Something Clear With The Crafty Pad

Super duper Sunday folks!

Can you tell I am excited to be here ???

Well I am!

My computer had a heart attack on Tuesday OMG NO! So I spent all day Wednesday trying to heal it with a band-aid only to have to take it to the doctors on Thursday where it received a new hard drive and a new lease on life and I got her back Friday!  Seeing as I have my iphone as well I did not so much as miss the internet but do you know how hard it is for a digital crafting girl to not be able to PRINT! This drove me nuts!  I didn't let it beat me though!  I carried on crafting and have been printing mad since she came home!

Witch brings me to this weeks challenge at

The Crafty Pad!

This week we would like to challenge you all to ... 

Use something clear!

Letraset was ever so kind to offer us some samples of the Safmat and the DT girls and I have had a blast playing around with it.  For anyone not familar with Safmat (as I wasn't when I first got some) In the words od Letraset - it is an acid free transparent film (so great for scrapbookers), it is self adhesive and you use it with your desktop printer (laser or inkjet) ! Woo Hoo! 

Or in my simple words - It is a piece of 'like acetate' with a sticky back and I CAN PRINT on it!

I have always wanted to print on acetate but my ink never dries so I took this product, printed my image and for some firmness I stuck it to a piece of acetate and made a shaker tag for a memories bottle!  

Wanna see?

Today I have used the Life Raft Image from The Crafty Pad Designs (love this image and all its possibilities).  I have colored it with my water color pencils, added some brads for bling, wrapped some metal wire around the ring as well and added some 'rope stuff' around it all to hide the foam tape for the shaker part of the card and topped it off with a starfish charm.

This week the good folks from Letraset have kindly offered a prize of 

a 5 pack of Spring color Promarkers 

AND (yes there is more!)

Debbie has kindly offered 3 digital images (of the winners choice) from

The Crafty Pad Designs

The sand in the tag is taken from the place here at home where I got married and the bottle is full of sand from the numerous beaches around town that we often like to visit,.  My kids have an infatuation with collecting shells and I have added any that would fit down the neck of the bottle.  The bottle itself is rather special too, this is what hubby and I got plastered on on our first weekend home while lazing back in the pool!  DH is a bad influence on me!  lol

I plan on taking this bottle with me when I move to Perth, I feel like I am taking a piece of home with me.  If you are unsure why I call this home, this is the place I grew up, it is where ALL my family reside and it is the place that as young woman I wanted to return to to raise my own family.  That path however has slightly had to be adjusted and now ... home is where I hope to one day again come back to and retire. 

So come along and join in the fun with us!
We would love to see what you create and how clear your thinking can get!
Need some more inspiration?
Click on the Competition badge and be inspired by the gorgeous work all the DT girls have to show you!

Challenges this creation is entering with the help of the Feline Playful Girls:

Crafts For Eternity - Anything but a card (1/3 Fri)

Crafty Ann's - Summertime (- Fri)

Frosted Designs - Circles (- Fri)

Fairy Tale Challenge - Summer, Sun & Sunshine (2/2 Fri)

Stamp Something - Summer fun (- Fri)

Shelly's Images - Summer (- Thur)

Crafting For All Seasons - Beach / Ocean ( - Wed)

For Fun Challenges - Sand (1/3 C10 Tues)
A Spoon Full Of Sugar - Create a tag 
Simon Says Stamp - Shaped Card (-)

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What started as ONE

Sweet Sundays everyone!

Well ... You wouldn't know it, but I have actually been absent from my blog this past week, besides checking in to add challenges to my scheduled posts!  I love that Mr Blogger finally seems to have his head on straight again and is posting scheduled posts when they are scheduled and I am so freaking glad that I am super duper organized and upload and schedule everything as it is made, specially for my DT posts!

So ... You wonder ... Where have I been???

Well no where exciting at all! 

But ... My DH did a SUPER unexpected SURPRISE for me, 

and flew in for a week to spend my Birthday with me! 

So ... *Blushingly* you can all image where I have been! lol 

I did however have to take an afternoon out and get in my craft-room while he was home to make a  commissioned card for a 60th Birthday, and while hubby was browsing you tube and accompanying me while I played he said I HAD to take a picture of the finished card and send it to a friend! HAD HAD HAD TOO!

Obligingly I obeyed and ... Well that ended in me having to make another ONE THE SAME, and I had to have it done to send back to Perth with Hubby (no pressure)! 

Now when it comes to football I really pay no attention, but if I have to support a team I barrack for my local boys the Brisbane Broncos, but these cards are for one the enemy ... 

The Saint George Illawarra Dragons! NOOO!!!!!

Red and White all the way! 

And this is how they turned out!

(They are A4 size so really big - will explain why later)

 The front of the 2 cards.

 Close up of the 3D badge/logo for the team.

The inside. - The one on the right has 3 more pages after this one all the same.

 Single front of one card.

Single front of 2nd card.

The 60th Birthday card is the one I made first, it is for a surprise Birthday for a friend of my mothers and his wife wanted a card big enough to hold over 100 signatures, because of this I went with the A4 size and I have replicated the inside pages 3 times to allow for enough room for everyone to sign their names and leave a message.  The other card is only the 2 pages.

The wording on the front has been computer generated in MS Word on my computer, the St George Logo is from their official website and the cute dragon is Clyde from Bugaboo Digi Stamps (I think he is a freebie too or he was) and I have colored him with my Tombow Markers.

Considering I do not barrack for this team I am really wrapped at how well they look and I have even impressed myself!  I very rarely play with A4 sizes as well and I enjoyed all the room to embellish.  I also have a sneaking feeling these are going to be a hit with the boys over here in OZ.  Hubby already has me on a task list to make up some more of the other footy teams and he has promised me HE WILL sell them ...

Hmmm ...
Only wonder if the money will return to my crafty jar or stay in his wallet lol!

Thanks for visiting me and I hope you enjoyed your stay!

Challenges this creation is entering with the help of the Feline Playful Girls:

* 2 Sisters - Anything Goes (Sat /-)

* Secret Crafter -Include a Number - 60th Birthday Card (Sat /-)

* Paper Cutz - Anything Goes (Fri /-)

* Phindy's Place - Doubling Up - two Clyde dragons on front - two alike cards (Fri 1/3)

* Stampin' For The Weekend - Anything with 4 legs - The horse & Dragon? (Fri 1/1)

* Totally PaperCrafts - One for the boys (Fri /-)

* Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Clean & Simple (Thur /-)

* Do You Stack Up - Wings (Thur 1/3)

* The Play Date - Just a splash of one color - RED (Thur /-)

* Crafty Creations - Seeing Double - 2 cards, 2 Clyde dragons (Wed /-)

* Freshly Brewed - Animal or animal print (Monthly 1/5)

* Creative Card Crew - Animal Antics (Tue /-)

* Creative Craft Challenges - Decoupage or lots of layers (Tue  2/3)

* Die Cut Dreams - Animal Antics (Mon  /-)

* Incy Wincy Designs - Black, White & One Other (Mon /-)

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Embossing with The Crafty Pad!

Good Evening bloggers! 

Can you believe it is Sunday again already!

This year is just flying by so fast, where has it gone?

But it is a new Sunday so it is time for another new challenge at

The Crafty Pad!

Embossing is the highlight this week!

Heat or dry!  

So that leaves you all open to plenty of options! 

So no reason for not playing along with us! 

I went with the dry embossing this week, adding some ink highlights! 

 Card front.

 Sentiment close up.

Card insert inside. 

I absolutely love this life-raft image from The Crafty Pad Designs, the sentiment is so beautiful and it is a digital image that you can really do a lot with!  Today I have colored it with some inks, added some brads, wrapped some twine in and out of it and popped it up with some foam tape.  I also kept the 'beachy' feel going on the card by adding the Beach Hut image on the inside panel.  

I have used 2 embossing folders and added lots of ink highlights and distressing to them.  The seashell in the middle of the bow was a charm that I removed the loop from and the starfish hanging onto the life-raft is also a charm.  The star brads are from my old stash of things, along with the seashell in the bottom left that is left over from my beading days. 

This week we are being sponsored by Crafty Sentiments!

They are giving 3 digital images of the winners choice!

I often overlook my embossing folders when crafting so it was great to get them out and give them a dust off this week.  Why not dust yours off as well and take the challenge with us this week?  We would love to see you and stop by your creations! 

So come along and get crafty with us! 

Challenges this creation is entering with the help of the Feline Playful Girls:

* 2 Sisters - Anything Goes (Sat /-)
* Craft Your Days Away - Summertime (Sat /-)
* ECP Challenges - Summer Theme (Sat /-)
* Crafty Ann's - Dry Embossing / Debossing (Fri /-)
* Fairy Tale Challenge - Summer Sun Sunshine (Fri 1/2)
* Fussy & Fancy Friday - Summer (Fri /-)
* Off The Wall Craftiness - Beach (Fri 1/3)
* Crafty Purple Frog - Water inspired (Thur /-)

* Little Miss Muffet - Summer (Thur 1/1)
* Meljen Designs - 3 brads (stars), 1 bow and a circle (Thur /-)
* Little Darlings Challenges - Buttons/Brads/Eyelets (Wed /- GDT)
* Paper Pretties - Embossing (Wed /-)
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Latest Friday Freebie mixed up a little

Super Saturday's to you all! 

I have another quick card to share with you today using my Freebie Image I shared with you all yesterday HERE.  I have mixed this one up a little by also using a freebie from Artby Jean - Vintage Clip Art, this image is called Red, pink & yellow roses with a bumble bee - Vintage Note Card.  I think the note card goes perfectly with the sentiment.  The flower is handmade from my tutorial HERE and I added some punched distressed leaves behind it.  Along the bottom I have added a punched boarded cardstock, ink distressed and then topped with some lemon lace and brown stitch ribbon finished with a bow. 

Thank you for visiting and I hop you like what you see.

Challenges this creation is entering with the help of the Feline Playful Girls:

* Craft Us Crazy - Anything Goes (Thurs 1/3)
* Aud Sentiments - Make someone smile (Thurs /-)
* Shelly's Images - Anything goes (Thurs /-)
* Crafts & Me - Add a flower (Wed /-)
* Your Next Stamp - Recipe - 3 embellishments - trim, brads and flower 2 Papers - Base and on tabs, 1 Image (Wed (Wed 1/1)
Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges - Anything goes (Mon 1/2)
Craft Your Passion - Use Text (Mon /-)
* Deep Ocean Challenge - Ribbons (Tue /-)
HLSC Challenge - Make your own embellishments - Flowers (Mon /-)
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Friday Freebie Time!

Friday Freebie Time! 

Wow! A week had passed already!
Today I have one of most favorite quotes to share with you all.

Click on the image to make it full size, then right click to 'Save As".

 Please do not re-post this on your site as a freebie.  I would be flattered if you would make mention of where you obtained the original image, and I would love to see your creations with any of my sentiments so be sure to drop me a line so I can come and have a peak! Thank you!

Here is one of the cards I made using this sentiment, I added some flower clipart around mine as well. 

 Close up of sentiment and handmade flowers made from my tutorial HERE.

 Close up of Seam Binding ribbon I tied into a flower like bow and centered with a button. 

 The inside.

Card standing.

Challenges this creation is entering with the help of the Feline Playful Girls:

* Guylou's Inimitability - Recipe - 1 ribbon, 2 Dp, 3 bling (Fri 1/1)
* Stamp Something - Embellish it (Fri 1/1)
* Wags 'n' Whiskers - Buttons and bows (Fri /-)
*AiFactory - Layer it up (Thurs1/1)
* Aud Sentiments - Make someone smile (Thurs /-)
* Charisma Cardz - Sunshine colors (Thurs 1/3)
* Deep Ocean Challenge - Ribbons (Tue /-)
* My Time To Craft - Citrus Colors - Orange and grapefruit (Tue /-)
HLSC Challenge - Make your own embellishments - Flowers (Mon /-)
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Flower Tutorial – from circle shapes

 Flower Tutorial – from circle shapes

This is the flower we are going to make today :))

Materials

Scrap paper

1 x Brad

Ink pad(s)

Paper pricker

Mist bottle of water (optional)

Circles in a minimum of 3 different sizes

-          To make your circles you can use punches, circle cutters, die cuts or trace and cut with scissors.

-          Traced objects cut with fancy scissors give a really nice different finish for the petals.

Optional – Bead(s), glitter, embossing powder.

For this tutorial I have used 4 circle sizes as I want my flower to have a lot of depth and texture and I have used a circle cutter.  I am using a recipe mix that I personally like myself of 2, 3, 3 & 3.

1. Start by cutting your circles – I have 2 smallest, 3 small, 3 medium and 3 larger (2, 3, 3 & 3).

2.Ink the edges.

3. Scrunch them up in your hands really tight.  If the paper is thick to work with add a spray of water from a mist bottle to help work the paper.

4.Once you have them all scrunched up, un-scrunch them but do not press them flat.  Allow them to have the scrunch characteristics you have just scrunch them up for.

5.I like to re-ink them at this point over the edges again and to high-light the some of the ‘scrunch’ textures to help add depth to your petals when your flower is finished.

6.Take your smallest circles and with your paper pricker, prick the middle.  Add your next layer of circles underneath and again prick the middle, building your flower up on the pricker.  Continue till you have added all your layers. 

7.Remove the pricker and replace it with a brad to hold your flower together. - If you like this look you can leave your flower like this at this stage.

 8.With your flower now together again take each layer individually and again scrunch up the layers around the brad.  Do not be afraid to turn the edges of some of the layers down.  This adds character and makes the flower more realistic.

 

9.Once you have your flower layers all scrunch up around the brad again; take the flower in your left hand and with your right thumb gently flick the layers back, turning the flower in your hand at the same time.  If you find the centre petals hard to spread apart, take your paper pricker and gently pull them back.

10.At this stage it is your own discretion as to how open you would like your flower to be.  If you would like it to be about to bloom, leave the centre petals tight and almost closed.  Or if you would like your petal blooming, open them up.

For my finished flower I have opened the centre petals right open as I intend to add a gorgeous bead to the middle and I have given it a spritz with glimmer mist. 

You can add some glitter flecks to your finished flower, some heat embossing to the edges or as I have done, a bead to the center.  Embellishment options are endless!

This is a great flower to ‘play’ with and find the ‘look’ you like.  Personally for me I like to use a recipe of  2, 3, 3 & 3/4.  If I was going to use more circles for a larger flower I would then make my next layer 2 and then the next or possible next 2 layers from 2 circles as well.  Remember you must be able to fit all the layers onto your brad to hold it together.

Here is my finished card with my flower. 

Doesn't it make a nice embellishment!  

And it is CHEAP but yet looks so classy and store brought!

And just works so well with 

Hearts Petal Flower from The Crafty Pad Designs!