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.

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.

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!