Hello.... Remember me?

Wowzy wowzers!  It's been over 6 months since my last post and I feel I need to purge!

And I might not get too much chance to create too much over the next two months as the family become 'in transit' from Sydney to Melbourne... yes, that's right... my craft goodies will be going into storage.... OOoooooHhhhhh NNNoooOOOO!  Definitely not sure how I will cope but to try and choose a SMALL numbers of items and stamps to keep out is just TOO HARD!

So in the meantime, some of my 2012 Christmas collection: -

 Above and below are cased from my gorgeous pal Sue Dean xx

Oh my - these two involved SO much colouring ... as my Stamp-A-Stack gals discovered one long long session!

 And this last one was an 'en masse' card made for our school class parents - 45 all up; loved every minute x

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

What a cracker of a day!  The team over at Crafters Anonymous hosted another brilliant ABMT event with new projects every hour over 8 hours (7 projects with a lunch break!!)

So here are my projects with a brief summary... I might run out of words as my brain's battery fades!!

3d Project - favours box - just love this and my DD8 wants them for her next birthday... 'just in prettier colours, please mum' !

 Next, a colour challenge - Neutrals - I stayed simple (like I am!)

 Punch Art - flower - I think I was more excited about making the box than the flower as I have admired these cake boxes for some time; the flower turned out ok too!

During lunch, after stumbling across some random rub-ons, I made this card using nesties to create the embossed circles...

After lunch, a sketch challenge - I made a card although layout was more designed for scrapbooking; loving all the colours!

 3d Challenge - Cupcake - based on 'the' flowerpot design, here is a cupcake version... although mine appears to be having an 'ice-cream' identity crisis with the flakes!

 Ingredients challenge - toothpick! This challenge really did... challenge!  All ingredients were fairly straightforward ... until the toothpick appeared!  So after a fair ole struggle, here's my lame effort!

 ... and finally - a sweet treat pocket!  Simple yet super!

What a great great day and for a great great cause xxxx

CASE-ing!

Here's a couple of blatant CASE cards I've enjoyed copying recently!

Firstly, my version of Chupa's bold and simple card - I love it as it crosses gender and age I feel...

Secondly, my only-marginally altered version of a divine card I saw via Just Add Ink by Judy May...  it's so pretty and I loved her placement of the pearls...

Birthday bonanza...

Because I don't already have enough birthday cards in my stash **chuckle chortle **
I saw this first one on one of my many blog treks so forgive me for not acknowledging source at this stage but after a little wee purchase of MFT goodies, I had to CASE...

These next cards are based on the birthday card I received from Stampin' Up earlier in the year - a simple but great way to showcase in-colours!  The second one was born from stamping the sentiment upside-down!

 And finally a couple of cards using the Sale-A-Bration dsp (now sadly ended) - I wasn't too keen on the papers at first.... yet now wish I'd stocked up on lots more!

Thanks for looking!

Coffee lover birthday card...

My eldest girl's teacher recently had a significant birthday.  Each morning as the girls and I arrive at school, we always see this lovely teacher with a couple of colleagues making their daily pilgrimage to or from the local coffee shop!

Hence this caffeine inspired creation...

All SU product with the gorgeous but sadly retired Sale-A-Bration dsp.
stamp: Morning Cup
ink: Early Expresso, Lucky Limeade
cardstock: very vanilla, early expresso, calypso coral
other: very vanilla seam binding, antique brad, lucky limeade and calypso coral ribbon, tags punch (small and large)

Whatta lotta love in the room!

... hello ... remember me?

I cannot believe it is Easter already?  Where has 2012 gone?  Doesn't help that I'm still writing 2011 as the date... I am turning into my grandmother!!

So here's a few shares from Valentines Day ... with a little pledge to make sure I update my blog more often!

2 little cards I popped into my girls' lunchboxes xxxx

1 card for hubbie, using a GORGEOUS rusty button from heartsupplies on Craftumi.

And finally, 2 cards made in case my hubbie needed to rummaged through my card collection, like he did on our anniversary!! xxxx love him xxxx

Extra Christmas bits!

I've loved going through the Stamp-A-Stack process for my Christmas cards as for the first time, I have a varied selection of cards to give out as opposed to one design for all.  It's really brings back the extra joy in giving... which after all, is what the season is about!

Here are some other cards that didn't quite get into the workshops...

I really love this last one - CASEd from Suzanne Barnard via Stampin' Connection (SU demo site) I changed the colour palette to a Christmas tones (including gold) and used Circle Circus rather than Delicate Dollies... I reckon Circle Circus could have a bit of a revival given some of the awesome Delicate Dollies designs appearing!  I also added tags to the ribbon.  This card looks great in every palette - big thanks to Suzanne!

Penultimate Christmas Stamp-a-Stack!

Here are the two designs from our penultimate Stamp-A-Stack - I can't believe there is only one more to go :o(  Although I know there will be impressed people globally with the skills of my lovely workshop friends!

Firstly a super-simple design, pimped with the gorgeous SU chunky Glitter Glass (Champagne).  I found something similar online but cannot remember where - so soz.

This next card was CASEd from Sweet Irene on Splitcoast stampers - I just love him!  I stepped up a little and embossed the white hair elements...

Halloween treats

... and a little trick too!

Our new neighbours are American so it seemed only right to help them celebrate Halloween this year - I don't think our local RSL quite hit the celebrations seen in the US but we had a great time none-the-less!

I whipped up a super-quick Halloween treat basket for their 8yr old daughter - this is where SU dies come into their own for fast, fun and effective handmade pressies...

We filled two mini milk cartons with lollies, one with a little bracelet... and one with mulch from the garden! *snigger... TRICK!*

The pumpkins are made out of eight / nine scallop circles and some Old Olive paper curled with a paper piercer.

Top-a Times!

Whilst browsing the craft sites recently, I found a host of hobby horse pictures that all seemed t lead back to one woman... Jackie Topa - my new muse de jour!!  So here are my variations of the hobby horse, used with the new and fabulous SU Stocking punch...

And another CASE of Jackie's work (found via Michelle Le Breton), just check out this adorable singing reindeer!  My youngest said 'This is cool, mum!' to which I replied 'yeah, he's funny isn't it!'.  My daughter came back with 'No, not funny, just really cool'!