Post-Christmas Catch-up

This was the LO I re-did as part of my Christmas present for my sister. She really loved them too. She thought it was the best gift she had ever received...awwww...Mums sure do love photos of their little kiddies dont they! I haven't had a chance to post this due to Christmas celebrations. We went to Tamworth for Christmas and spent lots of time with our families. We arrived home yesterday and my brother is staying with us for awhile and his girlfriend will be joining us on New Year's Eve.

Soon we will begin all the packing for our move...but I must say I am reluctant to begin...it is just too nice being on holidays and doing whatever you like!

I hope everybody reading had a wonderful Christmas...it sure can get hectic...but it is so nice to spend time with loved ones. Hopefully I will have something new to post in the next couple of days. Until then, take care.

Jacq's Wedding

We had a lovely weekend at the Stamford Plaze in Brisbane while we celebrated Jacqueline and Bruce's Wedding. I thought I might share a couple of pics with you. The band was fantastic so we danced all night. Below is a picture of Ben and I with our friends Adam and Jo. (Ben is wearing the blue tie.)

We also saw country music star Keith Urban in the hotel and his band. They had a concert in Brisbane that night and were staying at the Stamford Plaza...we were hoping to see Nicole as well, but didn't.

Christmas is well and truely upon us now and we are very busy visiting family...I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope you eat up well (I am sure we all will!) and enjoy time with family and friends.

So excited to have WON!!

I just wanted to share with you my wonderful news...my Christmas tags won at Bee Crafty and I get to choose a digi-image! This is my first win in a long time, so I am pretty excited. I wanted to say thank you very much to the team at Bee Crafty for choosing my tags.

Christmas Cupcakes and a Catch-up...

Goodmorning... Ben's last day at work today and they are having their Secret Santa and a farewell for him. He needed to bring a sweet plate so I made some cupcakes and decorated them in Christmas colours. I found some little chocolate balls wrapped in red, green and gold in Coles so I added them on top.

Last night we went to Brisbane for dinner for the pre-wedding dinner for my friend Jacqueline. I was very excited to see her, because I haven't seen her for three years as she has been teaching in Beijing. We used to teach together on Prep here at the Gold Coast. The wedding is this Saturday. Jacq and Bruce have a three week turn around while they get married. They have a Honeymoon in Noosa (Aust), Christmas with their family, then another honeymoon at the Maldives and then head back to Beijing to go back to school...They are going to be busy!

Today I plan to finish all my Christmas shopping except for one difficult gift...make some more Christmas cards...and possibly finish my book.

I hope you have a lovely day...and thanks for visiting!

Mini Gift Tags

I have made six little gift tags for the adult presents we are giving to our families. They were made out of scraps and bits and pieces. I coloured the tree using Old Olive and Choc Chip ink with the aqua painter. Then I finished off the small bits with Summer Sun and Real Red Markers. The tree is a GJane digi image and the Merry Christmas sentiment and DP is SU. Ribbons, flowers and brads from my stash.

I am entering these mini gift tags in the following challenges:

My Time to Craft - Yuletide Wishes

Simon Says - Merry Christmas

Dare you to Digi Stamp - Red, Green and Neutral

The Pink Elephant - Winter and/or Christmas

Our Creative Corner - The Holidays are Here!

One Stop Craft Challenge - Christmas Love

Inspirin' Inky Challenge - Inspiration

Bee Crafty - Christmas Extras

Well, I'm off to do more gift wrapping now...

4th Layout

Here is the fourth LO for my sister...I used a piece of DP from GCD Studios called "Droopy Vines" from the Rose Coloured Glasses Collection. I really like the pinks. The light pink is SU Pink Pirouette...such a pretty colour. I Kindy-Glitzed the stems on the page but you can't really see it in the photo. I added some flowers and a leaf and some ribbon and lace.

I am a bit over the Christmas shopping at the moment. I only have four presents left to get, but they are all hard ones. Honestly, I could so enjoy Christmas if presents weren't involved...I know some people really love opening presents...but I could do without it...maybe just a thoughtful, hand-made gift, but all this running around, stressing over what to get somebody...what is the point? They probably wont really like it anyway, and would have preferred to buy themself something else.

Sorry for that burst of negativity - but it is just being with family that is important and sharing a meal, having fun...presents aren't a necessity for me.

The ladies over at Creative Inspirations and Creative Card Crew have been leaving me some lovely comments for all my entries in their challenges and here is another one! After I re-work my first layout I will not be bothering them again! Hope they dont mind another visit : ). I am also entering this in Quixotic Challenges - Lace.

I am sending good vibes out to everyone who is Christmas shopping today...I hope you find the right gift within the right price-bracket and before you know it...it is wrapped up under your tree and you can forget about it!

Take Care...

(The jaded Christmas shopper lol)

3rd Layout

This is the third layout for my sister for Christmas. I kept it very simple. I am putting them all in frames and I have decided that they looks way better simplified and uncluttered. This one is probably taking the simplified look to extremes lol :) DPs are all SU, hearts cut out with SU Heart punch, letters with Cricut.

I am entering this layout in the same two challenges as the post below:

Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations - A Christmas Gift

One more LO to go and then I have finished the set...although I am not happy with the first one now and have begun pulling it apart...not sure what to do with it at the moment...

Thanks for visiting,

Second Layout

I made the second Layout for my sister last night. After this I only have two to go.

I used this lovely piece of DP by Heidi Swapp called "Carefree - Strawberry Lemonade Dots". I used some flowers and dot stickers from my SU "Rock-a-bye girl" Scrappin' set, some Barely Banana ribbon and some lace from my stash. I cut the letters and flower in the heading out on the Cricut using Regal Rose cardstock. The DP was so lovely, it meant I really didn't need to add much to the page.

I am entering this Layout in the following two challenges:

Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations - A Christmas Gift

More Christmas shopping for me today I think...and a bit of crafting. I would like this week to last forever...I am having such a lovely time being on holidays, making things, reading my book and having naps throughout the day....I hope your week is enjoyable too. Thanks for visiting my blog today.

A Christmas Present

I am making a series of Layout pages that will go into frames for my sister for Christmas. I completed the first one today. I know you are going to say "not brown and blue again!" But I promise you this is the last time I will be using it for awhile - because I have had enough after this LO!

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Creative Inspirations - Christmas Gift

Stampin' For The Weekend - Brown and Blue (they will be sick of me over there : ))

Allsorts Challenge - Pearls and Swirls

I used the GCD Studios DP called "Sky Swirls" together with SU DP (the brown with blue polk-a-dots, Chocolate Chip and Bordering Blue card. I used the Cricut to cut out the lettering and the swirl design at the side. I cut it out in the larger size on the chocolate chip and then slightly smaller in the blue. I added blue and white netting, brown lace and the white kaiser flower strip. I also cut some of those flowers off to scatter around the swirl and added diamontes in the centres. The flower sprays have tiny pearls at the ends of them.

I have another three layouts to make by the end of this week. I am going to be busy! Plus I have my friend's wedding to go to in Brisbane on Saturday. You should see the lovely jewellery I bought for myself to wear...I can't wait!

I hope you had a lovely day today, thanks for coming over and visiting my blog.

Brown and Blue Together Again...

I wanted to have another try at the Brown and Blue colour Combination at Stampin' for the Weekend. I still had some SU DP cut out from my last card so I used that again too. I followed the sketch from Friday Sketchers and I am also entering this card in the Cupcake Craft Challenge - 5x5 Birthday card. This card is for my cousin Abbey she is overseas at the moment...somewhere in England, so I think she would like a home-made birthday card to let her know we are all missing her here.

I coloured Tilda in with ink pads, aqua painter, SU markers and a white gel pen. I added Kindy-Glitz to give her a bit of sparkle. The ribbon, flowers and lace are all from my stash. The colours used are Chocolate Chip, Ballet Blue and Bordering Blue.

I went to the hairdresser today and started a new book. I am settling in to Holiday mode now. I still have more Christmas shopping to do, but I feel like I am getting there. I hope you had a lovely Monday. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Another Birthday Card...

I just love the colour combination Brown and Blue, so when I saw this was the challenge for Stampin for the Weekend, I just had to make a card. I used my new SU DPs that I am in love with at the moment. I follwed the sketch from Truly Scrumptious, but I did alter it a little. I added some Kindy Glitz to her wings and flower, some brown lace and blue mesh and the sentiment at the bottom of the card. It is for my cousing Caroline...she loves brown and blue so hopefully she will like it.

We had a very social weekend...out for dinner Friday and Saturday night and lunch today...I hope you had a lovely weekend. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Its a Baby Girl...

A new little baby has arrived...always so exciting! I have made a very pink and very feminine card to celebrate. I used another digi image - my good, ole, faithful "Thomas in Pram". Hasn't he had a work out! Sometimes posing in pink...other times in blue (he doesn't seem to mind)! He is from Digi-Stamp Boutique.


I used the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday to make my card. No other challenges seemed to fit as this card is very un-christmassy and most challenges have a Christmas theme at the moment. I used SU card stock Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White and some DP from the Tea Party collection. The white daisy strip is by Kaiser and ribbon from my stash.

I put my Christmas Tree up yesterday and it looks really nice (even if I do say so myself)! I have even wrapped a couple of pressies. I think I need another month though, to prepare for Christmas..lots to do!!

I wanted to say thank you for all the lovely comments I have been receiving lately and for coming and visiting my blog.

Have a fun day!

Hooty in Car

This morning I have a card to share that I made for my brother-in-law Jay. He loves cars and this was the only digi-image I could find with a car on it. I am sure there are hundreds of others out there, just not where I was looking! I ended up using "Hooty in Car" by Louby Loo. I think he is a bit cute. The DP papers are from the SU Summer Mini Catalogue - Kaleidoscope. I added Crystal Effects to the car to give it a shiny feel and look - but you can't really tell in the photo. For such a simple card I did struggle with it quite a bit. Probably because it is a male card and you feel reluctant to "dress it up". Someone should come up with a range of embellishments especially for male cards...they would make a fortune.

I am entering this card in two challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches - for the sketch, and

Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog - Feathered Friends

This is the first day of my holidays where I havent had anything scheduled. A day at home! Although I will need to pop down and make a better start on my Christmas Shopping. I have a lot to organise. I haven't even put my tree up yet. (I know you will all gasp with horror!) But I wasnt sure if I would, seeing we are moving in mid-January. But without a tree there is nowhere to put wrapped presents, hence I haven't wrapped any! I think I need my tree up to motivate me to get those presents bought and wrapped!!!

I hope you all have a lovely day and thanks for visiting!

Thank You

Tonight I have made a Thank you card. It is for one of the Mum's from my class. She has organised a farewell dinner for me tomorrow night. I followed the sketch from Mojo Monday, but instead of circles I used my new Love Heart Nestabilities. I embossed the SU Thank you Sentiment with silver and added some Kindy-Glitz around the edges of the hearts (still a little wet in the photo). I used a bit more of the Indian Summer DP by Basic Grey and Su cardstock, Regal Rose, Bravo Burgundy and Whisper White. The silver is from my stash. I used the cuttlebug to emboss the Regal Rose strip at the base of the card with some silver and white ribbon, leaves and flowers.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Mojo Monday - Sketch

Creative Card Crew - Silver or Gold

Stamp Something - Glitzy Somethings

Happy Birthday....

This card is especially for my Dad. He is a farmer, so I used the digital stamps from Louby Loo.

The DP is DCWV, cardstock is Chocolate Chip and Bashful Blue. I added buttons to the apple tree and glitter as well. The blue netting added some texture to the sky.

I am entering this in two challenges:

Stamp Something - Glitzy Somethings

La-La Land Crafts - Buttons, Buttons, Buttons

I am finally on holidays, but the first few days have gone so quickly...I havent had much time for crafting. I have been busily making cards whenever I get a chance...but always because I need a card asap...not much time to sit and just be creative. I am sure things will begin to slow down. I am off to a morning tea this morning and I need a card for it....so I better get making. Hopefully I will come back this afternoon and catch up on everyone's blogs.

Swirls and Glitter

This card is for my Mother-in-law's birthday which was last week. I am seriously behind in my card-making at the moment and so have a lot of catching up to do!

I am entering this card in two challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - Swirly Girly

Stamp Something - Glitzy Something

The DP is Basic Grey - Indian Summer and because I think it is so beautiful, I didn't want to cover it up with too much stamping. I added some flowers and pearls, brlown lace and pink and gold ribbon. I added Kindy-Glitz to the stem of the plant for extra sparkle. The "Best Wishes" stamp is SU and punched out on chocolate chip and whisper white card.

I havent been around to visit many blogs recently but I plan to catch up on that over the next few days. I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Sale at "The Cupboard"

Our local craft shop is closing down and hence are having a 50% off everything sale. As you can imagine Lucinda, Amanda (my crafting buddies) and I went a little crazy when we heard this news and spent a small fortune! They were also selling shop fixtures and so I am now the proud owner of four stackable paper shelves. I was quite amazed to see how easily I filled these shelves up with lots of paper I had forgotton I had! I thought I would take a little pic and show you the newest addition to my card-making room.

Another Male Birthday Card

There are lots of birthdays in my family at the moment. This card is for my uncle. I have again tried to include a few challenges.

Penny Black - Sketch

Pink Elephant - Plaids, Brads, No Ribbon

Stamp With Us - Recipe: 2Patterned Papers, 3 Brads, 1 Stamp

I used SU DP from the mini catalogue that ends this month, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue and Whisper White card from SU. I do love these colours together. My 1 stamp is a Penny Black image and the sentiment is a sticker from Big W. Instead of ribbon I used some hemp twine and three silver brads from my stash. I added some crystal effects to the water to give it a wet and shiny look. It has ended up being a fairly clean and simple card...no pretty flowers, lace, ribbons etc. I have one more male card to make before I can get back onto the more feminine styles!

A Card for Beau

My cousin Beau is in year seven and it was his birthday a week or so ago, I am a little late with his card, but better late than ever I say! I always really struggle with male teenage cards and this one was no different. But I am having fun entering many challenges at the moment and I have entered this card in the following four challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches - Sketch

Crazy 4 Challenges - Punch Happy (I have used my tag punch)

Cute Card Thursday - Snips, Snails and Puppydog Tails

The Play Date Cafe - Colour Challenge - Dark Green, Light Blue, Orange and Sea Green

For my card I used Not Quite Navy and Bashful Blue SU card stock. I used some Magnolia DP and some strips of Kimberly Poloson's DP. The puppy dog is a Penny Black stamp cut out with a Nestabilities circle, the Happy Birthday tag stamp is SU (now retired) and the buttons came from spotlight. I like how the buttons are all the same shade of orange, but different sizes. I colured the puppy in with SU markers, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive and Mellow Moss. I added some Hemp Twine to give it a boyish feel. To be honest I am not in love with the card, but then I never really like the boy ones!

I went to the launch of the new SU mini catalogue today at Lucinda's house. I have ordered some new things to play with. I feel like I have lots of things to make at the moment...so I guess I better get a start on them.

Thanks for visiting today.

A Christmas/Thank you card

This card is for my beautician who is leaving the industry and going back to uni. She has been looking after me for about four years and I do like to spoil her from time to time. This card is going with a box of chocolates to say "Merry Christmas" and "Thank you".

I am entering this card in the 8 challenges listed below:

MDUC - Christmas
Papertake Weekly - Christmas Crackers
Creative Card Crew - Favourite things (I love the glass baubles for the tree)
Charisma Cardz - Anything Christmas
Colour Create - Green, Red and White
Stamp Something - Thank you
Creatalicious - Christmas Challenge
Just Magnolia - Sketch

The green DP is from the Kimberly Poloson range - "Nature's Flora". The other card stock is SU Real Red, Old Olive and Whisper White. I used the Cuttlebug to emboss the white and green strips underneath the main image. I added lace, pearls, leaves and flowers. I coloured in with SU markers and I used Heat and Stick powder and Dazzling Diamond glitter on the bauble. I coloured her hair with Close to Cocoa and Chcocolate Chip. The card looks much nicer in real life. I hope she likes it! Thanks for visiting.

Sketch and Stash Card

After a busy Tuesday I am here posting a card....Its is a birthday card for my Auntie Mary who lives in Coffs Harbour NSW. She is a special Auntie to me because she often comes and visits me on the Gold Coast so I wanted to make her a special card.

I followed the Sketch from Sketch and Stash Challenge this fortnight. I really enjoyed the sketch. My new stash is the gorgeous SU DP, the lace, flowers and oval punch. The neglected stash is the blue ribbon and the SU stamp set (window, cat and vases of flowers).

I also decorated the inside of the card very simply. The main colours I used for the card are Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa, and White. Thanks for popping over and visiting my blog.

A beautiful gift...

Yesterday I received this beautiful gift from my teaching friends at school...and there is a long story behind it....

Ben and I have made the decision to move to Tamworth. We both grew up there and our families live there so after 12 years of living away we are moving back in January. We have both resigned from our jobs on the Gold Coast. I have resigned from my teaching job and Ben has resigned from his Finance job.

This was obviously a big decision for us to make but we do feel like it is the right thing to do at this time. For those of you who have never heard of Tamworth you can see a few pics here. Basically it is in North West NSW. It gets very hot and pretty cold! It is a regional centre, but we will be living out of town. It will be nice to get out of the city and slow things down a little bit.

Yesterday we had plans to go to Jo and Adam's house for an early dinner, but when we arrived it turned out to be a surprise Farewell party! I was so shocked, I was shaking! Both of us did not have the slightest suspician about the party. We had rocked up in casual shorts and t-shirts ready for a relaxing evening. Many teachers from work were there. It was a lovely night. I felt many emotions, and have still been trying to sort them all out today. I am still blown away that they organised such a wonderful night for Ben and I. It was very kind and thoughtful.

Amanda and Lucinda organised this gift for me. It is truely beautiful and captures five years of memories at our school. A lovely keepsake that I just had to share with you...and some big news!

The reason I haven't posted anything for 10 days on my blog is due to my dreaded reports. I finished them yesterday thank goodness. We have two weeks left now of school. Lots and lots and lots to do. It doesnt seem to ever end. But it will and everything will get done.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Enjoy whats left of your Sunday...