Happy Birthday Tiana

Well here's a card I made for 10 year old Tiana. I choose this digital image because the child and dog look so like Tiana and her Golden Retriever, Sharnee. As with all colouring, the principles of light and shade to give the image dimension were applied. I also tried to keep the colours similar to those in the background paper and card. I was able to use the markers to colour the silk flowers and brad so they matched. The layout is from Mojo Monday 139; always helpful to follow a sketch.

I haven't been crafting much lately between work, kid-wrangling (school holidays are upon us) and having a nasty head cold. The cold and frosty weather in Sydney hasn't helped much either. Sydney-siders just aren't geared up for sub-zero temperatures, it really cramps our lifestyle.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by.

Luv from Crafty Kim

Happy Anniversary to Bob & Maureen

Here's a clean-and-simple card I made for some family friends as they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Quite an achievement is 50 years of marriage. The happy couple received letters of congratulations from the Queen and the Prime Minister amongst others so my little card was in lofty company.

My little CuttleBug worked hard at this. Of course being a Golden Wedding Anniversary, gold was mandatory. I cut the numbers with an alphabet die set, and the scalloped circle with Nestabilities, picked up some co-ordinating ribbons and it was almost there.

Wishing Bob and Maureen more happy years of togetherness.

Thanks for stopping by,

Love from Crafty Kim

Get to the Moscow Circus

This afternoon I had a really good time at the Moscow Circus with family and friends. I've been to a few circuses in recent years including Cirque du Soleil and Circus Oz and I have to say I enjoyed the Moscow Circus most. It's great value, the action keeps on coming for two hours. It's currently playing in Hornsby (Rofe Park, until Sunday June 27) but moves on to other suburban locations next so it's very accessible.

We all laughed alot, especially at the clown acts and the ring master. And some of us cringed as we saw what we thought was impossible. Our kids (aged 5 onwards) were entranced. Kids of all ages are welcome, the family behind us tried in vain to get their baby to sleep - even he was paying close attention. But it's not just for kids; I reckon the acts appeal to all ages. There was some distinctly Russian acts as well as magic and puppetry not always seen at the circus. Its big claim to fame is a motorcycle act like no other (and it wasn't an assault on the ears either).

At the end of the wonderful show, the ring master asked us to spread the word if we enjoyed the show. So here I am; I can not speak highly enough of the show. More details here or at Ticketek. I hope I'll be able to see the Moscow Circus again when they tour Australia next (about two years away).

Love from Crafty Kim

Fancy Folds

Hope those of you who celebrate the Queen of England's birthday have enjoyed your long weekend.

The first card shown above is what is termed an Easel card (as in the stand an artist uses). I've used punch art and decorative paper to make this tree scene. The sky background isn't printed paper, I made it with sponging. Because the card features a large and small tree, I decided it would make a good Father's Day card for Ashley to give his father. Fancy me being organised so far in advance.

The next card is called a Tri-fold card. Here the ribbon unties and the card unfolds to reveal a graphic and/or message inside. Would have been nice if I remembered to take a photo of this feature but I didn't (sorry folks).


I've also used grey in this card. It's not an obvious colour choice but sometimes it works well. And as much as it hurt to cut up my carefully stamped image, it looked good when I pieced it back together again.

Last one is a Waterfall card. I have a set of four owl stamps which were perfect for this card. As you pull on the ribbon the card flips through the owl images.



Thanks for visiting.

Love from Crafty Kim

Mum, can we make a cake?

(Creation and photo courtesy of Margaret Crawford, Stamps Ahead)

Do these words sound familiar? Usually at a totally unsuitable time. But now, there's a fast and happy solution.

My friend Margaret Crawford scrapped this page above as part of a 21-day scrapbooking challenge she has undertaken to raise funds for homeless kids. I'm sponsoring her $1 a day and so far, I'm up for $10. Margaret has been such a good friend to me that I wanted to send some traffic her way. Click HERE to see her scrapbook pages, she's led a interesting life so lots of variety.

Back to the cake. Margaret's niece, Jess, shared a recipe where you put some very basic ingredients in a normal coffee mug, mix them together and microwave them for 3 minutes. Out comes a cake fit to feed two kids. Pretty good I reckon, here's the recipe that Ashley followed (originally off Facebook):


5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons self-raising flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.


I don't have a picture of the end result. Would you believe my phone rang as the microwave beeped and by the time I got back to the action, the cake was almost gone, courtesy of Ashley and his furry friends, Holly and Toby Beagles.

Have a great L O N G weekend. I'm hoping to be back here before it's over.

Love from Crafty Kim

Rugby-Themed Birthday Card for 9 Year Old

My son attended the birthday party of a new-found school friend. They have both started playing Rugby Union for school sport so when I came across some stamped football-related images from my friend Romaine (these impressions were made many moons ago), I decided to make the birthday boy's card using them. Nothing like using up your stash.

The school colours are red, grey and blue so I water-coloured the images in these colours and teamed them with matching card stock and ribbon. The background was made with a new Cuttlebug embossing folder which I think is great for male cards of any age. The number nine is a piece of chipboard inked in red and then coated with Crystal Effects.

I printed a greeting for the inside of the card using my PC and colour printer:


Thanks for looking. Hope you're having a good day.

Love from Crafty Kim

School Boy Card

My son, Ashley, changed schools this year, into Year 3 at his new school. Here are a couple of happy snaps from his first day there:

Looking a bit pensive, or maybe just embarrassed by Mum taking photos

Here he's thinking "I've almost made it to the
classroom where the photos will finally end"

In his first week of new school, Ashley turned 8 years old and in keeping with his new school colours, a friend made him a birthday card in the school colours (being red, white and blue) shown at the top of this post.

Now in his second term, Ashley is really enjoying it. In fact, he's coped better with the change than I have! Thanks for stopping by and reading. I'll be making a few more posts about family and friends as I'm now using this blog as an attempt to keep in touch. But there'll still be plenty of paper-craft to be seen so please keep following.

Love from Crafty Kim