For The Teacher

My son's teacher recently celebrated his birthday and Ashley was keen for the whole class to celebrate with....cupcakes. 25 banana and chocolate iced cupcakes later I decided to answer the call to use some of this school-days-themed-paper. There really wasn't much to do - the paper did the job for me.

And I decorated the envelope with a old stamp I have which depicts the joy of children's smiles and inside, in keeping with the learning theme, I stamped with a "birthday" definition stamp:

I'm sure the kids' barely noticed the card but the teacher did write a nice note in the homework diary for me :D

Thanks for stopping by to look at my cards.

Love from Crafty Kim

Clowning Around

This is the card I made for my youngest nephew's first birthday. In keeping with the circus theme for his party. And look at the wonderful cake his clever and talented Mum made:

The bar for family birthday cakes has been raised hugely....really had to get my cake-making act together for Ashley's 9th birthday.

And while on things circus, Ashley attended another circus-themed party in December. It was held at a circus school in Hornsby. Pretty impressive. I was in a mad rush to make this card and to me it needs more colouring-in but I remember that day I was packing to go away on holidays, Christmas shopping, setting up the house/pets for my Mum to mind, attending a carols-by-candelight service at St James Anglican Church in Turramurra ahead of driving 5 hours up the Coast in the evening (and of course, my husband had already gone) so this was as good as it got:

If you want to see a truly fabulous card made with this same stamp, please visit one of my favourite card-makers, Paula Tracy, with her pencils. Here's a sneaky peek but click on the picture to see the whole card and visit Paula. Be sure to leave her a comment.

Well I'm enjoying having time to post this week. But I'm due to make cards for my next class and it's only one down, two to go at this stage but better get back to it before school is out.

Thanks for dropping by,

Love from Crafty Kim

A Quick Note on Winnie Dog

Yep, Winnie (shown above celebrating her third birthday) is still missing. Needless to say, her owner and other Winnie fans are heartbroken. We'll never give up looking for her...for more information, please click HERE.

Thanks so much for your interest and helping in any way you can.

A Happy Discovery

I'm bursting with excitement...I've long been an admirer of Debra Clark - Punch Art Queen and author of three books on the subject. This chick was well ahead of the game when I discovered her work nearly 8 years ago.

And now I have just found her in cyber land. Happy dance here. I just have to share and encourage you punch art enthusiasts (put a punch in your hand and you'll be addicted) to go visit her for loads of inspiration and instructions.

If you visit, please show your appreciation with comment love.

And, for those animal lovers out there, Deb loves dogs too. She's a perfect paper-crafter.

Don't delay, please go visit HERE.

Love from Crafty Kim

More Big Shot / Cuttlebug Creations

Thought I would share some more cards I made with my Big Shot using various dies and embossing folders. The Big Shot/Cuttlebug machines really are versatile; haven't met a person yet who regretted buying one.

First is a bright card, reminiscent of a past card I blogged (many moons ago) but I used a flower shaped die to cut FELT. I had my doubts as to whether it would work but it was no different from cardboard, no furry edges.

After all that brightness, I had to go to neutral tones:

I used my brayer to apply white ink to the raised sections of Kraft cardstock. Pretty tricky I thought.

Then I went with one of my favourite colours, purple:

I was really happy with this card, my pick of the bunch. I used a white gel pen to trace around the embossed word "thanks".

And lastly, a simple one, using the technique of sanding the embossed area, this time on decorative paper rather than ColorCore card stock:

I liked the earthy tones of this card.

Hope you enjoyed looking at these and got some ideas along the way, thanks for visiting.

Love from Crafty Kim

Still looking for Winnie Dog

Sadly, dear Winnie Beagle has not been found yet. But we haven't given up the search or lost hope. Thanks for spreading the word about Winnie.

It's with a very heavy heart I write this post. Some of you will know that I am part of an animal rescue group called Beagle Rescue NSW (also on Facebook).

One of our foster carers has lost one of her own much-loved beagles. Sheryl and Bec live at Captains Flat near Canberra & in mid-December, when there were very bad storms down that way, Winnie & Buffy beagles escaped after flooding brought fencing down. Buffy came back the next morning but Winnie has not been sighted since.

They have searched wide and far on foot, motorbike and car then placed an ad in the paper & contacted the Pound & vets in the area but no joy. It is possible she has been picked up and moved out of the area hence the campaign to spread the word far and wide.

Please pass this message on to anyone you think may be able to help. Above is a photo of Winnie - everyone please pray and/or cross everything that she finds her way home.

Please email enquiries@beaglerescuensw.org.au or phone me on 0402 347 010 if you have any news.

Thanks for reading and if possible, acting to spread the word.

Love from Crafty Kim

My New Fave Embellishment - Buttons...

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a lovely holiday season. I received some lovely Christmas cards - thank you to those who sent these to me. I loved them all.

Before Christmas I went on a button splurge. Lots of colours and shapes and sizes. I was like a kid in a lolly shop. Far easier on the teeth and waist line. Then I had to use them. I started with the fairly generic floral card above but I think the colours make it special.

Then I saw a birdie card by a very talented chick called Karen Thomas over at Luv to Stamp which heavily inspired the following:


And then I came up with this one:


Hope you can visit your button stash and create something with buttons too.

Thanks for looking.

Love from Crafty Kim