Cards and banners

It was back to card making for me on Friday evening at the Scrap of Difference crop/workshop night.  I had my nephew's wedding to attend yesterday and was keen to make a card which matched their wedding invitations which I had made for them late last year.  Sadly, I forgot to photograph this card prior to heading out the door to the wedding so I can't share it with you here.

However, this card did feature banners with the bride and groom's names on one and congratulations on the other.  This got me started on a bit of a banners run and the following 2 cards came whilst I was on the roll.

I had a play with a new stamp - the grandpa kicking up his heels and my American Crafts Chromatix markers - I'm really enjoying these and love the shadings available.

The second card with the butterfly again featured a Purple Pumpkin spotty button - the perfect final touch to this card.

Well the storm is rumbling outside right now and the thunder sounds closer so think I'd best sign off and see if I can go and kit up a scrap project for tomorrow featuring some of the gorgeous photos I got at yesterday's wedding.

Thanks for stopping by.

Live Love Dance

Amazing as it seems I actually spent another afternoon in my scrap room this week and created a new layout - this time of my daughter and her friends, called Live Love Dance.  I used a challenge over at Scrap the Boys (OK so I didn't use boys as my photos so not real suitable, however, this is where the inspiration started.....) to use chipboard, mists or paint and washi tape.

I pulled out some mists which worked with my photo - in this case Dylusions Pillar Box Red and Lindy's Stamp Gang Luscious Lime & Hag's Wart Orange and got to work on a piece of white card - this I then cut into a circle thanks to the Crafter's Workshop Circles 'n' Circles template - love this template - it gives so many different circle sized options, worth having in any scrap tool kit.

Add some patterned paper - in this case Basic Grey Lauderdale cut to shape with the help of a Crafter's Workshop bracket template and a piece of red cardstock run through the cuttlebug with the beautiful Couture Collections Drifting Endless embossing folder and then rubbed down with some sandpaper.

For the pretties I have again been playing with Purple pumpkin products including their small resin flowers, paper doilies and music washi tape.  Some amazing chipboard from Meant to Be along with their felt flower.  I changed the colour of the chipboard with the help of some Adironack Pitch Black Dabber and outlined them with a copper Sakura Gelly Roll pen and then glazed them with some 3D laquer from Scrap Matts .  This 3d glaze is awesome, it comes in a little bottle like nail polish which allows you to add gloss to the tiniest of objects.

Finishing touches included some chipboard leaves from Twiddlybitz also coloured with Sakura gelly roll pens, some Kaisercraft flowers, Say it in Crystals gemstones, a Martha Stewart aster punch and the centre glory floral of a Prima Baroque Sienna flower and a Fairy Flora smaller flower.

Thanks for stopping by

Leibster Award

I was thrilled to receive this lovely award from the beautiful Melissa at http://snipsnapcrop.blogspot.com.au

About the award:  This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion.
Once you have been nominated,  you award it to blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers to encourage new visitors to visit these new blogs.

Rules for Acceptance:
thank the person who gave you the award and link it back to their blog.  Post the award onto your blog.  Give the award to 5 bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers.  Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award.

So, here is my pay it forward time and here are the 5 bloggers whom I have given the award to:

Lizzy C at
http://crumbsofcreativity.blogspot.com.au
This lady is so incredibly talented that she only just makes the criteria for a new blog with the 200 followers just over the hill for her.  I hope this award takes her over the mark.  If you have never seen her work - do yourself a favour and follow this link and Lizzy's blog.

Michelle Wallace at
http://theartofscrapbooking.blogspot.com.au/

Michelle fits more into a day than I could dream of and still has time to scrap.  She is on design team for both Helmar products AND Mad About Scrapping.  check out her blog for some wonderful inspiration.

Leah A at
http://leahsscrap-a-holiclife.blogspot.com.au
This lady scraps more in a month than I'd scrap in 6 months!  Her layouts always feature something different and she is a fabulous source of inspiration.  She also designs for a number of online sites.

Heather McMahon at
http://heathermcmahon09.blogspot.com.au
I've been lucky enough to know Heather for many years from a life prior to scrapbooking and am thrilled that her talent has this year been recognised with a Scrapbooking Masters!  Her blog is still relatively new though so go and check out her incredible talent.

and lastly
Scarlett at
http://scarlettsscrapoirs.blogspot.com.au
I recently discovered Scarlett's blog after following a link from the Scrap FX site.  She is an amazing mixed media artist.  So, if you are a little like me and would like to know more about the whole mixed media scene or you are already into it and want some inspiration from a very talented artist - follow Scarlett's link.


Here is the award that Melissa gave me.
 

 

Back to Scrapbooking!

My gosh, it feels like forever since I've had the opportunity to simply sit quietly in my scrapbook room and scrapbook an actual layout.  Cards, off the page etc. have all featured heavily for me this year but this is the first actual scrapbook layout I've produced all year!  That seems incredible to me but felt sooooo good!  Hopefully my layout mojo has returned and I'm ready to scrap the rest of the year away :)

So, here is the resulting layout.  I had fun playing technique with The Crafter's Workshop chicken mesh stencil, some ink, a gorgeous Kaisercraft orange paint and a layer of Dimensional magic to give it some depth.  I also had a blast playing with some Purple Pumpkin products - the gorgeous spotty buttons and the crocheted doilies are from them.

Add in some Basic Grey & Bo Bunny patterned papers, My Little Yellow Bicycle cog brads, Silver Glimmermist, Orange Lindy's Stamp Gang dye spray, We R Memory Keepers twine, corrugated cardboard, Prima alpha stickers, Bella chipboard alpha, and a brad run through the cuttlebug and voila - here is the finished product!

Well the bug has bitten so I'm off to the scrap room to try and get another hour of creative time before school pick up and all the associated after school activities.  Thanks for stopping by xx

More off the page???

Normally I would say that Off the Page projects are something I just don't do - so who would believe that 2 blog posts in a row would feature exactly that???  In saying that, I've always said that the only off the page projects I'm interested in are those that have a purpose. I hate dusting so pretties that just sit around are not on my radar.  However, the craft cady which featured in my last post and today's Gratitude Jar are both pieces that I feel have a purpose for me.

I first saw the Gratitude Jar via Nic Howard 's blog where she created one for 2013 for her family and featured it on the Prima Educator's blog also.  The idea is to have strips of paper and the family simply write out any little notes about good things or challenging times conquered and put them into the jar - at the end of the year you can revisit all the positives of the year. 

I felt this would be a great new tradition to start for our family with an opening of the jar on New Year's Eve.  OK so it's taken me 2 - almost 3 - months to get it ready but with a quick flick through the calendar and some time chatting with the kids it didn't take us long to catch up for the past couple of month's blessings.

Here's my version - go look at Nic's for more inspiration.

thanks for checking in.

Taking my new craft caddy for a spin

One of the advantages to having a bit of a break over the Christmas period from my scrap desk was the renewed enthusiasm to get back in and rearrange it before I kickstarted again.  For a while now I have been frustrated by the number of caddies I own to store my product and that the top of the one holding my taller items seemed to constantly be on a lean and tipping over the caddy itself.

During a trip to Kaisercraft at Browns Plains on one of my recent Scrap of Difference scrapbooking tours I was instantly drawn to the carousel caddy the girls there had on the front desk.  I eagerly purchased one and am pleased to say that now that I've put it together and stocked it full - it holds almost 2 of my caddies in one AND the carousel on the bottom makes it so easy to work from.  It is sturdy and has enough dividers to stop things from falling over.  The drawers mean that my sharps are now safely away from the accidental stabbing of the finger when you reach for something else.

If you are looking for a home based caddy for your products to sit on your desk and work easily from - this could be for you.  I know I'm thrilled to bits with mine.

 

 

`

Check them out at Kaisercraft - http://www.kaisercraft.com.au/newsite/products.php?prod=SB2161

New Year and new projects

Well the end of last year seemed to disappear in a blur for me and from those I've spoken to I was not alone.

It feels like the year has just begun with the kids now back at school for a full week and the first crop / workshop for the year kicking off tonight.  However, in reality I look at the calendar and realise that we are already a third of the way through month 2!!!  Let’s hope the remainder of the year doesn’t fly by at this rate.


So, what have I been up to in this absence time from my blog.  Well I'm pleased to report there was quite a bit of crafty time involved :)

Here are some of the layouts created kicking off with a double layout featuring my little dancer and outlining the achievements she made with her Demi Character dance which has now been retired.  This is the first time I've featured a montague of all the photos of one dance over a number of years on the one layout and the journalling noted all her places.  I now intend to do this each time she retires one of her solo dances.  This means I've got 2 more already stacked and ready to get started on!

sorry but I'm having technical issues today and despite my trying 6 times now I can't get these pages to sit side by side on the blog!  Hope you can still get the gist :)

I also had a fun time in December helping to run the Christmas stall at my kid's school. To help instill the Christmas spirit with the kids we also offered they could come along and make a Christmas card or decorate a bauble. For the younger grades we went and did this in the classrooms but for the older ones they came to the stall and participated in these activities in their lunch hours. It was a great fundraiser for the P&C and loads of fun for the kids. We went through a batch of cards and about 150 baubles and bags of glitter - I shimmered for days!!! It was lovely to hear the kids tell me that their parents loved their gifts.

December and January in my calendar is jam packed with birthdays and of course we had Christmas thrown in there too.  I did a couple of card classes in the lead up to Christmas with a variety of different techniques.  My 2 little people both had birthdays as did my brother, husband and mother – in that order J  We had a 21^st to prepare invitations for and of course a card - here's the 21st invitation - I can share with you now that the party has been and gone.  The young lady who celebrated told me she wanted a country and western theme.  Together this is what we came up with

Nothing like Tim Holtz distress ink, a simple die cut and a distressing tool to add a western feel!

I've spent the past couple of days scouring the internet for wedding invitation inspiration as I have someone close to me getting married at the end of the year.  More fun on those ideas over the coming months!

So it is with much excitment that I anticipate tonight's first crop of the season and plan the many scrap pages to come for the year.  Hope you can all drop by and say hi throughout the year.

Happy scrapping!