I am Owl Inspired....

Hi there!

Hope you had a lovely weekend. It has been a cold and very wet weekend here! The weather is supposed to brighten up later in the week, so here's hoping! Our backyard was under water today!

This weekend we celebrated my niece and nephew's birthdays. I gave my niece a handmade pressie (which I will share in another post) and wanted to create a matching card. You know how I love to be all matchy matchy!

I thought I may as well search for a challenge to combine with, as I am on a mission to challenge it up more often! I came across the perfect sketch over at 'Card Patterns Weekly Sketch Blog'.

The pressie in question was a handmade felt owl, so an owl card was definitely in order. I matched the colours in the owl as my colour palette for the card. I have used Whisper White, Bashful Blue and So Saffron, combined with some Twitterpatted DSP.

I loved the sketch and pretty much stayed true to it, only adding the doily peeking out of the top and the sentiment banner. The doily cut out behind the owl was made using some white felt and the Perfect Pennants SU! Big Shot Die.

I added a Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon Bow, some Linen Thread and some pretty little flowers.  The bottom edge of the Twitterpatted DSP was run through the Big Shot with one of the Edgelit dies.

The Owl was made using some SU! Circle Punches for the body, the Large Oval Punch for the tummy and the Owl Punch for the beak and the feet.

 The sentiment banner was made using the petal cone die, which I then stamped on and folded to give some dimension.

Since changing over to my MacBook Air, (which I love!) I no longer have Photoshop. I used to edit all of my photos in Photoshop, so when switching to Mac I had to find an alternative. I had been using iPhoto which I was happy with as far as editing goes, but I could not add a watermark, not that I know how to anyway! So I have started using an online editing web site called PicMonkey. I love it, it has so many cool features! I can add a watermark, but I don't seem to be able to save it and use it again, so I have to start from scratch when adding it to each photo! So the search may need to continue........we will see. If anyone has any ideas on this, please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know your ideas.

The cool thing is that you can make collages on PicMonkey also. It even has a template that fits the new Facebook cover photo on Timeline. Must try that one!

Anyway, I have added a collage of the photos in this post just for fun.

Thanks for stopping by today!

S xx

A Challenge or Two....

Hi there!

Well since I am starting to get back into the swing of blogging, I thought I would also try to get back into doing some challenges.

Firstly I saw this gorgeous inspiration piccy over at 'There She Goes'.

I knew straight away that this picture, the SU! Bird Punch, and some Pool Party CS and DSP would be the perfect match!

I am also going to add this to the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week. The challenge is 'Just Add Pearls'.

I also saw that they are having a Birthday Bash over at Ribbon Carousel. I have depleted most of my stash of ready made cards, and thought this would be the perfect challenge to start replenishing it.

Click on the pictures above to go and look at all the talent entered into these challenges.

I started with a Crumbcake base, and added some DSP and Cardstock in the scrumptious Pool Party. I used the Perfect Pennants Die to cut out a Whisper White Doily. I also used some Peach Parfait to tie in with the berries in the TSG Inspiration Pic.

I added some Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon and a happy birthday sentiment flag, topped off with a bow.

The little birdy is sitting on some leaves made with the wing from the Bird Punch, as well as some pretty flowers made with one of the Itty Bitty Punches. The flowers are topped with some Basic Pearls.

 A gorgeous little nest for the birdy. I sponged the tail and the wing of the bird with some Crumbcake ink.

I used one of the new edgelit dies to give a pretty border to the DSP.

We have a long weekend here this weekend, enjoy!
I will endeavour to be back with some more crafting goodness before the weekend is out.

Thanks for stopping by today!
Any questions, please ask and feel free to leave a comment.

S xx

Baby card take 2

Hi there!

Today I am back to finally show you a card I made for a colleague who is about to have her second baby. This is a CASE of a card by Scrapping Mommy, that I found over on Pinterest.

I made this card A5 in size so that we could all fit in a message for the new mummy. I used a Crumbcake card base and teamed it with Whisper White. The card front was embossed with the SU! Polka Dot Embossing Folder.

I die cut some clouds out of white felt, and used some Linen Thread for the clothes line.

The bottom of the grass panel is embellished with the Eyelet Border Punch, some Linen Thread, a SU! button and a Basic Rhinestone.

 I have used the Decorative Label punch for the 'hello baby' sentiment.

 I also made another version of this card for a friend who needed a baby card for a gift. This one is slightly different. Instead of teaming it with Whisper White on this card, I used Regal Rose. This card is for a baby girl, where as the above card was gender neutral.

I used the owl punch for the little dresses and hand cut them to the dress shape with a pair of scissors.

I used the Welcome Baby stamp from the SU! Little Additions stamp set, to make a little sentiment flag.

I also used the Polka Dot EF on this card, but used the indented side up.

The finishing touch is a little pink flower Designer Button from SU! with a Linen Thread bow, topped with a Basic Rhinestone.

Thanks for stopping by today!
Please leave me some comment love!

See you soon.
S xx

Sew Excited!

Hi there!

If all goes to plan this time, I should be able to finally show you the baby card I have been promising, sometime after tomorrow.

But today I am here with a birthday card that made me SEW excited! Yes, I mean SEW, because for the first time I took to some paper and card stock with a sewing machine! Now, I haven't been near a sewing machine for years! I have always been terrible at sewing. But I took a deep breath and went for it. I am actually quite pleased with the results and have actually been back a few times since. I have even used zig-zag, but that is for another day.....

Now, don't look too closely.....none of my sewing is particularly straight. Hubby asked me if it was my sewing or the card stock that was crooked. I told him that is why I distressed it and went for a shabby chic/ vintage look, so you can't tell! ;)

This card is a 2nd generation CASE. I have CASE'd this card in the past, but never blogged it. Of course I didn't sew on it last time, so when I pulled the machine out, I decided to give it another run. It was inspired by Cupcakes Creations.

I started off with a Crumbcake base, and added my fave colour combo at the moment, Pretty in Pink and Pool Party. I have used the ever lovely Delicate Doilies stamp set from SU! 

If you have been following my blog lately, you could not have missed the fact that I am going through quite the doily fetish! So the perfect combo on this card, a doily stamp and a paper doily! (Notice the distressed edges in this pic! ;)  Hehe)

 

I added a sentiment banner, some Linen Thread, paper flowers and a trinket pin to the scrumptious Pool Party Seam Binding. I think I need another roll already! Hopefully we will get it in all those divine 2012-2013 In Colours! Love them!

 I added some Basic Pearls to the centre of the doilies. You can just see in the photo below that there is stitching around the outside of the Crumbcake CS and the Polka Dot Border is also sewn on, just near the Seam Binding.

I am going to enter this card in a challenge over at The Ribbon Carousel . The first challenge I have entered in forever! I have been very slack and must get myself into challenge mode once more, but it is just finding the time. 

The Challenge this week is Fancy Flowers. You need to make some flowers out of ribbon, fabric, felt, or burlap! (Or you can just add pretty flowers to your project!)

I didn't make any flowers, but I do think those flowers are pretty!
If you have a chance pop over and look at all the beautiful inspiration entered into the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

If you have any questions, please ask. I love to read all of your comments, so if you have a minute, please leave me one.

Have a great day.

S xx

Buntings for Olivia...

Hi there!

Today I have a CASE of another 'Pinterest' find. (Are you getting sick of that word 'Pinterest' yet? Hehe.)
The inspiration for this one once again came from Gill Prescott over at 'Lily by Gilly'. You can see her card here.

This card was for one of Miss 7's little friends, for her birthday.

I used the new Titterpatted DSP for the bunting flags. The sky is Marina Mist CS and the grass is Certainly Celery CS, with some pink grosgrain SU! ribbon attached. 

The knot is embellished with some rosettes and a heart trinket pin from my stash. I have used the Pinking Heart Border Punch on the bottom of the grass panel.

I packaged the gift in a glossy white paper bag, embellished with a paper doily, a chipboard O, some ribbon and some paper flowers. I closed the bag with a pink and white mini bulldog clip.

I think this made quite a sweet gift package. I hope the birthday girl liked it!

Thank you for stopping by!

Please leave a comment and if you have any questions please ask!

S xx

Moving on up...

Hi there!

Today I don't have the baby card I was going to show you, as there was a hiccup and the recipient hasn't received it yet!

But, I do have another card that I made for a former colleague, who left at the end of last year when he got a transfer to another school.

I saw this cute little owl over at 'Scrap 'N' bake' and thought he would be perfect for my card. Another 'Pinterest' find! I am so addicted! But at least I am putting some of those 'pins' to good use!

It is always hard to make a male card, especially when it isn't even for a birthday, where you at least have a theme to go with. But I think this card worked well.

I gave the ever useful SU! Owl Punch a whirl to make this little guy. I used the colour combo of Crumbcake, Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder, Island Indigo and Tempting Turquoise on this card. The grass is Certainly Celery. I am so going to miss this last lot of in-colours when they go. I so love them!

The balloons were made using a circle punch and the bottoms are two of the little hearts from the Owl Punch.

The Banner is from the SU! Pennants big shot die. Stamped with the 'congratulations' stamp from Teeny Tiny Sentiments.

I made this card a larger A5 size, so that there was room for all of the staff to write a message on it. The clouds are actually the negative image of the die.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hopefully I will be back with that baby card next week. I will have to find some other things to post in the mean time! 

Please leave a comment, and as always, if you have a question, please ask!

S xx

One last Mother's Day Card

Hi there.

I am back today with one last Mother's Day card. Once again this card could be used for another occasion, with a change of sentiment of course! ;)

This card was inspired by another 'pin'. This time, by the very talented Maureen Merritt from 'Mamma Mo Stamps'. You can see her card here.

Here is my take on the card.

Another vintage looking card. This time I used Crumbcake, Blushing Bride and White for my colour scheme.

I used my Chocolate chip and Whisper White ink pads to swipe over my embossed piece, to give an aged look. Once again I used the lovely Vintage Wallpaper EF.

I used the new Satin Ruffled Ribbon across the middle of the card, which I also sponged with Crumbcake ink, to give it an aged look. It looked to clean and shiny as it was.

The flower is punched from Blushing Bride CS, using the punch from the new mini catalogue. I sponged the flower with Crumbcake ink, and added some Linen Thread, a SU! button and a Basic Pearl. 

I dotted a few pearls around the DSP for the finishing touch.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to be back tomorrow with a baby card that I made for a colleague at work. She will receive it at work tomorrow, so just in case she follows my blog, (which I don't think she does) I will wait till then!

Please leave a comment and as always feel free to ask any questions!

S xx