2017 April | Money And Finances Today

What I Made For Christmas – #2

Good Morning.
Here are another 2 altered notebooks, this time for siblings Miss 14 and Miss 11. The paper for Miss 14’s notebook was the one NOT in the 60 cent pile, but I think it turned out to be my favourite. She is a real purple lover but the blue woven into this DP had me sold from the get go.

Miss 11

Miss 14

Back and fronts….

…and of course the flowers….

Thanks for popping by again.

Stuff Used:

DP: K & Co Brookfield Sunflower Diamonds Flat Paper, KaiserCraft: Airy Fairy – Dreams”

Other bits: Lace, Flowers, Ric-Rac and Charms fm Alice’s, Martha Stewart Celery/brown ribbon.

Lynda xx

What I Made for Christmas – #1

Hi all.

Well given that we are nearly half way through January, I thought I should share with you the things that I made for my nieces, nephews and friends. I am going to break them up into a few posts, but know that each reflects the receivers personality. The other brilliant thing is that the papers used I got at my favourite Paper Crafting store (Alice in Paperland) for the bargain price of just 60 cents a sheet (with the exception of 1).

Today I am sharing siblings Miss 16 and Miss 14. All the girls received notebooks that were A6 in size.

Miss 14

Miss 16

The DP’s looks so great, this is how they looked in their entirety.

The things I carried through all the notebooks are the flower motif and the wee double heart charm. the lace was all the same, but I added another narrow contrast ribbon to make it pop. The flowers (I thought anyhow) looked fantastic. Sadly I did not have any black paper flowers so I tried to colour a white one with ink….and nearly got there.

Here is a close up of the lace and ribbon/ric-rac.

The girls also received something small for their dressers, which I will feature in another post.

Thanks for popping by.

Stuff used:

DP: K & Co – Sparkly Sweet: Shoes and Purses Flat Paper/ Danny O Red & White Checks Flat Paper

Other Bits: Lace, Ric-Rac, Paper Flowers and Double Heart Silver Charms all from Alice In Paperland, Brads fm stash, Double Sided Tape (lots of it)

Lynda xx

Bevvy of Booties….

Hi All.

Some time back I was asked to make a baby boy card for one of the doctors at work who was about to become and Aunty. I was also HANGING out to try and make the booties I had seen around blog land with the Stocking Punch. I took my inspiration from here and here. Given that I wanted to give her a choice, I made a softer card and one a bit bolder.

The one inspired by Jackie Topa turned out like this….

Given that I had used the “Hello Baby” sentiment on the other card, I changed it to the “Welcome Baby” and used the wee nappy pin to make a patterned piece for the booties to sit on.

The bolder one I used Pacific Point…..a colour that I very rarely use, but was pleasantly surprised with the way it came up.

I am a sucker for dry embossing and the folders really for a work out here…..

She loved both but took the softer one.

Thanks for dropping by again.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Pacific Point

Ink: (SU) Bashful Blue, Pacific Point

Stamps: (SU) Simply Stitched, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Short and Sweet, Polka Dot BGS

Punches: (SU) Stocking Builder Punch, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch

Embossing Folders: SU Tulip Frame, Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes and Swiss Dots

Other Bits: Dimensionals, DMC White Embroidery thread, SU Bashful Blue Gingham Ribbon (ret), White and blue 1/2 pearls

Lynda xx

Post Christmas Birthdays

Hi All,
I am always on the go around Christmas/New Years as I have quite a few family birthdays immediately after the festive frivolity.

My MIL has her birthday 5 days after Christmas and I wanted to get her something nice, but not overwhelming. It started off with this card. I worked with that and ended up with this…….

Now as you can see the card does not have a sentiment on it ….as I was running horridly behind (so unlike me) and I wanted to get some pics before I lost all light. After the sentiment and finishing touches went on, this is what it looked like…

The card used what I think is called the “Spritz” Technique, whereby you colour the image on the stamp with Stamp and Write Markers and then before stamping onto watercolour paper, you lightly spray it with water. Up close, it really is a beautiful effect.

Part of my new drive is to reload my card stash, so in all I made 4 of these, but with different border punches and I have left the sentiments off so that I can tailor as needed.

Thanks for dropping by, I still have some of my Christmas gifts to show, but I may spread them out a little.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Elegant Eggplant, Orchid Opulence (ret), Eraldo watercolour paper

Ink: (SU) Stamp and Write Markers in Elegant Eggplant, orchid Opulence (ret) and Certainly Celery

Stamps: (SU) Inspired By Nature, Amy R “Birthday Sentiments

Punches: SU large and small Oval Punches, Sizzix Beautiful Wings Embosslit die, MS Gothic Arches Punch

Other Bits: SU Certainly Celery Twill Ribbon

Lynda xx

Getting with the times….

Hi all.

Just a quick one today for those of you who wish to keep up with what I create. If you look in the upper right hand corner of my main page, you’ll see a “Follow By E mail” link. This essentially lets you subscribe to my blog and my posts will arrive in your inbox as they come to be.

I have to thank dear Andrea for helping me test this function and she assures me that all is arriving as it should.

Will be back soon with more projects and cards.

Lynda xx

Bright Start to the New Year

Hi all.

Happy New Year to all out there and I hope that you all survived the celebrations.

I have decided to start this year of 2012 posting with a challenge to get the creative juices flowing. Our Creative Corner have set the challenge of “Bright and Happy New Year” with the following bounds.

Now a little while back I saw this card on SCS. Now when I CASE, I like to put my own little twist on it. I initially started in pastels which were very pretty, but then this challenge made me think….hmmmmmm….how would brights look? This was the outcome…..

Bright and BOLD!!! Now to satisfy the challenge parameters….the green is in the stems and leaves of all the flowers. Other than that…..

Bright Pink…..

Bright Purple……

…and Yellow…..

For the record, the other colours used were Rose Red, Poppy Parade and Peach Parfait. As for the celebration part, I figure these cards are so generic that they can go with a “Thinking of You”, “Happy Birthday” or even a “Hello Friend”. The other massive ‘celebration” is that I boosted my cards stash with 7 bright and cheery cards.

Thanks for popping by, and if you get a chance, pop on over to Our Creative Corner and have a look at what the DT and other creative souls have put together.

Thanks for popping by.

Stuff Used:

CS: Basic Black, Whisper White, Regal Rose, Almost Amethyst (ret), Summer Sun (ret), Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Rose Red and “Elle” card – Fuschia (very close to Melon Mambo)

Ink: (SU) Regal Rose, Almost Amethyst, Summer Sun, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Wild Wasabi, Pear Pizzaz

Stamps: (SU) Soft Summer

Other Bits: SU Scallop Border Punch, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, 10mm black Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals, Black 4mm faceted 1/2 gems, Mini Glue Dots

Lynda xx

Christmas CAES-ing Kez – #1

Not that long ago I was privileged enough to be involved in another session of Cards For The Troops with Kerry Bunting. Between all of us we mastered about 250 cards in under 4 hours. The mood was jolly and light and many laughs were had. You can see the cards we made on Kerry’s blog HERE. To save confusion, This is the card I worked on at the session and consequently also CASEd.

I certainly got a crash course in sponging on that day….mind you….I could have had to cut out 50 of the doves….hee hee hee. I loved the tones in this card and they had a real classic, vintage feel to them. This is my version……

For the version above, I cut out the Crumb cake layer all together. I added the Dazzling Diamonds to the dove and randomly to the main image. I am not usually a fan of sparkle, but it did add something very special to the card. Here is the dove close up….

Thanks so much Kez for providing me with the inspiration for such a fantastic card. I love it to bits. Belated thanks for allowing me to be a part of cards For the troops again. It is such a rollicking afternoon for a brilliant cause.

Thanks for dropping by.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla

Ink: (SU) Crumb Cake, Soft Suede

Stamps: SU A Wish For Peace (ret), Kaiser Clear Christmas Greetings Stamps

Other Bits: SU Dazzling Diamonds, Nestabilities Classic Ovals, Sponges, Dimsnsionals

Lynda xx

Teacher’s Presents – #1

Hi all,

Thanks again for stopping by and thanks also for your patience with the time between posts. In the lead up to Christmas I kinda over extended myself and was left finishing gifts til 1.15AM Christmas AM!!!

I have so much Christmas stuff to show you, I will bundle some, bit I also hope you’ll indulge the speccy ones that need posts of their own. This is one.

I had a request to make a gift for the teacher of a girl that my daughter dances with. Being male, her mum was struggling for an idea of what to get. She often sees me crafting at dancing and she asked if I had something perhaps suitable….yeah sure….AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!

So I went through my male “things” and came up with the following set. Here it is all together.

I will feature the card in an upcoming post. The box is the same type that I featured in a previous post here. I ‘bloked it up” by keeping embellishments to a minimum, but did put his initials on the box.

I was pretty happy that I got ribbon on all 3 bits of the gift!!!

The desk caddy was so much fun. I had found paper blocks (4″ x 4″) at the Reject Shop for $1 and based the whole project around this. It had a simple easel top and a 2012 mini calendar to keep it open.

All parties were very happy with the gift. The teacher even pulled me aside on the last day of school and thanked me (which I thought was lovely). He admitted the chocolates did not last very long and has discarded the base and is using it as a trinket box on his dresser.

Thanks for popping by. I will post (hopefully) slightly more frequently in the weeks to come.

Stuff used:
CS: (SU) Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Whisper White (card) and KO Verbena Brown – Dots and Floral DP
Ink: (SU) Choc Chip
Stamps: (SU) Dasher, Occasional Greetings
Other Bits: Nestabilities Labels One, SU 1 1/4″ Real red striped ribbon, Carla Craft CP2 Sparkles punch

Christmas CASE – #3

Good Morning all!!

Is anyone else feeling the impending time and pressure of Christmas? I must admit this year I am feeling it terribly!!!

This is the 2nd card I turned out from the visit to my friend’s place. It is based on a tag that I saw on SCS here. I expanded and added a little to make it into a cute and a little bit of a cheeky Christmas card.

I will admit to a small squeal of delight escaping when the final piece was placed on this card. The Santa vest was achieved by stamping the Santa tag from the Tags ‘Til Christmas set and then punching it out in the Owl Punch. Add some Summer Sun SWM for the belt…..and Santa was complete. The hat is a Carla Craft CP2 Heart with a small trim of a Word Window Punch for the trim.

Finished off with the Scallop Square punch and the sentiment…..

I have since made a couple of more versions of this card, but have not yet photographed them.

Thanks for popping by. I hope I am not boring you with all of this CASE-ing.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Jolly Holiday DSP (ret), Soft Suede, Basic Black, Only Orange, Old Olive

Ink: (SU) Cherry Cobbler

Stamps: (SU) Tags ‘Til Christmas

Punches: (SU) Owl Punch, Scallop Border Punch, 1 1/4 Square Punch, Scallop Square Punch, XL Bird Punch

Other Bits: Dimensionals, Cuttlebug Christmas Holly Leaf and Berry Embossing Folder

Lynda xx

Christmas CASE – #2

A couple of weeks back I landed over at my friend’s place with the soul intention of making Christmas Cards. I would like the record to reflect that I made 6 and she got 1 done, but in her defence, she did make a lot of owls too!!!

I think I am a SUCKER for Christmas stamp sets, due to the fact that when I packed up my stamps to go to her place, I actually had to leave SOME behind. One set I did take was “Tags Til Christmas”. I got the inspiration for my card from this one on SCS.

Now still feeding my overwhelming desire to have no 2 cards the same, these are similar in very subtle ways.