Merry Christmas from the Boards!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Kiddy Cards!

Here are the last few cards I have made. One for Beautiful little Lily Maree. One for twins Georgia and Xander. And finally one for little Dylan's 1st birthday. With all these little people to celebrate I haven't even had time to think about making Christmas cards and tags. Perhaps next week!

It's been a while!

Hi everyone! It's been almost 2 months since I last posted on my blog. During this time of no blogging I've been busying myself with sewing of all things. We have had a run of baby girls born to friends and family. I've been making each of the little sweethearts the cutest little ruffled nappy covers and singlet sets. At the moment I'm working on a red and white spot set for Gracey and a floral pink set for beautiful baby Eden. When I've got these finished I'll get Gracey to model her new outfit for you all!

I'm also still creating items with paper. With all the babies born lately, I've had a production line of baby cards on the go. I'll also post some of these images shortly.

Almost forgot...I've also been making tomatoe chutney and bottled salad beetroot from our garden. Both recipes are super easy and super yummy! Expect to see these recipes appearing in the next month!

Lost MoJo!

Just a quick post to say that I am alive and kicken!!! I just think i've lost my MoJo at the moment. Or perhaps it could be I've lost my ability to have a moment to think about things for myself. With two little ones, a hubby and a 5acre home...oh yes and the 2 afternoons I work, life is just hectic. I'm not left with much down time these days.

I hope to add some Christmas inspired pieces soon.

2 in 1!

It's been a while...but I've finally got around to participating in a couple of challenges. First I took the colours from Makeesha's Inspiration Challenge. Then I used this layout from Friday Sketchers. To create this card for one of my two lots of friends who became engaged on the weekend (more excuses to buy pretty dresses...engagment parties and weddding!). It's not a typical Engagement card but I think it serves the purpose well. Again I had a play with watercolouring using my stampin write markers and ink pads. To add a bit of depth I also covered the word love in Crysal Effects. I'm no sure what Stampin Up stamp set the word Love comes from as I stamped it ages ago at a Stampin Night. I finally got to use the 5th Avenue Floral set to create the background paper and grabbed the little heart from the Cheep Talk set. The cute polka dots come from the So Saffron Pattern Design Series Paper Pack.

Organising Gracey's Wardroe

My little girl is very blessed to have so many people who love and care about her. Due to this extreme love, she also has an extreme wardrobe, even though she is only 9 weeks old. She's a very lucky little girl!

Due to the amount of clothes in her wardrobe, I made these size tags to help organise and also to ensure that she wore everything. She's growing so quickly, I'd hate for something to never be worn. WIth these size tags hung on the rails I can now put clothes in the appropriate areas. They were so easy to make. I just used Microsoft Publisher to make the tag template and print the size. I then cut them out and curly embossed them by running them through my Big Kick Sizzix Machine.

An easy project that works well and looks cute too!

Green Thumbs!

What a great day it has been today! I not only got up and went for a walk/jog with my hubby this morning but it also rained. Putting some much needed water in our tanks. Once the weather cleared I was left with a beautiful warm sunny Spring day..perfect for gardenig. Off to the nursery I went to get some vegetable seedlings and herbs. Then it was home for fresh prawns for lunch and a nanny nap wth my little ones. To end this glorious day, I headed outside with my little family to pick mulberries and plant out our vege patch. Emy had a lovely time helping his Dad.

I just love Spring!!!

Gracey's Nursery - Using Design Series Paper

When I was pregnant with Gracey I think I had convinced myself that I was having another little boy. The night before she decided to make her grand entrance, I had just finished decorating her nursery with Stampin Ups Urban Oasis Design Series Paper. Although this series of paper is masculine in colour it is very feminine in pattern. I'd gone with the whole Willy Wagtail theme, due to the amount of birds that can be seen from the nursery window.

For the people who know me, I'm quite a girly person. I couldn't wait to get pink into the Nursery when I returned home from hospital with my little pink bundle of joy. Due to the amount of work I'd already done in the nursery I kept the previous colour scheme but added in Pretty in Pink, Rose Red and Real Red. Using Raspberry Tart DSP to cover Wooden Cutout Letters for her name and added some more birdies around the top of the room. The room is now a real baby girls room...Pretty and Pink! Gracey's Photo Board. The bird print was created by pulling a teatowel over a blank canvas. Cheap but Effective.

A Quick Baby Card - Welcome to the World Isabelle Sophia!!

Just a quick baby card I whipped up the other night. I had got home late from our family dinner but need a baby card the following morning for my friend Belinda who had a baby girl last Monday (Isabelle Sophia). It's not brilliant but it's cute. This card also gave me an excuse to use my new paper stack called Nana's Nursery - Baby Girl from DCWV. This selection of papers is just beautiful. Pretty colour combinations and glittery highlights. I can't wait to use it for Gracey's scrapbook pages. I almost didn't need to stamp at all with these beautiful papers. In the end I just used my gorgeous little babby(love this little cutey!) from Stampin Ups All In The Family set and added in some Pink Pirouette using the eyelet border punch.

One of a Kind...Daddy!

Happy Father's Day!!!

With Father's Day coming up I thought it was only right to make my hubby a card...rather than buy one. Considering, I spend so much time and money making cards for every other occasion that flitters by.

For this quirky little creation, I used the Just Beachy Stamp Set from the Spring Stampin Up Mini Catalogue and stuck to a Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss and Basic Grey colour scheme. I added in some Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss Patterns Design Series Paper. For the text I used Microsoft Office Publisher. I also had a go at watercolouring using Stampin Write Markers then to give the 3D look on the fish, bubbles and Daddy I used Stampin Ups Crystal Effects...Just love this stuff!!

I hope you all enjoy celebrating this special day with the boys in your life. Have a wonderful Father's Day!!!!

Happy 60th Sally!

It's a busy time of year for us at the moment. I think we have almost every weekend booked up for the next 3 months. This weekend we headed down to Brisbane to spend time with Dunc's family for a 60th celebration for his mum, Sally. I'd seen this great idea for a card on my weekly inkling newsletter from Splitcoast Stampers. This card is what they call a Wiper Card, due to the little piece that swipes up when opened, just like a car windscreen wiper blade.

For this card I used one of my favourite colour schemes of pink, blue and brown. To put it all together I used Baja Breeze paper and ink, along with the Great Friends and 5th Avenue Floral (for the verse) Stamp Set and some of the felt flowers from Stampin Up. Although it took me ages to complete (as with everything these days!!!) I really enjoyed making this style of card. Look out for more in the future...perhaps a baby card next!

A Card for Mum!

Recently my Mum celebrated her birthday. As usual, I wasn't organised...so I had to whip this up the night before. After lots of fiddling, this is what I came up with. I got to have a play with embossing the butterfly then I used my stampin up pens to create a washed brown look. For a simple card, I think it turned out quite well.

Back in the swing of things...slowly!

I'm starting to adjust to the schedule of a newborns feeds. It's amazing how quickly three hours passes. Before I know it my little one is ready for yet another feed and I'm only just getting a load of washing out of the washer.

Over the past 4 weeks I have found the odd moment to sit at my desk and play. I couldn't wait to try out my new stamp sets from the new Mini Catalogue from Stampin Up. I'm so happy to finally have a set that is perfect for male cards and creations. The Just Beachy Stamp Set not only has a group of crazy looking fish but it also has an old woody with a surfboard ontop. Expect to see this used for Father's Day.

Anyway here's what I've managed to create:

One of my most Beautiful Creations!

I've been a little quiet on my blog of late...with good reason!!! In the early hours of Tuesday Morning I went into early labour with my second child. By 4.37 that morning, (having had an emergency call for an ambulance on our 2 hour trip to the hospital) I was nursing my beautiful little girl - Gracey Elizabeth. Having decided to come 2 weeks early, she only weighed 5lbs14ozs (2.65kg) and is as cute as a button. Here she is.....

At the moment I'm going crazy with my girly design series paper, turnign he neutral nursery into a little girls haven. When It's finished I'll post the pink birdy paradise I'm creating!!! (Migt be while though...things are taking a bit longernow that I'm juggling a 15 month old and baby).

First Attempt at The Inklings ATC Swap - Distressed Theme.

Having recently signed on as a Stampin Up demonstrator with the Inklings, I decided to have a go at participating in the Artist Trading Card Swap for this month. The theme set by Carol Dunstan was Distressed.

For my contributions I fiddled around with Tea Staining, Scrunching, Grating, Water Wash Dying, and then finally Stamping. Here are my results: If you'd like to know how I created these techniques, just leave a comment with your email attached and I'll send you the details.

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad!

For once in my life I managed to remember my parents anniversary ahead of time. Don't ask me how many years they have been married, but it's over 40 and less than 50. As usual being the girl of the family it was my job to remind Dad and organise flowers. This year I decided to delegate, so I left it to my brother to order the flowers online. He made a great choice and Mum loved them...even better, they turned up on the correct date.

I made this card very quickly the night before, using a similar layout to my last Pocket Silouettes card. Mum loves these colours together (Barely Banana, Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant).

5 Ingredients Busy Mum Biscuits!!!

One of my other passions in life is baking.....not that I do much of it these days. My hubby banned me from baking him anymore treats due to his expanding waist line (apparently!!!!! Have you seen my lean mean man?)

With Bub number 2 quickly approaching I wanted to be organised for all those baby crazy visitors I'm going to be entertaining in the weeks after Bub 2s arrives. These biscuits come from my friend Andrea. She introduced me to the convenience of these quick little yummy treats during our Easter trip to Teewah. You simply make the mix, roll into logs and then freeze. Ready for unexpected visitors. When you need a quick treat, just defrost and cut into rounds, press with a fork and bake for 10-15 minutes in a 200c oven. So yummy and so quick!!!

Busy Mum Biscuits

500g soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 tin sweetened condensed milk
5 cups of SR Flour
1 packet choc chips (250g)

Cream butter and Sugar. Sift in SR Flour. Add Condensed Milk and Choc Chips.
Stir together. Roll into balls and bake at 200c for 10-15 minutes or roll into logs and cover with Cling Wrap (for freezing and baking later).This mix makes about 5 batches of small biscuits. You don't just have to add choc chips, I added mini M&Ms, white choc chips and other people have also substituted nuts. Once you try these you'll be hooked!!!!

K Werner Colour Inspiration 55

For this Challenge I took the easy option, using a recent layout in the set challenge colours. We were asked to make a creation using this picture as our colour guide: Yet again I used my beloved Cheep Talk stamp set from Stampin Up with the set colour combination. My photo hasn't turned out all that well, so you can't see the faux handstitching around the edge of the card, music notes or the lined note paper on the cream. (I'll see if I can take a better pic today - out in the sunlight). Card Recipe:
Stamp Set - Cheep Talk (Stampin Up)
Paper - Urban Oasis DSP, Really Rust, More Mustard and a Cream Lined Paper (Stampin Up)
Ink - More Mustard, Really Rust and Versa Watermark (Stampin Up)
Ribbon - Tangerine Rango (Stampin Up)
Other - White Gel Pen and Lead Pencil used for hand stitching and music notes.

Mandy Schiller Challenge

Enjoying time...Together !!!

My good stampin buddy Helen, inspired me to do another page for Emerson's VERY THIN scrapbook. During our conversation today she told me how she had finally started a page for her own son's scrapbook using the Challenge Sketch from Mandy Schiller. I thought I'd check it out and see if I could get the page completed while my hubby had his night out at Squash (my night of stamping!!!).

This is what I had to work from:The page I then created was from our Anniversary Weekend at Rainbow Beach, in the beach front park where we got married. We had a fun time playing with Emerson and our sunglasses. It was such a relaxing afternoon together as a family. For this page I used the Hoppy Together Stampin Up Scrapbook Kit along with the Heidi Grace "We are Family" stamp set.

Gina's June Challenge

This month Gina set this sketch as the challenge: I created two very different cards from this sketch.

The first is this very soft card using the torn paper technique explained in the 09/10 Stampin Up catalogue. I also got to use my new pocket silhouettes stamp set, hemp twine and dotty cricut embossing folder. My next card is very retro in style. I really love how this one turned out! For this card I used Stampin Up's design Series Paper and another of my new sets, Cheep Talk. As with most of my cards of late I rounded the corners and used some of my favourite colour, Chocolate Chip. To finish it off I also did some faux stitching and drew in the music notes. Somehow...I think I'll be using this stamp set a lot. It's just too cute!!!

Cyberstamp June - Challenge 3

Babies! Babies! Babies!

At the moment I feel like almost every second female I know is pregnant. 4 out of our 6 Mums at Mums and Bubs group are expecting their second child this year. My 2 bridesmaids are also pregnant and the list just goes on.......... Cyberstamp challenge 3 for June required that we use Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Kraft and Basic Grey in a card. I've used this colour combo in a baby card last month and couldn't help but use it again with the Urban Oasis Design Series Paper from Stampin Up. This time I was also able to use a couple of my new stamp sets, All in the Family and Occassions for All. Expect to see more baby cards over the next few months! Let's hope we get a mixture of boys and girls. At this stage I only know the sex of one of the bubs...A little boy for Jodie from Mums and Bubs Group.

Inklings June Cyberstamp by Fiona

Late last month I signed up as a Stmapin Up demonstrator.One of the many benefits of being a demonstrator is that I get to join in the Inklings Activities. Last night I joined in my first Cyberstamp as part of the Inklings Team. Fiona set us three challenges. Due to technical difficulties (eg. my inexperience with uploading and resizing photos....still can't do it!!!) I only got two of the three challenges completed.

The first challenge was to follow a sketch. I came up with this card for my sister-inlaws birthday. Due to my addiction to the latest DSP, I couldn't help but use it as the basis for this card. I also added some design series brads and some of the incolour ribbon. Next we had to use the purse pattern from the Stampin Up Demonstrator Website. I chose to make a matching purse to go with the card I created. My job is now to find something small to give Lindsey as a gift. The purse is the perfect size for jewellery.I'm hoping to finish the third challenge tomorrow - a colour challenge using Kiwi Kiss, Kraft. Baja Breeze and Basic Grey. I'll keep you posted.

Christening Invitations

A friend of mine asked me to make her Christening Invitations. Her request was something pretty and possibly purple, as her older daughter had had pink. Do you think I could find anything in all my boxes of paper that was pretty and purple. In the end I resorted to using some striped purple and white paper and then embossed some plain purple cardstock with my new whirly cuttlebug folder.

Did I also mention that she wanted them ASAP. Due to this, I used one of my favourite layouts from my past trip to Fraser, with some cute white embossing powder footprints and whipped them up in 3 days...all 30 of them.