Christmas Calendars 2014

Hello....I'm a bit slow getting these blogged!  These are the Christmas 2014 gifts I made for a few of my friends....and a card I didn't blog with the others :)

The calendar is a cut file that was created in collaboration with my friend Bett, from Perth.  Bett made the base file for the stand and then I messed with it some to get it how I wanted.  I'm very good at messing with things lol  The blocks are cut files from the Silhouette store, that go with one of their Christmas calendar files.  The file comes with the mats, fancy shapes and numbers....saved me a LOT of designing work creating them from scratch!

The first calendar was made for my lovely friend Helen....in her favourite colours of course :)

This one was made as a thank you for Bett, for her help with the cut file :)

Last but not least is this one...made for a work colleague

And here's the card......the inspiration for this came from one of my Pinterest finds

The calendars have all been made from SU cardstock and then decorated with various DP.  Old St Nick is a veeeeery old PSX stamp from my original attempt at stamping many moons ago....I was a dismal failure back then lol  Helen's 3D flower is made in SU Cherry Cobbler from a Lettering Delights cut file.  And the I Believe sign is a cut file from the Silhouette store.

Swirly side embellishments are swirly corners from Birds Cards.

I was SOOOO happy with how these turned out.  Maybe I'm not so rusty after all :)  My trusty Maxx made short work of all the cutting and it was lots of fun decorating these calendars.  I'll be making more for sure.  I'm thinking they'd be great for birthdays, mother's day, etc.

Thanks for looking..............have a wonderful day :)

Christmas Cards 2014

Hellooooooooo, I doubt that anyone is still out there but if you are, don't fall off your chair!!  I actually made a few Christmas things the other week so thought I'd put them here before this blog rusts away completely and disintegrates!!

I had visits from two lovely crafty friends last month...Helen & Wendy....and while they were here I was inspired to papercraft!!  Something I haven't done much of for a long time.  I made 36 SU Curvy Keepsake Boxes while Helen was staying....here are the pieces all in a pile...

I made them with DP front & back panels, then made little tree and bauble tags to go on them, stamped with "Joy".  I used my SU Christmas dies from my stash for the tags.

Then I made a curvy box from Kaiser DP and added a panel on the front with a ......wait for it.....coloured image!!!!!!!!!   Yes, I know it's a shock but I had this cute stamped image in my stash (from a retired SU set) and it fitted perfectly in the panel, so I decided to colour it up and stick it on.
Helen blogged it and entered it in Bronwyn's challenge...CASE-ing the Catty.... for me.  I was soooo excited to find that it was chosen as Top Pick Happy Dance :)  Here's the box....

The day Helen left, Wendy arrived.....musical visitors lol  While Wendy was here I made a few Christmas cards.  I didn't make any at all last year :(  So it was good to get at least a few done for this year, so I can send them to the special people in my life :)  Here's what I've made so far......

I just love the little houses and trees that SU have in their holiday catty this year, so had to have both sets, including the dies & tree punch.  I think they will get a lot of use if I can get back into papercrafting on a regular basis.  I also made a little tag/bookmark....not entirely happy with this but the house is still cute :)

This was a CASE from one of Helen's Christmas cards, as was the single house with Santa sleigh card.  The tree card is Helen's design also but instead of all the trees being punched, I chose to stamp & emboss the three background trees and just have two punched & raised trees at the front.  Thank you Helen for letting me CASE copy your designs :)  The step card was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest....I changed it up a bit then added my own twist with the night sky background.

Anyhow, that's it from me for however long.....have a wonderful day and thanks for looking :)

Doll Blog

Hello, hello.....I'm back briefly to let you know that I've started a new blog for the Australian Girl Dolls I'm giving my granddaughters for their birthdays. I'm still having lots of fun sewing and knitting for the dolls....and my paper crafting mojo is still hiding somewhere :(  I wish it would come home, I'm starting to miss playing with paper!

Anyhow....here's the link to the new blog....hope you'll come and say hello sometime :)

JUST JEMS

EDITED TO ADD:  Apparently I forgot to change the privacy setting for the new blog when I posted this last night :(  Thank you for letting me know Carla....it's all fixed now, so the blog is now visible to anyone wanting to see it!  This is the sort of thing that happens when you're messing around at midnight lol

Taking a break.............

Hello everyone....I made a momentous decision the other day to have a break from papercrafting. Yes, shocking I know!  I've had quite a stressful, difficult year so far and am feeling fairly wrung-out. On top of that my mojo has taken a BIG hike and I'm finding it hard to get inspired to make anything. It seems to have gone on an extended holiday :(  I don't need to be forcing myself to make things, so have decided to leave it all alone for a while, in the hope that my mojo will come back and I'll be inspired to create with paper again. I'm finding it very sad to think I might be gone for some time but am trying to be sensible about it!!  I love my blog and will miss my blog buddies. I'll come visit your blogs as I get the chance. You all do amazing things and I love seeing your beautiful creations.

I've stepped down from my design team at The Squirrel & The Fox. The girls there have been brilliant and very understanding. I've thoroughly enjoyed working with them and will miss being on the team. Thank you so much to Linda & Tracey for giving me the opportunity to be on your team.

I'm not sure when I'll be back on here.....could be next week, next month or next year!!  If inspiration hits and I make something, you'll see it here.

For now, I'm happily sewing doll's clothes for my little granddaughters' dolls, that I've bought them for their birthdays this year. I'm so happy to be sewing again as I have hardly touched my beautiful machine since finding papercraft. I'm thinking about starting a new blog, dedicated to the doll sewing. I think my granddaughters would like that :)  If I do that I'll come and post about it on here.

So, for now, 'bye to all my lovely friends and followers. You've enriched my life in ways you can't imagine! Thanks for your friendship and hope to be back soon to say hello.

Hugs
Lynne xx

Make It Crafty Crystal

Hello everyone...the weeks are flying by far too quickly! We have a new challenge for you today at The Squirrel & The Fox. Our theme is Let's Hear it for the Girls.  We're looking forward to seeing all your girly projects this fortnight :)  Our fabulous sponsor for this challenge is Make It Crafty. I've used the lovely Crystal for my project, which is another calendar page.....

I'm so impressed that I'm getting on with this project...last year's effort was a dismal failure as I only managed to get a few pages done. This one should actually end up a whole calendar by the end of the year!

Crystal was printed on to Make It Colour blending card and coloured with Copics....except for her hair which was done with my Prisma pencils :)  She's been fussy cut and popped up on foam dots. I think she's very 70s with her platform shoes lol  I'm showing my age but I used to have a pair like this waaaay back then....cork soles and denim uppers. I couldn't resist colouring Crystal's the same :)

The base is SU Cherry Cobbler, mats are SU Baja Breeze. The DP is digi from Shabby Princess. The calendar panel has been created in My Memories Suite and matted with Baja.  I've just realised I forgot to colour her little hair ties at the bottom of her plaits :(  I'll give them a coat of glitter pen for a little bling!

Go check out the rest of the DT projects, they are all stunning! Links are in the sidebar.

Thanks for looking.......have a wonderful day :)

Betty Ladybug Wagon

Hello everyone....hope you're enjoying your weekend. We have a new challenge starting today at The Squirrel & The Fox. Our theme is Mother's Day. Hope to see you playing along with us for this one.

Our fabulous sponsor for this challenge is Pink Cat Studio and I've used the cute Betty Bug Wagon to make my card.

I've made this for my daughter, from her 3 kidlets...Jake, Kate & Amy. The wording has been computer generated and says "Happy Mother's Day....from your three little bugs" :)  I think this is meant to be a birthday image but I thought it was perfect for the kids to give their mum for Mother's Day.

Miss Betty and her charges have been printed onto X-Press It blending card and coloured with Copics, then highlighted with glitter pens, glimmer mist & SU Crystal Effects. The panel has been cut out with a Nestie die and popped up on foam dots. The wording panel has also been popped up on dots.

The DP is from the Kaiser Bubblegum Hills paper pad....love these papers! Base card is SU Old Olive. The seam binding ribbon is from my stash and was dyed using some SU re-inker.

This card didn't come together easily at all...I think I'm really rusty on the card making...too many calendar pages are to blame lol

Here's a close-up of the cute image:

Aren't those baby ladybugs just too cute :)

Please hop on over to my teamies blogs and check out their amazing projects.....links are in the sidebar.

Thanks for looking.........have a wonderful day :)

Tatty Teddy

Don't faint...I'm back with another post already! I got up this morning and found we were without power :(  We had really strong winds last night, so I'm guessing a pole went down somewhere. It didn't come back on until 3pm!!!  Of course, everything I thought of doing required power lol  So...no work of any kind could be sorted....no internet, no washing machine, no iron, etc :)  It was quite nice really!

So how does a girl fill in her day when she can't use power??  Craft of course!  I had to STAMP an image to colour (no power to the printer for digis). Can't remember the last time I used a real stamp lol...AND...I made a CARD!!  No power to my cutter for 3D stuff. Isn't it amazing how we take the everyday things for granted!!!

Introducing...Tatty Teddy :)

He's a stamp that came as a freebie with a craft magazine aaaaaages ago, and has been waiting patiently in the drawer for me to get motivated to use him. Isn't he cute :) I love all his sticky-out bits...reminds me of our little scruffy dog, Ollie lol

Card base and mats are SU Early Espresso. DP is from a couple of 6" paper pads in my (too large!!) stash.  Mr Ted has been printed (ummm that would be STAMPED!!) onto X-Press It blending card and coloured with Copics. I made the little tag with the SU Jewel Punch & one of the Teeny Tiny sentiment stamps, then attached it with a brad. Edges have been inked with SU Creamy Caramel (retired, boo hoo...love this colour). Buttons are from my stash and have been threaded with SU Early Espresso twine.

Here's a close-up...

I'm entering Mr Ted into the following challenges:

The Outlawz Copic/Promarker Challenge:  Anything Goes  ends 2/5
Crafts 4 Eternity:  Perfect Papers - Use 3 patterned papers  ends 3/5
One Stop Craft:  Buttons & Bows  ends 3/5

Thanks for looking..........have a wonderful day :)

Furry Friends

Hello everyone....our new challenge at The Squirrel & The Fox is Furry Friends. I've made another calendar page and used the very cute Teddy Bea on a swing.

Before I get to the photo and details I'd like to apologise to my lovely blog buddies for not visiting much lately. Things have been a bit hectic and stressful here recently. We're undertaking a major restructure of our business (thanks to the crappy state of the economy!!) and it's been taking its toll on my sanity, not to mention eating into my crafting time in a big way :(  Once things are sorted and we get into our new routine, I'll be back on a regular basis to say hello. I miss browsing all your gorgeous projects.

I was going to get all carried away and make her a branch to hang from, and some grass under her feet, but as it was, I was late posting this on our DT blog :(  So, she's just swinging in the clouds lol

The DP is all digi from Pink Petticoat. I made the calendar panel in MMS then matted it with some CM blue from my ancient stash. The base is SU Whisper White. Miss Teddy Bea has been coloured with Copics and her wings finished with Diamond Stickles. Her little buttons have been glazed with SU Crystal Effects. She was then fussy cut and popped up on foam dots. The button is from my stash and has been threaded with SU Early Espresso twine.

Hope you'll come and join in on our challenge this fortnight. We'd love to see all those cute and cuddly furry creations :)  Please visit my teamies blogs and check out their gorgeous projects....links are all in the sidebar.

Thanks for looking..........have a wonderful day :)

Dancing Queen

Hello everyone....happy Sunday :)  It's time for a new challenge at The Squirrel & The Fox. Our theme this fortnight is Inspired by a Song or Movie. You must note which song or movie in your post when entering the challenge...makes our DT lives a lot easier! I'm hopeless at guessing these things lol

I've made another calendar page....for June this time. I'm saving May for Mother's Day :)  This little lady reminds me of the Abba song "Dancing Queen"

This little lady is Disco Girl from The Paper Shelter...our wonderful sponsors for this challenge. I love their images, they are so cute. And as I keep telling you, I'm a sucker for cute!

Little MIss Dancing Queen has been printed onto X-Press It blending card and coloured with Copics. I've used a lot of glitter pen to highlight. She has very sparkly boots, flowers on her jeans and jewellery. Her amazing disco hair was made using some weird, spiky glitter stuff I found in my stash....worked perfectly for the effect I wanted. Does anyone remember those disco wigs that were around in the 70s??? Yes, I know, I'm really showing my age lol This little miss is very 70s with her platform shoes, flowery jeans and disco wig :) I traced the digi stamp in MTC and cut a black mat for her with my KNK Maxx. The image has been fussy cut by hand. The whole panel has been popped up on foam dots.

The DP is digi from Peppermint Creative.  I made the calendar panel in MMS and matted it with black CS. The base and mat CS are SU Gumball Green & Basic Black.

Here's a CU....I hope you can see the shine and glitter a little in this photo

Please head on over to my teamies blogs and check out their gorgeous creations....links are in my sidebar. Hope to see you playing along with us.

Thanks for looking........have a wonderful day :)

Easter Totes and Owl Box

Today is Easter Sunday here in Aus....the day Easter Bunny visits :)  We are having tea with our DD & family so we can give the grandies their Easter eggs. Last night I had a bit of a panic as I hadn't done anything to put the little eggs in for the girls, so I made the new little tote bag that Bird created for the KNK Team blog. I love Bird's files...she is so generous, she shares all her files for free...and they cut beautifully.

I made Kate the purple one and Amy the pink one then filled them with a tiny Lindt bunny and Cadbury solid eggs. They are also getting a Cadbury rabbit each :)

The CS is Kaiser textured 12 x 12. The DP is from my stash. I made the little tags from a coloured digi stamp by The Paper Shelter, traced it in MTC, made a shadow layer for the mat then punched a hole at the top once I put it together. I didn't want to use Easter paper on the totes as they can be used for some of the girls' little bits & pieces once the chocs are all gone...the tag is easily removed as it's tied on with narrow ribbon.

Our GS Jake is getting a book of the complete Deltora Quest series as he's recently had orthodontal work done and has a massive expander in the roof of his mouth and braces...poor little thing, I felt so sorry for him but he's doing really well with it all now.  I know he's been wanting this series and he can't eat too many sweet things with that mouth full of metal, so hopefully he won't mind not getting chocs this year.

After making the totes for the girls I had the bug to do some more cutting with Maxx. I've been thinking that the box I made from the SVG Cuts set in my last post, might work well in a smaller size so I could utilise some of my extensive stash of 6" paper pads!!! So I had a go at reducing it...worked perfectly :) Here's the result...it's about 5 1/2" square.

I didn't end up using a 6" pad, I used some very old, retired SU DSP that's been sitting in my stash for ever, waiting to get used. The box is made from Kaiser textured CS. Once finished I decided it really needed some embellishing, and what better way to embellish an owl papered box than with a cute owlie lol  I made the paper-pieced owl by chopping off the top part of the owl box that I made HERE , then making a shadow layer for it...all done in MTC of course! The owl was popped up on foam dots then matted on to the shadow layer, which was also popped up on dots to add to the front of the box. Gives a bit more dimension. If you'd like the owl box file it's in my original post to download for free :)

The owl's body was cut from the same Kaiser CS and then decorated & matted with papers from the Basic Grey Marjolaine 6" paper pad....yay, I did use a teeny bit of my 6" stash after all lol  I found some little googly eyes in a similar blue in the stash, so added them also. To finish off, he has little top-knot "feathers" made with some lovely teal SU ribbon that my lovely friend Helen sent me....waving at you Helen :)  {Helen sent me the most amazing box of goodies recently...sigh...I was in heaven when I opened it. It seemed bottomless! I don't think I've ever received such a wonderful box of things to play with :) }

I can't share the file for the box but I've added a link below for the little pieced owl. If you'd like to resize him just remember to put all the pieces together on the mat, select all and then resize. This way he'll resize proportionately :)  If you'd like the box file, please head over to SVG Cuts and buy the Maison de Madelaine set...it's a steal at only $6.99 considering what you get. And in case you're wondering, NO I'm not affiliated with SVG Cuts at all, so I don't get any kick-back for referring you there...just love their files and like to enable you when I find a must-have! After all, what are friends for if not to help spend your money lol

Here's the link for the zip file. It contains the MTC, SVG & PDF versions. Please let me know if you have any problems downloading it. The only thing I ask is if you'd like to share it with someone, please direct them to my blog to get the file...thank you!

Paper-pieced Owl

Thanks for looking............have a wonderful day :)