Week 1 Project Scrapaway

At Scrapchat we have a challenge going on for the next 10 weeks and it all got started tonight. our challenge was:

MONOCHROMATIC

Yes I want you to design a monochromatic layout with lots of tones of Blue.

Our 5 design elements needed for this challenge are:-

1. Must have at least 3 different tones of blue.
2. Must include 2 photo's.
3. Must include ribbon.
4. Must have journalling.
5. Must have a stamped image.

Remember ladies, you need to first sketch your idea and then put it into practice when you complete your layout.

Try to use all the design elements to maximise the amount of points you will receive as the winner of round one will be the one with the most points.

Please upload your sketch and layout to the gallery by 6.00pm Thursday.

We were allowed to use embellishments of different hues and to use a white or black base page if we wanted to. You can see what I came up with! This was the first time I tried sketching a layout of my own. You can see more entries here. Feel free to come on over and have a look at some of the great talent that's there.

All materials used are from Creative Memories except some of the paper flowers.

A Blinkie from Tan!

Tan from Scrap N Craft with T just bestowed this cute blinkie on me to thank me for being a Guest Design Team member for her in August! Thank YOU, Tan - it was an absolute pleasure for me :)

Tan has a 'Spring Cleaning' sale on in the month of September - do go check it out if you need to stock up!

Wordles........

......are beautiful word clouds. If you haven't discovered this free application yet, click here.

Try it with your favourite poem, song, prose passage, Bible reading, etc. You can print it out then ad use it as your own specially designed paper.

Heartsongs - a Circle Journal

What makes your heart sing? That was the topic for a Circle Journal I completed this week. It took me a long time to think of a song and of how I could do this one, though once I had made the decisions and choices, it came together pretty quickly. Do you find it works that way for you too?

Lee and Maz might notice some of their blog candy and RAKs in use here! Thank you again, my friends.

I based the pages on a 'Flutterby' kit from Kaisercraft, but all bling has been added. The song itself fits in a pocket created by the white envelopes used to make the pages for this album (how clever is that??) These CJ pages have been completed for Gypsy for a challenge over at Scrapchat.

I hope she likes them.

If you would like more information about Circle Journals I wrote something for you at PaperCraftCentral. Go here to see it!

Lee's cards

I just HAD to share the cards Lee made for me with you! I love them both and am so happy to have them - it's very special to actually have someone's inspiring work in my hands!! Thank you again, Lee. I am busy putting all that blog candy to use and will have a pic or two to show you in the next day ....

Wow! An Award!

Chrissy, thank you for awarding me!

The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated...

I would like to pass this onto (in no particular order)

Amy,
Andrea,
Chrissie,
Lee,
Suzanne,
Lexie,
Pearl

Congratulations, everyone! Thanks for being an inspiration to me!

Blog Candy from Lee!

I was completely gob smacked to receive this box of goodies in the mail today from the lovely Lee, all the way from Colorado! I won some blog candy at Lee's wonderful Blog a few weeks ago and was honoured with choosing my first Gina K stamp set, paper piercing tool and templates Yay!) and some scrummy bling. But when the package arrived, Lee had sent me RAKs of love for me and my new granddaughter as well!!

Lee, you are a very generous and kind person to have sent me such a cornucopia of gifts! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

You sure inspired me to do some papercrafting today as well!
I've already used some of that sweet butterfly ribbon and the note paper ....more about that later!

Happy 50th!

I was over at Catherine's blog, saw her cute Suspension card and decided to follow her link to Splitcoaststampers
to find out how to make one.

It was very timely as I have a 50th birthday party to attend tomorrow, had a brand new stamp set I wanted to play with, and it all just seemed to fall together nicely! I hope the man in question likes it - he is having a surprise cowboy party, courtesy of his loving wife, daughter and friends. So this is a secret card till tomorrow night .... shh! Lol!

If you would like to see how I made this card, go to my PaperCraftCentral site, to this page.

Materials list:

Stampin’ Up! Bronc Buster stamp set

Certainly Celery & glossy white cardstock

Black Stazon ink

White, copper, gold and green gel pens

Rust coloured cardstock – source unknown

Ink spot pads in cocoa, lemon yellow and green

Dental floss

Double sided tape

Black calligrapher’s pen and black fine felt tipped pen

Creative Memories gold letter stickers

Two Scoops paper pad designer paper

Thank you, Maz!

The post was especially exciting today. I received two boxes and a packet. The boxes were much anticipated - one contained an order from Stampin' Up! and I now have a cowboy stamp to make a surprise birthday card with for this Saturday. The next box was full of things I ordered from Gina K! I will be making some special little tins with what was in that box soon. And the packet was such a wonderful RAK from Maz, who taught me how to scrap those pages of DH and DS a few posts back! I just had to share it with you :)

Thank you so much for being so kind and generous, Maz! And talented too!!!!

A cute bookmark

So glad you enjoyed the Wombat Day story from yesterday! It's a bit of a giggle - I had never heard of it myself till yesterday, and I've lived here for decades :-D

I have been making some bookmarks-cum-calendars for people lately and thought I'd show you one.Chrissie showed me how to do this and even emailed me the calendar template - thank you, Chrissie! You are wonderful!

This bookmark is for a friend who won a stamp set from me over at Scrapchat this month. I just used a Stampin' Up! set from the new Spring Mini catalogue here, called 'A Beautiful Thing'. It makes this type of thing easy as all I had to do was use Versamark and black Stazon on any coloured cardstock to make pretty two-step stamped images. I enhanced a little with a green gel pen and a corner rounder, and a hand written message. The only other things I needed were the slit punch, the Crop-a-dile hole punch and some ric rak.

Of course, you can dress these up pretty much any way you would like to.

Oh - I am feeling lots better now, thank you to everyone who was concerned. I hope that's the end of the winter woes for me now.

Have a good evening, all!

Wombat Day

It's been awhile since i mentioned anything uniquely Australian, and I thought today would be a perfect day to do that.

I know some of you out there like Wombats. Imagine my surprise when I found out Australia has a day set aside especially for celebrating all things wombat! No, you haven't missed it yet. It's on October 22nd. Or maybe not since the graphic from the site actually has 2007 on it, but what's to stop us celebrating it this year on Oct 22nd anyway, I ask you?

You can read more about it here.

PS I'm thinking about decorating a card tin - will let you know if it actually happens in the near future :)

Gate Fold Belated Birthday

I felt like crafting today and enjoyed making this Gate-fold card as a belated birthday offering for my DD. I'm glad she knows I love her whether she receives her cards on time or not! We did speak on the phone on her actual birthday (yesterday) so I can't be that bad.

This card is also being submitted to Tan at Scrap N Craft With T as Project 2 of my Guest Design Team commitment. Most of the materials used were purchased or given to me from Tan's online shop - thank you, Tan! I had never tried shrinky dinks before. They are a lot of fun to use.

If you would like to see how I made this card, go to my PaperCraftCentral site to this page.

Materials List:

Royal blue cardstock - I made the base card with it

Basic GreyMortifica - Ochre Pattern

'Carte Postale' stamp set from Stampin' Up!

Shrinky Dinks almond

Blue & orange brads

Ribbon

Serendipity Elevation sticker (I coloured it a deeper blue)

Versacolor inks in cocoa and black

Black Stazon

Gold gel pen, black fine tipped felt pen

Gold cord

Black raffia
Stampin' Up! Rubons - A Perfect Day

Creative Memories Vellum
Corner punch from Creative Memories

Computer printed message inside

The Wylde Women Award

Thank you to Chriss for this amazingpiece of ART. It is a gorgeous award which I am not sure I deserve lately! You made my day when I saw that you had nominated me, Chriss. Pop on over to The Artist Trading Club especially if you like phenomenal ATCs. There is always plenty of inspiration there!

To pass on The Wylde Women Award, the rules are:-

1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it’s up to you! Make sure you link to their site on your post.

2. Link back to Tammy's blog (the originator of the Award).The purpose of the Award is to send love and acknowledgement to women who brighten your day, teach you new things, and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

So here goes (and in no particular order)…..

Lee You ALWAYS inspire me, with your wonderful creations, your funny and uplifting comments, and your willingness to share! You are so generous and I love to visit your blog, Lee.

Andrea You are always trying new things and growing all the time! Your generosity also touches me.

Suzanne What an amazing woman you are, talented in so many fields, and willing to share step-by-step instructions for your creations! I know no one whose quilts are so utterly gorgeous as yours.

Melanie Your creativity and humour never fail to inspire! What a wonderful designer you are and how well you build up suspense to surprise us all with newly minted stamps!! I love how versatile your stamps are Mel.

Nicola What a wonderful blog to visit for card making ideas and designs and for inspiration from all over the world! Thank you also for your sharing nature.

Chrissie You make some awesome cards and have such a lovely attitude to life! You're an inspiration to me, Chrissie, and to many others.

Pearl Your colours and designs are amazing! I love to see what you have made and am in awe of your talent! And you are a lovely person as well!!

Tanyah What a prolific crafter you are and what amazing pages you create. Your energy and enthusiasm shows through in all that you do!

Amanda
What a clever person you are and how wonderful are your new ventures - handmade bags! Your scrapping style is also one I thoroughly enjoy and I always see something new on your blog.

Gypsyangel Your amazing generosity and ideas for making the world a better place to be shine through in all of your actions, Gypsy. I am so grateful to have found Scrapchat The inspiration there is dazzling and it's all because of you!

Scrapchat Auction Site

Want to join a site that lets you buy and sell your papercraft items for free?

Scrapchat Craft Exchange auction site has been developed by a friend of mine specifically for scrapbookers, cardmakers and other crafts. The auction site doesn't have any fees to buy or to sell products. You are able to sell, swap or exchange all of your excess stash.

I'm a member there and I just bought three papers and am bidding on a stamp set! I'll have to think about putting some of my stash up for sale...what on Earth would I part with? Lol!

Anyway, do consider it if you are interested. It's a real advantage not having to pay for advertising especially when you may only have small amounts of something for sale :-)

The Winner Is....

Thank you for the people who had a look at my developing website PapercraftCentral.com

I have taken in board the feedback I received. It is very valuable to have it!

Now for the person who I found the most helpful? Cos there was blog candy involved in this, y'know. It IS.....

LEE!!!

Lee, you are such an inspiration to me and I love your blog. Thank you for the trouble you took to give me thoughtful feedback. I hope it shows in the page on embossing now and that I also took it on board for the new page on Masking!

Start watching the postman soon, Lee. I have just the thing for you as blog candy! Oh and that is our dog, Trixie, who is helping me to congratulate you :wink:

Engagement!

Thank you for your well-wishes, dear friends. I am feeling a little less ill today. The problem is, I can’t just have ONE health complaint – I have to have THREE AT ONCE. I have bronchitis, asthma and sinusitis right now so am not a very happy camper! All of it will go away eventually though which is the good thing. Roll on summer.

In spite of feeling icky, I have been slowly working on a very special project for Tan at Scrap N Craft With T. Tan has kindly provided me with some of her yummy products to create something as a Guest Design Team member for her this month! I am making two items for Tan to display on the front page of her shop this month. This is Project No 1.

I could think of no better way to announce the wonderful news of my DD’s engagement!

To make this card, I used an acetate base and then printed the same photo out twice to use on the front and back of the card. The rubons are Foil, Glitter and Flock ‘Flowers and Swirls’ plus Kaisercraft ‘Inspiration’ from Tan’s shop, and most of the ribbons, brads, ric rak and flowers can also be obtained from Tan. I strengthened the card by adhering layers of cardstock inside the card and making a little accordion folded stand out of some more. It was fun to try out the foil, glitter and flock items especially and I will be using them some more! I also used the lettering ON the photos (under the acrylic) and also ON TOP OF the acrylic. You get some nice little shadows that way.

I was happy with the result and it’s now on its way to my DD and her fiancé. (I’m glad you liked it too, Tan!)

If you want a great variety of papercraft items and fantastic service, do have a look at Tan’s shop! !