A House Mouse Birthday

Yesterday I was madly getting the washing done and trying to organise my packing for Convention - am out the door early tomorrow - woohooooo!!! I did pop into my stamping room for a quick break and put this card together. It really didn't take long as the image was already coloured up - and I needed to have this done for a friend's birthday next week so it was a good excuse to play!!! My friend was actually watching me colour these guys as I was doing it at the ice rink while our daughters trained. When she mentioned it was her birthday soon I thought it would be nice to use the image she had seen come to life for her card.

Now I really must dash and get this packing finished - am out all evening at the rink again and the suitcase is still empty - everything has just been throw on the bed - LOL!!

Will catch up with everyone after convention!!!! Have a fabulous weekend - I know I will.....

A Blog Award!

The ultra talented Cheryl Joshua has overwhelmed me with this fabulous blog award - I keep telling people that blogging has sooo many rewards!! I have "met" some absolutely amazing people in cyberland and I can't thank them enough for their generosity of spirit and talent! What a dull day it would be if I didn't know these cyber friends were out there! My ideal would be to host a fabulous event where I could gather all my cyber friends together - oh the laughs we would have, and maybe a glass or 2 of champers!!!

The idea for this award is all about friendship........

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award”

Now to pass it on - but to only 8!!! Aaaaagh - anyone who knows me knows I love a chat - and I've had some lovely "chats" with many of the bloggers I've connected with - and there are soooo many more out there to meet!

Nope can't do it, I can NOT only pick 8!!! I stopped my list at 20 lovely bloggers - and want to put them ALL in - and more!!! The answer - I'm going to pass it on to anyone from my blog list who would like it!! There is just NO WAY I can narrow it down!! I know this is the cheats way out - but I need to spend time packing today so I'm going to cheat!!

I'm going to look forward to catching up on all the blogs when I get back from Canberra on Sunday - I may get a chance to do another post - but probably not! Yay - am off to have lunch and get those swaps finished so I can pack!!!

Team Get Together!

Firstly let me apologise for the quality of the photos - Melbourne has seen it's first icy blast of the coming Winter! The light as been bad all day - and to top it off one of our fuses has blown so we can only have half the house lit up at any one time. My DH did head down to the hardware to buy a replacement but there must be a problem in the wiring as the new fuse blew almost immediately!!! Great thing we have a friendly electrician!!!

On Saturday afternoon we had a team get together at my lovely upline Yvonne's house. Yvonne had a HUGE pot of soup on the stove, some fabulous work to see IRL and had organised for a shoebox make and take! I've never done one of these before so wasn't quite sure how it would all work - but it was sooo much fun - I got to learn a few things and play with some sets I don't have yet, as well as meet a few lovely demos I hadn't met yet - and catch up with others I had!!!

I thought you might like to see what ideas we came up with!

This first little project, a red faux leather bag, was put together by Yvonne - it was soo easy to make and yet looks amazing - watch out my stamp club - you may be making these soon - LOL.

I came up with this mini flower pot card - it's only a little thing but it too was a bit of fun! I CASEd it from Stamping School - but did change a few of the measurements to suit myself! Thanx to Carolann for inspiring this little project - it was well received!

You can see how small it is - the sentiments are stamped on a 1 1/4" square and the word window punches!

Amanda used the sweet Animal Crackers set to come up with this beautiful design. There was a few laughs over the bows being tied - but we got there in the end!

Philippa came up with this colourful layout using the Circle Circus set. It was great to have a chance to play with this set as many of us haven't got it yet - it's one we'll be receiving at Convention later in the week!

The All Together Owl card was designed by Leanne - I did change the images around a little to Leanne's designs - I was trying to use stamps that were sitting around while others were in use!

I love the way Leanne used the ribbons along the bottom.

Kerri came up with the sparkler for the day! The party hats are covered with Dazzling Diamonds and the toled "b" is drenched with pink glitter. Unfortunately I stamped my main image a little too low - Kerrie's looked a whole lot better with a bit more space between the layers. I would have popped the hats on top if I had realised before I stuck the main image down - ah well!!! I also used the re-inkers and baby wipes "ink pad" technique for the first time - it was a lot of fun so thanx for the lesson Kerri!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #9 - Spot the Dots

This week's challenge is "Spot the Dots". I had the absolute pleasure of finally meeting Her Royal Highness Princess Kristy and the Divine Miss Kellie today at a team meeting...it was like we were old friends - but we had to get to work and they had swaps to get on with for Convention!! The great thing was I actually got to see Kristy's card for this challenge IRL. I know the photo won't do it justice - they never do!! I got to see a few others I've only seen in blogland too - it's such an eye opener to see how much nicer they are when you can see the dimension, details and the glitter actually sparkling!!

Back to my card - I've used spotty DP, my Swiss Dots embossing folder, rhinestone "spots" and nestie circles - so hopefully you'll be able to spot a dot or 2 on the card - LOL. The colours were pretty much decided by the Tilda I chose - she was already coloured up in my drawer and was looking so sweet I couldn't help but pull her out to use her. I had thought to use a Tilda who was wearing spots - but didn't! It always amazes me how my plans take shape and often never end up like I thought!!!!

Hope you can come along and add a few spots to MDUC this week - and check out the other DT cards!!!

Blog Candy Winner

WOW - you guys are AMAZING!!! When I popped on my blog candy post I had no idea I would get sooo many lovely comments - and let me tell you I have read every single one of them!! I really wish I could send each and every one of you a prize - but I can't! So without further ado here's the winner as chosen by random.org...........

Chris (Wellnifty)
Congratulations on so many hits. Thanks for the chance of getting your lovely candy. I've put a link on my side bar to it.Chris x
April 21, 2009 5:59 PM

Congratulations Chris. If you could please email me your snail mail address I'll pop your prize in the post for you - I hope you enjoy it!!!

YAHOO It's Blog Candy Time - 15555 Hits!!!!

ETA - BLOG CANDY IS NOW CLOSED - WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED!



A few weeks ago I notice my blog counter was nearing the 15,000 mark - that just AMAZED me!! I remember the excitement of when it ticked over to 100!! And not just because my son kept telling me to "hit refresh, hit refresh" to make it so - LOL.

My blogging journey began on Friday, 3rd of October, 2008 when I took the plunge and began my own blog! It was a HUGE thing for me to do as I'd only just signed up as a SU demo the month before, and it meant I REALLY had to work on my stamping - a relatively new craft for me. It has been such a rewarding experience - I have made blogging friends from all over the world and now have my son asking how much longer will I be on the computer doing "stamping stuff" - poor boy!!!

Anyhow - I was putting together a little blog candy pack for my 15000 when Kellie announced hers - I decided to put mine off to 15,555 - just to be different! And here we are!!!!

The Prize
- SU retired SAB set - Botanical Blooms
- SU retired hostess set - For a Friend
- Heidi Swapp clear stamp - Swirl
- See Ds Stamps - 2 x small stamps and the Noel set
- Kaiser - Mixed flower rhinestones and Fozz Felt
- American Crafts rub-on transfers - birthday theme
- Papercraft rhinestone brads
- Basic Grey mixed fibres
- Collections Elements - chipboard keyholes
- Scrapware minis - 1 set each butterflies and hearts

To have a chance to win all you need to do is leave a comment. I'd love you to advertise it for me on your blogs too, but that's up to you. I'll be selecting a winner randomly on April 26th - so good luck!!!

I have sooo many lovely visitors from overseas that I can't let them miss out - I'm happy to post anywhere!

Thanx to everyone for your support over the past few months - it's been AWESOME.

xXxXxXxXx

ANZAC Day

Today is a special day for all Australians - it's ANZAC Day! Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. It is commemorated by both countries on 25th April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey. It is also a day to remember all our brave men and women who have fought for their country!

The day usually begins with a Dawn Service - and these are held around the world and in every major Australian city. I had the honour of attending the dawn service in Singapore on the 60th anniversary of the fall of Singapore, we were living there at the time. We had to walk through the graveyard to attend the service and my daughter sang with the Australian International School choir. I was amazed at how emotional the whole event was - most of us were very sombre and a little red eyed as we left - but it was a great thing to experience.

I spent the afternoon today with a few fellow SU Demos - we had a fabulous time and Yvonne had organised for us to bring some "make & take" shoebox swaps - it was sooo much fun and I'll post what we did when I get a chance to take some pics - no daylight left today!! Spending the afternoon with friends is a great way to spend the day!!

One tradition of the day is the baking of Anzac Biscuits. Some say that they started as biscuits made by the Troops in the trenches with provisions they had at hand to relieve the boredom of their battle rations. And some say they came about due to resourceful of the women on the "home front" in an endeavour to make a treat for their loved ones that would survive the long journey by post to the war front. I've found a simple recipe from here and have popped it below for you to try! They are very addictive and well loved!! Hope you give them a go and spare a thought for our armed forces while you do!!

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour (all purpose)
1 cup rolled oats (regular oatmeal) uncooked
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp golden syrup (or honey)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp boiling water

Method
Combine the flour (sifted), oats, coconut and sugar in a bowl.
Melt the butter and Golden Syrup (or honey) in a saucepan over a low heat..
Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water and add to the butter and Golden Syrup.
Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix well.
Spoon dollops of mixture, about the size of a walnut shell, onto a greased tin leaving as much space again between dollops to allow for spreading.
Bake in a moderate oven, 180C / 350F, for 15-20 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack and seal in airtight containers.

Tips
The American tablespoon is a little smaller than the British tablespoon, so be generous with your Golden Syrup (or Honey) and Water.

Pop on your sunglasses!!!

I'm not really sure what possessed me to use this colour combo today - maybe it's because I am playing with the few Copic markers I have recently bought - and this is what I ended up with - LOL. Actually I really like the colours together, and I don't usually use Green Galore - especially in such big areas!! I've teamed it here with Purely Pomegranate. I received this divine Stamping Bella "Missmatch Ketto" stamp on Tuesday - so thought I'd ink her up and play with my copics and see what I came up with! The lovely Bec over at Bizzy Becs has been a real gem helping me decide which copics would be the best to start off with - I don't have many so am limited with any shading I can do - but think I'm getting hooked. I still need a HEAP of practice so don't look too closely at Miss Ketto - LOL!! I still LOVE to watercolour - I was doing some last night at the ice rink so watch this space!!!

For those of you in Australia I was visiting my local stamping store yesterday with my good friend Deb. The store is HeavenScent Crafts, and the owner Debbie (who is lovely, but then all Debbie's are!!!) - has just received an order of stamps in from Stamping Bella - including some of the Ketto stamps. She can't show them on her website but you can mail order them through her so just send her an email. I also got the tiny stick on rhinestones there that I've used on the crown and belt. We had a lot of laughs yesterday with 3 Debbies in the one room!!!

Chicks Inspiration Challenge - Week 5

Wow - when I saw this Inspiration Picture for the latest challenge as Guest DT for Chicks with Inkpads I knew exactly what stamps I wanted to use - the big problem is I don't actually own them - yet!! When we got the new catalogue I highlighted all the sets I wanted - but unfortuately the budget didn't stretch to getting them all at once - after all - I have all year to buy them right!!!! So you can just imagine how frustrating it was to see these sets highlighted in my catty but not sitting on my shelf!!! Maybe I should work some overtime - NO - that'll leave me no time to stamp - LOL. It's a vicious circle!!!

Can you guess which sets I wanted??????

To start with how good would the grasses have been from the Inspired by Nature set??? But I don't have them, so I used the image of Upsy Daisy I had stamped in Kiwi Kiss at our team get together. I've combined this with some Urban Garden DP , Baja Breeze CS, Cuttlebugging and some white taffeta ribbon. I chose this particular DP and cuttlebug folder as the stripes represent the tall grass. The sentiment is from Fresh Cuts. There's a funny story to it's shape, I had stamped it onto a scrap of Whisper White before I decided I didn't want to use my oval punch - and the scrap was too small for the square punch, it was missing the bottom corner!! I thought it looked pretty cool and cut the corner off the larger square too - LOL.

I tried to match the colours of my punched butterflies to the ones in the inspiration piece - but they looked shocking! So after many colourful butterflies being punched and layed out, and lots of family discussion, I ignored everyone and popped these 3 on! I've also added Dazzling Diamonds to the 3 largest flowers!

I'll be checking out the challenge to see what everyone else comes up with - I wonder if my sets appear!!!

Open House Designs

As promised here are some of the things I put together so the girls who came to my open day had something new to see....


This first one was made using Becky Roberts' Totally Awesome Tote tutorial and the new A Kind Word set. The colours are based around Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink. I was rapt to find pink envelopes, a pink pen and a pink post-it pad all down at my local K-Mart - they finished everything off beautifully. Becky's tutorial is absolutely fabulous - and VERY reasonable - check out her blog Inking Idaho here.




These next 2 cards are made using the fabulous Holiday Line-Up set. These characters are SO much fun to colour and play with. I can see these getting a good inking leading up to Christmas. The idea for putting a spot light on Rudolph card is a CASE from one I saw ages ago - I'd love to give credit if anyone knows who's idea it was!


Another fabulous Christmas set is Snow Swirled - isn't this tree gorgeous. I've used the new In-Colours here - not traditional but I think they work well. The large snowflake in this set is stunning too.


And then there's a new favorite of mine - Upsy Daisy. The funny thing is I don't actually own this set yet - though the order will be in soon! I stamped a few images on our team day and couldn't wait to use them paired with some of the fabulous new DP.


I also LOVE the Crazy for Cupcakes set - and this is what I came up with using the table of cupcakes! I can't wait to get time to play with the rest of the set!


And last but by no means least - the gorgeous Fifth Avenue Floral set - isn't this rose AMAZING!! I have done a whole set of cards based on Andrea Walford's planner - but will be running this as a class after Convention so will show it to you then! Need to tweak the measurements a little as our Aussie A4 CS is a different size. This card is super quick and easy - it was actually an afterthought as I was waiting for the girls to arrive!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #8 - Cupcakes

I must admit that this card is NOT one of my favourites. I was trying out a different brand of watercolour paper - and poor Tilda has ended up looking all stripey :( It's not as obvious IRL thank goodness - but the camera seems to have picked up every lump and bump in the paper, and I ran out of time to re-do her. It was a good lesson to learn - not all papers are the same quality!!!

Luckily my SU order arrived in time for me to use the Crazy for Cupcakes set, and I was VERY tempted to mask off the top cake on the stack as though Tilda had just pinched it! Maybe next time!

I'm looking forward to seeing some fabulous entries over at MDUC.

A Card for a Friend

As most of you may know Lisa over at Craft's Meow and I put on a little fundraiser - with the help of SCS. During the course of setting it all up Lisa and I have become firm friends - and she may even say long lost twins as we have discovered we have a lot of things in common apart from stamping.

I really wanted to surprise her with a card made especially for her as a Thank You - so had to be sneaky and find her address (Thanx Michelle xXx). I got an email from Lisa to say she had received some Happy Mail!! I was sooo pleased she liked it and that it was a surprise - and now I can share it with you....

I must admit I prefer making cards when it's just for a bit of fun - the pressure was on - I really wanted this to be special so I pulled out all my favourite things - my cuttlebug, nesties, Tilda, flowers and bling. I also wanted it to be dramatic - yet pretty - so black and pink was the end result! I even used my nesties on the INSIDE of my card - a first - but love the finish.

Anyway - thanx again Lisa for all your help!!!

And I'll be back soon with some of my Open House designs!! Want the girls coming to see something NEW!!!

My Sister's Blog!

My wonderful older sister has just started a blog - or should I say I started it for her and then left her to it - LOL. That's her on the right, I'm the one in the middle with my mouth open as always - and my younger sister's on the left - she's also an amazing crafter!!!

Sharon is a multi talented crafter - she's an amazing sketcher, painter, patchworker and embroiderer. Unfortunately she is resisting ALL my attempts to drag her over to papercrafting. I'm trying to work out a good way to incorporate stamping and quilting as I know she thinks some of my stamps are adorable - any suggestions???? I'll wear her down eventually - LOL

Sharon has 3 boys, the eldest got married late last year (this photo was taken at the wedding) and the middle son is getting married next year. She also has a beautiful young son who is turning 5 in August. Unfortunately the youngest is autistic as well as having other issues. I made a little mini album for him earlier - check it out here, how can anyone resist those eyes??? By starting her blog Sharon is hoping to make blog buddies with similar issues, as well as meeting some fellow crafters. We all know how time consuming our kids can be - kids with special needs place so many extra demands on their parents and this should be a great outlet for Sharon. I am in awe of her and her devotion to her son - although you can't help but be drawn in by Liam's innocence and quirky habits.

You can find her blog here if you want to pop in and say "HI".

P.S Just noticed I'm wearing the bracelet my friend and fellow stamper Carolann made me - check out her blog at Black Cat's Miaow. Carolann had to make 2 more of these after friends saw mine - must wear it more often!!!

Paper Makeup Stamps Monday Challenge

This weeks challenge from Paper Makeup Stamps was to incorporate ribbon into your design somewhere - figured I could manage THAT - even managed to use 2 pieces of ribbon - Chocolate Chip grosgrain and Bashful Blue Taffeta. Her wings are glittered up with Dazzling Diamonds - and so I must add is most of my house - have been having a marvellous time with it this week - LOL.

The big struggle I had was tryng to work out the colour scheme and layout - I had already coloured up this image of Kirsten - and had her cut out using my nesties, she was just waiting to be put to use. This worked out well as I was able to quickly put my card together - not sure I would have had time to "play" otherwise with my Open House/Stamp Club this weekend, and Convention swaps to put together!

Everything is from SU apart from the image and the rhinestones.

OK - no more procrastinating - back to those swaps......

A Blog Award

I have been honoured by 2 of my favourite bloggers with this award over the past 24 hours - the wonderful Kellie Winnell and the equally wonderful Cheryl Joshua. I am in awe of these 2 ladies - they are amazingly talented and I'm honoured to call them blog buddies!


It's now my pleasant duty to pass this wonderful award on to 5 other marvellous bloggers - and this is what's taken the time - I want to nominate about 15!!!!! I have brutally cut down my list to these 5 - but know there are many blogs in my blog list who are equally deserving - so hope you check them all out!!!

Here's the final 5, in no particular order!

Lisa at The Craft's Meow
Michelle at Stamp and Smile
Emily at Emily's Expressions
Leonie at A Stamper's World
Liam at InspireStampin

Chicks Inspiration Challenge - Week 4

Woohoo - this week I don't get to play along with the Chicks with Inkpads inspiration challenge because this week I was a Guest Designer!!! They ask the top 5 entries to join in the fun so why don't you give it a go too! It would have been nice if there were more than 5 entries, but I'll take the spot - LOL.


I couldn't resist using this little Tilda I had - so perfect for a "beach" feel. I don't have any umbrellas so had to go with the colours - Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Sahara Sand. I've used my Speckled Wheel and Sahara Sand to add a sandy texture to the top of the Whisper White oval background. On the bottom I've swirled on some Soft Sky and Blue Bayou for waves - and added a few "whitecaps" with my white gel pen. I also used a leftover "sea" scrap for the background of my sentiment.

The stone steps are courtesy of Philippa over at Cards from the Cauldron - we had a little Magnolia swap happening - thanx Philippa!! Some Divine Swirls Cuttlebugging on some Night of Navy CS adds more "waves" - and a little friend from Crab & Company looks to nibble Tilda's toes should they get too close!

I just wish I had noticed the steps were put on a little crooked - it's one of those things that get REALLY annoying once you notice it!!! Did I make you go back and look?!?!?!

A Card From Scraps and a Bear Hug!

I had some scraps lying around from another project I was working on so decided to use them up. I LOVE this Thoughts and Prayers set - this tree is just soo elegant! Here it's stamped in Rose Red and paired with Night of Navy CS and some retired designer series DP. And what can I say about the new Eyelet Border Punch - apart from I LOVE IT!!! It adds such a classic elegance to any project - you'll be seeing it around here a lot!!


I also thought I'd show you a photo of some of the bears I have made, especially after a special request from my dear friend Lisa at Craft's Meow! Unfortunately I just couldn't get a clear shot with my dog Holly around, but at least she posed nicely in this one rather than trying to give all the bears a good sniff. I think she's a bit of a camera hog - LOL.

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #7 - Sepia Tones

WOW - we're up to week 7 already!!! This week's challenge was set by ME!! When Kellie asked for challenge themes I had recently been going through some old photos - so that's where the inspiration came for this theme. Of course it is only for inspiration - so a little bit of colour is allowed - right??? I just HAD to make the little heart on the envelope a deep red - so then her ribbons and the flowers needed to be added to balance everything out! I LOVE the Tres Chic background stamp - it's sooo versatile! And then of course there's Tilda's Nestie oval seat and some Forest Branches Cuttlebugging - I'm finding this embossing folder gets almost as much of a work out as my Swiss Dots and Divine Swirls - think they're my top 3 faves!

As I'm about to publish this post it's occured to me that it's been made with the colours Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel and Close To Cocoa - and we've just spent this beautiful Easter Sunday morning hunting eggs made with similar ingredients - how funny is that?!?! LOL
Edit - the eggs we were hunting were of the chocolate variety - not eggs coloured in these tones, yummo!

Hopefully this inspires you to come along to MDUC and check out what the rest of the DT have done. And don't forget to join in the fun!

Winners for the Non-Raffle Have Been Posted!!

Hi guys - well we have finally got our winners for the non-raffle. Lisa had managed to put up a post with all of the relevant information so I have just cut and pasted her posting below - with a couple of changes to make it read better for my blog! I would like to add my sincerest thanx to Lisa - who has been a driving force behind this fundraiser - without her this would not have all happened. I was lucky enough to have jumped on for the ride - making a wonderful friend in Lisa along the way! Thanx too to Jenn Balcer who has been an AMAZING help setting up the gallery and pointing us in the right direction. And to ALL those at SCS, the donators and those that bought a "ticket" along the way - words can't express how thankful we are!!
xXx.
Now here's the news........

It took a bit longer than expected, navigating through vacation schedules, getting information from Paypal, organizing the lists and drawing the winners, but we're finally there! You will find the winners list posted by Lisa Hjulberg in this thread on SCS. Jenn Balcer is also entering the winners' names into the prize gallery postings themselves. Congratulations to all the winners, and especially to those who were lucky enough to win multiple prizes!

The winners will be contacted directly by the prize donors to arrange delivery of the prizes. If you are a winner and haven't heard from the prize donor within the next week, please email me and I'll do what I can to help.

Lisa and I want to thank each and every one of you, from the bottom of our hearts, for supporting this worthy cause. Together we raised $3715 USD for the victims of the Victorian Bushfires. That is, quite simply, awesome and humbling.

WISHING EACH AND EVRYONE OF YOU A HAPPY AND SAFE EASTER

Chicks Inspiration Challenge - Week 3

Now this challenge from Chicks with Inkpads finished off nothing like it began!!! Firstly I had decided to do 3 oval vases in the three different colours - but just could NOT get the idea to work!! It was just not ME and I felt it was boring - so of course I just HAD to play with it some more which completely wrecked it!!! So then I decided to go with the colours - which led to all sorts of discussions as to whether the middle vase was green or white - so I used BOTH, after all there is green foliage and a white background - along with the pink and blue.


I am so much happier with this card - it's much more my style - if I HAVE a style, still working on THAT!! I've had this Tilda with Puppy stamp for a while now - this one was actually already coloured up and cut out in my "finished images" drawer. I like to sit and colour but don't always have the card ready to go so I pop these images in my little drawer ready to use when the time is right - it even amazed me how many I had in there waiting to be loved! The sentiment is from the new hostess set Best Yet.

Cuttlebug Challenge's Rendezvous Monday - Color CAS Challenge

For today's Rendezvous Monday over at the Cuttlebug Challenges Blog there's a dual challenge. First....the colors...kraft, black and white/ivory. And the second part....keep it CAS....clean and simple!

It's not the easiest thing to go back to clean and simple lines, but hope I've achieved it with this card. I've used my Forest Branches folder on the Kraft piece. The white stamping on the black is embossed with white EP and the Kraft flower has been touched up with my white gel pen. A fairly simple card but with the Embrace Life set I just don't think you can go wrong - it's one of my favourites! Of course this may change when my new stamps arrive from the new catalogue - oh pleeeeease let it be today!!!

I must also apologise - I may not be posting as often as I have been over the next few weeks. We have the SU Convention at the end of the month - YIPPEEEE - and I have a heap of swaps to finish off. I'll also be making some samples from the new catalogue for my Open Day - so please bear with me....I'll post when I can!

Keesh's Inkspirations Inspiration Challenge # 6

When I was organising the link for the template used in my MDUC baby card I was also checking out the other templates on offer - and this one just jumped out at me and said KEESH'S CHALLENGE!!! So here I am, posting my second template card in one day. I admit that Jean's last card for the House Mouse Challenge helped me decide this was the way to go too - check her fabulous mug card here.


For my Mug of Soup I used the template here and enlarged it by 200%. The front has been run through my Floral Fantasy Cuttlebug folder. I used some Tangerine tango for the "soup", some white EP and the swirl from Priceless for the "cream" and the "nutmeg" are petals from the Season of Joy flower! The label on the front is from the retired SAB set Yummy and the Pumpkin is from the new hostess set Window Dressing. Boy did I have a lot of stamp sets flying around - LOL.

I used Mellow Moss Tafetta ribbon and sponged some mellow moss onto the mug handle too. I felt the handle was a little too flimsy so I strengthened it with some Crystal Effects - which unfortunately has changed the colour a bit and hasn't dried evenly - oh well, live and learn! The "nutmegs" also have some Crystal Effects on.

I wasn't sure how useful this card would be for anything but this challenge - but have decided to make some cheesy twist biscuits and wrap them up as a gift to go with this card - they are GREAT with Pumpkin Soup! Now who to give it to.....

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #6 - A Baby is Born

I really have to thank my team "cousin" Robyn for the inspiration for this card. A few weeks ago she sent me an email to let me know that she had seen a card in the SCS gallery that she thought I would appreciate as she knew of my love for my lttle green machine - ie Cuttlebug! It was a beautiful baby dress with faux smocking - check it out here. I knew this idea would be perfect for our "A Baby is Born" challenge so I set off to track down the template - which luckily wasn't too hard - it's here if you want to give it a go yourself. I enlarged the template a few times to get the right size for the front of the dress to fit in my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Folder - I ended up enlarging it by 175%. I then wrote the web address and size on it before laminating it and cutting it out as a permanent template to trace around. I don't usually print straight onto my CS - my printer plays up occaisionally - and this method of making templates is one I use with my doll and bear making patterns, it's way too hard to get fur and fabric through the printer LOL.
I've used Baby Tingla here - she soo cute I couldn't resist her!! I also popped some pink tissue on the insides of her dress for a bit of interest, and a pink bow around the waist. The card shape is the real star here so I really didn't need to do much more!

Here's hoping you'll be inspired to come along and join us with this week's challenge at MDUC.

Chicks Inspiration Challenge - Week 2

Last week my blog buddy Emily suggested I try out the new challenge on the block at Chicks with Inkpads - their name alone gave me a good enough excuse to play - it made me laugh! It has also been soo nice having such great support for our new challenge at MDUC - so this gave me added reason to support this challenge and give it a go.


For my entry I decided I wanted to replicate the table with the artwork hanging above it. It didn't turn out quite like I had it pictured in my head - but I wasn't too unhappy with it. After all - what I imagine I can create is often different to the reality - and the reality can often be better! I used the Live Your Dream set and Scribble wheels to create my look. The "tablecloth" has been embossed with white EP. The Hodge Podge hardware represents the silver bowl on the table and the framed flowers are the pictures on the wall.

I hope your weekend is full of fun - mine has certainly started off that way - it's always good to have a full on belly laugh with the family - even if my silent wheezy laugh is the reason for a lot of it - they call it my "Muttley" laugh!!!

Take care and CYA next time....

A House Mouse Birthday Card for my Sister

When my younger sister popped over to visit me a couple of weeks ago I had a couple of my cards lying around waiting to be put away - my sister very rarely sees what I get up to as her internet service isn't great. It was lovely to hear her exclamations when she saw what I was doing with my time - I think she was impressed, that's always great to hear!!!!

Anyway - she is a bit of a nutter about anything "cute" so she fell in love with House Mouse stamps! So much so that I had her oohing and aaahing at the House Mouse Challenge Blog and telling me which new stamps I should get - just wish she'd offered to pay for them - LOL. She LOVED this stamp that I had so it was a natural choice for me to use it for her birthday card. I'd never inked it up before - it's size always made me a bit nervous! I was really happy with how it turned out - and so was she!! My mum lives with my sister so this was the first card of mine she'd seen in a LONG time - so I think I impressed her too! It's amazing how when you tell people you make cards their perception of what you are actually creating can be sooo different from the reality!

Keesh's Inkspiration Colour Challenge #6 & Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #11

When I saw Keesh's colour challenge this week I went WOW - I love these colours together but was too busy to go "play" with them until today! In the meantime I saw Karen Giron's sketch challenge and decided I would combine the two as I thought they would work well together. Looking at the images together there seems to be a butterfly overdose - LOL.



I've used a combination of Garden Whimsy and the new Fresh Cuts set. A touch of Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder, some Flower Fusion felt flowers and orange rhinestones finish off the look. I found I needed to stamp off the Pumpkin Pie background as it was too strong at first - the poor butterfly got a little lost. The butterfly has also been stamped twice - once to get the detail of his antennae on the card, and the second time to be cut out and raised to add dimension to his wings.

And please don't forget the SCS Victorian Bushfore Non-Raffle - it's ending this Friday - you have to be in it to win one of the wonderful prizes - click on the logo on top of my sidebar for more information...Many Thanx xXx

The New Catalogue is HERE...

How exciting is this - the new Idea Book and Catalogue 2009/10 is here!!! I was sooo tempted to place an order at midnight but was sent to bed after falling asleep in my chair watching TV at 9.30!! In my defense I had had a couple of VERY busy days at work - and this on top of my daughter's party on Saturday night!!! Oh OK - maybe it's just old age creeping up - LOL.

Anyway - I was all ready to go with my order this morning - but we can't order until midday - NOOOOOOOO. I'm sure the lines will be clogged up later today!! If you want a copy of the new catalogue please contact me - you won't regret it!! There are some stunning new sets! I'm also planning on putting together an Open Day with some make and takes in mid April - so contact me if you're interested in being put on my mailing list!


I'll get a link up for the online catalogue as soon as I can - and in the meantime here's a little eye candy for you! I went to a team meeting last Saturday - yup the same day as my daughter's party and my girl's night out!! It was a BIG day! I really enjoyed meeting some of the lovely ladies I have become Blog Buddies with - even if they are all Twilight fans and I struggled - LOL - but I did promise to give the second book another go!!! Anyway - back to our meeting - it had been decided that we do swaps as part of the fun - so here are some of the lovely swaps I got - most of them using new catalogue sets and/or colours. Thanx to Jenni for hosting and putting on a fabulous lunch!! It's soo much fun spending time with like minded people.

Edit - the catalogue picture on my sidebar is now linked to the online catalogue! Enjoy!