Friday 28 December 2012

Scrap Friends Design Team! I made it!!




Hello everyone!  I hope this post finds you well & well-fed, 
it having just been Christmas & all!!  This post is pre-scheduled 
as  I am currently touring Old Trafford in Manchester in England,
the home ground of the oh-so-famous Manchester United Football
team!!  Yup I am a huge football fan!!!


Good News! I get to design for this wonderful site for the next
6 months!!  Scrap Friends is an awesome online store in Australia,
with a HUGE selection of scrapbooking products from ALL AROUND
 THE WORLD!  I am so glad to have been given this truly wonderful
 opportunity - thank you so much to Angela for believing in me!



See the announcement on the Scrap Friends Blog HERE

Visit the Scrap Friends store HERE

I am sharing the stage with some wonderfully talented ladies!
Scrap Friends ships internationally at actual postage costs so
don't hesitate to place your orders :)



Saturday 22 December 2012

London Light {Photo Post}







Having been in the UK for the last week I've learnt a lot 
of things about England, one of the most interesting 
being that the light is absolutely awesome for photography.


In Durban the light is great for 'straight-forward' photos but here
 the light is just perfect for special effects, especially chiaroscuro -
 the contrast between light and shadow.


I've been sharing my camera with the kids - I have my 
old D40 that they've been using, and some of these
have been taken by Cami, who has a great eye for photography.


Awesome...she took that...


The light is so strong here that initially the photos were over-exposed
{until I realised and adjusted my aperture} but I've had fun editing them.


There are also the most amazing backgrounds everywhere you go.


Doesn't Jack look gorgeously handsome there?  His new
haircut has really made his chiselled features stand out.


For some reason a lot of these photos also look way more
awesome in black and white.  I think it draws attention to 
the different textures that are just everywhere, from the
winter fabrics to the architecture.


I love Jack's European tourist look :)


We stayed right on the Thames river - it was beautiful.


We found the most amazing tunnel full of graffiti,
which made for the most amazing photo ops.


This is the first time I've got online all week. There's wifi 
available everywhere but my laptop weighs a tonne and 
we are out all day & half of the night too so I'm not 
carrying it around with me right now.

I hope you are all well & managing to take some time-out
too this holiday season.  Got to get to bed now - have 
another train to catch in the morning.  We are off to Ireland!




Tuesday 18 December 2012

Les Papiers de Pandore - 9 months worth of work!




LET'S take a look at the layouts I've created so far for 
Les Papiers de Pandore in France. {from April 2012}.

 You can view their beautiful papers & stamps HERE & follow
 their blog HERE.  Don't forget about Facebook either, like them 
there & there is a monthly competition where one layout
uploaded results in it's creator winning a prize pack of goodies.

My youngest daughter - a pretty page & a funky one!
 5 layouts of my older daughter - she's 19 so
the pressure is on to get her albums complete...
I don't have a method with my creating - I just scrap
who I want when I want, but I try to balance it out 
'in my head' so this type of exercise can be interesting!These 3 layouts complete her Farewell Dance
 album from 2012 - yes I made a whole album :)
Now that she's away at university it's photos off
Facebook or nothing at all most of the time.
Pandore papers are versatile  they are great for shabby 
pages & also for funky teenage layouts.
Here's one of my Easter 2012 layouts - of  all 4 kids with their Dad.And a 'romantic' page of my daughters.
These new papers below are great for kid's layouts.
Then these ones work perfectly for the teen years.And you can scrap the boys simply too.Now onto my older son - bright but modern, a mix of both new lines.
And my all-time favourite - Urbanessence - perfect for teens.
One is for our holiday album as we were on a weekend away.Wow, would you believe there is even one of me!?!And I also have a layout here that I made as a wedding gift.So there you have it - 17 pages of Pandore!
How versatile these papers?!? 
 I hope you will become a fan too!!




Monday 17 December 2012

You Talking to Me? {Purple Pumpkin-13 Arts {Poland} - Pink Paislee Portfolio}




Hello there!  Right now I am probably sight-seeing in London
 somewhere, or perhaps even getting a little shopping done!
 Fighting the Christmas crowds no doubt!!  Pre-scheduling this
to show you a layout I created using lots of Purple Pumpkin
product & a mixture of papers from 13 Arts 'Frosted Life' Collection
& Pink Paislee Portfolio.
I played along at The Scrapbook Store again this month,
with their December sketch.  The prize is $40 worth of 
product from the store, shipped anywhere in the world,
so it's always worth playing 'just in case' it could be me!!
You can see my post up at Purple Pumpkin HERE.  There are many
 Purple Pumpkin embellishments suitable for masculine projects.  
Here I have used twine, an XL star button, 3 wooden buttons
washi tape, a film-strip die cut, a music note circular die-cut 
(that I have split into two) & a tag.
I always double the twine as it looks more effective & is easier to adhere using tiny glue-dots that can be hidden behind the extra thickness.
The cool die-cut film strip is great for teen layouts, as is the washi, which I think looks great torn & of course is also more economical when used this way!
The washi is a great way of adding just a touch of colour wherever you need it to create balance on your layouts.  The die-cut musical notepaper is also from the store, I just inked up the edges in black.

I used a Prima brick wall stamp to add some stronger colour to my page & matted my layers in a dark grey metallic cardstock, dry-brushing some gesso around the edges to soften the look.
This time I threaded the wooden buttons with twine & left some 
twine at each side to make an interesting boyish embellishment.
  I flipped the buttons over to their reverse side as I wanted
 them to be plain as opposed to printed. 
Supplies List for 'You Talking to Me?' Layout

Paper - Stardust, Moondust & Found in the Sky 
- Frosted Life Collection - 13 Arts
Metallic grey cardstock - Coredinations
Sentiments, tags, polaroid photo frame, file tabs 
& alphas - Pink Paislee Portfolio Collection
Rubber recolourable strip - Pink Paislee Artisan Elements
Washi tape, die-cut music note circles, film-strip die-cut,
journaling tag, twine & wooden buttons - Purple Pumpkin
Gesso - Studio by Claudine Helmuth
Black Mist - Charcoal - Maya Road
Brick wall stamp - Prima Marketing
Crackle stamp - Crafty Individuals
Bright Pink ink - Color Box
Black ink - Beetle Black - Doodlebug
Grey ink - Old Road - Prima
Blue ink - Versa Color - Lagoon
Beige ink - Versa Color - Bisque



Saturday 15 December 2012

Scrapmatts Design Team! I made it!!




I have some very exciting news for you today!I made the 
Scrapmatts Design Team!!  I have been holding onto that 
piece of news for a while now & you should know I'm not
very good at keeping mum about exciting stuff so it's been
HARD!!!
 I am really happy though!  Finally I made a chipboard team!! 
 Phew!  I've spent a lot of money on various chipboard over the 
years so I'm looking forward to getting some in return for my
Scrapmatts is a very well known & well established Australian
company & you can visit and join their Ning site HERE where
you can follow the work of the Design Team, see where to buy
Scrapmatts (which is sold online through Papertole HERE)
& join in in the forum where there are regular challenges
& upload your creations into the gallery.

I do hope that you will join me on this wonderful new turn
in my online journey!!



Friday 14 December 2012

Winter Birthday Layout {Berry 71 Bleu December Project} Purple Pumpkin/Manor House Creations






This month over at Berry71Bleu we have a White Winter/Christmas 
challenge going on, sponsored by the amazing Wycinanka of Poland!
Beautiful, high quality chipboard elements in intricate designs.
I just loved this chippie frame but wanted to use photos from
Cami's latest birthday so I used my craft knife to cut the cats
out of the frame to make it more versatile.
The requirement is to use a white base for your layout and also
to stick within either a Christmas or a Winter theme.  I chose
Winter as Cami has a Winter Birthday every June, our most
freezing time here in the Southern Hemisphere.
I just LOVE these woodgrain alphas from Jillybean Soup
& something was clearly up with my Martha Stewart 
punch but, before trying to sharpen it, I thought I would
go with this look as it was kinda grungy & distressed :)
I used Purple Pumpkin goodies too - the XL button & the brown
crochet trim that came with one of their Limited Edition Kits.
I randomly inked the chipboard frame using Burnt Sienna
and Dark Brown inks from Color Box.
That lovely HUGE flower is from Manor House Creations
& can be purchased from the Zeus & Zoe Etsy store HERE!
The punched butterfly & resin rose are also from
Purple Pumpkin & available HERE

I know it's a busy time of the year but there is a gorgeous
prize on offer as usual AND a Guest Designer offer to add
to your resume if you win, so I do hope that some of you
will be able to find the time to play along with the latest
challenge over at Berry 71 Bleu HERE.

Have a beautiful weekend everyone!!

Supplies List for 'Winter Birthday' Layout

Brown Print - Les Papiers de Pandore - Villa - 
Secrets & In the Garden
White Cardstock - American Crafts
Modeling Paste - Reeves
Butterfly stencil - Maya Road
Dark Brown Ink - Color Box
Border punch - Martha Stewart
Lace & Gauze - stash
Crochet lace,buttons, butterfly & resin rose
- Purple Pumpkin
Black felt vine - Prima
Large flower - Manor House Creations
Calendar Card - Glitz Creations
Prima Packaging
Chipboard frame - Wycinanka
Woodgrain Alphas - Jillybean Soup
Teeny Alphas - Kaisercraft
Doily Transparency - Webster's Pages




Thursday 13 December 2012

Altered Clock - My Creative Scrapbook Limited Edition Kit





At last!  My last project using the 'My Creative Scrapbook' 
Limited Edition Kit for November 2012.  I love the challenge 
of using up every last tidbit from a kit (well as much as I can 
possibly use at least!) so, when I saw this pretty little clock,
 I knew that it was the perfect piece to 'pretty up' for my 
daughter's new apartment!
I fussy-cut some of my off-cut papers, as well as 
using some remaining die-cuts.  Inked up the edges.  
Glued everything on really strong then added the
 angels on top as the 'piece de resistance'.
I cut down the Pink Paislee Artisan Elements Squares into strips
& added some of those along the edge of the clock face & some 
strips along the base.
This was an easy-peasy 30 minute project & yet it took
this little clock from drab to fab & my daughter loves it!
I had two pretty pink Prima flowers left but one was not a 
shape that I liked (it had only 4 petals) so I cut the petals up 
& used them to bulk up my flower on the right-hand side & 
added the stamens from the centre to the base of my flower 
cluster on the left.  I tucked in my last remaining piece of lace & 
added a "Cherished Moments" sentiment cut from my Prima
 packaging - which was appropriate & in-keeping with the 
whole 'Time" theme!

'Altered Clock' Supplies List

Die-cuts -  Colorbok - Victorian Parlour
Fussy-cut papers - Prima 'Tea Thyme' Collection
Pink Flowers - Prima Coral Ice
Resin Angels - Prima Shabby Chic
Sentiment - Prima Packaging
Ecru rubber edging - Pink Paislee Artisan Elements
Lace trim & all supplies - My Creative Scrapbook 
Limited Edition Kit November 2012
Dark Brown Ink - Color Box