Very Sad News Regarding Lyn Smith

It is with Immense sadness, that I inform all of Lyn's blog followers (my mum) that she passed away on Friday the 24th of August, 2012.  She had been battling cancer for the past 3 years.
I had been trying to get into mums emails / blogs for a few days.  Mum went down hill all of a sudden. 
Her funeral will be 2pm Tuesday the 4th of September 2012 at Abbey funerals 238 Settlement Road, Thomastown Victoria.  Australia.  In lieu of flowers, there will be donation envelopes for the day oncology unit at The Northern Hospital, present at mums funeral.

Any calls or emails can be directed to Greg Smith (Lyn's huband) on 0394344470
Greg's email:  zacs56@optushome.com.au
or Joanne Williams (daughter) smithjol@optushome.com.au   Joanne's mobile 0403861720.
We thank you so much for being part of mums life and following her lovely blogs over the years.

Yours sincerely Joanne Williams.

Birthday Bear!

Hi there, I'm still not into a regular pattern of posting again, sorry! I'm still lacking in energy and creative mojo at the moment. Hopefully that will change soon as I only have one more chemo cycle to go and then I get a rest from it for a while - how long for I have no idea, it just depends how my CT scans go. I'm hoping it will be for a long break!

 Anyway, here's a card I've made using this week's sketch from Annabelle Stamps.

The stamp is a Forever Friends bear image, I've coloured it with Prismacolor Pencils and  blended with Zest-It. The greeting and the lime Sprinkles and the die I've used for the image are from Annabelle Stamps, PP is from Kaisercraft and cardstock and ribbon is Stampin' Up Purely Pomegranate.

That's it for today, hope you like it!

Finally something to post!

I can't believe I haven't had anything to post for so long, I've just not had too much energy for anything much lately, plus my chemo side-effects are really making my hands so cold that I have to wear gloves most of the time - made even worse by our colder weather here! Finally though, I've managed to have some crafty time and made two cards!

This one uses a Stamp-It dress image which was just crying out to be paper-pieced! I used some papers from Kaisercraft's Madame Boutique paper pad, I just love these colours! Finished it off with a bit of chocolate satin ribbon, some flowers and a chocolate 'Sprinkle' by Annabelle Stamps, the base card is Stampin' Up and the greeting by Sparkle N Sprinkle.

I used this week's sketch FTL195 from Clean & Simple blog and the theme from Annabelle Stamps - Say It With...... Paper Piecing.

My second card is fairly simple, I used some printed vellum as my background, die-cut a Cheery Lynn butterfly from the same vellum, dry embossed some black cardstock with an Asian design Cuttlebug folder, used a greeting by Vicky Enkoff and added a bit of bling with an Annabelle Stamps 'Sprinkle"

I'm entering this card for CAS-ual Fridays Clear as Day challenge and Less Is More challenge - Something Shiny.

Thanks for stopping by today and hopefully I'll be back soon with something new!

Dad's Birthday card.

Hi there, apologies for being MIA lately, my brother and nephew were staying with us last week so I had a great time with them here. This week is chemo week, so not feeling the best right now. I needed to make a card for my Dad's birthday, which is tomorrow, so here 'tis! I've used this weeks sketch ABSC #050 from the Annabelle Stamps Blog.

I'm also entering this card for Stamp Smiles - Fathers Day/Graduation or Masculine card.

There's not a whole lot of stamping here, but the one's I have used are from Annabelle Stamps 'All Things Grow' set and I used a background stamp for stamping into the Opals (UTEE) on the bird's wing. I keep forgetting that I have a whole lot  of chipboard shapes, so I fished out this bird one by Collections that I've had for ages, and covered it with Opals (UTEE). The papers are from a 6 x 6 Crate Paper pad, the branch is a die-cut by Memory Box and the bling is from Annabelle Stamps

Thanks for stopping by today, hope your day is going well!

Happy Mothers Day....a little late!

I hope all the Mothers out there in blogland had a wonderful Mothers Day on Sunday! My hubby took me out for breakfast and my girls and grandchildren came over with some lovely flowers and goodies after lunch, so I had a great day here!

 This is the card I made for my daughter Joanne, I used a new stamp by Whimsy Stamps from the Wee Stamps range by Sylvia Zet, called Bird Swing, isn't it just so sweet! I coloured the image with Whispers Markers and a blending pen. The greeting is by Annabelle Stamps, DP by Kaisercraft and the turquoise layer is Bazzil cardstock, I used a Nestabilies die to cut out my image and greeting.

I'm entering this card for CAS-ual Fridays CFC52 Feathered Friends challenge. Hope you like it!

Groovy Gingham Baby!

Hi there! Here's a card I've created for Moxie Fab World's Gingham Challenge. I used a Stamping Bella image, she has a bit of a '70's feel with her flared trousers, hence my title!

I stamped the gingham design using Annabelle Stamps Background By Design 7 borders using Distress inks and paper pieced them onto the Stamping Bella image. I coloured the rest of her with Copic Markers and sponged the background with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I stamped the background for the card with the larger gingham border from the same Annabelle Stamp set on the diagonal. The pink layer is just white cardstock sponged with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.

So, who is the recipient of this card? Well here's a snippet of news I haven't shared here yet! My daughter Hayley is pregnant, yes more grandbabies on the way! Yes, I did say grandbabies.......she is having twins!! She is into the 2nd trimester and so far so good! She and her hubby have chosen not to know the sex of the babies, so it will be a surprise for everyone.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you're having a great day!

ps. Just in case you think my punctuation is bad, for some strange reason my full-stops are not showing up in my post, another Blogger anomaly!

Bird card.

I'm back again with another yellow card! I know, I said I don't like yellow, but since I had my Scattered Straw Distress Ink out from yesterday's card I decided to make a card for Less Is More's Week 66 Colour Challenge - Yellow.

I used a solid background stamp with the Scattered Straw ink and overstamped the birds on a branch image (Grace Taylor) with Brilliance Starlite Black ink. I watercoloured the flowers with some more Scattered Straw ink just to accentuate them a little. The Stamp-It greeting uses the same Starlite Black ink.

I'm also entering this card for The Pink Elephant - TPE #147 All About Mom
and
Critter Sketch Challenge #114 - Mom


Thanks for stopping by today!

A flower for you!

Hi there, here's a card I made for Annabelle Stamps 'Say It In..........Kraft, Lemon and White' Challenge. I've said it before, I'm not a big fan of using yellow tones - I used Scattered Straw Distress Ink, which is more of a yellow/orangey tone and kept it to a minimum LOL!

I used the faux silk technique for my main images, stamping the Annabelle Stamps Fanciful Flowers images with Stampin' Up white ink onto kraft coloured tissue paper - which I received as the wrapping with my last order to Annabelle Stamps - recycling at it's best, thanks Andrea!

The greeting is from Annabelle Stamps Flowers For You stamp set, I've stamped it onto a Cuttlebug tag die-cut and threaded some twine through it and added some Kaisercraft half pearls. That's it, nice and simple!

I'm also entering this card for CAS-ual Fridays CFC51 Birthday Challenge.

CAS flowers

Hi there, I had a bit of creative time this week and used one of the sketches from Less is More blog and the theme from CAS-ual Fridays blog (CFC50: Spring is here so show us your Clean And Simple creations with flowers or trees) to create a set of flower cards. I had already stamped the flowers from the Hero Arts set Peeking Posies onto some watercolour paper so they were sitting on my desk ready to use.

I water-coloured this first one with Tim Holtz distress inks, the greeting is from Annabelle Stamps Fanciful Flowers stamp set.

This one is water-coloured with Francheville watercolour pencils, greeting is by Stamp-It.

This one and the following one are coloured with Prismacolor pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits, both greetings are by Stamp-It.

It's a very cold and wet day here in Melbourne today, a good day for staying indoors with the heating on! For those interested in my CT scan results, they were kind of mixed, there are indications that the chemo is having an effect on some of my cancerous nodes, but a large node has continued to grow - not great news as it may indicate a resistance to the chemo. At this stage my oncologist wants to continue as is and do a repeat CT scan in 6 weeks time.

Thanks for visiting today and I'd love to read your comments on my cards!

ps. Did you notice I've changed my blog template again, I was getting a bit tired of the last one!

Mojo Monday Sketch 238

I liked this week's sketch from Mojo Monday and decided to play along!

The butterfly stamp is from Darkroom Door, I stamped it on watercolour paper and watercoloured it with Twinkling H2O's, then fussy cut it out. The swirly vine die is a new acquisition from Fancy That and the Design Papers are from Kaisercraft's Madame Boutique 6 1/2" and 6 1/2" pad. The greeting is by Stamp-It, rhinestones by Kaisercraft and also used Nestabilities dies and a Stampin' Up oval scallop punch.

Just a quick update on my chemo - I've hit the halfway mark of this course and had a CT scan last Monday, I get the results when I see my Oncologist this coming Monday. Keep your fingers crossed for me that the chemo is doing it's job!

Ribbon Flower card.

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post and what happens....Blogger changes everything, AGAIN! Do they keep doing this just to annoy us? Well, I hope I can figure out the changes without too many dramas! Anyhoo, I've finally made a card to show here! I just don't seem to have enough crafting time lately, or else my inspiration just goes MIA when I do have the time! I've made my card for this week's Annabelle Stamps challenge - Say it with a Background.

I've used a diamond patterned background stamp from Annabelle Stamps Background by Design 3 stamp set for the background on my cream card, stamped with TH Old Paper Distress Ink. The gingham pattern background stamp is from Annabelle Stamps Background by Design 7 stamp set - I used Stampin' Up Pretty in Pink ink on Pretty in Pink cardstock. The flower stem and greeting is from Annabelle Stamps Fanciful Flowers stamp set. The border punch is Fiskars Lacy Days of Summer, bling is Kaisercraft, all cardstock is Stampin' Up and the ribbon flower is made with pink satin ribbon and I added a vintage button.

Today is Anzac Day here in Australia, a day to remember those who lost their lives fighting for our country.....Lest We Forget.

 I made some Anzac Biscuits today in keeping with tradition, I'd forgotten how nice they are too! Very cold, wet and Wintry weather here today, a good day for staying indoors with the heating on!

Hope you are having a great day today and thanks for your visit!

Blogger seems to be ignoring my formatting....grrr! I hope this looks OK when I post, as the preview doesn't look how I want it to! Hmm, I think I fixed it now, so I'll publish now before it decides to do something else I don't want it to!

Happy Easter!

Hi there, hope you are enjoying the Easter break with your families! I'll be heading down the coast tomorrow to visit my daughter and son-in-law at Torquay, but before we go we'll be going over to visit my other daughter, SIL and the grandkids to give them some Easter goodies!

Here's a couple of Easter cards I've made using more of the Kaisercraft Bubblegum Hills range.

I kind of got bogged down making this one for the grandkids, I wasn't quite sure how to make the banner look right, it sat on my desk half-finished for over a week or two, but I think it came out OK! I used some old Making Memories rub-ons for the letters, the banner is just some strips of PP and I used my Fiskars arrow squeeze punch to get the notch at the end. The grass is made from paper string, just stuck down random lengths and trimmed at the bottom. The Easter eggs are made with a balloon punch.

This was originally going to be for Annabelle Stamps Twine challenge, but I finished it way too late, LOL!

This next card uses Annabelle Stamps current Bling Sketch Challenge - lucky for me this challenge runs for two weeks, so I've made it in time!

Pretty simple card as I was running out of time, only stamp is the greeting (Stampin' Up - All Year Cheer)! The butterfly is a rub-on and I've used some lime Sprinkles from Annabelle Stamps for the bling.

Quick Easter card.

Hi there, this is a quick post today as I have to go and have chemo this morning. My card is a very quick one using punches, a die cut, a rub-on and a stamped greeting. All of the papers, the die-cut and rub-on are from Kaisercraft Bubblegum Hills range, the greeting is from Annabelle Stamps, the two border punches are from Fiskarcraft.

I used this week's sketch FTL184 from the Clean & Simple blog.

I don't seem to have been in my craft room much lately, I've been busy with other things! I bought a new lens for my DSLR camera so I've been having a play with that. I've also had a cooking bug, I made a yummy zucchini cake yesterday! Footy season has started, but my team had a bad loss first up :(

Thanks for visiting here today, and thanks so much for leaving any comments!

Anniversary Card.

Hi there, just a quick post today with a card I've made for my daughter and son-in-law's wedding anniversary.

Supplies used:
Inks - Brilliance Starlite Black, Versafine Black Onyx, Tumbled Glass Distress Ink (for sponging)
Stamps - Justrite Stampers alphabets, American Crafts (birds on a branch), Kaisercraft (background)
Other - Kaisercraft (Patterned Paper and rhinestones), Stampin' Up and Pedigree Paper (cardstock), Nestabilities Label (something!), ribbon from my stash.

I'm entering this card for Mojo Monday Sketch 232

I most likely won't be around blogland for the next few days as it's chemo day tomorrow - 2 weeks comes around awfully fast! At least I'm feeling good at the moment, and a big thank you to all my readers who are following my progress!

Flowers and Script

Hi there! I wanted to make a card for the Less Is More blog challenge 58 of a one layered card using a script stamp plus a sentiment, I couldn't make up my mind whether to use a separate script stamp and flower stamp or an all in one collage type stamp...in the end I chose to do it both ways and made three cards.

I used a Collections script stamp using Broken China Distress Ink and stamped over it with assorted silhouette flowers and a butterfly from Darkroom Door Wildflowers set using Ranger Archival Cobalt ink - stamped twice to get a shadow effect. The greeting is by Heidi Grace.

This one uses the one stamp, an oldy I've had for a long time by Penny Black called 'Letter and Daisy'. I masked off the outline and sponged on some Old Paper Distress Ink then coloured the flowers using Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. The greeting is by Stampin' Up.

Not sure that I like how this one turned out, I used the same Collections script stamp, but used the Ranger Archival Cobalt ink for all the stamping - the script kind of got lost amongst all those flowers (Hero Arts) and the textured cardstock! I stamped the flowers a second time for a shadow effect again, the greeting is by Stampin' Up.


I'm also entering the 2 blue and white cards for this weeks Splitcoast Stampers Monday CAS challenge - White with shades of blue.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you're having a great day!