Wednesday Night Creations

Last night I made a few cards, four in fact. Just simple cards for birthdays, special occasions, maybe even mothers day. The top card is a joy fold card. I've made one of these before but here are the instructions again. The bottom left and middle are inspired by a card I received from Keesh. I think nearly everyone knows Keesh, but click here if you would like to see her work (it would take me all day to find the link to her card that is a similar layout) and the card on the bottom right is a gate fold card. I have also made this style before and again here are the instructions for this type of card. Double clicking on the picture should make it bigger for you to see. Thanks for looking.

Baby Baby Baby

Hello there. Well I'm just about to go and feed my darling boy and off to bed after a busy week and weekend but wanted to upload this card for Leah's monthly challenge which is due by tomorrow. I've been looking at this gorgeous pic on her blog for weeks now and finally thought I'd make something tonight while watching Talia win So You Think You Can Dance. I'm so glad she won, she has been my favourite all the way through. Oh I'm a sucker for reality tv.

Anyway, here is the inspirational pic and my card. The colours were Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana and Whisper White. The photo has been taken at night but the card has been scored around the edge, on the top left is a pink button with a bow tied on it using linen thread and a yellow and blue button on the other two paper pierced scallop thingies. Talk soon.

Deshon's Retreat

For our anniversary we stayed at Deshon's Retreat (right next door to one of our favourite Wineries "Crane's Wines"). These were excellent little cabins with polished cement floors, king size beds which felt huge, lovely bath products, fantastic breakfast, great views... I could go on and on, but I might just show some pics. The first picture is taken from Cranes Winery looking at the retreats.

Tipperary Winery

Well we've had a busy week around here. On Monday we had an appointment in Brissy for Ky, Tuesday was my birthday (by the way, Shane cooked me the yummiest dinner....chicken and mushroom crepe for entree, herb crusted rack of lamb and vegetables for main and blueberry and white chocolate cheesecake for desert) and Wednesday we went away to the South Burnett area for a couple of nights as it was our anniversary on Thursday. The first night we stayed in a little cabin (come shed converted into accommodation) at Tipperary Estate Winery at Moffatdale near Murgon. Although nothing flash it was quite cute and comfy and we had the best views and the serenity (once the kids were tucked up in bed). Here are a couple of pics from our time there. I'll post another lot of pics in a minute from our second night at Deshons Retreat near Kingaroy.

Easter 2009 on Fraser Island

Well don't you just love it when your camera plays up on holidays, grrrrrr!!!! Anyway, we hopefully have it all sorted now but here are a few pics from our Easter on Fraser. I can't believe this was Logan's 4th Easter. She had her first trip to Fraser at about 10 weeks which was an Easter and Kyan had his first trip to Fraser last Easter at about 8 weeks of age. Oh how time flies.

Pic 1: Here are the kids playing in the rock pools in front of Happy Valley where our place is. Normally there isn't so many rocks out put after the recent cyclone action there were quite a few to keep the kids busy with exploring. In this pic is my goddaughter Charlee, Logan and Lewin. Charlee and Lewin's little sister Trinity is in the background with their mum Jenny. This was little Triny's first trip to Fraser and you can just see a glimpse of Kyan (the blue hat) and my hubby Shane. Pic 2: We saved a little turtle from the rough seas. He stayed with us a couple of nights and regained some strength. Hopefully he survived. Pic 3: Logan made a little outdoor nest for the Easter bunny using twigs, leaves and grass and was very excited the next morning to see the Easter bunny had left some treats in there. Pic 4: Here are the kids with their Easter treats. Our little boy Kyan unfortunately has some food intolerance issues and couldn't get stuck into the chocolate, but loved playing with his Bob the Builder torch.

Mel's Weekly Challenge #15

Well, I'm back from our week on Fraser for Easter. I will try and post a few photos when I get a chance however we had problems with our camera while we were over there so I'm not sure how many good ones we have. I hope you all had a great Easter break with lots of chocolate treats. This week Mel has set the challenge to create a card featuring faux stitching. So here is the birthday card I made for my god daughter Charlee who has just turned the important milestone of 5 years of age.

Grandma's Easter Egg Recipe

I mentioned in an earlier post, how much I loved my Grandma's homemade solid Easter bunny each year. Every Easter, wrapped in alfoil, all the kids got their very own massive solid bunny. It would take ages to eat. Sadly Grandma passed away last year and I really wanted to make her recipe this Easter for my little girl to try. I managed to track the recipe down and made some bunnies and eggs. Beware, these are not the healthiest, but what chocolate is? So here are the ingredients and instructions. I usually double this recipe.

4 ounces copha (that is 1/2 a standard block)
1 cup of icing mixture
1 cup of powdered milk
3 desertspoons of cocoa
1 teaspoon of vanilla

In a medium to large saucepan, melt copha over low heat until melted and warm but not hot. Take off the heat. Stir in sifted icing mixture and powdered milk. Add the cocoa (I sift it in too) and the vanilla. Put mixture into molds and set in the fridge. Too easy.

Makeesha's Inspiration Challenge #6

I've had lots of birthdays lately to make cards for, so at least I'm getting the chance to play along with a few challenges. This week Keesh has given us an Inspiration Challenge. I needed to make a card for my dad and these colours are quite manly. I even managed to incorporate 2 silver brads into the card to go with the spoon in the picture. Without further ado (how old fashion does that sound), here is the inspirational photo and my card. Thanks for looking and a big thanks to Gina for the use of some of the stamps and punches used here at her open stamping night on Monday.


Supplies Used -
Card stock: Creamy Caramel, More Mustard, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Paper: Prints DSP Certainly Celery, DSP Afternoon Tea
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamps: Sanded Background Stamp, Loads of Love, Grants clear stamps - Birthday
Other: 2 silver brads, chocolate ribbon, round tab punch, photo corner punch, paper peircer, watercolour pencils.

Another Easter Basket

My daughter made one of these very simple Easter baskets at kindy yesterday using a 12cm square piece of coloured paper and a 1 inch strip for the handle. I made a quick one up this afternoon as I had some homemade Easter eggs to give to Logan's Nana when she comes over today along with her other Easter gift. The homemade Easter eggs I make are my grandma's recipe. We loved getting our solid bunny each year from her as kids. If I get a chance later (I'm suppose to be packing for Fraser Island), I'll pop back and share the recipe. The little tag says "eggstra special easter wishes".

Easter Basket

Keesh made another great project for Make it Monday last week, an Easter Basket, see here. These are so easy to make and I'm really happy with the finished product. My daughter is going to give this one to her kindy teachers. I hope they like it. I used some raffia instead of tissue paper in mine. Here is a pic of it empty and with some eggy goodness in it.


Supplies Used -
Card stock - Barely Banana, Whisper White
Paper - DSP Spring Showers
Other - Scallop and Circle Punches, a little chicken thing I had in my craft supplies, raffia, 2 large brads and some easter eggs!!!

Our Mums and Bubs Group

Hi, just thought I'd post a quick picture of the kids in our little group. 5 has turned into 9, but the girls still hold the balance of power. It is so hard to get them to all look at the same time.

Gina's April Challenge

Brown + Pink = Baby Girl Card!!! As soon as I read the instructions for Gina's challenge this month, it screamed baby girl card and since I have a few friends expecting, it won't hurt to start stocking up on baby cards again. This month Gina challenged us to making a card using the sketch below but we also had to use the colours Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa and Whisper White, mmm some of my favourites. I really like the way this card turned out although the photo really doesn't do it justice. I might try and take another one tomorrow. The little bootie and sentiment are both raised up off the card. Thanks for looking.


Supplies Used:

Card stock - Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa and Whisper White

Paper - DSP Berry Bliss

Ink - Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa

Stamps - Oh So Lovely, Grant clear stamps "Baby"

Other - Brown Check Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Scallop, Circle and Slit Punches, Paper Piercer, Blender Pen