

Yes, out came the 'hello' die again but I also used a rectangle die that fit just nicely around the word. Then with the left overs I made this card:

The paper I used was from an American Crafts 'My Girl' 6x6 pad. I was really pleased with how they both come out. I will never be as good as Jennifer but its so wonderful to learn from someone with so much experience, and how I can think outside the square for my designs.

Thank you Jennifer McGuire!!!!!

Shona
 

My first card for 2014!!

Finally I built up enough courage to attempt my first card for this year. Its pretty simple but I love the pop of pink amongst all the white. You will be getting sick of my 'hello' die as much as I am, I'm sure. Have my eye on a Paper Smooches 'Love' die and MFT 'Thank you' die. Will be so nice to have something else to use and the 'Love' die will be so handy for Valentines Day.

Have actually made 3 other cards so will post them over next few days. I want to try and post at least 2 - 3 times a week this year. If it proves to be more of a chore than a joy I will cut down but hopefully it inspires me to try new designs.

Very hot here today, not a 'stay inside and craft' kind of day like they are having in the US at the moment. The poor things!!

Take care and if your in the US I hope you have plenty of warm cuddles at your home!!

Shona

Happy New Year for 2014!!

Good grief, where has the time gone???? I can't believe my last post was on the 20th December? A belated Happy New Year to you all and hope you had a wonderful Christmas and exciting new year celebrations.

We had a very quiet Christmas at home with very happy children. They loved all their presents and we spent the day doing Lego and eating chocolates. The weather hasn't been all that wonderful here but have made the most of the sunny days at the beach, park, riverbanks etc. The kids are halfway through their school holidays and Dave goes back to work on the 13th January. Has been alot of soccer playing and swimming with the kids, mixed in with trying to paint our 100yr old house!!

So, its been VERY quiet on the craft front as with everyone home I just don't get a chance to do any. Have finally got all my craft products on the dining room table again but realise I've actually lost a bit of confidence with my card making after not doing it for a while. Just need to get back in the saddle and have decided to try a few online challenges as well, so watch this space!

The one thing I wanted to mention was my christmas present from my mother-in-law. I got my hands on a We R Memory Keepers Trim and Score Board. It is absolutely brilliant and love that its so sharp. 

I absolutely love that it opens out to fit a 12 x 12 page and that I can trim and score at the same time.

I must say though that the one thing I have had trouble with is that there is no guide to match up my pencil mark with. I usually mark lightly at the edge of a page where I want to cut. Once the clear cover is down there is no arrow/line that I can match my mark up to, to show where the blade will cut. I have worked out now to match it up with the cutting groove but its still not 100% accurate. That is a little disappointing but after working it out I'm very happy with it and have such 'fuzz free' cuts on my cards. No more fuzz trimming for me!!

Have decided that since its 11pm its too late to craft now, so am about to watch a horror movie (probably eat some potato chips.....) and then go off to bed. I love that there is no rush each morning and the kids quite often sleep in, so we are very slow and relaxed at the start of our holiday days.

Will try and do some creating tomorrow and let you know what I've come up with. And got a surprise today, someone commented on a previous post about  my xmas present tags!!! I got such a shock, I didn't think anyone read my blog. 

Take Care
Shona