Reflections

Home Decor & Scrapbooking

Today was our Local Show and it certainly was a day full of not only excitement BUT wonderful achievement for the boys!.

To start with, Adam entered his Guinea Pig into the Pet Parade - they came 2nd in 'The Best Kept Guinea Pig' - which Adam was totally thrilled about BUT then came 1st in 'The Prettiest Guinea Pig'! Here is a pic of 'Ginny' with her ribbons and her trophy - as you can imagine, Adam was SO excited to win his first ever trophy!

James had entered a few creative sections in the pavilion BUT his biggest achievement came in Photography! He achieved a 'Highly Commended' for his Cockatoo photo in the 'Junior Pets' BUT he took out the 'Open Portrait' with a photo of his grandfather that we'd converted to black and white! It was amazing to think that out of all the photos (many taken by adults too), James' photo was judged the winner!  You can just imagine his delight - AND the fact that money was included as a part of his prize too!

Personally, I didn't achieve anything - *grin* - how funny is that! I had a photo in the 'Nature' Photography section and these two items in the scrapbooking section! I had hoped to enter more items BUT I just ran out of time to get more done - Oh well - there's always next year! *grin*

This was my Home Decor 'Off-The-Page' project

This was my 'Pets' Scrapbooking page

Here's a couple of close-ups of this one too!

Until next time,

Sky Watch - Sun Rays

My contribution for Sky Watch is one I snapped on my phone camera as we were leaving the boys swimming lessons tonight at about 6.15pm!

I actually took three photos - one after another and I found it surprising how this was the only one that showed the sun's rays AND the reflection in the lake so clearly!

By the time we had gotten into the car and out of the car park - a matter of only a minute or two, the sun had been completely covered by cloud. It definitely was a case of being in the right place at the right time!

Once again though, those gorgeous dark clouds failed to bring any decent rain - just a few spots for us infact!

Until next time,

Local Show Entry - *Sneak Peak*

I thought I would share a couple of *sneak peak* photos of one of my entries in our local show which will be held this weekend. I had thought about entering a few items BUT time has gotten away from me and I'm just going to enter one off-the-page item AND this scrapbooking page!

This is a page I've been wanting to complete for quite some time, so it's nice to have it finally done AND Adam just loves it too - you see it features his Guinea Pig - 'Ginny'!

In other news, I received a wonderful request via email today - would I be interested in completing some projects for an upcoming advertorial in 'For Keeps Creative Paper'? Of course I would! I was absolutely delighted to have been asked! Now I can't wait for the product to arrive!

Until next time,

James' Framed Plaster Planets

Today I thought I would share a creation James and I finally finished off. Earlier this year, James had bought a Planet Plaster Kit from Scholastic Book Club. The idea was that you got to make the planets yourself, by mixing up the bag of plaster and then pouring it into the planet mould that was included in the kit - once dry, you then got to paint them and stick magnets on the back so that you could put them on your fridge.

We decided that putting them on the fridge might result in scratching of the fridge surface though - especially if plaster dust got under the magnet - so I suggested that instead we create a 3D frame for them to go in and James could them have it sitting on his shelf in the bedroom. He loved the idea and whilst he had made and painted the planets some time back, they have been sitting there waiting for the framing ever since!

So - over the weekend we got busy - we altered a standard photo frame and converted it into a shadow box. James then painted the inside all black with acrylic paint, stuck on the planets and finally we added a few tiny sequin stars for a bit of glitter too! James is totally thrilled with the results!

In the top left corner is the sun and then we've radiated the planets towards the bottom right corner where 'Pluto' is! Aside from 'Earth' (the blue and green one), James' favourites are 'Saturn' (with the rings) and 'Jupiter' (the big yellow, orange and red one in the centre bottom).

Sorry for the reflection in the glass too - I really need to remember to assemble home decor items like this without the glass (just to take a photo) and then re-assemble with the glass included!

Until next time,

Elise Flannigan's '52 Scrapbooking Challenges' - Week 44

The Design Team at Scrappit are featuring 'Week 44' of Elise Flannigan's '52 Scrapbooking Challenges' in the newsletter today and this time around we had to create a playful photo mat!

Here's what I came up with!

Materials: Pattern Paper: Franchville 'Pretty Butterflies - Pink'; Cardstock: Bling Bazzill; Stickers: Cloud 9 Design 'Clear Epoxy Quote'; Chipboard Letters: American Crafts 'Thickers'; Other: Vellum Quote, Pearls, Bling, Embroidery Thread, Brads

I just loved this pattern paper when I saw it - it was full of glitter and sparkle and I new the colour tones were just going to be perfect for this gorgeous photo of my niece that my sister-in-law sent through to me. I did give the photo a little digital 'tweaking' by playing with the levels in a Diffuse Glow so that the photo became a little more 'dream' like - I just love the results!

I decided to keep the photo mat relatively plain with just a little pearl trim added to the cardstock for interest. I then used the same cardstock to create some two-dimensional blossoms which I adhered along some of the trailing vines on the pattern paper! The bottom part of the blossom was left flat but I cupped the top layer, added a pearl for the centre and then glued the two layers together - simple but quite effective!

Here's another close-up which shows the simple little handcut leaves I created too!

Until next time,

Go Karting - In the heat this time!

Well - it was Go-Karting again today and this time James had to endure one of the hottest days he's ever raced in! I missed hearing what the actual temperature was today - it was meant to be 28 degrees celcius BUT we were more inclined to think that it was a few degrees over 30 - quite warm considering we are only in Spring!

It ended up being a 'mixed' day of racing - the first race James wasn't happy with at all - he came 5th out of a possible 6 midgets racing but he had trouble keeping up with the leaders. The Pit Crew Chief - aka 'Dad' - decided to make a 'sprocket' change and change the tyre pressures to see if that would help. Right on the start of the 2nd race though, the engine decided it wouldn't fire and had no spark! What the? Unfortunately for James, he missed that second race - he was so disappointed! Dad spent the next half hour or so working on the kart, got a spark back and the engine started, so we all then had our fingers crossed for the rest of the day!

The 3rd race was wonderful - the kart started and James finished a respectable 3rd - as you can imagine, he was VERY excited about that. We then had to play the waiting game again to see whether the kart would start for the final race - we all had our fingers crossed.

The 4th race started - James' engine too, so out onto the track they all went - only to have the race stopped after they'd rolled around a few times because one of the other midget karts wasn't running properly and they thought maybe replacing a spark plug might help. As you can imagine we were a little disappointed that they decided to do a re-start for fear that James' kart wouldn't fire on the start line again!

I stood with fingers crossed as they called "start 'em up" - would James' kart start for one last time? Thankfully, it did and James got out on the track and had a fantastic final race - the racing was so close and I thought he was going to be overtaken several times BUT he managed to finish in 3rd once again!

If only he'd made a start in that second race, he'd have been in amongst the trophies today because we weren't the only ones to have trouble with our engine! Oh well - he made some fantastic 'split' times and achieved a personal best time once again, so he's quite pleased about that!

So - we now have one Club racing day left for this year and it certainly has been a year of vast improvement for James on the track. The Pit Crew Chief - aka 'Dad' - is going to get the engine seen to in the next week or so, so that hopefully we avoid the 'problem' we endured today and then hopefully James can end the year on a high!

Until next time,

 

A Cute 'Flip Album'

I recently found a video on 'You Tube' (scroll down for the link) to make this gorgeous little 'Flip Album' and I was quite taken by the simple design and the fact that I could use my 'Bind It All' to put it all together! With Christmas approaching I thought that they would make perfect little Christmas gifts too!

Here's a couple of close-up images too!

At our next Longford Scrappers day, those that would like to do so, will be able to make one of these for themselves! All the details (including materials required on the day) are in the Longford Scrappers section of my blog! I'm sure everyone who joins in the fun will have a great time with this little project - I must remember to take the camera!

EDITED - I'm so sorry - whilst the video was available this morning when I was first creating this post, it now comes up with a message saying that it is no longer available - I'm not sure why? The original video that I found was posted here along with a few other interesting ideas as well!

Until next time,

Little Yellow Bicycle - Greeting Cards

Today I thought I would share a couple of greeting cards that didn't make it into the October CLUB Scrappit Newsletter.

 

The first one features a punched border along one side of the blue pattern paper and then some of the foil pattern paper that I cut into strips and made into candles! The flames were cut from pattern paper, hand stitched, had a tear drop bling brad added to the centre before then foam mounting them onto the background and then attaching this to a plain white card.

 

 

Here's a little close-up of the candle flames!

 

 

The second card was created in a similar manner with a plain white card - except on this one I actually punched the lace border along one edge - it came out fantastic BUT I don't think I'll be doing it again for fear of breaking my punch! The card was a little on the thick size!

 

Here's a close-up which shoes some of the layering and the pearls that I just loved using this month!

 

Until next time,

 

  

Sky Watch - Clouds Up High!

My contribution for Sky Watch this week is one taken from the front of our house! The clouds were not only quite high that day but also seemed to be radiating from that central patch of blue sky!

It was just a shame that the dark clouds on the right of the photo didn't develop further and bring us any rain! We are so in need of some!

Until next time,

'How Dare You' - Gilding Flakes & Glue

I finally finished off my 'How Dare You' Challenge contribution which was to be creative with glue!

I chose to use my ‘Helmar Liquid Glue’ to attach some ‘Gilding Flakes’ to some ‘Scrap FX Funky Flowers’!

 

 

The ‘Gilding Flakes’ I had were meant to be used with ‘Dry Adhesive Transfers’ but since I didn’t have any of those, I just smeared a thin layer of liquid glue onto the surface of each flower, piled on a heap of ‘Gilding Flakes’ and gently pushed them down flat before sitting each flower aside to dry.  I then simply used a stiff paint brush to brush away all the excess and then trimmed the edges of the flowers with my craft knife.

 

 

They have a wonderful ‘rustic’ feel to them and of course each one has it’s own unique appearance too!

 

The card itself also features a left-over piece of textured hand made paper, some Bazzill which I punched along the edge with my Fiskars punch, a Mrs Grossman's greeting sticker, some brads and of course some hand stitching!

 

 

Until next time,