My Front Porch

This morning, I took a couple of photos of my front porch. This is my favourite place to sit and have coffee, read a book and chat with friends who drop in.

Scrappy Hearts

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Morning Flowers

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It is spring here in Sydney and it is my favourite season of the year. I love walking out into my garden and being constantly delighted by the gorgeous spring flowers. For this card, I colour-washed the background and then collaged a picture to represent the morning flowers.

Polly

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I overprinted some sweet, heart flowers onto an old page out of my Polly book. I then painted a piece of background paper with a soft sage green paint and then put it all together to make a card.

Polly

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This is my second attempt at overprinting on old book pages. I saw this idea on Pinterest and tried it with one of my old books. It is a lot of fun and the design possibilities are endless.

Stencilled Dollhouse

My wonderful dad made a dollhouse for me many years ago to house my collection of miniatures. He started with a pattern but soon changed just about everything! I absolutely love it. He left it plain so I could paint and sponge the roof and stencil the front with climbing flowers. Big girls love to play with it just as much as little girls....

Stencilled Garden Pot

Many years ago I decided to give an old terracotta pot a revamp by painting it a dark green and sponging a lighter green on the rim. I then stencilled a pretty floral design on the front and gave it two coats of outside varnish. Considering the pot is now well over 10 years old, it is still in fairly good condition. Give some of your old pots a makeover.... you will be glad you did!

Wait For Me.... Altered Art Card

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I have called this card Wait For Me as the girl is running to catch up with someone. There is an old saying.... stop and smell the roses.... and I wanted this card to highlight the beautiful roses that are there just waiting for someone to stop. It is a reminder to me to stop and smell the roses.....

Glad... Altered Art Card

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In life, there are so many things to be glad about..... When putting this card together, I wanted to combine the different elements of the roses, the bird and butterfly and my sweet girl jumping from one branch to another. The background is one of my marbled cards. What are you glad about today?

Delight.... Altered Art Card

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This precious girl is exuding delight at being surrounded by beautiful blooms.... and why not indeed!

Contentment... Altered Art Card

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I have called my card Contentment as that is exactly what I see... I started with a gorgeous, floral background and then added the dreamy girl and her dog. She seems to be absentmindedly patting her dog while she is just sitting quietly. Perhaps she is thinking of things to be done.... but not yet....

Bird Song

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Another of my altered cards..... I love how she has stopped to listen to the beautiful bird song.....

Wonderment

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I created this card using three separate elements. I wanted the background to be of large, glorious blooms. Added to this I placed a teeny, tiny girl who climbed up the plant to look in wonderment at the flowers. Can you see her just barely balancing on a leaf? Lastly, an inquisitive butterfly fluttered by.

The Edwardian Lady's Table

I found a very old book in an op shop that was in a bad way.... so I thought, why not turn it into a table!! The book is The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden. What a marvellous artist she was and her drawings are beautiful. I used an old decorator table and gave it two coats of white undercoat, followed by two coats of a buttery lemon colour. Once dry I used my Mod Podge to apply the pictures and to seal it. To do the edging, I punched out over a hundred hearts as they have a lovely curved edge. Now instead of an unloved book that someone didn't want, I have a gorgeous table that I do want and I can look at Miss Holden's magnificent work every day.

As I sit here and sew....

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When I found this image, I knew it would go well with a scrap of paper that I had splashed paint on. The young girl looks very contented as she sits and sews with a happy heart.

Happiness and Kindness Cards

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I made these two cards using the same image but changed them slightly by using different wording, background papers and embellishments.

Butterflies in the Garden

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Working with serviettes is so much fun as there is a lot of variety and several cards can be made from one serviette. Blush pink and mint green always go together and I couldn't resist this design.

Watching Butterflies

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What a lovely way to spend an afternoon..... watching butterflies. The sweet girl seems entranced!

Little Grey Rabbit Card.... It'll All Come Out In The Wash

Again, using pics from my old book, I created this card which might be timely to send to a friend who is feeling a little overwhelmed.

Little Grey Rabbit..... Mod Podged Decorator Table

I had an old decorator table covered with a tablecloth and I decided to give it a makeover. I painted the table with two coats of fresh lemon paint and when dry, mod podged gorgeous pics from my falling apart Little Grey Rabbit's Country Book, to the top. When dry, I varnished the table for durability. So easy to do and a great way to preserve a book!

Teatime Treats Birthday Card

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I couldn't resist this adorable tray of treats on a serviette so I turned it into a card. I added some sparkle to the cakes and edged the background paper with Kindyglitz.

Sandy Beach Card

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I love using serviettes to make cards. Who feels like a beach walk?

Stencilled Terracotta Pot

Don't throw out your old terracotta pots! Repurpose them with some paint and stencils. I painted the pot with two coats of soft mauve acrylic paint. Once the paint was dry, I sponged it with a warm white colour to give it a soft, dreamy look. Lastly, I stencilled some cute hearts around the rim. Just perfect for my daughter's coloured pencils!

Tulip Hanger..... Mod Podged CD

Are you like me, with lots of old CDs hanging about the place? It is super easy to turn them into cute hangers. I used a lovely serviette and Mod Podged it onto both sides of the CD and trimmed the edges. Then I punched a small hole in the top and threaded some pretty beads onto cotton and put that through the hole to make a loop. Don't forget to add some very fine glitter and it is all ready to hang wherever you like.

Flower Badges

I had some pretty leftover paper, so what to do....... of course - make some flower badges! I used my flower punch to punch out three flowers out of my pretty scraps then I laminated the flowers and cut them out. The finishing touch was a sparkly gem on the front and the badge clip on the back. I actually made a heap of them as you can fit a lot on an A4 laminating sheet.

Blushing Roses Box

This box was too easy to jazz up....I found a lovely plain pink box in a cheap shop so I Mod Podged the top with a pretty serviette then added some sparkly butterflies. The final touch was to edge it with Kindyglitz. Why not make a few yourself?

Thumbelina's Birdhouse

During a craft weekend away, my friend from raspberrypops.blogspot.com.au and I worked on a tin birdhouse that was given to us by another friend. It was made out of tomato sauce cans and we could see the potential!!

Both of us like working with vintage children's books in our crafts so we decided to use a children's story for the birdhouse and Thumbelina seemed to be the perfect occupant as she is very small. We used Outdoor Mod Podge to apply the pics and several coats to the outside for durability.

 

Fabric Covered Drinking Chocolate Tins

 I used some leftover fabric to cover the tin and added some pearl and butterfly embellishments. To apply the fabric, I used Mod Podge. It is a great way to use up scraps of material that have a pretty pattern on them.

Paper Covered Drinking Chocolate Tins

I never throw out the tins that drinking chocolate comes in as they are ideal containers for pencils, pens, scissors, etc. I use white paper first to cover the tins and then, using Mod Podge,  I add a selection of pretty pics and glue them around the tin. When I am finished, I add another layer of Mod Podge to seal the tins and then they are ready to be purposeful all over again. I also like to cover pencils...

Stencilled Dragon

Stencilling is one of my favourite crafts to do. It's so easy to stencil a card for a girl but I find it much harder when I need to stencil a card for a boy. Thank goodness for dragons!! I haven't found a boy yet who didn't like dragons. For the background on this card I did a light colour wash.

Mystical Sea Marbled Card

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After I finished marbling this card, I could see a swirling, sapphire blue, mystical sea. What do you see?

Quirky Sindy Card - 3

 

Can Sindy squeeze through the window to get help?? And what about Ringo?? Oooh, the suspense....

Quirky Sindy Card - 2

 

"Roy was aghast at what he heard...." Quite right too, because as the saga unfolds he realises that Sindy may not be who he thought she was.... More finger painting for the background.

Quirky Sindy Card - 1

 

When I was about 12 years old, I was given a Sindy Gift Book. I thought it was the most fantastic thing ever!! To this day, I still have my book, although it is falling apart quite badly. Rather than give it the flick, I have turned quite a few of the fab pics into cards. For the background on this one I have used some of my son's finger painting done when he was small.

Stencilled Cornflower Blue Table

I found this old, brown, unloved table sitting on a pavement awaiting Council clean-up. I really liked the shape of it and knew I could refurbish it with some love.

After giving it a thorough clean, I sanded off any rough spots and gave it two coats of white undercoat. Once dry, I applied two coats of cornflower blue paint. As I had decided I would be stencilling the table, a sponged background was important to soften the colour. I then cut two stencils - one for the leaves and one for the flowers. A few butterflies were the final addition. After two coats of a durable acrylic varnish, the table was ready to start a new life.

Have you spotted anything lately that you could renew?

Scrappy Heart - 3

When I came across this leftover scrap of vibrant, fuchsia textured paper, I knew it would make a perfect background for this scrappy heart. I originally used the paper to make a wine glass lampshade and I kept the scraps because they were too gorgeous to throw out. So glad I did!!

Scrappy Heart - 2

Are you feeling scrappy today? If so, make some cards. I couldn't resist adding just a teeny, tiny bit of bling...

Icing Sugar

 

The starting point for this card was the adorable plate of cakes that I found on a serviette. I wanted to have someone longing for them and I saw this sweet girl in an old book and decided she needed to be on the card. The next step was finding something to link the cakes with the girl and the bowl of icing sugar seemed just right. I was then on the hunt for the words. The last element was arranging the words to tell a little story.  As with a lot of my cards, I marble the background. She is longing for cake.... what are you longing for??

Scrappy Heart

This afternoon, I felt like working with purple colourways and decided to make a card using leftovers from my stash. One of my crafting goals for 2012 is to use my existing craft supplies before buying some more..... wish me luck!!

Four Handcrafted Vintage Envelopes - The Rock Pools

I made these envelopes using pictures from a vintage school reader and I wanted to tell the story of The Rock Pools. The pages are very old and I love the muted colours. I have applied double-sided tape so they can be sealed. They would be perfect for popping in some money for a birthday gift or a sweet note to a friend. I found this book in an op shop and it was falling apart and seemed unwanted. I knew I could give it a new purpose.

Sweet 16

I made this card for my daughter's 16th birthday today. The background is marbled and the dress was cut from very glittery, silver card and embellished with sparkly flowers and a ribbon waistband. For the finishing touch I added a silver coathanger.

Before she left for school today, I showed her a powerful email that was sent to me about thankfulness. In her journey through life, I want her to continue with her love and compassion that she has for others.

Sweet Eyes and Kind Manners

Starting with my marbled card, I found this gorgeous picture of the bluebirds splashing about in the birdbath and knew I just had to use it. Once it was in place, I positioned the girl as close to the birdbath as I could, without obscuring the birds. In my story, the girl was kind-hearted and wouldn't dream of disturbing the birds at play. Kindness to animals is a quality that I believe is essential in us humans.

The Robin in Spring

I wanted to make an altered art card using this picture of the dear, sweet robin sitting on the branch. I felt she was calling out, telling me about wonderful things full of hope and promise. The season of Spring is known to be a time of new beginnings and this card make me feel that anything is possible.