Oopps again

sorry l pressed the wrong button and published my last post before l had finshed, lol,  l wanted to show you a quilt l made back in 2009, This was all about my family and what l love, it has our names and the years my husband and l and our children were born, our family pets and other things l love, it will be something to pass down and one day lm  hoping to make one each for our children , so they all have a family keepsake along with their albums.

l used a old doiley for the centre, red is one of my favorite colours and l love the look of old redwork quilts.

there was no pattern for this, l just made it up as l went along, my first quilt design. Yay.

l love the way this quilt turned out, and l have to say one day it will get its binding on, lol, hope your've enjoyed looking at my work today, back soon and have a good one ...........kate

Keeping the memories alive

Keeping our memories alive is so important, our families past expiriences, how they lived their lives,  and thats why l love doing my family tree. l love finding out the information, and putting together a story about their lives , even if we only have snippets of the lives they lived.
In my last post l showed you a layout of my grt grandmother Sophia, she was only 15 when the photo was taken and a year later  on 24th dec 1889 at the age of 16 , she was married, this amazing women went on to have 18, yes l said 18 children, in the days of no power, hot water services, mircowaves , dishwashers or goverment handouts, and thats what l love about these people, they lived through many hardships, but still survived, they had the courage to keep on going, and we are lucky enough to have had other family members to keep their memories alive to pass down to our generation, so then we can tell their story and thats why l scrapbook, so one day my grandchildren  can have my story, they wont have to search it out.

There are a few ways l like to journal my pages, and this is one way, printing it out on patterned paper and adding stamps and embellishments.

Sophia

Oopps , sorry , l was meant to post these with the last post, this is my grt grandmother @ the age of 15, l really love working with vintage, lm lov'in old postcards at the moment, these postcards l found on clipart program on the net,  l will get back to you with the website, if anyone is interested in downloading them.

l have done alot of embossing on this page, with elements of style from stamp'in up and also a Kaiser craft stamp, vintage post cards, and the butterfly dies from stamp'in up.Hope you like it, so whatever your doing today, l hope your hav'in a good one , back tomorrow with more bits and pieces..........luv kate

Our Furry Friend

l found this photo of our cat squeaky, which was taken when he was about 12 months old, he loved being in the garden and loved sitting in the ivy pot, l went and had some copies made of this photo, so l could give one to our daughter , one to scrap and one to frame, this frame jumped out at me in the shop, the words on it were so true, FRIENDS............THE FAMILY WE CAN CHOOSE FOR OURSELVES, they were the  perfect words , so here he is in better days .

The last few days

Sorry, but l have no photos of my work today, but l just wanted to share some sad news, our beautiful cat, Squeaky boy, passed away yesterday, so there has been lots of tears,  he was doing so well after is operation, but sadly yesterday morning he formed a blood clot and their was nothing we could do for him, it was such a shock, as we thought he was recovering well,  animals become such a BIG  part of your family, they are family, and l miss him so much, l also feel blessed that he came home after he was missing for 10 days, and we got to spent those last few days with him, giving him lots of love, even though he was'nt well, so lm grateful for that, l was amazed at what he could do with 3 legs and how he coped, he was a fighter, GOD BLESS YOU  SQUEAKY.
Check back soon for some more crafting bliss............love & hugs ................kate

Home Decor - Homemade

Homemade items are so nice, l love going to the market and buying homemade jams and pickles, l also love making things for my home, Years ago l was a folk art teacher and l had many painted pieces to decorate our country cottage,  l use to sew and make country quilts and bears and dolls, my life is now filled with scrapbooking and cardmaking, and maybe, just maybe one day l will get back and finish off the 3 quilts or was it 4, that l was doing,  but times have changed and l've decluttered, but l still love that vintage look even though l have a more modern home, l love to mix the old with the new., and l try not to go for the latest in decor fashion, l just make or buy what l like now, weather its in fashion or not and mix it with what l have.
 Here's a photo frame that our daughter gave us for chirstmas in 2009, she had moved out of home and was only working part time, so could only afford to put in a few photos, l had left the other spaces blank, and was always going to put more photos in , but never got around to it, so after looking at it for 12 months l decided l didnt want anymore photos in it , and l would vamp it up with other bits and pieces.

l made black cardstock boarders and white panels and added either rub-ons and felt vintage strips, l wanted a simple vintage feel, and l just love it, here are some close ups.

      And also,  l wanted to show you a picture l made for my bedroom,  So whatever your doing today, have a good one ........................kate                                                                                                                                                                  

Happiness with a touch of sadness

Eleven days ago our cat Squeaky went missing, which was so unlike him, and we thought we'd lost him for good, its such a terrible feeling not knowing where he was ,if he was hurt somewhere and couldnt get home, l prayed he would come home,  and yesterday afternoon he came hobbling down the driveway, with a injuryed back leg, as soon as l saw him l knew it would be a trip to the vet.
So up to the vets we went and a few hours later,  after x-rays , we were told we had 2 options, we either had to put him down or his very badly broken leg had to be amputated, so we decieded to amputate, l couldnt stand the thought of putting him to sleep , when the rest of him was ok, so after his little sleep over at the vets, l was able to bring him home this morning, he is walking with a little trouble but doing well, he will need lots of love and rest, our dog lu-lu loves him to bits and is so glad to see him home.

And while he was resting with me in my scrap room, where he just loves to sit under the window and lap up the sunshine, l made a card for my aunty who turns 80 next week, l hope she likes it.
l also wanted to show you a few more family tree pages l've done lately, lve been trying to keep it quick and simple since lve just finshed album number 6 and still pently of files to go, l felt l needed to keep it simple but nice.
This is a wedding photo of my grt grandfathers sister Charlotte and husband Charles, and the next layout is my grt grandfathers niece  Janet Maude Gorrie on her wedding day, Janets was the youngest of 5 and her mother died when she was 10  weeks old , she was raised by Charlotte and Charles,  lve used both scrapbooking materials and stamp'in up  materials, l was having a day of using black and brown colours, which l love together.

And this  layout is of Charlotte and Charles children.
Hope you've enjoyed looking at my work , have a great day.................kate

Family Tree

Hi all,  as promised l said l would show you some of my family tree work, l have been working on this for about 2 years now, l started it many years ago when my children were little, and then never got back to it, then many years later  my beautiful sister asked me for the info l had and it all started again,  by this time l had been scrappin for years, so l started to scrap our tree, above are 3 of 6 albums that l have finshed, but so much more to go, l still have lots of files to get through, and it will get done.
When l first started scrapbooking 7 years ago, it was all about the creative side of things,  and not so much the journaling ,then as we collected photos from lots of family members, l also felt l needed to know about these people from our past, what was their story ?, some information has been very limited,  which made me think more about why we should document our lives, and tell our story for our grandchildren  & great grandchildren to come, so that will be another album after the family tree is finshed.

So this is where it all began back in a seaside town in Bridlington England in the early 1800's, then sailing to Australia to begin a new life,  here are my grt grt grandparents, Isaac & Sarah Jane Bell, they went on to have 13 children. This is part of my mums side.

And this is my grt grt grandparents on my dads side,  Andrew & Mary Ann Gorrie.
So remember when you scrap, dont forget to document, even a little bit, lets keep our history and memories alive, hope your having a great day and dont forget to check back and check out some more scrap'in and cards...................kate

Playing catch up

For the last couple of weeks l've  been madly scrapp'in away, trying to get through the mountain of family tree scrapbooking that l have, so that mean't a mountain of housework and ironing that has'nt been done, but any how ,so  today was the day, so l also decided while l had to do this put off chore , l would watch a dvd,  the colour purple has been on my mind since l watched  the oprah farewell show and a few scenes were shown, and l remembered what a classic it was, such a moving story, and as always , a few little tears at the end,  and then l remembered my sister-in-laws birthday this week and threw together a simple card, she's not the over fussy type, so l did'nt want to over do it,.

Also wanted to share some exciting news , its taken months to arrive in the shop , but finally here to look at in print, dah da, my first ever layout in scrapbooking memories. feeling very proud right now.

Now the exciting bits over,  l suppose l'd better get this ironing done, Doh,  So whatever your doing today, have a good one and thanks for looking, will be back with some scrap'in layouts shortly............................kate

Rustic Charm

I'd like to share with you today a card l made for a friend in my meditation class, and even though autumn has just past,and winter has'nt set in as yet, l really wanted to use these rustic tones, so l mixed a couple of stamp sets together to get this, this little bird has been around for a while, but still a favorite of mine, l love doing nature cards, hope you like it. l made two versions , so except for the luggage tag, they are basicly the same, well sort of.
All products used are from Stamp'in Up, except for the little bit of ribbon.
Cardstock - cajan craze, very vanilla, and more mustard
Ink - cherry cobbler, old olive, cajan craze, more mustard, soft suede
Stamps - french foilage, friends 24-7, sincere salutions
Embossing folder - vintage wallpaper
ribbon, Top note die,sponge dauber
Paper - nature walk DSP, old olive DSP
if you like any of the products l've used, please contact me to place your order.

Class cards

lm back with a few cards l made  for my first card class, the class ran smoothly, and fun was had by all , cant wait for the next one, l wonder what l'll do , you'll just have to wait and see, well its late now and l need to get some beauty sleep , so l can get some new scrap designs for tomorrow, with some lovely new products, l love getting new scrap goodies to play with............have a great nite even if its late ....................................kate

In the world of blog

Well , well ,well, finally in the world of blog, instead of looking at all the other beautiful blogs, l thought  it was about time to make my own and get into the real world, please be patient while l get use to working out where to go and what to do, , maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks , lol,...............................................kate