Dreaming...

Tin Can Bay - Queensland, Australia

Blogged to: I Caught Myself - Paramore, Why Can't This Be Love - Van Halen,  Another One Bites The Dust - Queen and Burn For You - INXS.

Homemade Thongs...

I hope you didn't come looking here for the wrong reason... In Australia thongs are what we call our (generally) cheap, rubber footwear. Great for wearing to the beach, but not the sort of thing you'd wear for a night out on the town! I believe that they are also known as flip-flops or jandals in some other countries.

Now that the tricky business is all sorted, the reason I am posting today is to take part in the colourQ challenge #138:

I was inspired to take part in this week's challenge after seeing a groovy entry by Jo Eades in my Google Reader this morning. Thanks for the inspiration Jo!

As the challenge image is a rather glam shoe, I thought I'd try and make my card a shoe too. This is what I came up with:

I had to sketch out the thong base and parts by hand, but I think they came out pretty well. I had one or two false-starts with engineering the easel mechanism for this one, but I managed to get it right eventually. It was fun, and very rewarding to have it work properly in the end!

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Kraft, Pool Party (Textured), More Mustard and Confetti White (all by Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Sahara Sand and Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up!) and Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Birthday Wish (Stampin' Up!) and Flower (Misc.)
Accessories: Textured Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!), White Gel Pen, Paper Piercer, Floral Dies (Misc.), Number Die (Misc.) and Rhinestone Brad (Stampin' Up!).

Hope the rest of your Sunday is quiet and relaxing!

Blogged to: Total Control - The Motels, All the Lovers - Kylie Minogue, Into the Groove - Madonna and We Are Golden - MIKA.

May All Your Dreams Come True

Today I have a fun little fairy-tale inspired birthday card to share with you...

I hope you can see the glimmer mist that I have spritzed on the kraft cardstock in the background. This was a very sweet gift from one of my lovely blog buddies, Debbie P. Thanks again Debbie I love it!

The colours I have used on this card were inspired by the pretty colours in my beautiful new mug by ioco (it was sitting on my craft desk at the time). I picked up this mug at adoretea while I was stocking up on flavoured Rooibos last week.

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Kraft (Stampin' Up!), Shimmer White (Misc.) and Blending Cardstock (X-Press It)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Critters Ever After (Lawn Fawn)
Dies: Nested Labels 9 (Spellbinders) and Clouds (Misc.)
Accessories: Brick Wall embossing folder (DoCrafts), So Swirly embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Gimmer Mist (Debbie P.), Crystal Effects (Stampin' Up!), Copic Markers, Fly a Kite patterned paper - My Minds Eye.


That's all! Have a lovely weekend...

Blogged to: Straight Lines - Silverchair, Computer Games - Mi-Sex, My People - The Presets and Supermassive Blackhole - Muse.

Dreaming...

The Great Sandy Strait - Queensland, Australia

Blogged to: Great Southern Land - Icehouse, Sounds of Then - GANGgajang and Solid Rock - Goanna.

There She Goes #157 - Sketch Challenge

I have a bit of a thing for the beautiful stamps at There She Goes...so when I saw they had a sketch challenge up and running, I thought I'd have to give it a go. Here is the Sketch...

And this is the card I have come up with...

 I have taken a bit of creative license with the layout, but you can still see the essential elements.

I even pulled out the Crystal Effects for the ghastly green alien dots and the icy moon craters...as you do! I haven't made a project recipe for some time, but I just felt like it tonight...

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Basic Black (Stampin' Up!) and Blending Cardstock (X-Press It)
Patterned Paper: Blast-off (Three Bugs in a Rug)
Ink: Memento Black (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Out of This World (There She Goes)
Accessories: Crystal Effects (Stampin' Up!), Copics, Paper-piercer, White Gel Pen, Seam Binding, Hodge Podge (Stampin' Up!).

Well, that's it from me. Thanks for stopping for a peek.
PS. Happy Birthday Jessica!

Blogged to: My Delirium - Ladyhawke, Original Sin - INXS, You're So Vain - Carly Simon and Sunshine After the Rain (Berri).

Fun Folded Fanks For Friend...

I was surfing the web at some point in the recent past, and I came across a lovely card by Julie Davison...check it out here. I think it was probably a link from Kim Score's blog that got me to Julie's blog in the first place.

I needed a thank you card (for Patrice, after she gave me those lovely Smash goodies), so I thought I'd go ahead and use Julie's card as the inspiration for mine. I think it is a type of gate fold...but whatever it is, I was very happy with how it turned out!

This card was an absolute shocker to photograph as it was popping and flopping about all over the place. I ended up using some matching Washi Tapes to stop it from landing in the pool. I thought it was appropriate to have Washi in the photos, because that is what I gave Patrice by way of a small thank you gift. I didn't actually give her these Washis though...these were the prop-Washis, and they'd been used (couldn't really pass along half used Washis as a gift now...could I?).

The black background stamp behind the sentiment is by Waltzingmouse Stamps, and is one of their sets designed to go with the Spellbinders Nestabilities. I have also used Spellbinders Nested Labels Fourteen (love this set, it reminds me of clouds), which I got from Bizzy Becs. Bec is my go-to-gal for all things Spellbinders. The bling, patterned paper and cardstock is all by Stampin' Up!

Well, once again I have gone off on a tangent. If you made it this far, thanks and have a lovely afternoon.

Blogged to: That Don't Impress Me Much - Shania Twain, Hung Up - Madonna, Why Can't This Be Love - Van Halen and Get Ready for This - 2 Unlimited.

Nature's Way of Telling us to EAT MORE CAKE!

That's what Birthdays are for...apparently. I didn't know this, but I feel duly enlightened, and will feel much better about eating cake in future. I thought I should share this on my blog too. In case you were feeling bad...about eating cake. Don't!

Enough rambling from me. As you might have guessed...I made cake on the weekend. Another hand picked delight from the Woman's Weekly Kids' Party Cake cookbook of course. The go-to book for cake in our house. Heaven help us if we ever lose that book.

Master 6 chose the dinosaur this year. He actually chose the T-Rex (I think his name was Danny), but I pleaded a case for Stella (the Stegosaurus)...a much friendlier looking dinosaur (and much easier to make according to my initial survey)...such a slacker!

Sorry about the dodgy light/colour. The hardest thing about this cake was cutting all those hard, sticky Mint Leaves in half (enter: knife-wielding hubby). The rest was a piece of cake....a ha, ha, ha. I crack myself up! The yummy looking chocolate 6 (covered in hundreds and thousands) is by freckleberry chocolate factory.

And here is a little dinosaur-themed Photoshop tinkering using more of Tracy Ann's beautiful digital art...

Think I'll have an early one tonight.

Just Add Mae...

Feeling a bit mojo-poor of late, so I thought that Just Add Ink's latest challenge...Just Add Mae would help lift my craftin' spirits. I am afraid that I did not really do Mae's beautiful work justice...but I did try. I tried hard, but I think it still fell flat. Not much I can do 'bout that though...at 7pm on a Sunday night. It is what it is!

I chose to use an old, old post of Mae's...from way back in 2008 in fact...where she showed us how to make a Z-fold card. I've never made one before...so it was fun to learn how. It wasn't Mae's instructions that led to my downfall though. Just...I don't know...I was feeling scrambled or something!

Here is my creation (the second one)...

If you look closely you can see where I have paper pierced some of the bunting in error. I won't even explain to you how I managed to do that. Just know that I was doing things ar*e about, and paid for it!

Here is the first card I made...and it just felt wrong...but I'm going to put it here because, well it took ages to make, and Miss 8 likes it :-)

I also did some real-life stitching on the above card (another thing I'd noticed on at least one of Mae's cards)...but mine started unravelling at the corner (even though I'd taped it at the back), and I was pretty bummed about that!

Like I said...it is what it is!
Sigh...

Blogged to: From the Music - The Potbelleez, Let's Go - The Cars, Tainted Love - Soft Cell and Superstition - Stevie Wonder.

Many Thanks...

After receiving my beautiful Hannabelle Cordelia Hare, I really wanted to send a little something back to Tracy in the UK to say thanks! Now that my package has made it all the way around the world (in just one week I might add), I can post a few pics here too...

The cute focal stamp for this one is from the Float My Boat stamp set, by There She Goes Clear Stamps. The waves were cut using the wave border die by Taylored Expressions. The Many Thanks sentiment was a feebie from Lawn Fawn Stamps...just for ordering (now that is a nice thing to do). The cardstock and seam binding is from Stampin' Up!, the embossing folders are by Cuttlebug and I used Copics to colour the image.

I also sent Tracy one of my lampwork bead suncatchers. The gorgeous focal beads are by Sari from Gaialai on Etsy.

That's it for me. I can barely see straight...must be bedtime!

Have a lovely Sunday.

Blogged to: Dancing in the Storm - Boom Crash Opera, Motors Too Fast - David Reyne, Can't Get Better Than This - Parachute Youth and Dream Police - Cheap Trick.

A Post-card...

Blogged to: Rapture - Blondie, I Want Your Love - Transvision Vamp and Children - CDM Project.

And the drum beat carries on...

Hey, hey, yeah, hey yeah
We must Stand Together...

Love that song!

Hope you had a lovely weekend, hope you had a great Mother's Day too!

Apart from one, small timetable malfunction (we tried to go to Noble Palace yum cha in Woden... without a booking...on Mother's Day...yeah...I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't listen... ;-) we had a lovely, quiet, family day.

Just thought I'd pop up a small card that I finished this weekend. Again, don't be pulling out your score cards for my Copic colouring. I might well need to go back to Kindy, because I obviously missed a few important skills classes back then, but I tried to hide my efforts with some mottling using an old face washer and the Colourless Blender fluid (this was a technique I learn't from a video on the Stamp Embellish Create forum....but I can't actually find that video again). Anyway, I like the look, and it helps hide stuff...you know....bad, Copic colouring no-hoper-type stuff!

The other thing you might notice about this card is the addition of colour to the grass tips. It doesn't actually look as bad, or as obvious in real life, as it does in this photo. Something I did in Photoshop seems to have enhanced its appearance here. I originally laid the focal image (which is a Kaisercraft single, clear stamp) onto the card uncoloured. It was only after I had adhered the grass, ribbon etc over the top, that I decided it probably really did need to be coloured after all. So I coloured it in-situ of course ...and of course, got plenty of Copic on the grass too....Oooops! So I thought I'd camouflage my boo boos, by colouring all the grass tips. A comedy of errors, but you get that. Like I said, it really is not so noticeable IRL.

The 'So happy for you' sentiment is from the Grand Greetings photopolymer stamp set by Lawn Fawn and I've stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa ink. The ribbon is some of my delicious new Pool Party seam binding by Stampin' Up! I can definitely see myself developing something of a 'thing' for seam binding...especially when it comes in fabulous colours like Pool Party. Swoon....LOVE it! The patterned papers in the background are by Echo Park and My Mind's Eye.

I also wanted to share another very happy surprise I had this week. I've been having a few ups and downs of late. Forgetting a few important things (understatement ;-), running around like a demented chook etc. Long story short, we are about to move house and you know what they say about moving. One of life's most stressful events and all that. I'm feeling that way for sure. Anyhoo, I came home from an epic shopping adventure on Friday morning (it is so tricky to carry three heavy bags of shopping and a large box of toddler nappies while pushing a stroller...isn't it) to find a lovely parcel that had been left on my doorstop by Patrice. Check out the simply Smash-ing gifts I found inside...

I couldn't wipe the grin off my face! Patrice knew I'd been letting the turkey's get me down...or so to speak, and this was such a thoughtful thing to do. I felt so special, and I sat down on Friday night and made some happy pages to start my first-ever Smash album. Thanks so much Patrice...you really did make an average week feel like a really smashing one :-)

That's it from me. Gonna go watch some Masterchef and try and finish a row or two of ripples (it is really just an excuse to snuggle under it...bit chilly here tonight).

Blogged to: When We Stand Together - Nickelback, Only Girl (In the World) - Rihanna, and Lean on Me - Club Nouveau.

My second crochet project...

I know it is odd to be starting a second crochet project now, when I haven't finished the first, but my ripple blanket has become something of a gargantuan creation. It requires a small team of removalists and several traffic diversions to be in place in order to transport it from room to room.

Crochet project number two is small and portable, and can be taken with me to school pick-up, appointments etc...anywhere I think I might have a few minutes to wait. So far it consists of Granny Squares in just four delicious colours...

I am using Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK - in Corallo (the beautiful pink), Giallo Medio (the lovely golden yellow), Splash (the pretty blue) and Waterlily (the snowy white). I picked up these lovely yarns from Deramores online.

I have never made Granny Squares before, so I had to find a pattern that was very easy to understand. The first place I looked was Lucy's Attic 24 and I wasn't disappointed. Check out Lucy's beautiful Summer Garden Granny Squares here. Now please don't rate the quality of Lucy's pattern using the neatness of my Granny Squares as a gauge. My first Granny Squares are a little...random....in appearance. They are much fiddlier than ripples (IMO) and I felt like I had four thumbs while I was making them. I am sure I'll get the hang of them eventually ;-).

Anyhoo, I'm off to bed. I'm exhausted! I spent four hours today sitting through a training session. My brain shut down at the end of the third hour. The old attention span has seriously diminished post-kids, and I was also getting a numb bottom!

Blogged to: Dancing in the Dark - Bruce Springsteen, Bennie and the Jets - Elton John, Feels Like Heaven - Urban Cookie Collective and Baby Baby - Corona.

An Owlish Pillow of Inspiration...

I've found some lovely, fun, cushion-y inspiration in blog-land lately...in particular from Lucy of Attic 24 and a much older post by Jen of In Color Order. So when Miss 8 told me she had a party to go to, I jumped at the chance to run with the cushion theme. I visited Lincraft and picked up some cute fabrics with a bird theme (the party invitation was in the shape of a flamingo, and the party girl an avid bird fan)...

I also picked up some beautiful cotton batting and some fine cotton muslin (all of which I washed before use). I made my first quilted pillow front without using an easy-feed/walking foot, and you could tell! The bottom layer came up short, and the top layer got a bit dragged around. So I had to make an emergency dash to the shops later in the week and pick up an easy-feed foot for my 1984 model Janome sewing machine! Do you know what? It is still possible to find parts that work with a 1984 Janome sewing machine! How cool is that?

Anyhoo, never having installed or used an easy-feed foot before, I got a quick tutorial in the store and also found a comprehensive photo tutorial online by Liesl of Hoppo Bumpo.

And this is my finished product:

I made up the front of the cushion with ten fabric pieces. I then put this panel over a piece of the cotton batting and both layers over a piece of muslin. I quilted the cushion front using wiggly, vertical lines, as per Jen's mug rug. The back of the cushion is just finished with a simple envelope close. I was too tired to bother with a zipper.

Last, but not least, this morning I made a simple card to go with our gift (which also included a copy of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them by J.K. Rowling....the birthday girl being another HP fan). For this card I cracked out my little stash of gorgeous Stampin' Up! seam bindings, and also used some beautiful patterned papers from the A Walk in the Park collection by Echo Park Paper Co.

Woah! What with The Block, Masterchef and now Touch...this post has been pieced together over the last three hours. Now I am pooped. If there are any boo boos, they're going to have to wait until tomorrow. Night, night!