Merry Christmas one and all!!!

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Albeit a very late, it still comes with all the wishes for a safe and happy holiday season sprinkled with much fun and frivolity!

I cannot believe where this last month has disappeared too! No sooner had I packed up from the second garage sale then I was up to my armpits with baking, packing for our week’s holiday which commenced the day after school finished, endeavouring to get all the shopping done BEFORE school was out, plus all the general froth and bubble that goes with day to day life in the lead up to Christmas anyways!

Another thing that kept me busy in that fortnight before school finished for the year was making four dozen Sour Cream Bags. This name is actually American and probably should be renamed “Frozen Samboy Bags” for here as I have yet to see any sour cream in these shaped bags in the Australian dairy cabinets.


These bags were in lieu of Christmas cards from the children to their class mates. Last year the children made their own cards. Yes I did design a card each for them to copy but what can I say, they are my children hence they nodded their heads in unison with a “yes mum” whilst all the while doing their own thing. Now who does that remind you of?!

No such luck this year though, their hearts were willing but their bodies weren’t able so it was left to me to cut, stamp and punch. Miss Seven did however sort the Christmas Tree marshmallows that went inside each of these little bags quite willingly and they both wrote up their own Christmas tags thankfully.

Both the paper and ribbon were last year’s stock from Stampin’ Up! I can highly recommend these bags should you need to use up any back-log of supplies you may have. I could have used even more paper but the Midas in me redid the sizing’s so I could get six bags instead of just the four out of one 12×12 – far more economical for mass makings!

The stamps however are both from the current Idea Book and Catalogue from Stampin’ Up! The Perfect Punch set I now leave in my kit as I continually reach for it when I need a basic sentiment that doesn’t look basic.W hat you can’t see from this picture is that I’ve in fact stamped Joy for Christmas twice – once in green, once in red – using my 1-1/4″ circle punch on one just for the sentiment then using dimensionals to adhere this circle then to the scallop punched out stamp.

As for the bauble stamp from the Delightful Decorations set, my gosh, how often did I use that in the last four weeks? All I can say is thank goodness my bauble punch was up to the challenge as at a rough guess I think I’ve used it at least 500 times… if not 600 times… at least!

Now for my joke I’ve been saving for months and now is really too late but never mind such minor details…

What is orange and says Ho Ho Ho?
FANTA Claus… ha ha ha
… oh go on, I know your smirking! šŸ™‚

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas whichever way you may have chosen to spend it, and are now bunkering down for one heck of a 2011!

Oh, and have yourself an... Inkee Fiddling Day!

Joanne x


To flu or not to flu… that is the question!

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After the garage sale I waited and waited to feel this great sense of relief as I thought once I purged myself of a lot of my excess gear I’d have this weight lifted from my shoulders. Well, that’s what I’ve heard a lot of theseĀ  experts say at least. I really thought the “heavy” feeling I’d been experiencing for so long would miraculously disappear… well it didn’t heh?!

But a funny thing happened whilst I was away on the week-end… whilst I was away “creating” with Britney, Paris, Nicole, Jessica, Lindsay and Kelly (names have been changed to protect the innocent) my darling hubby was disassembling our old 510l fridge/freezer that so within hours of my arriving home on Monday morning, we had the huge sucker down the four flights of stairs and into the garage.

It was almost four months to the day since it had ceased to work that it was finally no longer sitting stagnant it my dining room. It was after this that I promptly fell asleep on the couch, have now slept EVERY afternoon since, and amĀ  now I’m fighting what I guess is a summer flu as I can’tĀ  go anywhere without my box of tissues and feel as if a bus has hit me. Oh happy days!

Today, however was NOT wasted as to get me in the Christmas spirit the children and I watched back to back Christmas movies. I only managed three movies before falling asleep. I was then woken a couple of hours later with a very late afternoon snack of… a fried egg! Yes, Master Nine loves his fried eggs as much as I do so had made us each a fried egg as a snack! Don’t you love it?!

Anyways, enough moaning. This is one of the cards I made for my last SAS (Stamp-a-Stack) classes. This year I seem to be favouring pink, purple and white for Christmas. With the exception of the base card, each piece of white cardstock I’ve embossed with the polka dot embossing folder.

The Christmas Ornament has been stamped twice, having been kissed with both Elegant Eggplant and Melon Mambo. It was then punched out with the Ornament punch with one of these having a 1inch circle punched from the centre and then dazzling diamonds glued all around the remaining cardstock. And of course a rhinestone placed in the centre of the ornament pattern.

Card Recipe
Stamp Sets: Delightful Decorations
Classic Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo
Cardstock: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Ornament Punch,
1″ Circle Punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Rhinestone Jewels, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Oh, and have yourself an... Inkee Fiddling Day!

Joanne x


Can’t a man just enjoy his toe-jam?!

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This is what I heard from the back of the car this afternoon just after Miss Seven had let out a long EWWWWWWWW Master Nine had mistakenly put his warm socks on this morning to wear to school so consequently by the time I collected themĀ  this afternoon his feet felt as if they were on fire so as soon as he was in the car his shoes were off. Oh, the joy of boys… you gotta love them!

Then we grabbed an early dinner and it was back home and into the garage. You see I’m on yet another mission… after a throw away line to a friend a couple of week’s ago that I should have had a garage sale for all my “out of sight out of mind” gear in the studio, it’s now become a reality. It’s operation GARAGE SALE with anything not tied down or has a child attached to it being sold!

I can’t believe we ever survived in our two bedroom apartment for so long when I look around this house – we seem to have stuff EVERYWHERE! Now, don’t get me wrong, I quite like my stuff (as anyone who has known me for any length of time will testify too) however there’s stuff and then there’s stuff, and it’s the latter we seem to have an abundance of. So

If you know of anyone who’s setting up house for the first time who may need sheets, cast iron pots and pans or even a dozen black candelabras, or would love some wonderful embellishmentsĀ  forĀ  scrapping or cards from various parts of the world (I have an ENTIRE table of those bits and bobs), there’s three boxes of just CRAFT magazines – papercraft, embroidery and patchwork, plus there’s loads of DVD’s, children’s toys, clothes, etc, etc… come on over this Saturday 30th October… there’s plenty for everyone!

With my mind being on the garage sale I have to confess I haven’t had much time for playing. Now I think about it, this has probably been the longest I’ve gone for a long time without creating. I made the cutest box Tuesday morning for a friend but guess what… thinking I should take a photo doesn’t equate to to taking a photo… argh!

Anywho… I did find this little gem I made not long after my Extra-Large Flower Punch arrived. I had had the background stamped for ages as I love the Artistic Etchings Stamp Set but I wanted something other then red, black and white so messed around with some blues and pinks and came up with this.

Card Recipe:
Stamp Sets: Artistic Etchings, Perfect Punches, Delightful Decorations
Classic Inks: Bashful Blue, Pacific Point, Pink Piroutte, Melon Mambo
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pacific Point, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Corner Rounder, Scallop Oval Punch, Fancy Flower XL Punch,
Large Oval, 1″ Circle Punch, Dazzling Diamonds

Oh, and have yourself an... Inkee Fiddling Day!

Joanne x

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