Ode to a happy memory

Hi there on this very fine Monday morning.

Happy Australia Day for yesterday!

Today's card was inspired by a trip we took to visit my sister in law Michelle (before she was my sister in law!).  While we were in Cairns, we took a trip out to Green Island and went snorkeling.   I took a million photos (well almost!) and we had a magical Day.  Our oldest, Taylor, was the first to spot a sea turtle!  I think the Beach boy image looks a lot like him, so this is my ode to our family adventure a few years ago.

I left the back ground very plain, I tried a few different things, but it kept distracting from the boy.  I drew the turtle and fish from photos I took while on green island and all were coloured with the water colour pencils.  Micador is the brand I have been using if you were wondering.  The delightful image (that looks like Tay) is Beach Boy  from our wonderful sponsor

We are very excited to be sponsored this week by the wonderful

http://www.scrappersdelights.com/store/

Janice is generously offering our winner 3 images of their choice.

Remember, to be in the running to win the prize from our sponsor this week just leave a 

comment for another entry. Be sure to mention you saw them on Make It Monday. The more

 entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning!

This now brings me to my POTW Live Inspired.   There were Sooooooo many to chose from, but this one made me think of cool shady gardens, beautiful old houses and my home state Tasmania.  And I love the sentiment (which Desire made herself)... and the dragon flies... and the colours.  So pop over and visit Doing Life

I also would like to share an amazing 3D card by Diana Larson called Thank you for the Music. 

 Go over and check it out :-) 

Thanks for checking out my blog.  I think I will work on my card a bit more and post another photo later.

Have a great day and don't forget to share your paper creation with us at Make it Monday Linky Party.  

Rachael :-)

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

Welcome to my little bolg.  Safest way to visit me at the moment!  

We are in the middle of a heat wave in Roxby - and in most of Australia - and it has been very hard to want to do anything.  It has hovered around the mid 40s (Celsius) for the last week and the aircon doesn't keep up during the day.  I get a huge spurt of energy at night, but most of that is just spent cleaning up.  It is too hot for the dogs out side and they dribble the water form their bowls all over the floor!  I have even been putting ice in it for them.  Anyway, I don't mean to winge.  There are many people in Australia who have lost houses because of the bush fires.  There are many emergency services personnel who have to be out in the heat and fire.  Hats off to the paid and volunteer staff who give up their own safety for others.  Keep them in your prayers and those who have suffered loss.

On to something exciting... that is today's card for the Make it Monday Linky Party  design team.

I have recycled Christmas cards on this card, printing the digi image on the blank side of one and cutting out the silver star from another!  The black card is just standard card stock I picked up from the newsagent and double sided tape and glitter for the stripes.  Scrapbooking paper from my stash for the yellow star.  The image is coloured with water colour pencils and I "Smooched" his glasses with silver firefox.

The image Rock Star Boy is from this weeks sponsor Bugaboo Stamps.

http://www.bugaboostamps.com/

Bugaboo Stamps are offering a very generous prize of winner's choice of 7 single digis!

So get over to Make it Monday and link up :-)

This now brings me to my POTW.  There were so many great creations to chose from but not only was this one a beautiful card, it is a beautiful cause and blog.  Please pop over and have a read.

This little beauty is Shelly by Karen from Kaleidosopic Sparkles

Thank you for stopping by my blog :-)

Hope you stay cool if you live in the heat, stay warm if you are in the cold and enjoy your days if you are experiencing nice temperatures.

Rachael

What a week!

Wow, what a week!  I have been trying to keep on top of my hope for the year... to "get my stuff sorted".  I finally got the dining table back to being a dining table (might not stay that way for long, but for the sake of marital bliss I need to find a way of packing up easily and quickly); AND I even got the bedroom sorted!!!  Thanks to pintrest I even sorted the dresser draws and found a bit more room in them (Shopping anyone?).  I am even managing to keep the lounge and kitchen tidy whilst working a bit more.  On top of all that I even made home made dog food, gourmet happy dogs now.  Yay, for the Thermomix!  I really don't know how I am finding the time to do all this, but I am and I am enjoying it too.  Which gets me to the icing on the cake...

Another card!

This weeks sponsor for the design team challenge is Lacy Sunshine Stamps and I found a beautiful butterfly girl... Anyone guess my favorite theme? ;-)   She is Emily's Monarch Butterfly Umbrella and I love her.  Now I need to get to my sewing machine so I can try and make a dress like hers!

 Again I used water colour pencils to colour her in.  The scrap booking paper and card is from my stash and the little butterfly is a Stampin' Up punch that I painted with more water colour.  

She is very summery which suits me at the moment as we are having temperatures ranging from low 30s to low 50s, Celsius  by the way. (that is 86 to 122 Fahrenheit)   I need a parasol too.  I had lunch with family in Whyalla last weekend and ended up painfully sunburnt on my shoulders and back.  Oops.

Another good thing about being on the design team, is looking through the links for the Make It Monday Linky Party   


Lacy Sunshine Stamps

"Lacy Sunshine  Stamps offers  beautiful original and imaginative  digital stamps  for all your paper crafting needs.  

All images from Lacy Sunshine are  hand  drawn and designed by  myself, Heather Valentin, a professional artist, muralist and  illustrator  and my dad, professional artist, G.P. 

From the art desk of Lacy Sunshine's creator....

"I am one  who loves creating timeless pieces from my heart and  soul, creating an extraordinary world filled with magic and whimsical friends.... one drawing at a time.  Come  journey with me now into my Lacy Sunshine World".

Thank you for taking the time to visit. Enjoy your stay!

~Heather"

They are offering our winner 3 images of their choice from the Lacy Sunshine Shop 

My POTW comes from Kelly at KO Scraps4u 

Kelly has put together a very cute album with lots of pockets and flaps to put many memories in and on.  I would have so much fun searching for all the hidden surprises in there.  The elephant on the front is so cute too.  Check it out.

Thank you for stopping by

Have a great day
Rachael

Cards for Guys

Hi there,

I would like to share some male influenced cards with you.  You may notice a slight obsession with Tim Holtz stamps in some of them and I apologize for the poor quality of photos, they were all taken on my phone, just for my records at the time (or to put on facebook!) 

 

 This card I made at a workshop in Andamooka, we were given a layout sketch and had to make a card using it.  All papers, stamps, inks and embossing powders were provided at the workshop and I don't know the brands I used.   

Here are photos of Andamooka, again only taken on my phone.  The blog is called a Adventures of a Crafty Traveler after all!  I should include more of my Traveling.  Andamooka is a half hour drive from my home, but completely different from anywhere.

The church has had a huge second roof built over it to offer extra insulation inside and shade outside for gathering under.  Quite necessary when temperatures get over 40c (104f).

 I love the clouds!

All the piles of dirt are from the opal mines, some you can noodle through and hopefully find your own piece of Andamooka to take with you!

 The above three cards are the Tim Holtz inspired cards using his stamps and distress inks.  I actually love the clashing colours and messiness!

This card I made for a friend who is army soldier mad!  And yes, he is all grown up.  I took a few of our boys army soldiers and sketched them.  I then cut them out and mounted them on army soldier green card.  I had a light brown embossed card in my stash and got out the chalks and tried to make it look like army camouflage.  Inside I had made a dog tag out of silver card and added his details.  

I often try to think about making cards for guys, then get distracted and make something girly.  Going through these photos, I realize I had heaps of fun making the guy ones too.

Hope you enjoyed them.

 

Have a great weekend. 

Rachael :-)

I hope this is a sign of things to come

Hi there,

Today I finished an assignment! Another first for the year.  It looks like my plan of getting things sorted this year might actually work.  Although if you were to see my dining table at the moment, you may have your doubts.  It is covered in stamping and card making bits and a heap of school work for me and my wonderful husband. 

I just wanted to share a card I made for a friend's farewell.  Living in a mining town, there are a lot of farewells that occur this time of year.  This particular friend is one of the older members of our town (with an average age of 35, it's not that hard!)  and has been here for 25 years so is also a longer serving member of our town and community.  She has been there for me and many others through our tears and shared in our joy and celebrations.  She is a loving, fun, inspiring woman and has lead the Women's Bible study group, probably for as long as she has been here, encouraging many others in their ministry.  I will miss her hugs and her smiles and advice... but there will be visits!

The Post Card, Swallowtail butterfly and sentiment are all from the Stampin' Up range of stamps, as is the purple card stock and the lilac ink, the scrap-booking papers were from my stash, also used an archival black pigment ink and glossy accents.  

Well, its just hit midnight here so it is way past my bed time.

Night all :-)

First Official Design Team Post!

 As a member of the Design team for Make It Monday I have had the joy of making a new card, playing with a digi image and looking through the entries for the very first linky party of the year. 

The image from our sponsor that I got to play with was New Year Resolutions.

I think she is very cute! Coloured with water colour pencils and used card stock from my stash as well as fine glitter and glue.  

The sponsor this week is Time for Tea Designs

 

Time For Tea Designs is the home of my digital creative world! My name is Jo Davies & I'm a digi stamp designer,doodler & tea drinker from the UK :) T4T is a part time venture that I do around my full time 'proper' job. My dream is to one day make this my only job as it brings me so much happiness seeing other peoples creations with my designs. I hope you enjoy my artwork & are inspired by the creations of the Design Team. Happy Colouring!

Time for Tea Designs are giving away a prize of 3 images of the winners choice.  Thanks guys!

Now, I am also supposed to comment on a card from the Make It Monday linky party.  Well it was very hard to pick a favorite but I did narrow it down

Karen C - Home of the Busy Honey Bee





 I love the use of colour, sparkle and images, as well as a great verse to start the year off with!

So that is it from me.

Night night and hope you have a great and crafty year ahead!

A new year, a new challange

Hi there and happy new year!

Long time, no posts.  Nothing new about that!  (Sorry)  This year though, I have accepted a new challenge that came in the form of an opportunity to be involved in the Make it Monday design team on my sister's blog "Pink Paper Paradise" 

I now have to get organised, get my time sorted and start posting once a week.... Can I do it?  I hope so.  My first card is using the Digi stamp "New years resolutions" from "Time for Tea Designs".  I have never used a digi stamp before and found it to be easy and a big plus is that you can make it any size you want.  I thought the New years resolutions image would be a perfect start for this new adventure.  So here is my card, hope you like it.

 

A fairly simple start, the image is coloured using water colour pencils and the dress has been cut out and laid over a piece of scrap-booking paper, then embellished with glue and glitter to try and look like fire works. 

Till next time :)

New Years Resolutions

Pink Paper Paradise