Forever Bloom

I made this little Gothic Arch last night, in the early morning hours *yawn*
the theme this week at
Gothic Arches is Flowers
and as I received the most delicious supplies from
The Stamping Queen in my DT pack this month
I just had to join in the fun
I used- Paper Artsy 'petals -plate 6' & some lovely German Scrap, Designs Galour Collage sheet, and Collections Words (all from TSQ)
I also used Basic Grey PP, A Very Vintage button, Prima flower, Autumn Leaves flourish stamp, 7Gypsies School Clip, Versa Fine Black inkpad, Maria George Crystals.

DCM weekly dare - Where the Wild things Are

This week at DCM

it's our Kathy's to set you a really Beastly dare!

The theme is ANIMAL and you can use anything that's animal inspired - not those diddy little ones like bugs, birds and butterflies (though you can include them in your design of course) but what I'd really like to see is bigger, wilder, more fabulous or fantastic creatures So you could maybe use animal die cuts, animal prints on paper or fabric, or maybe animal words or phrases "grrrrr get down tiger"!!!! You could invent your own wild and wonderful beasties, or go back in time for dinosaurs, or into the world of mythology for all sorts of incredible creatures. How about a card in the shape of a tiger, elephant or monkey? Now, there's a challenge for you....

I'd love you to all go really wild over this one and have loads of beastly fun

So here is my 'imaginary' Animal design

I haven't got any stamps of animals, oh I've got birdies and butterflies and those scrummy things...But Kathy said no to those things

so I had to make my own animal...

I used some of my stamp collection to create my 'inky horse'

Can you see, I used a key stamp three times, a flourish stamp for the tail, a swirl stamp for the middle, and a crown stamp on top of his 'key head'

So the details are, Hero Arts Key Stamp, Catslife Press Bird & Crown stamps, Autumn Leaves Flourish stamp, Collections words from TSQ, rub-on from American crafts, Maria George Crystals, a scrap of PP, cardstock and Versa Fine Black inkpad, oh yes and my sewing machine.
So have you dared to DARE yet? Come on I dare you!!!

Check out what the other girls in the DT have come up with this week, they are WILD!!!

Salt - Creation

Kim S set this weeks challenge at SALT

CreationWe see God's sovereignty in His creation each and every day, from the beauty of nature to the miracle of birth. God has lovingly and mercifully created all that we see, hear, smell, touch, and feel, to bring glory to Himself and to bless His children."For thus says the Lord,
Who created the heavens,
Who is God.
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it.
Who did not create it in vain
Who formed it to be inhabited
I am the Lord and there is no other."
-Isaiah 45:18

Loved this challenge Kim, I used a song from a

Rebecca St James CD 'Transform'

the song I chose was 'in me'

the journaling on my card reads

You said the words, And made the heavens, You breathed the stars, And put their place in the sky, You waved Your hand, Painted a sunset, You smiled and gave a heartbeat life,

Crazy to think that Your holy hands made everything I see

It's so hard to believe

That You the God of creation say

I've got this power in me

There is strength to move a mountain

In me

If I just believe.

a thought from me

Anyone can believe,

it's what you do with your belief that makes the difference!

DCM weekly dare - Postcard

This week at Daring Cardmakers

it was our Jane's turn to set the dare

It's Jane here ! It's my turn to dare again .........and I'm still on the postal theme ......yep thats right - I want you to design a post card which can actually be sent- and whats more I want you to actually post it! Aren't I mean ? Honestly, its not as bad as it sounds- just a bit more thinking 'outside the square'.....excuse the pun :0).

So have you Dared to DARE?...Come on I dare you!
don't forget to check out what the other DT girls have come up with,
they are so scrummy!!!!!

And here is mine :O)

now for something different this week, I want to send mine to one of the you!

so the first person to leave a comment can have this little postcard

:O)

oh that Stampbord is good stuff!!!

Oh dear, this stamp is beautiful! actually she has a similar look to my sister-in Law Jenny

This is a Stampsmith Stamp 'Serena 2' from

The Stamping Queen

I've used her before but this time I stamped her onto 'Stampbord' first time I've ever used it,

It's Brilliant Stuff it took the photo stamp Perfectly!

I also used my Stamp-it 'butterfly' stamp from the Rachel Greig Plate,

I stamped it onto vellum and only attached it in the centre

(inspired by my fellow DT member Sephi, I love how she does this)

and then glued some crystals into the centre.

All those scrummy papers are from TSQ aswell

this photo shows off the dimension the Stampbord gives to the projects.

Duck on over to TSQ's Gallery, it's chocka block with lots of wonderful new inspiration

I've had some blog friends email and ask where I've been..it's school holidays here at the moment, and Andrew has annual leave, we haven't gone away this year as we are renovating our kitchen..picy's coming soon, it's looking lovely, we have the tiler finally coming tomorrow, and then the flooring going down soon, and we ordered the blinds today, our 30 something year old home is really having a lovely facelift.

Anyway just wanted to say thankyou to you all for stopping by my blog, it warms my heart to know people like to see what I make, you are all so generous with your lovely comments!

see you round blog land :O)

Album in a Day Class

here are some little sneak photo's of a class I'm teaching in a little over a week at

Scrap A While

Taree, NSW
so if you leave near here and would like to come

you can email Lauren at scrapbooking@iinet.net.au

it's on Saturday 13th October

9-5pm

and we will be making a gorgeous little mini album in the day

all the girls are so much fun, so I can't wait to see them all!

The Story of a Boy and his dog

Starts today!

look at this little treasure,

we welcomed *Teddy* to our home today

He is Jacob's newest compainion.

awwwww.........looooooook at that little face!!!!!!!!

he's just 8 weeks old, and an early birthday present for our Jacob,

I just know they will have many happy moments together.

DCM weekly dare - Charity begins at home

This week at DCM it was my turn to set the dare

and here it is!

Let's go Charity shoppingor Op shopping (as we call it in Australia)
I DARE you to visit your local Charity Shop & make someone else's
TRASH your STASH!
.........and make a GORGEOUS card from what you find.

You'll be amazed at the special little treasures you'll find

if you only take the time to look with CREATIVE EYES

So this is what I bought
A very old dictionary :O),8mts of lace,a string of shell beads, & these little party food forks!
and this is what I made!
I managed to use all of the treasures I bought.
I added a vintage image from a sheet of Collage images made by Stamp-it out of my DT supplies from The Stamping Queen, Prima flower,Fancy Pants Rub-on,Stampin Up Stamp,lace butterfies,string,& sewing machine,
I folded and sanded the image to give it a bit more of a Vintage and Loved look!

So Have you Dared to DARE yet?...Come on I dare you

Original Wonder

Yes I do still scrapbook...lol!

This is my lovely Original Wonder Lachlan!

The Da Vinci Diva's

I made this little ATC using a new stamp that arrived for me from

The Stamping Queen

isn't it lovely! Those beautiful Da Vinci girls

it's a Cherry Pie stamp, I also used another page out of my poor old copy of 'around the world in 80 days', a rub-on by American Crafts minimarks, Versafine Onyx Black, EK Success Alpha stamp, jewelery finding and a brad.

Lots happening in our home at the moment, we are pulling out our old kitchen this week, and next week the new one goes in, YAY!!!

I'm trying to learn how to use my new PC... and load all the stuff I want into it.. argh!

but it's so lovely and FAST....

We are all finally on the mend after a most awful season of illness, I think feeling the spring air makes you feel better in itself...

And Andrew goes on holidays from work for 4 weeks at the end of this week.. another YAY!!!!

as we have loads to do this year around the house. and lots of day trips to take :O)

so it's all happening... and it's all lovely!

Hope you are having a great week sofar...

and have found a little time to create!

Always Remember to Smile

This is a little card I made using some of my lovely bits from

The Stamping Queen
The stamp I used is a lovely Stampsmith one called '5 sisters', I also used some Stamp-it PP, Collections Word, Collections chipboard keyhole, Basic Grey Rub-on, Prima Flower, some brads and my sewing machine. the little frame around the stamped image is just made using some pp cut with mitred corners.

DCM weekly dare - In A Word

It was our Rhi's turn to dare us this week at

Daring Cardmakers
She is daring you & me to use a Word as the main focal point to your card. It can be a name, a greeting or just a word that inspires you. You can use other text but only one word as a main embellishment. So dig out your dictionaries, die cutters, alphabet stamps, rubons or download a funky font and show us what you can do! The design team have come up with some fabulous creations to inpsire you.
Loved this dare Rhi!

so I decided to make a 'TAG CARD'

most of my bits for this piece come from

The Stamping Queen

so what did I use - 'lost aussie' stamp, Transparency butterfly, Collections chipboard keyhole, Collections Word 'believe',other bits from my stash are some tags, some pp,ribbon, chain

& a SCRUMMY vintage Key, and yes my sewing machine...

So have you Dared to DARE yet? come on I Dare YOU!

SALT - God's Promises

It's my turn to set the challenge this week at

SALT

so I picked
God's Promises.
So many times we are guilty of breaking promises,
or have been on the other end of a broken promise,
but what a wonderful blessing to know
that when God makes a promise it's steadfast.

I picked this verse, because I am a 'loner' a 'happy in my own company type of girl' and made this little pencil holder so this promise from God is on my desk right in front of me, to remind me about spending time with God's people, too often I hide from the world happy spending time at home doing my own thing, and because of this I often miss the blessing of being apart of God's family, and as an encouragement to myself, I picked this verse to remind me that when I am in the presence of God's family I am also in the presence of God.

Oh that was deep...are you still with me..

That circle bit in the middle is a piece from an old belt, you know the macrame type with discs in between the thread, anyway I pulled it apart and sealed some words on, then I embossed it with embossing powder, and sealed it some more, the rest is pretty easy to see what I've done, I do like the look of the beading wire wrapped around like that, I think that might be my new thing, anyway... please note! no sewing machine... an no it didn't hurt! lol!

So Come Join us at Salt this week

Sweet Memories

I made this little 'memory glass' frame using some of my DT stash from

The Stamping Queen

I used the Memory Glass frame 2x2", Stamp-it collage sheet, Transparency Butterfly sheet, Collections word, Ribbon (all available from TSQ)

also added 7 Gypsies key,glass pearl, computer generated word, jumprings.

dream everyday

this is one of my Design Team Projects for

The Stamping Queen

this was so much fun to do, TSQ bits I used were - Jumbo Puzzle piece, PP, Stamp-It collage sheet, Artchix Studio Faux Postage stamp, organza ribbon, and then I added the flowers, hinge, lace butterfly & crystals.

Art from my heart

this little card I made has just appeared on the front cover of

Australian Paper Crafts issue 68, 2007

I'm always soooooooooo excited to see my work in print,

and how exciting to see my card share the front cover with one of Jenny Garlick's beautiful altered tins. Well lets just say I twas a little bit excited...

And how cool also in this issue

Gabbie, Sephi & Yvonne all had Amazing Projects, every month I think this is my fav issue!

makes me wonder how cool will next months be!

DCM weekly dare

This week at Daring Cardmakers

the dare for you and me was to make a Christmas card

with the recipe of three things

you had to have some Purple, torn edge & a hole

Pop on over and check out what the other DT girls have created, they are beautiful!

and ofcourse we can't wait to see what you create as well :O)

My Scrappin buddy Casey bought me back this lovely pressie from a recent trip away, I've used it as the main feature of this card. It's a 'home made' chipboard piece she purchased while on the trip, stamped into Opals. I just love it, Thanks again Casey :O)

Purple - there are flecks of purple in my feature piece Casey gave me and in the Artchix Studio Faux Postage Stamps I got these in one of my DT packs from The Stamping Queen
torn edge - well you have to look hard, I've torn the edge of my iddy biddy little tag hanging from the bow. Hole - there is a hole in the little stitcker 'hinge' I added to the left hand side.
So have you Dared to Dare yet?...Come on I DARE YOU!!!!

The Heart is like a treasure chest

I made this card using one of my scrummy stamps from

The Stamping Queen

second time I've used this adorable 'lost aussie' stamp, it makes me smile each time I use her..

the journaling reads

The heart is like a treasure chest that's filled with souvenirs

It's there we keep the memories we gather through the years

- author unknown.

other bit's I've used are - Chipboard twin frame, Crate Paper, Vintage Lace, dotty ribbon, Plastic flower & glass pearl beads, American Crafts mini marks rub-on, some more of my poor old copy of 'around the world in 80 days', and some other scraps of pp for the back of the frame & the little butterfly's dress, Versa Fine black ink, maria george crystal, and my sewing machine

Button Rings & New link list

Just thought I'd show you one of the fun things I've been making for my etsy shop {Vintage buttons Rings} aren't they cool...oh well I think so anyway lol! this one and others are available in my etsy shop, there is a link in my side bar

Also I have created a new link list in my side bar, right at the top called

She inspires me

and will be changing it regularly, with some Artists from my favs list, and some are new Artists I've discovered,

these are the blogs I visit when I'm stuck for inspiration!

So My first 'she inspires me' is Carrie

if you've never been to Carrie's blog, do yourself a FAVOUR!

Ok, Crafting/Stamping friends.....

You have so gotta go and check out

The Stamping Queen

Gabbie has been adding so many SCRUMMY bits to the shop!!!

all those things I've been wondering where people get them from...

well now I know where I can get them