Valentines Day Anyone.....

Love is in the air! Valentines Day is just around the corner for those of you that get all excited and exchange gifts and cards.  When my husband I were first dating I got very excited when our first Valentines day together rolled around as I had never  been the recipient of a Valentine gift ever....well  lets just say it didn't happen. Awww I hear you say, please don't be sad for me it's all good, NOW! I happened to have met a fantastic guy that just didn't believe in Valentines day. If truth be told I was sad and quite disappointed at the time. But I have come to realize as time has gone by that Valentines day is just another day in the year. I have married a great guy who loves me, treats me and our kids well, provides for us and even surprises me with flowers or a night off from cooking or some other surprise at other times during the year. I like to think that I have Valentines day surprises dotted throughout the year, as opposed to one day a year. You gotta love that.

Anyway, you are here to see what I have made not here for my ramblings, so lets  get on with the show and tell.

The lovely Angie from Chic n Scratch has a great video tutorial on how to make these gorgeous boxes on her blog. Click on her name to see her tutorial. I followed her tutorial exactly and "ta da, bada bing bada boom" 16 boxes were easily whipped up quick smart. I used different coloured card stock and designer series paper (dsp) than Angie. I had nothing Valentine related nothing with hearts, so I went with a fresh looking print. I quite like the look. These little treat boxes could be made for any time of the year, even as birthday or wedding favours. All  materials used are  from my stash of crafty stuff, this lot happens to be all from Stampin 'Up, some of it is retired stock.

I have made these for our family Valentines dinner. I know I said my husband doesn't believe in Valentines day, I never said I didn't lol! Every year we have a candle lit dinner for four, hubby, me and our two kids! I always set the table extra special, candles, wine glasses the works. We have a special dinner and yummy dessert. We don't  normally have dessert, so it's a real treat. On the table I always have a small chocolate treat. Yes inside these boxes are three small heart shaped chocolates. Here's a picture of the inside of the box and one where you can see how the box closes.

Here are a couple of more shots.Three of the boxes feature the same dsp and then there is a rogue box with a different dsp!

What do you do for Valentines day as a family? Do you make little treats for your kids?
I hope you have a go at making some of these cute boxes.

FYI yes I did say I have made 16 of these boxes and yet there is a candlelit dinner for 4! I have made extra to give to my mum and step dad, and some of my dear friends.

Have a magnificent day.
Cheers Donna

Black Finger Nails, Red Wine......

Great song by Eskimo Joe, Black Fingernails, Red Wine.....but there are no black fingernails or black nail polish anywhere in this post at all. There is nail polish though, although not real nail polish. Oh my goodness are you confused yet or ready to skip to the next blog?

Take a look at this then.......

Now I think this is cute, 3 little bottles of nail polish with the middle one popped on foam tape to give it dimension.  When I proudly showed my daughter and husband they both said...."mmmmm  very nice". Imagine this being said with a vague tone to their voices. They clearly had no idea what those things were at the top of the card . I admit I was a bit deflated by their lack of recognition. Of course when I told them nail polish they both said, "oh yeah". I have made this for my most beautiful niece who turns 19 on the 19th of this month. Obviously I waited until after her birthday to show you, as she told me she would be my # 1Fangirl when I first told her I was starting a blog.

I once again got my inspiration from Pinterest , gotta love that site!. I was inspired by Rhonda's card. Click on her name to see her card. I loved how she had made the lids from the modern label punch from Stampin'Up and the bottle itself from the owl builder punch also from SU. As you can see I used the same punches to make my gorgeous bottles of nail polish but the layout of the card is different.

I don't actually own any nail polish myself. My lovely daughter does, in fact she  has way too many bottles to count lol!. My nails are terrible they are very soft and peel all the time. They have always been like this. It is not a calcium deficiency it's just how they are. I have had my own nails manicured a few times over the years and they look nice for a day then just terrible. A few years back I decided to get gel nails. They looked amazing and I felt like such a lady, very elegant and a wee bit posh even. They were great for 2 weeks, but then I had to go back to the nail salon and ask for them to be removed. You see   as my own nails grew the length of the gel nails got longer, not a big problem you may think. As a person who was wearing contact lenses full time it was a nightmare. I kept  poking my eyes out every night when I removed my lenses. Not to mention that when the gel nails came off my own nails were even softer than before. So for me I just keep it real, it's just too hard for me to bother with. I admire anyone that has lovely nails, real or otherwise. Are you one of those lucky people that has gorgeous nails? Hats off to you if you are.

Have a fantastical day.

Cheers Donna                                                                                               

Baking Day

It's been a very productive day in the kitchen today. I have been busy baking so we have lots of snacks. Were you aware that teenage boys are always hungry? I'm sure mother's of boys the world over will be nodding their heads saying YES! I should nick name my son 18, "Grazer" lol. Well it's not something new to me as he's been like this for many years now. My gorgeous daughter made a cake yesterday for us all to enjoy, well it's all gone....this delicious cake did not even last 24 hours. I did have a slice yesterday and one today, so to be fair I have eaten some too but not all of it! It was very tasty, so a great compliment to my girl. This situation needed to be rectified immediately. I thought  how about I make more than one thing, that way it may last more than 24 hours. Well that's my line of thinking anyway.

Here's the haul.....

We have the muesli bar slice in the top box. We love this slice we have it a lot. I got the recipe here from Wendy's blog, My Abundant Life. I changed the recipe slightly as I did not have some of the ingredients I usually have. I used golden syrup instead of honey. I really liked this change, although when I have made it with the honey I like that too! Instead of using the cereal/rolled oats I  used some muesli I had bought for my daughter that she wasn't keen on. OMG this is delicious. My daughter and I did some quality control tests on the slice after it had cooled....yes some tests, so more than 1 slice was consumed.....we couldn't unleash this on my son and hubby unless it passed our strict quality control testing. FYI it passed, damn we'll have to share.

Next on the cooking production line were these scrumptious Cranberry Hooty Creek biscuits. This recipe was also found on Wendy's blog. These are another favourite in our house.

 And lastly we have this delicious coconut cake. My daughter has this recipe written in her little cook book where she writes down her favourite recipes. She can't remember where she found or saw this recipe. She has made it quite a few times and we love it. I have never made it before and was most surprised to find that there are no butter or eggs in this recipe. It's just a cup of coconut, a cup of milk, a cup of caster sugar and a cup of self raising flour. That's  it, very simple.

Hopefully today's  baking session will last us for longer than 24 hours. I really enjoyed my baking session today. My gorgeous girl was more than happy to sit and chat with me while I was doing the cooking. We just chatted about heaps of stuff, it was so lovely. She even dried the dishes for me after I had washed up, what a sweetheart. 

So how long do your baking  efforts last in your house?

Have a fabi day. 

Cheers Donna 

Schools Out For Summer

School is most certainly out for Summer here in Australia. This blog title is a bit of a stretch to today's crafty offering, but here goes......Are you old enough to remember when your teacher wrote on a blackboard? Ahem I am   Of course I am not!  Really just how old do you think I am lol? I mean, today teachers write on whiteboards and interactive whiteboards. Think touch screen computers that's pretty much how the interactive boards work and then it's just projected up onto a big screen.

Anywhoo, here is my nod to the "olden days" (as my darling daughter would say) of teaching.

How cute is this? Yes I am biased, after all I made it. Firstly I was inspired by a couple of people's creations so credit where credit is due. I first saw this card made by  Judy on her blog, Just Judy Designs when I was blurfing (blog surfing) and loved it. I then remembered a card I had made at a stamp club I attend  that is run by my friend Felicity, who is a Stampin'Up demo and  who also has a lovely blog, Scrappin Stamper. So I put those 2 ideas together to come up with this card.  As you can see I have used the same layout  and same  stamped images as Judy. I definitely can't claim this as my own creation. All products used on this card are from Stampin 'Up, except the string, that's just ordinary kitchen string bought from the supermarket I think. ( I am not a SU  demonstrator, I just love using their products).

Here is another photo taken from a different angle.
I was so delighted with how this turned out that I made lots and gave them as gifts at Christmas time to family and friends. As it's still early in the new year it would not be too late to have a go at making some yourself. Let me know if you do.  For the last few years I have made little calendars to gift at Christmas to family and friends. This is this year's offering.











Well that's all for today my lovelies. It's going to be another hot one here today so best get on with some housework as well as  organizing my menu planner for the next fortnight. Then I will have to write out my shopping list after I take stock of my pantry and fridge, yes never a dull moment here lol. Menu planning helps me to budget and not spend more than we have, always a good thing. Not to mention I know what we are having for dinner each nigh. It stops the dreaded 5 pm nightmare of "what's for dinner?" routine from the family!  Hopefully I may be able to sneak in  some time to  do more crafting!!!

Have an amazing day.

Cheers Donna

Tip Toe Through the Tulips......

Yes another song title as the post title. Maybe you are not old enough to know this song. Not sure I am either! Well this song came to mind when I first saw the stamp set from SU used to create this card. I have made this card for my mum's birthday tomorrow. She won't see this as she doesn't know about my blog. To be fair my blog is new and I haven't shared the news of me having a blog with my family yet. Is that weird that I haven't told them yet?

I love this 3 step stamping set  Lotus Blossom from SU to create the flowers. I used 3 inks for the tulip head all from SU. They are so saffron, crisp cantaloupe and calypso coral, as well as pear pizzazz for the flower stem and sentiment. CS used is crumb cake, whisper white and calypso coral. I also scattered on some rhinestones. The center tulip is popped up with some foam tape to give a bit of dimension to the card.

I made another card with the same stamp set.

Here are the 2 cards together.
The larger card is for my mum and the smaller card will go in my card box. I keep cards in this box for  when I need a card in a rush.














Is this the kind of information  you would like to read about? When I'm blurfing (blog surfing) I always like to know what people use to make particular creations. Whether it's a card, 3D item, scrapbook layout, recipe. Well with a recipe it's a given you would want to know how they made it,  you would need a list of ingredients. Anywhoo, that's it from me for today.

Hoping your day is fabulous!
Cheers Donna

Oh I do love to live beside the seaside......

Oh I do love to live beside the sea........(imagine me singing this) maybe not.  I have been told that I should never sing in public!  How rude is that? When I sing out loud, to my ear I sound exactly like the artist who is singing it, so I really belt it out.Unfortunately for those around me I DO NOT sound like the artist.  I especially love to do this in the car much to my 15 yr old daughter's horror and my amusement. Do you do this and think you are a rock star?  Anyway, let's get on with my latest creation. Look at how fabi this is. Modest much.....who me, definitely not!

This is not an original master piece by me. I have CASE'd (this means Copy And Share Everything). I was inspired by a  card I saw on Pinterest. Have I mentioned I love Pinterest? The  story of my love of Pinterest can be saved for another day!

 Anywhoo,  Margaret from Making Papercrafts created a lovely card that I basically copied. I did make a couple of changes. The top of the card is the sky. The photo doesn't show it too well but the sky is lightly sponged using Stampin'up soft sky ink. I sponged the water using bermuda bay and marina mist ink. I used the bird builder punch for the sea gull, that I lightly sponged with smoky slate ink. The bollard is made using the wood grain stamped on crumb cake and a strip of this cut out. I punched the life buoy out of cherry cobbler card stock  and wrapped some kitchen string around it. The sentiment is a retired SU stamp. Most of the  products used on my card are from Stampin'Up. AND no I am not a SU demo I just love using their products.

This card is for my father in laws birthday next week. He doesn't have a computer, so he won't see this card before he gets it. This card and my last card are certainly beachy, (yes beachy is a word lol) inspired. Must have something to do with it being Summer here and how hot it's been recently

  As I said in my last post (my very first post) I am new to blogging and I quite obviously need to brush up on photography skills......something else to add to the list lol So apologies in advance for any glitches or lack of blog finesse.

Have an awesome day!
Cheers Donna  

The blogging beginning.........

This is the first card I have made......for my blog. Of course I have made heaps of cards, but this is the first time I've put one on my blog. In fact this is my first blog post. Wahoo, let's see how this goes.

I was inspired by a card I had pinned. It was by Tracey May.  Just click on her name and it will take you to her lovely card that inspired me and  her fabulous blog Bedlam and Butterflies. As you will see I pretty much just copied her card with just a couple of very small changes.

I have made this card with supplies from Stampin ' Up. Please excuse bad lighting of photo. It was 43 degrees Celsius here yesterday, so all blinds and curtains were closed. All I can say is air conditioning is my BFF!

Cheers Donna