Guest designer with a Flourish!

Hi All,

Just a quick post to let you all know that I am lucky enough to be the January Guest Design Team Member for a fabulous Victorian-based scrapbooking company - Flourish with a Bling! Flourish with a Bling make wonderful scrapbooking embellishments, in fab colours and designs.

It was great to be able to play with such gorgeous products and let the creative juices flow! Here is one of my creations:

If you want to read my blog post and see all of my creations make sure you visit the Flourish with a Bling blog.

I just want to say a big thank you to Maggie and the FWAB team for the opportunity and to my friend Liv for organising such a great opportunity.

This week is my last week of holidays and I relocated my craft space - it's amazing how a different space can reinvigorate creativity!

L xx

A recent crafty 'mo'ment!

I am still on holidays - hanging out, crafting, reading, blogging and just generally relaxing! For the first time in a long time I am having a real relax - which has certainly been great for my card making mojo!

I've had a great chance as well to test out the new Big Shot! I am a little bit in love with the Top Note die! Below is an example of something I created combining two of my favourite things - the top note and my moustache stamp! It is a card and a gift box/bag for a friends birthday! Hope you enjoy it!!

I'll be back in the next few days with an exciting Cards by Lauren announcement. In the mean time, don't forget to become a fan of Cards by Lauren on Facebook.

L xx

Christmas craftiness & my Christmas saviour Liv!

Hi All,

I'm back - two posts in two days - look at me! I promised yesterday that I would post some of the Christmas craft that I had been working on for the last few months, so here are a few samples.

**Excuse the poor quality photos and the messy craft desk - you can blame iPhones and not enough time to make everything for Christmas**

All of these cards are made predominantly with Stampin Up supplies.

I am sooooooo in love with the stocking stamp and punch, and also the snow-shaker card (stamp and treat cup). Although a word of warning - mica flakes might look awesome in the treat cup, but they are less awesome when they are all over your craft room floor!!

Over Christmas I also got a little carried away with making chocolate sliders - I probably made about 30 over Christmas. I used them as voucher and money holders, as well as just general gifts. Here is a Santa belly chocolate slider:

I'm not really that into Christmas most of the time (and after making over 100 Christmas cards and sliders  recently I can really wait another year), so a lot of my Christmas inspiration came from my lovely friend Liv - a Christmas goddess who knows all things Christmassy and helped me out of many card and slider emergency! Make sure you check out Liv's blog 'A Little Bit of Green Sunshine' - it's a great read and I hear she will be updating it over the holidays! Oh, the things we do when we have spare time!

Also, Cards by Lauren has a new Facebook page (after Facebook deleted my old page - I'm not sure why) so make sure you 'like' it. In an attempt to get my blog linked and a blinkie on the side of this page, not only did I waste hours of my life (that's scrapping time I'll never reclaim) but I may have stuffed up my html coding. Nevermind! Just 'like' the page! Please! Lol.

Anyway, back soon with more creations! Well I had better considering that I am spending hours a day crafting while I'm on my break (and also spending hours watching Veronica Mars!).

L xx

I'm back - where have the months gone?

So, I am one absolutely slack blogger! Completely slack! Since I last blogged I have been insanely busy - working full time, travelling to the USA (San Francisco and Vegas), turning 30 (argh!), weekends away, wedding invitations galore, custom card orders (too many Christmas cards!), life and spending too too too much money on Stampin Up! These are just mere excuses though - but I am on holidays now so it will be blog blog blog!

So what have a been creating? Other than Christmas craft (which I can't even post because if I see another santa, chocolate sliders, snowflake or christmas stocking for a while I'll cry - pics will come eventually), I was creating crafty gifts for my crafty Tit-tastic scrapbooking ladies. We had to make each other crafty christmas gifts and I just got so inspired, I couldn't stop creating! I went with a coffee theme - using Stampin Up and American Crafts products. I made CD case calendars that were inspired by this fab creation and also coffee cup holders (I got the instructions from here).

Anyway, I'd better go and deal with Facebook, who have deleted Cards by Lauren's original Facebook page, so it is really lucky that I didn't have that many fans! So, I am creating a new one! Once it's done I'll post the links!

Anyway, 2012 for Cards by Lauren is all about building the business and keeping the blog up-to-date (so I am getting in early!).

Yours in double sided tape and glitter, Lauren xx

Cards by Lauren is on holiday!

Hi All,

Just letting all my readers (well all three of you and those that may stumble across my when googling something else) that I am on holiday for the next month or so - so I won't really be creating. But I can still accept orders through the madeit site or email for customs.

So, while I am away from the card world stay safe and I'll be back inspired, with new creations, supplies and excitement!

x

Vienna - the fonts, the patterns, the coffee, the creative inspiration!

The other day my gorgeous friend KT and I went to the Vienna exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria - it was absolutely gorgeous and really inspired me to see how i can incorporate this style into my cards.

The patterns were amazing, as were the structure of the pieces. Typefaces were incredible, so inspiring.

Can't you just imagine the 'succession' print as a card with triangles of patterned paper - gorgeous!! I bought some wrapping paper to turn into cards and I have covered my inspiration board next to my desk with incredible postcards. I will post some photos once they are created but i wanted to share the Viennese inspiration before i forgot!

Make sure that you go and check out the exhibition - it ends in October.

Hooray it's Friday - have a creative weekend - hope that you all craft up a storm! xx

Blast Off with some new creations!

Hi all, I can't believe that I have been out of the blog loop for over a week. Life has been happening, I've been sick and I'm busy busy busy (fun stuff and work). I have also been spending a lot of time crafting - including a great day with my crafty girls Liv and Shey!

October Afternoon have been giving sneak peaks of some of their new releases on their blog - so cute - I'm dreaming of the cards that I will make already! Check it out here. I have recently been spending a lot of time creating with their Rocket Age collection - so cute! Here is a peak of some of the cards:

I've also made some new cards that I will be adding for sale in the shop. Also, email me if you have a store and would like to stock my cards - I'd love to hear from you! These new creations are made with Graphic 45 and a couple of collections of American Crafts.

My friends and I have been drooling over the latest Stampin Up North American catalogue - amazing! Our wish lists just keep getting longer and longer!

Enjoy Friday - not long until the weekend and I'll be back over the weekend with some more creations, including some kids' room decor ideas and baby shower gifts! Loves xx