Wednesday, 1 June 2011

Today, I am...

...back in my city of birth: Hamburg

I am lucky to have the day off to meet with my family, who I haven't seen in a year - we get to spend the whole day together before I have to be back on board.
 Image found via: Google Image Search

People keep asking me if I miss Germany and Hamburg in particular and if I would want to move back.

In a word: No.

There will always be a space in my heart for Hamburg and its people and I love to visit once in a while but in all honesty, I would not want to live there anymore.
I feel so comfortable and settled where I live and to me home is and will remain England - I cannot see that change in my lifetime (but never say never, you just do not know what life throws at you)

But still, three cheers to: Hamburg, meine Perle :))))

Sunday, 29 May 2011

Today, I am...

...in OSLO

Yesterday we called into STAVANGER

 all images found: via Google Image Search

Saturday, 28 May 2011

Spring Home Decor

Today, I am posting for Donna Salazar Designs with a fun step-by-step tutorial on how to create this spring-inspired home decor.

**click on image to enlarge **

In addition to your favourite {{Spring In Bloom}} papers, the {{Crafty Chronicle}} and {{Smooch Spritz}} you will need the following tools and products to re-create this project:
  • Paper trimmer/scissors/craft knife
  • Double-sided adhesive tape
  • Scoring board/scoring tool
  • Reinforcement rings
  • Journaling pen in black and white
  • Trims
  • Ink
  • Edge distressing tool
First, choose the paper for the main body of your concertina tag stand- it really does not matter what the size is, as it depends on how big/wide/tall you would like the stand to be. As Donna's papers are all double-sided you will need to check carefully which side you want to be the main focus of your stand, as the paper will be folded over at a later stage.

For this example I choose the {{Peachy Dream}} paper and trimmed it to a height of 7.5" and left the width at 12"
Score the paper at 2" intervals and fold into a concertina

I wanted the gorgeous flower/butterfly motif to be on the front of the tag holder, so I scored right underneath the page across the width of my paper to allow a fold over, like so:
Once I was confident that all my scored lines matched up perfectly, I added double sided adhesive tape to the bottom part of the tag holder. Just make sure that you only place the tape along the folded lines to create pockets to hold the tags.

I then took one of my all time favourite chalk inks from {{Clearsnap}} in dune and dark brown to outline the edges, removed the backing form the adhesive tape and folded the paper over:
The next step was to create the tags, which I decided to cut from the {{Spring Blooms}} paper as I adore the burlap texture of it and the embossed glitter swirls add a sweet touch to the tags. Using an edge distresser such as the {{Distrezz-it-All}} will add a worn look, which compliments the overall texture of the tags. I finished the tags by running Cat's Eye Chalk in in dark brown along the distressed edges and stuck some reinforcement rings around the holes
Now I could start to decorate the tag stand to my hearts content, by hand cutting many elements from various papers and adding them with foam adhesives to achieve a slightly raised look.


These little tag stands are so easy to create and it took me a total of an hour to get this project finished. This would make a great gift for any occasion.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed my first step-by-step project for Donna's blog





Products used:
Papers - Donna Salazar for GCD Studios:  Peachy Dream * Crafty Chronicle * Spring Blooms
Inks/Paints/Glue - Donna Salazar for Clearsnap:  Pralines and Cream Smooch Spritz * Cat's Eye chalk inks in Dune and Dark Brown

Additional products: unknown trims and reinforcement rings, Zig Millenium writer in black, Helmar Zap Dots, KIGloo, Uniball Signo pen in white

Thursday, 26 May 2011

Charity Shop finds

I love charity shops - there is nothing like rummaging through stuff others discarded and finding many a treasure amongst it. Especially little bits and bobs for my balcony garden.

Want proof?

Looksey here, for a mere quid this beauty was hooting my name

How can you not love him? And he is one heavy lil' bugger too.

And what about this goose? Came in a set of two at £1.99 - so cute


And recently I have started an obession with jugs/milk pots. Pretty much every time when I step into the charity shop underneath our flat, I come home with yet another jug. So far, I have scooped up three within the last month. Let me show you my two faves so far.

79p for this green jug, which hosts one of my tomato plants:


This one was £2.49 - LOVE it to keep any broken off Sweet William fresh for a while. The flower you can see in this picture has been sat in this jug for almost four weeks and only now starts to wilt a little:


Right now I am kicking myself because there was a similar jug to the colourful one above the other day and I did not have enough money on me. It was either three fabulous plant pots or one jug, so I went for the pots and thought I get the jug later...yah, BIG mistake...of course it wasn't there anymore when I came back. 

Better luck next time, eh?

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Today, I am...

...going on board this beauty

This time it is not for a holiday but I am in fact working on board...yay, me!
Mr P is a little sad because he has to house-sit while I am battling it out on the high seas :)

We are now en route to our first call at Hamburg

Sunday, 22 May 2011

Makes me happy....

....my colourful Sweet Williams *sighs*

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


I bought them last year in October - they are the most resilient little plants you can imagine. Delivered to my door as plug plants from Jersey, they held out under tons of snow and are coming on so strong this year. Everytime I step on my balcony I get excited by the sheer beauty of them.

Even the spiders love them...can you spot him on this flower? I didn't notice him until I uploaded the picture...eeeeeeeeeeewwww
The Sweet William were a bargain, really - you get 70 plug plants including free delivery, it was SO worth it and I will definitely buy some more plants next month. Right now I have my eye on THIS one, as we are almost infested with slugs this year.


My balcony has come on great this year and I continuously add to the plant selection. The plan is to have a third of the balcony covered with plants, then we get some decking and some pebbles to cover the ugliness, which is the floor at the moment...I hate it so much, you see every little bit of bird poop, slug trail and soil on there. It always looks messy, no matter how often I clean it.


Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Twisted Sketches #102


Another fun week over at {{Twisted Sketches}}. Join us this week for the twist "play"

Here is my take on it, featuring my all time faves {{Def Leppard}}, who have a new CD coming out and I am counting down the days until it becomes available in the UK on 20 June 2011...*sigh*
Until then I just have to listen over and over to their new single {{Undefeated}}
Papers: Sassafras Lass, Scribble Scrabble, My Minds Eye, My Little Shoebox
Rub Ons: Kaisercraft
Stickers: Rusty Pickle, Dymo

Sunday, 15 May 2011

WIP overlaod

Heck, I have totally forgotten to share a few sneaks of my latest WIP's with you...and there are quite a few around in my house right now :)
See, I can't just work on one project, especially when it is a long WIP, such as {{Bluey}}. I am missing the last third before I can start the edging, but it gets boring after a while, so I need some other projects to keep my interest going.

First I took the same pattern as I am using for the above blanket, but altered it a bit and I am turning this into something other than a blanket. I am making this project up as I go along, no instructions - so you will have to wait and see what it turns into - any guesses?
And then I started on another pillow case for the front room, which some totally lush {{Paton's Smoothie}} yarn. How wonderful is that to crochet with? So soft....
And last but by no means least, I have started to learn to do {{Bavarian Crochet}}. It looks fabulous and initially I found it a little tricky (probably also because the instructions are in US crochet-lingo), but I think I got the hang of it now. Here is the the first part.

Friday, 13 May 2011

New Kid On The Block

 I am thrilled to showcase you a project today created for {{Donna Salazar Designs}}. This month, I have had fun with the stunning {{Spring in Bloom}} product line.
The subtle colour scheme works wonderful with vintage pictures, as you will see further below.

As I scanned and re-printed an old photograph, it appeared too bright so I used a little of the {{Smooch Spritz}} in Pralines and Cream to give the photograph a more aged look.
It is amazing just how quickly the Smooch Spritz dries - no messing around with a heat gun or being faced with warped paper.

** click on image to enlarge **
Thanks to the cleverly designed {{Springtime Ribbons}} paper, I was able to create a rosette flower in a jiffy. Just pop the die cut out of the 12 x 12 sheet and sore along the scalloped lines. Fold in concertina style and glue the two ends together. Gather the top section of your now corrugated tube together and push gently towards the middle and down...eh voila.It really is easier to create than you think, just look on you tube for "Paper rosette tutorials" and you will find a plethora of amazing tips and tricks.

** click on image to enlarge **

To top the flower off, I ran some {{Glue Gloss}} over the raised parts and sprinkled it with {{ Fairy Dust Glitter}}. How FUN are those glitter containers?? They alone make me want to go out and sprinkle the glitter onto everything in sight. I can almost hear the fairy bells going when start to sprinkle....
The layout pretty much created itself, by using little pieces from the other clever paper {{Tags, Ribbons and Mosaics}}...just cut the individual pieces out and layer them onto your background. Easy, peasy!

** click on image to enlarge **

I hope you enjoyed my first post for Donna's blog and maybe I could inspire some of you to brush the dust of those vintage photo's and scrap those memories."

{{Kim Sonksen}} for {{Donna Salazar Designs}}











Products used
:
Papers - Donna Salazar for GCD Studios: Butterfly Harmony * One Sheet Wonderful * Springtime Ribbons *Artistic Journal Cards * Peachy Dream * Tags, Ribbons and Mosaics
Inks/Paints/Glue - Donna Salazar for Clearsnap: Glue Gloss * Pralines and Cream Smooch Spritz
Glitter - Donna Salazar for Clearsnap: Fairy Dust Glitter Pralines and Cream
Chalk Ink - Clearsnap: Dark Brown
Nesting Die -  Spellbinders: Labels One SM

Additional products: Jenni Bowlin letter stickers, Alphabeads, Zig Millenium writer in black

Tuesday, 10 May 2011

The first cut...

..is the deepest - as Bryan Adams rightly sang a few (ha!) years back.

And nothing hurts as much as cutting for the first time in some beloved patterned paper. But I am embracing it these days and cutting up papers with bold patterns has become one of my favourite techniques.

Reaad more on the {{Papermaze Blog}} about how I created this layout:

** click on image to enlarge**

Sunday, 8 May 2011

Twisted Sketches #100

WOWZERS, can you believe it? {{Twisted Sketches}} is celebrating the big 1-0-0 today. 
Yeah man!!!! 
100 sketches down the line and still going strong.

Needles to say that we are celebrating in style today. Hop on over {{here}} and join us with our sketch and twist.

Wanna see what I created? Well, no matter what your answer - I show you anyway :)

** click on images to enlarge **



 Papers: Donna Salazar for GCD Studios - Time For Tea * One Sheet Wonderful Antiques * Tales of Travel
Ink: Clearsnap Cat's Eye Chalk Ink in Dune, Cocoa, Brown, Chestnit Roan, Dark Brown
Glitter: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Fairydust Glitter in Sugar Shimmer
Other: Punchinella, Staples, Edge Distresser

{{Twisted Sketches}} is celebrating the big 1-0-0 by holding a wee blog hop. The Twisted Sisters are showcasing their favourite layouts created over the last months and here are my top three

{{Sketch #82}}
{{Sketch #87}}

Saturday, 7 May 2011

Play Misty For Me

I am so excited to shout about my first blog post for {{Papermaze}}

You can see my tips and tricks when using mists {{here}} in detail but let me show you the layout I created for the post. Be sure to stop by the blog to get the skinny on misting and let me know over there what you think.

Friday, 6 May 2011

Upsy Daisy Designs - DT May Pt II

Whoopsie.....I completely forgot to mention that it was my turn on the {{Daisy Diaries}} this month to showcase some fun {{Upsy Daisy Designs}} projects.

You can check out the full post {{here}} but I am more than happy to show you the card/tag combo pictures here as well

** click on images to enlarge **

Monday, 2 May 2011

Twisted Sketches #99


Come and play along with us at {{Twisted Sketches}} where we have another sketch with twist (straight) for you.

For my layout I went down the really difficult route to keep all the lines straight , which was NOT easy and I also tried to keep as straight to the original sketch as possible.

I also combined my DT Challenge for {{Upsy Daisey Designs}} with the sketch. This month we took inspiration from a song/music.

** click on image to enlarge **
Papers: #BLO012. Freshly Picked, #VO016. Strike a Pose ,#UDD0136. Sweet
Brads: #BRD313. Vogue

Sunday, 1 May 2011

Create Your Own Kit - May 2011

Here is my fifth Kit for this year - I see red :)
...and by the way: do you know just HOW difficult it is to get yourself some red papers together which are NOT based on Christmas...?!!?

** click on image to enlarge **
3 sheets of 12 x 12 cardstock from Bazzill
2 sheets of 12 x 12 double sided paper from Cosmo Cricket
1 sheet of 12 x 12 double sided paper from Scribble Scrabble
1 sheet of 12 x 12 double sided paper from Scenic Route
1 sheet of 12 x 12 double sided paper from My Minds Eye

Attempted Goal:
4 Layouts
2 Cards