Thursday, March 31, 2011

Better...



Hi all,


After posting this morning I was inspired to try again with my hubby's card.... this is much more what I had imagined.






I used the following cartridges:
Trees - Camp Out
Boat - Going Places
Pond and grass - Create a Critter
Sentiment - Beyond Birthdays


I used Stampin' Up! paper for the card base and pattern paper. I then used assorted scraps for the images.


As you can possibly see I made two of each image and popped them up on SU! dimensionals. I also used a fish that had been in my stash for ages.


Ahhh, now I feel better. 


Lisa

Birthday Cards



Hi all,


I made a birthday card for my hubby the other week. It's ... nice I guess, but it just was not quite what I had imagined, and I did not put a sentiment on the front so it just looks a little plain. I just do not seem to have a handle on the whole "blokes" card thing. I actually sketched a whole new design on a bit of scrap paper last night so I might end up making him a "just because" card this weekend.


Anyway, here's the original card....



Paper by Stampin' Up! and image from a Child's Year Cartridge. 


I also wanted to show you a really great card that my real life friend Mandy (from Scrappy-Go-Lucky) made me for my birthday. She has used a seriously cute new Stamp she has for sale in her store and and coloured it in with her Copic Markers. As I have mentioned before Mandy and I are both hopeless at resisting any craft bling/cool paper/tools/etc... and she loves my coffee, so she has really nailed it with this card.






Lisa

Monday, March 28, 2011

Liebster Blog Award



Hi all, 


I have had such a lovely surprise this morning. Carrie over at Paper, Glitter, Stamps has given me a Liebster Blog Award. Please go and visit her and check out her creations.






The Liebster Blog award is given to bring new blogs to light. It's a great way to share blogs that might not otherwise be seen or ones you want to share with others. As a recipient of this award you must do the following:


1. Tha
nk the giver on your blog

2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog

4. Reveal your 5 blog picks

5. Let them know you chose them by leaving them a comment


My Blog picks are all lovely Aussie ladies:
  1. Tracey at Trace Elementz
  2. Shelley at Shelley's Land
  3. Tereesa at Up Late 2 Create
  4. Chloe at Chloe and Her Clip on Koalas
  5. and Mandy my usual partner in (buying too much craft crap) crime over at Scrappy-Go-Lucky
Please go and visit them and check out their wonderful creations.

Thanks so much to Carrie!

Have a great week,

Lisa



Saturday, March 26, 2011

Fairy Birthday



I am sitting here in my craft room 'supervising' two little girls while they make wonderful craft projects (and closing my eyes to the mess they are making) ... drawing, gluing, and indiscriminate cutting - they are having a great time!


Speaking of glue - I have given up on glue sticks and kiddy glues as we are always having to wait for it to dry or the glue stick itself does not get the lid put back on properly and it dries out (getting expensive). I bought some really cheap glue tape and rolls of double-sided tape for Jess and it is working out so much better for both of us.


Here is a card I made for a birthday party Jessica was invited to this weekend. I popped the fairy and number on with Stampin' Up! dimensionals to give it a bit of a lift. I then stamped flowers because there was still too much white space for my liking.






I have another 5 year old girl's birthday in a couple of weeks so I made two ... finally starting to think ahead.


Have a good weekend,


Lisa

Friday, March 25, 2011

More storage



Hi all,


I have added to the Empire ... Found an excuse to go to IKEA last week and ended up buying some shelves to fill in the big space on the wall above my desk. I put them together but decided not to add the fancy topper that went on the shelves - I am really not a frilly girl. 


Hubby then joined in on the fun and we went to Bunnings (hardware shop) and bought some more lighting. We fitted the fluros to the bottom of the shelves.


At first I wondered what I was going to put in the shelves as the cartridge storage boxes I have did not fit (oops, that was what I bought the shelves for), but it only took me 10 minutes to nearly fill it, so crisis averted.






 ---- ha ha ha --- more storage, more light!
(feeling like Tim the Tool Man Taylor from "Home Improvement")

Off to actually do some craft - I've sorted, I've tidied, time to play!


Lisa

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Simple Scrapping 4



Ahhh, love this one - we had such a good day out that day...






Font  and Animals are from the Zooballoo cartridge. I used Dimensional Magic on the A and the Z to give them a bit of oomph.


I have been really trying with my last few layouts to use different colours than I normally would (mostly blues) and use a bit more pattern paper.


One thing I always wonder about - is it just me or do most people mat their photos? I find that I cannot put a photo down on the page without some backing - at least one layer if not two. What do you do?


Of course showing these few layouts has reminded me that I have a couple of layouts in my "to finish" box - including Jessica's first day at school. Cannot rush these things though, can you?!


Have a great one,


Lisa

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Simple Scrapping 3


Hi all,

These photos were just too cute not to scrapbook.

The pyjamas say "Dear Santa - I can explain" 

I used my Friskars embossing ShapeBoss on the bottom of the first page and top of the second if you can see it - do not tell my hubby that this is the first and last time I used that tool - I got a cuttlebug just after this and realised that the Friskars one was just too time consuming.... drat, another thing to add to the list of the tools I need to use this year since I own them.



Cartridges used:
My very first - Cuttin' Up
Camera - Plantin Schoolbook
Smile - Going Places
The Camera - Going Places

... And I am happy to be able to say that Jessica has taken quite a few clear and recognisable photos lately with a hand-me-down 5M Kodak. She still wasn't keen on us teaching how her it worked, but has figured out the correct direction to point the camera now thank goodness!

Have a great week,

Lisa

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Simple Scrapbooking 2



Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. This is the second of my series of simple scrapbook pages.


I am quite pleased with how this layout turned out. There is no cricut involved, but I like the cute metal tools and I am also a fan of computer generated journaling as I prefer it to my handwritten stuff.










I thought the flowery vinyl/plastic sheet I have backing the main photo was pretty cool when I saw it in the shop .... Most of the bits and pieces I have picked up because they look good but are not for any particular reason are ... ummm .... probably still sitting in my doodads box, but this was one of those purchases that I just had to find a use for. Have you ever had an item you just had to use nearly straight away?


Have a good one,


Lisa

Friday, March 18, 2011

Simple Scrapbooking



Oooops I have not posted in a while. Real life gets in the way sometimes.


I thought I would show you some of my scrapbooking over the next couple of days. I am mostly a "simple scrapbooker"... I take so long to decide where everything is going to go that I would never finish a layout if I had too much detail on my pages!


The first layout is one of the first times I used my cricut machine - I had no idea about layering, welding or anything fancy. Looking at it I realise how much I have learned recently.


  


And an extra photo - Miss Jessica insisted I buy her some glasses (play ones with no lenses) because Mummy has glasses so she felt she needed some too - especially for craft.






Lisa

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Happy Birthday Mandy



Happy birthday to Mandy over at Scrappy-Go-Lucky!!


I am not going to see her today so I gave her my card on Thursday just gone. As per usual I got a little out of hand ....













The cricut is from the Car Decal cartridge and the crown from Wall Decor and More. "Cricut Queen" and frame are from Calligraphy Collection... I welded the letters with Design Studio. I popped Miss Cricut up on a double layer of Stampin' Up! dimensionals and my daughter insisted on the rhinestone eyes on the inside. The phrase happy birthday is from the Beyond Birthdays cartridge.


The card itself is an A4 piece of paper folded in half as I made all the bits pretty large. I used SU! black and white cardstock and WorldWin double mates green... and Doodlebug Design Inc glitter paper. 


Wow, I have done more craft already this year than I think I did in the first 9 months of last year! Now I need to make a card for hubby as I did not make him one last year - it's going to have to be good - I need to justify all the 'essential' craft crap paraphernalia  in the craft room.


Lisa

Friday, March 04, 2011

10th Birthday card



Hi all,


It is my niece's 10th birthday next week and I really wanted to make her a nice card. She is really into Harry Potter this year, but I got stuck trying to think of something Cricut to put on a card that would go with that theme - so I gave up.


This is what I came up with instead...






The balloons are from the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge, I just cut poor old Hello Kitty off. Cake doodad is from my stash and the number 10 is from Winter Woodland (again). I popped everything up on Stampin' Up! dimensionals.


Now all I have to do is either make an envelope or find one the right size.


Have a good weekend,


Lisa

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Tradie of the year


Hi all,

A while back my husband's niece (who is an electrician) was entered in a local radio competition for "Perth's Tradie of the Year". She was the only girl in the top 10 and they had the final at a nightclub in the city. Family and friends went along as support and so I made up a few signs and we all wore hardhats with a vinyl lightning bolt on the front. Even though she did not win she knew she had a lot of supporters out in the crowd and it was a lovely and funny night - (there are some very good looking male tradies here in Perth and most were so nervous up on stage).

I just love the number of different things my cricut enables me to do!

Foam art board for the signs with font from the Base Camp cart - pink metallic paper this time, not glitter paper for a change.
Vinyl lightning bolt from Paper Doll Dress Up - love this cartridge so many wonderful cuts.

Lisa

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Faux Tile Card

Hi all,


I saw this example of a faux tile card a while back and thought I'd give it a go on Sunday. I stamped the images on the cardstock then cut the paper into 1" x 1" squares (except for the top row - kind of misjudged the sizing a little oops). I used SU! choc chip ink around each square and then slathered them in SU! crystal effects. I let it dry then mounted on a card.


A couple of learning points I found - I should have let the ink dry a little longer as it smudged a bit and I need to practice getting the crystal effects a bit smoother (too many lumps and bumps for my liking). Pretty cool technique though. 






Lisa