Girls' Day Out Folios # 1 !!

Hello sweet craft lovers and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are having a fabulous day!

I'm here to share the first of the gifts I created for some scrappy friends with whom I shared a wonderful Girls' Day Out!
I  wanted a small album so that I had somewhere to keep the photos I planned to take on the day.  I was looking at the file folio made by Tim Holtz, but  even the smaller size was bigger than what I was looking for so I decided to create my own based on that design.  Then I thought, 'Why not make one for the other girls as well', then we would all have somewhere to keep  our photos.
So, that is exactly what I did.
I made three of these and, though they are all the same design, the papers used to decorate them are all different.  So, over the next few weeks, I will be sharing each of these with you.  I haven't actually made one for myself yet but, when I do, I will probably also do a step by step tute.  Hope you will be interested enough to come back and have a look.

So, here is the folio I made for Adriana Bolzon.  

The papers used for each of these folders are from Kaisercraft.  These are from their Salty Kisses collection.

I didn't do a lot of decorating .. just some stamping and stenciling.   I did add a few diecuts and also some Scrapmatts chippies and washi tape.

As you can see, there is a pocket for a photo mat on the iside front cover and this first page is a half pocket ..

.. which holds a small folded card ..

..which I thought would be ideal for us to write some personal messages.  The dp I used on the inside is from Prima.

The next page is two small pockets which both hold a small journaling tag. 

Thought these would come in handy for writing down some details of the day.

The next page is also a pocket but a full sized one this time ..

.. which holds another photo mat.

The last page folds out ..

.. once ..

.. twice ..

 .. and this is the final page ..

.. and the back of the booklet.

As stated before, I didn't add much in the way of embellishments because I didn't know how or where the girls would want to add their photos.  Besides, I think it is much easier to add embellies after the photos are in so the girls can do their own if they want to.

 I mentioned at the beginning of this post that this is just the first of the folios I want to share, the others I made ( one for Heather Jacob, and one for Astrid Maclean ) I will share over the next few weeks and, hopefully, by then I will have completed my own and I can also share the step by step. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking a look at my little creations.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.

Christmas in September

Hello sweet visitors and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are all having a fantastic day.

Can you believe it's September already??  Read somewhere that it's only about 16 weeks to go 'till Christmas!!   Unbelievable!!!!

I'm here to share another of my Christmas cards with you.  I am trying to get as many done as I can  before the rush begins in November and although I haven't done as many as I wanted, I do have more than at this time last year and that's a good thing!

Used scraps again for this card.  I know the base paper is from Kaisercraft but have no idea where the rest came from.

The white bloom is available at Megs Garden but the rest of the cluster is from my stash.

Finally using up some of the gold stickers I've had in my stash for ages.  I do like that little touch of gold for Christmas ..

.. and I added a few seed beads as well.

The inside, decorated in my usual style .. the small chippy bauble is from Scrapmatts.

Popped some dp on the back as well, just to cover the ribbon.

I actually should have had about 16 Christmas cards by now but I've actually only completed 8.  Rather sad, huh??   Still, as I said at the beginning of this post, I have more now than I did at this time last year .. is good!!  LOL!! 

Just a little side note .. I entered my previous Christmas card (Christmas in Ausust #2) into the challenge at Christmas Card Challenges .. and I WON!!  Just want to say a big thank you to all the lovely people over there for choosing my card .. I am thrilled to bits!!  Thank you all so very much.

And thank you, lovely people for visiting my blog and taking a look at my little creations.

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

Another Celebration!

Hello sweet crafty friends .. welcome to my blog and thank you so much for stopping by.  Hope everyone is having a wonderful day.

I have another masculine birthday card to share with you.   This is another one I created from scraps  and, if I remember rightly, they are a mix of Kaisercraft and Prima.

This chippie is from 2Crafty Chipboard and is also a scrap piece left over from a previous project.
Coloured it with Distress Inks and then coated it with Glossy Accents.

Didn't do a lot on this one.  Just distressed the layers.
Did pop a little ink on the tickets though.

 The chipboard greeting is from Scrapmatts and was not altered in any way.
Love these .. so easy to add  to your card.

 

 

The inside, done in my usual style.

Just a fairly simple card but, happy to say, it was very well received.

Thank you so much for visiting and taking a look at my little creations.
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.