OSA Sketch Layout #41 and more DAK/RAKs.

I've been feeling pretty good over the last week, so managed to have some craft time. This week's OSA sketch layout #41 was a fairly simple one, so here's my effort. I used Stampington's Acey Deucy "Calligraphy Robe" stamp....one of my favourite Oriental images.


Here are yet some more DAK/RAKs that I've received from other OSA members recently, please scroll down the page to see them all. I feel so blessed to belong to such a wonderful caring group, thank you all so much for thinking of me.

Cards from Bonnie B. and Carolyn S.

From Willow and Sandra G.

From Linda I and Margo S.

I had my PET Scan on Wednesday and go to see my Oncologist tomorrow. I will probably find out about how much Chemo I'll be getting and when it starts......fingers crossed that nothing has showed up on the PET scan!

Easter and some RAK's received.

I hope everyone had a better Easter than I had. It was going well until Saturday night when my DD rang and asked if I could babysit Annika as both she and her DH had been sick with a virus all day. I was feeling a bit tired after our trip up to Bendigo to see Dad for Easter, but I said I would love to take care of her.

Of course, later that night I got sick too! I had to ring DD the next morning and get her to come and pick up Annika again.......luckily she was feeling better after a good night's sleep. I spent the rest of Easter feeling pretty crappy, lucky we hadn't planned anything for our wedding anniversary on Easter Monday either. DH did actually remember it though and gave me a card........he even cooked dinner that night, which is quite rare these days, although I wasn't very hungry! BTW, he liked the card I made him too, LOL!

Sorry, nothing new from me today, but here are a couple of RAKs sent to me recently by 2 friends (that I've been very remiss in not posting here yet!)

The first is a belated birthday card sent to me by Vicky (My Paper Palace), I love the vintage look of her card and the colours are so pretty! Vicky also included some ribbons and lovely washi paper as well!


The 2nd item is from my OSA friend Linda I, who was given the honour of being chosen as the March SAM (Stamp Artist of the Month) by the OSA members. Linda gave us a project tutorial for a lovely clay stamped pin and she very generously sent out lots of them to various OSA members......including lucky me!

Well, that's it from me for tonight! I promise I will have something to post tomorrow, I just need to do some finishing touches and take a photo.

Thanks for stopping by!

More beautiful RAK's........and some snow!

Here are two more beautiful cards that I received this week!

The first card is from Marg, a fellow OSA group member. Her card is a beautiful origami folded Christmas tree in red and white. Marg added extra touches like the spattering of red and inked edges around the frame, she also decorated the inside of her card beautifully!

The 2nd card is from Bonnie, who is also an OSA group member. Bonnie's card is just stunning and so much more shimmery in real life! Her background is made with Tattered Angels glimmer mists and crumpled paper. I love the peacock image and the beaded decoration is a perfect embellishment!

Thank you so much Marg and Bonnie for sending me such beautiful cards....I love them both!

Have you noticed it's snowing on my blog? My lovely blogger friend Shirley showed me how to do it in this post HERE . Yes, I know it's summer here in Australia, but snow seems more Christmassy to me!

Some RAK's received.

Sorry, I've been a bit of a bad blogger lately! I have been busily writing up and addressing my Christmas cards to send out.........I did make some new Oriental style Christmas cards to send out to some OSA group friends, but in my hurry to get them all mailed I forgot to take photos of them first.....duh!!

You can feast your eyes on some lovely RAK's that came my way this week though!

This 1st card is from my blogger friend Erin (AKA Fishlips) . Isn't this card just gorgeous, there are so many different layers and textures....I love the pearl buttons and the double sided stripey/spotty ribbon is divine! You can check out Erin's blog here, she makes such beautiful cards!

The next card is from my OSA friend Sandra, the design is a simple one, but her beaded star/flower is just stunning! Sandra is such a wonderful generous person, she also sent me a gift of a CD featuring Feng Shui music.

This last card is also from Sandra, she sent me this as a return RAK.......I told you she was generous! The pretty kimono is a stencilled image coloured with Pearl-Ex and she has added some stamped symbols. Sandra doesn't have a blog, but you can see her wonderful Oriental gallery HERE.

Thank you so much Erin and Sandra for brightening up my week! Just coincidentally both ladies also live in Texas, USA!

Christmas card from Vicky!

This is the 1st handmade Christmas card that I have received for the holiday season from the lovely Vicky! Vicky also took part in Sandie's 12 Days of Christmas challenges and this is one of the cards she made for it!

Thanks so much Vicky..........now to get down to sending off my cards ASAP!

Lucky me!

I was lucky enough to win some blog candy from Jenn's (AKA Captain Scrappy) blog, by posting a card in the very first challenge on the Cuttlebug Challenge blog. Jenn's daughter chose my card as the winner! This is what I won, Jenn included a Cuttlebug embossing folder, her cute card and some little extras. Thanks again Jenn for your generosity!

Happy mail day!

I'm a little late with posting this as I received not one, but two beautiful RAK's on Friday! I got a little caught up in the excitement of going to the Melbourne Paperific Expo, which is THE event for all papercrafters to shop till you drop.......and yes I did do a lot of damage to my finances! Shh, don't tell my DH!


This 1st card is from Vicky, the card is beautifully coloured, I think she has used watercolour pencils and the leaf and flower centre are highlighted with a dimensional glaze. Gorgeous card Vicky!

This is an ATC from Rachel from The Darkroom Door. Rachel sent this as a thank you for sending her an extra ATC for a swap participant whose swaps went missing in the mail! Rachel has used Tim Holtz Distress Inks as a background for some of her own gorgeous Darkroom Door stamps...........lovely! Rachel also sent me a little prize pack of some of her robot photo chips and word strips for her blog competition for naming the robots...........I forgot to take a photo of those, but click on the highlighted words and you'll see them on The Darkroom Door's website!

Sorry, I have nothing new that I can share with you just now..........I have been working on some cards for a swap, but I can't show them just yet! I did take some photos for a little tutorial for you, but it's getting late and blogger is being really slow with uploading my photos right now, so I'll have to do it tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

Baby card from Sandie......................and some photos!

My friend Sandie sent me this gorgeous baby card welcoming my new grand daughter to the world. I love how Sandie has layered the different elements on her card. Thanks so much Sandie!



I thought it was time to share some more photos of Annika too, she'll be 8 weeks old on Sunday and is just a delight! She's been smiling since she was 5 weeks old, but yesterday was the first time I've been able to capture some decent photos of her smiling. Sorry about the crappy lighting in the photos, but you can't have everything I guess.



Hope everyone has a great weekend...............I'll be babysitting tomorrow night! Can't wait for it :)

Surprises in my mail!

Don't you just love mail that doesn't come in windowed business envelopes? I received not one, but two beautiful RAKs yesterday! I also received a prize from OSA for my Thursday Tip from 2 weeks ago. I didn't photograph that, but I received a couple of U/M stamps, some PSX stickers and an assortment of beautiful handmade papers.




The first card is from Sandra G who is an OSA member from Texas in the USA. Sandra very kindly offered to send me some of her laser cut grids, but she also made this beautiful card for me!

Thanks so much Sandra, your generosity never ceases to amaze me!









The second card is from Wirg, who is a member of a few Aussies forums that I frequent. Wirg knows how much I love Oriental cards so she sent me this beauty!

Thank you so much Wirg for thinking of me!

Still waiting...................and some RAKs received.

I mentioned recently that my daughter was about to give birth to my first grandchild...............well, she is now 11 days overdue so we are all still waiting!!!!

Here are some RAKs that I have received recently. The first one is from Vicky F from The Scrappers Stash forum, it is an ATC with an Oriental theme..............love the softness of the background and great colouring Vicky!

The second RAK is from Leo T. from my OSA group. Leo sent me an RAK for responding to her question about sending dried Gingko leaves on cards to overseas recipients. As Leo is from England and I live in Australia she couldn't put the real Gingko leaves on my card, so she stamped a lovely collage of some instead.


Thanks so much Vicky and Leo for thinking of me!

OSA RAK from Adrienne W.

This beautiful RAK is from Adrienne from my OSA group (Oriental Stamp Art). Adrienne has used one of my favourite Acey Deucy images called 'The Calligraphy Robe". I love the mauve and purple colours used, and the sparkly sequins are a nice touch! Thanks so much for brightening my day Adrienne!

Adrienne sent a lovely note saying the RAK is a thank you for inspiring her to "have a go". I'm delighted that I have inspired you Adrienne! You can see more of Adrienne's lovely artwork HERE