Ode to Christmas

This is a set of Large Chipboard Tags
I made and are in the current issue of
Australian Paper Crafts
issue 71
the words on the tags read
A song was heard at Christmas
To wake the midnight sky
A saviour's birth and peace on earth
And praise to God on high
The angels sang a Christmas
With all the hosts above
And still we sing
the newborn King
His glory and His love
-Timothy Dudley Smith

Play Time

This week I received an order from Karen Owen for the most delightful Collage Sheets

This is Molly, from one of these sheets

Isn't she Gorgeous!

anway, I loved creating this little ATC with her

I used a 1930 Calendar Page (from Lythan she gave me some delicious Vintage Papers and bits for my B'day and I've been dying to use some of them) I thought it made a cool BG.

I added a collection word & Photo Turn from TSQ

some rubons from American Crafts, a sticker, brads and my sewing machine

I hope you get to have a little 'Play Time' today

DCM weekly dare - Song without words

This week at

Daring Cardmakers
Lythan chose to dare this cool dare

Song without words
I would like you to create a card inspired by a song or a carol - it could be for Christmas or not! (you may have got all your Christmas cards done by now...) BUT there is a twist. the words of the song are NOT to be seen on the front of the card. You could leave it to us to guess! Have fun!

I chose one of my fav Christmas Carols for my card, using some lovely papers that my sweet friend Kim sent me **waves Kim**, she sent me the most lovely collage papers, so I had fun using some of them, along with this image from a vintage 'Golden Book' (I found this image on 'google images') and had to use it.....

So have you guessed my favourite carol yet......

ofcourse you have, it's

We Three Kings

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

Make sure you have a lookie at the DCM blog for more inspiration, the girls have made some SCRUMMY cards :)

Salt - Light

This week at SALT

The theme Ruth has chosen is

LIGHT

It is mentioned so many times in the Bible,

and has many facets of meaning and symbolism.

I am the LIGHT of the World...

The people walking in darkness haveseen a great LIGHT ...

The LIGHT shines in the darkness, but thedarkness has not understood it...In the same way, let your LIGHT shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Once again I've headed to the Psalms, I'm starting to think it's my favourite book in the bible

So I've made this little 'gothic arch'

and I wanted my 'light' to be symbolised by this 'hanging lamp' the kind that would have had oil in it hanging from a ceiling, filling the room with the warmth and reasurance of light.

Isn't it amazing how a childs fear of the dark, can be eased simply by turning on the light...

Well that's been the same in my life really,

So many fears and hangups, eased simply by

'TURNING ON THE LIGHT'

Santa's Key

This is another little project I have created with some of my

Christmas Stamps I received in my DT pack from

The Stamping Queen

I used this lovely Crafty Individuals Stamp {CI-162}

It has these 4 lovely images on one plate, anyway I stamped it onto some Calico this time for a little change using StazOn ink, I made it into a little quilt using some wadding and patchwork fabric and quilted it on my machine, trimmed and frayed the edges. Then I added some little 'vintage picture frame hangers' also available at TSQ, some chain, vintage glass buttons & vintage lace and a Gorgeous Rusty old key...oh and a little 'jingle bells charm'.......

A little Christmas Tree Ornament

I received this adorable little 'Crafty Individuals' Santa stamp in my latest Design Team Pack from

The Stamping Queen

and I do love using Memory Glass Frames (also from TSQ)

so decided the first thing I would make with this lovely stamp was an ornament.

I added a Vintage Photo Hanger from TSQ, to the top of the memory frame with a crystal brad, just to give the frame a slightly different look.

Onto other things, mums out of hospital now, thankyou all for your prayers & well wishes

movement is slow & difficult and it fills a lot of my day chatting with her & caring for her, She is coping so well, it's lovely to have here staying with us, I reckon I might even get her into a bit of cardmaking ;o)

GOTHIC ARCHES

**** SQUEEEEEEAAALLLL****

Nancy asked me to be the Hostess this week on her most delightful challenge blog

Gothic Arches

I just can't wait to see what everyone does with the theme

TEXT

one of my personal favs :O)

little bits I used on my arch are

Paper Artsy Stamp(from TSQ), Laughing Moon Gears Stamp, Stamp-It memories stamp (that's the flourishes you can see on the side), Basic Grey PP, Splatters of ink, computer generated words, sewing machine, a jewelry finding cut in half (at the top), brads, sewing machine, jewelry wire,

and a GORGEOUS old skeleton key :)

Meet Clancy & Clarice

and all of their friends
Just thought you'd like to see some of the beautiful

Rainbow Lorrikets

we have come for a bit of tucka on our back deck

each and every day

Unfortunately in these photo's they are all a little wet as it's been raining here for a good week and they have all popped in out of the rain.

Lots happening at our home at the moment, I have my mum & dad with us, Mum is currently in hosipital here she had an pretty big opperation this week, and will be in hospital till early to mid next week, when she gets out of hospital Mum will be living here with us for a while till she is more able to get around. So in all thats been going on this week, I haven't had a chance to do my DCM or SALT contributions, but do pop over and check out what everyone has done, I do hope to have a little time this weekend to create and hope you do too

Take care everyone :O)

DCM little extra- snowflakes & snowman

for this weeks Little Exta at Daring Cardmakers

we'd like you to make and share cards on a theme of
Snowmen and Snowflakes

So I called on my years of being an infants student, And made a paper snowflake for my card. I used to love making 'snowflakes' when I was a kid, it was the closest thing you got to snow in Inverell, altho It did snow one day in 1984 when I was at highschool, but it didn't settle on the ground, but it was sooooo pretty.

I've been tagged by Sephi.

Thanks Sephi, if you haven't checked out Sephi's blog, do yourself a creative favour!

So I am terrible usually at tags, have wonderful intentions of getting them done, but somehow they just don't happen.... so I'm going to do this one! I've done this one before, so coming up with something new...hmmm... lets see lol!

Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird
1. I dream vividly and creatively, and sometimes horribly

2. I have an super sensitive sense of smell (yes I'm the one who always smells smoke)

3. I am VERY silly when it comes to playing with my kids *-}

4. I love candles and we have candle lite dinners often

5. I need to write lists, but hate being tied down to lists, instead it gets all muddled up in my head and I get stressed, so I am trying to learn to write lists..lol!

6. Day trips with my family are my {sweet times}

7. I actually am doing 7... (I reckon that can be a fact..lol!!!)

Boho Christmas

This little set of cards I made are in the current issue of

Australian Paper Crafts

Issue 70, 2007

(if you go to the APC link above, you can actually download a virtal copy of the mag... cool hey)
I bought a kit of My Minds Eye Papers, it had all these cool tags in it,

I just added a bit of stamping and some bling.

It was actually from Last years 'Bohemia Christmas' range, I love the 'grungy quality' the printed paper has, it was cool in the mag they titled my feature 'Boho Christmas'

made me giggle...

This week at DCM

Bea from Ribbon Oasis is sponsoring a challenge to use her fabbylicious range of Christmassy ribbons on our cards. So Lucky Us - we all received an envelope full of ribbons to play with and below you'll find the cards we've made (so far!) So this week we'd love you to join in and make Christmas cards using lots and lots of fabby, yummy ribbon - now that shouldn't be too hard, after all we all love ribbon, don't we? Don't forget that you can replenish and expand your ribbon supply easily by visiting the Ribbon Oasis website - you'll find so much of the gorgeous twirly stuff there you'll be spoilt for choice - we guarantee it!
Now then, just in case you need a bit more enticement to join in our dare:
Wrap it in Ribbon for Christmashere's a little sweetener:

Bea is giving a ribbonful prize to one lucky darer this week.

There is still time to join in on the dare, so come on

I DARE YOU!!!!!

Salt - Jesus is Lord

This week's theme at Salt is
JESUS IS LORD!

Kimberly chose this because this is the start of our journey with God, acknowledging Jesus as our Lord and becoming born again! The wonderful thing is that it is so easy to join God's kingdom!If you confess with your mouth, JESUS IS LORD and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with the mouth that you confess and are saved.

Romans 10:9-10
This is my little piece, It's a 'Memory Glass' project
the size is 2x2"
When I saw Kimberly's choice of topic I immediately thought of 'Sunday School'
Such a Valuable ministry in our churches.
The verse from Proverbs 22:6 came to mind
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it"
so I have made this little treasure for my sweet friend who co-ordinates our churches Sunday School.
Supplies - Memory Glass Frame, Glass & Vintage Image available from
The Stamping Queen,
computer journaling,page from old dictionary, American Crafts Minimarks Rub-on, and lace.
We'd love to have you come and join us at SALT

Enjoy!

I am OVER THE MOON to be Guest Designing for

Pencil Lines

This week as they Celebrate their birthday! Happy Birthday Girls xxx

You can check out my sketch over at the PL blog

I'd love to see what you do with it ;o)

Toodles, Gillxxx

a little LO to share

Just so I still qualify as a Scrapbooker, thought I better put another LO on my blog LOL!

My little miss G xxx

DCM little extra- Template

For this weeks little extra at DCM Kathy came up with a cool little sketch

Pop on over and have a peek, this is the card I made using the sketch.

Make sure you join in on our Anniversary Dare, for your chance to win,

see the blog for more details.
Here's a closeup, I cut little 1"squares from my old dictionary, glued them onto a piece of dark brown cardstock, then stitched them, next was gesso, I brushed it roughly over everything, cut and stuck some of these cool 'collection' words from TSQ in each square, then I dipped a lid in some acrylic paint and used it as a stamp to get the circles, then I rubbed some more paint around the outside edge of the square, sewed it onto the card and well there you have it!

So Have you Dared to DARE? Come on I DARE YOU!!!!

Happy Birthday DCM xxx

The group of friends who got together to form the
Daring Cardmakers
back in October 2006 has developed and grown into a huge circle of crafting and blogging friends who come together from all over the world to share their inspiration and their talents so enthusiastically, and are always so supportive of each other's cardmaking. In honour of all of you who've helped make this blog so successful, and such a friendly place to "play" we've decided to revisit our very first dare for this our first anniversary, but with a twist. The subject is, as in our original dare "friends", but this time the title is
CIRCLE of FRIENDS
and we'd like you to incorporate at least one circle into your card.It would make it a very special occasion if for this dare you'd make a card just for the DCM rather than doubling up with other challenges.Please join in and celebrate our first anniversary with us,without all of you - our wonderful extended "Team of Darers" and of course all those who've joined us as Guest Designers over the last year it wouldn't be half as much fun.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARING CARDMAKERS ALL

I decided to make a Gothic Arch Card to Celebrate our DCM birthday!
and this little vintage image from a collage sheet I received in my TSQ dt pack was just perfect for the circle of friends theme!
****************************************************************
Well not only has October been a busy month in our home with reno's happening, Annual leave, School Holidays, A new puppy, day trips, Visitors, etc....
But we Celebrated 2 Birthdays, mine early in October and Jacobs was on Tues.
anyway, I wanted to share with you all the beautiful Handmade cards I have received...
and to say thankyou to you sweet girls, I love them all!!!!

Made By Kathy
Made by Rhi & Lythan
Made By Beth
Made By Robin & Sandie
Made by Jenny & my niece MJ xxx
Aren't they all GORGEOUS!!!!!

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)