The last of the plates

Actually, it's not the last, it's the first.

This is the first plate I used to inspire a card.

It looked the easiest to me, so I went with it.

Nice plate.

I particularly wanted to follow the colour scheme and use a wiggly shape to mimic the border.

I ended up using a page from an old recipe book as the background with a green dotted one below. The ric rac added the wiggly shape, so did the Martha border at the bottom (double scallop).

The cherries would be nice if they had Dimensional Magic on them, I think, or were even replaced with big, red buttons. That'd be good too. Not that I don't like the card I made. I do. I'd just do a different version of it now.

So, vintage stuff. Do you like vintage stuff as much as I do?? It's everywhere at the moment - some companies are known for it, while some have added it into their product lines lately.

If you'd like to check out some other Vintage lines, I've put some links below. There's lots of different types of Vintage - you'll see what I mean when you check 'em out. I like the retro, bright Vintage the best.

October Afternoon - My favourite. They're doing Vintage at the moment, but both the collections are very different from each other. Love both.

Graphic 45 - Straight out of magazine type images. You know those old Santa Christmas cards? They do things like that. This page will give you an idea of their style.

Sassafras - Their stuff is very full on. It has a lot of detail and little interesting bits to it (same as detail!). I use the busy bits sparingly by chopping them up. I also pair their stuff with other lines to tone it down if I want. You can't beat their back in the day images, though, love them. Here's what I mean Cherry Delicious - Winsome (it's the first one on the list).

Jenni Bowlin - She is Miss Vintage. Bingo cards, tickets, farmy type stuff with cows and flour sacks, label shapes, calendar cards and banner (bunting) stickers.

Tim Holtz - Grungy, distressy and metallic. Vintage grunge? He blogs regularly too.

Studio Calico - They're a kit club, but they sell retail now, I believe. They always have a vintage vibe if you ask me. I like their blog.

Prima - They used to be known for just their flowers and now they do paper and other bits too. Their flowers are still extremely popular, esp. with the new ones that come with bling and sparkle attached.

There's lots of other companies out their doing Vintage too. Anna Griffin and K & Company are a couple more. Just depends on your style and what you can find to buy (that usually determines our choices more than anything...).

Anyway, enjoy!

Last two items in the fridge, vintage style...

Pink flowers with pearls,

Girl on bike,

Duck with deer...

and Rabbit with duck!

(Paper is Sassafras Vintage Yummy collection - Memory Lane)

Added quite a few buttons on this one. Must've had more time while I was making the card.

And because we're finishing up this series of Vintage cards today, here we have a card I call, "Should I put this red border on or not?"

It was a debate while making the card.

It's still a debate today.

Today my answer is not...no border.

Want to add to the debate? Border or no?

Inspiration Station

Hi and happy Monday to you!

You know that memory game you play where you go around the circle and you have to list what everyone else has said and then you add your own?

For example: Items in the fridge - milk, butter, oranges, apples, carrots, chocolate annnndddd (thinking of your own thing to add) tomatoes! Then the next person has to say all those and add their own? Good memory game for kids - I played it in the classroom with my Year 3 kids. Good after dinner table game too for family dinners.

Well, this post is like that.

Pink card with pearls...

Girl on bike...

aannnddd Duck with deer!

One card leads to another and the fun continues.

This card is made with the same piece of paper from Sassafras Lass that I used for the Girl on bike. I had a couple of other bits of paper from the collection, so I used those to cut bits from. All fun stuff.

Oh yes, they're bigger cards too - about 6 x 6. I like making different sized cards, what about you?

PS. Sassafras has a blog if you'd like to check it out. Like all manufacturers they debut new product (their newist is Indie girl) on there and I like how they show the whole collection and I can view it with one scroll of the mouse.

Inspiration Station

In the light of it being all Vintagey around here...

...I thought I'd remind you of this card first...

...because it inspired this one.

It's amazing how one thing leads to another, hey?

The paper I used above is from Sassafras Lass. I'm not sure of the collection name. It's an oldish kind of one. I just loved the whole vintage vibe of it.

I was a 12 x 12 sheet and I cut the portion I wanted, matted it on cream and put that on pink. I added pink buttons (I sewed them this time, more vintagey looking) and added the glitter on the flowers. That's it. The rest you see is the patterned paper. Love that, it did most of the work for me.

If you'd like to see what the paper looked like before I cut into it, click here. When you get to the page, click on the top piece of paper in the list called Vintage Yummy - Memory Lane and you'll get an enlarged pic of it.

Was nice to see the whole sheet again actually. I recognise other bits and pieces that I've used on other cards. Forgot where they all came from!

Very interesting all the paper designs out there. What the designers do is really amazing.

I'm teaching my Vintage class tomorrow at PC, so I might see you there.

Have a great weekend!

:o)

What do you think about this?

Pretty funny, hey?

Not funny, ha ha, but fun funny.

Whaddyou reckon?

(Designs inspired by Punch Art Fun for everyone page 21)

Nicole made the cake and sent me the photos on the weekend. So fun.

Mary contacted me a little while ago and asked if she could use my designs on cakes. Never thought of that before, but it's a great idea. Now a few cake makers are getting into punch art on their cakes. I guess it's not called punch art when it's on a cake, but still, it's on there and it's cute!

So many possibilities with punch art and cake decorating! Even us non-professional cake makers could give it go. We could, but will we? Yes, exactly!

I've linked you to Mary and Nicole's websites above if you'd like to check them out.

:o)

Class timetable...

... is up on the left over there --------------------> :o)


Here are the details of the classes over on the Photo Continental site:

21 August Vintage Inspired class

18 September Man Cards class

All the rest (Christmas 2010 and Birthday Card Basics)

Just call (07) 3849 4422 if you'd like to book.

We always have a great time in class. Why not come and join us? I don't bite :o)

PS. The Happy Birthday is a Martha Stewart deep edger punch. It's a border, but I just cut out the words and use them as a phrase. When don't you need a Happy Birthday saying? Yep, it's a winner.

PPS. The butterfly at the top is Martha too. It's from the Monarch border or corner punch. Once again, I cut them off and use them as butterflies. They're pretty ones too.

PPS. And while we're on it - the pink border bit at the bottom is Martha called Modern Garland.

PPPS. What would we do without Martha?

PPPPS. The yellow ric rac is the EK Success Ric Rac border (ribbon) punch - punches out to make paper ribbon, rather than on the edge of the card. They're coming out with a lot more paper ribbon punches soon.

PPPPS. The cupcake is a big XL die from Sizzix. Nice. You can cut it so it folds and you put the cupcake into the base, but I've just used it as a flat shape.

Huge sale!

Hey there!

Just letting you know that Photo Continental is having a huge stocktake sale until June 30 and all their scrapbooking is 25% off!

It's their first ever stocktake sale, so go check it out!

Also, my new class timetable is up on their website too. I've not been able to put it on the bloggo yet. Will do soon.

Working on finishing a class this week, so lots of table time for me.

Have a great day!

:o)

Inspiration Station - Flower plate

A couple of weeks ago I talked about using things around my house as inspiration for cards.

Those things namely consist of plates and jugs at the moment.

Here's another plate I love.

And here's the card I made from it.

The design of the plate really has nothing to do with the design of the card, but that's not the point. The point is that the card wouldn't exist without the plate, that's what inspiration is all about (I was inspired by the roses though, so that's something straight off the plate).

I went with a pink base to go with the pink flowers. It's Diva Bling from Bazzill. There's a thin white matt and then some Making Memories ledger paper in there too. The flowers are from one of my all time favourite papers from Basic Grey. I think it's called Marzipan from the Lollipop Shoppe collection. I've used this paper more than any other, that's why it's my favourite. And I still have sheets of it here at home and I'll use them too. I did the other day actually.

I buy some papers and hate them when I get them home (do you do that, or is it just me?). Okay, maybe not hate them, but I don't use them quick enough and my style changes (or my needs do) and I find I don't like that one, I don't like that one, oh, that one's ugly, I don't want that one...you know how it is. Or do you? Maybe you're more sorted than I am!

Marzipan is one of those papers that I loved five years ago (I'm guessing here) when I bought it and I love it just as much now. Phew.

There's glitter on the white parts of the flower too. Adds a nice touch. And the pearls were the last thing I added because it needed something. I don't do pearls often, but I'm glad I had them for this card.

A pretty card, all from a plate.

:o)

Happy day

Today is a special day for us because it's our 15th wedding anniversary.

Wow, that's all I can say. Just wow.

Mum took this photo of us at one of our favourite restaurants, Viet de Lites, at Southbank. So yum.

We were there around Christmas last year - I love being out at night in the summer, there's nothing like it as long as it's not too hot and/or sticky.

Mum took this photo too. I handed her the camera and Andrew planted one on me. So funny, wasn't expecting it.

We were up in the Brisbane Eye getting a bird's eye view of the city. Mum had half price tickets, which is why we decided to go. We laughed about it because we spent $150 to save $30! You know, had to make a night of it and go to dinner etc. It was fun and we even bought the commemorative photos - another 20 bucks. Yay for us.

Happy Anniversary, babe.

Love you!

Some other bits from Granny

Just felt like sharing these today.

They're some other bits and pieces from my granny.

This is the custard jug that she used to use all the time. The handle has been broken a few times, and fixed, so it was obviously much loved.

So glad I have this jug. I just love it. It sits on our dresser with those flowers in it and makes me very happy.

Here's the jug again in the way Granny used to use it.

It was her custard jug like I said and she would put the warm custard in it and then put that thingo on the top (what are they called?) and leave it on the kitchen table (the one with the funky orange chairs) to cool.

I used to love walking into her kitchen and seeing the custard jug with the thingo on top. She'd always serve the custard with stewed apple. I do the same because of her. Make custard from scratch (ie. from custard powder, not complete scratch, but I make it) and stew apple to go with it. So old fashioned and sooo good!

I must move the nutmeg and the cinnamon around in the spice rack because I can't tell you how many times I've put nutmeg in the stewed apple instead of the cinnamon! Wash the apple, start again. Yep, I've done it.

This was her custard jug too and it's my custard jug now.

The first one is too old and delicate to be of service in the kitchen anymore, so this one gets all the use. It's obviously more modern than than the other one, but I love them both.

Now, what about these?

They're actually plastic sort of, not crystal. I was so lucky to get these. How did I get them and my sister didn't? She's all over the tea at Granny's house too, so lucky me.

Anyway, they're the creamer and the sugar bowl (it's at the back and has two handles). They were on the table whether it was a special occasion or not. Loved that. They're so her and I'm glad I have them.

And to finish, what about some old photos of my lovely granny when she wasn't a granny?

This was taken in 1925.

Oh my goodness, don't you love it? Imagine wearing all those clothes!

Granny is the little one - she's five and on her way overseas (from Australia). Wow! Big trip for them all.

I love old photos...

It must be the day for grandmothers as Andrew's grandma is turning 100 today - wow, what a milestone. It's more than a milestone, it's a marathon-stone!

Happy Birthday, Grandma! See you at your afternoon tea this afternoon. I want to see your letter from the Queen!

Have a wonderful day crafting friends!

And since we've been showing a lot of different punches lately...

...what do you think about these?

They're from Marvy. They're newish - not real new, but newish. Not a lot of people sell Marvy in Australia, so they're not readily available really.

That gets on my goat sometimes because we should be able to buy the product like any other crafters around the place, you know? I totally get the whole cost margin whatever thing and all that, but still I want 'em!

That said, they exist and I thought I'd show them just out of interest and so we can see what's going on in the big old world of crafting and, more importantly, punch art.

These ones cut and emboss.

Interesting idea, what do you think?

Would look good in Core-dinations card and sanded. A button to finish and you're done.

I just like how there's a bit of texture on there and it's put there without me having to do it, except punch, of course.

Texture is all the rage - embossing folders and adding texture. We all love it. Paper's pretty flat, so you've gotta do what you can!

And what about these? They're my favourite, the silhouette ones.

I really like the Holiday Flower, the Butterfly, the Hibiscus and the (I really want you!) Buttons punch.

Buttons, you can't go wrong there.

And in three sizes too.

And two of them have the embossing edge. Nice.

Maybe one day they'll make it onto our shores - there's certainly been an explosion in recent months what with Sullivans, Martha and all the new EK ones etc. It's been good, so I can't complain.

I can dream though!

:o)

PS. And yes, I have ordered punches in from overseas. Have you?

Couldn't resist showing you this...

It's my all time favourite baby card.

(Sorry about the black lines on the tops)

Oh, cute.

Honestly, it looks cuter in real life and it's life-size too in real life!

Does it look a little familiar to you?

That's because you've seen this one below...

I posted it back a couple of months ago.

Cute too.

It's fun to play a bit of a spot the difference to see what you can find. Just goes to show that you can mix and match the punches according to what you have to make it work.

Please though, would you please get yourself a postage stamp...

A mini balloon...

A baby bottle...

And a pacifier?

Please?

Hey, no commission earned here or anything, just spreading the love...and the cute!

And to finish, just in case you'd like to know:

~ The gorgeous little cupcake punch is a two-parter from EK Success. You can see it here. I used a 1/8" Circle for the cherry on top.

~ All the other punches used are from Sullivans.

~ The postage stamp stamp (the actual stamp that I stamped, not punched!) is from a Melissa Frances set called Post it Stamps. That includes the Special Delivery stamp as well. It's a great set that I got from Photo Continental.

Okay, finished!

A quick card - because you need those.

Hey there and howdy to you!

On Weds I talked about faux stamps.

Here is a faux stamp, just to clarify the faux stamp between us all.

When using faux stamp, I put a plain square in there too.

Sometimes it's the same colour as the stamp, like above, sometimes it's a different colour. It all depends on the stamp feature (in this case, the heart) and what colour it needs, if any.

It's an art thing. I'm sure non-crafters don't get the whole thinking process that goes into what we do!

It's just like I don't get the whole thinking process that goes into what others do. Actually, that's not right, I do get it, I just don't get it the same way because I don't do it. But I get it because I get it in my world and apply that "getting" to theirs! Get it?

Nup, me either :o)

Here's the full card.

It's simple, and like I said in the title, we need those.

We need them for times when we just want to make something.

We need them when we don't have time to make something complicated.

We need them when we're making stacks of the same thing like thank you cards.

We need 'em!

Now, here's something for ya. Do you like it with glitter (like above)?

Or without?

Or, option 3.

With the Stardust pen in lieu of Stickles glitter?

Yep, the Stardust pen is there - it's clear, so it's hard to see, but it's there. Kinda subtle. Andrew would love it. It's a nice glitter, but not too much, option.

The scallop is a big Marvy one.

Oooh, yeah. Dreamy.

I pierced each of the scallops - you can pierce the valleys too for a different look.

Simple? Yeah, right. We all know how much work can go into something simple, yes? Sometimes I finish making a card that took me an hour and go, "That took me an hour?"

Summary: Simple doesn't mean quick.

Clarification of summary: A simple card can take a long time to make up sometimes. A true simple card takes very little time to reproduce. That's the kicker. The simple comes in the reproducing, not necessarily the original thinking.

Just getting it all out there for those that want to know!

Okay, have a great weekend and enjoy the show if you're going!

:o)

Fun Sullivans punches

Hey there everyone,

How are you today? Getting some time to craft in there somewhere, I hope. Actually that reminds me of my new scrapping solution - I've taken photos and I'll post soon.

(My photos were sitting in the cupboard and I wanted them in albums, so I've been trying to work out how to get them there. Anyway, I've changed things around and so far it's working, which is good - finally! It's been a process to figure it out, that's for sure)

Today I thought I'd share a list of punches I'm calling: "They're cool, they're different, they're fab - thanks, Mr Sullivan".

The list could also be entitled: "Fun new punches from Sullivans"

The list could also be entitled: "Get 'em"

Okay, let's go...

A little daisy - daisies are good in all shapes and I'm loving this size and that it's easy to punch.

The little ones are notorious for being hard and the lever rocks - so much easier!

The pacifier - cute. Showed this one on baby cards recently. Looks gorgeous in a faux stamp on the front of your envelope too.

Love it.

Really, it won't get tonnes of use, but when it does, it'll be fab. A lot of people don't like buying Christmas punches because they only get used once a year, but I hammer mine at that time, so they're totally worth it. I'd say my CP2: Holly from Carl - Green sized Holly from Sullivans - would be one of my most used...ever, and it's a Christmas one.

Get me?

Don't be afraid, people, don't be afraid. Geometrics have their place (and a very good place they have too), but specific, themed punches have their place too.

See above.

It rocks.

And it's cute.

And it looks cute in a faux stamp. Honestly, cute. It's worth the bucks.

How about a pom pom flower?

Included this one because it's a flower (love those all the time), but this one's a funky version for when you need a flower that's not an obvious flower.

Maybe this could be used on a boy page or card. You know who you are...you have all boys at your house, but you're a girl and you desperately want to include some flowers somewhere! Try this one, it might just cut the mustard.

I also think on that subject that it's okay to put flowers on boy pages if you want to. You're a girl and you're telling the story and you like flowers, so stick 'em on there if you want.

Fish symbol - nice.

A geometric shape that has lots of uses. A favourite would be bunny ears. Fab bunny ears, right here.

I put this one in here in green, but I need it in all sizes - just clarifying that.

Scalloped circle because you can never go wrong.

They're needed in all sizes too.

Yep, thanks.

Postage stamps in both the rectangular and square shapes for those faux stamps on the envelopes.

Oh, niiice.

Starburst - included this on the list because it's different.

Would look good layered to make fun flowers.

You could cut it up and use the sticky-out bits as antennae or antlers.

You could cut it in half and make a border along the bottom of the page or card - that'd be interesting.

Again, I also think it's a flower that's not a flower for when you need one of those.

It would be good on boy pages as the flower that you as a girl need to add, or just as the starburst type shape in the background. Stars are good for boys, this could be a nice alternative.

And if you happen to have fireworks photos, well, you're covered.

Gears - hello, boys!

Hello, boy cards.

Hello, man cards.

Hello, boy and man anything.

Hello, layered flowers with the edges curled up.

Hello, I'm a flower that's not a flower and there seems to be a flower not a flower theme going on!

This gear shape comes in three sizes - nice.

Now, onto the big ones, and they punch like a dreeeeaaammm!

Love.

Love too.

This one stays on my desk at all times.

I use it as a label at the moment - drawer labels for the drawers in my room and address labels for the envelopes I make. Sometimes if you make a patterned paper envelope (or one from dark cardstock) you need a label for the address - this one adds the touch of pretty I like too.

Besides that it makes a cute tag and a small layer on your card. Lots of uses.

This is actually a small envelope, but you can layer it to make a flower too.

Or you can cut two sides off to make rounded rectangle-like shapes. Actually, they'd make good address labels too.

And just for kicks - this one is really different and you get a lot of bang for your buck.

I like the one in the top left the most - nice shape. So many uses for all these.

So, what'd you think? Any there to entice you to go shopping? Ha ha, I know, it's hard to resist sometimes.

If you want to check out all the Sullivans punches - click here.

Oh yes, if you can't resist the shopping, the Scrapbook Convention is on this weekend! Are you going? I'm at the Photo Continental stand on the weekend (not Monday), so I might see you there. PC always has great specials at the show, so they're worth checking out.

Bookfest is on this weekend too - and it's in the same building as the Scrap Convention, what a bonus. Good place to check to check for old dictionaries, music paper, altases - things like that. I worked the show last year and then spent at least at hour at Bookfest poking through the bits and pieces. Phew, big day, but it was good. Entry is free to Bookfest too.

Okay, bye now!

:o)