Another calendar

It has been a rather hot day in Wanganui so I decided to venture off to the craft room again and have a bit of a play.

The challenge for today was to try and make something with the new Kaleidscope paper that is in the new mini. Its really not my cup of tea as it has colours from the bold brights colour family and in all honesty I avoid that colour family like the plague. I'm more of a soft subtles/rich regals kind of girl. I am trying however to get out of my comfort zone and try new colour combinations.

The card used was Pixie pink (I now have none left and am not shedding too many tears) and there were no stamps used at all. A friend recently gave me an easel calendar so I thought why not have a go.

The photo is off my 3 children and was taken at Xmas 2 years ago. They had to suffer the "mother line up photo" on Xmas Day and this particular year they were not playing the game overly well. This is the last photo in a series of 5 (that was all the time I had with them sitting still for me).
I have made a story board  photo arrangement of 4 of the 5 photos to put in a frame on the wall and it definitely tells the story of the event. If you look closely I only managed to get two of them to be serious, number three decided she would do the new party trick of going cross eyed for the photo.

I made the calendar for my eldest son who is at university so that he had a photo of him and his siblings.

Now I am wondering what I can challenge myself with next? I might have to have a look at tempting turquoise tomorrow and see what I can do with that. Mmmmm the mind boggles, maybe I'll make a box?

Butterfly cards

I just love the new butterfly punch and made some cards recently with it that I thought I would share with you. Gone are the days of cutting butterflies by hand, one smooth movement with the punch and your butterfly is done. The punch also coordinates with the Flight of the Butterfly stamp set in the main catalogue.

The DSP is Bella Bleu and its not one of my favourite papers so the challenge I set for myself  was to make something using it. The other card is my favourite combination of pink pirouette and chocolate chip. I think if chocolate chip was ever retired I would go into mourning literally. I hope you are all enjoying the Xmas break and finding some for crafting.

Butterfly calendar

I wanted to try a different colour combination from what I usually use so I used my color coach to help put together a calendar. I used perfect plum and barely banana as a combination to make this calendar. I used a little bit of craft wire to create the antennae and the new butterfly stamp set and punch.
I will be making this calendar along with 2 others at my upcoming class on 16 January. The ribbon was dyed using a dauber and an ink pad.

How to make a poinsettia for a christmas cracker

Janine has asked how I made the pointsettia on the Xmas crackers I posted recently.
I used a spellbinders die that cuts and embosses thru the little green machine I have in the craft room. I sprayed my riding hood red cardstock with potion number 9 which contained a gold and pink mix. I then ran it thru the green machine and cut and embossed the three sections.
A little tweek with your fingers on each petal and dimensional and hey presto you have a pointsettia. Very quick and easy to make and it just finishes the crackers.
Don't forget to check out Delys Cram's blog (listed in the earlier post with the Xmas crackers).  Delys has kindly posted the instructions and photos of each step for you to make your own.
I filled mine with lollies but some of my ladies have put party poppers, balloons, chocolate santas etc in them. One of my ladies went home after a class yesterday and made 18!
I hope you give it a try to make these, they are a ton of fun and make for many smiles on Xmas day from both young and old.
I hope you all have a safe and happy Xmas and that you are able to spend time with your loved ones.
Happy crafting
Tee-Jay

Christmas Crackers

Firstly I cannot take credit for the design of these crackers as I did not design them. They were designed by the very clever Delys Cram http://delysc.wordpress.com/ Do pop over and check out Delys's blog as its great and full of lots of ideas and inspiration.

While I was making the crackers (they are not a quick make and take) I had time to reflect on what I was grateful for. It has been a rough year all round but some of the things I am grateful for are, my 3 children, my husband, my mother and especially my Dad who is still with us. His courage and strength is amazing especially this past year. My Xmas wish is to still have him in my life for all of 2010. Seeing my little brother after 19 years and his beautiful son in September, time with my sister at the same time and being able to catch up with my parents. I also apparently created a monster by introducing my Mum to craft. It was great to be able to teach a parent something as they are normally the teachers not their children.

Siblings of which I have 3 who are healthy and happy in their lives, good friends who have supported me emotionally this year and beng able to share craft with a great bunch of ladies who meet regularly at my place.

So what does 2010 have in store for me..... a diamond wedding anniversary (thats 60 years ladies) for my in laws in mid January, a 50th wedding anniversary for my parents in late January, a 29th wedding anniversary for hubby and I, a 50th birthday for me in December, an engagement or maybe two and hopefully lots and lots of fun stuff with family and friends.

I hope you all have a safe and happy Xmas and that you are surrounded with lots of family and friends to celebrate the new year

Tee-Jay

Sham's birthday gift

Recently a very special young lady had a birthday and I found out that her favourite colours were black and purple. I put my thinking cap on and came up with wee gift for her in her favourite colours. My apologies for the photos as I had put the cellophane on the basket prior to taking the photo (a senior moment).

The basket was spraypainted in a matt black finish and lined with sparkly shredded stuff (I think from memory it was called confetti and it came from the hire place)

A little tip - if you are spraying a basket remember it is better to have 10 light coats of spray that one heavy one. You get a better finish if you use thin coats of spray paint. I reused a Stampin Up delivery box as my spray booth. How young people sniff that stuff is beyond me as it smells just awful. I have 3 more baskets which I think I may spray for people and decorate for Xmas. I just hope the man at the paint shop doesn't think I'm sniffing it when I go back in and get red and green cans this time!

Then I made and decorated a box for a perfumed cake of soap which I had stamped a purple butterfly and a couple of wee flowers which had black bling in the middle of them.

I got some lavender smelling hand cream and used a scrap of ribbon and a couple of punched shapes to decorate it. I then made a purple beaded angel cellphone charm with antique silver wings and halo. I added some purple pot pourri and a purchased purple candle and glass stand and finally a card.

Savannah also made a card with her little green machine whose name I cannot mention and used a couple of markers on it to finish it off. The basket was then wrapped in cellophane and purple and black ribbon tied the cellophane up. I used glue dots to hold the sides of the cellophane down.

Sham was very pleased with her goodie basket and so was I when it was finished. I had a lot of fun making it for her.

Happy crafting

Tee-Jay

Simple quick cards using up scraps of DSP

These are quick easy cards that can have a gift card attached to them for birthdays or Xmas.



All you need is an envelope, a few punches and some scraps of cardstock and DSP and 50 cms of ribbon.


The pink and chocolate chip one was made for my parents. The combination of pink and chocolate chip is wonderful and I shall miss pink pirouette when it retires in September next year.







The Pacific point card was made for a very special friend who is staying in Dunedin at the moment. She was very pleased at what you could do with an envelope and went straight out and bought some to duplicate what she had been sent

Uncle Tom turns 90

My great Uncle Tom turned 90 this week and this is the card I made for him. The car is a retired American set called Classic Cars. (There are some stamps that a girl just simply can't live without!)

I embossed it using black EP. The background is watermarked using the sanded stamp (my favourite for male cards).

Word window punch, 1 3/8 " circle and the scalloped circle and hey presto a card. The 90 is black stickers as I didn't have a number set big enough (next purchase perhaps?)

Cards cards and more cards

Here is another card that I made at retreat recently at the end of August and yes I have rotated it to have them looking the right way (in too much of a hurry last time). Apologies to those that had to view the last lot on the side, also a few simple bookmarks using the left over scraps and jumbo eyelets.

Happy crafting

Tee-Jay

A weekend at retreat

My Dads birthday card - happy birthday Poppa Doug! sorry about the postioning. The arrow was a cuttlelebug die which I purchased from Paula at Papercraft and Model Haven in Wanganui. If you are interested in this die please don't hesitate to contact Paula on 06 3489020 and don't forget to mention that you saw it on my blog.

Recently I went to a retreat at Otaki with about 30 ladies. The most stress we had was to put our coffee mug under the urn. At Bridge Lodge we do nothing but craft or shopping if you want to hit the factory shops in the town.

It was a great weekend and it is organised by Hare to Scrap N Stamp from Levin, Papercraft and Model Haven in Wanganui and Palmerston North Stamp n Scrap in Palmerston North. The next one is the last weekend in March 2010 and I have already booked the babysitter as its just too much fun to miss. If you interested in attending please don't hesitate to contact me at ssams@clear.net.nz and I can pass the contact details to secure your place at the next one. Trust me it is so worth it to have a weekend away crafting, you feel totally relaxed when you return and the ladies that go are tops.

Here are a couple of cards I made for a stationery suitcase. I will post more tomorrow for you to have a look at

Happy crafting

Tee-Jay

Happy Fathers Day to Savannah's Dad

Today is Fathers Day and Savannah selected 7 photos of her and Steve to put in her mini fold up wallet that we had made. She then wrote in her own words a few lines on each page to him expressing how she felt about him.

We also made a wallet out of chocolate chip and put vouchers and money in it so Steve and Savannah could go out for lunch together.

Needless to say father was very pleased indeed with our efforts and had a great lunch at Burger King with Savannah

We Stamp Guylian Box

I am thoroughly enjoying checking We Stamp at http://westamp.blogspot.com/ to see what new project there is on offer for the day. This simple easy little chocolate box was made for my daughter simply because she is worth it and the guylian box of chocolates doesn't contain too many for a 10 year old to eat in one day.

Just click on the link above or the We Stamp logo on the right hand side of your screen and get ready to be amazed at the projects on offer.

I used a jumbo wheel to decorate the box and stamps from the Great Friend set in the new mini available for sale on 1 August. Making the box was a way of giving missy a small reward and making a sample with the new set. Hopefully she gives me the box back so I can show my group of ladies! If not I will have to make another one.

Happy crafting

Tee-Jay

Gift card holders

I spent some time yesterday starting to make gift card holders for Xmas and also to take the opportunity to have a play with the new stamps and DSP that arrived over a week ago from the new mini catalogue that is released on 1 August

Here are a couple of giftcards which have inserts/pockets made with an envelope. I have spent time with a couple of friends crafting this weekend and feel very rested having done not much else for the weekend. Ah well sadly off to work tomorrow so housework is calling....happy crafting ladies

Kind regards

Tee-Jay

WE Stamp challenge

I have to say I am enjoying what is on offer at We stamp's blog and this was my pad and pocket holder that I made on Wednesday evening whilst hubby was out

Guess whose turning 50??

Sorry not me but hubby. I have finally made all the invites (they took ages to make enough for 49 people) but they are finally done.

I used the Happy Holidays DSP and chocolate chip cardstock along with lots of punches, a bit of stamping and lots of sponging

Now all I need to make are the invites for those coming for drinkies after the meal (they will be much less time consuming than these were to make I can assure you.)

Well must get moving and get everything organised for the class I have in 40 minutes!

Happy crafting

Tee-Jay

Mini scrapbook purse class Saturday 25.7.09 2 pm start

This class a stunner, a gorgeous purse with the option to scrapbook inside. It has 2 secret compartments which slide out from the pink tabs shown in the photo where you can write a hidden message in for the recipient or just include a nice photo with a brief message as I did.

This mini scrapbook purse includes my favourite photos of Savannah taken feeding the ducks at Virginia Lake. We have both spent many hours there feeding the ducks and wandering along the lake front. If you ever come to Wanganui it is a beautiful place to visit and the round the lake walk takes approximately 20 minutes in total, and if you dawdle or have a child that likes to hide in all the really cool hidey places yes it does take a little longer!

If you would like to secure a place in the class please contact me on ssams@clear.net.nz as there are only 6 places available. You need to bring 4 photos of your choice and either snail adhesive or double sided tape. Everything else is provided.

This would make a wonderful gift for family and friends.

11.7.09 New class 2 pm start

Want to make a really cool stationery set for a truly unique Xmas gift, including decorated pen, notepad, 4 cards and a holder for postage stamps that folds up in its own little storage box.......... contact me at ssams@clear.net.nz to secure your place in my class on the 11.7.09 2 p.m. start. Class numbers are limited to 6 people only sorry.

You can either have a calendar on the far left or bring your own photo to add to it. I will supply all other items but you need to bring either snail adhesive or double sided tape.

The photo of Savannah was taken at the beautiful Winter Gardens at Virginia Lake here in Wanganui a few years ago and she was surprised when I "snapped" her with the camera

Your class kit will use the Designer Series paper of Holiday Treasures so will be a prefect gift for Xmas for loved ones.

Upsy Daisy & Kiwi Kiss Gift Card

I recently received my first order from the new catalogue and it was like Xmas all over again. I also have had a bit of fun playing with the new in colours that were released earlier this month.

As I have a few birthdays coming up its gift card time again. This time I used Good Morning Sunshine DSP ($19.95), Chocoloate chip cardstock ($12.50 for 24 sheets which makes 48 A5 Cards), kiwi kiss ink pad $13.95 and lastly the Upsy Daisy Stamp set ($39.95) I think along with Inspired by Nature this set will become well used over the coming months.

This card is so quick and easy to make and a great way to pop a pressie card in the little envelope. Now all I need to do is pop down to Mitre 10 for the gift card.

Back to work tomorrow after a lovely four day break. Hopefully on the weekend I will find some more time to create. Till then happy creating everyone.

Kind regards
Tee-Jay

The in colours for 2009 are here on April 1st

I have received my preorder for the new catalogue which is released on 1.4.09 and in it were the fresh cut notes card and envelope sets I had ordered. To show you the in colours that are available from 1 April I used the stamp set fresh cuts and the in colour ink and cardstock. A super quick project which is really easy to do.

If you would like to see the in colour colours in person please do not hesitate to contact me on ssams@clear.net.nz

Playing with punches

I spent Saturday afternoon having a bit of a play in the craft room and made this using 4 punches. Another very quick easy card to make

Notepad holder

I made this little notepad holder yesterday with magnets on the back for a friend, it was quick and easy to make and again uses those little scrappy bits up that we all love to save

The quickest card I know how to make

This card is one of my alltime favourites as its so quick and so easy to make. I usually have a few of these made up and then just add the words to the bottom as needed. The layout is suitable for a sympathy card (I hate making those) or a birthday card etc. Suits male and female as it always well received when I show it at an in home demo.

The colour is also my favourite (elegant eggplant)

Microscope card

Today as promised I finally made a card using a product more likely to be used in the lab. I took a microscope slide and some water colour pencils, a bottle of crystal effects and some hodge podge from Stampin' Up. This stamp is my all time favourite and has become well used over the years.

If you would like to know more about how to make this card please do feel free to email me on ssams@clear.net.nz This card was made predominately one handed (may take up wall papering in my spare time) as I am waiting for the results of an xray to see if I have broken my collarbone (I foolishly fell over in a doggie dug hole last Wednesday whilst feeding them). No animal was however harmed in the making of this card.

Please feel free to leave a comment on the card or if you like my stupidity on not taking a torch with me to feed the dogs and for not knowing how long the security light would stay on

Happy crafting,

Tee-Jay