Am off for a week or so....

....travelling interstate with DH, so will not be able to craft at all (oh no!) or check email/internet (oh double no!) as regularly for awhile. See you all when I get back. Stay safe, happy crafting!

Thinking of Manda

I made another card today for Manda, a forum friend who is going through a tough time. The card was CASEd from Michelle Goodrich at SCS . I stamped the SU! Stipple Rose stamp and added in some flourishes from SU! Peaceful Wishes on Whisper White cs. I coloured it in with a blender pen and some Stampin' Pastels. I used a whale punch on the corners of the SU! Old Olive cs and mounted it on Gable Green cs. The little saying is stamped in Close to Cocoa and comes from the SU! Greetings galore set. Hope it cheers Manda and her family up, even just a little.

Get Well Soon

A friend I know from some of the forums I belong to is in the hospital. I coincidentally found a card on SCS made by Jill Jacobsen and decided it might cheer Lexie up. Here it is - the flower is made from scrapbook paper from Big W, I couloured the bg of the reverse side with SU! Lavendar Lace and stamped with an SU! Seeing Spots stamp in Ballet Blue. Cardstock is from SU! - Pixie Pink, Yo Yo Yellow, Lovely Lilac and Bashful Blue. I used a gold brad I found in the LSL and a deep pink one I got from my Secret Santa from Kim's forum I also used some gingham ribbon, a white gel pen, Paper Piercing tool & matte plus slit punch, all from SU! Get better soon, Lexie.

DCM Challenge to make a 'New' Card

I found time ot make a New Year's card as a RAK today and it fit into the DCM challenge too! Here's my example - I used a young friend's unknown origin tulip stamp (thank you, Elisabeth) that I embossed with black then coloured and blended, using Stampin' pastels and blender pen, and the odd felt pen. That's SU! Gable Green, black and Whisper white sc. The gold stickers I received from a Canadian friend (thanks, Carla!) so it's an international card as well :-)

Happy 80th, MIL!

Today I followed a sketch challenge from Scrapchat to make this card for my MIL. I used Time Well Spent SU! stampset, SU! Bordering Blue, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive cs, SU! grosgrain ribbon, gold embossing powder, Stazon, Versamark, CM number stickers, gold stickers and a bee from a Big W set (I drew on the gold wing veins with a gel pen).

Liz Laughs

I followed the Powercrop challenge at Scrapchat today and created a LO of my DD as a baby. I love these pictures and it was great to use them today. I used SU! Gable Green cs to hand cut the word 'Laugh', and stamped on it with a flower from SU! Time Well Spent. Then I layered the page with SU! cs in Apricot appeal, Bashful blue, Cameo Coral and Pixie Pink. There are a couple of primas and a cricut flower (thank you, Andrea!) and a gold brad, and I edged the word 'laugh' in black ink.

Peggy's Mystery Challenge

Peggy from Scrapchat set us a mystery challenge to do some LOs on photos of her daughter's 5th birthday party. I just finished mine tonight so thought I'd post it up here. I used Creative Memories papers and punches, SU! ribbons and stamps, prima floweres, some of those flowers you gave me, Pearl, assorted brads and gel pens, and a purple fine tipped pen from CM. This was a totally new experience for me as I have not ever used 3D things on my scrap booking pages. I htink soem of the effects are too subtle for the camera to pick up, too - it looks better IRL.

Oh, and Suzanne? I'm doing some card challenges next, OK? He he he!

Our Missionaries

You know how at the beginning of a new year you look around and think things need a freshre look? Well, that's what I did tonight with my missionary postcards. I had them stuck any old how up on a kitchen wall. I thought tonight they deserved to eb displayed better, so I scrapped them onto four pages, then mounted them on cardboard and replaced them on the wall. I was pretty happy with the result.

Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a great New Year's and that things are 'Great in 2008'! DH & I spent the evening with Austrian friends. We watched DVDs of old movies and ate 'traditiona;' food - a wonderful beef and vegetable soup at 10pm and at midnight, a potato and herring salad! Now I had never tried pickled herring (rollmops?) before but now know they are delicious.

We could see the fireworks on Cairn's Esplanade from a distance at midnight, and just enjoyed the night talking and reminiscing about the year. It was very pleasant. My friends are wonderful Christian friends who I appreciate very much. They insisted we stay overnight rather than returning home (96kms away) and this morning they fed us fresh fruit salad and croissants before we departed. I need to work on eating more moderately from now on!!

Following Suzanne's example, I am starting this year with a few changes to my blog. I've added a free counter (see bottom of page). I'm going to work on a new avatar image, too. Maybe that will get posted today.

I trust I will see all who come here lots more in 2008. Thank you to everyone who has left comments and become friends in 2007. It has been fun getting to know you and learning about blogging with you all.

All the very best!

Tagged!

Chrissie tagged me! Here are the rules:

"You've been tagged:
The rules of the game:
• Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog".

Here are my seven random and/or weird facts about me:

1. I have moved around most of my life, rarely spending more than a few years in each location.
2. I met my husband later in life through a mutual friend who was secretly acting as a match maker - who knew she would be so right? We've been married 11 years now. Sadly, my friend has passed away. RIP, Ruth.
3. I like winter better than summer, regardless of how cold it gets.
4. I lived in Far Northern Canada, a VERY cold place, for 3 years when I was a kid.
5. Two of the towns I used to live in are now ghost towns.
6. Now I live in Far North Queensland, a VERY hot place. Guess I like contrasts.
7. I love blues, purples, pinks - all winter or cool colours.

Now here are the people I've tagged - hope you all enjoy the challenge and Happy New Year!

1. Paula
2. Pearl
3. Andrea
4. Suzanne
5. Ness
6. Chelle
7. Amanda

Do pop by their blogs to see what interesting facts they come up with! And Happy New Year to all!

New camera + Nature = pics!

I had a chance to take some pics of birds and butterflies long-range this last few weeks. I've been pleased with the results, though I htink the camera would do better in more experienced hands! Oh well - I'm going to make sure I keep experimenting. Here are a couple of photos (I went to the Birds in Backyards and this site [thank you, Dr Don Herbison-Evans, for helping me identify this moth!] to find out what the scientific names were):

Aprosmictus erythropterus, King Parrot

Alcides Metaurus (Zodiac Moth)

Another King Parrot

Christmas cards!

I have been making cards for Christmas but didn't want to post them till they had been received by everyone I sent them to. I think they have been in the mail long enough, so here goes. All stamped images are from SU! and Hanna Stamps. All cardstock is from SU!. Embellishments came from lots of places. I used mostly the Rennaisance Angel stamps this year, only colouring them differently with various glitter/gel pens. I've given you a sample here of cards I made 'in bulk'.

Display Board!

I just got a new Display Board from CM! They come in distressed white and black and i love mine :-) The board is magnetic so I can change the display when I want to, and put the old display in an album when I do!

I had to try it out last night. The photos didn't come out very well as they were from my old camera, but I will use my new camera more in 2008 so the quality should be better.

Contact Tag!

I just broke my mojo block! Yay! I spent the last couple of days making 20 contact tags for a Scrapchat forum swap. It was something I had never tried before and I think it might be close to what Gillian calls an ATC swap? Anyway, here's the front of the tag - I used manilla 11cm x 5.5cm tags from a newsagent's, all dressed up. I used matte photos printed out at home, CM punches & pens, SU! ribbon & ink (Rose Red), and MM brads. What do you think?

Scrapchat & Stamp With Kim and the INKcredibles

I have been a member of Stamp With Kim and the INKcredibles's forum for some time now and I love to go there every day. This week I decided to add to my forum membership (and therefore the joy!) by joining a new scrap book and crafting forum called Scrapchat. If you would like to check it out and see if you would also like to join, do go ahead!

I find forums like these inspiring and good for keeping up with what is new. You also make some great new friends!

It's December!

It's December and I put up our Christmas Tree today. I still need to decorate it. It was a new tree, bought by my dear DD to cheer me, as my old tree was bought by my Dad in 1970 and was looking much worse for the years of wear! I had fun trying to make my new tree look 'authentic' since it has bendy branches and you can make it look as though the branches are reaching towards the sun. Neat!

To get further into the Christmas spirit, I then read a blog (Hanna Stamps!) and followed a link from there to find out what my Elf Name is. Here it is - see if you get a better name than mine! Lol!

***Susan's Elf Name Is...***



Floppy Snowballer


What's Your Elf Name?

Picfolio Pages

I started a new album - a Milestones Picfolio! It seems to go together so quickly and easily, I did 5 pages after dinner last night :-) I had a pack of mats and embellishments that fit so all I had to do was make the picture fit and go in logical order. I think it took me longer to think of what words to say than it did to order the shots. The only problem is 'flash glare' when I take their pictures fro you to see. See what you think, anyway:

Catching up with friends

We spent a lovely evening out with friends while away. Here's the pics to prove it! Papers and embellishments also from the CM 'Cottage' pack.

Catching up with younger DS

Our second DS is still single, and we got to see him this trip as well. Since these photos were taken, he has had a haircut! Papers and embellishments are from the SM 'Cottage' pack. I have lots of journalling to catch up on.

One more of DS's wedding

These ladies were all bridesmaids, and the fellows were groomsmen (of course!)