Project Life 2013 - Week 19...and some MBOM catch-up.

Hello Project Life Week 19...and Hello Monday!

The last week has gone by in a blur of work and meetings and school stuff and general chaos...all without me picking up my camera even once. EEEK!

This has an effect on my Project Life documenting, and tends to have a snowball effect. I have very few photos to work with...so I put off  PL because it's too hard...and another week passes and it gets even harder...so I put it off a bit longer :( Procrastination at it's finest.

I needed to stop before the rot set in...and I had too many weeks to catch up on! Thank goodness for iPhone photos and Snap Life goodies and internet images...a brilliant way to fill up an empty pocket or two.

I also had a bit of catching up to do on my Mystery Block of the Month quilt...because there's another block on it's way!

This is going to be such a pretty quilt when it's done. I so love the Vintage Modern fabrics it's made from, although I have no idea what I'm actually going to do with the finished quilt...but we'll worry about that when the time comes ;)

                                          

Hope your Monday has been lovely and productive. We had a beautiful rainy day here in Perth, and I spent most of it baking...the perfect wet weather activity :)

What have you been up to?

TTFN xxx

Project Life Week 18...and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Hello Week 18...thankfully a week of two photo-heavy events to make up for my lack of photo taking during the week :)

My layout began with this gold butterfly...

 ...which was one of many that we collected at the Cirque du Soleil performance of OVO which we attended on the Saturday night. (I am so very very grateful that we had tickets to see this amazing performance! We've had them since before Christmas, and were all SO excited that the day had finally arrived.) I wanted to include at least one of the butterflies somewhere, so that's where I began :)

I kept this one fairly simple...using a few quotes from Teresa Collins" Stationery Noted line, some gold highlights here and there, and some gorgeous gold alpha stickers from Dear Lizzie in my title card.

I've blurred out one of the 4x6 cards...no, it's not your computer ;)

It's Mothers Day here in Australia, and I'd like to wish all the beautiful and dedicated mothers I know a wonderful day! I have been spoiled with breakfast in bed, a pile of gorgeous gifts, both homemade and bought (shopped for by my children this year...they did an awesome job!) and plenty of hugs and kisses. It's days like this that I feel so blessed to be surrounded by my precious little family...they mean the world to me.

Happy Mothers Day to you...and thank you for visiting

TTFN xxx

Project Life 2013 - Week 17

  Hello Week 17...still running a bit behind with my crafting, but clawing my way back slowly ;)

I pulled out my Project Life Turquoise kit for this spread...recognise the browns, greens and aquas? I added some washi tape, some Echo Park Sweet Girl stickers (loving that house in the title card) and other bits and pieces for variety...and boy, did I have a messy desk by the time I was done!

All of my photos were from my iPhone this week...I've lost a bit of my photo-taking mojo it seems. As I look back on last years PL, I realise that this happened at much the same time last year :)

This is definitely not my favourite colour scheme, but it felt good to use up some stash and make my week a little more "masculine".

                                      Also a good excuse to use some of my enamel badges...

...which I seem to be collecting at the moment.

Thanks so much for visiting, and for leaving me such lovely comments...I really do have the best blog readers!

Have a wonderful day

TTFN xxx



12 Months of Christmas...April Project

Hello hello :)

 I'm running a bit late on our 12 Months Of Christmas project this time...how did it get to May already?

 The project for April was a Christmas stocking, and I really really wanted to make mine using a Thimble Blossoms pattern called merry. It's one of those projects that I bought the pattern for a long time ago, and every Christmas had good intentions of making one...but never quite found the time. Hello 12 Months Of Christmas!

I've used Aneela Hoey's fabric called Cheery Christmas, which is a beautiful mix of turquoise, red, grey and green...but for this particular project, I stuck with the turquoise and red backed onto white.

Once I'd finished stitching, I felt it needed a little extra something, so added this divine crochet bauble trim that I've been hoarding for quite a while. I knew if I held onto it long enough, a perfect project would present itself :)

I cheated a bit with the quilting part. For the lining I used a red and white chevron print from Riley Blake, and simply followed the lines when quilting the back side of the stocking...too easy!

So...how are you going with your 12 Months of Christmas projects? Our project for May is your choice of an advent calendar or a tablerunner...or anything else you might like to make ;) I haven't quite decided which way I'll go yet...decisions decisions!

The rain has just started falling on the roof, and my husband is happily preparing dinner...might be the perfect time to pull out some fabric!

Enjoy your evening

TTFN xxx

Zigzag Love...a finish :)

Back to fabric today, with the finish of my Zigzag Love mini quilt :)

This really is the sweetest little quilt, and is adding a welcome splash of colour to my dining room table now that it's finished. You may recall I used this pattern by Hope's Quilt Designs...

 ...which  is available to purchase on Craftsy, or from Hope's brand new website here. I chose to make my quilt with Woodland, a fabric range by Natalie Lymer from Cinderberry Stitches...the mix of fairies, toadstool houses and gorgeous colours makes me so so happy :)

Red and white polkadots seemed like the logical choice for binding...I mean, really, what can beat red and white polkadots for cuteness? Especially when I have so many matching accesories...hahaha!

Hope has provided instructions to make many different sizes of this quilt, but for me, mini was hard to resist.

I can see myself making many versions of this quilt...especially since both my daughters have already tried to claim this one :)

Have a happy day

TTFN xxx

Paper and Thread

It seems lately that all I want to do is play with paper...cards...layouts...Project Life....which is kind-of strange since it's been all about fabric and thread for quite a while around here.

My experience tells me to go where the mojo takes me :)

So....Hello Project Life Week 16!...a week where I was inspired to pull out my Simple Stories Vintage Bliss goodies once again, and flow with all that girly goodness.

I've blurred some of the journaling out, as it's a bit personal. I really hope you don't find that too annoying every once in a while, but my albums are primarily for my own family to read, and some of the things I write about just aren't for public consumption. Thanks for understanding ;)

 As I was packing up my supplies, I was inspired to use one of the larger journaling cards as the base for a scrapbook layout, along with the 12 inch wide "so happy"strip . They don't fit into my PL format, but are way too pretty not to use, don't you think?

 What followed was a very simple layout, but I love it just the same. The journal block in the centre, surrounded by photos of my little one dancing, and the strip along the base, all mounted onto a turquoise base. The banner is made up of stickers from the Vintage Bliss sticker sheet, with a few extra bits and pieces to finish it off. Who says scrapbooking has to be complicated?

I'm still stitching away on my Scandinavian Rose blocks...it feels like so long since I've shown you a completed one (funny that...it IS a long time since I finished one!LOL)

Block Four is huge. It has a LOT of stitching, and an especially large amount of satin stitch. I'm still plugging along, but will probably  be adding it to my May to-do list...sigh. I started stitching it in February!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend.... I'm still struggling with what day of the week it is! That ANZAC Day holiday really threw me this week ;)

TTFN xxx

The Three of Us...and Gangnam Style!

Another tick off the April to-do list today, with the completion of a couple more scrapbook layouts...that makes 5!

I started my first layout with this cute little sticker from the Handmade Collection by Lilybee Design...

... it seemed perfect to add to a layout about "The Three of Us"...Linda, Tracey and I. Each month we get together to work on our 12 Months of Christmas project, and sometimes amongst the chat and laughter and consumption of yummy food we even get our sewing machines out :)

I misted the chipboard with Mr Hueys Hot Diggity mist (love that colour!) and added some buttons. The papers are from the Handmade Collection too, and I cut strips of the patchwork paper to add some colour.

My second layout was heavily inspired by a layout on the Echo Park website, by Rachael Sheedy, here.

I used papers and embellishments from Echo Park's Sweet Girl range...my new favourite :)

Hope you're having a great day!

TTFN xxx

Sunday Cards

I have some cards to share with you today...trying really really hard to achieve my to-do list this month!

I recently purchased some yummy new papers from Echo Park called Sweet Girl, and to say I love them is an understatement. Yellow, olive green, turquoise, red and pink. They are so much prettier in real life than what they appear on a computer screen!

I hand cut around the hexagons to create a background, stamped the doily and hand cut it, then applied the cardstock stickers and drew the faux stitching around the outside. Love those colours all together, don't you?

The next card was created with some bits and pieces of my Studio Calico card kit, and finished off with a cardstock sticker from Sweet Girl and some twine. Red and turquoise...mmmmmmmmm.

Having broken out my Studio Calico kit, I thought I should use some more elements from it, and went to the SC website searching for inspiration. I came across a card in the member gallery which used the Pebbles cardstock HELLO sticker as part of a banner, and used that idea for this card (I'm sorry I can't credit the maker as the card seems to have been removed?)

The other banner flags were created by folding washi tape over some twine...simple but brilliant. I couldn't stop at one ...

 ...and it felt good to be using some of my rather large washi tape stash :) I could make this card over and over again, just playing with different colour and width combinations...such fun!

While playing around with backgrounds for the first card I showed you, I experimented with spraying a doily (very liberally) with some Mr Huey's mist in a shade called Hot Diggity...nice bright red!

I used it on a fifth card, backing a cute HELLO sticker from the Studio Calico kit and some mixed flowers from my stash.

And that, my bloggy friends, is my once-a-month card making frenzy all done and dusted for April :)

Happy Sunday!

TTFN xxx

Project Life 2013 - Weeks 14 and 15

Hello Project Life Week 14...a week where I pulled out some of my older Heather Bailey paper stash and mixed it with my PL Olive Kit (by Heather Bailey), and loved the result :)

I'll save you all the detail shots today, because I totally forgot to post my pages last week so you have two weeks to get through. How slack of me! Week 14 was all about our Easter break and catch ups with friends, broken fingernails and completed projects...the nitty gritty of life!

  Week 15 was another Simple Stories paper week, this time I used their Summer Fresh Collection....one of my favourites.

 I used some of my PL Olive kit again for this spread... the grey 3x4 journal cards which I decorated with some Simple Stories stickers :) Still in de-stash mode...can you tell?

I knocked this one off very early in the week...wish I could be so organised every week :)

So...how is PL going for you? Are you keeping up with it, playing catch-up, or (shock!horror!) have you totally abandoned the whole thing? It's a BIG commitment, that's for sure. If you need a PL pep talk, give me a call...apparently I'm good at giving them ;)

TTFN xxx



You'll never know, dear, how much I love you :)

Every time I lay my eyes on this piece of paper from Dear Lizzie's Lucky Charm collection, I get the song stuck in my head :)

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away. Is it stuck in your head now too? LOL

 I couldn't bear to cut this particular paper, so added a few embellishments...hand cut clouds, some My Huey's mist, an enamel button, some stitching, a strip of paper and some journaling...and called it good :) I really love this photo of my husband and I...makes me smile.

Not cutting pretty paper has been a common factor in most of my layouts lately...here's another :)

 This is Basic Grey's Knee Highs...rainbow chevrons...need I say more? I used my Cuttlebug to cut and emboss the hearts and postage stamp shapes, and added a little round embellishment from the American Crafts Alpha Thickers sheet that I used in the title. I also cut and embossed the white alphas with the Cuttlebug...just to tie it all in.

Thanks so much for visiting, and leaving me such lovely comments. I've been having lots of trouble with spam comments coming through lately, and am trying to find a manageable way to deal with them. I don't like to turn word verification on ...it's SUCH a pain!... but so is dealing with lots of random, anonymous comments every day too. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance ;)

TTFN xxx