Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Time to Play

I wish,,,,, but that is the Challenge over at Lili's Little Fairies at the moment.  I made this card for Rachel who plays with both paper and icing these days and chose the little cupcake image because of that.  As it turned out her birthday treats and presents mostly centred around cake icing.  The Lili of the Valley image is a little girl playing Tea Parties - look at her shoes!
The card was created using Bo Bunny pp, Bazzil cardstock, Wild Orchid flowers and lace, vintage ribbon and Websters heart.

 Below the little birds were added using a Crafter's Workshop template and modelling paste as in the heritage layout here.  Liquid Pearls border the card as does the cardstock border using a Martha Stewart Swirling Lace punch.



Today is my first day back at work and all went well (and it was an 11 hr day).  It will be a very busy week being the last week of term.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.
Until next time.....


Sunday, June 24, 2012

Paste and Pearls

Thank you for visiting today - I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  It was lovely to see the sun today albeit briefly due to spending some of the sunny hours sleeping  after catching up after an early arrival (4.40a.m.) back in the country this morning.   I thoroughly enjoyed the flying visit to Melbourne and Tim Holtz Technique Overload class. - more about that later.

This month's Prima Product Palate is the inspiration for the page being shared today.  I loved creating this lo at the Embellish It Crop last weekend and especially adore the gorgeous photo of my Mum's late BFF / SIL (my aunt) on her 1957 wedding day.
 This LO took me outside my comfort zone by using modelling paste and a Crafters Workshop Cherry Blossom template for the background.  I wanted to use this as it was perfect for the bride's head piece.

 The large flowers and grey & brown roses are Prima as is the lace down the right side.  
 The doily is cut from a vintage piece and folded around the page and stitched.   The little cherry blossoms are finished with pearls.
 The frame chippie (available at Embellish It) was perfect for the title which was placed over a similar one on the Prima paper but this added dimension. 
 The first coat of the modelling paste was a bit thin after it dried so it was just a matter of lining up the template over the dry paste the next day and re-plastering it to add more dimension.
The bottom border lace is from a vintage market. Since taking this photo I have added a cut out yellow butterfly finished in dimensional magic to the top right of the photo.

Well that is all for today.  Enjoy the week ahead.

Until next time...



Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Day has Arrived....

Soooo excited - The day has finally arrived  - heading over the Tasman to for a 'Technique Overload' with Tim Holtz.  Whew - there were some moments a few weeks ago with the health hiccups that I wondered if it would all happen but with positive thinking and good luck off we go...... but still pinching myself.

Today I will leave you with a double layout I created about a month ago using the pretty Meadow Lark Prima Collection.  Another for my DD's album of the trio who have been friends since day care days.
 A bit of fussy cutting and layering on this layout together with punching with Martha Stewart Punches.  The 'forever friends' chippie is Dusty Attic.  Flowers and bird house Prima. 

 Just a little liquid pearls to finish the cut out circle. 
Friends rubon is KaiserCraft.

Apologies for the photos as they actually look a bit dull.  -  These pages are a lot better in real life.  Perhaps it is the blues - they seem to be a hard colour to photograph - think I need some lessons in that.....

Oh well - all packed and ready to to.  Have a great weekend...

Until next time.....



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A touch of Heritage for Dusty Attic

I hope you are keeping warm (if in NZ).  It has been a cold raw day today with a high of  8 degrees Celsius. 

When I saw the Dusty Attic Challenge for June I knew it was a good sketch for a family tree page for DD's album. 
This is my take on the sketch using Bo Bunny Country Garden paper.  Dusty Attic lamp, corner scroll and flags.  
 
The sub-title I printed on velum and placed it vertically beside the lamp.  It reads " How will our children know who they are if they don't know where they come from? - John Steinbeck".     The column photos are staged with parents, grandparents and great grandparents all on their wedding days. The strips have been punched with Martha Stewart punches - Swirling lace and Cherish.  I then punched a cardstock piece of the same to matt them
 The letters for the word HERITAGE are made with Martha Stewart Moulds.  My photo does not highlight the little flower patterns on each one.  I love these little letters available from Embellish It.  I tucked a little tag down the top of the layout with all the names of those on the layout.  By inserting it at the top of a layout it is easy to remove for reading and return to it's place when the layouts are in the protective sleeves (providing it is a top loading album of course) 
 The scroll was painted with Gesso and then Tim Holtz crackle paint and then a few bits inked to make it look oldish.   The lamp also went through the same process but I didn't like it white in the end so ended up playing around with puff paint and in the end painted the whole thing with Twinkling H2Os and was pleased with the final finish.  I couldn't resist using the rose trim on the layout to give it a bit of body. 
 Vintage cotton lace was used down the centre panel.

I have previously used these photos on a canvas for the wall which can be seen here.  That time was a submission for a magazine where recycling and innovative stamping techniques were required so it was a learning curve.  The project was embellished with lots of memorabilia such as lace from my wedding dress, army buttons, old jewellery and beads and trinkets. 

Thanks so much for visiting today.  Don't be shy and let me know you are visiting by leaving a comment. 

Until next time ....





Monday, June 18, 2012

Things with Wings

 Good Morning - and a cold one it is  but not quite as spectacular as yesterday's huge frost with a gorgeous sunny day.

'Things with Wings' is the challenge over at Southern Girls Challenge at the moment so I thought I would enter this card.  I am quite enjoying the orange shades at the moment and used an older Prima paper to matt the card. 
The papers are Prima Botanical - slowly getting through the stash but it is coming to an end. The chipboard stickers are also Prima as is the Admit One wooden ticket. 

 Flowers are a mix of Prima and Wild Orchids with the little trinket and pin being Wild Orchids.

Thank you for stopping by today.  Have a wonderful week.

Take Care.  Until next time ....



Saturday, June 16, 2012

Anything Goes @ Wild Orchids

Happy Weekend everyone.  Thanks for calling by today.

Embellish It had their monthly Timaru Crop today and thanks to my DH and SIL  who transported me there and back I enjoyed a lovely day scrapping and catching up on fellow scrappers.  I am pleased with the layout I created but no photos yet.

Today I will share a Sympathy Card which will be entered into Wild Orchid's Challenge 52 - Anything Goes. 
 
 Papers are Prima Botanical and Notecard.  Flowers and leaves are Wild Orchids.  The green floral pieces are KaiserCraft. 
 The notecard is bordered with liquid pearls and I think I overdid the pearls by using them around the doily as well. 

 I have always found the green Kaisercraft stalks difficult to use so coiled this one to add to the arrangement. 

A blog site I have been enjoying lately is 'Scrappin Sisters'  however one sister, Erin Blegen, has started her own blog "My Scrap Cabin" and has a few Housewarming Giveways - Check it out.  Take a look at Erin's wonderful creations here. Erin is a Design Team Member at Scrappin Patch

Well that is all for today.   Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Take Care.  Until next time....






Tuesday, June 12, 2012

An Album Page

Steady progress is being made two weeks post op.  I have returned to a little scrapping  but pacing myself so as not to 'overdo' it.

Today I will share a page from DD's album made with Prima PP.  This is a favourite Prima paper and has been so versatile having made it into a card previously.  The flags are Dusty Attic and punches Martha Stewart.  Once again I finished with Ranger liquid pearls.
Well that is all for today.  Will have to take some photos of what I have been working on.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Until next time

Dianne


Friday, June 8, 2012

Taking It Easy...

As I said in an earlier post May was a busy eventful month.  Along with the previously mentioned celebrations of a 70th Birthday and DD#3'S 21st Birthday I have had a visit to hospital.  As DD was 21 (a multiple of 3) it was time for my routine smear - however my GP discovered what she thought was a cyst on my ovary so a couple of weeks later - an ultrasound - and yes it was confirmed, 9 days later off to the Gynecologist and 12 days later (29 May) off to hospital for removal of ovaries.  So with good reports of no 'nasties' I am now on the road to recovery thanks to the wonderful support of family and friends.

I/we have been so grateful for meals, baking, gifts of flowers and cards and two days this week visitors putting wood on the fire while DH was away.  One certainly has to 'take it easy' as I am finding out after such a surgery.  The only time I have ventured to the scrap room is to watch DD create some pages.  

Our house is definitely looking brighter with all these beautiful flowers in the middle of winter.
 And I have received so much pleasure from these beautiful cards.
The gorgeous card was made by Bronwyn and delicious baking by Rachel who also made amazing chocolate truffles but these were too tempting and were opened before the photo shoot.  Papers on the card are Prima.
So cute....
 
 Joanne  from Embellish It created and gave me this gorgeous card also made with Prima papers.  
... and the insides.
and the back.

Well I am feeling very pampered and totally looked after.  Thank you everyone.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until next time....
Dianne




It should have been Gaga .. but it is Grrr Grrr

I am posting in the middle of the night - need to write it down and hopefully I will get back to sleep.  On 29 February my concert mad DH bought tickets for himself and DD#3 to attend  Lady Gaga's concert last night.  They had been looking forward to it since then and over the past few days, while looking after me, had been planning their 'Dad and Daughter' time in Auckland.  Off they went on Wednesday night to Dunedin in preparation for their flight at 11ish a.m.  At 8.30 a.m. while I was skyping them came the text that the flight had been delayed until 1.45 p.m. - okay they would just go a bit later, which they did, only to find that the flight had been cancelled 'due to weather'.  Well it was a glorious day in Dunedin and Air NZ was still flying.  There were no further flights that would have got them to Auckland on time.  They were gutted, we were gutted for them and we are SOOOOooooo ANGRY with JETSTAR.  We normally travel Air NZ but this time opted for Jetstar due to the time of the direct flight to Auckland. 

Two seats in PP row were empty tonight....  We learned two things today - 1.  Take ticket insurance and 2. NOT to travel with JETSTAR!  We were fortunate to be able to transfer the accommodation to another date.

DH is now home and probably sleeping soundly while I am having 'hot flushes' (true) over it. (I woke up boiling hot and composing a letter to Lady Gaga lol)

Well that is my gripe in the night......

Promise the next post will be full of flowers and nice things.

Until then
Dianne

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Prima May BAP

May has been and gone!!!  ... and a busy, eventful month it was...   more later.

As I mentioned on an earlier post I had been creating an album for DD#3's 21st birthday.  I used some of the photos to create my entry in the Prima May BAP.

 I used the Prima Sun Kissed collection and felt it worked well with the photos although the photos were not the best quality and I am trying to source the originals to replace them.



 I then made the layout into a double page. 
 
On the 2nd page I cut and punched the bottom border from the same paper as the left page in order to continue the theme.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.  We are being entertained by our cute little grandson and have enjoyed lots of visitors.
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.

Until next time....
Dianne.