Stamps Ahead

On Saturday 29th November, I went on a 24 hour crop with The Central Coast Croppers Group.  Here is what I created:  My sister and I at what became the start of our "scone journey" through England, Scotland and Wales in April/May this year.  Here we are Windsor Farm Shop, Windsor UK.  I have used Bee Arty "Full Circle" kit.  I did add some of my own stamps, stencil and modelling paste.  Inspired by a layout on Bee Arty Creative Group Facebook paper by Julie Schinkel.  I have used Bee Arty papers from their newest collection - Addicted to Grunge.   Tarrah McLean created this layout and included in our cost were the supplies to create it.  I followed instruction - no diversions!!!  As I type I see that the string of one of the decorations has fallen off - okay need to fix that NOW. We were also set 2 optional challenges - see above.  Now of course, I was prepared to do non-Christmas layouts - luckily there was a fellow cropper se...

 Here is my layout for the 3rd and final challenge at White with 1 Earth cyber crop. This was a Tic Tac Toe challenge (one of my favourite forms of challenge criteria).  Here is the board.  I selected straight down the middle - wood veneer, earth theme and stencil background (texture paste mixed with Bundled Sage Distress Oxide Ink).  I search my stash for any wood veneer flowers and the hearts and any other wood veneer I thought would work.  You may be able to see that I also added a shimmer to give that extra sparkle!                                                      I have had this photo of water lilies forever!  I took it years ago when my father was alive and I took him for a drive and if memory serves me well it was in the Hawkesbury area. I decided to search the internet for some interesting facts about water lilie...

Lockdown is over, restrictions are reducing and a slow return to regular activities. On Saturday 13 November, my sister and I took a drive to Yarramalong (just up the M1) and whilst there we relaxed and had morning tea.  Here is layout I have created for Hello Spring Cyber Crop at  White with 1 challenges.  The challenge: So often we are behind the camera so please 'put yourself in the picture'. Take a selfie, ask a friend or family to snap a shot of you.  Add one colour of  your choice and be sure you add some flowers to your layout to give it a 'Spring' feel. My sister took this photo of me in the sunshine, reading a magazine and enjoying a cup of tea and a pastry. Afterwards we browsed the gift store and then headed on a round trip back home fitting in a spot of shopping! I firstly swiped Bundled Sage Distress Oxide onto an acrylic block and then smooched to my white cardstock. I then used all the stamps in the JOFY102 stamp set from Paper Artsy. Flowers, bra...

You probably first thought - what why head to the office when things are not going as planned!  No worries, this office overlooks the beautiful Ocean Beach, Umina Beach, Lion Island at the furtherest point is Palm Beach.  Someone obviously had a sense of humour and it is in a popular spot when you walk along The Esplanade.  I took this photo at the beginning of Covid 19 in the summer of 2020 during one of my walks. I completed this layout for a challenge over at White with 1 Summer Cyber Crop . This is for the first challenge which was to select ONE colour used in the word board below to be added with white and then select ONE of the words which must be included in the title.   I selected the yellowish colour and then the word Lemonade and I made play on "When life.......lemons" I used all Kaszazz products on this layout (with the exception of the black alphas and retired alcohol markers) from Kaszazz Mediterranean Collection.    Thank you for looking,...

A layout for 2nd challenge at Scrappingclearly Virtual Cyber Crop on this weekend: The challenge - Use paint, tissue paper, cotton thread, stamping and patterned paper on your project. This is what I did: Using Kaszazz watercolour paper 12" x 12" and some scraps and using watercolour paints (the round ones in those cute round towers) I created my background. with colours that I saw in the photo. The scraps I painted I used Sizzix Thinlet Poinsettia die to cut out flowers, leaves and flower centres. I took a piece of patterned paper from my stash that matched the colours and attach this to Tim Holtz Idea-ology plain tissue paper, sewn together with a black thread.   I fringed the tissue paper.  I did not want coloured or patterned tissue as I wanted the colours to remain in the tones selected.  Stamps are from an old Stampin' Up! set called Crazy about you. I used 1 strand of embroidery cotton  in each of the colours (or the nearest I had) and a little of th...

Here are gift cards I have created for Soul Scrappers Christmas card challenges - this time to be inspired by a photograph of a Gingerbread House - see end of this post. I have made 16 of these gift cards to hand to my ladies (together with an actual gingerbread man cookie) at our Christmas function this week. I have used Tim Holtz Alterations die Fresh Baked #1.  Following is a plate of goodies made with these dies before making them into tags. After cutting the shapes I used distress ink Vintage Photo to colour and lots of Glossy Accents to make the icing appear real. Here is the inspiration photo from Soul Scrappers,  took inspiration from the gingerbread construction as well as star shapes and snow on the house.                                                     I love them all - but so fussy at times with little dots and stripe...

Another layout completed for the cybercrop over at Scrappingclearly share and inspire facebook group. This was for a scraplift challenge with a layout by Marelle Jackman in at 6" x 12" layout format. I was drawn to the mixed media elements especially the paints and colourful layout. I started out attempting a 6" x 12" layout however I just could not come to grips with it, so I added this smaller piece to a piece of red CS. My photo was taken just prior to leaving my hotel and heading for Disneyland for the day.   Here is a close up of my detail in the middle piece. I love the transparency of the paint over my inked background of heart shaped bubble wrap. Thank you for looking, have a great day.   Margaret.

This weekend I am participating in an on-line spring crop run by Paper Issues.  Check them out on facebook. Here is my first layout: In this crop we were to be inspired by the work of Cassie Box and I selected her layout posted on 18th April, 2018 as inspiration. I am preparing for a visit to Disneyland later in the year so there is no photo on my layout as yet.  I used patterned papers and stickers from Simple Stories Say Cheese 111. Sequins and cardstock from my stash. Thank you for looking, off to do more layouts this weekend, as it seems Autumn has finally arrived in my neighbourhood here in Australia, good to stay indoors away from the cold and rain - not complaining we really need it here, even in the more populated areas. Margaret :)