News of me being kidnapped and taken to outer space have been greatly exaggerated!

Oh Wow! I can't believe it's been 6 months since I last posted. I have been having problems with my health and other family issues and not had the extra energy to spend on making many cards etc. (I have made some though...which I will show you over the next while.) When Chronic Fatigue Syndrome flares up, along with my other ailments, it makes it hard to do anything much at all (mostly only the essentials). Hopefully I'll be able to keep posting in a timely manner for you to share in my journey.

I made the card above for a lovely lady my mum and I were friends with at her retirement centre who died earlier this year. I wasn't sure what to do for it, but went with some paper etc that I had been working with for something else, and added what flowers I thought were pretty. I also made a co=ordinating card box for it. As it turned out, the flowers and feathers matched perfectly the theme of the memorial luncheon we attended for her. Joan is sorely missed and we always think fondly of her.

Anyway, it's time I got going on what I NEED to do, so all of my love and I'll see you soon.

Bye for now,

I Forgot........Sorry!!!

It seems at the moment that if I don't do something when I first think of it, I'll forget to do it. It sounds like the onset of dementia; but my GP tells me it's because of the meds I'm on for my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and peripheral neuropathy. The reason I'm admitting this is because I forgot to post my card from my last challenge for Simply Create Too. It's now time for the new challenge to start, so head on over and see the creations on show and join in to win a great badge to put on your blog site. The theme is to use green.

Getting back to my card, I had to use my favourite colour combo; which, if you were to look in my wardrobe, is a combination of blue, green and purple (and all of the variations in between).

I used some Couture Creations Anna Griffin Mix & Match Pigment Powders and smooshed, and layered the background and then hand-painted the sentiment onto a heat embossed image. If you haven't tired these powders, you really should. They have a glorious sheen and the colours are vibrant and so pretty. Very similar to Tim Holtz Perfect Pearls, but the colours are much more vibrant and you only have to use a smidge to get great depth. They can also be used mixed with any liquid media, such as embossing paste, liquid glue, white gesso, etc to get it coloured to match perfectly the colours of your layouts or cards.

Anyway, a simple card, but, oh, so pretty!  (Big smile)

Don't forget to check out the latest Challenge at Simply Create Too.

Bye for now.

Love,

Oh oh!!!

I went AWOL for many weeks earlier in October/November, due to my mum tripping and dislocating and breaking her left shoulder. UGH! I happened to be away in Sydney/Melbourne on holidays at the time; but once we got back, Mum came to stay with us and I had to look after her, doing everything for her. The resulting stress caused my Chronic fatigue to flare.

The great news is that both of us are continuing to heal. Mum's back in her little place and I'm back doing some cardmaking and housework. Yay!!????

Some of the things I missed posting about included:

Angie's Digital Stamps had its last challenge for the year with a "Happy Holidays" theme.

I used Angie's Little Lila with Musical Instrument digi stamp for my card and coloured her in the reds and greens of Christmas. Some distressing and edge inking gave the card a slight vintage feel; but I just had to add a touch of glitz with the gold die cut "greetings". Nuvo Ebony Black Crystal Drops completed the card.

Get Creative Challenges also had its last challenge for 2017. Challenge #64 had a theme of "Holidays".

My card used a digistamp by one of the sponsors, Rick St Dennis called "Winter 2017". I coloured the image using my Copics and combined patterned paper, white paper roses,

organza red ribbon, some silver flower centres, leaves and a stacked red die cut sentiment. I have always admired Tracy Wray and her distressed and layered cards; and wanted to have a go at it.

Simply Create Too's last challenge for the year had the theme of CAS and I had fun creating a card using a Santoro Gorjuss "Fly Away With Me" stamp set. Did you know that Nuvo Crystal Drops will flatten? I stacked it along with some other cards (after it had been sitting out drying for several days) and when I later looked at it, the drops had flattened.

Anyway, off to have some more adventures (disasters???) in my life. I'll be back soon.

Bye for now,

Love,

Returning to you after the flu...

For the past month, I've been recuperating after having a bout of the flu. It's only now that I realise that I hadn't finished my trifecta show-and-tell. And apologies to Angie, those challenges are now finished.

It's always hard for me to bounce back after getting any infection or virus because of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I have to get over the illness and then recover from the side effects from the CFS. If it wasn't for the frequent periods of shaking, extreme tiredness, scrambled thinking, swollen glands, aching ears, aching muscles and hands not working properly that are the CFS physical effects on my body, I could handle having the flu. My husband stepped up and took over the cooking and organisation of the household over that time, but I can't ask him to post for me as well.

Anyway, I'll quickly show these last two cards to you. (I can't just be making cards for my own benefit - I must inflict them on you as well.)

My first card here used the "Brinley" digistamp from The Fantasy Art of Nikki Burnette. We had to use buttons and bows for Challenge #58 for Get Creative Challenges. The background for this card used some tissue paper I used to mop up watercolouring on another card. It was too pretty to throw away; so I dried it out and then stuck to some cardstock with a thin layer of Multi Medium Matte. You can't really see it well in the photo, but the texture I achieved was interesting. I also added a little more colour (not much as I wanted to keep it pastel.) Go check out the Get Creative Challenges blog and see what great cards there are for Challenge #59 where the theme is to use a doily. 

My second card here was for Challenge #127 for Simply Create Too Challenge blog. It used the Fairy Swing digistamp from All Dressed Up. I have to admit this started life as a colouring exercise, but when the theme is use a digistamp and you've got one hanging around, well you make do. I enjoyed colouring this image and loved how it turned out. I'm not sure about the torn edges on the coloured layer, though. I wanted to use the mulberry paper and I always think that it looks most effective when torn, but the tear line on the coloured layer was way wider than I wanted. I have since given this card to my niece. I hope she liked it. For some current fun, hop along to Challenge #128 where the theme is Summer Fun.

I'll be back with some more cards in a tick.

Bye for now.

Love,

Janelle

XXX

Not good enough!

It's really not good enough, Janelle, that you have only been doing one post a month!!! Buck up and get at it!!!

There, now that I've given myself a good talking to, I'll tell you about my fun-filled days at the recent Papercraft Expo in Brisbane. Oh, I had so much fun!!!

First off, I'll get this out of the way. In previous posts I've told you about my health problems (CFS, numb feet, etc). Well I went to the neurologist and I have peripheral neuropathy in my feet and hands with notable deficiencies.  He isn't even sure if it's permanent or not. So for now, I just have to put up with the nerve pain, numbness and cramps. 

As part of his investigations, he sent me for a glucose tolerance test - and you guessed it - I also have Type 2 Diabetes. Yay, me!! Consequently, this is why I've not been working on all cylinders and not keeping up with my commitments (esp. card-making and blogging). So, if anyone out there can give me some support, (I've only known for two weeks), I would so desperately appreciate it. For the first four days, I didn't even know how to do the blood testing properly - thank goodness for friendly chemists! Anyway, I'm now part of the NDSS (National Diabetes Services Scheme) and trying to absorb all of the info re diabetes.

Now onto some fun stuff. The craft expo was brilliant. I went on the Saturday (so incredibly packed, you could hardly move) and did two card classes; and then on the Monday, I went with a fellow scrapper and did two scrapping classes. I'll post pictures tomorrow - keep you hanging on. :)

I also was able to catch up with some scrapping friends, Rachel Greig  from Darkroom Door and Sue Smyth. I met Rachel about three years ago and have used many of her stamps in my commissions for Practical Publishing. She is such a talented photographer and I love her work. Sue Smythe also works for Practical Publishing, as well as for a number of other places as a demonstrator/tutor and designer. She's such a lovely lady and I adore her layered works.

I was fortunate enough to meet Jane Davenport, who was there encouraging more art journalling. She's amazing and her work is also. I love watching her work as she gets so involved in it. She is a little quirky too, which suits me. She was sweet enough to have a photo with me.

I also did a card class with Tracey Cooley from Couture Creations and she was a blast. The girls from Couture Creations all dressed up for their classes and were also very generous, as they gave away embossing folders to everyone in the class (as well as what was in the class kits). Great value.

Tracey was dressed as Tinker Bell as her class was called "Once Upon a Whimsy". She even made her glittered shoes with pompoms on the toes. (Sorry you can't see them)


Anyway, tomorrow I'll post photos of the cards I made, so you can see what I've been up to.


Bye for now,
Janelle
    :)

Whatever happened to March?

I cannot believe that it's been so long since my last post. Life has been busy and I've been not too well with my CFS. I've got to see a neurologist next month as I've got numb skin  on my feet and lower legs, while inside (my muscles etc) it's super sensitive and "burns" and aches. Not fun and totally bewildering. I'm hoping it's just a progression of the CFS (at least it's the devil you know) and not something horribly new.

Since my last post I've been playing around with new toys, like the Martha Stewart air clay moulding set and the ModPodge heat resin set. I've made a card that also incorporates quilling that I used on a set of cards I made for a commission for Papercraft Essentials.

On this card you can see a moulded heart that I made with the Martha Stewart set - super easy and very effective. Perhaps with the ribbon and flowers you can't really tell it's a heart - but it is. I'd forgotten how pretty quilling can be and while researching for the commission, discovered a whole new branch of it called husking, where you wind the quilling paper around a wide toothed comb, which I'll demonstrate some time. 

I'm including this card with the Scrapbook Boutique April Challenge, which is to use the following photo as inspiration for a project. I think it works with it. 

                                              

My son's on school holidays at the moment, but before the school break he wanted some Easter treats to share with his mates. So, using my trusty We R Memory Keepers pillow box maker, I made some boxes that I decorated with stickers and filled with mini eggs.

(The photo was taken on the boot of my car in the garage just before we took them to school so it's not the best background - not festive enough.) The oval tag I did on my computer and just hand cut. From all accounts the boxes were favourably received by his friends. I was surprised how quickly I was able to create them and how little fuss was needed. It's a great tool to have.

Anyway, that's enough for now.

Bye.
Love,
Janelle
;)

Back again ... Sorry it's been so long!

It's been such a long time since I've posted ... I thought you might like to know what I've been up to.

I had my hand and wrist operated on to release the carpal tunnel. I'm slowly recovering from this, but I have to admit it's not healing as well as the other wrist I had done 10 years ago. The scar on my palm hasn't healed properly and now has a hard lump that sticks into me when I grab onto something. But enough about that!

During this time I also had my Mum in hospital for emergency surgery for a twisted bowel and a complication from diverticulitis. It was very serious at the time, but she's well and truly recovering brilliantly. She astounds me with what she perseveres with - nothing stops her for long! Mind you, this happened the day after we buried her last remaining sibling (and her favourite sister, Ellen) who died the week before from mesothelioma. Quite stressful which has caused my CFS to flare up. Not good but I'll get better.

During this time I also completed my finals' projects for the Heartfelt Creations Design Team. I've included some close-ups and sneak peek of the flowers I made for my projects. 

I made a scrapbook layout using the blue flowers, featuring one of the last photos of my Mum and Auntie Ellen together. I've made another copy so Mum can put it on her wall. 

I created two cards using the pink roses I made. I was sent the Vintage Floret Collection paper stack, floral stamps and matching dies to create my projects and I loved creating the flowers (esp. the pink roses). I luckily had some other HC stamps and dies to incorporate as well.

I find out on 30th October if I've made it onto the Design Team. (fingers, legs and eyes crossed! :)  :)  :)  I hope I am good enough as I'd love the opportunity. 

Finally, today my husband was told that as from the 13th December he will be made redundant from his job with Main Roads (our State Government Road building authority) because of changes that have been made by our state government leaders - $#%$$@# idiots! Darryl was one of about 100 people "sacked" today. This is from a government that spruiks that it's about job creation. Hah! Luckily my hubby will have a little/some time to get another job before it impacts on our lifestyle, so once again fingers crossed.

Promise to post again in a couple of days.

Bye for now,
Janelle

P.S. Sorry for today's post - but it was a much needed vent! Thanks for suffering along with it!

Muse Challenge #17

Such a lot has happened since the last time I posted. 

Mother's Day was lovely, with my son giving me a card he made and a rose he bought at school. The card is so lovely as it has such heartfelt messages to me and was particularly splendid as inside it had some handmade honeycomb paper (his teacher must have the patience of a saint to attempt to make honeycomb paper with a class of twenty-five ten year-olds). 

I was lucky that I spent some time with my mum on the day, but mostly I spent the day relaxing with my husband and son. 

During this time I also lightly sprained my ankle by rolling over on it, so there were quite a few days when I was hobbling around. Thankfully it only twinges occasionally now. I also had a commission to do for Australian Simply Cards, which took up so much time and wasted so much paper as I couldn't properly translate my ideas into a card. My mojo took quite a beating. This wasn't helped by the fact that my CFS was acting up and all I wanted to do was sleep. It really makes it hard to think at times when it's bad.

On the bright side, I won a Blog Hop with Scrapbook Boutique and received a new set of stamps called "My Girl" from My Mind's Eye. I'd like to thank Evelyn very much for her generosity. I haven't used them yet, but plan to soon.

Anyway, I'm back now with a card for the Muse Challenge #17. I've not  been able to do any challenges lately, but I've decided that I'm going to combine the cardmaking I have to do for Alex's school fete with a number of current challenges.

My first set of cards for the fete have been based on the card made by Therese Calvird for this week's Muse Challenge. 

Her card is so cute with the three elephants, but I decided to only do one figure and then have the speech balloons instead of the other figures. The stamps I used were Woodware ones that were free in one of the magazines I buy. So cute! I coloured the image using Copic markers, and added a few punched flowers to supplement the flowers at the owl's feet. I also tried to incorporate the colours that Therese used in her card.

Anyway, I must go now. I'll be back soon with some more fete/challenge cards.

Janelle

The First of Many

Saturday, 30th June, 2012

Welcome to my very first blog entry.

A little about me.... Come September, I'll have been married to my perfect partner, Darryl, for 13 years. (You know what they say "Lucky for some... infinitely lucky for me!") We have an amazing son, Alex, who repeatedly shares with us his unique look on life and makes my day ... every day. We live in mostly sunny Queensland, Australia and are lucky to be surrounded by family who all live in our corner of the world. We also share our home with Foster, who is our dog; a Tibetan Spaniel X Corgi (think of a Golden Retriever with short corgi legs).

I have been scrapbooking for 5 years, but cardmaking for many more than that. I've gravitated back to cardmaking over the past few years as it can be done in short periods of time and this is important when I'm feeling bad with Chronic Fatigue which I've had for the past 20 years.

My favourite style is shabby chic - anything with ribbons, lace and flowers - I just love them! But I will create in any style, when the need arises. A friend has just moved into a new home, so I made a card for her. I hope you like my first on-line card. (Sorry the colour's not too great, a little too grey.)

I used a strip of Heidi Grace Designs paper "A Little Bird's Tale - Houses" along with two sheets from Crafters Choice "Country Basics". Some Kaisercraft Droplets, Celebrate ribbon and an Abi's Craft epoxy brad completed the card. Quick, easy and cute - just the way I like it. I printed the sentiment on my computer and used "Digs My Hart" font.

Anyway, that's enough for today.

Janelle