Getting Ready for Easter

Hello everyone,

What are you doing on this good Friday? I'm enjoying a quiet day at home and a chance to put together my easter gifts for my family. Simple but easy.

Here they are:

I ended up purchasing a box of cadbury cream eggs for cheap and some mini eggs and bundling them up in celephane and ribbon. The tags were a simple 5 minute job of nesting dies and a egg shaped punch.

Simple but they do the job.

Wishing you all a wonderful and safe easter break

xo

I Have a Green Thumb Afterall

Something a bit different to share today. Around the time I started this blog, I did an early post on the vegie patch I had started around boxing day last year. My dad built a garden bed for me in the backyard as a christmas present, at my request. I had wanted to start a vegie patch for ages, but have always been more successful at killing plants in the past so with that much effort, I was hoping it would be a success this time.

I'm still a bit inexperienced and clueless on the whole vegie patch thing, but look at it now:

 We have eggplants growing now. That's pretty exciting.

This is what I picked from my garden today. Carrots (some are a bit small and strange shaped) but definitely edible and tomatoes. Our tomato plants are going crazy, but I haven't been able to stake them too good so a bit floppy. Still... to be able to go out to my garden and find items to use in dinner tonight (lasagne apparently), its all very rewarding. We have had basil and parsley for cooking for a while now and lettuce so to have something a bit more substantial is a big step. Yay... I'm so proud of myself for not killing it all haha

CUTTLEBUG

Yay it's here & feeling a lot like xmas...or an early birthday. So many awesome accessories. 3 alphabet sets. 9 dies. 7 embossing folders. I also have 2 more folders & a couple of sizzix dies from ebay. Exciting!

Just have to work out how to use it lol

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

Look What I Made

Ok, so they aren't great but I am feeling proud of my first attempt at hand made flowers. I watched a youtube tutorial where you only really need scissors for tools. Very basic & a bit rushed, but do you like them? I used a music sheet style paper & plain black and white for the other. They are for a shabby chic layout I'm working on. The photos aren't very clear as it's on my phone.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

What's On To Your Workdesk Australia Day Wednesday

Happy Australia Day everyone. So its a holiday here and today my husband and I are spending our day off with our wedding photographer, having our wedding album design session. Its supposed to take about 6 hours so it will be fun... but a long day.

Otherwise, I'm off to Sydney on Friday until Sunday this week for what appears to be a boys weekend. My husband and 2 of his band members are keen to go watch an international band, the Deftones, down in Sydney so I'm along for the ride.

As you can see, Miss Felix never really wanders far from her desk. But it is getting messier with a bigger pile of stamps and stuff after my shopping spree last week.

So these are the two layouts I have been working on for a couple of days, also for my honeymoon album. They are incomplete, but I would love some advice from all you lovely ladies as I'm not really sure what to do to make them more interesting. I will most likely add another title below the large photo on the second layout, with our cruise dates. But otherwise, how can I embellish them to make them more interesting. I really do struggle with the 3D style layouts so any suggestions will be much appreciated.


Be sure to check out eveyone else's work desk's at Stamping-ground. Happy Wednesday!

 

 

 

 

Interactive Honeymoon Title Page Layout

I was watching tutorials on you tube the other day & came across a great video by Swissgirl90. It was an interactive layout with a flip down journalling section. I am still fairly new to journalling and not overly confident so it's a great solution to keeping it subtle.

I'm not totally happy with the way the layout turned out overall, but it's all part of the learning experience.

The photo is of us on the final day of our Fiji island cruise in our complementary sulus (sarongs). I've used our return ticket stubs from our flight as an embellishment and created a banner with cardboard embellishments and letter stickers. I've used foam tape to give it a more 3D effect.

When you flip open the photo, the journalling has been printed on patterned vellum paper. I think this was maybe too much. I've also decorated this and other parts with flowers punches and stamps, along with some artificial flowers and brads.

The honeymoon title box is probably the part I like least. I was trying to incorporate colours similar to the banner but it did not work as well as hoped.

I plan on entering this layout to the Scrap Our Stash 'NEW' challenge, as the interactive layout is a new technique I have used and the honeymoon represented our new status as husband and wife.

You can view the video by Swissgirl90 from youtube.com here
Let me know your thoughts.

Look What I Purchased...

It's been a bit like christmas in january today. Here are all the goodies I purchased this morning. Lots of papers, stamps, stamp pads (including a white chalk one as recommended by Shaz in Oz), some stamp cleaner and mounts, a craft knife & some embellishments. How exciting!

We also got our final wedding gift registry items delivered, so that's more nice things to use... In the rest of the house. Great start to the weekend :-)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Things I have Learnt This Fortnight

As an eager learner, I have taken it upon myself to learn as much as I can in the past couple of weeks and amazingly enough, I have actually learnt quite a lot. I thought I would share some of these things.

1. I discovered the Cuttlebug and decided I want one... its on its way!

2. I discovered how useful stamping could be in scrapbooking and got some... I have even done my first stamping embellishments in my latest scrap layout.

3. I learnt how to distress paper, through a youtube tutorial. I have done this in my latest layout and can't wait to try some of the other techniques I found for distressing in future creations.

4. I created my very first attempt at a vintage style layout.

5. There is such thing as scrapbooking challenges... and I entered a couple.

6. I don't always have to do two page layouts when scrapbooking.

7. The most important thing I've learnt is to be brave and try new things.. experiment and just give it a go.

Those are just a few of the things I discovered recently that will take me much further with my scrapbooking and maybe other areas such as card making in the future. It has been a fun and challenging couple of weeks, and I'm only just getting started.

Thank you to everyone who has assisted in tips, advice and encouragement. I look forward to sharing lots more with you all in future :-)

Scrappassion VINTAGE Scrap Challenge - Finished Layout

Hi Everyone,
I am so happy to announce I have finished this layout. I has been a real challenge. Firstly it was my first attempt at using stamps. Secondly, it was my first attempt at doing Vintage style and third, it was also my first attempt at a single page layout that isn't a cover page for an album. So overall I feel very proud of myself for what I have achieved. I still struggle a little with lots of embellishment but am working my way up.

Another new technique I used on this layout was distressing the edges of the paper, which I learnt through youtube.com tutorials. I also gave my tag an aged look through a similar technique and adding ink, so very experimental for my usual safe techniques.

The inspiration for this layout was the Scrappassion Challenge Blogs current Vintage challenge. I thought it would be a great way to inspire myself to try some new things. The idea is also to have a word that describes yourself for the coming year. In this case I chose 'WIFE' and the reason for this is because I am recently married and while it may not be an emotion or a challenge or anything, being a wife is something new for me which I will continue to adjust to in 2011. Mostly, its a good reminder that I have a different last name now and to remember to call my partner 'husband' instead of boyfriend or fiance.

These last few photos give a bit better of an idea on the details, including the attempt to make the butterflies look a bit more 3D by layering 2 large ones and by using puffy tape under them. The bottom image is the slightly unfinished version but gives a better idea of the true colours of the background paper.

So please let me know what you think of my layout.

My First Stamps

After seeing so much about stamping on other blogs & tutorials, I decided to give it a go myself. I received my first stamps from ebay today.

Wish me luck and please give me lots of advice !

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

WOYWW 85 - A Cat...

Happy Wednesday everyone.

So this week has been moderately productive. I finished a scrap layout & started some new ones. I also splurged online with some new crafting items. Some have arrived but I haven't opened them yet.

I also moved back to old habits of working on the floor. I like the extra space & my cat likes the desk too much.

As you can see, I am working on a wedding themed page, which will be for a scrap passion challenge. As well as another honeymoon page.

Check out some other people's creative spaces at Stamping Ground.

Hope you enjoyed your visit.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Wedding Wednesday - DIY Stationary

There was once a time when wedding stationary was one of the larger costs in the lead up to your big day. Most couples would pay a calligrapher or other professional stationary maker to create their invitations, place cards, order of service and everything else. This soon added up the costs and made the plan for an inexpensive wedding blow way beyond budget.

These days it is more and more popular for brides and grooms to attempt their own stationary. This is great fun and allows you to be as creative as you like, for a fraction of the cost of a professional. The colour options are endless, as are the styles.

There are thousands of online resources available these days for creating your own wedding stationary, but often it is as simple as having a bit of a play around in a word processing document and buying the right materials. Then all you need is patience and time and you have yourself a very lovingly made DIY stationary set that will wow your guests.

In future weeks I will go into detail on some of my own wedding examples, as well as future invitation samples I will be creating.

Finished a New Scrap Layout - Honeymoon

After a busy holiday season and the floods, I have finally gotten back into my scrapbooking and messed up my computer room already.

I decided to start in my honeymoon album since I still haven't got all the wedding photos but am keen to kick off with a new subject... since my Europe albums remain half finished after 2.5 years.

This layout is a double page spread...the only kind I seem to do (with the exception of title pages). I like the way they flow across the pages... although I did not have a second sheet of the nice blue on the right side page. The focus is our 3 night Fiji cruise.

Although it's hard to see, this layout was actually a big achievement for me, as it includes my first journalling attempt. It is typed and printed as I'm not confident enough to write neatly but I am still proud of doing something new. It means I've challenged myself & learnt something since becoming a blogger.

I incorporated a postcard from the cruise in the layout also, then just some basic travel stickers and punch circles. Fairly basic overall but suited to a tropical destination I think.

I am entering the top image in the  Pencil Lines sketch #220. The challenge is probably finished by now but its still nice to have acknowledged some inspiration for that design. I have never entered a challenge so thats something new too.

Sorry the photos are so bad. I always seem to take them at night when the lighting is horrible and they were taken on my mobile phone, so not ideal. Remeber, I am here to learn so all feedback and comments are very welcome :-)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

I'm Getting a Cuttlebug

I have always said upon starting this blog that as much as I love crafting, scrapbooking and all that stuff, I am a total newbie. It was not until I started meeting and visiting lots of others who share these interests on here that I realised exactly how much I do have to learn and already I feel like I have done so.

I had read something about a Cuttlebug and had no idea what it was so did a bit of investigating and realised it was awesome and I had to have one. Lucky enough its my birthday next month so I ordered it this morning and it will technically be my birthday present from my hubby. So excited! I ordered it from Oh My Crafts. http://www.ohmycrafts.com/ and the postage was pretty steep to Australia, but overall with their current special and all the extras I am getting, it worked out better than it would if I'd purchased it here. The current special is $59US for a starter kit with accessories. So hopefully in a couple of weeks my Cuttlebug will arrive and I will be able to create far more with my scrapbooking and other DIY!

Stamping is also something I've never tried so I've also ordered a stack of stamps off eBay this week. Overall its been quite the craft shopping frenzy. Cannot wait to receive my new goodies!

Scrapbooking Sunday - Neuschwanstein Castle

After a week in Paris, our 2008-09 Europe trip took us through parts if beautiful Germany. One of my favourite places we visited was Neuschwanstein Castle, which was the inspiration of the Disney castle.

Again this was early in my scrapbooking stages. It's a pretty basic spread, before I discovered more advanced embellishing skills ;-). Let me know what you think.

WOYWW - A Day Late

So it's thursday here but it's been hard to keep up. I figure I might as well make some use of my time. I am finishing of the photo guest book as it sounds like we should get through to my parents anniversary dinner.

I've also been writing up some long overdue wedding thank you cards, hence the excel spreadsheet.

I've included a photo of the latest edition to my craft room. A spare tv unit that is ideal for holding all my scrapbooking supplies.

I'm still a WOYWW newbie, but if you're interested to see what this is all about. Check out Stamping-Ground and you'll soon find out!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

WOYWW

Okay, so I kept seeing posts with these letters everywhere on crafty blogs & finally tracked it down.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Very cool way of finding other like minded individuals. I'm almost a week late since its 2 hours off Wednesday here in australia, but better late than never.

I used to work on the loungeroom floor, then the spare room floor, but cleaned our office on the weekend & created an actual workdesk. It's small, but better on the posture.
That's Felix the cat. I'm currently finalising my parents anniversary guest book from an earlier post.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Scrapbooking Sunday - First Sights of Paris

I am by no means an awesome scrapbooker, however I love it and feel that I am improving with practice. I thought it would be fun to share one of my weekly scrapbooking spreads on my blog to keep the motivation going. I also welcome any advice you may wish to offer in improving my scrapping skills.

In the weeks before and after christmas 2008, my husband & I, and his family travelled to Europe for a holiday. These photos were taken on our first day in Paris. It is also one of my early attempts at scrapbooking. I used a map and metro tickets to embellish the pages, along with 3D France inspired stickers. It also includes our Air France on board menu, which can be opened up and read. Nice way of saving the memory.

Sorry the photos are terrible. They were taken on my phone.

Comments are most welcome.

DIY - Raised Veggie Patch

For christmas this year I asked my parents to get me a raised garden bed. The hardware stores had corrugated iron or wood ones, but were too small or really expensive, so my Dad built me one.
Pretty much all you need is treated wood to the size you want you garden bed, some nails, a hammer and weed mesh, then just soil and seeds once you're ready to go. My garden bed is around 2.4 x 1.8 metres. Then it is just a matter of placing it where you want it, remembering it is not something you can move around as there is no base. A location that gets the morning sun most often during the year is best.
Then just fill it with soil or bags of potting mix & get planting! I used potting mix and it took about 16 bags, but at least I know it's made for growing, already full of nutrients.

Here is the garden bed prior to planting. As you can see it has a layer of weed mesh underneath to prevent weeds growing through.

The next two pictures are of my veggie patch less than 2 weeks after planing and already there are shoots coming through. Very exciting for someone lacking a green thumb!

I will be sure to keep you posted on my gardening progress... as in the past I have managed to kill my prior attempts. But they were in pots... so surely by getting this serious, it will be a total success ;-)

Every Story Must Have A Beginning

In 2010, I became a happily married wife. In the year leading up to my wedding, I also became a DIY addict.
We had a fairly large wedding, so I wanted to try and keep costs down where I could, but also loved the idea of creating something for my special day, as it was far more personal than paying someone else to do it. So as a result, I made my own invitations, menus, order of service booklets, confetti cones, seating chart and place cards, etc... and loved every minute of it.

Now that my relationship status has changed from bride-to-be to wife, I have experienced major DIY withdrawals which are only partially satisfied by scrapbooking our wedding photos. This lead me to realise how much I love DIY and thus resulting in this website, where I can help others realise the passion and excitement of creating something from scratch!