Our Stampin’ Up! team had an online Cybercrop over the weekend, and although I chose to entertain myself by finishing off the bottle of Omni I found in the fridge , I still did one of the challenges over the next couple of days.

We had to use a sketch that was sourced from the Scrapbooking Top 50 website, and I still found it very difficult in spite of having the sketch to go by - even with some guidance from the amazing Gabbie.

[photopress:Fairy_Queen_LO_Challenge1_CCJan07.JPG,full,pp_empty].

It’s all Stampin’ Up! materials and stamps, and I’m happy to say that I have now completed FOUR whole layouts in my lengthy scrapbooking ‘career’

Cardstock is Certainly Celery and Old Olive, Inkpads Perfect Plum and Pale Plum, Soft Subtles buttons. I used the Looks Like Spring stamp set and matching punch (only available for the rest of today, as the mini finishes tonight), as well as a flower from All About U. Also in the journalling I’ve used Expressive Flexible Phrases and Everyday Flexible Phrases.

Thanks for looking!

Quite often on Australia Day we make the trek up to Fryerstown for the huge Antique Fair they hold there on the Australia Day weekend. There is stall after stall of gorgeous old crockery, machinery, old tools, magazines, photo’s - you name it, someone is probably selling it. We go and poke around looking for a particular Johnson Brothers pattern that my Nana had one plate of (and that my sister’s and I used to fight over at the Sunday roast every week :) ) I’ve got quite a collection now, but I’m always on the look out for a teapot!

Anyway, the last couple of times we’ve gone we’ve been alternatively either flooded out with torrential rain, or it’s been stinking hot and dusty and awful. This is how we came to spend our Australia Day not 15 minutes from home, on Mt Macedon.

There is a quiet little spot up there, near the turn off to the Memorial Cross, called Sanatorium Lake. There’s nothing to do there, except spread out your blanket under the tree’s and relax. We took a little picnic up with us, and even the kids loved the quietness and serenity up there. I took the kids for a little walk, and we found loads of feather’s, pinecones, spider holes (ugh) and other ‘naturey’ things that fascinated them. I think their favourite thing though, was a huge spreading tree, with a wall of flowering dogwoods growing along one side of it’s canopy - it was like a little natural cubby, a secret fairy home.

I had a revelation when we got home, and I looked through the photo’s I’d taken while we were up there…..

It’s not my fault I just can’t get a handle on the scrapbooking thing! NO! I just realised it’s the SUBJECTS I have to work with!

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This could have been a nice shot except for some last second changes they made while the camera was doing it’s blinky light flashing bizo before it finally takes the shot.

When the realisation hit, as Oprah would say, it was a ‘lightbulb moment’

I think at the moment, making monochromatic projects is my favourite ‘technique’. I just love how with one or two shades of the same colour, I can quickly whip up something that really looks great, and I’ve hardly had to think about it.

Warning! ** Gratuitous plug coming up ** Warning!

That’s one of the reasons I love Stampin’ Up!® so much - with the inkpads and cardstock matching perfectly, I don’t even have to think about coordinating different products.

I made this card using a new set that was sent out to demonstrators as a gift just after Christmas - it’s called Seeing Spots, and I think, as they’ve sent it to us, it may just be in the next Idea Book & Catalogue that’s being released in the next few months. I’ve used Perfect Plum and Pale Plum inks and cardstock.

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Here’s another one, using Ruby Red and Cameo Coral. I don’t have both of those inkpads, so I improvised and used the Watercolour Wonder™ crayons instead and an Aqua Painter™. This set is called Friends are like Flowers

[photopress:FRIENDS_ARE_LIKE_FLOWERS_1.JPG,full,pp_empty] 

I almost forgot about these, but I just found the leftover one sitting on my bench behind the teabags! I mean if I forgot to make my own daughter’s birthday card it follows that I forgot to buy lolly bags as well.

Oh the shame!

I ended up making these cute little bag-a-lopes in some of the Bold Brights® colours using ordinary C6 sized envelopes. They came together really quickly, and the girls loved them. I don’t like to put heaps of lollies into party bags, considering the amount of junk they’ve just eaten AT the party, so I just popped a few in, along with some lipgloss and mini nailpolish that I found in multipacks at the chemist. You can really get a fair bit into these little things!

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The only negative was that my girls got the yucky coloured nailpolishes - white, and dark green with glitter. To complete the set this spare one has black of all things. It would have been nice to end up with ONE nice red or pink, but c’est la vie! 

Not sure why this post is in two different sized fonts, but I think it looks festive :P 

Well thank goodness something actually HAPPENED today, so I have something to write about LOL!

Today, at 3.28pm, my little baby Amy, turned 7 years old! I am feeling a bit weird about it, because if she’s 7 years old, that means I am 7 years oldER as well - eeeeeek!

At any rate, she had a little party with some friends from her class at school, at the local ‘tavern’. I can’t believe how good they all were - we didn’t see them unless there was food on the table, otherwise it was off to the playroom with them all. And NO tears! Unbelievable.

I realised late last night that I, ahem, had forgotten to make my own daughter a birthday card. What sort of cardmaker am I for goodness sakes??  

I quickly whipped up a simple one using a cute set - Lively Little Ones. The image is coloured with Watercolour Wonder™ Crayons and a blender pen, the cardstock is Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion and Lovely Lilac. I also got to use my latest acquisition, the word window punch to do those little tabs with the brads through them, I think I’m going to like that one, a lot :) I’ve stamped Amy’s name with the Whimsical Lowercase in Whisper White craft ink.

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Hope you like it, it’s very simple but she loved it, and I guess that’s the most important thing.

Anyway, I should be off to bed - an old duck like me needs her beauty sleep. Sigh.

testing!

Hey Jen, it’s about time you posted something!!!
gabbie