Faraway Gaze

A New Card

2011-05-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy working on cards for my 'other blog' I haven't had much time to do just a pretty card. This one is actually a sort of pop up card. I did this for a challenge over on Tallyscrapper but the details on how to make the card can be found here and also here. for this card I printed out some vintage roses on photo paper, carefully cut them out and layered them as shown in the instructions. I am not to happy with the front of the card - but the inside I love. Warning though - it is very time consuming to make one of these cards - it seems to take forever to cut out all the flowers you need. I have also seen this style of card done with butterflies, hot air balloons and flowers.

Card Making Time

2011-03-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

I thought I had lost these paper piecing patterns so I was very happy when I found them on a backup CD. The bird pattern I found on a scrapbook site - one I don't remember now as it was a long time ago and the fish is one I designed myself. For these cards I used a collection of vintage papers which I inked all the edges of, I used gold Stickles to make the swirls and finally added some rub-on wording. They look so much prettier in real but I just couldn't capture it with the camera.

Free GSD Files

2011-02-28T09:52:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have a Craft Robo, Silhouette or Wish-blade, here are some free GSD files for you. To down load these GSD files, simply click on the picture and you will be taken to 4shared.com. You may use these images in anyway, for making and selling cards, scrap-pages etc but you may not sell or list my files as your own on other web sites or blogs. Please give credit where credit is due.

Times passes so quickly

2011-02-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

I recently obtained some photo's of my husbands late mother and father and have started working on some pages to remember them by. This first page is of them when they were very young and newly married. As usual I went with a vintage feel as it is just something I really enjoy doing. I found these wonderful vintage type flowers over on Scrapbook.com and loved that they had that wonderful aged and browned paper feel to them. Of coarse I couldn't do a page without some swirls and I added these from the "Say it with Chrystal's" collection - also available at Scrapbook.com. I used some mist in the background which I made myself from a blend of coffee added a few star rub-ons and then finished the page by adding some bright green leaves just to take away from the dark colors and to match the background image that is on the paper.

I have also been busy working on some cards too. When ever my scrap box of papers starts getting full I start making cards to use it up. Often the left over bits of paper from a page don't have much use as they fairly small, but I have found you can nearly always use them in card making. This particular card consists of four layers of paper with matching flowers and this time I used diamante crystal swirls - also available at Scrapbook.com. I finished it off with a small 'our family' decoration. This is a 5"x 5" card so it has plenty of room inside to write a nice long note. Another nice touch I have found is to spray the flowers with a very light perfume, it gives the receiver a nice surprise when they open the card and a pretty scent wafts out.

Embossed Card

2011-01-26T04:40:00.000-08:00

This was a card design I saw over on the Craftiblog and thought it was so pretty I would give it a try. It has quite of bit of embossing on it and I used some Cuttlebug Embossing folders to create the designs. I am not thrilled with the colors on this, they seem a little dark to me, but over all I am happy with the way it worked out. I must admit it did take me a couple of hours to get this right, but once I had the sizing worked out I am sure that the next one I make will go much faster. I have also been working with the best way to take photo's of my work and found that a white tri-fold display boards makes a great mini studio/light box. You can pick these up at Walmart, craft stores or office stores for a couple of dollars and I think something in the background - like some leaves or flowers also adds a bit of interest.

Vintage Art Journal - Cover

2011-01-24T09:49:00.001-08:00

It has been well over a year since I did an art journal and I pondered for a long time whether to start a new one. Having just bought our own home and being able to do what ever I want to do with the garden I decided in the end that I would keep a journal - but base it around the garden. I have always found gardening so relaxing and it is a time when my mind tends to wander and the most interesting thoughts and ideas pop in my head. What better way to keep a record of them then in a journal? So in keeping with my garden theme I have decided to base this journal of a vintage flower theme. I found an old book at an antique store for 25 cents ( I loved the old musty smell and yellowed pages). For the cover I stamped it and then used gold embossing powder. The final touch was to add some vintage clip art. I purchased a CD of this off a seller on Ebay and it has thousands of images on it. So follow along with me as I journal my way through the coming year and maybe even consider starting one of your own.

Playing with cards

2009-10-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

I came across this great pattern over on the CraftiBlog for making cards and thought I would give it a try. The clip art I found on another wonderful site Digi Web Studio and I am chuffed with how they turned out. They are sort of like a pop up card but they don't pop up they are actually in three layers.

Classic Vintage with modern flair

2009-10-02T08:06:00.000-07:00

I am on a campaign at the moment to use up left over bits of paper and had all this black and white patterned polka dots so I thought I would see what I could make and this is what I came up with. (Please do click on the photo to see it larger and there a lot of little details that went into this page) I used not only a variety of white paper scrolls but also some black rhinestone scrolls as well. All the flowers have rhinestone centers and I added black paper lace and pearls to border the photo. Dark green leaves offset the bright red flowers and then I added some pretty little metallic green butterflies. Keeping to the simple "L" philosophy (making the embellishments into a "L" shape around the photo) is really what makes this layout pop. So dig into those boxes of scraps and see what you can come up with, you might just surprise yourself.

Turning scrapbooking into wall art

2009-09-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

My neighbor asked me if If I could make two framed pieces for her - that had to include a women dressed in vintage style clothing and a Borzio dog. Amazingly when I looked through my collection of vintage photo's I actually found 3 photos meeting the requirement. The reason she was so specific is the pieces had to match a a Royal Dalton figurine that was in the same style. The other requirement was that it had to be in greens and cream colors. This is what I came up with. I enlarged the photo and then matted it with two different patterened papers. The flowers are all made from hand made paper infused with silk and have silver and gold highlights. I added clear vellum petals to the top of each flower to give it a more soft muted appearance and then added pale green pearl and rhinestone centers. The finishing touch was leaves, scrolls and a tiny string of pearls woven through the flowers. I have just finished the second one and will take a picture of it tomorrow. This whole thing took less then a hour to put together and is a wonderful way to use up left over paper and create some beautiful art for your walls.

Alcohol Ink Cards

2009-09-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

I saw this technique in the Fall addition of Paper Creations magazine and just had to try it. This is using alcohol inks and putting them onto metallic shiny card stock which has been run through the cuttlebug using an embossing folder. I love the amazing colors you get and it is so simple, just squirt on some blending solution, add the ink in 'splots' and then dab with the blending tool or a bit of cotton swab.

Using up paper

2009-09-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

We all have paper that we buy as part of package and wonder how we will ever use it. I came across a wonderful blog recently Life as Lou that gave me some great ideas for just that. Now these boxes are actually quite easy to make but they do take quite a bit of time. You can find all the instructions which are very easy to follow, over on Lou's Blog. The first box I made is the magic box which has these four little boxes inside that you can fill with some candy, tiny toys, some pot-pourri or what ever you want to put in it. I have had this brightly colored pink and orange paper for such a long time and could never think of a way to use it, but the little box turned out wonderfully. There are so many ways to decorate these boxes and if you check Lou's Blog you will see many more examples.

The next box I made was the explosion box and again it is very easy to make but does take a bit of time to cut out and decorate. This box, when you take the lid off has three layers of pages that just 'explode' open. You can add photo's to each page, small quotes, write your own notes and the other thing that is really cute is that there is also enough room in the middle to add a small gift. For this box I added a small 3" teddy bear that is on a key ring. The possibilities for this box are endless and for Christmas I am going to make a number of these boxes and put a hand painted personalized Christmas ornament in each one. These would also make wonderful boxes for some chocolate but rather then just throwing the box away after, you have a wonderful memento to keep. And how cute would one of these done in baby print paper as a welcome to the world box!!! Do try these and have fun.

A little recycling

2009-08-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

I have one real weakness - and that is macadamia nuts. I just love them and I especially love the honey roasted ones. For some reason they have been really hard to find this past year. What an awesome surprise I had when UPS delivered a box and I opened it to find 6 containers of honey roasted macadamias that actually came direct from the company in Hawaii. There was a note attached which read "For my sweetie - I'm nuts about you, Love Dave. It was such a sweet gift that I hated to even throw the containers away so I decided to recycle them. The inside is lined and it is the perfect size for cotton swabs.

Shades of grey

2009-08-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

What a simply wonderful day !!! It has been raining nearly all morning and it is COOL ! I even grabbed my big umbrella and took Mr Reilly out for a walk in it. Considering he is a dog that doesn't like water much, he didn't seem to mind at all. The other great thing is that I have actually been able to open all the windows and let that wonderful fresh air in. I just love the smell of the rain and it's even better as our grass was just mowed and the two combined are so crisp and clean. It must of sparked a little creativity too as I have done two pages today!!! I do seem to be in a bit of shades of gray phase at the moment. Sometimes colors just get too overwhelming and going monochrome really helps.

The first page I did was "Guiding Hand" I came across this wonderful photo of a little one holding his Grandfathers finger and it just reminded me that no matter how young or old we are - we all occasionally need a guiding hand. The second page called "Silent Tears" reminded me that no matter how hardened we become in this world - tears always find a way to escape. I guess I am also into a bit of philosophizing and symbolism at the moment.

You have to wonder

2009-08-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

For the most part, it seems men are the inventors of many of the new technologies - this being the case where is their common sense? Dave recently bought me an IPOD touch - which can do everything the IPOD phone can do - but isn't a phone. I can listen to my music, store my photo's and videos on it, cruise the internet with it, play games, check the weather and find my way if lost as well as all sorts of amazing other things. Now, I have small little fingers but I also have fingernails and this type of technology required skin contact to work so needless to say I have been some what frustrated at times trying to use it. Dave on the other hand has typical male fingers - BIG!!! and ends up pressing 3 things at once. The result is I have had to purchase a special stylus to use with it (and no you can't use a pencil end). The other thing I have discovered is that the earbuds that came with the IPOD are obviously designed for the ears of the Statue of Liberty!!!!! Good heavens they are so big and after only a few minutes cause major PAIN in your ears. Obviously designed for the bigger ear canals of men, which makes me wonder - if mens ears are so big - why is they never hear what we are saying? Anyway, a quick search on line found I am not the only one with this problem and they make earbuds specifically for small ears so I have ordered those too. I am quickly coming to the concussion that they could sell the IPOD for a lot cheaper then they do and then make a fortune selling all the accessories you need so you can use it! Doh ! I am silly - THEY do make a fortune selling the applications and accessories for it. Oh there is on other thing I don't like. I haven't been able to find a suitable case to put it in when I go walking. I bought a sleeve thing for it and it hands around your neck on a lanard - but it fits so tight in the case it turn the side buttons up and down as you slide it in the sleeve and of coarse you have no access to the screen. I found an arm band but didn't like that and there are lots of case to put it in for general use, I just wish they had a case with something like a belt clip on it so you can clip it to your clothes when you go walking.

Over all though, I love this little gadget - especially being able to get online and check Google maps for directions. And the one thing that is free (for smart people like me that figured this out!!!) - is using the interent because you only have to find any Starbucks, Borders Books etc that offer free wi-fi and you can pull up outside and get on-line. I was even online the other day while waiting at the hospital - they have free wi-fi too. The other thing I love about this is you can have your own music on it, you don't have to download ipod music or even buy it from their store. So I give it a 9 out of 10 - it's very cool

Life Hurts

2009-08-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

I was reading that over 60% of the population above the age of 30 suffer with some level of depression. For many it is just a mild depression that can be sorted out with understanding and talking, for some it requires mild medication and for yet others it requires strong medication and counseling. Depression is one of those difficult issues to describe but a recent advertisement on TV hit the nail on the head. Depression Hurts. It hurts physically with aching tired muscles, hurts mentally because there is a weight on your mind that you can not seem to lift and it hurts those around us, our families, friends and even our pets. This morning Reilly (my sheltie) was following at my heels every where I went and one look in his eyes told me what he was thinking - "please take me for a walk" Today is not a good day though and each time I said to him "not today woofy" there was no mistaking the hurt look but also an understanding that said "It's okay mom I KNOW - I just wish you didn't feel that way" That simple acknowledgment was enough - I finally grabbed his lead, opened the car door and off we went to his favorite pet store. Seeing those happy shining eyes, hearing those excited little whines he makes was enough to at least to make me feel I had accomplished something today. I also wanted to do something about depression so when I saw this picture of a sad little figure sitting on the edge of a grassy outcrop, head bowed as if it's just to heavy to hold up any longer and a turbulent sky twirling all around - I just knew I had to scrap it. Yes - depression hurts and as a result life hurts as well.

My little vegetable garden

2009-08-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Although we have quite a nice lawn we don't really have much space for anything like a flower or vegetable garden so I make do with the space I have. ( Our house is part of a home owners association and we are really limited in what they allow you do - which personally I think is crazy!!!) So my veggie garden is actually just a large plant pot that I have my yellow tomato's in. There are actually two types in this pot, the small yellow cherry tomato's and a yellow roma (egg shape) tomato. Why yellow tomato's you ask - because they have less acid then the red ones and for me that is a must as I suffer horribly with mouth ulcers if I eat anything high in acid like tomato's or vinegar - including citric acid which also means no oranges, tangerines, lemons or manderines. These little tomato's make a wonderful Caprezzo Salad which is baby spinache leaves, topped with slices of tomatoes, real mozzarella (the white soft one - not that processed yucky yellow stuff) and then you spinkle it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (which I leave off) If you are wondering what that green thing in the pot is, it's a coke bottle and it self waters the plant. These are great for any plants you have in pots - just drill one whole in the top of the cap (about the thickness of a nail) fill with water and then turn upside down and poke into the soil. You can also use smaller water bottles for smaller pots. As you can see, there are lots of tomato's on my plants and I am patiently (impatiently really ) waiting for them ripen.

Wall Art

2009-07-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

On Vintage Flaire we have a weekly letter challenge which is to create a 6x6" mini page based around a specific letter. And just to make it more interesting we add a specific item that has to be used each week. At the end of each month we then have to turn the past 4 weeks into a piece of wall art and the best one wins a prize. This is my past 4 weeks. I used a piece of pvc pipe as the hanger and I wrapped it in scrapbook paper. The pictures are joined with ribbon and matching paper. I then added these wonderful big buttons I found. these mini pages are so much fun to do on only take about 20 minutes to make.

My letters were
H - home (bingo card)
T - time (bling)
A - ancestor (newsprint)
W - wish (wire)

Actually made some pages

2009-07-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

My goodness, it seems like forever since I have made any pages. I just haven't been in a very creative mood the last few months. But this week I have actually done two pages. The first one is of an entirely black and white page and came about because I was just having so much trouble trying to get colors to work together that out of frustration I thought "what the heck - I will just do one in black in white" and I did. The photo is of a 1940's movie star who's name has completely slipped my mind. I wonder why the women of the 1920's through to the 1950's looked so much elegant and had such classical features. I am sure she melted many hearts in her time. The paper I used some I picked up in Michaels and was just called the 'black and white pack'. I then added some ribbon and flowers and a cute journaling tag and the page was complete.
The second page is one I did for a challenge over on Tally Scrapper. They are having a Tally Rally down in Texas this weekend for those lucky people who could go and to co-inside they are also having an online crop. The challenge was to follow a page map provided. For some reason I went with these odd colors of chocolate and turquoise. Again I used a vintage photo which I recolored in 3 different shades of sepia tone. I then added some flowers with pearl brads, some string pearls and some chipboard scrolls which I inked to match the brown towns. The papers are all Minds Eyes Bohemia Collection. Hopefully I will get inspired to create a few more pages over the weekend.

Having a picnik

2009-07-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

I have playing around with an online photo editing program called Picnik which is so much fun and you can do stunning effects like this. I took the picture on the right which is a day lily that has just opened in my garden and then enhanced the color, blurred the background added a mirrored background and then added a frame. Most of the site is free to use but some of the advance features you will need to pay $24.99 for 1 year to use. This is an excellent site if you have photos that are too dark or have to much of one color in them as it has some wonderful correction tools. It also has an excellent collage function allowing you to mix all kinds of photos together. Here is one I did of our recent visit to the gardens and some of the wonderful displays they had. How cool is this that you don't have to try and fit the photos together yourself? You can also change the background color to anything you want - on this one I have black but you can have white or any other color. The photos also don't need to be perfectly aligned either. Here is a 3 set of photos I did of Reilly where I tilted the photos a little and then used the mirror frame on them. So pop on over and have yourself a Picnik on this cool site.

A little bit of summer

2009-06-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

I recently came this wonderful blog where she makes the amazing cards and she provides the instructions for making them too. So I thought I would give it a try and this is my little of summer card. These do actually fold flat for mailing and for this card I used a double sided paper so you can either write on the front or back of the card. I also added a little sparkle gem, just so you get that feel of sunlight flashing. These are so easy to make and I would highly recommend visiting Bonnie's CraftBlog site. She has many cards and technique ideas that she shares.

Anna Pavlova

2009-06-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

It has been soooooo long since I scrapped a page that I really liked but today I did !!! This is for a challenge over on Vintage Flaire which to use a black and photo and then flowers and butterflies. This beautiful lady was Anna Pavlova - a famous Russian Prima Ballerina. She visited Australia in 1926 and again in 1929 and was the first international star to visit and perform there. Needless to say the culture starved growing colony just loved her - so much so they created and named our national dessert after her - the pavlova. The beautiful lacy paper is from Creative Imaginations and is called 'narratives.' I put white paper behind it to take the photo. The paper flowers are all hand cut as the butterflies. I then added some scrolls and two vintage tags....and page was complete.

Vacation in North Carolina

2009-06-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

Finally getting around to sharing some photos of our vacation to North Carolina last week. We went to the Outer Banks where Dave's mom lives. I had been so looking forward to seeing the beach again as having spent most of my life near the sea it is something I miss terribly. The smell of salt water was heaven!

Dave's mom is only a 5 minute walk from the beach and everything was pretty much as I remembered from our last visit - until we turned the corner and were met by this giant pink flamingo house. The photo really doesn't show the true color which is actually a really bright flamingo pink!!! The end of the island where Dave's mom lives is mainly residents and there are few rental places scattered throughout so this house (which is a rental property) looks somewhat out of place. The other sad thing is they demolished a wonderful old traditional house to build this one.

We also went to visit New Bern which we discovered was where Pepsi was invented and we visited the original tiny corner drug store where it was first made. I was a little dissappointed that it was all modern inside and they hadn't restored it to it's orginal look.

The town of New Bern is just amazing and has some of the most beautiful homes I have ever seen. They have a real "southern" feel to them with lots of shutters, long white pillars and are more what you would expect to see in the deep south. We also visited the Governor's Palace which has been completely restored to what it looked like at the middle of the 1800's. Did you know that New Bern was once the Capitol of North Carolina?

Unfortunately they do not allow photo's inside the Palace so I could only take pictures of the wonderful gardens. Personally I thought that was the best part anyway. It was heaven!!! The magnolia trees were all in flower and the flowers were huge the size on dinner plates and the perfume was just amazing. There was also this wonderful hidden garden or the "ladies garden" as they called it with its neatly trimmed hedges, fountain and wonderful statues. There were also gardenias in flower everywhere which again had the most amazing scent.

The other thing I loved was this wonderful arbor which ran the entire length of the park and allowed for shaded access to all the little side gardens. The last photos is actually the back of the Palace with it's large expanse of lawn and this actually faces the water. I would definitely recommend a visit here as your tickets allows you to visit 6 fully restored classical homes and the Palace and you get free guided tours at all of them or you can wander the gardens freely.

Black, Teal and Orange

2009-06-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

The challenge for "If the Shoe Fit - Scrap It" this week was to use the colors black, orange and teal. It is a good thing I actually read the challenge though - as to me the color sample sure looks like yellow!!! I pondered over this one for a while and then suddenly this morning created this page. It is kind of weird but for some reason I really like it. I used a hounds tooth black and white paper and a tiny polka dot paper in black then found a piece of memory makers paper that just happened to have a teal and orange swirl on it, so I cut that out and the page started coming together. The postcard is another from the set of "woman's wisdom" and the quote on this one says "when God made man SHE was just kidding" Finally I thought just to add a bit of sparkle I would add the circle of rhinestones. The flowers are all prima and then the leaves and swirls I cut out on the trusty old cuttlebug.

I thought I would also share some very very cool blog candy ....head on over to Melissa's Creating From the Heart and see what great yummies she has to offer.

Rusty Pickle

2009-06-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

It has been just the most beautiful day here today. The perfect temperatures, cool breeze, blue skies. If only all days could be like this. After vegging outside and just soaking it all up I finally felt ready to tackle a challenge and today it was one that only had one requirement and that was to use just one brand. Sounds easy enough, until you go go looking and realize about the only thing you have of a specific brands is paper. So my one brand turned out to be Rusty Pickle and this particular collection is called 'white chocolate'. I believe it was actually an Easter paper collection. I then dug out the Cuttlebug from the back of the cupboard and cut out some flowers and scrolls. I did find a Rusty Pickle tag too so I used that and then for the picture I used this vintage postcard. It is one of a set of three and each has a small quote or 'women's wisdom' on it. This one says "Money isn't everything - but it sure keep you in touch with your children". How true is that!!!! The only time we hear from my dear hearts two girls is when there's a phone call asking "dad - can you lend us some money".

Devine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

2009-05-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

This was a page I did for a challenge over on Tally Scrapper and it is based loosely around the movie Yaya Sisterhood - which I must admit I have never seen but it has peaked my interest now. I see from a review of the movie the story line is based around -

Siddalee, a famous New York playwright, is quoted in Time magazine and infuriates her dramatic, Southern mother. A long-distant fight wages until her mother's friends (and members of the Yaya Sisterhood) kidnap Siddalee and take her "home" to the South, where they hope to explain her mother's history and to patch up the rift between mother and daughter.

I gather in the movie the women wear 'unusual' hats made from flowers, lace, buttons, pearls etc, which became the challenge part of doing this page. It was part of the challenge to include these items and also to include a message about the strengths we gain from our past experiences be they good or bad. I know for me that just "being" has never been enough and I am not sure where that comes from...... so all of my life I have always sought to 'do'. To try new things, start new careers, live in different places, travel the world, go to school and grasp with both hands what ever life has to offer. I guess I am scared of stagnating something I have been doing a lot of late and I think it's time to change that.

Black and White

2009-05-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

It is black tie affair over on "If the shoe fits - scrap it" and the challenge was to use only black and white - which just so happens is one of my favorite mixes. But of coarse in my rush to do this page I didn't read it was ONLY black and white so I had some other colors in there too. But with a little photo shop magic....my original page became black and white.

The background paper is made up of two patterns and plain black, then I found this wonderful lace and bead flower combo at Hobby Lobby on clearance for fifty cents. I added a couple of more flowers and some chipboard corners and a flower and heart combo and the page was done. The photo is of a friend who just loves the laugh, she is one of those wonderful people that makes everyone feel like she has known them for years even if she has just met them.

I finally made a page!!!!

2009-05-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

I have been in such a creative funk lately and have not made a single thing since my last post. Now I have attempted a few things - but they have been dismal failures and ended up in the trash and if there is one thing worse then not being creative - it is wasting my careful collected little supply of materials. But YIPPEE!!!! today I finally finished a page. This one I did for the challenge on "If the show fits - Scrap it" and the challenge was to use Pink, White and Silver. After much hunting I finally found a small piece of silver paper left over from Christmas called "silver bells" so I used that for a photo matting and also some scrolls, swirls flourishes (I never know what to call them). The background paper is some of my favorite Minds Eye and of coarse is the pink. For the white I went with white lace (it got some what hidden under the flowers) and also white pearls. There is also a lot of wonderful pink and white flowers too. The photo for this page came from the site "Go make something" and they have a wonderful collection on vintage things you can download for FREE and then print and they also have some amazing things to makes and great instructions. After working all morning on this page I must admit I ran out energy so there is no title for this page, which is okay as I think I will just frame it and use it as a nice art piece.

What a great surprise

2009-05-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

I checked my email this morning to see I had won a challenge over on Cindy's Blog Vintage Vignette with my page about vintage couples (I used my mom and dad's wedding phot0) and that I had also won a wonderful goodie basket from Planet Gift Baskets. I would like to thank Cindy and also Pam Brown the founder of Planet Gift Baskets for such a great challenge and prize. I must admit I have been on a bit of a 'downer' this week after finding out I now also suffer with emphysema (even though I have never smoked a day in my life). Receiving the email this morning certainly made my week seem a lot brighter. If you have friends overseas, you might want to check Planet Gift Baskets as they deliver anywhere and they are very reasonable. I must admit I was drewling on the keyboard this morning looking at their chocolate baskets. They also have healthy gift baskets and baskets for all occassions.

The A-Z Challenge

2009-05-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

We have a new challenge beginning on the 1st of June over on Vintage Flaire which goes like this....

Every week I will give participants a letter
(they won't be in order and each week I will ask for something specific to be used on the page - so no racing ahead and doing the alphabet)

You then create a mini page 6" x 6"

We will be working in 1 month blocks - so even though I will posting a letter each week, you have a whole month to get all 4 letters for that month finished. This way - if you go on vacation, come down with the flu, just get busy with life one week, then there is no need to worry about missing a letter, you can just two the next week or if you are really brave, do all 4 at the end of the month!!!

At the end of each 4 week block I would like you to frame your 4 squares to use as a piece of wall art. Now this doesn't have to be any fancy wooden frame and the pages don't even have to be alignment, you can then overlapping and you can add extra things to make it like a collage' what ever you want - creativity is the key. Here is an example of one I did (you can click on the photo to see it enlarged) As you can see, I just went with some distressed cardboard, but you can block mount them, frame them, collage them, layer them, create a feature wall, what ever you can think of.

All those who submit a photo of their finished monthly wall art will go in the drawing for a prize. If you would like to join in just visit the A-Z challenge on Vintage Flaire So you will have five chances to win. And yes - we have something planned for those two extra letters!!!!!

And the mouse said

2009-05-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

This weeks challenge over on the "If the Shoe Fits - Scrap It" was to use the color combination of black, yellow and gray. After much hunting I finally found a piece of gray paper and then sat there for ages just starring at it and wondering what to do. I really had not idea and slowly this page evolved all by itself. I do love the photo of the young women reading with the cat laying close by and for some reason my quirky mind imagined she was reading a story to the cat......and so the title of the page became "and so the mouse said". Or maybe it was just the fact that I was listening to a funny little song called "In old Amsterdam". I always remember this song being called 'a mouse with clogs on' and I loved this song when I was little so was quite pleased when I came across it on you-tube. I digress once again though.....back to the page. For the black and yellow, I used yellow polka dot paper for the matting and large scrolls which I cut using a quickutz die and also yellow flowers. For the black I used some black card stock 'stuff' with holes in it (don't you love those technical descriptions!!!!) and I had a heart shaped felt scroll thingy so I added that and a bingo card as well as some flowers and chipboard embellishments. Remember - you can click on the image to see it larger.

Pencil Lines

2009-05-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

It seems odd to say you have found a new site when obviously it has been around for a long time and I am probably the last person to find it....but I did, and happy to have done so. The site is called Pencil Lines and is similar other page map/sketch sites but for some reason I like this one as they have just one page map per week to work on with rather then a whole lot of them and they have a really varied selection of pages done by their design team as examples. Anyway, here is the sketch for this week and my take on it. One of the things I have noticed on a number of the sites I visit is the number of ladies happily reporting they are pregnant, so I thought I would do a page for the upcoming 2009 baby boom. I used one of the Glitz Design Distressing Stamps for the text along the side and the scroll work I stamped and didn't like , so then I went over it with a fine pen to give it more definition. In the back of my mind I was thinking about the 'baby boom' news so went with grays as it reminded me of a newspaper. The final touch was the blue flower to match the babies blue eyes.

My Parents Legacy

2009-05-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

This is a page I did for a challenge over on Vintage Vignette and if you haven't checked it out, you need too. It is a wonderful site and this is an awesome challenge with a wonderful prize.

This is a photo of my parents wedding day. They were married just after the Second World War when things were still hard to come by, including wedding gowns but I don't think my mother ever worried about that. My father had just returned from Egypt where he was in the Army at the time so no doubt she was just glad to have him back safely.

I have used two new prima flowers in this layout, one are the brown toned ones that have an almost frosting to the edges and the others are the greenish sages which are silk infused. Both are just wonderful and I loved the colors combined, it is unusual and yet worked together.

National Scrapbooking Weekend Challenge

2009-04-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

We have a great challenge going over on Vintage Flaire to celebrate National Scrap Booking Weekend and given that many people already have plans for NS weekend, this challenge is going to be open until next weekend Sunday May 10th. We have a great prize and it is a nice easy challenge so come on by and have some fun. Here is the page I have done for it and a little hint the page is only 6" x 6" so you KNOW that is not to difficult to do :) Andcheck out the prize - wow those foam stamps are so cool and there are so many great patterns which you can see them across the bottom of the packet (just click on the photo to enlarge it). There are also Thickers alphas, a make your own book kit, 3 packs of chipboard embellishments, stickers and tags. Remember to visit Vintage Flaire for more details.

Ad This Challenge

2009-04-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Goodness....I was cutting this one close getting it done today. This is a page for the "Ad This" Challenge and I was really pondering over what to do with this and then suddenly thought of Reilly and all of his blog buddies. The Ad was the picture on the left and was over lapping stickers, so I went with that theme and did overlapping photos. Now for those of you who do not know, Reilly my Sheltie is a very proud member of Dogs with Blogs and has his very own blog Cowspotdog which of coarse is written by him and entirely from his perspective. It took about six weeks for his blog to be accepted as there is quite a strict criteria and he now has doggie blog buddies all over the world. In this layout we have shown just a few. Katie lives in Michigan, Ludo is from England, Ricky is from Ohio, Morgan is from Pittsburgh, Tibby is from New York and Josh and Jess are from New Zealand. Not only are they blog buddies but they exchange cards, presents and letters.

Pink And Brown

2009-04-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

Okay - this is way outside my comfort zone but that is a good thing as sometimes we get too comfortable doing what like to do the most. This was for a challenge over on the blog If the Shoe Fits - Scrap It. The challenge was to use use pink and brown. For me there are two colors I rarely if EVER use in scrapping and they are red and pink - why? I don't really know, I guess they are just not amongst my favorite colors. I had to do some major hunting through my paper stash to even find some pink but I eventually did and this is what I created - a sort of modern looking vintage. The flowers I cut out using a Sizzix die and the flourishes were done on a quickutz die. The little bird was from a Thickers chipboard embellishment packet. The tag reads "he said - I'm going to make you a star!"

Celebrating Earth Day

2009-04-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

What better way to celebrate Earth Day then by doing a little creative recycling. This is a set of 4 cards that are all 6" x 6". The background paper is actually from a paper grocery sack which I inked to give it some nice color. I then recycled some cardboard from a shipping box and made it into these cute little frames to highlight the messages. The silk leaves and some of the flowers are recycled from a bunch of flowers I had sitting in the hallway and the scrolls I cut out of an old tea box. The buttons are some I found at an antique store and the only new things on these cards are the prima flowers which are earth friendly as they are paper and the little bits of felt trim tucked in behind the flowers. As you will notice, I also went with a "earth themed color". Because these are large cards, I also made my own envelopes from matching paper grocery sacks. So happy Earth Day everyone and think a little green - you can make beautiful things with a little recycling.

Love Blooms

2009-04-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

This has to be one of my favorite pages. I did it for a challenge on the blog - If the Shoe Fits - Scrap It and the challenge was to use pale blue and cream. I had this wonderful patterned paper that was light blue and it also has a sort of orange/brown distressing pattern on the edges so I picked up on that orange and used a matching color for the matting. I was also playing with my new Glitzs Design Distressing stamps. For the cream part I went with these wonderful cream colored mulberry paper flowers and also some cream bee hive magic mesh and cream lace. I also added some of the new "puffy" flourishes. These are soft plastic that are filled with air and have a wonderful puffy feel to them. The final touch was to add some more flourishes that I cut out of a piece of matching orange matting paper. The photo is of a wonderful vintage 1920's wedding which I photo shopped a little to add some matching blue color to it. If you like to see the photo enlarged, just click on it.

Mini Card

2009-04-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

As I was blog hopping the other day I came across a neat site called "If the shoe fits - scrap it" and they had these cool little mini cards on there with a link to Dawn Mercedes blog - Amusing Musings and Things who is the creator of the mini card pattern. I thought I would give it a try and here is what I came up with. You can see it in better detail if you click on the photo. I used a crackle medium on all the clock faces to give the impression of old glass and I wanted it to look broken to go with the theme that time stands still. The flower I made from old news paper that has been inked on the edges and I used an antique button for the center. This card only measures 4" x 4". Inside the card I made a little tag that slides into the pocket. I used a journaling stamp on both sides so there would be room to write a nice message. The paper I used for the card in actually a newsprint but I have had it for so long I am not sure what company made it. These are so easy to make and a perfect for small envelopes so check out the links and have fun.

She's a hero

2009-04-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

My husband and his daughter Valerie are off in Wisconsin this weekend visiting his other daughter Elise (the one I mentioned had surgery two months ago - she had a bowel resection done after they found a tumor). Anyway, they had been to visit the "House on The Rock" and on the way back saw an accident happen on the other side of the road.. A women in a white car had stopped to make a left hand turn and SUV just plowed straight into the back of of her. The SUV stopped completely but the white car spun around and around and started smoking. Hubby stopped immediately and as he did so Elise jumped out of the car and raced over to the white car which was now on fire. She pulled the woman out of the car and helped her get away from the car. Hubby went straight to the other car and checked on the women in that. She had banged her knees pretty bad and the air bag had hurt her chest but she seemed okay. He checked around her car and there didn't seem to be any danger of fire near her. Elise's friend in meantime was calling 911 and just as Elise got the women from the white car back to hubby's car, the white car exploded in a ball of fire!!!! All of this basically happened in a time frame of about three minutes. Poor hubby - he is so proud of Elise and yet afterward said he was also so scared when he realized what Elise had done, especially when the car exploded......a few seconds either way and both Elise and the women she saved could of been badly burnt or worse. Apart from the singed hair the women is the white car is fine and they think the women in the SUV was just bruised. I think without a doubt Elise was an absolute hero. Of coarse I couldn't pass up the opportunity to scrap this event either. I used acrylic paints for the back ground as I wanted to capture to same colors that were in the photo of the car burning. And of coarse I had to include a picture of the heroine herself.

A little of vintage

2009-04-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

For some reason I have never been fond of address books, so I keep my addresses on index cards in an old recipe box. I decided it was time to make the box a bit nicer then it was and this is what I came up with.

I painted it with a metallic coffee color and then started layering it with vintage images. I used a cream colored ink pad to distress all the edges and also stamped images of clocks on top of all the images. I then mod podged it with three coats and for the final fourth coat I stamped it again with a clock stamps into the wet podge. The final touch was some gold beading and a couple of flowers.

I wanted the box to look like one of those old travel trunks with all the stickers on it (only in miniature) and am really happy with the way it turned out.

Surprisingly, this only tool me 3 hours to make and most of that time was just waiting for the pain and modge podge to dry. You can basically take any box (even a tissue box and make one of these - it also look really neat on a glass jar too. So give it a try, they are thousands of vintage images you can download for free and they make great gifts.

Autism Speaks

2009-04-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back I donated a box of cards I had made to Autism Speaks for them to auction off to raise money. Hundreds of other card makers also did the same and the last I heard they had received thousands of wonderful cards.

The mission of Autism Speaks is as follows (this excerpt is taken from their web page).

"At Autism Speaks, our goal is to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders. We are dedicated to funding global biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and cure for autism; to raising public awareness about autism and its effects on individuals, families, and society; and to bringing hope to all who deal with the hardships of this disorder. We are committed to raising the funds necessary to support these goals. Autism Speaks aims to bring the autism community together as one strong voice to urge the government and private sector to listen to our concerns and take action to address this urgent global health crisis. It is our firm belief that, working together, we will find the missing pieces of the puzzle. Autism Speaks. It's time to listen".

Over on Tally Scrapper one of the challenges at the moment is to scrap a page based on one of their logos. The logo I chose was the puzzle piece. The photo on this layout is one I digitally remixed by using 4 photos and layering them together. There is water in the background, then the puzzle pieces, a glass globe and a little boy who sits within the puzzle piece and the globe. The symbolism for this is based on the fact that many autistic children are are often noted as "being in a world in their own and autism is a puzzle they have yet to solve"

Going Green

2009-04-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

It must be the longing for Spring, I did two challenge pages today and both of them ended up being green - which of coarse is my favorite color so I guess its not surprising.

The first page I did was a digi challenge and it was to use bright spring colors, multiple photos, flowers and the word spring. I always remember a quote I saw once about Praying Mantis's - it said "Spring is when a boy mantis meets a girl mantis and suddenly realizes what it is, he's been praying for" I just thought it was cute so I used that as my theme for this page. I created this on Scrapblog.com using all free elements. The more I use that site, the easier it gets and the more fun I have there. The only drawbacks I have found to far is you can not rotate the page, so for this page I had to make the whole page sideways and then save it to my own computer where I could then rotate it. The other thing is they don't really offer you any different sizes in paper, they all seem to be this size. If they could give you those two things as option, it would be perfect.

The second page I did was for another challenge and this one required you use paint (which I did for the white dots), use a single photo, flowers, glitter and 3 patterned papers. I also found these cool green thickers alphas on clearance yesterday and they were perfect for this page. For the glitter, I made glitter dots which don't show up well but they are there. Why "Green with Envy?" The 1920's - 1940's just seemed such a romantic time at least in the movies. It is hard to imagine that the values and morals of that time really changed so quickily in every day households. I think the movies of that time introduced to people to a different way of seeing things and made them realise that not everyone led the same kinds of lives and there was excitement and passion in life. Oddly enough, it is pretty much what people still look for even today. So these are today's offerings - lots of green in time for spring.

Going Digital

2009-04-02T05:21:00.000-07:00

I actually did two layouts yesterday as part of two different challenges and I did both as digital. I am actually really starting to like this way of scrap booking. The main reason is because you such an endless assortment of embellishments you can use without having to buy anything. Both of these pages I made on Scrapblog.com and that has to be the easiest way to make pages.

The first page - Bedtime Rituals I did for the Category Stories challenge and as the title suggests the it was to scrap about your bedtime rituals. Mine are pretty simple, just make a cup of tea, take my tablets and give Mr Dog his bedtime cookies which he needs to help his reflux.

The second page I did for the Guttergirlz challenge and the theme for that was to use a zip(s) and the title zip it. I was browsing through some photos wondering what to use when I came across this one of the step daughter.

Many teenagers go through that phase where they think anyone older then them is just clueless and nothing they have to say is worth listening too and this was her at the moment the photo was taken.

This entire page was made on Scrapblog.com and everything was free. I picked a background, then two different paint splatters, added the zips and then the title and text. I added the photo and put this cool frame over it that makes it look like a stack of photos and the page was done.

I guess that is the other thing I like about digital too - there is no mess to clean up after you have finished. I know when I scrap pages I tend to have supplies everywhere. One more thing I really like about this way of scrapping too is you never have to worry about trying to get a good photo of what you create. You just download you finished page and it is done.

Something Bright

2009-04-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

Vintage style pages don't have to be all brown and old looking, you can actually make them bright and colorful too.

This is a page for a challenge over on the blog Ad This where they run weekly challenges that are great way to get those creative thoughts going.

For this page I used a wonderful green/yellow print for the circle and then put it on the bright pink backing. The challenge which is based on an Ad also required stitching. I did faux stitching and made it into pretty scrolls. The photo has a clear frame overlay on top of it with those wonderful glittery swirls around the edge. To make it pop just a little I added some pretty red flowers and some green leaves. The result is something bright and colorful yet still retains that touch on vintage feel to it.

Everything Old Is New Again

2009-03-31T08:10:00.000-07:00

Yay!!!! I actually scrapped a page today! I put on my favorite African music on "Temba" and I just started creating this page. I used some distressed cardboard which I inked with antique brown and then I painted over it with a yellow and white. You can probably see it better if you click on the image to see it enlarged. The paper I tore and distressed the edges of - then inked. I used some of the sheet music I found at the antique store the other day and then added some vintage mini label alphas. I found a great store (Heartwarming Vintage Collections) online that has a lot of vintage style embellishments and alphas. Tucked in around the edge if the paper is some tea dyed lace and I used some vintage style prima flowers I found recently. Something I recently discovered is how to make a photo look old, almost as if it is on glass. I will be adding a tutorial on this and tea dying lace - as both are so easy to do. I also had this cute little owl which matched the frame around the photograph so I had to include it.

The other thing I made was a set of three vintage decoupage cards. These are also easy to make, you just need one main photo and as you can see I have used black and white ones, then it is just a matter of layering other items under, around and over the main photo. I like to play around with the items before I glue anything down. On these I have used cut outs of old envelopes, clocks vintage clip art flowers, stamps etc. If you would like to join the Vintage Flaire Flicker Group you can download as many of our vintage images as you would like. Many of the members have added their own, so there is a huge assortment. It is a members group so just send a message asking to be approved. I check it daily so you will get approval back quite quickly.

No mojo and old goodies

2009-03-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

I can't remember the last time I made a page....it must of been about two weeks. I have done one digital and made a couple of cards but apart from that nothing. This was actually a pretty good weekend though. We went to our favorite Italian Restaurant for lunch (finally got around to using the gift card we got at Christmas) and it was perfect. They make the best gnocchi there, little light fluffy pillows that are soooo good. After that I told hubby I wanted to go to a nearby scrapbook store, but being a typical male it wasn't really listening and gave me directions for another one we sometimes go too which is miles away. As it happens we saw an antique mall on the way and decided to stop in for a look around. It was huge and there was so many goodies. I found some sheet music and vintage postcards and we picked up an old type writer for $25.00 that still had its 1960 sales receipt with it. Old type written journaling notes are the latest craze in scrap booking and altered journals. We never did get to the scrapbook store, but that is okay, I got other goodies that just made my day!

A little tweaking

2009-03-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

I have re sized the background graphic and optimized it as well, so hopefully it will load a little faster now. There is always those little bits of tweaking to be done when you start a new blog. These are probably two of my favorite pages, the first one because of the tags and the second one because I just loved the paper and the splash of bright orange. My only other achievement today was a weird digital page I did for a challenge on Tally - which I won't be showing on here as I really didn't like it. Over on Vintage Flaire we are now up to 43 members and I have also added a chat program so members can chat with anyone else that is on the site. I am constantly amazed by what you can do on the site, especially considering it is all FREE.

I did warn you!

2009-03-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

I did warn you I would probably change this blog - and I did!!! The brown was actually the same as Vintage Flaire and I wanted my own blog to be something a little different. Of coarse no matter what colors I look at, I always come back to green. Green is just so soft and cool and summery and there's so many wonderful shades of it. That is one thing I must admit I love about living the USA - the Spring time. I am just constantly amazed how so many trees and plants that have been dormant in the winter and for all intent and purpose look dead as in D.E.A.D dead.......suddenly burst with vibrant shades of green. Even our lawn which looked all brown and withered through the winter has turned green just within the past week. So what is not to love about green?And to go with that thought are a couple of page I did that are green.

Another day

2009-03-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

I am so pleased the Vintage Flaire is finally getting organized. We now have five DT members (including myself) and I pretty much have it set up the way I want now. We have some amazing talent on the site already I hope it continues to grow.

I must admit I haven't been very creative of late, but then setting up a whole web site does require quite a bit of time. I am feeling that urge again though and I did make a couple of cards yesterday which I think turned out quite well. Of coarse not all my work is vintage, in fact it is about half and half so you will actually see bits of everything on this blog. I have actually been thinking that maybe I should change the theme of this blog because of this. The backgrounds are currently suited only for vintage and as much as I love that, I so tend to do dabble in all sorts of things. I shall ponder some more on this, but don't surprised if you call in one day and it all looks different again.

I can finally show the cards

2009-03-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know I am the guest designer for the Stamp of Month Club over on Scrapbook Supplies Direct and I was given the challenge to create 3 cards and an altered item using a set of stamps supplied by Clear Dollar Stamps. This is their Spring Critter Collection and I can finally reveal what I made with them. These are ultra cute stamps and each of them has a matching quote.

For the altered item I made this cute little container for storing cotton swabs in (they reminded me of a bunny tail) so of coarse I had to use the bunny for this one. The first of the cards is Mr Beaver who's quote says "I miss you this munch". I used chalk pencils to color him and thought the paper with leaves on was a perfect match.

The second card also has the bunny on it and the quote is "there's no bunny like you"I went with a beautiful chocolate and blue color scheme with this one. And the final card is "I hope your birthday is a ball". These are wonderful stamps, they are the perfect size and so easy to use so please do go over to Clear Dollar Stamps and check out all the wonderful collections they have.

Tim Holtz Masks

2009-03-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

My Fair Lady

Okay, this is how crazy my mind works.

I started off with a new Tim Holtz mask that I was playing with and decided to make a page background for a photo of my dog. I just bought some new cateyes stamps so was blending the colors on the paper and around the mask.

As I was doing this I was listening to the radio and they were interviewing some woman by name of Jeanie Doolittle - which of coarse started me thinking about Eliza Doolittle of "My Fair Lady" which of coarse is a timeless classic movie. So then the mask became clock like and the colors went from dark to light. I also added some stamped images of clocks.

Then I remembered I had a photo of Audrey Hepburn and I photo-shopped some matching colors of pink green and aqua onto the background and then printed it out.

For some reason I also remembered she wore a white and black polka dot dress in the movie and I had the piece of black and white polka dot so used that as the matting.

Then I was thinking - "oh what a tangled web we weave - when first we try to deceive" which is what the movie was about - deceiving everyone into thinking a cockney flower girl could be a lady. I didn't have web...but I did have mesh.....so I added that.

Then the thought about the flower girl struck me, so of coarse I had to add flowers. They are actually pop dotted in layers and are trimmed with gold pen.

Audrey Hepburn was just such a classic beauty too and she was still beautiful even into her 60's - which again tied into the clock - timeless theme.

And this is how I create all my pages - talk about over thinking!

My Second Tally Calendar Girl Page

2009-03-06T18:42:00.000-08:00

One of the wonderful papers that was in the Tallly March Kit was made by Little Yellow Bicycle and it called 'love letters'. It is a beautiful white flocked paper which would be perfect for weddings and christenings or you can color it like I did to use in other ways.

I must admit, I just love this page and I have taken at least 30 photos trying to capture what it really looks like...and still haven't got it. I borrowed the idea of coloring the flock from Minda (another Tally Designer). I graduated the colors from pink to yellow to green on a diagonal across the page and it just looks so pretty with its soft pastel shades. Oh, I used simple catseye stamp to color the flocking. The photo is of two sister and I used the matting paper to make the flowers and leaves. The final touch was to add words of encouragement in the between the flocked flowers and to take advantage of the lines that are on the paper. I really wish you could see what this page really looks.......but the photo just doesn't pick it up well.

My First Tally Calendar Girl Page

2009-03-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

My First Tally Calendar Girl Page

I received my March Tally Kit yesterday and straight away started creating. I decided to move on a little from the Victorian 1920's and move on in time to the roaring 20's and the 'flappers'. The paper for this page is from Marks Paper Company and is from the August Collection - it is double sided and is Ice Cream Cone/Board Shorts. The scallops are from American Crafts - The Color of Memories paper. I loved the distressed edges of the Marks Co paper, it added to that nice vintage feel. Also used were Essential 5 flowers, American Crafts Remark Letters, Daisy D's Rub-ons ans We R Memory Keepers Embossed Stickers (the flourish). It is a challenge working with papers and items you have not chosen yourself but I am loving it.

Working without limits

2009-02-23T18:53:00.000-08:00

This page was a challenge and it was to use the words of a TV commercial as our inspiration. I chose one from Sharp office printers who use the motto "working without limits." As I was trying to make this page I kept thinking about what I "should" be doing and then I suddenly thought why?

Like most people I tend to fall into the trap occasionally of thinking I have to follow the latest trends, be really edgy and do what others are doing. So this page - which I am framing and putting up in my scrap room is a reminder that I can work without limits and that limits are often self imposed and I don't have to follow them if I don't want too :)

Imagination

2009-02-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

Imagination

This layout started off with just two white sheets of card stock which I then painted over using alcohol inks and a mask.

I then scrunched the sheets and went over them again with distressing ink. I tore away the corner and some smaller tears and nicks and then layered that over the second sheet I had inked. I also tucked in some magic mesh.

I made my own rub-ons using an over head sheet and put that on. This is so easy to do on any ink jet printer - you just have to remember to reverse the text before you print.

Some inked bubble wrap and also kitchen non-slip added the pattern.

The final touches were the clear overlays, the black and turquoise scrolls.

The photos are one of paint peeled wall and then I buttonized the picture of the girl into the center of that (it is one photo not two, even though it looks like it) and then printed of a second photo just because I liked it.

So, what I love about imagination - is that is is endless and that our only limitations are the ones we impose on ourselves. You can click on the photo to see it larger.

Why Not?

2009-02-05T19:01:00.000-08:00

I was in Michaels today and came across the new K&Company Que Sera Sera Collection. For anyone who loves the vintage you will love this, but there is a twist, the colors are bright and vibrant rather the more muted colors you usually see in vintage papers. They also have the best selection of embellishments to go with the papers. This particular page from the collection has the gold fish already on it, and the look on the little ones face just said why not? I could almost hear the "please mom, can I have a gold fish?" and mom saying NO! then that little whiny voice appears.......why not? As part of the collection there are also some wonderful frames (which unfortunately made the picture look rather dark) The frame itself has aged coloring on the edges which are a lacy pattern and there is little red stones (that also don't show up) that really make it look special. I fished this page off with some magic mesh, flowers and swirls.

Page for Ella

2009-01-26T19:03:00.000-08:00

This is my great niece Ella (which makes me feel quite old to say I have a great niece) I have been looking at these photos for a a couple of weeks now trying to figure out the best way to scrap them.......mainly because of the green slide in the background which tended to clash with many of the colors I tried. Eventually, I just went with the blues and greens and she is such a sweet little girl I just had to go with lots of flowers and swirls. She was wearing a pink hat so I added some tiny pink flowers for a little contrast. This page is made up of two solid circles of paper and then one circle that has the middle cut out. It is a clever effect that makes it look like there are four layers of circles when in fact there are only two. The flowers are new ones by Prima and the paper is soft and fuzzy. The scrolls, swirls and green leaves I cut out on the cuttlebug and then to finish I used some stick on alphas and put her name around the edge of a circle.

Make you own glue dots

2009-01-24T16:59:00.000-08:00

I LOVE my glue dots and go through so many boxes but goodness they tend to be expensive..... so when a Aymee (Southernbelle Scrapper) talked about seeing someone on DYI making them yourself I was most interested. It is just such an easy process and will save you so much money. I have found a few tips that I thought I would share with everyone.

First, you will need Aleene's Tack-It Over & Over Glue. Joannes, Walmart and Michaels all say they carry it, but when I checked my local stores they didn't have it. I did find it available online here and if you order 3 bottles it is only $2.22 (you can always share with friends) I am still on my first bottle and have made hundreds and hundreds of dots by now! The other thing I found that works really well is the paper that is left over from a box of Zot Dots. On DYI they suggested using wax paper and I tried 2 different brands but both times the glue dots absorbed the wax and stuck to the paper. It is actually worth buying some Zots Dots and using them up and then just keeping the paper which you can use over and over again for you own dots. You can also try any other kinds of paper you have that originally had stickers or such on it.

Step 1 : Collect the things you need, glue and paper strips

Step 2 : make dots of glue on the paper - these can be any size you want but the average size is about the size of a pencil end. Leave approx 3/4 inch between the lines of dots, this makes it easier to roll the paper and dots up for storage. As mentioned you can make the dots any size and you can also make glue strips as well which work very well when attaching a large flower or leaves. NOTE : glue is white but then dries clear.

Step 3 : You can also make very ultra thin dots by taking a piece of your paper and folding it in half. Place the glue on one side and then fold the other side of the paper over. Rub you hand gently over the paper to flatten the dots and leave to dry

Step 4 : Allow dots to dry overnight - they will dry clear. To store, simply roll up carefully and hold with a stretch band.

And there you have it, you own home made glue dots that will save you A LOT of money. The glue works perfectly and holds everything so well. I have rolls that over 2 months old and they work perfectly.....so give it a try and save yourself some money.

Neice and Great Neices

2009-01-11T19:04:00.000-08:00

I did this page for a challenge and the theme was to scrap a summer page in the middle of winter. This is my niece and her husband and my two great nieces and of coarse they live in Australia where it is summer right now. I have never met my two great nieces so it was wonderful to get some photos of them recently. In keeping with the theme of the challenge I went with with a winter white background and then added three circles in bright summer colors. The prima flowers in matching summer colors also added to the summer feel.The black vine work is a design I made myself then cut out on the craft robo. The clear journaling tag is from Maya Road and I must say, I just love these as they just seem to go with everything.

New technique

2008-12-29T19:12:00.000-08:00

This is new technique I am trying which is using paint and just minimal embellishments. I must say, I just love this style, it is simple yet dramatic at the same time and just so easy to do. I used a small squeeze bottle to get the drops and squirts of paint on the paper, then dipped a glass in some paint to create the circles. I just slid the glass sideways a little to get the thicker lines. The scroll is actually a piece of left over chipboard which I inked black. Then to pick up the blue eyeshadow on the eyes I used a matching blue half flower with a black button in the center. The topic of the page is "tears" and how I wish I had them. Amongst other things, I suffer with Sjorgren's Syndrome which takes away the ability the produce tears and saliva so I have extremely dry eyes and I am constantly thirsty. Some days are worst then others and there are days when my eyes are so dry it feels like there is sand falling out of them, hence this photo. The second page I again used the same technique with. I was trying to print some online postage yesterday and the USPS site kept telling me I had the wrong zip code. I used the zip code look-up function and the one I had was indeed correct. I got so frustrated and then all of a sudden this flaming anger consumed me. It only lasted a few minutes but I certainly ranted and raved in that time - then it was gone as quickly as it came. And so the topic of this page. Oh, one hint I can give too. I would not recommend using bazzil or really good quality card stock for this. I had some white card stock that I had picked up in Walmart and it is perfect as it had the feel of blotting paper. I found the paint soaked in and spread nicely on this where as the the quality card stock it just seemed to stay on the surface of the paper and took forever to dry, when it did it was like a dried blob of paint. The other trick is with the paint itself, it needs to be almost as thin as water. If you haven't tried this technique, give it a go, you can use different color paints and the it certainly doesn't have to be a 'dramatic' topic, this technique will work with anything.

How to make a flag book

2008-11-20T19:19:00.000-08:00

I came across the instructions for this on http://www.scrapbook-crazy.com/flag-book.html the other day and thought I would give it a try. I would recommend printing out the instructions from that site to follow but please note that the measurements they give are not quite right so you will have to play around with them a little. This particular book I have made I used my own measurements for and it is 6" x 6". What you will need is

2 pieces of 6" x 6" chipboard (front and back covers)
2 pieces of patterned paper 7½" x 7½" (to cover the front and back covers)
2 pieces of 5-5/8" x 5-5/8" coordinating papers (Inside of both covers)
1 strip of 6" x 6" (book spine) marked at ½" increments and folded in accordion fashion
10 pieces of 5-3/4" x 2-3/4 " cardstock (for the flags or pages)
2 piece of ribbon 1½" long for the binding
Beacons 3 in 1 glue and double sided tape

To put the book together, follow the instructions on the scrapbook-crazy website. Before you place the inside patterned paper on the chipboard, place the small pieces of ribbon 1" from the top and the bottom and glue in place, then glue the accordion folded card stock in place and finally cover with the patterned

Survivor Challenge

2008-11-13T19:21:00.000-08:00

I am still surviving in the tally survivor challenge and we are in week 8 now. It was a harder challenge this week, which you wouldn't think it would be given the requirements which I have listed below.

scrap down the center of your page-horizontal or vertical (nothing on the edges)
picture used should be different body parts
journaling must be stitched on-can be faux or real stitching
something should have a scalloped edge
base of the layout should be cardstock

Anyway, here is what I did for this week. I took 3 photos and combined them into one long one, that I put horizontally on the page. I did a double row of scalloping across the bottom of the photograph. I then did some faux stitching around the edge of the journaling tag and finally added some flowers, leaves and some scrolls just to give the page some color.

And yes, green flowers may seem odd, but I wanted the page to have a fresh, calm feel and green is the color that represent this to me.

Blue Moon

2008-11-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

This weeks survivor challenge was to use the name of a Pink Paislee paper as the title. I choose "blue moon" as I had this wonderful photograph I had taken two years ago and thought instantly what a great background and page it would make.

It's always a good thing to keep in mind, that you don't have to actually buy scrap book paper and that you can make you own, either from photo's or by making you own patterns etc. Of coarse it does help to have a wide format printer if you want to do 12" x 12" pages, but there are place that can print this size for you. But there is also no reason why you can't print a background in a standard page size too and use it as part of a background.

This page I also cut out some white flowers and just glued them on. Why go out and buy just expensive flowers when you make your own. There are so many free clipart files available that you can print out and then color. For these white flowers I used chalk pencils to add just a touch of blue to the centers. And buttons for the center of the large flowers.

Imagination is one of the greatest gifts we have and we ALL have it!!!!! I think the only difference is how much we use it and whether we let our 'self talk' make us believe that something is not very good. We are our own worse critics. But practice makes perfect, so even if you imagine something and it doesn't turn out the way you want, imagine it better and try again!!!

What a hoot

2008-11-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

This is the latest is my word books - Hoot. Or as I like to call it, my "What a Hoot" series. I had an order for 4 of these books and thought I would make some extra ones to sell as well. I have used all vintage papers, little owls and a mixture of flowers. I also tried to go with more vintage style matts - using ovals and rounded corners. The edges are all inked to give that aged look. These will be available on my website for sale.

Cold, wet day

2008-10-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

This was just a daily challenge on a board I love to visit - and it was to use the word "today". Having discovered distressed cardboard, I have taken a real liking to it and it seemed perfect for this photo which is an alley in Italy. A lot of the walls in old houses in Italy actually look like this!!! I also raided my vase or Autumn flowers to get leaves and the center flowers.

Onto other things.....this is the grumble part. I know I should probably keep my thoughts to myself (they tend to get me in trouble when ever I air them) but I just feel the need to speak when I see something unfair. One of the blogs that sells paper has a wonderful competition running..... but myself and probably many others were excluded from simply because we don't have friends online that could go and say we referred them to that site.

It just seems if you going to run a competition that it should be open to everyone and not limited by some odd criteria - unless you clearly specify what that criteria is up front. I actually contacted the blog in question and they responded right away with a very nice email. Their reasoning was they have a variety of competitions that people can enter at different times. Which to me, still doesn't seem fair as it still excludes you from a chance to win a specific paper pack that you might really really like and you might even find yourself excluded from some of their other competitions based on some other odd criteria. It is rather like saying do a scrap page based entirely on your Aunt Martha - what if you don't have an Aunt Martha or any Aunt for that matter??? Oh well - that is my grumble for the day.