Hello Again, again

Yes I'm using this stamp set again because I love it! And because we got it for free when we attended Stampin' Up! Regionals meeting.

Here's a close up of the Hello part of the card showing a gorgeous furry brad covered in corduroy - love these brads.

And here's the finished card - this was part of a challenge I was taking part in where we had to use certain colours - Pacific Point, Certainly Celery, Garden Green and Basic Gray - I had no idea where to start so I got my cardstock and ink and ribbons out and then looked for a piece of patterned paper - and this is what happened. It was fun.

Hello Again Stamp Set

I recently received a sweet notecard from my lovely sister, Christine, and I had to copy it! I've made mine using "Hello Again" stamp set. I really love this stamp set - in fact I love any stamp set that has words as well as pictures.

Here's the notecard I made:

Just in case you want to make one too, here are the colours and measurements:

Very Vanilla 10.5cm x 14.8 This is the base
Very Vanilla 3.5 x 4.5 Stamp the Hello and Flower on this
Pattern 10.5 x 4.5
Baja Breeze 10.5 x 3 Edge punch this piece
Kiwi Kiss 10.5 x 3 Edge punch this piece

You can use a sponge dauber to burnish the edges in ink - I love burnishing now and I burnish everything I can lay my hands on!! Then punch some holes for ribbon, add some eyelets if you like and voila, a gorgeous note card to send off.

The Definition of True Happiness...

True happiness was defined for me last night.... it was a hot summer night and DD23 set off on a mission to bring back something cool.... Peppermint Magnums - the true definition of happiness on a hot summer night. Thanks Caitlyn!

More Secret Sister Reveal

Recently I told you I found out who my Secret Sister was, who was sending me gorgeous gifts.

Well last weekend I met in real life the Secret Sister that I was sending gifts to for July, August and September.

What fun it was to meet up at the Stampin' Up! Regional Meeting in Melbourne.

Here's a picture of us - Jenny and Simone - together for the first time:

And here's a picture of what I sent to Simone in the September reveal:

and inside:

You can see Simone's lovely stamping work here: Simone

Another birthday!

Our girls are growing up so fast...

Our eldest turned 23 on Thursday! It was strange waiting until tea time to give Caitlyn her gifts. For the first 20 or so years, birthday presents were ALWAYS given on our big bed very early in the morning - before work and school! Only on weekends was it a little later.

So we waited all day until we all met after work at the restaurant of her choice - TGI Fridays - to give pressies and enjoy dinner. The pressies were popular... the food was delicious - particularly the Jack Daniels Platter!

The following night she went out with friends - here she is - complete with tiara!!! with her sister Roslyn:

and here with boyfriend Jack:

They all had a great night and on Saturday morning we woke up to lots of people asleep in lots of spare beds...

The young people enjoyed cold pizza for breakfast before they went all different ways.

I headed outside to take some pictures of the garden in full Spring Sunshine!

and then I decided to "play" with my Stampin' Up! papers and I made this very gorgeous box which will hold a Christmas Present... I'm buying small presents this year! LOL!

Am I obsessed with Paris???

Yes, I am obsessed with the romantic city of Paris...

... the beautiful, pretty parks, amazing buildings...

...and this stamp set is my favourite!

I made this pretty box to give to Christine,

... it took me a few goes to get the box right...

I copied one I was given by the lovely Tanya.

But trying to make two boxes so they fitted one inside the other was a mathematical challenge! Then I filled it with yummy things and at the bottom of the box under all those Bacis were some Big Shot die cuts in soft subtles... no I don't have a Big Shot... I ordered some already cut out from Ebay! Love that Ebay.

Joyfold card using Soft Summer Stamp Set

I made this cute card using the gorgeous Haiku paper from Stampin' Up - the card opens up in two directions and the front flap tucks in behind the scallop. Then I sent it to mum and it's on her mantle piece in her new house.

Here's another one using Paris in the Spring:

and here's the inside:

It's easy to do, you just make two cards and stick them together, folding in the opposite ways.

I've discovered my Secret Sister!

I have exciting news... I now know who my secret sister is... look above at the lovely goodies she sent me this month... this is the end of our 'secret' now and she has revealed her name to me.

She is the wonderful Linda Craven at craventime2stamp.

Make sure you go and take a look at her gorgeous work, and check out her lovely new baby too. Not sure where she found time to make these pretty boxes and cards with a little one, but she did! Thank you Linda.

Here is a peek inside the birthday box... how cute!

Colour in the Garden and Aching Muscles

I LOVE colour in the garden.... but boy do I have aching muscles from weeding this weekend. First the picture above is a gorgeous purple flower - ranunculus - my lovely sister Christine and I planted them a while back and this is now the second season they have flowered... I love bulbs because they hide underground during the long hot summers, and I love how they burst up out of the ground, just when you are hoping they will!


So this weekend Gordon and I went over to Mum and Dad's new place to do a couple of chores... Gordon and Dad spent 3 hours or so putting the new BBQ together - one of those BBQs that come in many many pieces, and of course the last screw they needed to complete it had fallen through the decking and they could not reach it! It was finally ready, so we are all BBQing next weekend at Mum and Dad's.


While the boys were doing that chore, Mum and I did some weeding - that's where we got the sore muscles... I am so out of condition I had trouble moving today at all! Then we cleaned some grime in the kitchen range hood... found lots of little fried spiders up there! Yuk. Next we cleaned grime off some shelves so Mum could put out her collection of miniature houses. The house is starting to look very lived in now, with all boxes gone!

Thank you for the Christmas Card

Last week I received a fabulous card from my secret sister... a very pretty Christmas Card. Isn't it great? I really love the glitter on the tree. If you want to make this card next time you are at my Stamp 'n' Chat, let me know and I'll have a card kit ready for you! A big thank you to my secret sister for sending me this card. At the end of this month... in a few days... the secrets will all be revealed and we find out who is sending us all this happy mail.