Saturday, August 17, 2013

Triangular Thanks

I thought I'd play along again with the Trendy Triangle Challenge over at Moxie Fab World. This time, as well as using triangles on my card, I decided to make a triangular card.

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Stamps (Hero Arts) - Friendly Flags, Lattice Background and Antique Brocade

For the orange and darker green triangles, I applied Hero Arts tide pool and orange soda shadow inks to white card and stamped and/or embossed images. I used pool layer paper for the lighter green triangles. After cutting out the triangles, I adhered them to white card and did some machine stitching before adding the back of the card. As I've used inks from the Stamp Your Story catalogue, I'm also submitting this card into the current Hero Arts Challenge. I was inspired by the colours and mix of patterns on this gorgeous card by Kelly Rasmussen.

Hope you're having a great weekend:) Our National Heritage Week starts today so we're hoping to fit in as many fun events as possible over the next seven days and are trying not to think too much about the imminent return to school!



Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Hexagon Christmas Tree

I know, I know, here I go again, it's August and I have another post about Christmas! But Volume 8 of Holiday Cards and More, my favourite magazine, was published last week and I'm feeling all Christmassy and eager to make Christmas projects because of all the wonderful inspiration contained in the magazine.


I'm still pinching myself that I have three project in the magazine - a card, a gift tag and this home décor item


Stamps - Happy Hexagons (Papertrey Ink) & Very Merry Christmas (Hero Arts)
Die set - Geometric Shapes (Hero Arts)


A while ago my good friend Trinh surprised me with the gorgeous Happy Hexagons set from Papertrey Ink (thanks again, Trinh!) and this was the first project I made using them. Along with the hexagons I just used a couple of my favourite things (distress inks and stitching) to make this.


Mmm I wonder how many days do I have to wait before I can put up and decorate our Christmas tree!!

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Nativity Gift Tags

Today I'm playing along with two challenges, the Holiday Gift Tag Challenge in the Moxie Fab World and Hero Arts' Stamp Your Story Inspiration Challenge.


Well the sun may be splitting the stones outside but with the release of Holiday Cards and More I'm already thinking of Christmas, and a good thing too as I'm usually rushing at the last minute with Christmassy bits and pieces! I love the cover on the magazine and can't wait to get my hands on it so I can see what else is inside!

I'm thinking of wrapping some Christmas presents in plain white paper embossed with snowflake and for a few will steer away from the usual Christmas colours. So going away from traditional colours, I made some gift tags that were inspired by this gorgeous and fun Halloween card created by Kelly Rasmussen. I just love the fabulous sky Kelly created as well as the colour combination and silhouettes against the sky.

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Stamps (Hero Arts) - Special Delivery & Greatest Gift

I wanted the tags to have a similar shape to The Stations of The Cross in our local church, so to start with I die cut the windows using Spellbinders Window One die, and cut off the pieces in the middle that I didn't want. Then I applied distress inks (mustard seed, dried marigold, spiced marmalade and barn door) to cream card and sprinkled some water on it. Once dry I cut out panels, stamped the scenes and adhered the panels behind the windows. To finish I just added a tiny star rhinestone to the centre tag and added string to them all.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Rainbow String Star

With Cath's Trendy Triangles Challenge over at Moxie Fab World, I seem to have triangles on the brain at the moment! So this morning I made another card using triangles.

I love string quilts and the added bonus is that they are great for using up scraps. So I thought I'd use up some scraps by making a star with string points for my card.

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Stamp (Hero Arts) - Fantastic Birthday
Die (Hero Arts) - Geometric Shapes (used diamond shaped die)

To start with I cut strips of card in various colours and adhered to a piece of backing card. Then I die cut triangles using half of the diamond shaped die out of Hero Arts' Geometric Shapes set. In the same way I die cut the central triangles for the card. To finish I just stamped the sentiment and added a rhinestone.

I've only a few more days of holidays left so we've been making the most of our days off and headed off to Cahir Castle and the Rock of Cashel last week. Here are some photos from our trip.

Cahir Castle



A cannon ball from a siege in 1599 can been seen lodged in the wall to the left of the lower arrow slit.

Thick walls with arrow slits.

Another defensive area inside the main walls with working portcullis and holes above the gate for dropping boiling water, rocks etc on any attackers.

A Tudor fireplace.

Rock of Cashel

12th century round tower and 13th century cathedral


View of nearby abbey

A carving in the cathedral. It reminds me of St Patrick but I'm not sure if it is of him.

Ceiling of 11th century Cormac's Chapel. Only fragments of the original frescoes remain. The frescoes were covered by whitewash during the Reformation.

A cheeky lad in Cormac's Chapel!

Sorry for all the photos but I love spending hours exploring places like these! Enjoy your weekend!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

The Trendy Triangles Challenge

After three weeks without rain, we've probably had more than three weeks worth of rain in the past three days. It's another soggy day today, so I decided to get inky while the rain lashed down.

I've been eager to play along with Cath's Trendy Triangles Challenge over in the Moxie Fab World. Today I wanted to make a gift tag for a present for a friend and thought it would be an ideal opportunity to give the challenge a whirl.

My friend is a quilter and her present includes some fabric, so I made a mini quilt for the gift tag.

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Stamp (Papertrey Ink) - Boutique Accessories Mini Stamp Set

I punched out lots of tiny squares from scraps, cut them into triangles and made the mini quilt measuring 1¾ inches square. The quilt is hanging on a Maya Road heart hanger - I couldn't resist buying a packet of these cuties! I hadn't bought any Papertrey Ink goodies before so I was delighted when my good friend Trinh kindly offered to order items for me awhile ago. I was like a kid on Christmas morning this week when I received my Papertrey Ink order - thanks again, Trinh:) For this tag I inked up one of the images from the Boutique Accessories Mini Stamp Set. Then I just added some ribbon and attached the quilt to the tag with foam pads.