OMG Another Six months have flown by since i last blogged, flip hard to believe but its true.. Today i find myself trying to load a card to Pinterest..To do this " i think"  i need to put it on my blog so People can have a closer look. Not a hundy sure on that but here it is anyway.. I made this card for wee Liam who turned 2 just over a week ago, better Late than Never.  The papers i used are from Bo Bunny Surprise collection pack, the stamps are from SU Look who's turning set..The Look Who's, the 2 and the hippo are popped with foam tape..

Ciao 

Brenda

Papervine Colour Challenge

OMG Its been six months since i Blogged time flies for sure.. Anyhoo I was scrolling through my emails the other day and i came across one from Papervine.. Lowri is doing a colour challenge so I thought what better way to get cranking on a LO its been far too long..So checkout the details here http://www.papervineshop.com/colorchallenge?utm_source=PaperVine+Newsletter&utm_campaign=64e6ce83c1-November_18th_Christmas_Two_copy_04_11_30_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3724ca1e35-64e6ce83c1-52002601  and  join in.. Here is my LO,  i chose 2 colours gold and Yellow..  The Prima stitch circle stamps that i bought way back when? And only the second time i have used them, and love how they look on here..

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Thanks for the inspiration Lowri and Papervine :)


Ciao
Brenda

Its My Birthday

Uh Oh another birthday, something i dont give a lot of thought to until the actual day.. But it seems some of my friends do for which i am the lucky one..  Most of you know im a pretty emotional person lots of Tears have flowed several times over the past few days, as i read the personal messages that have been written on my cards and on facebook. Im sure there is a word out there somewhere for people like me, i just cant grasp it right now....I am one of those who prefer to give than receive and when i am given to i become overewhelmed with emotions..The precious gifts i received, mean so much as they have all been chosen with a lot of thought and love. I am feeling so blessed to have such awesome friends...I had a lovely day yesterday,  coffee in the morning with my best lil Brother Gary, then meeting up with Elaine later for another coffee and pressie, Lucky me..

 Here are some of the beautiful gifts i received, the flowers i bought myself as they are my fave color.

Gary and I at Motueka Marina

I have never talked about my childhood to many but I am one of 3 siblings, i am the middle child. I have an older brother Tony and a younger one Gary. Both of them are very special to me.

Our mum passed away with Cancer, she was only 28 years and 8 months old..Too Tragic to think about and far too young to die.. Tony was 4yrs 11months old, i was 2years 8 months, and Gary was just a babe at 7 months.  Our maternal grandparents took care of him right from the time he was born as our mum was rushed straight to ChristChurch Hospital immediately after his birth.. Due to extremely difficult circumstances Gary was adopted by Nana and Grandfather..So he grew up in Motueka which was about 90kms away, not far in todays world but then it was or seemed far far away when i was a child...Our Father remarried but Gary never came to live with us.. Once or twice a year we would get to see him as we grew up. Our Grandparents would pack up and bring Gary over to stay in  Pioneer cottage which was part of the Collingwood camping ground..If we had been good kids we would get to visit them and if our Stepmother was angry, she had excuses ready to disappoint all parties.. We were in Collingwood a couple of years ago and Charlie took the following photo of Gary and I outside that same wee cottage..

As the years went by the 3 of us had a bond that no one could break and that bond remains as strong as ever. The following photo was taken 2 months ago...

When i was 16 i went to Motueka and lived with Grandfather and Gary, I worked on the tobacco farms, for about a year.. in that time I taught myself to sew on Nana's old treadle machine, it was in mint condition and i turned out some awesome clothes, baby doll dresses were in in those days.. I am really sad to say i do not have any photo's as they were pretty few and far between in fact im not sure if i even had a camera back then..

When Granfather passed away in 1988 most of his possessions were given away to family members and some sold to a 2nd hand dealer. At the time i was too young and naive to know that i should of asked for the sewing machine.. I did ask Gary and my cousin Jocelyn if they knew where it ended up, just a year or so ago, as i had visions that i needed it in my home.. It remains a mystery but we suspect the 2nd hand dealer got it...

Ok this is where i change the subject slightly..A couple of weeks ago someone rammed our new truck in the pak n save carpark over  at Richmond so it had to go to the painter and panel beater, who just happens to be my lil brother.. Yesterday i went over to pick it up..Gary was questioning me as to my movements for the rest of the day, at the time i thought it was a bit weird but didnt really take it on board..As i was leaving he said text me when you get to stoke, so i did that.. nek minute my phone rings he says where are you, err at Elaine's work i said.. He says look in the back of the truck when you get back to it.. hmmm so when i get back i start undoing the cover on the truck, and i spy what looks like a box, the mystery deepens till the cover is taken back further.. The rest is history really as i burst into tears..

The next text that comes in says

"Happy Birthday Sis"

aww man i love that guy

Check out the following WOW!!!

Ciao

Brenda

OTP Project

Last week my post was about a LO  i created for http://thecutshoppe.blogspot.co.nz/  I won their challenge and now have $10 to spend on more cut files..Pretty happy about that one.
Elaine my BFF has just been to stay for an extended weekend as she calls it.. Arrive on thursday and reluctantly leave for home on monday.. We had a lovely time creating, mainly OTP projects..With My Hubby away at Haast there was no one around to disturb us.. All meals are pre planned so we dont have to worry about what we are going to be having for dinner etc. Saturday night saw us watching Thelma and Louise, a movie i had heard about but never watched.. All i can say about that is it certainly was not what i expected..Worth the watch tho.  In 2 weeks Jane is coming to stay with me for 2 nights. We then head off south with Sally to Kaikoura where we will meet up with Vicki and Trace from Christchurch for our Girls weekend..
Can not wait for this it will be fabulous to be all together again.. Lots of laughs, sightseeing, coffee and whatever blows our hair back at the time...


Here are a couple of photo's of the altered Prima Bike frame that i created while Elaine was here..
First up  is the bare frame as it comes  from the manufacture;

 The following three are the end result using a combination of texture paste, crackle paint and colour bloom sprays..Some distress inks, trinkets and micro glass beads.....

I tried following Frank Garcia with this project on Prima Vid but things didnt quite work the same as his..
I had to add and adapt to suit but are happy as with this..Now where to put it hmmmmmmm


                                                                            Ciao
                                                                          Brenda

The Cut Shoppe

Recently I played along with The Cut Shoppe Blog Hop.. I was lucky and won a file from them on Gina's blog.. You can see all Ashley's files here https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheCutShoppe?ref=ss_profile.. I had been watching this blog for a wee while so when the August Challenge came up i decided to give it ago. The requirements are as follows.*Create a layout using AT LEAST ONE of the Cut Files, that can be purchased from The Cut Shoppe Etsy store, based on the following Sketch:

So i played around for quite a while, i have to convert the png files as i dont have designer edition on my cameo..

Esther helps me a lot and for that i am thankful, my go to Girl...Its a pain in the butt having to do the conversion thingy but i have my trusty journal with notes to refer back to..

Here is the LO.. On a white piece of Cardstock i cut the banners out from a file in my library, then backed them with some PP. Using a sheet of double sided adhesive I cut the hearts border from this file.. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/196672172/the-borderlines-cut-file-consists-of-5?ref=shop_home_feat_2

i then peeled the backing paper sprinkled gold glitter over then separated the border in to single hearts.. Its not perfect, but im happy with how this turned out..Thats a strip of washi tape down the side and i added a couple of splatters of indian ink some dots and punched out hearts.. Happy that i got to play with my cameo and ironed out a couple of issues i have been having with it..

                                                                            Ciao

                                                                           Brenda

Its all about my Nana..

A wee while ago, well actually 2 years ago to be honest, i bought a Tim Holtz configuration box.. I have finally gotten to it and created my masterpiece. I was lucky to be given my nana's hat with 2 beautiful pins many years ago..  The hat was destroyed by rain when i foolishly leant it to someone, and i have always hated that the hat pins were tucked away in a small box i bought specially for them..So with out further ado, here are some photo's, starting with Nana and the hat..

ok so the lady with the hat goes last, its been so long since i blogged i cant work out how to put things in order oh well  not to worry im sure you can see how this all works.

All the bits and pieces i have collected here and there remind me of my nana. I especially like the bike in the bottom right corner, Nana had a bike very similar to this one except hers had a basket on the front..

The clock key is exactly like my grandfathers clock key.. 

Im pretty happy with the way this turned out, was definitely worth the time and effort put into it.

Nana's hat pins now stand in glory in our lounge how cool is that...

Ciao

Brenda

Sketch Challenge

Gosh its been a month since I blogged oops...Scrappin Patch November  Challenge here is their sketch..

And this is what I came up with. Thanks to you Vicki for the Push..

The days are buzzing by far to fast atm... Lots to do and not enough hours in the day.. Looking forward to setting up my xmas display this weekend hopefully..
                                                               Ciao
                                                              Brenda

Scrappin Patch October

Calls for  a recipe challenge, one of my fave incentives for a LO.
The following items are required

3 patterned papers... tick
1 doily ...tick
2 buttons ...tick
1 staple... tick
ribbon ...tick
mask/masking... tick
layering... tick
You must use all of the above items and can add alphas and one other item of your choosing.  And you can use ink, mists, pens. I decided against the alpha's as the papers/ picture said it all. My one "other item" is the adventure lightbulb...The arrow masking is from a stencil, cut from my cameo, and fast becoming a favourite of mine...Feeling very clever here...

I really like this pic I took of Charlie sitting casually on  the front of his truck as Poss and I arrived at Haast,  the day before the whitebait season opened.. This is so him loving those 10 weeks away from work, doing something he enjoys... I last about 10 days max, then have to scoot back to my home comforts.. He has been gone almost 7 weeks now, the weather certainly hasn't been in his favour and the wee fishies have been rather elusive once again this year.. There is still a bit of time left,  but I certainly wont be surprised if he doesn't see the season out....

Ciao
Brenda

1 2 3 Get Scrappy

It seems the only way I can get cranking with scrapping lately is to surf the net looking for idea's and challenges..This one is for 1 2 3 Get Scrappy.  Challenge #3  is a challenge board where you choose 3 blocks, across, down or diagonal.. I have chosen 3 down on the right. That being stitching, color orange and more than 3 different patterned papers..

 

 

Here is the result

 

 

I sprayed the base paper with dylusions squeezed orange,  Stitched around all the PP's and on or under the different elements. Then adding the orange and black twine, the pp papers are Prima Engraver collection...The elements are Pink Paislee Cottage Farms...
                                                                      

                                                                       Ciao
                                                                     Brenda

Whhhatt October

All ready.. Crikey it wont be long before the elves start appearing and the xmas decorations are dragged out of  boxes, cupboards and under the beds etc etc..Birthday month has been and gone and once again I was totally spoilt by friends and family..Here are some of the beautiful hand made cards that I received.. I must admit I am loathed to put them away, so they share pride of place on our dining room table.. So very pretty, so very lucky

 

 

 

 

The last day of school  Blakie was in a school play and I was rung to say, could I go over and watch..Of course I could and so I did.. This was the first time the new school Hall had been open to the public and unfortunately, we weren't able to see much because of the seating set up.... The principal was very apologetic and she was also blown away at the attendance...

Our little fellow shone as he stood among the other kids doing his bit, I couldn't get a pic of that part but the ones I did get look really great, I was so proud of him..

Here is the LO I did with them

 

Today wee Liam is 6 weeks old, I was over there yesterday and I took this shot of him laying on his tummy sound asleep, so tiny, and so innocent.. Darling wee boy and so contented only waking once during the night now, Mummy and Daddy very pleased to have him on board...

This LO was based from a tutorial on  Flying Unicorn using home made flowers and trim. I didn't have the required canvas product but im happy with how this turned out..


                                                      Well that's me till next time
                                                                       Ciao
                                                                     Brenda