Mermaid Tilda - SBS

....... and this week's 'Step-by-Step card is a quick and easy mini one using a cute Tilda stamp from Magnolia. I may send it to Sophie for her 8th birthday in August as she loves mermaids.Cut a 4" strip from a 12"x12" sea themed card. Mark at 4" intervals and Z fold as shownCover the white front with a 3 3/4 " square of silver paper (this stage may be left out if you are using double-sided card

Measure in 1" from both corners and fold down a flap - secure in place with red (strong D/S)tape or glueStamp Tilda on a white scrap of card and colour her in using shades of blue and green for her outfit and tail and give her blond hair. The rocks are coloured with weak washes of black and brown. Cut a tag (Magnolia) from blue glitter card reserving the popped out heart for decoration later.
Cut a strip of Fantasy Film (I used Blue Nile) fold it in half and place over the inked and upturned rubber stampIron carefully with a warm iron - not too hot or it will melt the paper!

Cut out the 'tail' piece and glue to your coloured image using tacky glue. Punch out a few tiny flowers from any left over scraps

Glue Tilda to the front of your card and finish it off by adding the hearts and flowers and a few dabs of glitter glue to her wings and on her bodice. Choose a suitable black peel-off greeting for the tag and a piece of silver ribbon to the eyelet hole so that it can be removed from the pocket easily.

Sit back and enjoy your handiwork!

20th June Class

These are the cards we made at Carshalton crafts today (I've also included alternative colour examples and another Glamour lady decorated with feathers instead of flowers and bow).

Card 1 uses double sided papers, assorted punched flowers and hearts made using the Hot of the Press 'Scandinavian Hearts' template. Card 2 is made with papers from Dovecraft's Time for Tea paper stack and the stamped lady's dress (B Line stamps) is paper pieced. One card decorated with flowers and a tulle bow, the other with feathers and some pearls. The word panel and surround have been shaped with a corner punch. Card 3 is made from a 4" strip of 12" Bazzill cardstock with 1 edge folded down and secured to make a pocket. A Do Hicky die tag (from Magnolia) is used for the greeting and some Craftwork card butterflies complete this Summery card.

We have our Visas!

Great news - we now have our Visas and could leave tomorrow if only the house would sell.
Looks like that could take a while so we've no idea when we will actually emigrate. Please pray for us (or cross your fingers/touch wood if that is your persuasion) We have got rid of unwanted stuff, had international removal estimates and have planned what we are taking with us. The larder, fridge and freezer are topped up regularly but not overfilled. Lets hope we do not have to wait too long before we can book our flights!

If, by some miracle we got a cash buyer in the next week or so we could be on our way before the summer holidays but, unfortunately the market is slow and we could be here for months!
We have to validate our visas by 15th April next year so hopefully we will have made the one-way trip by then as we originally planned.

I thought waiting for the Visa was bad but this is so much more frustrating - so near, yet so far..............

I've been less active on the card making front - just a couple of make and takes from Crafts U Love shown above. Should have some samples tomorrow after the Carshalton class.

A quiet week

After all the hustle and bustle of previous weeks we are now playing the waiting game. We've had 3 viewings so far including 1 yesterday - hopefully we'll get some feed-back from the agent tomorrow. The Visa is due any day now and once the house is sold, we'll be off.

Spent a couple of hours in Kingston yesterday stocking up on M&S knickers! Treated myself to a laptop case, pair of FitFlops and a Flip mini video camera. Just charging the camera battery then I'll practise shooting mini videos to download on here and Facebook. I should be able to keep you all up to date with all my exciting news and pictures of Adelaide and the family once we move.

If I buy/borrow a tripod I may even try to film my craft step-by-steps (once I've mastered down-loading to YouTube) at a later date. Might start with simple pictures with a running commentary. Watch this space and please be patient while I master this new skill - not feeling quite brave enough yet!

Derby Day

As I was carless for the day we decided to have a walk over the Downs to see the Derby build-up (instead of going to the Craft Barn weekend) Saw Frankie Dettori arrive by helicopter and he gave us a wave on his walk round the course. Saw the Queen and the other Royals arrive too but couldn't get a good enough picture as my zoom is not very clear.
I picked the winner - shame I didn't place a bet. It was hot and very crowded so came home and watched the big race on TV. What a difference a day makes - today it is cold and has been drizzling for nearly 5 hours now.

Kaisercraft birdcage step-by-step

Here are 2 more quick and easy mini cards using clear stamps and double-sided papers from Kaisercraft's Chanteause collection. Cards 1&2 - pre-scored fancy-edged card from Craftwork cards
or plain 4x4 pre-scored white card
Staccato D/S paper
Vivo D/S paper
white card for stamping images
2" circular punch
tiny flower punch
pink candy glitter
Brown card for matting
Nestability frames
Pink inkpad for sponging edge of card
Brown StazOn for stamping
Nailheads or 'candy' to decorate
Card 1. -Cut a piece of D/S paper to cover base card. Trim off 1/2"-3/4" and reverse. Fix to card
Stamp tall birdcage and tiny bird on white frame, chalk edges and mount on dark brown card. Cut out leaving a narrow border.
Mount as shown and add nailheads to finish.Card 2. Cut a square of Vivo D/S paper to cover your card. Using another piece, cut out a scalloped circle (Nestabilities or large punch) turn over and use pink side.

Stamp small bird cage on to a 2" circle and stamp a 2nd one onto a scrap of leftover card. Cut out and mount over first image using foam pads.

Place a strip of darker pink across the centre of your card then add the bird cage. Finish off by adding a narrow strip off glitter glue along the base of the cage and in the centre of 3 punched and cupped flowers. When the flowers are dry, fix to the RHS of card as shown.

These cards are simple to make and you can vary the designs by using different co-ordinating papers and any tiny stamps you may have in your collection.