Deborah's CCC for February

Hi all,

Well it's another month over with, is it just me or are they flying by? So it is time to reveal what I did for Deborah's February CCC.

Firstly this is the card that I got from the very lovely Isha (in Switzerland). Isha tells me that she is quite new to stamping! I wish I had Isha's talent for colouring ;D. Thank you so much for this beautiful card Isha, I have it on display near my crafting space.



Now here are the cards & holder that I made for the very lovely & talented Pia. When I first saw the colour scheme for this challenge my first thought was "On NO" as I'm not a purple person. So much so I had to go out & buy some purple cardstock to finish this project.


I used a few different techniques for these cards, for example I used mini misters, ink & perfect pearls in green & purple for two of the backgrounds on the cards.


This next card is actually about a third of the size of the others & that is the one I used to write in for Pia. The others I all left blank so that Pia could use them as she wished. If you look closely at the frame around the bird you will notice it's slightly darker. I used my versamark embossing pen & clear embossing powder for this.

Lastly here is the card Holder I made for all these cards. For some reason after thinking it was going to be so very hard to make a green/purple card I ended up making about eight of them. Five to Pia & the others I've either donated or given away.


Thanks for sticking through this very long post :D. I hope I didn't bore you to much. Have a great Sunday - TTFN

PS Please stop by Dawn's blog here to see what she made for Em & me to cheer us up - very pretty despite there being no chocolate ;D!

Sew, sew easy...............I wish

Hi all,

Well I guess you can tell that I've had a busy away from the computer week again. Not only due to illness, tests & looking after dd. But I finally managed to get some sewing in over the last three days.

Firstly to let you all know that the blood tests haven't come back yet but I am hoping that they will be at my obst. on about Mon/Tues of this week. So will keep you all posted with the results. On a bright note I haven't thrown up since Wednesday morning.............I know, I know TMIP (to much info Paula) ;).



As you can see I made Em an Apron with Dora the Explorer on it. Boy was that a challenge!!! My machine didn't take kindly to all that small zig zagging I did around the outside of the Applique pieces. So of course this meant that what was going to take one day to complete turned into three days. As I had to have a "rest" for one day (was too drained to tackle it). So today I finished the apron & Em absolutely loves it. Tomorrow we give it a test drive when we do some cooking together. We are making an animal cake, or to be specific a Turtle cake Em told me today. I am thinking cupcakes would be a better option. I will let you all know who wins that round ;D later.



This is the first apron I've ever made & the first time I have used elasticised lace as well. So am pleased with the way it has turned out. I think I will probably make another apron soon as there are a few things I'd like to try & change. But I guess we will see what happens. TTFN everyone ;D

Three cards & an update

Hi all,

Thank you all for my lovely birthday wishes, they are a bright spot in my week.

Here are a few of the cards I have made this week. The first two are for dh. The first one is his Valentines' card, I decided I didn't want a "traditional red/white" card. So I came up with this colour scheme. I even blinged it up a little by adding gold perfect pearls & water to the heart just for that something extra.


This second card is for dh's anniversary. I tried to keep it as manly as possible. So no bling was added ;).

This last card was inspired by two people:
1. Donna inspired me to use these colours. I find her choices of colours are always so very lovely.
2. Julie who uses these little letters to make some fantastic creations. I've always loved her style.

I'm sorry I've been absent for much of this week. It hasn't been one of my better weeks. I thought I had better stay away until I felt like playing nice. You know the old saying if you can't say anything nice, keep your mouth shut. My dh isn't one of my favourite people this week. I didn't even get a card for my b'day (from him or from Em via him), but I think he knows how upset I am because I did get a bunch of flowers for our 5th wedding anniversary (the day after my b'day). Although he did scare the living daylights out of me, when he came into our bedroom at some ungodly hour ie 4am(ish) to wish me a Happy Anniversary on his way home (he's dog sitting at his fathers place at the moment). I thought someone had broken in - stupid man should know better & warn his wife or turn up during daylight.

On a bright note on Tuesday I finally had my 20 week ultrasound scan. I tried do it two & half weeks ago only to be told I wasn't 18 weeks yet so they couldn't do it (grrrrrrr). So when we went back this week we are back to where we thought we where YAY!!! Bug is being very active these days, it's such a good feeling. I found out yesterday that my gestational diabetes test has come back on the high side :(. Which means on Wednesday I have to go back to do another set of tests which will take between 2-3 hours. So my wonderful friend Helen may come & visit with me whilst I'm waiting between blood tests etc.

Well thanks for "listening" to me dribble on. I will post some more cards I've made later, when Em's dad has come home. So TTFN

Card Patterns Sketch 50

Hi all,

This is my take on Card Patterns sketch 50. Once again I am using up scraps. I did make one boo boo on this card. I accidently stuck the bazzil dot on backwards.........baby brain strikes again. I used two K & Co "Wild Saffron" die cuts for the smaller circles. I think this is the first time I have actually used them since I brought them a few years ago. I also used my copics to colour in the House Mouse image. I just love how copics seem to make any image you colour look fantastic. I did miss them whilst they where visiting Charlie (Em's Preprep teacher), but that was a good excuse to add to the colour collection ;D.

Now I have a question for you all :D

What is the ettiquette for card posting? I see on some blogs a list of materials used in each project, also what colour copics where used etc.....

I must admit most of my papers are left overs from scrapbooking projects that I did a long time ago. So of course I have no idea what papers are what. Any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated :D. TTFN

Homework!!!

Hi all,

Well who knew that I'd get homework from my dd's Preprep ;D. At least it's something easy. All the parents have to do up an A4 size page of family photo's for the kids to take to school that will be displayed for the rest of the year. I haven't scrapbooked for such a long time so my page is extremely simple. Plus this will be laminated, so had to be one dimensional. Em helped me by picking out the photos she wanted, then the mini misters (full of colours) that she wanted on the background (that you can't see in this picture), which sticker letters she wanted & then lastly which stamp she wanted.

The photos:
Top left to right: Smudge the cat, Tom the cat.
Bottom left to right: Daddy & Emma (dancing), Em at the Beach, Mummy & Emma

Looking at this LO on the computer it reminds me of a comic book page. I think it's the captions ;).

I used perfect pearls in the mini misters, glittery letter stickers so this page has a nice shimmer to it. I also used Copics on the butterfly to give it some more colour & depth.

Thanks for stopping by TTFN

PS Doug is actually "dancing" with Em ;D.

Black Saturday - One year on

Hi all,

This is a non crafty post today.

Today marks exactly one year since the "Black Saturday" Bushfires raged through parts of Victoria. Here in Australia we are observering a day of mourning. Personally I think that it is good to remember those that have been affected by this horrific tragedy. The following is from the Bigpond news page:

Australians will observe a national day of mourning on Sunday on the first anniversary since deadly bushfires killed 173 people and decimated rural communities in Victoria.

To mark the fateful day of February 7, 2009, community events have been organised in the bushfire-hit areas such as at the Kinglake West Football Ground on Sunday night, when butterflies will be released and candles lit.

Other activities on Sunday include a Remembrance Service at Kinglake West Uniting Church and Victorian Governor David de Kretser and his wife Jan will open a memorial bell and gateway in a reflective garden at Kinglake West Mechanics Institute Reserve.

There will be a combined church service and community reflection for Marysville residents at Gallipoli Park, which became the refuge for those who stayed and tried to defend their properties.

Services are also being held in Flowerdale, Whittlesea, Toolangi, Bendigo and Gippsland among many others in bushfire-affected communities across the state.

Today (for all of us not in those areas) at midday there will be a minutes silence to remember the people & events of this very sad & tragic day.

Wishing you all a safe & peaceful day.

A sneek peek & other bits ;)

Hi all,

Well I thought I would share a sneaky peek at some thing I've been working on for Deborah's latest CCC ;D. I thought this latest challenge was going to be too hard for me, but surprised myself. I like to try & do as many of the "set" options as I can. It's something I like to challenge myself with. This time I decided that I would stick to the colour scheme first because purple & green isn't a "go to" colour combo for me. In fact I had to buy some more paper for this challenge. I know shock horror no scraps where used!!! But don't worry I have since used up a heap of scraps on other cards. So far I've made about 6 cards with this colour combo. One of which is now at my LSS for the owner.


I am not sure if this "pen" is new on the market or I've never seen it before. But I just had to share it with you all. I discovered this versamark pen (whilst buying purple bazzil) yesterday & am in love with it. I had another embossing pen that left a blue line where ever you used it, so I never used it much as it tended to make everything look icky. But this wonderful pen is perfect. Not only does it go on clear like the ink pad, but it has two ends so you can get into really small areas. I think that this is my new go to item, so expect a lot of embossing in my future cards ;D. Btw I wasn't paid to say these things.

Today I went to a instore demo for Justrite stamps at my LSS. The lady doing the demo was so very lovely & her cards are fantastic. Kathy is also a DT member I would recomend checking out her blog here. I had never heard of Justrite stamps till this last week. I wasn't going to go today as all my babysitters have left the country (how rude!). Em was really good for the whole time we where there, she loves to play in the kiddy corner. In the end I didn't order any stamps, but Em got some fun stickers for being a good kid :D.


Lastly I thought I'd share a photo of my bloggin' buddy Smudge. She's flopped down in her favourite spot while I am on the computer. She doesn't look that happy as it it in the mid 30's & very humid & she has a thick coat. We both say bring on winter!!! The scary thing is her personality is very simular to my dd Em. Especially when you tell her she can't do something. Smudge is going to be 5 in a few weeks, unless her 'ttude gets her into more trouble ;). Tom is curled up under a window - I think he's still "recovering" from going to Preprep with Em on Monday.

Well that's enough dribble from me so TTFN xoxoxoxo

January CCC

Hi all,

Firstly I would like to appologise to Deborah for not posting this yesterday........whoops baby brain at it again :(.

These two cards are for Deborah's January CCC challenge. I almost got the bottom one right ;). I thought the colours where red, green, yellow & black. Turns out they where salmon, green, yellow & brown. But at least I followed the sketch & theme ok. I also added the fairy card because these cards are quiet small so decided I needed to make Judy another card. I'm not sure if Judy has recieved these cards yet as I was naughty & posted them on the very last day. It seems to take nearly two weeks before the mail gets to the U.S.A. :(. So Judy I'm sorry about that as well.

Well I have to go do the grocery shoping now - TTFN