Best Easter Craft Ever . . . Again.

The challenge at Scrapbook Boutique this month is an Easter themed one:

So cute and delicious as always!  I wasn't sure if I was going to get this one done this month . . . until I remembered this post from Easter last year.

. . . . and the rest was easy!  I had filed the photo image with my blog photos rather than the family photos,  so I had never printed it out.  (I've printed a copy on regular printer paper for now, and I'll get a proper copy later.)

The letter tiles I used on this page were added to my Counterfeit Kit early on in the month.  Other than that, not only is every thing on this page from my original kit, but all the papers are off-cuts.  That makes me one happy scrapper!  This one certainly meets the criteria for the Vera Bradley challenge once again, with its mix of patterned papers.

Thanks for stopping by, and I'd like to wish you a wonderful Easter!

A couple of cute owls

If you read my post on my March Counterfeit kit, you might remember that I included some cute little owl die-cuts I made on my Silhouette machine.  My exact words were:

"I'm not sure if they'll make it onto any pages, but they'll sure make a cute, quick card!"

Well, one of them did make it onto a page - the one I did for the CKC Member's Blog Hop (scroll down to the previous post if you haven't seen it already).

And now, as predicted, they've flown their way onto a couple of cute, quick cards!

One for my little niece,  who we're heading down to Sydney to meet for the first time tomorrow:

And one for my friend in Tasmania for her birthday:

I'm entering these little guys into the "Anything Goes" challenge at Simon Says Stamp this week.

March Counterfeit Kit Challenge Members Blog Hop

I have a riddle for you: what does an over-sized owl sitting in a tree have in common with a little girl dragging a bag of sand toys across the beach?

Welcome, once again to this month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge Members Blog Hop.
If you've been hopping along, then you will have come from Milissa's inspiring blog, and you'll know that the challenge this month was to create a page using:

only photos, no journalling

(If not, you might want to start back at the beginning here)

But anyway, only photos, no journalling!  How fun!  Because, although I believe that scrapbooking is first and foremost about recording your family's stories, sometimes it's fun to take a photo that you love and  play around with some products that you love too.  Am I right or am I right?

I'm thrilled to be able to say that this page is 100% all from my Counterfeit Kit this month!  And not just all from my kit, but a great cross-section of the items from my kit - patterned papers of course, as well as die-cuts, photo corners, washi tape, ribbon, sequins, wood veneers, and my home-made "flair" and fringed border.

So what does an over-sized owl sitting in a tree have in common with a little girl dragging a bag of sand toys across the beach?
I don't know either, other than the fact that they're together on this page.  It's all about play, remember?

Thanks for hopping by, and now it's time to head over and visit Molly at:  http://www.42shadesofpink.com/

I hope you'll take the time to say hello before you go!

And because I love this page so much, I've linked up with SoaphouseMama's Layout Love Linky for the month. (If you haven't had enough hopping, why not pop over there - Ashli and her followers always have lots of creative projects to share!)

 

Vera Bradley plays at Scrapbook Supplies Online

Challenge #2 at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge this month is to be inspired by the mix of patterns and colours that typify Vera Bradley:

I've combined this with this lovely PageMaps sketch which is the monthly sketch at Scrapbook Supplies Online:

Here's my page:

When Maddy was four, I used this same photo on the front of her birthday card.  I added fairy wings, wand and a crown and wrote in the card that she was our favourite fairy princess.  As soon as she looked at the picture, she turned around to look at her back, and check if she had wings sprouting  out back there!

PS.  I've been working on my page for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Members Blog Hop, and I'm super happy with it.  I hope you'll join me and the other hop members back on the 25th!

Playing at Let's Scrap.

I've done a few pages at Lets Scrap over the last week.  Let's take a peek:

First up, the weekly sketch from last week:

I took the left hand side of the sketch and rotated it 90 degrees.

The papers, DIY "flair" and fringed border are all from my Counterfeit Kit this month.

Next up, we've got the Scrap Your Stash challenge #24:  The criteria was to use at least 3 patterned papers, 1 cardstock, letter stickers, 1 die-cut, ribbon or twine, and 10 pieces of bling.  And of course a Lets Scrap sketch.  I chose this one:

I really did feel like I was "scrapping my stash" with this one - I didn't use my Counterfeit Kit but I was able to use two products that I love to bust out - thin strips of patterned paper and eggshell cardstock. My "bling" was some little music note confetti that I bought along with some other shapes and have had forever!

I "strung" my larger ukulele with single strand of embroidery floss,  and drew the strings onto the smaller one.

But what you really want to know, is what was the video that they were filming?  You don't think that a proud mum like me would forget to show you that, do you?  It's only a couple of minute long, so I hope you'll take a look!

Last but not least, is scrap your stash #25 and another "proud mum" page.  This one was a "bingo" style challenge . . .

 and once again a Lets Scrap sketch:

I've used the top row of the bingo card and the left hand side of the sketch.

The majority of the products on this one are once again from my Counterfeit Kit. (I've blurred all the girls faces in this one.  I didn't bother in the ukulele one because, well, they are on Youtube after all!)

Kraft + white + bright = love!

Whenever I see kraft cardstock combined with white and bright colours, it is always love at first sight!

So when I saw this inspiration at CASE Study this week, I knew I wanted to play along:

I chose my colours by using this week's ColourQ combo:

And here's my card:

Here's another photo, because Maddy hasn't "styled" my photos in a while, and she wanted to "Australian" it up a bit!

Thanks for stopping by!

March Counterfeit Kit

Hooray for a new month, and a new inspiration kit over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge!

What a big kit, full of so much fun product!  But what a lot to jam into one photograph!  And I do NOT have the patience to wade through the list of each individual items!
But that's OK.  In the end I began where I often do, by making a list of the main colours and elements in the kit, then  looking for a patterned paper in my stash with similar colours to base my kit around.  I ended up choosing a floral from EP For the Record 2:Documented, and a coordinating blue pattern.

Flowers, birds, butterflies, trees, banners, bright colours?  It's starting to sound like a . . .

 

In my mix of papers, you'll see some Echo Park, Studio Calico, Bella Carta and a Basic Grey.  In fact, pretty much the same collections you saw in my kit last month, and are likely to see over the next month or two as well until I reduce the stash down again!

 

I've kept my lettering pretty simple this month, but I'm bound to use my Silhouette and add some stickers over the course of the month . . . .

As well as a full sheet of journalling cards, I've pulled out a mix of cards and tags:

Embellishment time!

A few products that might or might not be inspired by the original kit! I've included all my wood veneers again because I'm loving using them, and those washi tapes because they're new and haven't been used at all!

Some DIY goodies:

It's been a while since I've used white embossed vellum butterflies, so they've fluttered out of their drawer. I also made from fringed trim from tissue paper and played around with some DIY "flair".  More on that in a later post, perhaps?


Die-cuts:

I've made up one owl, and cut enough pieces to make a few more.  I'm not sure if they'll make it onto any pages, but they'll sure make a cute, quick card!  And the kraft photo corners were another "just because", but now that I've made them, I want to make more in every single colour!

I could have counterfeited a whole lot more, especially banners, but in all honesty I got bored and wanted to get onto making actual pages!  I've got a whole bag of coordinating scraps which might or might not get used as the month progresses:

I'm excited. Are you excited?  I can't wait to see what we all produce with our kits this month!

February Counterfeit Kit Wrap-up (with a little bit of help from Shimelle)

On the 27th of February, I had decided, with 8 pages under my belt, that I was done with my Counterfeit Kit for the month.  Not as in used up every last bit, mind you, just run out of time.  But then on the 1st of March, I changed my mind and decided to have a go at maybe just an extra page or two. 
But where to go for a bit of help on the 1st of the month, when all the February challenges have finished and none of the March ones have started?  Why, Shimelle, of course!
I started with a starting point here

Here's my version:

If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one to hear it, does it make a sound?  Similarly, if a skateboarder pulls off a trick and there's no one to photograph it, did they really perform that trick?  Rohan is fortunate to have a friend who loves taking skateboard photos almost as much as he loves to skateboard, and these are a couple more of Liam's photos.
I used the free font, LogoSkate, to cut a few quick embellishments for this page.

This page came out of my own head, just inspired by the cute photo of Angus and his friend back in kindergarten, and the fun negative cut of the arrows.

Finally, a page based on this sketch:

 And once again, if you don't take this sketch as an opportunity to use up branding strips and other thin off-cuts of paper, I call that a wasted opportunity!

This is a bit of a new way of doing a double page for me, kind of a single page layout plus another page with supporting photos!

Woo-hoo, that brings my total of pages for the Kit up to 9 singles and 2 doubles, as well as using some more of my die-cuts, labels and wood veneers.  See you soon with my March kit!

An unexpected craft room makeover!

Well, the work makeover might be a bit of an overstatement to get your attention . . . more like a rearrange, really.

I used to rearrange my craft room a lot, until I realised that my name is not Doctor Who and my craft room is only a small enclosed veranda and not, in fact, a tardis.

So when I had a new idea, I called Robert in to tell me why it wouldn't work (me - I'm the one with the ideas.  He's the one with the better sense of how things actually fit in a given space).  To my surprise, instead of confirming all the problems I'd thought of, he had solutions to all of them, so it was all systems go!

But what's that? You want to see what my craft room looks like first?  Fair enough. Here's a quick "before" tour:

On the left, here's a desk.  Let's call it the papercrafts desk,  although this desk was wedged into place when we first moved in to this house, long before I'd discovered stamping and scrapbooking.  And when I say "wedged" I mean, a few centimetres had to be trimmed off the sides, a corner cut out of the back and skirting boards removed so that it would fit! I don't think this desk is ever leaving this room!  Robert added the hutch for me later, and the little white shelf where the buttons on came later still.  The drawers only open about half way because the plastic drawer unit sits so close.

About as clean as my desk ever gets!

Straight ahead, we've got a set of drawers and shelves for storage.  Robert made these shelves back when we were first married and too poor to even afford Ikea furniture.  The original configuration had two of the big unit connected by some corner shelves.  The smaller unit was one of two which came later as kitchen storage in our second rental house.  These shelves have been used in my craft room in a variety of different combinations over the years.

To the right, we'll call this desk the sewing desk.  As well as where I do my sewing, this is where Maddy sits when she comes in to do some craft with me.  It's the second desk I've had in that spot, with a slightly larger desktop and more drawers than the last one.  Recently, I decided to move my Silhouette files onto my laptop so that I could use it in my craft room.  I love having it there, but sewing machine, overlocker, laptop and Silhouette . . . that's a lot of work for one little desk!  

Photo taken before Laptop and Silhouette moved in. 

Cue makeover!
 
Before we finish our tour, though, can I draw your attention down, at the revolting carpet.  It wasn't laid properly to begin with, and years of me rolling my chair over it has worn right through.  Every month or so, I've been cutting more chunks of carpet and underlay away.  You can see it best in the photo of the shelves.


Now, if it was just a matter of moving a couple of bits of furniture (and all the boxes and drawers that go with them) I probably would have been finished in time for lunch on Saturday.

But once things were out of the room was a perfect time to wash the windows . . .

. . .scrub the walls with bleach . . .

. . . and is there ever going to be a better time to rip up the revolting carpet?

The bulk of the work took place 2 weekends ago, and since then it's been fine tuning. Plus I took the best part of a week to search for some more plastic drawers to replace the drawer space I'd lost by taking out the sewing desk.

Room reveal time?  Ok!  The desk on the left looks pretty much the same, except a bit of movement on the hutch. And I now have enough room to open the drawers all the way!

In mid-project this time!

 Straight ahead,  instead of the shelves, is an old computer desk we've been procrastinating about what to do with.  In this photo, the laptop and Silhouette are out and in use:

  But when they're not is use:

Hidden away on the sliding keyboard drawer and printer drawer! Nice! 

Finally, to the right, where the sewing desk used to be:

That's where the shelves are now, with a bit of a rearrange of their contents.

So, hardly a glamorous "makeover" but I think a more practical use of the space.  Perhaps one day I'll replace some of the uglier boxes with nicer ones, but that's not on the top of the list for now. 

The one thing I'm really not happy with is the pile of pizza boxes on top of the old computer/new sewing desk. (They contain my current Counterfeit Kit and finished pages I haven't put into albums yet)  I suspect they'll end up under my papercrafts desk, but not until I've worked out what to do with the misting box and other bits and pieces that are there at the moment! 

(Like I said, it's really not a tardis!)