Techno challenge

Just having a little problem with my account set up. The email this blog is associated with no longer exist but I can't seem to change the association to my current gmail address....

A bit of Monkeying around

My brother in law will also be celebrating his birthday this weekend. I just got the Fox & Friends stamp set so thought I'll CASE a card I recently saw while blog hopping. This is my version.

Masculine and versatile enough

What design for a male turning 40? Well, going with the black & white theme, and didn't want it to be an overtly 40th birthday card, this is the All Occasions card I came up with. I love stamp sets like the Stampin Up Lexicon of Love set - it is so versatile.

Black & White

I am trying to be prompt with taking pictures of my crafting before gifting away, so here is one hot off the press. This boxed cards set is for the other Mrs P, my beautiful sister in law, whose birthday we're celebrating tonight. I hope she likes it.

One of the things I certainly find quite frustrating with crafting is my indecisiveness. I keep deliberating whether to put stripes on the box, just like the cards, or leave it plain black. I'll be thinking about it until I give it to her tonight. What would you have done?

So I made 4 "all occasions" cards, but could fill the box with 2 more cards. The trouble with working with black ink is that you have to be very very neat and take extreme care, especially on white paper. And I reckon it does stain the rubber stamps. Oh well...

Also, I forgot to take into account the bigger size of a standard card envelope, so they don't actually fit inside the box. I could custom make the envelopes too, I suppose. Hmm....

Now what I reckon will make these cards have a polished look is having the heat embossing tool to wet emboss the stamped image. It is already on the shopping list, might have to see if I can bump it up the list, lol.

Desk Calendar

Here is another project I have been wanting to do ever since I first came across it. Well, we're in the 2nd half of the year already, but it's never too late, since MF and I still don't have a desk calendar at work, and really, I just started the calendar in July instead of January.

The instructions I used were from http://stampingmaria.blogspot.com/2011/02/easel-box-tutorial.html

The project uses up 3 x A4 cardstocks and 1 x 12" square cardstock.

Another instructions link (which I think makes a smaller version) I have saved is http://inkspiredtreasures.com/wp-content/uploads/Desktop%20Calendar%20Box%20Tutorial(1).pdf

The calendar itself is my own simple creation in an Excel file. I just may be making these for Christmas presents this year....

More Little Books

Shocking photos, bah humbug! Our unreliable camera of 8 years didn't come to play so I used DH's iPhone, or maybe it's just cos' I am not a good photographer...anyhow, at least I got pictures of these two sets. I gave the third one to the mother of the baby boy born last week, forgetting to take a picture of it. The only difference between that one and the one below is that it was stamped using Wild About You stamp set.

This one is for my little fella who turned 2 at the end of June. I have intentions to make one of these little books for each child for each birthday...let's just say I often have intentions, but whether I ended up carrying it out...hmm...let's see!

The link to the instructions for these is in this previous post.

Clean And Simple

There is a card style known as CAS - ie Clean and Simple. I think it is open to interpretation what CAS means. One idea, which I like, is that it involves a lot of white space. I particularly like the simplicity of "LateBlossom" - there's something classy about her creations.

Well, I think this card is about as simple as it gets. And it uses up left-over patterned papers very effectively. Takes all of 5 minutes to whip up. Still inspired and made especially with the person it is intended for in mind though - can you see what the inspiration might be?

There is a theme of shoes running through the card - very subtly. This is a birthday card for a girlfriend whom I have only quite recently gotten back in touch with. Simple, yet effective.