Craftmad November Quilt Block Swap

This month over at Craftmad is our last Christmas Quilt Block for this year.  To finish we get to choose the style of our block so it is a surprise to our partners.  I wanted to use up all the smaller pieces of the Christmas fabrics I had used throughout the year and found this wonderful tutorial on Ambers blog for Scrap Jar Stars.  I used calico as the filler fabric.

The blocks all look similar but the christmas fabrics all appear in different spots.  I did enjoy putting this block together and had thought it may be fiddly with the tiny squares but it went together well.

Now the big task is to put all of this years block together into a quilt and hopefully in time to use it as a decoration this year.

Thanks for passing on by. :-)

Happy Birthday Ashley - Game Control Card

Hi everyone, I really enjoyed making this card.  In fact, I made it twice...that wasn't too much fun.  The first time round I had put the card altogether and then decided that the coloured circles would look better with glossy accents on them.  Wrong....they oozed outside the edge of the circle when drying so not a good look.  So second time round I cut the circles and left them on some baking paper while the glossy accents dried, then attached to the card.

I found this template on Bird's Cards blog.  Used my Spellbinder dies and a circle paper punch and my new alphabet die from Impression Obsession. 

Wishing you a good day and thanks for dropping on by.

Something to Celebrate

Recently, I needed two cards quickly and I spied this card by Lucy Adams, so had a go.  The first card is for my SIL who loves purple.  I so love the background paper on this card...sadly this is the last of it.  I have used the Marvelous Squares die from Spellbinder and white sentiment stickers from Sticker Store.  I then used my white gel pen to do a little doodling.

The green version I made for my friend Joy.  The same layout although I used Stampin Up paper and went for green and silver colours.

Pink and Black 18th

Hi, my daughter actually asked me....Mum, to make a card for her. :-)  Our daughter is arty enough to make her own cards but has gone through a stage of handmade is a little daggy.  Now she is working and things cost, I think her view is changing. 

Anyways, she had already wrapped the presents with this wonderful paper and ribbon, so that was the starting place of my card.  I had just received my order of a variety of coloured glitter card stocks from Blue Edge Crafts and I knew that there was one that matched the ribbon perfectly.  Next I had to try out a die that I had borrowed from a friend, sadly I have now returned the beautiful die and can't remember the name.  I hand cut the number 18, first printing the number on the rear of the card stock as a guide....and I actually remembered to mirror the number before printing.  The stars are punched.  Finished with a white happy birthday sticker from Sticker Store.

I have been busy putting together my easel 3D papertole christmas cards.  10 assembled now and ready to add some decorative stickers.  Only 14 to go.  :-)

Thanks for dropping by.

Craftmad October Quilt Block Swap

This month over at Craftmad our Quilt Block to swap was 'Oh Sussanah!'.  I did enjoy putting this block together.  Not too many triangles to worry about.  

One more block to go and then fingers crossed I get my act together and put the quilt together ready to lay on our lounge as a decoration for Christmas this year.

Have a great day.

Hair Bows made by clever niece

Again, I have to say I really enjoy technology.  My niece down in Medowie, NSW sent me a message via facebook the other day asking if I had any fabrics she could make into hair bows.  I was chuffed to have been asked so dug out all my fabrics and took photos and messaged them back asking which she would like.  Saved posting fabrics that she would not even used.   So choices were made and I cut them into 11" x 11" squares as that apparently was what the pattern asked for.  Today, I received the following photo of the bows that Nellie made with her chosen fabrics.

How clever is she!!!!!  I think they all looks awesome.

Wedding Card - Wedding dress and Tuxedo

This was the winning Wedding card.  My husband had asked me to make a wedding card for one of the guys at work that was getting married. I made two, always got to have a choice, the other card is here.  I found a wonderful template on Lynn's blog and put it to use.  It was just fun putting it all together. I embossed white paper for the dress and added a piece of ribbon and a bling split pin. I hand cut the pieces for the tuxedo and added to square split pins for the buttons.....couldn't find any small round ones in my stash.  On the inside I added a black vine sticker (Sticker Store) to the top and bottom.

I had to use the top of a trophy to hold the card closed for the photo.  I made a white spotted vellum envelope for the card....it was nice seeing the bride dress and tux through the envelope.

Mr and Mrs Wedding Card

My friend Gloria recently swapped stamps, dies and embossing folders with me.  It's nice to try something new and also fun to see what you have when pulling everything out for your friend to choose. :-)

Last week my husband asked me to make a wedding card for one of the guys at work.  I thought I would put Gloria's Cheery Lynn - Border Die - Lace Rose and Flourish to work.  Whenever, I cut a fine detail die I always add a layer of baking paper just to help the cut come out.  I loved the look of the cut baking paper I decided to use it as a shadow.  

Now I have a love hate relationship with this card.  As in the photo above I see a hot mess.  In the photo below I like the end result. :-)

I also tried out my first ever alphabet dies, they are from Impression Obsession (IO).  They cut beautifully.  Originally, I was going to put Congratulations along the bottom of the card.  Who knew that word was so long....   :-)

In the end this is not the card that my husband selected....that card follows later in the week.

Thanks for visiting.

Reddy Creative Cards - Cardmaking Book

Just had to share.  A friend gave this to me as a present last Christmas and I have just pulled it out ready to start on Christmas cards for this year.   This Cardmaking pack has everything you need for 16 cards and some little gift tags.  All the 3D paper tole sheets are in individual cellophane sleeves.  It has the card base, envelopes, stickers and 3D foam squares.  

Yesterday, I started with the 3D paper tole sheets which are all die cut and they come out so easily and at this stage appear to be cut very nicely to the image.

I haven't started assembling yet but if you are looking for something that has everything ready for you to go this is the best I have had.  By the way I have nothing to do with Reddy Creative Cards just think this is a great pack.

Oh, I found this link.  Reddy Creative Cards.

Edit:- It's now Saturday, have taken the dog for a walk, hung out washing, tidied the house and just finished my first of these cards.  Duh! I put the image on upside down.  lol  Luckily it is a picture of flowers so am going to see who notices.

Craftmad Quilt Block Swap Catch Up

Hi everyone, I have had the sewing machine catching up on a couple of the Quilt Block swaps for Craftmad.  I managed to get all of these done last month just slow putting up photos now. :-)

Each month at Craftmad three of us have swapped a block use traditional coloured christmas fabrics. For the month of July we created a Fly Foot Block.

August Block - Greek Cross.  Now this one came together so nicely I would like to try this block again in other fabrics.

September Block - Nelson's Victory.

The more I work with triangles in my quilt blocks the more I appreciate what beautiful work people create when I see handmade quilts on displays.  Getting those triangles to line up keeps me very busy.   I have certainly changed my habits since I did my first couple of quilt blocks.  I then used un-rinsed, fabrics, un-ironed, used pencil marks for measurements then cut them with scissors, and then just whacked the pieces together and sewed.  Never ironed until the end.

Now I rinse, iron, use my quilt square ruler and rotary blade, at the start I just sew pieces together but when I attach rows to each other I pin the seams.  I iron after every stage.  

I have been busy working on a recipe book to give to our kids at Christmas time, since one is out of home and the other not far behind.  I am doing it on IPhoto as I wanted a spiral back so it could sit flat on the kitchen bench when cooking.  IPhoto doesn't have a recipe book template so I have been adapting a Journal format it all adds to the challenge. Has been fun finding photos of our food disasters and putting all the recipes they have enjoyed in one book.

Till next time......

Have a great day.

Craftmad September Swap - Male Card

Hi everyone, this is the second card I did for the Craftmad September Card Swap - Male cards using no blue.  I saw a wonderful card over on Tami's Blog with a video tutorial on how to do this Pinwheel Technique.  So very easy and great way to use scraps of paper.  I so have to get in and set my photo box thing up again so I can share nicer photos.

It's Monday, and a long weekend here for Labour Day.  Also the last day of my two week break so back to another form of normality tomorrow.  I have really enjoyed my time off although some of it was hard work.  Moving 5m mulch....but my gardens are happier.  Helped hubby finish off a new divider thing on the back verandah.  He constructed it all (using Jarrah decking slats) with a little help from me holding timber at times but then we both painted the three coats of oil to protect the timber from the sun.   Chopped down a huge Black Wattle Gum in the backyard.  Just as well as the trunk near the base was hollow so would have gone over in the next wet season for sure.  Not that it would have caused any damage as it was up the back near the vegi garden and away from the house.  Moved on my Mum's and Dad's camper van that they tripped around Australia in at least ten years ago.  The kids then used it as a cubby house and a sleepover venue.  It has been sitting out in the weather under a tarp for the last 3 to 4 years, unused.  I worked out it is 38 years old.  So a bit deteriorated,  advertised it 'free' and removal costs were all responsibilities of the new owner.  I had 7 enquiries in less that an hour.  Had to take the ad off Gum Tree so my phone would stop ringing. :-)  The people that came and took it moved up here from Melbourne three months ago, have a young family and are keen to camp and discover the area.  So it has gone to a good home.  On a fun note, I managed to spend a day with a lovely bunch of ladies/friends on an outing to Babinda.  First we had coffee at the Babinda Bakery which has the yummiest food and coffee then we all wandered up the street to check out all the shops.   A couple of us spent a lot of time at Scraptherapy, an amazing shop.  The others continued on to the pub ready for lunch.  So a good break.  

Thanks for stopping on by.

Craftmad September Card Swap - Male Card (No Blue)

Hi everyone, today I have one of the two swap cards I made for the Craftmad September swap (gallery here).  We had to create two male cards with no blue.  I have always liked shirt cards for male cards and came across some wonderful examples and tutorial by Deborah Wright I had to try.

I have used Stampin Up papers and card stock.  Started with a white blank card from Blue Edge Crafts therefore my card was a smaller size than Deborah's A4 fold in half.  I had fun adjusting the sizes, most of the time just eyeballing it and cutting shapes to what I thought worked.

Well I have been busy in the garden as I have some time at home.  My gardens were so dry and down to bare earth....I am sure I missed a year of mulching.  So I ordered 5m of mulch Tuesday and by Saturday arvo I had spread it amongst our five gardens.  The sad thing is I am at the most 2m too short.  The gardens look so much better and today we have had the tiniest bit of rain but hopefully enough to soak in to the mulch a little.  Still cloudy, so fingers crossed there is more to come.

Thanks for visiting. :-)

Happy 50th Birthday Tina

Last weekend I did a little road trip with two of my friends.  I drove down to Tully Heads, 2 hours south of where I live, none of us had been there before.  We stayed in a cabin at Googarra Caravan Park, very happy and friendly staff.  We then joined in Tina's BBQ celebrations for her 50th birthday - a great night with her sailing friends, son and his family and her Mum and Dad.  Also her best friend that flew up from Woolongong and surprised her on Saturday.

I used this card on Etsy as inspiration for the card that I created for Tina.  Really love the end result.

Facebook is such a helpful tool at times.  I went through Tina's photos on Facebook and cropped this one to how I liked it.  Added the pearls for a little class as she is turning 50 after all.  Created the party hat with the glitter card stock I bought from Blue Edge Crafts, a little bit of blue ricrac trim and a split pin flower.  The sentiments are all computer generated.  I saw the bottom sentiment on a couple of cards when googling and thought it was very apt for a sailor.

Well school holidays are on here in Queensland which means I have a little time to do some jobs that having been building up.  Like mulching my poor dry, dry gardens.  So that is where I will be most of this week.  Hope you have a good one and thanks for dropping on by.

Father's Day Card

Hi everyone,  

Yes, this Father's Day card is a little late posting and it was a little late to my Dad as my husband and I had driven 4 hours south to Townsville to watch a Rugby League game.  Sadly, hubby's football team, Manly, were soundly beaten by the local team Cowboys.  Yes, in a crowd of 22,000 we would have been part of the 100 or so Manly supporters.  It was a great night and we stayed at a lovely B&B  - Classique.  The house is 124years old....lovely to hear the history of the building.

I quickly made this card for my Dad before work last Wednesday.  Took me half and hour including google time.  I knew I would need to case a card and lucky enough found one on Lisa H. blog that I knew I could find pieces for in my stash.

I started with a white card blank, then some of my wonderful new glitter card stock.  I have bought one of each of the colours that Blue Edge Crafts stocks, so should be set for a while.  A layer of white card stock which I pin pricked around the edge to take away the plainness.  Created the #1 Dad badge using my Justrite stamps and Spellbinder dies.  I was really happy with the results as was my Dad. :-)

I ended up at the local annual horse races - Cairns Amateurs - yesterday.  Took me a whole five minutes to get ready and be in the car.  My daughter and her friends had been planning for months to attend the races.  Purchasing just the right dress, shoes and fascinator.  Tickets bought all except one who purchased it at the races.  They were dropped off by my hubby by when they went to go through the gates they discovered that my daughter who is 18 could go through but her three girlfriends who turn 18 in the next month or two were not allowed to accompany her.  They were told they needed someone at least 30yo to accompany them as they were underage.  Nothing was said to the girl who turns 18 next week when she purchased her tickets at the racecourse.   So a mad panic call to me and I was ringing friends to see if they knew anyone who was attending them that would sign them in.  Nope everyone my age had gone the day before. In the meantime, two lovely police officers had tried arguing the case with the security staff on the front gate.....they still could not get in.  They asked passer by of the 30 age group if they would accompany them in and they agreed but then the security said you need a 30yo for each girl.  So my daughter went in and her friends tried to get refunds to which they were told no as it was written in the terms and conditions - fine print.  That if under 18 they must be accompanied by parent or guardian.  Meanwhile, I am in my quick getup driving in, met the girls after they had tried everything and they were ready to give up. I said we would just try one more time with me accompanying all three.  As we passed the police officers wished us luck.  Thankfully, the security people we then spoke to were sensible and let me take all three in and reminded me quite strongly....and rightly so that if these girls cause trouble or are drinking it's me who cops the fine.  They were so nice they let me in for free and then gave all of us a bottle of water.   So the girls got to strut their stuff in their beautiful clothes shoes and fascinators.  I surprisingly, enjoyed being there checking out the amazing fashion and the amazing faux pas.  The guys all looked terrific too and their sunnies seemed to be their fascinator.  So in the end a good day was had by all and I might consider going myself next year with some friends my age.  :-)

August Craftmad Swap - Frames

My second card I made for the Craftmad August Swap which we had to use a frame. Craftmad Gallery here. This card I used a lovely black felt frame sticker from my stash. I framed a lovely black rose sticker from Sticker Store. Teamed it with the lacy background paper.

How is your weekend going?  We got lots of gardening and burning off of gardening trash done yesterday.  Today, I hope to be sewing some quilt blocks which are way over due for the Craftmad Quilt block swap.