anyone for a cup of pins???

hee hee this did start it's life as a china tea cup but then lost his saucer in a shifting accident so I wanted to give it life again. I used the fabulous Stampin' Up! fabric and ribbon for this project - even the pearls are Stampin' Up! I used PVA to attach the fabric to the cup and a white gel pen to put the faux stitches on. I have wanted to one of these since I saw a friend had a silver teapot decorated as a pin cushion.

I can't wait to use this! I have another similar project to show tomorrow - see you then :)

do you use toilet rolls for crafting????

I DID!!!

We have just finished our online class on Crafters Anonymous and we made this cool album and YES they are all decorated toilet rolls!!! A great way to 'recycle'!!! You could use paper towel rolls and cut them down too. Suzanne Cook took this cool class. Inside the decorated rolls are tags with Christmas photos on them.

Have a cool project to show you tomorrow - see you then!!!

Blog Finds of the Day

just a quick post this morn - more of a bit of a skite really! lol I was picked to appear on the Blog Finds Of The Day! The lovely Kelly who has had a year's break has just restarted the list, and this list is a FAB way to start your blog hopping from.

Thanks Kelly for picking me for your second day! HERE is the link to her blog.

a little 'flirty' pot mitt

I have been wanting to try this 'chenille' quilting style for some time. It's fun to do, esp if you use masking tape to help you get straight lines - a friend suggested that to me the other day and I was like "DUH" - can't believe I never thought of it before!!! I thing it will look better after it's been thru the wash -although I did wet it and put it in the dry for a while. It's quite hard to photograph so you can see the Wisteria colour coming thru from under neath. But it does look cool in real life! Well I would say that - I made it! blahahahahaha. The fabric is two of the three fabrics in the Stampin' Up! fabric pack - "Flirtatious" - hence the title.
On the back I used two layers of the heat resistant padding so it's ready to be used - although at the mo it's still to pretty to use!

Yippee it's Friday, one day left before the Olympics start - hope your Friday is all you want it to be! I'm off to have a coffee with a friend and then some shopping - what a life! lol

Cheers

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Rolled Flowers

These roses are made from a single strip of cardstock. I used a paper quilling technique that I learnt from a book I recently bought. I used an aqua painter to add some bits of colour to the inside of the roses. Ever since we got the cool framelits I have wanted to do a inwards layering like this. It does take a bit to ensure everything lines up on both the inside and the outside layers. Anyway I was pretty pleased how it turned out in the end. I can't wait to try more things in the quilling book.
Have a great Thursday! xx

A big bow beauty!

Last week I joined in on the Crafters Anonymous 'Pintrest Tuesday' challenge and this is what I made. I cased a card by Amanda Reddicliffe that was pinned on Pintrest which was so nice. I used Crumb Cake card stock (which is the same as 'craft') and used Whisper White Craft ink to stamp the owl. The big bow in Melon Mambo took a bit to get it half decent and mine doesn't look anywhere as nice as Amanda's did! But a good quick card to make. The link to Amanda's card is HERE

a tissue box to brighten your day!

Last night Kristine McNickle taught us this cute box for travelling sized tissues. What a clever idea and way to give a small gift. For some bizarre reason I choose to do it with Daffodil Delight card stock - must of been a first for me! But it certainly makes for a BRIGHT project which if you were feeling down would brighten your day! The box is made so you can refill it too - thanks Kristine for another great project.

Don't forget if you are not part of the the Crafters Anonymous site you can join for only $20AUD per year. Email me at julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz if you would like more details, or if you want to join today - just click the PayPal button to the side <----- and make your payment.

See you there!

You're SO SWEET

This 'sweet' box was one of the demonstrations I did at my workshop yesterday. It's SUCH an easy project as it's put together with NO adhesive, just a bow of ribbon. I used a bit of Crystal Effects on the cherries but you could use Versamark and our new Cherry Embossing Powder - that way it would smell like cherries as well as look like cherry! Inside - well you can guess what I would put in there can't you! hehe I gave this to the Hostess Tania as a wee thank you for hosting the party.

If you would like to host a workshop contact me today julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz You can have it in the comfort of your house or even easier for you come and have it in my craft room, saves you having to get your place ready - just turn up and enjoy the benefits!!!

See you soon!

Owls, Owls and Eyes!!!

For my workshop today I decided some owls where in need of some making! EVERYONE loves making owls using the Build-a-Owl Stampin' Up! punch. So I made the above sample to show the different types of eyes you can make - and there are still MANY more.
This is the actual card they made - similar to one I made earlier with 'Thanks for watching over me'. We used the Twitterpatted DSP. To save time during the workshop I premade the eyes - all 100 of them! The below picture I have called "Operation Eye Ball" hehe - it did mean the girls could spend more time creating their owls. We all had a great time and the hostess Tania enjoyed shopping with her Hostess Dollars she earned.
Have a great week everyone!

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Oh how cute!!!!

Now isn't this a cutie too! Not that I get a chance to give baby gifts these day as most of my friends are past that stage (and we soooo don't want to becomes grandmas yet! lol) but I do like making them. This box would be great for a baby shower as thank you boxes to attendees. Or full with a few chocs for the new mum to keep her strength us! I made mine just so I can look at it and think - awwww how cute! hehe

Hope you have a fab Friday - I have one child home on Teachers Only Day (so won't see him till midday I can imagine - typical 17yo!) and the 15yo home with a nasty cough (please don't share it with me love!) so roll on the WEEKEND!

Happy Birthday Charlotte

My niece who is a very good at soccer turns 15 today so I made this card for her. I used Not Quite Navy for her uniform as it was the closest to her actual soccer uniform. I used textured Old Olive for the field and just strips of Whisper White for the ground markings. Her 'skin' is Sahara Sand and her blonde hair is Soft Saffron. I did use my Cricut to cut it out with the Teen Scene Dress Up Dolls.

Have a great Thursday

Only 6 or so weeks to Father's Day!

So I decided to start making samples - this is a box that can hold a few chocolates or lollies of choice. I used the Neutrals Colour DSP Pack to make the shirt front. I LOVE these DSP packs! You can get them for each of the Colour Family's - including the 'In-Colours'. There are 4 designs (2 on each sheet) and you get 4 sheets per colour. The 'In-Colours' have 8 sheet per colour. If you love the current 'In-Colours' - Concord Crush, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz and Blushing Bride - you have only 6 weeks to get what you need. These colours retire on the 31 August so put your order in for DSP packs, reinkers, ribbons etc before it's too late!

Sparkly Christmas!!!

I decided to have a play with the glimmer paper and seeing how it takes ink. I sponged the edges of the 'snow' with Night Of Navy which sort of helps to give it some dimension.
I actually stamped directly on to the card and then cut it out for the snow man. I did sponge the edges too. But to get the 'carrot nose' and the holly leaves I coloured directly on to the card. It seemed to take it alright. It's not the best card in the world but it was fun playing with the sparkly card.

This is the last card in my current Christmas series - I will be doing more as I want a good collection of Christmas cards this year!

Have a lovely Tuesday xx

Green and Red Christmas

I'm not usually a fan of green and red for Christmas - it's just over done, but I decided that just a bit of red probably isn't too bad. I had this card base sitting around from when I taught that style a few weeks ago. I used marker pens to apply the ink to the stamp - that way I had the different colours on it. Quite a fun and easy card. Might make this style my bulk Christmas card this year for my customers.

Have a lovely week - it's back to school for most schools here in New Zealand - man this year is going so fast!

Christmas isnt Christmas without Rudolph's nose!

This must be one of my favourite stamps that Stampin' Up! have ever produced! It's part of a set called Holiday Lineup which we think will retire at the end of August. I enjoy colouring in this set -it's always a fun card! I just used Stampin' Markers to colour and added a drop of Chrystal Effects on the nose to make it 'glow'. Crumb Cake, Real Red and Whisper White were the colours I used for this, I thought the Crumb Cake would soften up the Real Red.

Hope you are enjoying my early Christmas card series - a few more still come.

See you tomorrow :)

Season's Greetings wreath card

This card was made using one of the stamps in the Apothecary Art stamp set from our current Autumn/Winter Mini. I stamped the wreath three times, once in Old Olive and twice in Real Red. I cut the red roses out and stuck them on the wreath. Some I stuck on dimensionals and some I didn't. The rest of the card is fairly straight forward. I thought it would be fun to use a non Christmas stamp set for a festive card.

Yesterday I spent the day in Hamilton at this year SENZ which is a paper crafting expo. I was SO exhausted but had a FABULOUS time. Got lots of cool ideas and of cause did a bit of retail therapy! hehe

Have a great weekend!

a classy Christmas card

Yesterday I had a fun day with a few friends crafting and I made 5 Christmas cards. This one is probably the EASIEST card of the day. I like how instead of square matting the layers I took all layers up to the very top. This not only adds some different but also strengthens the card as I used Very Vanilla as a card base which is not as strong as other colours - Whisper White is the same. Of cause I made the inside to match which again helps to keep the card standing.

Thanks for stopping by and come back for more Christmas cards over the next few days.

cute little chocolate box class on Crafters Anonymous

On Monday night we made this cute box. It's designed off the Cadbury 'Favourites' box but half the size. I used the Sweet Shop Specialty DSP from the Winter Mini as it's extra thick so perfect for this type of project.

Used the framelits for the tag and window.
To finish the top I made a paper bow out of DSP from the same pack, like Miranda would say 'SUCH FUN'!!!

Don't forget there are only a few weeks left to order from this catalogue - email me TODAY julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz with your order, you would hate to miss out on these fab products!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLY xx

Today is my daughter Kelly's 15th birthday - my how quickly did those years go! She is into cake decorating so I had to something 'cakey' for her. I used the Doily DSP for the cupcake topper and for the case. I am not overly happy with this card - I had a mental block when it came to it. But it' a little bit cute and sparkly so you have gotta love that! lol

We took over a dozen kids ice skating yesterday and going back to the rink today for an ice hockey game, so I get to spend hours sitting at the rink again! - JOY! (not!)

Hope you Sunday is a good one xx

oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL! xx

gotta love a NINGA!!!!

Today my daughter shared her birthday party with her school friend Fred and he LOVES all things ninga's. SO I got out my "ninga bread man" cookie cutters and traced out one on to some DSP backing card. I then cut out the arm and wrapped him in 1cm (3/8") strips of Basic Black. Finished off with some eyes punched from the Owl Builder punch. Made the 'street sign' with Grunge Rock stamp set and set it all on some Well Worn DSP - that paper is so good for teen and masculine stuff! He loved the card which is good as it took over an hour to wrap the ninga up! hehe. Tomorrow I will show you the card I made my daughter.

See you then!