Out of the Hat

Well I was so excited yesterday when the postman arrived with the book I won over at Sarah's blog, it is called BEAUTIFUL BASICS. It's a huge book packed full of inspiration and the back half is dedicated to a mini album with pop out pages, tags, embellishments and even chipboard front and back covers. I not only get a great read but I get to play and make my own album, what could be better than that. Thanks Sares.



Now if you haven't found Sarah's blog, then you are missing out on some seriously inspirational talent. Her blog is jam packed with tips and techniques and Sarah also designs amazing digi kits .

You can guess where I am off to...........make myself a nice cup of coffee, put my feet up and read my new book. YEAH.

"H" is for Hazel

The New Year has kicked off over at Letters to Scrap By with their first challenge. The next colour on the list is "H" for Hazel. Over the Christmas Holidays I visited my mum and DH took a photo of mum and I. Even though the lighting was not great, I didn't want to use the flash. It looked great on the LCD screen and even though the quality was very poor I printed it out, this photo means so much to me that I wanted to scrap it anyhow .



Well getting back to the challenge, I played around with a few ideas and came up with this one.

I had tons of fun stamping on acetate, cutting out piles of flowers, distressing, stitching and inking. I wanted to keep the journaling private so I left a pocket in the pp behind the photo that would take my journaling card.

If you would like to have a little fun and maybe win a prize, head on over to Letters to Scrap By and join in the fun. Every entry has a chance to win as they do a random draw.

Cheers for now, Irene :)

Challenge 5

Moxie's Challenge 5. We were given a choice of dresses and had to pick something from one of the dressed and incorporate it into a card. I chose this dress

which inspired this card.

I used white cardstock, Cuttlebug (dots) embossing folder, black lace, spotted black organza ribbon, assorted beads, Top Boss embossing stamp pad, Stamp World embossing powder (silver tinsel), Kindy Glitz (crystalina), Clear Acrylic word stamp ( brand unknown). Silver backing trim (homemade).
The Cup Cake template I used, I found on Mel's blog and was actually designed by Lindsey.

Lucky Me

A few days before Christmas Jennie was giving away 5 items per day up until Christmas Day. All you had to do was leave a comment and guess what, on 23rd my name popped up. Check out this cute little snowman/woman called Gladys from The Artistic Stamper.




Now here in Queensland we don't get snow but that ain't gonna stop me from playing with her and creating some cool cards for next year. Thanks Jennie and be sure to pop in and check out her blog, there is sooo much great stuff to see.

Mango Season

At lunch time I was cutting up some mangoes and started thinking.........it would be so nice if I could share some mangoes through my blog. Crazy I know, but it's mango season here and we have so many trees in the area laden with ripe fruit and lets face it, you can only eat so much.



Chat soon, I am off to have a little mango.

Happy New Year to one and all

Well I hope that everyone had as fantastic Christmas Season as I did. We have been away for a couple of weeks catching up with family and friends. I do have to admit that it was great to get home and have a rest LOL.

Firstly, I would like to share a little project I have just finished. Its a swap and I have never done one before but it should be fun. Over at The Technique Zone there are heaps of step by step tutorials and I had to use one of the techniques and make something, so here it is......a mini Tag Album.





I used the Cuttlebug Embossing with Distressed Inks. I was amazed at how great this tip worked and I will be using it again.

Next, I wanted to share a couple of photos of 3 Pull-a-long Sheep. I make these for my newest grandson. Since it was Hamish's First Christmas, I felt that a hand made gift, something to treasure for always was the way to go. Actually, it was a joint project. My DH Ross made the wheels and axles and I made the sheep.





The photos are not that great, I was in quite a hurry to get them finished and in the mail so that they would arrive before Christmas. They arrived the Christmas Eve......how lucky was that !!!!!

Well that's all from me for now, Cheers

Jennie's Give Away

I have just visited Jennie's blog where she is giving away blog candy. Head on over and check out her site, it is fabulous.

Blog Candy Give Away

Tis the Christmas Spirit, so many Give Aways. Rica is having a little celebration on her own and is giving away a yummy Basic Grey pack. For your chance to win this blog candy head on over to her site. Rica creates the most amazing cards ever.

Cosmo Cricket Give Away

One of my favorite blogs to visit belongs to Leah Killian. At the moment she is having an amazing Give Away, $150 worth of Cosmo Cricket products. Who wouldn't want to win this prize pack, so get on over and check out her site.

December Daily Album

I have finally taken some photos for my DDA that I am happy with. Most days were too sunny but Saturday morning was overcast and I find that is the time to take the best photos with my camera. I am a little behind in completing the pages but I have tried to stay up to date with my journaling. I am finding that it is really hard to remember exactly what I did a few days ago, so I have made a point of jotting down a few things at the end of each day on my computer.

Front Cover

Intro

Journaling Page 1

I have hidden the journaling in between page 1 and page 2. On the back of the journaling card, I have adhered the business card from Sweet and Shabby (which holds more information) where my daughter and I enjoyed morning tea.



Hopefully this week I will get more time to catch up on a few more pages. I love checking out other DDAs and at times I am in awe of all the talent out there. Every one has such a unique style and they are creating an amazing keepsake.

Time Out

Life is getting hectic at present, what with all the Christmas parties, decorations, projects on the go, not to mention the normal day to day routines. So I decided to have a little ME time. A lovely stroll on our beach. The afternoon was quite warm and the tide was in. The blue sky was clear except for two osprey gliding on the breeze. The whole beach, all 1.5klm was deserted but for one seagull and even it flew away.

Of cause I took my camera with me.......I am doing a DDA (December Daily Album) and there is always something to photograph - like those osprey, and the beach and of cause ME. It was just what I needed, a place to clear my mind and simply enjoy the moment.

As I walked along the water's edge, I thought about what it would be like to have a white Christmas. Would I enjoy the snow and the cold. It all looks so lovely in the postcards.





Maybe one day I will experience snow flakes, scarfs and hot chocolate. But until then it's hats, sunglasses and bare feet.

Leah is hard at work

Leah Killian is one of my favorite scrappers. She has had a rough trot with her pregnancy recently but is back on board creating gorgeous projects. At the moment Leah is doing a step by step Christmas mini album which is so yummy and is also giving away a Cosmo Cricket Crafting Pack. So if you would like to be in the running to win this fab prize then pop on over and check out her blog.

Christmas Season

"Out with the old and in with the new"..... "Nothing like a change"...... I've heard this many times. !!!! I felt that my old look was a bit boring so while I decide on a new look to go with my new banner I think I will keep it plain.

This morning I woke and wondered what the day would bring. Well so far it has been all good. I got a message from Letters to Scrap By letting me know that I was the winner of the latest challenge, so that was cool news. If you haven't checked them out yet, then you should.

I also have been trying to add a slide show to my blog so with a little help from Bec my daughter, it is up and running and because part of the slide show was obscured, meant that I needed to change my layout so I went the whole hog. I now don't have to copy and paste the post that featured my LOs so it would always be at the top of the page. YEAH.

Anyhow, I am off to have a walk on the beach and get some sand between my toes.

Letters to Scrap By

Here is a layout I did for Letters to Scrap By. We had to do a layout using the colour F is for Fuchsia.


Thanks for this challenge girls, it was so much fun even though I got it finished by the skin of my teeth.

Blog Candy anyone?

Don't we all like the chance of scoring a give away. Well Linda is feeling in a very generous mood and is giving away this fabulous pack of goodies.




For your chance to win this pack check out Linda's blog for details.