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 :)

SVG Cuts Maison De Madeline

I've been playing!! Very naughty as the work stuff is piling up around me but I've had enough of that for a while...needed some play time for "just because"...no purpose other than for a little relaxation & enjoyment :) Doesn't happen often enough here!

When I saw the new SVG Cuts Maison de Madeline collection I just HAD to have it lol  It was going on my never-ending "to-do-one-day" list but last night I had a hissy fit with the work stuff and decided I was going to make these instead :)  I've had so much fun with this set. I haven't made the card...it has a rooster on it and I can't think of something to use it for at present....and I haven't made the clock but intend to!

I LOVE SVG Cuts files, they are so well designed and always cut beautifully. Mary from SVG Cuts always does a video on the construction of the pieces, which is very helpful. She used a new Graphic 45 collection that is vintage farm themed, therefore the rooster card :)  I have used another new Graphic 45 collection called Secret Garden...love these papers and the book is a favourite from long ago. I bought a couple of the 12x12 pages and the 8" paper pad. The biggest mistake I made was not having enough plain CS to have everything matching :(  Upsets my OCD tendencies but otherwise I'm really happy with how everything turned out.

Here are photos of each item:

You'll notice that the little, shaped box has 2 versions. I made it with the plain bottom and then couldn't decide if it needed something else...so I added the little panels to it with temp adhesive to see which I liked better. Now I can't decide!!!!!!!  Might leave it for a day or two and then make a decision. If I decide to keep the panels then I'll need to stick them on with permanent adhesive.

This is the little box front on:

For anyone who has a cutter that can use SVG file format, I highly recommend the files from SVG Cuts. It's worth going for a look...just don't blame me if you get carried away and buy up while there lol

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

I've been published!!

Hello everyone....Just a quick post today! Back in October last year I was approached by the editor of Scrapbook Creations re a submission for the March issue. It was very exciting as I've never tried to get published and hadn't really given it much thought. I offered to make a gift set and chose Pink Cat Studio's Birds of a Feather digi stamps to decorate it.

This is the cover of the magazine. My project is the Copic coloured gift set.

This is the cover page of the article. Each item has it's own page with instructions and a supply list :)

Anyone who knows me would know that these little owls are among my favourite digis and have been used a number of times on my projects...LOVE them. All the Pink Cat Studio stamps are gorgeous though! The CS is all SU Rose Red & Whisper White. The DP is from the Kaiser Bubblegum Hills Collection 6 1/2" paper pad and the images have been coloured with Copics then highlighted with glitter pens and a little SU Crystal Effects. Kaiser rhinestones have been added for a little bling. I even decorated the inside of the card and the envelope!!

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

Easter Bunny

I have another calendar page to show you today. So far I'm making good progress with this project and might even manage to complete it in time!

Our challenge this fortnight at The Squirrel & The Fox is Easter or Passover. Hope you'll come and join us :)

This cute little fella comes from Digi Web Studio. He's been printed on to X-Press It blending card and coloured with Copics. I highlighted with clear Spica pen and SU Crystal Effects then gave the green part of the egg random pearl dots with a Viva Decor Pearl pen...shame you can't really see them in the photo :(  The image has been fussy cut and popped up on foam dots. All CS is SU...Choc Chip & Sahara Sand.
The background papers are digi from The Sweet Shoppe and I created the calendar panel in MMS with the same kit, then matted it with SU Choc Chip.  I'm attaching all the calendar panels with temporary adhesive so that they can be replaced with updated calendars each year :)

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

Bunny Box

I've been very naughty today. I should be doing lots of work things and instead I made a cute bunny box for Easter :)  Oh well, with any luck maybe my hubby will sack me and I can retire lol (probably not much chance of that but I can dream!)

I saw this cute box on Papercraft Planet and thought it would be fun to make a cut file for it. The original template is FREE from Easter Colouring Pages. I traced it in MTC...simply the BEST and easiest to use cutting software you can find....then made inner ears and bellies to decorate it. The original size uses a 12 x 12 sheet of paper and would hold a medium size egg or maybe two smaller ones. I didn't have any large eggs on hand but did have some small solid Cadbury eggs. So I used a cello bag, half filled it with the eggs and popped it in the little box...cute!

Then I got to thinking that a tiny box would be cute for a single small egg or the little solid eggs, so I went and reduced the pattern and gave it a go. End result...super cute lol This size uses an A4 sheet of paper.

The only tricky bit is slotting the hands together when you finish decorating it. Be careful not to tear the  CS! You have to sort of bend one out to the front and hold the other one back...hope that makes sense! If you make this you'll see what I mean. For those who don't have a cutting machine, the template from Easter Colouring Pages can be cut by hand.

I've added a link for the zip file below, which contains the MTC & SVG files. If you use the file I'd love to see what you make. Leave a comment and I'll come and check out your blog :) I'd appreciate you linking back to here for the file...not offering it from your blog...thank you.  Let me know if there are any problems with the link.

Bunny Box MTC & SVG

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

Spring is in the air....

Well, not in Australia but I'm sure it must be somewhere in the world lol

Hello everyone...it's challenge time again at The Squirrel & The Fox. Our theme this week is Autumn or Spring. I know it's autumn here in Aus but I've decided to jump ahead and do a spring project. Another calendar page, so of course it had to be for September :) So far I'm doing really well with this calendar project...I have three pages done now. Hopefully I can keep this up and actually finish this one!!

This is the very cute Leisel with barrow from CC Designs. I love these cute characters and have used them quite a few times over the years. I started off with a real stamp of Leisel and one of her little friends but once they were released as digis I jumped at the chance to have them :)  I have a good collection of the Swiss Pixies and Sugarplums. They are lovely to colour.

I was very brave and broke out the Prismas to colour this. I enjoy the look of the pencils for a change from my well loved Copics. For a novice I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out. The heart and hair bobbles have been coated with SU Crystal Effects and her wing has been covered with Diamond Stickles. Leisel has been fussy cut and popped up on foam dots. The leaves and pink flower are punched pieces from my ancient stash and the white flower is one of those flat paper flowers that have been around for ever. Both flowers have a rhinestone for centres. The flowers in the centre are artificial flowers that I've also had for ages.

The calendar panel and background DP is digi from Dianne Rigdon Design. The calendar panel has been made in MMS and matted on SU Taken with Teal.

Hope you'll come and join us for this challenge.

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

Lucky Dragon

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...I'm still here! My blogging has been very sparse lately due to work and family commitments. Hopefully things will quieten down a bit soon and I'll be a bit more frequent here than once every fortnight.

This fortnight our challenge at The Squirrel & The Fox is Fairytale, Whimsical, Fantasy. Quite a selection lol  I hope you'll come and play along with us, we'd love to see what you do with this challenge.

For my DT project I've made another calendar page and gone with the Whimsical part of our challenge. As much as I LOVE fairy things, I don't have a use for a fairy project at present...and I'm determined to only make things that I can use in some way, not put away in a drawer! I have too many of those already lol

Isn't this little guy cute! I've gone with a St Patty's theme for my March 2014 page. This little guy is from a set called "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" digi stamps at Digi Web Studio. I did a print & cut in MTC to get that perfect white border around him and then made a shadow layer to cut in black to mat him. The calendar panel is all digi, created in MMS and matted on black also. The DP is digi from Shery K Designs and I've cropped off the hat and clover from two of the papers to use on the calendar panel.

Mister Dragon has been printed onto X-Press It blending card and coloured with Copics. The clovers and the word Luck have been coated with SU Crystal Glaze. All CS is SU...Old Olive & Basic Black.

Here's a close-up of the little man:

Considering I come from good Irish stock, I've never celebrated St Patty's Day! I guess when my parents immigrated from Ireland, they left all the traditions behind.

Please go and check out all my teamies gorgeous creations...links on my sidebar. There are some beautiful fairies there :)

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

Kenny K Love

Hello there...been a bit absent the last couple of weeks :(  Work has been manic and I've been feeling quite poorly, which is unusual for me. Not quite feeling 100% yet but getting there! Anyhow, I'm sure you didn't come to listen to my moaning lol, so onto my project.....

We have a new challenge for you at The Squirrel & The Fox. Our theme this fortnight is LOVE....very easy for this time of the year, so hope to see you playing along with us. Kenny K is sponsoring our challenge and I've used my very first ever Kenny K image!! It's called HUG :)

We don't do Valentine's in our house...hubby doesn't have a romantic bone in his body! Even with this flaw in his character, he's a definite keeper lol Soooooo....what to do with a Valentine theme?? Well...those of you that have been visiting for a while will know that last year I started on a project to make a desk calendar...one page per month...not a hard thing to aim for. Around about March, the wheels fell off my good intentions and it all came to a grinding halt...life got too busy and I wasn't crafting much at all :(  I've decided this year I'm going to give it another shot! I already have a few coloured images to use from last year, so hopefully this is going to give me a head start.

What inspired me to start on this again was my friend Tracy's post HERE. *Waving at you Tracy* The acrylic frame idea is brilliant! Tracy saw the idea on another blog and decided to make one of these to organise challenges she enters. (Her page is gorgeous BTW) I trotted myself off to Officeworks to buy a couple of frames, only to discover the ONLY size they were out of were the A5 landscape...grrrrrrrr  I bought the one above, which is slightly different, but will get a couple of the others when they are back in stock. I prefer the slightly slanted-backwards frame, which this one doesn't do.

CS is all SU...Crumb Cake & Cherry Cobbler. Background DP is digi from Marmite Mamie and the calendar panel is digital...made in MMS and matted with SU CS. The border around the couple was cut with my KNK Maxx after tracing the image in MTC and creating a shadow layer. The border DP, heart and tree are from a retired digi kit by Jady Day Studio called Sweet Love of Mine. The happy couple have been printed onto X-Press It blending card and coloured with Copics...except for the hair which was done with Prisma pencils. Glitter pen has been used to highlight. I had a go at the pastel pencil shading that I read about on Tracy's blog. I like it but need a LOT of practice with it!! I'm a bit heavy-handed I think. Doesn't help that I haven't been colouring regularly for quite some time now. I've felt very out of practice with the last couple of things I've done. I need more hours in the day...and NOT for more work stuff!!!!!!!!!!!

If you're still with me after this marathon post, you deserve a medal lol

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

Miss Molly in her Polka Dot Outfit

Hello there...we have a new challenge for you at The Squirrel & The Fox. Our theme this fortnight is Something New...I'm sure you can find something hidden away in your stash that you've never used...so please come and play along with us :)

Our wonderful sponsor for this challenge is The Digi Garden...LOVE these cute images! My something new is the Molly digi...isn't she the cutest little thing :) I've made this for an upcoming 3 year old's birthday (in April, aren't I organised lol).

Please excuse my photographic skills (or should I say lack of!) in this photo...seem to have snapped the card on a bit of an angle this time :(  Anyhow...the base card is 120 x 170mm (approx 5 x 7 inches) and has been cut from SU Rose Red, as have the mats for the panels. The DP is Grant Archival. Little Miss Molly has been coloured with Copics, a little Prisma Pencil and her hair higlighted with a Spica pen. I've added little rhinestones to her top for a bit of bling. What little girl doesn't like a bit of sparkle lol Rhinestones have also been added to the corners of the horizontal panel.

I haven't coloured in a while and I definitely felt very rusty! To top that off, literally on the last curl I was colouring, the dratted Copic I was using decided to do a big "blob" of ink......GRRRRRRRRR...not happy Jan!!!!!!!  I've fixed it as best I can so I hope it's not too noticeable. I couldn't bring myself to throw it out and start again when I'd finished the whole thing! Of course, the colour that blobbed was the darkest colour...Murphy's Law! Boy, that Murphy has a lot to answer for!!

I wanted to add a sentiment...Happy Birthday or something...but I couldn't decide where or how I wanted to place it, so might go back and do that before I give the card. Maybe I'll just try a 3 and see how I like that. Obviously rusty at making cards too :)

Here's a close up of the little lady:

Please go and visit my teamies' blogs and have a peak at their wonderful creations...well worth the trip :)  Links are all in my sidebar.

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

Introducing....Baby Owl :)

I'm back already lol  I kept thinking about making a smaller version of the Owl Treat Box that I made (check my last post) but knew the box section had to be made deeper for this to work. So... today, to get the idea out of my head!!, I went back and played around with the cut file I created for the original Owl Box. This is what I came up with:

Isn't she cute! Two of this little baby can be cut from an A4 or Letter size sheet of CS and takes teeny scraps of DP to decorate :) The base for this one was cut from CM Dusty Pink CS and decorated with papers from the Limited Edition Sweet Owl 6" paper pad. I had the same googly eyes that I used on the larger owl in a smaller size, so went with those.  I embossed the front section of the owl only with an embossing folder and all the edges were inked with SU Close to Cocoa (retired).

Here's a comparison photo...Mummy Owl & Baby Owl :)

It's much better with the deeper box area. I will be able to put more sweet treats in there lol  I'm thinking about making a whole family of these....Mum, Dad and a couple of kids...just because they're so cute. It would be very cute to put a message or sentiment on their little bellies...owl always love you....owl always be there for you....you're a hoot....I could go on and on but I'm sure you don't want me to LOL  Easy to see I'm an owl addict!!

Edited to add files. I've opened a MediaFire account so hopefully when you click on the link below, it will download a zip file of all the Owl box versions. Please let me know if you have any problems!

Owl Treat Boxes MTC
Owl Treat Boxes SVG

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