So proud

We are very proud of our oldest daughter Lauren who graduated today with a Bachelor of Science degree. It has been three long years of study but today made that all worthwhile. Well done Lauren! She now wants to go on and do her masters in physiotherapy.
To clear up any confusion (as per my discussion on Sunday when some dear friends and I had our Christmas lunch) Bachelor degrees - no hat, Masters - mortar board, Doctorate - a bonnet with red trim.

Feeling Krafty

I love the colour combo of kraft (crumb cake) and cherry cobbler. This card came together very quickly, with the help of a new stamp set Fabulous Florets and leaves from Paper trey ink.

The casing of Judy May

Judy made a beautiful card here, it was so stunning I just had to have a go at making one myself.
I have varied mine slightly by not having the sentiment on the bottom of the card
I was so happy with it that I just had to make more.
I substituted glitter paper with shimmery ones for this card.

Toolangi Castella festival

Last weekend was the Toolangi Castella festival, which started with a BBQ and a band playing and then the moonlight cinema. The film was Avatar and it was played outside on the local oval surrounded by bushland, which really couldn't have been a better setting. The day had been very warm. So as the sun went down, it cooled considerably and coats or blankets were the order of the day as well as the obligatory insect repellent.

Many months of planning and organising went in to make this such a successful event, it is part of my job to help with these community activities. Volunteers arrived on the Saturday to help erect all the marquees, man the BBQ, erect the stage and direct traffic and car parking. These types of local events, on very meagre budgets would never run without the enthusiastic help offered by such generous people.

The following day all the activities followed, there was the reptile tent where you could get up close and personal with snakes and crocs (not my cup of tea). The bush babies were a great draw for children and adults alike, with lots of aahhhh moments. The adorable little ( I say little, because he was only a few months old but weighed 20kgs) wombat, who was lapping up all the attention. The Toolangi Castella Youth Group had a great stall and were running apple bobbing, eating doughnuts on a string in the air with your hands behind your back, estimating the jelly beans in a jar games, lucky dip etc. There was a tethered hot air balloon, entertainment going on all day, dancing, singing, a velcro wall for those energetic souls who wish to don a non flattering suit and jump as high as they can and stick to the wall and jumping castles for the smaller adventurers. A horse drawn cart with seating brought festival goes from the assigned parking to the reserve as well as a small minivan for those who wanted to get to the action sooner. There were free massage sessions on offer all day as well as an array of craft stalls. I had my little card stall, selling cards (what else), gift bags, tags, bottle tags, decorated food bags etc. I had prepared a sampling of all my wares, to tempt passers by, in an orange and pink theme (pumpkin pie and rose red to my SU buddies). A friend had very kingly loaned me her pillow box die and scalloped envelope die ( which I used to make the sweet/lolly boxes), the pendant boxes I made from my own template. The weather was very kind to us on the day ( it had been raining for weeks prior) and only started to drizzle as the festival was winding down at 4pm and the raffle was being drawn. There were twenty fab prizes, including a bike, a weekend stay, cases of wine, meals at wineries, tickets to an event of your choice at Rochford winery, tickets to the Australian Ballet, hampers from delis and farms, I could go on and on, but I will spare you. I didn't win anything, (but then again I never do, I am a very unlucky person in that regard) but I knew plenty of those who did.

I sold many cards and a few bags and even some of my demo items from the tree. All in all it was a great weekend. I was completely pooped in the evening though, after moving tables and chairs, erecting and dismantling marquees and tiding up the oval, this lady was ready for her bed by 9.30pm.

Who's for wine?

Here are just a couple of the wine bottle tags I have been making for Christmas. I cut them on my trusty silhoutte. The ornament is also a silhoutte design. I have also been having fun making the rosettes, I have a die for these but have downloaded another design for one from the silhoutte library (much cheaper than the die)!! The rosettes are a great way of using up scraps of leftover DSP.

Birthday Card

Hi, long time no post! What's new I hear you cry. Sorry I am such a bad blogger.

I have a picture of a card a made recently for my good friend Judy's birthday. I can't take credit for the design which I copied( I varied it just a little) from Card Making and Papercrafts magazine. Judy's card benefitted from a trial run I had last month making it for another friend's birthday. I made sure this had no ends of paper showing and the table legs turned out a lot better this time too. I really love the design though and it wasn't nearly as fiddly as I had anticipated.

Here is something I made earlier.

Too long ago (we must do it again), my friends came for a stamp over, much laughter, food consumption ( chocolate, obviously) and to be honest very little creating, ensued! Christine however was very busy getting her convention swaps ready, punching up a storm and kindly bequeathed me all the bits she punched but didn't need, saying " I know you will make something with these". Well here they are. Flowers!
I have cased one of the cards in the new catalogue (page 10), sadly I didn't have all the items used because they are not available yet so I improvised with my trusty Papertrey Ink supplies.
With the addition of a few punches of my own, I came up with five flowers.

Doesn't the centre of the one above remind you of a Rowntrees pastille? These are new from Kaisercraft and come in a range of colours.
This last flower is my favourite, however it is a bit big for a card so I will have to save it for a scrapbook page. Dashing off to work now although I would rather be in my craft room, ahh, such is life, we do need to eat after all!

Sketch challenge

Decided to have a go at this sketch challenge from "Lets capture these sketches"

Loving my new silhouette, I cut the title, leaf flourishes and the doilies. The colours are typically bright and cheerful which you know I love. I wanted to capture the fun these two girls always have when they get together. They often end up giggling uncontrollably with their antics and the decibels go up considerably. You're only young once so you may as well enjoy it!

My first silhouette layout

This layout was scheduled to appear yesterday morning, but Mr Blogger decided he had other plans and it seems to have disappeared into the ether.

I thought this title I purchased online from Silhouette was just right for these wacky pictures of Holly, she has this thing about taking photos of herself making silly faces, her friends seem to do it too. Personally I find it quite strange but then unfortunately ( or maybe it should be fortunately, I don't fancy doing the school thing again) I am not 14 and don't quite get it! I wonder what she will think when she looks back on them in years to come.

The June and 2011 are from Kerri Bradford

You're amazed aren't you?

A new post finally!!!! Don't have much of an excuse other than work has been busy and I have been occupied with other things. I have however been scouring the internet for a bargain price Silhoutte SD

and now I have found one on Overstock.com. Great price approx $180 AUS with $56 postage which came by DHL so it was very quick and much cheaper than other sites who were just using the postal service. It came with a $10 download card so I have been busy downloading shapes to cut at 99c a go you can't complain about the price when you do have to pay.

More furry faces

How could you resist this little face? This was the dilemma I faced when we went to visit the Alpaca farm during Alpaca month. Having given his lordship grief when he bought the first batch, here I was wanting more. Well I caved and had to have little "Ronnie" as I have nicknamed him. His real name is Geronimo. He was too young to come on his own so his mother Anaconda (Connie to her friends) came in tow.My only saving grace was I got a better deal than HL, my four (yes, there are more) came to considerably less than his. Ronnie also has a better quality coat than the others we have, so his fleece should elicit a bit more cash on sale.

Here are Ronnie and Connie
This was Holly's choice, real name Guilia but renamed as Gracie.
Joanne (Mum) and Gracie.
Joanne seems to be vying with Evita for the post of herd leader. HL now has trouble telling them apart as we have three adult white females, to be truthful he isn't much better with the babies even though they are vastly different. Holly and I of course know them all.

Better late than never

This is Lauren's 21st and she will be 23 in July so it has taken a while for me to get around to scrapping the photos. It was very quiet affair, Lauren had only recently settled here in Australia after her sojourn to South Africa so didn't have any friends to invite making the evening an intimate family meal. She even made her own cake as she had sought out a recipe while trolling the internet cookery sites. If she is bored,Lauren loves to cook, however she prefers to have her day jam packed with activities and is through choice perpetually on the go thus earning her nickname of Energiser Bunny ( from friends).

Paper - Kaiser party Animals

Ticket die and stamps - Paper Trey ink

Die Cut letters Sizzix - Twang

21 - American Crafts Thickers

Bowl and Yummy Stickers - K and Co

Beautiful memories

This photo is from a series we had taken just before we emigrated to Australia. I wanted some of the girls with my Mum and some of all of us together. I met the photographer through her scrapbooking work on one the the English magazines, she was exhibiting at a craft show and we got talking and she said that she ran a photography studio from her home only half and hour from our house. I booked us in right away and it was her suggestion that we all wore similar colours and I must say she was right it made for some really great shots. At the session, she had us bouncing on space hoppers (remember them from the late 60's), dressing up, wearing hats etc, she even featured Mum ( then 84) on her own blog with a picture of her on said space hopper, all in all it was a very fun day. I have scrapped all of these photos before but put them in an album I made for my Mum and some for myself. However this poor photo has been hanging around for a long while waiting for just the right paper and when Kaiser brought out the Chapter one collection and I knew I had found it.

Leaves and flourishes - Paper Trey ink stamps

Butterfly - Stamping Up

Black flowers - Maya Road ribbon

Epoxy "Laugh" circle - Cloud 9

Family Fun and Remember when - Purchased from K Mart (sorry I don't know the brand name)

Like Mother Like Daughter

Here is a layout featuring me in the black and white photos and Holly in the coloured one, both of us riding donkeys on the same beach but almost 40 years apart. When I was little, my family would often holiday on the Kent coast not that far from our home in Essex. My Nan and Grandad would come too. One of the highlights for me was a donkey ride on Margate beach. Now with the passage of time the roads are so much better that it was a day trip to take Holly there and when I saw the donkeys again it brought back many happy memories. Holly of course wanted to have a ride like her Mum before her.

When you think about it, those poor donkeys must have been bored stiff with the repetitive nature of their day and having to put up with over enthusiastic kids all day long to boot.

Papers: Kaiser - Chapter one collection and American Crafts - City Park range

The furry foursome

It was a usual Saturday, no expectation of anything world shattering about to occur, other than the fact that I was off for the day to do part 2 of my first aid course, and let's be honest that isn't really "up there" in terms of global events . However I was looking forward to it. When I returned home 6 hours later the house was quiet except for my canine reception committee who were very eager to see me. After settling down to a cup of tea and getting lost in the story of my recently purchased Dean Koontz book, my reverie was interrupted by an ebullient daughter bounding in to inform me that her father had just bought four alpacas. Just for an instant, I believed her and then I laughed and said "as if your Dad would do that without discussing it with me" (we always discuss things, so I was pretty confident). However she plowed on with the story of how they picked out the ones she wanted and how we had two females who were pregnant and two more 5 weeks old females. This story was starting to have legs (four of them as it happened) too much detail to be made up, then his lordship finally put in an appearance and confirmed that he had in fact made said purchase.Talk about gobsmacked! When I arose from my metaphorical heap on the floor, I fumed, not at the actual purchase ( they are pretty cute after all) but at the lack of discussion and investigation prior to such a big commitment - monetarily. That said I have come to quite like their little faces peering at me from the paddock, they are so nosey.

The two pregnant females were already named but their 5 week old offspring (wow, they don't get much time to recover do they?) were monikerless. Holly decided in her wisdom to call them Scrambled and Eggs, it is now on their birth certificates so no changing it.
Here is Scrambled
and her Mum Amber.
Here are Mum Evita and Eggs
The little furry foursome altogether.

I dedicate this long post to my friend Christine, because she has complained that my posts are too short. Don't get used to it my friend, it is not a guaranteed trend.

It's arrived

At last, after languishing in customs for over a week, my PTI order is finally in my hot little stickies and I can't wait to use it. I really went to town on the die purchasing, they are so lovely and relatively cheap compared to other brands. I had my stamping buddies come over at the weekend (we did a group order to save on postage) so they had plenty to play with too. They arrived around 10.30am and didn't leave till gone 5pm but what with examining each others purchases, chatting and eating we really didn't seem to make much and before we knew it, it was time for them to leave and go and feed their families.

I am very pleased with how the button dies punch out of the coasters, almost giving the depth of a real button. No worries about sewing these little babies on to your layout or card, the cotton won't pull through.

Choccy Monster

Here is our little guy, happy and smiling after eating chocolate pudding. We are a family of chocoholics, so it was only natural that Josh would follow suit.

The vast majority of the papers and embellishments on this layout are from -the Fine and Dandy collection by My Minds Eye.

Exceptions:

Brown letter stickers: Cosmo Cricket

Heart: Sorry don't know the make it was from a $2 shop

Laughter and So Adored tags - Old SEI

Journalling Tag - Echo Park

Pearls - Kaiser

More inspiration

This time from here. Jackie always creates lovely cards but it was the last one in this post that caught my eye, just a card and stamping nothing extra required, yet so stylish. Quick and easy to make, just stamp, round the corners and it is ready to post off to the lucky recipient.

First card: Large flower - Daisy Bucket, small flower - Basic Grey

Second Card: Large flower - sorry, don't know, Small flower - Technique Tuesday.

Sentiments and the leaf stamp in the second card - Paper Trey Ink

I am Lauren, hear me roar

This was Lauren's first year at school and during the summer they always have a fete and surprisingly for England they usually managed a sunny Saturday most years. This year was no exception and Lauren had a whale of a time and had her face painted. How cute does she look?

The lion punch art was from a template purchased on line from Jo Hope here

The papers are:

Collage Press (repeat pattern red), Daisy D (floral red) and Kaiser craft (floral green).

Shaped green journalling panel - Bo Bunny

Stickers - Bo Bunny

Border punch - Stampin Up

Letter stickers - Cosmo Cricket

CASED

Here is a card that was totally inspired by Chat here. I just loved the blocks of colour behind the image. Chat makes fabulous cards, always clean and simple but so stylish.

Pucker Up buttercup

Here is a rather bright layout of my oldest daughter Lauren when she was 2, playing with her best friend Claire. They were inseparable until they were almost 5, when sadly they went off to different schools. We still met each other regularly and of course as teenagers they kept in touch via the computer.

The flourish stamp is an old one by Collage Press

Glitter letters and heart and alphabet paper(very old) - Doodlebug

Small letter stickers - My little shoebox

Border punch, crochet flowers and shaped journalling panel - Stampin Up

Leaf Die - Sizzix

Year 8 camp

This is half of a double paged layout ( I don't feel I can show the other page because it has clear photos of Holly's friend and I don't have their permission to display them). I wanted you to see it because I just love the image of the boys wave jumping that Holly took, catching them in mid air. She had a great time and her group teacher turned out to be a lot of fun, despite Holly's reservations prior to the trip.

When is a Tea Towel not a Tea Towel?

When it is a flower of course! My dear friend Christine brought me some rather pretty tea towels for my birthday, far to good to be used for drying up so I put them to more artistic use. Using Sizzix dies I created several large and some smaller flowers. They look beautiful, don't they?Watch out for them gracing a card or scrapbook page soon. I have plans for the rest of the tea towel material but will reveal that at a later date.

Leanne's birthday

Another belated birthday blog entry for my dear friend Leanne, her birthday was the 16th March. here is the card and gift bag I made for her.

The "Birthday Girl" was cut on my Cricut. I have used Stampin Up Pear Pizazz and Concorde Crush for my colours. The green polka dot paper, butterflies and white tag dies are Stampin Up, Daisy Die - Sizzix. All stamps - Papertrey Ink.

Mural

As part of my work with the bushfires, I have been helping collect photos from the local residents for a mural to showcase Toolangi and Castella during the fires and the regrowth and regeneration that have occurred since, as well as preparing for the exhibition. On 13th March the mural was unveiled to the community and a exhibition of the photos used to create the finished artwork were displayed. The artist, Janet Hayes has cleverly incorporated many images within the lyrebirds plumage and also blended several together to provide the backdrop. This photo really doesn't do it justice, there are so many things to see that each time you look at it you notice something new. The mural is approx 2.5 metres X 2 metres