The long road to nowhere...

We had a wedding to attend in Sydney last weekend. It was hubby's sister's wedding...so it was a big deal. We packed our 15 bags, dismantled the kitchen sink, loaded the camels, stowed six weeks rations and commenced the trek to Sydney on Friday. It was a long weekend in Canberra, so we didn't even try to pack light (HAHAHA....AS IF!).

Upon arrival Mister Almost Five's bad cough/cold....which he'd had for almost two weeks already, and which we thought was finally clearing up, got much, much worse. He coughed so much on Friday night he vomited, he had a fever, and he barely slept a wink (ditto the rest of us). We decided to take him to see a Doctor on Saturday...because we were worried he may have Whooping Cough. He has been immunised, and he didn't have a 'whoop' but apparently those are not deal breakers when it comes to the big WC.

With the young Thumper on the scene, and not yet immunised for WC...we started getting worried. Not to mention all the people we would be potentially exposing at the wedding. We got a test done on Saturday, but the results weren't due back for days...so we decided that Mister Almost Five, Thumper and Myself would miss the wedding...with me keeping my two boys as far apart as humanly possible (not far enough IMO).

Anyway...long story short (bit late for that now you say!!?), we don't have WC (THANK GOODNESS), but we missed the wedding anyway.... :-(. It was still a nasty cold (and chest infection), but the antibiotics are helping enormously.

I did also manage to make a card. It is not your usual wedding-type card (and not what I had originally planned either)...but I was very pleased with the way it turned out:

I'll have to come back and list the ingredients later. Thumper is currently trying to chew my boob off and I'm anxious not to be his first foray into solids AND...OH JOY! He has also filled his nappy, and if the sound effects are anything to go by, it is a DOOZY.

ETA - Here is the Ingredients List:

Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant Textured (SU), Soft Sky (SU) and Shimmer White (misc)
Ink: Elegant Eggplant and Pumpkin Pie Classic Inks (SU)
Stamps: Heart Prints (PTI) and Enjoy the Ride (PTI)
Accessories: Haikou DSP (SU), White Gel Pen (misc), paper piercer (misc), Royal Velvet Twill (PTI), Mat Stack 4 Die (PTI), Linen and Canvas Impression Plate (PTI), mini glue dots (misc), Dimensionals (SU) and Tombow Mono (Penwa).

I am going to leave you with this last little pic of Thumper chilling. At least we got to enjoy the wedding flowers...

And before anyone has a coronary...the large, mostly empty, foil bladder near the flowers is water NOT Chardonnay (although I may have been wishing I could indulge in some of the later over the course of the weekend ;-).

My Heartfelt Thanks...

...to all my lovely crafty blogland friends for their lovely comments, emails, cards and gifts sent following the birth of our little man Thumper. I am sorry that I have not managed to reply individually to many of you yet. You can probably imagine why this is the case ;-), but please know that I really appreciate your thoughts and sweet comments.

Yesterday I took photos of some simply gorgeous handmade cards that we have received here recently, and I thought I'd pop them up here and show them to you.

This 'oh so cute!!' card is by my Kiwi friend Paula. Her bunny is so beautifully watercoloured...I just want to give him a big cuddle. Miss Nearly 7 is also a huge fan of this bunny, and I half expect to find him missing from the card one morning ;-).

This fresh and elegant card is by the lovely Patrice. As an indication of how befuddled I am of late...when I opened this card (not long after receiving Paula's), and sat admiring it for several minutes I was also thinking...gee, I think I've seen this card before...but I couldn't put my finger on where. Suddenly it dawned on me that it wasn't the same card...but the same layout...YES, sleep deprivation is debilitating!

Paula and Patrice are some of the awesome design-team talent behind the Just Add Ink blog, and both had made me their cards using the #56 sketch challenge. How chuffed did I feel to receive not one, but TWO JAI design-team cards in the same week!? Plenty chuffed, let me tell you.

This super sweet 3D card is by the wonderful Leonie. I love 3D cards, and this one is no exception. How cute are those little drawers, and the goodies hanging from them? How patient must Leonie be to have cut them out by hand?! If I tried to do something like that right now, I'd probably slice my fingers off.

Last but not least, this entirely gorgeous creation is by Debbie. When I grow up I want to be able to colour with Copics like Debbie. Her creations are all mini works of art...I am in awe!

SO...as you can see, I have been a very lucky girl! Thank you so much for your beautiful creations ladies, I feel very special and you have all inspired me with your work.

Nearly finished here now. I have been typing this post up for over two hours. First I was feeding, then burping, then smiling and getting our first smiles in return (they melt my heart, but are too fleeting to catch on camera yet). I have a couple of quick pics that I just wanted to add at the end. The first is of our first proper family outing post-baby (actually that's not strictly true, we did do yum cha the week after Thumper arrived...to this day I am not sure how we managed that)...

Last night we headed in to the Canberra Show. Our trip there has been a bit of a family tradition since the year before Miss Nearly 7 arrived, and with the the kids getting older they are enjoying it a whole lot more.

So off we went and arrived at 6pm (it was hot and sunny here during the day and I decided that I'd rather have tired kids than hot, sweaty and possibly sunburn't kids). We had a lovely time meandering through the animal yards, craft pavilions and show bag stands, and finished up by having dinner on the grass around the main arena, followed by fireworks.

I might add here that I didn't actually see the fireworks. Little man Thumper was a wee bit tired after waking and being fed, so I wrapped him up and was rocking him back to sleep DURING the fireworks...and guess what...I did it! I had his head in the crook of my arm covering one ear, and my mouth over his other ear as we had unknowingly parked ourselves quite close to the fireworks...and there I sat rocking to and fro while the fireworks went off over my head. He barely moved a muscle, although he did wake up screaming during the car ride home...sigh!

This morning I caught this sweet moment, no description necessary...

I'll be back with a crafty project of my own to show you...one day...I hope...;-)

Have a nice weekend!

Another bright and sunny suncatcher...

I made another suncatcher recently...to send to friends who moved to Brisbane. Luckily they moved into a slightly elevated area and were not directly affected by flood waters.

Here are some pictures of the card and matching box I made to send them their little housewarming gift in...

List of Ingredients:

Cardstock: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Yoyo Yellow (SU) and Stamper's Select White (PTI)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko) and Versamark (SU)
Stamps: Neighbourhood Jumbo Wheel (SU) and Enjoy the Ride (PTI)
Accessories: Jumbo Wheel Handle (SU), Copic Markers (B06, RV29, Y19 and YG25), Liquid Applique, Pink Flamingo DSP (SU), Circle Metal-Edged Tags (SU), Scallop Edge Border Punch (SU), 1 1/4 inch Circle Punch (SU), Paper Piercer, White Gel Pen, Mounting Foam and Tombow Mono Adhesive (Penwa).

I hope you'll forgive my atrocious Copic colouring skills (or lack thereof). I always get lines...but at least in this case it doesn't look too bad to me...the stamp being one that has a hand-drawn, child-like quality about it...so child-like colouring fits the bill in my opinion (this is my story and I'm sticking to it ;-). I have put some liquid applique on the clouds, but as this lot was originally opened more than two years ago it seems to have lost its applique-like quality and dries smooth and shiny instead. Still looks nice up close (like white crystal effects instead of clear IYKWIM?).

Once again the fabulous lampwork bells are by Sari Glassman on Etsy, and the photo below is hers also (thank you Sari, for making such beautiful pieces of glass artwork for me to play with and admire).

I also want to show you another little something I bought online recently (making good use of the Aussie dollar strength while it lasts). It is a sumptuously beautiful sleep eye-mask...

I bought it from Bonnie at Bib Bon on Etsy, and I love it to bits. It is so soft and pretty. You might be wondering who I think I'm fooling though...by buying a sleep eye-mask when 40 weeks pregnant...but I have big plans! When Miss 6 and Mr 4 are at school/preschool...new baby and I will be napping during the day whenever humanly possible. This is my solemn oath...wish me luck ;-).

Ok....suppose I'd better go do something like have breakfast, or get dressed, or something!!

(Blogged to: Get Ready for This - 2 Unlimited, Nutbush City Limits - Tina Turner and Get Set - Taxiride).

Thanks and Congrats

First of all I want to say a big heartfelt thank you to everyone who left a lovely comment on my last post! You guys sure know how to make someone feel special. Thumper sends thanks and a big high five too...OUCH! ;-)

Some friends of ours also recently announced their pregnancy, and hubby actually asked me to make them a congrats card! He does that a bit my hubby...asks me to make a card for this or that occasion/person. I am interested to know if other people's husbands do the same?!

I got cracking after dinner last night (I only found out about the pregnancy on Thursday...so I wasn't being too slack ;-). Hubby then rocks up to my desk at about 8 pm last night and says 'I'm seeing them tomorrow, will it be ready in time' (as he looks at my pile of cardstock, stamps and accessories that I have put together on my desk, but otherwise not touched). Says me...lying propped up on the bed (waiting for the soothing effects of the Gaviscon to kick in)...'sure, its almost done'. He looks at the pile of stuff, which includes several FULL A4 sheets of cardstock, and says...gee, its gonna be a big card...and looks at me pointedly. I laugh.....now I'm being told how and when to make cards by him, am I??????

Anyway, I got the message...and went to work. Luckily I had been thinking about what I was going to do for most of the day, so it was relatively quick and painless to put it all together.

List of Ingredients:

Cardstock: Concord Crush, Baja Breeze and Whisper White (SU)
Ink: Concord Crush Classic Ink (SU)
Stamps: Springtime Stems (retired SU) and Warmest Regards (retired SU)
Accessories: Baja Breeze Patterns DSP (retired SU), Beautiful Blooms II Die Collection (PTI), Vintage Cream Pure Wool Felt (PTI), Violet Pure Wool Felt (Felt on the Fly), Ocean Tides Buttons (PTI), Concord Crush Poly Ribbon (SU), Dimensionals (SU), Tombow Mono Adhesive (Penwa) and Mini Glue Dots (SU).

The beautiful violet coloured pure wool felt is from Felt on the Fly, which is an Etsy shop that I was introduced to by the lovely Sharon Dines of Lemon Delicious. Thanks again Sharon for 'enabling me'. I've shopped at Felt on the Fly twice now, and will certainly go back. Janet stocks such lovely colours and her service is awesome!

Okey dokey...its raining here again, so unfortunately I can't do any washing (boo hoo)...might go and see what Miss tinker is up to. There is singing involved, so it can't be TOO suspicious can it? :-)

(Blogged to: And We Danced - The Hooters and Computer Games - Mi-Sex).