Renovated Kmart t-shirt

I thought I’d share this cute tee I just made for Miss Em.  I’ve been spending far too much time blog surfing and reading about refashioning/renovating clothing.  A $3 size 6 Kmart t-shirt has been lingering around my stamping/sewing table for ages and while Em certainly has no shortage of t-shirts, it was too tempting not to play with it Here is the tutorial for the Billabong inspired t-shirt I made little miss.

I started with my grey Kmart t-shirt and some gorgeous Joel Dewberry Heirloom fabric in berry.

Less than half an hour later, I had this cute t-shirt.

The white strip you can see at the bottom of the waves is a piece of Stampin’ Up! twill tape.  I’ve stitched waves onto it in pink cotton (and that took longer than the rest of the top!).

Emma loves the t-shirt, she promptly put it on so I guess it’s a winner

Melissa

 

A Surprise Birthday Card

Chloe has a surprise birthday party for a friend tomorrow, and I’ve almost cleaned out my stash of cards.  I needed to come up with a card for Charlotte and since inspiration was lacking I have combined two challenges to create this card.  The first challenge was Colour Q #119 using Pretty in Pink, Going Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo and Whisper White.  The second challenge was Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge #367.  Here they both are

Stamps: Pennant Parade, Delicate Doilies, Outlined Occasions (Sale-a-bration set, available Jan 25)

Paper: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Subtles stack DSP

Ink: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Pretty in Pink, Going Gray

Other: Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Petite Pennants punch, White Baker’s Twine, Blender Pen.

This gorgeous greeting set will be available during Sale-A-Bration – Jan 25 ~ March 31.  Isn’t it cute???

Melissa

 

Cottage Wall Revisited

One of the most viewed posts on my blog is one that I wrote almost 2 years ago.  It features a set of cards I made for a class using the gorgeous Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper.  I still have quite a bit of that paper left (I bet you’re surprised ) so I decided to make up another set of cards using it.

Card #1 features a Confetti White base, a layer of Rich Razzleberry and some gorgeous striped Cottage Wall DSP.  I’ve stamped the main image from Field Flowers in Rich Razzleberry ink, and it has been layered onto a piece of Old Olive cardstock.

Card #2 has a Rich Razzleberry base.  I’ve stamped the entire base using the thong image from Sunny Fun and Rich Razzleberry ink. The main image (also from Sunny Fun) has been coloured using Stampin’ Up! markers.  I die cut the brackets using the Hearts and Brackets die.  The greeting ‘Celebrate’ is from the Topsy Turvy Celebration set.

Card #3 has an Old Olive base, topped with a layer of Certainly Celery cardstock.  A Top Note die cut in the white/green polka dot print from the Cottage Wall pack is a perfect accent layer.  The cute hot air balloon images are from Up, Up and Away and have been stamped in Peach Parfait ink.

And finally, card #4 has a Certainly Celery card base.  I’ve stamped the Fine Flourish image in Certainly Celery ink.  A piece of the cute butterfly and flower Cottage Wall DSP accents the base of the card.  I also added 4 butterflies which I cut using Rich Razzleberry cardstock and the Beautiful Wings Embosslit.

Hope these provided you with some inspiration to dig out some retired paper and actually make something with it! lol!  I’ve added these cards, along with some kits to make them, to my etsy shop.

Melissa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Little Princess Birthday!

The Little Princess stamp set is perfect for making girly cards, and today that included our 2 year old neighbour Lucija.

The card base is Confetti White.  I’ve used some Pool Party In Colour Prints, along with a piece of the retired Sweet Stitches DSP.  The gorgeous princess is coloured using blender pens on watercolour paper.

We made some bedding for Lucija’s dolls, and I decided to make the card in colours to match it.  Here’s a photo of the doll bedding.  There’s a sleeping bag, pillow and blanket, all made in flannelette and gingham.

Now that the power is back on, I’m going back to making a few more bags using the stunning Spice Cake fabric.  I hope to show you them in the next day or two.

Melissa

Project Life – Stampin’ Up! Style

Wow – it’s been quite  a while since I’ve posted anything on my poor neglected blog.  I even forgot my login password   Fingers crossed that I manage to update this at least once a week this year!

I’ve long admired Becky Higgins’ Project Life for scrapbooking, but I’ve got so much scrapbooking stuff here already that I couldn’t justify buying the kit (even though I REALLY wanted to).  After thinking about it for 12 months (yes, that’s right.  I had to start on January 1!), I have decided to do a Stampin’ Up! version of Project Life using supplies I already have on hand.

Here’s my cover page for 2012, it took a while but I’m pretty happy with it.

I had a pack of We R Memory Keepers divided page protectors, and they fit perfectly into my Navy Linen Stampin’ Up! album.  I’ve alternated the pages so that I have one divided page and then a regular 12×12 page.

The photos were all taken on New Years Eve, I just love the one with the kids hamming it up for the camera.  And I have even managed to take some pics yesterday and today so hopefully I’ll be off to a flying start for week one.

I plan on using all Stampin’ Up! products for this album – can you see the yummy paper I’ve used as an accent?  You’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to get your hands on that one

Thanks for looking!

Melissa

 

Sweet Always Tags and more

As you may or may not have guessed by my lack of posting, I have a rather excessive paper collection which I have not been using lately.  It’s starting to drive me a little crazy having all of these 12×12 cello bags filled with scraps of paper I am just not doing anything with.  I spent some time over the past few days trying to use up the remnants of my Sweet Always designer series paper.  Seriously, this is like the never-ending paper pack.  When I chose this one on Friday, it was because I had maybe 1 sheet in total left (but all scrappy little pieces).  That shouldn’t be too difficult to finish up…you would think.

So far, I’ve made 6 cards, 18 gift tags, one card making kit, two tag making kits and the cute little owls you can see above.  I’m slowly photographing them and listing on etsy, and I thought I would share them here as I manage to get the pics edited.

Here are a couple of the tag designs I finished up.  I LOVE the hot air balloon tags so much, I’m in the middle of making another pack of them.

I also whipped up the Christmas tags below, same design but different occasion

I will check back in again once I’ve managed to photograph more of my Sweet Always goodies.  Have you got any scraps hanging around that you could use for something like these items?

Mel

Handmade Christmas – the beginning!

A few months ago, Kimberley and I came across an online challenge to give everyone on your Christmas gift list a handmade item.  Kimberley thought it was a fantastic idea, and promptly started writing a list and then coming up with ideas to suit each recipient.  Little did she know, that I thought I would extend the plan to include my girls in this too

I have seen fabric covered pinboards around and wanted to create one for both Kim and Chloe.  I had a whitewashed frame here, along with a Reject Shop corkboard and a piece of Amy Butler ‘Love’ fabric.  The fabric is absolutely perfect in Chloe’s freshly painted bedroom, so this pinboard will be for her.

I pulled the frame off the Reject Shop corkboard, cut the cork to fit my frame and then stapled the fabric in position.  I am going to cover the back of the frame to hide the staples.  For drawing pins, I plan on using some of my gorgeous Stampin’ Up! buttons attached to regular flat drawing pins.

Yay – Handmade Christmas Gift #1 is done!  I’ll share other gifts with you as they are finished.

Melissa

 

Clean and Simple Christmas Card

Back again, with the gorgeous colours from ColourQ challenge #98.  This time I’ve teamed them up with Fall to Layout #153 AND CAS-ual Fridays #15. 

 

I’ve created a card combining the colour challenge, the above layout AND kept it clean and simple!  In addition to this, the card features a sneak peek of a gorgeous vintage style Christmas stamp set from the new Stampin’ Up! catalogue.

How cool is this stamp set?  Even though this challenge was for Clean and Simple, I cannot wait to use this set on a layered, totally over-the-top Christmas card.

Stamps: Winter Post, Merry and Type

Ink: Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede, Whisper White Craft

Paper: Confetti White, Soft Suede, Island Indigo, Tropical Party DSP (retired)

Other: Scallop Trim Punch, Decorative Label Punch

I’ll be back tomorrow with another card using these colours – thanks for looking!

Melissa

Just Add ColourQ

I was blog hopping and came across the latest ColourQ challenge, and totally fell in love with the colours.  Since my mojo has gone missing after 9 days straight of sick kids (Em has the bug now…) I decided to combine it with the latest Just Add Ink sketch challenge.

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

See those gorgeous colours???  They make me think of summer, it’s a distant memory in my brain but I cannot wait to see it again!  AND, they match my new blog colours!  I hope to pair these colours up with a couple of sketch challenges I came across today, but since the Just Add Ink challenge ends tonight, I chose to use that first.

I had to change the challenge as I don’t have any Bermuda Bay ink or cardstock, so I’ve swapped it for Tempting Turquoise.  There are a couple of new ink colours on this card, can you see them?

Stamps: Extreme Elements, Extreme Guitar

Ink: Soft Suede, Tempting Turquoise, Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo

Paper: Confetti White, Soft Suede, Whisper White, Island Indigo, Hoppy Memories (from a retired Simply Scrappin’ Kit)

Other: Mat Pack, Tempting Turquoise buttons, Linen Thread, Crumb Cake Marker, Timeless Type Junior Sizzlit Alphabet.

Thanks for visiting!

Melissa

Splitcoast Colour Challenge 335

Wow – three posts in a week, hope you have recovered from the shock of it all

It’s been a busy week here, two sick kiddos, several birthdays and one hubby with a squished new car {(luckily he wasn’t in it) – to the genius truck driver in the Bunnings Narre Warren car park, how on earth could you not see a bright red car???}

Anyway, I needed another 10th birthday card this week, and decided to use the Splitcoaststampers Colour Challenge #335 – Kraft, Red, Yellow (and green).  To make it even easier, I CASEd a layout from the brand new Stampin’ Up! catalogue.  If you have the catalogue in your hands, the card I CASEd is on the top of page 34.

Cool huh?  I was pretty happy with this card (although that WAS after a glass of wine…)  This one would be super easy to customise for the recipient in any colour and wheel.

Stamps: Solid Stripes, Bring on the Cake, Birthday Builder Wheel, Candle Crazy Builder Wheel, In Stitches Jumbo Wheel.

Ink: Crumb Cake, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Lucky Limeade

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White

Other: Scallop Trim Punch, Petite Pennants Punch, Timeless Type Junior Sizzlit Alphabet, Celery Brad, Linen Thread, Dimensionals, Ribbon from Dress-Up Originals (retired), bamboo skewer.

Melissa