nic creates

Chelley Bean Designs Update

2012-02-10T09:00:00.006+11:00

Michelle has just announced a new look Creative Team over at Chelley Bean Designs and I'm thrilled to be continuing on in my CT role and am humbled to be alongside such talented ladies as Lauren Bell, Tara Scobie and Sue Smith!

I have realised that I have been extremely slack and have not shared projects I have made for Chelley Bean Designs. As a member of the Chelley Bean Designs creative team, I get to have an absolute ball playing with the goodies that Michelle creates.

Here are some of the items that I have had the pleasure of working with over the past year...yes it has been that long!

Crochet flowers
Here are the cards I made using the crochet flowers. These were such a great size for cards...

Hand Dyed Paper doilies
I thought I would depart from cards with the paper doilies and go for little decorative items.

Painted Petals
These were just gorgeous - I loved playing with these flowers.

Stitched Sewing Rounds

Concertina Flowers
Perfect for cards!

I look forward to sharing more projects with you over the next year.

If you would like to see more of the lovely Chelley Bean Designs products, Michelle has an Etsy store or you can visit her blog for more information.

Ana's Birthday celebrations

2012-02-06T09:00:00.008+11:00

I LOVE a tea party so when my friend Julianna asked me to help create a garden tea party for her daughter Ana's 6th Birthday I said ABSOLUTELY!!!

There was lots of yummy food to eat - plates of fruit, sandwiches and some yummy sweet treats.

Here's the sweet stuff...

I decorated cupcakes with little crowns on top and tri-colour swirl buttercream icing.

Biscuits were made as thank you gifts for the party guests with custom tags.

Little sandwiches cut out in the shape of crowns.

The Cake
I had seen this icing technique and have been wanting to try it out for a while so this seemed like the perfect opportunity

and on the inside.....

.....3 yummy pink layers - all different shades (another technique I've been wanting to try).

The decorations were kept quite simple. The party was held in the yard of my church which has a lovely big overhanging tree. We held a ladies high tea there recently and I'd made a bunch of tissue paper pom poms to hang from the tree.

There were little handmade touches like these cute little personalised bonbons which held little gifts for the party guests.

Everyone had a wonderful time including the Birthday girl!

Happy Birthday Ana...xxxooo

New Year

2012-02-03T09:00:00.004+11:00

I've been taking some time off to spend with my family over the holiday period. This week marks the end of school holidays here so it's back to school for the kids and back to creating for me.

I have been doing a few things to keep myself occupied over the time and during the next couple of weeks I will be sharing some posts detailing the projects.

For now here's a sneak peek of what I've been up to over the holiday period...

Ana's party

Creating for Chelley Bean Designs

Teacher gifts

and some creating for a charity called Samaritan's Purse which I am yet to take photos of.

Happy creating and stay tuned for more detailed project updates.

Shirt revamp #2

2011-08-20T16:00:00.000+10:00

Following on from my last post I thought I'd show the second shirt I made from my bargain buy.

Starting with this $2 shirt....

I sketched this eagle picture onto paper and cut it out with a craft knife to create a stencil.

I painted the design onto the shirt by dabbing some black fabric paint over the stencil.

After I lifted off the stencil, I flicked and splattered some watered down fabric paint over the eagle design. I love grungy...it doesn't matter if you make a mess!

The finished design...

As you can see, it really doesn't take much to jazz up your plain old shirts. Why not give it a go!

Happy creating!

Shirt revamp #1

2011-08-17T22:23:00.002+10:00

So while out and about shopping for some affordable kids clothes, I came across two of these shirts at $2 each.

Great price - the only trouble was they seemed just a little dull... so I decided I would jazz them up a little!

I got out my fabric paint and went in search of some stamps (thanks tan!). I was going for a grungy look so I found a cross-hatch stamp and stamped with some watered-down black fabric paint. I also splattered some paint with my paintbrush and squeezed the paintbrush for the larger droplets.

My son has wanted a 'Team Amber' shirt for a while so I grabbed my old foam alphabet stamps

and started stamping TEAM when tragedy struck!! I stamped the E back-to-front......aaaaaaargh!

I could have gone for a funky 'I meant to do that' look but I think it would have looked strange so I ended up painting and splattering over it then re-stamping the right way around.

To do the 'Amber' text I wanted a hand-written type of text so I found a font I liked and printed out the text from my computer.

On the back of some cotton material, I ironed some Vliesofix (Bondaweb) just bigger than my text and transferred the writing to it (reversed). Then cut it out...

I then peeled off the backing and ironed it onto the shirt.

Then stitched around the outline.

All done...xxxooo

Just like a bought one :)

Birthday celebrations and two-tone icing tutorial

2011-07-03T14:00:00.002+10:00

My little man Nathaniel was 5 yesterday!!
It seemed like he had a week long celebration with cupcakes at preschool Wednesday then cupcakes at Early Intervention Friday then more cake with the family yesterday....he loved it!

Here are the cupcakes we took to Early Intervention.

The group had really loved reading a fire engine book earlier in the week and always love the fireman puzzles so we went with fire engine cupcakes.

I wanted to make the icing look like fire so I used yellow and red two tone icing. The fire engine was made from fondant and white chocolate

How I made the two tone icing:

1. Mix up two (or more) different colours of icing (I just used a buttercream icing).

2. I used a medium star nozzle with my piping bag (see pic below).

3. I then spooned one colour down half of the piping bag and the other colour down the other half.

I forgot to take a photo so I drew up this diagram of what it kinda looked like when I put the icing in the piping bag, although mine was nowhere near as neat as this...

NB. I have seen some tutorials that put the different coloured icing into separate piping bags (that don't have nozzles) and then put those bags into another piping bag (with nozzle) and pipe that way which probable gives a more uniform finish but seems like too much cleaning up to me.

4. Pipe out some icing (onto a plate or small bowl) until the desired two-tone effect comes through.

5. Starting from the outside of the cupcake, spiral around until you reached the centre.

NB. If it doesn't come out how you want, just scrape it off and try again.

Here are the cupcakes that Nanny made...

Nathaniel just LOVES Mario so Nanny (and Poppy) printed out some Mario images, laminated them and stuck them onto sticks to make Mario cupcake toppers (and because Nanny is so good she did 3 colours in her icing). The best thing was they made 2 of each image so now he has a set of Mario cards that we can play snap or memory with....great idea Nanny and Poppy!!

The last cake was a dinosaur cake to have with the family after dinner...

The dinosaurs were shaped from fondant....and didn't last very long!

poor dinosaur!

Well we are definitely caked out for the time being! luckily we have another couple of months before our next birthday celebrations.

If the instructions aren't clear or if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

Happy creating!!

Heart Cards - Harrisons Little Wings Appeal

2011-06-18T12:00:00.001+10:00

During the week, I have been making some cards for the new Heart Cards appeal for Harrisons Little Wings Charity.

For those of you who don't know about HEART CARDS, it is an ongoing project set up by Shazz Pratten and is "set up to give communities that have been affected by devastating events, such as natural disasters; and community groups, a way to say "Thank You" to those who have helped them out in times of need." (description taken from the Heart Cards blog).

In this particular appeal Shazz is collecting cards for Harrisons Little Wings. This is such a touching story...to tell you a bit more here is an excerpt taken from the Heart Cards blog:

On September 14, 2010 a little boy was born.His name was Harrison.
On September 15, 2010, Harrison died.

Instead of taking Harrison home from the hospital, his family took home a box of memories that the Mater Mothers Hospital had kindly made up for them. This included Harrison’s monitor wiring, his foot prints, sunnies and ear muffs - just to name a few.

Being an avid scrapbooker, Mel, Harrison’s Mum, has started making 6 x 6 albums of scrapbooking pages to be included in the boxes, for other Angel families to take home in their boxes..
Mel has found scrapbooking Harrison’s photos a form of therapy, and a wonderful way to preserve the very special photos her family holds dear.

You can read more about Harrison’s fight for life here – http://harrisonsfightforlife.blogspot.com
And more about the Harrison’s Little Wings Charity here – http://harrisonslittlewings.blogspot.com

Heart Cards would like to help these families say thank you to the medical staff; support staff, family and friends who have helped them through a very sad and difficult time in their lives.

We are asking paper crafters to please make 10 thank you or blank cards to be given to families of these little angels.
Please be mindful that these cards are for grieving families so use appropriate papers and embellishments.
Personally I think the more simple the card and design, the better in this case.
Please make the cards non-gender specific; i.e. no boy or girl cards.
A paper butterfly is placed on the door of the rooms where families have lost a baby so a butterfly may be an appropriate embellishment on your cards.
Feel free to enclose 10 postage stamps which will be divided between packs depending on the number we receive.

Cards MUST be made to the size of approx 10cm x 15cm - fits a C6 envelope - (landscape or portrait aspect) to allow ease of packing and also to allow them to fit into the boxes given to the families.
If you use a card with a shiny surface, please add an insert into the card to allow ease of writing.
Please do not put postage stamps on the envelopes.
All cards will be accepted but may be put aside for future appeals if they are deemed to be inappropriate for this appeal.

Please forward your cards to Shazz Pratten, 9 Windsor Court, Goonellabah, NSW, 2480 by July 29.
The cards you send will be repackaged and delivered to Mel to placed in the boxes given to the families of these tiny angels.

You can keep up to date with the Harrison’s Little Wings Appeal via our blog -
Http://heartcards.blogspot.com/

Thank you for supporting this worthwhile cause.

The death of a baby is like a stone cast into the stillness of a quiet pool;
the concentric ripples of despair sweep out in all directions, affecting many, many people.
--De Frain, 1991

Here are some examples of the cards I have made for this wonderful project. I have kept them very simple.

If you are a papercrafter, can I encourage you to create some cards for this very worthwhile project. Or if you aren't into card making but want to help out, I'm sure Shazz would gladly receive donations of postage stamps to help with postage costs.

If you need a starting point, I've included a simple sketch based on the cards I have made.

Happy creating!

Wedding embellishments and a quick tutorial

2011-05-17T13:00:00.004+10:00

A couple of months ago my beautiful sister Jess got married to her handsome hubby Kiel and they asked me to help make some things for the wedding - table number cards, seating lists, and labels for the lolly buffet jars (which was soooooo yummy!!).

Here's a pic of me and my lovely sisters all done up (which doesn't happen very often for me).

Me, Jess, Anita

She wanted things kept very simple and with a theme roughly based on 'secret garden-y' I designed the items around this.
Here are some of the finished projects...

Seating lists.

Seating lists were displayed in the foyer as guests arrived at the reception.

Lolly Buffet labels

Table numbers

As a little extra decoration, I made some little butterflies to go on the wine glasses for the reception tables. They looked so pretty when they were all set up :)

So here's an easy little tutorial on how to do them...
These are soooo easy and is an idea that can be used for any party or special occasion - especially for those girly get togethers!

You will need:

a butterfly punch (I have used a 2 inch punch).
paper / cardstock
scissors
optional embellishments (eg glitter, embossing powders etc)

Step 1. Take your punch and cardstock and punch out your butterflies.

Step 2. Embellish as desired. To do mine, I have swiped the edges with a VersaMark inkpad, added embossing powder then heated. If you don't have embossing powders you can easily just add glitter or ink around the edges or alternatively just leave them as is!

Step 3. Cut a slit for the butterfly to sit on the glass edge. To do this just fold the butterfly in half and snip with your scissors as shown below.

slip onto your glass and you are done!

Hope this adds that something a little extra to your next party!

Happy creating!!

Reflective journaling ...

2011-04-17T23:00:00.000+10:00

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to get away for the weekend with some great friends. I spent this time reading, reflecting, eating chocolate :) and had a go at some journaling.

Here's my first attempt, reflecting on Matthew 10:29-31.

I used Smooch Spritz, Distress Inks, stamps and journaling pens...

I love the shimmer of the Smooch Spritz (hopefully you can see it in the photos).

and another attempt...this time using mainly watercolour pencils and journaling pens...

This one was very basic but I found the whole process very therapeutic. There's something about creating as an outlet and expression and not having to meet any deadlines. It was more about the process and not the finished product.
Anyway...enough rambling - will definitely be doing it again!

I so enjoyed my 'time out' but when I got home reality met me at the front step (quite literally) and had me thinking.....when is the next weekend away!

Take care and happy creating!

Bright and Beautiful range

2011-04-15T12:00:00.006+10:00

Introducing the new range of designs from nic creates.

The inspiration behind this range came from the beautiful hymn, 'All things Bright and Beautiful'....

All things bright and beautiful,

all creatures great and small,

all things wise and wonderful:

the Lord God made them all

I wanted bright colours to feature in the designs, so you will find all the colours of the rainbow!

DESIGNS INCLUDE:
Headband - The rainbow flower headband is made from lots of colourful layers and measures approx. 3 inches across.

Layered rainbow headband - $9.00 each.

Modelled by Miss Charlotte.

Funky Flower clips - 2 new designs
Flowers are made from colourful layers of satin, organza and netting, they measure approximately 2 inches wide and are attached to fully lined alligator clips. They also feature non-slip grip for fine hair.

'Aquamarine' funky flower clip - $5 each.

'Tropical Sunset' funky flower clip - $5 each.

Snap Clips - are a new addition to nic creates. Designs are attached to 5cm snap clips.

Layered rainbow snap clip - $3.50 each.

Twisted rainbow snap clip - $3.50 each.

Mini flower clips - set of 3 flowers attached to baby snap clips (3cm snap clips).

'Tropical Sunset' mini flower set - $5 set of 3.

'Aquamarine' mini flower set - $5 set of 3.

Embellishment pack - a new product for nic creates!
A pack full of handmade goodies perfect for your scrapbooking, cardmaking or other craft projects...or as a gift idea for your crafty friends.


Bright & beautiful embellishment pack - $12 per pack.

Embellishment pack contains:
12 inches of rainbow ribbon.
1 Pleated fabric strip (approx 9 and a half inches long).
1 Rainbow flower puff.
1 Twisted rainbow fabric flower.
1 Layered rainbow felt flower.
6 mini flowers.
2 rainbow organza flowers.
1 'Tropical Sunset' satin flower.
1 'Aquamarine' satin flower.

If you are interested in purchasing anything you see here just send me an email to nic.creates@gmail.com and I will send you an invoice when I receive your order. I do my absolute best to ensure postage costs are kept to a minimum.
Payment is by direct deposit.

Thank you and take care!!

Creating . . . . Cup Cozies

2011-01-28T13:31:00.000+11:00

I have been playing with my sewing machine over the holidays and got a tad carried away making some cup cozies.

It all started when I made this one for my hubby for Christmas as a gift from the kids - he wanted a new coffee mug for work so this is what he got....

Here's another I've made...

and if you want a change from the design...then turn it around because it's reversible - pretty cool hey!!

They make cute gifts as some of my friends have already found out.

Here are some more...

and one for the guys...

They are made from 100% cotton material and contain a bamboo blend insulation layer.
If you'd like one of these or a custom order... I am selling them for $8 each plus $1.20 postage. Just drop me an email.

Thanks for looking, will update with more fabrics as they come...

New Year...New Look

2011-01-25T18:00:00.001+11:00

I have finally gotten around to updating my poor neglected blog. I thought being the new year, I would give it a bit of a makeover.

I spent quite a while looking for a background but wasn't quite happy with any that I saw. I wasn't after anything too fancy so I decided to make my own. After some fiddling in Photoshop, this is what I came up with. Hopefully it will inspire me to post a bit more frequently.

Well I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and New Years celebrations. I have been on the sewing machine lately and will be sharing some new creations I have been working on very soon.

Take care.

Exciting news to share

2010-08-14T00:16:00.000+10:00

I am very excited and humbled to share that I have been asked by Michelle Jamieson to be on her ChelleyBean Designs creative team!! Michelle designs and makes a fantastic range of embellishments that can be used on a variety of crafty projects.

I will join some very talented ladies ( Pearl, Marnie and Sue ) on the team. I am looking forward to working alongside these lovely ladies and of course working with Michelle's wonderful handmade creations. Michelle sells her creations at her etsy shop here.

Thanks for this opportunity Michelle :)

Baby cards

2010-06-30T13:37:00.000+10:00

Been a bit busy the past few weeks so will just quickly share a couple of handmade cards I have made recently for the Mum n Me Maternity shop in Lismore...

Gloria and Tracey have some gorgeous stuff in store at the moment - baby clothes, gifts, maternity wear, hats, bags, cards :) and heaps more.

Hope you are all keeping well....

Day Dreamer

2010-06-02T23:37:00.001+10:00

I've been playing around with the Bo Bunny 'Mama Razzi' range and have created a step by step for this layout on Tanyah's blog.

I just love this picture of Sebastian - he's caught in a day dream, gazing off into the distance....

'Embellish It' Competition 2010

2010-05-25T10:47:00.002+10:00

Tanyah at Scrap and Craft with T is running her annual 'Embellish It' competition in June and this year it is bigger and better than ever!

All crafters, cardmakers, scrapbookers & mixed media artists are welcome.

There are two sections - the main competition section (an elimination-type competition) and a challenge section (non-elimination for those who just want to push themselves).

Tanyah is offering some great prizes and discounts for competitors. Registrations close 6th of June so head on over and register to join in the fun!

For all the details click HERE.

Creating......hair puffs

2010-05-15T14:41:00.000+10:00

Well Charlotte is growing so fast...and so is her hair. With all those gorgeous curls it is starting to get a bit on wild side. So I decided to have a go at making a few hair clips for her. I pulled out some left-over fabric and tried a few flower 'puff' designs. Mum had given me a few buttons that you can cover with fabric so I had a go at fabric covered buttons too. I had crocheted some flowers a while ago so they were not safe either.

Here are some of the results...

And being modelled by the lovely Charlotte...

I have never (ever) been much of a girly-girl but having a girl after two boys I think may have mellowed me somewhat. I am loving making all these little girly things.

Thanks for looking......take care!

Baby shower cupcakes

2010-04-17T10:27:00.001+10:00

I have gone a bit cupcake mad lately. First little roses now little booties!

I have just made these for my friend Skye's baby shower.

I found this awesome tutorial on how to make the booties by Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella
Thank you so much Lorraine for your step by step. It was just what I was looking for!

I did it slightly differently by adding the circle of fondant, stamping 'little' into it then placing the booties on top of that.

Soooo cute.....they even tasted pretty good too.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

2010-04-01T20:49:00.002+11:00

Well yesterday Charlotte celebrated her 1st birthday.
Had a lovely time visiting Nanna Flo (who was celebrating her 89th birthday) in the morning.
Nan and Ma came over and we all had lunch together.
We had a family dinner that night with Aunty Nomes, Grandma, Damo, Annissa, Nan & Pop and the rest of us.
She so enjoyed her big day - she went to sleep as soon as her head hit the mattress.
Here are some pics of her day...

Nan and I made the cake - well it was mostly Nan I only made the teddy bear and the roses from icing. It didn't last too long anyway...

Take care ...

Creating.....cupcakes!

2010-03-20T14:38:00.003+11:00

Well Charlotte's 1st birthday is coming up very soon and so I got to thinking I might have a go at making her birthday cake or some cupcakes for it - so yesterday I made up a batch of cupcakes and decided to have a trial run.

I have always wanted to try making the little edible roses so off I went and came up with these...

Still needs some practise but not too bad for a first timer (I thought anyway).

I had been to a wedding expo last weekend and saw some embossed cupcakes and thought what a great idea - so I got out my cuttlebug embossing folders, some stamps (all freshly cleaned of course), cookie cutters and some ready-made icing and got experimenting.

and here's the results.....

I love how they turned out and they were so much fun to make.

Will definitely be making some for Charlotte's birthday!

Have a great weekend!!

Look who's walking!

2010-03-06T16:57:00.000+11:00

Yes Charlotte has started taking steps!!! Very exciting....

She thinks she is sooo clever and her big brother is just so proud of her. She has only taken a couple in succession but I'm sure it won't be long til she's toddling everywhere. Can't believe there's only a couple more weeks until she is 1 year old.... how time flies when you're having fun.

Have been a bit slack blogging lately but will have more craftiness soon...take care :)

Happy Birthday Lisa's blog

2010-02-12T11:40:00.001+11:00

Lisa's blog is one - well done Lisa on this wonderful achievement!!

In celebration, Lisa is giving away this fabulous blog candy. How great is that!

You can check out Lisa's wonderful work here.
Many happy returns...

Online Class with Chelle

2010-02-10T14:40:00.003+11:00

Don't faint with shock - I know I have posted something twice in two days!!

Last Friday I got together with Sarah and Tanyah and did an online class with the wonderful Chelle from Chelley Bean Designs.

We learnt how to make these 'Spectacular Spirals' flowers and created a step-by-step layout too. It was the first time I had done an online class and I had such a great time - even with Tan misbehaving :) - just jokin' Tan!

Chelle is doing the free class again on Friday the 26th of Feb. at 7:30pm (that's Qld time).
If you are interested you can register here or check out Chelle's blog.

Here's my finished layout - my spiral flowers weren't quite as 'spectacular' as Chelle's but I have been practicing and they are getting there. I just loved these photos (even though I did feel a bit bad while I was taking them) and loved that the class used multiple photos so I could fit them all in (really like the 2up size too)!

Thanks for looking and hope you are all having a great day!

Single layout kit

2010-02-09T23:13:00.001+11:00

Here's my next kit for Tanyah at Scrap 'n' Craft with T.
This is a single layout kit using some more of the Fancy Pants Vintage Valentine paper. I hand-made an embellishment for it too (the pleated fabric strip) :) Step by step instructions are on Tanyah's blog if you're interested.
You can find it HERE.

The layout has one of my favourite photos of Charlotte and myself not long after she was born - I can't believe how fast she has grown up - she is almost standing by herself and it's only 2 more months til her first birthday!

Take care...

New Card Kit for sale.

2010-02-03T11:30:00.000+11:00

My first ever DT kit is now for sale at Scrap 'n' Craft with T.

The kit makes 5 cards and uses the yummy Fancy Pants Vintage Valentine Range. It was the first time I had used kraft papers (shocking I know) but I really loved working with them. Tanyah at Scrap 'n' Craft with T has very generously shared the full instructions here on her blog.

Here are the cards you can make:

The kit is VERY reasonably priced at $9.00 and can be found here.

Thanks for looking and letting me share my excitement, I hope everyone is having a great day!!

Holidays over.

2010-01-30T10:00:00.001+11:00

Yes - holiday time is over!

This week we made lamingtons in honour of Australia Day from scratch! I had never done it before so wasn't sure how they would turn out but they tasted just like bakery ones (gotta love packet cake mixes). Sebastian was my chief mixer, dipper and sprinkler and did a great job.

Tony and Sebastian went back to school this week. Hard to believe my little man is now in year 1.
Here he is heading off to school on his first day - wonky sock and all :)

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and are settling back into routine well.
I've actually managed to get some scrapping done lately so will share that soon...

Take care 'til next time.

Card sample for Scrap N Craft with T

2010-01-15T16:08:00.002+11:00

Hi all!
This week saw my first design team post for Tanyah at Scrap N Craft with T .
It included a step by step and a sketch for the card below using the Fancy Pants Vintage Valentine cards.

This card was designed to be a nice and simple card to do, achievable for all levels of ability. I love using the Fancy Pants cards (or any other journalling cards) because they make card making so quick and easy.
For the step by step instructions and details you can visit the Scrap N Craft with T blog.

Take care and happy crafting...

Exciting news

2010-01-02T12:17:00.002+11:00

I've been waiting to announce this until it was official and today it is so here it is (and no I am not pregnant . . . lol) . . . . . . .

I'm on a design team!!

The lovely Tanyah from Scrap 'n' Craft with 'T' has asked me to be on her design team. This is huge for me because I have never been on design team before and it was one of my goals for this year. I am so looking forward to being a part of her team and just hope I can help out and keep up :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone - hope you all had a safe and happy start to the year (personally I watched the fireworks on telly with the kids at 9:00pm and fell asleep with them shortly after...must be getting old). Looking forward to what the new year brings.

Stay safe and well...

Christmas creations

2009-12-28T10:30:00.001+11:00

Hi all,
I hope everyone has been having a safe and blessed Christmas. We had a very cruisy Christmas day - the rest of my crew were not feeling 100% (tummy bug) so I went to church in the morning and we just had a quiet day at home which was nice no rushing around the place. It was Charlotte's first Christmas and just had to share this pic of her ...

Also just thought I'd share some things I have made in the last week or two.

Cookie Gifts
Here are some homebaked biscuits I made with Sebastian as gifts for our neighbours, he was the official cutter outer-er.

The recipe was just for plain shape biscuits but we thought they looked a little too plain so we decorated them with white chocolate and some silver sprinkles, then wrapped them in some cellophane and tied with a nice ribbon. We did try a couple just to make sure they tasted ok....and they did!

Quick Money Wallet
I gave a couple of people some money for Christmas this year (I know - not very imaginative) and didn't just want to put money in a card or envelope so I made up a couple of very quick money wallets.

Here's a quick step by step:
1. Cut two strips of 3"x7" patterned paper. (For my outer layer I used a gorgeous love elsie self-adhesive fabric sheet)

2. Place paper back to back and sew around the outside, then fold in the middle.

3. Tie some ribbon around the middle then add the money! All done.

Hope everyone is enjoying their time together - stay safe and well.

That time of the year.

2009-12-15T21:10:00.007+11:00

What a busy time - school finishing, end of year functions, family get togethers...

With everything that is going on I hope everyone is keeping safe and well.

Just thought I'd quickly share the covered notebooks I made for my son Sebastian's Kindy teachers this year (yes he had 4!). They are really easy - I'd encourage anyone to give them a go.

Step 1. Choose a notebook of your liking.

Step 2. After choosing your papers, cut the background paper to the size of the notebook.
I also cut a 4x6 inch contrasting piece of paper - you could even use a photo instead of paper.

I lined up the holes of the notebook against the background paper and punched them out. If this seems a bit fiddly you can just cut the background paper short of the holes. To get the paper over the spiral binding I cut slits in the paper (see below).

Step 3. You can now embellish the papers as you like, do as much or as little as you like -
I machine sewed borders around the papers (sew before you attach to the notebook), added a button, stamped butterfly, strip journaled a poem and used Adornit tiny pink alphas to add a title.

Then attach to the notebook - I used doubled-sided tape (and glue for the spiral edge).

Step 4. Add a personal message to the inside cover.

The finished product.

Well I hope that is understandable - let me know if you want anything cleared up.

Enjoy and take care!

My first post ...

2009-12-06T14:19:00.008+11:00

Hi all! Welcome to my blog.

It has been a long time coming but I have finally made the leap into the blogging world.

I see this blog as being a place where I can share my crafty creations and a little part of my life too. (Hopefully) it will also be a place to encourage those that may be new or just starting out in papercrafting.

So enjoy the ride and feel free to come and say Hi!

Look forward to sharing some stuff soon.