Making Merry Monday and Cards for the Defence

Yay .... on the right day for a change LOL

The new In Colour Concorde Crush is one of my favourites - it looks so vibrant when teamed with Real Red and Whisper White.

This Season Of Joy stamp set was the first set that I owned from Stampin' Up! - this set has so much to answer for!  

To create the sparkly panel, I stamped the image in Concrode Crush, then pressed a Versamark pad over the entire piece of cardstock ... covering it completely, then applied a liberal covering of Heat and Stick power and melted that with the heat gun.  I then tipped some Dazzling Diamonds over the card ... tapped off and just 'set' the sparkle by giving it a quick once over with the heat gun again ... not too much but just enough.

I'm still making extra cards for lovely Tracey Hanshaw and Karen Cummings to distribute to our defence personnel who are serving overseas.  They are well on their way to collecting 1000 cards ... but need more so if you have a few Christmas cards to spare either send them directly to Tracey or pass them on to me and I'll post them for you.

There is nothing like receiving a handmade card and just one card will give two people a feeling of being loved and remembered ... the defence person who is overseas and is able to write and send the card .... and the person who receives the card ... receives their personal message from their loved ones and knows that card makers around Australia are thinking of their loved ones whilst they go about their day to day work.  

A couple of pieces of cardstock, a little bit of ribbon, a stamp or two and a little of your time will mean so much - you really can make a difference and bring a smile to someone's face!

 

 

Making Merry Monday

This is such an easy card to make - it uses up scraps of patterned paper and makes something very special. I've really enjoyed using the I Wish Scrappin Kit (about to be retired at the end of this month and currently reduced to just $27.71) - and I have hardly any of it left.  This card has meant that I have been able to use every last piece.

Use any square punch that you have and punch out as many squares as you can from scraps of patterned paper, adhere these to a base piece of cardstock and run it through the Big Shot using a die of your choice - hey presto a cool piece to make a card with.

I attached a piece of Real Red ribbon, a Real Red button attached with Hemp thread and a tag from the I Wish kit ...card finished - scraps put to good use.

I've also used this example to make something special for the Helping Hudson blog - if you want to see what I've done then you'll need to buy the scrapbooking tutorial pack that is on sale on the Helping Hudson website - ten unique tutorials for $10!  If you haven't taken a look at the templates that are available to help this really good cause, check out all that has been happening here.

And don't forget - cards are still be collected for the Christmas Cards for the Troops campaign - check out the details here.

Enjoy.

 

 

Making Merry Monday

Well I think it could be time to start this again .... Helping Hudson is ticking along nicely .... so I have some more time to make a few cards to share with you.

I often use the Top Note die as a basis to make a card - this time I have used a circle punched from a post-it-note for a mask and then sponged the colours to create a landscape for the lovely reindeer from Winter Post and the line of trees from Lovely as a Tree.

A bit of two way glue pen-ing and some dazzling diamonds to finish ... along with a sentiment from the Punch Pals set - and this makes a lovely Christmas card.

Have you made a start on your cards yet?  Don't forget that Tracey Hanshaw is collecting cards for the troops overseas ... check out the details here.

 

Making Merry Monday is BACK!

Oh yes, after a little break .... I am back in full Christmas card making swing again (and supporting the Cards for the Troops campaign) .... and to help with my inspiration for a layout I used the latest challenge over at Just Add Ink.

The first of the two cards I made using the sketch from the JAI girls is made with Melon Mambo and Elegant Eggplant.  I've used the beautiful tree from the Lovely as a Tree set and embossed it in silver.  I ran a two way glue pen around the edge of the top note die cut and added some dazzling diamonds and finished it off with the little post mark image from the Winter Post set.

The background is the snowflake from the Winter Post set too - I used a Versamark ink pad first but then thought I would add some snowflakes in craft white ink also.

And this is the second version ... my tree looks a little crooked doesn't it but it isn't I promise :)  This is a Rich Razzleberry and Kraft version.

July is such a good time to make a start on your cards .... just one a week will give you a great start - and whilst you're making one you might as well make two!

 
 
 

Making Merry Monday 2010 # 1

Yes it is back for another year ... the concept came from Anita Meade last year  .... to make a Christmas card every Monday ... so that by the time Christmas arrives you'd have a stash to help with the panic that usually sets in during this very busy time.  

I'm starting a little later than I wanted but that's okay .... it's still May and I still have seven months to go :o) This year I am going to make two of every card I create ... one for me ... and one to send to Tracey Hanshaw who will be collecting cards to send to our Defence personnel who are serving their country overseas.  This is a cause very close to my heart with a husband in the Navy .... and I met with Tracey at Convention - she is a warm and gorgeous person - mobbed by 'fans' at every opportunity .... more about Convention tomorrow.

So here is the first card for 2010.  Winter Post is one of my favourite sets and I hope it will remain in the catalogue when it is republished in September ... this is also a great layout for a card.

It is so simple - in fact I just stamp away on a piece of Whisper White and then choose what I'd like to see in the squares by using the punch and select by looking before punching.  This way you can make of these little squares and it makes card production super quick.  The brad has been used heaps to pinch through several layers of the ribbon to created the bow effect just to finish it all off. 

I've used Real Red, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip - Versamark to create the background images and lots of sponging.

So there you have it ... post a comment or better still send me a photo of your Christmas creations if you want to join in this year .... check out Ros Davidson's blog too ... she started ages ago and already has quite a collection.

So as promised earlier - head back tomorrow for all the Convention news.

 

Spotlighting a Mother's Day Card

Remember my post about Mother's Day cards for the Troops (pop over here if you missed it) ... well I've been busy making a few.  Here is one that I have made that I combined with another challenge ... the centrepiece is an Artist Trading Card I have entered into a swap with the Art With Heart Team.

 And here are the Trading Cards ready to be posted to the organiser Gayatri ...

The technique used is Spotlighting ... such a simple and effective technique ... instructions can be found here if you'd like to give it a go.  I've used Pixie Pink with Basic Black and Whisper White - great colours together don't you think?

The stamp is from Echoes of Kindness (free hostess benefit set) and the sentiment is from the Saleabration set Whimsical Words .... there's only a couple of weeks left to place a qualifying order to get this FREE set ... check out the brochure here and call me if you want to place an order.

Back in a couple of days with more creations ... and don't forget if you can make a card or two - someone somewhere serving the country would really appreciate it :o)

 

 

Mother's Day Card Donations for our Aussie Troops

Being the wife of a Defence Force member this plea for donations is very close to my heart.  It was only the other day that I mentioned to my husband that I admire how much the Americans show their support for their troops serving overseas and asked why didn't this happen worldwide - Stampin' Up! in the US even have their own stamp to celebrate their Defence Force members.

It was through a recent blog hop that I found Tracey Hanshaw and Karen Cummings - two lovely Stampin' Up! demonstrators who have started this project.

Last Christmas, Karen collected hundreds of handmade cards to send to our aussie troops overseas so that they could send cards home to their families at this very special time. These cards reached our troops in Afganhistan, Egypt, Samolia and, yes I am pleased to say, even our Navy!

So Karen and now Tracey are sending out the call again to all of us very talented card makers to ask us all to make and donate some very special mothers day cards, so that they can send them to our troops to post home to their mums and wives for mothers day.

The latest they can accept your donations is April 1st so that they can get them to where they need to go. Again this year Karen will also be collecting Christmas cards, so if you have any left over that you could spare to kick this year's collections off, they would be also greatly received. 

I will post more about christmas cards for the troops later on in the year. If everyone could either put a post on their blogs, or get a group together to make and or collect cards would be a great help. Any, and all help will be gratefully received. You can either send the cards to me, or email Tracey here to ask her for her postal details.

And thank you - we can't really even begin to imagine what our troops are going through on our behalf - mail is so important to them and to have something handmade to send home to their mums and wives will be very much appreciated.