CSI #107

The weeks are flying by and here we are at the end of January already. I hope you've all enjoyed the long weekend. Another week, another Case File over at CSI.  I had a bit of fun with this one, getting messing with lots of mixed media.

Some lovely colours in this Scheme as well as some thought provoking journalling, which had me thinking for a while until I worked out which photo I wanted to use. It's hard to see in this photo of the page, but I've used yellow & silver Glimmer Mist, Structure paste & misting on the fence, misting on the small flowers and some yellow liquid pearls here and there.

 You can click on the photo for a closer look :)

Products used: Paper from 7Dots and bits & pieces from left over scraps.
                       Doily.
                       Tag covered in Washi Tape.
                       American Crafts Thickers.
                       Flair from A piece of cake Designs.
                       Lace butterfly & Diamond stamp from Craft Queen.
                       Felt clouds from Collected & Co.

Thanks for dropping by & I hope you get a chance to have a look at CSI and all the lovely inspo from some very talented ladies. Until next time...

                     

CSI #106

This heat is relentless! And no rain in sight :(  And my mojo is relentless as well at the moment so I've added to my long list of challenges this month as well as keeping up with the Project Life Album that I'm making for DD of her travels. What else can one do when it's so uncomfortable outdoors?! Our DS has just left on a 9 day Cruise, so I'm looking forward to finally having some decent pics of him with some beautiful backdrops.

This week over at CSI there is another beautiful colour scheme to get your head around with some really inspirational Design Team examples. Here is the Case File:

And here is my take. This is my first attempt at a "grid design" so I'm not sure if I've pulled it off correctly or not.

I've use lots of stamping/inking & a bit of layering as well. I embossed all the circles with a different embossing pattern.

I loved using these colours - once again stepping out of my usual colour (& design) mode.

TFL xx

Scrap Africa Challenge

I found a lovely challenge site, via my friend Val Thorpe,  called Scrap Africa which is based in South Africa of course (there's some seriously talented papercrafters over there). The mid-month challenge is all about recycling. The criteria is to use at least one recycled item on you project.

In my entry I've used some plastic netting from an Orange bag (which was originally red & I've gessoed over the top of it), a piece of doily from an old crochet tablecloth and a playing card from an old deck of cards I've had lying around for years. The paper is from My Mind's Eye "Chalk Studio" and Teresa Collins. Kaisercraft flowers & pearls, and fabric flowers from Craft Queen. The title is from Pink Paislee.

I love this pic of DD and partner at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany last year. Ahhh to be footloose & fancy free again.....sigh. Thanks Steve for the photo xx

Thanks for looking. Have a great weekend :)

Baby Boom!

I'm back again to share a couple of cards I made this week. Everywhere I look there seems to be a new baby on the scene or just about to be. The Human species is definately not an endangered one! There was a little bundle of joy (of the pink kind) that arrived for one of my work colleagues last week. Here is the card I made for her. It's been a while since I created any punch art, and I forgot how fun it is, so I may have to do a few more of these.

The next card is one I made using my Xmas stocking punch but I cut them down to size to resemble baby bootees.

I've decided to make a concerted effort to make at least one card every time I create a scrapbook page, with the leftovers. It's the only way to keep my card stash up to date I think. So far so good.

Thanks for dropping by & feel free to leave some blog love :)

CSI #105

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all coping with this heat wave (or with the cold for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere). I started my creating early this morning before the heat set in too much. Once again CSI has outdone themselves again with a lovely, but challenging, Scheme and a new sketch from Em Stafrace.

I decided this week that the colours lent themselves to some photos I wanted to scrap about our day trip to Hampton Court Palace. We had so much fun this day and spent hours wandering through the hundreds of rooms in the Palace itself and also wandering the wonderful gardens and discovering all the little garden "rooms". There is so much to discover and explore here that we made a full day of it instead of just the few hours that we thought we'd spend there.

A bit of hand stitching on this page, which I haven't done for ages. I bought the little Henry VIII button while on our visit, thinking it would come in handy :)  Once again I've used a bit of Kaisercraft Base Coat paper, background stamping, speech bubbles and some die cut leaves/vines.

The journalling reads:
"We had a great day at Hampton Court Palace just outside London. This is a strange but magnificent collection of buildings, much of which reflects the Tudor style, as this was a favourite residence of Henry VIII. There is so much history here and lots of "hands on" activities for visitors as well as educational talks going on most of the time. Attached is 60 acres of beautiful gardens which we took advantage of while the weather was nice. Here in a glass house is the oldest grapevine in the world, still producing grapes every year. The size of the vine has to be seen to be believed. We thought we would just have a couple of hours here, but ended up staying most of the day. We had lunch in a lovely cafeteria within the gardens. This was a day of escape from the modern world."

Thanks for looking. Have a great day!

Once Upon A.... Sketch January Challenge

Instead of working on DDs Project Life Album (soooo far behind I'm now procrastinating) I've been creating for another challenge Once Upon A....Sketch. This time it's a page on me and the lessons I've tried to take on board. The theme this months is of course "Lessons learnt" and this is the sketch:

And here is my take on it:

I just love this Bo Bunny paper (The Avenues collection). The flowers are from Prima and Craft Queen and I've added alphas from American Crafts for the title and I've printed my journalling on canvas and also die cut a little clock in canvas as well. The little timber flower button & metal flower are from Craft Queen and the other metal embellie is from The Trinket Track. TFL xx

CSI #104

I hope you are all having a terrifically, tantalising Tuesday! The Scheme for this weeks CSI Case File is nothing short of beautiful. It's what I love about CSI, their knack of making me nervous about using the colours they give us each week, but then I usually somehow actually pull if off, much to my own surprise!

Here is how I solved this weeks Case File:

I decided to add a challenge of my own to this layout by not inking, misting, texture pasting or gessoeing (if there's such a word). It felt weird but I was happy with what I ended up with. The white polka dots at the bottom of the page are just white punched circles that I've glued on. Normally I would have used texture paste and a stencil.

I stippled some white paint around the edge of the photo to soften it. The cute little cupcake button is from Purple Pumpkin that I've been saving for ages to use on just the right layout. The rose ribbon with the pearls is from Craft Queen.

This gorgeous little teacup & saucer planted with a mini Cyclamen & cute little toadstools, was the decoration on our table at our Mad Hatters Tea Party - in keeping with the theme of course. Along with the beautiful chinaware and white linen, it was a very memorable occasion. I love decorating and like to pay attention to detail in my decorating when I have a special occasion e.g. Xmas, birthdays etc.  Last Christmas I drove out along the country roads just to find the right red-flowering Eucalypt with the lovely white gumnuts just so that I could have a "Country" theme for our Xmas table! Let me tell you, they are not easy to find and we (well not exactly "we") tramped our way through snake-infested long grass to get a couple of smallish branches. But I was determined and because my enthusiasm rubs off on to DH he likes to help me find exactly what I'm after, so I send him into the snake-infested long grass instead! So when I see little pretties like this teacup on tables I appreciate the effort that the staff have put into it.

This is a really fun Case File so I hope you get a chance to play along too. Thanks for looking :)

Orange Paperie & Co January Challenge

Hello fellow scrappers! I'm back today with a lovely challenge for Orange Paperie & Co set by the lovely Annette. Her Challenge this months is to scrap something about Friendship with some meaningful journalling. So here is my DT Inspo for you:

This is a pic of me & DH which we took on Boxing Day. A very rare, half-decent selfie! We are celebrating our 30th Wedding Anniversary this month, so I thought it would be appropriate to create a page of us. I've written quite a bit of a story which is hidden behind the photo inside a glasseen bag (see below). It's quite personal but it begins with "Even though we've now been married for 30 years, we've actually been together for 36 years." And ends with "We must have done something right because we've been blessed with two wonderful children & we have much to be grateful for. I hope we get to celebrate another 30 years together". There is quite a bit of  heart-felt and personal journalling between that.

I've used some lovely 7 Dots Studio paper as well as Double Dots from Bo Bunny. The lovely bird is from A2Z Scraplets & I've been waiting for just the right page to use it on. Although I did have a bit of trouble getting the colour right. There are many layers of different colours & medium on this bird but eventually I think it came out okay.

There's also some washi tape, Maya Road clock, some lovely metal & wood embellies from Craft Queen which I've gessoed & American Crafts alphas. The flowers are from Prima.

I hope you find some inspiration here & join us this month for this fabulous challenge. Don't be shy! We'd love to see your work. If anyone from my home town is reading this, and I know there are some really talented scrappers that live here, this is a challenge site created by ladies from the Central West. Please join in on the fun, we'd love to see your work and give you the opportunity to showcase your creations :). Please feel free to leave some blog love!

Kraft it up January Challenge

This is my third challenge entry for this month. This month Kraft It Up have a sketch for inspo plus a summer theme, washi tape & a number:

Summer themed layouts are always fun to do. On this page I'ved used white paint on the background plus stamping, lots of washi tape & I've used the year as my number. These are pics of my DH over our Xmas break checking out all the lovely boats in the Marina & then having a rest along the beach. Hence my title of "Dream".

I wanted to make it a bit grungy looking so I scratched of some off the rub ons in places and gessoed over some of the washi tape and the string.

I made the tag ages ago for another project so I'm now recycling it for this layout. Gotta love some up cycling :)  Thanks again for looking.

Scrap Around the World...

This is one of my favourite challenge sites at the moment because, besides CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration, Scrap Around The World really lifts me out of my comfort zone and I can spend days trying to think of how to tackle their mood boards. This week is no exception. Here is the inspo that we were given:

It has a lovely beachy feel and I looked at this for a few days and my eyes kept being drawn to the tea cups. So I've steered away from a beach theme and scrapped a page about my wonderful day with my best girl in London. I booked us into The Dorchester's "Mad Hatters Tea Party". A special fund raising high tea that they put on for only a week during the year. Everything is Alice in Wonderland themed and some talented young dancers from the London Ballet do a little performance and wander around the tables all dressed up as the characters, entertaining the children. It was so much fun, and we do like our ballet! So it was very special to combine the two. After this special event we went on to the theatre to see Mama Mia. A very special day for just the two of us. And I must say that visiting The Dorchester was an adventure in itself.

I've tried to stay as close to some of the colours in the mood board, but this photo is a bit dodgy I'm sorry. I've used texture paste, embossing folder and misting on the background. And the Kaiser Craft "Looking Glass" collection was perfect for these photos. The coloured pearls are from The Trinket Track. Note the plate full of yummies designed around the Alice in Wonderland theme. They looked almost too good to eat....almost :)

I find it hard to get just the right lighting to photograph my pages so the colours aren't exactly the same as IRL.

Anyway thanks for calling in once again. Have a fantastic weekend!

White with 1 January Challenge

I'm off to a flying start with this month's challenges. This is the current challenge over at White with 1

Hmmm.....Tangerine? Really!? But the easiest part was choosing a photo surprisingly because I had the perfect pics for once. I've once again used the very versatile Kaiser Base Coat paper plus some Tangerine cardstock.

I didn't add too many embellies as I wanted the photos to speak for themselves. I love the Pink Paislee Artisan Words! The kids looked like they were having a ball at La Tomatina in Spain back in August. Took them a few days to get all the tomato out of I don't even want to know where! :/

Thanks for looking. My next post will be my entry for Scrap Around the World :)

New Kaisercraft - Art of Life

Happy Friday all! I just got back from down town & even the die-hard shoppers couldn't get up the energy in this heat to take up all the carparks today :)  Bonus! my half hour trip turned into 15 minutes. Well who would want to be out in the predicted 40 degree heat today?! So housework done early, now for a little play in my creation station and then maybe a siesta :)
So the lovely Nicole from Craft Queen recently asked me to have a play with the delicious new collection from Kaisercraft - Art of Life.  Vintage/Heritage is a fave genre' for me so it wasn't a big ask. I chose one of the hundreds of photos I took at Oxford University on our recent trip. The architecture is so amazingly old and beautiful that it took me a while to choose. I also chose a quote from the great man himself - Nelson Mandela as I thought it quite appropriate for my theme. I printed the quote directly onto the photo to fill in the white space. "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can choose to change the world".

 I love the paper with the old books which also went perfectly with the photo. All the other embellies are from Craft Queen as well.

Thanks for dropping by and remember....I'd love to hear from you :)