Friday 29 May 2009

The end of a long week...

Finally Friday. It seems like it's been a very long week. Hubby was away from home Tuesday to Wednesday on business. Stayed over night in Napier. The phone never stopped ringing for him as his Mum is not at all well and everyone was worried. His sister from London rang.
Wednesday evening I went out for a long walk with the Walking Group from gym. We did around 5ks in 55 mins - up some rather long steep hills and now my knee is rather painful. Have had to put a support on it. Enjoyed the walk and talk we do as a group even though we now leave after the sun has gone down. So far in 6 weeks we have not had a rainy night at all.
Good news though was Wednesday I got the cuttlebug back - like new..... so as you can see I have managed a couple of cards using it. I bought new nesties yesterday - plain and scalloped long rectangles. For the blue card I used the plain rectangles which I cut and embossed. I had stamped the image from Helen's Stampin Up! set so cut round it. Not sure what sentiment I will use on this one. If I use a Hero Arts one, I post it into the "manly" challenge as the colours are male orientated.
The second card is for a lady at work who has a friend having a little girl shortly. I used some stickers from the $2 shop which are lovely and glittery. I cut the 2nd to largest oval scallop and put the sticker on. I stamped Congratulations from a HA set and used a verse from my American Greetings creatacard CD. I often use the verses from this programme and PrintMaster 15 - another computer generated cardmaking programme.
Yesterday I was going to take the day off as the carpet layer was coming. Had applied for 1/2 days annual leave and was going to use up some of my extra hours I have made up.... but as usual - best laid plans etc etc.... Work decided to announce the changes to the work streams yesterday. So I had the morning off and had to be in at work at 1.00pm for a confrence call and then to announce to my staff what work we will be doing.... 2 1/2 hours - then I decided that I would head home - via the stamp shop of course.... that when I got my new nesties, plus a few other bits and pieces. Got one of the Fiskars finger cutters. Quite easy to use.
Thanks to all of you who are visiting and leaving me such lovely comments. Wishing you all a great weekend

Tuesday 26 May 2009

Sketch and Stash Challenge /HA Manly Challenge



Tonight I am home alone and with nothing decent on the TV, I decided to have a go at HA Manly challenge this week. Obviously the challenge is to make a male card - so I had a go. I decided that I would incorporate the sketch from Sketch and Stash Challenge as well. I really liked the sketch but as it had two flowers on it, wasn't too sure. But decided to have a go with some black/brown and white flowers.
The card stock is called Nutmeg and is probably a bit browner than the photo shows. The black background has been embossed with Devine Swirls Cuttlebug folder, a piece that I had done quite some time ago and had forgotten I had ( that's my old neglected item). My new things is the branch stamp from a new Hero Arts set - Sparkle clear From our House. I haven't used this stamp before. The three eyelets are also a forgotten item as I found them while looking for the flowers to put on this card. I really like how this turned out. I do find male cards a bit harder to do. I also like this sketch - but think for my next male card will use buttons instead of flowers. I have a male birthday card to do as a commission from someone at work, so have started to get some ideas.

Well it's time for me to head off to bed - busy day tomorrow at work. Thanks for calling by, take care.

Sunday 24 May 2009

Saturday stamping.

What a great day I had yesterday - stamping with some lovely ladies. I went to Lei's place and meet with Sandie, Helen and Glenda. We started with a cuppa and a chat, then it was down to work... Helen and Sandie are working on making some cards to sell at Helen's work. They have a craft afternoon where staff are allow to sell their stuff - a portion of the proceeds goes to charity. What a great employer. We had a great day of sharing ideas, stamps, templates etc, stopping for a wonderful shared lunch. Finally packed up just on 4.15. I completed 2 cards but got bits and bobs done for quite a few more. Stamped off some images, used Lei's CB to try out my new dies. Helen had some new Stampin' Up! sets and ink pads so we all made a similar card but in different colours. I did mine in greens. The stamps are very delicate looking. They are from a set called Pocket Shilhouttes. Inside of the card I put a white piece with some of the same green as the bottom of the outside. I loved the little sayings " Friend to Friend" and " thinking of you" I think I'll be getting this set as it is so lovely.
I also managed to finally finish off the cityscape card above. I started this at a class using the Jumbo Roller. I had stamped the image but not got round to colouring or putting it all together. Was pleased with the results. Nice and bright looking.

I also got a template from the ladies on how to make a gift box for putting a set of cards in. So last night had a go. ( forgive the photos - not enough light - but it gives the idea) I used some patterned paper on the front of the box and stamped " spread sushine" on it. For the cards inside I used the same paper in both the yellow and a green to make two of each card. Very simple cards but nice to give as a gift set for someone. This set will be for my friend Sue - just because I know she'll like them. I also will make some generic birthday card sets to sell at my work.

Today I haven't done any cards as we went to help Emma with some more painting... well I supervised anyway.... The house is really coming along. Emma also presented me with a beautifully decorated folder for helping to plan for the wedding. It has different tabs for things like guest lists, timetable for the planning. Sept next year I can start looking for my outfit!!!! ( this has been organised by a Planner!!! - that is her profession -l Town Planner - )
Well this is a long post so thanks for stopping by and enjoy your week

Friday 22 May 2009

Finally Friday

I haven't been creative much this last half of the week. SIL got her results back and not great news. Incurable - has only been given 1 1/2 to 3 years..... so lots of coming to terms with the news in the household. Haven't felt a lot like doing much.
However tomorrow I am going to join some of the ladies I have meet through my local stamp shop club day. This lovely group of ladies - Helen, Sandie, Lei, Sue, Janet and Glenda usually meet once a month at each other's places, to stamp and share and they have kindly invited me to join them. So I've packed up my stuff...(wish I could take it all.... but just have to guess what I'll need) and am ready to head off around 10.30 tomorrow for a day of stamping. Maybe gets some inspiration from them all as we share our stamps. I am taking my CB folders and dies, and nesties with me - even though it will be Monday or Tuesday before my CB is back from the manufacturers... all repaired and ready to go again. I have been naughty and bought 2 more nesties ( scallopped heart and a square set) on the internet, which should be here to tomorrow or Monday- can't wait to get back into using it. It certainly helps add that little something to the card. - if not a large something to my credit card!!!!

Anyway that's about it from me for tonight. Thanks for stopping by.

BTW one of my internet friends, Anne, has a lovely giveway on her blog. Go visit her as she has the most amazing photos that she makes into cards, magnets and other items. They are for sale on her blog as well.

Tuesday 19 May 2009

Sketch and Stash Challenge plus Daisy May challenge


Today felt much better so off to work... even managed to go to the gym on the way home!!!
Got home to find Kieran ( my darling son) had organised the dinner. He has his uni-tech day on a Tuesday and gets home first. This gave time to put together a card - using one of the images I stamped and coloured yesterday. I had used my watercolour pen with some Tombow pens. I scribbled the ink onto my acrylic block and picked up the colours from there.
I liked this sketch at Sketch and Stash Challenge site so this is my entry. The new item is the stamp - first time I have used it ( Penny Black 1448F Garden Gossip purchased from Stampzone) , from my stash is the ribbon and I used a scrap of black card to cut a scallop edging. The flower was cut out from a piece of gift wrap- put a brad through it. I haven't decided on a sentiment yet... make a horizontal greeting so some sort.....
PS have also entered this card into the Daisy May Monday Challenge. This is a really cute site with some lovely designers. This weeks challenge is Summer flowers and colours

Well I think I have time to try another card as I coloured in three images of the little hedgehog last night as well as two of a set of three presents.

Thanks for stopping by....

Sick day Monday


Yesterday I woke feeling very unwell - rather lethargic and generally icky feeling. So decided a day at home was the order of the day..... sleep in till around 9.00am then did a bit of surfing... found Tim Holtz's site where there are a heap of great video's on lots of techniques. And then found this site - Stamp TV. Lots of video's as well as projects and link to blogs with tips and techniques. All in all an interesting day. After having another nap mid morning I felt much better and managed to make a card to send to my niece in Australia. the central image had been on another card I had made but didn't like much so I recycled it and reused it. I decided to use the Card Positioning systems sketch #116 as my start point. A bit better but still not one of my best. However I know Debbie will like it. After dinner I stamped some Penny black images and coloured them in.

While I was sleeping the concrete truck arrived and the drive has been laid...... yeah.... but still can't drive on it till Saturday afternoon. Something to do with the fact it is exposed aggrercate and that takes longer to set than normal concrete. Can't wait till things are back to normal round here. Just need to get the upstairs carpet laid and then that's it for a while ( I hope)

Sunday 17 May 2009

Debbies Blog Candy


Hi - a wet Sunday afternoon and I have just been trolling round my favourite blogs and came across this amazing give away - Debbie's blog candy. Go visit and see for yourself. I had been visiting Chris Millars blog - enjoying her creations so pop in there as well. It has been a good afternoon for blog hopping and I've seen so many inspirational cards etc I have so many ideas jumping round my head. Maybe it is a good thing we are going out to a Pot Luck dinner this evening. It is a group we belong to through church called Family Groups - . We are a group of about 16 families and we try to meet once a month for an outing, or dinner, or some other group activity. Not every one can come every time, but it is a great group to belong to. Time to go and start my contribution for the dinner - a red Thai chicken curry.
Thanks for visiting.

PS - just back at 9.30pm from dinner.... about 14 of us were there for the meal.... all the most scrumptious food. Nice company and a good catch up with some people we haven't seen for a while.

Saturday 16 May 2009

Penny Black Challenge -


Thought I'd do the Penny Black Challenge no 48 - but when I went back to look - I had the wrong week.... last weeks challenge was Black & White and one more colour.... I had made this card for a colleague at work for his birthday coming up next week. Used the same stamp as I did for my paisley dots, but this time in red. I used a Penny Black Happy birthday stamp for the sentiment. Still, was pleased with the result although the photo didn't turn out the best. As I do most of my crafting and card making at night, my photos are not always the sharpest.

sympathy card - more dots


The past few days have not been so great.... On Wednesday afternoon my daughter's house got broken into and their new TV and Brad's laptop got stolen.... and my friend's mother passed away. Robyn's mum had been ill for a while and was just fading away ( she was 87). So my thoughts were with her. Today I made a card for her and her family. As my leaf stamp is "dots" I have added it to the HA Challenge this week. I found some lovely words to put inside:

"A smile, a touch, a gentle laugh remembered, a voice softly whispered in the wind.... May the memories held deep within your heart help to soothe your spirit at this time"

Robyn's mum also had dementia and often didn't know who she was, so thought these words were appropriate.

Thanks for stopping by.





Thursday 14 May 2009

Dots Challenge



Today I received my Splitcoasters newsletter for the week and one of the techniques was Bandana stamping. It is about using a white gel pen to doodle and make a background like a bandana. Perfect also for this weeks Hero Arts challenge- dots.
I used HA CL068 Paisley patterns - stamped in black on blue card and used my gel pen to put dots around the paisley. Used a dotty ribbon and button to finish off. As my Cuttlebug is still being repair, I used the nestie die as a stencil and used the pen to go round the inside of the die and then cut it out and popped in onto the ribbon.
I enjoyed doing this technique and will do it again. It will make a great background for a male card.
Thanks for calling in.

Tuesday 12 May 2009

Car problems.....

What can I say..... I hate it when my car breaks down. Yesterday afternoon I left work just after 4.00pm with all good intentions of going to the gym... if for nothing else, just to warm up. Winter has hit Auckland with vengeance.. boy was it cold yesterday. So walked briskly to the car, jumped and turned the key......NOTHING>>>> dead as a dodo..... Rang hubby and asked if he had time to come and jump-start the car... (Luckily he only works around 5 mins away from where I work). He gets me started and said I had better just go straight home... no gym, no stopping at the supermarket - just home. So off I head.... all is fine till I turn into the driveway - to back out again to park on the road ( still no concrete on the drive.!!!! but that's another story.) well got the back end of the car across the road....and it stalls. And won't start again..... Panic stations - I'm right across the road blocking it..... Hazard lights on and race down the neighbours drive.... yes Barry is home... with his son and daughter in law - so the three of them come up and I get in to steer while they push the card round so I can park it..... Oh boy..don't we rely on these pieces of metal and an engine.....

So this morning I wasn't tempted to drive to work..... I got hubby to drop me off - Ugh will have to bus home...... hate the thought of that. Then realise son was at Polytech today - so texted to find out when he was coming past work.... about 3 he said. So early leaving for me. We drove to his mate's work ( Mike works in a garage) but would you believe it.... they did not have the right size battery for my car. He suggest a trip to Repco ( about 5 kms away) so off we go. Pick up a battery ( $127 and that was with trade discount!!!) Get home and Kieran goes to put in it for me.... wrong size terminals. He managed to get the car to start with lots of revs and about 3 goes.... so we head back to Repco and change it for one with bigger terminals..... I made him install it right there and then..... just to make sure it was the right one.....
so all is now well with the car. I feel safe again. Thanks goodness for very handy sons. I knew there was a reason for having one.

Well thanks for visiting - hope you enjoyed my small trauma of the day....

Diane's Journal

I got a text on Saturday from our niece Angela, asking me to make a note book for her Mum, (my SIL Diane) so she could put her thoughts and feelings down. Her new on the mass on her brain was not good. It is incurable - but with radiation therapy and monitoring - life will go on...
I decided to use this lovely scrapbooking paper by Kaiser. I cut one sheet and layered it onto the book and then cut out the flowers from the other sheet and popped them on top. I got a copper looking "D" and then used chip board letters for the rest of her name. I pressed them onto versamark and heat embossed copper powder on twice.
The inside pages I found some lovely sentiments by Three Bugs in a Rug. They are quite inspiring - so I stamped them through out the pages.

I have posted it off, so hope she likes it and can get some use out of it. Diane, our prayers are with you. Love you....

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday 10 May 2009

Inspired by Lin



Yesterday was club day at my local stamp store ( Stamp'n'create). Started at 10.30am and went through to 4.00pm. Love this day every month, sharing time with like-minded ladies. This week I took along my new stamp set by Hero Arts - High Heels..... I was amazed at how one stamp set could generate so many different cards. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so didn't get any photos of the creations Helen, Sue & the others made. I finished off my calendar from last week and then did this card for the HA challenge this week. It is to do a card inspired by someone else. This card was inspired by Lin's card here. I really "card lifted" as I used many of the same things. I used the Printed flowers set which I embossed in white and then rubbed the Distress inks - Faded Jeans and Shabby shutters over. I used the Scattered Leaves set to overstamp in Shabby shutters on the paper and stamp the two leaves I attached with the flowers. The butterfly is from a Inkadinkadoo set - embossed in white and rubbed with Faded Jeans. I really enjoyed distressing - so used Shabby shutters round the text page and Faded Jeans round the kraft paper which I used my fingernail to distress. All then matted on to a blue Bazzil Bling card. Lin makes the most amazing cards. I really love her style. Check out her Flickr photostream.

Spellbinders class




Here are the pics from the card I made in class on Friday. All used Spellbinders... two with the Dahlia Nestabilities and one using Impossibilities

Just been called as we are going out to dinner with the family and hubby got the time wrong and we should be there now....

TFL

Friday 8 May 2009

Inspiration



Today I decided I wanted to go to a class at Stamp'n'create on using the new spellbinders, so took the day off work. Great I thought, class is not till 10.30am so I'd have a nice sleep in, a leisurely brekkie and toddle off to class...... well as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men..... hubby told me last night that the wall paperer was coming at 7.30am this morning.... and as he was papering in our ensuite..... I had to get up super early to be dress and organised. There went the sleep in... made up for it by spending a goodly amount of time surfing all my fav sites. I also managed to catalogue the new stamps that I got last weekend and during the week... and doing the earrings.... one pair I made last night for my daughter and the other pair this morning for myself. The HA CL303 is a great stamp to skrinky dink as it is quite large.

Class was really fun. We did some lovely cards using Impressabilites and inking them and using the Dahila nestabilities. Will post photos tomorrow as it is really wintery and I couldn't get any great photos of them.

I did however manage to get a photo of the card I did for the Hero Arts Blog challenge this week. It is all about getting inspiration from the cards people made using a tag "2009catalog" My card was inspired by Lucy who lives in England. Have a look at the original here. I really like Lucy's cards. She has so much fun with them I used kraft card for the base and some patterned paper samples that I down loaded by Papertrey - here is the site. The birds are from the set of Decrotive Birds by HA. The sentiment is from a set by Inkadinkadoo. Button from my stash and string from my kitchen drawer. Boy did I have trouble threading it through the buttons...

Tomorrow is club day at Stamp'n'create, so I've decided to take a couple of Lin's cards for inspiration.
Thanks for stopping by.... enjoy your weekend

Renee Award - from the lovely Paula

Thank you Paula for the lovely surprise when I checked my comments . I'm pleased that you are enjoying my blog... I enjoy catching up with your projects as well.
Now for the fun bit who do I nominate? Well that's easy I am nominating the following people in no particular order as I enjoy keeping up with their blogs.
1. Joshua Jiraffe Designs aka JJ/Karen
2. Monika

Now to pass it on....The Renee Award was created by Bella and Ces in honor of their friend Renee. In Bella's own words: "this is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed, watching it grow. I hope it finds it's way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns..."There are no "rules" for claiming this award, but I would suggest the following:
Thank the person who nominated you for the Renee Award.Click on the picture above to see it larger, then download it and post it on your blog.Mention the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.Nominate others to receive the award.Comment on their blogs to let them know you nominated them.Visit Bella, Ces, and Renee and let them know you received the award and passed it on. Consider linking your blog post to them, too.
So now I'm off to let the lucky nominees' know about the fact that I have nominated them.
Thanks again Paula - and to all who pop in here.

Thursday 7 May 2009

Projects from Sunday









Here are the photos of the 2nd day of stamp camp 2009. The purse shaped one is a little box that is made to hold 5 small gift cards ( still to be made) > The one with the wood flower stamp - we made 3 - the first being a basic black and white one, 2nd added the colouring to the stems and a dragon fly brad, layered the circle onto black then white scallop ( I added the ribbon as I felt it was too plain) In the third one we added some colour with a yellow flower added over the one on the stamped image plus a strip of yellow card.... just to get the idea of how you can jazz up a card. Had great fun with the shoe card. I'd not done a pop up card like this before - so was very pleased with the results. Love the shoes.... so changed my mind about what card to give my daughter for her birthday.
The 3 fold card uses acetate and cut out apertures. I haven't finished it yet. Ran out of time on the day. I have a sentiment and some embellishments to add at some stage. It is really just a sample card so I can get the idea. The drinks card was fun to do. The cup is made from vellum with micro beads on the top and real sand on the bottom. The final one is a calendar we did (again I still have to finish this off) It is flips over so one side is the first 6 months and the other six months is on the reverse side. Still have to do some stamping and embellishing of the inside. It goes from June 09 to May 10 - so have a few weeks to get it finished.
So you can see it was a full on two days.... but came away with heaps of ideas and inspiration - not to mention a much lighter wallet and lots more stamps and other stuff.

well this is a long post for tonight - so thanks for visiting and looking at projects.

Wednesday 6 May 2009

Stamp Camp - Day 2 (plus computer troubles)

Well, Sunday was just as amazing as Saturday... By the end of the day I was so exhausted that I couldn't even get on to post.... ( not to mention the fact that I hadn't actually finished all the projects) - so no photos as yet. Monday night I fell asleep on the couch at around 8.30ish.....
then last night when I tried to post..... well I lost all my items on the blog so spend around 3 hours trying to get it up and running again...... in between have Facebook conversations with Monika in Germany and my young cousin in Dunedin. I have not seen or spoken to my cousin in a long long time and she has just found me on Facebook. - the joys of the internet- so we spend some time catching up. She is about 22 years younger than me.

Today is my daughters birthday - She is 23. I can't believe where the time has gone. It seems like yesterday she was just a baby. Now she is this amazing young woman - engaged to be married, owns her own house and in a well paying job in her chosen field of Town planning..... I am so proud of her. Happy Birthday sweetie.....

TFL everyone and have a great day

Saturday 2 May 2009

PearlEx Birthday card


Our last card for the day was a quickie.... using PearlEx and the cuttlebug. We spread modge podge onto black card stock and let it dry a bit. The PearlEx colours were dusted onto the Folder and then embossed. The colours stuck to the modge podge and we wiped the excess off and lightly sanded the card. The present stamp were stamped on to black glossy card and embossed in the new Buff pearl powders - violet, green and blue. A lovely bright card.

Star Booklet.





I really enjoyed doing this one... even though I didn't get it finished..... still have to put some embellishments on the pages. For this one we used glue pads and Pearlex - something I haven't done before ( needless to say 3 Pearlex colours have found their way into my stash) Loved the delicate colours Kay chose for this. Some of the pages had circles cut in the centre behind which we embossed a saying - using new Buff Pearl embossing powder ( in blue)

Dragonfly Card


Well this card was a mission and a half to make.... it sounded straight forward - but......
started with vellum which was brayered with Kalideocolour ink then put onto kwik clear onto card ( which I forgot to do) and cut and layered. Because I forgot to put it onto the card, the kwik clear backing kept slipping - hence the uneven sizes of my squares..... then tryong to put the string through the eyelets and stick it down when you can put the underneath squares on .... all in all a bit of a messy card.... defineatly will have to work out a better way of doing it in the future - love the coloured vellum so will try again.

Flower Pot Birthday

This card is a pop-up card. We crimped the blue card and cut out the flower pot and then stamped and painted the flowers and cut out individually and added to the folded bit in the middle. Had to finish cutting out and stick in the lunch break as I was a bit slow while we were doing the card


Art card


This was a fun card to do as we used lots of different things.... we coloured the flower and cut one out to layer on top of the other. The edges of the main layer where watercoloured with green and we put some bits of foil down one side. We made the flower centre by stamping the flourish on black shrinky dink and heating it. The words were cut out and a layer of Glossy Accents added to make them shiny.

2009 Stamp Camp folder


This is a folder book we made to keep our swap pins in. Cut out big circles and folded them to make pockets to them in. Some of the pins and cards were amazing. There are some very clever and talented ladies there.

Stamp Camp 2009 - Day One

WOW.... what a day. I'm beat. Stampzone's 2009 Stamp Camp Day 1 - what a full on day. We started at 9.00 this morning and finished just before 5.00pm - having completed (or almost) 6 things. I have photos - so will post each one separately. I'm having trouble trying to post them all together. It was a great day spent with some lovely ladies. My table had Louisa plus Gillian and her mother, Angela. The four of us got on really well and worked as a team on some of the cards etc.- one doing all the stamping for us and then someone else doing the embosssing etc. Gillian and I found out our birthdays are only a few days apart and our daughter have the same first and middle name - Emma Jayne - spelt the same way..... talk about conicidence....

Heard from Hubby - he said Diane is doing well so John and he will be coming home tomorrow. Their sister Helen arrives from London late tomorrow - for a holiday that has been planned for a while but they will miss her.

Hope you enjoy having a look at the upcoming pic of the things I did today
TFL -

Graduation card


This week I got asked to make a graduation card . I wasn't to sure what to do. So this was the result. Plain but I think quite effective. Inside I stamped " The future belongs to those who believe in their dreams" I ended up with the kindyglitz in the middle of the flower because the glue came through.... but it added some needed colour.

Good news on Diane. She has come through her surgery well and is recovering.... She hopes to go back to the local hospital tomorrow and be home by the end of the week. Just needs to rest now as her brain has had a bit of a hammering. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers.
TFL