Tuesday 29 November 2016

30 Days of Thankful... and a few extras!

Hello again... I've got a few more days ready to share but first up, a little update on Miss Krystal.  She is doing fantastically well!  I took her out for coffee and cake after school today and she was looking really good and moving around quite well.  She even wanted to pop into Farmers to see her workmates as she's missing their company.  Everyone was pleased to see her and she's looking forward to getting back to work just before Christmas.

Thanks for all the good wishes for her... it's been a major life event really but she's definitely going to be fine!

Now for the 30 Days of Thankful project.  Right at this moment I'm grateful that Michael is cooking dinner because it means that I can sit at the table and blog LOL

Nov 21: Toby's 'day room' getting waterproofed

Nov 22: Having awesome colleagues

Nov 23: Being able to go out for cake with my girl

Nov 24: Celebrating with Michael

Nov 25: The arrival of some more crafty goodness

Nov 26: Having friends to create with

I mentioned in the blog post title that there were a few extras and here they are... Michael and I signed up to receive a 'Black Box' about 18 months ago and last week it arrived.  One of the items in the box was some sparkling apple juice so we decided to open it when I found out about my job... pretty pleased with my photo too actually:

And finally.... some cards to share!  As I mentioned, on Saturday Nina came over and we did some crafting together and I made a couple of cards.  I got both my ideas from Pinterest so I can't take credit for the design of the cards but I'm totally loving how they turned out.  

The first card featuring some gorgeous polar bears was coloured using my brand new Zig Clean Color Markers and I totally LOVE them!  I finally feel like I've got exactly what I was looking for in a marker... the vibrancy of a Copic with the ease of use of a watercolor pen.  You'll be seeing me use them LOTS more in the future.

Here's my inspiration for my first card created by Debbie Olson:

And here's what I created:

I used:
  • Stamps - MFT BB Polar Bear Pals
  • Dies -  Die-namics BB Polar Bear Pals & Die-namics Horizontal Snow Drifts Cover-Up
  • Markers -  Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

For my second card I used a new stamp set from Simon Says Stamp... and it's definitely my new Christmas favourite!

Here's my inspiration for my second card created by Wanda Guess

Here's my version of the card:


I used:
  • Stamps - Simon Says Cling Stamp GINGHAM BACKGROUND SSS101596 Reason To Smile & Simon Says Clear Stamps MAGICAL CHRISTMAS SSS101669 Believe In The Season
  • Dies -  Simon Says Stamp MAGICAL CHRISTMAS Wafer Die SSSD111644 Believe In The Season
So there you have it... a few more pages in my 30 Days of Thankful album and a couple of cards.  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog again xx

Friday 25 November 2016

30 Days of Thankful and something sweet!

I think I say it each time... but I really love this little project and I'm certainly enjoying seeing my wee album develop as the month goes on!  Another week has flown by and all of a sudden it's the weekend again. As always, click on the images to make them larger.

Nov 15:  Krystal's surgery being a success (update at the end of the post)

Nov 16: Not being the one at home when Nivea made this mess

Nov 17: Having an umbrella in the car

Nov 18: All the 'little things' in life

Nov 19: A fun night in!

Nov 20: A glorious morning at the Farmers Market

I've also made the title page for my album and I'm pretty pleased with it:

While Krystal was in the hospital, one of my colleagues also had a loved one in Intensive Care and we were all pretty worried about her.  We decided to make her a care package once she was safely in a ward to wish her a speedy recovery and I made some cupcakes.  I'd forgotten how much I enjoy baking cupcakes and making them look all pretty but I did remember to take a photo of them!  What do you think?  Apparently the recipient loved them and even though she's not really a cake person she said they were delicious... pretty high praise really!

I'm happy to report that Krystal is doing well.  She was in hospital for several days and is now having home check-ups with the health nurse.  She's had quite a major operation and is likely to need at least four weeks recuperation time.  I've been visiting her every afternoon when I finish work and although she's still very sore and tired she is in good spirits.  

Thanks so much for visiting xx

Saturday 19 November 2016

30 Days of Thankful

I had a couple of days in the last week where I didn't actually take a photo but I've been able to take one either since or  use a photo taken previously.  That's the beauty of being flexible and just letting the process take you where it wants to go.

I'm finding this 30 Days of Thankful project really good.  I'm definitely looking for (and finding) lots of positive things to be thankful for... and even when surprises, shocks and unexpected things happen it's been a lot easier to see the silver lining. Sounds a bit cryptic but those in the know will get it!

It's actually been a heck of a week... lots happening at school... lots happening family wise... and lots of days that just ran into each other so I'm feeling more than a little grateful that the weekend is here and I can do some 'fun stuff' in my art studio!  As always, click on the images to make them larger.

 Nov 10: Having my fur babies for company

Nov 11: Saving regularly into the P'n'S Christmas Club
For those of you from overseas... P'n'S (Pak'n'Save) is a chain of grocery stores

Nov 12: Spending time with some of my family thanks to a motorcycle

Nov 13: Sharing chores with Michael

Nov 14: Happy mail arriving

This morning I'm feeling quite grateful that it's an overcast day with a few showers because I can totally shut myself away in my art studio with all my happy mail products... what bliss!

Thanks for visiting xx

Saturday 12 November 2016

30 Days of Thankful and a few cards

Hello again :)  I've been a little slack in uploading my 30 Days of Thankful photos to the blog but I'm still working away on them.  Today I've got another four days to share with you... along with a few photos of some cards I made at a recent retreat. Remember that if you click on the images they'll be much bigger so you can read the text easily :)

Nov 6: Having a friend to go to the Woman's Expo with

Nov 7: Working in a great team

Nov 8: Having sunny weather to dry my washing

 Nov 9: Michael organising dinner

I'm still loving this little project and one night Michael asked me... "So what are you grateful for today?  Is it something to do with me?"  We've started talking more about the things we are both grateful for... and that in itself is something good.

As promised... I've got some photos to share of some cards I made at a recent retreat run by my lovely friends Sheree and Lynn... hi ladies :)

The first card I made was for my friend Esther.  She's celebrated several birthdays over the years without a birthday card from me so I decided to make her something special.  I used my MFT The Whole Herd stamp and die set to stamp out several images... super cute!

I stamped the images and then heat embossed them... great for when you do watercolours!  I then coloured in the images with Distress Inks and my water brush.  The background and hills was done with a foam sponge applicator and more Distress Inks.   The fence is yet another die called Rolling Hills and the white picket fence is super cute!


And here is what the finished card front looked like:

I'm happy to report that Esther really liked her card :)

Then I decided to do something with liquid masking.  I stamped a couple of images from MFT Magical Dragons and MFT Adorable Elephants and then I heat embossed them.  



Next I painted the liquid masking over all of the images and let them dry.

I did a cool watercolor background with Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints.  I haven't done a lot with them yet but I love how smoothly they paint onto watercolour paper.

Then I painted the wee dragon and the princess with Distress Ink and a water brush.  

Lastly I added a dark green background layer along with some rhinestones and sequins.  This card was for Michael's birthday and he thought it was super cute... and he totally got that HE was the dragon and I was the princess!

Finally, I made two gorgeous little elephant cards... one for Sheree and one for Lynn.  I did the painted watercolour backgrounds again since I liked how well they turned out for the dragon card.

Then I removed the masking fluid and painted the adorable wee elephants with Distress Ink.

Next I stamped the sentiments and coloured the butterflies using Distress Ink.  I was a bit sneaky at this point too and showed the card fronts around to a few people including Lynn who mentioned that she liked the little elephant sitting down... so Lynn got the sitting elephant and Sheree got the standing one.

 I didn't actually take photos of the final cards but you get the idea. 

So that's it for today... I'm looking forward to getting a bit more creative in the lead up to Christmas and I actually have a fab new stamp set on the way especially for this occasion!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit xx

Saturday 5 November 2016

It's been a while...

... actually it's been a long while!

My last blog post was June 12th so just for fun I Googled how many days from then until now and would you believe there is actually a whole website dedicated to calculating the time between two dates.  It's called Calendar 12 and here are the results:


So after four months it's time for me to 'get back on the horse' so to speak and do a bit of a catch up... plus I've got a little project that I want to share.

There's no way I can actually catch up the last 4 months completely but there was one event that I had fantastic photos for... yes it's all about the visuals LOL

Back in June I celebrated another birthday... not a major one but lets say I'm now closer to 50 than to 40... where has the time gone???  Krystal asked me out for a 'fancy schmancy' birthday lunch and of course I accepted and here's a couple of photos I took on the day:
 The menu

 Mains

Dessert

I've also been to a scrapbooking retreat where I actually made a few cards (I'll share photos next time)... had a few changes at work (still teaching)... and done some projects around our home... actually Michael does the projects and I just take photos.

In the meantime, I've decided to join in Cathy Zielske's 30 Days of Thankful mini class.  I've been a long time fan of Cathy's clean and simple designs.  Over the years I've bought loads of her photoshop templates and even done a couple of online classes with her.  What appealed to me most about the 30 Days of Thankful project was that it focuses on the good... and there's always good!

So, having made the decision to do this project I purchased yet another of Cathy's templates thinking I would create a 6 x 8 album.

Then I decided that I would make a 6 x 4 album since I didn't want to make the project bigger than I needed to... but no problem I could still use the templates I had purchased.  I found a font I really liked called KG Lego House (it's free!) and then I even did a test run at the end of October.

I really liked the look but it still wasn't quite resonating with me... and if you're a creative soul you'll know that if it doesn't resonate it starts to feel like something not so fun anymore.  So I pondered and while I pondered I did a quick visit to Spotlight and I found some stinking cute mini albums!

I didn't actually buy one during that visit but the seed had been planted and over the next few days my mind kept busy thinking about it and then today I went back to Spotlight and purchased one of these cute little babies:

It's an album for Instagram photos so it's cute... and little... and I love that it's a bit fun to look at with it's kraft colour and big white polka dots!  I also bought some WRMK 4x4 photo sleeves and now I'm all set.  The WRMK photo sleeves fit perfectly into the D-ring of the album!

I must have known that I was going to love this size... I've never made a 4x4 inch album before but I dare say this won't be the last one I do!  I had my photos and text ready so I went to the photo lab and had everything printed off and it's PERFECT!  Even Michael said... it's a bit cute really isn't it?
 
In the end I made my own Photoshop templates for the photos and text but I 'borrowed' the titles from Cathy's templates which I had purchased.  I wasn't too worried about purchasing the templates because I really like them and I think I might just turn them into my December Daily pages this year... then again I might change my mind again... you never can tell around here!

So now it's time to share my first five days of 30 Days of Thankful. (If you click on the images they'll enlarge so you can read them easily)

Nov 1: Today I'm grateful for fresh fish for dinner

Nov 2: Today I'm grateful for coming home to a clean kitchen bench

Nov 3: Today I'm grateful for remembering to make pizza dough before I went to work

Nov 4: Today I'm grateful for the end of the week

Nov 5: Today I'm grateful for Michael checking the bike carefully

So there you have it... I'm really pleased with my first five days and it's already turning into a fun project.  Thanks for stopping by for a visit xx