Precious Butterflies (again!)

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A Word for You, Precious Butterflies

Hi bloggies!

The computer guy is coming either today or tomorrow … and I will be offline again … until my hard drive is functioning properly. But … I thought I might get one more post in before I go MIA! So … I do have to make this quick. While all the family was at the Supercross on Saturday night. (In the pouring rain!) I was  nice and dry and snug … and took the opportunity of a quiet night to do a little stamping. I just had to pull out my newbie again … after having so much fun with it’s first inking on Thursday!

This is a pretty simple stamping & spritzing card. The main feature is the sweet Lace Ribbon Border threaded with gorgeous Pear Pizzazz seam binding. I saw this idea done with the 1/8″ taffeta … and wondered what it would look like with the soft seam binding. I think it worked rather well! Another Q&E … this stamp set is definitely a “hit” with me!

If you have missed these posts (important STUFF!) … please scroll down (or click picS below) to view them!

Well … off to try and get some bookwork done for Gav before I lose my puter. Hope to see you again soon. Hugs xx

Computer Probs … again!

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computer problems

I needed to take a moment to let you know … my computer may be offline on Monday / Tuesday. My hard drive is being replaced … and it will take some time to re-load all that needs to be re-loaded. Please bear with me … I will be back asap.

Please take the time to comment on my BIG MILESTONE: “Thanks SO MUCH” post … from yesterday … and scroll down below this post to view today’s card using a brand new stamp set! I love it! Hugs xx

Precious Butterflies

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Challenge Winner, CR84FN Challenges, Freshly Made Sketches Challenge, Precious Butterflies

I am so thrilled to have been chosen for a “Perfect Princess” award over at Freshly Made Sketches … for this card! It was such a nice surprise … and my first ever FMS award! Thanks to all the girls at FMS … but especially to Holly for choosing my card! xx

Hi bloggies!

I have a new stamp set to share with you today. I have to admit … I was a little tired when I sent in my last order … and for some reason chose this butterfly set as a hostess reward. Hhhmmm … when I opened the delivery I did wonder “Why did I order this??? I have more than enough butterflies in my stamp stash!”  But … as soon as I started inking this up … I realised that this stamp set has SO MUCH potential … and I was so thrilled with my 1st inking of this set! What do you think?

The leaf stamped is inked in Basic Grey but … it has been ‘stamped off’ first onto scrap paper to soften the effect. I was excited to find that the circle of butterflies fitted beautifully into the 1 3/4″ scallop circle punch.

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The colours were inspired by the latest CR84FN colour challenge #41 … and I absolutely LOVE this combo! I am so glad I found some time to play along. I have been missing my regular challenges while I have been busy with the INK4U! ones. Make sure you pop by the CR84FN blog … there are some fantastic DT samples there!

The sketch was also for a fabulous challenge … Freshly Made Sketches #8. (I love this site … because the sketches are the right amount of ‘fussy’. Not too much … not too little!) You should pop by … I am sure you will be inspired!

So … as you can see by my post above … I may be MIA for a few days while my computer probs are sorted. I do hope you will be back soon to visit. I will be here with a new card as soon as I can. Oh … and please scroll down and leave a comment on my “Thanks SO MUCH” post … celebrate with me! Hugs xx

Thanks SO MUCH!

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200 000 hits, Spreader of Love Award

My 2nd post for today … but … I just had to stop by to add a special post because I wanted to say a VERY BIG THANK YOU to all my bloggies (that’s “Andrea” for “Blog Buddies”) for your wonderful, support, love and loyal friendship. I am so thrilled to have reached this milestone … and I am so thankful for the wonderful friends that I have met through my blog.

A SPECIAL thank you to those who have taken the time to leave comments and who have shared my creative ups & downs … my family dramas … and have been here constantly to encourage.  My bloggies are incredibly supportive and I feel very blessed to have met you all. I am so excited to still be blogging … and would never have expected to have met so many amazing people when I first began back in May 2008. Thank you for being part of this wonderful adventure! 

Please stop and take the time to say hi today (leave a comment). It will mean a lot to me … and for all those who do … my way of saying thank you … is to pass on this award that I found recently. I will be sure to reply to your comments and I hope you all realise what a wonderful inspiration each of you have been to me. Enjoy this “Spreader of Love” award! Thank you for helping me to reach this amazing milestone! 

OH … AND I WANTED TO ADD … PLEASE PAY THIS AWARD FORWARD ON YOUR BLOG … TO YOUR FAV BLOG FRIENDS WHO TAKE THE TIME TO LEAVE BLOG LOVE ON YOUR BLOG! 

SITE STATS:

• Posts: 1,151 
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• Busiest Day: 815 views
• Busiest Commenter:  Lynda 
• Most Commented Post:  ”It’s a Girl!!!”

Stampin’ & Bloggin’ Hugs xxx Andrea xxx

Easy Christmas!

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Delightful Decorations, Seasonal Wishes

Hi bloggies!

Well … obviously I missed popping by to post yesterday! The girls and I drove up to Sydney to get a start on our Christmas shopping yesterday. I had a huge extended family list that also included 6 birthdays. We had a very productive day … crossing EVERYTHING off the list!!!!!!!!! Of course, I still have my own kids to buy for … and with 5 exploding to 8 this year (incl. Jono, Murray & Bree) + Gav … I still have much to do. But … I am so happy to have a good amount of it done! We got home … and turned around to go out again to celebrate Sheree finishing her uni course … and some wonderful news! Yesterday, she was offered a full time job for next year. (Details to follow once it is ok to publish!) I can tell you … she was VERY EXCITED! Well … time for a card … this was another great colour combo over at INK4U!

Because I wanted to place the embossing on the left side (only) … I had to run the card through the Big Shot folded. So … it just means there is some pretty embossing on the back of the card, too! Super Q&E … but I do wish I had placed the sentiment midway between the Navy & Gold ornaments. I think it would have had better balance????

I have to run … Stace will be here any minute to pick me up. We are off up to Sydney (again) to visit her m-i-l and my very special friend, Julie! I can’t wait to see the renovations that she has done to her house. And … maybe we will even find some time to stamp … in between fighting over our grand-daughter!!! C U again soon! Hugs xx

Sunny Fun

Tags

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge, Paper Players Challenge, Sunny Fun

Hi there bloggies!

Well … sometimes being stuck at home without a car means I just HAVE TO stamp!!! What a shame!!! I have another non Chrissy Card for you all today! I have been wanting to try a new technique that I have seen on several blogs and this seemed to fit beautifully with the Paper Players #69 sketch today! With spring randomly giving us some warm days (and some NOT SO WARM) I felt like using some bright colours … & I wanted to ink up my new “Sunny Fun” stamp set. Here is what I came up with …

I am such a sucker for anything gingham … and as soon as I saw this background technique around I just knew I had to get the new Stripes embossing folder and try it out for myself. I can just imagine how sweet this would be for baby cards! The technique is basically just done by brayering ink on the inside of the embossing folder … running it through the Big Shot … inking again … turn the card 90° … and run through the BS again. (You will need to ink again & run in the same direction to add lines for the extra length in this direction.) The whisper white is a little “soft” for repeat Big Shot runs … so I would suggest you run a scrap piece of card behind it each time to prevent the creases from happening! (I will try that next time!) I wonder … now that I come to post this … if it is a little ‘busy’ … but it is bright and sunny, isn’t it!?

Well … I checked out the DT samples & the gorgeous submissions for this challenge and realise this is nothing like the elegant creations that I saw there! But … I guess I might enter it anyway! After all … it is the fun of creating … that is important … isn’t it!?

I have had so little time for challenges lately … but with a free day … I thought I would pop by the CAS-ual Fridays Blog … to play along with their latest challenge … and I realised that this card would fit!  (BUT … I am always nervous about the “CAS” part. I never seem to get that balance right???) But … I thought I would have another go! CFC25:  Use any medium (markers, pencils, watercolors, blending pens, etc) to add color to your stamped image.

See you all again soon! Hugs xx

Surfer Dude!

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Extreme Surfboard, Just Surfing

Hi bloggies!

I thought it might be time for a non Christmas card … so you don’t get too bored with my cards!!! I made this one a little while ago … and it wasn’t for any particular reason. A good card to have in my stash for that forgotten male birthday! (I actually have a few of those coming up … and should be working on some more male cards!) I popped over to the Clean & Simple blog and found this great sketch. OOOoooh! I just popped over to get the sketch pic link and discovered this week’s sketch! YUM!!! Definitely playing with that one today! (Click sketch pic to visit site.) 

I was pretty tickled with how this one turned out. I am such a fan of both of these stamp sets for teenage male cards … and they are definitely staying in my stamp set stash forever! The surfboard and white surf are embossed. Isn’t this a wonderful colour combo … using two of the new in-colours. Island Indigo & Lucky Limeade. Well … I managed to get lots of bookwork done for Gav yesterday … and with a day at home (no car) … I am going to treat myself to some stamping! I haven’t done much at all lately! Hope you all have a great day, too! Hugs xx

A busy weekend!

Tags

Curly Cute, Snow Swirled

Hi there bloggies!

Did you miss me over the weekend? I just wanted to thank you all for your lovely comments. It was nice to pop in here this morning and find so much blog love left for me. It always brings a happy smile to my face! It WAS a busy weekend. We spent most of Saturday out at Appin … at the paintball place. The kids and Gav were part of a group of 18 that joined in the fun. (Not my idea of fun … but they all loved it!) I was there to mind Bree … along with Sandy who was too young to join in. (You have to be 16!) It was a hot dusty day … but Bree was an angel for the most part. She was a tad hungry at one point and refused to take the bottle Stace had left for her … so we had to wait until the game was finished before Stace could come and feed her, herself. You should see the bruises all the kids came home with! (Esp the boys!) Then … yesterday was Bree’s baptism at church … and we had a crowd back here to our place for lunch afterwards. It was so lovely to catch up with Jono’s family and spend some relaxing time sitting outside in the beautiful spring afternoon breeze. Well … I will stop rabbiting … before I bore you to tears!

Today’s card is for an INKspiration challenge over at INK4U! It was quite delicious! So many ideas … but I went pretty “literal” … with colours, snowflakes & a Christmas tree! Here is my card …

All the details for the sponging etc are on my card recipe. I was a bit heavy handed with my new “Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz” … but I am sure with a little practice this will be one of my new best friends! I do love it! Sorry … I am going to fly now … cos this has taken a couple of hours with 2 phone calls in between so I had better keep moving. Thanks again for your lovely comments … I am off to reply to those now … and then I had better put my head down and do some “real work”! Hugs xx