Lil Duckie Arts

Masculine Cards Class

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Shauna

Hello, hello!

It’s one of those days for me where my To Do List seems so long that I’d rather just ignore it and watch old episodes of Glee all day. That wouldn’t be very practical, now would it? And oh my goodness, I also just want to eat cookies all day. I made some last night that I’m pretty convinced are the new Best. Cookies. Ever. Yes, that good. Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Wow.

But hey, I have lots of cards to share with you today! And if I write that on my list, then I can cross it off and feel all accomplished, right?

These are a few cards from the masculine cards class I taught last weekend. I’m always running out of cards for guys.. probably because I prefer creating girly things. My imagination works a heck of a lot better when there are butterflies or flowers or girly colours or glitter involved. GLITTER! None of that here though. Clean lines. That’s what boys like.

I absolutely love this card, but sure can’t take credit for it. It’s one I found in the Stampin’ Up! vault and CASEd the heck out of (That means to Copy And Share Everywhere, in case you were wondering). It’s something that makes my life so much easier sometimes.

The airplane is from the new Need for Speed (122715) set in the 2011/2012 catalogue. These stamps are perfect for guys of any age!

This card isn’t exactly clean, but I had fun with it! The rope is actually from a shopping bag from some store in the mall. They’re making very fancy bags these days!

And one more for you:

A very simple card, simply with cardstock, scrapbook paper, some baker’s twine, and a tag. Manly, right?

Posted in guys | Tagged card, guys, masculine, need for speed | Comments Off

Itty Bitty Baby Booties

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Shauna

Hi there,

Meet the itty bitty baby booties.. aka the most frustrating thing I’ve ever sewn! These took me many many hours (I don’t sew much!), accompanied by much cursing and seam-ripping, and accepting some of the mistakes as part of the overall “specialness” of the shoes. Le-sigh. They’ll be better next time, if there is a next time. Luckily I used cute fabric, and the ruffles add to the mashed together look, masking some of the flaws.

Why ruffled Mary Jane shoes? Well, news: It’s a girl! I’m so super stoked at how many girly things I get to jump into now. More booties? Perhaps. Little dresses? Yes please! Headbands and hairclips and bows and flowers? Oh my!

I used a mash up of two tutorials to make these: Tao of Craft for the main tutorial and straps (which I made too long), and Fleeting Thing for the pattern and ruffles.

Wanna know the awesome thing? The fabric is from Stampin’ Up! It was actually sold as a Christmas set of 3 fat quarters last year, and is now available year-round. (Item # 121715 – Candy Cane Christmas Designer Fabric). It’s so perfect for non-Christmas items!

I’m a little bit in love with their stock of fabrics and how they match with the buttons, brads, inks, papers, etc. Love love love. I may have ordered multiples of some patterns Winking smile

Cheers!

Posted in sewing | Tagged baby, fabric, Mary Janes, sewing, shoes | 3 Comments

October Class Calendar

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Shauna

In case you missed it, I’ve posted my schedule for October classes here. And hey, why not host a free workshop? I can come up with a fun Christmas theme for you and your friends (or some other theme if you’re not into Christmas yet).

And here’s the calendar for ya – just click to enlarge it:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged calendar | Comments Off

Glimmery Christmas Stocking

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Shauna

Guys! Guess what! I’m not sick anymore! Well, mostly not. I’d almost forgotten that “healthy” existed, yet here it is, and it’s amazing! I don’t feel like passing out on the kitchen floor, and my chest doesn’t feel like there’s a fiery explosion of death happening inside… See, totally amazing!

I’ve been pretty busy though. I made some crackers that I really should share, I went to a Stampin’ Up! meeting with all the other Vancouver Island demonstrators, I made cards, I read the entire internet, and I napped. A lot.

This card is the one I used for our card swap. I’m a fan of it, so I hope others appreciate it too. It’s definitely my style.

I used many punches (Stocking Builder punch with the Stitched Stockings set, 1 3/4” Scallop Circle, Decorative Label, and Word Window). I added some fun Glimmer Paper, some Organza Ribbon, and I used the adorable and easy to miss Snow Burst Embossing Folder. I just used that one for about 2/3 of the card front.

I’m quite smitten with this colour combo of Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, and Cherry Cobbler. It has such a nice, modern Christmas feel for me.

Posted in Christmas | Tagged card, Christmas, glitter, ribbon | Comments Off

Simple Christmas Snowflakes

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Shauna

Hello, and happy Monday!

I have a final card from my Simple Embossed Christmas Cards class to share with you today. This card came directly from Maile Belles. She’s such a talented lady!

I used the Bright Hopes set for the snowflakes. The swirl and sentiment are both from the Season of Joy set. I stamped the snowflakes in VersaMark, then embossed in White. After the embossing I added the VersaMark swirl, the outline, and the black sentiment. I finished it off with some gems and that was it!

Now, to pretend that the raindrops on my window are actually softly falling snowflakes… Much prettier!

Posted in Christmas | Tagged card, Christmas, embossing, snowflakes | Comments Off

Snowy Ornaments Card

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Shauna

I’ve been cooking crazy things! Nathan can’t understand why I’d ever cook unusual things that are way more normal to just buy. Like yogurt, or chicken stock or those amazing Raincoast Crisps. Well, husband dear, homemade bread is a heck of a lot better than the loaves you buy sliced up in the store, right? So if I can make this stuff and have it be that much better, than why not? Oh, and the chicken stock has a whole lot of things that would have otherwise spent the rest of their life in the garbage can. Why waste it?

Anyways, cooking – fun! Card making – more fun! Great segue, right? I got the idea for this card from Vicky over at Crafting Clare. I decided to emboss mine, just to fancy them up a bit. Plus, it was an embossing class.

Simple, elegant, done.

Posted in Christmas | Tagged card, Christmas, embossing, ornament | Comments Off

Simple as can be Christmas Tree

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Shauna

Oooops, I rhymed. How tacky. Or fun.. Do you think it’s fun? I’m pretty sure that’d earn Nathan a major eye roll from me if he’d been the one to come up with the title. I like me some good eye rolls.

Totally off track. Back to the card. This is another one we made in my Simple Embossed Christmas card class. From the reactions, it was a crowd favourite. They love the silver (ok, it’s pewter – a bit darker than silver) embossing and the classic Christmas colours.

You could do this one in 5 minutes, easy. And isn’t that metallic ribbon gorgeous? Another new item in the current holiday mini catalogue.

Cheers,

Posted in Christmas | Tagged card, Christmas, embossing | Comments Off

Christmas in September

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Shauna

Brunch with lady friends, a raucously fun birthday party, baking awfully yummy and bad-for-you treats, a great stamp class, and some quiet time.. That definitely fits the bill of a great weekend! So of course I’m now fighting off a cold that is not allowed to stick around. I shouldn’t complain.. I haven’t had anything other than allergies for months and months!

So we come to Christmas… When you make all your holiday greeting cards by hand, it’s never too early to start. I’m pretty sure there have been years where I’ve started in June, and had a good 50 cards done by mid-September. That’s crazy talk!

This sweet wreath card is part of a quick embossed Christmas cards class I taught yesterday afternoon. I just love the simplicity and classiness that embossing can bring to a card. Instant awesome on paper.

I’ve used the new Bright Hopes stamp set, and the “ribbon” is a torn strip of the beautiful Spice Cake Designer Fabric. I just love this fabric bundle. It’s making me want to sew more, just to put it to use everywhere!

The wreath is embossed in my favourite – Iridescent Ice embossing powder, and the background snowflakes are just stamped using a Versamark Stamp Pad. The itty bitty scalloped edge is done using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch.

Stay tuned for more in this Christmas series. But don’t worry too much, we’ll get back to fall and other good things soon!

Posted in Christmas | Tagged cards, Christmas, embossing, fabric | Comments Off

Pack of Gift Card Holders

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Shauna

Wouldn’t it be nice if these little gift card holders actually all contained loaded gift cards? I think so. Really well loaded ones.. to all my favourite places. Sounds good to me!

Alas, no gift cards here, but I’m all ready for future birthdays, baby showers, and other random events for those hard-to-shop-for people. I know you have some on your list too!

Last year I made a tutorial on how to make these guys. You follow the basic steps for measurements, then play around with papers, stamps, textures, colours, ribbons.. It’s endless what you can come up with!

I think this little guy’s my favourite. Bright pink and polka-dot texture? Yay!

Fill ‘er up!

Have fun making your own!

Posted in Any Occasion, craft | Tagged baby, birthday, gift card holders | 2 Comments

Wish Big Marquise

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Shauna

Hello, hello!

I have another marquise/banner card here for you. If it were meant for a special someone, you could always put the age in the middle of one of the marquises, instead of a flower.

I’ve used Island Indigo as well as Pear Pizzaz for the marquise design (squint really hard, and you might be able to see the green dots in the middle). I’ve also finally used some of my chunky glitter. I like the way it really catches the light, like little mirror shards.

You need to whip out a sewing needle to help you get the twine through, but it’s easy, and then, like magic, you have your own banner.

Posted in birthday | Tagged banner, birthday, card | Comments Off

Wish Big Ice Cream Cone

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Shauna

You thought 3 scoops was plenty.. but why not 4? or even 5?! I could go for 5 scoops of all different ice creams right now.. or a DQ Blizzard. I’m pretty sure there’s a law somewhere that says we all need a little indulgence from time to time.

Speaking of food.. This baby is making me famished All. The. Time. I’m not one for evening/late night snacking, but last night I woke up at 2am, couldn’t sleep, and had to finally cave in and get a midnight snack. Next time the caving will happen far more quickly; I’m sure of it.

Right, so I made this card! It’s all about the In Colors. Plus I used my Big Shot for a lot of fun texture. I got all excited when I realized I had a textured plate that would give the sense of an ice cream cone pattern.

This card uses some surprising stamps and punches. For the cone, I used the Pennant Parade set, and for the ice cream scoops, I used the Create a Cupcake set. Yes, ice cream is just as good as the icing on a cupcake. Now, would someone please explain to me why I don’t like ice cream cake?!

Now then, go get yourself some ice cream.

Posted in birthday | Tagged birthday, card, ice cream | 1 Comment

Clean and Simple Thank You, and some news!

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Shauna

It’s back to school time around these parts (and theoretically, back to work for me). There usually isn’t a lot of on-call work at the beginning of the school year though, so I got to make some cards. I even participated in a card challenge. It’d been a while!

The Challenge is over at Clean & Simple Stamping (one of my favourites), with a fun layout:

I flipped it on end and played around with it a bit.

And in other news, this whole “back to school” thing will have even more meaning for us because I’m pregnant. Did you notice a distinct lack of posts from me for a while? That was allllll the first trimester’s fault. Nathan and I are super excited for the new addition to our family. We’re expecting that to happen sometime in early February!

It’s a real baby!

Posted in challenge, thank you | Tagged card, challenge, thank you | Comments Off

My Favourite Hummus

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Shauna

Hummus is like gold in our house, especially the stuff that I make. Nathan’s seriously addicted to it and will pack down a cup of it a day, along with copious amounts of pita, and some baby carrots for good measure. This is something that I can make that he actually prefers over most others. I call that a win!

This stuff is healthy! Chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, parsley! And not very much olive oil, but it’s good for you too.

You can mix it all up in either a food processor, or a blender. I love the processor because I can perfectly fit in a double batch, which means I’m not just making it again 2 days from now.

Try out this recipe, and let me know what you think. We like it as a veggie dip, with pitas or tortilla chips, or as a delicious sandwich spread. You almost don’t need butter anymore. Not true.. the world’s always happier when there’s butter.

My Favourite Hummus

1 19oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2-4 cloves garlic, diced. (like it strong, use more. I use 2).
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cumin
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 – 1/2 cup tahini (you don’t have to be exact here)
a handful chopped fresh parsley (Italian or Curly)

Stick all ingredients into the food processor or blender and blend until fairly smooth and creamy.

Store in the fridge. I’ve found that it keeps for a week or two, but it’s never around that long here.

Posted in Recipe | Tagged appetizer, humus, Recipe | 1 Comment

Lollipop Thanks

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Shauna

Oh my goodness, it’s Friday! Of the Labour Day Long Weekend! That means school starts in a few days! *panic attack*

It’s ok though.. Since I work on-call, I probably won’t be working a whole lot in September. That’s just how it is, unless they’ve been unable to actually hire enough teachers or some other crazy thing.

For now, I’m ignoring the whole back to work thing, and am concentrating on things like lollipops and these beautiful, creamy, rich colours. These colours can jump onto my nails anytime.

Oh, and yes, this card’s a bit of déjà vu. It’s not just your imagination, you’ve seen a close cousin to it very recently:

I’m pretty sure the new one is a vast improvement. I mean, green makes everything a winner.. not to mention that I got things a little less crooked this time around, and I adore these little close pins.

Thank you! (for stopping by). Now I need to go fill my face with brownies. PS: one more week ‘til I can fair it up! Yay ferris wheel!

Posted in thank you | Tagged card, thank you, whimsical | 1 Comment

Whimsical Swirly Happy Birthday

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Shauna

5-minute card! Go! You’ll have time for other things, like baking a pie, calling your mom, or painting your nails a matching colour. They call this one “jade jump.”

Anyways, back to the card.. super easy! Some cardstock, some designer series paper, just one stamp, a punch, and some fabric. The fabric’s the fun part. Take out some aggression on it. Tear yourself a strip right off and stick it onto your card. You can bunch and twist to your heart’s content. Fun. Fast. Awesome. Done!

Posted in birthday | Tagged birthday, card, fast, whimsical | 1 Comment