My first Christmas Card for 2016 and an Update on my Planner

Hello everyone and welcome to my Blog.  I hope you are all having a wonderful day.

I am in shock!!!  I have actually made my very first Christmas Card for this year  ..  I think I might be really sick and just don't realise it yet!!  LOL!!

For a long time now I've been  trying to convince myself that I should be making Christmas cards right through the year and I have finally listened!!  I actually found a Challenge site for making Christmas Cards and that has given me the incentive to get cracking on this.  The site is called Christmas Card Challenges (surprise! surprise!  LOL!!) and the current Challenge is Anything Goes!

HERE is the link and here is my card ..

Used some Kaisercraft papers on this one and actually popped it through my sewing machine to stitch the edges.

The chippie is from 2Crafty Chipboard.  I simply painted it with a paint dauber and, while it was still wet, sprinkled it with some glitter.

Used crackle paste through a stencil and again, while it was still wet, sprinkled on some micro beads.

The larger bloom is the Carabella Rose which is available through Megs Garden.   It was pink originally .. I simply sprayed it with a mix of acrylic paint and Cherry Pie Dylusion spray.

The inside with some blank space for a personal message ..

.. and my first Christmas card for 2016 done and dusted!!!  So now I just need to stay focused and make sure I make at least two per month.  Then, hopefully, I won't be so rushed at the end of the year.
With that out of the way, I thought I would give you a little update on my 2016 Planner.  I haven't done a great deal on it yet but I have completed the dividers for January and February and decorated a few of the January weekly pages.  

This is the January divider ..

.. and the full month on two pages.

The little plastic pocket was meant to hold some photos but, as I keep forgetting to take photos (Duhh!!), I have inserted a couple of quotes instead.

So, on the full month pages I will record appointments and reminders, etc.

and then on the week pages, I will write about  those in more detail and, hopefully, remember to take some photos and place them in there as well.  By the end of the year, I should have a really good record of what we actually did.  

Here is the divider for February.

 The plastic pocket here holds the strips and quotes I will use for that particular month.  I have decided to colour code each month to match with the tabs on the side.

I was going to purchase a whole heap of Washi Tape to decorate these pages but , as that would be quite an expensive exercise, decided to simply use strips of scrap paper from my stash.  A little more work but will look just as effective and I get to use up all of those pesky scraps!!

I should point out that I'm not really happy with those dividers and I may yet decide to create some art journal-like pages instead.  Will have to see how enthusiastic I am whether that happens or not.  LOL!!

That's about all for now folks.  Just a reminder about the Christmas Card Challenge Blog.  Why not join in and start making your Chrissy cards now.  Would save a lot of hassle at the end of the year!!  HERE is the link again.

Thank you so much for visiting and do enjoy the rest of your day.  Happy crafting everyone!!

Take care and God Bless.

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.

The Last of my Cards for Christmas

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  Thank you so much for visiting.

This year has simply flown by and here we are with just two days to go til Christmas day.  Unbelievable!!  Happy to say though that I'm pretty well organised for the great day.  It does help that we are celebrating  at our son's house this year so I haven't had to worry about the meal or anything.  Really looking forward to it.

Well, I thought I would share a few more of my Christmas cards (seeing as I have nothing else to share at this point.  LOL!!)  Once again, these are variations of the original theme.  

The background is a little different on this first one.  I've still layered two sheets of DP (from

 Megs Garden of course) but, this time, I have torn the center out of the top layer to reveal the one underneath.  This is an idea inspired by Di Garling, an amazing scrap artist who creates the most stunning projects.  I visited her blog not so long ago and she used this technique on one of her scrapbook pages so, I thought I would try it out on a card.  I think it looks great!!  Thank you Di!!  You can check out her blog HERE.  

Did a little stamping on this one and also slightly changed the way I added the snow so as to make it look like its dripping (melting).  I have put snow on all of my cards this year, which may seem a bit ridiculous because we have been suffering through a heat wave here in Adelaide, but I really love the look.  Have to thank Pamelia Johnson for that.  I mentioned in a previous post that she has a wonderful step by step showing exactly how it's done and I'll give you the link again HERE.  Have to say, hers is so much better than mine, but I still love it!!

A bit of hessian ribbon added to this one and, once again, I have torn the center out of the top DP layer.  Also, I have been using some Quick Release Die Paper from Couture Creations while cutting my pine branches (it really works to release the paper from the die so much easier)   and, on this card I decided to add it to my branches under the flowers.

Added some deep red cotton ribbon on this card and again included the quick release die paper.

More of the hessian ribbon but, this time, no baubles, just a couple of berry sprays.

Using the same basic design made it so easy to make my cards this year and yet, just by changing the embellies and colours slightly on each one, they do look quite different.

This will most likely be my last post for 2015.  I am taking a little break.  I'll probably still do some crafting but, even if I do, I won't be posting anything until next year.  I want to take this opportunity to thank all you wonderful people who have visited my blog and especially those who have taken the time to leave me some comment love.  Thank you all for your support and encouragement and I want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and wish you all the very best for 2016.

Thank you so much for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day!!
Take care and God Bless.
See you in 2016!!

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