Paper. Scissors. Chocolate. Louise Williams

quick sneak...

L x

The things I do to books...

besides reading them... (this is one of the reveals of a project I made for Aussie Scrap Source)...

A little Prima, a little Tim Holtz, some Basic Grey and a wonderful old book (sorry Oscar Wilde) and you have a uniquely beautiful memorabelia box!

I cut out the middle, modgepodged the edges to hold it all together and lined it with Curio papers from Basic Grey.

For the cover I did a layered gesso technique to give it a damask-like effect. I also used an old barometer I found at the Hospice Shop ($3 well spent!), painted it with gesso and used it as a frame for one of the wonderful Darkroom Door photo images. I added some lovely haberdashery goodies sent to me by a good friend (thanks sweetie!) and a wonderful bronze scissor charm along with plenty of my favourite Prima flowers and laces (sigh... just gorgeous) to finish it off.

Well not quite finished... see the feet? thank Tim Holtz for those little pieces of gorgeous...

Hope you like it

L x

I blame the Home Show...

The Easter Bunny paid us a visit yesterday, hiding eggs all over the house and leaving photo clues for the boys to follow to find them. Joshie LOVES doing the egg hunt, and as usual then rehid all the clues and made us do a repeat performance. :)

It's been a good Easter weekend, I've enjoyed just staying home, vegetating and catching up on some work and scrapping after all the illness in the house this past month. Today we're off to see Rio at the movies, it's our one Easter splurge this year as we decided to forego the Easter Show. At $10 for a bouncy castle ride ($2 everywhere else!) we couldn't justify the money to wander around half empty pavilions trying to waste a couple of hours so we didn't feel totally ripped off.

The Easter Show used to be my favourite thing as a kid at Easter. Every year we'd go and spend hours in the pavilions looking at all the stalls before heading off to watch the horse jumping, log chopping or the like while eating hot chips and sauce. As the evening came in and the lights came on we'd venture up to the rides and I'd get to throw myself around and every which way on the rides - I loved the Rock 'n Roll - always made me suitably ill and scared... We'd tackle the Ghost Train and the Crazy House, we'd look at the animals and go watch some of the amazing free shows in the Logan Campbell Centre. We'd be there for a good 6 hours or more. In the end we'd happily head home with some cheap plastic prize from the laughing clowns (I once won a brake pedal cover), and a bag of candy floss and I'd fall asleep that night in the memory of the haze of bright lights and carnival music. The best year ever was when my mum and aunt took a stand at the show so we were given some money and free reign on the place while we were there... bliss...

I wish it was like that now. But you pay your $45 entry fee (family pass) and there's really nothing much there now. The Home Show came along and stole all the pavilion stands and now there's only a few stalls of Chinese imported plastic wonders and some mini rides inside. The same rides are repeated outside along with some that are too big for my kids to go on, and all really expensive. There's still the usual wood chopping and some of the shows are still really good, but without the free circus it's hard trying to kill time between events. I've read they've taken people's complaints on-board and will do something about the prices etc next year, I hope so as Lukey would be a better age for the rides then and both boys might get something out of it. I'd hate to see the show go altogether but there is definite room for improvement.

Anyway I have a new video for you for Shimmerz, this one also features some of the gorgeous lasercuts from a new Australian company - Flourish with a Bling. Check them out, they have some great stuff!

And the video:

 

Also a sneak peek of a couple of other things I've been working on...

full reveal shortly...

L x

Shimmerz and a Sassafras challenge!

First up a layout... this one was created for Aussie Scrap Source using Curio from Basic Grey and some gorgeous Prima.

Next, would you like the chance to be on the Sassafras Guest Design Team?

If so, read on (BUT BE QUICK - CLOSING SOON!)

This week Aussie Scrap Source bring you a very special, bumper edition of our weekend inspiration – and it comes with a really exciting invitation.  The team at Sassafras have agreed to be a part of our first Guest Design Team Challenge! 

What does this mean? 

This means, that over the next few weeks, if you send us your most amazing, most fabulous creations using your favourite Sassafras papers and embellishments, we will feature them all in a post on our blog, and the team from Sassafras will choose a winning artist.  The winner will receive a prize pack from Sassafras of a whole range of their newest products, which you will then use in projects to feature on the Sassafras blog as a Guest Design Team Member!

Check out the fine print for details below and, if you need Sassafras product for this challenge, check out your local scrapbooking store.  They will have received news about this promotion in our latest newsletter and will be stocking up on Sassafras products (the new lines from CHA have just arrived in the warehouse!) for you to use in your projects.

The fine print: 

1. You will need to include the following items from any of the Sassafras ranges:
   • at least one patterned paper and fat bottomed border strip
   • alphabet stickers
   • at least one embellishment (felties, foldies, whimsies, blossoms etc)
2. 100% of products in your project must be brands that Aussie Scrap Source represent.  See here for a list of all of our suppliers.
3. Projects must be emailed to [email protected] by Friday 25 March. Images need to be clear, bright and resized for the web (around 600-800 pix at 72 dpi).  Feel free to include close ups of any details you wish to highlight.
4. You are welcome to submit more than one project if you wish.
5. Projects can be layouts, cards or altered items.
6. The winner will be judged by the team at Sassafras,  the prize pack and appearance date on the Sassafras blog will be at their discretion.

 And last but not least - have you tried Shimmerz yet? Here's a quick rundown on them:

 

Firstly look at the COLOURS... seriously jaw dropping stuff. And they're so shimmery and beautiful, I seriously wish I could get you all here for a look through my albums just so you could see the amazing shimmer in real life. Anyway they come in a whole range of types too:

Shimmerz - premixed and highly irridescent, water-based paints. Non-toxic, quick-drying and will stick to nearly any surface.

Coloringz - highly pigmented spray paints that are flat when dry. They can be used by themselves or overlaid with any of the amazing Shimmeringz colours.

Shimmeringz - non-pigmented, highly irridescent spritz's that can be used on their own or layered over Coloringz, Shimmerz, Spritz or Vibez to add shimmer to your craft projects.

Vibez - awesomely irridescent spray on paints that get their name from their vibrant, deep colours that are intense from the first spritz! Easy to use and easy to clean up (no staining!).

  Pearlz - creamy, luxurious, water-based paints that are more opaque than Shimmerz or Blingz.

Spritz - waterbased formula for easy clean up and quick dry times and in a huge range of colours, these spray paints will add an amazing touch of shimmer to any project.

Blingz - just like the Shimmerz but with a more intense sparkle and a thicker consistency.

I'm not someone that will promote something I don't believe in, I totally love these products and the company gives the most amazing service. If you haven't seen them in your LSS then ask them to get some in or you can order directly from the website here: http://www.shimmerzpaints.com. You won't be disappointed and your work will take on a whole new dimension.

Keep an eye out soon for a new Shimmerz video too!

L x

Surrounded by boxes...

and only a few are filled with new scrapping goodies!! ;)

Just a quick post amidst the chaos that is a family of 4 with 2 businesses, 3 cats and a dog moving house.

These were a couple of layouts I did towards the end of last year (during what I am determined was my last mojo slump!!). I've learnt since then quite a lot of ways to try and get the mojo going when it's laying bored on the couch. I now have so many ideas to try and so many projects I really need to get done that I'll be just waiting on the packers to leave on Saturday. Mojo will have to be patient :) Oh and stay tuned for my list of mojo slump breakers!!

Sooo this one photographed a little crooked but it does line up in real life! I used the gorgeous Basic Grey Curio range for it and love the photo of my poor little man covered in chickenpox spots. Look at those cheeks... soooo squishable.

and this one... I really need to add some journalling to this one still...

And I can't remember if I showed this one either... This one I did last week and was feeling the mojo returning. The brief was to create my own background which I did with a mixture of gesso, gloss gel medium and various inks and sprays. I'll be posting a video with these techniques shortly using some of the gorgeous new Shimmerz sprays and paints :)

Hooray for the return of the mojo!

Also we now have the numbers to confirm the ArtLab is going ahead, there are still a couple of space available for this August workshop though so if you're keen to come along and have a fun, messy day and learn a tonne of new techniques then drop me a line. :)

The Indulgence retreat is also continuing to fill up nicely, this one's in October so you have time still to get some friends together and register to come along. I have a tonne of fun stuff planned for this one along with a few surprises and some great classes too!

Normal programming will return after the shift on Saturday, see you on the flip side :)

L :)

Oops... you blink and two weeks have flown by...

Crikey, mid February already! really? wow... it's been a crazy few weeks - we've sold our house and bought another one and are moving house again (and for the last time!) in two weeks' time. We weren't expecting to buy so quickly but the house we're moving to was up for auction so it was a case of either buy it now or not at all! as it was the property was passed in at auction so we did some hard negotiating and got. a. bargain. We'll be moving about 5 minutes away from where we are now, to a 3 bedroom house I lovingly describe as decorated in a 'circus' theme. Every wall is another colour of LOUD but nothing a coat of paint can't fix, plus it's private and peaceful with nice views over Double Bay and Shakespear Park. It ticks all the boxes for what I was wanting too - spacious living areas, views, aluminium joinery, newish house, 3 bedrooms, private, good sized section and affordable! No idea how we managed it all but someone upstairs must've been helping us.

Soooo now I have a house to pack up, work has gotten super busy, my scrapping commitments are back in and I have a house to clean top to bottom and a garden to sort out in preparation for real estate coming through with potential tenants this week.

I had a major mojo slump over the Christmas period too. I just couldn't find the motivation to get into my scrap room and do anything. I had ideas. I had new product. I just. couldn't. scrap. No matter what I tried I just couldn't get back into it, in fact until yesterday I hadn't actually achieved anything scrappywise since last December. Bit of a shock for me but it's coming back slowly. I think I work better under pressure, so now i have so much on all I want to do is throw some paint at some paper and create. Typical! lol

I have got a few things to share though, first up this layout that popped up over on the Aussie Scrap Source blog over the last couple of days:

This would be what I call the beginning of my mojo slump. I loved the papers but it just didn't work, I'll be redoing this one for sure.

This is a quickie I did for Shimmerz over the weekend. I like it but it's missing something, I think I'll be going back and adding some more details and oompf... stay tuned for a before and after!! lol

Oh quick rave about the new Shimmerz Shimmeringz and Coloringz though - they are GORGEOUS. Seriously beautiful and just having them there is beckoning me back to my scrap room again :)

Plus I did a video on how I made it...

 

I did create something I really do love yesterday though, I'll share that one soon! As you can tell I've been really dis-satisfied with my scrapping - that's probably why the lack of motivation to do it! I'm one of those people that has to do something perfectly or I don't want to do it at all (just like Joshie, yeah I know who he gets it from!). I remember being in tears as a kid when I broke my arm and had to write with my left hand. I copied my homework out half a dozen times trying to make it neat and HATED handing it in when it looked like a spider had crawled over the page. I still remember my teacher telling me I could've tried harder too, I was gutted and it's stayed with me even now. She had no idea.

After playing yesterday though, it really is creeping back. I'm enjoying playing again and just making whatever I do work instead of giving up on it and walking away. I'm looking forward to being settled in the new house and having a proper office to work from. One of our first jobs will be to build a large double garage that we'll convert to offices so both DH and I can have the space to do our jobs properly. I even plan on having scrap nights/classes from home there in the future, so if you're local... ;)

Anyway, enough from me, tonnes to do and a kiddo to get ready for school quick smart!

L x

In the days before Shimmerz...

I created this layout using the Oliver range from Basic Grey... (this has just popped up over on the Aussie Scrap Source blog and was done a few months ago now). I like this layout but now envisage it covered in Shimmerz... I'm addicted...

I do like this range though, and the layout was picked out of the BG gallery and won me a pack of the amazing Curio range (my all time favourite from BG!)... :)

I had a go at entering for the Websters DT (another all time fave team of mine) but with over 600 entries I apparently had a 0.0016% chance of getting in... lol... so not feeling too bad that I wasn't selected but congrats to the hugely talented group that were!! Special shout out to the lovely Steph Devlin and Iris Babao Uy, glad to know you guys and so happy for you both!

One of the items I submitted was this digi layout... I do love the fact that many of my favourite manufacturers are now offering their designs as digi too.

I realised when I entered that although I use WP a lot in my work, it's usually for stuff I can't share on the blog... DT application tip number 884: make sure you can show that you use the products for the DT you're entering!! lol...

Aaah well... off to spend the day scrapping with my little man who wants me to make him a train to go on some tracks he's spent ages drawing. Stay tuned for that one!

L x

Top 10 for 2010...

So here it is, my top 10 projects for the year (not including 2 of my all time favourite ones I can't show until they're published in a month or so)...

Number 10

Number 9

Number 8

Number 7

Number 6

Number 5

Number 4

Number 3

Number 2

and my favourite of the year (that I can show)... Number 1

What do ya reckon? good? bad? ok?

L x

Visions of Sugar Plums...

danced in his head...

I hope you're all enjoying a relaxing boxing day! :)

L x

Stranger things have happened...

yep I made some cards... I KNOW!! me? a cardmaker? who'd have thunk it? lol

I made these for the Aussie Scrap Source blog and really like them, in fact I'm planning on a quick mass production session to make some more! Instructions are over on the ASS blog, give them a go, they're really pretty quick to make!

Ho Ho Ho

L :) x