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Thursday, June 14, 2012

Instagram Summer Blog Hop

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Are you addicted to Instagram yet? I know I am. Nearly 500 photos of mine would vouch for that! I carry my phone everywhere of course, which just makes it so easy to take photos anywhere, anytime. Instagram allows me to instantly edit and upload them on the go. And it also allows me to connect with other Instagrammers and get an insight into their daily lives.

So when I saw one of my Instagram buddies Jessy Christopher was organising another one of her highly successful Instagram Blog Hop's I knew I wanted to join in the fun!


I print out loads of my Instagram photos to use on my layouts these days. In fact I would say at least 75% of my photos for scrapping are Instagram pics.


Given this is a "Summer" Blog Hop (and it's absolutely freezing for me down here in Australia) I wanted to share a recent page which is all about the sunshine and summer memories.


I'm starting to feel warmer already!


And because all Blog Hop's should end with a prize, here's what I'm offering to one lucky hopper today. Full of fun and colour this prize includes everything you see here - chipboard, buttons, WASHI TAPE (!) and more. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post letting me know if you Instagram or not. If you would like to sign up to follow my blog you can see the link in the sidebar, or check out my Instagram feed (my user name is 'natalieelph') that would be totally cool. If you let me know I'll enter your name into the draw a second time.


Here's a list of the other stops on the Blog Hop today. You can see the participants name on the left, followed by their Instagram username, then their blog address.

The blog hop is open until June 17th at 11:59pm PST (which is almost 8am on the 18th for us Aussies in Victoria) at which point I will draw a winner for my Prize and post it here.


BLOG HOP LIST: 


Aida Haron | aidaville : www.aidaharon.livejournal.com

Amelia Khalik | ameliakhalik : www.ameliakhalik.blogspot.com

Cindy Lee | cindylee : www.mylilcraftycorner.blogspot.com

Clare Reilly | thelifeofclare : www.thelifeofclaree.blogspot.com

Evelyn Pratiwi Yusuf | geekgalz : www.evelynpy.wordpress.com

Gina Lideros | ginalideros: www.canoncreativegirl.blogspot.com

Jaime Warren | jaimewarren : www.jaimewarren.typepad.com


Janna Werner | jannawerner : www.jannawerner.de


Jessy Christopher | jcchris : www.teacherjessy.blogspot.com



Joan C | joancce : www.scrapsncards.blogspot.com

Jordan Blaser | missblaser : http://missblaser.com/?page_id=9


Julie Garcia-Matus | callelillycafe : www.callelillycafe.blogspot.com

Kim Watson | kjstarre : www.kj-starre.blogspot.com

Kimberly Neddo | kimberlyneddo : www.kimberlygarofolo.typepad.com

Laura Banasiak | laurabanasiak : www.simply-scraps.net 

Liana Suwandi | lianasuwandi : www.maples-lianasuwandi.blogspot.com

Lindsey Hansen | lindzeyhanzen:  www.lindsey-hansen.com

Marie Ramirez | bettiescrapbook : www.absosweetmarie.blogspot.com

Melissa Mann | melissamann1981 : www.iheartpenquins.blogspot.com

Merdrey Chew | medrey : www.dreamieland.wordpress.com

Michelle Kehoe | michellek : www.michellelovesallsorts.blogspot.com

Michelle Lanning | michellelanning : www.michellelanning.com

Nancy S | Kittynance : www.kittyscrapper-nancy.blogspot.com

Natalie Elphinstone | natalieelph  :        ***YOU ARE HERE****      

Natt Smith | tinynatt : www.tinynatt.blogspot.com

Nina Burgess | ladybugnina : www.adventuresinbugland.blogspot.com

Sharmandeswari Nidyanandan | shamu_rueben : www.craftyliciousme.blogspot.com

Susan K. Weckesser | susankweckesser : www.mysweetearth.blogspot.com

Suryanti Halim | isur : www.suryanti-halim.blogspot.com

Talia Carbis | taliacarbis : www.number-19.com

Wati Basri | watibasri : www.scrapcreation.blogspot.com


Supplies:
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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Golden Words

There was no doubt that my Munchy was ready for school. She had been counting down the days until she started since before Christmas. There were no tears for her as she left on the first day... she practically ran - she was so excited to begin.


And 6 months in, that still hasn't waned one little bit. Her unquenchable thirst for knowledge and eagerness to learn surprises even me (and I'm someone who has now been studying for the last 24 years!)


One of the first 'tests' she was up against was in her reading ability. Every child was given the same list of 25 'Golden Words' which apparently make up some percentage of basic English. And when the teacher has deemed that an individual child has learnt them sufficiently they get tested on them, earn a certificate and move on to the next level of 'Red Words' and so on...


As soon as Munchy saw other kids getting tested on them she was eager to prove she could be the next one. Without prompting she diligently studied them, sounded them out, got us to test her and before we knew it... she had passed! She proudly showed off her certificate to anyone who would look :-)


 And speaking of proud moments, I had my own recently when I was asked to be part of a feature on "The Best of the Web", a weekly roundup of inspirational blogs on the PocketChange Lifestyle Blog (they've got great tips on just about anything on the Tips Page for a start if you're wondering what they're about).


You can check out the feature here, or click on the icon above.
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Sunday, June 10, 2012

I'm Coming Home

One last layout to share with you from my recent stint as a JBS Guest Designer.


In fact, I've gone a little backwards on this, 'cos actually this was the first layout I created once I received my kits. Each month JBS has a 'Main Kit plus One' challenge where the idea is to only use the Main Kit plus the one other ingredient they specify each month. For May the challenge was to add vellum and/or confetti.


I knew I had to get this layout out of the way first and use up all the best bits in the Main Kit before I was too tempted to start mixing with the other kits I received. The woodgrain cardstock was a must. Closely followed by that vintage Hotel Reservation Card, and the Maya Road flower. And did I mention the Fancy Pants transparency and those mistable Pink Paislee alphas?


I incorporated my vellum in the form of gold journalling strips (which matched the gold stars on the transparency) which in turn inspired my star confetti punched from the Crate Papers. And did you notice I couldn't help but add the left over scraps of paper that I punched my stars from into my layout as well? Call me crazy, but it's because they reminded me of high-rise buildings which fit my theme of moving house back to the city again.


Can you believe there's still a few of these kits left for sale?

Supplies:
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Thursday, June 7, 2012

My very own Fountain Pen

Oh yeah.... I know..
This is like the third or fourth feather card I've shown you :-)
I just can't get enough of making my own feathers!!!


You see.... when I saw the exclusive JBS Stamp in the May Papercrafting Kit (where I was Guesting) was a vintage Fountain Pen Ink label I just knew that I wanted to make my own 'fountain pen' to go along with it.


All the other supplies you see here on the card are from the kit too. I made my feather from some of the pretty green Crate Paper and added some glitter for good measure. I inked up my stamp roughly with my Lavender Sachet JBS Ink and pressed it onto smooth cardstock. I spritzed it with some water to make it run and give it this lovely washed-out look. The ink splatters were the perfect final touches :-)

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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Love Your Art

More kid art to share today. It really is becoming quite a passion of mine. It just feels so satisfying to know that I'm actually preserving these wonderful pieces of artwork my children churn out. Because otherwise I've got no doubt they would eventually end up in the recycling.


The first month that I was asked officially to be a Guest Designer for Jenni Bowlin I was so focussed on trying to 'be the best that I could be' that I think I forgot to be real! But the second time around I decided I was going to make the layouts that were important to me no matter what :-)


So putting aside that my 5-year-old doesn't yet turn out 'professional' looking pieces of art and that by including them I've turned my page into a very rough and homespun layout. But it doesn't matter in the slightest to me at the end of the day. I love her artwork. And I love that both my girls love to create. I guess that's perhaps one thing they get from me.


The way I decided to incorporate Munchy's drawings on this one was to actually cut out the individual elements and use them just like ready-made embellishments. It was a stroke of genius if I do say so myself! LOL!! I'm going to use this technique again :-)


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Sunday, June 3, 2012

The Best is Yet to Come

Oh this is just too exciting! My first month with Flourish With a Bling and I was part of the very first challenge! Here's what I made....


In the past FWAB had seemed to me to be brimming with wonderful card makers, and so when I saw the first sketch challenge was this....
I figured we were about to see a lot of cards. But actually all the DT who were playing along made layouts so I guess that shows you how versatile this new team is going to be, and how we're hopefully going to inspire you in different directions.


The whole idea is of course to show off my wonderful new collection of Bling, and it was soooooo hard to know where to start. Ultimately I worked with the Chloe Pearl Flourishes in Antique Gold (my new favourite!) and Pink. These are really easy to cut into pieces whilst still holding their shape, so I filled my frame with my own arrangement :-)


When I was putting my layout together I had this quote running around my head (because I had seen it on Pinterest of course!) and I used it to form my title / journaling. Seems I don't actually have a photogenic memory though, because the actual quote reads "What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven't happened yet". Oh well :-)

 

It would be great if you joined in with us for our first Sketch Challenge at FWAB. The winner takes away this gorgeous collection of goodies which includes the Chloe Pearl Pink flourish such as you see in my layout. You can check out all the details here on the blog.


Supplies:
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