‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the blog,
at the sight of a new post, the crowd were agog.
Though “crowd” is most likely too hopeful a noun,
since new posts around here are considerably down
from five posts in one day, believe it or not,
(on 6 August, ’07 for you disbelieving lot!)
to a single post (if you’re lucky) every month or two,
which I resolve to improve, I can assure you.

Next year, you see, the littler of my girls,
(the one with the brown eyes and gentle dark curls)
is heading to ‘big school’ – she’ll go every day,
which leaves mummy here with some more time to play.
And of course I will miss her – of that there’s no doubt,
but I figure it’s time to sort this ‘business’ out.

This ‘business’ that I started almost six years ago,
not realising back then quite how fast it would grow.
And therefore not doing it as ‘properly’ as I might,
had I foreseen the potential for it to take flight.
But soon with more time and opportunity to,
I look forward to starting it somewhat anew.

And I hope you will join me, both here and for real,
as I stamp and create with revitalised zeal.
For ‘to love what I do and share what I love”
is something I know that I’ll never tire of.
Huge thanks for your support of me, whether it be,
as someone already related to me,
or a person I’ve met on this stampin’ adventure,
so many of whom since became friends, I would venture.

So on this Boxing Day, I hope that it’s been
even better a Christmas than you had foreseen.
And here, from my family, best wishes to you,
and all our very best for a great New Year too!

On the last day of school, my small girl took part in the traditional Easter Hat Parade with her Kindy class, and despite my belief that the hat itself was something that was constructed during class time, a note home advising me that it was in fact something that was to be done at home was all at once surprising and exciting!

Out came the Bigshot, Ovals die, and a large array of Punches, and in conjunction with some pastel coloured felt sheets from a local craft store, we set about creating the Easter Hat of all Easter Hats!

Here’s my girl modelling the completed hat with a not-too-small amount of modelling attitude…

And here she is during the parade itself a week later (yes I was that organised, why do you ask?!), bursting with excitement and pride…

For the full story surrounding the construction of the hat plus additional photos, head on over to my other blog, where I post bits and pieces about life in general, leaving this here blog to focus mostly on the papery-crafty goodness

A quick note to say thanks for stopping by and checking in on my stampin’ adventures this past year and cheering me on with your lovely comments.

From my family to yours, we wish you the merriest of Christmases and a happy and healthy New Year!

I have had an advent calendar on my Christmas to-do list for such a very long time that I can’t even remember exactly how long it’s been there.  The cardboard variety emblazoned with all manner of commercial characters that you can pick up in the checkout aisle at K-Mart was never going to cut it for me, so my girls have been deprived of the delight of opening a little door every day during the month of December their entire lives while mummy got her act together.

Well mummy finally has and I’m pleased to report that as much as they probably would have been just as happy with one of the K-Mart jobs, the girls were over the moon when I unveiled the completed calendar, and the great thing about it is that it’s sturdy enough to be used year after year, so it has the added bonus of environmental friendliness too

Can you guess what I used?

The last photo is a bit of a giveaway, and as an additional clue, I probably looked a little bit dodgy carrying and armful of these things out of the shop where I bought them.

In my haste to finish the calendar in time for December 1st, I forgot to take a “before” picture of what I used to put it together, but with Google  Images to the rescue, this gives you an idea of what I started with…

…which probably also gives you an idea of why folks may have been looking at me sideways as I left the shop carrying four of them.

I wanted to keep it fairly simple for reasons of time and also fussiness.  Being that it would be covered in numbers, I didn’t think it needed much in the way of embellishments, so a few off cuts of Jolly Holiday DSP and some co-ordinating cardstock, plus several goes of my Timeless Type Sizzlets numbers through the BigShot and it was pretty much done!

To hold it all together, I used a 12×12 sheet of chipboard and cut lines part way through with my paper trimmer so that I could fold the sides up around the edges of the boxes, having first stuck them down with some large pieces of heavy duty double sided foam tape.

I stuck the folded up edges of chipboard to the boxes with Sticky Strip, then wrapped a length of Old Olive wide grosgrain tightly around the whole thing and tied it in a bow at the top.

I finished it with a day to spare and popped it above our fireplace in readiness for the first opening after dinner this past Wednesday, which needless to say was approached with much anticipation and excitement.

The girls were pretty excited too

They get to take it in turns to open the numbers, with the one who does the opening scoring the chocolate and the other one getting the fruit lolly.

Here’s my big girl doing the honours on day one with the small one looking on impatiently.

And here they are with the fruits of their patient waiting until after dinner time/bath time…

I’m thinking that I may have to invest some time and a couple of bottles of Crystal Effects to add a bit of a protective coating to the numbered panels as we have already had a bit of a chocolate covered fingers incident.  Not sure if I’ll worry about that or not.

BUT, I’m just delighted to have finally struck this one off my list of Christmassy things to make and am super pleased that the final result surpassed any of the pre-conceived ideas I had of how it might turn out.

I am, however, very interested in any other ideas for homemade advent calendars just in case the chocolate covered fingers get out of hand (no pun intended!) and ruin this one, requiring me to make a new one in future years.

So if you know of any, be sure to leave a comment and let me know so I can file them away for future reference

“Pill Box Advent Calendar”
Paper: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla & Early Espresso cardstock, Jolly Holiday DSP
Accessories: BigShot, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Sizzlets, Old Olive wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Sticky Strip, Tombow Multipurpose Glue

My big girl is back at school today for the fourth and final term of the school year.  I can hardly believe she’s almost done with Year Two and even more disbelieving that my small one will be in kindergarten next year.

We had the most wonderful couple of weeks of school holidays – my favourite ever, although as my handsome man said this morning, each subsequent set of school holidays seems to be our “favourite ever”!

This time around, we fit in an overnight trip to Preston Beach, an impromptu and very exciting bathroom renovation (which is ongoing as these things tend to be!), a picnic and play in King’s Park, a trip to the theatre to see “The Gruffalo” (our current favourite story book), a birthday party or two, an overnight stay with my gorgeous sis-in-law who in a couple of short weeks will be providing me with a brand new niece or nephew (yay!!), plus lots of jammie days and hanging out together at home.

I also had some “real” work these past few weeks, in the form of helping out Tim’s dad with some focus groups for a research project he’s currently doing, so being part of the regular workforce, including taking the train into the city and dressing like a grown up was a bit of a change of scenery for me

But now it’s back to regular scheduled programming.

My big girl was very excited to be heading back to school to see her little mates and to see where her desk had been moved to for the term

As for me, well I’m back into all the things that I let go in favour of spending family time in the holidays!  I have a terrible habit of not doing things until I have time to do them “properly” – things like replying to emails, updating my blog, sending out my newsletter, that kind of stuff

I still have plenty of things to share, but first must photograph, edit and upload them (another thing I haven’t had time to do “properly”!), including two scrapbook layouts that I *adore*.

Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience with me….!

Meet Hudson.

Hudson is 2 ½ but unlike most children his age, he has had a tough little life.  Doctors realised he had an incomplete brain before he was born and as a newborn he was discovered to be legally blind.  Hudson has also recently been diagnosed with both Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy.

His mobility has been hindered severely by his disabilities, however his family and friends wish nothing more than to give him the chance to get moving on his own.

Hudson needs a special Wheelchair/Walker, called a Kid Walker. This device will help get him mobile, allow him to play with his brother and sister, interact with other children his own age and give him independence in his day to day life.

Hudson’s story has touched so many people and for the past several months, a special crew of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators has been working really hard, securing support,  organising tutorials and gathering donations to get a fantastic event underway…

There is a HUGE online stamping event taking place, which you can find by clicking on the above banner.  There will be three weeks of stamping fun for you to join in– visit as often as you can, there will always be lots more to see, do and learn.

When you head on over to the blog you’ll find out all about Hudson, his family and his cause,  but more importantly, you can find out how you can help Hudson in his quest for greater mobility, at the same time as helping yourself learn how to make some great new paper craft projects.

How?

By purchasing bundles of tutorials kindly donated by Stampin’ Up! demonstrators the world over.

Each bundle has 10 fun-filled tutorials for just AU$10! And there are six themes to choose from – Bags & Boxes, Christmas, Kids’ Birthdays, Projects for Men & Boys, Punch Art & Scrapbooking.

There’s even a FREE bonus bundle if you buy four or more!

All proceeds go directly to help Hudson.

The Helping Hudson Crew will also be posting some awesome challenges throughout the three weeks.

For a small donation you can join in and be in the running for some FANTASTIC Stampin’ Up! prize packs, kindly donated by Stampin’ Up! Australia (Australian participants only)

Also keep your eyes peeled for challenges over at Just Add Ink and Stamp A Memory too.

For my small contribution, I wrote up a tutorial for the little bags that I made  as invitations for my big girl’s birthday recently.

This has been included in the Bags and Boxes category.

Personally, I plan on buying all of the bundles!  At $10 for ten tutorials, they’re an absolute steal and what a great cause they’re going to.  As a mum of two precious ones who have never been really challenged as far as their health is concerned, my heart goes out to Hudson and his family – it truly amazes me what some families are dealt and how they are able to be such a positive inspiration to us all.

If you’d love to help too, then be sure to head on over to the Helping Hudson blog and snap yourself up some fantastic tutorials.

If you love to help even more, then check out the Spread the Word section of the blog to see how you can help gather as much support as possible for this most worthy of causes.

It’s week two of school holidays over this way, and I would have to say that it’s been one of the most enjoyable school holidays I can remember.

Despite the fact that we have had a couple of overly crisp weeks in terms of weather, which was promptly followed by rain in large bucket loads, and a bit of a head cold on my part, we have have been enjoying several sleep ins, a bunch of pyjama days, loads of visiting, a number of play dates, a movie and large amounts of pottering at home.

The girls have been absolutely delightful, reveling in each others’ company and being quite honestly, completely delicious!

So I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this relaxed time, which hasn’t left a whole lot of room for blogging, so apologies for that

I have been stamping though, and have spent some time this week playing along with a number of challenges, hence the title of this post.

You may have noticed that the Design Team over at Just Add Ink has been expanded by about double, meaning that we only have to design fortnightly for the challenges.  We are free to play along in our off week though, and this week I decided to do exactly that – leaving it to the very last minute as is my standard OP, but anyway, here it is…

I especially wanted to play along with this one, as it involves Elegant Eggplant – a colour that I need as much practise with as I can get.

Despite needing practise though, I do tend to use Elegant Eggplant very much as a highlight rather than a feature colour, but at least it’s there!

I combined the colour challenge with a sketch from the Clean and Simple blog – a place that I head to on many an occasion when I’m in need of a fabulous yet simple layout

So there you have challenge number one!  Next up I’ll show you a card that I made up for a challenge on my team stamping blog, and later this week the next JAI challenge!

All this is after we head to the park tomorrow followed by dinner with my bestie and her gorgeous family.

It’s a tough life, but somebody has to do it

“Just Add Ink #25″
Stamps: Seeing Spots, Polka Dot,
Paper: Soft Suede, Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red, Very Vanilla, Raspberry Tart DSP
Ink: Soft Suede, Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red
Accessories: 1-3/8″, 1-1/4″ and 3/4″ Circle Punches, Rich Regals brads, Vintage brads, Elegant Eggplant 1/4″ Grosgrian Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals

My sweet and lovely big girl turned seven at the end of May, and this year it was decided that we would head out with a gaggle of her equally sweet and lovely friends and catch a movie together by way of celebration.

The only trouble with that plan was that the movies that are suitable for kids are all screened at school holiday time, and May being smack in the middle of term left us without a single G-rated option.

Being the sweet, lovely and incredibly understanding seven year old that she is, Hannah was perfectly fine to delay the outing by several weeks, so next week we’re off to see Toy Story 3 with aforementioned gaggle.

Being relatively small as gaggles go, I was able to cram a bit more detail and fun into the invitations than I would if she had been inviting a horde of her mates, and being that detail and fun is what I live for as far as papercraft is concerned, and I had a blast coming up with these….

The pinkest of pink personalised faux crocodile handbags!

Here’s what was inside…

The little ‘tickets’ are just about my favourite thing, mostly as I found a use for that funny ticket shaped die in the Lots of Tags set!  To make them, I found a promotional image online for Toy Story 3 and set up a Publisher document so that the ‘Admit One’ text and the image would line up perfectly to be cut out by the die.

The little lollipop shaped thingamy is a lip gloss, and then there’s the actual invitation itself.

The girls were all very excited to receive them and one of the lovely loves was still carrying hers around two days later when I saw her at school!

My next plan is for personalised goodie bags to actually take into the movie – I’m working on those already…

“Hannah’s 7th Birthday Invites”
Stamps: Vintage Vogue
Paper: Pixie Pink, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Pixie Pink, Versamark
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Pretties Kit, Melon Mambo Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, Lots of Tags dies, Top Note Die, Jewelry Tag Punch, Sticky Strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals

We’re up to week 23 at Just Add Ink and the girls have come up with yet another fabbo challenge to get your creative juices flowing…  Just Add DSP!

After a false start that I just couldn’t bring myself to make public, I used the opportunity to make a 12×12 scrapbook page using a photo from our recent trip to Sydney…

The great thing about Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper is that all the hard work is done as far as co-ordination.  No longer can I be found wandering the aisles of my local scrapbooking stores hunting down papers that will work with the one that have in my hand, that invariably doesn’t have a solid cardstock colour that matches either.

The papers in this layout are all taken from the Sweet Always pack, and I have only used seven of the 12 different designs that make up the pack, so the options for mixing and matching are pretty much endless!

Here’s a closer look at the detail…

The ribbon rose is a gorgeous idea that was detailed in our demonstrator publication, ‘Impressions’  that we demonstrators get each month.  It’s such a sweet and simple idea and a whole other way to use ribbon (and it uses ribbon, I will tell you!).

The idea of using it as a flower centre was one that I gleaned from one of the most talented scrapbookers I know, who also happens to be a Perth girl – Tanya Tahir.

I have never seen a layout of hers that I haven’t gazed open-mouthed at.  Such a talent and a lovely girl too

So there you have it – Just Add Ink Challenge #23 – a fabulous reason to hide away with some pretty papers and turn them into something prettier.

“Just Add Ink #23 – Designer Series Paper”
Stamps: None
Paper:Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Sweet Always DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip for sponging
Accessories: Top Note die, Little Leaves die, Timeless Type Alphabet Dies, Die Cut Blooms, 1-3/8″ Circle Punch, Regal Rose 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Button Latte, Linen Thread, Chocolate Chip Marker, Stampin’ Sponge, Glue Dots

I think I may have mentioned on a previous occasion or two that I have a folder on my computer named ‘to blog’.  This folder contains images of projects completed over a good long while that are stored there so that I know I need to put them up here for you all to see.

At this point they would more aptly fit in a folder entitled ‘what the heck are you waiting for?!’

If not for the fact that the computer doesn’t like anything other than letters and numbers in its folder names, I may well have had a go at changing it.

So anyway, I’ve decided that it’s time to clear the backlog, what with colour collections being renovated and only just over a month until stamps and all sorts start retiring and all.

So herewith, my first offering from the aforementioned folder.  Blow the dust off if you will

This is a card that I made for my sweet niece Izzy, who turned 11 in December last year.

See what I mean about backlog?

Moving on…

I just had to have a go at the Sweet Treat Cups when they first appeared back in the previous mini and LOVE how they jazz up  a card.

The fact that you can fill them with mini M&Ms or other small chocolatey treats is a definite bonus, particularly where an 11 year old girl is involved.

You may have noticed in the flower to the right that there is also a small protrusion…

See?!

When I first laid eyes on the Sweet Treat Cups, they reminded me instantly of a class that I saw offered by a co-worker at a local craft shop where I worked momentarily a few years ago between children.  It involved using objects found around the home in your crafting and card making.

Can anybody tell me what I’ve used here for the smaller flower?

Petal Pizzazz would have to be one of my absolute favourite and most-used stamp sets from this current catalogue and I always get nervous around this time – a month or so out from retiring lists appearing – that one like this will retire.

I REALLY hope it sticks around and heads will not have to roll.

I’m just sayin’…..

As it turns out my nephew, Izzy’s little brother Harry has his birthday exactly a week before his big sis, so he got a Sweet Treat Cup on his card too.

No girly flowers here though….

…just a rocket!

This idea came from my super-clever and delightful sis-in-law Janny who is part of my stampin’ team.

She came up with the oh-so-awesome idea to fill the STC with blue and green mini M&Ms, thereby creating Earth for the rocket to blast off from.

Is this not the coolest idea for a boy card you’ve ever seen?!

Whether or not Harry paused to appreciate the artistry and inventiveness of this idea prior to tearing it apart to get to the M&Ms, I can’t honestly recall, but one can remain hopeful.

In fact, for both of the cards, I installed a handy little flap behind the STC using a scrap of cardstock and the slit punch so that getting at the contents doesn’t require complete annihilation of the card itself…

Again, whether or not Harry noticed this thoughtful inclusion is another thing entirely.  Let’s just say its a good thing he’s my favourite nephew

The Sweet Treat Cups are perfectly designed to work with the 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, both of which are available in the current Autumn/Winter mini catalogue.

If you’d like to grab some of these to have a play with for yourself, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

“Izzy’s Sweet Treat Flowers”
Stamps: Petal Pizzazz, Short & Sweet
Paper: Regal Rose, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
Ink: Tangerine Tango, Summer Sun, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Eyelet Border, Word Window, 1/2″ & 1-3/4″ Circle Punches; Regal Rose 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“Harry’s Sweet Treat Rocket”
Stamps: Pun Fun, Big Bold Birthday, Season of Joy (stars)
Paper: Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, Night of Navy, Watercolour Paper
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red, Night of Navy
Accessories: Scallop Border, Word Window $ 1-3/4″ Circle Punches; Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Aquapainter, White Gel Pen, Stampin’ Dimensionals