Fiskars Craft

Recipe for a cheesecake ... card

This is the “cheesecake" birthday cake card that I made for a Great Nephew at the weekend.

Here are the ingredients for making your cheesecake:

And now for the secret cheesecake recipe:
Take an XL Block Party squeeze punch and punch out a light yellow square, randomly punch out different sized circles using your set of Fiskars eyelet setting tools (come in 3 sizes), going over the edges so that it looks like swiss cheese. Punch out a darker yellow square and adhere behind your punched square. To make it into a layered cheesecake, take your medium Brick by Brick squeeze punch and punch out 3 darker yellow bricks, adhere 2 together to make the 2nd tier of your cake. Take the last yellow brick and cut to a length that suits the top tier (about 1/3), adhere to the longer section then trim to make your top tier. I haven't forgotten the small block the mouse is eating - take your medium Block Party squeeze punch and punch out one darker yellow square then take your mini-scallop paper edgers (decorative edge scissors) and nip a section off the corner to look like the mouse has been feasting. Hope you enjoy your cheesecake :)

If you haven't used a Fiskars Eyelet setting tool, well you are in for some fun times!!!  They punch the hole and set your eyelets too.  To punch the hole, all you do is hold the coloured part of the tool, with the end touching where you want to punch, pull the top section upwards (it is spring loaded) then let it go.  I usually take three turns to punch through thick cardstock and it is so quick and easy, just hold the tool in place, pull up, let go and repeat.  Don't forget to have a mat underneath your work or you will have little circle indentations EVERYWHERE - our chopping board still bears the scars of my early efforts!  This photo shows how the cardstock feeds up inside the tool and fall out the section further up the side of the tool, well out of the way of your work.

Other tools use to "bake" this card include Not Even a Mouse LE lever punch and Diamond Edge border punch. I still have a couple of really long envelopes and kids love big cards, so the card base started as a 12x12 sheet of cardstock, cut at 9 1/4", scored at 4 5/8", folded firmly with a bone folder then added the layers to decorate.  The 1" alphas were originally glossy and red but I sanded them down, inked, then painted with a fast drying adhesive and smothered each one with glitter, LOTS of black glitter - our house sparkles now :)

NOTE: I thought that kids loved big cards but the little fella that got his 7th birthday card today didn't even look at the front - he was in too much of a hurry to see how much more money he got from us to add to his growing pile of birthday money!!!

product spotting in Knox Lincraft

I always love it when a NEW Craft Store opens....so when I knew that the NEW Lincraft was opening up in the Knox Shopping Centre last week I attended the Grand Opening.....bagging myself a few bargains.

Here's what I spotted on the shelves......soooooooooo many Fiskars Tools

So if you are after the 12" x 12" templates or the Rotary Trimmer...maybe some Large Shapecutter templates-circles,hearts,etc......look no further....pop into a Lincraft Store...

I spy a Fiskars Craft Drill there also and ...ooh lots of scissors......and Cupcake templates.....so don't forget to drop by your local Lincraft store when looking for some Fiskars Craft Tools.

xoxo

Lyn Dwyer

Happy Easter Everyone

Just wanted to wishing you all a "Happy and Safe Easter"

 

Take care

Jacky   

 

tools and tracing paper

I love tools and tracing paper. With these two things you are never short of a page embellishment.

You may remember the ongoing procrastination of my mini christmas album, I was challenged by Lyn in November last year to have it finished in 2 weeks... well its been a very long 2 weeks. One of the problems with getting the album done was that I had run out of probuct. So I pulled out the trusty tracing paper.

Here's the inspiration....a patterned paper used though out the album

 

and here's the result...

 

I simply made a pattern off the paper and traced it on cardstock, cut it out, embellished and assembled 

 
 

And finally the christmas album is getting done.

 

Tools used...softtouch sissors and Mini eyelet setter.

Take care

Jacky

 

 
 

Canvas Bin @ Fiskarscraft

Designer: Janna Wilson
For some time now I’ve been searching for the perfect sized, affordable storage bin or basket for my sticker and rub on stash…and I’ve yet to find the right fit.  Finally, I decided to design my own pattern and create a custom storage container that would accommodate those long sticker sheets (and a lot of them :) as well as something that would be useful for containing many other stow-able craft supplies and tools.  Did I mention I just LOVE bins and baskets?  I think my DIY Canvas Bins are going to work out just perfectly!  The finished size is 6” x 6” x 14” and not only are they perfect for stickers and rub ons, they’d be a great option for storing sewing patterns, dvds, baby items, mail, toys and more!  And even better…each bin costs less than $3...the price of a half yard of canvas duck cloth!  You can embellish your bins with stamps that you already have in your craft stash for even more of a designer look.  I’m so thrilled to be able to share tutorial this with you all…I hope you enjoy it!

SEWING NOTES:
-Seam allowances are ½” and it is important that you are accurate when cutting fabric and sewing the seams.
-My project was created without interfacing; adding interfacing to the lining fabric is optional but suggested if you use light-medium weight fabrics other than canvas or decorator weight fabrics.
-This project is probably suited for the beginner to intermediate as far as sewing ability.  You will need to know how to create mitered corners to sew this project (if you aren’t sure, check the web for lots of tutorials).

Difficulty rating

Intermediate

Instructions (Print version)

1.  Gather your supplies and begin by rotary cutting fabric pieces from canvas as follows.
    a.  OUTSIDE BIN - 7” x 46”
    b.  LINING BIN – 7” x 41” (if you want to add interfacing, you can cut it to this size as well)
    c.  BOTTOM BIN – 7” x 15” 

2.   Rotary cut cardboard inserts to the following sizes:
   a.  (2) LONG SIDES – 5 ½” x 13 ¾”
   b.  (2) SHORT SIDES – 5 ½” x 5 ¾”
   c.   BOTTOM – 8” x 13 ¾” OR 5 ¾” x 13 ¾”  
3.  Mark the centers of all the fabric pieces you have…this is important as you sew to make sure things line up accurately.  You might also want to mark (with a piece of tape or disappearing pen) the RIGHT/WRONG side of the material pieces—canvas obviously looks the same on both sides, so this may help you in determining which side you are working with later.
4.  Sew the OUTSIDE BIN piece together at sides to form a band/circle.  Press seam open.  Repeat this using the LINING BIN piece.  Lay the LINING piece aside for now.

5.  Lay the BOTTOM BIN piece on top the OUTSIDE BIN piece with RIGHT SIDES together and matching up center marks.  Now you will be sewing the OUTSIDE BIN band to the BOTTOM BIN rectangle.  It may seem awkward, but as you sew you will fold mitered corners to transform the band to the shape of the rectangle. 

NOTE:  Be sure to push the third layer of fabric (the other side of the cylinder/band out of the way as you sew around the rectangle. 
6.  Start sewing at the center mark and stop sewing exactly ½” from end of the first BOTTOM BIN corner you come to; backstitch.

7.  Fold the fabric to miter the corner and continue sewing the seam (basically you are starting from where you stopped) again ½” from the end.
8.  Continue sewing around the entire BOTTOM BIN piece mitering the corners as you go; it is best that the mitered folds are facing the correct direction—towards the long sides of the bin.

9. Your bin should be taking shape now and that you have stitched the OUTSIDE and BOTTOM pieces together.  Clip the corners being sure not to clip through the seams you have sewn to remove excess fabric bulk in the corners and press.

10.  Next, you want to create corner seams in your bin.  To do this you are basically just taking a ½” seam at each corner to alleviate the bulk/gusset made when mitering the corners.  Measure and mark 7” from center mark on OUTSIDE BIN piece and this will determine where your seam will be.  You will sew from each of the bottom corner seams (created when mitering corners) to the 7” marking at the top of the bin taking a ½” seam (which equates to 1” of bulk fabric eliminated).

11. Turn the bin right side out and it should look something like this before it is pressed.

It will look like this after you press the corner seams toward the short sides/ends.

12. Place the wrong side out of the INSIDE LINING piece onto the outside of the right side out OUTSIDE BIN lining up center marks; sew around the top of the bin to attach lining.  Press seams toward OUTSIDE BIN.

13.  Turn under ½” of LINING to wrong side; press and zig zag stitch to finish hem.  Turn right side out and edge stitch around the top of the bin about 1/8” from edge.

14.   At this point if you want to embellish your bin with stamping, you would do this now.  Place the fabric bin on a hard surface to get the best stamped impression.  Coat stamp evenly (with foam brush) with acrylic paint to stamp the floral image.  Use High Density pigment ink to stamp the label of your choice with alphabet stamps.  I added small gems to embellish the center of the stamped flowers.

You can even stamp a repeating pattern using a favorite stamp like this.
TIP!  If you have a large clear stamp and do not have a large enough stamp block, use a wide acrylic ruler to mount your stamp to. 

15. Place the cardboard inserts underneath the lining and add the cardboard bottom

16. Finally, turn bin on its end to install the eyelets in each end of the bin to attach the ribbon handles.  Use the 3/16” eyelet setter tool to punch the holes and set eyelets.  Position the eyelets about 1” from top edge and about 1 ½” from corners of bin.  Tie ribbon or twill handles through eyelets.

NOTE:  Rather than adding just a flat 5 ¾” x 13 ¾” piece of cardboard to the bottom, you’ll notice I added a scored 8” x 13 ¾” piece.  I like the way this piece creates a sturdy taut finished product.

Are you excited yet!?  Well, I am!  All I want to do is sew about a dozen more of these bins to organize my whole craft room.  You can easily adjust the height of the bin too.  Make these for gifts or for any room of the house.  I created some other fun designs with printed fabric too.  Have fun organizing! 

Supplies:
Fiskars Brands: 94817797 No. 5 Micro-Tip® Scissors
Fiskars Brands: 12-87287097 3.5 x 18.5 Acrylic Ruler
Fiskars Brands: 12-99117797 No. 8 Soft Touch Scissors
Fiskars Brands: 12-59777097 12-in-1 Sewing Multi Tool
Fiskars Brands: 95217097 45mm Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Brands: 12-83727097 24” x 36” Mat
Fiskars Brands: 01-004670 Country Petals clear stamps
Fiskars Brands: 12-89188897 Basic Font alphabet clear stamps
Fiskars Brands: 01-003097 High Density Pigment Ink – Still of the Night
Fiskars Brands: 01-000068 Stamp Block Set
Fiskars Brands: 12-31337097 Eyelet Setters 3-Piece Set (3/16”)

Other: duck cloth canvas (2/3 yd of 60” width), sewing machine/thread, acrylic paint (black), foam brush, (3) small gems, fabric glue, (4) 3/16” eyelets, fabric marking pen/pencil, interfacing (optional), heavy cardboard, 12” ribbon/twill

Have you thought about Father's Day?

WOW....Father's DAY is sneaking up on me this year......I've been flat out busy with Baby projects lately and my work that I clean forgot that Father's Day is only 2 weeks away....yikes!

   September 6th in fact... So here's what I have created for my Father -in-law (he has dementia)....he'll just rip open the plastic bag inside and eat the chocolates in his room....no sharing......LOL!  5 minutes later he'll forget we gave this to him........but hey...that's ok...I know he'll get pleasure out of eating the chocolates...he,he.

So have you thought about Father's Day yet?

 Keep popping back in here over the next 2 weeks as our TEAM of New Zealand and Aussie AMBASSADORS share their wonderful Father's Day projects.....and we hope that you will be inspired to create some of your own.

Back in a few days with some easy Cards for Kids to create for DAD,POP,GRANDPA or that special MALE in their life!

In the meantime pop over to the  Father's Day projects to find some inspiration.....

xoxo
Lyn Dwyer

These are a few of my favourite things............

As crafters we do have our favourite tools that are on our desk and reached for every day and i'm sure you'll agree with me Fiskars tools are right up on top of that list, whether it be the humble old craft mat, soft touch microtip scissors, or eyelet setter/hole punches; just to name a few.

What prompted me to do this post was the pair of old scissors with the orange handles you can see in the photo below. when i left school i did a patchwork and quilting course, where i learnt how to make pieced quilts, all hand sewn - no machine sewing, 7 or 8 stitches per inch!! Those scissors were one of my first purchases when i started the course, 25 YEARS AGO. They are still as sharp as when I first purchased them (even though i suspect my kids have cut the odd toenail here and there with them!) And they are still in my kit today.

I have recently made a few cards that have given the old favourites a good work out using some recycled stuff.

 

 

Microtip scissors and fingertip control craft knife, great for getting into nooks and crannies easily, teamed with a "happy birthday" stamp from Fiskars clear stamps happy birthday set.

The "POP" is cut out from a cereal box 'Coco Pops' and layered with double sided tape so it really jumps out at you. So thoughtful were Kellogs when they created the packaging, one smaller than the other and perfect for shadow layering ;0)!!

This one is using the black plastic tray that you get when you purchase meat prepackaged from the supermarket. I have run the plastic through the sizzix machine and then using my microtip scissors again i cut off fancy end bits of the font, just to give my font a different look. so again my scissors cut through this thick platic with no problems whatsoever. I finished off with a birthday cake stamp from the same set used in the card above and hand drawn borders in black and white gel pen.

 

No i'm not losing my mind showing you pictures of milk bottles!! Merely pointing out the circle indent in the centre and the pink ring on the top, so you can see the bits i have used in my last card. The circle was cut using my shape cutter and the circle template - yes the shape cutter cut through the milk bottle thickness, though i did have to go over it a few times.

 

My flower centre was created from the milk bottle, i punched holes using the smallest hole punch/eyelet setter around the outside of my circle to make holes so that i could sew the ribbon around to make my petals. I also punched the holes on the top centre so that i could attach the pink ring off the milk bottle to the centre of the flower. Finished off with another sizzix cut title out of milk bottle and a Heidi Grace "baby" stamp.

So there you go, Fiskars tools are great for getting into the recycled stuff lying around to make some cards.

Annette :0)

 

 

Circles and hearts Card

 

Making different shaped cards always takes ones attention.
I also have run out of tape runner and double sided tape adhesive so that was an added challenge for my projects.

I used:

• Plain Cardstock from The Warehouse

• Kimberly Poloson - Natures Flora patterned cardstock

• Fiskars - Ultra Shape express with heart template and Supersized circle template (smallest size)

• Fiskars - XL Scallop circle squeeze punch

• Fiskars - xmas mini eyelets with eyelet setters

• Fiskars - Adheasive foam set

• Ink by Steph - Rock pile clear stamps

• Kindy Glitz

Thanks for looking
Debbie

Making a Fabric Album - cover - part 2

Missed part 1? Click here

Welcome back everyone! This week we will be finishing the cover off.....

  

1.
With your previously cut piece of material take your flowers and fold it in half and sew into corner of your cover.
 
 
Notice it is on the Right hand side.

2.
Pin the finished framed photo material spot into place on the cover.
 

3.
Applique sew (ie: tight zig zag) around the edge.
 

4.
decorate the bottom left corner of the photo with some clear packaging from your Fiskars tools and some kindy glitz. (I machine sewed it on with a needle made for sewing thick fabric).
 

5.
add another flower on the bottom again folded in half and sewn on.
 

6.
Now layer the cover - toweling and other side of cover and Pin together
 

7.
Mark the middle of your cover leaving about an inch for the spine
 
 
I marked it with blue chalk for you to see where my spine was.... ummmm use white as you cannot wash your album because of the method of printing on fabric we used and embellishments.

8.
Sew down the spine lines we drew.
 

9.
Quilt a free flow design on the cover....
  
 

10.
trim the edge of your quilted front cover with your Fiskars Scissors
 

11.
Now we will bind our front cover finishing it off.
Cut a 2" wide strip of fabric and start at the spine of your album and put good sides together and sew a 1/4" seam around the cover of the album.
 

12.
now flip over your album - fold the material in half and then over again. Then iron and pin in place.
 

13.
Hand sew the binding on then punch two holes in the top and bottom of the spine.
 

14.
Set some dress makers eyelets in the top and bottom holes with the fiskars eyelet setters.
 

15.
 

Now you have finished your cover! congrats!

Next week you will be making the inner pages.

Till then - have fun!

Egg Art.

Last Easter when we were down at the beach, we blew out some eggs and did some easter egg dying, inspired by my friend Gina. The kids (and of course myself!!) really enjoyed it and its on the list again this year.  As soon as this beautiful Cloud 9 Turquoise Blooms Lustre Cardstock  arrived i knew my egg photo would be perfect for it.

  

Its that sort of cardstock that just begs you to run your fingers all over it to feel the raised lustrey bits!!

 

I used my funky love heart squeeze punch to make my scallopy border and inked with pink, pumpkin and black cherry stazon ink, added some white paint for highlights, black pen for outlining and holes with the eyelet setter.

 

Ink by Steph Journal plates and alphabet stickers coordinate nicely with the paper, as do The Alyssa's Garden self adhesive rain dot shapes, the little flowers you see above. The white bazzill semi circles have been cut using the ultra shape express with the circle template cut in half, and the 2 smaller ones up the top are using the circles squeeze punches.

 

the bottom strip is cut from Alyssa's Garden "Garden stripe, sparkle cardstock" and coordinates perfectly, looks like a ribbon strip, don't you think?

Nearly forgot!! I rounded my corners with the new flip and twist dual corner rounder punch - this is going to be one very used tool, i can tell, it will be right up there with my fingertip control craft knife - well done with this one Fiskars - a great tool!!

Happy Easter ;0)

Annette