I Got Yummy Candy!!!!!

I left a comment on Gabby's blog http://confessionsofastamper.blogspot.com/ the other day for a chance of winning some Blog Candy. And what do you know the Random number generator picked my number. I was so excited and have been watching my mailbox ever since. Well Saturday was my lucky day, my package arrived. I was over the moon, Ecstatic, jumping for joy, etc. Gabby has great taste and is an awesome crafter. I can't wait to play with all my goodies. She even sent me a handmade post-it note holder made using coasters. It's awesome, it even holds a little pen......MINE!!! LOL, sorry got a little carried away there. She put the tutorial on her blog so when we went out for lunch on Sunday I grabbed a few of coasters and fully intend on trying it when I get the chance. Here are a couple of pictures of my awesome stuff. Thankyou Gabby, Love Ya!!!!!

Paper Bag Card

Firstly apologies for being a absent this week. We came back from our trip and I came down with a cold. I haven't felt like crafting until today so there wasn't anything to tell you guys about. We had so much fun at Moody Gardens though. I wrote all about it in my other blog. Your welcome to go check it out if you like. You can get to it via the link on the right that says Gorillamama (family).

So onto this card. It was my turn for swap choices again and I was feeling like doing something a little different so I picked this. I have made Paper Bag Cards once before but it was some time ago and I have had an urge to try them again. For this one I decided to christen my Pick a Petal SU set. I have a few in my cupboard that just don't see ink straight away. I am working on remedying that.

All you need for your card base is a paper lunch sack folded in half. When folded in half the paper bag measures 5.5 x 5.5 inches so it's kinda just like making a square card. I make sure that the opening is to the back of the card so that you have the option to use it when the card is finished for either photo's, a letter, newspaper articles (my mom sends me these alot, she likes to keep me up to date with stuff back in Wales or just interesting things she sees) or even a packet of seeds for someone with a green thumb.

My color choices for this card were Green Galore, Rose Red and Tempting Turquoise. For my back green piece I used a tear edge, normally I would do it myself but I wanted to make sure the torn edge was as straight as a torn edge could be. It was approx 5 x 5 inches once torn. The stamped white piece's measure 4.5 x 4.5 inches and the turquoise is 4 x 4 inches. I added a stripped ribbon from Jo-Ann's which seemed to match the rose color pretty well. Then I stamped and cut out all my petals there are 10 in total. I stuck half of them down and then placed the other half with dimensionals so they pop up at you a little. You still need to add just a little adhesive to the middle point of the petal or your center will not stay put.

I stamped the center and punched it out with a 1 inch circle punch. I punched out a 1 1/4 in the turquoise to go behind it. I then punched 2 little holes to feed my hemp cord through both the circles and the clear button. By doing this I saved having to stick the button to it and the possibility of you being able to see what adhesive I may have used. Also when I tied the hemp I put the tiniest amount of liquid glue on the knot so it ensures it will not come undone. I then stuck it to the almost finished card with sticky strip. The front was finished. Inside I repeated the white and turquoise card on both sides inside both for the purpose of writing on it but also to hide the bulky base of the paper bag which is on the left hand side.

The inspiration for this card came from a square card I spotted on Splitcoast Stampers here it is:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/852171?cat=10364

Thanks for coming by to take a look.

Froggy Friend

I managed to squeeze this card in just before we went away for the weekend. I did not have time to blog it till now. Which is kind of a good thing as it is for a friend and has a good chance of getting there before she sees it on here. She's has a big love of frogs therefore I had to make her a froggy card.

I used Garden Green and Green Galore cardstock. I used Unfrogettable stamp set. I stamped a few images of one of the frogs and trimmed them down in various directions till I had 4 pieces that measured 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches. I got the little frog hole punch I think for a dollar from Michael's. I punched out 5 of them along the bottom of the card and then stuck the cut-outs onto another piece of garden green that I also mounted the images onto. I wrapped some organza ribbon around the green galore piece and then put it all together. It was a fairly quick card to make. I hope she likes it.

A little Asian Something

Well I'm gonna be off the craft and blog radar this weekend as we will be celebrating my son's Birthday with a little family time. So I thought I would leave you with a little inspiration before I go. I have been tinkering with this card for a couple of days and finally have it where I am happy with it. It is for a swap on Joani's MSN Group 'Cards Made By Hand'. I had the Stamps out on my desk, good to go. The main image is from Stamp Magick, they have a store on Ebay and have some really nice Asian stamps. I even had a sheet of DP with Asian words on it. I wasn't sure quite what I wanted to do with it though. I decided to try a different fold when someone on the group suggested it as a possible swap idea. Here is my Gate fold 'Asian Swap'.

The card base is a lovely espresso color from Archivers. It is they're own brand and is textured. The DP is matted on Black cardstock as is the main image. I wrapped gold cord around the 2 panels either side and attached the main image to the left side. Then using Staz-on black ink I stamped the coin (All Night Media) onto shiny gold paper. I punched it out and backed it with a punched out piece of cardstock to make it firmer. I then used a dimensional to attach it to the right side of the card in just the right place so that it helps hold the card closed.

I will be back after the Easter Weekend. I hope everyone has a Happy Easter. Don't eat to much candy.

Post-It Note Covers

Ok this is just a quick one. It's my son's birthday today and I have to pop out to take cupcakes to his classroom. I got the cutest cupcakes ever they are shaped like chicks. He got to hatch some for real last year in school and has been chick crazy ever since and with it being almost Easter too. They're perfect. Here's a look, aren't they cute.

Anyways onto crafty things. I made these yesterday. They're for a swap on one of the groups I'm in. I am very happy with how they turned out. I was inspired by the actual post-it notes themselves for this one. Baroque Motifs was the perfect set for this. I used my new Blue Bayou Cardstock, Ink and Ribbon. I also used a lighter blue card to contrast and white to make it stand out a little. I also put the initial of the person on it to personalise it. I followed a tutorial from here http://emilygiovanni.com/?p=67 It is well explained and easy to follow. Thanks for looking.

Finished Easter Wonders

As promised here are my finished Easter cards. That one sheet of DP made 11 cards in total with very little going to waste. This is 1 and 2 from the sheet on the previous post.

I used pastel colors as the eggs seemed to be mostly light in color and bold colors would not have looked right. This is 3 and 4.

My card bases were all a pastel green and I alternated between pink, purple and blue with my accent colors. This is 5 and 6.

Embellishments were either yellow ribbon or chicks from a multi sticker pack I got from Archivers. On card 2 the flowers are from Target I got a packet of over 100 reduced to sell to 68 cents. This is 7 and 8.

I hope you like them all. I know they are a little basic but that is all I had time for. I hope to have more time on my hands the next time I try this. This is 9, 10 and 11.

Thanks for looking.

One Sheet Wonder

I'm in the middle of making my Easter cards. That's why I've been a little quiet this week. That and the fact the kids have been home all week on Spring break. Anyway thought I would drop in and let you guys know what it is that I have been doing. I'm gonna post all the cards in the next post once I'm finished with all of them but here's a look at the basic idea behind it.

For my Easter cards this year I decided to cheat a little and do a one sheet wonder. I've had people ask me what this is and basically you use one sheet of either Designer Paper or of stamped cardstock that you have designed yourself and cut it up into multiple shaped pieces and with one sheet you can get about 10 to 12 cards from that. Here's a picture of my cute eggy DP and another of the reverse side showing how I plan to cut it up. This is for a 12 x 12 sheet although you can also do 11 x 8.5 if you are using cardstock. You can find templates on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ I found mine there in the gallery under One Sheet Wonders.

I am a procrastinator and always leave things to the last possible minute so these things are awesome when you have a lot to do in a short amount of time. This sheet makes 11 cards in total I will put them on the blog tomorrow when I will hopefully be finished. So far I am on card 6 of 11. See you soon and thanks for popping by to look.

Joani's Blog Candy

My friend Joani is having a Blog Candy over on her blog http://joaniscardsmadebyhand.blogspot.com/ You have to make a card following the sketch and rules she has put up for us to follow and enter to try and win some goodies. I couldn't resist having a go. This is my attempt at her sketch.

I used lovely lilac, gable green and pixie pink cardstock. One of my favorite sets at the moment is Garden whimsy. I used this and small script. Inks used are pixie pink and lovely lilac. The pretty DP is from Jo-Ann's I didn't catch the brand as it looks like that was the piece I used on my card, sorry. The ribbon is $1 also from Jo-Ann's. The flower embellishment is from a packet my mom sent me from a shop in Wales called Lakeland. They have a website http://www.lakeland.co.uk/category.aspx/crafts although I'm not sure if they deliver internationally or not.

Birthday Boy!

Update on the Jigsaw. It's finished and glued. Looks awesome. Right now it is sitting in the middle of the coffee table in the living room. Looks kinda cool there. We are gonna either leave it there or maybe frame it not sure yet. Took us a week to do. Not bad for 1000 pieces.

Saturday we went to the rodeo so no card making. It was awesome though. I so love the Rodeo. It's the best part of being back in Texas. Sunday however I was able to make this card. It is for my son who will be 9 years old in a week. He loves dinosaurs and space and sea creatures so I dragged out my silly sealife set and made him a card with an octopus on it.

The card is square, 5 x 5 inches in fact. Not a card shape I generally make. Especially as the post office charge extra for it being a different shape. But seen as I don't have to mail this one I thought I would give it a try. His favorite colors are orange and blue so they are the main colors and I added a little green. I cuttlebugged the orange because of the shape I had to do it a couple of times but it lined up pretty well and you almost can't see the join. I think he's gonna love it.

Knickers......

.....and Bra's. LOL. Sounds funny to have that as the heading for a card but that is exactly what it is. I joined a swap hosted by Gabby on SCS. To make cards that look like Bra's and Panties. I joined both swaps as you really can't have one without the other. I don't usually make shaped cards but these were just too darn cute to resist. I spent most of yesterday and today on these. Main reason being I had to make a six of each and they were a little time consuming due to the ribbon embellishments.

I used creamy caramel cardstock on both the bra's and the pants as this cardstock seemed to be the most skin colored I had. I found the DP at Archivers. I had searched everywhere for a paper that would just jump out at me and scream "wouldn't I make a great Bikini' and this one did just that. I spotted the pom pom ribbon there too and took all they had left of it and thank goodness it was just enough. I found the pink check ribbon at Jo-Ann's again the colors seemed to go together really well. For some reason my printer printed out the template a little small so I had to enlarge it a little. But these ladies still fit in an invitation envelope.

The swap called for a tattoo of some sort on the panties so I found a real cute clear stamp from studio G which fit perfectly in the center of her back. You have to imagine you are looking at her back for the bottom and her front for the top. I am just thrilled with how these turned out. I hope my fellow swappers like them just as much as I do. Thanks for looking.

Faux Silk

Jigsaw update - we are more than half way there. It is really starting to look cool. I can't wait to finish it, I think I might modge podge it when it's done. It's a pretty cool picture. Anyway onto card making and time to try a new technique. Gabby put this one forward as a swap on her MSN group (Handmade Cards With Love). I have never tried this technique before and was eager to have a go.

The card stock I used was Always Artichoke, Lovely Lilac and Black. I used the SU set Natural Beauty. Tools used were Scallop and 1 1/4 & 1 3/8 circle punches. Not forgetting my paper piercer and Marvy markers. Here is a link to the tutorial http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/faux_silk/

Flower Card & ATC

Boy it feels good to be back in my craft room. Time to catch up on swaps. This one is for a swap in Joani's MSN group - Cards Made By Hand. I have been a member now for almost 2 years. Her group was a lifeline for me when we moved to California and even though we are now back in Texas I am very grateful for her friendship and the friendship of others I have made via the group. Next Monday I will have been on the group 2 years. Might be time to celebrate.LOL.

Anyway back to the card. I went looking on SCS for ideas and this is a case of a card I found on there. I used the Stampin Up sets True Friend and warmest regards. For the swap I had to make a matching ATC. I am not a fan of ATC's but don't mind doing the occasional one as part of a swap. The Cardstock used was Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou and Groovy Guava. The ink colors were Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou and Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi The flower on the card is the same size as the ATC the only difference is the added layer of flower in Blue Bayou with the Rhinestone sticker. Other tools used were paper piercer, white gel pen and distressing tool. Here's the link for the card I cased: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/765679?cat=11096

Happy St.David's Day & Mother's Day

Sorry I've been a little quiet this week. We have a house full of the flu. My Daughter, My Son and Myself. Not to mention my husband with tonsillitis. So due to not wanting to pass my or anyone else's germs around to the people who get my cards I have been staying out of my craft room. This has been very hard like chopping off your hands hard. To try and take my mind off it I started doing a Jigsaw. But even that was driving me loopy. Paul and Jake have started to help. It's amazing the lure a jigsaw puzzle has. I'll let you know if we finish it





Anyway I thought I would pop on and let you know how things are going. Also to wish everyone a Happy St.David's Day for yesterday and a UK Happy Mother's Day for today. I spoke to my Mum today as she is back in Wales. I get melancholy at times like this as I do miss them so.





I am starting to feel a little better and so is the rest of the family slowly so hopefully I should be back and posting cards before you know it.