Tart & Tangy Class

At the beginning of August Stampin Up launched the new Spring Mini which runs from 1 August – 30 November 2008. Inside is a great variety of stamp sets and coordinating accessories. The Summer Picnic Designer Paper is definitely bright and summery and coordinate perfectly with the Tart & Tangy Stamp set which is was we used for our next class.

The first cards were shaped like Ice-blocks and are bright ice-block colours too. We attached sticks and put bite marks in the corner to finish the look. The colours are Pumpkin Pie with Yoyo Yellow and Green Galore with Basic Black.

On the second card we used the Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper. We made a scalloped edge with the SU Corner Rounder punch and also used the Scalloped Circle punch. The colours are Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Real Red and Whisper White.

Faries in my Garden!!

As you know - we have just moved into a new house. And I have discovered...we have faires in our garden. Sometimes, they even fly down and collect the mail for me.

Team Stamping Day!

At the end of July I attended a Team Stamping Day. We made some lovely cards and had a go at scrapbooking. We used products from the New Spring Mini Catalogue and the current In-colour's.

With every Team event there is a Swap. We all tried to use stamps from the Spring Mini Catalogue. The cards I received were beautiful and gave me a great deal of inspiration.

I put together some little pockets that are designed to hang on a bottle - as a goodie bag at parties. I used the Tart & Tangy Stamp Set and Summer Picnic designer papers. They were all different with Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red or Bashful Blue.

Flip Flop Focus.

During July I put together quite a few Flip Flop Cards.

I did a Flip Flop Swap with Nadine and did a Flip Flop Class too. So it was a Flip Flop month!!

Here are the Class cards.

Here are the Swap Cards

Neil's Donger!!

Arrhhh....now I have your attention, let me tell you about Newman and Neil's work.

Neil works in Newman - which is a 1hour 40 minute plane ride from Perth or about 12-15 hours in the car. This is what the the typical scenery is like. It's all Red Dirt and Neil said it's quite bland and boring. The Red Dirt is called Ocher and is like a paint pigment. It stains everything - cards, diggers, your boots & clothes too.

This pic shows a 200 tonne dump truck going up one of the mine roads.

This is Neil's Donger - which is what they call their sleeping quarters. It's in one of big camps that all the mine workers stay in. Neils room is on the far right. Each room is about 5m x 5m and includes an en suite, fridge and TV. For meals they go to the Mess Hall. All meals are supplied. It sounds like they are well fed too.

This is the Iron Ore Train that is heading for Port Headland. These trains go daily from the mine and are approximately 112 carriages long. There is about 100 tonne of Iron Ore per carriage which is equal to about $185K per carriage. That's alot of $$$$!! After all costs are paid it = about 4 million $$ per train. Neil said this is a small sized operation and there are about 34 other operations running around Australia.

The digger Neil operates is bigger than the one we had in NZ. Here he is doing Rehab work - which means he is pulling the old drill pads back to the original contour of the land.

Cards for Men & Women

In the last few classes I have done we have produced cards for both men and women.


Firstly the Bodacious Bouquet cards. These are both totally different but use the same stamp set. It's great to see how versatile each set is, with a change of colour and shape.


I find so many of the cards we do are feminine. So here a couple for the boys. On the Thinking Of You card, we used a bit of sand paper to rough up the edges a bit.

New House!!

Wow - July must have been a busy month because I did not add to my Blog at all!! But I have plenty to add now.

July kicked off with us moving into our own home. We got a moving company to help as Neil was up in Newman. Then Neil came home and we spend the next week unpacking and getting everything out of boxes. It was Full-On! It is soooo great to finally get unpacked!

We have 3 bedrooms and a large living area. Neil has an awesome Shed for his models and I have a great Craft room for Cards. Yippee!!

We love the outdoor area - it's huge. Fantastic for any time of year cause it's all paved and covered.

There's also a great play area for Sarah with a huge sandpit and lots of grass to play on.

The gardens are beautiful and will keep me busy - as will the Neil with the lawns.

We also love the amount of storage areas in the house. All the rooms including the family room, bedrooms and laundry all have floor to ceiling cupboards and shelving.

We are now going through the process of getting a new kitchen. Although the kitchen is quite functional - it is very bright!!

The funny thing is - we have got quite used to the colours. However - there is no cut out for a dishwasher - so it HAS to be changed!!

We are situation on a rise and over look a park which is lovely. There is a play ground in the park too which is just round the corner. We have polished jarrah floors throughout with carpet in the bedrooms and family room. We have ducted air conditioning to keep us cool in summer and gas heaters to keep us warm in winter. So everything we need.