Blog Candy Giveaway

It has been quite a while since I've shared a blog candy giveaway on my blog but I couldn't go past the one currently on offer over at Scrapfriends.

 

Timeless Love - Scrapmatts DT

The second design team brief of November was 'Gift Giving', I chose to create a present for my Nana. The Scrapmatts painters trays make fantastic gifts or keep them for your own home decoration. This tray features photos from my Nana and Pa's wedding day and a photo of the two of them taken a couple of years ago.

 

The green vine is from one of my favourite packs so I'm a little bit sad that I have now used it all up. I also used up some bits and pieces from various class kits I have accumulated. I always used to do a Scrapmatts class whenever I went to a craft show and they always give very generous packs so you have enough chipboard to make some extra cards when you get home.

Here is a close up to show of the crackle finish of the frame and light gloss on the title pieces.

Scrapmatts pieces used: CB2020 Vines 01; CB1134 Assorted Words 01; CB1199 Scrap Words 07; CB7006 Printer's Tray 02.

Frosted Designs has their fortnightly challenge as 'Give a Gift!' so I thought I'd enter this there too.

Hanging Stars - Scrapmatts DT

Chipboard has long been one of my favourite scrapbooking embellishments for two simple reasons: it is versatile and you can often use both sides. This Christmas ornament utilises both aspects. The hanging stars kit has a pretty standard way of being assembled but if you want to think outside the box you can also use it in so many different ways. I encourage you to check out the Scrapmatts gallery here for further inspiration.

 

I chose to use the filigree pieces separately to the solid stars and have them all hanging at different heights from silver thread. The filigree pieces have all been coated with silver embossing powder for a metallic shine.

Scrapmatts pieces used: CB5097 Hanging Stars 01, CB1185 Christmas Ornaments 11.

Life is Better When You're Laughing

Wow, it's been quite a while between layouts for me. Oops! I have been trying to re-organise my craft room in the hopes that will get me re-motivated. I'm about halfway through so still looks like a bomb has hit it but hopefully I'll finish it off this weekend. Of course, after playing my all my supplies I got the urge to create something so took a quick break to come up with this layout.

 

I was inspired by the current challenge over at Once Upon A ... Sketch. The challenge is 'My Happy Place', so I knew right away I wanted to use a photo of myself and my husband because my happy place is always next to him. This photo was perfect because we had such a good day at the Pet Porpoise Pool. Ben got to play catch with a dolphin and I got to swim with a seal! Here is the sketch:

Don't forget, the challenge for this month over at Unstampabelles is vellum. I recently saw two amazing layouts (by Fiona and Jennifer Grace) which used vellum/transparency to create shaker pockets and I just had to give it a go myself. You can see in the close up the wood veneer and sequins I have included in my pocket. If you want to try it yourself my tip would be to make the vellum slightly larger than the backing paper so it bubbles up slightly. I didn't do this and so my sequins don't have much room to move around in.

Celebrate Beautiful Life Tag - UnstampaBelles DT

The challenge for November over at UnstampaBelles is to use vellum in your project. I have created a happy little tag using Scrapmatts chipboard and some die-cut vellum flowers. All of the colouring is done using Gelatos. I'm still learning how to use these but they are a lot of fun.

 

Here you can see a close up of one of my flowers. I rubbed the edges with the Gelato, then spritzed with water and then lightly scrunched when dry. 

Here is the fantastic prize pack from Beth - Huggies Crafts

 consists of:

·         15 x A4 Sheets of card-stock

·         Jenni B Ovals

·         2 pkts of 12 Felt Christmas Icons

·         1 x Making Memories Sheer Frame

·         1 x 1mx9cm Wide Burlap Ribbon

·         1 pkt crafty bitz

·         1 pk Forever Friends Elements

·          2 Pks say it with Crystals

·         1 Pk Bazzil Basic Organza flowers.

Weekend Away at Beechmont

My husband Ben and I decided it was time to take a quick romantic break after realising the last time we went away was in January this year. We live on the Gold Coast in Australia, which is known as a tourist destination for it's beaches and theme parks but it is only about an hours drive before you are in some lovely mountains and rainforests. We decided to head to Beechmont and stayed at the amazing Old Saint John's Church.

 

The renovation inside was lovely, with a bedroom on a mezzanine level and open plan living area on the ground floor. Just across the road was this fantastic view out over the mountains

 

I had never previously been up to see the sun rise but I figured the view would be so amazing and the church didn't have any window coverings so it got light inside very early. Even more suprisingly though, Ben also got up with me at 4.30am (he normally gets up around 10am on weekends) so we drove 5 minutes down the road to the look out and waited from the sunrise. It was magical!