Barb's In Mourning

I go to a stamp club on Mondays, lovely ladies go there, I will miss them from the bottom of my heart when I leave on June 18th, they are very talented with their card making as you will see and for me it's better than therapy going on Mondays. The group is called MSG (not the edible type) which stands for Monday Stamping Group. Most of us look forward to Fridays because of the weekend but I look forward to Mondays to be with my gorgeous crafting ladies. 

Anyway there is a wonderful lady there that comes who keeps us in stitches with her humor and crude comments, I hope when I grow up that I can be like her. She is turning 80 (I think) on April 5th and she told us she is in mourning because of that number. She truly is young at heart. So we are going to wear black and make her black birthday cards to go with her mood. I hope someone is making her a black cake, I must remember to take my camera so I can record this momentos occasion.

So here is the story in pictures of our morning celebrating with Barb and all the cards she got, love ya lots Barb. 

p.s. I found out after I wrote the above that Barb is only 75 sorry Barb, I just aged you.

Apologies to those who do not appear in any of the photos but my battery did'nt last the morning.

Barb just arrived and we started singing Happy Birthday (photo above), I think she blushed

Barb greeted by Nola (photo above)

Barb held up by Lana (photo above)

Barb surrounded by her black balloons (photo above)

Barb reading the group card which was lovely and humourous (photo above)

Barb on her soap box (again)...love ya Barb (I thought she was going to cry, she was actually crawling, saying how good we were and this was the best group of gals she knew yada yada yada (photo above)

Barb reading her group card (photo above)

Barb (front), Wendy, Ellen (only one not in black-other than birthday girl who didnt know), Joan (photo above)

Barb cutting her Lumberjack cake made by Wendy (photo above), recipe at the end of this post THANK YOU WENDY it was lovely, I could have eaten more but I was very restrained ( had to wipe up the drool on the floor around me.)

Card 1 to the right (photo above)

Lana's purse card to the left, card 3 pull out card to the right (photo above)

Michelle's card (photo above)

Card 5 (photo above)

Card 6 (photo above)

Dell's blue card (photo above)

Mary's card (photo above)

Card 9 (photo above)

Card 10 (photo above)

Bridget's card to the right, card 13 to the left (photo above)

Ellen's card (photo above)

Joan's card inside (photo above)

Joan's card (outside)  to the right, card 12 left (photo above)

Nola's card to the left, card 11 (photo above)

Shirley's card outside(photo above)

Shirley's card inside (photo above)

Tanya's card (photo above)

Barb-Shirley

Moi (Bridget) and the birthday girl (photo above)

Jan-Joan (photo above) in their quiet little corner

Pru-Shirley (photo above)

Jan-Joan-Tanya-Dell (photo above)

Karen-Mary (photo above)

Deidre-Margaret, another gorgeous photo catching Deidre unawares (photo above)

Michelle inking up Deidre's uncooperative inkpad (photo above)

Nola-Michelle-Dell-Jan (photo above) this is a gorgeous photo of Dell caught mid exclamation!!

Shirley-Barb-Lana-Joan (photo above)

Tanya and Dell strategizing about the next surprise party!!

LUMBERJACK CAKE

2 large granny smith apples (400g) sliced

1 cup dates sliced (200g)

1 tsp bicarb soda

1 cup boiling water

STEP 1: Put all the above into a bowl, cover and leave aside

125g butter

1 cup castor sugar

1`tsp vanilla essence

1 egg

STEP 2:  Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla essence and egg, if the egg curdles 

add abit of flour

STEP 3 :  1 1/2 cup plain flour add in bit by bit alternating with fruit mixture, pour into a 19cm round or square baking tin that has been coated with butter and lined with paper. Bake in moderately hot oven for 50mins 

60g butter 

1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packed

1/2 cup milk

2/3 cup bush shredded coconut

STEP 4:  Melt all the above in saucepan and spoon onto cake mixture and return to oven for another 40mins or until golden brown. Cool in tin, remove by edging knife around sides. 

Best eaten warm lathered with cream.

Mixture can be made a week ahead and refrigerated. Do not microwave.

BON APETITE

Daylight Saving Australia April 5th 2009

I've never understood what daylight saving was all about but just went along with it. We don't have that in Fiji where I was born. Imagine if I protested and didnt want to participate, I'd always be an hour late or an hour early depending on which side of the saving I was on.

Anyway my friend Trish sent me this and I thought it was very funny, but is it true, let me know if we're being conned!!!

For those of you who can't read small print like me here is what it says...

When told the reason for daylight saving time the Old Indian said, "Only the Governemnt would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket."

Here's a link to the origins of daylight saving, thanks Earlene for this. 

Check out this cool diagram about how its done in countries and what countries don't participate in it

Barb in mourning Mar 29, 2009

I g0 to a stamp club on Mondays, lovely ladies go there, I will miss them from the bottom of my heart, they are very clever and it's like therapy going on Mondays. Most of us look forward to Fridays because of the weekend but I look forward to Mondays.

Anyway there is a wonderful lady there that comes who keeps us in stitches with her humor and crude comments, I wish when I grow up that I can be like her. She is turning 80 (I think)on April 5th and she told us she is in mourning because of that birthday. She truly is young at heart. So we are going to wear black and make her black birthday cards to go with her mood. I hope someone is making her a black cake, I must remember to take my camera so I can record this momentos occasion.

So here is the card I made for Barb, love ya lots Barb. I'm not sure which one I'll give her, the flowers are slightly different.

If you want to see more photos and the story that goes with this card, wonder over to my other Blog to see it

p.s. just moving my creations over from my old blog

New In Colour card Mar 25, 2009

I love the new in colours, I used Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze for these creations that I cased from  Sue Dean

I put glitter on these two in the centre flower. Flowers were coloured with aqua pens and Pacific Point inkpad.

The ribbon rose on these two cards were cased Kirsten Brown

 p.s. just moving my creations over from my old blog

Decorated CDs

 

 

 

When I first saw this technique I put it in the ‘too hard basket’, that was the first year I started stamping, 2002. It was shown to me again at the end of 2006 by Debbie Bridgeman of Heaven Scent and this time around I was ready for any challenge.

Some of these instructions I have modified as I’ve worked more and more with them and found easier ways to adapt this technique.

What to use:

Metallic paints you may use the Neopaque if you don’t like shine or you can use folk-art metallic paint which is a third of the price (in Australia) of Lumieres for the same quantity. The colours you use will be to your taste. Experiment with as little or as many colours as you want.

Car wash sponge, cosmetic sponges aren’t good, you need ones with holes in them

Cd’s used or new

Gloss coat, this comes in two parts: resin and hardener.

In the US it’s called Glaze Coat

Stirring stick or disposable spoon and 2 disposable cups even food cans (after you’ve emptied the contents

Gas or multi purpose blow torch, you can get little craft ones or if this is too much of an expense you don’t want to go to then you can use a straw.

Stamps of your choice and black stamp pad, any type will do, I have used chalk inks, memories, Stazon, Versafine, they’re all good.

Embellishments and Microbead colours of your choice, clear beads are not visible in this technique, so don’t waste your clear beads like I did LOL

Krylon gold leafing pen if you want to edge your cd. Stickles or Kindy Glitz to enhance the stamped images

Scrap paper to place under your work as it gets really messy

Gloves…must have or you’ll be cursing when you get the gloss coat on your hands

Method:

Put some ink onto your sponge and sponge randomly onto the shiny side of the cd, the one without the paperwork. Let each coat , if you try and apply another coat it will remove the first coat off when still wet, put as many coats as you want. Two good coats is usually enough. DO NOT USE A PAINTBRUSH. Let cd dry, elevated on a disposable cup or tin (otherwise it sticks to the scrap paper.

Stamp on your image in any placement that you want (it can even be upside down LOL). Let this dry. DO NOT HEAT SET this will make the paint bubble and you won’t be able to stamp on it. Also your cd will bend and warp, trust me I tried all the DO NOT’S LOL

Put in equal quantities of resin and hardener into a disposable cup or can and mix well with a wooden stirrer or spoon. Pour or spoon onto cd that you have placed onto a can or disposable cup, this helps you turn the cd around while moving the resin around the surface. Use the spoon or stirrer to drag the resin to the side of the cd so all areas are covered.

Use your gas/blow torch to remove the bubbles, don’t hold it too close or too long in one spot or it will catch on fire. You can use the straw to blow the bubbles away making sure you don’t get any spittle onto the resin.

Add your beads at this stage. Leave to dry and be sure the cd is level. DO NOT TOUCH just be patient, I have a few cd’s with my finger indentation on it LOL. An overnight drying time should be sufficient in a warm dry climate just to be sure.

Some ideas on how to use these cd's apart from coasters.

These make great clocks, string them up and make curtains out of them, make them into cards by mounting them to cardstock. Add photos to them before you put the resin on, be sure to have real photo paper photos and not photocopied ones (believe me I've ruined some photos using the cheap method).

First published in Australian Stamping and Papercrafts Volume 8 Issue 6 Sept. 2003 as a Masterclass by Wendy Chapman taught to her by Jennifer Stirling.