Puzzling....

What on earth is this?


It's the last (well, second last if truth be told) swap for the year. We were sent 9 identical puzzle pieces, and we had to decorate them in a 'woman' theme and keep them vintage. Here's my piece:

I used some Webster's Pages patterned paper, a Tim Holtz ticket, some old text and other patterned paper as well as some white lace I dyed in tea, then coffee because it wasn't strong enough. The 'I am woman' stamp is an unmounted, so I don't know who makes it.

I can't wait to see it all together - I'll post a pic when I get my returns.

even more tag book progress....

This is the second last book I'll be working in for this swap. This one belongs to Kylie, and her theme was women.

I used some Darkroom Door photobooth images, and the scroll stamp is by Autumn Leaves.


See that white ink? It's Whisper White by Stampin' Up, and I'm impressed! I bought it from Michelle, and it exceeds my expectation. I was never truly happy with white StazOn unless it was on acetate, but now my dreams have come true. Keeping it clean is going to be a challenge! Luckily they're very reasonably priced, so another one in say 12 months time is not out of the question.

World Hello Day

Did you know that today - the 21st of November is the 36th annual World Hello Day? Soooo:

hello to you!

All you need to do to participate is greet 10 people today. I know, it's going to be hard for all you hermits out there! But remember, saying hello today is doing your bit to demonstrate the importance of personal communication for preserving peace.

If you can't possibly bring yourself to speak to anybody (we all have days like that!), or if you're just too busy, or in a different time zone, why not send a card? Here's one I prepared earlier:


I used Webster's Pages papers from a Lime Tart kit, and Odd Bird Planet stamps.

I hope everyone has a fabulous World Hello Day, and thanks for stopping by my little blog!

more progress....

Here's another book I've finished working with. This is Diane's, and her theme was wings.


This would have to be my preferred colour palette, despite blue being my favourite colour for decades. Go figure.
Birds.....can't get away from them, can I? And again with the shiny shimmer that's difficult to photograph.....not making it easy on myself!

Tag book progress

Somewhere toward the beginning of the year, I joined a swap where we had to alter a double page spread in a chipboard book. About a million things have happened since then, on a personal level, on a work level and on an art level for me, so this swap has been moved down on the list of priorities a number of times. However, I'm all done now - what a relief!

Here is the page I did for Nikki's book. Her theme was colour, so I chose some colours I love but hardly ever work with. It wouldn't be me if I didn't add a little black and white somewhere!


I first added some texture stamping into gesso, then painted with Twinkling H2Os I think. As if it wouldn't be hard enough to photograph, I then added some gold Rub'n'Buff. The pennant stamps are Zettiologogy and the scroll stamp by Autumn Leaves. IRL, but barely detectable is another background stamp by Tim Holtz. Here's a close up:


Thanks for looking!

November gallery

The gallery over at Lime Tart is now open. It has works from all three November kits, the Full Tart, the Half Tart and the A la Tarte, so make sure you visit each section.
I had a little play with the A la Tarte kit, which included some brand new, not even released yet stamps from Odd Bird Planet *squeal*.
The papers were Fancy Pants, and had a Christmas flavour:

But not overpoweringly Christmas. I made these cards for some pretty little girls who have birthdays coming up very soon:

The A la Tarte kit has now sold out :(, but some of the ingredients are still available here.

Sporty flair

These cards use papers from Flair Designs All Star range together with Odd Bird Planet stamps.

Now's the time to pull out all of those sporty puns LOL!


Just about every sport you can think of has been covered - tennis, basketball, volleyball, golf, football (gridiron, not Aussie Rules), soccer and that's not all!


The colours on these papers are soft and sublte, and yet they have a lot of detail in them.

SheetLoad's Blog Candy Blow Out

How's this booty:



It's being given away over at SheetLoad of Cards. It will be divided among 4 lucky people - pop on over and drop your name into the hat.

November's special deal

This month's offering from Odd Bird Planet is this bundle of stamps at a whoping 25% off:


Here are a couple of cards I made using some of these stamps:


They are available from Lime Tart here in Australia, or Odd Bird Planet in the US.

Something new, something blue

Shhhh....a new baby......a boy baby:

No - not mine. My sister's new son. She now has a pigeon pair. This little man's name is Lucas, and I can already tell he has a great sense of humour. I told him the one about the priest, the rabbi and the chicken:


Ooops, so maybe I took it too far:

Delivered by my sister a couple of weeks ago by caesarean section - my brand new nephew. My sister sitting around in agony and not being able to drive around for six weeks while her wound heals is collateral damage. I have a new nephew!!

Gee - you enjoy them so much more when they are not your own!

Monkey see Monkey blue

These are a couple of cards I made using the Monkey Business limited edition kit from Odd Bird Planet.


I used the Bright Blue kit, and I think it lends a bit of a patriotic festive flair to the cards:


I can tell I'm going to get heaps of use out of these stamps. I'll pull them out whenever I need to make a card from a group of people - birthdays, farewells, invitations........all those monkeys grouped together make me smile.

These kits come with a sheet of unmounted stamps, plus paper, clip art and a tonne of embelishments. Click here to see more cards I made with these kits.

A la tarte stamps

The collection of stamps from October's A la Tarte kit is one of my favourites so far. The kit contains three stamps this month - Favorite Cupcake, Sweet as can be and Heart Trio. Here are some cards I made using the stamps from the kit:



The kit has now sold out in Australia :( but is still available in the US. Click here to see the amazing gallery of work made using the kit.

More Fairytale kit

Here are a few more cards I made using the Fairytale limited edition kit from Odd Bird Planet.

I used some of the gorgeous fabric for the first layer in this one:



I coloured this image in with my Twinkling H2Os (making it a little difficult to photograph properly):


This one uses one of the chipboard embellishments from the kit:

Fairytale kit

Odd Bird Planet has put out a limited edition kit with a fairytale theme. It contains a little sheet of unmounted stamps, a sheet of clip art, beautiful papers and a heap of gorgeous embellishments. Here's a card I made using the kit:


I used a chipboard arch painted with Tim Holtz crackle paint for the window. I made the nest with the vintage dressmaker pattern and the adorable little eggs from the kit. Here's a close up:

Bright little monkeys

I made this couple of cards using the Monkey Business limited edition kit from Odd Bird Planet.


I used the Bright Green kit here,
and it's also available in Bright Blue and Vintage colours. See my previous cards using the vintage kit here, here and here.