Dreams of a Secret Garden...

That's what these earrings made me think of while I was making them. The book...The Secret garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. What a lovely story, and what a wonderful garden I saw in my imagination. I imagine that some of the flowers in that garden may look a bit like these fabulous floral glass focal beads by Laura Critchfield of Chestnut Ridge Designs on Etsy.

What do you think? Tangled vines and mystery? No? Well, perhaps you think Christmas, I'm with you on that too! Meanwhile, they are a little more bling for my Etsy-One-Day stash.

Hmmmm, I can smell dinner, better go and check on that. Thanks for stopping by.

Blogged to: Tricycle - Frances England, Daddy-o - Frances England and Blue Canoe - Frances England.

Punch Art Santa Candy Cane Tag

I have had a little photo from Patty Bennett's blog on my desktop for ages. It was one where she made a cute punch art Santa and used him as a topper for a licorice stick....see her post here. I thought her little Santa was just irresistibly cute, so I had to CASE him for myself. I have made a few small changes here and there, and am very pleased with how he turned out...

The hardest part was not snacking on the candy cane while I was working on Santa. The next hardest part is all the fiddly punch art sticking-down. My favourite product right now, for fiddly punch art projects, is my box of Micro Glue Dots. They measure approx. 3 mm in diameter and are great for hiding behind even the smallest punch art eyes, nose and mouth! I got my box of 325 micro glue dots from Scraptherapy, and will have to stock up on some more soon!

I have used a rectangular strip of cardboard, with two 1/2 inch circles punch in it (one at either end of the rectangle) to make a sliding holder to adhere my Santa to the candy cane. The candy cane just threads through the two holes and the Santa is adhered to the centre part of the rectangle holder. I don't have a photo, otherwise I'd show you what I mean, and I can't be bothered going back outside to take one because it is a little warm here today. We cracked 41 degrees C at 2pm! I can't say 41+ was that hard to take as I was taking a lovely little siesta at the time (under a ceiling fan and with the evap cooling going too it was lovely)....but there's no way I'm running about outside like a hooligan in it!

Enough from me. I hope that you have enjoyed your weekend!

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Shimmery White (beard and moustache), Silver Glimmer Paper (hat trim and pom pom), Blush Blossom (face and nose), Riding Hood Red (nose), Sky Blue (eyes and Christmas greeting tag), Basic Black (pupils) and DSP (hat) (all by Stampin' Up!);
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko);
Stamps: Santa's Star (Annabelle Stamps);
Punches: Ornament (beard), Blossom Petals Builder (moustache), Blossom Trio - retired (mouth and pom pom), Owl Builder (eyes, pupils and nose), Scallop Oval (hat trim), Extra-Large Oval (hat), Medium Oval - retired (face), 1/2 inch Circle (holder to affix Santa to cany cane) and 1 1/4 inch Square (to create the banner end on the greeting tag).
Accessories: D'Vine Swirl Embossing Folder (Provocraft), Micro Glue Dots (Glue Dots) and Dimensionals (SU).

Blogged to: Money for Nothing - Dire Straits, She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals, St. Elmos Fire - John Parr and Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship.

Wine Glass Taggies...

I have no idea what the technical term is....wine glass tags, wine glass markers? The doovers you put around your wine glass stem at a party so you don't lose your drink. You get the gist, no? Well, on one of our recent 41+ degree days I was sitting and fiddling with my wine glass stem (as you do) and I decided I'd make some for myself (taggies, not wine glass stems). I have a stash of cheap, multi-coloured foam sheets here, and it works very well in the Cuttlebug. So I got to playing, and hey presto! My very own stash of wine glass taggies...

Don't get excited. The drink is just Bickford's Lemon, Lime and Bitters Cordial, with mineral water and ice. I shouldn't say just....it is delicious on a hot day, and regardless of what is actually in the glass....you don't want to lose it!

I know the colours do not look significantly different, but in real life I think your guests will work it out, well....as long as they haven't indulged in too many apéritifs ;-).

I used one of the Annabelle Stamps Cuts by Design - Shapes 1 dies to cut out my taggies, followed by one of the small circles from a set of Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles. I align the small nestie circle in the centre of the tag (using my Mach-1 eyeball) and stick it down using Washi tape, which you just peel off after it has been through the Cuttlebug. I hand snipped the straight-line cut in the side of the taggie.

You could use pretty much any shape die you wanted. I'm thinking I'll make some floral ones too. I think a set of these would make a cute little budget Christmas gift. What do you reckon?

This handmade Christmas gift box is decorated using the Annabelle Stamps Cuts by Design - Borders 1 die. The tag is cut using one of the Annabelle Stamps Cuts by Design - Decorated Christmas dies and stamped using the matching Decorated Christmas stamp set. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Have a good one :-).

Blogged to: All My Children - The Vampire Diaries (Season Three).

Christmas Bauble

I worked on a Christmas card over the weekend. I had a few comments here at home which confirmed my belief that it wasn't one of my finer achievements, but you get that! I took note, made an adjustment or two, and voila...

I love the colour combo, and enjoyed quietly tinkering with some of my new toys!

While I'm here, I thought I'd also point out that I have again used the gorgeous Annabelle Stamps: Cuts By Design - Borders 1 die to emboss rather than using it to create a die cut. I really love the intricate embossed pattern that it creates, but will endeavour to use it as a die next time I get it out :-)!

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Cherry Cobbler and Brushed Gold (SU);
Ink: Elegant Eggplant and Cherry Cobbler Classic Inks (SU);
Stamps: Decorated Christmas (Annabelle Stamps) and BBD - 6 (Annabelle Stamps);
Dies: Cuts By Design - Decorated Christmas (Annabelle Stamps) and Cuts By Design - Borders 1 (Annabelle Stamps);
Accessories: Purple Hemp Twine (Annabelle Stamps), Gold Leaf Pen (misc), Washi Tapes - various (Washimatta), Gold Cord (SU) and Gold Wire (SU).

Blogged to: Around the World - Daft Punk, Beautiful Day - U2, In The Night - Pet Shop Boys and Walk This Way - Aerosmith and Run-DMC.

Annabelle Stamps Sketch Challenge

Hey there tourers of blogland! What's the weather like in your neck of the woods? We had what I think amounted to a Central Australian downpour today. I counted 68 rain drops!! I'll try not to get too excited, we had about 55 drops last night. Heady times ;-).

The little Thump-meister had a lovely long midday nap, so I snuck off to the craft corner and had a wee bit of a play. I decided to use this week's Annabelle Stamps sketch challenge to get me going:

...and this is my card:

This is the first time I have coloured a stamped image with Prismacolour pencils, and given I could barely see what I was doing (shocking lights...I need a floor lamp badly) I am pretty happy with the outcome.

It looks like the storm has been and gone here. I wonder if those drops actually count as rain up here? As it was 36 degrees celcius (or thereabouts) here today, I imagine there were more but they most likely evaporated before they hit the ground!!

Project Recipe:

Stamps: Santa's Star (Annabelle Stamps) and BBD 5 - Background Dots (Annabelle Stamps);
Cardstock: Early Expresso, Riding Hood Red and Kraft (SU);

Ink: Memento Timber Brown (Tsukineko) and Riding Hood Red Classic Ink (SU);

Dies: Cuts by Design - Shapes 1 (Annabelle Stamps); and
Accessories: Hemp Twine - Lime (Annabelle Stamps), Prismacolour Pencils, White Gel Pen (misc), Paper Piercer (misc), Silver Eyelet (misc) and Dimensionals (SU).

Blogged to: Out of Mind Out of Sight - Models, You Might Think - The Cars, Science Fiction - Divinyls and Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon.

A Little Late Christmas Offering

Just a little Christmas card, a lot late. Better late than never? Who knows, but it is what it is!
This one was inspired by this lovely paper pieced Christmas card by Julie Marshall. Thanks for the inspiration Julie.

It was mostly a low fuss card, me likely that! There was an eanie weanie bit of fuss from me when I discovered at the last minute that I had pretty much neglected Christmas when it came to stocking Lucey Blue with crafty goodness. The Christmas sentiment that I have used here was the only one I could find. It would not have been my first choice...it kind of disappears in the patterned paper and I would have preferred a one-liner that was a little bigger and bolder...but beggars can not be choosers.

Okey dokey......that's all I have to say for now.
Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

A little Christmas Bling...

I was just wrapping one last Christmas gift, and I thought I'd open up my poor old neglected blog and post a picture of what I made, and say hi...and Merry Christmas...if there is anyone still out there reading!

The gorgeous black, red and white glass lampwork focal beads in this set are by two different artists on Etsy...Laura Critchfield of Chestnut Ridge Designs and Kandice Seeber of Air & Earth Designs.

I didn't have the energy to do much with the Christmas wrapping...we'd just finished our Christmas lunch practice run (what the heck, may as well make the most of a good thing, right?!), and I was feeling pretty sleepy.

I also thought I'd let you know that after seven months of sailing on the high seas (some higher than others ;-)...we motored back through Sydney Heads on Thursday afternoon...and I was feeling just a little teary at the time too!

It has been such a wonderful adventure, but for now I am pretty pleased to be home (although as we sat around the table today at lunch I commented on how much Lucey Blue feels like home right now). Thankfully we have a few more weeks to relax in Sydney and get our heads ready to pack up the boat before we head back to Canberra (and school and work and stuff...).

Very best wishes to you and your family this Holiday Season!

Christmas Knick Knacks and Chocolates...

I have a few pictures to show you of things that I guess can best be classed as Christmas knick knacks, or maybe stocking stuffers. Some of them I bought for others, some I bought for myself ;-). Some were given to me at Christmas. Some are cute, some are yummy, some can be used for crafting, some can not. What ever their purpose...they made me smile!

Cute, shaped paperclips. Which I got from Pepe's Paperie, a lovely little shop that sells stationery and other papery goodies here in Canberra.

Groovy-doovey Valentine-themed masking tape...from Pepe's.

Pretty-coloured Jute Twine...also from Pepe's. I love Pepe's a lot!

Eco-friendly, easy stow-away shopping bags by Envirosax. I got these up in a little shop in Balgowlah in Sydney, but I have seen similar ones in several kitchen-type shops too. I love the pretty oriental designs on these ones.

Haigh's Chocolate Frogs. A lovely gift from my sister in-law. They even come in their own beautiful cardboard bookish-box! Drool....I have been very good, and haven't touched these yet at all.

...and last, but certainly not least...one of my all time favourites the Darrell Lea Christmas Nougat Pudding! They make these at Easter-time too....same delicious taste, just a different design.

Thanks for sitting through my little fest of pretties and yummies. I hope you got some lovely pretties and yummies under your tree this year too!

Papertrey December Blog Hop Challenge

Today I thought I might take part in my first ever Papertrey Ink Blog Hop Challenge:

The Challenge for this month is the:

...annual holiday leftovers challenge! Use scraps of wrapping paper, parts of holiday cards, recycle gift tags or bits of ribbon on a paper crafting project.  We all have plenty of it laying around after all the holiday excitement and this is your chance to incorporate some of those pretty little things into an amazing piece of art!

I wandered around the house, looked in my recycle bin, ummmed and ahhhed a good bit, then finally decided to use:

Now, I must add here, we had more than one box of these little yummies floating around the house this Christmas Season (Woolies had a special on them ;-).  This is just the only unopened one I had left!  I also checked on the box because I had no idea if these chocolates were an Aussie thing, but it seems they are made in Canada, so I am sure my O/S stamping friends have heard of them before too. I decided to use the leftover gold foil from the chocolates to add to my creation. With some ingenuity they could also probably be a chocolatey scratch and sniff accessory!

This is the card that I made for this challenge:

List of Ingredients:

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White Cardstock (PTI), Kraft and Real Red (SU)
Ink: Timber Brown (Stazon)
Stamps: Believe (PTI)
Accessories: Both sides of the Background Basics: Diamonds Impression Plate (PTI), Embossing Pad Kit (PTI), All three of the Beautiful Blooms II #3 Die Collection (PTI), Fillable Frames #9 (cut down to size)(PTI), Pure Poppy Felt (PTI), Dimensionals (SU), Mini Glue Dots (SU), Tombow Adhesive (Penwa), Gold Cord (SU) and recycled Gold Foil (Ferrero Rocher chocolates).

I had fun making this card because every time I get my Cuttlebug out the kids flock to my craft table and ask if they can run various things through it. I have run the recycled gold foil dots through the Cuttlebug, to make them nice and flat for the card too.

Well, Thanks for dropping by today. I hope that you all had a lovely peaceful Christmas, and very best wishes for a happy 2011!

(Blogged to: Modern Love -  David Bowie, Don't Leave Me This Way - The Communards, and Absolutely Fabulous - Pet Shop Boys).

Scoopedy Scoops of Yummy Elf Poop...

I've been working on a little project to hand out to some of my work colleagues this Christmas. I finally managed to get them all done today, and I'll distribute them tomorrow. I think they'll put some smiles on some dials :-)...

List of Ingredients:

Cardstock: Real Red, Kiwi Kiss Textured, Whisper White, Basic Black and Blush Blossom cardstock (all from SU)
Punches: 1 3/8" Circle, Two-Step owl, Curly Label, Boho Blossoms, 5-Petal Flower and Scallop Oval (all SU)
Accessories: Real Red Stampin' Pastels (SU), White Gel Pen, Black Stampin' Write Marker (SU), Crystal Effects (SU), Dazzling Diamonds (SU),  Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon (SU), Diamonds Impression Plate (PTI), Spellbinders Nested Labels 8 (Bizzy Becs), Mini Glue Dots (SU), Dimensionals (SU), Tombow Adhesive (Penwa), Medium Cello Bags (SU) and Malteesers (Milk and Dark Chocolate).

The Elf Poop verse is all over the net...I've no idea where it started. The punch art elf head is the same as that used in my Elliot Elf Christmas cards, and was sourced from Marie Shaughnessy.

Thanks for visiting!

(Blogged to: Great Southern Land - Steve McNaughton and Around the World - Daft Punk).