Latest Obsession

Ok so I have found a new obsession? Do you ladies remember when I made a post about how I had started doing my nails as a special 'mummy time' thing, well I think its growing into an obsession! Its such a fun art medium, its so versatile and easy to move around the house with, I cant scrap in front of the TV or in the dining room and chat to Rick because I'm one of those scrappers that doesnt know where a layout or project is going to go when I start it, so its hard to move supplies around and I'm too lazy to walk back and forth to my scrap room (let alone the clean up afterwards haha). But I can easily move around the house with a couple of nail polishes and even take them to friends and things like that.
Anyways, I did some playing around monday night and heres what I came up with, remember I'm still learning :)
What do you think?

Would you like to see more nail posts in the future?

Little Christmas Gifties 2

I also created a little notebook cover, using black cardstock and Graphic 45 paper.
I received my Steampunk Debutante paper a couple of days ago but i just cannot bring my self to cut into it!!! So I've just used Le Romantique which is still so pretty!
Hope you all have a wonderful christmas if i dont see you before then :)
love love
xox

Little Christmas Gifties

Hey there :)
I thought I would share with you a couple of little gifts I have made as Christmas presents.

The first is a door hanger, which I have covered with Basic Grey paper and then Mod Podged, the letters were created using the same technique as used in my 'Home' 12 x 12 layout.
The flowers are from Iamroses, and i just painted them with acrylic paint. Apart from the waiting for everything to dry it was a pretty quick project to put together.

ps. sorry about the sideways pic- for some reason when I upload some photos Blogger rotates them...

12 x 12 layout 'My Family is My Home'

I have been planning this layout basically since a started scrapping! The chipboard picket fence was one of my first ever purchases from an online srapbook store! I have just been waiting and gathering bits and pieces to get it done.
I had so much fun with the fence. First I painted it with Distress Crackle Paint in Antique Linen. I found it a bit too 'yellow' for this project so I gently dry brush painted some white acryic paint over the top and then sealed it all with some Glass Finish in Sepia. The Glass Finish stuff is great, its by Folkart Papier or something (im not sure theres so many names on the bottle lol) I picked it up at Lincraft for $1!!! It was in a bargain bin with some paints and I bought all the bottles I could find (6). Its basically like Glossy Accents, but its tinted and not quite as precise. Awesome for $1, thats for sure.
I really enjoyed the painting technique (if you could call it that) isnt there something so soothing about paint?
Other produst used:
My Minds Eye, Life stories
K & Company, Brianna
Black cardstock
iamroses Cherry Blossoms
'family' rhinestome word (I forget who its by, if I remember I'll update)

12 x 12 layout 'First Train Ride'

Layout number 3 for the night, 'First Train Ride'.
For this one I used a piece from Basic Grey's Wassail line, My Minds Eye Life Stories, and some lace and little aluminium roses I purchased on ebay.
The title was created using some rub ons I had stashed away. They were 'Back to School' themed tiny little alphabets and I cut them apart to create the words I needed...it was a painstaking procedure especially because I have these hideous acrylic nails at the moment, but thats another story haha.

PS. I tried to add a close up of the journalling but the upload window is being weird.

12 x 12 layout 'Kiss 4 Sage'

Here is my second layout for the night, and I only used 1 piece of patterned paper! this style of layout it actually pretty addictive, especially because I struggle to cut up my beautiful papers. I have heaps of ideas going through my head were this simple design would work beautifully.

Paper is by My Minds Eye, the Ooh La La coolection, plus a paper doilie, vintage music paper, roses from iamroses and alphas from Graphic 45.

12 x 12 layout 'Aunty Silvs'

Hey guys :)
Yesterday i began the daunting task of organising my scrap room. I have stolen the bookshelf from the computer area until we can afford a new one haha. When I have everything ready I will post pics- its still a work in progress.
The organising kick-started my creativity and last night I smashed out 3 12 x 12 layouts, which is a record for me! Usually I spend hours umming and aahing over every little scrap of paper.

Here is my first layout, titled 'Aunty Silvs'.
I used the Basic Grey Porcelain collection- absolute all time fave I bought 2 lots of this paper and a 6x6 pad but I still wish I had more! The flowers i bought from Lincraft and the were on a stem.

Update: I forgot to add that this layout was inspired by Arlene at Butterfly Kisses :)

stay tuned folks

Hey guys! I know my posts have been few and far between lately- sorry! i have just ordered some new scrapbooking supplies and am not-so-patiently waiting for them to arrive. Although i did get my package from Bunma at iamroses.com today! Super cheap and pretty quick postage too, theyre SO pretty (pics to come soon) I might hop into my craft room and see what i come up with tonight. Other than that, its more waaaiiittting for my new papers!
love love xx

a leopard can't change its spots

Lately I've taken to doing my nails as a 'special treat' for myself. As any woman knows its easy to forget about ourselves in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. So doing my nails nicely once a week is a nice little relaxing time for me.
Last night I did my first attempt at 'nail art' (apart from the odd french tip here and there) and I did some pink leopard spots! I think they turned out pretty cute, although my photo doesnt really do them any justice. At first I wasnt sure whether they were a bit skanko or if they were cool but I've decided now that I love them!
What do you think?

please excuse my crooked rings lol

I'm alive!!

OMG so I know it has been about a hundred years since my last post- I'm so sorry! you wouldnt believe the crazy week or so we have had.
first of all we had our 'long weekend' in the mount, which consisted of leaving here (Melbourne) at about 6.30pm and getting into the mount at about 11.30pm, then Friday morning going to watch my little sister (sister in law) doing a performance at her school (snaps to Ash, you did a fantastic job and the comp must of been rigged coz you deserved to win for sure), then friday night surprising Ricks 'soulmate' (bestie) at his birthday tea and drinks afterwards, then Saturday morning at 9am Rick left to go to another friends bucks show which was in Robe and he got back Sunday which was our wedding anniversary then Monday we drove home again...CRAZY right?
My younger brother Sam came back with us for a week and it was so good to have him here. I absolutely love having family come and stay with us and I'm always devo when they go home :(
However, Sam wasnt the only thing we brought home with us, we also brought back Psycho-Feel-Like-Death Flu with us too. I dont tend to get sick often and when I do its usually just the sniffles and maybe a bit of a cough, but nothing I cant power through. This one 'knocked me for six' though (is that the right expression? lol) and I was in bed for the whole of Friday :( Boo. I also lost my voice but it is slowly coming back. I have trouble shutting up so that probably didnt help matters...
And finally... I got a JOB!!! A part time position working at Betts in Werribee Plaza- so be expecting a lot of shoe posts in the future :) YAY!!!! I am so excited to be working again. Dont get me wrong I absolutely love being at home looking after Sage, and I am so lucky to be able to do so, but at the same time it will be nice to feel as though I am earning something and contributing to the expenses (as well as expanding my shoe collection but shhh dont tell Rick hehe)
So there go, Ive reached the end of my excuses rant, do you forgive me? *flutters eyelashes*
love love xox

'cameo' tag

Heres the tag I told you about last night- didnt it come up precious!
Its very simple, just a bit of distressing, stamping and glossy accents. The image is from the Graphic 45 Le Romantique collection. i have just taped the stickpins on the back to give to silvs and i thought she could alter it and use it on a project of her own.
It was so quick and easy to make I think I will make some more similar ones for myself! :)

Love love xx

flowers for a friend

Here are a some flowers which i made for my bestie, Silvs. She is into scrapbooking too, and like me, she has a modest sized stash so I put together a couple of bits and pieces of mine to make a little RAK for her :)
I have also made a super cute tag which is currently drying so I wasnt able to take any photos yet.

some satin lollipop flowers :)

some more curly flowers

how cute are these little stick pins? cant wait to hit up the bead shop and get some more supplies!!!

Love love xx

sneaky peaky

Happy Hump day! lol
Here is a little sneak peak of a layout I am working on at the moment. I still havent got any new photos printed (!) so I have been building my layout with out one. This is a first for me as I usually start with the photo, but i just couldnt wait any longer to do a 12 x 12! I've used the Basic Grey porcelain collection, which is one of my all time FAVE paper collections so be prepared to see more of it :)
I'm hoping to have a few more posts up today/tonight as we are going away for the weekend! Yay! So yes, hopefully I can fill my blog up chockablock so you'll have plenty of scrappy reading material to last the weekend :)
love love

x

quick update

hey guys! sorry i havent posted in a couple of days, i do have a couple of posts planned though and hopefully will get them up soon :)
we had our beautiful friends Leigh and Silvs stay with us this weekend and it was SO good to have some girly time with Silvs, i have definately been craving it.
i have been working on making some stick pins which is great fun and so quick! i have also set myself a couple of little scrapbooking goals, but i will chat about them later.
hate to love you and leave you, but hopefully will have some more posts tonight
xox

Le Romantique 8 x 8 layout

Today I was bitten by the scrapping bug- you  know those days when you absolutely MUST scrap NOW lol. So after I had put Sage down for her nap I locked my self in my scrapping room and emerged an hour later with this cute little layout. Its the first time I have done an 8 x 8 layout and it was so much fun! I will definately be doing some more.
oh and just so you know, this wont be the last you see of this photo of Sage :), I would have to say its my absolute favourite pic of her so far. It was taken when she was 3 months old with our old point and click.
What do you think of my page?

Card Attempt #2

Here is another card that I am much happier with than my first attempt. This card is inspired by a card that I saw on Sarah's blog.
I think it came out pretty cute but the only problem is the only 'sentiment' type stamp I had that fit was 'Grow' so I used it...but now I'm thinking what kind of occasion do you give someone a card that says 'Grow' on it? Haha! Sure maybe a baby girl but really, Grow? They are going to do that regardless.. anyway its a cute card so what the heck lol. :)

Card Attempt

Ok, so I have a bizarre problem...I am intimidated by cards!! For some reason I just cannot master them. I'm not sure what it is exactly about the card that baffles me- maybe the fold? or the small area? or the sentiment? I rarely even give bought cards to people on special occasions, let alone ones I have made! But I have decided to push myself outside my comfort zones (with a little persuasion from a glass or 3 of Riccadonna hehe) and start attempting cards. I am especially inspired by my friend Linda (you can see her blog here) and by Sarah Martina (her blog is here).
This first card I made I am not particularly ecstatic about. It seems a little bland to me, but I'm not sure if its because it is in light colours where I am typically drawn to dark (another attempt to step outside the comfort zone lol) or if it is actually bland haha. I dont really have any sentiment stamps so i decided to go with out and then i would be free to use it for any occasion (I will probably give it to a friend whose birthday is tomorrow). You're welcome to leave comments but dont be too cruel- its my first try :)

Papers used are Cristina Re, Basic Grey, vintage music sheet and a random piece of script paper.

I haven't forgotten you!

Hey guys! Sorry I have been a little quiet these past couple of days. We have been trialling owning a puppy for the past couple of days. Her name is Kita and shes a beautiful 7 month old Siberian Husky. Tonight though, we will be taking her back to her owners as she was a little too big and boisterous for Sage. They got along really well, especially seeing as though Sage is usually afraid of dogs, but Kita, still being a pup herself, doesnt realise her strength and we decided it would be safest for her to go to a home with bigger kids :( :(

Kita

This week I also took on the HUGE task of moving my craft area from the lounge to the spare room. I dont have a huge stash but it is so fiddly to move and I have been putting it off and off until I found Sage sitting ON the craft table (she had climbed over the back of the couch and onto the table) as you can imagine there was all manner of dangerous items on there (sewing needles/ craft knife/ scissors). And then the next day she managed to pull a container of beads off and had some in her mouth! Bare in mind, Sage is only 9 1/2 months old haha she sure is a little explorer.
So now that i have a fresh new spot, a room of my own, I'm hoping to get some scrapping done later on tonight.

Ta ta for now xx

12x12 Layouts

It has been MONTHS since I last finished a 12 by 12 layout, mainly because its been that long since I've had any new photos printed! I had originally set myself a goal of completed one by the end of this week but it doesnt look like that wil be happening (wont be heading to the shops til Saturday).
Anywho here are a couple of my favourite pages so far.
If anyone has an idea on how to photograph the 12x12 pages easier/better let me know- it was a bit of a struggle haha. I might need to invest in one of those little easels...

"Amazing" super simple page, I wanted the photo to be the focus- how CUTE is this photo of Sage?

"In Just 6 Days" lots of layering and distressing, this page I made fairly early on in the scrapbooking journey.

How amazing is the human body throughout pregnancy? As the title suggest, these photos were taken just 6 days apart!! (Rick says that its all Tim Tams lol)

"S" another super simple one but I really like how this page came out. I didnt include journalling on this page at all, instead just letting the photos speak for themselves. Sometimes I scrap not just to tell a story but to showcase photographs. (and sometimes just for the sake of scrapping ;) )

Hope you guys enjoyed a little peek into my scrapbook!
hopefully will have some new work to post soon
xx

When I have a brand new hair do...

I forgot to add that Ricks beautiful little sister, Ashleigh, cut a fringe (or bangs) for me while she was here. I'm somewhat OBSESSED with Kim Kardashian at the moment, and although I have been thinking about a fringe for a while, when Kim had hers cut I decided it was a sign!
What do you think?

PS also loving this t-shirt, Rick and I bought it from Retrostar Vintage Clothing in the city 'to share' (but poor Rick will never get a chance to wear it because I will be hogging it!)

Goodie Bag

Happy Fathers Day!!!
Rick's mum, dad and sister came to Melbourne and stayed with us for the fathers day weekend which was fantastic! We get so homesick and it was so nice to spend some time together.
After they had left Rick decided he would play some X-Box (he thinks playing X-Box during the day is super exciting lol) and Sage went down for a nap so I decided it was time to sit down and do some scrappin'.
Its been a little while since I have actually completed a project that was just for myself as I have been a little lacking in the scrapbooking mojo department lately. Yesterday Ricks mum and sister and I bought a little brown bag of chocolates from the Cacao stall in GPO. Cacao chocolates are AMAZING the look like shiny gems and come in an array of decadent flavours- unfortunately i have no photos to show you as we scoffed them down to quick :)
I did however salvage the brown bag afterwards and have had fun with it this afternoon. I have been saving my Graphic 45 'Le Romantique' papers for something special and although I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to use this completed project for I thought a cacao chocolates bag deserves special paper :)
Here are the pics

I am obsessed with these little curled roses- they are so easy to make, and then I cover them in Mod Podge.
The butterfly I printed onto Cristina Re linen paper, inked with Tim Holtz distress ink in Vintage Photo and covered in Mod Podge.
I also used vintage music sheet paper and a FTI rhinestone flourish

The fan I did the same as the butterfly and I also tea dyed the note paper

The dressform is cut out by hand, then I painted it with white acrylic paint mixed with a little bit of metallic copper and coated it in Mod Podge (okay so I'm a little bit Mod Podge addicted lol) then stamped the butterfly with Stazon in Saddle Brown, tied some string around and attached some more curled roses :)

These shipping tags I distressed with Tim Holtz distress ink in Vintage Photo and then painted the eyelets with nail polish! the same colour as I'm wearing at the moment actually haha.

Paper bag of Goodies :)

first blog post!

So I have finally made a blog!
I can clearly remember my Year 9 IT teacher trying to teach me about the latest craze..."blogging"With all my 14 year old wisdom I said "Pfft- 'blog' what a silly word, that will never catch on" and spent the rest of the class googling images of Travis Fimmel (my celeb crush at the time haha) Thankfully for me I am now married to an IT savvy man and have a wonderful friend Linda who has encouraged me to explore the oppurtunities blogging holds. You can veiw Linda's blog here.So to kick things off I'll start with some pics of custom invitations I have made. If you would like to contact me for more information about ordering invitations tailored to your event send me an email at simonetta@tpg.com.au

(all details are fictional)