Greetings to all

Greetings to all, I have a few projects to show you today, some of which I have been working on for a few weeks now. I do not know whats up with me lately but I seem to be taking on to many projects all at once instead of finishing one and the moving on to the next.

However, the first project is one I found on Youtube and its an Easel Post-it-note box card. My friend Tracy is a post it note fanatic so I had to try and make her one of these. Its a very simple and easy project but packs a punch on presentation.

I used Craft cardstock for the base and the patterned paper is from the Minds Eye collection. The flowers are handmade and I found the pattern on the Couture Creations blog. My latest craze is stick pins and I am having a heap of fun making them and I probable have used one is every project I have made in the last 2 months.

BUT moving on, my friend Tracy's, daughter has completed her degree in Marine Biology and is now studying to become a teacher. She carries her diary around with her where ever she goes so I decided to make her something in that line. Found the "Completed Dollar Calendar Mini" by papercrafter45 on Youtube which inspired me. I have used this idea but combined it with Kathy Orta's December Daily 2 project which is a gatefold mini album using the hidden hinge method. So I combined the two and come up with a Gatefold Calendar mini album.

 This is the front over of the album, Vintage styled for her personality and I have used the same kind of flowers in this project as the previous one.Another stick pin!

 This is the inside of the album once you open the cover. On the left hand side I have used Kathy Orta's pocket style and made a tag with the Public holidays and school terms. On the right is another pocket and tag with a calendar of 2014. The center is the first page of the album.

 Open the flap and you have the completed month of January, these calendars I have made so that she can remove and replace for each year. There are 12 pages - one for each month and is put together in a gatefold style meaning one to the left and the next to the right and repeating the process.

 There is a pocket on each front page of each month with a list of birthdays

The very back of the album I have made another pocket and placed a notebook in it. Also done so that she can keep replacing as required.

Hope I have inspired somebody with this project and hope to hear from you guys as to what you think

See ya

Swap Group in Australia

Challenge One: Memory boxes The challenge set was to make your interpretation of a memory/gift box. No theme This is what I came up with:

Second challenge: Thank you cards with a jungle theme We had to make 2 different Jungle themed thank you cards and this is mine:

Third challenge: Meander albums This was my challenge and my Mom had been visiting me and She really enjoyed making these albums. She had just returned home to South Africa so this was an emotional challenge for me. Anyway this is what I made:

Fourth Challenge: Dress form themed tags We had to make two different tags with a dress form theme. I decided to go with "Naughty and Nice" as my inspiration and here they are:

Fifth Challenge: Recycled items This challenge has just been set and its basically to make anything from anything recycled. I decided to use 3 different recycling items being: Toilet rolls - I made the pages of the albums with these Plastic shopping bags - The rose on the front is made from the plastic Soda cans - Tin embosses really well and its the label on the front of the album

Recycled Items Challenge

Good morning all from a very cold and miserable Taupo!! A friend of mine in Australia contacted me, about a year ago, with an idea of a Swap group between a few of her friends in the Melbourne area in Australia. Its nothing big or professional as we are all beginners to Scrapbooking but thought it would be a great idea to see each others interpretation of a challenge. These have been lots of fun and I have loaded all the challenges so far on a page on the left hand side of my blog (Swap group from Australia). But to get back to the point - the latest challenge is to make anything from recycled items. I got thinking about what I could use and decided to see just how many I could use in one challenge. I decided to make a "Mini Album" and these are recycled items I decided to use: Toilet roll inners: These are the pages of the album, painted with acrylic paint and covered with scraps of paper from the KAISERCRAFT "SWEET NOTHINGS" collection of paper. This set I got with a card class held by Hastings Rubber stamps in Rotorua earlier in the year. Secondly, plastic shopping bags: I watched a Youtube video by Physcomom,a while ago which showed you how to make "Plaper" - sorry I think that is how you spell it. But basically its paper that you make from plastic shopping bags. Anyway getting back to the project, the rose on the front of the album is made from a white plastic shopping bag and normally I would paint these to give it colour but I really liked the natural look of the plastic for this one. If you do want to paint your roses I would suggest that you paint it with "Gesso" which is a base coat that makes the plastic "chalky" and then the paint will stick better to your flower. Thirdly, Soda pop cans although very sharp and dangerous emboss beautifully and leave a very prominent design and the label on the cover is made from recycled soda pop cans. Fourth: The covers are made from cereal box's and covered with the Kaisercraft "Sweet Nothings" collection paper as well and matching cardstock. Butterflies are stamps from the Kaisercraft Tigerlily stamp set and colour in with the Spectrum Noir blending pens and embossed with clear embossing powder. The sentiments are from a stamp set bought off Trademe but I cannot remember what the name of the set was as I have thrown away the packaging by accident. All in all - there are 4 recycled items used on this project but I also decided to use up scraps of paper from another projects. So the only thing that is not recycled is the tags inside the pages. Let me know what you think!!!