Sun shine!

At last the sun shone on us today.

Andrew, Camden and I took a short drive to Kurow and daughter dear cooked us fish and chips for lunch. (Aimee is working at a cafe called Te Kohurau over the holiday break). We headed to the river with our lunch and soaked in the fresh air and tranquility!
Just to give you a laugh here is a photo Cam snapped of me... I was busy explaining to him how to use the camera!

Tonight I have made another digital LO, and again there is no clean- up required!

Louise tells me there are more tutorials coming up in the Up2scrap magazine. Thanks Louise!!

Too wet

So far the school holiday weather has been horrid! Although it has not deterred this rather tied bunch of lads from having great fun !!

Last night the boys slept in the garage, in fact last night was the third night in a row that Camden and Dean have 'camped out'. Just some of the crazy stuff boys like to do I guess!!

I managed to sneak off to my room...in between feeding time!! LOL! Since my time was sort, and full of interruption's I decided to leave my scissors in the draw and have a bit of a play with some digi scrapping. Here is page one of an album I am putting together for Aimee, of her adventures at Outward Bound...

Louise has a wonderful digital tutorial in the latest Up2scrap magazine. I followed her instructions on how best to print out my page. Thanks Louise!! This one printed out perfectly and Aimee is thrilled with the results. Keep the tutorials coming...please...I need all of the help I can get! This page was created using a kit I purchased from Louise's Eidou site, called Love Letters. Check out some more of her yummy kits here... My Digital Fingers

Raw, naked and unstuck...

.... got you thinking?? Well that is the title of Nickie's challenge over at Scrapbooking by Design
This challenge was all about using using as many naked and raw materials you could to create a layout. Now, that was not even the hard part!! The hard part was using no adhesives !!! I though that I would not be able to successfully complete a page without using a tiny bit of adhesive...but I did it!! It was no easy feet I can tell you, and I am truly over hand sewing now.
Not only did I sew, but I also punched holes in my card and threaded my fabric through, then secured the ends with big knots! My photos are machine stitched to card and 'zuttered' onto my background card. It was very tricky to get my zutter to 'zutt' so far beyond the edge of the card. My sewing machine did not like sewing the firm chipboard either!

I have, of course sneaked a stamp, or two onto my page, but in my defence I have added no coloured ink other than brown.

...another stamp on the tag...and brads worked well instead of glue. That little chipboard bike took some effort to sew into place, I tried to make my stitches look like the spoke things beside the chain!

I may be tempted to add just a little colour to my leaves and chipboard title!!

Thanks for the challenge Nickie!! This was tough, but fun and a great work out for the old 'grey matter'!!

Fabric and stitching

Have you checked out this months challenge over on the Up2scrap blog?? If not, you still have time! Check it out HERE

Here's my take. Just for fun I went bright, and I could not resist a play in photoshop...check out the coloured headbands in my black and white photo.

Instead of flowers, which I tend to use far too often, I went for star embellishments. I cut most of these out on my cricut, except for the tiny ones, which are punched.

I love Vicki's pocket, but was tiring hard not to copy. Instead of the pocket I stitched up a little party handbag.

My photos are slotted into the bag, along with a little letter to our dear daughter, which is hidden behind the photos, to keep it 'private'!

Louise posts a new challenge on the Up2scrap blog each month so remember to keep a look out.

ATC swap : Colors of the Rainbow

Thanks to the ladies at Scrapbooking by Design for this beautiful collection of Rainbow ATC's

This glorious 'Pot of Gold was created by Lilli

Jane created the red in our rainbow of ATC's
Danice put a creative swirl on orange.

Love the soft color of yellow, thanks Ann.

Look at Nickie's take on Green, very cool!
Sweet 'Memories' in blue has been created by Robyn

Lisa added shine to Indigo.

I got to play with violet..and I found this poem written by Dora Goodale..

The modest, lowly violet

In leaves of tender green is set,

So rich she cannot hide from view,

But covers all the bank with blue.

White Butterfly was designed by Sue

Anya got to portray the whole spectrum, her ATC reads...

...and at the end

of the rainbow, she said

"you will find a pot of gold"

Love this take on the pot of gold the end of the rainbow, made by Lisa.

A quiet Sunday

20-9-09
Our weekend was super quiet as Aimee stayed in town for the weekend and Cody took Camden and his mate away hunting. The boys camped out in a high country hut.

It was quite wonderful to get up on Sunday morning to a lovely tidy house, nothing had changed from the night before.

Usually the boys have left a mini tornado behind them by the time I get up on a Sunday! I had to smile to myself as I looked around our lounge and I could not help but compare my house to my scrap booking style.

My scrapbook pages are usually very busy, I love lots of layers and embellishments and usually have little space to spare on my finished 12 X 12 'canvas'. Now my house could not be further from my scrapping style. I hate clutter, love open space and like a clean floor at all times!! LOL, no wonder I have sooo many grey hairs and frown lines!

Sooo, while there is no mess or boys around here is a peek at our lounge...

check out the door though...trouble and mess are never too far away around here...

These girls did get a quick move along!!

Thanks Crafty Tarts!

Not much to report today. I have been outside mowing lawns and fulling my vege patch with compost and fresh soil. And, of course I did managed to get into my craft room and make a couple of cards for the card swap over at Crafty Tarts.

I must say a big Thank you to Crafty Tarts for the stamps I received for winning the Innovations Scrapping Challenge

Thanks Crafty Tarts!!

Here is the stamp set I received, these will be super handy!

Make a Daisy

Thanks a lot for all of the birthday wishes!! Today I thought I would show you how I make daises.

This one is a double daisy.

These instructions are for a single daisy,to make a double you just do two rounds...simple!



First you need to make a loom, all you need is an ice cream, or any soft plastic lid, even cardboard would work. Here is a link to a pattern.
http://www.knitting-and.com/small-looms/ice-cream.htm.


You can make your daisy from almost any type of thread you choose.



Begin by holding your thread over the top of your loom, as shown below.
As you can see my loom is numbered, I found this a good idea when I first began making these, as it saves you (well me anyway) from getting lost!!


Take your thread to the left side on n.o 1 and bring it behind and around to the front of the right side of number one spoke. Next bring your thread down to the left hand side of spoke number two, wind around the back of the spoke and bring it up to the front right hand side of number 2 spoke.... easy so far ...I hope!

*Next, come up towards the right hand side of the next spoke wind your thread around behind this spoke and bring it to the front of this spoke (on the left hand side), and down towards, and behind the right hand side of the next spoke*.

Working in numerical order repeat this action with each of the spokes from * to *

Once you are back to number one you can repeat the whole process until you have two, or even three loops around each spoke.

Once finished, secure your daisy with thread at the centre.Choose a contrasting colour, or use the same thread you have used for your daisy.

Secure your thread at the back of your daisy loom.

Now simply lift each loop,( or sets of loops if you have repeated the pattern more than once) from the loom.

These are great little embellishments for your scrapbook, or altered art projects. If you wish you can add buttons, brads or what ever you like!

I hope you have as much fun with these as I do!

Its been a while!

Hi , its been a while between posts hasn't it! I have been very busy in the craft department but have nothing I can show here I'm afraid. I'm busy putting a portfolio together for the Up2Scrap Design Team Call. LOL....I know!!! I do not pin any hope on being selected, but decided to give this ago anyway, I love to challenge myself. If your interested you can check out the details here 2010 Elite Team call

I have almost finished, just have a party favour to create, and I am thinking about redoing my party bag!! This was another first for me... creating a party bag, and I'm not too sure that Ive pulled it off too well.

Hope your all having a wonderful weekend.

If your stuck for something to do then check out this months challenge over on the Up2scrap blog, it sounds like fun and Vicki has created a gorgeous sample page! There is a very yummy prize up for grabs as well.

This morning in the post I received a prize I won through taking part in one of these challenges, check out the challenge here...and take a look at my awesome prize!!! Lucky me!

Thanks ever so much Up2scrap and Emma, from Stampin up.

Signs of the Zodiac

I'm a little late getting these ATC's onto my blog for you all to see!

This collection is the result of a Zodiac ATC swap I took part in some time ago.

Sagittarius was created by my wonderful friend Robyn.

Virgo was my creation, and is my star sign!

Taurus, complete with a little pocket to hold the tag was made by Jane.

My wonderful cyber buddy Carol has a touch of sparkle on her Scorpio masterpiece.

Pisces, also complete with a pull out tag was sent to me from Lisa B.

Libra is beautiful! Thank you Dianne.

Lilli has worked with some gorgeous texture to capture Leo as he steps out from the jungle!

I love the colours Nickie has used on her Gemini creation.
Thanks Lianne for your wonderful take on Capricorn.

Anya's image is precious! Here is her Cancer ATC.

Amanda is very clever with textures, just look at her Aries!

Last, but by no means least is sweet Aquarius, created by Danice.

Wonderful aren't they!! Thanks to everyone who had a hand in creating this delightful collection.