Time Flies... and blog awards

Well here I am, finally back to chat to you after a whole month away from my blog - terrible blogging, my apologies. I have been flat out making things I can't share with you - gifts for my secret sister, I can't show you those until we have the "big reveal"later this month and swaps for Stampin' Up! convention in Sydney in a couple of weeks. However, it seems you love me still even when I neglect you for so long... In my inbox this week I have been delighted to receive not one but TWO blog awards - how excitement! But before I talk about those, I should probably show you the one thing I have made lately that is NOT a secret.

This is a photo of my little guy when he was about 18 months. We had some pics taken by a professional photographer who was looking for images for greeting cards. I loved this one, and it has only taken me 10 years to scrap it! The layout is a pagemaps sketch a wonderful source of inspiration, and the whole thing came together really quickly at the girls scrap night I try to get to each month (thanks for the inspiration lovely ladies!) I had trouble getting a good pic of it but hopefully you get the idea.


In this layout I have used a combination of the Urban Oasis, Sweet Slumber and Washington Apple Designer Series Papers, I also used the Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel and the Life Definitions stamp set. It's a really simple layout but I am thrilled with how it came together - as I say, the photo does not really do it justice. But I hope you like it.

Now onto the blog awards. The first one I received was a Beautiful Blog award


from my upline Mae Collins - thanks Mae. In accepting this award I need to nominate 10 other beautiful blogs and tell you ten things about myself. OK so here are 10 of my fave blogs to stalk for inspiration:

Tanya Kitto - Stamp n' Chat
Marelle Taylor
Nicole Derendorf - Stamping Down Under
Kirrily Matthews - KM Designs
Gardenia Pepworth - A Little Less Useless
Stamping with Steph
Rainbows by Robin
Bronwyn Eastley - addINKtive designs
Creating Cards with Andrea
Lynda Moss - StampINKins

Phew! That list took a while to compile. Now 10 things about myself hmmm

1. I am married to a chef I met whilst travelling in the UK
2. I have one brother.
3. I have one son.
4. My fave things to do include having lunch with my girlfriends, craft time with girlfriends and having lunch and/or crafting with my mum!
5. I LOVE elephants!
6. My husband thinks my elephant collection may eventually overrun the house and leave us nowhere to sit/sleep/etc (lol!)
7. The best thing about joining Stampin' Up! for me has been the wonderful people I have met both face to face and on line.
8. I am going to my first Stampin' Up! convention in 2 weeks!
9. I spent several months of my 20's backpacking overland from Kathmandu to London.
   
10. I have a pet dog called Snoopy.

Now the other award I received was from the lovely Leah click on her name to check out her gorgeous blog.

I need to nominate some recipients for this blog too - and link to their blogs so here we go:

Andrea Lowcock - EnchantInk
Stampin with Sonia
Susan Hogan - Time to Play
Ann Wills - Crafty Squirrel

Leonie Schroder - Stamp A Latte

Thanks to all of those listed above for the wonderful inspiration they share on their blogs. When my mojo a- go-gos, these are the places I head to so my creative ideas start to flow again!

Hopefully it won't be so long between posts this time - but I'm not promising!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Claire

A new obsession!

Hi all! I am here today to share a guilty secret with you - I have a new crafting obsession! No, don't panic, I have not abandoned my Stampin' Up! - I have just discovered a new way to use the supplies I already own. You gotta love that!

My new obsession began out of a Splitcoast Stampers Technique Lovers Challenge, which involved creating buttons out of cardstock and Designer Series Papers. If you would like to know how this is done, visit this thread here It is a fab way to use up your scraps of cardstock and DSP. As a result I have been feverishly punching, layering and Crystal Effecting (I know that's not a real word!!) every spare moment. I now have a great stash of gorgeous buttons - all different shapes and sizes to use on cards and scrapbook pages. For me this is the real beauty of this technique - you can ALWAYS have a button that matches your page!

Here are a couple of cards I have made with my new buttons.

First a Christmas Card

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Kraft, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Real Red, Old Olive, Ski Slope DSP (retired)

Inks: Old Olive

Stamps: Warm Words

Technique: Faux Buttons

Accessories: Heat and Stick Powder, Green Supernova Glitter. Red Cord (from my stash, for tying on buttons)

All stamped images are copyright Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated

The second card, is a birthday card, again using a star shaped button, the rockets were coloured using an AquaPainter and markers.

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Bashful Blue Pumpkin Pie, Watercolour Paper, Washington Apple DSP

Inks: Stazon Black

Stamps: Pun Fun

Technique: Faux Buttons, Watercolouring

Accessories: White Gel Pen, Earth Elements Brads

All stamped images are copyright Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated

I hope you like my Faux Button cards - why not give them a try yourself, they are so easy and great fun to use on your projects. If you do, leave me a comment with a link to your card - I would love to see what you have created! If not leave a comment anyway - it's always fab to know who has stopped by.

Cheers

Claire