Saturday 26 August 2017

Space card... tutorial ... and a Chloe update

Hi there :)

Today I've got a card to share with you that I was commissioned to make.  It's for a little boy who is turning 3 tomorrow.  Let's start with the finished card which features a cool galaxy background, stamped images from Gerda Steiner Designs (Blast Off) and a shaker element... I'm super happy with how this all turned out!

I took lots of photos while I was making this card and I don't know if anyone else uses my little tutorials but I actually go back to look at them quite often to get ideas or remind myself how I did something.

Last time I made a galaxy background I used Distress Inks... you can check that one out HERE.  This time I'd seen a YouTube tutorial by Amy R using Gansai Tambi paints which I just happen to have in my stash so I thought I'd give it a go... and I LOVE how it turned out!!!

To be fair, the background doesn't look good until you get right to the end... but Amy warned me about that in the video tutorial and said to just keep going with it and I followed her advice... thanks Amy!

I've got my new computer (27 inch touch screen!!) set up on my crafting table and I couldn't be happier!  Watercolour paper taped down... paints ready...  video ready... Here we go....

Kinda liking where this is heading... the colours look really pretty.

Added in some more colour... oh crap!  Not liking it anymore!

"Keep going" said Amy... black added... oh my gosh... nope not liking it at all!

Hmm.. ok... it's looking kinda cool now...

Little flicks of pearlised paint for the stars... yep I'm definitely liking this now...

All dry and tape removed... oh yeah baby!  Wow... wow... wow... LOVING this!

Time to cut the background up... I started off with a 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of watercolour paper and I got FOUR stitched rectangle backgrounds out of it... loving that too!

I had a bit of a vision in my head of what I wanted the finished card to look like so I die cut the hole for the shaker piece to fit into... die cut a stitched piece for the 'planet' and cut another piece of watercolour paper for the back of the shaker window.

Next I got out my Distress Inks and added some Pumice Stone and Hickory Smoke to create a moon and shading on the planet.


Time to make the shaker element... I used small star confetti from Pretty Pink Posh (6mm and 2mm) along with some clear Micro Beads... super fun!

I glued the shaker pouch to the watercoloured 'moon' background... let it dry... and then glued the shaker pouch to the underside of the card front.  I used Multi Medium Matte which took hardly any time to dry and it bonds really well.

Add the 'planet' along the bottom... still loving that background!

Then I die cut the Happy Birthday Circle Frame from glitter cardstock... I even remembered to add some Stick It to the back of my cardstock before I die cut it which made sticking the frame down super, super simple!

Then it was time to add my stamped and coloured image.  I decided to pop him up with some foam and it worked perfectly!  I've had lots of problems with the foam I've been able to get in New Zealand so I took a chance and bought some SugarPea Designs 'Sugar Puff' foam and it's FANTASTIC!  I stuck the image to the foam using some more Multi Medium Matte and it worked perfectly.

I popped the card front onto some blue cardstock and added the little spaceman using some more Multi Medium Matte.

On the inside of the card I added another little image from Gerda Steiner's Blast Off set and the sentiment is from Gerda Steiner Alien Invasion.

Here's another look at the finished card:

And of course I've already got three more galaxy backgrounds ready to go to make more space themed cards :)

Now for little Miss Chloe... or as my daughter has taken to calling her... Chubba Chub!  She now weighs in at just over 9lb 8oz and she is one month old!  Mikayla is loving motherhood and she is doing such a great job... super proud of my girl!  I will get to meet Chloe in the next school holidays (just over 5 weeks away) but in the meantime Mikayla sends me regular photos and video clips of what Chloe is up to... and we also Skype.

Check out this gorgeous wee face... she looks so surprised to see the camera LOL

How's this for beautiful:

Chloe is getting really good at holding her head up and trying to push with her feet too... I think she's going to be a crawler before we know it!  Here's a little video clip of my beautiful Grandbaby:



Thanks for dropping by today... wishing you all a wonderful weekend xx

Saturday 5 August 2017

A couple of updates... and something creative

Hello there... well it's been quite a busy week (and a bit) and my wee Grandbaby is doing so well.  Mikayla has taken to motherhood like a duck to water and she sends me daily photos of what Miss Chloe is up to!  I've even had videos and we've talked on Skype... modern technology is really helping this Nana feel close to her Invercargill girls that's for sure.

How precious is this little girl???

She looks so much like Mikayla did as a baby... and those little lips and nose... super cute!  I know I'm biased but this little girl just melts my heart xx

Now up to the other end of the country and a quick update about my Dad.  Unfortunately things are not running quite so smoothly up in Whangarei.  Dad is still in hospital... and still on oxygen... and unfortunately he is having a LOT of memory problems.

Dad has no idea that Krystal and I went to see him in the hospital which is a real shame.  A friend of mine went to visit him early this week and by Thursday he had absolutely no memory of it.  It could be down to the skull fracture... but at this stage we just don't know.  I'll let you know more when I know more.

And now for something creative.  One of the boys in my class turned 8 last week and his family took him on a trip to the snow... so I decided to make him a 'snow card' and here's what I came up with:


I took step by step photos as I went so I might just put together a little tutorial for this one.

Thanks so much for stopping by xx