Wild and wet winter's last gasp........maybe?

It's a typical Spring day again today - windy, showers, cold and sunny - usually all at the same time. However, it has been very wet and wild, and with the wind in the west we have had a leak in the downstairs window - again! Lots of towels and wet carpet, but it seems to have stopped now. It only happens when the wind blows hard from the west behind the rain. Consequently I have spent several days laying around in the warmth of the heater, reading. Did take the curtains down in the lounge room on Thursday and take them to my wonderful curtain lady around in the village to have them repaired - they were sun-rotted down the edging of four big drops.  Thought it would take several days to repair, but she got them back to me by 4.00 pm that day and they were back up before the temperature fell too far down. Hopefully that will hold them for another couple of years before we have to replace them - they are nearly 20 years old so I cannot complain about them - they have done good service.

I have not done much crafting - a few father's day cards - but I need to be inspired today to make my granddaughter's birthday card - she will be 6 next week. If it come out OK I will post it up before sending it to her! Meanwhile, I made these cards several weeks ago - what do you think of these?

Saw something similar in a magazine so this is cased, of course. If it is yours, please let me know as I have thrown out the magazine it came from!

Recipe: everything is just layered up and edged in ink

Card - Riding Hood Red from SU; Scraps of Bazzil; strip of Kraft paper from SU (put through the crimper)

Paper - Francis Meyer Paper East India; + scrap of another from Francis Meyer but I have lost the name of it (pretty thought, isn't it!)

Letters - Carolee's Creations Etched Natural sticker letters

Other - dimensionals from SU; brad for door knob; Timber Brown StazOn ink

Again, I cased this from a magazine.  I stuffed up the wings on the butterfly because I didn't think of the direction of the music on the wings when I cut it out and I wasn't until I had completed the card that I realized one wing was different from the other! Say's a lot about me but is fairly typical - rush it, get it done, don't stop to check until it is too late...and I hate going back over things.

Recipe: I used the SU scallop-edged punch and a small hole punch to create the edging on the paper and just layered up. Stamped the music sheet onto scrap blue paper, and then drew a set of butterfly wings onto the back and cut out. Stamped the flower onto card scrap and cut out

Card - SU Red Riding Hood; SU Very Vanilla

Paper - scraps from give-aways in crafting magazines

Stamps - SU One of a Kind; Sheet Music by Imprint Stamps K111

Other - Kaiser pearls, Carolee's Creations Etched Natural sticker letters; ribbon scraps; Tim Holtz Grungeboard Heart; SU Red Riding Hood and Baja Breeze ink; double sided tape.

A masterpiece.......NOT!

I have just returned from my oil painting class. It is the last one for this semester - next one starts late September. I listened to our teacher talk about the various kinds of Linseed Oil around and which one to use in a 3 part medium (there are quite a few you don't use!) as well as why you should varnish your work (and how to varnish it).......and all the while my hand was trying to sketch out the figure of a woman on the paper. When she had completed her talk and I was ready to paint, I mixed up three sets of colours on my pallette  -  sky, sea and cliff! NOT what I had been sketching, I thought, so turned over my board and prepared another piece of paper and rough painted in a cliff and beach scene in about 20 minutes - even looks OK to me! Why does our brain work like that? Was it fear of figures and failure so go for the familiar or was it something trying to wriggle out of my subconscious? Oh well, will finish off the beach scene over the next little while and see what becomes of it.

In the meantime, I have been making a few thank you cards, so have decided to put up another couple for you to view. If you see anything you like, they are usually for sale - make an offer!

All material is StampinUp unless otherwise stated.  Both cards are made on a commercial white card;

Card One:

Paper: Tempting Turqoise and Tangerine Tango; backing paper from stash

Inks: Tempting Turquoise; Basic Grey

Stamps: One of a Kind (both flower and sentiment); a banner clear stamp from a set by Kaiser

Embellishments: Rhinestone Brads - blue

Card Two:

Paper: Tempting Turqoise and Tangerine Tango; DP Bali Breeze

Inks: Tempting Turquoise;
Stamp: Say it with Scallops
Embellishments: Brads from stash

Thank You's are due..........

Despite the rain last night it is still feeling like spring, even though the temperature is less than it was and far less than it is on the mainland! Heard on the wireless that Brisbane was going to be 33 degrees today and its only August (still winter). Well, it is only 10 degrees here at the moment but the sun is shining and there is no wind - pretty!

Been making 'Thank You' cards and practicing techniques all in the one go. Cased both cards - one from Lynda Moss (my SU supplier) and one from Michelle Zindorf's site. I have wanted to have a go at brayering but am still very bad at it (and sponging). However, here they are:

This card is made from all Stampin Up items unless otherwise stated: card is glossy white, and uses Uppsy Daisy stamp for flowers and sentiment; One of a Kind stamp is used for 'sun'; both flowers and sun are stamped with VersaMark and then Basic Black and clear embossed. The inks used are So Saffron; Summer Sun; Tangerine Tango and Taken with Teal, as well as StayzOn Timber Brown; Card is Black; mount is Only Orange and Tempting Turquoise.

This card is on SU Handsome Hunter, and then Brilliant Blue; the flowery paper is DCWV Adhesive Paper Prints Sticker Paper; the stamp is SU Oh, So Lovely, coloured in (badly) with SU markers on waterproof paper; sentiment SU Warmest Regards; stamped outlines with StayzOn Black; ricrac ribbon from the stash. The circles were cut using SU punches.

Spring is Springing............!

Spring seems to have arrived. The weather is getting warmer, and the bulbs are bulbing in the garden and blossom is blossoming. Many of my friends children are also having children lately! I have been to a number of baby showers and had to visit the 'baby shop' (a bit like an Alladin's Cave - all those goodies!) to purchase suitable gifts. I have been playing with my new American stamps too, and created a couple of baby cards for the new mothers. There certainly seems to have been a lot of activity around pre-Christmas last year, as many of these babies have been or are being born over the six/seven weeks from the middle of July to the end of August (so many Leo's) or early September.

Went to a dinner party on Friday night at a friend's house and discovered she had gathered three Leo's together (and their partners) for a combined celebration! Had a beautiful dinner and a yummy and spectacular cake that said "Happy Birthday Leo's"! Got to catch up with old friends as well. Thanks, Lari.

Made these two cards with papers taken from magazines (freebies) and such.
The stamp used is a Clear Art Stamps one I got from Shirleys2Girls and is called Stork Delivery (SG80); the card for both is SU card - Card one uses Garden Green, Ballet Blue and Barely Banana; Card two has Barely Banana, Garden Green and Tangerine Tango. Both images are coloured using SU markers after I stamped the images onto watercolour paper, using StazOn Black ink; the messages are from my stash of Joanne's Baby Stickers, purchased in Denver when I was there two years ago visiting family. (Joanne's is my idea of Heaven). The green ribbon on Card one is a piece of srap off a t-shirt.

Getting the hang of things

I made this card late last week for a friend's birthday. The face stamp is from Shirley's2Girls Clear Art Stamps and is called I'm Knot (505G) and the sentiment is one of Ann-ticipations 9466G; the card used is SU card (Pink Passion, Bashful Blue and Green Galore) ; embossed with Cuttlebug folders and the flowers and brads came from all over! Really it was made with offcuts where I had been practicing using my new Cuttlebug which my dear husband gave to me for my birthday, along with a number of folders for embossing! It's a great toy to play with!

I have started to get the hang of this now!

Hope you like my blog picture? It is a photo taken off the west coast of Tassie, near Strahan, late in 2006 on a cool Spring day - next stop is the East coast of Africa! There were only myself, my husband and some seagulls on the beach for miles to see.

I spent this morning listening in to the Billy Hyde School's Band competitions in Melbourne, streaming live performances - we lucked into being able to watch one of our granddaughters play her cornet with her High School band in this competition, and were able to listen to the adjudicator giving the kids some advice on how to tackle several of their pieces. It was excellent entertainment and very exciting to realise it was live streaming! Yeah for technology!

A New Beginning

It is with some trepidation I begin this posting - I expect I will get very frustrated with this as I already feel that I need some additional help to format my layout (very basic) and to download some images. I will perservere, however. My ever-loving is upstairs cooking dinner (he has just completed the ironing) - what a gem! I have just consumed my usual GnT before dinner and am feeling guilty for continuing to work on this rather than assist the cook!