Cool starfish Christmas

Hi all, i designed this card with an Australian Christmas in mind. it's meant to look like a star/starfish with a Santa hat at the beach....mmmm i wasn't quiet happy with the gold paper i chose ...it seemed to sit too flat. When I showed the ladies in class how to make this one we used a thicker textured Gold wrapping paper and it worked better. Instead of fold 1 i used the word window punch from Stampin up. Ive been Buying some of these great little QuicKutz dies and the glasses die was the perfect size for this project

We glued some shiny foil paper to the back of the glasses. The nestabilities dies worked perfect to create the bauble look and saved a lot of careful cutting!!
Our next card was a quick one using the idea of a smaller card on the front tied up with a ribbon. This stamp Ive had forever and is always a cute one.

Well I'm off tomorrow to the Sydney paper craft festival ....I'll fill you all in when we get back....enjoy...Valita

and a last thought

For God has not given us
a spirit of fear; But of power
and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7

10 Corner fold Christmas Patterns

By popular request these are some of my older Christmas corner fold patterns. there is no step by set instructions with these just a pic of the card and pattern....2 patterns are not pictured here made up into cards ...so you see 8 cards but get 10 patterns! you can find these for sale in my pattern blog
enjoy....Valita

Christmas cards have started

Hi all, we've settled in now to make Christmas cards till we finish up for the year with our card making group. so heres last weeks cards and pattern hope you enjoy them and gain a few more ideas.....the card above I used the nestabilities circle die to cut the circle for the bauble which made cutting a breeze.

This poinsettia card was so easy i cut free hand petals for the flower.

and the pattern to try......
Beth and I spent Friday afternoon in the garden weeding etc and it was so nice...we found this little frog ...he was so cute!! we took heaps of pics....enjoy your day and as we prepare for the busy Christmas season i pray we all at some time just stop to reflect on Jesus who came to this world for us all.

and a last thought

"The scriptures say,
Worship only the Lord God.
Obey only Him."
Matthew 4:10

40th and 50th Birthday's

Hi all, My brother in law and my best friend both had birthdays on Friday. One turned 40 and the other 50..... so i was pulled in both directions for the weekend......we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner with my best friend at our local pizza place on the river (pattern for this Finch card below) and then we were off to Inverell to the in laws 50th. This is normally a 3 hour drive but our son wanted to get some hours up with his learners license and it took us 5 hours :0 ............I think this was to teach me some patience.
This was a dress up party and was fun to spend some time with them. Here's his card and some pics ..........


This is Copeton Dam near Inverell. an amazing huge Dam three times bigger than Sydney harbour. This Pic only shows a small section of it. kangaroos everywhere in the camping grounds around the Dam and we spent the morning on their water slide with the kids...so much fun!!

This is a pic on our way home at a place called Ebor Falls. their were butterflies everywhere... beautiful country!!!

And this is the corner fold pattern for the finch card. if you have a go keep in mind that this was designed for a large card. I hope you've enjoyed this as much as we have....valita

and a last thought

But if we walk in the light,
as He is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another.
1 John 1:7

Silicone verses Fun foam in your cuttlebug

I had an email yesterday from Elizabeth asking me how the silicone mat and fun foam compare though the cuttlebug when using the Fiskars Texture plates and did some experimenting ....always fun!!!! ;)
Im very aware that many people cant find the silicone baking mats so this will be interesting for those people. Also if you have the wizard dies you could use the tan rubber mat instead of the silicone ....you may just have to play with how many shims you use as it is sightly thicker and denser . So here is what i found...use the same sandwich layers as my first post on Fiskars emboss plate and your cuttlebug This consits of:

Your A plate
your fiskars texture plate
your card
your silicone mat
and your C plate

Now if you are using fun foam you will build you sandwich like this:

Your A plate
your Fiskars texture plate
your card
your fun foam
3 layers of shim ( i use the card off the backs of the emboss folder packaging)
and your C plate.

and here are the results ..........

Now you can see there is a difference. The silicone actually left a much deeper impression which in my opinion looks nicer and the fun foam still embossed and i guess if you cant find the silicone this would be a great alternative. Here's a close up with the silicone mat on the left and the fun foam on the right.

a very clear difference especially when the fiskars emboss plates just are not etched that deep the silicone works a treat. so there you go I hope this has helped you in your crafting. A last pic.... I found this moth in the house yesterday and just loved the beautiful colours and patterns....it was only twice as big as my thumb nail...another testomy of Gods creative attention to detail and beauty. And please continue to pray for the year 12 students doing their HSC over the next few weeks Beth is doing her English exam today.

and a last thought

Lord, if you keep in mind our sins
then who can ever get an answer to his prayers!
But you forgive! What an awesome thing this is!
That is why i wait expectantly,
trusting God to help, for He has promised.
Psalms 130:3-5

Embossing with O rings

By now you must all be convinced that i am obsessed with this cuttlebug thing....LOL well maybe i am!!!! ;).... but i just love to share all these with you its just how i work....But i need to share this also. Over the last few months i have been having panic attacks which have been leaving me so frustrated. Me and my daughter just now have come back from the pool ....Ive just started my laps again for the summer season and felt this coming on. As I watch the surface of the water while i was doing my laps i felt I was getting nowhere as the wind was blowing but I felt God speak to me and tell me to look under and He said "Im guiding you"! as i looked under the water i could see i was moving forward and i looked on ahead to the end of the lane and their was the cross marked at the end of the lane He said " see Im here for you I defeated all sin and fear at the cross and so can you too! ....i think when were at our weakest God can make us strong to face what we go through.....id love to hear from anyone who goes through similar things...email me!

Now lets show you how i did these cool circles. I found a pack of "O" rings in the hardware section and wondered if they could be cuttlebugged. i only used the 4mm thinner ones marked here on the back of the pack....

this was the front of the pack........

So here's what i did ...Put your A and B plate into the cuttlebug and lay the rings in a random fashion on the B plate....

Next lay your card over the top and then your silicone mat on top of that.
opp looks like you got a peek at one that id finished...LOL

Now over this lay 2 layers of shim....(2 card backs off the emboss folder packets)
and your other B plate and roll it on through.....

and the results..........i love this part!!!!!!!!!

Cool hey!! and i made this beach card (above) with the results but to change it to a Christmas card for my class i added some bits....I thought this would suit our Australian Christmas.

and Ill show you how i made the punched shell.....using the scallop circle, punch 2 and cut off 2 of the scallops on each side leaving 2 in the middle do these together to save time.......

Now i bought the spider web folder because i liked the pattern....I'm not into anything Halloween but i knew id use that pattern for something and these shells were perfect... this is how i positioned them in the folder to get a nice shell looking pattern...

Now to colour the shell i used oil pastels...go here to see my Tutorial on this.
and these are the results....

I put foam tape between them and fanned out the top a little to make it look like the shell was opening.Here's a close up...

Hows that hey .....hope this has inspired you....oh and one last pic ....this is my daughter doing her HSC study....shes so funny and a joy to have at home....she does her hair up all weird and sits to study...i said you'll forget you've got that thing on your head and answer the door .....LOL love you sooooo much Beth ...always be yourself that's who God has designed. Love you!!!

don't ya just love her!!! LOL cant stop laughing here..........

and a last thought

Out of His glorious, unlimited resources
He will give you the mighty inner
strengthening of His Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 3:16

Sequins and Sequin waste Cuttlebug embossing tutorial

Hi all, i thought id show you these quick tutorials on how to use sequins and their waste in the cuttlebug to make embossed backgrounds. First put your A and B plates in and sprinkle on the sequins that you want to emboss in any random way .....i used stars as their still isn't a cuttlebug emboss folder with stars yet
.
Next lay your card you want to emboss over the stars and then the silicone mat over the top.

Lay 4 layers of shim over the silicone....i used the card from the back on the emboss folder packaging and then your B plate and roll through.

and here's the results..........

Cool Hey!!!.....One thing i did find was that the more you have used your B plates with dies the more marked it will get and that dose tend to emboss onto your card....you could try putting a sheet of clear acetate over your B plate before you start and that will create that smooth look again but you will have to play around with the number of shims you use. and the second tutorial is similar.... but i used sequin waste.
First put in your A and B plates. lay your sequin waste on top...a tip...this usually comes in a roll and it is so hard to make it flat so i used 2 small pieces of double sided tape to hold it down. Once again i used stars...as these will be great for Christmas cards.

Next lay your card over the top of the waste and then your silicone mat.

Now put 3 layers of shim ( 3 backings off the emboss folder packets) and then your B plate.

Roll through and these are the results...........

I love finding things to use in this machine!!! hope you have enjoyed these also....until next post ..Valita

and a last thought

"In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart I (Jesus)
have overcome
the world".
John 16:33

Punched swans tutorial and something sweet

Hi everyone, A nice cool day here today with some much needed rain. well Mondays card class has just finished ( Ive had my husband and kids helping me over the holidays which has been a real blessing) and I'm home checking my emails etc so i thought while i have a quiet moment Ill post today's cards. I have to mention this first though....we were out on the weekend and our youngest daughter lost her bag with her new i pod, phone and....you know all the stuff teenagers put in their bags well she was frantic looking for it and realized she might not get it back ....she was so up set because we had just bought her an i pod as a gift for selling so many chocolates for our fund raising for the bike for bibles ride. I was upset because i knew how sick in the gut she felt and this was while we were having our card morning with the ladies today. We always have a prayer time in our morning tea and i started to pray but cracked up when it came to mentioning the missing bag. God so knows when we need that extra support and one of my beautiful ladies stepped in and continued the prayer for the bag. She said to me latter post this on your blog when you find the bag.....and that caught my attention because it was so positive that the bag would be found. My daughter prayed and had also said to me through tears, Mum i really think the bag is at home....(we had looked everywhere!!) So when we got home i went in first and quietly told our other kids what was happening....Our son so casually say back as they do...."Oh that's in our other car we put it under the seat so it would be safe". Well Madaleine kissed and hugged him and we all breathed a prayer of thanks. God is interested in every part of our lives no matter what and we should never underestimate the power of prayer especially when we pray for and with each other. Thank you Judee I love you !! Ok now on with the swans.......

you'll need:

1 Quic kutz heart die
8 med leaf punch
1 small heart punch cut in half
1 small star punch for the beaks


Lightly edge these punch out in black


Now using small spots of glue ...i use a tooth pic... glue the first 2 leaves to the heart.

Next using foam tape stick on 2 more leaves.

Foam tape the next 2 behind for the swans tails.


And with the last 2 you will need to round off the stem end of the leaf and foam tape these as the swans wings so they cover up all the other stems.this is the main body done.

to make the heads cut the heart in half and glue in behind the curls of the heart.
i don't know why my camera started taking pink pics all of a sudden ...must of been the light angle???

Next cut off 2 points of the star and glue these pointing down behind the base of the heads. Add Small eyes with a fine marker....and i added small lines above the eyes to define the face

and your done.....just add it then to your card. here's a close up of my card

and our second card we made ...........until next post....Valita

and a last thought

Always keep on praying. No matter
what happens, always be thankful,
for this is God's will for you who
belong to Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:17,18