Still no Scrapbooking,,,

But last weekend this was the creation that DD#3 had me help create.  A diaper cake for a friend who is to soon have a baby.

Quite funky with the colour of the Hairy Macleary nappies etc. 

Tonight we have had visitors for tea so today's creations were a meal including this lemon and ginger stuffed salmon.

I also made a Nadia Lim Salad - Avocado, Pumpkin, Haloumi and Quinoa Salad , Hasselback potatoes and finished off with a Raw Mango Pineapple Cheesecake.  I didn't think to take a photo of the rest as I was too busy serving it but this was before the salmon was cooked.

Must get off to bed - lots to do today and must pack for the Raincliff Scrap Retreat next weekend.

Thanks for visiting .  Bye for now
Dianne

My 2013 Favourite Creations - Happy New Year

Hello Everyone -
Happy New Year - Wishing you all Health and Happiness for 2014.

It was a very quiet New Year this year apart from the delight and joy of my 2 yr old DGS who is having a holiday at Granny's at the moment.   Today I am playing along with 'A Scrapjourney's' 'Five Favourite Creations of 2013" challenge.  ... and what a hard one it is too - just to pick five so here we go..... and there could be a few more.

The first one - a Heritage layout - I love creating with old photos and this  one just went together so well and I still love it.

Birds on a Branch and True Romance

Next up - the Scrapbooking highlight of the year was attending Finnibair's class at Rolleston in March.  Attending Finnibair's class ticked off one of my 2013 goals - to learn more about and gain confidence in mixed media scrapbooking.  I was on a buzz for weeks after this class.  This next layout was inspired by what I learned there but with my twist.

 Laugh

 

Next up - a layout from a sketch at Scrapfriends where this was slightly away from my 'normal' style adding a few textures etc.

1st Snow Day

October 12 saw the early arrival of my DGS Jake and I loved creating with the Prima Delight collection.  Also this layout is a rare case of me scrapping myself.

My Happy Place

and No 5 - it is getting harder but I am going to include another in the Prima Delight Collection of my parents meeting Jake.

Meeting Jake

Well that is five but Debby said a few more could be slipped in so here is my one and only Christmas project and a couple of special cards made throughout the year. - my Dad has  been making some shadow box frames for the dimensional projects so this now has one of his frames around it.

Elf

A special 80th Birthday Card

 

Wedding Card and Box 

 

A 90th Birthday Card 

and I will finish with an OTP item - Decorate Tili Jar

 

Thank you Debby from "A Scrapjourney" for the challenge.

 

Thanks so much for visiting today.  Most of my creations are also on my Scrapbook.Com Gallery if you wish to peruse any more. 

Over the past 18 months I have designed for 'Embellish It' but have given that away in order to complete some personal projects that have been in the pipeline for some time. 

Well that is all for today as I need to get organised for more visitors arriving including my DGS Jake. 

Decorated Tili Jar

Whew - the very timely Holiday break has arrived but today has been a case of 1 step forward - 3 back as I do not know where to start with all the things going on in my mind.  I have a lot of half finished jobs which will have to be completed before bed and here I am on the computer.

We had our End of Year lunch yesterday and are allocated a person to be Secret Santa for so I thought I would share my creation and enter it in the Wild Orchid Challenge # 93 - Anything Goes.

I had fun decorating one of these very popular items this Christmas - The 'Tili Jar' is a very versatile retro item and can be used for anything from storing items to desserts, drinking wine or cocktails and could even be used as a vase for a summer posy.   The recipient likes gardening and reading books and relaxes with a wine so I suggested that "after some time in the garden she could relax with a book and kisses (chocolates included) and enjoy a relaxing drink."  The jar also contains a pair of gardening gloves.

 All flowers, spirals and leaves used are Wild Orchid

 Above - a personal touch of initials.  ...and below the flower arrangement lifts up to reveal a message.

Thanks so much for visiting today.  Please let me know you have been by leaving a little comment.  They are much appreciated.

This may be my last post before Christmas so wishing you all a Very Happy Christmas.  Thank you for your support during 2013.

Until next time...

Dianne                   PS - I have just realised this is post #300 - a milestone  lol.

A Tag Canvas

A Mid-week "Hello" and thank you for visiting today.  If you are in NZ most are bracing for the predicted 'arctic blast' so keep warm and take care.  I suspect it will be work as usual tomorrow....

Today I am posting a Tag Canvas created at the Embellish It Crop at the weekend.  I used tags from the Kaisercraft 'True Romance' collection along with some of the collections pieces for embellishments.  I couldn't resist putting this gorgeous photo of a friend and her DGD on it.  A photo I 'borrowed' from her FB page but I do have permission now to blog it.

First of all I added some eyelets to each tag and arranged them on the canvas then ripped bits of book pages to insert in a few places before gessoing over the whole canvas and then rubbing off the gesso which was over the resist areas of the tags.  I then had a play with texture paste around the edges and randomly   here and there before arranging the photo and flowers. 

Butterflies are cut from the "True Romance" sticker sheet.  The below sentiment was perfect for the page. 

Well that is all for today. 

I am off to the scrap room to finish a page I started last night for the NZ PaperChase Challenge this month. 

June Challenge...Create a winter layout using the following quote as inspiration
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
― John Steinbeck,

So why not join in and have a go?  If you do put it up on the NZ Paper Chase Group Facebook Page and email your entry to Sonya.  

Until next time....

 

 

A Long Weekend & DD Class projects

Hope your Queen's Birthday Weekend is going well (if in NZ).  I am enjoying the company of two of my DD's and DGS although one daughter had to return home for sport today. 

I was checking the HELMAR blog and guess what - I was a winner of their May Challenge so that was a nice surprise.

Consequently no scrapping opportunities but maybe tomorrow so in the mean time here are the projects from Donna Downey's Timaru classes a fortnight ago. First a mixed media canvas - lots of fun and I am looking forward to having another go at this style.

 I used a photo of '4 Generations' - I am the child being held by my Grandmother, then there is Mum and my Great Gran. 

The second project is a 'Vintage Shabby Chic' Mini album for which I used a theme of my Mum and her best friend and sister-in-law who sadly passed away almost 16 years ago.

 The right hand pages were the pages from Donna's class and the left are ones which I have added myself. 

 Below left - I had a play of masking onto the calico (need to gesso it first). 

 I haven't quite finished the album yet as I am waiting on another photo but the last page is a memorial page.  I felt the angel wings we were given to work with lent itself to this.

It was an enjoyable inspiring weekend. 

The next Embellish It Crop is Saturday 15 June in Timaru and 16 June in Oamaru and Joanne is also having her first one at Fairlie next week.   If you are interesting in joining any of the above please contact Joanne here.   Also it will not be to long before we are heading to Raincliff for the Winter Retreat on 16, 17 & 18 August - a great weekend and we are starting to work on some classes for those interested.

Well that is all for today.  Thanks so much for visiting. 

Until next time.....

Country Wedding

Thank you so much for visiting today.  Yesterday was a lovely day for a country wedding and we were privileged to be invited to share in their special day.   The weather was lovely for the time of the ceremony and a coolish wind arrived just as it had finished but we moved to a more sheltered place for nibbles and to enjoy the scenery so a good outcome after Friday's freezing temperatures.

Here is the card and box we gave the bride and groom (finished just 50 minutes before leaving time lol).

 Flowers and pearl hearts were all Wild Orchids.  (Embellish It has a good selection of these).  Lace motif was from World of Lace. Punch is Martha Stewart and the cardstock is ??  available also from Embellish It.

 

 On the inside I printed a verse on the top side and then included a pouch on the bottom to contain an envelope with the wishing well contribution. 

  On the envelope I punched two holes and attached two trinkets "wish" and "happiness" with a bow.  Trinkets available from Nic Howard via Trade Me.

 And a wee pic of the setting for yesterday's wedding.

Well must away and make the most of the day.

Hope your weekend is going well.  Thanks again for visiting...

Until next time.....

A Party Decoration

Thank you for stopping by today.  It has been wonderful to have a five day weekend and the weather has been excellent.  A couple of layouts were created on my scrapping day yesterday and another is on the go! but no photos yet.

As mentioned last post last Friday was spent on a different project - a very large '90' for a decoration at a 90th Birthday Celebration.  They measured about 60cm x 30cm each. 

 

A selection of vintage papers were collaged over the 90 - slightly larger than the 90 so that the edges could be snipped and folded and glued under for a tidy finish.

 A large arrangement was added at the lower right of the 0.  I used the larger flowers and leaves from my stash and included some little bunches of fruits as well. . A further arrangement was added to the top left of the 9.  

 

It was intended that a few photos be added as well.  

EMBELLISH IT is having its monthly crop days on the weekend of 13 and 14 April.  Saturday 13th in Timaru and Sunday 14th in Oamaru.  Please let Joanne know if you able to come here.   A great day to devote to your hobby and share ideas with others, together with Joanne's wonderful morning and afternoon teas and well stocked shop.

That is all for today.  Enjoy a short week.

Until next time.....

 

Finnabair Fantastic

First of all Happy Easter.  Hope yours is going well.

Last Wednesday I set off at 7am for Scrapping Patch at Rolleston and what a fantastic day was in store.  The first class started at 9am until about 1.15 and the second 2.30 until about 6.45ish.  Finn was an amazing tutor - funny, practical, inspiring and encouraging.  Art was certainly going outside the square for me but I loved every minute of it.  It was lovely meeting Rae (Scrap Matrix) and her sister Angela too.  Here are my creations....

1st Class - Industrial Baroque 'Tea for Two'

The large kits of scrappy goodness contained '7 Dots' papers, huge amounts of Prima embellishments, Finnibair products, Scrap Matrix products to name some.   The pic is of  'guess who?' and I took it last time we were down.  Doesn't he look so grown up with the hat on?

 ... and the layout could contain the remnants of a teabag or two!  A few closeups below.

So looking forward to having another go at this.  There is still plenty of product left for another one.

Class 2 - 'Overload Grungy Journal'

Another awe inspiring class with lots of technique and fun. 

 

I am now looking forward to filling the journal. 

Finn and her team are in Dunedin today taking another two classes.  (I didn't realise there was a Dunedin class until Wednesday or I would have been at that one.)  Anyway the Dunedin students will be blown away as much as we were I am sure.   .... actually I am still buzzing from the day.  I was worried about driving the 2 hours home after a long day but it wasn't a problem as I was still revelling in the great day I had had.

Now I must get outside and enjoy the beautiful day while doing a chore or two but hopefully later some scrapping time will eventuate.  A day trip to Dunedin tomorrow to catch up with family and my little star (above), then scrapping with a friend on Monday and a bonus of Tuesday off too so lots to look forward to.

Yesterday I created something different - a very large 90 as a decoration for a party today.  Will show that another time.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and ENJOY the rest of the long weekend.

Bye for now......