Swimming with Seals

Ben purchased me the fantastic experience of swimming with seals for my birthday in 2010. It was FREEZING in the middle of winter but so very cool. You can see the original blog post I did about it here. Decided to do with a hand-written title on this one because none of my title stickers would fit. This then led to some extra doodling around the page. Because the paper themselves were so busy I kept the rest of the design pretty plain.

 

This LO was created for the Sketches with a Twist June challenge. They have the very funky sketch below with an added challenge of usig fabric. My little crab is actually stamped on fabric which I've cut out.

Shadow

It's my turn to reveal my Lollipop Ladies DT submission for Challenge 47. I've gone with a different take on my normal style by being a bit more arty. I really loved this photo of my husband and I taken during our pre-wedding shoot, we actually have an 8 x10 print of this up in our bedroom. I went looking for shadow/reflection quotes and fell in love with the one I used on this LO. I really do think the love I share with Ben helps give vibrancy to the rest of my life.

It's a bit hard to see in this photo, but I have actually masked the heart shapes and covered the rest of the cardstock in texture paste. The black doily is left over from when I used it as a mask on my Wedding Selfie LO, I found it on my desk and thought it would work perfectly. :)

Here is the inspiration picture:

I was inspired to use this photo because of the reflections. I've painted the hearts in similar colours to the jelly babies. I initially wasn't too keen on that colour selection but it actually looks pretty striking and it's good to use a colour palette I wouldn't normally choose. The added challenge was to use ribbon and I've got a couple of ribbon flowers in there.

There is still another 5 days to enter this fortnight's competition, so what are you waiting for?

UnstampaBelles also has a challenge to use ribbons, so I'll enter this LO in there too. It's an interesting new challenge blog I've found where you're not allowed to use any stamps in your entries. I thought this would be perfect for me since even though I have a heap of stamps I don't seem to use them that often. :)

Blog Giveaways

Today I came across a number of amazing blog giveaways that I just had to share with my followers:

First up is a fantastic giveaway that Nadia is having over at Just My Scrapping World.

It is 5 boxes FULL of stuff. I think you all deserve it after all the love and support I receive from all of you. Its my birthday , and I want to share the fortune I have had over the last couple of years through winning stuff and DT stuff etc. with you all. Now I need to make a point here that yes some of this stuff is half packets or some cut paper etc but most is untouched still in their packs. Please keep this in mind!

 

1. A pizza box FULL of current and past paper collections.

2. A pizza box FULL of mixed embellishments and tools

3. A pizza box full of alphas

4. A pizza box full of flowers

5. A pizza box FULL of ribbon, Webster's Pages unopened packets of flowers and trim etc.

*  *  *

Erin, formerly of Scrappin' Sisters, has started her own blog at My Scrap Cabin. She has two giveaways going at the moment with more to come if she gets additional followers.

 

*  *  *

 

I can never go past Sam's Eye Candy Magic monthly giveaways.

 

 

Rosser Park

It's been a while since I've sat down and created a LO but the weather this long weekend is miserable so it was perfect for staying in and creating in my PJs. :) The photos were just some random snaps during one of our multiple picnics at Rosser Park. This park's entry is located on a fairly busy road and doesn't look much when you're just driving past but if you actually going inside it's so lovely. I always try to talk Ben into going for picnics there and take my Mum and Dad each time they come to visit as well.

I also wanted to share a couple of detail shots to show all the different layers. I've used some masking tape which I've stamped on to create my own faux-washi tape. :) Doilies from The Chip Chop Shop, journal spot from Lil' Red Rocket, chipboard from Scrapmatts, most of the paper is from Kaisercraft.

On to the challenges which inspired this LO. ScrapFriends have another stunning sketch up this month that I simply couldn't pass up. I used the journal tag and chipboard tree instead of the third photo and moved the jouralling but otherwise I stayed pretty close to the design.

Frosted Designs fabulous Friday challenge was to incorporate stitching on the LO. I have stitching on the top and bottom of the LO and also on the photo mats. I left the edges rugged on the mats to make it look a bit more rustic.

Southern Girls Challenge has a 'Things with wings' theme for this fortnight. I've included two birds and a butterfly on this LO.

Lollipop Ladies Challenge #47 - Jelly Babies

Challenge #47 over at Lollipop Ladies went live yesterday. This fortnight our challenge is based on those cute little people, yes it's Jelly Babies! With the additional challenge of Ribbon.

Guest DT spots are able to be won each fortnight and our sponsor this fortnight is: Annabelle Stamps.

 

You can create any kind of papercraft project you like as long as its inspired by the image and they allow very broad interpretations of the challenge. You can also feel free to combine it with any other challenge you enter. I went with something a little bit different to my normal style for this fortnight. Here is my sneak peak in case you're interested:

I'd love to see some more scrapbookers enter so I hope you're feeling inspired.

Stampin' Up! Party

I hosted my first Stampin' Up! party today. The demonstrator (Tammy Gerrard if you're looking for one on the Gold Coast, QLD) was lovely. She brought in two samples cards for us to complete but was happy for us to put our own spin on the design and even made matching edible cupcakes for the party! There is no pressure for the sale at all.

I originally decided to host the party just as a way to catch up with friends and pick up one or two extra products. I really wasn't expecting my friends to spend much but they were all inspired by the demonstration and bought some supplies to start scrapbooking/card making on a regular basis. This resulted in me being able to purchase $400 worth of products for just about $160!!! I picked up a Sizzix Big Shot as my 50% off product and am looking forward to being able to start playing with this soon.

Here is what my card looked like. Photo is not up to normal quality as my friend took it. :)

Lifetime of Memories

It's finally my turn to reveal my LO as guest DT for The Lollipop Ladies Challenge #46 - Turkish Delight. The photos are of my husband's maternal grandparents on their wedding day. I came across them when my mother-in-law was compiling a photo montage for her father's funeral so this LO is bittersweet. I've held on to the photos for about a year, waiting to get just the right products. Lots of Imaginarium Designs chipboard on this one, plus a Charms Creation heart and Kaisercraft fabric flower.

The Lollipop Ladies challenge this fortnight is inspired by Turkish Delight with an added challenge of squares. I only managed to go with rectangles but stuck with a white and pink colour scheme. Entries close in 5 days and you could win 3 digi stamps from Mad for Markers.

This LO was inspired by the wonderful sketch over at Sketches with a Twist. I have rotated the sketch 90 degrees clockwise but kept most of the elements. The twist was to use stitching. I have sewn down the lace and middle paper strip, plus there is the stitching from the Charm's Creation heavenly heart.

My 28th Birthday

Nothing crafty to show from last weekend but that's because I had my family fly up from Melbourne to celebrate my 28th birthday. Mum and Dad come up on Wednesday and we went to the Asutralian Outback Spectacular. It was quite an entertaining show and the meal is pretty good.

I had taken some time off work to spend with them so we all went bowling on the Friday after enjoying high tea at Royal Pines.

Unfortunately, Ben's brother scheduled his engagement party that weekend in Melbourne so he flew down while my brother, sister and her partner flew up to spend the weekend with me. We went to the football as I'm a pretty big Gold Coast Suns supported. They're a hard team to follow though as the stadium was celebrating it's 1 year birthday and they are still yet to get a win there. :(

I managed to talk my family into posing for some old time photos. I thought the serious one matched the theme but the smiling one is much more suited to our family.

We spent the last day just enjoying the beach and great Gold Coast weather. You can tell I'm the local because I'm all rugged up and complaining it's too chilly out of the sun. :) I think I ended up getting a little bit sunburnt on my nose.

Anyway, it was a great way to celebrate my birthday. Now I just need some time to recover from such an action packed weekend before the next one. Hopefully I'll get some crafting done then.

The Lollipop Ladies Challenge #46 - Turkish Delight

The Lollipop Ladies latest challenge has gone live. This fortnight our challenge is based on those yummy gooey cubes that are Turkish Delight!

With the additional challenge of Squares.

Guest DT spots are able to be won each fortnight and our sponsor this fortnight is: Mad for Markers*. Sammi has increased the value of her sponsorship to a choice of 3 of her digi stamps.

* Prize will only be offered if 7 or more entries partake in the challenge.

My DT LO doesn't go live until next Wednesday, but here is a sneak peak featuring Imaginarium Designs chpboard and a Charm's Creation heart:

Don't forget the competition is open to any form of papercraft and the theme can be widely interpreted.

Jet X

It's another LO featuring my sister and her partner. They can up to the Sunshine Coast for a wedding in 2010 and drove down to spend two days with me and Ben. We've done most of the tourist attractions on the Gold Coast now so for some reason I agreed to go on an exteme jetboat ride with them despite knowing I get sea sick. We made it back to land just in time!

I loved the bold red/white contrast in this picture. This one was created for the Kaisercraft May Saturday Sketch #1. I have used their Lovestruck paper range, which as you can see is easily adaptable to non-romantic LO's as well. I really like the bold colours and intricate patterns in this range. I've just tried to research it and it looks like this range may have been released in 2009! :O

The sketch called for some strips of paper with journalling on top but I decided it was finally time to try the paper rolls technique. I think it looks quite effective and Ben really liked the effect. I've learnt you need to be careful what kind of paper you use though. The yellow is by another company and is a bit thicker so it didn't hold it's shape as well.

Below is the May #1 Kaisercraft sketch I had to work from. You also have to make sure 80% of the work is Kaisercraft products. I've used their cardstock, papers, pearls, rhinestone and fabric flower. Alphas are American Crafts and doilies are from The Chip Chop Shop.