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

My First Christmas Ornament of the Year

This was an idea I saw on that marvelous resource called Pinterest. The pin that inspired my version was from 'paperedcottage.blogspot.com', but there are many variations out there. Just remember to set yourself strict time limits when entering the 'rabbit hole' of Pinterest. Trust me - you can lose hours if you are not careful!

Anyways - here is my interpretation of the ornament. It uses graduating lengths of double-sided scrapbooking paper/DSP. The best glue to use is tacky craft glue and a clothes peg to keep each layer in place until it 'grips'. Doesn't take long.

I fussy cut and popped my stamped image and pierced the edge of the vanilla circle. I have now made several of these at this size and am now going to have a go at making some 'giant' ones.

On a Personal Note -

The eating plan is progressing well. I am less hungry this week than I was last week and am enjoying working out ways to make my 2 cups of veges per meal taste yummy. I am also on a protein shake for each meal too. As I said before - this is under medical supervision.

It was my birthday this week and usually my children go all out with a yummy breakfast in bed and lovely dinner and scrummy cake. Could not do that this year so we celebrated a fortnight early! My daughter made strawberry french toast rollups for breakfast and chicken yakatori for dinner with asian salad and her amazing toasted sesame dressing. My cake was an extravaganza - see below!

Couldn't have cake pictures without the obligatory one of Schnitzel looking hopeful!

It was a marbled butter cake with cream cheese frosting, wafer biscuit surround and mini m&m's. Very yummy!

Hope you have been, or will be, spoiled on your birthday.

Happy Crafting!
Cheers

Susie

Christmas 365: June Update

Yes - late: but better than never!!

Have been trying my hand at paper ornaments. Quite a few at the almost finished stage. Hopefully photos later this month. The cardmaking has been continuing apace though. Here are a few of the latest... a bit of a gold affair!

Stampin' Up (SU) cardstock very vanilla and baked brown sugar. Music paper is from my stash and the coppery gold mount is a paint chip.

Same SU cardstock and stash paper. The Cuttlebug embossing folder has been highlighted with Wink of Stella - clear.

Stampin' Up (SU) cardstock in so saffron and very vanilla. SU gold glimmer paper for mounts and MFT snowflake die. Websters Pages patterned paper and Cuttlebug 'snow dots' embossing folder.

SU cardstock in baked brown sugar and very vanilla. Couture Creations embossing folder highlighted with Wink of Stella - clear. MFT and Cheery Lynn snowflakes cut from a paint chip. SU stamp set 'snowflake soiree' in cherry cobbler ink. The sentiment panel was trimmed into a flag and pierced.

Something loud and blingy to finish! SU cardstock in lucky limeade and melon mambo. Lime glitter, gold foil and gold corrugated papers are all from stash. Snowflake dies are from MFT, Spellbinders and Cheery Lynn.

On a Personal Note -

Had a bit of a rough month mood wise - adjusting to new medication regime. Things are starting to look up so I will just 'keep on keeping on' as they say. One benefit of the med change is that my appetite has returned to a more acceptable level! Don't constantly feel like I need to eat a horse! Hopefully will be able to speed up losing some of the damned weight I gained. To say 'not happy Jan' is an understatement!!

Off to the football with my son tonight to watch our team hopefully win. It's our mother son activity and I cherish the time. The other week my daughter and I attended a craft show. We go to the same one every year and it's a special outing for us. We saw some great things and my daughter bought herself a new craft product to try - air dry paper clay. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

365 Christmas Update - May

Been beavering away on more Christmas cards for my Facebook project and also on some items for a stall my daughter and I are holding in December. As I don't want to be burning the midnight oil come November I have mapped out a weekly schedule for the rest of the year. 'Little and Often' is my new mantra!

Any how here are a couple of the latest Christmas cards - bit of a snowflake theme!

SU cardstock in Whisper white and Basic grey. Patterned paper is from Bo Bunny 'Candy cane lane' collection. MFT 'Jumbo snowflake' and Wplus9 'Hand lettered holiday' are the dies used.

SU cardstock in Rich razzleberry and Coastal cabana. The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny 'Altitude' collection. Dies used are Spellbinders 'Borderabilities', Wplus9 'Hand lettered holiday' and Dienamics 'Let it snowflakes'. The snowflakes are cut out of a pearlized paint chip.

SU cardstock in Whisper white and Bashful blue. The patterned paper was a freebie from a magazine. The snowflakes are cut out of whisper white and silver glimmer paper. The dies used are Dienamics 'Let it snowflakes', Cheery Lynn 'Snowflowers', Spellbinders 'Create a flake'.

On a Personal Note -

Weather has definitely turned to winter this last week. Very brisk days and chilly nights - no rain though, so very thankful.

Used my Mothers day present yesterday to make some cream of cauliflower soup - Yum! Love new kitchen toys (and craft toys!).

My daughter made a very yummy lemon cheesecake for tonight's dessert. Lucky I didn't eat lunch!! The 'Battle of the Bulge' continues unabated. I have a 'I love (me)/I will never leave you (food)' relationship with food. I enjoy food's tastes/textures immensely and it enjoys sticking stubbornly to my anatomy! The other hurdle is that I find exercise for exercise's sake just makes me feel murderous. An hour on the treadmill is an hour away from creating/seeing friends/being with my family etc. Working hard to incorporate as much incidental activity into my day as possible - this I can do and will maintain; and bonus - it's free!

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

365 Christmas update

On my Facebook page I post daily to an album titled 365 Christmas. It is a 'card a day' challenge I set myself. It is enjoyable - and nice to work on Christmas cards without feeling deadline stress!

Christmas is an occasion I really enjoy and I have made the decision to mainly focus my crafting endeavors in that direction. It has definitely reduced my anxiety levels of 'must have all the things because I have to be able to meet everyone's desires'. Now every purchase is put through the 'can I use it for Christmas' filter first.

It doesn't mean I won't buy other stamps/paper etc - but they have to be for a specific project rather than just because they are pretty or I might 'need' them one day!

Anyway - now some pictures. These are some of my recent Facebook posts and use SU cardstock but a variety of papers, dies and stamps.

SU stamp, 'Gnome, Sweet Gnome' paper

All SU. The embossed snowflakes are shimmery courtesy of 'Frosted Lace'

Tim Holtz 'Festive Greenery'

SU 'Welcome Christmas' stamp, Paper Smooches die

C.C Design 'Mistletoe' die, Cuttlebug die. The 'joy' is sparkly in real life courtesy of a Wink of Stella

 Tim Holtz 'Assembled Snowman' die

PSX stamp (very old)

On a Personal Note -

My daughter is cooking up a storm today for her friends coming over for a games night. They play a mixture of board games and video games. My son also has a group of friends that he does this with too.

When they were old enough (school age) we used to have a tv-free board game night every week. We love all sorts of games but especially word games - Scrabble, Upwords, Bananagrams, In-betweens, Make Five to name some. Pictionary is also a fav and we have been known to indulge in charades!

Strategy games like Goblet and Cathedral are classics. I have discovered this great website called Mental Floss which has fantastic board games and other Geeky stuff. Another great website for geekery is Thinkgeek.

When we were out and about when they were younger we often passed the time playing Hangman. I always carried paper and pen! And on a long haul flight an Etch-a-sketch was a lifesaver.

My daughter passed on to me her old Nintendo DS and also gave me some great games like Mahjong, Word balloon (like Hangman), Crosswords and Anagrams. She also gave me Brain Training - it's good and I definitely need it!

Have a great weekend.

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie.

Joyful Greetings

A quick and easy card using die cuts. The string of baubles is from Kaisercraft 'mint twist' collectibles. The greeting is a Paper Smooches die set 'holiday words' and cardstock is from Stampin' Up - pink pirouette, marina mist and whisper white.

Die cuts are a great way to whip up a quick set of cards. To be honest I do 'cherry pick' the set (there are about 50 in each set) as I don't find all of them suitable. But hey, what I don't use either gets Freecycled or donated to my daughter's charges so nothing is wasted! 

I tend to have a couple of sessions, leading into the holiday season, of stamping and colouring small images. I then fussy cut them and use them like die cuts - like in card 2. I find fussy cutting quite meditative. I used to get heaps done whilst waiting around at the kid's extra-curricular activities. Now I have to plan it a bit more!

On a Personal Note -

Weather has finally started to cool down!! It will soon be raking up the mountains of leaves time in my front yard. Just over my front fence is a beautiful old plane tree. It provides dappled light in summer and helps keep our place cool in the heat. In winter we get lots of lovely sunshine so al fresco meals can happen all year round. Hopefully there won't be rain on Easter Sunday so we can have our lunch in some autumn sunshine! I am going to try and rig up a tulle canopy with some bunting to make it look festive.

Here in Oz  -although it is technically Autumn - we still use the Spring imagery of bunnies, chicks and flowers for Easter decor! Think I will be busting out SU's 'everybunny' set again. It's images are adorable.

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

Colouring

I love this stamp (ages old one from PSX) because depending on how you colour it - it looks different. I have tried it embossed and hand - coloured, Stamped with memento ink and watercoloured, clear embossed and chalked and, as I have here - colouring direct to stamp with markers. When doing this always start with the lightest colour first.

It also makes a great 3D ornament when stamped multiple times, fussy cut, folded in half and glued.

When I do this I don't stamp the bow or the bottom finial.

I haven't tried the Copic/alcohol markers yet but when I do this will be one of the first stamps I will experiment with!!

The cardstock and markers are SU, the paper Bo Bunny 'Elf Magic'. Zig zag trim is a Spellbinders die.

On a Personal Note -

Cooler the last couple of days, also raining on and off so no gardening. Had the night off from kitchen duties with my son cooking a nice dinner of garlic and thyme infused lamb chops with mixed vegetables. Yummy. The children cook one night each a week now so I am enjoying the break from constant kitchen duties. I love cooking but sometimes the daily grind of coming up with a meal 365 days takes the joy out of it!!

Happy Crafting!

Cheers

Susie

To Mat, or not to Mat, that is the question!

A mat can make a big difference to the overall depth of the card and can provide a 'bridge' between the card base and the patterned paper or image. But... there is such a thing as too many layers. I have been guilty of a few 'frankenstein' cards in my time that just kept growing..and growing as I tried to 'fix' them. Anyways - here are two practically identical cards except one has a mat and the other doesn't.


Without -

With -

I like them both. As I have said before, the width of your mat can also influence the overall effect so experiment away! The die is MFT Dienamics Jumbo Snowflake. The paper and cardstock are SU.


On a Personal Note -

The rains have come to us. The weather is cooler but the humidity is way up - can't win them all!
Schnitzel doesn't like the rain (or the Beach or Bath time). He is a bit of a waterphobe. Panther makes short outside forays when the rain stops for a bit but as soon as it starts again he is back inside as quick as an arrow. His favourite spot at the moment is my son's bedroom window sill - he can still survey his domain but stay dry!

I am currently doing my annual inventory of my craft supplies - stops me from doubling up but is also inspiring as I go through my stash and find old favourites, and am reminded anew of newer purchases from the previous 12 months. It is also an opportunity to take a good hard look at things and cull those that I don't use or those scraps that I realistically will not use. My daughter's workplace will benefit!!

The 52 week challenge continues in the kitchen - linen tomorrow then the cupboards and pantry over the rest of the week. I am finding it quite liberating to 'let go' of things that I have been holding onto because it didn't occur to me that I didn't have to keep it just because it came into the house.

I will never be a minimalist but simpler is growing on me!

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

Bon Bons 2014

Every year I make the Bon Bons for the Christmas table. This year's theme was red and white. I found this fabulous foil wrapping paper in my local newsagent. I edged it with white copy paper cut with a Spellbinders die that looked like eyelet lace. I covered some copy paper with glitter glue and when it was dry I cut the curly floursh (MFT) behind the flowers. Then, also out of copy paper, I cut a selection of MFT rolled flowers that I glued to a scallop oval plaque. Each flower had a pearl in it's centre. Red tiny twine finished it all off.

Each Bon Bon contained a trinket, a snap, a joke and a piece of trivia. The kids take great delight in choosing the corniest, most groan-worthy jokes, imaginable (thank you Google!). The trinkets are usually things like novelty erasers, mini highlighters, mini yo-yos etc. Whatever I have managed to find in the previous year!

The cellophane parcels are individual Christmas cakes in red foil Texas muffin tins. I die cut some Tim Holtz Holly Branch leaves, stamped them with texture stamps, sponged the edges and glued them to a scalloped circle, The berries are three different sizes of red buttons. Green twine finished it all off.

A Card -

This little fellow was fussy cut from MME "Gnome sweet Gnome". He just looked like he was cheering so this Paper Smooches "Christmas Words" fitted him perfectly.


On a Personal Note -

Still very hot. A storm is brewing as I write and there are flood-causing rains being experienced in areas that only a few days ago were burning. Also the centre of Oz is getting lots of rain. That means lots of beautiful flowers in a month or so. The desert really springs to life after rain.

I was lucky enough to witness this 20 odd years ago on a trip to the Red Centre as it is known. Uluru was surrounded by lush growth and there were pools of water at it's base. I walked all the way round it but didn't climb. It is a holy site for the local people and they request that you don't.  If you really want to you can but I chose not to.  It is certainly an amazing structure/monolith. Everything - it and the surrounds - are this amazingly bright orangey red.

Off to have coffee with a very dear friend tomorrow then home to rearranging the Pantry. The truth will come out about multiple tins etc!! Just on initial recon, I know I have enough lime juice to have a really good cocktail session and not run out! Mmmm - that's an idea....


Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

Christmas Past

Today I have some lovely photos taken by my daughter of our Christmas decorations this Christmas just passed. She is the family photographer and, I think, has a knack for it. First up is the dresser with our Snowman lights. I like to collect different styles of lights. We also have Angels and Santas.

This is our tree (intruded upon by my Craft desk - oops!)

These Santas came as unpainted blanks. I got them years ago and would have dearly loved to get some more but the company went out of business. I guess I will have to do some internet sleuthing! The cute jingle bell tree came from the local supermarket of all places!

A closeup of the tree.

The coffee table - the tree there also came from the supermarket. The Stockings on the sideboard are for Panther and Schnitzel, They always get a treat Christmas morning.

All ready to open presents - just need the champagne! The cute little origami cubes were made by my daughter. She 'gets' origami - I end up with crumpled paper!! - all thumbs.

My vintage ornaments and my daughter's vase of paper cranes.

So that was our house at Christmas. It's all packed away now for another year.

A card -

Kaisercraft 'Silly Season' paper and a Paper Smooches 'Christmas Words' greeting.


Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

Repetition can be a good thing!

You don't always need a big stamp to fill a card front. If you have a small image you wish to use that's when repetition becomes your friend.

I used scraps for the stamped image and fussy cut it. I laid them out in the pattern I wanted and then created a 'frame' by scoring across the card front a couple of times. (For even more dimension you could pop the images.)

So give repetition a go!

On a personal note:

Day 5 of the 52 week challenge! This week it's kitchen counter tops and table - 15 minutes a day. I have a small kitchen so it is usually quite tidy but this challenge has made me focus on ways to make it work better. The other thing is - the cabinets are painted a hideous yellow. I have lived with them for seven years (rental property) but I have decided that this is the year of a re-paint - nice clean white with some black and white vinyl tiles replacing the current apricot ones on the floor. (yes - sunshine yellow cupboards, oxblood benchtops and bottle green splashback tiles with apricot vinyl floor tiles)

Wish me luck!!

Happy Crafting!

Cheers

Susie

Variations on a Theme

One thing I find satisfying is to take one stamp and try to produce more than one style/version of a card.

This little quartet uses 'Season of Joy' from SU and the same colour scheme (coloured with markers). Quite traditional, but using different techniques.

Stamped twice and used as a centre panel. The panel is edged with a Spellbinders edging die.

Mounted onto an embossed background (Tim Holtz 'Bricked') with holly die cuts (Tim Holtz 'Holly'). The leaves have been randomly stamped and the berries have a subtle shimmer. Clear rhinestones round off the picture.

Another embossed background (SU 'Petals a plenty'). The red mount has been pierced all round.

Last one - the white mount has been scored in a thick band horizontally with a smaller vertical band.


By varying the 'thickness' of the various mounts you can achieve different effects.

So... take one stamp and play away!

On a personal note - hot, hot, hot here today. Summer is really making its presence felt.

Spent an enjoyable time with the kids (young adults really!) and played Christmas present games 'Bananagrams' and 'The Logo Game'. Lots of fun.

Fireworks last night were beautiful, however it was definitely too late for Schnitzel! He slept right through them and didn't even flinch!!

Happy Crafting!
Cheers
Susie

Depression is a cruel mistress!

Since my last post I have been creatively barren and house-bound because of the 'black dog'/soul sucker that is depression. It is shitty and hateful and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I feel a bit better each week (drugs and therapy help) but daily it's still a bit of a cha cha (one step forward, two steps back!).
So... I am not promising anything but here is a post for the New Year!

This is an Advent calender I made for my niece's daughter (grand-niece?). They are a little village of one inch boxes with an m&m inside. Hope you like.

Happy crafting.
Cheers
Susie