Opps! Harrison Is it 9 or is it 10?

Hello, how are you today?

We have just had a lovely weekend. It was a real entertainment weekend, as well as an opportunity to celebrate our Grandson Harrison's Birthday. More on that later!

On Friday (22nd June) we travelled on the (VERY) early Train from Coffs Harbour to Sydney (about 8 hours journey time) and then went to see "Under Milk Wood" at the Stage Theatre at the Opera House that evening. 

On Saturday (Matinee at 2.00pm) we went to see "An Officer and a Gentleman" musical at the Lyric Theatre at the Star Casino. It was Fabulous. I cannot understand why this show got such critical vitriol. It was a really good show.

Then on to see Snow White and the Huntsman at the cinema  at 18.45. This is a dark film but ohhhh it was lovely. Great effects AND it may be open for a part 2 (we think!)!!

On Sunday (24th June) we met the family (Jim, Tiff, Marley and Harrison) who all came into Sydney for 11.00am to celebrate Harrison's Birthday.  (Harrison brought 2 of his school friends as part of his Birthday treat) and we all went to the Sydney  Madame Tussauds. Then we travelled to Tiff and Jim's home for the Sunday night before travelling back home on the Monday. THis was an important part of the strategy as you will hear about below!

All is all a fabulous weekend.

Well it is 9 or is it 10? 

So that Harrison would receive a Birthday card I made and sent it early.

Here it is.

All good I thought. Then we had a chat with Harrison on the 20th June (his Birthday) only to discover a) the card hadn't arrived and b) he was celebrating his 10th not his 9th. How had we lost a year????? More importantly how could we rescue the card????

The culprit, we now discover is that our Birthday Calendar was showing 2003 and should have shown 2002. OK that is now fixed.

We asked Tiffany to intercept the card and as we would see them on the 24th I quickly made a "10" to replace the "9" I had placed on his card.

Unfortunately Harrison got to the card before we did, fortunately he saw the funny side.

I quickly whipped out my newly made "10" and replaced it, so all was now in order. 

(This may be the CDO kicking in here!!)

Harrison was quite impressed with my colouring which he didn't realise I had done. I had to say that not only had I coloured it but that I had stamped it too. 

(The stamp was one I have had in my collection for a while: I don't know where I bought it [it may have been from QVC when I was in the UK?] but it has a JB 6 F stamped on the wooden block. I used a Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad to stamp it onto white express -it paper). 

Harrison was then VERY impressed!

I used a variety of Copics as well as a clear Spica pen to add a bit of gloss. I even added a little red smudge over the pocket to show how the ball had been shone.

The main ingredients that I used to my Harrison's Card:

So the mystery is solved, the answer is definitely 10. The birthday card is up to date and all is well with the world!

Thanks for stopping by to read about my travels and tribulations, it was a fun weekend that's for sure. I'd love to know you've been so please leave me a comment, they're lovely to receive.

The Primrose Fairy

G'day.
I hope this post today finds you safe, happy and well.

Tell me something - why is it that some cards take FOREVER to put together and others seem to have all their components rush out of their hiding places demanding to be included and the card comes together in a snap!

It is a situation I find myself in more and more frequently where the decision-making process can be ugly! Probably because of all the potential possibilities that exist from the plethora of stash items that make themselves known to you!!!!!!!

My card today follows the Fairies family so after this only one more to go from the stamps I have in my collection.

I call this one the Primrose Fairy (no creativity there huh!).

This was one of those cards that just happened and it all just fell onto the card almost by itself. I quite like the result.

How was it constructed?

I began with some lovely paper that I discovered in the Provo Craft, Paper Symphony, Crafter's Block 1. (I think this will be a favourite resource for a while!)

I matted it onto a Green patterned background paper from my stash (I think it was a sheet from HOTP vintage papers) onto white card stock.

I stamped my Fairy with a Memento Rich Cocoa ink pad and coloured her with a variety of Copic markers. I used one of the smaller dies from Spellbinders Lattice Rectangles (S4-319) and layered it onto the same green patterned paper I had use previously then adhered it to the card on the right.

I made a strip (about 1 inch wide) of pink paper and used a Fiskars Border punch on both sides to make it look pretty. I added a piece of pink seam binding down the middle. I again layered this strip onto the green patterned paper and stuck it to the left of the card.

The embellishments were a mixture; from my stash - a Happy Birthday label from HOTP, a pink brad, a couple of wired butterflies and a string of my recently purchased pearl ribbon from Craft Queen.

Here is a compilation of more detailed parts of my card.
I hand wrote a little sentiment inside the card which I really like.
It says:
"Count your life by smiles not tears, Count your age by friends not years".
















Ingredients I used to make this card:

Thanks again for calling in. I cannot tell you how exciting it is to get comments left by those lovely visitors who drop in for a browse. It's much appreciated in this little corner of cyberspace!

The Playful Fairy

Hello, how are you?
Firstly an admission by way of a question! Do you come across things in your stash that you put in a safe place because they are really nice and you don't want to use them yet, but you will, at some point? Well I do and I did. I'll explain .....

Before I do, I would like to show you one of my cards that belong to the family of Fairy Stamps that I had purchased ages ago. The first of the four I have already shown on an earlier blog post and I called her the "Dreamy Fairy"; this one I have called the "Playful Fairy". There are two more to show in this family of stamps and I will show you the cards I have made using them on my next few blog posts.

So here she is: The Playful Fairy

Apologies for the "wonky" picture. I will at some point get some help on how to take better pictures. In the meantime I just zap them using my i-phone!

I also got an idea from one of my recent blog hops about putting together a compilation of pictures into one image that shows parts of the card in closer detail. The next picture is my first attempt at trying that!













So how did I construct this card?

OK so here it is the admission!!!!!
I was delighted to find in one of the tubs of paper stack papers a lovely set of 200, 6" x 6" papers that are gorgeous. The pack is from Provo Craft and are called Paper Symphony - Crafter's Block 1. Having "rediscovered them" I leapt straight onto the web and did a search for more (as you do!!) and noticed that others are seeking these papers too. They seem not to be available any more. I came across a Crafter's Block 2 however they were just coloured sheets, useful if that is what you are looking for! So I took a brave step and decided to use them!

The stamp is from a set of four that I have from PSX stamps (Personal Stamps Exchange) I believe it and those others I have may be retired. This one is numbered G-3251.

I used Memento Rich Cocoa ink to stamp the image and coloured it in using a variety of Copics (putting into practice some newly learnt skills!).

Using a piece of DCWV paper I cut out and embossed a backing layer for the image using Spellbinders Lacey Ovals (S4 - 314).

I made the side panel using a Fiskars border punch and then layered some of the scrap cut off's to make the ribbon effect on the strip. A few brads from my stash finished the strip off.

The sentiment is from JustRite Stampers "Fleur De Lis Labels Twenty" stamps and backed by silver mirri card cut with decorative scissors and mounted onto a scrap of design paper with foam pads.

Lastly a little metal heart embellishment I bought at Spotlight (a GREAT store that also sells crafting supplies amongst other things like fabrics, homewares, linen etc).

The main ingredients that I used to make this card:

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you like the card! I'd love to hear your feedback so pop a comment and I promise to get back to you in Thanks.

Brisbane Scrapbooking and Papercraft Expo - Part 2

Hi, I hope all is well with you and yours. A cool winters morning here in New South Wales and especially in our little part of it, here in Dorrigo. Sun is out but the wind makes it cool!

As promised here is part 2 of my Brisbane Expo experience.

The images I am going to share are from the third and last class that I took on Sunday 10th June.
In summary I would say that I was a little disappointed with this class. Please don't think I am being a grouch! We were all provided with a pack which included images of the 3 cards we were to make as well as instructions and all the ingredients (which were not too generous I remember thinking!).

Basically we were told to get on with it and if we had questions to ask. When asking about the stamps we were to use we were pointed to a table at the front of the room and that was about as much teaching input that was provided. To be fair the facilitator (as I will now call her) did say it was not her style to guide us through the process "step-by-step" as people, she said, work at different rates. Which is true!

With that said and my mini catharsis over, I and a few others decided to make the most of this time together and enjoy making the 3 cards. Here are the 3 cards I produced.

Card Number ONE:

This card encouraged you to use the technique of tearing. Ideally we were told this was a great way of using up scraps of paper. As this isn't a usual technique for me it was good to give it a try.

The 12 x 12 papers we used were from Echo Park and the set was "Victoria Gardens".

The supplies were provided by Craft Queen Australia.

Card Number TWO:

This card showed me how to mix and match different types of ribbon and braid. Included is Ric Rac (which I cannot find on their website?) Pink Paper ribbon, elastic lace, rosette ribbon, gingham and seam binding.

I really like the pearl ribbon, great for the centres of hand made flowers I was thinking.
It comes in two sizes in both white and cream.

Card Number THREE:

This card I was the least happiest with, in part because we ran out of ingredient particularly the Green gingham.

I have since shortened the bunting flags so you don't see the spaces.













I show below what I can find on their site at Craft Queen Australia and alternative supplies for other ingredients for this post:

I hope you got a bit of inspiration from these cards. I took several lessons form my class.
- Try something different - get out of the comfort zone
- Use left overs in your stash to great effect
- It's lovely to meet and sit with other crafters as we all seem to giggle and have a great deal of fun!

Thanks for popping back in today. I have some other cards made up so I will start to share those as well.