Kanzashi Flower.

 This is my first Kanzashi flower I have made!  It isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn good considering I have never made them before.  I found another place - The Ribbon Rose - who sell the Kanzashi Makers and purchased from them.  The other place - Kiwi Threadz - who scammed me have been reported as a scam and I know TRR is a reputable and honest company as I have purchased many craft things from them in the past.

This is an Orchid flower (according to the packaging) and measures 3 inches.  This is the largest size and was easy to work with.  I did get two smaller makers, different flowers, but found them awkward to use as my fingers lock and it wasn't as easy to use.  Maybe another day!  The button isn't quite in the right place and  I tried to stitch it but it wasn't working too well.  I ended up getting the hot glue gun out as it was quicker and easier.

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day!  Remember to always be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!

A Wonky Donkey, A Witch, Three Butterflies And A Whole Lot Of Glitter!

 

The black and white card above was supposed to be white embossing on a black card.  However mine didn't turn out right, so I ditched it and stamped it in black on a white card.  

The card above is for a friend who celebrates her birthday on Christmas Day.  I have two friends who have Birthdays on Christmas Day.  The glitter on the car was adhered using some Graphix Artiste Tac paper that Andrea gave me.  I LOVE this stuff as it is so easy to use!  I randomly placed the sticky side to the white card, then sprinkled on the clear glitter. 

The Witch above is one I made many years ago.  I was going to a Halloween dance with  a  friend and made her one as well. I made her from a pair of old pantyhose!  I didn't have a pattern for her and just made her up as I went.  She is holding a small crystal ball!  She needs some new sequins on the black lace, the old ones have almost  come off.  I don't celebrate Halloween, but I do pin her to my clothes the day of Halloween.  It will be four years ago this Halloween that I had my hip                      

replacement done.  It's so nice to be pain free and not have to take pain killers (Which didn't work and were expensive) every day just to be able to get out of bed.

Looking at the three Butterfly cards you could be mistaken into thinking they are all the same.   Actually they're not!  If you look carefully you can see the placement of the glitter is different on each card!  I made the Butterflies using a Tim Holtz cut and emboss ide, and some of the new SU Expressions In Ink Specialty DSP.  It is so much prettier in real life.  This pink one I used has some very sparkly gold through it.

The card below has one of the SU "Darling Donkey" stamps on it.  I used my Scan N Cut machine to cut the Donkey out.  I cut a whole bunch of them out at the same time.  SO much quicker than cutting them out by hand, and much neater than  fiddling around with dies.

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day!  Remember to always be your authentic self and shine bright each and everyday!

      

Kiwi Threadz Scammed Me!

On September 28th I purchased 2 Kanzashi Makers from a company here in Pukekohe New Zealand.  The company I purchased them from is called Kiwi Threadz, they are a quilting business.  I have never received the 2 items I bought, and in spite of sendig Kiwi Threadz four emails, I have not received an information as to where my products are.  On their website, it say, (Quote) "Delivery will not be added to your invoice as there are several options.  I will add this later and confirm by email."  To date I have never received any type of invoice or anything saying I had purchased something from them them.   I am not happy and have put their details on Scammer Alert NZ Face Book Page.  I was really looking forward to making the flowers, especially seeing as we are still in lockdown.  It is very disappointing to be scammed, especially by a big company.

Ok, thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day!  Remember to always be your authentic self and shine right each and every day!

"Zemira"- Lavinia Stamps

The stamp I used on this card is called "Zemira", and she is from Lavinia Stamps.  The words are also a Lavinia Stamps stamp.  As much as I love this stamp, she is very hard to stamp.  On this card I have stamped her around 6 times to get proper coverage of black ink.  I am using well inked stamp pads, I have tried 3 different well inked black pads and I still don't get a good image.  If I re stamp it too many times, the image gets blurred, the fine lines on her hair get blurred.  I am using a stamp platform to stamp her.

I saw a video from Lavinia Stamps, and asked how to get her to stamp well.  The lady replied and asked me to send her images of what was happening when I stamped her.  I did this and the reply was that if I did not buy the stamp from her (Lavinia Stamps) the she would not answer my question.  WOW!!  I have never had that issue before.  Anyone I have asked for help from has readily answered my question.  No matter where I bought the stamp from.  I will not be dealing with Lavinia Stamps ever again!  There will be someone else who will be willing to help me.

Ok, so I stamped the images onto white card and then attached that onto some folded lilac coloured card, added three sequins and the card was done.  The sequins don't show up well on here, but IRL they are lovely and sparkly!  Believe me!

Ok, thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day!  Remember to always be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day,

 

Christmas "Lily".

 While making the card in the post below this, I had a brainwave and decided to make a 'flower girl.'  Next time I will add some legs from some thick wool.  I will put a round bead at the bottom of each 'leg' and tie it in a small knot so her legs hang down.  She has a hole in her head so the wool can go through.  Her 'hair' is made from a small piece of a (brand new) mop head I bought ages ago from my local Hospice Shop.  I knew I would be able to use the mop head in my crafting at some time in the future!  It was a well spent fifty cents!

UPDATE:  She now has legs and wings!  Not sure if I like the wings or not.  They are die cut from some vellum and then coloured with one of my copics.

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day!  Remember to always be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!

Poinsettia Card.

 

I made this card using a set of Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies.  It has eight dies.  I die cut the outlines from some pale bronze coloured foil card.  Because the dies were a bit on the intricate side, I used some lunch paper on top of the card, just to make it easier to get all the tiny cut out bits out of the die.  I glued some very tiny gold Beadz in the center of the flower.  Yes I know they could have been done in yellow, however I  preferred gold Beadz!  The card is quite sparkly, but because I used my flash you can't see the sparkle.  The red flower is die cut using some lightweight sparkly card/paper.  The stamped words came from an SU stamp set I have.

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day!  Remember to always be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!

Something Cute!

I found this cute bloke, above, one night when I had gone to close the back door.  He was coming down the path towards me, so I ran inside and grabbed my camera to take this shot.  It was almost dark but I was able to get a decent photo of him by using my flash.

Abd here, below, is another cute bloke!  This is one of the baby ducks that comes here every day with his mum, Daisy, to be fed!  It's quite funny, Daisy hisses at me and vaguely threatens me.  The babies, there's 3,are not scared of me one bit and walk all over my feet and peck my toes!  They run to me when they hear my voice and are so cute!  This baby was sitting at my feet looking up at me when I took this photo.  There is another mother duck that comes each day, and she has 11 babies!  I feed them as well!  Oh, and there's also Chuck the male duck, whom I presume is the father of the three babies, and he comes every day too!  I feed them all!  Chuck and Daisy have been coming here every day since last Summer, and I feed them.

These two flowers are just a couple from  garden.  The above is one of my first Ixia's that has flowered.  I bought the bulbs early in the year.  Tere are also a couple of yellow ones, and I think a white one is about to flower.  I love Ixia's!

 These flowers, above, are some of my Freesias that are in full bloom right now.  Unfortunately we've had some heavy rain which almost flattens them.  However, once the sun comes out and it dries the flowers out, they bounce right back again!  I have all kinds of colours of these.

Ok, no cards today as I am a bit tired and just don't have the energy to craft. Soon...

Thanks for dropping day, have a SUNSHINE day!  Remember to always be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!

Make Your Own Background Paper!

 

I stamped some Christmas images (above) on to some white cardstock, using four different SU stamp sets.  Then I cut that stamped sheet into four equal sized pieces, and glued each piece onto some SU Poppy Parade card stock.

From there I adhered a piece of dotty red and white ribbon across the card front. (Below) I added a punched & embossed Poinsettia flower, with some green leaves.  (I couldn't find my Poinsettia die that had leaves so I used a random punch for the leaves.  The flower has sponge tape underneath to give it some dimension.  I swiped my white ink pad over the Poinsettia for some nice effects, and added some tiny yellow seed beadz to the center of the flower.

I glued the red card to some folded white card and the card was done!  I will stamp a greeting inside the card before posting. I made four of these.  I enjoyed making my own background paper and am sure I will make some more!

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day!  Remember to always be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!

Sparkly Snowflakes!

 Just one sparkly card today.  After I stamped and die cut the snowflakes,   I lay them face down on some Grafix Artist-Tac paper then after I lifted them off the paper, I sprinkled them with some fine clear glitter.  I like how they turned out and think I might try some other shapes!

Update on my health:  I am fine and no signs of having Covid:-)

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day!  Remember to always be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!

Bright and Easy Breezy Christmas Cards!

Still feeling angry and hurt by my friends comments she made to me yesterday, I have channeled my anger into creativity and  finished off the 'half made cards from yesterday.  I made them all using the SU Frosted Gingerbread stamps/dies.

I have chosen not to use 'traditional' colours - I am not motivated by red and green and all the usual Christmas colours at all!  I'm bucking the trend this year!  Although having already made lots of Christmas cards, those are in the traditional Christmas colours.  Lockdown is doing funny things to me!

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day. As always, remember to be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!

A Double Shock!

 I received a Covid alert message today saying I MAY have been in contact with Covid-19 at my local supermarket on the 5th of October.  That came as a complete shock to me.  I have been double vaccinated and I always wear a face mask and wash my hands after I come  home.  I don't go far and shop local.

But a bigger shock was to come.

I have a friend who lives close by who feeds my cats when I am in hospital.

I sent her a text saying I MAY have been exposed to Covid-19 and if so would she please come and feed Romeo IF I had to go in to managed isolation.

She has refused saying she wouldn't come and feed him!!  She refuses to get vaccinated against Covid, in spite of her husband having been vaccinated for it.  (I've had both my vaccines).

It was like a kick in the guts hearing her say she would not come to feed Romeo:-(  I am shocked and hurt, and disappointed.

This is someone I have known for most of my life.  But at least I know where I stand now.

She doesn't care less about my cat, Romeo.

Sorry this isn't a card - I have some half made, maybe tomorrow.  I just needed to get this out and on to paper, well, it's not really paper is it?!

Ok, thanks for reading this and letting me vent!  As always, be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!

Some Random Cards...

I'm back with a few cards I made.  My heart isn't in it at the moment:-(  I am bored, depressed and sad.  Being in lockdown for so long is affecting my inspiration and creativity.  With nothing open and so many businesses either closed or completely closed down, life is boring:-(  We should get some news about places opening up next Monday, so I have my fingers and toes crossed!  Anyhow, these are a few cards I have managed to make.  The top and bottom cards were made using a SU stamp/die set called, "Frosted Gingerbread".  It's a fun set, I'm just low on inspiration right now!

The card above also uses an SU stamp/punch set called "Sweet Strawberry".  Another fun set.  I used and SU stamp pad called "Poppy Parade."  A yummy color!  I need to make sure my cards are straight when I photograph them!  None of these are!  You would think I was on a rocking ship photographing these! (I wasn't!)

Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day!  Remember to always be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!