Scrapbooking Memories Blog Hop: When Rage Gets the Better of Me…

Welcome to Scrapbooking Memories Blog Hop! I’m honoured to be part of this fun filled event and thank you for taking the time to visit my little space here on the internet. If you found your way here, you must have come been directed here from Sarah’s lovely website or from Scrapbooking Memories’ inspiring new blog. If you somehow stumbled here as your first port of call, you might want to start from the beginning of this hop to have a better guess of what this blog hop’s theme is:

Jasmine Shea

Leanne Allinson

Sharmaine Kruijver

Beth Jarrett

Kim Jeffress

Geli Duncan

I haven’t been posting much of late, given that life has been happening and I have been real tired. Will save the details for another post some time soon. Nonetheless, when Cassie suggested the possibility of being involved in this blog hop, I said, “why not?” Hence, I created the following, a half page layout, titled “Wrath”.

Here, I decided that I would let the emotion and journalling do the talking. No pics, given how ugly I must look in a photo being angry. Instead, I tried to incorporate techniques which I thought might convey the feelings I felt when dwelling on the topic of anger.

I first crushed up a piece of white cardstock before misting it with mustard ink and smearing red over the creases. Then I went stamp happy – using my 7 gypsies self inking stamp and had a field day creating those squares you see on the layout=). This compulsive, crazy, over the top scrapping style did not stop there. See the letter “W”? I decided that I would fill it with dots. So out came my Big Bite and I started punching holes in my creation. Talk about therapy – creating to let off steam and completing a layout at the same time. Can’t get any better yah? I decided to burn the bottom of my layout, to symbolise how rage consumes and burns me.

Finally, my personal journalling that runs right across the page, to help me remember that really, at the end of the day, wrath and anger gets me no where… well, except perhaps some fun with my supplies. It sure appears that I might need to create another half page layout, dedicated to serenity, just to balance all the anger found in this one. =)

I hope you take the time and try creating a little something to capture those feelings inside you that are often buried beneath all the pretties that we often scrap. I think I came out happier than I was before, after acknowledging that it’s ok that I am so not perfect=) Thanks once again for popping by and I hope you continue to have fun as you keep guessing what the theme of our blog hop is! Do leave a comment telling me what your guess is or perhaps even just sharing how you get all those frustrations out of you! This blog hop will continue tomorrow, starting in the morning with Melinda Thompson’s amazing site. Enjoy hopping and guessing!

Our Daily Walk

Almost every week day, after Sage wakes up from her afternoon nap, we go gallivanting around town. It’s always fun to spot changes – in nature, in the buildings or even in the people we meet. These walks about this charming little town of Queanbeyan brings us much delight (and exercise) and I’m happy that the little one has as much fun as I do on these walks. What better way to remember these sights, than to create a layout? And in this case, an interactive layout.

On this layout, I included a map of the town and tonnes of pictures that were taken during one of our recent walks. See those bottle caps? Those were filled with UTEE and loads of colorful buttons and beads. When pulled, each of these caps revel a photo and details of the photos. Have a look:

Glad that I got to include a pop-up mechanism on a layout. More rainbow creations are on my crafty desk presently and I’m hoping to post them here soon. In the meantime, we’re enjoying our time out in the sun, as this cold winter (it snowed in Canberra the other day!)  is slowly, but surely showing signs of spring. Hurray!

Core Cards Creative Frenzy

I love Core’dinations cardstock!!! I love its versatility, the surprise each sanding reveals and challenging myself to use it in so, so many different ways. Totally excited when I learnt that Core’dinations is looking for design team members, just to create cards! Yay! An opportunity for me to have fun and be on an amazing team! So, here are my creations using these amazing cardstock.

My first card is inspired by Sage’s love for dinosaurs. This little girl is going through a dino phase with each day filled with loads of “roar!!!!” I thought it will be fun to create cards that mimic book covers. So here’s the first of hopefully, many more “book cards” to come.

See those dinosaur footprints stomping the front of my card? Each footprint was an oval tag die which I cut triangles into. Love how embossing the black cardstock and sanding it gave it a texture that works so well with the whole dino idea. The ”stitched” border running around the stamped dinosaur was created using a needle tool to scratch off bits of the black to reveal the orange beneath. The really fun aspect of this card, however, lies in who dwells within. Ready to have a peek? Here goes:

Mr Dinosaur himself! My passion for creating pop-up cards came into play here and it sure was fun trying to “fit” Mr Dinosaur in this bookcard. The texture on the  green cardstock made Mr Dinosaur come alive and some black embossed spots completed him. Sage loves opening this card and squeals each time she does. Lovely=)

Next up, “You Are The Apple of My Eye”. Because Core’dinations cardstocks are textually rich, especially when embossed, I wanted to show how bits of them could be used to create beautiful cards as well. I cut an apple shape and filled it with bits of embossed Core’dinations cardstock. The leaf was sanded and scored to add dimension. See the filmstrip? I sanded a piece of Whitewash cardstock and ran it through my Zutter binding machine to create my very own filmstrip. A yummy card for someone special.

But wait! There’s more! Pop-up magic once again on the inside – more apples! I could not stop at creating one apple, so I made not one, not two, but three apples. I say the more the merrier!

For my final card, I thought I might grow a flower with my sticky fingers:

My Flower Bloom card. This started out as a round card. After the flower was completed, I thought it would be fun to create a card on a stick / stem. Just like a lolly! I like how sanded Whitewash cardstock resemble lace. Each petal was made from an oval diecut tag. Want to re-create this? Here were the steps I took:

Step 1: Cut 6 oval tags from one sheet of cardstock (bottom petals. I used purple here) and another 6 oval tags from a different colored sheet (top petals. I used maroon here). For the base, I used a die to cut a round card.

Step 2: After all tags have been sanded and scored down the middle, cut a slit on the top of each tag.  Do note that the slit for the bottom petals do not need to be as long.

Step 3: Overlap each side of the tag to form a raised petal. The tags that form the bottom petals do not need to ber overlapped as much. As you can see in this photo, after the sides of each tag has been glued together, the bottom petals will be bigger than the top petals.

Step 4. Adhere the petals to the round cardbase.

Step 5: Once all the petals are attached to the cardbase, finish off the center of the flower with a yellow middle. I added texture to this by sticking smaller circles on it.

Step 6. Complete the card with a tag, a stem and a leaf. My stem was formed out of a piece of cardstock which I rolled and wrapped with washi tape to add color.

Tadah! All done! Ready for you to present to a beautiful someone=)

I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had creating these cards. For the people at Core’dinations, thanks for taking the time to consider my submission. Thanks too for creating such a versatile product! Encore!

Settling In

It’s been a month since we took the adventure to attend the Scrapbooking Convention up North. What an experience that was! I’m still getting over the fun I had sharing at the talk, the excitement of finally meeting the other masters and just being able to soak up the creative energy in that place. Thankful that the Beloved so kindly took care of sage while I got to indulge in some scrapping pleasure.

We got home after enjoying the considerably warmer weather to be thrown into loads of activity and settling in – not to mention the cold. I got into a creative frenzy, having to meet a few deadlines and attempting to rid my fingers of the itch from the need to create. Of course in the midst of all these, there was the Beloved trying to get the next chapter of his thesis done, getting Sage to her music and swimming classes and planning a couple of church events. We’re throughly  grateful for the travel opportunity, yet really, being home is a charm too. Pics of what I have been doing to follow soon, while I tend to the little one – poor darling is down with a fever. This winter weather is really making everyone sick. Some soup will cheer her up.

 

Terrific Two!

 

 

Party Time! My dear Sage, you are such a big girl! Where has all the time gone?

Mummy and Daddy love you very much and we continue to thank God each day for blessing us with you – the joy of our life.

We had a simple birthday song and cake at churchthis year. You love those blowers and party hats that Bec so kindly brought to Sunday School. Mummy baked you a rainbow cake we shared that with everyone at church.

Sagey, never ever lose your zest for life. Embrace each day with joy, love God with all your heart and serve everyone in your life.

Love you our dear Baby Bear Bear!

Mummy and Daddy Bear Bear=)

Little People

This love with Little People figures really started when we inherited some toys from a lovely boy during Christmas. Sage love these little figures, not so much the accessories, and rarely is there a day that goes by without her interacting with them. Ok, admitedly, Mummy love them too! I love hunting for them in op shops and oh, the thrill of spotting one!

We usually stand them around a table and pretend that the Little People are dancing. The other night, after Sage had gotten all of them to form a circle, I asked her, “Are they dancing?” To my surprise, she said “praying, Mummy!” My little girl was re-enacting what happened at church, where everyone laid hands and prayed for someone.

My,my, little kids really learn loads from observing us, adults! It blows my mind to witness how much little ones learn each day. Here’s to more fun with Little People and with my Little One!

Cut, Glue, Paste

Whenever Sage sleeps, I am creating – be it for Scrapbooking Memories, for Colortypes Ink (My pop-up card business. Will write more about this soon) or for loved ones. Phew! The going has certainly been fun and I’m totally thankful that the little one sleeps so much better these days. April has been rather full on, with numerous deadlines, my sis visiting and Easter celebrations. I’m glad that most of these have been completed=).

Here is a recent creation that I am really happy with:

I love how hanging out with Sage has opened my eyes to so many different possibilities for creative expression. I love how she sings freely, embraces each day with much gusto, hops right out of bed each morning asking for breakfast, learning to tell me when she “pee!”, creates her own mummy daddy songs and the list continues…. She is certainly my muse.