MerryMade Crafts etc ...

Suddenly it's Friday.  Where did the week go? Work, workmen, grocery shopping, washing, cleaning, and no crafts. Um something wrong there and shall rectify on the weekend. :-) Last week I made a couple more cards using the fabulous embossed shaped cards and 3D Hearty Craft Toppers from Blue Edge Crafts . On this card I added a topper from the Cats and Dogs pack , so cute.  I went through my stash of papers to find an appropriate paper to use as the background and finished with the birthday sticker  and a little heart bling. Showing the layers. This guy came from the Teddy's Die Cut pack.  I added some stripes to continue the country feel of the image. Some more layers. Thats it for me this week.  Wishing you all a terrific weekend.  I hope to get a bit of crafting done this weekend.   Especially a project completed for my parents up and coming 50th anniversary.  See you all next week.

I missed a week creating a card to send to our son down at Uni.  Not that it really matters as I hadn't heard that he had received any of my other cards so sent a prompting text on the weekend.  Now he has received his cards and appreciated them.  He also commented that is mailbox was full…..funny thing that. :-)  Apparently, the people that used to live with him used to collect the mail regularly but since they have moved out I think he was thinking the mail would still appear like magic. :-) So this weekend I decided to use a card pack that was given to me a while ago.  Challenged myself to only using what was in the pack to create the one card. This is what the pack included one envelope, one card blank, gingham ribbon, all the die cut shapes and origami shirt plus a sheet of rub-ons. I soon discovered I have left it a little long to use this pack as things were a little old…the rub-ons came apart and some of the sticky things were no l...

This is the second card I made for my swap partner over at Craftmad (gallery photos here) .  We had a Tic Tac Toe board this month and for this card I decided on Glitter, Die-cut and Digi image.  I know that my partner has a grandson so I thought a boys card.  I have a stash of digi images waiting to be coloured so went through those and found this dinosaur, sorry not sure where he came from so no name.  I coloured him with my Copic pens and really happy with the end results, especially the touches of green.  My first time touching my pens for about two months. eek!  Next I found papers etc, that went with the colouring of the dinosaur.  The die cut frame I had in my stash and is from a previous Craftmad swap and perfect colour to frame the dinosaur.  My touch of glitter are the little squares I punched out and attached top and bottom of the card.  I used silver SU glitter paper and coloured it with the same colour copic pens that I col...

Thought I would share today some things my family are doing.  Our son will shortly be editing two short films.  One of which is called 'Treasure' which is currently looking for funding to get it off the ground.  You can find more information about the storyline here at Pozible. I was going to share a lovely photo of a dragonfly that my husband took recently but I can't seem to find it.  So have opted for the photos of the fireworks on the Cairns Esplanade at midnight New Years. The photo above is looking across to the Esplanade which was a buzz of markets, music and people. A slightly closer view. The fireworks…..such a great display.  We have never been to this event before we normally stay home and quietly celebrate the year in.  It was a wonderful atmosphere so if the weather is as good in future we shall be doing it again. I noticed that my copic pens went missing off my desk the night before last and yes I found t...

Hi everyone, here we are in a new week of January.  The sun is out, the grass is mown and I even did a bit of gardening on the weekend.  A great start.   The card I am sharing with you today I made for two challenges.  It is for the Unstampabelles midway inspiration post.  Such a great challenge it is all about New Beginnings so your options are huge (New Year, New Baby, New Home, Wedding, Retirement, etc) and the only thing you have to remember is no stamps.  I chose to do a wedding card as it is a 'New Beginning' for the married couple.  The next reason for the card was the Craftmad swap for January ( gallery here ) and we are using a Tic Tac Toe board.  I chose Glitter, Flowers and Brads. Next I spied the felt flower border that I have had in my stash for years.  I have never known how to use it and thought I just had to make that my starting point and let the card grow from there.  The card base is Stampin Up (SU) ...

Hi everyone, another week done and dusted.  I have been playing again with the Hearty Craft Paper Tole toppers I have in my stash.  I do enjoy layering these beautiful pictures up and love the added touch of gold on the images.  Again, I have added these toppers to an Embossed Circle card.   Then I went through my collection of papers to find an appropriate background paper.  I finished with the gold ' Thank You ' sticker. A closer view of the layers. I think this is really striking with the black.  However, after looking at the photo I think I should have added a congratulations sticker since there is a horseshoe involved. Have a lovely weekend everyone and I hope to do a bit of blog visiting over the next couple of days.

This is the card I made this week to send off to our son.  He is currently studying digital film and television and has been doing some overtime on his assignments.  Apparently home at 3am the other night and back filming the next night but he sounded very keen about it all.  So this card started with this wonderful camera that I have had in my stash for years.  Yes, when I received it I could see no use for it at all, how things change.  I next went in search of a sketch and found the one at Little Miss Muffets  but have been back and read the rules and my card doesn't really qualify however, I enjoyed using the sketch.  I found the star paper and the card grew from that.  So glad it was double sided paper so I didn't have to find matching paper.  Next I used a lot of my metallic card stock for the backing.  The tan paper was a little bare so I added a row of star brads down the side.   I then thought I should make a s...

I have found some more Embossed Circle Cards and 3D Paper Tole (Exoctic Birds) toppers in my stash.  So on the lazy rainy day yesterday I enjoyed teaming the two together and layering up the paper tole of this fantastic bird.  I then dug through my paper stash to find some paper to make a great background for this bird.  Next I added this rub-on sentiment that I thought was just perfect. "life isn't about finding yourself  life is about creating yourself.'  George Bernard Shaw I think this bird has definitely been creating itself. :-) Just a side view to show of the layers. Well we all survived our daughter's 18th birthday party.  A couple were a little worse for wear but on the whole I was very impressed how thoughtful the teenagers were even if they did have a little to drink.  Some would come inside from time to time and have a chat to myself and my husband, they would check that they weren't getting too loud……they were l...

I have happily completed another sketch challenge for January over at Craftmad  and I now have four Christmas cards ready for the end of the year. :-) (3 cards in an earlier post). I started with the Craftmad Sketch , used Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler as the base card then layered up patterned paper from Stampin Up.  I found this wooden 'Ho Ho Ho' in my stash and thought it finished the card perfectly.  I tied a matching blue ribbon to one 'o' and added red bling along the bottom of the patterned paper. Well it's Friday already so time to start thinking of tidying up for our daughters 18th.  Hope it is a good one for you and I will catch up with you on Monday.

Firstly, I am happy to have completed one of Kaye's card sketch challenges over at Craftmad this year.  Only 11 to go. :-)  I had fun creating this messy card.    When I make cards I really like to make them for someone so that my card can take a little more direction.  I also wanted to send more snail mail to my son while he is at Uni than I did last year.   Who doesn't like receiving something in the mail?  So thought if I would just make a heap of cards and send them to him.  Another thing I want to continue doing this year is using up my stash. So this card started with the Craftmad January Sketch (here) .  Next I found the stripey paper which has come from a magazine at some stage.  It has a distressed look about it so I distressed all the edges of the covering card stock layers.  Then added some orange handmade paper, Bazzill Bling card stock and a strip of the blue from the background paper. I sprayed the card...

I know, I know Christmas was in December.  However, on the weekend I finally had time to go through a growing pile of stash and projects that has been on my desk since our house renovations last year.  I re-discovered three Christmas cards that I had started, if only I had remembered I would not have had to be so busy at Christmas.  :-)  Anyways, I have now finished the cards off and they are now tucked away safe for Christmas 2014.  I have hidden them away as I find if I look at a card too often I then don't want to use it as it feels old.   For all of these cards I have used the wonderful shaped ' Speciality Cards ', then added a ' Hearty Crafts Christmas 3D Papertole Die ' all from Blue Edge Crafts.  I trimmed the cards with stickers, rub-ons, doilies.  Inside each card I have added some patterned paper the first and third card has SU paper. Thanks for passing by, hope your Tuesday continues to be a good one.

Well this is a New Beginning for me as I am a Guest Designer this month for Unstampabelles in lieu of being on the Design Team.  I wish Susan every success and I know that her personal touches to Unstampabelles will just make the challenges grow. It is our daughters 18th birthday later this month and I thought this was definitely an event that celebrated New Beginnings.  She will then be classed as an adult, legal to drink, legal to vote and have her say, will be eligible for green 'P's for driving.  After a month probably wish she did not have all the responsibilities.  ;-) I layered up some card stock for the card base.  To create the glass I cut a triangular shaped piece from vellum slightly larger than I needed.  I inked the back of the vellum with a variety of colours using a sponge.  Attached a strip on double sided tape to the top of the glass and then sprinkled on diamond dust for the appearance of sugar or salt.  I cut two ...

Today is my friend Anita's birthday and I bought her a beautiful smelling blue candle.  Dilemma it left a blue mark on the surfaces it sat on.  I remembered I had a plain white glazed tile in my stash, had a quick google to see if Copic Pens would stay on tile.  Answer was yes.  So I coloured the whole of the tile with my B97 pen then added drops of ink from my two refills E50 and Y11.  It was so much fun watching the drop of ink push the other colours out.  I also loved the perfect circles the drops created.  Such fun that I will be out and buying some more tiles very soon and I think another couple of refill inks. The end product. Well that is another week done, the start of a new year and new month.  Hope all your weekend plans work out, see you Monday.  

  I enjoyed making both of these cards for my partner for our December card swap at Craftmad  ( gallery here ).  I used some silver glitter paper for the top of the card.  The bottom section I created by cutting four Spellbinder edges and layering them up.  I covered the join with some white ribbon.  Then attached this lovely white paper flower from my stash, cut some Spellbinder die leaves.  The bottom leaves I embossed the veins in the centre of the leaves.  When I cut these leaves out I always put a sheet of baking paper down before the card stock to make it easier to get the piece out.  I have added that baking paper cut out as a second layer to the top leaf….I  just liked the effect.  Hard to see in the photo. This is my second card.  I found this embossed panel in my stash which must have been sent to me in a previous Craftmad swap .  I then attached the lace and the lovely flower I received from Kaye ...

Happy New Year everyone, I hope your celebrations went well however you chose to spend the night. The 1st of January and it is my husband's birthday so here is my first card of the year.  My plan this year is to go through my Favourites/Bookmark and Pinterest lists and try a few of the styles and techniques of cards I like.  The lists are growing so long.  So I decided to start with a Napkin Fold card.  Great fun and made so much easier with my Simply Scored tool.  I started with Bazzill card stock then used Stampin Up patterned paper.  The band is held closed by a magnet clasp from my stash.  The owl image is from Whimsy Stamps and the first time I have ever coloured him brown.  Normally he is a she in pinks and purples.  :-)  Now, I would have much preferred it if I didn't have the brickwork background but that is me trying to cover up the ink smudge I left when stamping the owl. :-0 The inside of the card with Stampin...