Balloons & Stars

My middle son is turning 9 on the 21st of Feb, and every year I usually start thinking about his birthday party straight after Christmas and New Years. This year is no different, and the first thing I usually get started on are the invites. As his birthday is very early in the year, literally less than three weeks after School starts. This means that I have to have his invites ready before School starts back, which doesn't give me a lot of time. Picking the theme is usually the hardest task as he is very particular about things (fussy) and not usually very good at making quick decisions. I've been asking him to decide on a theme for his birthday and after a week of indecision, I decided to help him out.  I have realised by now that he is a visual and a tactile person, he can connect to things better when he can see it, feel and touch it, rather than to be just told of a concept. I had few ideas in mind and I decided to make him three sample invites that he can choose from, this worked really well as he was able decide very quickly the one that he liked the most and we decided to go with the one he chose and base the birthday around that theme. Here are two that did't quite make the cut, but given that I put a lot of work into it, and quite happy with the way both turned out, thought it would be a good idea to blog about it still. You have to wait a few week to see the actual invite as I want his guest to be the one to see it first, before everyone in the blogasphere. I will publish it few days after the invites are sent out.

The first sample is a shaker card, using the Bolloon Adventure bundle and

Party Animal Designer Series Paper from the Stampin Up Occasions Catalogue. Card base in Dapper Denim and I also used Dapper Denim in the balloon dies. The yellow cardstock inside is Crushed Curry.

Inside the card, I used the same balloon adventure die, but I made it pop out instead. I hind side I perhaps should have spread it out a little bit more so that it looks a little bit more flush when you open it. But because it was a sample card, I din't worry too much about it.

The second sample card I made was using the Birthday Blast Bundle, staying with the same colour combination as above - Dapper Denim and Crushed Curry. I also used the Number of Years stamp set and Large Numbers Framelit Dies to get the number 9 and the birthday banner. This card is much easier to make than the above but still makes quite an impact. It makes a great birthday card, and I think while it din't make the cut as an invite, I think I will keep this one away to give to him as his birthday card.

Thank you for visiting, I really appreciate you stopping by. Hope to see you again really soon.

Mortar and Pestle

You might be wondering why I have named this project 'Mortar and Pestle'. Well, its primarily because I have used a pestle to emboss the pattern on the paper instead of running it through a big shot. I didn't really want to emboss the entire card front, and so I put my thinking hat on and thought to myself how can I make this happen. Maybe using a heavy object to press down on the embossing folder would work, and for some reason I thought about about a pestle. It worked well with this project because of its smaller circumference of the bottom of the pestle allowed me greater control of the area I wanted embossed. Accept pressing down didn't really work well, I had to bash it pretty hard to get the impression to come through the paper, while being careful not to tear the paper. For this project I have used the falling petals embossing folder from the new Occasions Catalogue. 

I wanted to achieve a circular embossed pattern, so I punched out a circle and stuck it on the outside of the embossing folder, to use it as a guide of where I need to stomp with the pestle. Take a bit of time to stomp all over the circle to make sure that all the little bits of the pattern coming through.

I am really excited to introduce the new water colour pencils from stamping up, its amazing! While the falling petals embossed looks great as it is, I wanted to add some colour to the petals and the water colour pencils made colouring in the tiny petals super easy, I also used the aqua painter to blend the colour and to give it the water colour look.

To finish off I have used the pool part/gold baker's twine from the cupcakes and carousel embellishment kit.

Here are few other designs I have played around with

Thank you for visiting, I hope you have enjoyed learning about this rather unusual embossing tool. I would love to hear what you think, please take a few moments to leave a comment below.

My Crafted Christmas 2016

Christmas and New Years celebrations and visits are finally over and I can finally get back to crafting and blogging about my crafted creations. Its been such a long time since my last blog post, that I am sure people are wondering whatever happened to Irene from My Crafted Creations? But rest assured, I am still here. 

Christmas is what happened to me and why I haven't been very active in the blogasphere. Whilst December was already busy preparing for Christmas, I also held my very first craft classes, three if you count the girl's night in crafting session, which I facilitated. I also had a go at selling my creations at a local market which got some very mixed responses. I am glad that I gave it a try though as it was a great learning experience. Amidst all of this, I had my full-time job to attend, a family to run and the day-to-day ruckus. So its fair to say that December was a very busy month. And although the blog was a little neglected, it doesn't mean that crafting wasn't on the agenda. There was definitely a lot of crafting going on in December, in particular for Christmas. 

Those who know me well, knows that Christmas is one of my favourite time of the year. Growing up, I remember feeling a bit left out around Christmas time as my family do not celebrate it. My husband's family do celebrate it however and it was very exciting for me when I was finally able to participate. Every December, since meeting hubby, I would help my [now] mother-in-law with the tree decorations, and Christmas crafts. I have to give a great big thanks to my mother-in-law Mrs G, who first introduced me to the world of crafting. It was with her that I first discovered the satisfaction of creating through craft. So fast forward a few years, and the time came to host Christmas dinner in our own house with all the trimmings. I was beside myself. Since that first time, every year I try to make Christmas more and more meaningful and epic, especially when the kids came along. 

It would be fair to say that our Christmas celebration is a little different, since our families have different cultures and religious backgrounds.  But for me, the joy comes from seeing both families come together, sitting around one table, giving thanks for one another and sharing a meal, stories and laughs. I feel very blessed and privileged to create such a space. Its definitely a magic moment even if it is just for one day of the year - you could say, it's the "Magic of Christmas" to quote the cliche.

There's so much I love about Christmas, as it incorporates those aspects of my life I generally love doing anyway, like spending time with family, catching up with friends, crafting, decorating, baking, shopping, and especially gift giving. Christmas 2016 was no different, and I thought it would be appropriate for my first blog post this year to be about Christmas. I would love to share all the different ways I like to make Christmas feel and look a bit more special.

 I am really excited to share this project, it was a collaboration between my husband N and myself. N is quite the handyman, and he loves woodwork. Me made this rustic Christmas tree from left over pallet wood, and stained each piece with a different shade and gave it the aged look. I then put my decorating skills to some good use. We're both very happy with how it turned out.

Above my kitchen island bench, I usually hang garlands, but instead, this year I decided to hang these branches I picked up from the side of the road. It had been cut down left on the footpath. I took a few branches home, cleaned them up, took off all the dead leaves. Was going to take the gum nuts off as well, but glad I decided to keep them as they added a special effect. I hung them with fishing wire and 3M hooks. I chose very light weight decorations as I didn't want the branches to get too heavy. I think it looks really lovely and very much a homage to an Aussie Bush Christmas.

A friend of mine shared a video on FB on how to make these 3D stars out of paper bags, super easy to make, and they look great hanging from the ceiling. Here is the link:  https://www.facebook.com/5min.crafts/videos/870030909806162/

Scattered pinecones, assorted sizes placed all around the house. Hubby N has a thing for cloches and birdcages, so this is his caged pinecone decoration. Not too shabby!

Can't decide whether to call it a Stampin Up tree or a Tree of cards. If you look closely, you will recognise many Stamping Up products like Delicate ornament thinlits  and Embelished ornament stampset, or the Flurry of Wishes stampset and Snow Flurry punch  and many more. Placing cards under the tree happened organically, my boys started to put the cards they received from their friends each day, and they just kept doing that until Christmas. While it was not my intention, I quite like the idea, might do it again next time. 

                                           

This is another one of my husband's creation, he created a wreath out of tree twigs, and I decorated it with small pinecones. I think it came together very nicely.

I'm very pleased with the Christmas sign and the SU pretty pines thinlit dies just completes it I think.

I'm in love with birds sitting on my Christmas tree, every year my collection of birds gets larger, and one day, the whole tree will be decorated with birds, that will be so awesome. 

I love fresh flowers in my house at all times, but particularly during Christmas. I like to make my own arrangements. 

I usually make my own Soy Candles, various Christmas Fragrances. Which I usually burn couple of weeks leading up to Christmas. They are great as gifts for family, friends and colleagues. This time I decorated the candle jars with pretty pine leaves for that festive look.  

The Olive leaf wreath was a hit as well with hubby using it as faux mistletoe and trying to steal a kiss every time he caught me standing under it.  Even my youngest boy got into it - cheeky little bubba! 

I like to decorate my own wreath, both for outside and inside the house, they look special no matter where you hang them. Both of these wreaths are decorated with Stampin Up material and tools. 

I love my Christmas tree, I have had the same tree for over thirteen years and it still managed to retain its shape and foliage.  I tend to go with different combination of colour each year, but for the past two years I have stayed with this combination, mix of white, naturals and shades of blue. I quite like this combination.

A crafty friend shared a video on FB on how to turn empty wine bottles into beautiful centerpieces. So when I saw these large poinsettias, I knew exactly what I needed to do. They look better than I expected, so worth the effort. A big thanks to my hubby N for making me a very thin sofa table, that he custom built to fit perfectly behind our formal lounge. I'm sure it is going to feature as a mini stage for my crafted creations throughout the years to come.

It goes without saying, that I make my own Christmas cards and tags, it just wouldn't be right if I didn't. My boys also decided that they would also make Christmas cards for their friends, I regret not taking photos of them all. Suffice to say that I am one proud Mama - Who says boys don't like crafting?

Finally, table settings. I made some napkin rings and decorated them with the pretty pine leaves, this item was undoubtedly the most used tool I bought for Christmas. I love using real pine leaves where I can with my decorations, but they always dry up too quickly. Stampin' Up's Pretty pine leaves never die, so the decoration always makes it through the festive season. 

I also decorated the Bon Bons with extra Tags I had left over.  Here is some of the family enjoying Christmas brunch on the 25th - tummies were full, food was great and the table decorations were perfect - Did I mention that I love Christmas?

Well that's it for my crafted Christmas. Thanks so much for visiting. I do hope you enjoyed looking through all my Christmas creations, hope to see you again soon.