Sunday 31 May 2015

First day of month is Eclectic Ellapu's!

Eclectic Ellapu is a design team that I belong to where we can do anything we want under the theme and which always just stretches me that little bit more to create something. This month was no exception as it was


Steampunk!
Steampunk refers to a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy—also in recent years a fashion and lifestyle movement—that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.

The plate reads - "reality has limits, imagination is boundless"
  1. So, I decided to gather up all the Steampunk stuff I might have (you would be surprised what I did have - I was!) and then when I knew what I had I went scrabbling through Pinterest to see what I could make with them! I added the word cards too, as I wanted to see what cards people had made. You might like to do it the other way around to see what is used and then find stash to suit! I saw some lovely stuff there - wasted hours as per usual - and printed off two whole pages of inspiration.....I copy/paste things I like into a word document and crop the image to the bit I want and when the page is filled up, I print it! 

  2. I had in my possession a memo book - made from recycled milk cartoons apparently - and it had cost me an arm and a leg if you include the plane trip but only a few dollars if you don't. It was always intended to have the cover made-over, so was perfect for this project. I then went and got my roll of roofing-tape-stuff from the hardware store, (silver and textured with a sticky back) and stuck strips onto a piece of card big enough to cover the back and front of the book until it was covered. Once it was all stuck down and smoothed over to make the little joining bumps less obvious, I smooched some TH Distress inks all over it - they took for ages to dry and didn't really take that well, but there was some colour there.



    I then put the sheets into some different embossing folders however I could get them to fit into the Big Shot and embossed them until I was satisfied they looked OK. Next was the task of rubbing ink into them again to replace the stuff that rubbed off while embossing! I should have tried with other inks but decided I had started with TH so would continue.......
  3. I added some emphemera stuff to suit Steampunk to one sheet, and then glued it to the front of the book - I forgot to mention that I had cut my sheet into two, and that the stitched spine of the book was going to be left as is in the gap between the two sheets 'cause I couldn't be bothered doing it any other way at that stage - too excited about playing in ink......about this time I remembered taking photo's is always a good idea so took one of the front after it was glued on....


  4. and one of the back




    I also concocted some 'hinges' using strap buckles and black ribbon to wrap around the spine


    This is the back with the straps in place




    That is the story of my Steampunk journey

    It was a fun journey, and one that anyone can join in on - you have the whole month of June to make something/anything Steampunk style and enter it at Ecclectic Ellapu!

    I will enter this in the following competitions:
    Craft My Life: Anything but a Card
    Card Mania: add metal embellies
    Not Just Cards: Masculine
    Anything but Cute: Make it Masculine

Tuesday 26 May 2015

Playing with some new SU stuff!

The new Catalogue is out and the new In-Colours are also out -so to speak - not quite a rainbow but nearly!
I cased some ideas and made these three cards using the stamp set Butterfly Basics.

This is the new lace in the In Colour Watermelon Wonder


I did a bit of embossing of the fern using Wild Wasabi EP- even did a mirror stamp to bend the frond to turn the other way - all on Whisper White.


Then I stamped the flower from the set and masked it - and then used sponges to add colour behind the foliage.  I then used the water pen and inks to colour the flower


Momento Tuxedo Black to stamp the sentiment and punched butterflies and some bing


Mounted this all on Cucumber Crush, Mint Macaroon and Watermelon Wonder card and wrapped around some WW ribbon and a bit of green too!

This one is a direct copy from the catty - and I used the markers to ink the stamp here


The fern was stamped with Mossy Meadow after I masked the flowers.

The sentiment is stamped in Mint Macaron and the butterfly is die cut using the dies that go with this stamp set - I used some gold card to die cut and some gold and white string to tie a bow.


There is a strip of the MM lace strip there too - the card base is the Delightful Dijon and is stamped randomly with Tip Top Taupe behind the image


The third card uses the Bokeh technique and SU inks. I started with my water pen and some watercolour card. I taped this to my craft sheet, and painted the paper with a light coat of water.  I then smeared around the In colours CC, DJ and MM - they were very bright.
I used TTT to stamp various ferns fronds in the bottom rh corner


I got my White Craft ink and a stencil with various hole sizes and a sponge and started with the bigger holes to wipe some ink onto the base - it was dry before I started this. Towards the smaller holes I switched to a stencil with splots rather than straight round circles but there are both.  When I was happy with the look I stopped!You don't need to cover it all. Take off the tapes and you have a lovely edge.

I stamped the sentiment with Momento Tuxedo Black before the Kraft dried - need to be less impatient!


I die cut my butterfly from sparkly gold card and got some gold sequins and scattered them around.


The wc sheet was then attached to a piece of Delightful Dijon folded to create a card blank.  

I like this technique - looks lovely!



Monday 25 May 2015

Challenge#47 at Unstampabelles - Final Week

Go Australia at the Eurovison contest!

By the time you read this of course it will all be over...........
Hope you voted for us!


Well, Unstampabelles are in the final week of their May Challenge. 
If you haven't see it yet this is what it is about.....

Family History - who is in your family tree? 

Make a scrap page or create a card or photo page/inside a frame about a family member who is in the past.We all have many blossoms in our family tree but we all have lots of nuts too! I am sure we can include our past fur babies too
The twist is to Make it Vintage!

The prize

I have continued to scrap and made another page for my MIL


They were married in 1943 - he was 7 years older and his second marriage and her first....he was knocked back by the army etc 'cause he had had tuberculosis pre-war and was in the manufacturing of clothes. Arthur was a Fire Warden then at night for Melbourne during the war - against enemy action.

Papers used are Co'ordinations Whitewash Collection base sheet, sanded and distressed; Kaiser - the Lake House papers; FWAB pearl flourish, SU ribbon (pink); bits from my stash.........


OK,the doily was my MIL's; the net and ribbons are to represent the veil and the colours of her outfit and bouquet (pink hyacinths); and his moustache of course.........; pearls around her neck; pink feathers on her hat; white and gold ribbons on her bouquet....... 


Arthur was a widower of just over 12 months and was still grieving when he married Marj - basically to get a housekeeper and step-mother for the three young children. He liked her and she loved him.....it took another 20 years together before he told her he loved her too..........

Some more information is tucked under the papers - it can just be pulled out to read.

I sponged on some ink to create splashes using a mask..........

So, over to Unstampabelles and look at their inspirational work, and then off quick and make something!
See you there!!!


Monday 18 May 2015

Mid May Challenge #47 for Unstampabelles

I am still scrapping - it gets a bit compulsive after a while! 



So I made another page for my MIL for the Challenge #47 Vintage Family Tree at Unstampabelles. I got access to these photo's after her funeral, when we were able to get electonic copies of the old photo's from my SIL. They are in b & w but I made them sepia when I had these two printed out.



I stuck with the colour theme and used another page from the SU DSP, and of course it is distressed because of the Vintage TWIST.


Wasn't she a cute 2 year old! Photo taken about 1915....


I used ephemera and die cut out a clock face from some Prima recycled packaging.....


I did quite of lot of journalling here on little post cards, added some rubons and a wooden piece, and ribbon (this was wrapped around my Mother's Day present!) I had a lot more stuff out but decided less was more.....now I think maybe a flower would have been OK......but it is as it is at the moment!

The DT have come up with some amazing stuff for the mid post; why not go and see and then go and do and then go and enter HERE



Monday 11 May 2015

May Challenge #47 for Unstampabelles - Second Week


Hello Peeps - did you have a great Mother's Day? I hope so! 

I want to share a photo I found on my FB this week (no, not the one above) - taken by Wild Ocean Tasmania - of a pod of dolphins off the coast!



Stunning what!

I have personally seen pods like this so know this is not that unusual but it always moves me.

On to the challenge over at Unstampabelles for May

The theme is Family History - who is in your family tree? 

Make a scrap page or create a card or photo page/inside a frame about a family member 
who is in the past. 

The TWIST is to make it VINTAGE


This is the prize being offered:


Last week I shared a scrap page about my Mother and this week it is a scrap page about my Mother-in-Law, another wonderful woman who we all loved dearly.


She died in May a few months short of her 100 years, in 2013


Hard to think she was born in Melbourne in 1913


I was informed by her son I had misspelled her name! It has been corrected to Marjorie......isn't that lace so pretty!


The paper is from Stampin' Up

You are now inspired to go off and create your own!
Yes, you are!!

You can enter it HERE at Unstampabelles!

I will enter this in the following competitions:
Avenue613: Anything Goes with a twist on celebration - Mother's Day!
One Stitch at a Time: Anything Goes with a special Lady
The Outlaw Challenge: Mother's Day
Inkspirational: Distressing, flowers and pearls (recipe)


Thursday 7 May 2015

Don't Fool with Nature!

When I wrote my last post we were experiencing a very gentle autumnal weather - now look at what we are getting!

Snow to 400 feet and COLD, rainy weather intermittent with sun!

Famous last words, eh.......

As the weather was so bad yesterday, I played with an idea I had seen made on a FB site I belong to now - and used scrap bits to create it.  The images were from a freebie in a magazine (Making Cards, March 2015) and I just mounted them on 4 x 4 cards.  Made three and then envelopes too and the little bag to put them all in.


Here are the instructions I took off a YouTube video by Caroline Hallet



Sorry they are sideways!








Monday 4 May 2015

May and Unstampabelles Challenge #47

 Hello Peeps! May has come upon us and we are enjoying a lovely autumnal few days before winter unleashes - it did rain last night, but today was a corker! I love autumnal days and we have had several stunners last week! Here is a shot early morning of a cray boat returning home on the river Derwent.


Photo by Greg Faull

Well, on to the main event - Unstampabelles next challenge #47 is all about 

Family - from the past
Who is in your family tree? Make a scrap page or create a card or photo page/inside a frame about a family member who is in the past.

and the TWIST is to make it vintage!


The prize being offered is this!

I have not scrapped for such a long time and was determined to do so for this project. Cards just seem to takeover don't they! Anyway, I have a photo of my Mother in my craft room, taken when she was in her mid 20's I think, before she and Dad met, and I see it every day. I often talk to it as well and I know I smile at it when passing! Yesterday I took it down and at first tried to get the back off the frame but it looked like it was going to be difficult so I just photographed the photo with my camera! I went and had printed another photo of the photo - does that make sense? - after I cropped out the frame! As the original was in sepia, it worked well for the vintage idea. Mum would have had a birthday on the 2nd May - she would have been 99....................


I used wood, paint and ink, hesian and ribbon and lace, and buttons and words and stickers  and journalled until my fingers were brown and sticky!


I had grabbed a sheet of Co-ordinations which had been embossed, and began to smooch around some TH Picket Fence ink, and then some Tea Dye and Antique Linen, and  then employed a sanding block to make it look a bit old and tired.....


I added bits and pieces where I thought they would look balanced - the chair is because she always had a favourite chair to sit on and we were not allowed to sit there even if she was not there - "that's Mum's chair! Get out!"


I used a sheet of Meg's Garden The Romantic Garden paper, and grunged it up a bit


It it hard to imagine she has been gone nearly 27 years now - seems like yesterday......


I tucked a journalling card under the photo - if you want to know what is on it you have to pull it out to read, There is a strip of music there too - she used to sing to us when we were little.


I wanted it to b a little quiet and yet to celebrate her - at this stage of her life she was single, working as the Manageress of a shop in the city in Melbourne, and living with her parents.  Both her younger sisters were married before her, and her brother too.  She met Dad at Easter when she was 34 and they were engaged within 4 days of meeting! They separated then - she going home to Melbourne and Dad staying here in Tasmania to look after his three children, and for work. They corresponded by letter and he flew to Melbourne after Christmas and they were married on the 29th December, 1948, returning to Tasmania within days to live. They lived with his mother to start with, and the children, and then moved to a farm after a couple of years. That's when I was born!

So, enough on my family - what about yours?

If you go to Unstampabelles, you can see what the other DT members have come up with and check out their blogs. Then lets see what you can create for this challenge - you have until the end of May to enter.

I will enter the following challenges:
Scrapper's Delights: Anything Goes
Inkspirational: Space
DLART: Mother's Day