A2Z DESIGN TEAM

I have been told about A2Z scraplets putting out a call for their design team.

Since opening my own shop I am always using there products on my projects especially in classes. They are not only lightweight but are also easily to colour and come in so many fantastic shapes and sizes. You will always find something to make that page look wonderful...

Here are a few of my layouts as well as an otp project to show how I've used there products on my work....

Thanks for looking and happy scrapping ladies...

BABY GIRL CARDS

I thought I would share these gorgeous cards I did a few weeks ago for a class.

They are a beautiful soft pink and with different paper would suit just about any occassion.

The papers used are making memories.

Believe it or not, but I've only used 2 double sided pattern papers for both of these cards.

I like to use the reverse side of each pattern so I get the most out of the paper and am not wasting any of it.

A chipboard heart and some ruffled ribbon finish off the cards. I'm not one for putting titles on my cards as with classes it can be quite hard to accomodate everyone, so I leave them blank. You could slip a small tag label on the cards with your title on it, or you can leave them blank and put a fitting verse on the inside.

These cards will be available for purchase in kit form soon at

'Scrapping on the Avenue'...

SKATE PARK

A new skate park has been built down the road and it has a wonderful park for families and the little ones as well.

My youngest, Riley loves getting on his scooter and racing around the skate ramps. Of course he thinks he can do it when the bigger kids are using it but they do tolerate him while he has his 30 secs of fame on the ramp.

My eldest, Zachary loves skating the ramps but also loves helping his little brother ride. If you don't watch riley, he shoots off without you knowing about it and skates the ramps on his scooter.

I love how the two boys love to play and hang out with each other. Even though there is a 10yr age gap, zachary doesn't mind playing with his little brother. The have a strong brotherly bond and it's more evident when they are apart.

They are both characters and even though the can be very tyring, I wouldn't change them for the world. I love them to bits.
Both my pride and joy....

MORE ORDERS

I love desiging my own albums.

All I do is draw a rough sketch of what I want, then I put it onto 2mm chipboard and cut it out.

This was a special request for a lady who wanted something different for her granddaughter's 1st birthday.

In total there are 6 pages with lots of pockets and areas to put photos.

The book itself measured approximately 7" by 4 1/2". I used bright and vibrant K&Co papers for this album and the are just beautiful.

Lots of flowers and ribbons finished off this book.

TFL.....happy scrapping

ORDER UP

I have a wonderful friend who lives in Adelaide and is always after custom items.

She wanted a christening album with a difference and because her friends

had a boat theme I decided to continue that theme through to the album

Clear albums are so very 'in' at the moment. You don't have to use the whole book to make your album. I usually use a clear plate for the front and the back of the album and use coloured cardstock for the center pages. This way you can get 2 books out of the 1 album.

The little boats were paper pieced by me using a 1 3/4" circle cut in half and then some triangles for the masts. Very simple but overall very eye catching.

The little wave under the title is from a scrap piece of KaiserCraft and I've water coloured the blue onto it to give it a bit more depth.

When I do albums for party's, christenings etc where I know there will be a few people in attendance, I always add a few extra blank pages at the back for signatures.

I'm sure I'll be getting more orders very soon.
TFL....

CABOOLTURE SHOW

A few weeks ago I was given a booklet about the Caboolture Show and asked to submit some items for the exhibits. I've never really showed any of my work even though I have been teaching for many many years.

I didn't have a clue on what to enter, what was expected, how things were judged etc. So I just grabbed what I thought looked good and sent it away.

I entered cards, an off the page project and some beaded dresses. I have only put up a few photos as I haven't taken photos of them all.

I received a few ribbons for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

I will proudly display them in my scrapbooking shop here on bribie island.

I've told the ladies I teach that next year they too will be submitting some of there wonderful cards, layouts and otp products for the Caboolture Show.

You couldn't wipe the smile off my face today....it's been a SUPER day today....

Until next time....Happy Scrapping

QUEENS BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

WOW.......

what a weekend....It's amazing how the internet can bring people together after such a long time apart.

Facebook has led me to my primary school best friend who I haven't seen in nearly 28yrs.

Sonia still lives in brisbane and drove up to Bribie Island to spend the afternoon with me and my boys. Even though it was a tad windy, it certainly didn't stop the non-stop chit chat of many years of catching up.

The boys had a great day filling up on ice-cream and running around the park.

My youngest did have a nice clean green shirt before he started his little feast...but alas...it turned into a beautiful mottled colour when he was done.

Hope you all had a great Long Weekend....

ULTRASOUND

Do you have an ultrasound picture and have no clue on what to do with it?

I had a profile photo of myself when i was pregnant with my youngest child and using photoshop I cut around it and made a template. Of course I did give myself a bit of a lift (lol)

I chose to punch some flowers out with 3 shades of blue and starting from the biggest flower I adhered them to the torso moving upwards to the smaller flower. Using a white gel pen I drew around each flower and joined them all together with a vine and extra doodles coming off of it.

The whole concept of the flowers was to represent growth and I think it looks pretty good.

I knew I was having a boy so I chose blue papers.

A beautiful poem, a small doodle and the title running down the front of the belly is a great way to display your ultrasound pictures.

Happy scrapping everyone...

LACE IT UP

I am starting to use ribbons in a different way on my layouts. I keep on doing the same old run the ribbon across the page thing, so i decided to do something different.

For this layout I again have used KaiserCraft papers. Reminisce Collection is a BIG favourite of mine as it's so versatile with many layouts I have done, whether it is a vintage layout or a boy layout.

To make this layout you will need 3 double sided papers, I used KaiserCraft Reminisce papers, chipboard, chipboard title, 2mtrs of 3mm ribbon, ink, flowers and a brad to secure.

• For the base I used Treasure and I inked the edges with brown ink.
• I then cut a circle approximately 11in using Recollect. With a corner punch I then punched a scollop edge around the circle. In each scollop I again punched a small hole for the ribbon to slide through later. Again I inked all edges.
• Cut a piece of chipboard to measure 7"x5", then cover it with My Love, using the brown side and making sure to get that lighter pattern piece onto the chipboard. This will hold your photo later.
• With a piece of scrap paper, cut yourself a shield shape. Use that as a template and trace out the shape onto your striped paper, Hold Dear. Ink the edges.
• With your scolloped circle cut it about 1/3 from the edge. You can then adhere this to one side of your page, making sure not to cover the holes.
• With your left over piece adhere it to the opposite side, making sure the holes line up as your don't want your ribbon looking lop-sided.
• Once these are both in place, start threading your ribbon through the holes. You can either do it from the bottom up or the top down. Tie in a bow and leave some to hang.
• Place your diecut shield shape onto your striped paper and place your flowers on top.
• With your 7"x5" piece of covered chipboard, place foam tape underneath and place onto the larger circle. This will hold your photo. I've also distressed the edges to give it a bit of life.
• After inking your chipboard title, using pritt gel adhere it into position on your page. If you are like me you can add some dimensional magic to the title to make it stand out.

Instead of using a shield diecut, I cut out a flower and foam mounted that onto the smaller circle. If you can't find the right chipboard title, why not punch out your title using co-ordinating papers and glue them into place.

Happy scrapping....

GRAFFIC 45

My classes on a Wednesday are becoming very popular indeed. I am thinking of doing another class in the afternoons as I hate turning anyone away when it comes to teaching.

I am a big fan of Graffic 45 at the moment along with Collection Elements. These two just seem to go hand in hand when I make something, whether it's a layout, off the page item, or a card.

I find that Graffic 45 is great for doing those old worldly cards. On the verge of heritagy (if that's a word). Like all my work, I ink everything thing in brown.

These are the two(2) cards I made last week. I added a bit of dimenion by embossing certain pieces of the card then running a finger dauber full of brown ink over the top to make it stand out just that little bit more. Border punches also add to any project, especially cards as the area you are using is smaller therefore more eye-catching.

The lower card is a pocket. You can covert the tag into a smaller card with a personal message in the middle if you wanted to do something different...

Thanks for visiting....

COVERED TIN

I just love tins, any shape, any size, it doesn't matter. If it's lifeless I will bring it back to life with some gorgeous papers and make it more appealing to the eye.

I've made a heap of these for family and also people who have asked me to make a gift for them.

These really aren't has hard as they seem.

Here's the top view of the small port tin. Layering flowers along the top and adding a few ribbons to the handle finishes it off nicely....sometimes less is more in the end...

I hope this inspires you to buy a tin and have a go at covering it...

have a great day...

POST CROSSING

I'm beginning a new obsession that both myself and my boys can both enjoy...

It's called Post Crossing.

It's a free site where you exchange postcards with other people from around the world. You mail out up to 5 postcards and once they have been received and logged in my the receiver, it's then your turn to receive postcards in the mail. My first 5 are going to Russia, Brasil, China, Los Ranchos and Switzerland.

It also means that we've been out hunting for eye catching postcards to mail out! Post Crossing allows you to put information about the kind of card you would like to receive for example: landscape, animals, beaches, city skylines etc.

Although you are free to mail any type of postcard you like, I think it's nice to send the recipient something they will enjoy and have asked for.

I don't mind what I get as just receiving a postcard from somewhere across the country is going to be a bonus for us.

I will keep you all updated when I receive my first postcard...

Have a Great Day

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

What a glorious day it's turned out to be.

My eldest son made me breakfast in bed followed by a very tasty latte`. Of course he got some help from his little brother....Then came the home made gifts as well as the bought ones...

My 3yr old made me a very cute wall hanging that is now proudly hanging on my bedroom wall....book vouchers were also a very nice surprise....

Bright blue skies....no clouds to be seen...the birds chirping away and the sound of the waves crashing along the shoreline....

Today is my day and I shall milk it for all it's worth as tomorrow it'll be back to normal :o)

Wishing all the mothers' out there a very Happy Mothers Day...

HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL.......

I have a wonderful friend in Adelaide who just loves my work. Whatever she want's I always deliver. She wanted me to do her a Humpty Dumpty album for a little boy and here is what I came up with....

I designed both the front and back cover with thick chipboard and cut it out with my knife. I covered both sides with matching bazzill cardstock and drew in the shine highlights with a white gel pen on the shoes. The inside is made with double thickness cardstock which again is covered with patterned papers and embellished with flowers etc. It came out quite lovely and was very much a surprise to the recipient.

It doesn't matter what it is that someone want's, I always try to deliver...here is another sample of my work that the same lady ordered for a gf's kitchen tea.....

I had this beautiful portrait photo and I just didn't want to have it hanging on the wall or locked away in an album where it couldn't be seen.

I remember buying a baby blue velour folder quite a while ago, and like everything else it was put away until a rainy day....well really I forgot all about it :o)

The folder is about 8" square so it's a good size for a 5x7 photo.

Once again being a lover of KaiserCraft papers, I used prairie lane papers. I also used jumbo java brown ink to ink all the edges of my papers before placing them on the folder.
Using a border punch for your borders will help move the eye around your layouts. It's visually enticing the eye to a new part of the layout. I printed a gorgeous brother poem directly onto cardstock and double matted it to give it a bit of depth.
I'm quite happy with this folder and it's been quite a good seller in the shop. I've even made some folders for customers who want to buy something special for someone.
They are quite eye catching and easy to store as well...

Happy scrapping.

HE'S OFF TO HIGH SCHOOL

My eldest son is finally going to high school.

What a sad moment for me as my little man is finally growing up and is no longer in primary school....Will he still need me? Will he still want to hang out with me? Will we still have picnics on the beach?

He was so excited putting on his school uniform for the first time. I tried not to let him see how upset I was, but inside i was screaming at him to stay little and not grow up as life gets harder and I just want to protect you from it all...

But like any mother, we must let our little ones grow up and learn new experiences.

Wall Hanging

I love doing off the page projects. Whether it be clear albums, wood abums, explosion boxes, tins....I just love them all......

I took a fancy to KaiserCrafts Long Ticket Album shape, but I didn't want to do an album, as I couldn't get my head around the whole ticket thing....don't ask...it's just me lol...

So I decided to do a wall hanging.

I am so very very pleased how it turned out that it takes pride and place in my shop.

So many people have commented on it, have copied it and have even asked to buy it.

Urban Prairie was the series I used as I just love the blues and browns of the papers.

I used pritt power gel glue stick to adhere my papers to the album. Inking is a big thing for me so of course I inked anything and everything that I was putting on this wall hanging.

Rubons are great to use on your photo's. It's great if you just want something subtle and yet eye catching on your photo's. Don't be afraid to use rubons on your pictures, you'll be presently suprised by the end results.

Chipboard inked to match the papers were also used to highlight flowers and draw attention down the whole wall hanging.
For the back, I used a matching cardstock and covered each piece. I then layed ribbon down each side of the wall hanging and adhered these into place with pritt gel and an extra piece of cardstock over the top of each ribbon.

These wall hangings would be great gifts for anyone. I am actually in the process of doing another one so I can take this one home and have one permanently in the shop.

happy scrapping girls...

KaiserCraft Pack Your Bags Cards

My classes are doing very well indeed. It still surprises me that people like what I do.

I haven't done any scrapbooking at all and I've got classes this weekend.

I'm sure I'll get to them soon enough.

Spellbinders are such a necessity for any kind of paper craft I think.

They can make a plain area come to life with piecing smaller frames inside larder ones and using your double sided foam to pop up the centre.

At first I stamped each work in black....stood back and then thought...."no it doesn't do it for me"....

Is this what card makers do?....stand back, access, then fix?

I decided that it needed to be gold. So instead of stamping the words out all over again, I used my versamagic pen and carefull wrote over the words, sprinkled gold embossing powder, then heat embossed it. This was the finished product and you wouldn't know that it was black to start off with.....

I wanted to use a border punch for this card as it opens up from the side. Nothing too showy but simple so it could be given to a male. I inked my edges with jumbo java, my favourite colour, and using the pack your bags stamps, stamped a compass then gold embossed it.

I also raised the centre to give the card a bit of dimension.

KaiserCraft Cards

Well they came back for more and I had to deliver.

I am starting to enjoy this card making business.

I'm sure i'll have a brain blank soon enough and won't know what to do, but until then I am having a ball making them.

KaiserCraft is a favourite of mine. The papers are just stunning and with them being double sided, you get endless possibilities when it comes to matching your papers.

I decided to do my next group of cards with KaiserCraft Argentella.

Gorgeous black & white...my favourite.

Here are the 3 finished cards. When I make cards I usually gut my 12x12 base paper twice, thus giving me 3 cards. First cut is a 4" strip. Then I cut the other half in half. Giving me a 4"x12" strip and two 6"x 5" pieces.

I stamped the black base card with versamagic then sprinkled clear embossing powder over it. After heating it with a heat gun, I ended up with the great background. Sometimes a bit of subtlety goes a long way. A nice border punch adds a bit of texture to the cards open edge.

I didn't have any black embossing powder so after I stamped the flowers onto white cardstock, I quickly sprinkled clear embossing powder over the wet ink and then heat embossed it. It worked a treat and looks like I've used black embossing powder.

Again I used the same technique as before by using clear embossing powder directly onto the inked bird cage before heat embossing it. I pleated some scrap paper I had left over and did an eye catching pleat down the side of the title. If you can't pleat or want an easy way of doing it, cut 1" x 1/2" strips and add 6mm double sided tape to one side. Overlap each piece so you end up with a pleated look.

Happy cardmaking....

p.s...my classes are getting more popular now....

First Card Class Cards

I have been thrown into the deepend...literally...

I am a scrapbooker....

I do layouts...off the page items....

I paper piece little bunnies and bears....

I do albums for others who don't have the time....

I DON'T DO CARDS....

well I didn't think I did, until my card teacher had to take care of her father for a while.

Making cards has been a bit of a challenge for me.

How do you go from working with a 12x12 inch area, down to a 5x4inch area.

Well let me tell you....it took me a while...but I think I may have mastered the cardmaking after all...

Here are the cards from my very first card class.

I used Graphic 45 papers for these cards. Making sure to use both sides of the pattern paper.

The ladies in the class seemed to like them so I must be doing some right......

New Shop

I have to apologise for not blogging for quite a few months.

I have not long opened up my very own scrapbooking shop here on the lovely

Bribie Island.

Scrapping on the Avenue

first opened it's doors on Melbourne Cup Day last November and it has gone so very well that it has exceeded my expectations.

With many lovely ladies visiting on a daily basis I have made some wonderful new friends and am making new ones daily.

Shop hours are from tuesday - friday 8.30am - 4.30pm

and saturday 9.00am - 1.00pm.

I have a blog for the shop so make sure you signup as a follower for all the updates on new stock that arrives weekly.

www.scrappingontheavenue.blogspot.com/

You will find the shop at:

1-26 First Avenue (Service Road)

Bongaree 4507.

34100278

Just look for the bright pink bali flags across from bribie island state school.