Optical Illusion background

 I was inspired by Natasha Foote's optical illusion background in her video the other day -  (see it Here) and decided I needed to try it out.   

My first sheet... I did my drawing a little small - ended up only doing part of a panel and die cut it out

I did change it a bit by colouring in some of the spaces rather then add more lines.  I die cut out a circle.  I used a Couture Creations scalloped die to layer behind my circle.   Added some sticker flowers around the edge.   I added a love die cut word.  It was an unbranded die I got for $2.99.  I cut it once from black card and one out of some foiled card.  I cut the heart part out and layered it over the black.   Added a little part of a pre-printed sentiment. 

For my second card I did my drawing larger and used a purple gel pen.  

I did some partial die cutting to make my panel a little narrower and matted with some black.  It looked a bit stark on the white card so added some texture with an Altenew 3D folder.  Added the panel and an ephemera butterfly. The sentiment is one from LDRS - It's one stamp with lots of sentiments that you then die cut.  

I'm entering this into the Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp - anything goes...

Had lots of fun doing this technique. Nice to try something new.  

Be my Valentine

Hi there, it's my day to share a card for the January challenge at Die Cut Divas,

 We have an awesome new sponsor, none other than Lawn Fawn!

The challenge is Valentines - make a project for Valentine's Day

And the prize - Lawn Fawn is providing a $25 gift card.

I picked up a cute Lawn Fawn die set just before Christmas.   So here's what I did 

The die set "Candy Hearts" is super cute.   I die cut the sentiment dies in different tones and shades of purple.  I die cut the plain layer with white card and the the IOU from red so I could layer in the red heart.  I found some pretty patterned paper and used another shade of purple for the lower part of the card.   I used a sentiment from a Clearly Besotted stamp set.  I decided it needed a little something more so die cut a Spellbinder's edge die and added some gems along the top.  

We would love to have you join us at Die Cut Divas. 

Gina K monthlty Challenge - Jan 2023 Pencil resist.

 Over at Gina K Facebook page the Jan monthly challenge is underway.  Each month a Gina video is showcased.   This month the video is one of her 5 minute card ones... Pencil resist ( see it HERE)

I CASE'd Gina's card - using an older set called Warm Spring Wishes - using the butterfly. 

I stamped the butterflies and then added white Prisma pencil to the butterflies and then did a faux torn edge technique using some Altenew inks.  I added a little more white pencil over the wings.  I got a tad excessive with my Pinkfresh Iridescent gems but who doesn't love some bling!  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy crafting.  

Techinques you may have forgotten about ---

Carol set the challenge for our NZ swap group - techniques you may have forgotten about.... and she gave us a few videos from Justine Hovey and Ingrid Blackburn - Techniques we often forget.... 

I really loved watching all the videos and seeing lots of techniques I haven't used in a while.  - I decided on two techniques  - stamp kissing and the faux torn edges one. 

 I started by doing the stamp kissing.   My original idea was to use a purple ink but it just didn't work so pulled out my Altenew inks - Frayed Leaf to stamp the plan layer of Rosie's Studio Layering Butterflies then I kissed it to a black inked Hero Arts - Medley Background stamp and stamped it onto a white piece of card.  I then trimmed and layer it with some soft green card.   Next I trimmed a white panel  and it the faux torn edge.  I used a large post it note that I tore in half to mask the top and bottom.  I then inked up the HA background in Altenew Grey Denim and stamped over the masks.  I lightly blended some green ink over the edges.   The sentiment is stamped int Versafine Onxy Black - it's from the Rosie's Studio set.

I'm sure I'll be remembering to use some of these techniques in the future.  

Happy Anniversary to my Hubby

 Today is our 45th wedding anniversary.   Where has the time gone?  

Here's the card I made for hubby.

I used a design I saw on my friend Linda's blog   I used some patterned paper. stickers and a pre-printed sentiment.  I stuck to the stickers to white card and fussy cut them before adding to the card, 

First Christmas card for 2023.

 Yes.... first Christmas card for 2023.  Christmas Kickstart challenge called for Stenciling or Masking.  I had a little bit of time this afternoon - had to go inside as the sun was shining and the heat was up there.  

I used two stencils for this one. I started by using a wreath stencil from Creativ8 - used a light green Altenew ink, shifted the stencil a little and did it in a darker green and then shifted again and used the dark green again but a little heavier handed.  I then used a dark red and a gold gel pen to add some berries.  I then used a stencil from Faith Pocock Studios with some Altenew Silverstone ink.  The sentiment is from a freebie magazine set of dies - cut from red cardstock.    Linked to

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a good crafty weekend. 

Inspired by Gina K - Love and Hugs

I'm back from my holiday.   I arrived at 6.10am on Thursday morning after a 6hr 20 min flight.  It took about an hour to get through Customs and Biosecruity.  I had managed to get about 3 hours sleep - my flight left Perth at 6.50pm - so was rather tired.  I managed a 2 hour nap and then by 8.00pm I had fallen asleep on the couch... Hubby sent me off to bed and I slept for 10 hours... I certainly was exhausted.  

So yesterday, I managed to get into my craft room and tried out a reverse layer technique I had seen on a Gina K video.  (here)  I don't have a lot of Gina K products but do have a number of the Master Layouts.   I used ML4  Heart dies as Gina did in her sample. 

The reverse layer technique involves cutting a larger heart and layering the panel with smaller die cut below.  I used a Faith Pocock stencil to add the brickwork to the top layer and then used an Altenew Flowing Hearts stencil on a white layer that was added to the back of the other two layers.  Once it was all layered up, I added some ephemera from a Uniti pack I bought earlier in the day.  I added a pre-printed sentiment from Creative Expressions.   I was really happy with the outcome.  

As my ephemera was new I am adding this to Darnell's NBUS challenge.  

Here are a couple of photos of the grandchildren at Christmas and during our holiday 

The two of them got on so well, despite a 3 year gap in ages.   We all had a wonderful time.  And I loved my extra week with Archie when the others came home.  Lots of fun times.   And some exciting news announced by my daughter and daughter in law...

Celebrating 100 years of Vegemite by adding another Happy Little Vegemite to our family mid year...

Grace is getting promoted to big sister - Due July 23

Babies are due within 10 days of each other

Thanks for stopping by today.

Last minute gifts

 This week at Splitcoaststampers the main tutorial was a delightful Easel Note Holder.  I decided to make some last minute gifts.

I had four Post-It note pads at home and used some purple and white card to make the bases.  I had a couple of different patterned paper packs sitting on the floor next to my desk (just waiting to be put away!) so grabbed some papers to make my easel portion.   Die cut some sentiments for three and used pre-stamped and die cut bits from the Magic pile to add to the other one.  Now to make one for myself!

My bags are packed - just a couple of last minute items to go in.   We head off at around 8.00am in the morning as it will take about an hour to get to the airport and get the car parked.  Our flight is at 11.50am but the expected number of people through the airport tomorrow is around 50,000 so there will be long queues.    Everyone is super excited - on both sides of the "ditch"  - the Aussie's are over their bout of COVID (thank goodness) and we've been taking care to stay away from crowds.  

This will be my last post before Christmas - so I'm wishing all my friends and followers - a Very Merry Christmas.   Enjoy spending time with friends and family.   See you in the New Year 💖💖