A Card a Day - Day 28

Today's card is very simple, made using a Kmart card base, bought embellishments and scrap cardstock and DSP.

The sunflower embellishments and the sentiment are from packs I bought at a local $2 Shop a long time ago and had in my stash.

A Card a Day - Day 27

I found some Australiana themed paper and ephemera in my box so here goes. These card designs/layouts have been CASED (copied and shared everywhere) from a photo I saved from somewhere. Having a layout to follow helps a lot, especially when it comes to layering and adding the embellishments. 

The paper and ephemera are Kaisercraft, bought a while back when they had a huge sale and they were 80% off 

Kraft card bases are from Kmart - 10 pack for $3 (I think - could be $3.50). 

I'll be doing one each day this week to use up what I have.

A Card a Day - Day 26

Happy Australia Day!

This card should probably be an Australian theme, but honestly, it never occurred to me. Oh well, here it is.

Made from a  design in a magazine, using some of the free paper and embellishmnents that came with it. As this is a use it up year, using up the free kits, papers etc. that came with some of the magazines I have is a part of my card a day challenge.

A Card a Day - Day 25

A Card a Day - Day 24

This is a bigger faux pinwheet - 6"x 6". The DSP is Kaisercraft - Miss Betty I think - it was loose in the box. Pink cardstock is from the brights cardstock pad from Kmart. Mounted on a 6"x 6" pre-made card base. Used pop dots to give the pinwheel some dimension. A few pearl dots in the centre.

No sentiment added ,I'll wait to see who it's going to and what the occasion is.

A Card a Day - Day 23

Day 23 Really simple - Kmart card base. DSP mat cut slightly smaller from a scrap. Band cut from a leftover strip of DSP and glued down. Sentiment stamped on a scrap of white cardstock and trimmed to size. Adhered with pop dots.

The stamp is from a Stampin Up set I bought second-hand for $10 at a "garage sale" a couple of years ago. I use it a lot, sometimes bigger sentiments work as the focal point of the card.

A Card a Day - Day 22

Not colours I would usually use,but I think they work in this faux pinwheel card.

A Card a Day - Day 21

And I've caught up! I was a little behind on the posting due to what I thought was a migraine that turned out to be a rather persistent virus. Not to worry, I was still able to make cards, they just took a little longer and I had to have a couple of breaks.

This is another faux pinwheel card. I love making these cards, they use up small leftover DSP and cardstock and always look beautiful (well I think they do). They're really quick to make too, so if you need a WOW card in a hurry, this is one of the easiest to make.

I followed the instructions from Jam B. Cards to make the first one last winter, and I've been making them ever since.

Depending on the DSP they can be made for male, female, children, baby cards, sympathy cards, wedding cards - it's up to your imagination.

A Card a Day - Day 20

Today's card is a Double Easel card. I used green cardstock to create the easel, and stuck it to a white card base.

Two mats of DSP using a Kaisercraft paper (I think!) to create the patterned mats.

Die cut the butterfly from green glitter contact (from Kmart, in the back-to-school aisle) that was stuck to white cardstock (to reinforce the butterfly). It took a few runs through to get the die to cut through all three layers, but it did eventually happen.

The lower half of the butterfly was glued to the top of the small easel.

Stamped the sentiment in gold Delicata ink and used pop-dots to mount it on the front of the card.

A Card a Day - Day 19

Another Kmart card base with leftover papers layered to create mats. I fussy cut the sentiment badge from DSP, glued it to white cardstock to reinforce it, and used pop-dots to give it dimension on the front of the card.

Happiness Homemade - Bug Out Bags

I joke with Wayne and the friends we go four wheel driving and camping with that I can be packed and ready to back out of the driveway in 30 minutes if a trip comes up.

It's not really a joke though, I can be, because after every trip I restock and repack, ready to go again.

Australia has seen some horrible weather in the last three months, with the last 10 days or so being absolutely horrific. We've had extreme heatwaves causing mass blackouts, bush fires and a collapse of society as the communities involved suffer.  All this weather means that people have had to pack up and leave their homes, often with very little notice, and not knowing when, or even what, they will come back to.

So my question is if you had just 30 minutes notice to evacuate your home, and you didn't know when you'd be back, would you be able to pack the necessities, enough for at least three days (the timeframe that is standard before disaster relief *may* be available)?

Would you know what to pack?  Do you know how much water to pack for three days? Do you have shelf stable food that doesn't need to be cooked? Enough for everyone? Do you have a bug out bag for each of your pets?

In our personal bags we have:

• 7 sets underwear
• 4 changes of clothes - t-shirts, jumper, trousers
• Hat and sunglasses - these don't stay in the bag, but they're always in the car
• Toiletry bag - toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, sunblock, face washer, towel
• Personal first aid kit
• Personal medications, enough for a week

In the "kitchen" box we have:

• 2 small gas stoves
• Spare gas bottles
• Canned and dried foods to make meals
• Bug spray
• A camp oven
• A frying pan
• A small saucepan set
• 2 plates
• 2 bowls
• 2 mugs
• 2 knives
• 2 forks
• 2 spoons
• Tongs 
• Sharp knife
• Foil
• Baking paper
• Paper towel
• Toilet paper
• Wet wipes
• Sunblock
• Chap sticks

Right now we don't have pets, but when we did, I had a box with food for a week, food bowls, old towels and blankets and a box of kitty litter (we had two cats). It was the one time I splurged on pouches of cat food, because they're lighter and easier to carry than tins - but they were far to expensive to use all the time. It lived in the laundry cupboard and was easy to pick up and pack. We never had to use it to evacuate, but it came in handy when we were taking them to be cat-sat when we were away.

We also have wind-up torches ($5 each from Kmart a few years ago) and a wind-up radio so we don't need to rely on batteries. ABC radio has been advertising and suggesting that everyone in a fire zone should have a battery operated radio. That's fine, if you can get one - but you need to keep on top of the batteries. If you're not using the radio, take them out or they may corrode and ruin the radio. That means you need to keep fresh, spare batteries handy to use all the time. If you can find a wind-up radio I believe they are a much better option, simply because you don’t need to worry about batteries. Ditto for the torches.

Last year I added solar phone chargers to the box. In the case of a natural disaster often the electricity is the first thing to go out.

We have a 90 litre water bladder in our Patrol, that we keep clean and filled. This gives us nine days of water for the two of us.

On that note, these days I make it a habit to keep both our cars at least 3/4 full. It means I fill up every week, but in an emergency we have enough fuel to get us a few hundred kilometres (if we need to go that far).

With all this, we're pretty well set up and virtually self-sufficient. But what about you?

If you had to evacuate in a hurry would you have everything you need?

A Card a Day - Day 18

Day 18 is the Double Easel card I learned at the monthly card making group I attend.

It is so easy, but looks amazing. And it's very quick to make - 15 minutes and you can have a beautiful card ready to post or hand to someone special.

I love that it uses very little in theway of DSP, and with a regular top fold card base and a bit of leftover coloured cardstock you can create something gorgeous.

The motivation for this card came from Sharon Armstrong (no relation!) of TxStampin Sharon

A Card a Day - Day 17

Posting late as I was unwell on Friday with a migraine.

Day 17 is one of my favourite card styles - faux pinwheel. I learned this technique and style last year from Jan B. Her blog - Jan B. Cards - and You Tube channel are full of the most beautiful cards. What I love about her designs and tutorials is the precision and detail. Her videos are so full of tips and instruction that make it impossible to have a creative failure if you follow them.

A Card a Day - Day 16

Finished off the scraps of this Kaisercraft pad.

A Card a Day - Day 15

Layout copied from a sketch, scraps and bits of cardstock used on a bought 6 x 6 card.

A Card a Day - Day 14

 Quick and simple, made from bits and bobs, as a part of my "use it up" for 2020.

I used a Kmart card as the base. 
Had a piece of pink cardstock and the floral DSP left from the handbag card, so these were the inspiration - use it up, don't pack away scraps!

The senitment is from a sheet I had in the sticker box.
The little bit of lace underneath was leftover from some cards I made last year - it was the perfect size.

The flowers came from the stash. 

The gold border stickers were left on a sheet that was lurking in the bottom of the sticker box - just little strips, most were the right size, I just had to join strips on one side.

Stamped a little flower on the front of the envelope in pink to match the cardstock mat. 

So the total cost of this card and envelope is 15c - 12x for the card and envelope, I allowed 3c for the pop dots and glue. The cardstock, DSP, sentiment, gold stickers and flowers were all left from aother project and so free - their costs were absorbed by the initial project,

A Card a Day - Day 13

I was up early this morning and this is what I came up with:

I used a Kmart card (14cm x 10.5cm).

Sponged the edges of the front with yellow (dip the sponge onto the ink pad, tap it a couple fo times on scrap paper, then dab around the edges of the card).

Cut a mat from mustard yellow cardstock (it was a scrap).

Cut another mat from DSP that was in the scrap bin.

Stuck the 3D car on the front (off a page of vintage cars picked up at a $2 shop)

Stamped the sentiment in black on mustard cardstock and trimmed to make a banner. Used pop dots to stick to front of card.

Inside of card stamped message.

Layered a scrap of DSP onto a scrap of grey cardstock and glued to the bottom of the inside. 

Card done! 

Took about 10 minutes, it was very quick and easy to do, and used a few more bits from the stash.

Cost - 40c (I don't cost out scraps as they've been accounted for in the cost of the original cards, so I consider them free). The Kmart card costs 22c and the 3D sticker cost 15c (the whole sheet was $2), 3c for pop-dots and adhesive, ink etc. 

A Card a Day - Day 12

Day 12 - Handbag Card

This is another card I learned to make from Sam at Mixed Up Craft. So easy, and it looks so pretty.

This card measures 5" x 7" and fits into a 5" x 7" envelope (I made the envelope from some scrapbooking paper because I didn't have one in my stash).

The inside front flap has a pocket on it - it doesn't show so well in the photo - to hold a gift card.  The original card didn't have this.  I put the space for the greeting on the back.

This card took a full sheet of 12" x 12" DSP and a piece of cardstock 12" x 7" with a scrap for the handle.

I used a velcro sticky dot for the closure (they come from ebay - 100 for under $3).

 Front of the handbag card

Back - to write the greeting 

Inside, the pocket for the gift card doesn't show very well, but it's there on the bottom of the front flap.

A Card a Day - Day 11

A simple fun fold, using bits of cardstock and DSP in the scrap pile. This card is a CASE from one I saw on Pinterest courtesy of Stamping with Tracey.

I stamped the three layers for the daisy and fussy cut - so forgive the not quite so neat edges. I'm going to keep an eye out for a daisy punch on the FB card pages, someone is sure to put one up sooner or later.

Ran the little white square through the Big Shot.

Layered the daisy using pop dots and stuck it to the blue mat with pop dots.

It was a very quick and easy card to make, about 15 minutes from deciding on the design to taking the photo.

A Card A Day - Day 10

Today's card is a Diamond Easel Card.

I first saw this card on Mixed Up Craft and loved it, but it took me another couple of months before I tried it.

I love this card!

It is so easy to make, and the opportunities for decorating and embellishing are unlimited.

It was my turn to demonstrate a card to our card making group and I chose this one, becuase it's easy and because it has that elusive WOW factor w'e like to chase.

Inside of the diamond easel card

Back panel, diamond easel card

Materials
(1) White cardstock 28cm x 14cm, scored at 14cm and 7cm on the long side - this forms the card base
(1) white cardstock 6 cm x 12.5cm
(1) black cardstock
(2) black cardstock
(2) black cardstock 

A Card A Day - Day 9 2020

Today's card is another masculine, nautical style card.

I am determined to use up the paper packs that are open before I move onto any new papers, so you may see the same papers pop up here and there for a while, but each card design will be different I promise.

This card is made using double-sided DSP as the card base. It is strengthened by the matting and embellishments so it stands up.

A Card A Day - Day 8 2020

Another simple card made using a freebie stamp set that came with a magazine a couple of years ago.

Stamped straight onto a 6 x 6 white card base cut from a 12 x 12 sheet of white Kaisercraft cardstock. I had the envelope, it must've been left from a bought set of 6 x 6 cards. Just stamped on the bottom corner to decorate.