I knew this would happen one day........sigh!

I should've prepared for it, but didn't! This morning, while surfing the net, the power went out without warning. It came back on around 15 minutes later, but sadly my computer didn't! It was telling me something couldn't be recovered so insert your original Windows disk.......which incidentally didn't come supplied with my computer. I vaguely remembered that I was supposed to have some backup disks to recover stuff, but I'll spare you all the longwinded details on how long it took me to contact my computer manufacturer to get some answers and then ended up having basically figure it out for myself.......grr!

The bad news is that I lost everything on my C Drive, all my Favourites, everything in my email box, all the software that I've installed since I bought this computer...so I've spent all day trying to get it in a useable condition again.

The good news is that I have a partitioned hard drive on which I have stored all my documents and photos (whew!), so it hasn't been a total catastrophe! I also did have my Favourites and email address book saved when I changed computers, which was 2 years ago.......I still haven't figured out how to import the address book though.

I had been seriously thinking of buying a decent program that will back up information on a daily basis, but hadn't found an appropriate one yet...Duh! If anyone knows of one, can you PLEASE let me know the name of it, I don't want to have to do this ever again!

BTW, if I am in regular email contact with anyone reading my blog, can you please send me an email just so I can save your email addy in my address book again!

I'm off to bed now.....I'm so sick of looking at this computer screen! Byee!

OSA Dragonfly Swap (from November 2008)

These are all the cards that I received in the OSA Dragonfly Swap, I showed you the card that I made for this swap in the previous post.

Minda O.


Mary Wi.


Margo S.

Katrina S - our lovely hostess for the swap.

Jean S.

Chris.

Fantasy Film Dragonfly card.

Sorry, this is not a new card, I made this for the OSA Dragonfly Swap late last year and had completely forgotten to post it here. My background is created from Fantasy Film, I found a tutorial on how to use it at Penelope's Pitstop blog . My stamps are all by The Darkroom Door and the ink used is Black Staz-On. I've taken 3 photos of the same card just to show how different the colours appear, depending on which angle you look at it.

I was hoping to post a link to the OSA swap gallery to show you what the other members did for this swap, but somehow they didn't get put into the gallery. I will post the cards that I received in the swap, but it will have to wait until tomorrow!

I'm sorry to say that the bushfires are causing a lot of anxiety again at the moment. More fires have flared around the Dandenongs and in Central Victoria around the Daylesford area and high winds are making it hard for the fires to be contained. A lot of people have been evacuating since yesterday...no-one is taking any chances this time after the catastrophe earlier this month. I hope everyone is safe wherever you are in the world!

Engagement card

It's taken me forever, but I've finally finished the engagement card for my daughter, Hayley and her fiance, Trevor! I just haven't been feeling too creative lately and the card didn't turn out quite as I had hoped, but it will have to do.

I made a window in the card with the heart cuttlebug die.......and let me tell you, it's not easy to line up several layers to get the die in the right spot!

It's a bit too cutesy and pink for my liking, but Hayley likes pink and Teddy bears so who am I to argue!

The stamps are all from a set by Amazing Creations (I think they are no longer in business, not sure if someone else took over their stamps). I used D'vine Swirls and Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folders on shimmery white paper. The black scalloped layer is done with the Fiskars Water Threading punch. The images are stamped with Versamark and gold embossed, the Teddy is coloured with Whispers markers.

The photo below shows the inside of the card

I have mentioned before the romantic way ,that Trevor proposed, while they were on the Southern Star Observation Wheel Well, it turned out that the wheel had to close down the very next day! Due to all the extremely hot weather we have had, the steel has buckled in the wheel. They had one of the last trips on the wheel.........and it's still not operating again! Lucky he didn't leave it until the next day to propose!

Thanks for visiting.........gotta go now, I'm baby sitting my grand daughter and she's just woken up and is calling out!

Beth has some blog candy!

Beth at 'Nana's Memories and More' blog is also celebrating 10,000 visitors to her blog and has some lovely blog candy to give away! You can find it HERE !

While you are there have a look at some of Beth's awesome projects.....she does wonderful things with her Cuttlebug!

........and the winner is!

Sorry it took me long to get back.......it's taken me about an hour to figure out how to do the screen shot thingy in this post! I used Random.org to pick the winner.

The winner is.........
Wirgie!
Here's what Wirgie said:

Hi Lyn
Glad to be one of many who've helped you get to this amazing milestone. Well done. I have no idea how to get a counter on my blog, even after 2 years LOL. Love coming to visit and seeing your beautiful creations. Particularly love your Owl card, he's so cute.
hugs
Wirgie x x

Thanks so much everyone for joining in the fun and helping me to achieve 10,000 visitors! Wirg, I'll send you an email if I can find your email addy, or else I'll put a comment on your blog to let you know of your win.

First Blogoversary and 10,000 hits blog candy!

Comments for this post are now closed! I'll be back soon to draw the winner!

I've just come here to post the blog candy I promised you a few days ago and my blog hit counter has just ticked over to 10,001! This is a month for celebrating......not only 10,00 hits, but my first Blogoversary is on Feb 6th and it's also my birthday on the 28th!

I can't believe I've been blogging for nearly a whole year! So without further ado, I'd like to thank everyone who visits my blog, especially those who leave encouraging comments about my artistic efforts!

So, what can you win I hear you ask? Well, scroll down the page and have a look!

Firstly, I have this new unmounted stamp from Stamping Bella, called 'Jammybella'

Next, I have a pack of 3 cream coloured tassels, some Prima hydrangea flowers, an Asian coin embellishment and 6 Asian playing cards (all different).

.... some cat stickers and labels, a small pack of brads - stars and triangle shapes in assorted colours, 2 black and 2 gold small frames, 2 cloth embellishments.

..... assorted napkins - 4 large size and 2 cocktail size

........and last of all I have a bunch of ribbons, ric-rac and laces!

All you need to do to win is leave me a comment in this post.......can't be any easier than that! Only ONE comment per person though please, and feel free to tell anyone else that I have a give-away happening.

I was going to make you wait until the 28th and announce the winner on my birthday, but that's too long so I'll leave it open until Valentine's day, Feb 14th!

If you don't leave me any way to contact you, please check back on Valentines Day to see if you have won! It's OK to enter if you don't live in Australia, I will send this overseas too!

Good luck!

Victorian Fires Update!

Sorry for being MIA the last few days, and thanks to my blogging friends from around the world for their concern and good wishes for what's been happening here in Australia. As I said in my last post, we are quite safe here in Melbourne and my Dad is OK in Bendigo too.

I'm sad to say it has been pretty devastating for those who have been in the fires' paths. At this present time there are still around 21 fires still burning in the state, most are contained but there are still 2 or 3 major ones that are threatening lives and property. Healesville is presently under threat, although I think they might be OK for now. I've read that the fires could keep burning for another 3 weeks.

Today the police have arrested a suspect, a known serial arsonist, for lighting the Churchill Gippsland fire.....other fires are also suspected as having been purposely lit by fire-bugs too! There was even a fire only a few kms from here, in Ivanhoe last night in grassland that was lit by a fire-bug. It just beggars belief that someone could do something like this to other human beings.......it just disgusts me!

At the last count there were over 1800 homes destroyed, over 7,000 people who are displaced and 181 dead, I think something like 600 people have also been treated by hospitals for burns....some are serious and won't survive, but most have been discharged. My daughter, who is a police officer, has been involved in the search for more bodies at Kinglake, but at this stage they are looking for bones that might look human.......a lot of people won't be found at all as they have been totally cremated! My hubby's friend has also had it confirmed that his partner and her children died in the blaze.....he is under sedation at present.

Bushfire Appeal
If you would like to donate to the families of the bushfire victims you can do it through the Red Cross http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_emergencyservices_victorian-bushfires-appeal-2009.htm All money collected by them will go straight to the victims, they won't deduct any administrative costs from your donations.

My friend Sandie is running a card drive as a small way to help bushfire victims too, you can read about it HERE

There are also a few scrapping/stamping online stores/companies that are donating sales to the bushfire victims. I'll list what I know of here:-
Stampin' Up - donating 50% of sales from THESE stamp sets.
The Stamping Queen - donating all sales until Feb 18th
Scrapbook Capital - see for details.

If I find more I'll add them to the list.

Also please be aware that there are some unscrupulous vultures out there who are attempting to dishonestly collect money for the bushfire appeal, best to give to something you know is above board.

For the most part, the response to the appeal has been fantastic, something like $50 million dollars has been raised by the Red Cross,and Channel 9 had a telethon last night which raised a further $21 million. There has also been massive donations of goods and services by businesses and individuals have been donating goods too.

Well, I think I've had more than enough to say for now.......thanks if you managed to read it all! Sorry, I have no card to show you today....just not feeling creative with what's been happening.

I haven't forgotten about my blog candy either, I will close off comments tomorrow at around midday (Saturday) and draw a winner sometime after that. So if you haven't left an entry yet, just put a comment in this post.

Fire and Devastation!

Sadly, it's been a horror couple of days in the state of Victoria. We had a 47 degree centigrade day yesterday, coupled with high winds. There were warnings from the authorities that there was a high risk of bushfires, as conditions would be similar to the devastating Ash Wednesday fires in 1983. Unfortunately, the warnings came true and the fires have been even worse than those Ash Wednesday ones!

This morning's death count was 14, but, as of 10pm tonight the count has risen to 84 and will rise further as many are still missing. Whole towns have been razed by fires, the scenes we are getting from the media resemble war zones. We are safe where we live in Melbourne, but we have relatives living in the fire zones (luckily they are safe), and friends that we just don't know about yet! My hubby knows that one of his friends hasn't been able to find out whether his wife and daughters escaped the fires......but it doesn't sound too good.

My home town of Bendigo in Central Victoria has had massive property damage too, I was really concerned for my Dad! He told me the flames were visible from his home and he could hear the roar of the fire....luckily, the wind changed direction in time and he was safe.

Today is much cooler and less windy, but there are still some fires burning out of control. This kind of thing makes you put things in perspective and realise what is important in life. Possessions can always be replaced, but lives, especially loved ones, cannot!

Happy Blogoversary/Anniversary!

Today is my 1st Blogoversary, and I didn't plan it this way, but I've made an anniversary card today!

This started off being a card for Kazan's Sketch #19 over at 2 Sketches 4 You, but it also qualifies for Caardvarks Heart Challenge and Papertake Weekly's Hearts and Flowers Challenge - so it's a triple challenge card!

This is just an easy to make card using Designer Papers (green is MM, plum is Cloud 9), die-cut shapes and a Vickie Enkoff greeting stamp.The vellum flowers, leaves and strip are by Cloud 9. Also used burgundy thin grosgrain ribbon, Curved Rectangle Nesties and red metallic heart.

ps. Don't forget to enter for my blogoversary/10,000 hits blog candy if you haven't already. The post is at the top of my blog posts HERE.

Masculine Owl Card.

I totally forgot it was my Son-in-law's birthday until my daughter reminded me a couple of days ago.......my bad! I needed some inspiration in a hurry and had just copied the sketch of CPS #101 and had it sitting on my desk, so decided to use it!

I took a few liberties and used an oval instead of the round shape. I've used the Cuttlebug Argyle embossing folder with Cappucino Core'dinations cardstock, then sanded back the embossing to reveal the core colour.

I felt the design still needed something on the top half of the card so I used a small Collections chipboard owl . At the last Melbourne Paperific I went to I visited the Pipedreamink ladies and they had a make-and-take with the larger chipboard owls and using their fabulous Opals Embossing Enamels (UTEE which comes in the most gorgeous colours!).......so I've put what I learned to use and covered my small chipboard owl with The Nut (brown) Opals and embossed him with an Autumn Leaves swirly stamp- a better description of how to use Opals is in the FAQ section on the Pipedreamink website. The eyes and beak are also covered with Zeehan (silver) Opals, then when it's melted with the heat gun, dipped into Dazzling Diamonds glitter.I've added some amber coloured Kaiser rhinestone gems as eyes, and edged the owl with a gold Krylon pen. There's a close-up photo below.

Other supplies used :- Happy Birthday greeting by Penny Black, bronze coloured brads, blue satin ribbon and blue staples, Nestabilities ovals, metal cake embellishment (from the $2 shop). I did a little decorating on the inside of the card too (see below). The balloon and cake slice stamps are by Fiskars, the greeting stamp is unidentified.

Thanks for dropping by today!