Waste Not Challenge No. 4

We have been enjoying the school holidays so much I've completely neglected my blog! We didn't go away but have been taking it easy and enjoying each others company. I think I've read at least 8 books, watched a few movies and swam in our pool again (not me though, still too cold for me!).

I did remember my "Waste Not Challenge" though.

Number 4. Ribbons

I've realised I don't have as many ribbons as I thought I did. It was still good to use some though. I love ribbon but don't buy it that often as I know I won't use it, although I have made a few cards lately with ribbon on them. So maybe I'll use more on cards.

Here's a layout I did a while ago, it was inspired by one Steph Devlin had done. I've used Echo Park's "Sweet Summertime" range, which is one of my favourites.

I might have put this on my blog before but I thought it was a good example of using ribbon on a boy's layout. You can use it without a bow and it's so good for putting pins through for an extra bit of embellishment.

Well thanks for looking, how do you use ribbon?

xx V.

123 Challenge- September

I was set to go scrapbooking Friday night with my Scrapping Buddy- Shiralee when our LSS called to say it had been cancelled. A lot of people pulled out due to illness and Perth was due to have a storm hit that night. We never even thought of cancelling going because it would be dangerous driving, does that mean we're officially obsessed?!!!

So since my family weren't expecting me home, I retreated to my scrap room for the night and did this layout for the 123 Challenge.

WORD: MAN or MEN

COLOUR: GREY

TECHNIQUE:

use something METAL

I had this great photo of my husband I took recently when we were on a walk. It's not bad considering I took it with my phone! It was a nice change to do a page about him.

I love this grey woodgrain paper by October Afternoon and thought it would make a great background. I've also used some Echo Park "Boy's Life" & "Playground" papers, Washi tape, Lily Bee & October Afternoon die cut bits, American Crafts rosette (which has a metal centre) and this fabulous heart button which was part of my prize pack from Lil' Red Rocket. I bought the metal frame somewhere and it's been in the box of "Stuff I'll probably never use", I was so glad to pull it out for this layout!!!

The star of the layout is my wonderful husband, isn't he gorgeous?! We've been together 25 years this year (yes we were very young when we met) and I still feel so blessed he's in my life.

Thanks for looking :-)

Back on track!

I think we're finally back to normal here. Survived the 12th birthday party, sports carnival and have only one week of school left. Thanks goodness! The kids are worn out from the busyness, especially my oldest son as he also had some big assignments due which took a lot of time and brain power!!

Scrapping has been on the back burner because of all this but I did do a page a couple of weeks a go for my "Waste Not Challenge". The weather has either been terrible or I've felt terrible so I only got a photo this weekend.

So here's No.3- Hessian/ Muslin

I've noticed they call this Burlap in the States and it's become very popular for crafts and home decor. When you buy it from most places in Australia it stinks, it has a fuely kind of smell (like kerosene) and the fluff/ lint that comes off it is awful. So I don't quite get why it's so popular. I gave mine a good wash and hung it on the line on a windy day, so most of the smell is gone. It also frays A LOT!

 I used my Tim Holtz "Tattered Flowers" Die to cut out some of the lighter Hessian into flowers. It didn't work on the smaller flowers, they just fell to pieces but most of the medium size were ok. It left my table covered in Hessian lint (& my die)! I hand stitched these together and added shell buttons to the centres. Although I'm happy with the end result, I don't think I'd make them again. I think the Hessian is better used to give texture to the background. I used up the last piece of Prima "Printery"paper I had and a few other scraps of it I had. 

These photos are of My Mother-in-law meeting my oldest son.

I'm glad I gave Hessian a try anyway, has anyone else found good ways to use it?

Keep blossoming!

sick....

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything. The last few weeks have been a blur, especially the last week as I got sick.

I thought I was going to get through Winter unscathed (except for sniffles etc...), well I suppose technically I did. First day of Spring I got the flu. That really bad flu that doesn't want to go away and effects every body part. I'm now on antibiotics as I've had no voice and been partially deaf for days, which my family doesn't seem to mind!!! Only joking they've been very worried actually. Anyway other than illness this is what's been happening.

I got a great surprise when I found out I won a prize in the July 123 Challenge and I found out today I also won a prize in the Scrap the Boys ! These are great challenges, I really enjoyed participating and looking at the other great entries. It's certainly inspired me to do some more challenges!!!

My kids had a Super Hero disco night at school. They didn't want to go as any of the popular Super Heroes I might be able to buy or borrow a costume for. They made up their own. So Mum got to sew Super Hero costumes!! I love their creativity actually and find stuff like that so fun. Here they are-

Super Sweet and Frogman!!!

Aren't they cute? 

I had a ball trying to work out how to make those costumes. 

I sewed all my son's out of T-Shirt material (I used a pyjama pattern so he can keep wearing them) and used a polystyrene ball cut in half for the eyes on his hat. Helmar 450 Quick Dry Glue is great for sticking those on as it doesn't melt the polystyrene and is flexible enough for fabric. 

I hand stitched the giant sweet on my daughter's shirt and added some felt letters. 

I used my hot glue gun to stick Fruit Tingles, Life Savers and rhinestones on to her plastic Tiara. 

They stuck really well! 

I also made her a skirt out of Candy Pink and white stripe fabric. They had a great time. 

Happy 12th Birthday!

My oldest son turned 12 last week. I felt bad because I was sick with the flu and just didn't feel up to doing much but I did get cupcakes made for school. We have a "Your Birthday, Your Choice" for dinner here. He picked Chicken Enchiladas with rice and salad, thankfully that wasn't too hard and since he'd had cupcakes I really didn't feel like baking again so he got Mum's Icecream Pie for dessert.

If you need a dessert or cake that's easy and just a bit different, I highly recommend this! I can't find the original recipe but this one will give you the idea. You can use any biscuits, ice cream or chocolates/ lollies/ fruit you like. His pie was Butternut snaps for the base, a tin of Top-n-Fill Caramel next, Vanilla Ice cream and it was topped off with Streets Blue Ribbon 3 in 1 Caramel Honeycomb Crunch Ice cream with Chocolate & Carmel topping and crushed Crunchie!!!!!It was a sugar overload but of course the kids LOVED IT and couldn't wait to tell their friends about it the next day.

I can't believe he's 12 already :-(

Hopefully everything will get back on track soon, I've just got to get over this flu first.

Keep blossoming!

Scrap the Boys August Challenge

I really enjoyed doing the Scrap the Boys Challenge last month, so I thought I'd do it again!

STB AUGUST CHALLENGE - 

This month we want to see a piece of your childs artwork on your layout and then have your layout inspired from that artwork!

This was so timely for me as I've been having a big clean out and had found these cute little pictures my youngest son had done for his dad. I can't throw things like that away and have a special file for each of them but I loved the idea of scrapping with them so here's what I came up with.

Aren't they adorable?!! 

I haven't done much on this page because I wanted his pictures to be the star. I found I had a small photo of him drawing (in his pj's) that fitted perfectly and also linked in with the colours he had used. I used my heart punch to make a stencil and paint on hearts to copy his hearts he'd done. It's hard to see but I have sewn in green, aqua and black to separate the notes. 

Great challenge, loved it! Might have to do some more with my other kids drawings!

Waste Not Challenge No 1

Its been a terrible few weeks for illness here in Perth. Everyone you talk to has been sick or had sick kids. We've also had it, my poor husband has been very sick with the flu and just gone back to work today. I've also had each one of my kids home, all on different days, with different bugs going around. So this is my first day home alone for a while!

So back to my "Waste Not" Challenge. My last post was showing my number 2 item I haven't used, today I'm sharing number 1- Transparencies & Vellum. I had to skip No 1 last time because I went to take the photo of my layout and 3 of my Thickers in the title had disappeared! I searched everywhere and they have vanished!! Thankfully it was a new set so I had more but I thought I'd post No 2 while waiting.

No1. Transparencies/Vellum

I loved these Hambly Screen Prints when I bought them (on sale). I've seen so many people use them on their layouts beautifully, I couldn't wait to try them. But then something happened. They never seemed to work, I couldn't seem to make them fit my style so they've just sat there.

Here's my try. I wanted to use feathers on this page and I thought the Peacock Feather Transparency would look great as it toned in with the sheet in the cot. I had a beautiful Webster's Feather Floral to add to the softness. I also used some Vellum which wasn't originally part of my challenge because I forgot I had any! A friend gave it to me and I've never really used it. I only stumbled on it looking for the right colour purple/mauve for the page. I have a circle of it behind the Transparency and I've used it to punch out butterflies and flowers. I'm really pleased with the end result. 

I've still got 3 more pieces to use but I feel like I've broken the fear of using the transparencies now. The main thing stopping me was I loved them! I thought they were so beautiful it seemed a shame to cut them up. Have you ever felt this way about a piece of paper or something? I struggle with that sometimes. It's because I feel like sometimes what I produce isn't as good as the idea in my head. And I don't want to wreck the paper, flower, transparency etc... on my substandard layout. Silly isn't it?! I have improved in this area, I remind myself that it's all fixable and that there are no mistakes in art. 

 I think often these things hold a lot of us back from having a go. That's why I started this blog & scrapbooking, I just want to keep blossoming! xx

My "Waste Not" Challenge

As I mentioned in this post I have been guilty of buying items that I've thought would be fantastic on a layout at the time and then promptly packed them away and never looked at them again! I really want to challenge myself to use these things and not just have things sitting around cluttering up the place!

So here is my list of TEN THINGS I BOUGHT & HAVEN"T USED

1. Transparencies/ Vellum
2. Big Chipboard pieces
3. Hessian/ Muslin
4. Ribbon
5. Die Cuts/ Tags
6. Net
7. Brads
8. Fozz Felt
9. Pins
10. Bottle Tops

Now I have used some before but not often so my goal is to challenge myself to try them or try them in a new way. Number 1 is Transparencies or Vellum, I have done a layout but can't show it at the moment (I explain later) so I'll move on to Number 2- Big Chipboards.

I love chipboards and use them a lot BUT I like my photo to be the focus on the page. I've pulled these out often but just found them overwhelming on the page I was doing at the time. So they've been sitting in my chipboard box along time getting slightly bent. 

I'm so pleased with how this turned out and I don't think it distracts from the photo. This is a chipboard tree is from Leann Pearce's Etsy store "The Chip Chop Shop". It's so gorgeous I had to have it and then left it to get slightly bent in my box. But now it's the star of the page! I have sprayed with "Coffee Shop" Glimmermist and then cut some leaves from Prima's "So Cute" paper. I added a little bird also from So Cute.

So what have you got that you've never used? Challenge yourself to try something new. I don't believe scrapbooking should ever be boring.... keep blossoming!