A fun day at Monkey Mia

 Well I'm back in civilisation in Perth after our 800kms (497 miles) trip North of Perth to Shark Bay area.   We stayed in Denham - a very small little town..  Hubby and I shared an Air A'n'B with our son-in-law's parents... while the kids camped in the caravan park.   We all had an awesome time over the week... despite there being thousands of pesky flies and very warm temperatures.   Plus a gastro bug that worked it's way through the adults.... I didn't get the vomiting but the other end was not so nice.... and to make it worse I've got a second bout with a week!  

We did manage a few things done - a visit to the aquarium for the Shark Feeding experience, an afternoon at the local Visitors Centre /Museum, a swim or two, meeting the local wildlife and the highlight for me was a day spend in Monkey Mia.  It's a conservation area where several dolphins came into the bay to be feed.   You used to be able to get in the water with them, but at the moment, the two who came in have you calves with them so it's not safe for them to have hundreds of people standing in the water,   We managed to get to the edge of the water to watch. 

Here are some of the pics from the day.

Feeding time 

Close encounters with the wild life.  I was lying on the beach and looked up to see an Emu - staring straight at me from about a foot away!  Just lay still and he moved on!

Swimming and kayaking with the little boy and his big brother.  

And just as we were about to leave Monkey Mia, two turtles came into the bay.  Such a bonus! 

Finished the day by watching the sunset off the beach at the Caravan Park in Denham.

Here are a couple more sunset views

and this is us all taken at Eagle Bluff... we could see stingrays and little sharks in the bay below us - to hard to photograph - but we got someone to take a pic of us

there were soooo many flies there!  When I enlarged the photo they are visible flying around out heads!  

All in all it was a superb holiday with the families.. And what a thrill for the boys to have both sets of grandparents with them on holiday!  So special 💖

Thanks for taking the time to wade through my photos.... there are hundreds more on my phone!

 

Happy Earth Day - 22 April

 Hi there... It's time for my Sweet Stampin' challenge card.   I'm away from home so have scheduled this one.  As you read this, I'll heading back to Perth from our trip to Shark Bay - 8 hours or so north of Perth.  We were camping with the family... I should say that they are camping and we are sharing an AirBnB with the other parents... 

Anyway our challenge this fortnight is Earth Day/something recycled.  I manage to get both parts...

The strip of pattern down the left hand side is from a Tissue Box...I added some strips of dark green card down each side of it.   I found the Earth Day Logo on their internet page (here) and printed it out.  I used some dies from a Pinkfresh Studio mini slimline die.  Added some die cut Curvy leaves from Pinkfresh Studio.  Finished with three different colours of Altenew Enamel dots. 

Do come and join us at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

Hello Sunshine - with Lawn Fawn

Here it is the last day of March... where has the time gone. And Happy Easter to you all...  I'm getting ready to head off for just over two weeks in Perth with the family... travelling on the 4th April and getting back early on the 20th...

Any whoo... last day of the month means I share my Die Cut Divas card for a last inspiration.

We are delighted to have Lawn Fawn sponsor Die Cut Divas for the month of March with a $25 gift card.

The theme for this month is "Anything Goes"

I'm using the same stamp and die set I used for my previous Die Cut Divas... Magical Moments.   One of the stamps is "Hello Sunshine" so decided to use some of the left over PP from the last card and other scraps from my growing pile... to make a Sunburst card....

I added tape to a piece of light weight card and after trimming my scraps into triangle shapes, added then to the card.  Once I trimmed the overhanging pieces I used a We Are Memory Keepers 3D folder for a subtle texture.  I added the die cut circle with the sentiment stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink- using some 3D tape for dimension.   A few Nuvo confetti - Iridescent Circles finished off the card.

Still a little while to entry our challenge at Die Cut Divas 

Dawn & The Divas

Bold Debossing -two cards

 I've been seeing lots of bold debossed background techniques popping up on blogs, Facebook and Instagram... and you tube.   This week I saw a video from Natasha Foote and today I watched a FB Live from Therese Calvrid - and over the last couple of weeks I tried it myself.

Both my samples used 3D embossing folders from Altenew

First up - using the Dreamy Daylilies 

I embossed white card and then flipped it over and used yellow and green inks to colour the debossed flowers and leaves.   Next  took black ink and swipe the pad across the card.  The black ink hits the higher areas.  The die cut sentiments are from Altenew Versatile Greetings die set. 

Second card is done exactly the same way - using Altenew Decorative Florals embossing folder 

This time I used some Distress Oxide Ink - Chipped Sapphire ink for the background and Altenew Fresh Dye inks for the debossed areas.  Used the same Versatile Greetings die set for the Hello and the sub-sentiment from Sweetest Pea stamp set.

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter.  

Sending a BIG Hug with Lawn Fawn

 It's time for me to share my inspiration card for this month's challenge at Die Cut Divas.... 

We are delighted to have Lawn Fawn sponsor Die Cut Divas for the month of March with a $25 gift card.

The theme for this month is "Anything Goes"

I recently purchased a Lawn Fawn stamp and matching die set called "Magic Moments" - It's a great set with some awesome sentiments.   I chose to use the Fractured card technique - anything to use up some patterned paper.   

I used a piece of PP from Franceville's Tropical Daintree pack and cut it 4" x 5.25".  My centre was a 1.5" square. I used the reverse of the piece of PP to make my stripes with added silver Peelcraft lines.  I used the Lawn Fawn stamp and die set to cut the centre circle and backed it with a die cut doily from MFT - Die Namics - Dainty Duo.  Finished with some Altenew enamel dots from the Green Fields set. 

Do come and join us at Die Cut Divas   with you projects.  Just a reminder to use you die cut machine!

Dawn & The Divas.

Craft Roulette #207

 Had some fun in the craft room again today... watched yesterday's episode of Craft Roulette - 

Some fun parameters.  Took a while to come up with an idea.  I knew I had a cake stamp set from Catherine Pooler/Sugar Pea Designs from a few years ago.  Pulled it out and went through my patterned paper pads to find something I could use for Ice Cream Store colours.  

I found this pretty pink striped paper from a Forever Friends paper pack.  It reminded me of an Ice Cream store canopy.  I used ice cream colours of Strawberry, Mint, Chocolate and Orange Sherbet for the rest of the card.  My tasty element - birthday cake.  And the random element is the steamer banners along the top of my card.   The cake, flowers, banners and sentiment are all from the Catherine Pooler stamp and die set- from the Young At Heart Stamp of Approval collection.  

This was my 10th submission.  

A little Blue Bird.

 Well I couldn't not make another card using the Memory Box Backyard Wren die today.  It has been a bit of a dismal day... woke to no power, so read for a bit, before heading to two suburbs north to have breakfast before doing our grocery shopping.  By the time we got home it was raining but the power was back on!  It kept raining on and off so headed to the craft room for the afternoon. 

And yeah, this time I made a blue bird.   My card was inspired by this beautiful card from Lin  

I loved the design Lin used, so I cased it.  I die cut an arch (Hero Arts Infinity Arches die) and used Gina K Tapestry embossing folder.   I still had my Distress Oxides out... The background panel was made with Speckled Egg spritzed with some Shimmer Spary - Frost.  In real life it is so shimmery. I stamped the Couture Creations sentiment directly to the panel. I die cut the bird and used Evergreen Bough, Salty Ocean to colour up the bird.  The beak and eye were done with Altenew Charcoal Suit grey ink.  I die cut Pinkfresh Studio Curvy leaves and blended Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide.  I used only part of the biggest die.  I used some Scrapbook.com 3D adhesive strips to add dimension to the frame and used some 3D dimensionals to pop up the bird.  Some little blue gems from my stash finished the card. 

I'm entering this into the Time Out Challenge and Just Us Girls collaboration challenge - Birds of a Feather.   

Hope there is some crafting in your weekend.   

 

Bird on a Branch

 It's been a busy week... haven't had much time to craft... but finished work early.  During the week I saw that Scrapbook Central was having a class by Chick Mitchell.  As this is in Wellington (8 hours south of me) I can't go... but Chick has designed some cards with a bird and some beautiful backgrounds.  I contacted her and found the bird was from Memory Box.  Of course I had to get it!  And it arrived yesterday late afternoon.  So after signing off my computer (working from home day!) and before doing the housework, I popped into the craft room and had a play. 

 

I started by putting the little birdie together.  I die cut with some 160gm Fabriano paper.  It's a light cream colour (although the packaging says white)  It cuts like butter.  I used inks from Altenew's Tea Party ink set to add colour to the layers with a touch of some brown to darken parts.  The branches, flowers and leaves are from Spellbinders - Layered Cherry Blossom die set.  I added a touch of the lightest red inks to the creamy dies.  Used some rose gold metallic card for the centres.   My background was a variation on a technique that Chick taught at SENZ craft fair last July.  Used a chipboard panel of leaves.  I inked them with some Distress Oxide in Speckled Egg and spritzed and laid it onto my panel.  I then blended some of the same ink through the panel like a stencil and finally just added some of the ink onto the panel.  Just love the look I achieved.   Die cut a scalloped panel from Gina K Master Layouts 4 and trimmed the panel to fit inside.  Added the branches, flowers and leaves and the little birdie.  Finished with a pre-printed sentiment from Creative Expressions Woodies.

I can't wait to try different colour combos for this little bird.   I scoped out Pinterest and have got a few samples on my board.

Entering into Darnell's NBUS challenge - as it is the first outing for the die

and Just Us Girls - in Collaboration with Time Out Challenges - Birds of a Feather