PDCC162 - Happy HAPPY New Year!

It's been so long since I've been able to have fun with everyone at The Play Date Cafe.  Challenge #162 is inspired by the picture below - the challenge was to create something using the following colours:  

Gold

Teal

Mint

 Lavender

As I didn't get to 'play' with this challenge until after Christmas, thoughts of the New Year were my inspiration and starting point.  The cute 'star of the show' is from Stampington and the words are a combination of Making Memories and Hero Arts.  I stitched and beaded some extra stars into the background and wanted to approach this piece in a playful way... playful may be my 'word' for 2013, especially with my creative work.  I can tend towards being too serious and I can find myself losing the sense of fun during the creative process.  So next year I'm going to aim to be more playful in the way I approach not just my art, but life in general.  

This piece is created on a seed packet, so there's a pocket to hide dreams/goals/secrets for the year too. Actually, I already have a big secret that I'm keeping and will be able to share it with you very soon!

Here's to a very Happy, HAPPY New Year to You!  Yes, I'm just a little early - makes a nice change, eh!

Packets of Joy

As seen in Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft magazine Vol.14 No.3

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted, so much has happened... some of which I'll have to fill you in on at another time... promise!

Just like many of you, this time of the year is action packed. Last week I was frantically completing some pieces for a '12 Days of Christmas' art swap I'm participating in this year. It's been lovely to be involved in a swap with some wonderful and creative ladies around Australia. I received my parcel of goodies yesterday... so from the 13th of December I have 11 gifts to open, one each day until Christmas - and my piece too! It's so exciting to see them all lined up, and very tempting to take a peek, but I'll behave myself and enjoy them one at a time!

'Mr Movember 2008' - Photograph by Joel Campbell - Image by Oxford Impressions

Joel came down last weekend and it was his birthday on the Sunday. :) We had a lovely, relaxed weekend!

Frenchmans Bay - Photograph by Joel Campbell

On Saturday, we went out to see the wind farm and then drove further around the coast to Frenchmans Bay. We meandered along the beach and had lunch out there. We virtually had the beach to ourselves, which was pretty wonderful! It was a beautiful sunny day (a rarity in these parts lately), so sunny in fact, that we ended up getting a little sunburned.

The weekend before that it was my birthday... one which I had been dreading a few months back, but it ended up being amazing! I was completely spoiled and Joel made a surprise visit - gatecrashing a very girly weekend! I'll definitely write more about this later... I have some gorgeous handmade birthday cards to share with you too!