Animal Crackers!

Hi Y'all! Happy Saturday!! What a lazy morning I've had, I'm still in my PJ's and it's 11am!! {giggles!} Happy me!!

When I saw the "Animal Crackers" set in the 2009-2010 Stampin Up Catalogue I giggled so much! The pics are just gorgeous and the cute sentiments that go along with them are hillarious! I hadn't yet mounted the set and so set about last night mounting, stamping, colouring and creating! First up was the cute Bunny and her "Ears wishing you a happy day" sentiment. The image itself is quite small which allows for some fun giant embellishments such as the big bow! I used the Martha Stewart Doily Edge punch along the right side for a bit of femininity for the sweet bunny and blinged it with some kaiser jewels. I also inked around the edge of the large scallop circle with my pink Brilliance ink for a bit of sheen.

And here's probably my fave image from the set: the Squirrel and his "I'm nuts about you" sentiment! What a cutie!! He was fun to colour in too, I used my Stampin Write Markers and he turned out really well! I stamped my Hero Arts Woodgrain circle stamp on Baja Blue card with Choc Chip Ink and punched it out with a Marvy Giga Scallop Circle punch. I loved the cool background it created for the little squirrel! I love the black spotty ribbon too, it's just from Spotty but it funked up this card really well! Then I stitched the 2 buttons on to finish it all off! I love this set, it's so much fun!!

I'm off to Chatswood shopping with Alicia this arvo! I love cruising around different shopping centres on the weekend and I haven't been to Chatswood for ages! I know they have Cupcakes on Pitt there now too, so I might have to make a sweet little visit!

Have a great weekend!!

:) C

Taylored Expressions Challenge #88

Hello!

It's time for me to get challenged again :) I broke out some Cat's Pyjamas stamps I've had for about a year that have never seen ink (OMG!! Shhhhhhh don't tell anyone!) and chose Taylored Expression's Challenge #88, so many ideas popped into my head when I saw this sketch! I can't believe I hadn't used these stamps before, they are just so cute! I love that you can curve acrylic stamps too, I curved the Sentiment stamp as I placed it on my acrylic block so that it would match the curve of the Scalloped Oval. Isn't that awesome?! I coloured his hat, jacket, and cool red scarf in with my SU Stampin Write Markers, I love those things. I had so much fun doing a Boy Card with this sketch! I hope you like it too!!

:) C

Mum's Sale Weekend!

Hi Y'all!

Well, Mum's Sale was a total SUCCESS!! She did so well as usual, I am so proud of her talent and all the beautiful things she makes! She's such an inspiration to me :) Go Mum!!

I had a fabulous weekend, not just the sale but catching up with the family too! It's been a while since we have all been together without any partners so it was some nice, relaxing catch up time. Cups of tea, left over afternoon tea cakes and slices, Rummykub, chit chatting, breakfast in the backyard, dinner at Il Nido's. It was a fantastic weekend. You should hear the noise of conversation though, it's like the constant early morning chirping of birds (except for the "Chook bird" which is reserved for waking Alicia up early in the morning!) I actually was really lonely when I left late Sunday arvo cos it had been just so nice to be hanging out in a big family group again surrounded by endless conversation and cups of tea. When I got home I was lonely! Luckily I had Willy to come back to, he missed me so was excited to go on a coupon date with me, that was nice!

I thought I would post a couple of pics of Mum's stuff, sorry for the not such perfect quality but I was taking them as people were charging through the front door so I was practically running and snapping at the same time! Doesn't she make such beautiful things?!

I have more pics but I've gotta run to get ready for work, I'm a bit slow and slack this morning!

:)C

Christmas 3D Sticker Cards

Hi y'all!!

Did you know Christmas is only 2 months away?! Now is the perfect time to be making your Christmas cards, before the giant rush of the Nov/Dec "Christmas Season" begins and you realise you haven't sent, let alone made all your Christmas cards!!

You know how I'm trying to use through my life-size mountain of 3D stickers? Well I decided to tackle the Christmas bundle (I have them all organised by theme!) and make some cool Christmas cards. Here's my tip: you could substitute a stamped image for any of the 3D images I've used and mass produce the LO you like for your own Christmas Cards. I love using the printed ribbon too, these ribbons came as a pack from Spotlight and they're a nice quality too.
I will admit I haven't started making my mass produced Christmas cards yet, but I have all the "ingredients" and the recipe is made up in my head so it wont take me long once I get started!! I'm enthused to have them done nice and early this year!

As a special offer only until the end of October I am offering FREE SHIPPING on any Stampin Up order, big or small. So if you were wanting just one ink pad or all your supplies to make your Christmas Cards then now is the time!! New Customers are totally welcome, email me or leave a comment on this post and I'll get back to you!

I'm off to Mum and Dad's after work this arvo for Mum's Craft Sale tomorrow!! I'm also trying on my Wedding Dress again :) I'm excited!!

Have a great weekend!

:) C

Project 365 Collage #27

Time for another catch up!

Oh the sun is out!! I love it when the washing dries in less than an hour! In Grafton, where I grew up, the washing would dry so quick it would be crispy when you took it off the line!!; do you think I have enough SU colours??; makin' some cards; shopping in Spotlight for the new Martha Stewart range, man it's expensive!; Competition page- I didn't win :(; Dinner date with Will to Grub & Tucker at Newtown- they gave us a free appetiser of cold roasted capsicum soup in a tiny coffee cup, so cute!; Pizza night with my peeps! SO nice to have catch up time; (was) reading Frankenstein- did you know it's the name of the scientist and not the monster??!! The monster has no name, except Frankenstein calls it the "Vile Creature"; my flatmate packing up to move out, I think she had more stuff than anyone I know!

That's it!

Happy Hump Day of the Week!! (It is Wednesday today right?? I did wake up thinking it was thurs... drat!)

:) C

Girly Cards :)

Time to post something other than sock owls {giggles} although they are awesomely cute, and I have made another one since the last post! But it is time for some cards.

Yes, I am still wading through my MASSIVE stash of 3D stickers, they will last me a complete life time, I just know it. Thankfully the lid of their storage box does actually push down now and not pop off spontaneously when a feather wisps quietly by on a breeze! It was full to bursting point!! i love the big tan flower with giant pink brad in the middle, very chic!

I did a similar LO for the second card, but switched it up a tiny bit and put the sentiment on the Scallop Sqaure (SU punch) piece. I love my scallop punches so much and would be totally bored without them!! I love my Cuttlebug with nesties too, but the punches are just so quick and easy to use (this sponsorship has been brought to you by Marvy and Stampin Up!- LOL!!).

And for the third card I pulled out my Much Loved, but not often used (mostly cos I forget about them cos I keep them in a different area to my other acrylic stamps) Lizzie Anne Designs Princess set. Isn't she just the sweetest princess?! I think so :) I love colouring in her dress with my SU stampin' Write markers. I am so glad they sell the writers separately now, I can get all the colours I want and not the colours I never use! Sweet :) I used a pink heart shaped jewel for the flower centre on this card too, so cute!

On a totally different note, Will had a short shift yesterday and so went to Woolies, organised himself with some food and cooked me dinner... check it out!! I'm not sure he could have fit more food on his plate! Obviously this is the amount of dinner he thinks I should be dishing him up every night once we get married, well I think he'll be unpleasantly surprised!! LOL!! He dished me up the exact same amount as for himself, I only ate half and I have the other half left over for dinner tonight! But cos he's an eating machine he ate it all {sigh!} He made us marinated BBQ pork, chicken skewers, basmati rice, corn cob and steamed greens (broccoli, bok choy, snow peas and zucchini). It was a delicious dinner, but man there was so much! I look forward to eating it again tonight!! LOL!!

:) C

More friends for Pete!

I have been busy this week making Pete some more friends!! I have now made a hoot of 7 Sock Owl friends to sell at Mum's Sale. I'm having fun making them, getting back into hand sewing is nice. I was sitting on the lounge on Monday night sewing and watching TV with Will and I felt like Mum, watching TV while sewing next to Dad!! It was a funny feeling... kinda like seeing your future. LOL! But Dad (aka Will) didn't have control of the remote on this lounge, I still did! {giggles}.

From Left: Claude, May, Alice, Pete, Albert, Betsy, Farrelly (!!) and Pepe. Pepe must be their Mexican cousin come to visit :)

Happy Saturday! I'm going out to dinner shortly with some work friends to a Chinese Restaurant in Eastwood. I'm thinking it wont be quite as good as The Chief's food at our Engagement party, but I'll try not to compare so I can still enjoy it!

:) C

Friends for Pete!

Well, Pete my friend, you caused some stirs in the family! Mostly "awweess" and "Cute!" so it was time Pete had some friends. How do you like Pete's little friends?? Pete is alot bigger than them cos he is made from a Baby Explorer Sock so has heaps of stretch, the new members of the Sock Owl family are begot from normal 0-6 month baby socks. Actually Betsy (far right) is made from a 6-12 months ankle sock, so she'll still pretty small. Yeah there are still no cool Woodland names, these guys are May, Albert and Betsy. What happened to Pegwig and Tiddles?? I don't know, they keep naming themselves and I have no control! Pete and the gang also have a Canberra cousin courtesy of my sister Yvette, his name is Eric, but she keeps foolishly trying to convince him his name is Harry. I think she's fighting a losing battle!!

Pete and the gang love to hang out in trees and look cool :) unfortunately (for me) there is only room in this Owl filled house for Lil' Pete, so May, Albert and Betsy will be for sale at Mum's Craft Sale Oct 24. Enjoy the company while you can Pete!! Hopefully, if I can get my act together, there will be more in the Owl family before Oct 24 comes around!!

(Yes Fliss, Ed will be in the making too!) I just can't get enough of them!

:) C

Project 365 Collage #26

Catch up, Catch up!!

My poor neglected fish...; I baked tiny cute Date and Pecan loaves, aren't they the cutest?!!; breakfast with Mum, Dad, Fliss and Cooper before the Stitches and Craft Show (yes, I'm still posting collages from Aug!!); some cute cards :); more baking- this time Brownies for a Ladies Night in at Church; Card Making Day with Fliss, so much fun!!; Will shows his natural style at Alice's Lawn Bowl's Birthday, Alice (not his real name) is the guy coming in for a slap of Willy's Butt!!; The light is just beginning to still show over the buildings next to my work when I finish my shift now... Summer must be coming!; Scrappin, Japan style!!

Still interested in my life?? I didn't think so! Only 15 collages to go til the end of the year!!

:) C

New Years Resolution.... RESOLVED!!!

Yes, with the completion of this page I have managed to kick the butt of my New Year's Resolution!!! I resoluted (resolved??) to use up 20% of my Patterned Paper stash and scraps pile. That's right, I originally had to use 54 patterned papers without buying any more, which initially blew out to 89 papers cos my self control hadn't kicked in and I kept buying papers! But on Wednesday, it happened...... I DID IT!! Are you proud?? I am, cos when I started I realised it was a really daunting prospect for me, I only did 68 pages last year and so to use up 89 papers was gonna be hard! But I did it {happy dance!!} I'm even one paper ahead! I am really looking forward to getting some more new, fresh papers but I do want to use up some more of my stash before then. It's very theraputic to be using through stuff that I have hoarded for years!! Wow, it's like a weight off my shoulders!
A bit about the page: the title is actually a linen swing tag that came on a cute top I bought in Grafton! I loved the tag and knew I wanted to use it on a page and when this pic came along I knew it was perfect!! The OLD on this page is the heart lace cardstock, the fozz felt, the slide holder, the rub on flowers and the "bestfriends" and "family" stickers. I love my sisters! Thanks for always being there for me and for making our Engagement Party special and for all your help with the party too MWAH {kissing noise!}
:) C

Project 365 Collage #25

Am I the last person left on Earth still taking pics for Project 365? I was the only person I knew who started it, maybe thats why I'm the only one still left doing it! I haven't posted for a while though, forgive me!! I have about 6 collages to post up! I wont do them all at once just yet :)

I LOVED this dress in Myer, it was just ridiculously short and tight but had the most AWESOME fully sequined bow on the butt, it was HOT!! But for $100, so was out of the ridiculous clothes budget; City 2 Surf (yep, we did it!!); that's not a Mandarin, THIS is a Mandarin. Yes it is Willy, WOW!; designing our Engagement Invites; ah Medicare, that must mean I had a trip to the Endocrinologist; writing out our Engagement Invites; Date night to Pane E Vino in Concord (fantastic little local Italian restaurant, they even had a flamenco guitarist for the 4 tables of diners!!); Will eating my very special Mediterranean Burgers :) delish!; Doing our Gift Registry- we got these $150 Royal Doulton champagne glasses for FREE from Myer for listing $250 worth of Royal Doulton on our Gift Registry. Love you Myer!!

Bedtime now. Actually it's reading time cos I'm desperately trying to finish the second to last Diana Gabaldon book so that I can get onto her brand new one that was released last Thurs and I've had staring at me from the table begging me to read it!! Hurry up brain and read faster!!

:) C

Birthday Cards (Now the Storm is over...)

I'm Back!! The lightning came on really quick earlier, I didn't even notice there was a storm a'comin until the lightning hit and only 2 secs later there was thunder!! Dad always made sure we unplugged all the electrical stuff during a storm, so Dad you should be proud cos I still unplug it all!

Back to the cards.. When Felicity said I needed more Birthday cards I asked if they should be "Funky" or ... then I hesitated for an opposite of Funky and came up with "Mum-ish". LOL!! Well, at least she and I laughed, Mum was too absorbed in her Free Cell game on the computer to notice my jab. hehehe. I guess to cater for the ladies at the sale I have done some Mum-ish ones. It's not to say I don't like these cards, not at all! I really like this card, even though it seems a bit old fashioned, I like the curly label shape and that BG paper is so antique so I paired it with some Kaiser pearls. Pretty!!

I love this pretty butterfly stamp from the Spring Mini SU catalogue, it's delicate and elegant and made the perfect addition to this blue/pink/brown card! Check out how I hoard all the "negative" shapes from my nestabilites, I'm like a magpie. I stash them away instead of chucking them, no wonder my desk is totally full! But then, they go to good use on cards like this so it's not a waste after all!!

So Fliss, will these cards fit the bill?

:) C

Birthday Cards as Advised!

Hi Y'all, said in a throaty man voice cos I still have the flu (which has turned out to be sinusitis) and have a man voice right now! I'm home off work again today in the hopes that I can whack this thing on the head and it will leave me in peace! Actually... that may not be the best choice of words, I don't mean dead, just no coughing.

I took my box of cards down to Mum and Dad's on the weekend and asked Fliss if she could let me know if there were any types of cards missing from the box. After looking at the cards over and over I soon lose touch with the actual cards and sometimes need a helping hand in "seeing" again! Also it's nice to have another opinion cos others might send cards for different reasons to me! Well after wading through the over-filled box she pointed out that I needed more cards that actually said "Happy Birthday". How simple is that?!! I do have a lot of cards in the box, but to have overlooked my Happy Birthday stamps seems to me to be a gross oversight! So I set about rectifying that Yesterday and today by having a Card Fest. Ok, so these first 2 use "Birthday Wishes" but that is close enough to Happy Birthday right?! How gorgeous is the little Artisan label shape? It's a Stampin Up punch new for the 2009 catalogue and I just love it! I know I am going to be using it over and over for cards and scrappin, it's awesome.

Oh, huge storm!! Gotta get off the net, I'll post more cards later!

:) C

Post It Note Holder

Hi!!

Friday night I surprised Mum and Dad by turning up at their front door at 8:15pm! I was going to be lonely in Sydney cos Will had a wedding Sat night (I wasn't invited!!), Felicity and Cooper were in Wollongong and Alicia was OS again!! I didn't want to be the only one left in Sydney so I jumped in the car and headed down. I had a lovely stay with them and it was fun to play with Cooper and Fliss's friend's little 7.5month old too.... so cute. What I didn't enjoy was the 6am wake ups... you can keep that Fliss!

I made these little Post It note holders last week for Mum's sale, they look like Clipboards for very minature office workers!! I made them all the same LO but with different papers and embellishments. They are a wooden coaster covered both sides with PP, 2 magnets on the back to stick to the fridge, prima flowers, ribbon, embellishments and a bulldog clip to hold the Post It Note stack. You like?? The Post It Note cover the most of the front of the clipboard, but it's still cool cos you can see a sneaky bit of the PPs and the embellishments at the top. How cute is the little lady bug butten I discovered in my stash! The white flowers are actually made of tin and I snipped a piece off for each clipboard. I hope you like them!

Off to church, I think there'll be no-one on the roads cos the NRL Grandfinal is about to start. I reckon it's the best time to drive anywhere in Sydney right now (except maybe near Telstra Stadium!)

:) C

Meet Pete!

Say hello to the cutest little guy ever... PETE!! He's a Sock Owl made with a pattern I bought from Craft Schmaft at the Stitches & Craft Show. The pattern is called Toot and he is just so cute and so easy to make!! Craft Schmaft patterns are so cool and cover everything from Sock Monkeys to Sock Giraffes! Super!! Pete is made from a baby sock, so he is only about 10cm tall. It's actually a baby explorer sock so I used the fluffy inside as Pete's outside, which I think gives him a nice texture!!
Pete was supposed to have some cool Woodland name like "Grundewald" or "Peppin" but he named himself. Have you ever had a toy that named itself? Mostly soft toys do that, I've had a few Teddy Bears that have begged to come home with me too cos they "spoke" to me!! You know what I mean Mum!! Well here's my example of naming Pete:

Me: "Hmmm, I've gotta think of a good Woodland name to call you little guy..... I think I'll name...."

Him: "Pete!" (the voice inside my head chirped)

Me: "What? No I want a Woodland name...."

Him: "Pete!"

Me: "Damn it. Pete it is."

Although in the end I think Pete suits him cos he's got a definited tummy roll cos I didn't stuff him very tight!! LoL!!

Pete is soooooo soft and light and will easily squish into a baby bag or toy bag as well as sit up happily on a shelf! I love him. And plan on making lots more pals for him! Felicity already asked for one for the new baby so I'm on an owl mission now! The challenge is finding nice socks that have a contrast toe and heel (the heel makes his coloured "face" and the toe makes his feet), so I've had a bit of fun searching the sock aisles at Target and Big W!! Yay for end of season sales!!

Happy Long Weekend!!

:) C

Hi!! I'm back!!

September seemed to be my Blog-iday (Blog Holiday!!) cos I was just so mountainously busy, and then pooped after our Engagement party so it ended with only 6 posts for September!! Also, I was so tired I hadn't really created much either... but that's gonna change cos the Mojo is back, it's a new month and I can feel the creative juices flowing!! {hurrah!}

So here's a page I did a few weeks ago. Looking back through my album from last year I realised I had hardly scrapped any pics from Will and my trip to Hawaii, and it seemed that we mustn't have enjoyed it cos there were only a few pages scrapped! So I have set about to scrap more of the pics to show what an awesome time we had. I can't wait to go back again next year!! Of course the challenge is always that I have a million pics and I need to find a way to incorporate them all on a single LO so making collages of tiny pics seems to work the best! So these are some of my fave pics from our 2 days at Hanauma bay. The OLD on this page is the title rub on, the bracket rub on, the friendship tab, the stickers, journal rub ons and the glitter I used on the flourish stamp stamped with my new Martha Stewart glue pad (yes Y, it seems to work!!) The BG paper is one of the first I ever bought and I just LOVED it, I'm so glad to have it out of the paper keeper and in my album now, and it conveys how happy, bright and sunny our trip was!!

:) C