Feminine Frills

Hi again. I'm not quite so late tonight so that's good. I haven't done one of these corset cards for quite a while so it was nice to do this one. Once again the inspiration comes from my very favourite artist Barbara Gray. This card is on her DVD number 3 I think. The 'legs' of the model are the word FEMINE stamped twice, once in each direction - very clever font usage! The corset is stamped in conjunction with angelina fibres. The underneath layer (darker pink) I trimmed around the image close to the black line BUT left the fibre fringe at the bottom. The top layer (pale pink) I trimmed ALL around the image and then trimmed off the outside panel on each side. I laced the two parts together with linen thread, tied a tiny bow and twirled the ends. I then used super strong tape to stick the corset in place over the stamped words. I had sponged the dusky pink around the edges of the card before hand. I thought it lacked a little something when I had mounted it up but the gold peel craft corners fixed that I think. What do you think? We're hoping to do another coastal walk tomorrow but I think we'll be out of luck as the weather forecast isn't very flash. Still they have been known to get it wrong sometimes !!! Thanks for stopping by.

Panda Bear

Hi again Everyone. I know it's late but I have just finished this cute little panda bear card and want to post it before heading off to bed. The card is for our great-niece Grace who will be 9 on May 9. She lives in the UK and so I need to get this away quick smart for her to receive it on her birthday. I have had the stamp for ages but not really used it much. In fact I had it in a stamp sale a couple of years ago but it didn't sell and now I'm glad it didn't as I think Grace will love him. I coloured the bamboo with glaze pens. I coloured the white on the panda with a white gel pen and the black I did with fun flock so he is furry as well as cute! I hope you like him too. 'Night 'night and sleep tight and thanks for stopping by to look.

ANZAC Day

Hi Everyone - long time no talk to you. The week with Trent and Tayla was great. The weather was just beautiful and we were able to get out and about plenty, but I must admit to being a bit pic-nic-ed out by the time they went home. They just love taking lunch and eating in the great outdoors! Where did this last week go since they went home? Well I have been busy doing class instructions, typing them up and getting kit sets ready for the classes which are here at home. That sure takes a while. The first home class was yesterday afternoon when 3 ladies came here to make the Flying Geese and Windmill Patchwork cards (blogged a little while ago). It was a very successfull afternoon and they were all well pleased with the two cards they took home. Plus they had enough pieces from the cutting to make two more cards at home. So here we are a week on from the end of the school holidays and here in NZ it's ANZAC Day which prompted me to make this poppy card. The verse I sourced on the internet. It was hard to choose as there were so many lovely poems dedicated to Rememberance Day. I printed the verse onto vellum and overlayed it on the front of the card so that the verse and the poppies are visible at the same time. Makes me a little teary eyed when I look at it. I hope you like it. I hope to be back soon but in the meantime take care and have a good week ahead. Thanks for stopping by today and for any comments you may leave.

Stripey Sock Day

Hi Everyone today we are having a Stripey Sock Day and here are my two favourite Little People (alias Trent and Tayla) in their Stripey Socks (and a less than flattering one of G'ma in her Stripey Socks) as we set off down to the dairy to spend our $2 pocket money. You just don't know how hard it is to spend $2 each and make sure that the other one doesn't get a better deal than you!!! Yesterday we went to see How to Train a Dragon in 3D. It was really cool and extra special because Grandan went with us. Today we were going to go to the beach but it isn't nice enough and so we are going to bake chocolate chip cookies (Trent) and double chocolate chip muffins (Tayla). Yum!!! Off to the kitchen - Bye!

More Mosaics

Good Monday morning Everyone and I hope you all had a good weekend. finding at least a little time to do just what YOU wanted to do. I know that's not always easy, especially if you are a Mum to younger children, but remember your children are MOST SPECIAL and will be grown and independant in the wink of an eye, So enjoy EVERY stage of your childrens development even if it does mean leaving what you had planned to do for yourself until another day. Our two Special Little People are due here any time now to stay for the second week of the school hols so I may be Missing In Action for a few days after this - Woohoo water slides here we come! Right, onto this morning's posts. Two more mosaic cards as you can see. At the class on Saturday I showed off some of my latest creations (already posted) to get a feel for what the ladies would like in future classes. Turned out that they want them ALL including the mosaics, which I hadn't intended to make into a class. So I created these two to go with the other two posted a while back. I particularly like the top one as I feel it has just the right elements for the mosaic technique. I hope you enjoyed your visit today and I look forward to you visiting again soon. Bye.

Elegance

Good Evening Everyone I've just finished this very elegant lady. It is taken from Barbara Gray's DVD number 4 and I love it. It is such a good way to learn tricky techniques. I set myself up on the dining room table and put the DVD on the TV in there. I select the project I want to do (there are 8 to choose from I think) and play it through. Then I get all my ingredients together and play it again in small segments, pausing it whilst I do that segment myself. When I am satisfied I play the next step, pause it etc, etc. Of course I can replay it as many times as I need to until I have got the hang of it. Anyway that's how I did this card. I don't know if you can see between the two photos but the black background card has the swirl design clear embossed on it around the edges - VERY CLASSY! Kasha 's(that's the lady's name) dress is done with Angelina Fibres, cut out and stuck to the image with that VERY strong tape with the orange backing tape. I am teaching my Black and White Lady cards to 6 lovely ladies over at the shop tomorrow morning so I had better go and pack my stuff into my wheelie crate. I'm always scared I'll forget something vital. Have a nice weekend Everyone and I'll be back soon. Thanks for stopping by.

Washi Paper Frame

Hi Everyone. It is a lovely autumnal day here again and my husband and I have just been out to lunch which was very pleasant. I started this wee card before we went and have just finished it off now. I love the vibrancy of the Washi papers - especially in the Chinese colours of red, black and gold but this one also has silver in it which is gorgeous. This is a sample for a class at the shop http://www.sisteract.co.nz/ for the May/June schedule! Gosh that's half the year gone. Christmas is looming on the horizon already LOL !!!! Anyway this card will team with my Washi quilt which was posted a while back to make a nice morning's class. I don't remember seeing black flowers anywhere so I coloured pale pink flowers with a black ink pad in case you were wondering where I got black flowers from. The frame is padded just like the quilt was and I have to say the result is very pleasing. Yesterday's posts of Easel card and Flower Pot card will be two more classes on the same schedule.  Thanks for looking and thanks for any comments left.

Flower Pot Card

Hi again. My second project for this evening is this flower pot card. Once again my friend Diane put the idea in my head and this is my version. Once again I made the paper 'roses' using the heart punch for the petals and inked the edges to give depth. The other flowers are punched with the medium sized retro flower by EK Success. My daughters bought me the three sizes of these retro flowers and I have had sooooo much use out of them. I love them. Again I am pleased with my effort. Thanks Diane for the inspiration for tonight's two projects. Well that's me for today. I'm off to bed with my book but I don't think I'll last long before I'm nodding off to sleep. Catch you next time and thanks for visiting.

An Easel Card

Hello Everyone. It's a bit late but I've been crafting all evening and watching a movie too. Tonight I have completed two projects I have been wanting to do for quite some while. My friend Diane over at http://www.diing2stamp.blogspot.com/ has done them both and inspired me to have a go myself. So here is my version of the easel card. I used my Nesties for the card shape and I made the 'roses' using a heart shaped punch for the petals. I am very pleased with the result. I hope you like it too. I'll post my other project right after this. Thanks for looking.

Mosaics

A very Happy Easter to you all. Sorry about no postings for the last week but I have been feeling a bit under the weather. Nothing I could put my finger on exactly but felt headachey and so very tired. Not up to anything much. Anyway I'm feeling much better now (despite putting our clocks back last night!!! Very sad, bad and all those winter words.)
So last night I tried the mosaic technique - again! and this time it worked!!!! andI like the results and will be looking for other stamps I have suited to the technique. I followed a tutorial from the Internet (Beatte Johns I think) and she said that after heat embossing the 'tiles' rub a black ink pad all over the image to fill in the 'grouting'. Then use a tissue to wipe off the excess ink. Well what a mess I had when I did that. The ink didn't want to wipe off and I could barely see my rose!!! So I tweeked the instructions and after embossing I sponged black ink over the image and then wiped off the excess. Voila! It worked just fine and I produced the two cards you see posted here. I hope to be back a bit quicker next time. Bye and thanks for visiting.