Hi everyone! You may have been redirected here from my other Samantha Gale Photography website or from one of many referrals on the net. Just wanted to let you know I have split my website in two, the 1st is my weddings and portrait photography website and the other is this one which has all my personal and crafting blog.
I hope you enjoy this site keep in mind I’m still ironing out the creases and dusting off all the dirt so I would appreciate you letting me know if you come across something (feel free to comment in this post). I’ve also bought in a whole bunch of posts from when I was getting married – some which I still have to flesh out which is a little embarrassing as its over a year ago!
Oh, and make sure to check back often as I have plenty of new projects waiting to be uploaded!!
x Sami
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So time got away from me this year and I didn’t get the chance to make all the Christmas that I wanted to make. Sorry to all those people who didn’t receive anything – I promise lots of cards through the year 
. The main reason why is that I had my heart set on some Stampin’ Up! sets from the US – which I have found out is pretty much impossible to do. At the same time I ordered some stamps from another company in the US which gladly enough arrived in time but I didn’t get the chance to complete any designs before my holidays.
After comimg back from my holidays my local scrapbooking store had a sale on everything (yay) and I found this amazing Christmas paper which I fell in love with and was completely inspired. So regardless if Christmas was like sooo last year I had to make some new cards. I’m thinking of it as getting an early start on Christmas 2010 instead of a belated Christmas. The paper is the holly in the background on the first card and the stripes on the second.The other thing you may notice is the glue which I used in these cards (aside from my trusty snail and dimensions) is from Selleys. Now I know this is a shameless plug for my husband Michael who works at Selleys but I wouldn’t recommend it if it wasn’t any good. I’m going to write a review up of two of his new products Selleys Aquadhere and Selleys Tarzan’s Grip shortly. In my opinion they are two products every crafter should have on their shelves.
Holly Jolly Card
This is my favourite card made so far. It was fairly simple to make too, the only complicated party was cutting out the holly on the front white strip. Not that it was complicated just annoying – thank goodness for my Stampin’ Up! Paper Snips (Scissors) which get into those tiny little corners easily. The red strip is just standard Stampin’ Up! Card st ock which I stamped sentiments over and then swiped my stamp pad over a few times – Looks pretty neat huh!
Ingredients:
- Stampsets: Holiday Button Bits (purchased online from USA)
- Colours: Red Riding Hood, Garden Green
- Cardstock: Red Riding Hood, Kraft, Whisper White
- Embellishments: Buttons (local craft store)
- Tools: Dimensionals, Paper Snips, Snail Adhesive, Selleys Aquahere Glue
Merry & Happy Tree Card
The next card I found quite a challenge at times but loved how it turned out. I wanted all the cards in this series to have a bit of a classic Christmas feel, so lots of reds, greens, and kraft cardstock. The challenge was purely because I used these little epoxy dots to put over the baubles and for the life of me can’t get them on without smudging the underside. I would appreciate any comments on how to do this.
Ingredients:
- Stampsets: (purchased online from USA)
- Colours: Red Riding Hood, Garden Green
- Cardstock: Red Riding Hood, Kraft, Whisper White
- Embellishments: Epoxy Dots (purchased online from USA), and ribbon (from local craft store)
- Tools: Selleys Aquadhere Glue, Craft & Paper Scissors
I hope you enjoyed these two cards, I have one more which I still have to take photos of and I’ll make sure I post it as soon as possible. Keep checking back on my blog because I’m working on a very cool gift for a very pregnant friend which I can’t wait to share once its done.
x Sami
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We arrived back from our trip to spend Christmas and our well deserved holidays with Michael’s family up in Brisbane. We drove up on Christmas eve and I think it took us around 13 hours to get around all the road works and a little bit of holiday traffic so we made the trip in great time. We also took the opportunity to introduce Miley into the family – she was very welcomed by the family who thought she was extremely cute, which she is! By the time we arrived we were all far too exhausted to do anything other than wrap up a few last gifts and fall asleep on the couch.
Christmas day was great, and included loads of presents, a huge family lunch and lots of relaxing time. I think I must have been on Santa’s good list this year as I received some great jewelery, a Miche bag and some Grey’s Anatomy dvds, a new pair of Peter Alexander PJs and a set of the Twilight books just to mention a few gifts but there was plenty more. Yes I was completely spoilt! Michael was also visited by a happy santa and received a new golf club (or stick as I call them to annoy him) and shoes, a breadmaker (which makes the yummiest breads and was well used over the trip, some dvd’s and a family photo session for the 3 of us. Miley also managed a few gifts from the family including a new blankie, a water bowl and some new toys. Usually there is family cricket in the backyard, actually calling it a backyard is a little unfair as it’s more like a park being a 5 acre property, anywho there was no family cricket due to the rain which would would soon become accustomed to.
Yup, it rained almost the whole time we were in Queensland and although we had planned a whole lot of activities most were cancelled due to the weather – except for golf which Michael plays rain, hail or shine. Miley didn’t seem to mind the rain unless it was bucketing down and would constantly just lay around in the rain – crazy puppy! Most of the time she spent playing with Tika (the family Rhodesian Ridge-back dog), eating bones, playing soccer, and fetching golf balls while to boys practice hitting in the yard in the breaks between the rain.
I have to say I didn’t mind the rain (mostly). The first few days of rain we went to the Boxing Day sales and absolutely scored and broke the bank. I think I’ve completed a whole years worth in two days! We also went and saw Avatar in 3D which I would HIGHLY recommend in the big screen and I’m thinking about going and watching it again. Many of my friends know that I usually wait until something is on DVD instead of going to the cinemas so this is a big step . That being said, Michael’s sister Deb took me to see Twilight New Moon which was fantastic. I’m kinda feeling sorry for Robert Patternson who has to look so pasty when he takes off his shirt in comparison to Jacob. I mean wow. By far the best part of the rain was being able to sit under the pergola listening to the rain and reading my book which I have unsuccessfully attempted to read over the last few months.
There was one day of sun which we decided to travel down to a dog beach for Miley’s first swim and she hated it! I’m hoping that it’s only because it’s her first time in the water and not a permanent thing. She ended up climbing ontop of Michael and laying on him as he floated along the surface trying as hard as she could not to be in the water. She is a fantastic swimmer and also tried to climb ontop of Tika to get out of the water. I ended up leaving the day with a soaked and very knotty matted dog, lots of scratches up my arm and legs, and a very sunburnt back. It was worth it to see her swimming – lots of laughs. (Sorry for the quality, small waterproof and dogproof camera).
We bought the new year in with Deb (Michael’s sister) making a bunch of different cocktails and some very questionable jelly shots, the best being Pina Coladas – Yum Yum. And although a bunch of people didn’t end up showing up we had a great night including having a big play with some sparklers which had I not have been a little intoxicated I would have taken some very cool photos of. Speaking of which, I’ve just gone through my camera a noticed I tried to get some very unsuccessful shots of the blue moon on new years after a fair few cocktails. It looks like I gave up on getting a clear shot with my lack of tipsy unsteadiness and tried a zoom effect. Here is one of my favourites, I dont know about you but it reminds me of a Sci-Fi scene.
(Sidebar, the Grey’s Anatomy ad has just come on TV for the new season. Talk about slow they are about halfway through in the US! I’ve seen the first 4 episodes… SOOO GOOD). Anyway back to the holiday
We awoke to another fine day – this is too good to be true, although the weather forecast predicted another gloomy day. So we headed off to Zorbing… ??? … Ok so Zorbing is where you jump in a giant ball (ours included some water) and was pushed down a big hill and it is sooo much fun and you could easily have spent the whole day doing if it wasn’t for the crazy price tag! It’s like being in a big waterslide and the funny thing is getting out of this giant ball is like being born all over again. Its something everyone should experience at least once. We had decided we would go to Wet & Wild after Zorb but unfortunately the storm clouds rushed in and threw that idea out the window. (again apologies for the camera quality – using my mini Olympus)
We decided to travel down to Currumbin Surf Club for lunch. This place is beautiful and we had a great view of the storm over surfers.
That night we all went out to have dinner and play some 10 pin bowling (which I am absolutely hopeless at). I was pretty proud with my score even if I didn’t win – first ever over 100! Unfortunately the night wasn’t all fun and games with Michael’s mum taking a bit of a topple and breaking her arm on the very first go. As you could imagine we were all very concerned but I loved her attitude: ‘I’m going to be in the emergency room for a fair few hours so I’m going to play through my games and enjoy them’. Big hugs and hope you get better soon xx
As our time in Queensland drew to a close we started winding down and preparing for a huge drive home. I’m sure the wildlife was pleased to see Miley leave as she had attempted to play with a few Cane Toads, a Magpie and a waterdragon – which safely to say didn’t understand that it was play time and was trying to defend itself until I picked up a very confused little puppy. I’m just glad we didn’t happen to see any Kangaroos on this trip, that could have caused a bit of trouble. Not to mention the pot plants she picked on while we were there and the poor garden which she loved to eat the bones in.
All in all it was a great holiday (weather aside) and I would like to thank Michael’s family (Geoff, Maureen, Deb and Tika) so being soo welcoming and putting up with Miley’s antics.
x Sami
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Thank you so very much!
A few more cards Pt 1
Merry Christmas to All!
Christmas Gifts
Breakfast!