Come and Join In the Fun!

My friend Tanyah is having a great scrapping event in October. Come on over to her blog and read about it! I'd love to see some of you there. The word is that there will be many interesting challenges and you won't want to miss them :)

Dust Storm Update: We're still dusty - lol. It isn't anywhere near as bad as it was on Wednesday. I am finding the accumulative effect rather daunting though. Everything is covered in a thick layer of fine, talc-like reddish orange dust...as soon as the dust settles we are going to have a great time cleaning it all off!

More Dust and a Wedding Card

We're having our second dust storm this week. Some photos taken near where I live show you the extent of it. We've closed up the house again and the dust is still sneaking in though to a lesser extent than it would if we had all the doors and windows open. I realise other parts of the world get dust storms but the east coast of Australia hasn't had such a week in over 70 years, so it is a bit of a novelty to us younger than 75 or so.

Maybe a wedding card will provide a nice contrast to the thought of all that dust. I made this one for a wedding I attended last week. I should have made it more dramatic - the bride wore black, high black boots, black strapless dress and a long flowing wide white scarf that reached below her knees. She carried the most beautiful black/red roses. The groom was in a black suit, white shirt and red tie. I hadn't been to a wedding where the bride wore black before...

Gift Card

While in Far North Qld I met up with some crafting friends (which was great!) and showed them how to make the Father's Day gift card I made a few weeks ago. Here's the one I made. This time, I used paper punches to decorate the card and blinged them up a little with metallic and black pens. It was a very quick way to make the card!

This is a "Life in Australia" post

Australia's east coast has been experiencing some pretty huge and dramatic dust storms in the last 24 hours. In Sydney it is the worst (they say on the news it was last like this over 70 years ago) but this video of life in Broken Hill yesterday shows just how bad it can get. We live in Qld where we had an eerie windy and orange day but it never got as bad as this video. Today we have almost clear skies but they are telling us on the news that we should expect more dust tomorrow. We're checking the air filter on our car and absolutely everything inside is covered in a fine film of dust - it is going to take a long time to get the dust out of our clothes and houses.

Jozzi

I'm visiting my wonderful daughter today and we intend to go check out the Bat Hospital soon. My daughter has a lovely big boxer dog named Jozzi who has such a great memory! She remembers me no matter how long it has been between visits.

The Bat Hospital looks out for the Spectacled Flying Foxes. I'm looking forward to finding out more about them and what the volunteers at the hospital are doing for them. The live in such big colonies. Their calls are unmistable once you have heard them!

I'm in Far North Qld!

Isn't this tree magnificent? I have always enjoyed looking at it. It lives on my sister's farm in Far North Qld where I am visiting. I'll be away for another week but just had to share this tree with you to let you know I am not paper crafting but am enjoying looking at trees that remind me of paper's origins at least :)

I'll be back!

Baby Memory Albums

Do you find it hard to know where to start when making a Baby Album? If you are anything like I was after having a baby, it's a little hard to focus sometimes! With that memory of my own in mind, I have put together a list of suggestions for pages you might like to include in an album about a newborn.

On the other hand, you may be an expert or at least more experienced at making these sorts of albums. If you have an idea to share or a picture of your own album to show, I would love to hear from you on PaperCraftCentral.com!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! Here are a couple of little wallet cards I made to give to some special fellows. I was pretty chuffed to figure out how to use bling on one of the cards! Using bling on masculine cards can be a challenge. There are pockets and extra cards inside each of the pictured cards.

If you would like to see how they are made (they would make wonderful birthday cards as well) subscribe to Paper Twists and you will have the instructions right away!

White Space Design

I had never heard of White Space Design before I did this layout. I took it literally - that the space around an image needed to be blank and white. It was while actually scrapping this layout that I learned it could be so much more! The whole idea fascinated me, so now there are more layouts on PaperCraftCentral and an explanation of white space design for you to see.

I used a picture of me when I was about three years old to make this layout - aren't I cute? He he!

Thank You in a Box!

I wanted to make a cute little surprise for someone special. When you have cardstock and stamps, you can always make something unique and pretty! I found this idea fro making a little box full of cards on SplitCostStampers and decided to give it a go. This little box full of cards complete with handmade envelopes was the result :)

I hope you liked it, Ali!

A Square Card

Have you ever made a square card? I made this one as an entry into the Scrapchat card sketch challenge for this month. I made the card 15cm square and had a ball with the coloured cardstock. gold ink, the Stampin' Up! Tart 'n Tangy stamp set and the gold embossing powder :)

After I made it I couldn't find a suitable envelope, so I wound up making one to fit exactly. I made a tutorial about envelope making on PaperCraftCentral if you would like to see how I did it. I find my method works for any sized card and I use it all the time!

Have a happy time paper crafting!

Recycled Card

Do you like using recyclable poducts on your cards? I am a hoarder of anything that looks like I could use it! But I don't get round to actually using the items all that often, usually.

This month I had a chance to do so when I took part in a swap at RubberStampChat. You can read more about what I used on the card at PaperCraftCentral.

It sure was a fun swap! And so economical!!

Stampin' Team Meeting

At the stamping team meeting yesterday, we didn't just eat chocolate, we girls also took part in a swap. I love swaps! You get so many new ideas and this time was no exception. I had made 8 of these cards pictured and in return I got another 8 new cards (or card fronts) made by other members of the team! What a bargain!

Thanks fro the meeting, Kim, and thanks for being there, everyone else :) It was great to see you all and to talk about all things stamping!

I got a cute little card idea from a make and take that we did that I will show you one day soon too....

(All materials used in my card are from Stampin' Up! If you live in Australia and would like to know more about how to purchase these products from me, feel free to contact me via this blog :))

Chocolate!

Yesterday I tried out a recipe for Traditional Chocolate Truffles that I found on Chocolate Candy Mall. They turned out so yummy! I rolled the first batch I made in cocoa and took them to a Stamp Club meeting. All of them disappeared, so they must have been OK.

The first time I rolled them I don't think I left them in the fridge long enough. They turned out lumpy because they were so soft. This time I left them in the fridge overnight and the result when I rolled them this time in coconut, powdered sugar and cocoa, was much smoother! I plan to take them to church this afternoon and I think they will all be gone so it's just as well I 'reserved' a couple more in the fridge for us to have after dinner tonight!

I thought these little yummies would also look good wrapped in cellophane and put inside a handmade paper gift box. I'll have to try that when I make another batch. Well, there IS extra cream in the fridge that has to be used up so I just need to go to the store and get another lot of chocolate....he he he!

Happy 30th Birthday!

I got the Stampin Up! "Voila" set and was so wanting to use it! I had in mind that I would make recipe cards with the images, of course, but then my husband told me he needed a 30th birthday card for a male co-worker and for some reason, the Chef popped into my mind!

I didn't get to see if the recipient liked his card, but I loved using the chef image to make it.

If you would like to see how I made the card and embellished the middle, the instructions are on PaperCraftCentral.com :)

Featured Artist at PaperCraftCentral!

What a wonderful day it has been!

Tanyah Payne, scrapper extraordinaire, sent me some beautiful pictures of an OTP baby album she made for her little nephew. She also agreed I could feature her and her work on PaperCraftCentral, so I did! With great pleasure and tickled-pinkness!

Tanyah's work is so gorgeous and different to my own, so it is a real pleasure to be able to show you a sample of her style.

Thank you Tanyah!

Chalk Pastels

Do you use chalks on your stamped images? I love to do that when I want to make a soft image, and I thought the chalks added a lot to this lovely image.

This lady stamp is fast becoming a favourite of mine!

Paper Craft Punch Cards

I was playing with my paper punches the other day because I needed to make lots of cards in a hurry, and I also had some new punches and stamps I wanted to try out. The result was this little cutie! It was easy to make many times over once I got the first one planned. Don't you just love that little birdie and the paper lace? I really liked the Oval stamp set too.

All products are from Stampin' Up!, including the paper shapers, stamps, ink and card stock.

I played with my blog template too and picked a design from Aqua Poppy Design to enjoy for awhile. You can pick one (for free) too if you like by going here.

Blessing Box

A friend of mine made me feel very special the other day by giving me this cute little handmade box. It's called a Blessing Box. Every day I am supposed to think of a blessing in my life, write it down and store it inside. Isn't that a lovely idea? Needless to say, the first blessing was all about having a beautiful friend like Rebekah!

Oh and I found my camera cable at last so it won't be long before I can show you those Christmas cards - just need to take some pictures!!!!

I decided it was time to change my blog's look. I'm not sure I like it - what do you think?

Crop!

Do you get together with your paper crafting friends fro a crop sometimes? I did that yesterday and what a great time we had! It was a day where any craft was welcome so there were not only scrappers and cardmakers, there were knitters and sewers and painters as well! It was such a good opportunity to see other people's ideas and find out about new products and of course, to catch up on friendships :)

I made 18 Christmas cards - unbelievable!!

I would show you my Christmas cards but since my move, I have misplaced my camera upload cable :( So I have pictures but I cannot get them to my computer!!!!! How frustrating!!!! I'm getting desperate enough to go buy an new cable!

Every day we unpack more boxes so one day it will turn up.

I decided to show you a quilled card I made some time ago instead :)

Meanwhile, the crop was great fun and it even had a higher purpose - we were fundraising for the Girl Guides :) It is so nice to know that us having fun actually helped people! Lol! Now that's a GREAT excuse for a crop :)