Sunday, December 14, 2008

Blog awards!!

Wow...how exciting!!
I have received a blog award from my very lovely blog buddy, Rebecca Ross. Bec is just so lovely and I highly recommend checking out the gorgeous stuff on her blog. Bec and I started emailing each other over a year ago and we have been "cyber pen-pals" ever since. I feel humble that she thinks my work is worthy of a blog award (especially since I haven't posted anything for a while!), so thank you Bec...this was a really nice surprise!!

And on the subject of awards......
Receiving the award above from Bec reminded me that I also received the award below from Sam Post a while ago (back in July!) and I hadn't thanked her for it. BAD, BAD, BAD Danneil!!! I am so sorry Sam! I was so SHOCKED to see that you had given me an award and I am embarrassed that forgot to thank you.
Anyway, if you haven't checked out Sam's blog yet then you are totally missing out because Sam's work is astounding. She is mega talented and creative and I want to be just like her when I grow up :0)
Thanks so much for these awards girls....they make me smile.

Now, the rules are that I need to award another 5 bloggers, so here goes......

Sarah Klass Sarah is my up-line and has been my friend for a very long time. She is majorly talented (if you have checked out her blog you would know what I mean) and I am sure that she was paper crafting long before she could walk.....is that right Jane? She is a constant source of support and inspiration for me and I value her friendship dearly.


Janeybell Sarah-Jane is just the sweetest person! She recently had a new baby girl and still finds the time to post her gorgeous card creations on her blog. We regularly email and comment on each others blogs and I recently met Sarah-Jane at our Regional event and hope to see her again soon.

My AddINKtion Tracey is a fellow team member of the "A Klass Act" team. She always comes up with the most beautiful and interesting cards. She sources great ideas from the Internet and then puts her own spin on them. She is so clever, I love her work and I have cased her ideas a few times.


Makeesha Byl Keesh is just plain AMAZING!!! This girl has 4 children, a husband and a house to run and still manages to post multiple projects on her blog, as well as doing tutorials for her 'Make it Monday' projects AND running challenges!!! AMAZING I tell ya!!!


Butternut Sage Designs........... I LOVE Donna's blog. Her cards and off the page projects are always so beautiful and super, super creative. I also LOVE her tutorials and have learnt so much from them. (Make sure you check out the one on how to make cup-cake frosting!!) She just seems like the sweetest lady and I am always inspired by her.

Along with Sam and Bec's blogs, these are the blogs that I follow and they are all very talented women. I get a great deal of inspiration from them.......so thanks girls, you deserve these awards.

Monday, November 24, 2008

An update on me....

I am at home now after having my operation (hysterectomy) last Tuesday, 18th, and I am feeling very tired, VERY sore and just generally YUK!
The operation was a bit more complicated than expected so rather than the original "small" 3 centimetre incision that I had expected, I woke up to an incision that runs all of the way from my left hip to my right hip!!! DOUBLE YUK!!
Anyway, it is what it is!! And there is nothing to do about it now but rest and concentrate on getting better. My doctor says it will now take about 8 weeks until I am feeling better and about 5 months until I am completely recovered, so it is still early days.
I would really like to say a HUGE thank you to those of you who have posted comments and sent emails......Bec, Sam, Sarah-Jane Kale, Makeesha and the very lovely Jane M. Thank you so much, your words have meant a lot to me.
Well I hope to be back on here typing away and posting cards soon, until then......keep safe,
Danneil. x

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Out of action......

Well, that is it from me for a while.
As I have mentioned in a previous post, I am going in for a rather big operation on Tuesday morning and I will be spending the next few weeks recovering and resting (if possible!). Tomorrow I will be preparing meals for my family and getting some of the washing done so that Paul has everything that he needs to look after our girls while I am away from home. (so I won't have time to post anything else here).
I hope that some of you will still pop in to visit me and check out my work when I get back to card making and blogging.
Where ever you are in the world.......I hope that you are safe and happy.
(Oh, and don't forget to try out the chocolate cake recipe below.)
Danneil. x

Easiest chocolate cake recipe ever!!!!

Hello ladies,
Thought that I would pop this up here for those of you who might be interested.

Chocolate Cake.....
50g butter.
1 cup self raising flour.
1/2 cup of milk.
1 teaspoon vanilla essence.
3 tablespoons cocoa.
1 cup white sugar.
2 eggs.

Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees.
Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend with electric mixer for one minute (until combined).
Pour into prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for around 40 minutes or until cooked.

Chocolate Butter Icing.....
1 1/2 cups icing sugar.
60g butter (softened, NOT MELTED!).
2 tablespoons boiling water.
1/4 teaspoon vanilla.
1/4 cup cocoa.

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined to make a thick and creamy chocolate butter icing.
Do not add any more liquid than what is required by the recipe or the icing will become runny. You will need to stir it a bit until the butter is mixed in.

THAT'S IT! How easy is that?!? I love those "just chuck all the ingredients in a bowl and mix" recipes, don't you?
Try it out and let me know what you think.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Kristina's Colour Challenge #30.

Last night I sat down at the computer, after the children were in bed, to read the news and I read the story about 2 children that had died in one of our local suburbs here in Perth. It made me feel very sad for the family and feel very lucky that my children were all safely tucked up in their beds. Then I started to check out a few blogs and when I came to Kristina's blog and saw this colour challenge it immediately made me think of leaves blowing in the wind and a sympathy card. So this is what I came up with for the challenge....
The wind is drawn by hand and because I don't have a Sahara Sand marker I had to draw it with a blender pen and the inside lid of the ink pad! I added a bit of glitter to the wind to give it some shimmer (not sure if it is appropriate to put glitter on a sympathy card?? What do you think?). If you click on the picture you can see the glitter.
Anyway, thanks for looking.

Stamps: petal prints, warmest regards. Inks: sahara sand, old olive, certainly celery. Card stock: sahara sand, old olive, certainly celery, whisper white. Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds. Tools: stamp-a-majig.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Christmas baubles....

OK, so if you regularly surf the Internet then you have probably seen these 'bauble' cards on a few blogs already. Sarah has recently done one here and a while back Tracey did one here.
So when I had to come up with a make and take for a workshop that was planned at very short notice, I decided to go ahead with this idea because it was quick, easy and effective.
In the first photo the strings that the baubles are hanging from are a bit hard to see because they are stamped in silver but I think you get the idea. If you need to click on the image to make the picture bigger.

We made the blue version of this card for the workshop which was a huge hit with the ladies on the day, but since then a few people have commented that they like the traditional red and green Christmas colours so I decided to see what it looked like in those colours. Not sure which one I prefer. What do you think?

Thanks for dropping by. My eldest daughter turns 5 years old tomorrow so I won't be back until Thursday with another offering....see you then.

Stamps: So swirly wheel, Many merry messages, Hung up on the holidays. Inks: Encore silver, Brocade blue, Real red, Always artichoke. Card stock: Real red, whisper white, always artichoke, brocade blue, night of navy. Accessories: Dazzling diamonds. Tools: Jumbo wheel, stamp-a-majig, circle punches.




A baby card for Neila.

My niece Neila, who lives in Melbourne, recently gave birth to a baby boy, Dylan. So while I had out the Greetings Galore stamp set to make a card for Sarah-Jane's baby girl, Ella, I thought that I would put it to good use and make a card for Neila as well.
The two cards are very similar because I used the same template for both cards but I changed them slightly to suit the gender of each baby. Hope that you like the card and keep visiting because there are more cards to come.

Stamps: Greetings galore. Inks: Pretty in pink, Brocade blue, Chocolate Chip, Close to cocoa. Card stock: Brocade blue, Bashful Blue, Night of navy, Water colour paper, Pool party DSP (retired). Accessories: Blue Gingham Ribbon. Tools: Scallop circle punch, Blender pens, Mat pack.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

A cyber congratulations for Sarah-Jane.....

As promised in a recent post, I am trying to get a few projects up on here this week (with Paul's help) because our computer is still a bit 'under the weather'. So this morning we managed to import a few photos from the camera so that I will have some projects to post on my blog over the next few days. So on to the first card.....

If you have not yet visited Sarah-Jane Kale's blog then I recommend that you do. Her cards are always beautiful and she is just a really lovely person. Anyway, Sarah-Jane and her husband recently welcomed their newest family member, baby Ella and I wanted to make Sarah-Jane a card to congratulate her on the safe arrival of her baby girl. This is what I made...

I had no idea where to send the card so I thought that I would 'post' it on the Internet and send a cyber card!! Heheheh.


Hope that you like the card and especially that Sarah-Jane likes it! I will be back later with something else to show you. Thanks for visiting.
Stamps: Greetings galore. Inks: Regal rose, Pretty in pink, Chocolate chip, Close to cocoa. Card stock: Regal rose, Rose red, Pretty in pink, Palette 'o' prints sampler pad DSP, Spring fling DSP, Water colour paper. Accessories: Regal rose wide grosgrain ribbon. Tools: Scallop circle punch, Blender pens, Mat pack (paper piercing).





Thursday, November 6, 2008

A present for Lucy.

Last week I took Miah to her first Fairy birthday party. The birthday girl Lucy, who turned 5, invited all of the girls from their kindy class, no boys, (there are only 9 girls in the whole class) and they were all dressed up as fairies. We bought her a Disney Princess DVD and this is how I wrapped it....

This is the first time that I have made a "tag" for a present and I was so pleased with the way that it turned out and how easy it was, that I will definitely make more of them (probably for Christmas presents).
I love these colours together and I love the effect that a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds gives to the tag.

I will try be back with more to show you tomorrow, hopefully with Paul's help. Keep safe and thanks for visiting.
Stamps: Riveting. Inks: Soft Subtles markers. Cardstock: Slumber party DSP, Palette o Prints DSP, Perfect Plum, Pretty in pink, Whisper white. Accessories: Celery wide grosgrain ribbon. Tools: Circle punches, Scallop circle punch, Mat pack (paper piercing).



Do things really happen in 3's?

They say that things happen in 3's.....and even though that is just a 'saying' it really seems to happen that way....at least, it does to me!!!
The first thing that happened recently you would already know about if you regularly pop in to check out my blog. I was absent for a while due to my children all being sick but they are all better now and we are back on track.
Then just when things were back into the normal groove, Paul decided to put an extra "hard drive" into our computer and in his haste the whole system CRASHED and it looked like we had lost EVERYTHING!!! So anyway, after a lot of research and what has seemed like an eternity he has finally gotten it back up and running but the computer doesn't detect that thingy that comes out of the camera with the photos on it anymore, so I can't upload any photos of my cards unless Paul is home to sort it out for me. I will try to get him to upload some for me tonight when he gets home.
And finally I will be absent again for a little while because I am going in for surgery on the 18th of November and have been told that I MUST REST for at least 4 weeks after that.
See....things happen in 3's.
Anyway, between now and the 18th I will endeavour to post a few cards with Paul's help and maybe a couple of great recipes while I am at it.


Friday, October 17, 2008

Kristina's Colour Challenge #26.

It's time for another one of Kristina's Colour Challenges and the colours this time are: Rose Red, Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White.
I don't have any Wild Wasabi so I had to substitute with Certainly Celery and this is my card......

I wasn't going to do any card making last night because I was tired and just felt like blobbing on the couch and watching mindless T.V.....which is exactly what I did until around 10pm when I decided to quickly check if there were any emails and go to bed. Just before I turned off the computer I checked what was new on Kristina's blog. Big mistake! Of course I HAD to play along with the challenge and I ended up heading to bed at midnight! Anyway, hope you like the card and thanks for visiting me.
Stamps: Time well spent. Inks: Stazon black, Rose Red, So Saffron, Bashful blue, Whisper white. Cardstock: Certainly celery, Bashful blue, So saffron, Rose red, Water colour paper. Accessories: Sweet Shop ribbon. Tools: Mat pack (paper piercing), 1.3cm circle punch, small corner rounder (guard off).

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Happy Birthday Poppa!

Gosh, it feels like it has been absolutely ages since I've posted anything to my blog!! I am so sorry that I have been out of action for so long but it has been such a struggle with all of us being sick.
Anyway, we are much better and I am finally getting back on track.
I made this card for my Stepfather, who is the most wonderful Stepdad and Poppa. I always find boys cards soooo hard to make but I am pleased with the way this one turned out.

Miah (miss 4) stamped and coloured some images to represent herself and her sisters, which I stuck on the inside of the card.
Needless to say Poppa loved his card and made such a big deal about the coloured animals that we had a very happy and proud little 4 year old girl!!!
Thanks for visiting and I will be back soon with another card for you to see.

Stamps: Artifacts, It's your birthday. Inks: Chocolate Chip, Cardstock: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Mellow Moss, Recollections DSP. Accessories: Moss Gingham Ribbon, Vintage Brads.

Monday, October 6, 2008

An update.

Hello everyone.
I thought that I should give you an update about what has been going on around here lately, just in case anyone was wondering where I had gotten to.

Well here goes......

We all came down with VERY bad colds which I still haven't been able to shake off yet and Miah, my eldest, got a case of Chicken Pox.
Then Miah was playing in the backyard and decided to go down the slide sitting on her knees and peeled back a large amount of skin on the top of her foot as a result!! (friction burn!). So she has needed an antibiotic ointment and clean dressings to help that heal.
At the same time Grace got an ear infection and is on antibiotics to clear that up AND Emily fell off our bed, while I was running them a bath, and put her tooth all of the way through her lip which needed stitching!!!
Of course that just leaves beautiful baby Hayley who is now sporting a terrible case of Chicken Pox!!
Can you believe all of that?!?!?! Because I have been living here and even I have trouble believing that it has all happened in my house over the last 3 weeks!!!
Anyway, now you are updated and because I am feeling a little bit better I hope to be back making cards and posting them here within the next couple of days....hopefully!



Thursday, September 25, 2008

Out of action!!!!

Hello everyone,
This is a quick note to let you know that I am out of action at the moment and won't be posting anything for a few days.
My children and I are all very sick with bad colds! We all have very bad coughs, temperatures, sneezing and just feeling really miserable! Also my eldest is recovering from a case of Chicken Pox, on top of everything else!! Chicken Pox and this viral cold seem to be all over Perth at the moment...so many people are sick.
Anyway, I am planning to TRY to rest (a bit hard with 4 sick children) and I will hopefully be back with something new to post very soon!
I hope that where ever in the world you are reading this, that you are safe and well.



Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Kristina's Colour Challenge #23.

I decided to have another go at one of Kristina's challenges this week and I must say that these colours really were just that.......a challenge!!
This time the colours are: Chocolate Chip, Bravo Burgundy, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron and Old Olive.
I don't have any stamp sets that represent Autumn and I think that they are very Autumn colours and I had this idea in my head from the start to do a bunch of flowers!?!? I don't know why but I just had this thing about doing a bunch of flowers tied with a ribbon!
So that is exactly what I did and this is what I came up with.


The base of the card and the centre flower are Bravo Burgundy and the sentiment is Chocolate Chip. I know that it is a bit hard to tell the difference, but that Bravo Burgundy is a hard colour to photograph because it is so dark!

Anyway, thanks for visting.

Stamps: Bodacious Bouquet, Greetings Galore. Inks: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Earth Elements Markers. Cardstock: Bravo Burgandy, Whisper White. Accessories: Wide Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Rich Regals Brads. Tools: Stamp-a-majig


Monday, September 15, 2008

My Perth Regional Swap Card (2008)....

As promised, this is the swap card that I did for the Perth Regional's that were held on Saturday. I had a blast at Regional's learning, swapping and meeting some of the other talented demo's, on what turned out to be a very full and very enjoyable day.
I didn't know what to do for my swap card but I knew I wanted a Christmas theme and I wanted to do something quick and easy, given my hectic lifestyle. I decided on this card which was inspired by a card that I saw on Splitcoast and it fit all of my requirements so I ran with it!!
The pine cone has Dazzling Diamonds on it for a bit of *Christmas Sparkle* which you can see if you click on the image to enlarge it.
I am really happy with the simple design of this card and it has inspired me to make a different one that I will post here at a later date.
Hope you like it too.

Stamps: Peaceful Wishes, Perfect Ending.
Cardstock: Stamps: Peaceful Wishes, Perfect Ending.
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds, Real Red Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.
Tools: Stamp-a-majig.




Thursday, September 11, 2008

Picture of me....

Yes, that is a picture of me over there on the right!!! I thought that I would add a picture of me to the blog because we are having Regional's here in Perth on Saturday and I would love to meet some of the Perth Demo's who visit my blog. So now that you have seen what I look like please come up and say "Hello" on Saturday.
I will be back here to tell you all about Regional's on Sunday and to show you the swaps that I made and received.

Father's Day cards...

When I first saw these gorgeous Father's Day cards, on Sam's blog, I knew that I had to have a go at making one. I followed Sam's advice and joined the 'Stamping School', which is a great resource, and learnt how to make them.
Aren't they great!!!!
They are so addictive and easy to make that just I couldn't stop at one and I ended up making 5 of them!! ( The ones that I made for my Step-father and Brother-in-law aren't pictured).
I hope that you like them as much as I liked making them and thanks for the inspiration Sam!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Kristina's Colour Challenge #21.

I haven't participated in one of Kristina's Challenges for a while but when I saw this one, while surfing the net last night, I thought that I would play along.
The colours this time are:
Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, Regal Rose and Whisper White.
I had to substitute with Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive because I don't have Pacific Point or Kiwi Kiss.
And this is what I came up with.
I have put Crystal Effects on the vase to give it that "glass" look and then I sprinkled a bit of Dazzling Diamonds into it for a bit of sparkle.
You can see it a bit better in this picture.

I was up far to late last night putting this one together so that it could be in on time and I hope that you like it. Thanks for looking.

Stamps: Sassy Stems, All Year Cheer. Inks: Stazon Black. Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White, DSP Sampler Pad. Accessories: Chrystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds. Tools: Water colour crayons, Aqua pen.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Bronte's 1st communion...

I spent the better part of Saturday baking a chocolate cake and a carrot cake because on Sunday, 31 August, we went to celebrate my niece Bronte's 1st Holy Communion.
I had no idea what to make for her card, so I struggled pulling this one together. I didn't know where to start because I don't have any religious stamps and I wanted her card to be subtle and girlie at the same time. Not sure if I pulled it off......but this is what I came up with.....


I just started to play around with ideas after I decided to go with pink and brown as my colour scheme and I knew that I wanted to use an "On Board Accent" because I have never used one before.
I thought that I could make the cross out of ribbon in the background and then *bling* up the 'b' (for Bronte) with Dazzling Diamonds because what little girl doesn't like glitter!!! I just popped the flower on it for a bit of colour.
Anyway, let me know what you think.

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Berry Bliss DSP.
Stamps: Time Well Spent.
Ink: Basic Black.
Accessories: On Board Accents, Rich Regals Brads, Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Stamping projects...

I really should be doing the washing and cleaning up that HUGE pile of dishes in the kitchen (that has grown from the baking frenzy I had over weekend) but instead I am sitting here posting some more stuff for you to see from the team stamping day.
We did 3 projects which all used products from the new Spring Mini Catalogue, which you can view here. They were...

A card: using the Summer Picnic DSP and the Die Cut blooms. (Fresh summer/citrus colours and designs).

A gift card pocket: Using the gorgeous Holiday Harmony DSP and Season of Joy stamp set.
This is another view, with the pocket open. Isn't this a great idea for putting a christmas gift card into instead of a plain envelope!
And we also did a scrapbook page but as I'm not a scrapbooker I didn't complete one of those. I think that I would give Sarah a huge shock if I actually did a scrapbook page!!! Maybe I will attempt one in the near future. I do have a LOT of photos of my 4 girls so watch this space.


Friday, August 29, 2008

Cleaning, cleaning....

While my eldest daughter was at kindy today and my other 3 girls were sound asleep I spent an hour tidying up my half of our office. I am sorting out my cards because I have just recieved the album that I ordered online to put all of my cards in so that they can be displayed at any future workshops.
I love the album and will take a photo of it over the next couple of days to show you.
Anyway, while I was cleaning up I found another swap that was given to me at the team stamping day, that I hadn't posted. Oops!!
This swap was made by a lovely fellow Leo, Kylie.

I am so sorry that I didn't post it in my previous entry Kylie! Better late than never I suppose! It's amazing what I find when I actually tidy up!!


Monday, August 25, 2008

Stamping Day Swaps....

As I have mentioned in a previous post, we recently had our team stamping day and these are photos of the swaps that some of the girls gave to me on the day.
I am not a very good team player because I didn't manage to get any swaps done but these gorgeous girls gave me one of theirs anyway!!

This first one is a Sarah Klass original.

The second one is made by the very talented Jasmine.


The third one is made by the very lovely Leanne.


And I was also given a fantastic chocolate holder that was made by Chantelle but my darling little 2 year old twins got their hands on that one so you can check out what they looked like on her blog here.

Aren't they all just stunning?!?!

I will have to be more organised and get some swaps done for Regionals!!