Sneaky peek - Off the Page

I cannot wait to show you what I made today. The post will be going up on December 2nd. I'm very pleased with it myself. Here's a little corner of a pic of it. Can you guess what it is?

Scrap The Boys November challenge

It's a very bright day today. I've taken two shots of this layout and couldn't decide which I preferred so I've put them both in this post.

Today I've made this layout for Scrap The Boys. The challenge is to show your team colours. Easy peasy for me. I have a host of sporting photos to choose from. These shots are ones I took of my 11 year old son playing footy. He's a bit of a star I must say so I had to include one for him. I've also got a Scrap FX CB boot which I've painted the same as his actual footy boots he's wearing in the photos. He really does put his all into the game and he makes me so proud. I love to watch his play. It's always a pleasure. I'm documenting his career in an album so this page is for inclusion in it.

Secret Santa and Advent Calendar

Amanda's Scraps Swaps is having a Secret Santa for December. I've put my name down for it. You have to make 6-10 handmade items for your person and send before Christmas. Easy. Just click on the link if you want to join in. It will be fun. It's nice to get a surprise for Christmas, don't you think?

I've made an Advent Calender today for Red Earth's Christmas A-Z Advent Calender. It's for a special something Helen is running over Christmas.


Here is my calender. It is a Little Yellow Bicycle Kit which I bought last year and have had sitting there. I've never had my own advent calender. I use a special one for the boys with little pockets which I put sweets in. They absolutely love it. Mine doesn't have lollies. Not sure what Helen means for us to do with it yet. Time will tell I suppose.

Day 264 - Happy Birthday card

Today's challenge at 365 Cards is to "Just add a thought bubble, or if you prefer, a talking bubble to your card and be sure that your ENTIRE sentiment is in the bubble."


I knew that I had quite a few My Mind's Eye accessory sheets that had these so I had a browse through and chose one. I also knew that I wanted to add a cute little animal saying the sentiment. I chose Basic Grey's Olivia Element sticker bunny. Then, it was easy to continue from there. Here is my card.

Products used are:


Grant Studios White card and envelope
Prima cardstock sticker
Blue bobble trim
Basic Grey Olivia Element stickers
My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary/Mary Mary "Happy Birthday" stickers

This card was chosen as card of the day. Yay.

Day 263 - Happy Trails To You

Day 265 at 365 Cards' challenge is to put an ATC on a card. I had previously made an ATC for a swap and I thought it would look good on a card. My card is called Happy Trails To You. It could be a birthday card for a man or a card to wish someone a good road trip holiday. My family are fond of doing this so it would suit them.

In case you're unaware of what an ATC is, it is an Artist's Trading Card. The concept is quite an old one. They are all a particular size but then you can really create whatever you want on them. I've chosen to add stamping and inchies to mine.

Thanks for looking.

Published in SNR

Hey, the latest issue of Scrapbook News and Review, Issue #4, 11/12 is up today. That's one day early actually. They've been having technical difficulties. It's jam packed full of great stuff. Take a look. They've published four of my pieces. I've got one card in the Welcome Home section and 3 layouts in the Travel/Vacation section. You know I've been doing a lot of travel layouts lately and there are many more in my future. Good thing I enjoy doing them. lol

Scrapbookit's birthday sketch challenge - A double

Hi there. Scrapbookit have set a birthday sketch challenge. I liked that it had so many photos. I've chosen to do a double as the photos I had of the U.S. Capitol deserved it I felt. I've used 9 photos on two pages. Quite happy with that. I've used the sketch as my basis for the left hand side and mirrored the basics (minus photo arrangement) on the right hand side as well.  Here is the result.

Most of the products are by My Mind's Eye.

Nadia's Giveaway

http://samnadia.blogspot.com/2011/11/november-giveaway.html

The above link is to Nadia's very generous giveaway blog post. There are 5 chances to win a bunch of great goodies. You won't be sorry you visited. Don't forget to check the rules for your chance to win.

A fun new challenge site I found today

Use It Tuesday is a new challenge site that makes you USE up your stash.  I have a rather large stash nowadays. When I used to sell scrapbooking supplies as a job I had a lot of product in my house. I don't think I'm quite at that level yet but edging towards it. Time is always the issue of course. I do have other duties to think of as much as I would like to sit and just scrap most of the time. lol

So, the current challenge is a really fun one. It's Cooking Up Fun.  I do like to cook.  For an event last year at School I had to make lots of cupcakes. I mostly bake dairy free cakes so I made the cupcakes dairy free, chocolate ones (cocoa only). My son Damon (who is allergic to dairy) tried them out and declared them yummy.  I also decorated the boxes with my pens and templates so they looked pretty.

One other requirement for Use It Tuesday is to tell what stash you've used up.  A few years back I was in a colour swap that Wendy Smith organised. It was an orange one. The little stamped image of an orange has been sitting patiently waiting to be used since I got it. I had also had the Sassafras Lass paper for some time. Orange is a great colour for a boy's page don't you think?

Use It Tuesday are also having a DT call. I think I may apply. It seems like a fun challenge site to me.

Layout for Anna's November sketch

Hi all.
Last night I created a layout for Anna's Craft Cupboard's November sketch challenge. I must say it is fairly blah in my opinion. The colours all match the the elements all complement each other but I just find it a bit dull. The background paper is by Cosmo Cricket and most of the other items are Basic Grey/Wander. Anyway, that's another layout for last year's vacation completed, which is great.  See, a positive.

Here is the sketch. I flipped it on it's side as I am wont to do.

A Giveaway

My Scrap Friends are a new challenge blog having an amazing giveaway. Check them out by clicking on their name above. Here's a pic of the candy on offer.



Super amazing right? I knew you'd think so.

Harrods for Handmade by Suzanne sketch

Here is a layout I did today for the November sketch challenge at Handmade by Suzanne. It's called Harrods and it's about the famous Department store in London. Such a lot to see there but all very pricey. The guys loved looking at the really expensive big boys toys.

I've used a sweet colour palette for this. As it happens the paper tear flowers I made yesterday (see the next post for a tutorial on how to make them) colour matched perfectly so I've added one.

Techniques used were fussy cutting, paper tearing and adding scraps. It's always good to use up scraps. Manufacturers used were Pink Paislee, Fancy Pants, Basic Grey and Sassafras Lass.

Thanks for looking. Hope you liked what you saw.

Tutorial - Paper Tear Flower

Today (and part of last night) I made 9 x Paper Tear Flowers. At least, that is what I am calling them. I had a bright idea of tearing strips of paper up to make some flowers. Here's how I did it. (Please forgive the photos. even though it is spring is it dull and rainy here.

First, choose 3 complementary papers that are fairly thick and have a white inner (not dyed all the way through). Choose a length that you want and sit there tearing up strips. I had a tool to help me. I used a Creative Memories tearing tool. Made this job a little quicker.

Then I decided that I would turn the ends over and glue them down to create a little lift on the ends.

Set to dry.

 Then layer the 3 papers until you have created a flower shape, leaving the turned up edges underneath. (not the like one on top as you can see it is no good this way)

Choose another complentary piece of thick paper with a white centre and tear some circles for your flower centre.

I've used another Creative Memories tool, this time a punch. It is a splat punch.  I have a lot of Creative Memories tools as I used to be a Consultant. They are really excellent tools. I've placed the splat over the top of the circle to create a more realistic flower.

Now you just need to push a hole through all of the layers in order to put a brad through to hold it all together.

Here is the final result.

I've made these flowers as part of Amandas Scraps Swaps for November. I chose the theme of flowers and these are for the embellishments choice. I only needed to make 5 but I made as many as I could with the amount of torn paper that I had. I'm sure these will come in handy. They'd probably be nice on a card.

My ARTastic entry - Together Forever

Hi there. Last night I got busy creating my layout for November's ARTastic challenge. I chose to use the photos of my wedding anniversary this year. They are quite nice posed pictures my husband and I took of each other. I love the dress I wore. It's very pretty and floral so I wanted to complement the colours in the dress when I made the layout.

Here's my layout and a couple of close ups.

The painting inspiration is Bacchus by Caravaggio. (see here to view the picture on the blog)
The extra criteria is to add:
1. fruit or graphs
2. wine glass or bottle
3. a bow

I've got all of them. I have a wine bottle which is full of grapes. It is a sticker journal box by Creative Imaginations. Neat huh? I have a little red rose with a green ribbon bow in the top journal box.

I have a created a cluster or BG stickers and Cosmo Cricket doilies in the centre at the bottom to replicate the fruit bowl in the painting.

Thanks for looking.

UPDATE
Incredible news. This layout won first prize. Hooray. I'm so happy.

From Screen 2 Scrap - November challenge

Winners are up for October over at From Screen 2 Scrap. Take a look if you entered. Pretty much guaranteed you won something. Come on friends, support this great challenge blog. Let's get some more entries this month.

Now, I chose the poster for this month's challenge. I know the entries will be diverse. It's a great one with some good colours.  It is "Home For The Holidays" which starred Holly Hunter. Don't you just love her accent? It also stars the lovely Robert Downey Jnr. He's just so cute and very entertaining.  Here's the poster.



You must try to include all the criteria. We do take note of it when judging.  Plus your entry must be made for this challenge.

For an extra 6 bonus points :)

1) Journal in white pen = 1 pt
2) Use  the word 'HOME' in your title = 2 pts
3) Use a photo of a family gathering = 3 pts


Here's my layout.

I have used all of the criteria. I've chosen to scrap last year's Christmas lunch which we had at my home. We always have a buffet meal with a mix of hot and cold dishes.


I've used a lot of Creative Memories products here. The baubles are fussy cut from a piece of CM pp and the background coloured pp is also fussy cut. I wanted the black cardstock to show through to show up the baubles up the top and it was one of the colours in the poster too. The title is a Creative Memories vellum accent.


Hope you have a go at this. If it is your first attempt let Shazza know I sent you as I gain DT points if you do. Thanks a bunch.

Smile

Day 245 at 365 Cards' challenge is all about a smile.  Here is a sweet little card I made.

I've also entered this in Deep Ocean Challenge #11.