Sew In Love

See... brown paper bags... my new addiction!!!!  

I was having a play with some of my Spellbinder's dies and put this love banner together recently.  I really enjoyed hand-making the flowers, doing some beading and hand/machine stitching!  Happy hours were spent putting this together, reflecting upon our 'big day' and how wonderful the gift of marriage is!

There's even some scraps from my wedding gown in there!

It's so good to be back home with my Mr!

And it's wonderful to love and be loved!

New Year Bliss

'New Year Bliss'

And a VERY Happy and Blessed New Year to you! 

I had a wonderful night seeing in this new year with friends (usually I pike out and go to bed instead, but this time I was determined to stay up way past my bedtime and see this new year in).  What more could a girl want than great food, wonderful company and a good laugh playing a Wii game or two - I have sore muscles to prove it!!!  There was bubbly, sparklers and fireworks too!   

I have some very special things that I am looking forward to this year... new additions to the family, long service leave, travel and a newer car are big blessings I am really thankful and excited about.  I'm sure you'll hear more about all of these as the year progresses.

My New Year Bliss today was being able to start playing around with these gorgeous stamps from Paperbag Studios latest rubber stamp plate, 'Shine'.  I've been itching to try these out and they have been quite inspirational for me today! 

I'm hopeless at consistently keeping a journal and get a bit frustrated by them.  This year I thought I'd try a different approach.  I've collaged this work on a really big envelope and added a journal entry for today on an index card.  I'm planning to add thoughts and ideas to this envelope as the year progresses... shall see how it goes!

The envelope contained a really sweet and thoughtful card from my Dad and on the back of the envelope is printed 'For Arts Sake'... I found that by accident when I'd almost completed the collage - it just added to the bliss!

I've had an absolutely wonderful first day to the year... creative time, chats to some friends and a surprise visit from my adorable nephew, who requested a visit with me.  We watched Dumbo together and shared pizza with his family.  What a perfect, blissful, wonderful day!  So thankful for God's blessings for me this day!!!

Let Your Heart Lead The Way

Inkurable Stampers has a new challenge out for this month - it's a sketch challenge.  I have had very little time to create in the past couple of weeks (and I'm getting twitchy), so I thought I'd start with a challenge this morning to get 'kick started' for the long list of creative 'to do's' that are needing some attention this weekend!  I thought this would be a quick way to start - well in the end, that wasn't the case, but it has lead me to really begin to ponder the sentiment I used for this card, which just might be a good thing!  I pretty much pulled this sentiment out, with very little thought, because I imagined it would fit on the label just perfectly.  Now I've finished this card, I'm actually thinking a bit deeper about it's meaning.  I do have a tendancy to be led by my head... looking at the pros and cons of a situation, weighing everything up - and taking an awfully long time to make a decision.  I think it's a protective thing... perhaps it's been born out of fear or the consequences of making a bad decision?  Anyway, I don't know that being led by your head, well my head at least, is always a good thing either.  It may well be time to 'Let My Heart Lead The Way' for a change!  So that is the challenge I have given myself for the immediate future, to allow my heart to lead the way a little more and I'm going to keep a record of how I'm going in this card.  Have you got a challenge or two like this that you're working on?  Is there some kind of fear or boundary that you need to overcome or break?  If you're brave enough, let me know what it is and how things are working out for you.

I've used Basic Grey papers from the 'Porcelain' paper pad collection, the label is by Spellbinders, heart punch by Carl - onto which I added a layer of black soot distress embossing powder and starlight silver brilliance ink.

Tenderness - Jane Austen

'Tenderness'

All stamped images are from Oxford Impressions 'Jane Austen' rubber plate.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

'Pride and Prejudice'

I was so excited when Suzanne at Oxford Impression put together her 'Jane Austen' rubber stamp plate.  Pride and Prejudice is my favourite novel by Jane Austen and I guess it came as no surprise to me, when I envisioned Jane sitting at her writing desk, dreaming up the great romance of Miss Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy.

French Pattern - Regency Fashion

'French Pattern'

These beautiful images from Oxford Impressions 'Regency Fashion' plate are so lovely to work with and as I was putting this work together, I couldn't help but dream of being in Paris.  I'd be treasure hunting at the flea markets and searching for gorgeous textiles and art supplies to take home with me... Oh I'd drop in to the odd museum too!.