More Saturday stamping....

Tonight I want to share two more of the cards I made on Saturday.   I don't have a certain style, preferring just to make what feels good.  I have lots and lots of stamps.... I can help myself buying new ones.  At present I probably have about 5 stamps I haven't even inked up yet!!!!!  But one new set I got last week had an outing.

This set is from Pure Innocence and is called " Being Cute is What I Do…"  I stamped it on water card stock and used Copics to colour her hair and face and then stamped the image again onto dotted PP and black paper and pieced the pieces.  The dotted paper was blue dots, but I used a Tombow marker to change the colour to tie in with the flower centre.  The PP I used were from My Grafico - a free set that I got awhile ago.  I printed out the four colours onto one A4 sheet and then trimmed them.  I saw a neat technique on Gina K's Stamp TV that showed how to make a faux corner fold.  I had to add a piece of PP down the front, as I wasn't concentrating while I was using my Scor-pal to fold it.... I finished it off with a sentiment by Hero Arts.

I have just realised that 6 out of the 7 cards I made on Saturday had at least one Hero Arts stamp on it.... They are great stamps and are my favourites.  I'd say around 80% of stamps are by Hero Arts .

My next share is definitely a Hero Arts card..... I purchased the Wish You Were Here set on Saturday as I have wanted a chair stamp for some time.  And it was the last set in store....

I used some of the left over PP from the earlier card and stamped the Envelope pattern over it and then the chair stamp.  I cut out the chair and layered it onto a circle I had with me, cut out of a paint chip. I then layered that onto an other piece of the PP.  Then I added to  the pink card and the white card base.  I used a Spellbinders tag to cut out the sentiment and the added some distress ink to soften the look.  I finished off by adding some pearls to the chair back.

I'm writing this on a very hot humid night.  The last few days have been very humid again.  At 10.00pm on Saturday night it was still 21degrees.   And it feels like that now... plus I'm sitting with the laptop sitting on my lap as I am watching CSI while typing this.  All the new seasons TV programmes have started and all the good stuff is on at the same time!!!!!!!!!

Have a great week.

A Marathon Stamping Session...........

almost 12 hours worth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Today I feel shattered..... but oh what fun.  Stamp'n'create ~ one of my LSS~ runs a monthly group on the 2nd Saturday of the month.  It runs from 10.00am till midnight..... so far I haven't made it to midnight... lasted till nearly 10.00pm last night.  We have a shared lunch and dinner ( for those left around 7pm)  Yesterday we started with 8, by around 6pm there were 4 of us left, and then Sue B and I left round 10.00 leaving two to continue.  Judi ( owner ) obviously stays too...

I had such fun... lots of talking, making, eating .... here we are

 

Sue and Sue working away... 

 Sue B hard at work

 Glenda

 Betty with her Cuppa

my deskspace at 5pm ( 4 cards made, 3 to go)

Yeap.... I got 7 cards made, cut out an onion envelope ( still to work out what to put in it!) and colouring in an image.... so very pleased.  It was slow going to start as I have been suffering a bit of a creative block.

So I had gone to my Flickr group for inspiration, and visited  a few blogs to get some ideas.  Thank you to everyone who gave me inspirations...

First off... it's thanks to Deirdre and her lovely CAS Valentines ~ plus the note that the HA digi kit was on sale~  

I printed out the image onto kraft card ~ used the coloured stamp - looks sepia coloured.  I then highlighted the umbrella in yellow and distressed some white card in yellows and oranges to mat the image.  I then added some of my hand made roses and a bit of lace ( thanks to Sue B for that idea) and a nice big bow.  

More over the next few days ~ otherwise you'd all be asleep by the end of what would be a LONG post!!!!!!!!!!!

Am off to spend the afternoon with my DD ~ a girlie afternoon of shopping... and to see the offical wedding photos.... 

thanks for stopping by.

Some Blog Awards

My mojo seems to have gone on strike this week.... I haven't had the motivation to make anything.  I have been suffering with my back this week and it has me feeling very grumpy and tired.  I even had to spend a day at home  ( didn't even do any crafting) plus hubby hogged the computer on Wed night, entering his works team ( and families) into a local fun run... Round the Bays. It is a 8km run/walk that has over 70,000 runners.... yes you read that right.  Last year it took us nearly 15 mins to pass the start line!  Anyway come 13th March Hapag Lloyd's Orange Brigade team of 26 will take on the hoards...

So no cards to share.... but I have been lucky to have received some awards over the last week or so...

First Up

This award that was given to me the lovely Virginia.

To accept this award I need to do a few things:

1.Thank the person who gave it. Thank you,Virginia.  You are very thoughtful and kind.

2.Copy the award and put it on your blog 

3.List three things which you love about yourself.

   #1. I love helping people ~ encouraging and mentoring as I can

   #2. I love creating and crafting... and will give just about anything a go

   #3. I love being me.... having such a fantastic family and some superb friends/

4.Post a picture that you love.

  These are my two wonderful children. The photo was taken on my daughter's wedding day.  It was so sunny that poor Emma was squinting into the sun. 

5.Pass this award to 5 people--in no particular order

Sue B ~ for being a great and fun friend ( an a reasonable new blogger)

Heather ~ for being so extra specially creative and inspiring 

Isha ~ an new blogger friend who makes wonderful cards

Anita ~ who has the most beautiful children and shares her adventures with us

Tiffany ~ just the loveliest of ladies there is

And then

 

I'd like to thank Eileen for this lovely blog award.  Eileen is a fellow New Zealander  who comes from my home town of Dunedin ( in the South Island)

In accepting I had to sign up to a few little rules...

1) You have been tagged, do you want to accept? YES! then create a post on your blog and post the love blog photo.

2) Link back to the person who gave you the award and say if you accept.

3) Choose 3-5 of your favourite blogs to tag, link these in your post too and tell the lucky people they have been tagged.


As the aim of this award is to bring unknown good blogs to light, please don't tag somebody with 3000 followers.


The people I would like to pass this award onto are:

Vicky ~ my lovely niece who had three beautiful children ( and a way with words)

Sally ~ a very talented card maker ( an a Hero Hostess!!!)

Nancy ~ whose blog always, always has the most inspiring "Thought for the Day"

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm off to Stamp'n'create's stamp group tomorrow... first for the new year! so hopefully some crafting will get done, amongst the talking and eating.

 

Happy Birthday Chelsea.

Yesterday my great niece Chelsea turned one!!!!  Boy does time fly.  She is a real cutie and has two lovely big brothers....  My niece posted some of her birthday party photos so I'd like to share with you some of my lovely family....

The bottom photo is Vicky with Chelsea, Zade and Hunter.... what a lovely family you have Vicky.

And here is the card I sent to Chelsea... my little star

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my family.

A bit of a scrappy card......

Over at Wee Memories this weeks challenge is "Dust off those scraps".  I was perusing the Hero Arts Flickr group discussions and I saw that Sarah had challenged us to make a card with the colours of the new Hostesses aprons..... (see here) ~ well I came up with a very simple card that covered both....

I went to the scrap pile and found some card stock and some paint chips and punched out the 5 butterflies.... Then found the tall card for them to land on... added the sentiment ~perfect for these 5 very special ladies... Anita, Sharon D, Sally, Heather and Linda W. Simple but effective I think.

Today was the funeral for my stamping friend Sue.... a very emotional time as she was a very incredible woman, much loved by those who she touched.  Our group was all there to say goodbye... Sandie, Lei, Helen, Janet, Glenda and myself... We will miss Sue at our next gathering in a few weeks, won't be quite the same again.  RIP my friend.

thanks for stopping by..

Summer is................watermelon and fresh peaches....

Yes... summer continues in Auckland... today is probably one of the hottest we've had for a while... the morning was extremely humid and now the sun is shining and it is stinkin' hot and humid.... earlier I was making a Lemon Meringue Cheesecake to take to the BBQ we are going to tonight, and the sweat was dripping into my eyes and down my nose.... my kitchen windows let in so much sun!!!!!  So a nice cool slice of watermelon....ahhhhhh.  Hubby has headed off to the beach but I had some Focaccia bread baking and it needed 30 mins rising and 25 min cooking time!!!!!!!!  Smells amazing now as it is in the baking stage....

For once my craft room is reasonably cool... so I have been working on some very tiny roses...

 they look like baby Primas.  I found a couple of videos on you tube... here and here.  I used flowers the size of the first video... about 3/4 inch wide.  They are fiddly to work with but worth it.  The yellow ones are made with some card that I crumpled and worked till I could pull it apart ~ feels like soft suede.  I them inked it up with Wild Honey distress ink and over-stamped the HA Envelope background in Brushed Corduroy. It is lovely and soft and looks scrummy.  The blue flowers are patterned paper - blue with white dots.

This is what they look like prior to putting together.  The green bits are from a Cuttlebug Alphabet die, cut from scraps of white card and covered with Forest Moss Distress ink.  I put some stickles on them.... Frosted Lace on the yellow ones, and Baby Blue on the blue ones...  The finished rose is around 1/2 inch across so quite little.  Now just to make some cards to use them.... I want to make a whole lot first....

Hoping the humidity drops so I can get a good nights sleep.  Even sitting in here, I can feel the sweat pouring down my back ..... so sticky... off for a cooling shower before heading out.

Take care... thanks for visiting.

A Valentine's Gift

Valentines is not celebrated here in New Zealand to the same extent as overseas so I jumped at the chance to make a Valentines Card as part of a Hero Arts Flickr Group exchange organised by the lovely Anita.....
I got to sent a card to Elise and I received a gift card from Amy

My card to Elise

See this post for details  

and this is what arrived from Amy

That's a delightful Hero Arts Cling stamp called Cherries and some lovely pearls.  Wasn't Amy just so generous.

Hubby arrived back on Wednesday afternoon feeling very tired.... fall asleep in his chair watching TV at 9.30 Wed and at 8.30 last night.... it really takes it out of you.... but he's back in the air next Friday.... going with his younger brother for the funeral.  They get back the following Friday...    I have been spending my time with him, so no cards made.... although I have sneaked in to the craft room to make some flowers... so my stash of hand made flowers is growing... will share some over the weekend.

Enjoy your weekend, hopefully not too cold and snowy for my USA/Canada/European readers!!!  I'm just hot and sweaty here again,..  high humidity and warm temperatures.

Life continues....

thanks once again, for all of the lovely comments left here over the past few days...  They have helped me to continue with my life....

I spent some time crafting yesterday on my extra day off.  First off, I saw this amazing sketch on the Penny Black Saturday Challenge blog.  I don't have a lot of Penny Black stamps but had a set which I hadn't stamped ~ Enjoy Life~

Lots of different stamps used. Two Hero Arts, one Inkadinkado and two Penny Blacks (both from the same set)
HA stamps ~ Design Fabric cling stamped in Pumice Stone on the watercoloured paper and Envelope Pattern stamped in Brilliance Twilight onto the pink card. ( Such a wonderful subtle background) The Inkadinkado flourish is also stamped in the Brilliance ink. The birds and sentiment are from Penny Black Enjoy Life. I coloured them with Faber Castell pencils and Gamsol and distressed the background with Faded Jeans distress ink. The flowers I made using two tones of purple paint chips and two Spellbinders dies. The leaves die is from Sizzix. So quite a mixture of bits and pieces used.  This was my "Happy Card"

Then I worked on a card to send to Sue R's family.  I wanted something simple but heartfelt.  I made a sheet of alcohol ink in soft colours... and then overstamped part with Musical background in black.

I punched hearts out of the plain and stamped portions and alternated them onto a cream textured background and added the sentiment by Stampit. 

I am looking forward to hubby getting home tomorrow.  It has been a hard few days.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope your week is going well