Alarnee Creations by Sharnee Torrents

That Vintage... My favourtie!

2012-02-14T12:27:00.004+11:00

In light of the "love" that's in the air I thought I'd share one of the things that I LOVE!!!

When it comes to accessorizing MYSELF with wonderful embellishments I can't go past....
That Vintage

Oh how I love the different patterns and pieces, the sweet little birds and deer,
oh and the gorgeous velvety rabbit on a brooch! LOVE, so LOVE!!!!!
Well my very lovely friend Sophie, from That Vintage is having her Birthday TODAY! YAY!! She is turning 4 and celebrating with some pretty SUPER DUPER specials!!!

Want to know more?? Pop on over HERE and see what goodies there are in store!!
You won't be disappointed.... perhaps a little EXTRA Valentine's gift for YOU!!!
Thanks Sophie for all my wonderful "embellishments" that i get to put on every day!!!
Happy Birthday That Vintage!!

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T12:22:00.004+11:00

Just wanted to pop in and say Happy LOVE DAY!!!
Such a wonderful day, hopefully for you all
as you share love with that special someone!!!

More Pages to Share

2012-01-25T09:49:00.003+11:00

Here is another sample of the stunning Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper that is ONLY available with the Sale-a-bration PROMO running at the moment!! For every $100 you spend you can choose a gorgeous product FOR FREE!! CLICK HERE to view!
The photo's were really soft and a little fuzzy so the Pool Party (blue) and the Pear Pizazz (green) work well! I stamped the vine image from Vintage Vogue for the background and made the balloons with the one from Party This Way, it's the reverse side of the DSP shown! I LOVE double sided paper, soooo much to play with!

Sale-a-bration starts TODAY!

2012-01-24T08:45:00.003+11:00

It's here, it's here!!!! The wonderful and very gorgeous Sale-a-bration FLyer!!! (click HERE to view!!) Oh you really need to see it this year ladies, it's AMAZING!!!!!! For those of you who LOVE vintage you'll be over the moon... for those of you who like punches, you'll love the co-ordinating set with the new Stamp punch... for those of you who LOVE a bargain then you can't go past this fabulous PROMO!
It's for EVERYONE!!!!!
Have you thought of Joining????? From now until the end of MArch you can join for a very special price of $249 and with that you choose a FREE stamp set from the main Idea Book and Catty FOR FREE!!!! (yes there are LOTS of FREE things to get your hands on!!!!)

Contact me today if you'd like to know any more about this grand time of the Stampin' UP! Calander!

Just Add Scrapbooking Challenge #1

2012-01-23T12:16:00.003+11:00

Can you believe how wonderful it is that the super talented ladies over at Just Add Ink have created a Scrapping Challenge!! Hip Hip Hooray! I'm soooo excited! I'd already thought this year I'd like to do more, little did I know that would mean I'd make 46 pages in the first month!! (these were only 8x8" however!!)
So the theme is First or ONE. The project I've been busy working on was a special memory book for Hannah (my first daughter's) 10th birthday (which was yesterday). It captures her 10 years of life and when I first saw the challenge at JAI at the beginning of the month, I was sure I wanted to join in!!!
I have 2 pages:
1) Hannah's first birthday and her first time of eating anything sweet, her birthday cake!!!!
2) This is one of my favourite pic's of Hannah with her face painted for the first time, she was sooo happy!

I've used the amazing and MUST HAVE new Sale-a-bration DSP Everyday Enchantment. I LOVE this colour combo!!! How do they do it??? Such clever people out there!!!

NOTE: Sale-a-bration starts TOMORROW 24th Jan - 31st March

NOTE: I used "First" in the journalling.

This JOY page used a new tech I've not done before, I just used glossy white card stock and dropped drips of River rock, Pretty in Pink and Regal rose ink (from the refills.) Then I spritzed them out a little to make them look more splattered!! Left in the sun to dry and there you have it! I really like this look and will be sure to show my Paper Dolls stamp club this year!

Thanks for popping in, hope you like my pages!

Hello and Happy New Year!

2012-01-23T08:54:00.006+11:00

Hello my friends HELLO,

Hello my friends hello,
Hello my friends, hello my friends, hello my friends
HELLO!!!
(song from playschool, please hum tune while reading!! he he!)

Can you believe it's the NEW YEAR! WOW and exactly a month since I was last here! SOOOO much has happened in that month!! What exactly you may ask??
Well other than the obvious, Christmas, catching up with family and friends and enjoying this amazing summer we are ACTUALLY having here in Tassie I've been SCRAPPING!!!!
Oh yes, how I love to scrap!!! Really, i've missed it soooo! The coming alive of a photo, the thinking of the pages, the adding of the emblessishments, it's pure BLISS!! LOVE IT!!! :)

Everyday Enchantment DSP from Sale-a-bration
starts 24th Jan (tomorrow)

I made a calander for our very special friends whom stayed with us in Jan and I've also made a memory book for my now 10year old daughter Hannah who's birthday was yesterday! I decided why should she wait till she's 18 to get a cool album, I can make one for every decade of her life! So in only a week and 2 days I managed to create 46 pages!!!!! Even I'm shocked that I managed that!!! EVERY (and I do mean EVERY) last free moment I had I was in the office busy!! (you can imagine how "not tidy" my house is right now!! It's on the list of things to do today including posting a Hello here!)
So for the next little while I'll be popping in showing you my pages.... perhaps not all of them but certainly my favourites and some new things along the way too!!!
Do you know that Sale-a-bration starts TOMORROW!!!!! Oh yes that wonderful time of the year in Stampin' UP! land when for every $100 you spend you receive a FREE something! Not just stamp sets this year lovelies but paper and brads and ribbon!!!! It's sooooo amazing this year!!! I can't WAIT to get my hands on all the products!!! YAY!
Well I'll be back with my first show and tell for Just Add Ink's NEW scrap-page challenge!
Enjoy the day my lovely friends, see you soon!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T15:34:00.004+11:00

I just wanted to pop in before Christmas is upon us to say a very BIG and incredibly happy...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

May this year bring with it the most wonderful memories, fantastic food, amazing company, special gifts and of course a real sense of the meaning of Christmas....

Our Lord and Saviour's Birthday-
It's the most precious gift of all!!!

I hope and pray that the New Year 2012 is full to overflowing with love, happiness, great health and wisdom for years to come! I also hope there is plenty of time FOR YOU and doing the things you love!!!
I'll be back in Jan some time to check on you and begin to share a new year of crafty goodness!
Thanks to all of you who have left comment love and even those who like to pop in and see what I'm up to! I appreciate soOoOo much the warmth and love, friendship and inspiration I receive from those of you in the blogging world!
A HUGE HUG to you all!!!!!! Take care and be safe, with many more hugs and kisses...

12 days of Christmas (inspiration) day 12

2011-12-21T15:25:00.005+11:00

For the last of my 12 Days of Christmas I'm again showing some ornaments, well actually they are great tags too, so with it being only 4 sleeps till Christmas I thought a multipurpose project was a super idea to share! This way when you put them together you can hang some on the tree and add some to your beautifully wrapped presents under the TREE! YAY!

I used my newest Big Shot die, the Perfect Pennants, then in the middle is the triple punch Doily flower, stamped with an image from the Delicate doilies set. I of course AGAIN added some shimmer paint, Champagne is my FAV, the new and very beautiful Cherry Cobbler Twine (from in the Summer Mini) and a Pearl!! I love these soo much that I HAVE to make some more for me! These one's pictures where actually a gift for my fabulous team the Perfectly Rustics girls!!
I hope that you've been inspired from this years 12 days of Christmas, I'll pop in again just before the big day!!

12 days of Christmas (inspiration) day 11

2011-12-20T15:27:00.004+11:00

Hello all my lovely friends! Well this is my second last post in my Christmas inspiration and I've been thinking what would be best to show you all.......
So I've decided to go with some more ornaments, in fact these one's I made for my Stamp Club as their thank you gift for their support throughout the year!

I stamped the Tree from Forever Young set and then punched out a bird, after wards I added some glitter and coated front and back with Crystal Effects. Punch a hole with the Crop-a-dile and thread some ribbon!! It's soooo easy and this one was even made without a Christmas stamp!! (though I did add a greeting on the reverse side!)
That's it for my today, we're catching up with dear friend tonight for a Christmas BBQ so best be off and prep!

12 days of Christmas (inspiration) day 10

2011-12-19T15:47:00.013+11:00

As promised I'm here today to show you how to make the paper Christmas trees shown in the IBC on page 17!! I knew when I saw them that they HAD to be made, so with the help of my brother actually while he was over from WA he nutted out the best way to make the cone and the rest was quite simple!!
For my cones here I've cut a 8"x8" and then with the 4" length I've rolled the cone and then cut the excess off. If you just tuck in the end, pointing down in the middle then wrap the cardstock around itself until you're happy with the shape. I try and get as small a hole as possible at the top too so it's easier to cover. Using SU's sticky strip adhere down end, then cut base till it's even.

Next you need to cut your DSP strips. For my larger tree I've done 12"x2" strips and then as you work up to the top you can use 6"x2" so there's not as much overlap. For the smaller tree I just used shorter lengths cut at 1 1/2" wide.

From here you need to add sticky strip on the backs of all lengths (i actually did mine after rolling them as you'll notice in the pictures but it's best to do first so your curls don't get squashed!!

I had a little helper in the office!! She gives the biggest CHEESES when she sees the camera!

Roll the DSP ends to make them curly!! I used a pen! Try and do it as firm and hard as possible, this will give you a very lovely curl! (thanks for the tip here Loretta!)

Start sticking the DSP to your cone. Start at the bottom with the curl hanging over the edges, so when it's completed they will sit up and your cone will be covered (no peeking colour underneath!)
Keep on going... and going .... and going..... each time I start I make sure the curl is overlapping the edge of my last piece.... Does this make sense???

Once close to the top carefully wrap around until happy and squeeze in together!!

Lastly I sprayed my trees the silver Smooch spray! It looks really cool and adds the sparkle it needs!

I gave these to my sister who LOVES things simple, I showed this at my last stamp club for the year and we added all the tinsel and topped it off with the star!! Do what you like with the finished product!!!

I'd love to see what you do, please send me a link if you give it a try!!! See you tomorrow,
only 2 days left of show and tell!!!!

12 days of Christmas (inspiration) day 8 & 9

2011-12-18T08:18:00.004+11:00

I didn't even turn my computer on yesterday!! WOW that's a huge thing for me, I was soooo busy gardening and spending time with my FAMILY ALL DAY that the office was not a place I visited!
So my apologises for combining 2 days of Christmas together!! I'm sure you understand!
I have some more of my FAVOURTIE cards that I've designed this year and also a sneak peak at what I'll show you tomorrow!!
Here is the first on my TOP FAV cards I've been happily writing on this last week

And now the red theme continues with some more Real red and textured background....

What's your favourite one here??? Red is such a classic Christmas colour don't you think!?!

Lastly here is my sneak peak for tomorrow.....

I'll be most excitedly (is this a real word?? hmmmm) showing you step by step through this little Christmas Tree!!! I feel in love with it in the Idea Book and Catalogue and it was a MUST to try and make, so I'll show you HOW!!!
Until then have the most wonderful day, eve, afternoon, morning

12 days of Christmas (inspiration) day 7

2011-12-16T07:26:00.004+11:00

One of my favourite Stamp-a-stack cards this year would have to be these....

I think it's the colour of the rich red with the Early Espresso, perhaps because I've used one of my favourite ribbons, or that there are some pearls which I think always add that special touch! Either way, I'm loving that I have at least 10 of them and that they're all written in waiting to be given to my lovely friends!

Have you got all your Christmas cards made? Do you have them all written in?? (my little finger is STILL hurting from writing over 40 on Wednesday! he he)
Have the most wonderful Friday,

12 days of Christmas (inspiration) day 6

2011-12-15T07:03:00.004+11:00

For the last few years I've wanted to hold a Christmas party! What a wonderful opportunity to get together with close friends and celebrate the season! In saying that it all comes soooo quickly that before I know it it's TOO late to send out invites and so it sadly gets passed by! When thinking about this last year we decided to do a New Years Eve party, this turned out SUPER FUN and everyone had a fabulous time. This year however I really wanted to get on the job early and so it was soon top of my "to do" list and it went ahead! YAY!

If you're thinking of having a party, whether it be for a few or for many it's not too late to organize one.... perhaps a New Years one is the way to go or even one in the New Year, early Jan! It can often seem too hard but the rewards of hanging out with those you love (chosen to love) are great and you certainly wont regret it!!!

Stampin' UP! have some really wonderful invitation sets and with some glitter for the season and an image you have them done.... EASY! (of course I'm big on texture and adding more ink, ribbon too but they can be involved or as easy as you like!!) I had lots of fun designing these and was really happy with the end result! Oh if you'd like to stamp the envelope the Winter Post stamp set is FANTASTIC for this with it's post mark stamp and vintage style!!
I hope that you are getting some great ideas for this Christmas time, I'm sure enjoying sharing them with you!!

12 days of Christmas (inspiration) day 5

2011-12-14T19:55:00.006+11:00

One of the most fabulously FUN things that I have made this Christmas would have to be the Bingo Game set! Oh what a great time it's been, colouring all the images and working out were to put them on each board (you have to place them in different spots so that it's fair when winning time comes!) and then playing the game!!

My Grandad when he lived here would LOVE to play a game of Bingo with me and the children, so this game has fond memories of precious moments past. The Jolly Bingo Bits goes PERFECTLY with the Bingo card Background stamp so it's a snap (as they say in the US) to make! I went with the colours from the NEW DSP Letter's to Santa and then punched out the disc's in the paper too!
It was fun watching the children play, I would call out the image (from the larger disc's) and they would place there coloured disc on the correct spot. The first one to get a ROW shouts BINGO and that's who WINS!!

Zeke made a pattern with his disc's,
I love that he went with Red and Green!
When I played I used all the colour disc's to make
everything co-ordinate,
it was very interesting to see how
everyone chose different themes.

Of course that's not enough for my treasures, they have to see who wins first in covering the WHOLE BOARD! One of my friends calls this WIPE OUT! It was such a blast and I've since then made at least 7 Bingo packs for friends!

What a super duper fun and cool gift for you to make! LOVE IT!!! Just LOVE IT!!!

12 days of Christmas (inspiration) day 4

2011-12-13T22:59:00.002+11:00

Just a quick one today! (soon as there is only 1hour left of TODAY! he he)
This gorgeous card was given to me on Saturday by BEC! How awesome are those silver ornaments!! How did she do it I hear you ask?? Just glue Foil to card-stock and run it through your big shot embossing folder, punch out the desired shape and..... there you have it!! :) Oh and how cool is that scoring line at the bottom! Who thinks of that!?? It's such a great touch!!!
Thank you Bec for a lovely card!! See you tomorrow for more Christmas ideas!!

12 days of Christmas (inspiration) day 3

2011-12-12T16:56:00.006+11:00

I recently held a Christmas card Stamp-a-stack and had the most wonderful time making these cute little cards! They were SUPER easy and the little images were soooo fun to play with and make up different combo's!! I got my inspiration from the lovely Danielle Daws HERE. Every year I buy in a new Christmas set and this year I chose Jolly Bingo Bits! The children and I have had a blast making Bingo games too! (will see that in a post soon!)

Gorgeous Belinda getting her Jolly images right!

The very lovely Heather stamping away!

Bec (my talented down-line) and others!!

So here are the cards we made!!

12 days of Christmas (inspiration) day 2

2011-12-11T13:58:00.003+11:00

Hopefully by now you've got your tree up and your home is looking festive! I've had lots of fun making different decorations this year, one of them being with the wonderful Fabric that Stampin' Up! sell!! I recently ordered the Deck the Halls pack and got my big shot to work cutting out various sized circles in the 3 patterns of fabric. From there I simply layered them, put on a packing piece (for when they sometimes spin around on the tree) and added a button or a brad! I glued on the backing piece with crystal effects... SO LOVE THAT STUFF!!
It was then to my ribbon draw to choose some favourites and they were all done! EASY!! Perhaps you could give them a try, I'd love to hear if you do!
Happy making

12 days of Christmas (inspiration)

2011-12-10T18:09:00.003+11:00

HELLO!!!! I'm sooo excited!!! Guess why?!?!? I'm here and WILL be HERE for the next 12 days showing you some wonderful ideas and cards leading up to Christmas Day! From now until the 22nd Dec you can find some inspiration and share in this special Christmas time with ME! I have LOADS of cool things to show you (one of the reason's I've been soOOOo busy lately) and will kick it off by encouraging you to make a display! Perhaps it will have your favourite Christmas decorations, maybe your cards!! Whatever it is, make a little spot somewhere in your home and let the Christmas goodness SHINE!

The wonderful Month of December

2011-12-05T20:11:00.006+11:00

It's that time of the year again....
December! Can you believe it?? Are you anything like me and are still in shock at the concept that we are actually at the end of the year! It's really quite scary when you consider how quickly the weeks and therefore months are rolling by.... certainly makes you realize that it's more important than ever to make EVERY day count!!
I do sooo love this time of the year... one of my favourite things is the decorations!!! I love adding my little touches to our home and thinking up gifts and making cards, it makes me happy!
It was my little baby girls 2nd birthday on Saturday, we had a lovely brunch with family, did nothing much in the day and then watched a movie and had pizza for tea. That's another thing that I'm in shock over... that my "baby" is now 2!!!!!
Recently I demonstrated some "little" people cards in my stamp club. One for a girl and one for a boy! I have seen around the blogging world FLIP cards and wanted to give them a go! I found the idea from the wonderful Kim HERE and from there I can't really say but to whomever started this great design I say a HUGE thank YOU!! These cards are great!!!
Here is my girlie take, I think the Pig is soooo cute!!!

And now for my boy one! Again the snail is perfect for this theme and is also in the Button Buddies stamp set! LOVE how it co-ordinates with the SU buttons, makes for such quick and easy cards!
What do you like to do for little children when making cards?? Bright colours? Things that POP?
I'd love to hear your ideas??
Hope to call in more soon, it's been a crazy world out there lately (in my crafting room anyhow) and I've been doing LOADS!!!! Be sure to visit again and I'll have some show and tell!

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #95

2011-11-13T15:36:00.006+11:00

Oh YAY! Can you believe it!?? I'm in a little bit of shock myself, 3 cards in one weekend and then posted in a matter of days! Love it when I'm not working, not doing my housework, not gardening (due to rain) not needing to entertain children (cause they have friends over) and lastly can do what I love as my super man is at the V8 Supercars and I'm in the office STAMPING!!! Bliss I tell you... BLISS!!!!
I needed one more card going into this week and that is for a sweet little girl who is also turning 3! How the years are flying......
I again turned to a challenge and this time it was from the fabbo ladies at Inkspirations!! Love their site and their challenges! YAY I got to play along!

I used the same colour base as the Dino card (mostly cause they were ALL OVER my desk, he he) but went with the girlie colours in the Just Add Cake DSP! I love this pack of paper! Blushing Bride is the main colour with hints of Peach Parfait! Oh how wonderful it is that it suits all little children!! It's AWESOME!!!
Some sparkle was a must and my fav ribbon, ponies are a super choice for a girl and there you have it! I've had the best time, I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my cards, I know it's been awhile! SORRY!!! Life, it can be busy hey!!! Have the most splendid rest of your week!

My little "boy" friend

2011-11-13T15:23:00.007+11:00

One of the most talented ladies out there in the crafting world would have to be that of the lovely
Bronwyn Eastley - Addinktive Designs. She amazes me time after time and she goes in a lot of cool challenges! As I needed a starting point for my dear little "boy" friend who's turning 3 very soon, I went to her blog and looked at the list of sites she visits! I found this.... Stamping 411. They regularly have challenges and this week it was a great sketch that I decided was the goer for my card!

Dear Colin, Kim and baby Owen stamped (fed and slept) at my place last Saturday night and they brought with them the most cutest set of Dinosaurs that I HAD TO INK UP! So with my little Triceratops inked it was just a matter of colour coordinating him with the DSP Just Add Cake and adding some fun embellishments! I love how happy he is!! SO CUTE!! I also thought it was cool that it's for a 3 year old and the Triceratops, well... has 3 horns! Love it when a card comes together (in more ways than one!!)
I hope you like my take on the challenge, hopefully I can play along with them another day!

Just Add Ink 93 - A colour combo

2011-11-13T15:14:00.005+11:00

I do always enjoy being able to play with challenges, especially those over at Just Add Ink! Perhaps cause I know a lot of them and they really are the most wonderful bunch of ladies and talented to boot!!!
So with some cards needed for this week I decided to join in the fun! How gorgeous is this colour combo? I love the freshness of it and then the bright hit with the pink! So funky!

In typical Sharnee style I went with a bit of a vintage theme, dollies after all are one of those favourite things from days gone by and the person I have in mind for this card LOVES blue. I wanted to do as much blue as possible, just a little green, lots of clean crisp white and then lastly a splash of pink from some retired buttons!
I hope you like my take on this weeks JAI challenge, do be sure to see the other AMAZING creations, they really are super!

Kaizahn

2011-11-09T21:00:00.003+11:00

My beautiful cat Kaizahn was very sadly put down on Friday after 13 wonderful years of life! I wanted to take a moment to show you how gorgeous she was! If you'd like to know and see more pic's of this wonderful pet hop on over to my family blog- The Torrents Times.

Thinking of YOU!

2011-11-03T21:10:00.003+11:00

Every Monday my children for their writing, write a letter to one of their pen pals. Then we usually ride up to the shop and post them! I love getting letters, well especially cards in the mail and so I take up the opportunity to write out some cards too. This week I wanted to send a little something to my lovely Friend Anna whom we stayed with when on holiday.
It is a mix of old and current Stampin Up products with one of my favourite theme's the Bunting!
Enjoy!

Hello my friends

2011-10-31T20:19:00.001+11:00

I've been thinking of you all soooo much my dear friends and just wanted to pop in and say HI! I hope that this month of October has been wonderful and that you're looking forward to amazing things in November......
Hoping to be back soon to share all the wonderful things I've been up to lately!!!

Just Add Ink 88... Just add a Die cut

2011-10-12T20:50:00.009+11:00

HELLO!!! How are you fellow lovers of stamping?? I hope that your week is wonderful! I have had a busy week thus far but in saying that it is a good one!
I was super excited when I saw this challenge and had to make 2 male birthday cards for the weekend festivities!!! In saying that all my "die cuts" looked quite "girlie" and I was for a moment stumped at what I'd use. Then thanks to Bronwyn's amazing owl tag I thought I'd make a tag too and slide it in the wonderful pocket die! YAY!
My amazing hubbie had his birthday on Saturday and also a friend had one just Monday, I made both the cards different but using the same sorta style......
Here is Allan's

So LOVE Cajun craze!!

Tag slides out

Scallop edge cut from the envelope

Now for Andy's

Mustard is such a great colour for men!

Reverse side of tag... it was his 40th!

I cut the top of the scallop envelope and then added it to the tag for a border on the side, the rest was just using some retired DSP and having fun with spritzing and sponging and other rough ways to add texture to a card!
Do you have trouble making Male cards??? What do you like to add to yours?
Do make sure you check out the amazing creations over at JAI you'll be inspired FOR SURE!

Happy Birthday to YOU!

2011-10-03T16:28:00.005+11:00

Today is my wonderful son's birthday! He is turning 8!!! I still can't actually believe it, it just goes to show how much you need to enjoy EVERY day!!! He had a "LAN" which is a computer gaming party on Saturday and then family last night and tonight he'll be eating his favourite home-made chips and left over Jelly slice that Nanny made!!! YUMMO!!!
I always have fun with a theme and with a computer party it got me thinking about how I could make one for an invite......

I used Crystal effects to make the cool screen and then rounded off the edges to give the overall look to the computer! Then with some circles to look like keys with the info stamped on I was pretty happy with how it turned out!!!

Well I'm off to continue tea prep and play with the birthday boy!!!

Special Mail

2011-09-17T16:18:00.004+10:00

amazing card made by Christine

On Thursday in my little mail box I received a very special card from a wonderful, lovely Lady!! We've been blogging friends for awhile and then at convention early this year we met! It was soooo awesome to meet her face to face!

Christine and I at convention in May

I was soooo touched by her kind words and by the gorgeous card that she made for me!!! She's a super fabulous card maker and full to overflowing with amazing ideas and inspiration for us all! For this month Christine is also the Guest designer over at JUST ADD INK!
Thank you soooo much beautiful, talented Christine! (check out her very cool blog HERE!)
I love your warm thoughts and appreciate so much that you took the time to send me some special mail!
Huge hugs to you dear friend!

Paper Dolls Stamp Club

2011-09-16T15:36:00.007+10:00

Each and every month I get together with an amazing group of women for my Paper Dolls Stamp Club. Some of these ladies have been with me since the beginning (4years ago) and as each year passes and new faces join, I need to continually show new and exciting things!!
A few months ago (yes these pic's have been on file just waiting to be shown!! How the time fly's!! he he!) I demonstrated how to make paper beads, an owl brooch and a sweet little gift box to hold it all! I was given a STUNNING Owl brooch at Convention (CLICK HERE) and wanted to give it a try! The lovely colours of Woodland Park DSP (now retired) gave a different effect for each Owl and Necklace, it was really cool seeing them all come to life!

The box was a larger version of the one that Shellie herself showed at convention (here is my smaller one) and my dear friend Colin collected them all from his work so we all had one, and some to take home! Such a sweetie he is!!!!

One of my favourite parts about these special nights is the way I get to present their goodie bags, full of all the things they need on the night!
It was a super successful eve with many a "lovely" saying that their Christmas presents are now taken care of!! Why don't you give one a try, I know you'll love the result!!

Just Add Ink 84 Colour Challenge

2011-09-09T13:01:00.005+10:00

It seems that this last part of the week I've had time to myself!!! And when you have time to yourself the thing to do (other than housework, weeding and other BORING home duties) is go to your craft desk and make some creations!!! With the sun pouring in even now as I type, it's been soooo lovely to have had this time while the children play happily with sleep-overs, tea-parties and lego.
One of my favourite things to do is join in on the challenges that the BLOGGING world have out there. So I popped on over to the JUST ADD INK site to see their new challenge for this week!
White with ONE other colour...... wasn't seeming to be exactly what I WANTED TO DO..... I guess this is why they're called CHALLENGES!!!!

I got busy playing with some BLEACH which I haven't done in ages and remembered that pink was a good colour to get WHITE with.
My dear, wonderful friend KIM has let me borrow her new embossing frames (SO LOVE THESE) so with that, some embellishments and the NEW MY FRIEND stamp set this is the finished card.

I hope that this weekend brings with it, time for YOU to do what you love also!
Thanks for saying HI,

New CATTY= New ideas = Spring Stamp-a-stack!

2011-09-08T16:13:00.006+10:00

I love getting new catty's from Stampin' Up! It's always FULL to overflowing with amazing projects to copy and draw inspiration from! Ohhh how I LOVE IT!!!!
I'm holding a Spring, Saturday night, stamp-a-stack this sat and here is one of the cards my lovely ladies in attending will be making......

I've cased the idea from the front cover of the new catty but added my own touches! Tone on tone is a real trend at the moment and though I usually don't like white so much (always feel the need to cover it up!) I think this card is really lovely!
SO if you have nothing to do this Sat eve (10th Sept) there are still a few places left, so contact me today if you'd like to come along!

Embellish magazine Strips colour trends challenge

2011-09-07T21:41:00.005+10:00

Oh it's been awhile since I've played with the fabulous challenge over at EMBELLISH but I made time to join in with this inspiration

I needed a card for my son's best friend who's turning 8! When I thought of the strips it made me think of races and somehow from there a snail race came to mind! he he!!! So of course if he's turning 8, then the number 8 snail had to win and so here became the inspiration of my card!

What do you think??
Notice the winning snail with a smile? Cute, even if i do say so myself!
Thanks sooo much for popping by, do check out the other wonderful creations, the design team are super talented!

Happy Father's Day

2011-09-04T12:32:00.005+10:00

front of "Amazing card" for Allan
inspiration from Mary Fish, Stampin' Pretty

HAppy Father's Day to all you Dad's out there! I hope that your day is a wonderful one and that you're truly feeling all the love and gratitude those around you have for the great Dad things you do!!!!
We've had a lovely morning celebrating Allan, including a delish pancake and croissant breakie and now, this afternoon, he's even enjoying what we like to call a "Nana nap!"

inside the amazing card, click HERE to see the tut!

I made these special cards for Allan with the amazing new Forever Young set from the even more AMAZING new 2011/2012 Catty! YAY! YAY! YAY! WHat do you think?? What are you loving??? What do you HAVE to have!!??? So many wonderful products and goodies to behold!

Well that's it for me, time to get our yummy roast dinner ready!

Our Family holiday

2011-08-20T10:12:00.003+10:00

I'm just here to quickly tell all of you- my wonderful friends that if you'd like to know more about our family holiday please go over to our family blog THE TORRENTS TIMES. I've been posting small snippets of our trip there and would love for you to pop on over and say HI!
This is Terri and I, from Australia Zoo, wife to the famous Crocodile hunter Steve Irwin!!! We went to the zoo for Bindi's 13th Rock and Roll birthday party and I asked for a picture with this wonderful woman! It was the best day!!!!
Hope your Saturday is super duper and wonderful!

I made some time

2011-08-19T15:36:00.003+10:00

HELLO!!!! I'm sending huge hello's and hugs and smiles from NSW, Bateman's Bay to be exact as my family continue our 5 week holiday!
I must say it's been the best time and sadly it's nearly at it's end but I wanted to pop on in and remind you all that for the things that we love YOU HAVE TO MAKE TIME!!!

This is me doing some scrapping while we were on the Gold Coast. Allan soooo wonderfully took the treasures out for a ride so I could get busy scrapping some of our newest memories! It was super fun!
I'm really looking forward to doing some more once home with some amazing goodies from the New Idea Book and Catty (now only 12 more day's till release!!!!!!!!!)
I hope that you can make some time for that something you enjoy!!
Catch you again soon......

A little bit of Yumminess

2011-07-18T08:18:00.007+10:00

I'm here!!! HELLO!!!
Today I have another wonderful project that was shown at convention which was a fabulous cup-cake box! In saying that I didn't take down any of the dimensions so have since then looked on the net to find something similar, that's when I came across THIS. I made this little cutie for dear Sarai!

I love that you can add surprise messages inside too

This is a small box so just prefect for a "healthy" cupcake or a smaller recipe one!

There is only 13 more days to order from the Autumn/Winter mini (the cupcake punch and the greetings for this project are from it,) so do get your orders in before it's too late!!
I hope that your day is full of yumminess!!!

Straight from the wonderful Shelli

2011-07-04T20:07:00.005+10:00

One of the wonderful things that I came away with at convention (as there were HEAPS!!!) was this gorgeous little gift box idea from the very amazing, stunning Shelli!!! Yes she WOW'ed the audience with the left overs from the inside roll of the glue dots!!
Here is my take on it

Now for a look inside

It all keeps nicely closed with the brad and some thread wrapped around!! Soooo pretty and perfectly wonderful for that special something!

p.s I know it's been AGES so thanks for being patient!! I've had at least 7 w'shops in this last 14 days and with all the prep.... well it's not left any time to blog! Love ya all though and will try and be back with some more inspiration soon! :)

An amazing card from an Amazing lady!

2011-06-17T15:39:00.003+10:00

The other week I received that most amazing and wonderful and special mail in my little green box!!! It was THIS!!!!!! (click HERE to see it in all it's glory!)
My fabulous and extremely talented blogging/stamping friend Sarah Jane sent me this amazing card all the way from WA!!!
Ohhhh how I LOVE IT!!!!! LOVE IT!!!!! LOVE IT!!!!!!! And the words inside were soooo touching and meant sooo much to me, I'm soooo blessed and incredibly happy and thankful that this wonderful little hobbie of stamping has brought people like SJ in my life!
Love ya heaps SJ!!! Thanks again for such an amazingly, gorgeous, oozing with love creation!!!
Sending hugs to you across the sea's.....

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #121

2011-06-17T15:27:00.004+10:00

Here is the second card I've made this week (while the weather has been TERRIBLE and my precious children have happily made Totem poles and houses and robot's with the recycling!!!) It's for my Paper Doll stamp club ready for next week's get together! I'm showing the fabulous technique of Inlaid Embossing and I have to say it's the coolest WOW to add to a card!!
Here is the wonderful sketch from the talented Karen

And now for my take on it....

I love the layout of this, it was really fun to put together!! Do you think that Rich Razzelberry and Marina Mist go nicely together?? Love to see if you've tried this great tech! Maybe you can give it a try over this weekend!!
Have a fabbo one lovely friends,

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #73

2011-06-17T15:12:00.006+10:00

Hello lovely friends, how are you all?? I hope that you've been keeping warm (well at least if you live here in Tassie) in this last week, ooooo it's been rather on the chilly side!!! So with the holiday's and cold days I'm sure that equals some crafting time.... don't you?
I needed 2 cards for my stamp club next week and so jumped on my computer for a little sketch challenge. I want to show my lovely group of ladies the really "in" technique at the moment of Inlaid Embossing. Sarah Klass has some great samples HERE if you want to check them out!

I soooo love the idea of making a dress on the stand from the Sew Suite stamp set (thanks to the wonderful inspiration of SJ) and with the white button's (well at least circles) Real red and Concord crush (one of my lovely up-line's favourite colour combo when I first started 4 years ago) I think my Paper Doll ladies will LOVE IT!!
What do you think?? Here is a close up of this very cool tech. I love how it looks like the same pieces of card stock now!!! So clever :)

Thanks so much for popping in to say HI.

"How to" in making a Torn Paper Frame

2011-06-09T09:46:00.011+10:00

Well here it is!!! I have had a lot of you wonderful people asking me how to make my Torn Paper frame that I showed at the SU convention last month. SO without any more waiting... here it is!!!

Firstly you need to cut out a cirlce shape in the center of your card (you can punch one out but I find that it's too close to the edge and so doesn't leave much to make the frame, works well on a smaller piece of card though)

(note if you want to add a background as I have done here,
this needs to be stamped first before you start to tear, it will make it easier for later!!)

If you want to add another layer then cut another hole out and then place them on top of each other, adhering with some snail or glue.

Start tearing out the circles you've cut, it's best to be as rough as possible as that adds more effect! I tend to pull down and move the card around as I go

Keep tearing and pulling and scrunching to create the desired look.

Here is the finished frame

If you find that there's too much card hanging down for your frame then just tear some off the edges and this will fix it nicely!

Put some tape right on the edge of the frame at the back ready for your focal point piece

Add the rest of your embellishments and there you have it!!!!!

What do you think?????
I'd love for you to show me what you come up with!!! Please leave a comment with your link and I'll be sure to pop on over and say HI!!!! Have fun and enjoy this very easy, no need for anything extra, technique!!!!

Embellish magazine Text colour trends challenge

2011-06-09T09:30:00.007+10:00

I'm sooo excited that I've had so much to share with you my lovely followers over this week thanks to the craft time I had on the weekend! This is my last card that I made for the EMBELLISH challenge.
I have to say this one was a challenge, the colours and the text thingy really made my brain tick..... then I also knew that some of you wonderful people have been asking for me to show my Torn paper frame look! SO here is my card using the technique (check out this POST to see the "how to" in making it!!!!)

I saw these little words on a sheet of the Newsprint DSP and thought, YES that's my focal point! After all we are all Beautiful and need to be told so at times when it's hard to remember! I added lots of depth with some shimmer paint and spritzing and even sponging directly on the cardstock. My flower is wrapped with some black satin ribbon to give it a more full effect. Then lastly I added some more text with my En Francais background stamp.

What do you think?? I'd love to know your thoughts?!? Hope you're having a wonderful week,

Just Add Ink's 70th Challenge

2011-06-08T15:49:00.003+10:00

Wow I remember when Just Add Ink first started, I entered the challenge with THIS card back in Jan 2010!!! Now they are celebrating 70 challenges!! That's super awesome ladies! COngrat's to you all!!!! Well I wasn't going to miss out on this milestone so here is the sketch...
I used some of my absolute favourite things in card making!! The deer, polka dot DSP roses, shimmer, lace, small alphabet and then the colours too are my fav... Blushing bride and Cherry Cobler!!! I'm sooo happy with how it turned out and LOVE circle cards, I must do more of them!!

I hope you like and that you too can join in on the festivities over at the super JAI blog!
Smiles Sharnee

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #72

2011-06-06T21:20:00.006+10:00

I had the most wonderful time playing on the weekend, making cards for a few of my favourite challenges! The first one comes from the lovely team over at Inkspirations Challenges, it's a colour challenge this week and here are the colours

Not the usual mix that I'd put together but I really like the way they look once you get playing!! Here is my card completely casing the idea from the very talented and extremely beautiful Sarah-Jane

I needed a thankyou card for a friend and I loved the idea of making a dress (amazing SJ!) for the seamstress frame in the Sew Suite stamp set. It was fun to make the flower brooch too!

Thanks for popping by and saying HI! I hope that your week is starting out wonderfully and I look forward to showing you some more "play" time I had soon!
Smiles Sharnee

All about the packaging

2011-06-02T20:02:00.005+10:00

I know that Autumn is "officially" over but there is one more thing that I wanted to show you that I made especially for the very wonderful, very beautiful, very special Carli! HELLO LOVELY!!! I had recently bought a crocheted scarf for her and wanted to send it in a "love you" package across the seas to her home in NSW.

I had lots of fun making the Torn paper frame for the little gift card and then stamping the brown paper to complete the look. Even the tags were with the same colours and the sweet pearls for the flower centres! I must say I was impressed with my efforts and couldn't wait for Carli to receive it!!!
She of course LOVED it upon arrival and the packaging was well worth it!

Thinking of you my lovely friend, I hope you've had a great week and that this weekend to come is full of sunshine and laughter (especially with those precious treasures of yours!!)
Smiles Sharnee

Goodbye beautiful season

2011-05-31T20:43:00.007+10:00

In celebration of my favourite month coming to an end I wanted to show you some place-cards that I made for a special dinner party we had with some friends last month. I LOVE to make things pretty, adding my little touches of this and that and this night was a perfect opportunity to share what I love about stamping and Autumn!!!

I rock n' rolled the leaves to give them an authentic look

I made name tags with the initial of each guest and then pegged them to an Autumn leaf I collected and then stapled some leaves to twine and hung them from the ceiling! It looked soooo wonderful, I loved how well it came up!

Goodbye beautiful season, thanks for such wonderful inspiration!

Day {three} of Convention highlights 2011

2011-05-28T15:49:00.018+10:00

Here it is..... the final day of highlights from my most AMAZING convention trip to Melbourne!! Ohhhh it was soooo much fun and it's been heaps of fun too reliving the moments here as I put his pic together!!
I'll warn you now there's A LOT to this one, many cool pic's to share so before we start, grab your fav beverage, get comfy, and sit with me awhile......

The last general session of the day certainly didn't disappoint!!! Not only were there great presentations, super prize patrols and some words of wisdom from the team from USA we were also ALL (yes 470 of us!!!) given 3 wonderful gifts of goodies, sneak peaks in fact from the new catty (released in Sept 2011) Oooooo it was soooo exciting and gave the whole room a real buzz, here is Kim and I afterwards

Then it was time to get ready for the awards dinner!!! What a grand affair this always is! I love dressing up and enjoying a delicious meal and sharing it with my fellow friends. This year I was also very, VERY blessed to have my sister Sarah come along for the festivities sooo it made it all the more special!!!
This is us before we go inside!!!!

Sarah couldn't resist taking a pic of me in front of my "Workshop WOW" samples pinned on the display board!!! Really what a WOW indeed!!!

Now for some cake..... well at least a pic with a HUGE cutout number!!!! hee he!! This fun cake was to celebrate our 5th year in AUS/NZ and everyone got to sign it!!!

Had to get another HUG and pic in with beautiful Sarah-Jane!!! How stunning does she look!! And that amazing flower in her hair!! Well lovely SJ you are gorgeous!!! (sending more hugs now dearest lady)
Now what's for dinner??? Gorgeous table decorations too with the lovely flower arrangements

My dear, wonderful friends Colin and Kim! My how handsome Colin looks and absolutely radiant Kim looks too! (they're expecting their first "little person" in September and she has a gorgeous glow!!! Love ya Kim!)

Now one of all of us.... (cool lighting background captured by Sarah! even with my "dodgy" camera!!

And some more friends Kim and Bron....

Once we shared dinner we were off to the convention room to do the award part of the eve! Such an amazing group of women who work with SU and their hard efforts when they make it a business are NOT overlooked!!
In saying that I received an award for my sales again this year.... YAY!!! thanks to you my lovely customers and friends!!! ANd one for a career sales achievement of $100,000 since signing up nearly 4years ago.

The super squeeze from Shelli..... she actually whispered in my ear how gorgeous I looked!!! WOW coming from her... one of the stylist and most well dressed women I know, it was a HUGE compliment!!!! Thanks Shelli!!!!

Time for another shot with my special, beautiful, wonderful sister

Afterwards we all gathered outside to catch up with some last goodbyes and get ready for the walk back to our apartment.... note the bear feet... love that about fancy dinners!!!

At the apartment the lift wall is full of mirrors so I took one last "do it yourself" before the night was officially over.

So there you have it! My whole trip!!!! I have to say a HUGE thank you to all who made this years convention the most amazing trip for me!!! Allan and my precious children for their love, support and encouragement, I LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!! The fabulous group of JAI ladies whom I stayed with, my super duper friends Kim & Colin, Sarah my sister who fly over to share the awards dinner with me and to all of you who helped me get there through workshops and orders and prayers and good wishes!!!! I really have the BESTEST JOB EVER and am soooo very blessed to be here, sharing what I love with you!!!! A huge squeezey HUG FOR YOU ALL!!!
Smiles Sharnee

Day {two} of Convention highlights 2011

2011-05-22T14:27:00.003+10:00

HELLO!!! WOW the days sure are flying!!! This time last week I was back home again after such a wonderful, amazing, fantastic time and so I thought I best tell you of some more highlights for my convention trip!!
So it's Friday 13th now (well in these pic's) and it was my turn to demonstrate my workshop WOW on the main stage!!!! Arhhhhhhhh!!! As you can imagine I didn't really sleep all that well due to an extra dose of butterflies that night but I was sooooooooooooooo excited to be doing what I love and showing other's a cool technique!!!
We had to set up at 8am and I was on after the very fabulous Shelli and the also amazing Vanessa Webb (whom I'd not met before but is truly delightful and very, very clever!! Hi Vanessa!!!)
I had my dear, dear friends (and fellow down-line) in charge of my camera whilst I was demo-ing so here are some shots they took!! (Thanks heaps and HEAPS Colin and Kim! Love you guys!!!!)

showing my little make n' take bags

step by step Graham (the camera man) showed our craft!

the finished project - Torn paper frame!
Ta Daa!!

During the course of the day we had the opportunity to play, in the all important "make n' take." This is when we get our new sets inked up for some outstanding projects!!!
I have to say this years M&T's where AWESOME!!!! Really I love them all, I can't wait to show you all the new goodies that are coming our way..... it's going to be SUPER DUPER!!!!

the FABULOUS, funny and wonderful Kim and Colin Butterworth

New friends Liz and Heather! We all shared the M&T table.
I had such a wonderful time with these lovely ladies,
we went to lots of the sessions together!! Hello ladies!!

While I was getting started I was greeted by a very lovely lady whom I visit often in blogging land.....it was the talented Christine Blain!!! Ohhhh how HAPPY I was that she said HELLO!!! I love her work and had to get a pic of us!! (Many thanks to you lovely Christine for saying HI! I look forward to more visits with you in blogging land!!!)

One of the things I LOVE MOST about convention is being able to catch up with my dear stampin friends (who live far away!!) whom have blessed my life! One particular woman is that of the absolutely fabulous Sarah-Jane!!! It goes without saying that when we caught up this year there were hugs, hugs and MORE HUGS!!!! Ohhh how I love this girl!! Not only is she a super star in card making but her heart is wonderful and I'm sooo excited that she's my friend!!!!

Now here are 2 SUPER STARS in the Stampin' UP! world...... I'm talking about the fabulous Marelle Taylor and Ngaire Anderson

thanks heaps lovelies for having a pic with me, such wonderful women!!!

Ok where are we up to?!? Are you still with me??? I'm nearly done!

I was hanging out with such a amazing group of ladies most of which you will find at the Just Add Ink blog, so with this many great girls we went out for dinner and enjoyed each other's company over some yummy food!

Left - right: Chris, Gail, Liz, Jo, Mae, Bron, Kim and myself

On the way out of the Crown I decided I had to have a pic in front of the sparkly crown! Cheese!!

That's day 2 over, I will get myself organized and post my last day soon!! I promise!

Day {one} of Convention highlights 2011

2011-05-17T19:43:00.014+10:00

(trying to take a pic of me walking my suitcase through the streets of Melbourne!!)

What a weekend I had!!!! Melbourne Convention for Stampin' UP! was sooooooooooooooooo amazing!!!!! I loved every minute of it what an amazing girlie time to be had!!!!!!!
So day one I headed off, all by myself walking the streets of Melbourne to the convention center to try and see the last of the general session.

Once at the building I enjoyed listening to some wonderful ladies presenting on the main stage.
How awesome is this stage!!! I loved the wooden blocks and the tag and the punch detail on the sides, sooooo very clever!!!!

Amy Swartz - Vice President of sales

One of my favourite ladies from the home office is Sophie Zadeh, she is sooo talented and always shows fantastic creations (not to mention that she has the coolest "style" and always comments me on my accessories!!!)

Next I hooked up with my roomies for the trip, the lovely Jo and Kim (whom I met last year) This is my room and the thoughtful gift that Jo gave me, so nice!!!
View from our apartment, it was raining, nearly the whole weekend!!! Thank goodness we were inside!!

We then went out to tea, here is the wonderful Bron (also a Tasmanian) and enjoyed a great time of chatting and eating yummy seafood!!! YUM!

Then Delys and myself headed to the Manager's reception. It was a great night with Shelli and the other managers of SU. Shellie did a little talk on how we can all treat "people as people" rather than as objects in our way in life! It was very helpful and though I've not seen myself as treating people as objects, it's easy to do and so I'm trying really hard to do this especially with my children who I know sometimes don't get my best!!!

I was able to mingle with some wonderful people at the reception including Claire, fellow lover of stamping and gardening, we often chat on line, I love catching up with her!

This fun group of ladies are.... Delys, (from Just Add Ink) Emma, (NZ manager) Sharon (also from Tassie) and myself

Shannon (the fabulous USA lady who personally called me to ask if I'd do a workshop WOW! Love this chick, she is sooooo cool and beautiful and super duper to be with!!!!!)

Ooooo I also got a pic with the very gorgeous and super special lady of the moment Shelli!!! So love getting my pic with her, she is sooooo amazing, down to earth and one of those women in life that you can learn so much from!!!

Well that's my day one, I'll be back to show you some more of my highlights soon!!!
Have a super, wonderful day

Swaps for Convention 2011

2011-05-12T07:04:00.000+10:00

This is it, in a few small hours I will be flying across the Bass to land in Melbourne for the 2011 Stampin' Up! Convention!!!!!! YAY! YAY! YAY! Arhhhhhhhhh!!!
I've been waking with butterflies ALL week now, with an extra bunch thrown in just this morning!!! My body is sooo funny like that, whether it's Christmas, my birthday, anything that is all exciting I get the hugest case of the butterflies!!!!! Oh well by tomorrow morn (once I've graced the stage of convention with my Workshop WOW) they will be all gone...... for this time!!!
So I thought you might like to see my swap for the lovely ladies (and gents) who will be attending!!! I've only made 50 but when you come home with 50 other ideas I think that's pretty great!

This is the technique that I'm showing all the other demo's this year, the Torn Paper Frame. I love how rustic it is and the many ways you can make it look sooo different (just with some paper!!!!)

Here is a close up, I also stamped on the Twill tape which I also love to do!!! Add some bling, these little pearls we now sell are sooooo cute and just add that something special to any card!
I hope you all like it!!!!!
Well best be off, packing to do, children to love and hubbie's lunch to prepare!!! I can't wait to tell you all about convention 2011 when I get home in a few days!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)

Deals of the week for ALL OF MAY

2011-05-02T06:36:00.002+10:00

There are a lot of reasons that I LOVE MAY!! This year is an extra special May as my brother and family arrive from WA TOMORROW, I'm off to convention and it's my birthday this month too!!!
There is another wonderful thing happening and that's in the land of Stampin' Up! For this month only every new week will see a NEW DEAL! For this week you can get 40% off some very cool stamp sets!!
Which one's are they you ask??
See below and check them out in your catty.....

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Sale Price
121578	37	Tag Alongs Wood-Mount Set	$38.95	$23.37
120468	59	More Monkey Accessories Clear-Mount Set	$29.95	$17.97
121550	59	More Monkey Accessories Wood-Mount Set	$36.95	$22.17
120003	75	Cottage Garden Clear-Mount Set	$31.95	$19.17
119163	75	Cottage Garden Wood-Mount Set	$39.95	$23.97
121494	98	Compliments to the Chef Wood-Mount Set	$43.95	$26.37

Ooooo I really love the Compliments to the Chef one..... what a bargain! Do remember to check back at the Stampin' Up! home page to see each new deal every Wednesday!!
I'm soooo excited!!!

Embellish magazine Crochet trim colour trends challenge

2011-04-24T19:30:00.008+10:00

When I saw this wonderful inspiration pic at EMBELLISH by one of my favourite places to visit- Flying House by Traveling Mama I was keen to make time to join in on the fun.

The colours are soooo vibrant and screaming for a scrap book page.

I love this photo of my girls, the daisy chain, their smiles, the colours, oh how I love them!!

I used my crochet trim along the bottom of the pic to show off my pretty daisy chain embellish. The flowers are cut out of some DSP and the scallop cirlce I Faux sueded. Daffodil delight is so cheery! Hope you're having a great Easter break, see you again soon...

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T15:59:00.004+10:00

Hello!
Happy Easter!!
He is Risen!!!
It's a very special day for my family and I, the day when we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead to save US (mankind) from our sins and give us eternal life with Him if we receive it!! Church was full of really great "Power in the Blood", (one of my Dad's favourite's, I could totally picture Him singing it!!) "He is risen" and "conquered the Grave" songs, followed with chocolate eggs, sunny sunshine, Hot cross buns and family time!

For my Easter gifts this year I made some Chocolate brownies, a recipe tried and true from my beautiful, wonderful friend Carli (HUGE HELLO'S to you sweet lady!) whose husband had some scrummy one's in the US and so began the hunt for the perfect brownie recipe!!! I'm telling you these chocolate goodies are hard to resist and the perfect gift at Easter!!
If you know me at all you'll know that I'm BIG on packaging so here are the boxes I gave the brownie goodness in......

How cute is that little egg basket?? I saw that HERE at Sarah's blog, soooooo clever!!!
I do hope you've had a wonderful day, meaningful and restful with a little chocolate too!!!

Embellish magazine Decorative trim colour trends challenge

2011-04-12T16:15:00.005+10:00

I have recently bought the very beautiful Nature walk set (from the fabulous new Autumn/Winter Mini) and LOVING IT!!! SO with this new challenge over at Embellish I inked it up for a very vintage style card.

What do you think???

How about the colour swatch to work off, AMAZING!!!

That's it for me today, it's been a very cold, wet, wet, stay in-doors day so I'm off to get a nice hot cup of tea!

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #65

2011-04-10T10:41:00.004+10:00

HELLO! HELLO!!!
WOW I'm sooo excited that I've been back on the challenge wagon again!!! To have the time to play has been super wonderful and I'm really enjoying the "stretching" of my crafting ability.
This week I needed a card for my best friends daughter for her sweet 5th birthday! I had the layout already done but then scratched it when I saw this great sketch HERE and decided to make another!! (anyone else do that??)

On looking at the FABULOUS design teams creations I came across this groovy new technique that I hadn't seen..... Water-colour wash. Go HERE to Artistic Avenger (one of the coolest blogs I've seen, LOVE IT!!!) and see where I got the inspiration from and step by step instructions on How to!

I'm going to give this tech another go, I really love how different it is and the effect you can get!!
I wanted to add a little sparkle so Dazzling diamonds certainly fits for the candle flame. Other than that some spritzing and sewing and roughing and the card is ready!

I hope Rose likes it!!! More importantly I hope Heather does! The pressure to make amazing cards for your fabbo friends/customers is overwhelming sometimes!!! I'm often told that people struggle to make me a card due to the PRESSURE but it sure goes both ways when the shoe is on the other foot and I need to come up with some MASTER PIECE!!! Funny how we work isn't it!!??
Well enjoy your Sunday my fellow crafting friends,

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #64

2011-04-06T08:34:00.006+10:00

With these great colours at the latest Inkspirations challenge I knew a male card needed to be done. Colin and Kim were joying in on this challenge also so it was great to play and stamp together with all different outcomes! Go over to WET CHOOK PRODUCTIONS to see their handy work!
I had a lot of fun putting this little number together, the owls are in all the challenge colours and the the embossing folder from the Summer mini.... in saying that it is now a carry-over product so you can still buy/use it! YAY! YAY! YAY!

I have one more challenge card that I made with the company of Kim and Colin the other night so hopefully you'll see that in the nest day or two!
Happy Thursday!!

Friends

2011-04-04T19:45:00.004+10:00

I have been blessed with the most amazing and wonderful friends! Just today I got to chat to one on the phone and also with another email back and forth about convention and the like. In all of this I'm very aware at just how rich I am in friendships!! Thank you lovely ladies, those of you who touch my life in one way or another, I'm very grateful for you and sooo appreciate you in my life!

card designed by Kerrie, made by me at her workshop

(note: just pretend the greeting says thinking of you, not Happy birthday!! he he!)

Just Add a BOX or a BAG

2011-04-03T19:06:00.006+10:00

Have you been over to the fabbo blog of JUST ADD INK? I'm telling you they have come up with some amazing challenges lately and this week is definitely one of them!
Add a bag or a box, you may remember last year that I made a bag for Mother's Day so I thought I'd give the box a whirl! With Kim's birthday a few weeks ago, I was still needing to actually get her present done and I knew EXACTLY what I was going to make...... then with the extra incentive of her and her man coming over to stamp, I needed to make it NOW!

Photo by Colin with candle glow

A little while ago these amazing Luminaries were pictured in the Impressions mag that Stampin' Up! Demonstrators get. I instantly HAD TO MAKE one! As there aren't any real instructions included in the mag it was trial and error that finally produced this! Kim LOVES blue so I kept with that colour theme and with the help of Colin (Kim's super hubbie) he took these pic's for me last night!

We had the best night of chatting, filled with bursts of laughter and of course good old stampin! All of us had a go at the latest Inkspirations challenge which I'm sure you'll see their entries HERE, go over and say HI and leave them some comment LOVE!

getting busy with our projects

I hope your weekend was a wonderful one, mine has certainly been full of fabulous moments!

Embellish magazine Male theme

2011-03-31T08:41:00.007+11:00

HELLO!
I'm on a roll! YAY! Don't hold your breath, it could all come crashing down and you'll have to wait another 10 days to see or hear from me again but hey I hope you're feeling the love and liking my creations lately! :)
One of my FAV sites to visit is HERE! At the moment they have this great challenge....

So with a SAB set to play with this is what I came up with.....

What do you think? Would you put these colours together for a GUY? I'm pretty happy with the combo, must give it a try next male card!

Don't forget that today is the last day to order your $100 to get that FREE SAB set!! don't miss out! bye for now

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #63

2011-03-31T08:34:00.005+11:00

I hope you're sitting down!!!! Can you believe it, another post in the ONE DAY!!!! Miracles do happen!! The children are happily playing before we start schooling and I don't have anything "extra" to do right now, so let's chat for awhile!! :)
This card is for the lovely team over at Inkspirations and for this week it's a sketch

For some reason I saw 4 windows not 3! Must be that tired brain I'm constantly dealing with at the moment!! Opps, hopefully the team will still like it! Sophia and Hannah were invited to a
"Tea party" party on Sunday and when I have a theme to work with it makes it all the easier to make a pretty card! Hope you like it and thanks for visiting!

Better late then never.....

2011-03-31T08:26:00.005+11:00

Do you remember what I said last post?? Something along the lines of...
"I've done lots of challenges this weekend and I look forward to showing you them!" I'm finding out that it's all well and good to do the challenges but to then actually get them posted is a whole 'nother story!!!
So here is one of those cards from last weeks JAI challenge....

I really love these colours together, they work sooo pretty!!! This set I haven't inked up much so I made it my extra challenge to make sure it got some love and enjoyed water-colouring the sweet, little tea-cups.
Check out my other card that I made for the latest Inkspirations challenge (yes and it's current!!! YAY! YAY! YAY!) While I was on a roll with this set I inked it up again!

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #62

2011-03-19T20:12:00.004+11:00

I was sooo happy to have time to play today! Well I MADE TIME TO PLAY and had lots of fun with some recent colour challenges!! The first one I got stuck into was that of the lovely Keesh over HERE and aren't those colours great that I got to work with?!?

I'm playing with a new Technique called.... well it's ink spreading and if your a SU demo lady you'll see it in the latest Impressions. It's really cool to see the flowers take a life of their own and I'm super excited to play more with some other ink refills!

Here is a close up of the Smooch Spritz that I sprayed in the Gold, I love this stuff, so shimmery and just adds that little something extra, don't you think? Get yours quickly as it's only here till the end of the month!!!!
Thanks sooo much for popping by, hope you like my card and I'll be back again soon with some other creations I got to make today! (YAY!)

My love for Buntings

2011-03-19T10:40:00.006+11:00

Well it's been awhile hey!! SORRY! In light of the up and coming convention to pay for I've had to get some workshops on my calender and so with that and designing and living and teaching the time to blog certainly hasn't been top of the list!!!
So I'm here to show you the fun cards that we made last Saturday night at my Stamp-a-stack! I had a lovely group of ladies come and share the eve with me and then go home with 10 cards like this....

and also this...

Do you like Buntings??? Ohhh I really DO!!! They are just so much fun and you can use them for ANYTHING!!! These were easy cards, all you needed to do was cut small triangles from the DSP, tape them down with some linen thread underneath! Stamp a greeting and PRESTO!
I love the little flags, they're so happy :)
Hope your weekend finds you happy and well!

Some most exciting news to share!

2011-03-07T13:02:00.009+11:00

Guess what????

I needed a professional photographer the other day.... Thankfully I know just the "PRO" to call for such a task and that was my fabulous SISTER!!!!!
Check her work site Momento HERE and facebook HERE, you'll be wowed by her talent that's for sure!!!!!!!

Why is this I hear you say?
Well my little face will be featured in.....

non other than the Stampin' Up! Convention program 2011!!!!!

Yes that's right, I have been given the AMAZING opportunity to show my "stuff" on the BIG stage at the Melbourne Stampin' Up! Convention 2011! I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to say the least and have already been brainstorming about what great things I can show all who go!
I can't wait to see and HUG my blogging friends Sarah Klass, Sarah-Jane Kale, Claire Daly, Kim,
Shellie HERSELF! The list goes on!!! SOOO EXCITED!!!!

Perhaps you've thought about joining the stampin' Up! family!!??? If you join at the moment you not only receive all the goodies in the kit BUT a FREE set worth $79.95 too!! AND you'll be part of my super talented team "Perfectly Rustic's" AND you could come to the BIG EVENT TOO!!! Have a think about it! It's one of the MOST WONDERFUL THINGS THAT I'VE EVER done!

p.s Sarah couldn't resist taking a pic or two of sweet little Esther while she was clicking.... which one's your favourite? Click HERE to see one more!

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #59

2011-03-02T15:53:00.005+11:00

Hello there fellow crafters!!! How are you?
I've got a card to show you today that I made for my wonderful friend and great down-line Kim! It was her birthday on Saturday and I was invited to her place for some scrummy chocolate cake and some stamping fun! Sounds fabulous hey!!
So i needed to whip up a card and saw this sketch HERE and so gave it a go

Other than the love of birds, Kim also loves ladybirds (perhaps it's cause of the name! he he!) SO i attempted to make my own! WOW I hadn't realized just how tricky it was to make your own beetle! I probably should have looked up a picture but i thought I knew what they looked like so after about 3 trials I was happy with this one.... the one that made it on the card!

The other thing Kim loves is blue so together with the red I think it works quite well!

AN extra special card

2011-02-22T20:20:00.005+11:00

I had the pleasure of making my sister a 30th card this last week! I can honestly say that I'm quite pleased that she's finally joined the 30's club!! I've been there for nearly 5 years and my brother for now 2 so it was due for my fabulous little sister to step up and celebrate!! I had some fun putting her card together, using some of my fav techniques including spritzing, and roughing and blues and Crumb cake!
I also added an old doily for some Old world style! I totally LOVE this card, I know that Sarah will too!! How about you?? Made anything that you absolutely LOVED recently!
I'd love to hear about it!

Happy Valentine's Day (and JAI challenge)

2011-02-14T07:10:00.007+11:00

Hello my dear friends! Long time no blog....
Well it's the day of LOVE! So many things in life to love and cherish! For me GOD is certainly at the top of the list, then my spunky and wonderful husband, my amazing and treasured children, family and friends and certainly close to the top is STAMPING!!!! Over at JUST ADD INK they're talking all about LOVE too, hop on over and check out the LOVE!
So for this Valentine's Day I jumped on the USA band-wagon and made LOTS of LOVE cards for all those that I treasure. It was fun writing in the things that I LOVE about them and am feeling already excited at the LOVE that will be filling my friends letter boxes today! Like sending a big HUG! YAY!
I also got busy making a special little LOVE box for Allan, the LOVE of my life. I had so much fun with this project and am already keen to make another. I listed inside some of my favourite things about our LOVE and what I LOVE about him.

My LOVE box and matching card

Inside the box is like an accordion all full of LOVE
two and four...

now one, three and five

So dear readers, friends and the blogging world...
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY - may you be treated by your "love" with chocolates or flowers or even both, enjoy lots of cuddles and feel indeed LOVED!

Sale-a-bration time

2011-01-25T14:01:00.005+11:00

I'm sooooo excited!!! It's the beginning of Sale-a-bration!! The most wonderful time of the year for Stampin' Up! cause for every $100 you spend you get to choose a FREE stamp set! YAY!! SO get out your wish lists ladies (& gents) and contact me today to receive your FREE SET!!! :)
There are other benefits to at this special time including....

Customers: Spend $100 and choose a free set. This is for EVERY $100 you spend, so if you cross off lots of things on your wish list and you go over $300, then you not only get 3 FREE sets but $30 to spend and a HOSTESS GIFT!

Hostesses: When your party sales reach $600 you get to choose a free SAB set`, plus a Level 2 Hostess Set AND $70 Hostess Dollars. Would you like me to do you a workshop?? I'd love to book you in!

New Demonstrators: When you join Stampin’ Up! during Sale a bration, you get to choose an extra FREE stamp set from the main Idea book and Catalogue to the value of $79.95. Make it an affordable Hobby with the 20% off or a Business like me. Once you join the family, there are more opportunities to earn free stamp sets too!!!

Please contact me if you'd like your own copy of the SAB catty and I'll post one out to you! :)

cake bunting for Hannah

2011-01-24T07:24:00.003+11:00

When thinking of how to decorate Hannah's cake I remembered the wonderful and AMAZING "cake bunting" I saw AGES ago on Etsy.... so with the wonder of google and searching I found it!
CLICK HERE to see..... all I can say is AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!!! I LOVE IT!!!
I wanted to keep with the theme and the colours so I made this for the occasion

What do you think?? My super talented sister Sarah took these pic's for me, after all if you have a professional photographer in the house you should use them right??!! Click HERE to see more of her SENSATIONAL work and website!!

Hannah had a great time celebrating her birthday, as did we! If you'd like to see more of the weekend click HERE at our family blog!

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #53

2011-01-21T08:53:00.005+11:00

This is the last card that I made the other day for my precious little Hannah who is turning 9 tomorrow!! Can you really comprehend where the time goes and how fast these beautiful children grow?!?! To see Esther crawling around and think that that was Hannah 8 years ago is hard to grasp!! SO with party bags still to make and some little bunting decorations I think I'm nearly ready..... oh and there's the shopping for the present this morn too and the making of the cake..... Yes I think I'm nearly ready! HE HE!!!
Here is the sketch from the wonderful Keesh over at Inkspirations Challenges site

I figured that I still had one more opportunity to make a pony card for her before the big 10!! After all she still plays with them and enjoys the stamp set so what do you think?? Is My little Ponies too "babyish" for a 9 year old??

I water coloured the pony and added some soft blue sky as the background, then with the wings I used crystal effects for the glossy look. While my sewing machine was out I had to add some stitching too!!
Have a super Friday and fabulous weekend!!

Pony for Hannah
Set: Pony party
Card: Bashful blue, Cherry cobbler, Blush blossom & Whisper white
Ink: Cherry cobbler, Pink pirouette, blush blossom and Bashful blue
Acc: Big shot small flowers die, rhinestone brads, crystal effects, Hostess DSP, small flower punch (summer mini) and sewing machine

Sweet Sunday Sketch #100

2011-01-20T08:45:00.005+11:00

How could I pass up doing the 100th Sweet Sunday Sketch from the very lovely Karen! Well I simply couldn't!!!
I love the use of scallops and circles in this and so here is my take on it!

Here is a close up of the "Rock and Roll" technique I used on the flower. I sooo love this colour combo!! Isn't it funny where you get ideas from, this is actually the colours of Esther's bib she had on! Where do you get your colour combo's from???

I think the greeting says it all....
Happy thoughts make Happy days!!
I hope that your mind is FULL TO OVERFLOWING with happy thoughts of sunshine and laughter!!!

Happy thoughts
Set: HOSTESS - Apple blossoms
Ink: Not quite Navy, Real red & Daffodil delight
Card: Naturals ivory, Night of navy, So saffron and Real red
Acc: 3/4 circle punch, circle scissors plus & markers

Just Add MONOCHROME

2011-01-19T16:14:00.004+11:00

I decided this week to take some time to create and so I have 3 cards to show you all.
Firstly I joined in on the latest JAI challenge where the theme this week was to just do Monochrome. What a great idea!! You should check out all the other ladies and their fabulous ideas, I'm telling you there sure is some talent out there!!!
So here is my interpretation....

I wanted my card to look like a sepia type of photo. What do you think?? I layered it with Crumb cake and then Naturals ivory and some Soft suede too. The main piece of Crumb cake I sueded for that fealty look and then added some Champagne shimmer to the flower after water-colouring it in different tones. Then for the all important embellishments and it was done. Oh and my sewing machine was out too so it's always fun to add some stitching!!

I hope you like it! I'll show you my next creation tomorrow.

Vintage flower
Set: Because I care & Tiny tags
Ink: Crumb cake & Soft suede
Card: Crumb cake, Soft suede &Naturals ivory
Acc: Shimmer paint, pearls, linen thread, tag punch, edge punch, vintage ribbon, vintage trinkets & sewing machine

"I do"

2011-01-18T09:09:00.010+11:00

Allan, Esther and I had the delight of attending one of my dear friends wedding on Saturday! Sarah and David tied the knot at the picturesk Gorge, here in Trevallyn. I met Sarah at a Stampin' UP! workshop, she then soon held her own party and then all her family did too, over the course of about 4 months I saw this fabulous group of ladies about 5 times! It was sooo much fun and now Sarah is part of my team AND part of my circle of friends! I love that about Stampin' Up!
So would you like to see some pic's?? Well here you are.....

Firstly the card. I have to admit that this was a card I made YEARS ago (note the retired image) and pulled it about and jazzed it up! Now tell me you never would have noticed if I hadn't of said.... would you??

The gorgeous bride and her wonderful Dad

Signing of the register, YAY it's official!

My absolutely spunky Hubbie

Esther had lots of fun playing with the balloons

Sweet bride Sarah and I

The wedding car... I LOVE MINI'S!!!

Scrummy Wedding cup-cakes and the
cute little cake boxes to take home
(made by Sarah of course!)

It was a truly wonderful day and we were very blessed to be able to share in it. Happy day to you too,

just a bit of GREEN

2011-01-17T07:05:00.005+11:00

My dear friend Teresa has a love for Wild Wasabi! I too like green and when it was time to make her a card I already had at least the colour chosen and ready to play with.
She is also a book worm (monthly involved in a Book Club) and so to go along with her card I made her a book mark too.
I saw the idea for the wonderful scallop punch flower (seen on the card) from my super special friend all the way in Nowra - Carli! (hello to you my friend!!! Great chatting the other day, hope Andrew is feeling better!! sending HUGE HUGS!!!!) All you need to do it punch out HEAPS of scallop circles, distress them up and then layer, put together with a brad.... EASY!

I love all the roughness of the bookmark by rubbing my ink pad over the edges, I don't think there is EVER a project that my lovely Teresa DOESN'T do this!! Hello to you wonderful lady, hope your time away is completely amazing!!
Perhaps this week I can join in some challenges, I'm wanting too but currently trying to plan my school term/year and so haven't had much time to craft..... maybe today I can take a break!!??

Ride 'em Cowboy!

2011-01-11T14:57:00.005+11:00

We were invited to a very special little 2 year old's birthday on the weekend and it was a fancy dress!!! A cowboy party! The children had such fun dressing up and I had lots of fun making my card!

One of my fav sets for children is the All in the Family! I added the dog and tried to dress him up like a horse as the Kenzie's have a very cute dog called Shadow! I also drew in the cowboy hat, lasso, boots & scarf! I stamped my woodgrain background stamp on the frame to make it look more life-like and then added it to my "card" wall!
If you'd like to see how the children looked click on over to our NEW BLOG!
"The Torrents Times"
We've started this to jot down our homeschooling journey and to share more about life apart from my crafting going's on! You will read lots of posts by my precious treasures when the new school year starts to help them with typing skills, computer knowledge and general Information Tech! I hope you check it out and leave some comment love, the children love to read what people are saying!!
Have a fabulous day,

Cowboy George
Set: All in the Family, Woodgrain background
Ink: Real red, Eary espresso, Soft Suede, Marina mist, Pear pizazz, Basic black
Card: Crumb cake, Watercolour paper & Early Espresso
Acc: Blender pens, white gel pen, Basic black marker, linen thread and antique brads.

Sweet Sunday Sketch #98

2011-01-07T10:03:00.006+11:00

It's been a long while since joining in on the fun at the FABULOUS Karen's blog: The Sweetest Thing but I needed some inspiration for my beautiful daughters 9th birthday party invites and thought that a sketch would be the way to go.
I love Karen's cards, she's sooooo clever! Really, do make sure you check her out!! So with the idea now, well at least the layout, it was time to get down to the nitty gritty!! I've been borrowing some sets from my fellow stampin buddy (and super down line) Kim (hello dearest Kim) and was supposed to give them back to her LOOOOONNNGGG before now but thankfully they're still happy hanging out with me!!

Do you ever make invites??? There is a bit of a process, you need to design it, cut out the colour card you've chosen, then get each element stamped ready to assemble. Once you have each part of the invite then it's just a matter of sticking them all together! EASY!!! I only needed 10 so it wasn't too hard.

I did however need to cut tiny little flowers (the one from inside the egg, yes that's an egg that I've turned up-side down to make the balloon) to cover up the Easter eggs in the girls basket. After doing all ten I was pleased there weren't more!! I usually put all the party details on the face of the invite but because the front is soooo pretty I decided to place it on the back, I've used a retired set for the invitation details and then jazzed up the envelopes and added a magnet too for easy hanging on the fridge!!

I think there's something really wonderful about going to your fridge and seeing a handmade invite there! It certainly makes me smile, I have a wedding invite at the moment gracing my fridge wall (YAY Sarah only 8 more sleeps till your big day!! SO exciting!!) and I love to just stare at it awhile and then go about getting the milk or the cheese!
Have a super wonderful day, It's Friday Family fun day so I'll soon be making pizza's and going to the movie store to pick our viewing for the evening. Then it's off to the supermarket to buy junk food treats (which we only have on Friday's) Peanut M&M's will certainly be one choice! YUMMIE!!!

Party
Set: Easter blossoms (SUMMER MINI) Your Invited (retired) and Basic phrases
Ink: Cherry cobbler, Blushing bride, Basic black & Sahara sand
Card: Sahara sand, Blushing bride, Whisper white &Ridding hood red
Acc: Blushing bride ribbon, scallop edge punch, linen thread, Big shot embossing folder Square Lattice (NEW SUMMER MINI)

glitter Paris and dear friends

2011-01-05T10:50:00.004+11:00

I have sooo many fabulous customers that are now dear friends who say to me,
"Oh the pressure of making you a card Sharnee, it's sooo hard to make it perfect!"
The thing is I feel EXACTLY the same! What new technique will I show them, what cool new combo can I come up with, it's sooo funny!!!

I made this card for my wonderful friend Heather for her birthday the other week. She completely LOVES all things Paris, fav colour red and glitter/embossing is one of her favourite techniques!! SO with all those things to go with and my love for all things vintage I came up with this.
I embossed with the heat and stick first and then went over it with the wonderful galaxy fine glitter in red and black and then watercoloured in the parts on the bodice stamp. (this is one of the only sets that I've got from the USA stampin' up! catty, not available here)
Then with my sewing machine I zipped across the ribbon and added the amazing brads that I love!
The greeting says
"it seems only fitting to wish you a happy day!"
I'd like to wish you a happy day today also, whatever it is that you might be doing, may it be warm in your heart and smiles abound!

Paris
Set: Chic Boutique
Card: Basic black, Very vanilla and Real red
Ink: Whisper white stazon, real red, basic black
Acc: Glitter, embossing powder, wide striped black ribbon, vintage brads, Love letter DSP & blender pens

time for a change

2011-01-02T06:51:00.002+11:00

Taa Daa!!
What do you think??
As you can see I've changed things a little around here. It seemed like a great opportunity with the new year to do something fresh and new!
I hope you like it!!

Happy New Year & Just add Summer challenge

2011-01-01T14:25:00.006+11:00

It's 2011! WOW can you believe it?? Really?!? We have a new beginning, a fresh start, possibilities and dreams and goals and hopes await us ALL!! What's yours??
For me defiantly more family time, play with my children, send out more cards (not just make them!) , catch up more with those I love..... ummm the list goes on.....

I have this cute little scrapbook page I've done for the Summer challenge over at JAI. My girls and daisy chains scream summer to me, as the lawn is covered in pretty white daisies just waiting to be made into a bracelet or necklace or tiara!

I've used the pearls to highlight the centre of my daisies and used twine to join them all together! It's a very simple page really but a simple page is a completed page! YAY! :)

I hope that your weekend is a super one and that last night was wonderful for you celebrating in the New Year!
See you soon, smiles
Sharnee :)

Ink: Daffodil delight
Card: Daffodil delight and barely banana
Acc: Boho blossoms punch, pearls, linen thread, rub on's (retired)

Christmas is here

2010-12-24T21:46:00.004+11:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

I'd like to wish you all a very special, safe and memorable Christmas day and pray that this new year to come will be one full of hope and love that you've never experienced before!
Thanks sooo much for your love, comments and visits in this last year, it really is sooo wonderful to see hear from you!

Well my table is set for a family affair today, the children have all woken early with sheer excitement as they unwrap their gifts and Allan and I watched in delight as we celebrate this Christmas 2010 together!
Have a truly fabulous day, hugs, love and smiles
Sharnee :0)

Christmas Eve goodies to share

2010-12-24T08:16:00.006+11:00

It's Christmas eve! WOW can you believe it!! What a glorious day, the sun is shinning the children are sneaking a peak at the presents we wrapped last night and Allan has the next 5 days off! YAY! YAY! YAY!
.... it's the most wonderful time of the year!!
So for today I'm showing you my goodie bags that we will be giving out later today! Each and every year I bake some tasty treats for our very close friends. The children and I have the best time tasting and cooking and wrapping and of course eating.

I have such a great time making tags and doing my "crafty" thing!
How wonderful are the new vintage tags from the mini

Have you guessed what they are??

Paper stocking!! Do you have favourite projects that you see and think to your self "I have to make that!!??" Well when we saw these on page 21 IBC I knew that I'd have to whip some up!
I went with the vintage theme as that's what I like best and gave my sewing machine some brightly coloured red thread and started sewing! I love to sew on card stock it's one of my fav things to do when crafting!
How are your last minute preparations going?? I hope that it's all running smoothly and your really finding it hard to wipe the smile off your face!!!
Merry Christmas Eve!!
Smiles SHarnee :0)
p.s I'll be back later to show you my table decorations....

Stockings
Set: Winter post and Tiny tags and Frames with a flourish (retired)
Ink: Early espresso, Crumb cake, Real red and tea stain
Card: Crumb cake, Real red, Kiwi kiss, Very vanilla and Early espresso
Acc: Lace ribbon, vintage tags, pearls, promo ribbon, crop-a-dile, jumbo eyelets and twine

Showcase of Christmas cards {#ten}

2010-12-23T06:33:00.004+11:00

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE EVE!!
2 more sleeps, only TWO MORE SLEEPS!!!!! This morning the children woke early, they ran to the advent to change the countdown and as they thought about how many sleep were left, Zeke suddenly announced
"Coooollll!! Tomorrow's Friday family fun day AND it's the last day before Christmas AND then it's Saturday and it's CHRISTMAS!!! YAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!" At this point he shook his hands in extreme excitement and was kinda shaking, you know what you do sometimes when it's all too much and you want to burst!!!
I have to admit I even have butterflies in my tummy this morning with all the build up and anticipation!!!
So my card today is again one of my favourites ( I know I've said that A LOT but it's true!!) the simple colour combo is wonderful and this too was another stamp-a-stack design I shared with my fabulous customers

When you do classes it's always a great idea to have minimal pieces of cardstock to cut, especially when you have 12 ladies coming along and each needs 5 pieces and there's 3 colours for the card and..... well you do the math! I think that white and red are classic Christmas colours to combine and always look so elegant and stunning, what do you think??

Have a super wonderful Christmas eve, EVE!! (have you heard of this?? The day before the eve of Christmas?? I have some funny stories to tell about people who totally embrace the whole concept of saying it's Christmas eve, EVE to others who look at you like your silly and think it's all a bit on nonsense!!!) Anyway it doesn't work on any other occasion, just today!!
So HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE, EVE!!! Enjoy all those last minute things to do!! Remember to smile and laugh and not get stressed with the busyness!!
Hugs SHarnee :0)

Bauble
Set: Contempo Christmas
Card: Crumb cake, real red and Whisper white
Ink: Versamark & Real red
Acc: Ornament punch, white organza ribbon and rhinestones

Showcase of Christmas cards {#nine}

2010-12-21T06:19:00.004+11:00

This year I was blessed to get an early Christmas present from my super husband! It's this wonderful German styled Christmas pyramid which I bought from a local gift shop. I totally love it and how it spins with the heat of the candles. It has little angels singing as it goes around and each night we light it for dinner! The other candles in the background are a selection of different ones I've been collecting just for this time of year.

One of the benefits of getting together with your fellow stamping buddies is that you can borrow their wonderful sets that you might otherwise not have. This is how I was able to make this card

The little tree is so cute and the Teeny tiny sentiments are a perfect choice for this card. OH this is a set that's 50% off at the moment, only till the end of Dec so don't miss out on getting one for yourself!!
Smiles Sharnee :0)

Tiny Tree
Set: Sparkly and bright and Teeny tiny sentiments
Card: Cherry cobbler and very vanilla
Ink: Old olive, Cherry cobbler and chocolate chip
Acc: Square scallop, satin old olive ribbon, markers and rhinestones

Showcase of Christmas cards {#eight}

2010-12-21T06:07:00.004+11:00

Is this what your desk looks like in the middle of card writing?? You decide to add a greeting on the inside or perhaps you like to decorate the envelope! Maybe you have a favourite stamp to put on the back to mark that it was made by you! (oh and don't forget to have your phone close by so you {hopefully} don't have to get up and down TOO much!) As you can see I have all of those things when I'm getting ready to post my cards..... fun hey!?!

This card using all things BIG SHOT as I was designing a card for my very wonderful friend Teresa's workshop, I ended up going with more traditional colours on the night but I love how you can make Christmas cards in any colour combo.

Are you a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas colours or do you break out the pinks or blues?
Have a very terrific Tuesday, remember it's only 4 more sleeps....
Smiles and Hugs Sharnee

MERRY
Ink: Blushing bride
Card: Blushing bride, Whisper white & Real red
Acc: Big shot Merry tag, vintage wallpaper embossing plate, Boho flower punch, pearls, frost white shimmer paint & blushing bride ribbon

Showcase of Christmas cards {#seven} and a Pudding too!

2010-12-19T20:04:00.009+11:00

We are on day seven now which means there are only 5 more sleeps till Christmas!!! YAY! YAY! YAY!! How are all your preparations going??? I'm hoping to do lots of baking this week for my scrummy gifts that we give (and to have a tasty morsel in the home too!!) In fact we have already made our pudding!!
This year I called in the experts (other than my super mum) and invited Heath over to show me how it's done!!

The fabulous Heath!

Each and every year Heather and her Nan bake the most AMAZING Christmas cake (all fruit) and the traditional Christmas Pudding!!
Let me fill you in a little, (perhaps it's time to grab a cuppa...)
About 9 years ago I made my Nan's recipe of pud with help from my mum and it turned out.... well..... nothing short of perfect! The trouble is that since then each and every year something has gone wrong!!!!!!!!!!
It's either too wet, or gets burnt or is cooked too long or is all stogy!! I've given up! This however is something that I struggle with because next to stamping I LOVE TO COOK! SO to be beat by a recipe is JUST NOT RIGHT!!! Hence the calling in of Heather!!
She puts her pud in a florists cellophane bag first and then wraps it in the cloth, all the rest is the same, boiling time etc.

Sophia mixing up the ingredients

We had the most eventful day this particular pudding making day with Children playing happily to tantrums, ornaments being thrown down the hall like a ball (excepting for the fact that it was a glass ball! HE HE!) Esther not sleeping and Heather's little girl locking herself in the toilet!!! As I said it was eventful!
BUT here is the makings of the pud and of course my Christmas card for today!

The final result:
hanging, waiting for Christmas eve
when I'll see for sure what the
end result is......

Sparkly and bright with a twinkling nose on my little Rudolf!

Happy Monday, Smiles Sharnee :0)

Little Rudolf
Set: Sparkly and Bright
Ink: Chocolate chip and versamark
Card: Old olive, very vanilla and cherry cobbler
Acc: Dazzling diamonds, staple, Jolly holiday DSP, square scallop punch and rhinestone gems

Showcase of Christmas cards {#six}

2010-12-18T19:50:00.004+11:00

I hope that you are enjoying my little Christmas card show, I've had the best time coming up with these cards this year and even now my head is buzzing with more ideas of cards to create.... the thing is I don't need anymore so I guess they'll have to wait for next year!
For today's card I'd like to show you a really easy one...

I just recently ordered in this fabulous set and made this card for another one of my stamp-a-stack classes. Each card that the ladies made was different as the DSP and the images from the set were all mixed and matched to make some wonderful cards! I love the colour combo that the Jolly holiday paper displays and have played with this colour theme heaps! I also like how simple this card is, always a good thing when you're making lots!
Hope your weekend is going wonderfully!
Smiles Sharnee :0)

Stockings
Set: Gifted
Ink: Early espresso, Cherry cobbler and old olive
Card: Old olive and very vanilla
Acc: Promo ribbon (retired) markers, DSP Jolly holiday& scallop lace punch

Showcase of Christmas cards {#five}

2010-12-17T15:32:00.004+11:00

Crumb cake is one of my ALL time favourite colours and when you mix it with some glitter you have a wonderful combination for a Christmas card. My other fav thing to use is my super Big Shot!!! Especially the embossing plates, they are cheap and make an instant lift on a card!

This card design I showed for one of my stamp-a-stack classes, we had such a lovely night and the ladies who attended (hello Ness, Heather & Trish) had a ball!! We did sooo much chatting and laughing and of course stamping, the night was truly awesome!

See you again tomorrow with day six of my showcase!
Smiles Sharnee :0)

JOY
Set: Basic phases & Delightful decorations
Ink: Crumb cake and early espresso
Card: Crumb cake and very vanilla
Acc: Big shot Vintage wallpaper embossing folder, vanilla taffeta ribbon and champagne glitter

Showcase of Christmas cards {#four}

2010-12-17T09:20:00.007+11:00

Today I'm showing you the lovely cards that some of my team "Perfectly Rustics" made the other week.

Firstly we have Kim's card

Now for Sarah

Followed by Sandra

and lastly Lauren

here is my card for the night

Which one is your favourite?? I was HUGELY impressed by them all!!! Such clever ladies I have!
Smiles Sharnee :0)

If there is a question on any of the supplies for these then please leave a comment and I'll let you know! thanks :0)

Showcase of Christmas cards {#three}

2010-12-15T07:15:00.005+11:00

Well we are now into the singles and I don't know about you but it's all getting very exciting here!! Now that brings us to my next card......

This is a case from one of my very talented Perfectly Rustics team members Lauren!! (hi lovely)
At our last team meeting we all had to bring a Christmas card design and then each of us made it! We had the best night (will show other cards soon...) and this is one that I just changed ever so slightly. I love the idea of the ornament coming through the card, so pretty too with the embossing on the front! And how about that colour combo.... Lauren WOW'd us all :)

How are you going with your Christmas cards??? I'm all finished... I think!! I've written out 40 so far and just have maybe 3 or 4 left!! YAY!!! I was talking to Heather yesterday and we both said how much we both LOOOOVVVEEE to make the cards but the writing in and sending part seems too huge a task!! Do you feel the same???

Have a great day
Smiles Sharnee :0)

Bauble
Set: Contempo Christmas and Delightful decorations
Ink: Rich razzelberry
Card: Old olive, Rich razzelberry and whisper white
Acc: Big shot embossing folder Final press, ornament punch, satin ribbon and scallop trim border punch.

Showcase of Christmas cards {#two}

2010-12-14T06:40:00.004+11:00

So here we are today to see my second card for Christmas. This is one of my favourites as I don't have this set and was able to use it at the stamp camp I attended a few months ago!
I love everything about this card, the shimmer (yes again!!) the glitter and the wonderful polka dot DSP! What do you think???

Another part I especially love is Santas fluffy trim on his hat! This I was given from the fabulous Leanne (who is a knitter) and she had this lovely white yarn which has worked a treat!!! To get the shimmer bread I had to mask his face so the white went on all the right bits & of course Santa has rosy checks out there at the North pole so they had to be added!

Only 10 more sleeps till this jolly, big man comes to town......

you better watch out,
you better not cry,
you better not pout I'm telling you why...
Santa Claus is coming to town!!

Smiles Sharnee :0)

Santa
Set: Holiday hoopla & Curly cute
Ink: Basic black, Cherry cobbler
Card: Confetti white
Acc: Jolly holiday DSP. frost white shimmer paint, pearls, glitter pack red, blender pens and yarn from Leanne!!

Showcase of Christmas cards {#one}

2010-12-14T06:21:00.003+11:00

Can you believe it's only 11 more sleeps till Christmas!!!! WOW! The season certainly is upon us now and with school coming to an end and my events now on rest time I wanted to showcase some of the Christmas cards that my loved ones will be receiving this year. SO over the next few days I'll show you some of what I've been up to in preparing for this special time of the year!
First of today is my JOY card. This one I made especially for Amanda who had a workshop with me late last month, she loves red and vintage and wanted me to use the wonderful Ornament punch.
Along the edges of the card I've sponged on some shimmer paint and the fabulous music sheet is from the Newspaper DSP! I love this pack of paper!!
Well I'll see you again tomorrow with another card to show!
Have a super duper Tuesday,
Smiles Sharnee :0)

JOY
Set: Delightful decorations
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb cake and Basic black
Card: Crumb cake, Very vanilla & Cherry cobbler
Acc: Scallop trim punch, small circle punch, Ornament punch, black satin ribbon, champagne shimmer, Newsprint DSP

Just Add Ink Critter Challenge #46

2010-12-08T11:29:00.005+11:00

I have the coolest critter card to show you for the latest JAI challenge!! I needed a fun card for my fabulous friends Sons birthday and so was thinking of a "whale of a time" and came up with this!!
Here is the front.... but wait for the inside..... (thinking of you here Kim!! She's super amazing at doing fun things inside her cards!!! I never have enough time to pretty up the inside too....) UNLESS......
I love pop-up cards and for little children I think they are the best!! I made the waves and then with my shimmer paint created the clouds!! LOVE IT!!! Love shimmer paint that is!! How cute do those whales look in the wavy sea!??!

Whales are my ALL TIME FAVOURITE ANIMAL!!! DO check out the other entries as there are some super fab cards!!
YAY!! two posts in one day!! AMAZING!!!
Smiles Sharnee :0)

Whale of a Time
Set: Forest friends and It's your birthday (retired)
Card: Marina mist, Pacific point,Very vanilla and baja breeze
Ink: Marina mist, Pacific point, and baja breeze
Acc: Frost white shimmer paint

And now she is ONE

2010-12-08T07:44:00.011+11:00

all the beautiful hand made cards we received when

Esther was born have been hanging above her bed

It's happened!!! Our little Esther has turned one!! I know it was coming (as all birthday's do) but I was really hoping for a little more time to enjoy our baby before the year slipped away!! People keep saying to me " where has the time gone??" my reply is simple
"Let me know if you find out!!"
So with the specail day came some special pictures, and who better to share them with then YOU!
Firstly the card! The pressure is always on when making a card for my children, I always seem to leave it till the last moment and then don't make it as special as I'd like.... so with the eve of her birthday gone I got up early and made this on the day!! I'm totally LOVING doing felt with my big shot! SO much fun!!! ANd the in-colour ribbon this year is gorgeous!!!

Every BIRTHDAY morning, (whom ever's birthday it is) gets to sit smack bang in the middle of our bed and we all gather around and watch the official opening of the gifts!!

Of course with the older children it's more of a game of helping
then of watching Esther do it!!

A new phone!!

On Sunday we celebrated with Family for afternoon tea, it was a lovely day of sunshine and yummy things to eat.

I happened to go with a butterfly theme after making the invites so I got out my Big shot and made these pretty butterflies to hang around the table

photo taken by super sister Sarah

time to blow out the candles, with a little help from Daddy

WOW what a wonderful time we had! Hopefully the next few years don't fly by soo quickly as these precious treasures grow up!
I hope that your week is going wonderfully as we only have 17 more sleeps to go..... YAY!
Smiles Sharnee :0)

Esther's first Birthday
Set: NEW rough Type
Ink: Concord crush & Pink pirouette
Card: Very vanilla & Pink pirouette
Acc: Felt, big shot, ribbon, sewing machine, pearls and Lap of luxury DSP

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2010-12-04T07:17:00.019+11:00

It's Christmas time!!! I'm sooo excited!! I love this time of year which I'm sure most of you do and with the season most certainly upon us I thought I'd share some pictures of us getting into the Christmas spirit that we've celebrated in over the last week.
Last weekend we went to the Launceston Christmas Parade (though it's not much AT ALL compared to Melbourne for instance, it's good to support the local community and do something different for the children!!)

All excited and waiting for it to start!

(Jo Kenzie is one of the children's really great friends, we sat with them!!)

Sweet Esther seeing her FIRST parade

The bagpipes were just a little loud for my gorgeous Sophia!

Zeke loved the trumpet!!
(Allan plays this instrument so there is many a time that the children have a blurt on his!!)

Hannah was doing her own camera work and filming the parade

The real meaning for the Season!! Jesus, God's special gift to us ALL!

One more of us girls!

(note the Kenzie family in the background, we watched it with them, such a wonderful family!!)

Then it was time to put up the tree! Our beautiful treasures all helped soooo wonderfully and we got the "ground work" for the tree done really quickly.

Now time for the decorations...... I love my decorations, most of them are handmade but there are a few special bought ones in there too!

Of course this time last year Esther was only a few days old
so the tree was an exciting toy to discover!!!

Then Sophia couldn't resist dressing her sister up in the Christmas skirt! CUTE!

Lastly we (I mean Allan) put up lights outside. There is a house up the street that "GOES OFF" with lights and we can see it flashing from our office window, so though it's nothing like that we like to do a little!! (will have to provide pic's of that another post!)

So there you have it!! Have you put up your tree yet??? DOne some Christmas shopping perhaps, enjoyed the local parade??? Feel as though you are in the Christmas spirit?? I'd love to hear from you!!!
I hope that your Saturday is a wonderful one,
Smiles Sharnee :0)

First day of Summer!!

2010-12-01T07:13:00.003+11:00

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

YAY!!! It's the first day of Summer and with all this wonderful sunshine we are getting we now also get to enjoy the NEW Stampin' Up! Summer MINI!!!! YAY! It's full of LOADS of wonderful products, especially LOTS of vintage style items!! My favourite!!! So be sure to contact me today and I can post you out your very own copy!!!
Happy first day of Summer
Smiles Sharnee :0)

A family event

2010-11-17T20:08:00.014+11:00

Just the other Saturday I attended the wedding of my sister Sarai to her dream man Mark! I wanted to share some special pic's that I took on the morning of their wonderful day.

the stunning bride walking down the aisle with her Dad - Rob

Some of the official parts of the ceremony,there's the man of the day... MARK!
(clearly this was a serious part!!)

The AMAZING comic book, origami flowers that Sarai hand made!!
I loved the little touches on the day that set them apart!

Sarai's sister Bethany with sweet Sophia,
she never went far from the pretty princesses on the day!

Some of the scrummy delights that Mum made for the day,
Sushi was made by a fellow wonderful friend!! YUMMMMM :)

Now for the cake Mum decorated (see the special touches with the "bride and groom!!"
and the amazing cupcakes that Sarai and Bethany did themselves the day before!! FUN!

A happy snap of Sarah, Esther and I

Now for my super spunky hubbie Allan (and us girls!)

Gorgeous bride - Sarai and me (Sarai made her fabulous head Vail!)

Me, my Mum and sister Sarah

The wedding was at a local heritage house - Franklin House, the garden's looked amazing and the morning was truly lovely!! Hey and in wonderful Stampin' Up! style I even dressed to colour co-ordinate the decorations!! HA HA!!! (completely co-incidental!!)
Hope your week has been really great!! See you soon (hopefully with some cards!!)
Hugs and Smiles Sharnee :0)

Just Add Ink Challenge #43

2010-11-17T19:10:00.003+11:00

Oh how I love Christmas!!! Such a wonderful time of the year and with the latest JAI challenge all about it, I had to make a go and see if I could enter!! Well here I am with my Christmas card!
I actually saw this idea (the one of drawing antlers on a deer) in the latest Australian Card making and Papercraft Mag (page 28) and thought how cool it would be to do that to my sweet little Forrest friends deer!!! How cool did it turn out!!?!?
I also wanted to show off some of the amazing Promo ribbon so with that and some shimmer paint (LOVE THIS STUFF) my effort was complete!!!

Do make sure you check out the other fabulous ladies at the Just Add Ink site, they're soooo clever!
Hope your week is going wonderfully,
Smiles Sharnee :0)

Little Rudolf Set: Forest friends, Notably Ornate & Style beautiful Ink: Soft Suede, Always artichoke, Ridding hood red, Basic black Card: Ridding hood red, Naturals ivory Acc: Striped PROMO ribbon, thin taffeta old olive ribbon, sewing machine, shimmer paint & markers

Garden delights

2010-11-13T06:21:00.007+11:00

One of the reason's there's been not much to show you wonderful people lately is because I've been gardening in all my spare time in the last few weeks! Man it feels good to see dirt instead of lots of weeds!! Slowly but surely we are getting there, (though still HEAPS of weeds to pull!) Just this week I brought Esther outside with me and let her go for it with her discovering!!

It was so delightful to watch her, picking this up, taste testing that! So much fun!

Here is another favourite bit of my garden too, my stunning Ice berg Roses, each standard are just starting to bloom....... how beautiful!

Thanks for popping by,
Smiles Sharnee :0)

Paper Dolls Stamp club 2010

2010-11-13T06:02:00.010+11:00

Each and every month from Feb till Nov I have the most wonderful, talented, lovely group of ladies come to my home and stamp with me in my Paper dolls Stamp club. I ran 3 this year and it's one of my favourite things about being a Stamping Up Demonstrator!! We have the bestest time laughing and stamping and sharing ideas but most of all enjoying what we love together! On Thursday was my last night for the year and I finally remembered to take some pic's of my friends and their crafting!!!

Front: Belinda, Teresa and Linda

Left: Loretta, Sherien, Jayne and Annette

Front: Sarah, Kim and Heather

Lovely ladies getting busy with their projects

Finishing off and deciding "what will I buy this month?!?"

As you can see we have a jolly fabulous time!! Next year will be my 4th year of running a stamp club, please let me know if you'd like more information and want to join me too!!
Hope your weekend is a wonderful one, I have a family wedding to attend so it should be great.
Smiles and hugs Sharnee :0)

I am still here...

2010-11-11T06:49:00.007+11:00

It feels like ages since I've popped in and said Hello, so HELLO out there lovely blogging friends, how are you??
I'm super great, enjoying the day to day activities that seem to chew up the days! But soon as Esther has woken rather early I thought I'd grab this moment to show you a little something. One of my special blogging friends the lovely TINA has put together this wonderful selection of Christmas ideas with things you can buy at Etsy!

My favourite here are those lacy birds

How amazing is that old, vintage cushion cover!

I love clouds so these cute little pillows are CUTE!

And lastly the handmade Christmas trees are simply stunning!!

Doesn't it just make you feel all warm and tingly?!? Click HERE to see Tina's wonderful Treasury of these gorgeous items!!!
I love Christmas and when I get a chance to take some photo's I'll show you some of my newest Christmas cards!!!
Until then I hope that you have a super duper day!!
SMiles Sharnee :)