Christmas in July

What a nice way to get through these dreary, wet days! It was nice to start thinking about my Christmas cards... The team at Our Creative Corner wanted us to have a go at creating a Christmas card in July.

I feel I must apologise for the shocking photo quality. I've taken it at night, in a rush while I cook my daughter's dinner... And the baby's in the background crying!!

What doesn't show up very well is that the sentiment has been mounted on dimensionals.

Stamps: Every Little Bit and Wonderful Favourites (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive (SU)
Paper: Rich Razzleberry DSP, Whisper White (SU)
Embellishments: Silver Brads (SU)

Theresa x

Happy Birthday, Fella!

Looking at my birthday calender, there are a few blokes birthdays coming up... So, using the Mojo Monday sketch as inspiration, I have created a blokey birthday card that I hope will be appreciated.

Card for a male friend.

I highlighted the word 'friend' on this particular card and will do the same for the other card. But, for my brother's card, I will highlight 'brother' and 'uncle'.

Stamps: Wonderful Favourites and Fun & Fast Notes (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie (SU)

Paper: Going Grey, Basic Grey, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White (SU); newspaper

Embellishments: Silver Brads (SU); staples

Theresa x

Happy Birthday Nanna May

This Sunday, my family are celebrating my grandmother's 84th birthday. This does pose the age old question of what to get her? A book and some choccies never go astray and since the birth of my daughters I have given her a framed picture of them.

But this year, I wanted to give her a framed picture of all six great grandchildren!



Layout, unframed.

  

Detail

Beautiful poem!

Theresa x

Just Add Ink #74 and Inkspirations #76

The design team at Just Add Ink had a fancy fold blog hop this week. It was so much fun and so interesting to see all the fantastic fold techniques. I learnt a lot and hope to go back and try some different folds. For this card, I used Kathy's multi-fold card with pocket.

I also used the colours at Inkspirations:

In between caring for a sick 6 month old baby and amusing a two and a half year old (with cabin fever as the weather has been shocking in Melbourne) I managed to make this card over three days. I can't wait to try this card again, but it will have to wait until I have enough time!

Removable band to hold the card closed for posting.

With band removed, front flaps opened.

With top flap folded over, removable card inside pocket.

Removable card.

Stamps: Scribble This (Stampin' Up!) and Wishes All Around (Fiskars)
Ink: Poppy Parade and Baja Breeze (SU)
Paper: Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait and Baja Breeze DSP, Whisper White (SU)
Embellishments: Silver Brads (SU)

Theresa x

Train Birthday

We are celebrating our nephew's first birthday this weekend with a trip to the Bulla Hill Miniature Railway (weather permitting...) I am really looking forward to it! My two and a half year old daughter is so excited about seeing her cousins (there's seven of them all together) and I reckon she'll love going on the trains.

While it's always been my tradition to buy the boys a Tonka truck for their first birthday, this year I thought I'd add in this frame, too. That way my sister in law can add in a photo of the birthday boy at his party.

It's set up for a landscape 10x15cm photo. This is the third time I've used this concept for children's gifts this year. I'm going to try to do it for all the children, as a nice keepsake.

Paper: Real Red, Old Olive and Pacific Point DSP (Stampin' Up)
Embellishments: Silver small Hodgepodge brads (SU)
Image is from a children's colouring book.

Theresa x

Thank You

In a few weeks, I am hosting a Stampin' Up! party. One of my closest friends will be the demonstrator and I am really looking forward to it. I have work friends, friends from mother's group, friends from play group, family and family friends attending. I love that so many of my friends from different areas of my life can get together for one reason - the love of paper crafting!

This is the thank you card that I will give to my friends who attend. I'll probably give them a small box of chocolates, too!

This card has been inspired by two sketch challenges. The first one being from Less is More:

And the second one being from The Paper Players:





 Stamps: Every Little Bit (Stampin' Up), Wishes All Round (Fiskars)

Ink: Perfect Plum (SU)

Paper: Poppy Parade and Perfect Plum DSP, Whisper White (SU)

Embellishments: Silver brad (SU), red bow button and kitchen twine

Theresa x

Your Own Style - Design Team Call

The team at Our Creative Corner are seeking new design team members, so I'm going to have a go at entering. After all, you've gotta be in it to win it. It's a simple enough challenge - show the team your own style!

I chose to make this card as it uses my personal favourite stamp set (Garden Whimsy: Stampin' Up!) and my favourite colour combination (red and purple). One of my favourite books is Flowers in the Attic, and one of the childen, Carrie, makes a red and purple snail to put on the wall of the attic to brighten it up a bit. I must have read that when I was quite young, as it struck me as a really pretty combination and I've enjoyed it ever since.

The rest of the design has been adapted from a page layout I made for a friend's daughter for her third birthday. I enjoyed making that layout and I was quite proud of it, so I decided that this was the best way to show off my style.

This card making caper is definitely a 'learn as you go' experience and so I am still developing my own style. But I think even the most experienced card makers would be evolving their own style all the time!

I enjoy clean finishes that aren't too cluttered. I'm not the biggest fan of the 'shabby' look.

As I don't have access to many tools (ie. embossing folders, die cut folders and punches), I make do with what I've got.

I'm getting better with fussy cutting.

I'm constantly learning and trying different inking techniques.

I enjoy trying new layouts, which is why I enjoy getting inspiration from the many amazing challenge blogs out there.

For me, card making is 'my time'. I wait until that magic time of day when both my daughters have a day nap, then my dining table becomes unrecognisable and covered in supplies and cards. The housework waits!

The most important thing for me is making nice cards with good finishes that people would appreciate receiving. I'm still working on getting great finishes, but I believe that will come with time and practice!

Stamps: Garden Whimsy and Fun & Fast Notes (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Perfect Plum and Poppy Parade (SU)

Paper: Perfect Plum and Poppy Parade DSP, Whisper White (SU); vellum

Embellishments: Hodgepodge Hardware silver rectangle holder, Pretty in Pink and Perfect Plum brads (SU)

Thanks for stopping by!

Theresa x