I am still about!!

Hi there!!

Well, it has been a little while and though I have not been sharing a great deal here I have had a crazy, busy month!! January ALWAYS is here! We have a heap of birthdays including my biggest boys, Jacob, birthday. 5 this year!! Oh my!

And school holidays! Bring on Monday and the return to school - or in our case - the start of full time school for above mentioned child!!

Today I am just sharing a couple of cards I have made this month and a couple of sneak peeks of cards still to go out!

This card was inspired by this which I found on Pinterest.

I made this card for our nephew. He was 11 and he actually said to me "Aunty Melinda. Did you make my card?" "Of course I did mate! Why's that?" "It's cool!!" Now, how awesome is that?! I was super happy how this turned out, quick, easy, effective and said nephew liked it! Winning!!

And my big guys birthday card. He LOVES TMNT!! I cannot believe it!! Haha!!

A SU embossing folder, some kraft coloured card stock, some twine and a Dusty Attic chippy piece. Oh, and my cameo with some silver cardstock for Raph's weapons ;)

This is an easel card on acetate so here it is standing up.

I got the idea from here and adapted it into an easel card.

This too was loved!!

This card was inspired by this which I also found on Pinterest.

A 9th birthday card for another nephew. This was fun to put together when all the bits came together for me!! Totally loving water colour painting right now!

And this one was inspired by this also found on Pinterest.

Another 5th birthday card. More water colours. More die cutting. Some washi and stamping.

I did make at least another 2 cards that have been given out that I forgot to take photos of - oops!! 

And here are a couple of sneaks - one is for a friend who's birthday is 1st January - I have forgotten her gift and card the couple of times I have seen her, and the other 2 are for a party I am going to this weekend - a 3 people party!!

Well, that is it for me today. I have a stack of washing to do for school to start on Monday and about another million things I "should" be doing ;) Haha!!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed looking at my cards and have a great weekend! See you soon!

Mel

xx

PS I have not JUST been working on cards!! I have also been working on our PL album - specifically I made a start on 2015 but will share that on 1st Feb with my Life Zesters reveal!! But here is a peek!

AND my DD is COMPLETED!! I have yet to take photo's but I think that will happen next week when Jacob is at school and things settle down a bit around here!!

Again, have a great weekend and happy scrapping!!

Mel

xx

JYC2014 for Deer & Fawn Designs

Hi there, I'm here with you today with my very last post for Deer & Fawn. I have had so much fun playing with the goodies from the store and Debbie has been awesome to "work" for. If you are thinking about applying for a Deer Designer spot you so should!! All of the details can be found here.

Today I am sharing with you some 3" x 4" cards that I have pulled together using almost exclusively the "Say Cheese" range by Simple Stories. I ADORE this collection and have been undecided since it was 1st released (I am not a Mickey Mouse fan!!) so was thrilled when I received it as part of my DT box of goodies.

I started by cutting up all the 6" x 6" papers I thought I could/would/might like to use for my "Journal Your Christmas" album for 2014. For more info on this class head on over to Shimelle.com. I haven't got very far with it but have made a start and days 1-8 have the journalling and the cards done :) And I will add here that as much as I would love to take credit for these cards, they are adapted from the class material with my own supplies and few changes here and there, they were designed by the very talented Shimelle ;)

As I said I did mostly use the "Say Cheese" range but I have also added in some Heidi Swapp Gold Colour Shine, gold sequins, the star dies, a couple of punches and 3 rolls of washi from my stash.

Here are some close ups of the cards

I started here with a plain white pieces of 3" x 4" cardstock from my stash. I have inked all around the edges with some walnut stain distress ink. I've simply punched out the scalloped circles using the 2" x 6" offcuts from the papers, added the cut stars, the sequins and sewn straight over the top.

Paper from the 6" x 6" paper pad. More punches/die cuts, some gold mist, twine and stamping.

More paper from the pad. Washi, gold mist, a label punch and some enamel dots from the store - this colour tied in perfectly with the aqua/blue in the range!!

Started with another 3" x4" paper from the pad I had cut down. Washi, ephemera pieces and stickers from the store and some die cuts.

And of course, more paper from the paper pad! Stickers and diecuts from the store (that hello magic was actually a speech bubble, I just snipped off the little tail ;) ), washi and twine.

Mostly bits from my stash but that base card is another of the 6" x 6" papers cut down to size.

Again, paper from the pad cut down. Stickers from the store, a gold Studio Calico camera from the store and those perfect little enamel dots also from the store :)

This piece is a little different in that I heat embossed some clear sparkly embossing powder onto some plain white cardstock to get that glittery star in the back ground - I LOVE it!! Again, paper from the pad and stickers from the store along with some washi, die cuts and punched pieces. 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my cards so far and though I am aware it is WAY past Christmas I am truly hoping to get this project finished before June!!

I have had so much fun playing with the goodies from the store!! Thank you Debbie for having me on board and for you tremendous understanding over December. 

Honestly, if you are thinking about applying for a Deer spot, you should so do it!!

Melinda

xx

"Happy Memory" with Deer & Fawn Designs

Hi there!!

Today I am here sharing a layout I put together using some delish goodies from the Deer & Fawn store :)

Had lots of fun playing with all these goodies and layering them up to create this layout. I love Santa, especially the magic he inspires. I have been getting my photo with Santa for years. I don't care that people look at me funny, it's Santa and I believe ;)

I have used mostly the Elle's Studio Good Cheer goodies - including the journalling tags and the bits & pieces (which are on special in the store!!). Love the colour scheme!! I have also used a gorgeous Heidi Swapp glitter sticker as my title along with some of the word strip stickers and also Gold colour shine as my splatters. I have inked all the edges with walnut stain distress ink and even stamped the stars using the same ink along with the roller date stamp and also the "naughty or nice" stamp. And to finish it off I added some of those gorgeous Chic Tag Cloud 9 wood veneer sequins.

Here are a few close ups

Thanks so much for stopping in today and I hope 2015 is turning out to be a great one so far. For me, today is all about celebrating, my big boy is the big 5 today!!

Mel
xx

The beginning of 2015

So, so, so excited to be sharing my 1st creations as part of the Dusty Attic DT!! 

I must say again, thank you so much for the opportunity Jen, I am thrilled to be working amongst some amazingly talented ladies!!

I will be sharing 3 projects today, 2 were Christmas gifts and the 3rd is our title page for our Project Life album.

I had Jen cut me some big numbers as I had an idea in my head!! I didn't know where it was taking me but this is what I have ended up with.

I am so, so happy with how this turned out! I originally ran with another idea which didn't work so I gesso'd the numbers, painted them with the Vintage Gold paint by Dusty. I then used a background stamp with teal permanant ink and randomly stamped onto each of the numbers. When that was thoroughly dried I used a thick coat of the Clear Crackle Varnish - I must say, I totally love this product!!

Here is a close up of just the numbers decorated

Into each pocket I popped a little photo (which is double sided), a charm (which we all picked ourselves), our 1st initial (Dusty chippy of course) and some sequins, vellum hearts and Candi dots (which I also made double sided).

I have gold embossed the backs of all the numbers as after trying a couple of different things they were looking a bit worse for wear!

One of my 1st ideas was to make up a 12" x 12" collage of some fave pics of 2014 and use that as the inserts for each pocket but decided against that as I LOVE the see through. I printed the 12" x 12" collage as 6 4" x 6" photos and slipped those straight into pockets and this sits directly behind our cover page.

So, that is our 2015 PL title page COMPLETE and by the 3rd of the month - I impressed myself!!

My next project was a gift for a very good friend of mine. Our friendship has developed over the last year and I truly value her just being there so wanted to make her something special.

I started with the stamped image "Nevaeh" from Saturated Canary and my copics after I found out her fave colour is PURPLE!! Of all things PURPLE!! Now, I love the way this frame has turned out but I really am NOT a fan of PURPLE!! So, I sucked it up and coloured away.

The copic colours I used are as follows

SKIN: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 and R20

HAIR: E21, E25 and E29

EYES: BG70, BG75 and BG78

DRESS: V000, V01, V05, V06 and V09

BV000, BV00, BV02, BV13 and BV08

E40, E41, E43 and E44

SHOES: E40, E41, E43, E44 and E47

W1, W3, W5 and W7

I then matched the coloured image to some water colours and went a little crazy on some water colour paper - I totally love the way this layer turned out!! You can't see much of it but it is there! 

Next was the embellishments! Lo and behold, the purple flowers I received in my kit were a PERFECT match!! I added a couple of butterfly charms from my stash and the chippy word from Dusty as well which I gave a light coat of gesso and again used my copics for the exact colour match. A coat of Clear Crackle varnish and voila!

Here is the finished project which I gifted to my beautiful friend only 2 days before Christmas and she loved it!!

And my 3rd project is a much simpler canvas I made. This was gifted to my Mother In Law as a Christmas gift also. She likes simp

le and clean so I went with that.

Again, I started with the stamped image "Brothers and Buddies" from Saturated Canary and my copics. The colours were fairly obvious to me as the stamp is actually a custom of my boys so off I went. 

The copic colours I used are as follows

J is Jacob (left) and H is Hunter (right)

SKIN J: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 and R20 H: E00, E11, E13, E15 and R20

HAIR J: E30, YR31, E33 and E35 H: E41, E43, E47 and E49

EYES J: B91, B95 and B99 H: BG70, BG75 and BG78

J: Top W0, and W1 Pants B91, B93, B95, B97 and B99 

Shoes E70, E71, E74, E77 and E79, W3, W5 and W7

H: Top G20, G21, G24, G28 and G29 Pants W1, W3, W5, W7 and W9

Shoes E40, E41, E44, E47, W0 and W01

Dinosaurs J: YG61, Yg63, YG67 and G29 H: B00, B02 and B06

I picked out a blue Kaisercraft paper from my stash that has little coloured stars all over it which lead me to my next choice of colour for the title and colour for the chippy stars.

I used the "Our Beautiful Boys" title and the Sunshine paint and added a coat of Clear Gloss Varnish. I picked out some stars and coloured those up with more DA paint - this time mixed with some water and sprayed on - I have used the sunshine, oceania and cranberry colours. I really wanted to balance the colours a bit more, so I grabbed a J & H from one of the alpha sheets, "spray" painted them in cranberry and also gave them a coat of clear varnish.

Again, I'm very happy with the way it turned out and so too is my MIL :D

I have had so much fun playing with DA product and have more projects on the go but mostly our PL album - some perfect little bits and pieces!!

The products I have used are as follows

DA0926 - Vintage Gold Acrylic Paint

DA0861 - Mini ABC Set Uppercase

DA0808 - Dusty In Bloom Evening Blush

DA0807 - Dusty In Bloom Blue Bonnet

DA0386 - Mini Words #1

DA0900 - Crackle Varnish

DA0120 - Our Beautiful Boys

DA0933 - Star #1

DA0905 - Sunshine Acrylic Paint

DA0912 - Oceania Acrylic Paint

DA0910 - Cranberry Acrylic Paint

DA0610 - Mini Spritz Bottles

You can now purchase directly through the Dusty Attic website so no more hassles trying to find that perfect piece elsewhere. All you need to do is open and account and shop to hearts desire!! 

As an added bonus for the month of January if you use the promo code happy2015 you will receive 20% off your order!!

20th to 21st and 31st December

Hi there!!

It has been a little while since I have shared more of our DD but today I am here sharing 3 more days I have completed :)

Starting with Day 20

A few paper layers, a couple of banners, gold hearts and even a little twine :)

Those numbers were teal but again I have used my Zing gold embossing powder and voila!

And a fun little loop of twine from the kit :)

This is how our days 19 and 20 sit in the album (which is getting FULL quickly!)

Onto day 21

Another vellum layer, some washi tape and a few bits and pieces :)

The 2 and the 1 have been glossy accented again.

A gold glitter foam piece from the kit and some alpha stickers and some little stars from my stash.

My journalling didn't take up as much room as I originally thought so instead of a blank bottom of the page I ran some washi, popped up a heart and added another star from my stash.

And that is day 21 done :)

Day 31 - yep, I jumped a few, I found a quote that I loved and was inspired so went with it :)

This is the 2nd 6" x 8" page for our day 31. I have a photo printed for the other side (which I may re-print as a full 6x8) and some journalling.

And a close up of the layers at the top.

That is all that I have to share today of our DD. I hope to have it well and truly finished by the end of the month. I do have a big 5th birthday and party to plan however so perhaps closer to the end of the month :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Mel

xx

Playing with Gelatos

Hi there!

Just dropped in to quickly share an awesomely fun class I joined in on over the weekend at a local-ish scrapbooking store to me :) The store is Tomorrow's Memories and the class was taught and created by the very talented Mel Connell.

I had so much fun and even learnt a few things! So much so that I will even get my gelato's out soon and have a play at home!!

We made a gorgeous 8" x 8" canvas with a quote. I pretty much used the same quote as Mel (I just love it!) but most of the other girls in the class chose other quotes.

Here is my finished canvas :)

 

And another just at a fun angle 

So, a super quick post today!

Oh, I gotta say too, if you own gelato's and have not had desired results prepare your surface first with GESSO!! I cannot believe the difference it makes but WOW!! Give it a go! And thank you so much Mel for your fun and informative class!!

Mel

xx