Sandy's Challenge #6 - Winner

Judge's Prize Winner



Gini picked entry #24 by Luzma for this challenge's winner. Here's what Gini said : I loved Luzma's work! So that is an easy pick for me! I love the dimension on her layout, the color balance was great and her misting/painting really kept interest in her white space areas. I think she did a fabulous job and has a wonderful design sense.




Congrats Luzma ! Your layout is also my favourite for this challenge. please email me at angsandy@yahoo.com.sg so I can send your prize out to you.


With this post, I am wrapping up Sandy's Challenge. I've had a wonderful time hosting these twelve months. Thank you to everyone who linked up and all the judges who picked their favourites. I'll leave you with a card inspired by all the lovely girl-themed entries from #6.


This card went out to Katie

Linking up to these parties.

Supplies : Echo Park Victoria Garden journalling cards, Cosmo Cricket Odds and Ends (junk drawer, trinkets), Basic Grey Out of Print stickers, Green Tara Two Tone wave ribbon red

Distress Ink Giveaway (Winner Updated)

Are you a stamper ? Do you love Tim Holtz's distress inks ? If you are I have a treat for you. A giveaway of the Seasonal Series Winter 2011 inks sponsored by Singapore-based scrapbooking store Maple Treehouse.



One lucky winner will receive all three limited edition colors: "Evergreen Bough", "Festive Berries" and "Iced Spruce". They are sure to add a bit of winter magic to your creations.



To enter this giveaway, you need to leave a comment on Maple Treehouse's Facebook page telling them which colour is your favourite. I'll pick a winner on 8 December 2011 and announce it here. Maple Treehouse is happy to ship the prize anywhere internationally.



While you are over on their Facebook page, check out their Christmas Challenge which runs from now until 31 December 2011. You could walk away with some wonderful prizes.


Winner Update :

Thank you to everyone who commented. Seems like Ice Spruce is a favourite. The lucky winner is Madey Lim. Please email me angsandy@yahoo.com.sg so I can arrange for you to collect your prize.

Jacobsen

Today's project is very close to my heart. One combining threes things I love : scrapping, architecture and travel. It's my Arne Jacobsen mini-book created as a design project for Artfull Crafts.



I visited Denmark in my twenties and made a point of driving around the country to see Jacobsen's works. Not having brought along a camera, I don't have any photos of my trip. So it was great when I found Seier + Seier's amazing Flickr gallery of pictures tagged with a Creative Commons licence - granting freedom to adapt and make commerical use of them.




For a project celebrating the beautiful proportions and clean lines of Jacobsen's buildings, I went back to my naturally classic style. Embellishments were kept to a minimum and the design is clean and simple to allow the photos to take center stage. The graphic simplicity of Teresa Collin's World Traveller collection suited it wonderfully.



The base was a 7Gypsies 6.5"x4.5" accordian book. It included a couple of 4.5"x3" pages which provided the opportunity to add some variety.




I also played with fonts in this project. Incorporating the titles Arrhus City Hall and External Staircase digitally allowed me to achieve a perfect match to the photos. As Jacobsen himself famously said "The primary factor is proportions."




Here's another example where I journalled above and below the photo in different font sizes. Also layered a smaller version of the winding staircase photo on top of a regular-sized one. It highlights one of my favourite features of Jacobsen's work : his staircases. That's all for now, I have twelve blank pages on the flip-side which I'll work on after Christmas.



Linking up to these parties.

Supplies : Teresa Collins World Traveler (Filmstrip, 6x6 Paper Pad, Clear Stamps), Teresa Collins Notations Alphabet, Organza Ribbon Yellow, 7gypsies (Stacked Accordian journal, 97% Complete stickers Photographie), Weave Extras teeny tiny letter stickers, Teresa Collins Travel Ledger (Tags, Library Envelops, File Folders, Die-Cut Sheets), Teresa Collins Journal-it Calendar Time

Christmas Photography

Thank you to all for your kind comments on my photography. I'm a self-thought photographer using a $50 point-and-shoot on auto setting. So I don't have any fancy technical tips. However Christmas is the perfect opportunity to jazz up your pictures with some fun staging. Here are three ideas you might like to try :



This went out to Joyce


My December 25 Tag is fairly large-sized measuring 2.75"x5". I sat it on a saucer and propped it up on an inverted teacup. Then threw down some tinsel to create a festive mood. You want to frame tightly on your tag so that the tinsel meanders in and out of your picture anchoring the main image.


These went out to Lowri and Jaz


In this shot, I put a Christmas wreath on top of a sheet of textured wrapping paper. Then placed two smaller tags against the bottom edge of the wreath. Again crop in tight on the tags so that only part of the wreath shows up in the picture. That way it works to enhance the mood but isn't too distracting.


This was for Soraya


You can also give your project a whimsical treatment. I placed my giftcard holder between the handles of a binder clip (some people call it a bull dog clip). Sat the clip on a baking tray and encircled the clip with tinsel to hide it. To add an element of surprise, I tilted my camera slightly before snapping.

Hope you have fun with your photography.

Linking up to these parties.

Supplies : Best Creation Merry Christmas (papers, element stickers, combo stickers, expression chipboards). Maple Treehouse ribbon, baker's twine

Christmas Tree Ornaments

For my second Christmas post today, I'm sharing something a little retro : little dress-form tree ornaments. I was inspired by minature felt garments that Tone Finnanger made. Here I adapted them for paper.



Just draw your tent dress or sweater pattern. Cut them out twice on pattern paper. On the second piece include glue tabs along the top and sides to hold your ornament together. To embellishment I used ribbons, trims and Webster's cabochon flowers. The wire hangers were simply re-purposed paper clips.




If you fancy more Christmas inspiration, head over to Artfull Crafts' Christmas Countdown. This week they have a Cards to Impress challenge where you can win two of my favourite Christmas collection papers. It's all happening over here.

Linking up to these parties.

Supplies : Best Creation Merry Christmas papers, Webster's Pages Roses in Bloom, ribbons, trims, paper clips

Merry Christmas Cards

Artfull Crafts has started their Christmas Countdown. The design team will be inspiring you with themed projects each week. The categories are Simple Cards, Layouts, Cards to Impress etc. You can play along by emailing photos of your Christmas projects to entries@artfullcrafts.co.nz for a chance to win lovely Kaiser Craft collection prizes.


This was for Richard

I naturally chose to work with Best Creation's Merry Christmas collection for Artfull Crafts. It has classically designed elements like bells, wreaths and trees mixed with more contemporary images of stockings, candy canes and santas. All in a traditional colour palette of red and green with some gold mixed in.



This card was for Macy

Have you started on your Christmas crafting ? December 25th is not that far away - only one and a half months to go.

Linking up to these parties.

Supplies : Best Creation Merry Christmas (Papers, Expression Chipboard, Combo Sticker, Element Sticker) Best Creation cardstock, Basic Grey Bling It, K&Company Christmas Cheer paper

Christmas Candles

Once I've made my cards and layouts, there's always scraps left over from my Christmas supplies. Instead throwing them away or consigning them to the scrap pile for next year, I put them to good use for home decor. Started with some plain candles from Ikea. These ones are 2.5" tall with a diameter of 2". Then used the bits and pieces to dress them up.



I stuck the Snow Fun sticker and two present stickers on a journal card. Then embellished with two star brads and baker's twine bows. To glue the journal card on the candle, I used glossy accent to get a good adhesion. Total of five minutes to complete the whole project.


These are for Jaz

My second candle has a band of Red Swirl Bell and another of Red Wallpaper wrapped around it. For added dimension, I trimmed the leaves off two poinsettia stickers and stuck them on a third poinsettia with a brad. That goes in the center with a line of bling to finish off the look.



Placed on a glass plate with some tinsel and silver bubbles, and you have a lovely table or mantel accent. Just remember they are only for decoration and you shouldn't light the candles.

Linking up to these parties.

I'm on the Team

Happy News ! I made the Ruby Rock-It Team.

Ruby Rock-It is an Australian manufacturer of vintage style papers and richly textured embellishments. I'm so happy to be on their first design team, together with these creative designers :

• Rachel Carlson (Coordinator) - Oregon
  
• Sarah Hill - Indiana
  
• Amanda Jones - UK
  
• Rebecca Keppel - Arizona
  
• Gina Lideros - California
  
• Becky Olsen - Utah
  
• Benedicte Raphalen - France
  
• Debbie Sherman - Wyoming
  
• JJ Sobey - Canada
  
• Carrie Walz - Illinois
  
• Jodi Wilton - Canada
  
• Erin Yamabe - California
  
• Keely Yowler - Kentucky
  

Hope you'll head over to the Ruby Rock-It Facebook page, Rachel is giving away this when we hit 300 'likes'

My First Ruby Rock-It Post

I thought it'll be fun to reproduce my first Ruby Rock-It post. I shared a little about myself and a photo of my craftroom that's never been on my blog before.



I'm a forty-something living on the tropical island of Singapore. While I like to think I own a pet cat named Bun Bun, those close to us know he's the one who calls the shots in our relationship. My artistic inclination is inherited from my mom who painted water-colours. From my father, I've picked up the invaluable habit of taking an afternoon nap most days.

I craft in my basement scrap-room. As you can see I'm something of a neat-freak who has to have a completely clean desk when I start a project. 

This layout of me and my sister is currently my favourite Ruby Rock-It creation. There are lots of childhood photos of us together but this picture is a rare one of the two of us grown-up. I was inspired by the quotation "Be to her virtues, very kind. Be to her faults a little blind" to scrap this layout.

This card was for Kiki

My first love is cardmaking. I don't create in a particular style. Sometimes my cards are balanced and classic, and sometimes they go quirky and eclectic. Mainly I play with lines and shapes to produce layered, textural cards.

This card went out to Kirsty


I submitted two other projects to the Ruby Rock-It design team call. One is a Tag Clock, while the other is a set of Altered Milk Bottles. You can check them out in the November issue of Ginger Scraps Street. Thank you Dora for featuring me in your magazine !

One Paper Projects

Last month was so busy, I didn't get around to my One Paper Project. It is a monthly series where I chose one pattern paper and create multiple projects from it with the view to completely using up the paper.


Le Cirque Borders Front and Back views

For November, I used this Graphic 45 paper to create a series of Running Away to the Circus artist trading cards. I made seven cards altogether for my ATC Group's annual show at the Bishan Library.



I love how this one double-sided paper captured all the designs of the Le Cirque collection. The postage-stamp sized images made perfect little focal points for ATCs. For backgrounds, I pieced together several of the 1" to 2" tall patterned strips. There are also a couple of labels for my titles.



Beyond the circus theme, all the ATCs featured some textile or sewing element. I incorporated bits of lace, bakers' twine, buttons and even feathers. This blue one is probably my favourite of the series.

Linking up to these parties.

Run Away to the Circus (OPP #1)

I made three horizontal format ATCs in the series and here are two of them. I accidentally deleted the photo of the third. If it comes back in one piece from the exhibition, I'll include it in this post.



I couldn't work with Le Cirque without showing these elephants all dressed up and puffing away on their bicycles. Perhaps not exactly death-defying but still managing to hold your attention against that busy background of checks, dots and stars.

On this one, I used bits of scrap to make a banner across the top. It's a fantastic idea I found on the amazing Tara Anderson's blog.

Linking up to these parties



Graphic 45 Supplies : Le Cirque (Borders, Tags, Magnifique, Le Cirque, Circus Parade, Bohemian Floral ), Curtain Call (Curtain Call, Tour de France, The Cinema), Staples Chipboard Buttons
Others : Prima flowers,Basic Grey glazed brad, gcd Studios epoxy sticker, Tim Holtz metal foliage, Diamante Crafts gem, buttons, doily, ticket, plastic turtle, tulle, ribbons, laces, button, baker's twine, feathers, metal foliage, plastic squares

Run Away to the Circus (OPP #2)

Here are the four vertical ATCs in the 'Run Away to the Circus series'.

I love the feathery cascade pinned by a rat's nest of red, gold and black threads. Although I piled on plastic (yellow squares), metal (leaves) and sequins, the little acrobat manages to hold her own and command your attention amidst everything that's going on. I feel my loose and messy style has finally arrived with this design.



This is probably the simplest ATC of the series with lots of 'white' space around that signature Le Cirque clown. The frugal crafter in me enjoyed using up all those tiny scraps of ribbons in my stash.



Everyone who saw this ATC asked me why I included the turtle. The only explaination I had was that I needed a middle anchor on this card and this little guy was peeping out at me from my miscellanous embellies box.



Wonder is an exercise in balancing vertical stripes with circular elements. Just to add an element of chaos, I bunched up some lace down the right.




Hope you enjoyed this month's OPP projects. And may you'll look at borders and strips pattern papers with new eyes the next time you go supplies shopping. Oops I nearly forgot to mention that this series is also my November design project for KCK.

Linking up to these parties



Graphic 45 Supplies : Le Cirque (Borders, Tags, Magnifique, Le Cirque, Circus Parade, Bohemian Floral ), Curtain Call (Curtain Call, Tour de France, The Cinema), Staples Chipboard Buttons
Others : Prima flowers,Basic Grey glazed brad, gcd Studios epoxy sticker, Tim Holtz metal foliage, Diamante Crafts gem, buttons, doily, ticket, plastic turtle, tulle, ribbons, laces, button, baker's twine, feathers, metal foliage, plastic squares