Mens Work Apron

Hello everyone, this week has been yet another blur of bussiness. Still on the topic of mens cards which sounds a bit untimed as mothers day has just been ....Happy mothers day to all mums...my monday class produced this fun mens work apron. Not my original idea but my twist on it and once again I was inspired by the many talented people from the Splitcoaststampers forum. I did faux stitching around the edges and then inked them. The tools are all sizzix dies.
I was so glad my DH took some pics of our Dahlia tree out in bloom a couple of days ago as yesterday afternoon we a a bad hail storm and it tore the petals to shreds....heres a pic before the storm. It's a beautiful flower but quite fragile. It grows from a bulbed root similar to a small Dahlia flower and grows up higher than our house roof before it will bloom. the flowers hang down. well today's post is short and sweet but before i go heres a pic of the second card we made on monday and the pattern for the mens work apron, enjoy.....Valita

Here's one that made by Shona

and a last thought

He calms the storms and stills the waves
what a blessing is that stillness.
psalms 107: 29,30

Golfing Card and Golf Tee Gift Box

Hello everyone, Mondays seem to race around for me. This week we had fun making this Golfing card and gift box. The Golf Tee Gift Box is not my original idea but inspired fron a talented person from splitcoast stampers. I tried to find her original one but could'nt sorry whoever you are but thankyou so much for sharing your talent. The golf ball and backing plus box flap were embossed using cuttlebug and i didnt have a tee stamp so i made this a stamp out of some foam which worked well. The letter U if from one of my sizzix alphabet sets called Boxed Brush and the grass is a punch. I bought a pack of 100 golf tee's at a great price off ebay and just had enough for the lesson. The box is closed using a strip that wraps around the box and then decorated with the ball, tee and grass. Ive inked around all the edges except the ball, punched 1/4 inch holes for the tees to sit in and added some Crystal shred around the tees to imitate grass. It was a fun project for the ladies which I'm sure the men will love. Here's a pic of the box open.

The dimensions of the box are differnt to the original i seen because of the length of the tees i bought which were 7cm long. So you would have to take that into concideration when you make your own. Well i hope this has inspired you to do something for the men in your life as i know this can be quite hard where card making is concerned.

and a last thought

Don't you realise that you choose your owm master?
Romans 6:16

Fiskars Emboss plate and your Cuttlebug

I recently came across a blog showing how to use Fiskars emboss plates in the cuttlebug machine . most of us have some of these plates poked away which looked like a great thing at the time but we didnt use them to their full, Classic case for me. Scince then the cuttlebug has made embossing so easy. So when i found this idea i thought great! i'll drag out those old Fiskars plates i have and see if this really dose work. I was so pleased with my results that i want to share with you what i found works really well. I hunted around the cheap shops for some silicone baking products that had a flat bottom and eventually found this baking sheet for $5 ...bargin because i have a heap left over after I've cut it to the size of the spacer plates .

So here's what i did. Make sure the silicone product you choose is flat. This baking sheet is flat on one side and the other has a slightly rough texture. Cut the siliconre to the size of the cuttlebug spacer plate. heres a close up of the thickness of the silicone done on a ruler with inches.

So once you have the silicone cut to size the sandwich gose like this. Place your A spacer in the cuttlebug machine
Then your Fiskars texture plate with the side you want to emboss facing up.

then you card
Then the silicone sheet...smooth side down...you can see here in this pic the texture of the rough side
lastly lay your C spacer on top

This completes your sandwich. Now run it through the cuttlebug. I didn't even have to use a piece of card as a shim. The silicone was the perfect width and it worked so well. heres a pic of the finished embossing. Remembering that the Fiskars plates are not etched as deep as the cuttlebug emboss folders so the embossing comes out a little less prominent but done perfectly.

Please remember whatever you run through your cuttlebug that is not designed for that machine is done at you own risk so take it easy the first time you run it through as the silicone you choose may be a different thickness as was Tamara's found here. well i hope i have helped inpsire you to use some of those prducts to there max as i have....now im off to see what other Fiskars plates there are that i dont have yet!......Valita

and a last thought

He has removed our sins as far away
from us as the east is from the west
Psalms 103:12

A little bug TOAD me!

Hi everyone, im back from my camping/cook weekend and survived! we did get some rain for the first day and night but it wasnt heavy then the rest of the weekend was beautiful. It was the Camporee for the north NSW division of the pathfinder groups and about 600 kids attended...lucky i was only cooking for 24! Beautiful country at Buccarumbi near Grafton and we camped on the banks of the Nimboida river, which was cold. Lots of memories and good times made with our group. Well i thought id share mondays card lesson with you again. I have to say i am not the original creator of this card, I first seen the card made by Chris ( you can see her card here) on the splitcoaststampers forum and she kindly said i could share a pattern which ive made so i could teach my class. Inside the card it says "its your day Happy Birthday". All the info is on the pattern below...so heres a pic of our camp site and the pattern for the Toad card....hope you enjoy...Valita

and a last thought
Let everything alive give praises to the Lord!
Psalms 150:6

Mens Wallet card

Hi all, well its Monday again and im going to share todays card lesson i did with my group of ladies. I am always inspired by so much talent on the splitcoaststampers forum and this card was one of them. We are still in the thick of making mens cards which i sometimes find hard to come up with ideas. This card was really quick and easy and would look great in girly colours also. Inside you could put some money, a gift card, photo, etc for those guy's that are hard to buy for or those teens which would just rather some money for thier birthday. Some surfy style wallets would look great! I added faux stitching around the outside of the main wallet and around the wallet flap. Also adding a brad for the clip and a little velcro dot under that to keep it shut. I edged it all in black ink inside and out. Here's a pic of the inside with my play money inside for demonstration purposes.

I marked the middle of each folded half and punched a 1 1/4" half circle. I attached the wallet flap inbetween the main card and the inner pockets. Please note my measurments for the pattern are in centermeters not inches .
My DH was so kind to make me 25 pricking tools so all the ladies could use these for different lessons. I found that it was cheaper to buy a pack of large saftey pins then the same size needle i needed... then we clipped the pointed end off with pliers and set them in peices of dowl. They work really well.

Ive had a few requests asking how i made these tools so heres how.....I used 2 inch long safety pins and dowl the size of a pencil round. Cut off the pointed end of the safety pins with some large pliers. Next cut down your dowl to a lenght that suits the purpose and hammer a small nail into the end (make sure you hammer it in straight or your needle wont be). Pull the nail back out with some pinchers and you now have a hole for the needle. use a good strong glue ....i used Araldite, and put some of this on the blunt end of the needle then in the hole at the end of the dowl....leave standing up for the glue to set and its as easy as that!

And my friend Rita bought me in some beautiful lillies which.... oops ive already forgoten the name of them....if anyone knows let me know please! and below you can find my version of the wallet card pattern...take care and think of me this weekend on a camping trip cooking for 24 kids....hope it dosent rain or im in the car to sleep!...Valita

a pic of the second card we made today.

a wallet card made by Janet :)

And a last thought

Look at the lillies! they don't toil and spin
and yet Solomon in all his glory
was not robed as well as they are.
Luke 12:27

Mens Jacket Card

Hello, i thought id share monday's class with you all. I had fun designing this card and like i said in the post for the mens ties ...to save your tie cut out ...well this is what it was for. I had 19 Ladies in my class on monday and i was glad my 2 dauhters came to help....school holidays for them at the moment. We've been doing mens cards as we always seem to struggle with those. below are some pics of the jacket without the tie and instructions to make it. Plus the other card we made in class......take care...Valita

and a last thought

Oh, revive us! then your people
can rejoice in you again.
Pour out your love and kindness on us,
Lord, and grant us your salvation.
Psalms 85:6,7

Prizes Won at the Annual Show

Hello, well what a weekend. Our Valley area has just had its Annual River District Show for 2008.
So this year we decided to enter some of mine and my Daughters creations in the pavlian. To our surprise we won quite a few.....My daughter in the under 12's won first in Sew bag section, First in Crochet artical, First in Jewellery, and second in scrapbook pages. heres her pics


I won First in Jewellery, First in scrapbooking, First in Any other article, which was a star book i made for my daughter. Second in cardmaking, Second in Jewellery, and Second in Boiled Fruit cake. which you can find my recipe here. Third in the Toy section with my kermit puppet i made. heres the pics.
It was fun to see them all on display with many other talented creations and i think my daughter has some more big ideas for next year. Our church also ran a Heath Hut where for free you can have your blood preasure and sugar levels checked by some nurses form our church and this year they also did stress tests. Its a great outreach to the community and many of the show workers use this to get their annual check. Our puppet group used there Charcter heads to walk through the people and promote the health hut. My husband was in the boy here and he did a fantastic job ...although he made some babies cry!! but charmed a whole lot of others!!! Our Pastors wife had a go in the girl i think she loved it!!!

It was a great weekend and our Pathfinder group(kids aged 10-16) did the show cleanup as a fundraiser today which helps pay for there trips camping through the year.Well i hope youve been inspired yet again as we all have been...until next time God Bless..and stress less!!....Valita

and a last thouht
I strain to reach the end of the race
and receive the prize for which
God is calling us up to heaven because
of what Jesus Christ did for us.
Philippians 3:14

Mens Tie

Hi all, its cold and rainy here today, perfect for another fun post for you all to try. We made this mens tie card at my lessons on monday and all the ladies had another great morning. When you cut out the tie save the shape for a post comming soon. Before attaching the finished front to the card i added a brad for the tie pin and punched some circle tags that were tucked under the card front. Below is a pic of the other card we made on monday and the patterns for the ties....I aslo won card of the month on the Busy Bec site for my spellbinder nestability dies card....got to choose a free large die as my prize, how cool is that.....hope your day is full of creativity...Valita

and a last thought
Scince the Lord is driecting our steps,
why try to understand everything
that happens along the way?
Proverbs 20:24

Arte y pico award

Hi all, another busy week has gone by with the bike camp going off great. All the kids rode really well and it was a happy day all round. I sat down at my laptop to catch up on email etc and found Chrissy had awarded me with the Arte y pico award....it was a nice surprise and thankyou so much Chrissy. Like Chrissy i only started my blog in november last year and to see so many hits and beatiful comments is fantastic....thankyou all for the support.



Here are the Rules
1. you pick 5 blogs that you think deserve this award for there creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging comuminty, no matter the langage.
2. Each award has to have the name of the athor and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by ever one.
3. Award winner and the one who has given the prize has to show the link of arte y pico so everyone will know the origin of this award.
4. to show the rules
the blogs I chose are Angela, Tracey, Sonja's, Papaer stamps sissors and Mels stampz
these blogs have all inpsired me and its great to be able to just say thanks......Valita

Cardmaking Lessons begin

Hi all, i hope you all had a great easter and stuffed yourself with that yummy brown stuff....i had some but can honestlly say ive ridden it all off on the bike as we have a 52km bike ride comming up and Dave and I have been in training...looking forward to it. Well monday kicked off my first cardmaking lessons and after much planning and buying and more planing and cardmaking...you don't realise how much there is to do !!!.... it all went really well. heres a pic of my son Ben and daughter Madaleine helping me sort card and stuff...Poor Ben we found out his collar bone was broken from his fall off his bike, but he's in there hepling just the same....luv ya mate!!
I had 15 ladies attended and they all had a lovely time and enjoyed the cards they made. So now its a matter of keeping the ideas rolling. I just thank my husband Dave and the kids for supporting me always in all the projects i take on they are my number one fans and supporters....luv'em to bits!...and Beth came home today on cloud nine....she had got 100% in her advance English assignment ...you go girl !!!!!!!!!so proud of you. Funny how the weeks sweep from everything going hay wire to some really great stuff! pays to trust God in all that life throws at us......God is Good!
hers some pics of my class.



and pics of the cards we made....this first one was made using mini patty pan wrappers, flatterned and cutting slits into the center to fan out to petals then layered up. I got this idea from a talented lady on the splitcoaststampers forum . the second youve already seen found here

thanks for looking and i hope you gain another cool idea to use. Ive got a heap of food shopping to do tomorrow for this bike day....feeding 24 of us a good breaky and lunch on the go. Valita

and a last thought
For this great God is our God forever and ever.
For He will be our guide even to the end.
Psalms 48:14