Girls' Day Out Folios # 2

Hello again everyone and welcome to my blog.  So happy to have you visit and hope you are having a fabulous day!

In a previous post I explained about a fabulous day out I had recently with some wonderful scrapping friends of mine .. Adriana Bolzon, Astrid Maclean, Heather Jacob and Helen Wallace.    We all exchanged handmade gifts on the day.  I shared the gifts I received in this post HERE and the first of the photo folios I made HERE and now I would like to share the second of my folios.  This one was made for Astrid Maclean.

The papers used are from Kaisercraft's Heirloom 6.5 x6.5 Paper Pad.

The design is similar to the Tim Holtz Collection Folios but my version is smaller.  The outside measurement is 6.75" x 5". 

 As in the first folio I shared, I only added some stamping, stenciling, washi tape and a few chipboard pieces from Scrapmatts.
The pocket on the inside front cover holds a photo mat ..
 

.. and the first page is a pocket that holds a small folded card ..

.. which was ideal for all of us to write a personal message.  The paper on the inside of the card is from Prima.

Next are two small half pockets ..

.. each holds a journaling card which, I thought, would be ideal for recording the details of the day.

The next page is a full sized pocket.  The flap is held down with a magnet ..

 
.. and there is another photo mat inside.

The last page folds out ..

.. once ..

.. twice, so there is plenty of room on both sides for photos.

The last page ..

 .. and the back cover.

Not much in the way of embellishment in these booklets as I feel it is much easier to add them after the photos are in and, besides, the ladies know what they themselves prefer and can decide whether they want to embellish, or not.

So, this was the second of my folios.  I will share the other in the next week or so and then, hopefully, soon after that I will share the final ones and the step by step instructions.  Hope you will return to take a look.

Thank you so much for dropping by and, if you would like to take a look at the work done by these fabulous ladies here, in alphabetical order, are the links.

Adriana Bolzon - AB Inspirations
Astrid Maclean - Astrid's Artistic Efforts
Heather Jacob - Art and Life
Helen Wallace - Textures and Tales

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.

Girls Day Out

Hello sweet peeps and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are all having a fabulous day.

A little while ago, I mentioned that I had a fantastic day out with four amazing ladies .. Heather Jacob, Astrid Maclean, Adriana Bolzon and Helen Wallace.   Not only are these ladies amazingly talented as scrappers but they are also the sweetest, loveliest people you could ever hope to meet.  I feel so blessed to be able to call them all 'friend' and to have been included in this wonderful day.
The main reason for this 'Girl's Day Out' was so we could meet with Astrid in person.  Heather and Astrid had already met a few years ago, but the rest of us only knew her online.  Those of you who are familiar with Astrid will know that she actually lives in Scotland but, at the moment she is in Australia visiting relatives in Melbourne.  Luckily for us, she was able to come to Adelaide for a few days and Heather arranged for all of us to get together.  We ended up in Hahndorf and had the most wonderful day just chatting .. laughing .. chatting .. eating .. shopping .. chatting (LOL!!) ..  it was awesome!!
 A kind passer-by took this photo for us.

For those of you who don't know us from right to left is Adriana Bolzon, Helen Wallace, Astrid Maclean, Heather Jacob and myself.

We also exchanged some handmade gifts and I thought I would share them with you.
 First up is this amazing card by Adriana.

I love the embossing on this card, especially the gold heat embossing on the front .. absolutely  gorgeous.  

Lots of inking and I love that sweet little swallow ..

.. and the flower cluster is so very pretty!! 

I also love the die cut words .. love, faith, hope, blessings.  Such beautiful sentiments ..

.. and the angel wings in the center.  Absolutely stunning.

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Next is a small booklet created by Astrid.
It was presented in this lovely little hessian bag.

Anyone who knows Astrid's work knows she is a master at mixed media and this little booklet was made in her distinctive style.

She blends and matches colours to perfection ..

so many different techniques and mediums used in creating this booklet .. simply awesome!

I adore the quotes Astrid used as well .. so inspiring.

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Last, but certainly not least, is this stunning tag by Heather.

Heather also presented her gifts tucked into a gift bag. 

Love the warm subtle colour with that touch of black .. and she added our initial on top of those gorgeous layers .. fabulous!

Just look at all those layers .. awesome!!

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We all wrote some personal messages on the backs of our gifts as well.

You've probably noticed that Helen didn't have a project and that's because she had been on holiday and didn't think she would be able to make it.  As it turned out, she rang Heather the day before to say she was able to join us after all.   We were all so very glad she could come along but, as it was at the last minute, we were not able to exchange gifts with her though her presence was certainly gift enough for all of us.

I created a small photo folio for the girls and I will be sharing those with you in the weeks to come.  In the meantime, here are the links so you can take a look at these 'uberly' talented ladies creations.

ADRIANA BOLZON - AB Inspirations
ASTRID MACLEAN - Astrid's Artistic Efforts
HEATHER JACOB - Art and Life
HELEN WALLACE - Textures and Tales

Here's a few more photos from a fabulous 'Day Out'.
The first one is from Heather's camera.  The last two are from mine.

Thank you so much my gorgeous friends for an absolutely wonderful day.  It was such a great  pleasure to finally meet Astrid in the flesh, so to speak, and she is even more lovely in real life than she is online.  I will treasure the memories and the beautiful gifts you all gave for always.  Love and hugs to you all.

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And thank you all so much for dropping by and making it through this very long post.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your day and that the weather is being kind to you.
Take care and God Bless.

Friends are connected heart to heart ..
Distance and time cannot break them apart.

Happy New Year and some Sneak Peeks!!

Hello everyone!!  

A very warm welcome to my blog and a very Happy New Year to you all!!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that 2016 will bring you everything you ever wished for.
  

I took a little break after Christmas so it's been a while since I posted last.  Have to admit, I really haven't done very much in the way of crafting so I haven't got much to show you.    I can, however, give you a little taste of what is to come shortly.
I've been bitten by the planner bug.  Shock, horror!!!

Have haunted Pinterest and You Tube getting as much info as I can and have started making my own planner with the help of some free printables.  I still have a lot of bits and pieces to get though .. things like page flags and sticky notes and pretty stickers, etc. so, at the moment there is not much to show you yet but here's a few sneaks.

  Some of the stickers and printable quote cards I have already got for myself.  
 

 Full month on two pages .. this will be for appointments  and reminders.

 A week on two pages for more detailed notes.
As you can see, although I have started using it, there is not much going on as yet.  It's looking very bland and uninteresting but, as soon as I get the rest of the stickers I'm after  .. look out people .. it will be very colourful and awesome  (I hope,  LOL!!)

So, as well as the planner, I have also started another little Mini Album.  This one is my next
 Megs Garden DT project and I am using their new 'Chantilly Cream' Collection.  Love these papers  .. neutral colours with lots of yummy vintage ephemera, perfect for my vintage/shabby chic Mini  Album.

Some sneaks ..

 

So, you can see, I will actually be adding some vintage photos to this album.  The photo above is of my mother and was taken in 1935.  Unfortunately it is damaged but still, a lovely photo.

Well, there you have it folks.  Hopefully I will get these projects finished soon and then I can share the full reveal.  In the meantime, among other things, I am also going to be creating some Christmas cards .. yep!!  you read that right .. some Christmas cards.  There is a great challenge site called 'Christmas Card Challenges'.  They have a challenge every week and, although I may not join in each week, I do want to make at least two Chrissy cards per month so that, by the time Christmas does arrive again, I will have made a really great start on my cards.   Looking forward to sharing those with you as well.

Thank you so much for popping in and do enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care and God Bless.

A Christmas Day Album for Megs Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog, so lovely to have you drop by.

I'm here to share a Christmas Album with you.  A lot of people are making December Dailies and Christmas Planners but this Album is specifically for the photos I will be taking on Christmas Day!  I made one last year, which (for whatever reason!!??!!) never got finished and so it was never shared but this year I was determined to get one done, and here it is!!

As this is an album, albeit a small one, there are a lot of photos.  Might I suggest you grab a comfy chair and a nice cuppa and here we go!!

The papers used are, of course, exclusively available from Megs Garden.  I have used ..

.. 'A Musical Christmas' and ..

.. 'T'is Christmas Time' Mini Paper Packs. 

The flowers are also from Megs Garden.  The red one was actually a lavender colour.  I simply sprayed it with Cherry Pie Dylusions Spray. 

The labels were taken from a Kaisercraft collection.

Just for something different, I styled this album on Tim Holtz's file folder albums (minus the top and bottom flaps), so the pages are adhered to the side of the spine.  I find they sit really nice and flat that way.  Not something I would do all the time, but it was nice just for a bit of a change.

 The first two pages.

Page 1 (The inside front cover) has a belly band  ..

 .. which holds a small booklet.

I attached a plain paper journal spot in the center ..

.. which could be used for small photos as well if needed.

Page 2 has a pocket which holds a photo mat.

 I have only added paper to the front of the mat as I am not sure if I will wish to place another photo on the back or, I may use it for journaling.

Pages three and four.

Page 3 is simply a photo mat. 

I have not decorated the inside pages very much at all.  I feel that the papers themselves are the decoration but, on a couple  of them I have done a little stenciling as you can see here.  Using translucent stenciling paste still allows the patterns to shine through.

This is another design feature from TH File Folder.  I love this idea of having two small mats side by side.  One for journaling and one for smaller photos.  It just appealed to me, so I incorporated it into this album.  They are both attached to the same binding leaf so, if you turn one, the other turns as well.

Pages five and six.

This is, of course the back of page 4 so again, it is the double mat feature ..

.. as is page 6.  Can't wait to fill this album with photos to see how well this design feature actually works!!

Pages seven and eight.

Page 7 being the back of page 6!!  (Just thought I'd mention that in case you hadn't noticed!!  LOL!!)

Page 8 has another little pocket for another photo mat.

This is the page with the mat removed.  

Hope you are still with me folks!!  Not much further to go now!!

Pages nine and ten!!

Page 9 is just another photo mat.

.. as is page ten which has been stenciled (this time I added a little paint to the texture paste) and is also the inside back cover!!  Yayy!!

Ah!! Wait a minute .... there's more!! 

So, I was really happy I had finished the booklet, and then I took all the photos but .. I just felt there was something missing with the front cover.  Not that I wasn't happy with it, but there was just something ...

.. so I went back and I added some snow ..

.. and some glitter (which, unfortunately doesn't show up very well on the photos)!!

 And now, I am happy with it!!  What do you think???

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this very looong post (I really hope you were able to stay the distance  LOL!!) and I hope I have given some inspiration to obtain some of these gorgeous papers for your own Christmas projects.  Maybe get some now and start on next years Christmas crafts!!  Awesome!!  If you do, please let us know so we can take a look, would love to see what you create with Meg's wonderful goodies!!   

Megs Garden Products used

A Musical Christmas Mini Paper Pack

'T'is Christmas Time Mini Paper Pack

Cherry Blossoms

Fantasy Blooms

Thank you so much for visiting and, please, take a stroll around Megs Garden Blog and have a look at all the wonderful creations by my Teamies!!  They are awesome!!

Take care and God Bless.

Happy Christmas crafting!!

oxox Marg