Sunday 26 February 2017

More gift card holders... and a little bit of a naughty puppy!

Hi there :)

Following on from yesterdays post about using my new Lawn Fawn small stitched envelope die to create gift card holders I wanted to share a couple more that I made.  Since I had the basics sussed I thought I'd try something a little more creative with the next two... and I remembered to take step by step photos!

I started off using a Winnie & Walter stamp called  Do you see what I see to create my background.  I stamped the background with embossing ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  This stamp is only 3x4 inches but it's perfect for little projects like this.

Next I got out a couple of my Gansai Tambi paints to give my background some colour.  I really like how soft and creamy these paints can be... but they're also perfect for doing colour washes.  Colours used: Pale Aqua (50) and Cornflower Blue (61). 

Another cool thing about using Gansai Tambi paints is that if you use one colour a lot you can actually just buy individual watercolour blocks in the little plastic trays to replace the colour you've run out of... totally brilliant!

Right, back to the project, after letting my little background dry a bit I ran it through the Big Shot with the front panel die from the set.

So pretty and the stitching really adds a finishing touch!

Next I decided to add a gorgeous polar bear from MFT Polar Bear Pals stamp and die set.  After stamping and heat embossing my image I die cut him and then coloured him using my Zig Clean Color Markers.  I was able to colour match his scarf pretty well with the background colours too!

Then I decided to stamp a sentiment on the background.  It looks a bit patchy in the photo but in real life it's pretty good.

Since I was trying to take things up a notch I decided to stamp and heat emboss another sentiment on the back of the envelope.

Then it was time to adhere the front panel and the polar bear to the envelope.  The front panel was adhered with tape runner and the polar bear is on foam dots for a bit of added dimension.

Of course, it's a bit silly to say 'I come bearing gifts' without there being some polar bear gifts so I decided to stamp, emboss and colour a cute little bucket of fish from the set.

It really did help finish off the back panel:

At this point I decided the front panel needed something... and I had just the right something for it... some GORGEOUS sequins from Lucy's Cards... this pack is called Cool Breeze and I'm totally loving all the little bits of gorgeousness included in the pack!

Just an FYI: The packs from Lucy's Cards arrive in little zip lock bags but I wanted to have mine on display... I've bought several sets... so, while I was at a local chemist I saw these gorgeous little glass jars and couldn't resist them.  I emptied all the packs into their own jars, peeled the stickers off the little bags and added them to the fronts of the jars and voila... lots of pretty things to look at and USE!

Here's how the front panel turned out:

At this stage the mojo was still completely flowing so I kept going and made another gift card holder.  This time I used a Prima Stamp from their Bedtime Story collection.  I bought this stamp several years ago and never got around to opening it so it's definitely a NBUS item!

This time I used Rangers Queen's Gold embossing powder and stamped the image in two halves to create a full background.  I didn't worry too much about the 'join line' because it wasn't going to show up in the finished project.

This time I used dark colours from the Gansai Tambi paints to colour my background, Deep Blue (67), Deep Violet (38), Menthol Violet (66),  Dark Brown (47), and Black (20).

Then I die cut the label from my newly created background and stamped, embossed and die cut an image from MFT Adorable Elephants stamp and die set.

I coloured my elephant using Zig Clean Color Markers... I love how gorgeous he is!

I stamped one of the sentiments from the Adorable Elephants set and die cut it with a little banner die from MFT Tag Builder Blueprints 6.

Then it was time to put it all together... and add a few little glimmer star sequins along with a rhinestone on the sentiment banner!  After all, who can resist a little bling??

I wanted to 'dress up' the back of the gift card envelope so I stamped and heat embossed some stars from Lawn Fawn's Summertime Charm stamp and die set.  I also die cut some little stars from some of the left over background.  Unfortunately I didn't check my photos very well because it was a bit fuzzy... but I'm sure you get the idea.

I did think to get a 'group photo' with all my little envelopes... so much cuteness in one space!  You definitely want to click on the photo to see them in more detail!

So there you have it... an Auntie's solution to making a gift card more than just a gift card!

Now for something from the 'home files' section... our fur babies KNOW they're not allowed on the bed... but I often find one or the other one on the bed having a little nap... actually it's more Toby than Nivea that does that!

Having said that, on the weekend, Michael often says that they can come up on the bed for a cuddle... but yesterday I walked in to find something quite different... Miss Nivea was not just on the bed... she was IN it.  Actually she was TUCKED IN!  Thankfully I had my phone on me so I was able to capture a quick snap of her!

Daddy (Michael) was still in bed and this naughty little girl was all snuggled up beside him and had her head on MY pillow!!!  When I got the first photo she looked up at me as if to say... but Daddy said I could be here:

If Auntie Nina saw this she'd be saying... Back to the pound!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today xx

Saturday 25 February 2017

Creative gift giving

Hi there :)

Back in January I bought myself a die that I absolutely knew I was going to enjoy using.  Now that my nieces and nephews are getting older they're much more interested in receiving gift cards than presents for birthdays and Christmas but the 'Auntie' in me misses giving them something I've chosen for them... this die fixes the problem for me: Lawn Fawn small stitched envelope die.

Since I bought this die set I've actually used it more than I thought I would... it's super simple to make the cutest gift card holder but it would be equally good for holding cash or movie tickets etc

The first envelope I made was this little elephant one decorated with a little elephant from the MFT Adorable Elephants stamp and die set.  I coloured the elephant with my Zig Clean Color Markers after I'd stamped the image on watercolour paper.  I made the 'i love you' die cut with Lawn Fawn's I love you border die.  Of course it needed a little bling so I added a rhinestone for the 'tittle'.  The patterned paper was an Autumn Leaves one that I've had in my stash for YEARS!

I used the center of the heart die cut to decorate the back:

I was super pleased with how quickly and easily this little project came together so I decided to make another one the next day.  This time I used a stamped and coloured image from MFT Magical Dragons stamp and die set.  The little puff of smoke was stamped and die cut from silver glitter cardstock.  The patterned paper is from an old Bo Bunny Christmas range that I've had in my stash for ages.

I used one of the dies from the envelope set to decorate the back of the envelope:

Here's the envelopes with gift cards from Farmers... they fit inside perfectly!

 I love it when the gift cards are super pretty too!

Thanks so much for stopping by my little corner of the universe xx

Thursday 23 February 2017

Yes, I'm still here!

Hi there :)

My poor blog has been a bit neglected lately... but it's not because I've had nothing to share!  I've got so many things that I've been doing lately including craft stuff, school stuff, house stuff and other stuff!

Since it's been a few weeks since my last blog I thought I'd share some snippets of what has been keeping me busy the most... school!

As most of you will be aware, I took on a permanent teaching position at a special needs school at the end of last year... and I LOVE it!  I feel like I've got passion for my career again... and that's a mighty good feeling!  One of the things I love about my job is that I'm learning so much... and in a special needs school it's all holistic. 

I've always been a teacher who teaches from the heart... which is why I take things so personally when they're not going well... but it's also why I get so much fulfillment from what I do.  To be honest I don't know how to teach any other way.  I got into teaching for the children... and I remain in teaching for the children. Which brings me to what I want to share today.

When I inherited my classroom it was honestly one of the most boring and neglected teaching spaces I've ever been in.  The entire classroom needs a makeover and I'm happy to report that we are supposed to be getting new floor coverings in the next school holidays.

In the meantime I've been doing my best to improve the classroom environment and four weeks into the school year, I'm pretty pleased with how things are going.

Just before school started I organised with Mum and Krystal to have a working bee in my classroom... to do some painting.  But we weren't painting walls... we were painting cupboard doors and a table.

Here's three generations of family working together:

 Krystal and Mum got busy painting sunflowers and cute little bugs:

Here's a few close ups:




And of course bugs will need some flowers to hang out with:


Here's the finished cupboard doors:

The kids LOVE their new cupboards and one of the boys often goes up to the door and makes 'buzzing' noises... very cute!

While Mum and Krystal were busy I was getting on with a couple of projects of my own... first of all a table for the kids to eat their morning tea and lunch:


Yes, it's a proper magic toadstool!  The kids love it and call it the 'picnic' table!

I was also working on some cupboard doors in our class kitchen:


Can you see where I'm heading with these doors??


By this stage we'd been at school for several hours so it was time to head home for some tea.  On Saturday Krystal was working but Mum and I went back to do a bit more painting.

Painting is serious business you know:

Almost done:

And here's the finished cupboard doors back in their rightful places:


Meet 'George' and 'Mildred':


And here's the finished picnic table all set up:


We've now made placemats for the kids to put their plates on and it really looks cute all set up.  I actually have six children in my class but on this day I had a couple away.


So that's my classroom so far.  We've actually done HEAPS more to make it look nicer since then but I'll share that in another post.

It's good to be 'back'... thanks for visiting xx