What Do You Do When You Are Grounded?

What do you do when you are grounded? Why, create of course! I was supposed to be heading to our fair nation's capital last weekend but Wellington got hit with its worst storm in 45 years! My flight was cancelled which I was quite happy about in the end as the gale force winds registered at 200km an hour! Yikes! I was rebooked the next morning to fly to Palmerston North then bus down to Wgtn but I turned down that option. I can't really complain because there were people in far worse situations: no power, roofs missing, 2.5m snow in South Island etc).

The flight cancellation left me with a cleared schedule and the thought: what does one do when one is grounded? I made the most of my free time and read, caught up with friends who had 2 tickle monsters residing in their house, and created (of course).  A packet of Sizzix Diffusers (*cough*) may (*cough*) have arrived at my house recently (I admit nothing). I had to give them a try, right? I must admit I was a little bit at a loss as to what to fill the diffused bits with. I tried different techniques with each one. I ended up completely covering one with flowers and I thought: fat lot of use using the diffuser then! I really liked that card though and decided to make it for little Miss Sophie who turns 1 in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately I realised after I made it that if she is anything like her oldest sister (Miss 5), she will pull all the decorative bits off her first birthday card from me (true story!).  Also, I used a flag/pennant from a prize which is actually quite pointy and therefore dangerous to 1 year olds! Looks like you will be seeing me make a[nother] 1st birthday card on here soon :)

The other project I worked on was a mini album I completed the bones of over a year ago. It is a book for my youngest niece about our stories, our relationship, our photos along with words of wisdom.  All I needed to do was fill in the journaling.  I finally sat down to add some stories and pulled out PL type stamps to add words and phrases to photos and the journaling cards.  I intend on getting her to fill in cards too.  My cards are along the lines of: The story of ... and there is even one that says: I must really love you because.... and I added all the children's shows and movies I have sat through with her!

The album is a $2 one I got from Target in America. I've had it for years and I started making this at the end of 2011 I think!

This is what it looks like now:

I used Tim Holtz tissue tape for the first time on this project and it started a love affair

I even went to the trouble of mirroring the title on the inside page - boy, I must really love her :) PS I did not dress her in the watermelon outfit! Her mother, my sister, did and it was just for fun. Honest.  Unfortunately, my niece's gorgeous auburn hair turned blond as she got older.

The album has paper bags in it that I embossed and inked. This might have been near the beginning of my love for Tim Holtz and his distress inks. Lots of BoBunny ETC range in this album and lots and lots of inking and stamping. Each double page spread has a paper bag (filled with photos and cards for journaling) and pockets.

You are forgiven if you are thinking that this book is a little masculine and not girly at all. Green is my niece's favourite colour so that was the base for the album and the BoBunny ETC range was very me (it's a book for both of us).

Seeing as I don't have pictures to load of the updated journaling I will let you in on the original funny story that was the impetus to make the book. The Story Of The Madarin: Eden (age 2) was asked if she would like a mandarin.  She said, "Yep!" and scrambled off her seat and ran to the back door. She opened the door, looked out and came back in saying: "She's not there". "Who?" they asked. "Aunty Manda" she replied. Turns out she thought they were asking her if she would like to let Aunty Manda in!

Cute, right? :-)

I will load pictures at some point it's just I am time poor now that my travel has been rescheduled for this weekend! Full on week of work after my time off then I'm off to SENZ for the day!!!! I am booked into a class run by Scottie Crafts in Auckland - they may also have been the enablers who provided me with the Sizzix diffusers (I admit nothing!)

If you made it to the end you will find out, not only a cute story about my niece, but also that I am entering this in Inspiration Emporium's June Challenge. The challenge is Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue. Now, this album is quite old and I started it over a year ago. But, it is new because it is completely different to its original state (some may say it looked better before I altered it). I have used older product from my stash (metal charms, 'borrowed'  luggage lock, paint).  Unfortunately it is not blue.  I hope it fits their criteria - the details for the challenge are here . 

Materials: Album (Target), Paint (Making Memories), Tissue Tape (Tim Holtz), Ink (Tim Holtz, Stampin' Up!), Stamps (various - time poor!), RIbbon (Stampin' Up!), Papers and Chipboard(BoBunny), Embossing Folders (Cuttlebug), Mesh, Embossing Powder (Ranger)