Aaah - I LOVE this time of year.  Nice and relaxed as the year draws to a close and a new one is about to begin.  So who is still eating Christmas/Boxing Day leftovers?  We're just about at the end of ours I think with ham toasties for breakfast.  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. 

I dug out some of my Stampin' Up supplies the day before Christmas for some last minute wrapping and tag making. 

Hannah made tags for her presents using MDS. (She bought some presents for us with her pocket money - such a sweetie.) 

We woke up at our house Christmas morning - quite a rarity as we often stay at my mum and dad's.  Our morning looked a bit like this ....

Jack pretty much thought everything was "awesome."  Pokemon cards - awesome.  Paints - awesome.  A book - awesome. 

We found a reasonably priced phone for Hannah (who has let us know for the last year that she's the only child in the entire universe without one apparently!)  I think it is now surgically attached to her hand. 

Off to mum and dad's for a delicious Christmas lunch and dinner with my side of the family.  I love all the traditions of our Christmas.  The plates that were my grandparent's wedding set, the tablecloth handed down from past generations, the cutlery that was a wedding gift to mum and dad. 

Hannah and my mum decorating the Christmas pav. 

Home again to our place then we did it all again on Boxing Day with John's side of the family.  It was our turn to host this year.  Class ladies - my class table got a Christmas makeover!

A lovely day of family, fun, billiards, basketball, photos and catching up.  And of course - lots of EATING!  I don't think I need to eat for a week now. 

We had family staying for a few extra days so organised an excursion to the Melbourne Star.  Nice way to see the city.

So that was our Christmas.  I hope yours was wonderful.  I do love this post Christmas week too - a bit of relaxing down time.  We're having a bit of a rumpus room makeover with some help from Ikea. 

Before I go, here's a peek at this week's Weekly Deals for anyone wanting to do some specials shopping to add to their craft collection.  Some great framelits this week. 

You can find them here:  Weekly Deals. 

Have a great week and I hope you've got some creative time happening. 

Happy stamping!

Cheers, Sue

Aaah I love this time of year.  Rather relaxed pace.  Kids are having fun playing with their presents and we don't have much on the calendar.  I'm in the middle of book 2 of a 5 novel series - bliss!  We had some friends from overseas staying over the weekend so our house is even tidy for a change.  (Well - tidyish, wink.)

Just popping in to share my Christmas card for 2013 - rather belatedly but I'm a bit slow at unloading the camera.  Now as usual mine was a rather late production line and this year I just posted a few.  I've been loving MDS this year for my cards so thought I'd use it for my Christmas card too. 

Only took me 5 - 10 mins to put it together once I'd picked out a photo, then I saved it as a jpeg file, pasted 4 of them to an A4 word document page and printed it on Whisper White.  A trim, some Cherry Cobbler matting and a Pool Party base and all done.  I used MDS to make up a little insert too with some pics from the year and a little family news. 

I shrank it a little and squeezed 16 to a page for some family Christmas tags too for our gifts.  Very handy. 

You can see one on this gift. 

I think this was one of my favorites.  It was from Hannah and she'd worked so hard at it.  She'd bought something from Spotlight with her pocket money and had taken it to mum and dad's to start work on it.  Then I was banished from the living rooms for an afternoon while she used the sewing machine to finish it off (with some help from Aunty Lisa.)  It turned out to be some Christmas ornaments she'd covered in fabric and decorated, and a festive fabric bag she'd made.  Such a lot of care and love had gone into her surprise.  A gift to treasure. 

We had a lovely Christmas.  A seafood dinner and great night with my side of the family Christmas Eve.   Santa found us all at mum and dad's and we enjoyed opening gifts together and having breakfast.  Then John, the kids and I headed to Bunninyong to celebrate with John's side of the family.  A delicious lunch, time with all the family and yummy leftovers for tea.  A thoroughly enjoyable Christmas 2013. 

Do you have any Christmas traditions?  I love to get a photo of my two in front of the tree each year.  Sometimes it is a challenging task!

My two munchkins did cooperate long enough to snap a nice one this year - perhaps this'll be the shot for next year's card. 

Don't they grow up so quickly.  In a blink it seems some days.  This is a time of year for counting blessings and being thankful isn't it. 

I hope you and yours had a lovely Christmas and that 2014 brings you much joy and happiness. 

Are you doing OLW (One Little Word) for 2014?  I'm mulling words today and seeing if anything pops out to me as a focus or theme for the New Year. 

Cheers, Sue

Sharing a gorgeous gift today that I received from one of my lovely class regulars Denise. 

She made this beautiful box that holds tea bags.  Isn't it lovely.  There's a little gap at the bottom to take out the bag and make your cup of tea.  Hmmm - might be time to put the kettle on I think!   Thanks Denise.  Much appreciated.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone.  I read a greeting from a friend the other day that I just loved - may Christmas be a joyful ending to your year and a wonderful start to the new one. 

I'll see you soon for some more craft inspiration.  Safe travels to all those on the roads this Christmas.

Cheers, Sue

Another of our class cards from November and yes - Pinterest again for the inspiration. This time I CASEd this card from Stamps Well With Others. 

Here's Santa's List stamp set playing nicely with the new Circles Flip Card Thinlits.

I wanted our card a little longer with a flap you could open to leave room for writing a longer Christmas message.  So I used a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock 8 1/2 inches long and a shade narrower than 5 1/2 inches wide.  Pop it underneath the Thinlit but tuck the edge that'll be the flap OVER the thinlit so that part doesn't cut.    It'll score a nice line so you can do this .....

Add a bit of festive DSP and some stamping and voila.  All done.  Here's another of the patterns in this DSP pack.    The 2 1/2 inch circle punch is a great one to have if you're getting this Circle Card Thinlit.  It fits so well inside the circle - leaving just a nice border around the edge.  The scallop circle comes in the Thinlit pack along with a few other bits and bobs. 

Now speaking of making a list and checking it twice - I'd best be off to check my lists!!  And make sure my addle brain hasn't forgotten anyone. 

Happy almost Christmas!

Cheers, Sue

Was having a browse on Pinterest a month or so ago and came across this card by Felicity.  Loved it so we tried it at class last month. 

Don't forget to stock up on those pretty sparkly Frosted Finishes embellishments before the Holiday Catalogue finishes late Jan. 

It looked good with a Vintage Faceted Button too. 

I hope your Christmas preparations are going well.  I still haven't written on or posted my cards - bit slow this year! 

We're off to mum and dad's Christmas Eve for a seafood dinner with my side of the family - yum yum yum!  All bunking in for the night before the excitement of Christmas morning.  Jack is counting down the days!

Then Christmas Day we're heading to Bunninyong to John's brother's place for the gathering of the clan. 

What are you up to this year? 

Cheers, Sue

This was one of our November class cards - inspired by this one. 

Features the colour Island Indigo, the stunning Christmas Star stamp and a greeting from Delightful Dozen.  Plus a new embossing folder with diagonal stripes. 

To make the star pop out you just score all the lines and fold up and down alternatively.  Easy but a nice snazzy touch.  We attached it using glue dots at the points of the star.

Here's a slight variation using the new embossing folder with the script. 

If you tire of card inspiration and would like to see what I've been wasting a few hours on today - our new guinea pigs now have their own blog. You can find it here:  It's A Guinea Pig Life

Hope your December is going well.

Cheers, Sue

Have just been unloading my camera and found this variation on one of our Christmas card classes a month or so back.  I like the darker cardstock.  Have you started your Christmas cards?  I'm not even thinking about cards or Christmas shopping until December this year. ;-)

Check my class page for November Christmas Card Class dates and details if you'd like to make 3 snazzy cards.  

Have a great day.

Cheers, Sue

This was another of the cards we did at last month's Christmas card class. 

A gatefold card, held closed with a belly band of burlap.  (Ooh don't say that too fast, you'll trip over your tongue!)  We stapled the burlap - super easy. 

The Merry is cut with the Expressions thinlits.  The thinlits have tiny holes so you can poke the lettering out with a paper piercer. 

Tombow multipurpose glue is handy for sticking it to your project. 

Must make something with the Love one too.  And have a scrapbooking idea for Thankful.

We also used Christmas Collectibles bundle - the ornament stamps and punch.  Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive for this card.  We used the White Craft Ink on the coloured cardstock, and the coloured ink on the white cardstock.  All works well together with coordinating colours. 

Too early for you to be thinking about Christmas?   Here's a birthday variation instead just for you.

The greeting is the every so sassy Sassy Salutations.  Love the font.  I've added a couple of the cute self adhesive candy dots.  Love these.   And the gorgeous happy DSP is Birthday Basics. 

Last few days of the school holidays here.  Is it bad if I'm looking forward to the Christmas holidays already!  Quite enjoyed the nice relaxed pace of this week with not much on the calendar. 

The kids have been enjoying a bit of holiday craft too. They dug out this air pump art thingy from the toy vaults and have been having fun with it.  Creating is fun.  Hope you get some creating time this week.

Happy stamping!

Cheers, Sue

Another of our Christmas cards from my September classes.   This one features the Joyful Christmas stamp set.  I stamped it on vellum using the Gold Encore ink then flipped it over and coloured in on the reverse side with a Cherry Cobbler marker.  Cut a second smaller flower from Cherry Cobbler cardstock stamped in the gold ink.  A Very Vintage button is a nice finishing touch. The background panel is vellum embossed with the new Stylish Stripes embossing folder and attached to a piece of Naturals White cardstock.  I do love the soft look of embossed vellum.

I'm really liking the Expressions thinlits too.  Didn't the merry come up well in our new gold foil card.  I used Tombow glue to stick it down.

Have a fabulous day!

Cheers, Sue

Looking for some Christmas card ideas?   At my September Christmas Card classes we made 3 cards using some of the Christmas things in the new holiday catalogue.  (Browse all the Christmas products here - Online Store Christmas Section.)  I'll be sharing the cards with you over the coming week. 

I quite liked this one with Special Season stamp set.  

The DSP is Winter Frost and that's Pool Party at the top embossed with the Pretty Print embossing folder.  I'm rather addicted to embossing folders - I think I have them all.  Can't resist a new pattern.  This one is handy for lots of occasions. 

The card base is Naturals White and the panel with the tree is my favourite - Shimmery White cardstock.

I went a little overboard with sponging the Encore Silver ink around the tree because I had to disguise a fingerprint. Oops   ;-)   Watch out when using the silver ink - it takes a little longer to dry than the regular inks.  It is just lovely though - gives a nice crisp silver.   

I used StazOn to stamp the greeting over the tree.   (From Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp set.)

The touches of sparkle on the tree are done with the Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details.   LOVE those Frosted Finishes embellishments. 

So are you a traditional Christmas colours crafter, or do you like the non traditionals?  I quite love blues and silvers on Christmas cards. 

Pinterest Pinterest - I Do Love Pinterest

After more Christmas card ideas or Stampin' Up inspiration?  Do you love pinning ideas?   I've just set up a Madex Creations board on Pinterest.   I've got boards with Christmas ideas, card sketches, elegant cards, clean and simple, plus one of my favourite thing to browse online and drool over - storage options.   Here's the link if you'd like to follow me on Pinterest.

And here's just a few of the things I've pinned recently on my Pinterest board.  Happy Pinning.  (Watch out - it is addictive!)

Can't sign off today without saying a big GO HAWKS.  

We have meat for the BBQ, snacks for the tummies, a bunch of scarves to decorate the loungeroom and a few extra Madex's coming over to help cheer on our team in the grand final.  Looking forward to a fun, family day - and hopefully a win!  

Cheers, Sue