A lovely quite weekend.

Had John come home Friday night, I don't know what it is, whether we
were down with something or just buggered because it's been a long
year, but all we wanted to do all weekend was sleep. Poor old Jay set
a movie up for us to watch ( the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean) and John
and I proceeded to sleep through the whole movie, I left the couch for the
bed and slept for over 3 hrs. John headed back this morning still feeling
buggered and I went for another 4 hrs sleep this arv. Must of needed it
as I never can sleep through the day anymore. Needless to say haven't
done any stamping. But I did take some photos yesterday morning of
some of what I've been up to lately. Have a photo of the blog candy that
I gave Mel and Jean, haven't heard whether Jean has received hers yet,
so not game to post it!
Talking of Blog Candy, my post hit over 1000 on Friday, which is unbelievable!
I watched it go over 300 hits in a matter of 2hrs thanks to all of the lovely
Splitcoast ladies having a look at my new uploads.
I think when it hits 1500 we'll have to have some new blog candy, so keep an
eye out.
Here is some of the goodie bags I gave the girls who came to my workshop on Wednesdaynight. They loved them! I wanted to show them that you are not limited to just cards with your stamps. Also made a thank you one with the scribble this set to thank Jess for being a hostess.But I think I need to tatoo take a photo to my forhead, as I keep forgetting to take photo's of things before I give them away!

Not a great close up shot but gives you the general idea. On the snowman one I used my Giga Marvey Scallop punch and then around the snowman I used the 2 largest SU circle punches. The wording I typed on the computer and each bag had a little poem on the back of each one. Quick, effective and I love them!

Fruit and Nut Muffins

I have to laugh. Ever since I posted
the Fruit and Nut Muffins Layer box
everyone is looking for the recipe.
The reason I laugh is I have never
made them. But they are out of
the Australian Womans Weekly
Scones, Muffins and teatime treats
cookbook, and anything I make out
of the Woman's Weekly cookbooks
always seems to be a winner! The only reason I used this recipe is
because the friend I was making it for had to have a fruit theme. I had
the muffin tin in mind and the layer box, so this is what I came up with!
Any recipe that has an array of dry ingredients can be used for this box,
eg, cookie,biscuit recipes (Anzacs are good, I add nuts to my Anzacs)
Cakes are also good, you could do a fruit cake, chocolate cake, you are
only limited by your imagination. If you do a cake mixture, put it with a
cake tin, or if you do it with a cookie mixture, add a baking tray and cookie
cutters. You often see this layer mix done with jars. Remember when you
add it to a layer pack you don't have to put the dry ingredients down as they
already have them.
Here is the recipe:

2 cups Self Raising Flour
1 teaspoon of ground mixed spice
1 cup chopped dried fruit medley (I put pkt mix fruit in mine)
1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts
125g butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk

Sift flour and spice into large bowl. Add the fruit medley and mixed nuts, stir
until combined. Make well in the centre of the mixture.
Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until the sugar is
dissolved, remove from heat. Combine eggs and milk in a small bowl.
Add the butter and egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Using a metal
spoon or fork, stir until all the ingredients are just combined. Do not over beat, the batter should look lumpy. Spoon mixture into prepared tin. Bake 20 mins
or until golden. Loosen muffins with a flat-bladed knife, then turn onto wire rack to cool. Great served with butter!

Now I'm going to have
to make them! LOL

Please bare with me...........

I am having difficulty posting this morning. Have lost all of my
info from the side to the bottom, so I am trying to work out which
post is doing it, so having to do most of them again.
Sending me off my head, makes something that should only
take 1/2 hr a 4hr project!

Christmas Presents.

Don't forget everyone, the summer mini is almost finished. If you
want anything ordered give me a call. Also the Christmas Thyme
Paper and the All In The Family deal is almost over.

Have you thought of a Gift Voucher for Christmas. What a great
idea for a mother, daughter, daughter in-law and friend. If
anyone would like a gift voucher as a present give me a call and
I will do a personalised one up just for you. The voucher will
be presented in a beutiful handmade christmas card. These can be
ordered by direct deposit, cheque or cash.
Maybe you would like to order one for yourself for Christmas! LOL.
If you are like me this may be the only way you get a present.

Happily Ever After.

I love the set SU Happily Ever After. Actually I love all
SU Stamp Sets. But I love the simplicity of this set.
I made this card sometime ago for my cousins wedding.
I stamped thebride on some silky, shiny, glitter paper
first and then cuther dress and veil out. I then restamped
her on pink card andcut her face and flowers out. I coloured
her and put dimensionalon the flower. I placed her on a Marvey
Cutout and Cuttlebug Swirly background paper. I love the way
this card turned out, but found it very hard to photo.
Oh yeah! Down the bottom of thedress I put some flower
beads on the bottom.

Here is a side on
of the beads.
Not great I know
but gives the
general idea.

At Karen's a couple of weeks ago Nerrin showed us how to
make these little gift bags using an A3 piece of paper.
When it's complete the bag has 2 pockets. I made up these
little thank you cards using the SU Looks Like Spring
Stamp Set and holepunch. The thanks stamp was an All
Night Media stamp. The Card was SU Very Vanilla and
Basic Brown and the ink was SU ChocolateChip. 4 cards
total, 2 each side. I made a similar set but used an
orangy DCW A3 paper and pumpkin pie SU card as a door
prize for my workshop night. Silly me forgot to take
a photo before gave it away!

Katherine School of the Air asked me if I could
do an on air Card Making lesson with the year 5/6 kids.
Karen lent me her Happy Christmas mate set and her Merry
Christmas roller and I stamped and cut enough images for
30 cards. We have sentthe kits out to all the kids with
the instructions to colour imagesonly. Then next Friday
I have to do an on air lesson with all of the kids on how
to put them together! Should be interesting. They were
after a basic quick card, and I thought of this set straight
away, as quite a simple set, but the biggest bonus was it was
very Australian! Hopefully the kids will enjoy it.

What has John been up to?

Well these photos are a couple of weeks old, but I finally
got them off the camera for John.

We got a couple of big dams in before the wet.
Not that they've had much out there yet)This is
the men getting a new trough and tank set up. The tank
gets filled using a solar pump. The pump works
using the sun's energy. I'm not quite sure what this photo was on there.I think John was taking a photo of the working attire of one of the men.
(We give up!) Maybe it's a photo of his pedicure! Not sure. Here is a photo of Lancen our "Assistant Manager"and one
of his boys, Junior.Talk about a chip off the old block!
John took this when he was backburning one night at the
end of October.

More,more,more!

I wanted to have a go with my bugs and kisses set.
I love the look of this set,but feel a bit daunted
with this set as well as the Fishy Friendsset, so
I cased a couple of cards to get me started.I think
sometimes that's all you need to do and then the once
you've used them and got a better feel for them the
ideas start rolling. LOL Hopefully.
My apologies to the original designers, I remembered the
cards in my head, but not who did them. If I see them again
I will edit their names in. This card was made using SU Fishy
Friends, Hero Arts Circles and PSX Little words.

Latest Cards.

Crayon Resist

I can not get enough of this technique! I love it, love it, love it!

Karen Robinson (again! isn't she a sweety)

showed me how to make them a couple of weeks ago. Since then I

had to have a go with some of my own stamps and just love the

effect it gives. Here is the ones I made at Karens using her SU Petal

Prints set. (and her card, and her ink, LOL thanks Karen).

This is the set I made at home, I loved it so much I had to try it again straightaway.These were made using SU Floral Fest and of course the Scribble This Set, and talking of the Scribble this, here is some I made for Xmas using this technique. These really reflect the light and they should be cropped,but if I took the time to do that you wouldnever get to see them.This is again using my favourite set,SU Scribble This.The card and ink used was Stazon, Cranberry Crisp andGreen Galore. I think they turned out great but I would liketo try them using a darker green. At the moment limited towhat colours I have. Quite a few on my wish list!

Getting Close!

Well Christmas is getting closer by the minute, we were heading
across to Karumba, but now the house is "due" then we decided
we would be pushing it. I was looking forward to seeing everyone,
but not the 2 days drive to get there and then the 2 days drive to
get back. We decided in between shifting for the few days over
Christmas we would take the boys up to Darwin and take the
boat and explore. It will be strange not having to cook on
Christmas Day. (nice).
Jay really has only next week left to complete his schoolwork,
so that's what we have busily been doing, and next week will
be a mad rush to get it all finished off. The week after that
is swim week, were all the kids from off the stations and
everywhere else that do school of the air come in to Katherine.
In the mornings they do swimming and in the arv's they do
arranged activities like roller skating, a movie, practise their
play for presentation night etc. Jay is getting so excited that
he'll be able to catch up with all of his friends.
I have photo's of my latest cards and some from what
we made at my first cardmaking workshop. So keep
checking back and I'll load them as I get time.

New Cards.

I have been finding it hard to get on here lately as with schoolwork and work have been flat. Added to that my computer keeps dropping out. The having trouble getting to re-start it. Finally came on this morning so thought I better jump on and try and upload a few cards I've made lately.

This is a card I cased off another blog, I apologise I can't remember who's, but if I find it again I'll come back and put it in. This is one of those surprise "pop/pull up" cards, I just had to try it. I did the outside with my cuttlebug and the images with the SU froggy friends set. I ummed and aahed over this set, but decided to get it with my demo set instead of the Loads of Love, and am really glad I did. Further down I will show some more I made with it, but find below what happens when you pull the tag:-
I love it, only thing was the pop up was only done on really thin card. Next time I will know to do it on thick stuff. Here is another using this set.
I don't mind this one but was a bit heavy handed with the ink around the edge of the circle. Will have to sponge instead of swiping!
Here is another card using the festive favourites set. The paper was scraps from the xmas paper we have on special at the moment. Details earlier in my blog. We still have a couple of weeks for this paper, but after that it will no longer be available. I love it and it makes card making so much easier. I think I will have to grab a couple more packets before it finishes to keep in my stash. Back to the card, the images were coloured using stamping up pastels then I used some liquid applique for the snow, which doesn't show really well in this photo. The ribbon makes it, but only had this little bit, so will have to get more to whip up some more cards, for christmas. Christmas is coming so quick. I think it is only 39 more days!

Jays teacher Megan has a thing going for christmas, where each year they have to set a theme, than only spend up to the value of only $15 on a gift in that theme. This year it was fruit, so she asked me if I had any ideas! This is what I came up with.
Not a great photo, but it gives the general idea.
The box contains the dry makings for fruit and nut muffins, all you have to do is add margarine and eggs. Behind it is a mini muffin tin, then a xmas teatowel and a wooden spoon. The recipe is on a hanging xmas tree card. The image on it is from SU It's Snow Time and you can't see it very well but the red and green card has been stamped with a flourish from the Scribble this set. Here is a couple of close ups.



Hope this gives a better idea! I loved it and wouldn't say I'd be dissapointed getting one. Megan loved it. I made another one for her using fruit flavoured teas, but with no stamping, am yet to take a photo. I think I better save this and get it on before I lose the lot!

Some photo's

Fianlly as promised here is a copy of the cards we made at Karen's workshop a week or so ago. I had such a great night and it has made me so hooked on cardmaking again.

I had to order the tree set after this night as I really fell in love with it while making this card. It gives such a fresh and crisp image, and the uses for it are endless! I am so hooked, I want them all, but have to put them on my wish list, and slowly work my way through it. LOL

Might be good Karen's going as everytime I see her cards or have some time stamping with her I want another set. Just joking Karen, wish I had of met you 9 months ago.

On this night we made the angel card using Thick Utee and then cracking it. I had used this medium years ago making tiles, but hadn't touched it for years. So after the other night the ideas were rolling around in my head as to what stamps I had and how I could use it. I used my Snow time set for one and at the moment it would have to be my favourite card.

The card is a trifold card. it was made on leather look card that I had but is the same colour as the SU Buckaroo Blue. The picture was backed with chocolate and marigold morning.

Here is a close up of the utee square.

The tag was done with the SU punch and a split pin put in the corners. I have a lot more ideas with using the utee, now I need to find the time.

The next card I stamped a single image of the reindeer, snowman and xmas tree then used the SU cirlce punch. I then coloured them and uteed and cracked them. I then made the cards up using the SU Christmas Tyhme paper that's on special at the moment. The Seasons Greetings was embossed in gold embossing powder, but went black, I think my gold is too old, I haven't used it for almost 2 years. This happened with my last lot as well. Only the gold for some reason! Anyway here's the card.

Doesn't show the utee very well.

Here is a close up of the circles.

I know, I know!

I'm in trouble. Everyone has been ringing and whinging that they keep checking my blog and I haven't posted anything for a week. Sorry everyone I have been so busy!
We as usual have been flat out trying to get school work done, but I have also been getting a bit of cooking done and CARD MAKING! I have been trying to stay away from the computer for a couple of days as was finding myself becoming addicted and everything else not getting done. Anyway I got an email from Karen re. her cards that we made at her workshop the other night, and she said I am welcome to show them, so look back tommorrow and they will be on there. I held my own workshop this week and we made mini albums, the girls had a great night and are keen to have another night this week as they are all trying to get things together for xmas. I'll post a copy of the album as well tommorrow. As I said I have been flat out making cards, and pretty pleased with how some of them turned out, I will post them as well tommorrow. (busy girl tommorrow). Am supposed to be going to Karens tommorrow afternoon for a stamp-get-together, her last before she leaves. I'm pretty excited, but heard on the grape vine she may have chicken pox, so will have to give her a call in the morning.
Been a bit of rain about. We had an inch or more last weekend here, and John had an inch on Tuesday at Hodgson, dried up a bit for the rest of the week, but tried really hard to rain here on Wednesday. Here is a photo I took of it coming down the road!

Then it went right around us. We got a light sprinkle out of it, but that was about it.

My little boy has been so clever this week. For English they are doing Myths and Legends. They have to pick a character and then do certain assignments around that character. One of them is doing a mask, which he has done and I'll take a picture (tommorrow LOL)! The other thing was do a board game. Jay picked King Neptune and for his board game, he did a memory game. Lucky for him his mother has Stampin' Up Fishy Friends, and these were perfect! He stamped them, coloured them, glued them to cardboard, stamped some blue paper with bubbles than glued that on the back. Next Fay at the school covered them in contact for him (payment was a plate of my patty cakes), he then cut them all out. We covered an old teabag box with blue paper, and put pictures etc. on the front. Have a look it's brilliant! Needless to say we had to play a few games before we dropped it at the school for marking.

Great isn't it. the Poseidon (King Neptune) image I printed off the internet. Anyway have had a busy day today. Will explain and upload photos in the morning ofwhat I did, so tune in tommorrow afternoon for an update............I promise! LOL

Winners of the blog candy.

That's right winners! Since Jean and Mel are the only ones to give it a go then I think both of them should win a bit of candy. Good on you guys for having a go. I'll drop Mel's around in the next couple of days and Jean if you want to email me your address I'll get your's off in the mail. Hope you enjoy.

Last night I went around to Karen Robinsons for a Xmas card night. Karen showed us how to make 3 different cards. I had such a great night meeting a group of very talented ladies and learning things I hadn't learnt before. Thanks again for the invite Karen, it will be sad to see you leave Katherine. Karen's site is well worth a look and I'll post her link off to the side for anyone who wants a look. I'll check with Karen to see if it's all right first, then upload the cards we made for everyone to have a look at. Thanks for a great night!

Woohoo!

We have our first cards for the cowboy/western blog candy. Jean and Mel have both entered fantastic cards, actually saw Mels in the flesh today and the photo doesn't do it justice. Please go to the links to their sites on the right and have a look at their cards. You rock girls!

November Specials

Just in Thyme
The Stampin' Up November Promotion consists of the most beautiful Christmas double sided paper!! It is just in time to use for all those Christmas cards and projects. Check out the Promotional flier at the link on the side of my blog under specials to see the patterns and colours!

These packs of paper are usually $16.95 but are on special from the 1st November to the 15th December for $14.95. They are a limited edition so will not be available ever again after that date.

All in the Family
Dave Abbott Family Fund

1 November - 30 November
Help us honour our Australian General Manager, Dave Abbott. Dave passed away from a rare blood disease, and during November we're donating 100 percent of the sales worldwidefrom the All in the Family stamp set to the Dave Abbott Family Fund.

Campaign Details:
Special release of the All in the Family stamp set where 100 percent of the proceeds go to the Dave Abbott Family Fund.
Click on the link to the right under November specials to have a look at the set.
The All in the Family stamp set will appear in the Idea Book & Catalogue 2008-2009 (which will be released in April), but has been pre-released to raise money for the Dave Abbott family. The set will not be available again after 30 November until 1 April.

Don't miss out on these great products, place your orders with me before time runs out.