Tags and more tags!

Been busy making tags. Have really enjoyed the process. Inspiration came from Pinterest - a jumping off point!

On a Personal Note -
Weather here has been phenomenally hot on some days and then up to 15 degrees cooler the next day. Christmas prep is fully underway. We are decorating the house this weekend and in 2 weeks we will be hosting our annual BBQ. I am going to do Mexican food this year. Just love the fresh flavours.
Earlier in the month was my daughter's birthday and we celebrated in style with a Thai banquet. Consequently discovered two new recipes that will now join the weeknight repetoire - Sticky pork on broccolini and matarbarak (aromatic meat filled roti parcels).
The weight loss is coming along well and I am not having a lot of problems eating a varied diet. Red meat is still tricky (fish and chicken are fine) but I am on iron supplements so not too worried.

Hope all is well in your part of the world.

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

Halloween Display

My Daughter busied her creative fingers to create a Halloween display from her Sylvanian families collection. Without further ado here are some photos!

The windows glowed red from cellophane and battery operated tealights.
The house decals are a Stampin' Up Halloween stamp set and the cats are a cheery Lynn die.

The Players - Witch, Ghost, Baby Pumpkin, Mummy, Angel, Pirate

Decor props

Handmade candy

The teeny loot bags

I am so proud of her ingenuity! I would like to hint for a Christmas display but I will let her take a well-earned break first!

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

September 365 Christmas Cards Update

Well September was busy and mostly gold! Here are a few (5) of my creations.

Card 1:

Stampin' Up (SU) cardstock in crumb cake, sahara sand lucky limeade. DCWV gold metallic cardstock. Tree fussy cut from Crate Paper 'snow day'. Embossed frame is from SU and I highlighted the dots with Wink of Stella clear.

Card 2:
SU cardstock in very vanilla and crumb cake. SU glimmer paper 'champagne'. Websters Pages patterned paper.  PSX stamp in crumb cake highlighted in Wink of Stella clear. This is a very sparkly card in real life!

Card 3:
SU cardstock in delightful dijon. SU glimmer paper 'champagne'. Blue/grey and patterned paper from stash. Spellbinders 'create a flake' die. Kaisercraft adhesive pearls.

Card 4:
SU cardstock in delightful dijon and very vanilla. Websters Pages patterned paper. SU 'holiday ornaments' in various metallics and foils from stash. SU glimmer 'champagne'. DCWV glimmer 'gold'. SU embossing folders. Bits of gold braid. SU itty bitty punch - circle.

Card 5:
SU cardstock in delightful dijon and very vanilla. Websters Pages patterned paper. SU 'holiday ornaments' in various gold metallics from stash. SU glimmer 'champagne. Cuttlebug 'swiss dots' and 'snow dots' embossing folders (bottom ornament). Pointsettia border embossing folder (magazine freebie).

It was fun restricting myself to a colour palette and encouraged me to 'explore' texture. Give it a go!

On a Personal Note -

Losing weight really well. Very happy! Still quite a ways to go - but at least the scales are finally heading in the right direction! The dog is also very happy because we are back walking again.

The weather is warming up and the flower shops are full of spring blooms and smell amazing. I walked passed one the other day that had a large bucket of jewel bright poppies on display out the front. I wanted to run away with the whole bucket!!

My attention has turned to the garden and the delights of al fresco dining. I am having some girlfriends over for a brunch next weekend so will be doing some serious 'tidying' and beautification so we can sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Might just have to buy me some poppies for the table!

My thoughts are also turning to the serious end of Christmas prep. Lots of lists being made! The Christmas decorations are just starting to appear in the shops. My heart goes pitter pat in anticipation!! The stall prep is moving into fever pitch gear - trouble is I keep having more ideas of things to make and there just isn't the time or space! (More lists I am afraid).

I hope all is well in your part of the world.

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

Same Sketch - Different Look

It can sometimes happen that when you have a large batch of cards to make you fall into the trap of thinking that you have to 're-invent the wheel' for each card. What I am proposing is - use the same sketch and create difference with your colours, papers, diecuts and embossing. The sketch I used for these cards is just a basic one panel arrangement. By swapping the side that the panel is on and the size of the panel (as well as the other variations mentioned above) I was able to create a selection of cards that don't all look the same. Here are four of them:

Card 1: Stampin' Up cardstock in perfect plum and blushing bride. Bo Bunny 'altitude' paper. Cuttlebug 'snowflake' embossing folder. Stampin' Up edgelit. Magazine freebie and Cheery Lynn snowflake dies cut out of a pearlized paint chip.

Card 2: Stampin' Up cardstock in old olive and cherry cobbler. Kaisercraft spotty paper. DCWV gold pearlized cardstock cut with large scallop scissors. Quikcutz "dots" embossing folder. Tim Holtz "joy" die. Stampin' Up circle punch. Pale green gel pen.

Card 3: Stampin' Up cardstock in very vanilla, always artichoke and cherry cobbler. Authentique 'free bird' paper. Stampin' Up embossing folder. Tim Holtz 'peace' die.

Card 4: Stampin' Up cardstock in whisper white, real red, old olive and early espresso. Paper from stash. Spellbinders edging die. Poppystamps 'starburst' nesting dies. Paper Smooches 'christmas words' die.

Give it a go - you will be surprised at how quickly you can come up with variations.

On a Personal Note -

Well I am three weeks post surgery and all is going well. Am losing weight (Yay!) and my ever present demon of insatiable hunger is being reined in. Have started eating purees and introducing protein. I find at the moment that I can only tolerate a little - but that's okay. I am still in the healing phase. The stick blender that the children gave me for Mothers day is getting a good workout! Am going to try making some moroccan pumpkin soup with lentils tomorrow. Got everything except the lentils!

Have been working on plans to remodel the front garden. It is currently a dust bowl. We are surrounded by large trees, so no sun for any lawn to grow, and the roots suck all the moisture so very difficult to grow anything! My plans are to put fake grass down over weed mat (to keep the tree roots at bay) and put shade loving plants like ferns, violets and hostas in trough pots around the edges. I have bought some garden lights and hope to have it all done before our annual Christmas party. I really want to utilise the yard more this summer.

Winter has returned with a vengeance - very cold, windy and icy rain.

Hope it's warm where you are.
Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

August 2015 365 Christmas Cards Update

Whoa! Another month passed, another month closer to Christmas. Seemed to be making mainly tree cards this month. Here is a selection.

Stampin' Up cardstock in certainly celery and primrose petals. Quikutz 'diamonds & dots' embossing folder. Kaisercraft  'silly season' paper.

Stampin' Up cardstock in gumball green and certainly celery. Pink pearlized paint chip sample. Kaisercraft 'mint twist' collectibles.

Stampin' Up cardstock in wild wasabi and blushing bride. Patterned paper from stash. Reverse/negative diecut from Wplus9. Iridescent glitter. Small diecut leftover from a snowflake centre in pearlized paint chip.

Stampin' Up cardstock in wild wasabi, cherry cobbler, whisper white and summer summerfruit. Stampin' Up stamp set 'snow much fun' coloured with various markers. Stampin' Up 'square lattice' embossing folder. Darice 'stars' embosing folder. Sizzix 'ornaments' embossing folder. All embossing highlighted with Wink of Stella 'clear'.

Stampin' Up cardstock whisper white and real red. Stampin' Up stamp set 'contempo christmas' coloured with markers. Patterned paper from stash.

Stampin' Up cardstock in whisper white and poppy parade. Stampin' Up sentiment in ridinghood red. Kaisercraft 'mint twist' collectible diecut. Spellbinders 'edgebilities' zig zag trim. K-Kingdom 'plaid' embossing folder.

Stampin' Up cardstock in wild wasabi. DCWV gold foil cardstock. Sizzix embossing folder. Diecut from a magazine.

On a Personal Note -

Spring has sprung here and the days are lovely and balmy and there is blossom and jasmine everywhere. You cannot help but feel uplifted when it's as beautiful as this.

Had a little stay in hospital for an operation to help me get a handle on my weight problem. I managed to lose 17kg on the pre-operative phase so hopefully there are many more lost kilos to come. I have a huge amount of weight to lose just to get into a healthy range. This quest is not for vanity or attainment of some beauty ideal. Rather it is for health. I had reached a stage where it was really starting to have an adverse effect on my health and well-being: both physically and emotionally.

Once I have recovered I am going back to my yoga practice. At the moment I am as flexible as a brick!

Hope life is treating you well.

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

RSPCA cupcake day

In August my daughter held an event as part of the annual fundraiser for the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). The idea is to have a cupcake event and raise funds. My daughter chose to host an afternoon tea. She charged an entrance fee and had a donation box. She did all the organising and baking herself and raised over $500.00. Here are some pics of her efforts:

The poster showing what the donations would fund.

The spread

Red velvet cupcakes with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting

Chocolate mud cupcakes with oreo frosting and mini oreos

Lemon cheese cakes with edible gold glitter

Chocolate mud cupcakes with ganache and malteasers

The "Neapolitan" plate - Brownies, Rice Krispie treats and Coconut ice

The drinks - juice, soda stream and water.

Plus - The Milkshake Bar.

She also had cupcakes to sell and animal themed cards.

All the cupcake picks, table scatters and labels were made using Stampin' Up supplies. Except for the sausage dog which was from Paper Smooches.

Very proud of her!

On a Personal Note -

Please forgive the hideous Kitchen colour scheme. Not of my choosing - it's a rental!

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

July 365 Christmas Cards Update

Got a new die in July and had fun playing with it! It is the Couture Creations 'holly flourish' and is quite beautiful and easy to use. I have a Big Shot and don't have any quick release paper (though I am tempted to try it for some other dies I own!) - but this die worked really well and was not tricky at all.

Here are a couple of the variations I used and some other cards from the July output. 7 in all.


1. Stampin' Up (SU) cardstock in sahara sand and mint macaron. Patterned paper from stash. Couture Creations die - popped. Metallic gold cardstock from stash. Various single hole punches.

2. SU cardstock in real red and certainly celery. Patterned paper from stash. Couture Creations die - popped. Sentiment cut from DSP. Red gems from stash.

3. SU cardstock in real red, gumball green and whisper white. Patterned paper from stash. Couture Creations die - popped. Red gems from stash.

4. SU cardstock in certainly celery and whisper white. Cuttlebug ' swiss dots' embossing folder. Couture Creations die. Gold foil from stash. Various sizes of single hole punch. Topper from magazine freebie.

 5. SU cardstock in delightful dijon and very vanilla. Sizzix 'nordic sweater' embossing folder. Tree die cut from Kaisercraft 'mint twist' collectibles. I pierced the edge of the vanilla piece with the tree on it

6. SU cardstock in primrose petals and certainly celery. Gold foil from DCWV. Cuttlebug 'snowflakes' embossing folder. Cardstock topper from a magazine freebie.

7. SU cardstock in whisper white and melon mambo. Kaisercraft stamp coloured with melon mambo and a Tombow marker. Tree die cut from Kaisercraft 'mint twist' collectibles.

On a Personal Note -

Really miss eggs and toast!
The eating plan is now into its fourth week and I am into quite a routine. Never really conscious before about how often I was eating - sort of unconscious situational consumption. Now I am being really structured. Still don't totally trust myself in social settings so have been sort of avoiding them. Also not going to football as don't feel strong enough yet to resist the urge to eat 'footy' food. Very weak when it comes to resisting food habits!!!

Have not dared to weigh myself yet. Terrified I will be disappointed and go on a 'bender' (food - not alcohol!).

The weather is warming up and jasmine can't be too far away. Love. love the scent of jasmine and Elicheer jonquils. Also love the pastel fragility of poppies. Spring - mmmm. Warm, balmy days and the joys of al fresco dining. The birds have really upped the ante with chirping and are starting about 4.30am these days. I find quiet joy in waking up to that sound.

Hope the world is treating you well.
Happy Crafting!
Cheers

Susie