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

up in the clouds, stencling Tutorial and fold pattern

Hi all, wow a week has almost gone by of the kids school holidays....its been great to see them during the day and just relax together especially having Dave home on some holidays as well....a huge blessing to us all. Ive enjoyed having a play around with this cloud stencil not a new technique but a pleasing one....but be warned you will have very inky fingers and want to stencil clouds on everything LOL :)
This first card is a corner fold Japanese crane card a very quick card to make up and to make it that bit more special i stenciled the cloud background ...all patterns will be below.Note that Ive drawn 4 different cloud shapes on the one pattern for you to utilize ... so here's how i created the background.

you'll need:
a stencil...see below
Ink
a sponge
and card stock


First cut out your cloud on card which can be used for other projects. Now starting at the bottom of your card front lay the cloud in a random fashion holding firmly in place with one hand. Ink up the sponge and and sponging off in the direction shown here away from the cloud.

don't get fussy with buying expensive sponges i just use off cuts from my puppet making and they work fine. Once you have the colour depth you want move the cloud to another different random angle and sponge again.

take advantage of the 4 different cloud shapes as you go moving the stencil each time to a different shape and that will help get that natural random cloud formations.

here's the finished background....

It can take practice but you will be pleased with the results. This second card was done the same way but embossing the swirl cuttlebug folder over the finished background to give the appearance of a windy day. The kits was just folded down the middle and inked to get that black line.

and the patterns.........


I hope you have a go at these i found the stenciling a very rewarding technique and the ink dose eventually come off LOL.... until next post...Valita

and a last thought

"In Him we live and move
and have our being."
Acts 17:28

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