MerryMade Crafts etc ...

This time of year seems to need a lot of Thank You cards. I have created a Joy Fold card using the same pack of Stampin Up patterned papers that I used on yesterdays card.  Love double sided paper makes everything look so different.  The flower and lace were part of a bling accessory I bought a while ago.  I finished the front sentiment section off with some pin pricking along the bottom. Well, happy Friday everyone.  I will catch you all again next week and hope to spend the weekend catching up with what you all have been up to.

Please click on the photos to get a larger view. These are photos taken by my husband last week of our trip to Port Douglas and Daintree.  If you scroll down a few posts you will see my photos taken on my mobile. This is a Heliconia we spied in the motel grounds. Part of the Great Dividing Range which stretches most of the east coast of Australia. This is a closer view of the rocky outcrop of the Great Dividing Range. I can't remember this guys name but he was on one of the trees near the entrance of the office for our Daintree River Cruise. The first crocodile we spied which is a couple of years old, about 1 metre long. A tree snake which we were at the most 1 metre away from. Second croc which is a brother or sister of the one above. You will have to enlarge this photo.  If you look where the brown leaf is pointing to in the branches and directly under that 'L' shaped branch you will see the big male crocs head.  He h...

This is a card I made to say Thank You to our daughters Ranger (Guides) Leader for all the time she spends on the girls.   I have made a trifold card once before and that was before owning a Stampin Up Simply Score Board.  I was so happy with this card when I finished….it all opened and closed beautifully.  The precise scoring on the board makes so much difference to the end result.  The papers I used are from a Stampin Up prize pack I won earlier this year.  So love the colours and patterns.  I embellished the papers with white sentiment stickers from Sticker Store and some bling and lace sticker from my stash.   Hoping your day is or has been a good one.  Mine has been, I did a few needed jobs around the house. Sent off my swap to England and a birthday card to my son's girlfriend.  Also caught up with a good friend for coffee and a bit of shop browsing.  We haven't seen each other since June, so lots of chatter.  Oh, ...

We are back home after our very relaxing stay at Port Douglas. Bit hot and steamy at times. Rain of an evening cooled things down. Such a friendly spot. These photos are where we had a morning coffee at the marina Port Douglas Friday. Then lunch  at The Highlander Pub at Julatten. Yummy food and beautiful views. My photos of grasses and microwave mailbox while hubby was up the road taking photos of an old shed.

Oooops missed a day sharing a photo. Simply been enjoying doing nothing. Bit of sunshine, some rain, tv, reading, games on mobile, food, coffee, listening to the birds, people watching. Just making the most of it as next week it will be back to the real world. Have good day whatever your plans. Davidson Road, Port Douglas

This what I saw late in the afternoon. Tuesday. Arrived at the boat for a cruise to spy crocodiles and was offered a glass of wine and packet of chips. A great way to relax. Cruising the Daintree River looking for crocodiles. Daintree River a storm is brewing. If you squint, shut one eye and probably hop you will see a big male crocodile in amongst the roots near the brown leaf.   Traffic on the river.

We spied this flower laden tree while going for a stroll after lunch yesterday. Great guess as to where we are Annmaree but not the Gold Coast as that is way too busy with schoolies. :-)  This was taken along Davidson Road, Port Douglas.

Hi everyone, I never thought that five years ago I would still be blogging but here I am and still love it. I enjoy having this space to share what I create and what I am doing. I really enjoy catching up with other blogs in blogland and have learnt so much from your posts about crafting and the world. I watch TV or read books and hear mention of certain towns and cities around the world and pay more attention as more than likely I have gotten to know someone there.  Thanks to everyone who has visited over those five years, your wonderful comments and friendship keep me blogging. No crafting photos from me this week as hubby and I are having a bit of time out to help sidetrack us from tthe fact that our daughter is at Airlie Beach schoolies with about 6000 other graduates celebrating the fact they have finished school.  This is my view at the moment. I hope to share a different photo each day but I may get sidetracked. :-)

Hi all, well today is our daughter's final day of school. We only have two kids, with our daughter finishing school it is an end of an era,  so very nostalgic here. Good memories and exciting times ahead of us.  Tomorrow night is her graduation night where they get dressed to the nines and arrive in flash cars.  As parents we are lucky enough to join in the fun of the night and see all these wonderful young adults all glammed up and ready to take on the world.   Card time…..I made this card for our October swap at Craftmad , the theme was glitter.  On some white card stock I attached strips of double sided tape and then added alternate colours of glitter.  Yes, I ended up with the obligatory glitter under my eye that I just could not move for the whole day. :-)  I coloured this wonderful Stella image from Bugaboo with my Copic Pens added some Dimensional Magic to her glasses.  Finished with a touch of bling on the sentiment. Take ca...

Not sure if you have noticed but I do enjoy using the Joy Fold card layouts.  This is the second card that I made for my husband's work colleague who asked for a Baby Girl card.  This is the one she chose, (you can see the  other card here.  )  I found these pretty papers in my stash and I think once again they were from the lovely Annmaree .  I found this cute Mo Manning image 'Baby and Bunny'.  I coloured this with my Copic Pens and then cut a frame around the image with my Marvelous Squares Die.  Finished the cards with a couple of gold sticker sentiments and pink bling. Take care and thanks for visiting.

I really enjoyed doing this quilt block after our block swap last month which involved lots of triangles. This block is an Arrowhead Puzzle block -  instructions here.   As you may notice I am down to the last of my fabrics for these blocks.  We have been using dusky yellow, blue and green all the way through this year.  I was so relieved that I could squeeze three blocks out of what I had left.  As it would have added at least another week for me to organise a trip into town to buy more fabric. A quick post for me today.  Wishing you all a great day.

This is the second Joy Fold card that I made for my partner over at Craftmad for our September swap. I started this card with the label on the front which I received a very long time ago from a lady in Canada - Deborah March ….hmmm a while since I have visited her blog as now she lives in Ecuador and hasn't posted since July.  Things change. So I found some card stock that matched the colour of the label and cut a this to 14cm x 28cm and folded in half to form a square card.  I then trimmed 7cm from the front flap.  I cut a piece of matching patterned paper from my stash for the front panel and ran this through the Victoria embossing folder before attaching it to the front of the card.  I attached another piece of patterned paper to the inside of the large square card and attached some pearl bling.  Next I created a 7cm square card from green card stock, rounded the corners and attached the label.   The rear of this smaller card is then attac...

I saw in my Facebook feed that Beth had made some Tea Boxes .  Not long after a lady at the museum where I volunteer asked for a special gift to give her cleaning lady.  I thought the Tea Box would be perfect.  So I dug out some Stampin Up papers that I had won earlier tis year and Stampin Up Pacific Blue Card stock.  The cream card stock is Bazzill.    I then followed Kaye's instructions for the Tea Box, tutorial here.   I really enjoyed making this box although I have made one before here.   This time I had a Simply Scored board from Stampin Up.  Made everything easy to score and line up. I found this lovely lace in my stash which I thought was perfect.  Printed out the words Tea and Coffee as I am not sure which the recipient would drink. Topped with this beautiful flower I received I am pretty sure from Beth at some stage. Yes, the lady at the museum loved it as do I and I think I will have to put another coup...

Hi everyone, one of my husband's work colleagues asked me to make a baby girl card for her.  I made two so that she had a choice.  This is the card that didn't get chosen.  I liked the little onesies which I cut from a set of pink papers from my stash and added stickers and rub-ons to embellish them.  I attached them to white card stock which I have run through my Swiss Dots embossing folder.  Finished with a computer generated sentiment and a touch of bling. Thanks for visiting and have a lovely day.

Hi everyone, this is one of the Joy Fold cards I made for my partner for the September Craftmad swap. I started with black card stock then added these lovely papers from my stash that I know that someone in blogland sent to me.  Thanks.  I teamed them with these fun stickers embellishments. Nice quick post today. Wishing you lots of luck and fun if you have something planned for Melbourne Cup today.  I am hoping to catch up with some friends and be in a sweep just so I can know one of the horses names and cheer it home. :-)

This month at Unstampabelles we are playing with Vellum.  Be sure to visit Unstampabelles to see what the Design Team have created.  Christmas cracker, flowers, pergamano all are beautiful. I found a wonderful tutorial by Kara which I used for these fun Christmas Stocking Gift Bags.  I think I will be making another one to add to these two and give to the ladies at the school tuckshop as a thank you this year from the P&C. I started with white spotted vellum and machine stitched to pieces together in a stocking shape.  The holly leaves I hand cut from some green Bazzil card stock, the holly berries are peals colured with R29 Copic Pen. This stocking topper I tried some red 'flock' that I have had in my stash for ages.  So in real life it has a lovely soft velvety feel. This topper I embossed in a quilted pattern and then added leftover gold sticker to each join of the pattern.  Come on over to Unstampabelles and enter ...

We sure did a lot at this Craftmad Meet Up ….as it has taken me two weeks or more to post about it.  Today I am doing a wrap up and these are all the goodies I received.  I shared a couple bags of chocolates but will be much more prepared next year. :-)  I felt so very spoilt and literally bought a new suitcase to go home. :-)  The photo above is the craft area all set up by Kaye and Ruth. Note the little wine goblets were the place markers and down the centre a few containers of chocolates etc. Kaye and Ruth gave us all these gift bags in theme with all the decorations. This box was inside the above bag. Then there were die cuts inside the box. Now this little notebook cover I didn't get to open until I returned home. And what a beautiful surprise it was…..these lovely decorated pins ready for a very special card. Part of the theme. The place marker. Our initial badge. Part of the gift bag. ...