Embossing in a Pasta maker! ? Awards!!

Hi all, some of my Monday card ladies have asked me would the cuttlebug emboss folders work in a pasta maker and of course i had to go home and try.
And YES they do!
you need to put this on setting number 2 of the Pasta maker, the second widest setting. the only down fall is that you can't take the folder all the way through. You need to emboss half wind it out, flip it and emboss the other half but it dose a great job. The reason this idea came about was that some of the ladies didn't want to pay the big money for a machine as here in Australia they are still quite pricey but the could afford some folders. There's always another way around things, cool hey!!
Our other exciting news came this past week. Our youngest daughter came home with a Sport Ed award and was so happy...good on ya Madaleine love ya XXXXX

Doesn't she so look pleased with herself....were so proud! And our oldest daughter Beth has finally finished year 12. they had their formal assembly and last day of school on Friday and she was awarded an $8000 dollar scholarship to Avondale Uni to do Primary teaching. She was so excited because Avondale gave 3 of these to our school this year... the first school ever to get 3 given to the students in one school. And they were awarded to her friends Darren and Bethany.

So you can imagine how proud we are of the kids and how God has blessed them. Please remember them in your prayers though, in 3 weeks time they will be sitting for their HSC exams.....i made these cards for Beth and her friends and attached a pack of Kool mints to them and a note inside to encourage them for their futures.

Wow what a week God truly blesses....must go now I'm getting teary....I hope this has given you some more exciting ideas....until next post ...Valita

PS heres a hint from Sonja...

There's another option how to use the whole folder. My pasta machine has two legs on sides and one big plate on the bottom in beetwen. If you remove this plate, you can move the machine to the end of the table and let the folder run through. Without bending it. Hope this helps anyone.
Thanks for the tips Sonja much appreciated. My pasta machine is just a cheap one and it dosen't have this plate you can remove so check them out.

and a last thought

I love the Lord because He hears
my prayers and answers them.
Because He bends down and listens, I will
pray as long as I breathe!
Psalms 116:1,2

Fun with paper doilies/Baby's pram

HI all, I bought a pack of paper doilies a while back and these are a few cards we've made with them in our Monday classes.Ill also show you how to make the cute little baby pram.These backgrounds were made using the gutter guard mesh...go here to see more.



so to start you will need:

1, 2" Circle cut in half for the body of the pram
1 small paper doily for the blanket and frills... mine were 3, 1/2" across
2, 3/4" circles for the wheels
1 med spiral punch for the handle
2 brads for the centers of the wheels
2, 2" strips of card 1/4" wide for the pram legs.
Ink to edge
Cut the large circle in half. Ink the edges of all the pieces and cut a 3 section piece from the doily. Put the brads in the centers of the 2, 3/4" circles for the wheels.
Now using this 3 section piece of doily and one half of the 2" circle fold it over using double sided tape to create the blanket.

Next using the other half circle tape 2 small sections of doily behind the pram hood and a piece of foam tape to the bottom front.

Now stick these two together....

After putting your brads in you 2 wheels turn them over to the back and double side tape the legs to them.

Now the fun part....have a play with the legs and spiral handle to see which looks you like.....Ive done a few here for you to see....once your happy with it tape them on add a cute little face and mount on your card with foam tape.

See by just adjusting the length and position of the legs and also the position of the handle the different looks you can create thanks to all my lovely Monday ladies who all made theirs a little different and inspired this tutorial. Enjoy until next post..Oh by the way its our 19th wedding anniversary today..Valita

and a last thought

You can detect a false teacher by the
way they act. Just as you can identify
a tree by its fruit.
Yes the way to identify a tree or a person
is by the kind of fruit they produce.
Matthew 7:16,20

Cuttlebug and plastic tablecloth

Hi all, Ive have to show another little trick with the cuttlebug. While we were away i was looking around in spotlight and found some plastic embossed table cloth....well the light bulb goes on and i bought some to try in the cuttlebug. Go here to check out what layers i used to do these ...its the same as using plastic stencils....and these were the results......cool hey!



you may find something similar in your home ware shops, i bought 1/4 of a meter and that was plenty. These were a little thinner than a plastic stencil....I hope this can give you some more thrifty ideas....until next post...Valita

and a last thought

Come let us talk together says the Lord;
no matter how deep the stain of your sins,
I can take it out and make you as clean
and fresh as fallen snow. Even if
you are stained as red as crimson,
I can make you white as wool.
Isaiah 1:18

Faux Ribbon banner

Hi all, Ive finally caught up on some house cleaning, washing and getting things back to some sort of normality after being away. I promised I'd post some cards so here's what we made at Mondays classes. The oval embossing was done by running your card through the cuttle bug using a plastic stencil, instructions shown here. I mounted this up with foam tape to the card front. The swans were stamps and they were 3D onto the front. I seen this Faux ribbon banner some time ago ....can't remember where but what a great little trick......To make the banner cut a strip of patterned paper to the length you need Mine measured 10cm long by about an inch wide.

Make a valley fold 2 cm in from each end.

Then a mountain fold another 1/2 to1cm along depending how high you want it to sit up.

Cut a V shape from each end.

Ink the edges and put 3-4 layers of foam tape on the back middle section. This will stop it from collapsing in the center and give you that 3d effect. I also curled up the ends.

Here's a close up pic of the finished card. I added a large oval message backed with foam tape.

Cool Hey! we also did some more oil pastels on embossing. A simple card with some pretty results...a tip, if you add some kindy glitz gliter it just gives it that extra boost to the colours. I aslo met Gale for the first time from Circle of crafters. She did our class with us on Monday.Its great to finally put some faces to the names you meet and read on line....

Ive also made a start on Beth's necklace that she's asked me to make for her formal in November so here's a sneak peek at it........

This photo doesn't do it justice ...all the feature beads are crystals and it sparkles so pretty giving off lots of different colours...This is the main feature section. Well i hope you have enjoyed some more ideas...until next post....Valita

and a last thought

Our hope is in the living God
who died for all.
Timothy 4:10

An exciting week away with Bike for Bibles

Wow what a great time Dave and I have had this past week. We've been in Dubbo doing the Bike for Bibles ride that is run by the Bible Society. We spent 5 days riding and did just under 300km and met some lovely people.....This little guy in the front sat in a bike trailer and got pulled along by his mum! and another couple road a tandem shown here in the pic... we raised a good amount for the bible society which this year goes to help Aboriginal communities to train up indigenous bible workers so they can go back to their own community and spread the gospel. So some of you Im sure are asking where on earth is Dubbo...i found this reginal map to show you..... we are in the midnorth coast region on the coast and ive marked Macksville....and look over to the middle and you'll see Dubbo.


We had beautiful sunny days each day but was still cool enought to have arm and leg warmers on for most of the day. Each ride was some kind of loop in and around Dubbo ending for a break at a coffee shop. The last day was great ...our longest ride 85km, we rode to Eumungerie primary school and chatted with the kids there ...had something to eat and rode back. We got together most nights as a group and had a meal plus got to know a little more about each other.

Spring in Dubbo brings out the Magpies for their breeding season though and each day we were attacked by them at some point along the ride!!! pretty scary birds they are!! very sharp beaks and they will keep swooping at your head till you get out of their territory. Here's a pic of them.....oooooowwww :( nasty little characters they are.

The country side was beautiful....alot dryer and less humidity than on the coast where we are but they have had some rain which was so good to see. The wild frowers were out for spring and i just had to stop along the rides and take some pics. This is a wattle bush they were all along the roads and i love them the whole bush is covered with tiny little pom poms....splashes of yellow everywhere.

and a close up with a shinny little stink bug ....hes so cute!

This is a wax flower....

and i was'nt quite sure of the names of these 2....but these 3 all grow an low bushes.


On our way home beautiful patches of yellow fields meet your eye....these are canola plants which when harvested are made into canolia oil. They grow them beside feilds of wheat.


And lastly on our way home when you come through Uralla you'll see this monument of thunderbult and his horse....He was a famous Bush ranger in the 1800's but the interesting thing is he stole this horse from my husbands great great gandfather Charles Reynolds. They were race horse breaders at the time.

Well i hope you have enjoyed a peek into our trip away and if you'd like to see more click on our face book on the side panel and we found this verse Ive put here as a last thought while having our morning devotions when we were away ...ill post again soon with some more cards....Valita

and a last thought

Spend your time and energy in the exercise
of keeping spiritually fit. Bobily exercise is
alright, but spiritual exercise is much more
important and is a tonic for all that you do.
Timothy 4:7,8

Oil Pastels on embossing

Hi all, I wanted to show you how oil pastels go on the embossed card. I did this with the ladies in my Monday classes and it's just another way to colour and use different mediums of art and that great cuttlebug!!!!!

My oil pastels are just cheap ones and they work just as well. Colour over the embossed pattern...you don't have to cover it completely. Next use your finger and a little firm pressure in circular motions to spread the colour out and over the embossed area.

Notice that what you missed when you first applied the colour is now covered.
The heat and natural oils from your finger help to blend the pastels out.Here's a close up pic of it finished.

I love the vibrant colours.....a similar effect to chalks but they can be alot more subtle. Any how have a go it was fun just playing around with it....you'll end up with every finger a different colour :) LOL.....and i had to show you this....as you know the seasons have just changed, for us its now spring YAAAAA! so for all you over seas readers this has bought out the Blue tounges in our back yard from their hibernation. and our dogs let us know about it. Don't worry they don't harm them their too chicken !! the dogs just do alot of barking and the poor bluey's do a whole lot of hissing!

This one was a big fella, he looked really shinny, clean and beautiful markings. As the summer goes on they get ticks around their ears and my son catches them to get the ticks out as this can really slow them down. They eat slugs, snails etc so they are really good to have in your garden. But they will bite. when our dog Pepsie seen this one it was making its self flat to look bigger and hissing and snapping. heres a close up of it's face and you'll see why they are called blue tounges.

He was hissing and snapping at me in this shot.....and he was pretty warmed up by the sun so he was moving fast. Isnt he beautiful! how could their not be a creator God!....and another thing, pop over and see my 2 new posts in Valita's Kitchen they are 2 yummy Dairy free recepies.....enjoy and until next post....Valita

and a last thought

O Lord what a variety you have made!
and in wisdom you have made them all!
The earth is full of your riches.
Psalms 104:24

Out of this world

Hi all, today's card and pattern was inspired by a pic of a rocket ship i seen not long back so i made it into a corner fold pattern. Very easy to do as the ladies in my Monday class found out. Cut the outside of the pattern out first with a craft knife then run it through the cuttlebug and emboss the background. I rubbed a sparkly gold ink pad over mine just to make the sky twinkle. lay it over your pattern and follow the fold numbers....remember its like Iris folding...and if you need a quick freshen up go here to see some steps. add some circles for the port holes and the planet was made by double punching first the small oval and then off setting the large oval over the top and punching again and adding a 1,1/4" circle punch inside.I thought it came up quite cute....heres the pattern...

This could be a kids card or a fun adults card.....i hope you can enjoy it....must go I have alot to do....until next post...Valita

and a last thought
To learn, you must want to be taught.
To refuse refroof is stupid.
Proverbs 12:1