Fairy Dust Glitter + Daily Junque part 3

Hi there, 

Thought I'd show this last glittery flowery card today - the last one that I have photographed anyway. 

This one's my favourite, I think. 

Except for the fact that there's a little too much white space at the top of the card there. About a cm needs to be cut from the top...didn't notice it when I was actually making the card. 

This card isn't on a regular card base - I just folded the actual paper in half and added Tim's On the Edge File Tabs die on the side there.

Works a treat, that die, and it cuts through chipboard and acetate and all the other things that the steel rule dies can cut through.

Mine's just the paper like I said, and what especially rocks with the steel rule dies is that they cut paper and chipboard as well as each other.

That is, thin and thick.

And it cuts them neatly.

Just a few close ups of the bits on the card front.

I didn't stamp on this card. I don't think I thought of it at the time.

Did do the compulsory flower though.

Mixed Berries Fairy Dust Glitter on this one.

And a pink button from my stash.

And there was a smile on my face when I was done - except for a second when I noticed the extra white space that I should've cut off.

Oh well, still love it anyway.

So, you bought any Fairy Dust glitter yet? lol

I know I'll be using mine a lot. I'm thinking more Christmas stuff next....I'm on the hunt for some fun Christmas papers...

Fairy Dust Glitter + Daily Junque part 2

Thought I'd show you some more of the Daily Junque flowers again today. Can't say it enough - I've had so much fun with these papers....

What I've loved is the cards have almost made themselves. Gotta love that. Collage background with room for a flower and done! Nice card. 

For this card below, I cut the paper, stuck it to a regular card base and then added just two things:

1. The glitter flower with Pralines & Cream glitter. 

(The die is the Flower Framelits set from Sizzix) 

2. A line of white (heat embossed) stamping. Can you see it?

It's there, just above the wing...

And here at the point of the arrow.

It's a border stamp from Making Memories Panorama stamp set.

I know, who knew?

It just worked.

I found the set at Photo Continental - again, treasure trove over there.

Don't you love that bicycle image up there? I do. Just love it.

I've used the Panorama stamps on another of these cards too. The journalling block with the swirly ends specifically. One swirly end is poking out from behind the flower. Looks nice.

Onto card number two.

For this card I added the paper to a regular A5 card base again and then added four things:

1. Glitter flower with Mixed Berries glitter (added Dimensional Magic to the button to make it glossy).

(The die is Tim's Tattered Florals)

2. Vintage Floral border at the bottom (Martha punch).

3. An extra piece of the blue and white stripe at the bottom. Kinda looks like a blue and white barber pole.

4. Another stamp. This one says 'Note to Self' and is from Basic Grey's 'To Do' Stamp set. Again, just worked.

I'm a believer in buy what you like and it'll work for you. Don't try to hard, just pick up stuff you like and it'll gel in the end. 

Yep, I'm a believer in that.

Pretty.

Love that Mixed Berries glitter - it's just perfect on these papers (pinky blue).

Onto project number three...

A box.

With a flower on it.

1.  You can learn how to make a box like this here. 12 x 12 for one piece and 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 for the other piece.

2.  The tag is from the paper collection - I just cut it off one of the sheets.

3.  The die I used for the flower is the Flower Framelits from Sizzix again. I love the Framelits dies.

4.  The glitter is Pralines & Cream.

5.  There's nothing in the box.

6.  Boxes are hard to take a picture of.

Hope you enjoyed the projects!

The timer's gone off, so that means it's time to iron. I know, from blogging to ironing - what a mix. Don't worry, I'm going to put the timer on (for an hour) for that too.

Bye now!

PS. Yes I'm serious.

PPS. Trying to keep myself on task (or tasks) today. And the timer is today's 'keep Debra on task' motivator of choice.

More Fairy Dust Glitter flowers, but unfortunately...

...I think they're a bit of a disaster....

I was experimenting and the experiments didn't pay off.

Can you spot the problems?

There are two...

Firstly - I was too heavy handed with the glue - which translates into too much glitter on the flower. Kinda overpowers it.

These flowers look better to me when they have glitter on the edges of the petals, rather than over half the petals.

Tip for you: Not too much glue!

Second problemo - wrong type of glue.

I was experimenting and wanted a glue that really stuck, so I used Matte Accents.

Matte Accents, people! What was I thinking?

Diamond Glaze, Dimensional Magic, and some other new bottle of stuff at PC that I was intrigued by but didn't get to check out - all dry glossy and would've been the better choice.

Matte Accents dries matte which meeaaans...the glue under the glitter dried matte - ie. cloudy and less shine.

Not the look we usually go for with glitter...sigh.

I had the Matte Accents on my desk because I use it to stick buttons on all the time, so I just grabbed it without thinking.

Don't do that, hey, ie. check your brain at the door. It really doesn't work...

It worked out in the end though - - the disasters, that is.

Okay, let's not call them disasters - they're not disasters. Let's call them, 'not my favourites'. Not everything is, or has to be, a masterpiece.

I took them to display at Photo Continental for a couple of reasons:

~   I was hoping someone would be inspired by them regardless of the heavy handed glue. Hey, some people like that.

~   The glitter kinda looked like snow. I didn't mind it when I thought of it like that.

~   I hate throwing things away, so used them anyhow.

Like it said, it worked out in the end.

One lady came to my table and wanted to make the exact flower with the exact papers in the exact order - which we did.

And she loved it.

I've learnt that lesson over the years, for sure.

What one loves, another doesn't.

What one reeeaallly dislikes, another loooovvveess.

I, for one, reeeaaalllly do not like distressing - distress stamping and inking in particular. No way. But I know for a fact you would have some very unhappy crafters on your hands if you took away their inks.

Crafting - it's an equaliser.

We all love making stuff, but what we make is poles apart. It's the way it is. It's good.

Even if my flowers aren't....to me.

More Fairy Dust Glitter: Mixed Berries this time

Hi there,

I said I'd be back today with some more glittery projects. Are you ready?

Here's the first....(hello, baker's twine)...

Firstly, two words....Daily Junque.

I'll just let that sink in for a bit before I carry on....

...sinking in....

...sinking in....

Okay, has it sunk?

Has the fabness of the papers sunk into the recesses of  the 'I've gotta get to my desk and make something now' part of your brain?

This paper is just. so. fab.

Have a look here - just look at the papers - they're what I'm talking about....

As is typical, I don't like all the papers in the collection. I know, what a downer, but it's the way I roll. The rocking it ones are the collage ones.

What do you think? Now I know that sometimes things don't translate onto the computer screen and sometimes our tastes are different, but you've gotta believe me when I say that this paper is fab. Like, it totally rocks.

I found it at PC (that place is a treasure trove) and snapped it up quickity sticks. I'd seen it online when it first came out, but I didn't buy any even though I liked it. This time though, I needed some paper for some projects and whammo, it came home with me.

I got stuck into it as soon as I could and ended up having a great time with it. Can you have a great time with paper? Yes, you can.

You know what it's like, it all just snaps and clicks and works and you think you're the greatest card maker ever because everything you touch turns to gold??

Yep, it was like that.

And that...is called inspiration...

...which is opposed to non-inspiration or wrong timing, which is more commonly called 'get outta here now and go do something else'...

Yep, been there so many times I've left my toothbrush for extended visits.

Anyway, Daily Junque and I were on the inspiration train and we rocked it. I love it when that happens. If only it was that easy all the time.

We rocked the glitter too.

Or the glitter rocked the papers!

Fabbo.

Hold it...we need a close up....

Gorgeous!

I used the Mixed Berries Fairy Dust Glitter here. Made the flower go from fun to fabulous.

This was the time I realised that Mixed Berries was made for pinky/blue pattern combos.

Yesterday I talked about using certain glitters on certain papers, but I have to tell you that I've since used all three colours (Mixed Berries, Pralines and Cream and Sugar Shimmer) on these papers and they all look gorgeous.

(I've now added a note about that in yesterday's glitter review post - blogging is a 'current' media, but it's also a gigantic filing system and someone will look up that review in the future)

The card is actually a card by the way. It's got a back on it and is standing up open like a regular card would.

Okay, that's all for today - will share a couple more glittery cards soon. Yep, got more to show ya. Bye now.

PS. The handbag is an XL Sizzix die called Album, Purse and the embossing folder is called Wild Poinsettia from Couture Creations (got it at the show for five bucks...from Photo Continental, of course).

PPS. I was at my desk yesterday making some more cards like these and I had to work at it. The inspiration was still there, but the golden touch wasn't! That's craft...it ebbs and flows...

Really, it's not earth shattering...

...but it's pretty.

The story goes...I made a scrapbook page using all those papers, actually I made a few pages...and I had a lot of scraps left over as you do.

I decided to make a card out of the scraps to use them up and to just make a card. You know how people suggest these good ideas, but you rarely do them? Well, I rarely do them! Anyway, I decided to try this one.

It was good actually. I loved the papers and enjoyed making the card. There was no pressure to be fab or anything because I was just making a card to use up the scraps.

Turned out to be quite pretty actually. The brads are actually from My Mind's Eye's 2009 Colourful Christmas collection - they went perfectly with my papers. I think they're...actually, I don't know who they are. Pink Paislee? Not sure. The lined paper is an old one...I've had it for years. Coloured ledger.

I'd done the whole thing except the ribbon, that was last.

I had paper, brads (ie. metal and shine) and I needed some softness and some leaves. Cue ribbon and sorted. They're just bits folded in half to make loops and then stuck under the petals.

The card turned out nice in the end and I knew my class ladies would love it, so it ended up going in a class.

Don't you love it? No pressure to make a card and I get a good one. Sit down to make something fabulous for a class and come up with nothing!

Here's the class card. I re-designed it a bit to suit the papers/punches I had available for the class and it worked out better, I think.

Which do you like?

The differences are some of the papers, particularly the flower ones, the Fiskars Apron Lace punch got switched to the Open Scallop from EK and the red buttons.

The red buttons really do it for me and give the card some punch.

The first card could be punched up a notch with some red buttons too. Hey, you do what you do at the time!

Hmm, red buttons. We shall never be parted because we are friends.

And punches, we shall never be parted either because we are friends too.

And to finish off today I thought I'd show you my flower garden again. Remember it doesn't look like this now. These photos were taken in Dec 2008 (summer) about two weeks apart.

I remember enjoying watching them grow - so amazing. And I got to enjoy them from my house each day too - they were at the bottom of the garden (I sound English - been watching too much Escape to the Country). To be Aussie - they were down the backyard, mate.

Okay, that's all for today. Have a wonderful day!

Total randomness...but with a theme.

Hi there,

I'm back from blog-o-cation! 

Did you miss me?

I missed you!

I'm still a bit out of it and my head's still trying to get into it. Thus, today's post. Randomness, but with a flowery theme :o)

These flowers were in my garden, but they're not anymore.

I wish they were.

My husband planted them for me and we had a good little garden going there for a while. We've realised in the southern hemisphere, and particularly in Queensland (the Sunshine State), Australia, we don't appreciate our flowers like you northern hemisphere dwellers. After going without them for so long after the snow and whatnot, I totally get the whole "give me some colour" thing!

In our state, we don't get snow. We had sleet inland once and it was very exciting. If we do get snow in our state it's a freak of nature. We have flowers all year round and we enjoy the sun all year round too. In fact, if there's too many overcast days in a row, we all start getting a bit peaked and gloomy. Not good! 

Flowers in the garden = good. 

Flowers in the garden that dog (Shep, not Cody) doesn't dig up = good. 

:o)

A flower card this time.

I noticed the swirls on the yellow there before. Looks like I tried to get some texture happening that's similar to embossing. Don't you just love embossing? Gosh, the Cuttlebug, love it! And what'd you think of the re-design? Interesting, hey? 

These flowers were taken in the northern hemisphere and in a very specific spot that I remember exactly.

Two words: Green Gables.

This card has a story, but I'll leave you hanging on that one too.

Sorry, it's mean, but I've gotta spread this stuff out otherwise my posts would be too long, even for me!

This card has a story too.

It's not an earth shattering one, but it's a story nonetheless.

And I'm going to share it tomorrow!

:o)

Flowers and the craft show

I'm lucky. My husband sometimes buys me flowers, but he also plants me flowers. Isn't that nice?

Last year he planted a flower garden for me and I photographed it two weeks apart. The growth was amazing. We probably had rain then!

He also planted this pot recently too. He thought I'd enjoy them, and I do! I can see them from the house and enjoy them all the time. So lovely of him.

They're pretty, aren't they?

Just letting you know that the craft show is on this week too from Weds to Sunday at the Convention Centre. Anyone going?

I'll be there demonstrating. And there'll probably be glitter involved! I get it all over me and it stays in the car for weeks...

Bye now!

:o)