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.

Embosing Powders

Close To My Heart now has embossing powders in the new catalogue, and I love the effect you get using these powders. CTMH recommends using the pigment inks or the Versamark ink with the embossing powders, I used the clear powder in this layout and the colours look so vibrant. These flower stamps are new and go with the Brushed Workshop on the Go Kit. The embossing powders come in 4 colours, gold, silver, white and clear. I stamped the flowers and leaves on white cardstock, embossed them and then cut them out.  

Supplies : Daisey White cardstock 1385
Brushed Paper pack X7190B 
A Budding Friendship Stamp Set D1602 
Flamingo Dots Z1934
Canary Pigment Ink, Pixie Pigment Ink, from the Whimsy Set  Z2504
Gypsy Pigment Ink,Pear Pigment Ink,  from the Adventure Set Z2501
Clear Embossing Powder Z2088 
 
 The birdcage stamp is no longer available

Sunrise

The past few days the sunrise has been beautiful, the pink, yellow and orange colours made a sight worth seeing. I leave for work at 6:45am and each morning I said to myself you must take a photo of this. So this morning I was up by 6:30 had my breakfast ready to leave with my camera but when I opened the door unfortunately this morning's sunrise was not like the previous few days, just a pale pink. Still I thought I would go down to the Riverton Bridge and take a few shots. I was disappointed that it wasn't the vibrant colours like before but I am happy with with photos I took. I was pleasantly surprised to see a family of black swans. I couldn't get too close, daddy swan made that quite clear.

   

All Day Crop

Here are a few more pages from last Saturday's crop, it's great to be able to spend the day working on my album projects. I am so grateful I was introduced to scrapbooking and now my photos have a safe place to live. They are not stuck in memory cards or on my computer but somewhere that I can look at them easily and read about what was happening in the photos, because unfortunately I don't always remember all the details of photos I have taken years ago. The owl card was made using an idea I saw on Pinterest, adding the coloured pencils for the recipient was a great touch. 

What a Hoot Stamp Set

I have had a great time playing with August Stamp of the Month, in a previous post I showed some critters that I had made with this stamp. I created this layout to remember my two cats that both died this year. Chloe and Jasper were a part of my life for a long time and were great company. Whenever I arrived home Chloe would be at the door to greet me and Jasper loved laying in my lap when ever I settled down to watch the TV. Chloe was not very welcoming when Jasper first came to live with us, she did not like him at all even though he was just a little kitten, she would hiss and swipe at him. Chloe is the ginger and white one and Jasper is the black cat.

I had a fantastic time at the All Day Crop last Saturday, I did quite a few layouts and caught up with my friend Linda, who I hadn't seen for a couple of months. These are two more pages of our visit to the Zoo.