MerryMade Crafts etc ...

I have decided to start up a second blog called "Hints of Candy". I see all these wonderful Blog Candies and Giveaways but don't want to clutter up my blog with them. So I have decided to create a second blog soley for any Giveaways I spy. Only thing is as I visit these sites for Blog Candy I end up adding my name as a follower as they are wonderful creative people offering these giveaways. http://hintsofcandy.blogspot.com/

I have been very spoilt for my birthday this year. Here are another stash of cards that I received during the week last week for my birthday on the 21st March. So many talented people, how can I not be inspired. This card is from my friend Joy....her sister has stitched the card for her. What a lovely design. This card is from the lovely Mandy over at Craftmad and BlueEdge Crafts . How neat is that cutting out and I really love those sticker corners, they suit the card so well. Another card from a MadCrafter (member of Craftmad) - Daisy. These are clever people that cut out decoupage so neatly. You can't see it but there is a lovely hint of glitter on the rose to finish the card off. This is from friend Ruth who is the Stampin Up Demonstrator . How clever is she to put all these papers, ribbons etc together and come up with this fantastic card. I just think it is amazing. Now I love the colouring and shading on this Tilda card that I recieved from my friend Helen. The best...

Morning! Saturday night I attended a fundraiser for a team entering in the Relay for Life which is a fundraiser for Cancer. The team entering are the Cairns Chinese Lion Dancers and this year there are so many interested that they are entering two teams. So my friend Glenda has a big job organising fundraisers in the next couple of months. The cards were organised and created by another friend Ruth who is a Stampin Up Demonstrater . I like how they came up with the cards for the night. The Daffodil card to represent the Cancer and the Asian style card to represent the teams.

There are some wonderful new listings over at Craft Auctions House Mouse Images Cuttlebug Background Sheets A stunning Birthday Box The cutest Off the page Handbag Brilliant Off the page Handbag Tin Easter Box

I really like how this card came together. I made this for my friends daughter who turned seven. I know it seems a little old but she is an only child and hangs with a few old kids. The card started as I remember seeing her daughter in a lovely black and white outfit. So the black and white yoyo was chosen. I used black leather craft as the base card....then used the Swiss Dots embossing folder in the cuttlebug and embossed a piece of SU Ruby Red. The topper I made by machine stitching three lines around the edge of the white card. Two rows of black and another a Ruby Red colour. I attached the yoyo flower and created leaves and a stem with coloured wire. Stamped on the greeting and added a '7' sticker .

This card came about after I found this wonderful image from an old calender. I used a light blue card for the base card, added the image. Then on the right I attached with heart brads a strip of orange vellum, topped with a strip of red card to which I have added the rub-on words - Happiness, Joy, Love. Along the bottom of have added three punched out flowers made from red card, topped with a daisy flower in the orange vellum and the centre is a left-over gold sticker part.

Is this guy cute or what! I used brown leathercraft card as the base card, then a rectangle of a tan card. I coloured the teddy bear image in using my water pencils, cut him out and attached to the tan card. Then using a black pen, I drew dashes around the edge of the bear. I used letraset rub-on letters for the words. Attached four wooden buttons along the bottom which I had threaded through household string.

I have been working on a diorama card that hopefully can be used in the next Craftmad Journal . So I will only show you part of the project and rest you can see in the journal in a month or two. Enjoy!

Good morning everyone, this card I made for a friends birthday. I had a wonderful time with the stickers and love the end result. I used black leathercraft card as the base card, layered with green, black and green again. The butterflies are black stickers from the Stickerstore which I attached to some marble paper I had made a couple of years ago....knew it would come in handy one day. :) I have attached a blank butterfly sticker to the card and then the butterfly sticker with the marble paper on top with the wings bent up...gives a shadow effect. I then used the eyelet punch to create the butterflies flight trail using different size holes as I went. Finished the card with black sticker corners and a Letraset Rub On.

Just had to share a couple of links to these journals and albums going on ebay for a fantastic price. *NEW* WHITE/BLACK DRY MOUNTED HANDCRAFTED ALBUM BOOK Current price: AU $0.99 End time: 23-Mar-09 15:18:07 AEDST *NEW* RED/BLACK LEATHER BOUND HANDCRAFTED JOURNAL BOOK Current price: AU $0.99 End time: 22-Mar-09 14:17:11 AEDST

This morning I thought I would share all the wonderful handmade cards I received for my birthday. I really appreciate the time and effort put into these cards. First card is from my 13yo daughter. Not too sure if I have any stickers left now but the card is very effective and I know she had a great time creating this. This card is from a very clever friend Rachel. I love the layout of this card and the colours that have been used. So nice. This card is from my friend Helene and I would love to own a teacup and saucer like this it is so pretty. Lastly, but by no means least a card from my Mum. :-) She has used a trifold card and paper punched all those delicate flowers and leaves around the edge. The flower in the centre has been created using the heart shape paper punch. This something I always love about Mum's cards is that she carries the theme through to the back and intials and dates the card. Nice finish!

Yep, it's my birthday today....and I have been have been enjoying reading all the lovely wishes from everyone in my Facebook account and over at Craftmad. Now my family are slowly waking and adding their wishes. So at 7.30am I am having a wonderful day. Today I am sharing a card that my clever Mum created for my daughter for her birthday. The girl skipping has been created by quilling.

This is my second card for the March swap over at Craftmad. This card had to be in the handbag theme and using some of the items I recieved in February. I cut out a handbag shape from Kaisercraft Playtime paper. Used the reverse side to cut out the pink straps....added a bow using the ribbon I recieved. Stamped up two circles from the SU Priceless set, then paper punched to circles from Kaisercraft Playtime (Giggle) and held it all together with button brads I received in February. I then dangled a Hello charm from one of the buttons. Finished off with a two pink paper flowers and a metallic brad also from the stash I received in February.

Remember over at Craftmad for our February swap we made two little handbags and filled one full of goodies for our partner? I posted a photo what I received here . Our March swap is with the same partner and we had to use one of the bags on a card and return to our partner also use some of the goodies sent. This is what I came up with. I dismantled one little bag so that I could add back and front to the card. I used a paper flower, split pin and flower bling from the collection of goodies I was sent to match the back of the bag with the front. Using SU Bravo Burgandy as my base card, I then layered on a piece of SU Always Artichoke which I had run through the cuttlebug using the 'Forest Branches' embossing folder. I then adhered the handbags and on the side I finished with ribbon also sent to me amongst the goodies.

Just had to share this news. The release of the first copy of the 'Craft Mad Journal' . Please click on the name and enjoy the read. Pass along to all your friends and if you have any ideas to add to future journals please contact Mandy and let her know.

This card covers two challenge and finally uses an image from an image swap we had last year over at Craftmad . Sorry the picture is a bit yellow, it took 20 photos to get this. The glitter kept blurring in the photo...any tips appreciated. I will have another try today. I visited one of my friends blogs (Cathy) yesterday and she was showing off a card for a cuttlebug challenge. So I went on to investigate the challenge at The Cuttlebug Spot . The challenge was called "Serendipity #21" which is the technique of making a collage with scraps of paper. I just so happened to have had tried this a couple of years ago and had spare squares already cut. This is when the second challenge came in from Cuttlebug Challenges Inspired #22 - glitter, stamped image and cuttlebug. This is what I did. I ran lines of double sided tape across and down the card in a grid. Then sprinkled on some blue glitter. Ran my serendipity squares through the cuttlebug using the 'forest branches' em...

This is another handbag card I have made for a swap partner over at Craftmad . I used SU Always Artichoke for the base card. Cut the handbag out using my Craftrobo and SU So Saffron paper. I made a clasp for the bag using fancy edged scissors and added left over shapes from gold sticers. Stamped the greeting onto white card and layered onto SU So Saffron card added brads to hold this together and finished the edge with the fancy edged scissors. Stamped out the tag and tied on with embroidery thread. To finish the card off I handdrew lines and dots using a white sakura pen.

This is the start of a week of handbags. We had a swap over at Craftmad for the month of February where we created wonderful little paper handbags and filled one with goodies. For the month of March we are to make one card using the second handbag and a second card with the handbag theme in mind. I like this card but I am not over the moon about it. I like all parts of it but ..... Just looking at the photo now maybe if I had done the machine stitching in a stronger colour that may have made the difference. To create the card I used SU Pretty in Pink, I machine stitched swirls on as a background. Along the bottom I stitched one row of stitching and then removed the thread for a line of holes. Added three paper flowers along the right edge and three Kaisercraft bling along the left, inked the edge of the card using SU Pretty in Pink inkspot. I stamped the greeting "Enjoy life's moments' with clear versa mark then inked with SU Pretty in Pink inkspot and then clea...

Over at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog they had Guest Desinger Jay . Jay showed everyone a technique called Double 'Bossing. The end results were wonderful I had to have a go. So here it is. I used SU Regal Rose for the base card, a layer of SU Barely Banana, I rounded all the corners with a paper punch. Then using the Cuttlebug embossing folder "Stylized Flowers" and SU Regal Rose inkspot I followed Jay's instructions . I then machine stitched the topper onto my card and added three heart splitpins I had recieved in my February swap over at Craftmad. Along the bottom I stamped the ribbon. I put Kindy Glitz on a tissue and rubbed it across the topper so that the glitter stuck to the embossed image. Also Kindy Glitzed the dots on the ribbon.

Last Tuesday, I headed out to the shops with some photos to print so I could fill our frames with friends and family. Also the plan of colour co-ordinating our lounge room for a change. We have had a suede mocha coloured lounge for about six months now and we have been draping an old ratty light blue flannelette blanket on it. As we live in the tropics we tend to have sweaty bodies on the lounge at times....so a little proctection. The cushions we had were ones that I hand embroidered a couple of years ago and they are starting to wear thin and the inserts are out of shape. So I found a lovely throw for the lounge in maroon and rust colours. Cushions....omg! the price. They started at $25.00 each and then they were for decoration. Which is no good for as we actually want to use them for rest our heads on. They had buttons and lumps all over them that it wouldn't be a comfortable spot to put your head. As I can sew I just couldn't pay that. My photos were almost developed and ...

I have a collection of things I would like to share with you today. First off we have Kaye and Ron's wonderful miniature cafe. Aren't these people so clever. I just love all the detail that goes into each of these displays. I think that everytime you looked you could find something new. If you would like to see more of their wonderful creations just visit Kaye's photo album over at Craftmad. Next - I organised a Stampin Up gift voucher for my Mum's birthday from my friend Ruth. What a lovely surprise when I picked it up as Ruth had made one of those lovely handmade flowers and placed it on the outside of the gift voucher holder. So clever. Yesterday, I received two little handbags from my February swap partner over at Craftmad . One we were to fill with a few crafting items so we can return two cards this month. One card with a handbag on and the other with some of the goodies attached. So I will be playing today.

Good morning, an early start for me today. I was starting to wake so thought I might as well get up and take the dog for a walk. Soon I get out of the bedroom I hear the rain come falling down. So here I am.....once I am up and going I have to keep going. This card I created for my SIL's birthday next week on St Patty's day. I used SU Chocolate Chip then a layer of SU Sahara Sand and SU Almost Amethyst. I pin pricked around the edge of the Almost Ameythyst. The next layer with the leaf design is a wonderful paper bag that I received when I bought some beads a little while back. I couldn't toss that as it was too pretty. I created a felt flower by cutting two circles of felt and then cutting triangles from around the edge. Then sewed a button to the centre. Finished the card with a greeting sticker from the Sticker Store .

It's Mum's birthday today and here is the card I have made for her. Mum loves green so that was a great starting point. I used SU Almost Amethyst for the base card, layered with Certainly Celery paper. I found a scrap piece of SU Perfect Plum that already had flowers punched out so I rounded the edges so that it would fit behind the tear bear topper . I added bling to the centre of the flowers, pin pricked a strip of SU Almost Amethyst for along the bottom. Added a Letraset rub-on greeting.

As you can see I have discovered some new backgrounds. So nice to login and see something new from some talented person. Stay tuned as I am sure that this will not be the last background you see here.

Todays card was created for the second part of this months challenge (make a card in Autumn colours) over at Craftmad. I used SU Chocolate Chip as the base card, then a layer of beautiful flower paper. I added Kaisercraft bling to centres of the flowers. The topper was made using SU Chocolate Chip, a tear bear from a card embellishments sheet (Blue Edge Crafts), brads in each corner and a Letraset Happy Birthday rub-on. Isn't he cute.

Morning, well I got to and made some cards yesterday which is very satisfying. Thought it was time to have another go at a Cuttlebug Challenge. This is what I came up with for Watercolour - Be Inspired Challenge #21 Funny, I normally think my cards look better in photos that real life but this card I think is better in real life. I used SU Yoyo Yellow for the base card, then strips of SU Real Red and SU Brilliant Blue. Topped this with white paper that I had cuttlebugged with embossing folder 'Bloom'. Before embossing used watercolour pencils to colour each circle and then added a daub of water from a paintbrush. Then put the white paper into the embossing folder and cuttlebugged. I like the brightness and how the colours blend. I then created the cat by tearing paper to shape and adding small cut out triangles (fiddly). The cat came from Angie Parkins.....I saw her cat in a magazine I have. The cat needed something to play with so I rolled up a little ball fo wool for...

Sunday morning and the sun is out....lucky for us the cyclone has continued down the coast. Hoping that the cyclone stays off the coast and wears itself out as it is now a Catergory 5 which is scary. I finished the last of the Harry Potter series yesterday. So glad I made it to the end. I really enjoyed the first three books. The next three dragged on and I had to force myself to keep going in parts of the story. The last book was great and I couldn't read fast enough. Another thing that kept me busy yesterday was a little shopping trip with the family. So nice to spend some time with hubby, and two teenagers. Hence to say, I do not have a card to share with you today. However, I just have to share this link to my friend Ruth's blog as she has created a beautiful torn paper flower. http://stampingwithruth.blogspot.com/2009/03/handmade-flower.html Enjoy and have a happy Sunday.

Hard to know what will happen next in Australia. We have been have floods and fire. Today it's cyclone and earthquake. Amazing. We have missed the cyclone as it is still travelling down the coast...I hope it just peeters out like most of them do. The earthquake was in Melbourne and was apparently 4.6 on the richter scale and no one injured. Now for some cards. These are three cards I did last year. I hand drew the flowers and vases on white paper and then colour them in with chalks. 1st card: I used an orange base card and rounded the two right hand corners, attached background paper and a piece of ribbon. Rounded the corners on my flower image and attached. 2nd card: I used black leathercraft card as the base card and then a wonderful background paper, attached a handwritten greeting to the bottom of the card. Around the edge of the flower I did faux stitching. This is were you pin prick around the edge evenly and then with a black pen draw a line from hole to hole. Make sure the ...

Hi everyone, this morning I have decided to share a couple of wonderful cards that freinds and family have created. This first card is by a lovely lady Helene for my sons 15th birhtday. I love the colours she has used and the stitching on the card. This card was also created for my son by his Nan (my Mum). Isn't she clever cutting out all these delicate pieces for the bird paper tole/decoupage. Another beautiful card. This card is from my friend living in NZ each year she sends a little parcel to the kids for Christmas in March. :-) We always love the cards that she comes up with as they are bits and pieces she has collected over the year from books and boxes. The images and greetings have been cut from boxes and the lines are all handdrawn.

Hi everyone, sorry about yesterday but my provider once again decided that it was not a good idea for me to be online. grrrrr! By the time the computer was working again everyone else was home from school and work and I don't get a look in. I am a little later this morning as I wanted to get this card finished. I have had it all done up until the flourish for two days but coud not find the right flourish. I think I have now and thankfully my craft robo and I were getting on well this morning. Somedays robo just does not seem to understand what I want. Anyways for this card I used SU Mellow Moss for the base, then a layer of SU Almost Amythest Paper and Card. I used one of my sports pictures and layered that on Mellow Moss. Found a flourish and added some pearl bling. Attached a gold ribbon and Best Friends rub-on. I created this card using the March Sketch Challenge over at Craftmad .

I am enjoying writing this blog and sharing my cards with whoever. I think it is helping me to discover what I actually like to create. I see a theme of flowers, butterflies and also recyling. So here is another flower card. I used pink board for the base card and attached a strip of striped paper along the bottom and handmade paper to the top of the card. I then covered the join with pink cross grain ribbon and machined stitched around the edge. While the sewing machine was out I stitched a few flower stems and them attached a variety of punched out paper flowers. I used left over gold stickers for a couple of the centres. Finished off with a Best Wishes sticker greeting .

I am a bit unorganised today as it's our son 15th birthday and he woke very early. Now my whole routine is out of wack. So I should be back on track tomorrow with some new creation. Have a happy Monday. I have however, finally listed the yoyo flower cards in my store over at the CraftAuctions Site . Come over and have a look. I have lots of cards, woodwork magazines, and stitchery items. If you see a card you like but wrong colours just email me and I will try and come up with something that suits. I like a challenge. :-)

I had my 13 yo daughter in mind when I was making this card. I have used SU Pink Passion as the base card. I then added strips of yellow card, blue bazzill bling and a strip of the Pink Passion which I have run through the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. I add a dab of Kindy Glitz to random dots. I then machine stitched around the edge using zig zag. Attached the yoyo flower and a scrap piece of green for the stem and leaf. The leaf I cut into shape and then folded length ways just to give it a bit of shape. A challenge that I will be working on shortly is over at Craftmad . Kaye has just posted the Card Challenge and Scrapbook page challenge for the month of March. See you there.