Hilary's Art Space

The 13th Hour

2011-10-19T22:13:00.008+13:00

I was looking for some photos to scrap with the range The 13th Hour, released this month by Kaisercraft, when I came across these 2 of Toby. I had taken them exactly 2 years ago when we visited a friend who lived right by the Avon River, and we went for a walk with her dog to feed the ducks and wander along the riverside. Sadly her house was badly damaged in the September earthquake last year, and after February's devastating earthquake was red-stickered, meaning no-one was allowed access to it. So looking at these photos brought back good memories but also sadness, and this is how I documented it:

I wanted to use the whole sheet of acetate with the twigs, so layered this over the patterned background paper, then layered my photos and embellishments over top of this. I used the alpha stamps that came with this collection to create my title, stamping each word together then cutting them out and adhering them as you can see.

I had edited the photos a little bit in Picasa by desaturating the colour, then adding a soft focus to the edges. Then after they were printed I sanded and inked the edges in black to add extra distressing.

Isn't it nice

2011-10-18T22:00:00.005+13:00

that people want to buy my cards? I mean, they're not flash or anything, I don't have any qualifications in stamping, I don't use any techniques such as decoupage or paper tole, but they seem to be in demand! So over the last week or so I have been busily creating these (I had a request for 20 cards suitable for young girls!). First up, half a dozen cards using Bubblegum Hills:

Next, 8 cards using Magic Happens:

And just in case the recipient needed some male-themed cards I made these using Konstrukt:

And with the pile of Candy Lane cards I had previously made this should keep her happy!

Now where was I...

2011-10-11T19:07:00.002+13:00

Oh that's right, I forgot where I was and now I have six weeks' worth of blogging to catch up on *sigh*. Why is it so hard to keep on top of? Anyone have some magic solutions? Coz I do a major burst of blogging but then I lose it and it all fizzles out again. I dunno....

Anyway, I'm endeavouring to do another one of those "blogging bursts" so prepare to be dazzled, moved, inspired, and downright blown away by my blogging and creations - for now anyway. Don't forget to check backwards as I will be post-dating my blog posts.

Cards with Little Toot

2011-10-03T21:47:00.003+13:00

Toby had a friend's birthday party to attend yesterday, so it motivated me to make some cards using the Little Toot range. It helped that the birthday party was held at Steam Scene, where there is a ride-on steam train and all!

And here is the birthday boy's present all wrapped and decorated to match the card:

Bonjour Layout

2011-10-02T21:28:00.005+13:00

Here is my take on the Bonjour collection, using a photo of my mum as a toddler and her nana (my great grandmother) standing behind her.

Detail of a butterfly showing behind a torn section:

The chipboard doily shape is from Scrapware which I purchased at SENZ in Auckland. I covered the centre circle in patterned paper and painted the doily edge white. The little Joie de Vivre tile I picked up at Creative Flair.

A cardmaking bonanza

2011-09-25T21:05:00.011+13:00

OK, not all of these cards were made in the last day or so, but they kind of got photographed at the same time so I'm showcasing them all together.

First up, a big bunch of cards using Candy Lane (yes there's 11 cards in total):

Then the September release "December 25th":

Some cards made with patterned papers I bought from the stallholder next to me at Creative Flair (Sew Pretty) and featuring a new Spellbinders die with some paper doilies:

And finally some cards made with the super divine Bonjour collection, released in October by Kaisercraft:

Creative Flair at Riccarton Park

2011-09-16T20:41:00.008+12:00

As soon as I got back from Scrap Camp I had to start getting ready for the next big event: Creative Flair. This replaced the Craft & Quilt Fair after the Australian organisers unfortunately pulled out after the major Canterbury earthquakes.

Here is my stand on the first day today. It was a very positive experience and I hope it will be on again next year!

Even with all the hard work of packing up my shop, transporting it to the venue, unpacking and setting up, then repeating the whole process all over again to come home, the experience is worth it. I just love networking and meeting people who are as enthusiastic about scrapbooking as I am. And did I mention that I have the most awesomest friends ever who helped me with my stand? I know "awesomest" isn't a real word, but they truly are awesome :-)

Just You

2011-09-14T20:11:00.006+12:00

This is one of the layouts I started at Scrap Camp, and completed today.

It uses the Hunt & Gather collection from Kaisercraft, a Manor House Creations flower, Imaginarium Designs chipboard (which I bought from the shop while at camp) and a few other bits and pieces. I was wanting to experiment with some of the acetate sheets that Kaiser have brought out, so layered this frame over the blocks of patterned papers and under the photo.

I also used the new Spellbinders "Blossom One" to create a handmade flower, and the new Cheery Lynn Designs "Fanciful Flourish" for the leafy swirl. I added a corrugated tag from the Hunt & Gather range, some twine, a Prima flower, a Kaiser bloom and a metal trinket to complete the layout.

My First Ever Scrap Camp

2011-09-12T19:41:00.008+12:00

Now this was a very spur-of-the-moment decision - to go to a scrapbooking retreat, and not only that, it was my first ever! My friend Nic has attended a few of these in the past but I was never in the position to be able to afford it however I felt this time it was worth it. Scrappin' Patch were bringing Steph Devlin from Australia to teach 2 classes at this retreat (I love her work) and the fact that my friends Nic and Tracy (who had assisted me at SENZ in Auckland this year) were going was a huge drawcard. I couldn't have gone however, if it hadn't been for my friend Tanya Leigh offering to stay at my place for the weekend and look after Toby while I was away. She is such a lovely friend.

Scrap Camp was located at Glentui, which is up in the hills and bush between Loburn and Oxford, and was absolutely idyllic. We arrived on Friday night and got stuck into our first class - an altered canvas taught by Steph and using Websters products. We were seated beside two awesome and fun ladies Jo and Anne, and by the end of the weekend we were planning our own scrapping retreats! (well, keeping in contact via email, anyway). We had many laughs and such a good time together, and there is a funny story about "getting got by the gesso (paint)" that will live on in history I'm sure.

The other classes taught by Steph included a layout using the as-yet unreleased Bonjour collection from Kaisercraft, and a self-paced layout using Pink Paislee. For the rest of the weekend I pottered on a couple of other projects - most of which came home unfinished, but it was still fun to do while there.

Christmas Pressies

2011-09-09T19:38:00.002+12:00

Ok, I realise it is a little bit early for Christmas pressies at this time of year, but this is my latest creation - a double layout using Kaisercraft's "December 25th" collection just released this month. The photos are of course from last Christmas, of Toby opening his Toy Story Lego. I really love this range and am pretty happy with the finished result. I added a Prima vine (purchased at SENZ this year in Auckland), some of the Manor House Creations flowers which I coloured with Glimmer Mist (the green one was originally white!), some flourishes cut with a new Cheery Lynn Designs die (Fanciful Flourish) and a new Spellbinders die "Picot Edge Circles).

Birthday Celebrations

2011-08-26T19:18:00.000+12:00

It's not every year you turn a milestone age like 40, so I decided that I would make it a fun day at my shop and put on cupcakes, goodie bags and birthday specials for everyone. I even put up balloons and made some bunting. Sorry the photos aren't the best but you get the idea. I traced the shape of the bunting from the Kaisercraft pennants BTP project, then cut scalloped circles with my Spellbinders Nestabilities. The alphas are large Kaisercraft chipboard alphas which I spray-painted white, then I strung the whole thing together with twine:

Yummy cupcakes that 2 of my friends made for me:

Goodie bags for everyone - a wee selection of scrapping goodies in a bag tied with blue ribbon:

And who can resist these balloons?

Crafting on a Snow Day

2011-08-18T21:02:00.007+12:00

It's amazing what you can get done when you're stuck at home because of the snow. I even held a "Crafting on a Snow-Day-at-Home-Day" competition on my shop's Facebook page, encouraging people to post a pic of what they created while stuck at home due to the snow. This is what I managed to get finished:

This is the Six Frame Photo Display from Kaisercraft, and I decorated it with Miss Nelly (oh and a photo of me)

You may not be able to see it, but the frame has been given the shabby distressed treatment, where first I painted it white, then added the turquoise colour over top, sanding it back to reveal the white.

I loved the colours in this range, I added some rubon quotes, and featured some of the cool flowers...

And these mulberry paper flowers are Ada Sophie Blooms which I sell in my shop. Aren't they just perfect for this range?

Thanks for visiting my blog :-)

Snow again

2011-08-16T18:42:00.003+12:00

Can you believe that Christchurch got snowed in again? And only 3 weeks since we were last snowed in, too! Actually the whole of New Zealand experienced record-breaking weather, with snow on the ground in many places that hadn't seen it in decades! Once again I took the obligatory snow photos (was kinda fun to compare them to the last snow actually)...

18 years ago today...

2011-08-15T22:30:00.008+12:00

18 years ago, on the 15th of August 1993 my beautiful mother succumbed to the cancer she had been diagnosed with 8 months prior. I was alone with my mother when she passed away, and to this day I still recall the feeling of total devastation. It was a terrible day and I was so heartbroken. I think the finality of her death was the worst thing, and unfortunately I still have a lot of regrets - I wish I'd said something or done something differently. However we all know that we can't change the past, so I choose to pay tribute to her in what I make. I find a lot of solace and peace in scrapbooking layouts and beyond-the-page projects about my dear mother, and this is the latest project I've completed:

This is the Long Frame Photo Display from Kaisercraft, decorated with the Blae & Ivy collection.

I painted the frame with "Pistachio" for a softer green to go with this range.

I used papers from the 6.5x6.5" Paper Pad, shapes cut and embossed with my Spellbinders dies, I added a couple of the diecut shapes from the Paper Pad, some Kaisercraft Rubons, Paper Blooms, leaf elements from the 12x12" Sticker Sheet which were attached to green paper then fussy-cut....

Then I added some soft blue seam binding and vintage-look buttons to complete the look.

The top 2 photos are of my mother as a baby, held by her mother (my Nana) on the left and her father (my Granddad) on the right. The photo in the centre, next row down is my mother on the cane chair and her Nana (my Great Grandmother) standing beside her. Third row down is a photo of my mother aged 18 months, then the photo in the bottom left is my mother on a trike outside her father's General Store at Wright's Bush in Southland, approximately 1937.

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving comments - they're very much appreciated :-)

Some Miss Nelly Cards

2011-08-15T19:44:00.006+12:00

Last weekend I made three cards with the gorgeous Miss Nelly collection - but didn't get them photographed for a whole week. Oops!

For this range I really wanted to add some machine stitching, to add to the fabric feel of these papers. Here are my creations:

I love these Kaisercraft mini clear stamps with their great range of sentiments, they make cardmaking so easy!

Timeless Layout

2011-08-08T12:06:00.006+12:00

I had admired the layout that Trina McClune taught a few months ago in Christchurch (my friend Tanya went to that class and showed me the kit) and then again at SENZ in Auckland, and so this weekend I decided to scraplift it. I loved the ledger paper that was used by Trina, and with the new Timeless Paper Pads and Journal Tags that Kaisercraft have released, I put my spin on Trina's Smile layout. I also wanted to feature one of the Manor House Creations flowers and I mixed it up with some Kaiser paper blooms, a Making Memories locket frame, some buttons and the Leaf Wooden Flourishes (also from Kaiser). The blue dot and off-white papers are from the Little Toot range.

I wanted to try the technique of rolling the paper edges, and I'm rather pleased with my first attempt. I also liked the way that the layout was built up layer by layer with lots of dimension - as you can see in this side-on view.

Thanks for looking.

New August collections from Kaisercraft

2011-08-07T19:28:00.009+12:00

I was expecting several deliveries of new products on Monday the 25th of July, but I knew that due to the heavy snow that wasn't going to happen. Even the airport was closed! However I was delighted that my courier drivers made deliveries the very next day - one of those deliveries being from the brand new Manor House Creations with lots of their gorgeous flowers. I was also very excited to be the first stockist in New Zealand to supply these.

So last weekend, after spending hours and hours of loading new products onto my website, I sat down to scrapbook with the new collections. First is my layout "Discover" using the Hunt & Gather collection, featuring a photo of Toby riding a bike amongst autumn trees at Easter time:

I really liked the reverse of most of the papers in this collection, in particular this blue paper I used for my background, and another one which had this beautiful golden colour which went perfectly with the autumn leaves in my photo.

The leaf chipboard shape is from Scrapware (they were at SENZ 2011 in Auckland) and I glimmer-misted this with both Suede and Graphite, then I inked over it with black. The flower is Prima, and the paper and skeleton leaves are from Green Tara.

Next is a layout using the Miss Nelly collection and featuring a photo of my mother in her 20s. The large green fabric flower is from Manor House Creations:

I used some diecut shapes from the Paper Pad for the journaling, and I did some machine-sewing on this layout:

Isn't this green flower magical? You can buy these from my shop here.

Snow, snow, snow!

2011-08-07T18:14:00.011+12:00

On Sunday the 24th of July Christchurch's weather forecast was for snow to sea-level, and for the last couple of winters we've had similar forecasts but the snow has never eventuated - disappointingly. Toby has often asked in the past if we will get snow, so on Sunday night when he went to bed we were both hoping that there would be some snow in the morning. After he'd gone to sleep I was keeping an eye on the weather, and managed to snap these pics:

So you can imagine his delight when at 7.30am he came running into my room: "Mummy I just looked outside and it's ALL WHITE!!"

Here is the view from my back door again:

Looking out from my conservatory:

And then Toby, who had wanted to go outside for ages, finally went out... and threw snowballs at me! But I was safely behind the lounge window taking photos hehehe.

He had so much fun - I just love this photo of him:

And the following day, the sun came out and we were out and about, shovelling driveways, making snowmen, having snowball fights.... So much fun

Cherish Layout with Blae & Ivy

2011-08-07T16:23:00.006+12:00

I took a bit more time with a second layout using this collection, and to date this is my all-time favourite layout that I have done. I hope you like it as much as I do!

Isn't this the sweetest photo of my mum when she was little? I just adore it.

I tried a new technique on this layout - laying the blue thread in loops and such, and attaching with Dimensional Magic. This layout also engaged a lot of distressing, using the stamp from this collection and the stickers, and a trimmed down journal tag, a journaling shape from the sticker sheet and some buttons to complete the look.

Cards with the July collections

2011-08-07T16:10:00.006+12:00

The Blae & Ivy collection was just so ideal for cards, and here are 4 that I made with it:

And 1 card I made with Little Toot:

I'm rather pleased with the inside of the card though. I used the railway track stamp and attached it to my stamping block in a wavy fashion to get this effect:

Cheeky Monkey with Party Animals

2011-08-07T15:58:00.005+12:00

I realised that I hadn't even photographed this layout - let alone blogged it - that I did back in May when the Party Animals collection came out, so here it is:

These photos were taken a couple of years ago at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens - and were so appropriate for this range with the monkeys and all.

Layouts with Blae & Ivy & Little Toot

2011-08-07T15:13:00.008+12:00

Yeah I know, I'm blogging last month's layouts.... I've also skipped blogging about SENZ 2011 altogether as I feel that's another day's worth and I have a headache, so am putting that one off!

First of all, in July Kaisercraft released the beautiful Blae & Ivy collection. This is what I quickly whipped up so that I could display it at SENZ:

The other new July collection was the very cute Little Toot, and this is what I created with some photos of Toby with his cousins and a vintage traction engine:

Catching up again...

2011-08-07T15:01:00.004+12:00

Oops I'm behind on nearly 2 months' worth of blogging, so will very quickly blog about what's been going on. First of all, on the 20th of June my son Toby turned 8, and the day before (Sunday) we held a party for him. My very talented neighbour (who has become a great friend) is so clever at making cakes - check out what she made for Toby:

And here is Toby with his 2 cousins Max and Alex, and friend Caleb from school:

Shaken again

2011-07-16T21:34:00.005+12:00

On Monday the 13th of June Christchurch was once again hit by 2 very large earthquakes, the second one measuring 6.3 (the same as the fatal 22nd Feb one). My friend Lynette was at my place helping me package product for SENZ when the first one hit at 1.00pm - a magnitude 5.6, and after hanging onto each other in fright, she then left to collect her son from school. I wanted to go and get Toby too but I couldn't find my cellphone - it had gone flying, but I had to give up the hunt and walk down to school. All of the children had evacuated out of their classrooms and were on the back field - once again - just like in February. It was certainly starting to feel like deja vu.

We got back home and were chilling out on the couch when a more violent shake hit us - this time a 6.3. I had never seen Toby frightened until then, but maybe my screaming didn't help. I thought my bookcase was going to come down and my VCR/DVD player sitting on top of the TV certainly did. It was very frightening.

Fortunately we didn't lose power, unlike in February when we were without it for 30 hours, and our street didn't experience liquefaction this time although I heard other areas did once again.

Here is the view of my shop after the shakes:

View of my scrapbooking desk - these tins I keep extra tools in were sitting on my storage drawers and came down with a crash:

Needless to say, no more packaging for SENZ was done that day.

Lullaby "Blue" Kit

2011-07-16T12:23:00.005+12:00

And here is my kit using the blue Lullaby products:

Lullaby "Pink" Kit

2011-07-16T12:15:00.006+12:00

On looking at the Lullaby collection, I thought I would try splitting the range and making a kit with the pink papers and elements, and another with the blue.

This is what I created with the pink Lullaby products (unfortunately my layout is a little ho-hum but I'm rather proud of the cards):

Another Pink Gelato Layout

2011-07-15T20:29:00.007+12:00

Here's a second layout I've completed with the sugary sweet Pink Gelato collection, featuring Toby's wee cousin Xena (sorry the pictures aren't the best)...

I attempted the rolled paper roses that were featured in the June Workshop Magazine, and I thought I didn't do too badly with these:

More of the cute cherry blossoms from Green Tara:

And then featuring a doily cut with a Cheery Lynn Designs die, which I now stock in my shop:

Live Out Loud - Long Tabbed Journal with Chapter One

2011-07-15T19:58:00.016+12:00

I wanted to make a beyond-the-page item with Chapter One, and this is what I decided on - the Long Tabbed Journal. I chose a selection of inspirational quotes to fill the journal with, in keeping with the theme of the Chapter One range.

Sorry for the image-heavy post, but I wanted to show each and every page - I'm so happy with the outcome.

And finally one last close-up of the front page:

New June Collections from Kaisercraft

2011-07-15T19:15:00.012+12:00

Here are two layouts I created with Pink Gelato and Velvet Ensemble which came out last month.

"1936 Special Day" using Pink Gelato. This is my mother aged 3, flower girl at her aunt's wedding.

The handmade rolled ribbon rose is from my friend Tanya Leigh, and I made the lace one under her guidance.

Some new products I have in for my shop include these gorgeous wee cherry blossoms from Green Tara:

Then I experimented with Glimmer-Misting some Green Tara lace on my layout:

And because I love this photo so much, here's a close-up:

Next is my layout using Velvet Ensemble "Dance, Sing"

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Some cards with the May collections

2011-07-15T18:23:00.011+12:00

Here are my card creations from the May collections - Party Animals and Chapter One.

First up are two birthday cards I made using Party Animals - the first is one for a school friend of Toby's:

and secondly one for his Papa:

Following are four cards I made with the divine Chapter One collection. I was really pleased to see how perfectly this range matched the Green Tara roses I sell.

(this next one is my favourite)

Two layouts in May

2011-07-14T19:17:00.009+12:00

In early May I completed the following layouts. First is one using the new Chapter One collection from Kaisercraft, featuring a photo of me on my first day at school.

Next is a gorgeous photo I have of my brother at about 18 months with our Granddad. My Granddad passed away 6 months before I was born so this photo is very special. The range is Homemade which came out in October - yet another collection I hadn't gotten round to scrapping with!

I used some mini crochet doilies and paper blooms, and cut leaf shapes from the sand coloured mesh ribbon I sell in my shop.

A kit using Up, Up & Away

2011-07-14T18:42:00.014+12:00

When the Up, Up & Away collection came out in July last year I never got round to creating anything with it. Then I realised I had quite a few of the paper pads, diecuts, chipboard, rubons and stamps left from this range sitting in my shop, but only a couple of the 12x12" papers, and I was wondering how I could "move" them. So I got to work and created a kit using these items and this is what I made:

One 12x12" layout:

And six cards:

Then I put all these items together in a pack, wrote up some instructions - and the kit sold in no time at all!

A 2nd memorial book for a victim of the Feb Earthquake

2011-07-14T18:39:00.001+12:00

After making a memorial book for Jayden to be signed at his funeral, I was asked to make another one, this time for a lovely young lady who was in the CTV building when it collapsed in the 6.3 earthquake of February 22nd. This time I used English Rose:

An April Creation - Luggage Tag Album with Chanteuse

2011-07-14T18:09:00.010+12:00

I'm going back in time to showcase a few things I made back in April. First up is the Luggage Tag Mini Album, decorated with Chanteuse, one of Kaisercraft's April releases, and featuring some photos of my mum through the years. I thought it was rather appropriate for this range as Chanteuse had a bit of an emphasis on mothers.

I'm back - and with a new-look blog

2011-07-13T17:28:00.003+12:00

Yes I know, I've been MIA for quite a while. I'd totally lost interest in blogging and I very nearly deleted my blog, but I decided I would give it a new look (I still don't like the title but I can't think of anything else LOL) and catch up on some of my creations. And in reality, it's been going for over 2 years so I didn't want to pull the plug on it completely. So feel free to give me some feedback on the new look of my blog and be prepared to be wowed by all the work I've done over the last couple of months (yeah right *rolls eyes*)

A little catch-up

2011-04-09T09:42:00.005+12:00

OK, I'm going to play a catch-up game here and backdate some of my projects. I must admit I've almost lost interest in blogging when it feels like only a small handful of people follow my blog and place comments. Jeez, I've been blogging for over 2 years and I've only JUST managed to scrape up 35 followers. My blog mustn't be that exciting *rolls eyes* especially when I see newbie bloggers who collect hundreds of followers in a matter of months. I had wondered about doing a blog giveaway when I reached a certain number of followers like I see others do, but I've kinda felt that was a teensy bit shallow. Then again, most of us are only interested if there's something in it for us....

However, it would be really nice to get feedback and confirmation that what I'm making is half-decent. I mean, we're encouraged to praise our children because we know it's good for them, so it should apply to adults too. Call me childish if you like, but I would really like to know that people actually follow my blog and like what I make.

So on that grumpy note, I will now update my blog with my latest creations....

Aaliyah

2011-04-01T11:25:00.007+13:00

Just sharing a wooden name I decorated for one of my school-mum-friends for her wee girl (Aaliyah's big brother Josiah was in Toby's class last year). When she asked for "purples and butterflies" as a theme the problem was solved immediately with the Magic Happens collection. These letters are 6cm high, and I painted the sides with Wisteria, used papers from the 6.5" Paper Pad, then decorated with 2cm gerberas and rolled paper roses.

Baby Monologue & Lullaby... and a 5.1 Aftershock

2011-03-27T10:36:00.013+13:00

Back at Christmas time when I first saw the next quarter of Kaisercraft collections I knew immediately what I would do with the Lullaby papers - and this Baby Monologue. I actually started working on this last Sunday (the 20th of March) which was the day a charlatan by the name of Ken Ring had predicted Christchurch would be hit by an earthquake "for the record books". I call him a charlatan for the simple fact he came out after the 4th of September and 22nd of February stating he had predicted both those devastating earthquakes. If he had truly known they were coming he would have warned us. We had no warning, hence in my opinion he is a charlatan. Besides no-one, not even scientists can actually predict earthquakes.

Anyway, on the evening of the 20th of March I had started working on this BTP project when I was in between coats of paint, I popped back to the kitchen to get a drink and check up on Facebook and my emails when we were hit by a particularly nasty aftershock. My first thought was "that blardy Ken Ring!" and I promptly burst into tears, hyperventilated, and rushed in to check on Toby. Of course he was asleep and I woke him *rolls eyes* so I went back to my drink and computer. However my hands and arms were shaking so much I couldn't open my drink (by that stage I needed a strong tipple!) nor could I type properly on Facebook which I was trying to update in my hysteria. The nasty aftershock was not the "earthquake for the record books" that Ken Ring had predicted, but it was still a very horrible magnitude 5.1, 12.3km deep and located not even 10km from my home. It was also the 11th largest shake we have experienced here in Canterbury since the magnitude 7.1 hit on the 4th of September.

Needless to say, my Baby Monologue got put aside for a few days and I have only just finished it now. I used 2 of the papers for the letters, diecut shapes, rubons, wooden flourishes and blue and white paper blooms.

For this diecut shape I cut 2 labels with my Spellbinders, used the little birdie in the clear stamps and then cut a rubon into pieces to fit the label.

Two wooden flourishes were broken into pieces and painted white.

And here is one of the new "nappy pin" wooden flourishes that were released with the April collections:

Chanteuse Layout

2011-03-23T10:06:00.013+13:00

I love it how a new collection comes along which is just perfect for some photos you've had sitting waiting to be scrapped for years, and that's exactly what happened with these photos of me as a 6 day old baby with my dear Mum.

The new April collection from Kaisercraft "Chanteuse" has a focus on mothers (in time for Mothers' Day in May of course!) and it was absolutely perfect for these photos.

I made the flowers by cutting out some of the printed flowers from the Staccato paper and using extra layers cut with my Spellbinders blossom die. Then I added some petal shapes cut from Rose and Brown Mesh Ribbon, and finished with an Ice Green Pearl Brad.

The "cherish" label was created by using a rubon from the Quote Rubons and a frame shape cut from the paper pad.

Thanks for looking :-)

Dream Album

2011-03-22T10:33:00.025+13:00

I have a few of these DREAM albums in my shop, and I was trying to think of a way to demonstrate them when this idea came to me. It was inspired by a friend of mine who never thought she'd meet a man and get married. Well, her dream came true, and her story inspired me to make this:

The After Five collection was absolutely ideal for this album, with it's quotes of everlasting love etc, and I was pleased to see how beautifully the self-adhesive trim I sell went with it too. I used a strip of some of this to help define the R and A letters in the album:

And once she gets married I might add some photos to it and give it to her as a keepsake. Then again I might like it so much I won't want to give it away!!

Nan's Favourites

2011-03-15T21:44:00.007+13:00

Here is my take on the new Nan's Favourites from Kaisercraft:

I liked the colours in this photo which seemed to match the Nan's Favourites collection, particularly my red rag doll and my brother's green check shirt. Yes that's me at a very young age with my big brother. Unfortunately I don't know the date this photo was taken or even if I've guessed the correct year, and sadly there is no-one left to ask.

I enjoyed the challenge of creating a layout using this collection but avoiding the kitchen/cooking themed elements in it, and again it's another fairly flat layout (ie, no extra dimension) with more machine stitching on it.

Bubblegum Hills

2011-03-13T21:36:00.011+13:00

I actually received my March sample pack a few weeks ago but hadn't managed to do anything with it before the same collections arrived in, due to a rather disruptive natural disaster occuring in my lovely city. The sample pack box was even sitting on my bed the day of the 6.3 magnitude earthquake on 22 February when it fell off onto the floor.

After this very sad and awful event I'm finding it very therapeutic to scrapbook, and I especially found the topic of this next layout good for the soul: my roses. For many years I have loved old-fashioned and David Austin roses, and these photos are of two David Austin roses I had in my last garden (Gertrude Jeckyll and Constance Spry). Funnily enough, up until I began scrapbooking in January 2008 I was totally addicted to my garden, but all of a sudden my addiction changed to scrapbooking and my poor garden got neglected! Over the last year though, I have been trying to obtain more of a healthy balance between the two.

So when I was looking for something to scrap with the new Bubblegum Hills collection from Kaisercraft I came across these photos and it just all fell into place. I love it when that happens.

A Christmas Double Layout

2011-03-12T18:53:00.004+13:00

Last Saturday after completing Jayden's book, I wanted to scrap a layout and ended up doing this double. I had been planning this layout in my head for quite a while, even having planned the title. The photos aren't the clearest as I had my camera on the wrong setting (doh!) but I still managed to capture Toby's complete joy and excitement on opening the Christmas present he had been hoping and wishing for - the Lego City Construction Site.

A Memorial Book for a Victim of the Earthquake

2011-03-11T19:23:00.015+13:00

Last Friday (the 4th of March) I received a phone call asking if my shop sold memorial books for people to write in at funerals, specifically for a nearly 15 year old boy. On talking with the lovely woman who had phoned I explained that I didn't sell them as such but I could make her one free of charge, knowing full well that this was for one of the victims of the Christchurch Earthquake, Jayden Andrews-Howland. Jayden was to have celebrated his 15th birthday the very next day and he'd gone into town by bus to buy himself a birthday present when the earthquake struck, causing a nearby building to collapse onto the bus he was on.

The caller (Jayden's great-aunt) asked if I could use red and black colours (Canterbury colours) and possibly silver ferns, so I immediately got started and this is what I made:

I took 2 wooden pages from a Kaisercraft album (actually the Noughts and Crosses one) to use as the outer pages. I covered them with After Five papers then I added some red paper for some lollipop-type flowers centred with Kaiser pearl brads and also used this to decorate the front page with Jayden's name. Then I sprayed some Green Tara paper fern leaves with silver paint and used a leaf punch for extra leaves. For the inside of the book I trimmed sheets of 160gsm paper to fit, printed a lovely quote onto a journal tag, and then put it all together with red album rings.

I'm very happy with how this turned out, and I felt very privileged to have been contacted by the family. It was truly an honour to make this for Jayden and his family.

Shell shocked

2011-03-11T17:40:00.002+13:00

On Tuesday the 22nd of February, at 12.50pm I was sitting at my computer, just finishing my lunch and about to blog my latest layout.

That never happened because one minute later Christchurch suffered a magnitude 6.3 earthquake, everything fell off my computer desk, my coffee was spilt and the power went out. I sat frozen in my chair (albeit being shaken violently by the earthquake) and watched my ornaments and scrapbooking displays fall off the cabinets in my lounge.

Seventeen days later our central city is still cordoned off, 97 people killed by the earthquake have been named with many more still missing (the death toll is expected to reach 200) and life will never be the same again for so many Christchurch residents. Many people were told after the 7.1 earthquake on 4 September that their homes would need to be demolished and rebuilt, however this time whole suburbs may not be rebuilt in the same location due to such damage to the land. We said at the time of the 7.1 EQ how fortunate we were that no-one had lost their lives, but we all knew it was due to the timing that it struck: 4.35am on a Saturday morning when most of us were at home in our beds. This time, it was lunch-time and the central city was bustling with shoppers, tourists and workers on their lunch breaks. Tragically many buildings collapsed, injuring and killing numerous innocent people.

Sadly, many people have decided to leave Christchurch for good - and I don't blame them! The thought certainly crossed my mind, but I love living here so I'm going to hang in there despite the countless aftershocks and sadness all around from the death and destruction.

Life is slowly getting back to normal for us. Toby's school opened 3 days ago and I've been able to open my shop again - although the customers are very thin on the ground. I've even managed some scrapbooking, so will share some of that shortly. I may even blog the layout I was about to do on the 22nd of February when the earthquake struck.

Class of '87

2011-02-21T18:51:00.005+13:00

When I saw the new Class of '87 collection from Kaisercraft I remembered Toby's very first school portrait from 2009 and I knew I wanted to scrap it with this range. I especially wanted to document how proud I was of him for posing so beautifully for his portrait as he is not the easiest of kids to photograph in a formal situation.

I kept this layout fairly simple and flat, with no extra dimension, and just added some stitching accents with my sewing machine.

Magic Happens Yet Again

2011-02-17T19:53:00.008+13:00

I seem to be totally addicted to this new collection, and have now turned out my third layout featuring darling wee Sophia.

These are some of the new Kaiser paper blooms to which I've added some glitter and I made the rhinestone flourish out of lilac rhinestone strips using another flourish design as a template.

I just loved this quote and have used it as my title, with a Cuttlebug alpha die for the word "magic".

Another Magical Layout - my second today!

2011-02-16T19:49:00.007+13:00

Wow! Who would've thought I could complete and blog 2 layouts in one day?!! Not only that, but I whipped this one up in less than half an hour....

I found a piece of Bazzill Swiss Dots in my stash which co-ordinated perfectly with this range, and then I remembered I had some silver rhinestone words and flourishes (these flourishes are now discontinued) but it was great to use them up.

And here are my altered Green Tara 2cm lilac roses...

A Little Princess and Magic Happens

2011-02-16T16:40:00.005+13:00

After completing my Wish Album in Magic Happens I then wanted to do a layout with this range, knowing who would be the perfect subject: my friend Danielle's wee girl Sophia. Last Thursday I was hunting through my stash of printed photos when Danielle pulled up my driveway with said wee girl in tow, having dressed herself that day (she's 3)... and you wouldn't believe what she was wearing:

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I quickly grabbed the camera, found a spot in the garden to photograph her and mum Danielle picked a rosebud from one of my roses..... It was perfection to a "T" (and I have heaps more photos to scrap - watch this space).

I used some Green Tara pale pink rosebuds that I sell in my shop to create some "fairy wishes" on the layout, thinking how perfectly they matched the rosebud Sophia was holding.

Love Notes

2011-02-14T08:06:00.002+13:00

Just a very quick blog post to share my latest finished project - Kaisercraft's Floral Tags decorated with Love Notes... just in time for Valentine's Day!

Life is a Beach

2011-02-13T20:21:00.002+13:00

I've had 3 photos sitting on my scrapbooking table for quite a few weeks (since Christmas to be exact!) which I'd been meaning to scrap using Kaisercraft's Seaside collection. Of course the new February collections arrived in and I was nearly distracted completely by them. But I told myself firmly these photos HAD to be done. Ok I've managed to complete 1 - does that count?

This photo is of me with my sister (sitting on the lilo) and our second cousin at a large family reunion we attended in January 1978 at Lake Wakatipu (Queenstown). Even though I was 6 I can still distinctly remember that day.

Large Trinket Box & English Rose

2011-02-10T18:00:00.006+13:00

As promised, I have completed another project in English Rose and can happily show it off now:

This is the Kaisercraft Large Trinket Box which will sit on my dresser to keep my makeup in. The pearl strings are from the Devonshire embellishment pack and the green paper leaves are Green Tara which complement the new Kaiser paper blooms quite nicely.

New Kaisercraft Paper Blooms

2011-02-09T11:53:00.005+13:00

A little birdy (aka Melissa Kennedy of Kaisercraft) whispered to me back in July when she saw my Green Tara 2cm roses at SENZ that there were new paper blooms on the way and that I would die when I saw them. Well not really die, but you know...

Well, my order of all 17 colours arrived yesterday - perfect timing for me to finish my Bird House which I had decorated with English Rose.

You may remember I had previously done the Bird House in Duchess in July 2009, but when I planned to change bedrooms round and make my room all shabby chic, I decided I would do another Bird House in English Rose. Now you may think that I'm just following the trends with "going shabby chic", but honestly, I adored this look way back in the mid 1990s before I even knew what it was called (actually I don't think it even had that title back then)! So when Kaiser brought out their English Rose collection I was able to justify my love of old-fashioned pink roses and deck my whole room out in this range, and the new paper blooms complement these absolutely perfectly. With 17 different colour ranges it was a bit hard to choose which ones to use, but I settled on Aubergine and Dusty Pink for my Bird House (which is actually to hang my necklaces on). Keep watching for more projects coming soon to which I'm just adding the finishing touches.

ABC Album with Class of '87

2011-02-07T18:47:00.002+13:00

When I heard about this new range from Kaisercraft called "Class of '87" I thought of the ABC albums I have in stock in my shop, and I really wanted to use them together. Here is the result:

Magic Happens

2011-02-05T21:16:00.008+13:00

Once again I have had a complete change of heart about a new collection from Kaisercraft once I had it in my hands, as was the case with Magic Happens. When I saw the new catalogue a month ago with the 7 collections for the next quarter (February - April) I wasn't completely enamoured with Magic Happens, however when my order arrived on Thursday and I was putting the papers on the shelves I totally fell in love with it, and knew straight away what I would do with it. Here is what I made:

Of course my initial judgement is always made on the basis that I'm the mother of one boy, but I've always told myself that this shouldn't limit my creativity - and more importantly I need to promote this collection in my shop. Actually, it won't need much promoting: it's already flying out the door.

The Wish album was released in September by Kaiser as part of their Christmas collections, however I still had a few sitting on the shelves and I couldn't believe how perfectly it went with this collection complete with fairies, unicorns and princess castles.

And now some Jungle Bug cards!

2011-01-31T19:15:00.007+13:00

After making a bunch of cards using my scraps of Hey Birdie papers, I wanted to use up my scraps of Jungle Bug. So here are 9 cards made using this range, featuring Mini Alpha Stickers and handmade chipboard buttons:

Hey Birdie Cards

2011-01-29T19:07:00.004+13:00

Last Saturday I held a very spur-of-the-moment class for 2 customers after I was asked nicely the day before by 1 of them. They chose to decorate the Antique Tags set with Hey Birdie and they both did a lovely job of them. I wanted to take photos of their albums but they wished to take them home first and put the finishing touches on them, which I can understand. However, I got inspired to make a set of cards with scraps of Hey Birdie papers I had in my stash, and over this week I have completed these:

Birthday Present for my Brother

2011-01-20T16:46:00.008+13:00

My brother's birthday is on the 21st of January and it always seems to catch up on me so soon after Christmas that I fail miserably as a good sister and I never send him anything. This year however I was determined I would not fail, and I already had it planned what I would make for him. Of course I still left it almost to the last minute and only posted it today, but it's done now and it's on its way. Hopefully he likes it.

I used the "ME" Kaisercraft album and a selection of photos of my son with my brother, making it into an album about "My uncle and me". Because of the colours in my photos I chose to use Kaisercraft's December collection "Seaside" but I elected to leave out any of the beach themed elements or the hibiscus flowers. This challenged me, which I thought was great fun. I'm actually not happy with the front page and would have done it again if I could have. Nevermind.

I also made a birthday card out of the same papers:

Additions to the Late Christmas Presents

2011-01-16T17:14:00.007+13:00

Yes I know Christmas has been and gone, but I'm still making cards for two very special friends as their Christmas pressies from me. The latest cards I've made use the Shaken Not Stirred collection which is ideal for male recipients:

These cards were all made with the real true scraps left over from layouts and BTP projects (I just LOVE making use of the last few little pieces) and feature the Kaisercraft mini stamps and Green Tara black mesh ribbon which I sell in my shop.

And then I made two cards from the stunning After Five collection, ideal for weddings, engagements or the like:

I've used the Bracket Card Pad to make these, and cut out patterns from the specialty acetate sheet. I added some of the Green Tara 2cm white roses from my shop and sprayed them with silver Glimmer Mist.

Thanks for visiting my blog :-)

You know the saying...

2011-01-10T05:28:00.015+13:00

"A change is as good as a holiday"? Well that certainly applies here at the moment! Seeing it is the long summer holidays and we're not able to go away, a change around at home is just as good LOL.

I had been thinking about my scrapbooking room/shop, coming to the realisation that it wasn't practical any more to have them together in the same room, and I was thinking it would make sense to remove my craft table and my own gear to make it solely a shop. It has been frustrating when customers see my own supplies and assume they are for sale! I find it very awkward saying "sorry those aren't for sale" as I'm too polite and don't want to offend anyone LOL - especially when people saw all my Martha Stewart punches lined up on the windowsill! However I was also beginning to realise I couldn't leave my half-finished projects spread all over my table, having to make sure the room was tidy and presentable for customers and that was also beginning to frustrate me. So the solution was to put my craft space in with my bedroom - but my room was too small to fit it all in however Toby had a slightly bigger room, and once I measured it all out I knew it would work if we swapped rooms. Toby - bless him - was very understanding when I explained the importance of it all, and as he's now very much into Toy Story he was easily appeased with new Toy Story gear in his room LOL.

So the big change around has now happened and I'm really thrilled with how it all looks. Toby was very excited to come back after the weekend at his dad's to check it all out, saying he loved his "new" room. More importantly I amazed myself with my ability to shift all of the furniture on my own (with the exception of Toby's bunk beds) and I didn't injure myself at all (I have a rather dodgy back)! I worked methodically and paced myself, and at the end of the weekend I was hugely satisfied and pleased with myself!

And without further ado, here are the results (sorry about the bright sunlight from the windows)

First up is my "new" bedroom complete with craft space:

Toby's bedroom:

And finally, the new-look shop:

Yep, it's true

2011-01-04T20:57:00.011+13:00

... I'm in love with Kaisercraft's English Rose collection. Not only have I already made and given away 5 cards using this collection, but I've made 10 more cards, and completed a 12x12" layout with it. Honestly, I can't get enough of it, and I could sit and scrap with it for hours.....

These cards are made mostly with the 6" paper pad, but have a few pieces from the 12x12" papers thrown in. I've used lots of my Green Tara 1cm and 2cm roses along with lace and organza ribbon, and one of my favourite things to use with these cards was the new pearl and rhinestone flourishes. I managed to stretch one particular pack (the Classic design) to decorate three cards!

And last night while my son Toby was staying the night at my dear friend's Danielle's (giving me a much-needed break), I did this layout of a photo taken LAST New Year's of the 2 of us together.

I particularly liked this quote the 12x12" sheet "Charlotte" about friendship, and was determined to use it on this layout.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T12:47:00.005+13:00

Just a very quick blog post, sharing a photo of a very excited little boy opening one of his pressies:

And here are some cards I've made using the gorgeous new collection from Kaisercraft "English Rose". These cards are being gifted for Christmas pressies too.

One mini gift album stretched into three gifts

2010-12-21T20:52:00.008+13:00

I was having a really hard time trying to decide what to make for my brother and sister for Christmas this year, which wasn't made any easier by the fact I was fast running out of time. But when I looked a little closer at the Kaisercraft Mini Gift Album I figured I could split it into 3 gifts (with the third being for Toby's Dad), adding a recent photo of Toby in his Santa t-shirt and hat which would cut down on the time considerably for making something. Of course I had to use my all-time fav Christmas range - Kaiser's Christmas Carnival collection, and I'm really pleased with how these turned out:

Then I quickly whipped up a couple of mini cards to go with the gifts to my brother and sister:

Cards as Christmas Gifts

2010-12-20T19:21:00.000+13:00

I figured that as I love to make cards, and can never get through all the ones I make in a year, it made sense to turn my cards into gifts for friends and family to use. My lovely neighbour Alison is always wanting to purchase my cards, so I thought I would gift her (and others) a whole boxful of them, making a selection of themes for them to use such as Birthday, Children, Baby, Male, Friendship etc etc.

I couldn't really envisage myself using Kaisercraft's gorgeous October collection Candy Lane for scrapbooking any layouts in the near future, but I knew it would be perfect for cards. This is what I have made:

Then when I was doing a stocktake of my clearance papers for my shop, I looked at the Marrakech range and thought how it would be perfect for male-themed birthday cards. This is the result:

Cards Made with "Be Merry" and "Tis The Season"

2010-12-18T19:10:00.001+13:00

Here are just a few more cards made with the Christmassy collections released in September by Kaisercraft - Be Merry and 'Tis The Season:

A Gift for Toby's Teacher

2010-12-17T16:14:00.005+13:00

Just 2 days ago I finally decided what to make as a gift for Toby's teacher, and as it is the last day of school today I really had to get cracking with it! I snapped a couple of lovely photos of Toby with his teacher, Julie Lewis, on Tuesday, and I really liked the idea of using the mini star album decorating it with Esther's Guestlist papers and brads. I thought of the mini album as telling a story, with "My teacher is..." on the front cover, followed by "Caring" "Fun" "Helpful" and "Simply the Best" on each page, finishing with "Room 8, 2010" on the back. I used my Spellbinders Tags to cut the tag shapes and made spiral roses from the patterned paper.

And more Christmas Cards!

2010-12-14T21:12:00.005+13:00

It's very much the done thing at Toby's school to hand out Christmas cards to all your classmates, and this year I was determined to have lots of handmade cards for him to deliver. When I found DCWV paper stacks and cardstock stacks at the local Warehouse Stationery for $15 each I thought these would be ideal. With the use of my Cuttlebug for embossing, some patterned paper shapes and some ribbons, kindy-glitz, and glittery-foam shapes from The Warehouse look what I've managed to create:

More Christmas Cards

2010-12-09T21:00:00.000+13:00

Here are some more cards I've created with the Belle and Dear Santa collections, to sell in kits through my shop:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2010-12-05T19:07:00.018+13:00

We put up the tree today along with my new Christmas themed display, courtesy of some new(ish) beyond-the-page projects from Kaisercraft - the Large Flourish Tree and the Merry Christmas Script Word.

I have only painted these white and am yet to add any extra decorations, maybe some colourful rhinestones to tie in with the theme I have going with Kaiser's Christmas Carnival collection (my all-time favourite Christmas range). My Advent Calendar, Train Tidy, and Card-Holder Tree are also decorated in this range which I absolutely adore. I've even designed a Christmas Card Kit using this range.

I think the reason why I love this collection so much is because the bright colours are very summery, and as we live in the Southern Hemisphere and have Christmas in the middle of summer it seems rather fitting to celebrate Christmas with bright summery colours. I do love the traditional red and green, gold and silver colours of Christmas, but it's nice to have some non-traditional colours with our decorations, and the funky baubles, trees, stars and other elements of this range are just gorgeous.

After Five Layout

2010-12-03T18:52:00.004+13:00

I was asked to do a layout for a couple who are getting married after 28 years together, so I thought Kaisercraft's new After Five collection would be perfect for this. I loved using this new range as well as the new pearl flourishes, but the best part was experimenting with embossed enamel powders (opals), choosing the deep turquoise colour to match Val's outfit.

Another Advent Calendar

2010-11-29T22:05:00.004+13:00

As if I hadn't had enough of making these calendars in my classes, I then made one for Toby's cousins to use this December! I've been teaching classes in my home for the Kaisercraft Advent Calendar, which has been hugely popular, but all of a sudden December snuck up on me and I realised I was nearly out of time to make this one as a gift. I decorated this in the same theme as our one but I ran out of time for any extra decorations, so it's just the basic calendar with decorated boxes. Not to worry, the recipients adored it and are looking forward to counting down to Christmas with it.

A couple of commissioned doorhangers

2010-11-28T22:35:00.002+13:00

One of my Facebook friends had admired the doorhangers I made for another friend, so she asked if I could do some for her. The girls' theme was lime green, hot pink and butterflies, and the boys' was "Holden colours". So I figured that Kaisercraft's Candy Lane would be perfect for the girls, and Shaken Not Stirred absolutely ideal for the boys.

And yes, she and her kids were delighted with them.

Christmas Cards Galore

2010-11-24T22:01:00.004+13:00

I've been making what seems like hundreds of Christmas cards lately! Here are some of them using Kaisercraft Christmas Carnival and Dear Santa:

Kaisercraft Holly Wreath

2010-11-13T16:50:00.001+13:00

I adore Christmas wreaths, and I had my eye on the new Kaisercraft one ever since they came out. Of course I find there are never enough hours in the day to do all that I want, but finally I have completed this:

I covered the individual pieces in Deck the Halls "Wreath" (rather appropriate that), then after trimming the shapes I used gold Kindyglitz to go over the white swirls in the paper. After attaching it all together I added the red berries and a nice big gold ribbon bow, using one layer of gold organza ribbon and one layer of metallic gold mesh ribbon from Green Tara that I'm selling in my shop.

Be Merry Christmas Cards & Green Tara Sprays

2010-11-12T16:37:00.007+13:00

When I spotted these fabulous new Christmas products from Green Tara I had to order them for my shop, then when they arrived I just had to create some cards using them. The papers are from Kaisercraft's Be Merry paper pad, with a bit of ribbon, a diecut border shape and label shape from the same paper pad and a stamped sentiment they're quite effective!

The Green Tara sprays are available for purchase here: http://scrapitsimple.co.nz/index.php/shop/embellishments/christmas.html

Mini Albums with Hippy Girl

2010-11-10T21:16:00.000+13:00

I decided I would design a kit to sell via my shop, made up of these cute little mini albums with Hippy Girl plus my LO and cards. As the mini albums are very much "mini" I went with quotes and sayings on the pages instead of photos, and I think they work very well.

And this is where you can buy the kit: http://scrapitsimple.co.nz/index.php/shop/kits/hippy-girl-mega-kit.html

Hippy Girl Creations

2010-11-07T11:12:00.005+13:00

When my order of Hippy Girl arrived I thought this photo from my childhood would go great with these papers, and I had them sitting together in my craft space waiting... and waiting to be done. Well, I've finally completed a layout and I even managed 2 cards as well!

Summer Sunshine 1978:

The cards feature the printed chipboard and a cool set of Thank You stamps from American Crafts:

Playing catch-up...

2010-11-06T21:12:00.003+13:00

Hi! Does anyone still visit my blog? Gosh I wouldn't be surprised if no-one did. It's been so long since I blogged, and the occasional updates I have done have been a bit thin on the ground. But I have a goal for this weekend to try and update my blog. I've been crafting so so much yet nothing much is getting photographed and blogged about, so I will try and fix that. I'm actually going to post-date a heap of updates so please scroll back to check it all out! The scary thing is that I have work from August I haven't blogged about... so here goes!

Experimenting with Quilling

2010-11-05T09:02:00.005+13:00

Having read in magazines recently about quilling I thought I'd give it a try. So when I was at SENZ I purchased a quilling kit which included the tools, papers and measuring quide, but these have been sitting unused since then *hangs head in shame* LOL. Anyway, I was determined to try it and tonight I made these quirky little cards with my efforts. I'm actually quite pleased with the results!

The papers are from Kaisercraft's Hippy Girl collection. Keep watching for more blog posts with creations from this range.

Kaisercraft Days Til Christmas BTP

2010-10-29T08:38:00.004+13:00

Way back when I started collecting BTP projects to make I purchased the Days Til Christmas tree but of course never got round to making it. When I saw them in the September Workshop decorated in Be Merry I thought I'd better get some in for the shop and decorate mine up. But the funny thing was that as soon as I got mine out and started sanding the pieces a customer came along and bought the last one I had in stock (having previously sold the others). So I put the tree aside and went on to the next project while I ordered more and waited for them to arrive. After they arrived back in stock I went back to the tree and completed it, but now that it's on display I've once again sold out of the trees!!! It just goes to show how well things sell when they're completed and on display in my shop.

Here is my version of the Days Til Christmas tree, decorated in a similar style as that seen in the Workshop magazine:

Slack Blogger Alert

2010-10-23T10:57:00.003+13:00

Yep, I've been very slack - no updates, no blog-hopping and commenting. My apologies.

I have lots and lots to share so will endeavour to post some updates... very soon...

A new desk organising system

2010-10-11T20:09:00.016+13:00

A while back when Kaisercraft brought out the Storage Drawers (SB2073) I bought one but never got round to making it up. Then when the Large Desk Organiser (SB2084) came out in August I decided to do the 2 together in the same theme to sit on my desk. But I also had the Scrapbook Organiser (SB129) already decorated and in use on my desk. This one had been decorated in Mumma Bushka but I didn't want to use these papers for the other 2 - I was dead keen to use my absolute favourite range: Prairie Lane. So the Scrapbook Organiser got an overhaul - after several hours of peeling well-glued on paper off and sanding the pieces back! But I'm thrilled with the end result: 3 gorgeous storage drawers/organisers on my desk to be admired by the many customers who come through my shop!

First up is the completely overhauled Scrapbook Organiser:

Next is the 9 drawer Storage Drawers:

Then the Large Desk Organiser:

And finally, here is a view of them all sitting nicely on my desk:

Some cards using Secret Bird Society

2010-10-06T18:30:00.011+13:00

When some lovely friends of ours moved away I wanted to make a special card for them to wish them the best on their new venture, so I found the Secret Bird Society papers quite appropriate. I'm actually very sad to see this family move away as their eldest boy William has been friends with Toby since they were at Kindy together, and to my delight they were in the same class at school this year. Toby struggles socially, so for him to have a lovely friend like William but then to see them move away has been hard for me. And therefore it was rather poignant for me, making this card to farewell this family.

Then I made 2 square cards with more of the leftovers. I also used the clear stamps with these 2:

Hey Birdie Card

2010-09-30T17:57:00.004+13:00

It's my favourite little girl's birthday, so I quickly whipped up this wee card for her:

It was a very quick and easy one, using Hey Birdie papers, Kaiser mini alphas and ribbon, and an AC Thickers number 3. Happy Birthday Sophia!

A commissioned scrapbook album

2010-09-19T14:47:00.001+12:00

I think I must've been mad to accept this job: a whole scrapbook album of a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary which I was requested to do by their daughters. It didn't help that I intended to start it on the 4th of September, giving myself 2 weeks to complete it, and of course all those plans flew out the window when we had a magnitude 7.1 earthquake, throwing our whole lives into disarray.

There were some late nights and a major panic in the last hour before it was due to be collected, but it has been done now (although I would've liked a couple more hours just to put some little finishing touches on it). Apparently the recipients absolutely LOVED it.

So without further ado, here are all 38 (yes - 38!!!) layouts of this lovely family, their young love, their beautiful wedding day, farming life, children and grandchildren, and much more.

Sorry if anyone has been bored to tears by now....

The papers I used were from the Le Chateau, Prairie Lane, Secret Bird Society, Child's Play and Duchess collections from Kaiser. I didn't do a lot of overly decorative and fancy scrapbooking techniques with this album as I was mainly just documenting the photographs and this family's life. I also didn't want the album to get too "fat" with layers and layers of paper and embellishments, so I very cleverly did two layouts on one piece of paper - utilising both sides! That's the beauty of Kaisercraft's double sided papers, especially when they have a gorgeous design on both sides which you want to use!

Thanks for looking.

Some Earthquake Photos

2010-09-13T21:48:00.010+12:00

I thought I'd post a few photos here which show some damage caused by the 7.1 earthquake last week.

First up are photos from my home, specifically the view into my craft room/shop:

This is the large crack in the concrete in front of my garage:

This next pic shows the view looking up my driveway. The white-ish stuff is the run-off from the liquefaction we experienced.

And these last 2 photos are of footpaths near Toby's school - just around the corner from us:

I know that it's not significant in the scheme of things, and that a lot of areas of Christchurch have been very badly hit, but it's still so scary. It's going to take a very long time for the non- essential things like footpaths to be fixed.

Who knew?

2010-09-12T20:12:00.003+12:00

Who knew that on the 4th of September at 4.35am my lovely city would be hit by a massive 7.1 magntitude earthquake - yet no lives were lost!

It was the most terrifying experience I have ever gone through in my life, and every time we suffer an aftershock (we've had over 400 of them since then) my stomach flip-flops and my heart starts racing, hoping that it isn't another "big one".

Poor Christchurch suffered major damage to our old heritage buildings: the ones built prior to the 1930s didn't stand a chance. Since the devastating 1931 earthquake in Napier in the North Island, New Zealand has adopted a very strict building code and that, along with the time of when the quake struck (when most of us were in bed) saved lives. Some areas of Christchurch and Kaiapoi, a small town to the north, suffered major land subsidence, liquefaction and great gaping cracks in the ground. A state of emergency was declared for the whole region, and schools and public buildings were closed all week.

This is the page on stuff.co.nz devoted to coverage of the quake.

When the earthquake struck I was in bed, partly awake. I think I'd had some kind of warning: there was definitely something that woke me before all hell broke loose. When my bed started shaking I immediately sat up, the noise was incredible - I could hear things falling down around me in the house, the power went out and my immediate concern was for my son Toby. I was actually struggling to stand up, my house was shaking so violently. I stumbled around in the dark, tripping over fallen pictures on my bedroom floor before I finally got to Toby (who, by-the-way said he was fine!), I collected him and my cellphone and we snuggled up in my bed. I noted the time was 4.39am, then I phoned my neighbour Alison from my cellphone. My house phone runs on power so I knew it would be useless to me. It was very reassuring to speak with her - especially as we had a large aftershock 10 minutes later. I rang and texted around a few friends and it was Nic who informed me we had just suffered a massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake, 30km from Christchurch. (This was the original measurement, it was later downgraded to 7.1.) Fortunately there was no damage to my house - a lot of ornaments and things fell down inside, and my shop bore the brunt with a lot of fallen products when shelving came down, but hardly anything broke. I was amazed to see my antique china had barely moved, a crystal bowl fell off my entertainment unit but was in one piece on the carpet, and all my bookcases, pantry and cupboards were intact.

The past 8 days have been so incredibly surreal. I still can't believe that we have been through a major earthquake, and that most areas of Christchurch are totally unscathed! The older houses have lost their brick chimneys (some fell through roofs, causing more damage) and some areas have had major damage to the land: Avonside, Dallington, Bexley, Brooklands and Kaiapoi. Many houses in these areas are uninhabitable. But it's such a miracle that no-one died...

And amidst the disruption I have had to keep working! I was commissioned to do a whole scrapbook album for some 2 sisters, celebrating their parents' 50th wedding anniversary, and this needs to be completed in 4 days!! However life is slowly getting back to normal - Toby will be back at school tomorrow, I have reopened my shop (after picking everything up), and classes will resume.

I've posted pictures of my shop after the earthquake on Scrap It Simple's Facebook page here.

Tool Time with Konstrukt

2010-08-29T21:22:00.003+12:00

I started making this arrow album decorated with Kaisercraft's Konstrukt to demonstrate at my stall at SENZ 2010 but when I sold out of all the papers I put it aside and went onto the next thing!! So it got forgotten about for a few weeks, but I've finally completed it now.

I had taken these photos of Toby back in January 2008 when he started Morning Kindy but I'd never used them for any scrapbooking - until I saw this cool new collection from Kaiser and remembered these pics! What was even better, was that the colours in the pics matched quite well.

Birthday Cards with Gypsy Sisters

2010-08-28T21:33:00.004+12:00

Two very special friends have their birthdays today and I wanted to make them a very special birthday card each. Here are the results:

Materials used are Gypsy Sisters papers, Kaiser cream lace and pearl brads, Spellbinders Labels 4 diecut with Kaiser rubons, paper flowers plus handmade flower centres. I learned the handmade flowers from the Kaiser blog - a great source of inspiration.

Belatedly sharing some card creations

2010-08-27T17:56:00.011+12:00

Yes I know I haven't blogged that much lately, but I do get to create something most days, and recently I've completed quite a few cards.

Last weekend I made these cards for my neighbour Alison. She had mentioned that she loved owls so I showed her the left over pieces I had from Kaisercraft's What A Hoot range which feature these funny little owls. I didn't have much paper, but I added a piece of very dark brown cardstock, the matching brads, and the new cream lace pack from Kaiser - and I managed to make all of these cards:

Then I made some more cards for her using the Green Tara apple blossom flowers and lace, like the ones I have in my shop which everyone admires:

My Cuttlebug and sewing machine get a good workout making these!

Next is a commission doorhanger, plus a couple of cards I made with the scraps:

And finally a sneak peek of something (will show more on Sunday):

Not scrapbooking... but baking/cooking!

2010-08-22T16:42:00.009+12:00

Yes, this is my second most favourite activity after scrapbooking - baking, and especially experimenting with recipes! Having a son with major food issues all through his young life, I've had to be quite creative with how to get meat & veges into him. My specialty is cooking up a big pot of mince with lots of veges and tinned tomatoes (plus herbs and spices) then putting it through my food processor. I call this "Toby's Special Sauce" for obvious reasons LOL. It can be served on pasta, nachos, pizza and heaps of other foods, and I'm so happy he will eat this when he would normally refuse undisguised food!

One of my favourite experiments is my Chicken Pie which has been hugely successful with both Toby and I, and our friends. I precook a chicken breast and shred it, brown a chopped onion then mix these both with chopped silver beet, grated cheese, nutmeg and salt, then place this in a pie dish lined with flaky pastry. Then I mix a couple of eggs, add a dash of milk and pour this over the chicken & silver beet filling. Top with another layer of flaky pastry and cook until golden. Mmm..... truly delicious!

My other specialty is baking muffins with the food I have in my pantry, such as jam and tinned fruit. A year ago I experimented with white chocolate and boysenberry jam muffins, and I've since made strawberry & white choc muffins, pear & ginger muffins, and... my favourite: peach & cream cheese.

I've been asked so many times for the peach & cream cheese recipe that I decided to blog it, so here it is:

1 & 1/2 c flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 c sugar

1/2 tsp salt

400g tin of peach slices or cubes

50g butter

1 egg

1/4 c milk

tub of cream cheese

Mix the dry ingredients together. Strain the liquid from the tinned peaches into a bowl and measure 1/2 c of it. Chop the peach slices into cubes if not already done so. Melt the butter, beat the egg, then add all of the remaining ingredients except the cream cheese to the flour mix. Fold carefully - don't overmix. Half fill muffin pans with the mixture. Scoop roughly a teaspoon of cream cheese (try and get a blob of it) from the tub and place in the middle of the muffin mix. Add the rest of the muffin mixture to the top of each muffin pan to cover the cream cheese. Bake at 200 degrees until cooked (do the bounce test).

Let these sit for a while before removing them from the muffin pan. I use blue silicon muffin pans purchased from a local supermarket, and a bit of cooking oil to grease the muffin pans first.

Enjoy!!

A busy day... and a layout!

2010-08-11T16:08:00.007+12:00

I had an incredibly busy day yesterday but I still managed to scrap a layout! I can't quite believe that I managed to achieve this after a day involving housework, dishes and washing, teaching a class, dealing with customers, weeding the garden, posting online sales, picking up new paper racks that Liz brought up from Timaru for me and left at Clarissa's, collecting Toy Story curtains I'd won off Trademe for Toby's room, then hanging them, and THEN having to deal with a naughty child!! But I'd had these papers and this photo sitting on my table for a whole week and I was inspired to finish it. And I'm actually very pleased with this layout. Having discovered that the cream coloured satin leaf garland that I stock in my shop matched Secret Bird Society I had to use a bit, and I also used one of the Green Tara apple blossom flowers which I inked then topped with one of the new Kaisercraft pearl brads. I'm loving these new brads (they come in 6 colours) which arrived on Monday. So here's my layout - using a rather cute photo of me as a youngster at the beach (love those legs - wish I still had them!)

A Hippy Girl Layout

2010-08-03T16:21:00.007+12:00

I was delighted to get a courier parcel yesterday which contained my sample pack of the new August collections from Kaisercraft - Hippy Girl and Secret Bird Society, and I'm also thrilled that they've started offering these as it means I can have examples of their products in use in my shop instead of having to use my stock.

As soon as I opened the package and looked at the Hippy Girl papers I thought of these photos from my childhood, where my sister and I are modelling our mum's beautiful handmade dresses. So styley!

More completed projects

2010-08-02T15:42:00.006+12:00

I had started making the Kaisercraft Leaf Album decorated with Jungle Bug for a demo at SENZ, and beforehand I'd got it to the stage where the edges were painted and all sides covered with paper. Then when I was actually at the Expo I sat and pottered away on putting the rest together, however when I sold out of all my Jungle Bug supplies I didn't think it was appropriate to continue working on it!!! So it was put aside, and I've only just finished it and taken photos.

I was pleased to find these old photos of Toby when he was 18 months old, playing in a plastic clamshell sandpit and knew they would match the Jungle Bug collection perfectly. My album isn't terribly original LOL but it's a great demo in my shop - especially now I have the Jungle Bug papers back in stock (as well as heaps of the albums)!

This next project has been on the cards for a while, and I'm delighted I now have it completed and handed to my friend (for her baby girl). I used the 6cm Kaiser wooden letters and decorated them with Child's Play, and I think they turned out quite well.

Belated catch-up post

2010-08-01T12:57:00.007+12:00

Yes I'm very late with my update after SENZ 2010, but it's taken me a week to recover, then I didn't have any crafts to show as I've been so busy with the business! However, while running a beginner's class yesterday I was able to potter away on my house album then finish it last night along with 2 cards - yay.

My experience at SENZ was incredible and well worth the hard work. It was a very full-on time for 4 whole days but it was such an excellent opportunity to get my business "out there". I received so many positive comments and it was wonderful meeting and talking to so many keen scrapbookers and papercrafters. We had such a successful time that we sold out of lots of product and I've spent the last 2 weeks re-ordering stock and then unpacking boxes when it arrives in. The Jungle Bug and Konstrukt collections were snapped up (we had none left by the last day) which is a sure sign that Kaisercraft do a fantastic job with their male-themed collections. I ordered in some new product in time for SENZ (such as the mini alpha stickers) and they also were snapped up before I could load them into my website!

But I must mention here that my exhibit at SENZ wouldn't have been half as successful if it hadn't have been for the help and support from my friends Nic, Kylie, Wendy and Jody. These special people were so helpful and volunteered their time and services willingly, all because they wanted to see me succeed. Thanks so much you guys - love ya all!!

I'm now very pleased to show off what I finished making last night - my house album, which I started making at SENZ for one of my demo's. It was a really good opportunity to demonstrate how I make BTPs and share with people my tips and answer their questions. I based the design on the one in the Kaiser Workshop magazine, using Le Chateau, but putting my twist on it. Seeing I'm such a "home body" and have been all my life I thought I would document my little comforts, my slice of heaven, my bliss.

While at SENZ I took the opportunity to shop (on the last day when things quietened down a little!) and I managed to get myself lots of goodies. Of course I haven't had a chance to try any of them out yet except for the Hero Arts stamp pad I bought. I had a play around with this last night with my Le Chateau clear stamps, and was thrilled with the results. Here are 2 cards I made with some stamped images and scraps of Le Chateau papers:

SENZ 2010

2010-07-17T07:18:00.003+12:00

How exciting is this? I'm exhibiting at SENZ 2010 (scrapbooking & papercraft expo). Just a very quick blog post to show a pic of my stand. Will update more next week!

Desk Set using Hideaway

2010-07-04T14:32:00.006+12:00

When I decorated a tissue box and pencil holder as part of my DT application I intended to do a memo block as well, and I finally did this on Wednesday. But I even went a little bit further and covered a notebook and made cards with the leftover pieces. I was actually demonstrating the Spellbinders Impressabilities in my Cuttlebug at a class on Thursday night when I made the first card, and then I made 2 more yesterday. I've also used some Nestabilities Labels Four and Fancy Tags on my notebook too. Now I have a lovely co-ordinating set for my computer desk (which is in the centre of the house), and not only are they great conversation pieces, I can demonstrate them for classes!

Then, because I hate throwing out any left over pieces I've popped them into a bag with the leftover brads, some ribbon and paper flowers, and they can be go into a bargain bin in my shop.

Le Chateau Layout

2010-06-27T19:15:00.004+12:00

Woohoo! I've finally created something with Le Chateau......

I had this precious photo of my mother at a very young age with her grandmother (my great-grandmother) and I thought it would go nicely with the Le Chateau papers. I really enjoyed working on this, and I even used the clear stamps. I just loved the patterns and colours in this collection, and my Green Tara "blue grey" and "light brown" flowers matched so nicely.

Thank you

2010-06-26T11:01:00.002+12:00

I just wanted to post a big "thank you" to everyone who has commented and supported me in every way this week. I know I shouldn't be so disappointed, but then again that may be because I'm not used to the rejection! LOL. I've only ever applied to the one DT (twice now) and I'm not even used to the publishing rejections, as I've only ever submitted to Kaiser's Q2 and Q3 mags and I managed to be published in both!!

Liz is absolutely right too: I have been rushed off my feet with customers the last few days which has been incredible. I placed one advertisement in a local small newspaper and I'm so impressed with how much business it's generated. In between customers I'm madly sorting out my Trademe and online sales, uploading products to my website and even getting my computer tidied up thanks to a friend through my son's school. Now it's Saturday and I fully intend to get some creating done, so watch this space!

Unsuccessful again

2010-06-21T20:01:00.013+12:00

Yep, that's right, the only DT I wish to be on because I solely scrapbook with their products (and have for 2 years), started a business solely stocking their scrapbook products and teaching classes using their products, has spat me out again. Seems I'm still not worthy and I'm not sure what more I can do to be worthy. On that bitter note I will share what I created for my application:

A single layout using Hey Birdie -

Another single layout using Rustic Charm -

A double layout using Jungle Bug -

A BTP creation - a tissue box holder (with matching pen holder) for my desk, using Hideaway -

Plus a card using Vagabond -