Sketchbook 365 & Paper Stories Love of a Lifetime kit

Hi!!   Hope you have all been well unlike me. I seem to have had a double dose of the flu. Ended up on anti-b's and some other meds to get it all under control.  Fingers crossed I am on the up side of the down. And with feeling better comes creating. Seems like forever since I shared something!   I received an awesome pack in the mail on Friday .... it was the most beautiful kit from Paper Stories - it is the "Love of a Lifetime" kit. This contains the newly released Prima Lifetime & Engraver papers along with Prima embellishments and some other bits and pieces.   Now I have my first blog post up on the Paper Stories blog so please go and check my layout out over there because I have some tips and tricks of how I put it all together!   And they have a current sketch challenge with an awesome prize so make sure you get your layout in!!! I have had a quick look and the entries so far are just amazing!!!   Now last month I was busy creating for the Sketchbook 365 Feb sketch and not 1, not 2 but 3 times my kids destroyed this layout. It was looking so so beautiful and the sketch was so different to what I would normally create.   The first time my boy painted on it with white gesso - so thats an easy fix.... Second time he got to it with StazOn - rubbing the ink pad over the background, which he probably sees me do with the Tim Holtz pads, then he got to my Pritt glue and added a puddle. So no way I could recover this! Ok.... third time. I restarted everything from scratch and salvaged what I could from my first attempt. I was nearly finished just had to glue a few bits and pieces down but then my TWO kids got into my craft room and destroyed this layout. April - well she went psyco with the gesso. Hand in the tub and was finger painting (yes prob learnt from me) and Nathan well he at least had a paint brush OH and the Pritt glue and Staz On. Let's just say there was no return from this and had to give in as I had no paper which I could recover.   If anyone has the Prima Songbird 'Tags' paper in their stash please let me know cause thats all I need to try again.... maybe 4th time lucky??   So I seen the Sketchbook 365 March sketch and I looove sketches always a great staring point and so I began creating with the "Love of a Lifetime" kit from Paper Stories. I am in love with Scrap365 magazine. The layouts always always are amazing so wanted to make a mixed media layout as they really embrace the style in the mag.   So here is my layout. I will stop my waffling on.   "Just Because"  

  Make sure you pop on over to the Paper Stories blog to see some tips and what I used to create this layout. I still have sooo much stuff left to create more! And nearly finished another layout with this kit!!!   Thanks for looking and your lovely comments :)    

Kaiser Suga POP! <--- loVe!

Hi!   Its a lovely HOT Sunday here in Perth. It's meant to get to 40 plus degrees so I'm trying to keep cool in the air con.   I better mention about my blog candy giveaway here!!.... It closes on the 15th Feb so please become a follower of mine and comment on this post to be in the running.   I want to share a canvas I made for my sisters baby girl soon to be born in May using the Kaiser Sugar Pop collection which my local scrap store, Made With Memories gave me to work with for my DT pack. I have seen soooo many lovely projects using this range over the past week.... I wanted to do something a little bit different.   Yes, it's bright and very girly and not normally a 'me' kind of range but I knew it would be perfect for a little girls nursery and I wanted to make a "She Art" type of canvas.... I will call it my "Owl Art".   This project was awesome to create and it all came together so easy. I have used some of the super duper talented Christy Tomlinson techniques to pull this all together and added a few elements of me too :) . When I watch Christy's You Tube tutorials she creates soooo many different layers of colours and textures. Christy is just amazing at what she does and blows my mind with her artistic genius!!   I have used her She Art mask with texture paste and bright pink paint mixed with Jo Sonjas glitter gel for a bit of sparkle. I have also used my fave Crafters Workshop template which I have offset the pattern and used two different colour blue paint for this. And the teal eyes and pink wings of the Owl are Heidi Swapps Colorshine. Then to finish everything off I used my trusty Sharpie marker for the doodling. I wish I was a bit more adventurous with my doodling but I didn't want to go overboard.       So here it is.... my "Owl Art"  

  Front on view  

 

 and a few closies.....

  If you read one of my previous posts... heres an update.... my Auntie had her first breast cancer op about  month ago now, but got some news as they never got it all. So more surgery this week to get it all out and then she can finally start the treatment after. Its a long journey....      

Paper Stories Feb Sketch

Good morning all!!!   Popping in this morning to share with you my layout for the new Paper Stories sketch for February.   I have used 7gypsies Postal range which is all available in the PaperStories store. I have added texture with cotton, dress pattern, and gesso which I swiped through a Crafters Workshop template.    

    Here is the sketch.... I replaced the pics with one and circles with masking and cotton.  

    Be sure to have a go this month to be in the running to win a fab prize!   Any you must check out the blog to see the amazing layouts by Georgia's new design team.   Over & out....  

Paper Stories Design Team = ME!!! :)

  Good morning everyone!!!    I have got some very exciting news to share..... Lucky me made it onto the   Paper Stories Design Team     along with this amazing group of Ladies...    Palina Kanoha www.kalipssa.blogspot.com   Riikka Kovasin www.paperiliitin.blogspot.fi     ME!! ----->Anita Stokes

 www.sweetneatz.blogspot.com

 

Melinda Thompson www.minseverydaymoments.blogspot.com   Victoria Freze www.evoliscrap.blogspot.com   Zeneva Kovic www.zenevak.blogspot.com   Olennka www.olennka-handmade.blogspot.com/      Paper Stories have a sketch challenge every month and there is still 5 days left to get an entry into our current challenge to win a stack of Crate Paper Story Teller goodies!!
  Have a great day and can not wait to share my layout for the Feb Paper Stories sketch!    

String.... who always cuts too much?? = me!

Happy Saturday everyone! Hope everyone is having a lovely day.   Later on I am going to visit my Aunty who had an operation to remove her breast cancer yesterday. Fingers crossed they have got all the bad bits out so she doesn't have to have more surgery. She is an amazing women, and a fighter. This cancer will never take over her. She will get on top of it. I think this is a great quote, "She might fall, but she will never lie down"   To Deb if your reading...." The road to recovery is here now, take your time, breathe, and think of all the fluffy bunnies, elephants and pink fluffy rugs that surround your room. Never forgot we are always here to help and support you where we can, xxxooo".   I wanted to quickly share the layout I have created for the challenge site, Scrap for Help. they have an awesome DT over there. You should pop over and check out the talent!! The challenge was to use string. Now I have a box of "off cuts", bit and pieces that I always cut too much of. So I got the stash out and used a some on my layout.   I have used the Paper Stories "Love Song" kit to make this layout. I have created two layouts with it so far and I have heaps left over for at least another 2 layouts or some cards. Everything you see is in the kit apart from the string, and tag. I have used my normal mixed media supplies to create this layout. My trusty faithful Crafters Workshop templates (can't wait to get my hands on the new release CHA ones), texture paste, Gesso, Heidi Swapp Colorshine in Gold, some distress stains and regular painters masking tape. (My hubby is a painter so I raid his stash quite often!)   The layout is of my boy - he never stops exploring and searching for new things to see. Here we are at Bibra Lake. Funny enough it's my husbands ancestors land. They settled in the area and there is a plaque in memorial of them. The lake isn't massive but has a decent walking/running track of 6km round. So 1/2 hour run for those fit people (you might have to do it twice!!)   So here it is... Don't forget about my GIVEAWAY here....!!   Nothing Stops You  

    Have a lovely weekend everyone.   :) :)      

as promised... my scrap stash GIVEAWAY!

Ok, so better late than never!?   I went through my scrap stash and put together a little kit for someone to win.  

  Some closies....

 

  Heidi Swapp tags, Maya Road twine, Prima flowers, Purple Pumpkin buttons & tickets, Websters Pages resin, Maya Road chipboard    

  2Crafty Chipboard, BoBunny & Maya Road stamps, tags, "texture pack" includes wood wool, vintage book papers, dress pattern, more twine  

Full BoBunny Serenade collection papers, more Prima & Maya Road flowers, Maya Road trinkets, twine, Collections chipboard   There is a big mixture of products, it is a pizza box full of goodies!   So to be in the running to win this all you need to do is become a follower of mine and leave me a comment on this post.   For an extra chance to win blog or facebook about this giveaway, just leave me an extra comment with the link.   I will pay postage (and internationally too!)   I will draw the winner on the 15th February 2013.   Hope you like my giveaway as much as I do!!!   Have a great day :)    

Paper Stories Kit & Sketch

A big hello to you all and a special Hello to my new followers!    I have just realised that the giveaway I promised I still haven't posted on here. Was soooo busy before we left to go on holidays I forgot. So I will attempt to photograph it and post it up very very soon.   On a bit of older news, at the beginning of December the lovely Georgia from Paper Stories chose my layout as the winner of her sketch comp so with that I got a lovely prize of 7Gypsies goodies and at the same time I thought I would give one of her kits a go. I purchased the 'Love Song' kit featuring Basic Grey Serenade & Lucille and also some Heidi Swapp papers and tags.   Now I have never worked with a kit before so felt a little stumbled at first because when I normally scrap I have all the things out I want to use and scrapping away I go.   So I got out the kit and just dived into creating a layout. I used the current Paper Stories sketch as a starting point. Remember that when you use a sketch you can build from it. Adding extra layers, embellishments and you can mix things up. A sketch to me is just that, a 'sketch'.   Ok, here is my layout - Age One    

It's of my daughter at obviously, one years old and I wanted to document a bit about her. She is full of life and personality! There is no dullness to this girl.

  The only things I have added to this kit are really just mixed media stuff. Most of the main items and embellishments are from the kit! I added cotton & sequins, masking tape, gesso, dress pattern paper, tag and used some Tim Holtz distress stains and inks with a Crafters Workshop template to make the page me with some outlining with a Sharpie marker.   A few tips. The background is pretty much made up of one sheet of patterned paper, Basic Grey Serenade Chemise.

  I cut the border out then I collaged it back together with masking tape and Prima Washi Tape (which is included in the kit) and inked the edges for definition with Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Frayed Burlap. I also tore paper and inked edges and put a little bit of dress pattern between the layers just for a bit extra.   Hope you have a lovely day!   Bye for now.