Quick Post with a Quick Card

Morning all and welcome to another week.  Father's Day is almost upon us...this coming Sunday.  I really like the trees from the Stampin Up Lovely as a Tree set so thought it could be the feature of this card for my Dad.  Started with Always Artichoke card stock and inked all the edges on all the layers with my Timber Brown Staz On ink.  Stamped the tree on Very Vanilla and then dragged out my Just Rite stamp to stamp the sentiment.  Yes, it's very faint there in the bottom left hand corner.  It's simple but I love the colours of the card and think it works for my Dad...nothing fussy.

Have a great day everyone.

Pretty Petals in Pastel

Hi everyone, a card I really enjoyed putting together.  All items again are Stampin Up, the cardstock from the Subtles range and the stamp set is Pretty as a Petal.

I started with a Very Vanilla square card then cut different colours in different sizes to fit.  Each section has been stamped using Versa Mark and a different stamp from the Pretty as a Petal set.  Then dragged out the sewing machine and added two rows of stitching to each panel.  Stamped up the flower and leaves and then fussy cut them and layered them up.  Was going to add some Kindy Glitz but my daughter had borrow it.  Will wait until there is some floor space to go in search.  Finished off with three little brads.  I will add a sentiment when I discovered what I will use the card for.

Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for visiting.

Happy 13th Birthday

I made this for my friends daughter who loves Taylor Swift.  I did a little research and discovered that Taylor's favourite colour is white although she has answered pink, purple and navy blue to the question too.  Also learnt that one of the guitars Taylor owns is covered in rhinestones so I tried to copy that on to the card.

So started with White Bazzill cardstock then some white pearlescent card that I have run through three of my embossing folders.  Victoria and Bloom Dots from Cuttlebug and Lattice from Stampin Up.  I coloured the Madyson image from Stamping Boutique with my Copic pens.  Photo below shows all the colours I used.  Still amazes me how many colours you can get on such a small image.  Added some pink bling around the image and Kindy Glitz to the guitar, a bit hard to see in the photo.  Finished off with the silver sentiment stickers and wonderful ribbon from my stash.

Woohoo....housework time now. :-)  No I am not seriously that happy about it but it needs to be done.  Wishing you all a great day and week.

Cairns Festival

Remember to click on the photos to get a larger view.

This weekend is the start of Cairns Festival which is a 17 day event....see more here.  Yes, hubby was there with his camera so had to share the photos.  I haven't been to a parade for five years and hubby has never been to one so he was pleasantly surprised at the number of people and how much fun it was.

Don't you love the muscles on these guys above?   Great paintwork.

We had our stilt walkers.

A school band.

This parade was very multicultural.  Aren't these the cutest kids.  The Japanese part of the parade they said was about 300 people and think it was.

A sign from Japan saying thanks for our support for the Earthquake Appeal.

Then there were Chinese Lion Dancers.

A touch of France.

A bit of fun showing off our reef.

Go karting got involved.

Really not sure what this was or representing but looked fantastic.

Cars for the boys.

Finished the night off with a wonderful show of fireworks.  Lots of ooohs and aaaahhs and a couple teary kids.

Lovely as a Tree

It's a Stampin Up card today.  I was meant to be helping a friend out with a market stall today to showcase some Stampin Up ideas.  However, over the past few weeks I just have not been drawn to my craft desk.  So as I was short on cards and she was coming down with a cold we have postponed the event.  I did have fun yesterday creating this card with the Stampin Up - Lovely as a Tree set.  

When doing this card I was also reminded why I do enjoy Stampin Up.  The fact that I can use one stamp set and one colour range of cardstock and know that it is all going to work together.  The base card is More Mustard, then Riding Hood Red, finished with Always Artichoke.  I used a clear Versamark ink pad to add the variety of leaves to each layer.  Ruffed up the edges of each layer of cardstock with the edge of my scissors.  Finished with a piece of kitchen twine.

Now it is the end of another week.  I will be putting on my taxi driving hat for our daughter part of the weekend.  Visit my friends place to help celebrate the fact that there is now another teenager in this world, her 13 yo daughter.  In between, gardening, crafting and best bit ....... nothing. :-)

Have a good one everyone.

Little Mouse - 3D Paper Tole

Morning everyone, thought I would share this cute 3D Paper Tole card.  This image came from a book of mushroom 3D Paper Toles.  Sorry I don't remember the name.  So I have hand cut a couple of layers and adhered them together.  The card started with a layer of Stampin Up  Chocolate Chip.  I then sewed on with my sewing machine a layer of Bazzill Two Scoops card stock.  I used my emery board around the edges of the Two Scoops cardstock to reveal the lighter core colour.  Finished with this lovely gold sticker sentiment from Sticker Store.

Pyramid Race Day.....such fun.

Click on Photos for a larger view.

 Pyramid Race day we woke to perfect weather.  Was up and going at 6am to head to Norman Park to set up the stall ready for a 7am start.  Started packing up around 4pm and home at 5pm.  Great day.  Caught up with lots of friends sold over 10 cards so I am happy.  The rest of the stall was a success too.  This photo gives a better idea of what the terrain of the Pyramid is like.

All these photos have been taken by my Hubby and I have to say he has some wonderful shots.  I am thinking I will have to start sharing my blog. :-)  He took this on the way to the markets.

Me selling to a few customers.  Pre-loved books on the left, kids toys and books in front of me and cards and crafts to the right.

These kids put on a wonderful Aboriginal dance display.  Look how young some of them are.  Too cute.

Police on patrol...not that they were needed, that I saw.

Gordonvale's main street - Norman Street.  The crowds are getting ready for the start of the race.

Runners are talking final tactics.

Last instructions about how the race is to be run.

Crowds have now formed on the other side of Norman Street as they all streamed out from Norman Park where all the market stalls were.

And there off!!!!  Record time to beat 1 hour 15 minutes and 34 seconds.

Off they go....

Thats a lap of the park done now to run for a couple of k's before they even reach the base of the Pyramid. (922m high)

While we wait for the runners to come back we get to watch the entrants in the 5km Cross Country Race - all ages.

Isn't this the cutest photo.  This little girl had no fear of the Great Dane cross dog (huge) and the dog was so placid too.

In comes the winner at 1 hour and 20 mins.  Sorry not sure on exact time or his name.  Amazes me...looks like he could run another couple of km's.  I would be crawling.  :-)

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Walsh's Pyramid for Stacie..... oh, and everyone else. :-)

A borrowed photo of the Pyramid with sugar cane growing in the foreground.  This road heads towards our place. Right hand side.

A photo taken by my friend Joy.  Front view of the Pyramid with a cane field ready to be planted.

A photo taken by my daughter with cane carriages waiting to be filled.  A left hand view.

Lorikeets and Bottlebrush

Click on the photos for a larger view

My hubby has recently discovered the world of photography and has just bought himself a new lens for close ups.  Here are some he took yesterday of the Lorikeets feeding on our Bottlebrush trees.

Some more colour that caught his eye in the garden.  This is the best this Cordyline has looked.

The end of the week again and another fast one.  I am hoping to get stuck into a couple more cards today as my friend and I will be at the Pyramid Race Markets tomorrow.  Yes, even the years seem to be going faster.  The Pyramid Race is an annual event here in Gordonvale where people run up  Walsh's Pyramid and back for fun.  :-)  I have walked it three times in my life and it takes me five hours for the entire trip and that is leaving from the base.  Where as these runners leave from the centre of Gordonvale and do a lap around the central block before running a couple of  kilometres even to get to the base of the Pyramid which is 922m high.  Normally, we are there to cheer on a couple of our friends but they are now older and wiser.....lol.....or bodies are saying no way.  However, I do know that Jill over at Creating My Way to Success is planning on running up again.  I have not met Jill before but I wish her luck.

You can find out more info about the Pyramid Race, entertainment and market stalls here.

Have a great weekend everyone and will catch up with you soon.

New Home Card

Hi everyone, a card, yay!  This card only took me three days to create but I got there in the end. :-)  Our son has just moved into student accommodation.  So a room to himself, ensuite and small kitchenette plus a kitchen, laundry, lounge and balcony to share with 6 other people.  He loves it.  As this is his first place of his own I thought it deserved a card.  Not having any house images I decided to use this mushroom image from The Paper Shelter.  I wanted to stick to greys and blacks as they are the colours in my sons new doona cover, plus try to keep it more manly. :-)  So I dragged out my Copic Pens...so nice to colour again.  Was amazed at how many pens I used to colour this image so took a photo of them all (see below).  I used the July Sketch layout from Craftmad. The card - the base card is Grey Linen Textured cardstock, a panel of black glitter paper, a layer of red bazzill cardstock topped with a metallic red paper, all from Blue Edge Crafts.  The red metallic paper I ran through my Cuttlebug Branches embossing folder.  I then dug out my hexagon Spellbinder dies and finished with a gold sticker sentiment.

Gardening (Bamboo involved)

January view of bamboo garden and still what it looked like this morning.

After 3 1/2 hours work today the bamboo clump now looks like this.  Smaller and hidden behind the bushes.  I am smiling.

January view of remainder of bamboo clump in garden.

This after this mornings effort the clump is so much smaller.

Up close photo of what is remaining.  Each new bamboo had grown on top of each other....this is really just a huge pile of roots.

Thankfully I did not come across the two owners of the snakeskins I discovered this morning.

What is left of the 20 or so loads of bamboo I removed this morning.

While I had the camera out thought I would take a couple of other garden flowers.  Begonias and succulents.

My vegi garden.  Not much vegi happeing.  Left front parsley, right front mint, the light green clumps along the garden are marigold seedlings.  I deheaded a marigold plant at the museum I volunteer at and through the heads in here and I think every seed has grown.  You can also see pineapples, palm fronds trying to protect my transplanted watermelon seedlings, marigolds down the back surrounding my tomato plants.  Bamboo mulch. :-)

The last two years I have struggled with my tomatoes growing to around this stage and then loosing the fruit.  I read that it was possibly nematodes that were the problem.  Saw a TV show where he planted out his vegi garden with marigolds then dug them in at the end of the season...nematodes gone.   So I decided to just plant a ring of marigolds around my tomatoes this year and tadah! we have been eating yummy tomatos.

Our bottlebrushes are in full bloom...and the lorikeets are so loud in there while collecting all the yummy nectar.  They are joined by a number of other honey eaters too.  Photo is a little dark as it just started spitting as I was out there.

Another bottlebrush

Third bottlebrush.

Have a lovely day everyone.....thanks for popping in to say hi.