After a busy and fun week of classes, I headed to Hawkes Bay to see my Dad (Walt) over the Labour long weekend.
The last weekend in October is “Labour Weekend” in New Zealand, with the Monday (Labour Day) being a Public Holiday. Labour Day commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day. New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim this right when, in 1840, the carpenter Samuel Parnell won an eight-hour working day in Wellington. Labour Day was first celebrated in New Zealand on 28 October 1890. Now it is often the weekend when people start thinking about summer and getting their gardens and yards tidied for the upcoming season.
For my family, Labour weekend also falls around the time of Dad’s birthday. On Friday I drove the 400km from Wellington to Wairoa to celebrate with Walt, my 2 brothers and 2 sisters, my sister-in-law, and some of the grandchildren. What a wonderful evening we had together sharing food and each others’ company, though we keenly felt the absence of Mum who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Beth was studying for University Exams so didn’t make the trip with me – but she did make some gingerbread cupcakes for Walt.
One of the things we have often done over Labour Weekend is have a bonfire or two. Great to clean up the fallen branches and tree prunings before the inevitable summer fire-ban is in place. Mum (Jude) always loved a good bonfire and she would have enjoyed the two we had on Saturday. No doubt she would have made banana-chocolate- marshmallow parcels to go in the embers – for the grandchildren of course.
Christmas was Jude’s favourite time of the year. She was often referred to as Mother Christmas, and truly celebrated the season. She would be loving all the Christmas cards and crafts I am making, and that I have had a Christmas tree up since the end of August! The stamp set I am sharing today is one I am sure Jude would have enjoyed – I know I am.
The “Color Me Christmas” set has five gorgeous stamps that are just so cute. (I just have to put the name in quotation marks – the spelling nerd in me finds it difficult as we spell it “Colour” here in New Zealand.)
Don’t you think this reindeer looks great in any colour combination?
I CASED the card below from the Stampin’ Up! Holiday catalogue (pg 38) but made a few adjustments including using different stamp sets.
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Ink: Bermuda Bay (131171), Island Indigo (126986) Stamps: Color Me Christmas (Wood 131772, Clear Mount 131775), Wishing You (Wood 131748, Clear Mount 131751) Card/Paper: Whisper White (106549), Winter Frost Specialty DSP (132341) Accessories: Dimensionals (104430), Stampin’ Write Markers – Many Marvelous Markers (131264) Tools: Stampin’ Distress Tool (127562)___________________________
The foil sheets in the Winter Frost Specialty DSP are almost too good to cut – but well worth including in a project if you can bring yourself to use a piece – trust me the first cut is the hardest! You don’t need much for it to make a real impact so it goes a long way. I just had to embellish the bow on the stamped image with this sumptuous foil paper.
I made the cute gift tags below using the “Color Me Christmas” stamp set when it first arrived. I displayed them at my Holiday Catalogue Open House and then they’ve lived in my “Create Frame” which always hangs on the wall in the room where I run my classes – aka our entertainment room that I take-over several times a month)
I’ve been asked several times if I would do these tags at one of my classes – so have scheduled them for late November. You can check out the details for my classes on the Up-Coming Events Page or book online at my Stampin’ Up! website.
I hope you enjoy this cute little stamp set as much as I do.
Until next time
Jackie
