A Handmade Xmas

Before I started scrapbooking I was a ceramic teacher and product rep for Duncan Enterprises. I loved the opening of the kiln to see what surprises there may be (and the occasional disaster) but I sold the studio when Bre was a baby. I continued making things for sale from home for some time after that though. Mum used to come and look after the girls for me once a week so that I could do it.

Blinkin' earthquakes meant that I don't have very much left of the things I made, but my Xmas things were bubble wrapped so mainly kept okay through the first few, although a couple of chips appeared on the nativity after the December 2011 one. Not too bad though.

This is the last sketch from Scrap our Stash for the year

It's always fun to play along with sketches, and this one is no exception
For the stash I used
P - Pinkfresh, puffy stickers
E - Ephemera
A - Amy Tan bow, Alphas
C - Cut file, chipboard and Colourblast ink
E - Enamel dots

Have a great Xmas, and I'll catch you in the New Year!

December Traditions

We always have a Xmas photo sitting on display right up until it's time for the next one, so here's last years photo now scrapped finally!

It was taken on Shiloh's birthday - so of course her besties are with her, and to be honest it was really the only way we were going to get a Santa photo lol.

This is for the DT Scrap Our Stash December Tic Tac Toe challenge. I was hoping to clear the whole board but it wasn't to be sadly 😞 I will get there one day!

I did end up using 2 lines though the Diagonal from top left and the bottom row. Here they all are...

This is using the new Pinkfresh December Days collection - love the blue! Plus a sequin or 500 lol.

Have a fabulous day!

Happy Dayz

Sometimes (most times) when Shiloh gets together with her friend Taylor, all they can do is giggle 😂

Once it starts, they have trouble turning it off again, and this was one of those times.

This was the second time I used this paper, it was also in the May Hip Kit. I also used  the ephemera, wood veneers and letters from this kit, I just added a yellow chevron charm, some Colourblast,  and a cut file from Paper Issues. I entered this into a monthly Colourblast challenge.

Now go finish your Xmas shopping!

Awesome (again!)

Two "awesome" pages in a row lol.

This was taken at the same time as some of the other photos I've shared recently, it was the first time Shiloh had seen her little cuz for a long time 💓

  I used a Paige Evans cut file, and the September Hip Kit, along with a Charm Creation chevron and tab.

I was super pleased with the way this one came out!

Awesome!

The first of so many concerts that year - Billy Idol may be getting older (aren't we all???) but it was still a great night! So many people squashed into leather pants and jackets hahaha!

I wanted to have a play with my Prima watercolours, also using masking fluid. I LOOOVE the way the flowers came out!

The papers and embellies are all from Cocoa Vanilla's Wild at Heart collection, and of course I had to use a denim chevron charm!

Have a wonderful day!

Look at the Stars....

...Look how they shine for you

A beautiful photo of Shiloh before her first formal 💗

 I made this page to teach for The Paper Teapot, using lots of fun techniques, including Distress Oxides, Colourblast colour paste, Scrapiniec embossed, Carabelle stamped stars coloured with Shimmer cubes and heaps more. No one had clean hands when we were finished!!

Margarita-ville

Joanna and I found the yummiest Margaritas at a Mexican restaurant on the South Bank in Brisbane. They had every flavour under the sun, and we "tried" to sample them all, but we would have had to crawl back to the apartment after lol!

I made this DT page for The Paper Teapot monthly challenge, which was to scrap about food or drink. What a hard challenge lol. 

I used Distress Oxides on the background with Colourblast paste, and mostly Bella Blvd paper and embellies. I do love the hex cut filefrom Paper Issues, and of course I had to add a charm emoji 😍

Re Do

It's always fun to re-stage photos 😀

This was at the Railway house in Queenstown - the kids were so little when we first went there, but  the rooms had been redecorated and the exterior painted so they were great to stay in.

Shiloh was just a "bit" bigger for Mark to lift this time, and Bre had to crouch instead of stretch to see over the top - even though she's still just a shorty lol.

I just wasn't sure about this Shimelle Go Now papers, but I loved the chipboard houses, they fitted so well with the theme.The leaves were stamped with a new Carabelle studios stamp - they are VERY cool. I entered this in a weekly Hip Kit sketch challenge. I also used some of my fave Colourblast colours 💓

Hope you like it!

Sparkle Every Day

My Super cute little nephew Cohen was learning the intricacies of applying nail polish... don't think Dad was that impressed 😉

I made this page for a weekly Hip Kit sketch challenge in October, and I won! Yay! I used paper from the Pink Paislee Summer Lights collection, shimmer cubes and colourblast paste, plus ephemera from Maggie Homes Carousel collection with a turquoise star from Charm Creations.

Uniquely You

Just a quick layout that I made at a recent retreat, from a kit by Helen Munro - fellow DT member at The Paper Teapot.

 

It came together so quickly and is just lovely 💖

Thanks Helen!

You Little Ripper

Somehow or other this page got missed out 😢

My nephew Zavier plays Ripper rugby, the pre-cursor to the real thing...they all look so cute running around trying to get the ball in a big group rather than spreading out lol

This was an experimental page - using masking fluid and watercolours.

I also used Cocoa Vanilla You Rock, loads of washi tape (for the border) and Nuvo Mousse.

Have a great day!

Sparkle and Shine

Yay - some older photos scrapped 😉

This is my elder daughter with one of her good friends, who has now moved away...but whenever we see each other they still have a blast.

I made this for the October Colourblast challenge, which was to use triangles - I think this fits the bill, don't you?

As well as Colour paste, I also used shimmer cubes for the background.

The papers, ephemera and frames are all from Cocoa Vanilla's Wild at Heart collection, and the acrylic words are from Bella Blvd.

Lovely

Just a quick share today of my layout for The Paper Teapot's September challenge  - to use a handmade embellishment and scraps.

Love my little Niece and her adorable pupper 💓

I made the star using felt, tulle, chambray and a button.

Fearless

Another page of my Fearless daughter - at least she seems so to me sometimes!

I was inspired by the patterned paper to re-create it with masking fluid and inks which I think worked really well.What do you think?

Live More and Hey Mr Bird

So great to find a kit I really love! This one was from Shop & Crop Australia, and was made up mostly of a mix of Pinkfresh products. I also added some ephemera from the May Hip Kit.

This first layout was the most brilliant coloured parrot at Australia Zoo... 















And this one was when we stopped at the Cardrona Tavern last Xmas holidays. Definitely recommend a stop here 😋







 

Thanks for coming to visit me!

Koala Love

I managed to get in close at Australia Zoo when we were over there earlier in the year - who doesn't love a cute Koala?

I made this DT page for the September sketch at Scrap Our Stash

The word this month was LEARN, and I used

L - Love More collection from Pinkfresh, letter stickers and leaves

E - Embossing Powder

A - Arrow, Abandoned Coral Distress Oxide, acrylic paint

R - Resin word

N - Nuvo Drops

Have a great day!

Keep Calm....

These were the most humongous doughnuts I had ever seen - I managed to eat about an eighth of one. They were from Lard Lad, at Springfield USA  - home of The Simpsons. Now we know why Homer drools when he hears the D word!!

This was for a DT page at SCrap Our Stash - the October Tic Tac Toe. I used the bottom row. Here's the challenge...

Sweet & Salty

"Salty"seems to be a favourite term at the moment - especially when these two get together. They've known each other since they were very little, and are still good friends 💙

This is a DT project for the November sketch over at Scrap Our Stash, here tis...

And the word to go with it is "Thanks"....

I used 

T - Thickers, Teresa Collins (the smaller gold stars), thread

H - Hearts, Hip Kit exclusive frames and alphas

A - American Crafts, Alphas

N - Nuvo Drops

K - Kaisercraft (wood veneer)

S - Stickers, Stars

I had a lot of fun playing with inks on this one!

Enjoy 😁

Embrace the Detour

Sometimes the best photos are selfies ripped from the girls fb pages lol

 

I used the October Hip Kit - love love love pinkfresh, and the Shimmerz that were in the Colour Kit were perfect with it. I had the co-ordinating letters in my stash already.

Sometimes its hard to have negative space but I tried really hard with this one! 

Remember

This beautiful bride is my treasured Auntie Mollie, my Mum's sister and one of the funniest people I knew. She married Uncle Bert back in February 1947.

I made this page with a kit by Megan Gourlay at a recent retreat. I love doing these sort of pages from kits, because they're not my normal style, and I don't have to buy all the products separately. Im really happy with how it turned out 💛

The View @2

Recently we went up north to visit family, and while we were there, my 2 year old nephew took some snaps with my camera, including a cute selfie with Shiloh. Its a real insight into how they see the world.

This page is for the October Scrap Our Stash sketch which is below...

And for the word LEAF I used

L - Layers, Letter stickers

E - Enamel shapes

A - Arrow 

F - Flair

I used the Cocoa Vanilla You Rock collection, which really does rock!

Spring in the City

I pass this magnificent magnolia tree on my way to work most mornings, and in the spring when it flowers it's just glorious 💗💗💗

I used the June Hip Kit for this page, and inspiration from Terhi Koskinen, I was feeling a bit flat before I started but now have my mojo back firmly in place!

Just Goofing around

Finally getting on to some more of my Disney photos!

This is a DT project for the November Tic Tac Toe challenge at Scrap Our Stash...

I used the left hand column - the plaid is just peeking out 😉 I was trying for a simple vertical layout, but everything kind of exploded lol. I love all the stamping!

Thanks for looking!

Sparkle and Shine

I made this page for the October challenge over at Colourblast Australia - I love the bright colours they have in all sorts of different media.

The theme for this month was triangles - can you pick that???😛

As well ast the fabulous Colourblast Colour Pastes and Shimmer cubes, I also used Cocoa Vanilla Wild at Heart papers and flair, Bella Blvd acrylic words and a Kaisercraft stencil.

I nearly went crosseyed with the hand stitching lol.

Gangsta

Couldn't believe this photo of my brother at a recent murder mystery night - it's so him! Right down to the Disorderly Conduct charge 😆😆😆

I'm entering this page into the current Stuck?! sketch challenge - I love these sketches 💓

Here's the page....

And here's the challenge...

Make sure you have a go too!

Every Picture...

So this story was of Breanna and her Book Week costume back in 2010.

I think she made a great Nancy Drew! 

This page is for the September Scrap Our Stash Tic Tac Toe challenge

 I chose the left hand column - the Fancy Pants paper is from the Joy Parade collection, the arrow clip is from Ikea, and the cork chevrons have been whitewashed to better suit the page.

Thanks for looking!

Hello Sunshine

Another photo of my cute niece Savarna (pre the self-haircut lol)

 

This is for the August sketch plus word challenge over at Scrap Our Stash

 The word is "Travel", and I used - 

T - Turquoise paint, tassle
R - Red, Resin flowers
A - American Crafts puffy stickers (they're SOOO cute!)
V - Vellum clouds
E - Echo Park Enamel dots
L - Little by Little Paper

This was also the first full layout I've done from my first ever Hip Kit  - Love them! 💓

 

Brave

Nothing like jumping off a bridge to get the blood pumping!

Or so they tell me, I'm sure not going to be trying it any time soon 😅😅😅

However Breanna was dead keen to try, so we shouted her for her birthday a couple of years ago.

This page is for The Paper Teapot August challenge, to use a large title. I think this counted 😉

I used Kaisercraft Factory 42 available here, and my fave Deep Water Colourblast paste.

Thanks for looking!

Ice Bar

Man I loved this place! 

Absolutely everything was made of ice, including the tables, chairs and the glasses we drank our cocktails from 😁🍹

A bit of a different page for me - no mixed media AT ALL! (I made up for it later lol)

This is for the August Tic Tac Toe board...

I chose the bottom row - Emoji, Brads (more emojis) and Washi Tape.

Hope you like it!

Nut jobs

Love this - I was trying to get a photo of the fern leaf in the Queenstown botanical gardens, and as I pressed the shutter these 3 nutjobs jumped out 😁

The page was for The Paper Teapot July challenge, which was 54321 - 

5 patterned papers

4 enamel dots or Nuvo drops

3 Mixed Media or embellishment clusters

2 words

1 stamp

Together - the best place to be

For Mother's Day this year we were in Auckland and I got this lovely photo of my sister in law and my niece. From six children Bronnie is the only girl 😁

I played along with Stuck?! Sketches here's the sketch for the second part of the month...

Most of the items used were from the May Hip Kit Club, plus one of my favourite hearts from Charm Creations.

Thanks for looking!

Beautiful

Just a photo I loved of Shiloh 💓

 

This was for the Scrap Our Stash July sketch challenge - 

 

The word for the month was "Fireworks", and I have used

F - Flowers
I - Ink
R - Ranger
E - Embossing powder
W - White, Wood veneer
O - Organza ribbon
R - Rhinestones
K - Kaisercraft
S - Staples

 

One in a Million

It's pretty darn hard to get a photo of my nephew Cohen, but it's worth persisting, because he's pretty darn cute!

 

This is for the Scrap Our Stash July Tic Tac Toe board, I was obviously influenced by Stars in the centre, but the line I actually used was the left hand column - Number, chipboard, Striped paper.

Here's the board...

 

Boom

While we were in LA last year, there was a compulsory stop at Universal Studios, and these photos were at the Water World action special FX show. Lots of explosions, fire and high speed!

This is for the June sketch challenge over at Scrap Our Stash - here's the sketch which I just turned on its side...

And the word for the month is "Summer", so this is what I used-

 
S - Stars, Stencil, Staples & Stickers
U - Uniball pen
M - Mousse (Nuvo)
M - Mambi puffy sticker
E - Enamel dots, Ephemera
R - Resin (star)

Super easy, super fast!