Blissful break

I've been dealt rather a complicated hand in 2011, and although I do believe we will come out ok at the end, the middle bit is less than fun.

So, my awesome dh insisted I take a few days and go and have some R&R. So off to Barrington Tops I did go for some peace & quiet. Apart from the fighter jets breaking the sound barrier 5 times yesterday, and a couple of boys chasing ducks around my cabin, it was bliss. Wallabies came to visit me, and there were satin bower birds, king parrots and kookaburras. I could just paint on without having to stop to answer the phone, pick kids up from school or cook dinner (unless I was hungry). I read a book and drank moscato in the big spa bath. I think I should do this every year!

So, I revisited my notes from the Fabulous Faces & Portraits course I am doing with Willowing (Tamara Laport), and cracked open the acrylic paints and canvas. Happy is kind of an understatement ... I am really really thrilled with these paintings. I did them from absolute scratch (and let's just say, I'm really not great at drawing), and tried some bold colours. I think they work :D

Kenny K Krafty Girlz Challenge #42

Don't ask me how it happened, I can only put it down to needing a new blue ink cartridge in my printer. That floral paper is supposed to be blue ... not pink!!!!! Sorry Donna!

OK ... so our challenge this week is 'Spring Time', and although autumn is setting in, I was able to use my beautiful flowering camelias as inspiration. Our sponsor this week is Bearly Mine Designs with 2 digi sets up for grabs as well as 5 digital images from the Kenny K shop. Why would you NOT enter???

So, ingredients for my card:
Kenny K stamp - Troublemaker
Ditial papers - Bearly Mine Designs (I added the scallop circle & greeting in Photoshop before printing the design papers).
Copic markers
Distress Ink - Wild Honey
Tiny flower stamp - Darkroom Door, All Occasions, stamped in Wild Honey

I have had a sneak peek at what the rest of the DT has for you and it's awesome (as usual). Get on over to the Kenny K's Krafty Girlz blog and check it out!!!!

This card will be for sale via my Facebook page ... click here to go to the card folder!

A special Hello Dollies sale!

Do you love to buy handmade?
Do you have little boys and girls who need a special friend to cuddle?
Do you love a good sale?

If you answered yes all round, then get thee onto Facebook and 'like' the Hello Dollies page. Sunday 17th April, 7pm (EST, Australia) you just need to type 'sold' into the box of your favourite dolly and they are ready to go to new homes! Well ... except the custom spots, only 2 available at a discounted price, and I'm sure they'll go fast!

Click here to go to the Hello Dollies Facebook page.
Click here to go to the Hello Dollies Etsy shop.
Click here to go to the Hello Dollies website.

Help for Japan Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to a very special blog hop today! You may have been on the first hop that Whimsy put on for this special cause. Well, there were so many who volunteered to join in that we had to do a second one! The illustrators of Whimsy Stamps have come together to draw a special set of digi images for the purpose of raising money for the relief effort in Japan. All proceeds from the sale of these images will be donated to that cause. Kenny K, Raindrop Echo Designs, Meljens Designs, and Crissy Armstrong all contributed art work.

For the whole month of April, you can purchase the images as a set or individually (your choice) by visiting this page on the Whimsy store site. Please consider helping this special cause by purchasing one or all of the digital images we are offering.

If you have landed here from Jackie's blog, you are right on track. If you have come here randomly and would like to start hopping from the beginning, please go to Ann's blog. She has the blog rotation order posted if you need to refer to it.

The amazing ladies of two design teams have come together to host this blog hop for you! Ann's team from Sentimental Sundays and the Kenny K Krafty Girlz have joined forces to design some amazing jaw dropping creations for you. You have seven days to hop through all the blogs and enjoy all the lovely creations from these talented people.

The hop runs from now through til Sunday April 17 at noon. There will be several opportunities to win blog candy! Four random commenters will get a chance to receive one of the three individual images or Ann's sentiment set. So be sure to leave comments all along the way for your chance at a free digi! Also, if you post the "Help for Japan" button on your blog's sidebar, you can enter into the draw for the grand prize! The grand prize will consist of the entire digital set made just for this cause as well as a gift certificate donated by Ann of Raindrop Echo Designs worth $10 to use at the Whimsy Stamps store! To enter, you must help us advertise for this cause by posting the "Help for Japan" button on your blog's side bar (just grab it from my side bar or from the top of this post) and then get your name on the Inlinkz option on Ann's post so we can be sure to find the winner.

Now on to my project:

I have used Anime DJ by Kenny K in my project today. This is such a fun stamp to colour, and as eager as I was to get to it, my 12yo dd had her copy coloured well and truly before I did!

Here are my ingredients:
Copic Markers: Skin E50, E51, E53, Tongue E93, E95, E97, Whites B000, B00, Hair RV21, RV23, RV25, RV29 & Pink Spica, Shirt YR00, YR02, YR04, YR07, Pants G24, YG63, YG67, G94, G99, Tshirt R00, R02, R05, Star Y06 & Gold Spica, Black C1, C3, C5, C7, C9, Deck Y21, Y23, Y26, R27, R29
Distress Ink: Worn Lipstick
Pattern Paper: Grace Taylor stack
Greeting: Darkroom Door, Alphabet Medley

Next you'll want to visit Vicky's blog to continue hopping. Thank you so much for stopping by, and for your support of this very worthy cause.

Watch out for the blog hop!

This week, our wonderful sponser is,

Crafty Emma

http://www.craftyemmasstore.co.uk/

who is offering up a £10 voucher (p&p not included),

http://www.kennykdownloads.com/

and Kenny as always, 5 super images of the winners choice.

So onto this weeks challenge, set by moi.. :) and the challenge is,,,,

SPICE IT UP.

We would love to see all the hot and spicy colours on your cards/creations this week please... really looking forward to this one :)

I have used a scrapbooking layout with Victory Kid from the Kid Nation collection. Nothing's spicier than mustard (my new fave colour), and though I haven't written down all the colours I used (well .. I did, but I can't find them right now LOL), if you really want to know just message me and I'll hunt it out for you!

So ... what are you waiting for? Get stuck in and put your entry in for this weeks' awesome prize with the Kenny K's Crafty Girlz!