The Layout is Up - Anything Goes

Remember the layout that was on my desk? It's finally finished! It's a busy time of year, isn't it? With Christmas and two birthdays in the beginning of December it has been hard to get some creating done. Pity I have to go to work to pay for my addiction :)

Here's my layout from Raffles:

The main photo lifts up to reveal 3 photos - there is one under the top picture (under another flap).

I was supremely lucky to win a BoBunny prize and when it arrived it was chock full of paper and embellishments from their brand new Café Rose collection.  It is the first time I have had an entire collection to play with - thank you BoBunny! I pulled it out and played. I also purchased some Maggie Holmes goodies which I added.

I am entering this layout in Simon Says Stamp's latest challenge on their Monday Challenge site - Anything Goes.  The info is here .

Materials: BoBunny, Maggie Holmes, Heidi Swapp spray, Twine,

What's On My Desk?

The blog has been quiet but that doesn't mean I have been. Some of the ladies in the scrapbook industry have been snapping pictures of their work desk lately and loading them to Instagram. I thought I would snap a picture to show you I have actually been busy - honest!

The layout (held down by twine spools and stamps) is one I am putting together of some pictures from Raffles. I won a Rose Café prize pack from Bo Bunny and the prize they sent me was amazing! I have never had almost an entire collection to play with before. My winning comment was that I would use the fountain paper to scrapbook a layout of my photos of me and the fountain at Raffles. I decided to sit down and do just that - to be honest I was on the floor with all the prize goodies spilled around me.

There may also be the goodies I ordered from SSS on that table - they arrived this morning! I am impatiently waiting for this month's Ali Edward's stamps from my subscription to arrive :(

Something else I have been doing this month is: 30 Days of Gratitude. I am not following a class or kit. I just decided to do this (even though we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in NZ) and use items in my stash. I used two 4x6 printed cards to make the booklet and the inside pages are 3x4 cards, hole punched, stamped and with hand journaling about what I am grateful for that day.

Do you remember me showing you a book I made for my niece a long time ago? Possibly a couple of years ago. My niece is 15, almost 16, now so I have decided it is time to give it to her. As well as the handwritten stories in the book I decided to add various positive sayings and life notes. I pulled out my positive saying stamp sets and set to work on some 3x4 project life cards I had.

The next photo is the back of some of the cards. The others have either a saying on the back or a heavy pattern that can't be easily stamped over.

This is a stack that is ready to stamp - I just need to find the time to do it.

Tonight I am visiting the BFF and I will look through her stash to see is she has any stamps I could use.

That's about it for me.  Now you know what I've been working on while the blog has been quiet. No time to add a materials list. See you in the next post.

Another 3Fer

This project is another 3fer - fits 3 current challenges!

In the weekend I found a whole lot of photos (of various sizes) I had printed from Creative Adventure Downunder 2013 (CAD). I also had a Teresa Collins flip book I bought last year. Time to put that baby to good use! The thing I enjoyed about this project was that I used only leftover items from the class kits from CAD and pieces of memorabilia and, believe it or not, my official lanyard (the thing you wear around you neck to show that you belong somewhere). Pretty chuffed with that. Please remember that I only used leftovers and such so it is a very simple mini - I like the photos to be the centre of attention anyway.

Please excuse the piece of tissue covering my full name! The frame was from a Heidi Swapp class, the paua is from a Maggie Armstrong class and the flowers are leftovers from a class from SENZ 2013. Inside the frame is the plastic holder from my lanyard with my name tag from CAD13. If you look closely you will see pink ribbon peeking out the sides of the frame - this was the ribbon from my lanyard! You will see it more clearly on the next picture.

That's me and the BFF. I missed CAD this year as I went to Italy instead (tough call!). I plan on being there next year though. In this photo you can see the ribbon from my lanyard and the decorated (teal) piece is from a badge swap from one of the ladies at CAD13 (I can't take credit for that). The ribbon on that covers her location.

Here's the list of challenges and why this project fits:
A Blog Named Hero - #54 Recycle It. The details are here .  This project definitely uses recycled items - leftovers from my classes at SENZ and CAD as well as my lanyard.
Inspiration Emporium - In Disguise. The details are here .  My interpretation of this theme is that my lanyard is in disguise. It is not a lanyard anymore - it is used as decorative elements instead now.
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - # Anything Goes. The details are here .  This one needs no explanation.

Materials:
Heidi Swapp - Frame, Banners, Stickers, Letters; Bazill - Stickers; Ranger - Glossy Accents, Liquid Pearls; Ink - Stampin' Up!, Other - Bling, Lanyard, Flowers, Paua.

O is for...

O is for Oh So Cute! O is also for Orange and in the words of Inga the Winga: O is for Orsum (only the kiwis will get that!). Why am I going on about O? O is for is the latest challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday.  I made this layout recently and I am entering it in their O is for challenge:

Oh aren't they cute? These little ladies are miss 2 and miss 5 (almost 5 at the time). They belong to the BFF and these photos were taken at miss 5's kindy. The photographer captured them beautifully - or should I say beYOUtifully? As soon as I saw these pics I requested copies to scrapbook - luckily their mum complied.

I never would've thought I would scrapbook the photos on an orange background but of all the papers I tested the photos on, this was the one that worked the best. I also die cut the word beyoutiful from felt. Awesome! Why have I never done this before???? I suspect you will be seeing this technique in the future.

Challenges I am entering this layout in:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: O is for here.
Artfull Crafts: Anything Goes here.
Southern Girl's Challenge: Getting Wordy On It here. (I really have only used words and phrases on this layout)

Materials:
Paper (DCWV, HOTP, Stampin' Up!), Dies (Kaisercraft, MFT), Stapler (Tim Holtz), Trims (Bella, Retail Girl, Other), Other (Mini Heart Punch, Felt), Pen (stampin' Up! Journalling added down the sides after photo was taken).

Pure Play

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Design Team Submission:
Scrapbooking is my preferred project and I love just pulling items from my stash and playing. A bonus is getting a large number of photos documented. On a side note: I have tried re-adding the photos but they are still in the wrong orientation!


After watching a Heidi Swapp video on My Craft Channel I set about creating a fun, file folder album of my recent trip to Singapore, Italy, Munich and USA. I managed to cram 83 photos in this little beauty!

 

This album is all about play: sticking photos and stickers down and adding random stamps. Lots of fold-outs and flip-outs for getting as many photos in as possible.  It is at times like these that I love my stash! I have collected lots of travel themed products over the years (as I love to travel).  I didn't spend too much time choosing and getting things just right; it was about getting it completed and playing with my supplies. For this reason I am entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which is Rock The Technique - my technique is pure play and just getting things down! (as well as fold-outs)

I started with a couple of Heidi Swapp folders and some patterned papers for added pages. I even got to play with my cinch. I didn't do as good a job as I wanted but I got the job done. Because I used different papers in this album I am entering this in A Blog Named Hero's current challenge - patterned paper.

 

 

Grrr - I don't know why the software has loaded the pictures that way as they are in the right orientation on my laptop when I selected them for loading! I can't find a button to rotate them - sigh.

These are the challenges I am entering this in:
A Blog Named Hero - Papers Please (use patterned papers) . The challenge details are here  .
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Rock the Techniques. The challenge details are  .here

Materials:
File Folders - Heidi Swapp; Patterned Papers - Kaisercraft; Stamps - Heidi Swapp, Simple Stories, Hero Arts; Embossing Folders - Teresa Collins, Ink - Stampin' Up!, Stazon, Versa; Stickers - Heidi Swapp, K&Co; Washi Tape.

Two Little Girls

Two little girls I know are going to Tokyo Disneyland for a day in the near future.  I remember the first time I went; I didn't know the characters would sign their autographs for you. I think I still have the park maps with their signatures on them (some 20+ years later). I didn't want them to be in the same boat as me when I went unprepared to get autographs so I decided to make them autograph books to take with them. 

I whipped these up in record time and used leftovers in my stash.  The cover cardstock is K&Co packaging, the letter stickers are from a design team kit (I didn't have enough a's so I made an extra one from a b), and the patterned paper I used on the left hand edge and the inside cover is from a class I went to a few years ago.  The notebooks I had in my stash. Unfortunately, I was worried about the notebook pages falling apart so I decided to rethink the binding. I cut them apart, separated the notebook pages, added another notebook's worth of pages (doubling the size of the notebook), and bound using my [new] cinch. In fact, I got the cinch in June after wanting one for a year or more. Today, I actually took it out of the box and used it! So easy!

I preferred the notebooks as they were originally but now I know they will stand up to handling by young girls (under age 5) and they also have the added bonus of having more paper.

I am entering these notebooks in 2 challenges as they both have the theme of Anything Goes!
The details for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog is here .
The details for the Inspiration Emporium Challenge blog is here .
Can you tell I am desperate to win a shopping voucher at either of these stores? Tim Holtz has released an alphabet die set I just have to get my hands on!

PS I haven't spelled Ema's name wrong! Ema is the short version of her name and her full name wouldn't fit!

Materials:
Paper - K&Co, Bo Bunny; Alpha's - Doodlebug; Plastic Coating - Quikutz; Binding - Cinch; Notebooks.

Olaf - Anything Goes

Someone I know had a Frozen themed birthday - a 5th birthday. I thought to myself: I could make a snowman (apologies to anyone who now has that song in their head).  Apparently I can't make a snowman and I am very embarrassed with how my Olaf turned out. What do you think?

This will be the last and only snowman I ever make. It must be love.

The paper started out life as a cream doily print.  The birthday girl's favourite colour is purple so out came my ink applicator and a purple ink pad to re-colour it. I thought the doily pattern represented swirly snow.

Two challenge sites have Anything Goes as their current challenge so I am entering this card in both of them (even though I am embarrassed by it!). I am entering this card in Inspiration Emporium's challenge - the details for the challenge are here . The other challenge site is over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - the details are here .
 
Materials: Paper - Prima, Glassine - Ranger, Cardstock - Stampin' Up!, Ink - Tim Holtz, Enamel Dots - Ranger, Crystals - Kaisercraft, Number - American Crafts, Journal Pen - Stampin' Up!,  Snowflakes, Punches

Using The Stash - Anything Goes

Last year I had a personal goal of using older items from my stash. Each blog entry would have a mention near the end of older , even never used, items from my stash. You remember that right? Then I seemed to have stopped. Well, I created today's layout using plenty of older items from my stash (some may have been previously unused!). I saw a layout by Geralyn Sy on Studio Calico's blog which had a lot of stamped circles on it. I pulled out my circle stamps. At first I worried I wouldn't have any or enough. Boy, was I mistaken. I ended up with a pile on my floor.  I sorted through choosing the circle designs I wanted to use. Then it was on to choosing ink colour which lead me trying to decide what order I wanted the colours stamped in. Originally I imagined this layout would come together very quickly as I had a design already - 'fraid not! After test stamping first, then switching to markers instead to choose the colours and order, I finally got around to stamping. Next up I had to decide about the corner frame accent. Originally it wasn't going to be added. I recently bought a packet of Heidi Swapp frames (on sale at Spotlight - bonus!) and thought: what about using one of those. Sadly, it was a fraction to small for my photo. Then I thought: what if I cut it in half and used the pieces as photo corners?. Then: 2 photo corners or one? - one. Then: which corner? Agh! Eventually it was done. Today as I went to photograph it I had thrown some tiny clothes pegs on the table and I thought to myself: what if I added one of those? I really need to stop asking myself so many questions and go back to using another goodie I used to pull out for my blog: just glue it down!

 

 

Older Items From My Stash: K&Co word, mini clothes peg, and most of the stamps! (one set is by Nic Howard for Crafting Connection in 2004!) 

New Items: Heidi Swapp frame and stamps, Ranger perfect pearls (love them!) and October Afternoon flair

 

I am entering this layout in the latest challenge at Inspiration Emporium - Anything Goes. It is quite apt as I ordered most of my perfect pearls from them (can't wait for the new colours to be released). The challenge details are here .

 

Materials: Paper - Glitz Designs;  Washi - MME; Word - K&Co; Frame -Heidi Swapp;  Perfect Pearls - Ranger; Flair - October Afternoon,  Ink - Ranger, Stampin' Up!, Versamagic, Colorbok; Stamps - Heidi Swapp, Kaisercraft, Mama Elephant, Martha Stewart, Little Yellow Bicycle, Autumn Leaves, 3 Bugs in a Rug, The Paper Company Studio, Fiskars; Resin Flowers, Mini Clothes Peg - unknown.

#society52

I've been plunged into the world of Instagram by my American niece. Does that make me hip? Probably not, sadly. I started following @society52 which puts up a new challenge every week then puts up a twist in the middle of that week. I decided to load my recent layout to their challenge this week. My Instagram privacy settings are set at private so I don't know if they can see my entry! I'm not very techy but I'm wondering if I load it to my blog with their hashtag it will show up if they searched for it? Here goes:

 

#society52

 

 

 

I hope @society52 get to see my entry! The challenge this week is to use no patterned paper. The background paper is the [folded over] excess paper from a tourist map which I used for the background for the next page. I added Project Life cards to fill the gap in the middle then threw on items from my travel theme stash and some luggage souvenirs then I glued them down. It came together really fast - always a bonus. Their mid week twist is add black and my 4x6" cards have black on them already!

 

Materials: Film Strips, Post-It, Gold Border Strip - Teresa Collins; Cards - Kaisercraft, Simple Stories; Flair - October Afternoon; Veneers - Studio Calico; Chipboard Stickers - Michels.



Sheet Cake

What does Sheet Cake mean? I have no idea but it is the latest challenge at A Blog Named Hero! What they are looking for is a one layer card. This is not my normal style so what a challenge for me. I whipped up a quick card to enter this challenge. I saw Heidi Swapp do a technique this week and I thought I would give it a go. Super Easy. Great Look.

I made this in a hurry (and this blog entry!) and there are a couple of things I will point out. The card was originally a standard size but I must've had black permanent ink on my stamping block as it ended up on the card front. A quick trim and it became more of a square card. I didn't tape down my stencil and this is obvious to me - will do that next time! Lastly, I sprayed Blush as my base colour and Coral through the stencil. Next time I need to have more definition between my colours - like Blush and Navy for example. Great technique though and one that I want to try again when I am not rushing (and have time to tape the stencil).

Challenge details:
A Blog Named Hero #48 Sheet Cake is here.

Materials: Stamp - Hero Arts, Ink - Ranger, Matt Medium - Atelier, Spray and Stencil - Heidi Swapp.

Clearly Spinning Round

Southern Girls Challenge is Spin Me Right Round Baby and the Wednesday challenge over at Simon Says Stamp is Let's Be Clear which is why my title is Clearly Spinning Round! I have a 2 year olds birthday party tomorrow so I whipped up a special card for the special birthday girl. I nearly did my wrist in adding all the liquid pearl drops but it was worth it. I like this card so much that I am tempted to keep it for myself!

This card is actually A4 size - I should have added a ruler so you could get an idea of the size. I embossed a A4 piece of heavy weight acetate with a Teresa Collins A4 embossing folder, folded a 1/2" panel on the left hand edge and attached a piece of cardstock to it for the card backing. The doilies and stamped front panel were in my cardmaking box from earlier [failed] card making attempts. This card fell together really quickly after that. All I had to do was create a number for the front (sounds wrong if I say what number I created!), stamp the sentiment on the inside doily and add liquid pearl drops to the front.

One last picture showing the card standing up so you can see that the card front is see through:

Here are the challenge details:
Southern Girls Challenge - Spin Me Round Baby is here. I am entering it for this challenge as the doily is round.
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Let's Be Clear is here. My card front is made from acetate so is definitely clear.

Materials: Cardstock (Stampin' Up!), Acetate (Stampzone), Patterned Paper (DCWV), Ink (Stampin' Up!, Versafine), Stamps (Stampin' Up!, Hero Arts), Dies (Sizzix, Stampin' Up!), Liquid Pearls (Ranger), Chipboard (Quickutz), Sprays (Glimmermist, Smooches), Doilies.

This Card Packs A Punch

This card packs a punch. Well, actually it doesn't; it just uses a punch in order to qualify for the latest challenge at Southern Girls Challenge. The latest Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog is Anything Goes so this card qualifies for that also!

I was inspired by a card using stamped woodgrain on cardstock that was attached to a card front in strips with brads to represent building work. Sorry, I can't remember where or the designer. I needed to make a card for my Dad so I knew I wanted to use a woodgrain stamp - nothing says manly better than woodgrain. I was actually extremely tired (exhausted in fact) from my recent trip that after I inked the stamp, turned it over and placed it on the card stock I realised that I didn't possess the oomph to press down on the back of the stamp to leave the impression! Luckily I managed to complete the card in the end (probably because I kept it pretty simple - but still classy I hope).

In summary, this card is being entered in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Anything Goes. The details are here.
Southern Girls Challenge: Use A Punch Or Diecut. The details are here.

Materials:
Cardstock (Ormolu, Stampin' Up!), Ink (Stampin' Up!), Stamps (Stampin' Up!), Punch  (Stampin' Up!), Corner Punch (W R Memory Keepers), Ribbon, Brads.

A Few Of My Favourite Things + 12 Tags April

Tim Holtz's tag this month for 12 Tags of 2014 is a real beauty (when aren't they?). I just happened to have one of those gorgeous lattice TH/Sizzix dies - how did that get into my craft room? Unfortunately, when I set up my die stack and pushed the button on my beloved Vagabond machine nothing happened! It was as dead as a dodo! Noooooooooooo! Of course it was out of warranty - Murphy's law. But the supplier was very helpful when I called to ask if they can fix it (nope!) and somehow or another (I confess nothing) a Craftwell Ebosser ended up on my doorstep (*blush*).  Which is very handy as I won a Teresa Collins A4 embossing folder recently which fits only in the Ebosser machine. So eventually I got to create along with Tim and here's my version:

 

 

Pretty no? Thanks for the inspiration Tim! Here's the details for the challenge post http://timholtz.com/12-tags-of-2014-april/

 

I am also entering this tag into Inspiration Emporium's current challenge (A Few of my Favourite Things) as Tim's 12 Tags is one of my favourite inspiration challenges and I got to use some of my favourite items (distress ink & paint, dies, sprays) and a few of my favourite techniques (colouring ribbon with spray inks, inking edges, water spraying). And it just might be one of my favourite creations. The details for the challenge are here.

 

Materials: Die, Tag, Tissue Tape, Distress Paint & Ink (Tim Holtz), Spray Inks (Heidi Swapp), Frame (Making Memories), Stamp (Kaisercraft), Paper (Bo Bunny, DCWV), Chipboard (Quickutz), Safety Clip, Flowers, Leaves, Seam Binding, Metal Tape.

Going On A Journey

Not much creating going on at the moment due to my big upcoming trip. What I have worked on though is a journal to take with me so that my Mum and I have somewhere to take down our memories. I mentioned the journal in a recent post and now it is finished - quite proud of this one.

It is very, very simple and basic. A little washi here and a little ephemera there and of course some stamping! The pages either had some washi strips or pieces of ephemera from the Kaisercraft 6x6 paper pad.  A few envelopes were scattered throughout for all those bits and pieces of ephemera we will surely collect along the way. I'm so glad I have finished it in time to enter it in the latest Simon Says Stamp Challenge which closes tomorrow!

 

The little bag contains some journaling pens, some washi and a tiny stapler for attaching items along the journey. Next up are some of the inside pages. You will notice that each page is stamped with Day, Date and Place. Warning - it is about to get photo heavy in here.

When I was sorting through some childhood items recently I came across two journals I had done for trips to Sydney and America in my teenage years. I was going to throw them out (Shock! Horror!) but my Mum wouldn't let me. Then, she sat down to read them and had us in stitches as she read out my teenage reminiscences. I was a teenage girl so you can imagine boys (and food) featured strongly.

I am entering this journal into Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Journey. The details for the challenge are here.

Materials: Book, Mists (Clearsnap, Colour Shine), Ephemera (Kaisercraft), Assorted Washi (1x Tim Holtz), Stamps (Kaisercraft, Heidi Swapp, Teresa Collins, Mama Elephant, Martha Stewart, Unknown), Stazon, Envelopes, Brads, Twill (Typo)

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).

 

 

 

 

 





Brag Alert

Guess who got spotlighted by Simon Says Stamp? Me! ( happy dance)
I was spotlighted for my "A is for Aunty Time" entry. I'm truly surprised and delighted.
Now I just have to figure out how to add the badge to my blog?!?!?!?  Anyone know how to do that?

Stencilled Class - Day 4 - Card 1 (and only one)

A week later I have my card from the last day of classes at Stencilled complete. On day four they let you chose a technique from the course and make a card. I chose the texture paste with embossing powder. I really like this idea. Jennifer McGuire has an example on her blog of embossing on texture paste and I took her card as my starting off point.  This card is being entered in the Hero Arts Birthday Card - Anything Goes challenge

This time I let the texture paste dry over night (with the embossing powder on it) before embossing it. This version turns out really well. I also tried one where I embossed straight away (like on the star card - day 3). This time it didn't turn out as nice.

The texture paste bubbles up and the design is not as smooth. I also only have white texture paste so when the powder bubbles you can see the white underneath.  Here's a picture with both cards side by side so you can see the difference.

The one on the right is smoother as that is the one I left to dry before I heat embossed it.

BTW I kinda wish I used a white card base like Jennifer did, then my colours would look better.

I am entering the first card in the Hero Arts monthly challenge : Birthday Cards. The category I am entering is Anything Goes.  I have never entered their challenges before. The details are here.

Materials:
Stencil (Prima), Texture Paste (Jo Sonya's), Embossing Powder (Zing), Stamps (Hero Arts, Other), Sequins (Papervine), Corner Rounder (KRMK), Cardstock (Bazill)

Stencilled Class - Day 3 - Card 2

This card utilises colouring texture paste with spray inks. I have done this technique before - sometimes successfully, sometimes not.  This time it turned out well:

The video colours clear embossing paste but I only have white texture paste. If you use clear instead the white your depth of colour will be much stronger.

Materials: Stencil (Heidi Swapp), Texture Paste (Jo Sonya), Spray Ink (Smooch), Stamp (Stampin' Up!), Ink (Stazon), Paper, Card, Vellum, Flower.

Stencilled - Day 3 - Card 1

This card uses texture paste - ok, it was supposed to be clear embossing paste but I don't have any - and embossing powder on top. The result is really cool! Loving the metallic stars.

Materials: Texture Paste (Jo Sonya), Stencil (Crafter's Workshop), Stamp (Mama Elephant), Embossing Powder, Paper, Ink (Stampin' Up!), Star brad.