February Stamp of the Month Blog Hop "Cherishing Her"

Welcome to the February stamp of the month blog hop, if you arrived here from  Maz Wood's blog you are in the right place. If you arrived here by chance I hope you see something you like and you can continue the hop by clicking on the link at the end of this post.

This beautiful stamp has been a pleasure to work with, some great sentiments and what a lovely bouquet of flowers. I really like the script font as well as the typewriter font, these stamps will be used again and again. Please note that this stamp set uses the English spelling for mum instead of the American mom. So make sure when you order this stamp set you use the code S2002 E.

Sometimes it's nice to have a card without a sentiment and I really like how this embossed bunch of flowers look. It's a pretty simple card just heat embossed and a few gems and it can be used for just about any occasion. 

I love how the multiple sentiments add a little fun to this layout, especially how the photos are about the girls having fun.

Thank you for stopping by I hope you like what I have created, to see more great ideas head off to Danielle's Scrappy Chicks blog I am sure she will have something wonderful to share.

Please take a moment and leave a comment, they are always appreciated.

Happy Crafting!

Bring Back My Pack "Urban" Blog Hop

Welcome to the Australasian CTMH Blog Hop, if you arrived here from Shaunna's Passionate About Pages you are in the right place. If you arrived by chance you can continue the hop by clicking on the link at the end of this post.

It's great that CTMH have been bringing back some of the past favourite collections. We are showcasing the Urban collection today. At first glance it seems very rustic and outdoorsy, but as with all of CTMH's papers the possibilities are endless. When mixed with other products you can create something very different.

I loved the challenge of creating a pretty card using these papers. The colours of peacock and slate look beautiful together.

I had a short getaway locally last weekend and the unit we rented backed onto a golf course, which was home to many kangaroos. I am an early riser and was having my cuppa when I first noticed the kangaroos in the distance, and after awhile they came closer. Finally they were very close and I got these great photos. 

I took inspiration from the title sticker and used the sapphire cardstock as the accent colour with the decorative papers. These lovely kangaroo stamps are from a few years ago and are no longer available.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope I have given you some inspiration to use this superb collection. To get more great ideas hop along to Lauren Moore's blog and see what she has created. Before you leave please take a moment and leave a comment, they are always appreciated.

January Stamp of the Month "Every Day Magic"

Welcome to the CTMH Australasian Stamp of the Month blog hop, if you arrived here from  Danielle Edwards Scrappy Chicks you are in the right place. If you arrived here by chance I hope you like what you see and you can continue the hop by clicking on the link at the end of this post.

This is a lovely stamp set with wonderful sentiments that will be great with your projects both scrapbooking as well as card making.

I really like how versatile these sentiments are, sometimes I like to encourage my friends to not only remain positive when life becomes more complicated but also to reinforce just how well they are coping with certain situations. With CTMH's acrylic stamps it is easy to add extra words to a stamp to change it slightly. I received the Spruced Up stamp and thin cuts set for Christmas and had great fun using it in this card.

Creating this layout was rather cathartic, seeing Margo and Mia happy and smiling was a real joy after what they endured during Hurricane Dorian. They were able to be evacuated to Florida once the hurricane was over and are still there. There was great devastation and destruction in their home town in the Bahamas and unfortunately little has changed in the past three months.

My final project is another card that was fun and easy to make. I really do think butterflies are some of the most beautiful creatures. I just love them both in real life as well as a stamped image. We all need to be reminded to be ourselves and not a copy of someone else as we are all so unique. This combination of colours are so pretty. I have used Eggplant and Sugarplum inks for the butterflies and black for the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by, to get more ideas hop along to Lauren Moore's blog  and see what great project she has created.

Before you leave please take a moment and leave a comment it is always appreciated.

December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop "Reindeer Crossing"

Welcome to the Australasian CTMH stamp of the month blog hop, if you arrived here from Lauren Moore's blog you are in the right place. If you arrived here by chance I hope you see something you like and you can continue the hop by clicking on the link at the end of this post.

The December stamp of the month has some wonderful Christmas sentiments and a sweet sleigh, but the reindeer doesn't always have to be used with a Christmas theme. They can also be used for other projects.

My first project is a lovely Christmas gift bag, to make the tags I have used the sleigh and Merry Christmas stamps. The cute gift stamps are now discontinued but worked really well with the sleigh. The lovely green plaid is from the Mix In paper pack, and the large gems are from my stash that I have had for a very long time. This was  a quick and easy project.

This Christmas card uses the pine cone stamp which I have stamped, coloured and fussy cut to make a wreath. The card is 5"x 5", the red paper is 4.5" x 4.5" and centre white cardstock is 4" x 4".

I decided to make a masculine birthday card using the reindeer stamp, I have used another of the Mix In papers and also craft cardstock. I used sapphire ink to add a pop of colour to the card.

Thank you for stopping by, to see more great ideas hop along to Danielle's Scrappy Chicks I am sure she will have something wonderful to share.

Please take a moment and leave a comment, they are always appreciated.

Holly Jolly CTMH blog hop

Welcome to the CTMH Australasian Holly Jolly blog hop, if you arrived here from Doreen's blog you are in the right place. If you arrived here by chance, just click on the link at the end of this post to see more great ideas.

This collection uses the traditional Christmas colours with some really cute stickers that will be perfect for our Christmas layouts.

Even though I don't usually have any use for snow flake paper, I love this soft blue and it works so well with this beautiful pink. I have used this paper in my card and it's nothing to do with Christmas or winter.

Christmas is so special when there are young children in the family. I loved working with these photos, seeing Mia hug Santa is so precious. I found inspiration for this layout on Pinterest and these papers made creating this layout so easy. The Lace Border Thin Cut it is so intricate and beautiful and it accented my page so well.

Thank you for stopping by to see some more great ideas hop along to Maz Wood's blog  I am sure she has something wonderful to share.

Please take a moment and leave a comment, they are always appreciated.

November Stamp of the Month "Family Time"

Welcome the CTMH Australasian stamp of the month blog hop, if you arrived here from Lauren Moore's CTMH Craftings  you are in the right place. If you arrived here by chance there is more to see by clicking on the link at the end of this post.

As with all of CTMH stamps this is a very versatile stamp set, it can used for cards and layouts. I really like the font used for the sentiments

For this card I used the hugs for you stamp, which I think is perfect. Each flower has two layers to give them more depth. This soft colour combination looks beautiful together. A few gems and some pen stitching finishes off the card nicely.  

Spending time with the younger children in my family always brings me joy. When they come to visit with me during the school holidays, I try to make sure they don't spend too much time on their electronic devices. So we go to my local park and we always do some baking or cooking. My brother gave me a big bag of lemons which allowed us to make lemon butter in the morning and then lemon tarts in the afternoon. I really do count it a blessing to be a part of these kid's lives. I love how these flowers look on this layouts. As you can see leaves don't always have to be green.

Thank you for stopping by, to get more inspiration using this great stamp set go to Doreen's blog I am sure she will have something wonderful to share.

Please take a moment and leave a comment, they are always appreciated.

Weekend Retreat

I spent a wonderful weekend away at a CTMH retreat run by my niece Laura. It was great to be able to create at leisure and not have to worry about the trivialities of life. Here is a special layout that I completed.

This amazing young woman is Laura's daughter, who is now 17 years old and these photos were taken for her year 12 school ball. It has been my privilege to be a part of her life, I was one of the first to visit her when she was born. I love her dearly.

     Here she is as a wonderful and brand new addition to our family. Laura and Michael was so thrilled.

When she was old enough to happily leave her mum and dad, it was my great pleasure to have her visit and stay with me for a few days. Xanthe loved dressing in pretty clothes, she would rather wear a dress or skirt rather than shorts and top. On this occasion I painted her finger and toenails and she loved it. Funny how things change, she still loves to dress up but mostly she wears jeans and a T shirt now days.

Photo and memory preservation is so important, I love that I can look back on these pages and relive these precious memories.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and why don't you spend some time reminiscing and hopefully you have your own albums that allow you to relive special memories.

Hawthorn Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close To My Heart Australasian Hawthorn blog hop, if you arrived here from Doreen's blog you are in the right place. If you arrived here by chance you can continue the hop by clicking on the link at the end of this post.

At first glance to me this collection shouts autumn or masculine but with CTMH's great design team there are always other options.

I do find making masculine rather difficult but I am happy with this one, I have used the motorcycle sticker, the sentiment stickers and some of the lovely papers.

I didn't have any photos printed suitable for this collection to make a layout so I decided to make an off the page project. The white daisy background is 9"x 9" you can put it in a shadow box frame but it will also look lovely as filler page in my album.

This is what it looks like framed and I think it looks great.

On this final card I have again used one of the stickers but I have also added two stamped leaves that I fussy cut. I thought I would stamp part of the sentiment on the leaf sticker.

Thank you for stopping by to continue the hop go to Kylie's Blog Creating with Kylie and see what great project she has created. Please take a moment and leave a comment, they are always appreciated.

October Stamp of the Month "AutumnAir"

Welcome to the CMH Australasian stamp of the month blog hop, if you arrived here from  Lauren Moore's CTMH Craftings you are in the right place. If you arrived here by chance click on the link at the end of this post to see more great ideas using this stamp set.

Even though this stamp set is called Autumn Air and here in Perth it is now spring, it doesn't mean we can't use this stamp now. There are some lovely sentiments that can be used with other stamps that will create lovely new titles etc.

There are so many things I love about CTMH stamps but today's love is that we can cut the larger sentiment stamps into smaller parts which give you so many more options and you wont damage the stamps. I cut away the "and just like that " and was able to create a whole new sentiment by adding other stamps. I have also used the leaf stamp  and the border stamp in making this card. I find the flower thin cuts so versatile and love using them in my projects.

For this layout I have used the summer is in the air as my title with these lovely photos of the first of the summer flowers blooming in my garden. CTMH have such a variety of flower stamps that I easily found flower stamps that matched my photos

Thank you for stopping by to continue the hop go to Danielle Edwards Scrappy Chicks blog and see what great project she has created. Please take a moment and leave a comment before you move on, your comments are always appreciated.