More cards lol

The idea for these first two came from Stamptv (youtube) and an autumn stamp/ribbon/paper set they sent me.

Saw this idea on pinterest and tried it and I have to say, I like it! I might make the background more dull next time and perhaps try other colours.

The two cards below, I made using water colour paper. I masked the sides then washed them with distress stains, sprayed them with water and let the colours merge a little. I dried them with a heat gun, embossed a flower on top and added a bow. They have no greeting so can be used for whatever people like.

Cards again lol.

27 and 38: These two cards were made because I wanted to thank my sister  Jan for a stack of paper she gave me for Christmas. She doesn't usually buy me gifts so it was a nice surprise. She gave me a book of patterned paper and I cut a slice of a few sheets and stuck them together to create this diagonal pattern. Each was cut to one inch and then another layered behind it, meaning each layer was a half inch wide. Once they were all together, I was able to cut it in half and get two cards from one lot of cutting-now that's what I like to do! The bottom of the two is for my sister, the top one I made second and is just to show you want a difference a background colour can make to a card. Had it not have been 2am, I might have done more to the top design...I dont like how it turned out but oddly I like the brown one!

Card 29: Ok the simple truth is that I went to return the bird stamp (see previous card post) and saw this stamp, I just couldn't walk out without it! I coloured it quickly with copic markers and slapped it on a card that just happened to co-ordinate and be laying on my desk lol. I could have decorated it more but I wanted the bunnies to be the feature and I kinda like it's simplicity.

Cards 30-33: All were made with Stampin' up! ink because I didnt need any real permanency with them, the werent being embossed or getting wet.

This is the same as card 21 I made. Well, not identical as it has a different ribbon and the butterfly in a different place but close enough to 'the same' as I used all the same inks and techniques. When I do inking/sponging techniques like this, I really like to throw in one colour that doesnt 'go' as well. It makes for a beautiful effect. This one had two shades of yellow, so I threw in a hint of pink and it came out almost like a sunset!

I put the card below on facebook and it seemed reasonably popular! I started by cutting out a frame shape using nestabilities and my bigshot machine. Normally you would throw out the scrap edge and put the shape on a card (and I will in future, I kept them all), but this time I used the frame that was created when I removed the center cut out. I taped the frame to the card so it didnt move and used four inkpads. The first I used was a light yellow (so saffron by Stampin' up!) which I sponged onto the outside frame and never actually sponged onto the card because I intended that the colour got dragged off the frame and onto the card when I added the light grey. This yellow was my 'unexpected colour' and made a sensational difference to the end result. Second was a very light grey ink which I dragged from the outside, directly into the centre of the card using sponge. Then Buckaroo (medium to light) blue was added to the card using a sponge and a swirling motion. Finally I added 'not quite navy' ink to a few places (do you see it top right, that bit of darker blue-you really can't add too much of an intense colour or you lose the subtle marble look). Then I simply chose a pretty stamp and greeting, stamped them on and removed the frame that was keeping the outside white. It is always a bit of a shock when you remove the outside frame because it is SO much darker than you imagine it will be. Aside from that, I rounded the right hand corners, added bakers twine and put it on a layer of co-ordinating blue card stock.

Then I got to thinking, what other frame shapes do I have for my bigshot? Oh I have nestabilities scallop ovals! Voila-next card created!

And finally I decided to make a square card which meant I needed a more even-sided die. I used a nestabilities one (that I forget the name of and am too lazy to go find lol). It needed a different flower stamp because of it's shape so I went with a GORGEOUS set I got from Gina. K designs/stamptv. Adding a quick knot and rounding corners and the card was done!

I'm having great fun in my craft room lately, but the housework is suffering a little lol.

Oh and I've made one more but it's a scheduled post for after someone special's birthday!

Taiko uniform

Each person in my taiko (Japanese drumming) group, was asked to sew themselves a uniform. Those of us with bigger busts, had to sew darts into the boob area but basically they are all similar. Three panels on the bottom, criss-cross straps and a back strap across the middle. All that is to stop it falling off you when you drum. When I first sewed mine, I accidentally had my two side panels on top of the middle and had to wear it that way to perform. But after that performance I unpicked the top from the bottom, unpicked the three parts and resewed it all. Truth be told, I liked it better the first time and I sewed it better the first time lol. Oh well.

Below, you can see that the three flaps are overlapped and have a split.

And in this photo, you can see the back side, where it is all lined nicely with grey denim. Plus you can see the way the straps work. They pull the sides around me (the black you can see on each side). Look at how nicely I sewed this, can't see a single piece of raw fabric! :P As I always say, I can sew, I just don't like to lol.

The next step is to get them embroidered. Our name used to be Kaze No Ko (children of the wind, I think?) but we are re-branding our performance group to 'Seigan daiko' (I think?) which means 'west coast taiko'. Today I will wash, dry and iron my uniform, then I'll take the print out to embroidery shops and ask for quotes for the group to get our names embroidered on them (in red). We wear this over red t-shirts and long black pants. Below you can see where the name will be embroidered:

And that is almost enough sewing for this week, I've got a couple of easy skirts to sew and a couple of dresses for Emma to sew from the same fabric.

theDIYdish

So I sewed myself a huge handbag tonight. I had to drop my nephew at work early and I don't do early mornings, so I stayed up instead lol. I saw this bag tutorial on youtube (channel in the title of this post) and thought I could easily sew it, so I did. The only changes I made were to add a magnetic closure and sew in a pocket on the lining, this bag is WAY too big to go searching for your phone! Lucky for me, I love a big bag lol.

Here you can see a little more detail. The inside and outside are sewn the exact same way and the two layers are sewn together. The inside and outside are opposites and the strap is opposite (so it matches the inside). I really like the little pleats on the outside, quite cute! The photo below is the more realistic colouring. Oh and the material for this bag (excluding the magnetic snap) was $4!

Hairclips for my niece

While my niece was in NZ, I was at the craft store and found some really big hairclips. I know she is a fan of huge clips and these had a hole at the end so you could decorate them. Now she is back, I took her in to the store and we bought two packets. After a quick discussion of how to decorate them, we thought cute buttons might be the way to go!

Her school uniform is black and red so we mostly stuck to black/white/red/grey. A few minutes with a hot glue gum and voila-new, cute and quirky hairclips! A couple of the bigger buttons needed to be sewn on rather than hot glued.

Up to 26 cards

I am on a bit of a roll and have already made 26 cards this year!

This is my current favourite and I want to make lots more of it but I loaned my owl punch to my friend Sheryl so she and her daughter could make some. The background (I'm not sure you can see it) has a wood grain stamped onto it and it's meant to look like two owls in trees, looking at each other:

The same night, I made these monkey cards which I coloured in by hand:

I made two of these:

This one, I made tonight. I punched out a shape, then used the negative space left behind to sponge three colours of ink onto the card. Then I simply stamped some flowers, a greeting, a butterfly (which I cut out and raised up with adhesive foam) then tied on some bakers twine and added it to a co-ordinated background cardstock. I'll probably make more as I quite like it. I will likely make some alterations to the next one though:

These cupcakes were also hand coloured in. I made two of this one:

And this one that I didnt like at all. The stamp wasnt right for the card (which is why I swapped to the one above) but it was also too close to the cupcake for me to consider hiding it beneath some other layers. Oh well, a child probably won't mind.

Next up, I made these cards with birds standing on a wire (brown raffia that I tied knots in). These didnt photograph very well but they look nice enough:

Another owl card. I was trying different types of browns to see what I liked. You can see the wood grain better on this colour but I like the first one better.

This looks terrible enough that I want to re-photograph it in daylight lol.

And then I thought to myself...this isnt how I intended this card to look...what is wrong? And then I realised, this isnt the stamp I bought!!! Look below and you will see a bird with it's tail up in the air and look above to see how it stamped-with it's tail flat! I will ask to swap it on Monday. Even if it's used, it still isnt what I asked for!