The Story of the Spotlight Blog Hop

Hello, and welcome to the Spotlight Blog Hop!
It's a quick one with only four stops along the way, but there's about a million prizes to make up for it. Ok, so that's a slight exaggeration ;-)

The order of the Hop goes something like this....
Aimee Dow
Kim Jeffress
Leeann Pearce
and then me!
Make sure to visit all of these girls and follow their specific instructions on how to win each prize. 

I've been a VIP member of Spotlight for the longest time. I can't even remember when I signed up. It gives me discounts and all the normal benefits that usually comes with a membership like that, but the best bit has always been getting advance warning of when the scrapping celebrities are coming to town!

March was a particularly exciting month. To celebrate National Craft Month my local Spotlight had in-store classes from both Amy Tan and Heidi Swapp. And even though Judah was less than 2 weeks old I knew this was an opportunity too good to miss.

Amy came on a Saturday which meant both my girls got to come along too. I'm pretty sure they were just as excited as me and they didn't hold back in letting it show. Many hugs later I think they considered her their new best friend. And let's not mention that at one point I wondered if we would ever get Judah back from her in return ;-)



And when Heidi came to visit three days later (notice how I seem to think of them both on a first name basis now!) I most definitely needed to drag myself out of pajamas again to pop in. Especially since I knew it would also give me the chance to meet IRL for the first time some Aussie scrappers whom I've admired online for a long time - Kim Jeffress, Leeann Pearce and Aimee Dow.

There were lots of photos taken of course. We all wanted to scrap the event in our own way. And now we all have! We decided to do a blog hop to celebrate the occasion and before we knew it, Spotlight were on board to sponsor a truck load of prizes! Thank you sooooo much Spotlight :-)

Each of the girls has a different lot of prizes on their blog, and we all have slightly different ways on how to win them too, so make sure you pay attention!

I've got two prizes to giveaway today!!

The first one is only for the Aussies I'm afraid. (Postage costs and all that jazz)

It starts off with a paper pad from both Amy Tan and Heidi Swapp's latest collections and ends with ... well.... EVERYTHING else you see here!

Whilst the second prize is up for grabs for another lucky winner, no matter where they live ;-)

So many fun embellishments and Project Life cards here.

How do you enter to win my prizes?

1. Leave a comment here on this post, making sure to mention where you're from as well. That will score you one entry. 
2.  For a second entry you need to pop over to my Instagram account, make sure you follow me there and leave a comment on the appropriate post. 

The competition is open until 8pm AEST Wednesday 17th June and the winners will be drawn at random from all the combined entries.

Good luck, and happy hopping!

June Jot Mood Board

This is probably the most fun and interesting card I've made in a long time. Not because it was difficult or features a favourite product or had any profoundly new technique involved. Just because it's a little bit different :-) And different can be a disaster or it can be a breakthrough.

I'm hoping I've struck the breakthrough this time?
Anyway, it's my own fault I got into this situation. You see, I had the opportunity to design the Mood Board challenge at Jot Magazine for this month. It looks a little something like this....

I honestly put it together just by choosing elements that are speaking to me at the moment. Hot pink, red, lime and kelly green. Which first lead to candy, which led me to watermelons, which lead to black and white spots.... and somehow flamingos got thrown into the mix as well. I certainly didn't put it together with any particular project already in mind. That would be like cheating ;-)

So when I went to make my own sample I started tossing stuff around in my usual manner. I pulled out lots of things with the colours I was after and began building up my layers. But somehow it just wasn't working. Then the lightning bolt went off! I remembered this small 4x4" sample painting of a watermelon when I was teaching Bethany how to waterpaint her fruit series earlier in the year. The colours were just right, the theme was perfect and all it needed was a little trimming down. I stuck it on my card, added a sentiment and that was it!

Of course, just like all my cards I couldn't help but add a few splashes of ink at the end. But that seemed fitting as well - it's like the watermelon juice has dripped everywhere. As it does!

I'd love to see how you interpret the challenge though. Lots of the Jot Girls have worked the flamingo into their layouts which I love too. What part inspires you?
The winner of this month's challenge will receive a gift voucher for the lovely Cocoa Vanilla shop.

All the challenge details are here. Will you play along?

The Story of 28 Patterns

Before there was The 100 Day Project (check out my Instagram if you don't know what I'm talking about) I participated briefly in Julie Balzer's #28 Patterns which ran during February.
Yeah, I know, I'm really behind on my blogging ;-)

A simple concept of creating patterns with whatever method or medium you chose every day for 28 days. I find these challenges are great for diving into past supplies, stretching yourself creatively, coming up with new techniques and of course, having a bunch of fun at the same time.

To be honest, I wasn't very good at keeping up with this one. I think I only managed 2 or 3! But at least on this day I took my patterned piece of paper and actually did something with it - turning it into this retro-ish card with the addition of a couple of simple embellishments. So it became something practical for me too.

I'm still working on turning this one into a card too. I think it'll work nicely for a birthday card though don't you think?

Happy scrapping!
xx

Just to finish off

I finished off last year's Handbook a little while back, and I've shared a bunch of pages here and here. So today I'm showing off the last of the pages so that I can finally lay this one to rest. I've been working my butt off to get Judah's baby album done and I'm pleased to say that it's almost there, but I can't share it yet because it's for a super-secret assignment :-)

First up, on the left hand side I've got a page dedicated to Bethany's artwork, and I've included a little notebook she filled in about her heroes as a little added extra. I've really put my Attacher Die to good use to add in all these bits and bobs that don't fit into a pocket easily. And did you see that Studio Calico just released an updated version for 6-ring binders too?

Whilst on the right hand side of this spread I've got a page documenting the time we went to the Queen concert. This full 6x8" page allowed enough room to include a photo and the ticket and a bit of journaling without having to break it up into separate pockets.

Next up we have Moriah's 5th birthday party. And by party I just mean a couple of relatives around our kitchen table celebrating with her Frozen-style.

It was such a great excuse to break out my stash of snowflake embellishments that don't otherwise get much use around here.

Then I've got a spread dedicated to my Grandma's funeral. Not a fabulous topic, but a real-life one, and of course it's one that's an important part of our lives so I definitely wanted to include it in my Handbook. I've put a little handwritten note from her in one of the pockets, and used those Attacher Dies to add in her Memorial Order of Service.

And finally I put in those stock-standard Kindergarten photos that Moriah came home with that I don't think I'd ever use for a layout (perhaps a little too staged for my liking?) so into the album they went.

Oh and a spread for the time I saw the musical Once, just to mix it up a bit. That's the beauty of the Handbook I reckon - small pages to document a hodgepodge of memories without any need for logical flow because each one can stand alone, or work together as a full spread.

The Story of the No-Glue Butterfly Card

I got a little opportunity last night to scrap and I wanted to try and catch up on a couple of NSD challenges if I could. I tried to knock out two or three, but ultimately only came up with one. It was a case of 'let's pull out a million things, try them out in a thousand different combinations and then just hurry up and sew it down where it's last landed because now the baby is crying' kind of crafting.

It seems I'm in a bit of a Mood Board mood lately because it was this stunner that took my fancy from the Pinkfresh Studio and Winnie & Walter NSD challenges that prompted my card. 

Inspiration mainly came from the image in the bottom left. Yellow butterfly, kraft and white lacy doily - that's what got my creative juices flowing. The green layers were added because I needed a little splash of colour, and the pink pearls were scattered just as the pink flowers are all over this mood board.

But seriously I mean it - there's no adhesive on this card for any of the paper layers. It's literally all just held in place by the sewing down the middle of the butterfly! Cost-effective as well as fast ;-)

Did you manage any NSD scrapping this week?
xx

The Story of the May Jot Mood Board

Yep, this one spoke to me. It said, "I'm bold, I'm graphic, I'm a little bit retro-chic" and so I was inspired instantly by the May Mood Board challenge at Jot Magazine.

Here's what I whipped up as my Jot Girls contribution. It's a card which is my standard these days. Firstly because I'm all into card making these days. The scrappy kind of card making I like to think. And secondly because I feel like now I need to represent all the other card makers out there. You know you can enter any kind of papery project for these challenges don't you?



The only thing I regret about this card is that I kinda forgot to use the free digital "Be positive" that Jodie from Polka Dot Creations is letting you all have. See the image in the Mood Board up there? Yep! That's what you can have for free. Some of the other Jot Girls have been ever so creative with it. Using it as a digital stamp, turning it into a cutting file - you name it! You can download your copy here.

Now when I said that I was instantly inspired by the Mood Board I'm telling the truth. What I didn't mention straight up though is that this card I submitted as my contribution wasn't my first attempt at it though. This is the one I struggled with first of all before deciding it really wasn't going to cut the mustard and starting all over again.

Love that pink bow though ;-) I made it with one of my most used favourite dies.

Come and join in with our challenge here. 

xx

 

The Story of the Super Happy Fun album

Although I still consider myself a country girl (despite living in Melbourne for say um…. 14 years now!) there are definitely perks to living where I do. Like when in March both Amy Tan and Heidi Swapp came to my local Spotlight store within a few days of each other! They both taught different classes, but unfortunately I didn't have a chance to actually 'do' Amy's for various reasons. But today I'm going to share the quick little mini-album we made during Heidi's visit.

We really only put together the foundation of the pages during the class. I did not go prepared with photos in hand! All these little extra bits were added when I got home. But because of the nature of her products, this was soooo quick to assemble - especially when you've got the expert guiding you through each step of it!

Loved the combination of transparencies, envelopes, tags and memorydex cards as the different pages within it. The eclectic look always reminds me of what scrapbooking is all about - accumulating a hodge-podge of photos and memorabilia and then trying to present it in some logical order. Maybe that says more about my scrapping style than it should ;-)

Yeah so I turned it into an "I love Spring" memoir!

With just a touch of Summer as well.

The promo tour was certainly effective. I can honestly say I've fallen in love with the Wanderlust collection now, and especially how well it mixes with her previous collection September Skies (which is what I've done here). Be prepared to see more Heidi around these parts!

National Scrapbook Day 2015

There's so much happening around the blogosphere tonight, just love the excitement that's poured out about our mutual love for all things memory keeping and papery. I've already done some blog hops and chats and created things. But right now I'm going to be here at Big Picture Classes.

There's a free classroom that just opened up where I'll be amongst some seriously talented women challenging you in different ways. Here's the project I created for my challenge - see if you can guess what it could be?!

 

Supplies: Far Far Away Card Kit, Versamark Ink, White embossing powder, 

Gold glitter embossing powder, Thanks metal die, Gold foil paper

You might need to go ahead and watch the video I've put together of how I created the card which will explain exactly how and what the challenge is!

      

And if you're thinking with all this crafting you're going to need some new supplies then check out the limited edition World Scrapbooking Day kit from BPC. Not only is it totally gorgeous (totally need that stamp!) but it ships FREE anywhere in the world! That's enough to make me push the 'purchase' button ;-)

 (there's also a very similar kit, with the same free shipping clause over at Studio Calico as well!)

So I hope you'll join me over in the Big Picture Classes classroom for some serious fun!
But in the meantime...
Happy Scrapping!

xx