Hello......How was Christmas???????

Hello Blogger's,

How's everyone getting over Christmas? Did you, like me eat too much and dare I say drink more than usual???? I hope Santa brought you all you hoped for.

Walshie and I had a great holiday on Lindeman Island, dancing with the GO's!!!!!

The weather was amazing, very hot with no rain until the day we left. The factor 30+ was used every day and we still look brown as berries. My back let me down though, the day before we left the island I reached across the breakfast table to pick up Ian's plate and I felt it go...... Ian had to help me in and out of chairs from then on. Still it didn't spoil the trip so that's the main thing.

No cards to share as yet, as soon as I can I'll get busy. I'll be changing things a bit in 2010 though. I've got some exciting things happening and I want to try and get on with some quilting too, so think I'll be posting just a couple of times a week, for a while anyway.

Hope you're going to be seeing in the New Year in style - with friends and family.

Till next time...............

Nina May's Paper Cupcakes OnLine store

This is a very quick post to let you know about Nina's New on line store.

If like me you've enjoyed Nina's free digital images every week in the TMITA challenge you might want to go take a look. Just click the link above or on the side bar.

Merry Christmas Blogger's.........

I know I posted a card using this image a couple of days ago but it would have to be one of my favourite Christmas images and this is my card to you all! So I picked my favourite.

I may just have one more post before we go away but it's been a bit hectic here, so I might not get to it! Last night was our last craft night for the year so we always make it a bit special. We had our Secret Santa and I also had a couple of lucky dip prizes for the girls. Add some Christmas treats and Champagne and it was a good night.

I've done the big clean through today so I can go away leaving a clean house (It's never that bad lol, but you know what I mean). I have my hair done tomorrow, thank goodness, good job you can't see me, I look a mess. Still got a couple of things to pick up from the shops too. Friday we have friends over and Saturday we're out again. I'll be so glad to get on that flight.

Just in case I don't make one more post I would like to wish you all A Very Happy Christmas. However you spend the holidays, enjoy yourselves and stay safe.

I've had such a good year so far with this blog, made some new friends and learnt so much about this 'consuming passion', paper craft from all you guys. Thanks so much to everyone who has left me lovely comments, it means so much to hear from you. I know there are lots more who visit and don't comment and that's fine too - I'm glad you stop by and hope one day you'll introduce yourselves.

Till next time.........

A New Baby!

Hello all,

I was asked by a friend to make her a New Baby card and I thought I'd try an easel card as I've seen so many of them in 'blogland'.

Our local Spotlight store have a range of Peter Rabbit clear stamps along with all sorts of additional bits and bobs to go with them. More for Scrapbooking I think, but I'm a Peter Rabbit fan from way back......When I was little and went to stay with gran, she used to take me to a teashop called The Vinecroft (not there anymore) and they used to sell all kinds of Peter Rabbit soft toys, china, books etc. I had a few bits bought me as gifts.

So anyway, I though Peter would be good for the card and stamped him in Memento Tuxedo Black onto GKD pure luxury in pure white. Used copics to colour him and cut him out with an oval Nestie. He sits on a scalloped oval that has been pierced.

The base of my Card is SU Sahara Sand, followed by the card I've used for the matt which is from American Craft. The DP is from Nana's Nursery by DCWV. I used a Fiskars punch to punch out one side of the dp then wrapped some ribbon around this section.

The sentiment was computer generated and cut with a Nestie before popping it up with foam tabs. Two swirls cut from an EK Success punch were added to 'hold' the sentiment.

To finish the card I added four pearls.

We had a busy and warm week end here! I was madly trying to organise the last bits and pieces for Christmas, as well as tidy up the back garden. Did manage to get a walk down by the coast on Saturday, after a warm day at 7pm Walshie and I were eating ice cream on the beach. There must have been a big party in the City as Manly was a riot of red and white Santa's! I clicked a quick photo of one group to show you!

OK off to make some fruit mince pies and shortbread ready for the Craft girls.......

Till next time.........

Christmas round-up!!!!

Hi Blogger's,

I'm thinking this might be last of my Christmas posts!!!!!! or is that wishful thinking!

This card uses one of the stamps from my JustRite Christmas Treasures set. I've stamped the centre image in SU chocolate chip and cut it with a Spellbinders circle die. Copic markers were used to colour and I've matted it to some gold card. The sentiment ring was stamped onto plain pale green card in SU Chocolate Chip.

My base card is plain white with a layer of dp by KaiserCraft which is a double sided card from their Christmas Carnival Collection. A strip of the other side sits down the centre of the card.

The pale green is attached to the card with double sided tape with the image popped up on foam tabs.

These are a couple of my Christmas tags cut from red card and stamped with snowflakes in silver ink. I've cross tied lace and added a button and a punched snowflake and to finish off I just pop a mini candy cane sweetie under the lace.

I saw this little feller last year and thought he was so cute I copied the pdf file to add to my list of 'must trys'! I think he'd look cute hanging with a few friends from the small tree I usually put up on the hall table. Nice for when the children come to visit. Here's the link if you want to give him a try.

Well that's about it for me - hope there might be something here to inspire you.

Till next time...........

TMITA - Recipe Hop Challenge!

Scroll down for the Stamp TV Sweet Treats Blog Hop - posted 11th Dec.

Hiya,

I hope you got the chance to join the recipe hop at TMITA, and if you did what about the challenge recipe on Nina's blog!

1 tag, 2 textures, 3 patterned papers, fold in 4 ribbons and 5 brads or buttons.

My niece would love this card.....pink and purple.....her favourites!

I have to tell you I started with another version of this card, I folded paper to make the cupcake wrapper and tied ribbon around the middle of it but it looked too fussy, so that ended up in the bin!!

Base card is pure white with a layer of purple striped dp from My Memories, which I embossed with a Spellbinders Flourish embossing disc. The second dp is also from My Memories. I added the three ribbon tabs to the side of this one with three purls. I embossed with Swiss dots then zig zaged a circle of lemon dp from the Kaiser Craft Lilac Avenue Collection Paper pad next. Wrapped the last piece of ribbon around this and added the remaining two pearls into the corners.

Once the image was sized I printed it twice onto white card. From one image I coloured, with Copics, and cut out the topping and the Heart and set this aside. The second image was coloured and partially cut out before adding to the background. Using fine foam tabs I added the topping then with a thicker tab the heart. I've also used some kindyglitz, crystalina over the top of the icing to give it some sparkle. My tag is a ticket cut from one of the dp's used and a computer generated sentiment.

Thanks for dropping by.

Till next time..........

Sweet Treats Blog Hop

Hello Blogger's

Several members of the Center Stage Spotlight Team have joined together to share a special Christmas Treat Recipe Blog Hop event with everyone tonight! They have whipped up some treats in their kitchens and their stamp rooms over the past few weeks so we could compile our very first Recipe Book for StampTV!

Welcome to the Sweet Treats Blog Hop. Do you cook up a storm at Christmas? It's part of the tradition really isn't it..... Here of course it's also our Summer with holidays at the beach to look forward to. Seafood and salads are the order of the day and all the stone fruit are available, mango's, peaches, cherries. Trouble is I was brought up in the UK where we had Hot Lunches of Turkey, Pork followed by steaming Christmas Pudding and custard, fruit mince pies with brandy butter!!!!! I'm torn every year, this year we're going away so someone else gets to do the cooking and I'll be happy with whatever is served.

I thought for my treat I'd go with a very traditional Aussie favourite and chose Anzac Biscuits....never a cookie these are biscuits. This is the recipe a neighbour gave me when we first arrived in Sydney. She suggested I make them for an Australia Day picnic but they are so good I make them much more often!

I decorated a presentation box for these cookies so they could be given as a thank you or taken as a gift when you call into friends over the holidays.

I've used digi paper from Theresa Momber available here. Don't you just love digi stuff, stored on your computer to print whenever you need it..... I do.

The stripe and dots were printed onto GKD Layering weight card. The gold, red and lace punched card are all from scraps.

The biscuits are sealed into a cellophane bag to start.

This clear box is, I have to admit, a re cycled box that one of the panel blinds we've just hug came in .... perfect, I just cut it down to the size I needed ! I know Gina sells these containers too, so check out the store here.

I simply made a sleeve to wrap around the base of my box and decorated it with a punched lace border then added the bow. The gold and red tag was stamped with a sentiment from GKD Holiday Hospitality and attached with fine foam tabs.

For the lid I measured the area I needed to cover and added an inch and a quarter all round for the lip. You can also find a template here you might just have to adjust the sizes to fit your box. I used my corner rounder with the guard removed to punch the scalloped edge for my lid.

I had fun decorating the top of my box, I started with a tag cut from a scrap of Rocket Red and using the snowflakes from the same Holiday Hospitality set, stamped them in gold across the tag.

I stamped the bauble twice onto some gold card and cut this out. Adding red and green satin ribbon before adhering the two cut outs back to back. Then a punched snowflake to finish ...... the back is where I'll write my message.

I've used some pretty lace to cross tie over the tag and bauble, adding a small gold bell with some gold thread. To finish I slipped the candy cane under the lace.

Hope you like this gift box, I've made a couple in different sizes, using different card and they are fun as each one looks different finished, oh and they look great lined up on the coffee table!!!

If you're interested in the history of the Anzac Biscuit (and it is interesting) click here.

I'm off to make a cup of coffee and enjoy just one...... while I check out these designer's blogs for the sweet projects they've designed around their treats:

Carolina Buchting
Carla Suto
Deb Felts
Donna Baker
Giovana Smith
Jennie Harper
Jessica Fick
Joy Hadden
Karen Knegten
Kay Simmons
Lee Murphy
Linda Payne
Lori McAree
Melissa Cash
Pam Imholz
Selma Stevenson
Sue Morris
Sue VanDeVusse
Sue Walsh
Vicki Dutcher

Then, stop by GinaK's blog for a super sweet give-away she has tonight in honor of the hop!

The Recipe Book will be available as a free download PDF on StampTV tonight as well. Look for it on the Freebie Tab link.

Enjoy.........

Edit: I had a question from Nancy asking what to use in place of Golden Syrup - I understand it's not easy to get hold of in the US. Check out this link for some suggestions.

The Christmas Card Production Line!!!!!

Hi Blogger's,

Looks like I went into mass production with these cards doesn't it!!

These are the Christmas cards for the craft girls, I had to keep them pretty much the same so no fighting!!! I just changed the colours a bit. This picture isn't the best perhaps you'll need to click on it to see it a little better.

I've used a digital image from Shirley's2girls for this set of cards I think it's called 'Cheers to you'. Some Bazzill green card, scraps of gold for the image mat, dp from Kaiser Craft. Some ribbon and either gems or pearls to complete.

I've a few bits to pop in their treat bags ready for our last craft night before Christmas, which will be Tuesday. I have to make mince pies and shortbread and we might pop some champagne too.....one things for sure there won't be much crafting on the night!

Tomorrow is the Sweet Treats Blog Hop with the CSSDT girls from Stamp TV there will be recipes and for each recipe a project. My post will be up at 3pm Aussie time which is 10pm Dec. 10th CSS. This post will stay up for 24 hours so I hope you'll come back and join in.

Till then...........

ABSC005 Santa and his helpers

TMITA BLOG HOP

Wow I've just completed the Recipe Blog Hop over at TMITA!!!! I've got 8 new recipes - how exciting is that.

The magic phrase is as follows:

"Paper Cupcakes where the main Ingredient is Love!"

Oh if you haven't taken this hop you should start by clicking on the badge at the right of this page!!!!

Hiya!

Finally made it back to my blog post for today!

This is my card for Andrea's challenge over at Annabelle Stamps Blog.......it's a sketch and called for bling!

My card uses this gorgeous stamp with Santa and his helpers, lots of bright red....matt, ribbon and bling. I coloured this one with Copics. The gorgeous dp is from Kaiser Craft and it's a double sided paper red with white spots on the reverse....yum!

I only had these tiny, tiny red gems but think I made up for it with the red heart in the centre of my bow. I'm late again....... hope I make it this week.

To fit this image on the front of my card I had to cut off one little helper but never fear..... he made the card...... On the inside! haha too cute how could you leave this little feller out!

I'm off to check out Nina's blog hop over at TMITA......... see you over there!!

NOT TO BE MISSED!!!!

Hello just popped in to remind you all about Nina's Recipe Blog Hop over on TMITA. For us Aussies this means Thursday 10th!!!

This is not just another blog hop there are some great prizes on offer!!

Go check Nina's blog today where she will explain how you can win one of these prize packs.

Back soon with a card!!

Two for a Tuesday!!!!

Good Morning,

It's such a beautiful morning here and I'm making the most of it as they predict the temperature will rise to around 35c later in the day before a southerly change and a storm! Wish you could hear the bugs in my garden they're making quite a sound.

My back is far from right but I'm feeling more human again, sat and wrote my Christmas cards yesterday so they're ready for the mail box later today. I have a few more to make so using this week's sketch challenge from Jennie on Stamp TV I made today's card. I've just turned her design round on its side as I wanted to use this stamp from GKD Holiday Cheer. It's stamped in SU chocolate chip.

The card used is as follows:

Base card and matting GKD soft sand.

GKD pure luxury layering weight in pure white for the image and sentiment.

DP is a double sided paper from imaginisce called Polar Expressions and Frosted Forest. I love the colour and the forest of trees are decorated so prettily. There is also the little sparkly dots which IRL look very pretty.

A small scrap of gold shimmer card was used to mat the image. Both of the ovals were cut using Nesties.

The sentiment is from Melanie Muenchinger's Hip to be Square for GKD .

To complete the sketch I added the three copper nail heads.

Today I have a second card to show you. I love Mo Manning's digital illustrations and this one was one she very generously gave as a freebie to her group on PCP. Isn't he just perfect!!

I think this card would fit the CAS style quite well...... shame I didn't cut the white card straight across the top!!!! How is it that someone married to a man who hates anything crooked,( to the point that he straightens peoples pictures when he visits!!!) can't get things straight ???????

Back to this little card: sized and printed on GKD pure luxury layering weight in pure white.

Coloured with Prisma's and OMS.

The green card is from a mat stack and I tied the green gross grain ribbon across the bottom to finish.

I like it!

Till next time.........

Peace, Joy & Love

Hello all,

I just wanted to show you this card I made on Friday for Selma's challenge on Stamp TV.

Selma showed a picture and the challenge was to use this as the inspiration for a card.

OK so here's the picture.........what do you think? I've never tried one of these challenges before but I enjoyed it, it's good to have a change from sketch and colour challenges.

I used a stamp from the GKD Holiday Cheer set, which I stamped in Kiwi Kiss then embossed part of the image in white to look like snow covered branches.

The dp is from Basic Grey Figgy Pudding and sits on some soft blue card. The top of this card was embossed with Swiss dots and I used EK Success scalloped border punch to shape both of these cards. The image is stamped on GKD PL layering weight and sits on some Eskimo Kisses dp. I added the pure white satin ribbon and a snowflake charm with a couple of glittered snowflakes in both of the top corners to finish off.

Thanks for dropping by. Sorry this is a quick post ... I'm suffering with my back again! Not sure how to get comfortable at the moment and am dosing myself up with meds to try and get some relief.

I'll be back a.s.a.p with more cards until then...........

Christmas Red, Gold and Green

Hello,

I was playing with my new Prisma pencils last night, I picked up some OMS earlier in the day and was keen to see how well they work together. I have some Derwent pencils that I've used with Baby Oil but these work so much better, the colour spreads over the page really smoothly which means you don't end up working so hard to blend in. Still need to play some more but the image on this card is my first go and it made a card.

The stamp is from Theresa Momber's set 'Very Merry Christmas' for GKD inked with Memento Tuxedo Black onto GKD PL layering weight . Once I'd coloured the image I sat it on some Apple Green card that had one short edge distressed.

My base card is American Craft Card in Rouge. I had a small amount of the Christmas Words dp left from last year, not sure who it's from. To the bottom of this strip I added the gold card that had been punched with a Fiskars border punch. At the top I tied the pretty red and green glittery ribbon and attached the whole section to the base card.

The stamped image sits on fine foam dots to pop it up a little. Then to finish I added the five mini red gems.

I think I need to start writing my Christmas cards just in case I need to make more!!! We received our first one yesterday......... why am I not that organised??

Till next time.........

TMITA - Anything but a Card - Snowy Flight

Good Morning Blogger's,

This week Nina from TMITA has given this sweet snowman to play with....and the challenge was anything but a card.

I was inspired by a double pocket bag Curt made here and decided to use it for my project. If you're interested you can find the tutorial for this bag here.

The image was sized and printed... and I wanted a label for my pouch so printed it twice as you can see.

The pouch uses a 12 x 12 inch sheet of double sided card from SU, it just went so well with the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses I wanted as the mat for my image.

The images were coloured with a mixture of Prisma's and Copics and I added flowersoft for the main images hat band and pom pom! Martha Stewart clear glitter was added at the bottom for the snow. White gross grain ribbon makes up the handles and I tied a length to the side of the image to finish off.

The small gift tag was cut with a Nestabilities oval die and I punched the hole at the top and set with a blue eyelet. This is attached to the pouch with some fine satin ribbon.

Till next time.........

Vintage Christmas

Morning Blogger's,

I've been dying to try a vintage card for a while now - not just an old looking card but a shabby vintage one. Here it is Vintage Christmas....... This card was inspired by Camilla.

Not too sure where to start trying to explain what was involved but the basics are as follows:

Stamp - GKD Holiday Cheer

Card - GKD Apple Green, Pure Luxury Layering weight in pure white for the stamped image. Red craft card followed by two layers of dp, the first is Basic Grey Wassail then Foofala (not too sure about this paper I've had it for a while and that's all that's on the back).

Ink - For the image and the sponging around it SU Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss. For some of the distressing VersaFine Vintage Sepia. VersaMark was used for the embossing with American Crafts Gold embossing powder.

I started by spritzing the dp with water to soften it up before scrunching it to get the wrinkles! Once it was dry I distressed the edges using the kitchen scissors ! rolled them then with tea bags tea dyed them.....this wasn't quite enough so I sponged with Vintage Sepia. The Wassail piece had just the very edges embossed with gold then the top layer had large areas embossed to give it some shine. Using the sewing machine I attached both of these layers to the background red card (I had already sponged the edges of this and the base green card). As a sewer I found it really hard to sew other than a straight line!!!!

I stamped the image picking out the leaves in kiwi kiss then distressed all around with my cutting scissors before sponging. This was attached to the background with double sided tape and Tombo Aqua Liquid Glue.

That just left the embellishments........ The lace was tea dyed very lightly before attaching to the card with staples. I rolled a small piece of distressed paper added the ribbon rose and paper rose that had both been distressed. Coiled some florist wire then wrapped some ribbon around them all before spritzing with Glimmer mist in Iridescent Gold. This element was attached to the card with tacky glue. Done!

I have to say I was quite pleased when it was finished, I thought it might just look dirty! and guess what my biggest critic likes it too!!! Just might have to be his Christmas Card this year!!

That's it for today, thanks for stopping by - please leave me a quick comment to let me know what you think.......don't be a lurker....... I don't mind if you don't like it..... tell me why!

See ya later.........

Just a Note.....

Hello Blogging friends, how are you today?

It's back to miserable weather here, but that means I don't feel guilty playing down in my room!!

My card today is a very simple one, I wanted some little thank you note cards and this is what I came up with. It's so funny though, I had so much paper on my desk with embossing folders die cutters and punches and in the end used a scrap of dp with an embossed background and some ribbon plus one gem........Less is more this time!!!

The card used as follows:

GKD Pure Luxury heavyweight in pure white for the base card. PL layering weight for the tamped image.

SU Almost Amethyst embossed with QuicKutz diamonds and dots.

DP is from the KaiserCraft Lilac Avenue Collection.

White ribbon from GKD and one green KaiserScrapbook gem.

Inks SU Lavender Lace and Certainly Celery

The little stamp and the sentiment are from GKD Tropical Windows.

Our local RIOT art/craft supply store has 30% off PrismaColor Coloured Pencils at the moment and I've been looking at them for a while so guess who had an early Christmas present!!! I have a tin of 120 pencils sitting on my desk to add to my Copics...........you can't have too many colouring tools can you???

Oh and we have another Art Shop opened just along the road from home I think I might become a regular visitor there too!! Happy Days.....

Till next time..........

GKD - CentreStage Spotlight Blog Hop

This is my second post today scroll down for the first one!

It's time for another CenterStage Spotlight Challenge Blog hop!

Hostess: Jessica Fick {Design Team Coordinator}
Theme: Stamp and color the image on Patterned Paper
{ any occasion card acceptable, it doesn't have to be Christmas themed}
{ image may be cut out and layered, but must be stamped and colored on patterned paper}
Requirement: any GinaK Designs stamp set & Glitter
Bonus Challenge: decorate the inside of your card to coordinate

Hello Blogger's,

I've made two cards for today's hop. The challenge was to stamp directly onto designer paper and I've got two Christmas cards to show you.

My first card uses two of Theresa Momber's images and a sentiment from 'Very Merry Christmas' for Gina K Designs.

The base card is GKD Pure Luxury heavy weight in pure white.

To this I added the first of two designer papers used and this has two Christmas trees embossed in white to either side of the main image.

The main image was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with Copic markers. I also used some Kindy Glitx for my glitter, over the flames in the hearth. The main image is matted to American Craft - Rouge and attached to the card with foam tabs. To complete the card I added the red gross grain ribbon and three Cherry Sprinkles.

My second is a shadow box card and uses Nina Brackett's set 'Lord of The Season' with a sentiment from 'Very Merry Christmas' and the little Christmas stockings from the Stamp TV set.

I used GKD Pure Luxury hw in pure white and covered the front of the card with the dp from Basic Grey - Wassail.

The tree was stamped onto Kaisercraft Elegance with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with Copic markers. I added some amber gems for the tree decorations.

The planting tub was stamped twice more and cut .... the tub with the bird..... then just the bird . They were coloured , then using foam tabs attached to the main image. The star at the top of the tree was treated the same way with the addition of some glitter.

I scored and folded the card top and bottom then using a Nestability die cut the oval for the window, making sure to centre it. A scalloped border was added to frame the window and some punched pine leaves either side of the top.

More stamping onto dp .... I stamped the Christmas stockings at the bottom of the window on either side and added some glitter to these too.

The dp with the tree image was attached to the base card and then using strong tape I stuck the top and bottom together and added the fine satin ribbon to both sides.

Hallelujah was embossed in gold for the sentiment and to finish I added the stocking charm.

This little card stands well but folds down flat and can be mailed in an ordinary envelope.

Hallelujah it's done!!! Thanks for dropping by, hope you like these!

OK so are you ready for more? Hop on over to these designing divas where you'll find lots of inspiration...........have fun.

Participating Designer's links:

Brenda Turner
Carla Suto,
Carolina Buchting,

Cheri Weston,
Deb Felts
Geri Utterback ,
Giovana Smith,
Gina Krupsky
Janice Melton,
JenMarie Taylor,
Jennie Harper,

Jessica Fick
Joy Hadden,
Karen Knegten
Kay Simmons,
Linda Payne,
Lori McAree,
Melisa Waldorf,
Melissa Cash,
Melissa Shultz,
Nina Brackett,
Pam Imholz,
Peggy Wainman,
Selma Stevenson,
Shannon Bracken,
Sharri Seffens
Sue VanDeVusse

Sue Morris

Tina Gilliland

ABSC004 - 1st post of two today!

Hello,

I wanted to post this card today and at 3pm this afternoon I'll have the Stamp TV CentreStage Blog Hop to post. So two posts - the blog hop will be up for at least 24 hours!

This is my card for Andrea's sketch challenge on Annabelle Stamps.

I know in the US you're into Autumn/Winter cards but here in the southern hemisphere we're ready for light and bright to match the glorious sunshine we've been enjoying. So my card uses a JustRite stamp from an oval set called Thinking of You.

I left off the outer oval stamp and just stamped the centre, using Memento Tuxedo Black and colouring with Copics.

Card used as follows: GKD Pure Luxury in pure white for the base with layering weight for the stamped image. SU Lavender Lace and the DP is from a KaiserCraft 6x6 Paper Pad Lilac Avenue Collection.

I used an EK Success punch for the double lace border and some pearl sprinkles for the embellishments.

This card was photographed at the end of the day as the sun was starting to drop, you can see a little bit of shadow but the Lavender colours are pretty much true.

That's it hope you'll come back later for the blog hop!!!

Till them.........