Christmas cards 2011 - hole in one

Here are my Christmas cards for the year - this is one of the simplest designs I've made in ages, purposely so because I've left it so late...

Never mind, I was inspired by a card from the Hero Arts flickr pages and simplified it because I had to make several. There are two versions here, a pink card and a green one.

I used the Cuttlebug machine (with Nestabilities die) to cut a circle in the card and patterned paper.

I love the colours of this card, so girly and pretty.

This green one is more Christmassy in flavour. 

Inside of the cards.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up!

Patterned paper: Jillibean Soup

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: Stampin' Up!, Colorbox

Ribbon: Stampin' Up!
Jewels: BoBunny Design

Christmas scenes in Sydney

Here are some images of the 2011 Christmas decorations around Sydney town, taken a few days ago.

This is a modernist 'tree' at Westfield Sydney. It goes with the recently revealed storefronts of the Prada and Gucci temples of consumer heaven:

The windows at David Jones department store are filled with slightly creepy puppets that represent Christmas carols. The mechanised sheep are very cute, from Silent Night:

The Strand Arcade tree is a massive red edifice with lots of sparkly lights strung around the balustrades of the arcade. It looks pretty good against the Victorian shopfronts:

The 3-storey crystal-bedecked tree at the Queen Victoria Building is spectacular, as always. Look how great it is reaching up to the central dome:

Hope you're preparing a wishlist for Santa, and hope he delivers: 

Art and About 2011, Sydney

Art and About Sydney is about 'transforming the city into a canvas'.

Part of the project is a series of laneway installations.

We spent a morning trying to find them

(Sydney's laneways are not as well known as Melbourne's).

Mooncakes galore - Sunday adventures

It's the time of the August Moon, according to the Chinese calendar, and this means mooncakes everywhere in Chinatown. I took a stroll around Sydney's Dixon Street to take in the festivities.

There were lion dancers, snatching red envelopes of money hidden inside lettuces strung up high above doorways:

And more mooncakes than you could poke a bamboo pole at:

Clashing cymbals and pounding drums and prancing lions:

   Happy Moon Festival!

Double yolk, white lotus mooncake:

David Jones Flower Show 2011 - Floriography

 This Saturday was spent wandering through a department store.
Nothing new in that, but the David Jones flower show is on and it is a riot of colour. This is the 26th anniversary of the show and the theme is 'Floriography, the language of flowers'.  There are over 30,000 flowers and just as many camera-wielding 'shoppers' enjoying the spectacle. Definitely worth a visit.

The David Jones flower show is on at the DJs Elizabeth St, Sydney store, from 1-11 September 2011.

The purple ball of blooms is an allium, from Holland.

There are also 3000 cymbidium orchids and 4800 phaeleonopsis orchids (the lovely white ones in the first pic) on display.

The Waratah is the state flower of New South Wales.

scenes from Sydney city on Saturday

There's nothing better than popping into the city on a Saturday for a spot of shopping and yum cha.

The Victorian architecture in Sydney shines even on a cloudy day, and the city streets are an interesting mix of modern sleekness and more traditional sandstone and ornateness. 

Queen Victoria Building

Sydney Town Hall

Castlereagh Street

speak-easy cool

A lovely food issue of the 'speak-easy' zine is available now
(from here, be quick).

So even with all my going on about cutting down on magazine and book purchases and e-reader envy, this is a really great little issue and a keeper.

One of the best things is the food-related articles, written by well-known foodies and bloggers including @lemonpi and @leetranlam (who is also the creator of the zine).

And the other thing is the delightful hand-made touches, such as the photos stuck onto the page with washi tape, a diecut doily, and the cute stamped images of forks and spoons.

This is what I want to do with my recipes and craft stash one day...

Gorgeousness.

Nice day for a white wedding (card)

Woohoo! I've been invited to a wedding.

Boohoo! I can't go because it's overseas.

No, silly, it's not that wedding. This one is for my cousin, and it's a beach wedding in sunny San Diego. I love San Diego, and it's a shame I can't make it. Hope they have a lovely time.

Here's a card I made. Not a red card.  It has a bit of a Miss Haversham feel about it because I used some white spray mist but it goes on quite wet and in my dimly-lit house (plus short-sightedness), I thought that not enough had gone on. So I sprayed some more, and then some more. The next morning, I saw the full effect of the ghostly whiteness. I quite like it, after all.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Kraft from Stampin' Up! 
Doily: Martha Stewart

Patterned paper: Crate Paper (Portrait)

Brad: Pebbles inc.

Stamp: PSX

Spray mist: Studio Calico (Mister Huey's)

Ink: Stampin' Up!

Scallop punch: Fiskars

Another Red card - sick of them yet? Not likely!

Do I make too many red cards? Probably not, since I don't make many cards at all!

The brief for this card was: for a lady who is turning 60, preferably red, ideally with a Chinese character for longevity. All right, if you say so, one red card coming up...

Supplies:

Cardstock: White from Stampin' Up!, Red and liner from Paddy's Market 

Doily: Martha Stewart

Paper flower and brad: Maya Road

Patterned paper: October Afternoon

Stamps: Starburst Lace by Hero Arts; Happy Birthday by PSX, Longevity by Hero Arts

Ink: Stampin' Up!

Happy Chinese New Year

Another year has passed, another new year draws closer....
Wait a minute, didn't we just have a new year?  Oh, right, this is Chinese new year, which is based on a different (lunar) calendar.

I love Chinese new year because, being single, I am the recipient of the lucky red envelopes that are (hopefully) filled with money.  And I say this every year - it's a good reason to stay unmarried!

There are lots of superstitions - or should that be traditions - surrounding Chinese new year. Things like cleaning the house beforehand to welcome good luck into the household, paying all debts (and no lending of money on the day) and having a new year feast that honours our ancestors.  Come to think of it, it's probably a good thing to have Chinese new year every day...

So here are some cards to celebrate the new year. The cards highlight the cute prosperity boy stamp from Hero Arts that I just had to get as soon as I saw it. It is perfect for a happy, prosperous new year.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Vanilla from Stampin' Up! 
Flocked paper: Doodlebug Design

Patterned paper: Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Prosperity Smile by Hero Arts; happy new year (inside card) from Paddy's Market

Ink: Stampin' Up! and Tombow

Longevity birthday card

My aunt asked me to make a card for a friend whose birthday is coming up.  The brief: Asian-inspired, maybe red (friend is female) and maybe ‘long life’ stamped on it.  Well, as luck would have it, I have a set of Hero Arts stamps bought several years ago with Chinese characters for longevity, prosperity and double happiness, and they’re worth their weight in gold considering the number of times I’ve used them for wedding cards and the like.

For this card, I pieced together some paper from Cosmo Cricket’s ‘circa 1934’ line and topped it with a Martha Stewart doily that is sponged with red ink.  The sponging on the paper underneath also gives an interesting effect, like a stencil, so I’ve replicated it inside the card.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin’ Up!, Paddy’s market
Patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket, Stampin’ Up!
Stamps: Hero Arts, Stampin’ Up!
Ink: Stampin' Up!
Doily: Martha Stewart