Pion Design - Times and Seasons

Auckland Anniversary Day today - annual holiday for the hoi poloi!  Started off as a beautiful summers day, everyone in the pool, Dad cleaning the BBQ ready for a roast pork lunch - then the clouds (dark ones!) appeared!  Still patches of blue however, but not the usual hot languid day we have come to expect come late January!

I did get a chance though to finish a layout I've been working on using some stunning Pion Designs paper.  Lots of ink, texture paste, gold metallic rub n buff, liquid pearls, Crafters Workshop template and the obligitory smattering of flowers!  Also a chance to use a beautiful lace border that I've had in my stash for some time.

Something different though - I made my own dressform (small one) and key.  I found some molding clay at the shops the other day and have been making my own permanent molds.  Lots of fun!  Then I used good old polymer clay to create the embellishment, bake it, paint it and it's good to go!



In other scrapworthy news ........it took me 7 hours solid to clean up my scrap room on Saturday!  As you can imagne it was well overdue!  Admittedly, I did go the whole hog and colour code  my flowers, papers, reorganised storage for various bits and bobs and had a good purge of 'stuff'  that is really never likely to make it onto a card/layout now!  Good feeling!

Happy Monday everyone - off to check the BBQ!

Cool Tools

So I shouted myself to a new punch last week - the EK Tools Large Flower Burst Edger.  Love it!  I used it to create my Scrapaholics Monthly Kit and also to fit the criteria to enter another fabulous Moxiefabworld challenge that requires you to...

"Create a paper crafted project (card, gift bag, tag, layout, home decor item, mini-book cover, etc.) that incorporates a punched element in an innovative way"

The base for this LO was  Websters Paper and Bazzill.  The journalling reads:

A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.

She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”

The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,

“Well, I made a difference to that one!”

The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved. - adapted from the Star Thrower by Loren C. Eiseley

A lack of starfish embellishments around meant I had to get the Polymer Clay out of the cupboard and fashion my own.  Once I had baked it, I painted it with shimmery aqua and cream acryllic and adhered tiny little silver balls over it (had these in my stash for about 5-6 years!).  I also used a small piece of crumpled Tim Holtz tissue paper, again painted and inked.  The little white shells came from one of many necklaces that we received when we arrived in Fiji on holiday a couple of years ago!  And of course, there are some obligatory pieces of Paua (pron: pa-wa) shell scattered in amongst it all for a quintessentially kiwi feel!

Thanks for visiting.  I absolutely appreciate all your comments, it makes my day to hear from you!

Simple Stories

I discovered the Simple Stories range of Scrapbooking papers last year, they are suitably grungy with a vintage look so naturally a selection of their papers found their way into my stash!  I used some of the Life Documented range to complete the NZ Paperchase Monthly Challenge - where the focus of the layout had to be on the words rather than the photo.  To boot, the journalling had to represent a recipe of some kind.

I used loads of stucco texture past, Lumiere Acryllic and distress ink on this layout.  I created 2 pop-up cards (a la Karen Burniston) that when opened reveal a photo of my mother.  The journalling is a 'recipe' for the things my mother taught me.  And lots of fussy cutting of the teeny paper doillies around the edge!

I also dipped some small white roses into the Lumiere paint and let them dry.  Really cool effect - almost like a metal flower.  There's one on the top of each card.

Busy today finishing a layout for the Scrapaholics February Kit club.  All will be revealed later!

Have a great day.

Moxiefabworld Challenge

I've been a long time 'stalker' of this wonderful website.  In fact it has now become instituted as part of my daily inspiration routine.  Cath posts the most beautiful pics everyday - they truly are food for the soul!   Click here to see for yourself! 

So, I have finally found some time to participate in the January 'Map to your Heart' challenge.  And just in the nick of time too!

The challenge is to...

"Create a paper crafted project (card, gift bag, tag, layout, home decor item, mini-book cover, etc.) that incorporates a map/s in an innovative way"

I created a pop-up card, that is operated by pulling the tag once you open the card.  I used some cute chipboard letters that I found quite by chance at TYPO the other day, covered in old atlas pages, and some papers from October Afternoon, Pink Paislee and Simple Stories.  My Cavalini & Co stamps came in handy for this project too!

Front

Inside with pop-up maps and words

Side view of pop-up.



I am thorougly enjoying my time off - getting crafty and participating in lots of challenges.  Feels good!

Thanks for visiting.

On a Totally Different Tangent Today!

Before I get to my scrappy post, I like to introduce you to a friend of mine....Kindle.


I have to say it - I love my Amazon Kindle.  I was lucky to get one for my birthday last year (after admiring my friends one for so long!).  I have looked at other eReaders but none of them really seemed to grab me (screens too small, too fiddly to navigate etc).  So I  was wrapt to find that the Kindle does NOT disappoint!  I know that for a lot of people there is the mindset of not having the 'hard' copy of the book with the charm of having 'real' pages to turn and bookmark etc and I thought initially that I would be the same. But no - I'm OK with the whole concept - which for a traditionalist like myself is quite surprising!

For an avid reader like myself, it is just fantastic for gettting immediate access to the latest books, magazines, newspapers etc.  The prices are just so excellent too - here's an example...

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is about NZ $25.00 for paperback in the local shops.  Through Amazon it's US$9.68 (about NZ$12.00).  Fantastic story, and one that has inspired me to simplify my life this year.

Another example for Jodi Picoult fans, The Jodi Picoult Bundle which is 3 novels (Nineteen Minutes, Second Glance and Perfect Match) for US$7.26.  Might just have to download that one myself!

If you are thinking about a Kindle, make sure you get the leather cover and reading light as well as a screen protector.

I'm always on the lookout for reading recommendations myself, so here are some books that I have particularly enjoyed...an eccletic mix but ones that are worth the read.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (US$3.63)
The Heart Mender by Andey Andrews (US$8.99)
The Eighth Scroll by Dr. Laurence B Brown (US  .99c - yes, really!)
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo (US$4.98)

I think the Kindle holds up to 1200 books at a time (you can archive the ones you have finished and pull them out anytime you want to refer to them).  I haven't downloaded any magazines yet, mainly because I haven't had enough time to browse through the Kindle Store at length.  The store is absolutely huge!  There are also lots of freebies (I think most of the 'classics' like Oliver Twist are free since the authors are no longer around to collect royalty payments!).

I'd love to hear what you think of the Kindle if you have one, and some reading suggestions are always welcome!

So, onto scrapbooking! 

In October last year at our Crafting and Cupcakes Scrapbook Day, I ran a class inspired by the wonderfully talented Jane Tregenza and her chipboard tile method.  Here is my layout...

 And a close up of the detail of one of the tiles...

Essentially, the layout is built on a series of chipboard squares and rectangles, each one uniquely embellished or holding a photo.  So much fun to do, and seriously addictive.  The 20 ladies who participated in the class each came out with amazing layouts - some used wedding pics, others used heritage.  That's often the best part about teaching - having the chance to see other peoples photos and learn a bit about the story behind them.

So that's all from me today.  Don't forget to send me your recommend reading lists if you have any!

Lazy January Days

Card making in this less than ideal summer weather we are having, seems a strangely guilt free, acceptable thing to be doing! I'm on a roll at the moment, so here is my latest.  It's a recessed card -  a wee bit hard to see the actual recessed dimension in the photos but essentially you create something of a shadow box to sit down into the card front. I thought I was all done with the G45 Once Upon a Springtime papers - but I keep getting drawn back to them time and time again!

So, CHA in the USA is drawing near.  Starting to see lot's of sneak peeks, very exciting.  My friends Jodi and Hebie are lucky enough to be travelling to the event this year, so I'm looking forward to seeing their pics and hearing all about it!

As I mentioned, we are having a rather inclement summer so far!  For a boredom buster, I bought Meg the Season 1 DVD of Bewitched (who remembers this programme aired in the 70's with Samantha, Darren, Endora and Aunt Clara??).  Bewitched was one of my favourite TV programmes, so I was thrilled to find all the seasons available at JB HiFi.  They also have other gems like, I Dream of Jeanie, Beverly Hillbillys, ALF and heaps more.

Right, while the sun is out momentarily, I'll take the children for a quick swim to relieve their holiday boredom!

Thanks for visiting.

Gearing Up for Easter!

Shocked, amazed stunned even - to see Hot Cross Buns and chocolate Easter bunnys available for sale at the supermarket yesterday!  Haven't really even recovered from Christmas yet!

But if it's good enough for merchandisers to be preparing for Easter then it's a good enough excuse for me to start Easter crafting!  So, given our summer is so wet, rainy and dismal at the moment, I took a few hours today to indulge in some guilt free crafting time (after the housework was all done and washing folded and put away of course!).

It was also a good excuse to use some of my beautiful Easter images from Pion Design.  I decided to create a tryptych card today, and I thought I'd share it with you...click the pics below to get a closer view.

Supplies:
Bazzill Card stock
Girls Paperie paper
Pion Design Bunny image
Prima vine
Stick from the garden
Pink feather fluff
Seam binding that I hand dyed myself
Watch face (one of many that my generous manufacturing jeweller gave to me)
Lace (unknown)
Tea Dye Distress Ink (lots of!)
Kaiser Pearls

If you haven't checked out the incredible vintage styled papers from Pion Design (Swedish for Peony which also happens to be my all time favourite flower - alas it's too warm to grow them here in Auckland) then click the link above to view their blog and spend some time browsing through some vintage goodness.

Happy New Year to you all.