SAM Challenge - Olivia

Its challenge time at Stampamemory - this time you are challenged to scrap a photo that is more than 10 years old - not such a problem when you are as behind with your scrapbooking as I am :)

Olivia was almost three when we had this photo taken.  A local photographer asked us if he could take Olivia's photo for a Kodak competition - it wasn't the winning pose but we did get to keep about 50 proofs and her photo hung in the shop window forever and a day.

I've used Sunny Garden DSP - such a lovely pack of paper - perfectly co-ordinated with the In-Colours - oh and the Cottage Garden stamp set.  After placing all the pieces I stamped the outlined flower and cut around - using In-Colour brads for the centres.  

Can you spot the one of the new punches from the Autumn Winter Mini?  It's brilliant - fits well with Oval punches too - I think this will be a popular punch for this mini.

There are a series of carry over products from the Summer Mini including the Lattice embossing folder - so I've cut the alphas out and then run them through the folder to create the title 2 Cute.

So now it is your turn - dig through your old photos and see what you are inspired to create - don't forget to post a link to your blog or send a photo to one of us and we will upload it for you.

Happy scrapping!

Nikki

x

Summer Mini Blog Hopping Loveliness

By now I am sure you will have drooled over the new Summer Mini - so many yummy new products.  This little blog hop is focusing on just that - Summer Mini loveliness.

You may have just arrived from the wonderful Kathryn Manglesdorf site ... or you may be starting right here .... don't worry, a hop is a full circle, keep clicking through and you'll visit all of the blogs along the way ... all 9 of them!

When I saw the Presto Patterns Speciality Designer Series Papers they were the first item on my shopping list.

These papers are so beautiful.  There are 12 sheets in a pack and they are 'cover-weight' ... which in layman's terms means the paper is 'thick' LOL.  Its almost like an embossed clear image that appears right before your eyes, without the need for embossing powders and a heat gun.  The vintage patterned papers come to life when you apply ink to them.  Here I have used a sponge and just rubbed ink onto the page but you could use a brayer or some Smooch Spritz.

Now to be honest I probably over did the Smooch Spritz ... but these little pearlised accent sprays add a splash of colour to the page ... very sparkly and it is a Christmas page afterall.  The colours I chose were Pacific Point, Marina Mist and Pear Pizzaz - I tried to match the more prominent colours of the photos.

You'll notice there is even some stitching, a Big Shot punched snowflake and a few of the Delightful Decorations baubles along with lots of torn edges and even some sparkly rhinestones.  The journalling is on a page from the Hostess Level One paper pack - screwed up and Smooch Spritz'd for good measure.  

Can you see anything else from the Summer Mini?  I sneeked in an Itty Bitty Bits heart and little button - if you haven't seen these they are just so cute (if you click on the photo above you should get to see it a little clearer) .... I'll have a card or two to show you (once I've gotten them out of my head and on cardstock LOL) .. these are just so cute and great for adding just a little bit extra to your cards and pages.

And here is a close up of the photo - we always put together a collage of photos to send with our Christmas cards and letter each year.  Our letter is tucked in behind the photo - there's a little tag of ribbon attached to it to make it easier to pull out and read in years to come.

Lots of memories from 2010.  Well I had better let you hop along ... off you go to check out the lovely Tina Gillespie to see what she is showcasing today.

Back next week with Sale-a-bration news and more of those little Itty Bitty Bits.

Have a lovely weekend.

Love Nikki

x

 

Stampamemory Challenge - Spring!

The challenge this month is Spring - I hummed and arrrhhhed for ages .... did I choose flowers, the new veggie patch .... tulips?  I settled for our new garden residents ... a little family of Blackbirds and some Collar Doves.

Wild Wasabi is my new favourite green - and yes your eyes are not deceiving you - the cardstock is wonky under the title ... having completed the page I put it onto the bench in the kitchen ready to photograph it ... right in a puddle of water ... ooops!

Hop on over to the Stampamemory site to enter the challenge - we'd love to see all of your entries.

 

 

Greenhouse Gala Layout

I have a layout posted on the Stampamemory Site - click here to check it out.

 

Cherish

All little sneak peek of a scrapbooking layout that has been published on the Stampamemory site .... pop on over and take a look.

ESAD Blog Hop

I know I have been away from blogging for a week or two but other things have taken over my life again.  So I thought I'd give my blog a spring clean, bring in some flowers and summery colours and rectify my absence by  starting with a hop; an ESAD Big Shot Hop! 

If you've hopped over from Jan McAnulty's blog welcome ... and if you haven't don't worry, start here because blog hops are a circle and you can hop on and hop off wherever you wish.

From the alphas to the embossing folders to the Top Note die - I am in love with my Bertie Big Shot :)

Here's a close up of the new Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder - I embossed this Chocolate Chip piece of cardstock as a whole piece .... to do this trim an A4 piece of cardstock to the same width and double the length of the folder.  Then run the cardstock and embossing folder through the Big Shot twice, once from one end and then turn it round and emboss the other half - therefore embossing both ends of the cardstock.  

The Top Note die is a brilliant shape to use as a journalling panel.

Now, if I could find the details of whose who in this photo I would have journalled this so that you could see - what I do know is that the lady is my great grandmother and the gentlemen are my grandfather and his brothers - isn't it just lovely to have photos like this.

The colours I have used are Chocolate Chip, More Mustard and Basic Black together with a sheet of the new designer series paper Newsprint.  I screwed this lovely piece of paper into a ball and then smoothed it out again .... and used a sponge with some Chocolate Chip ink to age it a little. 

Now before I let you hop off to the next blog .... I'd really like to tell you about ESAD.  ESAD stands for Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators and it is an online group just for Australian and New Zealand demonstrators for Stampin’ Up!

We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors but we share our love for what we do with each other as Demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know how and cyberstamps and we are always there to help and support each other when its needed.  So if you are a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group.

 

Do you want to win prizes?  If you leave a comment on every blog in this hop, you will go in the draw for some blog candy (items or products donated the participating demonstrators!) . To be in the running, just email Leonie at when you have visited and commented on every blog so that she can put you in the draw (customers only please).

 

Okay time to hop along .... off to the wonder world of Angela Purdie - have a great time.

 

 

SAM Creative Challenge

After a very long break we are back ... and thank goodness we are, because I haven't scrapbooked for ages :)  This month's challenge is a sketch - check out all the details here at the Stampamemory site  ... and here's my take on it ... 

The beginning of the new catalogue has left me feeling like my wings have been clipped - with so few colours and only two packs of Designer Series Paper I struggled to put this page together.  Roll on my first order arriving - I've included all the new colours and some new pattern papers :)

Baja Breeze is now part of the permanent colour range and I love the new Greenhouse Gala papers .... such beautiful colours and I can't wait to see the Daffodil Delight and Pear Pizzazz colours in real life.

When I was looking through my photos I couldn't believe that Marmalade hadn't been scrapped before. Olivia made her fat ginger striped cat in Braehead, a large shopping centre outside of Glasgow.  I was food shopping with Kieran who was a baby at the time and Paul and Olivia went to The Bear Factory and came out with Marmalade. I can still remember her running up to me with a cardboard box, Marmalade's head sticking out one side and his tail outside the other .... he has been attached to Olivia's side ever since ... he was over-stuffed and kitted out in a pair of blue and cream PJ's, I know that he will be moving into her first home with her .... he is one very loved ginger and cream cat.  He even has his own birth certificate and passport :)

When Olivia was very little, she used to squeal with delight because Marmalade could 'talk' to me ... he'd tell me all sorts of things .... like it was bath time or that Olivia needed to go to bed because it was way past her bedtime .... he is one very special cat.  I've managed to wash the PJ's a few times but I have never been brave enough to actually wash the cat :)

Hope that you can join in our sketch challenge- if nothing else taking part in these challenges ensures you create at least one page per month ... that's twelve a year .... and if you are like me and need a deadline to create then the new monthly SAM challenge will come in handy.

Looking forward to seeing all of your creations.

 

Stencilling with Punches

Click here to see my latest scrapbooking page on the Stampamemory site ... 

 Pop back for more inspiration next week.

 

 

Stampamemory Challenge

Its Stampamemory Challenge time again - hosted by Di Gill, the theme for this challenge is to create a layout about your family pet or your favourite animal. If you don't have a pet, you may have a photo of an animal you liked at the zoo, or perhaps you've even been on safari! This challenge is all about enjoying animals!'pets' - it can be a favourite photo of your own pet.

So here's my layout.  I struggled with the simplicity of the page for a while - I'd prefer a few more embellishments - but it has grown on me the more I have sat looking at it.

The colours used are Yoyo Yellow and Real Red, and I've created the matching button using the clear buttons and a piece of Yoyo Yellow paper - attached together with a small piece of Linen Thread.  The letters have been stamped using Jumbo Outline Alphabet and then punched out using the square punches. 

So if you'd like to be in with a chance to win a choice of one of 'C is for Cat' or 'D is for Dog' stamp sets then hop on over to the SAM website and make sure you get your entries in - all the 'fine print' is there but if you want me to load your project here for you just let me know.

Making Merry Monday will be back later this week .... it's been AWOL for a week or so .... but it will return!

 

Art With Heart Team Blog Hop - Celebrations

Welcome to another Art With Heart Team Blog Hop! Who are the Art with Heart team? Lead by Claire Daly, there are over 90 demonstrators across Australia ... if you want to be come part of this great team just email me for more details. We have a great team forum, Business Building Club and heaps of support from like minded demonstrators. 

You may have just come from Sue Madex's blog, but if you are starting here, don’t worry … you can make the complete journey just by following the links at the end of each post. There are over 10 stops along the way and we hope you will visit each one to see the wonderful creations we have to show you! If you leave a comment on each and every blog and then email me, Nikki at nikki@inkyart.com.au, your name will be put into the hat to win some beautiful blog candy. There is a deadline of 72 hours to leave your comments and only non SU demos are eligible to win the candy - although we'd love all visitors to leave some comments please. 

So this month's tour has a theme of Celebrations. At the end of each post there will be a link to take you to the next stop on the tour. It would be fantastic if you could leave a comment on each blog! So grab a cuppa, and set off on what we are hoping will be an inspirational journey!

I've had this idea in my head for a little while now - perhaps I have seen something similar, I often spy things like colours on billboards and display layouts in brochures and think that would make a good scrapbooking page.

Once I had decided on the colours (I was a little 'hung up' on the coral colour of Olivia's top) .... it came together so quickly.

I've used the Large and Small star punches to create heaps of different stars from the Bella Bleu designer series paper and the Kraft and Night of Navy cardstock.  I also used the Classic Stars roller, some twine and a couple of pieces of taffeta ribbon.  I sponged everything ... including my fingers - Night of Navy ink everywhere!  The stars have been punched with the Crop-o-Dile and threaded onto the twine - I've then positioned them where I wanted them to be - adding a bit of snail adhesive here and there to keep them in place.

and the journalling reads ...

Sweet Fourteen!

What does a 14 year old want for her birthday?

A GHD hair straightener of course!

oh and a couple of beads for her

Pandora bracelet.

And I surprised you with your card ....

There isn't a 14 year old in the land that doesn't love 

Twilight

It took a lot of research for an 'uncool' mum to find

out that this is Bella's truck, thanks to a Stampin' Up!

friend for stamping the images for me ...

and a cool website that gave me the quote ...

Gee it's hard keeping up with a 14 year old :o)

I hope this inspires you to create a Celebrations scrapbooking page - get out those punches - they really do make a page very easy to create.

Well, that’s all from me. Now you’re off to enjoy the beautiful creations of Alisha Watson, a very special lady who is very creative.

And don't forget to enter the draw for some candy.

 

SAM Challenge - A 'Shaped' Layout

Challenge time again ....  Ros has been the Challenge Master this month and wants to you to create ... 

"A 'shaped' layout, not your standard typical square or rectangle shaped layout."

I have to confess I struggled with this concept ...being a 12 x 12 girl, the thought of making something a different shape was hard .... I started by trying to draw the Eiffel Tower, then the Sydney Harbour bridge .... neither worked, then I was watching my son sort though his one milion and one footie cards and hey presto .... inspiration and a Footie Top!

It's a very simple layout but I think the effect of the shirt shape makes it look a little more special.

Because the photo was so large there was no room for journalling ... so I created a little journalling tag using the Top Note Die Cut and left one side of the photo 'open' so that the tag can be removed.

 There were some additional expenses for this page too ... another packet of footie cards to replace the ones I have used on the page ... :o)

Ssshhh don't tell anyone, I do have a confession to make, this page will be going into our album as a 12 x 12 page :o)

So now it is your turn ... can you make a shaped layout?  Upload it to the Stampamemory website here ... or send your images to me and I'll post them here on my site for you.  The prize is a choice of either On Board So Tweet Chipboard or On Board Batch Of Blooms - so certainly worth creating a page and entering our competition.

 

Celebrating Friendships

I have a new layout posted today over at the Stamp A Memory site .... you can check it out HERE!  Stamp A Memory offers great scrapbooking inspiration for the Stampin' Up! customer as well as challenges every fortnight .... with Stampin' Up! products as prizes!

I've used the new Vintage Vogue set from the Autumn Winter mini - if you'd like a copy and haven't ordered from me before (and don't already have a demonstrator of course :o)), drop me a line and I'll put one in the post for you.

Back tomorrow with the third Art with Heart team blog hop - more Autumn Winter yummies to whet your appetite ... another new set from me ... Cottage Garden.