Followers ... Thank you so much for taking the time to follow me in my little piece of blog land ..

Friday, 1 August 2014

Greetings from a very chilly Newcastle, Australia ..... After almost 12 months away!

I can't believe 12 months has come & gone so quickly and that I let my blog become so neglected :-( 
My little facebook business took off with a huge bang with very regular orders and attending weekly markets and there was so much time concentrating on the orders and ensuring stock for all the markets that some things just fell by the wayside.

In addditon I have returned to work 3 days per week and my gorgeous Miss Bella is now 111/2 years old with a social life that makes mine look very very bleak lol.  She is still playing netball and has decided that this is her passion and has been attending netball clinics and programs so that she can eventually play representative when she turns 13.  That on top of her busy social life, my working and life in general I have been kept very very busy and my craft mojo took a big vacation.

But over the last week or two it has returned and I have spent a lot of time colouring and creating so will endeavour to post regularly here again.

I do tend to post on my Instagram account (juliehales_70) quite regularly
or visit my facebook business page at

Now I'm sure that many things have changed in blog land since I was last here so please forgive me if I make mistakes or trip up :-)

I really look forward to touching base with you all again and catching up on your blogs and latest creations.

See you soon with some of my latest bits and pieces but until then take care wherever you are ...

Ciao
Julie

Sunday, 18 August 2013

Live & Love Crafts Candy





Live & Love Crafts are a UK based store and they are having a candy giveaway of WOC flowers to celebrate stocking them in store ....


Live & Love Crafts have some of the most gorgeous, must have vintage products you could ever imagine and the girls on their DT are some of the most talented card makers I have come across ....

If you love everything vintage and pretty head over and check out their store here and while you are there check out the DT too ...

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day wherever you are and until next time ...

Ciao
Julie



Friday, 9 August 2013

WOO HOO!!

Woo Hoo!!

I've done it!!

I've joined Bloglovin' ...

I'm still a little ignorant about it and was too late to import all my blogs off google reader so it will take some time to get around to following all my faves so please bear with me :-)

Hope all is well with everyone and until next time

Ciao
xx

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

OMGOSH!!

How things seem to have changed in blog world lol ...

I have just become aware of something called bloglovin' and am trying to set myself via facebook and I think I need to write a post using a link that I've copied from the bloglovin' site ...

So here goes .... Hope to see you in the world of bloglovin' soon lol ...

Until then

Ciao


<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5291015/?claim=ndgbb439ceh">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

A big hello from chilly old Newcastle, Australia!

I really can't believe that I never get the opportunity to post on here anymore :-(

Things are so busy ... my little home based card making business continues to keep me busy as well as just life in general ... would love it if you come over and check out my Facebook Business page Julie's Handmade Creations ... :-)

My Miss Bella is now 10 years old and has such a crazy busy social life it puts mine to shame lol ...

This is the card I made for her 10th birthday .. She loves anything vintage, pink/green, flowers, lacey & girly ... such a girly girl (I have to say that she takes after me ... I just love pink and green, girly girl and shabby chic/vintage).

Anyway, I thought I would pop it on here and start back with entering some challenges ... I always have the best of intentions and time just passes and passes ... and passes lol.


I've coloured a gorgeous Saturated Canary image called "Thank You" with copics and used some papers from Three Bugs in a Rug "Ellie", distressed and inked the patterned paper and Bella absolutely loved it!

Well I'm off to continue my day ... all those exciting Mum/Wife things like washing, cleaning and thinking about what's for dinner!

I hope you are all keeping well wherever you are and until next time

Ciao
xxx

Used:
Papers:  SU! CS, Three Bug in a Rug "Ellie" PP
Stamps:  Saturated Canary "Thank You"
Other:  Handcoloured with Copics, SU! ribbon, rub on sentiment, button, string,Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Walnut Stain"


CHALLENGES I'D LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:
(My fave colour combo ... pink and green)

Sunday, 14 April 2013

APRIL FOOL!

Happy hellos from me ...
Just a quick post tonight ...
I figure if I get a chance to make a card and post it on here and find a challenge or two to enter it into from now on I will ... Life is just so busy with my facebook business, Miss Bella's demanding social life and life in general ... You all know what I'm talking about right?!?

Anyway I made this card as a custom order for a custoner to give to her brother-in-law who "has everything" ... He is well off, retired, travels, plays a lot of golf and generally leads a comfortable and good life ... When Lyn described him to me via message straight away this image from Redonkulous Designs popped into my head and I coloured him up! He has proven to be a popular choice for the (let's just just say) middle aged male lol.

He is coloured up with copics and I used some traval papers and although the photo does not show it up to it's best I distressed all the edges and ran Tim Holtz Walnut Stain ink along all edges too.  I'm glad to say that not only did Lyn, my customer, love it, so did her Brother-in law (thank goodness!)


I found some great challenges to enter the card into as well so fingers crossed :-)
Hope everything is well with you all and for now
Ciao
Julie

Challenges I will enter this card into:
Digital Tuesday - Challenge #205 - Boys

Monday, 4 March 2013

IT'S A REDONKULOUS HAPPY BIRTHDAY

So, as I promised a few weeks ago now .... 

Here is a card that is one of two cards for a customer order ...  It's for a 50th birthday and the lady thought it perfect for the recipient!


I still can't believe how busy I have been and continue to be with my facebook business ... which you can find here ... ... card orders etc and with life in general.

I celebrated my birthday yesterday and had a lovely weekend spent with some absolutely gorgeous friends ... out for dinner on Friday night, then some of my closest friends and families over for dinner on Saturday night and my bestie and her family stayed over and we drank far too much and stayed up far too late (3am!) watching Music Max on Foxtel (pay tv) and our rule is that all four of us have to agree that a song is crap, oops no good, before we can go to bed ... hence the 3am bedtime lol ... Then yesterday morning we had a beautiful breakfast/brunch of bacon and eggs yum yum! Then I got just a chance to chill and relax which is what I and my head really needed ...

We've go a couple of big weekends to follow as well with us heading off to a food and wine festival next weekend to see one of mine and Bella's favourite up and coming chefs who won last years series of the Australian Masterchef (Bella is obsessed with him lol), a girl's night out the following weekend and then we've got Bella's 10th birthday the following weekend and she has requested a "Vintage High Tea" so lots to do and prepare for that ... Then with netball season starting and dancing/cheerleading we have very busy lives at the moment.

Anyway back to the card lol ... I have coloured a Redonkulous image "Cheeky Greeting" with my copics and used papers Kaisercraft papers from the Peachy Keen and the Up, Up and Away collections. I used the sketch from The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge Blog and I've used some ink to distress it and I have to admit I kinda like the way it turned out considering that I still struggle with male cards (no flowers, lace, bling and girly girl bit 'n' pieces lol). I just love Sheryl's digis and you should check out her blog here and her shop here ....

Well I have another 2 cards to finish off for tomorrow's mail so I'm off to finish those and I will be entering my card into the challenges listed below ....

Ciao for now
Julie

Used:
Stamps:  Redonkulous "Cheeky Greetin" digi stamp
Paper:  SU! CS, Kaisercraft Peachy Keen and Up Up and Away
Other:  Copics, greeting rub on, Tim Holtz distress ink

CHALLENGES I'D LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:

Monday, 4 February 2013

MISSING IN ACTION

WOW!! Where has the last 5 months gone?!?
I can't believe the last time I posted here was back in September last year!

I have good reason though ... I started up a facebook business page ... Julie's Handmade Creations ... to sell my handmade cards and other papercraft items and it has just taken off I'm happy to say :-)

I picked a bizarre time of the year to start it with the lead up to Christmas and was absolutely flat out trying to keep up with orders .... To the point where if I never saw another Christmas card or Christmas themed project I would've been happy ... Very bah humbug of me I know and I plan on being better organised for this year lol. Let's just say the no-one but my God Family were the only ones who got cards from me I'm ashamed to admit.  Thankfully Miss Bella (almost 10) made some beautiful cards for my Aunt, Uncle, Cousin and Father-in-law who came on Christmas Day lol.

Having said that ... Where would I be if not for those who wanted something personal and different to give to their loved ones?

I am really hoping to get back into colouring and entering challenges now in between custom orders (of which I have 13 on the go right now ... phew!).  I have really missed the community spirit of blog land and getting immersed in all your talent with a cuppa in one hand and my trusty mouse in the other :-)

So, I am going to make my resolution this year to make a concentrated effort to post on here more often ... 

Hope you have all been well and happy and a belated Happy New Year for 2013 to you.

Ciao for now
Julie
xxx
 
My gorgeous Miss Isabella on her first day back at school last Wednesday.  Almost 10 years old and going into Year 5


Thursday, 13 September 2012

It's just plain Redonkulous!!

Well I'm finally back! Wow I don't know where the time goes ... It's so funny someone will ask "Whatcha been up to?" and I'll reply with "Been so busy but couldn't really tell you what with!" I remember my Mum always telling me to stop wishing time away becaue one day you will realise how fast it really does go and you will want it to slow down ... Too true ...

Anyway, now that netball season is over all we have to concentrate on is Miss Bella's dance and cheerleading concert at the end of November (with just about every Sunday in October taken up with rehearsal!) and her busy and very hectic social life ... Tough for some lol.


So, onto today's offerings ... I found this awesome digi shop a little while ago called Redonkulous Designs and they have some of the cutest and cheekiest images I've seen ... When I found them on facebook I couldn't wait to buy some and get colouring.  As per usual I manage to colour and sometimes make a card but hardly ever seem to be able to get them onto my blog!

Well Redonkulous are having their first challenge and I really wanted to get this card onto my blog to enter.  The stamp is called Birthday Kisses and you can buy it here.  As I was searching for challenges a couple of days ago to try and inspire me I found the challenge at Dream Valley that was perfect for this card ... It's "Something Old, Something New" and while my Redonkulous image is pretty new, the paper and the chipboard sentiment that I used I have had in my stash for well over 18 months!!

Looking forward to being back in the 'blog saddle' on a more regular basis ...

So until next time
Ciao
Julie

Used:
Paper: SU! CS, patterned paper from stash
Stamps:  Redonkulous  "Birthday Kisses" digi stamp
Other: SU! ruffled ribbon, chipboard sentiment from stash

CHALLENGES I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:



Saturday, 21 July 2012

Yep, I'd say the Mojo is Back ...

Hello again from me in chilly old Newcastle, Australia ....

Can you believe this?!? My mojo has come back and I'm enjoying it while I can ... It's probably all the time I've had to blog surf while I've been trying to look after my blasted broken toe!!  All that inspiration has tweaked the creative part of my brain he he ...
So, I've had this Kenny K image coloured for a few weeks now and really wanted to be in a creative frame of mind/mood when I made a card with her ... I'm glad I waited coz I'm kinda happy with the way the card has turned out ... What do you think?

I have been going through a phase of distressing all my coloured images with Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink all over them to kinda 'dull down' the colour. I'm loving it ...

I've followed the sketch over at Deconstructing Jen for this card and was inspired by the photo over at Cupcake Inspirations have found a few other challenges that I will enter her into ...
I've flipped the image 90 deg right
But for now I'm off to bed ... Hubby is already there watching the Tour de France and the deal in our house is that while 'The Tour' is on and he wants to watch it in bed I have to get a back rub to help me fall asleep ... gotta luv that lol ...

So until next time
Ciao
Julie

PS:  I am going to take a better photo of this in the  morning with natural light coz this photo does the card no justice ... It looks sooomuch better in real life ...

CHALLENGES I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:

USED:
Paper: SU! CS, MME Lost & Found Madison Avenue, Kaisercraft Lakehouse
Other:  WOC flowers, Kindyglitz, gems.  Coloured with Copics.

Friday, 20 July 2012

Red, White and Blue ....

Just a quick post tonight ... Got to be up bright and early for Miss Bella to be at netball at 8.15am and early Saturday mornings are soooo hard ... It's freezing cold but so worth watching Missy Moo play, score goals and do her little "yeah, I got a goal" dance lol ...


Anyway, I really wanted to get this card posted for Sweet Stampin's challenge this week ... "Use the colours of your Nation's flag" ... These are colours that are definitely out of my comfort zone but I persevered because that's what challenges are all about aren't they?  So I definitely wanted to get it finished, photographed and on my blog before I head to my nice artificially heated (electric blankets ... gotta love 'em lol) bed ...

Hope you like the card, I think it turned out reasonably OK and until next time,
Ciao
Julie

CHALLENGES I'D LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:
(Red, White and Blue - for Australia)
Stamp and Create - Hands Full of Love (5/8)
(My gorjuss Girl is holding her teddy)
Digi Doodle Shop - Challenge #117 - Anything Goes (26/7)


USED:
Paper:  SU! CS, SU! DSP
Stamps:  Gorjuss Girl Lost Heart
Other:  WOC flowers, Nestabilities Labels 2 die, lace, bow and rub on sentiment from stash

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Pretty in Lilac

Well, school holidays are over ... it's first day back and this is my first post of this school term ...

I am soooo very excited because I got my Wild Orchid flower delivery late yesterday afternoon and after I checked off my items I counted up how many flowers I actually ordered and am (only slightly) embarrassed to report that the total number of flowers ordered was .... drum roll please .... 2020!!  Yep I said 2020!!  Slightly OTT I agree but soooo worth it lol.


I made this card last night and said to my husband "It's amazing what a little flower inspiration can do to get the creative juices flowing" ... 

I just love these Saturated Canary images by Krista Smith ... As much as I love them and love colouring them I find some of them quite difficult as they are so detailed but I am always happy to give them a go lol.  After colouring this sweet girl the card just came together in a monochromatic theme and I have found a number of challenges that she will fit into perfectly.

I hope that those of you whose children are back at school this week are enjoying the peace and quiet and find a little time for some well deserved crafting lol .... I know I will ...

Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment if you feel like it
and until next time
Ciao
Julie


CHALLENGES I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:

USED:
Paper:  SU! CS, SU! DSP
Stamps:  Saturated Canary Ava digi stamp
Other:  Mesh, kindyglitz, ribbon, chipboard heart, brad and rhinestones all from stash.  WOC flowers, Magnolia doo hickey tag die. Coloured with Copics.

Saturday, 14 July 2012

Everyone's had a moment like this .....

Hi from chilly Newcastle Australia ... bbbrrrr ...

Dress & Tiara: RV34/32/000 B23/21/000  Boots: E74/71/70  Present:  E44/43/41/40  Hair: E29/27/25  Skin:  E51/50/0000 R21

I coloured this Lilly of the Valley image called "It's my Birthday" and entered it into a facebook competition that they are having and just noticed that their challenge over at Lili's Little Fairies this week is for "Pretty and Pink".

I think we've all had moments where we feel like this or many of us have little princesses who have had moments like this lol ... I know I cananswer yes to both of them ha ha.

I apologise for the quality of the photo ... I just cannot seem to get my pictures nice and bright when I take their photo and the photo just doesn't do the card justice ... I think I'm going to have to do some research into this ....

Anyway, hope you like the card and until next time ...

Ciao
Julie

CHALLENGES I'D LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:
Scrap Creations - Use something bought in the last two weeks (16/7)
(I have just bought the Kaisercraft PP, the SU! pleated ribbon and the cherry blossom flowers)


USED:
Paper:  SU! CS, Kaisercraft The Lakehouse PP
Stamps:  Lilly of the Valley (LOV) "It's my Birthday"
Other:  Wild Orchid Flowers (coloured with my copics to match), SU! scallop punch and pleated ribbon, coloured with copics

Sunday, 8 July 2012

Third card for the day!!

Oh my gosh .... I don't post for weeks / months and then all of a sudden I'm onto post #3 for today lol.  Well I can blame my hubby and our friend Terry having their birthdays this month and me having the evening to myself because Miss Bella has gone to her friend Jade's house for the night so I'm managing to sit down and post ....


I can't believe how little time I get to spend making cards yet alone posting them on my blog! I can find the time to colour but then trying to find the time and mojo to actually create cards is a different thing lol.  

So, as mentioned in previous posts it has been our friend Terry's birthday and also my hubby Gray's birthday and this is the card that I made for my hubby from Bella and myself ...

Bella and I had a big day planned for Gray, with breakfast out, maybe the movies or bowling or just heading up the vineyards, but of course the 'Gods' had a different birthday in mind for Gray ... His birthday fell on a Sunday but I broke my toe on the Wednesday night ... Well it was actually 2am Thursday morning ... I slammed my little toes into the lounge and it was UNBEARABLE ... the pain was soooo intense!! Over the next couple of days I was of course "It's all good, I can still walk on it so I can't have done too much damage!" Famous last words lol ...

We ended up spending the morning of Gray's birthday at the Dr's where she took one look at it and just said very sombrely "Mmmm, looks like you've broken it. You'll need to go and have an x-ray first thing tomorrow but stay off it in the mean time" ... So, we managed lunch and a day spent at home instead lol.  Gray said that for him it was the perfect birthday just hanging out with his girls and having a snooze but I think we have a bit to make up for!!

Anyway, I hope you like the card I made from us ... I was pretty happy with the way it turned out and welcome your comments and feedback.

Until next time, be good and take care of yourself

Ciao
Julie

CHALLENGES I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:



Used:
Paper:  SU! CS, Kaisercraft PP
Stamps:  The Greeting Farm Dressy Edward digi stamp, SU! sentiment
Other:  Tim Holtz walnut stin distress ink, clear glaze around distressing, coloured with copics.

Happy Birthday Gray

So this is this the card that I made for my Hubby from our trivia group ... It was so much easier to colour the same image for the two guys but in different colours and then design the cards themselves differently.  I had completely forgotten that I needed the cards made for the Friday night until about 3am that morning when I woke in a panic because I had suddenly remembered lol ...


No adventure holiday for us for Hubby's birthday so no travel papers used on this card ... lol.

Hope you are well wherever you are in this big wide world.

Ciao
Julie

CHALLENGES I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:

Used:
Paper: SU! CS, Kaisercraft PP, 
Stamps:  Kenny K Cheers Dude digi stamp, SU! happy birthday round stamp
Other:  SU! scallop punch, round punch, string, Tim Holtz distres ink Walnut Stain, coloured with copics

Happy Birthday Terry

So our group of Trivia friends had two birthdays to celebrate this month ... Terry and my hubby Gray.
We did the usual and went out for a very yummy meal ... beautiful Thai (nice choice there Gray lol) and I did the usual birthday cards for them ... This is the card that I made for Terry.


Not only is Terry celebrating his birthday but he and his beautiful wife, Bernii, are off to UK/Europe on the 10th for 8 weeks!! What an awesome way to celebrate your birthday .... So, of course Terry's card had to reflect a little of his holiday adventure so I used some yummy Teresa Collins travel paper.

I hope you like what I came up with and a seperate post with Gray's card will follow.

Ciao
Julie

CHALLENGES I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:

USED:
Paper:  SU! CS, Teresa Collins World Traveller PP
Stamps:  Kenny K Cheers Dude digi stamp, SU! alpha set
Other:  Tim Holtz distress inks walnut stain, button and string from stash, Kaisercraft banner stamp (fussy cut), coloured with copics

Sunday, 10 June 2012

Gorjuss Girl on a Mojo Monday

Well it's Sunday night and here I am with a card that I made today while my cousin was here 'playing' with me ... 


I had this Gorjuss Girl image coloured and have been trying to make a card with her for ages with no success ... It didn't help matters that my cousin's puppy loves to chew anything papercrafty (ribbons, flowers, coloured images lol) and she managed to chew the bottom right corner off the stamp before we noticed what she was doing lol!!  I was following the sketch from Mojo Monday but had to end up covering the chewed corner with the flowers to cover it up so I hope it still meets the sketch ....


I am always amazed at the beautiful cards made by cardmakers such as Camilla, Kat and Kylie who seem to be able to add layer upon layer of paper, lace, doilies, mesh, flowers and ribbon and make the most stunning cards ... so today my challenge was to at least have a go and while it is by no means to their calibre I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I'm certainly going to keep practicing to see how I go .... a personal challenge!

Anyway, I'm off to think about to feed the family so until next time

Ciao
Julie

CHALLENGES I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:
(Must use a hand coloured image)
(I've used Flowers, Pearls and Die Cuts)
(I've used punches, ribbon, 2 or more pattern papers)
(Tim Holtz distress inks, white gesso paint, distressing around image)
(Tim Holtz distress inks, white gesso paint, distressing around image)


Used:
Paper:  SU! CS, Kaiser PP, Paper Mania PP, paper from stash
Stamp:  Gorjuss Girl Little Heart
Other:  WOC flowers, SU! seam binding, mesh, pearl brad, Cheery Lynn olive branch die, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, SU! scallop punch, Tim Holtz distress inks, white gesso paint, coloured with Copics.

Saturday, 9 June 2012

Libby's First Card Challenge

Miss Bella has got a number of her friends 'hooked' on colouring stamps and making cards and you can often find 2 or 3 of them sitting around the craft table getting creative.


Well Bella's bestest friend Libby has asked me if I could enter her card into some challenges and help her set up a blog ... I haven't had a chance to set up the blog yet so I thought I would just enter it into the challenges using my blog.

Libby coloured a freebie digi image from Meljens Designs called "Bunny Love" because she absolutely loves anything and everything to do with bunny rabbits and just got her own rabbit called "Shadow".  Libby coloured with Bella's Prisma markers and was so proud and happy with herself and her card and I hope you like it too.


CHALLENGES LIBBY WOULD LIKE TO ENTER HER CARD INTO:

Friday, 8 June 2012

Saturated Canary Double Take

Just a very quick post before I head off to bed ...


I just made this card today following the sketch at iSpy Sketches and I must say that as clean and simple as the design is I really struggled with this?!?  I coloured the gorgeous image pretty quickly and then when I went to make the card I really struggled with what to use for my 4 elements on the left side (I challenged myself to not use buttons or flowers!) and then remembered that I had bought this Spellbinders die set ages ago and never used it ... and so the card was created .... 


I have to say it's a real "Look Mum, no flowers" card and I really had to think about how I was going to get some girly bling on it lol ... Think the glitter and the rhinestones look OK.

I will hopefully be back at some stage over the next couple of days .... We have a long weekend here in Australia and Miss Bella at a friend's all day tomorrow and sleeping over so hoping to just have some 'play time'.

Until next time

Ciao
Julie

CHALLENGES I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:

Used:
Paper:  SU! CS, Kaisercraft Bonjour & Miss Nelly PP
Stamps:  Saturated Canary Double Take DigiStamp, SU! Sentiment
Other:  Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Accents and Fancy Tags, SU! large scallop circle, CM circle cutter, Rhinestones, Kindyglitz, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Spun Sugar, Walsnut Stain and Antique Linen, Coloured with Copic markers


Wednesday, 6 June 2012

Happy Birthday Nupur - Wee Florist

Well as promised ... I'm back!! ...

I thought I'd share one of my cards that I've made and just have not had a chance to post onto my blog.  This is a card made for Nupur, Miss Bella's friend who celebrated her 8th birthday.


I adore these Wee stamps by Sylvia Zet ... they are so girly and pretty and a lot of fun to colour.  I've coloured her up with my copics and kept the card relatively simple to show off the gorgeous stamp.

I will most definitely be back with some more cards
Hope you like this one and until next time

Ciao
Julie
 

CHALLENGES I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER THIS CARD INTO:
(punches, flowers, circles)

Used:
Paper: SU! CS, Pink Paislee Sweetness PP
Stamps:  Sylvia Zet Wee Florist digi stamp, round digi sentiment
Other:  Scallop die, circle die, circle punch, Thickers number '8', SU! Ribbon, Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink, Coloured with Copics