Happy Halloween

Well, the photo ain't all that - but at least we made a small effort this year

  *snorts*

Totally inspired by the awesome Haunted House of my DT Teamie Audrey, next year I want to have my flat totally decorated for Halloween.

Guess I better get sourcing for decorations, so that my Pumpkin light is not going to feel too lonely next year.

Donna Salzar Oct III

Good morning the below post went live on the  Donna Salazar Blog earlier today.


To be honest, I was struggling with the theme the DT were given for October because in the UK we do not celebrate Thanksgiving, Halloween or Harvest so I had some serious thinking to do on how to incorporate the theme into my projects.

As you may have seen on my previous post, I already made a Thank You card so I had to come up within something else to be thankful for.

I am a total sucker for great storage solutions and reference guides as they help me to be organised and to decide quickly what I need for a project at hand and one of my most used products from Donna Salazar Designs besides the papers, is definitely the Smooch Spritz.

What I needed was a quick and easy reference guide as to how the colours look on different coloured cardstock and papers - and my little book of Smooch has become a tool for me for which I am most thankful, as it enables to me to quickly check which cardstock or paper to pull to complete my chosen colour combination.

And here is the photo tutorial on how I created my SMOOCH book.

First I purchased a clear photo display album which holds 20 pockets of 6 x 4" size. You can get these albums super cheap - here in the UK I paid £1.50 for this (about $2.00)

** click on any of the images to enlarge/sharpen their view **

Then you cut some white cardstock to size which you will be using as the base for the individual colours. Additionally I took the 6 x 6 Artistic papers and cut the images with the aid of various Spellbinders Dies by Donna Salazar

As the Artistic Papers have a different base colour to white cardstock I decided to spritz them at the same time, giving me a good reference as to how different the Smooch Spritz will look.

As I also like to work with kraft coloured cardstock, I decided to spritz some kraft tags as well and adorn them with colour coordinating pieces of paper from the Tags Ribbons and Mosaics paper. And not to forget - label the tag with the name of the Smooch Spritz, even though I know them off heart by now...

I then adhered the tags and tabs to the white cardstock, but I could not help adding a little embellishment to my reference card, first by running colour coordinated chalk ink along the cardstock edges and secondly by adding some hand stitching to each sheet.

And here are all completed cards for to you to view

Finally I cut the letters S M O O C H with Donna's Alphas Spellbinders Dies from some left over Artistic paper, spritzed it with a combination of all Smooch Spritz colours, outlines the letters with a black pen and adhered them to the cover of the book.

There you have it - a reference guide book, which was a lot of fun to create but also something I make use of every time when I create. Truly a helpful tool to be thankful  for.
P.S. I just noticed that you can see the self adhesive foil, which I used to stick the letters to the cover. No matter how I tried to photograph, it looks as if I did not stick the foil down correctly.

Products used

• Papers: Donna Salazar for GCD Studios - Artistic 6 x 6 Spring in Bloom, Artistic 6 x 6 Antiquities, Tags Ribbons and Mosaics - Spring in Bloom
• Mists: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Smooch Spritz in  Caramel Latte, Pralines and Cream, Wood Stain, River Mossy,  Green Olive, Tea Party, Sea Breeze, Mixed Berries
• Inks: Clearsnap Cat's Eye Chalk - Dune, Cocoa, Stucco, Prussian Blue, Dark Moss, Lavender, Dark Brown
• Dies: Donna Salazar for Spellbinders - Donna's Alphas, Creative Bookpages Two, Creative Book Pages

Other products: 
Embroidery Floss, Dymo labeller
Pens: Zig Millenium pen in black
Adhesive: Helmar, Scrapbook Adhesives

Donna Salazar Oct II

Good morning all!

This little bonus share went live earlier on the Donna Salazar Designs Blog.

Do you find yourself sometimes in a real rut, wanting to create something but you just don't know where to start?

I find that when it gets closer to specific holidays I want to create something that has nothing to do with that time of the year whatsoever. Just like right now, everyone is getting ready for Christmas and I am thinking of Valentines Day - weird, or what?

So the other day I just sat with some of my scraps looking to create some lovey-dovey tags and cards and thought that there is no reason in the world why we cannot express our love for someone special at any time of the year - we don't HAVE to wait for Valentines Day to tell the Sweetie in our lives that we want him/her to be ours, right?

There you go then - let's celebrate love and that special someone in your life.

First of, I create this wee tag

I took a piece of corrugated board and tore it into a tag shape, making sure I peeled some of  the top layer off to reveal the delightful ripple.

Then, I ran the edges through the Distrezz-it-All and inked the tag with Cat's Eye chalk ink in chestnut roan and dark brown.

Next, I used some watermark ink with Donna's All My Love stamp and stamped across the top of the tag. I added some Top Boss embossing powder in white and set my heat gun to work.

Boy oh boy, I do love the effect this embossed stamp has on this tag. I also like the effect the few loose bits of powder have on the overall look. I prefer when artwork looks a little messy and all over the place - a little bit like myself :)

I finished the tag by fussy cutting a few images from various papers and layering them onto of each other and adding a layered flower a la Natasha to the focal point of the tag - the heart

I wasn't quite done for the day and wanted to do a quick card too, and this is the end result.

I pretty much added all sorts of left-over scraps on top of each other and finished it off with yet another Natasha flower (can you tell I am addicted on making these??)

So,what do you think - do I really need to wait until February to pass the card and tag to someone special, someone loved, or shall I just go and do it now?

Lots of Love'n'Glitter

Products used

• Papers: Donna Salazar for GCD Studios - Take Flight, Banner Artistic Paper,  Crafty Chronicle, Time For Tea, One Sheet Wonderful, Spring in Bloom 6 x 6 Artistic Papers
• Mists: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Smooch Spritz in Woodstain
• Inks: Clearsnap Cat's Eye Chalk - Chestnut Roan, Dark Brown 
• Tools: Distrezz-it-All by Zutter
• Stamps: Donna Salazar - All My Love
• Embossing Powder, Watermark Ink: Clearsnap Inc
• Dies:  Spellbinders - Scalloped Circles
• Rivets: Zutter

Other products: Pen - Zig Millennium in black, Pin, Trim, Ribbon, Pearls, Stamp - Papermania, ProMarker Pens

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Winner Winner - Chicken Dinner

Memba THIS post?

My stamp giveaway to share my excitement as I was invited to join the Gel-a-Tins Design team?

A winner has been chosen and it's Cyndi.

Congratulations to you!!!

Email me with your address details at ksonksen-at-gmail-dot-com

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

9

Timestamp: 2011-10-23 07:49:02 UTC

Cyndi,  4 October 2011 05:35  

Congratulations Kim!!! You have some awesome designs to work with!

And another note, did you see THIS Design Team Call?

I am blessed to be issued with the Donna Salazar Spellbinders dies due to my DT position with her, but just HOW amazing would it be to become part of the Spellbinders DT too?

I just have to throw my hat in the ring for this one, as I adore Spellbinders.

Scrap Your Crap....

...is back!!!!

I am so excited that we have started our challenges again and we just announced our new DT.

Check the announcement out HERE

And hopefully we will see you all taking part in our monthly challenges again?I know I ave missed them like crazeeeeee.

On a more upsetting note, I was shocked to find out yesterday that Papermaze were hit by a fire to their premises and lost most of their stock.

Thankfully nothing happened to Vanessa and her family, but my thoughts are with them while they are working on rebuilding their business.

Granny Vest

Here is another piece of clothing I have added to the shop - a cute vest made from some big granny squares.

I actually love the colour combination which was more of a happy accident.

When I was sorting out all my left over yarns from the blankets and pillows I made, I found that the colours would look like fun in a big granny square.

The intention was to make some pillow cases for the bedroom, but when I started to add the black yarn, the idea for my vest was born.

 More info can be found in the shop HERE

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Papermaze DT - October PT II

We have been super busy this month over at the Papermaze Blog and the below post went live just recently.

I hope you enjoyed last months sketch as much as we did and we are excited to bring you another one this month.

Sketches are such fun to work with as it really is up to the individual on how they look for inspiration from the blueprint. I generally start out with the intention of doing an exact replica of a sketch but in then end my projects tend to take on a life of their own :)

Without further ado, let's have a look at the October Sketch for you:

And here is my example:

Products used:
Papers - Authentique: Original, Foundations Bi-Fold
Stickers - American Crafts: Lullaby, Dymo tape
Embossing Powder - Stampendous
Die Cuts - Spellbinders: Creative Tabs by Donna Salazar Designs

You can see Wendy's take on the sketch over at the blog

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Autumn is a-coming...

...only two weeks ago this was my bliss on Sunday early morning

I was sitting with a cuppa and a Japanese Crochet pattern book on my balcony being so hot from the sun, that I had to come inside after only 15 minutes again.

This weekend all you could see was thick fog, and the only way to enjoy a cuppa and good read would have been wrapped up in gloves, hat and a jacket. I don't actually mind, I just can't deal with the extreme fall in temperatures sometimes - on Friday we were sweating like pigs and today it's chilly.

But on the other hand, this helped my this morning during my 1km run, as for a change I was not dripping in sweat when I came back home.

Yup, that's right - I have started running/jogging/power-walking 14 days ago. Despite me walking as good as everywhere and eating healthy I was just not shifting the weight. To top it all off my cross-trainer decided to die on me after two years of service and I had to look at other means of keeping fit.

So, we started to power walk/jog three times a week. The first day was awful, I thought I was going to die for sure. My knees were giving in and quite painful but it is getting easier and easier every time.

This morning I just pushed myself to make sure I just ran all the way from our house to the castle at the seafront which is a 1km distance. I was so proud of myself and almost made it all the way back in a jog too.

I am so channelling my inner  Linford Christie - watch out!

Donna Salazar Oct I

Below post has gone live on the Donna Salazar Blog today:


Today I am sharing a post on how to create a quick and easy to do "Thank You" card by using acrylic covers.

** click on any images in this post to enlarge and sharpen their view **

I love the concept of using acrylic covers to create cards, as you can add so many layers, which peek through the top cover. You can see all four layers, which complete the card just by looking at the front cover of the above picture.

I decided from the outset that I wanted an interactive card, meaning you would have an element within the card that you have to move in order to reveal a sentiment or picture.
So, I took one of the smaller dies from the Creative Book Pages and cut a cute tabbed insert from the Antiquities Artistic Papers . I distressed this with some Smooch Spritz  and a selection of Cat's Eye Chalk Inks. As a final touch I hand-stitched along the edge with some pink embroidery floss.

To hide the back of the stitching, I used the same die on a sheet of The Crafty Chronicle and adhered it to the back of my insert tab - a few dabs of chalk inks to to edges and the insert was complete.

For the remainder of the 6 x 6 Artistic paper - I cut this into a luggage tag shape, ran it trough the Distrezz-it-All and inked the edges with some more chalk ink. If you want to make your tag look really professional, just ink a white self-adhesive washer (sometimes also called reinforcer) with chalk ink in chestnut roan.

I then cut the sentiment by using Donna's Alphas on a leftover piece of Time For Tea, outlined the edges with black pen and arranged the letters across the insert tab and back page.

Notice the eyelets? 

Yeah, I am totally inspired by my DT-teamie Natasha, who uses them to perfection on all her projects. Thanks to her I now make more use of them and I think they work well as a little embellishments on this card.

Another thing I love about using acrylic covers for cards - If you use double sided paper the flip side will of course show through the acrylic. So choose wisely: I just thought the butterfly image was perfect to be seen through the backpage.

As for the front cover, I just layered cut outs from the Artistic Journal Cards and a die cut using the 

Creative Pages II and topped these with another fabulous quote from The Crafty Chronicle:

"A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails . - Donna Roberts"

To finish the cover off, I added a layered flower, cut from some leftover Artistic Paper scraps and distressed with Smooch Spritz and Chalk Inks and outlined the frame with the help of an plethora of Baby Pearls from Want2Scrap.

Finally to "hide" some of the glue shining through the acrylic, I also added a layered butterfly, cut with the Wonderful Wings die and adhered it to the back of the front cover.

I nearly forgot to tell you how I bound the card together...first cut two holes with the help of a crop-a-dile (or similar took which cuts through acrylics), then you either use small book rings or faux-leather bands as I did.

Hopefully you enjoyed this project and may try your hand at creating a card with a difference.

Lots of Love'n'Glitter

Products used

• Papers: Donna Salazar for GCD Studios - One Sheet Wonderful, Antiquities 6 x 6 Artistic Paper,  Crafty Chronicle, Time For Tea, Artistic Journal Cards
• Mists: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Smooch Spritz in Caramel Latte, Pralines and Cream, Green Olive
• Inks: Clearsnap Cat's Eye Chalk - Chestnut Roan, Dune, Dark Brown, Cocoa, 
• Tools: Distrezz-it-All by Zutter
• Dies: Donna Salazar for Spellbinders - Donna's Alphabet,  Wonderful Wings, Creative Pages I
• Pearls: Want2Scrap
• Acrylic Covers:  Zutter

Other products: 

Embroidery Floss; Eyelets, Self Adhesive Washer, Pen - Zig Millenium in black; Crop-a-Dile - WR Memory Keepers

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Lacy Shell Scarf

Memba THIS post? 

And one of the WIP's I had on the go at the time?

Well here is the new scarf in all its glory.

** click on pictures to enlarge further **

I enjoyed doing this pattern so much, that I already completed another one like this in a powder blue - which will be the Xmas gift for Mr P's mum.

This scarf however is available to buy in my shop - HERE

It only took about three days to complete the scarf, the pattern was taken from this book

And now I am going to crochet myself another one of these scarfs in pink:)

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We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

This picture of Mr P, taken during his trip to Oz in '96 pretty much screamed JAWS at me and seeing that this is his favourite movie of all times (and I like it a lot too), I simply had to make use of the iconic "outburst" of Sheriff Brody, when faced with the shark "We're gonna need a bigger boat". That line is a classic - because it really says ALL you need to now in that situation

I am not too sure about the layout though - it seems a little messy and a little unfinished to me, so I guess I may be redoing at some stage.

**click on image to enlarge **

Papers: Upsy Daisy Designs - #MT2-012. Deacon, #AVA015. Summit, #UDD0128. Sing-Song, #HSH013. Cedar Cres ** Tag: Crate ** Stickers: Jillybean Soup, October Afternoon 




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CAL a Cowl - YAY moment

You may remember that I was not at all happy with my first cowl for the CAl along with Rachel, right?

The post about it was HERE and the finished project can be seen below.

So shortly after I posted that, I decided to frog the scarf I made with the multicoloured yarn and turned that into a cowl within the matter of one evening...yup, that is how fast the cowl can be worked. and with this one I am totally happy!

Papermaze DT - October PT I

We have started a new feature over at the Papermaze blog to showcase two scrappers using the same sketch.

You can check out the post by Wendy over HERE and see my take on the sketch below using the awesome papers from Authentique.

** click on image to enlarge the view **

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CAL a cowl and FROG

Well, well I had finished my project for the CAL with Rachel about two days after I took the picture of the cowl in its beginning stages, but I usually forget to take pictures of my finished projects....

I think it may be because as soon as one is done, I hook up another and forget about the old one.

Anyway, my cowl is done and I can tell you straight out that I hate it - totally dislike it.

Full.Stop

Somehow along the way I managed to miscount and when I came to sew the edges together it was apparent that one side was about five hooks shorter than the other.

How rude!

And that was a mistake I never even made as a beginner. Now that I am classing myself as pretty advanced, something like that should not happen.

I thought I would be nifty and hooked up a lovely Japanese flower to sew over the seam so no one would notice the crooked edge, but I think it made it worse - have a look yourself

The flower is too bright and makes it more apparent that it is sewn on slightly crooked as well.

Ho-hum.

But anyway, what I am going to do it to take the flower off again and frog the cowl, start afresh:)

Talking about frogging....here's another one I started and half way through the shawl I realised yellow is NOT a good colour for scarves and cowls unless you are

a) really old

b) really young

And I also realised that using cheap yarn like my fave Stylecraft DK is not nice for clothing and accessories but much better for pillows and Afghans. I really dislike it for scarves and wraps and that's why I splashed out this month and invested in some Rowan Cotton and Patons Smoothie
(it's acrylic but feels and hooks like cotton)

Teaming those yarns up with my newest obsession, Japanese Patterns, I am in crochet heaven :)

Within two days I turned this WIP

into a gorgeous shawl (I have to block it before I can share a picture)

And I already finished half a stole with Patons Mirage, but (surprise, surprise) I am already tempted to frog that one. Multicoloured yarns don't seem to "do it" for me unless I turn them into socks. But I carry on with the stole for now and see how it looks once finished.

But there are some projects I actually finish and keep, one of them is a headband-turn-collar which I did about two months ago but forgot to take a picture of.

No instructions were used for that one, I just hooked up some Patons Chunky and did row after row until it fit my a big head, like mine :).

The addition of a crochet flower just set's it off nicely.

I added two rows of button holes as I was thinking of doing a few more of these headbands and have them up for sale in my Shop - but as not everyone has a thick skull like me, I wanted to try the option for two head sizes.
When I slipped the headband off, it fell around my neck and that's when I realised that you could easily turn it into a funky collar, just by buttoning it up another way...look here:

I was super excited with that "discovery" and have already got a few more projects like this in the pipeline.

So, what other hooky plans do I have?
There are two stoles/wraps waiting to be done and one super cute vest - all done after some Japanese patterns.

If you want a really good deal on Japanese Pattern Books - I got all mine as eBooks from this seller on Etsy. She also has bundle offers and delivery is almost instant.
Sure, you have to print them out yourself,but is still works out cheaper than getting the book at full price and with the shipping costs on top too.
I have ordered and received eight books from the above shop and only spent a total of  $16.98 on them...bargain.

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