Ginger blossom meets eastern blooms

I know awol again. I simply don't know how people manage to find time to update there blogs on a regular basis. Anyway I thought I'd quickly share with you my latest stationery gift box (do you remember the summer picnic one?). I needed to make another one so I could find out what measurements I had used as I am going to be teaching the M & M's how to make these towards the end of this month. Hopefully I've recorded them accurately and this will go smoothly. I tweeked it a bit this time so it fits a bit more snuggly. There are some pics of the cards I have made to put in this box. The are pretty simple and self explanatory so I won't bore you with details. Well I think I may be able to sneak in a half hour of blog surfing so am off to check out the many talented stampin' up demos out there who are much more dedicated than I. Hope you all have a nice night.

Pretty Princess

Okay so I haven't done much crafting lately, instead I have been enjoying a week off work (yipee couldn't have come soon enough) but I thought I'd quickly share this card I made for my daughters friends fourth birthday tomorrow. Don't know that I am totally happy with this one but at the end of the day it is only for a four year old and not many of them are into the cards, they'd rather have the gift - right? I paper tolled out some images of the pretty princess and the cake, plus added some dazzling diamonds just to sparkle it up a bit.
Have been having a pretty big clean up around the place both inside and out. Not much of a holiday really but at least I wasn't at work. Things have to get done properly sometimes not just the quick flick over to make it look good. Lol. Unfortunatley the lawn mower decided to pack it in half way through the front lawn this morning so I better go find some-one to look at it. Hope your enjoying all this beautiful weather we're having. Bye for now.

Stamp Club projects

Morning all thought I'd share with you the other two projects the ladies from my stamp club made on Saturday night. The first card was not my own design it was based on
this card by Beate Schupp. She really saved my bacon with this one. Two hours before the ladies were coming and I had no idea what to do. Sitting there blank panicing was not a good look! lol. The colour concept came from the Kwerner #38 challenge (ruby red, petty in pink, pumpkin pie, and whisper white- very femine)I'd been meaning to have a go at. I had to add the old olive for the leaves however. I think I'm really going to like using this sale-a-bration set. Its very cute and sweet. The second card uses the stamp set Like it a Latte. Colours are Chocolate chip, creamy caramel, real red, and whisper white. The steam from the mug is on acetate with stazon for a different effect. We used puff paint for the foam and a spritzer tool to add cocoa ( hope thats the right word for it- I have never had any sort of coffee or tea for that matter drink before) on the top. I think the ladies enjoyed themselves ( I know I did). Now maybe just maybe I might start next stamp club soon so I don't have a panic attack again. Yeah right!.

An Award

I have just finished work for the night so thought I'd quickly post this award before I head off to bed that I received from Tracey and Judy. Thank you ladies.

The rules are link those who awarded you and list 7 other nominees deserving the award. Okay so I would like to nominate:
Michelle, Trudi, Amy, Cherie, Toni, Michelle F, Jayne. These are all blogs that I frequently Stalk ( I don't mean to scare anyone I mean that in the nicest way :D).

Okay so its very late now and I'm feeling the effects of not much sleep due to procrastinating again. Off to bed. Night all!

What went wrong?

Okay so this is going to be a really quick post as I've noticed I'm slipping in my posts again! My Stamp club resumes again tonight at 6pm and I still don't have all the projects organised yet. Nothing like a bit of last minute pressure! However the cakes in the oven so I'm hoping the food will help. He He :D. I wanted to try and use the stamp set friendly flowers from the summer mini. This is the very first time I have inked it. And I have no idea what went wrong! This was not at all what I had envisioned. Doesn't it just scream at you? Too Busy...maybe? Wrong colour choice....maybe? Lost mojo.......probably! One things for sure I had better get it together before 6pm!

On a brighter note my walk-in-wardrobe is all but complete just waiting for the wall-paper to dry so we can put the organisers in and its done. Yippee. No more sanding dust, no more painting, no more clothes in every room in the house, and more time to play now the work is done. I must say a huge thanks to my friend Shirlz for the loan of her hubby to hang the wall-paper last night. I'm sure we'd still be looking at jib next month ( or worse I would have attempted myself and botched it) if not for his awesome help.

Right off to do something for tonight!

My first Challenges

Okay so I finally decided to give some challenges a go. This one was supposed to be for the Kwerner colour challenge. I needed to redesign my desk-top calendar for a stamp club project seeing as I had used a stamp set that was no longer current on the one in my previous post. So I thought while I was redesigning it I might as well attempt the challenge. What do you know I finish it, go to take the photo and my camera died and I missed the deadline. Oh well at least I can finally say I've done a Kwerner challenge, maybe next time I might even make the deadline.

This next one comes courtesey of Trudi who while blog hopping found this sketch challenge of Makeesha's. She lovingly posted it on our NZSU blog for us all to see. I made this card with an anniversary in mind. It uses two stamp sets from salebration (Polka dot punches-this is the heart, and Congrats- which is the word congratulations plus on the inside it reads - on another year of happy togetherness!). I'm not sure I'm completely happy with how this turned out. I pictured it differently in my head, oh well.

Eastern Bloooms

I haven't had a lot of time to stamp (when do I ever?) between working nights and entertaining the kids during the school holidays so in order to finish my stationery set with cards I finally got to casing some of the cards I have saved on my computer. One day I might actually start saving the name of the person who created them when I save the photo so I can give credit. Anyway thank you to who ever these lovely cards (ok so I changed a couple of them a little bit but the concept was yours) originated from. Its just great that when your in a fix you can turn to a wealth of blogs out there for inspiration.

So today I promised the kids a trip to the movies so we're off to see BOLT. Hope its good. I realised today I have not been to see any adult movie in................. at least 9 years. I'm picking it must be some where around then seeing as my son turns 9 soon and I know I haven't been to one since before he was born. Maybe I could make that a new years resolution, I know its just a trivial thing but none of my usual resolutions ( you know weight loss, Pay off the mortage, go on a holiday etc) come true so maybe this one has a chance. Baby Steps :). Its such a gorgeous day outside that I'm hoping I can also fit all the bikes in my tiny car and seeing as we're heading to town we can hopefully have a ride along our very beautiful coastal walkway. Trudi has a very cool photo of our walkway for any of you from out of New Plymouth on her blog. Any way enough rambling I've seen the time and I must fly.

Have a nice day.

Stationery Gift Set

Well I finally finished this project I started before Xmas so I thought I'd share it with you. This original concept came from the very talented Andrea Walford. Its truely amazing how many talented people there are out there that can come up with these designs. She has a tutorial you can purchase, but anybody who knows me knows I always like to try and figure things out without having to part with money. Yes I know I'm a cheap skate. I just loved the idea that it all folded up into this cute little box. So I'm hoping I did her justice in what I came up with. I think I did all right? It has a calendar to record those special dates, cards to send, writing pad and pen (for those letters grandma likes to get) and finally stamps to send when finished. Check out the Stamp on the front of the box it is one of the free "Yummy" new sets you can earn while salebration is on. Make sure you check out these sets with your Stampin' Up demonstrator. Got to love free stuff!

Anyway santa still didn't bring me broadband so while I've been patiently waiting for dial up to load these pics my children have been unpatiently waiting for me, can't blame them really the process can be quite long sometimes, so I'm off to do some stuff with the kids.

Have a nice day!

Desk Top Calendar

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

" May all the dreams in your eyes, the desires in your hearts, and the hopes in your lives, blend together to give you the most spectacular New Year ever".

Well we can only but hope can't we. Yet again the weeks have passed by so quickly, this is definitely the longest between my posts(I'm sure?). Can't believe its all over though. All that hyp and quick as a blink its gone. I even took down all the xmas decorations yesterday, making it feel back to normal. Anyway today is the first time I've been in my stamp room since just before xmas so I thought I'd make a desk top calendar for work. These are so simple to make I can't believe I used to go out and buy them!

Receipe: Card & Ink: wild wasabi, chocolate chip, whisper white and really rust. Stamp sets: Live your dream(summer mini) & True friend (now finished spring mini).

Well I guess I better go do some housework, can't spend all day playing (well I could but I doubt the rest of my family would let me).
Enjoy Your Day!

Teacher Appreciation

Okay so my eye-sights a bit poorly at the moment but hopefully this has turned out alright. These are wee gift bags for my kids to give to their teachers tomorrow and friday. The junior school finishes tomorrow seeing there is a whole school concert tomorrow tonight (which is going to be a long one as normal)therefore they are not required to attend school Friday so wee Tegan will be giving hers tomorrow. Unfortunately for Liam being middle school he has to attend Friday so his will go to school then. There is a card, notepad and pen, acetate box with maltesers and another box with cadbury favs (yum) all in a nicely decorated matching tote. Hope they enjoy!

Xmas Card Making Fun!

I know I'm a bad blogger, and I don't have anything new to show you yet either. However I do have some exciting news. The M&M's Xmas extravaganza (a very cool few hours of card making ) is on THIS WEEKEND. Five Stampin' Up! Demonstrators have come up with 10 xmas cards for you to choose from to make. Come and make as many cards as you like!

When: Saturday 6th December anytime between 11am-3pm

Where: Mamaku Centre Inglewood

Cost: $3 per card - with $1 going to Womens Refuge

There will be tea and coffee provided as well as some tasty treats. Register prior to the day and go into the draw to win Stampin' Up! product. Phone me on 067569171 or email neilandkim@clear.net.nz if your interested in participating.

More of Xmas

Yes I know. Another week has passed again. Really I have no excuse, time just seems to whiz by. Last night I was busy blog hopping and came across some really cool boxes on Andrea Walfords blog. Both these were orginally Easter items if your checking out her blog (and are simply too cute for words). The top one is a peek-a-boo gable box, and the bottom a door hanger treat pouch. I needed a better image I think for inside the peek-a-boo, so will have to give this another go. Maybe some presents peeking up might be better.

Enjoy your week and remember there is only 4 more days left to make purchases out of the current Spring mini.

Time for a Change

What do you think? I decided tonight it was time for a change. I got tired of looking at all the pink that used to be on my blog. I went for a surf around found a new banner and changed the background colour.

Third and final post

Yep here's some more I created. Its amazing what can happen once you've cleared a block.

This one uses Lovely as a Tree, Party punch and Say it with Scallops(found in the new summer mini coming your way 1st december) and the scallop square punch aslo in the new mini.
This uses Scribble this, Baroque Motifs and many merry messages. The large flower is versa marked on vallum cardstock then embossed using silver ep and coloured from the back using ruby red and handsome hunter marker pens.












And the very last one again uses baroque motifs, many merry messages and party punch. I used a large round tab circle temporarily adherred in the middle and stamped the small flower/star image around this, removed the tab circle and replaced with the scallop circles in real red and glorious green with the merry christmas from the party punch set. The large scallop rectangle around the Happy holidays is made using the new scallop edge punch out of the summer mini. I can tell this is going to be one of my favourite new tools. Scallop squares and rectangles any size you please plus it also makes a groovy medallion too.






Okay so that's all I have for now. Back again hopefully in the not too distant future.