Halloween crafts

Halloween is not a big deal here in Australia, despite the best efforts of many retailers, however Ben has been looking at so many American websites recently as we are planning at trip to the US he decided he wanted to try carving a pumpkin for the very first time. We have had some terracotta edging tiles just lying around since we moved in and I thought they looked a bit like tombstones so I painted them up today and we created this display for the front of our house.

 

 

I couldn't resist taking some in-progress photos as we worked so I will possibly scrap this process later. We didn't have any proper tools so used a small screwdriver to poke the guide holes and then a small kitchen knife to cut out the design. He looks really cool and spooky all lit up. I think we might try a slightly more complicated design next year.  

She Is Beautiful

My sister HATES having her photo taken however she loves me enough to put up with it. The photographer got some amazing candid shots of her for my wedding and I've been wanting to scrap them for ages. My husband went to a weekend basketball tournament 4 hours drive away at the start of October so I booked into a class at my local scrapbooking store to keep myself busy. I ended up being the only person taking the class as one of the other ladies cancelled last minute and the other just didn't even turn up.

Here is what the LO looked like at the end of the class. I thought it was nice and good to do something a bit different to my usual style but it just didn't really pop for me.

 

 

I've always thought of classes as more of a good starting point for a LO than something that needs to be followed exactly. I've been in some classes and the other participants will be requesting the exact measurements for everything in terms of millimeters. I don't want my page to look exactly like 10 other people's, I want it to look like mine! So, I brought the pages home and had a bit of a play around and ended up with this:

 

 

You can see that I changed the left and right pages around because I prefer to have my central elements framed in a double LO. The 'beautiful' title was part of the class, I just hadn't stuck it down before I left the store. 

 

Here is my left page. I added the butterfly and pearl swirl, as well as some sentiment stickers to the photos and added my journalling. I'm laughing so hard in the first photo at something my sister had said. She really helped my stay relaxed and happy during the preparations, the perfect bridesmaid!

 

Here is my right page. I added an extra butterfly in the top right, the sentiment and title stickers and the pearls to highlight that the title relates to my sister.

 

The challenge for The Lollipop Ladies this fortnight is inspired by aniseed rings with an added challenge of black and white, so I'm also using this LO as my DT submission this week. I'd love to see what you can create with this inspiration.

 

 

Guest DT spots are able to be won each fortnight

and our sponsor this fortnight is: Annabelle Stamps *

$10 Voucher (thanks to Andrea).

 



Directions

This is the last LO I have from the retreat I took part in. I managed to get this one half done and it's just taken me this long to sit down and stick it all into place. The photo is of my parents from when we went exploring at Springbrook National Park and I just thought it was a really nice photo of the two of them.

 

The 'Ritchie explore' referred to in the journalling is a thing of family legend. At some stage we were trying to travel somewhere and Dad managed to get lost however typically didn't want to admit it so we drove around aimlessly for a while until we managed to get back on track. He claimed he was exploring and as our surname is Ritchie any time since when we have taken a needlessly convoluted path to get somewhere or have become hopelessly lost it has been referred to as 'Ritchie exploring'.

 

I was worried we would end up on a Ritchie explore either on the way to the National Park (it was over an hour's drive away through twisty mountain roads) or once we were inside the park itself (an old fear from previously getting lost while bushwalking with dad). I'm pleased to report we actually did quite well and no exploring was necessary. :)

 

 

This LO was inspired by the Kaisercraft October Saturday Sketch #2. I have used the lovely Great Southern Land range, some pearls, some chipboard, alphabet stickers, some fabric and paper flowers and some old-school brads all from Kaisercraft. This is the sketch I was working from:

 

 

Speaking of the retreat, I mentioned that there would be a group photo of us all celebrating the 70's themed night and here it is! I'm a bit upset that I'm hidden away in this photo because I had gone out and purchased a shift especially for this night but it gives you a great idea as to the feel of the night. :) If you are looking for a retreat to attend in South East Queensland I totally recommend signing up for the next one Ann runs. I think dates are May and September 2013 with a cruise in August 2013 as well. 

 

 

Christmas Bauble Card

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to the Brisbane Craft and Quilt Expo over the weekend. I didn't manage to sign up for any classes this time but I like to make sure I always create something to bring home to show my husband so I stopped off at the Kazazz stand to complete their free make-and-take class.

 

 

This is a pretty simply card using distress inks, stamps and kindy glitz. I have recently increased my supply of distress inks so it was good to see some different ways of using these products.

 

The middle bauble has perfect pearls rather than kindy glitz because I managed to wipe a receipt over the front of the card before it was dry so I had to touch it up at home! :(

Muck Up Day

I went to the Brisbane Craft Expo this weekend and whilst I didn't attend any classes I did stock up on a few new supplies including 4 new rolls of washi tape! You can see a lot of the new roles in my latest LO, which also uses the new chevron mask and Scrapmatts chipboard frames I picked up.

 

 

These are some more photos from back in my last year of high school so 2001! The challenge over at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge is to scrap about a high school reunion, or a memory of your time in high school. Muck up day is the last day of Year 12 in Australia and as you can see people typically have all their friends sign and customise their uniform. I wanted to go with a kind of grungy look to the LO to fit in with the re-modelled uniforms.

When you're looking for a grungy sketch you can't go past ScrapFriends if you ask me. This is the sketch I was inspired by, rotated to suit my pictures.

 

 

Beautiful Gorgeous Pretty

Whilst going through photos to pick which ones I wanted to bring to the retreat I came across some photos from my final year of high school. Given that is now over 10 years ago I thought it was high time to scrap a few of these. 

 

 

The papers are from the Kaisercraft Butterfly Kisses new collection with that lovely blue from Hunt and Gather. I wouldnt have chosen this collection myself but I won a giveaway from the very generous Nadia Cannizzo and she sent me the range along with some collectables. I thought the bright colours really worked will with the dresses on show.

 

I used the sketch from Stuck?! sketches.

 

 

Outback

Just a simple LO of my parents, my husband and I prior to seeing the Australian Outback Spectacular which is a dinner and show performance with lots of horses. It is a fantastic performance and pretty good food in case you're ever on the Gold Coast and looking for something to do. I love the Dusty Attic chipboard I've used on this. They're not a brand I normally use but there was heaps available at the retreat.

 

 

This was going to be for Sketchabilities challenge #76 however I didn't get home and get the LO uploaded in time. :(

 

Everyday Moments

I've been keen on scrapbooking this photo of my brother for a while now and finally decided to take the plunge since I've done a lot of my sister and I don't like them to feel that I'm favouring one over the other.

 

 

This LO was inspired by the fantastic sketch over at ScrapFriends. I did it on the retreat so didn't have access to a sewing machines but I think I've kept pretty closely to the sketch otherwise. I always love playing with paints and mists and I got to try out a new mask on this one. I have really mixed elements and manufacturers on this one but I like the result.

 

 

Cheer Up Card

This was not the effect I was expecting when I designed this card background however I like the end result, it's so bright and colourful. The card is straight however warped slightly due to the misting and looks odd in the photo.

 

 

The challenge this fortnight at The Lollipop Ladies is Chupa Chups lollipops with an added challenge of curves. I think my sunflowers look like lollipops and the scallops give lots of extra curves.

 

The Lollipop Ladies is also have a quick DT call, just until the end of the year. If you think you might be interested all the details can be found here.

 

 

Guest DT spots are able to be won each fortnight and our sponsor this fortnight is: Mad for Markers*

(thanks to Sammi).

A choice of 3 of her M4M digi stamps.
So cool :-)

Live Laugh Love

This is the first LO I completed at the retreat and I had already fussy-cut most of the blossoms prior to leaving. The young girl is my mother with the photo taken in the mid 1960's by her aunt for a photography course. Something about these photos just lent themselves to creating very girlie layouts.

 

 

This LO was primarily inspired by the Kaisercraft Saturday Sketch #1 for October. The sample LO was just so lovely and I immediately thought of using the blossoms from the English Rose collection which even though it's now an older range I still love. Plus, it matched so perfecting with the background paper and title strips from the brand new Periwinkle collection.

 

 

The weekend warm-up at ScrapFIT requires you to use either bows or buttons (or both) on your LO. I have a small pink bow on top of the white fabric bow. The white bow is actually a Kaisercraft rossette which I have unpicked and tied up to ensure it matched the rosette on the LO perfectly. 

 

Finally, the Southern Girls challenge this week is to 'Tie a ribbon around it'. Looks like I'll be using those flower ribbons again. :)

Retreat Challenge LOs

The retreat had two challenges set at the start to give us a bit of inspiration. The first one contained a custom-made piece of chipboard and two patterned papers. We had to combine these elements with the group photo taken on Saturday morning. I was really suprised at how many different interpretations there were, even in the way people used the chipboard. I combined my papers with a Kaisercraft page and a Scrapmatts chipboard piece.

 

The second challenge came with a piece of chipboard, one piece of patterned paper, a length of fibra, the 'All About Me' chipboard piece and a PageMaps sketch. I went with a lot of fussy cutting with this one. The cream was a bit of a weird colour so I brought in some brown and orange as well.

 



 

I'm back from the retreat!

I am back from the Noosaville scrapbooking retreat organised by Queensland Scrapbooking Retreats. It was fantastic! The organiser, Ann, was wonderfully welcoming and it seems like she gets a pretty regular bunch to attend her retreats so there was a very friendly atmosphere. I created 7 layouts during the three days but I'll spread the posts out over the coming week.

 

Saturday morning we spent doing a class with Cathy Cafun. Cathy was a wonderfully patient teacher and we all learnt so many new techniques during the class. We got to use some lovely Graphic 45 papers, which I normally find too fussy for my style of scrapping so it was great to try something new. There is a lot of depth and texture to this LO and I really like all the gears.

 

 

There were also instructions to make this matching card. I still need to add a sentiment but thought I would leave that until I have a reason to use the card.

 

On Saturday night we had a '70's disco themed night. There are a couple of group photos which I'm waiting to have emailed though but until then here is one of me and my room-mate Chantelle.

 

 

Going on a retreat

I've been a bit quiet recently but that is hopefully about to change. Tomorrow I am leaving to make the 2.5 hour drive up to Noosaville to participate in my very first scrapbooking retreat! I'm nervous because I wont know anyone and I've never gone away on a retreat before but also excited about getting a chance to spend a whole weekend focused on crafting. Cathy Cafun will be doing a class on Saturday morning so I'm hoping to learn a new technique or two.

 

If anyone has any tips in what to bring or what to leave behind for a retreat I would very much like to hear them.

 

Also, I wanted to share a competition going on over at The Scrapbook Store this month:

There are 3 fabulous Kaisercraft Collections up for grabs so we are having a Grab Our Blinkie competition for the month of October to spread the word about The Scrapbook Store. The packs are full ranges including stamps, stickers, specialty papers, rubons and more! Valued at approximatel $40 each plus free postage.

Here is what you need to do. If you have a blog make sure you have posted on your blog our blinkie below and link it back to our store. If you post the details of our competition on your blog you will receive a second chance to win! Then send an e-mail with a link to your blog to let us know you have entered – suzanne@thescrapbookstore.com.au

Don’t have a blog? That’s not a problem – just post details of our competition on your Facebook Page then let us know you have done it!

Entries close midnight 31st October 2012 and a record of entries will be kept on our blog. Good luck!

New Publication - ScrapStreet Magazine

I just wanted to quickly post to celebrate having been published in the latest edition of ScrapStreet Magazine. This is on online publication.

 

 

 

You can see my LO here, though for some reason it's been credited as having been designed by someone else?

Friendship card - Lollipop Ladies DT

 

 

The challenge this fortnight at The Lollipop Ladies is mint leaves with an added challenge of glitter. The leaves made me think of flowers so I went with a card with a feature flower design. The white petals have all been edged with KindyGlitz and glitter. I think I've certainly gotten my money's worth with this die-cut, I've used it on so many designs in the past couple of months.

 

 

What does this picture inspire you to create?

 

Guest DT spots are able to be won each fortnight

and our sponsor this fortnight is: Annabelle Stamps

$10 Voucher

Paintbrush Holder

The theme for this month over at UnstampaBelles is 'recycling'. I've toyed with the idea of decorating my tool contains for a while now and thought this would provide the perfect opportunity. It was really quite simple, I just wrapped a couple of pieces of paper around the tin then embellished with alpha stickers and a pearl florish.

 

 

Come on over and show us how you've used recycled materials to be in with a chance to win a terrific prize pack from Craft Mad.

Craft Mad is a craft community for anyone and everyone who enjoys anything to do with crafts. Every member has their own gallery space to display their work as well as view everyone else's.There are regular craft swaps and sketch challenges.