Aunties' Day is Coming!!!!

It's so exciting!

It's one day a year when career women with no kids will be honoured for the massive impact they have on the lives of their nieces, nephews and other young people they know.  Save the Date People...

Sunday 28th July 2019 is Aunties' Day!!

You better get organised too. Your Aunties and Uncles must be loved beyond measure on 28 July and that takes some doing.

Here's a list of reasons your Aunty deserves a day! 

Here's a list of gift ideas and ways to celebrate! 


Need some more ideas?  Check these out...

1. Skype and FaceTime with your Auntie (and/or Uncle) to say I love you!
2. Write Auntie a letter telling her why she is awesome!
3. Organise for Auntie to have dinner with her friends.
4. Know your audience... if Auntie doesn't cope well with surprises, then don't surprise her!
5. Give her your undivided attention!  That's what she gives you.  Give some of it back!!

Love your Aunties!
They Love You!

Encouragment Cards

Making Cards is so therapeutic for me. I make cards at least once a week.  Lately, I have been making lots and lots of encouragement cards.  Why?  I'm not sure.  I think, because I can give an encouragement card to anyone at any time of year.  It doesn't have to be their birthday or a special occasion for me to give an encouragement card.  Not only that, you usually surprise people with an encouragement card and I love surprising people.  Anyway, here are some encouragement cards I have made lately.

Just Keep Swimming!

This is not my favourite card, but the recipient appreciated it and now I have done it, I have lots of ideas of ways to make it better next time.

The background is blended blue inks from Catherine Pooler (I used a make up brush).  I then added a stencil over the top and blended Faded Jeans distress oxide ink through the stencil to make the wavy pattern.  Then, I wet my fingers and flicked water onto the background. It wasn't water colour card stock so I had to be careful not to get it too wet.  I dabbed the water with a paper towel so that it looked like bubbles or water.

I coloured and fussy cut a fish stamp from Kaisercraft and attached it using an action wobbler.  So cute!  Then I die cut the alphabet letters from Lawn Fawn to create my own sentiment.  Then I distressed the edges of the panel before adhering it to a standard sized card base.

Hang in There

This card was a CaSE of a card made by Lisa Lara on Splitcoast Stampers.  You can see her card here.  I didn't have the same stamp set that she used (from Paper Smooches) so I used the Chit Chat stamp set from Lawn Fawn.  I got the sentiment from an Essential Sentiments stamp set by Uniquely Creative (an Australian craft company that makes photopolymer stamps and metal dies).  I used the 8 colours in the Catherine Pooler Life of the Party Ink collection.  I had so much fun creating this card and it's so cute! I would love to make more of these.  I gave this card to a colleague who needed some encouragement this week.  The tiny black dots were made using a fine point black pen as is the line they are all sitting on.

Paper Hugs

This card was also a CaSE, but this time it was a CaSE of a card I made a few years ago!  I wanted to try a new technique with the flowers (ink blending around the edge of the flowers) and I was having a bit of a rainbow thing that day!  Here is photo of my original card.

Here is the new card.  You can see the flowers have more depth of colour, I used a green background and a completely different embossing folder.  The sentiment "this card is a paper hug" is just adorable and it's from the same Uniquely Creative Essential Sentiments stamp set.  The flowers were made using two different sized flower punches in rainbow colours.

Quotable Butterflies

I love this quote from Winnie the Pooh (by AA Milne)!  This layered butterfly stamp set from Catherine Pooler Designs is just beautiful.  It has a few sentiments that are perfect for sympathy, encouragement and just because cards. The layered butterfly and the quote really pack a punch on this clean and simple card. Check it out.

The Quote Says: 

"You're braver that you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think."

- AA Milne

FYI: I am not affiliated with any of these companies and don't receive any compensation for my comments about products I have used.

Remember to encourage the people around you.  They will appreciate it- probably more than you know.  Have a wonderful week! 

Crafting Mojo climbing out of a Creative Rut

If you like to read blogs about craft or cardmaking, or you watch crafty YouTube videos, you might know what I'm talking about.  If you are a crafter you almost certainly know what I'm talking about.  Crafters talk about it on every social media platform there is and they probably mention it when they talk in real life as well.  It's your Crafty Mojo or your Inspiration or your Creative Juices and the problem we all have sometimes... when it seems to just up and disappear on us.  The eternal questions, "what inspires you?"  or "what do you do when you lose your mojo?" or "how do you get past a creative block?" are asked around and discussed a lot.

The answer is different for everyone and it's all about finding what works for you. I know that sometimes there isn't one right way to pull yourself out of a creative rut.  I have a few different strategies that I try.  Sometimes the first one or two tips help, sometimes it takes a few more tries. I will admit that most of these ideas came from crafty YouTubers who I follow so I will link to the videos where they share their stories.

Koren Wiskman (www.korenwiskman.com) shows how she uses a card kit to beat a creative block in this video. She uses the contents of a card kit (or similar products if she doesn't have all of them) to limit what she can use. She then has somewhere to start. I haven't bought any card kits before, but I have limited myself to one or two stamp sets and one or two colours to spark something and off I go. I think, when I'm in a creative rut, it's usually because I feel overwhelmed by all the lovely things in my craft room and sometimes I don't know where to start. I think this idea from Koren is a great way to get past this. Pull out a list of supplies (maybe a list from a blog post of one of your favourite crafters) and challenge yourself to use the same supplies to make a different card. Mary Polanco recently shared a story about how she really struggled with making 5 cards from 1 kit. She loved the kit and the products, it just wasn't working for her. Check out her video here to see how she got past it. Spoiler Alert: she walked away. Sometimes, you have to stop trying to force it and just walk away. Don't worry, your supplies will not gather dust or get upset if you don't play with them everyday. Go and do something else. The time spent making cards (or whatever else you make) should be fun. If it's not fun, and you aren't on a deadline to make a card by tomorrow because you forgot someone's birthday, you don't have to do it. Walk away and spend time with friends, watch TV or You Tube or (if you have nothing else to do) you could do some housework. The creative juices will start flowing soon enough. If you HAVE to make a card for a particular purpose and you just don't know where to start, walking away might not be an option. What can you do? Here are some of my own tips: 1. PINTEREST and other Social Media Check out my Pinspiration for cards. You can create boards and organise them into categories. I have organised my inspiration board by techniques. You could also organise by themes such as birthday, holiday, encouragement and so on. You don't have to create a board, you can just run a search on the Pinterest home page using keywords like DIY, cards, masculine or feminine and the occasion or theme. This is often my go to when I need a push in the right direction. 2. CaSE it CaSEing a card you have seen on social media (or even one you have already made) is a great way to kickstart your creative process. If you don't know anything about CaSEing, you can check out my blog post about it here. There is another blog post, with a video, about how to CaSE cards here. This card was a CaSE of the card below it, which I made at a card class I attended earlier this year.

Mothers' Day card using products from 

Catherine Pooler designs and Kaisercraft

Created during a card class at Michelle's Stamps and Cards

3. Look at your past creations. Jennifer McGuire often uses this tip when she needs to make a bunch of cards and has no ideas of what to create. She reviews cards on her blog. She digs into the archives and finds a technique she hasn't done in a while or a design she likes. I have a private Pinterest board with a photo of every card I have made (since I started photographing them and pinning them). This is another place that I visit when I need some inspiration. You could use Instagram, Facebook or other photo sharing/ storage apps to keep a log of your creations. Most of the cards on my private Pinterest board have been made using supplies I already have in my stash. I like perusing this board for inspiration because I know that I should have the stamps that I would need to make them (or something close to it). Remaking a card you have made before can be quicker and more fun, because you learn from mistakes you made the first time around. The second or third card often turns out being your best. 4. Search for product samples You have a specific stamp set or die or stencil and you want to use it, but you just can't figure out how to pull it into a finished card. It happens to the best of us. Try doing a Google Image (or YouTube) search for the product. Most stamp and die companies will provide sample projects and have design teams who have created some beautiful projects using their products. These can be a great source of inspiration. Go back to Tip 3 and CaSE one of those cards. 5. Just play Play around with the products. Stamp out all the images, colour them (if they need it), fussy cut or die cut them. Play with some ink smooshing or other techniques to make some backgrounds. Have fun. Don't pressure yourself to create anything in particular. As you play, ideas will start to flow. If ideas aren't flowing, play some more. Remember that crafting is supposed to be fun! Just enjoy. 6. Start with one Choose one element of your card design. Decide on the colour combo, or the layout (by choosing or drawing a sketch), a focal point or main image, or a sentiment, or a technique. Play with just that element. The rest will start to come together. Trust me. Do one thing at a time. Check out my Colours and Sketches Pinterest board. There are lots of things that inspire me to make a card. Whenever I see something that sparks an idea (even if it isn't fully formed), I take a photo and pin it to my Colours and Sketches board. This means it's sitting there, ready to inspire me next time I need a little help. Of course the half formed idea is rolling around in my head and developing anyway, but sometimes it gets shoved aside for other things, so a photo can be a great reminder. If you're anything like me, ideas are often flowing and it feels like you don't have enough time in the craft room to keep up with it. Sometimes you have lots of ideas for encouragement cards and you really need to make some birthday cards. You feel me, right? Anyway, I hope these tips have given you some ideas for the next time you need a nudge in the right direction. It sure has reminded me of the wonderful places I can get some inspiration when I need it. Until next week... Happy Crafting!

One Word Resolution Update

In case you haven't heard, I jumped on the bandwagon of #oneword365 this year.  That means this year, instead of a list of New Year's Resolutions and failing miserably, or only accomplishing some of them, I chose one word.  That's right, just one word which helps me make decisions and motivates actions.  You can read more about my 1word365 journey here.  You read about the movement here.


My word is "Pause" and I have to say, I'm killing it!  The whole point of my word is to make sure I take the time I need before I act or speak.  I stop, with the purpose of starting again and doing it well.  I rest when I need to.  I exercise when I need to - which helps me manage my chronic pain so makes it easier to face the world - and I stop when I need to, so I can think about my next move, my next word and where it will take me.

This year, I have faced some challenges, as we all do, however; I have also had a great year.  By the time you read this, we will be drawing close to the middle of 2019 and I have to say it's one of my best year's ever.  I feel calm.  I feel in control of my actions (and when I don't feel in control, I am self aware enough to know it and I implement strategies for handling myself).  This one word, has had a huge impact.

The power of the pause is quite incredible.  Sometimes, a pause is only a moment or two, at other times it's a day or more.  Regardless of how long the pause is, the purpose is usually the same: it's a chance to ask yourself a question or two.  The first of which is, "How do I feel about this?", "Do I really want or need to ….?" The dot dot dot changes almost every time.  Sometimes I ask myself if I'm really hungry or if I really want the consequences of eating that piece of cake (or insert other unhealthy food).    I ask myself if I really want to say 'that'.  I ask myself if IT'S really worth it.  The IT changes too.  The Pause is totally worth my time and effort because it usually means that in the long run I avoid more effort or disappointment or frustration.

I had planned on sharing ways to 'be creative' with your one word.  Having images or words that represent your word and keeping them in front of you, can help you to actually use it.  I don't use that.  Surprisingly.  I wish I could.  So, today I decided to share the fact that it is really working for me.  My one word has made a difference in my work life, my health, my relationships and even in my finances.  It's so worth it.

Enjoy my Friends