Where does the time go??

My goodness - I cannot believe I have missed two days again!!
Life is madness around here at the moment!
It's my last day at work for the year tomorrow, and we have been spending the last few days organising farewell "things" for our principal. He is leaving after 14 years - amazing! And he will be sorely missed - but of course that means a MEGA party - or 7!! Well ok not 7, but we are up to number 4!!
The fold out scrapbook was his leaving card, and everyone signed it and then i stuck some pics in the spaces but then I had to write in the middle (cardmaking and calligraphy might SEEM like innocuous hobbies - but wait til someone finds out you do both!!) lol
Still - it will al be worth it tomorrow when he reads it :)

What does all this mean for you??? My camera is flat again, (also had Jordan's school prize giving last night so HAD to take photos of her getting her prize!!) and I haven't been able to take decent photos of the projects. However - this should all be remedied tomorrow :) Fingers crossed!

Day 11 - gift 11 - Emergency Card Kit

I cannot take credit for this - I am part of a secret sister swap group on splicoast, and this is one of the goodies I received from an angel on that swap. (obviously this uses product we cannot get over here, but the premise is the same).















An emergency card kit is a box full of cards, all ready to go, that can be used in an emergency!
The best ones (like this one) come from a simply scrappin' kit. They are so simple and easy to put together. All the sentiments and embellishments are ready for you to just peel off and stick on to your cards.
Make as many as you like, grab enough envelopes, and whack 'em all together in a groovy box - also made with the Simply Scrappin' Kit.

Easy peasy - done!

Day 10 - gift 10 - bling :)

These earrings use shrink plastic, cut out using the 1 1/4 inch circle punch. Punch holes using a 1/8 inch punch (retired) then bake in the oven according to instructions. When cool, join together and make some funky bling :)

Day 9 - gift 9 - a decorated vase

I love this idea. I have seen a few of these lately - and they all look stunning. And HOW simple!
Take one glass item (vase, drinking glass, bowl, etc etc) and the rub-ons of your choice. This one comes from the retired "hidden garden" set. Wipe the glass to remove any dust, then rub on your rub-on!
Done.
One simple yet gorgeous gift for someone very special. This one will be for me! I am going to fill it with m and m's or skittles and leave it on my coffee table. yummy :)

Day 8 - bit late! - fold out scrapbook

This project is the brain child of the amazing Makeesha. She did a tutorial on it for splitcoast. I adapted it using Parisian Breeze specialty paper, and Baja Breeze, Kraft and Chocolate Chip cardstock.
There are no pictures in mine - there wont be either! we are using it as a card for someone who is leaving work, so instead of pictures we are all writing on the pull out parts.
This pic only shows half the pull-out parts - we had already written on the rest, and I can't work out how to blur them!

foiled by technology - again!

Well, I have about 6 more projects ready to show you, but of course, the batteries in my camera went flat yesterday, and - where is the charger?? nowhere near the camera that's for sure!! And you'd think it would be in the box labelled "camera and ipod stuff" - but no! I mean, why would it be in there?????
Also - they are 3D projects, so don't fit onto my scanner very well! ;)

And I was doing so well with my daily postings! :(
Oh well - on the bright side you will get more than one a day on some days :)

However, I have now located the battery charger, and the batteries are getting juiced as you read- i will be back tomorrow with some more ideas on presents to make with SU! product :)

Day 7 - Gift 7 - Painted canvas

I LOVE this wheel!! I havent used it on a card yet!! lol - but I have made heaps of little canvases like this with my daughter and her friends.

This canvas is 4" x 8", and the neighbourhood wheel was inked up using Stazon ink. (you must use a permanent ink if you are going to colour in with water - "normal" ink runs)

This one was coloured using poster paints, but I did one a while ago using Stampin' Write markers. I have started another of those, and will post when it's finished. The marker ones take longer because they don't dry immediately on the canvas, so you have to be real careful not to smudge it all!

Sweet Treat Snowman

This is one of the awesome new products from the Summer Mini catalogue - the Sweet Treat Cups.
The cups come in packs of 12, and are so versatile! I have seen some amazing things done with them. As soon as I get myself sorted where I am staying, i will have a play, but in the mean time, this is what I did with them.
Actually it's two products, because I used the co-ordinating punch - the 1 3/4 inch circle. This is the exact size of the treat cups, and enables them to slide through perfectly.
The snowman body uses 1 3/4 and 1 3/8 cicle punches, and his head is 1 inch. His hat ( yes i knw, it's a bit big! but snowmen aren't meant to be fashionable!!) is the round tab punch. Sentiments escaped me, so I put one on the inside! :)
Usually when you put lollies in the sweet treat cups, you would make a sliding door - which i will do! This one, I have stuck down to the backing.
Am heading off now to sort all my stuff out so i have a bigger place than the bedside table to create!! lol

Day 6 – Gift 6 - Calendar

 

This is another CASE from the catalogue – this one from page 12. The template i got from Splitcoaststampers. Printed it onto Whisper White cardstock, three months per sheet. Then decorated the bottom using DSP or stamps – I used urban Garden DSP, and the sets Pocket Silhouettes, Upsy Daisy and Fifth Avenue Floral, with kiwi kiss, baja breeze and not quite navy ink. Bind together at the top and ta-da, a groovy calendar!

I have other calendars to share later this month, so check back :)

 

Day 5 - Gift 5 - Framed Picture

this was such a hard item to take a photo of! the light kept shining on the glass, and you could see the mess from my packing and all sorts! In the end I enlisted my daughter to be chief paper-holder-upper!! She stood behind me holding white copy paper over the top of my head, so the shine didn't reflect!! funny! :)

Anyway........ this is a direct CASE from the 2009-2010 IBC (page 74 to be exact) i just changed the quote. I love it! This is such a simple but gorgeous gift.
The frameneeds to be a "shadow-box" type though - I tried it flat first - not good :)

Day 4 - Gift 4 - altered file folder

Not a very thrilling picture this one! but opened up - it's much more exciting!! This idea came from Patty Bennett, who used files in the US catalogue to create these stunning stationery compendium thingys. Well, we don't have the files, but I thought manilla folders would work just as well! And they did!! Basically the bottom is folded up, and a couple extra folds added, cover it in DSP, add a velcro dot and some stationery and you're done!

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This is covered in Parisian Breeze DSP -it's now retired :( I'm gonna miss that!

(my apologies here, as a lot of the items I show you over the next few weeks will use retired product - purely because I made these as actual gifts, and had to get them off before a certain date, and also because I like the finished product - but remember everything can be made using different patterns! These are just ideas!)

This pen comes from the other version below - these are so easy but effective. Just pull the barrel out from a pen, wrap the ink part in DSP,and slide back into the barrel. Voila, co-ordinating pens! how simple :)

This version uses Raspberry Tart DSP - this was my first one and I cut the paper too small! but my daughter loves it, so she now owns it!!

Day 3 - Gift 3 - Chocolate

Ok, so I know I said that I didn't want this to be about how to wrap or present gifts, but this is just too cute to not share :) Plus... it's chocolate!! hellooooooo?????
This idea came from Becky over at Inking Idaho, and is how I presented my chocolate to my swap sister from UStamp. Putting a band round the chocolate bars is such an easy way to co-ordinate little extras with the main gift. Here I have used Ski Slope DSP, and Riding Hood Red ribbon. The chocolate is Whittakers peanut slab - so many peanuts!! SOOOOO good ;)

Day 2 - gift 2 - Notepaper holder

This is a fabulous swap I received through UStamp.

The idea was to send a card, a handmade gift and some candy from your country.

So this is what I received. I think the notpaper holder itself is a bought one, ansd then Lorelie has removed ther cover, and created a brand new one of her own. I LOVE this paper. it;s so yummy! (Obviously a lot of this product is not available in NZ, but we can drool over it anyway!!)

And this is the card that I received. The snowflake is done using the two different size tag punches, and cutting them out as an outline. Check out the tutorial here

Day 1 - Gift 1 - Christmas Planner

This little treasure is the sneak peek I shared with you a few days ago.

I made these last year as gifts for the teacher aides at school - busy mums need planning time you know!

Of course, I forgot to photograph them then - but the tutorial was saved, and I saw another one a little while ago and thought - yes, they were fun! So we did these as one of our Stamp Club projects.

The base of the planner is a manilla folder with the bottom folded up, and then the sides folded in. Cover with pretty paper, stick in some lists, tie with ribbon - TA DA!! :)

Here is an awesome video that shows how it's done :)