Wednesday, May 28, 2008

June Sketch on the Fiskars ANZ Blog

Thought I would quickly get this uploaded in between morning naps for bubs and preschool pick up here...

Here is my take on Trina's awesome June sketch on the Fiskars ANZ Blog ... Such a fun one to work with...

I printed the larger photo onto canvas paper in color and printed the smaller photos onto photo paper in sepia to create a contrast.

I loved working with the Cloud 9 rub ons as they work really well.. plus they added the little bit extra I was looking for at the end as they were a last minute addition.

I played around with how I was going to use the Scrap boss to add some embossing to my layout. I ended up with a scroll and lightly saned it on the "right" side to expose the core color. I still wanted to add some dimension to it so out came my embossing pen and some clear embossing powder and TA DAAA added dimension to the scroll... With the scraps I had I embossed a butterfly. I saned and embossed again to add dimension and then cut it out. Adding a few beads to the centre of the wings and folding in the centre it was ready to fly off of my page.

Lastly my sewing machine got a bit of a work out too to add to the page... I added some beads and sequin flowers and then it was all done... Fairly simple though I feel very effective...

Why not pull out your embossing stuff and have a play.... you will be amazing at the amazing things that you can come up with....

Products used for this were:

Heidi Grace - Cherrywood Lane - Embossed paper and double sided

Bazzill

Cloud9 Layer Me "Love" Rub ons

Beads and Sequin Flowers

Music Note Paper

Antiquing Ink

Embossing Powder and Pen

Tools used:

Fiskars Stylus

Fiskars Paper Trimmer

Fiskars Embossing Templates and Scrap Boss

Fiskars Microtip Scissors

Sewing Machine

Jar Bottom





Enjoy... Happy scrapping and thanks for looking...

Cheers Michelle

Fiskars “Xmas in July” Crop

Following the huge success of our Easter Eggstravaganza
We are in the planning stages of our next Fiskars Crop.
Are you looking to get a head start on your Xmas cards and presents ?
Do you enjoy getting together with other to have fun ?
Then this is the day for you !

The day will be filled with fun games, exciting new techniques and lucky door prizes.
The details so far are:

FISKARS “XMAS IN JULY” CROP
Date : 12th July 2008
Time: 10 till 5 pm
Venue Address: Sheidow Park

All kits will be provided for the workshop

Morning Tea and Lunch will be provided

At the moment we are taking bookings to work out numbers for the day.

Numbers will be limited so you will need to book early to avoid disappointment.

For further details please contact me on: mlwallace@internode.on.net

Here are a few pictures from our last crop




Wednesday, May 14, 2008

My second home...my scrap space

I must say that my scrap room does seem like my second home... I spend a lot of my days in this room... It is my space that I can do what I like it and express myself through my scrapbooking.

I was lucky enough when we built our house almost 6 years ago in the southern suburbs of Adelaide to have the extra space to turn into a craft room. At the time I had started scrapbooking, but not to the degree that I do it now. So the room started with a basic desk and storage shelves down one side for all my crafts. The room also was used for when we had guests stayed, so there was a fold away bed and daybed there too. My husband is into trains so the room was shared between us with his smaller train set up on a small layout about 3m x 1.5m.

As things progressed with my scrapbooking and I begun to run workshops from home the room changed...I added a trestle table for teaching and supplies began to be stored on wire cubes I made up. Unfortunately for me...lol... my husbands train set also increased in size and he jokes about having to ask "the real estate agent" (Me !) for more "land". So for us the room changed drastically as my addiction/passion for scrapbooking grew and my husband's train layout grew to a "L" 3m x 3m layout. Out went the daybed and fold out bed... the trestle table left also as I started teaching at a LSS.

I guess the main thing is that my room holds many happy memories so far in the short time that it has been created. It is forever changing to allow for new additions to my ever increasing stash. The best part though is it is a room used by the family but they all know it as "Mum's Scraproom". The things I will always remember about my scraproom are:

* buying out all the Big W stores in Adelaide of their wire cube sets to make up shelves..ended up with well over 15 packs !!
* moving my new solid timber computer desk into the scraproom at 6pm at night off the top of the 4WD, dragging it through the attic window on planks of wood 'cause it wouldn't go up the stairs OR in through the attic door as desk was too big... not to self.. buy flat pack furniture that is not too heavy!
* reorganising the room what seemed a gazillion times due to ever increasing stash
* DS Nate being most distraught as when we moved the trestle table out to put in my new cupboards for paper storage.... he now had nowhere to scrap ! I reassured him that I would work out a new "space" for him to scrap!
* Finding a use for all those formula tins that pile up to be recycled. I managed to find a use for 40 of them. Great for embossing powders..gel pens..ribbons..glass beads.. etc.
* Most of all my Dymo is my best friend... I labelled everything..literally!.

I love my room... I like it to be tidy and clean up after each spurt of scrapping I do... I like to be able to find things when I want them. Having it set up the way I have now.. my older kids can scrap with me without being under my feet. While my youngest is free to roam and play in the scraproom and adjacent rumpus room, giving me time to do what I love. I am lucky that my children share my craft and that I can scrap with them being around no problems... though I know that they have all grwon up with Mum scrapbooking something so they see it as normal... the daily question I get from my son is " Are you going upstairs to scrap today ?"... Mind you the cutest thing any of my kids have done that made me think that maybe I do it too often was when my son was 2 years old and playing with my eldest daughter Barbies. He had two Barbie's in the Barbie car and "dropped" one off at a pot plant.. when I asked why Barbie was there.. I was proudly informed she was going SCRAPBOOKING !!!!...

Okay enough dribble from me... Mind you I must say... you can never do too much scrapbooking in my mind... Enjoy my space.

Cheers M x

Sunday, May 4, 2008

What does scrapbooking mean to me ?

What does scrapbooking mean to me ?

This is a very easy question for me to answer...

Scrapbooking for me is like the air I need to breathe.. the food I need to eat to survive.. and basically it is my whole being...

Okay it may sound a bit dramatic .. but I am very passionate about my scrapbooking. To understand this a bit better you need to understand me a little better.. to do this I will keep brief... well as brief as I can...

From a young age I hide my feelings due to a strained childhood.. children were seen and not heard and the eldest child had huge things expected from them... Leaving home at a young age I learnt that life was tough and not what I had expected...Relationships for me proved to be very detructive to myself being and I was walked all over...While most people experience joy at falling pregnant I unfortunally did not have such lucky feeling the joy only worry and sadness.. I have been blessed to have 3 gorgeous children.. but in order to do so, experienced 2 miscarraiges, 1 premature birth resulting in baby dying and 1 pregnancy having to be terminated due to baby no growing...

When I discovered scrapbooking I had already 2 children. I found that for me scrapbooking was a way to release the feelings that I kept bottled up due to my past. I found that I was able to relive the many happy moments that one tend to forget due to the bad memories taking over.

Another reason I scrapbooked was because my eldest daughter asked about her childhood and the things she had been up to. For me being able to record the major milestones along with the things that may seen small was important. My scrapbook layouts I feel express my emotions and memories of the moment. I also feel that it is another way for me to be able to show my family just how much that I love them.

So.. yes... probably very deep, but it is why I scrapbook and what it means to me. I love being able to help other preserve their memories and express themsleves trough scrapbooking.

Enough said ... Happy scrapping...

M x

Saturday, May 3, 2008

More Layouts to share

Here are a few layout that I have made recently using the Heidi Grace paper range and Heidi Grace project sheets which are avaliable form BigW here in Adelaide at the moment.







They were heaps of fun to play around with. Thanks for looking.

Cheers and happy scrapping

M x

Quick Share of some Layouts

Hello there everyone...

Just thought I would share with you a few layouts that I have done recently.

I was lucky enough to have been chosen to do a secret mission for the 3 Fiskateers at the the Fiskateers site. The theme was "Don't theme me".. the idea was to create layouts or OTP items with heart raindots by Cloud9 and Valentine's ribbon by Cloud9. However the layout were NOT to be Love, Romance or Valentine related.

These are the two layouts that I had published on the Fiskateers site at the start of April:



Pure Bliss- This layout I create with a photo I had taken a few years ago on a scrapbooking retreat.. when this challenge came in I knew this would work really well. The colours in the photo I felt suited this paper. The photo for me was a special on… YES I know a food photo may seem like a strange thing to be special but for me it was. It was taken at my first scrapbooking retreat away from my family and to me was a perfect start to the day. I had always known I wanted to scrap this photo and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.
My tip with this layout for everyone is to not be scared to hand cut your titles. I am a big fan of the finger tip knife and it is now my new best friend. The definition and ease of use has made hand cutting my titles so much more appealing to me. I am able to recycle cardboard from the house so much easier now. I adhered some of the Heidi Grace paper onto the cardboard, traced the title out and cut it all out with ease with my trusted faithful friend. Once I had lightly sanded the edges to tidy it up I applied a thin coat of Dimensional magic to give it a nice gloss finish.



Precious - This layout took a little longer for me to create. I had the basic layout worked out and knew what photo I wanted to use.. though was unsure how to embellish this layout. It also took me a little while to work out the title for this one. I love my children’s eyes as they away seem to talk another language… if you know what I mean. I love working with these colours too as they are not your traditional baby themed colours, which suit her personality, as she is almost like a little adult and not a true “baby baby”…I used the baby range of Fiskars stamps to stamp in the centre of the flowers before I adhered the heart rain dot on top.
My tip for this layout is to remember that hand stitching can be fun. I draw what I want to stitch onto my layout first to play out with what it looks like. Then I go along once happy with my design and used my paper piercer to make the holes to stitch. Then I let myself go and stitched away to my hearts content. For a little added bling I had add some of the rain dots to the stitching decorations to give it a little extra.
Another quick tip too… don’t forget that if you have any left over alphabet sticks from other another paper range that you can colour them to suit your layout using permanent markers. Then add a bit of Dimensional magic to create a whole new look.

Lastly this is another layout I created at the same time for the mission but didn't get published due layout number restrictions.

Miss K.





Thanks for looking...

Happy scrapping M x

Hippetty Hoppetty it's a blog hopping we go !!!

This is just soooo exciting and sooo much fun....

Welcome to my home away from home for those of you who haven't visited me before...

So here we are... with a little help from my fellow Fiskars Ambassadors from around Australia and New Zealand we are bringing you so much fun today...

I guess I will start with letting those of you that may not know me yet get to know a few things about me..

I am a stay at home mum to three, Jhane 10yrs, Nate 4 yrs and Kiah just turned 1yrs. I am married to a wonderful husband who supports my addiction to scrapbooking. I live here in Adelaide, South Australia and am lucky to be the South Australian Ambassador for Fiskars. In my free time I teach scrapbooking. I have been scrapbooking for almost 6 years now and am totally hooked. I love teaching and sharing ideas.

Well that is me... short version of course... could dribble on forever...lol...lol..

Have been waiting what seems like forever for this day to arrive... Scrapbooking's biggest worldwide event.... National Scrapbooking Day !!! how amazing is it that there is an actual day dedicated just to SCRAPBOOKING !!! It is just so amazing...

So keeping the blog hop happening... I hope that you are enjoying yourself while you find out a bit more about us all...also don't forget to keep your words handy so that you able to put together the special sentence to be in it to win some cool prizes...

So here is your clue from me:

For your next word
SEARCH THIS BLOG
(ANZ Fiskars Blog http://fiskarscraft.typepad.com/my_weblog/)
for
CLOUD 9 PRODUCT LINE

to find the blog of the Kiwi Ambassador that created this amazing layout for Easter.



She will have a new post up on her blog at 12.30pm (Aussie time).

Don't forget your secret word too:

AND


Why not take part in the workshop run by Trina on the ANZ Fiskars site...don't forget to check out the sketches too by Trina and Dawn..

Most of all have fun and happy scrapping !

Cheers Mx