Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

It was my gorgeous husband's birthday on the weekend which gave me the chance to play with one of the new sets from The SU Spring Mini Catty. unfortunately withthe extra layers it hasn't scanned up too well but hopefully you get the gist of it all.

Contact me if you'd like any information about what was used.

Thanks for dropping by,
Nardi

A Quick Post

Just quickly popping in between shopping and picking up my dd from a birthday party but wanted to keep with my aim of regular posting.

I've been trying to work on creating a few cards for my stash. This is one of the cards I created with an adult male in mind. [It looks better IRL - struggling to get a good photo.]

What do you think?

Nardi

I'm still here!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that the New Year is shaping up to be a cracker! :o) Oh - Happy Valentine's Day for the other day. Hope it was full of love and romance for you - I know mine was. *vbg*

Since Christmas I've been spending time with my husband and kids as the Christmas holidays in Australia is the longest break in the school year. Then it was the usual busyness of getting the kids ready for school with the extra delight for our youngest son who started primary school this year. But now with school into its third week, life is settling down and I am excitedly looking forward to more craft time with only myself at home. With that in mind, my aim is to keep my blog updated regularly with my creations.

So in keeping with my goal, here is a card I made over my absence. I just love the 3D effect of the butterflies, don't you?

Don't forget to say hi! I'd love to see what you've been up to and I also like to know that I'm not talking to myself...again!@?! hee hee

Thanks for dropping by,
Nardi

Blast off!

Having two sons and five nephews, I am always needing cards for boys whether for family or friends. This card was for my eldest son's friend who turned 6 recently.
I think you can't really go wrong with rockets. :o) What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by - don't forget to say "hi"!

All wrapped up!

My upline, Kim made a bag in a box as one of her creations for World Cardmaking Day. (Check it out here.) Lucky for me, she sent me the instructions so I could create my own. It is such a cool thing to make and looks great too. Here is one I made for a friend with a matching card.

This is a fantastic way to individualise your presents even more. I know this won't be the last time I make one of these.

Contact me if you would like to hold a workshop and learn how to make one of these for yourself.

Eden's card

My youngest son had a birthday party to attend for a little girl whom he now just loves! (Sibling of his older brother's friend.) As I am friends with her mother I realised that a very girly card would go down well especially if I included her favourite colour, purple. Both the birthday girl and her mum loved the card (and thankfully it was found before the end of the party as it went MIA for most of the party).

This is a style of card that I think would work beautifully as an invite especially for a 'tea party' or the like. (I especially love the alphabet which was available last year in the Australian Stampin' Up! Summer mini catalogue. Sadly they did not continue it but the reamining sets of the "Scribble" series can be found in the latest catalogue. Contact me for more details)

Thanks for dropping by!

Aaarrrgggghhhhh!

A little while back we went through an avalance of children's birthday parties to attend. (For all those with children I'm sure you understand that "If it doesn't rain, it pours!?!") So here is one that my 6 year old son was quite happy to take along as part of his gift.

Thankfully I was a little prepared and had watercoloured the map for another card at the same time as a week later the same son had a "pirate's party" to go to. This time he wanted the ship, not the pirate as the feature. It doesn't grab me as much but that might be more due to the choice of materials rather than the images. Regardless of my critical opinon both my son and his friends enjoyed their cards.

So what do you think? Arrrrrrgggghhh you a pirate lover or a lover of the pirate's ship? ;o)

Until next time - thanks for stopping by.
Nardi

Birthday celebrations!

Everyone loves celebrating their birthday and being treated like a princess or a prince - I know I am one of them. I have to admit that I was not disappointed last week when I celebrated another birthday with my lovely family. (This included a surprise interstate visit from my sister for a few days.) I still have some presents to redeem and possibly receive ;o) (you know who you are ... hee hee) which is always nice to stretch out the celebrations and give me somem things to look forward to as well.

Another event that we can all join in to celebrate is the 20th birthday of Stampin' Up! To celebrate, Stampin' Up has a great offer for the whole month of October.

To join in the fun, just spend $20 on regular Stampin' Up products and then you can choose from 5 preselected birthday/celebration stamp sets at 20% off the regular catalogue price!

You can choose from:

Page 37 - Big Bold Birthday
Page 38 - Pretty Princess
Page 51- Birthday Best
Page 55 - Crab And Company
Page 118 - Short And Sweet

Contact me if you'd to purchase one or more of these sets or for more details. Deliveries can be made right ot your door, Australia wide.

It's been a while...

It has been quite a while since I have been here and I have been extremely touched by those of you who keep coming back to see me, have contacted me by email, leaving a comment or have even sent me cards. It has really been encouraging in the midst of everything that has been happening. So a BIG thank you to my lovely Blogging friends. (((HUGS)))

No matter what is thrown at you in life, things continue to push on regardless of whther you are ready or not!?! ;o) One practical example of this is the need for cards for various occassions. Hopefully over time I will be able to share a little of what has kept me sane over the past months. :o)

Here is one that I made during my blogging absence for my DH's supervisor. He is in the Navy Reserves and is also an avid ornithologist (bird watcher) and so was happy with the reference to both interests in his card. I have a long way to go in water colouring but I at last giving it a go and hope to one day see some improvement...(she says with fingers crossed.)



Thanks for dropping by!
Nardi

Recipe:
Stamp Set: Boatloads of Love; Ahoy, Matey;
Inks: Basic Black;
Cardstock: Blue Bayou; Night of Navy; Watercolour paper;
Extras: Crop-A-Dile; Round Tab punch; blender pen; mounting tape; eyelets; watercolour pencils;

Ahoy There - it's a new card technique!

As previously mentioned - I learnt a new card technique at my monthly stamp club. And as one of my nephews turns five at the end of this month I thought it was the perfect way to meld the two together.

I'm not sure if it has a name for this technique but it does remind me of a Jacob's ladder. To try and show you how it works I have taken a few photos which will hopefully show the card for what it is (though sadly I admit it is better IRL). So here goes with trying to team my photos with corresponding comments.

At first you are presented with a gate fold card. Here I have added a picture to cover over the fold. (This is the first time I've used the pirate but it definitely won't be the last!)

This is the inside of the card when you first open it. (Sadly the lighting today wasn't so great but hopefully you can get the gist of it all.)

This photo is attempting to show how the "secret" message is revealed as you can pull the middle layers apart to reveal an inner message.

And here is the second message. A few of us did ponder what if the person receiving didn't open it all the way up to get to this layer. One idea was to tuck some money in this layer and either tell the recipient so they had an added incentive or else check a little later and if it was still there it was the 'penalty' for not exploring the card properly. ;o) hee hee

This is such a fab card style that my kids are very excited about and I can't wait to hear what my nephew thinks. I think the next one I will try with more of a neutral card woven through so that I can colour my images more and have more choice but I do like the Close to Cocoa and Ruby Red together none the less.

What about you? Any thoughts?

Recipe:
Stamp Set: Ahoy, Matey; Matey's Map;
Inks: Basic Black; assorted coloured markers;
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa; Ruby Red; Whisper White;
Extras: mounting tape;

Happy Birthday Chelle!

It is my big sister's birthday and so I rustled this card up for her to celebrate the day.
The colours are better IRL but this is the best photo I could get. [And heaps better than the ones I took last night. :o) ]

Recipe:
Stamps: EK Sucess;
Cardstock: Mellow Moss; Very Vanilla; Chocolate Chip;
Ink: Basic Brown;
Extras: DP; Chocolate Grosgrain; CB & embossing folder;