London Calling + Mr Smith's umbrella

After three January weeks in London, I came home with an umbrella and a 48 minute vacation video. No photos to scrap but the video disc needed a home. So I made this holder-cum-mini-album using Basic Grey's Wander.

The holder is made from folding one long strip of paper and I'll be posting the tutorial next month. It ends up 6"x6" and here's the cover. The blues, greens and yellows of Sande Krieger's collection perfectly conveys the mood of my London : densely packed, slightly gritty and endlessly intriguing. The graffiti-like font I used for the titles is AR Darling in outline.

Inside my 48 Minute video disc sits in a triangular pocket of city building blocks. It was my first time behind the lens and I had a blast with my friend's Cannon EOS 5D Mark I. There's the ususal jerkiness of handheld shooting but Lang played with that in editing really cleverly.

 

On the flip side is the other vertical two-pager where I journalled what was most memorable about the trip. If anyone's interested in what's on my top 10 list, just click on the photo for a larger image. (and yes Mr Smith's adorable umbrella is on the list).

Linking up to  these parties.

Basic Grey Wander Supplies : 6x6 paper pad, die-cut pieces, Travel Size paper, Turbulence paper Other Supplies : Basics Air-mail white rub-ons, October Afternoon Thrift Shop stickers, Teresa Collins Journal-It Tags and Journal Notes, Jenni Bowlin This Way rub-ons, Kaisercraft bracket rub-on, Pink Paislee Vintage Moon Accents press-ons, Making Memories Glitter Clears shapes, grommets, Weave Extras teeny tiny letter stickers, gcd studios Artsy Urban die-cut borders, Sassafras Paper Whimsies via Airmail

Bad Mama ?

This week I'm so pleased to guest design for Kirsty Vittetoe's City Crafter Challenge Blog where the hostess Linda Robinson set a theme of a Baby project with Buttons and Bows. I couldn't resist using my Best Creation stickers to make a whimsical altered project. Hope you'll hop over and play along too.

It's a Girl is for Linda's daughter

Using a supersized paperclip, I made this little decorative item for a baby girl shower. It was fun playing the various shapes : from the length of the giraffe's neck, through the swirly stems and circular florals. And it was a moment of pure serendipity when I saw the blue acrylic button with the word pure in my stash. It fit perfectly in the 'belly' of my Mama giraffe to represent the little baby that's coming.

On a separate note, I think I've been a bad Mama. I have two pairs of cukoo birds nesting in the lipstick palms. It's the season for baby birds to hatch and they are teaching their young to fly. But today Bun Bun struck and got one of the chicks. Where did I go wrong to have raised a birdkilling cat ? Do you let your cat out and do they hunt

Linking up to these parties.

Best Creation supplies : Safari Girl stickers, Safari Boy stickers and paper, Bunny Love stickers. Other supplies : Junkitz button, blue cord, 51cm blinder clip

For Japan

It's been a week. One week of watching the breaking news and feeling stunned by all that's happened. A week of facebooking my friends over there to find out how they are coping. One of hugging my loved ones here and counting my blessings.





Then on Thursday night I saw Tomoko Takahashi's We Need You Help call on her blog. Tomoko, who's based in Osaka, is requesting donations of cards, altered projects, ATCs. She plans to sell them and to donate the proceeds to the Japan Red Cross Society to aid the relief effort.


Woke up early and got this card done in two hours. Exchanged a couple of emails before walking out to the mailbox to send it off to her. Thank you Tomoko for organizing this and for letting me be a small part of it. I hope wherever my 4U card ends up, it brings some brightness and cheer to the receiver's day.


Sassafras Supplies : Starters line up and prologue papers, Sweetly Smitten floral fields paper and sweet treats stickers, Paper Crush journal tag, flag banner and sweet treats stickers, Elle's Tale flag banner and sweet treats stickers
Other Supplies : Making Memories Funky Lizzie alpha, Crate Paper Lemon Grass alpha, Maya Road Luxe Stoney Island alpha, button, twine


Linking up to these parties

Sendai - 11 March 2:46:23 PM

when words fail, prayer remains

Best Creation Blog Hop

Welcome to another Best Creation Blog Hop. It starts at Alicia Barry's blog and and ends at the Best Creation blog (where you'll find a list of all the designer's blog in case you lose your way). Be sure to leave comments on all the blogs for a chance to win a huge prize pack of goodies. You get additional chances to win if you can sign up to be a follower of the Best Creation blog or head over to 'like' Best Creation's facebook page.

This month each designer created a mini-book from one piece of 12"x12" paper. I used this bamboo print paper for mine which celebrates Japanese Haiku poetry.

Haiku is single verse poetry that traditionally reference the seasons. The one I chose is by seventeen-century master Matsuo Basho. I couldn't resist this Mustang brush-script font which is so reminiscent of calligraphy.

This mini book is for Roszana's friend who's recovering from illness

Now I'm sending you off to Tracey Taylor's blog for more mini-book inspiration. If you are interested in a step-by-step tutorial, come back when you are done with the hop. And I'd love to see your version if you make one.

Divide a 12"x12" paper into six equal sections and decide which sections will be the covers and which the inside pages

 

Draft out where the embellishments, words (and photos if you like) will go. Then cut out the 3 horizontal strips and decorate accordingly

Score the front of the paper for the pages strips and the back of the paper for the cover strip. And glue them together this way to get a completed mini-book with four inside pages.

Best Creation Papers : GP190, GP188, GP196

Linking up to these Parties

Sandy's Challenge #3

Welcome to my third challenge. This month I hope to inspire you with a fresh, fun and cute photo. You can pick from a variety of elements for your project. Some options are :

• feature some fun little animals
• use any combination of green, yellow, brown and white
• play with stripes and/or pokka dots
  
  
  
  If you need some more inspiration take a look at this post.

The Prize :

Brittny LeJeune, who's my fellow Best Creation Designer, will be our challenge judge. She will pick her favourite entry to win this prize - 20 pcs of 6"x6" papers (5 pcs from each collection : Let's Party, Bunny Love, Safari Girl, Safari Boy).

The Nitty Gritty :

• any type of handmade project - layout, mini-album, card, altered object, ATC, home decor, sew item
• you can link up new or old projects (even those created before Mar 2011)
• multiple entries welcomed
• feel free to combine your entry with other challenges
• mention Sandy's Challenge #3 if you can
• link up by 31 March
• the winner will be announced on 7 April
• I'll ship the prize worldwide
  
  Hope you'll play along and have fun creating !!

Safari Boy Projects

Today I'm showing off my first batch of Best Creation projects. When I received my package, Safari Boy was the first collection I cut into. It was a lot of fun playing with the cute critters and yummy chocolate colours.

It's a Boy :

All the animals on my card are celebrating the fact that my friend Michele is expecting a boy. I framed a combination of fussy-cut and sticker animals with the 'backside' of a die-cut paper. To make the label sticker pop-up I used the Caged Bouquet technique.

Little Monkey :

When I saw this pair of sunglass, I knew it was the perfect candidate for a Safari Boy altered project. I kept the palm trees but ditched that pink flamingo for a monkey and a sentiment sticker. A quick transformation that took just 15 mins. I think Christie's niece Addie will look super cute with them on.

Jungle House :

I love making house-shaped gift boxes. This time I went for a circular one with a cone roof. I must say, this house was the most time-consuming. I must have handcut 100 leaves to make the roof. And experimented before finding the right adhesive so that they all stay put. But I'm pleased with the end result and I hope Jen (who's expecting Baby Evin any day now) does too.

Lifting off the top

View of the roof

Linking up to these parties.

Safari Boy Supplies : 6"x6" glitter paper pad, combo stickers, element stickers

Other Supplies : BC 12"x12" glitter cardstock, Petaloo flora doodles, Studio18 rhinestones, buttons

Two Ways with Curio

Back in October Basic Grey ran a Gallery Upload contest. I loaded my KCK design projects and made it to their list of winners. You should have seen me jumping up and down . . . doing my silly dance of joy !

Source : BG Nov Newsletter

When my Curio Collection Pack prize arrived, I had to thank KCK by using it for my March design project. The collection referenced a quaint, English estate-sale aesthetic. So my first card turned out shabby vintage. It gives me the feeling of peeking into the drawer of a country house desk with its collection of knick-knacks tossed together.

Hello was for Liz

However I surprised even myself with my next creation - a graphic card with a comic book style 'explosion'. I used the alphas that came in two colours and sizes as a key design element. When creating my sentiment, I chose two alphabets that are commonly left over - Y and U. Adding a P to create my typographic element of YUP!

Yup! ... Perfect went out to Simone

Hope you'll let me know which card you like better - the graphic quality of Yup! . . Perfect or the little birdie saying Hello ?




Hello Supplies :
Papers (cabriole, estate, upholstery, gouache, coverlet), element stickers, alphabet stickersYup! . . Perfect Supplies :
Papers (linen, muslin, general store), element sticker, alpahet stickers, buttons, push pins
Linking up to these parties.