Stenciling with Stencils

Ok for one of the challenges this month, it asks for you to use a stenciling technique on your layout.  I have had a couple of people asking what stenciling in scrapbooking is, so I thought I would do a quick blog post of some stenciling ideas.

To start off with there are many stencils available out there from the alpha stencils we used as kids to the fancy alpha and shape stencils available in scrapbooking and card making today.

With stencils you could use them to trace the image with your pens - this you might like to do for a title.  But more fun techniques are using things like ink, spray ink, acrylic paint, modeling paste and chalks.

Here are a couple of layouts that I have used stencils on.

This layout used the cutout from inside the stencil to
create a make and inked over using an ink pad

This layouts title was traced from a stencil

This layout used a stencil and modeling paste over
the whole background of the layout

On this layout I used the modeling paste and a stencil for the
border and then sprinkled glitter over the top

On the layout I used the stencil and spray ink to create
 the look of the chicken wire background.

So I wonder what you will do with a stencil and your layout challenge.  Remember, if you do not have a stencil you can make your own using die-cut machines and or shape punches.

Have fun and let me see what you create.

Once a month not enough

I can't believe it has been about a month since I last had the chance to write here on my blog.  I so wanted this year to be the year I was able to blog more regularly.  I wanted to blog at least once a week.  I came to the realization just recently that I write too many different things, I have my G&T weekly newsletter, the Better Deals shopping email as well as the big monthly newsletter (which oh bother, I just realized I have not uploaded to the website - will do that next) and then write my blog, no wonder there are times I just don't know what to blog about with regards to my scrapbooking, I am all written/talked out.  I do want to do better and to write here more often and share what I have created and learnt so lets see if I can try to do it tad more often.

Anyway, one of the new things that I have recently got myself into is my garden.  When my girls were younger - even before I had children - I was not very good with plants and gardening.  I was more prone to killing things off that growing them.  Well over the past couple of years I have discovered I can grow strawberries - they don't seem to mind neglect from time to time.  This year my daughter Melissa and I have turned our hand to growing some Spring bulbs, and sure enough over the last 2 weeks they have started flowering.  We are so excited.

I had made one mistake earlier in the season, as I had planted one of the bulbs upside down - was wondering what this white spider looking thing was coming out of the pot.  So turned it up the correct way and re-planted it.  It is flowering now.  Very happy.

Seeing as these were such a success and because over winter I purchased a gardening book (and even finished it - this must be serious) I have been inspired to try to grow more veggies this year - other than tomatoes and lettuce.  The author of the book I purchased is running a class that I have signed up for so you will probably see lots of gardening photos and layout coming through the next few months.

Also lately I have managed to get some of my own scrapbooking done.  Oh it is so nice to be able to take time and actually scrapbook for my own pleasure. Letting my creativity shine and not be confined to a specific range or style.  Here is a layout I have created of my daughter's school production.  I really love the cityscape die-cut from my Silhouette Cameo.  It really added meaning to this layout that was set in New York - love it.

Well that is basically all from me at the moment.
Will hopefully be back to write again soon.

Paying Tribute

Earlier this year my Uncle passed away.  It was sad in a couple of was as my extended family is not as close as maybe I would like.  I had not seen my Uncle in a couple of years.  Though the nice thing is that I remember him as a strong and generous man.  I was very thankful to be able to attend his funeral and to see my Aunt, cousins and their families - shame it took a sad event to bring us together.  Since then I have wanted to do a tribute layout of my Uncle.  It was hard as I was not sure where to begin.  But recently a line of papers came out from Carta Bella that seemed perfect.  My Uncle was an avid sailor and loved to sail and race his Trimaran boat. So that is where I started, and this is my end result.

I really wanted to keep the photos from the funeral leaflet as there were some really lovely photos, and the hymns were so beautiful so I used two of them.

I also sat down and thought about some of the things I remember of my Uncle and some of the things we all did together.

Tribute pages can be really hard as they are so personal, but I think they are also very important as these people were important in our lives and need to be seen.

Here is another layout I have done of my Uncle and I when I was probably about seven.  I don't remember much of the details about that day, but I do remember being happy and having fun.

Thank you Uncle Ike for being a part of my life and for the advice you shared (I did follow it)
Love you and rest in peace.

Cold in the Wild West of Auckland

I know many think that Aucklander's are just great big wusses and we just might be - I know I am especially when it comes to being cold. This morning before I even got out of bed I just knew it was cold.  I was glad that it was a Saturday morning as this meant I could get a sleep in.  Brad and Grace we up as they head off to Grace's morning Zumba class over on the North Shore.

Anyway Brad was out warming up the truck when he came in to let me know there was some thick frost on the truck.  I bounced out of bed, grabbed some warm trousers and my dressing gown then like a good scrapbooker I grabbed my camera.

Yep sure enough there was a frost.  Thanks for the visit over night Jack, everything looks so pretty dressed in white in the morning.

 I loved how beautiful the frost was on the roof of the car.  I looked like really short grass all sticking upwards.  It was fun to gently run my finger across the top.

Then I turned my attention to the garden and sure enough there was frost everywhere.  It was impressive to see it on the dirt and my flowers.  I am sure it was probably thicker down country but I do like to frost even if I don't like being cold.

Even my poor relatively new veggie garden was dusted in Jack Frost's handy work.  The gardens by the house seemed fine though - phew LOL!

But the rest of the day has also been pretty cold, feels like I cannot leave the side of my little fan heater.

Stay warm everyone!

17th July 2014

Oh my goodness I have neglected my poor blog for well over a month.  I mean what with getting ready for SENZ, setting up for SENZ, having SENZ, then packing up.

Of course then there has been the after math, the rain, production rehearsals for my daughter and then to add insult to injury came issue with the hot-water valves that needed a plumber.

I don't feel like I have had a chance to breath let a long blog or even craft for crafting sake.

Mind you as soon as I get to craft I have some fun ideas I'd like to create.  I just hope I remember what I want to do when the time comes LOL!

One of the strangest things that did happen at SENZ was that my daughter and I were filmed for the 4:30 Show with Liam and Cameron.  Now I don't know if our section will make the cut to the actual show, but the filming process was great fun.  Apparently it is going to air next Friday so we will see.

Having fun with embossing

I came across this technique today and just had to share it.
As many of you know, the Teresa Collins Craftwell eBosser arrived not so long ago and I have really enjoyed using it.  So now is a great time to try some new embossing techniques.

Today I would like to share about embossing with glitter using embossing folders and embossing powders.

To start with use some Versa Mark ink and added it to the recessed side of your embossing folder. (this is the side where the detail is 'dug out')

Add your cardstock to the non-inked side and close your embossing folder.

Send your folder through your embossing machine

Create a mix of clear embossing powder and fine glitter - about 50/50 of each.  I used a micro-fine glitter for this.

Pour this mix over your embossed cardstock.  Shake off excess and heat set your embossing powder mix.

Create your card - very pretty!
I hope you will give this a go.

Have a great weekend of paper crafting!

Creative Adventure Downunder

I have just the BEST weekend.  Three days of scrapbooking, papercrafting, inspiration, making new friends, learning new techniques and having great fun.

Oh my goodness I am still buzzing from all the fun from the last couple of days, so much to share not really sure where to start.

I will be honest I was a big worried about getting to Ellerlie for 8am on Friday morning with all the traffic, so I left home at 6:45am.  There was traffic but not heavy enough anywhere to be actually stopped.  So I cruised through Rosebank and Avondale down to Waterview where getting on the motorway was slow but again not too bad.  Once on the motorway I just needed to be sure I was in the correct lane to get onto the Southern motorway.  The Southern motorway was flowing smoothly so made it to the Ibis Hotel in Ellerslie and parked by 7:15am - WOW!  Really early, what was I worrying about again LOL!

Once inside I registered and was keen and excited about the whole event. I met up with one of my ladies that gets my emails and we sat together with some friends of hers and by the end of the day we were all like old friends - thanks ladies (Sheree, Cathie and Irene)

My first class was Friday morning with the lovely Joey Guercio Otlo from Bazzill Basics.  We made a fun double layout and card (still have two cards to finish) using the stunning Vintage Lace collection.

 Joey was such a beautiful and vibrant teacher.  It was fun to hear that she and I have daughters the same age - such fun!  It was really nice to be able to create a fun girly page, though when I was choosing my photos I realized I don't have that many girly photos - a challenge for me now is to take more girly photos.  I was really pleased with my layout and box closure card.

Here is a lovely photo of Joey and I after class.

My next class was Teresa Collins Pocket Page album class which was a lovely 6 hour class - we did have some breaks.  Poor Teresa did not have her samples or tools for our class due to issues with her luggage and flights - they did arrive in time for the other group for their class with Teresa - but that was OK, it was just wonderful to have Teresa teaching and sharing with us.  I love Teresa's classes

Here is my table working on our Teresa Collins Pocket page album and look there is Teresa teaching in the background.

This class was a real challenge with all the pockets but I rose to that challenge and was very pleased with the result.  I can see I will be incorporating this form of scrapbooking with my usual pages as well.  Loved all the ideas for decorating pockets.

One of the things we did do during this class was use some gold spray paint - we all know how much Teresa loves gold things.  So we went outside with the gold spray paint and some boxes so as not to create a mess in the hotel conference room but in bringing back all our sprayed items the fumes followed us.  Suffice as to say we all seemed to get extra happy with those fumes, well not really but it was kinda funny.  It was a fun way to change things and bring in that gold look to the project.

Here is a brief look at one of the pages I did during this class.

Also during the class Teresa was giving out prizes - always fun and guess what ... I won something ... I won a packet of her beautiful sequins - these will certainly be using in more of these albums.  I loved how we used them with the pockets to create floating embellishments.

We had until about 6pm for this class but we all started hitting the scrapbooking wall just after 5pm.  I kept going for about another half hour before my brain just gave out.

We had a Friday night dinner and entertainment which was a 70's theme.  Lots of people really got into it with their costumes.  I ran out of time to put anything decent together but it was great to see people really go all out.

Dinner was nice this year and the entertainment was a good laugh.  We were graced with a performance from the Abba-ettes (Larissa, Michelle and Michele)  Thank you ladies for a fun performance and a good laugh.  It was just after this that I had to go home as I was just so tired, but apparently there was a lovely dance put on by Michelle's daughter and then some fun make'n'takes with Graphics 45 and Teresa Collins - such a shame but I was really beat.

The following day, Saturday I was lucky enough that my wonderful Mum have me a ride to Ellerslie due to Brad needing the truck to take Grace to her Zumba class on the North Shore.  Thank you Mum for your help getting me to CAD on Saturday morning. Though in my haste to get to CAD I did forget my cutting mat and phone (camera) but I made it work LOL!

Day two was just as full on with two wonderful classes with Graphics 45. We had the mother and daughter team Diane Schultz and Aimee Filimoehala from Graphics 45 - what an inspiration these ladies are and oh so elegant.

We started of with a beautiful little ATC box and cards.  This was so much fun.  I loved working on this project.  Not only was it cute but I loved working with the metal embellishments.

After morning tea we started this lovely little Tea Album from some fun tags.  This was a full on class and we didn't quite finish the project.  I did have a bit of time at the end of the day with Irene to finish of some bits for this class and finished putting the album together at home that night.  I love the way it all came together.

Thank you so much Diane and Aimee for these two stunning classes and all your beautiful products

Saturday afternoon I had another fun class with Joey from Bazzill Basics where we created a funtastic little travel book.  Not that I travel but maybe one day when I get to travel I will be able to use it.  This was a fun class as this little book had lots of fun flip pages and pockets.  I also liked the use of a poly-envelope.

Also during Joey's class she gave away some amazing prizes/gifts to everyone.  I recieved a lovely pack of Bazzill cardstock, a sheet of stickers, a packet of metal tags and a packet of chipboard antique frames.  Awesome!

It was this class that we just rocketed through and finished early.  It was also nice in that Brad and the girls picked me up at the end of the day so I brought Grace and Melissa through (to help me carry my bags) but they also were able to meet Joey.

Day three, Brad and the girls dropped me off as Brad need the truck again to take Grace to another Zumba class where she was filling in for someone at Contours Albany.  Anyway, I was doing better on Sunday as I remembered my cutting mat and I also borrowed Melissa's little camera for the day.

For my last class was the 3 n 1 layout class with Trina McClune.  I have never done one of Trina's classes before so was very excited.  Trina you are a beautiful person and I did enjoy your class.  

However I was only able to finish two out of the three layouts during the class.  Both the layouts I did complete were using Teresa Collin's modeling paste and templates so that was fun.

Again Trina was giving away a couple of prizes and this one was a draw using raffle tickets and as she was doing the draw I jokingly said and its number 9 and guess what ... it was ... I won!  So exciting!  The whole class gave a cheer - cause that is just what you do when someone wins.  Then the class next door were cheering so we did it again and we had a little cheering contest between classes - my class won!

Here is a picture of all the beautiful things I won over the weekend.  Thank you to everyone!

It was sad to finish the day but this was a fantastic event. But here are some pics of some of the wonderful friends I made

This is a photo of the pink team of ladies and our wonderful teachers.

Feeling like Christmas

Oh I have really enjoyed this week.

I have had two amazing boxes full of amazing products, some still to be shown.

Well this morning I had another box arrive and I was so excited.  I saw a video for this item early this year as it was being released at the Winter CHA in California this year.  Well it has finally arrived and I know I am going to enjoy playing with it this weekend and sharing some fun projects over the little while

So here is the box that arrived, the poor courier driver did not even make it up my front steps, as I ran down to meet him and open the workshop door - good thing too as this is heavy.

Here is what was in the box

So who wants to come over and give it a go LOL!

I will let you know how I get on ...

Until next time

Let's get creative!

Crafting Anywhere

On Wednesday's I take my eldest daughter to Onehunga where she teaches a Zumba class at the YMCA - yes she is working on getting her learner's driving license.

Anyway, I usually sit in the car for about 1 1/2 hours waiting.  During this time is when I get to write newsletters and blog entries.

Well, this week I had finished writing and thought it could be fun to get creative and play with a new tool that had arrived the day before.  I was hoping to have some extra time - normally I read my book but this time I packed the We R Memory Keepers Flower Punch Board, the Stem Kit and some papers.  I had not used the flower punch board before and this was the result.

I do recommend using you punch boards at home on a hard surface like a table rather than your knee in your car.  However it was kinda fun to take some time to play.

Of course the other problem was taking photos on my phone in the dark as the sun had just set.  So here is a better photo that I took the following morning at home.

I think I will just might have to make some more over the weekend.  It is also great to know that the stem kit is re-usable so here come a lovely fun bouquet of flowers.

You can purchase the We R Memory Keepers Flower Punch Board, Stem Kit and Enamel Dots from our online shop (click here)

Until next time

Let's get creative!

Today is going to be a good day!

I can always tell it is going to be a good day when I come down after my shower, all ready for the day and this is what I see at my front door.

I love getting boxes of lovely scrapbooking product.  I know many of you will also be excited.
Today I have heaps to do with writing instructions and getting ready for Creative Adventures Downunder but all I want to do it rip into this boxes ...

So that is what I did ...

Check these out ...

And these ...

And of course now all I want to do it play.  I might give one thing a go but then I must get some of these out today and get on with the rest of my working day.  I think though I will be finding time in my lunch hour to give some more a go.