Filigree Hummingbird

I got an early birthday voucher (for craftonline.com.au) from my wonderful sister and got a bunch of cute filigree cutting dies - this Hummingbird is by far my favourite!

This Filigree Hummingbird die is made by Cheery Lynn Designs. I hadn't come across them before but will certainly be on the lookout for more :) It cut beautifully and cleanly in my cuttlebug!

Though not my usul style or colours, I like this card - the backing paper design looks a little like sunset and really helps the hummingbird to pop :)

Feel The Love

My sister is turning 31! Granted I'm a smidgy bit older but I couldn't resist being cheeky!

Made with Cuttlebug and stuck down using my little xyron :) very simple, very quick, very cheeky!

When sleepovers involve little sleep...

I am hosting my first sleepover for 6 year olds. My son had a friend over and i attempted to spend a good chunk of my day hiding away from the bickering, crying and dobbing.

In a bid to retain control of my sanity, I made some cute little decorations!

I die cut the postage stamp pieces, stamped and coloured the gifts (and stuck them on with foam tape), edged it with kindy glitz and strung it :)

Cute I think!

Another recent project was a pegged Christmas card display - I made one for myself and another for a friend :) basically I stuck felt shapes to pegs to pretty ip my display!

Happy Not-quite-holidays
Dahi :)

Just A Quick One: Tooth Box!

Soooo.... probably I'm a psychotic mother, but finally my son's tooth fell out and I got excited!  I bought a little white gift box to decorate and I'm hoping it will last through all his teeth!

 

So now we're all set for the Tooth Fairy's arrival - no wrestling under pillows for OUR tooth fairy!

 

 

 

I used Microsoft Publisher to create the pictures and wording - it's an awesome tool!  I also lovingly stuffed the box (which is about 7cm cubed) with layers of packing foam and bubble wrap before creating a "new" base with some blue paper and lining the top half with cotton balls :)

 

My house is a disaster but it's ok because I've planted Kangaroo Paws!!!  You can see how it makes up for living in filth cos they're real pretty LOL

 

 

 

 

Gappy Tooth Smiles!!

 

Dani :)

 

 

 

 



Christmas Cards Galore!

 

AND THEN CREATIVITY STRIKES!

Ever feel like you've found your groove?  I'm kind of there lately!

I'm definitely a less is more person, I've decided.  I'm passionately in love with the cards people make that are complex, antiqued, layered ... but what works for me is simplicity and I'm cool with that :)

I've made about 40 Christmas cards over the past month, mostly very simple ones that are easy to "mass produce" without totally killing my Christmas spirit!

See my Christmas Cards (an ongoing update) HERE :)

Happy To Have Creative Juices Flowing Again!

 

Dani :)

Enthusiasm Does Wane :(

I'll readily admit, I've not had a lot to do with my blog for a while.  I don't know about anyone else, but you just kind of have times where you don't feel like being creative or you just want to muck around without purpose.

That said, I did achieve stuff!  So I'm going to share a few pictures with you :)

I gave origami a try and love it :)  I'm not brilliant at it, but I've only been doing it for a couple of weeks.

I made a few cards but not much - took a break to build up creative juices hehehe  Gotta get stuck into the Christmas Cards again, though!!  Eek!

If you want instructions for anything below, let me know and I'll create a special post.

So without further ado:

 

A butterfly :)

 

A crane :)

 

Pig and cat finger puppets :)

 

One of those origami jumping frogs - I just added googly eyes and a curly tongue :)

 

A geometric ball thing - not very hard, took me a couple of hours or so ... looks amazing!

 

A lilly :)

 

A Star Masu Box :)

 

A Tatu Purse - you pull two triangles on opposite sides and it opens up and then easily goes back into place.  I have made another that I have filled with glitter and scatters, and have stamped a greeting inside, that I want to incorporate into a card somehow :)

 

I got some freebie embellishments with my Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft magazine so threw together a couple of quick cute cards :)

 

I felt creative today and so decided to make a card that looks like a pinboard :)  Could probably use some refinement, but for an on-the-spot concept, I think it came out ok!  AS you can probably see, I tiled the cork - I only did this becauase I was working with scraps.  Naturally you could just cut one piece to size.

 

It's been school holidays, too, so my son and I made a papier mache Volcano!  Was fantastic fun to build it together and then I just filled it with bicard soda and gave my son cups of vinegar mixed with red food colouring!  AWESOME!

 

 

 

 

Happy Chilling!

 

Dani :)

Collage Owl

 

Mini-Card:  FUN FOR BIG AND LITTLE KIDS!

Threw this one together today, felt like making something a little bit fun :)

1. It's pretty simple really:
2. On white paper (I used normal copy paper), scribble with a watercolour pencil, then roughly spread the colour around with an aqua brush (or brush and water) so that you get a wash with the scribble still visible in it.  Alternatively you could just use a patterned paper, it's up to you.
3. Once the paper is dry, tear out an owl body shape so that the edge of the owl shows the white tear of the paper
4. Tear some rough wing shapes out of newspaper or a book, create eyes with small circle punches or use googly eyes
5. Glue a stick to your card and hovering just above the stick, glue your owl pieces onto the card.  Draw a beak, 'feathers', ear detail, and legs onto the card
6. Roughly cut out little leaves and stick them on the card around the stick to create a tree branch - I created the paper for the leaves the same way that I created the paper for the owl
7. Apply your greeting however you want!  I liked keeping the "torn" theme going.  My greeting was simply printed from the computer and cut out.

Done!

Happy Hooting!

 

Dani :)

 

 

 

 

First Wobbly Tooth

STORY OF A PSYCHOTIC MOTHER

Sorry if this is messy - posting from my mobile because my camera is flat again.

What an eventful evening! My son declared he had a sore tooth whilst eating afternoon tea so off to the dentist we raced - I'm an anxious mum and he doesn't brush properly!

 

 

 

 

All good though - he liked the dentist, his teeth are wonderful ... And he's get his first wobbly tooth! I'm ridiculously excited!

So what do I do? Why, I spend my evening agonising over the possibility of him losing his tooth at school, so I create a cute/fun incentive for him NOT to.

A Tooth Cosy!

I showed it to my husband - he gave me an "are you mental??" stare.

See the below pics - its a simple envelope with the sides sealed with double sided tape (I'd sew but I suck at it), the flap held down with restickable glue, a folded up tissue (cut down to a suitable size) stashed inside and whatever decorating you want on it. I even stamped the tissue decoratively :)

The restickable glue will need to be reapplied, I think, and is not entirely ideal but my best option for making sure he can open and reseal the envelope. My original idea involved punching a little hole in the flap and another in the front wall of the envelope and feeding a piece of ribbon through each hole with a knot at the end so that the package could be tied shut ... But he doesn't know how to tie knots and bows yet! Even if the glue doesn't hold, it should be secure enough anyway :)

It doesn't have to be fancy - just needs to be cute and hold together long enough for the tooth to make it safely under their pillow.  Hey - even if you're not psychotic like me, it's also a cute way to "present" the tooth to the tooth fairy!  Easy enough for the kids to make / help make / decorate, too.

 

 

Happy Wobbling!

 

Dani :)

 

 

 

 

Wedding Fever: The Conclusion, I Think

 

THIS MIGHT BE IT - WEDDING CARD

I think I've done it!  I've put it into an envelope and am putting the fact it's mounted slightly crooked out of my mind because other than that, I love this card!  I think this will be the one I give to my friend for her wedding (unless my OCD and self-criticism rages out of control in the next month or so).

 

What do you think?  I am adoring its simplicity, yet dainty prettiness :)

The pretty cut out is a Shapeability die cutter and embosser that I ran through my Cuttlebug.  The background design was painstakingly hand-stamped and bejewelled :)  The "love" is heat embossed.

Yeah, I'm loving it!

Happy Weddings!

 

Dani :)

Wedding Fever

I have a friend who is getting married in October and I want to make her the perfect card. Don't know if I am there yet but happily throwing a variety of styles of cards together as practice to help me decide what I will finally make for her :)

One is in silver and white with a big lovely fabric flower and a skeleton leaf for a delicate splash of colour.

Another is going with more chocolatey tones, using my own stamps to create patterned paper and making it pop with a scattering of jewels and pearls.

And finally, I made a couple of simple ones, utilising heat embossing (which I love!). Minimalist and cute!

Hope you enjoy!

Dani :)

Christmas is-a-comin'! - Ongoing Update

BE PREPARED!

Stay Tuned - This Will Be Updated Each Time I Make More

Scoff if you will, but I like to be prepared!

The first couple of years that I made my own cards, I slaved away doing mass production for the month of November. And frankly - it was a bloody miserable experience!

So now I like to make one here and there in the last several months of the year and tuck them away in a cute Christmas box to keep them fresh and clean.

Below are the cards that I have made - each one very different!

 

As you can see, even though my blog has been quiet, i have still been productive - Hope you enjoy!  I'll update with more card pictures as I make them.

 

 

 

Christmas Obsessing

Dani :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet n Lacy

 

SWEET N LACY WITH LOVE

A friend of mine did a lovely card using a layered lace technique with the same border punch and I couldn't resist making something of my own!  It's a simple and effective card to throw together in a hurry!

• Fold your base card in half and set aside
• Select your four pastel coloured papers and cut them to be about 4 centimetres high and 3 centimetres wider than your card
• Using a lace design border/edge punch (Mine is a Fiskars one), punch out the lace design along a long edge of each colour piece (quick technique at the bottom of this page for getting an accurate continuous pattern)
• Layer the four colour lace pieces as you see above - this is why you made them too long for the card, so that you can have enough "give room" to line the alternate the lining up of the design
• Cover the top edge of the paper lace with ribbon, using double sided tape
• Embellish with a big pretty flower and skeleton leaves
• Stamp your greeting
• Done!

BORDER PUNCHING TECHNIQUE:

First of all, punch in the centre of the edge, as per standard instructions.  Now we do things a little bit differently - flip the punch over!

Maybe I don't have that special touch but everytime I try to follow the guides on the punches, it comes out looking all hacked up and horrible, things just don't line up as they should.

If you flip it over, you can still effectively punch and this way you can line up your previous punch with the actual punching mechanism!

See in the punch how there is a gaping blackness?  That's because that's where I've lined up my last punch!

Happy Punching!

Dani :)