Creative Catch Up

I am back with apologies for my neglect once again. Hate to say it, but will be glad to see the boys go back to school, finding it very hard to fit a bit of creativity in to a busy taxi schedule (Oh that sounds very unmotherly doesn't it)!!! Anyhow enough of the excuses, here I am with what I have completed in the snippets of time that I managed to sneak in:

Firstly caught up on some card making, my Dad's 70th was the motivation, but I ended up doing a whole swag of these that I can customize when I need them, very easy and simple just the way I like it!!!!

Now for a couple of layouts:

The first one, I am not overly happy with the result, but hey I am hoping the mojo does come back.....

 The photos here were really "crappy" so perhaps that's why I don't like it so much. But I really wanted to capture the fun!

 I worked with bright colours for a change, but really, what other colours can you use for a carnival?

 Covered bits of chipboard with the paper to create the embellishments. The more I look at it the more I am thinking I may need to fuss with this some more later on.

Now the next one I like a whole lot better, and it took me about 1/4 of the time!!!

Sorry Removed 

for Publication 

Will Be Back Soon

 We love summer in our house the boys love the beach and the surf, and rediscovered their passion for it when we stayed down at Phillip Island.

 I love tape at the moment it has become my go to product that I cannot get enough of!!!! I know it is a bit expensive so I like to combine the Printed  tapes with plain old masking tape and stamp over it to add some interest. (The tape with the red circle pattern is the home made masking tape.)

 Painted the ScrapFX chipboard with white paint, then added in the details on the surf board with a gel pen. All I did with the wordlet was spray with glimmer mist and liked the washed out effect so went with it!

Love the way I can use up my stash of scrap paper to make strips to go with the tape, managed to avoid using any new sheets of paper all the PPs are form my junk pile!!!

Ok I am all caught up now.... Boys go back to school this week so will get back into the swing of things from now on..... Promise!

"A Quick Heads Up Everyone!"

Hi All,
I am back after a long period of Blog Neglect with a big announcement for all you people out there who love working with chipboard....... Those lovely ladies over at ScrapFX are putting together their very first Design Team!!!!!! Applications are now open so head on over to their Blog for all the details, it is open to international and Australian enthusiasts so give it a go! Show them what you can do! Good Luck to you all out there!
Happy New Year too By the way!:))

"Time to Take a Breather"

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and survived the mayhem to enjoy the day of good food and company!! Boy hasn't the last few days been a blur of food food food!!! Time to chill now and get back to reality in time for the New Year celebrations!
I haven't been on this Blog of late for obvious reasons so I thought I would share my December Daily pages so far completed. Will then be up to date and then I can post as I go so to speak. So here goes:

So there you have it, lots to look at I know but at least now I will just add to it a few days at a time as they are completed. I have a heap to do yet things got a little out of hand as we neared the big day, but I have written notes and taken the photos... how hard can it be? Famous last words!!!!!
Bye for now everyone have a safe and Happy New Year!

December Daily

HO HO HO!
Merry Christmas to all,
yes, the silly season is upon us, and time is a precious commodity right now, I am sure we are all feeling the pinch trying to fit everything in, losing sleep whilst stressing about that never ending list of things we must do! Am I right? Well before the stress really gets to me I had to get this Project done, have been wanting to do this for years and never got around to it!

 I finally made up my mind which way to go with my first December Daily Project! I tell you I tossed and turned so many times over this. There is so much beautiful work out there in cyber space it was doing my head in and not getting it done!!! So I vowed over the last few days to leave the computer off and see if it will all just fall into place.

 I have altered an old 7 Gypsies catalogue from many moons ago, knew one day inspiration would hit. It is about a 6x6 size so nice and easy to complete, and the cover was a plain Kraft colour perfect for altering at my whim!

I painted the cover with pearlescent paint in a white colour and streaked a gold and bronzy colour through it..... didn't like that... so... tried painting over it again and again until I was satisfied... you will never get to the original colour of this baby... it has so many coats of paint on it!!!!

The damask shape is texture paste over a Crafters workshop 6x6 stencil with paint over the top. ScrapFX Itty Bitty Alphas make the December, and the little epoxy tag on the ribbon was from my stash cannot tell you how long I have had them!!!! I seem to just collect Christmas stuff and never get round to actually using them so you will see stuff in here that could be considered vintage I've had them so long!!! (TeeHee)

 I had to do something with the spine as it had a 7 gypsies logo on it so once again Scrap FX to the rescue! The bird is from one of their wordlet theme packs..... just perfect!

I have tried to make things easy for myself by building the foundation pages all at once ready to receive the photos etc, I have used a variety of papers from my stash as well as the Simple Stories 25 Days Of Christmas line as they are gorgeous and I had to have them!!!!

 This is the front inside cover as you can see my pages are different shapes from tabs, to brackets and tags and a few plain pages to add some interest. I also plan on a few envelopes just because I can!

 Love Love Love this chippie from ScrapFX and what do you know it was the perfect size for the start of my little journal/book!

Well I don't know about falling into place but it is done!

November Challenge at 123

Hey There,
Just finished my take on the November Challenge at 123.  I love this site it is so much fun to tie all the requirements together and I love seeing all the different takes on them.
This month:
 Colour = Grey
Word = Please
Technique = Stamping in an unusual way!

So here it is:

 Yes another Boys page, my lovely ones being silly in the car during a recent road trip! They weren't really that sad but it is not cool for mother to keep taking photos!!!

 My unusual stamping was on the embellishment "thingys". I made them out of this really cool paper modelling clay that I have had in my stash for such a long time and never even opened it. I just rolled it out, cut out circles using a medicine measuring cup then pressed an inked stamp into it just enough to give it a negative embossed effect. Pretty hard to tell from the photo really. They are great as they dry just like thick paper and are very light so does not weigh your page down!

So much fun to play with my youngest wants to make Christmas decorations in the same way then spray them gold! But I digress, let me continue.....

I also used the same stamps with the grey paint to create a background. 

And of course buttons wonderful buttons crazy for 'em! Used a ScrapFX chippie painted grey and typewriter alphas in the Title.



And lastly my journalling,  doodling and punched out circles thrown about and I am done.
Thanks so much for taking a peek, hugs

November Challenge at WW1

Hello to all,
creatively a little slow this month, don't know why that would be, I guess it could be that Christmas is a creepin' up on me ARGHHH!!!!

 Anyway have done no Christmas prep yet ( I am a champion procrastinator)  but did manage to get a LO done for the challenge over at White With One. The requirements this month were, white, one bright colour and flowers. Obviously could not use my boys on this one, so as always, turned to my nieces! I am lovin' the yellows and orange hues still so stuck with it for my brights theme.

 So here 'tis, I have been wanting to do this design for a while now after being inspired by a LO on the Studio Calico site, cannot think who it was by (much Apologies) I like to give credit where credit is due!

 Notice there is no paint or misting done?  (I know, most unusual for me I had to really resist my go to products for the look I wanted to create) I was trying to get clean lines to bring out the heart shape more and make the brights really pop!

Had lots of fun with my stamps!

 

 Some fussy cutting (it wasn't too hard though) and brads to add to the texture of the page as I found it a little flat without them.

Lastly some chipboard alphas and a Damask Flourish corner from ScrapFX to finish it all off!

So I hope everyone else is more prepared for Christmas than I am so that when I finally go shopping I won't have a crowd to contend with! Don't like my chances of that though, thanks for dropping by big hugs to all who leave some love!

First DT Post over at the Scrapboxx

What's Hot Hot Hot????

Hello All...

Michelle here with my first official DT post! Oh I hope I live up to the brief..... What is Hot Right Now in the Scrapping world????!!!!

Well after much research ie prowling the net....( under the guise of fulfilling obligations that's what I have been telling DH anyway!)

 Art Journalling! I know it has been around forever but is making a big surge of late. Scrapbookers are tuning into this, I think, due to the fact that making our own backgrounds (another "in" thing) is totally hot and probably will be for a long time yet.

Art Journalling is a great opportunity to try out all those new techniques on a smaller scale. I have wanted to start one for years and have finally given it a go  and I have to tell you, it is really fun to play and let the juices flow! You start with something then it turns into something completely different.

This is my first shot at it using my scraps to play with collage.

Then I started to splash a bit of paint around, play with the stamps and other bits in my stash. It really is a great release with no pressure of producing that perfect page to match a treasured photo.

This one was inspired by Donna Downey and if you haven't visited her blog yet.... do yourself a favour girlfriend, hop on to that creative wagon and enjoy that inspirational ride..... awesomeness at your fingertips.

And before I bore you all stupid this is the last page I did, more fun with paper, tissue and paint!

 I love quotes so this form of art helps me keep track of some of my faves, but you can record anything or nothing if you like... remember there are no rules!!!!

I will be writing up a few tips and tricks I have learnt along the way in my Blog (not that I am an expert, just started myself you hear) in the next few days so if you have questions head over there (not too quick though gotta give me time to write...)

There's loads of inspiration out there, here are a few great ones I have found in my travels:

Dina Wakely

Kate Palmer

Journal Artista

That should wet your appetites and get you started!!!

So my scrappy friends out there in Boxx Land have a go... get yourself a journal and play!

Keep Happy Everyone,