Butterflies galore....

I love butterflies.... I have so many different butterfly stamps but couldn't resist just one more!!!!  Hero Arts Antique Engravings was just in at Stamp'n'create...so I had to have it!!!!  I had resisted for a while... but the urge was too great.... so now it's here and I've used it a couple of times...  While at the store, they also had some new papers.... now I'm NOT a scrapbooker... but I just don't seem to be able to resist lovely papers either.  They had just received some lovely Websters Pages and this one really took my fancy.

It is a lovely pale green background.  I thought that it would be useful on cards as each of the four corners could be used....  so when I saw Our Creative Corner challenge was Beautiful butterflies I knew exactly what I wanted to do..... and here is the result.

 

 I used the left hand corner of the paper and cut it slightly smaller than the card base.  I rubbed Walnut stain distress ink around it and used my fingernail to distress it further.  I stamped the butterfly from the Antique Engravings set onto the pp directly and then onto a the piece I'd sliced of the side ( I cut the pp into  6 x 6 pieces).  I coloured it with some aqua crayons and then added to the card.  I used a glue got on the body and a pop dot under the wings to give some dimension.  My main focus though was the awesome paper and the words in the corner....  

Now off to enjoy the lovely autumnal weather we are having.  Still round 20 degrees Celsius - but cooler in the mornings and evenings..... still to be sitting outside in shorts and a tee shirt, mid April is great.  

PS - thought I'd pop this picture in as well.  The pine trees behind our house are dropping their cones at the moment and I can across this one today.  Love that it looks like a rose...

thanks for stopping by.  Take care and enjoy your Sunday.

Saturday stamping, Sunday strawberry picking....

 Yesterday I finally managed to catch up with some stamping buddies for a day of stamping.... I have missed a number of their get togethers because of a variety of reasons, but yesterday I was available and stamping was on at Lei's place. Here some of the lovely ladies are - Lei and Jackie, Helen and Glenda.... Sandie and Janet were there as well, but evaded the photos.... We had a fabulous day, lots of talking, eating and of course stamping.  All this despite the temperature soaring to the high 20's.  It was HOT....
I managed to get two cards and two book-marks done, and coloured in two "Ian" images I had.

 

I have been having fun with the Pure Innocence images that I got from Heather Ellis's site.  So cute and fun to colour.  I love the digi images as you can resize to what ever you want.  

Friday I bought two more Hero Art stamps... Silhouette Burst and Silhouette Spray.  They both tie with the Dandelion Frame.  I used part of the frame and the Silhouette Burst on the first book-mark.  Very pleased with the result so will be making a card with similar colours.  The second book-mark was made with Distress inks rubbed over the cardstock to make the lovely orange background.  I stamped the butterflies and sentiment with Versafine Sepia ink.   My Purple card is for Anne-Maree at work, she LOVES purple, wearing it just about everyday!!!!  I used the Hero Arts Friends Definition Cling to make the background paper which I tore and distressed in Dusty Concord.  I then stamped both the Burst and Spray onto it.  Finished them off with a gem ( coloured with Copic to get the right colour) and the Happy Birthday. 

Finally my Pure Innocence card was nice and quick to make.  In my stash I had the background Paper ( no idea where I got it or what make it is!!!) but it tied nicely into the colours I had used.  The sentiment is by Stampin'Up.  I borrowed it from Helen.

Our day finished around 4.00pm and it was still very HOT!! so when I got home, I quickly unpacked my stuff, put on the togs ( swim suit) and headed to the beach.  It is 5 minutes walk from home... and had a quick dip...the water was so warm.  This was my first swim this summer.... it's been too cool up till now.  Just magic...  Finished the night by going out to an Indian restaurant with some friends... Fabulous Day.

Today was not such a nice day,... still warm but overcast at times and raining at others.  However we had decided to go Strawberry picking.  One of the strawberry farms near us ( about 20 minutes drive away) has a yearly day when you can pick your own ($7 a kilo) and all the funds go to the North Shore Hospice.  Of course as soon as we started picking it starting to spit and then rained.... not too heavy but enough to get a wet tee-shirt.... Hubby and I picked just over 3 kgs.... so tomorrow am going to make jam.  We had some of the better ones for our dessert tonight... so tasty and fresh.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday walk and Inspiration from my garden...

This past weekend, Auckland has had some wonderful weather.... so after a lie in on Sunday, reading the morning paper.... Hubby and I decided to go for a walk.... that we ended up at the coffee shop was just coincidental!!! ..... It was warm but not too sunny.  Normally when I go out for a walk I wear my trainers and stride off... leaving him dawdling along behind... but yesterday I decided to wear the jandals and saunter along with him.  Very pleasant I tell you.  I took the camera along with me as I wanted to gets some flower photos.   I adore taking photos close up of wonderful coloured flowers.  Didn't see too many flowers but captured a series of photos of the walk.  We went right from our place down to Murrays Bay - the bay with the wharf on it... and then walked along the pipeline to Mairangi Bay.  After the coffee and a scone we back-tracked and headed home.   Such a nice way to spend some time together.

Back home I did get a great photo of a flower in the garden.  It is such a vibrant colour combination that it inspired me to make this card.  I had watched Dawn McVey's video the other week, showing how to make the flowers and the colours of the real flower decided me to give it ago.  A while back Lucy had made some text background that she sent to me, so this was my base - I used the nestie to cute out the 5 scallops needed, sponged the Dusty Concord ink over the back and the edges and followed Dawn's instructions.... found the perfect yellow button for the middle... The design is one I used last year - makes a lovely card, using one of my favourite HA Stamps...

Yesterday afternoon I also managed to make the Anniversary card for hubby for our 32nd anniversary on Thursday... had to be a bit sneaky as he was smooching around... I sent him outside with the travel brochures to look for hotels and sightseeing trips for our overseas holiday and that kept him occupied for most of the afternoon.  This is what I came up with  - inside it says " May our life journey together never end... all my love"    I think he will like it...
Thanks for stopping by.... hope your weekend was as happy and fun as mine.  Take care

What's the best way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.....

but to do some crafting.  My little friend, Katie ( almost 13) is going to Japan at the end of the month for 9 days and has to take a photo album showing a bit about her life here in NZ.  A few weeks back she came over to use some of my papers, stamps, flowers etc to get her started doing 6 x 6 scrapbook for her photos and today I had her come round to do some more.  She is very talented and has quite an eye for it.   So her and I sat at the table and crafted all afternoon.  I had the opportunity to get to work on my 10 ATC's for Hero Arts Swap.   I got quite a bit of them done and Katie almost finished her album.  Only 2 more pages to go, which she will do at home with some of the papers and bits that I sent her home with.  I also gave her the ATC I did yesterday as it seems appropriate  - One of the Japanese Doll set.  She can give it to her host "sister".
I stamped the HA Design Block - Dots and Flowers in Pansy Impress ink onto the purple card stock.  I stamped the doll onto a scrap of white cardstock using Kathy's tip no 2 ( here) - using a stamp positioner and stamping twice to get a super clear and clean image. I'm loving my aqua crayons - and used them to colour in the image ( including putting a bit of eyeshadow on).  I added a single pearl on the obi, added the sentiment and the ribbon.
So all in all, a lovely way to spend a wet and miserable day doing something fun and creative.
Thanks for stopping by.

Week one completed

Well I've been blogging for a week now. It's been a good week. Hubby is feeling better and the rest of the family are well. We are enjoying a late summer with nice weather the last few days. Emma (my daughter) came round for dinner and to pick up a few cards and some of my craft supplies for a project she is working on.

I finished off my Easter card - will photo and post tomorrow. And managed a couple of note cards. One of my new stamps was a Penny Black saying which I have over stamped on a photo of some gerberas, The photo was taken from Microsoft Clip Art.

I did this one with a red matt and the other one was a green matt on a cream card.

PS. Decided that this card will be great to enter in Dawn McVeys' colour challenge so have updated this post.