The economy and the every day.

I have to admit, even though the papers have been filled with doom and gloom about the "economic crisis", I didn't ever imagine that it would affect my happy little world of scrapbooking. After all, it's about the memories, right?

I was unsettled when one of my favourite magazines announced they were finished...Simple Scrapbooks has long been my inspiration, and to think the likes of Cathy Zielske and Wendy Smedley were out of a job? Crazy. Then Nic Howard announces that her new book has gone the same way due to the downturn. Unfair. And today I read that Making Memories have terminated Margie Romney-Aslett's employment...all of this is so unbelievable to me, who has been a MM fan for so very long and always loved her work. Makes me wonder what will be next.

Onto happier things. Today I had a little play with one of the yummy Making Memories Flower Patch diecuts...


This is an older photo of the kids, but I love it with these papers! There is some stitching, and some Kaisercraft Rhinestones in blue and green (can't seem to create a LO without them lately), a Twiddleybitz butterfly and lots of other bits and pieces.

I inked the butterfly directly with a green inkpad, then added the bling.

Also inked around the word strips, and the outside edges of the LO. This isn't a colour combo that I would normally use, but it is quite striking in real life.

Here's to a great week!

TTFN xxx

Babies,mushrooms and happy endings.

First news first....it's a boy! No more waiting for the news, now it's just the waiting until I get to meet him :)

The waiting of the past few days got me thinking about babies, and how clucky (and even a little jealous) I get whenever I see babies out and about, or hear of friends becoming pregnant. I am such a sucker for tiny babies...and shopping in the "baby section" for gifts doesn't help either! So I put together a page to record these feelings...

...and to remind myself how very lucky we are to have our three beautiful children, the happy ending to a not-so-happy pregnancy/ childbirth story. How blessed we are!

The red polka dots and green papers are from Craft Fair by American Crafts, such a fun, cheery line. The turnips/peapods are Basic Grey Offbeat which is also very cute. The polka dots reminded me of mushrooms, so I used the same scallop ruler as I used for the border trim, and cut out some little mushrooms. The stalks are cut from some spare American Crafts thickers alphas ...same as the title.

The photo was taken at Christmas, but that's ok...it fit the story I wanted to tell (and that's allowed, you know :) )

Daylight Savings finishes tonight in WA...and that makes me one very happy little camper! Off to change my clocks back an hour...YIPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

TTFN xxx

Late late late!

Do you find that once you start sending handmade cards, for birthdays and Christmas and every other occasion in between, it is almost impossible to send a purchased one?

It's not just the $5 plus price tag, or the time it takes standing at the newsagent trying to find just the right one. It's the expectation of the recipient too...some people would be disappointed to receive anything but a hand made card. And it just doesn't feel right.

All of this can be a bit of a problem, when your hand made card stash is on the brink of non-existent, and you have a couple of important neice/ nephew birthdays coming up, which is where I found myself this morning. (Actually, the cards/gifts should have been posted last week...gulp)

So here are some new cards...

This one for the very important neice, who turned 12...um...yesterday.

And this one for the very important nephew who is a couple of years older than that, and whose birthday is on this weekend...gulp. Sorry guys...Aunty Suzi is experiencing some unavoidable delays, but your cards and gifts are on their way...um...tomorrow.

Late late late.

TTFN xxx

Hello!

Nothing creative to share with you today :(

No baby news yet...still waiting. She is overdue by quite a few days now. Hopefully I will be hearing of the precious little bundle's arrival very soon.

No scrapping to share. My little burst of creativity on the weekend was fun, but life is crazy busy during the week...too crazy sometimes! I haven't even picked up my stitching, which is pretty unusual for me.

Hope things are great in your part of the world...and hope you are well and happy!

TTFN xxx

Snorkel

I was very excited when Cosmo Cricket released their new line, Snorkel....I had the perfect photo just waiting to be scrapped with it. I didn't even have to think up a page title :)


This is one of my favourite shots from our Coral Bay holiday last year...my precious 3 year old, ready to dive off the back of the glass bottomed boat on the Outer Reef. Classic.

I've used lots from the Snorkel line here...the Ready, Set, Chip shapes, a couple of the papers, and a piece of the velvet trim up the top. The journal block is one of Jenni Bowlin's I think (I received it in the Scrapsidaisy journal block swap) and the fishy bubbles are Kaisercraft Rhinestones. The alphas are just a mixture from my alphabet basket!

And just in case you were wondering.....still waiting :)

TTFN xxx

Waiting, waiting...

Why does time go so slowly when you are waiting for something to happen?

I am going to be an aunty again any day now ( and I am so excited!!!) but I seem to be hanging around, waiting for the phone to ring. It's so hard to focus on anything. I can only imagine how the mum-to-be is feeling :)

I've scrapped a couple of pages to try and fill in the time :)

This one about my "good china". When I showed my DH he rolled his eyes at me...LOL.
I've used lots of older bits and pieces on this one...some vintage BasicGrey, Chatterbox and even some rub-ons (can't remember the last time I used rub-ons!). I did this one as part of the March challenge on the Scrapsidaisy forum, where you have to create 3 LOs in the month using various elements on your page...I've used more than one patterned paper, lace and doodling. Considering the date, I had better get a move on with this challenge!

The next one was just for fun.

I've used some of the new Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday range...nice and bright! Such a very simple LO...you wouldn't believe how long it took me to create! Seems I am a bit out of practice with the scrapbooking...might have to go and do some more.

Have a great weekend

TTFN xxx

Paper Rich/Time Poor

I have broken my self-imposed "scrap diet" in a fairly major way in the last little while...who can resist all the gorgeous new papers that have started arriving from CHA? Cosmo Cricket, Basic Grey, Making Memories, My Minds Eye, Teresa Collins...they all have irresistible lines at the moment, and like the true paper addict that I am, I have been loving adding some of these to my collection.

And let's be honest here...at the moment that's all it is. A collection of papers and embellishments, because life has been so busy that I haven't had a lot of time to play with them. I haven't been taking many photos, or printing many photos, or even making it to my scrapping desk for any length of time lately...I think a lot of us are having this problem :(

I was feeling the need to play with some paper on the weekend, and it has taken me that long to actually finish this simple LO. Sad, I know :(

I've Cuttlebugged the pastel papers for the butterflies, then glued them underneath the die-cut Making Memories paper...this piece is from the Flower Patch 8 x 8 book. The journal book pages are from the MM Paperie Poolside collection, and the bling are Kaisercraft Rhinestones in various shades...they are so versatile!

Here's to finding some more scrapping time!

TTFN xxx

Stepping out of my comfort zone.

One of the things I love about being on a Design Team is that it makes you step out of your comfort zone every now and then. When my DT pack of goodies from Tomorrows Memories makes it's way onto my scrapping desk, I never know what new and exciting goodies I might have to play with.

This month, it was a pack choc-full of Twiddleybitz die cut elements....which I have admired on other peoples work, but never had much of a play with myself. So I thought I might see what different effects I could achieve by making some cards.

So first up, I tried inking them with my sepia inkpad and a sponge...

I like how you can add as little or as much ink as you like. I've actually joined two seperate Twiddleybitz pieces to make this shape (the join is under the flower) and dressed it up with some Kaisercraft pearls...noice! The paper is Basic Grey Bittersweet.

I loved this Easter Egg shape, but felt it needed some colour.


So I painted the shapes different colours of Making Memories paints. I then covered the colooured shapes with Kindyglitz, and the white circles with MM Glitter Glaze in green. The patterned paper is very glittery too, so this card is quite sparkle-icious!

Then I tried filling in the blank spaces with microbeads, after I'd inked the shape with black Staz-On.

I taught a class a few years ago based on this technique. This Twiddleybitz piece ended up resembling stained glass when I added an extra coat of Dimensional Magic on the top. The letter stickers are MM Glitter ones, so again, quite a sparkly card. The paper is Mumma Bushka Alenka by Kaisercraft.

I've been wanting to try out the new Tim Holtz Crackle Paint, so the Twiddleybitz got a thick coat of it for my last card!

The colour is called "dried marigold", and if you look closely, you can see the crackle. This paper is My Minds Eye Bloom and Grow Falling Leaves, with some scalloped edges cut with the Fiskars Threading Water punch.

I have a couple more Twiddleybitz pieces, so hopefully I will get a chance to make a LO with those soon. Tomorrows Memories have a HUGE range if you are looking to try out some of these techniques yourself.

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday

TTFN xxx

For too many days...

...my scrapping desk has been clean. Bare. Unproductive.

As you can see, this is no longer the case :)

Hopefully I will be back later to show you some things I have been making...after I clean up my mess, of course (wink!)

TTFN xxx

Lucky

I am feeling many things on this, our 14th wedding anniversary.


Lucky is the one that springs to mind most readily.

Although looking at this photo, old is probably up there too :)

TTFN xxx

Speedy is IN the building!

And thank goodness for that! I was totally over trying to move Slowpoke around my screen. Thankfully, my new mouse is very speedy, and I can upload some photos without it taking me hours.

So here's a photo of the birthday girl (and thank you for your lovely comments on the bag...she adores it!) with her cake. I don't think I have ever seen her so excited.



She had a wonderful day, spent with her dancing buddies in the morning , and then her two closest girlfriends came over for afternoon tea, then we all went out for dinner. A truly memorable day for her.

The new challenge for Copycatcards is to make a gift card holder...something a little different, but so good to have on hand! This is my version...

...made from Basic Grey Bittersweet, with the shapes cut out with the MM Slice. It opens up to reveal the gift card. Why don't you have a go? Pop over to the Scrapsidaisy forum for details.

I'm also taking part in a Circle Journal...my very first. I hate to admit that I am a little behind already, but popped it in the post this afternoon. I had no idea what to do really, and my only information was gained by "googling", so I could be doing totally the wrong thing! Oh well....

This is the front cover. I read somewhere that it's best not to cover the journal until it comes home to save the inevitable bumps and scrapes in the post. That made sense :) I made an introductory page with my instructions etc, but won't bore you with that.

Then there is the sign-in page...

I hand cut all those stamped journal spots....crazy, huh? And then this is my page...

The theme of the journal is "friendship" and I have been wanting to make one of these button trees for ages, so went in search of a tree-ish friendship quote. Love the whimsical feel of the page.

Now I wait for the first of the journals to arrive for me to add my page. I love the concept, and can't wait to see what everyone else has done! I love receiving happy mail, so am thinking that this is going to be fun. Have you ever taken part in a circle journal? I'd love to hear any hints/tips/comments that you may have, so please leave me a comment.

Have a great day

TTFN xxx

A mouse called Slowpoke Roderigez

Phew! I made it to the blog! You have no idea how hard that is with a barely-working mouse attached to the computer. I think I will rename my mouse Slowpoke Roderigez in honour of the really slow mouse in the cartoons LOL.
In all the excitement of Lydia's birthday, I forgot to buy myself a new one....and navigating the screen is a very very slow (and highly frustrating) process!
So...if I owe you an email, or I haven't visited or commented on your blog, or I seem to be missing in action.....well, now you know why!
Hopefully I will be back tomorrow.....with a Speedy Gonzales style mouse. Until then....

TTFN xxx

Can you keep a secret?

I'll show you what I have been working on lately, as long as you promise not to tell a certain little soon-to-be-eight year old girl :)

Deal? OK, I trust you ;)


I made this from a pattern by Anni Downs from Hatched and Patched. It's from her book "An Angels Story", which you may remember from the quilt I made for Lydia a while back. I couldn't resist this little bag...the perfect size for the cute little goodies she likes to carry around.

Please excuse my lack of photo editing. Not only is it getting late in the evening, but I have a STACK of patty cakes waiting to be decorated to share with her class tomorrow, and the mouse attached to this computer has decided to die on me...grrrrrrr...

This bag making is becoming quite addictive. Of course, it might need to be, as the little girl in the family has already requested one just like her sisters! Ho hum....

TTFN xxx

A major blow...

...to my weight loss plans has occurred overnight. Not that the plans were going at all well, but I am almost ready to throw my arms up in defeat. The little fellow you see below arrived at our house last night...not just one but a whole box full (including his more desirable cousins, Strawberry Freddo and Caramello Koala) AND a box full of those delicious mini Easter Eggs that bring me undone every single year.

Curse you, Cadbury Fundraiser Chocolates!

TTFN xxx

Holly and Christmas Trees

I am slowly making my way through the blocks for my Christmas Belles quilt. Slowly, slowly.
In hindsight, I may have been a little ambitious in thinking that my weekend might involve lots of crafting, but hey, it doesn't hurt to dream :)

While not a lot of scrapping has been achieved, these two blocks are now complete...

Very primitive little Christmas trees, with a stitched border on the top,

and three little holly berries and leaves, all pieced and ready to go.

The great thing about a stitched project is that it is so portable. I am not limited to working on it at my scrapping desk-it can go everywhere with me. I sometimes stitch while I am watching TV, or with the kids while they are doing their homework/colouring in at the kitchen table, and my little sewing bin always goes to trampoline training with me. I sometimes even stitch a bit while I am having my morning cuppa at the breakfast table. You can achieve lots of stitches in these little snippets of time, the trick is remembering to pick it up and do it ;)

Happy Monday (it's still the weekend here...yay!)

TTFN xxx