Cards For Australian Troops

Hi one and all
Over the last couple of years i have read many American blogs (Jennifer Mcguire in particular) that talk about 'cards for troops' and thought what a great idea, but what would i write to a soldier that i had never met? Well.........++##DAH**##   Linda you don't actually write on them you send them blank. OK so it took me a couple of months to figure this out and i love this idea. Just imagine sending a blank card to a serving soldier and he can then write in it and send it back to say his little son, imagine how the little boy would feel-"I got this from daddy" or how about a Valentines card or I am so proud of you card. Oh its making me feel quite sad and happy at the same time thinking that we as crafters can do this to help support our Aussie Troops.

I am ashamed to say that i never thought to organise anything like this for our troops but a lovely lady from the Cricut Messageboard has. Her name is Mel and she can be contacted via email here all we have to do is send some cards-with envelopes to Mel and she will forward them on to the appropriate places.
So please all you Aussie crafters out there go through your stash (i know you have them) or make some new ones, any themes. Melissa is sending the first batch out on Jan14 so you still have time.

Here is my first contribution, these all came from my stash so i will make some new ones for my next lot.

Here is a piece from Mel's post over on the Cricut messageboard-

"Had a chat with the US organiser of the Cards for Troops and have a few tips.

If you would like to put a name on the back of the card please feel free to do so, but use only either your screen name or your first name, no surnames please. We will also be stamping the back of the cards with an email address so if anyone wants to make contact with the girls they can via that one. I will onforward all emails to the card maker and also share them on this thread. The email address is cardsforthetroops@hotmail.com
For those sending cards, a huge thank you. For those thinking of participating, please remember this will be an ongoing event until all our troops are home!! So whilst you might not be able to help out now, any and all help is welcome at any stage and any time, as well as any amount of cards be it 1 or 100!!
We have approximately 2,900 personnel overseas at present time from all three services. These areas include East Timor, Sudan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East."

Okay so this is my mission for this year and now i will have to go and replenish my card box and what a great excuse to buy some more supplies, surely Andrew cant begrudge me even more money to spend on craft to make cards for our troops!

Thanks for reading my very long post i had better go and make some more cards.
xx

Okay

..It's 3pm and i have just taken Joe to work, Caitlin is at work and Andrew much to his disgust returned to work today so GUESS WHAT? I am home alone for a couple of hours. The ironing is up to date for the first time in about 6 weeks so i have some extra time to share with all of you.

So how was every one's Christmas? Mine was OK i don't know if it was because we had been on holidays or what, but i wasn't very prepared and the excitement wasn't there for me this year or is it because my children have grown up and would rather sleep in on Christmas morning than get up at 5am (OK not Joe's fault as he was working until 1pm Christmas morning).

Anyway here is the start of some of my holiday snaps and aren't you lucky  not everyone gets to see me in bathers. (oh and before you look at these i have put on about 15 of my 40kgs but not to worry am back on track now)

me buy the pool RELAXING

Andrew and Caitlin at the pool bar for Happy Hour.

Well that's enough of that for now, some more to come later. Here are some lovely rosettes and flowers that i made after watching a video on the Hero Arts website by Jennifer Mcguire.

Cant you just see the big ones on some yummily wrapped prezzies, oooo, I can so i will be making a ton of them in different colours b/c after all 'its all in the packaging'.

Now you all know that i love to make mini albums and seeing as i was so inspired by Tracey's hybrid Christmas album i am going to do a little hybrid 5"x7" album of our holiday.



Here is the album cover with a lovely photo courtesy of Joe who had fun playing with the camera. Very simple but this is what this album will be.

"Lets start at the very beginning a very good place to start" do you remember that song? Doris Day i think. Anyway i digress as usual, yes the beginning.. us waiting for the taxi at home and us at KL airport in Malaysia waiting for our connecting flight. This was done on a 5x7 template that i purchased from Jessica Sprague. You will see a lot of these throughout the album in different formats. I also kept the envelopes that they give you in the room to add to my album.

So what do you all have planned for the next couple of weeks? Apart from doing some rearranging of rooms and cupboards i am enrolled to do two online classes, one starts tomorrow. So yay i am back in crafting mode.

Will be back later today or tomorrow to ask you Aussie crafty people for some help (its all about cards for troops a huge thing in America and hopefully one that we can start here)

Its good to be back

See ya later
xx





Merry Christmas

Hi everyone you probably thought i went on holidays and never came back. We have been back for a little over a week now and as you can imagine it is a very hectic time so i have no crafty projects to show you.

We had a fabulous time on our holiday, spent heaps and ate way to much, i will put you all through the agony of seeing some-not all, of my photos after the Christmas rush has died down.

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a safe and happy new year. Thank you all , for your lovely comments and support over the last year.

xxx
Linda

A quick post then up up & away

Hi there
thanks for stopping by. I just wanted to share with you what i have been playing with this week apart from my Christmas table runner which i am pleased to say has been hand and machine quilted and is now ready to have the binding sewn on.

Last night my Stampin Up consultant-Tracey dropped of a new stamp set and punch and of course i had to have a play right there and then. Look at these cute little ornaments, i just have to add some bakers twine and then they are all ready to hang. I am thinking a whole lot of them in a bowl or big jar would make a great decoration. And how could i not go past this mini milk carton die, isn't it just way way too cute? It fits two yummy wrapped chocolates, i think i will be making a lot of these as well.

Everything used to make these cute things come from SU apart from the twine.

Now on to a lay out (or LO as i normally say) This one actually started out as a digital LO but i wanted to print it out there and then and as i don't have a 12x12 printer that wasn't an option so i kept the photo bit exactly how it was on the digital template and then i just printed that out. Then i just copied the rest of the template using real papers and ribbon so now tada i have a Hybrid LO. All of the papers and alphas for this LO came from my Cocoa Daisy kit club (incidentally they were voted in the top three kit clubs by the scrapbooking industry USA so if you get a chance go check them out. So worthwhile) the ribbon is from Stampin Up.

OK here is a link to a very cute free digi stamp, if you don't use anything digital you should have a go at downloading this one its a thank you and oh so cute.
This will be my last post for a little bit as up up and away we go, so please take care of yourselves and think of me doing it tough ie/ lots of shopping in the morning then relaxing by the pool in the arvo then a sumptuous dinner followed by more shopping (and can you believe i hate shopping-but not on holidays) be back soon with lots of photos.
Love Me
xx

Planning Ahead

Hi there
We are off to Penang in a couple of weeks and there is a whole heap of tasks that have to be done before we go. This is one of them.
Its one of our  volunteers (at work) birthday whilst i am gone so i have instructed/asked the girls to organise some flowers for her and also this card and cute little purse full of chocolates.

The paper and stickers are Basic Grey-Capella and the purse was cut out with the cricut and the Forever Young cartridge.

I am busy hand quilting my table runner so not much else is happening here or should i say no more show and tell.

Have fun doing whatever you are doing and enjoy your day.

xxx

Linda

All ready to quilt

Remember a while ago Tracey and I got together with Susan to have a bag making lesson? Well this time its a quilted table runner session. Yesterday under Susan's supervision and much moaning and groaning from Tracey and me (we HATE the cutting out bit) we cut out our triangles and did a bit of sewing.
I then stayed up most of the night (was waiting for Caitlin to get home) and sewed mine together.

Excuse the poor lighting but you can get the gist of what it looks like. The patterned fabric is Kate Spain's 12 days of Christmas. We all used a different colour homespun so like our bags they will all turn out completely different. And mine will be even more different as i thought that i had made four blocks to many and didn't include them in my runner (oh well you get that) it would have made it very very long. I am saving the other four to make into a coordinating coffee table quilt as you all know i have a thing for those.

Now i just had to show you a close up as i am very proud of the fact that i nearly got all of my points to meet correctly (i am a very near enough is good enough person) so i took extra care with this project as i couldn't have Susan's and Tracey's looking all perfect and mine slap dash could I? So its all ready to quilt and unlike Susan and Tracey i love hand quilting so that is what i will be doing and yet another reason why our table runners will look very different.

Now this is why i was up so late, wouldn't you wait up for someone that went out looking like this?

Have a great week everyone
Thanks for stopping by.
xxx
Linda

This and that

Hi there, how are you all?
I have a couple of things to show and tell.
 Scrappy Go Lucky are having a new challenge on Wednesdays called Whip It Up Wednesday and the theme this week was to colour a cricut image. I can tell you now that i have never thought to colour an image that i cut out so i had a great time looking through carts and deciding what to cut and how to colour. The stockings were coloured with Copics and some Distress Stickles.

The snowflakes were coloured with distress inks and then a quick spray of Glimmer Mist. Love how these turned out. I got this idea from the Hero Arts blog although they didn't use a cricut image. So there you go more great things you can do with the cricut.

Last night Andrew and i went out to dinner with our BF's without the children/young adults (who were disgusted that they weren't invited BTW) and i just had to make a little I Love You present for my friend so this is what i made.

Another little card set and one of my crocheted cleaning/dusting cloths. If you hadn't guessed already her favourite colour is PINK.

All presented in a cute bag because as you know it's all in the presentation.

Another of Caitlins BF's (she has two) is turning 18 at the end of the week so Caitlin asked me to make her an album so this is what i have done so far.

Didn't have to do much to the cover-add the ribbon, some pearls and a lovely stamped sentiment and of course ink the edges.

Inside the front cover is this pocket that i have inked the same way as i did the snowflakes on the very top photo. Love love love the way this turned out with the matching tag. The flower page is from my favourite October Afternoon-Fly A Kite collection and will have a photo attached to it. So with that in mind i had better go and work on the album as it has to be finished by next Saturday.

Have a great week everyone, thanks for stopping by.
xx

Great Giveaways

Here are the links to some great giveaways.


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You can win all of this by clicking here

and Enfys has a great giveaway where you can win the complete set of Promarkers.

remember you have to be in it to win it.
Have a great day.
xx

Pizza box mini card set

Hey there, thought i would start with all of my pics first. As you know i so LOVE making little cards and matching boxes and aren't these just oh so cute. The mini pizza box instructions can be found here it is oh so easy to make. I did cut out a half circle on the opening top flap to make it easier to open.

..and aren't the cards oh so cute. All made with some very nice Stampin Up stamps that i have been dying to play with, the cards are 3x3inches.

...and i just had to show you the matching envelopes i made to go with them (they fit in the box as well). LOVE these, they are made with my friend the cricut using the Cindy Loo cartridge.

am going to make me some more, why? I don't know, to be honest i never use little gift cards but these are so cute i am going to make a stash to keep on hand for prezzies-have some cute tea cup stamps that i may use in my next box.

If you are into stamps GoingBuggy has another great giveaway - some fairy stamps.

Happy crafting.
xx

More from last post

Hi all, here's hoping i can download these photos that i meant to share on Friday with you.

The first lot of are a book that i have made-my little craft book- to have near the computer to jot things down on or for any inspiration i might have (ha, i am not one for doing a sketch of my cards or LO's i just do them). The idea for this came from Scrappy Go Lucky.

For the dividers i have used a recipe card design from the cricut cartridge From My Kitchen. There are four sections, copics, cards, general and cricut.

More card making..

and this is what happens when you have three 16 year olds having a sleep over in the late hours of the night.

aren't they amazing. With some glow sticks from a show bag and the new digital camera set on an extremely slow shutter speed and the darkness of night the boys came up with these and a lot of others. It kept them busy for about two hours and i think they are "cool".
Ok i am about to check in on all of your blogs now so have a good night/day.
Linda

M I A

Hey there
sorry have been MIA this past week.
My school holidays did not end well for me with a huge fall in the kids bathroom which left me with the biggest bruise i have ever seen (about 10inches long) on my butt which made sleeping and sitting down very painful.
Am happy to say that its not too bad now.

Before i forget Enfys at Going Buggy has an amazing giveaway and it ends on the 17th  so you had better get in quick.

Here's what i have been up to over the last week.

This is a double LO from when Caitlin went to her music festival a couple of weeks ago. I have used Basic Grey papers and the Stampin Up butterfly punch.

Well i did have a load of other crafty things to show you but my browser doesn't appear to be working so i will have to put them in another post.

***some cricut love***as you all know, i love my cricut, well Caitlin and her Uni friends love it now. Boy has my bug had a big workout this week. Caitlin had a whole week of prac at her primary school, teaching and preparing three lessons a day, we had girls over here making posters for some of their lessons, cutting out huge clouds to hang the children's work from, big flash cards etc. This only justifies what i said to Andrew when i upgraded to my bigger machine "apart from me using it Caitlin can use it for her class work" i said this only half believing it and of course i had to justify the money i had spent on it and guess what it was true so i didn't tell a little lie. Now i wonder if i spend $400.00 on more craft stuff if i can say the same thing. (I don't think he will believe me)

So i spent last night making thank you cards for Joe's teachers as it was his very last day at school (he starts his apprenticeship soon), thank you cards for Caitlin's prac teachers and 28 goody bags for all of her year 1-2 prac class. And guess what- not one photo to show you.

I will try and post all of my other crafty things later on
Hope you are all well, and have a lovely weekend.
Linda

Purple, Orange & Black

That's the colour challenge over at ICopic and as i want to get in some practise with my Copic markers i thought i would give it a go. As we don't celebrate Halloween over here i didn't use a Halloween greeting (could be the fact that i don't have one to use either) but who could resist this cute digital stamp that i purchased from here. It is so cute.

Of course my trusty cricut got a workout with the frame and the background paper is from Stampin Up.
I don't have a clue who i will give this card to but i think it's very cute.

I have been reading quite a few blogs lately and in most of the American blogs i have read, everyone goes on about their love for "Candy Corn". Can someone please tell me what it is and what the texture is like. Is it like the coloured popcorn here which is plain old popcorn coloured with food colouring or is it something far more yummier that we are missing out on?

Linda

Challenge 2

The next challenge over at Christina's blog is to make a card using PINK as pink is the colour for breast cancer. So here is my card.

and that's it for me, its gone midnight and i am going to bed.
xx

World Card Making Day

Well good evening or good morning where ever you are in the world. Christina from Creations With Christina is having an all day blogfest in honour of World Card Making Day. I have been waiting patiently all day for this to begin and no doubt like some of her other Australian followers will be staying up a bit late to do a couple of the challenges.
The first challenge was nice and simple although mine still came out different.

The papers are Fly A Kite by October Afternoon and the stamp is Stampin Up. If you get a chance go and have a look at Christina's blog she does the most awesome videos.
Have a great night/or day.
xx

One mans trash is another....................

As the saying goes "one mans trash is another mans treasure". This wooden Christmas tree was in my friend Tracey's chuck out box so i nabbed it. I thought that i would decorate it and take it into work and leave on my bench for the girls to look at, not to count down the days until Christmas but to count down the days until i am back at work as in a couple of months we are going to Penang.

Sorry the photo is terrible but can you make out the little presents i made for under the tree?

Next up is a very simple layout of Joe playing with the new camera. The journalling is done on the PC so this then becomes a hybrid layout.

The remember stamp is from the Ali Edwards monthly club set and is stamped in Poppy Parade ink one of the new 'in colours' from Stampin Up which i happen to think matches the Basic Grey papers perfectly.

Last but not least is a card i made for Joe who has just earnt himself an apprentice chef position at one of our 5 star resorts. (I think we only have one five star resort) Well done Joe we are very proud of you and i must say that i will be waiting for you to come and practise some of your new skills in our kitchen.

Hope you all have a good weekend.
xx

How sweet is this

I was blog hopping- as you do- and came across instructions to make these adorable, sweet, cute, amazing gift pouches. In the USA they call them sour cream containers as i guess that is what their sour cream comes in. First off i have to apologise to the owner of the blog where i first saw them as i didn't copy the link because i was so excited and had to make one there and then, really they are so very very easy to make..                                                   I used a die and stamp set from Paper Tray Ink to make this cute tag. The paper is 6x6 made into a tube like a toilet roll and glued down at each end and then you crimp it with a crimper. I just happen to have one that my friend gave me about 10 years ago and i have never used it. I have been tempted to throw it out many times but now i am so glad that i kept it as it gives these that little extra finesse.

 

 Here's a LO of my mum, it should be titled "never to young to swing" The papers are all Basic Grey.

 I got some Stampin Up goodies during the week and here are two cards with different sentiments. The HB sentiment is an Ali Edwards stamp from Technique Tuesday (another monthly package i get). The idea for these cards came from the SU catalogue.

 Here's a LO that just had to be done as the story had to be recorded. In our family we are all tall. I am 6ft. My son Joe has been taller than me for a while now but not taller than his dad. Well, he is now, Joe is 6ft 5in and he's only 16, how much taller will he get?

The tape measure on this page is a canvas ribbon from Tim Holtz, the ruler stamp is from Paper Tray Ink and the Title letters are from Stampin Up (notice how perfectly aligned they are-i used my new stamp positioner)

 BTW-the papers i used to make my three cards in yesterday post were October Afternoon, Fly A Kite. My new AB FAB FAVOURITE.

and last but not least is a photo of my yummy Yorkshire puddings that i made last Sunday and promised to show you.

Wow the set out of this post is all over the place, that's what happens when you are rushing. Sorry.

It's a public holiday here in the West tomorrow so if you have tomorrow off have a nice day. Joe is going to the Royal Show with some friends. Caitlin as i type this is at a Music Festival called Park Life which started at 12 lunch time and finishes at 12 midnight, guess what poor soul has to pick her up?

ME

but i cant complain as its also the start of the school holidays here and that means holidays for me, and guess what? I have a real lot of crafing mojo happening so that's what i will be doing.

OK that's me done

take care everyone

thanks for dropping by.

LINDA

Emmas Challenge

Hey there and happy Saturday to you all. Yes my photo should be up next but alas it came up first. For this weeks challenge over at Creative Time for me with Emma was to make a card without using the cricut, well i had so much fun last night and was so in the mood to make cards that i made three.

It is a glorious day here, quite warm in fact, i think we will be having an early summer this year and that its going to be very hot.

Sure do have the crafting bug right now so i am off to make something else, have lots to share tomorrow, i have been a very busy girl.

Have a great night, thanks for stopping by

LINDA

Lazy weekend

Hi there, i hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Just have to let you know that my gnocchi last week was a huge success. I made so much and was starting the huge task of rolling them into their shapes when Andrew (DH) volunteered to help. Cant remember the last time he made anything in the kitchen. Of course his were way better than mine! It was so much fun and i would still be rolling them today if i didn't get any help.

Had a lovely scrappy night last night (by myself) and made some more Christmas's cards and tags from the scraps. Mum was over this morning and said that she had better go and buy some but i think i will make her some tonight although it had better be a simple design as mum (and dad) send out loads.

These three cards were made with scraps and are pretty crappy really but when i want something crafty to do but don't feel like doing much (if you know what i mean) i sit in front of the telly and colour so i thought i would use the coloured images for a couple of cards.

I also made this LO yesterday afternoon and am very happy with the way it came out. I love the continuous shooting on my new camera, unlike my old one were you only got about 6 frames this camera will keep shooting frames until you take your finger off the button. (i used this feature on the LO of mum on the swing). Everything used here is Basic Grey-Pyrus range.

Now this LO took me all of Friday night to do and it's from a Basic Grey class so i didn't have to design it myself. (lots of layering) The photos are of my nephew Ben who is a very talented football player and has made the districts for his area, who knows one day he may be playing for an AFL team.

So that's it, it sure has been a crafty weekend for me and its not over yet.
In case you are wondering (and i know that you aren't but i will tell you anyway) we are having a Standing rib roast beef for dinner with Yorkshire Puddings (i make the best Yorkshire puds i have seen anywhere-probably because i haven't seen any anywhere) if you are lucky i will take a photo just to show you.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A Bit of a Banner Thing going on

Hi all, wow sorry my blog has been a bit neglected of late but that doesn't mean i haven't been crafting.
So here is a couple of things i have been working on over the last few weeks. Incidentally when i looked at them they happened to have banners on them hence the title.
This LO was inspired by Rebecca Keppel and i think i used Echo Park -A Walk in the park papers.So bright and fun and because i like a bit of texture on my LO's a hand drawn and sewn flower.

Next up i did make my god son an eighteenth card welded together on the Gypsy and then cut out on the cricut. I must say that i am happy with the way this turned out.

Now here is my next banner bit. My Basic Grey Monthly kit arrived this week and i knew i just had the perfect photos to use with these papers. The kit comes with some sketches and some LO instructions in case you don't feel like creating your own, so the LO on the left is a lifted one, the LO on the right is my own.

Now you know how i go on about "it's all in the packaging" . Well my dear friend Tracey gave me a sheet of scrapbooking paper and look at how she wrapped it. Oh its so nice it just sits on my craft desk where i can admire it. The paper will probably be so rolled up when i get to use it that it wont be any good, but it's just way to pretty to open.

This morning i felt like cooking so i said to the kids that we will have slow roasted lamb shanks with home made gnocchi for dinner. Huh, what was i thinking. The shanks aren't a problem they are in the slow cooker but it is now 5pm and the last thing i feel like doing is making gnocchi. Ahhhgh i had better go and get on with it.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Linda