Just Tagging Along

I was delving through the photo files I have and came across these beauties. It is amazing what you can hide when you go searching for something else!
This was a hostess gift I made last year for a lovely lady. I made the gift box and filled it with tags. I used one of the then current glassine envelopes to hold an owl magnet as an extra gift surprise. I love how you can just make out the owl through the glassine finish. Super cute!
Thanks for taking a peek :)

It's the Little Things...

Today's post is not my creation, but that of dear friend Suzy who is visiting me from my homeland of NZ. She is staying for a whole month (Yes I know!!!) and she has been here for a week today. We have had lots of time to catch up and create and hang out. It has been wonderful. Of course there has been the obligatory shopping trips too but when in a foreign country that goes without saying!
Watching Suzy in my craft room reminds me of being a kid in a candy store where there are so many new goodies to try and you don't know where to start :)
So where did Suzy start? With this creation ... It's a gorgeous wee calendar and this is the cover. I had seen this stamp recently and just had to get it. The sentiment is something that I need to remind myself of from time to time.
I love the colours and the cheery feel but my favourite part would have to be the red brad over the "i". It is just that little touch of something little that makes this calendar something big. Thank you Suzy for sharing your wonderful creativity with me and for allowing me to inspire my readers with this post!

Thanks Sew Much

Another Thank You card... this is yet another customer thank you card I recently made. When I was a little girl I remember pinking shears - special scissors that cut the edge of fabric in the diagonal pattern you see around the squares on the cards. Those scissors were the inspiration for this quick and easy card. Add some piercing with stitches and you have a card fit for any sewer!

Spring Fever

Mother birds with nests brimming with baby chicks all mean Spring to me. Not that I see many of them in my back yard (I can hear them though!) but for me the thought of them conjures up the essence of Spring.
This is a Thank You card I made for customer orders a wee while ago. I used the Bird and Branch punch, using the branches to fashion a nest. I went out of my comfort zone and tried Peach Parfait with Early Espresso. Two colours I wouldn't have thought to combine normally but I like the mix. I've used Natural White as my neutral to minimise the brightness that you tend to get with Whisper White. A simple card but don't you think it's tweet!

Make Your Own Mobile

Today's posting is not an idea I came up with, but that of my wonderful upline Carol.
She has taken the Big Shot Petal Cone and transformed it into this super cute butterfly mobile. I love it! We all love to watch butterflies gracefully fluttering about and now you can make your own version with Carol's tutorial. To purchase the instructions to make one, click here. At only $1, it's a steal!
Love the idea Carol and thanks for sharing it with us all!

ASI Team Challenge

For our team get together a few weeks ago we had to create a wedding ensemble - invitation, RSVP, favour box and a thank you card.
I have seen many many truly stunning designs but being practical I go for something that can be posted! I went for the 'Elegant Soiree' DSP for inspiration, choosing my favourite Baja Breeze and Soft Suede as the core colours...
This is the invite and RSVP card I came up with. You lift the wedding invite out and the RSVP card is tucked in behind...
I wanted to make a sizeable favour box so used the 'Fancy Favour' die for the Big Shot. I did make a mistake with the placement of the circle window but once it is cut out what can you do. I would have liked it further down so I could have a ribbon closure but it didn't work. Even demonstrators make mistakes!
My Thank You card is fairly simple but I kept with the colour theme adding a 'Mr & Mrs' tag since the happy couple would be married...

Make sure to come back and visit my blog to see the creations my other ASI team members came up with!

Hoppy Easter!

The Easter bunny has been and I got a photo of him before he headed onto the next house for egg deliveries...
Isn't he cute?? He's made of punches - ovals and circles with one of Boho Blossom flowers as the tail. Now I'm off to eat my chocolate egg, mmmmm.
Happy Easter everyone!

'Just Because' For Guys

I was recently asked to come up with a 'Just Because' pocket book of Inspiration for a husband of a customer. It wasn't something I had thought of when I initially came up with the creation of the pocket book but it is something I was certainly happy to create!
I chose more masculine colours for the project and kept the imagery simple. I stamped a leaf from the 'Autumn Splendour' set onto the First Edition designer paper and cut it out. Because the DSP is thinner than the regular DSP I gave it some body by sponging some Bashful Blue onto the leaf and layering Crystal Effects over it. I think it gave the leaf a kind of skeletal feel.


I love the sharp contrast of the black with the blue and the newsprint style DSP ties it all together nicely. All in all a rather nice "manly" version to inspire the guys in our lives.

Furry Friend

Isn't this doggy the sweetest? I made these last month when my own furry friend passed away. The colours are similar to my girl and she wore a red collar so I thought it was apt that these doggies did too.
I saw the idea of the punch art dog here (Thanks 'StampOwl'!) a while ago and knew it was the cute dog idea that I had been looking for.
The punches used are ovals and circles of varying sizes. The ears, snout and eye patch are ovals cut down.
So today's post is to honour my furry friend Myrtle... my constant craft room companion :)

Butterfly Hello

Day Two... don't worry, I won't be starting each blog entry with a countdown!
This is a recent card I made to thank a hostess for her workshop during Sale-a-braton.
The hostess had selected the Punch Potpourri set as her hostess gift so I made a card with it to give her an idea. I have also used the Level 1 In Colour DSP .
I stamped the butterfly image then punched it out with a circle punch. I stamped two more butterflies then punched them out, layering them on the original stamped image with a dimensional between each layer.
I don't have the Pinking Hearts corner punch so improvised by rotating the borders to give a bit of interest. To finished I added a Tiny Tag with 'Hello' on it to the centre of the flower and used a glitter brad to hold it together. I really like how it turned out.

I Got a Telling Off!

Not really! But over the weekend we had our ASI team get together. I got to meet the newest member of the team ("Hi Louise!") who is just like the rest of us so we had a ball!
While there we were discussing blogs and on a couple of occasions it was said that people visit my blog to see what I have been up too but it isn't updated. That's my telling off. I have to confess to hearing this before and these people are right... when I visit other people's blogs, I like to see something new. So, I am going to try and post something new every day (Yes I know... what am I getting myself into... but they won't all be my creations!) so when people visit my blog they have a happy experience :)
So here we go, my "first" post...

Since we have a new team member I thought I would show you the cute wee cards fellow team member Sandi made as a welcome to the team gift.
There is a little story behind this gift...
When the ASI team was first created, founding member Linda made a beautiful box with cards in it for the then newest member Sandi ("Hi Sandi!"). It was to welcome her to our team. Sandi always remembered that as as such wanted to do the same for Louise. Isn't that sweet?! I told you I am part of the best team of ladies!!! The sharing and generosity and fellowship never fails to inspire me.
So Sandi made a welcome gift for Louise. I just can't believe I didn't get a photo of the beautiful box they came in though!!! I was busy eating lunch and it slipped my mind. You'll just have to believe me though when I say it was beautiful!
These are some of the cards that were inside. They are so pretty. I have a hard time choosing which one I like the best!
So there we have it, my first blog. Phew!
Opps, one more thing to do... "Hi Carol!" ;)
Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.

Sugar 'n' Spice and Everything Nice

A wee while back I took part in a Canadian swap for girls birthday cards. It was my very first swap so I wanted to create something really cute.

We had to use some of the new goodies out of the Occasions Mini catty...
I used the beautiful Springtime fabric to create a skirt for the dress. I used the coordinating DSP and Rose Red seam binding. Add some pearls and a balloon and this wee bear is ready for any party!

Blooms for Books

I have been playing around with the Sizzix Fun Flowers die of late and wanted to share a bookmark I made. I made them in a myriad of colours and they looked so pretty lined up. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of them before I sold them!
I have seen other similar versions around but they have used paper to create the flower. I wanted something with more longevity so used fleece. Add a beautiful buttons and some gorgeous satin ribbon and here's what you get ...
Thanks for taking a peek!

Funky Folds are Back!

I thought it was high time I ran another Funky Folds card class, with folds this time, that I think are pretty awesome!
The card above is called a Tri-Shutter card and they have been around for a while, but I have never made one, for one reason or another.
Isn't it the kind of card you want to have open somewhere?! You just want to be able to look at it all in one go.

This next card is just too cool not to include in the class...

I call it a Perpetual folding card. The idea came in one of the Demonstrator magazines we receive as a SU! demonstrator.
You open it up and keep opening it up over and over again! I imagine people getting this in the mail and being amazed LOL. I have sent one to a friend who recently had a birthday so I can't wait to hear the verdict.

Lastly is a card that looks simple enough but there is a twist with the opening...
The gorgeous fabric brad on the front of the card isn't just for decoration. It acts as a closer for the card flap too. Pretty clever huh?

Class deets are:
Dates: Wednesday 27th/ Thursday 28th April, 7.00 - 9.30pm
Cost: $18
Email me to save your seat!

Bottle Caps Baby!

Here they are... the bottle caps I have been working on to turn into magnets for an upcoming craft fair.
I have been wondering how I will display them at the fair and came up with the idea of using one of the cake bases I have for baking! Since it is metallic they stick like a charm.
I love, love, love how these have turned out. They bring the humble fridge magnet into the fashion age!