Hearts, hearts & more hearts

Wow another month starting already, so now its time for our first blog hop at Imagine if . . .  This month will be a lot easier on us all now with all the pressures of SENZ over, even tho Jo is exhibiting again at the Quilt & Craft Show at Hamilton, so she has given us 'free rein' to create whatever we wish.  This layout has been created for our friends' daughter who recently got married.

 

These photos were all 'pinched' off facebook and sadly are not the best quality, so I decided they would be best shown off as this mosaic of shots rather than using one or two not so good photos.  The couple were married on Anzac Day in Cornwall Park, so I tried to use lots of elements from the day in my layout.

 

They loved all the stone walls where they had a lot of their photos taken, so accordingly I've started my page with a Kaisercraft Basecoat paper.  With the paper being so dark I found I needed to outline the heart shaped photo mosaic with the boldness of a wide black border.  The doilies and lace lighten and lift the page as well.  The bouquets were made up of dried hydrangea, dotted with red roses and all tied together with black organza ribbon, here I have copied this as best I could.  I've carried on the heart theme with Imagine if . .  hearts of differing sizes & patterns, which were all faux stitched.  The title also includes lots of hearts, which have all been finished with a coat of Glossy Accents.  The large 'double heart' matches the wedding invites as best I could.

 

Enjoy the close ups of the flowers which were painted to match, and you can see the stitching and glossy finish of the hearts. 

 

I am really privileged to do this keepsake for the family and hope they are can amicably decide who gets to keep it, be it the brides parents or the bride & groom.

 

So how are you all going through the blog hop?  You should have come to me directly from Ngaere, then leave here following my link back to the beginning which of course is Jo.  I hope you've enjoyed the diversity of all the creations and as always please leave a comment at all blogs to be in with a chance to win this weeks prize which is 2 packets of felt flowers.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sleeping Beauty

I am so excited to be writing this, as it is my 1st official post on the Imagineif/FixDesigns design team.  For our big grand entrance owner Jo has cleverly created some awesome chipboard footwear for us all to show off for her.  As you will see by visiting everyone's blogs, we have all created something entirely different to the next person . . . WOW!!

I have stayed somewhat within my comfort zone to start with and have created this layout using the 1st of my 2 boots.

 

I've started with a gorgeous Kaisercraft 'Precious Moments' paper, which I distressed, then inked & stamped randomly.  I've also attached strips of script paper.  The chipboard boot has been painted, then covered with lace fabric, then topped off with fluff & a seam binding bow.  I've also added some chipboard butterflies which I inked & finished with rhinestones.  The Imagineif quote sheets are great for any occasion, here I've found a quote to fit my picture perfectly.  The chipboard lettering has been inked, then finished with glossy accents.  The few flowers & pearls just continue the soft girly theme beautifully.

 

Jo is busy creating some more fantastic pieces for us all to create with, she will have us all thinking 'outside the square' with a lot of the upcoming projects.  Keep an eye out for our next creations. 

 

Until then, thank you for visiting and have a happy, scrappy day.

 

 

 



Black & White

A new month brings a new challenge at Creative Craft Cottage, the theme this time is 'Black & White'.  This really made me put my thinking cap on for a while, but I'm happy with the choices I made.

 

I've always wanted to try a page with this quilted look, so when my sister decided to visit, I took advantage of her sewing skills and put her to work with me hand stitching all these squares. 

Once the background has been completed it took a bit of thinking as what to do next.  The doily broke up the black nicely, then luckily I managed to find this gorgeous photo of my grandmother. 

I've used a mixture of flowers from Retail Girl, Dusty Attic, Petaloo & I am Roses along with feathers & pearls.  The scrabble tiles, although not strictly black & white, match the vintage photo.

 

Thank you for visiting, come & join in with us at Creative Craft Cottage for the chance to win a wee prize. 

Summer Days

For todays layout I challenged myself to make a quick simple layout.  Yay - success.  I've been finding lately my layouts are getting more and more complicated, which is not only taking much longer, but is actually taking some of the fun out of it.  This layout only took a couple of hours to complete (paint drying time included).

 

I've used a gorgeous paper from My Minds Eye which has been in my stash forever, and kept everything fairly simple on top of it.  Laces, doilies, paper scraps lay under the photos.  The flowers were painted to match.  Pearls and some highlighting pen finish this layout.

 

 I have followed the layout sketch & summer theme from Artfullcrafts.  Please go over to this site to see all the other gorgeous projects entered here as well.

Thanks for visiting, have a happy scrappy day.

Pelicans

Last day of the month and just in time to enter another challenge.  Inspiration for todays layout has come from the lovely Mistra at Donna Salazar Designs, just another great challenge blog I've come across recently.  Not only do they supply a sketch to follow, its also a colour challenge as well.

 

 

I got the colours as close as I could with the supplies I had, I hope they like it. 

Part of the criteria to enter was to use some DSD products, and as I had a very limited supply I had to wait until this 11th hour to start work.  Here I've started with a DSD Trunk in the Attic paper 'Banana Nut Loaf' (gotta love the names), which I grunged up with distressing, stencils with ink, paint & modelling paste.  Next came the lovely old doily, then the lovely photos.  Under the flowers I've added some of the trim that came in the Trunk in the Attic kit & lots of Dusty Attic chippies DA0660 Grass Cluster #1, Cyclone wire DA0737 & mini words #3 DA0477.  The grasses were sprayed with Dylusions Ink sprays, then flocked & glimmer misted.  The flowers are a mixture of I am Roses (daisy & rosebuds), Spellbinders bitty blossoms & Marianne designs die cut mini roses, again ink sprayed or glimmer misted.  To tone down the brightness of the page I've dabbed around a bit with DSD Mix'd Media inx - Jasmine.

 

Here's a couple of close ups of the beautiful flowers, which are so easy to make.

 

 

I loved making this page as these are colours and style I seem to migrate to a lot.  

Thank you for visiting, come and join me in this new fun challenge.

Lost in Thought

Well its a New Year already and here at Southern Girls Challenge we are celebrating by inviting you to show us your new things with the latest theme being 'Out with the old and in with the new'.  As usual we have fabulous sponsors onboard for this one, so here I am showing off my new Martha Stewart Doily punch, which I LOVE . . . . AND using scrummy embellishments from the fabulous Retail Girl . . . (I'm drooling now). . . simply love all her flowers and pearls.

I started this layout by punching the circle page from Donna Salazaar paper, added an old doily, distressed my photo, then got crazy with the gorgeous flowers (some from Retail Girl, and some I've made myself).  I learnt lots from watching Tash on You Tube, who is now the new designer for Retail Girl. . . beautiful work girl.  A gorgeous Kaisercraft pearl flourish, and Retail Girls flatback pearls finish off the page.

I LOVE this page, the colours, the flowers, the pearls are ALL so YUMMY.  What a perfect coincidence I was wearing this colour dress for my photoshoot.

Thank you for visiting, please leave a comment as I will when I visit your creations.  Remember you can email your entry into us if you don't have a blog entry to link. 

Adorable

Believe it or not with the weather being sooo hot, I'm finding it more pleasant to be inside crafting rather than outside doing other stuff.  Oh dear how sad . . . not.  That's given me the chance to make a start with the monthly challenges starting with this gorgeous page I've made for Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  The monthly theme is "Friends Forever", so I've incorporated this theme with their monthly LO sketch as well (2 entries here I think, hehe).

 

Son Troy adores his pets, and they adore each other.  Sadly Troy & his partner have moved to live in Australia, so has left his pets to live here with us.  Luckily the animals have settled into our lives well.  When Troy does come home to visit they all spend a lot of time together as if he never went away. 

 

 

I found the embellishments fitted better by using the sketch turned once clockwise.  I started with an Authentique paper which I  spritzed with a bit of glimmer mist firstly (crème de chocolate & coffee shop), inked a few random patches with a honeycomb stencil, then stuck on a bit of dry wall tape.  Background completed it was easy to place these gorgeous photos, then compliment with these flowers and painted Dusty Attic chipboard, which I softened by placing on top of mini doily's and muslim.  DA pieces used were DA0941 Adorable & DA0868 Birds on a Barb Wire.

 

It is much easier making a page when you have such lovely photos to work with I find.  Thank you for visiting my page, thank you in advance for all your comments. 

 

***WINNER***

 

Its a Dog's life

Here we are starting a New Year already, wow how time has flown. Luckily I am still finding plenty of time to craft.  Here at Creative Craft Cottage we are starting the new year with a wonderful challenge "Quote Me" which has our entire DT using the awesome quote sheets from our latest sponsor Imagineif.   By participating in this challenge you are in with the chance of winning some of these quote sheets for yourself.  Please go over to her website to see all the other goodies she has on offer. 
Here is my layout using a quote from her "I love my dog" sheet:

 

Here I've started with G45 'Steampunk Spells' paper which I punched with the Martha Stewart Doily punch to create the round page - LOVE IT ! ! !  As the paper was so bold I had to keep the rest of the page rather quiet, so the embellishments are rather limited. 

I've layered the photo upon some muslim, then created the big gold flower, added burlap roses & a mini rose.  The Dusty Attic Grass Clusters #1 DA0660 & Mini Grass Clusters DA0786 were painted then I flocked the flowerheads.  A tag tucked under the photo hides the journaling. 

 

The gorgeous quote I've used says  "What a beautiful world it would be if people had HEARTS like dogs".  How true.  I thought the saying matches this lovely photo of our son's dog Shadow, with his big kind eyes and that big smile.  Doesn't he just make you melt?

 

I've had fun making this page to share with you all, and am looking forward to seeing all your lovely creations as well.  Remember if you don't have a blog to link your entry, please email your photo thru to us and we will enter it for you. 

 

Thank you for visiting, and please leave a comment as I love to hear what you think.

Precious Moments

Isn't it lovely when you are spoiled with lovely photos to scrap.  This photo of my niece Zana was taken in a professional photo shoot when she and her mother visited my sister in Australia in 2011.  The pose is awesome and I adore the black and white finish of the photo

 

This layout has been made following the Dusty Attic monthly sketch.  I started with random paper from my stash, a lovely big doily, lace & trim, lots of  DA chippies, and luscious flowers (handmade and prize winnings).  I've finished the page with lots of bling, black rhinestones as the chain for the bird cage, red rhinestone flourish and clear rhinestones dotted throughout.

 

The Dusty Attic chippies I have used are:

DA0720 Birds Nest #1 - gesso'd then inked

DA0476 Mini words #2 - painted, glossy accents

DA0435 Decorative flourish set - gesso'd then stickled

DA0678 Bird cage #5 - painted

 

Challenges entered with this layout are:

Dusty Attic - monthly sketch layout

Artfull Crafts - pink

Playing Ladies

Wow I've got a bit more catch up to do, so this is hopefully the first of my weekends efforts. I had fun using this awesome photos of my sisters and I all dolled up for a race meeting in Forbes, NSW last year.

 

Here is the Dusty Attic monthly layout sketch I have followed:

 

 

I started with Kaisercraft paper from the Needles and Thread collection, then layered on a bit of Martha Stewart paper.  Lots of ink & gesso grunged up the page, then I softened the look with some muslim, doily, and random flowers.  Dusty Attic chippies DA0579 scroll #6 small, and DA0370 mini vines were gesso'd, glimmer misted, then stamped to give that tortoiseshell look - I love it.

 

I'm please with how this has turned out considering my senses and creativity are very dulled at the moment with a terrible head cold.  Thank you for looking, please leave a comment.

Medieval Times

This is my first entry as a DT member for Southern Girls Challenge.  The challenge this has been made for is 'Make Believe'.  The girls seem to be choosing harder themes, I think to really try us newbies out, hehe.  But alas girls it hasn't phased us at all, from what I've seen already we are all taking it in our stride.

 

 

At first I was about to make another 'girly' layout with fairies and flowers, then I was reminded of these photos I had of this fancy dress party we attended recently.  It was a great evening, with about 95% of us dressing up.

 

To give the page that old 'medieval' feel I've used a beautiful houndstooth paper from Kaisercraft 'Just Believe' collection.  I've distressed and inked everything, as well as sanding, inking & distressing the photos to age them.  The old doily and trims fit the theme perfectly .  The key has been aged by firstly painting black, then I coated it with TH Distress Powder - vintage photo, I love how it turned out. The handmade flower was one from my stash I'd received in a swap sometime ago. 

 

I've thoroughly enjoyed making this layout to share with you and hope it inspires you along with all the other gorgeous DT entries as well. 

 



  

Delightful Doilies

Another new month brings another new challenge at Creative Craft Cottage.  For September the theme is 'Round like a Record'.  So any project with something round in or on it can be entered.  There is a lovely little prize for the lucky winner as well (oh, I wonder where they came from???)

Here are some examples of the doilies I have been making to use in my projects.  Whenever I am sitting idle or watching TV,  I have to do something to keep my hands busy.  Even though I make lots of these I never seem to have enough, as I use them in lots of ways, from using on my layouts, to giveaways and swaps. 

So for your chance to win some of these just join us in this challenge.  Remember if you don't have a blog you can still enter by emailing us your entry.  We look forward to seeing your lovely projects.

Let it Snow

What a terrible week of bad weather we are having here in New Zealand.  A southerly storm has brought rain, then snow, now howling gales to the south, and even up here in the north we are not escaping the colder temperatures.  So what better subject for my latest layout than winter. 

This photo was actually taken on my European tour, while crossing thru the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy.  We left Austria on the cold, drizzly morning, and as we progressed thru the mountains our tour guide kept saying he could 'smell' snow - and sure enough it snowed.  By the time we got back down into Italy the weather had changed again into a perfect summers day.  Wow, just like Northland weather, four seasons all in one day.

Here I have used Kaisercraft paper Just believe collection, which I cut with patterned scissors, and inked all the edges with TH Brushed Corduroy distress ink.  I underlayed the paper with muslim, punched snowflakes with a EK punch which were inked then stickled.  I inked some snowflakes using the negative.  I also used Dusty in Bloom  DA 0801(champagne kisses), Kaisercraft pearl flourish (latte), flatback pearls from Louise (retail girl), the doily and trim from my stash. Random lettering was painted, texture pasted then stickled.

Challenged entered with this layout are:

artisticcreationz - monthly layout sketch

nzpaperchase - winter layout using quote  ***** WINNER *****

southerngirlschallenge - use die or punch

letscreatechallenges - shape (snowflake)

Thank you for looking, I hope you enjoy visiting here. Keep warm and keep safe.  Thank you (in advance) for your comments.

Cup & Saucer pincushion

Tonight I'm going to start sharing some old favourites with you.  I adore altering items, and have had the chance to join in on several partnered swaps at Scrappers Obsessionz (now Artists Creationz).  One of my favourites was this lovely cup & saucer pincushion I made for Faith.

I bought a pair of cup & saucers for $5 at a garage sale and went from there.  The colours on the cup dictated the colour scheme of  the decorating.  The cushion was made with very soft filling wrapped into a ball in soft aged calico, again wrapped in the lace fabric, then hot glued into the cup.  The doily is my own creation and all the flowers, pearls, beads, ribbons, laces are from my stash.  Everything is hot glued into place.

I particularly like the scissors and bobbins on the side.  They are complimented with  lace, pearls and matching thread.

I loved putting this together and was a bit sad to see it packed off to its new owner, but on the up side she sent me back an equally beautiful cup and saucer, which now sits proudly on my fridge full of stickpins.

Thank you for visiting,  I look forward to reading your comments.