A Little Bit More Christmas Cheer

I am finding it really hard to believe we are already in December, and only 3 weeks away from Christmas. I still haven't made my Christmas cards (!) but did take the photo of Luana tonight that I will use... I think cards will be arriving after Christmas yet again! There are decorations up everywhere around the hospital (we'll wait until after my birthday to do ours at home) and Kid's Ward even had their Christmas Party with Captain Starlight today.

Although I had every intention of making a birthday card with Keesh's latest colour challenge, I have made a Christmas card (better photography to come):

I love both the colour combo this week and the Sweet Sunday Sketch - they are so versatile and I'm thinking I'll use them for quite a few projects in the near future.

We used Season of Joy at the Christmas Stamp-a-Stack I held over the weekend, and it was calling me to be used for this card. I added a bit of sparkle (hard to see) onto the swirls of the tree. The edges of the circles are distressed to add a bit more dimension and have been mounted in Sweet Always DSP. The background is So Swirly wheeled in Taken with Teal on the same, and a little bit of double ribbon finished the sketch.

I will try to photograph this before I head off to work tomorrow morning to get a better pic!

Thanks again girls for the inspiration, I'm really enjoying being able to sit down and stamp again!

Stamps: Season of Joy, Best Yet (Level 1 Hostess), So Swirly Jumbo Wheel

Card: Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

DSP: Sweet Always

Ink: Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red

Other: Real Red 1 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds

Thank you Flower

Wow! Two posts in two days!! I'm really enjoying being able to do some card making again and I found my rub-ons last night - yay!

I made this card especially for my Mum as she was a FABULOUS help in the lead up to and during our recent move - she even flew all the way up to keep me company on the long drive down. THANK YOU MUM XXXXX

Inspiration for Mum's card came from Dawn's latest Raspberry Suite Colour Challenge:

and Karen's latest Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge:

Must go, but hope you enjoy this offering!

Stamp: Friendly Flowers (retired)

Card: Chocolate Chip, Orchid Opulence, Mellow Moss, Whipser White

Ink: Pixie Pink, Soft Sky (retired), Orchid Opulence

Other: Light Orchid Grosgrain ribbon (retired), Fashion District Rubons, Flower Designer Brads

Finally - Lachy's Christening Card

It has taken me FOREVER, but I have finally made a card for our godson's christening that I am happy with. And once again one of Makeesha's challenges helped me out of the slump!

I took a little bit of liberty with the sketch, changing some of the dimensions. I used the Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel as my starting point and the rest evolved from there. The only part that may not be self explanatory is that I swiped the large Whisper White panel with the Baja Breeze ink pad so it wasn't quite so stark.

This is such a lovely sketch that I may have another play before the end of the week - Paul is currently out at the cricket with Luana, so it's lovely to have a little bit of me time!!

Oh!! I have some wonderfully exciting news too. My little nephew arrived safely last week, so we are just over the moon!! I will post some creations made for him soon.

Have a great week!

Stamp: Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel
Card: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Brushed Silver
Ink: Baja Breeze
Punches: Large Star, Small Star
Other: Paper piercer

Thinking of Grandad

I'm back! We're slowly getting ourselves organised, but are still a little ways off yet. I'm still taking over the dining room table after dinner (some nights), and the laptop is sitting on a packing box!!

I've been wanting to make a card for my Grandad, who is going through chemotherapy at the moment, for a few weeks now and thought this weeks challenges from Makeesha and The Sweetest Thing were just the motivation....

We found our Grandad had cancer not long before Paul moved down here to Alice Springs, and he started chemo around the time Luana and I moved down. Times like these it is really hard to be so far away from family, but I just wanted to let him know he is always in our thoughts.

Rustic colours, like Keesh has challenged us to use this week, always make me think of Grandad, and I just really like the tilted panel in this weeks sketch from Karen. I've just used Circle Circus with a bit of masking and the good ol' Stamp-a-ma-jig for the Close to Cocoa panel, and the greeting is from Trendy Trees. A little bit of piercing just finished the job.

Must go and finish writing my job application - I'm in a locum position at the moment and am applying for permanency. Keep your fingers crossed for me, and please send positive thoughts to my Grandad. I can't wait to see him again.

Touching Base

My apologies for being MIA this month. As you have probably guessed, we have now made THE move and we're slowly getting organised. I'm yet to set up my stamping space... but have taken over the dining room table (much to Paul's horror - it's started again!!) to make a few bits and pieces, which haven't yet been finished. It's a bit of a shock to the system heading back to full time work. I am enjoying it, and the challenges of clinical, but find I'm SO tired by the end of the week.

Here are a few photos of our big trip and life in the Red Centre so far....

Leaving Katherine. Paul had headed out about 4 hours earlier than us. Luana was asleep before we had even travelled 10 minutes down the road!

Rest stop at Devil's Marbles. Luana had a great time exploring.

Our first full weekend here we went to Desert Park. Luana loved the birds and the nocturnal house. She's checking out the mala in this photo.

Hopefully over the next couple weeks I will have a bit more to share with you. I have had every intention of playing in a few challenges in the last week or so, but my bed has had a stronger calling!! I have seen the new Summer Mini (launching 1st December) and I LOVE IT!!! Seriously, I think this is the best Mini yet! So when I place my order, I am SO looking forward to playing.

For those of you here in Alice, I'm going to have a Christmas Stamp-a-Stack in the next few weeks. If you would like to join me, drop me a line here.

Until next time (no promises when....), have fun!!

Spring Mini Swap

Thought I'd better make another appearance for this month so it's not an absolute washout :)

I was involved in a Spring Mini swap with a great group of girls in August - although I was only able to post my swaps mid-September due to our life being thrown into chaos.... Here's what I put together:

In these swaps I like to try and use a stamp set that may be one of the 'outsiders' - you know the ones that are great, but not everyone immediately falls in love with them. So for this one I used Introducing. I love it because I am expecting a little niece or nephew in November and will use it to make announcements for my sister, but it also has some classic invite stamps (I also used it for Luana's invitations this year). I also fell in love with the giant cupcake that is Simple Birthday Thanks, and thought I could show that it can be used for more than a thank you....

Quite straight forward - a little bit of masking (to take 'off' the thank you writing), a little bit of paper piecing - the chocolate dots are courtesy of the crop-o-dile - and a little bit of glitter.

The other swaps I've received have been great too - thank you for swapping with me!!

Stamps: Introducing, Simple Birthday Thanks
Card: Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose
Other: Crop-o-dile, Chunky Glitter, toothpick (non SU!), Tombo glue pen, sticky strip, glue dots

Cool Rock'n Roll

Despite being surrounded by boxes I have managed to make a couple of cards over the past few days - some people have said I should be packing, but I reckon I need time out too!! I actually only set out to make one card (for my Godmother) but ended up making 2 (the other for Paul's Auntie). Both using Keesh's latest cooling colour combo and one using the latest Sweet Sunday Sketch (a little abridged). Like many others, I think Keesh's colours are perfect for masculine cards, but I wanted to give girly cards a go with them.... Love the colours together!!

This was the second card I made and is actually one of the cute little Love Notes - love that size! I rock'n rolled the butterflies from Great Friend in the Spring Mini, tore a bit off the Love Note and swiped the torn edge in Not Quite Navy, and paper pierced the coloured parts for a bit of interest. This was very much an evolving card and turned out quite different to the initial plan...

This card was made for my Godmother who celebrates a birthday this week. I have used the very sweet Flowers in Silhouette stamp I was lucky enough to win in one of Stacey Schafer's Jewellery Colour Inspiration Challenges (with this card), rock 'n rolling again - I really like the effect of the Not Quite Navy on the Old Olive. I distressed the edges on the two large panels, and sponged the edges of the Very Vanilla with Chocolate Chip. I didn't have any ribbon the right width, so have just used some Chocolate Chip card along the bottom of the panel and finished with some retired Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware.

I'm quite happy with the result and can't wait to pop it in the post.

Butterflies For You

Stamps: Great Friend (Spring Mini)

Card: Very Vanilla (Love Note), Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip

Ink: Old Olive, Not Quite Navy

Other: paper piercer

Flowers For You

Stamps: Flowers in Silhouette, Great Friend (Spring Mini)

Card: Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Chocolaye Chip, Very Vanilla

DSP: Haiku

Ink: Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Other: Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware (retired)

Happy Birthday Me Hearty!!

Thank you for being patient with me this month... Sometimes it feels like time is flying by and others it feels like it's crawling. I was very lucky and had Mum with us for a few days which was a HUGE help with the packing. I tell you what though, I'm getting sick of the sight of boxes!! Fingers crossed this move is the right step and we don't have to move again for a while....


Last week Luana was a bit of a social butterfly and had 2 birthday parties on the one day. For the little boy (she calls him and his sibling her 'brothers') I put together this cute card (if I do say so myself!!) as he had a pirate themed birthday this year:


I made this cute little pirate all by myself!!! No blog hopping for inspiration this time! His head, body and bandanna are the 1 3/8" circle punch, with the bandanna ends being a petal of the 5 petal flower punch cut down and a crop-o-dile circle for the knot. His arms and hands are the word window punch. His good eye is another crop-o-dile circle and his mouth and eyepatch are the corner of a scallop square. The '7' is trimmed down from the On Board Simon (retired) one and edged with a Brilliant Blue marker. The halo behind it was made with the two circle punches. Matey's Map jumbo wheel (retired) provided just the right touch for the background.

Luana's friend thought it was 'awesome' too which is the main thing!


Must be off to pack yet another box - it feels like it will never end!!


Stamps: Matey's Map Jumbo Wheel (retired)
Card: Wild Wasabi (retired), Whisper White, Blush Blossom, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Basic Black
DSP: Jersey Shore (retired)
Ink: Wild Wasabi (retired), Brilliant Blue
Punches: 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle, word window, 5 petal flower punch, crop-o-dile, scallop square
Other: On Board Simon Lower chipboard (retired)

Curtain Call Colour Challenge Act 3 with Mojo added

As part of my job I am often called up to see children on Kid's Ward, so have come to know many of the nurses quite well. One of them is expecting her first baby in October and I was chuffed to be invited to her Baby Shower tomorrow. As an added bonus I've been able to use the shower stamp from Greetings Eight for her card:

She knows she is having a little girl, so I thought the colours Stacey has chosen for her most recent Curtain Call Colour Challenge would work well, coupled with the latest Mojo Monday sketch, rotated:

I stamped the umbrella image twice in Regal Rose on Very Vanilla so I could fussy cut the open part and pop it up for a bit of dimension. This was layered on Regal Rose before being layered on top of the three strips of Certainly Celery Prints DSP (retired) which had the edges swiped with Certainly Celery ink. Kraft and Very Vanilla layered on Regal Rose formed the card base and some wide Regal Rose grosgrain ribbon and Certainly Celery brads finished it off.

I'm not likely to be in town when this little girl enters the world, so I'm so glad I can celebrate with her wonderful mother tomorrow.

Stamps: Greetings Eight

Card: Regal Rose, Kraft, Very Vanilla
DSP: Certainly Celery Prints (retired)
Ink: Regal Rose, Certianly Celery
Other: Regal Rose 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon, Certainly Celery brads

Luana's Birthday Creations

I have been meaning to post this for ages, and as it is, I still haven't got around to making the Thank you's to coordinate with the invite and card for Luana's birthday.


I wasn't quite sure what theme to go with this year for her invites and ended up using Keesh's favourite colour combo (Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip) and Crazy for Cupcakes as inspiration. I posted a card in August that didn't quite make the cut for Miss Luana's card...

I wanted to keep the invited relatively straightforward, and the new Introducing stamp set from the Spring Mini was just begging to be used. I paper pieced the balloon from Crazy for Cupcakes with Sweet Always DSP, and despite my wanting this to be straightforward, I stamped one little cupcake from the cupcake tower in the same set three times on Pink Pirouette (icing), Pumpkin Pie (base) and Regal Rose (cherry) before fussy cutting it and putting it together. Stamping and using blender pens to colour just didn't work for me...

The next challenge was the card...

Luana had chosen a Bluh-fly (Butterfly) birthday cake, so I just had to pull out Bold Butterfly for her card. I used the Flitting By wheel on her first birthday invitations. I stamped off the solid base of the butterflies and flowers and stamped the outline detail in first generation, adding some sparkle to the butterflies (3 of course!). Clear rhinestone brads finished off the 3 flowers. I used second generation Pink Pirouette with the flower outline to add a bit of interest to the Whisper White circle the chipboard 3 was mounted on. The 3 was covered with Bella Rose DSP, the edges were sanded and inked with Chocolate Chip before mounting. After trying a few different cards, I was quite happy with this one!

Here's our family pic from the big day - I kept with the pink and orange theme for the cake too!! Luana loved it - what more can you ask for?!

As I mentioned a few posts ago, the reason for my lack of inspiration and blogging lately will become apparent soon... and the time is now. A few weeks ago, we found out VERY unexpectedly that Paul had been offered a short-term contract position in Alice Springs (for those of you not in Australia - 1200km south of Katherine, around about the middle of Australia). This had not ever been even an outside thought in our life plan so this offer threw our lives into turmoil - what to do?! In the end, it worked out I could transfer to a locum position down there, so we decided (VERY quickly) to take the plunge and move down the track to keep our little family together. Who knows where we will be early next year?! Anyone with a crystal ball is more than welcome to throw any hints our way! Consequently, life has since been mad with packing, contract negotiations, trying to find a place to live and trying to find child care for Miss Luana, as well as everything else that goes with moving.... It is slowly taking shape, but I think I will be relieved when we're finally all down there.

Please bear with me over the next few months with blogging, and for those of you waiting - I will post my swaps soon - I promise!!

Invitation

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes, Introducing (Spring Mini)

Card: Regal Rose, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Pumkpin Pie

DSP: Sweet Always

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pumkin Pie

Card

Stamps: Bold Butterfly (retired)

Card: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie

DSP: Sweet Always, Bella Rose

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip

Punches: 1 1/4" circle, 1 3/8" circle

Other: Dazzling Diamonds, Clear rhinestone brads, On Board Lots of Letters Chipboard

Bright Celebration

Second post tonight!! I think I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, but we'll see how the next couple of months go.... I think this is also the earliest I have EVER made an entry for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge (and I've missed the last few weeks too...).

I teamed this sketch with the latest Scrapmaster's Paradise Colour Challenge:

Once again, I've had to substitute colours - Pixie Pink for Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise for Bermuda Bay.

I quite like this colour combo - I actually used Pixie Pink and Tempting Turquoise for Luana's First birthday invites, and for her second Christmas cards (wasn't into cardmaking for the first). Have never thought to team it with Orange though...

I rotated the sketch and used a flower for the dreaded circle - I really should invest in a circle cutting system - any recommendations? I will have better access to papercraft supplies soon...
I put this card together for a friend who has a birthday coming up. Really quite simple tonight - two different Tempting Turquoise DSP's from Pink Flamingo, and a few petals and centres from Pick-a-Petal. I inked just 'celebrate' on one of the greetings from Sweet Little Sentiments (Level 1 Hostess Set) with an Only Orange Stampin' Write marker and stamped it discretely in one corner. Done! I love straight forward cards.


If you're up for some blog candy, head over to SPCC and become a follower for your chance to win! Samantha puts together great colour combos, with great prizes to boot!








Stamps: Pick-a-Petal, Sweet Little Sentiments (Level 1 Hostess Set)
Card: Only Orange, Whisper White
DSP: Pink Flamingo
Ink: Only Orange, Pixie Pink

Welcome Kiannah

Yet another bundle of joy has entered the world - and there are MANY more to come over the next months in our world. It feels like almost every woman (remotely my age) I know is expecting another miracle (including my sister - I'm going to be an auntie!!). Lots of baby cards coming up!

I thought this weeks Color Throwdown challenge suited a baby card. Kiannah's Mum was my Body Balance instructor (pre-Luana when I actually went to the gym!) and is quite bright and funky, so pastels weren't quite right... I've used Pixie Pink instead of Positively Pink.

Apologies for the atrocious photo - will try to remedy that tomorrow.

This has ended up being a bit of a blast from the past card. I inked up the gorgeous butterfly from Reason to Smile (retired) in Pixie Pink and stamped it off before going over the bigger flowers with a Stampin' Write Marker, and taking the ink off the middle flowers with a blender pen and inking them with a Bashful Blue marker. I also used the Pixie Pink marker to run around the edges of the butterfly wings. I love Best Friends Alphabet (retired), so used it with the Stamp-a-ma-jig for the names. The little flowers in Bashful Blue are also from Reason to Smile, and I edged the names with Certainly Celery ink. A little bit of interest was added around the edge of the Certainly Celery Prints DSP (also retired) with some paper piercing and faux stitching with the white gel pen. Some more faux stitching (this time free hand) was added to the Blooms Die Cut. The names and the butterfly were popped up with dimensionals and the butterfly wings curled up just a tad.

We're looking forward to meeting Kiannah this week!

Stamps: Reason to Smile (retired), Best Friends Alphabet (retired)
Card: Pixie Pink, Whisper White
DSP: Certainly Celery Prints (retired)
Ink: Pixie Pink, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery
Other: Blooms Die Cut Flowers, white gel pen, paper piercer

Flutterby Tea Party

August used a be a quiet-on-the-birthday-front month for me, so when I found out Baby Murray (aka Luana) was due in August I was quite happy (I'm a Christmas time baby - I'm sure you other Christmas babies out there understand!). However, in recent years more bubbies have been born and friends added to our circle who all celebrate in August, so it's now become quite a busy month!! (I'm not going to write on here the ONLY month where there are no special events in our family for fear of a baby boom next year!). Tonight's card has been made for a gorgeous little girl who joined the ranks of Leo babies last year (I've been a bit slack on promptness this year...).

I have used Makeesha Inskpirations Sketch Challenge #12, rotated and with a touch of artistic licence:

The gorgeous birthday girl had a purple butterfly cake, so I didn't need any encouragement to run with that theme!! I didn't actually plan for this card to be a no stamp card, but that's how it evolved. I used Lovely Lilac and Almost Amethyst as the starting colours and added others found in the Tea Party DSP - love the soft colours! The ribbon is from the retired Flirty Ribbon Originals pack, and the oval (aka the number '0') and number 1 are courtesy of the retired Simon On Board Chipboard 0 those big numbers a fantastic. I distressed and inked in Certainly Celery in edges of the '0', as well as adding some light sponging. I used a Lovely Lilac Stampin' Write Marker to run around the edge of the 1 for a bit more definition and popped it up with dimensionals.

My favourite part of this card would have to be the butterflies. I saw these while I was blog-hopping one day, but I cannot remember who's blog it was - please leave a comment if it's you so I can give you credit where it's due!! They're made using the 5 petal flower punch - super easy and super cute!! I drew little circles in a line for the body and added some antennae too.

We took Luana to a butterfly farm today which was so much fun. Ulysses butterflies are just STUNNING but SO hard to photograph... I think Mum and I ended up with some good photos between us though.

Have a great weekend!

Card: Lovely Lilac, Whisper White

DSP: Tea Party
Ink: Certainly Celery, Lovely Lilac
Punch: 5 petal flower
Other: On Board Simon Chipboard (retired), silver gel pen (non-SU), silver brads, Flirty ribbon (retired)

Cocoa Daisies

We have had a busy weekend (to finish a heavy week), and the next few won't be any more relaxing than this one I'm sure! We did one of the walks at Edith Falls yesterday that we've been meaning to do for AGES. Paul has done it with the School Holiday program before, but I hadn't ventured in that direction yet - and the last time I did a walk at Edith Falls I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Luana!!
We had a lovely day paddling (me slipping on wet rocks into the water!), laughing and picnicking, only to find out just as we were walking back we'd only made it to Long Hole Pool, not Sweetwater Pool like we had intended... that was still a further 2km on. Oh well, it was a lovely spot to pass a few hours and we'll head back to Sweetwater when Luana is a bit older and won't have to be on Paul's shoulders quite so much!

After such an energetic day yesterday, we just caught up with a few things around the house and had coffee with a friend today. I was able to sit down tonight to make a card after Luana had gone to bed. It feels like ages since I've sat down and felt somewhat inspired.

Tonight I put together a card using the latest Scrapmaster's Paradise Colour Challenge and Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge:

I substituted Close to Cocoa for Soft Suede, although I do think this combo would work better with the Soft Suede. I shadow stamped the daisies from Upsy Daisy by using first and second generation stamping in Close to Cocoa, moving the stamped to the right a bit in between. This was mounted on a thin border of Close to Cocoa card. I also inked up the greeting from Great Friend in the Spring Mini with Close to Cocoa and used a blender pen to take the ink off 'friend' before using my Green Galore Stampin' Write marker to add colour. This was punched with the 1 3/8" circle punch and mounted just off a Close to Cocoa punched circle the same size. The strip of DSP comes from Candy Lane, and it's a bit hard to see but the edges of the Green Galore are sponged and swiped to soften the effect a little.

I'm not sure about the green, but I thinks it's a sweet card non-the-less.

I'm off to bed now for a well earned sleep! Pity I need to work tomorrow!

Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Great Friend (Spring Mini)

Card: Close to Cocoa, Green Galore, Whisper White

DSP: Candy Lane

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Green Galore

Punches: 1 3/8" circle

Roaring Thanks!

I must apologise for my lack of posting recently. I have not had time to play much, with Luana's birthday and my parent's visiting, but this week motivation has deserted me - the reason why will become apparent in the next couple of months (and no, I'm not expecting). Life changing decisions can do that to you I guess!

I have made one card this week though, for one of Luana's carers using Makeesha's latest Inspiration Challenge.

I've taken inspiration from the colours, the cupboards, and the curve of the chairs and bowls on the breakfast bar. I was going to use Baja Breeze or Bashful Blue to tie in with the bowls, but Luana loves pink so used Pink Pirouette instead.

I've 'reversed' the colour scheme and made Close to Cocoa window/cupboard frames instead of White like in the picture. I punched the windows out using 1 3/8" square punch and used dimensionals to mount the animals so theyare recessed a bit (cheats way of doing the gorgeous recessed frame card on SCS last week!). The mane of the lion (roar!!) - first generation stamp, the body and face were second generation - was fussy cut and mounted with dimensionals and some Dazzling Diamonds added sparkle to the giraffe (also reminiscent of the crystalware in the cupboards!!). The oval greeting filled the curve inspiration - even the writing is curvy!

I think this lion is so cute! Luana has a thing about tigers and there's lots of roaring going on in our house these days, so the lion is the closest I have!

Luana's carer loved it and Luana proudly announced to anyone in earshot that "My Mummy made the card" - gotta love kids for an ego boost!

Stamps: Wild About You, Short & Sweet

Card: Close to Cocoa, Whisper White

DSP: Candy Lane

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Pink Pirouette

Punches: Scallop Oval, Small Oval, Large Oval, 1 3/8" square

Other: Dazzling Diamonds