Huka Falls

Taupo is such a great holiday spot - so many things to see and do...

This page started out as an experiment, layering watercolours on with a brayer and building up colour. I then realised I hadn't left much in the way of white space, so I added tissue to break it up. I also used the swipe on swipe off technique through a new fave stencil (feel like the Karate Kid - Wax on, wax off 😁😁😁). I also used some Colourblast paste to make string as well as stencilling.

The embellies are mostly Vicki Boutin, plus a beautiful Charm I've been waiting for the right place for.

 

Hope you love it as much as I do! 

Friends and Brothers

I don't do boy pages that often, but here's one of my great-nephews while out for a nature walk. 

 Here are a couple of close ups...

 

Here's the sketch challenge 

From the left sketch I used the flags and the general layout (although it did mutate a bit 😆😆😆), and from the second sketch I used the circles and stars in the background.
I used dotty washi tape, but in case it doesn't count I also used enamel dots as I think I have around a million 😉

I luurrve this flair from Accent Scrapbooking too! And of course the Charm Creation Arrow is pretty awesome 💖
I also used the February boy kit from The Paper Teapot for all the great Pinkfresh, Tim Holtz and Cocoa Vanilla awesomeness 😁
Make sure to have fun with it! 

Winter is Coming

I'm really not a winter fan, except it gives me more time to read some of my favorite books!

Winter is Coming is the motto of House Stark, one of the families on which Game of Thrones is centred, so I documented my love of this series on my page 😄

This is for the new type Scrap Our Stash challenge, here 'tis...

This new 7dots paper range was perfect for it, I just added a little white paint, Colourblast shimmer and paste (with a Tim Holtz stencil) and a few diecut snowflakes. "winter" was a Lorilei Murphy cut file from  Hip Kit Club. The wolf head was a clip art that I fussy cut.

 

Thanks for the look!

Always and Forever

I think that this just may be the first ever page I've made just of Mark - he's often in the group but he deserves one to himself after 32 years married I guess 😜

 

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

I chose the left column of Red, Camera and Wood. 

The grungy look of the page suits him lol - it's a mix of Kaisercraft Base Coat and Garage Days.

 

You make me so proud

Hello scrappers!

I've made this page with the magnificent Magnolia Jane collection from Heidi Swapp (available at The Paper Teapot) for the March Zebra challenge.

I couldn't get past the influence of black and white, plus stripes - so this is what I came up with!

I also used one of the new Tim Holtz stencils, I love these cute little stencils, so easy to use and they don't take up much room at crops 😉

The photo was at Breanna's graduation from High School, which she achieved with merit (meaning she received a year 13 subject prize also). 

I just couldn't be more proud of this kid and her achievements!

💖💓💖

Journey

I was at a bit of a loss as to how to document the place we stayed while we were in Anaheim so I ended up grabbing my Shimelle Go Now Go and just seeing what happened! I started off scraplifting Becky Stidham from Paper Issues but then things just evolved - as they do, and I was quite happy with it in the end.

The Hotel was called Castle Inn and Suites by the way, and although it wasn't your normal tourist place, the location was great, so close to Disney; it was clean, and comfortable. The girls weren't that impressed with sharing the same room as us but we were only there to sleep, way too busy out and about every day!

Santa Monica

Another page done from our USA holiday - slowly getting through them (very very slowly 😉)
We did a hop on hop off bus tour, but this was really the only stop where we got off for any length of time.
It was so busy on the pier! Then again it was a sunny Sunday, so not really surprising.
Here's the page...

 

 

And here's the sketch inspiration from Scrap Our Stash...

 



 I used..

C - Cocoa Vanilla, clouds

U - Uni Paint pen

P - Puffy stickers

I - Ink

D - Die cuts, doily, drops (Nuvo)

 

I really had trouble trying to find something for U!

 

Overall I'm quite happy though with the way it come out, although its quite a subtle one for me!!!😁😁

 

You & Me - so Fab together

Hi everyone  - I hope your month is going well!

We don't have that many photos of just the 2 of us, this one was taken at Jester House on the coastal route between Nelson and Motueka. The gardens are gorgeous and worth a visit, even if you don't have time for a delish Devonshire tea 😋🍰

This new layout was done for this month's Tic Tac Toe challenge at Scrap Our Stash

Here's the challenge...

I used red, hearts and mixed alpha title.

I made the background just by layering distress inks Tim Holtz style, stamping, stencilling 3d gel and then a bit more stamping. I would usually use black somewhere in the mix but decided I wanted to keep the colours a bit "clearer" so the darkest I went was navy.

The papers and embellies are all either Amy Tan or Cocoa Vanilla.

Don't forget to give it a go!

Do U Dream?

Woo hoo!! - excited to be asked to guest design for challenge site Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge - they have some great prompts, and this month's one is "Dream".

Here's my take on the challenge...

The background paper is Pink Paislee, all the layers, flair, dots and stickers are Cocoa Vanilla Love Always and I'm a sucker for Charms Creations, in particular hearts.

Hopefully this will give you some inspiration! Thanks for looking

Eat Play Sleep Repeat

Hi all - today I'm sharing a layout of my great nephew Cohen - he visited us in the summer, along with his Mum and big sister. He may not have been really talking but he always made himself understood! So busy too!

Here's the page....

I love the Crate Paper Cool Kid collection, and coupled with this emoji from Charms Creations and the ink spatters I felt like it was really "him".

Thanks for looking!

Year 11

We all get a ton of these posed school photos, so I thought that I should get some out of the box and into the album, starting with Shiloh's most recent one :)

This was done for the September 1st Scrap Our Stash challenge, this is the inspiration book cover - 

I used lots of lovely Tim Holtz products on this page - my new stencil,filmstrip tape, ideaology and distress crayons. I combined this with some very old Basic Grey paper and brand new Go Now by Shimelle.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Brilliant Day

Hi and welcome to my very first challenge as a design team member for Scrap Our Stash!

There used to be an ad screening on TV whose tag line was

"Don't leave home til you seen the country!"

New Zealand is such a beautiful place, and while our kids are dying to travel the world, we want to show them as much as we can here in "Godzone".

This photo was in the summer holidays down at Bluff - on a good day you can see Stewart Island which is the southernmost part of NZ.

This was the inspiration for my layout...

Both the title and the colours inspired me - and Dr Suess is still one of my favourite authors ;).

I used Cocoa Vanilla "Colour Me Happy" papers - the "B" sides for all the patterned papers - 5 weren't hard to find from this lot, and the one round embellishment is an epoxy sticker inside a pressed bottlecap, plus I got a bit carried away with the circles - patterned paper and fab Tim Holtz stamps too :)

If you would like to play along with the challenge, the link is here.

Thanks for looking!

Calm

Just a quick check in with this one...

My beautiful niece Maddison again, this time at Riverton when we went to Invercargill over the Xmas holidays 2015/16.

The layout comes form a class run by Julie Best (her first!) which was great, using a lot of Blue Fern product, sprays and gelatos, all courtesy of The Paper Teapot.

Thanks for the look!

Wonder...

This page is titled "Wonder" as that's exactly the expression on Shiloh's face....facing a new year of challenges at school, wondering what path to take, where life will take her.

And a couple of close ups of that texture....

I had two challenge sites that I used for inspiration for this page - 

Firstly the sketch is by Laura at Stuck?! Sketches, I love how it makes it easy to put my own stamp on things. If you would like to play along you have until the end of the month - just have a look here.

And this is the sketch I used...

Secondly thank you to Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge for the title inspiration, this challenge is also open to the end of the month - have a play along with this challenge too - go on, you know you want to! Have a look at it here.

Also, I have to say - I'm a major fan of Bo Bunny texture paste - a really nice effect and so simple to use. 

Thanks for having a look, leave a comment if you like it ;;)

Summer Days make me Happy

I love the warm days, miss them so much at this time of year - even though I get more time to scrap the photos, and we have a cozy fire going.

We stopped at Jester House near Motueka on our January 2015 holiday, it's a great place to visit...tame eels to feed (although the resident cat probably got just as much of the food as the eels lol) and this great garden full of Wild Animals. And the elephant was pretty cool as well haha...

I used this sketch from Stuck?! Sketches which I rotated to suit the photo...

And once again I've used Cocoa Vanilla papers, this time the Colour Me Happy collection, so cool because it's double-sided, one side black & white, one side colour. You can get it at The Paper Teapot.

I've also used a Tim Holtz die and the amazing distress crayons, Doodlebug and Recollections doilies, Prima flowers, a brad and bow by The Paper Studio,Documented Faith washi, American Craft Thickers and Freckled Fawn wood veneer.

I hope you like my page - if you love it leave a comment! - and there are still a few days left to play along with the sketch challenge.

Love You

I love this photo, taken at Neverland for Jenna's 3rd birthday. Such a cute wee fairy Shiloh!

This page is chock full of Prima both old and new, from the Salvage District Paper, watercolour paper and notes, to the resin, flowers, crystals and crackle paste, micro beads, stencil and stamps.

 The title chipboard is from ScrapFX which was embossed white, and then BoBunny glitter paste added. I love the cascading stars stamp from BoBunny too :x

The transparency from My Minds Eye has been in my stash for years lol.

The paper, stencils, pastes and chipboard are all available at The Paper Teapot.

Don't forget to let me know what you think!

Make it Click!

Breanna first got involved with Ronald McDonald through her friend Laura and Dance teacher Hayley.

Initially she danced with them at the Teddy Bears Picnic for Summertimes, and then later in the year, Ronald was invited to the Queenspark school fair where a select few performed the Make it Click song and dance. Shiloh also joined in for this one as did Laura's little sister Brooke, Kennedy Moore and Rosie Griffioen.

I used up some October Afternoon paper, washi  and flair that I had in my stash for a while, plus two of my fave Tim Holtz stencils, a Freckled Fawn arrow, Mister Huey's mists, and a Maya Road camera clip.

If you like it, leave me a comment and also share :)

Infinite love

Just look at this hair colour - isn't it great??

Breanna's selfie showed it off so well :)

I love how this page turned out, using Prima and Limore Webber stamps; Tim Holtz and Montarga stencils; WOW chipboard; Pink Paislee frame; Papervine washi and enamel dots; The Paper Teapot flowers; Prima texture paste; Tim Holtz distress ink and Reeves watercolours.

What do you think? Don't forget to leave me a comment and share the post if you like it!

Geek Girl

This kid cracks me up!

And she was even happy for me to take the photos....

Nothing else to be said really lol

The paper I used in this one is Amy Tangerine from American Crafts,the arrows are by Freckled Fawn, the washi is from Typo, the letters are Thickers and Doodlebug, and the wood veneer is from Papervine. I also used a Kaisercraft stencil and Tim Holtz ink.

Leave me a comment if you like the page, and share it as much as you like!

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.