Hey there everyone,

A bit late today….no make that very late today! But better late than never right?

Just when you have your list of things to do, and planning, prepping and the like for the Stamp-a-thon, time gets away with you. I had hoped to put this post up right on time, but something cut into that time ( I will share later about that…. ) and then I needed to be at the hall to set everything up for the Stamp-a-thon tomorrow! Talk about busy, busy, busy.

But I can happily say that it has all come together well. The 800+ project packs are all done, the tables set, the lunches organized, and hmmmmm better not tell you too much more! *wink*

So onto the fun Inkspiration challenge for this week! We are having fun with a Sketch this week, and I think it is a fun one!

I am sure you will agree that having Nancy Riley join us as a Guest Designer for this month has been FANTABULOUS! I know I was blown away by all of her creations this past month! A very BIG thank you Nancy for your wonderful creative projects each week, we have so enjoyed having you on the team, and of course hope you had fun too!

Here is your new sketch:

Here is my Sketch sample:

This card is created with a brand new stamp set and DSP for Australia that is being released tomorrow in the brand new Spring Mini catalog!!! I love it, and enjoyed having a play with it.

Now be sure to check out the Design Teams creations, because they will be nothing short of amazing!

Cindy

Karen

Kirsty

Amy

Renee

Nancy - Guest designer

Want to play along? - here are some guidelines.

If you would like to play along, all you need to do is follow the directions:

1. Make your creation following the challenge ie, sketch, colour, or inspiration image.

2. Load your creation up onto your blog or a public viewing forum like Splitcoast Stampers, with a direct link back to the post on this website, so that others viewing the post will know where the challenge has come from, and it is courtesy to do so.

3. Then come back to this post so that you can add your name and link in the Mr. Linky!

You have until the Thursday the 6th August midnight to get your entries linked.

I will be annoucing the winner and honourable mention on Friday the 7th August.

I will attempt Mr Linky AGAIN, but if he still decides to stay on vacation, please just add your links in the comments section!

I haven’t managed to view all the this weeks creations because of commitments to the Stamp-a-thon, but as soon as I do, I will announce the winner and honourable mention!

I can’t wait to share with you all news of the Stamp-a-thon, and lets hope it is such a fabulous day, raising funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation!!!

Have a great weekend!

 Hi again,

Well here goes this post for the second time. I had nicely written up this post earlier this afternoon, only to have it disappear when I pressed publish! No matter what I did I couldn’t find it again, and my web was shut down……totally weird, but anyway I still want to share it with you all.

Yesterday we celebrated my brother Bryn’s birthday. Kate and Bryn put a dinner together, which was scrumtious….(always nice not to have to cook!) and it was a lovely get together with friends and family.

I made him a card to go with the pressie we got him…. he was a bit intrigued with the jumbo eyelets….. Men and their nuts and bolts hey! ( just like women with shoes, and handbags…LOL!)

It was so great to pull out this Seaside stamp set! I haven’t used it for some time, and well it was a nice change to work with an aquapainter rather than Copics for a change!

This card I have used Baja blue for the base which I have stamped with the Sanded background stamp with Chocolate chip ink. I added a strip of Chocolate DSP from the Ski slope paper pack (new) which has an extra strip of caramel cardstock paper pierced and distressed.

I have then stamped the large shell from the Seaside stamp set with Stazon ink onto watercolour paper, and watercoloured it with my aquapainter and stamp pads (creamy caramel, close to cocoa, chocolate chip & sahara sand. I then added some distressing and the slip of ribbon. Last of all I added the greeting which is from the Inspired by Nature stamp set.

Bryn left today to head back out to work on a barge out in the Ocean leaving Kate here. I have the fun job of keeping her amused and well I am so looking forward to all the girly things we can do together…..beauty salon here we come!

I had really hoped to get the Make it Monday photographed and edited for you today, but got caught up with all sorts of things for the Stamp-a-thon, so just ran out of time. So this week I am going to give it a miss, and work on things for Saturday instead…… ~ sorry!

have a great night!

Happy Saturday everyone…..well that is what I hope you are all having

Today has been a different day……one that i had planned to get SO much done, but only ended up with very little, and I will explain why in a minute.

First off though I have put together that scrap page from my Take a pic Tuesday. Again working with Convention photos. Convention just feels sooooooo long ago now! I am missing my inter-state friends dearly, and am starting to look forward to Stampin’Up’s Incentive trip in 3.5 weeks time when I can see some of them again!

So here is the page I made:

For this page I have worked with the colours from the clothes I was wearing. I have used Basic black for the base, and created a large circle with Whisper white and Real red cardstock. I stamped the red with the big Damask stamp from the Friends 24/7 stamp set from Stampin’Up. I added three small strips of DSP horizontally under my photo, and then added the large flower, which of course resembles the one that I was wearing on my jacket. I topped it with a very large button tied of with some silver cord. The date I have written onto some punched out Curly label punch mounted onto some red as well. Not too shabby for a 10 minute job very late this afternoon, but I feel I could have definitely done better with this photo. But that was all time allowed today

After lunch today I was feeling really light headed, and needed to have a quick lie down. I planned on that being about 30 minutes. I did pick up my book after a little while, and well, what do you know, I didn’t put it down for another few hours till it was finished! It was that good, and I really wanted to tell you about it, because it really touched me!

Now I haven’t really done a book review on my website before, but i just have to share with you this book that I finished today. I do a lot of reading, and have really started getting into Biographies. There is so much to learn from other peoples experiences, and to gleam off them etc…. This book did that exact thing for me today.

Last week when I was in Brisbane, I didn’t go shopping at all, except to Borders book store. A good book store is something I find very hard to resist…. Just like the SU catalog! Anyway I stumbled across this book which was about a lady that grew up in my home town!

The book is called Breaking the Spell and here is a picture of the front cover:

I was mesmerised from the front cover to the back! The author has you spellbound, shocked, anguished, and joyful and sad, through the pages you read. I love a book that evokes emotions out of its readers, and well I have to say that I cried like a baby towards the end of the book * blush*

It is a story of an West Australian woman who was never taught to express her emotions. She had a hard child hood, and early marriage, and was very unhappy. Her visit to a psychologist lead her down the path to study and envelop the Rajneeshee religion in the late seventies, and early eighties. It takes you on her adventure and move to India to live and serve the Indian guru Bhagwan. Over the years in his service, she became brain washed to the point of separating from her husband, severely neglecting her children and being prepared to even murder for her leader.

Through many many hardships, and being in a state of total confusion, the author finally breaks free of the cult, only to have many problems follow her. What continues is a prison sentence, and a fight for freedom. During this time she has to come face to face with her actions, admitting her neglect of her children,her betrayal of her guru, as well as many other challenges.

Jane’s book shares so openly and honestly the anguish, and strength it takes to face your mistakes, and deal with them head on. What I really gleamed from this book is that no matter what the you problems you face, you can’t bury them. Many do with so many things, like alcohol, food, addictions, pride, and striving for success. Ultimately we will never be free from hardships etc, but it is our response to them that weaves the way for more hardship, or for relief. I so admire this author for her unbelievable honesty, and her book has really taught me not to hide from things that are difficult, but to face them head on. I too of course believe that I will be given the strength from God to do so, no matter how difficult. My favourite Scripture of all is  Phillipians 4:13 ” I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” and when I feel disheartened and am struggling, I try to reflect on these word from Scripture.

Whilst I am not aiming for this post to be a means to shove religion at you, it is really an opportunity to share with you something I learned today. I was so encouraged by this book, although sad as it was, it really showed to me that we only have one life, and I want to make sure I live it correctly and not with so many regrets. So if you love a good read, I can not recommend this book enough, and if you do happen to read it, I would love  to hear your thoughts as well!

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the weekend, and I will see you on Monday for the Make it Monday I have planned!

Have a goodie!

ETA: This book is apparently out of print in the US, or you can track it down at certain places for a whopping $80! If you would like me to get you a copy and ship it to you, I am more than happy to, just email me directly and i will happily arrange it for you

 
Hey again!

Today Louise, Charmaine and i began the massive job of cutting the 800+ projects packs we will need for next weeks Stamp-a-thon! It was so great to get started, although a little overwhelming! We did manage to get a big dent into the task at hand, and hopefully the rest will go just as smoothly.

Now I am sure you are looking forward to the next challenge. I had great fun with this week Inspiration piece. I ended up with something completely different in mind, but had fun all the same!

Here is the Challenge Inspiration piece for you:

My inspired creation:

Here I have used Basic grey, Taken with teal, So saffron, and Basic black for the cardstock colours along with some Whisper white. I have used the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set and Basic phrases. I added some Basic grey taffeta ribbon, Corduroy brads (new) and the paper piercing for embellishment.

Now be sure to check out the Design Teams creations, because they will be nothing short of amazing!

Cindy

Karen

Kirsty

Amy

Renee

Nancy - Guest designer

Want to play along? - here are some guidelines.

If you would like to play along, all you need to do is follow the directions:

1. Make your creation following the challenge ie, sketch, colour, or inspiration image.

2. Load your creation up onto your blog or a public viewing forum like Splitcoast Stampers, with a direct link back to the post on this website, so that others viewing the post will know where the challenge has come from, and it is courtesy to do so.

3. Then come back to this post so that you can add your name and link in the Mr. Linky!

You have until the Thursday the 30th July midnight to get your entries linked.

I will be annoucing the winner and honourable mention on Friday the 31st July.

I will attempt Mr Linky AGAIN, but if he still decides to stay on vacation, please just add your links in the comments section! Have a great weekend!

 Hi ya,

Well it is a fabulous experience to see, all those beautiful colour challenge entries! Once again you have all done amazingly well!

This week, i have picked the amazing creation from Tracey Old! I love the layered stamp Tracey has used and her choice of embellishments…. just beautiful Tracy!

Then this weeks Honourable mention goes to Kelly Sawtell. I love how Kelly has used the tearing along the top with the greeting and then all the different stems coming up from the ribbon….just lovely!

Thanks again to everyone who got to play along! I really appreciate it, and I hope you had a fun as well. Stay a little while and see all the other creations on this Slideshow!