Hi Everyone - hope you have had a great week.

Our Design Team has been busy once again - did you see this week's great posts from Joanne, Tina, Lowri, Betsy, Shirl and Tanya



You have until Wednesday to e-mail us your entries to the "All about LOVE" challenge.

Remember - it doesn;t have to be pink! It can be using a project using a product you love, a card or gift made for someone you love, or a layout about love- we would LOVE to see them all!

Please e-mail your entries to artfullcraftsdt@gmail.com. We will be featuring YOUR entries on the blog on Thursday and announcing the winner! We have a FANTASTIC prize - papers from all three of the Kaisercraft February collections - Magic Happens, Class of '87 and Timeless


For our feature this week we are meeting another member of our Design Team - Betsy Clark.

Betsy is a very talented papercrafter from Geraldine. She specialises in card-making but also enjoys many other crafts.  Here she shares with us three of her favourite projects, and tells us more about herself and her work. To see more of Betsy's gorgeous cards - be sure to take her look in her gallery.


How were you introduced to cardmaking?
I have always been a rather creative person but around 20 years ago a friend was having a cardmaking day, and she was short on numbers, so being a generous friend I went along to give her an extra pupil. Little did I know where it would lead me! Marion had me hooked.

Stand-Up Card Betsy loves to use her Copic Markers for colouring and she has done a wonderful job on this cute card!

What inspires you to create your cards?
I love doing personalised cards for people. They give me interests, colour, age and name and I am in my element. Surfing the net is a favorite past-time, getting into many wonderful blogs. There are so many amazing talented ladies out there.

What other projects types do you work on besides cards?
Patchwork is my first love. Between buying fabrics and scrapbook papers my bank account suffers! I did start a scrapbook for my daughter when she had her first baby, doing the first six pages and I have done a number of canvases for my grandchildren.

Ornate Card with Custom Bag This lovely decorative piece has a curved acetate front - and fits perfectly into a custom made bag (also shown)

What is your favourite scrapbook brand and why?
Well what sort of a question is that! There are so many favourites that I find it hard to choose. As I have an addictive nature I buy up many lovely papers (and there are lots) that are on the market just now. Webster's Pages, Graphic 45 and so it goes on.


What tools/products can you not do without?
My easy square and rotary cutter (primarily used for patchwork) are well used in cardmaking, Scor-Pal is another must have, then I could mention cuttlebug, spellbinders, copics, flowers, ribbon, bling, inks - it's never ending. I look around my workroom and think there's nothing there I could do without!

Friendship Album Betsy has created this beautiful vintage themed album. This type of star album folds flat, but when opened up show all of the pages at the same time.

What is your favourite technique or embellishment?
Making my own flowers has me intrigued at the moment although I do love Prima flowers and Kaisercraft also have a lovely new range of Paper Blooms. Colouring with Copics is a favourite, especially with the Magnolia stamps. They are gorgeous.

What do you hope to try to improve this year?
I pray that I will be good given good health so as to be able to continue doing what I love doing - one being making and teaching cardmaking. Another would be to get more familiar with my computer, and being able to do things with it, like understanding Lowri's instructions and putting them into practice! Now there's a challenge Lowri!

What advice can you give to people just beginning to enjoy cardmaking?
Go for it - you'll absolutely love it and get addicted! Speaking from experience you'll find you never have any money. Just joking!

Thanks Betsy - your work is wonderful.


Be sure to keep an eye on the blog this week for some more Design Team posts - and if you have entered our challenge - make sure you check in on Thursday to see if your work has been featured!

Hi everyone. It's Liz here showing off some of Betsy's LOVEly creations! (Betsy is laid up after having some more surgery today - we wish her well as she recovers). She's used the lovely new Fancy Pants "Love Bird" papers. The colours are lovely and soft and work well with organza ribbon.

This first card has used a scallop Bazzill card folded in half as the background. She's added the Love Birds papers on top and round the edges. In true form she's cut out the tag with Spellbinders Fancy Tags and used a Kaisercraft rub on "wish" sentiment. Betsy has used the Martha Stewart Zig-Zag punch up the side.

Card Two: Betsy loves the EK Success Retro flower Punches. Fold the petals in half widthways to add some extra interest. She's also cut the labels from Spellbinders dies.

Card Three: This shadow card is easy to make and is so effective. Look for a blog with the template. She's used Glazed Bazzill cardstock for the background. If you haven't tried Glazed cardstock you should! It's a high quality product and is exceptional for cards.


Card Four: Besty love mounting foam dots - so this card is filled with raised up sections. The hearts have kindy glitz added to them to give them some sparkle, and the punch used at the bottom of the patterned paper is the Martha Stewart Foral Deep Vine edger punch.

Card Five: Easel Cards are popular and people love them. This one has used the Fancy Tags (Spellbinders) mounted on foam to provide the stopping point for the card. Betsy loves to look online for pictures to print out and use on her cards. Add some bling and ribbon and you're done!

Enjoy! Don't forget to send us your LOVE projects by Wed the 23rd Feb to be in the draw to win a set of Magic Happens, Class of '87 and Timeless papers from Kaisercraft. Everyone loves free stuff! Head to the Design Team Challenge and email us at artfullcraftsdt@gmail.com

Hi everyone. It's Betsy's turn to blog -and I am her secretary! In fact, I am in Geraldine at a camping ground. We're camping with 8 other families and have just had a wonderful evening of marshmallows, fun, laughter and a few wild games of cards! So it's late - but I did promise to have the post done today...

Betsy has two projects to share - the Tissue box cover and a treat box.



The Tissue box cover has been made with a thick piece of cardstock covered with Tis the Season papers. The embellishments on the side are a mixture of Graphic 45 tags and randoms from Betsy's box of goodies!


Treat Box
Betsy tells me she stole the Treat Box template from Splitcasters - but she paid for the lollies!! It's easy to make up and looks really effective. I know you all want to buy the 6x6 Tis the Season pad she used to make this project - but Kaisercraft have SOLD OUT and won't be making any more...

On that note we'll share the cards that she originally made for the November Card Temptations kit with this same pad - but we had to change it to Candy Lane (available next week). But the goods news is, if you already have the 6x6 pad and are a subscriber to the Card Temptations Kit, then get in contact with us as we've made up the add-on pack so you can still make the cards :-)



Enjoy the rest of the weekend. I've got a stall at the Gerladine Arts and Plants Festival tomorrow and I know that Betsy will be selling her cards at the Quilting Area. Pop in and say hi if you're around!