ATCs - Winged

Here are the Winged ATCs I have made for a SWAP. - I really love the little child eating spaghetti - so cute!

Bookmark

Here is the bookmark I received in a recent swap - and this little owl is the bookmark I made - it is on top of a jumbo paperclip - cute huh?

ATCs - Bling

Here are the Bling ATCs I received in return for my creations.

Easter Cards

Last month I 'won' a challenge on one of my mailing lists - my Easter card was chosen and everyone else had to send their cards to me - here are two that I have received. The bunny is made from punches with a fluffy tail and the little girl is gorgeously coloured.

Christchurch Earthquake

Sorry for the lack of posts this week - I have been dealing with the tragedy unfolding in Christchurch which is where I grew up and where my family and friends live.

Thankfully everyone is alright - but there are still a couple of friends I haven't heard from. Our families have headed away from the city for a few days to get a bit of a break but they are seriously over it now.

My Christchurch is no longer - icons of the city are no more, The Cathedral, Shag Rock, and many many others.

If you want to DO something - donate money, do some baking - as Miss M and I have been doing today for The Great Sunday Bake Off or make some cards and donate them to Christchurch Victim Support.

Victim Support are a group affiliated with the NZ police force and are trained in dealing everyday with adversity, helping and supporting people in need.
We thought they would appreciate some cards that they could write in and to take to victims of this devastating quake.
If you would like to do the same then you can send a home made card (blank inside with envelope if possible) to -


Victim Support
PO Box 2109
Christchurch
New Zealand

Happy 4th Birthday Miss N

One of my neices has her birthday the day after the C Man - this year she turned 4 - she was born quite prematurely and in the begining it was touch and go but she is a vry determined little girl and she has a very strong spirit.

Here is the card I made for her.

Happy Birthday C Man

Here is the card I made for the C Man - the robots have googly eyes. I like this set but I need to use it more ...

Gnomeo and Juliet Cupcakes

I baked chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips - to represent dirt, iced with green grass and then printed characters from here. They were lots of fun to make and a real hit - everyone got to choose a character they liked.

10th Birthday Invites

The C Man has turned 10 - where has the time gone!!!! He decided he wanted to take some friends to the movie Gnomeo and Juliet. It was really fun and we had a great time. These are the invites I made based on one of the lead characters - Gnomeo of course!

Happy Valentines Day Geek Man

Here is my Valentines Day Card for my husband - it kind of follows a theme with our Anniversary card see here. I have used Dimensional Magic on the heart so it has a lovely glossy shine, the leaves are from the Bird Punch and the owl from the Owl Punch. I also decorated the inside - but I forgot to take a photo of it - darn.

This is based on a card I saw online somewhere - but I can't remember where now- sorry if it's yours - let me know and I'll give you credit :-)

Black and White Card

Here is the Black and White card I made for a swap for January - using my favourite stamp set of the moment - Elements of Style.

Black and White is quite a cool combination to use every now and then - must use it more often.

Easter Buckle Card

Two of the craft lists I belong to had challenges in January - to make a buckle card and to make an Easter card. Here is the card I created - combining both challenges into one card because I was a bit pushed for time (as often happens around here).

the funniest thing... I 'won' both challenges - on one list I am the guest artist of the month and grace the sites home page and on the other list everyone who entered the competition has to send their card to me. Just shows you have to be in to win :-)

ATCs - Resolutions

These are the ATCs I received in the January swap - the theme was New Year Resolutions - everyone had such different resolutions - I just hope we can all keep them now.


My resolution is to use up the stash of stuff I have - much of it has been there for a long time - I am working on using up the 'special' papers and ribbons and rub ons and embellishments that I have accumulated over the years and have saved for a special occasion.

ATC Calendar 2

This is the ATC calendar that I received in return - it's so cool - and here are some that I especially like. The leaves on the cover are foiled, the bees and flowers use crayon resist and the beach is just such a lovely scene.

ATC Calendar

I created this ATC calendar to send off to my partner in this swap. I tried to use up as much stuff from my stash as I could.

These are my favourite cards from the set...

ATCs - Bling

I had to make three ATCs with the theme of Bling. My resolution for the year is to use up my stash of stuff (well some of it any way :-). These girls were made using images and gems from my stash.

Seamstress in the making

Miss M decided she wanted to try patchwork - and that today was the day. Luckily I have some fabric downstairs which she went through and chose some pieces, pressed them all, cut them to size, stitched them together and created a bag - she was so proud of herself!!! I might have to put a lock on my studio door!

Blue and Green Card

Here is another swap card ... the theme for this one is "Blue and Green"

Folded Card

Here is a fancy fold card for a swap - hopefully Sharon has received it by now :-)

There are some prima flowers in the centre panel too.

The kids are back to school today - I hope they have a great day! I'm doing the happy dance!

Just Believe

I LOVE this stamp set - yes I know I say that a lot but why would I buy a set I didn't like - I have enough STUFF!

This card is for a swap - the theme was a Thank You card.

Happy Birthday Sally

It was Sally's birthday last week and I needed a very Special card for such a special person. I had seen this card here and just had to try it out (after gathering my supplies :-) It was lots of fun, not too hard and has such a lovely shimmer in real life that is just looks 'special'.

I even got carried away and did a Sarah Gough and decorated the inside of my card! Pretty tame by Sarah's standards ( I just LOVE her work, and I've met her in person and she is just as lovely!) but a start none the less.
The actual decoration is the flower stamped in the lower left corner - not all the other speckly bits (they are actually bird poop on the outside of our window - YUK TMI I hear you say - I know but those windows are 2 stories up and I can't clean them easily) I was trying to get maximum sunlight to take a nicer photo and that meant some poop - sorry!

Craft Room - After

Here is the new and much improved craft desk - as I've never seen it before - well not since we moved it in there anyway.

You'll be pleased to hear I even created something on it and tidied up after myself - long may that continue!



I have a lot more to tidy in that room but I'm not going to let you see the rest - it will take me longer than a couple of days to sort out and I'm back to work now!

Happy Anniversary GeekMan

We were married 14 years ago today, on a beautiful Christchurch Day that turned into a WET evening - but we managed to get our photos taken before the downpour.


Here is the card I made for the GeekMan - the idea isn't original - there are lots of them out there in blogland! Everyone liked it - Miss M and I even got an "Aw Cute" from the GeekMan.



I really like what I was able to do with the sentiment - and how true to likeness I was able to get the Owls :-)

Elements of Style

Guess what - I got a new stamp set recently - as a gift - boy I am spoilt.

So here are a couple of the cards I have created using "Elements of Style". I love colouring in using either ink pads or water colour crayons and an aqua brush and I have used water colour paper - what a lovely effect - hmmmm - might need some more soon at this rate.

(this is not the best photo but my favourite colour combo of the day - pity there wasn't more sunlight when I took this one)

Craft Room - Before

Here are some UGLY photos of my craft room AKA Downstairs, AKA My Studio, AKA The Craft Cave

The first pic is along the length of my desk - not that you can see the surface of the desk in any of these shots. At the far end there are two bookcases on their sides for storage and the PILES of stuff come up almost as high as the first set!!!!

The second pic is from the doorway - I should have pulled the chair out so we could have a better view of the depth of piles.

The good news is that this photo was taken a couple of days ago and I have spent a few hours trying to sort it out since then. It's not finished yet but I'll post an update when it is.

Cupcake Heaven

As part of the craft group that Kelly and I run in our local Community Centre we invited Velda from "I Want..." to come and demonstrate her gorgeous cupcakes for our Christmas gathering.

Now this woman is awesome and her cupcakes taste divine and her decorating skills just blow my mind - she makes it all look so simple. This was her second visit to our group and we'll be getting her back again!!!

These samples are some of the great work that people created - cute!!!!