Family Holidays - YAY Moonpie and My sister came to visit!

Moon Pie and Me chilling on the bed, he was stoked he got to play with aunties phone

Pullling Silly Faces for the camera, We tend to go a little crazy when we see each other!

Happy Easter!

This is the Pavlova I decorated in easter theme! I cracked open a hollow chocolate egg, and dolloped whipped cream and then some passionfruit in there to resemble a cracked egg.

New Tattoo - The Mad Hatter

So I went with my cousins to the Sydney Tattoo expo. There was more clean skins there then I had expected, I went presuming there was an abundance of bikkies, druggies and housos. Yes that was stereotypical of me but that is how i perceived a tattoo expo.

I had had this tattoo planned for so long I cant remember when I first started thinking about it. What the mad hatter means to me; Im a little crazy sometimes, but I'm passionate about what I do and want. He's hate also states, "InStyle 10/6" which funnily enough is my birthdate!

Artist was Jamie Sunday from Collective Ink Tattoo in Redbank Queensland. He was also the nicest tattooist there, he had open booking for the Sunday, and most other tattooist looked at what we wanted and just said "no". Patiently waiting! My cousins were behind the camera for most of these shots.

Preperation; applying the image and getting ready for the fun to begin!

In the beginning, Jamie starting the outlining of the mad hatter.

Outline done, this is about 45mins in to it, they say the outline is the most painful part of it.

Now to start on the shading. This poor artist sat like this for more then 1 1/2 hours!

All Done! What do you think? I think he is very very me! I need to get my nails done! This picture is a great reminder of that.

Another working progress - Competition Piece

From all the vintage cabochons I have created lately. This has to be one of my favourite ones. Teaming it with Miyuki seed beads and Maria George 3mm pearls, I have so much work to do on this as it will be for the Sydney Royal Easter Show 2014 entry. This is all you will get to see of this piece unfortunately till its completed.

These boots were made for walking... So that just what ill do!

I love my new marshmallow shoes, I call them that because its like you are walking on your own little pockets of marshmallow! These were a steal at $49.95 from my local Payless shoes. Im not to sure about the colour but they are just so comfy to wear when I go for my night walks or morning walks.

Vintage Cabochons

I decided I had a heap of crafty stuff left over from when my store shutdown that I need to creat something out of my favourite collections that I had kept. These little beauties are going to be quite a few necklaces. I have big plans for a couple of them already! Which one is your favourite?

Wedding Invitations - Work related

I was asked to design a wedding invitation that was beachy, no shells or starfish and no ribbons, just something plain and that can be posted in a box. The wedding was to be held out at Cronulla Beach. My ideas started to go wild but here is what I had come up with...

Stardream Cream Card. Handmade papers, Silk orchid and some strategically placed raffia.

Just thought Id share a quick one!

Back from Western Australia!

What an absolute ball! Catching up with my sister & nephew was so much fun. Plus it gave me a chance to get plenty of photos so I can scrapbook some more, I was getting low on photos. My Mr. Was also enjoying the time off from work also.

My little nephew aka Moon Pie, has just had his first operation in early October he suffered from a condition called Craniosynostosis. This is a birth defect that causes one or more sutures on a baby's head to close earlier than normal. The skull of an infant or young child is made up of bony plates that allow for growth of the skull. The borders at which these plates intersect are called sutures or suture lines. The sutures between these bony plates normally close by the time the child is 2 or 3 years old.

Early closing of a suture causes the baby to have an abnormally shaped head. Which in unbeknown to us we thought he had the most gorgeous features, yes we are biased but still he looked very very normal to us per operation... Moon Pie had Mild Metopic Craniosynostosis.
See for yourself, cute no?

and now check his gorgeous face out, after his operation.

He has the most cutest round face ever now. So hence the nickname, Moon Pie. Not only was it exciting to see them but it was my first trip on a plane sine I was five years old. I highly recommend not watching Air crash investigations before flying though! Yes I was silly enough to do that. I found it educational though, like how to select your seats, things the plane is or isn't supposed to do etc. I was mesmerised by the "snow" forming on my window as we were flying over the Great Australian Bite. Mr. Was concerned that I was a little crazy because I was telling hi how  I knew that it was forming as our altitude was high and we were heading into a cold front. Yes the crazy things you pick up on TV.

I flew pretty well I reckon, on the Monday it was just a relaxing day a littleScrapbooking and arty discussions about Scrapbooking and she art, then some time to sort out what we were going to do for the week we were staying. Then off around town we ventured, I dipped my feet into the Indian Ocean now i can say i have been in two different oceans. We also climbed some look out tower, this is one of the views from the top.

Tuesday was Melbourne Cup which was unusual as the race was run at Lunchtime over in Perth. Tuesday was also Copic's with Carolyn day, and boy did I have a blast teaching 6 wonderful attentive ladies. I was grateful for all the compliments on my teaching style. I always get very nervous if its a bigger class, I try to get everyone going at the same speed, and I always encourage questions. Questions are vital in the way we learn. To me today's class was huge, I've never had that many people in a Copic's class. 

Wednesday was exploration day, we travelled to Margaret river region and visited the Duckstein Brewery for Mr. and we also stopped in and had a fabulous lunch at the Bootleg Brewery. To top it all off we then visited the famous Simmo's Ice creamery which no one "over east" knows of. 

Thursday - Mr. and I headed up to Armadale near Perth, oh the drive was long and boring!! 2.5hrs whilst Mr. Slept most of it. We pit-stopped in Haynes, only to find our end destination was two mins more up the road. Then back down to the south west coast of WA. That night we tried Chili Dogs from Joe's pizzeria, it's like heaven in a pizza dough coating, it amazes me how someone can come up with something so tasty, you can choose how hot you want your chili 1 being a tickle on your younger 10 being the hottest, what number do you think I went??? 10 of course, Mr. And I shared the goodness. It was a hot hot mess. I don't regret it at all. 

Friday - Was a day of rest and we made the decision to go fishing. What a great idea that was! I was jumping around in the water with Moon Pie, till I saw a large grey fin in the water! Grabbing Moon Pie and telling Mr. there was a shark, he laughed and said seriously, you are a Blonde! I'm standing there shocked, Why?? I replied, Mr. calmly said its a dolphin! how exciting, it was playing around the boats that had anchored in the small harbour. Still it was enough for me to be a little more intimidated of the water!

Think he is having fun? I then managed to put a rusty hook through my finger! So, off to the Drs I went to get a tetnus shot.

Dusty Attic - Design Team Entry #4

Last but not least I challanged myself to do the Dusty Attic Sketch challenge and used the oppurtunity to do the Sketch as my

Teaching Copics in Bunbury, WA!

So very excited to be asked by Emma from Scrap Goodies in Western Australia to teach a class for her store. I have never been to Western Australia and the last time I flew was when I was 5! That was an international flight. Have a look at the gorgeous ad she had designed;

The class was fully booked within 2 days! I was absolutely stoked and honoured.

Dusty Attic - Design Team Entry #3

My layouts are something that I have not done before adding texture paste to a layout

I used the chicken wire chipboard and added texture paste to the paper. Added an abundance of flowers from Prima, Manor house, Green Tara and hooked on craft. I also designed and made the title, with a new brand of thickers called DIY Thickers. Very fun to play with.

Dusty Attic - Design Team Entry #2

Here is my second entry, I call it "Little Wishes Boxes" another BTP that sparked my interest. Everything at the moment all my works seem to contain the colour Yellow. Not quite sure what that means but Im kinda of liking my style with it.

I handmade the hat pins, with Swaroski Pearl and Czech glass beads. Here is another close up to show off some more detail.

Dusty Attic Design Team Entry #1

I wanted to create something special to impress. Mum really loves her Greens, creams and country style things and I thought I'd make her something special for Christmas. I created this mini rectangle shadow box. I embellished with Chicken Wire Chipboard, Tim Holtz Philoshopy tags. Prima Flowers and Kasiercraft Embellishment (Doilies, Hunt and Gather Tags, Leaves, Rhinestones and Posies).

Here is an upclose shot of the Pen nib and Flower arrangements

Happy Crafting

Thank you card for a special lady

Here is a cute little card that I have recently done, showcasing the My Minds Eye - The Sweetest Thing - Honey Collection. Im not a huge fan of pink but I gave this one a go. I also coloured in the Greeting farm stamps with Copic's.

My Apologies for the blurry photos, these were taken with my iphone, which I have recently scratched the phone lens, so everything seems to be blurry. 

Easel Cards - Carolyn Style!

I was asked to do a easel style card, for my sister to showcase on her community network. I coloured the greeting farm stamp with Copic Markers and selected papers from Ruby Rocket and My minds eye to embellish this card. I used Tulle, as the embellishing ribbon to make the image stand out just the little bit more.

My Apologies for the blurry photos, these were taken with my iPhone, which I have recently scratched the phone lens, so everything seems to be blurry.

Reflections

I wanted to show of the coolest Nanna in the world. She is my life, literally, I see her everyday! This was a photo of my Nannizzle (fo-shizzle) at Christmas 2011 and the family shot is at Easter 2011. The photos of my family mean so much to me as my uncle, in the centre of the picture lost his battle with cancer last October. 

Re-flec-tion; an image; representation; counterpart. I think we are all a great representation of my nan. Her crazy crazy antics and her little quote that make absolutely no sense when translated into English!

Graphic 45 - Little Darlings

Here is my double layout using the Graphic45 Collection - Little Darlings. I cut the peony roses type flowers from my magnolia doo hickey. Showcasing more adorable pics of my nephew Ryan.

Something to remember me by... Timeless

I created this 12 section Frame from Kaisercraft, using the Timeless Collection Paper Pad. Some Green Tara Leaves, Tim Holtz - Keys and Locks & Philosophy tags, Kaisercraft flourishes, mini crocheted doily's and Med wooden letters coated with Gold Metal Leaf.

Happy Birthday To Me!

To dream or not to dream :)

Showcasing the best of charlottes dream - title was cut from the craft robo