March is National Craft Month

March is National Craft month according to Spotlight.  I'm all in!  Kellie Winnel is also doing #31minutesfor31days this month and I have decided to join in! Most people have projects planned for the 31 days before it started, but I jumped in at the last minute (or day 1 on March 1st).  So, every day in March, I will need to create/craft for 31 minutes (or more hopefully).  I have a craft event coming up this weekend so that is two days accounted for.  I just need to be consistent for the other 29 days in March - how hard can that be LOL!

Here's how I am going so far:
March 1st - created a military themed hat for a party
March 2nd - Worked on a Heidi Swapp layout from CAD2018
March 3rd - Mini accordion album for the above layout
March 4th - Memory Planner prep for March
March 5th - Memory Planner for Feb (awaiting photos)

I deliberately decided to prepare March in my memory planner yesterday so I could join in with this weeks challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  This weeks challenge is Anything Goes.  Here's my prepared monthly page:

On this layout I decided to use some Heidi Swapp rose gold foiling flakes I got in my last order from Simon Says Stamp - yes, they ship internationally!  I had not used them before and just winged it.  Unfortunately the Heidi Swapp glue pen I have I a wide tip one so it is bulkier than I would like.  I also coloured some Prima number stickers with a coral alcohol ink pen to match the layout (this month's colour theme in the book is navy and coral so I ran with that)

Materials:
Heidi Swapp: Planner, Glue Pen, Rose Gold Foil Flakes
Prima: Number Stickers
Ali Edwards: Stories by the month chipboard 31 and today stamp
Kellie Winnel: Stamp (makers gonna make)
Sharpie: Blue/Coral Markers
Sakura: Black Pen
Other: circle punch, paper scrap, alcohol marker

Getting Crafty on Waitangi Day

It's Waitangi Day here in New Zealand so we have a public holiday. I spent the day crafting and it feels good. To start I completed another layout from CAD 2018 using photos from CAD 2018!  The layout is from one of Terhi Koskinen's classes.  It was so funny listening to the rest of the class during this lesson as we were not allowed to use rulers! I was happy to go free-form but many were not happy at all lol!  #terhikoskinenworkshops @terhi_koskinen Here's the layout:

Lately I have been doing a lot of catch up and finishing projects from craft weekends so I was itching to create for creating sakes. I was inspired by the faux stitched blocks on Terhi's layout, an idea popped in to my head and I decided to run with it.  I had a few orange toned chipboard stickers left from the class kit so I wanted to try the matching the colours like in the first layout too. I chose a number of coral, pink and red paper squares from the kit and laid them out. Once I inked the edges and glued them down, I added faux stitching with a Tim Holtz ruler.

Next I decided I really liked the paint behind the squares as in the first layout, but I had already glued the squares down! My alternative was try some water colouring around it. I also added splotches of colours - one of my favourite techniques.

Lastly, I layered on the chipboard stickers and fussy cut 2 storks - love those stalks! I must really love them because I don't like fussy cutting!  I channelled Terhi and just kept adding items from the leftovers of the class kit. Here's my final layout:

I am entering this layout in two challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge -  Add Some Red (definitely some pops of red on my layout - I deliberately made sure to include red so I could enter this challenge)

It's 5:45pm and I forgot I am on cooking dinner tonight so I better get to that now!

Materials:
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Oxides (for watercolouring)
Sprays: Prima and Heidi Swapp (for splotches and some light colour spray)
Waterbrushes: Sakura and Prima
Papers, Swatch Books, Chipboard Stickers: Pick Me Up by Paige Evans by American Crafts (including fussy cut items from the papers)
Glitter Enamel Shapes: Box of Crayons by Shimelle by American Crafts
White Pen: Kikki-K
Sticker: Vicki Boutin by American Crafts (journal box)
Page Base: Heidi Swapp
Stitching Ruler: Tim Holtz
Pen: Sharpie (for faux stitching)
Buttons and Butterflies: from class kit (unknown)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes Feb 2019

The latest challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is Anything Goes.  Lately, I have been working on getting my Heidi Swapp Memory Dex up to date and I am entering my pages for the Anything Goes challenge.

First up is my One Little Word (OLW) title piece for 2019.  My 2019 OLW is More:

Inside are cards expounding on my word for the year and what it could mean for me.

Next up is a memory dex card for a family birthday:

The back side of the same card:

The details for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes can be found here .

Materials:
Memory dex cards/envelope: Heidi Swapp (American Crafts)
Thickers: American Crafts
Numbers dies: Tim Holtz for Sizzix
Dream Big - Amy Tangerine (American Crafts)
Diamond punch: Teresa Collins
Label: Teresa Collins (covered by the tassel as it has DOB info on it)
Chipboard Embellishments: Ali Edwards
Gold number stickers: Kikki-K
Memory dex punch: Heidi Swapp
Stickers: Recollections
Silver/teal cardstock: from my stash

2019 so far ....

Can you believe we are nearly at the end of January already? We are currently in the middle of a heat wave here in New Zealand so it's too hot to craft right now. But I have been completing some craft projects.

First up is my memory planner for last year.  I used this lovely diary from Kaisercraft I bought in Australia.

I stuffed the intro pockets with various labels and tickets from last year.

Here's a monthly layout

Another project I finished up was a TN for my 2017 Australia trip

A sample layout

Finally I completed some Heidi Swapp layouts from Creative Adventure Downunder (CAD) from June last year.

There's still plenty of projects from CAD 2018 that I need to complete.   At least I finished last year's 20 layouts from Pretty Rustic before this year's event happening in March!

The First Challenge for the New Year

It's already 2019 in New Zealand - Happy New Year. I hope all of your dreams (and mine) come true this year.

For Christmas I gave my boss a bottle of wine and I wanted to jazz it up a little.  I created a simple card/cover for it. I basically used scraps to make it and it turned out quite sweet.  My boss can reuse the label for any bottle of wine that she gives during the holiday season.

Here's a close up

I am entering this project in the latest challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Materials:
Border Punch: EK Success
Bird Punch: Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Paper Smooches
Embossing Ink - Versamark
Embossing Powder: Stamp Effects
Cardstock: assorted from my scrap pile.

SSS Wrap It Up

It's the time of year for gift giving so I've been making some pouches to fill with chocolates for small gifts.  I pulled out some DCWV christmas paper because I couldn't find my Bazill Basics red paper pad - time for a clean up in the craft space maybe?  I used the WRMK pillow box punch board to make the pouches.  I finished the pouches off with some Stampin' Up! silver twine and tags cut with a old Sizzix steel rule die (that's how old it is!). 

The latest challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is - Wrap It Up .  These pouches fit the bill perfectly.  I'm off to eat the left over chocolate now.....

Materials:
Paper - DCWV
Twine - Stampin' Up!
Tag Die - Sizzix
Punch Board - WRMK

For the Love of Play - SSS Anything But a Card

Little things like work really get in the way of crafting, don't they? Unfortunately, we need to work to pay for all the pretties we like to play with. That's what the Bank Manager tells me, anyway.  I've managed to catch up on my memory dex cards for June to August.  June was all about Creative Adventure Downunder and my August card covered the Celine Dion concert in NZ.

Not much happened in July so I had a play with some new products and some older items from my stash:

I put my new Nuvo embellishment mousse through an older stencil then layered on stickers, coloured twine and punches.  Lastly I finished it off with some tiny, matching pearl drops.  I'm really happy how my creative play turned out.

 I am entering this project over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything But A Card
It's definitely not a card - I'm not sending it away. It's gone straight to the memory Dex box. Or 'straight to the pool room' as we say in NZ and Australia.

Materials:
Memory Dex Card - Heidi Swapp (AC)
Stencil - The Crafters Workshop
Embellishment Mousse: Nuvo (Tonic)
Stickers - Simple Stories, Amy Tangerine (AC)
Punch - Stampin' Up!
Perfect Pearls - Ranger
Other - twine coloured with Colour Shine by Heidi Swapp