Life membership and looking good!!

I just had to post this card i made for my husband. He has recently reached life membership with weight watchers and we are so proud of him. He lost 17.2 kilos in 25 weeks and has done so well. He was really excited to reach his goal. This card was inspried by a lady called Kelly and I would like to thank her for the idea. Not quite a six pack happening yet though!LOL Dave thought it was great. Its been a great journey for us now we are both life members and plan to stay healthier and happier. And so i don't feel guilty about making him a celebration cake and eating it ....it was yum!!! speacial times........ :) here's some pics







Isnt he a darl!!!!!! we love him...well done Dave love ya heaps.....Valita XX

this thought is for you Dave

My purpose is to give life
in all its fullness.
John 10:10

Lilly folds / Australian Gum nutsTutorial

A happy hello to all my blog surfers Im so excited my hit counter has reached over the 100 thousand thankyou to all those who have left encouraging comments in my guest book and posts......another chilly night here just getting back from my daughters singing lessons....she's sounding really beautiful. This is one of her year 12 HSC (High school certificate) subjects and she will be singing 4 songs in as her final exam. Press here to hear her at singing lessons with here teacher together singing Piejesu you'll be truly blest!!. She brings a tear to my eye every time i hear her sing:)...and i can hear Beth now saying.... aaaww MUM!!! LOL...
Anyway here are Mondays cards!!! the first is a fold card of some abstract water lillies using the little slit punch to close the card ....i also used the flower cutouts to decorate the inside. An easy card to do but this pic dose'nt do it justice as the papers i used are very simmery and pretty. The pattern for this is below..

heres the inside.....

Our second card are Australian Gum nuts.....i just love these flowers as they leave different shape nuts or pods which can be used in lots of different crafts.....they are not in flower here at the moment but...heres some pis of the real flowers and then my card.



I stamped the leaves or you could use dried leaves which would look great....the gumnts were all made with punches.... heres a quick tutorial on how i made them.

Punch 1 large ballon and 2 small. 3 medium suns.

Fold the suns into quarters and cut small arches from each of the balloons. shape the balloons over a pencil and ink the edges in black.

Stick each of the folded suns to the backs of the shaped balloons with double sided tape

add some gold gliter to the tips of the suns and mount them on your card with foam tape.

I chose this faux hand writing emboss folder for the background as it looks like the bark off the scribbly gum, another native Australian tree.

I hope youve enjoyed the Singing, Australian flora, and the art works....all three have blest me this week......Valita
and a last thought

Lord, how i love you! for
you have done such tremendous things for me.
Psalms 18:1

16th Birthday The Tardis

Hi all, this last week has been a mix of happy and sad events for us. Happy as our son turned 16 and sad to attend a school friends funeral. Back to the happy stuff....we were just so excited for Ben as he also got his learner driver licence... a bit scary though and Im not enjoying sitting in the back seat again....but thats life and we must always be learning and willing to help someone else learn. Anyhow i thought id share with you the card i made for his birthday. The Tardis. He loved it and i also made this for his cake. I made a pattern below to follow if you'd like to have a go....not a hard card but a great boys card. Heres some extra pics of his birthday, at the rock climbing center and the new driver.






a great time for Ben and another mile stone reached. enjoy your day.....Valita

and a last thought

"Who is my mother? who are my brothers?"
He pointed to His disciples. "Look!" He said,
These are my mother and brothers. Then He added,
"Anyone who obeys my Father in heaven is my
brother, sister and mother!"

Butterfly Pop ups

Hi all, today has been unsually warm for a winters day and a nice little change. Mondays cards are here and Ive introduced to the ladies 2 types of pop up cards. The first is this beautiful butterfly in the hand card which you can find the instructions here. I traced off the hand and used one of my butterfly stamps, i also made my own pop boxes to make the hand and butterfly work. Here are some more pics .....close ups and one of the front.

This inside view shows you how the pop boxes work.


And here's the card front. I tried to keep this simple as i wanted most of the details on the inside.
We used chalks to colour the card.

I fiddled over the pop boxes and the best way to make them on a big scale for my class and came up with this idea which worked well so i thought I'd show you.

The grid pattern on one of my cutters is all marked at 1/2 inch spaces so when i seen this the light bulb went on and it worked perfect, If you're lucky enough to have a Scor-Pal (which ive just orderd one YAH!!!!! than that would work perfect) you could also use your trimmers with the scoring tool or just a plain old ruler and emboss tool.....marking a whole A5 card gave me 17 pop boxes. For this project you need 4 rows of 5 squares

So when you have your 4 lots of 5 marked and cut crease each line well and tape it closed on the
5th square.....then follow the above instructions that I've linked to put it together. A fun project to do. Our second card was'nt the regular inside pop up this was a simple one on the card front.
Using a stamp and chalks to colour.


I used a craft knife to cut just around the wings to make them pop up and expose the background colour. So i hope you'll be inspired to give these a go. I also have to slip this pic in of my DH sorting all my card out for classes...what you see is just a part of it!...and pay no mind to my messy play room :)... just one of my happy places!!....until next post...Valita

and a last thought

You have no right to criticize your brother
or look down on him. Remember,
each one of us will stand personally before
the judgement seat of God.
Romans 14:10

Blog award and Ive been Tagged!

Mel surprised me with this cool blog award ( I love all Mel's creations!)....and ive finally got round to passing this on to others ....thankyou Mel i enjoy all your comments on my bog. But i was also tagged by Michelle so i thought i would kill two birds with the one stone and pass on both these these to......


Dawn form Dawns stampin thoughts
Cpeep from Extreme cards and paper crafting
Donna from Serenity in Stamping
Julie from Inspriational tips, techniques & Tutorials

Ive enjoyed all that you Ladies have on your wonderful blogs. well done!!.....now i know this is not 7 as the rules say but i am so pressed for time at the moment ....so here are my hopefully 7 random facts about me:
1. I love all the colours of the rainbow put together...for example when i sort my ribbon, card, etc i put it into colour order as would be in a rainbow.
2. i have to be organised but my house is so small i live in an oranised chaos of not knowing where to put anything!
3. As i ride or walk each day i sort out my thoughts and things going on in my life with God.
4.I love the smell of paper.
5.I always have my toenails painted...some colour!
6.Its freaks me out when im in the car with a learner driver.
7.I don't like windy nights and i love CAKE! any type of cake:)

few there we go that was hard thinking of those ....but i asked my youngest daughter and she gave me a few tips...LOL...until next post ...Valita

and a last thought

And no one can lay any other real foundation
than that one we already have- Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthains 3:10

Bee's on a pop up card

Hi all, boy monday's come around fast!!! in todays card lesson we made a slider card and a quick stamping card...so im going to give you a quick tutorial on how i made my little bee to decorate the card. Some things you will need are your punches glues and deckle scissors and you know you cant stop at one once you start...LOL
We have our son off to a teen leadership camp this week so my mind and prayers are in two places at the moment. anyway enjoy:)





So you will need to punched 2 hearts in parchment paper, 2 eggs 1 orange 1 black. 1 small circle(7mm) and for the antani i used a snoflake punch.....my swirl punch just punched its last:(

Using the deckle scissors cut the black egg into six.

Using 3, glue these onto the orange egg.

Glue on the head.

Using the snowflake punch make cuts where ive marked and attach under the head.

To make the wings first fold in half.

Then fold one side back down following the middle fold line.

Flip over the heart and fold down the other side...kinda like making a paper air plane.
Open the folds and it should look like this. a nice M shape.

Now use a good quick drying glue to attach the wings and finish by marking with a white gel pen and a little glitter.I think hes's cute and he can be a great addition to any type of card.



and finally a quick peek at the second card.....until next post...Valita

and a last thought

Gentle words cause life and health;
griping brings discouragement.
Proverbs 15:4

soccer and a treat!

I must show you last mondays cards i taught in my class....A very talented lady named Ria from the circle of crafters made the pattern for this fantastic soccer card and the ladies enjoyed the challenge. Alot of them have grand kids that play soccer and some even know a guy who's been chosen to represent Australia.... soooo we chose the geen and gold colour scheme. we also made this Icypole card.....











Super quick and easy to make using the scallop punch for the bite. I hope you enjoy looking at these and would like to thank Ria for the use of her great pattern......Valita

and a last thought

Don't let evil get the upper hand
but conquer evil by doing good.
Romans 12:21

The Cross and a Rose

Hi everyone, Its so nice at the moment....i have all three kids on school holidays for three weeks!....i love the school holidays the kids just veg out we catch up with each other and life slows down....i dont have to get up early to make lunches and get them off to the bus Woo hoooooo!! Our oldest daughter though is ducking back to school a few days to have prac exams for the HSC and some one on one study with the teachers, prayers would be so appreciated for her as this is a stressful time for them all. so this is what ive been working on when everyone is still in bed and the house is quiet....Not for the faint hearted thought.... some tricky folds but i loved the results worth having a go at. A little tip use double sided tape to hold some of those folds down as you go.
And a close up pic.





So i hope you'll have a go at this great pattern to challenge the old brain!!....but if you think it would be too hard go across to my pattern blog and see what you might like for sale there....they are a bit easier. here's the pattern.....Valita

and a last thought

And now that we are Christ's
we are true descendants of Abraham,
and all of God's promises to him belong to us.
Galations 3:29