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Monday 31 March 2014

30 card challenge - the countdown continues!

With the disruption of the house move, I haven't felt energetic enough to do much crafting, and my time has been very limited, what with unpacking boxes and looking at houses to buy!

However, I have made the odd card here and there, and they do add up over time.  So, continuing in my count-down, here are cards No 4 - 6 out of 30. 

Common to all the cards is my use of the Rhonna Farrer rub-on phrases that have been in my stash for quite a few years.  I would really like to use up a lot of rub-ons, as they don't last well over time.  I have so many Basic Grey ones, that should be next on my stash use-up hit list!

 
I found a lovely craft shop in Hervey Bay which will be about 10 minutes from my home in a couple of months, and I did buy in advance of my 30 cards - two lots of Spellbinders for basic shapes for card journalling, and this lovely leaf punch and embossing punch from Marianne Designs which I thought would be foolish not to buy.  I think any new item that you use straight out of the packet has warranted its purchase, and with the above I did exactly that. 
 
I found a Tim Holtz elegant flourish diecut in the glitter green cardstock, and wondered how I was going to incorporate it into a card.  With the above, I just went overboard and think the card resembles a jungle! 
 
I used to use Hermafix repo when cardmaking in the UK, as I loved it and found it really easy to use and with great "stickability".  Now in Australia, I am carefully saving my Herma for scrapbooking, and am trying to use double sided tape wherever possible.  One thing that I need to improve is my placement when sticking the dst down!  I really notice this and need to work on my dst skills. 
 
Rhonna Farrer Phrase rub-ons
Kaisercraft gems
Tim Holtz elegant flourish die
Glitter green cardstock
Basic Grey patterned paper, Pebbles patterned paper and Papermania green cardstock
Leaf and embossing leaf die - Marianne
Doodlebug paper posies, Prima Got Flowers and other assorted

 
I realised with the above card that I had decorated it the wrong way around, but at least it opens vertically, so not too bad!

I just raised the message with some foam tape, and the flower with some Pinflair silicone glue.

Kaisercraft Miss Nelly patterned paper, and blue scrap
Rhonna Farrer phrase rub-on
Bazzill pink cardstock
Bazzill Just the Edge bunting cardstock
Teal Flower with pearl and Marianne leaf embossed embellishment
Lincraft pearlised card blank

 
This time, I used white vellum to back the rub-on, and delved into my stash of Glue Dots adhesive for vellum - again, something that has been languishing in my stash for a very, very long time. 
 
Pebbles Basics Cardmaking Pad 2 for the orange dotty pad paper
Doodlebug paper posies for the white daisies
Aqua blue butterfly felt ribbon
Kaisercraft gems
Martha Stewart butterfly punch butterflies
Pinflair silicone glue
 
Moving overseas really makes you realise that you get very attached to certain products over the years, and sometimes it is very hard work to try and match those in another country.  I thought I had stockpiled some Pinflair, but I don't think I have! My tube is nearly gone, and I may have to get someone to send me an emergency rescue pack ... :lol:
 
Some of my stockpiled cards shall be donated to the church fete to raise funds, so I can happily keep making cards not for a specified purpose, and if people see fit to buy them, then so be it ...
 
So whilst I might have already spent my budget on tools, there is only (!) 24 cards now to go, until I have justified my purchases ....
 
Thanks for stopping by.  :)
 


Tuesday 18 March 2014

30 cards to buying stash ...

Well, there must be a snappier title, but it is all I can come up with at this late hour.  My craft room is operational, but far from fully functional - most stuff still needs to be better organised and find a proper home.  But in the interim, I still need to make cards.  I also find that all of my big dies are missing - and are lost in with the hordes of other boxes stacked in our garage.  Being that we still have boxes in our house, I am not going through any more until we move into our very own house, but I do need to craft in the meantime. 

I had a lovely chat with some online crafting friends from the UK, and they mentioned that they were doing 30 layouts before they allowed themselves to buying any more new craft purchases.  Well, I am not in scrapbook mode at the moment, so decided to make it 30 cards. 

It is fortunate in a way that Chinchilla doesn't easily facilitate craft buying and that I can rely on my supplies!  I did expect that it wouldn't be so easy, so did stock up on my favourites before emigrating.     I do find that my cardmaking is in need of some Spellbinders or similar fancy journal card shaped dies.  I have my Framelits, but they don't serve the purpose. 

So in the spirit of stash-busting yet again, my hands landed on my Rhonna Farrer phrases rub-ons that is just one thing out of thousands that I have had forever - so I decided that was as good a place as any to start.  I needed to make two thank you cards and one birthday card, so the sayings on the rub-ons would be relatively suitable on a card to send to a crafty friend. 

So I've made a start, and here are the first three:-

 
Using DCVW Taj Mahal stack, Prima "Got Flowers" and Kaisercraft pearls and some chocolate ink and some gold gems. 

 
Using left over Bazzill shaped scalloped cardstock, I applied the rub-on to vellum.  Basic Grey ancient rub-ons, Kaisercraft gems, and MFT leaves dies.  I used a watercolour pencil to add some variegated colour into some of the leaves. 

 
Prima Got Flowers, same MFT Leafy Flourish die and lots more of those Kaisercraft pearls.  This  was some of the first paper I acquired - I think it is Walter Knabe for Paper Cellar?  I am finding it quite difficult to design a card around the phrases but that's all part of the challenge, isn't it? And in the meantime, more old supplies used up .... if I see a stash purveyor and some wanted dies in my forthcoming holiday to Hervey Bay, then it would be positively rude not to buy them, but I shall certainly keep this challenge in mind before any other purchase ....
 
Thanks for stopping by.  :)


Friday 7 March 2014

52 Card Challenge 2014 - Week 7

Week 7 - Nat set the challenge to use aqua and spearmint.  Whilst still in Brisbane, I visited the beautiful Bella Paperie scrapbooking shop and purchased a few supplies. 



I stamped the background using the Kaisercraft 12 x 12 template "Leaves" which I thought was just beautiful.  I just attached an Amy Tangerine die cut over the top, and stamped the sentiment using one of my favourite stamp sets ever, Stampin' Up Curly Cute.  I then added some dark green ribbon for some depth, and a scrap from one of the Project Life cards from the Baby Boy set. 

I don't know why I bought these diecuts - most of them I don't like, but I have come around and now really like this card! 

I am slowly opening boxes one by one, and look forward to creating in my temporary craft room very soon, once some order has been reached ....