Fresh & New Look and why things have been quiet!!

How are you all? I know I have been really quiet this last month but I have had my reasons (will get to that later) but firstly and most importantly, did you notice our NEW LOOK?

Not only do we have a brand, spanking new website but we also have a new blog design too! I would love to thank and recommend the services of these amazing ladies for their great work and have been a pleasure to work with.

Franchesca from Small bird studio has been working with me the last couple of months to create my new blog design and I am in LOVE with it. She offers not only affordable blog designs (and does wordpress too) but she was super quick!!

Our website was done by Wendy at SiteFresh web design and she has done a most incredible job. She had a great offer (that ends tomorrow) for a custom and professionally designed 4 page website for $100!!! And my site was live within 4 days from start to finish! She is incredible (and also designed my email signature too).

If you want to check out HOW AWESOME MY NEW WEBSITE IS you can click over from here!!!!

A quick navigate around there is the home page, the products page (with an order form enquiry underneath the images), Then there is an about me page (images by Willow Belle portraits), then a contact page. You will also see the gorgeous badges that Wendy created to not only invite you to read our blog but to also get a quote/enquiry.

I ask that all enquiries and orders be placed through the order form from the website as this will really make things easier for me to get all the info at once and it will be quicker for your order too.

NOW ON TO THE SECOND PART OF BUSINESS..
You will have noticed I have been really quiet both on my page (kind of) but mostly in here. The end of March sees a close of orders for the month of April so ALL 30 orders I had have had to be finalised and posted out before the close of business started.

WHAT WE ARE CLOSED? DO NOT PANIC I am not leaving forever just for the month of April and will resume in May with limited orders available until around Sept.

WHAT WHY? I am having a surgery, major surgery in a week for bowel cancer and having my full bowel removed with permanent illeostomy. So I have been told its a massive surgery and will need to be on complete bed rest. As hard as that may be for me I have to do what is best for my health and recovery. So month of April I am in hospital (Baringa Private in Coffs) and then the proceeding months at home on bed rest. Hence why only limited orders are being accepted as I wont be able to work the capacity I am now.

SO I AM RETURNING from May. But if you are worried about missing out on the Made With Love experience for an upcoming party LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE for orders so fill in the order form on the website. I will then be in contact to discuss the deposit etc.

WE ARE STILL ABLE TO ACCEPT CUSTOM ORDERS WHEN WE RESUME!!

So if I am quiet and you have missed me, I do apologise, I have just been one crazy little bird!

But if you are wanting a great bargain for your crafty peeps, I am having a de-stash sale clearing out my craft supplies. If you want to purchase simply comment on any photo found in this album. IT ALL NEEDS TO CLEAR TO MAKE ROOM.

Until next time!

Oh one more thing I now have a new email you can contact me talya@madewithlovecardsandcrafts.com.au.

Celebrating 10,000 likers on our facebook page!

Firstly a massive THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me on my journey so far with Made With Love-Cards And Crafts! With thanks to your support MWL has just reached an amazing milestone of 10,000 likers.

So, as my way of saying thank you to you all I am giving one lucky liker the opportunity to 'win'* a set of 10 customised handmade invitations in your choice of theme along with either a matching set of cupcake toppers or gift bag and greeting card set to match your party theme!

*The 'winner' will get to purchase the invitations for $1 plus postage and open to international followers as well!

To enter through our rafflecopter application below, just follow the prompts and remember to comment on the facebook post on our page with your chosen theme you would like created (this entry will be checked before winner is announced).

The competition will be finished at 9PM Wednesday March 6th!

As a thank you for everyone who enters  our little competition will receive $10* off their next invitation order to celebrate 10,000 likers! (*only going to be offered on invitation orders*) To discuss claiming this amazing offer simply message me through our facebook page to chat about your next order!

So lets celebrate 10,000 likers!!

Post to comment on is here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Birthday Made With Love!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Made With Love-Cards And Crafts!

Yes it is officially valentines day here in Australia which means it is a massive happy second birthday to Made With Love! 

THANK YOU so much for the amazing support you have given me over the last 2 years. Without your support I doubt my dreams would be coming true. What a great 2 years it has been!

Since it is our birthday dont forget what that means.............
DRUM ROLL............
TONIGHT AT 9PM NSW TIME the entries to win the iPAD 4 will CLOSE! Now so I am not repeating myself all day this is how it is going to go down tonight:
As stated in the terms and conditions on the blog It can take up to 48 hours to announce the winner publicly as these following steps need to be ensured:
1) they are in fact an Australian resident
2) They have done the additional entries correct e.g comment on blog post, share set to public etc.
3) I need to ensure there are no fake profiles being used and will be confirming the identity through a copy of a current and australian drivers license again confirming their address, name, resident status etc.
4) The winner will need to be emailed and all checks confirmed before I can legally announce on the blog
5) cannot and will not be announcing the winner on fb it is against fb rules and it also will only be announced via my blog. again winner will have been emailed and notified first.
I pray for it all to go smooth sailing and I hope that it is someone who has indeed followed all the rules. 
I just wanted to make it clear to everyone involved how it will work.
Also to make it clear I DO NOT SELECT THE WINNER. IT IS DONE RANDOMLY!
IT IS AT MY DISCRETION TO ASK FOR PROOF OF WHO YOU ARE TO BE FAIR TO ALL INVOLVED. THAT IS FINAL. YOU WANT THE IPAD YOU WILL RESPECT MY DECISION. FINAL.
Now lets get on to enjoying a day of fun and celebrating all that is MWL!
Lots of Love,
Talya! x

Would you like to be the very first to trial a new and exciting product?

I am excited to announce the purchase of a Bind-it-All 2.0 and would like to offer one amazing follower of Made With Love Cards And Crafts the chance to be the very first to trial an upcoming NEW and EXCITING product!

PLEASE NOTE YOU ARE NOT ENTERING TO WIN A BIND IT ALL 2.0 FOR YOURSELF YOU ARE ENTERING THE CHANCE TO TRIAL A PRODUCT THAT I AM MAKING USING THE BIND IT ALL. YOU WILL RECEIVE A PRODUCT THAT I MAKE NOT THE MACHINE. JUST WANT TO MAKE THAT CLEAR.

Introducing my new Bind-it-All 2.0 a dual action machine that not only punches and binds paper, cardstock, chipboard, acrylic, chipboard wood, art canvas board and many other mediums but it will be creating (along with my creative design flair) a new range of products exclusively available to Made With Love.

The new range of products on offer will be completely customised and tailored towards specific themes, styles, interests and occassions. This will be a very exciting product on offer.

Perfect for a:
Baby- could be a guest book that baby shower guests or visitors in bubs very early days write a special message along with their names; Could be a little keepsake you use to record baby's very first milestones or keep record on a daily or weekly basis.
Birthday- Have guests from your party personally write a special message so you can keep a record of your birthday.
Wedding/Engagement- Have guests write their names and a message of wisdom to the happy couple.
Note book/Diary- To write down your private thoughts from the day or to remind you of things needed to be done.
Sketch Book- If you wish to draw or sketch down your ideas or thoughts instead of writing.

With many a use our new and exciting product will be one you will keep for many years to come. Complete with acrylic cover to protect your handmade and hand designed OOAK cover and to preserve the book for many years to come. Will also come with quality paper bound with wire coils. This is one product you will want to have. I am so excited to be offering this!

What I am offering to you is the chance to trial this new product which will be customised and tailored to your own individual needs. All I ask is that you pay for the postage of this keepsake.

To enter simply use the rafflecopter entry below to gain entries to be drawn through random.org. Please follow all instructions and if you have any issues commenting on the blog post please message me through my facebook page and I will post your entry on your behalf. Open to international residents as well as Australian. All I ask is that postage be paid for by the winner. I will email the winner upon conclusion of this competition and ask that you respond with a confirmation within 24 hours, otherwise it will be re drawn and offered to the next person. Postage costs will be based upon your location. It will take 2-3 weeks respectively for your product to be finalised.

I hope you are as excited as I am! With the blog comment please comment your purpose or use along with preferred theme, colours etc.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to seeing your responses! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dump Everything! This party is under construction!

Did the title catch your attention? Well I hope it did because this next invitation design is bound to catch your eye! This party is under construction and as you guessed it, it is a construction/dump truck themed birthday.

What little boy wouldn't want to have this as a party! And a lot of the mums have been so impressed with our new design, I was even complimented today when I went into my local bank's branch and one of the lovely bank tellers was telling me how impressive she was with this invitation. Really made my day seeing and hearing people appreciate my work (without bragging) but it really made my day. I left the bank all happy and confident. So thank you all for your encouragement and enthusiasm and appreciation. Bet you are dying to see what all the hype is about!

Here it is! The infamous dump truck invitation design! The template is completely my own design and I spent at least 7 hours designing the truck template alone. But I love the end result and so glad so many mums do too! This massive dump truck measures 14x21cm. The dump tray tilts or swivels out to reveal the wording underneath which is headed with "Dump everything! Russell's 5th birthday is under construction".

This invitation features a colour scheme of black and yellow which really stands out!

Have you ever noticed that all the samples for a boy feature the name of Russell or Lachlan? Are you intrigued to know why this one boy has all these cool parties?

If you would like to order or enquire into pricing of these invitations please feel free to email or contact me via my facebook page.

Do you have another theme in mind and would like samples and pricing? I love, love, love the challenge of themed and custom invitations so contact me to find out how your next party can be 'Made with love'!

Designs in this blog & facebook page are copyright to Made With Love Cards And Crafts 2013

The animals go marching Two by Two!

I have been busy this week creating some gorgeous and interactive invitations which has been great considering all of the horrible weather we have experienced this past couple of weeks. I was nice to finally see some sunny weather the last few days!

The new sample I would LOVE to show you all is my Noah's ark invitation. What a cute and adorable theme for a baby shower or birthday especially if there are gorgeous twins being celebrated!

I had a lot of fun creating this invitation! The ark and animals are my own patterns and templates and I am rather proud of how it really came together!


The ark measures a massive 20x20 cms! Featuring hand drawn wood panels, clear acetate windows, the bough of the ark folds open to reveal the invitation wording and FOUR hand assembled animals with googley eyes!

And it has become quite popular as well!

The invitation wording features a poem I wrote:
The wording reads:
"Twice the blessing, twice the fun,
Two little miracles instead of one!
Two giggles and two smiles, two hearts filled with joy,
The stork is bringing two new bundles of joy!"

The animals featured are a giraffe, a pig, a lion and a hippo. Each have been created and assembled using various punches.

If you would love to have these invitations at your next party please feel free to contact me either via email or through my facebook page where you can view past works created.

For pricing or a quote please feel free to contact me. If you wish to have this invitation design customised with preferred animals or if you have another theme you are celebrating please let me know as I love the challenge of custom orders!

All designs and work are copyright to Made With Love-Cards And Crafts

Representation of made with love!

With all of the excitement this past few days with the giveaway and finishing some orders things have been rather busy and crazy here at Made with love HQ.

So I felt like taking the night off to create something for fun. I always see really nice pics other businesses post when they have sent mail to let their customers know to start stalking their posties. So I decided I wanted to make something 3D and like a diorama to use as my picture.

Throughout my schooling years (1996-2008) I always LOVED it when my teachers would give us a project to do and it was craft related. Remember this was before craft or being crafty and handmade was cool. It was considered lame by many (NOT ME!).. so I spent many a year what is known as a closet crafter... Any chance I could to make something I did and I always loved it. Would enter in craft competitions at my local show, I would spend months designing and creating something and without being too cocky I knew I would have a fair chance at winning.. And the same came to school projects. I always strived to be the best and would spend hours doing assignments and projects. Now I look back all I seemed to do was study. No wonder I wasn't a social butterfly. But I had dreams of what I wanted to become and I knew school wasn't just for socialising- I wanted to make the most of it.

One of my more memorable projects I created was a diorama or representation of the themes represented from a young Australian novel called 48 shades of brown. We were given the project to do over 10 weeks and I always started my projects the day that I got them. I remember planning my diorama straight away I wanted it to be big, and that was an understatement! I got the largest canvas I could find and immediately started scrounging around for items I could recycle. I found some beer carton boxes and other materials and started to create the house as described in the novel, I even made a veranda and internal stair case out of match sticks. I made little wooden tables and chairs and furniture inside the house. I  had so much fun. I got in so much trouble for my room being a mess but I was having fun! I went on to then represent many other aspects of the novel. I found the cutest little porcelain dolls house teaset from a discount bargain store. I never took photo's of the diorama but I had fun!

Who knew  3 years later I would turn my love for craft and paper into a business venture! And I have loved every minute of it! Starting Made with love was one of the best things I have done and cannot express how appreciative I am of the support to let me do what I love to do.

Ooops I am rambling, sorry for that.. now back to the diorama I made last night. I wanted to create a cute scene that represented all things made with love whether it be a home made with love; children are made from making love; creationists believe the world and everything around us was made with love. So I wanted to incorporate many different meanings into something that showed that made with love mail is on its way. I didnt really know how to incorporate the mail side into the diorama (was originally thinking having a postie carrying a parcel or envelope but got carried away in creating all things made with love).

I started with re using a box and cut the flaps off of each side. I then found off cuts and scraps of blue and green cardstock and began gluing pieces to form the sky and the grass.

I then started creating the trees and wanted to recreate a gum tree. Using my crumb cake card stock from stampin up! along with the use of my sizzix big shot and a tree branch metal die from Impression obsession dies I began to cut out two pieces of branches. I also had 100 pine tree leaves I had punched (using my martha stewart punch back at christmas time) that I had not made use of yet, so I decided to use these for the gum tree leaves. I started assembling the tree and leaves by getting two punched pieces and attaching to a stampin up! sticky dot in the shape of a 'v' and started layering the branches until it looked full! I created two of these.

I then attached the branches to the inside of the box to create the first layer of background. I then cut out a single brown brach die 'woodland branch' from memory box dies. I bent the first part of the branch and glued this part to the wall to create a 90' angle and positioned the branch so it looked attached to the tree in the background. Using 2 kids on a swing die cut I attached to the branch. I also added a birds house to the tree to make it feel more homely.

Here is a close up of the branch and swing to show the dimension and 3D effect.

I started working on a house out of scrap pieces and  made a stand for the back of the house so it became propped up (the weight of it kept falling back). Then I added some windows, a  chimney, some clouds and smoke, a bow on the door, some flowers in the flower box and garden. I thought the 'live laugh love' cut out was appropriate for creating a house made with love. Similar signs were always present in my house growing up.

I thought it was cute to add a little puppy watching the kids play as well as two scooters just laying around on the lawn. I lost count of the amount of times my siblings and I would be told "don' leave your bikes laying on the ground.. don't leave your scooted laying on the ground" So I thought it was appropriate. I also die cut the 'Made With Love' letters to nicely sum it all up!

So here it is my representation of all things made with love to share with you all!

Thank you for reading and hope you too like my diorama. My husband loved it!

With love,
Talya xx