More Cogs

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

I'm back to show another card that I made with inspiration from scrapbooking sites.  This one is a masculine card but, again, I haven't decided on who to give it to, or  even on the greeting I'm going to use.  

The front of the card is a square of black cardstock and  I used my little machine to sew around the edge.  After I finished embellishing it I mounted it on a deep grey card.

The papers are a mix of Prima Craftsman and Kaisercraft Attitude.  I distressed the edges with my Tim Holz distressing tool after I lightly edged them with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I left the edges raw because I liked the 'grungy' look.

Here is a close-up of the Imaginarium cogs in the corner.

 I painted the cogs with a black paint dabber and then went over them with Versa Color Silver and Bronze to give them an aged look.

This chipboard piece is from Twiddlybits and I've painted it the same as the other cogs.

I used a chicken wire Template and dabbed over it with a Paint Dabber in Almond.  

This little patch was actually supposed to be in the opposite corner, but I found that the small cogs didn't stand out very well against the paint colour so I simply turned the card around.

 Here is another close-up of the chipboard piece.

Once I decide who to give this card to I'll sort out what the greeting is going to be.

And another one bites the dust!! LOL

Thank you so much for visiting.

Once I've sorted the photos from my holidays I'll do a post about it.  I have to say, New Zealand is a very, very pretty country, and we are definitely going back again to have another look.

Have a lovely day and please take care.

God Bless.

ox Marg

Happy Easter

Hello everyone.

I just wanted to let you all know that I have returned from my holidays and I would like to wish you  all a very Happy Easter.
I should be back soon with some new stuff to show you.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Liebster Award

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

I have some lovely news to share.

I have just received the Liebster Award.  The what! you say?  The Liebster Award.  

I hadn't heard of it until a few days ago when I saw it on Di Garling's Blog.  It was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion.  It is awarded to blogs that have fewer than 200 followers to encourage new visitors and I thought  'what a lovely idea'.  Then, the lovely Jan Rankine from Jan's Creative Space passed one on to me.
Thank you so much Jan, I really, really appreciate this.

The rules are:  Post it to your blog and then give the Award to five bloggers whose work you appreciate and who have less than 200 followers.  Leave a comment on their blogs to let them know that you have passed on this Award.

So, now I have to chose 5 bloggers to pass it on to.  Not easy.  A lot of the ones I went to had either already received one or had too many followers but here are the blogs I've chosen.

Kerry-Jean at KJW Studio

Sue at Sue's Spot

Adriana at AB Inspirations
Jo at Joey's Scrap Corner 
Lesa at A Country Girl at Heart

So, now I have to go and leave a comment on each of their blogs.

I also want to let you all know that I will be away from my blog for a couple of weeks.  I'm off on a cruise in a few days.  Yayy!!!  Hope to have you visit when I get back.
 Hopefully I'll have lots of piccies to share and tales to tell.
Thank you for coming by.
Take care and God Bless.
ox Marg

Card for a 16th Birthday

Hello everyone.

I'm back again to show you the card I made for my grandson's Birthday.  He turned 16 a few days ago.  ( Isn't it scary how quickly they grow up ? )

 The papers I used are from Prima's Craftsman Collection.  The metal embellishment below is actually a button I found at (Surprise! Surprise! ) Big W.  I cut a small circle from cardstock with a plier punch, coloured it with a silver Versa Colour Stamp Pad and then swiped it lightly with Bronze and then glued it to the inside so that I could cover the button holes.

Here is a close-up of the cogs.  This is actually a single piece which I obtained at the Melbourne Paperific last year.  I think it was from Twiddlybits but I'm not sure because, unfortunately, I've thrown out the packaging.  I coloured this with Black Versa Magic and then swiped it with silver and bronze Versa Color to give it that old rusty look.

I've placed a small tag behind the main image for the greeting. 

I covered the tag with paper from the same collection and then stamped it with a flourish stamp from my stash.  For the greeting I simply cut a strip of paper, inked it all over with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, stamped the happy birthday with a Kaisercraft Stamp and then folded it to make the banner. 

The number 16 was cut from black cardstock with my Silhouette Portrait. (Love this little machine.) 

I lightly inked that with the bronze Versa Color, edged it with gold and covered it with Glossy Accents.

I made an envelope from a different set of papers, made another banner for his name and placed a few cogs in the lower left hand corner  which were coloured the same way as the main piece.

He really liked his card and that made my day.

That's all for now.  Thank you so much for taking the time to visit.

Take care and God Bless.

ox Marg

Anniversary or ... Maybe ... Birthday?

Hello everyone, hope you're having a lovely day.  

I'd like to share with you a card I made.  Usually I make cards with a specific person in mind so I take note of the colours they like and the things they are interested in.  Lately though, I've made some without worrying about who they were for.  These cards were made simply because I wanted to try out some different techniques  and because I was inspired by the layouts and/or  colours from different scrappy blogs that I visited.  I've already shown you a couple of these in past posts and here is another one.  (  I must warn you here ... There will be more  )

This is obviously a feminine card but I haven't yet decided who or what I'm going to use it for.  Hence, the greeting has not yet been stuck down.

 I will be using the small Imaginarium frame but it could be for an Anniversary or I might decide to give it as a Birthday card.  Who knows.  ( I certainly don't at this stage )

The frame was painted with gesso and then I randomly covered it with glossy accents.  It's a bit hard to see on the photo but it turned out quite nice with just a little bit of shine here and there.    I made the large flower from a tutorial  by Natasha at Moments of Tranquility, the gold rose is from Prima and the buds are from Kaisercraft.  The little plastic flowers you can see I received as part of a prize I won from Sandie Edwards at Delightfully Crazy.  (Check out her blog, she does some fantastic work)

These little flowers fitted in here really well.  The pink ones I coloured on the back only with some nail polish.  I love how they look.  Again, the photo doesn't show it but in real life they almost seem to glow.  

Did a little bit of doodling on the leaves and the pearls are threaded through the centre of the flowers  and then attached to a small spray.  The doily was cut in half and edged lightly with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then tucked under the paper layer.

 Here you can sort of see what I mean here about the little plastic flowers 'glowing'.  ( Well, to me they do anyway.  LOL)

Coloured the Make it Crafty Ornate Corner piece with Versa Color Bronze and then added the tiny pearls.  The stamp is from Kaisercraft.  I don't know how I smudged the paper here but I'm telling myself that it adds just a little more grunge.  ( Trust Me !!! )

There's not a lot to this card but I'm pleased with how it turned out.  Now I just need to sort out who I'm giving it to. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and please do come again.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Baby Steps Mini Album

Hello everybody.  I hope you are all having a fabulous day.

I'd like to show you the Baby Album I spoke of a few posts ago.  A close friend's daughter is having a baby and I made this for her.  I must warn you this is quite a large post with a lot of photos.
This album was made using Kathy Orta's All  Occasions Mini Album Tutorial.  If you wish to have a look at the album she made  you can find it HERE.

The papers I used are from the Baby Steps Collection by Simple Stories.  These are gorgeous papers with lots of bits and pieces to fussy cut and lots of really cute little phrases as you can see above.  Instead of using cardstock I covered the spine with some cotton twill which I purchased at Spotlight.

This is the inside cover and the first page.  The cute little teddy bear is an applique which I found  at Big W and the little jumpsuits and the pram are images fussy cut from the paper line. 
The inside cover opens out to reveal some photo mats....

....and a spot to record the baby's birth details.

Pages 3 and 4.

On the left hand page you can see two photo mats held in the book by a heart shaped paper clip.  The mats are tucked into a pocket formed by the little sleeve which holds the journalling tag.

On the right hand page there are two more photo mats tucked into the pockets.

See what I mean about the gorgeous papers?  Lots of details and cute little phrases.

Pages 5 and 6.

In between these two pages you can see one of the little half page pockets that are in this book.
I love this feature, it's one of the reasons I decided to buy this tutorial.

There is a photo mat inside the pocket but I'm thinking about making some small envelopes instead so that she can perhaps place things in it like the first haircut or other memorabilia.   I don't have much time to decide though because the baby was due yesterday.  LOL

Here is the photo mat from the pocket on the other page .....

Pages 7 and 8.
This set of pages holds the other half page pocket.  This one is set a bit lower in the book...

...and also holds a photo mat.

These are the mats from the larger pockets.

Pages 9 and 10.

Each even numbered page has pockets which hold photo mats.  On some, both pockets are the full height of the page, but on a couple the pocket is smaller.

 Most of the photo mats I made are folded over so there is room inside them for more photos.
Last page and inside back cover.

Not a lot here, just a pocket on the inside cover for a mat.
When I first started this album I had great plans for lots of embellishments.  I was going to use bits of lace and nappy pins and little bibs and lots and lots of flowers.  But, as they say, the best laid plans of mouse and men, etc.  I wasn't able to do much of anything because when I finished the book I found it only just fit into the box I had made previously.  So I was really lucky that the papers do stand up all on their own and it didn't really need too much extra stuff.
In case you haven't seen it, here is the box I altered to place the album in.

If you'd like to take a look at the post for this box you can find it HERE.

That's all from me for now.  Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.
ox Marg