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'Men in Our Lives' Blog Hop

Hello

Welcome again to the Art with Heart team monthly Blog Hop - thank you for visiting my piece of cyberspace! The Art with Heart team led by Claire Daly, is a group of more than 90 Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from across Australia. If you would like to be part of this supportive group of talented paper crafters email me for more details.

You may have come from the blog of the lovely Kathryn Ruddick, but if not, you can join the Blog Hop from here by clicking on the link to the next blog at the bottom of this post. We hope you can take the time to visit each blog and check out the inspirational projects.  If you leave some 'comment love' on each blog and then email Nikki at  [email protected], you will be in the running to win some beautiful Blog Candy. You have until 6am EST on 9 August 2010 to leave your comments. Only those who are not Stampin' Up! demonstrators are eligible to win the Blog Candy.

This month our theme is the 'Men in our Lives'. It may sound strange, but I struggled with this one for a bit until I realised that I have much to be thankful for in the lovely man who is my Mum's husband. My Dad passed away when I was in my late twenties.  Mum reconnected with a childhood friend a few years later and they have been happily married for nearly 20 years. 

None of this is particularly unusual, except that in the past 18 months Mum has been having a lot of medical issues that started with a hospital acquired staph infection after a knee replacement operation. John has been an absolute rock throughout the entire time and has taken over all the household chores including the cooking, shopping, laundry and so on as she is confined to a wheelchair at the moment. This is in addition to ferrying her to and from the never ending list of medical appointments, many of which require a 5 hour round trip from their home in the country to Perth.

Given I am so far away, I truly appreciate having a wonderfully kind and compassionate man taking such great care of her  - thank you John from the bottom of my heart. This is the card I made for John to express my gratitude.

Uncharted-Gratitude

I have white embossed the lighthouse image from the 'Uncharted Territory'stamp set three times - onto the Baja Breeze background, as well as Kraft and Confetti White. The lighthouse and cliffs were cut out and paper pieced over the image on the background. The same process was used for the sailing boat. I have finished it off with some jumbo pewter brads and the sentiment from the 'Life Definitions' stamp set. I'm pleased with the way it turned out and the image is symbolic of John's role in Mum's life. The full details are below.

Card Details

Stamps

Uncharted Territory (Retired), Life Definitions

Cardstock & Papers

Basic Gray, Kraft, Baja Breeze, Confetti White

Ink

Ancient Page 'Coal Black', Baja Breeze

Accessories

Jumbo Pewter brads

Tools

White embossing powder, Heat Gun, Cropadile, Sponge Daubers

Thanks for stopping by and make sure you visit the next stop on the Blog Hop - my lovely and talented friend, Chistine Blain who is also having a birthday today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Christine!

Have a great weekend.


Helping Hudson Sketch Challenge

Hi there

I've finally had time to try out Challenge 1 over at the Helping Hudson website. If you haven't visited yet, there are fabulous tutorials for you to purchase and challenges to try with the proceeds to assist with the fundraising for a Kid Walker for Hudson. It is a great cause and will help a little boy achieve a better quality of life. Here is the sketch:

Sketch_1

When I first saw this sketch, I thought it would be a snap but they don't call them challenges for nothing! Anyway, I have finally achieved something that I'm relatively happy with using one of the retiring stamp sets - 'Embrace Life'. I really like this set, but I haven't actually used this particular stamp until now. This is what I came up with:

HH_Challenge_1 

The flowers were stamped in Basic Gray as this is a permanent ink and water coloured with the aqua painter and matted on Basic Gray. The rest of the details are below.

Card Details

Stamps

Embrace Life, Whimsical Words (Retired)

Cardstock & Papers

Rich Razzleberry, Basic Gray, Whisper White

Ink

Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink

Accessories

Basic Gray Taffeta ribbon

Tools

Scallop Oval Punch, Oval Punch, Watercolour Crayons, Aqua Painter, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Sponge Dauber

Don't forget - it is the Art with Heart team monthly Blog Hop tomorrow. The theme this month is 'Men in our Lives' and as it will be Father's Day soon I'm sure you will be inspired by the team's creations.

Until then,


Top Note Christmas

Hello

Just popping in with a couple of cards that I made on our stamping weekend.  This is such a great idea and suitable for lots of different occasions using different DSP. I can picture a lovely baby card or even combining stamped cardstock and DSP. What am I talking about - the faux quilted Top Note of course! My lovely friend Christine showed us how to do this and it is super easy. 

The cards I have use the Holiday Treasures DSP for a Christmas flavour. I have chosen Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red for the base cardstock for two different looks. I like the contemporary look that Baja Breeze gives to the traditional Christmas colours. Firstly, the Riding Hood Red version-

Top_Note_Christmas

and my favourite, the Baja Breeze version.

 Top_Note_Holiday_Treasures_

This is definitely one that would be suitable for reproducing a few of in relatively short time - unless like me you agonise over which square should go next to which ! Here are the details:

Card Details

Stamps

Snow Swirled, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Polka Dot Background

Cardstock & Papers

Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Holiday Treasures DSP

Ink

Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red

Accessories

1" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon , Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon, 5/8” Old Olive Grosgrain ribbon

Tools

Lots of Tags Die, Top Note Die, Big Shot, Sponge Daubers, White embossing powder, Heat gun, SNAIL adhesive,  Dimensionals

I hope you have had the opportunity to pop over to the Helping Hudson website to partake of the challenges or purchase some fab tutorials. I'm pleased to have been able to contribute to and support this great cause to raise funds for a Kid Walker for Hudson.  It's my day off, so I hope to enter a challenge or two myself.

Have a good day.
    
 


Last Chance List Banner_2 

Stock up on your favourite products before they are gone FOREVER!  SOME products are also discounted - this is indicated on the list. You can order from today, up to and including 31 August 2010, while stocks last. Get in early to avoid disappointment. 

I'll be keeping the list updated so that you can see what stock has been sold out.

Items marked with a * WILL be available in the new 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalogue, but in a different configuration. For punches, this means the new flat, locking style (woohoo!) and for cardstock, in different colour and style (smooth and textured) combinations.

Contact me if you would like to place an order.

Download Last Chance List (670K)- Updated 4/8/2010