Week Thirty-One: Love

My husband and I have been married for 5 years as of this coming Friday! We've made a pretty good team so far, he's my best friend, and the most awesome little boy, so I would say it's been a very successful 5 years.

Did you know that the traditional gift thing for 5 years is wood? We didn't really need anything made of wood, so we are just going to go on a date one night instead. But my craft involves paper, and paper comes from wood, and this week's project is to celebrate our anniversary, so that counts right?

I saw this design in teeny-tiny calligraphy form in my calligraphy book a while back, and instantly wanted  to quill it, but nice and big.

I got clever for a moment and drew it in the size I wanted, then quilled the shapes using the husking technique (for those not aware of what the husking technique is, check out my week seven butterfly post). For this it was a good way to get the shapes just right for the lettering, though the transfer process was a bit tricky as they all link together and didn't retain their shape so well once I took the pins away.

Careful gluing to the card was required to get them sitting just right, but it turned out just right. I briefly toyed with the idea of adding swirly bits and fill to the letters, but the thought was very brief indeed because I just love the simple look to this, and I think them being swirly bit free keeps the focus on the heart and just really makes the card pop.

This is a fun mod card and I'd happily make more despite the complexity. Now I can't wait to get this giveaway going, I've been working on one of the choices (yes, the winner gets to pick their prize!) and it's so special and exciting I'm going to give you a sneak peek at it on my Facebook page, so keep an eye out for that pickie and then next week we'll get the 100th Blog post celebration and giveaway underway!

If you're in Brisbane Australia remember to come see me at the All Saint's Winter Markets, 501 Hamilton Road Chermside this Saturday (the 22nd) from 7am to 12pm.

xnata

Week Twenty-Six: Baby Fever!

We're half way through my year long challenge! Holy wow that's gone fast!


This month I've caught baby fever, because I'm the mother of an almost two year old and it's making me terribly nostalgic and clucky. I can't believe I'll never get to cuddle the baby version of my boy again! On a positive note, he is a fantastic kid, fairly obedient as far as toddlers go, clever, cheeky and hilarious.


I'm not alone in my baby fever though, I have several pregnant friends, and friends with babies, and my baby cards are always bought on their first trip to a market, so I guess the fever is everywhere!

I wanted to make some baby boy and baby girl typography cards, and then that led to me making a bunch of baby themed gift tag cards too!

I added a bow, a flower and a love heart to the super pink it's a girl card...

I really like the addition of the bow to the I.

 

 

And a hat, a cricket bat and bouncing ball to the lovely blue it's a boy card.

The hat on the O has the same magic as the girl's bow.

 

For the little gift tag cards I added squares of scrapbooking paper in the classic colours, then added the words, punched a hole, added the string, and quilled some little tiny feet...

These would be nice to add to a bag of goodies to give to a new mummy when you get your first cuddles, or at a baby shower. I like small cards like this for my own gift giving purposes, because it keeps your message inside short and sweet. Big cards make me feel obligated to write a big long message, which probably leads to rambling.

I want to make sure I have heaps of baby cards available for my next market, because they're such good sellers and I hate to disappoint my customers when I run out. This lot has me off to a good start!


The text I've used on these are rub-on stickers, and I love them, they are perfect for the look I want for my cards, and I've just discovered today that the 'it's a boy' and it's a girl' of these have been discontinued :( so I hunted around online and found some at one shop and bought five packs of each in two different colours, so I've got 100 of each which arrived in the post today, and for only 30 cents per packet  :) hopefully by the time I run out I'll have found a new design that I like.


Next week baby fever continues, with more of a focus on my soon to be two year old.

xnata.