A Full Day's Work

Trent and Tayla worked ALL day on these masterpieces today.TS are their initials and Trent used his set of monster stamps to decorate his two canvases after painting them.  Tayla used her animal stamps for hers after painting and of course had to add a few flowers being a girl. I generated the letters for them on the computer and they chose what to stamp on them.  The day just whizzed by and we watched DVDs as we worked and had a wee break for lunch.  We just need to buy hangers for them now so that when they go home they can fix them onto their bedroom wall.  Well done to them.

Zoom Tubeing

Hi Everyone After a couple of rainy days today was just perfect and my two favourite Little People and myself went to the big outdoor pool complex at Wainuiomata where Trent and Tayla had such fun sliding down the Zoom Tube as the pictures show. (I would normally be right behind them but I'm still being extra carefull with my back) We took a picnic lunch and spent the whole day in the pools. Needless to say we are all exhausted tonight. They are fast asleep in bed and as soon as I finish this I will be fast asleep in my bed too. Thanks for looking.

Gingerbread Tilda

Hi Everyone and I hope your weekend is going well, like mine. My two favourite Little People (aka Trent and Tayla) arrived today to stay for the week so probably not much crafting time for myself but lots of other fun stuff to do, using the kids as an excuse to have a go. Go the Grannys!! Anyway I did manage to get this done today. I have been watching lots of demo videos on painting with both Ditsress Inks and Promarkers. I have been practising lots and I am getting the hang of it now. This Tilda is coloured using the Distress Inks and I must say I am pretty pleased with how she turned out. It is a birthday card for one of my Great Nieces in the UK. Ellie has ginger hair and so I coloured Tilda especially for Ellie. I SO wanted to put 3D flowers and beads on the card but as it has to travel half way round the world I restrained myself. The kids are painting their own Tilda so I'll perhaps post them when they have finished them. All is quiet on the western front here so I might just brush my teeth and sneak off to bed with my book. Thanks for looking tonight.

Take To The Bottle

Hi again Everyone I have a late night post for you. I have been working on this for a couple of days or so and have just finished it. It is inspired by a Debbie Dolphin idea (see my Blog list to visit her. You won't be dissappointed) I thought this would be a lovely gift for a friend who likes a glass of wine. Mine only contains juice but that's because I am looking to keep costs down for class materials. but an individual bottle of wine would be good. I have a little, empty Bailey's bottle which I am going to do the same thing with. Now that would be a nice gift thank-you. I made the organza flowers myself by running a gathering thread along one edge and pulling it up to rouche the ribbon. Then I began to roll it (tightly at first) stitching it at the bottom to hold in place. The further out I got the more loosely I rouched and rolled but always stitching in place. I just thought of how I could do them, tried it and it worked!! Don't ya just love that - when something works out well? Off to bed time so I'll say 'night 'night and sleep tight. TGIF tomorrow.

Secret Garden

Good Morning Everyone and welcome back to my Blog. This card makes me think of a secret garden and that takes me right back to my childhood. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgon-Burnett was the first 'chapter' book (as my grandchildren call them) I read. My eldest sister bought it for my birthday when I was 7 years old. That makes it a pretty old memory but it is certainly a lovely memory. Anyway this card is for our dear friend Len in the UK. Len and Harold started work together way back when..... Gosh I'm really going back today arn't I? I'll be time travelling next LOL!!! The tree trunk/root stamp, the stone path and the secret door are all new stamps from the lovely Lavinia range, the leafy tree branch is from I.S.C stamps and the little grasses along the bottom of the wall etc is from Clarity Stamps. All very favourite companies of mine. (I have three new stamps from I.S.C which I've had for a wee while but not had the right occasion to use them for yet). Hope you all have something nice to do at somepoint during the day today - me? I'm off for a swim this morning and walking with my friend Di this afternoon so I certainly have nice things to do. For those of you who are working people - hang on in there the weekend is only just around the corner and if you live in the Wellington province of NZ then you have a long weekend as Monday is Wellington Anniversary Day. Enjoy!! Thanks for visiting today.

Tri Shutter Card

Hello Everyone. It's a hot, humid and sticky day here in Upper Hutt. We have had black clouds all day but not much rain but I'm glad to say that in the last half hour it has started to rain quite steadily. We certainly need it as we have vitrually had none this month/year at all. I bet the poor people of Queensland wish that was the case for them. Anyway I was home by myself for most of the day and busied myself with this, my version of a tri shutter card. It is mark II as I wasn't happy with the way mark I was looking so I threw it in the bin and started over. This time I am much happier. I like the pink and brown together and I just had one of these pink flowers left and was glad I had bought the brown version as well. I was chuffed with myself for doing the sentiment on the computer. That's two in the last week (the Congratulations post had one as well) Young Rachel Critchley over at Critchley Creations has a great tutorial on how to do them. It takes a wee while but each time I try I get better and don't have to look at the instructions as much and they are SO worth it. I thought that this would be a nice project to teach to ease us back into classes gently. Hope your week is going well. Thanks for looking today.

Comin'Up Roses

Good Morning Everyone and what a good morning it is for me because I just went to check the mailbox and found a goodie parcel in there. The piccies show you what was inside the box!! How good is that on a Monday morning? I only ordered them (from the UK) last Tuesday so I call that excellent service. Picked, packed and delivered to the other side of the world in less than a week - fantastic - AND they deduct the VAT for customers (like me) who live outside of the EU. It just gets better. ALL the UK traders I buy from should do that but only a couple do!!! Makes a difference especially as the VAT rate has just gone up to 20 per cent. It helps to cover the postage costs. Anyway enough rambling - I am delighted with my goodies and can't wait to put them to good use. I will still make my larger flowers but have always wanted more layers in the small roses I make but if I try to add more they look a bit clumsy. If anyone is interested to site is www.wildorchidcrafts.co.uk It's such a lovely site to drool over so hop on over and enjoy. HAve a great day all of you and thanks for looking in today.

Here's a Coincidence

Hello Everyone and I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. It is my birthday today and the first fantastic card here is one I received from my friend Alison (you know the one who is moving away this week). Isn't it just gorgeous? I think it is the most beautiful one she has ever given to me. But here's the coincidence - I was already working on the second card for my friend Anne in the UK. Anne is a dancing teacher and this elegant lady just says DANCE to me. Now how spooky is that - that we should both choose the same stamp to create with. The lady if from an Aspects of Design sheet we both purchased from The Stampman in the UK. We ordered them on-line and I collected them whilst I was in the UK in July last year. If you enlarge Alison's card you will see the neat little clock embellishment in the top left corner. It goes so well with the background paper. I love it. Thanks Ali. I hope Anne likes hers as much as I like mine. Bed time again here. Thanks for stopping by.

Congratulations

Here is the other Special Project I have been secretly working on and I am REALLY pleased with it. Two young friends of ours announced their engagement at Christmas which we are all thrilled about. Susan is actually our Travel Agent and has been taking care of our travel arrangements for so many years now that we have become good friends. She is a Stampin' Up Demo and so we ALWAYS have LOTS to talk about when we see each other. I wanted to think about this one and take my time in putting it together and I'm glad I did because it evolved as I went along finishing up as you see it here. I have also made a box for the card to sit in and the verse inside the card is lovely too but Mr Blogger is restricting me to four photos again so I shall have to post those photos straight after this. If you are a regular visitor you will know that I usually post late at night but it's early morning here right now. The reason for that is that I couldn't sleep and so I got up at 4am and finished off my creation before returning to bed at 5.15am!! Anyway a new day lies ahead and I'm going to try a swim at the pool this morning. It will be the first time since the beginning of December when I injured my back. Hope it goes well. Enjoy your day Everyone and thanks so much for visiting today. Ooh! P.S. Alison loved her farewell card when I gave it to her yesterday! PPS I'm entering this in the Anything  Goes challenge over at http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.com/

Inside and The Box

Hi again and here are the photos of the lovely verse inside the card and the lid of the box to present the card in. I LOVE this project. Right I'm off to the pool now and I'll call in to give this to Susan on the way home again. Bye.

Alison's Farewell Box

Hi again and here are two piccies of the box to hold Alison's card. As I said before I'm not crash hot with the camera so I hope you get the right idea about both the card and the box. I am really pleased with both and they certainly contain a LOT of love. Right I'm off to bed so I'll say 'night, 'night and sleep tight. Thanks for visiting especially my new follower Sally.

Alison's Farewell

Hello Everyone. I know it's been a while since I Blogged anything but that's because I've been working on two Special Projects which have had to be secret. The people who they are for look at my Blog regularly and so I have to time my 'release' just right. Tomorrow I am going to a Farewell Lunch for my friend Alison who,as I have told you, is moving to the other end of the country in a few days time. That means I can now show you what I have made for her. She is such a good friend that it had to be something Extra Special. I hope she thinks this IS Extra Special. I used darker colours because I feel so sad that I am losing close contact with her. I have made a box for the easl card to fit in but Mr Blogger won't let me post more than 4 photos (don't know why. If anyone has the answer please let me know). I'll post the photos of the box straight after this. I do wish I could take really good photos of my projects but I'm not crash hot with the camera. Sorry. Thanks for stopping by today  PS I'm going to try yo enter this in The Stampman Challenge #14 - Distress.  Not too sure I know how to but I'll give it a go.  You should all hop over to their website and take a look.  It's always inspiring. http://thestampmanchallenges.blogspot.com/

A Little Birdie

Hi Everyone and I hope you are well and truely over the Christmas/New Year thing by now. It's been hot and humid here and not conducive to long sessions at the craft desk (especially when recovering from a slipped disc). Hence I have done something I have NEVER done before. I have SO many birthdays in January, PLUS I have a couple of extra special things to create, that I mass produced this card for ALL my January birthdays. I feel very guilty about it I must say. I was inspired by the wonderful talent of Michelle Zindorf to create my card. My recipients are spread far and wide so hopefully they will never know. I don't think I will allow myself to do it ever again. (except for Christmas cards)

Kaleid-a-card

Hi again. Just as I am preparing to put away our Christmas Decorations I picked up this card which I made quite a few years ago but still love, so I thought I would Blog it for you all to see. I made it in a class held by Cathy Daulman, a talented lady who was visiting NZ from South Africa. That was also the first time I saw the Waterfall Card and also did that class with her. Anyway back to the Kaleid-a-card. It is made in 4 layers with the appertures getting smaller the more you move into the card. I guess the tunnel card I made for my husband for Christmas (Santa in the forest post) was a smaller version in a way. Anyway it was lots of fun to make and I have made quite a number for gifts over the years. Friends see it and like it so I make them one. I added an extra layer to mine (dark blue) and put the Snowman Family on to form a nicer cover rather than just a plain white back of the bottom layer. Hope you like it and thanks for looking.

Desk Calendar for a Good Friend

Hi Everyone. Well NOW I can post these photos of the desktop calendar I made for my friend Alison as part of her Christmas goodies. I have made her a desk calendar for what seems like forever now and changed my format this year to produce this. Last year I printed copies of different art works I had produced during the previous year and the calendar for each month. She had told me that she loved the idea of having a reminder of my pictures so this year I did the same in miniature. The pictures are held in place by large studs which she can undo to rotate the pictures as the months roll by. The flower is cut from Papermania paper with TH Tattered Florals die, spritzed with glimmer mist , held together with a matching Papermanis brad and gently scrunched (technical term!!) to achieve 'the look'. Add a small calendar pad and a year label (held on with more Papermania brads) and it's done. Glad to report that she loved it. She is moving away from the area soon and I am going to miss her SO MUCH. I am trying not to think about it
Well I am off to dry my hair (I've just come out of the shower) and do some jobs - lots of cards pressing to be made. Hope you like the new look to my blog.