Taaadaaaa here it is the long awaited Week Three of the Ultimate Design Challenge over at Swirlydoos. 

So it seems australia does not have foil tape we have silly looking silver ducting tape thats as useful as the proverbial, but no foil tape of any useful nature, and i have no scrapbook stores around me in less than an hour and a half's drive so i have improvised with the scraps of Ten Seconds Studio coloured metal that i had left, and an experiment with the foil ducting tape!! 

Ok so firstly i have used the Printers Tray Kit we got way back in a past kit that has been just sitting there waiting for a perfect moment (thanks Miranda perfect moment has arrived) and have covered the outsides of the tray in Embossed Metal in a brick texture and then affixed it to the outsides of the tray. Secondly i have made a tag for the upper inside opening pic's with tss metal the inside of it, embossed and then coloured with alcohol inks and then layered with ferro, stamped and inked and then rubbed with viva's inka colours.

Thirdly there is the little book down the bottom which has been die cut from a die, and then stamped with stayzon ink and bent and affixed alternate layers with (like baking paper) in between. This was to represent the parish register at the wedding. 

Fourthly the background of all the little squares have been covered in embossed metal of all different designs. Some have been inked with alcohol while others left in silver and others still in the creme metal. In a couple of the squares (for example behind the watch) i have created my own designs by drawing on the metal to make the heart shapes and the rest of the pattern.

Fiftly i have die cut (tim holtz tattered florals die) some more silver metal, then embossed the resulting pieces before colouring them, and finally arranging them together as a rose in the top left, and a smaller flower with a grey flower centre

And Finally (Yes huge sigh of relief can be heard!!! ) The letters for bliss / York etc have been made from our very very poor version of Foil tape which was stuck to cardstock before being die cut (using a tim alphabet die) and then painted and attacked with smooch spray to make them sparkle. Unfortunately after much tearing of hair it was discovered that our foil tape will not do anything!! It wont bend, emboss, deboss, take any form of texture at all - It was only good for one thing and that was being die cut and laying flat!!! 

Hope that covers everything! But i tell you what this was just sooooo much fun to do! Miranda you have created a monster down here, when i can get my hands on some more metal look out!!! I really don't think having this much fun is actually legal!!!

Week 2 - Swirlydoos Design Challenge - Such a Cheeky little Monkey

So its the end of week 2 of the Swirlydoos Design Challenge - and the theme this week was Layers, layers and more layers. 

During this week, a large brown box containing the most scrummy January kit supplies from non other than swirlydoos landed on the doorstep. And wow what a kit this is!!! It was just screaming out for being used on the challenge this week..... 

So with the gorgeous kit, a good raiding of my other swirlydoos stash, and a pic i had been dying to scrap, i was off on a layering adventure this week. 

Now i've got to say, that these week deadlines are killin me!! Given that we have so much going on at the moment i'm finding things a little bit of a rush on my end (especially when the ideas are just not wanting to flow!)  But just in time after some rather inopportune computer problems i finally finished this page again featuring my gorgeous little nephew Cody. 

When i saw the colours on this January's Kit i knew they were just screaming out to be used on this photo! What a gorgeous kit!!!! So there are at least 11 layers in here with bits and pieces of layers merged everywhere. 

Now a special thanks to Design Team Member RAE for such a fantastic challenge. I really have had a ball making this one, especially staring at that beautiful picture of my nephew. The little butterflies are from Kaisercraft and have been coloured with different colours of Viva Decor Inka Gold colours. They come up so buffed and shiny, and i have enjoyed learning to play with this new medium. 

Well as another week closes over at Swirlydoos, i wish the designers all the very best for their task of judging again. I really do not envy them in their task of judging all these gorgeous entries

Thanks for joining me

Tammy

Tribute to our little man

To our beautiful little fur baby Mr Woof who we lost a week ago. 

We miss you terribly even though you are of on a new set of adventures. You will remain in our hearts forever and non can ever replace the wonderful 18 years that we have all spent together. Rest in Peace Rebel! From all your Human and Furry friends alike. 

Week 1 Swirlydoos Ultimate Design Challenge

So Week 1 of the Swirlydoos Ultimate Design Challenge has concluded and below is my entry for the first round. 

The main principal of the first week was to create an embellishment using different texture techniques and then use the embellishment on a new layout as demonstrated by the amazing Swirlydoos Design Team members. 

So without any further adieu here is my first week offering. 

The chipboard is a Kaisercraft chipboard piece which has been undercoated in gesso, before having layers of alternate Viva Decor primary elements paint and Inka Gold in Gold and Charcoal and texture paste added to it. The piece was then overstamped with Stayzon red ink using a small Prima script stamp from an earlier Swirlydoos kit.

The little C dangle was created from chipboard and then coated in texture paste. In order to get the crackled look i then took the piece and used cracked eggshells covered in alcohol inks, and followed up with a coating of Glossy accents to provide depth and dimension, and to give it that mosaic kind of look. 

As a final addition i hand made the little roses in the bottom right corner of the frame from cardstock covered in again alcohol inks and a little viva decor Inka gold medium.  

 

Such a fun project to do thanks to the folks at Swirlydoos for the Inspiration and the Challenge to get moving this year and start creating. 

And to the wonderful design team Good Luck with making your selections and voting!! The talent and offerings for this first  round have been simply jaw dropping. I really don't envy you the task of sorting out the first round!!!

So for all of you out there looking for a bit of medium based inspiration pop over to the swirlydoos gallery and website to enjoy some of the gorgeous and unique offerings from some amazingly talented people. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Tammy

Dream a New Dream - Nov Swirlydoos

Hi There,

Well here is my latest offering of scrapbook experimenting, using the somewhat old November 2012 Swirlydoos Kit - Nouveau and some more of the Gorgeous photographs from the wedding in September. 

Now although this page is all done and finished using such a gorgeous kit and beautiful paper, I really just don't feel the love for this one. Don't know why but it just isn't doing it for me. 

Maybe its because this was the first time I played around with the texture paste, and to be honest i'm not too thrilled to bits with the outcome as yet. I think like Gesso, Texture pasting is going to be a hard learned skill which is going to involve plenty of practice.... In saying that i've just been out and found myself an art journal which i'm hoping to start gooing, glooping and misting up to see just how much of a gooey mess i can create. 

Switching back to Layout. The above paper is from the Gorgeous Kaisercraft Periwinkle Collection and is embellished with a chipboard design by Dusty Attic. The pink stick pin is one which i received way back in 2010, and was made by someone who you all may be familiar with, Mandy Harrell or otherwise known as Crafty Sprinkles. Mandy now designs for Dusty Attic amongst other clubs but honestly her Pins were legendary! Now the texture paste was applied through the Prima brick wall  mask and as i have said i'm not that impressed with my results, i guess it will just take a bit of playing around to try and get the results i'm after. 

If you have and questions or comments please feel free to leave em at the bottom of the post, I could sure do with some texture paste hints and tips!!!

 Take Care Now 

Tammy

Contests and Accidents

Gahh so what is it with contests and accidents that just seem to plague me!! For the second year running, just when a major contest or class comes out, i manage to go and injure myself right before the start of it.

I think i should be stamped on the forehead with "not to be let out of the house unsupervised in January" maybe that would keep me safe.

So after causing myself some major embarrassment, by falling over in front of half of the town face first into a sand bank, i also caused myself some rather annoying injuries such as a sprained wrist and ankle, bruised hips, bruised ribs, and the most painful a bruised kidney which so far has relegated me back to bed rest! Now i'm sure most of you all can sympathise as complete bed rest really isn't very conducive to scrapping nor to scrapping at a level which is required for contest entries.

With only a few days to go until the UDC competition I'm sure hoping I will have a little healing time in the next few days!!!!

So for the rest of you guys thinking of joining in on the contest over at Swirlydoos, you have to be registered by the 10th of January, and hey take care of those pre contest accidents, you never know when they're going to jump up and bite you!

Thanks for joining me

Tammy

Swirlydoos Ultimate Designer Contest 2013

Well to say the girls over at Swirlydoos have kicked off the year with a bang would be a little untrue, in fact they've blasted right into 2013 with a fantastic new contest called the Ultimate Designer Contest!!!!

Now even though it sounds like it has a pretty scary name, this contest is going to be anything but that. A progressive contest where each week one of the designers will teach an awesome new technique, and then the contestants will get a week to play around with the technique and then submit their creation for judging. For those lucky enough to go through to the next round the process will begin again until there is only one creator remaining. This lucky lucky soul will win the prize below worth over $400 and the chance to be offered a place on the uber über talented swirlydoos design team. (Now wouldn't that just be amazing)

$400 Ultimate Design Contest Prize Pack

Now for those of us who are more likely to go out in the first round, yup I include myself in this category, there will still be spot prizes, you can still play along each cycle to hone your technique skills and most importantly you can use this fantastic comp to get that mojo back creating.

****NOTE**** If you do NOT move forward into the next round of challenges, you can still play along with us and be eligible for RAKS for the duration of the contest! Simply complete the projects and assignments, and upload them into your SB.C or 2 Peas gallery with the title of your project reading as follows: ***Swirlydoos Kit Club, Ultimate Designer Challenge. Week __***

So ladies and gents simply head over to Swirlydoos click on the ultimate designer competition picture and follow the instructions to join in on a fantastic new comp from krissy at swirlydoos and try your hand at winning all that scrummy scrapbook loot.

I hope you'll all join in with us on what is sure to be a fantastic challenge! See you on the forums

Tammy

Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy Start to the New Year

Hi guys,

Well first off, here is wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, and positive start to the New Year. I know it's kind of a few days late but that kind of a bit like how Christmas and the new year rolled in around here... With a hospital emergency on Christmas Eve for my step mother and exhaustion New Year's Eve, we kind of just stretched things out a day or two to try catchup and now we seem to be there... Finally...

So what's in store for 2013..........

Well so far the health has been stable, for about the fist time in 6 or so years I've had a couple of good weeks all tacked on together, something I have only dreamed about for years. So here is hoping that it continues to roll along this way, and I'm out of hospital for at least three to four months at a time.

Dad and his new wife Chrissy have bought a new house (just around the corner) and are in the process of moving in. Luckily they still have the base house here so they are taking their time and just moving little things at a time and organising as they go. The house is much bigger than chrissy's old house and most importantly it's completely finished, no renovations or work needed and for dad at least it's the perfect house at just about the right time.

So with the next few weeks it looks like we'll be busy moving, cleaning, and sorting before anything else.

So guys hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and all the very best for the coming year

Take care now
Tammy