OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH.. SNOW!!!!!

Yes that's right kids... SNOW!! It has been almost 10yrs since I've seen snow (how depressing) and then it was in Germany, where you expect it to snow anyways.. but here I was at Kanangra Boyd National Park (between Oberon and Jenolan Caves, NSW) for a picnic with my sis, her husband, baby and some friends and it SNOWED!!

The weather was erratic all day, it was snowing when we arrived, then turned to beautiful warm sunshine which gave us this beautiful view...

..then we got more snow, a little bit of rain, more sunshine and finally more snow!

We were so excited, especially cos one friend is from Canada and for a tiny moment it felt a bit like home for her!!

Can you see the excitement in my face?

Yes I'm sure you can! I dug out my Parker which clearly hasn't seen much use cos it still had a New York City map in the pocket from 2006! {sigh, dreamily looking out window and wishing for another OS trip!}

It was pretty warm while it snowed but the wind got colder later on.. but I loved it!

Thanks for a great weekend F,M,C,C,W!!

:)C

KSK July Sketch

Here's a page I managed to do while watching POTC 3 yesterday (see yesterday's post for movie chat). This page is for the KSK July Sketch challenge, it was a really cute sketch and Yvette recommended I give it a go so here is my effort!
I love these 3 little pics of Cooper {warm fuzzies}, it is so amazing to watch him grow and become more playful. He's such a cutie! I used my fave Thickers too and look an arrow! I love arrows {Grin} I have no idea why but I could use them on every page and be happy. It may stem from my love of travel and geography, and the fact that I'm a world class navigator (when I was in the US in 2006 I remembered exactly the driving directions to a shopping centre in LA I had visited in 2004, so we didn't get lost!) As you can see I hold a wealth of useless crap in my brain, and I was still in my final year of Uni in 2004 so probably should have reserved some brain room for my Microbiology.. oh well. I passed anyway {throws Graduation hat up in the air.... why am I still wearing it?}!
There's my fave Autumn Leaves journalling spot stamp too :) If I'm not using one of Yvette's journalling spots I'm using these ones!
:)C

A Couple of Quickie Boy Cards

Hello!

I'm sitting here watching Pirates of the Carribean 2 while creating a few things at my desk (the main one is a giant mess, as usual...) I watched POTC 1 last week while I was sick and then I really had a hankering to watch 2 & 3 so I rushed out to BigW and bought them (on sale.. hehe!!). I haven't seen POTC 3 yet cos I missed it at the movies so it's down to watch this arvo before work or tomorrow. I love these movies, they're so rich in settings and costumes as well as being funny, entertaining and action packed!

So I've just made 2 quick boy cards for my card box. I hope you like them!

This first one uses one of my favourite clear stamp sets by Wordsworth. I love these stick people! I have the wedding one in the same series, it's so cute! The ribbon along the bottom is die cut along one edge with baby things like a bottle, pram, bib, dummy little feet etc. It's really gorgeous! I got it at Art Stamps (recently moved to Pymble) and used it exactly how I had imagined (along the bottom edge of the card) I love the die cut edge, so pretty! I punched the ribbon hole with my SU double slot punch which is awesome for putting a little ribbon as an accent. An of course, there's one of Fliss's frames (the negative frames from my Nestabilities dies). I have them hanging all around my desk and their scallop edges get caught on everything so I have to use them all up so they're not hanging around anymore!!

This second card uses a Hero Arts stamps (the pram) and the sentiment is from the boy clear set by KI Memories. I coloured the pram in with my blender pens and SU inks (I spent ages this morning drooling over Copics on the net... soon.. yes soon... they will be mine {cue scary music}). The cute little "button" brads are by Making Memories and the scallop oval is a Marvy punch. Do I have to reference my Scallop Nestabilities or are you all over them now?!

:)

C

KWerner inspired cards

Did you follow the kwerner link in the my last post (I gave her the arte y pico award), well anyway, she has a wonderful graphic style that I do love to replicate (attempt to anyway!!)

I made these 2 cards after seeing her post with a congratulations card using similar letter stamps to these. I loved her card and seeing as my card box is totally out of baby boy cards I whipped up these 2 "same layout different cards" cards :) These alphabet stamps are clear stamps by KI Memories and look exactly like their stickers {love!!}.

I love the little car on the first one.. oh so cute! I was watching a show about Jack Brabham while I made it, so that fit quite nicely!! (Do you all know who he is?! If not, go get into Motor Racing ppl!! Although he raced about 60yrs ago. These days all I have to say is "Go Lowndes!")

And this second card is using the gorgeous Lion from SU's Wild About You set.

I'm glad to have some different looking cards in my box, these are certainly a more 'graphic' style to my normal cards, YAY! I don't really like the paper on the lion one that much, but at least I'm using it up and I don't have to see it everytime I go through my scraps :) {woo hoo!}

Happy Wednesday!!

:)C

P.S. I am eagerly awaiting my SU mini Catalogue order (Yes, I managed to hold out this long to preorder!!) so hopefully I'll get to play with it sometime in the next few days! I dont have OT Thurs/Fri so "LETS PLAY!!"

Awarded :)

I got an award, Yay! I somehow feel like I'm in 3rd Class at Westlawn Primary and Mr Dransfield is about to hand me my little square card saying "Excellence Award".... {humming the tune to "Memories... like the corners of my mind..."}.

I think it may be a conspiracy though, it was given to me by my sister Yvette, scrapper and blogger extrordinare, although I claim to have no knowledge of insider trading on my part.

Anywho.. it's the Arte Y Pico award, so here goes...

The Arte Y Pico is awarded to blogs that you consider deserving due to their creativity, design, interesting material and for their contributions to the blogging community. If you receive the Arte Y Pico you in turn bestow it on five blogs.

Arte Y Pico Rules:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each awardee has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award: http://arteypico.blogspot.com/

5. Display these rules.

So I am nominating...

Amy Rysavy cos I love her card making style, I find her very inspiring with her designs, I get ideas from her all the time and she makes me want to be a better colour-er :)

Bakerella cos you know she's my new favourite Blogger! I am so inspired to bake now! What a champion of the sweet kitchen she is and I know I can learn so much about cupcakes from her!

kwerner cos she is so inspiring with her colour challenges every week and I love seeing her "graphic" style and love giving it a go myself!

Mardi cos I get lots of ideas off her when I'm stuck, esp with photo placement. I like get inspiration from her pages so that I can break out of my graphic mould (on those rare occasions when I do).

Jennifer Pebbles cos I love how she writes, she makes me laugh :) but I wish she would post more often.. I need more, more!! I love her style too, I think I could make it my own :)

Of course, I would have added Yvette in here too but she gave the award to me and I ain't no Indian giver... anyway... you all know I love her work and not just cos we're related.

Ok, thats all!

It's 1:30am now so I'm off to bed.. and hopefully will get over this damn chest infection soon too.

:)C

Pink Free Week is Officially over!

That's right people, I survived Pink Free Week (PFW)! I managed 4 scrapbook pages and 6 cards with no pink! What an effort! {happy dance}. I didn't realise just how many of my papers have a little bit of pink on them until I began PFW. Whoa! It was challenging! So here are the last few cards for PFW:

The first is using my new October Afternoon Owl stamps {quietly hugging these stamps}. I LOVE them. So cute! These 2 owls look so sweet together :) I'll stamp the "whooo loves you" sentiment on the inside too cos it's for my parents (hope they're not reading this).

This second card is using SEI papers that I got in a pack of 24 for $12 from the Darling Harbour Craft Show. I bought them really quickly (as you do at shows) and thought "oh yeah, I could use most of them".. well when I got them home and actually looked at them I loved them all! This is the reverse side of one I thought I would use first, when I looked at the back side I loved it even more! It was such a bargain. I used one of Fliss's frames (the negative left from the nestabilities- called Fliss's frame cos my sister Felicity loves to use this part probably more than the actual piece you cut out!) and mounted the cupcake directly on the PP. The paper looks so pretty coming through the frame. The Cupcake is by Hero Arts as is the Birthday Saying.

And here is the last page from PFW. Ok... the title letters look a little pink but they are very much like SU's Rose Red which means they're red so I'm not cheating (give me a break, it's the last day!!).

I love these pics of Will and I getting ready to go out to the city. Will is so cheeky! He grabbed my sunnies and kept pulling faces. What a cutie! This paper is by SEI also and notice I've used my 2 fave things at the moment- Lace cardstock and thickers! I think the nestabilities should be added to my fave things list too cos I LOVE them too :)

Hope you're having a good weekend! I'm still not over my flu so am feeling rather sorry for myself. Maybe I can get inspired and create some more. And now that PFW is over.... where's my pink.........?!

:) C

Lizzie Anne Designs Birthday Challenge!

Here is a gorgeous little card I made for the Lizzie Anne Designs Birthday Challenge.

You had to use at least 75% LAD stamps and it just so happened that I managed to find 2 LAD stamps at the Darling Harbour Craft Show back in June! And aren't they just gorgeous! I haven't seen LAD stamps anywhere else in Australia but I'd love to get some more. So happy for the internet!! The little Ballerina is just SO cute :) and I love a pink and green combo. (If you're wondering how come I used pink... my Pink Free Week ended on Thurs.. HA!)

:)C

Cupcake Diva

This lady "Bakerella" is totally going to become my mentor now. I am just STUNNED by her amazing baking, and you all know how much I love baking cupcakes (see "She Bakes The Cakes" layout from a few posts ago) and Bakerella is the QUEEN of baking!

How gorgeous are these little "Cupcake Pops" that Bakerella invented! Oohh... I want them right now!!

All the instructions for making them are on her blog as well as recipes for heaps of other delicious goodies. Go there! They're amazing! I want to rush out now and buy the lollypop sticks so I can make ASAP :)

She does other cupcakes too, not just the Cupcake Pops, I recommend checking her out just for some inspiration! I'm even inspired to scrap using some of these delicious colours and textures that she's used in the cupcakes!
Now where are my cupcake stamps....

:) C

July Sketch Challenge

Hello y'all!

Here is my page for July's Sketch Challenge over at Anna's Craft Cupboard. It's about how Will always turns up for our dates in Boardies, his scuffed old shoes (that he insists have another 5yrs of life left) and ALWAYS with his work ID around his neck. Even here for my birthday dinner! Sometimes he wont even have been to work that day and he still puts on his work ID to go somewhere.

This is also my 35th page for the year so far which is so good for me cos last year I only did 36 for the whole year!! {Cheering and punching the air}. It means I am also 6 pages ahead for my "one page a week" goal :) but I have no more inspiring photos printed to scrap so I have to sit down and go through some more on my computer and get them printed before I lose my Mojo!

:) C

No Pink Cards- even with Bella!

Yay, I'm still on the "No Pink" bandwagon {smiles}, and yesterday's page together with today's cards aren't even boy related so I haven't cheated!

I'm home sick from work today with the beginnings of the flu. When I'm sick I always have these grand plans that I will make heaps of cards and pages cos I have a whole day at home. The actuality is that I spend most of my day in a flu-induced daze, aimlessly wandering around the house wondering what I'm supposed to be doing with myself. I actually got off to a good start today, making 3 cards before the flu-induced stupor kicked in. Now I'm useless. I really want to just lay on the lounge and watch TV but that seems such a waste...

Anywho, I managed these cards before I turned into a zombie so I hope you like them!

The first 2 are made with my favourite Bella stamps and the beautiful Baroque Style paper is by American Crafts. This Nestabilities die is my fave size for cards cos you still get to see a good bit of background paper, but it's just a little short for the white piece with bella on it. (Bella just fits if you stamp her straight onto the scallop piece but I wanted it as a matt). So I cut the black scallop rectangle right under where the ribbon is, stuck the 2 pieces down about 5mm apart and covered the gap with the spotty ribbon. Very very sneaky ;) You can't tell I've cut it at all! BTW the Bella in the second card is wearing a "Ruby Red" top, just in case you think it's a little pink.. it's not!

The last card is made with my new October Afternoon Owl stamps from AMLT. I have been wanting owl stamps for ages, yes I know they're hot right now and I'm just jumping on the band wagon, but it's a great wagon to be on cos they are sooo beautiful! The sentiment is by Hero Arts and I picked it up for $2 at Art Stamps when I popped in the other day before they moved away from near me {sobs} and cos I knew my owl stamps were on their way I was so excited! I stamped this little guy on patterned paper then cut him out and mounted him on foam tape so he sits up above the branch. The "ribbon" I have had for ages, it just came from a crap shop (AKA 'el cheapo' store, Hot Dollar etc) but it fit so good here with the owl! The paper is Heidi Grace from Big W- the pack of 24 papers was on special for $5 on the weekend (down from almost $14!!) so although I didn't need more papers I had to buy it. And look... I've used it already! {Clapping hands}

Well, back to the desk to see if any more creativity can flow through me, I hope so anyway!

:) C

Nancy Drew & The Case of the Missing White Pen

----Edited to add picture of the offending page at the end of this post-----

Please tell me you sympathise with me... PLEASE {on knees begging} so that I don't seem like the only person on the planet for which this happens (rather too regularly).
Blame lays with:
1. Me- for having a ridiculously messy desk that allegedly has a "system" known only to me and the most intelligent minds at NASA.
2. The White Pen- for sneakily being able to hide in numerous places and avoid discovery while building up my blood pressure.
So the story starts here: I am happily scrapping a page with new products Yvette and I ordered from A Million Little Things {happy} when I remember my printer is out of ink. Annoying, yes. A couple of hours later I do my grocery shopping at Woolworths with the vain hope I will remember to buy ink, cos they sell it right? Who knows, cos I forgot to look anyhow, so may never know the answer to that question. So, still no ink. I soldier on with my page though, thinking that my white pen will write so nicely on the green Nestabilities rectangle I have dedicated to the task of Journalling Spot. I go to my pencil case... hmmm.. no white pen. I have a quick search of the immediate surrounding area on desk... hmmm.. no white pen. I pick up papers, rearrange ribbons, sort out the scraps on my desk, go through my SU box of tools, go through my cube of embellishments, crawl under desk and check behind sewing machine {getting more frantic}, search bags of stuff I took to Felicity's on Friday {mental note, put stuff away}, search top of shelves, search beside desk {joy! There's my foam stamps I was missing} ... hmmm... no white pen. Thoroughly annoyed at white pen, I go through everything on top of my desk for a second time actually putting stuff away this time{annoyed at white pen for making me do mundane tasks like clean up}... hmmm.. still no white pen and a VERY annoyed me!! I settle for writing on green Journalling Spot with a black pen. Granted it's finer than the white pen so I could fit more journalling in, but its stands out so much less {slight sad face} but it's ok. Right... time for the title.. reach for my cube of embellishments.... WHATS THIS??? IT'S WHITE PEN.... SITTING RIGHT ON TOP!!!! I picked up white pen, called it a BUM in my most sternest voice and threw it {disgusted} onto my desk to be missing again when I need it the next time. Stupid pen. I swear I looked through the cube too, how on earth did it end up right on top? Grrr {face of an angry bear}. Anywho... thats the frustration for this evening!
So....How was your night? Lol!
I'll post the page tomorrow so you can see what caused my frustration, I'd probably take a crap picture this time of night and in my "stupid white pen mood"!
Case Closed.
:) C

Ok, I've slept off my disgust and annoyance with White Pen, so here is the pic of the page that I promised! See the offending green Journalling Spot with it's black pen {grrr... oops, letting anger slip back in just a little!} I do still like the page though, and Yvette, you should be proud cos I've used a sheet of paper and Cardstock stickers that I got from AMLT so that means I had them for less than a day! {Cheering loudly!!}

It's a page on the FANTASTIC {heart glowing with warmth} bakery in our home town of Grafton. These guys make the BEST Chocolate Eclairs and pies in the whole universe. I talk about them all the time so was adamant that I had to take Will there when we visited, and I wasn't disappointed cos he loved their food just as much as us! And we ate our Hanks 'Booty' down by the river where we used to meet Dad for a Hanks lunch when we were growing up. So sentimental!

:) C

Cowboy Cute (naturally, no pink!)

I don't think it's cheating to do pages on themes that I wouldn't normally use pink for! Do you? Lol. Ok, maybe it is slightly taking the easy way out.. I'll try to challenge myself a bit more!
Anyway, here is gorgeous little Cooper at 8 weeks old.. still so small and with cute faces! The background paper is more orange IRL, it didn't photograph too well here.
I love the green lace cardstock numbers; lace cardstocks are sooo pretty and are making my scrappin a little more interesting! I love it when new products come out but I do tend to flood all my pages with them! Then when you look back through my album you can see all the "phases" I've been through! Metal, eyelets, vellum, ribbon, chipboard, rub ons etc..{groaning at some of the styles!}!! Currently it's thickers and lace cardstock :)
Hope you're having a great weekend!
:) C

Pink Free!! {EEK!}

I SOLEMNLY DECLARE THAT I WILL NOT USE PINK THIS WEEK!!!
I DECLARE THIS WEEK TO BE "PINK FREE" FOR ME!!

Oh no! What have I done? Remember a couple of posts back I said I would try to not use so much pink? Well I'm making this declaration so I stick to my promises! For the next week I will not be using pink, not in my cards or my scrapping. I will try to not even let a little bit sneak in... {but you know how sometimes there is just the tiniest bit of pink on papers... its gonna be hard!!} But I will try :)
So... here are my first efforts in the Pink Free week:
Alicia (my sis) has been invited for the past 2 years onto the Bond's Ferry for the annual Australia Day Ferry Race on Sydney Harbour and she has generously taken me along {hugs}! We have had the most AWESOME time both years, it's just a fun filled day and the atmosphere on the harbour is spectacular!! There are soooo many boats following in the 4 ferrie's wakes and we are singing, dancing, cheering and enjoying ourselves as we race around! I LOVE it! I have never really done much in the way of patriotic stuff on Australia Day (usually just BBQ's) so it's awesome to feel some National Pride :)
And of course, NO PINK!! {Woo Hoo!}
And a card too! NO PINK!! I love tree and bird stuff at the moment so when I found this Hero Arts Stamp at Art Stamps for $6 I was cheering! It is totally stuck on the block at a massive angle compared to the image on the block though, which is totally frustrating. I guess that's the bonus of mounting your own with SU, you mount them exactly how you want them! It makes beautiful cards though (once I worked out the correct angle to stamp it!)
I hope you like them! I will continue in my efforts to maintain a PINK FREE WEEK!
:)C