Been Busy

I made 3 layouts yesterday, for Kaisercrafts using papers from the new range. I used Offshore, Child's Play and Pennyroyale-Pennyroyale was my favourite of the three ranges. What I really love about the new products is the packaging. All the embellishments come in cool, reusable zip lock wallets, with holes punched for using in a ring binder. Such a great idea. I must take a photo tomorrow and upload here.

I can't show the LOs yet, so I'll upload an one from earlier that I haven't shown yet!
I did the collage of photos in Picasa-love Picasa-although I'm not happy with the new sharpen function. If my photos need sharpening I now use Picnik instead.

Crowabout

It's been a while since I joined in with the Crowabout challenge. Crowabout is a group on flickr. Each week Nancy, the group administrator puts up a sheet of collage images, and the participants then use these to make a collage. I liken it to putting together a jigsaw puzzle- except all the pieces come from different puzzles. It's good fun, and makes you think in a different way.
Anyway, last night I quickly cut and pasted the collage images and came up with this:

In other news, 2 boxes arrived from Kaisercrafts today, and my goodness-what a feast for the eyes!! The new collections are better irl-and the embellishments are packaged in plastic reusable wallets that can be stored in a ringbinder-such a brilliant idea!!

Kaisercrafts June Simple Sketch

Each month Kasiercrafts puts out a newletter with all the latest news, project ideas, and a sketch to get you scrapping. Unfortunately, because I am technically challenged, I can't work out how to upload the June sketch here but you can sign up to receive the newsletters here.
Anyway, the June Sketch inspired this layout:

Isn't the Marrakesh range a perfect match for these photos of out Madrid holiday last year?
I must scrap some more of our holiday while I still have some of these papers left!

Wow!

A few days ago I blogged about how I had won some blog candy from Jenneke.
Well it has arrived from the Netherlands, and what a fabulous lot of stash it is too.
A very generous bundle of bits and bobs to get the creative juices flowing.
Thanks so much Jenneke-I LOVE it all!!

New Prompt

The new prompt is up at THE CREATIVE TYPE.
And it has the best prize!!
Here's mine-inspired by the Tshirt Emily is wearing.


And remember-the giveaway continues at Kaisercrafts.
It's your last chance to win some of the new collection.

Art Journal

Lately I have become aware of how much my moods are affected by the sky. In the winter, in Edinburgh, the sky is frequently a great big flat expanse of nothingness, and this year it has really got me down. I think, with the exception of people, a big blue sky is what I miss most about Australia. Last week the sun was shining and the sky was blue and I felt so much happier, so I sat in the garden and did this page in my art journal.

First I painted my pages, then stuck some scraps of patterned papers down, and doodled. They reminded me of surfboards. When I had finished the page it looked really familiar and I think I have been inspired by something I saw somewhere on the internet. So, in the unlikely event that someone who visits my blog recognises this, please let me know.
In other news, it is Day 2 of the Kaisercraft giveaway. Today you have a chance of winning the Loire Valley collection. This is my favourite of the new collections. Remember to check back each day, leave a comment and be in with a chance.
Also Gauche Alchemy has a little competition going to create a pice of art using something recycled. Why not challenge yourself to do something a little different this week?

Been lucky...

I have been really lucky recently.
First Julia is part of a PIF on her blog and she chose me to send some goodies to.
And what goodies- First a fabulous card that I LOVE. I really admire card makers as it is not something I do well-but this card is just great! Second-a wonderful wool bracelet. Did you make this Julia? it is gorgeous-great colours, I love it. and Finally, this chain of laminate chips-stone effects, wood effect, and colours too. Now I'm sure Julia is just waiting for me to make something wonderful with these so any ideas are welcome! I've got a few ideas but really could do with some help with inspiration. Thanks so much Julia. Now in return I have to pass on 5 PIFs over the next year. I'm gonna start with my work colleague Gail, who has just started scrapping, (after the mixed media workshop I did at work!) So I will put together some bits and pieces to help Gail on her scrappy journey. I'll pick another 4 over the year.

Vivian Bonder had a giveaway on her blog, and a couple of days ago these landed through my letter box:

The funny thing is that today I used one set of wings on a deco page for Julie, who lives in Australia. So one set off wings will be winging (sorry!) it's way back to Australia from whence it came!! Thank you Viv!
Thirdly, I won a giveaway on Jenneke's blog too, so I am expecting some fab dutch goodies to arrive any day soon.
make sure you visit all these ladies blogs-all are very talented in very different ways.
Maybe now it's YOUR turn to win a little something. if you head on over to the Kaisercrafts blog every day this week you have the chance to win some of the fab new collections which have just been launched. (Being on the DT I can't enter the giveaway, so you're in with a chance LOL!)

Want to win?

The new collections are fantastic, -my favourite is Loire!
You've gotta be in it to win it-so why not pop over to the Kaisercrafts blog and give it a shot.

The Creative TYpe

Oh dear-I forgot to say that the new prompt is up at THE CREATIVE TYPE challenge blog. For those of you who don't know this blog, it's all about typography, and thinking about letters and journalling as major design elements on layouts. This weeks challenge is all about altering chipboard alphabets, and I have to say that the DT work is WOW this week.
My LO is about The Via Ferrata in France that my husband tackled last summer. I have to say-this isn't for the feint hearted! These are trails up over mountains-routes that are a system of iron cables and ladders to climb, hence the name Via Ferrata, meaning Iron Road. These trails are very high. It's an awfully long way down! The climbers are roped up with a system of carabinas. The idea is to clip yourself to the Via Ferrata, move along, clip yourself further along with a second carabina,, undo the first carabina, and so on. Theoretically it is quite safe-as long as you clip your new carabina in before releasing the previous one! Needless to say, being afraid of heights, it is not my cup of tea at all!!

Anyway, I decided that in keeping with the theme of iron road, that I would give my chipboard letters a metallic effect. First I ran the letters through the cuttlebug using the Swiss Dot embossing folder. This was to give a rivet effect. Then I painted the letters with silver acrylic paint. When that was dry, I added a touch of copper paint, for a slightly rusty look. Finally I ran a stazon black ink pad over for a bit more of a distressed look. It was very easy, and I think acheived the look I was after.

So why not head on over to The Creative Type and enter the challenge-There's a great prize too!