Project Life & Scrapbook Dreams

Hi everyone :)  I’ve got a ‘double post’ today so you might want a cup of coffee while you look through this post LOL

First up I’ve got my Week 13 pages for Project Life.  Even compared to my regular weeks this has been super busy!!!  Lots of things happening but it sure did make the week go FAST!! 

On Monday afternoon I found out that I was on the Tutor Teachers course on Tuesday.  It meant an early start to the day as I had to travel over to Tauranga for it but it was well worth it!  It’s definitely the start of a brand new journey on my career path.

On Tuesday night I was the Guest Speaker for the local Quota club… and what a lovely bunch of women they were.  We mixed and mingled before dinner and then had a scrumptious meal.  After that I did my ‘speaker’ part before showing the ladies how to make a paper pieced Easter Bunny card.  Then it was their turn and I can confirm that all 19 women made gorgeous cards to take home!

Here’s a closer look at the beginning of my week:

On Wednesday, my class was responsible for hosting the school assembly.  My kids did a FANTASTIC job including making a photo Powerpoint Presentation about our recent senior school camp.  I was super proud of their behaviour and speaking… especially in front of almost 500 students/teachers and parents!

After school Wendy and I went to Sweetart for a cupcake… and all I’m going to say is… YUM!!!

Here’s a look at the right side of this week:

This week I’ve taught at Quota club (Tuesday) as well as night classes on Wednesday and Thursday.  It’s been busy, creative and mostly fun!  I also managed to get some photos of my kids cleaning up the classroom on Friday afternoon… we actually really enjoy our Friday afternoon routine which includes a class game of Bingo!

On Saturday, Toby and I took ‘our’ car down to get a W.O.F.  Toby was fine watching the car sitting in line while we sat under the shady trees…. but he wasn’t very impressed when the W.O.F. man got into it and drove it away!!!  It was such a beautiful day that I decided to get Toby an ice block and boy did he like it!!!  Check out this photo:

On Saturday night I went around to Carey’s for dinner and a movie.  We watched ‘One Day’ and actually both enjoyed it although there were some ‘tear jerker’ moments towards the end!

Of course I wanted to include the fact the Daylight Savings is over… somehow it seems like summer passed us by this year :( 

But I did use my ‘extra hour’ very wisely visiting with my friend Loreen and looking at lovely things in a scrapping store :)  Thanks for the GREAT catch up!!

Here’s my little piece of creativity for this week:

It’s very simple this week but I really like it.  I’ve used a snippet of Graphic 45 paper for the background and cut and inked some butterflies from another Graphic 45 paper before popping them up with pop dots.

So there you have it… 13 weeks completed… it’s a GREAT feeling!

Now for the second part of the post.  It’s the 1st of April today which means it’s time for a new Scrapbook Dreams challenge.

This month instead of a theme we’re going to have a challenge... and the challenge is to use FABRIC somewhere on your layout. The fabric should be at least 6 x 6 in size but it can be any sort of fabric you like. There are so many options with how you do this challenge... it’s completely up to you!

I had some gorgeous photos of Mikayla and Toby playing with dandelions that I've been wanting to scrap so I put them into a film strip (using Photoshop) and printed them out. I've teamed them with some Echo Park paper, Prima flowers and a Jenni Bowlin bingo card to come up with this:

Our Guest Designer this month is Vicki and she's worked her creative magic with some Websters pages netting under her photo and used stitching as well. It's a beautiful soft look:

Now it's all up to you... go and raid those fabric stashes and see what you come up with!

We also have a winner for the March challenge!  This month there was a layout uploaded that, to me, had the perfect mix of great colours, fantastic embellishments and good use of techniques with just a hint of humour... have you guessed who's layout it is yet??

Congratulations to... (insert drum roll sound here)... Brenda!!  You’ll get to see more of Brenda’s creativity next month when she is our Guest Designer :)

If you’re still reading this post… THANKS for hanging in there!  I hope you all have a wonderful week xx

It’s all about…. Alice :)

Alice in Wonderland that is!  WARNING… this is a long post with LOTS of photos!! 

A few months ago Lynne and I came up with the idea to create each other a mini to swap.  There were just a couple of guidelines we decided on:

• 6 pages of chipboard bases 5x5 size
• Zutter binding
• Something with little quotes – in other words a finished mini that we didn’t have to add photos to

After having several ideas that I discarded a ‘light bulb’ went off when I saw how much Lynne loved this 8x8 paper pad:

I’ve never really worked with Graphic 45 paper before… but after doing these projects I can honestly say I LOVE IT!!!  It’s seriously good value and the paper is so ‘cuttable’ :)

I had so much fun making the mini for Lynne… but it was also REALLY hard to give it away!  So…  before I show you the mini I made for Lynne I wanted to show you the Alice in Wonderland canvas I made for myself using the left over bits and pieces. 

Here’s the full canvas (click on the pics to see them in more detail) :

I actually used several of the ideas I’d put into Lynne’s mini – mostly so that I could remember what I’d done LOL

This canvas has LOTS of little details and different layers so here’s another shot to give you an idea:

The little scroll is made from some of the paper in the pad… and I loved the little bottle which I found and have had in my stash for ages!!

And now… onto Lynne’s mini!!  Here’s the front cover:

I used LOTS of Dimensional Magic on this mini along with rhinestones to give it all a bit of sparkle and shine! 

Pages 1 & 2:

And YES I do know that the clock is upside down… that’s one of the neat things about working on an ‘Alice’ album… anything goes!!

Pages 3 &4:

There’s a little story to this one… I am ALWAYS late when I go to Lynne’s and she always texts to ask where I am.  As soon as I arrived she normally says something along the lines of “I wondered if you’d ever arrive” so the quote from the Alice paper worked in perfectly!

Pages 5 & 6:

The clock surround on page 5 is actually a chipboard embellishment I’ve had for AGES!  So pleased it was right for this project. 

Pages 7 & 8:

I had a HUGE amount of fun doing the hand on page 8!! 

Pages 9 & 10:LOTS of cutting on this page!!

Back cover:

Of course the key hole should be on the back!! LOL

When I’d finished doing all the pages the book was really FAT!!  I actually wondered if I’d be able to bind it…

Luckily it did fit in the binder!!  Then  I just added some silver ribbons which I raided from Mum’s stash (thanks Mum!)

I had so much fun making this mini for Lynne and I know that she loved it… in fact she actually made a You Tube video of it (was very excited to see my project!!) 

Here’s Lynne’s video

And before I go I just wanted to share a few of my favourite embellishments:

The hand reaching out to grab the pebble:

The scroll:

The Mad Hatter square embedded with watch parts:

The fancy clock:

and the Tim Holtz type charm:

Thanks for coming to visit today… would love to hear what you thought of this project so please leave me a comment!