Warning long & personal - how you can help & a piccy at the bottom :o)

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I have been thinking for days that I must pop in and update you on my absence, however, I just honestly haven't felt like writing this post.

You see Christchurch NZ is my home town. It's where I grew up, where I went to school, where I became the person I am today. It's where the majority of my family live and many many friends.

I am so saddened by all of this. Absolutely gutted that the icon of Chch itself, The Cathedral in Chch Square is now in half and a pile of rubble. The streets and buildings as I know them are destroyed and I know that the historic buildings will never be the same again. The younger generations will never know the Chch that so many of us know and love.

After quite a few anxious hours, a few mixed messages and dramas and, with the help of DFAT and other family members I found my nearest and dearest all alive and well. Most have lost their homes, or a good portion of them. BUT all are in one piece and for that I am so grateful. Children have been sent off to Auckland to stay with grandparents, where they have relative normality and running water.

I have been glued to the tv coverage and, brought to tears numerous times at the generosity of those helping. There is one woman who is just driving her car, full of supplies, back and forth between Dunedin and Chch - that's a 5 hour trip each way. But I guess it's better than sitting doing nothing. The students that are walking the streets offering assistance to residents and digging away the silt and liquefaction from their yards ... there are so so many heart warming stories of help and it makes my heart swell.

I've thought of going over to help my sister and other family members, but then hesitate wondering if I'll be more a hindrance than a help. Resources are stretched and services well and truly limited with no sewage or water to a great many homes still. I feel so helpless here in my warm, stable home with my lovely garden and all the comforts ... speaking with my sister, hearing her exhausted and defeated voice breaks my heart. Her text messages are even sadder.

My dear grandmother had been in Chch visiting for the week prior to the earthquake and had fortunately just returned home to Timaru, 2 hours south of Chch. She felt the quake when it hit and it managed to crack top to bottom through a wall of glass bricks in her lounge room. Two hours away!!!

I could sit and ramble and tell you the ins and outs of all going on but my family story is not nearly as tragic as others and it just doesn't feel right for me to go into further detail. Thanks to all my friends and colleagues for your kind wishes and words of support, you are all dear to me.

If you need or want more information on what's going on in Christchurch, click here for the latest news.

If you'd like to help out just a little and send a few blank cards to the NZ Victim Support Group, pop on over to Just Add Ink for all the details.

On a much lighter note here is a little Top Note bag I made a couple of weeks ago.


How sweet is it. Perfect for choccies, little gifts of jewellery and so much more. I first saw one of these over at Inking Idaho, click here for instructions.

Now I haven't been sitting idle whilst glued to the tv for the past five days - I'm working on a crochet project and will show you in the next week or so when it's finished. It's been kind of nice to do something a little different.

On that note I'll say goodbye for now and have a wonderful day.

JAI#56...Sketch Challenge

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Happy Friday eve ~

I'm so glad it's almost the weekend. Gorgeous Kid is heading off camping so I get to hang at home and do whatever I want ... give you one guess at what I hope to be doing!

Time for another Just Add Ink challenge and this week we have a great sketch for you to play along with.


When putting my card together I had a recipient in mind. The fabulous Sam Post had a new baby boy just recently and I wanted to send it her way *hi Sam*.


I've used the traditional baby boy colour of Bashful Blue for my base, adding Real Red and a little Close to Cocoa (now retired) plus some BB dsp with a Scallop Trim edge. White Satin ribbon and a little red button finish it off nicely. I used the Star image from the retired Nursery Necessities s/set and slathered it with Crystal Effects.

There is some gorgeous DT inspiration this week so head on over to JAI and check it out. Hope you can play along with us too.

Happy Valentines Day!

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Good Monday morning ~

Happy Valentines day to you all! I popped a little 3x3 'I love You' card in Gorgeous Kid's school lunch bag today, I hope it doesn't embarrass him in front of his mates. That would defeat the purpose entirely wouldn't it! lol

A little share today - this is what I like to call an opposite CASE.


You'll see what I mean if you check out this card by Laurie over at Soapbox Creations. I just loved what she did with the sketch and so I did the opposite colours for my CASE.

I made my own dsp and grunged it a little around the edges with Soft Suede ink. The sentiment is a rub-on and I black embossed one of the images from the I {Heart} Hearts s/set.

Hope you like. Enjoy the rest of your day!

JAI#55...Just Add Love

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Good Friday morning lovelies ~

Lots of love and romance in the air at this time of the year ... do you have any special Valentine plans over the weekend, or on Monday? None here I'm afraid lol.

At Just Add Ink this week we've added LOVE. My little creation is a Valentine gift for Gorgeous Kid. He's the male in my life and each year I give him a little treat of some sort - it makes me feel good, and that's the main thing right? lol


I've popped a little cello bag full of lollies inside for him - Berry Bliss to be exact, his absolute all time favourite and very safe around here because I don't like them at all - the goo in the middle puts me off.

My heart shaped treat box uses Real Red c/s and I've decorated that with RR dsp, a WW strip punched with the Scallop Trim Border, some delicious RR Satin Ribbon, a little bit of bling and a few hearts from the I {Heart} Heart set - stamped in RR and Soft Suede. My photography skills are seriously lacking, you can only just see that I popped a 3x3 coordinating note card in too.

I can't wait to see what you all come up with this week. I'm looking forward to all the different colour combinations and hopefully some great masculine Valentine card ideas. Like most people I struggle with male cards a lot of the time. If you need some inspiration head on over to JAI and check out the design team projects - divine, all of them! While you're there catch up on some BIG news!

Have a fabulous weekend all.

JAI#54...Colour Challenge

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Yay it's Friday ~

I'm not sure I should be so happy about that being that it is officially the last day of school holidays here in the ACT. I've been rather enjoying special time with Gorgeous Kid these past couple of weeks since he returned from his Qld holiday. It doesn't feel long enough.

I'm here to show you my Just Add Ink card for this week. We have a yummy colour challenge of Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Rose Red and Regal Rose this week - I do love pinks and chocolates. I often struggle with colour challenges so I fell back on my trusty Vintage Vogue stamps this week - have you noticed just how much I love love love that set!


I inked my larger flower in Rose Red. For the smaller flowers I used the Rock'n'Roll technique, inking Regal Rose first then 'rolling' the edge of my rubber onto the Rose Red ink pad - a little hard to see in the pic I think. My vine is inked in Soft Suede and I cut out some little Espresso leaves. A very straight forward card this week, but a perfect addition to my stash which is a little light on lately.

It's been very warm in Canberra over the past fortnight and it just doesn't make me want to sit and craft to be honest. It wasn't so long ago I was telling you how water logged we were becoming. Hate to say it but a day of cloud and rain would go down really well this weekend - perfect crafting weather in my opinion. The forecast is for temps to drop on Monday so I'm sure a lot of people are looking forward to the relief, particularly those who don't have aircon!

Anyway enough babble, go over to JAI and check out the design team inspiration and all that gorgeous pink. Hope you can join in with us this week.

Have a fabulous Friday!

Stuff

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Good Wednesday morning ~

I'm on holidays until next week when Gorgeous Kid goes back to school. As such I just said good Tuesday morning, and then had to think hard ... we've been enjoying lots of swimming and fun holiday activities and I've lost track of the days, as you do at this time of the year ...

Lovely BFF just emailed me and asked why I hadn't been blogging lately. To be honest it's been too hot to be bothered. I can't even think about crafting when the days are so hot and sticky. I do have aircon, but even that has been struggling!

So hunting through my pics I'm going to choose some random 'stuff' for you today.

The card is a thank you to Gorgeous Kid's godmother up in Brisbane for having him for three weeks recently.

And remember I told you about her husband being in the baby business here ... well these are some of the little gifts he asked me to put together for him. Pics are dull and not well taken (because I was racing out the door to the PO) but you get the idea. I made 30 odd Pillow Boxes in various colours with various sentiments and ribbons etc so that he can pop some chocolates inside.

I'm sure everyone has been watching the news and knows that Mother Nature is being a total bitch to Qld. Two of my beautiful friends live up in North Qld and are right now prepared for the worst. I'm thinking of you and have everything crossed that you come through this as best you can. Lots of love and thoughts. Take good care.