Get More From Your Punches!

I used my SU heart punch for this, but you can use any punch at all.  I flipped the punch so it was upside down, then put a piece of white card inside the punch.  Gently, without actually punching the card, hold the card in the punch and with a pen, draw around the inside of the hearts.  I used my left hand which was not easy, as I am right handed! 

You need to make sure the white card doesn't slip while drawing around the hearts.  I out the upside down punch on the table while I did this.

Once you have drawn around the hearts, press on the punch to cut out the shapes.  

You now have hearts that you have drawn lines around!  Much easier than trying to draw the lines around the heart after you have cut them out!  Lot's of fun, and quick and easy!

Thanks for dropping by, hope you left with a smile!  {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

Experimenting With Glitter + Embossing Folders + Stencils!

 It's a messy job, but someone had to do it - so I did!  Here's how I did and what I used:  I used my glue pad on an embossing folder, on the under side of the top part of the folder. (Where the label usually is, and if the folder has no label, emboss a piece of scrap card to see which is the "raised" part of the embossing. This is the side of the folder you splosh your glue pad on.  Put a mark on the folder with a pen so you will know in the future which side to splosh your glue pad on.) I sploshed the glue pad all over the folder to make sure the entire folder was covered with glue. Then I put a piece of white card in the folder and run it through my Cuttlebug.  Once I had done this I took the card out and covered it with a white/clear glitter.  I shook off the excess glitter and then dried the piece of glitterd card with my heat gun.

  

It's very hard to see in these photo's, but it looks really sparkly and pretty IRL!  I tired to catch the sun on it so it sparkled but to no avail:-(  Instead of a glue pad, you can also use a clear embossing pad.  Mine needs more ink so I used the glue pad instead.  Works the same.  Try it!  And let me know how it went!

These two photo's (above and below) use a technique called double glittering.  This was a little more tricky than the embossing folder one.  I used a Christmas tree stencil for this one.  First of all I carefully rubbed some handmade soap (this is softer and easier to use than normal household soap) on the back of the stencil.  This stops the stencil sticking to the Jac paper. Then I cut a piece of JAC paper and stuck it to a piece of white card I had cut the same size as the stencil.  I placed the soap side of the stencil onto the Jac paper/card and pressed it down firmly.  Then I sprinkled gold glitter all over the stencil making sure the entire tree was covered.  I shook off the excess glitter and removed the stencil.  (Remember to wash it in warm water afterwards to remove the soap).  Once I had removed the stencil I then covered the rest of the card/Jac paper with white glitter.  Remove the excess glitter and you have a double glitterered card!

This is a close up of the Christmas tree once it is finished.  It's fun and messy, which makes it even more fun!

This is the stencil I used for the double glittered card.   I don't know which company it is from, sorry!  Thanks for dropping by today, I hope you left with a smile!  {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

"Sunrise"

When I opened the curtains, at 6.50 am this morning, this is what I saw!   So I grabbed my camera and went outside to take a few photo's before it all disappeared. 

 It was still semi-dark outside, and the street lights were still on.  And there I was outside in my dressing gown and slippers snapping photo's of the sky!  So glad  did! 

As you can see, the colours faded quickly as the sky turned from hot orange to pale pink and finally as the sun rose further the sky turned cloudy and dull.  What a let down after the gorjuss show of colours!

I don't usually post anything so early in the day, but I wanted to get these photo's on here right away.  It was  a nice surprise to see such a pretty sunrise, usually it's the sunset I witness. Okay, that's all for now, thank you or dropping by and I hope you left with a smile! Come back soon! {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)   

Mothers Day Gift

My mother originally planted this Tree Dahlia many years ago.  Since then I have taken pieces of it and planted it in various parts of my garden.  So that is why I have posted this photo I took yesterday.

Today is Mothers Day here in New Zealand/Australia.  What most of you will not know about me, is, I am a very spiritual person and have been all my life.

My mother passed away 7 years ago. Yesterday I said to her, "Mum, I need a sign from you that you can hear me.  Please give me a sign tomorrow, on Mothers Day".  I kept it simple and left it at that.

Nothing spectacular happened all day - I tidied the lounge room, how exciting!  (Not!)

Then as I was about to close the drapes tonight, as it was getting dark, I noticed a car parked on the side of the road opposite here. It was a red and black Mini.  A 1275 GT red and black mini. My mother had one just like it.  She sold it about 15 years ago, before she passed away.

I did a double take at the car...and then I read the number plate...it is my mothers car that she had sold all those years ago!  OMG!

I could hardly believe it was her old car! It is now dark and the car is still there.  If it's there in the morning I am going to take a photo of it!  It's too dark to take a photo of it now.  I took this as a sign from my mother...what do you think?!Wow!  Thanks for the sign mum...and Happy Mothers Day!!

Ok that's it for tdoay!  Thanks for dropping by, and I hope you left with a smile!  Come back soon!  {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

Cards, Cats and Flowers!

This is going to be a long post because I am posting everything I've done for the last week! So grab yourself a cuppa, sit back and relax!  I made the leaves (above) using a small circle punch.  Why??  Because I have lost my tiny leaf die from SU Botanical Builder die set:-(  Sadly it went up the vacuum cleaner never to be seen again.

From this photo (above) you can see how I made the leaves.  You can use any circle punch/die, and I have even used other shaped punches to make leaves.

Once again, this is my neighbours gorjuss Autumn coloured tree.  But I am seeing less and less of it each day as time goes by:-(  I know I will miss it during winter, so at least I have some nice photo's of it to remind me of how gorjuss it was!

Above and below are the leaves I punched out, on the finished card.  BTW, the card is actually a bright lime green - not that you would know it in this photo! 

 Here are some more circle cards I made, with the same punched out leaves.

 On the Christmas card I have (finally!) used some flowers I bought over a year ago!  Stashed them away and forgot about them!

Below is part of a card which has to be finished.  This started out as a bookmark but got too chunky!  It will  be part of a card once I have decided how to finish it off! 

I found some really tiny buttons (stars and hearts) so added those to the mix.  I also found some gold flakes hidden away in my treasure trove of embellishments!

 Below is some "Autumn" coloured "Flower Soft" I found - another treasure hidden away that I "forgot" I had.  I won't mention how many years ago I bought it and NEVER used it, until recently!  I have been dabbling with it and when the card is finished I will post it on here.  It's a gorjuss colour, all red/gold/yellow and orange.  Just like the Autumn tree down the back!

 This card is my first attempt at using Water Effect 1" stamps, from "Designs By Ryn".  I just looove those stamps!!  Ryn's artwork is amazing and I am so grateful she made her drawings into rubber stamps!  Now we all get to share her artwork and make our own!  That makes us all winners!  Thanks Ryn!  BTW, my stamps arrived FOUR days AHEAD of schedule, so I was overjoyed to see them in my mail box a few days ago!  They are sooo much fun to use!

 I used my sunburst embossing folder on this card, below.  I just added some laves and flowers in pretty Autumn colours.  I am a bit 'obsessed' with Autumn and Autumn colours right now!  It's such a pretty time of year and I just want to enjoy as much of it for as long as I can!

 

Above are some closeups of the card.  You can see more detail of the sunburst embossing folder I used.  Yes, another item I have had for 'some time' and not used!

 These photo's are of my Tree Dahlia I have growing.  I love this plant!  It's quite tall and spreads out alot.  I grew both plants (I have two plants) from a cutting.  You take a piece of the actual tree (branch) and plant it in the ground vertically. It shoots up really quickly and before long you have a big tree of it!  The wind and rain are not kind to i though, as it is a 'soft' plant and the wind knocks the flowers and the branches off.  Luckily we have not had any rain or wind recently so the Tree Dahlia is flourishing right now.

It's hanging on the ground in places and I tried (for some time!) to get "Bella" to sit in front of it for a photo.  She was more interested in looking for a mouse in the bushes!  But I did capture "Tiny" sitting in the grass, all chilled out and relaxing in the sun! He actually lives next door,  but lives here, if you know what I mean!  I am "Day Care Mother" to him during the day, and he goes home at night.  He is so friendly and smoochy!

Okay, I think I am done for now.  Thanks for dropping in, I hope you left with a smile, and come back soon! {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

Crayon Resist Cards

 I made these cards using the crayon resist technique - so much fun!  I stamped the flowers in black ink, onto a white card.  Then I used a white crayon to draw around the inside of each petal, and the center of the flower.  Ditto with the Bumble-Bee.  Once I had done that I sponged yellow ink over the petals, sponging beyond the lines.  YES!  You are allowed to do this!  The more you sponge yellow ink, the brighter the white crayon shows up.

 I hope you can see the white crayon int his close up photo.  I added some extra flowers to the card, and two strips of yellow card.

I used the same technique for this brown/peach coloured card.

The close up photo shows the white crayon easily.  The more ink you sponge on the flower, the more the white crayon shows up.  Hope you enjoyed these cards, and left with a smile!

Thanks for dropping by, {HUGS} from me to YOU:-) 

Inspired By Autumn

My neighbours beautiful Autumn tree inspired today's card!  I just loved the colours of the leaves, so I used that inspiration to make my card, below. 

I layered yellow and orange circles and added some flowers and leaves.  The flowers were a pale yellow so i sponged them with orange and red ink to get them the colour I wanted.  The words and frame are a set of matching stamps and die from My Favorite Things, and is called Greeting Frame.  I am having some challenges getting the frame stamp in the correct place after I have die cut the label.  So far I have only managed to do two frames that are ok!

This is some more words from that MFT set. 

I made the rose (above) from an old egg carton.  It's quite a chunky rose compared to some I have made.  Lot's of fun and I had paint and glitter everywhere!  

This pink rose was made from hand made paper/card and I used my SU Christmas ornament pun to make the petals.  This is it below.  I punched out 5 petals and also a half petal for the center. 

These (below) are the petals after I spritzed them with water, and scrunched them up.  I carefully dried them with my hair dryer - a useful took for crafting!  I put the wet flowers in a small heat proof egg cup to hold the flower in shape while I dry it with the hair dryer.

 These are the hand made papers/card I used to make the flower.  I bought these some time ago and have never used them until now!

 And this is "Romeo-Valentino" sun bathing int he sun, holding onto his heart shaped sunnies!  The sun is gorjuss at this time of year (Autumn) as it isn't too hot, and is just right for sunbathing!  My cats follow the sun around the house, moving from window ledge to window ledge as the sun moves!

Okay that;s all for now, thank you for visiting and I hope you left with a smile!  Come back soon! {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)