Kreativ Blogger Award

Another great honour has been bestowed upon me this week ... I've been nominated for a Kreativ Blogger Award from the very talented Kate Crane in the UK. You simply must visit her blog - The Kathryn Wheel - for some delectable art eye candy.

As always with these awards there are a few rules:

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog - check.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award - check.
3. Nominate 5 other blogs for the award - ummmm .... check ... see below.

So this is a Kreativ Blogger Award, does that mean it's to be bestowed upon creative people that have a blog or does it mean these people have creative blogs?? Don't really know, so I've chosen 5 creative artistic people with blogs that I love to visit regularly:

1. Shelly R Sessions - from Louisiana USA. I met Shelly through the ATC_World Yahoo Group and have traded a few ATCs with her over the past year. She's a wonderful artist and a beautiful soul whose friendship I have come to treasure.
2. Kyla De Ruiter - I have known for a few years now locally through scrapbooking and she's the one who introduced me to the wonderful world of ATCs. A talented artist that courageously tries new techniques and her creations are wonderful.
3. Lynette van Barrello - who I've known for sometime through Scrapbooks Etc as she's on their design team and one of their teachers, but only found out this week when I did her class that she has a blog . Lynette's an amazingly talented photographer, has an incredible way with words - her blog is such a laugh and a wonderful scrapbooker (the layout I did in her class last week is below ... isn't my baby Beau so cute).
   
   
4. Linda Baldock - who I know through the PaperArts Yahoo Group and happens to live not far from my mum and dad in Sydney (such a small world). Another very talented artist who also loves experimenting with new techniques.
5. Tammy Hixon - a moderator and hostess that I also met through the ATC_World Yahoo Group. Another very talented and creative artist who has been running one of my favourite swaps - Artist Trading Card Workshop - where the participants are gradually working through each technique from Bernie Berlin's book of the same title (did I tell you I'm doing one of Bernie Berlin's classes at next year's Creative Soul Retreat .... I am so excited).

Such diverse creativity in all of these blogs and these ladies are all so lovely. Do visit their blogs ... you will find so much inspiration.

Until next time,
Diana

Alexis' first Christmas Concert

Yesterday Sylvia, Dave and I attended Alexis' first Christmas Concert at her Day Care Centre Bonny Babes. At 27 months of age, she walked out onto the stage a little overwhelmed at so many people watching her, but soon got into it and didn't even cry like a lot of the other junior toddlers . She really got into the song and dance after a bit, even though she had a slight costume malfunction with her tinsel head band at the beginning. I spent most of the time with tears in my eyes trying not to cry ... I'm a very proud aunty!!

In the video, she's the one standing to the right of Jaxon the boy with the white t-shirt and dark shorts, who's really getting into it. She's wearing a Mrs Clause red Christmas dress.

By the way, the constant background giggling is her daddy and mummy ... they thought it was hilarious.

Enjoy,
Diana

"Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young."
~ Fred Astaire, 1899-1987, American Dancer/Singer/Actor ~

Make Believe

I finished another set of ATCs today for a swap at the Scrapbook Cupboard with the theme "Make Believe". I decided to use a Unicorn as my main image and was going to give it wings, but couldn't find any that I thought would suit so just went with an ordinary Unicorn. The background is K&Company paper (Rhapsody, I think). I then covered it with tissue paper sprayed the whole card with a red/dark pink glimmer mist. Once dried I stamped around the edges with coffee bean brilliance ink. A little bit of brown german scrap along the bottom and voila ... my "Make Believe" ATC is complete.

I missed the deadline slightly as it was due on the 25th and I only handed it in today ... naughty me.

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.
~ Og Mandino, 1923-1996, American Motivational Author and Speaker ~

Santa Photo & Queensland Storms

Our local shopping centre arranged for photos with Santa to be taken with you and your pet. Ferg was totally against the whole thing, but I booked Beau in anyway, because I wanted a reminder of our first Christmas together as a family. The only way I could convince Ferg to come along, was to tell him that Beau will be in the photo with Santa alone, that I'll never show anyone and also that he should ensure Beau's safety with all those other dogs around. Once we were there, he got into the mood and we both joined Beau in the photo.

I think it's hilarious getting our photo taken with Santa and for an Irish man Ferg was not laughing much at all ... I think this will have to be our Christmas card photo this year, the one I send overseas to all his family ... now what happened to that promise where I don't show anyone - I'm sure he'll get over it!!!

After our little outing with Beau, I'd spent the rest of the morning updating my blog with the "Tagged" information and the "I love your blog" details, when all of a sudden the power went out at around 1pm. Of course, without access to the internet, I copied and pasted all my information from my blog and kept working away in a word document, until my laptop battery couldn't take it anymore. We rang Energex and were told it would be up shortly, 3pm came and went, 5pm came and went ...

We live on acreage and don't have access to town water or sewerage, so all of it operates via pumps ... which of course runs with electricity!! So we couldn't wash our hands, do the dishes or flush the toilet ... 6pm came and went. We did everything we could whilst there was still a little daylight and then the candles came out. Ferg and I played "Uno" for an hour and a half and then ... ta da ... we had light at 7.30pm ... just before absolutely everything in the freezer defrosted, thank goodness.

Queensland has experienced some incredible storms over the past week as the heat during the day hits 32 - 36 degrees celsius (around 90 - 97 degrees fahrenheit) and then at night the earth is trying to cool itself down and we get high speed winds, lightening, thunder and heavy rain or hail. A lot of places up the coast and in Brisbane have been classified as emergency zones, with 4 huge nights of storms in 5 days all the rivers and dams are at bursting point and there's been a lot of flooding.

We've been pretty lucky here in Coomera as we haven't been hit as hard as some places, but I'm sure our tanks have got plenty of water in them now. Only one small tree fell down and the structure we use to cover Alexis' sandpit is completely destroyed.

"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit."
~Napoleon Hill, 1883-1970, Author of Think and Grow Rich~

I've been Tagged ...

I've been tagged by Shelly Sessions this week and as I understand it, this game has a few "rules" to play, so here they are:

1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write seven random things about yourself.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post.
4. Pass on the tag to seven others.

So here are the 7 random things about me:

1. I am married to the most beautiful, supportive, Irish man - Fearghal, who I love truly and deeply and am so grateful that our paths crossed during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
2. We have a beautiful Australian Working Kelpie dog, Beau, as part of our family. He’s now 16 weeks old, very energetic and we just love him to bits.
3. I have one brother (David) and three sisters (Magda, Sylvia and Natalie). David is 14 years younger than me, is studying to be a chef and lives in our home town St Marys in New South Wales, Australia. Magda is my older half sister (but really there are no halves about our relationship). She lives in The Netherlands and has 2 sons - Ian & Evan. Sylvia is 18 months younger than me, has a daughter Alexis, is currently pregnant and we live together with our husbands on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Natalie is the youngest and is 16 years my junior. She also lives in St Marys with our parents and brother, although she's up here visiting this weekend.
4. I much prefer to have snakes on our 7.5 acre property than rats, which tend to make their homes in our cars.
5. Ummm, random item number 5 ... I've still got three things to write ... this is not as easy as I thought. Ok, here’s another one - I am attending the Creative Soul Retreat in Melbourne in March next year and I'm so excited. I'll be doing workshops with wonderfully talented artists DJ Pettit, Bernie Berlin and Stephanie Lee and I can't wait.
6. I love getting together with the girls for a night of scrapbooking or creating ATCs and Art. We always end up laughing the night away and having loads of fun.
7. I adore nature and being outdoors. Nothing gives me more pleasure than being on our property and seeing the Kangaroo's jump away; the water dragons rushing across the driveway before we run over them; the ducks swimming in our dam; the Rainbow Lorikeets building their nest in a tree near the house; the hares bouncing out of perceived harm’s way; the goanna’s climbing up trees and little green tree frogs singing (or is that croaking) a chorus whilst stuck on our windows at night.

So the 7 people I have tagged in return are:

• Kyla de Ruiter
• Tanya French
• Linda Baldock
• Tammy Hixon
• Valerie Brincheck
• Kerri Head
• Sarah Walker

I look forward to getting to know you all a little better through your “tagged” responses.

Have fun with it.

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
~George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish Playwright and Nobel Prize Winner~

"I Love Your Blog" Award

I always wondered how some blogs received the "I heart (Love?) your blog" award and wasn't too surprised to find that Shelly Sessions was awarded this week and has passed the love onto me. I met Shelly through the ATC_World Yahoo Group and she's become a wonderful friend to me through our regular online chats that I so look forward to from time to time.

Even though I believe in "Blogging Without Obligation", there are a few conditions to accepting this award and because I feel receiving awards like this makes others feel good, I'm going to play along:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog;
2. Link to the person who nominated you for the award (visit Shelly's wonderful blog by clicking here);
3. The winner then nominates at least seven other blogs (see some amazingly talented artists blogs in my list below);
4. Include the links of these blogs on your own blog (see below).

So, here are my choices for the "I Heart Your Blog Award":

• Linda @ Eclectic Visions of an Altered Journey
• Jade @ Jade's Funky Junk
• Valerie @ The Sum of all Crafts
• Kelsey @ KO ... OK
• Teesha @ Tee's Spree's
• Kelly @ Kelly Rae Roberts
• DJ @ DJ Pettit

I would also have nominated Kathryn in the UK as I love to read her blog, but Shelly has already awarded this honour to her, so didn't add her to my list (a must see blog by the way). I visit each of the blogs listed above regularly as they are all very talented and unique artists that provide me with so much inspiration and have me seeing the world a little differently. I don't know these artists personally, but feel like I've gotten to know them a little bit through their wonderful art and regular blog updates.

I'm also really excited to note that I'll be meeting DJ Pettit at the Creative Soul Retreat in March 2009. There was a vacancy last week and now I am going. I am booked into DJ's Face Painting Class as well workshops by Bernie Berlin and Stephanie Lee. I am so excited can't wait!!

Please visit these fantastic blogs if you have not already done so and continue to spread the love.

"Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others."
~ Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1894, Scottish Novelist/Poet/Travel Writer ~

"Initial" Swap

The theme for the Addicted to Scrap's swap this month is "Initials" and we were required to do an Initial card that corresponds with the letter of each participant's name. This was quite challenging for me because I wanted all the cards to be similar, but also different ... so I decided everyone was going to get an ATC with a flower that starts with the initial of their first name. For example, D for Diana = Daisy, K for Kyla = Kennedia Prostrata (do you know how difficult it is to find flowers that start with "K" and there were two Ks to do for this swap), P for Pam = Poppy (even though she wanted to be a Petunia - I didn't think of that one); L for Lynda = Lily ... you get the gist.

So here are 4 samples out of 13 ATCs I made for the swap ... not entirely creative as I just used lots of left over scrapbook papers to put this one together. The Garden Gnome was an afterthought, as I had a blank space that kept attracting my eye, so had to fill it with something.

A weed is but an unloved flower.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1850-1919, American Poet and Journalist~

Beau Graduates

Beau graduated from Puppy School this week and I couldn't be prouder. Ferg didn't come along as he had to travel to Melbourne for business, so Beau and I went alone. He managed to sit and drop on command and after a few tries he stayed and came to me. He played up a little bit at his final Puppy School (probably because Ferg wasn't there) and even managed to be the only dog in his class to poop in the middle of the room (how embarrassing).

We'd started leaving the gate open so Beau had free range of the property, but we've had to lock him up again of late as he keeps eating seeds from one of the palm trees (which seem to me to be too big for him to pass ... but he does) and he's taken to munching on cane toads (which can kill him), so until he's a little older and realises these things aren't food he can only be out with us in attendance.

Here's some updated pictures of our little darling, he's 15 weeks old today and managed to put on 2kgs within the last week taking him to a total of 10kgs ... they grow up so fast ...

Beau gets a bone for the first time; Sitting pretty;

On the ready as soon as a ball is in our hands;

Loves playing fetch;

The graduate, he got a little graduation hat and everything (he didn't like it though).

"The average dog is a nicer person than the average person."
~Andy Rooney ~

Quotes ATC

I finished my set of ATCs for the "Quotes" themed swap at The Scrapbook Cupboard this month. I attempted to depict two quotes (or sayings) through the creation of this ATC, which also both tie in together. Firstly, "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels" - this quote used to be my mantra when I was on a diet; and the second part is "The party's over when the fat lady sings".

So if you have a think about it, this depiction is kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy in some ways - so you go on a diet because you feel fat, then the party's over; and diets generally fail so if you happen to go on one all the time inevitably you'll end up fat, so then you go on a diet again and the party's over again so you'll be a fat lady that can sing??? Perhaps I haven't really worded that right ... but you get the gist of what I'm alluding to?? Even reading that back makes my head hurt, so here's the ATC anyway.

Enjoy, Diana

"Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels."
~ Unknown ~

ATCs completed for more swaps

I have a very productive few days. I managed to complete ATCs on Friday for the Scrapbook Cupboard Live Swap that I attended on Saturday, I finished the stencil ATCs for the ATC_World ATC Workshop #3 swap that went postal today, I finished the ATCs for the Zettiology Swap through Advanced ATCs UK Yahoo Group, plus 2 WTAs for the winners through ATC_World, 1 WTA for the winner through Advanced ATCs UK and 3 RAKs for people that have sent me cards or gifts without expecting anything in return. I feel like I can breathe again for a few moments before my next swap is due on 14th November.

Here are my latest creations, the first one is titled "Fez Monkey" and this is the ATC I created for the Scrapbook Cupboard Live Swap. The second one is my Stencil creation for the ATC Workshop swap.

If you really do put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.

~ Source Unknown ~