Sweet 16 + Hand Stamped Cards CTMH

Wow! What a busy weekend for our family.  My daughter's Sweet 16 birthday party was a huge success.  She celebrated with a great group of friends and they all seemed to have a fun evening together.  She didn't want the night to end, so I take that as a sign of success!

Usually I always make the birthday cakes for my children, but this year I was really struggling with time so I asked a friend if she would consider making one for my daughter.  She agreed and made the most amazing cake!!  She had never made a topsy-turvy cake before, which was the birthday girl's request, but she was up for the challenge and the end result was a stunning cake which received a lot of praise on the night.

 

Our back garden was lit up like a fairy light wonderland, it made for the perfect party backdrop.  We loved seeing our daughter so happy and enjoying her celebrations with her friends. 

 

Well I promised to share some of my latest creations with you, which are all stamping related, so here they are:

A Christmas Card made using the Hostess Washi Tape Stamp Set available from Close To My Heart (CTMH).  I love this stamp set - it is so versatile and you can use it to make so many different things.

This card and the next one are similar, just done using different ink colours and sayings. The background is done using the CTMH Honeycomb stamps.

This next one is made using two of my favourite CTMH products - the Chantilly Paper Pack and the Pinwheel stamp set which was the September Stamp of the Month set.  I love the colours in this card!

And this one is my other favourite stamp sets Paisley Perfect.  In fact, it is probably my most used stamp set of all.

A lot of these cards and others that I have been working on samples of some of the card making workshops and also you can see they are all packaged in plastic - the reason for that I will save to share in another post.  Another first time venture for me which makes me feel both excited and a little scared at the same time.

Hope you are enjoying a great week so far!

So much Crafty Goodness!

If you are a reader of my blog, you will have noticed the underlying fact of my life is that I am too busy.  I love all that I do, but I am guilty of cramming too much into each 24 hour period and leaving myself feeling constantly on the brink of exhaustion.  What do I do for relaxation, other than craft?  I read Amish novels and I love them, I love escaping into the tranquillity of their world.  The two extremes of lifestyle could not be any more different. 

 

The reason you haven't heard much from me, is simply a lack of time to get to my computer and update my blog.  I have been busy crafting whenever possible - mostly making cards.  It's been too warm to crochet lately, summer has come early it seems.  I haven't been in the mood for quilting.  Maybe once my craft room is finally sorted out and I have someplace to leave my machine set up  it might look more tempting to sew.

 

Here is a card I made for my oldest daughter's birthday.  It's quite a large card and I was so happy with how it turned out.  This weekend we are having a Sweet 16 Party for her.  She is very excited and looking forward to it!  

 

I enjoyed going along to the Stitches and Craft Fair last week with my oldest daughter.  It is the biggest craft fair we have here each year and always has an amazing display of quilts on show, plus lots of classes to do and a large variety of stalls for shopping for just about any craft imagineable.

One of my purchases was this giant sized paper punch - these flowers measure 2  1/2" or 6  1/2cm, so they are huge!  It was one of those bargain prices I just couldn't resist.  I could imagine so many craft possibilities with our scrapbooking, card making and also my playgroup crafts.  The best part is this punch is really easy to use too, not like some other punches I have which really hurt your fingers/hands to use.

 

Recently I found out that one of my favourite stores, A Shabby Streak is closing down.  So very sad, especially when it is one of those specialty stores where you can find all types of gifts, home décor, pretty laces, little girl treasures, etc.  It is just a beautiful store and will be missed by so many.  So I did go pay them a quick visit when I was in the area yesterday and came away with some lovely china mugs and a pretty cake plate and these gorgeous pieces of lace and flat pearls for making something with.

 

I have some beautiful hair scrunchies and a hair clip which also have come from A Shabby Streak.

Today a nice big parcel was delivered for me!  I always get excited when parcels arrive, especially if it is craft items and I get to look inside at all the wonderful treasures - even if they aren't all for me!  Here are some of my new Close To My Heart supplies which I can't wait to try out!  I think I will need to wait until after the party on the weekend though, too much to get done between now and then.

 

Here is the exclusive Stamp of the Month set for October.  I've seen some beautiful card ideas made from using these stamps.  If you like it be sure and order before the end of the month so you don't miss out.  Stamp of the Month sets are never repeated again.

 

 I will be back to share more of my latest creations soon!

  

 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies & CTMH Craft

It is school holidays here and so that means lots of children around, all of whom seem to be constantly hungry!  Here is one of our favourite cookie recipes which we find is loved by anyone who tries them.  They may not look overly attractive, but don't be deceived - once you try one of these cookies, it is hard to resist taking another!

Here is the Recipe in case you may want to give them a try.  Yes, it is a lot of butter, which is why you don't make them often!!

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Chocky Rocks
250g Butter
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
½ tsp Vanilla
2 cups Self Raising Flour
100g Chocolate Bits
½ cup Sultanas (optional)
2 cups Cornflakes

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla, beating well between each addition.  Fold in flour, choc bits, sultanas and cornflakes and mix thoroughly.  Place teaspoonfuls of mixture onto greased/lined baking tray and bake in oven for 12-15 minutes at 180*C (160*C for fan forced).

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We have been spending days with lots of play dates for the children with their friends.  We have also done quite a lot of papercraft activities when it has just been our family having a quiet morning or afternoon at home.  Certainly never a dull moment here!

 

I've had so much fun making up cards using my new Close To My Heart products.  One of my favourite stamp sets has been the Washi Stamps set - this is a special hostess reward set only.  If you want to know more, just contact me.

 

I hosted a CTMH gathering last week and enjoyed an evening of card making with a lovely group of ladies.  These are the cards we worked on.

This simple design was to give the ladies practice with general stamping techniques, especially for those new to stamping. 

 

This card was a lot of fun to make.  The Pinwheels stamps are from the September Stamp of the Month Promotion.  I've fallen in love with these pinwheels and used them for a number of different card and scrapbook projects, even a simple table centrepiece.  I can picture using them for birthday parties too - so much fun to stamp and put together.  It's fun experimenting with colour combinations too, colour makes them all look a little different.

 

Hope you are enjoying a little bit of craft time in your part of the world!