DATE: 02/28/2009 07:54:47 PM
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So, my mojo continues with its absence and I haven't scrapped or created anything worthwhile in quite some time. I dunno, I just do not enjoy creating at the moment full stop.
It was the same last year, I needed to take some time out and just ignore the hobby and do something else - so I guess it's back to knitting for a month or two :)
But before I go back in my hidey hole (there will still be blog posts, most of them have been scheduled) I have to show you the gorgeous new {upsy daisy designs} embellies. They are brand new and have sold out before the girls could even put it on their site. Aren't those brads just da bomb?? I just love the bling ones, which can be used singly or put together like a flowe. And what about those funky bottle cap style ones??
I leave you with the {graphic 45} stuff I did, when I was still intending to submit for their call. I will no longer do this, as these projects just proved to me that I am really not with it at the moment. It didn't flow, the card and layout are just not me...they feel "forced". If I cannot commit 100% to something, then I am not gonna do it and in my current state of mind, even the lushness of their papers do not excite me...waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Please don't think I did this as a pity-post in order to get comments > far from it. And I seriously do not intend to sound dramatic, I just wanted to make sure you all know why there might be nothing craft related going on for a month or so (apart from the scheduled posts). But who knows - my creative battery might even be recharged within a week or two - you never know with fickle ole me :)
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Material used:
Layout - Family Dinner
Papers: Graphic 45
Embellishments: Stickers, tag - Rusty Pickle; Buttons - Scrapitude; Rub Ons - Cherry Arte
Tools: Edge Distresser - Making Memories; Border Punch - Martha Stewart
Card - Happy Birthday
Cardstock: Papermill
Papers: Graphic 45
Embellishments: Rub Ons - Upsy Dasiy Designs; Buttons, Ribbon - Scrapitude
Tools: Circle Punch - EK Success
Project - Girl
Papers: Graphic 45
Embellishments: Chipboard letter - Basic Grey; Plastic letters - Heidi Swapp; Buttons, Ribbon, Pin - Scrapitude
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TITLE: A woman obsessed....
DATE: 02/27/2009 01:30:00 PM
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...that would be me
No, no - not the {glitter}, even though that is still going strong and I have since added to my family of sparklies by adding a purple glitter eyeshadow - I am talking still going strong with my {def leppard} fascination
Right now I am terribly upset that I already booked the flights in June to see my parents and my buddy {nat}, because the Leps are headlining {donington} a few days beforehand. I would have gone had I known a month ago *sobs* but as it stands now, I just cannot afford both - so I cheered myself up by ordering a {hoodie}.
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TITLE: Cuttlebug - Be Inspired #20
DATE: 02/25/2009 01:30:00 PM
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The day is finally here!!! {valerie salmon} is our GDT over at the {cbc}.
Isn't her sketch just darling? I saw it and feel in love and the same can be said for the rest of the CBC-DT. We have been drooling over this for some time now.
Thanks to the sketch my card was done within ten minutes and I really love how it turned out. Another reason why I love {mme} papers so much - the double-sided ones have a white core and you can sand them perfectly after embossing. For this particular card I have used the Textile Embossing Folder..one of my faves even though I don't seem to use it that often. I adore its elegant feel. The base flower was punched with the {ek success retro flower} tool and embossed with the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder.
The brown twig of leaves was cut with my {cricut}, using the Home Accents cartridge. Notice that cute birthday label? That is from the {melissa frances} ticket book - I bought that from {noel mignon} who has the coolest selection of Melissa Frances stuff. She delivers super quick and has awesome customer service!
Enough "shop" talk now though. Don't forget to play along to Valerie's challenge. Add your submission via the Mr Linky section on {this} post and you'll be in with a chance to win the FREE {got sketch} pass.
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"Happy Birthday" Card
Cardstock: Papermill
Papers: My Mind's Eye
Embellishments: Ticket - Melissa Frances; Stickers - Making Memories Tiny Alpha
Tools: Cricut, Cuttlebug, Tracing Wheel
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TITLE: All that glitters...and CP Sketch #3
DATE: 02/23/2009 01:30:00 PM
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My obsession when it comes to make-up has always been liquid eyeliner in black, but lately I keep adding the glittered kind :)
My latest fave is the silver - you would think I just turned twenty *rollseyes*
But seriously, at the moment you will not catch me going out of the house without sparkly eyes.
Guess I have started my mid-life crisis early.
The newest sketch has gone live yesterday at {card patterns} and once again, as soon as I saw it I had a project in mind. That's what I love about the CP sketches so far - I look at them and see the finished project in my head.
A couple of days ago I received a delivery of {graphic 45} papers and I am telling you that if you love shabby chic, then they are a MUST HAVE for you. Yep, I admit I bought the papers because G45 have a {dt call} right now and I will be submitting for it. Why? Mainly because the designs of the papers are different, vintage and funky at the same time. And secondly - why not?
Anyhoo, I digress - back to Card Patterns: I wanted to create a shabby chic card for the recent sketch and this is what I came up with
Before I leave, if you are a Rock-fan you might want to check out {this band}. The cousin from one of my best online buddies plays the guitar and writes the songs for the band and I think their music is kinda cool. Some of it reminds me of {nickleback} while Lyndon thinks some tunes sounds like {stone temple pilots}. My fave is "Save Me" and when you click on the above link it will take you to the bands' Myspace site and samples of the songs start playing automatically.
Have a fab Sunday, y'all
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Warm Wishes - Card
Cardstock: Hero Arts
Papers: Graphic45
Rub Ons: Frances Meyer - Flowers; October Afternoon - Words
Tag: Rusty Pickle
Tools: Sewing Machine; Stampin' Up Scallop Punch; Tracing wheel
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TITLE: Valerie Salmon at CBC!!
DATE: 02/20/2009 10:07:38 PM
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At the {cuttlebug challenge blog} we are all terribly excited to welcome {valerie salmon} as a Guest Designer!!!!
Valerie is a very well-known and successful scrapbook/paper crafts designer and instructor. A Creative Team member for {scrapbooks etc} and {fiskars}, Valerie has been published hundreds of times and won many accolades.
Valerie has created a wonderful sketch not only for us all to play with and I can tell you - I *heart* that sketch. The DT have done an amazing job with the sketch and we hope you will all check back {here} on the 25th of February 2009 to have a browse, get inspired and play along!
From all submissions, Valerie herself will draw a winner who will receive a FREE membership to the awesome {got sketch} blog, full of wonderful inspo and classes with Valerie!
I know I shouldn't really but I still leave you with a wee sneaky of my project :)
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TITLE: Cuttlebug - Be Inspired #19
DATE: 02/18/2009 01:30:00 PM
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I am super excited to share my first Cuttlebug Challenge Blog DT project with you. This week it is all about embossing acetate (transparencies). Tell you the truth that was actually one of the first things I tried to emboss when I got my Bug and I totally adore the possibilities.
For this card I though it would be cute to make a little peep-hole and cover this with the embossed acetate.
Here's a frugal crafting tip: You don't need to buy acetate or transparencies -> just use the clear packaging that many scrapbooking embellishments/supplies come in. For my example I cut up a Heidi Swapp Flower package. Clever, hu?
Please take a moment to check out what the other DT girls did over at the blog {here}
And don't forget to play along - we will pick an overall favourite from all submissions!
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Materials used:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Paper: Cosmo Cricket
Embellishments: Rub On - Hambly; Bling - Glitz; Chipboard Clock - Heidi Swapp; Stamp - Hero Arts; Button - Sei
Tools: Cuttlebug Ebossing Folder - Swiss Dots
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TITLE: Hmpfh
DATE: 02/15/2009 12:48:45 PM
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Ok, so I was REALLY looking forward to this weekend - like, "counting-down-the-hours" excitement. It just HAD to turn out scrap in the end.
Now, I don't care about all the Valentine's Day stuff, that was not why this weekend was so important to me - but we decided that Saturday was to be our "off-the-rails" day. Since we started living our healthy living lifestyle we decided one weekend per month we are gonna eat and drink whatever we like and how much we like. And it feels most sensible to use the second weekend of each month.
So, this weekend was to be it. We got the wines and pizza in, set up all our favourite movies, had the scones and tea ready for the afternoon and then....I got hit by the worst bout of PMT I had in like five years...I was in such a ratty mood it wasn't funny.
Everything pissed me off, none of my scrappy things gone right and I didn't even enjoy the scones (unheard of, really!). It got so bad that I sat in my craft room and tore up almost all my papers. Yup, you read that right - I was so angry at everything that I had one of those "I-hate-scrapping-and-I-will-never-touch-any-crafting-stuff-again" moods.
First, all American Crafts and Basic Grey was shredded (I can't stand the stuff anyway) and then I slowly but surely calmed down and only tore those papers which I knew I would never use anyway (those were generally from Kits or bought in a Sale).
In the end I was left with papers I really love and my mood gotten better too :)
So, now I was able to enjoy the remainder of my weekend, right? Wrong!
I did not enjoy the Pizza as much as I thought I would and the wine, well I would have just been ok with some ice cold water. And I hated everything I created over the weekend - two cards and one layout ended up being ripped to pieces....
Thankfully I managed to get a grip on myself and I actually did manage to complete a couple of cards for the {cbc} blog for the upcoming weeks.
Now I have to go back feeling sorry for myself :)
Oh, here is one card I finished which I can share already. One of Lyndon's uncles sadly died the other day. It was expected, as he had been very ill for a long time but still, you never seem to be quite ready for the news....I really struggle with sympathy cards
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Material used
Cardstock: Bazzill, Papermill
Stickers: Making Memories Tiny Alpha
Embellishments: Flower - Making Memories; Brad - Papermania; Ribbon - May Arts
Tools: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Swiss Dots
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TITLE: I am a Cuttlebug Challenge Girl....
DATE: 02/10/2009 09:02:12 PM
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I guess now I can spill the beans and be officially TOTALLY stoked that {maggie} asked my to join the Senior DT over at the {cuttlebug challenge blog}. You all know how much I loved playing along to the challenges already and being part of that amazing team is super exciting!!!
The DT Members are amazing and I am sure you will recognize quite a few of those names as having being mentioned on my blog for being super-inspirations crafters. How happy am I to be on such a fabulous team!
Anyhoo - just a quick heads up to let you know there are new challenges, inspirationals and tuotorials posted on the following days of the week:
- Monday - Rendevouz Mondays
- Wednesday - Be Inspired (I will be participating in those)
- Friday - Fab Friday
- Saturday - Variety
- Sunday - Creatively Yours Spotlight (another one I will participate in)
There are EXCITING times ahead at CCB and there are many prizes to be won - I should know, coz I was lucky enough to be a winner some time back...he he
Hope to see you all playing with us
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TITLE: Getting Fitter
DATE: 02/09/2009 10:51:00 AM
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Well, what can I say? All the hard work I put into my work out does pay off....
My regular routine is to work out 10 minutes every day on my {elliptical trainer} when I come in from work, while my dinner is cooking. I allow myself one day per week to slack if I feel like it but on the weekends I work out 30 minutes each day.
Yep, it does get a bit boring, but I tend to either watch a DVD or listen to my iPod - so the time does pass quite quicker.
I have noticed that I have dropped at least half a dress size within three weeks of working out and eating healthy. Trousers that wouldn't fit my in December are now comfortable, which means that my UK size 14 trousers are now really loose and I am loving that!
Lyndon is doing great with his healthy eating plan too but we both allow ourselves one day per month where we go totally off the rails and eat and drink whatever we like - February 14th here we come :)
Other than that, I am giddy about the fact that I have won another fabulous T-shirt on Ebay from the same seller as my Def Lep one...lookey
And I also managed to create one more card this morning before my mojo decided to go walkies again *sigh*
I also got another award - YAY!!! This time from the lovely {elaine}. Thanks so much chicken, I appreciate that you thought of me! I don't have a blog at hand to which I woud like to link y'all right now...sorry about that.
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Materials used:
Card "Smile"
Cardstock: Bazzill
Papers: October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket
Embellishments: Button, String - Scrapitude; Plastic letters - Heidi Swapp
Tools: Cuttlebug Die & Emboss "Ice Crystal"
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TITLE: GDT and other TOOT ;-) - Good Mail Day
DATE: 02/07/2009 09:06:09 PM
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I can finally reveal my Guest DT - yay! A couple of weeks ago I was asked my my friend, the super talented {sandie} if I would like to play one week withe the girls at {sketches! by tamara} and of course I was delighted to say yes!!! It is an awesome site, as it gives everyone the possibilty to play along - cardmaker and scrappers alike.
It was up to me to choose a sketch from which I would like to create a card and I if you would like to see what I did - please check it out {here}. Why don't you create a card from the same sketch? If you do, link me up in the comments below and I will send a RAK to my favourite card. You have until the 20th of February to complete the card.
And this morning I woke up to a very sweet email inviting me to become a DT member for an awesome Challenge Site but I ain't spilling the beans just yet - all I can say is that I have accepted and I am totally giddy about it.
Over at {cmk} it is that time of month again when I throw my hat in the ring for their GDT spot. The challenge for this month was to create a layout in shabby chic style: now, THAT I can do! I *heart* shabby chic and lately I have been working mainly with muted colours anyway, so it was an easy challenge for me. I am starting to break into my ever growing collection of {my mind's eye} papers - it was just getting ridiculous - I've been collecting them since they first came out and I rarley ever use them...simply because I love them so much. So, after I spend a little over $20 at {a million little things} yesterday for even more MME, I figured it was time to put some older stash to good use.
The last two days have been real HAPPY MAIL days - today I received the most AWESOME parcel from the wonderful and extremely generous {ellen} whose Swapee I was over on CMK. YOu would not believe how much stash she packed in the box for me and guess what the majority was? Yep stash from MME, as Ellen took note of my favourites list. Thank you again hon, for being such a generous lady!
And yesterday I got my order from {noel mignon} - an awesome Kit Club with a super nice owner and a fun community, and two packages containing stuff I had won on {ebay}. One of which is this freakin' amazing T-Shirt. It came all the way from Singapore within three days!!! I am already bidding for another one as the quality is ACE and the service super (and I look kinda hot in those style shirts *giggles* )
Are you still awake? Good, then you have to endure some more cards I made today and yesterday. As you may recall, we are having a Card-a-thon at {scrapitude} where the members challenge each other to create some cards. Some of us offer some cool RAK's up as well, so if you are in the mood - pop by.
The first card was done from a Sketch by {card patterns}. When they had their recent DT call submitters where required to scrap to that sketch. I didn't apply but I loved the sketch and asked for permission to use it on the board for the challenge. I had fun doing the card - something I have come to love: creating cards from sketches.
Card number 2 was done for a challenge set by my friend {sally} - who is a {stampin' up} demo. I am part of her Stampers 10 group and this was our first challenge. I had such a blast with it!
Last but by no means least is a card that serves two challenges in one (yep, I am sneaky like that sometimes). Firstly I goes with the challenge set by {tina} at the Card-a-thon to use two patterend papers and embellish the card with the help of punches. But it also fits the challenge over at the {cuttlebug challenge blog} to make a "Love" card. The love stamp, by the way, is one of the goodies I received in my stash box from Ellen and I *heart* it!
Now I need to get back to creating - I have still so much I want to finsih before the evening is over. Laters, all
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Materials used for above projects
Layout - {heart} my sis
Papers: My Mind's Eye
Chipboard Alpha: American Craft Thickers
Stickers: Making Memories Tiny Alpha
Bling: Kaisercraft, Prima Marketing
Journaling Spot: My Creative Mess
Tools: Martha Stewart Doily Lace Punch; Sewing Machine; Making Memories Edge Distresser
Card - Birthday Wishes
Cardstock: Bazzill; Papermill
Stamp: Stampin' Up
Tools: Punch - Stampin' Up
Overlay: Teresa Collins
Card - Love
All: Stampin' Up apart from white pearl: Kaisercraft
Card - Love Stamped
Cardstock: Bazzill
Papers: My Mind's Eye
Flowers: Fancy Pants; Daisy D
Stamp: Pink Paisley
Tools: Punch - Scalloped Edge, Flowers - Stampin' Up; Emboss & Die Oval Frame - Cuttlebug
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TITLE: Reveal ~ Reveal
DATE: 02/01/2009 01:31:00 PM
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I love the 1st of each month - not only is my salary safely in my account but I also finally share the schtuff I made for various assignments.Let's start with my {upsy daisy designs} February reveal. I LOVE working with the new lines and I really cannot wait to get the new rub ons and stamps in my hands either. This layout was done with my beloved {man about town} line and you may recall from {this post} that I think it even beats my all-time-favourite manufacturer {mme}
Ich liebe den 1. eines jeden Monats - es ist nicht nur Zahltag sondern ausserdem der Tag, an dem ich meine DT Sachen zeigen darf.
Den Anfang macht mein {upsy daisy designs} Februar Auftrag. Ich LIEBE es mit den neuen Serien zu arbeiten und kann es kaum noch abwarten die neuen Rub Ons und Stempel in meinen Haenden zu halten. Dieses Layout wurde mit meinen heissgeliebten {man about town} Papieren hergestellt und Ihr erinnert Euch vielleicht an {diesen Eintrag}, in dem ich diese Linie sogar meinem Lieblingshersteller {mme} vorziehe.
My second project is a little notebook I created from scraps of chipboard and scraps of paper from the elegant {unwritten} line. With the aid of my {bind-it-all} this nifty little book was finished within 10 minutes.
Mein zweites Projekt ist ein kleines Notizheft welches ich aus Graupappe und Papierresten der eleganten {unwritten} Serie fertigstellte. Mit Hilfe meiner {bind-it-all} war dieses Buechlein innerhalb von 10 minuten fertig.
Now on to the next reveal, which is my first layout for the fantastic Challenge Blog {scrap your crap}. This month we challenge you to create a project using the traditional V-day colours red and pink. As you can see, using pink and red in February does not mean you HAVE to do a V-day layout or card.
Und nun zum naechsten Reveal (sorry, aber hier finde ich kein schoenes deutsches Wort...), welches mein allererstes layout fuer das tolle Blog {scrap your crap - scrappt euren scheiss...ich find's zu lustig} ist. Diesen Monat fordern wir Euch heraus die traditionellen Valentinstags Farben Rosa und Rot zu benutzen. Wir Ihr sehen koennt, muessen Rosa und Rot im Februar nicht zwingedn fuer ein Valentinsprojekt genutzt werden.
Last but by no means least is the new challenge on {we kit you not}. You may have all noticed the hype about embossing at the moment and I for one LOVE that technique. What better idea than to include embossing in the new challenge? It would be great if you all play along because we have some awesome Kit Club Sponsor waiting in the wings to put some fun prizes up to win. But we need a good number of participants in order to get the best deals for you. So, tell your friends and play along - that way we will be able to give you a fabulous Sponsor next month!
Und zum Schluss habe ich dann noch die neue {we kit you not} Challenge fuer Euch. Habt Ihr bemerkt wie "in" momentan embossen ist? Ich liebe diese einfache, effektvolle Technik und warum verbinden wir diese nicht einfach mit der neuen Herausforderung? Es waere toll, wenn Ihr mitspeilt denn wir haben einige tolle Kit Clubs an der Hand die gerne Preise spendieren moechten. Aber um die besten Preise fuer Euch zu bekommen, brauchen wir natuerlich Mitspieler. Also los, macht mit und sagt auch Euren Freunden Bescheid.
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Materials for above projects:
Layout "Now, That's A Beer!"
Cardstock: Bazzill
Papers: Upsy Daisy Designs (#UDD0175. Deacon, #UDD0177. Hunter, #UDD0174. Carter, #UDD0176. Grafton)
Embellishments: Paint - Jones Tones; Flowers - Hero Arts; Buttons - Scrapitude; Alpha Stickers - American Crafts Thickers
Notebook
Papers: Upsy Daisy Designs (#UDD182. Lyric, #UDD0181. Journal)
Cardstock: Bazzill
Stamp: Upsy Daisy Designs (#UDD0108. Lovely Lines)
Tools: Martha Stewart Doily Punch, Bind-it-All
Layout "Friends"
Papers: Upsy Daisy Designs (#UDD173. Sophie Love); Prima - Package backing; October Afternoon; Teresa Collins
Overlay: Teresa Collins
Embellishments: Flowers - Prima, Hero Arts; Rub Ons - Making Memories, American Crafts; Stickers - Hambly, KIMemories, K&Co, Pin and Buttons - Scrapitude; Stamp - 7Gypsies; Bling - Prima
Card "Happy Birthday"
Cardstock - Bazzill
Embellishments - Ticket, Buttons and Ribbons - Scrapitude; Flowers - Hero Arts
Tools: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder "Numbers"
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