Sunday 30 December 2018

Allsorts challenge blog




In view of my previous post, I plan to enter more challenges in the coming year, in the hopes that it will fire up my 'mojo'.

So - I am starting with the Allsorts Challenge blog (click on the title to link to the challenge) where

"A thank you or a focal Flower creation is wanted"


Shown above are the two cards I made a while ago that hopefully fit the theme. One day I will find a way to take photos that show sparkle and shine effectively. The centres of all the Kaisercraft paper flowers on the second card have had Stickles applied to them and they sparkle in the light.

Both cards feature the hydrangea from a Stamp-It stamp set. For the birthday card the image was stamped and heat embossed with Seafoam White powder, then the flowers coloured with Perfect Pearls mica powders. For the thank you card the image was stamped with Perfect Medium and highlighted with Pearl-coloured powder. The papers are from Kaisercraft.

Friday 28 December 2018

Bringing the Blog up to date



Reading through my preview I can see that the text that appears here at the top of each post is difficult to read, being hidden by my 'mumbat' photo. Something else that I need to address. It will be fixed ...



As the New Year approaches it seems an appropriate time to get myself back in gear. Lately I have been putting the PRO in procrastinate. Life has also thrown quite a few curve balls over the past two years but that is what life does. My 'mojo' seems to have gone on holiday some time ago and I have been waiting for it to find it's way back. Enough! The time has come to get back to doing challenges and to sort myself out, 'mojo' or not.

Time also to bring my links up to date regarding challenges etc. That will be a work-in-progress starting today. I will start by listing what I find here and will update my links 'soon'.

  • First find of the day was when I went in search of Mojo Monday. That now appears on the Poetic Artistry blog every second Monday with the linky staying open for two weeks.
  • Since I am writing this on a Friday I had better find some Friday challenges.  First find is Daring Cardmakers. I have also found the Fusion Card Challenge  These seem to open on a Thursday but that may Friday our time.
  • Another Thursday US / Friday for Australia challenge is CAS(e) This Sketch
UPDATE - for anyone that has read this far - there is now a site that has done all the work and each day posts all the challenges available. Only one 'flaw' - it is EST based so appears to be a day behind those of us here in Australia. The site is called Paper Playful .

I HAVE been making cards - for the Concordia Craft Corner group where I teach as a volunteer, and for our Social Capers group.

This is a card which I taught with both groups. It was my take on the card done for Penny Black by Jill Foster, using a Penny Black tree and Distress Oxides inks. Definitely a 'one-off' for special people, and a stamping platform was a 'must' for this. Not for the faint-hearted!
One great discovery (made by my teenage son) from this card was that you can use a Liquid Paper Correction Pen for the snow as an alternative to a white gel pen.
You can watch the video for the card shown below.




Monday 10 December 2018

Totally off topic - Hatched coffee shop

I need to link a photo to be able to post it on my favourite coffee shop's page - seeing if this works. The coffee shop? Hatched, on Moolanda Boulevarde in Kingsley. Awesome coffee, lunches and cakes, awesome staff.
If you check out their Facebook page (Hatched Coffee Shop & Drive-Thru, Kingsley) you will see their 12 days of Christmas posts.


Day 2 - two turtle doves. Showing my lack of photography skills and lack of coffee :)

Wednesday 17 October 2018

Happiness Beyond Measure - Part Two - the build


Following on from my previous post (see below), here is how to construct the tape measure. I am photographing and making notes as I go. At the end of this post I will add an instruction summary but you should probably read through the post to see what I have done first.

You will need to have printed the required images onto an A4 piece of smooth white card.

Read through these instructions, THEN cut out the images as shown (apologies for the flash reflection):
NOTE that there is an extra tab at the end of the tape - this will stop the tape pulling out of the finished measure. Cut it about 1 cm LONGER than I have here.
You might notice that I have cut off the bit that pictures the end of the tape. We will make our own end. Discard this - it is only pictured to show that I have removed it.
I have also traced a template for the black bit at the start of the tape (pictured to the right of the DAD circle here) - I will cut a piece of black card the same size but with a flap at the end and use an eyelet to attach it to the tape.

Use a black marker such as a Tombow or Distress Marker to edge the pieces (*tip - hold the marker to come up behind the piece so that if you slip it marks the back of the piece, not the front).

Cut a strip of black card such as Bazzill or American Express that is 12 inches long x 1 3/8" wide. (NOTE - if you have changed the width of your tape measure strip you will need to change the width of this black strip to match.)
Use a scoreboard to score a line 3/8" in from each of the long edges and fold back from the textured side of the card. (Mountain folds, as shown here.)


Adhere a strip of double-sided tape to the first 6 inches of each of the side flaps on the textured side. You can add more tape as needed later.

Score the black strip just over 2" from the short end (this is the length of the base of your tape measure panel). Cut notches as shown.

The next bit depends how OCD you are. You can score in all the bumps that would be around a real measure, or just have straight parts and smooth curves around the measure. Yes - of course I scored in all the bumps and ridges!




You need to cut regular notches from the taped side flaps on the black strip to make tabs that you will adhere behind the printed panels. I found it easier to cut as I went along, fitting the size I wanted, and to score grooves where I wanted. A bamboo skewer was also helpful for shaping those grooves.
I used a bone scorer to encourage the card to curve where needed. You drag the scorer along the strip as you would with curling ribbon. The strip will curl towards the side you drag the scorer against.


I am still trying to work out the best order of assembly. For my first one I worked with both sides, adhering the base of the measure to the two panels first, then the curved part. Once I reached the little notchy thing at the top of the measure I made an 'L' shape to tuck into the measure that would catch the end of the tape and catch it before it pulls out. The flap is 1 1/4" long.

I adhered the separate name circle to cover the reversed name.

It was awkward assembling the last part of the measure - I used a bamboo skewer and reached inside to press the tabs against the sides of the measure to adhere.


For my second one - pictured - I tried adhering one panel completely first. In the image below you can see the turned up flap at the end of the tape that will prevent it being pulled out.


I plan to adhere the lower left corner as pictured last, and will insert a bamboo skewer in at the corner fold to press the tabs into place. Later note - this procedure worked well - much easier than my first attempt.


Use a bone scorer to curl the tape so it coils just enough to fit in the case.
Adhere the black bit to the start of the tape as shown here and use a 'Silent Setter' or an 'anywhere hole punch' and Cropodile, or other eyelet setting equipment to set an eyelet in place.

I made a box to fit the measure from black card and silver foil board (lid). make the lid a bit larger than the box. I used an embossing folder (Sizzix Diamond Plate)  for the pattern on the lid. I also lined the box with a piece of embossed and inked card (Sizzix 25 Days of Christmas) and a die cut greeting. I put my personal message inside the lid.


Monday 27 August 2018

Happiness Beyond Measure - Part One - the printable bits.


I have been asked for a 'How to' for the measuring tape card I made recently for a very special gentleman. Every month he not only allows a group of chatty cardmaking women into his home but also helps his wife set up tables and chairs for us.

I used the programs Word and PhotoScape for the printed aspects of the card.

Step 1 was to find a suitable image. I knew I wanted a tape measure, and was happy to finally find this image:


I wanted my finished tape measure to have the tape pulling out from the left so that the message could be read as it pulled out, so I used PhotoScape to edit the image. (PhotoScape is a free photo editing software program which I love - really easy to use, especially if you have a teenager to show you where things have been moved to when you update to the Windows 10 version). This is the link for it if you are interested:
http://www.photoscape.org/

Here is my flipped image:

Yes you are correct - the wording is reversed.
So I decided to print two of the images with the wording going the right way then to cut out the circular label and adhere it to this panel. Problem solved.









Then came the "Aha" moment - instead of 'STANLEY' I could use the INSERT Text feature of PhotoScape to personalise the measure.

I used the Paint tool to 'paint' black ink over the bit that says STANLEY then added Dudley's name.


I also wanted to print a tape measure so found this image:




I used PhotoScape to remove the numbers, using the crop tool to get one measure, thus:


Then I used the dropper (found in Tools, Paint, Color) to smudge out the numbers to give me this:


Next I put all of the images I planned to use onto a Word document.
I formatted each image with Wrap Text to be 'In front of text' and formatted Size to 7 cm (feel free to make yours larger).

I stretched the blank measure to the size I wanted, and saved it as a picture.

I then inserted a Text Box with the wording I wanted - Wishing you happiness beyond measure - you deserve it!

Word has a nifty option for the text box. In the Format Shape, Fill part you can choose Picture or texture fill - choose 'insert picture from file' and insert the blank measure you have saved. Then play with the transparency option there until happy with the colour of the measure behind the text.

Easy peasy!!


 I am trying to find a way to link a printable page to this post. Until I do that, you can PM me on Facebook and ask me to email you the page.