My Blogger has Attitude

...........or so Stacie from over at All Things Crafty thinks. :-)

Thanks so much for thinking of me Stacie.....I am very honoured.  


Now there is a catch to this award.......and that is....this award comes with a $5 gift certificate from Digi's With Attitude Store! All you have to do is follow a few simple steps!

First I must tell you 3 things about myself. 
1. I played grass hockey for about twenty years.
2. I am an earlybird....normally up around 6am.
3. My right big toe only as about a third of it's nail. :-)

Second I have to give this award to 5 other people (random order).


Angie
Audrey
Cathy
Linby
Gail
To redeem your gift certificate click HERE and follow the instructions.

Dasher the Reindeer

Morning all.....it's Friday again.....boy it comes around fast.  This weekend however, I am staying at home.  What a novelty. :-)  Planning on doing lots of gardening as the weeds are growing really well at the moment.  Plants need a good watering too.

On to my cards.  I used my new Stampin Up Dasher stamp again.....he is so much fun.  Both of these cards started with a white gloss BE card.  Then a layer of this fantastic Allison Ellis design paper.  It is so silvery and shiny and I just love holly leaves for Christmas.  I cut out a scalloped edge circle with my Spellbinders in navy blue card.  Stamped Dasher on to white card and then punched the majority of him out with a circle punch.  When I use a stamp I use the entire image.....never think to use only part.  My friend had told me she had seen this on the net somewhere so I had to have a try.  I really like how Dasher looks in the circle.  I then added shimmer paint.  To the top Dasher a red nose and tadah you have Rudolf....finished with a red bow.  The second card, I added leftover sticker circles to the edge of the scallop.  Stamped the lovely Stampin Up greeting and rounded two corners to make it look like a tab.

Wishing you all a happy and fun filled weekend.  

Catch up with you on Monday.

Bookmarks

This is a lovely bookmark that I received in the mail from a lovely friend over at Craftmad.  A couple of weeks ago over at Craftmad we had an online Girls Night In to raise funds for Cancer Research.  I couldn't make it as that was the weekend I went to Kurrimine Beach.  Kerry has since written up a tutorial for these lovely bookmarks which you can find here. 

As well as the above bookmark Kerry sent me five more pretty flower images.  At first I thought I would put this aside a try later probably after Christmas but then I had another think.....these would be great to add to Christmas cards to be a nice little surprise.  Nice and flat and light to post.

So out came my watercolour pencils, aquamarkers and aqua pen and I had a wonderful time colouring all these pretty images in.  Some I have added a touch of Kindy Glitz.

I went around the sunflower and tulip bookmarks with a little faux stitching.  Really love how that finished the bookmark.

This photo I have put Kerry's bookmark up on it's side just to show the magnetic strip on the inside.

Wishing you all a beautiful day with lots of happy moments.

Christmas Baubles

Morning everyone,  as you can see I am in a Christmas faze at the moment.  :-)

This lovely layout came from Robyn who owns My Scrap & Chatz Room Ph 40652074 in Silkwood.

I have used lots of Stampin Up products on this one...they certainly make life so much easier when putting a card together.  (Maybe I should start selling lol)  However, I did start we a white gloss BE card.  Then I used layers of Stampin Up design paper Jolly Holiday and card Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler.  My friend Ruth stamped up the Christmas Bauble from the Contempo Christmas set and went over the top of them with Shimmer Paint.  So in real life all these baubles have a nice shine/shimmer to them.  The baubles were punched out with the Stampin Up Ornament punch.

I finished the card with some of my ribbon that matched beautifully and bits of bling.

Again I have done this fun and easy banner.  Just cut a length of matching card about 2cm wide.  Stamp your greeting in the centre then fold on each side of the greeting then fold again about 1cm away from the first fold.  This makes the greeting pop up.  Then cut a triangle out of each end at the length that you would like your banner.  Easy but very effective.

Xmas Owls

Hi everyone, I had every intention on posting this up this morning but it disappeared somewhere and now it 2.20pm.  Amazing.

Anyways, here are some more cards with Jenni's (Cardmadfairy Creations) cute little Christmas Owl.  I had fun colouring him and adding him to different layouts on the card.

I coloured him with my watercolour pencils and aqua pen and added Kindy Glitz to his hat.  All the cards I started with my white BE card.  The top two cards I used my new Jolly Holiday design papers from Stampin Up.  Also the matching Stampin Up card colours Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler.

You can't see in the photo of the first card but I have pin pricked down the edge of the Cherry Cobbler.   The second card I used a pretty Martha Steward border punch on the edge of the topper.  Finished with these wonderful silver sticker snowflakes from the Sticker Store.  

The third card I teamed up with another lot of new design papers I have bought from Blue Edge Crafts by Allison Ellis.   All these papers have gold or silver through the design so lovely and sparkly.  I have cut some of the christmas decorations out from a scrap piece of the paper and layered them on to the card with 3D foam.

Dasher turned into Rudolf

Morning everyone, well we are back.  Townsville was wonderful but we are both very exhausted.  My daughter from all the touch footy and me from all the driving.  The team played wonderfully well but alas other teams played better than them.  Saturday was one win, one draw and one loss.....so tried everything. :-)  Sunday only one game which was a loss.  There is always next year.

Returned yesterday to hubby with a handful of info that he had dug up on the weekend about our family holiday.  So when I unpacked I sat down with my cuppa tea to read it all.  Put my cuppa tea next to the open laptop and accidently bumped my cup when placing it on the bench which meant about 1/2 teaspoon of tea landed on the mousepad section of the laptop.  Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!  Of course now it is not working properly.  I have just driven all the way into town to get the computer experts to look at it and fingers and everything crossed it will work again without too much cost.

Now for my card.  I bought myself the new Dasher Stamp for Stampin Up.  I so love his antlers.  Although, I have changed him for this card as he is now Rudolf with his bright red shiny nose.  I started with my white BE card and then used the new Holly Jolly Christmas Design paper from Stampin Up.  Had to have a try of the Stampin Up embossing folder too...it embosses so lovely and deep, I used Stampin Old Olive for this. Cut out a banner to stamp Merry Christmas on.  The ink here and the layer behind Rudolf is Stampin Cherry Cobbler....such a lovely rich red colour.

I will try and catch up with everyone during this week.  First I must catch up on the washing though.  Happy Monday everyone.

Snow Baby's Gift

Morning everyone, last day of the week and it's fine and sunny. :-)

Today's card I have used another of Jenni's new digi images from Cardmadfairy's Creations.  Isn't this the cutest baby....she looks so cuddly.  (Snowbaby's Gift)  I have coloured her with my watercolour pencils and added some Kindy Glitz to the white areas.   On the stars I have used a new thing that I have just bought.  It is called Sparkle and Soft.  As the name suggests it is glitter mixed with some soft flocking.  The photo doesn't really show it too good and I would like to try it on a bigger area next time.  

So I started with my white BE card then a layer of this lovely spotted green paper which I won in some candy. :-)  Dug out my Stampin Up tab punch for the purple tab.  Stamped 'For You' on there and then went around the edge with my black pen for some faux stitching.  Found a rub-on snowflake and filled the centre with bling.  Down the side I have added three lovely silver snowflake stickers from Sticker Store.  Then finished with a Letraset Christmas rub-on greeting which is a little hard to see in the photo.

Wishing you a terrific weekend everyone.  I am off again this weekend.  Taking our daughter to a Touch Footy comp in Townsville which is a four hour drive south of us.   Usually, a very fun weekend and by the end of it she is totally exhausted from playing so many games.  That will be the end of my tripping around for a little bit.  So I hope to catch up on everyone's blogs next week.

Take care.

Aquamarker Giveaway

Hi everyone just had to share this Giveaway and some wonderful new digi images.  Ruth over at Passion for Stamps has three new Christmas images.  Below are two cards she has created with her new creations.  I hope you don't mind me sharing Ruth....I just thought they were so stunning.  If you want to see more of Ruth's beautiful cards be sure to visit her Passion for Cards blog.

Oh.....you want to know about the Aquamarker giveaway....that is over at Ruth's blog too.  Just click here for the post.

Stamping Vacation DT - When I Grow Up Challenge

Hi everyone, time for a new Stamping Vacation Design Team Card.  Before I tell you about the card and challenge I must tell you about this months prize on offer over at Stamping Vacation.

Stamping Vacation has a different challenge for each day of the month except the very last day.  You can enter any or all of these challenges as many times as you would like.  This will put you in the running for this months prize.  Our sponsor this month is MARK'S FINEST PAPERS.  They will be giving away 4 (four) of the December Sneak Peek stamp sets.  Denise also has put up a $25.00 gift certificate from Mark's Finest Papers.  The winner will be drawn randomly on the 1st of December.

Now this card is for the When I Grow Up Challenge which has the theme of 'Farmer'

When I first started thinking of this challenge I wanted to do a tractor but didn't find anything that I liked.  I came across this image from FCIT and thought it was just perfect.

I have used my white BE card as the base card...then a layer of Kaisercraft paper.  A strip of Stampin Up Baja Blue down the side which I smudge with brown ink to blend it in with the brown paper.  I tied some kitchen twine around the bottom of the card.  Coloured the image with my watercolour pencils and cut it out and embossed with my Octagon Spellbinder.

More news from Stamping Vacation.

A $20.00 gift certficate is on offer as a prize when we reach 300 Followers! The winner will be chosen from the Followers.

And be watching for something NEW coming on November 15th! Something we haven't seen anywhere else...yet! So Stamping Vacation will be premiering this event! If you want to be a part it...keep an eye on us! 

Card Holders

My friend is having a fundraiser night for our Relay for Life team next year.  I can't attend the night so she asked for a donation of a prize.  So I have gone through my card collection and made up two card packs with a seven cards in each to cover variety of occasions. 

I have used Bazzill card for both holders.  Also got to use a new purchase - 'Just the Edge' Cardstock Strips.  They come in a pack of 20 pieces, 2 of each style all pre-cut.  Makes borders easy. :-) The first holder I punched flowers with my large and medium sized retro flower punch.  Then added  purple star stickers to the centres.  Dug out my Quirky Font Stickers to create the word 'Cards'.  Then finished the holder with this lovely purple satin ribbon.

For this card holder I used another edge strip.  Printed out this fantastic 'Poppies' image from Cardmadfairy Creations.  I coloured it slightly with my watercolour pencils and added some leftover sticker pieces to the butterfly.   The word 'Cards' I used rub-on and cut them into shape.  Added a flower which I created with black lace and two punched out large retro flowers and red bling for the centre.  And again a ribbon (black satin) around the middle to hold the holder closed.

I would like to enter these holders into the following challenges.

Crafty Creations - Challenge 91 - Halloween or perhaps Autumn ends Wed 3rd Nov

Polka Doodles - Week 43 Challenge - Autumn ends Fri 5th Nov

2 Sisters Challenge Blog - Challenge 11 ~ No Designer Paper ends 5th Nov

(This is for my second folder)

Stamping Vacation - No! No! Challenge 

MARK'S FINEST PAPERS Prize if you enter for the month of November is 

4 of the December Sneak Peek stamp sets and there will be a $25.00 gift certificate from Marks Finest Papers

Cardmadfairy's Design Team

Morning everyone, yes it's time to tell you my exciting news.  The lovely Jenni over at Cardmadfairy's Creations has asked me to be on her Design Team... woohoo!!!.  Jenni draws the such fun and terrific digital stamp images I could only say Yes!!!

Today Jenni, Cardmadfairy Creations has released five new digital christmas stamps and they are such fun. That is what I played with on my weekend away as well as other things.  Here is her Xmas Owl he was such fun to colour in and would really come to life as I added colour.  

To create this card I started with a white BE card then a layer of Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler topped with the Stampin Up Design Paper - Jolly Holiday.  This is a new design paper pack for me and I so love the colours.  Cut out a branch freehand for the owl to stand on and punched the leaves with the new Stampin Up bird and leaf punch.  The Xmas Owl I have coloured with with my watercolour pencils, added Kindy Glitz and some googlie eyes.

More exciting news from the Cardmadfairy Creations blog ........ starting next year there will be fortnightly challenges.  So make a note of that in your books.

Here are the rest of the Design Team a very talented bunch of ladies.  Be sure to check out their blogs to see what they have done with the images.  I have learnt two things already.  One that I can flip a digital image and have the two images on the same card.   The other fun idea I saw on one of the ladies do was use this owl image and have three owls printed but each owl was reduced in size and side by side.  So it appeared as if a family of owls were sitting in the tree.  

Gillian

Sheila

Tracey

Sandra 

Canne

Audrey

Merry .....it's me!! 

Carol Ann

Melbourne Cup Horse Race is on today here for Australia.  It's the race that the nation stops for......amazing isn't it.  This is the only horse race I watch.  It helps that like the last couple of years I go over to a friends place where she has invited about 20 of her friends.  We all put on a dress and heels that is a novelty in itself for me....take a plate of food for lunch.  Eat, chat, drink and then at 2.30pm (I think) we watch the horses line up and watch to see if our horse wins the sweep.  It is exciting.  Then it is used to be a mad rush to go and pick the kids up from school.  But my two are older now and catch the bus home.

So wishing everyone luck in their choices of horses today.

Have fun.

My Crafting Weekend

Morning everyone, I made it back and life is as if I have never been away.  Had the most wonderful weekend with terrific friends.  The only complaint......it just wasn't long enough.

This first photo I have to share with you is what our self contained motel room looked like when we arrived at 6pm Friday arvo.  We stayed at King Reef Accommodation at Kurrimine Beach.  When we first arrived the lovely lady at reception offered us a cabin even though we had booked the motel room.  So we went to check both out.  For our weekend away the self contained motel room was exactly what we needed.....space to spread and a kitchen to cook and eat as we needed.  Now the cabins were brilliant...like any other cabin except you are at the most three metres from the sandy beach.  Perfect for a family. So we all have this tucked away in our brains for family weekend at some stage.  I also have to tell the food at the restaurant was just beautiful.  Huge dishes.  I had the Barrimundi and there was none left at the end.

Now this is the room 10am Saturday morning.  That's my seat right in front of you.  We set up Friday night....had the yummiest tea in the restaurant then crafted until 12.30am....way past my bed time. Up again at 7.30am for a stroll along the beach.  Bit of crafting, bacon and egg muffin (by Ruth) and percolated coffee (by Helen). 

 Some more crafting before heading off to meet the lovely Robyn a friend of Ruth's.  Robyn owns a very cute craft shop (My Scrap & Chatz Room Ph 40652074) in Silkwood be sure to pull in and visit as you drive along that Bruce Highway.  Robyn loves to do scrapbooking and also 'Off the Page' creations.  They are stunning.  Sorry, I don't have any photos of her creations to share here.

After visiting Robyn's we headed back to our little room.  Curtains pulled back, looking out onto the pool.  Therefore, people walking past looking in, and probably thinking we were crazy people sitting admist the paper piles.  Crafted for a little while before stopping for a yummy salad bread roll which we all pitched into to make.  Back to crafting until about 3ish when Robyn turned up with a bag of goodies for each of us.  We each selected a bag without looking inside and what was inside matched each of us perfectly.  All the goodies were to create a little booklet from a piece of 12" x 12" scrap page paper.  So we started cutting and folding with Robyn's instructions.  I will have to post a photo later in the week as I haven't taken one yet.  Fun creation which I will have to do again and be more precise with my scoring of the lines.

More crafting, wine, chocolate, pumpkin cake, chocolate biscuits.  Tea cooked by the talented chef Helen....chicken pasta and salad....very yum!!!!

More crafting until around 12.30am for me....again way past my bedtime.  The other ladies stayed a little longer.  Up at 6.30am Sunday mainly due to the kids in the room next door to us.  Oh, well early start to crafting.   Coffee, then crafting.  Robyn came back for another visit and packing up and lunch slowly happened around 12.30pm ish.  

Thanks to the wonderful people at Kings Reef Accommodation for letting have a late check-out time.

This is the room just before we started packing.

This is a collection of our creations.

Somewhere on there you will spy a sneak peak of a little secret that I can share with you tomorrow.

Now I had better get back into my real life here and go and hang another load of washing out.

Oh before I go I have to share with you what a wonderful place I live in.  I just heard a kookaburra laughing somewhere outside just now and it reminded me, how, while out walking the dog this morning I spied a wallaby sitting and watching me.  I so love that I get to see so many of the icons of Australia right on my doorstep.  Again no camera...sorry.

Ok, going now...take care.

Sympathy Card

Hi everyone, I really love this card I am sharing with you today.  Shame it is for such a sad occasion.  My pen pal from school, father passed away just recently.

I have used Stampin Up card and a Stampin Up stamp set called Organic Grace.  I so love the way the flowers came out.  I printed the greeting off the computer and added the crossgrain white ribbon bow.

Short and sweet today as I am busy getting my day and stash organised for a cardmaking weekend with two of my friends.  Yes, we are taking ourselves off this afternoon to a place called Kurrimine Beach with no kids or hubbies.  We will be cardmaking all weekend which some of my other friends thought was odd and sounded like work.  I reminded them how much I enjoy playing with paper and they thought fair enough.

So have a great weekend everyone and see you Monday.

Breast Cancer Bags

This month for our sewing swap over at Craftmad we are making Breast Cancer Bags to be donated to Breast Cancer Clinics in hospitals around Australia.

The reason for these bags are that currently patients who have had a mastectomy and are sent home with drains in situ. Usually they are discharged with two drainage bottles in a hospital pillow slip. So this would make life more pleasant for the ladies by having these bags to carry the drainage bottles in. They are often in use for 2 - 3 months, and as there is about 3 of these operations per week.

The pattern we have used came from the Online Quilt Magazine which you can subscribe to for free and receive the pattern to help out too.  Or email me.

I am hoping that these bags are not too bright and standoutish.  When I was cutting the first bag out I realised that I had enough to material left to cut another two bags...so three all up.  These two bags I have completed and the spotted flowers just called out for a little more.  So on one bag I have added sequins and beads to the spotty flowers.  The other bag I added white, and two shades of red french knots.  Very relaxing doing all this beading etc.  Now my daughter (14yo) was asking what I was doing and has taken the third bag to decorate up herself as she thought it was such a good idea.  But I am afraid that the social life of a teenager has gotten in the way and it's not quite finished.  Hopefully on the weekend she will find the time.

A card for Elise

Hi everyone, this card I have created for Elise.....a lady I do not know but is need of a few smiles.  Cheryl over at My Cardmaking Haven has a post telling us how Elise has just been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. I can only imagine the impact on her life and her families.  So if the least I can do is send a card to help her through.... I there.

To create this card I have used this beautiful flower image from Cardmadfairy's Creations.  I used my water colour pencils added some pearly bling for the centres.  The background paper is from a magazine giveaway.  I have rounded the corners on the background paper instead of the card which I think is very effective.  A tip I learnt from Denise over at Stamping Vacation.

I then added this beautiful lace from Scrap Therapy, a white ribbon and a Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon that had been punched out for me.  I used a metallic alphabet rub-on to spell out the word 'Smile' which is what I hope the card will give Elise when she receives it.