Wednesday 24 June 2009

Purple and Yellow


I am enjoying the challenge this week at Hero Arts. There are lots of different colour combos to work with. Tonight I chose purple and yellow. I used two shades of pale creamy yellow - whipped cream and cameo cream for my base cards. I layered then used faux stitching round top layer. I used two shades of purple to cut my nesties frame. I stamped the flourish in the corner ( from Inkadinkadoo) and sentiment from HA CL 129 Anytime messages. Finished with the yellow and white flower. I have a 21st to go to this weekend - so this will do even if it is for a boy.... it's not too girly.
On the home front, hubby's Mum is deteriorating quickly. I am pleased we got to see her last weekend. I pray she does not suffer.

Thanks for visiting.

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Orange and blue



This weeks challenge at Hero Arts is about colours - complementry colours on the colour wheel. During the week there are different colour schemes. One of them is orange and blue. Now these are NOT colours I work with together so it was quite the challenge for me. Luckily yesterday I had bought a new distress ink called Spiced Marmalade. I'm going to try out some of Jennifer's inking over at 2peasinabucket. Anyway it worked well tonight with some blue and orange card I found in my stash.
For the first one, I stamped and clear embossed in the spiced marmalade onto pale blue card, and layered it onto a dark orange scallop circle. I used my new Spellbinder flower in dark blue with a tiny circle punch in orange for the centre. Some dark blue ribbon and then layered the circle onto a paler orange base card and all done. Nice and quick.

For the 2nd card, I used the dark orange as the base card and layered two colours of blue PP onto it, after distressing the edges with the orange ink. I used my long rectangle nestie to cut and emboss the lighter orange paper onto which I stamped Delicate leaves and the thinking of you sentiment. A few gems and it was finished. Although as I said, these are not colours I'd choose, I am pleased with the results.

Well I'm off to bed now as it back to work for me tomorrow.... been off for 7 working days with leave and then being sick... so it will be a struggle in the morning to get myself motivated to get up ( and not think about staying home crafting and blog hopping all day)
take care and thanks for visiting.

Birthday goodies

I am still off sick- back to work tomorrow but this morning I decided to go spend my birthday money ( thank you Mum and Dad) I visited Stampzone and got some goodies. I finally got the raindrops background stamp by Hero Arts and another butterfly set - just a little one with some butterflies and dragonflies on. It was super cheap - but quite soft polymer so will have to treat it with care. Plus some flowers by Kaisercraft in fawn so I can colour if I want.

I also decided to do a black and white card for Hero Arts challenge this week. I made this card using my Spellbinders film strip die which I cut and embossed in black. I used the cut out piece to make the mask to stamp the flowers. This is Doodle flowers by Inkadinkadoo. Layered it onto black and white card stock. Sentiment by Hero Arts CL129 Anytime messages. I checking the Flickr group before posting the card and notice one of the others had posted a card with a film strip on it as well...... great minds think alike. Hers had animals on it.....see here. I ended up adding the black & white flower after a bit as I just felt it wasn't quite finished.

Well thanks for visiting.

Sunday 21 June 2009

It's been a great weekend



What a great weekend... despite feeling a bit off colour, I've had a great weekend. I got a card made for Anne from our Family Group - for her 50th birthday. - this one was inspired by Quilterlin's card. 6 of us, including Anne, went out for a girls dinner last night. Had a lovely meal and then went round to Anne's for coffee. Very pleasant ( apart from coughing all the time)

In the afternoon, Emma and I went to the Dunkley's craft fair. It was quite an interesting exhibition... there were 4 stamp stalls which I gyrated to..... one being one of my local stores - Stampzone. I missed Kaye's demo but she was doing mini demos while I was there, showing off the new Buff Pearl embossing powders. I had a $25 loyalty voucher so am now the proud owner of 3 colours (violet, blue and green) plus a new butterfly stamp. I used them today to make a topper for a mini pizza box I made in silver. I am going it fill it with wrapped chocolates as a birthday gift. I had made the purple mini pizza box on Friday. The tutorial is on Splitcoast stampers site. It is such an easy box to do but is so cute.

While at the fair, I also bought a new cover for my ironing board.... supposed to make ironing easier ( yeah right as if anything could!) and some lovely munchy seeds... a combination of sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds roasted in a lovely savoury something... very yummy.

Today I had a lazy morning... got up late and pottered round in my dressing gown.... got a lovely suprise in the email.... I won one of the prizes in Tiffany's giveaway on her blog - see Here - wasn't I lucky. I really enjoy visiting Tiff's site as she has amazing creations and the most gorgeous son.... he is really a cutie. So was quite excited about that, when hubby announced we had visitors..... eak.... still in dressing gown!!!! It was our old next door neighbours.... they saw hubby cleaning his car, so stopped to say hi.... Never mind - blamed the cough saying I was still a bit sick!!!!

Well thanks for visiting. I'm off to get the vegies done for tea.... nice roast chicken with roast veggies and good old carrot and parnsip mash. Yummy

Friday 19 June 2009

Being sick sucks....

I hate when I get sick... 'specially when I get the coughing bug.... but the upside is that I feel well enough to surf the net, make cards etc. I've got a doctors cert stating I don't have to go back to work till Wednesday next week... but will see how I feel earlier in the week.

Anyway I did get some cards made yesterday and today. I saw a "1" card on HA Flickr group and decided to give it a go for Nathan's 1st birthday in August. Thanks to Anne who posted the template on her site.

This photo is of Snoopy who decided this morning to keep me company. He came into my craft room and jumped up on to the other table and laid himself down on my mending pile.... he is not used to having someone at home during the day so is making the most of being inside.

This next card is one I made for my friend Jean whose birthday is tomorrow. As I said one of the advantages of being sick ( but not too sick) I can surf the net. I came across this tutorial on Faux Postage stamps.
Thought I'd give it a try and am rather pleased with the results. Although I wish I had a paler red or a pinker piece of felt for the flower. I used 3 different types of ink - the lime green is VersaMagic chalk ink in Key Lime, the blue is Pearlescent Sky Blue Brilliance pigment ink and the reddish one is Worn Lipstick Distress ink (dye ink) - all sponged onto white computer paper that I had printed with the template. The butterfly is a HA one from the Artistic Butterfly set.
I made the felt flowers with my CB. and used a Kaisercraft brad in the centre. The blue background card is embossed with the Texture folder in the CB and it is all mounted onto a cream card.

Well I better get some house work done.... not too sick to do that unfortunately... and I want to go tomorrow to the big craft fair being held here in Auckland. It is huge... comes to Auckland twice a year. Really worth visiting.

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend.

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Inspired by Lucy




Just a quick post. This weeks challenge over at Hero Arts is about being inspired by the win-a-day winners. One of the lovely ladies is Lucy from England. I love her work and was inspired by her card HERE. This is what I came up with. I loved the idea of a single colour on kraft. I used a foam stamp that was a freebie from an English magazine and the sentiment was HA G5188. I finished it off with some Kaisercraft gems. Very simple but effective. Thanks Lucy for your inspiration

Engagement photos


Got home from the trip away - full of a cold - coughing and spluttering to find Emma had sent some photo via email to me. One of her and I and then one of the three of us. I am going to get some professional prints done so I can update my photo frame. I am really pleased with the photos. We had a great day.

Our few days away were interesting. The hotel in Taupo was lovely - nice meal, toasty warm bed and then a lovely breakfast the next morning. Peter gave me a double CD of Simon & Garfunkel. He had looked at getting tickets to the concert but they were over $300 a seat so thought the CD was the next best thing. We listened to it on our way down to Levin.

His Mum was not looking too good when we got there, but the next day - being her birthday - she was very bright. She had lots of visitors and cards and flowers. However it did tire her out and yesterday she looked shattered. His sister, too, was not well. She has started her treatments - we took her to the hospital on Monday, but she had another seizure that night. Luckily not bad and she was back home by just after midnight. So we managed to get away on time. That meant we managed to get through the Desert Road in the middle of the island, before the snow came. This morning's news said it was closed due to snow. We could see it was dark and looked like snow was on the way.

Today I am just pottering round at home. I am too sick to go to work as I can hardly talk. My throat is very sore and my cough is awful. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow so hopefully nothing too serious - just a cold I hope.

Think I will spend some time this afternoon visiting my favourite blogs and even doing a card or two.

Thanks for visiting.

Friday 12 June 2009

Die cut get well card

Managed to get a quick card done to take to Angie ( our niece in Levin). She has also not been well this week so this is a get better soon card for her. I got out the cuttlebug and used the floral fantasy embossing folder to emboss the purple card. I cut out the heart with a Spellbinders die ( from the centre of the green card - covered the cutout hole with the purple) and embossed it as well. The teddy is a Hero Arts one, that the lovely Anne sent to me. I coloured it in with my Mondeluz watercolour pencils. I used some scraps of the purple to punch out tiny flowers to use on the bouquet. Finished with a bit of organza ribbon.

Today I got some lovely cards from friends for my birthday ( which is on Sunday) - one with a lovely bottle of wine. My son and his girlfriend also gave me my gift. It is an adorable pendant - a little oval shape with sparkly gems on it. Really beautiful.

This week I also recieved from the lovely Paula a blog award. I will get around to posting it next week, but meanwhile - thanks Paula. I am thinking hard on who to past it onto as I love so many of the blogs I visit.

Well, time to do one more quick card before heading off to bed. Then up early to pack and get onto the road. Hope to see some snow on the Desert Road in the Central North Island - have to pack the winter woolies as it is defineatly cooler down south.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend all

Thursday 11 June 2009

Where's the energy levels gone?

This week I have found I don't have much energy for making cards. I did one commission ( but didn't get it photographed before giving it to the recipient) but struggled with that as well. I see lots I want to do but just can't be bothered.

Got some new stamps today. I went to a Stampin' Up demo a couple of weeks ago and ordered a set and they arrived today. Haven't done anything yet as after dinner this evening I had to go to the Mall to get new ink for my computer. It completely ran out of black and I need to do an insert for a card for my friend.

One bright spot this week was a lovely card and some stamped Teddies from Anne. Many thanks my dear, they are lovely and I will get around to doing something with them soon.

We are gearing up for a weekend away. We are heading off to visit hubby's Mum. She is fading fast and this maybe the last time we get to see her. Her birthday is Monday so we will stay to celebrate with her. Peter and I will travel 4 hours to Taupo on Saturday and have booked into a nice hotel there. We'll have a nice dinner and then head down to Levin ( another 4 hours south) on Sunday ( which just happens to be my birthday) and come back on Tuesday. So no stamping or card making for 4 whole days and probably no internet either....

So enough of my gloomy thoughts.... maybe after the break I'll feel more motivated to create and use my new stamps etc.
thanks for stopping by

Monday 8 June 2009

Weekend cards

This weekend was Emma's engagement party. The weather had been cold and crisp all week but of course on Saturday it was cold and a bit wet. Luckily they had bought a marquee that they put over the deck and it was perfect. The family were invited round for afternoon tea/drinks and nibbles. Emma is a great little cook and made over 100 cup cakes - all beautifully iced and decorated. Plus made an amazing chocolate mud cake. Yum. She got some amazing gifts and asked me to make the thank you cards...... So I made a start on Sunday. I chose a very simple design I saw on a web site using a reverse mask and used lots of different coloured inks to sponge on the colours. Then I used either HA scroll tree or Delicate leaves to stamp over the inked circle. I used a variety of Thank you sentiments by Hero Arts and Penny Black. I've got 15 done so far.... another 10 to go. As they are quite small I have had to make the envelope to match - thank goodness I have a template that is just the right size.I also managed to get this card made for my Mother in Law whose birthday is next Monday. We are going down to see her this coming weekend. For this card I used my largest Label 1 nestie to shape the base card and the PP for the layer. I also used my Spellbinders butterfly die to cut out the butterfly which I embossed and then added Pearlex powder in gold. The flourish is by Inkadinkadoo - and sentiment from HA CL272 All occasions messages. As this is a smaller than usual card I will need to make an envelope for it as well.

Well its time to go watch some TV - CSI then Brothers and Sisters so thanks for stopping by.

Thursday 4 June 2009

White Balance - Lisa's tutorial


I thought I'd see what I could do with my camera taking photos of the card I did tonight. It was cream and white colours - a total lift from a card I saw on Flickr done by rosigirl123 -see here
I had been reading Lisa Spangler's tutorial on white balance adjustments. My camera is Fujifilm Finepix E500 and I couldn't follow her instructions so got out my owners manual and had a read - not that that made much sense to me either. But decided to have a bit of a play.

First off I took a photo with my camera fully on Auto - just point and shoot mode. As I was using a window at night it didn't turn out too good.


Next I went into the manual controls and found WB - I used the auto choice which gave me a better photo -









Once I upload to Flickr I edited the photo with Picnik which made the photo sharper and clearer. I still don't really understand quite what I am doing here - so it will be going back to Lisa's tutorial and re- reading to see if I can follow it a bit better. Still I feel that using the manual adjustments to the WB (even though I used the auto ) did make a difference.

Now if I could only get the photos to sit where I want them in this blog......
Anyway thanks for looking - any hints you can give me would be appreciated....

Wednesday 3 June 2009

Friday is World Environment Day 2009


Friday, 5 June, is World Environment Day. This is a great opportunity for you to become aware of what sustainability is, what it means for you and to take action.
Last year, New Zealand hosted the day in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote the 2008 "Kick the Carbon Habit" theme. This year, the day is being hosted by Mexico with the theme "Your planet needs you-UNite to combat climate change". Find out more information about World Environment Day 2009.
Daily DO something tip:
Leave a cup and reusable bottle for water at work to eliminate buying drinks, which get served in plastic cups, or bottled water. 80% of plastic bottles are recyclable but only 20% are actually recycled.
So take care of our environment - reduce, recycle, reuse where you can.

Monday 1 June 2009

Mightly mushroom


Yesterday as I was heading out to get some messages - I noticed this mushroom on the verge two houses along from us so after I got back I took the camera and headed off to photograph it. I'm sure the few cars that went past were wondering what this strange woman was doing lying on the grass. Yes the best way to get the pic was to lie down and get to the same level as it. It was so amazing. This time of the year, heading into winter we get a few mushrooms popping their heads up, but this is the biggest I'd seen for some time. . For more picture see my Flicker photostream

Our weather has been rather wintery of late. The southern parts of the country and central North Island have had snow and the wind coming from the south is certainly polar driven. The wind has been quite cold.

This weekend and today are know as Queens Birthday weekend. Monday is a public holiday as we celebrate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth of England. New Zealand was a sovereign state. Just a long weekend for me of which I am pleased. Gives me more time to craft. I went to a Stampin' Up demo on Saturday and have ordered the set I saw the other weekend. Plus some choc chip card stock as I find it hard to find a nice dark brown anywhere else.

Today I decided to tidy up the desk.... but instead ended up making this card. I had got an old tissue box from work after seeing what people had done in the "go green" challenge on Hero Arts last week. I got inspiration from Donna's card here.
I was able to use my new CB folder for the background and my Label 1 nestibilities to make the frame. I wanted just a nice plain sentiment so used part of one on HA CL272. It said Happy Birthday to a great friend. I cut it off at the Happy Birthday so I got tow pieces. This is the joy of clear stamps. I put both bits on the block and it is one saying again.

Well thanks for visiting. I'm off to do some stamping of images to swap with Anne. Take care