It's that paper again

Same paper as before, with Ballet Blue cardstock and a lime green from my stash.

Ingredients
Stamps: Flower stalk, flowers and sentiment - Stampin Up, Swirl and leaves - Hero Arts
Ribbon: Finishing Touch ideas
Scallop Circle punch: Stampin Up
Pearls: Kaisercraft (available from http://www.scrapinthebox.com.au/)

Just love this paper

Isn't this paper gorgeous, it is by Stacy Claire Boyd for EK Success from the Grasshopper Cookie collection. I have had it for a while (boy, that sounds familiar), I just love the colours in it but hadn't quite found the right project to use it, until now.
Firstly I stamped the image on white cardstock and then with a craft knife I cut just the petals out (see other picture). I then went over the stalk and swirls with a fine glue applicator and covered with ultra fine glitter.
Next the image was trimmed and adhered to Ballet Blue cardstock, the petals were watercoloured using the ink from the Ballet Blue ink pad (I slipped a small piece of paper under the petals to avoid getting any colour on the rest of the image) then small foam dots were placed under the petals to raise them and the whole thing was mounted again on a lighter blue (sorry don't know the colour).
I then stamped just the petal part of the image once more and watercoloured it as before. The image was trimmed and then glitter selectively applied. The petals were then applied to the complete image, again using small foam dots.


Ingredients

Stamps: Flower - Stamporium "Wishing you" - Stick and Stamp "Everything" - Stampin Up
Paper: EK Success
Cardstock: Stampin Up

Pocket Silhouttes

I have had the pockets silhouttes stamp set for a while now, but never really got around to using it. There is a remark I would never let my husband see, because obviously I need every set I buy. Here I have teamed it up with one from Hero Arts because the designs are so similar. I was determined to use the Handsome Hunter card stock I had purchased in the Rich Regals combo pack, I keep looking at it and then putting it away again, so I went outside my comfort zone on this one. The lilac paper is from Hot off the Press and the other an old Basic Grey, that was languishing unappreciated in my, it has to be said "enormous" paper collection. It's an addiction. I just can't help buying the stuff, I could scrap from here til doomsday and not run out.

I have used the Elegant Eggplant with this one, the lilac paper is the same as above, the green patterned paper is from Crate.

Delicious

Just discovered the delights of this chocolate. Previously, I was a milk choc only girl, but this has converted me. Give it a go, you won't be disappointed. Not one to be called a quitter where chocolate testing is concerned, I felt that perhaps I had misjudged this sector of the market, so embarked on a voyage of discovery, especially as Coles had some cheap offers on at the moment. Having tried the Lindt 70% and 85% cocoa and a couple of others ( I am nothing if not diligent in my investigations), in my humble opinion they aren't a patch on this one. And yes, I will be bringing this along to the stamp club next month Girls, so you can try it then.

The big top is down and it is on it's way

This is my final Circle Circus offering before I return the stamp set this week. A rather bold and bright little number, I am sure you will agree. I took the colours and the daisy theme from the clothes my daughter is wearing. At her old junior school, they had a summer fete every year and the kids all dressed up and performed songs, a play and sometimes dancing for the parents. This year was a hippy theme. I stamped the images onto green cards stock in a dark pink ink, punched them out and then topped them with a circle frame (cut with cuttlebug dies). The background on the pink paper was stamped with a large flourish stamp using a multicolour ink pad.

Ingredients
Paper: Bo Bunny
Dies: Daisy - Sizzix, Mini Letters - Sizzix, Circle frames - Cuttlebug
Chipboard Letters: Heidi Swapp
Letter Stickers: My little shoebox (available from http://www.scrapinthebox.com.au/)
Stamps: Butterfly - Basic Grey ( also from Scrap in the box) Flourish - Stampin Up Baroque Motifs set

A couple of photos to share

These winter mornings have been bringing with them some fantastic misty views from our property, looking down the valley towards Healesville. It looks kind of mysterious and magical. or is that just the little girl in me?

I took this photo in the Autumn, the leaves on the trees in the bush were brown and burnt from the fires but when the setting sun hit them, they turned this glorious red colour. It only lasted a matter of minutes and it took a couple of attempts to be outside just at the right time to capture it. It is hard to see from this photo but if you look up to the left hand side and follow the fence line up to the trees, just before the bush starts, is a rickety old seat, it was rotten when we moved here 2 and a bit years ago but we have never bothered to do anything with it, but incredibly it survived the blaze, not so the big dead tree that you can see on the very far left hand side. It had been dead for ages and then the fires came and it was burnt but it still refused to give up, Kevin got up one morning after a particularly windy night and looked outside and remarked how he couldn't believe that old tree was still standing. Famous last words, before he had even stepped two metres away from the window there was an almighty crash and down it came.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

Well, we've been and gone and done it now. We've become Australian. The three of us made the pledge last night along with 67 others. To start with there was a guy singing traditional Australian songs, he invited some people up to play other instruments to accompany him. Our daughter thrust her hand in the air and was picked to play the spoons ( not to successfully, I might add). There was an introduction by a local Councillor, a Welcome to Country by a Wurundjeri Elder, the Mayor introduced himself and in groups of 10, future citizens were called out to recite the pledge under the guidance of the Mayor. We were each given a certificate proving our new status, along with a book of your choice, a native plant and a gum leaf was presented by the Elder. We took along our oldest friends from our new country, who had been very welcoming when we first arrived and Holly started school, they befriended us at the first school BBQ and have been very helpful in introducing us to the delights of the area, advising us on how things work out here and diciphering some of the lingo ( the most recent being "Bogan"). You may ask, why only the three of you? What happened to your eldest daughter? Well due to her travels to Africa, she hasn't resided in Australia long enough to qualify. She bemoaned her state as the only Pom in the house now!! (Please excuse the photos, there was a very unflattering green light above us)

Still rolling - Bored yet?

Ingredients

Card: Kiwi Kiss
Stamps: Circle Circus and Cheep Talk
Paper: Bella Rose DSP
Punches: Small Tag and Scallop Circle
Ribbon: Choc Chip taffeta


This time I stamped the same image three times, on different coloured card/paper, then cut each image progressively smaller and layered it up to give the flower dimension.

It just keeps on rolling

Very taken with this teal colour. For this card I marked a one inch grid and used my stamp-a- ma- jig to position the stamps exactly. Judy will love it.

Ingredients

Card: Taken with Teal

Paper: Bella Rose

Ribbon: Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain

Punches: Eyelet Border and Scallop Circle

Christmas Circus

This time, I have stamped and embossed in white and highlighted with glitter.

Ingredients

Card: Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red - Stamping Up
Ribbon: Riding Hood Red- Stampin Up

Fir Stamp: Hero Arts

Sentiment Stamp: PSX

The Circle Circus rolls into town

A good friend of mine has very kindly lent me her Circle Circus, Stampin Up set to have a play with. It is actually quite versatile and I have been experimenting with different ways of using it, some successful, some not so. Stop laughing, you lot!! You know who you are.
This card uses the Haiku DSP and the leaves are from the Embrace Life set. All from Stampin Up.

Graduation

One of Holly's friends asked if I would do a scrapbook page of her graduation from year 6. My current favourite stamping set is "a rose is a rose" from Stampin Up and I took my theme from the flowers she is holding.

Ingredients

Paper: Slumber party speciality S.U.

Stamps: Roses - S.U. Build a frame and butterfly - Prima. Swirl - Hero Arts. Journalling tag - Grant Archival by Christine Re

It's a girl

Well my neighbour had her baby on Tuesday evening and it is a girl. They have called her Abigail. Haven't seen her yet as she won't be home till next week.
In the meantime my cousin's daughter who lives in Qld has also just has a little girl called Anaya. Have seen a photo of her and she is beautiful. This is the card I did for the family to congratulate them on their new addition.

Ingredients
Paper: S.U. Sweet Nothings DSP
Stamps: Stampin Up, Do Crafts
Ribbon: Stampin Up Riding Hood Red
Scallop Punch: Stampin Up

Sunday's offerings

Saw this from my driveway on Sunday morning. Wow, I bet they were cold up there!! We often see one or two but I have never seen four together.

The layout "We are family" were old photos from about 16/17 years ago, when we lived in England and the children were small, the little baby boy is our darling son Joshua, who died when he was 5 from cancer. Not a day goes by that we don't think of him and how our lives would be if he were still with us.

Ingredients
Paper, journalling etc: Bo Bunny
Chipboard Family: $2 shop
Letter stickers: Large -Basic grey, Small-unknown
Border punch: Christine Re

The other layout is of our oldest daughter Lauren, when she was around four, with her cousin Matthew, who recently came to visit us from England (he is now 29) so just a bit bigger than in the photo. Isn't the paper gorgeous? Note the "lovely" gold curtains in the background, they were my Mum's, I know, what on earth possessed her!!
Ingredients
Paper: Hot of the press
Flowers: Prima
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Punches: Leone Em

Well that is all I did this Sunday, oh apart from buying and planting some new fruit trees. Nectarine, orange, lime, avocado and peach.