Back To Work & Birthdays

Yes my long weekend is over and do I feel all refreshed and ready to return to work....NO! I feel the need for more than an extra day as lovely and relaxing as it was...I think I need at least a week! Last night I was trying to get a birthday card done for a friend of ours and do you think I could come up with something...no inspiration whatsoever so at 6am this morning I had to get up and make something in time before Damo went to work so he could take it with him! No pressure or anything! My creative thinking at least was back after a good nights sleep and here is the card below:

The card has not really come out as nice in the photo but that's because I am trying to take the photo at 7am - sun isn't really high enough just yet! I have the butterflies inside the card too! I was after something cheerful and I am happy with how it turned out considering when I started out this morning this is not exactly what I had in mind! The chipboard buttons that have a shadow on them have foam adhesive and the others are just normal!

I hope that you like it and I hope that my friend does too - which I will no doubt find out soon enough! And now I should really start on the "work" part of my day!

Ingredient List:
Stampin Up - Very Vanilla CS, Certainly Celery ribbon, Stems are from Heartfelt Thanks stamp set - ink Certainly Celery, Butterfly from Live Your Dream set - ink Pretty in Pink and Pale Plum, Sentiment from Sincere Salutations set - ink Regal Rose. Chipboard Glitter Buttons by crea8tiv

Makeesha's Colour Challenge #13

Hi everyone - I hope that you have all had a great weekend so far! For me it is a long weekend so I have an extra day off tomorrow ...YAY! We have been doing work on our pool area making it a little more pretty...we are still in need of some more plants and rocks but that will have to wait until next weekend - for now I am going to spend some time relaxing and doing some challenges like Makeesha's latest Colour Challenge #13. Here are the colours:

I instantly thought of my new Seaside set from StampinUp when I saw the colours - I have been waiting a while to get this set and it was SO worth the wait! Here is my design:

Oh you can't really see properly in the photo but the centre piece is lifted by thick double sided tape.

Don't forget to have a look at the others submissions because they are excellent and offer some different takes on the colours and how to use them!

Ingredient List:
Stampin Up
Not Quite Navy CS for base, Only Olive for the strip, Chocolate Chip border
Seaside and Heartfelt Thanks stamped in Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla CS
Chocolate Chip Ribbon

Damo & His Mum!

Damo and his family are very close - and I am also lucky enough to be a part of such a wonderful family! Before moving to WA we lived in the same town as them for 3 years so it was quite an adjustment going from dinner once a week to being 5000kms away! In May this year his parents and grandparents came to visit us and a 2 week stay turned into a month....we tried to make them stay longer! The photo used is of Damo and his mum - we were up the top of a hill to have some nibbles, drinks and watch the sunset which I always say is the best time of day in NorthWest WA as the colours really come out and its just beautiful! Sunrise also ins't that bad!

So this layout is actually for Damo - I gave it too him this morning and he loves it (thats a relief...haha)!

I have taken inspiration for the layout from Makeesha's Sketch Challenge #13 (I love that sketch) but I have turned it around and the squares are not overlapped by the photo. The sash part is also not going down the photo but across it so I could do some journaling. Very similar in concept and if my photo was 5"x7" it would have been just right! The idea to put the sketch into a layout was taken from the very talented Chantelle and you can see that here. I have actually never done an 8"x8" page so this is also a first for me!

There will also be lots more photos from their stay as I (eventually) get around to scrapping them. We went to some beautiful places together like Karajini National Park but I will leave that for another time!

Ingredient List:

Stampin Up:

Night of Navy CS for Base, Pumpkin Pie around photo and squares, Very Vanilla for squares, Wild Wasabi for the journal strip

Boho Background Stamp coloured in Not Quite Navy, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie and Ruby Red - the middle square does have this stamped but very faint.

Journalling written in Old Olive marker - names and date in Not Quite Navy

Silver Brads on each corner

Other:

D & M stickers (unknown)

A Thankyou and Some News

Apart from my two parcels that I received yesterday I also got an envelope all the way from Morocco - my gift had arrived (beautiful postcard set) and I was so happy to also receive a card from Tina - also know as Travelingmama http://travelingmama.net/! So a big thankyou Tina - you absolutley made my day! Sending you hugs from Australia!

Now speaking of Travelingmama - you may also recall my previous post about her family helping schools and children in Morocco - it now has a name He{art} for Morocco and after having a look this morning over at her blog she has announced that Digiments has come on board to help by donating 50% of sales - you can read all about it here - http://digiments.blogspot.com/2009/09/release-week-begins-stamping-for-cause_21.html

They also have a challenge going on for those of you that love challenges!

Hope that you all have a great day!

New Goodies to Play With!

Well I have finally received two of my parcels yesterday afternoon and just like a little kid I was ripping them open to see what was inside. I was meant to be getting ready to go out for dinner with Damo but instead he was forced to see everything that I got....haha...not to worry we did get to dinner!

Thought I would put a picture together of some of my new goodies - there is a bit of a mixture but that is just me all over! New paper, embelishments and stamps that I can't wait to play with!

Makeesha's Sketch Challenge #13

Ok so I didn't get to do Makeesha's last Inkspiration Challenge - see other post - I just could not get past the pacific blue that is coming my way! haha!

But I did manage to do this weeks sketch challenge http://www.makeeshabyl.com.au/index.php/2009/09/18/inkspirations-sketch-challenge-13/ and to tell you the truth I am thinking of re-doing this with Chocolate Chip as the base - not because I don't like it this way but because I just had that thought in my head and I put them roughly together and it didn't look too bad! Just a thought anyways - I will tell you of the outcome later on - good or bad!!

First here is the sketch:

And here is my creation:

Ingredient List:

Stampin Up
Regal Rose base
Stamped Live Your Dream on Very Vanilla in Garden Green, Cameo Coral and Ruby Red
Stamped Happiness in Lavender Lace on Very Vanilla and then cut it into 3 squares
Sincere Salutations stamped in Garden Green on Wild Wasabi cardstock
Pretty in Pink and Elegant Eggplant Ribbon with Pretty in Pink brad

Hope that you enjoy and that you give the challenge a try also!!

*** An Update: I have also just done a LO based on the sketch too!***

Waiting Not So Patiently...

Last week I did some spending and I love the thrill of selecting "complete order" and getting my little notification email to say - Thankyou for making your purchase and your order is complete and being delievered....from the moment I get that email I get butterflies in anticipation for I am not one that purchases on a whim but carefully looks around and then thinks about it (often too much). So generally when I have made that purchase I have already been looking and wanting the particular item(s) for a few weeks! And just to add to my impatience I live in good old North WA which means 2 weeks to receive the goods from the other side of the country!! Although one is coming from Perth so that should be here faster!

So it has been one week so far...and even though I know they would not have arrived yet I still check my box every day waiting for the slip that says "you have a parcel to pick up"! And I see all these challenges and I think of how much the new items will go great with that - so much that I struggle to think of other ways to do them with the multitude of goodies I already own! haha! But nevertheless I will try so stay tuned!

Daddy's Girl

I have been having thoughts about how to dothis LO for some time now and believe me it has changed over and over in my head...I love these photos of Damo and Kimani...it captures their relationship so well. She is part of the family and acts so human like wanting to sit up on a chair near you when you are talking and even watches back and forth as people are talking as if she is part of the conversation. So many stories to share like her first camping trip, how she acts around other dogs....ahhh the memories and so many that havent been scrapped yet....yes I am very slack! Damo is not exactly fond of photos of him being displayed for all to see - prefers to be the one taking the photos but surely as fiancée I get an exception!

The quote states "He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worth of such devotion". I love this quote...so true!

She is not just a Daddy's girl she is also a Granddads girl -Damo's dad loves her ...we always joke that if how much he spoils her is any indication then we can't wait to see what he is like once grandchildren come along!

Sorry about the bend in the page but as soon as I decided to take it outside to take a photo the wind decided to pick up and then decided to not go away!

Ingredient List:

Bakground is coloured paper in my pile! Stampin Up Brocade Background DSP, Quote Sticker - Dog embellishment value pack - ATD, Journalling in Stampin Up marker in Garden Green

Home Is...

Damo and I have both called different places home...I thought it would be fitting to have a frame cater for all of these places and I have it at the entrance to our current home. The photos are of Newcastle, The Pilbara and The Murray River. I got quite a few of these frames as they are so versitile around the home and for presents.

Newcastle is on the East Coast of Australia, The Murray River is the longest river and is the border for New South Wales and Victoria and finishes up in South Australia. The Pilbara is North West Australia outback...dont you love the red dirt...you do not wear white there unless you plan on wearing it only once....haha!

Each of these places are as special to us as they are different!

Some Small Changes...

Well I have made some changes to my blog in order to beautify it a little! More will come and then I might decide to just change it all again....haha!

I have been trying to get more layouts done and participate in some challenges but I have just had so much "work" to do over the past couple of weeks....but today I will have some more posts I feel as I am dedicating some time to creating!

Spring has arrived!

Although we barely have winter where I am, I still love spring! The flowers are starting to come back out and I have my first ones on my frangipani tree out the back. This is a time when I start to go a bit mad with taking photos of trees, plants and flowers! It's all about a new fresh begining for me. I also start to use a lot more colour in everything!
Spring brings with it the end of the better weather as it gets very hot up here from October and with summer comes cyclone season and 40+ degree weather.
I hope to be back soon with some scrapbook pages I have been working on...