MerryMade Crafts etc ...

Sunday  11th November is the date for this year's Cairns Christmas Craft Fair. Open from 9.00am until 2.00pm. There are 138 stalls this year. Held in the Fred Moule Pavilion, Cairns Showground, you won't believe the choice of unique, local, handmade, Christmas gift ideas all made by the incredibly gifted craftsman who live in our local area There is also a cent sale, food and drinks are available. A gold coin donation entry fee and funds acquired on the day  go to the Leukaemia Foundation, to help them provide the support they give to Leukaema suffers in our area and also with the research needed to come up with a cure.

Hi everyone, hope you had a fantastic weekend.  It was very warm here.  I sewed and sewed all weekend.  Yes, working on the quilt to go on the lounge.  Finally up to the quilting stage which seems to be going smoothly.  That is mainly because I am using a walking foot that I bought for my machine about four years ago.  I was so keen after making my one and only patchwork quilt which I just used my regular machine foot for and yes things puckered and pulled.  I sewed up another quilt top and raced out and bought a walking foot.....but I got sidetracked and it has been sitting in the box since.   The card above is my last kit card from the Craftmad get together .  I really enjoyed putting this card together and love the fun shoe shape.  It does show in the photo but that is a black glitter paper for the shoe....very sparkly in real life. Hubby was out with the camera yesterday morning taking a variety of flower shots in our...

Aren't these such fun tags. These were once again in kit form from Ruth who attended the recent Craftmad get together .  I just love Santa and Mrs Clause such a simple tag to embellish but so effective. The papers on the top two tags are just beautiful and I love the die that has been used along the bottom of the second tag.  Ruth sent an extra couple of strips of that same pattern using different papers.  So then you can swap the ornaments around and have different colours.  How clever.  Now the best bit of these tags are the rosette flowers.  I have made a couple of these over time.  Starting with marking a strip of paper using a pencil and ruler and then going over with a embossing tool.  Recently I bought the score board from Stampin Up and it was brilliant as I didn't have to measure anything just use the lines on the scoreboard.  But using either of these techniques I still found it a little difficult to fold/concertina the stri...

Here is the second card I made for this months card swap at Craftmad.  The theme is pink.  I started with pink linen textured cardstock , then a layer of Stampin Up Tempting Turquoise.  Topped with layers of Christmas Brights Combo papers from Blue Edge Crafts .  I added a sticker sentiment and wonderful little sticker presents.  I coloured in this cute Instyle Stamps image with my copic pens and added a little kindy glitz to her jumper.  The lovely Stacie sent my this image ages ago, nice to finely colour it up. Thought I might join a challenge with this one: ABC Christmas Challenge - U is Up to You.

This is such a terrific project and the photo really doesn't do it justice.  I was rushing out the door with this in my hand and remembered I needed to take a photo.  I made this wonderful Matchbox Easel Card for my SIL's birthday last Wednesday.  I was so lucky to receive it in kit form from Kaye who was part of the Craftmad get together .  You can see a couple more examples here on Kaye's blog "Crafty Kayes Room."     The top section is a regular easel card adorned with beautiful papers, flowers, bird and bird cage.  This kit was so perfect for my SIL as she loves purple.  I really liked all the layers of the flowers.  The bottom section is created by placing four matchbox boxes around the edges then adding a top and bottom to the boxes to hold them all in place.  Who knew there was a matchbox die....not me.  Kaye used her matchbox die to cut all the pieces for the four matchboxes that I made up.  This die has now sh...

This is my one an only patchwork quilt that I have made.  We have it on the lounge as a protector during the warmer months and it warms us in the winter months.  As you can see it has seen better days.  I think it is about three years old maybe four. I have shown you most of these blocks before but I am determined to begin working on this cover and have a new quilt for our lounge by next week.  These blocks I received during our block swap over at Craftmad the first six months on this year .  It was the first time that a few of us had ever done blocks so a learning curve but great fun.  Some of the blocks are my practice runs.  I would love to hear if you have any tips.  This is the layout that I am going for at this stage.  I will be adding fabric to the couple of smaller blocks and eventually they all should be 9" blocks.  I was thinking of adding a Mossy Green sash around all the blocks and as the binding.  My daugh...

Hi everyone, ready to start a new week?  Bit warmer here today I think those aircons will be on by the end of this week.  The card I am sharing today is one that I sent off to my partner for the Craftmad October Card Swap (more photos here) .  Our theme was pink as it is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I decided to make a Joy Fold card and started with some pink Linen Textured Cardstock , then layers of black.  Next I added wonderful papers from Bazzill the Vintage Marketplace range .  I paper pieced this wonderful stamp from A Passion for Stamps .  Then created the flower by dyeing some white lace in coffee for a short while, gathering the lace and adding the centre punched flower.  I finished with rub-ons at the top.  Originally was only going to add the word 'party' but the other words on the sheet just fell nicely on the card like this so I added them too.  Then a little black Happy Birthday sticker at the bottom. I wou...

My good friend Helen recently purchased beautiful Papertrey Impression plate.  When she has used it in her Cuttlebug it only seemed to leave a feint emboss.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what sandwich should be used? Helen has been researching and is up to this -  "I looked at the Papertrey Ink site and they recommend to use their mats which is one thick one ( the same thickness as Spellbinders ) and then a second one which is half that thickness.  I have seen that Cheery Lyn have a similar mat/pads available ,one thick one thin............    does any of your followers know if the Papertrey Ink and Cheery Lyn ones are the same ????    I googled and googled but couldn't find a good answer." Apparently  Papertrey Ink sell their mats for $7 which is great but it's the postage that is the killer as we are in Australia.  Helen was lucky enough to get the Impression Plate earlier this year as a mutual friend we know travell...

My hubby and I visited the night markets in Cairns on Wednesday night and I saw a backpack that had Campbell soup labels all over it.  This gave me an idea for a card.  The card really didn't turn out like what I had in my head but I did have.  Above all the labels and the now silver cans that adorn our shelves.  I did get my permanent marker out and wrote on them what is inside. I ended up using only the beetroot can label to create these flowers which I have added to stampin up designer papers.  Finished with a wonderful sticker from the Sticker Store. Please visit Unstampabelles for more terrific inspiration from the Design Team. or, Put in your own entry here so we can check out your recycling creation. Unstampabelles #16 - Recycle

Aren't these just beautiful papers, the textures are wonderful too. I have made these tags up from a kit that was sent to me ...... leftover from the Craft Mad meet up (see photos here) .  As I was taking the photos I remembered that I am still to add a sentiment to the bottom of the red tag which I will do today. Well that is it, short and quick for me today.  I have lots of odds and end projects I want to finish off today.  Hope it's a good one for you.  Thanks for visiting.

I made this card for my friends son who turned 11yo on the weekend.  Normally I do a Looney Tunes card as he loves all the characters but I thought it was time for something different.  Last time I saw him he had these little toys that I had not seen before.  Since discovered they are the 'Trash Pack' and you can collect different series of them.  My niece just loves them too. So I found a photo of some 'Trashies' to use for my card front.  I do like the bright and cheery colours.  The card base is Stampin Up (SU) Wild Wasbi, a layer of SU Marina Mist and a piece of SU Designer Series Patterned paper.  I added some silver star stickers to the left hand side.  Found these wonderful chipboard letters to spell out 'Birthday'.  I painted them with two layers of yellow acrylic paint and with the second layer I smudged it up by daubing with a tissue.  Thought it needed a rougher look as it would be with some trashies.  I have spr...

The close off date to send in your blank Christmas cards for Aussie Troops serving overseas is fast approaching.  Tracey Hanshaw and a few other ladies have been collecting blank handmade Christmas Cards to send to the Aussie troops serving overseas so that they can send them back home to their family and friends. This is a photo of some of the cards they have already received.  The front three decoupaged cards are some of what I sent in this year. Last tally shown was 1533 cards received. You can find out more info on their new Facebook Page here Card for the Troops. CARDS FOR DIGGERS C/- Tracey Hanshaw 6 B Coraki Place OURIMBAH NSW 2258. All cards need to be received no later than October 31st.

The long weekend at the start of October was the first ever meet up for six of the Craftmad ladies.  I had great plans of attending but Touch Footy changed the annual Townsville competition (that our daughter has attended for many years) from November to the long weekend in October.  doh!   Yes, I was disappointed that I would not get to meet these lovely ladies in the flesh after chatting to them for many years in the Craftmad forum.  So I set to and crafted a little bit of me that I could send to them and feel like I was somewhat part of it.  Now I must say this is not the most flattering photo and the outfit I would never wear again. lol I asked my daughter to draw an outline around my body which I cut out.  I sat in front of the computer and took my photo and added that to the cut out.   I decided to create shorts and singlet which I live in all the time.  I created the outfit by glueing on lots of pictures that my Mum had colle...

It was my baby brother's birthday yesterday and this is the card I made for him.  I initially thought of colouring a image to put on a card but just didn't have the right thing in my collection.  So googled for some inspiration and saw a pinwheel.  I have been wanting to have a go at one of these for ages so that is how the card came about.  My brother turned 35, he is much much younger than me.  His daughters (8 and 6) are of an age now that they really get age and have been giving their Dad (my brother) and their Mum a hard time about how old they are now.  My brother and his wife have their birthdays exactly one week apart.  So this time next week I should be showing you a card for her.  Anyways the kids are asking their parents what it was like 'back in the olden days'. lol  Scary thing is that these kids could talk to my daughter (16) and say the same thing 'like back in the olden days when there were tapes and videos' as they j...

Hubby has been out with the camera again.  One day a few months ago I de-headed some marigolds at the local museum I volunteer out. Brought the dead flowers home and threw them in our vegi garden to help get rid of the nematodes which keep getting into my tomatoes.  These are some of the marigolds that came up aren't they beautiful.  They are almost tennis ball size flowers.  If you click on the flower you will get a larger version and should see the little native bee buzzing around near the base of the bud on the left. Here the native bee has landed.....what a feast for him. Another bug watching or trying to hide. Lily....not sure on name. Orchid again not sure on name. View from our back verandah one evening as the sun set. Here hubby is trying out a new technique that our son had just shown him.  Our peg basket with all colours showing. Do something to the camera and tadah!.....it only picks up the reds....

Found time to make a couple of cards yesterday.  So nice to have an organised desk.  Two cards I can't show you just yet as they are for the October Craftmad Card Swap , pink is the theme.   However, I also made this one that I can share.  While making the other cards I spied this fun robot embossed piece of cardstock that I received in an earlier Craftmad swap.  Thought my Robots2Build would be the perfect stamp set to use.  I coloured him in with my Copic Pens.  I haven't coloured for such a long time and I really enjoyed it.  I then spritz the robot and the stamped birthday sentiment with my new Silver Foil Smooch Spritz from Stampin Up .  It doesn't show in the photo but the spritz gives it a wonderful silver shimmer.  I added left over silver sticker spots to the top of the sentiment and tried to create a bolt head with my Spellbinder Hexagons . I would like to share this with: Make it Monday - Always Anything Goes ...

I was wondering what I could post on my blog today as I have no cards to share.    I then remembered visiting my friend Stacie's blog yesterday.  Stacie had received a Sunshine Award  - very well deserved.  Part of the award is to answer ten simple questions.  One on the questions is what is your favourite flower.  Well Stacie's is Mimosa....I found this a little amusing as we have a variety of Mimosa growing in our yard.  Here it is known as sensitive weed (because of the leaves that close when touched) or prickles (because of the sharp thorns on the stems).  So I have just been out to take a photo of what is growing our neighbours empty block.  The few in our yard are not so large so don't have flowers.  It is still early morning here and that is why the flowers are a little dewy. I like to google so found this bit of info about the plant.   Mimosa pudica  apparently from tropical areas of America introduced to Aus...

I was in the mood for a bit of Christmas yesterday.  The base card is SU Pear Pizzazz and layered with an older SU christmas design paper also SU Red Riding Hood.  I decided to do a gate fold card for a change.  This cute little image is called Buttons and from Cardmadfairy Creations.   I had fun colouring him with my Copic pens.  I then used my Spellbinder Reverse Wonky Rectangle Die to cut around and emboss the image.  The sentiment and the stripe down the right hand side that you can hardly see is a rub-on.  Finally remembered to use a brass christmas tree tag that I have had in my stash for a while.  I tied a little bit of gold thread to the top. Sun is back out here today and the teenagers will be celebrating I am sure......once they wake.  They miss out on so much sunlight.  :-)  Food shopping is on my agenda.  Yay! Have a good one everyone.

This was my second card to my Craftmad Swap partner Mrs A , you can check out her blog to see one of the beautiful cards I received.  The theme for September was black and white with a splash of colour. I started with a pre-scored white card, added a layer of black card stock which I stitched around all the edges. I used a stamp from my SU Priceless set and stamped on white Bazzill. I liked the corrugated effect that the card left on the image. Finished with SU Wild Wasbi ribbon and bling in the centre of each flower. The top right corner flower was stamped with Wild Wasbi ink and finished with a green bling centre. Weather is not too crash hot here today.  Showery and windy.....probably because our daughter organised with her brother to be driver and take her and her friends to one of the beaches.  I think it is now a movie day.  Have a great day where ever you are.

Morning everyone, it is the start of a new challenge over at Unstampabelles .  This month we are after Recycled or Repurposed paper creations.  The card above is my Design Team creation.  I liked how Lauren, one of our Design Team members had used a cereal box for her card last month.  So I  embossed cardboard from a Cornflakes box for the background.  The base card is SU Cajun Craze.   The flowers are made of paper from a paper bag that I saved from our trip to Japan last year.  Once again I got to use the SU Simply Score board.  Sometimes take me a while but I worked out by the third flower that if I scored every second crease line on one side of the paper and then flip to and score the remaining lines it made folding the flower much easier.  The stems and leaves are made of kitchen twine which I coloured with Copic Pens.   This is my before shot.  I did have plans to use letters cut from the magazine to create the ...