I would like to welcome you to Blossom Designs blog.
I am a Stampin' Up!® Independent Demonstrator in Australia. Feel free to contact me if you are interested in hosting a workshop or wanting to join the Stampin' Up!® family.
I hope you will enjoy reading my blog as much as I have had creating it.
Happy Crafting,
Oh yes! I finally sat down (not in my studio because I cannot get into the room - that is another story!) and made some swap cards. Boy, did it feel good to stamp again. It has been far too long.
I am in a swap with my fellow INKlings for the new Summer Mini coming out next month. As our due date isn't for another week or so, I'm afraid I will have to hold off showing you so it won't spoil it for the others involved. SORRY!
The other swap card I made yesterday (all 30 of them) is for regionals in Sydney this Saturday at the Convention & Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour. This will be my first time at regionals so I'll be interested in seeing if it is different to Convention or the same but on a smaller scale. I've taken a photo today but I need to find my cable so I can transfer the photos to my laptop....where did I put it!?
Update on Emily: She is 7 weeks old and is gaining weight nicely. She has chubby cheeks and her thighs are getting bigger too. LOL. She sleeps through the night and has been for weeks. Her big brother also started sleeping through the night at 3 weeks old so both Emily and Oliver are similar in soooo many ways. She is a good girl and I am so grateful and have been very lucky with both my children.
Happy Stamping,
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Ok, seeing as I haven't been stamping (only for the workshop I did a few weeks ago and I haven't photographed the card), I will continue with the cards from the INKlings weekend away.
This design is by Dani Fender. The Party Hearty stamp set is so versatile. The party hats can be made to look like trees so you can make Christmas cards! How cool. I have been holding off buying this set but I finally gave in and I'm now just waiting for the post man to deliver it!! LOL
Happy Stamping,
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I'm a bit late with this promotion - I blame it on having a baby. What a great promotion it is!
Stampin' Up! have announced their Breast Cancer Awareness Promotion:
For over 20 years, Stampin' Up! has helped women make a difference in the lives of others by simply doing what they love to do - sharing creativity.
Now you too can become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and make a difference! For every person who joins the Stampin' Up! family between 1 October and 31 December 2009, Stampin' Up! will donate $5 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
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From the 1st November to 14th December, choose between either theScallop Square punch or Boho Blossom punch (value $30.95) for FREE when you spend $85 on products from the Christmas Extravaganza guide.
* Does not include Stampin' Up!'s shipping and handling charge of 5% of the product total or $5.95 whichever is greater.
Hello! I am still alive and well.....LOL.
UPDATE:
Emily is 5 weeks old today! WOW, how that time has gone by so quickly....probably because the first two and a half weeks were such a blur. I was breast feeding Emily but in the end I have put her on formula as she was hungry. There were days where I couldn't move from the couch because she was on my boobs all day......I was up for 20 hours one day and boy was I tired. I was mentally and physically exhausted. Also my decision to put Emily on a bottle was because she wasn't gaining weight, she was losing weight. I applaud those of you that have successfully breast fed.
What a different girl Emily is now she is on formula! She has also been sleeping through the night!! What a clever girl. LOL. She feeds more regularly and Rob is now able to feed her as well. While he was all for me breast feeding, he did miss not being involved like he was with Oliver.
This picture was taken on Sunday. We were on our way to a christening so Miss Emily is dressed up. So cute. Sunday was soooo hot (38 degrees) and you maybe asking why Emily has a cardigan on......Rob's mother knitted it so he wanted to take a photo of her in it and email it to her.
I've had a workshop so I have actually been stamping.......but that is it. :-( The only way I was able to get ready for the workshop was with the help of Nicky! Bless her. She came over, took charge (LOL) and while I was feeding Emily, she was busy cutting out card stock for me.
Time to sign off........it is past my bedtime! LOL
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.........Miss Emily Rose Swain - with her very proud big brother Oliver!
Born: 30th September 2009
Weight: 3.315kg (7lb 5oz)
Time: 8:07am
How cute are these two!
After being induced on Tuesday evening, I had contractions all night and managed to get a little sleep before the contractions became more painful. I was then up from 5am wondering up and down my room. The doctor was coming around at 7am to check on how things were going. When he did make it to me (about 7:30am), I was attached to the trace machine listening to Emily's heartbeat. Unfortunately, her heartbeat was dipping and the doctor wasn't happy so he rushed me into the delivery ward and broke my water (7:40am) and he also put a trace on Emily's head to keep an eye on her during delivery - that was not pleasent!
After my water was broken, it became very intense and the contractions were VERY painful indeed! All I can say is, thank goodness it didn't take long for Emily to arrive. In less than 30 minutes she made her entrance - with no daddy in sight!!! Oh no, he missed it! There just wasn't enough time for Rob to drop Oliver off on the way to the hospital - he did only miss her entrance by about 5 minutes. He walked into the delivery room and couldn't see Emily on my front under the blankets and wondered why everyone was standing around. LOL. It wasn't until he walked over to me and saw her little face peering at him that he saw she had arrived.
Again, here they are together in Emily's first 'big' bath. She is just so like Oliver when he was born that it is scary! She looks like him and I've even called her Oliver twice now. LOL.
Emily is officially 1 week old today! Wow, has that week gone by quickly. She is more into a routine now feeding every 3-4 hours and having long naps in between. Rob went back to work today so I am home alone with 2 kids and so far, we've had a good morning. It is pre school day tomorrow, so that will be interesting - getting us all ready. I think I will get up when Rob leaves for work and get myself sorted first before Emily wakes for her feed.
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I thought I'd better check in with you all as you may be wondering what had happened to me!! LOL
Well, the title says it all really! My prediction of her coming early was just completely wrong (LOL) and she is following in her big brother's footsteps - being late and being evicted! ROFLOL.
I haven't posted anything as I just didn't feel like it and I was SOOOO over being pregnant that I didn't think what I would say would be on a happy note so best to say nothing at all. Anyway, I am over that now and have accepted that she will come when she is ready or when I evict her.
I even have my induction day booked for Tuesday evening so I'm hoping that by Wednesday, she will have arrived and I will finally be holding my little girl! All that said, at my hospital appointment last Thursday, she wasn't fully engaged (she is in the right position but just not down far enough), so if on Tuesday after I am examined, if she is still not far enough down, I guess they will postpone the induction for a few days or possibly deliver her by c-section. I will have to ask about that!
As you may have guessed, I have not stamped in quite some time! I am unmotivated at the moment but I'm hoping that once my bump is gone and I clean my studio up (hard bending over to pick things up off the floor), I will find my motivation again. Probably in between sleeping! LOL. I'm afraid I cannot work in a mess and I can hardly walk into the room at the moment! I dare not even take a photo to show you I am that embarrassed. LOL
So that is where I am at and I thank you all for staying with me during this time. I will try to be a better blogger!
I just had to show you this picture of my little boy, Oliver and the picture he drew on his chalk board. It is me (LOL) with the baby in my tummy! He was so proud of himself - just look at that smile! LOL
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P.S. - I will update on baby news late next week.
During September (1st-30th), you can earn a FREE ribbon bundle two sifferent ways:
The ribbon bundle includes
Contact me to place your order!
Happy Stamping,
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Still no baby! LOL. I obviously make things way to comfortable for my children and they don't want to leave home! LOL.
I am going to sit down today and go over all the posts I have drafted from the team weekend away back in August. I only have to complete the recipe from each card but so far, I've not been able to sit down comfortably with the laptop and work it out.
This gorgeous card is designed by my good friend Nicky Adamson.
I really LOVE the colours Nicky chose for her card. I just love the black - makes the other colours really stand out.
Happy Stamping,
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Supplies
Stamps: Eastern Blooms.
Ink: Rose Red, Bashful Blue, Versamark.
Paper: Rose Red, Whisper White, Basic Black, Washington Apple DSP .
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch.
It is Father's Day here in Australia today. Happy Father's Day to my dad!!
We were woken up at 6:30am by Oliver, he climbed in our bed and fell asleep so we all got to sleep in until 8:30am. He did stay up late last night watching "Lord Of The Rings" with us which he called today 'Laura and the Ring!' LOL. Bless him. We had a cooked breakfast this morning for hubby but unfortunately, he was working (from home) but it meant that he couldn't leave the house or the pc for very long. So, Oliver and I left him to it and went over to my parents house after lunch.
My dad has a wacky sense of humour so when I saw this gift, I knew it was for him! It is called a "Potty Putter"!! As you can guess, my dad is an avid golfer so he loved it.
Here is Oliver playing with his poppy's gift. My poor dad didn't get much of a go today with Oliver around. LOL. Although, it did keep Oliver entertained for the afternoon and when he wasn't putting, he was hitting the plastic golf ball around the house and chasing it.
See, poppy did eventually get a go! LOL
It is also my brother's 30th on Tuesday and as he lives an hour away, we decided to have a double celebration today. Look at that yummy cake......Oliver wanted a second piece!
Well, still no baby yet! Boo hoo. I have 2 weeks until my due date but I am soooo over it now. It is funny how different pregnancies can be. With Oliver, I really missed being pregnant but I can honestly say that I cannot wait for this one to be over with. LOL. I am just wanting to hold my little bundle in my arms now instead of her kicking and punching me - she is so active. ROFLOL.
Happy Stamping,
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Today is officially last day of winter! I can't say that it has been a cold winter but the past few weeks we have had some outstanding weather - 28 degrees one day last week! Bring on Summer! Thankfully, I won't be pregnant during the Australian summer!
Just a few shots from my baby shower! I didn't have one with Oliver while living in the UK so my friends decided I HAD to have one this time! LOL.
Not the greatest photo - sorry! I was opening up the gifts from my friends. We played a few games, ate lots of food and chatted a lot!! LOL. Vanessa had some gifts for the games we played. One of them was like 'The Price Is Right' where we had to guess how much the items on the table were. My group got 7 out of 9 right!! Woo hoo.
This is my friend Lin Mei. Vanessa, who organised everything is just out of the photo. Her mum put together the sandwiches (yummy)!! I had a great afternoon anyway! :-)
Oh yes, there was always going to be a photo taken with me feeding my face!! LOL. My mum made some lovely slices and I am eating the caramel slice. Look at THAT belly!! I think I look big but then other's say I'm small.
I have been resting at home and feel better. I also think the baby has moved 'down' in readiness. I will ask on Thursday at my hospital appointment and hopefully they will say she is engaged.
Happy Stamping,
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I may not post too often at the moment.....I am very breathless and was admitted to hospital on Thursday morning because of it. I cannot even talk without having to take a deep breath every few words. They were thinking that my MVP (mitral valve prolapse) might have been the cause but after seeing the cardiologist on the 2nd day in hospital, he did an ultrasound and eco and couldn't see any deterioration so the MVP was no worse than the last scan (good news), but it didn't explain why I am breathless all the time. Everything baby wise is perfectly fine, she is head down and still very active.
Anyway, I was discharged at 8:30pm last night and loved sleeping in my own bed with my pillow! LOL. Poor little Oliver was upset (at least to my face!) but on Thursday night he slept with his daddy on my side of the bed. He put his hands behind his head as he lay on my pillow and said "No mummy, peace and quiet!" ROFLOL. Then yesterday when they came to visit me - thinking I would also be going home, Rob told Oliver to turn the television off and he said "No, I'm watching cartoons, mummy can catch the bus". All this from a 4 year old!!
It seemed funny walking into the maternity ward with my belly and also leaving with my belly in tact and no baby to show for it! LOL. Oh well, I got to see the lady in the bed next to me leave for the delivery room and come back the following morning with her baby boy (Harry)! He sooooo reminded me of Oliver as he was quiet except for those little noises. Oliver was so quiet too, you hardly knew he was there! Harry finally had a good cry while I was waiting to be discharged. Then he settled back down again.
Today hubby put the washing on for me and I've repacked my hospital bag. All ready to go again! LOL. I told the maternity ward, I'll see then in a few weeks again - hopefully!
I didn't get to take my laptop with me but will next time. So, you now know if things go quiet there is more than likely a good reason for it!
Happy Stamping,
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Still more cards from the "INKlings" team weekend away. This great card is designed by Sharon Boyd. How cute is the penguin poking out from the DSP!
Happy Stamping,
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Supplies
Stamps: Punch Pals.
Ink: Riding Hodd Red, Whisper White.
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Ski Slope DSP, Whisper White, .
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Silver Brad, 1/4" Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon.
Tomorrow, I will only have 4 weeks until baby arrives and boy am I feeling it.
I haven't had a good week this week, hence the no posting! I have been working on Oliver for a little while now to move out of his night time nappy and into wearing his underpants. So, this week he asked to sleep in his underpants! Luckily my friend Nicky had given me a mattress protector a few weeks before so I quickly whipped this on his bed. His first night was going fine - we got him up twice before we went to bed and put him on the toilet. He was half asleep but he did what he needed to do and went straight back to sleep. The next morning, he came into us just a little wet. I was prepared being his first night and had a change of pj's and nappy but he had under his arm and fresh pair of underpants. Bless him. He climbed into bed with us but he was wide awake and this was before 7am!!! The next 2 nights, he didn't have any accidents at all. So, my wake up call al week has been way tooo early for me and as a result, I have been so tired this week. I hoovered on Monday and had to sit down to catch my breath on Monday. I am breathless just getting up from the chair! This kid is really doing a number on my lungs. LOL
While Rob has fixed our wireless problems and my netbook works beautifully now, my poor desktop in my studio needs rebuilding and is running very slow. When Rob get's a free moment, he will get onto that but he is very busy trying to get a lot of work done in a short space of time in case the baby comes early (I hope she does!). Poor thing, he worked until 2:30am the other day.
Tomorrow is also my baby shower. I didn't have one with Oliver (I'm not sure it is a big thing in the UK) so because of this, my friends wanted me to have one this time. Vanessa is organising it all (bless her!) and has told me to just be there and to put my feet up! I will have my camera on hand to take lots of pictures as there will be games to play and lovely food to eat.
Thank you to the 5 lovely ladies who came to my Christmas SAS on Tuesday night. I had a great time and a good laugh. Hope to see you all again next month.
Thanks to all my readers who have been patiently waiting for updates. I have one scheduled for tomorrow and then I will have to schedule some more cards from the INKlings team weekend away.
I've waffled on for far toooo long now don't you think?!
Happy stamping,
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Oops......I thought I had this post scheduled to go, but obviously NOT!! LOL. Sorry people.
This fun and lovely card is designed by Beth Stewart. Another swap/card-in-a-box from the team weekend. I have the adorable Choo Choo stamp set and made THIS card. Beth has used the Ski Slope DSP in the Spring Mini and they are gorgeous! Not my favourite papers when I first saw them but after seeing them in person, they really are nice. I have yet to cut mine up!
Happy Stamping,
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Supplies
Stamps: Choo Choo.
Ink: Baja Breeze, Real Red, Old Olive.
Paper: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Ski Slope DSP, Whisper White, .
Accessories: Circle Punch, Silver Brad.
Here is another card from the weekend away.
This beautiful card is designed by Christie Wallace.
I have this stamp set and LOVE it. I think it is a beautiful set. I actually made this card before I lost my motivation. LOL. So what you see is from my little hands! I also love this colour combination. I have used this combination many times before.
Happy Stamping,
. Supplies
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers, En Francais.
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip.
Paper: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Whisper White.
Accessories: 1/4" Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch.
I am having internet issues at the moment which hubby is trying to fix so while I am online, I am trying to get as many posts prepared as I can. I have a few lined up for this coming week so you will have something to look at on my blog! LOL
I have a tonne of cards to show you over the next few weeks. As I said in a previous post, some of these cards are swaps and some are the 'card-in-a-box' I took part in. I have written on the back of each card who made what so I wouldn't get confused or forget (courtesy of my baby brain!!).
The first one I will show you is from Amy Anderson.
Isn't this card just gorgeous! I love the way Amy has stamped the grass to make the butterfly's look like they are emerging from the grass.
Happy Stamping,
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Supplies
Stamps: Best Friend, Inspired by Nature.
Ink: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Night of Navy.
Paper: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Night of Navy.
Accessories: 5/8" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds, Eyelet Border Punch.
I must apologise or the quality of this picture - it is really awful.
My dad turned 70 a couple of weeks ago and this is the card I made for him. As I don't own a stamp set with numbers in it, I had to improvise and what I came up with was brilliant (well, it was for me!! LOL). I used the letter 'z' from my Big Deal set and only inked up part of the letter to make it look like the number '7'.
I've also made it look like the presents are falling off the back of the truck.
The family went out for dinner on dad's birthday to 'Ribs and Rumps' and Oliver loved watching the kitchen area (which was glassed off but everyone could watch them cook) when the flames rose high above the grill area! He kept saying 'Wow, look at the fire!'. Rob was working and couldn't make it so I might have to take him there one night. He will think he is in heaven!! LOL
Happy Stamping,
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Supplies
Stamps: Loads of Love, Loads of Accessories.
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Earth Elements Wonder Crayons.
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White.
Accessories: Crimper, Orange Fine Supernova Glitter.
While away last weekend, I actually got to make a couple of cards - extra to the 'card-in-a-box' that I was apart of. Here is one of them. I cased this card from Nicky but added 'my own' touch to it with the faux stitching.
I will make another one but in a different colour - one for my dad and one for my hubby.
I also got a few things done that I had been putting off but as I was really tired, I lost my motivation on Saturday - I even had a nana nap which was much needed! LOL. I'm afraid toooo many late nights in a row really aren't good with 7 weeks to go before baby arrives.
I called home on Saturday to hear a very excited 4 year old tell me that his daddy took him to see Ice Age 3 in 3D at the cinema!! ROFLOL Apparently, he had the 3D glasses on for about half the movie and the other half would have been blurry!! LOL Bless him.
Happy Stamping,
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Would you like to join me this month for my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack class?
When: 18th August
Where: My house
Time: 7pm for 7:30pm start
Cost: $20 (includes envelopes)
RSVP: 11th August.
Contact me to reserve your spot. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Happy Stamping,
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Supplies - Season Of Joy Card
Stamps: Season of Joy.
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, White.
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Whisper White.
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch.
Supplies - Merry Christmas Card
Stamps: Season of Joy.
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze.
Paper: Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Kraft.
Accessories: White Gel Pen, Scallop Edge Punch.
