Finnabair classes

What a full on day yesterday was!

First in the morning amazing scrapbook pages all round, and then in the afternoon a gorgeous canvas. I love Prima Mica powders!! And mechanicals, and flowers, and stencils, and glitter.....

Here are the results...

 Thank you so much for the class Anna, and to Joanna at The Paper Teapot for hosting it...ready to book in for the next time!

A Family is a Gift....

Well the title of this page may be pretty cheesy, but the sentiment behind it is true.

 

We all got together for Bronwyn and Andy's wedding in 2010, it was a fabulous day at Markovina Vineyard, plenty of laughter, with the bonus of croquet and petanque onsite too.

 

Congratulations Br-Andy :)

 

 

This is also using Kaisercraft's Provincial papers for The Paper Teapot design team and collectables (available here), WOW chipboard, Prima packaging, thread, Maggie Holmes bow, Amy Tan mini doily, Cocoa Vanilla flair, Jillibean Soup wire word, Tim Holtz distress ink, Papervine washi, Scrapaholics self-adhesive Baroque tape and The Paper Teapot flowers.

If Friends were Flowers I'd pick you

It had been a long time since I'd been to the Botanic Gardens, so it was nice to get out for a bit one day with Shiloh and Shannon.
 

 

This is the latest layout I have just made for The Paper Teapot design team, its the new Provincial range from Kaisercraft - I decided to use the blue papers rather than the green, plus the Collectables. I also used both Dusty Attic and WOW chipboard; Kaisercraft and Bo Bunny stamps; a Kaisercraft stencil;Tim Holtz inks; Bo Bunny Glitter paste; Prima Crackle Paste, Micro-beads, doily and flowers; Cocoa Vanilla enamel dots;and also Green Tara flowers.

 

You can get this range from Joanna here.

 

Hope you like it - leave a comment if you do!

Year 12 Formal

It's been a while hasn't it? I have loads of layouts to share with you!

 

Breanna was excited to go to her first formal with Aaron - so much planning! He even gave a corsage for her wrist - awww :)

 

This layout was made in a class designed by Sally-Anne Ashton  - lots of lovely soft colours, hand made flowers and pearls and using Kaisercraft Botanica.

Dear Santa...we can explain....

You would think that butter wouldn't melt in their mouths, would you??

My big brother Barry and his sidekick (my cousin) Sandra. Dontcha just love the cute coats?

 

This is the new Xmas Collection from Kaisercraft - Silver Bells. I love that's it's traditional, but without the usual red and green. I just added some texture paste, a doily, some silver thread and lace, plus some cute little Green Tara flowers and a Prima wood veneer.

You can get Silver Bells all at The Paper Teapot here
 

So time to start thinking about Xmas - I'm going to try to catch up some of my other Xmas photos now, and as you can see, I've got a few years to go yet!!!

 

Make sure to let me know if you like it :)

My Girls

This photo make me laugh - it's from a photo shoot before one of Breanna's birthdays...the classic "Yes we'll hug each other for the photo, but we can't get too close!"

 

This is Simple Stories So Fancy, most of the decoration is already in the paper which makes it so easy! I also used the matching Washi Tape and stickers.

 

Apart from that, I also used Prima Spray and flowers; Maggie Holmes bow and chipboard; WOW and Imaginarium chipboard; Creativ doilies and Cocoa Vanilla sequins.

 

Have a look at The Paper Teapot for the full Simple Stories range!

 

Don't forget to leave a comment if you like it :)

Better the Devil we know...

We don't really celebrate Halloween, especially as it's also Marks birthday but last year the girls all got together to go Trick or Treating and were right into it.

 

 

I used Amy Tan patterned paper, Papervine Washi Tape, Stickles, Glimmermist, Kaisercraft Stamps: Jolee's Boutique embellies and Jillibean soup wood veneers, plus a Maggie Holmes doily.

 

The sketch was an old one from Sketchablities.

 

Thanks for looking, leave a comment if you like it.

Today

Just one of those candid moments hanging out with Shiloh and her bestie. A Teacher Only Day from school, May sunshine, yummy food courtesy of The Rock Café in Sumner.

Its a "Just Because" page, no challenges, no trying new products, just getting it done :)

I had said to myself I wasn't going to use any arty products on this page, but I just couldn't help myself...lol. And I love Amy Tangerine papers for the "everyday" pages. All I added was a MAMBI transparency, some wooden veneers, washi and a few sequins to finish.

Be Free

  Shiloh and her bestie Shannon wanted me to take this photo of them at Scarborough, love how it came out <3  

 

Here's a wee close-up of the detail...

 

 

I've used the current sketch from Sketchabilities - These always give me a great headstart on my layouts...

Why don't you check out their challenge blog here - there's still a few days to go with this one!

 

I also loved the colours from the mood board at Scrap Around the World - Especially the "Moody" blues and pinks - this is the board that I used for my colour inspiration...

 

And I love the quotes that are often included in the mood boards too :) 

 

I had a fun time playing with heaps of multi media products on this page - starting with a water colour wash for a base, adding mists, Prima Microbeads,  Mica Flakes, Crackle and ordinary Texture paste, Gelatos and BoBunny Glitter pastes. I've been waiting for the right layout to use my wonderful WOW chipboard heart frame  - and this was it finally! Most of these products are available from Joanna at The Paper Teapot

 

Hope you like it - leave a comment if you do!

Sweet cupcakes

Yum - I love this place! I thought chocolate would be my fave but no - that award goes to this little spicy Christmas number :)

A lovely afternoon out with the girls, Mum and Tessa.

 

 

I had a vision of how I wanted this page to look, and in the end it was nothing like it - but I'm still happy with it. The sketch is a past one from Stuck?!, and the product were a bit of everything including what I needed for the current Scrap Our Stash challenge, where you have to use everything from the word of the month, and this time its

B-R-A-D-S

so here's what I used

B - beads

R - Resin,Roses

A - Adhesive (okay so that one was a struggle lol)

D - Doily

S - Sequins, spray

 

Hope you like it - leave a comment if you do!

Roar

When we were in Rotorua a couple of years ago, after we picked up Breanna from her jamboree we visited Paradise Springs.

Originally it was a trout reserve, and although there were still plenty of those, the main attraction was definitely the lion cubs - up close and personal! I was surprised how rough and wiry their coats felt, I always though it would be soft and cuddly.

 

This page is done with the new Into The Wild Collection from Kaisercraft, all available from Joanna at The Paper Teapot. I made the flowers from suede scraps and used Prima Microbeads and Mica chips for the centres. I also used the specialty paper from the collection Die Cut Desert as a stencil with paints and soft gel.

Enjoy - and please leave a comment!

Right Now...

Shiloh had wanted boxing gloves and a bag since she was little, so we finally got her the gloves for Xmas last year, and started her off in lessons at our local school.

 

One lesson.

 

Oh well, she still loves to put them on and pose for me, so I can live with that :)

Another layout with Scrap Yard from Kaisercraft, Mica Flakes and chipboard all available from The Paper Teapot. Who said girl layouts had to have flowers and other pretty things???

 

The sketch comes from Sketchabilities - I love this challenge site, 2 great challenges each month.

Here's the current sketch

 

Thanks for the look and as always, feel free to comment!

Matey (matey...matey...) aka Bobby

Bobby Walkinshaw was one of Dad's best friends once he moved to Invercargill after the war.

Originally they worked together at Richardsons Builders but then went to Ocean Beach, where at one part they asked Dad to fire Bobby. He wouldn't, so they left together and went to Steel & Tube. This photo was taken in the tea room there in the 1960s.

Bobby used to call Dad "Matey", except that he never just said it once, it was always "Matey Matey Matey". I can remember whenever he came to visit us after we left Invercargill he loved to play cards, share many a flagon with Dad, rub his hands together all the time with the cold (really? it was Nelson, and he had come from Invercargill!) and generally drive Mum crazy lol.

 

I love love LOVE this paper - Scrap Yard from Kaisercraft...I'm sure this won't be the only page from this collection! And it's all available here from Joanna at The Paper Teapot.

The Barbed Wire Chipboard is from 2Crafty, and the cog wooden veneer is from WOW.

Also LOVE the Prima Mica Flakes which I have set into the coloured gel. The gel, flakes and veneers are also all from The Paper Teapot.

Here's a close-up for you

 

I hope you like this - have fun creating with it like I did!

 

 

Botanic Gardens

Tori and Jenna may have moved away to Auckland but when we see them again everything just gets picked up where we left off.

In fact I think Shiloh and Jenna probably chat now on facetime more than ever!

There is only one patterned paper on this page - an old denim one from Kaisercraft's Base Coat III, the rest is mostly a composition of gelatos, texture paste, distress ink and pen. The wooden flourish has been in my stash since not long after Kaisercraft became available in NZ!
I've used the current Scrap Our Stash Challenge for this - here's my list of items that I've used
E - enamel dots
M - Mat (for photos)
B - Brad (as a flower centre)
O - OLD wooden veneer (hope that qualifies!) otherwise Overlay
S - Smiley
S - Sequins

Thanks for the look!

Good Times

Shiloh and Shannon have been buddies a long time now, and when they get together we sometimes get the craziest photos!

 

These were taken before the Year 8 dinner at Winnie Bagoes in December 13. It's taken me a while to scrap the photos, but it actually was a very quick layout (for me lol) in the end.

 

 The paper (Kaleidoscope) and wooden branch are from Kaisercraft, as is the chevron stamp (I love this little cutie). The glitter paste is from Bo Bunny, and the flowers are Petaloo both available from The Paper Teapot. Washi is from Papervine.

This page was made with the following quote from Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge in mind

Use paper or embellishments you have had in your stash for a long time or you can scrap about something you have you have had for a long time. You can use one prompt or both - up to you!

Considering the time some of my stash has been sitting there, this was the perfect push to use it!
 

Thanks for looking - leave a comment!

Axl Rose aka Breanna

This must have been nearly the quickest I've ever completed a page...I'm well known for taking hours and hours swapping elements and sighing over the look!!

 

These photos were taken just after Breanna had got home from attending her prefect camp for North Division, the blue bandanna was their symbol. I'd told her how much she looked like Axl Rose, so she swiped Mark's beer to complete the look :)

 

I made this page after seeing the colour challenge on Papervine - don't you think it works in perfectly?

 

The paper, stickers and tin pins are October Afternoon; those, along with the red washi and wire elements are all available from Papervine. The stencil is by Kaisercraft. I used a sketch from Scrapbooking Memories as a prompt.

 

Thanks for looking!

Summer Gelatos

When we headed off on holiday this summer one of the places we spent some time at was Mapua, both the wharf and the township. Shiloh, Fran and I drove there and met Breanna and Mark who biked to Rabbit Island then caught the ferry over. It was a sizzling hot day, and there was a little store that sold the most amazing Gelatos - yum!

 

This layout was inspired by the April Scrap Around the World Mood Board, which is shown here...

 

I have used Kaisercraft Sandy Toes collection available from The Paper Teapot, a trinket from Papervine, modelling paste, Bo Bunny glitter paste, seed beads, micro beads, muslin and some shells I have had in my stash for about 12 years!

Thanks for looking, and as always please leave a comment if you like it!

Sisters And Besties

I was really excited to be invited to be part of The Paper Teapot design team, and this is my first official project as part of the team :) All the papers and the wooden veneers are part of The Archivist collection from Prima (available here) and the stencil is from Prima also (here).

 

My mother and her sister Mollie became more and more inseparable after Dad and Uncle Bert died. Although they always looked alike, and sounded somewhat alike, they even began to take on each others mannerisms. The photo on this page was taken in Invercargill at my brother's, while they were down there for Uncle Tom's funeral.

 

I used a really cool sketch from Scrapping Our Stash Challenge for March, this is it...

 

plus part of the challenge is also to use gold, which I did by brushing gold wax over the stencilled pattern, and wrapping gold thread around some embellies.

 

I hope you like it!

{Love this} Biker Chick

I've got to say I was more than a bit nervous when Bre wanted to take Flossie out for the first time this summer. I paced round and round the driveway for a couple of minutes then went and got my camera and waited for her. And waited. And waited some more. I think she took the scenic route on purpose. Finally she arrived home with a big grin, and has taken her out again a few times since.

 

 

I loved playing with this layout - probably the only chance I'll ever get to use pink on a layout with number one daughter!

 

I used the March sketch from Stuck?! Sketchs - I just love the multi photo sketches as you can tell a whole story in the pictures. Here's the sketch

 

 

I started off with a home made stencil and some texture paste mixed with acrylic paint. The patterned paper is an old favourite Amy Tangerine from American Crafts. The chipboard and wood veneers are WOW, and the flair is from Paper Vine. I've been waiting to use that little pink scooter sticker for about 5 years, and good grief - there's also vellum, left behind from when I used to use it on nearly every single layout!

 

Hope you like it!

 

 

Blue Bay

We recently went to Mark's cousin's wedding in Blenheim. It was a beautiful yet quirky wedding - we had a visit from Mr Whippy (yum!) and the wedding cake was a cheesecake - real cheese!

Thank you Cathi and Chris, we had a great time, and the wines were fabuloso :)

 

 I've been trying to use up my stash, so once again I've mixed old with new. The paper is the wonderful Blue Bay from Kaisercraft, and on the background I've used Liquitex Sand, which I then lightly rubbed over with Gelatos once it dried. I also love the acrylic word title from WOW. The larger flowers are Green Tara, and I couldn't find smaller flowers to go, so I sprayed some white Prima ones with Glimmermist.

Hope you like it, feel free to follow my blog or comment :)

Twisted Sisters

I love these photos of my girls - the top one's currently my wallpaper :) They were taken on Xmas Day 2013 and I waited for the perfect paper range for them, which I think this is!

 

I was inspired by the new mood board at Scrap Around The World as well as the girls' clothes...this challenge fitted my photos PERFECTLY! 

 

This is the mood board..

 

And here's the link if you would like to have a go too.

 

The papers are Kaisercraft Shine Bright, the acetate is Kaisercraft Art of Life, the flair and Washi are from Papervine, and I used a really cool wood veneer. I also christened my lovely new IndigoBlu stamps.

Thanks for looking, feel free to comment!

Canine Cuddles

Hello! It's been a while, time for a catch up again...

Last year we made a new friend...well a family of friends actually.

Shiloh and I arrived at Mum's one Saturday afternoon, and as we came in the door one very quick wee daschund slipped past us and raced inside! He was so cute and friendly with the most adorable little skin folds on his legs, we thought he was still a puppy and he was obviously lost. We went up and down the drive to see if anyone knew where he had come from but no one did, so we ended up ringing the council as we were worried he'd get hurt on the busy main road.

The next week Mum had a visit from his owner, along with our friend Harry, and his adoptive sister Emma. We were invited to visit their house to see the rest of the family too, so we went round the following weekend to meet all four of the little ones.

It turns out Emma was 3, Harry was actually 5, Henry was 16 and Indy was between Harry and Henry. Harry was well named for Houdini, apparently it wasn't the first time he'd snuck out, and we'd heard later it wasn't to be his last!

I caught this photo of Mum and Emma, and just love it.

 

I've actually used watercolour paper as the base for this layout and a soft wash of colour so as not to detract from the photo. And look - a slide mount! I've had that in my stash for about 12 years I think!

Plus my favourite Kaisercraft stamps for the edges, some pretty washi and vinyl hearts.

 

I love this look - what do you think?