A mixed bag…

I have a bunch of things to share with you today. Firstly, an apology for not posting yesterday as promised. It turned into a very busy day with a new addition to the house. Yep, a brand new puppy :) Unfortunately I can’t share the full story here, mostly because it upsets me too much, but my new baby was moments from death when the phone call saved him. My sister-in-law bought him over to me and it was love at first sight! (she wasn’t the one who was going to put him down, but my brother and her had told me about him and I said that I would take him and so she made the call and got him for me) Want to see why????

Isn’t he just adorable? He’s so tiny and sweet…in fact, right now he is asleep on my lap (which is making typing a little tricky). He is really quiet and a little timid right now, but that will soon change when he gets used to the place and he will be into all sorts of puppy mischief no doubt. I think that I might call him Jethro, but I’m not 100% sure….any good suggestions will be considered :)

Next up is the card I made for Mama for Mother’s Day:

This Tilda is one of the ones that Kellie sent me (though I loved it so much I had to order it!) and she is on watercolour paper and coloured with Markers and an aquapainter. The DSP is Pink Pirouette and the cardstock is Pale Plum, Pretty in Pink and Pink Pirouette. The ribbon is the PP striped grosgrain and the cute pink heart button came from Mama’s stash :)

I used the 1 1/4” square punch to punch out the DSP and a white gel pen for the faux stitching. The sentiment is from *Short & Sweet* and punched with the small oval before being layered onto the large oval and the designer label. I’m pretty sure Mama liked it and it’s one of my favourites that I’ve made so far. Actually, I like it so much that when the stamp arrives I might make another one the same :)

Finally, I have received a bunch of blog awards recently that I haven’t shared here…so I’m going to try and remember them all. If I’ve forgotten anyone, please remind me :)

First up is this gorgeous one that Kellie had made specially to give away:

She is so sweet! I love her blog and if you haven’t been there you should go check it out :)

Next up June gave me this one called *The Gift of Love*:

I’m supposed to pass it on to five people, but right now I just don’t have the time….so I *might* get to that later in the week :)

Next up is this great award from Bec. She always makes me smile, so I’d definitely send this one back to her! I’m supposed to give this one to five people too…I’m going to have to sit down and make a list!

Finally, I got this award from Alicia a little while ago and have been very remiss in showing it here:

I’ve gotten this one before, but it’s always nice to get it again!

OK, I think that’s all for today. I got a lovely big box of goodies from SU! yesterday (well some of it was Mama’s but she’s good at sharing) and I’m planning on spending the rest of the day in the craft room. It might be my last chance for this week as we start the big makeover project later in the week. I imagine there will be much chaos before it’s finished. I will keep you all up to date with it’s progress though :)

Hope your Tuesday is terrific,

More awards!!!!

I'm feeling pretty loved right now....my delightful PSF Kirsty gave me these two awards yesterday! I am so flattered because Miss Kirsty is SERIOUSLY talented and I am constantly in awe of the amazing things that she creates....and the fact that she has time to do it with 4 kids to take care of!!!!! If you've never seen her work I thoroughly recommend checking it out!

This first award is the Marie Antoinette award. This one came with rules and they are- Link the one who awarded it to you (see above), post the award and nominate 7 people who deserve it. Seven people huh????

1. Madonna
2. Lauren
3. June
4. Leslie
5. Lydia
6. Sam
7. Cass

There you go...I followed the rules again!!!!! Maybe I'm becoming more conformist in my old age :)

For this one I'm supposed to nominate 5 bloggers...I can't choose another 5 people so I'm giving it to all of the ladies on the above list....'cause their blogs are fabulous :)
The other thing I'm supposed to do is tell you five things I'm addicted to....only 5????? So, in no particular order:
1. CHOCOLATE....any kind really, but I love Fruit and Nut and Ferrero Rocher...mmmmmm.
2. Craft supplies....patterned paper, stamps, Prima flowers....I could make a list of five just from this category :)
3. Supernatural.....love that show and hang out for it every week!
4. Reading....can't live without good books (they go really well with the chocolate...hehehehe)
5. Coffee....I believe I've said this before, but without coffee I'd be nasty, mean and grumpy all the time!

OK, that's it for now....better go do some work, because tomorrow I am getting some new cube shelves from Target (they are having an amazing sale!) and I'm taking the day off to re-organise my supplies (I might be addicted to that as well). After it's all done I will share pics. While this room is much bigger than my old one, it's not as well organised yet and the mess is driving me crazy. I'll be much happier once I have a proper place for everything, instead of the jumbled disaster that it is right now.

Happy Wednesday
Kristie

Another award!!!! and casing the catty

I am so privledged to have such lovely PSF's who keep giving me these fabulous awards. This one comes from my wonderful friend Paula, and I'm supposed to pass it on to 5 other bloggers.

Today I am going to actually follow the rules and pass it on!!!! So my five, in no particular order, are:

My fabulous sister Madonna, without her I wouldn't even be doing this.
The uber talented Lauren, who is one of the most creative people I know.
The totally awesome June, for always being so inspiring.
Leslie, because she ALWAYS makes me laugh.
And last, but certainly not least, Lydia...she's not only funny but super talented too.

Ok, on to the crafty stuff....

When I was having the big marathon card making session to make enough stuff to keep the blog going while I was away I started to get a bit low on inspiration. One of the great things about the SU! catalogues though, is that they don't just show you the stamps, but they have a whole lot of really great sample projects as well. This card is a direct case of the one on the front of the Summer mini:I found lots of great inspiration in this catty and you'll be seeing a few more cased cards while I try and find my lost mojo :)

Supplies:
CS: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive
Stamps: Eastern Blooms
Other: Felt Fusion flowers, Rose Red brad, Hidden Garden rub-ons, white gel pen, Cutter Kit

Happy stamping :)
Kristie

A Blog Award and something different...

Firstly, I want to say a great big thanks to the wonderful Miss June, who gave me this blog award this week.

"This award is given to a blog that invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!"

The rule of the award is to now pass it on to another 8 people who demonstrate this spirit. You all know that I'm hopeless when it comes to passing it on, and June has already given the award to some of those people that I would have given it to....so I'm just going to say that the absolute BEST thing about this adventure in blogging is the wonderful and amazingly talented friends that I have made. You can find most of them over there in the list on the right....there are some seriously fantastic ladies on that list - fantastically talented as well as super NICE....go check them out :)

Right, on to the crafty stuff. As I STILL haven't finished organising my craft space this is another one that I made before I went away. I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the amazing things that Michelle Zindorf does with a brayer....I am definitely not in her league...LOL!!!! But I've wanted to try out the techniques that she uses for a while, and as a regular reader of her blog I figured that I had read enough of her fantastic tutorials to finally give it a go.

As you can see....not even close to being in her league!!! But for a first attempt I was ok with it. I figure it's good to show you stuff that I'm not 100% happy with...shows that you can't be fabulous all the time, right?????

This card uses one of the new sets from the Summer Mini called Ocean Commotion....and it's an Australia/New Zealand only one!!!! It's nice that we've got something the rest of the world doesn't for a change...lol. All of the images were stamped with VersaMark and ink and clear embossed before I took to what was a sheet of Whisper White CS with the brayer and sponges. How cute is that seahorse??? I just love him and you'll be seeing him again for sure :)

Supplies:
CS: Whisper White, Blue Bayou, Not Quite Navy, Purely Pomegranate
Ink: VersaMark, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, River Rock
Stamps: Ocean Commotion
Other: Scallop Punch, Brayer, Sponges

It has been insanely HOT, HOT, HOT here this week....as I write this I'm sitting in front of my brand new air-cooler, filled with ICE water and as long as I don't move it should be ok. It seems so weird to be reading blogs where people are complaining about the cold....right now I'd be happy with some snow....LOL!

So, hope you all have a day of NON-EXTREME weather, wherever you are,
Kristie

A little comparison & an award

There was a discussion on the Elite Stampers forum this week about the best way to colour the stamps from *For Father*, so last night I did a little comparison between 3 methods to show that what method you choose depends on the kind of result you want. The first picture shows the three different methods side by side: from left to right - markers, ink and watercolour crayons.
Here's a close up view of each one, in the same order. This first one uses markers from the Earth Elements family, direct to the watercolour paper and then blended with the aquapainter.
This is ink from the lids of the inkpads, both Earth Elements and Soft Subltes applied directly with the aquapainter.
These are the Bold Brights watercolour crayons, applied by taking the colour from the crayon with the aquapainter and applied to the paper.
As you can see, the watercolour crayons give a softer, more watercoloured look, while the markers direct to the paper give the most vibrant look, with the ink in between the two.

I hope that you find this even a little bit useful. My colouring skills aren't brilliant, but practice makes perfect, right?

Finally, the delightful Kristy Young gave me this awesome award:
How awesome is that???? Now I'm supposed to nominate 8 blogs that I think deserve this award....but you all know I hate picking just a few from the hundreds of talented ladies out there. If you want some great blogs to visit, check out the sidebar. If you think you deserve this award, just go on and take it :)

OK, gotta go set up some scheduled posts for while I'm away...only 2 sleeps til I leave and see my best friend who I haven't seen since January!!! And only 4 sleeps til I see my Mama....woohooo!!!

Have a great night (or day)
Kristie

Another Christmas card & an Award!

It's probably going to be totally boring around here for the next little while if you don't like Christmas cards! I still have a few more to get done...I really need to write a list and work out just how many....plus a few little gifts for my supervisors and fellow PhD students (they deserve something for listening to me whinge!). This all needs to be finished and sent out before I head off to Qld for a much deserved break, and with family stuff going on right now I may need to head off a bit earlier than first thought...so I really need to get moving!

Ok, here's another Christmas card that I did for the Elite challenges...this one was a colour challenge - to use Taken with Teal, Soft Sky and Purely Pomegranate.Cardstock: Taken with Teal, Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate.
Ink: Taken with Teal, Purely Pomegranate, VersaMark.
Stamps: Merry, Merry
Other, Pomegranate polka dot ribbon from Sherbet Ribbon Originals, Slit Punch, Corner Rounder, Scallop Circle, 1 3/8" & 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Clear Embossing Powder.

Pretty simple really. I liked these colours for a Christmas card...again very non-traditional, but with the snowflakes it works IMO. It does feel kinda weird making Christmas cards with snow on them when it's going to be stinking hot here....but I guess most of the stamps are made in the Northern Hemisphere....anyway, some of these snowy ones might just find their way to some of my lovely PSF's who do actually get snow at Christmas :)

OK, on to the award. This one was a total surprise to me. I was given this Kreativ Blogger award from the very talented Holly at Hog Wild About Stamping. I am so flattered, because Holly is a pretty creative blogger herself and to have her give me this really made my day, so thanks Holly!!!
Right, I think that's it for today. I'm feeling so tired at the moment, I feel like I could sleep for a week at least! But that's not going to happen, so I best go make another coffee and try to get a few things finished before Monday crashes down on top of me and it all gets crazy all over again! Hope your Sunday is a peaceful one :)

Kristie

My First Award!!!

My beautiful, amazing, kind, and super talented sister Madonna has given me my very first ever blog award...'cause she thinks I'm BRILLIANT...right??? Well actually she says it's because I've come so far in such a short time!
The rules that accompany this award are:
1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

OK, this is the hard part...how do I choose? I just can't pick....I have about 150 blogs on my Google reader and I enjoy all of them! So.....I am going to have to think about this for a bit and save my awarding privileges until I can decide!!!

However....if you are reading this and think that YOU deserve the award, leave a comment with your blog details and I'll come check you out...you might just make my list...LOL :)
Kristie