Small Birthday Treats....

Hi all - here are a couple of little gift items that I made for one of my S-I-Ls. We had already celebrated our birthdays (our birthdays are two days apart so we always celebrate them together) but it was nearly a week before her's so we surprised her with a small celebration and I made these to give her as we had already given her a pressy. The box in the middle held a choccy bar (I think... LOL Has been a while...)

The card layout I took from another card that we made at one of my workshops, which was taken from a layout of one of Kristina Werner's cards. I just adore the simplicity of it....


Im not usually a blue/yellow person but I am loving these colours together... and I just love boxing things. It just turns anything into a really special gift...


And I was practising making one of these (saw the idea from a Convention swap) so I could show them at a future workshop.... They make such a beautiful gift...

Seahorse Card?.... What the?.....

Hi all - remember me :) Yeah long time no hear and I'm not making promises this time that I probably won't keep LOL

There is no valid reason why I haven't blogged for so long (not like I haven't made any cards) but I did/am finding it hard to start again... it was like it had been so long that every time I thought about it I would think, no I'll do it tomorrow, and you all know the saying about tomorrow..... so I was sitting here thinking do I want to sit and curse the blogging program again ('cause yes, things have not improved from my last rantings) and thought bugger - JUST DO IT!!! LOL

Then came the confusion of where to start... do I start from where I left off or do I put something recent on.... decisions, decisions, decisions...... So I thought I would start with a very unusual one...

My sister asked me a couple of weeks ago to make her a card to give to her friend's teenage daughter... easy you say.... she then said she wanted it to have a seahorse on it.... Yeah..... And as I always say to my sister, Yeah no worries, leave it with me :) What to do, what to do, so I make a card with a seahorse picture on it somewhere or do I go all out.... Of course I go all out! LOL

I was reasonably pleased with the result, my sister was pleased and the friend's daughter loved it! What more could one want!!

Is this where I put in, incase her friend sees this, is that my sister asked me to make it WAY before the birthday and I forgot all about it :} so that's why it has the belated message.... LOL

Valentines Day....

Hi all - My wonderful DH and I don't go all out on Valentine's Day but we do acknowledge it with small gestures like a card, nice dinner at home etc. and here is the card that I made for my DH.

I got the idea from here. At first I thought it was an 'interesting' card to give to one's hubby but it grew on me and he loved it. Especially how I wrote in it thanking him for all the 'support' he gives me :)

I LOVE Surprises....

Hi all - Thought I would show you all what my DH surprised me with at Christmas... A Silhouette SD Digital Craft Cutter!!!! (under the shelf)

OMG! I could not believe it!!! I had mentioned somewhere throughout the year that I wouldn't mind one, one day and he got me one!! You can probably guess how excited I was....

And then to top it of.... he then made me a stand for it to go under and for my papers and punches to go on top!! (that was beacause it was sitting on his desk as there was no room on my desk for it LOL but was I complaining... not on your nelly! LOL)

Isn't he just the very, very best! {beaming} And doean't it all look so good loaded up ready....

A Note of Thanks...

Hi all - I am truly humbled and honoured by the lovely email that I received yesterday from a lovely blogger named Jes to say that she had found a card on my blog and wanted to show it to others. Her blog is all about sharing other peoples talents... So sweet! Pop on over and check her blog out here.

12 Days of Christmas Part 2....

Hi again - Here are the last two photos I managed to find....

The box with the magnolia flower was for '5 Golden Rings' which I changed to Golden Balls and put 5 Ferrero Roches inside. For me, this was the 'prize' prize LOL as I LOVE these flowers!!!

And I FINALLY found a template on the net to make the birds in the latest SU catalogue and made four of them for '4 Calling Birds' which I changed to '4 Curly Birds'. Except for the beak/mouth area they were quite easy.... but that area was another story!!! LOL

12 Days of Christmas....

Hi all - How are you are going and "Happy New Year" to you all - Hoping this year brings you all much love, happiness and prosperity!!!!

Just this last year past (I can say that now LOL) I pa

rticipated in our annual 'Secret Santa two weeks of fun' at work. We were given our SS and then for the last two weeks before the holidays we could chose to give them small gifts with clues for them to try and guess whose theirs was b

efore the big pressy giving day on the last day. Mine I knew was into all sorts of crafts (lucky me) so I decides to do a modified '12

Days of Christmas' for her. With help from my hubby and anoth

er friend we came up with some different things - but didn't get photos of all the things :(

The first thing I gave her was '12 Chicken Drummies' and I made a little box and put in 12 (yes only 12) of the little mini cracker biscuits that a

re shaped like chicken legs.

Next day I gave her this over-sized Christmas cracker w

ith 11 Chocolate wafer pipes. (on the tin they are called wafer sticks)

I printed the tags on the computer and cut them out with my Big Shot - I put the same tag on every one with whatever it was supposed to be, crossed out, with the new item written above it like in the picture.

For 10 Lords a Leaping, I changed Lords to frogs and filled this Santa box with 10 Freddo frogs. I got the idea for this box from here.
This is what I made for '9 Ladies Dancing' and this is where I realized maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew LOL... (I was making each item the night before) Anyway I decided I would make 9 dollies dancing but none of my friends who owned a Cri-cut had a dolls pattern (one friend could get it the next day for me but that was too late) ....... Soooo since I had my heart set on this idea (and I couldn't think of anything else that would go)....... I sat up till all hours making these from scratch!!! I found a picture and cut out each doll, each hair, each legs, each, leotard, each skirt... (don't you think that the vellum skirt was a nice touch) and then I glittered along the edge of each skirt and waist and hair bun.

I'm sure I took photos of all but the first and last but I only have the ones here plus two others which I have since found but am struggling to get them to go where I want them to go on here so will do them as a seperate post. AARGH!!!! - frustrating!!!!

Also..... since posting again I am having no end of trouble with my post, eg: half the writing one size and half another size and no amount of highlighting and clicking will change it!!!! AAAARGH!!!!!

I had my Christmas wish post all in different sizes and colours and really pretty on the posting screen and then I posted it and it was just small normal writing. I tried re-doing it from scratch and nope.... no changes :( don't cope when things don't work like they should....

I'm to the point of not blogging because I really can't cope with things like that!! LOL

Anyone with suggestions would be greatly appreciated... :)

Christmas S-a-S Prizes...

Hi all - Just trying to get all my Chrissy photos in before Christmas LOL....

At the annual S-A-S I give out prizes to everyone. This year I was a little bit slack and wrapped the magoritoty of them just as normal pressies. But I did manage to do one or two fancy items as the main attractions....

This Magnolia uses the SU Ornament Punch and instructions can be found here. I JUST had to have a go at it when I saw it as it is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! And it is a lot easier than it looks.... Trust me on that LOL... The longest part is sponging around the edges of each piece! Then I made a cute little box to put it on. There is also instructions on YouTube to make this flower into a tea light and that is just as gorgeous!!! I have also made one of those and will post at a later date... if I can find the photo :(

These lillies are made using the SU large oval punch. I came across these first before the Magnolia flower. These were going to be placed on my thank you gifts for the girls but since I had to make 18 of them (and they were quite fiddly) I didn't... sorry girls :)

I haven't made mine completely the same as in the instructions but I still think they are beautiful.
And these I made because I was just searching for another flower but a very different one... Instructions here. These use 5 x 3"inch squares for each flower. One folds then up then glues them together, holds them altogether with paper-clips, and then waits till they dry and hope they don't let go LOL.... But they are cute aren't they? People are just so clever!!!
Anyway hope you are enjoying seeing my works again......

Workshops...

Hi all - I can't believe it!!! {actually I can LOL} These are the cards from my March workshops - I had put the photos in but hadn't came back to finish off - have just found them in the 'Edit Posts' section......

We didn't actually have workshops that month as the weekend they were supposed to be on was the weekend the cyclone hit near us. But I had made the kits up and so gave the girls the option to still purchase the kits. Some asked why I didn't leave them till the next month but since they were Easter cards, Easter was going to be over by the next time.

With the first card I just wanted to show the girls how to make a Sweet Cups card (with 'door' of course....)
Then this card was a slight case from the last mini catalogue.....
And this basket was a template from the Scor-Pal website.....

Workshops Once Again.....

Hi all - Well this weekend saw us starting our monthly workshops again for the year. And I had a FANTASTIC turnout!!!! WOW! Thanks you girls for wanting to come along and see what I have to show you. And then the wonderful emails of thanks that I get after the classes..... well... {blushing} I feel honoured to have such wonderful friends. :)

Anyway - back on track :) My latest fascination is the Easel Card - How super easy is it!!! And what a WOW! So our first card for the year was this easel card. I have used the new 'Butterfly Prints' and matching punch out of the current mini catalogue. Who doesn't love a matching punch LOL - The girls were teasing me over my excitement of the matching punch! But my sister understands LOL. She believes that all stamp sets should have a matching punch :)
Ps: I have also used one of the new S-A-B stamp sets, 'Whimsical Words' inside this card but forgot to take a photo of that :{

The next two items I have cased out of past issues of the 'Impressions' flyers that we demonstrators receive each month from SU. I feel with me working full time now, that to do workshops also, I will be utilizing a lot more the ideas that SU readily gives out to us :)
I have used an old favourite, 'Priceless' plus another S-A-B set, 'Vintage labels'. And YES it uses all punches also!!! YES YES YES!!! - even the words are perfect for the square punches. In heaven here LOL!

Valentine Cup Cakes....

Hi all - Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day with lots and lots of love..... My DH and I have been together now for 21 and a half years and we still acknowledge Valentine's Day. We don't usually go to a lot of expense or anything (mind you, this year I did get a voucher so am feeling rather spoilt!) My DH has bought me at least a card every year (even if at times I forgot until the day LOL) But we have always done nice things for each other like cook a special brekky or dinner etc.

Anyway on Saturday I was thinking that yet again I hadn't thought about it in time to got to the shops and there on the counter was a pamphlet for our local cheesecake shop advertising Valentine's cakes for one's loved ones. So I decided I would whip him up a Valentine treat.

I have looked at all the cup cake holders on the web for a while now and wondering when one could use them and thought this would be a great time. So in the middle of colouring my hair (LOL) I started making the above gift box as well as baking the little choccie cakes. Now amongst all this DH came home and did wonder what was going on as I said I was making the cakes for the kids lunches and he has taken on that job since before Chrissy (and we are usually making them on Sunday nights after we have just realised we need them for the next day.... and we already had some other types of cakes still in the freezer from his last bout of cooking...). So it did seem a bit strange to him..... LOL

So he woke up Sunday morning to find this little package waiting for him.... propped up on disposable shot glasses in the middle of a tray of water as we have a serious ant problem at the moment (should have taken a photo of that!!! LOL)

And this is the box before the cakes went in. I got the instructions from here but have included this photo as I have added a tray to hold the cakes like others have done....

Dr Who Came Calling.....

Hi all - Here is the card I made for a good friend's 12 year old son, who is... you guessed it... a HUGE Dr Who fan. I was leisurely blog surfing just before Chrissy and came across this card here and thought, WOW! He would LOVE that! So I have cased it almost exactly. And Valita has very kindly shared the template also, so that makes it so easy :)

Ps: It is a much larger than normal card.

Anyway the friend's son LOVED it! {Beaming yet again - I LOVE card making}

And still counting down the days to go back to work (one) and the re-painting/renovating is taking a lot longer than I remembered it did LOL - We are in such a mess!!!! We were hoping for the carpet to go in on Friday but it doesn't look like it is going to happen. DH is also now putting in a built-in which we were going to do later but decided would be good to do now and paint also so we are not trying to paint over the new carpet. (we are VERY messy painters LOL) We were hoping to have it built and painted before Friday but things just don't happen like they used to (pre-kids LOL) - OH well better to have a good job done that a rushed job that we won't be happy with.

Fantasy Box.... Finally!!!

Hi all - Well I finally did it! I have wanted to make one of these for nearly three years now, after I saw one at my upline's house (Karen), when I was first introduced by her to cardmaking. They have always looked very scary though so I have put it off. But they are not scary at all, only very, very time consuming!!! And....... Half way through making it I also realised that my memory was playing tricks on me as I remembered it being larger??????????? LOL.

I made it to fill with chocolates to give to a dear friend for Christmas but realised half way through that there was NO WAY I was going to fit the chocolates I had in mind in to it LOL. So it sat there for about a week while I decided what to do. It turns out that each tray will fit about 5 mini Tolborone chocs in it so I did that and then just gift wrapped the rest of the chocs and gave both to her.

It really is gorgeous... and so cute! It would make a great gift to a scrapper or card maker filled with little hardware etc. bits and pieces.

Anyway if you want to give one a go then the instructions can be found here. Terri has very kindly done up fantastic, very clear, easy to follow instructions. Thank you Terri. Ps: Mine is almost a complete case from the one pictured on the printable instructions :)

Unusual Thank You Card....

Hi all - this is the card I made for my youngest DS, for his guitar teacher, to say thank you for a wonderful year.

DS asked me if I could make said teacher a 'guitar' card (doesn't want much does he? LOL) So the two of us surfed the internet looking at ideas. We came across a shaped card but it was an electric guitar so we have used the idea of shaping the card but..... (with him there is always a 'but' LOL) he wanted it in the style of his and the same colours. You guessed it {grin} he has a black and red guitar!

He loved the finished product so what more can a mother ask for {beaming}

Sympathy cards...

Hi all - these are two sympathy cards I made about a month or so ago. I wanted something subdued and pretty. This flower is just so beautiful to colour.

Groovy Surfin' Santa Invite....

Hi all - just wanted to show you the great invite I got from a close friend. She had ordered this stamp set just to make these invites!!!

Isn't it just the greatest!!! How Australian is this!!!

And she has coloured them all in with glitter pens so they really *SPARKLE* IRL!

I personally thought it was SOOO cute!! :D

Catch ya!

Christmas Workshop Gifts...

Hi again. My last workshop is also my thank you to the people who have supported me all year so I give out little gifts to everyone.

Last year I made a 'cake' that was a HUGE hit with all, so I decided that I had enough newbies from this year to make it again. This year I have tried to make it look like a fruit cake by starting with some Chocolate Chip cardstock and stamping shapes all over it. I don't think I quite succeeded LOL.

Anyway it was a huge hit once again but I think I may have to look out for something else nest year :)

Ps: Each 'slice' had a little stamp, three lots of ribbon and a small candy cane.

And here is the cake lost amongst the gifts under the little Chrissy tree. I had enough prizes for everyone and each was numbered. Then I placed the matching numbers in a box and whatever number they drew out was their prize!
Like last year, it was a wonderful afternoon and a nice way to finish off for the year :)

Girls 'Day' In....

Hi all - two weekends ago five of us got together to make cards for 'Breast Cancer'. Instead of a 'Girl's Night In' we had a 'Girls DAY In' and made approx 150 cards.

We had a wonderful day together and as you can see from the photos, we had a very productive day also.

We are selling what we can to friends and family first then sending any left over down with the money raised.

I got to my sister's at 7am and left at 9pm. One of the girls stayed till 9pm also. And she could have still kept going! I just want to send out a very BIG thank you to the girls who helped. And to the ones who would have loved to come, but couldn't, hopefully I'll be more organised next year..... maybe.. LOL

AND A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO STAMPIN' UP, for donating supplies for it.

It was a huge under-taking but I would love to do it again next year so here's hoping....

More Mystery Slider Cards...........

Hi all - a friend (hi Mary) wanted to have a go at making a 'Magic Slider' card so came over one day a few weeks ago to make one. They are very time consuming to make as we found out LOL 'cause even with me having made one before and having a fair idea of what to do, it still took us from approx. 10.30am till 2pm to make the cards.

This is the card that I made - which I did make for someone, but I still haven't finished the present so it is still here LOL.....



And this is the one Mary did - It was beautiful!!!

Lucky Me!...........

Hi all - Just wanted to show you all some beautiful cards and a gift that I was so lucky to receive. I have met this wonderful person through being a SU demonstrator and even though we have only communicated through email, I now think of her as a really close friend. My mum, in her much younger days had a very special pen-friend for many, many years, and I think of us now-a-days with emails as having Internet pen-friends. So Tanya, I consider you my very special 'pen-friend' :) and thank you from the bottom of my heart for these beautiful cards and gift.

I received this one some time ago but am now only getting them on now to show everyone. Isn't it just beautiful and the candle is so divine!! How does someone light that!!!!

And not to long ago she sent me this card... Both cards are really pretty but this one in real life is sooooo pretty. It is so soft and sparkly and I get lots and lots of comments about it.
So again Tanya, Thank you so much - I loved them all! :)