Wood craft July 26, 2010

And one final post for today! I love to cut out and paint wood things (I don’t even know what the correct name for it is!) It is something that I have let go for a long time. Recently I had a whole day to myself (my wonderful mum and dad looked after my 4 kiddies for 2 nights to give me a much needed rest). So during that day I did as much crafting as I could! I’ve already posted most of the things I made that day, but this one I forgot about…

I was so proud of the first one of these I made many years ago (I think because the image is mostly my design instead of copying from someone else for a change – but to give credit the idea of a door frame sitter is obviously not mine and I did see a picture drawn somewhere of a lady holding a teddy by the hand and that’s where the basis of the lady is from). I had a couple cut out that I had forgotten about so I relaxed in painting for a number of hours and finished them off! I also made a bathroom door sign (which again I am proud of because it really is all my design, doesn’t happen often – so sorry if I sound a bit conceited, that’s not my intention – just excited that I did something myself!!) I’m not totally happy with it yet, it needs a bit of tweaking I think. So when I get ’round to fixing it I’ll post it!

Hope your day is going GREAT!

Aliessa

 

Another baby shower

The best friend of my pregnant sister is also pregnant! She is basically part of our family so we are throwing a baby shower for her as well! Here is the invitation we have made for her (we know she’s having a girl, so the colour scheme was easy)

If you recognise this, that”s because it’s a CASE from Adele! Click here to see her beautiful cards. I’ve used creamy caramel base. On the top half I stamped the little nappy pin from ‘Short and Sweet’. The star paper on the bottom is made from cream card stock stamped with the star from “Season of Joy” in close to cocoa and pink pirouette. The star at the top I cut with my cricut and covered with crystal effects then sprinkled on dazzling diamonds glitter. All the details are printed on the backside! Thanks Adele for the beautiful idea!!

Once again, when the party’s over I’ll post some photos of the decorations, etc!

Happy smiles and laughter!

Aliessa

 

MORE birthday cards!!

The birthdays continue! When the last stash ran out I sat down to make some more…

This card was inspired by Teneale Williams. I loved her card as soon as I saw it and wanted to make one as similar as I could!

…inside. Mine is not as detailed as Teneale’s, but I really like it!

What I like most about this card (and the next couple) is that you could easily change the sentiment and make the card for just about anything! I experimented a bit with this one too. See the background? I used 2 definitions from the stamp set “Life Definitions” – wish and happy, and alternated them to fill the space. Admittedly it needs a bit more to fill some blanks, but I like the effect, and the definitions coordinate with the sentiment ‘wish big’ (from short and sweet).  I will try some others on another I think!

“Cheep Talk” is so versatile!!

So cute and so simple! My favourite kind of card. After making these last few I thought I might add a little more detail when I make some more by stamping the pear and bird again on a scrap of white, cut it out and mount it on foamies to make it pop a little, and possibly the sentiment too just to give it some balance??

I’ve enjoyed making all these birthday cards! Years ago, when I was first married, I used to make cards for every occasion. In the last few years I became a bit cynical and decided just to make tags as I realised a lot of the cards would be thrown out fairly quickly. But recently (the last year, I guess) I decided it really doesn’t matter what the recipient does with it, I find satisfaction in doing something I enjoy. And if the recipients are anything like me – perhaps it won’t be thrown out? I like to keep special made cards that are given to me…

 Enjoy your day!

Aliessa

 

Wooden Blocks

My sister-in-law has a wonderful talent for decorating, and she doesn’t seem to even try – her house is a gorgeous country style. Anyway, she has a number of bookshelves around her home with different objects adorning them. One of  the ones I really admire is a set of wooden blocks that spell out Love. A friend recently had a birthday so I thought I would like to try to make her these blocks. The original blocks are painted, and that is what I intended to do, however, I was unable to find the right quality of paint in a hurry and the paint I used to substitute was not so great. As a result I was really unimpressed witht he final product. I remembered Adele had made some really lovely blocks for her mum a while back that used paper, so I used her idea and changed the blocks a bit…

I left the back and sides of the blocks painted in ‘Raw Umber’, which is a rich, dark brown. and used DSP to cover the horrid front panel. All the chipboard letters I own were too small for the taller blocks so I was very pleased to discover I am able to cut out chipboard with my cricut!! To make the letters a bright white colour I coated them in versa mark ink and then white embossing powder, heated them and voila, bright white chipboard lettering! They didn’t turn out perfect, but as this was my first attempt I was still pleased enough to use them.

Along the same lines I made these ‘family’ blocks for a sisters birthday (this is basically the set Adele made, I just used different coulours).

A lot of satisfaction came in making these. I like them so much I will have to make myself a set!

Happy crafting!

Aliessa

 

More from the baby shower

My sister’s baby shower was great fun! She really enjoyed spending time with family and friends, and she was given some really useful gifts.

I just wanted to post some photos of the decorations, game prizes and thank yous that we made…

Starting with the little tags for the drinking glasses. I know the photo quality is HORRIBLE, but if you can see through the yellow haze we stamped the little owl from “Fox and Friends” onto whisper white cardstock, punched it out with 1 1/4″ circle punch then mounted it on a pink pirouette circle scallop. I am so glad I have my crop-o-dile because I was able to punch the holes to thread the yarn through in three batches instead of punching 20 individual holes! They looked so cute in real life!!

These are the game prizes I whipped up. Fortunately I had some little notebooks and cute square soaps on hand, so no extra expense!

I recently got the set “Cheep Talk” and I LOVE it!! So, even though we were trying to stick to a theme, I decided to use the gorgeous little birdie on these prizes. I think he looks SO cute!!

And finally…

The Thank yous. Inside the cute box is a Lindt chocolate ball – YUM!

A little stressful to get it all together, but we had so much fun, and our sister did too – which is the most important thing!

Happy days!

Aliessa

 

 

Baby Beanie July 5, 2010

My oldest sister is due to have her 4th baby in the next 2 months. Because there will be basically 9 years between this bub and her youngest, one of my younger sisters and I are throwing a baby shower for them.

We recently sat down to make the invites (40 in total).

We decided to use the little owl from “Fox & Friends”, as the sex of the baby is unknown and owls say “who”. A little play on words, we thought it was cute. On the backside we have printed all the details including an answer to the question who? Baby Beanie! This is the name baby is going by until it is born.

The plan for the baby shower is to have decorations that coordinate with the invite – so little owls everywhere. We’ll see how that pans out, but I’ll be sure to post some piccies if it all goes as planned!

Happy crafting!

Aliessa

 

One more birthday

I wanted to post this birthday card separately because I made a matching notebook and pen folder. This was made for my husband’s Aunty

I started with  the idea of a notebook and pen inside a little folder…

Then made a card to match

I really love this butterfly (if you haven’t noticed I use it A LOT). This card makes me feel…whimsical, I think – Floaty and soft.

Thanks for stopping by!

Aliessa

 

Birthday Cards

Is it just me, or do birthday’s always all seem to come at once? The last few weeks have been filled with birthdays so I spent some time making a few cards…

For this card my inspiration came from Teneale, her card is much more detailed than mine (and mine really turned out nothing like hers in the end – but I’m still very happy with it!) 

I don’t know where I was going with this card, but it turned out ok??

 

This one I have CASED from Marelle. I have posted a similar one previously, I just used some diffent DS paper and inks this time around.

 

The simplicity of this card was due to time constraints. I threw it together in about 10 mins for my niece right before we were to walk out the door. I was however pleased with the result or I wouldn’t have posted it here or given it to her!

I REALLY like this card. I have CASEd it from Sarah Jane Kale, with a few missing details and alternate colour choices. You can view her GORGEOUS card here.

And the final card, simple but elegant?

I made a couple of each so that I didn’t have to think too much :S. I really enjoyed making each of them. The problem now is I will need to sit down and make a bunch more so that I am prepared for the coming months!

Have a great week!

Aliessa

 

New SU! Promotion for July! July 1, 2010

Another fabulous promotion is available this month (July1 – 31)! Backing up the great discounts from June, SU! are offering a number of 2 step stamp sets for 20% off!!

Choose from the following stamp sets:

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Sale Price
116386	39	Loads of Love	$39.95	$31.96
116342	42	Big Bold Birthday**	$53.95	$43.16
115860	78	A Rose is a Rose**	$66.95	$53.56
116332	86	Playful Petals**	$52.95	$42.36
115770	98	Cheep Talk	$47.95	$38.36
115946	115	Wonderful Favourites	$39.95	$31.96
119187	14*	Tiny Tags (wood-mount)	$38.95	$31.16
118592	14*	Tiny Tags (clear-mount)	$28.95	$23.16
119163	31*	Cottage Garden (wood-mount)	$32.95	$26.36
120003	31*	Cottage Garden (clear-mount)	$24.95	$19.96

 No minimum purchase and no limit. Remember prices are before postage/handling ($5.95 or 5% – whichever is greater)

*From 2010 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue
**Retiring stamp sets!

Check out each of the sets in the current catalogues. Loads of Love is truly versatile and how cute is Cheep Talk?? I wouldn’t miss out on these!! If any of these take your fancy be sure to send me an email at robandlu@optusnet.com.au

In the mean time – have a great day!!

Aliessa