Handbag Fun

I've finally finished a project I've had going for quite a few weeks now, actually now that I think about it ... I started it the week or so before Christmas. One of my many excuses was not being able to find my velcro dots!! They're not cheap those things, so I didn't want to buy anymore as I knew I had them SOMEWHERE!!

So now that the front pocket is no longer flapping away and is velcro-ed in place, I've finally can show you a photo of the finished product. Woohoo! I am so pleased with myself! Although, I do have to say ... it's what inside that makes the project rather special. And that I will show you over the next day or so!!

In the meantime, if you're looking for the pattern/template for the bag, I recommend you visit the Inking Idaho blog (which is where I got the template and instructions). And then I used the following ingredients:

Paper: Holiday Treasures DSP & Ruby Red and Chocolate Chip CS
Other: Square punches, rhinestones, Flower Fusion Too, Pretties Kit, Clear Rhinestone brads and some scrap green dotted ribbon.

Friend to Friend

I know it's been a long while between posts ... but I haven't had any finished projects to show you :(

I finally finished a little gift bag I made for a good friend who has just started chemo. She's had chemo previously and found the whole process to be horrible, so I wanted to do something little just to know I'm thinking of her.

I visited the local tea shop (Adore Tea) and chose some tea blends that I know she would like and find fairly palatable despite the chemo. Of course as it is leaf tea, I had to choose a cute little holder to put the tea leaves in!!

I then grabbed some of her favourite choccies and repackaged them!!

Here's who I bundled the whole thing:

First I needed a card to write a little message. I love this set (Pocket Silhouettes) and it has to be one of my favourites in the current Idea Book and Catalogue.

I then made a matching tag to the card, so I could put it on the gift bag:

Of course using the same colours and stamps :o) but this time adding a bit of snazzy organza ribbon!

Here's the bag of choccies (do you think for the life of me, I can remember their name!! - I just know they are yummy!!)


Using the 2009 SAB stamp set of course - called Yummy and it says it all really!

And finally, putting it all in the gift bag that came with the tea shop. Of course, the bag itself was just plain and needed some colour. Using another of my favourite stamp sets (number 2 in the list of favourites)- Fifth Avenue Floral and the same colours (almost), I stamped and glittered to my hearts content. Much more interesting now don't you think!!

And voila, I have turned a 'boringly packaged gift' into something that is unique and hopefully will add a bit of sunshine!

Here's what I used:

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Fifth Avenue Floral and Yummy (retired)
Papers: Old Olive, Whisper White & Very Vanilla CS
Inks: Basic Brown, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive and So Saffron
Other: Flower Fusion, brads, Kindy Glitz and Ribbon

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!

My Valentine's weekend has been pretty cool so far!! I saw the movie Valentine's Day with a good friend of mine and then headed into town for dinner. A girl's night out with a chick flick, can't beat that!!

This morning my husband and I exchanged gifts. I think this may well be the first time ever, as my WH prefers not to celebrate what he calls "Hallmark's Day" but usually will give me a bunch of flowers the following day!! Maybe my hinting has paid off, as he gave me a beautiful crystal teddy bear from Swarovski and a special card. Luke tells me he had lots of fun helping his dad pick!!

I (am not so creatively minded when it comes to choosing gifts for men). I bought my husband a book (one I know he'll like but that's not the point) and I had this Valentine's Card in my stash to use. He liked it!!

So I hope you have a lovely day too and enjoy the romance all year round, not just for one day!!

A Rainy Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all the romantics (not Happy Hallmark's Day as my WH calls it!).

A funny sort of a weekend though here in Canberra. It started raining on Friday night and it's only just stopped raining at 5pm on Sunday afternoon. Our place is waterlogged and muddy!! If we had a garden, I'm sure we would have been more joyful. Unfortunately with no garden as yet, and having to cancel the concrete delivery on Saturday, we wished the rain had of waited a day or so :o)

My big boy Luke took some photos of the local creek which is SO flooded. In my 11 years of Canberra, I've never seen it this full!

Don't you love his photography style? Just hanging out the front passenger window of our car!!

I took a photo of my gardenia plant. Of the few pot plants we have, these seem to be loving the weather lately and smell heavenly!!

Memories ... are made of moments

This year, I have made a real effort to do some scrapbooking. I find it a really difficult thing to do, but have set my New Years Resolution to do a double layout each month. So far I'm on track!!

Last Sunday I sat down and found all my scrap layouts and put them in an album. Believe you me, that was a task on it's own - I had them everywhere!! So having assembled the album, I decided I needed to do a front page to set the theme. And that was made easier by a scrap layout I saw in one of my magazines I had lying around. I wish I could show you the original idea, but other than the layout sketch and the colours, the rest of the idea is pretty much mine. Intrigued? Here it is:

So what did I use? Well my new circle scissors for starters. It was the first time I had used them, and I can't believe how easy it was!! Don't know what was holding me back!

Stamps: None (LOL)
Papers: Purely Pomegranate CS (retired), Blue Bajou CS (retired) & Whisper White CS and Baja Breeze DSP
Other: SU Flower punches (assorted), Scallop Circle punch, Eyelet border punch, buttons, brads, crochet thread and Purely Pomegranate ribbon.

I used my friend's Sizzix for the main word (Memories) and the rest of the sentiment is printed from my computer!

Coincidentally this layout is almost similar to the sketch challenge from Just Add Ink, so I might submit it there (which will be the first time I've put myself out there) but never too late to start I guess!!

... An elephant card

Don't you just love elephants? Ever since I saw the Walt Disney movie Dumbo and more recently, the Winnie the Pooh movie - Heffalump, I've just thought them to be be super cute!!!

So when I saw a template for an elephant card, I just had to make one for my nephew Michael who turned 1 on Sunday. The elephant card of course could be used for a baby, but it's not too baby-ish for a one year old card!

For all my non-stamping friends (shock horror), I haven't used any stamps, just punches and papers!! Here's what I used:

Papers: SU Baja Breeze DSP & Baja Breeze, Purely Pomegranate (retired), Blue Bajou (retired) and Whisper White CS
Punches: various circle sized punches
Other: black brad & crochet thread

Of course I had to tie some thread around my elephant's trunk, as elephants are such forgetful things, so he had to remember it was Michael's birthday!!

Please email me or leave a comment if you would like further info on the template

Friendship

I just wanted to show this beautiful gift I received from a friend at Christmas. Due to some post office problems, it took me a while to receive it. But when I did, oh was I so glad!! It's beautifully handmade, inspirational and totally personal.

This picture (ignore the yellow background) came with its own little wooden easel to stand on. I look at it every day and think how lucky I am to receive it from Kerri. Click here to see Kerri's other gorgeous work. But a tip from me, if you ever need an idea for a handmade gift, I think you've found it right here!

Those calendar pages

As promised, I've finally been able to take some half/semi decent photos of my calendar pages, I'm sure they could be even better, but I had to take them after I got home from work and the light was fading!!

Seeing as you've now seen the February 2010 page, I'll work backwards!

Okay! Here is the January 2010 page. A nice simple page which was inspired by those scrap layouts I had done the other week. The whole beach theme. This time I added more water features!

Stamps: Life's a breeze & Something Fishy Jumbo Wheel
Inks: Versamark, Basic Brown, Cool Caribbean and Taken with Teal
Papers: Whisper White & Bashful Blue CS
Other: Stampin' Dimensionals and Chalks, Glitter for the fish bubbles

My December 2009 page used up scraps from Christmas stamp camps, layouts and cards. See you can put to good use all those scraps that you have lying around (I have 2 A4 bags full!).

Stamps: Holiday Line Up
Inks: Basic Brown, various Stampin' Up! markers for colouring
Papers: Whisper White, Ruby Red, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip CS, and Ski Slope DSP (retired)
Other: Stampin' Dimensionals, circle and scallop circle punches and snowflake confetti

And finally, my November 2009 page which was a bit of a favourite both for the colours and my 'flowers'!!

My 'flowers' were made with faux suede paper that I had made from Baja Breeze CS, finished with a scallop circle punch, and tied off with hemp twine and matching button. So easy but very cute!!

Stamps: None!!
Inks: None!!
Papers: Whisper White, Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip CS, Non-SU textured dark brown CS and Baja Breeze DSP
Other: Circle and scallop circle punches, eyelet border punch, buttons and hemp twine.

It's February!

Can you believe we're already into the month of February? Today I sent my big boy Luke to school for his first day as a Year 1 student. How did that happen? Wasn't it only yesterday he was my kindy kid???

Of course, realising it was February - I also realised it, I haven't been posting my calendar pages!! There's four I need to show, but I'll only show February today. I didn't get the chance to take photos of my last four pages while it was daylight. I've used the scanner for this page, and it's not quite the same (squashes the Stampin' Dimensionals) but you'll get the idea :0)

Of course, being the February page - it had to be about love! I saw this idea on this website (done as a scrap page) and decided to adapt it for my desk calendar!

I think I used the same colours too! I'm a sucker for pink!!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Papers: Rose Red CS & Pink Pirouette textured CS
Inks: Rose Red, Pink Pirouette & Basic Brown
Other: Rhinestones, SU Hearts punch and Stampin' Dimensionals

I also neglected to mention, that the reason I didn't get to take photos and simple errands like that - because I was cleaning out the cupboards and shelves of Luke's room. How much can a 6 year old accumulate? I have yet to clean out Matthew's cupboard (luckily he's 2 and doesn't use it so much), but I realised his cupboard has a few boxes in there that I still haven't unpacked from the big move. Oh dear. More chores, left craft time. Bugger!!

Until next time, ciao!