Christmas Holidays 2012

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family! For me, the joy of Christmas is in watching the growing excitement of our boys as the big day draws near. And I love how generous they become as they save the last two of their favourite cookies for Santa - I'm hoping Santa likes stale cookies!

Despite all my good intentions to be super organised with buying gifts, present wrapping, Christmas light viewing, food preparation and the like, I always manage to get to bed at some insane hour of the morning. Usually an hour or two before the littlies get up wanting to open their presents! 

This Christmas Eve, I was making chocolate crackles and mango and coconut ice cream for the kids. That was in addition to making a card for each of my two boys and hubby. As they had already seen the card i made for friends and family, Isaac had requested something a little different so he would be a surprised on the day. My creative abilities were under pressure, given it was 3am in the morning! 

Here's the card i made for family and a few close friends.  This is a variation of one of the card designs for the stamp-a-stack I had in November. Instead of using the stitched ribbon for bows on the gift boxes, I used the heart from the Owl Builder punch and added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter for sparkle.  

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla.  Designer Series Paper: Be of Good Cheer.

Stamp Set: Short and Sweet (retired). Inks: Cherry Cobbler.

Accessories: 1cm Stitched Satin Ribbon in Gumball Green, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

After the three card designs for the stamp-a-stack, and the one for family and friends, I wasn't sure how i was going to come up with another design! I really love the tree in the Snow Swirled stamp set and had been thinking of heat embossing with the white embossing powder. This was the perfect time to test it out. Here's the design I came up with for my little munchkins and hubby. The stripes in the background also add a masculine feel to the design.

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Very Vanilla.  Stamp Set: Short and Sweet (retired), Snow Swirled. 

Inks: Real Red, VersaMark.  Accessories: White Embossing Powder, 

Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon (retired), Stripes Embossing Folder (retired).

Hope you are all enjoying your holidays! Thanks again for visiting, come back soon as I will be sharing some photos of a mini album I made recently for a friend of mine.

Mailbox vs Inbox.

Do you think sending handwritten cards is fast becoming a thing of the past? Is it becoming virtually extinct like letter writing? I had a pen pal when I was in primary school and i was always excited to receive a letter in our mailbox (vs inbox!).  And my boys still love getting letters and birthday cards in the mail from their Grandparents. Thankfully, the boys are still too young to have an "inbox".

In this e-age of ours, we post messages on our friends' walls to wish them a happy birthday. Or we send text messages to say hello. Don't get me wrong, I do it too! But I love receiving cards from friends who write just to say hello. 

What's even more special is when you receive a handmade card. Call me sentimental, but if someone gives me a handmade card, I find it hard to discard it because I know they have taken the time to make it with their hands and their heart. 

I have been a busy bee doing some cardmaking of my own. Here are some cards that i have made recently.

This Best Wishes card features the Comfort Cafe designer series paper and the 1cm stitched satin ribbon in Summer Starfruit (p172) from Stampin' Up! All of the Designer Series Papers in the Stampin' Up! catalogue is listed with the colours combinations used so you can easily coordinate your card stock when making your cards.  

Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede.  Designer Series Paper: Comfort Cafe.
Stamp Set: Short and Sweet (retired). Inks: Soft Suede.
Accessories: 1cm Stitched Satin Ribbon in Summer Starfruit, dimensionals.

I made this Wedding Wishes card for my friends Katie and Nick who recently had an absolute dream wedding in Bora Bora. A beautiful location to celebrate the beginning of their marriage. 

For this card, I used the Melon Mambo cardstock which is the same colour as what I used when I made their wedding invitations.  I stamped the image with the Easy Events stamp set (p34) using VersaMark, sprinkled the white embossing powder on top, and then used my heat tool to set it. I punched out the image with the decorative label punch (p182) and added some glitter to the love birds' wings.

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Melon Mambo, Very Vanilla.  Stamp Set: Easy Events, Parlor Prints background stamp.
Inks: VersaMark. Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Pearl Basic Jewels, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

In my last post, I used the Patio Party Designer Series Paper to makeover a scrapbook layout.  Here I used it to make birthday cards. 

I really love the new Midnight Muse and Summer Starfruit in-colours, which go well together for those more masculine cards. I think most of the Patio Party prints could be substituted into this card design and still work with the Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon. The greeting was stamped with the Sincere Salutations stamp set (retired) with VersaMark and then heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, Baja Breeze.  Designer Series Paper: Patio Party.

Stamp Set: Sincere Salutations (retired). Inks: VersaMark.

Accessories: 1cm Stitched Satin Ribbon in Summer Starfruit, White Embossing Powder.

I made this For Baby card (right) earlier this year for beautiful baby Isla. A good friend of mine who I went to uni with had been working in San Francisco and was returning with her hubby and new baby! I had seen photos of Isla and she was one cute baby so I was super excited to meet her (and catch up with my friend too!).

I used the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder (p189) with the Big Shot to create the dots on the top half of the card, and then used the Subtles Collection Designer Series Paper Stack (p162) for the bottom half of the card. You can see how easily you can create a personalised card simply by cutting out the baby's name with alphabet dies through the Big Shot.

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Soft Suede.  Designer Series Paper Stack: Subtles Collection.
Stamp Set: Easy Events (p34). Inks: Rose Red.  Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder (p189) 

This Thank You card uses the Reason to Smile stamp set which I received as part of an awesome promotion Stampin' Up! was running earlier this year (so lucky!). I love cherry blossoms and they were my inspiration when creating this card.

The stamp set came with the outline of the flowers, and another stamp for shading the inside of the flowers.  I used the Two-Step Stampin' technique to create this card.  I left a few of the flowers with just the outline to allow for some variation. This card is very simple to make and I like the simplicity of it.

Cardstock:Whisper White, Soft Suede.  Stamp Set: Reason to Smile (retired), Short and Sweet (retired).
Inks: Melon Mambo. Accessories: Sponge Daubers.

My youngest is off to school next year, so i have been feeling a little sentimental and clingy on his days off from kindy! We made this card together for one of his kindy friends. 

He chose the stamp from the Easy Events Stamp Set, and even stamped it himself. The card stock he chose was Baja Breeze and as you can see, he drew in the lines on the side to give that "stapled" look. I helped him stick the papers and he finished it off by colouring it in with his felt pens. 

Just goes to show how easy it is to make a cute card with some nice card stock and a few versatile stamps.

Cardstock:Whisper White, Soft Suede, Baja Breeze.  Stamp Set: Easy Events (p34) Inks: Soft Suede 

All materials used for making the cards in this post are from Stampin' Up! so if you would like to recreate any of these cards, you can place an order for the materials with me.  

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have been inspired to make a card, or send a card to a friend or loved one today. Feel free to leave a message, would love to hear from you.

Layout makeover with Patio Party!

PATIO PARTY! This has to be my favourite designer series paper from the new Stampin' Up! catalogue (p165) so far.  In fact, I love it so much, I am ready to order some more!  Aside from the designs being fun and fresh featuring the new in-colours, the designs are so versatile you can use it for a wide variety of project themes!

Initially I was thinking birthday cards and other celebratory themes.  But then i realised it would have been perfect for my BOAT TRIP layout that i did a few months ago!  I confessed to a good friend of mine that I wanted to redo my layout. I was met with an exasperated text message of "Oh, dear Lord!" Besides making me laugh, i knew deep down she knew why I HAD TO DO THIS!

And here it is!  I didn't need to use much of the Patio Party papers for this layout, so it just goes to show these packs really go a long way. I used the Fun Flowers Bigz L die (p193) to make the flower and popped an Antique Brad in to finish it off. I have not veered away from the original layout. All i have done is use a different colour scheme and introduced Patio Party paper to give the layout a makeover. You can view the original Boat Trip layout here.  

I created my own date tag by cutting a small piece of the Crumb Cake card stock and sponging the edges with Soft Suede ink.  I also added the rounded corners with the 5mm Corner Punch (p183). The stamp set i used is So Many Sayings (retired) and again, i used the Soft Suede ink. It's such a simple little tag and so easy to make.  It's amazing how sponging the edges with a darker ink creates such a lovely effect.

  

I used the same technique for the journalling tag. Again, the stamp set i used is the retired So Many Sayings. 

I was surprised how easily i could create a simple embellishment by putting the Patio Party paper through the Big Shot with the Fun Flowers' Bigz L die and then adding in a brad through the centre.

If you haven't explored the beautiful range of designer series papers, my guess is that once you try them, you will wonder how you ever survived without them.  They give projects an instant injection of colour and design detail.

Stampin' Up!® supplies: Stamp Set: So Many Sayings (retired). Classic Stampin' Pad (Soft Suede). Card Stock (Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit). Papers: (Patio Party Designer Series Paper). Accessories (Antique Brads)

What about grain free rice?

I was talking to one of my good friends from high school last week, and it was so good to catch up on the latest goings ons in our lives. It's hard to believe we used to see eachother almost everyday, and nowadays, I'm lucky to see her once a year! It is a distance thing.

These days, instead of the girly giggles about the latest cute boys we have a crush on, it's more about "grown up" stuff... like the kids, bills, home life, and food ideas. 

The conversation turned to more "mature" matters when i told her about my plan to eliminate grains from my diet to heal my body. Although she won't have realised it, her suggestion for grain free rice was rather inspirational and has motivated me to look further into mock fried rice using vegies.
     

I spent many hours over the weekend searching for grain free recipes and ideas. There is so much out there, but it really is a matter of getting a good range of easy, filling recipes that i can refer to at anytime.  

    

Friday night was Vietnamese Pho night - without the rice noodles. Can I say, I really missed the noodles to start with, but overall it was a tasty meal which the kiddies enjoyed. They asked for seconds which is always a good sign. 

Vietnamese Pho (Sue Style): Wombuk, Brocollini, Beef with fresh coriander, mint and lime juice.

When you finely chop up cauliflower and then pan fry it, you end up with a yummy mock fried rice. Great as a light lunch. This is what i had for lunch today. The side of pan-fried pumpkin was a tasty sweet addition.

Mock Fried Rice made with finely chopped Cauliflower, Yellow Squash and Shallots,
with a side of thinly sliced pan-fried pumpkin.

I also spent some time this weekend making a card for a friend of mine, and I can't wait to share it with you! But first, I have to wait for her to receive it before i post up the photos. Don't want to spoil the surprise.

I got out my embossing powder and heat tool and embossed away like you wouldn't believe. I must have gone a little bit crazy as I dropped my entire VersaMark ink pad into my embossing powder. If you have used a VersaMark ink pad, you will know how sticky it is, and will understand why i let out a big "D'OH!" and grumbled at how i couldn't believe what i had just done.

Happy to say, I am not deterred in the least and cannot not wait to do more embossing soon - once i get myself a new VersaMark inkpad!

Looking forward to sharing more of my cardmaking projects with you soon!

Glittery cards for Christmas.

The magic of Christmas is something i look forward to every year, especially now that I have two little boys who's excitement about Christmas is extremely contagious. 

I know that it is only November, but i am already in Christmas card making mode. It was time to start thinking about my designs for this year's cards! After flicking through the new catalogue, I was inspired and couldn't wait to get started.
     

Here are my three designs for Christmas 2012! I used these designs in a recent Christmas stamp-a-stack where everyone made 3 cards in each of the 3 designs, which meant they walked away with 9 lovely handmade cards in total! Not too shabby for a few hours crafting.

This first card was inspired by a 2010 card design by Wendy Todd, a Stampin' Up Demonstrator in Sydney. I wanted to make a card with baubles but without the necessary stamps or punches, I decided to improvise by using the large snowflake stamp (Snow Swirled stamp set) and the 4.4cm circle punch. The top of the bauble was made with the 1.3cm circle punch which i glued half way behind the large baubles.  I also used the Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter to add a little bit of sparkle. I like sparkle, i mean, who doesn't?  

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Very Vanilla.  Stamp Set: Snow Swirled. Inks: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler. Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds glitter, string (retired), dimensionals.

The second design features a row of three cute little gift boxes. This was a very quick and easy card to make. 

I used the 3.2cm square punch to create the inside squares from the "Be of Good Cheer" designer series paper, and then using the 3.5cm square punch in Cherry Cobbler card stock to frame the present boxes. For the bows, I used the 1cm Stitched Satin Ribbon in Gumball Green and glued them on with glue dots.

I wanted this card to show the fun and festive designs in the "Be of Good Cheer" designer series paper pack.  There were so many great designs that it was not easy choosing just three!

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla.  Designer Series Paper: Be of Good Cheer.
Stamp Set: Accessories: Stitched Satin Ribbon in Gumball Green, glue dots.

The third design uses the very elegant Christmas tree from the Snow Swirled stamp set. I fell in love with this gorgeous tree last year and have had my eye on it since. I stamped the tree with Old Olive ink and added the Rhinestone Basic Jewels and Stampin' Glitter to make it really sparkle. 

I used a strip of the "Be of Good Cheer" designer series paper on top of a strip of Old Olive card stock which has added another element to the card.  So there you have it, a simple design with a glitzy tree.

Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Old Olive.  Designer Series Paper: Be of Good Cheer.
Stamp Set: Snow Swirled. Accessories: Jewel Rhinesones, Stampin Glitter.

These simple card designs show how you can create three distinctly different cards with just one set of Designer Series Paper, and one stamp set.  The Season's Greeting stamp from Snow Swirled could have easily been used in the triple gift box card too :)

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you have been inspired to get cracking on your Christmas card making!

But isn't this a paper crafting blog?

Beef and green bean stif-fry with shredded nori and toasted sesame seeds.

So you may be wondering, why am I posting up a food photo?  This is a paper crafting blog, I hear you saying! 

Allow me to explain.  When I started this blog, I wanted to share the fun of my paper crafting creations.  But I had always intended to someday share my other two loves - food and photography. And that is why I chose the name THE MAKING TABLE, it's about making cards, making layouts, making food, and most importantly, making memories.   

Those who know me, are well aware that I have been on a non-stop roller coaster ride for the past 12 years trying to unravel the mysteries of my food allergies. It has taken me on an intense ride that has been emotionally and physically challenging in so many ways.

I am now embarking on my latest challenge.  Grain Free eating.  Oh my goodness.  I thought going gluten free, dairy free, corn free, soy free, sugar free etc etc was hard.  Grain free in addition to all my other "frees" is a tough one.

This little adventure of mine to eat grain free is new way of eating, which means a new way of cooking.  

To make it a little more fun, I would like to take photos of the new grain free dishes I create myself, and of the recipes i try from grain free blogs.

Initially, I won't be posting up any recipes, but you can message me if you would more details. I will leave the recipe posting to the professional food bloggers, like Emma from My Darling Lemon Thyme. 

I stumbled across Emma's blog earlier this year and was fully inspired by her passion for healthy healing foods and recipes, gorgeous photography, and her willingness to share her knowledge and wisdom with others. Also, i am mentioning My Darling Lemon Thyme for no other reason than because I am a big fan :)   

The Making Table will still be about all things crafty, but with occasional food photography thrown in for good measure!

Welcome Baby mini album

When our friends Lisa and Craig announced the birth of their beautiful baby boy Lennox, I wanted to make them a mini album to celebrate their new addition.  

But I didn't have any photos! Luckily, when I spoke to my buddy Cind, she offered to open up her studio for a newborn photoshoot workshop with me.  Thanks buddy!   

Only 8 days after having bub, Lisa was kind and generous enough to come to Cind's studio and allow me to take some photos of baby Lennox. Once I had processed all the photos, the crafting fun began!

I used the 12" x 12" Crumb Cake card stock from Stampin' Up! to make the mini album and kept the design very simple because I really wanted the photos to shine.  

The rub-ons i used are non-Stampin' Up!  I wanted to used some nice quotes that reflects how children bring us much joy and happiness, and how much they can teach us adults if we choose to listen.

A big thanks to Lisa, Lennox and Lisa's mum Sheila for being so patient and generous with their time on the day of the photoshoot.  Means a lot x

Stampin' Up!® supplies: Card Stock (Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White).

Cindy Revell Photography CD Case

My goal to make one scrapbook page per week has failed dismally.  On the upside, I have been busy with other creative projects.  One of which was my first newborn photoshoot workshop with my lovely photographer buddy Cind.  

Friends of the family had just welcomed a beautiful baby boy into their lives, and they were kind enough to let me photograph him for my workshop.  The photoshoot was a fantastic learning experience, as was the the post-processing stage! 

Aside from the photoshoot, Cind has asked me to create some CD Cases for her photography clients.  I was very excited to be able to give something back to Cind, she has given her time and shared her photography knowledge with me so freely.

This is what i have come up with.  I used the Very Vintage wheel stamp and VersaMark to create the border, which was then heat embossed with Stampin' Up's clear embossing powder.  The clear embossing gives a subtle textured effect which looks quite neat when it catches the light.  

The ribbon I used for the tie was Stampin' Up's taffeta ribbon in Basic Black to coordinate with the Basic Black card stock used for the CD cases.  

  

The ribbon from the front cover has been threaded through to the inside of the back cover to add a feature to the contact details page.

I encourage you to visit Cind's facebook page (cindyrevellphotography.com.au) and have a look at her gallery.  If you are looking for a photographer who is professional, friendly and great with the kiddies, Cindy would be perfect!

If you are a photographer and would like CD cases made to give to your clients, please message me on The Making Table facebook page for quote.

Until next time, thanks for visiting!

Boat trip

I realised I was just taking too long to make a page. According to my calculations, if i take 2 weeks to make one page, I would only complete ONE album a year!  This was not good, considering i have mentally planned 6 albums already.

The BOAT TRIP layout is very simple, with not too many elements as I didn't want to OVERTHINK it, and I wanted to make it quickly.  My focus was the photos and the journalling.  After all, the reason I started scrapbooking was because I wanted my children to look at these albums one day and know their story.  

We took these photos on a boat trip whilst i was pregnant (after the morning sickness phase!) with one of those automatic cameras that took film. As it turned out, i didn't finish the film on the day. When Isaac was about 12 months, I came across the camera and took random snaps around the house to finish off the film. I put the film in the car with every intention to have it processed and never got around to it for 6 years! The film must have been damaged by the heat in the car so the colours are very faded.  Strangely enough, I really love the colours in the photos, and wouldn't mind learning how to recreate this effect.

The photos have been cropped down to squares and matted on Whisper White card stock. The textured background was created with the Stampin' Around Wheel stamp (texture design) The Bashful Blue and EarIy Expresso card stock used for the page's bottom trim has been distressed and the edges accentuated using a sponge dauber and Bashful Blue ink.

  

The title was created with Stampin' Up alphabet dies used through the Big Shot.

This simple little embellishment was created with a nautical theme in mind.

Ideally, I would like to make at least one layout per week.  But with so many side projects on the go, I am hoping I become a little bit more speedy in my crafting!  :)

Stampin' Up!® supplies: Stamp Set (Texture Stampin' Around Jumbo Wheel). Classic Stampin' Pad (Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Bashful Blue). Card Stock (Crumb Cake, Early Expresso, Whisper White, Bashful Blue). Accessories (Antique Brads)

Waiting to meet you

I had so much fun creating this page!  With two little boys, i am sure I will be creating many layouts with blues, greens, yellows and neutral colours. I took this opportunity to make this page very girly with plenty of pinks, pretty patterns, flowers, pearls and swirls.

I used the Labels Collection Framelits dies to add to the girliness of the title.  The framelits dies comes in a set of 6 layering dies which means your creative possibilities are endless!
  

I used Stampin' Up's Very Vintage jumbo wheel stamp. Until now, I had been inking up with an ink pad, which meant I was limited to stamping only the circumference of the wheel before the ink started to fade. I recently purchased the ink cartridges which allowed me to create the border for my 12x12 page without re-inking!  

I used the VersaMark ink in the cartridge which gave a subtle watermark effect for the border. The Melon Mambo ink on the Melon Mambo cardstock gave a similiarly subtle and pretty effect.

Supplies: From Stampin' Up! - Stamp Set (Very Vintage Stampin' Around Jumbo Wheel, Reason to Smile). Classic Stampin' Pad (Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake). VersaMark. Card Stock (Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake, Early Expresso, Very Vanilla). Labels Collection Framelits. Accessories (Basic Jewels Pearl).

Owl CD case/mini album

When i went to my first workshop with Dianna from the Paper Art Studio, she showed me how to make an easy CD case/mini album. 

I thought it was such a neat idea and have since made quite a few of my own.

A few months ago, I had my parent roster day at Jake's kindy and I couldn't wait to take a few photos of him with his little buddies.

It was such an awesome morning seeing Jake with his mates.  I got a few nice photos of Jake with his friend Noah, so I made a mini album for his mum.  I put the photos onto a CD which fits snugly into the centre album pocket.

As you can see, I'm really liking my owl punch teamed with the Woodgrain background stamp.