What Was I Thinking!!

I know I havn't kept my promise and put up any postings over the holidays but I have to admit I have enjoyed just hanging out with my family (quite literally) as you can see by the top photo.

We spend Easter in Port Stephens and the weather was fantastic. We all relaxed and enjoyed the spoils of the Easter Bunny.

We headed off to the Show on the last day and although I have to admit I wasn't overly keen to go it was a great day. I normally only venture onto the Dodgem Cars as my ride of choice as I am a HUGE chicken when it comes to rides but I got conned into being more adventerous this year.

My 11 year old son (who I was willing to put up for adoption after this) talked me into going on the "Hard Rock" ride. Feeling a little uncertain I lined up and didn't actually watch the ride until I got on. As soon as it swung up into the air the first time I knew I had made a huge mistake. My heart was racing and I just wanted to get off. I don't know what my screams would have registered on the rictor scale but I'm sure a whole new level would need to be created!

Well the speed picked up and on the next swing I thought I would need oxygen to survive so I closed my eyes and like a 2 year old believed that this would make it all go away. It kind of worked until I opened my eyes very briefly to check that my 11 year old devil child was doing ok. Second big mistake, I was way up in the air and now thought I would need a shot of adrenalin to get my heart beating again. The eyes slammed shut. Once again I thought what I can't see won't hurt me so lulled into a false sense of security my eyes deceived me and opened again!!! This time I was upside down looking at the ground and about to go on a big drop. Mistake number 3 in about 3 minutes.

My dear little devil child had gone very quiet also as he really isn't that much braver than me on rides and I had to decide whether to open my eyes again or just hope that he hadn't passed out with fear and wait for the end of the ride. Being a candidate for Mother Of The Year I decided I couldn't open my eyes again and just hoped that he was coping better than me.

The ride from hell finally started to flatten out and slow down, I heard a little peak from my son and relaxed a little but then had thougths of what I was going to do to him when my feet hit the ground.

Needless to say the whole family thought it hillarious but didn't ask me to go on any other rides all day. Luckily for my youngest that he is cute and lovable so he got to survive another day. I did get to have a shot at him on the Dodgem Cars and he certainly had a massive target on his car where I was concerned.

Everyone had a wonderful time and after a mammoth 12 hours we all made it home safe and sound.

Happy Easter Everyone

I want to wish you all a very happy and especially safe Easter. Fingers crossed this will be the first Easter in 7 years that it doesn't rain the whole time. Don't eat too much chocolate (as if) and make sure you all get some time to relax and more importantly create!
I will be away until Tuesday hopefully in SUNNY Port Stephens but will be taking the time to relax and won't be doing any stamping!!! UHHHHH I can't believe I just said that but I will be working over the holidays creating some exciting new things for next terms classes. I also haven't forgotten that I owe you all some photo's of what we have been doing so I will get to that when I get back. Boy there are a lot of "I's" in that.

If anyone is interested in the projects posted in the Blog Hop, they will be done in classes next term so let me know if you would like to take part and I will add your details to my contact email. That way you will be kept updated.

Stay safe and hopefully the Easter Bunny is generous!!!

A Little Cottage Garden

Welcome to our Stampers Anonymous SU Autumn/Winter Mini Blog Tour! There are some fantastic new products released in this catalogue tomorrow (april 1st) and we're going to share some of them with you in our creations.
You may just have come from Juliette Chapmans blog, but if you are starting here, don't worry.... you can make the complete circuit just by following the links at the end of each post. There are 14 stops along the way, including one guest stamper, and we hope you will visit eachone to see the wonderful creations we have to show you!

At the end of each post there will be a link to take you to the next stop on the tour.

We are offering 2 lucky visitors the opportunity to win some "Blog Candy". There are a few things you must do to be eligible and they are:

1. You must leave a comment on every blog in the tour. Please also leave your full name with the comment.
2 After leaving your comments, you neet to email Kerry and inform her you have done so and would like to be in the running for the blog candy.

** Blog Candy is available to Australian residents only.

So grab a cuppa, sit back and enjoy the tour.


Here is my first project:

I just fell in love with the Cottage Wall Desinger Papers and Cottage Garden Stamp Set. I put together this very cute little Card File Box that you could use for recipe cards as a gift to someone who bakes.

Products Used:

Card: Orchard Opulance, Rich Razzleberry

Papers: Cottage Wall

Stamps: Cottage Garden

Inks: Rich Razzleberry

Punches: 1 3/4" circle punch, scallop edge border

Ribbon: 1/2" Polka Dot Grosgrain - Rich Razzleberry

My second project is a Gift Box with 4 Gift Cards

I love the opportunity to make 3D items as a break from cards. They always make great little pressy for someone that you just want to give a small gift to.

Products Used:

Card: Orchard Opulance, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: White Craft, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry

Paper: Cottage Wall

Stamps: Cottage Garden

Punches: Small & Large Tag, Eyelet Border

Tools: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dot Embossing Folder

Ribbon: Certainly Celery Grosgrain

Other: Playground Designer Button

I had so much fun playing with the new products from the Autumn/Winter Mini as I am sure you will also.

There were so many things to choose from, I had trouble picking what to use for this Blog Hop. I hope you have left your comment to be in with a chance to win the "Blog Candy". Now you're off to enjoy the wonderful creations of Meighan Wheller. Thanks for stopping by!

If you happen to lose your way, here is a list of all participants.

Juliette Chapman

Sue Dean

Meighan Wheller

Chary Bellfield

Nikki Stalker

Sharon Wilson

Kirrily Matthews

Rob Irving

Sally Williams

Kerry Bunting

Fiona Harvey

Teneale Williams

Liam Pucher

Marelle Taylor

Blog Hop Countdown

I will be taking part in another Blog Hop on Wednesday night. It goes live at 9.00pm and will be showcasing some of the awesome new products in the Autumn/Winter Catalogue that you can order from beginning April 1!!! There are some really exciting products in this Catalogue and I can 't wait to see what all the very talented ladies taking part in the Blog are going to WOW us all with.
Make sure you check back on Wednesday night, sitting down ready to relax with a cuppa or glass of wine and enjoy the journey. There is also going to be some fabulous Blog Candy to be won so don't be shy and make sure to leave some feedback on the sites for your chance to WIN! How great will it be to go to the letterbox and get an unexpected surprise of some SU goodies!!!! Good luck.

MIA

I have to say sorry to all of you that check into my blog regulary. I haven't had time to update at all lately and I am feeling very quilty. I promise that I will get some postings done soom. This is my last week of classes for this term and I have my new Mini Launch night on this Friday so will have so much more time after this week. (Ha, ha) remind me that I said that when I am still chasing my tail next week.

If you can make it along on Friday night, I would love to see you. I have created some samples from the great new products in the Autumn/Winter Mini, you can do a Make & Take and relax and enjoy a drink and nibble. If you need more details, please don't hesitate to contact me at thedeans@ihug.com.au.

Please stay tuned and I promise to overload you with postings soon.

Simply Surfing

I like many of us struggle with male cards. I often get my children to critique my cards before I post them or use them in classes. I wanted to create some male orientated cards to have on hand so thought why not go to the demographic I am trying to appeal to - my husband.

He like me likes simple, uncluttered images so this is the first of a set I have created using the Seaworthy set from page 88. Although I like simple, to me this is a little too simple but the boys all gave it the thumbs up.

Colours are Sahara Sand (which I have never used before and have discovered that I like it), Ballet Blue and VeryVanilla. I used the Spiral Punch and some tearing. I stamped the image twice and cut out the surfer and mounted the image with Dimensional.

Class Photo's Week 2

We got to play with the Sweet Treat Cups last week. I had a bowl of Smarties and Jelly Beans on my table all week and my youngest son drove me mad wanting to eat them. He pounced on them on Friday when he got home from school, very glad the week was over.

The cardstock was Tempting Turquise and Gable Green. The DSP is from Kaleidoscope in the Summer Mini.

The 1 3/4" punch and Sweet Treat Cups are also from the Summer Mini. The words and the gift stamp behind the sweets are from Happy Moments which is a Sale-A-Bration set.

Don't forget that until the end of March you get the opportunity to earn bonus FREE sets! Take a look at my earlier Sale-A-Bration post or contact me to find out how.

This card is a great hit with the kids. They simply pull on the little tag and get easy access to the goodies you have included.

The second card was using the "flower pot" theme I used for Hubbies Valentines card. We also used my favourite set A Rose Is A Rose to fill the flower pot.

The colours used were Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette. The rim of the pot has been punched with the Scallop Border punch and the ribbon is the Riding Hood Red Taffeta. The pot has been rubbed with Versamark to give it a weathered look.

This week we are doing Easy Watercolouring with reinkers and a male orientated card. Hope you can make it to one of the classes!

Sweet Treat Star

There are so many options for the Sweet Treat Cups from the Summer Mini but not enough hours in the day to keep playing.

I had a boys birthday card in mind when I created this card. Whenever I think boys card I always seem to reach for the Star Punches. I also used the Starring You set from Page 141 which is a great little set and of course the 1 3/4" circle punch.

The colours are Brilliant Blue and Gable Green. I have added a couple of Silver Brads and some metalic stars I had laying around. I added some punched out stars to the insert but forgot to take photo's.

First Week Back

Last week was the beginning of classes this term.
The first card we made was using the Masking Technique. Over the Christmas break I did a little bit of tidying of my craft area and came across my Autumn Flair set which shock, horror, I hadn't used yet. It is a Level 2 Hostess Set and I am not sure how I let it slip by. It wouldn't have anything to do with having too many sets to choose from!
The colours for this card are Rose Red, Old Olive and Very Vanilla. The ribbon is Rose Red and I used the Eyelet Border and Word Window punch.
Masking allows you to create the effect of images disappearing behind another image. You will notice it looks like the leaves are sitting behind the flower. One of the flower images has also been layered for dimension.

The second card was an "Easel Fold Card". I have seen these around for awhile now but hadn't tried them myself so thought I would learn with everyone else.
The colours used are Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze and Whisper White. I added the Kiwi Kiss ribbon and the punches used were 1", 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches and the Designer Label punch. I didn't photograph it but on the bottom we used a square of Whisper White stamped with one of the flowers as an area for you to write on.
This can be adapted to any size card and would make a great photo frame to send to a friend or relative. I iwill try and make one over the next week or so and post a photo so you can see the variation.

Happy Valentines

My husband and I are not hugely into Valentines Day. I am happy to get breakfast in bed and well he is happy to not have to stress out about flowers, chocolates or getting the right gift. I think it is important to do the little things for each other every day rather than focus on one day.

Saying that, it did give me an occassion to make a card though which is always a good thing. I didn't want to give him a flowery card but wanted something that would express my love.

I incorporated a flower pot card with my new Full Heart Punch. I used Riding Hood Red (to replace the red roses) and Whisper White card stock. I rubbed over the flower pot with Versamark to give it a 'weathered" look and used the Scallop Edge punch to lift the rim of the flower pot. The words are from Short and Sweet and the flourish on the heart and rim of the pot is from Frames with a Flourish. I have had this set for awhile and haven't used it but have discovered why I had to have it recently so you will see quite a bit of it coming up. I found the heart shaped chocolate at my local chemist of all places and it was a perfect size.

You can tell this was a card for a man as it is the day after Valentines and the chocolate is still there. Now if he had given that to me.........................

I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday and were at least a little spoilt.