Hello stamping peeps,

How are you all? Going stir crazy with Christmas craziness, or lapping up the festive season? I have to confess, i haven’t got there yet….it is has been hard to get into the season with so much else going on here. My parents hope to fly over for Christmas and New years, and to help with the house building so that should be very special for all of us.

School holiday update, the kids are still loving the points system and it has already been two weeks since they began! I am now starting to the think the 8 weeks of holidays is going to fly by!

Okay so back to the topic! Today is Friday, and that also means it is Inkspirations Challenge day!

Today is a BIG day for the Inkspirations Challenges for a few reasons…..

1. It is challenge #100!

2. We are doing a Christmas themed Challenge, to launch ourselves into the festive season!

3. This is the very last Inkspirations Challenge…

Okay to explain each three points for you..

Point 1: - Challenge #100! woo hoo. Originally when i started the challenges we did them as colour #1, then sketch #1, inspiration challenge #1…..so we really have done more than 100 over the time that we started, more closer to 170 challenges, over the time, firstly on my own site, and then for the past year on the Inkspirations Challenge website on blogger! It sure has been a fabulous ride, and it really couldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for all you wonderful stampers joining in each week! Some of you only once, others more and others 50+! Always feels great to reach to a milestone and perfect timing for the end of the year!

Point 2: - Christmas Themed Challenge….

Okay so this weeks challenge is Christmas themed….. We would like to see all those items you have been making for the Season this year! There is no limit to your links, so that means you can show it all! Your family’s Christmas card, your 3D items, your ornaments, or Christmas favors….we would love to see them! So get to the Inkspirations Challenges Website to link up your creations and be inspired as well!!!

Point 3: - Last Inkspriations Challenge

Hope you haven’t dropped of your chair when you read that one! YIKES, now that could be funny! Well you probably have noticed my lack of posts on the Blog-o over this past year, and sadly a lot of my posts have only been because of the challenges…..you are probably now wondering if you will ever hear from me ever again?! LOL! Nope that is not the case, but i do want to explain. I have been running challenges of various types for 4 years and 7 months! Yes that sure is a long time. It has been a blast, but i am a little tired, and a little uninspired. So I have thought for a little while, that when you are uninspired you need to mix things up a little bit.

As you know we as a family have had the HUGEST year! We started the year with moving house, surviving a catergory 5 cyclone, hubby starting a new job, in-laws living with us for a month, doing business paperwork again and again….. Hubby starting a new job, more visitors from the West, having a new baby, a surprise visit to Perth, selling the pool business and training the new owners, start building a new house, another trip to Perth as Bridesmaid for my dear friend Monnie moo… All of us travelling to the US for my brothers wedding… more house building, year 6 graduation, school play, more building of the house….and on and on. I feel dizzy just thinking about all that this past year has brought! No wonder it feels like it has just flown by! So with all of that, and my lack of inspiration due to fatigue, or not having enough time to even think about it, my heart has called me to know that it is time to close the challenges. I am not viewing it as a bad thing, rather an end to something that has been a very exciting part of my life. I feel great peace about this decision and I hope you do too! Seriously there is also no lack of challenge websites out there, so one less really won’t hurt! LOL!

So at this time i would like to say a very BIG THANK YOU, to all of you that have played the challenges on and off over the past 4+ years…. it sure has been a blast, and without you it wouldn’t have been possible from the start.

Also another very BIG THANK YOU to my fabulous DT, for all their amazing inspiration and weeks and weeks of wonderful creations to make you drool, or be inspired to pull out the cardstock and get creating! It has been a wonderful addition to the challenges for the past 2 years!

So at this point i should share with you my own Christmas creation! I made some teacher gifts for the kids to give their School teachers at the end of the year. They are called Holiday Baking jars…. so fun and really easy to do too!

I made 7 of these jars, and decorated them with ribbon and hand made tags that have the recipe instructions on them….

A close up of the tags…..

A side view of the yummy layered ingredients…..

According to the kids, the teachers loved them! They really are quite simple and just something fun for them to do.

The DT have some other FABULOUS creations to share over on the Inkspirations Challenges Website, so be sure to pop on over and see what they have made and to link up your very own Christmas creations.

So there you have it peeps, a BIG post, with BIG news! I will be back again shortly with lots more to share, a new look too, and some fun things planned for the new year. Wishing you all a very special and safe festive season, and God’s Blessings in the new year!

Hey there people,

Welcome to my blog and the very first stop on the Inkspirations Blog Tour! This is Inkspirations very first Blog tour and so we are so excited about this event. We have a cracker line up, so you will want to be sure you pop on past each stop and give some comment love

As a papercrafter, we love the fact that you are not limited to just cards and scrapbooking, No we love that you can also make all sorts of 3D items, gifts etc…. SO, I think you will be inspired for your own Christmas gifts this year by seeing all the fab creations along the Tour.

So what did I make? Well this year for the end of school Teachers gifts, I whipped up these yummy mugs of goodies…..

I bought a jumbo mug:

I made a huge batch of home made Rocky road:

I loaded the Rocky road into the mugs and decorated them:

Here are the tags I made to go on them:

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! The teachers loved them, and I have to say I think they turned out rather cute

Okay so now on the Tour you need to pop on over to Renee’s Blog HERE and see her delightful creation!

Enjoy the Tour people!

Hey everyone,

Sorry to be late with this post! i am in total la-de-dah land and was thinking to myself I had to get this post up this afternoon, and whilst we were just driving now from Saskatoon to Winnipeg it dawned on me that it has already been Friday in Australia……DOH! So I am sorry for the delay. I am really lucky as we just pulled up into a petrol station and there was a sign that said free Wi-Fi, and so I had to whip out the lappie to do this post! LOL! So enjoy peeps, even if it is late! LOL!

I hope you have all have a fabulous weekend! Time sure is flying by fast on this holiday! This week we have a Colour challenge for you….nice and pretty too!

Here is your colour to work with:

I have made a fun 3-D item for this colour challenge…..a cute and super easy gift box! I hope you likes.

Here is a piccie of my sample:

The front view…

Side view…..

Open box view…..

Here is our fabulous Guest Designer for this week, the lovely Chantal Randall from my home town of Perth!…..

And here is my video on how to make this cute little gift box…..enjoy!

Here is the inspiration from the Design Team! Be sure to give them some comment LOVE too!

Teneale ~ is having a break this week

Cindy

Kirsty

Renee

Chantelle

Sarah-Jane

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 InLinkz below.

You have until the Thursday the 8th July midnight to get your entries linked.

Kirsty Brown will be announcing the winner and honourable mention on Friday the 9th July in the afternoon.

Hey there,

I hope you are well and enjoying your weekend! I have a wee little post for you today, showing you two little gift boxes I made a few weeks back. They are so super easy and fun to whip up, and I filled mine with Fererro Rocher chocolates to give away.

The template is from PTI, and I have used the Melon mambo and Rich razzleberry cardstock from SU along with some of their matching DSP and ribbons. I used the slot punch to create that slit for the ribbon to tie through

Easy peasy lemon squeezy…

Have a goodie!

Hey Peeps,

I am sorry to have been so quiet on the blog front the past week or so. I have been so very busy with all the last minute preparations for our big trip, and playing hostess again that time has just run away from me. I have actually been doing lots of blog posts and prep for whilst we are away so that you can all stay inspired whilst I am travelling too!

I have my parents here and it has been so wonderful to see them again. We have done bits and pieces and of course the touristing things. It has also been so nice to just spend time at home with them, as I beaver around packing, and what not….

So the big day is almost here…..I can hardly believe that in less that 24 hours the 6 of us will be boarding that big jumbo jet and heading off to Canada! It certainly is going to be a trip of a lifetime. Rod is excited, the kids are excited and i confess to feeling all sorts of apprehension! I am excited yet, having the responsibility of packing for everyone etc…. and making sure the house, bills, and what not are all organised before hand is a rather huge job. I am there tho, and have just a few final things to do, and I can relax, and take in all the excitement in the air.

Some things I have done in preparation is to create these cute Bag tags for each of our luggage. I have colour coded them, and stamped images that suited each of us. Hopefully it will be easy to spot our luggage on those carousels now…..hehe

Here they are piled up….

here are the gals tags…..mine included: (can you tell who’s is who?)

And the guys tags……

As I was packing all the gear today, I had a little chuckle to myself, seeing this mound of Tim Tam packets that I have bought to take with us as gifts for friends…..20 packs in total and a sum of 4kgs in the baggage! LOL! Kate’s Dad loves Tim Tams and so I promised to bring some for him and also for some others too!

Here is the stash of that chocolate goodness…….

Well I look forward to keeping in touch with you all, even if it is on the other side of the world! I hope to pop in now and then and share some fun news of what we have been up to, as well as some snapshots of our trip. If you are a prayer warrior, please keep us in your prayers too, that all will go well and we can return home again safe and sound!

Love to you all and Happy Stamping!

Adios Amigos!

ETA: I have set up a Twitter account and hope to tweet what we are up to along the way. I have a conversation box on my blog here, or you can follow along on my Twitter page HERE:…….tweet, tweet!