Everyone loves dino cupcakes!

So one of my best buys from last month's trip to Sydney was the dinosaur cupcake mold. Because everyone loves the dinosaur cupcakes! Yep...who wants regular cupcakes when you can get dino ones, right? *winks*

The T-Rex is particularly popular but generally everyone got a kick out of biting every dinosaur's head off....*LOL*

Playing along with the challenge at Skissedilla.

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A pretty upcycled tin...

I love the look of pretty tins to store little knick knacks. :) All you need is some pretty patterned papers and embellishments like these from Zeus and Zoe.

The papers had some glitter on them....I added some glossy accents for a little more dimension and interest. Now, I'm going to use it to store some pretty embellishments..:)

P/s: Happy weekend my friends! If you have time, consider playing along with my guest Lisa's shaped card challenge and LESSology Challenge #28: Open that bottle!.

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The story about the cable car ride...

So my sister scored some free tickets to go on a cable car ride and we brought our entourage along [3 nephews + 1 niece]....:)

Nephew #1 and #3 were scared and sat close to me, holding my hand. Nephew#2 who is generally fearless, sat by himself saying that it was so boring...and he wished the cable car would fall into the ocean below just to make it a little more thrilling! *LOL* 

I applied a little Liquitex blended fibers on my non-stick mat and woke up in the morning to a cool semi-translucent piece that I peeled off and added to my collage of elements for the titlework!  :)

P/s: Come play along with my guest Lisa's shaped card challenge! :)

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Shaped cards with Lisa Fish!

My guest today is the fabulous Lisa Fish of A Mermaid's Crafts. Lisa does amazing things with her dies and creates the most gorgeous cards. Her projects are beautifully layered and immaculately detailed with lots of brilliant stamping and use of mediums. Today she shares how she creates her signature Spellbinders base shaped card and is also hosting a challenge with a fantastic prize for one lucky player! :)

But first let's sit back and enjoy some of Lisa's fave creations...

My name is Lisa Fish and I'm so honored to be a guest today on Yvonne's blog. I have loved art all of my life but started seriously crafting about a dozen years ago. I was inspired by all of the crafty shows HGTV and DIY used to air. I first discovered Tim Holtz on an episode of The Carol Duvall Show about ten years ago and my love of all things inky, shabby and grungy was born. I dabbled with several mediums, with polymer clay being my favorite. I still enjoy working with clay when I have the time but most of my focus now is on paper crafts. My style is very eclectic and always changing. I enjoy trying new techniques and different mediums and have recently become obsessed with mixed media projects. I started my blog by making cards, layouts and home decor projects with my Cricut, then I discovered Spellbinders and fell instantly in love. I rarely make a project without using at least one.

My favorite technique is making shaped cards using Spellbinders dies as the base. This technique is pretty simple once you get the hang of it and you can create a variety of unique and beautiful cards.

Step 1
To create the base of the card, fold a piece of paper in half and place it over the die of your choice. I am using a Decorative Labels 8 die. For dies with intricate edges, you may want to use a piece of wax paper between the die and paper so that the paper will release easily. Also, since the paper is doubled over, you may have to run the die through the machine a couple of times to make sure the pieces cut all the way through. Now make sure you move the paper below the top edge of the die so that the fold does not cut. Run the die through your die cutting machine.

It will look like this after you run it through your machine a couple of times. You do not need to emboss it since this layer will be covered up.

Step 2
Remove the paper from the die and punch out any cut pieces. you will have a card with the fold intact, but it doesn't look complete since the top edge has been cut off.

Step 3
Your next step is to cut a single piece of cardstock with the die as you normally would and then emboss it. Now you want to adhere this piece to the base. With intricate dies, I've found that the easiest way is to attach it is to use sticky dot sheets, but you could also use a Xyron or glue.

Step 4
Adhere the top piece to the base to cover the fold. With the cut edge covered you have a unique shaped card base.

I love to layer Spellbinders to create different looks. I used paper from Prima's Nature's Garden stack for this card. On top of the base, I adhered a Labels 8 die cut. The next layer is a Spellbinders Floral Oval die.

Another technique I like to use is to make the card interactive. The Floral Oval die is attached to the base with a brad to reveal a hidden sentiment.

A Fancy Framed Tags 2 die was used for the JustRite sentiment. The butterfly is a Winged Things die, cut twice and popped up with foam tape for dimension. Rock Candy Stickles was added to the top for a subtle sparkle.

Now it's your turn!! I'd love to see your shaped cards using a die cut as the base. It doesn't have to be a Spellbinders die, but I'd love it if it was.

I am giving away one of my favorite Spellbinders dies - Labels 4, as well as a Spellbinders Impressabilities Snowflake template and some Want 2 Scrap Nestabling. I can't wait to see what you create!!

A huge thank you to Yvonne for having me as a guest this month!! I have truly enjoyed it!! Happy crafting :)
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Ready to play along? Please link your newly created shaped cards using a diecut as a base via InLinkz [located at the end of the post] by Friday September 6, 11.55pm (GMT +8).

As always, please leave a little love for my guest Lisa. :)

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Lace canvas...and some challenge winners! :)

Hello friends! Today I'm sharing a mixed media lace canvas. :)

I started with scrunched up white wrapping tissue [you usually get them when you buy shoes...] on an 8x8 canvas. Then I adhered remnant white lace from an old dress with matt gel. It looks like a single piece of lace but it's really small pieces adhered together. *winks*

I didn't have enough lace to go over the entire canvas so I added a piece of torn patterned paper. Then I applied Silks Acrylic Glazes in the colours matching the patterned paper.

I added the Blue Fern Studios chipboard after giving them a washed down treatment of the same glaze colours. The chipboard blooms were given sparkle with mica flakes. The embroidered blooms were added for contrast. Love how the small bits of lace add texture to the chipboard banner.

Playing along with the textiles challenge at Berry71Bleu.

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Thank you to all those who took the time to play along with my guest Savannah's masking challenge.  She picked a winner for her prize package of the Hope stamp set plus coordinating ribbon....

The winner is Kavitha...who did an awesome job stamping/masking her sentiment. :)

And Savannah said I could pick a second winner....

Crafty Math Chick totally won me over this cute scene achieved by lots of masking/stamping! :)

Congratulations to Kavitha and Crafty Math Chick! Please email me with your mailing details so that I can make arrangements for your prizes to be sent out to you. :)

P/s: Can't wait for you to meet my next guest tomorrow! 

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We love our cultured milk drink!

So my family really loves Vitagen [local cultured milk drink] and we got really excited when we spotted a family-sized bottle [4x bigger] while on vacation in Taiwan...

A couple of days later, we found a super HUGE version [double the size] in the supermarket.... and my sister just HAD to pose with it! *LOL* 

A lot of background stamping and masking.....

I was inspired by the challenge at Scrap Around the World....I went with the hearts in the inspiration photo. :) 

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Follow your bliss canvas with Blue Fern Studios chipboard

Hello friends! Just wanted to share my Follow your bliss canvas using Blue Fern Studios chipboard. :) I wanted to experiment with colours on a flat surface so I started with Derwent Intense Blocks over a pre-gessoed canvas. 

Then I added some Daler-Rowney liquid acrylics in green and yellow for some shimmer. It got a little "dark" for me...so I stamped over over in white. The gate chipboard was covered with Liquitex black lava medium while the text chipboard was covered with clear glitter over white gesso. 

P/s: Happy weekend friends! Come play along with LESSology Challenge #28: Open that bottle! :)

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My must-have supplies...(Part 2)

Last year, I did a must-have supplies list. Here's Part 2. :)

1. Ranger non-stick craft sheet.

Nothing sticks to it.

I use it to mix paint and mediums, spritz water on it to wash my paintbrush [why yes, I have my own ensuite bathroom but sometimes the ass just wants to remain in the chair...*LOL*].... It can take heat so you can use your heat gun to do embossing or drying your project. Stick your masking tape on it...and add stamp and paint....and it peels right off...onto your project.

Easiest cleanup ever. Use a wet rag over it. Or just peel off once the medium on it has solidified.

2. The Crafter's Workshop stencils.

Ahhhh...the possibilities are endless once you start layering the stencils. Even though I have other brands of stencils in my stash, I just LOVE the sheer variety The Crafter's Workshop has....[love the new releases!]

I love the quality too....they can totally take my constant "abuse"...*winks* . Totally worth the investment.

3. EK Success Cutter Bee scissors.

If you are looking for something to aid in your precision-cutting, this is it. I do all my fussy-cutting with it. It is small and lightweight and fits my hand perfectly. This is my companion when watching tv and doing a little fussy-cutting.  It's so good you really need like 2 pairs. At the very least. Like I do...*LOL*

4. Tonic Studios - Tim Holtz non-stick micro-serrated scissors.

Except for precision-cutting, I use this for everything else [it has serrated edges which I don't like in my fussy-cutting]. It can cut a variety of materials like aluminium [soda cans!], plastic and rubber and it is resistant to rust and corrosion.

There you have it. 4 must-have supplies (Part 2).  What are yours?

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