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!)

DS's wedding

Here are some more pages of our son's wedding. The wedding was over a year ago and now they are expecting our first grandchild, I thought I had best get a move on with cropping their wedding photos! I still want to get some of their professional pictures done. These are my own snaps taken on the happy day. The papers are all from a CM wedding pack, and the accents of colour are also CM papers.

Niece's wedding

I used Pink Lemonade paper from CM and the Friendship micro punch, with silver and purple accents from a CM mat pack.

I'm baaaaack

I'm back home and have some posts to make of the cropped pages I did while I was away. Hope you like them :-)

Here are some pages of my niece's wedding, first:



I used the CM wedding pack for this - it just went so well with the church colours, and the mats from another CM pack were nearly the shade of the bridesmaid's dresses,

I may be without card making supplies, BUT

I did bring my scrap booking supplies. I didn't bring my photo sharing software or the lead to connect it with our friend's computer, or I could show you the pages I made yesterday. Oh well. It felt good to finally have some pages done for DS's wedding. I still want to get some of the professional photos printed so I can make some lovely pages with them, but I managed to get my happy snaps into album format :-)

Must make a list of items to bring when we go away next time. I forget several crucial items for scrap booking too. I guess it was a sign that I needed a bit of a break from all usual activities!

Today I am trying my hand at some feel-good cooking. I have a beautful smelling spice cake half done in the kitchen. I found the recipe on the Internet today. (How good is it to find recipes at the click of a mouse?? Just Google for what you want! I have never been steered wrong!) It's a boiled spice cake - that's why the house smells so good. I'm waiting for the boiled bit to cool down enough so I can add the last few ingredients, then I'll pop the whole thing in the oven. I had to alter the recipe somewhat as I didn't quite have all the ingredients on hand that the recipe called for, so it's an experiment in more ways than one. A new recipe AND I altered it already!! Ah well - live dangerously when you can. Lol!

I'm away from home without my card making gear!

I'm visiting family and friends for a couple of weeks so won't be adding any cards for awhile. Be back at the end of October when I will look forward to seeing some other people's creations!

Rosemary

My friend Rosemary just had the best news - she has beaten cancer! She used natural therapies and lots of people prayed for her. It's wonderful news. I found out on Sunday (there were lots of joyful tears!) and her birthday was Monday, so celebrations without tears were in order! Here is the card I made for her. It is bold and bright to reflect her happiness. I used stamps from Kolette Hall, craft shop gros grain ribbon and brads, and SU! cardstock from the Bold Brights range. Lots of gel pens were also used, as well as the Stampin' Pastels and the Paper Piercing tool from SU! I used Black Stazon and Versamark as well.

A wedding!

We're going to a wedding this Saturday and the invitations had a buckle theme, so I thought I'd put one on the wedding card. I used all SU! products - Stipple Rose stamp, Versamark, So Saffron ink, Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel paper with Whisper White as a background, a gold brad, gold gel pen. I cut the buckle out with a square punch then did the inside of it with scissors freehand. The LO was CASEd from Amy - thanks, Amy!

Cropping and making memories come alive again

I recently found some special pictures of dear relatives' visits from overseas in 2002. I decided to do something with them today. One page was completely finished - the other one still needs some details and I will work on that another day :-)

Salt Challenge - John 10:10b Abundant Life!

Over at Salt, they have issued a challenge: "I have chosen the theme "Life to the Full." This theme comes from the verse John 10:10b where Jesus says that He has come so we may have life and have it to the full (or in abundance)!

So, we would really love to see your take on this challenge of what
"Life to the full- in Christ" means for you.
You can do it whatever format you like e.g. A Layout, card, beyond the page, canvas etc."

I came up with this because I believe we who believe Jesus is the Son of God, Who takes away our sins, have been given the free and immense gift of eternal salvation. What is more abundant and full of life than that?