Happy Birthday Oscar!

You know how you read in magazines about the difficulty of cooking dinner for a friend who's a chef? Well, the father of this little boy is a designer and printer. He looks at things like the grain on card stock and comments on the difference one point in font size makes (of course he knows the name of the font and how much ink was left in the printer!!) and examines the card minutely to see how its made. Aghhhhhhhh....

So after a few years, you just have to shrug your shoulders and make cards for his family anyway!

I cut present shapes from scraps of CS to match the wrapping paper, well ALMOST match, and decorated them with scraps of ribbon and circles punched from some DP. The number is meant to look old and grainy, and I used Versamark and old gold embossing powder.

Opus Gluei #13 ...all about growing

Nearly didn't make it for this challenge, but here it is.

The instructions were to create something about growing, and included thoughts about farmers markets, gardening catalogues, and just enjoying the sight of a garden. I had these seed-packet shaped pictures cut out for ages, meaning to decoupage them onto a box for my green-fingered cousin...... but they're still sitting in the folder. So now there's one less!!

I hunted in my local $2 shop for the right colour ribbon, and matched it to some Sassafras and SU papers, added some brads and it was done. Maybe the card will make its way to my cousin instead!

Friday Fill-ins #129

1. All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting them to do some of the things you did!

2. Show me a good loser and I will show you a someone who cares more about how other people feel than themselves.

3. Being totally indulgent is (like) eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one time, or what I'd prefer which is a whole box of Belgian chocolate sea-shells.

4. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy organising families and working at full-time paid jobs simultaneously.

5. I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine listening to the football and checking the oil and water in his car.

6. It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without bread or fresh fruit in it.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to salt & pepper calamari for dinner, tomorrow my plans include picking up my husband from his latest adventure and Sunday, I want to sleep in!

Happy Birthday Luca!

Everybody wants to be a Super Hero, especially when you're only 2 years old!! Spiderman to the rescue (giving me a chance to use that spider-web embossing folder at last). There's not a lot going on here, but I did have fun finding the right graphic and printing it out. The papers match the super-hero suit, and the black jewels of the spider-web are....... well, I don't know, flies?? Couldn't get too serious here; does it show?

Happy Birthday Alexandra!!

Tuesday, June 16th. Guess who turns 9? This is for the daughter of a friend and colleague, a very girly girl who loves pink. Since this is SO far outside my comfort zone, I had to post a picture of it to prove I can make something light and frothy. The main paper is a piece of saved handmade paper with some satin stitching. I added some DP, pink gauze ribbon and some pearls. Hope she likes it.

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge #36

The movie this week is Beauty and the Beast, and the instruction is to use some fantasy for inspiration. I thought of Belle wishing for so many things in her life: change, love, freedom amongst them. Wishing brings stars to mind and so came my idea for the card.

There is lots of sparkle to represent stars twinkling, and a delicate pattern of dew drops on the background. The black and silver represents the evenings when stars shine through the castle windows. When I was little, my Mum always recited the sentiment "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight" whenever the Evening Star came out. When I grew up I found out this was always Venus, a big romantic star indeed. Finding a stamp with this verse was a special treat.

The card is a big 6in square one, with Francheville DP Pink Diamond Bling for background. The stamps are SU Stars (standard wheel), Stamp It! star, and the words are from the SU In The Stars set. The deep rose paper scrap and gauze ribbon are from my busy-room boxes. The little stars are embossed with dark hologram dust, there are a few diamonds in there too, and the big star has an acetate sheet cover to make it shine.

Friday Fill-ins #128

1. I grew up thinking my football team would always win.

2. The internet movie database (imdb) was the last website I was at before coming here.

3. Why don't you move over and let me have some of the blankets because its only 5 degrees outside and there's only so much of me that the cat can keep warm?

4. A massage, someone else cooking my meal, a cold glass of champagne, and an open fire help me relax, which explains why generally I don't..........

5. Thanks for the coffee, cookie and laughter this afternoon Lorraine.

6. I find high-pressure sales ladies in clothing shops, trying to talk me out of black and into "something to bring out my colouring" very off-putting.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to curling up in front of the television, watching Silent Witness, tomorrow my plans include thanking my mum for buying me a stunning pair of boots for my birthday and Sunday, I want to catch up with my brother-in-law who's flying back to Hobart!

Blairgowrie

Dusk, winter, low tide.

We've driven down the road to the Yacht Squadron, pulled in to park behind the bathing boxes, and scrambled down the remains of a set of wooden steps to get onto the beach. The bay is calm, the wind has died away and when its too dark to keep walking, we'll head home for tea by the open fire. My friends are busy photographing the dying light across the water but I keep walking.

Thought I'd post this to give the non-Oz readers a tiny view into the parts of Melbourne I love most.

Opus Gluei #12 Sand & Shells

Since I'm sitting here in woollen trousers, long-sleeved jumper, fur-lined vest and my woolliest socks, even THINKING about sand and shells is difficult. I love the beach in winter, but its such a warm-weather destination for the most part.

So this is a card to evoke memories of walking along the sandy beaches at Blairgowrie, right at the edge of the water as it recedes, leaving the sand wet and glistening. I'd have left my thongs in the sand just far enough out of the water to avoid losing them when the waves wash back, and I'd be walking, head bent, looking for shells or jellies or tiny interesting pieces of driftwood. Hours pass, and I'm late for lunch......................

I used a piece of sandy coloured CS, some Colleen King Ocean Sands DP and some scraps for the thongs which have been embossed and then coloured with a gold gel pen. The stamps are from my local discount store specials bin, and the pieces of ribbon have finally come in handy!! I left them loose and cut the sentiment card to look a little like a banner pulled across the sky by a small plane. The tiny shells are from Blairgowrie beach one summer.

Unfortunately...

Have to thank Rosemary over at "Free advice worth every penny" for this idea. Basically you open a google search option and type in "unfortunately (your name)" and see what comes up. I tried my name, but no-one really has that one spelled the same way, and Chat Noir was a bit of a fizzer too, which is not surprising since most of the options would be in french. That left black cat and here are some of the options.....

Unfortunately, training a black cat is not rocket science.
Who on earth would try and train a cat anyway? I love them just the way they are (elegant, selfish, alert, hungry and bossy).

Unfortunately the black cat hadn't seen the film, or if he had, he'd slept through it.
Clearly this cat doesn't waste his time on mediocrity. Falling alseep gets you out of lots of situations, and maybe into a few others. Wouldn't help for a Cinema Challenge though...

Unfortunately black cats have a frightful reputation.
Now that's totally undeserved, I have two beautiful ones who are part of the family.

Unfortunately black cats do suffer from the stigma of their colour.
Well, since its about the only colour I wear (living in Melbourne is SOOO predictable), I take exception to there being ANY stigma about black.

Unfortunately black kitties find it harder than others to be re-homed.
Kitties? Little sort-of-cute-furry things that fit in a handbag? Now a CAT is an independent thoughtful and articulate animal who might choose to sit near your handbag but only if it matched!

Unfortunately Black Cat still has her targeted, and he never misses a target.
Sounds like every black cat I've had.

Thanks Rosemary. I liked this!!