Monday, December 28, 2009

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.


Sunday, December 20, 2009

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

Sunday, December 13, 2009

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