A day in the life of Osiris and Loki

Zoes entry for lawnscaping challenge

2012-02-26T15:09:00.001+11:00

ok for some reason i need 2 posts for mine and zoes entry so here is zoes card again. check out the previous post for all the info.

Lawnscaping Challenge #28- Distress mania....and i seem to have my groove back...

2012-02-26T15:06:00.000+11:00

After a not so great day yesterday crafting, my mojo seems to have come back! maybe it must have been me using Lawn Fawn stamps! I always seem to smile when i take them out, and you can guarantee that Zoe is not far behind wanting to make a card too!
so this challenge is Distress mania!

I am usually a real CAS card maker though i do love anything by Tim holtz! which is like polar opposites! but for some reason i end up using Tim;s range in CAS cards.
So i made my card today with a LOT of distressing,sanding inking and paper piecing!
here is my card.

I used Lawn Fawns critters in the woods and critters in the burbs for my card. I used core'dinations card-stock for all the paper piecing and sanded and tore the paper to give the distress look. i also used coordinating Tim Holtz Distress inks to colour. I used rock candy Distress paint to make the trees and log crackly, the clouds paper is by kaisercraft and the sun was a hello kitty sizzix die.
The card went really well together! also i did layer the dragonfly and clouds with 3D foam but you cannot really see it well in the pic....sorry!

Zoe decided to create a card for the challenge too so she used Lawn Fawns critters in the seas. Zoe cut and glued the fish and then stamped a sentiment on the card. she did have a go with the sandpaper ,but now i have a patch on my dining room table with no varnish! i think i may just put a vase over it and not tell rob!, then if i colour the mark with copics no one will be the wiser!shhhhhhhhh don't tell ok!

I hope you like both our cards. Then lawnscaping challenge is on till march 1st here.

Tara :)

Jay Gee's Nook Challenge #16

2012-02-25T19:01:00.000+11:00

I do not know what it was today, maybe the weather but my brain was on a creative holiday today! i must have coloured in maybe 10 images before i decided on what i would do for this challenge over at Jay Gee's Nook and i still after making the card have to be honest with myself.... am not 100% happy with the card but with new submissions due for the papercrafts mag i totally need to do a few cards for that while Poppy is quiet!

So to get on the challenge.....
Here is the inspiration. god knows why i had brain freeze the colour array is great!!!

and here is the card i made.

I used a fiskars set of cling stamps, and various paper smooches stamp sets to find the correct letters.
The paper was from echo park and jillibean soup. and i coloured with copics.

Tara:)

Colouring with R's and RV's challenge part 2

2012-02-23T09:08:00.000+11:00

Hello everyone!
Today i am going to share with you a cute little birthday card i made using the Balloon Kaylee stamp from Some odd girl,and as it is Mad 4 Markers birthday this month its perfect timing!

If you like the stamp you can purchase it at Mad 4 Markers.

I wanted to also use my new Fiskars Border punch with this card as i got the punch hot from USA and is not getting released here in Australia (so i was REALLY excited when it arrived.) The punch went well with the birthday theme and as we are all celebrating Mad 4 Markers 2nd birthday why not use it!

So i coloured Kaylee as you can see above used an array of different RV'S and other colours.
These is the Copics i used.

Then i created a background with my Border punch and some patterned paper. If you would like to see how i made the background you can by going to the Fiskars blog.
Then i used some My Favorite Things die-namic dies for the pink label and word 'party' and adhered it all together.
The combo of bright RV's work really well together with the paper and really do make Kaylee pop!

So why not grab a few copic markers and a stamp and have a go at our challenge this month, on the right sidebar. If you do not have many RV's never fear, Mad 4 Markers have got you covered just click on the link to purchase what you need!
And do not forget all the great prizes and challenges that will be on the blog all month celebrating our 2nd birthday!

Tara:)

Happy Birthday to you.........

2012-02-22T15:42:00.001+11:00

Happy birthday to you....

Happy birthday dear Mad 4 Markers.....

Happy birthday to you......

It is time for celebrations over at the Mad 4 Markers blog and Facebook page.

It is Mad 4 Markers 2nd Birthday today, and for the WHOLE month there will be prizes, challenges and a special Blog hop on the 22nd March.

So head on over to the Mad 4 markers blog and join in the celebrations!

Tara:)

My beautiful (but silly) girls!

2012-02-20T21:28:00.000+11:00

I had just emptied a box out this afternoon, and no sooner as i put it on the ground the girls were in the box! Zoe and Poppy were both fighting for supremacy in the box, Poppy trying to bite Zoe so she would get out! Zoe really is a bit big to play in boxes now i mean she is 10! but she was having so much fun with poppy, i just let her play.
I managed to get some pic's of them.

How lucky am i to have such fun loving and beautiful children! Saying that .... ask me again when the 2 of them are running around and i am trying to get them to bed! LOL!!

Tara:)

Papr Smooches Sparks challenge 9th -22nd feb.

2012-02-20T15:17:00.000+11:00

Ok the current paper Smooches Sparks challenge is almost over but i think i have time to enter!!!
here is the inspiration for this challenge...

And after a lot of thinking about what to create i just had to use the Healthy Vibes paper smooches stamp set.

I used the sentiment to create a background with a beige stampin up ink pad called sand and then made sure one sentiment i stamped i did with rich cocca memento ink pad.

So head on over to Paper smooches sparks challenge blog to enter!

Tara:)

A bit of Rio inspiration!

2012-02-19T20:27:00.000+11:00

Yesterday Zoe was off to a friend birthday party. and the little boy whose birthday it was is CRAZY for Rio the movie! so the hunt was on! i needed a pic of the bird in the movie-Blue. i managed to find a couple of coloring in pages and printed one out. i colored with copics and then decided to make a beach scene to pop the bird on to....well it is set in Rio isn't it!
I then die cut his name in the colors of the movie title and finished!
The card did not turn out too bad! and Zoe said he loved it!
Job Done!!!

Tara :)

CAS-ual Fridays #39- Love ya to pieces

2012-02-15T13:01:00.000+11:00

It is another week and another great challenge at CAS-ual Fridays And it is all about paper piecing.

I thought of a simple card to do with this technique.

I used a Fiskars cling stamp set called fresh fruit. and paper pieced with My Minds Eye paper range-12 days of Christmas. * i love Christmas papers for non Christmas projects!!*
I also used doodlebug doodle twine Christmas as well!
I really like this card!
if you would love to have a go at this challenge click on the above link to enter.
Tara:)

Lawnscaping challenge #27 photo inspiration

2012-02-13T12:57:00.000+11:00

Good morning all! hear that??? no? i suppose you can't we are in blog land! but if you were here with me you would hear.........NOTHING! yep! Rob is out doing errands, Zoe is at School and Poppy is asleep having her nap! Oh how i love the peace and quiet!!!! And it also gave me enough time to whip up a card for this weeks Lawnscaping Challenge!
Here is this weeks photo inspiration.

I love that red colour range!
So i got to work. and here is my card.

I used Lawn Fawn critters on the farm for this card with the heart coming from Sophies sentiments.
I also used various words from the sentiments in critters in the farm to put together 'i love you chickadee!'
I used the NEW Fiskars interchangeable border punch system for the bottom of the card and used the X marks the spot cartridge.
* You know i did not really like this cartridge when i saw it,but i have found it one of the most versatile punch designs Fiskars have made! it is perfect to thread ribbon!*
I then got some seam binding from Mad 4 Markers and coloured it with one of my copic markers (R22)
It was great cause i got just the right colour to match my little piggy!!!
The pig and chick were also coloured with copics.
here are the colours i used.

You can order all of these copics from Mad 4 Markers also.

This challenge i really enjoyed! and do you know why??? No children annoying me!!!!

Tara:)

I'm knackered!

2012-02-11T18:31:00.000+11:00

What a day today has been! It all started off with me getting ready for my first weight watcher meeting. i need to loose about 20 kgs! here goes.......
I was checking my emails before the meeting and surprise surprise, i got an acceptance from Paper crafts that they want to use one of my cards in the next Stamp it! magazine. Whoot Whoot!!!!*(insert me hyperventilating in excitement!!!* Any way the cards and paper work needs to be in the US of A by 2nd march, and as the postmen here i think use horse and cart still i knew i had to get it in the post today. but trying to keep the kids quiet! boy what a thing to do! Being the BAD mother i am, i sat Poppy in front of the portable DVD player in her highchair to watch the Wiggles(always good to get at least an hour of silence....thanks you wiggles!!) and Zoe in front of the Big TV with another DVD. Finally got the paper work done! and posted!
by this time the kids were going a little stir crazy. Zoe had let Poppy out of the high chair and then Poppy decided that it would be fun if she kept jumping off the back of the sofa! this is a metre and a bit drop!laughing all the time. So i put a stop to that. Rob woke up for his evening shift and all settled down. then later Rob went off to work and it started all again. Poppy running around the house with ,what i think was an old lunchbox of Zoes????!!! i'm not 100% sure as it has disappeared. most likely to the same place she hides all the dummies that i for the life of me cannot find!
Anyway finally got them settled again....thank you again the wiggles! and fed Poppy dinner.
I still had to finish off the paperwork for me being a guest designer on Lily pad cards, so i have,as i type, just finished off it,emailed it and now posting this post. but where you ask are the lovely little monsters i call children?? well again not doing what you should,i have put them in both in the bath (i am only in the next room,do not worry i can see them and certainly hear them!!!!!) The bathroom looks like a Tsunami has been through, but is is a small price to pay just to get my emails etc done!!! roll on 7pm! Poppy to bed and Zoe in her room reading! Phew, those 2 just wear me out!!!!

Mad 4 Markers R and RV colour challenge.

2012-02-09T09:37:00.001+11:00

Good morning all!
The weekend is almost upon us and as there is a great new challenge this month over at Mad 4 Markers,
I thought i would share with you a card for some inspiration for you to get out there and colour,Colour,COLOUR!!!

R's and RV's i find are not the easiest to colour with. I find they bleed a lot and if you do not get the shading right they are not very forgiving.
I have always found though if you treat them a little different than your other colours especially the R's you can get some great results. I always try to not flood the page, i always use smaller flicks when using the R's and with that i do not get as much bleeding and they blend better.

The card i have made today is with a Spesch Digital image his name is Draggy, and boy he is SO cute! He reminded me of the Welsh Dragon that my daughter has,so i just had to colour him in red!

Supplies;Spech designer digi stamp-draggy, Copic markers-R22,24,27,29,30,32,35,Y00,08,15,26,28,38 and 0,
Bo Bunny papers-Crush, Paper smooches stamps-sentiment sampler, Fiskars interchangeable border punch starter set, Bella! glitter card stock, bling.

I think this card would be perfect for a special someone on Valentines day or even St Davids Day (welsh national holiday) on March 1st.

I hope i have given you a little inspiration to enter the current challenge!
To enter the current challenge over at Mad 4 Markers go on over to their Challenge Blog and enter.

And if you need a stamp to colour or a couple of Copic markers/refills do not forget that the Mad 4 Markers online shop has a great variety of stamps and markers for you to choose from.

I look forward to seeing YOUR card in the challenge!

Tara:)

CAS-ual Fridays #38 - on the red carpet!

2012-02-08T13:31:00.000+11:00

Well this is my first go at the CAS-ual friday challenge. i usually check it out but do not enter but when i say this Challenge i thought i would give it a go!

so you have to think of a movie theme for your card this week to inspire you.My inspiration for my card was MIB

The new movie is coming out soon and my daughter Zoe loves MIB! Plus i have just got the new Paper Smooches Healthy Vibes stamp set and so wanted to use it!

So with this in mind i created this card!

I used some old Prima papers i had, the Paper smooches Healthy Vibe stamp set,some bobbly eyes, and copics to colour. then embossed the sentiment. I then i tried to keep the inside simple too. by repeating the pattern inside the card.

The challenge finished today but there is one every week. so click onto the link at the top of my post to have a go!!!

Tara:)

Some odd girl colour challenge

2012-02-05T18:18:00.001+11:00

So i thought i would have a go with the some odd girl colour challenge that was on the some odd girl blog this week.
the colours were red blue and grey.

I kind of got a bit carried away with this one and the blue ended up not the exact colour of the cupcakes but close enough.
here is my card.

I used the some odd girl digi image Alice Mae. i also used kaisercraft papers and the new fiskars interchangeable border punch banners away to make the rosette and the new fiskars bubbles punch.
if you want to enter this challenge then hop on over to the Some odd girl blog and have a go!

Tara :)

paper smooches sparks challenge 26th-8th feb

2012-01-31T14:55:00.003+11:00

It is another Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge and here is the great inspiration for this week.

I just love the stripes! so with the stripes in mine i created this card.

I used surf and turf, party posse and sentiment sampler paper smooches set, but to be honest i would have loves a stamp with "whale to go"instead. that pun would have been perfect. unfortunately paper smooches do not do an alphabet set so i could not make my own up :(
**edit.... i have just been informed that paper smooches do have an alphabet! i am VERY excited!!**
If you would like to join in with this challenge just click on my above link to enter!

Tara:)

Tutorial- making a pencil roll

2012-01-31T09:49:00.000+11:00

If you are like me and have a BUNCH of colouring in pencils.......and not the cheap ones........You,like me will hate it when they get banged about in a pencil case and the lead breaks within the pencil, then every time you go to sharpen it it breaks again!
I have solved this problem with a idea that i saw. A pencil roll.

It is really simple, all you will need is some scrap fabric, wadding, 2 metres elastic and some old ribbon or binding tape.
Firstly, Cut yourself 2 pieces of fabric size 70cm x 35cm with your pinking shears or a rotary cutter. then cut yourself a piece of wadding the same size.
Make a sandwich with fabric- wadding - fabric with the wrong sides of the fabric touching the wadding.
(sorry i should have taken a pic of this...i forgot!!)
Sew around the outside edge of the whole rectangle.
Take your elastic and cut in 1/2 (2 lots of 1 mtr) place across the fabric rectangle approx 1/4 from the bottom and then 1/2 way. pin.

Sew across the fabric and elastic the whole length down every 11/2 - 2 cm (depending on the thickness of your pencils) keep doing this the whole way till the end. You should get approx 45 -50 places depending on your spacing.
Trim off excess elastic.
Hem your whole rectangle of fabric with either binding tape or like me some ribbon. I used grosgrain ribbon as it is a little stronger.

And you are done. You can use a bit of ribbon to roll and tie it together like i did or you can even fold it instead.
Here is mine all filled up with my aqua pencils.

And here are my trusty Fiskars tools that i used THe Pinking shears are Great to stop fraying and the rotary cutter is great to cut those long straight lines!!!

Tara:)

Lily Pad Cards Virginia's View #1

2012-01-29T08:37:00.000+11:00

So, over at Lily Pad Cards They have a new challenge. Virginia's View. This first challenge has some inspiration from a martha stewart pic.

I just love the paint splatted look of this image, and the colours are lovely. So i took this inspiration and created this card.

I used an A la mode stamp and paper pieced the 4 leaf clover then punched some little hearts, added some definition by drawing the creases on them and shading them with copic markers W1 and W3. Then coloured the rest of the girl with copics.
To create the Spat effect i took 2 distress ink pads- ripe persimmon and barn door, then put some of the ink on my wipe off mat. i then spritz the ink with perfect pearl mist in biscotti . once i had done this i picked up some of the ink mixture with a toothbrush and flicked it onto my card. then heat set it. It gave such a perfect colour with just that little bit of sparkle! I stamped the sentiment from paper smooches stamp set sentiment sampler
and i was finished!

Don't forget if you would like to have a go with this challenge ,head on over to Lily Pad Cards and add your link with your card!

Tara:)

Moxie Fab World Punchs Challenge

2012-01-29T07:57:00.000+11:00

This challenge at Moxie Fab World is a punching challenge.
For this challenge Challenge i have used my trusty Fiskars border punches! They are great on most cards but with this monochromatic card the kaleidoscope border punch looks even better!

The image is from The greeting Farm and is a digital image. You can also buy rubber Greeting Farm stamps from Mad 4 Markers along with the copic markers i used with this image. (W1,3,5,7)
The sentiment was from a My Favorite Things - a la mode-wishing you luck stamp set.

If you would like to have a go at this challenge check out the above link before the 13th feb.

Tara:)

Moxie Fab World Embossing and Debossing Challenge

2012-01-28T09:21:00.000+11:00

This Moxie Fab World Challenge is Embossing and Debossing.

So out came the cuttlebug embossing plates and i set to work!
Here is my card.

I used a dot embossing folder to emboss the card, and a postage heart stamp embossing folder. I embossed several different card colours and then cut out bits of each to give the different colours. i then added stickles into the word love and finished off with some twine and some bling.

If you would like to have a go on this challenge click the above link before the 13th feb.

Tara:)

I'm a gnome on lawnscaping! Yeah!

2012-01-28T08:51:00.000+11:00

Yeah! 2 weeks running i'm on a roll! it must me the new year! i got a honorable gnome this week in the winter wonderland challenge over at Lawn Fawn Lawnscaping Challenge Yeah!! again!!

Tara:)

Lawn Fawn's got a new range..........

2012-01-27T09:38:00.001+11:00

I will be honest with you from the start...... i love Lawn Fawn.... i have 24 of their sets. i would have every set if i could but some how i do not think i could justify this to my hubby.
So when i clicked on the lawn fawn blog this morning, i think i almost had a heart attack!

Lawn Fawn are.........wait for it.............
MAKING PAPERS,STICKERS, AND TWINE!!!!!!!
I almost fell off my chair when i saw the video sneek peek!

It was like Lawn Fawn let their stamps get together with their inks and they went and had babies!!!!!

I love lawn fawn and this just did it for me! If my hubby ever wants to get his leg over at some point all he needs to do is bring home some of this new paper range !LOL!!!! (boy!i hope he does not read this... i will come home one night to find the house covered in lawn fawn papers!!!..........then maybe that not a bad thing!!)

Anyway here is the lawn fawn link and a little sneak peek of the range.

Tara:)

Moxie Fab World Cutting and Trimming Challenge

2012-01-27T09:00:00.001+11:00

It's Moxie Fab World Challenge again and this challenge is Cutting and Trimming

It is funny,cutting and trimming is not always as simple as it seems! i use a few techniques on most cards i do so to think of just cutting and trimming...... it was HARD!
After a lot of playing about i make this card.

I used Tim Toltz Seasonal paper pad and cut using my Fiskars sure-cut trimmers all the little Easter bunnies of a 12 x 12 page. I stuck them onto my card,Blended with distress ink in bundled sage and old paper, dyed my lace with bundled sage distress ink and perfect pearls mist heirloom gold, spritz my card as well, then cut out the word Easter with MFT alphabet dies. simple but effective i think!

If you would like to enter this challenge click on the above link.

Tara :)

Mad for markers...A new colour combo

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000+11:00

I love bright colours and especially blues and greens, so i thought, with this challenge a new colour combo,why not do the complete opposite and go for black and grey! you cannot get more of a different colour combo that that for me! So i Decided to scrap my daughters latest fancy dress outfit and use TGF CC Wednesday from the Creeper Crew stamp set.
I tried to colour her in only C colours and black(100) but i had to give a little colour to her face.
I also used several Fiskars border punches,(Happy Jacks, Upper crest) and i made up the photo frames on the PC and cut them out. The paper range was from Making memories-Toil and Trouble.

Here is the colours i used to colour Wednesday.

I did use AtYouSpica in silver and clear on the stamp as well. and a Copic multiliner to give Wednesdays hair more definition.

Make sure you check out the Design teams other great creations for this Challenge and If you require any of the above markers or a stamp or 2 you can find all you need at the Mad for Markers Online Store.

And lastly....Don't forget to have a go and enter the challenge too!

Tara :)

Copic Oz new colours challenge

2012-01-25T19:13:00.001+11:00

I love R59 in the Copic range, i do not know why i just do. So when i heard that they are bring out a new colour that will go with R59 i was really excited. I mean i still shade with R59. i tend to use R43 and R46. But they just do not flow as well as the should. But NOW............. we have a new colour to the mix..........R56!
Yeah! a better blending option!
So with this in mind, and the fact that i had to make my parents a 40th wedding anniversary card i decided to enter the Copic Oz New Colour Challenge
There are 12 new copic sketch colours coming for 2012 and you can win them all by entering the above challenge.
I had already picked out a image for my parents card. A cute image from The Greeting Farm it looks very much like the image my parents had on their wedding invites in 1972 so it seemed perfect. next was what to colour the image???? And it just happened my parents wedding was burgundy so GREAT! i used my R83,85 and 59 to colour the image in along with several other colours.
All the colours i used can be found at Mad 4 Markers online store to purchase.

Here is the image coloured.

And here is my finished card. I used Basic grey papers, created my own sentiment with Lawn Fawn alphabet set of stamps-sally's ABC's and several My Favorite Things die-namics dies.

I did not really want to do too much on the card as the papers were quite busy and to be honest i wanted the focus to be the image. That was what it's all about, the happy couple!

Here is mum and Dad before they got married. and where i got the inspiration for the hair colours etc.

I can't believe that is over 40 years ago!!!

Tara:)

Moxie Fab World Die Cutting Challenge

2012-01-25T18:06:00.000+11:00

It's a Moxie Fab World Die cutting Challenge and i wanted to use a die that i had not what it was intended for, so i grabbed my Die-namics from My Favorite Things and got cutting!

And after a little of creating licence i made this card!

I used the Christmas ornament die to use as petals for a flower. i then added a few other die cuts and a button, a bit of perfect pearls mist and Done! a cute little card using Christmas dies not for Christmas!
Click on the above link if you would like to join in with this challenge!!!
Tara:)

Paper smooches Sparks challenge January 12th...

2012-01-23T09:11:00.001+11:00

Another week another challenge and this week the photo for inspiration is as follows

I love the bright red and green in the pic so i went with these colours and make this card.

I used Paper Smooches stamp set "wake up" and coloured with copics. ( R22,24,27-G02,05,07 & 0)
I also used my Fiskars Double Bubble Border Punch and My Favourite Things Grass border die and film strip die. The paper is My minds eye.

Tara:)

Lawnscaping challenge #26 winter wonderland

2012-01-22T17:57:00.002+11:00

This weeks Lawnscaping Challenge is winter wonderland.

I love winter, it is sad we do not get snow where i live but i can drive to some if i need to!

So with the love of snow in mind and all of the great animals that are fond of the snow too i created 2 cards for this challenge.

For both these cards i used critters in the snow, and making frosty friends, i also used the sentiment from winter fox and fanciful frames. I also used a memory box die with velum for the snowflake border at the bottom and a bit of glossy accents. I also used a bunch of 3D tape to get the 3 layers of dimension on the cards I purchased all my lawn Fawn stamps from Lawn Fawn.For $15 bucks a set they are SOOO worth the money! and cheap international postage too! (For all you aussies out there!)

Copic markers were used to colour in as well.
Here are the copic colours i used. If you need to purchase any of the above copic markers that i used. don't forget you can get them all at a really good price over at the Mad 4 Markers online shop

Well i hope you liked my 2 cards!
Tara :)

Map to Your Heart Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

2012-01-18T12:54:00.000+11:00

Here is my card for the Map to your heart Challenge on Moxie Fab World.

I photocopied a map of the world and shrunk it. then stamped with a Hero Arts stamp CG140 poppy background in black (thinking about it maybe i should have used chocolate brown.......) then embossed with clear embossing powder. mat and layered it tied some twine from the twinery around the pic, then added some patterned paper from stampin up! I used my fiskars kaleidoscopic border punch and My Favorite Things tabs die and a MFT stamp sentiment.

The challenge is open till the 23rd January so get creating!!!

Tara :)

Bella! January Challenge...finally got it finished and not a moment too soon!

2012-01-17T11:18:00.000+11:00

I had been planning to do this challenge all month but with one day to go i finally finished my 3 cards! if you want to check out the challenge it is on the Bella! blog Here.

The First card i used the Bella Australia Paper pad. I also used ruby rocket gems,and a zipper flower from Bella! too. The little sentiment was from My Favorite things.

The Second card (my favorite card of the 3) I used the Oriental chic paper pad from Bella! Along with Bella fundamentals card stock as the base. The stamp was from my cute stamps- Ni Hao I coloured with copics and the dress was paper pieced with the Bella paper too.

The third card i made i used the Boy range from Bella. I also used the coordinating embellishments and some Bella gems. I used My Favorite Things Dienamics alphabet dies to make the 'birthday' on the card.I used the Fundamentals cardstock for this card also.

The 3 cards are all different which is what i wanted. a lot of the time when you get a 3 card challenge many peoples cards all look really similar. i did not want this for my cards. i really wanted to show the different ranges of paper collections that Bella have.

Fingers crossed!

Tara :)

It's Sketch time at the Fisk-a-teers.....

2012-01-15T15:51:00.001+11:00

Hello There!

It's sketch time at the Fisk-a-teers blog and Rebecca has given us a Layout and Card Sketch to work with.

You can find the post Here.

So firstly Rebecca gave us the card sketch.

And With a little bit of playing around with the sizes given......only a little..... here is my card.

I used my Fiskars Trimmer,Fiskars Scissors,Large circle squeeze punch,Extra large scalloped circle squeeze punch,Fiskars Double Bubble border punch,Kaisercraft papers called cock-a-doodle-doo. The dragon stamp was from Wild Rose Studio( i had to buy it he was holding a Poppy!) and the sentiment was from hero arts. I coloured the Dragon with Copic markers.

Here are the copics i used.

The second sketch was a Layout Sketch

Here is the Layout sketch that Rebecca Shared with us....

And here is the Layout i did.....

I used my Fiskars Trimmer,Fiskars shape express template-circles,Fiskars shape express cutter,Fiskars kaleidoscope border punch and Fiskars in stitches border punch. The paper and embellishments i used was KI Memories Love elise range-Zoe( i just had to use this as my daughter is Zoe and it was perfect for her!)

If you like the sketches and would love to have a go at winning a prize also, all you have to do is make sure you are a fisk-a-teer,Pop your finished projects in the Fisk-a-teer Gallery and link them on the Sketch challenge post. Which again you can find Here.

Tara:)

Lawnscaping challenge...i won top mow-it-all! Yeah!!!

2012-01-14T09:59:00.000+11:00

I cannot believe it! i actually won on the lawnscaping challenge blog! i got a top mow- it - all for my birthday challenge card..

I am so proud of myself! what a great year it is beginning to be! thanks lawnscaping!!!
Tara:)

Fiskars sighting on the lawn fawn blog!

2012-01-13T17:51:00.000+11:00

I love many things and of course my most loved thing crafting wise are all my fiskars tools,so when i see a Fiskars tool being used with something else i love it's like the jackpot!!!! So today while i was reading the Lawn Fawn Stamp Blog (and i just LOOOVE their stamps!) I got really excited when they showed a great technique with the Fiskars stamp press. The best way to describe it was mirror stamping. Ever had a stamp that you think...ï wish it was facing the other way"well the video on the http://lawnfawn.blogspot.com/2012/01/lawn-clippings-wednesday-with-chari.html shows you exactly how to do it.
I watched the video and straight away got stamping!
This is what i created.

I used my Fiskars sure-cut recycled trimmer,Fiskars scissors,Fiskars medium cloud squeeze punch,Fiskars Grass border punch and of course my Fiskars Stamp press to make the owls face each other.
THe stamps i used were Lawn Fawn Critters in the forest ,My cute stamps eieio(for the sun) and a my cute stamp sentiment.
And for colouring i used copic markers.

So pop on over to the Lawn fawn blog and check out the video for another really great way to use yourFiskars stamp press.
Tara:)

Mad For Markers Challenge Blog...I'm on the Design Team!!!

2012-01-12T12:03:00.001+11:00

Well What can i say???? I am on a design team! YEAH!!!!. I was asked this week to join the Mad for Markers Challenge Blog Design Team! I cannot wait to get started.
If you are not aware. Mad For Markers is an Australian based online shop which stocks Copic markers,consumables to work with Copics and many different stamps.These include; Some Odd Girl, The Greeting Farm and La La Land stamps.
Their prices are reasonable and along with their shop they also have a blog with ideas and tutorials on it and of course the challenge blog which regularly has different challenges. Just click the link above or the badge on my side bar to be taken to the Challenge blog.

Boy! i am so exctited!!!!

Tara:)

Happy Birthday Lawnscaping Challenge #25

2012-01-10T21:56:00.000+11:00

Happy Birthday to lawnscaping challenge blog!!! and to celebrate lawnscaping have a little treat for us all....a FREE set of digi stamps. you can get them Here.
So this weeks challenge is all about birthdays...of course! and i thought i would go ahead and create a simple birthday card.
I used Lawn Fawn Quinn's ABC's, banneriffic, Admit one, and sallys ABC's. i then coloured with copics and Done! a simple hip hip hooray!

Tara:)

paper smooches sparks challenge December 29th

2011-12-31T19:08:00.001+11:00

Another paper smooches sparks challenge is upon us and i love this one. it is bright and colorful!
here is the inspiration.

And here is my card.

I wanted clean lines and colour but i wanted the colour to pop so i made sure the card was not too busy. i used surf and turf,glossy accents on the bubbles,copic markers to colour and some bobble eyes. then a bunch of different colour twine to finish it off.

Tara :)

Lawn fawn challenge

2011-12-30T18:08:00.001+11:00

Lawn fawn which we all LOOOVE are having a challenge. they are looking for cards for their catalog and are giving us crafters the chance to have a card in their catalog. here is the link.
I have made a couple of cards for this challenge. here they are.

In this card above i have used my distress inks and jenni bowlin inks to make the sky, fiskars border punch for the waves and squeeze punch for the clouds and then used copics for the critters which i used critters i the sea.

with this card i used critters on the farm and thought the whole chicken and the egg would be a good clean look for a card. i used copics to color and Martha Stewart twine.

Tara :)

Lawnscaping challenge #24 Texture.

2011-12-27T20:07:00.000+11:00

Now trying to get a card done between Xmas and getting everything ready for the family OMG how hard was that! but i managed to get some time to do it while the kids are in bed!

The Challenge this time was texture. felt and glitter was my texture of choice and i made a bon voyage card.
I used the little mini set from lawn fawn, MFT cloud dies to cut the felt and a judikins pop block cut in 1/2 to make the plane'fly'on the card. i shaded with copics and the background papers were unit papers i found a while back.

Cute Huh!

Tara:)

A nightmare before christmas, photos finally!

2011-12-20T20:51:00.001+11:00

So it has been 2 weeks but finally i have got the pics sorted to put up. the party was great the kids had fun, and Zoe made the BEST Wednesday Addams!

Tara:)

Cookies anyone????

2011-12-17T12:25:00.001+11:00

I'm off to a kids christmas party today and really did not want to battle the shoppers to find some treats to bring to the party.
So i got cooking!
I made some cute christmas tree cookies,piped royal icing on them,then flooded them with more royal icing and decorated them. But the icing is still not quite dry. so how will i pack them???
Good old Fiskars to the rescue!
I grabbed my Fiskars Surecut Trimmer, my Fiskars upper crest border punch, my Fiskars cling stamps season greetings that i got from USA and away i went.
I put all the little cookies in individual bags and created a topper for them. It kept the cookies from sticking to each other and each child will have a cookie of their own to take home!!!
Thanks Fiskars!!! You have saved the day again!!!
(and don't you just love the stamped sentiment!!!)

Tara :)

Done and Dusted... all my xmas cards are finished and posted!!!

2011-12-17T08:56:00.000+11:00

Finally i finished my xmas cards.
I wanted to go simple this year as with Poppy in the mix sometimes i only get a little while to colour before she is wanting my attention. (do i sound like a bad mother??LOL!!)
I picked a simple hero arts cling stamp this year. on craft card and a greeting from Fiskars seasons greetings cling stamp set. I colored with G85 and G99 the leaves, the berries were fired brick distress stickles and the branch was E27. i was surprised how the copics went on the craft card. it sis not bleed at all and it was more like water coloring than markers the was the ink moved about the card stock. but it was a good effect and i am quite happy with the finished cards!

I thought i might enter this card in the Mad for markers monthly challenge as well.
if you would like to enter the christmas challenge just click on the link
Tara :)

A Christmas Apron.

2011-12-14T09:00:00.002+11:00

Hello there! I love to be festive throughout the christmas period so i make myself an apron each year.
This year i have made a 1/2 apron with lots of frills! And then i thought what a great gift for Zoes teacher!!!'So now i am making 2!!!
You will have to bear with me when i show you how to make this great apron as i cannot seem to find the pics i took as i was making it. so i will have to show you what i can.

For the Apron you will need....
Fiskars large Quilting cutting mat.
Fiskars Rotary cutter
Fiskars Scissors
pins,sewing machine etc.......
and for the fabric.....
52cm x 40cm plain fabric x 2 (back of apron)
75cm x 16cm strips of patterned fabric x 4 (frills)
53cm x 12cm strip patterned fabric x 1 (apron band)
80cm x 10cm strip patterned fabric x 2 (ties)
Ok ...cut out all these bits of fabric and iron.
Take the 2 pieces of plain fabric and pin them together wrong sides together. sew around 3 of the sides and turn right side in. Iron.
Hem 1/2 cm around all 4 of the frill strips. hand stitch loosely on the top of each of the strips to gather your fabric. pull the thread you hand stitched on to to gather the fabric to 50cm long(or to reach the length of your apron back.make sure you tie a knot in each side of the loose thread to the gathering does not come undone.
Once this is done,starting from the bottom sew each gathered strip of fabric on your apron back.
You should start the first one approx 3cm from the bottom of your apron back.

Continue sewing each gathered strip on your apron back just so the bottom of the gathered fabric overlaps the previous frill approx 3cms.

Once you have all the frills on your apron the top frill should be almost at the top of your apron back.
Put all this to one side.
To make the ties simply take the 80cm strips fold in 1/2 wrong sides together. Iron. hem the 2 raw edges together and on one end sew the end together by sewing on a diagonal. this will make it look a little neater. Do this to both strips of fabric.
Turn the right way in.Iron.
Sew these 2 ties to the top of each side of your apron. make sure you sew the raw end to the apron.anddon't forget to make sure both of your diagonal ends face the same way!(i did not check and had to unpick and redo it!!!)
you will not see the raw ends when you put the apron band on.
Take the apron band strip and hem all 4 edges 1/2cm.
Fold in 1/2 wrong sides together and iron.
Place over the top of the apron to cover the raw edges and ties that you sewed on earlier and pin.
sew down each side and accross the bottom of the strip so keep it in place(as you can see in the picture.)

And the apron is done!!!!!!!!!
To be honest you do not have to be exact with your measurements as this is quite a forgiving pattern. and if you want more frills just make the strips thinner and make more of them!!!

This apron does have a long tie .but my model...Zoe is only 10 and Really skinny so it made it look even longer!
Tara :)

Paper smooches sparks challenge December 14th.

2011-12-13T10:59:00.000+11:00

I am a bit late this time but as everyone says...better late than never!

so the Sparks challenge this time is focused on this pic from pinterest.

I thought i would use my new set today called Wake up! I just love all the little smiley faces!
I coloured with copics and wrote a little sentiment. the paper is Bella Bvd . A bit of twine and done! simple but effective.

Tara:)

Phew! day 12 tag and i think i may need a higher dose of blood pressure pills.....

2011-12-12T22:11:00.000+11:00

I hate to say it ........but thank god that the 12 tags of Christmas are over.
Over the past 12 days i have been burnt,maimed,confused,stressed excited...yes excited.... and exhausted!
I love the 12 tags of Christmas cause i get to learn new ways to use my stash and the 12 tags makes me think of alternate ways to create what Tim has put on his blog. But i am exhausted!!!!
I think i still have 2 children and a husband...... i will have to check the kids rooms and check under the covers in my bed tonight just to make sure i have not left them anywhere over the past 12 days while being focused on getting each tag done ASAP.LOL!!!
Today was a great tag. i got to see what all the fuss was about the tissue paper. but i don't have any so i used the tissue tape instead. it kind of gave the same effect and i did not have to use the glue!
I did not have any of those doll things so a fragment with a pic of Poppy did the trick and i made the flower with tissue tape like tim has done in the past. I did not even have to make the silver border as i used Bella! tape for that and tinsel...i just nicked a bit off the Christmas tree....Shhhhhhh....don't tell Zoe she will be mad!!!!

So here is my final tag.

Stay tuned because you will see my labors of love again soon. I am planning to use them all on my Christmas pressies this year!
I'm off now to sleep for the next 16 hours!!!!!
Tara :)

Twelve tags Day 11..... and the ##@$%## shrink plastic!!!!!!

2011-12-12T16:58:00.000+11:00

I love the Technique today on tag 11's tag for the 12 tags of Xmas. But if i have to even THINK about F***ing shrink plastic again i may hurt someone!
Last night started as it has most nights bar 2 over the past 11 days.....me waiting at the PC for 7pm Australian time for tims tag to go on his blog and me getting excited, finding what i need and making it.
Last night and today was different.......
I went to get out the supplies. I KNEW i had shrink plastic. I brought a sampler pack ages ago and i was SURE that it was with all my photo papers , acetate, canvas etc. I looked. I looked again. Nothing....... I thought where could it be? i went through all my boxes of craft stuff in Poppy's room.Nothing. Maybe i used it all up, i thought to myself. So i thought...i will do what i can on the tag and but the shrink plastic at the craft shop tomorrow and finish up when i get home.
Easier said than done........
I went to Richmond (about 30kms away from my place) to the local craft shop. I was pouring rain and i had a grumbly Poppy in toe. I got there. Lights out.....The craft shop closed on Mondays!.... i am not physic am i? how was i suppose to know this! so i went to the 2 newsagents. Nothing."Whats shrink plastic?"i was asked!
I went to Big W. Nothing. i was getting a bit pissed off by now as it was STILL raining and Poppy wanted food. so i fed and watered myself and Poppy and continued on my quest.
I drove back home. went to my local town Springwood and then went to the office place. Nothing. the news agency Nothing. then the art shop. I asked the man. He knew what i was talking about YEAH!!!! "sure"he said "i will show you."WooHoo! VICTORY!!!!!! we went to the shelf and you would not believe it.... SOLD OUT!@!!!!!!!!!!
This was getting ridiculous!
I thought i would try one last place. so off i went to Sew and Save. no shrink plastic their either but the lady did tell me i could use #6 recycled plastic from bottles etc. Great i will go home and do this.
I got home. Dumped Poppy off on Rob and started my search in the fridge. #1....#2.....#2......#1.....and it went on like this for everything plastic in the house. I even resorted to hunting through the recycle bin outside looking for #6 plastic! I must have looked like some kind of hobo with my bum up in the air,head in the bin!!!

So i gave up.
I decided that if i just cut out small acetate holly leaves and put alcohol inks on it it will look ok.
I went to the cupboard and grabbed the packet of acetate. Went to get a sheet...........
THE F***ING SHRINK PLASTIC WAS WITH THE ACETATE ALL ALONG!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excuse my language but OMG!!!! you would not believe it would you!
So without further ado here is the Tag that is the bain of my life.........

And you know what. ....... i don't really like it!!!

Tara :)

lawnscaping tags or treat bags challenge....with a twist

2011-12-11T22:03:00.000+11:00

It is Lawnscaping challenge time and this one is a little different. I was going to do a tag but i thought...why not incorporate the challenge with the craft i am doing with my daughter Zoe's Class this week. So i emailed Kelly Marie to get permission to photocopy some of lawn fawns great stamps for the kids in Zoe's class to make door hangers. I did not think that the whole stamping themselves would be a good idea so Kelly Marie said it was ok to photocopy the stamps. So i went about making a page of images for the kids to colour and cut out. we have the snowman and clothing from making frosty friends, the cozy christmas set and the tree from critters in the forest. I reckon that that tree must be the most used stamp in ALL of my stamps.....an i have a LOT of stamps!!!
So i coloured the images...i did not bother about shading cause the kids will not be doing this, cut out my pics, created a background on the kraft card door hanger i made using my Fiskars Trimmer and Circle shape template and started gluing! I even used a glu stick like the kids will!
and here are the results...

I added bit of sparkle stuff for snow and ripped the paper to make the snow on the bottom.
they don't look to bad and i think the kids will be able to follow ok.
Tara :)

Tim's tag day 10....better late than never!

2011-12-11T12:48:00.001+11:00

THis is quite a quick post as lat night was our nightmare before christmas party and after a bit of a headache this morning i have finally done the tag
here it is!

Tara:)

Day 9 it is almost over Booooo Hooooooo!!!!!

2011-12-09T22:55:00.000+11:00

Well after today's tag only 3 more to go........'I really liked this technique cause it was bright and bold. plus one of the very few dies of tim's i have is festive greenery and this has been used A LOT in these tags!! I drew the candle and cut it from grunge board(embossed as i did not have plain) i even managed to navigate the heat gun with out burning myself or catching on fire!!!!!
so here is today's tag!

Tara :)

tim's tags day 8

2011-12-08T21:59:00.000+11:00

Looking at tim's tag today i was not sure about it. i am not use to doing "manly"tags so i decided to use the techniques in this rag but with my own twist. I love Christmas trees so this is what i did.....

Tara :)

A spinning Christmas Card....

2011-12-08T16:25:00.001+11:00

Hello there, As Christmas gets closer i am frantically making my xmas cards and getting them in the post. One of the cards i made this year is a cute spinning christmas card.

It is really easy to make with your fiskars tools.
Here is how you make it.....
You will need a 5 1/2"square card. I used Fynmark fundamentals embossed cards. Take some patterned paper and cut out a 13cm x 13cm square. glue to your card.

Take your 1"fiskars circle squeeze punch and cut a semi circle from the right side of your card.

Put your card to one side.
Using the shape express and circle templates cut a circle from
card stock 4 1/2 "

Find the centre of your circle and put a brad through it. attach the circle and brad through your card also. This will create your spinner.

On a piece of scrap paper stamp or print out 4 small images and colour,glitter etc. make sure your pictures are no bigger than 1". Cut them out. I layered mine with fiskars square scalloped squeeze punched shapes.

Put the images to one side.
Cut a 12cm x 12cm piece of card stock and a 11.5cm x 11.5cm piece of patterned paper. glue the patterned paper to the card stock. 1/2 way down the left side of the card stock cut a semi circle with the 1"Fiskars circle squeeze punch.
Using your Fiskars everywhere punch starter set punch a window on the middle left side of your card stock.

Lay your card stock over your card and spinning circle to see where to glue your images. glue the images 1 by 1 turning the circle to make sure you can see each one through your "window".

Place 3D foam pads on the corners of your card with the window in it. place over your spinning circle making sure that you have not stuck the circle and it moves freely.
Decorate the front of your card and the inside.I used some stickers and made a little frame to go around the window part of my card.

I have used Fiskars new double bubble border punch inside the card and the sentiment stamp is Fiskars cling stamp Christmas set.
Tara :)

Tim's tags day 7....we're cooking now!!!!!!

2011-12-07T21:53:00.001+11:00

Yeah!!!! 2 tags done in a row and no hiccups!!!
Todays tag is great i love the effect tim got with the holly and zoe was fascinated on how he did it in the video. though zoe did mention about 15 times how much the paper stunk...and was smoke suppose to be coming from the heat gun!!!!(i have asked santa for a new one)
so here is day 7's tag

Tara :)

Day 6 tag and no permanent injury.........

2011-12-06T21:44:00.001+11:00

I knew it!.....See I knew it!
If i did the tags of an evening all would go well...and apart from getting electrocuted by the Computer when i turn it off tonight, i have not gained any injury tonight! YEAH!!!!
Day 6 tag seems to have gone without a hitch tonight. I did change it a bit by using a fragment with zoe's picture in it rather than a charm which i did not have,but all in all i am happy with the result!
what do you think????

Tara :)

THe 12 tags continue with day 5 and another day another saga......

2011-12-06T11:36:00.001+11:00

Well we are almost 1/2 way there in the 12 tags of Christmas with tim holtz . BoooHooo!!!! i don't want it to ever end..... well... maybe i do....because it seems to me that i am getting into a bit of a funk when it comes to creating my tags each day.
I have come to the conclusion that when ever i make a tag in the evening all's fine and well but if i do the tag the following morning ... well all hell breaks loose!!
This is now the second day in a row that my tag making has not gone according to plan.......
Let me explain........ if you read yesterdays post i finished my tag and by the end of it i was maimed and disfigured by my heat gun...... well today it was the tools i was using that bore the brunt of the destruction today.
Firstly if you know me i am a VERY organized person when it comes to crafting. Having Zoe who has ASD i need to keep organized. So when i come to find a specific item......say an archival ink pad........ you would think i would know where it was....but NOOOOOOO......could i find it? Damm ink pad had disappeared. Unless Rob is secretly crafting and stashing my ink pad WHO KNOWS where it's gone. so i had to use Staz on. Which to be fair Tim Holtz said not to do. I now TOTALLY agree with him cause no sooner than i got the staz on ink pad out i dropped it on my trousers! I now REALLY know why it is called STAZ ON!!!! It will not come off no matter how many time you put your trouser in the machine with large quantities of washing powder.
Ok so i am now sitting at my craft desk in my undies(trousers are in the wash for the 2nd time) inking my tag. Surprise it worked! yeah!
I then go to grab my slice machine to make the wreath for the tag. i go to cut the bazzill card
(i learnt from last time slice + grungepaper = disaster) but the blade snapped. i tried again...it snapped again. so my slice machine has decided to die on me. so instead of finishing my card i email slice etc as it is still under warranty.
Meanwhile while this is all happening Poppy(my 1 year old) is running wild in the house her trouser are off too....maybe seeing mummy with no trousers she thought it was some kind of game?? and snot all over her face as she has learn a new trick.....everytime mummy blows her nose she will too! but on her hand or just snot into air! so between chasing poppy around the house trying to get her pants back on,cleaning up trails of snot i finally got the tag finished. Done!
And do you know what happened next........... Poppy fell asleep just as i finished!!! Typical!

Well i hope you like the tag. from now on i am SOOOO doing them of a night!

Tara :)

Day 4 tag done but not without getting the #$*@ with the cuttlebug!

2011-12-05T13:02:00.001+11:00

Ok as i have been putting up all of the tags for the 12 tags of xmas from tim holtz I have had most of what he used of if not i have had something similar that i can use in stead of.
My slice machine has been great apart from breaking 3 blades in the machine trying to cut grungeboard and acetate with it! but mostly i have achieved what i wanted to do with the tags.
Today was different.........
Nothing seemed to want to go my way today! the snowman did not have a hat..... i could not find my buttons..... the crackle paint just DID NOT want to dry and my stupid heat gun kept over heating and stopped working.... on top of that i picked up my heat gun the wrong way and burnt my middle finger..ok i hear you say i can give people the bird and say i am showing them my burnt finger but IT HURT!!!! and now i have a circle pattern on the tip of my finger!
on top of all of this...for the life of me my die-namic snowflake die and my memory box snowflake border die WOULD NOT cut through acetate or even thin plastic! so i had to improvise with a glue pad snowflake stamp and some glitter to try to get the effect i wanted.

so after all of this.....here is my tag.....oh and did i mention i was doing a card the same for zoe to give her tutor... so double trouble!!!

i hope you like them

(a burned and frustrated) Tara :)

and now it is day 3 of the 12 tags saga......

2011-12-03T22:32:00.000+11:00

busy,busy,busy i am with keeping up with the 12 tags of christmas and we are only on day 3!
there is my tag to share...

don't forget to check them out on tims blog

tara:)

Tim Holtz Twelve tags of Christmas- day 2

2011-12-02T22:22:00.000+11:00

Day 2 is up already and i have given it my best shot. here is the link to the tim holtz blog
and here is my tag for day 2......

looking forward to day 3!
Tara :)

Tim Holtz is Doing the 12 tags of Christmas again! Yeah!!!

2011-12-01T22:25:00.000+11:00

Once again Tim Holtz is creating his 12 tags of Christmas. It is a great source of inspiration Check it out here.
This year i am going to make the 12 tags and use them on all my Xmas pressies. You do not need to have all of Tim's tools you can substitute some of his dies for other dies etc.
Here is my tag for day 1.

Tara:)

moxie fab world tuesday trigger - red and rustic

2011-11-28T16:07:00.000+11:00

Here is the Tuesday trigger above if you want to play along click here.

Here is my card....

The striped papers reminded me of the cushions on the trigger and who would not want to sit on those cushions and eat choccies!!!
Tara :)

Lily pad cards sketch challenge

2011-11-25T18:16:00.000+11:00

Lily pad cards have their sketch challenge here at the moment. i decided to join and create a card for this challenge.
here is the sketch......

and here is my card....

I have used Fiskars cling stamps for the banana and the sentiment, my Fiskars med circle squeeze punch and fiskars border punch called apron lace for the "ribbon" i colored with copics and embossed the sentiment with white. as i did not have yellow embossing powder i used my y08 copic marker to carefully color in the word banana so it was seen better.
Tara :)

paper smooches are having their blog hop....

2011-11-25T08:23:00.000+11:00

Paper smooches are having their blog hop today! you can check out the December new releases and get a chance to win the 3 sets that are getting released! YEAH....plus new chubby chums! yeah..again!

Lawnscaping challenge #22 Photo inspiration... Zoe's turn!

2011-11-24T20:25:00.000+11:00

zoe has just finished her card for the lawnscaping challenge. just in case you did not see the last post here it is...

and the link is here.
Zoe has gone over and beyond with her card... now you have to remember Zoe is only 10 years old and has irlen syndrome so her colours and art is not always perfect cause she sees double when not wearing her special glasses. but i am SOOOOO proud of her. Not only did she make a card she also make a background for me to photograph it with!!!

zoe has used critters in the forest, fiskars leaf punches and upper crest border punch, My Favorite Things die namics branches and coloured with pencils and gamsol.

here is a close up of her background

Zoe, you are a clever little girl!
Mum xx

Lawnscaping challenge #22 Photo inspiration

2011-11-24T18:25:00.000+11:00

Hello there! Once again it is the lawnscaping challenge. this time it was a photo inspiration challenge.

I can just smell the apple pie and cinnamon!
So with those colours in mind i created this card.

I have used Lawn fawn happy Halloween for the tree and leaves,then to get the sentiment i have used Jessie's abc's for 'falling' then masked off the words 'for' and 'you' on 2 stamps from many thanks set to get my final 2 words. a bit of distress stickles on the leaves and done!
Now while i have been making this card. my daughter Zoe has got a bee in her bonnett that she can win lawnscaping challenge this week! so stay tuned for her card. meanwhile here is the mess she has made on my dining room table!!! I cannot believe she has got the gamsol out and is blending her picture!!! she so takes after her mum!!!!

Mad for markers...anything goes challenge

2011-11-23T22:21:00.000+11:00

So i thought i would kill 2 birds with one stone today, make a card for a friend who has just had a baby girl and also make the card for the anything goes challenge on mad for markers challenge blog .

Here is my card. simple but effective i think!
I used the greeting farm onesies clear stamps. it is the boy set but i had a little crown from an old pink cat studio set to make it a little girly. the sentiment is from lawn fawn.
I coloured the onesie with R81,R83,R85,R59,Y15 and Y17. the little buttons on the bottom were highlighted with atyou spica glitter pen gold and a few gems to ad that little bit of bling. a ribbon and there you have it!!!
Tara :)

Paper smooches sparks challenge November 17th-30th

2011-11-23T18:53:00.000+11:00

Hello there! Once again it is time for the paper smooches sparks challenge.

If you have not joined in before here is the link for this weeks challenge.

The inspiration for the challenge was this lovely pic from etsy.

don't you love the colors!!!!
so i thought i would use a great Hero arts background stamp with my Chubby chums paper smooches stamps. I was a little limited with options as i only own 2 sets of their stamps so far. it is a long battle to justify buying MORE stamps to rob!!! but i am working on it!!!!
So with my card i stamped the background embossed it with gold embossing and them used several distress inks to blend onto the card. pumice stome,shabby shutters and broken china. a spritz of perfect pearl spray and i was happy....well almost! the gold was a bit too bright so i took my iron and a bit of kitchen paper and took the embossing ink off. i was then just left with the brown ink i used to start with a little fleck of gold. much better!
i colored in my owl with copics and cut him out. then with my Fiskars everywhere punch i punched a hole for my owl. I die cut a vintage scroll flourish from My Favorite Things dies and sat the owl on it with a bit of 3D foam. i cut another flourish and cut out the bit to match the outside of the card. Stamped Woohoo! with ink went over it with quickie glue pen and a bit of glitter.
done!
Here is the finished card.

Tara :)

Jay Gee's Nook challenge #13

2011-11-21T17:10:00.000+11:00

Today i finally finished Jay Gee's Nook challenge #13. using holiday stamps in a non holiday card.

I had to have a long hard think about this cause i do not really have many "holiday"stamps. i tend to buy stamps that i can use for most occasions.

So I decided to use Lawn Fawn cozy Xmas stamp set
Here is the card.

I tried to create a party scene rather than a Christmas one. so the milk became beer and the cookies became cakes and the little flame is just a little creatures now. I also used Lawn fawn quinn's abc's.

If you would like to have a go at this challenge you can check it out Here.

Tara :)

Need Icicles????

2011-11-20T15:33:00.001+11:00

Hello there everyone!
Today i am here to share with you a neat little trick with the Fiskars grass border punch.
Did you know that if you use it upside down you have your very own icicles to use on your cards!
Neat.Huh!
Here is a card i have made using the Fiskars grass border punch for just that purpose...Icicles.

As you can see i have made some pretty silver icicles on the bottom of my card.
I have also used my Fiskars snow bubbles border and corner punch, and i have also made some glitter ric rak by punching with the fiskars scalloped border punch, trimming my paper close to the scallop and punching again slightly off centre to get the ric rak effect. Then i ran it through my Xyron 150 to get it sticky, glittered it and ran it through again to get sticky glitter ric rak.
The winter wonderland stamp is also a Fiskars simple stick stamp i got from America and the image is from My favorite things.
I hope this little trick helps you our in your christmas card making.

Tara :)

moxie fab world tuesday trigger

2011-11-20T09:04:00.000+11:00

I know it is not fall here in australia but tuesday trigger in moxie fab world is from the USA so we just have to go along with it!
Here is the pic(trigger)

And here is my card.

You can check out the link Here.

Tara :)

Yeah! i was on fawny flickr friday!!!

2011-11-19T16:01:00.000+11:00

How excited was i to see my card on the lawn fawn flickr friday!
check it out here! im the last card on the post
here
Tara :)

Lawnscaping challenge #21 thanks...

2011-11-15T09:27:00.000+11:00

So this week the Lawnscaping challenge blog has a thanks challenge. you can check it out Here.
Thank you cards i think are the easiest to make but surprise,surprise, i got a brain freeze when i sat down to make this card. so i read a few copies of papercrafts again, then finally set to work!

Here is what i came up with.

I used my favorite things rainbow die, and clouds die, Lawn Fawn many thanks stamp set, and the smile from sophies sentiments. My Fiskars notebook border punch and papers by imaginse.
Tara :)

Starting to get ready for xmas

2011-11-14T08:49:00.000+11:00

I have finally started to make christmas cards for this year. slack...yes... i know but i HAVE started!
This first card i am sharing with you is a little different in the fact i made the embossing with my Fiskars border punch. and no not the ones that have the embossing on them!
I created my own embossing "folder" as such by punching 3 squares of thin card with the fiskars border and corner punch called snow bubbles.
Then i glued them together lining them up as i did this.

Once i had done this i used my cuttlebug to run it through with the card i needed to emboss.
To do this you need the following "sandwich" A plate - B Plate - a bit of kraft board or thin chip board - silicone mat - piece of paper or card you want to emboss - embossing folder"you made - B Plate.
You may need to adjust the thin chipboard or kraft card depending to your cuttle bug, no 2 ever seem to be the same!
Run it through your cuttlebug and presto! your card is embossed like your punch!
The results vary depending on how many layers you use to make your "folder" to emboss with.
Here is the finished result.

I used a fishbowl image off the internet, Paper smooches surf and turf, and Lawn fawn banneriffic set. I made the sentiment by inking single letters off several lawn fawn stamp sets to create the words i needed.
Then i coloured with copic markers.

Tara :)

The Never ending card

2011-11-12T10:08:00.000+11:00

I made this card when i saw the great video about the never ending card. i thought it would be great for the kids in zoes class to make for Christmas as i am doing Xmas craft this year at school.
All you need is 4 bits of 10cm x 20cm card cut exactly, some glue a bone folder, paper and embellishments to decorate.
Here is my finished card.
The front

2nd side

3rd side

4th side

and back to the beginning

Cool idea huh?
If you would like to check out the video on how to make this card you can find it Here

Paper smooches sparks challenge nov 3-16

2011-11-11T17:35:00.000+11:00

The Challenge this week is quite intresting......
The pin art pic really had me stumped for a while!
here is the inspiration.

and after a bunch of thinking, some sticky back canvas,tim holtz distress stains and of course paper smooches stamp i came up with this........

The little prawn at the end has been flocked and glitter stripes on him. and the sentiment was embossed with white embossing powder.(stamp hero arts)
So if you would like to enter the challenge you can do so here.
Tara :)

Making a Christmas card with Lawn Fawn.

2011-10-26T18:23:00.000+11:00

I purchased my xmas set from Lawn Fawn ages ago and today made this pop up card. I coloured with copics and used glossy accents,Helmar 3d scrapdots and many judikins pop blocks.

can you see santa hiding????
Tara :)

Nina B presents a sketch challenge..

2011-10-25T17:23:00.000+11:00

I thought i would enter the Sketch Challenge on lily pad cards this week. Nina B has given us a great sketch and though i do not have any of her stamps...YET......... i thought i would go ahead and give it a go.
Here is the Sketch......

and here is my card inspired by the sketch.

I have used Paper Smooches- Chubby Chums stamps, MFT die namics dies and some stampin up paper that i found to match my little owl.

Tara:)

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge....

2011-10-23T15:02:00.001+11:00

I have jsut brought my first set of Paper Smooches stamps last week. they were so cute.
Here they are...

They are called chubby chums.The owl really reminded me of Hoot from Poppy's favourite show giggle and Hoot.

Don't you think so too? I am so going to colour the owl in just like hoot for some cards in the future!

So when i went on their site i saw they has a Challenge Blog too.

So i thought i would enter this weeks challenge.
Here is the photo for inspiration.....

And you can find the challenge here.
I am not a big fan of masculine cards but i gave it a go. Here is what i came up with.......

I have used the Chubby Chums stamp set. I have also used Lawn Fawn Jessie's ABC's, Sizzix embossing folder-woodgrain, MFT dienamics branch and leaves, copics to colour and several distress inks by tim holtz. The photo bit i made on my pc and printed and cut out to give the polaroid effect.

Tara :)

Fisk-a-teers sketch challenge for a card.

2011-10-22T19:14:00.000+11:00

I finally finished the card challenge for fisk-a-teers. WHEW! getting a few projects done all at once is hard work!
here is the sketch for the card.

and here is the card.....

I have used my circle shape template and shape express for this card and my circle everywhere punch to make the window that the little red back spider hangs. I have used an embossing folder for the web and a tim holtz web stamp too.
Tara :)

Lawnscaping challenge #20 paper piecing.

2011-10-20T11:03:00.001+11:00

This week is challenge #20...... wow it has gone really quickly! 20 all ready!
anyway here is the link if you would like to Enter.

I thought i would combine this challenge with one of the fisk-a-teers challenges on dimension.
here is my card.

I used hats of to you, winter fox and on the mend Lawn Fawn stamps. i also used limitless limbs stamp by pink cat studio. i used many fiskars tools including grass border punch, laughin jack and circle squeeze punch and cloud squeeze punch.
Tara :)

Fiskars October Sketch challenge...

2011-10-18T19:25:00.000+11:00

On the fisk-a-teer blog there is a monthly sketch challenge. Here is the Link.
so here is the sketch........

So to do a double whammy i decided to use this sketch for the Bella! blog monthly challenge also. you can find this challenge Here.
So i used some great pics of my nephew Liam and came up with this page.

I used several Fiskars punches upper crest and boundary waters, my Fiskars trimmer and scissors.
The paper and embellishments are Bella! boyz range.
Tara :)

fisk-a-teers Colour challenge orange and pink.

2011-10-17T18:02:00.000+11:00

This months Fisk-a-teers colour challenge is orange and pink. this is a hard colour combo for me as i am not in my comfort zone with these colours. but i had a good go at it and as halloween is upon us i thought what about a spooky card.

I have used heaps of Fiskars tools to make this card.
lever punch -Tree
border punch -picket fence
border punch -happy jacks
squeeze punch -x-large circle
fingertip knife
shape template ovals- the edge which is scalloped
shape express

I also used lawn fawn stamps happy haunting
and some old heidi grace halloween rub ons.
plus the usual card and glue etc.

Tara :)

Our holiday comes to a close....... :(

2011-10-06T19:52:00.000+11:00

The last few days i did not have access to a internet connection so here is a little story of what happened over the past 2 days.
On Tuesday we went to the buried village. it was really interesting. In 1904 a volcano erupted and buried several villages.a little like pompeii. it was amazing to think of the force that destroyed and killed everyone in the village.

There was heaps to see.
Once we walked around Zoe and i went for a waterfall walk. the views were great.

Then we went for a little drive to see the volcano that did all the damage. the volcano is dormant but will erupt again.

You can see the volcano top in the distance.
That night we decided to go to the pig and whistle again for tea. while waiting for dinner Zoe locked herself in the toilet. she was a right state when she managed to get out (mind you she had to crawl under the door which was only a 8 inch gap.) Any way like the daughter so is she went and complained to the wait staff she got upset about the whole thing and they gave her a free sundae. she was very happy with herself as you can see in the picture!

She then decided to share it with poppy . the 2 of them were bouncing off the walls giggling for hours after! It was all that sugar!!!

Here is the 2 of them sharing the flake on the top!!!!!

The next day we went to Auckland and checked out the factory outlet village. it was ok. then off to the holiday inn and then today we flew home...... to find the washing machine broken! Typical!!!!
All in all we had a FANTASTIC holiday!!!

Rain,rain,go away............

2011-10-04T07:33:00.000+11:00

Yesterday it just rained ALL day So Rob looked after Poppy and i took Zoe to Rainbow Springs kiwi park so she could see a Kiwi.

Even though it was raining the place was beautiful.

We saw some great animals but best of all was, we went to the kiwi enclosure and as they are nocturnal animals we only got to see a faint shadow of the kiwi. but when we went to go outside a lady from the park was going to collect an injured kiwi so we asked if we could watch and she said yes. It was great we managed to see the kiwi up close and take a picture of one.

After the park we picked up Rob and Poppy and went for lunch/tea at the pig and whistle. the food was great!!!

Hopefully today the weather will get better as we all want to go to the buried village.......

Wales 66 - Fiji 0........what more can i say............

2011-10-03T08:15:00.000+11:00

So today we went off to see Wales play Fiji in the Rugby World Cup. I think firstly i have to say a big thanks to the mobility permit Zoe gets for her brace. We got to park in the disabled parking which was just outside our gate entry.Yeah! here is a pic of how close we were. the car was right next to us.

Poppy was enjoying the atmosphere...

We arrived early so we went to a pub near the ground, it was great a big sea of red!

Around 4pm we made our way back to the car and dropped off the pushchair as we could not bring it into the ground.
Here we are in the ground.

We got to our seats and waited for the game. Zoe was Really excited!

The view from our seats.

Here are the Wales team training...

Then the Fijis put on a show.

Then the game was opened.

And out came the teams....wales!!!!! and Fiji......

Zoe started to get really excited now!

Then the national anthem played for Wales.
for some reason blogger will not let me upload it so i will try facebook.
After the national anthem we watched Wales thrash Fiji!!!!!!!!

right at the end we went down to the bottom and watched wales get interviewed etc. i managed to get my program signed by Sam Warburton the captain of wales. Just for you Nesta!!!! we also got a pin for the world cup too. there was a bloke handing them out only to some people ,you could not buy them so we will sent this to you too Nesta!

It was a great day!!!!!!!

day 3...glowworm caves

2011-10-01T19:18:00.000+10:00

Today Zoe and I went to the Waitomo glowworm caves and rob looked after Poppy. It was a 2 hour drive to Waitomo and on the way we saw turkeys on the road. zoe was quite excited about it!

Then we went to all 3 caves. the first one was the big glowworm cave and you got to go on a boat ride but unfortunately you could not take pictures.
then we went into the other 2 caves which you could take pics

while we were in the last cave we got to see more glowworms. you could not really take good pics of the glowworms but i managed to get a pic of tthe strands that the glowworms make to catch their food.

on the way back we had to go on a spiral track in the caves it was quite cool.

this is the view from the top.

and another pic of zoe!
tomorrow is the rugby match. i will put pics up when i get back!

Day 2 thermal pools.... and zorbing.......

2011-09-30T17:43:00.001+10:00

Today was the day Zoe had gone on about since we arrived......Zorbing. going down a hill in ,well,what looks like a hamster wheel. So we arrived paid for zoe and rob to go down together in the same ball,they got changed,went to the top,zoe got in....screamed.....cried and demanded to get out she was to scared! typical! so rob went by himself! here are the pics......

Next we went to Waikite thermal springs to have a soak. we hired a private pool first for 40 mins which was great. then went into the other pools. after that we went for a small walk to see where the hot spring water came from. it was amazing! the hot water came up from the ground at 98 oC then it ran into the pools via a bunch of rivers to cool the water down. very cool!

We are here! ready for the world cup! Rotorua day 1.... Waimangu volcanic valley

2011-09-29T19:50:00.000+10:00

Today was our first day at Rotorua. the smell of sulphur was not as bad as i thought... it smells like guy forks night in England!
Rob picked today's activity, Waimangu volcanic valley, so we drove there, only 14 km out from our hotel, which can i add ROCKS!!! the Silver Fern is GREAT!!!! a massive outdoor spa in our apartment!
Anyway we drove out and it was a 4km walk to check out all the volcanic activity.

above is the crater with red fern growing on it and just above this is the other crater that is filled with thermal waters. the last eruption was 1975 so not that long ago!!!

the hot mud bubbling away!

more hot water, it is so amazing that it is hot not cold!

this is rob caught on camera right at the moment he put his hand in VERY hot thermal water.....55 oC LOL!!

the hot stream.

this was amazing another crater filled with water that was 75-90 oC and the colour was perfect!

a little geyser we saw on the walk.

this flat behind zoe was a crazy 95 oC very hot!!!

After the trip there we went to the food market in Rotoura for tea. it was great Zoe wanted the worlds largest hot dog so we got it for her!

Then she had a massive ice cream!

Notice the ice cream on her nose!

Poppy enjoyed the food too......

On our way home we had the best photo opportunity ,there was a garden of Poppies so i just had to take a picture!!!!

How cute is she!!!!
tomorrow we are off to the thermal spas to have a soak, then Zoe and Rob are off to go Zorbing.... that is the 2 of them in a giant blow up hamster wheel filled with water getting pushed off a hill! should be good photos!

Hero Arts Presents… a Sketch Challenge!

2011-09-17T14:00:00.001+10:00

Lilly pad cards have a hero arts challenge with a sketch.

here is the link.

and here is the sketch.....

and here is my card.....

I have used Hero arts woodgrain background stamp, lawnfawn stamp, fiskars my funny valentine squeeze punch and several fiskars border punches. the paper is bo bunny.

Tara :)

Lawnscaping challenge #17- embossing....

2011-09-09T12:54:00.000+10:00

Hello there!, Today i want to share with you all the lawnscaping challenge #17 embossing.

I needed to create an embossed card, now it can be dry or heat embossing ,so i decided to do both!

first i needed to create my own embossing folder. i stamped 2 of the lawn fawn snowman's from the new set called making frosty friends on to some box board.

Then i cut them out and stuck the cut outs where the holes were but on the other card at the back. creating my folder.

And there is my embossing folder.

I then embossed my card with the snowman and popped on their faces. added arms and buttons. I masked some trees from lawn fawns critters in the forest and coloured in.
To create the sky i heat embossed with white embossing powder snowflakes from lawn fawns making frosty friends,and critters in the snow. Then i used distress inks to blend a fading night sky.
lastly ii coloured and cut out the snowmans hat and scarf, added some texture by putting colourless blender on to some knitted wool and pressed on the copic colours i had coloured in with. added the bunny and robin then dry embossed with my cuttlebug the "snow" with dots ripped it and layered to make the snow at the bottom of the card. added some distress stickles in picket fence on the trees and snow and done!
Here is the card.

and here is a close up of the embossed snowman with my home made embossing folder

I hope you like it and even give making your own embossing folders a go!
Tara :)

wonky block quilt part 3 putting it all together.

2011-09-09T09:00:00.000+10:00

Good evening everyone, Well after a busy 2 days i can finally share with you all part 3 of my wonky block quilt...well duvet cover actually!

Ok, once you have put the quilt together you now need to attach the edges of the quilt. by accident i ran out of material so i managed to get a similar colour to edge the quilt.

cut your fabric to the width you need and then sew to your quilt. i recommend to do the long sides first.

once both sides are sewn on, trim the ends.

once this is done sew the top strip on to the quilt.

Now as i am making this quilt into a duvet cover you need to reinforce the bottom strip as you will have to sew on buttons or clips to it.
So firstly make your last strip twice as wide as the other strips. fold in 1/2 and iron.
then with some webbing or iron on interfacing place a small strip(approx. 2 inches) at the crease and iron on.

Then iron the fold over again.

Now you can sew the last strip to your quilt. make sure you sew the rough end to the quilt not the folded end with the interfacing.
Now Zoe wanted sponge bob to have something to play with and what better thing to applique onto the quilt than jellyfish! So i grabbed my Making memories Slice and cut out a LOT of jellyfish with the Zootopia design card. Then i appliqued them on. it took a LONG time!!!!!

Now it is time for the Back of the quilt. I have decided not to actually "quilt" my quilt as i am making it in to a duvet cover...plus i am a little lazy when it comes to quilting!
So to make this quilt into a duvet cover i purchased a Flat sheet from spotlight to use as the backing. Make sure you buy a good quality sheet as the cheaper ones are way to thin.
Line up the flat sheet so the "top" or double thickness part of the sheet is at the bottom of the quilt. this gives strength to sew on buttons and clips. pin the flat sheet to the quilt and sew. Remember you need to keep the bottom open so you can put the duvet in!( i say this but you can be assured i have done sillier things!)

Sew on your buttons or clasps, pop your duvet in and there you have it!

Zoe is a very happy girl! and as i have a spare wonky block left i am going to make a matching pillow case.
Tara:)

simon says multifold cards.......

2011-09-07T17:06:00.000+10:00

this week simon says has a challenge for multifold cards so if you want to join in here is the link.
they are offering a $50.00 voucher to simon says for the prize Yeah!!!!
here s my card.

and a side on view....

I have used a stamping bella stamp, kaisercraft papers, copics to colour ,fiskars snow bubbles corner and border punch and my shape express templates
Tara :)

Robs 40th birthday.

2011-09-07T08:18:00.000+10:00

Yesterday rob turned 40. i decided to make him a cake so asked him,"what do you want as a cake"
he replied " a boob cake!" so i had to make it!
here i is with out 40 candles.........

Here it is with 40 candles..........

(i need to add....... i had a brainwave to put on the cake magic candles not normal ones....you know the ones that when you blow them out they re light........)

Here is us singing rob happy birthday......not realizing that we are about to burn down the sports club.......

Here is rob attempting to blow out the cake.........meanwhile im thinking maybe 40 relighting magic candles were not such a good idea...........

Here is the NSW fire brigade coming to put out robs cake and the sports club.............

Only joking!!!!!.......

Here is rob playing with his cake...........

see how Zoe did not look impressed. she was so embarrassed when we had to carry the cake into the party!!!
All in all a great day for Rob!

simon says stamp and show challenge- anything goes....

2011-09-06T09:18:00.000+10:00

there is a great challenge on the simon says stamp and show blog as is is stamp-tember......
and i thought i would enter too.
the blog hope was great for inspiration just click on the link above to check it out!!!
here is my card......

i have used Tim holtz embossing folder basic grey papers, a great penny black stamp(brought from simon says stamp) coloured with copic's and the card aged up with distress inks.

Tara :)

Wonky block part 3

2011-09-06T08:58:00.002+10:00

Hello!
Today I will share with everyone how to put together your wonky block quilt.
If you missed part 1 it is here.
Once you have got all your wonky block squares made up it is time to put them all together. The first thing you have to decide is how big you want your quilt. For Zoe's Sponge bob Square pants quilt, i am actually making it to be a duvet cover (which i will show you all in part 3) so i measured up Zoe's bed and realized i need it to be approx 66 inches x 92 inches. To work out how big you need your stripping between your blocks add the width of each block square.( mine are 11inches...they were suppose to be 12 inches but accidents happen!!!) take away 1/2 inch for the sewing (1/4 inch each side of the block you will loose when sewing together) and then add up how many blocks you will have along the total width of your quilt. I had 3 blocks so it totaled 31.5 inches. so take away the total width of the quilt you require and that should give you the total width of stripping you need to divide between each block. so my will be 66(the width of my quilt) - 31.5(the total width of my blocks minus the 1/2 inch for each block allowed for sewing) = 34.5 inches total for stripping and if i divide this by 4 which is how many strips i will need to go around 3 blocks i come up with 8.5 inches. Now to me it looked a little wide for stripping so i adjusted it to 6.5 inches and added 1/2 inch for sewing together.
Do the same maths for the length of your quilt and that should total your stripping. If you are not quite sure please feel free to contact me via the comments.
so cut your strips to the correct length and width.

Once you have your strips cut. pin the first strip to one of your wonky blocks.Then sew.

Take your next wonky block and place wrong way up onto the block and strip that is sewn together. line up your block with the sewn one to ensure your blocks will be straight and in line with each other then sewn together.

Sew together.
Pin the next strip to your block and again sew.

Do the last 2 steps till you have the desired length of the quilt minus the edging around the blocks.
We will add that at the end.
Once you have sewn as many strips and blocks together that you need trim off the excess fabric.

when finished your blocks and strips should look like this.

Once you have sewn your little strips between all the blocks it is time to add the long lengths of fabric that will join the strips together. Make sure you line up all your blocks so they look straight.
When finished it should look like this.

Once all are joined the quilt should look like the picture below.

In Part 3 i will show you how to add the strips around the edge of the quilt, add some applique( i am going to add Sponge bobs favourite thing.... krabby patties and jelly fish!) and how to add a flat sheet to make the patchwork into a duvet cover.
Tara :)

Debbies challenge part 1

2011-09-04T09:04:00.000+10:00

Ok, I am an Ozzie but i feel that for the Rugby World cup i have to support Wales due to my Hubby's family are all from there. So with that in mind i created a card for Debbie's challenge 1 on the fiskateers site.
Here it is.

(sorry about the photo it does not really do the card justice. the card is 3d but you cannot really see this.)
I have used the Fiskars fingertip craft knife to cut out my dragon(which is coloured with copic markers) and i also used my Fiskars Upper Crest and Grass border punch. the little badge is from Lawn Fawn.
Our family are off to the world cup this month to watch Wales play for my hubby's 40th birthday, so all i can say is GO WALES!!!!!
Tara :)

Jay Gee's Nook challenge #11

2011-09-04T09:00:00.000+10:00

Todays challenge for Jay Gee's Nook is a really sunny spring challenge.
here is the inspiration......

how bright is that!
and here is my card.....

if you you would like to check out the challenge you will find it here.

Wonky Block Quilt Part 1

2011-09-03T08:58:00.000+10:00

My Daughter zoe has been pestering me for a Sponge bob Square pants Quilt.
I looked EVERYWHERE for sponge bob material and all i could find were 2 fat quarters on ebay.
Now that was not going to make a quilt was it!
So i decided to make a wonky block quilt.this type of block is great if you have little bits of fabric that you want to highlight...like sponge bob!
All i need is a sewing machine quilters ruler my trusty Fiskars rotary cutter and my Fiskars large mat.Oh and more fabric of course!

The first thing i did for my wonky block was to cut out sponge bob from the 2 fat quarters.

I Then started to cut my fabric into strips about the same width as the sponge bob squares i cut out.

I then pinned the first bit of material to my square. make sure that the patterned material you use is cut a little longer than the square you are sewing it to.

Then sew the 2 bits together and then iron the seam flat on one side.

Once this is done trim the right side to be straight and then cut another piece of material strip as long as the right side(actually a little longer about 2 Cm's)

sew the 2 pieces together.

Trim the bottom and then cut a different fabric to sew onto the bottom of the block you are creating.

Trim the right side and again cut a bit of fabric to sew onto the right side.

Now comes the first half of the Wonky bit for the wonky block.
Put your ruler on an angle on the top of the square you have made.

Trim along the ruler.

I then line up the cut line with a straight line on my Fiskars cutting mat and then trim straight the other 3 sides. i try to aim for my square to be about 7-8 inches by the time i have trimmed the first layer of the block so after you have added the second layer and trimmed you have a 12 inch block.

once all trimmed you should have a square like this.....

for the second layer of the wonky block you do the same as the first layer. starting at the top and working around from the right.

once all sewn together. place your ruler on and angle the opposite way you places it on the first layer. Cut, then line up again with a line on your mat and trim around the square till you get a 12 inch square or what ever size you want.
the finished block will look like this.....

Make as many square you need to make your quilt. i am making 16 as i want to make the quilt quite large as i will turn the quilt into a duvet cover.
In part 2 i will show you how to construct the quilt.
Happy sewing....
Tara :)

check out this HUGE blog candy on La La Land.....

2011-08-25T17:33:00.000+10:00

LaLa Land Crafts Marci and Luka have turned 1...happy birthday to you...... and to celebrate they have a HUGE blog candy on offer. here is a little looksie......

what a doozie!
If you would like to enter you need to go Here.

Jenny suchin Designs....

2011-08-24T09:26:00.000+10:00

Ok.... now i love most stamps and to be honest my favourite of all time are theLawn Fawn stamps, i think i have most of them! but i was on the lawnscaping challenge blog and looking around and found some new really cute stamps. They are by a lady and they are called Jenny Suchin designs.

how cute are these 2 sets!!!!
you can purchase them Here at The Cats Meow.

I know i am going to buy them!!!!

lawn fawn Lawnscaping challenge - one layer

2011-08-23T18:21:00.000+10:00

I Thought i would enter the lawnscaping challenge this week. the link is here
The challenge was to create a card with only 1 layer.
here is my card.....

I used lawn fawn on the mend, quinns ABC's and jessies ABC's. i also used copics B00,B02,B05 E50,E51 and E53
A simple little card but quite effective i think!

Check out Fiskars Blog......I'm the guest author!!!

2011-08-05T17:38:00.002+10:00

Hey there everyone, if you have not see many posts this week, sorry i have been tied up with.....well several things..... kids......husband......oh and being the guest author for the ANZ Fiskars Blog in August !!!!!
i will keep on posting but will not be able to do tuesday tutorial every week this month...sorry guys!

A card a day - day 31...the final day.

2011-07-31T08:56:00.001+10:00

Today is the final day.... what a big month it has been. I hope you have enjoyed the month of cards i have shared with you, and i hope you have been over to the ANZ fiskars blog during the month to check out some of the great cards and projects shared over the month also.

The stamp i have used today is a penny black stamp from last xmas. i have coloured with copics and then added tim holtz rock candy stickles to santas beard. i also used distress inks to create santas background. made a flower and used my fiskars trimmer and fiskars corner rounder.

Do not forget that i will be posting all next month on the ANZ Fiskars blog as i am Guest Author all month.
I will be sharing with everyone some great projects fabric and card alike!

A Card a day- day 30

2011-07-30T08:42:00.000+10:00

So it is the second last day for a card a day challenge and boy it has made me really try hard to create everyday. i think i need to do this again in November so i have lots of Xmas cards!
so here is today's card.

A cute little get well card. i have used K and Company papers, a bella stamp a felt flower and my Fiskars trimmer. i have also coloured the card with my copic markers.