New Baby | Happy 30th Birthday

I finally managed to get the new baby card that I mentioned in my previous post done & dusted, and I must say, I am really pleased with how it turned out.

When I went hunting for what type of card I was going to make for my new great nephew, Archie, I looked through my stamps and found a Lily of the Valley stamp I hadn't used.  So I went looking for layouts I could use to incorporate that stamp.

I was inspired by a card created for an old challenge blog called Here Come the Boys by Sharon, unfortunately, the blog doesn't exist any more, it closed in 2013 - but I did save the image as inspiration for the future.

Several layers have been cut with Spellbinders dies, Lily of the Valley stamp hand coloured with copics, embellished with liquid paint & kindy glitz, and a ribbon.

It is also my niece's 30th Birthday - so here is the card I made for her :)

I would like to submit my baby card to the following challenges:
Dream Valley Challenges - #142 one for the boys
CAS-ual Fridays (layer it on) - CFC158 (my card has 8 layers)
Daring Cardmakers: Seriously Monochromatic
Sunny Day Crafting - 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.

A Crafty Weekend Retreat and a short holiday

Well, I have been away from this blog a bit longer than anticipated - the last 6 weeks, have just disappeared into the blink of an eye.

I have been slowly dealing with Dad's estate - it is still difficult to go through his things ..... they have just been dumped in the lounge and I go through them one box at a time.

I made a baby quilt for a baby shower for Mr Fixit's niece along with the following card:

On Friday, 3rd October 2014, I flew to sunny Queensland for a much needed crafty retreat put on by the lovely Kaye, from CraftMad.

Earlier in the year, I started saving some 'Mad Money' - here it is with a sneak peek of the gifts I made for the girls :)

Mad Money $65  :)

This year, there were 8 ladies in attendance:  Kaye, Mandy, Ruth, Therese, Tracey, Jan, Kerry & myself.

Our Beautifully decorated meals area

a rather cheeky visitor

The CraftMad Ladies
Front - L to R:  Mandy, Jan, Kerry
Back - L to R:  Me, Ruth, Therese, Kaye, Tracey

A care package from Merry, one of the CraftMad Ladies that could not make it :(

My Project

Mandy starting my project

Jan & Tracey

Kerry did a bit of mix and match :)

Beaded Angel was one of my gifts to each lady :)

One of Kaye's projects

love the little cotton reels :)

Lunch break

Tracey's project

Kerry's project

Jan's project

Mandy's project

loved the butterflies :)

Strawberries at every meal break!  I was in heaven!

Jan's project

Another one of Kaye's projects - a beautiful card

and the box to present it :)

I had an absolute ball over our Crafty Retreat Weekend - I am really hoping I am able to go again next year ......... our theme will be Christmas :)  So thinking caps on, and off to get a new money box to start saving :)

These photos cover the Friday to Sunday :)  more photos will turn up on my Photography blog shortly

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.

UnstampaBelles Baby!

One of our lovely UnstampaBelles Team members has had a baby boy!

Congratulations to Sarah on the birth of baby Elijah!

inside

Items Used

CUP File #105242-28 - Baby Boy Topper

White square card, foam dots - Blue Edge Crafts

Kindy Glitz/Stickles

Cuttlebug - dots embossing folder

Pop on over to the UnstampaBelles blog to see what the rest of the DT have created!

Thank you for visiting my blog - 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.

Happy News for this Great Aunt

My nephew's wife has had her baby girl ;-)

3 weeks early, but everyone is doing fine and they are home already ;-)

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

Baby, Baby, Baby ;-)

Baby fever has hit our household.

With Riley's first birthday just last week - see card HERE - now we have a baby shower card for Riley's Mum - yes, Riley will have a new little sister soon - around the end of June beginning of July.

I went to a baby shower today, for my nephew's wife.

My own creation using the CraftROBO.

I also made this big carry bag for her and filled it with goodies.

See my other post HERE for details on the bag.

They say Adelaide is so small, well they are right, it seems I went to school with my nephew's wife's aunty - does that make us Aunties-In-Laws??

My Toy Society Drop

I managed to do my Toy Society drop yesterday - it was a lot of fun.  Here is what I made for our CraftMad June Sewing Swap:

I decided to place my 'drop' in the Baby Change Room of the Clovercrest Shopping Centre, Modbury, South Australia.

Here is the proof of the drop:

I think I will do another one soon - I enjoyed the challenge - I may even attempt the bear again seeing the first attempt was so bad ;-)

I hope that the blocks find a new home soon.  The Toy Society Blog is  here - check it out, maybe even participate yourself ;-)

A sad moment for this Great Aunt

Shaun, one of the premature twins of my nephew passed away yesterday.   He died peacefuly in his mother's arms. He needed emergency surgery, and seemed to improve for a while, but deteriorated rapidly over the last 48 hours.

It breaks my heart to see my nephew and his wife go through this. 

I don't know about you, but when I am upset, I clean.  So I have cleaned the kitchen, the pantry and was about to start on the oven when I got the urge to cook.  So I proceeded to make up a batch of butter chicken and divided it up into single serves just for me ;-)  Of course, the kitchen was messy again so I cleaned again!

I came into the craft room to make a few sympathy cards - this was very hard to do.

After several attempts, I came up with this one - for Robert & Jade

I am still working on one for my sister.

I wasn't really in the right frame of mind to make cards, so I turned to my computer for something to do. 

I had been asked by a friend to make a card for her husband with a farm theme and decided to use an image from http://www.craftsuprint.com/. 

I printed on some gloss cardstock, but the ink would not dry and kept bleeding.  I then printed it out on some photo paper and that turned out lovely, but was not thick enough to make a card.  It took about 30 mins to hand cut the barn and all the animals out of the photo paper, then about another 15 mins layering. 

The front looks OK

then stuck it on some cardstock using JAC paper and hand cut the thick cardstock

YUK!   my cardstock edges were terrible and while I was putting it all together,

some of the ink rubbed off the photo paper! - one ruined card ;-(

Then I had a bright idea ;-)  how about using my CraftROBO - it can print and cut!  This 'print and cut' feature was the deciding factor in my CraftROBO vs Cricut debate.

Those of you who have used the auto trace software with the CraftROBO know that it is not as easy as it sounds.  Long story short, several thousand clicks & drags and 8 hours later, I have produced a card that I am reasonably happy with ;-)

I ended up having to make two GSD files for the print and cut to work - one for the animals and one for the barn.  If you look closely, there is still some work to do and I will fine tune my GSD file in the future so that I can use it again.

This exercise was a real challenge and I was glad of the diversion for a few hours ;-)

It really helps when you have some nice graphics to start with and this file from http://www.craftsuprint.com/ was a real pleasure to work with. 

I just hope I have not infringed any copyright laws by making a GSD file so that I could save a whole lot of hurt using scissor to cut out all the layers ;-)
I will be sending this picture to the CraftsUprint website so that they can see what I have made with one of their files.

RIP Shaun Robert Gibbens - you were on this world for such a very short time, you will not be forgotten.

It is a bit earlier than expected, but ...... I am a Great Aunt - again!

My nephew's twins arrived a bit early yesterday!

Riley Shane and Shaun Robert were born at 27 weeks and only weigh 920 gms and 910 gms.

They are both so tiny!!!

Mother and babies are doing OK - the babies will stay in hospital for about 3 months.

As well as being Mother's Day this weekend, it is also Jade's birthday!

Looks like I have a few cards to make on the weekend - or shall it be one big combined card with babies, flowers and birthday cake???  ;-)

WOYWW - 21st April 2010

My workdesk is fairly neat at this precise moment.

here is my desk - set up to take the final photo of my first 'commissioned' card.

SG1 on in the background ;-)

Here is the finished card - I am pleased with the way this one turned out. 

Certainly, a very masculine card. 

Now to show you my Workdesk #2 - I have spread out to the lounge/dining area and have seconded the extendable dining table ;-)

I have been playing with the layout and think I will go with this

If you feel like having a nosey, and want to have a look at other people's work spaces,

click on the WOYWW icon in the sidebar.