Be Calm and Have Fun!

While visiting the Gluten Free Food and Allergy Show recently, I picked up a business card (top photo) from a company selling some beautiful body oil, plus other things. The card inspired me to stamp and draw my own version (photo directly above).  I was inspired by the soft colours, and the word "calm".  I hand drew the word 'calm', and stamped the butterflies.  I found it really relaxing.  It's not perfect, and it isn't meant to be.  It was a lesson in relaxing and having fun at the same time.  I achieved both!  Thanks for visiting, hope you left with a smile!  Come back soon!

{HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

A Colourful Week!

 I made this card using the SU Hardwood stamp, and turned it into a fence!  The cute birds are the ones Lorraine sent me...perfect size for sitting on this fence!  Thanks again Lorraine, I'm having a lot of fun with them, and all the other bits you sent me!

 Here's the birds and squirrel up close...so cute!

I'm 'nuts' about squirrels and wish I had one for a pet!!!

 Below is another card I made using the same SU Hardwood stamp, this time using a bigger bird die (Memory Box Gold Finch Style 98756).  I die cut a hole in the card so I could place one bird kind of perched on the hole.

 This is a new trimmer I got recently.  The cutting platform is 7 x 5 inches, which I find the PERFECT size for cutting card to layer with.  I find my bigger trimmer is harder to use ad I often end up with crooked card.  Not so with this 7 x 5 inch cutter!  It has a clear plastic "arm" to hold the card while you cut it.  This trimmer was recommended to me, and in turn I am recommending it to YOU!  I don;t know how I managed without it!  It is also very lightweight.  It is the same style as the Creative Memories on, just a different colour.

This is a card I made using an SU flower punch.  I can;t remember what it is called but it punches out 3 flowers at a time and has a matching stamp set.  I first sponged the background using two different stencils.  One is called Mini Tattered Lace and has four different patterns on the stencil.  Th other stencil is called Mini Chicken Wire and both stencils are from The Craft Workshop.  Thus was the first time I have used stencils so it was a bit of a gamble whether or not it was going to turn out ok!  I was happy with the results and will continue playing with the stencils.  The leaves are from an SU bird punch.  I drew the white lines by hand as the leaves were too strong a colour without the white.  Another use for my white gel pen!

 And these are some shots of a beautiful rainbow yesterday!  I was able to see the entire rainbow, but it quickly vanished when it suddenly poured with very heavy rain!  We are so close to it being Winter here, and we have had some horrible wet and cold days already.  I want to hibernate all come out in Summer!  My home is very icy cold and damp in Winter and I don't like/enjoy Winter AT ALL!!!  Even stamping becomes a challenge as my fingers get so cold I can't use them:-(  Please hurry back Summer!!

Well that's all I have for now, I may have more later, who knows!?  Thanks for dropping by, I hope you left with a smile! Come back soon!  {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

A Surprise In The Mail!

A few weeks ago Lorraine had posted some photo's of some stamps and dies that she had bought doubles of.  She said that if anyone was interested in any of the things, to let her know and she would post it to them.  I chose a cute set of bird dies and asked Lorraine if she would be happy to send them to me in NZ.  Lorraine is in the USA.  She said she was happy to send them  me.    So I was expecting and envelope to arrive with the bird dies in...

...then this box arrived by courier... 

...with the cute bird dies (above)...

...and this cute little pink spotted bag ...

 ...that had these two items inside!  A cute PINK flying pig key ring and some gorjuss floral tape...

 ...and then there was this little package ...

 ...that had these gorjuss pockets in (I love pockets..)

 ...and this cute scalloped card she made me...

...and then I opened this interesting packet..

 ...and found all these gorjuss die cuts...

...and last but not least I found this amazing "Sunshine" shopping bag!!

 It was such a nice surprise, considering I was only expecting the bird die set!  A HUGE THANK YOU to Lorraine - you are an amazingly kind person!

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you all enjoyed my "Surprise" from Lorraine as much as I did!  Come back soon!

{HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

Rainbow Colours

I went for a visit to the Auckland Domain and into the gardens on Monday.  It's a stunning place and it is FREE to get int to see the pants!  The weather was just gorjuss sunshine and cloudless blue skies. The photo above is of some Pitcher plants growing from hanging baskets above the Lily pond.  No Lilies at this time of year, but lot's of huge lily pads floating on the pond.  The picture below is a close up of some water droplets on one of the lily pads.

I am not sure what this pink plant is called but it was very pretty. 

 A new addition to the gardens (which are enclosed) are a few wooden seats set back among the flowers.  This one above is surround by "Love Lies" Bleeding".  I don't know the Latin name for it!

The photo above is of the fruit from a Cacao tree.  The fruit was quite big and looked very heavy.  I wouldn't want to be standing under tree when the fruit dropped!

All these following photo's are of various Dahlia's.  Most of them were much taller than I was - (okay so I am well under five foot tall!) - so I had to point my camera up quite a lot  to get a photo.

This white 'fluffy' Dahlia reminded me of those little floatie creatures that were in the movie "Avatar"! 

 I just loved this shaggy Dahlia, it reminded me of a mop!

The Dahlia's came in every size and colour and it was a smorgasbord of colour everywhere you looked!  I spent a lot of time int his particular garden and met a lovely couple (He was a Kiwi, she was from Singapore) whom I chatted to for some time. They told me that in Singapore a garden like this would not be free, it would cost $25 entry fee!!  I was shocked!  Most of the gardens here are free to get into, although some do charge a small fee if they are private gardens.

More shaggy flowers!  These were my favourites and I took a lot of photographs of them.  Each one was just as stunning as the next. 

Some of the Dahlia's were almost perfectly round and just looked like big pom-poms!

Here's a close-up of one of the pom-pom Dahlia's.  Isn't Nature stunning?! 

I also loved these stunning Sunshine yellow flowers.  I felt like I needed sunglasses on they were so bright!

Each variety had several colours and shapes of flowers.

Love this big white pom-pom flower!  It was VERY tempting to pick a big bunch of Dahlia's and bring them home!!  They would sure look gorjuss sitting on my dining room table...

Some more beautiful shaggy flowers.  I wonder how the bee's manage to find their way into the center of the flower?!  Do they get lost in there?!

I love Dahlia flowers and could rave all day about them!  I'm going to look online to see if I can buy any of the bulbs similar to any of these.  I would LOVE to have a few in my garden!

The Sunshine yellow ones were on of my favourites; the colour was just, well, Sunshiney!

These too were stunning, and not quite so tall as some of the others, so a bit easier for me to photograph!

Don't you just love this (above) colour combination, red and purple!  See, Nature knows her colour palette like us stampers do!!

This pale pink/peach flower was really stunning too.  I had a fabulous day and just so enjoyed the awesome display of plants and flowers.  Besides taking photo's (almost 200!), I sat and hand fed the Sparrows some popcorn I had taken especially for them!  It was so relaxing and I came home feeling rejuvenated and chilled out!  My senses were overloaded with what I had seen!

The gardens at the Domain change from month to month and there is always a spectacular display of flowers all year round...and it is FREE!!  There's a couple of cafe's there as well.  It's truly a great place to visit and I feel so blessed that it is available to me any time I like.  There are also lakes with many different birds..and the odd water rat! And so much more! 

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you left with a smile!  Come back soon!

{HUGS} from me to YOU:-)