Stamps Ahead

A longer than usual post today. I was recently asked by a friend, also called Margaret, to design six Christmas cards for her to make this year.  Here are the cards and more about the request below. Due to an operation on her spine and then an operation on her right thumb and index finger with Margaret still recovering from her operation on her right hand fingers and having physio she has been told not to use this right hand for several more months - very hard for a right-handed person.   Eager, to get back to making cards, with her left hand of course, for family and friends this Christmas and being able to colour in, use a tape runner and get her husband to help with if needed. It was a great exercise as it made me think, as I made each card, if it was appropriate for her to make.  Several times on each card I would use my left hand - not my dominant hand!  I did the die cutting and stamping for each card, I also offered alternate instructions for her to consider for example, on the

Here is a layout I have created for a challenge for Soul Scrappers Challenges For this months ONE word challenge was to chose from the aplphas "M", "W" or "U" for the title. Okay, so I used two words but they both start with M!  I went with a minimalist/clean and simple layout as I wanted the star to be the photo of my great-nephew and his dog Sebastian. I must say it was one of the hardest to put together - finding the patterned papers was the hardest. Thank you for looking, Margaret

A friend asked me to make a 21st birthday card for her grand daughter - after discussion about the gift she was giving it was decided that I would make a card featuring silver.  Here is what I came up with  I have used a very old Stampin' Up! set/alphas, silver embossing powder, rhinestones and silver paper.  I hope she loves it.   It was very hard to photograph all that silver! Thank you for looking, Margaret

Here is a layout I have created for a Tic Tac Toe challenge over at Soul Scrappers Challenges   The challenge was to select a line from the grid below - I selected die cuts, doiley and clock. I found the old Heidi Swapp clockface overlay when I was searching for anything clock related in my stash.  The paper I used is retired from Kaszazz collection Papillon. The chipboard heart is available Kaszazz (Scribbly Shapes 7949) as are the die cuts (Papillion 7914). The die cuts had a white outline so I cut around them and chopped into some to add there is also a large amount of fussy cutting on the embellishments.    The photograph is of my parents on the day they got engaged in 1947 and was taken at Luna Park in North Sydney, New South Wales. I loved the wording on the overlay and it is one of my favourites "life is not measured in minutes but moments". Both of my parents are no longer alive and it is memories and moments that you remember. Thank you for looking, Margaret

 This layout was a challenge at Soul Scrappers  challenge group on Facebook  The challenge was to be inspired by the this layout by Jane Howden  The criteria - use this scape page to inspire your own scrap page.  You may be inspired by the torn papers, the shapes, the tag, fence, the creepy Halloween feel, spider web or pumpkins etc.... Not being a fan of Halloween I did not take that inspiration, however, I did love the background colour and the basic layout of Jane's.   With New South Wales beginning its partial exit out of Covid lockdown restrictions tomorrow, I am sure many people are wondering/imagining "Where to next?" as they think of  possible future travels.  Myself, I can see me travelling more in my own country and my sister is considering a trip to Paris and beyond in 2023. I searched my photographs and found this photo that I took when we both visited Europe 2015. Thank you for looking, Margaret

New South Wales' nearly 4 month lockdown is coming to an end!  Partial opening starts on Monday 11th October.  I wanted to remember what my hair looked like.  I usually have short spiky hair and currently it is a 'mess' - a first world problem I know! Here is a layout I have created for a challenge at Kraft Plus: The challenge was be inspired by Manga. Not a challenge that would normally inspire me to create a layout. My first thought was "what is manga" an internet search provided this information - Manga are Japanese comic books or graphic novels with a twist, serialised in newspapers and magazines.  Manga is storytelling through pictures, where images rule supreme. The Japanese characters for manga translate as 'pictures run riot or pictures unbounded'.  My inspiration - it was obvious to me that hairstyles play an important part in manga drawings.  Perfect way to remember my comical 'lockdown' hair and expression.  It should be said that my usu