Sunday 31 January 2010

Saturday stamping, Sunday strawberry picking....

 Yesterday I finally managed to catch up with some stamping buddies for a day of stamping.... I have missed a number of their get togethers because of a variety of reasons, but yesterday I was available and stamping was on at Lei's place. Here some of the lovely ladies are - Lei and Jackie, Helen and Glenda.... Sandie and Janet were there as well, but evaded the photos.... We had a fabulous day, lots of talking, eating and of course stamping.  All this despite the temperature soaring to the high 20's.  It was HOT....
I managed to get two cards and two book-marks done, and coloured in two "Ian" images I had.
 
I have been having fun with the Pure Innocence images that I got from Heather Ellis's site.  So cute and fun to colour.  I love the digi images as you can resize to what ever you want.  
Friday I bought two more Hero Art stamps... Silhouette Burst and Silhouette Spray.  They both tie with the Dandelion Frame.  I used part of the frame and the Silhouette Burst on the first book-mark.  Very pleased with the result so will be making a card with similar colours.  The second book-mark was made with Distress inks rubbed over the cardstock to make the lovely orange background.  I stamped the butterflies and sentiment with Versafine Sepia ink.   My Purple card is for Anne-Maree at work, she LOVES purple, wearing it just about everyday!!!!  I used the Hero Arts Friends Definition Cling to make the background paper which I tore and distressed in Dusty Concord.  I then stamped both the Burst and Spray onto it.  Finished them off with a gem ( coloured with Copic to get the right colour) and the Happy Birthday. 
Finally my Pure Innocence card was nice and quick to make.  In my stash I had the background Paper ( no idea where I got it or what make it is!!!) but it tied nicely into the colours I had used.  The sentiment is by Stampin'Up.  I borrowed it from Helen.
Our day finished around 4.00pm and it was still very HOT!! so when I got home, I quickly unpacked my stuff, put on the togs ( swim suit) and headed to the beach.  It is 5 minutes walk from home... and had a quick dip...the water was so warm.  This was my first swim this summer.... it's been too cool up till now.  Just magic...  Finished the night by going out to an Indian restaurant with some friends... Fabulous Day.
Today was not such a nice day,... still warm but overcast at times and raining at others.  However we had decided to go Strawberry picking.  One of the strawberry farms near us ( about 20 minutes drive away) has a yearly day when you can pick your own ($7 a kilo) and all the funds go to the North Shore Hospice.  Of course as soon as we started picking it starting to spit and then rained.... not too heavy but enough to get a wet tee-shirt.... Hubby and I picked just over 3 kgs.... so tomorrow am going to make jam.  We had some of the better ones for our dessert tonight... so tasty and fresh.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday 29 January 2010

Cards for Kids.

Jennifer McGuire is holding a Cards for Kids drive - see her blog here.  So over the past few evenings I have been making some cards to send to her for some of the kids.


 
The first two are using some Penny Black images Paula sent me.  I used watercolour pencils to colour them in, nesties to cut out and matt and Hero Arts sentiments.  
The second set are Snag 'em Stamps by Imaginisce.  They are super cute little stamps... the Lion, the Tiger and the words.... Again I coloured with watercolour pencils and used nesties to matt  as well as a bit of distress ink.  Now just to work out which child each one is for and to write something inside.

It was fun doing these and I hope to do some more. The boys are particularly hard to do cards for so the Lion and Tiger are good for them.

Thanks for stopping by... it's the start of a long weekend for me... Monday is a public holiday for Auckland Anniversary Day so NO WORK!!!! and I am going stamping tomorrow with 7 others at Lei's place...should be great fun.  Take care

Tuesday 26 January 2010

A Blast from the Past.

Today I got an email via Old Friends - a web site where you can connect with old school mates, work mates etc.  My email was from Vicky who had been at primary school with me - way back in the mid 60's.  The little school my brother and I went to was in the country in a little town called Lauder.  The school was known as Lauder Railway School,  Last weekend there was a reunion and Vicky contacted me to tell me about it.  She was a few years younger than me but as it was a one room school - ages 5 to 13, we all knew one another.  The year I finished (1970) there were 12 of us in the whole school and 4 were going to high school and one ( my brother) was leaving the district. The photo here was taken in 1969.  I am in the second row, third from the left.  In the dress with the jacket.  I remember that so well.... It had a Peter Pan collar.  Vicky sent a photo of the reunion.  Quite a change!!!

The school has closed down now...and been turned into a Bed & Breakfast on the Otago Rail Trail.  The trains no longer run through  Lauder but it on the bike trail that follows the old tracks.  Funnily enough, Peter and I are thinking of doing the trail next February or March.... so might have to ensure we stay there.
It's been quite funny tonight, thinking about all those years ago and looking at the sites, old photos etc.  Quite the blast from the past.

Thanks for visiting... hope it's not been too boring....but this is my life....

Sunday 24 January 2010

Hooray! New Stamps

Inked up my new stamps yesterday... in particular used the stripe one to make a pile of plaid/gingham backgrounds. I used slightly lighter weight card stock. This one is Dusty Concord and Faded Jeans distress inks. The little girl is from the HA cling "Happy Girls" -such a cute set.  I coloured her in with Copics but as I don't have enough in the same families, my shading isn't great. - messed up the hair and the face... but oh well...practice makes perfect.... I was pleased though with using the Copics to change the colour of the flower and heart gems.  That worked well!!!  Once again my scalloped background is cut from a paint sample/chip.  I need to visit Bunnings again to get some more!!!!  The Berger paint chips are the perfect size being 4 x 4 inches square.  Just love getting all the different colours - and for free!!!

While blog hopping I came across this wonderful card by Deirdre.  I have a friend due to have a boy any day now so I CASED the card and come up with this:

I choose browns instead of blues to make this card.  It is a bit smaller than a normal card being  4 x 4 1/4 inches.  I coloured the image in with Dye inks by stamping the ink onto a piece of acrylic and then using a water brush to pick up the colour.  I used the computer to generate the sentiment.  The ribbon was from the lovely Linda (aka Oz) - it is just beautiful - a really nice satin ribbon.  So thanks to Linda and Deirdre...

Still more new stamps to play with yet.... I'll want to make some cards to send for Jennifer McGuire's Cards for Kids.  Please visit her blog here that tells you all about it... She really needs more for the boys.... so might get the lion and his mate the tiger out and let them loose....
Take care and thanks for stopping by.


Saturday 23 January 2010

Look what I got. in the mail...


Yesterday I got home after work (via Stampzone I must say) and checked the mail.... two wonderful creations.  Firstly check out this envelope....  cute or what!!!  This was from my 12yr old niece.  A lovely letter to say thanks for the card and book-mark I made for her birthday.  She made me a book-mark as well.... a frog which she drew herself.



She is hoping to get to come and visit and spend some time stamping with me before school sports take over in the weekends.  She lives about 2 hrs south-east of Auckland in Papamoa.

The other goody in the post was a lovely card from Norma.  We both took part in Deborah Nolan's January Card Chain challenge.  Norma made a card and sent it to me.... I made a card and sent it to Donna... and so on.  It is great fun both to make a card for someone and to receive a card as well.  I've done all the challenges so far and received cards from USA, Denmark, Ireland... how exciting is that.  Anyway here is what the delightful Norma from Colorado sent me

Isn't it just beautiful.  The edge of the heart is all sparkly as are the green and yellow hearts.  I am one lucky lady to have received this wonderful card.

Now I did mention that I called into Stampzone on the way home... I needed double sided tape...but that was all!!!!  However came out having spend lots of money :-(  despite my new years resolution to use what I had and not buy anymore stamps that I didn't need.... ( now digi images don't count....do they?)  Here is the majority of the haul

You can see there are THREE - new Hero Arts clings there.... They had just got their new stock of Hero Arts stamps in as well as Inkadinkado stamps.  They also had another Copic colour ( so far they have 12 colours - very slowly stocking these).  I also got the tape and a new aqua pen - the necessary things... Already inked up the stripe and made some plaid backgrounds. - in red and orange and orange and green... fantastic.

Well thanks for stopping by... feel free to leave a comment if you wish.  Have a great weekend all. I'm off to do some stampin' and colourin' .  take care

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Vicky's blog candy - check it out...

During my surfing tonight I came across Clips-n-cuts blog and guess what... Vicky is having a give away... Her and her hubby have designed a new linking thingie ( excuse the technical jargon!!!) and it is awesome to use....
anyway you just have to link your favourite card you've made this month  and blog about the giveaway and you could be in to win.....

I recommend you go have a look... The linky thing shows a thumb nail of the cards... just awesome.  If I ever do a challenge or something similar...I'll be looking into it....

The card I choose as my favourite for January is this one
 
I used my new Dandelion Frame and stamped it in Versamark and embossed with Detail black EP onto the red card  ... ( not pink as it looks in my photo)  I used an old HA sentiment and butterfly stamps... some of the first I bought nearly 2 years ago.  I cut the shape out with my largest Label 8 Nestibility.  Inside I cut a plain red piece of cardstock with the nestie and stamp the butterfly in the top left hand corner and bottom right hand corner leaving the middle clear so I can hand write a note.   I really like how it turned out.
Well one of my favourite TV programmes  - Cold Case is about to start so better fly.  Thanks for stopping by.

Monday 18 January 2010

Sunday walk and Inspiration from my garden...


This past weekend, Auckland has had some wonderful weather.... so after a lie in on Sunday, reading the morning paper.... Hubby and I decided to go for a walk.... that we ended up at the coffee shop was just coincidental!!! ..... It was warm but not too sunny.  Normally when I go out for a walk I wear my trainers and stride off... leaving him dawdling along behind... but yesterday I decided to wear the jandals and saunter along with him.  Very pleasant I tell you.  I took the camera along with me as I wanted to gets some flower photos.   I adore taking photos close up of wonderful coloured flowers.  Didn't see too many flowers but captured a series of photos of the walk.  We went right from our place down to Murrays Bay - the bay with the wharf on it... and then walked along the pipeline to Mairangi Bay.  After the coffee and a scone we back-tracked and headed home.   Such a nice way to spend some time together.




Back home I did get a great photo of a flower in the garden.  It is such a vibrant colour combination that it inspired me to make this card.  I had watched Dawn McVey's video the other week, showing how to make the flowers and the colours of the real flower decided me to give it ago.  A while back Lucy had made some text background that she sent to me, so this was my base - I used the nestie to cute out the 5 scallops needed, sponged the Dusty Concord ink over the back and the edges and followed Dawn's instructions.... found the perfect yellow button for the middle... The design is one I used last year - makes a lovely card, using one of my favourite HA Stamps...

Yesterday afternoon I also managed to make the Anniversary card for hubby for our 32nd anniversary on Thursday... had to be a bit sneaky as he was smooching around... I sent him outside with the travel brochures to look for hotels and sightseeing trips for our overseas holiday and that kept him occupied for most of the afternoon.  This is what I came up with  - inside it says " May our life journey together never end... all my love"    I think he will like it...
Thanks for stopping by.... hope your weekend was as happy and fun as mine.  Take care

Friday 15 January 2010

Dreaming of France

Jacqueline from My Scrap Basket had a lovely post about a little village in France not far from where she lives and all the lovely buildings and Christmas decorations.  She also had a little giveaway going.  I commented on the lovely photos and how I hope to see a village like this when I go in August to Paris.. and I was luck enough to win a little something..... and this is what it was.... arrived today
 
Aren't they just wonderful.  I admire Jacqueline's work all the time- She makes the most amazing tags and I am proud to be able to look at these in real life.  Thank you heaps Jacqueline.

At this moment hubby and I are planning what we want to do on our trip to England and Europe.  Plans at this stage are to spend a week doing a canal boat trip - down the Huddesfield Canal in England, spend a few days in London with his sister and then take the train to Paris.  Of course as I have never been there....so much I want to see... Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, a river boat cruise on the Seine... maybe a day trip to Versailles.... lot to do in 5 days, then off by train to Venice...again about 5 days and then down to Rome for around 5 days before flying home....  It just seems so long away...but no doubt August will come round quickly.

I managed to get a quick card done this week... Donna made these two lovely cards here using Pure Innocence images by Heather Ellis.... I just had to go and get two more myself.... Donna was thinking of entering one of her cards in TESC97.  I liked the sketch Taylor had done so gave it a go myself... I was inspired by Donna to use my Dahlia nestie to frame the image.  I made the pale pink paper by brayering distress ink ( Tattered Rose) onto thin card and then overstamping with HA Antique Brocade in Worn Lipstick. and then stamping the sentiment.  I resized the PI image and coloured it with pencils, blended with a Tombow colourless blender. I used the Dahlia nestie to cut it out and sponged some of the Tattered Rose onto it.  The background card is stamped with HA Raindrop background stamped in the Tattered Rose ink.  All in all was pleased with the result.
Well that's all for now... It's Friday evening ( 6.00pm) so the first week back from holiday finished ( and it was a crappy week) so am looking forward to a relaxing weekend.... maybe a bit of crafting, reading or sunbathing!!!  Take care and thanks for visiting
Edited... I'm sorry Jacqueline... I called her blog My Scrap Bucket instead of Basket!!!  A bit of a blond moment!!!!!

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Sweet Valentines

We do not "do" Valentines in New Zealand to the same degree as some other areas... we do not make little cards or gifts for teachers, friends etc.... but I have made a couple of cards over the last two nights.... to enter into the Hero Arts Friendship/Valentines challenge and one for Lucy's challenge.
I started by downloading the Papertrey Inks Try before you buy Simple Valentine sampler.  It has lovely sized samples on this one - perfect for cutting up and using as... you guessed it....a quilt card.

After I had cut out the Labels 8, I embossed the quilt with a Sizzix die.  I then drew around the outside of the die and hand cut it to get the red border.  I added the ribbon... and then thought about what do do next!!!  So when I decided on the label I had to untie the ribbon add the tag and retie... what a pain!!!  I had to improvise a bit with the tag as the set I used only has an opening in one end.  So once I had cut it out, I turned it around and recut so both ends had an opening.  I then matted the quilt onto the swiss dotted white card - edged with Distress ink (Worn Lipstick) and then onto a red card base.  This is the one for Lucy's challenge.

This next one might be for Deborah's January card chain challenge.... not quite sure yet ... it doesn't quite fit her sketch,.... but does fit the theme of Valentine's.  Again I used the Papertry Inks sampler to form a patterned background.  Love the colours on this set.  The image is a digi image from Heather Ellis's Pure Innocence range.  See them here;  They are just adorable and being digi can be resized as you want.  I coloured her in with a watercolour pen, distress inks and Tombow markers.  Used nesties to cut out the circle and scallop.  The sentiment was done in individual letters with a Hero Arts Clear Sparkle set and Worn Lipstick distress ink. 

Well as usual a longish post.... hope it's not too boring.  Life is getting back to normal in our house again now I'm back at work.   Our son is off to Thailand this week for a 3 week holiday with his girlfriend.... a bit scary as Thailand is such a long way off.... but I suppose at 21 he is a big boy now and can take care of himself.

Thanks again for stopping by and a big thanks to all of you who make such encouraging comments.
take care



Saturday 9 January 2010

Confessions of a HOARDER!!!!

Hello my name is Dawn and I'm addicted to:
- Hoarding papers, stamps, flowers, brads, eyelets... you name it I've got it!!!
- buying stamps
- computer blogs........( this one from Hubby who says I spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME on the computer).
and so it goes on....
Over the past few days I've found other bloggers like me who suffer this addiction... Anne, Deborah, Paula ....but to name a few.... and we are all uniting .... this year we ARE going to use our hoarded stuff!!!!
Anne has a wonderful challenge to use 3 hoarded items in a card.... see Paula's blog...she has started....

Well on Thursday I decided that as a start I needed to tidy up my craft room ... I could hardly find any space to work on.... so Dad bought me a three drawer basket unit to put on the desk... now I have lots of lovely space, my clear and cling stamps to hand, my pens, pencils and crayons close by...  I still have a pile of bits under the desk..two folders fill of papers and cardstock, plus a brown paper bag of A5 size cards ready to make bases and one of larger scrap bits.. Plus lots in the cupboard and on the desk behind me.....stuff I bought over the past 21 months and some even prior to that!!!

Today I got a chance to use some stuff!!!  The leader of our Family Group rang and asked me to make a Sympathy card for one of the woman in the group whose Dad had passed away on the 5th.  Yvonne wants to send it from all the group with our thoughts... so as it was short notice... she needed it this afternoon .... I had to fish in the stash to see what I could come up with.

So what's hoarded?  The CB folder was purchased after a class where we used it... but hasn't touched paper since!!!!... the corrugated green card was bought about 2 years ago ( can't even think why as I wasn't even doing cards then!)  and the paper for the strip was from a free gift at Stamp Group about 6 months ago... holding onto it for that something special....like Paula not sure what!.  The same goes for the flowers which I cut out of a piece of DCWV card matting that was also in a free pack from Stamp Group just before Christmas.... too nice to use so got put away..... but bit the bullet and cut it up...( its all glittery)
Not sure if that classes as 3 item of hoarder stuff for Anne's challenge but will enter it anyway....
As you can see from the photo taken around mid-day, we are having another fabulous summer day.  It started a bit cool.... well at least at 4.00am when we got up to take the parents to the airport.... but improved mid-morning.  By mid afternoon - well it was very warm.  Hubby went for a swim while I lay on the grassy bank by the beach and read in the sun.  Bliss... and nothing says Summer more than corn on the cob cooked on the barbeque in it's husks.... that was starters for dinner tonight followed by rib-eye steaks and a Greek salad.... I just LOVE summer!!!!  ( sorry to you American and European readers suffering the cold!!!)

Well thanks for stopping by.... I'm off to have an icecream for dessert!!!  Take care 

Friday 8 January 2010

Faux leather wallet... and Kathy's blog giveaway....

Splitcoaststampers tutorial this week was to make a faux leather wallet.  My Mum was intrigued by it so I thought I'd make her one - I didn't have the same CB folder used in the tutorial but thought the Distress lines would work well...and it did.  I used a brown base, did the CB'ing and then rubbed Walnut Stain Distress ink over it before clear embossing the whole thing... I made the buckles with a CB tag and silver card.  Mum is thrilled to bits with it.  Not sure what she'll put in it.... but this is definitely something I'll be doing again.


And today when I was surfing the blogs and reading my favourites...( seems to take me half a day as I have so many)  I came across a great give away on Kathy's site.  Kathy has wonderful cards and I love visiting her blog. You should see her butterflies...just awesome.  She also kindly visits with me as well.  Anyway pop over and see what she is offering..... see that wonderful butterfly card!!!

Thanks for being so generous Kathy.

Tomorrow my parents head back to Australia - on the 7.15am flight so it will be an early start as they have to be at the airport by 5.00am and we live about 45 mintues away.... I am going to miss having them around after 2 1/2 weeks  :-(  and I have to go back to work on Monday  :-(  
so will be feeling Sad Sad Sad!!!!

Thanks for stopping by...

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Butterflies Galore... more Jennifer McGuire inspiration

Jennifer had an amazing video on her blog this past week and it has inspired a number of us to make some butterfly cards.  I loved how she had used her on a set for her Mother in law... so I decided to make some for my Mum...  I used Hero Arts Digi kit " Flutterbys" to print out some butterflies and also a stamp that my Dad bought to take home with him ( not sure of the maker... but did manage to stamp off a whole sheet)  I used Copics, water colour pencils and aqua crayons to colour some in.  I loved the sets Jennifer did, so copied the idea.  I used my Cuttlebug to make a variety of backgrounds and then used co-ordinating card stock ( and paint chips) to make the panels on the cards.  My desk is currently strewn with coloured butterflies... I am making a set of six for Mum, so two more to go.... I also used some on some mini pizza boxes I made for some coaster Mum bought to take back to family and friends in Australia.  The coasters are glass with New Zealand and a fern and Kiwi on them. 
I took Mum and Dad to my local stamp stores over the past few days and Dad had a ball.... He tells me the stuff he bought is for Mum to start stamping and card making.... but I'm not so sure!!!!!!  He has been watching me closely....interested in everything I've been doing.... We'll just have to wait and see who does what!!!  I have really been enjoying showing them my crafting and spending time with them... I will miss them when they go on Saturday  :-(   Plus having to work again next week instead of doing my cards and reading and enjoying the sunny weather!!!!  Oh well that's life.
Thanks for stopping by ....I'm off to colour more butterflies!!!!!

Monday 4 January 2010

HAPPY Everything!!!

The year starts with Happy... Happy New Year, Happy Birthday to Lisa and then my Mum... so here is HAPPY EVERYTHING.....
I wanted to make a New Years card for my SIL as we were going to spend New Years Eve with them and stay the night.... but I didn't have a New Year stamp- so thought that Happy Everything was just as good... I had been out to my LSS on Tuesday and had a bit of a spend up... got this Hero Arts Cling stamp... It is just delightful - as the middle just begs to have a sentiment added....
Every time I go to Bunnings, I collect paint chip samples - Berger have lovely 4"x4" samples... just the right size to stamp on!!!  The pale lavender is appropriately named "Lavender Bag"  I stamped the image once on the lavender and then once on white card stock which I used my Brillance inks to colour in.  I coloured the leaves in green pencil... then cut out the flowers and stuck them on the purple... I popped dotted the red one for dimension. 

As my SIL and niece were the recipients of the aprons I made with my DD last week, I have took a photo of the two of them together... We call my SIL "The Apprentice" as until a few years ago, she never really had to cook.  Being the youngest of 9, she didn't get to spend much time in the kitchen, then she did her OE in England and stayed with a sister whose husband is a chef, went flatting where others cooked,  meet her husband and went to live in Zimbabwe where she had a cook... it was only since coming to New Zealand six years ago she had to learn to cook.... her kids say they have had some interesting meals..... hence her 12 yr old daughter being better than her!!!!  ( No not really Philippa!!!)
We spend a lovely evening with the family in Papamoa - seeing the New Year in before heading off to bed.  Next morning, after a wonderful breakfast prepared by our nephew, we headed out to our friends Kiwifruit Orchard - about 10kms out of Te Puke.

Their place is just wonderful.  This is looking back up the house from the pool... this got a bit of use in the 2 days we stayed.... The weather was just perfect.  We ate outside both nights as it was so calm.  A perfect break away from the rat race of Auckland!!!

Wow - that was a bit of a long post... so thanks for visiting.
Happy Everything for 2010 to you all.