Powered by Blogger.

The Cat's Out Of The Bag

If you have a cat you will know that the best toy you can give them is a paper bag or a box. It doesn't matter what or how much you spend on cat toys they will want what it came it. Winston is no exception and when he gets a chance to jump inside one he is there, watching and waiting to leap out on anyone or anything that catches his eye. I took these pictures on Christmas Day, when a bag was discarded he was it. I love the cheeky look on his face.

For this layout I used Sketchabilities Sketch #83 which looked like this:

Because of the way Wix was looking out of the bag I flipped it over so it would work better. 


I added some stitching along the bottom to give it a bit of colour and to add texture. Then I used some MME and Bella Blvd buttons and treaded them on to bakers twine to make the little banner.


Thanks for stopping by, 

Project Life Cover Page

After waiting what felt like an eternity I finally got my Studio Calico Project Life Kit. I had been holding off on doing my title page until I received it and I am glad I did because  there a lots of fun bits in there.

My title page is pretty simple, I have a picture of our "family" which is me and the boys, I also included a map of where I live at the moment which is different to last year and a quote I liked from TS. Eliot.


I have to do week three tonight and may as well get stuck into week four while I'm at it. I will share them later in the week.

Have a great weekend,

Paper Issues

I was super excited to see my Price Of Beauty layout from a while back was chosen as a favourite over at Paper Issues. I entered it as one of my favourite layouts that I made last year. Here is a reminder:



This was one of my favourites because I tried new things and I was really happy with the finished LO.
Roughing up the edges, smearing gesso and using the thread in a little tangle. These are all things that I hadn't tried but now that I have I often incorporate those techniques in new layouts.

Don't forget that Life.Paper.Scrapbook. is still having a DT call and also a new sketch challenge.

Have a wonderful day,

Rainbow Connection...

We all know the Muppets right? Well I loved them as a kid, The Muppet Show was one of my favourites (now I'm showing my age). In fact I loved it so much I pestered my dad day and night to get me muppet wallpaper that his boss sold in his shop. Eventually my dad gave in but on one condition, that it was only on one wall - like I cared, I was having the Muppets in my room.

So my dad works hard to get this wallpaper up and I am tucked in for bed for the night and the door is left open a crack and the light from the hall is shining on the wall. The result was the shapes turning from my beloved Muppets to horrible, horrible monsters.  I ran from the room screaming.
I don't remember what my parents did to convince me otherwise but eventually they managed to get me to sleep in there again.

Anyway I snapped this picture of a rainbow a while back and I wanted to use it for a couple of challenges, one was Studio Calico's CHA challenge to make a bold title. The other thing I wanted to do was to use up some of my brads so I was inspired by the Two Peas in A Bucket Scrap Your Stash series. Once I printed the photo out I could see it needed something else so I altered it digitally. This is the result:



Also just wanted to let you know the Life. Paper. Scrapbook. is having it's first sketch challenge from today and the DT call is still running and we are always looking for submissions for our first issue in March.

Have an awesome day,

Some things are scary...

But you have to hedge your bets and take a chance because it may work out in the end.
This is referring to two things the first small and the second BIG.

I did a layout that was inspired by the series on Two Peas called 213 in 2013 the techniques that were used were to start with a blank slate, get messy with mists, forget your paper trimmer and use some wash (washi was the easy part). I had had a bit of a weird day so I let all my scrapbooking sense fly out the window and just sat at my desk and did whatever the darn I felt like. At first this was scary because what if it didn't turn out right? But I kept going and this is what I came up with, it's not my usual style but it doesn't matter because I had fun.


Now the BIG scary thing. As some of you know I am a graphic designer and obviously I love scrapbooking, but I am at a time in my life where I need something to focus on, work on but I want to do something I love too enter onto the scene...
Life. Paper. Scrapbook. is a new project and quite a massive undertaking for me. It is a new blog and online magazine showcasing scrapbookers from both Australia and around the world. I don't know if it will work out the way I hope, I don't know if it will be well received but I do know I have to take a chance because life goes on and you either move with it or stay where you are and I want to/need to keep moving. So please head over to the blog, we are currently looking for DT and also for submissions for the first issue.


Paradise

I was watching a video over at 2P's called Scrap Your Stash, where they challenge you to use up your stash (and I really do need to!). This weeks challenge was to use up your Christmas goodies and I have a lot left over from my (unfinished) DD so I thought I would have a go. I had been thinking about the newest Colour Challenge from ScrapFriends but couldn't work out how to approach it so when I bought the two ideas together they worked perfectly. I also used a sketch from I Lowe Scrap so the whole layout came together very quickly for me.


This was also my first attempt at sewing on chipboard. 


So the christmas goodies I am using here are the Crate Paper Sleigh Ride 6x6 papers, some Echo Park brads, an old October Afternoon label from two years ago and a Lily Bee Christmas Cheer journal card. The bit I am most proud of are the little arrows, they are the little christmas trees from the Studio Calico Wonderland wood veneer and I "pruned" the tops off. 


Don't forget that my Etsy store is having a 25% off sale, just use the code IG25OFF when you check out.

Thanks for stopping by, 


Project 13/13 - January

I mentioned earlier in the week that I had started a new photography project which I am calling Project 13/13. The idea is that each month on the 13th I will do a photo journal of a place, now I am hoping this will work and that I will do somewhere different each month. I know where I will be in march because I am going to Bali, other than that I am flying blind. The idea originally came from Molly Frances's blog about New Orleans here.

My first one is of the suburb I live in which is Brunswick in Melbourne (Australia). It is about 10 mins from the CBD. There are lots of historic houses and a large Greek and Italian community here which is lovely (the old Nonna's and Yaya's always stop and chat with me, the best we can because they speak little english) and also they like to have lots of fruit trees and vegetable gardens which make the suburb nice and leafy. Because it is so close to the city there are lots and lots of bike riders getting about and a beautiful big park where people take their dogs to play and a lot of people have cats which hang about the lanes and streets. There is also a grafitti culture where a lot of the work is deemed as street art and is worked on for several days on a large area of wall.

So this is where I live:

As I said I will be doing one each month so I will be back next month with who knows where because at this stage there are no plans.

Have a wonderful day,






Project Life - Week 2

I am proud to say I managed to get week two finished monday night but I have been sharing a few other things here so I hadn't posted it yet but here it is...


Sadly the photo's aren't all that great (if anyone has any tips on how to photograph the sleeves please let me know).




As you can see not a whole lot happened but I had fun making this up anyway. 

Speaking of Project Life I have added some new journal cards to the shop both printable and physical so please head on over check them out and if you like any you can use coupon code: IG25OFF to receive 25% off you order.

Hope you have had a wonderful week, 


CHA Challenges

Just a quick post tonight to share a couple of layouts I have completed for some of the CHA Challenges that have been going on at TwoPeas and Studio Calico. I have combined them to enter different challenges.

First up I combined the 6 of the same embellishment and 7 different patterned papers from Two Peas
with the dress up your wood veneer, 3 or more patterned papers and 5 of the same embellishments from Studio Calico.


I surprised myself with this because I didn't have a plan when I started out other than to use the grid and dark colours to match the picture (which is of my parent cat Mr.Raji). I added the yellow once I put the photo in place because it just worked again with the picture.


Next up I combined the make your own mask from SC and use 5 photos from 2P's:


I cut the mask from my silhouette using the knife and fork from my Retro Currents Cards, misted over the shapes and then stitched around the shapes.


Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your week,


Happily Ever After

Well it's that time of year I love - CHA. I love seeing all the new products but even more than that I love that we all come together in forums to chat, share ideas and take part in challenges (and you know how I love a challenge). 

I have had this sketch from ScrapFriends on my desk for a while now but just needed the right reason to use it: 

I also wanted to do a challenge from the 2Peas CHA Challenges which was to use a single colour on a layout (you could also use neutrals) and I decided to challenge myself even more and use a colour I wouldn't normally use... yellow. I do use yellow but not in the way I have here, normally asked to pick a single colour for a layout I would lean towards a pale blue or a pink. 

So I started putting my supplies together but I didn't have a photo that would work. Yesterday I started a photography project called 13/13 (I will tell you more about that later in the week) and I had been out and about in my suburb taking some pics when I stumbled upon a black board in an alley way with the words "once upon a time" painted on it. As soon as I saw it I knew it was destined for my layout. 


Once I printed the picture out it all came together and it really was a happily ever after. 

Thanks for stopping by, 

Project Life - Week 1

Last year I was not a very successful at Project Life, I got off to a strong start but at about April I started missing weeks here and there. By July I had pretty much stopped. I still took pictures and collected memorabilia but I never found the time I needed to complete the spreads.
When I look back at my pages from the start of last year I love them so much and I feel disappointed in myself for not sticking with it so this year I am a woman with a plan.

My week will run from Monday to Sunday which means I am making a concerted effort to set aside some time on Monday evenings to work on my album. I also have set up a folder on my computer broken down into weeks and I am sorting the photos I want to use into these.
I have also subscribed to Studio Calico's Project Life Kit and I am hoping having the journal cards etc delivered to me each month will encourage me to keep up with it. I also invested in one of the
Seafoam Edition Core Kits so I have everything I could need and no room for excuses.

Here is my first week:


Even though I have the core kit (I am still waiting for my SC order to arrive) I am not using it consistently, in fact I split it four ways with some other ladies because I like to add bits and pieces in to make it my own.


I am loving this stamp from Kelly Purkey - Bright Idea which is exclusive to 2P's and I was super excited to discover that my Retro Currents Printable Journal Cards match the Seafoam edition perfectly!


I also mixed in some other printables including True Happiness and also Snapshots from In A Creative Bubble. 

Are you doing PL this year? Do you have any tips for keeping up with it? I would love to hear them.



Twelve in Twenty 12

Today I wanted to share a fun layout that I did to wrap up last year. This was wrapping up 12 things that happened last year. There were no super major events because I was busy with school but I put together some things that were important to me. (in no particular order)


1. Moved to Melbourne
2. Started University
3. Finally got a "real" camera - I have wanted an SLR since I was a teenager (before digital was even an option)
4. Read 36 books on my kindle (some were paperbacks, I will never completely give up books)
5. Dyed my hair back bright read for the first time in almost 10 years. 
6. Ate out at lots of fabulous places


7. Met the lovely Miss Tan
8. Took my dad to see The Mousetrap (it's an Agatha Christie play that has been running in London since he was a child and he always wanted to see it so we were lucky to get tickets when it toured down under)
9. Went to the Melbourne Cup (and made my own hat!)
10. Started up my Etsy shop
11. My darling Tabby passed away at 15 years old. She was such a darling. 
12. I joined the world of technology with a mac and an iphone5


Hope you are having a great week,