Tuesday, 19 November 2013

Hero Arts Decorative Ornament Christmas Tags

Dashing through the snow.....

Sorry no snow here - just more summer!!  I made these tags using one of my favourite ornaments - Hero Arts Decorative Ornament.  I wish I could say the idea was my own.... hehe -  but Thanks BaRb for the fantastic idea of heat embossing the ornament onto metallic paper!  - have a look.....




I had a limited number of silver bells - so I red embossed onto silver metallic paper, used background papers and strips from my stash and rhinestones for the bottom corner.  Tied a small silver bell around the top of the ornament and my charm for this year is a glass snowflake.


 I used gold bells and gold metallic paper for these ones - makes a difference doesn't it - changing the slightest thing.


 
A closer view of a gold version and yes I made them in bulk!..
 
I think I just about have all my Christmas goodies prepared for this year - better check my list!!
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Shell
xox

Monday, 18 November 2013

Spellbinders Shapeabilities Window 2, Darice Embossing Essentials Folder - Brick Pattern

Hello again, nice to have you back!!

It seems like I have been creating in bulk lately - Christmas Tags, Christmas Cards, Pillow Boxes, Teacher cards - oh that's right that is what I am showing you today.... Bulk Teacher Cards - World Teachers' Day was in October and I spent a little bit of time (just a little) on creating these cards for all the wonderful Teachers and Staff I have the privilege of spending part of my days with.  I made 65 cards as follows.....

 
I used a black card base with rounded corners (Corner Chomper).  From the cream coloured card I cut the window using Spellbinders Shapeabilities Window Two die first, then embossed the negative part of the cream coloured card using Darice Embossing Essentials Folder - Brick Pattern.  I lightly sponged Distress Ink - Tea Dye over the top of both the window and the brick wall.
 The grass was cut using Stampin' Up's Pear Pizazz Card and a Sizzix Grass Strip Die. The butterflies are a Stampin' Up Punch - Bitty Butterflies and the flowers are also a Stampin' Up Punch - Spring Bouquet. Silver rhinestones on the butterflies and in the corner of the card and a small brad for the centre of the flowers finished it off.


 
I made a few different colours as shown above.  The words across the window sill says "Through the classroom window" - I typed this up on word and printed them out.
 
 
All 65 cards lined up - looked really amazing.
 
 
A close up view of a selection of the colours.

 
A nice little stack of cards - all lined on the inside. The inside held a Poem/Verse which I wrote myself  called "Through the classroom window - I have noticed....."
 
I wrote 8 small verses about some of the fantastic things I have noticed 'through the window' and my Principal handwrote a personal message in each card - phew I think I had the easy part - I typed all mine!
 
And that is my Teachers' Card - hope you thank your Teacher / Child's Teacher for the amazing job they are doing through your classroom window - whether it be at School, at University, at Tertiary Education or even your creatively inspiring "Craft" Teacher - please remember to say thank you and let them know how much you appreciate their sharing of their knowledge!!
 
Thank you to all those who "Teach" me on a daily basis!!
Shell
xox 

Saturday, 16 November 2013

Exciting, Exciting Exciting!!!

Good morning!


Great News!!!  Thank-you to all the fantastic crafters who keep checking in on our Blog to see what we have been up to!  We really appreciate your regular visits to admire and hopefully be inspired by our love of creating.  We have some great news for our fellow crafters  who live in Australia (sorry if you live outside of Australia – you can still share in our news though!).   We have opened an online store – yay – exciting huh?!?!?  We are part of the handmade crafters operating under 
“The Handcrafted Shop” online stores.  Which is a Unique Virtual Handcraft Market.    
                    You can find us at http://www.thehandcraftedshop.com/
 
Click onto Stores then look for us -
BaRb'n'ShEll Creations
 
As we have only just ‘opened’ – we will be continuously adding products to our Store.  Please feel free to have a look and if there is anything in particular you are looking for – please send us an email, we will be more than happy to try and help you.
Happy Shopping,
BaRb and Shell
xox

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Creating with BaRb blog-Stampin'up-Mosaic Madness

Mosaic Madness
Hello
 This stamp and punch set lend themselves beautifully to being a Christmas Ornament Card

I have used Cherry cobbler as the card base. The paper bow is die cut in Modern medley music paper and the large scalloped oval in  cherry cobbler, from regals stack. The embossed oval is in vanilla and the ornaments are stamped on white card and embossed in silver, gold and cherry cobbler. Bakers twine forms the hangers and rhinestones finish up. The sentiment is from Joyful Christmas and is embossed in silver.
This is a quick and easy card, great if you are making several.
Thanks for visiting, and enjoy your crafting.
BaRb

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Stampin'Up - Flower Shop

Hello
The year is now winding down quickly, Time for those gifts for work colleagues and the kids' teachers
This desk calender is one which you can personalise


I have made the base and backing  from scored and folded A4 natural ivory card. Cloud embossed pool party forms the background.
The calender backing and photo mat are Pear pizazz, as is the paper. The flowers are stamped on white card, 3 each in calypso coral, wisteria and saffron, punched out and sponged.
The sentiment is black embossed. The tall leaves are from Secret Garden, stamped in versamark and embossed in wasabi.
The little bird is punched from island indigo card, painted with shimmer, and coated in crystal effects.The leaf sprigs are also coated in crystal effects. The saffron flower on the bottom left also has crystal effects.
The flowers are touched up with shimmer paint, and have sparklets or rhinestone centres.
A small double saffron butterfly, finished with a linen thread tied natural button flies from the top corner.
I hope you have gained some inspiration from this, and have enjoyed your visit.
Till next time
BaRb



Saturday, 9 November 2013

Mini Album - Max's Backyard - Part 2

Back Again,

Here is the rest of my Max's Backyard Album..... (Ahem, remember there are No blurry photos here....hehe....)

Continuing inside pages and back cover:















Lots of photo mats just made by double layering the co-ordinating pages and double sided taping them together. Some have die-cuts on them - some have banners and others are just blank - or cut with decorative scissors.

I haven't played in Max's Backyard yet - but the dragonflies and butterflies are absolutely beautiful over there.....hehe!
Have a great day!
Shell
xox


Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Mini Album - Max's Backyard, DCWV Shapes

Hello,

Another Mini Album for you....  I cannot remember sorry... the brand of the paper I have mostly used - Die Cuts with a View is the brand of some of the products and Max's Backyard was the name of the set of Die- cuts - the dragonflies, butterflies etc.

I will show you half of the album today and the other half another day.  I also apologise profusely for the blurriness of the photos - my camera does not seem to be happy with me at the moment (shh  - it knows I borrowed a friends camera recently and have fallen in love with it and would like one of my own shhhh!)  Anyhow - pretend the photos aren't blurry and we are all happy!!! Here is the front cover and the first of the pages....
















I made the album using my Zutter and black pages. Lots of places to add photos or journaling.
I have used assorted ribbons and twines. Chip-board shapes and die-cut shapes are really nice to work with and add instant dimension.  Hope you like the first pages of the album I am calling "Max's Backyard Mini Album".
 
Look for the other half soon,
Shell
xox