I’m Falling Apart At The Seams March 28, 2007

I can’t believe my luck (or lack there of) with injuries over the last two weeks. Not Sunday just gone, but the Sunday before whilst I was rushing around to get ready for brunch for my Mum’s birthday, I hurt my neck. How – who knows, all I know is that I moved, and not all that suddenly, and I felt a definite pinch. The pain from moving, even just the slightest movement, got progressively worse during the day, until it became unbearable. At this point, we made a trip to the hospital – mainly because I figured it would be the only place with a physio working on a Sunday and for some advice on meds because I’m still breastfeeding. Turns out, not suprisingly, not much available in the way of medication. A physio eventually saw me, however, she was not able to treat me, only refer me for treatment the next day. Luckily I have a fantastic physio and he was able to fit me bright & early the next morning. A bit of a massage and a few ‘adjustments’ later I was able to move almost pain free. Another adjustment on Wednesday and Friday (fixing up lots of pregnancy related aches & pains) and I was feeling as good as new. Until Sunday.

This Sunday, I moved my pony, Herry, to a new temporary paddock. Unfortunately, the other horses that were in the paddock didn’t take too kindly to my little guy and proceeded to chase him to the bottom corner of the paddock, where he stayed – too afraid to move. When attempting to move him into a smaller paddock to feed him, the big ones (3 of them) decided he was too close and chased him again. This time I was on the other end of the lead rope and as a result of him going one way and my arm going the other, my shoulder ended up getting dislocated. Straight away I knew I was in trouble – it was such a strange feeling – my arm was SO loose, limp and floppy. Luckily it found it’s way back in, but my physio was none too pleased when I rocked up today. I figured that since my arm had popped back in without any trouble, and that I was pretty much pain free, I was OK. Apparently you can do major damage with a dislocation – and he was very angry that I hadn’t got it checked out before today. So now, I’m sitting here, trying to type, trussed up like a Christmas Turkey. It turns out that my joints are quite flexible, so hopefully, I should be able to start some strengthening exercises next week.

As for Herry, he is OK (I was eventually able to get him away from the others), but will be going to a new, permanent, private paddock on Sunday. Here is a picture of us, taken quite a few years ago now. It’s one of my favourites – I’d gotten the giggles because the photographer’s assistant was throwing a toy in the air to get him to prick his ears foward and everytime she did it, he’d shy (move quickly to one direction, often in the opposite direction to you, thereby dumping you on the ground, LOL)

Photo Credit: Copyright – Julie Wilson Equine Photography

Featured Stamper Challenge March 19, 2007

This is my ‘entry’ for the Featured Stamper Challenge on SCS. I am SO glad to see Angie Z (aka duckwaddlequack) is this week’s featured stamper. Angie very kindly left a comment on my last post, which is immensly flattering as her gallery is just amazing. I checked out her blog, which is a must see and saw this beautiful card. Now, it was my mum’s birthday last Monday and I just hadn’t been inspired to make anything (I did know that I wanted to use my new PapertreyInk set, which was still brand spanking new!).

So what did I do that was different I hear you ask. Firstly, I used the dotted background from Delight In Life set on the card base. I then sponged black ink around the edges like Angie did. I omitted the fibres from around the purple piece and I used my new Papertrey Ink Papertray sentiments for the Happy Birthday instead of the heart image.

All the flowers were stamped on W/White in B/Black Classic Ink and the big flowers were overstamed using the solid image inked in Orchid Opulence. I then watercoloured them using the blender pen and Orchid Opulence marker. The flower centres were covered with 2-way glue and then had Dazzling Diamonds sprinkled on them. They are attached to the card using 2-way glue. The swirls were stamped in Versacolor Black pigment and embossed with Hologram Highlights EP. Same with the Happy Birthday sentiment which was punched out with the 1-1/4 RD punch. The B/Black mat was punched with the 1-3/8 punch. The black layer is mounted to the card using dimensionals. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this card and will be posting it for the challenge later today as it’s still Sunday in America (got to honour the No Upload Sunday rule *wink*)

Supplies Used: (all Stampin’ Up! unless othewise noted)

Stamps: Delight In Life (SAB set), Papertray (PapertreyInk)

Cardstock: Orchid Opulence, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black Classic, Orchid Opulence marker, Black Pigment Ink (Versacolor)

Accessories: Hologram Highlights EP (LSS), Dimensionals, 2-way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 1-1/4 & 1-3/8 RD Punches, Sponges

First Scrapbooking Class – Look at what I did!!! March 16, 2007

Yesterday I attended my very first scrapbooking class, taught by my downline, Anna. Isn’t it just gorgeous. Sorry that the photo is terrible – I am USELESS at taking photos of my projects, they seem to all end up wonky?!?!?!

I’ll give you a quick rundown of the products I used – I say I because I was the only one to do the ‘boy’ page, everyone else did the ‘girl’ version, which is posted on her blog, Creative Delight.

The base is a Bazzil – not sure of the colour that I ran a white Versacolor pad over. The white layer is SU Whisper White that has been torn and the edges inked with Versacolor Green Tea. The patterned paper is Basic Grey Phoebe – Pier 39 with the edges inked with Versacolor Lapislazuli. The photo is matted on SU Whisper White and Bashful Blue. I distressed the edges of the BB mat with a bone folder and then inked them with the Green Tea ink. The chipboard ‘flourish’ was painted in Jo-Sonja White acrylic paint and when dry I ran over it with the Green Tea & Lapislauzli inks and attached it to the page with SU 2-way glue. The outside of the ‘play’ element was inked with Green Tea, the inside was covered with BG paper, the edges inked with Versacolor Atlantic and Making Memories rub ons were used to spell out the word play. The whole thing was then covered with Mod-Podge. I then tied on the ribbon & the rik-rak and attached it to the page using SU 2-way glue. The letters spelling Harrison’s name are Thickers by American Crafts. These are SO cool. They are self adhesive, but if you just place them lightly on the page, you can move them around for placement before giving them a final push to stick them hard to the page!

I just LOVE this page – I really has me inspired to do some more scrapbooking & it’s not like I don’t have a truck load of photos to use, LOL. Anna is holding this class again next week, so if you’d like to attend, check out her blog and drop her a email to let her know you’re interested!

More Make & Takes March 8, 2007

Here are another couple of Make & Takes from a recent workshop.

For this one, I inked the Canvas background in Pretty In Pink and stamped onto PIP cardstock. I then coloured what I call the Hydranga flower from Heartfelt Thanks using PIP and Mellow Moss markers and stamped 3 times without reinking inbetween (yes, there is actually a 3rd flower, it’s just a little hard to see!) on Whisper White. I matted this onto a rectange of M/Moss and then wrapped a piece of White Organdy and Pink Gingham ribbon around the image before matting again on W/White. This was then mounted onto the card using dimensionals. I then stamped the Thanks sentiment, also from Heartfelt Thanks, at the bottom using W.White craft ink.
Supplies Used:
Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks
Ink: Pretty In Pink Classic, W/White Craft, Pretty In Pink and Mellow Moss Markers
Cardstock: W/White, Pretty In Pink, Mellow Moss
Accessories: White Organdy Ribbon, Pink Gingham Ribbon, Dimensionals

This one is almost a direct CASE from Brierrose on SCS. Until we can get full packs of cardstock in all colours, I’m restricted in colour choices for workshop projects, especially when there are lot of people expected (17 + me). I liked this one because W/White & R/Red are colours we can get in full packs!!

In this version, I added some paper piercing in the top LH and bottom RH corners on the W/White layer and I’ve used the Heartfelt sentiment from the Heartfelt Thanks set to change it up a bit. The Heartfelt Thanks set has become one of my favourites, especially for workshops. You can get so many different look from just this one set, which is pretty cool considering it’s actually a flower set!

Anyway, I coloured the flower using Real Red and Old Olive markers. For the centre of the flower, I used the thin end of the R/Red marker and just dotted them in by hand. The Heartfelt sentiment was stamped in R/Red classic. The main image is attached to the card using dimensionals. Too easy!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks
Ink: Real Red Classic, Real Red & Old Olive markers
Cardstock: W/White, Real Red
Accessories: CTK – Paperpiercing Template & Tool

If You’re A Blog Reader…….. March 7, 2007

Then you NEED this. After seeing Sarah recommending it on her blog, I set up Google Reader today and I’ve gotta tell you this is THE best thing since sliced bread. It is a MAJOR time saver as it shows which blogs have been updated since your last visit, eliminating the need to check each one individually. It also updates straight away!!!! I was previously getting updates from either FeedBlitz or Feedburner (depending on whose blog it was), and I don’t know if it was because of the time zone difference or what, but the update notifications I was getting were like a day later than when the actual post was. This ended up getting pretty frustating because 9 times out of 10 I had already seen the new post before I was notified!!! It also shows the complete post instead of just an excerpt, which is really cool too!

So if you start noticing people unsubscribing from your blog, don’t worry, they’re probably just viewing through Google Reader

Part 2 March 6, 2007

So, this is the 2nd card we did as a M&T at my last workshop – it was just too late to post it last night. I did finally get PSE sorted and can add the watermark info easily (I set it up as a brush), but, boy was it a chore. It was lucky that I found a post from Mamakimberly on SCS who explained how make a watermark & brush, otherwise I’d still be sitting here trying to work it out, LOL. It still needs some tweaking, but it will do for now.

I also had a request to show some watercolouring at the workshop and this is what I came up with. I knew alot of the girls attending have girls, so that influenced the colour choice. I stamped the cupcake from Birthday Best on W/White with B/Black. I then coloured the icing with the Pixie Pink marker. I then scribbled some Creamy Caramel and Bashful Blue marker on the box the stamp set came it, picked up the colour with a blender pen and coloured the bottom of the cake with C/Caramel and ‘grounded’ the cake with the B/Blue. Summer Sun was used to colour the candle flame. I then covered the top of the cake with 2-way glue, and while it was still wet, covered it with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. This was then matted with B/Black and attached to the card base using dimensinals. The pink paper is from the Sassy DSP (which is being retired 31/03/07) and the sentiment, also from Birthday Best is stamped in Pixie Pink ink. As a finishing touch, I added a bow of White organdy ribbon.

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Birthday Best

Ink: Basic Black, Pixie Pink Classic Ink, Pixie Pink, Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, Summer Sun Stampin’ Write Markers

Cardstock & Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Pink Striped Paper from Sassy DSP

Accessories: Blender Pens, White Organdy Ribbon, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip

Why is PSE 5.0 So Hard to Use???? March 5, 2007

Why, oh why is it so. I’ve just spent the last hour trying to make a watermark in PSE 5.0 to add to my cards. I miss Paint Shop Pro – it was so easy. I was going to upload 2 samples but since it has taken me so long, it’s only going to be one now!

Here it is. We did this as a Make & Take at a workshop I did on Saturday. My hostess asked for 2 step stamping and this is my favourite set for that technique. It’s a no layer card, i.e. I just stamped straight onto the cardstock and added the ribbon for embellishment. Don’t you just love the way I can add ribbon in a straight, but crooked line (although I think this was the sample I actually did at the w/shop to show everyone, so I did it quickly). Of course, it’s stuck down with sticky strip so it’s not going anywhere!

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks

Cardstock: Bashful Blue

Ink: W/White Craft, Chocolate Chip Classic

Accessories: Chocolate grosgrain ribbon, Lt Blue Gingham, sticky strip

Well, that’s about it for tonight. I will upload some other M&T tomorrow. Gotta make the bed so we can go to sleep! Nighty Night.

Going, Going, Gone March 1, 2007

It’s finally here – our very 1st Retiring List. Check it out here. So, if you’ve been waiting to get anything that’s on this list, NOW’s the time. All the items listed on the Retiring List will only be available until March 31, 2007 or until stock runs out!!!!

Now, if you’re already a customer of mine & I have your email address, I’ve sent you an email outlining a special offer. If I don’t have your email details and you want know what the special is, email me with your details and I will forward it on to you.

Don’t forget you can place orders with me at ANY time and I am now able to accept Visa & MasterCard, along with direct deposit as methods of payment.

So what are you waiting for??????