Sunday Night

Hi there,

Yep - it's Sunday night and I'm just fiddling about a bit while Fluffy Bum makes the most of the heater being on. The only times she doesn't curl up on my lap are when I have the laptop going or the heater is on. You'd think having a permanent fur coat would keep you warm enough but there you go.

No new pics to post today, but I have been working on cards today. I've now got almost a whole rainbow of colour versions of the lace stamp card I made a few weeks ago. A very versatile stamp!

Am off to a crop again next Saturday. Might have to think about doing a page soon. Or perhaps some new card designs. Who knows. :-)

Have a great week.

Cheers,
K

It's been a while....

Yes, I know. It's been forever since my last post and I promised last time to be more diligent. Oh well.

Life at our house has been crazy for a while......I won't bore you with too many details but the end result is that we have refinanced with ASB and combined our debts (once again). The house is still on the market and seemingly no closer to a sale. We got an offer but it was withdrawn a week later. Very gutted.

My trip to Hobart at the end of Feb was fantastic. Although it was only a couple of days I had a great time relaxing for the most part. The walk event I went for, was held on the Saturday evening so I had all day Saturday to chill out. Not that "chill" was the operative word for that day! It was the hottest day in  Hobart for over 100 years and by the time the walk started at 6pm it was still 39 deg.    H. O. T.! I really felt for the walkers - my job was just standing around compared to what they went through. But they kept up their end of the bargain and I only issued one yellow card the entire race. The next trip is to Cairns in June. (Part of the refinancing has enabled this trip to go ahead). I'm taking Rodney with me and we're going to have a whole week there staying with his sister. The comp is only 3 days so I'll actually have a holiday for once. :-)

So. To the latest card. I'm surprisingly happy with this one as I did it in a very short space of time - including the deliberation period. I bought the lace stamp (Kaisercraft) a couple of months ago and wanted to try it out. I also wanted to use the cat - one of my faves from Hero Arts. My neice Rebecca turned 18 yesterday (yep, I'm late!) so this one is for her. Can't believe she's 18 already. But I guess she must be 'cos she's had 17 birthdays to date.

Am going to my first crop in quite a while next week. I will NOT be taking a credit card so that any temptations can be firmly put back on the table. Looking forward to a whole day of crafting and gossiping.

Catch you later.

K

Time Flies

Hi there,

I have to say, I've been good with my resolutions so far this year, but remembering to post on my blog is sadly not going so well. Oh dear.
This latest card I actually made last month for Mum's birthday. My creativeness wasn't working so well that week and my original idea - which involved lots of pink and silver circles - didn't pan out. So I returned to a previous design and altered it.

The flower stamp (from Penny Black) has been in my stash for quite a few years and I've used it quite a few times now. Previous cards had the flowers and pots coloured in with watercolour pencils but this time I went for metallic gel pens. I think I'll go back to watercolour pencils. :-|
The Christmas card stash is steadily building up...I have 13 different designs now and still going strong. I won't be short of cards this year!
Not a lot else has been happening in our household of late; still no progress on the sale of the house. Open home on Saturday attracted one very late couple but no bites yet. Getting a little monotonous now. We are keeping quiet as a result and keeping out of mischief.
On a brighter note it's just over a week until I go to Hobart...hopefully the cold that has just developed (sore throat, runny nose variety) will be gone by then.

Until next time,
K

NY Resolution Going Strong

Hi there,

Well, my new year's resolution - to go for a walk once a week and to make a page/card each week - is going great.

I've managed the walk a week, and in fact this week I went for a second walk. Unfortunately there's something dodgy going on with my right knee so the walking may not get very far but I'm determined to keep going. Even if its only a 20min walk. :-)

And the card thing is doing great too. Fluffy Bum seems to like me spending time in the craft room - she curls up on the floor or my tote bag while I create. I've actually done more than 1 card a week although some are repeats of the same design.

And I'm enjoying the crafting again too. I think I got a little over-done pre-Christmas....probably having a tight deadline didn't help. Planning ahead seems to be the way to go so long as I don't procrastinate too much!!

Today, I made a birthday card. The first one for quite some time and hopefully not the last. I was on a deadline for this one - it was Dad's birthday yesterday and we were going to visit this afternoon so I had to get it done in a couple of hours. I surprised myself with how quick the creative juices started flowing and while it's quite simple (I think that's going to be my thing this year) I rather like it. I've not got a lot of the bricks left.....came from a SENZ kit.....but hopefully I can get some more down the track so I can make some more.

Anyway, that's about it for now. X Factor is on in a minute (am so totally addicted to these reality/talent things). Hope your year has started as well as mine!

Cheers,
K

I'm hopeless!

It's official - I am hopeless. It's more than a month since my last post and I was really trying to be a bit more frequent than that.
What's more, this is my second attempt to post tonight - the first one just died for some reason. Hopefully this one will work....if you see it then I guess it did.
Here are the last two pages on the Rodney series I did at Raincliff - many months ago now. The last one was not quite finished when Raincliff ended and I'm not sure if it's finished yet. Something is missing I think. Appreciate your thoughts.

I got my first Christmas pressie at the weekend....I've been invited to judge at the Aussie 20km walk champs in Hobart in February - all costs in getting there and staying there will be covered. Am I chuffed!!???!! Gobsmacked is more the expression. Very excited about my first "professional" gig so to speak.
Anyway. It's nearly Christmas and recent history indicates I won't be posting again until the new year. So just in case....Merry Christmas and most happy New Year to you and yours.

Cheers,
K

Post-Cup news

Hi there,

Ah yes. The world cup (rugby version that is) is over and strangely I'm not suffering withdrawal symptoms from the lack of rugby on the telly. I am mightily relieved that the boys managed to win the one that mattered.....my wee heart was beating very fast in those last minutes of the game and it nearly stopped beating altogether when Rodney trod on the remote and accidentally changed the channel!! It was quickly restored though and the boys came through. Yay! We now have an answer to that song "Where the f8&*&*'s Webb Ellis?" (Sung to the tune of Living Next Door to Alice).

Anyway. I am a bit late in posting the next page in the Rodney series so apologies for that. Have been working on a few other things as well but nothing finished yet so there's just the Blue page to show this time. Maybe after the weekend (major catchup session on MySky awaits along with some scrappin) I'll have some more to show.

There's a mix of Prima pre-made flowers and some home-made ones. Mine didn't turn out quite like flowers - a bit more practice required there - but I am reasonably happy with how they fit in the page. I used Tim Holtz's die for the scrolly bits - one painted white on grudgeboard and two stencilled in blue ink. Dusty Attic chicken wire in there as well.
 

Hope you like it. Have a great weekend/week.

Cheers,
K

Photo Book and Other Stuff

Hi there,

Am sitting in front of the telly with just 4 hours or so until the first semi-final in the world cup. Nervous times although I think tomorrow will be worse! I've already had a wee nana nap.....warm room and headache pills combined to put me to sleep for a wee while. I must have been snoring 'cause Rodney had left when I woke up! Fluffy Bum wanted her tea. :-)

Anyway. Back to things crafty. A few weeks ago I finally got around to painting the Dusty Attic Advent Calendar that I put together at a crop back at the beginning of the year. I had chosen the nativity scene insert so I wanted a non-traditional-festive look. What do you think?

I was particularly pleased with the blue paint I found - Prussian Blue to be precise. I then sprayed my homemade sparkly mist (Pearlex Powder mixed with water) to soften the colour. While that has a gold tinge to it, I coloured the numbers with a silver gel pen. Don't really know why but I like it.
Lastly I painted the nativity scene white and then went round the edges with a gold leafing pen. Note to self.....next time do this before putting the scene into the middle. :-)

Don't tell her, but my niece will be getting this for her birthday at the end of November just in time for the countdown to Christmas. Argh - only 2 1/2 months to Christmas!

My brother called in answer to my birthday text and told me off......he really liked the photo book I made but apparently some of the pictures should have been left out! Ha. No can do sir.

He also told me off for spending too much time on pressies. Fat chance of that changing 'cos that's the best bit about making stuff is when it's for other people. Here's a few more pics of the finished piece.

Lastly for this post, here is colour number 3 in the series of pages I did on Rodney at Raincliff.

Go the Welsh! Go the All Blacks!!
Cheers,
K