one more reflective moment..

I'm melting!!! I don't know why I'm feeling so hot, because it's not that hot here tonight. I think it must be the humidity, oh well I thought I'd post the last reflection card tonight as I will be busy with my class tomorrow. This one is using the stamp set called ' Lovely as a tree' I also used some sentiment from the must have set called 'Life definitions', It has some beautiful words in it and is one of those dateless stamp sets. I used some masking technique to give the illusion of the sun and this card was coloured in using water colour crayons from SU. I was inspired by Jess Jean from SCS for this one. The card stock is Chocolate chip, So Saffron and Whisper White. I used Stazon Timber Brown to stamp the image.
I hope you are enjoying a peaceful weekend, "may the ink be with you" Lots of inky hugs from...

Water, water every where but not a drop to drink...

Hi all, here are couple more of the reflection cards that I mentioned in the previous post. The first one is one I did when designing the class projects, it took too long to be part of the class cards so I then did the easier one underneath to be included in the class. Both of these cards were inspired by Beate Johns who has a tutorial for this technique on SCS. As you can see I have used some masking along with the reflections techniques, I think this adds to the whole illusion effect. I made the background for the second card using 'Canvas' and then layering on 'Sanded'. I then sponged on some coordinating inks, I really love this messy look and all the colours that show through. The stamped images of the horse are from the set called 'Wanted' and the trees are from the ever popular set called 'Lovely as a tree'. I used water wonder crayons from SU as well as the coordinating inks for sponging the backgrounds. I hope you like them, there is one more from this class to show so pop back in tomorrow for a visit, have a cuppa ready. Thanks for stopping by, lots of inky hugs from ....

A time for reflection...

Hello out there in blog land, I hope this finds you all well and not too hot. I have had a very busy week with all sorts of interruptions that have stopped me getting my hands inky! I did manage to have a couple of classes in the last week though and one of them was on a technique called 'Reflection', I had never had the opportunity to teach this technique before and was a little nervous to say the least. however I think all the ladies who came along were pleased with their finished projects so it wasn't a disaster. This is one of the cards they made which has been coloured in using the water colour crayons from Stampin'Up! I used the stamp from the very beautiful set called "Summer by the sea" There are several ways to do this technique, but on this occasion I used the acetate and transfer technique as I think it is probably the easiest and most successful, I did tell my wonderful ladies of the other methods they can use to give the illusion of a reflection. I hope you like this one and it makes you feel cool, thinking of those sea breezes! I will upload the other cards that were made in this class so you can see them too.

Take care all and thank you for visiting with me, lots of inky hugs from ....

Some more family pictures..

Hi All, Here are a couple more pictures from my trip back home last year. The first one is of myself with my brother Marcus, he is in the merchant navy so is away from home a fair bit, but I was very lucky to have him at home with me while I was there and it was great to catch up and share all our childhood memories, we went out shopping, had coffee and cakes (too many) and went to church together, It was certainly a very special time for us.

The second picture is of me with my dear dad outside our favourite Cathedral which is in Truro. It's a very special place for us and we always light a few votive candles for our loved ones who have passed on and say some prayers whilst listening to the amazing organist there. My father has been very unwell of late and is now waiting to hear when he will be going into hospital for surgery, it's a tough time for me being so far away. A lot of prayer and phone calls will have to suffice for now. I promise to upload some of my latest work soon, we have had a very busy couple of days, Lori has returned from her travels and so has Grant so we are a full family again for a while! Take care all and thank you for visiting with me, lots of inky hugs from..

My Boys...

Hi Everyone, I hope this finds you all enjoying a safe, cool and peaceful weekend. These are a few photos of my two dogs, the German shepherd is called Coubah and the Wamoodle ( mum was a Maltese cross West highland terrier and dad was a toy poodle)is called Whiddy "I know what your thinking, but it's a long story!" Any way I thought this picture of Coubah covering his nose was so cute I had to share it with you. Dh took the picture and called it " ready or not, here I come!"

I have had a friend visiting this week and we hadn't seen each other for nearly fourteen years, we met in England when I was sent back to stay with my Grandparents for a while and go to school in England to catch up on my education and my English oral skills, I had been speaking French and Spanish for near four years and my parents decided it would be a good idea to return me to England for three months before we sailed on to America. I met my friend at school there, she later was on holiday in Florida with her family and we met up again, as this is where I was now living with my parents. I later returned to England to live in the very same village as her. We had always kept in touch via letters so we just started up where we had left off. I moved to Australia with my family when my friend was pregnant with her first child and he is thirteen on Australia day, she and her family have now moved to Adelaide and are living in Glenelg. Unfortunately they have haven't found it easy to settle there and are finding it hard to make friends etc. So she came for a visit here to Western Australlia to see if she would be happier here. We had a lovely reunion and caught up on all our family and friends gossip, she has flown home to SA today and hopefully feeling a little better about Australia. I will upload some more photos soon, thanks for being so patient with me, lots of inkLESS hugs from ....

Another Sponged delight.

Hello fellow blog surfers, I did this card the same day as the previous two, it's another Case of one of Michelle Zindorfs cards, it's not quite the same as hers, different colours and stamps, but the principles are the same. I showed it to my daughter and she said it reminded her of a fairy tale scene, spooky woods etc. then she said "Jack and the bean stalk" Oh well I like it even though there are a few mistakes! The swirls are from the wonderful set called "Baroque Motifs" the script is the Background stamp called " En Francais" and the butterfly and flowers are from "Natural Beauty", I really enjoyed making these cards and got really inky in the process, as well as suffering with an sore arm afterwards. I haven't quite mastered the light and dark shading on the vines yet, but I'll get there. Thanks for looking, lots of inky hugs from...

Some CASED cards...

Hi Everyone, I belong to a wonderful online group for Australian SU demonstrators and every Saturday they have what is called Case-it-Saturday, which means you copy someones wonderful work and give a link to their site where you cased it from. The acronym C.A.S.E stands for Copy And Share Everything. I have long been an admirer of the great artist Michelle Zindorf, who in my opinion is the ink Queen! I have often thought about following one of her tutorials but never really had the courage, so I decided to do our online groups case it sat. and bite the bullet. So this is my attempt at doing a Michelle Zindorf design, I did two because I thought I'd see what it would be like without the edges distressed, which one do you prefer? Oh well thank you for visiting and here is the link to Michelle's tutorial: http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/02/29/thank-you-black-bird-tutorial/

Lots of really inky hugs from....

Some more village life from Cornwall...

Hello fellow crafters and blog surfers, I thought I'd add some more pictures of my wonderful stay back home with my parents last October. The top photo is of course one of the most important places in the village of Mylor Bridge, the hub of the community...The Pub! It's called the Lemon Arms as you can see and it has a beautiful atmosphere as well as great food.

The next photo is the front of my Parent's and Brother's home, it's a one story house or for those English among you "A Bungalow", it has beautiful gardens that go right around the whole property, which mum attends to mostly, but has the help of a gardener to mow the lawns every couple of weeks. My brother helps too when he is home from sea, they have a huge Oak tree which is several hundred years old and while I was there it was dropping hundreds of acorns that had to be picked up by the sac load every day. I really loved the house and it felt very cozy and warm, full of love. The last photo is of mum's village butcher, he has a wonderful assortment of meats and sells fresh game that has been shot the night before, he uses local farmers so all the produce is fresh and tastes like grandma used to cook.

I'll post some more cards later, take care and thanks for visiting. Lots of inky hugs from..

Some Reverse Masking.

Hi everyone, I am very lucky to have some very dear friends who get together every Tuesday for a chat and some craft, well I decided that I would try and make a contribution to the craft bit, as I certainly give more than my fare share of the chat bit! I thought it would be nice if we could all do a different technique every Tuesday and make a card or two with that technique. I know that lots of other demonstrators do this and I felt it was time for me to join in. I write an instruction sheet and leave a space for the technique and then we make a card using the same. I will show you the cards hopefully each Tuesday that we make, these are two that I did this Tuesday, using the fabulous "Live your Dream" set which was a gift to all who attended last years regional convention, but is also available to purchase from the Summer mini.

I had a very productive day in my stamping room yesterday and I will post the results soon, I hope you like my new header, my dear hubby did it for me. Take care all, lots of inky hugs from..

SALE-A-BRATION TIME !

For those of you who didn't know, this is the very best time of the year for anything Stampin'Up! It runs from Jan. the 1st through to Feb.the 28th. During this time there are lots of opportunities for you to get your inky fingers on some FREE stamp sets! Even I couldn't resist this one, I joined up last year during Sale-A-Bration and I've been having a blast ever since. This is how it works:
CUSTOMERS- every time you spend $100. in any of the current catalogues you can choose one of four fabulous sets from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue, if you spend $200. you can choose another and so on, there is no limit to how many sets you have as long as your order goes in within the times specified.
HOSTESSES-When your party total reaches $600. before shipping and handling ,you are not only going to get your usual generous hostess gifts of A free level one or level two stamp set and $70.00 to spend in the main catalogue, you will also get to choose another FREE set from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue, as your party totals reach the next increment your gifts and free sets will go up as well. So if ever you were thinking of having a get-together with some friends to do some stamping, NOW is the time!
RECRUITS- This is truly the best time for you to take advantage of putting together a dream starter kit, because for every lucky person who joins Stampin'Up! during the Sale-A-Bration time, you will get to choose an extra set from the main catalogue up to the whopping value of $79.95. That's nearly six hundred dollars worth of goodies for just over three hundred dollars!You can customise your starter kit to suit your needs, just contact me for more info.
So if you haven't seen the new Summer mini or the great Sale-A-Bration catalogues you can do so by clicking on the pictures of them in the right hand column, or contact me for a free copy.
charmaineblck@yahoo.com.au I look forward to hearing from you :-)

A little bit of Summer...

Hi Everyone, I hope your New-Year celebrations were really good and that you are all looking forward to a very happy 2009. We went out with some friends to the trots in Perth and it was a really enjoyable night, the fire works were spectacular. Then last night we were invited to join some other friends who live right on the river, to watch another firework display. It was a wonderful night shared with good friends and we really enjoyed ourselves.

I promised no more Christmas cards, so this is a couple of cards I've made with the beautiful new set called "Eastern Blooms" which is in the new Summer mini. I made the gate fold card above for a swap with my fellow team members of "Inkspirations" (Makeesha's Downline) I feel so privileged to be part of such a dynamic group of stampers. I used the new Scallop edge punch (LUVit!) and I used Ruby Red and Cameo Coral, as well as a Choc Chip marker to make this one. The little Kimono card with a book mark in it was made using the same set and colours, I found one similar to this on SCS. I hope you like them, I'll be uploading more from the new mini and from the Sale-A-Bration catalogues soon, so keep posted! Take care, lots of inky hugs from....