Four from One

Hi from our house to yours,.....the last two weeks has been a busy mix of exciting events. The long weekend for us was a hiking trip to the Gaibraltar Range National Parks near Grafton. and i'd love to show you some pics of our beautiful country Australia. Cards are comming ..LOL. Both Dave and I were leaders for the D group kids in our church which is the easiest hike and the ages ranged from 10 to 16 year olds, D did around 13km over the weekend. all our food clothes sleeping gear tents water etc was in or on our packs....mine weighed 13kilos and Dave was 19 ....he had both his and my food! but the good thing about D hike is a 4 wheel drive took our tents and bedding on to the next camp site each day. There was about 200 young people and leaders who did the different hikes over the 4 days.

This is saturday morning where we had sabbath worship all together before seperating into the different grades....this over looked a beautiful water fall.

This was our hardest part of the hike battling the scub to get in to our next camp site.

Helping the kids cross creeks.

This was one of our camp sites, on a semi dry swamp....we had to clear our own site each night, put up and down our tents and collect fire wood and water ...each of the kids had there own little camp stove and made there own meals.

We climbed this rocky out crop called a spur following pink markers so no one would get lost and each of us had to carry a rock up to the top to put on an altar ....some of the leaders talked to the groups about the faith of Noah. It started to rain and as they were telling the story, a sunny patch came out then a Rainbow right at that moment in the story....it was so cool and had a great impact! God is so good!

Our D group.

And yes it did rain on us but looking back even though it was a bit of a pain it kept the cold weather at bay. We were wet, muddy, stank like smoke, had'nt had a shower all weekend, dug a hole to go to the loo but hey i guess these are the things that help build who we are! this is us heading back to base camp and them off home with a car load of kids....and to eat the goodies i stashed in the car LOL!!! i managed to avoid any leeches thanks goodness eew they are so gross!! That same week we had our schools music night which our son and daughter played in the band and our oldest daughter sang ...one was here HSC peice and did a beauiful job...got to bed at 12 midnight and up again at 3.30am to drive her and a friend 4 and a half hours to Avondale open day for Uni next year....oh for some sleep................was a great day though and shes really keen to do Primary teaching! woohoo......Oh and i better mention the cards for the week. This set i made for class from one peice of 12x12 scrapbook card. A shoe, Small purse, Nugget purse and a card....also had left over to punch the flowers to decorate the shoe. I cant share the shoe pattern i made but here is one i found on the net by Ellen. I didnt use the inner pattern. The other patterns are here below. adjust them to all fit on one 12x12. Enjoy and till next post...Luv 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 105:24

All dressed up double take

Hello from our house, its cold and rainy out today and were suppose to be hiking for the long weekend..mmm not looking good so far forcast says it will be like this till after the weekend but things could change i must be positive! Well how proud of myself am i getting Mondays class to you all so early! LOL I made this Iris folded dress pattern way back in 2004 which seems like forever ago because so much has happened in our lives scince then. Im calling this post a double take because im showing you what you can do with those left over cutouts after you've completed the IF card. So after you've cut the dress out carefully with a shar craft knife . stamp the card front then go ahead and Iris fold following the numer pattern. I added some small stickers to the dress to add detail and kindy glitz glitter over some of the stamping. Now heres what you can make with the cutout!

Cool Hey! below you'll find both patterns for the Iris Folding and the mans suit. I cuttlebuged both these to add dimension and ran over the dress in a shimmery pearl Brilliance ink pad, and with a tiny flower and leaf punch gave them some pretty flowers. we also did these in blue shades and they looked beautiful. Heres a close up and the pattern.


I hope this has inspired you as it did others at my card making group.....Valita

and a last thought

I try to find common ground with everyone
so that i might bring them to Christ.
1 Corinthians 9:22

Diamond fold card and another monday

Hi everyone, Im late getting mondays class out again....but here it is. We had fun trying this diamond fold card. The Youtube video tutorial on how to make this is found here. Please note this is not me on the video as some have thought. LOL. If you cant veiw youtube here is a link to circle of crafters Judith has a pattern there just scroll down.
I love the scallop punch which i made this center flower with, i bought it not long ago and i know it will have many uses.....a great investment. The leaves were made using ribbon. Ive had a few people ask me how i made the flower scince i posted this so ill add this short tutorial for you.

Using a scallop punch out make cuts into the center without loosing any petals.

Using your shaping tool and a padded mat press the petals so they curl up.

On each petal make a half turn then add a center, gliter etc

I hope this has helped.....Heres a pic of the second card.

This is a great shadow box stamp from Impressive stamps Australia. It can be used in so many ways. I added punches over the stamps and 3d the lady bug.
I have to say thankyou to Mel for the you rock my socks bolg award she gave me and would love to pass this on to...well i cant give it back to Mel cause at the moment shes just rocked my socks right off!! LOL...so I'll pass this on to Chrissy. You rock Girl! thankyou for the inspiration you have given me and many others....Luv Valita


Well its just a quick post today but I'll leave you with this .....Valita

a last thought
What Is Faith? It is the confident
assurance that something we want is going to happen.
It is the cerntainty that what we hope for
is waiting for us, even though we canot see it up ahead.
Hebrews 11:1

Fishing Basket

Hi everyone! At Monday's card class I taught the ladies how to make these cute fishermans baskets for the men in their lives and wanted to show you also. I made this pattern a few weeks ago now and racked my brain how to add the embleishmenst to it. I finally came up with the fishing floats. The whole card was embossed with the cuttlebug and inked over to bring out the embossing. The faux hole in the basket lid is just cut from card stock and edged in black ink. I used 2 word window punch outs for the latch strap and the slot punch to make a buckle. The floats were made with a circle and egg shaped punches and the fish are a cuttlebug die. The handle of the basket is a lenght of ribbon not too long or it will flop over, which is taped onto the back of the basket lid before you attach it to the body of the basket. So here are some pic to explain.
This is the buckle i made using the slot punch, really easy and the size worked well with the width of the word window punches.

Here's a close up of the embelishments i added to the basket.

The fish were a cuttlebug die with a goggle eye added and a real hook through its mouth, and the floats were made with the small circle and egg shaped punches. First punch them in white, this is the base. Then punch then in red and blue and double punch then (using the punch upside down) to get those moon shapes. Glue these onto the white base shapes and edge then in black ink. Then add some thin strips of card to either end one over the top end and the botton one gets glued under to give it the illusion of a3d float. I hope ive explained this ok. If you'd like to see Debby's great version of this go here and take a peek. And another link here to see Djolet's. And Kberone's here. these are great ladies!
We also made this motor bike card.

Well it was another great monday card class which i know the ladies enjoyed and i know you also will enjoy the pattern below. And before i go i thought id show you my latest puppet ive just finished for a teacher at an Aboriginal school. I made her first puppet some time ago and she wanted a mate for it.and here's the fishing basket pattern, enjoy......Valita

Here's some pics from others who have made this card all are fantastic. The ladies purses were made by a lovely lady called Wies and i love here take on this pattern click here to see her wed site.....

and a last thought

Men have trained or can train every kind of animal
or bird that lives and every kind of reptile and fish,
But no human being can tame the tounge.
If you are wise live a life of will pour forth.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all
pure and full of quiet gentleness. Then it is peace loving and courteous.
Whole hearted, straghtforward and scincere.
James 3:7,8,13,17

Kreative Blogger Award

Regina from Germany surprised me today with this kreative blogger award. Thankyou Regina its so nice to be recognised for the talents we have which is why ive chosen Dawn, Nancy and Joanne.
These ladies have also inspired me with their creativity. Its hard to beleive that ive had over 60,000 hits just scince november last year thankyou to all those who subscribe to my blog, have bought my fresh fold sets and left me lovely message ....Valita

13th Birthday

Hi everyone, yesterday was our babies 13th birthday. Can't believe we dont have any little kids in the house now ...all teenagers! i spent most of friday fluffing around with making a card, cake and getting pressies wraped and cooking extra food. I used my spellbinder nestability set of dies to make the scalloped circle and cut the shape of a rat then ran it through the cuttlebug. The little mouse is a cuttlebug die...Our daughter has mice and rats as pets and this card is Lelia her rat and Jerry her mouse. It was a fun card to make and she loved it. I said to all the kids i was going to make then a speacial cake for their birthdays this year and Mad's birthday is first off the rank. She wanted a rat cake ....well do you know how hard that was to picture!....i eventually did a google search and found a cute clipart pic and then turned it into a cake. heres what i came up with.

Cute hey! ...I thought so, i just couldnt bring myself to make some weird rat cake. Anyway i had it all finished and Dave said it has to have a peice of cheese...even though they dont eat cheese, so i made a wedge of cheese and placed plenty of choc poos in the appropriate place LOL.

Madaleine loved it and it was so yummy too! It was a great day as being sabbath makes it even better. We always have Daves mum over to celebrate our birthdays ..heres a pic


Later we went out for dinner and on to the ice skating rink which we hadnt done for years. It was such a fun night.well i hope you've enjoyed a little peek into a happy day.....Valita

and a last thought

And may you be able to feel and understand,
as all God's children should, how long,
how wide, how deep, and how high His love really is.
Ephesians 3:19

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