Home Again

Hi all,


Well, we are home again. It was not just actually a bit of family time with my hubby on leave ... we actually went for three weeks to..... 

Look kids ... Big Ben, Parliament!

Tower Bridge

the United Kingdom!


Hubby was born there but his family emigrated when he was young and they only visited once when he was 7 .. and I have never been there before. 


So much history there, it's amazing. I grew up in a city that is still less than 100 years old (just) and so when we visited all these places and the guides casually would say "this building dates from 1545 or 1127 or ... (something similar)" I was absolutely gobsmacked. We visited castles, museums and seriously old ships (HMS Victory of course). 


23 days is such a short time to "do" England, Scotland and Wales, especially with a four year old, but we soldiered on and saw quite a bit.


The UK ... green, green, green ... after so many years of drought in Australia it was amazing to see so much lush green grass and foliage in the middle of summer.


So, now I am back and need to get stuck into my craft again ... but of course it is now school holidays so it is going to take a little while to get things done.


However, it's good to be back,


Lisa

Family Time

Hi all,


Just to let you know I will not be posting for a couple of weeks. My hubby is on leave from work and we are going to spend some family time together, so my craft will have to take a back seat for a while. 


I will be back soon.


Have fun,


Lisa

First SU! workshop in ages.

Hi all,


I have been so busy doing other things that I have not done a Stampin' Up! workshop in ages... until this last Saturday. My friend Lynn was gracious enough to be the hostess and we all had a lovely time.


This is Lynn's thank you present for being a hostess... and of course I put chocolate in it. 

I used the Box #2 Bigz Die, Chocolate Chip and Real Red  paper and ribbon. Stamp set is  "Eat Chocolate"

And this is the project we made. Many of the girls changed the design around - punched a hole in the top of the box and threaded the ribbon through the top (I had not thought of that, will do it next time - it was a great idea). I love craft, everyone can do their own thing and it all looks fabulous!

Fancy Favour Bigz Die, choc chip and real red paper,
"Eat Chocolate" stamp set, whisper white grosgrain ribbon.
Also, Decorative Label XL Punch and Basic Rhinestones.

I've had a few people come over and discuss Wedding Invitations, so fingers crossed they come back and want me to make them. 


Have a good week,


Lisa

40th Birthday Card

Hi all,


I made this card for my cousin today. Her birthday is Saturday. I am hoping the express post envelope arrives at her place tomorrow - I know, not going to happen, but hey, I can dream.


I used heavy black cardstock for the card base and reverted to type with the glitter (the red and both layers of the 40 - the picture does not show it well) ... oh how I've missed my glitter!


40 is from Birthday Bash and "over what hill?" is from Life's a Party. I tried to use my Imagine for this card, but I wasn't happy with what I chose. I am going to have to trawl YouTube and other blogs for instructions and ideas for the Imagine.


I am going to do my best from now on to do a design inside the card as well. I've seen some absolutely awesome cards lately with this feature and I think it's such a great finishing touch.

Have a great one,


Lisa

An imagine card and a confession

Hi all,


Well, another busy week in the real world. I did get the chance to do a little craft this week - I made a card for a friend ... OK, well two cards. I made this card first, but it just did not seem right for a grown-up.


I used the best friends imagine cartridge for the front and the card from Plantain Schoolbook (p79) as the base. I used dimensionals to lift the picture and the balloon. I am really having trouble making things I really like with the Imagine. Half my trouble is that the images on the imagine cartridges are just not my scene. I am going to have to do more with images from the old cricut cartridges and the colours and patterns from the new imagine cartridges.


Anyway, in the end I made a tried and true design for my friend's card and gave that to her. I will keep this other card for someone younger. We went to the pub to celebrate yesterday arvo. The kids played on the grass outside and the grown-ups socialised and supervised from the patio. Lovely time had by all and we were home by 7pm.

Now for my confession ....

I would love you all to think that my craft room looks like this all the time...

But unfortunately some of the time it looks similar to this...

My area

Jessica's area

So now you know what I will be spending today doing!!


I really do need to tidy again because I don't seem to work very well when the place is messy. Probably why nothing much craft wise got done this week.

Hope you all have a good week,


Lisa

Wedding Expo

Hi all,


I thought I'd tell you how I went with the Wedding Expo the other week....


I took my friend Lynn with me - if the invitation thing takes off we might go into business together. Lynn is going to make some "medieval wedding" invites too as that is something she is interested in and also a popular wedding theme here. 


We only had a small table in one of the marquees outside as we are only beginners. Here is a picture of our display.

I already had examples of all the items I made for Beck's wedding, so I made a few matching invite/boxes/place cards and a couple of "paper cakes" to add to the display. I am actually a bit disappointed that I did not take individual photos of everything before the event ... the ground and the marquee were very wet from the cool night we'd had so all the invitations curled up -- arrggghhhh. They flattened out as the day wore on but I was disappointed by the look. Not as pristine as I'd like.


The pink explosion box at the front was a hit. Every time a group came over to look we whipped the lid off - a little bit of wow factor for the day.


I was very happy with the number of people who took business cards on the day. We haven't had any people contact us yet, but hopefully when time comes that they need invites or other paper wedding doodads they will think of us.


Right, so the month of May is done:
the wedding is done, 
SU! Convention is done, 
Wedding Expo is done


hmmmmmm ... what now??!! 


Time to crack on with some new projects - I've got a list a mile long here somewhere......


Lisa

Versatile Blogger Award

Hi all,

Yikes, I've been off line for a while. When I actually had some time to blog last week blogger would not let me in for three whole days!! Argh!!

Anyway, on to much happier things ..... I have been honored with the Versatile Blogger award by Paula from pvcreations2010.  You absolutely must go visit her blog.  She has some really great projects.  Thank you so much Paula!  The rules for the Versatile Blogger Award are to tell 7 things about yourself and honor 15 bloggers with the award.  Well here are 7 things about me.

1. I grew up in Canberra but now live in Perth, Western Australia
2. I am not one of those women who received the ability to perform the "wifely arts" - I am a poor cook and cleaner. I do not sew or knit. Luckily my husband knew this all prior to the wedding so he did not have his hopes too high. 
3. I miss my old job, but I am now so busy I wonder how I ever had time to go to work.
4. I enjoy reading... My kindle is the best present I ever got (and the worst present ever as I now read too too much). 
5. I have two earrings in one ear and one earring in the other ... spent my early years trying to be different.
6. I prefer music of the 70s and 80s ... ABBA, Neil Diamond etc
7. I love the fact that there are no rules with craft - you can do everything in your own 'style' and be happy.

Now here are the 15 fabulous blogs that you have to check out... in no particular order.  You will be amazed by all their work.  Enjoy!

1. Jayne Designs
2. Bling Queen
3. Lauren's Creative
4. Believe Dream Create
5. Going Buggy
   
6. Stamperific
   
7. Paper Punch Addiction
   
8. Under a Cherry Tree
   
9. Paper Maine-iac
   
10. Inky Fingers
    
11. Moe Creations
    
12. Meesh's Pieces
    
13. The Serendipitous Scrapper
    
14. Houses Built of Cards
    
15. Helen's Craft Haven

Thanks again Paula,

Lisa

Baby Girl Card

Hi all,

Finally ... I used my Imagine machine! I whipped up this baby girl card for a friend yesterday. I used the Nursery Tails cartridge. Very simple, very easy.

Once I get time to play again I will do something a little more ... well, just more.

Have a good weekend,

Lisa

Stampin' Up! Convention Swaps

Hi all,


I attended the National Stampin' Up! Convention in Melbourne last week. I had such a wonderful time (even though Melbourne was sub-arctic cold and wet the whole time), and I really enjoyed spending time with my oldest friend who attended the Convention with me (not OLD as in old .... you know what I mean!). Mauz is actually setting up her own blog as we speak so I am keen to be able to link to her in the near future - she makes lovely, lovely cards.


I made 153 "swaps" to take with me to Convention and I swapped every one of them. I came home with an absolute bag full of new ideas. My word those ladies all made such an effort - there were brooches, earrings, notebook holders, cards, etc... just fabulous stuff.


Here is what I took with me...

The acetate cards. Almost exactly the same as I made for the wedding. 

These seemed quite popular as swaps so I am really glad I made them.

A couple of little handbaggies made out of the Scallop Envelope
Bigz Die and Hostess In-Colour patterned paper.

Bookmarks ... one with butterflies

... and one with a flower

I am still working on my display for the wedding expo this coming Sunday. I have a business name and business cards, now I just need to finish off the examples and I am all set. One of my friends is coming with me to the expo bless her cotton socks. I am still a little wary of this new venture, but a new road has been placed in front of me and I would be silly to not head in that direction and see where it takes me...


I hope everyone is having a good week so far. 


Lisa

The Wedding

Hi all,

So, going back over the last couple of weeks I will start at the beginning ... the wedding.

We all had a great time. Hubby was the best man, J was the flower girl, and I made all the paper stuff. We had such a lovely day and the function place - Peel Manor House - was wonderful. It all looked so gorgeous and the day flowed really smoothly ... and Miss J danced until 10pm (she was having an absolute ball so we let her stay up just this once) 

Here are a couple of photos of J and the tables all set out. I made heaps of butterflies to decorate the tables, but they decided to only put three on each table and lots of silver heart sprinkles, which did look nice.

I am quite impressed by how it all turned out. One thing I did find out and learn from was that the white butterflies on the acetate name cards do not show up as much on a white tablecloth. 

Lisa

Home again

Hi all,


Sorry I have been MIA from the internet ... I went to the Australian Stampin' Up! Convention in Melbourne. 


I made 153 swaps and "swapped" them all, coming home with sooooo many awesome crafting ideas. 


I will blog my swaps and other whatnot during the next couple of days ... I now have to get ready to display my wares at this Sunday's wedding expo.


No rest for the wicked!


See ya,


Lisa

The wedding card - Explosion Box

Hi all,


We are home again after having an awesome time at the wedding (we stayed overnight there). The bride was beautiful, the function place was wonderful, much champagne was consumed and everyone had a great time.


Miss Jessica was flower girl, so I will have to show you some pictures of that too.  


So, to the "card" I made the bride and groom. I was so excited that this worked out. It was much simpler than I thought. I got the idea from many places, but took the most inspiration from Tammy Tkach at My Inking Place, she did such a great version of this card/exploding box. I also used YouTube and watched various instruction videos.

I finally tied a bow that looked pretty good - that does not happen very often.

I used Stampin' Up! paper and ink for this project, cuttlebug embossing folders, and ribbon from my stash.
Butterflies on the cake are made using the Butterfly Wings Embosslits Die from SU! The other butterfly is from the Hannah Montana cricut cartridge.

I made the cake by cutting three strips of 1" white paper, popping them through the
Sizzix Big Shot using a couple of different embossing folders. I made three different sized
circles, then cut out the circle tops with the cricut using Sure Cuts a Lot 2
basic shapes and embossed them. 

The Function place - Peel Manor House - is having a wedding expo in a coupe of weeks and they actually asked me if I would like to show my wedding invites etc... at the expo. It would mean getting business cards and professional fliers done and deciding on pricing - and it would also mean I would have to commit to making cards for a living for a while (if anyone employed me that is). Going to have to think about this one.


Now I need to go off and have a nap - too much party not enough sleep!


Lisa

I made something special - sneak peek

Hi all,


Just a quick one as I have to get ready to go out soon ...


I made a "card" for the bride and groom. I have been looking at lots of examples on the internet for ages, but doubted I was going to be able to do it. I gave it a go yesterday (always better to leave these things to the last minute!). I will show you the proper pictures tomorrow, but here is a sneak peek...

Another cool thing is that the bride has asked the photographer to take photos of all the bits and pieces I have made. Once I get the pics I can change the ones on the blog for the better ones.


Do any of you out there make Wedding invites etc for a living? I've been asked to do another wedding and maybe show my stuff at a "wedding fair" (good grief and freak me out). I did this lot for a friend so I would not know what to charge or if I'd make any money out of this sort of thing.... does anyone have any advice for me? Is it something I really want to get into?


Off to have some fun,


Lisa

The Wedding - all the rest

Hi all,


As promised here are the photos of all the wedding day items. I made Favour Boxes (to be filled with three chocolates, menus, butterfly table decorations and place cards/thankyous. 


With all the items I used Stampin' Up! Not Quite Navy cardstock, Christina Re patterned paper, and thin & thick SU! vellum.


Favour Boxes
The box designs are from SVG cuts - Charlottes Favour Boxes. Maybe I am blind, but I could not find a simple box with a separate lid in any of the Cricut cartridges I own (and I own quite a few). The butterfly is from Spotlight.

Menus
The menus are based on the 'Save the Dates' I made way back, with the writing printed on the thin vellum. I have already decided what I am eating for dinner ... yum! 


The menus are just under 1/3 of an A4 piece of paper each so that we did not waste any paper.

Butterflies
These are to scatter all over the middle of the tables. The bride will also put little silver hearts all over the place as well. The butterfly is the same one we have used all along and is from the Hannah Montana cartridge ... I love this butterfly. If you had told me even a year or so ago that I would get a thing for butterflies, and would spend quite a bit of time imagining all the designs I would like to use them on, I would have called you nuts.


I used the thick SU! vellum for the butterflies as they will 'stand' better. The layers are the shadow base in dark blue, then patterned paper with design and vellum cut the same on top. Finished off with pearls. I cut all the butterflies at 2".


I  ruined a few sheets of both the vellum and patterned paper getting the pressure and depth just right... note to self - cut those particular butterflies upright on the mat, do not use Design Studio to spin them around to get more to fit on one page as this trashes your paper and your sanity!!  

I am going to have to get a better picture of the butterflies on the day.

Place card/Thank you 
I am most proud of these place cards. I was messing around one day with ideas for swaps for the Stampin' Up! convention and the bride saw them - they were so much better than anything else we had thought of up to that date. The bride asked that a Thank you be placed on the inside of the card so that all the guests were thanked on the day of the wedding.


I used the thick Stampin' Up! clear window sheets (acetate) as the base, then stamped the butterfly on with white StazOn ink. The butterfly is from the SU! 'For Everything' stamp set. After each step in the process I covered up the acetate with the blue "skin" packaging that comes with it as the acetate is very easily scratched and finger print smudged.


The acetate is 3" x 6" folded in half and the blue matting is 2.5" x 2.5". The patterned paper just smaller. 

Is it clear that these are made of clear acetate, not blue?

To cover up the messy glue on the name card and the thank you that can be seen
through the clear acetate I placed a blue square the same size on the back.

So, basically this is what I have been doing in my spare time the last few weeks. As I stuffed up the first sixty of these I now have my first lot of swaps for the SU! convention - only about 90 more items to go (and I have to think up two more different designs for them) ... aaarrrggghhhh! 


I don't HAVE to have the swaps, but I am really keen on swapping ideas with as many people as I can.


Hope you are all having a good weekend,


Lisa

Finished!

Hi all, 


Well, I've finally finished ALL the wedding stuff ... yay! I have now started on the swaps for the National Stampin' Up! convention in two weeks. I am hoping to make 150 swaps in three designs, but we will see. I have already made 60 swaps due to stuffing up the wedding name place cards, so I'm doing OK.


I will post the pictures of the wedding paraphernalia tomorrow - I've been busy watching the Royal Wedding. The bride looked stunning, but my word the bridesmaid - WOW. What a gorgeous dress (and I'd kill to be that tall and skinny)


Have a good one,


Lisa

The Wedding Invitation

Hi all,


I haven't posted for a week as finishing off the wedding stuff and doing family Easter things took up all of my time.


Here is the invitation I made for the wedding. The pictures do not do it justice in my opinion. I used all the same materials again with the addition of Christina Re Luxury Invitation Wallets. Love these things, so handy. I also used the Christina Re "Paper Style" wedding stationery ideas book for my inspiration. If you live in Australia and need to make wedding invitations this is the book to get.

Invitation with "white side up" glued to invitation wallet and RSVP with "blue side up" popped into the pocket for future reference. Yet again I kept the reject so it is not perfect - note to self: take pictures of things before you give them away. Might steal original back from bride and take better photos. (I have also blurred details)

Outside of wallet. Such a lovely design.

Horrid colour photo but you get the idea .... Finished invitation with ribbon. Buckle is from Favours by Vivaldi.

I am now on the home straight. Bonbonierre boxes, menus and name/thank you cards made, done, finished. I am just finishing off the butterflies for the tables and I am done!! Hooray. 


Lisa