Project Life 2013 - Weeks 21, 22 and 23

Hello again :)

Wow. Time really did get away from me, didn't it? Three weeks worth of Project Life to show you, plus another one that will be finished in the next couple of days...and an album almost full too ;)

For week 21, I used some pieces out of Echo Park's Here and Now collection...mainly because I LOVE those cute little multi-coloured cameras above ;)

I've been keeping up with putting the pages together fairly well this year, but my photo taking is still not quite up to speed...I don't take nearly as many as I want to. I do find though, that a lack of photos at the end of a week makes me look around and capture more details, even if there is no corresponding photo.

Week 22 was a bit like that...

 ...but that's ok because I had my son write out his exam schedule, and now I have a record of his handwriting in my album ;) I used bits and pieces from Simple Stories 24/Seven for this spread...I forgot how much I love the colours in that collection!

Week 23 is made up of all sorts of papers and embellishments!

 For this week I had my older daughter journal about her excursion to Perth Zoo, and got a little creative to fill up some of the other 3x4 pockets...more photos would have come in handy here ;)

So that gets us up to Week 24, which is sitting on my desk right now....wooohoooo!

I'm off to sit in front of the heater to warm up a bit...it's SO chilly in Perth today!

Have a great afternoon

TTFN xxx

Hello.

How are you? And what have you been up to?

 I have badly neglected popping in to share my crafty goings-on lately...and it's not like me to be quiet for so long ;)  There is no simple explanation... just the general busy-ness of life and the lack of time to gather my thoughts and put them in cohesive sentences, much less with photos!

I thought about doing a super-long post to show you everything I've been working on, but have opted for a simple catchup over the next couple of days...sound good?

Let's start with fabric :)

I received the last of my 2013 Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Block of the Month recently, and had a catchup on the blocks before attacking the finishing kit...just a little bit daunting :)

I put the final borders on earlier in the week, and it is heading off to the quilter tomorrow...YIPPPEEEE! I'll show you some detailed pictures after I sew the binding down...it's a very pretty quilt. I have really enjoyed receiving my package from the U.S. each month, and can't wait to start the 2014 program, featuring Avalon fabric by Fig Tree and Co...bring it on!

In a weak moment (when my sewing space was looking a bit empty) I signed up for Camille Roskelley's Craftsy class on piecing pre-cuts, thinking I would use some of my much-loved Bonnie and Camille fabrics.  Funnily enough, I totally balked when it came to cutting up my precious Marmalade layer cake to make the first quilt LOL...I just couldn't go through with it!

The class is aimed at beginners and I felt the first project, Piece of Cake 3, was just a bit too simple for my gorgeous Marmalade...so I started a different quilt which I've wanted to make for a while. I'm just stitching a little bit each day, and will show you when I get a bit more done...slow and steady :) Hopefully I won't have the same problem with the next quilt in the course...I'm hoping to use Happy-Go-Lucky!

Speaking of slow and steady, I finally have some progress to share on Scandinavian Rose...

...Block 4 is finally complete! Phew! This one took me a couple more months than anticipated, but my enthusiasm is now renewed, and I'm stitching madly away on Block 5. I'm using lots of my leftover MBOM Vintage Modern fabrics for the pieced sections, with some Bliss, Ruby and other favourites thrown in, and I LOVE how it's looking. If only I had more stitching hours in my day!

So that's what's been happening in fabric. I'll be back tomorrow with a Project Life catchup!

TTFN xxx

Not Your Average Teenage Boy

As I was driving my teenage son to the train station yesterday morning (he had a very early class to prepare for upcoming exams) it occurred to me that he is not your average teenage boy :)

For example, he makes his bed every single day, and his bedroom is always immaculate...

...and he packs himself a healthy lunchbox every morning, including sandwiches and fruit :) These little details are the kind of things that I want to remember! So I got straight into making a scrapbook page to document some of the things that make him...well, him.

The journaling was my main focus of this layout, so I needed to leave plenty of room to include everything I wanted to say....the green grid paper was perfect.  The world map paper by October Afternoon gave it a masculine feel, and suited the photo (which I already had printed, and was taken on the first day of school this year). I hand cut the word bubbles from  a sheet called Chalkboard Quotes from the
Here and Now Collection by Echo Park.

The gold Thickers gave the title a bit of extra ooomph! I may need to buy another set of these...they are very special :)

Hope you are having a lovely day, and thank you for visiting!

TTFN xx

Sunday Cards - a tick off the list!

Creating cards has become a family affair around here lately. My girls are really enjoying having a stash of hand made cards to give to their friends, and I am loving that some of my supplies are being used!

We were planning to go to the Perth Craft and Quilt Fair on Sunday, but unfortunately none of us were feeling very well (struck down with the flu!) so we decided to make some cards instead. The girls love stamping images onto plain cardstock, and have recently discovered the joy of stamping multiple colours on the one image, using markers. Their colouring is pretty awesome!

Sometimes they make their own cards...and sometimes I steal their stamped images to make cards for my own stash :) Lydia stamped a little line-up of owls in rainbow colours, and I couldn't resist using them to make a simple birthday card. I punched the image to create a circle, drew a border and matched the colours to my strip of patterned paper. I used my new Chevron embossing folder to add some interest underneath the owls, and finished it off with a birthday greeting.

 For the card below, I coloured the stamp using markers in various colours,  changing the colours across the face of the stamp.

I then matched the colours of the stamped image to rolls of washi tape, and adhered the tape in strips to a piece of plain cardstock...so quick and easy, but SO effective!

Riley was watching me do this, and decided to make his own version :) He chose the washi tape colours, and I made the card.

This time I framed  the washi taped cardstock with a black border, and stamped HAPPY BIRTHDAY across the bottom, using the same colours as the washi tape that he'd chosen. I really love the way this one turned out! Riley tells me I need more washi tape...he could be right!

I made a few more cards, but they are yet to be given out so I had better not spoil the surprise :)


TTFN xxx

Project Life 2013 - Week 20

Hello Week 20...so nice to finally have this week finished (and blogged, no less!)

I've fallen out of my usual PL routine lately, and am desperate to find some kind of normal with it again. I guess I should be grateful that I haven't let it slide totally :)

 This week started off with Mothers Day (excuse my bed hair LOL) and ended with netball, with some school photos, a  new iPhone app,  house rearranging and fly out day in between.

I've used one of the new WeR Memory Keepers Albums Made Easy packs for this layout...seems that most scrapbook manufacturers are hopping on the PL style bandwagon these days!  This particular pack is called Memo, contains 257 double-sided journaling cards and has some very cute vintage images and filler cards....all for $14.95. I thought it was worth a peek :)

An extra insert was added this week to hold my Mothers Day cards and some of the papercrafting that my kids made for me. The pink heart with naplan 2013 on it is an origami creation from Riley, and Merryn made the kite. There was quite a bit more origami, but it was three dimensional :)

So that's Week 20 done and dusted. My album is getting quite full which can only mean one thing...the year is almost half over! Eeeek!

 If that doesn't scare you, nothing will ;)

TTFN xxx

P.S. I've just noticed that this makes FOUR POSTS IN A ROW about Project Life. Wow. I have some fabric projects bubbling along, which will hopefully make it onto the blog very soon....I didn't realise it had been so long since I completed a sewing project!

Project Life 2013 - Week 19...and some MBOM catch-up.

Hello Project Life Week 19...and Hello Monday!

The last week has gone by in a blur of work and meetings and school stuff and general chaos...all without me picking up my camera even once. EEEK!

This has an effect on my Project Life documenting, and tends to have a snowball effect. I have very few photos to work with...so I put off  PL because it's too hard...and another week passes and it gets even harder...so I put it off a bit longer :( Procrastination at it's finest.

I needed to stop before the rot set in...and I had too many weeks to catch up on! Thank goodness for iPhone photos and Snap Life goodies and internet images...a brilliant way to fill up an empty pocket or two.

I also had a bit of catching up to do on my Mystery Block of the Month quilt...because there's another block on it's way!

This is going to be such a pretty quilt when it's done. I so love the Vintage Modern fabrics it's made from, although I have no idea what I'm actually going to do with the finished quilt...but we'll worry about that when the time comes ;)

                                          

Hope your Monday has been lovely and productive. We had a beautiful rainy day here in Perth, and I spent most of it baking...the perfect wet weather activity :)

What have you been up to?

TTFN xxx

Project Life Week 18...and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Hello Week 18...thankfully a week of two photo-heavy events to make up for my lack of photo taking during the week :)

My layout began with this gold butterfly...

 ...which was one of many that we collected at the Cirque du Soleil performance of OVO which we attended on the Saturday night. (I am so very very grateful that we had tickets to see this amazing performance! We've had them since before Christmas, and were all SO excited that the day had finally arrived.) I wanted to include at least one of the butterflies somewhere, so that's where I began :)

I kept this one fairly simple...using a few quotes from Teresa Collins" Stationery Noted line, some gold highlights here and there, and some gorgeous gold alpha stickers from Dear Lizzie in my title card.

I've blurred out one of the 4x6 cards...no, it's not your computer ;)

It's Mothers Day here in Australia, and I'd like to wish all the beautiful and dedicated mothers I know a wonderful day! I have been spoiled with breakfast in bed, a pile of gorgeous gifts, both homemade and bought (shopped for by my children this year...they did an awesome job!) and plenty of hugs and kisses. It's days like this that I feel so blessed to be surrounded by my precious little family...they mean the world to me.

Happy Mothers Day to you...and thank you for visiting

TTFN xxx

Project Life 2013 - Week 17

  Hello Week 17...still running a bit behind with my crafting, but clawing my way back slowly ;)

I pulled out my Project Life Turquoise kit for this spread...recognise the browns, greens and aquas? I added some washi tape, some Echo Park Sweet Girl stickers (loving that house in the title card) and other bits and pieces for variety...and boy, did I have a messy desk by the time I was done!

All of my photos were from my iPhone this week...I've lost a bit of my photo-taking mojo it seems. As I look back on last years PL, I realise that this happened at much the same time last year :)

This is definitely not my favourite colour scheme, but it felt good to use up some stash and make my week a little more "masculine".

                                      Also a good excuse to use some of my enamel badges...

...which I seem to be collecting at the moment.

Thanks so much for visiting, and for leaving me such lovely comments...I really do have the best blog readers!

Have a wonderful day

TTFN xxx



12 Months of Christmas...April Project

Hello hello :)

 I'm running a bit late on our 12 Months Of Christmas project this time...how did it get to May already?

 The project for April was a Christmas stocking, and I really really wanted to make mine using a Thimble Blossoms pattern called merry. It's one of those projects that I bought the pattern for a long time ago, and every Christmas had good intentions of making one...but never quite found the time. Hello 12 Months Of Christmas!

I've used Aneela Hoey's fabric called Cheery Christmas, which is a beautiful mix of turquoise, red, grey and green...but for this particular project, I stuck with the turquoise and red backed onto white.

Once I'd finished stitching, I felt it needed a little extra something, so added this divine crochet bauble trim that I've been hoarding for quite a while. I knew if I held onto it long enough, a perfect project would present itself :)

I cheated a bit with the quilting part. For the lining I used a red and white chevron print from Riley Blake, and simply followed the lines when quilting the back side of the stocking...too easy!

So...how are you going with your 12 Months of Christmas projects? Our project for May is your choice of an advent calendar or a tablerunner...or anything else you might like to make ;) I haven't quite decided which way I'll go yet...decisions decisions!

The rain has just started falling on the roof, and my husband is happily preparing dinner...might be the perfect time to pull out some fabric!

Enjoy your evening

TTFN xxx

Zigzag Love...a finish :)

Back to fabric today, with the finish of my Zigzag Love mini quilt :)

This really is the sweetest little quilt, and is adding a welcome splash of colour to my dining room table now that it's finished. You may recall I used this pattern by Hope's Quilt Designs...

 ...which  is available to purchase on Craftsy, or from Hope's brand new website here. I chose to make my quilt with Woodland, a fabric range by Natalie Lymer from Cinderberry Stitches...the mix of fairies, toadstool houses and gorgeous colours makes me so so happy :)

Red and white polkadots seemed like the logical choice for binding...I mean, really, what can beat red and white polkadots for cuteness? Especially when I have so many matching accesories...hahaha!

Hope has provided instructions to make many different sizes of this quilt, but for me, mini was hard to resist.

I can see myself making many versions of this quilt...especially since both my daughters have already tried to claim this one :)

Have a happy day

TTFN xxx