Thursday, November 14, 2013

MIM #140 ink pad designs

Haven't taken part in a Papertrey MIM for a while, but Ashley's challenge to use ink pads direct to paper to make a background sounded like fun. You can check out the challenge here.

I'm visiting with my friend Pattie in Texas, so both of us decided to make a couple of projects. Here's the card I came up with:

Anne's card

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper -  stamper's select white, purple and white from stash
Stamps - Through the Trees
Ink - Memento 
Accessories - foam tape

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Altered muffin tin

I got the idea for a Christmas muffin tin from Melissa Phillips. A bit like an advent tin, or countdown to Christmas, although with this mini muffin tin, there are obviously only 12 holes.

Fun to decorate something other than cards and to make something which I hope can be put out for a number of years to come.

I spray painted the tin and decorated it using Melissa Frances paper, Kaisercraft stickers and doodads, My Mind's Eye brads, Echo Park stickers, mini tinsel pipe cleaners, mini jingle bells and holly leaves, a Melissa Frances tree, vintage sequins and buttons and Martha Stewart tinsel glitter.

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And a couple of close-ups:

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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Garden delights

Not much time for crafting at the moment as I'm trying to get the house and garden organised for going away. So I thought I'd show you some of my roses which are starting to come into bloom.

I have several rose beds - four with cottage and old fashioned roses and one with a mix of hybrid tea and floribunda bushes. Not sure what most of them are called as they were planted by previous owners of the property, but the colours and scents are lovely. Spring is definitely a beautiful time of year!

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This is a damask rose with an amazing perfume

A cottage style rose bush which is just covered in pink blooms in the summer: P1030162_new


This is a self-sown banksia rose (no thorns!)
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 A pink floribunda 


 And a new rose I bought this year - a hydrid tea called Paul Gauguin - love the stripes!P1030159_new

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Another cupcake

I've got into the habit of making two cards in different colours whenever I can. Takes me so long to come up with design ideas that I need to maximise the outcome of the creative process! Here's another cupcake card which I'll pop into the stash for when it's needed:

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Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted) 
Paper - kraft; Fancy Pants Hopscotch PP; doily
Stamps - Beautiful Butterflies
Ink - Versafine onyx black; tea dye duo
Accessories - cupcake svg file; cabbage rose ribbon; Prima flower; Stickles; sewing machine

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Butterfly

Really scraping the bottom of the barrel now to find some cards I haven't posted yet (haven't had much time for crafting recently!)

This is one I made months ago with some layered frame dies. Great for mailing because it's pretty flat, but the 'Peekaboo' frame opens

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To reveal the sentiment

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Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - stamper's select white, kraft, raspberry fizz, aqua mist pattern pack
Stamps - Beautiful Butterflies, Framed Out 11
Ink - Versafine onyx black; Amuse
Accessories - Framed Out die, rustic cream button twine; SU Peekaboo Frames Bigz die

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Masculine birthday

My Godson has his 16th birthday next month. Always short of 'boys' cards in my stash, so I whipped up this one for the occasion. It features Tim Holtz's Bitty Grunge set - perfect for masculine cards!  I'm sending Jonathan a cheque so he can buys something for himself.

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 Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - kraft, enchanted evening
Stamps - Birthday Bash Sentiments; Tim Holtz Bitty Grunge
Ink - Amuse

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

In praise of cats

I recently sent this card to a friend in Christchurch. She also has a tabby (called Webster) so I thought she'd appreciate the 'lookalike'. The cat sticker is from Melissa Frances.

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Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - rustic cream; Fancy Pants patterned paper,
Ink - Tea dye duo
Accessories - Melissa Frances sticker; cabbage rose ribbon; sewing machine; SU lace trim

Thursday, October 03, 2013

Time for birthday cards

A few birthdays coming up in the next couple of months, so have been working on some more cards. Here's one I made for the daughter of friends. She's into baking in a big way, so will hopefully appreciate the cupcake :)

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Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - kraft; Fancy Pants Hopscotch PP; doily
Stamps - Beautiful Butterflies
Ink - Versafine onyx black; tea dye duo
Accessories - cupcake svg file; cabbage rose ribbon; Prima flower; Stickles; sewing machine

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

More knitting

I've been doing a bit more knitting for my niece who is due any day now. This is a cardigan to go with a little purple outfit I bought. The wool is an alpaca merino mix and is super soft - perfect for babies.

I'll be working on some summer things next :)

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Thursday, September 26, 2013

PTI September Blog Hop Challenge

Yes, it's time for another PTI Blog Hop. This month's theme is wreaths and since I was in a home decor mood, I decided to decorate a wreath to match the Christmas tree I just finished.

So here is the wreath which also uses elements from the tree - muslin and vintage lace, a rolled zipper rose and Harvest Berry leaves. Can't wait to use both these elements in a few months time!

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And here's a closeup of my die cut letters:

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Supplies

Paper - Bella glitter paper
Accessories - Polystyrene wreath; muslin; vintage lace; Melissa Frances zipper ribbon; Maya Road trinket pins; Prima Flowers; satin ribbon; PTI Harvest Berry dies; PTI buttons; Cricut; glue gun

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Oh Christmas tree

I was inspired by this post from Melissa Phillips to create my own 3D Christmas tree and here's what I came up with:

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The tree is sitting on a papier mache box which I decorated with patterned paper, glitter and buttons:

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I made flowers out of zipper ribbon and also used vintage buttons and glitter leaves:

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A wired ribbon was used to tie to the double bow on top:

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Supplies 
Paper - Bella glitter paper; Melissa Frances patterned paper
Accessories - Polystyrene tree; papier mache box; muslin; vintage lace; Melissa Frances zipper ribbon; Maya Road trinket pins; Prima Flowers; satin ribbon; Kaisercraft pearl brads; PTI Harvest Berry dies; PTI buttons; Cricut; glue gun

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Jellicle cats

I came across these cat stickers from Melissa Frances and thought they'd be perfect for any cat lover like my Aunt. This one features stitching as well. I'm using my sewing machine a lot more now that I have it set out in my craft room and don't have to keep packing it away!

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Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - rustic cream; prima and other paper from stash
Ink - Tea dye duo
Accessories - cabbage rose ribbon; Melissa Frances sticker; sewing machine

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Tweet talk

Oops, not much time for crafting just now so I had to dig through photos to find something to post. Here's a little card I made a while back to send to my Aunt who's really fond of birds. It's a cute set from Market Street Stamps - pity they're not around any longer.

This one's perfect for paper piecing.

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Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - Stamper's select white, aqua mist, sweet blush pattern pack, fine linen pattern pack; other from stash
Stamps - MSS Cheap talk
Ink - Versafine onyx black
Accessories - washi tape, sewing machine

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Yet more....

Christmas cards - if you can bear them. Just about finished my cards for this year, then a few tags will wrap things up. Can't get enough of Tremendous Treats so they feature here again:

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Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - Kraft, rustic cream, sweet blush, aqua mist; SU patterned paper
Stamps - Tremendous Treats: Christmas
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black; Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories - Tag Sale Die; circle dies; ribbon; foam tape; sewing machine; colics

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Craft room makeover

I've been wanting to increase work space in my craft room for a while now. Up until now, I've had two computer desks in the room - one for craft and one for laptop and 'office' but there's a lot of wasted space as you can see from these photos:

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I've been looking for tables that could run the length of the wall above which measures 3 metres.   I was even wondering if I'd have to have something made, but the solution was Ikea Linnmon tables which come in a variety of lengths - 2m, 1.5m and 1m. The 2m and 1m combo (60cm wide) fit perfectly. And here's the finished half of the room:

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The best thing about this new arrangement is that I now have a dedicated sewing area where I can leave my machine set up and don't have to keep unpacking and packing it away in the spare room wardrobe!

I also have a much larger desk area which will be perfect when I'm working on my Project Life album for my niece.  I'm still using the smaller computer desk for now, while I figure out what I'd like to do with the other half of the room:

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This is the main storage unit and I'm wondering about replacing it with a large Expedit which would take up most of the wall. Another 1m Linnmon table would replace the computer desk and make an L-shaped work area. Just need to figure out what to do with the printer!

Thursday, September 05, 2013

More Christmas cards

Needed a few more Christmas cards, so decided to break out Tremendous Treats. Colouring the images is very therapeutic!  Here are a few of the examples. My next task is to make some matching tags!

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Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - kraft, sweet blush, pure poppy, hawaiian shores; SU patterned paper; green from stash
Stamps - Tremendous Treats
Ink - Versafine onyx black; Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories - copics; ribbon; circle dies

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Scrapbooking day

Had a great catch up with crafty friends recently. We spent most of Saturday working on Christmas gifts and cards, general scrapbooking and of course lots of chatting, laughing and eating! Great way to spend a Saturday, thanks Heather and Yvonne!


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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Orange muffins

I have so much citrus fruit on my trees at the moment that I've been looking around for lots of suitable recipes. For those of you who like fruit muffins, here's an easy recipe for orange ones.

Here are my ingredients:

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And here's the final product. Super simple to whip up in a food processor:

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Whole Orange Muffins

Ingredients (for 12 regular or 24 mini sized)

1 orange (about 200g)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil

2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method
Heat oven to 210 C.
Cut orange (skin and all) into quarters, then cut into chunky pieces. Process with sugar in a food processor until orange is very finely chopped.
Add egg, milk and oil and process briefly until well combined. 

Measure flour, baking soda and salt into large bowl and mix together thoroughly using a fork.
Tip wet ingredients into dry and fold together but do not mix more than necessary.
Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray and fill with the mixture.

Bake 12-15 mins until muffin tops spring back when pressed lightly and a skewer pushed to the bottom comes out clean with no sticky mixture.

Stand pans for 3-4 mins then lift out muffins.  Freeze muffins not required within 48 hours.

Monday, August 26, 2013

PTI August blog hop

It's a busy weekend what with Papertrey's Stamp-a-faire and the blog hop, so I thought I'd get organised early.

Welcome to this month's challenge which is to whip up a project using a sketch and colour combination that appeals. I went with this combo, mostly because I liked the sketch:


And here's my thank you card which incorporates a twine wreath and stamped flowers as well as a stamped background (realised after I'd chosen how I was going to use my colours that I don't have Hawaiian Shores patterned paper!):

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Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - simply chartreuse, hawaiian shores, rustic cream
Stamps - Ruby Rose, Natural Beauties, Fillable Frames 1, Polka Dot Basics II
Ink - fresh snow; Amuse various colours; Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories - button twine; rhinestone; mini brad; sewing machine

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Stamp-a-Faire - sugar coated embellishments

Another of the Stamp-a-Faire challenges was to create some sweet sugar coated embellishments using glitter. You can check out the details and videos here.

I'd have liked to try out Danielle's striped die cut look, but the only sentiment dies I have are much too fine so I decided to apply glitter to the whole word instead. I layered a piece of cardstock with scor-tape and then ran the two layers through my big shot. And this is the result:

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Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - kraft, rustic cream, sweet blush, pure poppy; green from stash
Stamps - Tremendous Treats
Ink - Memento Tuxedo black
Accessories - wonderful words die, limitless layers dies, ribbon; copics; prisma glitter; foam tape; score-tape

Stamp-a-Faire- tea staining technique

Thought I'd have a go at a couple of projects for PTI's Stamp-a-Faire. The first challenge was to use tea to dye some fabric. You can check out the post and videos here.

All I had on hand was some vintage lace, so I popped that in a bowl with some black tea bags. I also managed to use the tea to stain some card stock. I then inked the edges of the card stock with PTI's tea dye duo. Here's my layered flower tag.  I cut apart the lace to make the leaves:

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Thought I might actually invest in some muslin, so I can use the technique for making some fabric flowers!



Thursday, August 22, 2013

Kiwifruit jam

P1030106_new Can't believe August is here already. For us that means winter and crops like citrus and kiwifruit. I have a kiwifruit vine in my garden and am always on the look for jam and chutney recipes. I do like to just eat them by scooping out the flesh or adding them to a smoothie (try a combo of baby spinach leaves, kiwifruit and banana - yum!) but a while ago I came across a great recipe for microwave jam. It's perfect for small quantities as you just do a jar at a time. (I use pint sized Ball mason jars).


So here are my kiwifruit (yes the old fashioned variety which still come with hair!):

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Peel, slice into quarters and take out the white core which can be a bit hard or stringy, add lemon juice
and orange peel:

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Cook to soften the fruit, then just add sugar and cook again until setting point is reached. And you end up with this:


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Kiwifruit jam

Ingredients
500g kiwifruit (whole fruit, not prepared weight)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
2 cups sugar

Method
Peel kiwifruit, cut lengthways into quarters and remove white core.
Chop finely or mash and put into tall microwave jug with lemon juice and orange peel.
Cook on high for about 6 minutes until fruit is softened.
Add sugar, stir well and cook for another 8-10 minutes until setting point is reached.
Pour into hot jar and seal.

(Makes about 2 cups).

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Festive Friday 15

Looking for some more inspiration for making Christmas cards, I thought I'd take a look at the latest Festive Friday challenge. It's to create a project with a children's theme. You can check out the challenge here.

Thought I'd use one of my favourite sets, PTI's Tremendous Treats: Holiday for this one. And here's what I came up with.

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Might not be very easy to spot, but I gave the doily a dusting of glitter. Here's the close up:

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Supplies (Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted)
Paper - rustic cream, new leaf, sweet blush, new leaf pattern pack; SU patterned paper
Stamps - Tremendous Treats: Holiday, Tiny Tags
Dies - Limitless layers, Tiny Tags
Ink - Versafine onyx black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Amuse; Tea Dye Duo
Accessories - satin ribbon; button twine; paper doily; Copics; Stickles; Doodlebug glitter; spray adhesive; sewing machine

Thursday, August 15, 2013

More Project Life cards

I'm having fun taking a bit of a break from greeting cards and putting some PL embellishments together. Here are a couple more cards I came up with at the weekend:

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The first card uses a cute rose die from Memory Box - the Sonora Rose. The die cuts and embosses a delicate rose which I decided to give a bit more definition by paper piecing.

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This card uses some stamps and dies from Papertrey Ink. It's fun to build up little scenes like this.

Sweet Baby Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - Stamper's select white, berry sorbet, limeade ice, melon berry paper pack, summer sunrise paper pack; My Mind's Eye Sweetest Thing pattered paper
Stamps - Polka Dot Parade 4
Ink - Vintage Tea Dye Duo, Versafine onyx black, Amuse
Accessories - Memory Box Sonora Rose die


Sweet Baby Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - Stamper's select white, berry sorbet, limeade ice, melon berry paper pack, summer sunrise paper pack; Project Life Designer Paper
Stamps - Heart-2-Heart 6, Little Bitty Bird Additions; Market Street Travelscapes
Ink - Vintage Tea Dye Duo, Versafine onyx black, Amuse
Accessories - Little Bitty Bird & Additions dies; sewing machine

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

On yer bike!

Making some more embellishments for Project Life or to use on cards. Here are some bikes using PTI\s Pedal Pusher set. Love the rainbow of colours and how these turned out!

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Supplies
Paper - PTI stamper's select white
Stamps - PTI Pedal Pusher
Ink - Versafine onyx black, Amuse
Accessories - Pedal pusher dies

Thursday, August 08, 2013

Merry Christmas

I've made about 20 Christmas cards but need a few more to add to my stash. Found some SU Christmas paper and whipped up this card - fussy cut two lots of trees which are popped up on foam tape to add some dimension and some rhinestones add a bit of sparkle:

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