think pink for October

Over at Copic Oz this month the challenge is to create something pink and for each entry they will donate to the McGrath Foundation funding the support of breast cancer nurses.  The layout of this card was inspired by the beautiful cards of Bev Rochester.  I've used Kaszazz Vintage Floral for the pink rose paper, the cardstock is Stampin Up as is my new favourite pink stitched ribbon, the corner die is Joy Crafts and the floral oval is Spellbinders.  I've used Kaisercraft pearls and Viva pearl pen.  The flowers were punched from several shades of pink shimmer paper.  The image is the very cute Boobie Love from Krista Smith at Saturated Canary and is coloured with Copics of course.

Inspired by the letter B

Over at the Saturated Canary challenge blog we have been challenged to create with the letter B.  I had a new Smash book that I was waiting to try out-this being my first effort at smashing!  I found the blue page of course and then set about trying to think of things beginning with B other than the obvious blue and brown to start off with.  In the end I decided to create a list and then the page grew with elements as I thought of them.  The feature is of course an image by Saturated Canary coloured in Copics (blues and browns).  I've used an old book page that has been inked and punched.  The banner is made from washi tape.  My B's are banner,bow(hair),butterfly, bling (on the bow and balloon), balloon, border, book page, blue and  brown.

Going Dotty

Two challenges in one again this week.  The first was Going Dotty at Saturated Canary and I have used one of the gorgeous digi stamps ( Krista's Canary Love) coloured in Copics for this card.  The dotty papers are from Basic Grey, Kaisercraft and ScribbleScrabble.  Cardstock is Stampin' Up and the tag is Darkroom Door. Pearls are also Kaisercraft.  For the layout of the card I have used the current sketch over on The Deconstructed Sketch.

2 challenges in one

Finally for those of you who still look to see what I've done I've been back making cards and have one to show you.  The image is Hippie Girl from Saturated Canary (a digi).  I've coloured her with Copics and created a background sponging with SU inks and Distress inks with some SU marker touches.  I've used a mixture of flowers from my stash and hand punched flowers with Liquid Pearl centres.  The leaves are from a MS punch.  The papers are from Nitwit Collections and are also digital.  The colour scheme is to fit the challenge in the Color Room this week, and the theme at Saturated Canary is the great outdoors.  Sorry about the lighting, taken at night with flash.

It's been a while

It has been a while since I've posted and there have been a few reasons for that.  I normally only post my creations and don't blog about personal things but I ran out of creative steam in January after losing my much loved mini poodle Bonnie to a short and unexpected illness.  (I still have my photo with her in the sidebar).
What started out looking like a tummy upset turned into liver failure and I had to make the heartbreaking decision after a week of intensive treatment to have her put to sleep.  She was an amazing and loving companion.  They say you never forget your first dog and I am sure that is true.  For quite some time after that I just didnt feel like making cards or scrapbooking but one day there will be a scrapbook dedicated to her.   Recently I have started to scrapbook again and hope that once I have done some titles I can show some of the layouts I did on the scrapping getaway at Normanville recently.

A new puppy has also come into my life-little Abby, another poodle full of mischief and teeth!  Those teeth will chew anything and everything she can reach or climb to reach so crafting has become a bit tricky.  At least she will grow out of this quicker than children do! I've also started a new online course called Joynal by Jane Davenport.  The theme is fairies and we are working in an altered children's book and also a handmade book.  Here is the first of my creations in the altered book.  I have layered a serviette over the page and then used paint and gesso-the fairy dress is the serviette.

New Colour challenge

This week's colour challenge was quite tricky, off white, 2 shades of green and a buttercup yellow.
I've used papers from 2 Kaisercraft 6x6's, Lil Primrose and Sweet Nothings. The bird and cage are Tim Holtz movers and shapers, the larger leaves are MS punch as is the border, the roses are from the Spellbinders Rose Creations (using 3 different methods with the one die which gives 3 different looking roses ). Once again I have colour matched in Photoshop to print out some of the correct greens onto paper and punched my leaves from that. Cardstock is Stampin' Up, the quote is from Quietfire Design. This will go on the Color Room challenge 94 and Anything Goes at Bizzy Becs.

Gorjuss card

I love these Gorjuss stamps that I purchased from BizzyBec and have used one on this card. After seeing a video on youtube of a person doing a 3d image from a stamp I had to give it a go. I've done it with flowers before but not a figure. The colour palette is from the Color Room challenge for this week. I've coloured her using Prismacolor pencils which I've blended using the Copic blender pen, adding multiple layers and blending each time . The necklace is highlighed with liquid pearls
BizzyBec's challenge is Anything Goes so it will go there too! I've used Bazzil cardstock, distressing the white layer. The paper is Magnolia. The large flower and ribbon are from Spotlight. The small flowers are from Kaisercraft. The butterflies and leaves were printed on copy paper using the color codes to match the palette and punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

Color Room Challenge #91 Autumn 2011

I've joined The Color Room to give me some inspiration in my scrapbooking (see blinkie on the sidebar), but the first layout I have done has turned out to be digital. In the heat of the last few days it was all I could manage and only in short spans as the computer room was stifling.
I've used the following products in this layout,
papers-Charlize Creations-Falling into You and Lost in Autumn kits-scrapbookgraphics.com
stitches,ribbon,small flowers from the same kits.
paint splashes-Watery Spots,- Katie Pertiet -designerdigitals.com
worn paper edge-Worn page edges no 05-Lynn Grieveson-designerdigitals.com
painted paper edge-Edge Overlays no 02-Katie Pertiet-designerdigitals.com
I added the painted edge to the first layer and clipped the second layer to the worn paper edge.
I created strips of papers from the kits and altered the colours in some to match the palette uing PSE 8. I've then added stitching and drop shadows. I've created the photo frames from shapes in the Shabby Princess Scalloped Shapes and More set, clipped papers to them and layered them over my photo's. I added paint splashes via the brushes and adjusted the opacity for realism.
The ribbon and flowers have also been colour matched.
For the layout I have rotated the sketch and modified slightly to suit my elements.

Back Soon

Hi all . I've been MIA for a while but hope to be back soon with some photo's of scrap pages that I've been working on.
For now, I hope Christmas was all you wanted and wish you all the very best for the New Year.

double layout-polar bear

I'm trying to get back to more scrapping by entering some challenges and saw this challenge at StampAmemory for a double layout. As that is mostly what I do I've chosen some photo's I took at Seaworld in the middle of this year. Like the weather on the Gold Coast when we were there it was a bit overcast when I took the photo's. The cardstock is white Bazzill, the paper is retired Stampin Up Petals and Paisleys. It was perfect as it has the sea colours I was after and also a pop of yellow to pick up the bear's toy. I've used Kaisercraft flowers layered with pearl centres. I've also used some vellum with a lovely glitter spot on it, adhered it to cardstock and cut the edges to resemble snow. I've then used some glitzy Flower Soft on the edges. To make the embellishment I stamped the SU polar bear (from a current set-Zoo Review) onto Whisper White card and then using Heat and Stick powder added some superfine glitter. I learnt this technique from Kay (see link at right) and it gave me just the look I wanted. I've also used Kaisercraft Droplets to mimic water splashes. On the background I've stamped the snowflake/star from the SU Season of Joy stamp set.

Once Upon a Sketch-giveaway

I love sketches for scrapbooking and have a number of favourite sites. One of the blogs I have recently discovered is Once-Upon-a-Sketch and they have a wonderful promotion at the moment. As well as challenges using some great sketches (and journalling prompts) they are having a draw for the above Melissa Frances goodies. I hope to have a layout for their latest challenge up by the deadline-fingers crossed as I have a busy week coming up!

atc-all about me

Our most recent atc challenge was to make an atc-all about me. I chose to use a photo of myself at 2 y.o. I printed it on SU white cardstock-coloured it with markers and then fussy cut. Fairy wings were punched from the Blossoms Petal Punch (SU) and then glitzed. The background paper and stamp are Stampin Up. I used paint to age the background and distressed it. The dress pattern paper was from a Kaisercraft "Vintage" pad. Martha Stewart border punch and flowers from my stash were added. The lady bird was from Papermania Hanoverian collection. Each of the items has a special memory for me growing up and it was all layerd on cream cardstock.

Prima workshop-Ingvild Bolme

I was fortunate recently to attend a workshop by Prima educator Ingvild Bolme. While this layout has been done by many of us at her workshops each one will have the individual touch of their maker on it. Here is my version and the photo is of me at 6 weeks. It was great fun to do and I picked up lots of technical hints along the way and I'm sure these will influence my future scrapbooking. Everything on the layout except for the photo of course is by Prima. Lots of fussy cutting which I don't do much of normally but I love the effect and will try and incorporate it more.

Kaisercraft Sketch

I was browsing the web and discovered that on the Kaisercraft blog they have a sketch each Saturday based on some of the designs from the ideas magazine. This is my adaptation of the sketch #4. The original layout was a very pretty "girly" one and I have made it more natural looking using the Hunt and Gather papers to suit my photo of a close encounter in the Flinders Ranges last week. All the papers used are from the Hunt and Gather range,the 2 background pieces, side strips, (love how the piece you would normally throw away now has a pattern on the back that makes great strips,) and the blue mat which has been corner rounded. The concertina flowers have been cut from the same range using the Tim Holtz die. The lace and paper flowers are also from Kaisercraft. Swirls and leaves cut with Magnolia dies. The title is cut from one of the Hunt and Gather sheets and reads,
"Discoveries are often made by going off the main road." I've cut up part of the quote and inked the pieces before sticking down. I've tucked a tag in behind the photo to add some journalling on later about how the big red and I came to be eye to eye! I've crimped and sanded some cardstock in place of the scallops etc in the original layout. These pieces remind me of the wonderful colours in the landscape up there and the corrugated iron tanks and buildings.
(Unfortunately it seems the camera wasn't very straight which makes the photo look a bit wonky on the edges but it is quite square IRL.)

New Challenge-Distress your Edges

Hi, I am posting my final challenge as a temproary design team member at Creatalicious. It has been a fun and interesting 6 months. Keep an eye out on the site for a DT call soon. This month we are asked to distress our edges which wasn't hard for me as I love to tear, sand and ink edges in scrapbooking anyway. I've used the pretty Kaisercraft papers "Bonjour" 6x6 pad, cardstock was Stampin Up Pretty in Pink, and the stamps are Mini Magnolias coloured with Copics. All the paper edges were distressed and inked and I've used a scrap under a torn opening at the top. The butterflies are fussy cut from the paper and the tiny butterfly on the window is from a Martha Stewart punch. Leaves (MS punch) are from a scrap of the green spotty paper.

Reborn Jeremiah

I have taken up reborning dolls again. While my earlier ones are "for keeps" I love doing this so much I have decided to make dolls for sale. "Jeremiah" is from a kit by Adrie Stoete and he has a lovely peaches and cream complexion with soulful blue eyes and wispy white blonde hair. He will be listed on ebay in about 10 days time after I return from a break in the Flinders Ranges.

September Challenge-Anything Goes

This months challenge at Creatalicious means that we can go for it any way we wish. As I have a birthday card owing I decided that I would make that and combine the challenge at the same time. Apart from the base card everything else was grabbed from scraps. I've made an easel card with a difference-by combining it with a step card. I've had the idea in mind for some time but hadn't tried it out yet. The first step has layers of grass and a row of pansies (Martha Stewart border punches) with the stamped image in between. Tilda is coloured with Copics and I've used dimensional magic on the ladybird. The second step has more grass and a picket fence (Magnolia die) with roses twined onto it. The easel part has more grass layered over the background paper and tree branches (Stampin Up Punch) from card scraps. The butterflies were fussy cut from the reverse side of the paper. The label is from Stampin Up Four Frames set and I have used the matching Punch. I've coloured the roses with Copics to match the colours on the front.

art journalling

I have been intrigued by art journals for some time and have purchased several, made a start but not really "got" it. Recently I visited a site I like to go to from time to time and the artist was running an online course called "Supplies Me" for people like me addicted to supplies but don't always get the most from them. You can visit Jane Davenport here and see. It is also a bonus that she is an Aussie so I don't have to worry about time zones and stuff happening online at uncivilized hours! This first week we looked at different types of journals and gesso. The homwork was to lay down some texture, I've used tissue tape, tissue paper and lace and scrapbook paper and then gesso over it. We then had to use pencils to create something. After the gesso I put down some colour and then started a drawing which I blocked in with cream paint. I used my colour pencils over that to create the figure. The background still needed something so lucky for me my Stampin' Up order came this week and I used a new stamp from "Delicate Doilies" and white ink over the background and slighty overlapping the drawing. I then went back in with my pink pencil and lightly coloured some of the negative space in the doiley to lift it off the background a little. This stamp set has 3 other doiley stamps in it and you can purchase it from Kay-link is also in the sidebar.

Flowers-Digital ATC

The theme for this month's challenge was Flowers and after a few attempts to create what I had in mind with traditional materials I decided that it just wasn't happening and tried digital instead.
I was really happy with the end result which was mounted on SU Whisper White card that I embossed using my roses Cuttlebug folder.
The vintage girl, large rose and rose buds were from Studio Tangie,Scrapbookgraphics "Celestial Darlings". The rosebuds were selected out from their background. I've added shadows and filters and then did some hand colouring to the flowers in the hat using 50% opacity. The words are from the Prose set (Studio Tangie) and I used a blank piece and tried to match the font for the word "rose". The sticky tape is from Apprentice Art Box No 5 and I've applied the burn tool to get a 3d look. The scallop paint border was taken from Journal your Art Out-Fiddlette and Nancie Rowe Janitz Designs.

from atc to card

Here is the card that I made using the ATC posted below- It's taken a while to post it-no excuse -just distracted with scrapbooking. I've used the same colour cardstock as in the atc, embossing the background with the Cuttlebug Textile folder and adding some layers behind the atc. I 've also used a layer of shimmer paper as an insert extending from the edge and added some butterflies (Martha Stewart border punch). Finally I added the silver sticker greeting. Unfortunately the light outside was particularly bad when I took the photo.