Punch Art Fun and Games......

Morning all.

Firstly, thank you all so much for your blog love and encouragement on my return to blogging. It was overwhelming.

Today, I am again combining a couple of projects done over the past couple of months that have a common theme. Today - Punch Art.

As most of you are aware, I was an avid punch artist before I discovered stamping, now I get to combine the two and make some fun creations.

Recently my DH's niece turned 2. I had seen this card on Andi Potler's blog and fell in love with it immediately. I had to do it for Pippa!! This is my version......

 

It went up so quickly and it is basically circles!!! It sits up nicely on dimensionals.....and the only Whisper White to be seen is the eyes!!!

 

 



Next two cards were done for a customer. They wanted a "girly robot" card for their niece and a "Russian" themed birthday card as they would be in Russia for the wife's birthday!!! God bless Google!!! This is what I found......

Girly Robot......again seen here on Andi Potler's blog.....

 

I did change a couple of things on Andi's punch list, but the majority are the same. The background of the robot is a FAB embossing folder by Cuttlebug called "Clockworks and was so perfect for this card. I also created a small "button" on the melon Mambo strip for a bit of fun. Each layer is separated by a dimensional so it is really squishy to push on.

 

 

Something I very rarely (and probably should do more of) is stamp the inside of my cards. The SU Clockworks set provided a good continuing theme for this card.

 

 

 

Lastly...the Babushka's were inspired by a Deb Fearns card seen here. This is my version of her card....

 

 

I used the punches that Deb listed, with the exception of the hair dos and the lips. The hair was achieved with (fm L - R) The mid portion of the old butterfly punch, the scallop border punch and the base of the heart punch. Here they are close up...

 

 

      

 

Now the mouth....I like to use everything.....and this is no exception. The mouth is the punch out scrap from the SU Pinking Heart Border Punch. It was PERFECT!!!

 

Thanks again for popping by and tolerating all the photos!! Two posts in a week is a good start to my new regime. It is all baby steps.

 

I am not going to list ALL the supplies used in these cards, but please, if you have any questions, please leave it in the comments and I will answer it for you.

 

Lynda xx

 

 

Some Small Piggy Smiles

Hi all.

Ever see a card and think I HAVE to do that....and then it takes forever to fin the right occasion to come around??? Well I found such a card...and such an occasion DID come up!!

I was inspired by a couple of Piglet cards here and here. The one on Carla Scraps also came with a very handy tute, so I went from there. My GORJUS niece recently celebrated her 3rd birthday and so this was her card......

I found that everyone I shared this card with smiled, and that is the best thing ever!! I did change a couple of things in Carla's Tutorial in that I left Piglets Torso a single layer and drew on his "belly". This was done by centering and tracing around a "scrap" owl punch piece. I also embossed the white oval the with Cloudy Day EF....made such a difference.

 

 

                                                                                           

 

The grass is done with the Martha Stewart Grass punch and I added the Itty Bitty Banner for the birthday.

 

 

 

To go with the card, I enclosed an UBER cute beaded bracelet/necklace and hair pin set made by my Bestie - Tracey. She is now selling sets like this and many more through e bay and Facebook under Berry-licious. She even does wee earrings too. They are so perfect for the up and coming young gal about town. Please check out her creations if you have the need for something special and unique foe a little princess.

 

 

Thanks for popping by. I so love reading all your comments and appreciate your taking the time to leave them.

 

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Whisper White, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Tea Party DSP (ret), Pear Pizzaz, Wisteria Wonder, So Saffron, Pool Party, Basic Black

Ink: (SU) Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette (also sponged on all Piglet pieces), Regal Rose SWM for mouth and belly lines

Stamps: (SU) Itty Bitty Banners

Dies and punches: (SU) Oval Framelits, Banner Framelits, Owl Punch, Bird Punch, Word Window Punch, Martha Stewart grass Punch, Carla Craft CP2 Balloon Punch and 1/8" circle punch

Other bits: SU Cloudy Day EF, Dimensionals, Double sided tape

 

Lynda xx

 

               

Walk Like an Egyptian.......

Morning all.

Apologies now to all for putting the idea of the song in your heads....but when you see the card...you will get the title!!!

I was asked to make a card by one of the doctors at work (yes...he is one of my best customers!!). He was playing the part of Best Man for 2 friends of his that were getting married. To paraphrase him, I was given the brief of......"They are both Egyptian, doctors and they have a VERY good sense of humour. Make me an Egyptian themed wedding card....and take the mickey out if it if you wish!!" How could I say no??

Once again, Google cooped a real work out as to what ancient Egyptians wore when getting married and the common theme was gold, turquoise and a LOT of jewellery....so the seeds were sewn. I wanted to make the couple with the SU Owl Punch and after much trial and error, This was the final result........

 

Needless to say, there is a LOT of punch art and a lot of sponging on this card. The camel was CASED from Ellen Kemper here. I did however downsize the camel (used Lg Oval punch instead of Wide Oval Punch, Small oval replacing large etc) as her camel was slightly too big for my card. The blanket and hump for the camel was achieved by cutting out the smallest Fancy Flower Framelit and then punching it to the "hump" shape with the small oval punch. The belly tie was a left over petal cut straight to the centre. Does that make sense? The sand beneath was sponged using a post it as a mask. Given that the newlyweds had no card to drive off into the sunset in, I hung the "Just married" sign off the back off the camel!! It was generated from the computer.

 

 

 

 

 The bride and the groom were another challenge altogether! here they are close up......

 

The groom's Pharaoh-like hat is the chest of the owl turned upside-down. I used a wide oval punch and a 1"circle punch to achieve the Cleopatra-esque hair. The eyes ideally would have been almond shaped, but hard to get even. I ran a black SWM around the edge for the "eye liner" look.

 

Finally (and thanks for bearing with me) the pyramid. I masked off the section for the pyramid and lightly sponged it with River Rock ink. Then, to get the "brick" look, I carefully cut with a craft knife bricks from the sticky part, Put that across the top, and then sponged each layer in Crumb Cake ink row by row...offsetting as I went.

 

 

I received some feedback about a week later. Apparently the card was a hit (apparently I am also to expect a phone call form the bride when she is back from her honeymoon)!! The doctor that ordered it LOVED it and the bride and groom got such a giggle

 

Thanks for enduring a detailed post. I will try to list all things used, but if you feel I have missed something or have a question please leave it in the comments with an e mail contact and I will get back to you. Thanks for popping by.

 

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Whisper White, Close to Cocoa (ret), Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede,, Pumpkin Pie Textured Taken with Teal (ret), non SU brushed gold CS, turquoise embossed paper and groom's chest piece were scrap donations from another bride's invitation!!

Ink: (SU) Baja Breeze (sky), So Saffron and Sahara Sand (sand), River Rock, Crumb Cake, Black SWM

Stamps: NONE!!!!

Punches/Dies: SU Owl Punch, Large/small/extra small oval punches, 1/4", 1/2" circle punches, Boho Blossom Punch (camel's hair tuft), Word Window Punch, Fancy Flower Framelit dies

Other Bits: Latte 1/2 pearls from stash, Post it notes (lots of them), Dimensionals, Metallic Gold Cord

 

Lynda xx

 

Angry Bird for Pre Teen!!!

Morning all.

 

FINALLY....with much patience I have rectified my issue with Picasa. I have (sadly) deleted a lot of earlier pictures from my blog. If you go to find something and the picture you seek is not there, Please do not hesitate to leave me a comment or drop me a line and I can forward the picture to you. All the information and "Stuff used" is still all there.

 

Now for today's contribution......

 

Master 12 was off to a laser tag birthday party not that long ago. The birthday boy was one of his baseball team mates. Now whilst I am at my son's game, I am known for having my craft bag not that far from me and am always putting something together. The birthday boy caught a glimpse of my previous Angry Birds cards and thought they were "cool". From a near 12yom that is high praise indeed. I got the inspiration for his card from here by the very talented Andi Potler. This is my version of her card......

 

 

It is so very simple. The road is just strips of black and white CS, a yellow sign and a punched angry bird and there you go!! Now the birthday boy is also an avid reader, so naturally I made him a matching bookmark to go with the books we bought him as a gift. I got the idea for the bookmarks here.

 

 

Here are the card and bookmark together......

 

 

I procrastinated over whether to put his name on the bookmark, but glad I did. Apparently it is not too dorky (phew).

 

Thanks for popping by and for your patience during the whole picture debacle. I promise to share some Festive fun very soon.

 

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Gumball Green, Whisper White, Basic Black, Poppy Parade (ret), Peach Parfait (ret), Yellow textured Bazzil

Ink: (SU) Poppy Parade (ret)

Stamps: Clear generic happy birthday fm stash

Punches and Dies: (SU) 2 Tags Die, 1 3/4 inch circle, Scallop Circle Punch, Horizontal Slot Punch, XL Owl Punch (eyes), CM 1 3/8 circle Punch, Carla Craft CP2 Daisy punch, 1/4 inch circle, Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet

 

Lynda xx

 

 

 

 

Cute Critters

Hi All.

I have some more punch art to share with you today. Some time back my good friend mentioned to me that her girls liked particular animals and if I made something for their birthday (they are twins), could I somehow incorporate them. One LOVES (bordering obsessed) owls and the other has a passion for dragons.

I recalled a tutorial for sale by the uber talented Jackie Topa here. I have had my eye on it for a long time and finally relented. This is what I came up with for the girls.....

 

and.....

 

The wee note things are post-it holders. So quick and easy. I used Dawn Griffiths tute here. I have actually used it many a time!!

You may recall seeing a version of the owl card recently and you are right. I made it for a 50th birthday card here. My friend saw this and wanted it for one of the girls!!

Thanks for popping by. Will be back soon with wedding cards, more dragons and even a bit of fruit on the side!!!

Stuff used:
CS: (SU) Tangerine tango, Real Red, Certainly Celery, Pink Pirouette, Choc Chip, WW, Basic Black, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, G.C.D Design Paper - Jumpin' Jellybeans (Item #0006), Owl paper I think is making Memories.
Ink: (SU) Choc Chip, Old Olive (sponging), Tangerine Tango
Stamps: (SU) So Happy For you, Curly Cute
Punches: Dragon (see Jackie's tute), + added Carla Craft CP1 Leaf and Lily, SU Owl Punch, Modern Label Punch and Word Window Punch, Bird Punch, Crimper
Other Bits: Swiss Dots EF, Olivia Alphabet die, Mini glitter gel pens fm Reject Shop, Hot pink 1/2 pearls fm stash, Dk Pink Glimmer paper fm Alice's.

Lynda xx

 

More Owls!!!

Morning all.

 

One thing you may have noticed of late is that I am having A LOT of fun co-ordinating cards and gift boxes. Basically...if it can be made and hold anything....I'll have a crack at it!! This project also has a bi-line in that ALWAYS read the description when you are getting stuff on eBay!!! I do like the Pillow Box....and purchased one on eBay. When it arrived.....it was actually a thin metal die....NOT the thicker Sizzix-like one I was expecting....but undeterred...I went ahead.

 

Recently a niece (another one!!) had a birthday. I saw this GORJUS wee ensemble done by Lynn Putt here. I figured the owl would fit the goodies I had purchased from Diva. This is what I came up with...

 

 

I HAD to use this paper as it had owls ALL OVER IT. I used the colours from the DSP to use as the colour palate. I guess you could say brights and I are getting better acquainted....LOL!!

 

This is the card closer up (click on the pics if you wish to make them larger)...

 

 

 

 

...and here is the close up of the owl.....

 

 

I am kinda chuffed with the way it turned out and I think I may be making a couple more of them as time goes by. Thanks Lynn so very much for the inspiration.

 

Thanks for popping by.

 

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Pacific Point, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie and My Memories Scrapbook Paper (147361)

Ink: (SU) Night of Navy

Stamps: (SU) Curly Cute

Punches: (SU) Scallop Border, Lg Scallop Circle, Scallop Oval, Owl Punch, Carla Craft CP2 - 1" Circle, 3/4" circle, Primitive Heart and CP 1 Primitive Heart

Other Bits: 3mm Baby Pink Ribbon fm stash, Dimensionals, Nestabilities Classic Circle Dies, Leisure Crafts Pillow Box Die

 

Lynda xx

Hoot of a Card!!!

Morning all and welcome to Spring!!!! (insert wee happy dance and beaming grin!!)

 

Before I share today's card with you I have to send out a MASSIVE thank you to Katie Ridden for the inspiration. Since birth of bubba #2....most of her creative works are shared on Facebook here. We met a couple of years back on a creative forum...and our daft senses of humour were a PERFECT match.

 

Katie's creations are brilliant, and with 2 younguns under 5...she has her finger on the pulse of all things kiddy related. i made a particular mental note when one day she sat down and created these.....

 

Now for those not all knowing in the "real young-uns" area....the above are punch art creations of Hootabelle and Hoot the Owl. Hoot has his own programme on the ABC here in Australia (Giggle and Hoot).

Now (again) one of the doctors at work, well his niece was turning 1 and she is MAD about all things Hoot....to the point where her party was totally Hoot themed!!! He asked if I could make her a special card. I immediately thought of Katie's effort. This is what I came up with.....

There was a lot of research into all things Hoot. He has a special set of drawers in his house and this is what I based the card around. Here are a couple of close ups of the card....

 

 

I tried to get the drawers as close to authentic as possible using EF's and some checkered DSP with a slight marker adjustment to make the squares bigger. I stamped the Weathered BGS in Versamark to add a bit of texture to all the brown space.

 

Under the "Happy Birthday" there is the "splat" from Extreme Elements in very light pink. (sorry about the dodgy pic). The card is known as a Side Step card. There are many tutorials around, but I used this one here by Jackie Topa.

 

 

When I gave it to the doctor in question, I was MOST stunned and shocked by his reaction. I am not really THAT tech savvy (he is about a decade younger than myself and STREAKS ahead!) He snapped a pic on his iPhone, sent it to his fiancee, she sent a text back and he came in whilst I was with a patient with HER reaction!! Thankfully the patient was a regular and has a brilliant sense of humour.

 

Now I have used a lot of stamp sets and punches here. I will try to list them all, but if you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks for popping by and making to the end of this post.

 

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Soft Suede, Whisper White, Pool Party, Orchid Opulence (ret) Pumpkin Pie, Pink Pirouette, Sahara Sand, Riding Hood Red, SU DSP (can't recall name), Optix Purple and Turquoise

Ink: (SU) Pink Pirouette, Versamark, Tempting Turquoise and Melon Mambo SWMs

Stamps: (SU) Weathered BGS, Extreme Elements, Birthday Wish

Punches: (SU) XL Owl Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Carla Craft CP8 Heart Punch, Carla Craft CP1 punch

Other Bits: Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet, Buttons fm Big W, Mini Silver Brads (Kaiser I think), 0.05mm black felt tip for stitching, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

 

Lynda xx

 



Wise "Old" Owl

Morning all.

Today's project was a gift for one of the secretaries at my work. She turned 50....but it was a very covert operation. However, I could not let the event go by unheralded. It kind of had a "I don't see/hear/or speak of 50" feel to it.

I was immediately reminded of a card I saw on Kerry Bunting's blog here. to go with it, I had a wee post it holder from Bronwyn Eastley's blog here. A tweak here and an adjustment there and this is what I came up with.......

And the gift together.......

I will admit to doing a very big happy dance when this one was finished as it looked better than I had hoped. The best "win" was being able to separately stamp the sentiment on the card and have it balance....real "fist-pump" moment. The recipient really got a giggle out of it too...and laughter on your birthday is a great gift.

The post it note holder is form Dawn Griffiths blog here.

Thanks for popping by.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Black, Only Orange (ret), Woodland Park DSP (ret)

Ink: (SU) Chocolate Chip

Stamps: (SU) So Happy For You (SAB 2012)

Punches: (SU) Owl Punch, Scallop Circle Punhe (double punched for wings) Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, XL Bird punch (branch)

Other bits: Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet, dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots (to keep the wings in place), Mini Pen fm Hot Dollar store, Antique Gold 1/2 pearls fm stash

Lynda xx

Baseball Thank You's - #1

Morning all.

Question....when you love making cards and gifts and the like....what do you do when your son's baseball team needs thank yous for the staff?? Volunteer to make them of course!!

I started off with the lady who scores the games each week. Baseball scoring is a skill. Every ball is marked as strike/ball/etc and then the # of bases taken or if the runner got out is also noted. You have to be on the ball in a big way. The lady who does score is a real girly-girl, so her card reflected this.....

The background needed a bit of oomph....so I stamped a pattern to just break it up a bit.

The flowers are a combination of the Bouquet Blossom Triple Layer Punch and combined it with a small Carla Craft daisy.

The DSP I used was the old and very faithful Bella Rose. I miss it so much and only bust it out when really needed. I needed a Pink Pirouette DSP...so it was needed!!!

Thanks for popping by and I will be back in a few days with the cards and gifts I made for the Coach and Assistant Coach.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Certainly Celery, Bella Rose DSP (ret)

Ink: (SU) Pink Pirouette, Crumb Cake

Stamps: (SU) Pennant Parade

Punches: (SU) Petite Pennants Builder Punch, Owl Punch,  Bouquet Blossom Triple Layer Punch and Carla Craft CP1 Daisy, 1/16" circle hand held punch

Other Bits: Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet, Dimensionals, Pink 1/2 pearls fm stash, white crochet cotton

Lynda xx

Christmas CASE - #3

Good Morning all!!

Is anyone else feeling the impending time and pressure of Christmas? I must admit this year I am feeling it terribly!!!

This is the 2nd card I turned out from the visit to my friend's place. It is based on a tag that I saw on SCS here. I expanded and added a little to make it into a cute and a little bit of a cheeky Christmas card.

I will admit to a small squeal of delight escaping when the final piece was placed on this card. The Santa vest was achieved by stamping the Santa tag from the Tags 'Til Christmas set and then punching it out in the Owl Punch. Add some Summer Sun SWM for the belt.....and Santa was complete. The hat is a Carla Craft CP2 Heart with a small trim of a Word Window Punch for the trim.

Finished off with  the Scallop Square punch and the sentiment.....

I have since made a couple of more versions of this card, but have not yet photographed them.

Thanks for popping by. I hope I am not boring you with all of this CASE-ing.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Jolly Holiday DSP (ret), Soft Suede, Basic Black, Only Orange, Old Olive

Ink: (SU) Cherry Cobbler

Stamps: (SU) Tags 'Til Christmas

Punches: (SU) Owl Punch, Scallop Border Punch, 1 1/4 Square Punch, Scallop Square Punch, XL Bird Punch

Other Bits: Dimensionals, Cuttlebug Christmas Holly Leaf and Berry Embossing Folder

Lynda xx

Whose Birthday Is It??

Hey there.
Still in steamy Singapore, but now very close to the end of my stay....sniff!! (Sadly I land at 9pm tonight in Sydney). Thought I'd share a couple of male cards today that I made when inspired by THIS card. I had a lot of fun putting this together and guessing the dimensions. Here are my 2 versions....

I had to make a couple of minor adjustments due to the fact I do not have the Woodgrain BGS. I substituted in embossing folders with my Cuttlebug (Distressed Stripes and Branches). The idea was to give the impression of bark on a tree seen here.

I also did not have any twine, so I raided my old DMC embroidery cottons and used them on an eyelet and a 1" circle punch. I used Itty Bitty Backgrounds and stamped off some River Rock to get the speckled background. A simple slip knot and 1/2 a Mini Glue dot behind and all stuck securely!!

I was so very happy with the way these turned out and even moreso that I had a couple more male cards in my stash.

I should have my next post sent from Sydney. I think I am going to have fun adjusting to the cold again after dealing with 28-33deg C heat and humidity.....back to a chilly Sydney Winter....BRRRrrrrrr.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Very Vanilla, River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Soft Suede, Basic Black, Whisper White. Holiday Harmony DSP (ret) and Kaisercraft Scrapbooking paper - Fun in the Sun "Sunshine"

Ink: (SU) River Rock, Chocolate Chip

Stamps: (SU) Vintage Labels (sentiments), Itty Bitty Backgrounds.

Punches: (SU) XL Owl Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Carla Craft 1" Circle Punch, Sizzix Little Leaf Die

Other Bits: Craft ribbon Dk Brown, Neutrals Brads, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals, DMC Embroidery Cotton

Lynda xx

Kaisercraft Scrapbooking Paper: Fun in the Sun "Sunshine