Am back! From a long, long way away....happy WOYWW everyone!

Hi there everyone, yes this is me . a real live post and so very sorry to each of you for the long silence, lack of blogging,  commenting....
Have been away-a ways, as you will find out! and been flat strap since back and still not sorted but then I don't think I ever will be so we wont hold our breath on that, will we??
 I want to say thanks to all the very dear ones who popped over here to say "Hi and where (how) are you?" even not blogging...As it is WOYWW thought better jump in irrespective of my readiness for blogging again and say hi in return....
What is WOYWW you ask - mm, think you must be hiding further away than I was. What is On Your Workdesk Wednesday is the best worldwide blog hop, certain sticky beaks crafty folk take a look at others crafty or not so crafty spaces. See our hostess of  WOYWW, our beloved Julia, - see here, many more over at the "Stamping Ground" (please note Julia - naughty  monkey is hogging the badge, he's probably still miffed cos it went away on hols, but not him)!
As said on 4.4.12 WOYWW post, family were visiting, etc and was not able to blog much till June, apart from a number of preset posts. The visitors were here for Easter and a little after. Then  it was off to visit family too, for five and half weeks to be exact. Woohoo!
Where to? well my desk shows which location by the amount of loot. Hint: it was not in Oz. T'was in Manchester to be precise! mm, you read right Manchester, UK. All this juicy goodness came from there! drool drool - yep did leave plenty back there! believe you me, this was very restrained..I found these Aladdin caves of craft stores with the help of certain special WOYWW-ers. The Paperchase paper at the top was bought first, then visited Affleck's for the bead shop which had the most amazing array of exciting bits and bobs, in wee bags at the front right.

I could not get over how cheap the things were! Over here, we have to pay so much freight to get things downunder! Then came Abakhan, I think it became my favourite on the third visit (knitters take a peek on this link), as I found another floor - where I bought the ribbons in the top right. Rolls and rolls of ribbon, wow!  there was whole floor with them, this is just tiny bit taken on my phone, not downloaded camera photos yet!
{I forgot mention while  I was revelling in all this, the city of Manchester was revelling in something quite different! getting ready for the very huge celebration parade of the Man. City win over Man. United at a big Football cup (or soccer as we call it over here). You can see I dont even know what the cup was for! family supported Arsenal, as they lived there first}. The photos left show one of many selling commemorative flags, hats, jumpers, etc.
I also bought at Abakhan the Xcut dies, two embossing folders, bling, and stamp. Our family live right in the city centre, so are only few blocks from Northern Quarter where all these lovely shops are. Fred Aldous was last, where bought the Xcut punch, juicy paper pads and brads - lovely "olde worlde" ones. Knew of  Fred Aldous but not the other three stores... so I really want to thank Neet, Ann, Jozarty, and Doone, for all travelling to Manchester to have a really great crafty day out. Most of all a big thank you to Neet, who organised via WOYWW,  in April/May!
Left bottom on desk you may spy some of Doone's work too! the photos bottom left, very definitive, and then the red bag on middle left is Jo's delightful bag, oozing goodies in a wee container plus some lacey bits too. The stunning turquoise necklace and my very first ATC card is from Neet. I have never had one before, nor have I ever made one (mm, think Neet said that an ATC is the PiF is for next month, so now have and idea for template if do partake - ie get my act together... Oops, just found out the PiF tis for today so guess am too late..)....

Neet, Jo and  Ann at Affleck's bead shop - a tad excited, eh?

Jump over to Ann, Neet, Jo, and Doone, they will probably post about it too - as it was agreed to keep it quiet, til my return, at my request. Thanks again girls it was great. I was just disappointed Neet and I did meet again for lunch as we hoped - but health was an issue - was doing too much! surprise!
So Happy WOYWW, everyone!

Okay, so we collapsed and had coffee after - here is Doone and Jo!

May God bless your day wherever you may be and thanks so very much for popping over here for a peek and a chat!,

Shaz in Oz.x
PS Okay have downloaded most of pickies - but not sorted mind you but here are two of our great day!
I also want to say a specially big thank you to all my friends who knew and were praying for me to be kept well and that the Lord would bless the trip - He did!
Exceedingly abundantly above all we could hope or think.. am so very very thankful! I will share few pickies in days to come all being well!

Oriental Lantern Peels Offs On Vellum - Cardmaking Online DT Tutorial

Hi there everyone - here is is a very different card for you today!

1. Choose Peel Off Oriental lanterns which you would like to use for this project. You may need to refer to the Card layer size to guide you in choice.
2. Lift out lantern outline with pricking tool, place on plain Vellum.
3. Take Gelly Roll pens and colour  on top of vellum the inside detail of lanterns, using colours to match the papers chosen.
TIP: Shade and blend as you go - remember to use primary colours to get secondary colours if necessary ie red and yellow make orange, add bit of blue to this and you have brown, etc. Test colours on scrap of vellum first.
4. Use curved scissors to cut around fine outside edge of the peel offs.
5.Take the card layer of choice ( Oriental Garden bridge) and turn it over use scraps to shade in spaces at the back (see photo below). For the lotus flower the glitter card from previous card was used, for leaf a piece of green plastic, and a piece of gold from another card for Chinese building and corrugated card for bridge.

6. Adhere the coloured lantern shapes to the decorated card layer with small 3D mounts.

7. Use a silver peel off border straight line to make the ;lanterns look as if they are hanging lanterns.
8.Attach to Oriental paper set - these  sheets are lovely!
9. Add to blue card to match oriental paper, with double sided tape and attach to black card base.

 Products Used:
1. Plain vellum 
2. Oriental lantern peel offs.
3. Gelly Roll pens used Sparkling glitter ones
4. Curved Scissors
5. Oriental garden bridge card layer
6. 3D mounts 
7. Peel offs straight borders silver
7. Oriental papers
8. Double sided tape.

Blue and black card for base, other scraps as detailed above.

Thanks so very much for popping over for a peek and a chat.. as this is a pre-set post, I cannot repay your kindness by visiting you as things are still very busy .. till end of May.

May God bless your day wherever you may be.
Shaz in Oz.x

Psalm 23:1 Illuminated calligraphy + 3D Iris, with a story..

Hi there everyone! a few weeks ago now (see here) I showed the beginnings of this work.

Today I show you the finished result, and as you can see it has changed quite a bit. For those who wondered the name of the lady this was for - I was doing an Iris flower, as Maggie noted, so now you must surely know her name? (Hint: it is written next to the flower :D, you can enlarge photo by clocking on it)

There is a story to go with this and I trust you will be blessed by it as I was so many years ago.

Psalm of David. Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
³ He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

We are all very familiar with these words in some way or other. and have even sung them as well. With familiarity however we sometimes lose what it REALLY means. This psalm inspired of God the Holy Spirit, was written by the shepherd boy David, who God later called to be king of Israel..

I heard this when I was young, from an elderly minister in a service in Melbourne. A friend recently confirmed it was a true tale (from CEF ministries she thought).

Here it is, as I recall it: 

"An elderly shepherd (grandfather) longed that the young shepherd boy, his grandson, would KNOW the living truth of these words - 

"the LORD is my Shepherd".

To make it simple for the lad he explained it in a clear, practical way. Grandfather held up his five digits on his right hand and grasped each finger with his left hand as he explained the five words. 

Grasping his thumb he said:

THE - it is specific, it means the One and the Only.

Taking hold of his second finger he explained :

LORD -  God, the Heavenly Father, who watches over His children.

Then using his middle finger, grandfather added:

IS - something that is is NOW, a living, real, sure thing we can know now.

Grasping with purpose his ring or forth finger, he continued:

MY - personal, my very own, belonging to me

Finally taking his last finger with his left hand he ended:

SHEPHERD -  the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, "the Good Shepherd Who giveth His life for His sheep"

The old man smiled in happy memory for a moment, then seriously turned and asked the young shepherd boy his dear grandson:

 Is the LORD YOUR Shepherd?

The nights turned cooler in the hillside around where the young shepherd boy watched carefully over his sheep. One night not long after this, the shepherd lad was caught in a very early but very strong snowstorm.

As morning broke and he did not appear concern arose. 

He was found by the grandfather frozen to death in the snow. As the old man's eyes filled with tears, his face suddenly lit with joy. He saw the boy had his left hand wrapped around his forth or ring finger on his right hand, with a last message to his grandfather and as comfort to his heart in his hour of need. The LORD was HIS Shepherd and he was now with Him.

Is this a real and living truth in your life? Can you truly say with me and this young lad: 

The LORD is MY Shepherd,

I shall not want.

For when the LORD indeed is Our Shepherd - we shall not want (or lack any good thing)."

May God bless your day wherever you may be, and may He richly bless the truth and joy of His Word in your heart, now and always.

Thanks so much for popping over for a peek and a chat, and brief apology, as my time is still limited for commenting, returning your visits or answering your questions - and I am sorry ...

Shaz in oz.x

Recipe for the text: 

1. Used Le Suh 3D in Iris and parts of the page was shown here - this was too large so scanned it and reduced it to 80% and printed it on high quality paper.
2. Make up in 3D as shown on Roses are ..Pink post., and top with glossy accents or similar.
3. Used Spellbinders Small scallops, cut and embossed for the base and coloured it with lavender ink and then sprayed with diamond dust glimmermist.
4. Used calligraphers vellum to write the text with dip pen and black gouache and Gothic script - which is rather hard to work on, even though I pounced it this time (with Embossing buddy or the like, some even use a piece of flannel with baby powder in it). You lightly tap it over the surface so pen supposedly slides easier,  the vellum really grips the pen nib - you can see my first post on using vellum back here.
5. Added decorations to the verse as per layout with gouache and 23 carat gold built up. 
6. As always I did a practice rough piece first, even though this was only a small piece. I then attached the the 3D Iris and it was framed up - had to be recessed slightly because of the 3D.

Roses are - Pink! Cardmaking Online DT Project

Hi there everyone! trust things are well with you today.
This is a card I have to share with you for Cardmaking Online.
Please (pretty please:D) do pop over to our blog and leave a comment on the post there - so that they know that you have been over (thanks so VERY much).
Even better join our humble blog. There are number of very talented crafters with diverse skills to whet your appetite and to inspire you! and it is important to encourage early beginnings which our new blog is!

Here is my card - Roses are ....pink!

1.Take 3D Studiolight Rose Frame2 and separate the pieces. 

As these are pre-cut they make life much easier! this one is lovely.

2. Mould and shape the pieces with the shaping tool on the red foam mat, as shown below.

3. Use 3D mounts to layer up the layers starting from the bottom, making sure the shaping is covering the right areas of layer underneath.

TIP: Use pricking tool to place the 3D mounts on the pieces and to remove the waxed paper squares from the mounts.

4. Attach to frame of rose picture.

5. Carefully use brush applicator of Gloss Kote to cover the raised areas of the rose to highlight it with a glossy sheen.

 6. Attach frame to a square of pink card and place a happy Birthday greeting with peel oss in top left corner place pink card on the very pretty glitter paper to match. Mound on white card to size.

 Products Used:
1. 3D Studiolight Rose Frame2
2. Shaping tool
3.Red foam mat
4.3D mounts
5.Pricking tool
6.Gloss Kote
7. Glitter Fuchsia paper
8. Peel Offs Birthday gold
White and pink card.
Thanks so much everyone for popping over for a peek and chat and may God bless your day wherever you may be.,
Shaz in Oz.x

Teabag Lace Die - Card Making Online DT - Tutorial

Hi there everyone! trust things are well with you today.
This is a tutorial I have done to share with you for Cardmaking Online.
Please (pretty please:D) do pop over to our blog and leave a comment on the post there - so that they know that you have been over (thanks so VERY much).
Even better join our humble blog. There are number of very talented crafters with diverse skills to whet your appetite and to inspire you!!

1. Take the pretty peony teabag folding paper, cut it and I used the small ones on the sheet.Fold it in the traditional star pattern (see here for a clear guide).
2.Cut lace Classic Rozette Die on white cardstock, and emboss with tan mat. Lift up cut strips to make spiral around the outside.
3.Mount teabag on top of this spiral with 1mm mounting tape.
3.Cut pink card from Papermania A4 pack Hendbury lane( a delicious pack of 24, some is tastefully glittery). Emboss with Trendy Braid folder and slightly distress surface to make pattern pop.
4. Add the embossed paper to white card add then the spiral lace die with the teabag on top. Attach lace from Kaisercraft white lace pack to the bottom of the card as shown above.

5..Peel off Happy Birthday greeting and flower - these were silver but wanted to highlight the purple tones in the teabag. Take two ordinary permanent markers as shown, blue and red. If you remember the colour wheel from school, red and blue make purple.  It must be standard permanent markers on peel offs and bling, as others dont work. It looks a very shimmery purple with highlights of red/ blue all at once and is very pretty IRL.
TIP: Use the pricking tool to handle the peel offs, lay it up the stem of the tool, this supports it while preparing to place on card stock..
5.Lift outline of flower out and colour the petals only on the waxed sheet from which peel offs come. Do same for the happy birthday  greeting  and bling - three clear ones as shown, stick them on the wax peel off (the spare part of sheet to colour also.)
4.Add greeting to top left of card; put the outline of flower underneath and then add the inside coloured petals.
5. Add  the lovely Kaiser lace and coloured bling.
Another way to use the Lace die is to use it with double sided paper, or as I did in this piece here.

I inked this sample in pink and purple ink, then pasted with glue stick white paper to the back. I cut the die and embossed (highlighted raised edge while in die with chalk ink). The cut die was then woven for the lace edge around. I sprayed lightly with my favourite glimmer mist Diamond dust. I did not use it for this card though, as decided the plain white looked better.

Items used:

• Chinese Peony Folding paper,  
• cArt-Us Trendy Braiding Embossing folder, 
• Kaisercraft Lace Pack - White, 
• Lace Die - Classic Rozette,  
• Papermania A4 Pack - Hendbury Lane,  Peels off Happy Birthday 300, 
• Clear Bling embellishments; Joy 1mm Mounting tape;        
• Double sided; tape; Pricking tool 
• White cardstock, Red and blue permanent markers.

Thanks so much everyone for popping over for a peek and chat and may God bless your day wherever you may be.,
Shaz in Oz.x

Woyww and Monkey says thanks SOOOO much, Julia!

Hi there everyone - yep know things have been quiet blogging wise and visting wise most of all but really it is full on rather than quiet - lovely time with little ones - would love to show you pickies but not allowed! Sorry.

I can show you my desk thoguh and its new acquisition.. here he is full cheek of the deer little monkey he snaffled the yummy scrummy badge as soon as it arrived post haste ll the way from UK sent so kindly by Julia's generous hand.. thanks so much Julia and I do love it awf'lly ... great design, a clever sis you have Julia! Thank you - "you're a great mate" as we Aussies would say - so here is my desk .. and monkey...

And as you can see am doing some scribbling too with my pencils this time, I was in haste so decided to colour blend rather than paint - doing another pressie for someone but they dont read blogs, so it is okay to share..and going to link over to Little Birdie blessings as it is Bible verse am doing - a favourite actually from Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith".
Yes when he cried: "It is finished" on the cross He had truly begun the great work as our Sin Bearer, completed by His resurrection. This is ours, this forgiveness when we come to Him by faith alone.

 Please dont forget to hop over to Julia's super blog to join in the worldwide exploration of WOYWW(what is on your workdesk Wednesday)..and want apologise in advance, as my visiting to blogs is still going to be limited till June approx., but will do my very best. As said before there will be scheduled posts for Cardmaking Online, though see here and on this blog too, post below!

 Here is a peek of what we are enjoying over here and you can just see old man Banksia flower in the foreground and the lovely beach at North wall.

Thanks so much everyone for stopping over for a peek and chat so hope you have some too, may God less your day wherever you may be,

Shaz in oz.x
PS sorry to everyone who has been here but now going to add my scribble :D results - did enjoy colouring and yes, I do treasure my rainbow Swiss Caran d'ache pencils (bought on eBay from Spain work that one out but were very cheap from there for us in Oz). A real investment they are so good to work with.
Without any frther ado here tis - taken in my courtyard garden the best place for pickies esp. as put in glass first - not the smartest way to go.

Nellie Snellen Square Stitch + Joy Christmas tree Die!

Okay, so it is not Christmas yet but hey, why not get organised ahead of time and here is lovely combo of dies embossing folder from Cardmaking Online. Please do pop over to our brand new blog ( click here!)and join and follow us over there as there is a great mix of skills shown forth!

So thought I just had to share. You know it is funny but photos never quite capture it do they?

First of all we have the classic Craft Concepts Embossing Folder - A2 More Dots embossing folder for the base of the card, with the lovely Joy border of trees down the side and the very versatile Nellie Snellen Square Stitched die.

The beauty of these Multiframe dies is that you can chose how much or how little to add or leave out - you can see very different examples on this one here and this one here!

To finish add computer generated greeting and mount on some matching card and ribbon.

Thanks for popping over everyone for a peek and chat and may God bless your day wherever you may be.

Shaz in oz.x