Megan's Thankyou Cards

These were super quick to make. Megan wanted to help so she got to pick which princess would be our theme. I then stamped her out a bunch of them so she could color them in. I made them more of a postcard than a card to save on cardstock. Martha Stewart punched the edges of the yellow and stuck it all together. I also printed off labels for the back so all she had to write was who, what and her name. She was very excited when they were finished. I have never seen her write thank you cards so fast.

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Oh and I almost forgot to show you what else we did the other day. Megan had to make a this is me poster for school. They were supposed to make it into a shape and she chose a shoe. This is how it turned out. Lots of jewels and sparkles to show off Megan's character and help her teacher learn all about her.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Flight Of Fancy

Been busy in the garage lately. Trying to sort out all the boxes of stuff we have accumilated. Making good progress. Have been to Goodwill twice in the last 2 days so getting there slowly. obviously no crafting as I have been too tired by the end of the day. Fear not though as I did manage to make something over the weekend, for a swap over on Joani's group.

I found the most beautiful stamp set I have ever seen. I love it. It's called Mindscapes and it's a clear stamp set by Inkadinkadoo. There are hidden images inside each of the images. The one I chose for this card is the butterfly. If you look closely you can see Fairies, flowers and toadstools. Isn't that cool.

I used Chocolate Chip and Baja Breeze for my colors. I used a new Martha Stewart punch along the edges. I distressed the edges of the blue and the vanilla. With a brown flower and a blue button. My DP is actually another image from the set. I stamped it all over a piece of Baja Breeze in Chocolate Chip. Can you see the butterflies in the flower. Did I mention I love this set? I took a picture to show you the other images.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Sewing Project #2 (Purse)

It was my friend Lucy's Birthday this week. Tuesday in fact so I have no cards to show you as I have been busy with a surprise for her. She makes the most beautiful things over on her blog and I wanted to show her that I do more with my sewing machine than just have it around gathering dust.

This idea came to me when my son wore through the knees of his jeans. I cut off the legs to make them into shorts. I am one of those people that cannot throw away anything and I had an idea pop into my head as to what I could co with the left over legs, hole in the knee and all.

First thing I did was sew the bottom closed. I folded over the top so that the inside part where the hole was is on the outside. I had picked up a fabric quart from Jo-Ann's in Lucy's favorite color (purple). I measured and cut how much I would need for lining the purse and cut the rest into strips leaving just enough for a pocket on the front. I sewed the strips together into a long length and then folded it so the inside was on the outside and sewed it along the length. Once I had turned it right side out I had my strap which I then attached to my bag.

The pocket on the front was next, then the lining. The lining was not co-operating with me when I tryed to attach it with my sewing machine so I sat down and watched some TV while hand sewing it into the pouch. I bought a magnetic snap to hold the bag closed. That and the stitches for the handles are all hidden under the fold over at the top. I got Megan to pose with it for me and she liked it so much I now have to make her one only in pink.

I finally found some mojo and made a card today so will post that soon. Hopefully my mojo will hang around for a while as I have a lot to catch up on. BTW I was grinning from ear to ear when Lucy told me how much she liked it. I'm so glad it turned out so well. Thanks for looking.

Hugs

Nic

Sarah's Cards Part 2

Here are the rest of the cards from my friend Sarah's card class. I have been working on some sewing so no other cards to show you yet and my sewing project has to stay a secret till my friend Lucy gets it in the mail. That reminds me I have to go to the post office to mail it. In the meantime here for you viewing pleasure are the cards I made with Sarah's second kit.

Card One

Card Two

Card Three

Card Four

I hope these give you lots of inspiration. As before Splitcoast was probably a source and therefore worth a look too... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ the gallery is awesome for ideas when you have a lull in mojo.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

New Home Congratulations

Gosh I'm a bad blogger lately. Sorry about that. Just can't seem to get back in the swing of things since being back. I did set myself a task at the weekend and got it finished too so here is what I have been working on. It is a New Home card for our friends Chase and Amy. They just bought their first home so it's very exciting.

The image is made up of numerous stamps from a Stampendous set I bought before we went away. These fish are so cute I could not resist them. I then water colored the images. My water coloring is not that good. Sometimes that works in my favor other times not so much. LOL. I cut a slit at the top and bottom of the bowl and then cut a piece of acetate the same shape as the bowl and threaded it through top and bottom to give the glass bowl effect. By threading it through I was able to tape it in place and not have it show through the acetate.

Cardstock is Pacific Point, Baja Breeze and Tangerine Tango. The tangerine I put through my cuttlebug. The sentiment is from TAC. I stepped out of my comfort zone just a little to make a square card which I don't normally do but the image needed a larger card.

My kids are back in school already infact this is week 2. Here are some pictures of them in front of the school also my daughter celebrated her 7th birthday and hubby and I celebrated 12 years of wedded bliss, so as you can see I have been busy... just not in my craft room. Thanks for coming by.

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Sarah's Cards Part 1

Hello there, I'm in the middle of working on a project here but it's not quite finished so I thought I would tide you over with a few of the cards my friend Sarah gave me to put together as one of her class kits. I managed to squeeze making these in before we went to the UK. She gets a lot of her idea's from Splitcoast Stampers so if they look familiar they may have been cased.

card one

card two

card three

card four

card five

We're Back Home

Hello friends, I'm sorry for my absence. I had hoped to do a little more blogging while we were away but time and circumstance were just not on my side. Hubby had to work from the hotel room while we were in Wales and therefore our internet connection was prioritised for him and I had to grab it here and there when I could. In the end it was just easier to leave it till we got back.

So here I am back in the comfort of my craft room. My kids went back to school today but I haven't gotten to craft just yet. I feel a little weird it has been so long. Hopefully my mojo won't hide for long. In the meantime I thought I would show you a card I managed to get made before we left. It was for a swap on my friend Joani's group Cards Made By Hand. The theme was Farmyard so I inked up my new Rachelle Anne Miller sheep stamp.

Cardstock is espresso and old olive, The DP is Heidi Grace and I used my cuttlebug. Pretty simple card but stands out thanks to dimensionals.

For the kids I'm sure the trip was the best holiday ever as they got to spend lots of time with their grandparents and I got to catch up with old friends which was really cool. The ultimate treat was a day at Legoland Windsor which was loads of fun. They weren't kidding when they said almost everything is made of Lego. It was a great day.

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There will be plenty more pictures from Legoland on the family blog when I get around to getting that up to date too. I wrote most everything down in a notebook to remind me what happened so I could write it up later.

ATC Swap + London Visit

Sorry about the long gap between posts. With Paul using our Internet connection for work getting online to work on my blogs has been a little difficult. Any way here are a couple of pictures of some ATC's I made for a couple of swaps on Joani's Cards Made By Hand group. The link is in my side bar.

The topics were ocean and flying. I used my ever faithful SU set fishy friends for my ocean ones and I bought a new punch that cuts out sandcastles and buckets which I thought would make a cute seaside look.

The flying ones were made using a beautiful TAC set that I got from Joani (she's a demo, If you like TAC sets pop on over to her blog - also on my side bar). I embossed these ones. I also used some favorite old in-color cardstock.

Here is a pic or 2 from our trip to London. We went down for our visa appointment but managed to catch an awesome show the night before while we were there.

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We were lucky enough to catch the leading man Oliver Tompsett coming out the stage door as we were leaving. That was too good an opportunity to miss.

Birthday Cat Card

Here's a card I made to bring with me on the trip. Our little old Poppet is 13 years old this month. We lost here brother Bodie earlier this year and I am so glad that we are able to actually be here in the UK with her on her special day.

Cardstock is baja breeze, pacific point and tangerine tango all from the last in-color selection. I'm trying to use them up. The stamp set is from SU called The Cat's Meow. Ribbon is also Pacific point. I gave in and bought a couple of Martha Stewart punches and used it down the edge of the cuttlebugged cardstock. I then put 4 shiny stickers down the edge.

Not forgetting my promise of pictures from our trip here's a picture of us crossing the border from England into Wales. I'll have more as I upload them off my camera.

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Thanks for dropping by

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Hugs

Nic

Christmas Cards

Sneaking in one more post before we head off to the airport. I managed to get these babies finished yesterday amongst all the fuss. This is July's Christmas challenge from Tracy's blog http://tracyshappyplace.blogspot.com/

This was a tough one for me this time. Again with the 5 cards all with the same image but this time there was no layers. Boy I have been running all sorts of ideas through my head. I finally settled on this one.

I used a cuttlebug folder called bow frame that my lovely friend Lucy gave me for my birthday. coupled with SU shimmer cardstock and SU flower for all season stamp set. The sentiment is from creative cafe and gold heat embossed. I really like how they turned out hope you do too.

I have a couple of things I have been holding on to and not posted yet that will keep things going a little while I am away but I will post pics of home for you all too. Right off to finish packing.

Thanks for dropping by

Hugs
Nic

Birthday Owl

Here's a card I made for this weeks Courtney's Closet Challenge over on my friend Libby's blog http://stampinlibby.blogspot.com/2009/07/from-courtneys-closet-50-inspiration.html I just loved her little shirt this week and even though I am supposed to be packing I just had to play along. If you need a closer look at the shirt you can click on Libby's picture of her and it comes up nice and big if mine doesn't.

This is another of the punch creations I learned how to make from the classes I took with Heather http://www.stampwithheather.typepad.com/ I switched out the colors to suit the challenge. I used chocolate chip, lovely lilac and purely pomegranate. The owl stamps used are Hero Arts and the sentiment is from my ever useful sincere salutations from SU.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Mojo Anniversary Card

This week I finally found some inspiration. It came in the shape of the sketch over at Mojo Monday. I have been wanting to join in for some time but this is the first time I actually pulled my finger out and did it. I used wild wasabi as my card base. Then regal rose with a pretty DP from the blossoms and butterflies stack from DCWV. The yellow is more mustard. Not sure on the ink front. They have slipped my mind. I masked the image which is from a really pretty set from Inkadinkadoo.

I had a lovely surprise come this week in the shape of a sewing book that my friend Lucy sent me. She is awesome, I don't think there is anything she cannot sew. She is inspiring me more and more to sit at my sewing machine and try stuff myself and this book is her sewing bible. It covers everything. I have been so excited reading it. So I will be sewing in the not so distant future. After a visit to the UK that is. We have to head over there to sort out visa woes and will be taking full advantage of the chance to see family and friends. Things may be a little quiet on the crafting front but I will try and pop in with some pictures of Wales for you to see where it is that I come from originally.

I picked up a couple of card kits recently from my friend Sarah so if I can grab some quiet time and actually get off facebook for a while I should have something crafty to show you before we go heading off over the ocean.

Thanks for dropping by

Hugs

Nic

Baby Box And Bag

Here I am back as promised. I had 2 gifts to make for the new additions to the Junction Point family so I made one into a box. I followed the instructions for the onesies box on Heather's latest online class Simply Babies http://www.stampwithheather.typepad.com/ but didn't cut the window out. The base card is a lighter green I got free from Archivers as I don't have a lot of 12 x 12 card only designer paper which I used for the lid.

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I made the other by altering a bag. I kept all my colors the same as I used for the card. Close to cocoa, pink pirouette and wild wasabi. Large heart and scallop edge punches were used. Mega circle and giga scallop circle were also used.

Here's a picture of the card with the bag.

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Thanks for looking

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Hugs

Nic

New Baby Card

More baby's are arriving at Paul's office. Last weekend we had 2 new arrivals both girls. So I decided to make cards for them. It helps me to take my mind off things that are going on at home that are beyond my control and I'm pleased with the finished thing.

I cheated a lot though as I followed one of the punch creations from Heathers classes 'simply punches' (http://www.stampwithheather.typepad.com/ ). Due to all the stress at home my mojo has been a little lost so I followed the card exactly there's no differences or twists that I thought of along the way. It's a total case.

Color scheme is close to cocoa, pink pirouette and I used wild wasabi as I did not have the green she used. All SU punches were used for this card. I love to buy baby clothes so I may make a little gift bag/box to go with the cards.

Sewing Success

I finally followed through and did some what I call proper sewing. The cushions I make are nice easy straight lines so do not take much effort or stress to do. However Megan's pleads for me to make her a dress were a little more daunting. But they have finally been answered.

It happened over a few days one step at a time. It was no easy task to do but the finished thing is not to bad. I definitely have the confidence now to try again.

Just want to let you know that I will be a little light on crafty stuff here for a while fate has dealt us a curve ball and I am not sure when I will get around to making stuff for a while. I may try though as it helps to take my mind off things and I sure need that right now. I will try and drop by and let you know how things are doing from time to time where possible though.

Thanks for coming by.

Hugs

Nic

Using Top-Note Scraps

Here as promised is my post to show you what I did with the scraps from my last project.

Recently two very dear friends of mine (Sonya and Gabby) have lost loved ones and I wanted to let them know that I was thinking of them in their time of sorrow. I recently got the 'thoughts and prayers' set from SU. It is such a beautiful set. I chose to use last years in-colors as those were my favorites and I have a lot of it as I bought extra before they went away.

The colors are river rock, blue bayou and soft sky. I cuttlebugged the background and sponged the top-note. The top-note and tree are mounted on dimensionals and I used the new scallop oval punch with my oval punch for the sentiment. Sympathy cards are always the hardest cards for me to make due to the heartache attached to the reason I am making them. My friends are always in my prayers.

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Thanks for looking

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Hugs

Nic

Belated Happy 4th July

I'm really sorry. I know this is a little late. I actually had planned to post this Friday but hubby had the day off (Yay! 3 day weekend) and needless to say it slipped my mind till now. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend though. We got to see some awesome fireworks Saturday night.

I found this stamp in the clearance corner at Hobby Lobby a little while ago and immediately thought of making this card. Main card base and big note are river rock. All the other colors are pretty self explanatory. Wednesday I will show you what I made with my leftover river rock card. I hate to get rid of the smallest piece of cardstock sometimes. Just in case I think of something to do with it. LOL

Birthday Anya

I have had a nasty headache type thing going on the last week and a half so my card production has slowed down. Doctor can't decide if it's a tension headache or a sinus infection so I am currently on medication for both. I just hope it clears up soon as I am having trouble sleeping which in turn is draining my energy levels. Plus the kids are around all the time which is hard when you don't have the energy to do anything with them.

I gave in and got these young ladies a short while ago. This is my first chance to use them though. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do when I started but this is what I ended up with.

I followed CC221 on splitcoast stampers. Cardstock is Kiwi Kiss, Red Riding Hood, Tangerine Tango. DP is from the spring stack. Embellishment is Mark Richards and the sentiment - I'm not sure (blame it on lack of sleep).

Thanks for looking.