Here it is - the craft tree!

Well, here it is! Finally! Was going to post it yesterday, but the whole blogging thing wasn't cooperating (I think it was user error), but no matter, I'm here today and it's working, so yay for that.

Now, this first photo below is a biggie (as in resolution), so you can click on it to see the tree larger, okay? There's a lot to look at, so I thought you'd appreciate that.

Ah, so pretty. Love the colours. And you know, after doing the tree last year, I had no ideas of what to do this year. I mean, honestly? A few ideas started coming, so I built on those and everything started coming together. 

Gotta love it when things start coming together and they look pretty to boot. 

Okay, so have a close look at the tree if you haven't already. I would've by now! 

So, here's the front view of the tree above. The bow on the base is at the front, so I made sure it was facing me as I was decorating it. You'll notice in the photos below that it's not quite so pretty from each angle, but that's life and tree decorating! And the tree itself is lightly lopsided...it's pretty funny when you see it in the photos, you think?

The base base, ie. the rectangular bit, is just a box with rocks in it (the ones you put in your vases to stabilise them) and it's wrapped with some left over wrapping paper. The tree is going on display at Photo Continental soon and I wanted it to have a bit of height, plus I can display cards in front of the box too.

Okay, for the next three shots, I turned the tree 90 degrees.

Let's look, shall we?

See what I mean about a little lopsided? Oh well.

I bought this tree for about 5 to 8 bucks at an after Christmas sale one year. It's been pulled out every year since and been decorated and redecorated, transported from one place to the other (Andrew's work, Photo Continental) and back again, so it's done quite well considering.

I've yet to work out the best way to transport a fully decorated tree without any other hands to hold it for me. I ended up just laying it on the back seat last year - thus the lopsidedness probably.

And back to the front for the one above. The front is definitely the best side.

Well, enjoy for today. I'll be back very soon with some close up shots and explanations of how to do things!

Bye now,

:o)

PS. The pretty papers I used are from a K & Company paper pad by Brenda Walton called Peppermint Twist. They come in a pad of 50 sheets for $39 and they're gorgeous. They work out to be 78c each in the pad by the way - cheap! I usually don't like all the papers in a collection, but I like all of these.

 And get this, they're a re-release or something. I used them for our 2007 Christmas photos - I was just checking my albums for something else and saw them in there. I loved them back then and when I saw them hanging in Photo Continental, I knew they were coming home with me for the craft tree. Woo hoo. Some of the pages are pre-glittered and everything. I've taken photos of the pages, so I'll share them soon too.

Oh yes, some of you savvy people out there will go straight to the internet and do a search to find out what the papers look like, won't you? I would too (ha ha), but I'm warning you, this Peppermint Twist line had so many gorgeous additions when it came out back in the day, but they're not available as far as I know. I don't even know if you can buy them in the US.

So go, have a look, but don't get too excited about the extra stuff because you may not be able to find it, okay? Okay!

Remember PC has the paper! Click here to see it  on the EK Brands site.

Okay, bye now for real.

Craft status

Hi there!

Just popping in quickly to let you know that the craft tree is done and I'll post pics soon!

It's looking bright and colourful, just the way I like it!

And yes, I'm using a lot of exclamation marks today!

Have a great weekend!!

:o)

And again

I like cute, what can I say?

:o)

More cute

:o)

Cute

Happy Monday.

:o)

Tinsel and Twig

Hey there,

Just wanted to share this with you today. Had to! It's one of those things...

Every year I look forward to buying a new Christmas collection or two. This year I found this collection from The Girls Paperie. It's called Tinsel and Twig and it's gorgeous. Margie (the designer) used to work for Making Memories, but now she makes her own stuff. I love her style and knew this was going to be a collection for me as soon as I saw it.

I do love the traditional red and green, so that's what drew me firstly. Then I noticed the ledger paper, hello? Very cool. And the patchworky one makes it feel homespun. It's a traditional, yet modern, vintage-y style. Vintage is modern right now!

So, I bought the papers. Loved 'em. Made a card with them.

But the thing I really wanted to mention today is the sticker pad.

Let's scroll, shall we?

(Just check out the prettiness as you scroll down)

Oooh, this is one of my favourites. It's the one I used to make the card. And I love that red and white snowflake one. No snow around here, but I like it anyway.

Okay, let's stop here for a second.

Imagine me getting my package from Blue Bazaar and I'm pulling stuff out of the box at the kitchen bench.

Okay, here's the sticker pad, I think to myself as I see the spiral. I give it a tug to pull it expecting something small and "Whoa, it's huge!" It just kept coming out of the box!!

You know how you buy sticker sheets with tiny letters on them and they're about A5 size? I was expecting that, but instead I got this! Get a load of it - it's 12" tall!! I was just shaking my head - that's buying off the internet for ya.

Have you done that before? Ordered something off the internet and it's way smaller than you expected, or way bigger? I got some journalling tags once and they were so small I needed a magnifying glass to check 'em out. And once I got this alphabet stamp thing that I expected to be the size of a date stamp, but it turned out to be about five times the size!! So funny.

Now, when I ordered the sticker pad - the pic had only what you see below. I went onto the manufacturer's website to see if they had pics of what was inside, but there were none, so I took a punt and bought it anyway. 

It was $7.95, so I figured I couldn't go wrong and I didn't. It's amazing! And you just wait til you see what comes in this sucker for $7.95!! 

Gorgeous red letter stickers.

They're a nice size for cards. They're about the same size as October Afternoon's Mini Market letter stickers actually.

This was a FAB surprise! Little alphas!! Yes, people, that's four alphabet colours there, can you believe it? And there are six of each of the main letters. In each colour! Ah, so happy. This sheet alone is worth at least $6 compared to other ones I've seen (and bought).

I love, love, love tiny alphas because they suit my new way of scrapping. Got that story on my blog-o to share list.

Fabbo :o)

And yet there's still more.

These are all individual Christmas words - there's like a billion of them.

They make good borders - you know along a card or page. Just a row of these. It's a great way to add a bit of somethin' to the project. 

And a countdown of the Dec dates. And the December letters there at the bottom.

December Daily anyone?

(Ali Edwards is the December Daily queen)

And still more...

(Can you believe how much is in this pad for $7.95?) 

Borders...

And lastly, labels and bits...

I love the postage stamps. Perfect for putting on your own handmade envelope. Nice. I'll be using these bits and bobs in my scrapping and whatnots. So many possibilities.

So, there you go, what do you think?

Summary: I was expecting it to be about A5 size and I knew whatever was in it would be nice, so I paid the $7.95. It turned out to be huge, both in size and quantity of stuff. And the stuff is gorgeous. And the letter stickers are tiny, just like I like 'em. Actually, they're two sizes and I love both.

I'm using the papers in my scrapping as well as to make Christmas cards and decorations for our tree. We have a new tree this year and it needs some decorating. I'm also doing a December Daily, so it'll feature in that too. My December Daily is different this year, but that's another post. And my Dec Daily is different to my regular scrapping. I also thought I could use the papers to make some bunting. Gotta have some bunting, you think?

And hey, I got the Tinsel and Twig papers and sticker pad here if you'd like to check it out. Remember Blue Bazaar holds orders. You can order say $20 worth of stuff and then wait for some other new things to come in to add to it before you get them to send it. You have to wait for your stuff obviously, but it's a great system. Some people just add to their order and get BB to ship it to them each month. And some people just accumulate things until they want the whole lot shipped. Their newsletter talks about the holding system they have if you'd like more details.

Okay, that's all for now, enjoy your day!

:o)

The inside of the Santa card

Not to be confused with Santa's insides. We're not discussing guts here. Actually, I think we just did. There you go, guts and stuff. Nice. 

Points to note about this card:

The crease.

Or the lack thereof of crease. There's a line, but no crease. It's a crease, but it's a neat one.

One word: Scor-Pal.

Two words: It rocks.

Three words: Go get one.

Point two -

There's Stickles on that there star. Must do.

Point three -

I used to draw pen detail on the hair and beard of Santa (little commas kinda), but now I just don't. Really pulled back on the pen for some reason. In art, I've noticed, I just find myself not doing things I used to without even really noticing I've changed. I didn't realise I didn't do the pen detail until later. That's what I mean. Not noticing the changes. It's art. Right now, I'm into minimal pen. Or no pen. Like, I don't want to add pen unless I really have to. I'm obviously having a pen thing right now. Or, a non-pen thing.

Point four -

I used Sullivans punches.

Yellow Circle for the head, Purple Circle for the nose, Blue Scallop Heart for the beard, Green Scallop Oval for the hair and Green Star for the star (punches six at a time).

Point five -

The nose is on foam tape.

Another must do. If I find myself not doing this anymore, I'll make myself do it because it's a must do.

My sister said the nose looks like a lolly (Dimensional Magic). I told her I considered a button, but it made him look like a pig with the two holes in the button and all. Oink, oink.

Point six -

I love red.

Red card, red nose, red base to put the card on for the photo, red prop to help me with taking the photos. Red, red, red. 

Point seven -

I do not get manicures.

Point eight -

Who knew there were so many points about such a simple card?

Point nine -

I've made more little cards like this, but I'm going to keep them to myself.

Point ten -

Just kidding.

:o)

Just because he's cute...

...and I made him.

:o)

This is where I've been...

...at my desk.

Making stuff, sorting stuff and listening to cassette tapes!

Back soon

:o)

More trees...

...because they're nice...

...and because the newbies may not have seen them...

...and the oldies (not in age!) may have forgotten them...

Trees using punches all over, but in lots of different ways.

Only three punches here.

The square and the circle up the top plus the rectangle for the trunk.

The triangles are handcut.

A good way to use up all your scraps. Gosh, how many scraps do we end up with? Too many. Use 'em up!

Not telling you what to do or anything, just suggesting!



And notice the crumpling used too.

It's an option.

Some of you will screw your noses up at that - "I'm not scrunching card!" Well, you know what, you don't have to, but you could... :o) It's a good stress reliever actually.

Enjoy the cards, hope there's some ideas for you for your own cards this year.

I'm still juggling work and bits at the moment. I'm doing my best with everything. Due to some unforeseen issues with work related stuff, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make many things this year to show on the blog. I've still got ideas up my sleeve as to how I work it out and here's hoping I will! Just know that I love writing and sharing on here and I will as much as I can over this Christmas season.

Okay, must go, have a wonderful weekend!

Let's talk about trees...

Hi there,

Wanted to talk about trees today.

Christmas trees to be exact, and these Christmas trees below, to be even more exact.

They're made using a Cuttlebug die/embossing folder combo set. They're really lovely, but unfortunately, I think they're discontinued now. It's a shame, but you can make some great substitutions.

By the way, the embossing folder is from Cuttlebug too. Really nice background and one I didn't think I'd have much use for until I used it! Usually happens like that. Only need one good idea and it's a winner.

The music paper is from an old hymnal. I cut strips with some scalloped scissors and pleated them onto the card.

The rest of the bits are punches, Stickles and some red buttons.

Back to the trees.

Okay, so it's discontinued, so what do you do?

Well, you improvise!

I made 150 of these cards last year (for an order) and I chose to do it the easy way. Even though I had the die and embossing folder to use, there was no way I had the time to cut out 300 trees and emboss them all individually (which is how you have to do it with the embossing folder that comes with the set). No way! No time!

I simplified by using a Marvy triangle punch and I embossed at least ten at a time with my A2 folders. Much quicker.

Now, if you can't get the Cuttlebug die, or find a suitable punch, you can always make your own triangles. They're pretty easy to cut out.

You can go for this elongated look. The beauty of doing them yourself is that you can make them different sizes too.

Here I added a small triangle to the top as well.

Or you can so the same thing, but just cut them with scissors, which means you will probably have sides of all different sizes, but that's okay, it's a handmade card. Add a bit of stitching (or faux stitching) and some torn edges and go for the handmade/homespun look. Nice. And easy. And the cheapest option too.

One last idea for you.

You can buy a Sullivans tree punch and trim the furry bits off the sides to make the straight sides you're looking for. Makes for a nice tree actually.

My suggestion is to make a template (ie. punch it and then trim the sides to get the exact tree you want), then use it to trim all the other trees you want to do.

Okay, hope all that helps you and you have fun making lots of trees!

A year ago yesterday...

...we got this dog.

So gorgeous...and lonely for his brothers.

I had to get up and pat him in the middle of the night to let him know he was okay.

He was. We never heard another peep at night after that.

He slept a lot.

He slept anywhere.

Yep, that's a triangle cushion.

I love having a dog - he's making use of all the old pillows and towels around here. We had far too many and you don't just chuck out towels even if you've got 50, now do you?

He was cute.

Look at that tummy. Hilarious. It would waddle back and forth when he was walking. Andrew and I would watch him and look at each other and smile.

Another good thing about having a dog - it's fun sharing him with Andrew, except when we disagree on stuff. Sometimes Andrew wins, sometimes I do, sometimes the dog does!

Ah, back in the days of less rain. Look at that brown grass - none around here now. You know you need some rain around the joint when the grass crunches under your feet, hey?

A happy puppy who loves his ball.

Little did we know how much. He's obsessed now.

He discovered (and so did we) a love of water. 

We took him out in the boat and I was just talking to Andrew about tying him in and whoop, over the side he went!

He got tied up after that.

We've since discovered he's a great swimmer and would swim for ages if we let him. And we do when we can.

His water bowl needed constant filling because of this.

Oh man, and I'd go out and fill it up again.

He grew bigger and survived his first Queensland summer.

Just.

Funny story. Dr Harry on Better Homes and Gardens suggested filling a 4L icecream container with water and treats and then freezing it for a cool treat for the dog. Dr Harry said, "Put it in the shade so it melts slowly and it'll keep him happy for hours."

I made the iceblock up one night and put it in the deep freeze to really freeze it. Gave it to Cody the next day (put it in the shade) and then went to get ready to go out. Checked on him before I left the house (about 20 - 30 mins) and the whole thing was gone!! Ice, treats and all!

Ah ha, a Queensland summer is not the same as a Tasmanian summer where Dr Harry is from! I laughed, hoped the dog wouldn't get indigestion and left the house.

If I do the treat thing this summer, it'll be using a 50L container. And yes, I'd do that just because I could. I'm sure Andrew's got some big container downstairs...I'll find one!

He greeted me from every window during the day, wishing I'd pay more attention to him.

He dug holes and tracked muddy footprints across my tiles. We didn't know we were getting a dog when we chose those tiles.

He did pretty well for himself though.

He went to the beach, the park, the other park, the other beach and other places in between. Like Sharyn (sister-in-law who has her own dog named Benji) said, "What do you have to do for yourself, Benji, breathe and that's about it!"

Yep, breathe and look cute.

Lol. And show his displeasure when I didn't throw the ball, take him for a walk or play with him 24 hours a day.

Don't you love that face? Hilarious.

He was eating his dog house, which he's not allowed to do!

He's also getting too big for that ledge there. Andrew might have to put an extension on.

He's made us smile, laugh and completely crack up. 

He's been good. 

Love you, mate.  And you're still cute!