" Christmas Shaker Cards "

I dropped into say Merry Christmas to each and everyone of  you and your families at this very special time of year.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year with all your hopes and dreams coming to each of you.

I wanted to share a couple of the shaker cards I did this year.

I was looking for something a little different for my Chrissy cards  and came across the process for making shaker cards on YouTube.

They are so easy to do and I will definitely be making them again  next Christmas.

How gorgeous are these shaker cards and so easy.

I made these for my 2 cute granddaughters as a 

special surprise from

Nanny and Poppy

You can see the process on YouTube  because

 that's where I got it from.

They have them proudly sitting 

on their bed side tables.

Thanks for stopping by

till next time

keep on scrapping

Carol xx

"Don't Follow your Dreams Chase Them "

Welcome everyone 

 I'm here today sharing my latest Design Team layout.

This one is for Color, Stories and Inspiration (CSI) Case File 184

I must say I absolutely love the colours in this case file. So soft and so pretty.

This is a photo of my daughter and my gorgeous granddaughters at the Street Art festival

in the beautiful seaside suburb of The Entrance NSW.

I used a plain white cardstock as the background for this layout. I added some of the circles

with a stencil and some small triangles of pattern paper.

Gelatos with lots of water to get it to drip down the page.

I even added a couple of chipboard dream-catchers to the background 

but there a little hidden.

You can spy the triangles in the background and then I added

plaster tape, and lots of stamping. I think I used 3-4 different stamps on this one.

I am so in love with the little birds peeking out of the flower clusters, so real looking.

Oh I almost forgot the wooden owls that I embossed white.

I use some tulle and made bows out of it, gorgeous effect.

Random punched the edges and added some lace.

Touches of gesso on the edges of the flowers and leaves.

I painted the circle frame in white and added a coat of white shimmer paint.

Using the pegs to hold on the journal tags as per the case file elements

I painted them with glitter which was also an element.

The title and the dream-catchers are painted in the charcoal colour of the 

case file elements. The last thing I did was to flick the remaining Gelato

colour all over the finished layout with some charcoal colour too.

Case File Elements:

The Scheme all five colours are easily seen on this layout.

The Evidence.. I used the following: stars, animals, ribbon/bows, triangles, branches, glitter, grid design, circles.

Testimony: I have handwritten my journalling on a series of labels which I had made. You can see then pegged around the layout.

Some of the items I used:

white cardstock

Martha Stewart punch

lace

Gelatos

texture paste

Finnabair stencil - random bubbles

2Crafty chipboard

ScrapFX chipboard

plasterers tape

Kaisercraft Stamps

Prima flowers

Petaloo flowers

feathers

D-lish flowers

Studio calico 

Stamping up owls

Green Tara flowers

Cremacoat paints

thanks for stopping by

till next time

keep on scrapping

Carol xx

" Sweet "

Hi everyone and can you believe that it is only 18 days until Christmas Day, WOW !!

Today I want to share my last design Team layout for  White With 1 for this year  anyway, I will be back in the New Year.

This is a photo of a friends daughter and the colour was just perfect for this months colour. I struggle doing anything in blue so this one was a real stretch for me. I decided that I wanted to do a girly, very pretty page. I hope you agree because I think this page is all that and more.

Distressed edges, inked and stamped. I used  plain white cardstock, added

 some strips of pattern paper, texture paste and 

lots of different stamps of the Majorca Blue colour.

                                     

The colour for December "Majorca Blue"

Oh I just  love the drops of " diamonds" dripping down the page. Team these

with the little beads and touched of lace just so pretty and girly.

 I painted some of the flowers and added a touch of 

glimmer to the petals.

 Black film strips, die cut with more of the 

gems dripping down the page

Hint, the little bead are from and old necklace I found. I adhered

them with some glue and I love the effect,

The blue heart is painted with this months colour and then 

I added some Mr Huey's glimmer mist.The white one

has beads and painted white

The title is an old one from my stash. How good is 

is to finally be able to use some of that old stash we all have

sitting around?

Of course there are lots of gorgeous flowers on the page.

You can see al the layers here. Just so many, papers, doilies,lace, pieces

of chippies,beads,gems and all so beautiful.

Some of the products used....

White card stock

2Crafty chipboard

                                                                          stencils

Prima flowers

Green Tara flowers

Petaloo flowers

beads

gems

Scotch glue

Thanks for stopping by

till next time

keep on scrapping

Carol xx

" Forgotten Times "

Hi everyone and today I'm sharing a layout that I did for Color, Stories and Inspiration

This is for Major case file 181. 

The Major case files are the ones that are open for you to play for the whole month.

This is my Grandfather taken many many years ago in Europe. My maternal Grandfather was a steeplechase jokey from England but his riding took him all over Europe. In this picture he is with an unknown male and his " Au pair"  My Grandfather is the one on the right.

This has been a contentious issue in our family for a long time. Au pairs back then were typically foreign women that move into a family to look after the children and a share of the house work for a small amount of money. At the time of this photo my Grandfather was not living at home, not married and did not have any children, so who is the mysterious woman.

Yes, we have all come up with some very different and interesting stories of who this woman actually was and we will never know the real truth so our stories will still go on.

I loved the colours in this case file and it just had a real steam-punk feel to it.

I distressed the edges and random punched and then inked it.

The Case File Elements:

The Scheme: light Kraft, black, brick red, turquoise and ivory. All accounted for.

The Evidence: I used Kraft background, frames, other transport elements, metal, stamps, cogs, clock, string.

I used a prompt from Your Personal History. "Old Photographs" Part of the testimony is on the tags behind the photos and the rest is on the back of the layout. It is the same as above....

Major case file 181

I coloured all the chipboard in the Turquoise to make it pop and it just did that,

All the cogs were embossed with brick red and then I smudged that black ink again.

I added black to the flourish on the frames and smudged it across the top of the 

title for a different effect.

Die cut the clocks and added the arrow chippy pieces in the turquoise,

Lace, brads,metal bit and flowers to finish it all off.

Love these hessian balloons. Just think the old sepia photos

went perfectly.

Some of the products I used...

Kaisercraft "Art of Life" paper

Graphic45  Kraft reflection " Bits and Pieces" paper

ScrapFX chipboard, frames, cogs, arrows and title

Prima flowers

Green Tara lace

string

Indigoblu stamps

Kaisercraft stamps

Distress inks

Brads

Prima Junkyard findiongs

Embossing powder

Jo Sonja paints

thanks for stopping by

till next time

keep on scrapping

Carol xx

" Hugs & Kisses "

Hi and welcome 

today I want to share with you case file 182 at 

Color,Stories and Inspiration (CSI)

This is a photo of my two granddaughters 

Emelia aka Milly and Eliza being the little one in the cot having gorgeous sister cuddles. The smile on Milly's face shows how much sisterly love she has.

This would be one of the very rare layouts that has a bare white background with nothing on it but some stenciling but it was one of the elements and for me the hardest one.

How gorgeous are the colours in this case file, so girly.

Case File Elements;

The Scheme; All five colours are present and clearly seen.

For the Evidence I used the following; white background, wet medium, ribbon, 

scallop border, other animals, book pages, buttons, leaves and circles

The Testimony; As there is no where to add my journalling to the front on the back I wrote a recipe and goes... Sisters'

1 cot

Some cute blankets

add one older child

with one new baby

then add some giggles, a few smiles and some cuddles.

mix them all together and stand back snapping photos.

You now have the makings of some gorgeous pictures

of sisters loving each other. 

Added some random punching to the edges.

No inking no mixed media, very hard. So lots and lots of embellishments.

As you can see in this one I have added so many cute little girls embellies, mixed with satin flowers, little dolls, and the gorgeous ribbon that you pull up to a bow from Green Tara.

All the chipboard was painted and the hearts and buds on the

 stems had a little glitter added to them.

How cute are the two sitting on the fence, thanks to Jo Kinder for 

kindly giving me that.

Doilies and book pages all inked in Spun Sugar Distress ink. 

Die cut white leaves with hessian that I shredded through out the clusters.

There are so many little embellies on this layout I don't think I could list them all.

'There are two circle frames around the photo, one white one maroon.

I love the signpost with their names on it.

Some of the products that I have used...

plain cardstock

Kaisercraft doily stencil 12"

2Crafty chipboard

WOW chipboard

ScrapFX chipboard

Prima flowers

Green Tara Ribbon

Enthaily flowers

D-lish doilies

Jo Sonja paints

hessian

thanks for stopping by

till next time 

keep on scrapping

Carol xx

" Mum and Me "

Hello and welcome back to another post.

This time I am sharing with you all one that I did for White With 1 as part of the Design Team. 

This is the November challenge colour and I love it.

In this photo is yours truly and my daughter at her year 10 formal

The colour of her dress was just perfect 

for this months colour of " grape".

I distressed the edges and then random punched with my favourite Martha Stewart punch.

Inked the edges and slipped some lace in the areas that I punched.

Brick and dots stencil and I ran the bricks vertically.

Some of the same colour on the background,

Framed the photo to make it stand out a little more.

This is the White With 1 Grape colour.

Not to late to give it a go.

I put so many gorgeous details into this layout, Punchinella, strands of diamonds, 

Pearls on pins, gorgeous arrows, lace, filigree doilies and a few others

All the chipboard was painted white and then coated in a pearl finishing paint. 

I love the shimmer it gives.

Love these little ballerinas from ScrapFX, I paint them in white

and then smudged some Gelatos over the top. There is another one in the 

pic underneath too.

Lacey bow die cut and the lace flower from by Prima.

The large purple flower is from D-lish and I love 

]the beads in the centre, they are a real fav of mine. 

These hearts on a string from ScrapFX are just gorgeous on a 

girly layout. The mannequin is a Die cut from a 

Nini's Dies. Finished it all off with flowers of

different sizes and styles.

Some of the products...

plain cardstock

Gelatos

ScrapFX Chipboard

Nini's Die

Martha Stewart punch "Doily"

Ceramcoat -White and pearl finish

D-lish flowers

plasterers tape

Prima Flowers

Lace

Thanks for stopping by

keep on scrapping

Carol xx

" Memories are made of THIS "

Hello everyone and thank you for stopping by my little blog.

This is a layout that I did as part of my Design Team requirements at D-lish Scraps. It was one of the last ones that I did during my term on this great team.

This is a photo of myself and my three gorgeous kids, yes I am biased and proud of it. I started off  doing a layout for my granddaughters but the colours where a bit dark so I decided that it needed to have older people in the photo. I love the black and white of the photo against the black, gold and red of the layout.

I distressed the edges and then inked them with Viva Inka Gold. 

You can see that I sued the same gold on the edges of the black leaves too. 

Triangles and dots in 

white texture paste and then I splashed

the background with both red, yellow and orange paint.

I love the ScrapFX heart chain and inked it in black 

and randomly adhered some gold micro beads.

I did the same effect on the chippy flourish too but I used

red Micro Beads.

A white doily became gold with Inka gold paste which I added a little water to so it was more manageable as did the little flower.

I love D-lish's gold flairs and I think it looks awesome on this layout.

I embossed all the cogs and the title in deep red and then smudged Inka gold on the 

edges. Bright yellow flowers for a little pop. I fussy cut out

the butterflies from a scrap of paper.

I added some clocks to the layers which I think just look 

brilliant on this layout.

Some of the products I used...

Plain cardstock

Graphic 45 Papers

Kaisercraft "Sweet Nothings" paper

ScrapFX chipboard

Prima flowers

D-lish flowers

Green Tara flowers

Inka Gold paste

Distress inks

Ceramcoat Paints

Micro beads

Embossing powder

Doilies

D-lish flairs

thanks for stopping by

and till next time

keep on scrapping

Carol xx

" Gesso "

 Hi and welcome to my little blog.

Im going to add some other ideas that I have tried and tested in my scrapping. Today I decided to share what I think is a great money saving idea.

Gesso -  normal or heavy !!!

a product that most scrappers especially those who like me love mixed media will use.

For those that are not quiet sure what you use Gesso for, its your primer, your undercoat or the product you use if you want to change the colour of a product your using. You may want to "tone" down a pattern paper, then coat your paper with a thin coat of Gesso. Applying a coat of Gesso to chipboard before you paint it will give you a true colour when you add colour.

Which one do you use or are you like me and use both of them depending on the project. 

I recently ran out of the "heavy" gesso and went on the hunt to replace it. 

I was so surprised that there is only one company that I could source that sells an actual heavy Gesso. 

Unable to buy it locally or online I found this Gesso, WOW!!

As the label says its Gesso primer but its so thick that it is exactly the same as  " Heavy Gesso " and the coverage is brilliant. If I want to use a thinner coverage (normal Gesso) then 

just add some water to a little and use the same way. 

Viola !! I have both types of Gesso in the one container and I might say for a lot less cost.

This 500ml tub cost me $21.00 in Eckersleys

 I was so impressed by the Gesso that I decided to try the moulding paste.

The moulding paste was around the same price for a 500ml tub as the Gesso..

I'm converted now. When you need to replace either give them a try

Not working for this company, just sharing 

till next time keep on scrapping

Carol xx

A gorgeous little Birthday Card

Hi everyone, just wanted to share a Birthday Card I made for my daughter's 30th birthday recently.

I strayed away from the traditional pinks and love this colour combo.

The bigger heart is the left over from some heart frames I had.

(never throw anything away)

Strips of paper with muslin underneath.

I bought the little birds recently and I love them poking out of the flowers. 

All the chippies are painted white and then coated in pearl finish. 

Thanks for stopping by

till next time

keep on scrapping

Carol xx

" Living the Dream "

Hi all and yes its been awhile since I have been on my little blog. As many of you know I have had some extensive shoulder surgery and unfortunately that has stopped me doing a lot of the things that I like to do. 

I am on the road to recover so I am in the process of 

 playing catch up. 

I wont be going into to many details on the next few post just so I can get in front.

This post was part of my design team work for D-lish scraps

This is a photo of myself and my hubby in Bali. I surprised him with a trip to Bali for his 50th birthday and our wedding anniversary. Yes we married on his birthday just so he wouldn't ever forget the day.

I picked up on the earthy colours in the photo for this one. Inked the background with yellow and green then heaps of stamping in black.

Lots of layers and added some Kaisercraft tags into the layer.

Yellow muslin and of course Punchinella and a clock or two. I love adding the gold

photo corners as you can see here.

All the chippy pieces were painted with green paint, I left 'the little bird natural

distressed and tore the edges then inked them.

I took a couple of strands of kitchen string and made a bow, really organic.

Strips of papers, arrows and some film strip washi tape.

Love adding Kaisers cutouts into the layers and then some 

Prima flowers and D-lish flowers. D-lish have some beautiful flairs

and I have added some to this layout.

Some of the products used...

Prima paper

Bazzil cardstock

ScrapFX chipboard

Kaisercraft cutouts

Prima flowers

D-lish flowers

D-lish flairs

Punchinella

Muslin

D-lish stamps

Gold photo corners

thanks for stopping by

and till next time

keep on scrapping

Carol xx