Big discount when you join Stampin' Up!

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Some exciting SU! news...from now until 31 July there is a massive 20% discount off the Starter Kit! That means you get over $560 worth of products for just $259! Bargain! This is the cheapest price that the Starter Kit has ever been in Australia.

There are so many fabulous products in the kit, whether you want to purchase your products at a discount for your hobby or run your own business, now is the time to join! I would love to have a small team so that we can get together for regular meetings, have team events like Stamp Camps...soooo much fun!

If you'd like more information about joining Stampin' Up! please feel free to email me at pme203@optusnet.com.au (sorry my linky thing won't work).

Saffron Thanks & an Update

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Happy Monday evening ~

I'm not long home from the hospital, went from fracture clinic to xray, then back again, then on to see a physiotherapist...hours later here I am. The pics still show a couple of the breaks through my bones but apparently that's normal. The Dr isn't too impressed with the lack of movement in my wrist - doh it's been in a cast for the past 11 weeks! The physio has set me some exercises to do 3 times a day until I can see my own physio next week. I also have to spend more time out of my splint than in it - fortunately I still have it for when the aches set in. So the end is in sight at long last!

I made this quick thank you card a couple of weeks ago and forgot to post it. I saw the original on Nina Dee's gorgeous blog and it reminded me that I hardly ever use my Say it with Scallops set. I love the lace across the grosgrain, so effective.


I used Confetti White c/s layered on So Saffron, 5/8" Saffron grosgrain and the lace ribbon is misc from my stash.

I promise, I will be finished with 'thank you' cards soon lol. I'm looking forward to making some more detailed cards and projects and doing some colouring when my wrist is free again :o)

Happy mail - lucky me!

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Gosh it's been a week since I was last here, I feel so slack! I've been really distracted lately and did have 'blogging' in the back of my mind, but obviously didn't get past thinking about it.

Look what I got in my mail box this week! Beautiful Keesh sent me these Lollipop images. How divine is the card she made me? Up close there is lots of gorgeous detail in her colouring. I just love shades of pink and green too :o) thanks Keeshie xox.

So getting back to my distraction....I've been doing some soul searching lately (actually for some time now). I am striving to live healthier and be a better, more tolerant person, amongst other things of course. I won't go into details just yet but in time I'll tell you about some of the changes I've made.

Other news is that I have a review appointment at the fracture clinic tomorrow (click here for original story). I still have a big clunky splint on my wrist and halfway up my arm. Just this past week while I've been sitting quietly I've taken it off for a couple of hours at a time to get used to some 'freedom'. Unfortunately it aches a fair bit without the support but I guess I just have to get used to that or it's never going to be normal again. Physio will start soon too.

That's it from me on this gloomy wet Canberra day - no complaints of course, but I do remember telling you all that we don't get rain very often :o) I'm off to make a couple of birthday cards for twins!!! Enjoy your Sunday.

Blooms thanks

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It's a nice sunny day here in Canberra, cool if you're indoors but perfect if you find a warm little nook and curl up with a book - which is what I'm about to do after this post :o)

Due to my lack of inspiration lately I pulled out my Blooms die cuts for a quick play last night. I'm still working on 'thank you' cards.


These WW cards are 4"x4" and I scored the centre square for the flowers to sit inside. I layered a clear button, backed with a circle of colour and threaded some 1/4 white grosgrain ribbon through. Not sure you can see in the pic but I corner rounded the bottom right edge and the flowers are popped up on dimensionals.

I did make a little set of four cards, but we all know my photography skills are severely lacking and I just couldn't fit 'em all in and make them look right for viewing lol.

Urban Oasis Scraps

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Hello ~

I haven't been feeling very creative lately and sat down the other night to do one of the many challenges offered in blogland. I couldn't quite make anything I was happy with so ended up pulling some scraps out to play with rather than end up binning all the good stuff - I'm sure many of you can relate to that!

So while this card is 'okay' it probably won't see the light of day again. I almost didn't put it up here, but for lack of anything else to show you here it is lol. I think I should have soaked my string in tea to darken it a little so it looks better on the Kraft card stock. I do like this particular dsp though so it was nice to put the scraps to use.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend so far. I know most of the SU! demos are as they're at the Annual Convention in Sydney this weekend having lots of fun. I went last year when it was held in Canberra but due to my broken wrist at the moment it just couldn't happen for me this year. I'll look forward to reading all about it in the days to come when they're all back blogging again.

My first Blog Award :o)

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Wow, look what I got! My lovely and very talented friend Keesh has given me a beautiful blogger award. For those of us that blog it is such a nice feeling to receive comments and know that people out there are reading and taking an interest in what we do. An award is a little extra special encouragement I think :o) So thank you Keeshie, I love it!


The rules that go with this award are to tell you 10 things about myself and pass it on to 10 more beautiful bloggers who inspire me.

1. I don't drink tea or coffee - never have.
2. My all time favourite food is raspberries.
3. I am terrified of birds - anything that flaps around in mid-air really.
4. I can't get through my day without a can of coke - must be a can, plastic bottles don't taste the same.
5. I'm a closet Home & Away fan ... sad I know.
6. I am a huge book worm and make time to read every single day.
7. I have a thing for shoes and a rather large collection, closely followed by handbags.
8. I am a fantastic list maker followed by procrastinator - I figure if I get it on paper I'm halfway there.
9. I seem to start many more projects than I finish - I have cross stitch, paints and all sorts of crafty things that have been waiting many years to be completed - goes hand in hand with number 8 I think lol.
10. Yesterday marked 20 years in Australia for me. I came across as a fresh faced 21yo after growing up in Christchurch, New Zealand where most of my family still is.

Since this award has been doing the rounds of late, lots of the blogs I read have already received it, so I'm going to pass it a little further...

1. Trishie
2. Evonne
3. Paula
4. Sharon
5. Glen
6. Sherry
7. Michelle
8. Renee
9. Tui
10.Pam

Kiwi Fifth Ave

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Hi and happy Tuesday ~

One of my very organised girlfriends orders her handmade cards from me 6-12 months in advance. Well my busy weekend got in the way of usual routine and I missed a due date so had to whip up a quick one this morning so it goes in the post this afternoon.


The request was for green and yellow - I just couldn't make it work so opted for Kiwi Kiss given that has a yellowy hue to it lol (do you think that works - does for me on this occasion). I saw something very similar to this design a little while back although I'm sure the original had a lot more detail and some super water colouring (which I'm yet to master to my satisfaction). If you know where I came across it please let me know so I can give credit where it's due :o)

I'm off to deliver, enjoy the rest of your day.

Bella Rose Gate Fold

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Just popping in to show you a little gate fold card made for my girlfriend's daughter's 3rd birthday this week. I'm not sure where the image is from, but I coloured it with my blender pen some time ago. I think it's really cute with the Bella Rose dsp and matching cardstocks. I lined the inside of the card with the reverse side of dsp and the balloon and cupcake (along with some bling and paper piecing) from the Crazy for Cupcakes stamp set that my friend and downline Kate kindly lent me (waving Kate). Hmmmm think I may have to buy this one now, I am such a sucker for buying stamps and not letting them go...

Other news is that I held my very first SAS (stamp-a-stack) class yesterday and I think I can say quite confidently that it went really well. The ladies all seemed to enjoy themselves and loved the cards they made. We managed to combine craft, home baked goodies (thanks Narelle) and cake for two of the ladies celebrating this week. So a big thanks ladies for your support and enthusiasm and I look forward to doing it again next month. I do have some piccies of the fun we were having, however, best check with those 'snapped' before I post on here :o)

I haven't actually photographed the card designs we made but when I do I'll post them here for you all to see.

I took gorgeous kid and two friends to the movies this morning - Ironman 2, so we're having a quiet afternoon at home pottering about. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Razzleberry Sympathy

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Good morning ~

It's never nice to have to make a sympathy card, so I made this one a little brighter than normal in an attempt to avoid the usual subdued colours and add a smidge of brightness to a very difficult and sad time.

The old top note has been at work again lol. I've used Vintage Vogue - again, and stamped my images numerous times then 'popped' them up on top of each other, adding little pearls to the centres of each flower. I put crystal effects on the large flower so that the petals would 'stand up' on their own and it worked perfectly.

As you can see my photography skills have not improved at all. BFF just sent me a link to making your own light box so will go off and investigate that shortly. Let's hope it brings some 'light' to my currently dark pics.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting :o)

WOYWW #49

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Yay it's Wednesday again! For some reason this past week has gone by very slowly for me.

Okay I said I would show you my embellishments and ribbons - here they are. I'm sure a few of you will have a chuckle at how neatly arranged and labelled they are - can't help myself *blush*.

First pic is the whole shelf/unit thingie that sits directly above my desk - it is exactly the same length as my desk. All those little jars contain blingy bits, pearls, flowers, brads, dew drops, eyelets......

Then a bit of a closer look at the right side, my inks and caddy with the all important tools I can't live without are on my desk directly beneath. The green boxes contain my dies and embossing folders. The pink bag has paint and brushes for off the page stuff.

And now the left. That cute little fairy card box from Phoenix holds finished cards that I haven't already sent on or given away.

Now had I taken pics on Monday evening you'd have all been shocked.My desk was a total mess - card stock and scraps everywhere, two cutters, loose ribbon, stamp sets askew..... I was preparing for a class and there were bits absolutely all over, I'd even spread on the floor around me. Promise to show you the 'messy when crafting' me sometime soon - just have to time it for a Wednesday I guess lol. So next week it'll either be messy desk or a peek at my punches :o)

To find out all about WOYWW go over to Julia's Stamping Ground and check it out. Be warned...it's very addictive and you'll be snooping at all sorts of desks and blogs - super time consuming but oh so so so much fun.

Simple Birthday Cards

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Happy Monday ~

Hope all you wonderful, hard working mum's had a terrific Mother's day yesterday! I spent some time in my craft room re-organising! I had a real feeling of achievement which is always good :o)

Just popping in to show you a couple of really quick and simple cards. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the Big Shot Top Note die? Well I LOVE it! Just perfect for filling a space, and when I need to knock up a card in 10 minutes it's the first thing I reach for.

This first card is for gorgeous kid's teacher, she celebrated her birthday yesterday. I used Tangerine Tango, with a little So Saffron ink. That's a tissue flower (yep as in cheap tissue wrap). I layered about 10-12 pieces of tissue and cut a variety of different sized Nestie dies, then crumpled the tissue/flower pieces up in my hand then layered the different sizes, pierced a brad through the centre and inked them. Simple! Not sure I'm happy with the amount of white space on this card, but not really sure how to fix it, should have positioned my flower higher perhaps, unfortunately it's not budging now as is well and truly stuck!

Apologies for the dark pics - the weather didn't want to cooperate with me when I took these, will try for a brighter one later.

Edited to add - got a better pic of the second card, but as the first card has already gone to the birthday girl it will just have to stay 'dark' on here :o)

The second card is the same using Ruby Red and Soft Suede. This time I've used a larger tissue flower which solves the 'too much white space' problem lol. Both cards honestly took all of 10 mins to make so next time you're in a hurry and don't have a plentiful card stash give one of these a go.
Well my friendly courier man has just delivered my most anticipated recent ebay purchase - Well Scripted! Love the fancy swirls in this sentiment set...I'm off to play!

Rose Bud Mothers day card

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Hi and happy Friday ~

Finally I've done something with those little rose buds I was making last week. I played around with them for a bit, trying different styles of card, mostly they were a bit top heavy. Hopefully what I've come up with is nice and the recipient will like :o)

This card is for a friend to give her mum on Sunday.


I got the tutorial for the rose buds from Rae Barthel and I absolutely adore her card so drew inspiration from that for mine. I've used Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Purely Pomegranate, Confetti White and Kraft. I've randomly drizzled crystal effects across the petals to give a dewy look. Not sure if that worked or not lol.

WOYWW #48

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You know if I wasn't doing What's on your work desk Wednesday each week I wouldn't have much going on with my blog lately. I've actually been quite creative this past few days, however, can't show you what I've been up to for a couple of reasons:

1. recipients haven't received them in the post yet; and
2. I haven't photographed before passing them along to where they're going. Hopeless I know!

I haven't done a thing with the little roses in last weeks pic - yet! Plan on doing that tonight. They are going on a mum's day card. So will take a pic tomorrow and post it. Hopefully the weather will be a little brighter, was dull today, cold and overcast. I really don't like winter much, but we are definitely feeling it coming.

Despite my desk being an absolute right-off I've taken a pic of 'some' of my stamp collection for you to nosey at this week. I did say 'some', the rest are in a drawer as they're unmounted. The sets you see here are organised (of course) in alphabetical order by case size. You'll notice they're two deep, I have two other shelves there that aren't in the pic, one of those has more mounted sets and other 'stuff'. I might look into re-organising this weekend. Next week I'll show you my embellishment and ribbon storage - I always find that a fun one to look into on other desks.


If you want to join the fun of WOYWW go over to Julia's blog and read all about it. You'll find lots of links to other desks too!!!

I'll be back tomorrow with some crafty stuff!