One Stamp Set - Three Cards

Hello There,

I needed to make some cards the other day, so I decided to set myself a challenge of using the same stamp set with colour combinations from the Stampin Up Colour Coach. The stamp set I used is one of the new hostess sets in the 2011/12 Stampin Up Idea Book and Catalogue, called "Precious Butterflies". Here are the cards that I made:




The colours I used for this card were, wisteria wonder (one of the new in colours), pink pirouette and cherry cobbler.



The colours for this card are calypso coral, baja breeze and daffodil delight. When I got the card stocks out for this colour combination I didn't like all the colours together so I decided to use the colour in small doses. I usually like to have something happening in the background of my cards, but I think this card works quite well with just a plain background.




This last card uses rich razzleberry, old olive and pumpkin pie.

I made all the cards for either friends or family and I thought of one of their favourite colours and turned to the colour coach for inspiration for colours. The colour coach can be quite a handy tool if you are looking for inspiration.

Just Add Ink Sketch Challenge

With my Uncles' birthday fast approaching, I thought I would utlise this weeks JAI sketch challenge to make a card for him. I am finding that whilst I am breast feeding I have a lot of time to think about things, especially cards! So I thought of this card early one morning. Here is the sketch challenge:




And here is my card:



I used the torn frame technique that my good friend Sharnee showed me, as well as sponge daubers to create the background for the image inside the frame. I am quite pleased with the result. I just need to get it in the post pronto as my Uncle lives in Scotland!

The Arrival of Owen

After 41 weeks of pregnancy our son arrived on Thursday 29 September 2011. He was delivered by c section, which was not the original plan. I went for a check up on the Tuesday and was told that the head of the baby was not engaged and I would therefore need to have a c section, which was a bit of a shock to me. It turns out that the reason for this is that the head of the baby was quite large, it measured 40cm. Our midwife, Judy, said she have never measured a head that large. So I am thankful that I didn't go into labour otherwise I would have been in an awful mess!

We named our son Owen John Glenn Butterworth. We were thinking of Harry, but Owen was on the list and he seemed to suit the name when Colin said it, so that is what we went with. John, comes from my father and Glenn comes from Colin's Grandfather. I have two middle names so we decided to go with two for our child.




Owen weighed 10 pounds 5 ounces and measured 54cm in length. The c section went well and before I knew it I had my son draped across my chest in recovery enjoying some skin to skin time, which is an absolutely magical experience.



The Mid Wives at the LGH were marvellous, I cannot say enough about them. We went home after five days in the hospital to face the shock of realising that we had a small human that we were responsible for. I can honestly say that this was a complete shock to both our systems and I was convinced that we had made a huge mistake. But things have gotten alot better and I think we are coping quite nicely now.



Owen has changed so much since he was born and continues to change everyday, which is amazing to watch.




Owen is the first grandchild for all parents and they are all really happy. However my dad is the dotting Grandfather and obviously loves Owen to bits and looks forward to when he will be able to do some painting with him (my dad does oil paintings of Tasmanian landscapes). This is my Dad holding Owen as his first visit in the hospital, I love the look on Dad's face!



One of the things I look forward to is dressing little Owen for an outing because he is in triple 0 in clothes I can put him in some cool outfits. I particularly like this one:



My brother, Matthew, was down from Queensland last week and although he doesn't have a paternal instinct in his body, he did have a hold of Owen (only because his wife, Heather, who couldn't come down wanted pictoral evidence of Matthew with Owen).



There have been many photos taken of Owen and I am sure that many more will be taken. But one of my favourites is when he was looking really crabby, this photo always makes me smile:



I was determined that my child wouldn't be having a dummy, so naturally he has a dummy! It calms him down at times, which helps in trying to get him off to sleep. His dummy is called David and he loves it to bits (at times, other times he doesn't want to know anything about it).



Well that is all for now, I am sure there will be many more blogs about Owen in the coming months.

Long Time, No Post

Hello,

Yes I know it has been a while, but the arrival of a baby tends to eat up a lot of one's time! Yes that is right our little bundle of joy, a boy, arrived on 29 September 2011, we have called him Owen John Glenn Butterworth. I promise that there will be lots of photos of Owen, soon.

Before the arrival of Owen, Colin and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. I have no idea where the time went, one minute we are getting married and enjoying our honeymoon and then the next we are expecting our first baby and we have been married for a year. We have decided to try and stay with year appropriate anniversary gifts, the first year is paper, which is right up my alley. I put together a little album of our story thus far, which Colin was very chuffed with. Colin arranged for me to be a sponsor of the Red Pandas at the Chester Zoo in England, which we visited on our honeymoon. I managed to get a photo of the baby red panda as it popped its head out of the nest (which doesn't happen very often). So my name will be added as a sponsor for a year and I got a certificate (which Colin had framed) stating this. I thought it was a very thoughtful gift.

We of course made cards for each other, this is the card that I made for Colin:




And this is the card Colin made for me:



As usual Colin put a lot of thought and effort into the card he made for me. So I had to step up and try and make something that would come up to standard. I was pleased with the card I came up with and loved the card that Colin made for me.

Two Birthdays on one day

My husbands father and my mother were born on the exact same day, which is a little freaky when you think about it. So I got to work making a male birthday card, which is sometimes easier said than done. I used the Stampin Up Colour Coach as inspiration for the colours and the fact that I wanted to use a rooster image, this is what I came up with.



I am quite happy with the end result.

Just Add Ink Sketch Challenge

I have even had time to make some cards! This first one is for this weeks Just Add Ink Challenge, which is a sketch challenge.



I needed to make a card for my mother's birthday, so I thought I would use this challenge as inspiration. I always like to include a bird on the cards I do for my mum as she doesn't like them, but I am determined to get her to change her mind. She actually didn't see the bird at first and made the comment that there was no bird on it. I took great delight in pointing it out to her.

Here is my creation:

Some Honeymoon Photos

Hello,


Yes I am still here, just been busy getting ready for the arrival of bub and being tired. It shouldn't be much longer and our little one will be with us. In the meantime I thought I would share some of the photos I took on our honeymoon, which was nearly a year ago! I cannot believe it. Under the guidance of my husband I have done some work on some of the photos I took on the honeymoon, I really got into photography whilst we were away and got a real buzz to see what I had captured at the end of each day. I think I took around 2,500 to 3,000 photos whilst we were away for 6 weeks. Hopefully I will get some more photos up one day.



This is a glacier called Edith Cavel, near Jasper in Canada. It was awe inspiring to be so close to huge chunks of ice.




This is Colin at Maligne Lake, again near Jasper. To his right is "Spirit Island", which we had to get to by boat. Again the weather was absolutely beautiful, which is was for the majority of the time we were in Canada.



Above and below is the beautiful Athabasca River, near Jasper in Canada. I fell in love with this river, it is just so stunning. If I need to clear my mind and think of a happy place, this is it!





This is Pyramid Lake which was located close to where we stayed in Jasper, we stayed on a lake called Patricia Lake. Everywhere you looked there was an opportunity to take a photo.



And finally, this photo was taken somewhere in Canada, not sure where though!

Hope you liked these photos.