My Reveal Day Shopping List

So the countdown is on and the May Studio Calico Camelot Kits are going to be released real soon! Love this time of month don't you? The excitement is building and my fingers are itching to get clicking. I always use this time to start bundling things into my cart so I can just hit "Checkout" after I've popped in an Add On (or two!) I may or may have 14 things in my cart already... not even joking! Let me share some of the things that have caught my attention lately....

1. Kelly Purkey designed this fabulous Craft Die for her upcoming Sketchbook Class. It punches out these cute 1" circle embellishments that I just want to sprinkle everywhere!
2. I'm really excited about my Sketchpens again after using them in my experimental card I shared earlier in the month. These new Glitter Pens have got my mind whirring with possibilities.
3. Studio Calico are on the verge of their new release "South of Market" with product expected to start shipping in mid-May. You can pre-order the Whole Bundle now though (yes, every paper, letter sticker and embellishment!) for a very reasonable price and with FREE domestic shipping!
4. The members started talking about the Zig Wink of Stella Brushes on the boards one day and before the sun set Studio Calico had promised to order them in! They've arrived, but I anticipate they're going to go really fast. Better get yours now ;-)
5. I've been falling more and more in love with the Cosmo Cricket Patterned Vellum Pad every time Julie Comstock adds a new picture on her Instagram account. So many things I want to make with this.
6. Coming full circle I'm ending my list with another Kelly Purkey designed product - this time it's her Journal Cards. Can you tell I'm really REALLY excited about the Sketchbook Class?

The Story of the Strawberry Milkshake

I woke up to some extraordinary scrappy news today. The kind that brings a little squeal of excitement. But of course, I can't share it yet. Sorry! What I can tell you is that I'm also very excited about having another opportunity to be a Guest Designer for Scrap Friends' November Colour Challenge. Here's what I created...

Man was this colour challenge a little out of my comfort zone!! All those dark colours? Eeek! I tend to be either a brights or a pastels type of girl! I have to admit I had a mini-breakdown when I saw the colour palette because my mind just went blank as to what to do with it.

After I gathered myself I did what I always do with colour challenges and that's to start going through my stash and pulling out bits and pieces that match the colours. I don't think about collections, or what's going to match with what. I just want the right colours.

Often I find some real gems of forgotten products that probably wouldn't have seen the light of day otherwise. Like these Cosmo Cricket peacock feather stickers that have been in my collection for well over a year now (possible even 2) waiting for the perfect project. Today was their lucky day! They ended up becoming the real star of this layout don't you think?

I mixed in a few new products too, like the transparent Basic Grey die-cuts and Evalicious Stickers. And do you see that there on my page? Yes folks.... that's a flower! I did it! I managed to use a flower on my layout. So proud of myself!

The photo choice almost came last as I needed something that would match all these dark colours. This one of Miss M sipping on a strawberry milkshake suited perfectly. The fact that her polka-dot dress coordinated with the dark polka-dot paper actually came as a bit of a coincidence but I definitely embraced it :-) I used the photo to then prompt my title and journaling direction and made it into a list of her favourite foods right now. Nothing world-shattering but still a snapshot in time that will be worthwhile remembering later.

If you want to play along with the challenge there's a store voucher up for grabs for the winner. Find all the details on the Scrap Friends blog here.

The Story of the Basics

I've learned something about my style recently. I actually realised for the first time that my favourite background paper is one that is white/cream/vanilla in colour with a subtle pattern such as grids, lines or distressing. The incident that brought this to my attention was when I finished off my pad of Basic Grey Basics Manilla collection. Do you remember it? Released about 3 years ago (or more?) it was the perfect collection of what I just mentioned.

I thought I would share with you some of the layouts I've made over the past years with the collection so you can see just what I mean. I'm sharing them here in reverse chronological order. You've seen this first layout here fairly recently, (and also over at the Paper Stories blog).

But now that it's gone I've got my sights on the Simple Surfaces collection that Cosmo Cricket just released at the last CHA. I think it's going to be perfect for me!

The Story of the Medical Jargon

Sometimes there are stories that just need to be recorded. Even if the photos of the event aren't that great, and the layout you eventually come up with will never make your 'top 10'.
This was one such occasion.

Now I started off right. I began with an awesome sketch by Em that's forming the July challenge at Paper Stories. And I rifled through my collection of papers and found this lovely background piece by Cosmo Cricket, and some green and blue papers by Basic Grey and Echo Park.

My usual stack of linear paper layers wasn't cutting it for me and I wanted to add a splash of red to coordinate with Munchy's shirt in the photos. That's when my brilliant idea of sprinkling my leftover Thickers came into play. Not only is it quite a trend at the moment, but it's also helpful for someone like me who has trouble throwing stuff away! It was particularly poignant because the whole layout is about when Munchy couldn't speak for a few weeks, so having the letters as embellishments was perfect.

Aaaaannndd.... another bonus.. (which everyone in the world has probably already figured out) but these Thickers make an excellent replacement for foam tape! Just add some glue on their non-sticky side and you're good to go. I'm so about to go though my stash and put all my packets of letters that no longer make words into my adhesive pile instead ;-)

I have to admit I really second-guessed myself about whether I really should use medical jargon as my title. But then I figured... hey... I am One Scrappy Doctor after all! Dysphonia means an impairment in the ability of the voice to produce sounds. And my poor little Munchy suffered with this over the Christmas period. For the first week I ignored it, in the second week I figured it would still go away. By the time we eventually made it into the ENT doctor's office it had been going on for over 6 weeks. After several disastrous attempts by the doctor trying to visualise her vocal cords in his office (let's just say the gag-reflex is a mighty force not to be reckoned with!!) she was booked in to have the procedure done under an anaesthetic.

Ultimately nothing was found, and it was explained away as 'voice strain'. Which basically means she's like every other 6 year old and throws too many tantrums for her own good. It's quite a relief really. Well.... not about the tantrums, but nice to know there's nothing seriously wrong with her. Hopefully next time we don't have to go to the extent of a medical procedure to figure out our kid is normal!

The Story of a Poker Champion

Sorry for my bloggy absence. That's what a week of night duty followed by a week of holidays will do to a person! I've been studying hard whilst I work, and then holidaying hard and doing a bit of this....

That be playing card games and scrapbooking!

My family have always been a bit fond of the games. We play whatever strikes our fancy. 500, Pictionary, Boggle. I even convinced them to join with me in plenty of rounds of Scumbags and Warlords when I was a student.

But what with my dad's name actually being James Bond (no joke... that's true!) it was surely only a matter of time before we turned to Poker :-) And it turns out he's actually quite the Poker Champion. Naturally. Recently he entered a competition that ultimately ended up with him coming like 40th in the country.

So with my Dad's new-found obsession with poker, that's now become our game of choice. Whenever we get together as a family - this is what we do.


Supplies:

Fancy Pants Its The Little Things Hummingbird	Fancy Pants Its The Little Things Shuffle	Cosmo Cricket Colour Picks Dandelion / Grass	Cosmo Cricket Clementine Olivia
October Afternoon 5 and Dime Butterscotch	October Afternoon Boarding Pass alphas	October Afternoon Sidewalks Miscellany	Fancy Pants Its The Little Things Chipboard
Crate Paper Random Alphabet Stickers	Cosmo Cricket Social Club chipboard	Elle's Studio Summer Lovin' Cutouts	Elle's Studio Summer Lovin' Tidbits

InLinkz.com

The Promised Giveaway!

PPPhhhheww! It's been a long week and it's not even finished yet :-) I'm so ready for the weekend.

In the meantime I've managed to sneak into my scrap-room and pull together a RAK that I'm so excited to give away to one lucky winner. This is all about celebrating my new blog look (still a bit of a work in progress... but I'm soooo happy about it even so!) and to thank you all for your constant support.

I know I don't do enough to show my appreciation as I'm consistently running low on time to respond to you all, but believe me when I say I read every comment and I count myself very blessed to have such wonderful blogging buddies. 

I'm also quickly sharing a couple of cards which haven't yet made it up onto the blog. Now seems like a good time?

Simple cards, not ground-breaking (although this second one is a little technique-y) but hey - that's just how I relax when I've got the time. And they'll certainly do when I'm in a pinch and need something in a hurry for an event.

In fact, between making these and sharing them with you today I'm pretty sure I've already given them away! Mental note.... make more cards :-)

Now here's the deal on how to win the RAK pictured above. Just leave a comment. That's it. No need to re-post, Twitter, Facebook, whatever. No need to become a follower (although it might make it easier for you to come back and check whether you've won?) Just leave a comment. And I won't forget to include all the comments on my first New Blog posting either. So you can leave another comment there if you're keen for a second chance?

I'll draw a winner next Wednesday. Good luck :-)

Supplies:

Bazzill Cardstock Nutmeg	Bazzill Cardstock French Vanilla	Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934 Gable	Cosmo Cricket Social Club Cocktail
Cosmo Cricket Social Club Blue Eyes	Cosmo Cricket Salt Air Fish Tails	Cosmo Cricket Salt Air Elements	Cosmo Cricket Social Club chipboard

InLinkz.com