Mini pavlovas

As I've had friends staying, I've been trying to do a bit more in the kitchen. If I'm just cooking for myself I tend to do really easy things - throw something in the slow cooker, fruit for dessert etc. However, I pulled out the stops for a recent dessert treat - mini pavs decorated with strawberries and blueberries. So nice to see the summer berries starting to appear.

Bon appétit!

Hanna Andersson

I'd never heard of Hanna Andersson until someone mentioned the company on the Studio Calico forums and recommended their kids' clothing. I put in a small order for my niece. She's only one, but is on the 95th growth percentile so I ordered a 3-4 year size that she can grow into.

Very pleased with the quality of the garments so far. Obviously they're yet to be worn, but the reviews say they're hard wearing and wash well. Might be my new go-to store for girls' clothes.

This is the classic 'day dress/play dress' with leggings. I also bought a fully reversible skirt which I thought was a great idea.

Christmas packaging

Haven't had much time for crafting lately as work has been so busy. But I have been writing Christmas cards and making tags. Here are a few examples. I was really pleased with the gold embossing.

The cute reindeer pegs are left over from last year:

Being a tourist

Nothing quite like having to show overseas guests around your city to get you investigating and researching what there is to see!

Friends have been visiting from the UK. Unfortunately, they've had terrible weather for most of their stay but we took advantage of one slightly better day to head out to west Auckland to the Waitakeres and west coast beaches. Piha is always worth a visit for the amazing black sand and waves (if you happen to be into surfing!) Too dangerous for swimming in my opinion as there are lots of rips. But some hardy souls were in the water on the afternoon we were there:

The beach is patrolled between the flags:

 

More knitting

Here's another jumper I've been knitting for my niece. Just love the Sublime wool and patterns. This is the baby wool but they do a range for adults too. Just itching to do something for myself, but sadly the cost of wool is prohibitive now.

Sailor jacket

Over the winter I was doing some knitting for my niece. She's on the 99th percentile of the growth chart, so I've made a 2-3 year size to make sure she can get some wear out of the items!

Here's the first one, a cute sailor jacket:

My Project Life 6x8

Ok last October album page from me.  I got one of the scrapbook add-ons this month - loved the contents which included some gold paint for use with silkscreens. The card on the bottom left is one that I made using those products.

The scrapbook add-on also came with a gorgeous floral stamp which I've also used below - perfect size for a 3 x4 pocket.

My Project Life 6x8

Here's another PL spread. The cards on the left are from the October 'Cozy" card add-on. Some of the cards are very much focused on autumn or winter so I've put them aside for next year. But these coffee ones were bound to feature in my album!

My Project Life 6x8

Back with another couple of October pages.  Love the colours in these kits. The nice thing about the SC kits is that they are not too seasonal. Yes there are some cards or embellishments which are autumn/fall related, but a lot of the kit contents are more versatile. Very important when you're experiencing seasons in reverse!

So I thought these colours actually work quite well for spring:

My Project Life 6x8

Work has been busy, and suddenly it's November! But I have been doing a few more pages in my own PL album - just highlighting a few events this month.  Here's the first spread. I'm pleased to report that my hands have healed up completely which is a good thing as it was the marathon last weekend!

This month's pages use The Underground kit from Studio Calico:

My Project Life 6x8

Back with another PL spread, again using the Poet Society kit and add-ons from Studio Calico.  Just some random events - some recipes I tried, housework on Fridays and a cute cat picture that I originally spotted on the 'Caturday' thread at 2PeasRefugees.

I'm really enjoying PL because you can make it exactly what you want - daily, weekly, monthly or whatever. For me it's a way of slowing down and just dying to be 'in the moment' instead of thinking about the past or worrying about the future, which I seem to do a lot!

My Project Life 6x8

Oops don't know where the time has gone. Sorry for the absence!

Here are another couple of pages from my PL album. This spread is from September and uses Studio Calico's Poet Society kits.  I bought a variety of page protectors, including some instagram ones. The 2x2 page on the right was perfect because I actually ended up with a lot of photos this month!

Project Life cards

On World Cardmaking Day I played along with some challenges at Studio Calico. Here are a couple of the cards I made:

Challenge to make a Project Life card:

Challenge to use digital cut files or stamps on a card. I turned a digital stamp into a shaped card:

 

Project Life #23

Time for another layout. I used a cut file and some embellishments from Studio Calico. Love these photos of Zoe - she looks like a little sailor!

My Project Life #22

Here's a spread from this month's pages. On the left are some pictures from a holiday on the boat. I've incorporated some Studio Calico PL cards and embellishments. On the right is a 12x12 layout using a couple of photos from later in the month. I 'scraplifted' the layout from Paige Evans and love the effect.

 

And here's the layout up close:

 

My Project Life #21

Must be time for another peek at my niece's PL album. Can't believe it's nearly finished! I've done month 11 and am just waiting for the last few photos to do month 12. Must say that I've really enjoyed the PL process and getting back into scrapbooking.  Here's a recent spread:

And a closeup of a couple of the cards:

My Project Life 6x8

Back again with a another spread from my August album. You'll see what I mean by everyday moments - just having a coffee, a view from my window at work, the cat enjoying 'her' rug in the evening.

I think starting this album is helping me appreciate 'ordinary' day to day life and remember to take time, stop and just take in all those small moments in the day.

My Project Life 6x8

I've been having so much fun working on my niece's PL album that I decided to start my own. But there's no way I'd be able to take enough photos for a 12x12 album -  and they're so large to store as well.

After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing I've gone with 6x8. The album is a faux leather ('pleather'?) album from Simple Stories. I'm very pleased with the size and quality of it.

I know it's a bit weird to start an album in August. Originally, I was going to wait until January. But hey, it doesn't really matter. And this way I can record my upcoming marathon and my trip to the UK at Christmas (yay!)

So here's the title page and first spread. I'm doing the album on a monthly basis, just to give a bit more flexibility in terms of events etc. I might include something from each week or just look at doing a monthly overview. The photos so far as just snapshots of everyday life - those ordinary moments I might otherwise overlook.

In honour of my new venture, I've signed up for a Studio Calico PL kit subscription which I'm loving so far!  August pages mostly use the Sandlot kit. I've added a few extras from my stash.

Just a note

Here's another card using the Make it Market Beautiful Brushstrokes kit from PTI. Love the draft twine - thanks Danielle Flanders for the idea! The gorgeous patterned paper makes it so easy to put a card together.

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Hello

I've been whipping up some more cards with PTI Make it Market kits. Here's one with the fabulous patterned paper from the Beautiful Brushstokes kit. Add a bit of washi tape and some of the twine and it's done:

My Project Life #20

Here's a lovely photo of my brother and niece. I used PSE and a fantastic script font to add the cute 'You & Me' title. You can download the font (plus others) at Kal Barteski's blog here.

My Project Life #19

Look how fast my niece is growing up - 10 months old now. Can't quite believe it! Here's another spread from my PL album. I've used some Tracy Larsen PSE templates and kept the embellishments pretty simple. I like the look of all the white!

Here's a closeup of the butterfly card which features PTI's A Beautiful Life dies and some grey doily washi tape:

More Beautiful Brushstrokes

Here's another card featuring the Make it Market Beautiful Brushstrokes kit. The card is CASED from one Betsy Veldman did during the kit release. Just love the happy colours!

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - Aqua Mist; watercolour paper,
Stamps - Beautiful Brushstrokes, Beautiful Brushstrokes Sentiments
Ink - Versafine onyx black; PTI
Accessories - Zig water brush; Make it Market Beautiful Brushstrokes kit dies

Beautiful Brushstrokes

The watercolour trend is so big right now and I just love the soft look. Couldn't resist Betsy Veldman's Make it Market kit a couple of months ago and I've been practicing my 'faux' watercolour look ever since. Here's a card I made for some upcoming birthdays:

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - stamper's select white; watercolour paper
Stamps - Beautiful Brushstrokes, Luxe Letterpress
Ink - Versafine onyx black; PTI
Accessories - Wonderful Words dies; Xyron sticker machine; Zip water brush

My Project Life #18

Time for another look at the PL album I'm doing for my niece. The time is flying by and soon it'll be finished. Boy has the time gone fast!

Here's a spread from the end of month 8 and beginning of month 9. You can see I'm mixing in some 12 x 12 layouts along with the PL pocket pages - just for a bit of variety.

The 'filmstrip' on the left page uses a Photoshop Elements quick frame around each photo and then I just put all 3 pictures on a new canvas. Really pleased with the look.  The right hand page features some pretty blooms from PTI Beautiful Brushstrokes set which was part of Betsy Veldman's Make it Market Kit of the same name.

The Great NZ Cookbook - scones

Recently I bought a new cookbook which features recipes from 80 of the country's top chefs and restauranteurs - everything from afghan biscuits to fancy three course dining. 

I turned my hand to scones today - caramelised onion and cheddar - yum. And still lots more recipes to try ;)

Sprinkles on top

Yet another shaker card from a couple of weekends ago when I spent several hours in my craft room with Betsy Veldman's cute kit. Watch out everyone who knows me - I think you'll be getting a shaker card this year!

Another shaker

I'm on a roll with those shaker cards. Here's another birthday card. They're definitely the card I send most often.  This uses Betsy Veldman's Make it Market kit again:

Happy birthday shaker

I've got a few birthdays coming up in the next few months, so today was a good opportunity to make a few cards for my stash. Here's another shaker made with Betsy Veldman's Shakers & Sprinkles kit. I used some vellum as the back of the shaker element - adds a softness to the patterned paper:

My Project Life #16

I recently ordered another fabulous Make it Market Kit from Papertrey Ink. It's the beautiful Brushstrokes kit with lots of watercolour inspiration.

I made a couple of filler cards for this month's PL. Love the flower stamps included in the kit and the scripty sentiments as well:

My album is a real mixture of page protectors, colours and styles but I love the variety. I really like the PL concept but got bored quite early on just using one kit. Much more fun to mix and match!

My Project Life #15

I've been busy with my niece's PL album. Getting it up to date for when I go to visit later in the year.

Here's a very simple spread from month 7 - lots of white space with Tracy Larsen's Simply White templates, one lot of journaling and a filler card which uses some Heidi Swapp acrylic embellishments:

Meow

My aunt and a number of friends are cat lovers, so when I saw this cute cat stamp from PTI I knew it was coming home with me. Here's a grey tabby. Love that the image can be coloured or paper pieced to look like some of my favourite cats:

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper -  stamper's select white; smokey shadow paper pack
Stamps - Cat's Meow
Ink - Memento Tuxedo black
Accessories - copics; Cat's Meow dies

Click smile!

Here's another 12 x 12 layout from Zoe's album. Love the flowers from Maggie Holmes' Flea Market collection which I've teamed with some other papers from my stash. Isn't she a cutie!

Another 12 x 12

Here's another layout from Zoe's album. The photo is 5 x 7 which seems to work well.  Nice and colourful for spring! The tickets are from PTI's Just the Ticket stamp set. I made my own tickets with my cricut.

Scrapping away

I'm enjoying the scrapbooking I'm doing with Zoe's album. So much so that I decided to include a few 12 x 12 pages as well as the PL pages - just for a sit of variety.

Here's one with a cute picture from a couple of months ago. I've been saving the floral paper (think it's from Crate Paper) for a while now, waiting for the right project to use it on:

Digital Project Life #3

I'm making good progress with my digital layouts. Here's another one from Zoe's first month pictures. More Tracy Larsen and a great kit from Laura Passage at Pixels and Company called Brady's Room.

Digital Project Life #2

Back again with another digital layout of my niece. I'm having a lot of fun using Tracy Larsen's templates and various digital elements, most from Crate Paper's Maggie Holmes digi kit. It's a great way to learn how to use PSE - understanding layers and clipping masks, adding shadows etc. I feel like I've only just scratched the surface!

Birthday roses

I think this is one of my favourite cards. Rosie Posie features here again, along with the Luxe Letterpress kit tools and supplies:

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - stamper's select white, summer sunrise; letterpress
Stamps - Rosie Posie, Think Big Favourites
Ink - Versafine onyx black; Amuse
Accessories - Make it Market Luxe Letterpress impression plate and dies

Sunshine + Sprinkles

Here's another card I made using PTI's Make it Market kit. Thought I might send this to my aunt to brighten her week. Here are the oval dies again, with some of the sequin sprinkles from the kit, and some confetti I made using the included dies. So cheerful - I love this colour combination!

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - aqua mist, orange zest, raspberry fizz; vellum, acetate
Stamps - Shakers + Sprinkles
Ink - hawaiian shores; Versafine onyx black
Accessories - Make it Market Shakers + Sprinkles kit; cabbage rose ribbon

Another shaker

Still churning out those shaker cards! Here's another birthday card using the oval dies and some paper from my stash - from Crate Paper's Flea Market collection. I used vellum instead of acetate for the shaker component and love the soft look it gives:

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - rustic cream; Crate Paper Flea Market 6 x 6 pad
Stamps - Shakers + Sprinkles, Luxe Letterpress
Ink - hawaiian shores; Versafine onyx black
Accessories - Make it Market Shakers + Sprinkles kit, wonderful words die; vellum; vintage sequins; sewing machine

Birthday shaker

I've been having fun making cards with PTI's second Make it Market kit called Shakers + Sprinkles designed by Betsy Veldman. The kit contains a lot of dies which make it easy to cut and put together the shaker components. Here's a birthday card which uses the heart shaped dies and patterned paper found in the kit:

Supplies (PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - stamper's select white, aqua mist, hibiscus burst, raspberry fizz, hawaiian shores pattern pack
Stamps - Shakers + Sprinkles
Ink - Versafine onyx black
Accessories - Shakers + Sprinkles kit; spellbinders label die, sewing machine