Merry Christmas from Australia

Christmas Banner

Love this new Spellbinder's banner diecut.

This has brightened up an area near the dining table

C H R I S T in Christmas

I thoroughly enjoyed making this cute christmas banner.

It only took about 90mins.

Happy Christmas all!

A Red Floral Card

A red floral card inspired by Remembrance Day 2011

'Just a Note'

100 year old plus sheet music

distressed

further

with

Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

I tried out my new Martha Stewart all over punch

for

the

bottom border

and

underlayed some red shimmer paper to compliment the seam binding bow

and

the red flower.

Two beautiful JustRight stamps...

'MUSIC washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life'...

and

'JUST A NOTE'....

Some red floral stickers

corner gold stickers (distressed)

and

pearl bling

accented the centres

of

the

all over punched areas.

Once again

such fun

to make.

I'll add them to my stash

and

when the time is right

they will find their way

to a

new owners. 

A 50th Birthday Card

Hello I want to share a special card I have made for my friend's 50th Birthday.

This is the year of turning 50 for me and some school friends

who I still keep in touch with.

This is the last one I will be making for 2011 as we have all turned 50 now.

I first met my friend in 1967 in grade one.

I was her bridesmaid in 1982.

I have tried to personalise the card by using seam binding for the bow in the same colour as the bridesmaid dress I wore at her wedding.

The sentiment stamp...Blossom....is a name her dad called her...

and

the little girl has a basket of eggs

Collecting the eggs is a job my friend had and I believe did not enjoy.

I JUST LOVE this Stampin' Up Easter Blossoms stamp set.

I have been dying to try it out since purchasing it on ebay a couple of weeks ago.

And it took me about 7 days to complete this card,

once again due to a combination of pain and working it all out as I went.

I never make the same thing twice and everything I make comes from the heart. I used a lot of techniques on this card. Inking, shading with chalks, layering and stamping under the focal images, tying a double bow the Amazing Paper Grace way, stamping, embossing, using lots of Spellbinders dies, Flower Soft for the little girl's bouquet, glittering up the scalloped frame around the little girl and using a final coating of Glossy Accents, pearl bling,

 ribbons secured with Scor Tape etc etc........

It is truly amazing how many products, techniques and effects go into one little card.

I enjoyed every minute of it!!!

Thankyou to all you wonderful people who release such wonderful products for us to use and enjoy when cardmaking.

It is amazing how much I have learnt in the last year and it is chiefly thanks to card making blogs and Youtube demonstrations.

When I think how my skills have expanded in 12 months it is mind boggling!

A 21st Card

This is the card I made recently for my niece.

You may be able to tell that her favourite colour is purple.

It took me days to make due to the fact that every card I make is a prototype and I don't follow any particular rules.

Therefore it's a pretty slow process especially when you add in my back problem and my physical restrictions.

Anyhow I am fairly pleased with the finished results and I believe my niece liked it as well, so that's a bonus.

Happy Creating!

Rain...finally!

Well it's been raining all night.

It's SO welcome.

Apparently it's been the driest November since 1914.

Well not now.

I think this must be the most rain we have had in one night since the January floods this year.

The rain has brought the temperature right down as well, which again is very welcome.

FLOOD   JANUARY   2011

The above two images were taken by me on 11th January this year.

The night before we had received about 80mm.

Not a day I would like repeated even though in the end we were not affected.

All day we thought we could have been and that was where the worry came in.

We are only new to this Darling Downs Town and seeing the creek level from our mail box was very worrying stuff.

The creek runs behind our house but is usually not visible from our house at all. The Oakey Creek has very steep banks and is a normally a slow running but low lying creek.

This is the town bridge but was taken after most of the water had subsided about 5pm in the afternoon.

For most of the day myself and other neighbours were stranded on our own personal island and had to wait for the waters to subside before we could get out and about and see what damage had been done to the rest of the township.

Potholders Galore

I'd like to share some of my

potholder collection

with you all.

My first attempt at a Folded Star, in just the right colours for my kitchen.

A retro style chook potholder for my kitchen. Mainly vintage fabrics used in this one.

I made this one out of leftover pieced bits and pieces, it was fun to make.

I love this one.

I found the pattern in a

Quilter's Newsletter Magazine

from the 1980's.

I made this one a few years ago and love the ceramic bee button.

This is a 'just for looking at' potholder.

This is 'some' of my collection.

It consists of vintage ones I have collected over the years as ones made by me.

Altered coasters

             Graduation Gift

I made this little box as a graduation present for my daughter.

It's the first time I have ever made one and it was a bit

challenging to make it fit together neatly but I got there after a lot of jiggling.

I added this bought photo frame.

I dismanted it so it could be attached to the front.

This is the original photo that came with the frame.

Empty frame awaiting a photo of my daughter on her graduation day.

One day I will change the tag that says

'graduation day' (it's a bit daggy), but I don't live in the same area as my daughter anymore

and I can't travel at the moment after back surgery.

I missed her graduation because of my bad back but got to see it live streamed on-line so that was a suitable consolation, plus my brother (as well as seven other family members) attended and took lots and lots of photos for me.

These coasters were purchased at an opportunity shop and cost about $1.

They were brand new still in the box.

I'm pretty happy with the way my altered project turned out and I think my daughter was happy with this gift.