Month: June 2013

Cool cards for those difficult to please teenagers

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Creative Memories, Greetings, Photography2 Comments

Hello there.

Welcome to all my new followers and thank you to all those that visit and take the time to comment and like my posts.  I really appreciate the feedback.

I am back to showing some of my cards that will be available at Make Shift when we open.  I don’t know about you but sometimes I find it very difficult to make cards for teenage girls who are not into the flowers or butterflies or all things girly.  So when I was in the local $2 shop I found these really cool layered stickers for these cards.  I have made use of my CM border maker to make some borders as a contrast so the cards are quite edgy and not soft or feminine at all.  I think the contrast between the deep pink and black is kind of cool as well.  Anyway, here they are:

Cool chick handcrafted card Pink and black handcrafted card Pink and black handcrafted card for teenagers Disco ball handcrafted card Rock chick handcrafted card

 

The materials I have used are:

Bazzill card stock

Plain black cardstock

Creative Memories Border Maker – hexagon and banner cartridges

Peelcraft stickers

Stampin‘Up greeting stamps

Couture Creations Drink Me embossing folder

I am really looking forward to going to Auckland in a couple of weeks to check out the launch of Close to My Heart in New Zealand.  I am drooling over the cartridges for the Cricut machine and am scouring Trade Me for some bargains.  I like using my Cuttlebug, but it will be nice to have an accurate cut each time and be able to layer the images and stamps together.  It should add a whole new dimension to my crafting.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and I will catch up soon with some more cards and/or photographs.

Happy crafting

Patricia

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Calm after the Storm

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, PhotographyLeave a comment

Last week we had a terrible storm – the worst in 40 years and it was a very scary experience. This week though, the weather has been very calm and peaceful and I took the opportunity to go down to the Hutt River and take some photos of the snow clad mountains as a backdrop on the river. It was looking stunning today and the higher level of water makes for a better composition, I think. Mother Nature certainly gives us some rewards for the down times.
I hope you all have a great day.
Patricia

 

Pretty Please Pat Me!

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Crafts, Pets, Photography2 Comments
Pretty Please Pat Me! by Patricia Manhire
Pretty Please Pat Me!, a photo by Patricia Manhire on Flickr.

The weather has not been great lately and I have not had a chance to go out with the camera. So my cat Sox has been a good subject for me. Here is another photo of him looking like he wants a pat. I like the light on him and it gives him a much softer face as well. He is a very cute and very demanding cat and at times very photogenic!
I am still making cards and will upload some more shortly.
I hope everyone has a great week and I will catch up with you shortly.
Patricia

 

Join the Make Shift Journey

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Crafts8 Comments

Hello there.

I am so excited about sharing this new venture with you.  I am part of a Collective of talented and dare I say it crazy craft people who will be opening a pop up shop in the Lower Hutt CBD.  This is part of a Hutt City Council initiative to revitalise the CBD and they have been fantastic in their support with this venture – Thanks Cyndi Christensen.

Please check out our Facebook page and like us to follow our journey to opening the shop and beyond.

https://www.facebook.com/MakeShiftShop/posts/345234165604842?notif_t=like

There will be a wide range of products for sale and we are starting to advertise on Facebook for craftspeople to sell their products through the shop.  The interest so far on our Facebook page has been phenomenal.  We are still working through the Terms and Conditions and the application form but they are not far away and will be posted on our Facebook  page.

I am still really busy making cards for Make Shift and have really struggled to make cards for young children.  There are not a lot of cute and funky stamps for children so I popped down to the local $2 shop and bought some stickers that I thought were suitable.  I have also used bright primary colours together for a striking effect.  I am particularly pleased with how the circus cards turned out.

Here they are:

Child's birthday card Child's birthday card Child's birthday card Child's birthday card Child's birthday card Child's birthday card Child's bithday card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card

 

I have used a range of products here:

Cardstock -some Bazzill and some Stampin‘Up and some I had in my scrap drawer.

Stampin’Up stamps and inks

Hastings Rubber Stamp greeting

Creative Memories Shape Maker System – jigsaw

Creative Memories Custom Cutting System – circles

Creative Memories Rotary Trimmer

Creative Memories Tape Runner (this is only while my stocks last)

Circus and car stickers.

Thank you for visiting and come back often as I will keep you posted on our progress with Make Shift.

Have a great day and Keep Crafting

Patricia

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Funky Birthday Cards

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Crafts, Creative Memories, Greetings6 Comments

Welcome back

I have been really busy making lots of cards for our new pop up shop, Make Shift, that we are looking to open about the beginning of August.  I am looking at doing a wide range of cards for to cater for everyone, but some cards have been easier to make than others.  I love feminine cards with flowers, but that is not going to interest everyone so I have been using a wide range of products and papers to make lots of different cards.

For this range of cards I have purchased one sheet of gorgeous paper with foil accents and was able to make 8 cards out of this one sheet of paper.  I love the colours in this paper and have kept the cards fairly simple to highlight the simple, naive design of the paper.  I managed to match up the paper with the Creative Memories It’s a Boy embossed cardstock – lime green and Creative Memories Taffy Cardstock.

Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted cardThe materials I have used with these cards are:

Creative Memories Shape Maker – square

Creative Memories Square Maker

Peelcraft stickers

Stampin‘Up greeting

Scorepal

Creative Memories Tape Runner

Creative Memories Rotary Trimmer

Kaisercraft Pearls

As you can see these birthday cards can be great for any age – but probably more suitable for the ladies or girls.

I will keep posting more photos of my cards as I complete them to show the wide range that will be at the shop.

I hope you all have a great week.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

Photo of the Day – Paris Daisy

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Creative Memories, Photography, ScrapbookingLeave a comment

My photo of the day. These Paris Daisies are amazing. They have self seeded in my garden and have given such great colour and lots of inspiration for my photography.
I will also take the opportunity to update what is happening with Creative Memories and Close to My Heart as I have noticed that people are searching for answers about CM products in NZ. Brian O’Callaghan was on Facebook on Friday night (he was the MD of CM and is involved with setting up CTMH in Australasia) and stated that they are looking into trying to continue with getting the pages and protectors here, but there are no promises that they are able to procure them for our market.  There are issues with patents and copyrights with CM USA.  There are lots of products on Trade Me, but do be very careful as there are some price gougers out there asking for $150 or more for one set of pages and protectors.

I have no more information as yet regarding the launch of CTMH in New Zealand.  I am hoping to know more later in the week and will keep you posted here.  Their range of products look exciting and I can’t wait to see what is released Down Under.  I am particularly excited that there is lots of card making products.  I am busy making lots of cards for our shop and it will be great having a new range of products to play with.  So it is still a matter of watching this space…

I hope you are all having a safe and happy weekend.

Patricia

Wow – Great News

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Creative Memories, Digital Art, Photography, Scrapbooking2 Comments

Hello there

I have just received news that Creative Memories Australia and New Zealand has been bought out by Close to My Heart to  start their Australasian business.  I wasn’t really sure about Plan B, but I have had a look at the catalogue from America and it is amazing.  I love the fact that there is plenty of scope for my stamping and card making as well as for scrapbooking.  There is a lot more decorative products, plus there is also digital products as well.  It is also in a good financial position as well, which is very critical after what we have been through over the last few weeks. I still have a lot of questions about the structure and set up but I will now definitely be looking at this very closely.

So watch this space…

Happy Crafting

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RIP Creative Memories Australia and New Zealand.

On By patriciamanhireIn Crafts, Creative Memories2 Comments

Hello there.

Today the doors shut on Creative Memories Australia and New Zealand.  This is a very sad day as they have been a very good company to work with and I will miss the fabulous tools, albums and decorative elements.  I have also met some lovely people in the process of  building my business and it has kept me going through all the health challenges over the last 18 months.  However, I guess it is a sign of the times and we just have to keep positive and move on.

However, all is not lost as there is to be a major announcement either at the end of today or tomorrow so I will keep you posted.

I am still working on the Art and Craft Collective and will keep you posted on the progress.   I can’t wait to open the shop and have my cards and photos for sale in it along with some amazing crafts from some incredible people here in the Hutt Valley.  But there is a lot of logistics to cover first and it is a crash course in small business administration which is very useful indeed.

As you can see I have changed the header on my page and have now renamed it my Creative Corner.  I will now post all the different crafty creations that I get up to over the next few months/years…

Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

 

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