Embellish This Week 3 Entry

Week 3 of Embellish This! had lots of criteria - we had to use teal, hot pink, black and white, three different textured backgrounds, lots of bling, a feather and a handmade embellishment. While I met all the criteria with this layout of a horse the family used to look after (the inspiration for the challenge was the Melbourne Cup logo so I thought a horse would fit in!) I didn't get through to round 4. The competition was pretty wonderful though so I am happy :)

If you want to see the other entries and follow along, head on over to this gallery. The competition involves eliminations every week of the registered participants so no one else can join in (unless they upload to a general member's area as unofficial participants)

Decorate It! A brooch decoration is born!

Week 2 of the Scrap N Craft With T challenge is underway and I had to come up with a present decoration that was red, green and white and incorporated wire in it somehow. I chose felt to make this little heart brooch. It has a few beads and stitching and there is a wire centre (made from industrial wire!) I cut the petals out freehand and they are basically heart shapes. I gathered the centres and sewed them together, then curled the wire and threaded it through the centre to form a pin base at the back. Beads have been threaded together and sewn around the centre. There is some contrast stitching around some of the petals. I used my Paper Crimper to make a cardstock belly band for the present.

You can take the heart flower off the present and wear it as a brooch afterwards, just in time for the Christmas party season!

My First Copic Coloured Image!

This week was a red letter week for me ;) I received a wonderful package in the mail containing my very first Copic markers!!! After I ripped open the package I dashed in to my craft desk and quickly shuffled through some wonderful images I received in a swap to find this little guy. He was so black and white! He neeeeeded colouring!

So here is my very first attempt at using Copic markers for your viewing pleasure (before I know enough to be too embarrassed by my inexpertise! Lol!)

PS: Carla, if you are reading this (and I just know you are - he he) please feel free to email me about how I can improve!

My Girl

This layout took me awhile because I made all the flowers and beaded them. Some of them were made with paper punched shapes, stamping and inking as well. A flower shaping tool was used to get the cupped effect. Felt, velvet and a paper doiley found their way onto the page.

I loved this picture of my DD when I first saw it and have been thinking about how to scrap it for awhile :)

Bonus Challenge 2

It's about time I scrapped again, huh?

Thanks to Scrapchat's Girls' Night In Cybercrop, I got the chance to :) Our challenge was to use a particular kit to scrap a page about anything, and we had to use all the kit up. I managed to use all the items except a few scraps of pink paper. Oh and I am not sure if I cheated but the whole thing is mounted on a piece of white bazzil, which was also in the pack. They sent a piece of string that I plaited into a heart shape, and I made some 3-d objects like the accordion butterfly and some layered flowers. I used a lot of Stampin' Up! punches (the scallop border punch, the scallop circle punch, the curly label punch, one of the circle punches) and I had a ball.

I hope you like it too :)

Shh! It's a secret card!

Don't you love secrets? I have one this week. It's our anniversary soon and I fond time to make a card for hubby without him knowing. I made the flower on the card out of layers of thin paper (thank you for the lesson Tracey!) stamps and ink, and the stem out of twisted cardstock.

This year our anniversary symbol is lace. How do you give a guy lace? You grunge it up, of course! Lol!

I think he'll laugh about this one. Hope so anyway :)

Candy Thank You Treats

I used my Curly Label Punch Bundle to make a whole bunch of these little treats to say 'thank you' to a group of special ladies this week. They all belong to my Stamp Club! They were so easy to make and i was able to create quite a few in a short time. I thought they would be good for other occasions as well - just change up the card stock, inks and embellishments for Birthdays, Christmas, weddings, or any other special event you can think of.

If you would like to see how they are made, I have a little show and tell on PaperCraftCentral for you :)

Inspirational

Thanks to an occasional reader (Tom) I started off my morning by watching an inspirational video. If you haven't heard about William Kamkwamba, he's the boy from Malawi who built a windmill from a tractor fan and some bicycle parts. Now it powers his family compound and he has plans to harness the wind for others. His ideas came from a library book picture. See for yourself.

New Stampin Up! Policy

Just a little note today to say that Stampin' Up! has a new policy thus:

"The changes restrict you from providing purchasing information, referrals to catalogues or publications, links to web sites, or other similar material, of directly competitive companies, or locations where a customer may purchase directly competitive products."

So I apologise to anyone who I have been linking to as a favour. I have had to take your links off my site in order to remain a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

I wish you all success in the future. Hugs and loves XX

Come and Join In the Fun!

My friend Tanyah is having a great scrapping event in October. Come on over to her blog and read about it! I'd love to see some of you there. The word is that there will be many interesting challenges and you won't want to miss them :)

Dust Storm Update: We're still dusty - lol. It isn't anywhere near as bad as it was on Wednesday. I am finding the accumulative effect rather daunting though. Everything is covered in a thick layer of fine, talc-like reddish orange dust...as soon as the dust settles we are going to have a great time cleaning it all off!

More Dust and a Wedding Card

We're having our second dust storm this week. Some photos taken near where I live show you the extent of it. We've closed up the house again and the dust is still sneaking in though to a lesser extent than it would if we had all the doors and windows open. I realise other parts of the world get dust storms but the east coast of Australia hasn't had such a week in over 70 years, so it is a bit of a novelty to us younger than 75 or so.

Maybe a wedding card will provide a nice contrast to the thought of all that dust. I made this one for a wedding I attended last week. I should have made it more dramatic - the bride wore black, high black boots, black strapless dress and a long flowing wide white scarf that reached below her knees. She carried the most beautiful black/red roses. The groom was in a black suit, white shirt and red tie. I hadn't been to a wedding where the bride wore black before...

Gift Card

While in Far North Qld I met up with some crafting friends (which was great!) and showed them how to make the Father's Day gift card I made a few weeks ago. Here's the one I made. This time, I used paper punches to decorate the card and blinged them up a little with metallic and black pens. It was a very quick way to make the card!

This is a "Life in Australia" post

Australia's east coast has been experiencing some pretty huge and dramatic dust storms in the last 24 hours. In Sydney it is the worst (they say on the news it was last like this over 70 years ago) but this video of life in Broken Hill yesterday shows just how bad it can get. We live in Qld where we had an eerie windy and orange day but it never got as bad as this video. Today we have almost clear skies but they are telling us on the news that we should expect more dust tomorrow. We're checking the air filter on our car and absolutely everything inside is covered in a fine film of dust - it is going to take a long time to get the dust out of our clothes and houses.

Jozzi

I'm visiting my wonderful daughter today and we intend to go check out the Bat Hospital soon. My daughter has a lovely big boxer dog named Jozzi who has such a great memory! She remembers me no matter how long it has been between visits.

The Bat Hospital looks out for the Spectacled Flying Foxes. I'm looking forward to finding out more about them and what the volunteers at the hospital are doing for them. The live in such big colonies. Their calls are unmistable once you have heard them!

I'm in Far North Qld!

Isn't this tree magnificent? I have always enjoyed looking at it. It lives on my sister's farm in Far North Qld where I am visiting. I'll be away for another week but just had to share this tree with you to let you know I am not paper crafting but am enjoying looking at trees that remind me of paper's origins at least :)

I'll be back!

Baby Memory Albums

Do you find it hard to know where to start when making a Baby Album? If you are anything like I was after having a baby, it's a little hard to focus sometimes! With that memory of my own in mind, I have put together a list of suggestions for pages you might like to include in an album about a newborn.

On the other hand, you may be an expert or at least more experienced at making these sorts of albums. If you have an idea to share or a picture of your own album to show, I would love to hear from you on PaperCraftCentral.com!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! Here are a couple of little wallet cards I made to give to some special fellows. I was pretty chuffed to figure out how to use bling on one of the cards! Using bling on masculine cards can be a challenge. There are pockets and extra cards inside each of the pictured cards.

If you would like to see how they are made (they would make wonderful birthday cards as well) subscribe to Paper Twists and you will have the instructions right away!

White Space Design

I had never heard of White Space Design before I did this layout. I took it literally - that the space around an image needed to be blank and white. It was while actually scrapping this layout that I learned it could be so much more! The whole idea fascinated me, so now there are more layouts on PaperCraftCentral and an explanation of white space design for you to see.

I used a picture of me when I was about three years old to make this layout - aren't I cute? He he!

Thank You in a Box!

I wanted to make a cute little surprise for someone special. When you have cardstock and stamps, you can always make something unique and pretty! I found this idea fro making a little box full of cards on SplitCostStampers and decided to give it a go. This little box full of cards complete with handmade envelopes was the result :)

I hope you liked it, Ali!

A Square Card

Have you ever made a square card? I made this one as an entry into the Scrapchat card sketch challenge for this month. I made the card 15cm square and had a ball with the coloured cardstock. gold ink, the Stampin' Up! Tart 'n Tangy stamp set and the gold embossing powder :)

After I made it I couldn't find a suitable envelope, so I wound up making one to fit exactly. I made a tutorial about envelope making on PaperCraftCentral if you would like to see how I did it. I find my method works for any sized card and I use it all the time!

Have a happy time paper crafting!

Recycled Card

Do you like using recyclable poducts on your cards? I am a hoarder of anything that looks like I could use it! But I don't get round to actually using the items all that often, usually.

This month I had a chance to do so when I took part in a swap at RubberStampChat. You can read more about what I used on the card at PaperCraftCentral.

It sure was a fun swap! And so economical!!

Stampin' Team Meeting

At the stamping team meeting yesterday, we didn't just eat chocolate, we girls also took part in a swap. I love swaps! You get so many new ideas and this time was no exception. I had made 8 of these cards pictured and in return I got another 8 new cards (or card fronts) made by other members of the team! What a bargain!

Thanks fro the meeting, Kim, and thanks for being there, everyone else :) It was great to see you all and to talk about all things stamping!

I got a cute little card idea from a make and take that we did that I will show you one day soon too....

(All materials used in my card are from Stampin' Up! If you live in Australia and would like to know more about how to purchase these products from me, feel free to contact me via this blog :))

Chocolate!

Yesterday I tried out a recipe for Traditional Chocolate Truffles that I found on Chocolate Candy Mall. They turned out so yummy! I rolled the first batch I made in cocoa and took them to a Stamp Club meeting. All of them disappeared, so they must have been OK.

The first time I rolled them I don't think I left them in the fridge long enough. They turned out lumpy because they were so soft. This time I left them in the fridge overnight and the result when I rolled them this time in coconut, powdered sugar and cocoa, was much smoother! I plan to take them to church this afternoon and I think they will all be gone so it's just as well I 'reserved' a couple more in the fridge for us to have after dinner tonight!

I thought these little yummies would also look good wrapped in cellophane and put inside a handmade paper gift box. I'll have to try that when I make another batch. Well, there IS extra cream in the fridge that has to be used up so I just need to go to the store and get another lot of chocolate....he he he!

Happy 30th Birthday!

I got the Stampin Up! "Voila" set and was so wanting to use it! I had in mind that I would make recipe cards with the images, of course, but then my husband told me he needed a 30th birthday card for a male co-worker and for some reason, the Chef popped into my mind!

I didn't get to see if the recipient liked his card, but I loved using the chef image to make it.

If you would like to see how I made the card and embellished the middle, the instructions are on PaperCraftCentral.com :)

Featured Artist at PaperCraftCentral!

What a wonderful day it has been!

Tanyah Payne, scrapper extraordinaire, sent me some beautiful pictures of an OTP baby album she made for her little nephew. She also agreed I could feature her and her work on PaperCraftCentral, so I did! With great pleasure and tickled-pinkness!

Tanyah's work is so gorgeous and different to my own, so it is a real pleasure to be able to show you a sample of her style.

Thank you Tanyah!

Chalk Pastels

Do you use chalks on your stamped images? I love to do that when I want to make a soft image, and I thought the chalks added a lot to this lovely image.

This lady stamp is fast becoming a favourite of mine!

Paper Craft Punch Cards

I was playing with my paper punches the other day because I needed to make lots of cards in a hurry, and I also had some new punches and stamps I wanted to try out. The result was this little cutie! It was easy to make many times over once I got the first one planned. Don't you just love that little birdie and the paper lace? I really liked the Oval stamp set too.

All products are from Stampin' Up!, including the paper shapers, stamps, ink and card stock.

I played with my blog template too and picked a design from Aqua Poppy Design to enjoy for awhile. You can pick one (for free) too if you like by going here.

Blessing Box

A friend of mine made me feel very special the other day by giving me this cute little handmade box. It's called a Blessing Box. Every day I am supposed to think of a blessing in my life, write it down and store it inside. Isn't that a lovely idea? Needless to say, the first blessing was all about having a beautiful friend like Rebekah!

Oh and I found my camera cable at last so it won't be long before I can show you those Christmas cards - just need to take some pictures!!!!

I decided it was time to change my blog's look. I'm not sure I like it - what do you think?

Crop!

Do you get together with your paper crafting friends fro a crop sometimes? I did that yesterday and what a great time we had! It was a day where any craft was welcome so there were not only scrappers and cardmakers, there were knitters and sewers and painters as well! It was such a good opportunity to see other people's ideas and find out about new products and of course, to catch up on friendships :)

I made 18 Christmas cards - unbelievable!!

I would show you my Christmas cards but since my move, I have misplaced my camera upload cable :( So I have pictures but I cannot get them to my computer!!!!! How frustrating!!!! I'm getting desperate enough to go buy an new cable!

Every day we unpack more boxes so one day it will turn up.

I decided to show you a quilled card I made some time ago instead :)

Meanwhile, the crop was great fun and it even had a higher purpose - we were fundraising for the Girl Guides :) It is so nice to know that us having fun actually helped people! Lol! Now that's a GREAT excuse for a crop :)

Scrapchat's Auction is on again!

Scrapchat's Trash and Treasure Auction is on again this weekend. Pop in for some great hand made items or plenty of bargains. I am always amazed at what you can find there!

We're Moved!

Just a quick catch up - we are indeed moved in to our new home. I am being a little slow to unpack though as I have had asthma and bronchitis since we arrived. It's bed rest for a few days for me, then I can get back into unpacking my craft gear. I managed to unpack the kitchen and bathroom things so we can eat, sleep and get clean, but the rest is having to wait!

I do like the new house. It is much roomier and more peaceful than where we were.

I'm thinking up new cards and scrapbook pages and will show you some when I can!

Take care all :)

We're Moving!

We're ion our way again. I know we moved last year, and we have had an interesting time in our house here, but it is too small for three adults, three vehicles, a handyman's workshop, a computer programmer who likes riding motorbikes, and A PAPERCRAFTER! The new house has more land, more rooms, and even a 6 x 9 m shed for the boys :) Well, the shed is pretty nice so I will probably have a corner there too.

We move on Tuesday and will probably be offline for awhile.

I've packed up my craftroom, my clothes, my just about everything, even the food. We're doing take away for a few days :)

But I'll be back!

Happy PaperCrafting!

Quilted blocks!

My blogger friend Suzanne is an expert quilter. She makes beautiful quilts as well as beautiful stamped cards and lovely scrapbook pages :) Recently I decided to try quilting. This is one of my first blocks. It's a pretty basic pattern and I know I have a long way to go - I need to make my stitches closer together I am told - lol! but it was fun to do and eventually my blocks will be sewn into a quilt for a youth shelter to use. I won't be the only one making the quilt. I am working with some of my church friends to finish it. Maybe we'll be done by NEXT winter - he he! It takes us all awhile to finish a block!

How to Make Paper Flowers

After a Scrappy Day at my house, we girls came up with a lovely lot of flowers. They weren't all made from paper either! I'd love to know how you make your own scrapbook flower embellishments. If you have a chance, please do show us how on PaperCraftCentral.com

Doggy Birthday

I had such fun making a doggy birthday card for a friend's pet! Her dog turned 14 the same week that she had a birthday, so I made them a card each :) I took the dog image from a tag I had using my craft knife and added in some golden heart punches to frame him.

I sure hope Max (the dog) likes his special card!

I have a new grandson!

Our new grandson was born this week, so naturally I made him a very special card. I get to meet him tomorrow night so I shall be all prepared! The card sketch was suggested by the people at RubberStampChat as their June sketch challenge. I just had to make a baby card, right? I had never heard the name Ryder before. I guess I'm going to get very used to it now!! Lol! Congratulations to the proud Mummy and Daddy and big sister!

Little Big Eared Hedgehog

Positive emotion of the day. Little big-eared hedgehog (8 photos)
I 'Stumbled' upon these cute pictures and had to share :) Enjoy.

Trash and Treasure Auction Day is This Weekend - 13th - 14th June!

Come and check out the Trash and Treasure Auction being run by the Scrapchat girls! I have listed a couple of card toppers myself - here's a sneak peak at them in this post as well as a slide show of many of the other items that will be on offer :)

I hope you enjoy browsing trough all the lovely hand made items that will be on offer over this weekend. Let me know what you think!

Brayering!

Do you have a brayer? How do you use yours? I put together a couple of ideas for how to use one and made it into an article for Ezine Articles.

I know the ideas there are pretty basic. Will you tell me some ways you have used your own brayer?

Or if you are new to brayering, let me know when you start to use one and how I can see your projects!

Scrap n Craft with T First Birthday Celebrations

Feel like taking part in some challenges with a chance to win some great prizes? Scrap n Craft with T is having it's first birthday celebrations and we all get the presents!

Tanyah's blog shows all the details and links for the competitions and challenges - why not be in the running for some free goodies??

Scrapchat Trash and Treasure Days June 13th - 14th

Do you have any crafty goodies to sell? Would like some unique scrapping supplies? Check the Scrapchat Auction site - on the 13 and 14 of JUNE ...http://www.scrapchat.net.au/auction

At the site on June 13th (not before - no peeking allowed) look for 'trash and treasure day' in the left hand navigation column, and click there.

Last time it was a great auction and this time it is a FANTASTIC auction!

Enjoy!

Alyssa's tag

I have been tagged by the lovely Alyssa to fill out the answers to these questions then tag 8 other bloggers.. so..
8 Things I Look Forward To
1. A visit from my mother and sister the end of June
2. Scrapping here at home with my friends
3. Making cards with friends
4. Scrappy retreats
5. Special occasions with friends
6. Finding a new house
7. Selling this house
8. The PaperCraft Expo on Monday
8 Things I Did Yesterday
1. Took 200 photos for a school principal
2. Edited 140 photos for a school principal
3. Had lunch and a coffee with DH
4. Mailed some ATCs to Chrissy
5. Bought dinner at the Cheesecake Shop - spinach and feta pie! Yum!
6. Read some stories about Napolean's horse Marengo
7. Watched TV
8. Posted comments on some craft forums :)
8 Things I wish I could Do
1. Live in the mountains
2. Get rid of my asthma
3. Make DH well
4. Travel
5. Hire a maid
6. Be a good grandma
7. Shed some weight
8. Keep my friends
8 Things Or Shows I've Watched Lately
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Bones
3. All Saints
4. A Current Affair
5. Better Homes and Gardens
6. Australia
7. re-run of Father of the Bride
8. some football games by default - was with DH at the time.
8 blogs I am tagging....
I decided not to tag anybody outright as I know how long it took me ot think of the answers to these questions! If you decide to answer the questions, let me know and I will come and have a read :)
♥

Textured Flower Card

One of the challenges at the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's Fundraiser was to create a card that had a flower with texture. I decided to use chipboard and to dress my flower in craft ink, flocking powder and Kindy Gitz! It really has some dimension in real life! Lol!

The SOA crop is nearly over and i have been enjoying it very much. I hope you have enjoyed looking at the entries I made too :)

If you would like to know how I made the flower, you can see step-by-step instructions for it on PaperCraftCentral.

Cupcake Box

The Stampin' Out Alzheimer's crop is going well! (See widget to the right of this post for a chance to join in by donating to the cause). I finished my cupcake box last night. A lady named Kelleigh Ratzlaff gave us the template and I can see this being a sweet little gift box to give to people full of candy or a piece or two of jewelry or as a party favour box or anything else you can think of :) You can put a good handful of SOMEthing in it! Lol!

The crop finishes tomorrow but man are there some good free giveaways available to people who donate, especially in the digi line.

I'm working on another challenge - will post that when it is ready.

Happy carfting!

Stampin' Out Alzheimers

Would you like to contribute to a good cause and have some fun at the same time? PaperCraftPlanet is having a cyber crop for people who donate to their cause, Stampin' Out Alzheimers, this week. The video in this post explains. I'll be joining in where I can! Why not meet me there?

EDITED: There's a Stampin' Out Alzheimers widget in the right hand column of my blog - just click on the link to go to the donation page. When you make a donation, you will be sent a password to the cybercrop page. They are trying to raise $5,000 for the cause this week :) Thanks for your support!

Flood Rains Break the Drought

The drought is over. It has been pretty wet here this week, so much so that roads have been blocked, houses and land flooded, and people urged to stay home where they can. We had our share of rain and there's more to come. Wednesday our little creek cut off the road to our house for awhile and there were streams down both sides of my house but really we are safe and well. I kept our little old (14 yo) dog (pictured) and two old cats inside for the day on Wednesday. I might need to do that again today as the storms are building up again. You can see where the rainwater ran down the side of the house (yes, our neighbours still have their icicle lights Christmas decorations up - icicles? In Qld??) and where the water got up to on the back fence. It floated my pine bark mulch clear away and out of the yard.

Elsewhere in South East Queensland and in northern NSW we have had significant flooding. If you want to see some pictures of what I mean, ABC News has some beauties. We live in the Caboolture/Morayfield area and there are plenty of shots of commonly frequented places on that news stream so do watch for them.

We stayed away from the shopping centres and just as well because it flooded the undercover ones. Today we were able to shop as we normally would though we had to walk up the Travelator because it had been flood damaged and was still broken. No big deal!

I'm so glad the drought is broken - for now.

Peaceful Layout

It's raining steadily here and has been doing that since last night. We're promised even more rain and wind tomorrow. And it is cool-ish too.

So to remind myself that fair weather is the norm here in Australia, I though you may like to see one of the double layouts I did at Warana. It shows pictures of the ocean near DH's mother's last residence. Sadly we lost her early this month, so the pictures have a special meaning for my DH and I. It truly is a beautiful place and I hope I did them justice. There were little orange flowers in the grass which made my choice of paper flowers easy. If you click on the photo you may also see some crystal and pearl bling.

Remember to consider having a look at Tan's shop (see story in post below). All of the supplies used in this double Layout were purchased at her store.

Make a Table Card

Guess where I have been? On a Scrapchat Retreat! And it was marvelous fun. I left home Friday night and didn't get home till noon on Monday. There were fourteen girls who scrapped their hearts out all weekend. We had wonderful challenges, wonderful food, a baby shower for our most pregnant scrapper, (there were two pregnant ladies but the second one isn't due till later in the year), lots of photo opportunities with our country and western theme night, lots of photo opportunities on the beach, and lots of shopping opportunities with Tanyah bringing along her entire Scrap 'n Craft With T shop for our convenience and temptation!!! And I was tempted, and I shopped. A lot.

I'll be showing you some layouts and cards and so on over the next few days but thought I would start with our table cards. We have a tradition of making a table card out of a jumbo playing card each Retreat. Every lady gets a card as a base. She is supposed to cover the card with paper or paint or her choice of medium, then pas the card on to the next person at the table.
The next person adds another embellishment, than passes the card on and so on. We had four at my table and I wound up with a card I love. I sanded then painted the front of the card, then added turquoise dauber to the top of that. The effect looked like silk to me. I sanded and daubed the back of the card so some of the playing card would show through. Everyone signed the back of the card. As this was my second Retreat, I now have two! I plan to link these together wth a book binding ring and continue to add table cards as I attend Retreats.

Oh and before I go, if you haven't been on a Retreat but would like to be tempted with some gorgeous new products, check out Tanyah's shop. She is having a celebration as it is her shop's first birthday so is offering lots of specials. If you decide to register as a customer and place an order, please put my name in the comment box as a referer (just put Susan's Saga)? I said I would promote Tan's celebration on my Blog and she would like to know that I told you about her. Thanks!

I'll be back later with some more projects from the Retreat. Happy Crafting!

Start A Scrapbook May Card Challenge

One of the new forums I am playing at has a weekly card challenge. Start A Scrapbook gave us an example card and the idea is to use it as inspiration for making one based on the ideas you gain from that card. Here's my attempt.

It was a fun card to make. I tried a few different things such as inking the edge of the card front instead of using olour for the entire card (so the inside wound up staying white - easy to write on hey?), stamping a sort of scene on a larger piece of white paper and adhering other elements to that, and I used some scented gel pens to draw some extra circles. You may not be able to tell but the sentiment and flowers are popped up. There are cute little flower crystals as well as some Kaiser crystals on there too. All stamped images are from Stampin' Up!

What do you think?

Altered Matchbox

Have you ever altered a matchbox? An ordinary, everyday matchbox can be transformed into such a cute little gift box! I took part in a swap that asked us to use only black and white, and so I covered this one in designer paper and bling and added a little ribbon handle with some eyelets. I filled the box with black and white scrappy materials. Now I have to give it away! How sad!

If you have never altered a matchbox before, I made a tutorial about it for you on PaperCraftCentral.com. Let me know if you make one!

Looking for some new forums?

I was moseying around the Internet the other night and found some forums that look inspirational.

I've recommended Scrapchat to you all before and I heartily endorse it, especially for Aussie girls who love retreats and want inspiration and a place to display their creations as well as make some fabulous friends. The forum membership is around 200 so you can really get to know people there. We're all off on a retreat this Friday and I expect to be able to show you plenty of new things after that!

I found another forum that is based in the USA as well, and it's mainly about scrapbooking. It's called the Start A Scrapbook Community. The members there have made me feel very welcome already! And they are looking for new members, so if you want a new place to hang out, why not join in? Their aim is to reach 1,000 members and they only need five more as of today!

Another forum that seems also to be USA based but who has some international members is Rubberstampchat. They too have made me very welcome. Their membership is over 2,000 so it's a big place, with lots of ideas coming from many directions. The focus there is stamping and card making but there's plenty of paper craft diversity as well.

Another interesting place is PaperCraftPlanet. They have a Ning format so you have a page of your own as a sort of blog and people comment on your page. I'm learning the format there and it's fun - sort of like instantly finding a huge source of inspirational blogs all at once! Talk about being a kid in a candy store - lol!

Have fun and let me know if you join sany of the forums or know of some other great ones :)

Happy Crafting!