Trip to Queenstown

Recently I went to Queenstown for work.  Pat, Sam and I had some girly fun while we were down there.

 Here's the view from our hotel room.  

 We spent a bit of time in the Remarkable Sweet shop.  I think I'm absorbing the sugar by osmosis.

 The hotel lounge bar served some wonderful desserts.  Nothing like chocolate and a warm fire.  Sam treated herself to a special coffee too.

 Pat and I went for a little walk.

 And found a nice place for a drink.

 We took in some of the beauty.

 And fresh air.

Here is where we stayed,  The Ridges Hotel.

Alice in Wonderland

Last weekend I went to a hens party for my lovely friend Kayleigh.  The theme was Alice in Wonderland and we were all asked to dress up.  I must admit at first I wasn't too keen but in the end i decided to go all out and make my own costume.

So here is my dress.  

I used the black cards from 8 decks of cards which I have sewn together.

First I made a skirt pattern.  Here's Marsh helping me.

Then I placed cards on the pattern and kept them together with little bits of masking tape.

Very carefully I've sewn them together.  As I didn't want to risk them coming apart I ran duct tape on the back to strengthen the skirt.

 I used my punches and die cuts to make flowers with playing cards and SU card which I hand sewed on. 

The back 

Here we are with Kayleigh (Alice).  From left, Julie, Yola, Anna, Lynda, Clare, Jenny, Niki, and me. Kayleigh and Helen in front.

We had a great night!

No outfit is complete without accessories.  I made this bracelet and a handbag.

Here is my little bag.  It's just big enough for my purse, phone and a lipstick.  

First I made a pattern out of paper which I stuck the cards on to.  

My lovely friend Kim laminated it for me.  I hand stitched it together with embroidery thread.

Two more cards

Recently we had two events to celebrates the first was the 50th wedding annaversary of my dear friends Norm and Pat.  We had a lovely afternoon with them.

 I cased this card from Michelle Zindorf.  I am getting better with the brayer but would love to attend one of her classes for some tips.

The other event was my fathers birthday.  I'm not sure where the instructions for this fish came from but it makes for a great man card.

JAI Colour challenge JAI#161

This weeks JAI challenge is to use colour.  Specifically Midnight Muse, More Mustard and Rich Razzleberry.  

I decided to use water colour paper for the first time!  I added colour with the direct to paper technique. Thats where you just rub the ink pad on the paper.  I then sprayed the paper with water to give texture. Thanks to Charlene Merrich for the inspiration for this card.

Happy Christmas.

It's never nice to be in hospital at Christmas.

I work at Auckland City Hospital and we work extra hard to bring Christmas cheer to our ward.  Once again I was asked to help with the decorations.  Every one has to walk passed our reception so we wanted to make it look extra special.  In the middle of the night I stacked up some boxes, wrapped it in brown paper and went to town with some paint.    I stacked up some fire wood (thanks Kim) and added some red and yellow cellophane with twinkly lights.  Voila a fire place!

With the JAI challenge Just add Christmas I had to enter again.  I just love Christmas!!

Tis the season to be jolly

I just LOVE CHRISTMAS!  

I even got caught singing a christmas carol in the car while I was sitting at the lights.  Well the man in the car next to me didn't know what I was singing but he could see I was enjoying myself.  I really enjoy making christmas cards so when I saw this weeks Just Add Ink challenge was Just add Christmas I had to make something.  I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do because there are so many options.  Any way I decided to make some shaker cards because they are always fun.

Thanks Kim once again for the loan of your stamp set Watercolor Winter.  I had fun designing the poinsettia.  In fact I made 7 before I was happy.  I used the small petal from the Blossom Petals Builder punch.  I then folded them in half and ran them through the crimper at a slight angel.

The little glass micro beads make a wonderful sound when you move the card around.

For shaker card number two I used white embossing to give the image that extra punch.  

I have never used my sticky strip with micro beads before.  It makes such a pretty effect.

I had a bit of time to play around with some sponging so here is the card I made.  I used Baja Breeze for the snow and Pacific point, Not quite navy and Night of Navy for the sky.

I had to share this lovely Christmas card Kim gave me this year.

Just add Balloons

This weeks JAI challenge is just add balloons.  Perfect timing because a little friend of mine is turning 3 on Saturday.  I decided to use the happy little monkey from the Fox and Friends stamp set.  The balloons are from the Owl occasions set (which I love) from the Christmas Mini.

Happy Birthday Asher!