Live Life

Hello Friends,

Wow, two posts in one day!! This is my take on the sketch challenge over at Scrap Africa. If you really use your imagination you can recognize the sketch in the lay-out - lol.

Sketch Challenge no 24:

This was not an easy sketch to do, and after much deliberation with my other voices (haha) I managed a lay-out that is rather different from my normal style. The papers used come from my stash and are really old, they are also from various manufacturers. The photograph is one of my daughter sitting on a rock on the beach with the setting sun in the background.

Here is my take:

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a fun filled week planned!!!

Till next time,
Lee

It's Amore

Hello Friends,

I would like to share with you my take on the challenge at Scrap & Music.

This is the sketch:

                                 And the song:

Música #16 =  That's Amore (Dean Martin)

(In Napoli where love is king
When boy meets girl here's what they say)
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore
When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine
That's amore
Bells will ring ting-a-ling-a-ling, ting-a-ling-a-ling
And you'll sing "Vita bella"
Hearts will play tippy-tippy-tay, tippy-tippy-tay
Like a gay tarantella
When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool
That's amore
When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet
You're in love
When you walk in a dream but you know you're not
Dreaming signore
Scuzza me, but you see, back in old Napoli
That's amore
(When the moon hits you eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore
When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine
That's amore
Bells will ring ting-a-ling-a-ling, ting-a-ling-a-ling
And you'll sing "Vita bella"
Hearts will play tippy-tippy-tay, tippy-tippy-tay
Like a gay tarantella
Lucky Fella
When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool)
That's amore
(When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet
You're in love
When you walk in a dream but you know you're not
Dreaming signore
Scuzza me, but you see, back in old Napoli)
That's amore,(amore)
That's amore 

......and here is my take on the sketch. The patterned paper is from the Kaisercraft - Forget me not - Collection. The photo is one of my parents-in-law that was taken about 20 years ago.

For the background I used some white card-stock and inked it with distress ink. Thereafter I placed a Kaisercraft stencil on top, spritzed it with water and dried it with a heat gun. I love the look of the background

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a crafty week ahead.

Till next time,
Lee

Don't take that photograph!

Hello Friends,

I am definitely on a roll this month as far as completing projects go. It does remind me of my time at college, where when you know you have to study, you all of a sudden find lots of other stuff to do. Well I guess I know that I am suppose to be packing, so what better way to not pack than scrapping?

My youngest son is mostly very sweet when it comes to taking photos of him. He is the one that always makes sure the camera is packed when we go anywhere. These photos just had to be scrapped because they are so out of character for him.

I used the extreme sketch challenge at Boys Rule Scrapbook Kits. This is how the sketch look...

..... and here is my take on the sketch.

It was a fun sketch to use. I used some Authetique paper from the Loyal Collection that I had in my stash. A Prima stencil was used on the background.

The circle embellishments were embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Some brown stickels was used on the cut-out circles. A white pen was used to add some fake stitching.

I added some doodling around the journaling with a brown pen, and finished the layout with some hand stitching.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you all have a creative week-end.

Till next time,
Lee

Coffee solves everything

Hello Friends,

November is fast approaching its end and I would like to share with you my take on the challenge over at Scrap Africa. This is the first time that I am doing the second challenge at Scrap Africa. Usually it is only the sketch challenge. Boy oh boy was I flung from my little comfort box. I have white space on my LO and I have to work really hard to have this on a LO. When I look at my fellow scrappers with these clean line pages and loads of white space it looks so beautiful, but when I do it it seems to me as if I have forgotten to finish the page..... lol

In life there is nothing as good as the smell of fresh roasted coffee or smell of a freshly brewed cup first thing in the morning - SO GOOD!! To watch the enjoyment on my DH's face as he sips his coffee is an image I would like to treasure, he enjoys his coffee with such abundance! So here is the challenge at Scrap Africa.

Challenge no.23 - "White with a Pinch Of"

...and here is my take on the challenge:

The patterned paper used is left over Christmas paper of another project that I did....  The heading and doilies are re-cycled/ up-cycled doilies that you get underneath your cup of coffee at "Mug and Bean" It just said it all so perfectly!!

The button embellishments were made using some gauze, a punched circle and a button. Take a piece of gauze and twist it to form a "rope" and then glue this down on the circle. Sew or glue a button in the centre.

This picture shows the right top cluster. There is a bit of a doily, some paper strips, a little piece of a punched border as well as a little fabric tag made with some calico fabric. Texture paste and a piece of netting was used to create some texture to the background. Texture paste was also randomly brushed on the background but that is not really visible on the photos.

The frame and chipboard were painted with gesso and some texture paste was randomly applied to give it a rough textured look. The heading was cut from the doily and attached to white card stock with matte multi-medium and some gesso around the edge. It was attached to the layout with some foam squares to add some dimension.

The left side bottom cluster showing some more button embellishments as well as fabric tags.

A closer look at the texture paste background and some random brown ink splats. Finally I added a few coffee stain stamps. After spending some time breathing in a paper bag because of all the white space, I decided to add the white feathers as a final touch. Made me feel much better!!

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a crafty week ahead!!

Till next time,

Lee

Sweet Memories

Hello Friends,

 Oh my, its November already!! Hard to believe that the shops have their Christmas decorations out and that fellow scrappers on the internet are hard at work creating Christmas cards, layouts and OTP projects. Every year I have these big plans of being more organised around Christmas time, and every year I fail at this. Last year our Christmas was spent amongst boxes still waiting to be unpacked, this year it will be the same. Not because I haven't unpacked the boxes, but because I am packing up again..... aaaarg. Well if I do not have an organised Christmas at least I can pack very well.... LOL

Today I would like to share with you my take on the sketch challenge over at Scrap Africa.
This is sketch no 23:

......and here is my take on the sketch:

This LO was made with the Kaisercraft Take Note Collection. The stenciling on the background was done with texture paste and was coloured with some perfect pearl - gold and green. The ink splatters were made with Mr Huey's spray as well as some heirloom gold perfect pearl spray. Some gold confetti were randomly attached on the background.

The photographs were taken of my 2 younger children on a sunny October afternoon. So in the left hand, bottom corner I used the brand name from a sheet of  October Afternoon paper as part of the embellishment cluster and the date.

The layout was finished off with some random stitching, inked around the edges with distress ink and splattered with water. All the products used on my layout are available from the Scrapbook Studio in Jeffreys Bay.

I really appreciate you stopping by to look at my work. Be well.....

Till next time
Lee

100% Girl

Hello Friends,

Just to set all your minds at ease, let me be the first to tell you that I am still around. Life in this neck of the woods picked up speed rapidly... The end of the year is nearing and the creatures in my life are gearing up for end of year exams. Makes for interesting times around here....

We even had a weekend-away experience at the Aquilla Private Game Reserve. Wow, that was stunning. I even had a 3 hour quad bike game drive... Don't think it was planned as a three hour drive but the ranger said I was travelling at graveyard speed - lol. At least by travelling at that speed we saw a lot of wild as well as four of the big five. The front runners (kids and another ranger) almost got in the way of the randy elephant bulls but came away unscathed with a tale to tell. Nature is such a beautiful place to be in.........

Well, today's layout is one that I made with the Scrap Africa sketch no. 22. We got home too late to post it to the Scrap Africa blog, but I would like to share it with you anyway.

Here is the sketch,

.......and here is the layout I made...

Well as you can see, I dug deeply into my stash. This is an old Kaisercraft range of paper. Then the photograph is quite old too. This little girl celebrated her 15th birthday this month!!

I used a circle stencil and some worn lipstick distress ink on the background. The layers of the papers are all part of the La-Di-Da collection, as well as the 6x6 paper pad of the same range. The flowers were fussy cut from a sheet of paper from the 6x6 paper pad. The butterflies and the ric-rac were cut from some off-cut patterned paper with a Sihouette machine. The butterflies were covered with distress stickels - star dust. The 100% Girl circle was attached too some chipboard and covered with dimensional glaze. I finished the layout off with a stamp, some machine sewing, a couple of small punched out flowers as well as some diamante.

Thanks for stopping by, it is much appreciated.....

Till next time

Lee

Little bird...

Hello Friends,

Spring is in the air here in our neck of the woods and it is so nice not to be wrapped in all that clothing to keep warm. Only problem is that during the cold winter months my summer clothing shrunk...lol.

Some other great news to share is that I am now the in-house design team of the Scrapbook Studio in Jeffreys Bay. I am so excited and thankful for the opportunity. It is definitely the shop for all your scrapping needs, and if they do not have it the staff will go out of their way to find it for you. So head on over to their website and have a look around.  All the products I use in my layouts are available from them.

This is the sketch challenge over at Scrap Africa,

........and boy oh boy it was a challenge, but in the end I am really happy with how my layout turned out.

This little bird came to visit me one morning and sat quite still while I snapped away, I think I took about 50 photos of it.

The background was treated with some gesso, texture paste, Mr Huey mists and Tim Holtz distress stains. The chipboard title also got some paint treatment, some fake stitching and was then covered with dimensional glaze. I used a Petaloo flower, some Teresa Collins Fabrications brads and some flocked flower brads (from my stash). Now, I never doodle on a page - do not have the confidence to do so - but on this page I thought I am going to doodle and made circles around some of the texture paint circles. That just didn't look right at all and so I cut little rough circles in left over pattern paper to un-doodle my layout. Much better me thinks....

Thanks so much for stopping by, and looking at my work, it is much appreciated.


Till next time,

New Beginnings

Hello Friends,

Wow, this month simply flew past. Spent most of it helping with the preparations for the Scrapping4Charity event held this past weekend in Cape Town. It was an awesome event and so nice to see old friends and make new ones.

This is the challenge over at Scrap Africa - Scrap Africa Sketch Challenge no.20 

The photo I used for this lay-out is of a friend and her husband. It was taken at his retirement party as they left. In this photo I see them walking into a new phase of their lives. One with new challenges and  new experiences.......... and lots of fun!!!!

Products used:

Paper Loft - Weathered Cardstock, Bazzill Basics - Faded Green Polka Dots, Kaisercraft 75 cents collection - Penny and Sovereign. Celebr8 and Enmarc Chipboard, feathers, BoBunny geometric patterns stamp and Glitz Design brown Teeny Alphas. Walnut stain distress ink. The little birdie has been living in my stash for ever!!! I also added some Mr Huey's color mist ink splats - read this sentence a couple of times and it still sounds funny but I am sure you catch the drift - LOL

The Celebr8 fence was coloured with walnut stain distress ink and then embossed. The Enmarc chippies were coloured with Tim Holtz Distress Paint - antique linen. The flowers were fussy cut from the Kaisercraft 75 cent collection -  Penny paper.

A closer look at the fence and stamping.....

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you all have a good week ahead with some quality scrapping time in there somewhere.

Till next time,
Lee

She

Hello Friends,

With the school holidays coming to an end, my household is slowly gearing for the new school term.
My daughter returned from a history tour, in time to sort herself and her room for the beginning of the new term. (This will keep her busy for a bit - especially the room part - LOL)

 I just returned from Somerset West where Cathy and I were furiously preparing for the Scrapping 4 Charity event held at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West the week-end of the 9th of August 2013. It is definitely going to be a fun filled event!!

I would like to share with you a lay-out I made for the sketch no. 5 challenge over at Scrap and Music 

This is the sketch:

........ and the song....

She (Elvis Costello)

She

May be the face I can't forget.

A trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay.
She maybe the song that summer sings.
May be the chill that autumn brings.
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day.

She

May be the beauty or the beast.

May be the famine or the feast.

May turn each day into a heaven or a hell.

She may be the mirror of my dreams.

A smile reflected in a stream

She may not be what she may seem

Inside her shell

She who always seems so happy in a crowd.

Whose eyes can be so private and so proud

No one's allowed to see them when they cry.

She maybe the love that cannot hope to last

May come to me from shadows of the past.

That I'll remember till the day I die

She

Maybe the reason I survive

The why and wherefore I'm alive

The one I'll care for through the rough and ready years

Me I'll take her laughter and her tears

And make them all my souvenirs

For where she goes I've got to be

The meaning of my life is

She, she, she

Here is my take on the sketch. The photo I used is one of my daughter when she was 13 years old. They had a tutor group meeting at school where a photographer took special photos of them. SHE definitely adds meaning to my life.

Some paper from the Kaisercraft Remember Me collection was used. I fussy cut the flowers and lifted them with foam dots to add some dimension along the "flower" edge. The butterfly is from Fabscraps. Different paper was punched with edge punches, inked and layered. I stamped and masked in the corners of the lay-out and added some brown ink splats. To finish the lay-out off I added some half pearls as well as some peach coloured paper roses. 

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a good week-end filled with special times with family and friends...... and some crafty time too!!

When you become a Mother,

you stop being the picture and 

start being the frame.

                                    :- Anonymous 

Till next time,

Lee

Beach Bum Bella

Hello Friends,

Today I would like to share a lay-out with you that I made as a guest designer over at Scrap Africa. Oooh..... what a thrill. It is such a privilege...

The photos on my lay-out is once again of my beloved brown Labrador - Bella. She is such a unique creature. Contrary to what other Labs do, mine is absolutely petrified of water, not just the swimming pool, but also the garden hose as well as sprinklers. Whenever we went into the pool she remained at a safe distance or simply just retreated into the house - far from the water.

The first time Bella went to the beach was absolutely hilarious. Every time a wave retreated she went closer to the water's edge and everytime a wave approached she would run away barking madly at the wave. It was so funny. However she soon found her beach legs and now frolics like a professional on the beach thanks to her favorite red ball. She is still skittish of the water but will now venture in the shallow waves provided she needs to fetch her ball. She is such a sweetie.....

Here is the sketch challenge over at Scrap Africa:

And here is my take on the sketch. I am seldom satisfied with my lay-outs, but I really like how this one turned out.

The base of the lay-out is white card stock that was covered with white Gesso and sprayed with blue, green and brown Mister Huey's color mists and some water. The flowers are from Petaloo, and some flower brads out of my stash. The other elements were cut with my Silhouette, inked and embossed. I also used some skeleton leaves underneath the flowers to add some height and width to the flower cluster. A piece of bakers twine was tied to the anchor and trailed along the bottom of the lay-out.

These shells started life as grey Fabscraps chipboard. They were roughly painted with Gesso and some beige and brown paints to get the effect I wanted. There after the were covered with Glossy Accents.

The heading was cut with my Silhouette - twice. The bottom cut was inked with Walnut Stain Distress ink and the top one with Broken China Distress ink. The two headings were then off-set from each other to create a shadow effect, and then embossed.  The Periwinkle shell was inked and embossed.

At the top of the lay-out there are two embossed seagulls. They were created by cutting a flying bird with the Silhouette, I placed the negative of the cut-out where I wanted it and went over with an embossing pad and some embossing powder. Afterwards it was lightly inked with some brown distress ink to make it a bit more visible.

Underneath the photos there are some washi tapes, number ribbon, textured paper from my stash as well as some gauze.

At the top and bottom of the lay-out,  I swiped an embossing pad over the lay-out and embossed it with some UTEE.

Thank you so much for stopping by and looking, it is much appreciated. I hope you got some inspiration and will join the Scrap Africa Challenge.

Till next time,

Lee

Purrfection!!

Hello Friends,

Wow it is almost the end of June.....

This is my lay-out for Challenge no.18 over at ScrapAfrica.

Use texture paint or modelling paste, either with a mask or stencil or free hand and any other wet medium like paint or mists etc.

The photographs are of my cat Sasha no.2 - I know, I sort of got stuck on that name and the names my children came up with didn't help much in the naming process.

This cat was an unique being, fiercely independent, and extremely willful. She graced us with her presence when she wanted to and the rest of the time she was on her own mission. When she was home she mostly slept in the dog basket, and my dear, gentle Labrador would then try her utmost best to fit into the cat basket. These made for most amusing moments...

Another of the cats favorite places to sleep was on my bed, especially during the winter months. I would switch the warm blanket on and the madam will just go right ahead and snuggle on my cream blanket - sometimes with a wet and muddy body - oh well most things in life are washable....... Then of course if some freshly laundered washing landed on my bed, it just made the snuggling so much softer - I edited the laundry out of the photos, the colours didn't match my paper - lol.

I used some paper from Kaisercraft - the Elegance Collection. The colour scheme is purrfect!!

I used some texture paste at the bottom with a mask I made with my Silhouette. I spritzed it with some mixed ink, and then put some Perfect Pearls in gold over it. The heading was also cut with the Silhouette, inked with Black Soot Distress Ink and a hint of Perfect Pearls Gold.

The flowers is Petaloo flowers with little blue punched flowers in between and some little roses that were coloured with ink. I also cut two frames in different sizes  with my Silhouette, and inked them with Black Soot Distress ink. The bigger butterfly was also spritzed with the yellow ink and some Perfect Pearls was added. The smaller butterfly was left white with just a hint of gold Perfect Pearls. There is also some gauze as an added layer underneath the flowers.

This photo shows the different layers of paper underneath the photo, I used various punches to make them. The "chain" came from my stash.

The stencil and ink were repeated at the top of the layout underneath a double banner.

Thank you so much for stopping by to look at my project. I hope your upcoming weekend will be filled with loads of scrapping fun!!!!

Till next time,

Lee

Sisters - Scrap Africa Sketch Challenge No 18

Hello Friends,

Oh me, oh my, so when they call it a challenge, they mean it's a challenge. The sketch at Scrap Africa added some grey to my already grey hair. I now added more floppy backgrounds to my already filled to capacity file of floppy backgrounds.

The photo I used is one of me and my two sisters taken on my wedding day. Growing up we three could bicker with the best of them, but thankfully we all grew out of that and became the best friends.

Here is the sketch over at Scrap Africa

I used some Kaisercraft 12x12 papers and a 6x6 paper pad from the Le Chateau range - this is one of my favorite collections by Kaisercraft.

The chipboard is from Celebr8 and the flowers is from Petaloo. The background of the paper has some Walnut Distress Ink and I used a template cut with my Silhouette. The ink on the background is some of Mr Huuey's and also some Perfect Pearl Heirloom Gold.

This is what happens on a lay-out when the ink one splats does not splat where you aim. You get to stick pretty pieces of paper on top of the flop and voila - all fixed!!

A close-up view of the banner, I used some tiny stick on pearls on the banner but they seem to disappear on the photo.

 The chippies were covered with Walnut Distress Stain, spritzed with water and dried, this is not very visible but left the chipboard with a light watermark of colour.

This is the quote on my lay-out. I simply love this quote - it says it all in our sisterly relationship.

Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it. Please join the challenge over at Scrap Africa - it is great fun, and there is nothing to get the mojo going like a challenge.

When someone you love becomes a memory,

the memory becomes a treasure.

Till next time,

Lee

My doggie FRIEND - Bella

Hello Friends,

I think i might have uncovered a new addiction - challenges and sketches!! This is now apart from my addiction to all things scrap-related - oh yes and coffee.

My best doggie friend - Bella plays centre stage to this layout. She is suppose to be a chocolate Labrador but a couple of things went wrong so now she has white paws and a white chest, limited brain capacity (although I think she is highly intelligent and just plays dumb because she can) and she would probably lick any stranger to death, invite him in for coffee and show him where to find the silver. That said, she has an awesome personality and is the doggie love of my life, and she is more loyal than my shadow, where I go she goes..... and if she can not follow, the song she sings is sad and so forlorn. She is also an avid school-sport fan and has only once tried to join the rugby game, playing with the ball just seemed so much fun - lol.  She is such a cutie pie and always willing to listen to all my ramblings...

This lay-out is being entered for the challenge over at Scrap-Africa, the second challenge for May is to use chipboard on your page.

I am also entering the lay-out over at Get Creative, where their lay-out challenge for May is - flowers!! Using the sketch that comes with the challenge is optional.

If I could find a challenge for stitching I would enter it there too - LOL

Onwards to the layout.....

I used some Kaisercraft paper from the 365 Days Collection, as well as a piece of Echo Park - For The Record - Newsprint paper. The flower vine is a Prima product, and the title is American Crafts Marquise pearl letter stickers. The chipboard is made by Enmarc, the rest of the "ingredients" came from my stash.

The "fence" chipboard was covered with gesso, scratched with a tonic scratch tool and inked with Victorian velvet  Distress ink giving them a shabby look. I put some glossy accent on the bottom bits of the "fence" - this is leftover from a Enmarc Chippy used on another project. Both butterflies were layered to give them some dimension. The bottom of the big butterfly was treated the same as the "fence" - gesso, scratch, ink. The top of the big butterfly was scratched with the scratch tool, and then inked. This was also done with the little butterfly. When I scratched the butterflies, the top layer of the chip board came off and after inking them they had a shabby suede look too them - I really liked the effect and I think it goes well with the look of the lay-out.

I even created my own chipboard embellishment. The saying was printed, cut and stuck on a piece of chipboard, then it was covered with glossy accents, left overnight to dry and VOILA a chipboard embellishment!!

I used some texture paste and a stencil on the background and then spritzed it with some Perfect Pearl Mist to give it some shimmer. There is also some drops of glossy accents randomly placed on the flower vine leaves to look like little water drops.

..... and lastly a close-up of the little butterfly and the stitching done in the corner of the lay-out.

Thank you for stopping by I hope you found some inspiration along the way. If your mojo hopped away try some challenges to kick start your creative self - it really works and the internet is full of challenge blogs, you are sure to find one that will suit your style. Have fun!!



Till next time...
Lee