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Tuesday 31 December 2013

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everyone!  It is bright, early and hot here on New Year's Day - the boys have woken up very early today but I have no intention of letting them out until the usual time, so I am enjoying having a cup of tea in relative peace, and getting up to date with my blog. 

So - the first prompt for this year is to use some new crafty bits received for Christmas.  I didn't actually receive anything craft wise, but something even better arrived in the post on Monday, the 29th December - my blog prize from Jennifer McGuire. 


 

I have always idolised Jennifer's clean style and ethos and was even more impressed with her organisation - I have been disappointed a few times in the past when something you've won either turns up very late, or never turns up at all!

All crafters will know the joy of getting new supplies - my heart did a little skip when I saw the "Simon Says Stamp!" on the side of the box - that is something that I never thought I would see, especially in Australia. 






As you can see, the box contained a beautiful array of really thick, high quality cardstock and 4 die ink stamp pads. 

I decided to grab the intention of sitting down as soon as possible and making her a thank-you card.  I used a light blue card from the Rainbow Cardstock collection - it is wonderful to work with, and so robust - great for a really professional finish. 

A light while ago, Aldi did some scrapbooking supplies as part of their weekly specials, and I picked up a small paper pad of 12 x 12 papers and some stickers.  The oversized button stickers, flower stickers and background patterned paper were all included.

I pulled out some coordinating scraps of patterned paper for the scallop and fence detail - some scraps of a Crate Paper range from some years back fit beautifully into the colour scheme. 

When my Mum was over in the UK for the birth of my boys 2 1/2 years ago, she made herself busy with my craft supplies, by punching out loads of little flowers in assorted colours, and doing some stamping.  The stamped tag is actually a Christmas one, which I have covered up with the sticker pieces. 

The "awesome" sticker is something I would never usually use, so it was perfect for someone in America!  The "you are" came from a Project Life card set. 



Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp! light blue cardstock
Create It patterned paper and stickers
American Crafts Flower Shoppe jewelled flower embellishments
Project Life "Boy" mini set
Flower and heart punches on assorted scraps
Martha Stewart Fence border punch
Papermania "Season's Greetings" tag stamp
Pink gem from freebie magazine set

So - this card will shortly be winging it's way to America and Week 1 of the 2014 52 card challenge is now complete.  I have no idea where we'll end up or what further disruption we will face in this New Year, but we shall try to craft on, regardless!

Happy New Year. 

Monday 30 December 2013

Christmas Card - Kaisercraft St Nicholas

I really haven't shared many crafty projects since moving to Australia.  I have really only made cards (quite a lot, in actual fact) but it all takes time, uploading and editing photos and then blogging.  I am determined to do better in 2014 - I think it's all a matter of organisation, I suppose. 

Well, I am finally taking an opportunity to share one of the few special cards I made this Christmas.


Mum's neighbour Jenny very generously donated some Christmas supplies, and amongst them was this lovely robust A4 red card.  So that formed the card base. 

Jenny has kindly lent me her Cuttlebug on a couple of occasions, so I borrowed her Spellbinders dies to cut some basic shapes, most of which went to make labels for Christmas presents for the family. 

The lace was in an assorted bag of ribbon which has been gathered at Mum's for quite a few years.  I cut the gathered binding off the top so it sat nice and flatly. 

Supplies:
Cardinal Red A4 card
Kaisercraft St Nicholas Sticker Sheet
Dotted olive green Swiss Bazzill
The back of a red and white Christmas snowflake envelope for the deckle layer of the oval
October Afternoon Travel Girl journal card - (cream patterned paper on oval)
Stardust Stickles
Lace
Glitz teeny Alphabet Stickers - red

Considering my dearth of craft supplies, I am really pleased with how this card turned out, and I think the recipients were too.  I see the new 52 card challenge has commenced at UK Scrappers, so I look forward to joining in again this year, as much as I can .....

Sunday 15 December 2013

Scrapology Christmas card challenge - December 2013

How wonderful to be able to participate in a Scrapology challenge this month! At the time of planning this post, we are still currently staying with my Mum and Dad in Brisbane, Australia, and I have access to very few of my crafting supplies. 

I do have a box of supplies that I share with my Mum - not that she crafts that often, but every now and again she says that she has felt the yen to open the box and make something with the contents.  It is like stepping back in time to see what bits and pieces I have left here during my sporadic visits over the years - and Mum has added a fair supply of recycled bits of coloured card, some peel-offs, buttons and random bits of ribbon, and the like!

Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a healthy supply of crafting magazines available at the newsagents, unlike other years, but I have shouted myself to a few bundles of papercrafting magazines, most of which have contained the Australian Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft magazine.  My last purchase had two Christmas editions bundled together - I think one was from last year - so with the freebie packs that were contained within, I have a limited amount of Christmas supplies from which to make cards, etc. 

Here is the one that I've made for the Scrapology Christmas card challenge:


 Quite a simple card, using everything from the supplied kit (which even included the pink card base), with the exception of the blue accent A4 coloured paper and the crystal gems.  I always cut up gem swirls and change the direction to suit my project, so the little crystals on the top and at the sides of the tree were carefully placed with my tweezers. 
 
An appropriate card for the upcoming summery Christmas we will be experiencing this year!
 
Supplies:
Free "Christmas Brights" kit - Australian Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft magazine
Prima "Say it with Crystals"  
Blue coloured A4 craft paper

I hope you join in with our projects and have a go! Merry Christmas from Down Under.  :D