Off to a good start ...................

My first cards for the year :)

I wanted to make a card for my friend Joy's birthday, and I knew I wanted to use a Ladybird, and I was drawn to my Penny Black stamps that I have had for years, but never used - so all that was left was to find a layout ............ harder than you think!

I came across an excellent sketch on the Sweet Sunday Sketch blog - unfortunately, it is the last sketch for that blog :(  However, I think I will keep it bookmarked so that I can go back and use some of the other sketches :)



I used Sketch #300, but changed the proportions of the centre panel so it wouldn't take anything away from the Penny Black image :)

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge is anything goes, as long as you use a Penny Black image.

I was on a roll, the creative juices started flowing, and these cards came together in a few hours!  The hardest part was trawling through my DP to find something suitable for the background.

I decided to make two cards, one rectangle and one square.  I like them both, but think I will give the square one to my friend Joy :)

EDITED:  the pink rectangle card is available in my ETSY store :)  I guess it could be used for several purposes: birthday, hello, thinking of you, missing you, or simply just because :)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.
Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

I'm back :)

Well, that was a bit longer break than I anticipated :(
Things are progressing with the sorting of my Father's estate - such that it is :)  The amount of paperwork is staggering!  I understand it would be even worse if he did not have a Will!

It is time to play catchup with my blog posts, and to say a very sincere thank you to those that left beautiful comments, both here and on my Facebook page - they were most appreciated.

A big thank you to bloggy friend Naomi, who made a purchase of Angels from my ETSY store - it was nice to be creative and make something pretty during my down time.





I am so lucky that Need4Bead is so very close - I needed some more supplies rather urgently, and they have everything I needed :)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.
Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

TV Remote Control Shaped Card - MK II

 Here is MK II 

I did do a little fine tuning - I also gave the card a flat base so that it stands up ........... I forgot about that in the first version  ;-)

this card is now available in my ETSY STORE

with free post within Australia 

I can see where I can make a few more tweaks ;-)  but overall, I am very pleased with how this turned out.

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.
Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Halfway Inspiration - UnstampaBelles #27 - stash or scraps

time for some halfway inspiration for Challenge #27 for UnstampaBelles  - use up our scraps or old stash!

Our sponsor this month is

my goto craft forum

Please remember .............

Any form of paper creation will be accepted as long as NO STAMPS (Digital or Rubber) have been used.  Due to graphic technology any entry with a graphic image will be subject to the Design Teams' discretion and we will contact you if we feel the entry does not meet the ethos of our challenge blog.

For further information, see our rules here.

The September challenge closes Friday, 4th October 2013 and Winners will be announced Monday, 7th October 2013 (yippee, on my Birthday) - Remember we are working on Aussie Time.

As I have mentioned previously, I have been slowly going through my stash and have been attempting to make some order of it all ................... remind me to post some pics of my efforts in organising my ever increasing stash of papers and cardstock ......... and embellishments, and bling ...... and the rest ;-)

Anyway .......... back to the halfway inspiration for UnstampaBelles.

I had come across some old cardstock - very thin, too thin to form the base of a card, but wonderful for using in my CraftROBO.

It is Mr Fixit's birthday today ;-)  and as I often do, I used him as a 'crash test dummy' for an idea for a card I have been working on.

His words were ................ "very clever, love!  that's not a photo is it?  you did that yourself!"  

well, yes, I did, I used our own remote as a reference, and designed it in Silhouette Studio, but I think it needs a bit of fine tuning before I can put it for sale in my ETSY store ;-)

Another thing on my 'need to make time for' list!

EDITED:   MK II available in my ETSY STORE

I would also like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Lollipop Ladies - photo inspiration 'smarties'  the buttons
Creative Cutting Challenge - Anything Goes


Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.
Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Nursery Wall Art for Jackson

I received a Custom Order request via my ETSY store

I am quite pleased with the way this one turned out ;-)

Now to get onto one for my own niece ;-)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day. 

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-) 

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Another Custom Order ;-)

I got another custom order yesterday via ETSY for one of my cards 

this one is on it's way to a lucky somebody in Tassie ;-)

My First International Custom Invitation Order

I have completed my first international custom invitation order - it's on its way to USA!

I was asked to provide 30 clown shaped invites to Jennie for her daughter's 2nd birthday.

I must say processing the order was a real challenge as Paypal decided to have a hissy fit and not work with ETSY - but we found a work around - Jennie was a real gem in being willing to find another way ;-)

progress shot - first batch drying ;-)

I must admit, it was a challenge doing 30 of them in such a tight timeframe - having to allow 6-10 working days for postage from Australia to USA puts a real spanner in the works ;-)

Update on Julie-Ann from Shirley Twigg

Shirley has just posted this message on Facebook

Well Julie has found her peace and passed away this morning, glad that she will be with beautiful Jacinda, so sad for Len on an already sad day xxx Thank you for all the prayers and love and light, I know we all helped make Julie's journey a little better and gave the family some peace during a sad sad time, I'm glad we kept the faith and hope, and I'm so thankful that Len had some time with the love of his life xxx


So sad, words don't seem to be enough - my thoughts are with the whole family and DUST community.

EDITED:   The DUST community banded together to raise funds for the Twigg Family by listing various items on ETSY.  To date DUST has collected $3,694.06.   I am so proud to be part of this wonderful Aussie Community. 

Healing thoughts & prayers for Julie-Ann - UPDATED 22/8/11

I am a member of the DUST (Down Under Street Team) on ETSY - it is a group of Australian ETSY sellers that support and help promote each other.

I haven't been a member for long, but my communications with Julie-Ann have made me feel quite welcome and hopeful of my success in ETSY.

Unfortunately, Julie-Ann was involved in a plane crash where her daughter was killed along with the pilot. 

Julie-Ann is now fighting for her life.

See news story HERE and updated story HERE 

UPDATED: 22/8/11 via Shirley Twigg

Julie is speaking, which is a great start, she is having more surgery today hopefully, she isn't completely coherent for the moment with anesthetic and sedation xxx


I am not a religious person, but I do believe in the power of positive thoughts, so I have a small request to send some positive healing thoughts (and prayers too ;-) ) Julie-Ann's way.

Congratulations on your 20th Wedding Anniversary

Some very close friends of ours recently celebrated their 20th Wedding Anniversary.

I can post a picture of the card I sent now that they have received it in the mail.  I know my friend has a quick look at the blog every now and then and I didn't want to spoil the surprise.

I have designed this card using my CraftROBO. 

This type of card customised with any number can be purchased from my ETSY store, or the GSD cutting file can be purchased from CraftsUPrint

Don't forget:

• check out the new UnstampaBelles Challenge Blog - see post at top.
• check out my 50 followers blog candy post - candy closes 30th June