more Sale-a-bration love!

I just LOVE working this Sale-a-bration DSP - not only is it so versatile but it's FREE!!!! hehe If you put an order in of $120 you too could have it. There is both famine pages and masculine ones. This is another card like the ones I made here and here following a class on Crafters Anonymous.

Crafters Anonymous is an all craft website that I am on the Admin team for. We have online classes every Monday plus have lots of support and fun in sharing what we love. There is a $20AUD yearly fee then you can access all the tutorials from past classes and join in the fun. We are even giving away prizes randomly - you just never know when someone online will win something! If you would like more info about joining email me julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz
here are some more views - I used Pear Pizazze and Poppy Parade, plus the Free SAB brads and ribbon too!

Last nights class on Crafters Anonymous - we made cool stars!

isn't this just a cool alternate for a scrap album! It is really easy to make, I will hang it on the wall of my craft room. Can you imagine making a Christmas one or a fun one for a birthday - or even turn it into a birthday card!! Or a baby decoration - the ideas are unlimited!
as you can see it's very 3 dimensional. I just love it! And the cute wee lad in the photos is my hubby - his father took lots of photos when his kids where young and had them all on slides. He has now converted them to a digital file so we can print off what we want. He's a great photographer which means we get lots of great pics! lol

FABULOUS FABRIC COASTERS!!!

Aren't these the loveliest coasters you've ever seen? They are made from Stampin' Up! Timeless Portrait fabric and are REALLY easy to make. If you have a sewing machine but not that confident you will LOVE making these.
All you do is cut 5 even squares out of fabric - it's best to have a contrasting fabric for the four top ones, the fifth one is for the base. SO iron in half the four top pieces with right sides showing. I know the iron isn't a favourite crafting tool, actually I only use my iron for crafting NEVER for ironing clothes! lol then just layer the halves on top of each other (with the folded edge to the inside) like you would if you were closing a box (so the last one needs half of it to be tucked under the first one). And then all you do is sew the edges, I used a 3/8" seam allowance, snip the corners to make the corners sharper and turn inside out thru the center. HAVE A GO - you won't be disappointed!! My friend Narelle Hoggard showed me these, her aunt gave some to her so I just HAD to have a go myself!!

Happy crafting!! xx

Hexagonal Quilting with Stampin' Up! Fabric

I LOVE working with the Stampin' Up! fabric. And this fabric called 'Spice Cake' from our current Summer Mini Catalogue is perfect for quilting with it's small pattern and coordinating fabrics. This is my first project using hexagons and I am now ADDICTED to them! This pillow is all hand sewn (except for sewing the back on! lol) and I found it really therapeutic, I would sit down, put my feet up and stitch away. It did take many hours but I am really pleased with the finished result (and the fact that it's finally finished! lol)

If you would like to order this fabric for only $24.95NZ then contact me before the end of March when it will no longer be available!

Thanks for looking!

paper patchwork

I am into patchwork and quilting at the mo and so I thought I would carry it on to my papercrafting. Here I used the wonderful Sale-a-bration DSP (gotta love getting FREE Stampin' Up! products!!!!!) to make the background. I punched out 1" squares from the three papers and arranged them on a piece of scrap cardstock. I drew white stitching around each square then embossed the whole piece. The little girls are from "The Nicest Things" and I coloured them with Stampin' Markers. I LOVE colouring in - it takes you back to your childhood!!

I hope you have a great Friday - TGIF!!!

Happy Brithday!

This is a card a made for a friends daughter who was turning 16. I always reckon a sweet 16 deserves something elegant!! And so out came the Mocha Specialty DSP, the Brushed Gold card stock and satin ribbon. This card is quite heavy, as both the outside and inside have atleast 4 layers. What you may not be able to see in the photo is the top section is embossed with the stripes embossing folder - and of cause the bottom DSP is flocked.

Thanks for coming to my blog for a look - hope you have a great day!!

we will never forget

one year ago today - our worst day in New Zealand history 183 lives were lost in Christchurch during the earthquake. I didn't feel it was right to share a craft project today so I thought it was better to share a thought.

During these times it's important that we are all here to support each other. I want to send my love and support to all those in the Canterbury area who have been affected by this cruel act of Mother Nature.

we will never forget.

Last nights class on Crafters Anonymous

Debi Ryan took last nights class on Crafters Anonymous and taught this cool album. I decided to make a little album of my hubby and his brothers. I used Crumb Cake as a base then Peach Parfait and the DSP is the FREE Sale-a-bration one. I love this DSP not only that it's free LOL but as it can be used for nearly every project, masculine or feminine!


Inside the book it has pages with pockets in the top. I made each page for a different brother - this first one is my hubby, isn't he a cutie! lol

It was a great class and we had PRIZES this week - you never know when we will give away FREE stuff!! If you would like more info about joining Crafters Anonymous then email me at julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz

Thanks for visiting my blog today :)

Lush as!

Isn't the Mocha Specialty DSP the most gorgeous and lushest you have EVER seen!!

I wanted to make a masculine card from it and I think I achieved my goal. I mounted the paper first on Soft Suede then on to Basic Black - I LOVE lost of layers! I even stamped directly on to the DSP. Actually I used Versamark and black embossing powder and heat set it to give it a deeper clearer image. The 'Best Wishes' is stamped on to Soft Suede and then I punch it out with the oval punch. I did give a soft sponging around all the DSP and the Soft Suede, just to soften it a bit and to hide the 'whiteness' from the cut DSP.

It's Monday morning here in New Zealand and looks like another great summers morning. We had AMAZING weather this past weekend which got us out in the garden - well the bush! hehe

This is the view from our deck - but under all that bush is a lot of dead fronds and branches that need clearing away - I'm sure some of it has been there for years! So I didn't get to do ANY crafting this weekend but I did get sore and tired! but it's a nice tired knowing you've done a great job - unfortunately there are MANY more days needed to achieve what we want!

Have a great week and thanks for visiting!

Happy crafting!

punch art candelabra

I wasn't sleeping well the other night so I found myself thinking about how to make a candelabra with punches. So this is what I ended up with, I used the Decorative Label punch for the main parts - the long middle bit was the wide side and the parts under the candles were the short sides of the punch. You have to punch twice to get the shape and it's the left over bit not the bits that are punched out. The other was the 3/4" circle punch and the 1" circle punch. Punch the smaller one first leaving a half circle then punching out a half ring.

The gold embossed back ground looks like posh wallpaper and the extra large oval creates the table.

Thanks for visiting my blog - hope you have a lovely weekend! Happy crafting!!

an easy peasy apron to sew with Stampin' Up! fabric!!!

I LOVE sewing nearly as much as paper crafting! and here is another project I made using the Candy Christmas fabric. As you can see from the second picture the apron is just one big square - so LOTS of possibilities with this. I have just teamed it up with a plain red to bring the colour out of the fabric. The 'model' for this is a dressmakers mannequin that I mosaic-ed about 5 years ago, she makes a great model and doesn't complain at all! lol

thanks for visiting!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Here is the card I made for my husband for Valentines Day

and it opens up to this
There is a panel on the back that I wrote on too. It was made using the tutorial from Crafters Anonymous for last weeks class - for that I used the butterfly punch, but as you can see you can use any punch that is 'even' on each side.

The glitter on the outside is actually the new embossing powder, it works heaps better than the heat and stick powder which we had to use to put glitter on cards before!! Of cause I had to use the beautiful glitter paper on it - isn't that so lush!! And of cause it was a great (and only) excuse to use that stamp!!

SO HAPPY VALENTINES to you all (for yesterday for us at this side of the world! lol)

:)

grungy caddy

here is the cool caddy we made last night at the Crafters Anonymous. It's made from thick card stock, or you could you use coasters.

I used the Distress Kit inks to decorate it with the Extreme Elements stamp sets. I also used the Log Cabin colour spritz to add a bit of sparkle! And the denim ribbon to hold it all together!

I also used ALL the scallop square Big Shot dies to cut them all out.

Now - what to put in it????????

Artistic Trading Cards - 4 Seasons set

Over on Crafters Anonymous we held a 12 month ATC (Artistis Trading Cards) seasonal swap. This meant that every 3 months we had to make a set of ATC's for that season and then send to the host. We send 9 and get 9 back. It's great fun seeing how everyone interprets the seasons and how they create these little pieces of art. ATC's are ALWAYS 31/2" x 21/2".

SPRING

SUMMER

AUTUMN (FALL)

WINTER

These are the first ever doing ATC's and since I have joined in a variety of different swaps so will show you those soon. These are ALL created using Stampin' Up! products except for the Summer wording.

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Crafting!!

anyone for CRICKET???

I had my monthly class today and we were going to make some cards using the Stocking punch, rather than copying one I had already made Vicky requested a cricket one so between us this is what we came up with! I really enjoyed making this, I am sure I will find someone to give this to - eventually! Maybe I should put it up for sale??

There is still another few stocking punch cards I want to make - just a matter of finding some spare time!! Where does it go??????????????????????

Crafters Anonymous Monday class project.

On Monday night we had another on-line class and this week Bek took the class and this is the cool card she taught - a punched double gate fold card.
I decided to use the butterfly punch and have that my theme for the card. The lovely Sale-a-bration DSP has little butterflies on so that blends it in. To be honest I am not sure about so much plain card -especially when it's Calypso Coral!!! but I punched the butterfly before I decided on the decoration and was commented to it hee hee. I think my next attempt will be different but I just added some 'bling' aka Dazzling Diamonds and ANYTHING is always better when it sparkles!
I'm sorry for the delay this week in posting after my long weekend away. Sometimes life (and death) just gets in the way!!

another cool hand sewing project - needle wallet

this is a VERY super easy project - the only sewing is hand sewing the felt pages to each other and any embellishment you want to decorate the front. I haven't done blanket stitch for so long - so please excuse my attempt around the bird!! hee hee

It's held together with the iron on fuseable webbing that Stampin' Up! sell - all you need to do is get the iron out - which if anyone knows me doesn't happen very often! LOL
My next skill I need to learn is how to cut a straight line with the pinking shears! hehe Be gentle with me please!

It's a long weekend here in New Zealand so we are escaping to the beach for it so I won't be posting till next Tuesday - have a GREAT weekend!!!

yea olde coat hanger

This is another EASY project using the Stampin' Up! fabric. This coat hanger is SOOOOO easy it's embarrassing and it's all hand sewn! All you need a length of fabric at least twice the length of the wooden coat hanger and about 6" wide. Turn about 3/4" over on the short ends and iron flat, and on the long edges iron a 1" fold over. Then wrap a strip of padding of some sort around the wood part of the hanger, you could use an old stocking or a strip of quilting fabric - even a strip of old towel would work. I put a strip of sticky strip on the wood to help hold the padding in place.

Measure the length of the metal part and cut a strip about twice the length of the hook and 1" wide. Fold in half and stitch down the middle, turn inside out and stitch up one end. Thread on to the hook and stitch the bottom to the padding to stop it falling off!

Then back to the main hanger part - fold the fabric in half and using a running stitch stitch about a 1/4" stitch 1/2" apart and work your way to the center. Thread the coat hanger in and pull the tread to gather it. Carry on sewing but this half you will have the hanger in the fabric. At the end gather again and secure the thread. Add a ribbon if desired. Hope that all makes sense!

If you make one PLEASE let me know I love seeing other peoples creations!!

:)

using Stampin' Up! fabric

One thing I do enjoy doing when I'm not playing with paper is playing with Fabric! Stampin' Up! have started selling fabric which is AWESOME!!! This is called Spice Cake - and it matches the DSP with the same name. Stampin' Up! sell fabric in sets of 3 - each of those co-ordinate with each other. Each pack ($24.50) includes 68.6cm x 45.7cm of 100% cotton fabric, and it's delightful to work with. This is a enlongated hexagon caddy - there are free tutorials all over the web for it.
this one is made using the Beau Chateau fabric and I think I didn't put enough stuffing in this one LOL I have made a few things lately with the Stampin' Up! fabric so I will do a short series on it over the next few days.

:)