Off the page

Hello everyone and a warm welcome to my blog.  I hope the weather is better wherever you are because Adelaide is miserable at the moment.  Lots of rain and very cold, well, cold for here anyway.

I have a tidy box I'd like to share with you.  It has taken me a few weeks to make this because I started from scratch.  The box is made from pasteboard and I've used my little joining strips to put it together.  My own design and everything!!  Yeah, I know, you're saying to yourself  'Sooooo? Big deal!'  Well for me it is a bit of a big deal,  I've never made anything this big before and, luckily, I'm quite pleased with the result.

 My reason for making this box is to hold remote controls and the bits and pieces my hubby and I have sitting beside us when we're watching TV.  We had a little basket before and it was kinda overflowing.

 

 Having never done this before, I made quite a few mistakes and had to fudge a few things but, hopefully, they don't show.

 The papers I've used to cover this are from G45's Communique Collection.  I love these papers, they are totally gorgeous and I wish I could get more but they've been discontinued for a while now  and it's getting quite hard to lay my hands on them.  I did use TCW's reversed chicken wire template and a Versa Magic  stamp pad in Midnight Black just to add a little more interest.

 The drawer pulls are from Kaisercraft.
The most time consuming bit on this box was the punched border strips I used to edge it with.  They took quite a while to make and there were so many of them!!!!!  But I must admit I love how they look.

The chippies and wooden flourishes were coloured with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and Cyan Versa Color and then I covered them with Glossy Accents.  I saw a similar colour combination on a layout made by Heather Jacob.    She is an amazing artist and you can find her blog HERE.  I loved the colour combo so decided to try it out.  She actually used a turquoise Distress Ink (I think) instead of the Versa  Color but I didn't have that and she also used a clear crackle on hers but I decided to just use the glossy coating instead.  I love how it looks!!

The blue colour doesn't show up as well on the wooden flourishes but I still like them too.  I'm not sure where the above chippy is from but the two wooden flourishes are from Kaisercraft.  I've used the Ornate Plate and the Fancy Door Knocker.

 I've placed some vintage brads on both these flourishes.  Another idea I got from Heather.   I actually had the great pleasure of going craft shopping with her and she recommended a few things to me that I might never have bought but which I absolutely love!!  Thank you Heather, love you girl!!

 

I didn't want anything too 3 dimensional on the sides so I used some G45 and Kaisercraft tags and labels and arranged them in and around some chipboard frames.  These little frames are Little Birdie chippies and I got them from 'Cheap as Chips'.

 

This chippie is a Mini Scroll from Dusty Attic.  There is one on each side of the box coloured in the same way.

 The flowers are a mix of Kaisercraft, Prima and Magnolia Ink and I made them into a vine so that they could more easily be spread across the front.  

 I used Matisse Gel Medium to glue all the papers down and the edges were inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink ... and here is the box on the coffee table  and in use.  Puzzle books, remote controls, pens, pencils and all sorts of other bits and pieces all neat and tidy and there's room for more!! 

 I hope you like my coffee table tidy box.  It took a while to do but I really enjoyed making it, although, if I ever have to make another, I'll have a better idea of how to go about it because of all the mistakes I made with this one.  hehe!!

Thank you so much for visiting.  I do hope you enjoy the remainder of your day.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

A 'Slightly' Grungy Anniversary Card

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to my blog.

I'm back to share another card with you.  This one is an Anniversary card and it's a little bit different to what I usually do, and yet, it's the same.  Is that confusing?  Hell, yeah!!!  hehe.

 The papers I've used are from Kaisercraft  (surprise!! surprise!!)  I love their 6 x 6 Pads, they are perfect for cards.  Anyway, these papers are from their Periwinkle Collection.  

 Used a chicken wire template and Tea Dye Distress Ink for a bit of interest on the front.

 Being an Anniversary Card I didn't want it to be overtly feminine, I mean, it's going to a guy too, right?  So it should be suitable for both male and female, although I guess the female side of the partnership is usually the one more interested in looking at the cards they receive.  

Cut some banners from the paper and added a small wooden flourish which is also from Kaisercraft.  Coloured it with the Walnut Stain and, after cutting off the prongs, added a small K'craft brad to the top of it. 

Anyway, I did my usual distressing with the distressing tool and inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.   The flowers came from my stash and the die-cut is from the paper collection.  The leaves were cut with my Silhouette Portrait and I layered the cluster on a small piece of gauze which was coloured with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

I cannot for the life of me remember where the little postcard is from  (old age, says my hubby, and he's probably right:):)  )  Both the die-cut and the postcard were mounted on some pasteboard to give them more dimension.

So, you're wondering why is this card different?  Well, really, the only difference is that I've made it a bit more grungy than I normally would for a feminine card.  Not sure if it works.  Perhaps I should have made it more grungy still.  I do think  that I should have inked or gessoed the flowers a bit, but it's too late now as it's already been sent off.

In most of their paper pads, Kaisercraft includes some papers that have heat embossing on them, and when they are inked they have this gorgeous resist as you can see around the edge of the paper above.  I must use these more often because I really like that effect.

So, there you have it.  My grungy Anniversary Card.  

Not one hundred percent sure of this one, would love to know what you think.

Thank you so much for stopping by I really appreciate it.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Sear's & Son Card #3

Hello and welcome to my blog.

I have another male card I'd like to share with you.  The paper's I've used are, again from Kaisercraft's Sears & Son Collection.   I think I might be stuck in a rut (hehe), but I really do like these papers for male cards.  All the papers were  distressed with my Ingvild Bolme Distresser Tool and then inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I also stamped them with the same ink and Kaisercraft's Attitude Background Stamp.

 

Used brown cardstock for the base and matted it with kraft cardstock.  This one is an Easel Card, and I've made it so the back drops away to give it a totally different silhouette.

The cogs and the clock shape were cut with my Silhouette Portrait and were coloured with Walnut Stain and then lightly swiped with a Kaisercraft Stamp Pad in Silver.  

 The image was obtained from the net.

Made a tag from Kraft cardstock, stamped it with the same background stamp in Walnut Stain and then with the greeting in Memento Tuxedo Black.  I  also made a small pocket out of some of the dp and placed it behind the image to hold the tag.

 The strips of DP are mounted onto  pieces of paste board to give them some height so as to hold the front in place. 

   

That's all for now.

Thank you so much for stopping by and please take care.

God Bless.

oxox Marg

A Milestone Birthday

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to my blog especially to each of my followers.  

Thank you ladies, I really appreciate your support.

My brother celebrated his 70th Birthday this week.  Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, we were unable to join him (He lives in Victoria and we're in S.A.) but he's having a party later on and we will certainly be there for that.  Anyhow, I'd like to share with you the card I made for him.

It is another Tag card.  I found this design on Astrid Maclean's Blog (You can find her blog here) and I really love it.  Will definitely make more of these.

The base of this card is Kraft Cardstock.  I layered some brown cardstock on top of it and then used the same papers that I used for my contribution to the YSMY Challenge, that is to say, Kaisercraft's Sears & Son.  Really love these papers, they are perfect for male cards.   All the papers were distressed and then edged with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  The border was punched with Martha Stewart's Optic Dot Border Punch.

 The bracket for the clock is from Scrapmatts but, unfortunately the clock which was attached to it was too small, so I cut it off to use another time and attached a free printable clock I found on a Blog called Dianaz Creations.  I wanted to give you the link but it must have been closed down because I cannot find it again.  The postcard is from my stash.

 The penny farthing bicycle is also from Scrapmatts and I coloured that with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

 I used the Mini Windows Screen Template from TCW and Walnut Stain Distress Ink to add a little interest to the edge of the paper here.  The panel was cut from another sheet of the Sears & Son Collection.

 Stamped some bubbles (Kaisercraft) and a bit of script (Prima) with a Kaisercraft Stamp Pad in Brown.  The die cut is from the same paper collection.

 On this side I've used the same stamps and stamp pad and added two more die cuts from this collection.

Some more stamping and die cuts and I made a tag for the sentiment.  Printed the greeting on some paper from Simple Stories' Documented Collection and made it into a little banner.

 

I was really pleased with how this card turned out but you always wonder, don't you, if the recipient will like it too.   Well, I'm pleased to say he did.  I received an email which simply said  'Got your card. WOW.  Going straight to the pool room.'  For those of you who don't get it, this is a reference to the movie 'The Castle' where all the good stuff went straight to the pool room.

Thank you so much for visiting and I hope the weather where you are is better than here.  It is really cold and really, really wet here in Adelaide at the moment.  A good time to stay inside and in front of the fire.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

You Show Me Yours Challenge #2

Hi everybody and welcome to my blog.

The photo Lucy Muraca chose for this month's YSMY Challenge is of the totally gorgeous Hugh Jackman.  

All I can say is "YUMMO!!". 

Had a bit of a problem with this one.  Apart from the fact that I kept finding myself just drooling over the photo (hehehe) I really didn't know where to start.  How do you make a card with a male photo.  Do I add flowers?  Do I make it Steampunk? For a little while there, I was lost, but once I chose my papers it all seemed to come together almost by itself.

The papers I chose are all from Kaisercraft's Sears & Son Collection.  Love these, they are very much a male oriented line and I think they fitted in very well with the photo.  I distressed and inked all the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  The ornate corner chippies are from Make'it'Crafty and I coloured them with the Walnut Stain as well.

For the embellies I thought  'Film strips and cannisters', I mean. he's a Movie Star, right?  It fits,doesn't it?  So, I made the film strips out of plain black cardstock ... 

... and obtained the image of the film canister from the net, printed it twice and fussy cut the second image, and layered it on top to give a little more dimension.

 

 This is just a close-up of the layered papers.

So, this is my contribution to this month's Challenge.  If you are interested in joining us  (and I can tell you, with photo's like this one, it's a lot of fun) please visit Lucy's Blog to get all the details.

Below are listed the ladies who have already joined in.

Lucy Muraca -   Red Chi Chi

Emma Stafrace -  Just a Girl with Ideas

Debi -   Debi's Joy

Val Thorpe - Val-Belle's Ramblings
Annette Gearside -  Moment in Time
Kerry-Jean Watson -  KJWstudio
Heather Jacobs - Art and life
Jennifer Waugh -  My Creative Journey
 

Thank you so much for visiting. Please take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

Booklet Tag Card

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to my blog.

I'd like to share a card I made based on one I found on Astrid Maclean's blog.  She called it a Booklet Tag Card, hence the title for my post.  

 You can find Astrid's Blog and her wonderful creations HERE.

I made this card for my Granddaughter's Birthday, she turned 11 today and, as you can probably tell, she loves all things pink.

For the card base I created a cutting file for my Silhouette Portrait from one of their Doily SVG files.  Needed a little help with that from my Daughter-in-Law Kerry-Jean Watson.   She's very clever with all things computer based.  Very handy for little old me who is not so cluey about such things.  Kerry has a blog where she shares her own fabulous creations and you can find it HERE.

From the picture below you can see that this is similar to a gatefold card except that the front actually overlaps.

Inside left - The paper is from My Mind's Eye's Lost & Found.  Stamped and fussy cut the little heart and attached it with foam dots.  Also stamped the little vine and coloured it with textas. 

The centre - Made a pocket from a half doily also cut with the Silhouette Portrait.  The paper on the pocket is from a free pack which came with a Scrapbooking Magazine and the paper on the base is again from My Mind's Eye.  The Die cuts are from Kaisercraft's On This Day Collection.  Cut out the tag from cardstock and covered it with paper from My Mind's Eye.

The inside right - The paper is again from My Mind's Eye and the small doily and the flower die cut are from Kaisercraft.

The stickers below are from Kaisercraft's These Days Collection. 

 The flowers are mainly from Kaisercraft.  I lightly gessoed them and also added some Stickles for a bit of glitter and placed them on top of a bit of gauze.  The leaves were cut with the Silhouette.  I also placed some small gems around the doily.  The die cuts in the centre are from Kaisercraft.

You can see the glitter a little better here.

I really like the style of this card.  I like the idea of the tag for the sentiment and there's a lot of space for decorating.

Thank you so much for visiting and I do hope you enjoy your weekend.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg