for the love of sewing and card making!!!

Today is the last day for ordering things from the Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue and so (or should I say SEW) I just HAD to use a stamp or two from it. First is the Pattern stamp that I used for the background paper. The paper is from the Hostess pack which come in the current 'In-colours' - this is Poppy Parade. It only had small dots on it so I stamped over the whole thing with the Pattern stamp creating my perfect DSP. NEVER be afraid of stamping on DSP to make it more what you want - customising it to suit what YOU want to do, not trying to work around something that's just not quite right!

The second stamp I used is from the set 'Sew Suite' which is one of my favourite sets from this mini. The mannequin stamp is so useful for lots of projects. Here I have used it as the base for my picture. To create the top on the mannequin I stamped the mannequin stamp on the back of the DSP paper and then cut the bodice out. The skirt is fun to make. It's made using the largest scallop circle and folding it on the scallops. To add a bit to it I punched the scallops with the hand held punch - I liked how it turned out.

The words are from 3 different sets - the first 'You're' is from a stamp out of "WORD PLAY" and I just coloured in the word I wanted using the SU markers. 'Wonderful' is from the 'WONDERFUL' stamp set and finally the 'S E W' is from the "DEFINING ALPHA" set. Again I inked these with the markers. I thought the stitching added a nice feel to it - as well as putting them on different angles. You won't often see me putting sentiments on an angle - it's one of my pet peeves to be honest - but I thought I could get away with it on this one! LOL (correct me if you think otherwise! hehe)

Another thing I like to see is a card finished completely which includes the inside of it. Here I went with a different piece of the Hostess DSP but in the same colour and it's matched up with the white the same size as the front of the card. By the way the 'dress and top' paper is also from the same Hostess DSP set. A really practical Hostess gift!!!!

I first saw these dresses on Sharlene Meyers BLOG the other day - they are dotted all over web now.

I have made a few more examples of these cute dresses which I will post over the next few days.

aren't these the sweetest little ladies you have ever seen????

The wonderfully talented Rhonda Fawcett designed some punch art country ladies like these one day over the summer holidays and posted them on her BLOG the other day. When I saw them I had to make some, just changing some bits but I even CASED her card design for the second one as it was SO perfect!!

I used the Hostess Pack which is exclusively for Hostess or single orders over $350NZ and they are 6"x6" and all in the current 'In Colours'. I love the rosey cheeks and the 'sweetness' to them. I decided to make one 'baking' as I felt they look like they would enjoy baking! hehe The bowl is made using a small oval punch and a medium circle punch - the wooden spoon is just freehand cut.

On the top one I used Stampin' Up!s little 'lunch sacks' which are a perfect size for a little treat (maybe even some home baked cookies?). I LOVE using stamps slightly different they they were made as. The little sentiment had other words on it - it said 'a little treat for someone sweet' but using the marker pens you can individually colour just the words you want - making your sentiment stamps even more versatile!!

Teenage boy cards are the hardest!!

I like most card makers we find some things 'challenging'!!! so for me it is boys cards esp. teenage boys but now Stampin' Up! are putting out more and more stamp sets that are so easy to use as boys/teens cards. Here I have used a variety of stamp sets to create the grungy look. The red piece behind the 'Happy Birthday' words was created by putting two label punch outs together - you can see it better on the close up photo below.

I find the best way to do these cards is to put a whole lot of elements together. I did make this with a teen in mind (happy birthday Sam for the 13th Aug!!) and he is interested in music, guitars and BMXing (hence the directional details) so just layer them up and BINGO you have a card. I have used acetate to give the appearance of more depth - it means that you can put details behind it like the coarse tape ribbon. Lots of hardware type things - eyelets, staples, clips etc - add to the masculine feel.

Thanks for visiting my blog - happy crafting :)

Cork/notice board card

I found some self adhesive cork the other day and thought it would look good as a mini notice board on the front of a card. I had a BALL making all the mini items for it. I used the All in the Family stamp set for the cat photo and the photo booth photos. The 'to do list' was from the Eat Chocolate set and the birthday card was made using the Lots of Bots set. Brads became drawing pins and TA DAH it was done.

Here's a close up of the board:

If this inspires you to have a go at making your own version I would LOVE to see them so send me an email with your pic or link to your blog - the possibilities for this could be endless! julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz

cracked windows

This is the fun card we made at my Manurewa class last Friday. I wanted to do a window scene for ages and came up with this. After fiddling around with different curtain ideas I thought this one worked best. The girls at the class were terrified when I said to put the embossed images in the freezer!!

If you would like to learn how to do this fun technique email me today julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz and we can arrange a class at your place with your friends - or at my place in my class room (saves you cleaning up after! hehe).

here are two cards today

Yesterday a friend said she was sick of looking at the same photo on my blog because I was being slack and not posting as often as I should (school holidays???) so LINDA here are TWO for you!! hehe

The first on was from a online class I did this week on Crafters Anonymous taken by the lovely Dee Sturgeon (visit her lovely site). These flowers are so much fun! I think they look best on the simple card. I LOVE clean and simple cards using Crumb Cake as the base. I drew the white lines by tracing around some coasters! Easy Peasy!!

Here's another one - this time I used the cupcake stamp from the Cupcake set to make the clouds. They are stamped in Whisper White Craft Ink. The butterflies and sentiment are from Flight of the Butterflies. I love the contrast between the plain card and the bright butterflies!.

start twist card

I can not believe it's been nearly a week since I blogged! where did it go?? lol

Here is a cool as card style that we did over on Crafters Anonymous the other day. The lovely Sharna Russell taught it to us.

It's made from a 12" x 12" sheet of card stock and it twists down to the lovely six point star you see here. To decorate I used the awesome Sew Suite DSP and the words from the Tote-ally Tess stamp set. The DSP has only 11 days left to be purchased so make sure you contact me before the end of the July so you don't miss out - as the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue is finishing on the 31st July and ONLY the Big Shot items will be available after this date. Email me if you want to order anything or have further questions - julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz

Here is the inside of the card - I just used different size circle punches to punch out most of the buttons from the DSP. Such a fun card!!