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!