First Blogaversary Candy Draw!

(WOYWW Post below this everyone, sorry!)

Okay, now – big drum roll, please! We have a hat, we have names in that there hat and we will have a draw out of that there hat!

Ta da!! A big congratulations - the winner is:

Glenda Brooks! @ Magpie's Corner
So Glenda please contact me by email (see my profile for link to email).

I drew a spare name too in case Glenda has some of items in it and can post them on someone else.

And this draw, for those not in the know, is for a very BIG thank YOU to the wonderful Encouragers, as my blog is one year old.

 I was having a little candy as a way of a very BIG thanks to you all!

There is a verse in Proverbs 16:31 in the Bible “The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.”

Well in this case, it is a hat – but the choice was left up to the all wise One, for His distribution.

 Apologies to all who do not win – it is a shame I don’t have prizes for all of you – I would so very dearly love to!
Do you like the hat? It is one from Bhutan and my dear sister brought it back for me. :D 

It has been for drink in our creek! I had to rescue it one day and had to clamber over rocks and wade into the creek to get it with the help of some Scandinavian tourists, who pushed it in the right direction for me! The special hat was looked after - the Lord cares about little and big things, especially when we take the time to commit them to Him.

So that explains why I chose it for the draw ( with Monkey and Bear to supervise).

I want to close with a very big thank you to each and every one of you for all your beautifully encouraging words on my candy draw post and over the past year - you live up to your name, you very dear WONDERFUL Encouragers. 

Thank you also for the NEW ENCOURAGER'S who have joined since then- and hope and pray you stay around and enjoy it.

May the LORD bless your day wherever you may be,

Shaz in Oz.x
PS I close with an oil painting by my father (who is 82) of one of our local beaches.

Christmas Beetles, Owl cards and WOYWW!

As we watch this year rapidly disappearing from the scene, the Wednesdays are really running into one other – aren’t they everyone? Phew – a deep breath here to catch up!! And yes as you see by the first pickie on this post the sunny days still here – this is some para-surfing action down at our creek  mouth, about ten minutes walk from here. God's glories shine forth indeed.

I was talking a few weeks ago about our Christmas beetles making their presence felt – so here is pickie of one. 

This is the large variety, about 2cm long. There are the small brown and black ones that scratch at the wire on the windows to try and get in...  These are brown and black ones are no-where near as beautiful as this iridescent beauty. We used to have heaps of these big ones eating our gum trees but the trees were removed. Click on pickie to see him up close! It is amazing.

The second Australian native is a Eastern Water Dragon on my bird bath, about to take a dip! he is a tiny baby as these grow quite big too. 
I smiled when Vika who lives in Ukraine commented on my post a couple of weeks ago, that they have few insects over there. I cannot imagine what that would be like. 

The last nature shot is for Lisa who was talking about her Lantana she was trying to grow and keep alive through the winter in UK. I told her over that over here it is a noxious weed – it is planted in some gardens here these days but only specially bred varieties, that wont grow rampant. This one was taken on my walk the same day as the one at the top beach scene as it on the path through the sandhills.

Okay here is my desk (dining table) from a bit earlier – it is bare now so super dull. 

This was when I was making Emily Elizabeth’s card and you can find all the details on the post below.

 The base lilac shade (lower left)I used the Kimmy Luvs Cuttlebug Embossing folder extended on the base.Used Martha Stewart Layered arches punch for the rectangle of coloured Owl DP and card.

Then Nellie Snellen Multi-frames - Square Stitch Nellie Snellen Multiframe Die Set 033 in two shades of mint and lilac to match the DP. The stamp is a combo one with frame of Penny Black hedgie baby set. I masked off the sling with Penny Black baby hedgie in the centre of the stamp and added small owl  Inkadinkado stamped image added afterwards. Used the Petite Oval Spellbinders for the greeting.

Then this card was made with left over pieces as I changed the colour scheme as I went along, etc. I did not want to waste it all so made a simple little baby card for a spare with left over bits. The border is Nellie Snellen border die and scoreboard.

A long post today as you probably wont hear from me for a while except for the draw of candy, not long to go now.

For those of you who would love to join in the fun of looking at work desks around the world, do join in the fun, and take a trip over to Julia's Stamping Ground!

Thanks so very much for stopping by to have a chat.May God bless your day wherever you may be.

Shaz in Oz.x
This was posted on Wednesday - early Wednesday here - now (due to daylight saving changes) we are 11  hours ahead of UK time now, and even more elsewhere!

Twit-to-whoo! it's Emily’s Owl Card

Hi there everyone! Ten days ago you saw the beginnings of this card on WOYWW .

I know it has arrived at Emily's home up north, so I can post it now - it has changed somewhat from original colours I showed on the WOYWW post but design stayed the same. 

I will post a card in day or so with the original colours of pink and frosted mint green, as I made it up for a spare baby card.
This is the end result - for the base lilac shade I used the Kimmy Luvs Cuttlebug Embossing folder extended on the base, then used Martha Stewart Layered arches punch for the rectangle of coloured Owl DP and card.
Then the lovely Nellie Snellen Multi-frames - Square Stitch Nellie Snellen Multiframe Die Set 033 in

two shades of mint and lilac to match the DP. The stamp is a combo one with frame of Penny Black hedgie baby set.
Why remove the ultra cute hedgie on the original stamp? because Owls are Emily Elizabeth's toy so extra special- and an owl it is!

I masked off the sling with Penny Black baby hedgie in the centre of the stamp and added small owl  Inkadinkado stamped image added afterwards. I think Lisa correctly guessed the identity of owl stamp at WOYWW! I did this section in 3 D style, with glossy accents. 

I changed every part of this card several times funny how we do that. The colours balance for once was the hard thing to work out and the greeting was the trickiest - but the Petite Oval Spellbinders came to the rescue.

Thanks so much for popping by for a chat. May God bless your day wherever you may be,

Shaz in oz. x 

PS My Wonderful Encouragers candy drawn 30.11.11!

We never walk alone.

I love to walk along our beaches here and have often shown you pictures of where I walk as I talk to the LORD. This was one evening a while ago at my sister’s beach, 40 mins north of here. You walk down onto this from her yard! 

In the still, quiet beauty of twilight or bright hope of the sunrise, it is easy to know God is so near. Yet He never leaves us, He is just as near in the bustle of the demands of our day, and most of all when He SEEMS far from us.

I read this passage in Our Daily Bread devotional and would like to share it. It did so bless my heart. Passage was from Matthew 4: 18 – 22 - CLICK here.

"Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers… Then He said to them, “Follow Me”. Matthew 4:18 -19

David Roper (Our  daily Bread) was talking of his walks in the beauty of Idaho's trails... 
”I am often reminded that these treks are symbolic of our Spiritual journey, for the Christian Life is simply walking – with Jesus alongside as our companion and Guide. He walked through the land of Palestine...., gathering disciples saying to them,” Follow Me”

The journey is not always easy. Sometimes giving up seems easier than going on, but when things get difficult, we can rest a while and renew our strength. In Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan describes the hill of Difficulty where Christian caught his breath before continuing the climb. His scroll (the Bible) brought comfort reminding him of the LORD’s continual presence and sustaining power. He got a second wind so he could walk a few more miles.

Only God knows where the path will take us, but we have our LORD’s assurance, “I am with you always” (Matt. 28.20). This is not a metaphor or figure of speech; He is REAL company (emphasis mine). There is not one hour without His companionship. Knowing he is with us makes the journey lighter.”  -David Roper

 

When life becomes a heavy load

An upward climb a winding road,

In daily task, Lord let me see,

                 That with me You will always be.   D.De Haan

As you travel life’s weary road, let Jesus lift your heavy load.

Praying that this might bless your heart as it did mine. What a faithful, loving Friend He is, when we have Jesus as our own Saviour and Guide (CLICK here).

Shaz in Oz.x

Sunshine and WOYWW!

Yes, sorry or rather, sort of sorry! ;D
Here is a very small part of the Lord's beautiful creation - and how everyone is enjoying it down at the secluded and safe harbour. 

As I went walking, I thought I would show you how very lovely it is over here at present. It is my favourite time of year, as we draw near to the celebration of our Saviour's birth.

Although it entails a lot of work and I am not able to blog or create as much as I would like, I love it. There is the lovely weather and the getting ready for Christmas events! The last two nights I've heard our Christmas beetles trying to get through the screen door at nights (or wire-screen, or flywire, depending on what you call it?). Also in the evening the cicadas are beginning to tune up their summer chorus! Yay!

 

In a hanging basket in the courtyard garden, is a stunning red  "Christmas-y" Zygocactus. Simply loaded with blooms again this year, I am amazed at these plants. You ignore them for 11 months of the year, throw a bit of fertiliser/water around occasionally and they repay you like this glorious bouquet! Again my heart sings with praise to God for His many mercies.

Before I go any further I want to say a very BIG welcome to all new Wonderful Encouragers, your kind words cheer my day! Thank you to ALL of you, who have been checking in on this blog over the time, you are all more deeply appreciated than words can convey!

And happy WOYWW or What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday, everyone. What is happening here? Well, not much it is all YET to happen you see.

The card I am attempting to make has been in this state for almost week. A trip to Sydney doctors last Thurs for another check (all good, thank you, Lord and dear friends who were asking!). I'm trying to summon creative thoughts and put together what should be a simple card. However 'cos it is me, I make what is simple - complicated. {for those from Oz, the sparkly paper is from KMart, the Creativ brand- cheap and yummy!}

We have had new birth a few weeks back, our new little one has arrived (Emily Elizabeth – isn’t it such a pretty a name?). Hence I want this card to be extra special. 

As her mummy sometimes reads my blog I will not elaborate  any more on what is going on (maybe 'cos I don’t know what is?) but perhaps the knowledgeable among you may be able to figure it out from the picture? For those of you who are puzzled why we are looking at work desks do join in the fun, and take a trip over to Julia's Stamping Ground!

Thanks so very much for stopping by to have a chat. I am now off peek at other desks of the world and may God bless your day wherever you may be.

Shaz in oz.x
PS have some new cards on post below, Unity Stamp with brayer and sponge. And dont forget my candy wonderful Encouragers of my blog, if you have not entered it yet. See almost top of sidebar.

Unity Stamp - Five Designs For Christmas!

Well it is dawning upon me that the 25^th December is drawing nearer (or galloping might be more appropriate). Card making is in hand for a variety of cards. Here is how one stamp can be used with various mediums and have different looks – so boredom does not set in!
These Unity stamps are great value (pre cut foam mounting at reasonable price) Itty Bitty by Unity stamps, A Child is Born. 

The centre of the first card I have showed before – the method of doing centre stamped image is here in detail. Summary of metallic centre piece is - used Versamark pad + layered up a number of embossing powders (each layer adhered with Versamark) then cook it with heat gun. So it goes Versamark + Embossing powder + cook again.

Used clear embossing powder, pearl, little copper and finally two layers of silver (cooked with heat gun after each layer) to give the gorgeous effect. A fun method to play with! Then stamped in black on clear acetate, & adhered with Dimensional magic. Used Candy Cane embossing folder extended, labels four Nestabilties for frames and ribbon + bling.

The card above right is explained on the post below - or click here 

The next one on left is a brayer card. I ended up sponging too, so you could see the words through the white embossing of stamp. See an excellent example of this method see this exquisite card on Lisa's blog. I was reminded of this method on her lovely Lisa's Craft Garden, see here.

For this I used the Kaleidocolor Blue Breeze Dye ink pad, with Cuttlebug Plus embossing folder Brocade Window, + pearls. The paper I used is lustre white and has a lovely sheen but you cannot see that.

The green, gold, black one is done with the Nellie Snellen Ovals - and needs repeating as little bit of gold lifted when gluing it down. Like the design though, and has Martha Stewart punch in the corner.

The bottom left card is another brayer/sponged card, Adirondack inks + white embossing powder on glossy white cardstock. I also used the left over bit of the frame from the Nellie Snellen Rectangle which I had after cutting the mount for the second card above in blue and silver -thought it was too lovely and different to throw away.

I mounted it on  blue card cuttled with Cuttlebug embossing folder Moroccan Screen.


For those of you who are on the WOYWW blog hop with our Julia this Wednesday when we check out the desks of the world, sorry but I shall be AWOL. Too much on the plate at present. So this post is instead of one then.

For any of you who are my Wonderful Encouragers of this blog - I want to you to join us in some candy, which is a very big THANK YOU for all your encouragement over the past year this blog has been in existence - thank you so much and see this post here.

Thanks everyone for dropping by for a look and a chat! May God bless your day wherever you may be,
Shaz in Oz.x

How to Add Google WebsiteTranslate Widget + WOYWW!

Hi there everyone. Today for WOYWW I am going to do something totally different. For those who do not know what I am rabbiting on about, today is the day when we look at work-desks around the world hosted by our chief, Julia - what a pow wow there is at  WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday) - please take a peek at Julia's Stamping Ground!

So this here, Julia, is going to be a virtual desk!
 I have a very special friend (Encourager/ or Follower) who is Vika Doyla (her delightful blog is here) from the Ukraine. When ever I visit her blog I love it - cos all I have to do is turn on the English translator on it, and Russian becomes English. Yay! I can read it. Have wanted for simply ages to know how to do this, as I think it is a lovely service we can put on our blogs for those who cannot speak English that well!
This week I have just found out how (yes, am rather slow). However, I thought others might like to know too? so I will share. (If you dont want to know this - just skip this bit...)
**Click HERE for the link to bring you to this page below. Then just follow the steps:

1. Once you have clicked on FIRST link above, this screen as shown above appears.
2. Go to third section and select second tab - How do I enable the Web element on my page. 
3. THEN select SET UP Wizard. It takes you to the next page.
4. Here below - see to left Tab - ADD To Blogger - Select This!

      5.Now once you click on this (if you are logged into your account) it will bring up a screen like this:

Woo hoo! - you just click Add widget and it will pop to the top of your page elements on Design page of blog and you can re-arrange it if you like - I did a little..
It is that easy!
Now I am sure there are steps for web-styles other than blogger. You will need to go back to the second view and make a selection for Type-pad, etc. I have not tried it but am sure it will be this easy too.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:
This  blog is one year old! It began on 01.11.10 (what a date!), so yesterday it was one year old! To ALL Encouragers/ Followers - I really want to say a VERY BIG thank you - and you may want to pop over to previous post here to check out the YUMMY CANDY!

One quick card for Christmas, I used a favourite new stamp of mine - (these Unity stamps are great value, pre cut foam mounting at reasonable price) Itty Bitty by Unity stamps, A Child is Born, embossed in silver. Mounted with Nellie Snellen Rectangle Multiframe Die Set 008.
Next the very beautiful, versatile Cuttlebug Holly Ribbons Embossing folder in silver card, mounted on navy and silver card, with a single bit of bling.
I thought I would enter it in the "Less is more Challenge" of Stars.. hopefully, one very bright one is okay!


Well happy WOYWW everyone and thanks for dropping by for a chat! May God bless your day wherever you may be,
Shaz in Oz.x
PS Now that Neil has his wee parcel from Oz arrive all safe and sound, and posted on his blog, I thought I would post the items I made as a small thank you for his gift of Craft Stamper and some other things a while back now. 
The card is made with brayer and two Adirondack ink pads (Cloudy Blue + Cool Peri which is soft mauve) and of course post-it spot for moon as brayering. Then the Stampscapes favourite stamps -  Rowboat 166A, Gulls 302A, Seaside Cove Small 308G. Then was mounted on cuttled embossed card with Small Bubble folder extended and then white chalk ink over embossing to make it pop.
The bookmark was done with Gouache and gold leaf and ink then laminated which is why it took so long to get over there - gave it to a friend to laminate and he had it for four weeks or more.But it was done and I was grateful indeed.

Thank YOU, Wonderful Encouragers! One Year Old - Blog Candy!

Hi there everyone – well what a to-do! Today is the very first anniversary of my blog – which began on a very memorable day 01.11.10! ah, my very own Palindrome. :D 

  The purpose of the post is to say a really huge thank you to all my Wonderful Encouragers! I really did not know what I was starting on 01.11.10 - see first post! God has blessed me by so many wonderful friends that I really want to thank you all! 

1. So if you are an Encourager of my blog (or Follower) please put a comment below (I don’t know how to do the Mr Linky bit) and you will go into the draw for this candy. 

2. If not yet an Encourager you are extremely welcome to become one, especially if you like what you see on my blog. I would dearly love you to occasionally visit and comment. 

3.  I would appreciate it if you would kindly put a link for the candy on your sidebar of your blog, if you have one. 

4.  It will be drawn on 30.11.11 (6am UK time or 5pm 30.11.11 here in Australia). No fancy methods for the draw – I will put names in hat, old style!

Many, many thanks again to you one and all.

The candy is as follows: 

A pocket calendar 2012, Quick Kutz die set, Marianne Creatables die, English Rose, Card toppers and pearls. These were chosen for light post from Oz.

And the MYSTERIOUS question mark??? Well, this item will be chosen by the winner! 

I am offering a small piece of calligraphy - I will offer a selection, or a brayered Stampscapes if preferred.

If  the winner has no use for the crafty items (ie not a crafter) I will do another draw for just these items. 

As the calligraphy piece is hand done and takes time, there will needs be a postal delay for it.

A big thank you again to all you dear wonderful people and may God richly bless you all for your kindness over the past year.

Shaz in Oz.x
PS To those who said they were concerned on cost of post of candy (thank YOU, oldest and dearest encouragers of this blog who said this - Eileen was number one and Maggie number four). 
However, I made it light on purpose so it is ready to go to anywhere in the world... so if you are an Encourager, and comment below - your name will go into the hat for the draw! :D