Friday, April 30, 2010

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Fishing Game


Scrap Camp Day 2

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

W First Swing


Scrap Camp Day 2

Monday, April 26, 2010

M Reader


Scrap Camp Day 2

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Crew


Scrap Camp Day 2

Friday, April 23, 2010

Me



Scrap Camp Day 2

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Aloof


Scrap Camp Day 2

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Cascades

The next couple of months posts will be all my LO's from camp... I had a pretty successful tally with 67 LO's! (I was aiming for 100 but there was a super cute distraction there!- so I didn't much mind at all)

Day 1 (Tuesday Night)






Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Scrapcamp Challenge 3



Don't you just love the wee paths and garden. That green mossy stuff is called flower soft and I haven't figured out how to use it properly but I like it here!


This is the Camp Challenge I did for myself. :-) I used tags for the houses and the eyelets for the door handles. The ribbon slide became the window with my photo. And you can see the flower has become a sun and the leaf a small conifer beside the door.


Monday, April 19, 2010

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Scrapcamp Challenge 2

This is the challenge I did on behalf of Sylvia :-)



Friday, April 16, 2010

Scrapcamp Challenge 1

One of the traditional parts of Scrapbook camp is the Camp Challenge. Sometimes Carolann send the stuff out before hand- sometimes you find out at camp. This time around she let us know voa e-mail. We had to use at least; One tag, one photo, one making memories metal flower and leaf, one of 3 eyelets in our kit and one Pebbles clear ribbon slide.

I made three challenges just for fun- the first was for Lisa- I decorated this groovy paint can for her daughter Maisy to store treasure in.




Thursday, April 15, 2010

365 2010 Week 14

I'm late this week as I was away at scrapbook camp when the week ended! :-)


Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Talking About Books

Had hoped to have last weeks 365 done by today but just too exhausted and dealing with the aftermath of a week at scrapbook camp... I am resisting being pulled in ANY of the directions currently nagging at me!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Friday, April 9, 2010

From the Library

I've been getting a few books out of the library lately, some paper crafty and some not but still cool.

Thrift to Fantasy by Rosemary McLeod. Rosemary McLeod is a New Zealand Journalist of long standing. This book is a collection of hers and others home textile crafts from the 1930's - 1950's. It is full of amazing items and stories of yesteryear craftswomen. The book is 100% eye candy.


I am harbouring a secret desire to learn how to knit and crochet. I'd like a craft I can indulge in while sitting on the sidelines of a rugby or netball practice or just chilling out on the couch. I got out Crochet for Babies and Toddlers by Betty Barnden because it has instructions for all the basic stitches in it and it also has patterns for crochet flowers which I'd love to be able to make for scrapbook pages. While I am not inclined to make any of the clothing items in the book there were a couple of cute hats in there though!

Miniature Scrapbooks by Taylor Hagerty didn't particularly rock it for me. It was published in 2006 and you can really tell. That said there were some cool ideas to springboard off. How about mini albums on:
  • Celebrations- detailing family traditions around a number of celebrations.
  • Personalised direct affirmations/compliments for a child or other loved one.
  • A little book of favourite shops and places to visit for when friends and family come to stay.
  • Favourite CD's (you could do it through the ages for a twist- or repeat it at intervals)
  • Favourite books or mini reviews for books in your own home library.
Ask the Masters! Organizing Your Scrapbooking Supplies Published by Memory Makers. To be honest I wasn't all that impressed by this book. Yes I did get a couple of ideas that I will (already have in one case) actually use. But I don't think that you could really use it to sort out your organising overall- and certainly not if you are constrained to a small space. or have to pack-up your gear at the end of each session. Yes those scrappers are represented in the book but they are in the minority and you won't always find solutions for each problem if you are in that situation.

The book is divided into 5 chapters:
  1. Scrap space
  2. Tools
  3. Material
  4. Digital Supplies
  5. Masters Gallery.
Essentially it feels like they went to the 39 past masters and said what have you got that's pretty and/or really functional and/or (rarely) ingenious. And then brought it all together in one book... It'd be like if I went to Carolanns and looked at her funky ribbon storage, Miss Wendy's soon to be new flower storage, Paula's big pantries and Glenna's container obsession and said I'm going to do it like that.... except I haven't got room in my space for two pantries unless I emasculate Les and sell his modelling gear. And I need to see my stuff to use it so Miss Wendy's flower option won't work for me. My current ribbon storage is already working well.... and I'm sorry Glenna but I'm not sure anyone needs THAT many containers (I'm looking at you too Paula).

Yes, you can take bits and pieces from this book and adapt them to your space and your scrap style- but you still need to do the adapting and the figuring and in some situations no matter how much figuring you do there just ain't a solution that will work for your space and your style. (And sometimes it's got nothing to do with organisation and lots to do with energy and enthusiasm or desire).

But compared to 'The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker' this book really doesn't make the grade- because it seems to go more for form than function... and it really give only lip service to personal scrapping style- preferring to give glib answers and pretty pictures.

The hot tip; Ask yourself can I turn it on it's side? If you have a basket or cutlery tray or similar item ask yourself what would happen if you turned it on it's side. What could you store in there now and how?

The verdict... borrow it don't buy it.


This. Book. Rocks.

"Teach Yourself Visually : Collage and Altered Arts" by Roni Johnson was already winging it's way to me via Amazon.com before it was due back at the library and I renewed it anyway so I didn't have to be without it for too long. This book is chocka block with great instructions for a multitude of techniques and projects- around 200 pages of creative goodness.

There are 11 Chapters:
  1. An Introduction to Collage and Altered Art
  2. Getting Started
  3. Aged and Distressed
  4. Paper Collage Techniques
  5. Paint, Ink and Rubber Stamping
  6. Image Transfer Techniques
  7. Altered Charms
  8. Fabrics, Fibers, and Trim
  9. Assemblage Art
  10. Altered Books
  11. Inspiration Gallery
The techniques and knowledge within is totally transferable to what ever papercraft you are into. And the instructions really are thorough and there are great colour photos throughout the book.

Honestly I can't say enough good things about this book. If you are looking for a book to help you learn some new techniques or brush up your skills you can't do better than this one. Buy it I say BUY IT! 10 stars (out of five)

Oh and no she isn't paying me and no I don't have shares in the company.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Celebration Bunting

I've had a plan in my head to make a fabric bunting for a special someone for a long time. Then I got inspired by the bunny banner to do a fabric one. It wasn't terribly hard to do at all but I am glad to have done the trial run on something that wasn't terribly important. I brought the fabric with the hearts from the cheapy pile at a quilting shop that I recently discovered (dangerous!!) and the spots are left over from the baby sling which Les made for me and now plays host to Miss Vienna. I am still deciding if I will get Les to cut the letters for "CELEBRATION!" with iron on for me at work- the problem being the best colour option is black- which will be pretty intense! This is long enough to span the long side of our lounge and would also be cool draped around a tree of picnic umbrella and we will be bringing it out for occasions big and small... from Merit Certificates to Fathers day and so on... plus it has enough green to look Christmassy when the time comes... Yay!




Monday, April 5, 2010

Sunday, April 4, 2010