Today is my in-laws 50th wedding Anniversary..................50 years, WOW!!!! I think that is absolutely incredible in this day and age. They really are an amasing couple and a true inspiration to me as my mom was unfortunate enough to have to suffer through 2 BAD marriages so my in-laws have now restored my faith in matrimony......
We're having a family get together for them tomorrow to celebrate so I though I'd make them a card they could keep to commemorate the occasion. I used a copy of a pic I've used before in a LO I did for them. It's my absolute favourite wedding pic of them. They looks so natural and happy. My FIL is staring at my MIL with such adoration in this pic......

They have 4 sons, my hubby being the youngest. So for the inside of the card I used some pp's to create 4 framed blocks, 1 for each of their sons to write a message from their respective families. I really hope they like this and I thought it would be something more personal to keep than some store-bought card.

~ A fathers love ~

This is one the sweetest pics I have of my DH and little Matthew. You know what it's like in those early days with a new baby when no-one gets sleep and when mom or dad usually fall asleep before baby does when putting them down..........
I just LOVE all the new Prima papers, they're absolutely gorgeous and were perfect for this photograph.

Again I couldn't help myself, I just had to make at least one bloom myself so for this LO I chose the Organza flower by Alicia Thommas on the Sew4home website. Here's the link
http://sew4home.com/projects/fabric-art-a-accents/541-organza-flower-tutorial
These are so easy to make. I must admit I was a little nervous working with fabric and flames but it was a lot easier than I expected. I chose pieces of fabric that co-ordinated with the colours from the Prima pp's. I was really happy with the end result.

Here is a close-up of the braided vine I made myself for this LO. I've posted the tutorial below. I wanted to do something different that would add to the natural earthy feel of the pp's. Again, I colour co-ordinated the hemp cord with the pp's. I also misted the blooms and added some cinamon stickles. the flourishes were also hand made using liquid pearls.

This pretty butterfly is from Kay's etsy shop. Her butterflies are my favourites. the details work is just exsquisite and absolutely faultless.

TFL!

TUTORIAL ~ Braided vine~

What you need

1. 3 pieces of hemp cord (or alternate) about 1 metre (yard) long each

2. Loose roses/blooms of your choice. If you don't have loose then undo a vine as I did

3. Loose leaves or again undo a vine

4. Mist/stickles to embellish

5. Double sided tape

To start, knot the 3 pieces of cord together on one end and begin braiding. I used 2 pieces of brown and 1 piece green cord in my project. This is what's so great about this, you can colour co-ord to match your LO exactly.

Continue braiding until you reach the required length. For this project I used the full yard length to make the ring.






I undid a vine I got from Kay's fabulous etsy shop (hope you can forgive me Kay). The colour of the roses matched my pp's exactly and I also didn't have any loose leaves in my stash so this vine was perfect for what I needed. I misted the roses with some tattered angel glimmer mist to age the blooms a bit (excuse the background, I use a recycling bag to mist against).



Next, thread your blooms and leaves through the cord at regular intervals. What I did is thread the wire through the cord, wrap it around the braid to secure the bloom and the cut off any excess wire. Here is a close-up of the back of the vine to show how the bloom and leaves were secured.




This is what the finished braided vine looks like. You can add as many or a few blooms and leaves as you choose.





To finish off wrap some double sided tape around the braid just before the knot. Once you've secured the braid with the tape you can cut the knot off to allow the braid to lie smoothly against the page.

I ran some thin doubled sided tape along the back end of the braid and then slowly applied it to the LO. This gave me full control of the braid and shape I needed. There are endless possibilities with this so have fun creating your own unique braided vine. Here's what it looks like on the LO

How do you prep for a LO? Here's how I do.....

I sometimes wonder how other scrappers plan a LO and how they go about setting up and selecting their papers and embellies......... It can sometimes take me longer to plan a LO than to actually put it together. It was especially stressful before my darling husband gave me a gift of a custom made scrapping cupboard. Having 3 young kids at home meant that I always had to pack up all my scrapping goodies when I was done. I could never leave things over-night and come back to a LO the next day for fear of my munchkins getting their little greesy paws on my precious scrapping goodies. But now with my great new flip top desk, which I designed myself, I can work on a LO as long as I need to because once I'm done for the day I simply close up the desk and no-one can see or touch my mess........YEAH!!!!

Here's the desk with the top open. As you can see it's about 2.5inch deep with a top that closes up to hide all the mess underneath. I also put a cork board up so I can pin up several embellishment options while I'm in the planning process. I keep all my tools in the top drawer, all gems, thread, beads, and metal embellies in the 2nd drawer. I also have drawer for all my stamps and then one drawer is just for scraps/leftover papers so they're close at hand when required.

This is a side view of the entire unit. There are cupboards above the desk as well as a great walk-in corner units that I've packed all my albums and embellies in. there is also some display shelves along the one side of the unit that I keep pics of the kids and my wedding. There is also a flourescent light above the desk which I love because now I can work late at night without straining my eyes in dim lighting which is the problem I used to have.

This is the inside of the corner unit. I have all my old Photograph albums in here too so I can easily browse through them when I'm in the mood to scrap an old photograph. I also still put any pics I'm not up to scrapping in regular albums. That was until my hubby bought me this great digital frame. Now I only print pics I want to scrap,the rest get put onto the digi frame.

The printed boxes house various embellies which are now easily accessible.

As you may have noticed, I have a flower fetish!!!! I LOVE flowers and consiously have to stop myself from buying more until I've used up at least half of my existing stash. I bought these cheap "sweet jars" from the plastic factory shop and sorted all my flowers by colour.

I also have tons of other plastic containers filled with all sorts of embellies. From butterflies sorted by colour to punches and other small tools. i have my mists, liquid pearls and stickles easily accessible too.

When the contractors were making the cupboard I asked them to install several rows of hooks in the corner cupboard which I use to hang all my ribbon from. It's all colour coded so now it's so easy to pick out a piece of ribbon for a LO. Once selected I simply cut the length required from the end without even having to remove the ribbon from the hook.

Now that you've glimsed my "scrap room" here's what my desk looks like when I'm in the planning process.......

~ Birthday Fairy ~

This pic was taken on Erin's 4th Birthday. She had a Fairy Princess party and I'm soooo glad I got some pics because she took her costume off 5 minutes after the party started...LOL!
I made this LO to use as an example LO for the April DIY challenge I'm hosting at sb.com. This month I added a twist to the challenge. You get an extra vote for using an embellishment made from 3 pre-selected tutorials. You can also earn an extra 2 votes for creating your very own tutorial. That means you can earn a total of 5 EXTRA votes if you're really creative.....

The first tutorial I used was the Mini recycled rose tutorial which I was sooo excited to stumble across because I have hundreds of loose small flowers that I've grown bored of and now I've been inspired to make use of them again. For this rose I used 5 Hydranger flowers. Here's the link

http://naspinall.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-paper-flower-tutorial.html

For the green organza flower I used Gabrielle's Kanzashi pointed petal bloom tutorial. These are so easy to make Gabrielle's tutorial is really easy to follow. All you need is just a small piece of fabric and you can make something really beautiful at a minimal cost.

Here's the link for this one:

http://mycreativescrapbook.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=1633

The 3rd tutorial I selected for the twist was the pearl flourishes. These are so easy to make and you can use a variety of paints. Some people do them with fabric paint or puff paint. I used some Ranger liquid pearls which are super easy to work with. Here's the link:

http://www.swirlydoos.com/page.php?46

This stunning Magnolia is part of the Lavender Magnolia kit from Katie's Etsy shop. This Kit really is stunning IRL.

One of my favourite technique to use on a LO is lacing. I simply adore the effect and probably over use it sometimes. Here I just tore a moon shape out of the paper and then laced it together with 2 different ribbons meeting in the middle.

I cut the fairy out of the pp (Kaiser flutterby collection), added some stickles to the wings, inked the rest of the edges and used pop dots to give the 3D effect.

These butterflies also come with the kit as well as the pins, rik rak, pearl strings, pearl vine which I entwined with the magnolia vine and the pretty little pearls I scattered on the right side of the LO.

Here's the link to katie's etsy shop. This is is real value for money at only $5.75.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=43359149

Ms Bright Side nomination

I've just seen that my Scrappin friend Kay was incredibly kind to nominate me for this "Ms Bright Side" award. Thank you very much Kay, your thoughtfulness sincerely appreciated as I've just started blogging and am still learning as I go.

1. Like Kay, I will continue to spread the love and follow the rules that should be followed after receiving such an award.
   
   

The rules are follows:

1. Give a list of 10 things that make you happy
2. A trivia of 5 things about me
3. Share the award with only 5 people and ask them to do the same
4. Link the blogs you choose and the blog of the person who gave it to you

For starters, let me say that I just LOVE Kay's etsy shop. She makes the most amasing embellishments, especially her butterflies. Kay, the detail in your work is just stunning and I just love all the items I have already bought from you. Kay also has a great blog, definitely worth a visit http://kayskreativekorner.blogspot.com/

Ten things that make me happy

1. Seeing my kids at the end of a hard days work
2. Holding my 11 month old son in my arms while he sleeps
3. the look of pride on my kids face when they receive praise
4. My first cup of tea in the morning
5. No traffic jams on the way to & from work
6. Scrapping .........anytime
7. watching movies on a rainy day
8. Going away for some alone time with my husband
9. Spending the day scrapping with my mom (who got me started over 2 years ago)
10. Ok, I'll be honest....I just LOVE receiving praise for my LO's, especially when they've been challenging and taken a long time to complete

Five things about me you may not know

1. I work full time as a Supply Chain Manager for a pharmaceutical company but would secretly love to own my own scrapbooking store
2. I used to be a croupier in my younger and much wilder days...was even crazy enough to work in the illegal casinos in Tel Aviv, Isreal.
3. On a 2 month trip to the US in 1997 I visited neally every single state and loved them all. I especially fell in love with New York and Miami.
4. The one place in the world I haven't been to yet and hope to still visit is Switzerland.
5. When I was younger I desperately wanted to be a Marine Biologist and study the Orca Whales in Alaska

Now for spreading the love............. I pass the award on to the following brilliant ladies. Please take the time to visit each of their blogs. I have every confidence that you will be inspired

Jackie: http://anderjackie.blogspot.com/

Lisa: http://what-a-beautiful-mess.blogspot.com/

Angelica: http://angelicascrappenings.blogspot.com/

Lidia: http://lidia-breakingbarriers.blogspot.com/

Cindy: http://cindyspagesintime.blogspot.com/

Ok, that was fun................................

~ Brother from another mother~

This is my oldest son Jarrod (left) and one of his best friends Ross. They've been in the same class at school since Grade 2 and have become very close. This year they've started calling each other "Brother from another Mother" as a joke.
I did this LO to use as another example for my D.I.Y. challenge I'm hosting at sb.com. Why don't you come along and join the fun.


First I made my own backround paper by using 3 diff colour mists against Tim Holtz masks. I then used bubble wrap and craft paint on the corners. I got my inspiration for this from one of my favourite artists Finabair at sb.com.



I took a clear cuts frame by little yellow bicycle and cut the centre out and then divided the frame in 4 to fit the picture and make it a little more abstract.

Here are a few more close-ups of the paint and 3D embellies I hand cut from the BO BUNNY pp I used.

PRIMA, PRIMA, PRIMA!!! You just gotta love them

I'm a self confessed Prima addict!!!! What's not to love, everything they produce is simply stunning.

Here's their March product pick

D.I.Y. Challenge

I'm hosting my first ever challenge on sb.com this month and I'm sooooo excited. For the challenge participants are required to do a LO that has at least one embellishment or piece of paper that they have created themselves from scratch.
I am totally addicted to tutorials and have links to a few of my favourites on my blog (scroll down the right hand side) and I would just love to add to my list. I just LOVE creating something absolutely beautiful myself and there are incredibily talented artists out there who are kind enough to share their talents with us so I'm hoping that this challenge will inspire a lot of people to try making embellishments themselves.
I've also seen the most creative backround papers being made using all sorts of tools and I'm so eager to learn the secrets to these amazing pieces of art.

So please come along and join in the challenge and have some fun.

The winner gets a RAK from me!!!

~ Precious Dreams ~

This is my little darling Matthew just a few weeks old. I just love watching babies sleep, they're just so precious and I'm so glad I have this pic to rekindle those emotions. I decided that I had become far too engrossed in challenges and had somehow lost my own "style" along the way so this LO was done for pure enjoyment with no rules to follow and I must admit that I'm absolutely delighted with the result and feel like this is definitely a "Wendy Page" as my mom would call it. This is a really busy page with a lot going on so here's a brief summary of the pieces.

I made this flower myself by following Gariella's round petal tutorial which you can find the link to along the right of my blog under "tutorials". I wanted to make my own flower to use as an example for the new "D.I.Y" challenge I want to start on sb.com where entrants will be required to have made something themselves on the LO and hopefully I'll find a whole bunch of new tutorials which I mus confess I've become totally addicted to.

Now this butterfly is one of my favourite Prima purchases I got online from franticstamper.com, they are incredibly beautiful IRL and worth every over priced cent.....LOL!

These beautiful vines were actually a single large vine I received as a gift from my dear friend Katie. She sells these amasing works of art in her etsy shop which can also find the link to along the right of the blog (now how convinient is that....LOL). I halved the vine, misted it with a combination of antique brass and chocolate mist. I also intertwined a prima pearl vine

These large embellishments can sometimes be a nightmare to attach to the LO so I simply sewed it on with some thread. If you look at this close-up under the leaf you'll see the thread.

I used some "tattered leather" mist on these flowers to bring out the brown against all the yellow and gold. I just love the new range of white flowers from prima that allow you to change the colours to suit your needs, yet another brilliant concept Prima have come up with.

To finish off I just punched out a few of these mini butterflies, added some glitter and liquid pearls and scattered them around the LO randomly. They're so cute.....

This is just another close up of the title letters and the weaving of the ribbon with the lace which I put on top of some gold mesh I've had in my stash for as long as I've been scrapping and have finally got round to using.
Hope you like and TFL