The Last Post For The Year .....

WOW, this year has seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye!!!!
It's been a good year in many ways though it had it's challenges too. I love New Year & always look forward to it. There's something about having a clean slate & a fresh start that I find very invigorating.
I wish you all a truly fantastic 2010 filled with good health, happiness & dreams fulfilled.
Thank you very much for stopping by my blog & leaving such kind comments.

Just thought I'd share a few projects that I've made lately.
This is a Kaisercraft Wreath that I made for my good friend, Mel.







This card was made for a challenge at the recent Scrap Boutique cyber crop.
My criteria that I needed to use for the card were: pink/purple, chipboard & a wreath.
I made the wreath from a chipboard ring & tied lots of pink, purple & white ribbons to it.







This card was also made for a Scrap Boutique challenge. Liz showed us how to make cool pocket cards & I really loved making this, it was a whole lot of fun.







A friend from Scrap Pile sent me a little hanging calendar as part of our Christmas Swap & I prettied it up a bit & will be hanging this in my scrap room.







My last piece of news is that I have had some cards published for the very first time. It seems really weird to see my cards in a magazine but very exciting too.
They are in the current issue of Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft - Vol 15 No 8.







Well that's it from me for now.
I'll be back next year :)

Merry Christmas To All.....

Just popping in to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas & a fantastic 2010.
Take care :)

A Fun Blog Award....

I received this from my friend Karen, thanks so much!!

I'm so sorry that I haven't done this earlier, Karen, I completely forgot.

Here are the rules:

* You can only use ONE word
* Pass this along to 5 of your favourite bloggers
* Alert them that you have given them this award
* HAVE FUN!!!


1. Where is your cell phone? Charging
2. Your hair? Frustrating!!!!
3. Your mother? Deceased
4. Your father? Deceased

5. Your fave food? Cake

6. Your dream last night? Nil
7. Your fave drink? Cappuccino
8. Your dream/goal? Perfection :)
9. What room are you in? Kitchen
10. Your hobby? Cardmaking

11. Your fear? Crowds
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Younger :) :) :)
13. Where you were last night? Home
14. Something that you aren't? Messy
15. Muffins? OK

16. Wish list item? KitcenAid
17. Where did you grow up? Brentwood
18. Last thing you did? Showered
19. What are you wearing? PJs
20. Your TV? Loud

21. Your Pets? Bella
22. Friends? ScapPile
23. Your Life? Busy
24. Your Mood? Sick
25. Missing Someone? Chloe

26. Vehicle? Lucius
27. Something you’re not wearing? Socks
28. Your fave store? IKEA
29. Your fave color? Green
30. Last time you laughed? Today

31. Last time you cried? November
32. Your best friend? Hubby
33. One place that I go to over and over? School
34. One person who emails regularly? Mel
35. Fave place to eat? Chinese

I pass this award on to these fabulous ladies who are definitely OVER THE TOP!

CHLOE - My gorgeous daughter

LEAH - Too lovely for words

LIZ - Inspirational!!!

HELEN - Sweet chocolate junkie

LEONE - Funny & talented lady

Over to you girls :)

Some More Christmas Projects.....

Hi again :)
I just wanted to quickly pop in & show you another Christmas gift I've made.
This is for my daughter's grade 2 teacher.

I've decorated a plain glass jar & filled it with Smarties. She'll get a laugh out of it I'm sure.















And also, here's a card from another batch of Christmas cards I made to hand out to friends.







Lots of gorgeous Making Memories supplies on this one.

OK, the weekend is over again. Only 4 more days of school to go & then we start our glorious summer holidays.....can't wait.

Have a fantastic week everyone :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas.....

Yippee, it's less than 2 weeks until Christmas!!!!
I've been working on my final Christmas gifts & cards this week & am happy to say that I'm all ready for the big day & can't wait :)

It's been very busy here with some very important occasions lately also.
My son graduated from high school last week at a beautiful ceremony held at UWA. We were all so proud of him & his achievements which included receiving 3 awards on the night, for being the highest acheiving student in Accounting & Computing & he also received the ECU Business Award.

This is the card I made for him to celebrate his graduation.







Three days later he set off to his Year 12 Ball looking like such a handsome young man in his 3 piece suit. Such a proud Mum moment, I can tell you :)

It was also my birthday this week & my darlings spoilt me with wonderful presents & lots of love.
I just had to show you this awesome snail card that my daughter, Chloe, made for me. Isn't it too cute???







Anyway, I thought I'd show you some more Christmas cards that I've made. These ones are all for family members.
This one is for my daughter, Chloe. She made a special request to have that beautiful Making Memories felt embellishment on her card so here it is.







This one is for Til, my little grand daughter.
I've used Kaiser papers on this one & handmade the little stockings.
This card was also for a challenge at Scrap Pile's last CC.







This card is for sweet little Oliver, my baby grandson.
The papers are from October Afternoon.







This one is a little different but it's for my son, Luke.
I wanted to make it meaningful to him by including one of his interests into it. So I printed out this picture which is of the bird on the Liverpool Soccer Club Logo, he's a Liverpool fan.
I thought, hey, at least it's a festive colour, it'll be OK. Anyway, he'll love it so that's all that matters.







Thanks for stopping by & I hope your Christmas preparations are on track too.
Bye for now :)

Christmas Preparations.....

Are well under way here. I am so ridiculously excited about Christmas this year that I already feel impatient for the big day to arrive.
I'm not sure where this bubbly enthusiasm has come from as nothing extra special is planned. I think it's more to do with how much I love us all spending the whole day together & having silly fun & enjoying each other's company.
I've got nearly all of my shopping finished which is a relief & I've also made a few gifts too.

My Christmas cards are nearly finished too.
I decided to make it a bit easier this year & make lots of the same design.
So far I've made about 30 cards from two fairly basic designs.
This was my first batch, made using Basic Grey Figgy Pudding papers.







And here is a close up of one.







This is my second batch, which I used Pebbles Inc papers on.







And this is a close up.







I've also made some one offs for some challenges.
This one is for Liz's monthly challenge at Scrap Boutique.
I've never made an easel card before but really loved doing this one. Thanks for the inspiration Liz :)







This is for another of Liz's challenges, a sketch one this time, for the November cybercrop.






Lovely Making Memories Falala papers on this one.


How are you going with your Christmas preparations? Are you making any cards this year.
I'd love to see them.
Hope you all have a great week & thanks for popping in :)

OK, I Know It's Been Awhile.....

Chloe has been giving me heaps about not updating my blog & I have been meaning to but just haven't found the time lately.
This time of year gets busy for us all & our son has been doing his TEE exams & there have been lots of functions & events with it being his final year of school.
So I do apologise for my lack of keeping my blog up to date & hope you all understand.

Anyhow, Chloe & the grandkids came over to visit today & Clo & I sat at the table & crafted together for the first time in ages. It was so much fun. The girls played happily all day & Oliver got passed around for lots of cuddles with everyone. He is so adorable & has the cutest little smile.
It was a pretty perfect day I must say :)

This is the card that I made today. It's for the Lime Tart challenge which was to use black & white with one other colour.
I used my Cuttlebug butterfly die for the first time which I love.
I've also used October Afternoon papers & a Collections transparency.





I've been working on lots of Christmas cards too so will try to pop back tomorrow to show you.
Take care & thanks for stopping by:)

Short & Sweet Sunday.....

Hi all :) Tomorrow is the last day of school holidays...gee it went quick!!!
I still haven't taken Molly to the movies so I'd better take her tomorrow. She really wants to see "Up".
Yesterday I had fun with Liz's monthly challenge at Scrap Boutique.
She gave us some great instructions to make a dahlia flower, which I've never made before.
So I gave it a go & this is the card that I came up with to use it on.







I've used October Afternoon "Detours" papers.

That's all for tonight.
Thanks for popping in & I hope you all have a wonderful week :)

More WCMD Cards.....

Hi there. Did you all have lots of fun on WCMD? I hope so because I sure did.
I am a bit late posting the rest of the cards I created over the weekend but here they are.
These first 2 where for challenges at Scrap Boutique.

This one is for a sketch challenge set by Liz.





I've used Cosmo Cricket "Girl Friday" papers.


The next one was for a colour challenge also set by Liz.
I've used Cosmo again on this one, this time it's the "Early Bird" range.







The last one is for a challenge at Scrap Pile, set by Bel.





The challenge was to use something old, something new & something borrowed.
I used some old Scenic Route paper, my new Diamond Plate Cuttlebug Folder & my borrowed was a piece of kitchen foil.

Thanks for stopping by to say hi :)

Happy World Cardmaking Day.....

Hi everyone, woohoo, it's finally WCMD. Can you tell I'm a little excited, LOL.
I've been having a great time today with online friends, enjoying some fantastic challenges that have got the creativity pumping around again.
I kind of prefer to think of WCMD as a weekend long event so I'll still be at it tomorrow trying to get even more challenges finished.
I'd love to hear what you have all been doing to celebrate WCMD. Did you get together with friends or enjoy some quiet creative time by yourself?

So far I've finished 3 challenges but have only photographed two of them.

This first one was a challenge set by Manon at Scrap Boutique.
She posted the instructions to make a cute tag accordion style card. I changed mine a bit though as I got an idea to use the cute K & Co tags that I had.
This is going to be Molly's Christmas card for this year.

This is the cover & as it unfolds it tells a little story that I'm sure she'll get a giggle out of.






1st fold





2nd fold





3rd fold





& 4th fold.





This is the back cover.





And this is how the inside looks unfolded all together.





The second one is a challenge set by my friend, Gill, at Scrap Pile.
Naughty Gill really mucked around with my head on this one, LOL.
Her challenge was to make a simple Christmas card that was only one layer & using a stamp & one other embellishment.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I don't do simple very well, I love putting heaps on my cards, the poor things can't stand up sometimes, they're so heavy, LOL.
Anyway, I tried & I tried & after tossing 3 failed attempts I came up with this.
It was really hard to leave it alone because I kept wanting to add stuff, hehehe.

I used a piece of double sided MM paper & tore the bottom edge of the front to reveal the pattern on the inside. The stamp I used is from Stampin Up & I added a MM poinsettia flower.






Well it's gone midnight here so I'd better head off for some sleep as I'm off to visit Chloe & the grandkids tomorrow & we're all going along to check out the garage sale at Just Scrapbooking.
Hopefully there will be some great bargains. Molly has even saved her pocket money.
Hope you all had a wonderful WCMD & please leave me a link so I can check out what you created today too :)

World Card Making Day is Coming....

This Saturday, October 3rd, is World Card Making Day.
It's a day I look forward to every year & can't wait to enjoy this fun day with lots of online friends.
There are a couple of places you can visit to join in some great challenges & share your love of card making with others.
My favourites are Scrap Pile & Scrapboutique.

I haven't made anything for awhile now. I'm saving it all for this weekend, LOL.
The kids are on school holidays so I've been having lots of lovely sleep ins & just running at a more relaxed pace.

I'd like to thank the very lovely Karen for giving me this cute award.





I would love to pass this award on to some very inspiring girls.
My dear friends Mel & Gill. These 2 ladies are incredibly creative & make me laugh like crazy.
I'd also like to pass it on to my beautiful girl, Chloe. Her creations are always stunning & she also inspires me with all she manages to accomplish.

Well that's it from me today.
Hope you all enjoy WCMD :)

IT'S A BOY.....

Well, I can finally tell you about my exciting news!!!!! I'm a granny again!!!!!!!
My beautiful daughter, Chloe, gave birth to her second child today & it's a little boy :)
His name is Oliver James & he weighed 9lb 8oz.
I don't have any photos yet but will post some as soon as I can.

I can also finally reveal the card I made for bub's birth a few weeks ago.
It was for a wonderful challenge set by gorgeous Manon at Scrap Boutique & it's a never ending card. It just keeps folding & folding & is a lot of fun. Thanks Manon, I loved this challenge.

This is my cover







Then it folds to this








and to this






and finally to this.








The kraft section is where I'll write my message.
I used the adorable October Afternoon range, "Ducks in a Row".

Thanks for stopping by.
Take care & keep smiling :)

I'm Bursting With Excitement....

Hi again everyone.
How are things going?
I'm very, very excited today but I won't say anything just yet but will be back to share some wonderful news soon.

Over the weekend I spent some creative time in my room playing with some gorgeous new Rouge de Garance papers that I fell in love with as soon as I saw them.
I've also used my Swiss Dots embossing folder to add to the fresh look.
Here they are:















Well, I hope to be back soon with my news.
Until then, bye :)

Sunshine & Smiles.....

Aaahhhh, it's the weekend & the sun is finally shining, I'm a happy girl today.
I have just finished making a card for my daughter for when her bub is born next month.
I can't show it to you though because she'll see it too so you'll have to wait a few more weeks , I'm sorry.
I do have a couple of cards to share though.
This one I made for the Kaiser challenge. It had to be made from at least 80% Kaiser products.

Here's my card.







This card was for a challenge at Scrap Boutique.
It needed to have a travel themed sentiment & include exotic colour combinations.







I think my longing for Summer came through in this card, LOL.

Well that's it for today.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Caardvarks Challenge.....

Caardvarks are currently holding a great challenge which is sponsored by myStamp Box.
The criteria is to make a card using the sponsor's colours of black, white & hot pink.

Here is how my card turned out.....







I've used American Crafts paper & Bazzill cardstock.
Along with some swirly diecut black felt, I can't remember the manufacturer, Kaiser rhinestones & a few other bits & pieces.

Thanks for popping by :)

WARNING!!!!! This Is A Neglected Blog.....

What can I say.... sometimes life just gets in the way!!!!
Things have been stupidly busy here lately & the days have seemed half as long. I feel really terrible for neglecting this poor little blog. Even more shameful is that my last post title was Goodbye July & now it's nearly the end of August....oh the shame!!!!
I haven't even made all that much during that time either but I will try to find where I left off & catch up again.

Firstly, there has been some very exciting & happy news. My second home, "Scrap Pile", was going to close it's doors for good until at the last minute, it was saved & bought by a new owner.
It was such a relief to all the regular girls, we have become like family to one another & were very sad at the thought of losing our special place.

A really lovely lady called Gill is the proud new owner of Scrap Pile & she's also a West Aussie & even better, lives in a neighbouring suburb to me, YAY!!!! We've got together for a coffee, which was wonderful & she was also kind enough to invite me along to the Print Blocks Roadshow on Thursday where we got to touch & see loads of gorgeous CHA goodies. I don't envy her having to choose what to order though, I don't think I'd be able to say no to anything, LOL.

Anyway, when we thought SP was going to close, we decided to have one last big bash together so organized a weekend of scrapping fun.
My challenge was to make an altered book.
It's something I personally haven't done before but it was loads of fun. I even FINALLY cut into my precious stack of Cosmo Cricket "Early Bird" papers for this!!!!

This is my book which I am using as a sketch journal.







Another of the challenges was to make a card using a stamped image that you coloured.
This gorgeous rose stamp was from a recent stamped image swap at SP & I've coloured it with chalks.







Last weekend I made this set of 10 cards with a 6 x 6 pad of Basic Grey "June Bug" papers.







Well that ended up being a fairly long winded post, didn't it?
I will try not to be so naughty in future & update more often.

What are you all up to at the moment?
I'd love to hear what is catching your eye & what you are enjoying making at the moment.
Leave my a link to your blog so I can pop by & check out your gorgeous creations.
Take care until next time :)