Hello Friends

Hey lovely blog buddies,

Sorry its been so long in between posts. What can I say. Life has been busy and full, some good and some really not good.

All I can say is.....thank you for sticking with me in my absences.

And for those of you who have used other methods to contact me and encourage me....bless you!!

It truly means the world to me.

Last year ended in a frenzy of busyness. Work practically took everything I had to offer and then some, but I made it to Christmas with my mind and my heart intact, even if the body was a bit bruised from the stampede.

I worked through the Christmas/New Year period as I had planned my holidays for early January.

I took my dear Mama home to Queensland to visit our family and friends up there.

And we made it through five days of solid, heavy, rain at Noosa on the coast.

After all my planning and scheming to get Mama up there, we were not really able to see all that I had planned as there was so much flooding going on.

It truly did not let up. Then we ventured up to Toowoomba, which is about 20mins from my hometown of Oakey.

Yes....we were there when the floods came through. We were safe, thankfully, though our room was flooded and my suitcase was soaked through.

We were unable to leave when we had planned though as all roads around Toowoomba were cut by flood water or pavement damage.

Whilst I was incredibly stressed whilst I was there, partly because I was unable to contact my family and friends and partly because it was stressful for Mama and her frail health, in hindsight, given what my family has lost and had to endure, it was so insignificant.

Sadly, I know some who lost their lives in the floods as well as too many who lost property, houses, possessions, livelihoods!!

My heart is broken for you Queensland and, if it was truly within my ability at this moment, I'd be back up there in a heartbeat helping out.

So, I haven't had much time to create lately, though I've managed to produce a card or two when the need arises, it's usually under pressure and I don't have the luxury of sitting and creaing just for the fun of it at the moment.

My roommate is getting married in just over 6 weeks and then I'll be changing bedrooms and creating my very own little crafty cave in our garage!! I'm too excited. A space of my own to set up and leave up for crafting!! Yay. I won't have to put everything away when I'm done and will have everything there at my fingertips to use. Double Yay!!

Anyway, I'm sure you stopped by to see a card, right??!!

Here's one I made last year as a gift for a gorgeous girlfriend.

Kraft and black - does it get more elegant than that??

Be hard to imagine. :)

I've stamped the chandelier images with Versamark and then embossed with black EP directly onto some printed Kraft DP by Basic Grey.

I added some pleated Kraft coloured grosgrain ribbon I picked up at Spotlight and then wrapped this and made a bow with a thin strip of black satin ribbon.

Adhered it to a Kraft base and there you have it.

I hope to blogging a little more regularly from now on and certainly/definitely so once I've made the move and set up my new little "happy" place.

In fact, one of the reasons I haven't been blogging is that our ISP at work blocked access to Google and blogger back in late October. This meant that I was unable to log in to view my own blog, create new posts and leave comments on other blogs as well. I could have done it from home, but honestly, I get home exhausted most evenings from work and by the time I've done dinner, etc., I did not want to go sit in front of a computer again.

I've constantly checked access at work and yesterday discovered - to my absolute delight - that I can now log in again!! Whooopppeeeee!!

So hopefuly that means I'll be back to some regular sort of posting and updating of this ol' Blog-o of mine. Mind you - this is ususally done at the end of the day so we'll see. Its already after 8pm on Thursday evening here now!! Eeeee.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this looooooong post.

Much love.

Michey xxxx

Did Ya Miss Me??

Hello my long-lost blog darlings!! Actually, I'm the long-lost one, aren't I? hehe

How are you all? I'm good, just been busier than you could ever have imagined and had my focus off of all things creative/crafty in the recent weeks/months. Forgive me??

The little fellas are doing well. I hope to pop over and have afternoon tea with the dudes and their mum tomorrow afternoon. Yay!! I haven't actually seen anywhere near enough of the family lately and can't believe wee Charlie is 10weeks old already!! What?? Where?? When?? How did that happen??

Since I last posted I have made a total of 2 cards. Yep, count them......one.....two!! That's it. Seriously, two cards in three months - that's outrageous and way tooo sad. And only one of the cards I'm about to share is one of those two. The other I'll save for my next post. It was spesh enough to need its own write-up. :)

And, for the record, just because I haven't been creating doesn't mean I haven't been buying!! I've added an air compressor and attachment for my Copics so I can do airbrushing (thankfully, some lovely peeps in my world contributed too so its part b'day pressie - phew, it was a lot of $$$).....and lots of yummy new DSP's (I actually cannot physically walk past a new 6x6 pad without purchasing it.......and am NOT interested in any 12 step programs for this, lol). And have almost the entire range of Distress Ink pads now. Three more colours to go and I'll be there. And the new SU catalogue has just launched here in Aus - so there are a couple of new stamp sets and (FINALLY) Crumb Cake (aka Kraft) ink!! WooHoo!! And now I really need to get started on this year's Christmas cards. Someone kindly (or not) shared today that it is only 96 days til Christmas!!

Anyway...that's enough words from me for now, right?? Onto a couple of cards right?!!

This is a card I made for a dear friend, Pri, for her birthday. I whipped this up in about an hour (maybe two, including all the creative processes that go on in my head before I get started....layout, colours, papers, etc....). It came together reasonably well and quickly considering how little I've been playing recently.

She is expecting her first wee bubba in a couple of months and wanted pj's for her birthday, so my roomie and I went in together to get her some truly yummy pj's that she can wear in these next "growing months" and thereafter as well.

They were in pinks and blues and lilacs, so I kinda went with that for my colour choices. And I stamped the damasky-type flourishy thingy on the envelope too to tie it all in together as well as the wrapping paper, which of course I didn't photograph. :(

The photos of this card were taken on my new iPhone 4.0 and I'm so in love with it!! The camera is soooooo much better than on my ol' iPhone 3G......as you can see in the photos of my next card below. I promise to only use my phone camera when I 'forget' to take shots with my DSLR before giving my cards away though. I was recently given a white photography tent too and I can not wait to try it out. Yay. :)

My dear ol'd friend Les has had another birthday. I can't believe I've been blogging long enough to now be showing you birthday cards for friends for a new year. Last year's card was a CASE of one of Julee Tilman's Verve creations, but this year's was a card I made way ahead of time for her. I made her card before I made her husband's, though her birthday is two months after his. (Jeff's card will be in my next post as it was rather spesh.)

I wanted a go at resist embossing and went with my ol' favourite Upsy Daisy. I paired it with Kraft and PTI's Hawaiian Shores ink, paper & ribbon. This also came together well and I was so happy that an idea I had in my head actually turned out much the way I had planned.

And there you have it. Not gonna say sorry for being away so long as I also can't promise it won't happen again. We're heading into our busiest time of year at work in the Clinic and I have a couple of "events" between now and Christmas as well. More about those later.

Love to hear from you and I'm so happy I've managed to post for you, my faithful friends.

Much love,

Michey xxxx

Pri's Birthday Card:

Cardstock: SU Mellow Moss, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum; Basic Grey Kioshi

Ink: SU Perfect Plum, Pale Plum

Stamps: Kaisercraft Lilac Avenue, PTI Signature Greetings

Others: SU Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon (discontinued), Kaisercraft Rhinestones, SU Top Note Die

Lovely Les's B'day Card:

Cardstock: SU Kraft, PTI Dotty Biscotti

Ink: Versamark, PTI Hawaiian Shores

Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy, Hero Arts Friends (background)

Others: Clear Embossing Powder, PTI Hawaiian Shores Satin Ribbon & Twine, Random buttons from stash. SU Top Note Die.

I've just realised that I've used the Top Note Die on both cards. Totally random and not intentional. :)

And.....just a little whisper to you, my fave peeps, I've got some candy coming up too, to celebrate my first year of blogging (even though that was a month ago). Stay tuned. xxx

Mojo Monday 133

I did it!! I made a card for this week's Mojo Monday challenge!! Sorry....but I'm a bit excited about that right now!! lol!!

My roomie and I have been watching the second series of a delightful BBC show, "Lark Rise to Candleford" and it really inspired me to give the whole shabby chic/vintage look a go!! I'm even talking with a delightful English accent atm (confession: I usually have a bit of an English accent, the by-product of working with so many English/Irish nurses (and my Irish ancestry rising to the fore). Not much ocker Aussie outta my mouth, most of the time)!! Ha ha ha

I was home alone and watching Saving Private Ryan when I started making this card though.

I was pretty keen on inking up this gorgeous new Verve stamp set I have and decided to bring out my inks and aquapens and have another attempt at watercolouring. My Copics got a rest - and I'm not sure they're entirely happy about it!!

Following this week's sneaky news from the US that some of the current SU colours are going to be retired.....I had to show my beloved Sage Shadow that I will never, ever forget!! In fact I'm adding a RE-inker to my growing SU order right now!! PLUS KRAFT!! How would I ever survive without my beloved Kraft, don't even go there Michey........ And I just happened to have these gorgeous Kraft DP's in my collection too that needed to be used.

Now, I'm uploading this at work and know what most of the items I used are....but can't quite remember the name of the DP's are .....so will add those when I get home tonight.

...I've added a photo of the dimension I've used on this card.....its definitely extreme. I think, if I can pull the flower layers apart with out causing tooo much damage I might change the dimensionals to ones I have that don't have as much height. It really is quite heavy and bulky in front and I'll need a box not an envie for this one. :)

CARD DEETS:

Stamps: Verve Love's Flower

Paper/Cardstock: SU Kraft, Sage Shadow, Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla

Inks: SU Cameo Coral, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Distress Inks Frayed Burlap, Tea Dye

Others: Fiskars Upper Crest Punch, Crystal Effects, Kaisercraft Rhinestones, Nestabilities, SU Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, Aquapainter pen, Corner Chomper

Several Birthday cards....

Since its already been a wee while since I've been able to find the time needed to post.....I thought I'd upload a few of my creations in one post.

I'll try keep the chatter to a minimum with this one too (though I may find it a wee bit difficult). :) These were all cards I made for various birthdays.

Dave's Card:

Here's a card I made in May for my Pastor. His birthday is the day after mine and he and his wife have been great friends of mine for several years now. I first met them when they were just pregnant with their first bubba, and she's now a stunning girl of sixteen. You really see how the years have gone by when you see the little ones you used to babysit grow up, hey!!

I tried my hand at creating a graduated background for this card - a little challenging without a brayer (which I now have) and required lots of daubing. Again, the photos aren't so great - but my previous apartment was very light challenged. :)

Aunty Evelyn's Card:

Here's a card I made for my Mama to send to her oldest sister, who also happens to be my Godmother.

Not that I see her very often at all these days and she is no longer required to be my legal guardian should something happen to my folks.

Anyway, I really wanted to use Bella Rose DSP for her card and used that as my starting point.

The ideas sort of flowed from there and I played around with the layout for a little

bit until I was happy.

My Mama loved it and was more than willing to send it on to her sister. :)

Lesley's Card:

One of the longest and dearest friendships in my adult life has been with a treasure called Lesley. We met during my first year in Sydney and became firm friends. We just about did everything together even though she is just a year or two younger/older than my parents.

She got married to a lovely chappy 12 years ago and we've managed to keep the friendship alive over the years. She had a big birthday this year - 60!! And I wanted to make her a spesh card - trying not to resort to her favourite colours - being a Kiwi that means Black and White. I used this lovely set that I had just received from Verve and also used Julee Tilman's sneak peek card for the layout and design.

Fereen's B'day:

My dear Fijian friend Fereen (try saying that ten times fast) was seconded to Canada for the first seven months of this year and I missed her dreadfully. She's just a whole bunch of fun to be around. I was late in getting a birthday care package in the post for her, but when she did receive it she was very, very happy.

A box full of many different types of Tim Tams and some yummy, yummy tea from T2 (or so she said. I wouldn't know as I really don't like black tea at all).

The parcel arrived just as she was starting to pack up all the things in readiness for being sent back to us who love her here in Sydney. She had accumulated quite a bit of stuff during her stay and the Tim Tams got her through the trauma of packing (though most of it will be of no use here - we just don't have the same winters that you Northeners do). :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Michey xxx

RECIPES:

Dave's Card:

Cardstock: SU Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Inks: SU Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Blue Bayou

Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy

Others: Misc White Brads, SU Slit Punch (to make scallop border on sentiment), Clear Embossing Powder & Heat Gun (on flowers)

Aunty Evelyn's Card:

Cardstock: SU Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Bella Rose DSP

Inks: SU Old Olive (sentiment); Versamark + Versacolour Gold (on presents)

Stamps: Verve Birthday Surprise

Others: SU Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Curly Square Punches x 2, Kaisercraft Rhinestones (coloured with Copics to match cardstock)

Lesley's Card:

Cardstock: SU Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Kraft & Old Olive DSP

Inks: SU Old Olive, Baja Breeze, VersaColour White

Stamps: Verve Just For You, SU Oval All

Others: SU Hodgepodge, White Taffeta Ribbon, Kaisercraft Pearls

Fereen's Card:

Cardstock: SU Riding Hood Red (I know it looks quite orange, more poor lighting); Kiwi Kiss & Kiwi Kiss DSP

Inks: SU Riding Hood Red & Kiwi Kiss, Versamark

Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy & Verve Thankful Blossoms

Others: SU Kiwi Kiss Ribbon, Random Red Brads, Embossing Powder and Heat Gun