In This life.......

Australian Cardmaking Stamping and Papercraft Magazine Volume 16 No 6

Some published work to share

A project generously sponsored by Kaszazz.

 Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend .

Annette :0)
  
 
  
  

 

Playing with some new Fiskars Lever Punches

The guys at Fiskars very generously sent up a couple of the new lever punches to have a play with. I have to say these new lever punches are a great design, very, very easy to push and a great little flap underneath that keeps all the punchouts in a little cavity so they don't end up flying all over the place!

These are the 3 cards I have made so far.

Maddison was adding some stickers to her school book and left the negative part of the sticker sheet lying around, so a perfect opportunity to make some little butterfly stickers!! and I turned them into a card for a girlfriends birthday.

Even half butterfly's can be used on the edge of the card.

Draw some little black dots so they look like they have been flying around.

I also included a couple inside as well.

The next card I started by punching my butterfly's out of the thick silver foil that comes on the top of a milo tin when you first open it. Added on a bit of thick double sided tape in the middle allows the little wings to be lifted up for some dimension.

I used the photo corners to layer the cardstock. The flower is made by using the circle squeeze punches layered on top of each other and secured with a big white brad.

The next card is also using the corner punch but by taking off the corner guide it allows you to punch side by side along a line to create the notched pattern and then using the positive and the negative to make a pocket type card to slide a ticket or some scratchies in.

And this is what it looks like close up, I added a swipe of ink around the edges as well.

 
I still have some plans for some more samples.

These are another great tool made by Fiskars, thanks guys for the opportunity to play with them. :0)

Annette
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

Jamiks Scrapbooking and Photography Studio Class

It has been a mad house here, I have fallen off the bandwagon the last week with my photo a day for August that I have been playing along with. I have been taking photos, but not of the prompts that Kim has been giving us for no reason other than I haven't had the time to jump on the computer check what we are prompted and them photograph and upload!! I have been painting Maddisons room, so have been very focused on doing that rather than sitting on the computer, you know, before you know it you are surfing the www and not getting anything else done, so as hard as it was i left the computer off!! Mmmm not sure what I will do there! Might play catch up or just include my pics I have been taking so I have a pic a day to scrap at the end of August. Its all about taking pics I guess and Kim has certainly managed to get me doing that again :0)

Annnnnyway.......I am off to Tully this weekend for a fun class at Jamiks Photography and Scrapbooking Studio.

Here is a little sneaky peak of some bits, we will be painting, stamping, using rubons, using our packaging as elements in our creations and generally having a good time :0)

Karyn always has a generous and very enticing kit to play with and its the little extras that really get your creative juices flowing :0) There is a couple of layouts for the class and when we chose the ribbon for the class Karyn said she would present it on a cute little dolly peg. i just couldn't resist making it into a real little dolly ;0)

A card or two including using our packaging as elements.

Looking forward to it :0)

Annette x 
  

 

 

 
 
 
 

Cards for all Occasions

Hi there, hope everyone is settling back into the new term with ease :0)

We had a wonderful couple of weeks at the beach and although VERY wet, we none the less had a fabulous time. Its back to work with a vengence this week so to be perfectly honest I haven't had time to get creative, I do however have some cards that I would love to share with you that were published in the latest issue of SCRAPBOOK CREATIONS NO. 76 (Vol 9 No 1).

For obvious reasons I can't give you instructions, but I can tell you LOTS of my fantastic  Fiskars tools were put to good use as well as Heidi Grace Stamps.....

 

 

So if any of these take your fancy pop out and grab a copy, lots of inspiration to be found - Scrapbook Creations No. 76.

Thanks for stopping by.

;0) A 

 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Happy Easter Card and egg dyeing

A quick share of a card i have published in the latest edition of Scrapbook Creations Vol 9 No 1.

 

I had hoped to get this into a layout but not to be before easter, definately after.

Egg blowing and dyeing has been in full swing in our house this week and the rocky road easter eggs are made, just waiting to be rolled in hundreds and thousands....yum!!

We must remember to leave the eggs out of the fridge next year, to make them easier to blow empty and I have no doubt that Maddison will refrain from sucking in raw egg by accident instead of blowing it out next time ;0) Thats what the yukky face is all about, LOL! 

We are off to the beach tomorrow.

Happy Easter :0)

Annette

 

A Card tutorial if you feel that way inclined!

Hi there again, well as promised yesterday, here in this post, I have used my layout to inspire a card and thought you might like to see how its put together.

(and no there is NO FELT Lee, LOL!!)

This is a fairly photo heavy post, but I have found in the past that if people get to see the little nitty gritty bits of how something comes together visually, then it is often easier for them to get a grasp on.

okay here we go ;0)

What we are creating, layout on the left from yesterday and the card on the right.

  The card measurements are 21cm x 15cm folded in half to form your card. I have used kraft coloured card, you might prefer a different colour. And just a 12"x12" piece for the layout.

  The main tools we are using are - The Woodland Shape Template, Utra ShapeXpress with the Fiskars Craft mat, 2' squeeze punch, lace border punch, fingertip control craft knife, you will also need your basic tools, steel ruler, black ink pad micro tip scissors and a sewing machine with white thread. Now if you don't have any of these, don't panic, there is always an alternative, and I will make some suggestions in relation to this as we go through.

1.  Use your stamp to stamp on the top and bottom of the card/layout. Below is what the stamp looks like in its entirety. Simply ink up and position on the edge of your page, be sure to put a piece of scrap paper under the edge of your work so you don't end up with ink everywhere.

Now if you don't have this stamp don't panic, try ruling the lines using a black fine tip marker, or doing little dashed or dotted lines, use an alphabet stamp to spell out "life", better still mix and match different alphabets to get the same or similar look. You could even use sticker alphas if you wanted. Parenthesis are easy to draw and colour in or cut out of a piece of black card, or again you may have a stamp, chipboard or sticker that will do the same job. Get my drift, anything goes, you can make it all work by inking it black to pull it together.

Below is what it will look like on your folded card.

2.  Next sew around the outside of your card front, be sure to open your card out flat, "duh" you may say, but yes it is easy to sew it together ;0) and yes i am speaking from experience!!

 Don't have a sewing machine, you could do it by hand or do faux sewing using a white gel pen and if you want to be really authentic you could use a paperpiercing tool to put your little needle holes in and join them with the white gel pen.  I know that is pretty extreme but you know anything is possible and you might not use it here, but one day it will be just the tip you are looking for to finish off a little project ;o)

 

3.  Okay next,tear a couple of pieces of PP from your scraps and sew on the top and bottom give the edges a bit of a sand first and rough them up, soften them with your fingers so they curl as seen in the photo.

4. Next take a piece of dotted organza ribbon and sew it to your card front, just gather it up as you go all rough like.

5.  It will look like this below.

6.  Now we are going to make our yellow/blue border embellishment. Cut a scallop border using your woodland template side.

Use the ruler and fingertip control craft knife to cut it off into a strip as seen below.

Next use your 2" round squeeze punch to punch out the little notches in each scallop as you can see in the pic below.

Alternatively you could cut with scissors. Give all the edges a light sand.

Cut a thin strip approximately 1cm out of dark blue

Attach to the back of your yellow scallop and secure with tape, give the edge of the dark blue a light sand also. Pop this aside for now and we will get the other pieces cut.

7.  Use the Lace border punch to punch along the edge of your floral PP, trim off to about 1.5cms.

Use the sewing machine to attach it to your card, just sitting on top of your organza ribbon as seen below.

8.  Now we are going to make our little bunting chain and our bird. The pieces you are going to use are on the woodland template. For the layout you will use the bigger leaf shape for your bunting and for the card you will actually use the birds wing to make a smaller version of bunting, more suitable to your card.

Cut them out using the cutter and template, and then cut them in half as seen below. Cut your bird and assemble him using thick double sided tape to give him dimension.

Note that there are 2 birds on the layout and only one on the card. To get your 2 birds to face each other, you will have to cut one bird on the right side of the PP and flip the paper over and cut the other bird on the wrong side of the paper, that way you will have a little birdy facing each other.

To make your bunting you simply feed through the sewing machine leaving a gap in between so it looks like rope. Alternatively you could attach it to a piece of ribbon with tape or a quick hand stitch, or you could staple the bunting pieces to ribbon.

9.  Now that you have your last few elements made you can add them to the card.

After your ribbon and lace border you can add your yellow embellishment on thick dimensional tape to lift it up above the other borders. Then sit your little birdy on top, be sure to add a double layer of thick double sided tape so he sits up nice and proud ;0)

10.  Your bunting can be draped across as shown and again adhered with thick mounting tape. Note on the card I had some extra little bunting pieces left so I added them just under the birdy as well, didn't want to throw them out after all that hard work, LOL!!

I also cut a flourish from the yellow paper, a bigger one for the layout and smaller for the card and just poked it under securing with tape.

To finish off just add your pearl rhinestones and journalling in brown zig writer in your stamped journalling block and above your bunting if you are doing the layout.

The one thing i didn't photograph was the  word "talk" on the layout, I simply drew the word onto the PP in pencil and cut it out using the microtip scissors, gave a light sand around the edges, voila!! Instant original title!!
 

 

If you want closeups of the layout pieces you can check out the post HERE.

Goodness, are you still with me LOL!!

Well hope you find the time to have a play or that you may have learnt a little something new.

If there is something i haven't made clear enough or you have any questions at all, be sure to shoot me an email or if you have time to have a play we would love to see. My email addy is [email protected] .

bfn

Annette :0)

PS. forgot to mention that the paper pack I used was Finleys Estate, by Cloud 9, you may still be able to get your hands on some.

THE WOODLAND SHAPECUTTER TEMPLATE IS AVAILABLE IN LINCRAFT IN MARCH, SPOTLIGHT IN JULY AND AT WHOLESALERS NOW!!

Ax

 

I am finally crawling out of my hole!!!

 
Yes i know it has been a while, thankyou all for your emails and concern, all is well as a whole, just ridiculously busy, you know how it is right? Gina, M.Kate, Brigitte and The Tully girls, I will catch up with you all soon, sorry I have been slack!! Lee, your comment last night made me finally pull out my finger ;0)x

So I am engrossed in the winter olympics, love seeing people be the best they can at something and man these guys and girls are GOOD, no they are GREAT!!! We spoilt ourself on the weekend with a nice new 106cm plasma screen, which after watching TV on a little tiny portable is really quite a thrill for us!! So I can sit at the table and play with paper and watch and see everything at the same time - even better, everyone else has fallen asleep on the lounge, so i can channel surf at the same time and even better than that - I can eat my chocolate without having to share ;0)!! (well one block of chocky doesn't go far between six people!!)

On a creative front, I have just finished a project for Stamping and Papercraft and it is in the mail today - a huge relief for me, it was proving to be a struggle, but in the end i was very happy with it, unfortunately I can't share yet.

I created a layout last night and just finished it, will photograph tomorrow and share with you over the weekend, it was nice to do something for me and I didn't use any photos, just wanted to have a play.

Next is on to creating my class for Jamiks Photography & Scrapbooking Studio in Tully. In fact I might just pull that all out for a little look tonight to get the creative juices flowing.

If you a in the area we would love to see you for a class, just give Karyn a ring to book your seat, the next class will be on Saturday 20th March 2010.

I have been lucky to have quite a bit of work published of late and will share some with you...

 This card was one in a set I taught at Paper Possibilites last year and was published in Scrapbook Creations, just recently.

and this one was for Ngaires Top Ten in Scrapbook Creations, you were to gain inspiration from your favourite artist or style of art, so I chose grafitti or street art, whichever way you like to look at it. Had fun doing this, lots of paint and ink on the credit card to smear it on and a favourite photo of our eldest son Nick and his mates Steven and Ross, they were born 10 days apart and have been great mates throughout their lives.

 
 

I might call it a night, i have more to share but you are probably all falling asleep by now ;0)

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks again for taking the time to stop by, for those of you who blog, I promise i will stop by real soon and say hi.

Ax :0)
 

Jamiks Photography and Scrapbooking Studio Tully Class

Hello!!

My apologies for the lateness of this post, i wasn't having much luck photographing our class, wasn't happy so did them again, mmm still not happy but here they are!! Could do with some photography lessons i would think ;0)

So converting layouts to card and vice versa, 2 layouts, 2 ++ cards.....

 

 

 Still with me? ;0)

Still have some glossy accents to add the finishing touches.

These should come together quite quickly and easily, they did for me, miracle!!! The first layout doesn't have the photos added yet, still have to print them off.

It isn't necessary to bring photos to the class as we are concentrating on getting 4 items finished to take home and you will be able to very succesfully add your photos later!!

Hope to see you there, don't forget if you book and pay now, you receive a discount :0)

bfn

Annette

 

 
 

SCRAPBOOKING AND CARD MENUS OVER AT FISKARS ANZ BLOG

HELLO!!

Over on the ANZ Fiskars blog this month the challenge is to create to a menu, you can find all the details by CLICKING HERE. Basically you choose from the menu, email Lianne your choice and she will email you back with a set of guidlines for you to create with. Good fun and great being told what to do!!

So this is my post from over at Fiskars:- 

Well Liannes menu turned out to be a bit more in this household, everybody got involved!!

The day i decided to make my menu, our daughter was home sick. My menu involved buttons and when i got the jar out, Maddison decided she would sort them into colours and make a few pictures along the way. It kept her occupied for a good couple of hours, and my buttons are now colour coded into 10 different packets!!

This is what she made....

Cute huh?

Okay so my menu was:-

To make a card

brown, orange and green colour combination

2 patterned papers

fabric

buttons

plain cardstock optional extra

This is what I came up with

I made this shortly after i got home from the Craft and Quilt Fair and i was hanging out to play with my new little cutter

 

I love this new toy!! It was great for cutting my fabric grass, and my wavy line on my middle orangey piece of PP. I used my circle squeeze punches for my flower bases and attached my button layers with glossy accents. My "beauty" embellishement was hand drawn and hand cut with my Fiskars micro tip scissors, great for all the little inbetween fidly bits.

Now i was feeling a little more creative the next day and decided that i didn't want to give my card away, that i would make it into a little frame. So sticking to my rustic colours i gave instructions to Chris to look for a piece of old timber to make a frame for my card, he was on his way to the dump with hubby, i was sure they could find a piece of recycled timber.

Sure enough they did and Chris made a rustic, not too precise with the measurements frame, first time he's used a mitre box, i think he did very well.  This is going to live above the toilet in our bathroom which is white and terracotta!! (Not sure about the "beauty" in the toilet, but hey, the colours match LOL!! ;0) 

Thats it from me, thanks for stopping by today, plllleeeennnty of inspiration floating around here so why not get in on the act and shoot Lianne an email and get a menu of your own to play with!!

HAPPY WEEKEND TO YOU

Annette ;0)

HELLO!!

Over on the ANZ Fiskars blog this month the challenge is to create to a menu, you can find all the details by CLICKING HERE. Basically you choose from the menu, email Lianne your choice and she will email you back with a set of guidlines for you to create with. Good fun and great being told what to do!!

So this is my post from over at Fiskars:- 

Well Liannes menu turned out to be a bit more in this household, everybody got involved!!

The day i decided to make my menu, our daughter was home sick. My menu involved buttons and when i got the jar out, Maddison decided she would sort them into colours and make a few pictures along the way. It kept her occupied for a good couple of hours, and my buttons are now colour coded into 10 different packets!!

This is what she made....

Cute huh?

Okay so my menu was:-

To make a card

brown, orange and green colour combination

2 patterned papers

fabric

buttons

plain cardstock optional extra

This is what I came up with

I made this shortly after i got home from the Craft and Quilt Fair and i was hanging out to play with my new little cutter

 

I love this new toy!! It was great for cutting my fabric grass, and my wavy line on my middle orangey piece of PP. I used my circle squeeze punches for my flower bases and attached my button layers with glossy accents. My "beauty" embellishement was hand drawn and hand cut with my Fiskars micro tip scissors, great for all the little inbetween fidly bits.

Now i was feeling a little more creative the next day and decided that i didn't want to give my card away, that i would make it into a little frame. So sticking to my rustic colours i gave instructions to Chris to look for a piece of old timber to make a frame for my card, he was on his way to the dump with hubby, i was sure they could find a piece of recycled timber.

Sure enough they did and Chris made a rustic, not too precise with the measurements frame, first time he's used a mitre box, i think he did very well.  This is going to live above the toilet in our bathroom which is white and terracotta!! (Not sure about the "beauty" in the toilet, but hey, the colours match LOL!! ;0) 

Thats it from me, thanks for stopping by today, plllleeeennnty of inspiration floating around here so why not get in on the act and shoot Lianne an email and get a menu of your own to play with!!

HAPPY WEEKEND TO YOU

Annette ;0)

SPOTLIGHT CAIRNS TONIGHT!!!

HELLO!!

How are you all?

Like the other Demonstrators and Ambassadors i too will be out and about TONIGHT IN CAIRNS SPOTLIGHT. I will have all my tools with me and i am madly working on some frames and cards to inspire you in a festive way!!

I have been giving the squeeze punches a workout to make funky little chrissy trees, wanna peak?....

 

  
 
 No,  not traditional colours in our house this year ;0)

I will have my LATEST FAVOURITE TOOL - the fingertip control rotary cutter (hope i got that name correct!!) If you haven't tried out this little baby you don't know what you're missing. Works fantastically on paper and fabric, so we will give it a whirl tonight, cut some fabric, do a little stamping and see what we can make ;0)

Border punches, squeeze punches, ultra shape express, stamp blocks and stamps, trimmers, eyelet setters, all there for you to have a play.

Almost forgot..... if a shapeboss embossing system has been on your wishlist, i hear they are going out the door TONIGHT BETWEEN 6 AND 9 FOR HALF PRICE, so grab yourself a bargain.

Might see you there? Hope so ;0)

bfn

Annette :0) 

PS. If funky chrissy trees are your thing and you would like the instructions to make these, let me know in the comments and i will see what i can do about uploading some instructions over the next week or so,they are quick and would make great "production line" chrissy cards;0)

Some published work of late :0)

Hello!!

Thought i would share some bits and pieces that have been keeping me busy over the past few months, now that they are out i can share :0)

A technique corner for FISKARS CRAFT over on the SCRAPBOOKING MEMORIES site using border punches, squeeze punches and the Heidi Grace Forever Love range, you can check it out RIGHT HERE. (sorry i can't post the pic.

The latest issue of CARDMAKING STAMPING AND PAPERCRAFT VOLUME 15 No 4,

 I took part in a Stampers'Challenge featuring a silhouette image from Kaszazz, this is the stamp...

this is the first card....

and the second....

Always enjoy using the stamps for something other than the obvious.

Lots more example in the mag, great for inspiration :0)

Then this card, inspired by song lyrics....

and a project in the Spotlight catalogue for Fiskars...

thanks for stopping by.

A ;0)

September Challenge over at the ANZ Fiskars blog is.....

being hosted by fellow Ambassador Michelle Wallace.

Ane it is to..... 

RECYCLE... RE PURPOSE... and REUSE.

The challenges are:

** Create a Layout using recycled items.. for example. cereal boxes, pizza boxes, bread tags, clothing labels, ribbon from clothing ... the list is endless

** Create a card using junk mail and punched on a card stock base ONLY !!! (you can add bling, ribbon, paint and ink though).

** Create an OTP item using recycled/re purposed items... for example that beer keg I mentioned earlier is destined as a gift holder of some really much needed munchies at Christmas time.. but badly needs a make over !

Lots of choices here!!

I have started playing and will share a card later made out of junk mail, a Spotlight catalogue to be precise!!

bfn

Annette :0)