Castles, Dragonflies, Butterflies & Frogs…love kids cards.

I love making cards up for kids. I can let my inner Crafty Diva loose with bright, fun shapes, colours and designs.

And through October & November we have a number of birthdays for the younger family members. Sometimes coming up with new ideas isn’t as easy as it seems, so I’m thankful for Pinterest.

One of the creations I found was for a fold out Castle card…so after doing a mock up/dummy run, I decided to stretch the comfort zone, use some of the stash our cousin had passed to me and make not one, but two Castle Cards for twins turning 2. The link to the instructions is here.

Was tricky, and fiddly, but I was quite happy with the end result. As I didn’t want their older sister feeling left out (twins birthday was days before parent’s wedding anniversary) I stretched the comfort zone again and made my first Shaker Card. I’d been wanting to do one for awhile, but hadn’t been able to find any tutorials that I could get my head around. That is until a Card Group on Facebook pointed me in the right direction. Instructions if you’re in the same boat as myself can be found here.

Next week will see four young ones celebrating birthdays. Two on the same day, though they were born two States apart, two hours apart. Two days later my great niece then a day later my Godson.

Certainly been busy making up all the cards, and I still need to finish one off!! Plus finish off the dollshouse for our niece.

As the saying goes, no rest for the wicked.

Another White Whale overcome!

It continues to amaze me how far things can change in such a short period of time. It wasn’t that long ago, ten months give or take a week, that my Mother and I were discussing at my Gran’s how to make our wedding invites within my limited skill set. I was of the rather firm opinion that she had a little too much (biased) faith in my skills…more than I did at least.

Well, I can say with some confidence, Mum was right.

Wedding invites done and dusted, some more wedding related stationary done and dusted, a number of birthday/anniversary/Christmas cards later and I was discussing only yesterday with Mum again how my largest issue with scrapping is pages. Yes, pages. I have very little patience/skill in them. Don’t get me wrong, love looking at them, and can imagine any number of designs in my head, but when it comes down to the act of putting it together….d’oh!!! Thankfully Mum came to the rescue, and again with her (biased) faith in my abilities…sorry I’ll stop cracking up laughing in a moment…she pointed me in the right direction and today VIOLA!!!

After perusing Pinterest to the end of my world…saving, pinning and gobbling up image after image of Scrap Maps, I finally took the plunge. Probably helped a heap that I had some pictures printed today for this particular purpose. But the Maps were a godsend!! Seriously, if you’re interested in scrapping, yet like myself rather blugh when it comes down to it…map it!!! Plenty of inspiration, actually like anything on Pinterest there’s tonnes of inspiration. It’s then a matter of working out what you can/can’t do…YET!!

Mum’s going to send me a project that she claims is a little on the tricky side of things, but apparently I will be able to knock it over easily enough…a-ha, we’ll see and reserve judgement shall we?

This is the final inspiration I went with today…which you can find at Scrapbook.com.

First challenge to meet was to Kaszazz it to suit my stock and my loyalty. That was reasonably easy to be honest. I’ve used my Small Flower Die with a range of cardstock & papers from our last release in May, as well as spraying some with what was to be the last little bit of my Dylusions Ink Spray (thank goodness I can re-order more before the end of the month!!) for some added colour. All the pictures I’d printed were in Black & White so there wouldn’t be any colour clashing going on. So it was just a matter of matching up colours for the flowers to match the backing frames for the photos.

I kept to the rule of “Odds over Evens” in setting out my flowers. It still amazes me how true it is…the eye finds objects in odd numbers more appealing, for the most part. Who am I to argue. And because I adore butterflies, I snuck one in there. It had to be done.

All these pics are from my Hen’s Night back in May. My gorgeous Invisible Bridesmaid organised my surprise transport, and apart from not being able to share it with Mum, it was perfect!!! My Matron of Honour jumped in with me instead; funny story attached, but that’s for another time, and another audience entirely.

When all is said and done, yes I am happy enough with this Page. It is the first of many, I’ve printed out more photos today to keep the buzz alive; so shall be interesting to see how I go. I’m still shuddering at the pages I made up for The Man eight years ago…almost ashamed of them now, but he still loves them because I made them…time to start showcasing what I can do now?

 

Getting lost in scraps…until I went to my Pins

If anyone had told me this time last year that I’d already be creating Birthday and Anniversary Cards this year I’d have laughed at them…seriously, wet yourself laughing type of laugh. Yet here I am tonight with a number of Christmas, Birthday and even an Anniversary cards done for the next few months.

I blame The Man for today’s mammoth card sessions…he went to work this morning (yes, I know, it is Sunday) and had a longer than average shift…and I just kind of drifted towards the dining table, cluttered it up, loaded up my Pinterest Inspiration Folder on the laptop and the rest as they say, is history. It actually struck me early this morning that I haven’t sussed out my own Pinterest boards…*gasp*…I’ve been Pinning to them for awhile, but rarely actually look through for myself. And I amazed myself with my Pins/finds. If you’d like to have a gander at my ‘stash’ here’s the link; Being Crafty Pinterest Board

That said, today saw me cracking down and focusing on making some of these Pins a reality. I must say, I’m rather impressed with my own efforts, and yes, I do understand how vain/shallow/biased that really does sound. And I love it!!

With a number of family/friend birthdays from now till the end of 2015, 18 at last count, as well as a number of important Wedding Anniversaries PLUS Christmas, August is the time to really knuckle down and get stuck into everything. Today started with a beautiful, very easy Rainbow Butterfly card. Make that SUPER EASY!! Here’s the link to Two Paper Diva’s blog where I originally stumbled upon this stunning card. Birthday Wishes Butterfly Layer Card

And here is my version using the awesome Kaszazz products I have taking over our home.

Have I mentioned just how SUPER, DOOPER EASY this card is to make?

Next it was onto yet another Being Crafty Pinterest Board project. Again with the butterflies. I love them, and I love the punch as it’s super easy to use. Especially for an Un-Co such as myself. This time I also got to incorporate my favourite colour. There are a number of distinct differences this time around though. Anyone feel like playing a ‘Spot the Difference’ game right about now? No? Ok, can’t blame you either. The Pin I ‘sponged’ this one from is the My Creative Corner Blog.  As I only have punches at this stage, I had a similar problem to Wanda, just in reverse. Which led to the differences in design elements. The Man claimed he liked my version more as it’s versatile…I’ll put that down to him being a VSH (Very Smart Hubby) personally, but I’ll take compliments where I can get them.

Here’s my version again using Kaszazz products. I’ve coloured in the rhinestones with my Sunflower Alcohol Ink Art Marker as well as used Magic Mount Double Sided Tape to add dimension.

I can see where The Man (VSH) is coming from…with no sentiment on the outside you are free to make this card into anything you’d like. This little beauty will become a Birthday Card in the coming weeks as I already have a lucky ducky in mind for it.

Then it was onto one that I found far more challenging. I wasn’t too sure which paper scraps I was going to use up for this one. And then I did my measurements and coughed…oh heck, large card!! Which led me to the issue of cardstock to use. My usual supply of pre-cut, unfolded cardstock just wasn’t going to cut it. This next one was originally going to go on a Sage Green coloured card, but along the way (read after cutting and scoring and really not liking) I swapped it over for a deeper purple shade card. And by the time I’d finished, I was actually enjoying myself, and the card. It’s amazing the difference a change in background can do for a card!

The original post has gone walkabout from my board for some reason, but here is the photo I used today as inspiration…bright, fun and pretty dang cute!! If you happen to know from whence it came, please comment below so I can acknowledge the gorgeous designer. Thank You!!

And here’s my version after I swapped things around a few times, and then a few more times. I also added a few stamps that were FREEBIES with various Cardmaking magazines here in Australia over the past few months.

After a morning of using up scraps I honestly thought I was done for the day. Actually managed to be a Glam Domestic Goddess and cook up a decent, massive feed for The Man before putting him to bed for tonight’s shift. And then my brain went into overdrive!! Ideas were flowing left and right, my fingers were itching, and despite my knees giving me more grief than normal, the table and supplies beckoned. How could I refuse?

Which led me to re-creating this male card. I’ll need a few more of these in the coming months, so this is just the tip of the iceberg. The original post is from Washi Tape Crafts . Theirs is for Father’s Day, though I have adapted this one for a Birthday. Which reminds me, Father’s Day is just around the corner!! More ideas for that one in another post…soon!!

I’ve made this one as a monochromatic card, with chevrons and faces. Apparently mono and chevrons are all the rage for now, so I’d say I’m set with this one. Might need to make another couple up to make sure I’m in the clear. Again, SUPER, DOOPER EASY to make, and I’m sure younger ones would love to make some up for Dad too. But more on that later! Oh, and how could I forget, the HAPPY BIRTHDAY is done with the new White Embossing Powder from Kaszazz.

Which brings me to the final card for today/tonight. Some very dear friends of mine celebrate their 10th Wedding Anniversary next month, and as so often happens, I’ve been puzzling over what to create for them. During the week the Universe answered this one for me when I found, hiding, in a book some of their original wedding photos. Solution…I’ll make them up an beautiful frame to highlight one of their photos…something to compliment the card I made tonight for them. Again, SUPER EASY though a little fiddly. I’ve embossed some Shimmer Paper with the Damask Embossing Folder, folded it over a strip of blue cardstock, then using the Black Embossing Powder and my Ranger Perfect Medium Bullet Pen added a MR & MRS on another strip of blue cardstock to add to the bottom of the embossed ‘towels’.

This design isn’t an original of mine. I found a link online awhile ago, which is no longer available sadly, and thought how gorgeous and what a great idea for any number of occassions (read Engagement, Wedding or Anniversary). The photo below is of the original which is saved on my laptop. Just too adorable and cute to not share or re-create.

I’ve loved making these all up today, and hope to be able to share more with you in the coming weeks. If you happen to have any favourite inspiration blogs you’d like to share, please comment below. Now I’ll have to resume trolling Pinterest for Father’s Day Card ideas!

 

 

 

More cards outside of the comfort zone

Over the past few weeks my Mother and I have been having a continued debate over my card making talents. It seems this weekend has proven her correct, despite her biased point of view. Which means I’m left to eat my own words.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner I thought I better pull my finger out and get cracking on the cards I needed to make for the Mother’s in my life, which is a few without counting my daughter, friends, nieces, cousins…..there’s a lot! I also offered to make one for one of our housemates to give to his Mum…he’s ended up buying that one (hence my eating my own words and my mother gleefully enjoying herself!)

These have been out of my ‘normal’ comfort zone or skill set, but were a heap of fun to create. I followed some online tutorials and learnt to make easel cards (my new ‘fave’) and followed one of my Mother’s tutorials to make a cascading card. Tonight I’m actually waiting for some paint/ink to dry for another style of card (again outside my norm) while I’m writing this. More on that one later. Pinkie promise.

This week has seen me learning how to ink my embossing folders, play with my new black embossing powder, die cutting flowers, punching butterflies to my hearts content and playing with some of my stamps. I’ve also been rather messy with my Dylusions Ink and mixing it up with my Distress Paints for different effects.

And having worked out the upcoming birthdays, including my lovely aunt who is celebrating our wedding on her own birthday, I thought I best get into creating those while I’m not too strung out. Next week will see me head down, backside up back into wedding related craft. And low and behold, with just over two months before our Big Day, I’m finding my craft time is calming me down and helping me to destress. BONUS!!

Enough of me prattling on, here’s this weeks creations in all their glory. Oh, and I included a pic of the ANZAC Biscuits I made for yesterday. They’re technically DIY…and very yummy.