Happy First Holy Communion....

...to my beautiful daughter, Mia and her cousin, Alexandra!

We celebrated this much anticipated day yesterday with a lovely church service followed by dinner at home with family and friends.

I'm extra proud of my big girl for soldiering on despite not feeling very well on the day.

Here are some photos of her special day. The photos show a little something in her eyes that reflects her not feeling her normal self but she still looked gorgeous.

The tiara was a gift from Nana (my mum) and the dress was a gift from Mia's aunty (my sis). Her hair was styled by Mia's big cousin, Michelle (my niece)....

My gorgeous girls...

The four of us...

My beautiful, Demi. She was so happy to finally wear her special outfit...

The two cousins...

This is one of the invitations I made....

I love the image. It's just adorable. I coloured them with markers and used Stickles on the dress. The leaves were cut with the Little Leaves die. The flowers were stamped with the Vintage Vogue set, cut out and adorned with a half pearl. Colours used were Whisper White, Certainly Celery and silver, that was kindly donated by our friend, Anna - hi Anna! The name of the stamp set with which I stamped the sentiment escapes me right now but its the one that has a cross and dove as part of it too. Can anyone save me looking it up? Anyway, it was then puched using the Word Window punch.

And the bomboniere/favour pillow boxes I also made...

For these I used the Pillow Box die, which I just think is awesome and so versatile. The ribbon is Certainly Celery. The personalised tags were computer generated and punched with the delightful Jewellery Tag punch.

Now for my piece de resistance and labour of love (and two painstaking days' work, I might add!!!!) - the cake....

The toppers were loosely (and I stress the word 'loosely') modelled on the girls. Everything on the cake was edible, except for the candles. The girls loved it, which made all the hard work worth it. Mia couldn't stop telling me how much she loved it.

There are plenty more photos where these came from but I think you've suffered long enough. Ha ha..

Now for a day of rest for us to recover. I hope my baby feels better really soon. Love you, Mimi! And you too, Dem Dem!

Thanks for letting me share with you.

Andrea

Focus on the Uniform

I'm back as promised with another layout of Demi's first day at school, this time with a focus on her uniform...

Again, I wanted the photos to stand out on their own so I added just a few accents, by way of punchies, die cut letters for the title, and some images from the Sew Suite stamp set.

Colours used were Night of Navy, So Saffron and Crumb Cake.

I still have quite a number of photos to scrap so I hope to get started on those soon & I'll be sure to share them with you once they're done.

Until then, take care.

Andrea

Demi's First Day of School

Hello again.

I'm here today to share with you a a couple of layouts of my daughter, Demi's first day of school...

A child's first day of school is such a special day for a family, isn't it? I really wanted to be happy with the layout and I believe I am. I wanted the photos to be the feature so I added a few accents using the Sew Suite Suite stamp set, brads and a pewter embellishment. I think the ruler works a treat! Colours used were Night of Navy, So Saffron and Bashful Blue.

Let me know what you think.

I'll be back shortly with another layout of Demi's first day of school.

See you soon.

Happy Mother's Day...

...to my mum, my mother-in-law, all of you mums and....ME! Ha ha...

I hope you all have a wonderful day surrounded by all of your loved ones. The thing I love the most about Mother's Day is how excited my girls get about the presents they buy me from the Mother's Day stall at school. I love the anticipation of me opening their presents and the look on their faces when they learn that what they bought for me were the two very things I had always wanted! Such a special moment.

Well, here are the cards I made this morning for my mum and my mother-in-law. Different but same....

You will notice the Sew Suite stamp set which I'm really loving at the moment teamed with Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise or Rose Red and Crumb Cake. I've also used some punches, brads and different embellishments. If you's like to know any specifics, please don't hesitate to ask.

Be sure to have a wonderful day, however you choose to celebrate it.

Take care.

Andrea

Another Groovy Card

Hello everyone.

I hope you all had a great Easter and enjoyed your break.

Today I have a birthday card to share with you. It was for a young friend of ours....

Wanted to give it a bit of a distressed look but I think I got carried away - ha ha! Well, that's all for today. Feel free to leave a comment.

Take care & have a wonderful day.

Andrea

Demi's Dance Concert

Hello again.

Firstly, apologies for the big gaps in my Blog posts. I'm not sure what is going on with it all. I just know that I can't seem to fix the gaps. You'll just have to bear with me until I sort it out.

In the meantime, I have a layout of Demi in her dance concert costume. Doesn't she look adorable? I love the colours too. So vibrant and girly.

I hope this layout brightens your day. :)

Until next time...

Andrea

Sports Uniform

Hello again.

I'm back, this time with a layout of the first time Demi wore her sports uniform earlier this year. I love the photos. She looks so cute. Her uniform is so big on her. Take a look...

I still have layouts to do of her in her actual school uniform. Not sure why I did this layout first. I suppose it doesn't matter as long as they all get done, right?

Well, hope to be back soon. Enjoy your day.

Andrea :)

Christmas 2011

Bula!

Great to be back after our week-long holiday in Fiji & so glad to be able to stuck into some more scrapbooking.

First to share with you I have Mia's Santa photo layout...

I love the colours Ruby Red, Basic Black & Crumb Cake together. The baubles were stamped with the Delightful Decorations stamp set, punched with the Ornament punch and decorated with half pearls.

Stay tuned for another post shortly.

Until then...

Andrea

Stylish Blogger Award - Woo Hoo!

My wonderful and very talented upline, Di Barnes at Colour Me Happy has been kind enough to bestow this lovely award on me:

Thank you so much, Di, not only for the award but for all your inspiration and help whenever I need it.

The rules of receving this award are that I must:

1. Thank & acknowledge the person who passed me the award - tick

2. Share eight facts about myself. Here goes:

I was born in Uruguay

I love dogs and know a lot about them

I am a perfectionist & extremely organised, bordering on obsessive-compulsive

I am an eBay queen!

I love walking

I hate chocolate & always have, Yuck! Gross!

I don't have a sweet tooth at all

My favourite novel is Pride & Prejudice

3. pass this award on to another eight Bloggers whom I believe are deserving & let them know of the award. Unfortunately I only have time for six as I have to put my girlies to sleep. :( Well, here goes...

Nancy Riley at iStamp for all her gorgeous creations & for her uncanny ability to track down & showcase wonderfully inspiring work of others.

The AMAZING Teneale Williams. Just visit her Blog & you'll know why.

KB Papercraft - gorgeous projects.

Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty - I love her clean, crisp projects.

Karen Thomas at Luv to Stamp - Hers was one of the first blogs I discovered.

The FABULOUS, Makeesha Byl. I love her stories as much as her work!

Thank you to all you lovely ladies. Your are truly talented, inspiring & amazing in your own individual way.

Enjoy your award.

Andrea

Groovy 8th Birthday

Happy 8th Birthday to our niece, Alexandra!

She had a sleepover party so my girls are over there at the moment, hence I have some time to post - ha ha!

Here is the groooovy card I made for her...

Can you see the Crystal Effects on her eyes, that make for that dreamy, glass-eyed look?

I have had this colour combination in my mind for some time & I'm glad I got to use it. It's very bright & fun.

Well, thanks for stopping by.

Take care.

Andrea

Sorry for my absence!

Hello everyone!

I am so sorry for not posting for such a long time. I am slowly trying to get back into the swing of my crafting but it has been really difficult to find the time and at times, difficult to find motivation. I have been struggling to come up with ideas for classes, because, honestly my personal projects, such as my scrapbooking and preparing for my girls' party, have been suffering from neglect. I have been feeling like I want to get away from the pressure of coming up with new ideas to please people, because sometimes those ideas or projects are not my preferred style or what I most enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with all the lovely ladies that attend my classes and I hope to continue seeing them but I think I need some time out for myself. Maybe we can just get together for a gas bag & to stuff our faces with sweets!!!

I have so much on my plate with my girls too. Their schooling and activities, etc. You must all know how it is. Plus I will be starting part time work after a looong absence of eight years taken to look after my girls. I love it all but something just has to give sometimes. Selfish? I hope not.

Well, I will continue to post but not as regularly as I have in the past. I'll leave you today with three layouts that I completed this week...

I like the way I incorporated Mia's actual ribbons into the photo - ha ha! If you have any questions about any of the layouts, please ask.

Well, thanks for listening to my ramblings!

I'll be back! NOt sure when, but I will be back.

Take care.

Andrea

xo...

Missed me?

I missed you!

I have finally managed to get back to blogging after a couple of frantic months - Christmas, New Year, school holidays, activities, and so on.

Just got back from a fantastic but very exhausting day at the zoo today, so it doesn't look like quietening down just yet.

Anyway, I'd like to show you three cards that I made last week...

.

I really enjoyed all the colouring.

There are too many supplies to mention but if you'd like to know anything, please feel free to ask.

Take care.

Andrea.

A Card For My Brother-in-Law

Hello everyone.

School holidays are here! That means I had to quickly put this card together before World War III had a chance to break out. It's for my brother-in-law's birthday today...

I love the colours the cute image & the colours. The image was coloured in with my SU markers.

If you need any additional information, just ask.

Take care!
Andrea

Retirement Card

Hello.

I'm back earlier than anticipated. One of the mums from school asked me to make a crad for her to give to a lady at her work upon her retirement. I had very short notice but I have to say I like the end result. Here it is...

I used Crumb Cake and Soft Suede cardstock, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake and Pretty in Pink ink, Pretty in Pink ribbon, twine and lots of tiny little self-adhesive half pearls.

The stamp sets used were Thoughts and Prayers & En Francais for the background. The requested personalised sentiment was computer-generated.

So that's it. Another quick post before I have to fly out the door.

See you soon.

Andrea

Demi's Preschool Photo

Hello everyone on this glorious Summer day!

I have Demi's preschool photo layout to show you today. The photographers did a great job. The portrait looks amazing in real life & it's A4 size! Anyway, here it is...

For privacy reasons I didn't share the class photo layout with you, but I can tell you that it matches this page and includes a drawing by Demi.

For this layout I used retired DSP. I don't remember the name of it but I know it was from one of the mini catalogues. Cardstock is Rich Razzleberry & Certainly Celery. I made the flowers myself using the large scallop circle punch from the current Summer Mini Catalogue and some flowers punches that I own. The centres are the new adhesive half pearls. I used the spiral punch to give the small photo and journalling a negative look. Fairly simple but that's how I wated to keep it because the photo is so beautiful on it's own.

I can't believe she'll be going to big school next year! What a big girl she is.

I hope to get some more photos developed soon so I can get started on some more layouts and share them with you.

Until then, take care.

Andrea

More Christmas Cards

Well, what a whirlwind these last couple of weeks has been and there's no end in sight just yet. There have been school activities, dancing rehearsals, dance concerts, Christmas shopping, parties, and the list goes on. Today should be relatively quiet so I managed to take these few minutes to show you a couple of Christmas cards I made for some friends...


The owl card was made by stamping the Woodgrain background stamp with Crumb Cake ink onto Crumb Cake cardstock. The owl was punched from Soft Suede cardstock using the gorgeous owl punch. Other colours used were Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White and Basic Black. The "For You" sentiment is from the retired Vintage Labels set. It was punched with the Jewellery Tag punch, The sentiment inside the card is from the Many Merry Messages set. The branch was punched from Old Olive using the Two-Step Bird punch. The ribbon is Real red grosgrain.

The second card was made using the Loads of Love and the Loads of Love Accesories sets. It was made for Ruth who has two Golden Retrievers so I had to eliminate one of the dogs from the stamp, more difficult than I anticipated because the stamp is so small. Anyway, we got there in the end. The sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments set

I hope to get some scrapbooking done amongst all the chaos as I have so many gorgeous photos of the girls that I've taken lately. I'll be sure to show you when I'm done. Wish me luck.

Andrea.