This is a weird fungus thing I found in my garden-it looks like a flower shape...so of course I am going to try & make a flower to look like it!! The tags below are the last of the Tim Holtz 12 days of tags. They take a bit of time to do but they are fun & worth the effort. They are not the same as TH tags as I don't have all the bits & pieces but as in other aspects of craft, we adapt & change to suit what we have!

8 sleeps till Christmas!

This time of year seems to fly by so quickly. We are having a low key Christmas this year with the emphasis on getting together with family & friends & not so much of the extra hoopla that comes with the silly season. I've been hooked on the Tim Holtz blog site to make the 12 tags of Christmas for this year. I still have a couple to go but here are some more of what I have made so far.

Christmas tags

The first four tags are part of the TimHoltz 12 tags of christmas-go to his blog to get all the instuctions on how to make them. The last tag is a tag group challenge from Sketches For U & the theme for the week is "vintage". Luckily I had just bought a Christmas collage stamp that went perfectly with this theme! Who says I don't need more stamps!!

Christmas is in the Air

I have actually made time to make some Christmas goodies. The cards were made in blues & silvers & the words were die cut from sizzix dies. The tag is number 2 in a challenge-something to do with snow-hence the cool colours & the teardrop beads. The acrylic bauble can be bought from "The Greenbank Scrapbook Shop" & classes are also held to decorate these. They come in clear, white & black. The Christmas gift boxed are cut from a sizzix die, painted & embelllished. These can be made for any occassion, not just Christmas then filled with goodies!

November Challenges

This tag is one I did for a challenge on sketches 4 you. It had to be non-traditional Christmas colours with something shiny. I Chose pink & turqoise with white glitter embossing powder & pearl paint. I made a string of beads in the colours I chose with bling & pearls to match. There is a tag a week for the next 3 weeks so there will be more to come!

This layout challenge was a combination of 3 challenges. 1)Stash challenge-using circles 2)scrap lift from a sketch 3)make own embelllishments. For 1) I used a circle mat & used circle embellishments. 2) is from the sketch but I replaced the rectangular mat with a round one. 3) I made the flowers from a punched scallop circle with twisted tulle on the top with a button in the center. The background was masked & sprayed with glimmermist. It was all a lot of fun! Have a go if you like & see what you can come up with.

Christmas Spirit

To make the leaves on the first set of cards I drew a holly leaf shape & tore it out.Then I embossed the leaves in an embossing folder & lightly inked the top & the edges. The center leaf was raised with foam mounting tape. Once put together I put glitter glue along the edges of the leaves & drew in veins.

The santas were stamped in black ink & coloured in using tombow markers. On the white areas I used "Ranger embossing Puffs", which is an embossing powder that puffs up slightly when you heat it. The front of these cards fold back on themselves & a u-shaped cut it made to create a flat folded piece where I mounted the santa pieces.

The baubles on these cards were cut out from patterned paper & then embellished with glitter glue & blingy bits. I made the cards with pearl & metallic papers to give a shimmery Christmas feel to them.

Christmas is in the air and some people I know have already done their Christmas shopping and wrapped the gifts already-mind you, they don't scrapbook either!! I made some cards ready to send at the beginning of December. I just love Christmas time and all that comes with it.

Christmas is nearly here!

The top photo is of my craft area. We have our house for sale & I'm hoping for a bit more space to spread out in the new place! Since Christmas is so close the card classes at the Greenbank Scrapbook Shop are getting into the Christmas spirit early. Each week we are doing something Christmasy including scrapbooking & off the page for gifts or just spoiling yourself!

Long time, no blog!

Yes, it's been awhile but we have been madly painting our house so other things have been put on the back burner for a bit. The four layouts are ones I made as double sided, double layouts. I liked both sides of the patterned paper so I just scrapped on each of them! A couple I cut up & joined to the other ones but they all could be mixed & matched. The bottom picture is of 2 tag cards that I stamped & embellished. They concentina out to 3 panels. Hopefully I can get back into scrapbooking again & maybe get a head start on some Christmas cards!

This layout was done in greys & blacks & silvers to mimic the rainy day grey tone of the photo. The flowers were made from layers of book paper, tulle & paper flowers with a stone in the middle of them. I used mesh ribbon & cutwork paper on the background. The card sets are some of the classes held at the beginning of September at the Greenbank Scrapbook Shop. The bottom set of cards are made using the Graphic 45 papers which I just love.

Scrapbook layout challenge

Well here is my version of the blind scrap challenge. I followed the instructions to how I thought they were written. It's amazing how different people interpret things. I stamped around the edges with white ink & inked the edges of the papers. The picture of the camera is cut out from patterned paper. I hope you are happy with how your layout turned out.

A Layout Challenge For You

This is a blind challenge for everyone. It is where you have the supply list & the instructions but no layout to copy from so it is left up to your interpretation & imagination. I haven't done this yet so I can't even show you how mine has turned out...yet. I found this in an old craft magazine so here are the details. Read all the way through first before starting the layout then go step by step.
PHOTO: 5in x 7in landscape or a series of smaller photos to make up that size.
SUPPLIES: 1x cardstock, 2x coordinating pattern papers, 2x scraps patterned paper(12in long by 4in wide), 2 photo corners-bought or self made, 3 buttons, 1 large embellishment of choice, 1 alpha for one-word title, small alpha or pen for journalling, ink, sandpaper, all basic tools & adhesives.
STEPS:
1)On your base cardstock, doodle/stamp/use rub ons along the edge to create a border.
2)Take one of the pieces of scrap patterned paper, trim it to 11in & tear along the base so it measures about 2 1/2in x 11in. Ink the edges.
3)Adhere this piece towards the bottom of the cardstock.
4)Take one of the full sheets of patterned paper, measure across to the right about 9in & tear down. Next,measure down on the left about 8in & tear across.
5)This piece should measure about 9in x 8in with the left side & top straight-edged and the right side & bottom torn.
6)Adhere this piece so that it sits on top, slightly overlapping the first strip.
7)Create an edge to your pphotos by either sanding or inking the edges or both.
8)Take the second sheet of 12x12 patterned paper & matt your photos on it.
9)Ink the edges and adhere on top of the patterned paper & layer with the 2 torn edges.
10)Take the last scrap patterned piece, cut a 1in x 11in strip and a 1/2in x 11in strip.
11)Ink the edges and adhere the 1/2in strip on top of the 1in strip.
12)Next, adhere this strip so it overlaps the 9in x 8in piece and sits below your pphotos but above the torn edge. Ink all the edges.
13)Adhere your two photo corners to any of the other photo corners.
14)Adhere the buttons to the 1in strip.
15)Adhere the large embellishment to the bottom right of the photo.
16)Place a one-word title at the top or bottom of the photo, making sure is overlaps a little of the photo.
17)Journal on the right side of the page, near the photo/s.
HAPPY SCRAPPING & let me know how you went with this challenge.

Photo challenge

These photos will bring my photo challenge up until the middle of August. The first one is "Twist" with David twisting on the twirly playground toy! "Off the Vine" is flowers from a vine but I don't know what they are called. These 2 photos were taken at the Botanical Gardens in Darwin. The last photo is called "Play". David put 20cents into the game to feed the fish & he didn't do it so he walked away with a huff- mind you, it is a kids game at the aquarium in Townsville! It's all fun though.

Holiday snaps

These are some photos of my DH(darling hubby-not dickhead!sorry) at the aquarium in Townsville-not so sunny Queensland at the moment. I thought for the rest of the journey I would try & get him to pose for photos! The first one is of him being eaten by a fish...he hopes to reverse the situation soon. He found some fishing tackle shops & I found some scrapbooking shops-finally. I picked up some supplies & a couple of books. With great inspiration I now want to spend some time scrapbooking & David wants to fish-a relationsip made in heaven! We are now in our homeward run and sadly our holiday will be coming to an end all to soon...but I have plenty of photos for our memories and of course to scrapbook.

Travelling Scraproom

Here is a layout I made in my camper. Luckily it has a big seat where I can spread out! It is amazing how with 3 containers & a small table how much you can actually do. It is a bit of a pain to pack up all the time but at least I get the chance to still do some scrapbooking. The layout is of my granddaughter in her new jumper. I used rubons & stamping on the background. I painted the chipboard swirls with black paint & then lightly misted them with pink glimmermist to make it prettier.

Travelling Scraproom

Here is a layout I made in my camper. Luckily it has a big seat where I can spread out! It is amazing how with 3 containers & a small table how much you can actually do. It is a bit of a pain to pack up all the time but at least I get the chance to still do some scrapbooking

Holiday snaps

These photos are from Kakadu & surrounds. The photo of the big croc is of one in captivity & the one beside the waters edge is real & quite close to where we were when I photographed it from our 4.2m boat! the Lookout is at Ubir in Kakadu. the sunset from here is apparently quite good but we were there too early in the day but the view is magnificent. The camper photo is David relaxing in Kakadu.The spot was lovely but come nightfall, swarms of mossies came out. We still have 3 weeks to go & lots of places to see. We have run into a few people we know so it really is a small world. Till next time...be happy campers!

New cards

Here's the cards I've had the chance to make so far. I had to make up mini kits before we left home as I can't carry my whole craft room with me! Some of these will be used for card classes when I get home and back into the swing of things. It's good to have some on hand for when a card is needed then I don't have to rush to make one.