Cards

I am spending the weekend with friends scrapbooking and wanted to make a small gift for them. My friend Karen loves all things to do with tea making and paraphernalia. As CTMH doesn't have any stamps with tea pots or cups etc, I searched the internet for images and found some beautiful ones. Here are the cards that I made. For Colleen I found beautiful images of vintage posters. I love making cards, sometimes choosing colours and embellishments for the card is easy other times nothing seems to match the image.

I am really happy with the end results. I found the lovely teapot stick pin at  littlescrapshop.etsy.com, she has some very beautiful embellishments for card making or scrapbooking. I also made the box for the cards to go.

Photo Album

I created this album for my niece Cara to add photos of her new baby Genevieve. It was a fun project to do, there are so many of the CTMH stamps that you could use for a project like this. I got the idea for the chest of drawers from Pinterest and was so easy to make. These are just a few of the pages in the album. I will be posting the album to Cara tomorrow.

30 Years of Happy

I have just checked the tracking on my latest order from Close To My Heart and it said it will be delivered today yippee! I am waiting patiently for the 30 Years of Happy stamp set to arrive, I have seen a number of samples of projects made using this stamp set and can't wait to use it myself. Here are a few cute items that others have made from this stamp set.

Happy Father's Day

My dad passed away 3 years ago next month I do miss him, unfortunately he suffered with Alzheimer's Disease and did not know any of his family for at least a year before he died. My parents were married for 63 years that is pretty much unheard of these days. He studied to be an electrician like his father and pursued that career for many years.  During his  youth he was very interested in boats, from sailing boats to racing motor boats on the lake in Nassau. He also enjoyed racing gocarts. He moved the family from the Bahamas to Perth Western Australia in the early 1970's because of the political climate in the Bahamas.  Later in life he decided to buy a property about 2 hours from Perth and established an avocado orchard. This was his great passion, he loved everything about country life. He did extensive research about growing avocados and was very successful at it. He was a wonderful father and grandfather, he mellowed so much when the first grandchild was born. He loved spending time with his grandchildren, his eldest grandchild Jodie gave a touching eulogy from the grand children's perspective at Dad's funeral. When the great grandchildren began arriving he loved holding them and talking with them. By this time he had started showing signs of early Alzheimer's and I can remember one of my niece's sons when he was about 6 saying to dad "you have already asked me my name don't you remember" but of course he didn't.

This is the only photo we have of dad as a boy.

These are photos of dad enjoying his hobbies.

This is one of the latest photos of dad it was taken on his 82nd birthday in 2010. Happy Fathers Day dad!

Genevieve

My mum, my  sister Frances and I went to visit my niece and her new baby this morning, she is absolutely gorgeous. Not only is she a beautiful baby, Cara says she is a very good baby, she sleeps and feeds really well. Genevieve was asleep when we arrived but thankfully shortly before we left she awoke and we all had a cuddle. There is nothing sweeter than the smell of a new baby. Genevieve is the 16th great grandchild for my mum, what a blessing for her.

This is her big sister Monique, she is a real chatterbox and kept us entertained during our visit. She had Auntie Frances blowing bubbles for her, and couldn't wait to show us her trampoline, she is a master at trampolining.

 The lovely Cara and Genevieve

I really enjoyed making this card to go with the gift for Genevieve.

National Stamping Month "30 Years of Happy"

September is National Stamping Month, and Close To My Heart is ready to celebrate all month long! When you spend $30 on any current retail-priced stamps during the month of September, you qualify to receive the exclusive C-sized stamp set #30yearsofhappy for FREE! This special offer is part of our celebration of National Stamping Month and in honour of our ongoing celebration of our founder and CEO Jeanette Lynton’s 30-year anniversary in the scrapbooking and stamping industry. The exclusive stamp set features 30 mini images and sentiments perfectly suited for 30 days of happy stamping! These stamps would be great for so many different projects.  

A Beautiful New Addition to the Family

My niece Cara and husband Frank added a beautiful baby girl to our family, she is Genevieve Mary Frances weighing a hefty 8lbs 14oz. with chubby cheeks and dark hair. Of course I think she is beautiful. Her grandfather (my brother) is one proud Poppy. He is the eldest of my siblings yet was the last to have grandchildren. His family is now growing quickly he has 3 granddaughters and another on the way hopefully this one will be a boy. I plan on visiting soon to see this lovely little girl in person. Her big sister Moni is taking it all in her stride and I am sure she will be a fantastic big sister.