Baby Cards and Baby Showers

Hi All :)

I was trying my hand at making some baby cards, as both a friend and cousin are pregnant (waving to Shell). These cards are only really small (again 7cm x 7.5cm) but easy to work with. I usually like to see what they look like small and maybethen I will create something a bit bigger later. I am trying to come up with some baby shower type cards also because my friends mother and I will be organising a baby shower for my friend at some stage. If you have ANY ideas for a baby shower, please pass them along - more ideas the merrier!

Thanks for looking :)

Card Recipe: All in the Family and Rivetting stamp set, Almost Amethyst, So Saffron and Certainly Celery cardstock, Almost Amethyst Designer series patterned paper, old olive brads, Watercolour markers, scallop and 1 1/4 circle punch, ribbon

Overnight Muffins

Hi All :)

For a change, I thought it would be nice to put a yummy recipe on here instead of the usual cards. These are quite heavy muffins, but great for brekkie or a quick meal.

Overnight Muffins

1 1/4 cups Plain Flour
1 1/4 cups Muesli
1 tsp bi carb soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
30 gm bran
120gm dates chopped
375ml buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Combine all dry ingredients together. Mix buttermilk, egg and vegetable oil together and add to dry ingredients. Do not overmix.

Let mix sit overnight.

Cook in 180 degree oven for 1 hour. depending on size of muffin cups you use. We use pretty large ones, hence the long cooking time. Best to experiment and keep checking.

Mouse House

Hi All :)

Thought I would post this card I made a little while ago. The picture isn't too clear unfortunately (got to take some photography lessons one day....) but I think you get the general idea.

I have used watercolour paper here which is so forgiving when colouring with water. The stamp is from Mouse House which I fell in love with a while back. I think this would make a great 'I miss you' card for someone. I found it easier colour the raindrops in blue, then emboss them using a watermark pen and clear ep; makes for colouring the rest of the image easier. The three sections of the stamped image are backed in SU! Old Olive cardstock and the main card with SU! Rose Red.

Personally I think I should have cut the strips a little differently so that the mice were all in the same strip but I guess I will leave that correction for the next card. It was a hard image to ink up and stamp as the image is quite fine, but once done, it was such a lovely image to watercolour. I might just do this one again :)

Mother guilt and Baroque Motifs again.....

Hi All :)


Life is just too busy and tiring at the moment.

I have a 5 month old daughter who is absolutely adorable and scrummy, but who also has decided that feeding every 4 hours is necessary - no matter whether it is day or night, and no amount of coaxing will change her mind. My DH thinks that is my stubborness coming out in her - quite possibly (but it takes one to know one!). Needless to say, I have yet to get more than 3 hours sleep at a time *sigh*. Sometimes I just feel like a damn milk shop!

I watched a program about sleep deprevation on 60 minutes on Sunday. I watched as they put one of the presenters through a mini 'scientific experiment' - getting him to stay up for 40 hours straight. By the end of the test, this man couldn't even add up simple maths let alone drive a car!

Well there you go! I thought to myself. Is that the reason for my slurring of words; my forgetfullness; my wanting to reach for sugar instead of healthy foods; my inability to hold a conversation for more than a couple of minutes at a time or to remember things! Now with all of this sleep deprivation my family has gotten used to me saying "really? you told me that? when?". And this has been happening since my DS was born!

I find myself feeling guilty for not being able to give 100% to those who need me the most such as my darling DS 21 months. He loves spending time with me but unfortunately, his sister keeps getting in the way and he gets frustrated, so then I find myself trying to spend as much as my time with him when his sister goes for her nap. In the meantime, my house is a mess, we mainly eat leftovers for tea, and I feel myself nodding off at inopportune moments. Finding time for craft seems like a huge deal.

But besides all of this, I wouldn't swap it for the world. Those of you who know me, or read my blog on 'I've been tagged' a while ago would know that my two youngest are miracles as I was told (by a gynaecologist) I couldnt have any more children. (my DH just thinks that he is the hero in the story!). Both times were a complete surprise :)

Anyway, enough baby talk. The weekend was kind to me in that my dear MIL was able to take my gorgeous but extremely active and mischevious DS 21mths overnight, thus enabling me to spend Sunday with my only crafty friend Michelle making and designing cards. I was only able to make 2 standard and 2 small cards though - milk bar on call!

I must apologise for the camera shot of the first card as I just cannot get the colours right. I didn't show the other standard card but the colours are just reversed in the cardstock (ie. Purely Pomegranate as the card base and so on.....) The third picture is another one of those small cards I can never make enough of! (7 x 7.5) Recipe is:

Cardstock and Ink - Very Vanilla, Purely Pomegranate, Cameo Coral
Stamps - Baroque Motifs
Accessories - clear glitter embossing powder, stamp-a-ma-jig, vintage and earth elements brads.

The important thing I have learnt out of making these addictive cards is that from one sheet of cardstock from those three colours, I get to make two standard cards and two small cards (using the leftovers), even managing to get two scallop circle punches and the embellishments for all cards out of the same cardstock.

Sorry if it is long winded, and even sorrier if there are mistakes! My bed is calling...........no. 2 daughter asleep! my turn!.....zzzzzzz

Another really small card!

Again with the Baroque Motifs, but this time with a card that measures only 7 x 7 1/2 cm. I am finding the Vintage brads very useful for these colours. I embossed the stamped image using versamark and blue bayou even though it changed the colour somewhat. i didnt mind as it looks more vintage. Thanks for looking :)

Baroque Motifs

I have found a new favourite stamp - Baroque Motifs! It is so versatile and easy to use to whip up a quick card (well for me that is under an hour). Alisa Tilsner's Stamps By Mail has enabled me to adapt her template into lots of different ways and colour variations. For these cards, I have still stuck to Blue Bayou and Soft Sky, but have used Very Vanilla instead of the white cardstock. I find it looks more warm IRL but doesn't show up well in the picture. In one of the cards, I have reversed the order of the blues. Not sure which one I like best yet. Which one do you like?

Its all in the giving.......

Hi All :)

I got a surprise in the mail the other day from the lovely Cassandra (Crafty Cass). Every sunday she has a 'freebie' to give away to the first 5 people who reply on her blob. Now I think that is very generous of her considering the price of postage but, she never fails to give. I got a sample of Sahara Sand cardstock which i cannot wait to use.

Sooooo anyway, back to the surprise.....She sent me a lovely thank you card for the card I gave her (see? it does come round and round) and also the most lovely 'teabag' card which I just had to show you! Thank you Cass. You are a brick!

Dont you just love receiving cards? I love receiving cards from people and keep them for ages on my television until my family get sick of them and then I pack them away in a box to look at every now and then......I am a true romantic lol I have kept every love letter and card that my hubbie has given me and every now and then I get them all out and look at them (also good when i am feeling particularly down)

Watercolouring and Patterned paper

Another card I made using the same patterned paper as before, but this time I stamped an image (Summer by the Sea stamp set) onto watercolour paper and coloured it in with my markers and a paintbrush (still getting used to my aquabrush...). The scallops were made with my corner rounder.

Thanks for looking :)

More cards......Butterflies and Patterned Paper

I decided to get out my punches and create a card. This is what I came up with. Still not sure about it. I think I am so used to seeing stamping on my cards that I find it a bit bare. My daughter come up with the idea of backing the butterflies onto coloured card and offset it a bit to create a shadow effect - took her advice and thought she was a clever chooky!

Thanks for looking :)

Love notes, purely pomegranate and Kindyglitz!

Hi All :)

Kids are asleep so it is time to put a couple more cards on my little blog. These two are very small IRL - measurements are 1/4 A4 cardstock using my favourite colour of the year, Purely Pomegranate. The wonderful Cass gave me the pp (thank you very much Cass!) which I decorated using Kindyglitz (hence the sparkle). A couple of embellishments later and you have yourself a couple of nice gift tags or love notes. I dont get to make more of the same (or similar) card very often but I find that if I cut up the cardstock into card size, then I am more inclined to make more than one of the same card.

Thanks for looking :) I am so appreciating all the positive comments I am getting ladies, so keep em' coming! LOL

Stamps by Mail - two cards

These are posted separately as I still dont have a handle on placing photos 'just right' on my blog.

Stamps by Mail

Hi All :)

I joined 'stamps by mail', by Alisa Tilsner (see link on left) the other week and received my first 'installment' of goodies last week. Boy was I excited! I decided to take a picture (Cass as you can see - Hot Chocolate!)

Anyway, I received the Baroque Motifs, 2 stamp pads, and the technique booklet. Alisa sent out the cardstock and embellishments for the 2 cards and 1 6 x 6 layout plus emailed us comprehensive instruction sheets (boy this sounds like an advert doesn't it?).

I got to work and made 2 cards and one layout and I was really impressed with how it all turned out. I have yet to make it in other colours, but had so much fun. I am not very good creatively so this is a chance to 'borrow' someone elses mind without all the stress.

Bleaching

Hi :)

The other day I mentioned that I only made 6 cards but didnt have time to show them all, so here I am trying to catch up. It has been a long and tiring couple of months for me since I have had my youngest (4 1/2 months). It definitely is easier to 'bounce back' when you are younger and fitter (22yrs), not older and wiser (39 yrs)....lol.

Anyway, the bleaching technique I have used involves embossing the image and then using an aqua pen filled with bleach, or paintbrush (which is what I have used in this instance) dipped in bleach, to lighten the cardstock until you get the desired effect. Black cardstock really surprised me in that it went orange. It looks more effective IRL. I have gone over parts of the image more than others to get that shading and 3D effect. I have layered the image onto Rose Red and Black cardstock. The background image is stamped with versamark and then embossed with clear EP. The background stamp is called French Script. Oh, and the main image is from the stamp set called Summer by the Sea.

Thanks for looking :)