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!!!