Thank you Mum!

Stamp set(s): because I care, bliss, curly cute
Ink: crumb cake, raspberry ripple, primrose petals, old olive
Card: chocolate chip, raspberry ripple, primrose petals, very vanilla
DSP: print poetry DS paper stack
Accessories: sponges, very vanilla seam binding, pearls

Here is a card that I've made for my mum to simply say "thank you".  We have just been on an amazing trip to Europe and Italy together, which is why I haven't been around blog-land for awhile...  We had a fantastic 4 weeks away, saw lots, and caught up with family.  So grateful for this opportunity!

Anyway, this project has been CASE'd from Teneale Williams - love her work! I wanted to make mum an extra-special card, and I think the layers, the sponging, seam binding and pearls do it all.  Enjoy!

On a personal note (I seem to be doing a lot of these at the moment!) I saw my oncologist last week, and she doesn't want to see me for another 3 months, unless I need to, and if I start displaying the same symptoms as I was before being diagnosed.  It's been just over a year, which is hard to believe.  I am now working 20 hours a week which feels great, and I'm slowly but surely getting my energy back.  It's all good!  I think the trip was a fantastic way to build up my stamina to cope with extra hours at work.  It's been a long journey, but I'm doing well - yay!

ANZAC Day remembered

Hello!

I've been wondering how to begin this post for awhile, as it's been ages since my last post...  I figured I should just start and go from there!

But first things first...  Health-wise, things are going really well.  I finished chemo in February and I had a post-treatment MRI last month, and it came back clear!!  Yay!  I don't see the oncologist again until June, unless something comes up in the meantime, so it's looking positive.  I've been given the "all clear" to travel, so my mother and I are making the long trip to the UK to visit with family, then to Italy to visit Rome and Florence.  Can't wait to come home and scrap the photos!  Other than that, I'm slowly increasing my hours at work, and will be on 15 hours a week when I get back from our trip.  Physically, I'm feeling really good, but I do get tired pretty easily so I have to pace myself. After everything that's been happening, I've feeling blessed that it's gone so well.  But enough about me...

I have a project to share that I created a few days ago on ANZAC Day. For the last few years, I have created a card on ANZAC Day to remember the fallen, and to commemorate the freedom we have in this country.  This one came together pretty quickly.

Card: real red, basic black, whisper white

Ink: real red, cherry cobbler, basic black, real red marker, basic black marker

Stamp set(s): awash with flowers, word play

Accessories: sponges, rhinestones

I sponged real red and cherry cobbler on the left bottom corner, stamped the poppy, marked up the sentiment with the two different colours and stamped it at the top of the project.  You can't go wrong with rhinestones, so I added a line of rhinestones on the sentiment, and a few on the poppy.  I just had to do the inside, so I stamped a smaller poppy twice on the inside panel.

Hope you like it!

Lovely as a tree birthday

Card: very vanilla, pool party, soft suede
DSP: spice cake
Ink: pool party, soft suede
Stamp set(s): lovely as a tree, curly cute
Accessories: pool party ruffled ribbon

This was a quick and easy project, but I love use of dsp and ribbon to bring some colour and texture.  I've stamped a sentiment, added three squares of dsp, and layered the very vanilla onto pool party, then on to the base of soft suede.  I sponged the dsp squares to highlight the patterns, then stamped a leaf on the inside panel with the rock 'n' roll technique.  Add some ribbon and you're done!

I put this card together for my mother's card tin as she said she was running out of cards...  A stamper in the family is alway handy!  I made a number of other cards for her and gave them all to her for her birthday.  I'm thinking she'll love handing this one on to someone :-)

It's all about blossoms!

Card: whisper white, crumb cake
Ink: midnight muse, gumball green, primrose petals, raspberry ripple, summer starfruit
Stamp set: betsy's blossoms
Accessories: rhinestone, dimensionals

I've been enjoying other people's projects lately, and I've CAS'd this one... I can't remember who did this originally, but I loved it too much not to do my own!  This card highlights the new 2012 in-colours beautifully and I love the design.  I've used a new stamp set here, too, which I'm falling in love with!

I have used four squares of whisper white and stamped these with the different in-colour colours with the gorgeous large blossom.  Then, I have stamped a smaller, coordinating flower from the same stamp set with summer starfruit and fussing-cut this out before adding it to the middle of the project with dimensionals.  I couldn't leave the card without something inside, so I stamped the large blossom in midnight muse to finish this off. Simple but effective.  There are lots of layers, but this makes it pop.  Loving it!

Happy Birthday Mum!

Card: lucky limeade, wisteria wonder, whisper white
Ink: lucky limeade, wisteria wonder
Stamp set: delicate doilies
Accessories: old olive button, wisteria wonder baker's twine, ornament punch, tombow

I know it's been ages since I've added anything here...more on that in a mo.

I had made this amazing wisteria wonder flower awhile back, and since my mother was having a birthday (and she loves purple!), I decided to use it on her birthday card.  She loved it! A very quick and easy project for me to complete...

For the flower, I punched out lots of petals with the ornament punch and crumpled them to split the card-stock.  It was just a matter of building up the flower from the base with the petals, using tombow, and moving the petals around to fill it out. The button and baker's twine added some interest.  Lots of fun!  The stamping was a matter of using two of the delicate doily stamps in two different colours on the whisper white.  Loving this colour combo, and the big flower!

Well, that said, I've been laying low while I've been on more chemo treatment...  It's gone well, and is only for 5 days of the month (at the end of the month, I would have gone through this regime 3 times).  But chemo isn't fun - it leaves me tired, nauseas, with a metalic taste in my mouth, and feeling a little achy. But, the good thing is, it doesn't last long, and the med's I can take for the side-effects are fantastic!  I've started back at work for a few hours on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's, which has been great.  I'm enjoying getting back into some structure and routines, and thinking about some different things.  Not much else to report, except to say that my hair has finally stopped falling out, and has started to grow back - yay!  I'm grabbing those positive things with two hands right now!

Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers...they've been so appreciated!

Just add winter!

Card: island indigo, pool party, whisper white
Ink: island indigo, pool party
Stamp set(s): lovely as a tree, silhouette sentiments
Accessories: brayer, dazzling diamonds, island indigo ruffled ribbon, linen thread, jewelry tag punch

I missed the challenge at JAI a few weeks ago, but I thought I would share this project anyway.  This was my take on adding winter to a project, because it's been soooo cold lately...

I used my brayer to add some colour to the whisper white panel, then I stamped the trees, but I stamped the image twice without re-inking the stamp, and I moved the image a little to create a shadow look. Loving how it created depth to the image!  Then, I just had to add some dazzling diamonds as snow to the whole panel - you may not be able to see this very well on the photo, but it looks amazing in real life (trust me!).  The ribbon and wee tag finish it off, along with an inside panel to add a message.

Surgery Day

Card: crumb cake, confetti white, pool party, soft suede, calypso corral, more mustard
DSP: SAB Everyday Enchantment DSP
Ink: soft suede, more mustard
Stamp set(s): creative elements, sweet shoppe lower alphabet
Ribbon: pool party ruffled ribbon, SAB calypso coral everyday enchantment organdy ribbon
Accessories: chipboard, alpha die, petal cone die, big shot, scallop circle punch, circle punches, sponge, clear buttons

A few weeks ago, I decided to have a go at the current JAI scrapbook challenge.  The challenge was to just add hidden journalling or memorabilia.  I thought this was the perfect opportunity to scrap some pics by brother took while I was in hospital recently.

The journalling reads: On the 23rd May, 2012, I had emergency surgery to remove a brain tumour.  The surgery went well but I was dizzy & unsteady on my feet for a few days...  My brother & his partner came through before the surgery & he just had to take these shots a few hours after surgery, when I came out of recovery...  It's special to have this record of where I have been & what I have experienced.  I'm amazed at what I have come through!

I was chuffed with how this layout evolved as it took ages to work out...!  I love the SAB DSP, and I added some soft suede sponging around all of the elements to add some depth and texture.  The hidden tag was a challenge as I usually add journalling that you can see on my layouts.  For this layout, though, it lent itself to hidden journalling because of the personal nature of what was happening.  I love how you can process stuff like this through scrapbooking!  I found it was very therapeutic to put this layout together - I have more pics of my hospital stay to scrap, but I wanted to do these first...