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!