And another one

Birthday that is. And here's the card I made which was inspired by one of Danielle Flanders' recent posts:

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Happy 50th

I have two friends turning the big 5-0 this month so had to come up with some suitable cards.  This is a pocket card using a glassine bag:

The tag inside pulls out to reveal a message:

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Soft pastels

And one more shabby chic Songbird card, if you can bear it. I'll add a sentiment when I've decided who to send it to.

Supplies Other - rose trim

Still in a shabby mood

Here are a couple more cards from my 'crafternoon' in Christchurch. I've managed to make about 20 cards in all from my Songbird kit, so I think that was quite good going!

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Peace, hope, joy

Now that advent has begun, the colour purple features a lot in our church. After I sat looking at a purple alter cloth and vestments last Sunday I was inspired to break out the glitter and create this set of cards:

Wishing you all these things this Christmas season!


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Other - sewing machine, Prima lace

Brownies in a jar

I've decided to give some mixes for gifts this year so have been trying out a variety of recipes. Here's a 'brownies in a jar' mix that I'm taking as a gift to a friend - the recipe is below. Yum yum!

 Layer the following into the jar:

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup plain flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup chocolate chips/chunks/buttons

Cover lid with fabric or paper, bind with twine and tie on a tag with the following directions:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.

Line an 9 x 18cm baking tin with baking paper.

Empty contents of jar into mixing bowl, mix in 3 lightly beaten eggs and 3/4 cup melted butter.

Spread into baking tray and bake for 20-30 minutes until toothpick comes out mostly clean.

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Shabby chic

I had several pieces of patterned paper left over from a Prima Songbird kit I bought recently so managed to make several more cards at a 'crafternoon' I recently attended with a friend in Christchurch. The 'crafternoons' are the brainchild of her friend Myriam. They're held once a month at a local church and everyone just brings along some craft things they're working on. I precut pieces of paper, sheets of tags and took along coordinating stickers, ribbon and buttons. Amazing how quickly cards come together when you do that!  Here are a couple of them:

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Hello

I bought a Bigz frame die a while ago but have only just tried it out. It cuts a variety of frame sizes that can be used to make a great interactive card. Love the effect and great that it's so easy to mail as well!

 Supplies Other - Kaisercraft Christmas paper; Bigz Peekaboo Frames die

Going dotty

I have a few of PTI's pattern packs in different colours. They've been quite a versatile addition to my supplies. Several different patterns in each PTI colour. Definitely a quite way to add colour and texture to projects. Here's a card set using the large polka dot pattern from four of my favourite colours - raspberry fizz, fine linen, summer sunrise and aqua mist.

Supplies Other - sewing machine

Gift card

I've just bought a Pandora gift card for as a Christmas gift for a friend. Here's some quick and easy packaging I made using an svg file and some double sided paper. Add a bow, bell and tag and it's done!

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Tweet talk

Can't believe it's already December. Not long til Christmas now. And how about a stack of birds? The colours are more spring than summer, but here's hoping for a long hot summer (which is what they're forecasting). Now doubt the weather will be nicest just when we head back to work!

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Other - rose trim

Enjoy this moment

Here is another shabby card made with my Songbird supplies. Great sentiment really - how often I forget to enjoy the present and keep wishing my life away for some event in the future. That's why I enjoy crafts like cardmaking - helps me to slow down and just focus on one small thing at a time.

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Other - sewing machine

Shabby chic

I was channeling Melissa Phillips for this card. Bought a Prima Songbird card kit from Frost It Pink so give the 'shabby' look a go. Not sure that it's my natural style, but it's been fun for a change!

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Other - sewing machine, rose trim

Country heart

Here is some more Simple Stories paper from the Harvest Line. Love the 'primitive' country look this gives. I pulled out the crystal effects to turn the heart into a shiny embellishment. No sentiment yet - sometimes it's useful to have a blank card or to be ableto add the right sentiment for the occasion when you're ready to send it out!

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Other - sewing machine

All stars

In the paper that is. Another card lickety split and a great way to use up some patterned paper.

 
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Happy happy

Here's a card which features the Persnickety collection from Lily Bee Designs. Great name isn't it? Lots of paper and hardly any stamping - easy peasy!

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Simple hello

I recently bought some Simple Stories paper - this is the Harvest line. Love the colours and patterns in the 6 x 6 pad.  Thought I'd try and achieve some depth without too much bulk to make it easy to mail and love how all the layers work together.

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Other - sewing machine

Just a note

Here's an easy way to use up some patterned paper.I made several of these cards in one sitting and they came together super fast. Hope you're having a great day :)

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Birthday packaging

I'm trying to be a bit more creative when it comes to packaging options. A few weeks ago, I posted an autumn birthday card which I sent to my friend Pattie in Texas (hi Pattie!)  I put together some matching packaging with patterned paper and die cut leaves made using PTI's leaf prints dies:

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Elegant thanks

Rather fancied the idea of gold and dark red together. Here's some more paper from the Haven collection at work, together with PTI's scarlet jewel ribbon. The flower is made from strips of a gorgeous gold fabric embroidered with silver threads.

My neighbour used to work for a fashion designer many years ago and gave me a box of the most beautiful fabric scraps - almost a pity to use them on card projects!

Supplies Other - Zva adhesive pearls, sewing machine

Ginger dude

Came across this cute patterned paper in my stash. Can't even remember where I got it or who the manufacturer is but I thought it would look cute combined with some other patterns. Got out the sewing machine for this one. Gingerbread anyone?

 Supplies Other - paper from stash, sewing machine

Hello friend

Some days crafting seems like hard work but I had a really productive weekend where everything just seemed to come together and I added several cards to my stash. For this card I used one of PTI's Edgers dies - a fun way to add a decorative edge to a card:

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Other - Prima rose

Christmas packaging

I'm giving a few gift vouchers and cash gifts to teens this year, so wanted to find a way of packaging those. I've gone for a pouch shape which will hold the gift and also double as a tag. Here are a couple of examples using some Stampin Up products for a change. I just bought some new Christmas paper and a set with a collection of images which will be perfect for tags and small cards.  The stamps have matching framelits dies which are very easy to use - just line them up around the stamped image:

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Other - sewing machine, SU Good Cheer and  Festival of Prints patterned paper, Scentsational Season stamps and Holiday Collection framelits

Patchwork card

Trying to mix it up and try out some different card designs. Don't think I've used this layout for a while.  I didn't want to use a square card base as they can be more expensive to post, so it took a bit of trial and error to work out what size rectangles I needed to cut.  The cheery coloured papers are a mixture of PTI and DCWV:

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Nine weeks til Christmas...

And I've just about finished most of my preparations. I've made a few calendars to give as gifts this year.  Great way to use up patterned paper!  I have a perpetual calendar generator that works with Photoshop Elements and that's what I used to create the mini calendar blocks. Nice thing is it produces calendars in a variety of languages, so I was able to make this calendar for one of my German speaking cousins in Vienna:

And this one for a local friend:

Supplies Other - SU patterned paper,  cd calendar cases

Banner birthday

Time for another birthday card.  I cut the banner flags using my cricut and some free svg files.  That's the last of Webster's Pages Hollywood collection.  Love the idea of lots of different paper packs, but I do get sick of them quite quickly. Maybe the trick is to look for single sheets with patterns that aren't too large for card making and only buy a few at a time!

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Marathon and MIM #88

Hope your Sunday is going well.  I spent mine completing my first marathon - woo hoo! A time of 4hrs 31 which was just 30 seconds off my goal time. Pretty pleased that I finished and enjoyed most of it.  The last few kilometres were hard work, but it was awesome to have so many from the running group either participating or supporting on the course. Next year my goal is to do the NY marathon - can't wait!

Since I was resting up yesterday in preparation for the big day, I managed to make a card for this week's Make it Monday over at PTI. The challenge was to use both positive and negative die cuts on a project. Here's one which features Beautiful Butterflies. Love that set!

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Random

Not random thoughts but the Random collection from Crate Paper.  Love the mix of colours and patterns in this pack and they're nearly all gone!  A few birthdays at the end of the year and in January, so I'm getting ahead with my preparation.

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Elegant rose

I'm trying to use up my vast hoard supply of patterned paper. Here are some pieces from Jenni Bowlin's Haven collection. Finally got a chance to use some of my Pinefeather (dark green) ribbon from PTI. I love most shades of green but just find it a bit dark for most things, except perhaps the traditional red/green Christmas colour scheme.And here it looks almost black!

 Supplies Other - tulle, Prima paper rose, sewing machine

Last of the Christmas tags

At least I think it is! Another set of 3 tags, this time using PTI's Star of Wonder and the frame from the Round and Round anniversary set. Because of the shape of the frame, I decided to go with a horizontal tag - cut with my cricut. I put a layer of crystal effects on the focal images to make everything a bit 'sparkly'. Really pleased with how these turned out.

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Quick Christmas tags

Trying to get most of my Christmas prep done well ahead of time as I need to send a few parcels overseas. Realised I needed some more tags, so here is a set of three I whipped up. The set I've used is PTI's Love Lives Here: Holiday.  Love the 'homespun' charm.  I cut the base of the tag from cardstock and glued 2 layers together to make sure it's nice and strong:

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Framed hello

Funny how I go through stages in using or not using stamps and other supplies.  Here is a quick cheerful card I made with PTI's Fabulous Frames.  Love this versatile set and can't wait to use it again!

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Take 2 - dogwood

A while ago I bought the dogwood stamp from Hero Arts. Love it and pulled it out recently to make a couple of cards.  The one on the left is a birthday card for my Aunt who is a keen gardener. Thought she'd like the look of this soft colour palate.  For the background, I used Heather's Make it Monday technique of stamping on an impressed background. But in this case, I stamped on the embossed dots:

The second card is for a friend who is going through a bit of a difficult time at the moment. I cased this card from Maile Belles and love how it turned out.


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Other - Stampin Up ribbon, black buttons

Sunshine

Now that summer is on the way, it's time to pull out the Hello Sunshine set from PTI. Love the different options for stamping sun rays - more cards like this to come I'm sure. Here's a simple card that's easy to pop in the mail:

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Hello

I like my circle flip-it die so much, I was tempted by another one in my LSS. It was on sale too, so bagged a bit of a bargain. This is the fancy label flip die - love the shape and can't wait to make some more!

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Wreathed in smiles

I saw this fabulous wreath which Melissa Phillips made and decided I needed one of my own to brighten up my craft room.  I managed to find a heart shaped wreath and some burlap ribbon and here's what I came up with:

And here's a close up of the leaf embellishments:

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Autumn birthday

It's spring here (finally) but a number of friends in the Northern Hemisphere are celebrating autumn birthdays so I was looking for ideas for suitable cards.  I thought the colours in this pattern paper could work well - love those earth tones and the sunflowers. Here's a simple birthday card with a sort of harvest feel.

The sentiment frame is stamped with Amuse Latte, my new favourite colour!

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Packaging

I'm always looking for interesting packaging ideas.  Must admit I usually put cards into envelopes, but this time I decided to dress up a birthday card in a glassine bag instead. I quite like the idea because you can catch glimpses of the card through the packaging:

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And another

Masculine card that is.  I need a few more for my stash - a few birthdays and other occasions coming up in the next few months.

Most of the images in PTI's 2012 Birthday Tag set are a bit more feminine, but I thought this striped shape could work quite well for a masculine card background. Quick and easy to mail to boot. Just what I needed!

 
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Masculine card

I need a few masculine cards for my stash. I always find these a bit of a struggle (anyone else feel the same?) and realised I have so many flowers and other 'pretty' stamps, but not that many that are useful for masculine cards.  However, here is one which features one of my fave Tim Holtz sets, Bitty Grunge. I'm quite pleased with how this turned out (suitable understated?) and will send it to my Godson in London for his next birthday in November.

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More Christmas tags

I'm on a roll with Christmas tags so decided I might as well keep going. These are shaker tags. I got the idea from Cristina Kowalczyk who had a great tutorial on her blog. You can check it out here (scroll down a bit).

Supplies Other - Kaistercraft patterned paper

Happy 50th

A friend from my running group has just celebrated her 50th birthday. A few of us went out for dinner. Ginene didn't want any gifts - perfect opportunity to bring out a handmade card instead.

I CASEd this amazing card by Danielle Flanders.  Happy birthday, Ginene!

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