My first challenge entry for 2015

Hi Lovelies,

I've been a little distracted from blogging lately.  Mainly because it's so freakin' hot!  Which normally wouldn't be that bad except our air con has died. Some of the nights have been in the mid 30s C (or around 89 F) with high humidity added just to make it unbearable.

So today I decided to make a card.  Which meant I have a chance to play along with a favourite challenge blog this week - Yay!!  I decided to choose a random blog & came up with Retro Sketches.  This is the sketch I decided to follow

I decided to use scraps of patterned papers lying around on my desk to make this card.  Admittedly I'm not a fan of orange, but for some reason lately it's featured in a few of my projects.  No stamps or inks where used in the making of this card.  Now I'm sort of regretting not inking around the edges of the banners, just so you can differentiate between them.   I also added an extra butterfly to the card.

Supplies: 

Card Base

Cuttlebug

T.W.C Die - Hello 1036

Spellbinders Nestibilities - Nested Lacey Pennants

Impression Obsession Dies - Butterfly set

Memory Box - Effera Butterfly Wings 98863

                         - Rhone Butterfly Wings 98869

Studio Calico - Hey Day pattern paper pad 6"

Pebbles - Seen & Noted pattern paper pad 6"

Cruisin' the 'net is fun ;P

Hi Lovelies, 

Yes it's share time again.  So far I've been cruisin' around the internet & get inspired by YouTube.  There are some truly amazing crafters out there.  I've been inspired by them to create some "Wow" & fun projects.  Always a good thing.  Today's share is of one of them.

Firstly you need to go here, here, here, here, & here.  This is where I got the "how to" to make this version.  I love, love how this Note card Folio turned out & so easy.  There is no stamping on this project & the only thing that I die cut myself is the hello on the front, then I used a Fiskars' Border Punch on the front flap.  Using The Crafters Workshop die TWC 1036 Hello.  All of these papers except the bazzil dot c/s came from this pad.  

The top right photo is of a "Belly Band" I made to keep it all closed.  I added it, as I thought it would make it easier to keep tidy, ribbon would have worked just as well.

Whilst making this project I had a "Light Bulb" moment (spoken just like Gru).  I added glue to the back of my die-cut Hello whilst it was still in the die.  I just added the tiniest bit & because it was still in the die it was so easy to apply.  Then I used my hook tool (handle with a pin on the end) to gently poke/lift it out of the die.  No more mess! YAY :)  Not sure if anyone else has discovered this, but thought I'd share anyway.

Today I'm sitting outside under our pergola watching the kids swim.  Life is great.    

Two cards.

Hi Lovelies,

Well it's another hot but beautiful day here on the sunny Sunshine Coast.  According to my phone it's 32C here at the moment.  Which converts to  89.600F (on this site).  There isn't any humidity at the moment so with a light breeze blowing it's just lovely.  Especially after swimming in our pool.  

Today I want to share some of my creations over this last week.  I've been super creative with this gorgeous paper pad.  Usually when I buy them, the pattern papers (especially the super busy ones) confuse me & I tend to use them as mats on the backgrounds of my cards.  Never really as a feature.

I used some of these papers on this card.  So today I thought I'd share with you two more cards that I made.  On this first card I used some of the busier pp for the background.  I also fussy die cut the green pp so it looked a little like clouds.  I thought it added extra interest instead of having it plain.  The banners & die-cut are all from this pad.  All I did was ink around some of the edges with Festive Berries & Bundled Sage Distress Inks.  The butterfly & sentiment were stamped in Versafine Sepia Brown.  The butterfly was stamped twice & fussy cut out to adhere to the panel. 

On this card I used up some of the scraps that where left over from my other projects.  I'm not 100% happy with this card. As I don't like a lot of white space on my cards.  I guess it's something I will have to try more often.  It's like my use of orange.  I tend to avoid this colour for some reason, but on these projects it seems to be every where.  

Supplies:

Kaisercraft 

• Cherry Blossom 6.5" pad 
• CS 915 Mother
• CS 861 Botanical Garden
• CS 870 Remember Me

Hero Arts 

• CL 297 Everyday Sayings

Die-namics

• Pierced Rectangle Stax

Cuttlebug

Ranger Distress Inks

• Bundled Sage
• Festive Berries

Card base

            

Our new home

Hi Lovelies,

Well as promised here are some more photos of our new home.  I thought I would start at the front door & share my new office/craft room.  My darling dh brought six boxes over from his dad's shed & luckily for me most of it was craft supplies & books.  I even have a box of kitchen stuff to unpack.

 This room is classed as an office/fourth bedroom.  Even though there is no doors, or wardrobe.  I love it as a craft room as the floor is tiled & the window lets in so much natural light.  I can't wait to start creating in here.

 Eventually I hope to put the computer tower & monitor in another room (once I buy a wifi extender) so this will give me even more room to play with.

 This hall stand actually belonged to my Nanna (on my dad's side) & was given to me just recently.  I love it.  It suits our new home perfectly.  Can you see the clock?  It belonged to my Granddad, so the two pieces belong together.  I love that I have this connection to them as they have passed on.

 This area is know as the Library, because I have no idea what to call it otherwise.  It's perfect for all our books some of the kids toys & our brand new desk (from Ikea - thanks Mum) for the computer.

 Yup at the moment it's holding my new Laptop.

 Love my new kitchen, dining, family area.  It's such an amazing space that looks out over our pool.  Which the girls have been in nearly every single day.  I love that I can be inside but still keep an eye on the girls.  Also my kitchen is a dream come true.  The pantry is huge, we also now have a dishwasher (not called Doug).

The furniture in the lounge/dining room is from my friend Helen.  Helen is moving interstate so I was luckily enough to be given some of her furniture.  Thank you Helen.

  My dining room looks out over the pool and a water feature.  Doug cleaned it out about four days ago & the next day a brown Tree Frog promptly laid it's eggs in it.  Today it's full of tadpoles.  We are so happy.  So each day we are checking them to see what is happening.

 My sister Julie & Emsy are having a "moment" before we all get ready to say goodbye :(.  Jule's came on Christmas day & we have loved having her.  We will miss you Aunty Julie.

 Lilly is standing just outside our front door in this shot.  Where we have another pond & "creek bed" running through the garden.  This pond is also full of tadpoles but we aren't sure if they are Cane Toads (noxious pest) or frogs.

 Lastly here are a few more shots of my craft room/office.   I've been really good & culled a lot of things both before we moved & as we've unpacked.  Today I have gotten two boxes of stuff to give away & over the weekend I've made two trips to Vinnies to donate stuff.

Well lovelies, hope you have enjoyed a bit of a tour around our place.  Have a great day & happy crafting.

Belated Anniversary Card

Hi Lovelies,

I am back with my very first card for 2015.  I made this today, as a "belated" Anniversary card for my parents.  Their 31st Wedding Anniversary was on the 7th of January & whilst I did remember on the day.  I actually forgot to ring them (how rude).  It was the perfect excuse to visit Daisy Chain Scrapbooks as I didn't have the right papers to make this card.  Which is a lot like saying "I have absolutely nothing to wear" whilst looking at a cupboard full of clothing.  Irony I has it ;P.

I just love the colours in this card.  All the papers came from Kisercraft 6.5 inch Paper Pad -"Cherry Blossom".  I love these pads as you get so much in them.  There are 12 sheets of Designed Papers, 12 Specialty Papers including Spot Varnish (will definitely be using this one) & 4 pages of Die Cuts.  Just like the printed one on this card.

I also broke out my "Rusty but trusty" Cuttlebug, heaps of dies & some Bling gems.  Plus I just had to ink around some of the edges with Distress Inks (not that it's noticeable in this picture).

Supplies:

Card Base
Kaisercraft 6.5" Paper Pad - Cherry Blossom
Cuttlebug
Distress Inks - Festive Berries & Peacock Feathers
Bling - gems
Dies:
Impression Obsession Butterfly Set
Memory Box: Effera Butterfly Wings & Rhone Butterfly Wings
Cheery Lyn Designs: B117 Fanciful Flourish
Die-namics:  Mini Royal Roses & Prima Donna Petals
Spellbinders: Labels Four

First post for 2015

Hi Lovelies,

Yes I know it's been a very long time.  So I don't expect any one to drop by lol :p.   I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas & New Year.  Personally I had an extremely busy time, we moved house in the second week of November, then got the keys for the new place in the last week of November (spent nearly a month at my parents house) then spent the first week of December cleaning the new place to make it livable.  Yes it was that bad.  Since then I've had guests staying for Christmas and my sister leaves for Perth tonight.  So am feeling a little sad about that.  I almost have everything unpacked & we can now get a car into the garage.  I am determined to get everything unpacked before the girls start school this year.  

I do hope that in 2015 that everything continues to get better.  Last year was "meh" for me.  It started so well, but then slowly went "blah" (yes they are technical terms ;P).  I was quiet sick for about 12 weeks with a really nasty flu that our whole family got.  We banned visitors - they couldn't go past our letterbox hee hee. Poor Emsy got it first, followed by the "Little General" Lilly, then Doug & I caught it.  Unfortunately I had it the longest.  

My laptop decided to have a very slow death last year.  I spent most of the year re-installing it back to factory settings.  I had to step down from two of my favourite sites because of this.  So I now have a new  Laptop - Yay! So at least now I can start checking out my favourite blogs once again.  I can't wait to see what you are all doing.

I also can't wait to get my craft here & unpacked.  Currently it's still in boxes sitting at my F.I.L.'s shed.  Last year was a low point crafting wise.  I couldn't seem to get my mojo to work.  So of course because I don't have anything here & I'm down to the last 10 boxes or so to unpack.  I want to create cards again. I'm hoping my darling dh will start bringing them over this week for me.  So expect some mail soon my friends.  I need to get creative.

Well the family is now up, the rain is falling & we have a full day ahead.  Hope you liked seeing our new place.  I hope to share some more happy snaps soon.

Have a great day & happy crafting xoxoxo