Well have I had some fun this afternoon – I sure have. A new set of stamps, Penny Black, “Jazzy Cats”.
Here are the first cutie-pie cellists :
I used some note-cards which I have had stashed away for several years. Time to use them and today’s stamped images fitted them perfectly I think. They are from “Amuse”. Who remembers them? I picked them up when visiting Vancouver, I was so excited to find them.
The patterned papers are from an old paper pad by My Mind’s Eye “Gertie”.
Just some simple water-colouring using Distress Inks.
I’ll show you some other musicians tomorrow hopefully.
Bye for now,
Lorraine
We had a lovely day last Thursday when we visited the Tulip Farm in Fern Tree Gully which is to the north east of Melbourne. The day was fine but overcast so I wasn’t sure how the photos would turn out but as it happens they are more than okay.
On the way to the farm you pass through Sherbrooke Forest, part of the Dandenong Ranges. This area has attractive landscapes of tall Mountain Ash, Stringy bark, etc and tree ferns.
Once you reach the Tulip farm this is what amazes you –
Hope you enjoyed the photos as much as we enjoyed the tulips.
Bye for now,
Lorraine
Had fun yesterday with some of my crafty friends. Some couldn’t come along because they have caught the dreaded lurgy (poor things) and others are off OS (lucky things).
Here are some of the things we made. We also made, or in my case half finished a frame. I will show you that when finished.
The first 2 are fairly self explanatory but I will explain a little about the 2nd two.
We used Shimmer Sheetz, clear double sided adhesive sheets, Jewelry Dies all from Elizabeth Craft Designs. We also used various embossing folders. If you follow this link you will find the instructions from Elizabeth Craft Designs.
Have fun,
Today I would like to show you some of the boxes I have been making.
The teabag gift holder was produced by one of our crafty group. I have finished mine now and love the result. Thanks so much Alane.
Hope you enjoyed today’s photos. I haven’t written about them but if you would like more information just let me know.
Bye for now,
Hi all, Today I would like to show you some of my crafty friends at our latest craft day (which was a few weeks ago now). We were making some great “family tree” scrabble frames thanks to Ann. A few friends weren’t able to make it on the day, which was a shame because we had fun.
On the same day we also made the following three cards.
Less than 2 weeks until our next craft day so I should get started making the kits. I’m a bit of a procrastinator. I start well (with good intentions) by making the prototypes for our projects but I can always find reasons for putting off making the kits 🙂 Luckily each month 1 of the other women make 1 project so at least 1 will get finished. 😆
Bye for now,
Hi all. Today I’d like to show you my recent attempt at Jelly Roses.
These are very rough and I would make a few changes if I make them again with my grandchildren. For a start I would be more exact with the width of each rose (as you can see these are all over the place). To look more like roses I’d try tapering each strip.
I filled the empty spaces on the plate with grapes. At this time of the year red grapes were the only type available where I shop. Green grapes would look much nicer I think.
Here is the quick recipe –
- 1 pkt Jelly crystals
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1 cup white mini marshmallows.
Stir together Jelly crystals and hot water until dissolved. It might take quite a lot of stirring and you might even need to pop the bowl in the microwave for 20 or 30 seconds to help it to dissolve. Once dissolved stir in the marshmallows until dissolved into the jelly (you might need the microwave’s help again). Set in a well greased slice tray for 1 hour or more. I cut these into 2.5 cm strips but I think next time I would taper them down from 2.5 cm to about 1 cm so when rolled they look more like roses.
They taste a lot like soft jubes. I used sugarless jelly crystals but you could use either I guess. Be ready for a very sweet assault on your taste buds 🙂
I had some fun with these.
Bye for now,
Today I have another of the cards we made at our latest craft day. There was a bit of frustration caused by the tiny triangles but overall I think everyone liked the card.
You can see that we went all out with embossing, both pressure and heat embossing.
We cut little 2 x 2 cm squares (4 x tan, 4 x patterned, 8 x cream). Four of each are cut diagonally from corner to corner. The remaining 4 x cream are left whole.
Once the star is glued together on a 8 x 8 cm piece of card it is run through a Cuttlebug (or similar) in an embossing folder.
This piece is matted on a dark 9 x 9 cm piece of card and then adhered towards the top of a card base. The sentiment was heat embossed with black embossing powder.
Wouldn’t this be a great card for a quilting friend.
Bye for now,
Each month a group of friends get together to enjoy a bit of crafty time. This is one of the cards we made this month.
The background, frame and sentiment stamps are all from old stamp 
sets from Waltzingmouse Stamps, which unfortunately is no longer in business. I’m fairly sure that there were 3 sets in these Art Deco themed stamps. I have 2 but I would love the third, but no chance anymore. Some great sentiment stamps come with it, all in the Roaring 20’s style – great fun.
Everything stamped on the card was heat embossed either in silver or black and that gave it a lovely glossy look.
Will show you another tomorrow.
Bye for now,
Here is the card I made for my son’s birthday which is today. Happy Birthday son.
You might be wondering why the pizza theme. Well he has a terrific wood fired pizza oven in their outdoor area and it gets a lot of use. The pizzas are delicious (I have tasted one or two) 🙂
The stamp is from Sugar Pea Designs (cute hey) and is called “Pizza my heart”.
Have a great day.
I don’t think I have to say anything to explain today’s photos – the pictures say it all – awe-inspiring ……
Thanks for stopping by,
Hi all, I’m back from my wonderful holiday in China. We were lucky enough to see some truly iconic Chinese buildings and sites.
These photos show part of the Xi’an City Wall.
Xi’an was originally a walled city, and even today the wall divides the city. The city wall is enormous. The South and North Gates are the 2 main entrances to the inner city. The wall was erected in the 14th century Ming Dynasty. A moat runs around the walls. There is a huge drawbridge. The wall, after its enlargement in the Ming Dynasty, stands 12 metres high, 12–14 metres wide across the top, 15–18 metres thick at bottom, and 13.7 kilometres in length. There is a tower every 120 meters. The towers were built to allow soldiers to see enemies trying to climb the wall. The distance between the towers is within the range of arrows fired from either side. This allowed soldiers to protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy.
I will catch up another day but for now I should continue with the unpacking.
Driving around Ballarat today the street scenes were fabulous. The trees are really showing off this year in their crimsons and golds.
They aren’t natives but extraordinary at this time of the year.
I love summer and usually feel a bit sad when autumn arrives because I know what comes next but I’m trying hard to appreciate the beauty of the season.
Bye for now,
I’m back today with a birthday card. Hope you enjoy it, I certainly did.
I made it for a male relative. I hope he thought it was funny. Someone suggested that the fish looked like it had breasts …. NO…… just taking in a lot of air into his cheeks ready to blow out so many candles. Does it look like that???
- Firstly I stamped the cake with candles onto white water-colour paper and onto a post-it note.
- Then I cut out the image on the post-it note and covered the cake on the water-colour paper.
- Next I water-coloured the background in rough lines and spritzed it with water.
- Removed the post-it note and coloured the cake and candles.
- Stamped the bubbles and covered the larger ones with glossy accents.
- Stamped the sentiment.
- Stamped the fish onto Express it card and coloured “him” with Copics. Put glossy accents on his eyes to try and make them “pop” with the effort of blowing out the candles.
- Cut “him”out and attach to the card using foam tape. (I wanted to add a “wobbler” but I couldn’t find them – I’ve put them somewhere safe apparently).
The stamp is by Art Impressions DEEP BREATH BIRTHDAY. The bubbles are by Deep Red WATER DROPLETS.
Well that’s it for today. Bye for now,
Today’s card is for the March challenge over at Scrapbook Boutique. The challenge is to create a project using the mood board as your inspiration and it is another beautiful board. I took inspiration from the neutral colours with a touch of teal, bird nest and eggs.
I used a stamp from Penny Black “Sweetest Sound”. I also used a matching die to cut out the birds and parts of the branch after it was stamped. I added colour to the stamp using Distress Markers then I sprayed it very lightly with water. I stamped onto watercolour paper and held it on the paper for a little longer than usual to allow the wet ink to soak into the paper. I added extra colour where needed by scribbling the markers onto an acrylic block and then added the colour to the image using a water pen.
Once I had die cut the birds I added slim foam tape to the back of the panel and slightly thicker foam tape to the birds so they stand out just a little.
I used the same method of colouring the background by scribbling distress markers onto an acrylic block and using a water pen adding some light aqua around the edges and yellow around the birds.
The final steps were to add some cream pearls and sequins and stamp the sentiment in Rick Cocoa Memento Ink.
Why not hop over to have a look at the challenge here.
Bye for now,
I think most of us find it difficult to make cards for men, I know I do anyway. Well this month my crafty friends made “male” cards and they weren’t difficult. I’ll show you –
A little bit of distress ink blended onto water colour paper (Mustard Seed, Chipped Sapphire and Salty Ocean) then stamps with black ink. Some of my friends used train and sailing ship images and they looked great.
This is where I came across the original idea – Click here
Next was simply die-cut or punched circles in various colours and sizes. I just changed the colours for men from this idea – Click here
Finally this cute idea from – Click here I think this is my favourite card.
No frills or shine anywhere on these cards but the effect is perfect for males I think. What do you think?
Bye for now,
Cards & Co
Cards & Co 