Layout to share....

The wedding album.
Here is a little story, I was so determined to have the cheapest but beautiful budget friendly wedding possible and I believe that I had exactly that.  In saying that having a cheap wedding often means doing a lot DIY and boy did we DIY.  I made all the wedding and hens invitations, the food and decorations for the hens, my dress was made by a friend, we did the flowers, I did all the candy buffet, I made the the cupcakes and the 100's of flowers and monogrammed hearts for the top etc.....

Basically it was an entire year of wedding planning, preparations, shopping, e-bay buying, Internet comparing, find storage room for a whole wedding of decorations kind of event,  and apart from a wee little bit of rain on the day it was amazing and went off perfectly.

As soon as that wedding was over however I wanted nothing, absolutely nothing to do with weddings ever again, I have still not looked at all the photos, I have still not watched the video and I still have not done thank you's (very naughty and a wee bit rude and I think that ship has sailed).  I was so over weddings that I never wanted to have ANYTHING to do with another wedding again, ever.

Last week 11 months since the big day I finally got the empty wedding photo album out and started adding photos to it.  I also paid for an online class and one of the prompts was using multiple photos, I only had leftover wedding photos lying around so a wedding scrapbook page was made

I am really pleased with this layout, it ticks all the right boxes, the right colours, its nice and simple and I managed to use the paper from our wedding invites on there, perfect.  Now that I have actually got a start at the album I now need to sort out what photos I  want to use and I need to order the paper, and then maybe I just might have the start of an actual scrapbooked wedding album.

Week in review

Cup of tea in my favourite mug with home made bagels and cream cheese, just a wee bit more than awesome.

 Strawberry and lime cider, very sweet but a nice treat occasionally.

Parents lunch afternoon at the C&K kindy, we got a show and miss T showed me all around her room

Mini sour cherry cheesecakes, I made a huge one for everyone at J's work and made a few small ones for us at home, best one I have made possibly ever.

 I pulled out the long neglected husky and made head way with the mending pile and UFO's

 One of the many UFO's I finished, matching bath mat to the trimmed towels I made miss T last year, ohh and a pedicure something that never happens but I had a voucher that was about to expire so a much needed pampering was had.

 Some photo boothing with little miss T

And plenty, plenty, way too plenty of this.  Three is a much more demanding and meltdown inducing number then two ever was, sigh......

Layouts to share....

The last few months have been a whirl wind of ups and downs and an extremely busy period in our life and to top all of it off we decided at the last moment that moving house was a brilliant idea.

So sewing machine, decorating goodies and scrapbooking supplies were all packed away into boxes and were amongst the last of the stuff to be unpacked, no creativity was happening until I had our new place in some kind of order.

These are some older iPhone photos that I forgot about so the quality is not the greatest but once I re-found them I knew I had to do a layout with them.  Actually this is the last layout that I made in our last place but as soon as it was finished it got packed away so no photos of it.  This design from this layout is another of Shimelle's 4x6 photo love classes this time I have used February as the inspiration.  This was also the first layout that I used any of the Sassafras warehouse sale paper that I received before Christmas.

Car Show Love most certainly, J and I love a good car show and the highlight of living where we do is the once a year Rodz Rock n Roll festival, we love the cars and can bribe the kids with the promise of getting carnival food and kids rides after we look at the cars.

I have used some SERIOUSLY OLD stash on this layout.  Both the striped paper (KI Memories) and the background paper (Karen Foster c.2002) are ancient and true to form this layout is a good mixture of new and old products. 

I apologise for the tired and sad edges on these papers.  That Karen Foster has actually moved countries and has possibly had seven plus house moves behind it so I guess I can cut it some slack....
What I love the most about this layout is the cogs (especially the ultra shimmery charcoal/silver colour) and the fake glimmer mist/paint splatter stamp that I have used.

Just a boy being a typical boy, lets not create art with this paint, lets eat it and make a huge mess with it instead, I just wished I had a photo of the aftermath, head to toe dark khaki paint, awesome.

Again I used that coveted glimmer mist/paint splatter stamp.  I also cut the circles from a sheet of Bella pattern paper and made the star embellishments using some die cut shapes, brads and distress ink.  I do not own all that much in the way embellishments I am more of a paper hoarder and I am not a huge over embellisher anyway so not having the perfect little bit of extra to top off a page is sometimes not a huge deal, it is amazing what you can create with just a few bits and pieces from what you already have on hand. 

Pinterest picks of the week....

1.Gobsmackingly Gorgeous Kitchen

Wow, wow, wow, I am in love...

 2.DIY Mouse Mat

Seriosuly how easy is that?  I am making one ASAP

3. Greatest Colour Combo EVER.....

No, Seriously I must and will have this exact room one day, untill then I am destined to stare at my electric blue wall, thanks colour inept landlord

4. As Close As It Gets....

My back deck and as close to the pink, black, white and damask beauty that is above, still at least I have it somewhere at home.

Posing, Dancing, Twirling....

Ohhh guess what, I finally have a layout to share.

I have been working on this layout on and off for a couple of weeks now just doing little bits and pieces when I get a moment of inspiration or time.

Inspiration for this layout came from here- 4x6 photo love March.
I absolutely love just how simple Shimelle makes her layouts to look and how straight forward her instructions are.  I have never really got into the whole online class or challenges, I did try a few years ago with a now defunct challenge site but I just could not find that place or class that clicked with me, until now.
I am trying to go back through the year and do the ones that I have missed and I like and luckily for me I had 3 portrait 4x6 in my to scrap pile, awesome :D

Christmas Cards

This year I was really slack and it was finally December and guess what, no Christmas cards. 

Whaaaat how did that happen?

Normally I am a good girl and start the process in about July and do little bits and pieces here and there using all my scraps up, this usually means that I usually have a multiple number of  different designs and I am all done by the end of November.  This was an exceptionally busy year and to be honest the whole craft thing has been a bit neglected this year. 

So cards, I finally got them done, it took me two days but it was a bit here and there in chunks of time that I could get away from the kids without fights breaking out and the total destruction of our house, such spirited children I have, sigh....

Christmas card design 1, all of these were exactly the same in design, the only difference was the paper was different, the reason for this is that I am so serious about using each and every scrap so rather than cutting up new sheets of paper it came down to using up what was already used and cut into.

Christmas card design 2, this was a again a really simple way for me to use up the paper that I have already used.  The idea behind the patchwork look is really simple, when I left my old work I got given a few packs of Cristina Re blank cards and these metallic lavender cards where in there.  I have never used cards with cut out windows in the front and I was having an issue finding a use for them, the patchwork look solved that problem.

Pinterest picks of the week....

1. Chocolate Ice Cube Strawberries

2. Glue Art

3. Tardis Tea Pot

4. Pallet Garden

1. Frozen Choc Strawberries.  How simple just put some strawberries in an ice cube tray and add melted  chocolate and freeze, bliss and I am so doing that this festive season.

2. Glue.  This is using Elmers glue but you could just use PVA glue.  Just trace over the image on a canvas with the glue and dry, that simple, I would paint over it but such a cool idea.

3. Tardis tea pot.  Seriously why don't I have this and where can I get one?  I am a huge Dr Who fan and I NEED this stat.

4. Pallet garden.  We have access to as many pallets as we want and Jase has made stuff from pallets in the past but not a garden, it is something we have talked about doing but seeing how simple and beautiful this is just makes me want to make my own now.

The Pinterest inspired peg advent calander....

So last week on my Pinterest picks of the week I posted this little gem

This week I decided to start making my own version.  I already had two planks of wood in the garage and a huge pack of wooden pegs that have been floating around for years doing nothing so it was time to make some advent calenders.

 I am so happy with the finished products.  The best part of these is that I only had to purchase a few small and cheap things to get them made.  The whole project was time consuming there is no denying and it took a few days to get all the components done but what a finished project.

The wooden planks were spray painted white using an aerosol can of undercoat white, I am not into gloss finishes and unfortunately all hardware and auto stores near me only seem to sell gloss so undercoat it was.

I had painted the pegs using acrylic paint from the cheapy store, they are a mixture of Chromacryl, Jo Sonja and Kaisercraft.

The paper on the front of the pegs is a mixture of new and old scrapbook paper, I only purchased four sheets coming well in at under $10 and attached using double sided scrapbooking tape.

The string was some kind of crochet stuff (I don't crochet and have no idea what the actual name is) bought from the cheapy store for $1.  I dyed the string buy rolling it onto spare pegs and dipping it in a mixture of regular food dye and water in a coffee mug for 24 hours, I did not rinse just squeezed the excess and left it in the sun to dry for a day, I love the imperfect colour effect that it has, almost like tie dye string.

The pegs were attached to the board using a hot glue gun ( the hot hot type, not the cool one), you could possibly use some kind of heavy duty glue but the gunis something I already own.
I did number all the little parcels using my cricut and some glue, next time I will be using a xyron adhesive runner to make the cut out numbers like stickers or I might just buy pre made number stickers, in actual fact the wrapping of the little parcels, the tying of the string and cutting and adhering the numbers was the most time consuming aspect of this project.

I attached the calenders to the wall using these Command velcro strips, we are about to move so don't want more stuff on the wall and these will only be up for 24 days of the year.  Why bother drilling holes and attaching hooks to the back of the calenders when two of the largest sized strips holds the whole thing up mess and fuss free.

At the end of the day I am more than 100% happy with the finished project, it took a lot of time but it was something that I could do in little bits a little at a time over a few days.  The kids LOVE them and the best thing is I can change the paper for a new look if  I want, I can reuse the calender every year from now on in and I have just created a Christmas memory for my kids and that is the most important thing to me.

Sassafras Lass Warehouse Sale

A few weeks ago I bought one of the Sassafras Lass warehouse sale boxes, I was waiting by the door everyday for my box to arrive as I had no idea just what was in it.  I have seen a few pics on Two Peas from the past sales and I had seen a few haul videos on YouTube but everyone seems to have been getting different stuff so the question was what was in that box?

 Sunshine Broadcast.  This pack was an extra/add on and in hindsight I probably would not buy this had I the option again, don't get me wrong I don't regret buying it it's just that it is very different patterns and colours to what I normally use.  I have no doubt that I will use them and it is nice to have a few bits and pieces to help you think outside the square but I could have gone without.

 The embellishments.  I am so happy with what I got in this pack, I know that in some of the earlier packs people were getting quite a few of the entwined blooms, the in a stitch blossoms (I got one of each) and felties (there was none), sure there was less embellishments this time but you know what I am really over the moon with what is there, the other stuff would have been amazing but I am not complaining with my fill.

 The sticker and foldies.  WOW, what can I say I am really pleased with this lot.  I got so many more sticker sheets that I thought I would and I am in LOVE with all those border stickers, will take me forever to get through them all.

The paper.  There is close to 50 sheets of paper in this lot, there is a couple of double ups and multiples which is fine but out of all the paper there is only one sheet that I absolutely will not use, way to go on great paper choices.

The verdict: Seriously there was so much stuff in this lot that I have no need to buy anything in a while.  The price was high almost $100 with the international shipping but there is way more than $100 worth of product in there and I will use everything.  Would I buy another warehouse sale box again?  Yep, obviously I wont be getting the Sassafrass as they wont be operating as they used to but I am keen to try other companies in the future even with the huge shipping fees it is worth it 100%.

Bargain of the week...

I love cosmetics, hate creams and lotions and hair goop and all that stuff but I love cosmetics especially eyeshadow and nail polish. 

Polish can change your mood, the look of an outfit, it can be natural and understated or it can loud and wild, there is millions of brands and colours and types you can get pretty stickers to go with it or you can paint & decorate with images and all kinds of different techniques. 

I love pricey brands of polish, not the highest end stuff like Dior or Chanel but the salon stuff like OPI, Essie, China Glaze and Orly.  I often get them reduced from a little salon around here and I have found an amazing US seller with really cheap prices and I have also been known to use the L.A Girl stuff but sometimes a bargain is just too good to pass up.

Take these for example, all Rimmel makeup $4 off, these little guys then came in at the princely sum of $1.75, what $1.75, yep awesome huh.  I have never thought to buy nail polish with those sales and I generally don't buy cosmetics from Target or Kmart.  I didn't get many as most of the colours were similar to ones I already own but it's not a bad haul for the price.

Pinterest picks of the week....

 I am a totally food driven person, I love to look at it, I love to read about it, I love to cook it and I most certainly LOVE to eat it....

1. Dole Pineapple Whip

2. Red Velvet Cheesecake

3. Broccoli Cheddar Soup

4. Coconut Banana Cream Pie

1. Dole Pineapple Whip.  We don't have them here in Australia, we do have Dole pineapple but I have never seen this delicious cold treat and I used to live 5 minutes drive from the Big Pineapple.  Anyways it has been scary hot here this spring so I foresee many of these in my future.

2. Red Velvet Cheesecake, its a cheesecake with a red velvet cake on top and coated in icing, what is there not to love...

3. Broccoli Cheddar soup.  Creamy cheese soups are not really that popular in Australia but I love cheese anything and Broccoli just happens to be in my top three veg so I think this is a must try.

4. Coconut Banana Cream Pie.  Dear lordy again what is there not to love?

1. Bird Art

2. Peg Advent Calender

3. Doilie Bowl

4. Record Dessert Stand

1.  Painting from Anthropologie, we don't have them here and I certainly would not be paying the asking price but I am certainly going to make my own version after we move.

2. Peg Advent Calender.  I have some wood, I have an abundance of wooden pegs, I believe that I have found what I am making next.

3. Lace Doily Bowl.  So easy, can't wait to make one

4. Record cake stand.  Seriously how cool is that, next theme party I am so making this.  

Kaiser Outlet, Brisbane

Quite some time ago I had to venture out to the other side of Brisbane to collect some stuff that I had bought from a warehouse and it just so happened that it was in the same area as the Kaiser Craft outlet and a Spotlight, double bonus I say.

I wont even vent about the fact that it took me over an hour to get there, I had to pay for four tolls in total and that it took me like an hour to find the Kaiser shop which I had passed all but about twenty times but when I finally found the place it was a bitter sweet moment.  Yes it was full of Kaiser products and yes some of them were deliciously cheap but I am not the biggest consumer of Kaiser products to begin with and I actually expected to be walking out of that place with bags upon bags and instead I spent a measly $32, give or take.

The purchase of the day was the brads and the rhinestones, they were all very, very cheap and in big bins I also figured that the epoxy brads could have the sticker pulled off and I could put on my own image of choice.  Some of the paper was cheap and the rest of it was full price, in fact I don't think I even bought any of the reduced paper.

I would loved to have got some cheap stamps but the newer ones were full price and the ones that they did have reduced I could get for cheaper on e-bay and I did not like them.  The other cheap options that were all in bins were mainly Kaiser wood products, ink pads, paint and wood backed stamps and I don't use Kaiser ink, I hate off the page/altered projects, I have enough paint and I don't want anymore wooden stamps so that option was out.

All in all if you love Kaiser stuff and searching through bins for that elusive item than by all means the Kaiser shop might be for you, I however will not be going back unless I am in the area as it is so far for me to travel and Kasier although I totally get the appeal is just not my favourite paper manufacturer, was good to see what all the fuss was about though :)

Wrapping paper

I love wrapping presents and I love all the little bits and pieces that you can buy to make presents look beautiful, ribbons, doilies, bows and tags and the shinier the better.  As a rule I always have a box of supplies that I keep on hand for present wrapping and an assortment of wrapping paper for all occasions but sometimes you just don't have that perfect wrapping paper or as in today's case you run out and I have no intentions of taking my two rambunctious children anywhere near a shop today so what do you do?

DIY wrapping paper, that's what.

(Stamps: Fiskers- Kids Birthday, Fiskers Ink by Steph- Skin And Bones)

(Ink: Versa Color- Cardinal, Fiskers- High Density Blue)

Kinda cool huh, I will be honest this totally works better with smaller presents or if you have bigger stamps but seeing as this paper is for a 6 year old pirate loving boy I hardly doubt he will be looking at anything more than the fact that he has a present and it has skulls on it.

I always have a roll of brown paper and white/cream kids painting paper on hand just for this reason and you know what it really is the simplest of tasks and tasks under 5 minutes to make your very own personalised wrapping paper.

 I decided to do up an example of just how easy it really is, all I used for this paper was one set of stamps, a couple of different ink colours, an acrylic block and paper it really is that easy.

It does not matter what order you stamp in or how straight you stamp, with a random pattern like this you can get as messy as you like.  I also like to tape the corners down on the surface that I am making the paper on, when paper has been stored in a roll it tends to curl up and it just means that I can use both hands rather than using one hand to keep the paper flat where I stamp. 

There you go all you need is a small piece of ribbon which I usually pick up from Spotlight for 70c for 3 metres, curling ribbon or raffia and a bow, I buy my bows at Christmas time in big bags, they only have a few colours in the mix but a bag will last all year and they are usually under $4 and come is so many different sizes.

Crafting to report

I have finally had the time to get some much needed scrapbooking time in, seems like forever since I last played crafty.

First up a card.  I do not celebrate Halloween, something to do with living in Australia, American tradition not ours, grumble grumble...

As a kid Halloween was some kind of magical concept as it was never a part of my childhood era in Australia, these days it is becoming much more widely accepted but I don't celebrate especially as I now have kids of my own and the thought of them with a bag full of lollies scares me a bit if I am honest, LOL.

I do however have a friend in England and apparently the sweets over there do not compare to our down under goodies so a Halloween parcel must be sent.

 Next up is a layout that has kind of been a bit of a hassle to get finished.  You know the ones, you have all these great ideas and nothing seems to work, yeah that was the Happy Birthday layout, probably did not help that my daughter did some impromptu pencil artwork on one side of the layout before everything was glued down limiting my choices, but perseverance paid off and I now have a finished layout.

 After I started this layout I saw that Big W was selling the DCWV Celebration stack so I bought it and got all my embellishments and title from it except the banner sticker, totally LOVE this stack.

And finally I scrapped a layout of one of my best friends weddings that I was in from 6 years ago and, I actually watched a tutorial and made a layout from it. 

I have never, ever taken a layout class and I have never done a tutorial.  All I can say is it was awesome and I love the finished product.

I am most certainly going to do another of the 4x6 Photo Love by Shimelle.

I can honestly say that I would never have thought to do a layout like that and I would never have done it before but I love the results and it has opened up a whole lot of new options on how to scrap all those events that I have multiple photos from and that I have been putting off for years.

 Makes me so happy to see these wedding photos finally scrapbooked.

Missing an action

So it has been rather some time since I last updated.
I actually have not done all that much in the way crafting but I have been in wedding mode number two for the year.
One of my oldest friends got married two weekend ago and it has been a blur of travel and invitation making and cooking and hens nights and kitchen teas and dress fittings.

Such a beautiful day and occasion but glad that the weddings are over for now.  Next year is going to be even bigger in the party stakes as I am still friends with a huge amount of  my school friends and many others born in 1982 and we are all turning 30, wow where did all those years go, seems like only yesterday that I was having my 21st.  Scary stuff that.

   

100% Boy

A few weeks ago I was in Spotlight for some fabric and I came across the new Bella papers.  I really loved these new lines so I got a couple of sheets of both the boy and girl themes.

It never ceases to amaze me just how boy like Zach is, he really is the A typical example of what a boy is and the things that they like and the funny thing is that although he has always been a typical boy it has only been in the last few weeks that his true boyness has come to shine.  It seems like almost instantly he discovered the sheer joy of footballs, trucks, cars, planes and trains, rough housing, action figures, getting dirty making noise, getting into everything and truck watching, in fact whenever we leave the house he spots every truck imaginable and rubbish day is a very exciting time in our house with lots of waves to the drivers.