Going For Gold

This card is all about the gold. I wanted to play with my new Teresa Collins stencils and texture paste so I grabbed a premade card base and played. The stencil pattern turned out really nice - I wanted to do the fan/scallop one but the size was too large for a card. Taking the base card colour as my cue I built the card from there. The card was made based on the March sketch from DCWV so I chose coordinating papers from A Type of Art stack by DCWV for my pennants so I could enter it on their competition. Because it has pennants on it I can also enter in into the latest challenge at Southern Girls Challenge - Swinging in the Breeze.  I also specifically used my new Hero Arts birthday stamps that I chose as part of my prize from them so I could enter it in their birthday challenge. I will also enter it in Inspiration Emporium's A Splash of Colour challenge again too. There's a lot riding on this one little card:

Challenges:
Hero Arts - Metallic Birthday Cards is here
Inspiration Emporium - Splash of Colour is here
Southern Girls Challenge - Swinging in the Breeze is here

Materials:
Card Base (unknown), Card Stock (Stampin' Up!, unknown), Patterned Paper (DCWV), Stencil (Teresa Collins), Texture Paste (Jo Sonya),  Stamp (Hero Arts), Embossing Ink (Ranger), Embossing Powder (Celebrations of Australia), Die (Couture Creations), Flower (Retail Girl), Gold Paint Pen (Zig)

A Splash Of Colour

Well, maybe a splash of colour is a bit too bright a label for this project - how about a subtle hint of colour instead? The current challenge at Inspiration Emporium is A Splash of Colour. I think you only need to use colour on the creation to be eligible. I have been joushing (that word Carlton from Fab 5 made up) up a plain art journal from the cheap dollar shops ($3) for my upcoming trip to Italy (excited much!). It has plain white pages so I opened the wire binding , took out some of the pages and sprayed them. I would've done more but a) I was worried I wouldn't be able to write over the colourshine, b) my blue ink spray got blocked so there aren't as many blue pages and c) it's time consuming! As only a few pages had the colour I decided to add envelopes on those pages to make them a little bit special. Each page got either some washi or travel themed ephemera. Next I added Day, Date and Place on each page with stamps. Now I am going through and decorating the envelopes with stamps. It's pretty cool but the wires are now too small for the expansion of the book! I wonder if my Zutter O Wires are compatible?

At this stage I will only show you the cover title page (man, that feels like a primary school project!). When I have more time and all the envelopes are completed I will show you some more pages. So for now this is my cover:

The picture looks quite white but it is sprayed green and the map stamp is stamped in green also. I used my new TH spritzer tool that arrived from Inspiration Emporium this week (so cool) and added spritzes of blue and rust that I had used throughout the book. I love the soft look it gave. A few stickers, TH film strip, a paperclip and a piece of travel ephemera and it's done! I can staple tickets and things on there as I travel. BTW the travel ephemera ended up there because I didn't like how an ampersand inked up when I stamped it after the title so I covered it up. 

Here's the link to the challenge: Inspiration Emporium - A Splash of Color Challenge

Materials: Film Strip, Spritzer, Markers, Staples (Tim Holtz), Stamp, Ink, Markers (Stampin' Up!, Stickers (Glitz & unknown),Ephemera (Kaisercraft), Paperclip, Journal.

Use Your Words

No, I'm not at preschool! Sorry, those words remind me of when my niece was at daycare and we were encouraged to say that when she would cry or get frustrated etc.  The reason for my title is that the current challenge at Inspiration Emporium is: Show it with Words.  Instead of a card, which I don't like making, I made a layout. Layouts take longer but I much prefer this kind of creating over card making. This layout features my Dad and the lyrics to the Emeli Sande song: Next to Me. As soon as I heard the song, and its lyrics, I thought of my Dad.  He is always beside me as my champion. This layout is a special celebration of how wonderful a dad, and man, he is.

The layout lifts up to reveal both the lyrics and journaling about my special dad.

Not sure if I will give him the layout to read or not - I'm shy about sharing my feelings.

Tips:
I used Stazon ink with a woodgrain stamp on the foam letters to give them a wood look.
I coloured the Kaisercraft bling word with an alcohol pen (copic).


The details for the challenge are here.

Materials: Paper (Kaisercraft, Hot Off The Press), Stamps (Mama Elephant, Maya Rd, 7 Gypsies, A.Muse Studio), Letters ( American Crafts, Kaisercraft), ink (Versamark, Stazon),  Border punch (Stampin' Up!), Pearls (Retail Girl), Colour Spray (Heidi Swapp), Perfect Pearls (Ranger), Corner Rounder (We Are Memory Keepers), Bling Word (Kaisercraft), Washi Tape, Sequins

Blinging it Up

The current challenge at Southern Girls' Challenge is: Bling It, Bling, Bling.  I know I won the last time and it's a bit cheeky entering again but I created this layout and unintentionally ended up using a lot of sparkly butterflies and sequins.  The fact I used butterflies and mauve is really weird as it is an intimate layout as it reveals some of my most played songs and why I love them and I am not a mauve or butterflies kinda girl!  Before you check out my photo let me just explain that I have added a piece of printed vellum over my face as I don't really want my picture out there in cyber world!

Those girly butterflies combined with a picture of me still crack me up. The next picture shows you that the little iPods are actually mini accordion albums for me to write my journaling (namely the songs and why I love them). - cool no?

The challenge details are here.

Materials: Paper (unknown), Ink (Stampin' Up!), Stamps (Unknown), Letters (American Crafts), Pearl (Retail Girl), Journaling Pen (Stampin' Up!, Whitcouls),Sequins, Butterflies, Bakers Twine, Jeans pocket (from my old favourite jeans when they died)

Thank You to Southern Girls Challenge and Retail Girl

Imagine my surprise when the BFF fwd an email from Southern Girls Challenge that said I had won the "It's All New" challenge.  My entry was my layout I did of my lovely [furry] boy in my gratitude journal.  It is even more rewarding when the prize is based on a creation rather than just on blog comments, even though it is still by random draw.  The sponsor of my prize was Retail Girl and the prize the owner sent me was amazing!!!! Check it out:

 

 

Aren't they just gorgeous? The items are truly delicious in real life. Louise, the owner, was so kind as to ask me what my favourite colours were and chose the items accordingly.  As I opened the parcel and saw every item I kept thinking: this would go well on a layout of XYZ.

 

I wanted to say thank you to Southern Girls Challenge blog for providing the challenges and to the sponsors. In particular, I would like to say a huge thank you to Louise at Retail Girl. Retail Girl sells through Facebook.  Please check out her site as the items are really lovely.  Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/Retailgirl

Hero Arts Win

In December last year I was thrilled to find out I had won the big prize on the Hero Arts blog hop! I won a $75 shopping spree and I was able to choose product up to the value of $75, including items in the new catalogue! It took me awhile to choose my items and I even managed to select items to the exact value. Today my parcel arrived and I dived right in:

I thought the Days of The Week stamp was 2x3 but it looks huge! I think it is at least 4x5 (maybe bigger).  I can't wait to play!!! Watch this space for new creations. Thanks so much Hero Arts!

Work It Wednesday (Even Though It's Thursday In NZ!)

It's a Thursday here in New Zealand - Waitangi Day to be exact. (I'd love to hear my overseas visitors pronounce that!). Although it is a Thursday I am entering a layout (yes, a layout!) on the Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday challenge. This is a new challenge for SSS and the theme is: Use Something New. The layout I did (not a card - yay!) is a review of 2013. I normally use index photos for my year in review layouts but this year I decided on a new approach - 2"x3" photos combined with monthly calendar stamps. I saw the idea on a blog before Christmas and I can't remember where - sorry!  This was a good approach as I took less photos last year. I think it was because I did 365 Photo Project (a photo a day) the previous year and it might have just been overkill for me. I need to try and take more photos this year (I will be in May for sure!). I normally don't share my year in review layouts here but I have to this year in order to enter the challenge! Here's my 2013

 

 

 

Just to be clear - the layout is just the blue bit. The beige background was so that you would have a change from seeing our blue carpet.  Turns out you could still see it so I had to crop the photo - yes, you can still see the blue carpet LOL

 

 

Details:

There is a calendar stamped and added onto journaling spots with foam tape for each month

I stamped stars on the appropriate dates as well as added events for the month on the appropriate month cards

There is more than one photo for each month. I stacked the photos up and added them with a brad so that they could be slid up or down to reveal each picture below.

I always use the same number dies to cut my year out with every year. My good ole, trusty Sizzix dies (the big ones) were a birthday gift many years ago.

I pulled out my roller stamps and clip together stamps and added lots of little random phrases.

I made the chevron with my new chevron border punch. I actually used the negative space! This punch has been sitting on my desk for months waiting to be used - feels good to use it! (and find an alternative use for it too).

 

 

The Work in Wednesday challenge details are here.  I think this layout meets the criteria of using something new for two reasons: 1) I used a new approach and 2) I used a new border punch (and roller stamps)

 

Materials:

Cardstock (DCWV, Ormolu), Paper (MME), Dies (Sizzix), Chipboard (Quickutz) ,Border Punch (Stampin' Up!), Stamps (Heidi Swapp, October Afternoon, American Crafts, Studio Calico, Joanns, Other), Ink & Marker (Stampin' Up!), Calendar Stamp (Maya Rd), Brads (Tim Holtz).