Sweet Skulls

Ok Ok Yvette, I'm posting just for you! Lol. I've been meaning to post but the days have been flying by and I haven't done anything!
I was at Spotlight on Thurs gathering stuff to make a Sailor Moon costume for my friend's Japanese Party when I came across these fantastic stamps from Fiskars (who knew they would make stamps I would actually like to buy!) I have been after stamps to make for guy cards and seeing as skulls are totally in right now I've been keeping my eye out for them. There haven't been any that suited my needs though.. until now! I am sooo happy to have found these ones!

I know skulls aren't everyone's style but I love how this set adapted well for Funky Girl cards as well as for Guys and I love them {and I'm totally not even a goth either ;)}. The sets are called "Ink" cos they're modelled off Tattoos and the sets include skulls, barbed wire, crosses, flaming hearts, banners, roses, stars etc. Totally cool for my age group. I prettied up the girl cards with pink jewel hearts and they are so cute! I promise next week I will try to have a "pink-free" week {eek!} cos I know I use it toooooo much!

And then the final card is one for the boys :) and I used my "Boys Rock" sizzix die with my Cuttlebug machine, it's way cool and so much fun to make the die cuts too. Ok maybe it's just me but I like rolling them through. Though I always tense up the butt cheeks when I'm rolling one through after reading stories of people snapping their acrylic plates with a big bang like a gun shot {oh no!}.
Hope you're all havin a great weekend.. and go the Wallabies!!
:) C

Thank You Cards

Ooohh, don't you just love this cute little birdie!! She's from Studio G (cost me $4 at Art Stamps at the Rocks- Bargain!!) I think she's soooo sweet and fun to colour too (coloured here with blender pens and SU inks). I'm bummed Art Stamps is moving to Pymble, they are soo close to me here and its great to be able to pop in before work. Oh well. That just means it's even more of a craft wasteland in my area after we lost Lincraft and the 2 Scrappin shops at North Parramatta. Thank goodness for online shopping :)

Why can't I get out of the groove of using pink papers? I dunno, I need help! I'm sure not everyone wants a pink card but I love using pink. I should take all the pink stuff off my desk for a week and challenge myself to use other colours. I did manage to make one blue/green card (see below) but then I reverted to pink again. D'oh!

I am also loving my Cuttlebug with the Nestabilities dies :) it's so great! Last night I sat down and cut out a whole bunch of rectangles in all different colours so they're on hand when I want to quickly whip up a card. So cool. And I'm slowly using through my massive pile of Prima flowers, as you can see. I'm sure everyone is like me and has about 4 bottles of the things! They are great for cards though.

And here I am back to the pink cards again, and it's my favourite tree stamp from Inque Boutique. There are so many in this brand that I want to get, and at $6 for a set they are the world's best bargain at the moment. The flourish with leaves comes from the set too. The wording is from a Hero Arts set and is actually being said by a little birdie (who I didn't ink up cos he wouldn't fit on the card) who is also very cute. Man I am totally into birds and tree stamps at the moment, I can't get enough of them! I am waiting on Owl stamps from America too so you'll be seeing more birds from me!

Have a great Tuesday!

:) C

Same Layout, 2 Cards

Yay, I managed to squeeze in a little play time before work!! Woo Hoo!!
I had to get some more girly cards in my card box and I just LOVE these Cupcake stamps I got off ebay. You can scroll down to a few posts ago and you will see the big cupcake from the same set, and now here are 2 others. The set also comes with the "delicious" sentiment plus a few others. It is such a fun set to use, glad I bought it!
I coloured them using my SU inks and blender pens and stuck a Kaiser Jewel as the Cherry on top. The background card is more pink IRL (it's Purely Pomegranate) not as red as here.


So I've gotta start work at 12 and wanted to make more than 1 card (cos that's not such a great effort for a morning!) so I decided to make the same layout, same papers and everything, and just changed the image.
I pulled out a Bella, coloured her to match the paper, attached Prima flowers (cos for some reason I can't do a Bella card without them!!) and voila- card #2!! Yay! 2 cards in under an hour and still time to get ready for work! Lol.
I hope y'all have a great Friday!!
:)C

Anna's Cupboard Comp page

Here is my page for the June comp over on Anna's Craft Cupboard. Thanks Helen for posting it on your blog or I would never have found this fantastic site! I've already filled up my shopping cart ready to make an order once I've saved my pennies too {cheeky grin}! She's got great stuff.

I love Dad's face while he's looking at that cake... he loved it! He had to blow out the candles pretty quick tho, before they melted the ice cream. Lol!

I really like this sketch, it seems really adaptable to lots of different pics of mine so you'll probably see it again. I've decided I'm not adverse to doing the same layout (ok, I haven't actually done it yet but I'm sure I wont even notice that there are same layouts in my album {I wont will I?}, esp if they're of different subjects.. thats what I hope anyway!) It's not cheating is it? Lol.

Happy hump day of the week! It's one of our friend's farewell at work today, it's so sad to see our friends leaving, he's been with the company for 12yrs and the company coughed up $120 for catering for 80 people. SLACK!! Anywho, I hope y'all have a great day!

:) C

Lucky Girl! Or Slave Driver?!

Well I'm enjoying myself... sitting here at my computer blogging while Will cooks me dinner :) He keeps popping over to push bits of food in my mouth.. haha.. love it. I took this pic on my phone to be a little more discrete in catching Will unawares.. and yes his pants always do look as though they're about to fall off.

Here's a couple of pages I've done recently, the first pic you might recognise from Yvette's blog, it was from my recent trip to Canberra to do Yvette's SU class. I had so much fun hanging out with my sisters (although one was missing :( but she's not into scrappin anyway!) and I got my Mojo back! Thanks Yvette!!

And this one is my current fave pic of Will and I (you might recognise it from the blog banner). Its so hard to get a normal looking pic of him, he's always pulling some kind of strange face. I'm sure we've all experienced it - that someone who just wont let you get a good pic of them. I'm not sure what I'd done to actually make him smile for this one, but I love it!

Off to eat my Sweet and Sour Pork now.. yay!!
:) C

Baby it's Cold out There

Yep, it's cold... so it's a great day to be inside scrappin! The wind is blowing the trees around so much and it feels like 13 degrees (acccording to Elders Weather) so I'm glad I'm inside! Time to grab a cuppa and I'll share 2 pages I did yesterday and today.

The first is of my nephew Cooper. What a gorgeous little guy! They are creative imaginations rub-ons as his "wings" (they didn't turn out great in the pic but look much better IRL!) He has such a sweet little face... awe, soooo cute! The green background paper is brighter IRL too. It was a challenge working in primary colours! Nice to have something different in my album.

This second page is more pics from our trip to the Blue Mountains in Feb. Will was so shy and painfully quiet when we first started going out, especially around new people (e.g. my large extended family) but he has come out of his shell so much and loves hanging around doing silly things with me! He can hold his own in my family now too I think! The funniest thing is that he does silly things with that Unemotional Asian look on his face. That cracks me up the most. People are always asking me "Is he having fun?", yeah of course he is, and he's getting better at showing it! He can even smile in photos now... WOW!

I love that tree stamp- it's a 2 part stamp from Inque Boutique (trunk and leaves) that I got at the Craft show. Glad to have used the set already! I love trees, I think the stamp will be useful for so much. I see on the Anna's Cupboard website that they make a mini set just of trees. I might get that sometime too ;)

Back to my desk now for some more fun!

:) C

Play Day Take 2

Yay, I got to play today!!
I was so happy to be able to hang out in my pyjamas til after 2pm {woo hoo!!} while watching Thoroughly Modern Milly and the Princess Bride and stamping away :) Pure Joy!
I finally inked up the Hero Arts Cupcake set I got off ebay. I love this set, it's so cute! I stamped the cupcake onto the spotty Chatterbox paper and paper pieced it onto the red card that I had stamped with the same cupcake stamp. Attached it to a nestabilities rectangle {love them!} punched holes with my SU Horizontal Slot punch and attached American Crafts ribbon (which didn't turn out too good in the pic, sorry!) The Cute saying came along with the cupcake from Hero Arts.



I then made this one with the same cupcake imaged stamped onto pink card and coloured with my SU inks and blender pens. I mounted the "negative" from the Nestabilities rectangle (using the scallop negative- the bit left after cutting/punching out- is one of my sis Felicity's favourite tricks!) over the pink piece and attached it to the card. So sweet. I love the big Kaiser jewel for the cherry on top. I also coloured around the frosting in places with my spica clear glitter pen so it shimmers in the light. I want to eat it right now!

Then the 3rd card I made is a remake of Yvette's card with a few little changes, and is for Will's sister's 21st birthday party tonight. We asked what she wanted for her birthday and she said "you can make me a card cos they're really nice". Cool! Thanks for the praise! I think we should prob get her a present too though ;)
I had to use the Bella's cos they're so funky and young and Will's sis loves shopping! I hope she likes it. I love the Coco Chanel saying, I almost didn't buy it but at the last minute I added it to the order and it's one of the stamps I have used the most! So funny when that happens.

I'm now off to do a little scrappin...

Hope you had a good Saturday!
:) C

Play Day Cut Short :(

Well I was supposed to have all day at home today to play with all my new stuff from the show as well as 4 packets of stamps I got from US Ebay about 3 weeks ago that have yet to see ink (shock!) but... I got called into work. Boo Hoo!! {Wails loudly}. So I'm off to work for another 11 hour shift and only have 1.5hrs to make something for lunch and dinner as well as have a shower and get ready. Damn. Of course, I took time to post too ;)

Here is the one card I managed to make this morning. I used Basic Grey stamps I got from Ebay and the Nestabilities dies (with my Cuttlebug) I got at the show yesterday. I have been on a quest to get more stuff to make Boy cards cos they're quite hard to make for. You can't use flowers or cupcakes for the fellas! I hope this one fits the bill.

So sad to give up my play day, but I gotta pay off my shopping from the show yesterday! Lol.

:) C

Craft Show Stash!!

Yep, I shopped :) and got some great stuff, woo hoo!! I managed to blow the budget too, even though there were only 5 or 6 Scrapbooking/Stamping stalls there. Maybe a couple more, but there weren't nearly as many as there usually are and there wasn't much new stuff.

My best find.... the Nestabilities dies that I've been wanting to get to use with my Cuttlebug. Big {Woo Hoo!!} from me (she says while punching the air with one arm)!! I have been wanting to get them from Papertrey, one of my fave stamping companies but they just put up International shipping which makes it SO expensive for shipping. So I was totally wrapped when I found them at the show! You have to buy the collection of 4 sets together, big and small scallops and big and small plains (they don't sell them individually) so if you know anyone who wants a set of scallop rectangles and plain rectangles I'll be selling the extra sets on ebay!

I also went crazy on the lace cardstock. I love the white and pink ones, they're from Creative Imaginations and after using some of Yvette's KI Memories ones I HAD to have some of them too. They were cheap- $2.50 per sheet! Bargain. So you'll be seeing them on pages soon :)

I also love the tiny Lizzie Anne design unmounted stamps down the front, a ballerina and the words to go with her which say "all you need are toe shoes, a tutu and a willing heart". So cute!

So I came home a happy camper, YAY! Only now I have to go to work which means no play til tomorrow. Boo Hoo!

Sorry the pic isn't that great, there is NO light in the loungeroom in winter which really bugs me when I'm home during the day... gotta chop some trees down. Lol.

:) C

Bellas

Ooohhh... I love Bellas! They are all soooo fantastically funky with their modern looks (you can even get one with an ipod!) and they make awesome cards. They are so much fun to colour in too, I've just used my SU inks and blender pens. One day I will get Copics... one day. I'll save my pennies ;)

This first one I made for Yvettes birthday. It was so much fun to colour her into an outfit I thought would suit Yvette! Lol.

And this one is for someone's birthday later on in the year. I love her cool sunnies on her head!

I'm off to the Craft and Quilt Fair at Darling Harbour tomorrow, hopefully I'll pick up some new and exciting stuff, as well as some bargains!

:) C

Breakfast Blah..

As I sit here and munch my meusli I will ponder on the day to come... hmmm..... its Tuesday. Today means 12pm-12am at work. Ew. At least I get paid to work, that is one consolation!

So while I lament the working week ahead (albeit a short one) I will share 2 pages that I recently finished on Will's and My trip to the Blue Mountains in Feb. You will see I am not terribly up-to-date with my scrappin, but who is? (If you know someone lets secretly kidnap them and milk them of all their secrets! I think Yvette might be so lets start with her!!)



I love that flourish rub-on with the bird. I'm so happy with all the Kaiser Craft rub-ons, I think they really hit the spot. And seeing as I have about 8 packets you may call me a bit of a fan! Hehe. And if you haven't been to ScenicWorld at Katoomba I really recommend it. The Skyway was just AWESOME and we also did the train down to the bottom of the valley, followed one of the boardwalks and then took the "Sceniscender" back up. Such great views and heaps of fun!We also walked down to the first of the Three Sisters via the Giant Stairway, that was sooo steep but great views again. I guess it's hard to not get great views in such a beautiful place.

:) C

Touristas in our own City

Will and I celebrated the Queen's Birthday (Cheers Liz!) by spending the day in the city. It was a pretty gloomy day, we got sprinkled on almost all day, everywhere we walked. But we still had fun! I'm pooped now though.

I took my big camera in so we could really look like tourists. Lol! I wanted to take some cool arty kinda shots. I've been thinkin seriously about doing some kind of photography course, so I was checking out if I am worthy enough of a course, or if I should quit while I'm ahead. Haha.

Why are train stations so photogenic?I like the names painted on the seats, stations wouldn't be as interesing without them.

And of course, the timer button is pretty useful on the camera too.

I played around with this one in Photoshop. Can you tell? lol.

Museum Station is the most beautiful place. So unchanged.

I could imagine it looking just like this in my Grandparent's day. Or even my Great Grandparents.

This is Will's best relaxed pose. loL!

Someone we know is doing his best to "Blend in" with some of the cardboard cut-outs at the Hyde Park Barracks museum. Go Willy!

So that was a short re-cap of our day.. now off to do some scrappin!

:) C

I'm gonna begin with some layouts that I finished yesterday, but first a little background..

I visited my sis Yvette 2 weekends ago to do a Stampin Up party for her and she SO inspired me to GET SCRAPPIN! Last year I didn't meet my "a-page-a-week" goal and ended up only going 32 pages for the year. Slacker!! But since visiting Yvette I've gone from 5 pages behind for this year, to 3 pages ahead! Woo Hoo! I have completed 11 layouts in 2 weeks which is a total record for me. So THANKS Yvette!! You're an inspiration to me :)

So here are the most recent 2:

Yay for Hawaii! Will and I went in Feb this year, it was sooo beautiful and relaxing and I wanted to go back straight away!

Of course, a trip to Hawaii wouldn't be complete without the mandatory Cocktails.. so here they are!

YUM!!!! They were delicious. Just LOVED them :)
Enjoy,
:) C

Hello Y'all!

Welcome to my blog!!
This is the first post (hopefully of many!) so thanks for dropping by ;)
I haven't blogged before, so bare with me if it turns out I am ultra slow or ultra slack at putting things up! I plan on showing some of the stuff that I do (Scrapbooking Pages and Cards) as well as some ramblings about whats going on in my everyday life.
I hope you find my stuff inspiring and please come again!
:) Charlotte