Toilet roll pillow box

HI all, more than a week solid of rain here with lots of local and coastal flooding along NSW and today its finally stopped and come out hot humid and steamy! very draining weather.... a lot of work outside the home and family coming and going to summer camps etc. I also got to see my older brother and my twin sister which was nice. Happy belated Australia day to all my Aussie blog readers it was so rainy that day we just ducked (pun not intended) out to visit some friends and give then a cake and lamingtons... no BBQ this year :(

Madaleine started back at senior school yr 11 only this and the next year and all our kids will have finished their schooling .... where dose time go! have a happy day Madd we will miss you... she worked almost all holidays and her bosses gave her a $50 gift voucher in appreciation of her working hard without complaining. Good on ya darl!! very proud.

Beth and Ben are relaxing before they start back at Uni, Beth goes straight back to another prac at Cessknock primary teaching grades 1 & 2 towards the end of Feb. Ben has bought himself a cool little sports car ..... still not sure how he's going to fit all his stuff in to go back to Uni though! Dave started back at traffic control just before all this rain and received in the mail a $50 appreciation gift voucher from the company thanking them for the great work they did at a bad truck accident site last month, that was nice :) anyway enough of my ravings .... here's the link where I first seen these great toilet roll pillow boxes http://bellsinspires.blogspot.com/2011/07/tutorial-tp-roll-pillow-boxes.html
I though I'd put a comparison up of the sizzix die compared to the toilet roll box, not that much difference in size. This is recycling at its best!


and a step by step of how I made mine :)

Decorate these any way you wish..... cover in designer paper, paint it, glitter it, etc. To decorated mine I first ran it through an emboss folder keeping in mind there will be an emboss and emboss side to your box. I left the colour of my box the natural toilet roll look, I then cut a grapevine wreath die and wrapped it around the box added a few diamonds and lastly tied on a hand made crochet heart. These are so easy to make here's the link http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-crochet-heart.html
I can't read a crochet pattern all that well but I could follow this very easily, plus there's a video YES, love those instructional videos!
You can also follow me on Pinterest lovin this site for all sorts of DIY crafts etc

So not my original idea here but I was keen to share what i had done with mine... enjoy!
Blessings to you

and a last thought
Psalm 149:5 "Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds."

"Joy doesn't have anything to do with happy circumstances, rather it has everything to do with looking into the face of Jesus and knowing He's all you'll ever need."

Making a bird nest with your grapevine wreath die

Hi all, well its been a strange day here ..... the weather has been strangely cool for mid summer which I guess it's good to have some relief from the humid days and nights.....I watched the Australian movie called "Jessica" with my girls, good movie but it left me feeling really strange about the whole issue of injustice for the rest of the day...... extended family can be a strange thing too, the first two I can figure out but not so sure on the family one, a little wake up call for me today to show what really matters I think. sigh.......

well I'm still playing here with my grapevine wreath die from memory box, just love it! I know I'm not the first to make a tiny bird nest like this but I thought I'd show you how I went about making mine. Using the grapevine wreath die cut I basically wound it up like you would a rolled rose. I had some mini fake bird eggs (bough ages ago from a cheap shop not real sure where you can get them now) but though I'd go with a couple of pearls as eggs. These would look great for Easter, Valentine or even a baby shower card. I finished my card with a new die that came in the mail today called Branches from QuicKutz or I think they now call themselves Lifestyle crafts. (bought mine on eBay) you get three different branches on the one die. I tore a piece of card stock for the tree trunk and added the branch using small hearts for leaves and adding the nest i reckon it came up pretty cute! anyway enough talk watch the video for all the details and enjoy!
Blessings to you

and a last thought
“The tongue has the power of life and death...” (Proverbs 18:21, NIV)

Making roses for weddings / Valentines with one circle punch

Hi all, Ive been playing with my punches again and come up with theses cute roses all made with one circle punch, pretty cool hey! I am always aware that some people don't have lots of different punches to make flowers but most have a circle or can easily buy a circle punch.
My written instructions only $3.95


Another little cool trick I did on this card was to use my round grapevine wreath die from memory box to make straight borders. I cut the wreath in half and thread them through my Xyron sticker maker making sure you keep the going through the machine fairly straight then added them to my card. Another cool use for that wreath die. In my next post I'll show how to make a birds nest with the same die.... for now the rose and wreath details are in the video below!

I hope this has given you another fresh idea and use of those many craft gadgets we have sitting around.
Blessings to you

and a last thought

“Jesus looked at them and said,
‘With man this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible’ ”
(Matthew 19:26 NIV)

Altering a round wreath die into a heart for valentines day

Hi all, first thank you for all you lovely emails and comments as we celebrated our houseboat Christmas and our marriage re-commitment its was all a very special time for us.
So my first post for 2012 is a valentine card. I bought a grapevine wreath die from memory box and it came too late to play with for Christmas, I got to thinking how to use this for other occasions and came up with this heart idea. Very easy to alter just by making 2 cuts at opposite sides and gluing then back together at different angles. To finish the card I added a rolled rose covered with glitter and a heart leaf, I also coloured with a permanent marker some diamonds and placed then around the wreath...... the video shows all the details...enjoy!

Blessings to you

and a last thought

I have written to you who are God's children because you know the Father. I have written to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I have written to you who are young in the faith because you are strong. God's word lives in your hearts, and you have won your battle with the evil one.
1 John 1:14

Our house boat Christmas, marriage re-commitment & Happy new year for 2012

Hi all, we were very blessed to have a whole week together on a house boat over Christmas on our local Nambucca river, we seen some amazing things from glo in the dark plankton, dolphins 2 feet from the boat, some amazing sunsets & yummy fish that we caught and ate. we finished our week off with our marriage re-commitment with Dave and I spending the last night on the boat. It's all been such a special time for us all. Ive done a video of the house boat if you'd like to check that out below and the links below will take you to all the photos. House boat...
t http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2946933316953.2149025.1369917144&type=1&l=c1e8eee319
our marriage Re-commitment
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2952749862363.2149174.1369917144&type=1&l=97119f4486
I'd like to thanks all my blog and YouTube subscribers for all you support, interest and amazing encouraging emails over 2011 you have blessed me in more ways then you know and may God bless you all richly for 2012.
Blessings to you

and a last thought

We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.

Colossians 1:9-14

what happens when I'm not in my craft room

yesterday I was flat out cooking for Christmas and wondered into my craft room to find Beth & Ben doing there own creative video! It was pretty funny though as they had spent ages trying to figure out how to fold paper for a snowflake cut out. I had to post this, they are both very creative by nature but i guess that's what time off from Uni dose ...... slows the old brain down LOL Ben loves anything star wars and so they decided to make storm trooper snowflakes ..... the moral of this story? print the pattern provided its there for a reason...hhahhahhah had to laugh! So my desk was pretty messy after but hey they had fun .... love my kids.... Dave had a great birthday too! Oh and heres a quick video follow up on some recommitment plans ( embossed napkins and another flower decoration ) refer back to my simple invitation post ...sit back with the videos for a laugh ( and yes Ben those bauble are glass!)
Blessings to you

and a last thought
Remember, as a believer in Jesus, the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives on the inside of you. There is no challenge too difficult, no obstacle too high, no sickness, no disappointment, no person, nothing that can keep you from your God-given destiny. God will turn what was meant to be a stumbling block into a stepping stone, and you’ll move forward in strength, full of faith and victory! (Joel Osteen)

“For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again...”
(Proverbs 24:16, NIV)

Easel candle card

Hi all, I know you would all have your Chrissy cards out by now but i wanted to quickly show you one last idea I have been playing with in between getting our Christmas plans ready. Its also my hubby's Birthday today so I've made a pavlova for dinner tonight and just about to get some home made pizza dough ready too ..... He's been watching movies all day and just relaxing after we all jumped on him for brecky in bed with his presents this morning :) fun times
I call this an Easel candle card and it can be given as a small gift. I used the battery powered safe candles and coloured the flame yellow with a permanent marker to give a yellow glow to match in with the gold theme. I used my new poinsettia die set from spellbinders to create the hole in the card front and the different size flowers decorated the card front plus the stopper to keep the card standing but you could try any die shape.... a heart for Valentines would be great! The card stock was a shimmery type and I used half an A4 sheet for the card and a quarter of an A4 for the base, scored at 1/2" and taped to the main card. This will then create a three fold card (video explains more) I used mulberry paper to glue over the cutout and the candle shone through this nicely. See below pics of the different angles and with the candle on.

Got heaps of Christmas stuff to still do so I'm out of here and you can sit back and watch the video ...enjoy this last thought as you begin your new year.
Blessings to you

and a last thought

“...But one thing I do: Forgetting what is

behind and straining toward what is ahead”
(Philippians 3:13, NIV)

Santa & his Elf punch art

Hi all just a really quick post today on these supper cute Santa and Elf punch art I found. I attached candy canes to the backs so they would hang on a small tree for our Christmas party and the kids can take one.... They are Not my original ideas here are the links for them....

Santa punch art http://penguinstamper.blogspot.com/2011/12/punch-art-santa-gift-card-holder.html

Elf punch art http://stampinwithniki.blogspot.com/2011/12/steppin-up-your-punch-art.html

I thought they were both supper cute and fairly quick to make too!

Blessings to you

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in

all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”
(1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, NIV)

Australian Gum Blossoms for Christmas

Hi all, I got to thinking of what flowers for me as an Australian were connected with Christmas. There are the flannel flower and Christmas bell which I might have a play with for another blog post and have a special place in my heart from when I was young but my all time favorite is the eucalyptus trees or we call them the gum trees and their blossoms and nuts that are left.

Where the pine trees have a certain and distinct smell so do the gum trees I especially love the lemon scented gums. Whats cool about these too is they leave some really interesting nuts behind after flowering and releasing their seeds that you can use in decorations. I had some fun making these cute tree decorations with some old tinsel i had.

I also love the bush stories about the gum nut babies and other Australian flora and fauna written by May Gibbs years ago.


the Blossom petals punch from stampin up was used to create these and this is the card I finished making after the video.

and a close up shot of the made paper flowers.

I hope you've enjoyed my Australian Christmas ideas or if you're looking for something different give these a try! now sit back and enjoy the videos.
Blessings to you

and a last thought

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you

, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you”
(John 15:7, NIV)

Christmas punch pine cones

Hi all, wow things have pretty mad here with all the kids finally home from Uni for the year, our son sold his car so we had to go down and bring all his gear home and our oldest daughter after coming home from Uni has gone off to schoolies week up north as a red frog volunteer where she will be working for the week as a Chaplin supporting the teens that get blind drunk etc in their end of school celebrations. Our youngest daughter is on work experience in Queensland with a pre school and has already discovered that she dose Not want to do early child care as a profession which is good they discover these things early before they spend a lot of money on Uni fees to study. We also helped out in a combined churches Christmas concert last night with our puppet group and played the ukuleles too, that was fun :) work parties coming up and Christmas preparations seem to fill in those spare moments that i normally have to play in my craft room. But I hope you enjoy these pine cone projects. I used the Blossom petal punch from stampin up to create two different size pine cones the larger petal for the hanging decoration and the smaller petal for the card front, all the details will be in my video below so sit back and enjoy.
Blessings to you

and a last thought

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and

pray for each other so that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16, NIV)