Girls Day Out

Hello sweet peeps and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are all having a fabulous day.

A little while ago, I mentioned that I had a fantastic day out with four amazing ladies .. Heather Jacob, Astrid Maclean, Adriana Bolzon and Helen Wallace.   Not only are these ladies amazingly talented as scrappers but they are also the sweetest, loveliest people you could ever hope to meet.  I feel so blessed to be able to call them all 'friend' and to have been included in this wonderful day.
The main reason for this 'Girl's Day Out' was so we could meet with Astrid in person.  Heather and Astrid had already met a few years ago, but the rest of us only knew her online.  Those of you who are familiar with Astrid will know that she actually lives in Scotland but, at the moment she is in Australia visiting relatives in Melbourne.  Luckily for us, she was able to come to Adelaide for a few days and Heather arranged for all of us to get together.  We ended up in Hahndorf and had the most wonderful day just chatting .. laughing .. chatting .. eating .. shopping .. chatting (LOL!!) ..  it was awesome!!
 A kind passer-by took this photo for us.

For those of you who don't know us from right to left is Adriana Bolzon, Helen Wallace, Astrid Maclean, Heather Jacob and myself.

We also exchanged some handmade gifts and I thought I would share them with you.
 First up is this amazing card by Adriana.

I love the embossing on this card, especially the gold heat embossing on the front .. absolutely  gorgeous.  

Lots of inking and I love that sweet little swallow ..

.. and the flower cluster is so very pretty!! 

I also love the die cut words .. love, faith, hope, blessings.  Such beautiful sentiments ..

.. and the angel wings in the center.  Absolutely stunning.

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Next is a small booklet created by Astrid.
It was presented in this lovely little hessian bag.

Anyone who knows Astrid's work knows she is a master at mixed media and this little booklet was made in her distinctive style.

She blends and matches colours to perfection ..

so many different techniques and mediums used in creating this booklet .. simply awesome!

I adore the quotes Astrid used as well .. so inspiring.

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Last, but certainly not least, is this stunning tag by Heather.

Heather also presented her gifts tucked into a gift bag. 

Love the warm subtle colour with that touch of black .. and she added our initial on top of those gorgeous layers .. fabulous!

Just look at all those layers .. awesome!!

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We all wrote some personal messages on the backs of our gifts as well.

You've probably noticed that Helen didn't have a project and that's because she had been on holiday and didn't think she would be able to make it.  As it turned out, she rang Heather the day before to say she was able to join us after all.   We were all so very glad she could come along but, as it was at the last minute, we were not able to exchange gifts with her though her presence was certainly gift enough for all of us.

I created a small photo folio for the girls and I will be sharing those with you in the weeks to come.  In the meantime, here are the links so you can take a look at these 'uberly' talented ladies creations.

ADRIANA BOLZON - AB Inspirations
ASTRID MACLEAN - Astrid's Artistic Efforts
HEATHER JACOB - Art and Life
HELEN WALLACE - Textures and Tales

Here's a few more photos from a fabulous 'Day Out'.
The first one is from Heather's camera.  The last two are from mine.

Thank you so much my gorgeous friends for an absolutely wonderful day.  It was such a great  pleasure to finally meet Astrid in the flesh, so to speak, and she is even more lovely in real life than she is online.  I will treasure the memories and the beautiful gifts you all gave for always.  Love and hugs to you all.

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And thank you all so much for dropping by and making it through this very long post.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your day and that the weather is being kind to you.
Take care and God Bless.

Friends are connected heart to heart ..
Distance and time cannot break them apart.

Christmas in August #2

Hello sweet visitors and welcome to my blog.  I hope everyone is having a lovely day.  

Our weather here in Adelaide has been really lovely the last couple of days.   I hope it lasts a bit longer ..  loving it!!

I'm back today to share another of my early Christmas cards.  This one is a little bit different.  I  haven't made one quite like this before but I really like it so I know I'll be doing it again.

The papers are from Kaisercraft.  I have so many of their 6 x 6 pads, I thought it was time to start using it up.  So, even though they are not Christmas papers per se, I'm finding them quite suitable for these cards.

 A little bit of stenciling ..

.. and a touch of glitter.  

The flower is a White Apple Blossom by Green Tara  which is available at Megs Garden.  I simply sprayed it with Dylusion Ink.  I think the colour is called Cherry Pie but, unfortunately, I can't put my hands on it at the moment.  Obviously wasn't put back in it's right place last time I used it.  Have to have a treasure hunt me thinks, LOL!!

Used the pine branch die again .. really love that for Chrissy cards!

Used a Distress Ink pad to colour the gauze underneath the cluster.  So easy to do!

Added a few prills too!!  Not easy to see but you can just make them out here I think.

The inside, ready for a personal message.

I was ready to add this to my stash of cards  but thought that side flap just needed something.  Had a light bulb moment  (Yes, I know, it's really obvious what should go there isn't it?? )  So I added a gold sticker sentiment .. (Duh!!) ..

.. and, 'Voila!'  Done!!

Thought I'd throw my hat in the ring with this one and entered it into a couple of challenges

Christmas Card Challenges # 36 - Optional Challenge - Angels
12 Months of Christmas Link Up # 20 - Optional theme - Christmas Confectionery 




Thank you so much for dropping by and taking a look at my little creations.
Have a lovely day and enjoy the rest of the week.
Take care and God Bless.

2016 Christmas Cards #3

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  Hope your day is going well.

At the end of last year I decided I would make at least two Christmas cards each month so that, by the time Christmas came around again, I would be well on the way to having my cards done.  Well, if you have read my previous Christmas card post (HERE), you know that didn't happen.  I have fallen way behind on that schedule but, I am trying to catch up. 
After posting the previous card, I actually surprised myself and got stuck right in and made two more.  Bit of a shock to the system actually but, I survived it .. LOL!!

As you can see, these two cards are very similar.  Similar design and similar elements, just slightly different colouring.  Papers used are from Kaisercraft's Holy Night 12 x 12 Paper Pad. 

Card No. 1.

The baubles and berry sprays are leftover from last years cards (it's great that I'm using these up and don't have to find a place to store them) and the pine boughs were cut with Impression Obsession Die 021-N.

Just to add a little interest, I tucked some gauze in between the circles ..

.. and, of course, I had to add some splooshes and splats of gesso.

The inside has a pocket on the right for a gift card or, I can just tuck a personal message in there.

So, that was card No. 1 ..

.. and this is No. 2.

As I said, they are very similar to each other.  Different colouring of course but this one has an extra paper layer and rounded corners.

The silver baubles were originally red.  I simply painted them with gesso and, while it was still wet, dipped them into some silver glitter.

Added a little gauze underneath the cluster this time and used some different flowers.

As on the first card, the right hand side is a pocket.

I used a different brush for the splatters this time and it went down a bit heavier than I would have liked.  Will have to go back to the old brush I think.

And there you have it, two more Christmas cards done and dusted.  Now that I've started the ball rolling maybe I can keep it going.  Maybe!  LOL!!

Thank you so much for dropping by and enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care, stay safe and God Bless.
Live the life you have imagined.

2016 Christmas Cards #2

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog, hope you are all enjoying your day.

Seems like the weather in Adelaide is definitely heading into winter mode .. has been a little chilly of late.  Have to say, I much prefer that to the heat of summer.  It is so much easier to just rug up and get yourself warm than it is to strip off and cool yourself down.  Besides, I think my stripping off days are way, way behind me.  LOL!!

So, I am here to share a Christmas card with you.  Yep, you read that right .. a Christmas card.  After last Christmas I decided I was going to make at least two Christmas cards each month so that, by the time Christmas did arrive, I would have at least some of my cards done.  Well, you know what happened to that idea don't you?? .. totally went out the window.  I made one in January and that was it.  Now, we are already into April, and I thought it was about time to get some more done.

The papers used are the left-overs from last years cards and are from Kaisercraft's Holy Night 12 x 12 Paper Pad.  I love the traditional colours for Christmas so these papers are perfect for me.

The large bloom is the Azalea from Green Tara and is available at Megs Garden HERE.
The different berry sprays and the twine are from my stash and the leaves were cut on my Silouette.

I created a small banner from the papers, added the gold sticker and then mounted it onto the card with some dimensional adhesive dots.

Popped some Art Extravaganza White Crackle Texture Paste (boy, that's a mouthful) through a Prima Dots & Stripes stencil and was going to add a bit of glitter here and there but, unfortunately, I used it all up and forgot to get some more.  Duhh!!!

So, when it was all done, I splooshed around some gesso and also added a few prills here and there.

The inside ready for a quote and message.

So, I now have two Christmas cards for this year and hopefully there will be some more to share soon.  Hopefully!!!!  LOL!!

I am entering this into the challenge over at Christmas Card Challenges HERE

Thank you so much for visiting and do enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care and God Bless.

(Just a quick update .. I won!!  I am so thrilled that my card was chosen from all the lovely entries.  Thank you to everyone at Christmas Card Challenges.  I feel very honoured.)