Easter Basket Tutorial

Easter Basket Tutorial

Tea Light Card

Tutorial here

Pearls & Lace

Morning all and welcome to the latest challenge over at Ooh La La - chosen by Avril and it's

Pearls & Lace

A lovely feminine theme and perfect for the decoration of the card I made to celebrate my son's, girlfriend's 21st!

So, in a change from the norm, I did not use an Ooh La La image, instead I used a family photo then co-ordinated it with papers off 2 Ooh La La CD's. ( The Shawn Jenkins Collection and The Paula Oakley Collection to be precise available here.)

I love making cards using old photos, but it can often be the hardest bit getting papers to match, that's why it was so handy having so many CD's to hand.

My card also encorporates lots of die cuts for the embellishments and obviously the compulsary pearls and lace.  Then to finish off the birthday set, I made a little gift bag to hold a Nomination charm.(Tutorial Link Here)

So that was my take, the DT ladies have some beauties on the main blog page so do check them out too.

Challenges;
Crafty Girls Creations - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Anything Goes
Fab n Funky - Die cuts and/or punches - die cuts
Papertake - Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Creative Craft Cottage - Challenge 51 - Anything Goes
The Ribbon Girls - Nov - Anything Goes - with lace

...and just for completeness, here is a photo of the birthday girl at her 21st party;

Decoupage Tips

Now I am by no means an expert on working from a CD or doing decoupage, so before making my GD card for Ooh La La, I asked around a bit and looked things up.

Here are just a few of the things I found useful;

When printing images from a CD don't use too thick or absorbant a card to make cutting out easier and to save on ink.

Once your images are printed, cut then out with big scissors trying to cut whole sides in one cut (- you get a straighter edge when not doing lots of  little clips.)

When cutting out layers make sure non of the white surrounding card is visible on the cut image as it spoils the end image on the card.

Layers can be stuck together with a silicone glue or pads. I used Docrafts Stick- It glue and 1mm foam pads
- if you use deeper pads your card ends up very fat - I learned that!

Finally, you don't have to use all the layers printed if you don't want - again cards can end up too fat or too busy!

That's all I can think of  for now, but feel free to add more tips as comments and I'll add them to my post.

Jx

Box Card

This must be a first - me doing the latest crafty trend item!  Normally these projects come and go and pass me by, but not this time!

Welcome everyone to the latest challenge over at Diva's by Design, which is

Anything Goes

and we are sponsored by Bunny Zoe Crafts this week so there is a fab prize up for grabs.

But first, back to my project - a box card made after my blogging friend Ann insisted I have a go as they were so easy! (It was the last bit that swayed it for me!)

And here is my little work of art!

So Ann, the instructions you sent me were perfect, the box was easy to put together and there were only 2 things I didn't like.

No 1 - I don't have stamps and dies that work together, so all my flowers were hand cut which took a while & worse than that, it meant the hoover had to come out as I made a mess with paper clippings!

No 2 - was fair delighted with my floral arrangement till I tried flattening it and puting it in an envelope... my creation is a bit wide so the secateurs will have to come out!

So for those of you who haven't yet had a go at one of these, I urge you to do so - here are Ann's basic instructions which are simple to follow,

Score an A4 card in landscape at 7, 14, 21 & 28 cm.
Turn to portrait and score at 7 & 15 cm.
Cut off at 15cm and use this bit to make 2 inside supports approx 2cm deep for inside the box.  These should be 7cm wide + a 1cm scored tab at either end so they can be glued in place.
Next, cut the 4 shorter scores (7cm) so the crease line to create the box flaps and glue together.

I know this sounds a bit complex, but honest it's not.  Once you start working with the card and visulise the finished product the folds and cuts make sense.

Challenges;
Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes
Stampin With The Dragon - Flowers
A Little Bit Crafty - Flower Power
4 Krafty Girlz - Anything Goes
Charisma Cardz - May Flowers
Crafty Little Fairies - In the garden
Creative Knockouts - Lots of Layers
Top Tip Tuesday - Here comes Summer

Finally, I just want to thank my fellow Diva's for having me on the design team this last year.  I've loved working with you all and am sure our paths will cross in the future.

Training Update
Well folks, I hang my head in shame, the schedule has gone to pot, there has been no exercise for days as I have a horrid cold and cough.  I'm breathless just going about the house so to try and run would be pointless. Hopefully training will resume before the week is out!

Bugaboo "Brave" - Party Planner

...And now for something completely different! (No hats in sight!)

To close my Guest Designer spot at Bugaboo, I was asked to write a tutorial for them.  Something I have never done, and something made even harder by the number of  turorials already on their blog.  Check them out, as they cover a huge variety of topics and are well worth a visit.

Anyway, what I decided to do was to prepare a party pack for a childs birthday using Bugaboo images, and it just so happens it was my nieces 8th birthday this month, so this is what I did;

We live in Scotland, and my niece just loves the Disney/Pixar film Brave, so we went with a Scottish theme - and as luck would have it, Merida in Brave looks like Brat Sitter - Curly Hair Girl over in Bugaboo, once coloured!

Obviously you can choose any theme your child likes as there are loads more characters and animals available at Bugaboo - and you can always adapt things to suit as I did.

Above I've shown you one of each of the items, but obviously they were mass produced.

Party Invites
Select your Bugaboo image and paste it into word, resize it then copy it three times onto an A4 sheet.  Have the column of images on the RHS.  On a second sheet type out your party invite details and this time align on the left of the page in triplicate.

Print the images first, then flip the card and re-feed it into your printer to allow the text to be printed on the rear.

*Do a test run first so you get the printing in the righ place before you start your mass production!

Finally score the card in the middle, fold and cut the A4 sheet into 3 small cards, of approx 9.9cm height.

It's then up to you whether you colour the invites or you send them out un-coloured for the guests to do themselves.  This image is Brat, Diabetic Kid - available here.  This was meant to represent my niece in school uniform - she approved!

Bookmarks
One of the activities we decided on at the party was for the girls to colour a "Merida" book mark.  So, using my fish-tail dies, the base of the book-mark was assembled and a ribbon and name tag affixed.  Enough Bugaboo Brat Sitters were then printed and cut out ready for the girls to colour & stick on.

Party Bag Tags
Again using dies, (Nestie circles and scalloped circles,) Brat Sitter was cut out and given a scalloped trim and a tartan ribbon all ready for the girls to colour then be attached to their party bag for home.  Nothing to complicated here, but another party idea.

Thank-You Notelets
Finally a set of thank you notelets was printed with blank insides so that thank-you's could be sent post party. These also carried a Bugaboo image - this time I went with Thank You Flower.  The beauty of digi's is that you can mass print using a printer.  I would have been ages inking and stamping if I'd chosen a rubber stamp but as I went digi, my card fronts appeared in under a minute.

The image was specifically selected with a border - so no need to mount.  Minimal colouring was needed - good for mass production and glitter & glaze were added to brighten the cards.

And these are they,

Other party items for this Scottish/Brave themed party included;
Bear Paw Cakes;Highland Coo Cupcakes; Tartan bean bags; Wisps; and tartan hair slides.  Depending on your theme and the age of children involved, you would taylor your party to suit your own needs.

Made using rectangles of tartan material and filled with red lentils.

Made with ribbon gathered in a chain and fixed to a hair clip.

Made with a ribbon sewn into a circle shape and attached to clip.

Blue bags filled with treats and hung about the garden like wisps.

Highland Coo Cupcakes

Bear Paws

Finally party games included the usual pass the parcel and corners along with a dressing up game and the tossing of the caber!

Obviously the adults had to show the girls what to do!

If you have any questions on any of the above, just email me and I'll try to help, Jx   (scazcat@gmail.com)

Challenges;
Brown Sugar - Anything Goes
Craftitude - Anything Goes
Get Inky - Diecuts
Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Anything Goes
Whimsy Inspiration - Anything Goes
Wordart Wednesday - Anything Goes

Oldies Play Bingo

Don't know if I'll have caught up on myself by today - should have and we should have finished decorating the new flat.  In case things haven't gone to plan I'm scheduling this!

So it's a new challenge over at An Oldie But A Goodie, and Francesca has given us a Bingo grid to play with. (It's on the main blog and at the end of my post.)  Just select any line and tell us which you used.

Bingo

(Please also remember to use an item older that 6 months on your project and to tell us what it is.)

So for my card this time around I made an anniversary card using an old Penny Black stamp which I love.  I then made die cut flowers, punched leaves and a doily border and finally added pearls to my flower centres.

Sponsoring us this time is the fabulous Robyn's Fetish who are very kindly offering our winner some digi's of their choice.

Now as this was a bulky card & I didn't want to squash it,  so I followed Bev's Tutorial here, on how to make a card box.  Thanks Bev, it was quick and easy to do with your great instructions.

Challenges;
Come and Get It - Fall colour challenge - golden brown
Polkadoodles - More than 1 fold - Easel
Crafty Little Fairies - Autumn colours - Gold
Crafters Cafe - Die cuts & punches - die cut flowers, doily punched borders.
Creative Belli - Ribbons & pearls (CBC179)
I Love Promarkers - make your own flowers - with dies?
Penny's Paper Crafty - Easel card
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

2nd Oct
Delighted to see my card as a random winner at Penny's Challenges and even more delighted to receive a $6 spend in Little Miss Muffet stamps as my prize.

Optical Illusion

Just a quick post tonight with a flower I made earlier on as we have been out all day with my sis and her two girls.  Still freezing here, but hey it's still the holidays so you just got to get on with it, wrap up warm and have fun!

This is another card made using a hand made flower following the tutorial below.

http://www.maketime2craft.com/2013/03/jute-loopy-flower-tutorial.html

As I said last time, I really love these flowers so be prepared to see them in many colours & sizes in the coming weeks!

As for my card, well I made it primarily for the CAS-ual Friday Challenge as they wanted, of all things chevrons & flowers!  So, I've told you about the flower, now the chevron ribbon.  I liked it on the reel in the shop, but have never used it since I bought it cause it kinda makes me dizzy when I look at it as a strip - is that just me or do you guys feel it too?  As for the optical illusion, well don't you think the ribbon gets narrower moving left to right?  I can assure you it doesn't - I even measured it with a ruler, then checked it by laying one end on the other, but it sure looks like it on the card, hence I'm just not sure if I like this card or not?

Anyway it was the only chevron crafty bit I had so on it had to go!

Challenges;
CAS-ual Fri - Chevrons & Flowers
Southern Girls - Make like a zebra - zebra stripes!
Bunny Zoe Crafts - Favourite Colour combo - black & white
Catered Crop - Use twine - black twine flower
Glitter n Sparkle - Buttons
Hobby Cutz - CAS
The Ribbon Girls- Flowers
Annabelle Stamps - Liquorice & White
Addicted to Stamps & More - CAS
Crafting For All Seasons - Floral Delight

13th Apr
Glitter & Sparkle winner - prize Jellypark Digi's - thanks guys, Jx

21st Apr
Placed in the Top 3 at Hobby Cutz challenge for this CAS card - well pleased!