Tuesday 25 December 2012

Happy Christmas

A very happy Christmas from my family to yours.  May you have a wonderful day with your family and safe travels for those of you who will be 'on the road'.

My first ATC
created for the "Roo and You ATC" swap group I have recently joined.

Monday 24 December 2012

Altered Brushes

Hi all it's me again.  It is now Christmas Eve here in Hamilton New Zealand.  The sky is overcast but it is extremely sticky and has been raining off and on all day.  We have all the doors and windows open trying to catch any slight breeze that may pass through.  With no work today, Jan and I have started catching up on all the jobs we haven't had time to do since we got sick a few weeks ago.

We have had a busy time of late making all our Christmas presents, catching up with friends for coffee and we still haven't got through them all - just as well we have a couple of weeks off. 

We had a fantastic day in Auckland recently at the Scrapfest by the Sea Christmas party.  There were only a few of us but we had lots of fun and laughter and got lots of scrapbooking done.  It is going to be an exciting time and we are so looking forward to going to Nelson in August for this amazing event.

Jan and I have been inspired bythe Altered Brush Project being run by Donna Downey.  This is one seriously talented lady and you really should check out her stuff.  Anyhow, Jan and I thought we would have a go ourselves and trotted off to Bunnings for some 'el cheapo' brushes ($1.96 each).  This is what we made...
Oh what fun we have had.  I don't know about Jan but I am hooked and have already been out and bought more brushes. Thanks Donna,you are such an amazing artist and I am so inspired by you.

Well, that's it from me for now.  Hope you and yours have a truly relaxing Christmas and be safe.

 





Wednesday 21 November 2012

Scrapbook Quotes Tag Album

Well, as promised, I took a couple of photos of the tag album today.  Each page has a quote about scrapbooking and the book ring means I can keep adding to it.



Tuesday 20 November 2012

Geez, it's been a while

So where have you been ... and well you might ask.  I don't know where the last few weeks have gone.  I have been getting involved in trying different things with my scrapbooking so that accounts for some of the time.  Check this out - it started life as a can of chick peas.  The chick peas got roasted by the way ...


It had a tear tab top so it was really easy to keep the top edge neat and tidy and less likely to cut someone. After cleaning and drying the tin, the first thing I did was to cover the tin with a piece of paper and then add a strip of contrasting paper around the centre. 

The doilies were next followed by the butterfly ribbon along the top and bottom edges of the centrepiece.

The rosette was added next.  This was made from a strip of paper that was straight-cut down one edge and torn down the other so when it was folded it gave more of an elipse than a circle.  A circle cut from cardstock and covered in glitter was added to the centre of the rosette.


The butterfly was cut from matching paper and the wings curled around a pencil to make them stand up.  A piece of wire was bent to form the antenna and fixed under the body with three different sized pearl beads stuck on to form the body itself.

Last, but not least, small flowers and leaves were added along both sides of the rosette and ribbons inserted to add a bit more dimension.  These can all be placed to cover any little flaws in your base like covering edges and so on. 

To complete the tin I placed a small round of plastic foam in the base so that when pens or pencils are dropped into it there isn't a loud clatter.

This is the first time I have tried anything like this before and I wondered whether it was even going to be worth keeping as I was making it but now that it is complete it looks quite pretty.

I've made a couple of tag albums as well.  One is for my Mum for Christmas (no telling) so no pictures of that until after Christmas.  The other is a collection of sayings around scrapbooking that I found on the scrapbook.com website.  Photos of that once I have completed it - it's nearly there.

Jan & I have also been asked to join an ATC swap.  We didn't even know what one was until then but have decided to give it a go.  ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards.  They are small cards lovingly crafted and traded with other artists. Our first swap has a Christmas theme and there are twelve participants so we have been busy making twelve identical cards each.  They went in the post today and now we wait.  The swap closes on December 1st and then we will get a parcel back with one of our cards plus one each from the other eleven members of the group.  If it as exciting as the Scrapfest Tag Swap we did recently then it is going to be lots of fun.  We are already hooked and have been out and bought albums to store the cards in.  Photos of the cards later too.

Lots of other stuff going on in our lives at the moment but more about that in a later post.  Night everyone, stay safe and well.  See ya!




Tuesday 30 October 2012

Tag Swap

Wow, what an exciting time waiting for our tags to come back so I could post mine here on my blog. But wait, I'm rushing ahead way too fast. The last three weeks have seemed to go past so slowly as we waited by the letterbox for our delivery. As part of the fun lead up to Scrapfest by the Sea (to be held in Nelson next August) a challenge was set to join in a tag swap. Never having done anything like this before - either a swap or making a tag - Jan and I decided we would add our names to the list of participants and give it a go. Once the names were in, we were divided into groups of roughly eight people. I was allocated to Group Three - we decided to set up a facebook group and called ourselves "Tag You're It" - thanks to Esther Salisbury for setting this up for us. Jan was allocated to Group Two. Much discussion ensued via Facebook over how groups would approach the task - would they have a theme, and if so, what would it be. Group Three settled on texture, stamping and the colour purple. I took the texture and the purple and set about making eight identical tags. This is what mine turned out like.
After cutting the tag I covered it with foil and then painted it, rubbing back the paint before it was totally dry. I made the flowers out of cardstock and tipped each petal with glitter. Flourishes cut using our new eClips machine, a feather, an embossed butterfly and a couple of leaves completed the main embellishing. The tag was finished with a couple of ribbons held in place by an industrial look brad. Then it was off to the post office to send them all to the lovely Trina McClune, coordinator extraordinare, and then a nervous yet exciting wait for the postie to return. At last the day arrived and in my box, eight lovely tags, one from each of the talented ladies in Group Three, plus some treats from Trina & Vicki Morris (big hugs girls). Awesome work ladies in Group Three, such beautiful work. Unfortunately some have not received their parcels yet so I will wait to post the group photo. I'm off to make another project now ... watch this space.

Monday 22 October 2012

trying a link

Hi I want to try adding a link to another blog. Every time I try it doesn't work so now I have something else to try. So here goes - a link to Scrappin Patch, home of the amazing Labour Weekend Challenge.

Labour Weekend Challenge

Hi everyone Scrappin Patch in Rolleston set a scrapbook challenge for the long weekend whereby they gave out a recipe item on their Facebook page each hour on Saturday. The goal was to collect these 'ingredients' and put together a page using all of them. There were some freebies allowed such as ink, paint, dies, journalling etc but the feature was to be the specified recipe items. Here is my take using a piece of cardstock, 3 patterned papers, 3 buttons, 5 stars, ribbon, a bunting (banner), and a two word title.

Friday 19 October 2012

My Secret Project

Over the past two or three weeks I have been squirreling myself away in the scrapbook room, hoping to create a birthday gift for Jan. Today is the day, happy birthday honey, I hope you love my gift as much as I have loved making it. This is for you.
I got the idea from the "52 Reasons I Love You" website at www.52reasonsiloveyou.com. This was created by Lowri McNabb - thanks Lowri for the inspiration. I kept the inside of the cards simple, just the text and a pale blue border. I embellished the front with a punched flower using my foil technique discovered many years ago when I did ceramics. A couple of leaves, some bling, book rings and ribbons and it was done. I wanted Jan to have a box to keep her cards in so I made a box out of an empty tissue box, glued the same punched flowers, along with a heart and chipboard numbers to the front to create the design before using the same foil technique to cover the box. I then cut out an inner sleeve from some corrugated card, covered the inside in the same paper as the front and back covers of the card pack and inserted it into the box. All that was left was to punch the holes around the open edge, weave a ribbon through the holes to disguise the join and then add more ribbon; and of course add my signature butterfly (complete with bling). The cards slot neatly into the box and all the ribbons perfectly disguise the gift inside. Am loving it!

Saturday 13 October 2012

Today's outlook ...

Rain, rain and more rain. Oh well, just as well I am tucked up in my sleeping bag in my lazy boy chair, doing nothing at all. Actually, I've been here for a few days now, not just being a blob but trying to shake off this nasty bug which has gotten hold. It all started with a sore throat before developing into a cough and all sorts of other nasties. By Wednesday night I had already been at the emergency doctor twice, this last with the warning that if I wasn't getting any better in the morning then it was off to hospital as I was borderline with pneumonia. I have made some improvement but still have a long way to go. unfortunately it seems to have now affected Jan and she has the same wonderful hacking cough. Aaargh!!! Still, it all gets put into perspective when you get a text to say that someone you care about has been taken into hospital in severe pain, vomiting and other symptoms that I don't like the sound off. Annette had surgery last week for breast cancer and now seems to have developed complications. We are thinking of you and sending lots of love to you and the girls and also to Maree as she continues to support you along this journey. Wish I could be there but know that we love you and want you well again. Take care everyone, until next time.

Saturday 6 October 2012

It's Saturday

Just because it's Saturday, and for no other reason, Jan and I have been to our local coffee shop, Olive (in Flagstaff) and had lunch. A bacon and cheese roll, curly fries with mustard aioli and for me, a cappuccino. Mmmmmm!!!
Isn't that just the cutest thing. The barista has a fabulous little album of pictures on his phone so you can choose what picture you would like - that's if you want to. I just like it being a surprise. They make the most yummy food,their coffee is delicious, the staff are friendly and the atmosphere is inviting - all very good reasons for going back time after time. For those of you who have been following our tag-making escapade, you'll be pleased to know that they are finally in the post. They needed to be in by October 18th so we are in with plenty of time to spare. Once everyone has finished the tags are going to be sorted and we will get eight tages sent back, one from each member of our "tag" team. It will be interesting to see how each person has approached the challenge. Photos will be posted once they come back - don't want to spoil the surprise for everyone, now do we?. Again, watch this space. By the way, if anyone would like a chest infection and sore throat - I have one looking for a new home, I am over it already LOL!!! Have a great weekend everyone,and thanks for looking.

Tuesday 2 October 2012

Tag swap

Two days into the Scrapfest by the Sea tag swap and I am making slow progress. We've been divided into four teams of around eight scrapbookers in each team so this means making eight tags all the same. Once the tags are made they are going to be sent in to the coordinator and then each participant will get sent a group of eight tags, one from each team member. It's my first swap so am looking forward to seeing what comes back. The design I decided on is made up of several components, each of which needs time to dry so it will be a few days before I can put them all together. I'm quite excited about how they are coming together and would love to show them to you but it's all very top secret at the moment. Suffice to say that my fingers were majorly pink today from the dye used yesterday. Watch this space and I'll post a pic once the cloak of secrecy is lifted LOL!!!

Sunday 30 September 2012

I love my eclips

Had a great day today. Finally got to play with the new eclips. First we cut out a couple of the shapes from the cartridges we had and then we installed "Sure cuts a lot" onto the computer. This was a free programme which came with the eclips machine and allows us to design and cut out our own shapes. Jan and I have been able to cut out our shapes for the tag swap we are participating in so this new acquisition is very timely. The tag swap is just one of the many awesome activities in the lead up to Scrapfest by the Sea which is being held in Nelson, NZ in August 2013. We've had some fabulous competitions so far with some awesome prizes up for grabs. Keep watching this space for more Scrapfest fun. I also had the opportunity to take my mum and younger son out for coffee at Theobroma, yummy coffee as usual. Then I found out that I had won a prize for a scrap challenge with Artfull Crafts. What an exciting day.

Saturday 29 September 2012

Thank you to everyone who checked out my meagre attempt at my first post. What an exciting day - Jan and I have just had a quick trip up to Auckland to visit Scottie Crafts . This is an amazing little shop tucked away in Ellice Road, Wairau Valley. We met them at SENZ in Hamilton (NZ) a few weeks ago and two weeks ago visited their store for the first (but definitely not last) time. It is only small but hold loads of scrapbooking and cardmarking toys ... heaven!!! The purpose of our trip was to buy an eclips electronic cutting machine. It's put out by Sizzix and we've been told that you can design your own stuff as well as using purchased cartridges - so we're going to give it a go. We've never had anything like this before so it is a real treat and a step up from scissors and a craft knife. The first thing we need to do is work out how to install it and then see if we can make it go. I promise to post pics once we have got it sussed. In the meantime, thanks for looking at my blog, and if you have any suggestions as to how I can improve it please let me know. Thanks.

Friday 28 September 2012

my first post

hey, I've done it, I have my first blog and this is my first post. I hope that you'll keep coming back to see what I write, my thoughts and ideas, and hopefully share with you some of my creative endeavours. Over the next little while I will tell you a little bit more about myself but for now I am content with the fact that I have actually managed to figure this out ... Yay for me!!!