Thank You Cards

Well, I've been slack again but it has been school holidays so I have been hanging out with my boys. I've shared a fair few pics of the boys on my FB page but because I love them so much, I thought I'd share my two favourites.

Spider Monkey:




Capuchin:




So, I made some thank you cards today. I started out with zero mojo so I cleaned up my space so that I could think a little more clearly. As I cleaned, I found a card that I made at my friend Chantal's card class last month. It was monochromatic with a background stamp and inking. I chose to emulate that look.

I made three colour ways as that matched the card stock I had. I used a stamp from Stamp It and all the inks and paper are Stampin' Up. I think of the inking like a vignette for cards! These made for a quick and easy set of cards to make as thank you cards for presents and such.












So enjoy the week! I know I will as I have only ONE boy at home during the day now that school has gone back :-)

- Kim

It Has Been a Busy Month!

I have been so busy this month! Of course, none of it has been craft related but there have been many photos taken ;0) Why so busy? Well, we had Father's Day, Drew's birthday, Capuchin's birthday and yesterday was mine! At least now the celebrations have ended and we can go back to normal.

In that vein, I have decided that by this time next year, there will be half as much of me to love. Since I have purchased my new shoes (Athlete's Foot in Belconnen ROCK at fittings), I have been getting up at 5:45 each morning to go walking. It has been a nice change and with the warmer weather upon us, it has been a good way to wake up each day. So, I have taken a photo of myself to share what I am like now. As those of you who know me know, this is a rare thing. I hate having my photo taken (partially because I hate the weight gain but also cause I just don't think I look good in photos). And here it is:


Capuchin turned 2 this month. Where has the time gone?! We had a small celebration here at home with some friends and people who are our family here in Canberra. He had a great time and was spoiled by all those who were in attendance. Before I share the photos though, I have to say they were not all taken by me. Thanks to Chantal who took over the photography side of the day! And here he is in all his glory:












We bought him a sandbox to play in so the next weekend was spent putting it together and having a play. It was gorgeous weather and of course Spidermonkey was in on the action too. What was even better, Spidermonkey donated his Tonka trucks for use in the sandbox! Here are a few shots of the boys at play:










Like I said, lots of pictures (and that's not even 1/3 of them)! So a big thanks to all who celebrated with us this month and happy birthday to all those people born in September (we are a special bunch).
One final shot to keep you going until next time (I just love this one):


Love to you all!

Kim

Ahh, Spring...and Book Week

Well, that's what if feels like.  Still cool at night but warm enough to have the door open during the day.  I feel so much better with fresh air circulating through the house.  I keep waiting for the cold snap!  In the meantime, I will enjoy it as much as possible.

Anyhoo, I just wanted to share a couple of photos I have taken during my walks the last few days.  They show the signs of spring that nature shares with us...

With this time of year comes Book Week! And the inevitable book week parade...sigh.  If Spidermonkey had his way, he would have gone as Dr. Who for the third year in a row.  Instead, he went as Harry Potter (along with most of the rest of the school).  I had to work hard to get this concession.  If I had given into his logic, it would have been Iron Man or Spiderman who, according to him are acceptable because he has large compendiums of the comics which are books!  I suppose this is true but the book lover in me just couldn't let it go.  So, I scoured the shops for some glasses and a wand and ended up ordering them online in order for him to feel like he was a part of the school community.  He was happy in the end and here he is as Harry Potter:

He looks pretty good in glasses and could pass for Harry in the earlier movies (well in the eyes of his momma anyway)!  Now I am off to find something yellow for him to wear on Friday for Daffodil day...*sigh*.

As Promised...

I got crafty today!  I had fun playing with all my Tim Holtz stuff.  I made two cards and a "strip" that I'm not sure what I will use it for...but it was fun doing it!!

We went out to the hardware store in town today and across from it is Hillbilly.  Yes, Hillbilly!  Sort of a Dollar store but they have some cool crafty stuf  so of course I had to go have a look.  I found these great laser cut, pop up butterflies and wanted to use them.  The first card was planned around the butterflies and here it is:

The paper on the left is Coordinations Tim Holtz Distress paper in Broken China.  I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder and then sanded the embossing which brings out the Broken China core.  The paper on the right is Tim Holtz Kraft Resist.  I used a combination of the new Distress Stains (Peeled Paint, Fire Brick, Dusty Concord, Faded Jean and Antique Linen onto my craft sheet.  Then, I sprayed the whole thing with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pink Bubblegum.  The ribbon is Tim Holtz trims dyed with the Distress Stains to match the paper.  Then I stuck the butterfly sticker to paper and cut it out.  Finally, I glued the butterfly to the ribbon using Multi-Matte Medium.  Finally, I stamped a sentiment using an SU stamp in Ranger Black Archival ink.

For card number two, I used the Tim Holtz Mini Rosettes die and based the card around the rosettes. You can see it here:

I picked an orange cardstock from DCWV Brights paper stack and embossed it with Cherry Blossoms from Craft Concepts.  I sanded the embossed card to expose the white core which I then coloured in with SU markers - Riding Hood Red and Old Olive.  I added the rosettes to the card and put Prima flower centers on them.  Then I chose a piece from the SU Silver HodgePodge and added my sentiment.

Then I move on to Tim Holtz Grunge Paper.  I have had this stuff for a while and really haven't made use of it.  After having watched just a few videos (all of them!), I decided to play and here are the results: 

I spread the same colours of Distress Stain mentioned above onto my craft sheet and dragged the strip through the colours.  Then, I added an additional layer of the colours directly to the grunge paper.  I spritzed it with water and let the colours run before drying it with my heat tool.  Once dry, I used the Snow Cap paint dabber on the Tim Holtz ATC Flourish stamp and stamped the image multiple times down the strip.  Again, I dried this with my heat tool.  I then added Rock Candy Crackle Paint to the whole surface and left to dry.  Once dry, I used Black Soot Distress Ink to highlight the cracks left by the crackle paint.  Although this step is difficult to see in the photo, it looks so cool in real life.  I am really pleased with the result!  I may use it on a scrapbook page or it might get cut up and used on different cards.  I just we will just have to wait and see!

Many of you would have seen my inky fingers in a photo on FaceBook.  I got very messy but loved it all!  Funnily enough, Clearsnap posted a status saying that if you were inky, then you must be having fun.  So true :0)  When I rejoined the family, I found Cappuchin on Daddy's lap, watching a video.  He was so focused, he didn't even know I was there!

Canberrans - good luck with the convoy traffic tomorrow.  Hope everyone has a great week!

I'm back!

Well after a problem with access to several sites and a return to school, I am finally able to get here and post!  Of course, I haven't been very prolific during that time *hangs head*.  In fact, quite lazy!  In any case, here is a little of what has been happening.

Cappuchin is nearing two and we have hit the full on tantrum stage!  I think we have about 50% happy vs 50% tantrum at the moment.  I really dislike this stage, he can't talk - only scream and cry.  I want to join him in the scream and cry but that is counter productive.  So, he spends a fair bit of time in his cot, calming down.  The word "no" will set him off faster than a fox after a jack rabbit!  So, I managed to capture a happy moment the other day.  Sitting in the back of the car while we waited to pick up Spidermonkey - soaking up the sun and playing with his new sunglasses:

Today I saw these on the living room floor and thought - "how cute!"  and "how long will he be that small?".  Not long if his brother is anything to go by!  I just love these little shoes:

AND I got crafty over the last few days.  I can't show you any finished products because they are for people who haven't received them yet but I can show you some "sneak peaks"!  Here is the first: 

Lots of bling, shimmer and ink!  I had fun with this one, although it is a CAS'd card from Doodlebop on SplitCoast Stampers.  And then I played with ink and my Color Me papers from Hot Off the Press.  I used lots of blues from ClearSnap Colorbox and Tim Holtz Distress.  I finished it off with some Vanilla Smooch Spritz to give it a shine!  Don't know what I will use it for but I'm sure I'll find something!

So, I hope to have more for you shortly - soon as I kick this lurgey!

A Surprise Trip to Sydney

So, on Wednesday last week, Spider Monkey commented that he would like to go back to the dinosaur museum.  Now, I think the dino museum here is good for the community that it serves but we have been there, oh - about 5 times.  It doesn't change but Spider Monkey does.  He is older each time and takes a little longer to go through - reading and learning more each time.  But I thought, let's see something new!

I sent DH a message to see what he thought and next thing I know, we are off to Sydney on Friday to go to the Australian Museum.  Considering we had a toddler and we were only staying for the day, I was impressed we got through as much as we did.  We saw the skeletons, the Under 5's area, the Sea Shore exhibit, the Ancient Australian section and the dinosaurs.  We even made it through the special exhibit - Birds of Paradise.  By this point, the toddler was cranky and we were all hungry.  So, off to get food we went.

After a fabulous lunch at Spirolo on Riley Street (highly recommend this place! So yummy!), we thought we should make a move to head home.  It was 3:15 and we thought we would avoid some traffic.  Boy was I wrong!  It took us more than an hour to get to the toll booth on the M5 (what should have been 15 - 20 min).  We knew there would be snow traffic (people headed off to the snow fields for the weekend) but come on!  Then we hit another snag with a large accident on the Hume - it was on the other side of the highway but everyone on our side had to slow down to look.  So our max 3 hour drive took us over 4.

Finally, we arrived home and let the ferals out of the car.  They both had a run around to let out some pent of energy and then off to bed they went.  I managed about another hour before I gave up and went to bed and DH made it another hour.  It was fun but I have to say that no dinosaur exhibition that I have seen to date beats the Sternberg Museum in Hays, KS.  I look forward to taking the kids back there when we are finally able to visit again!

Here are a few of the photos we took along the way:

Tomorrow, I should have some more crafty stuff to show you!  DH has promised to look after the boys while I spend some time in my craft space.  I will try to make them...From My Own Brain :0)