Squirrel's Nuts

Scrap Whispers Challenge #117 - Technique

2012-01-27T23:30:00.000+08:00

Hi all, and welcome to another Scrap Whispers challenge. This week is a technique challenge, and Georgina has chosen PUNCHES. I have just one shape in two different sizes because I use it so much - the ever-versatile butterfly, and both appear on this page. The other punch is an EK Success fleur-de-lys corner punch which I used on the photos themselves.

I had my usual problem with taking photographs of black (grrrr) so you'll have to take my word for it that this LO is really dramatic in real life.

One thing that I found incredibly interesting is how Stickles look on black card. I had never tried that before. You would not believe the colours I started out with, to get the colours I ended up with! If anyone is interested, leave me a comment and I'll post the results. :-)

Let's see what you come up with? Link your blog post up to Scrap Whispers and include a link to Scrap Whispers in your post, and you will go into the draw for a gorgeous prize.

Scrap Whispers Challenge #116 - Sketch

2012-01-20T20:19:00.003+08:00

Hello!

I'm back in Perth after a long weekend in Adelaide, which was really wonderful. I have a lot more material to scrap now, and that's just as well because Kelly has come up with a gorgeous sketch for us this week at Scrap Whispers. Isn't it a fabby one?

I stuck to it almost completely this time. The hotel we stayed in while we were in Adelaide was all golden cherubs and marble pillars, so the Graphic 45 papers which my brother gave me several Christmases ago were perfect on this LO. I developed a bit of a Glossy Accents addiction while I was working on it too. I find that Glossy Accents is a bit like that, don't you? Once I open the bottle, I find it hard to put it down!

Now show us what you can do with Kelly's sketch? Link us up to it at Scrap Whispers, and link Scrap Whispers in your post, and you could be in with a chance of winning the January prize pack. Hop on over and see what I'm talking about?

Scrap Whispers Challenge #114 - Colour

2012-01-08T11:22:00.002+08:00

A big Hello from Singapore!

DH and I are on a work (him), Christmas shopping (me) and catching up with friends (both) trip which is why my blog time has been a little sporadic. It has been really wonderful to see friends again for the first time in 2 years: to see how their children have grown; to congratulate them on impending new arrivals; to share the good Singaporean food with them and hear all their news. Some we have missed due to their holidays and chicken-pox believe it or not, but thank goodness for blog-land, e-mail and Skype.

Now onto this week's Scrap Whispers challenge, which is a colour one.

PINK ~ BLUE ~ TURQUOISE

I created my LO before we left, and it celebrates friends made in Australia. I just love mosaic designs. I think they appeal to the ordered, control-freak part of my nature! In the same way that my beloved swirly flowery designs are a treat made more special by not over-doing them, I keep my mosaics for just the right occasions as well. Here's to all my dear ladies at the WASIMH choir, whose colour choices at the Christmas dinner worked absolutely perfectly with Georgina's colour scheme for this challenge.

So, pink, blue and turquoise. Easy lah! (As they say around here). Link the blog post showcasing your page to Scrap Whispers, make sure you include a link to the Scrap Whispers site in your post, and a Good Day Sunshine collection pack from My Mind's Eye could be yours.

Anniversary card

2012-01-01T15:18:00.002+08:00

For my sweetie on our anniversary weekend.

House Mouse and Friends: the warm fuzzies
Less Is More: one word
Simon Says Stamp: anything goes
Stampavie and more: hearts

Willow in blue again

2011-12-31T12:02:00.001+08:00

I don't know why this delightful image of Willow with her shopping bags almost always ends up getting coloured in shades of blue. Well, by me anyway. It just suits her, and my Copic blues go so well together.

The papers were sent to me in a swap and I'm afraid I have forgotten what I was told they were - if I was told. The snowflakes are a Cuttlebug die, liberally adorned with silver Stickles, and the greeting is from Lili of the Valley. The blue glitter card was from a $ store here, cut with QuicKutz nested scallop dies.

Charisma Cardz: anything
Colour Create: blue, silver and white
Simon Says Stamp: anything
Whiff of Joy: sketch

Scrap Whispers Challenge #113 - Colour

2011-12-30T20:00:00.000+08:00

This week at Scrap Whispers we have a colour challenge for you:

pink

purple

orange

I'll admit I was a bit eye-brow-raisey, sigh-ish and arm-foldy when I discovered that. But this was another case of "don't knock it till you try it" for me. I think that one of my New Year's resolutions will have to be to embrace challenges mentally as well as physically. Because look at this.

Isn't it pretty? And not in-your-face garish either, as I feared. Basic Grey's Green at Heart collection, well distressed, together with the new to Australia (yeah... I know... it's been out for ages everywhere else but we're back in the 70s in some ways here) Kraft saved the day. I used sketch #187 from Creative Scrappers, which is quickly becoming one of my top favourite sketch sites. I tried blotching ink spots for the first time, and I love the effect - it's one I will definitely use again, with more confidence next time. I finished it with QuicKutz scalloped flowers and Spellbinders hearts with some buttons from my stash and some twists of brand new baker's twine.

We have pink Easter lilies back in the UK, but they aren't cacti and they smell quite different. These beauties bloom for just 12 hours. The bud appears from the pin-cushion plant and takes several days to grow to maturity. It blooms after dark, is spectacular all night and fist thing in the morning, and by mid-morning it has wilted and fallen over like the other three buds in the photo.

OK over to you. Link us up to your creation, and link your blog post to the Scrap Whispers site, and check out the yummy prize!

Scrap strips!

2011-12-29T23:28:00.000+08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas - much, much better than ours!

Ours was a wash-out, with poor DH working from home all over the break - literally all over. He took 2 hours out for Christmas dinner, and another hour to call the family in the evening on the day itself but didn't stop work till about 1am. Then the 24-hour party next door kept us awake all that night. He has worked through most of his week off until today when we had a wonderful time at the WA Aquarium with Glad, and he didn't get a single "help me" phone call. Well, we'll just have to have another go at Christmas next year.

Back to crafting, when I made the green and purple Christmas card for my niece, I found myself staring at that rather beautiful Bo Bunny paper with all those different patterned stripes. A little germ of an idea was growing in my head, although it wasn't big enough to see the light of day yet. That didn't happen until I was reorganising my ribbon collection so that my new goodies fitted in, which meant moving a pile of paper and a couple of boxes containing strips which I'd been saving all year. I opened the boxes up and tipped out the strips all over my table. And suddenly the idea blossomed, right there in front of me.

3 days later, DH is still working from home, the dirty dishes are piling up and the house looks as if a dust bomb has exploded. But look what I made - 40 Christmas cards for next year! AND an empty box of strips for me to fill up again.

I used my $2 store star and flower (for the bows - good huh?!) punches as well as Fiskars threading water and and EK Success square punch. The greeting is Studio G, and Stickles features prominently. As usual!

Challenges:
Less Is More's "one word"
Simon Says Stamp's and Basic Grey's (there's a strip from the Bittersweet collection right there, and I've peppered practically all of those cards with Basic Grey scraps) "anything goes"
Bizzy Bec's "Christmas"

Isn't that just nutty, to have 40 cards for next year done just 4 days after Christmas? Haha! Maybe I'll find a craft fair to sell cards at when I'm back in the UK and have access to such things. I just love them, and I'm going to make a bunch more as my pile of scrap strips grows again, as of course it will.

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-24T13:39:00.002+08:00

Here is our Christmas tree corner, the last time we'll have this tiny tree. Next year we'll be back in the UK with our proper tree and this one will be back to a table decoration again, but here in the heat it seems out of place to have a big tree. It still looks pretty though.

The advent calendar is a Kaisercraft kit that I got a couple of years ago in a clearance sale, and began decorating after last Christmas, with beautiful Bo Bunny papers. Then it sat all year and I finally finished it the day before Advent this year. I made the little village last year at a class with the same papers, so they go really well together. I just love those muted reds, greens and creams - very traditional. My candle fetish is well satisfied at this time of the year - those little votive jars make the prettiest flickering colours on the walls at night. Better than lights on the tree.

I used the same gorgeous papers to make DH's special Christmas card this year, and I also had my first go at water-colour painting using Distress and dye inks. Thank you to Heather (Rica) for nudging me in that direction years ago.

So, House Mouse, friends and a squirrel for my man. Definitely "warm and fuzzy". Also "Christmas" at Bizzy Becs, "anything goes" at Charisma Cardz and Stampin' for the Weekend, "Christmas lights" (candles) at Creative Card Crew, "bingo" at Simon Says Stamp (ribbon, gems and sparkle), Stampin' for the Weekendand the sketch from Cute Card Thursday.

Have a wonderful Christmas everybody!

Scrap Whispers Challenge #112 - Technique

2011-12-23T20:42:00.001+08:00

We had a bit of a DT meeting at Scrap Whispers last week about blog hop tutorials. We decided that as preparing them takes so very much time, effort and coordination, and as so few people are actually doing them, we would stop for the time being. If we get deluged with requests to bring them back then we will reconsider! Instead, Georgina has come up with an idea that is just as interesting - techniques. And this week's technique is CLUSTERING EMBELLISHMENTS.

Hmm. That got me thinking. I mean, it's pretty easy to layer shapes on top of each other to make interesting embellishments; Georgina produced a tutorial on that only a few months ago. I thought I'd try to cluster them without actually layering them too much, and see what happened. I quite like it. Maybe layering has more depth. But contrasting them on black is effective. These little guys were sent to me as a thank you gift when I placed an order with an Aussie scrap-booking company. What a thoughtful gesture.

I used last week's sketch #186 from Creative Scrappers for this. I'm really getting into sketches. Have a look at the Scrap Whispers blog for the full details of this challenge, and for inspiration from the rest of the DT. Link your blog up to the Scrap Whispers site with your entry, and link to the site in your blog, and you will go in the draw for this month's prize. Now wouldn't that be a great late Christmas present?

Koalas rule!

2011-12-22T22:02:00.001+08:00

Today my dear friend Glad took me to the Zoo! How about that? I was like a child in a sweet shop, and she was gurgling like a drain at my enthusiasm over it all. I think marsupials are amazing creatures. And have I mentioned how much I LOVE kangaroos?! They are gentle, docile, soft, warm and loving. They don't smell and they don't bite. Of course they get cranky if you bother them, as any animal would, but on the whole I'd rather have a kangaroo around than a dog any day. I want a kangaroo to take home with me!

Today I didn't get any kangaroo shots, but I did get these:

And I made these, along with 2 more koala cards and 4 kangaroo cards in a box set as a Christmas gift. The top one is Basic Grey Kioshi paper for their "anything goes" challenge, and also Charisma Cardz with the same challenge. The second one is for Stampavie's "red" challenge.

Just a note

2011-12-21T14:03:00.002+08:00

I meant to enter Less Is More's "let it snow" challenge last week, but the days just flew away from me. This week's challenge is "music" though so I HAVE to do this one, since I never pass up an opportunity to make a music card. They get used up quicker than everything else in my life, since most of my friends and relatives are musical. Here is my first. Stand by for more!

So here we have House Mouse Amanda with her darling friend coloured with Copic markers for their "warm and fuzzy" challenge (music never fails to give me the warm, fuzzy feeling), which also fits Colour Create's "blue, white and silver", and the sketch from Simon Says Stamp.

The notes stamps are from Papermania, the greeting from PortaCraft, the music from Hero Arts, and Spellbinders deckled ovals dies also embossed. I double stamped the bottom of the House Mouse stamp and then stamped the music over it, and then added the die cut, coloured stamp on raised foam on top.

Scrap Whispers Challenge #111 - sketch

2011-12-16T20:54:00.001+08:00

Hello and thank you for joining us at Scrap Whispers for Challenge #111 which is a sketch:

Now that's pretty simple, so you can let your imagination go wild. Those panels could be photos, or photo strips, or patterned paper. You can make them different shapes, different sizes, or rotate or mirror the design - whatever you like as long as the sketch is recognisable. I stuck to it, because I had a photo which worked just perfectly. I used paper, stickers and alphas from the Basic Grey "Jovial" collection pack, as well as a Fiskars ribbon threading punch and Glimmer Mist.

This is our 7th (and probably last) Christmas spent in mid-summer or tropical heat, away from the UK. The novelty has not worn off in all that time, and the concept of paddling in the sea on the way home from a Christmas party is to me still completely "far out", to quote my dear friend in the picture.

What will you do with our sketch? Please show us - we would love to see! Link your blog post up to the Scrap Whispers challenge #111, and link to Scrap Whispers in your post, and you will be in with a chance of winning December's delicious prize.

Good luck!

Scrap Whispers Challenge #110 - anything goes!

2011-12-09T20:30:00.000+08:00

We're having a week of giving you free rein to do whatever you like! How about that? No pressure, no rules, just fun. Well no rules other than having to actually DO a lay-out, post it on your blog and link Scrap Whispers to it, and it to Scrap Whispers of course. AND if anyone from my team is reading this, don't forget that there is a special prize from me for the teamie who enters the most challenges before the Big Reveal. One of our teams is a week behind I believe, so you have at least one more week to enter.

I decided to play along with Creative Scrappers' sketch #185. It has a doily pattern which I did last week, but I took this one down a different route with lots of doodling. I'm having a definite glut on hearts at the moment, but I'm sure normal service will be resumed soon!

The background paper is from the Echo Park "Life is good" collection, and everything else is scraps so old that I can't remember what they are. In fact, I think the pink stripe was bought at my first ever scrap booking lesson nearly 4 years ago. I've been making lace out of my scraps again, courtesy of my Spellbinders nested heart dies, Martha Stewart border punch and Cutterbee scalloped blades.

I'd love to see what you come up with this week. You can enter as many times as you like, and with as many LOs as you make between today and midnight GMT next Thursday. So ready, get set and..... GO!

And yet more green!

2011-12-08T23:30:00.000+08:00

That's all for this week for this over-achiever, I promise.

Why is it that once the pressure is off, it's so much more fun to create? I think I made most of my Christmas cards this year way back in the Australian winter when it was truly chilly and mildly Christmassy feeling. Then once it started to heat up, the job was done and I didn't need to spend hours stewing in my oven-like little room. Or not for cards, anyway, just for scrapping. That worked for me. Next year we'll be back in the UK and goodness knows what I'll be doing. I may not have any time at all for crafting, although I really, really hope that's not the case.

For my final batch of LIM cards, I took my inspiration from Mandi's delicious bauble card to make 3 of these using my Cuttlebug, Hero Arts stamp, Studio G greeting stamp and lots of dye ink:

And 6 of these using an Inkadinkado Peace stamp, Copics and Stickles for the bauble. The bauble tops are punched using a tiny balloon punch.

That really is all. Tomorrow I'll be working at the church most of the day, so no more cards till the next challenge which I'm really looking forward to.

Challenges:
Bizzy Bec's Stores: Christmas
Creative Card Crew: Christmas
Cute Card Thursday: anything goes
Less Is More: green (you knew that LOL)

More green

2011-12-07T18:34:00.001+08:00

I was on a roll after those last cards. I went leaving the love on my favourite LIM submissions and found a beautiful one by Sarita. I haven't got her stamp, but I had a go at making my own version using one of my new purchases from Stamp-It. It's not up to Sarita's standard, but I still love it.

This is my second entry of this week for Less Is More's "green" challenge. I could probably carry on working with green for ever without getting bored actually. Come back on Friday for this week's Scrap Whispers challenge and you'll see what I mean!

Other challenges:
Bizzy Bec's Stores: Christmas
Creative Card Crew: T'is the season

Family Christmas cards

2011-12-04T18:09:00.001+08:00

I've had a wonderfully crafty weekend. It's been hot as Job's boils here this week (any advance on 37*C anyone?) so DH and I have had a good excuse to stay in with the air-con. He's caught up on odd jobs, work and a little much-needed shut-eye, and I've been gluein'n'stickin'. We did pop out to the church food fete yesterday for some yummy Burmese chicken biryani, and to church and a Robo-Fair at the local university today, but they were kind of timed around the "you overheated yet? Me too, let's go" rather than the relaxed weekend amblings of the winter.

Before I show you me on a Segway at the RoboFair ("wheeeeeeeeeee! I'm a Mythbuster.....") here are the fruits of my weekend fun.

For Basic Grey "lost and found" (Eskimo kisses papers from 2 years ago which I thought I'd used up), Colour Create "red, green & white" and Simon Says Stamp "anything goes":

Creatalicious "Christmas and sparkle" and Charisma Cardz "spots":

And for Less Is More "green" (LOVE this!) and Stampavie's "easel card":

Don't you just love that koala bauble stamp? I've been so excited about using it ever since DH got it for me last weekend from Stamp-It, our local LSS. Just adorable.

Oh OK OK, just because you've been waiting so patiently.

Scrap Whispers Challenge #109 - Colour combo

2011-12-02T20:30:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone, and welcome to another challenge at Scrap Whispers. This week we're all about colours - and they are:

AQUA

RED

CREAM

This photo is the one which began my whole scrap booking addiction nearly 4 years ago. I took photos for mother-in-law's and father-in-law's ruby wedding anniversary. The trouble was that the lighting inside was not the best, and my little digital camera and photographic skills struggled with back-lit subjects. So because I had so many not-so-good pictures but I still wanted to include them, I decided to make them a scrap book album rather than a photo album. Brand new hobby. A whole 14-pager. In 10 weeks. Yup, that was how new I was to this whole game. I'd never put myself through that pressure now. But saying that, I wouldn't make lay-outs like those old pages I made way back then again either!

Here is the first page of that album, which wasn't the first page I ever did, but wasn't far off.

Ah, bless. I was so pleased with myself for framing the vintage photo with red from the colour one, and the colour pic in scratchy black and white like the old photo. The other pages are more exciting, honest. Thank goodness MIL and FIL loved the album and showed EVERYONE, otherwise I wouldn't have had the confidence to continue.

So here the same photo has been scrapped again, and that's the first time I've ever done that. This page is for me though. The photo may be the same, but my scrapping "style" has changed quite a lot!

It's based on a sketch from Creative Scrappers, but I fell down the crack between the deadline for this contest and the next one which hasn't been posted yet, so I can't enter this. Never mind. It's a great sketch and I got past my paranoia about using heavily patterned papers. I still think it detracts from the photo a bit, but it's a strong enough picture to get away with it.

I used my new Tim Holtz alphas die - the first I've ever bought. I love it. I have a little square punch which exactly fits the letters, so I can punch out the right number of squares and waste virtually no paper at all. Very happy. The papers are a combination of scraps, Kaisercraft, American Crafts and Cre8tiv card-stock. My Studio G red glitter glue also makes an appearance (that stuff is sticky) as well as my Spellbinders nested heart dies, brads from the $2 store in Singapore, and a doily inked with Tim Holtz distress ink in Broken China and a spritz of Creative Notions gold mist. I spent half an hour hand-stitching that blinking circle too. There's a lesson for me. Get the design sorted first before wasting time sewing the two thirds of a circle that is hidden! D'oh!

OK now it's over to you. Have a wander over to the Scrap Whispers blog and see what the rest of the DT have done with this.

Oh, and the DT call is still open if anyone fancies joining our select little team!

Green

2011-11-29T21:19:00.001+08:00

Creative Crew's challenge this fortnight is one of my favourites - monochrome. There is something about tone-on-tone which presses all the right buttons for me.

DH took me to Stamp-It on Sunday, one of the LSSes near where I live. I went a bit Christmas stamp crazy! They make their own stamps, either wood mounted or cling which it much better for storage. They will actually make a stamp for you. You just have to give them a black'n'white jpg file and the size. I treated myself to a personalised stamp for the backs of all my cards, showing that they were handmade by me. It's the cutest - they did a really good job.

I used one of my new stamps for this card - a corner adorner. Our priest is having minor surgery this week and I made a get well card for him. But he's going to have to work a bit to get the sentiments. :-)

Scrap Whispers Challenge #108 - Tutorial

2011-11-25T23:30:00.000+08:00

Welcome back to another tutorial Blog Hop week at Scrap Whispers! This tutorial is one of mine, and I'm really excited to see what everyone does with it, because it provides a solution to one of the little irritations of scrapping - those dratted left-over alphas. So please have a go at it yourselves, and link your creation up to the Scrap Whispers blog? Not only because there's a wonderful prize, but also to humour me? Hehee!

Have a look at the Scrap Whispers blog for the full tutorial, and meanwhile, here is the LO I made using my method. I stamped the background paper with woodland stamps from Kanban, and red and blue dye inks from Dew Drops and Tim Holtz's Distress Ink in Seedless Grape by Ranger. The journalling is tucked behind, and is actually lifted directly from my blog entry - and why not? LOL The title technique worked especially well for this, because it is somewhat camouflaged - which is exactly what the little frogmouth thought he was. Bless.

OK folks, now hop over to the rest of our wonderful DT's blogs and get some more inspiration from them. Leave them some love, and then have a go at making your own title, and show us how it turned out. You don't have to use it in a LO or card, but if you do then that's even better!

Georgina
Kelly
Nilsa
Scrap Whispers

Scrap Whispers Challenge #107 - Sketch

2011-11-18T16:00:00.000+08:00

G'day, g'day, g'day!

This week at Scrap Whispers, it is the lovely Nilsa's turn to provide us with a new sketch. It's a simple one, but I actually found it quite challenging. Yes, I know, that's the whole point, to be challenged! What do you think? Interesting huh?

I used photos of some dear friends in the UK. It's a sweet story. 20 years ago I worked with A, and S and I shared a flat. Then I met DH (as he became) and we moved into a home of our own. A and S were both invited to the house-warming and things went on from there. I was a bridesmaid at their wedding, and S was maid-of-honour at ours, and we've kept in touch ever since. They came out to stay with us for a couple of weeks in June and we had a whale of a time.

I have a pile of quality pics to scrap from that trip, but these are from when we met in the UK the year before. We had a wonderful meal in the Globe Inn - a perfect opportunity for me to make another dreadful title pun. You have my full permission to groan. :-)

The papers are from Basic Grey's Porcelain collection, which had been saved in my "too pretty to use" mental compartment for far too long.

I feel that I've moved quite a long way from the original sketch, although it's recognisable when you see them together. What will you do with it? Show us on your blog, put a link in your post to the Scrap Whispers blog, and then link us up to your post to be in with a chance of winning possibly my favourite Echo Park collection pack yet. Good luck!

Scrap Whispers Challenge #106 - Scrap-lift

2011-11-11T22:30:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone, and welcome back to another challenge at Scrap Whispers. This week is our week for scrap-lifting - on top of the scrap-lifting that our teams are already doing in the main game. So if this is your week, well, we'll let you off from this one, unless you're so fired-up and inspired that you can't wait to have another go!

Look at Nilsa's pretty, pretty page! Isn't it lovely? This is what we want you to scrap-lift this week, to be in with a chance of winning November's fantastic prize, which you can see in last week's post.

I stuck to it quite closely, as I loved the design and the dramatic BIG embellishments. I used almost the last of the Echo Park pack:

So, what are you going to do with it? Keep the same design, the same shapes? Or maybe use the colour scheme as your inspiration? Link us up on the Scrap Whispers blog site to your lift, link back to the blog in your post, and maybe it will be YOUR NAME that comes out of Georgina's hat.......!

11/11/11 11:11

2011-11-11T11:11:00.000+08:00

In remembrance of all the brave people who have died in service for their country.

My great-grandfather was killed during WWI in 1917 in the muddy trenches at Ypres, Belgium. I am thankful that my great-grandmother never knew what he must have gone through. My great-grandmother was sent this card in 1920. See the little arrow in the top left showing the location of the grave?

Here is the cemetery in 2004 when his surviving family (all but one) went on a "pilgrimage" to Ypres.

My grandmother was five when he died, and her little brother was less than a year old. My great-grandfather never saw his son. He sent back this delightful hand-drawn postcard to my great-grandmother, showing what he thought his baby might look like.

He will be forever talented, young and fun-loving in my mind.

"Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them."

Scrap Whispers Challenge #105 - Colour

2011-11-04T23:30:00.000+08:00

Good morning everyone!

Well that was a dramatic start to the day for me: half an hour before the alarm went off, I drifted to consciousness to the whooshing crescendo of a vigorous rain-storm as it raced across the city before crashing against my bedroom window with tropical force. I drifted off again to the white noise, but before long there was a mighty crash of thunder and that was it. I was awake and up. I won't have to water my marigolds and pansies today - if there is anything left of them.

The jacaranda trees are just loving this weather, and as Australians love jacarandas, our whole neighbourhood is purple upon purple at this time of year. Just beautiful. We have one on the boundary between our house and next door, too large to get a good photo, but look at this from just up the road. Stunning, isn't it?

At Scrap Whispers this week we must have Western Australia on our minds, because our colour challenge is:

BLUE

WHITE

PURPLE

How about that?

I indulged. Mostly I try to match my embellishments to my subject, which means I don't get much use out of these trendy bird-cages or steam-punk, but occasionally I allow myself to have a flower'n'flourish fest and just go pretty. This truly beautiful photo that I took of our niece who is now 8, deserved the indulgent treatment. Bless her, what a darling kiddie she is.

If anyone wants to know what I used or how I did things, then please ask. There is far too much on there to list and keep you awake.

Now, you'll have noticed that it's November. That means that October's winner has been announced, and she is on my team! Go Chelsey! And there is a new prize for November. Georgina is working her way through the entire Echo Park collection range I think - you lucky, lucky people. Here is what you could win this month:

My mouth is watering. Isn't it pretty? Do you want a try at winning it? If you enter any of the challenges at Scrap Whispers during November, each separate entry will get you a chance of winning. You can be anywhere in the world. You can enter as many times as you like. You don't have to be also playing our main Scrap Whispers game - although if you get bitten by the scrap-lifting bug then you can sign up any time to play the next game which will start in the New Year. Pop over to the Scrap Whispers blog for more info, and to enter this challenge - and tell all your scrappy friends!

Good luck and have fun!

Scrap Whispers Challenge #104 - Tutorial

2011-10-28T22:00:00.000+08:00

Hello and welcome to our October Scrap Whispers Blog Hop!

Thank you for joining us again, this time for another great tutorial from our wonderful Georgina on how to use up scraps. And I personally LOVE this one. I'm always looking for new ways to make the most of my supplies, and this really appeals to me. You can read all about how to do it on the Scrap Whispers blog.

Here are the embellishments which I created using Georgina's technique. My sewing machine is an antique, so I wasn't surprised when it struggled to go through my multiple layers of card-stock and paper. Rather than destroying it, I decided to go with faux stitching which I think has actually worked really well.

And in place on the final LO:

Now it's over to you to make your own embellishments using the tutorial on the Scrap Whispers blog site. Please share with us what you make! Link us up on the Scrap Whispers blog to your masterpieces, then hop through the DT's blogs and leave some love for everyone.

Georgina
Kelly
Nilsa
Scrap Whispers

Finally and possibly the most important, we're having a DT call on Scrap Whispers! Please send your details to Georgina (address on the blog site) if you'd like to join our team.

Polka dots and a sketch

2011-10-28T21:30:00.000+08:00

Here is a quick card for a wonderful cyber-scrapping friend which I'm entering into these challenges. How lovely that I can do a quick card again, without having to improvise on almost everything!

Basic Grey: autumn (the green mat is BG Boxer, Hipster paper - you'll see some more of this soon)
Colour Create: burgundy, green, cream and white
House Mouse & Friends: autumn
Less Is More: polka dots
Sketch Saturday: sketch

And the card:

In Perth with the Queen

2011-10-28T11:53:00.000+08:00

I flew to Perth from the UK last week, for the last time. Our next flight from Perth to the UK will be a one-way ticket, and we'll be moving into our lovely little house again. It looks big in this photo, but it really isn't.

As well as having two delightful men in to decorate the hall, stairs and landing, and paint the outside of the house, I've got four rooms completed myself in my month of hard work. That means that next year, during the estimated four to six weeks it will take for our furniture to be shipped over, I'll have only two rooms to finish and four carpets to get replaced. The end is in sight, and for the first time in our six and a half years away I am thinking about our home with a warm, happy feeling, instead of that nasty pang of cold dread. I had no idea how heavily the worry has weighed upon me until it had dissipated.

That's why I haven't been blogging, or scrapping, or card-making. Well I did knock together one small card for my cousin's birthday, but it was hard work sitting on the picnic box with a book shelf across my knees and very little in the way of supplies. She nearly got something fashioned out of wall-paper and paint!

Back in Oz, and the Queen has arrived too. She has been visiting Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne and is finishing her tour with Perth to open the Commonwealth Head of Government meeting (CHoGM) and then attend a sausage sizzle with 100,000 of the Perth public. How exciting! She is amazing for 85.

Meanwhile the Scrap Whispers game has started (I should have told you about that, shouldn't I? Sorry!) and the weekly challenges are going strong. Have a peek over there to see what we're up to? The next challenge is our Blog Hop, today at 3pm UK time, so stand by for a brilliant tutorial from Georgina!

Scrap Whispers Challenge #100 - Tutorial

2011-10-02T02:08:00.001+08:00

Ooh this is a fun one! This week's Scrap Whispers challenge is a tutorial from our very own Kelly, all about using stamps on a LO in a different way. I'm really sorry I haven't been able to participate in this, but the slight problem of having no card-stock and no stamps has held me up. A poor excuse? Well maybe, but I have finished decorating the lounge and the dining room instead, so I hope the rest of our wonderful DT will forgive me. Once I get back to my room, I'm going to be trying this out.

I also had my hair cut because it was driving me bonkers. Cute eh? I couldn't believe the amount of hair on the floor. I'm not sure it will drive me any less bonkers, but at least it will look pretty while it flaps around my eyes, and up my nose, and gets stuck to the perspiration on my face and tickles my chin. I have another 5 ceilings to paint too, so those white hairs and "dandruff" spots will just finish off my beautiful new "do". Hehee!

This is a new month so there's a new prize to win at Scrap Whispers, and September's winner will be announced very soon. AND...... don't forget the new game! There's just simply so much to do!

Scrap Whispers Challenge #99 - sketch

2011-09-26T15:47:00.001+08:00

This sketch was designed by yours truly - whaddaya reckon?

Pretty easy huh? So, if you want the chance to win a fabby prize, then go to Scrap Whispers and play along. You have until the end of September to play this challenge and any others from September to be in with a chance of winning. Because we've been away for a while, not many people have entered yet, so there's a GOOD CHANCE OF WINNING!

Here is my digital version to get your ideas flowing, and our wonderful DT have produced some more inspiration over on the Scrap Whispers blog.

See you over there!

Scrap Whispers is back!

2011-09-23T16:09:00.001+08:00

Well we never really went away actually, but we stopped the weekly challenges over the summer because everyone was so busy, and because not many people were playing along.

But now we have a new format, and the new Scrap Whispers game (separate from the weekly challenges) will start in October, so start your sign-ups now by e-mailing Georgina at gh26@sky.com

Here is the routine:
- Tutorial challenge
- Colour challenge
- Scrap-lift challenge - well we are a scrap-lifting game blog after all!
- Sketch challenge

Challenges are posted on a Friday, and there is a monthly prize draw from all entrants. For more info, click HERE.

I'm having to scrap digitally while I'm in the UK, which is an added challenge. But you know me - I like a challenge. (Today's challenge for me is dropping a radiator off the wall single-handedly to paint behind it... LOL)

So please spread the word, tell your friends, sign up and join in, and let's get EVERYONE playing along!

When 7 years away has its advantages

2011-09-22T06:12:00.001+08:00

Today I painted the lounge ceiling with a roller. Once the light faded, I washed the white spots from my arms and popped out to get something for tea. When I got back, I looked in the mirror and realised with horror that I had forgotten to de-dandruff my face...

I'm in England

2011-09-21T05:59:00.001+08:00

That's why I haven't been blogging lately. I have this dongle, you see, and depending on where I am, what the weather is doing, which room I'm in, and who is standing between me and the signal, it's not what you might call reliable. Anyway. That's my problem not yours!

Lots has been going on. DH and I took the 26-hour trip to our beloved gail-swept, raining, misty, grey, dark, dank and chilly country two and a half weeks ago. DH then had a little less than two weeks to pack in seeing family and friends, getting pummelled by our excited little niece and nephew, doing essential renovations to our little house, and getting three cars back on the road again. After he'd popped into work to see whether anyone still recognised him there, that was the end of his "holiday". He flew back to the prospect of a warm Australian spring, with the even warmer, happier feeling of having two good jobs to choose between when he gets back next year. That has to be the first good worky news that he's had for ages. Like months and months. Maybe this time last year. Yay for him! I love him and miss him so much.

Because I'm still here. After seeing my man off on Friday morning, I met up with Georgina on Saturday for a wonderful day out at Wisley and we had a yummy Italian meal with my family - thanks for a gorgeous day G! Sunday was spent gardening for bro and Mum, and baking and putting my Mum back together again after all that gardening work for me ;-) On Monday we met up with my cousin and her two-year-old for a few hours at a petting farm, then it was back on the road to the west country, and the rain hasn't stopped since. Sigh.

The plasterer was here at 8:30am this morning and has finished the essential ceilings and walls. Now it's all up to me to complete. Sanding, sealing, stripping wall-paper, re-papering, painting. And cleaning. LOTS of that. It makes a serious difference to the morale seeing our little house coming up sparkling again even with bare plaster and wallpaper half off. Removing tenant-dirt makes it ours again. And even with the miserable weather that this autumn is blowing our way, there is hope that I might just make a bit of a hole in this massive job ahead. Every single room needs doing. Even the rooms which don't really. Part of me can't wait for the morning so I can start painting ceilings and brighten the place up, and part of me just wants to snuggle up in my sleeping bag on the sofa cushions on the floor of the only habitable room in the house, watching the deer outside the window (they're still here) and pretending that the work doesn't exist.

I may post pics of how it's all getting on, just to prove to DH that I'm NOT just deer-watching! ;-)

Scrap Whispers September Blog Hop - covering books

2011-09-03T17:00:00.000+08:00

Thank you for joining us again for the Scrap Whispers September Blog Hop!

Firstly please join the DT in waving a fond farewell to Kimberly, who has decided to move on. We all wish her the very best with her family and her gorgeous little boy. Thank you for all your energy and enthusiasm Kim, and don't lose touch - keep coming back and playing along with us?

This month, in readiness for school, the lovely Nilsa has provided a simple tutorial for transforming a regular school notebook into a work of art that anyone would be proud to carry to class. I haven't got any children, and I don't know any children to make things for, so I have covered a mini-album that I won, in readiness for filling it with beautiful decorations and photos.

I've broken into my beautiful ScrapJazz prize Basic Grey Sweet Threads collection pack for the first time. It is SO PRETTY it takes my breath away. It's too pretty to use, but I must - I will - and I have to do justice to it now!

I took the covers off and sprayed the holes end with Smooch Limolicious ink. I inked the paper, added the fibre, the title and the flowers before sticking it on and putting it all back together. The pages are black and all different with little pockets, slots, flaps, frames. I can't wait to finish it off now! Doesn't that cover just make your mouth water? LOL

All you have to do now is to hop through all our wonderful DT members' blogs, leaving a comment on each guaranteed to make their day. Then go back to Scrap Whispers for Nilsa's tutorial, and make your own beautifully simple/simply beautiful creation. Post it on your blog, linking back to the Scrap Whispers blog, and link us up to your blog so we can all come by and leave some happy comments on yours. You could win a fabby prize, which is so new that I have no idea what it is yet! All will be revealed on the Scrap Whispers blog.

Here are the DT's blogs:
Georgina
Nilsa
Kelly
Sherri
Rosey (here!)
And of course Scrap Whispers

Happy hopping!

House Mouse Challenge #103 - a recipe

2011-08-29T07:00:00.001+08:00

Hi everyone!

Thank you for joining us for House Mouse and Friends' 103rd challenge, and my last as Guest Designer for August :-( Thanks for having me on the team ladies - you've been wonderful to work with! Following on from the last fruity challenge, we're sticking to the food theme and challenging you to a recipe. It could be inside or outside your card, and I'm not sure whether it HAS to be food ;-) but with so many mouth-watering HM&F stamps out there, it would almost be a pity not to, wouldn't it? Hehee.

I've been hard at work for the last few weeks making 18 jars of lemon curd for our church fund-raiser food fete on Saturday. Here are two of them. MmmMmmmMmmmmmm....... Do you like the highly personalised label? And the cute little lemons on top? DH couldn't get as excited as I did about those, but then he hadn't spent all afternoon designing them and cutting them on the Silhouette and Cuttlebug.

In keeping with our theme, I made a recipe card to be displayed at the fete, showing exactly how the lemon curd was made. I used a Mudpie from the "Berry full" stamp and a very excited Monica jumping into the jar. I couldn't find a jar stamp that fitted so I drew one of mine. All are coloured with Copic markers. The paper is from Basic Grey's Lime Rickey 6"x6" pack, and yellow Stickles made perfect lemon curd running down the jar and all over greedy little Mudpie's paws and mouth.

I'm also entering it into these challenges:
Basic Grey Challenges: anything goes (Lime Rickey)
Charisma Cardz: glitter
Simon Says Stamp: sketch

KLM update

2011-08-28T18:30:00.000+08:00

A guy from Amsterdam called me back. He was helpful, calm, friendly and sensible.

The system is still unable to display my number correctly on my view, but it apparently looks OK on theirs so I have to leave it alone.

The only flights we can get to New Zealand with KLM/partners are via Kuala Lumpur! For those of you with a more sketchy knowledge of the geography of this region, that means that instead of flying 3,322 miles south-east, we first have to fly 2,600 miles north-west, then 5,420 miles back south-east again. Nuts, I tell you, nuts!

And the answer to my original question? There is no walk-in Air France/KLM office within 2,500 miles of Perth. Why nobody seemed able to string the words together to tell me this, I'm scared to imagine.

My conclusion is that I feel very sorry for the poor Air France/KLM employees having to work with a rubbish computer system, based around a language which many of them barely speak.

{Climbing down from soap box. Normal service will be resumed shortly.}

Customer Service? Try reading the question...

2011-08-23T20:20:00.000+08:00

Dear KLM Airline,

I have just been advised that all my award miles expire at the end of this month, and that the only way not to lose them is to book a flight. However none of the locations that I might want to visit seem to be available.

The website is extremely unhelpful when booking from this point of view. It is a little better if know where you're going and when, but when you're trying to choose something from what is available, it is impossible. The locations shown in the Miles Finder don't match the locations shown in the Destination drop-down list, and you have to select the exact dates rather than a range of dates. If one date is unavailable, it tells you the whole trip is not possible. It does not tell you when flights only operate once a week, so you waste your time searching for every possible combination when there isn't even a flight, let alone seats.

It also loses all the information with each failed search so everything has to be re-input every time. It is also very difficult talking with the Australian call centre. The line is very bad; faint & crackly every time. The staff are friendly and willing, but unable to help.

Please could you advise the address of a service centre in or around Perth, WA which I could visit, and sit down with an operator and discuss the possibilities? I don't want to lose my award points, but spending them seems to be unnecessarily stressful. I'm going to need another holiday once this is done!
Thank you in advance for your help.
**********************************************************************
Response
Thank you very much for your e-mail dated August 22th, 2011.

Please note that the postal address for the Flying Blue programme is as follows :

FLYING BLUE F-94852 Ivry-sur-Seine Cedex FRANCE
Tel : (+33) 1 XX XX XX XX
Fax : + 33 1 XX XX XX XX

We thank you for your continued loyalty to the Flying Blue programme.

Your Flying Blue team
**********************************************************************
Dear KLM,

I asked for a Flying Blue Service Centre in PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA but I was given a postal address in France. I want to visit a real person in my town, and speak in person to someone who can work your internet booking system. Because I can't.

Please can you help before my award points run out in 10 days' time?

Thank you.
**********************************************************************
Response
We have attempted to contact you by telephone in order to complete your file.

Despite our repeated attempts, we have been unable to get in touch with you.

We would ask you to contact your Flying Blue Customer Service Centre on (+ 44) XXXX XX XX XXX from the United Kingdom as soon as possible.

We thank you for your continued loyalty to the Flying Blue programme.

Your Flying Blue team
**********************************************************************
Dear KLM,

Thank you for your response. I am sorry the mobile number in my profile was unavailable, but I am currently in Australia not the UK (which is why I wanted a Customer Service Centre in PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA not the UK - or France), and your system does not allow me to put an Australian number in my profile. I have therefore removed all numbers from my profile.

My number is +61 XXX XXX XXX.
**********************************************************************
Response
We are pleased to inform you that your account has been updated.

You may now visit our websites www.airfrance.com or www.klm.com to check the data that has been entered. To do this, please go to the "Flying Blue" section and log into "Your account" using your PIN code.

In addition, you can change your profile details directly in your personal membership area.

Your Flying Blue team
**********************************************************************
Dear KLM,

Thank you for your response.

However you have still not answered my question, and now you have updated my profile incorrectly. The profile is now showing the UK country code (44) with just the end of my Australian mobile number, and you have put it in the wrong field.

I repeat, your system is not capable of taking it.

My original request for the address in PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA for a Customer Services Centre is also still outstanding.

Please, just call me? My number is +61 XXX XXX XXX
**********************************************************************

I'll post more updates as I get them. I'm gob-smacked that anything called Customer Services could be capable of this level of uselessness and insulting idiocy. They began at rock bottom and have been digging ever since. They would be out of their depth in a puddle. {sigh}

Another blue and white card

2011-08-19T16:37:00.001+08:00

I'm doing a swap at the moment, and this month's criteria is blue and white, flowers, and elegant. We have to create 3 cards (unwritten) and a bunch of goodies that fit that description to the next person on the list, and we get the same back in return. I'm including my last two cards, and this is the third. I just adore the cleanness of these Doodlebug papers. Mmm!

It's also for these challenges:
Scrapbook Boutique: ribbon/bow
Stampavie: girlie
Creative Card Crew: hand made flowers (the white flowers are punched and creased)

And for those of you wondering about my beautiful visitor from yesterday, he seemed fine. When twilight came, he made a few oo-oo-oo sounds, and the next time I looked out about 10 minutes later, he was gone. He obviously found somewhere quieter to roost today because the boys got their trampoline back. And blow me, now that they could play out the back, they only wanted to ride their bikes and scooters out the front. Boys.

Tawny Frogmouth

2011-08-18T10:50:00.002+08:00

This morning I was lying in bed thinking "I really must get up..." when there was a birdy kerfuffle on the air-con unit on the other side of the bedroom wall. It was a really noisy one; ravens were cawing, magpies were fluting, lots of birdy feet were stomping on the roof, the fence, the tiles. I had to go and see what was happening.

Downstairs outside the lounge window, the cacophony was even louder. There was a mob of big birds all flying around next door's trampoline, scolding and flapping.

Then I spotted this guy, perched on one of the posts underneath the overhang of the house.

It's a tawny frogmouth, a cousin of the owl, and he's supposed to be nocturnal. He's obviously decided that his trampoline post is a good spot for roosting, and that he's well camouflaged, and he was reacting to all the fuss by doing what frogmouths do in defence - pretending to be a tree. They are quite common actually but this is the first time I've seen one outside a zoo, so I was, and am, properly excited. Here he is up close. What an endearingly ugly face.

J next door has obviously spotted him too, because I saw the curtains being pulled about as 3 small boys jostled for the best view. He turned his head slowly and gazed down at them, but being convinced of the effectiveness of his cover, he didn't move.

He's still there 3 hours later. Not that I've got up off the sofa to check lately. I don't have to - every few minutes some more birds fly down and swear at him and then fly off. It's a noisy kind of day out there.

ETA: 4 hours later and the poor blighter is still getting disturbed. I'd have found a quieter place to sleep by now.

Blue & white

2011-08-17T18:06:00.002+08:00

Just a quickie, will pad this post out more later...

Creatalicious: 3 patterned papers, 4 flowers and ribbon, also monochrome
Creative Card Crew: handmade flowers
Sketch Saturday: sketch
Stampavie: girlie
A Spoonful of Sugar: Happy Birthday

Bizzy Becs: butterflies and blue
Less Is More: one layer card using ink only (no PC)

Must dash, I have to prepare for singing group tonight and make tea. Back later...

ETA: Well it's tomorrow now! I never got back to my post. See next post for new stuff.

Let's get fruity!

2011-08-15T20:16:00.001+08:00

Welcome to challenge #102 on House Mouse and Friends!

The lovely Lorraine Aquilina has chosen the challenge this month with...."Lets Get Fruity"!

Use any of the House-Mouse & Friends stamps that showcases any type of fruit(s) and create a fruity project. Hehee.

The sponsors of this challenge are:

K n' K Designs

knkdesigns.blogspot.com

Offering ONE lucky winner - 3 Digi Stamp Sets (excluding the charity set called "Hope")

*** A N D ***

Pizzazz Aplenty

http://www.pizzazzaplenty.blogspot.com/

Offering ONE Lucky Winner a $10 Embellishment Gift Package

So that's 2 great prizes!

As a Guest Design Team member for August ;-) here is my card for a little inspiration. I splashed out and went shopping for this challenge, and this is what I got. Isn't it adorable!

For more, have a look at the House Mouse & Friends blog!

I'm entering this into some more challenges as well:

Charisma Cardz: distressing

A Spoonful of Sugar: birthdays

Truly Scrumptious: lace

Patriotic simplicity

2011-08-13T01:26:00.003+08:00

This week Less Is More is asking for a card in the colours of our national flag, which, my being English, is red, white and blue. I'll be honest, I have never been less proud of my country than I am now, after those disgraceful riots and looting in London which spread to Bristol and Birmingham. I feel disgusted, and almost ashamed to be English. Maybe after this, our police will be permitted to adminster justice, the schools will be allowed to keep discipline, and parents will be encouraged to teach children the basic principles of respect and right versus wrong, instead of sticking to the ridiculous political correctness which has turned our country into a lily-livered soft-touch and is ruining a generation.

But enough. This blog is about creativity and making the best of things. And this is about the best I could do at this time of night with only hours to spare until the end of the week's challenge. And another broken punch, the second punch I've broken in 2 weeks! It was expensive - over $20 - so it is going back to the store tomorrow. Grr.

I ended up with a die cut by Marianne Design which actually worked even better, a fuschia stamp and sentiment by The Craft's Meow, and liquid pearls. The background card is actually white, but it is pearlescent so the camera has interpreted it as greenish for some bizarre reason. I love how it has turned out.

I'm also entering it into Cute Card Thursday's challenge of "clean and simple", Simon Says Stamp's of "all white" (except for the stamp) and Stampin' for the Weekend's "spots'n'dots".

Citrus Henry

2011-08-12T15:14:00.000+08:00

I was working on this yesterday while I was Skyping my Mum. She's quite happy sitting on my craft desk watching what I'm doing while we're chatting away from 9000 miles apart! I decided to give Henry some bright colours to cheer him up on this easel card, along with the buttons and bows which is Whiff of Joy's challenge this fortnight, a sketch from Sketch Saturday and Creative Card Tuesday's "best foot forward".

Christmas in August

2011-08-12T14:03:00.003+08:00

I've been so busy this week with extra church work. We had a Parish Council meeting and the resulting minutes had to be typed up, the funeral of one of our elderly parishioners, and another extra meeting to discuss the hymns while I'm back in the UK on my house renovation trip. Between all that and the usual production of the weekly pew sheet and service slides, AND the new Bible Study group, my housework has gone to the dogs. I should be cleaning right now but I have some crafting commitments which will miss their deadline if I don't do them right now. So sorry again DH for the dust.

Here's a quick pile of Christmas cards for Fab's Big Christmas Cards Challenge for August of using a card kit. I got this kit with a magazine - must have been Christmas before last. There are 9 of them which is 1 more than I need for this month, but you know how these things grow so quickly, and you can't stop once you get started. LOL Aren't they colourful?

Summer citrus

2011-08-07T23:23:00.001+08:00

Just a very quick card I made for DH's godson, for the Stampavie Summer challenge. I used DCWV Citrus paper, and stamped the sentiment with StazOn on the ribbon. Not very exciting, but the colours are boy colours. I hope he likes it.

Fruity lemonade

2011-08-05T18:36:00.001+08:00

I've been really fruity today! I've made a batch of fruit slices with banana, pumpkin, sultanas, prunes and apricots - mmmmm, AND I made 3 and a half jars of lemon curd using eggs from C's chickens, and lemons from her mother D's tree. And yes of course I'm going to take a jar to church on Sunday for C and D. My kitchen smells like lemon heaven right now.

I made the lemon curd to go into a cake I'm making tomorrow for a friend's birthday. I haven't decided yet whether to make a layer cake with the lemon in between the layers, or whether to pipe the lemon curd into the cake mixture before it goes into the oven. I'm hoping for a gooey, marbled effect through the cake, but this is all experimental and it might end up being a gooey mess at the bottom of the cake! I'll let you know how that turns out.

Since I'm a fruit roll, here is this week's Less Is More card with the theme of "feeling fruity", along with Basic Grey's sketch using Lemonade papers. There isn't as much white space as I normally leave with CAS cards, but there's enough and I'm hoping it still qualifies. I used a Kaisercraft stamp and E pearls from Prima.

House Mouse & Friends GDT for August!

2011-08-01T19:00:00.000+08:00

Yes, this is what I was hinting at in my last post. I've been invited to be Guest Designer for the House Mouse and Friends Challenge blog for the month of August - and I'm lucky because August has 5 Mondays so that means 3 challenges!

This fortnight the challenge is to create an ATC using, of course, House Mouse, Happy Hoppers or Gruffies stamps. An ATC has to be 2.5"x3.5" in size, which is actually surprisingly difficult.

I used "What?" and "Boring!" because even though Monica is supposed to be yawning with boredom, I thought she could just as easily be singing so I gave her some notes. She is being watched in awe and bemusement by a Friend. I stamped both images onto the card, coloured them with Copic markers, then masked them off before I misted the top of the card with gold and the bottom with Smooch "limolicious" which are not that much different in colour. The music paper was a tiny scrap, the flowers are Prima, the green gem centres are EK Success and the marble centres from Queen & Co.

And slightly tilted to show the glimmeriness.

Now show us what you can do! Create your own mini masterpiece, and link it up to the House Mouse and Friends challenge blog by Monday August 15th, and you'll be in with a chance to win a fabby prize. Good luck!

Fab's Big Christmas Cards Challenge

2011-07-31T16:13:00.003+08:00

For July Fab is challenging us to create 7 cards with the theme of Christmas tree, or dark colours. I've gone for both, using Bo Bunny's Noel papers which are satisfyingly traditionally dark colours. I stamped the tree with with my Stampington cube. Pretty aren't they?

Buttons'n'bows

2011-07-29T21:44:00.001+08:00

Here's a quick card for a few challenges:
Colour Create: pink, green and white
Less Is More: ribbon(s)/button(s)
House Mouse and Friends: buttons, bows and bling
Truly Scrumptious: buttons and bows

It's House Mouse and Friends' Monika again, jumping for joy. She's coloured with Copics, as is the green button because I only had pink and clear in my beautiful American Crafts glittery button set. I discovered that really does work - go Copics! The weaving was a little fiddly. Well very fiddly actually, but I worked out a way of peeling back the double-sided tape in sections which made it a lot easier. There's no way I'd be able to explain how, but I peeled them all back from the pointy end to the weave section, then started finishing the job with the long green ribbon, if that helps at all.

While I'm on the subject of House Mouse and Friends, I have an exciting teaser for you! Watch their blog and mine next Monday the 1st ~~September~~ August (thanks for pointing out my stoopid mistake there DH!) and all will become clear. I'm a happy squirrel!

Tags'n'cakes

2011-07-28T15:57:00.004+08:00

I've been a poorly sick girl this week. I had Monday all planned out as a crafting day, but my body had other ideas. Early Monday morning my insides decided they would prefer to be on the outside, and set about their self-imposed task with what I felt was unnecessary fervour. Even water was not tolerated until late that night, which of course is very dehydrating. After 48 hours of no food I was a lot happier, but pretty feak and weeble.

Today I was back at choir practise with a better voice than usual - must have been all that diaphragm exercise - and this afternoon, after a rest, I thought stuff the house-work (sorry DH), I HAVE to get DH's god-son's birthday card done. It will be late now, but at least it will exist.

Enter Henry Mouse from Whiff of Joy.

I wish I knew what these paper scraps were, because I'd buy them again. The biggest challenge with this card was matching the colours of the papers with my Copics without making the cake look mouldy. I would love to cover it in glittery Stickles but I think that would not be suitable for a 6-year-old boy, right? Henry is almost too cute as it is. I've compromised by inking it with my new Lightning Black Dew Drop which looks like coal with pyrites in it - gorgeous.

Maybe I shouldn't have chosen the cake at all - now I'm hungry.

This is for:
Charisma Cardz: 4 legged friends
Creative Card Crew: animal antics
A Spoonful of Sugar: create a tag
Stampin' for the Weekend: paws for thought
Whiff of Joy: Kylie's sketch

White space?

2011-07-18T23:58:00.002+08:00

Jut a midnight quickie - ooer! Does white space count if it's red? I hope so, because my card for Less is More has no white space at all, but plenty of breathing space which I think is the same thing.

Basic Grey Challenges: doilies and ribbon
Cute Card Thursday and Less Is More: circles
Simon Says Stamp: anything goes

I sprayed the doily with Smooch Limolicious spritz, and edged it with Stickles Coffee Ice. The papers are all Basic Grey Lime Rickey and all feature circles within circles raised up on pop dot - um - circles. Enough circles? I reckon!

G'night all...

Monika's making a splash

2011-07-18T17:14:00.004+08:00

What can you do for a man's card? Seriously? They're not easy are they? Mostly they don't like "cute".

Thankfully my man personally selected most of my House Mouse stamps himself (and I would have a lot more if it was all up to him, which is not something you hear from most crafters!) so I know he doesn't mind that kind of cute. If you had seen him crouching on our bottom lawn for hours at a time trying to encourage a family of 9 squirrels to eat peanuts out of his hand, you'd know the kind of man that he is. He's the kind of man who gets righteously cross with being woken up early on his day off - but a squirrel tapping on the bedroom window wanting its breakfast can get away without being grumbled at. Proof:

I had no qualms at all about choosing this image for his birthday card yesterday (happy birthday sweetheart!) and Basic Grey's Lime Rickey papers were perfect along with the silver stars stickers that Mum gave me a while back. Coloured with Copics and finished with Stickles, chalk ink and silver marker, it's guy enough for my guy.

Charisma Cardz: stars
Cute Card Thursday: circles (half a circle at the bottom plus circles on the paper)
House Mouse: make a splash (I did, literally - I drew the splash myself. LOL)
Simon Says Stamp: anything goes
Truly Scrumptious: sketch

Scrap Whispers July Blog Hop - Page Kits

2011-07-15T20:30:00.006+08:00

Hello all, and thank you for joining our July Blog Hop at Scrap Whispers!

This month the tutorial is in response to requests during our National Scrap-Booking Day events. You wanted to learn how to make your own Page Kits from your existing stash - so I have come up with some ideas of where to start. Of course you can add your own items like chip-board shapes, die-cuts, flowers, stickers, stamped images and whatever else you want to, but the pack is a good starting point.

If you go to Scrap Whispers you will find the full tutorial.

Your challenge this month is to create your own Page Kit out of your stash. That's not difficult, is it? Create a post on your blog with a photo of your kit, and tell us about your thought processes behind it. If you want to create and show us a LO made from your page kit as well, then that would be terrific - over-achieving in fact!

For inspiration and more ideas, hop through our wonderful DT's blogs and see what they have created. In no particular order:

Georgina
Nilsa
Kelly
Helen
Rosey (here!)

Leave some love where you go, and link your blog post up to the Scrap Whispers Blog Hop post, and we'll return your kindness by leaving comments on your blogs as well. Can't say fairer than that, can you? Haha!

Finally, because you've seen my Page Kit already, I thought you might like to see the LO which grew out of it. I made this for the Scrap Jazz July "circle it" challenge. Here it is!

A request for advice

2011-07-15T13:55:00.000+08:00

I'm not expecting anyone to read this, much less post an answer. Having said that, any input whatsoever would be appreciated more than I can tell you.

How can I get people to commit to turning up to the church singing group?

I was roped into leading this group. I was quite happy to join a singing group but I didn't want to start one myself because I love singing but I hate leading and I hate teaching. But the next thing I knew, I had people asking me when it was going to start and what we were going to sing. I reluctantly accepted the challenge. Well, all my readers know I like a challenge. Usually.

To start with I had lots of encouragement, about 9 people said they would join, and the organist would accompany us. I got quite excited about it. Then the organist's whole family got the flu, and there were conflicts within the church community, and just as I was spreading around the date of the first meeting, I found myself without an accompanist. Cue the lost sleep, stress, panic, you name it, but I couldn't back out at that stage. The day before the first meeting, she called me to say she would play after all. My faith in humanity was restored.

The first meeting was last week and we had 4 people turn up on time and another 20 minutes before the end. I also had 4 apologies. We had a good sing, a good laugh, and the 5 of them all wanted practises every week. We set the ground rules. They were to let me know if they couldn't turn up, because even though I only live around the corner, the organist has a 25 minute drive and it wouldn't be fair to her if she organised a sitter for nothing. They all agreed and left in high spirits calling out "see you next week".

This week I had 2 apologies. 1 person turned up - one of last week's apologies. I got a text from another couple as the practise began to say they couldn't make it. Then 15 minutes before the end, 1 more arrived. That was it. We still had a good sing and a bit of a giggle and enjoyed the practise, because I have to make this fun for them otherwise they definitely won't come back.

But how can I get people to take responsibility for their actions? I really don't want to have to treat them like children and ring round everyone every week. I also don't want to spend more time sitting in a cold church waiting for them to keep their promises. And yes, this has happened twice before so I've tried it. Didn't like it.

All ideas are welcomed. Anonymously if you prefer. Thank you!

Willow in pink and brown

2011-07-14T20:16:00.002+08:00

Elisabeth Bell is an amazing artist and her images are amongst my absolute favourites. They are pretty and girlie without being too cutesy, and they lend themselves perfectly to very satisfying colouring with Copic markers. Just look at this. Adorable isn't she?

I've re-used the classic sketch from the final minutes of the current Creatalicious Challenge, and combined it with Basic Grey's "doilies and ribbon", Whiff of Joy's "lace and pearls", Spoonful of Sugar's "pink and brown", Simon Says Stamp's "anything goes". The papers are from Bittersweet and Eskimo Kisses, the lace is from my LSS, the ribbon, pearls and flowers are from my stash. The doily was rescued from underneath a cup of hot soy chocolate and sprayed with Glimmer Mist, as were the little flowers. Everything has been distressed and inked, and my usual touch of Stickles adorns her to perfection. She does make me feel a little cold though - she needs a coat on!

I broke my favourite punch!

2011-07-13T00:16:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I wrote a couple of thank you cards then I realised - shock, horror - those were my last. Oh dear, I thought, I'll have to make some more (rubbing hands and grinning as if I'd escaped from some high security facility). And today, as it was still raining enough that doing laundry would be a bit stupid, that was excuse enough for me to crack open my play-things.

Within minutes, I managed to crumble my favourite beautiful lacy Florence Muret Macaron punch from Carla Crafts! The plastic holding the punch together just disintegrated and it tried to eat my card. DH has done a sterling job with the super-glue, but I'm not convinced it will hold for long as the spring is so powerful. I've put in an order for a replacement because I love it so much.

I had to cut the top off the card and make a much smaller one out of the remainder, and that led to a happy hour converting punched flowers into 6 more of my mini-notelets. They are pretty much duplicates of the previous bunch of notelets which I did, except flowers instead of leaves. I'm thrilled with how versatile these tinies are.

I was determined to catch the Less Is More challenge (things with legs) this week, having missed last week's (shades of blue) due to extra church work. This card also fits these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp: stitching (real or faux)
Truly Scrumptious / Stampin' for the Weekend: wings
Bizzy Bec's Store: borders and frames

The stitched border is a new Basic Grey stamp I got in a closing down sale last weekend. The frame is from Kaisercraft, and the butterflies have been embossed with holographic embossing powder (in the frame) and Diamond and Dark Blue Stickles (outside). It looks GORGEOUS close-up. I might take a better photo in the daylight tomorrow.

My second card is also for Less is More, and it is actually based on the same sketch by Sketch Saturday. In addition, I'm entering it into:
Colour Create: fuschia, green and white
Charisma Cardz: flowers

It's Monica mouse from House Mouse and Friends - actually not coloured this time because I thought she looked amazing in black and white - with a mini Cuttlebug embossing folder which I've always been rather fond of. The punched border is Fiskars threading water.

It's summer

2011-07-02T19:50:00.000+08:00

but not where I am! So many of the card challenges going on at the moment are about summer. It's hard to imagine hot weather when it's wet, windy, dark at 5pm and cold. Taking my clothes off to get undressed for bed is an unhappy enough thought, without trying to imagine putting on a swimming costume and lying on a beach. Brrrrrr! Now cosying up with Christmas cards is MUCH more my thing at the moment. Hoho.

But in honour of the Scrap Whispers surprise challenge this week I've made a summer card, and I even made it in Neapolitan ice-cream colours: strawberry, vanilla and chocolate {shiver} for this week's Charisma Cardz challenge. I used a beautiful sketch from Creatalicious and featured House Mouse and Friends whose challenge is also "summer". I'm also entering it into Stampavie's "at least 3 layers" and Stampin' for the Weekend's "favourite things": brads, flowers, inking, ribbon and Stickles. It's rare that I don't use all of those on a card.

And the rest of this entry will have to wait until the Stickles have dried. You know how hard it is to wait? Yes? Then you'll be familiar with that test touch which almost always results in getting glittery gloop on your fingers. {Sigh} Soon...

Meanwhile, the Scrap Whispers Big Reveal should be posted any time now, so watch THIS space to see how our wonderful teams worked with Georgina's starting LO. There is a fun, summery (that word again...shiver) prize of a Bo Bunny "Barefoot and Bliss" collection pack for the card challenge - and the DT members are allowed to join in too! We'll be holding our monthly blog hop on the 15th too, so keeping checking back for lots of fun there. See you over there!

Now, has that Stickles dried yet.....?

Yup! Here it is!

Lost LIMs

2011-06-27T18:20:00.001+08:00

I'm rubbish, I admit it. I spend half my Saturdays annoying my DH by constantly logging on to the Less Is More blog to see whether they've updated it with the new challenge yet, then I fidget around all weekend until I have time to myself to make my card(s), and then.... life overtakes and I forget to post the dratted things. That's the second time that's happened. Or is it the third? Could it possibly coincide with visitors? Anyway. This week I'm posting this week's LIM challenge (a sketch) AND last week's, to prove I really did do it.

Last week's monogram cards: an anniversary and two birthdays. I used a stencil and Stickles to get the lettering perfect. How about that! I didn't expect it to work, but doesn't it look impressive? The corners are from an EK Success punch, and the dies are Spellbinders hearts and a Cuttlebug one.

And now, because I know you've had to read through all that fluff to get to the point of why you're here.... Ho Ho Ho!

And a close-up, because my camera angle really could have been better...

I used the LIM sketch, and I've made 6 (and an extra one because I had the bits left over) for Fab's Big Christmas Cards Challenge. June's challenge is 6 cards centred around the sentiment, and I'm fully intending to go back and do January through to April as well. When life lets me.

My next life distractions include typing up the minutes from a particularly traumatic church AGM, a PCC meeting (more minutes), and starting a singing group at church. This last is losing me sleep. I serve, I don't lead. I'm a singer, not a conductor or director. I can play the guitar but not the organ, and we don't have an accompanist. We also haven't got any songbooks yet, or not any with black dots in them - only one or two with the words. Several of the singers can only attend half the practises, mostly at different times from each other. Some want a late practise after work and others only go out during daylight. Most only want to sing traditional hymns - and the priest only knows contemporary stuff. Aaaaaaaargh the trials and tribulations of the don't-wanna-be choir director........

Our first meeting/rehearsal is next week. If you could spare a little prayer that this will be a success, I'm sure we would all much appreciate it. Especially me. Thank you!

Visitors

2011-06-27T14:07:00.001+08:00

I've been so lucky this month. We had A and S come to stay with us, and I had the fun of taking them around the area and seeing things with them which I wouldn't normally see, as well as our favourites from MIL's and FIL's trip again. I mean, is it possible to get tired of cuddling kangaroos, smoothing koalas and quokka-hunting?

A and S are so easy to entertain. They appreciated my cooking, helped with the washing up and were interested in everything. We enjoyed some wonderful meals and discovered alcohol-removed and sulphate-free wine - not in the same bottle! They stayed for a week, then they spent a week away flying to Uluru, getting the coach to Alice Springs and the Ghan train to Adelaide, before flying back to us for a final few days. Here are some photos from their trip.

No this isn't them! This is a quokka on Rottnest Island. All the others were snoozing in the sun, but this little chap was very alert. He came right up to me and sniffed my hand. He had a cold nose.

Aaaaaah! Look at the fluff on her! She was the well-behaved one. Karen, on the other hand, kept trying to run off with the children and caused the volunteer keepers a lot of angst. They ended up calling Steve the koala man to rescue them. When he arrived, with a big grin on his face, she ran up his legs and sat on his hip like a small child - she just wanted a cuddle, bless her. Our little model here just sat serenely and watched all the commotion from her tree, calm as (as they say around here). I think A wanted to take her home with him.

It's a hard life being a mum. Her joey is having a drink from inside the pouch, and mum is just resting on her teen's back. I could be a kangaroo, I think.

Here is A! "Ugh. I'm scared." (Check out that smile though.)

I took them to Fremantle prison.

S and her camera.

Aha. That's what she's immortalising: Perth by night, how beautiful. And much better than my blurred, wonky balanced-on-a-bird-poo-topped-post effort.

Us all at the Silver Spoon, our favourite local restaurant, for our second visit with them. Always worth a dessert shot. I have candy-floss in a wine-glass, with Turkish delight and rose granita. Not easy to eat but worth every sticky hair and eyelash.

Thanks for a wonderful time both of you! Come again!

2 cards

2011-06-14T20:30:00.000+08:00

I had a productive day today. After checking the weather forecast yesterday, I spent all day doing laundry. It was just as well I did, because to my surprise it was actually right - today it tipped down practically all day! It was dark, damp, cold and dreary - perfect weather for card-making. Of course I got the church work done first, but I managed these two before tea.

This is Willow from Whiff of Joy with her shopping. She is coloured with Copics and Stickles in blue, purple and silver (Colour Create's challenge), decorated with lace (Bizzy Becs store challenge), pins and pearls for Cute Card Thursday and set in a sketch from Sketch Saturday. I used paper from Basic Grey's Wisteria collection.

Basic Grey's challenge is to use pink, lime and brown, so I've used papers from the Lemonade collection. Charisma Cardz want to see an age, House Mouse and Friends want jewels so I hope these little dew drops filled with Stickles count, Simon Says Stamp's subject is "fruity", Truly Scrumptious want "summer sparkle" (it's COVERED with Stickles in Coffee Ice and Cinnamon) and I've used the same sketch from Sketch Saturday as before - I rather like it!

Mmmmm.....

2011-06-13T12:05:00.000+08:00

I love the smell of freshly-delivered, freshly-opened Basic Grey papers in the morning...

My ScrapJazz NSBD prize has arrived from the US - so exciting. Thank you Mary for saving me SJ shipping by repackaging it and sending it by regular post for me. And thank you even more for including extra goodies in the parcel! What a wonderful thing to do. If you're reading this, let me have your Skype details so you can tell me what to do with those springy things? Haha.

Last week we had friends staying with us, and now they have gone off to see Uluru, Alice Springs, and Adelaide on the Ghan before stopping off for a final couple of days with us, then heading back to the UK. We had a lovely week, really packing in the sight-seeing and tourist stuff - I think they're looking forward to a rest now. I'm having a laundry and crafty day, and loving it.

I started this little card last night, but the light was... well, rented house kinda electric light, so it had to wait until daylight to be finished. The Less Is More ladies have challenged us to a one-layered card with a frame around the stamp. I know we're supposed to use minimal embellishments, so I hope the frame made of gems isn't over-doing it. It looks pretty minimal to me. I used the gems because House Mouse and Friends want jewels for their challenge, and Creative Card Crew's subject is "wings".

Father's Day

2011-06-07T13:13:00.000+08:00

When I had a friend over to teach her how I recycle candles, she brought me a little spanner charm that she's found somewhere. So kind of her, and it's perfect for my Father's Day card for FIL for these challenges:

Less Is More: monochrome
Simon Says Stamp: masculine
Stampavie: more than one fold

I used my Spellbinders hearts dies, silver Stickles, Bazzill polka dots card-stock and silver card scraps, my Crop-a-dile and silver journalling pen. And the spanner!

Still got the blues

2011-05-29T19:20:00.000+08:00

My friend liked the kangaroo card so much that she asked for a few more, so I'm making a few blank, adaptable cards for her to choose from. Here is Willow all cosied up for the cold weather.

I'm entering her into these challenges:
Basic Grey: shabby chic (Wisteria papers)
Bizzy Becs store challenge: create a tag
Stampin' for the Weekend: blue, buttons and bling
Whiff of Joy: sketch

Aussie sunset

2011-05-28T23:39:00.000+08:00

Just one challenge for this card, which is a commission from a friend of mine. She wanted a card to send back to Wales with an Australian theme. Like the way this sketch from Sketch Saturday has evolved?

And today I'm a robin

2011-05-27T00:26:00.001+08:00

When I was about 9 or 10 I got a crochet-for-beginners kit for Christmas. I didn't open it at the time, but a few months later I was woken up very early in the morning by the sun shining brightly through my curtains, and I couldn't get back to sleep. Wide awake, I went searching through my room for entertainment and I came across the kit under my bed. When Mum came in to get me up I was sitting up in bed, half-way through making a hat for my little toddler cousin. I never got into knitting, although my Mum tried to teach me - crochet was always my "thing", after paper of course!

I tried to make a paper scarf for this card first but it just didn't look right. After a bit of thought, out came the crochet hook, but I only had one reel of crochet cotton (and no wool at all) so my lipstick red Copic marker was used for the red stripes. Well I haven't crocheted for years and years, but it's funny how a skill learned at age 10 never leaves you. This was such fun.

The card is for my brother-in-law who is a fervent Bristol City football fan (or soccer to you American folk!) Their colours are red and white and they are known as the robins. I used this amazingly versatile House Mouse stamp which is one of my favourites, stamped on Kraft paper and coloured with Copic markers. Stamping on Kraft was last week's challenge for Cute Card Thursday but I didn't get it finished in time to enter it. Ah well. The greeting is stamped with EK Success alphabet stamps and punched with my $2 store star punch. It's simpler than my usual style, but that's appropriate, being for a blokey.

Charisma Cardz: male card
Colour Create: white, brown, cream + one other colour
Creative Card Crew: anything goes
House Mouse: football colours
Simon Says Stamp: stars and stripes
Spoonful of Sugar: things with wings
Truly Scrumptious: anything goes

BG in pink

2011-05-24T16:06:00.000+08:00

This card is not for anyone in particular, I just made it because I felt like it. And because I love pink and sparkles. Here is Whiff of Joy's Willow with her basket coloured with Copics, with American Crafts buttons, Coffee Ice Stickles and the greeting from Lili of the Valley.

It fits into the following challenges:
Basic Grey: mix'n'match (Indian Summer, Kioshi and Green at Heart papers)
Charisma Cardz: birthdays in pink
Creative Card Crew: cute'n'girlie
Simon Says Stamp: sparkle and shine (there is glitter on all the edges and the buttons are glitter buttons, although the photo doesn't show it up very well)
Stampavie: summer
Sketch Saturday: sketch
Truly Scrumptious: anything goes

Butterflies at LIM

2011-05-23T14:27:00.001+08:00

Yesterday evening I made this beautiful, beautiful butterfly card, and I fell asleep planning a hundred more. This morning I can remember 2 or 3 of them and I came up with another in the shower. I love how showers get my brain working, but you can't exactly write things down in there, can you? And sometimes my ideas evaporate like the steam. Ah well.

Here is yesterday's card - isn't it dramatic!

I used a stamp from Inkdinkado's Utopiary collection, a butterfly punch and my latest holographic embossing powder. I first saw this stuff on a card from a scrappy friend back in 2009, and I've been looking out for it ever since - I just didn't know what to look for. I struck gold when I was asking in our LSS for white embossing powder last week. At last! I stamped the butterflies in black, then stamped them again in embossing ink/glue, and sprinkled them with the holographic powder and heated them. Then I punched out the butterflies and stuck them down. The greeting stamp is one I was given so I don't know what it is.

It's for these challenges:
Less Is More: butterflies
Simon Says Stamp: sparkle and shine
Spoonful of Sugar: anything goes
Truly Scrumptious: anything goes

Dark, damp and dreary

2011-05-17T23:18:00.001+08:00

Today began in a yellowish haze of rain, and it has been dribbling off and on all day. Often only enough to darken the ground rather than make it shiny, but I won't need the retic on. The dam capacity for Perth is down to 22.7% - about the lowest in the country - we need this rain so badly. More is forecast for the rest of the week, along with wind. It's a good thing I'm pretty up to date with the laundry. It was dark before 5:30 tonight.

The only thing to do on a evening like this when the man is away, is to snuggle up with lighted candles, hot soup, Antiques Roadshow on TV, and make Christmas cards. Even though it's the wrong time of year, the shorter, darker days jerk me back to Novembers in England and preparing for the festive season.

Thank you to Fab's Big Christmas Cards Challenge for satisfying my unseasonal appetite! The format is different this year. Instead of 1 card a week, which must have been crazy difficult to think up new ones, Fab is running monthly challenges, suggesting 1 card in January, 2 in February etc. If all of them are followed you should end up with 78 cards by Christmas.

I just couldn't get into Christmas when the temperatures were up in the 40s and the night-time temperatures didn't go below 30*c, but now I'm all ready to catch up, starting with my 5 for May, which has a subject of pastel colours and/or embossing. Here's one of them. I can show you the rest if you ask! Isn't that the cutest stamp?

LIM fever

2011-05-17T22:33:00.001+08:00

OK I admit it. I'm hooked on CAS.

I went off and looked at some of the other beautiful creations, and fell in love with nearly all of them. The simplicity and drama of (the other) Squirrel's excited me, and I've shamelessly lifted her design. Hope you don't mind, my little furry friend!

I used verdigris and gold embossing powder with my Kanban Autumn Silhouettes stamp, which really goes well with the peachy pearlised card. Mmmmm.

Owl be embossed!

2011-05-17T16:28:00.000+08:00

I love this week's challenge at Less Is More of embossing on a one-layer card. I used a lovely, heavy, navy blue card for my Cuttlebug owl embossing folder, and got out my heat gun and heat embossed the greeting in silver so it's a double embossing project. I painted Smooch Illuminate over the owl to give it a subtle glimmery emphasis - just enough so that it still works for my guys' birthdays. It/they. Um yes, as usual with my LIM cards, I couldn't stop at just the one!

You know what the biggest challenge is with these LIM cards though? Photographing them! I think I've spent more time getting a decent picture than actually making the card with nearly every challenge. There really is no darker border around the card, and the non-matching beige is my floor tile, not part of the card. At least I'm learning lots about lighting, white balance on my camera and photo-editing software. Roll on Saturday for the next one!

Willow shopping

2011-05-16T23:48:00.000+08:00

A very appropriate image for DH's sister, because she loves shopping. In fact, we send money over for her birthday so she can shop for whatever she wants from us, and she shows us afterwards on Skype what "we bought" for her, which works very well when you live on the other side of the world.

I'm entering this into these challenges:
Creatalicious: flourishes
Cute Card Thursday: distressing
Spoon full of Sugar: sketch
Stampavie: ribbons
Whiff of Joy: aqua, pink and cream (Willow Shopping stamp from WoJ)

Scrap Whispers May Blog Hop

2011-05-15T23:30:00.006+08:00

Hi everyone, and thank you for taking part in our monthly Scrap Whispers Blog Hop once more! If you've come here from anywhere other than Scrap Whispers, then please go back there and start again, and you'll see what this post is about - all will become clear.

Georgina is hosting the blog hop for May, and after all the activity of NSBD last week, she has combined something delightfully simple with your requests for new ways of using up scraps. Very cool! I followed the tutorial but to start with I got my twists too rounded and ended up with this:

The loops didn't sit nicely and the outside ones got squashed. I didn't twig what I'd done wrong, and decided to try another one with thinner strips of 1/2" and I got this:

Pretty and quite acceptable, but not like Georgina's, so I had a third go. This time I angled my loops so that each looked more like an elongated figure of eight rather than a rounded one, and bingo! I got this:

How cute is that! And having got the hang of it, and being the scraps-user-upper that I am, I'm going to experiment next on different sizes for my smaller scraps, because these little chaps are simply addictive. I'm thinking Stickles... inked edges... ribbon... stamps in metallic ink... oh sorry, where was I?

To find out how to make these gorgeous bows properly, go back to Scrap Whispers for the tutorial, whip up your own creation and post it on your blog. Then follow the links through the Design Team's blogs leaving some love on each. Don't forget to link back to http://scrapwhispers.blogspot.com/ in your post.

Scrap Whispers
Georgina
Nilsa
Kelly
Rosey (here)
and Sherri after a few Blogger problems!

We're missing Kimberly who is having a month off from blog hopping, and Helen who is in the middle of having new flooring fitted and has had to pack away all her stash - poor thing! Gah! Hopefully normal service will be resumed next month, and meanwhile we hope life, the universe and everything settles down for you girls.

Well I'll leave you all to fashion your own supply of gift toppers out of leftovers, because you won't be able to stop making these once you start. Link us up to your variations and show us your creativity!

P.S. You know in my last post I mentioned about that wet stuff which we've all forgotten about here? I can't mention it in case it hears me and goes away again, but it's actually coming down right now! And hard enough for me to hear without getting up and peering out of the window. Yay!

P.P.S. Edited to add: here's a tip for storing these little babies. Rather than putting them in boxes to stop them from getting squashed, put them in air-tight zip-lock bags. Blow the bags up so that there is enough space inside for the bows to rattle around before sealing them, then they won't get crushed in with the gift-wrap rolls.

Just a quick card

2011-05-14T08:11:00.001+08:00

for this week's challenge at Simon Says, where they're having on orgy of baby-worship after the birth of Abigail Ann, Heidi's (the owner) brand new arrival. Congrats Heidi and Mr. Heidi!

I made this to the same design as the pink one from the other week, only in green. Pretty isn't it?

By the way - do you see that?

<-

And that there too.

<-

What do you mean you don't know what I mean? Those wet cloudy things in the weather forecast for Perth for the next few days! They're saying it on the TV too, and the on-line news. Ooh... do you think that possibly, maybe... we might get a little rain.....?

80th in white

2011-05-11T23:16:00.000+08:00

Next week is the 80th birthday of one of our choir members. We have no practise as the choir director and her sister, the treasurer, are going to the wedding of their sister - who must be in her 70s, which is all rather sweet. So we're having Jean's birthday a week early, and I was asked to make the card from us all.

I thought it tied in rather nicely with Less Is More's classic challenge of "white on white". Now I'm rubbish at taking pictures of white, but I think you get the general idea. I've used my Cuttlebug's music embossing folder with Silhouette-cut numbers and punched butterflies which are also embossed. With hindsight I won't do that again, but I've just about got away with it. A few dots of Stickles Star Dust to give it that magical touch, and it's done. I'm hoping for a few oohs and aahs tomorrow. ;-)

Slowing down time

2011-05-10T20:08:00.000+08:00

That's what I need to do. I've just had 24+ hours without the ability to post anything on my blog, along with most of the southern hemisphere. That means I've lost out on at least one challenge which I created this card for:

It was intended for A Spoon Full of Sugar for their "white + 1 colour" challenge, as well as Truly Scrumptious with the sketch and Simon Says Stamp with "paper piercing/piecing", but thanks to Blogger I think I've crashed (like Blogger did) and burned. :-(

At least DH's friend will get his card though, and as he uses the "they're growing up so fast" every time we see him, I thought the snail was appropriate.

My own NSBD LO

2011-05-10T12:29:00.000+08:00

I was so busy this weekend working on the Scrap Whispers NSBD event that I didn't get much of a chance to play along with the others. But right at the end, with 2 hours to spare, I entered one of the Scrap Jazz challenges: to create a LO with a water theme, some bling, and a title from a given list. My biggest challenge was that I only had 2 hours to do it!

I used this sketch by Sketchy Thursdays:

Aren't those photos stunning? Ooh I just noticed that I left the photographer's elbow in that top one, oops! I was going to PhotoShop it out but I didn't have time. Ah well, it's done now. And it was so nice just scrapping for myself.

I couldn't post it last night because Blogger threw a wobbly for 24 hours, refusing to let bloggers from the southern hemisphere post new posts. Thank GOODNESS that didn't happen over the weekend during the NSBD event! It was still down when I got up this morning, but by the time I'd got back from my weekly meeting at the church, it had been fixed. I sent up a little prayer of thanks!

And.... just to make me really happy, my LO has won a random prize at Scrap Jazz! I think you could say I've had a good week so far. :-)

Wishing everyone a week just as good as mine! xx

It's not over yet!

2011-05-09T09:43:00.000+08:00

Thank you to everyone who took part in our NSBD games challenges. We had 76 entrants which is amazing!

But the crafting challenges are still open! You still have until midnight British Summer Time on Monday (that's 9am Tuesday in Eastern Australia, 7pm CDT and 5pm MDT Monday in the US) to link up your crafting entries on the Scrap Whispers blog.

The more you enter, the more chances you have of winning prizes!

Scrap Whispers NSBD Challenge #14

2011-05-08T15:00:00.009+08:00

Challenge #14 - Chocolate and more chocolate

Here it is - the final challenge of Scrap Whispers NSBD 2011!

And what an easy one it is, when you've all been working so hard on our brain-teasers and scrapping for the whole of National Scrap-Book Day. I mean, you really can't get more fun than scrapping about chocolate, can you? That's all you have to do for this one, and we're not giving you any extras to think about - unless you really want to crack open a box of chocs to keep you going. ;-)

Here's some inspiration: an account of my birthday last weekend, which was very chocolatey indeed.

I made those little wrapped "chocolates" by twisting gold mesh around large buttons and tying the ends with gold thread. The cup-cakes are Kaisercraft stamps, stamped onto different coloured papers and card-stock, cut out and mounted on foam for that 3D effect. I sprayed the doilies with Glimmer Mist in brown and gold, and punched the paper waves with my Macaron punch from Carla Crafts.

You have until Monday 9th at midnight British Summer Time (which is 7am in Western Australia and 7pm Central Daylight Time in the US) to produce your own chocolatey LO or card, post them on your blog, and leave a comment on the NSBD Challenge #14 post on the Scrap Whispers blog, linking us up to your blog post. Any comments you leave on the DT's blogs will be much appreciated - they have worked very hard putting on this event. I have a little prize for the winner - and everything in the prize is shown on this LO

No go! Scrap! And eat chocolate!

It's here!

2011-05-07T09:33:00.001+08:00

Are you playing too? Come on, let's have a Scrap Whispers party!

Celebrate NSBD with Scrap Whispers!

2011-04-30T22:02:00.000+08:00

We're going food-crazy this year for NSBD at Scrap Whispers! Hop over and celebrate with us this year, for your chance to play games, scrap, craft, exercise your brain, and win prizes.

I'm a LIMette!

2011-04-26T13:31:00.000+08:00

That's our new name over at Less Is More. I think it's funny - it makes me think of 1970s female soul singer groups!

I will say that this clean and simple lark is addictive. Did I say that before? I don't think I've made one card for the LIM challenges that hasn't lead to a bunch more the same, and bless my soul, look what's happened this week. I swear I only made a couple to start with. They must have bred overnight while DH was asleep, and they even produced their own little envelopes as well, all matching colours. Haha!

This of course, is the natural result of spending yesterday tidying up, and cleaning out my scraps folder, and punching out a few hundred shapes out of those annoying little off-cuts from cutting files and punches that hook themselves to each other. I have a mark on the heel of my hand that looks like a love bite now.

I also found a pack of A6/C6 cards with envelopes that I got from Paperchase in Singapore a while ago. I went to open them yesterday and was irritated to find that they are not card blanks, they're blinking postcards. Gah. Who buys postcards with envelopes? Well me of course, obviously, but I mean on purpose? So these got scored midway and made into mini-notelets, but then the envelopes were too big, so I had to work out how to use my Enveloper to make new ones in a size NOT on the instructions. THAT was interesting. I had to write out new instructions/measurements, and make templates out of scrap paper....

LIM's challenge this week is "off-centre: little or no symmetry but perfect balance". The greeting stamp is from Quixotic Paperie, the punch from the $2 store in Singapore's Plaza Singapora, and Diamond Stickles.

Another wedding card

2011-04-25T16:41:00.001+08:00

I'm enjoying the holiday time over Easter. We've been to 3 services at church, eaten lots of chocolate, and now DH is working on his stuff upstairs, so I can play with my toys downstairs. Good, isn't it? I've been sorting out my scraps file, punched out about a hundred leaves with the bits that are too tiny to make into anything else, and planned two dozen Christmas cards as well as a bunch of thank you cards.

And with all this reorganising I managed to make things too. I loved the wedding card so much that I decided to make another one, in a different colour this time. I used my Cuttlebug Paisley folder as well as the Swiss Dots one, and I'm going to need to get some more pearls as I've used all mine up now. The background paper is Echo Park from the Life is Good collection.

Cute Card Thursday: no text
Simon Says Stamp: emboss it
A Spoon Full of Sugar: let's celebrate

Scrap Whispers April Blog Hop

2011-04-23T00:06:00.000+08:00

Hello and welcome back to the Scrap Whispers Blog Hop - thank you so much for taking part, and I hope you enjoy what we have for you to do!

This month we're focussing on scrap-lifting. Well, that's what the game is all about, after all! Georgina has given us this funny page showing what happens when you leave your brother alone with your camera, and has asked us all to lift it.

Firstly Georgina's page, then mine:

I've used my brand new Bo Bunny's Midnight Frost collection pack which has just arrived. I've been drooling over this for months, and obviously anytime after last November, so has everybody else because it's been out of stock everywhere. Now I couldn't wait to crack it open. Aren't those dots in with the snowflakes just delicious!

I made this as close a lift as I was able to. I didn't have the same papers, but I chose the closest that I could, and it's pretty obvious that this is an imitation of Georgina's work. And as such, she should be credited with the design if I post this whether it be on my blog, or in a gallery somewhere completely different from Scrap Whispers. If someone has produced a design that you love and would like to copy, it's only fair that permission should be asked of the designer for a copy to be made if possible, AND that they be credited when you post your own version.

This is something that we don't really emphasise in Scrap Whispers, and maybe we should. The game is all about lifting the design of the previous player. So when we post our own lifts, we really ought to be linking back to the Scrap Whispers blog site so that anyone viewing our lifts is aware of where they came from. By the same token, if we see a design somewhere on the net that we want to lift: in a gallery, or someone's blog, at the very least we should credit the source. And if they have lifted it themselves, it's always fun to be able to link back to their source and see how it has changed. Which if course, was how the whole Scrap Whispers game began in the first place.

So what we want to see this month is very simple. Just scrap-lift Georgina's LO, post both the original (with a link back to where it came from) and your lift on your blog, leave a link back to the Scrap Whispers blog, and leave some love on each of the DT's blogs as well as the main SW blog:
Georgina
Nilsa
Kelly
Rosey (here!)
Helen
Kimberly
Sherri
Scrap Whispers

Happy lifting, happy blog-hopping, and a Happy Easter to you all!

Willow for Sarah

2011-04-18T23:07:00.001+08:00

It's late so I'll just post this quickly before I go to bed. Here's Whiff of Joy's Willow with her basket, and this time she's wishing my friend Sarah a great spring birthday. Also used on this card is my Fiskars threading water punch, diamond Stickles and a greeting from Lili of the Valley, as well as ribbon given to me by Georgina and some buttons from my stash. Oh and the image is die-cut with the largest of my new Spellbinders deckled oval set, and coloured with Copic markers.

Basic Grey "spring" (Lemonade collection papers)
Creatalicious "pink, green, yellow and blue" - and it's supposed to be an Easter card, but I don't do Easter cards so I hope this card for an Easter birthday will be acceptable.
Creative Card Crew "spring"
Sketch Saturday's sketch
Whiff of Joy "recipe": 3 buttons, 2 papers and 1 ribbon

It's nice to feel better after the cheerful bunch of flu germs I brought back from Bali which has laid me low since we got back. My temperature is normal today for the first time in nearly a week, and I've had that kind of convalescent energy which means that you start stuff, then have to keep sitting down in a cold sweat and resting before your legs give way. I'm surrounded by clean washing which is hung up to air and be ironed. That could take a while. But at least the bedding is clean, and I put it all back on in one go. I didn't have to lie down on it once! But oh, the price I paid for pretty finger and toe nails was high. Stupid, pretty, sniffing, artistic Balinese girl. Grr.

Balloons and baby girls

2011-04-18T11:29:00.000+08:00

DH has a colleague whose wife is expecting a baby girl pretty soon, and he asked me to make a card for them. I've never deliberately bought any baby stamps or images or embellishments. I probably ought to, because I always end up using the same cute little pram embossing folder which came with my Cuttlebug. It's turning into a challenge to myself to use it in different ways, and this week's acetate challenge at Less is More came just at the right time.

The balloon punch was one that a friend in Singapore lent me, and I punched out as many different-coloured scraps with it as I could. I can't believe just how many I've used. Once they're gone, I'm going to have to invest in a punch myself, I can tell. I inked the tops of these with white, and the bottoms with black chalk ink to make them look lit from above. The strings are drawn in with a permanent marker, and the scallop is my favourite threading water punch from Fiskars. The sentiment is stamped on the inside with Staz-On ink - we're going to have to sign the card on the back I think.

I just wish I was better at photographing it - it's like trying to snap white on white, or something with lots of black on it. My camera (or I?) just can't seem to capture it in a way that I'm happy with. I hope you get the idea.

So there you have it.
Less is More "acetate"
Colour Create "pink, black and white"
Simon Says Stamp "for a child"

And the Scrap Whispers winners are....

2011-04-16T17:03:00.001+08:00

Team Two! Congratulations Team Two!

Check out the Scrap Whispers blog site to see the Big Reveal and the prizes.

Sign-ups for the next game start now, so if you want to play along, please e-mail Georgina at gh26@sky.com.

Pretty fingers and toes!

2011-04-14T23:00:00.001+08:00

I've been away over the weekend at a wedding, in Bali, no less. What a beautiful place to get married: on a tropical cliff-top with astounding views, an aisle of rose-petals, marquees and night-time lightning to finish the evening off. The churchless part felt strange to me. I took hundreds of photos, but of course I won't be posting any of the happy couple because they're still on their honeymoon and I didn't bother them by asking permission at the time. Well, they have other things on their minds, don't they?!

I can show you these though.

And when I got back, bringing with me a delightful Balinese cold, generously donated by the girl who did those cute nails, I could play with my toys again! This is for Stampavie's challenge of "black", and "vintage" from Truly Scrumptious. Oh, and FIL's birthday too.

I made it with Kaisercraft's new Timeless Collection papers, a computer generated sentiment, and Basic Grey brads. Hey, does that mean I can enter it into the Basic Grey challenge this week too? It's "more than one fold", and this is an easel card!

Humm I think that would be pushing it...

ETA: Heather (Rica) said I can enter the Basic Grey Challenge too! Thank you so much - mwah!

Susan Godfrey Sale

2011-04-12T10:21:00.000+08:00

at Faith Sisters. 60% off digi kits - WOW. Quick, go and shop before the 15th!

Wedding card

2011-04-06T14:57:00.001+08:00

No surprises there, right?!

It's not often these days that I come across something that appeals to me so much that I just HAVE to try it out myself, but I was browsing the Gallery over on scrapbook.com and I found this perfectly adorable card. Even if I hadn't just received the Spellbinders heart dies I ordered a while ago, I would have made this like a shot (and then probably ordered the dies afterwards!) The dies made such a difference though. It looks really "professnial", don't you think?

I'm going to try entering this into Cute Card Thursday's "couples" challenge. I know I entered it with the anniversary card too, but maybe they'll let me enter twice as it's a completely different card. Seeing as they're second in the Wikio Top Crafts list after all. {batting eye-lashes}

The card is actually a piece of wedding card-stock that I bought ages ago in a Spotlight sale. It's all shimmery and iridescent, and properly weddingy. The bride heart is plain old white office card which I embossed using my Cuttlebug and the Swiss Dots folder, and daubed with Adirondack pearl alcohol paint (the fumes from that stuff are powerful!) and added pearls to. The groom heart is two hearts cut from white and black card, and I cut the middle out of the black heart and stuck the edges on. The bow-tie is made from two tiny punched hearts - a little cheesy but I think it works. Add some ribbon, mat it and it's done.

Oh and the inside has an insert which I've stamped but haven't stuck in yet. Just in case of mistakes. Like if someone writes his sister's anniversary card, then absent-mindedly puts kisses on his male colleague's birthday card immediately afterwards. Not that that would happen in our house, but just in case, you know? ;-)

Anniversary

2011-04-04T18:12:00.003+08:00

Here is a card for my SIL and BIL whose anniversary it is this week. I ought to have posted it earlier, but maybe, just maybe it will get there in time if I stuff enough stamps onto the envelope. I'm still very much into my "clean and simple", and I'm hoping that the style is OK for other challenges.

I managed to shed blood over the making of this card, and I have no idea how. I just suddenly noticed blobs on my desk. Thank goodness it didn't go on the card. Although being a red card, I might have got away with it, haha! Incidentally, this is like the party zit. We have a wedding to go to this weekend (and yes, that's a hint of what the next card will be) and I've been applying night-time hand cream, polishing up the old finger and toe nails, getting my hair cut and paying unusual attention to my eyebrows, you know the ritual. Suddenly I'm giving myself paper cuts, and burns from the oven, and noticing bruises on my legs and arms. Why now, just when I want to be beautiful? Argh! I'd be inserting a banging-head-on-desk icon here except that I don't want to end up with another bruise!

Charisma Cardz "bling and sparkles" (there are gems, the edges are inked with gold, and the red and gold border is glittery red although it doesn't show in this photo)
Cute Card Thursday "couples" (it's for a wedding anniversary and there are two birds)
Less is More "a touch of red"
Truly Scrumptious: the sketch
Scrap Jazz "die cuts, dimension, texture, and no stamping except for the salutation"

Mothers' Day #1

2011-03-29T18:26:00.000+08:00

Less is More has given us a sketch this week, Simon Says have a Mother's Day theme, and Creative Card Crew (closing in 45 minutes - talk about cutting things fine!!) want no stamps. Here's a rub-on, ribbon, flower and brad for one of our mums for Mothering Sunday this weekend - I haven't decided which mum yet. DH really likes these simple cards, and so do I. So pretty.

Now I'd better post it quickly before the contest closes....

Scrap Whispers Challenge #95 - soul sister

2011-03-26T08:00:00.004+08:00

Hi folks, and thanks for joining us again for Scrap Whispers Challenge #95. There's a special reason why it would be a really good idea to play along with this one - and all will be revealed on the Scrap Whispers blog....

We want you to scrap about a special female in your life: girl-friend, mother, daughter, niece, sister - you get the idea. My only problem with this was choosing someone, because I have so many wonderful women in my life, and I didn't want anyone to feel left out, hehee. Guess who I picked?

This photo was taken last summer when I went back to the UK and managed to catch up with Georgina for a yummy Italian meal and loads of chat. I had climbed off the plane that morning after a 25-hour journey, and Georgina was on her way home from a hard day at work, but somehow the tiredness evaporated and our tongues wagged and the evening flew past. My Mum took this photo of us in her sitting room. It's blurred and wonky, I had to crop out the flash in the window, I've got no lip-gloss left on, and I look short and podgy next to G ;-) but it still makes me smile.

I used some more of the Echo Park "Life is Good" collection pack (very appropriate) for this, as well as a Petaloo flower and some left-over swirls.

Who are you going to pick for your soul sister? Link us up to your blog post HERE for your last chance to win the Crate Paper pack "Emma's Shop". Make sure you link back to the Scrap Whispers blog in your post, so your friends and followers can see where you got your inspiration from. Enjoy the challenge!

Spring colours

2011-03-25T21:08:00.000+08:00

I just love this card so much that I might not be able to give it away! I spent the afternoon making it while I was Skyping my Mum - can't get a better reward for cleaning the house than that, can you?

The paper and card-stock is all DCWV from the Citrus range. The stamp is House Mouse, coloured with Copics of course, with Prima flowers, punches from EK Success and McGill, and of course, Stickles in yellow and lime green. Inside is another little House Mouse stamped with Staz-On straight onto the yellow card and not coloured in. It's even prettier in real life, honest.

The challenges are:
Colour Create: "pastels"
Creatalicious: "two-tone"
Friday Sketchers
House Mouse: "spring"
Truly Scrumptious: "tags"

Less is More

2011-03-24T15:32:00.000+08:00

I was following links the other day when I found this new card challenge blog: Less is More which is all about the "white space" and simplicity. I find clean and simple much more "me" than the fussy stuff, although each has its place. And I'm obviously not the only one who feels that way, as the blog has only been going for 7 weeks and it has over 600 Followers already! So that's another one for my list.

And that led me off on another midnight inspiration flight after DH had gone to bed. Before I knew it, I'd made these and I still wasn't even tired.

It's hard to see because photographing tone-on-tone is not something my little camera is very good at, but it's just grey card embossed with a white sparkly butterfly added to each, and mounted on A5 navy card. Couldn't be more simple.

Then I checked out the week's challenge: off-the-page. No problem. Out came the Inkadinkado Utopiary stamps that I fell in love with late last year, and the heat gun and embossing powder, and got this card (and the same tone-on-tone photography problems, sigh).

It works, doesn't it? I think next time I'd put the tree on the right side of the card, but it's not bad for a post-midnight, rubbish-lighting, adrenaline-fuelled kinda card. Pleased with myself, I went to bed.

When I went to photograph it and post it, a concert, a 2-day headache and a trip to the osteopath later, of course the challenge had changed. Grr. It was now "masculine". Hmm {head-tilt}. Yeah I think I'd still send that to a guy. I wonder whether I could enter it into both weeks' challenges.....? ;-)

Scrap Whispers Challenge #94 - Buttons

2011-03-20T20:40:00.001+08:00

Hi - thank you for joining us for this week's Scrap Whispers Buttons challenge!

Apologies for being late. I have no excuse really, just my life being packed with stuff, much of it unscheduled, last-minute "can-you-justs". It wasn't helped by the landlord deciding after a year to get the ceiling painted which meant undercoat one day then top coat the next, right above my scrap desk. Sigh. I could only chip away at my LO in odd moments (putting it back together again several times after the dust sheet had mucked it all up!) until it was done, which wasn't very satisfying, but it's finished now and I like it.

The LO is about our recent trip with the in-laws to Margaret River. We were told by the cottage owner that there was an old, half-blind, half-deaf kangaroo who liked to wander into the cottages if he found the doors left open. He was wild, but very accustomed to people, and they nicknamed him Old Man Grey. We looked in vain for him until the very last morning, then about an hour before we checked out, there he was, resting in the shade of a tree.

Mother-in-law and I went outside with cameras and approached him very slowly. He got up and ambled towards us, and MIL stopped and hid behind me, hehee. But he was keeping low, not threatened at all so I wasn't concerned. He sniffed us both and got very interested in the body lotion I'd just put on - he was trying to lick my arms. Then father-in-law came out too, and Old Man Grey checked him out too. I managed to snap this wonderful picture of the two of them apparently checking out each other's... um... assets. Once he'd decided he'd seen enough, he ambled off and started breakfasting on the owner's prize roses. What a character.

I really wanted to use my Blog Hop flowers on this LO, along with some other papers from the same Echo Park "Life is Good" collection pack. I topped it off with red ink and Stickles in Coffee Ice and Diamond.

The rest of the DT has produced a whole bag full of different ideas - pretty impressive! How will you use your 20 buttons?

House-warming card

2011-03-18T10:48:00.000+08:00

Here's a quick card I made for a friend who has just moved house and is having a bit of a stressful time of it. I made it big (A5) and took it along to the choir which we both sing in, and they all signed it. We took up a collection and I'm going to get her a gift card for the local DIY store so that she can get something nice for her new over-grown garden.

It fits nicely into the challenges for Basic Grey "wings" (the olive green paper is BG but I can't remember which collection), Colour Create "olive, brown, cream and black", Creative Card Crew "green" and this week's Spoonful of Sugar sketch.

Thanks to Glenda for the lovely butterfly! Glenda got the alcohol ink bug and made hundreds of butterflies all in different colours - too many to use so she gave most of them away, bless her, and I got a little surprise envelope in the post one day. Their only trouble is that they are too beautiful to use! All Sticklesed up and teamed with the right colours, this one looks just gorgeous.

Scrap Whispers March Blog Hop

2011-03-15T23:30:00.051+08:00

Hello and welcome back to the Scrap Whispers Blog Hop.

Thank you all so much for taking part in our tutorial!

Would you like to be in with a chance of winning this prize? It's "Emma's Shop" 12"x12" collection pack from Crate Paper. Isn't it pretty?

If you would, here is what you will be making this month: 3 different paper flowers.

I made them from the Echo Park Collection Pack which was the prize for my super-enthusiastic August 2010 Team One winning the Scrap Whispers game - yes, even the DT get a chance to win here! The colours are so vibrant.

The inspiration for this tutorial comes from my current wonderful Team One, who I asked what they would like to learn about. Their answers were altered projects, paper techniques and flowers, so I chose paper flowers this time around. They are so quick and easy to make - your little ones might like to have a try too, then you'd have a pile of ready-made embellishments to last you a while.

AND there is also a beautiful shiny new Digital article WITH FREEBIE from the lovely Kimberly, our new Digi DT member.

So all you have to do is to follow the tutorial and make your own gorgeous versions, post them on your blog, post a link to your blog HERE on Scrap Whispers and leave some love on each of the DT's blogs as well as the main SW blog:
Georgina
Nilsa
Kelly
Rosey (here!)
Helen
Kimberly
Sherri
Scrap Whispers

Finally, Georgina has asked each of the DT members a question: "What is your favourite scrapping style?"

That's going to be tricky to answer, because my favourite style to look at is one that I can't actually do myself! I just love the many-layered, 3D, eclectic, vintage look which has been so popular in Asia for the last few years. When I try, my photos get swallowed up in a big mess of stuff, but somehow when THEY do it, it looks amazing and the photos still stand out. Here is a link to Laine's Papeterie, my old LSS's site in Singapore, so you can see what I'm talking about. I need to keep practising!

You've probably noticed a new look at the Scrap Whisper Blog site? Yes? That cute new logo, and the green background (in honour of St Patrick's Day)? Well this is the sign of new things to come! Starting in April there will be some changes around here, so keep checking back. Now I can't wait to see your flowers, so get crafting/posting/linking and winning!

Q: When is a vacation not a vacation?

2011-03-07T18:37:00.000+08:00

A: When the family come and visit you!

Apologies for my absence. We had DH's parents staying with us for the last few weeks, and we've been taking them here, there and everywhere in an unseasonal heat-wave. We went to places we haven't been to before: places my DH had to drive for a full day to get to. And we've still only covered the minutest teeniest little corner of Western Australia. The folks having e-mailed us in a bit of a panic last month to check whether we were affected by the floods, and having been told that the floods were as far away from us as they in the UK are from Canada, it's only now that they are coming closer to understanding the vastness of Australia.

We took them to Swan River to see the vineyards, a chocolate factory, a nougat factory and a river bed which was white-water rapids last time DH and I visited in the winter. They cuddled koalas, hand-fed kangaroos and stared into the astonishing eyes of a barking owl at Caversham Park. 166 miles south at Margaret River we marvelled at the most beautiful caves we had ever seen, visited a working light-house where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet, and dipped our toes into each. FIL and the biggest wild old-man-grey kangaroo I've ever seen looked deep into each other's eyes from the same height, while MIL watched from behind me.

DH drove us another 160 miles each way down to the Valley of the Giants to walk through the tree-tops of the giant tingles, which was decidedly the furthest we'd ever travelled for a walk in the woods - but SO worth it. We took them to Fremantle prison and bought them the legendary fish and chips from Kailis's. On what had to be the hottest day of the year, we toured around Rottnest Island on a coach and met some of its wild quokkas, before watching a violent storm blasting east Perth from across the sea. They saw Kings Park Botanic Gardens, the Swan Bells, London Court and Perth Mint. We cooked for them and gave them a few proper Aussie barbecues, as well as introducing them to some of our favourites amongst the local restaurants.

I am amazed they were still upright, laughing and talking after the amount they saw and did. Personally I was exhausted! DH and I didn't even get a chance to sleep in the next morning after we put them on the plane home in the middle of the night - the Jehovah's Witnessess woke us up, DH's work had a panic on, the landlord called to arrange a visit that afternoon from a painter who then didn't turn up, and finally a massive lorry appeared on the front drive trying to deliver a washing machine to us! I think the bat signal went up that the Squirrels were now free to be bothered by as many people as possible. Sigh.

But as soon as they had left, the heat-wave seemed to ease a little from 39*C and high humidity with a night-time low of 31*C, to a more manageably dry day-time 31*C and 24*C at night which apparently is more normal autumn weather. March 1st is the official first day of autumn, but someone forgot to tell the weather that.

After DH goes back to work tomorrow (today is Labour Day in WA and a bank holiday) I will get the house cleaned up and get back on track again. I've SO missed my little craft room. Photos to follow.

Scrap Whispers February Blog Hop

2011-02-15T23:00:00.065+08:00

It's the 15th, so it's Blog Hop time again in the Scrap Whispers camp! Nilsa has provided our tutorial this month, and it shows you how to make a super cute banner. To be in with a chance of winning a prize, here's how to play.

Follow the tutorial at Scrap Whispers, then post a link to your own variation on our theme. Then start at Scrap Whispers, and hop through all the DT's blogs and leave some love on each - especially give a nice welcome to Kim and Sherri. ;-)

Let's have a look at my banner, shall we? I used Spellbinders large ovals and deckled edge ovals to make the flags out of Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper and letter stickers. I finished the letters off with my favourite Stickles in Diamond, and strung them on ribbon. It's so pretty, isn't it!

And a close-up:

Here are all the links for you, in no particular order:
Scrap Whispers
Georgina
Nilsa
Kelly
Rosey (you're here!)
Helen
Kimberly

There are loads more examples on the tutorial, and each of our DT has produced yet more to inspire you. So let's see what you can do?

True Love

2011-02-13T20:36:00.001+08:00

Just look at this beautiful new kit by Susan Godfrey! It's called True Love, and it's perfect for everything from those precious scanned vintage photos of our grandparents' young love, to our first boyfriends - perfect for Valentine's Day coming up. Which reminds me, I have to write my card, hehee!

Here's the kit - isn't it pretty?

Here's what I did with it. I'm still learning - I learned so much this time. I think I shall be learning forever! This first LO is about the very beginning of my love affair with sushi. How lucky that I was able to capture the occasion on camera.

And this one is of me and DH on my first visit to Singapore before we moved out there, doing the tourist thing on a Chinese junk on the Singapore river at Boat Quay.

The kit is on a special offer at the moment for a limited time HERE, so hurry if you want it!

Scrap Whispers Challenge #88 - Smurftastic!

2011-02-12T09:42:00.000+08:00

OK now here's a good one for you! At Scrap Whispers this week, Georgina had us go back to our childhood, and make something inspired by the Smurfs! Now I don't know where I was when this craze took off, but somehow it passed me by. I don't remember anything about the Smurfs except that they're blue and each one had a different personality and my Dad liked them. Oh and I remember the jingley theme tune. DH on the other hand has been enthusiastically helping me research, and going "phwoar Smurfette..." which is mildly worrying!

Now tell me. Do Smurfs count as fantasy or mythical creatures? DH says no because they're real {sigh} but I'm hopeful, because that's the challenge at Charisma Cardz this week. Stampavie want buttons and lace, and Creative Card Crew want a card for a loved one. Well DH had better watch out because this card may be coming his way - or maybe I'll make him another one featuring Smurfette as Nilsa did. I must ask her whether her DH feels the same way.......? Ahahaahaaa

I coloured the image with Copics (then I woke up suddenly in the night worrying about whether Smurfs have blue tongues or not - gaah!), and everything else is scraps and from my stash.

There's the smurfiest prize ever to win, so smurf over to Scrap Whispers and see what you can smurf! Oh, and don't forget to come back on the 15th for our monthly SW Blog Hop. :-)

Valentine cards

2011-02-07T17:29:00.000+08:00

I made three cards today, and here are two of them. I'm going to send them to the US and hope they arrive in time for Valentine's Day. I can't show you the other one - yet! ;-)

This is made with Ruby Lemonade papers, with Whiff of Joy's Willow with her basket coloured with Copics and Stickles, framed with Spellbinders Nestabilities deckled edge ovals. The brad and ribbon are from my stash. It is for Sketch Saturday (the sketch), Simon Says Stamp and Whiff of Joy, both of whom have "love is in the air" as their challenge.

And this little lass is for Basic Grey Challenges, Bizzy Becs Store right here in WA, and Stampin' for the Weekend challenges. It's a Hugs and Hearts stamp coloured with Copics and Stickles, Basic Grey Kioshi papers and flowers by Glam Creations.