Advent Calendar

I figured my girls (well, at least Munchy) are old enough to have their first advent calendar this year.

I admit on first glance this looks complicated. But trust me when I say it's not! I whipped most of this up while sitting in front of the TV (trying to resemble being half-way social!)

As you can see, it's merely a collection of matchboxes covered with pretty paper (all from the Jovial collection by Basic Grey) which means despite the fact we have an electric stove, we now have 500 matches to burn...... with no matchbox in sight!

A mix and match of numbers (great way to use up all those left-over numbers by the way!!)
The red ones are by Basic Grey.
The green ones are Pink Paislee (and currently on sale at HBS).
The white ones are Thickers.
The black ones are October Afternoon.
The pale blue ones are Cosmo Cricket.

Most of the embellishments are fussy-cut from the Jovial papers, but there's also some Green Tara flowers, Prima lace, buttons, May Arts ribbon, and a Fancy Pants transparency for the star on top.

They're all mounted onto a plain canvas which I zazzed up with a bit of spray-paint and Tattered Angels glimmer-screens.

Now I've just got to work out what to put in each one!! Any ideas? Obviously something like M&M's would be perfect. I'm just wondering if perhaps it should be something more meaningful? But that's where I don't actually have any ideas!!!

(and while we're kinda on the subject, Suzanne is having 30% off all Glimmermist and Glimmer Glaze this week only)

turning four album

I whipped up this cute little Kaisercraft cupcake album for Munchy's fourth birthday celebrations.

I used Sassafras' Count Me In collection, which is a birthday themed collection so was very appropriate (although you could very easily use it for non-birthday layouts).

I sparkled up some plain white chipboard Thickers for the title, as well as using the Sassafras Paper Whimsies through the album (both the numbers, and the flowers)

I used lots of punches to make quick embellishment clusters - lots of my favourite Martha Stewart ones amongst others.

The chipboard candles were part of the album - I just chose to use them as embellishments inside the album instead of on top or the front as would be a bit more obvious :-)

Some pages are harder to tell than others, but I've done a lot of misting and masking on some of the plainer coloured papers. You might be able to see the butterfly on the left side in the picture above.

And because I spent a lot of my energy just doing the background, I had lost my patience by the time it came to assembling all the photos and embellishments and journalling - that's why it looks a bit 'slapped together'. Perhaps I'm not the only one?!!

 

PS. Speaking of Thickers.......

Suzanne's weekly sale is unbelievable. For this week only she has every Thicker in her store available for just $5.75!!! You can see all of the 57 varieties available here.

And the winner is.......

I let the power of a random number generator decide who the lucky November giveaway winner is (sorry it's a bit boring compared to my previous gala drawings!)

So could

CynAbu

come on down!!
Or alternatively just email me your postal address at nat@elphie.com and I'll get your prize in the mail as soon as I can.

And for the rest of you who weren't so lucky this time I'll let you in on a little secret... hang around because there'll be a few more giveaways coming up soon :-)

November Sketch Challenge and a Reminder

I've been a little bit behind this month, or some might say extremely busy, but I've only just completed my November sketch entry for the challenge at Handmade by Suzanne this month.

It is of course based on this amazing sketch designed by our Guest DT, Melinda Spinks.

You can see all the details on how to enter the challenge here. There's a $20 voucher up for grabs, and we've also got a bonus prize too - a handful of Bits and Pieces by Marg.

To create my layout I've used a combination of Cosmo Cricket Togetherness and Sassafras Indie Girl papers and embellishments. It's quite a bright assortment of colours and layers which is a little unusual for me..... but I like it!

The journalling reads "Having grown up on a farm I am used to the feeling of grass beneath my feet and the sun on my face. Now I've lived in Melbourne for 10 years, this is the first place we've had with a backyard" and the title reads "Getting Back To My Roots."

PS. You've got a little under 24 hours left if you want to be included in my own November Giveaway. I'll announce the winner tomorrow.

Can you believe it?

My little girl is one year old today!
I'm not going to get all soppy (at least not yet) I'll simply show you her Year in the Chair photos so you can see for yourself how much she's grown.

 December - 1 month old

January - 2 months

February - 3 months

March - 4 months

April - 5 months

May - 6 months

June - 7 months

July - 8 months

August - 9 months

September - 10 months

October - 11 months 

The last one is of course taken today on her birthday.

Happy Birthday to our little Moodles.

Etsy Continues to Inspire

I couldn't help but play along with Etsy Inspired Challenges again.
And since it's that silly season, I've made a Christmas card.

Soft and subtle hey?
It's the kind of card that was actually ridiculously easy to make. So easy that I continue to question whether I've done enough to it.

I added some bling, but perhaps I should have done some ribbon down the bottom, or a sentiment or something? Oh well, never mind because it still makes me smile when I see it :-)

This is what inspired me:

A beautiful necklace from Happy Day Designs.

The Big Blue

I gave myself a little challenge this month after receiving my DT package from Handmade by Suzanne. To my delight my box was filled to the brim with the stunning Jovial collection by Basic Grey which is a lovely and fairly traditional Christmas collection. But I also received some gorgeous Green Tara flowers, and some Prima lace which gave me a bit more scope for meeting my own challenge. Can you guess what it was?

I challenged myself to create an entirely non-Christmas themed layout with these beautiful Christmas supplies. And I'm pretty sure I pulled it off!

I started with the most gorgeous paper to use as my background. It's called Snowball Fight and the manufacturers pictures don't do it justice. It's a little difficult to photograph too, so I hope you can pick out some of the details.

Given most of my supplies were Christmassy, I was a bit limited with what I could use, hence there isn't as much product on this page as you would be used to seeing if you are familiar with my layouts :-)

But you can see my now regular use of Martha Stewart glitter on my layouts, and a few other bits and bobs thrown around here. The brads and the alphas are both Basic Grey Jovial, and I had to add a few of my own supplies like some washi tape and ribbon (which I'm sure probably constitutes cheating at my own challenge!)

What do you think? Does it work?

A Lesson Learnt

I am quickly gaining a steadfast love for My Mind's Eye. I have just adored so many of their recent collections, so I mixed and matched a couple of them here to create "A Learnt Behaviour."

I'm taking part in the current Challenge on the My Mind's Eye blog, which was to use the following sketch designed by Anam Stubbington, and incorporate the theme 'A lesson learnt'.

I started with one of my recent Studio Calico kits which had a few pieces of paper from the Alphabet Soup Collection as well as the die-cut paper from Lost and Found, and then I added a few more pieces from both the Girl and Boy Alphabet Soup ranges.

The challenge stipulates to use at least 80% My Mind's Eye products which I think is totally fair but perhaps difficult to interpret sometimes about what makes something 80%? I didn't really have any MME alphas so I simply used an alphabet die to cut them out of one of the papers just to make sure I was sticking within the guidelines :-)

I made these little luggage tags out of more paper and painted them with some gesso so you could read the journalling clearly. Munchy has a real love for nature, specifically bugs! She's not fussy and loves nothing more than finding snails or slugs or other creepy crawly things in our garden.

So one day she told me she was going 'bug collecting', (although in reality she actually went 'bud collecting' as she stripped our trees bare of their flower buds!) I think she learnt this kind of behaviour  from the TV (where else?!!) as she said, and I quote "when I grow up I want to be just like Bear Grylls. I want to eat bugs and drink my own wee". 

If we're talking about lesson learned, then I'm not quite sure this is what I want her to learn! However, perhaps it's taught me a lesson about how much TV my 4-year-old watches!!

HBS Sale!!

At Handmade By Suzanne commencing this week we are offering customers amazing weekly specials which last for just a short time and until stock runs out.

This week HBS have discounted ALL Cuttlebug products by 30%!  That is better than any Christmas sale!  This includes all the Companion Folder sets and the Cut & Emboss combos!  Special ends midnight Friday 19th November.

Be quick while stocks last and be sure to subscribe to the newsletter to be the first to hear about the next amazing deal.

Remember - HBS offer a flat rate of $5 postage anywhere in Australia. So don't be afraid to stock up on these wonderful specials, not to mention the 100's of other items that are on sale every day. 


PS. Scroll down to older posts to learn how you can take part in my Secret Santa Stash Swap, and there's still plenty of time to enter my giveaway.

Secret Santa Swap?

I know it's only the middle of November and some might say that was too early to be sharing Christmas projects.... but hey, I've already shown you my first card so I might as well take the plunge and share my first Christmas layout too.

Plus, I've got an idea for a Secret Santa Swap which you may be interested in. I'll share at the end.

I was a very lucky girl to receive the most gorgeous package filled with Basic Grey Jovial products from Handmade by Suzanne this month. And lucky for me that I also happened to have these left over Christmas photos from last year which I hadn't yet scrapped which matched the collection perfectly!

Apart from the kraft cardstock all the papers, alphas and brads are from Jovial. And I paired it with those delightful Maya Road doily transparencies which are just the best! Of course, I couldn't help but add lots of glitter too :-)

And here you can see how I've used the same technique to 'burn' the edges of my card that I shared in the post. I used my Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze in 'Cowboy' and dribbled it around the edge.  I also splashed it around a bit to add some more detail to my background too.

Earlier today I was exchanging emails with one of my friends I've met in blog-land and we ended up arranging a kind-of Christmas present exchange program between ourselves. Living in different countries means we both have access to different products that we've been admiring on each other's blogs etc.

So then I thought, why limit it just to ourselves? Here's my idea......

You have between now and December 3rd to email me on nat@elphie.com if you're interested in taking part. I'll collect names and addresses and match you up with someone randomly (or not so randomly if you suggest to me that you would only like to be matched with someone from your own country if possible)

After December 3rd I'll email you back with the name and address of the person you've been matched to, and then you'll get to put together a little scrappy present for them and mail it off as quick as you can so it gets to them in time for Christmas!! What do you think? Sound like fun?

To make it fair on everyone, and to limit our postage costs I would suggest we only send a package no bigger than an A4 (8.5 x 11inch) envelope or something similar. And feel free to fill it with unused/open/second-hand goodies if you think someone else could use them, but some new things might be nice too. It will all be kept anonymous unless you elect otherwise.

Any questions? You can ask in your email, or just leave a comment on this post. I'll update this if things aren't clear enough.

Inspired by..

Putu Princess Escapes, which is the Etsy shop we're drawing inspiration from in the Etsy Inspired Challenge this week.

I made this Christmas card:

Using some of the lovely Jovial collection papers from Basic Grey. The reindeer is cut from one of the papers called 'Nordic' which was my absolute favourite from the collection and I begged Suzanne to include it in my DT kit this month!

All the other details on this card were created using stuff from the HBS shop too. It's a Green Tara flower, Prima lace, and a small brad from the Jovial collection. And have you heard much about the Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze? I hadn't. But I received some in my kit and so I had a grand-old-time with it. It's pretty cool. It comes in a little bottle with a built in brush. It looks (and smells!) a lot like nail polish. It's quite a thin consistency and has more of a subtle shimmer to it and of course comes in a range of beautiful colours. I used my 'Cowboy' Glimmer Glaze around the edges of my paper to give it a faux-burnt look :-)

Oh, and did I forget to mention that I was using this shirt from the Etsy shop as my inspiration? Mainly the colours really!

Moz and Me

Giveaway post below... still open!

Last month I splurged and got one of the add-on kits as well as the main one (On the Easel) over at Studio Calico. I also got one of the add-on cardstock bundles too. And I was not disappointed in the slightest. It was so easy to mix and match from all three of these 'kits' to put together this layout.

First off I started with that fantastic woodgrain paper, which is the b-side to one of the October Afternoon Seaside papers. That alone almost makes the layout! I almost went out and bought three more copies of it so I can use it again and again (and again).

Next I added the pink die-cut paper from My Mind's Eye. In truth, I actually planned the layout using the reverse of this paper which is just plain pink with a subtle white polka dot, but when I turned it over to add some adhesive I realised this side with the bold brown glitter and that cute little bird looked way better. I added a quick splash of colour on it with some water paints.

The title tag came in the kit, and the cute little bird stamp was exclusive to the add-on kit (one of the main reasons I bought it!) I stamped Moriah's name as a last minute addition when The Man asked me casually "who's that a photo of?" since on occasion our two girls can look mighty similar in their baby photos. I thought I better make it clear!

The Best Bit

I feel really proud of myself that I managed to pull out an old Studio Calico kit (Continental - my least favourite since I've been a subscriber) and make another layout with it.

These days it just feels good to be able to use my stash instead of hoarding it. Gone are the days when I used to think "I should save that for something special". Now I'm all for using as much product as possible it requires without holding back. I think that's mainly due to the fact that I keep buying at a rate that exceeds my current scrapping ability and so it lessens my guilt and I feel satisfied when I reach the bottom of a pile of product.

That's why I've used lots and lots of the Girl's Paperie On Holiday embellishments, because lets face it, I've got a whole packet - that's 90 pieces..... so throwing 10 onto this layout still hardly makes a dent!

This layout is really just about capturing one of those day to day moments. If you can read that journaling in the photo above it really says it all (click on the photo to enlarge it)

Don't forget to enter the giveaway on my last post.