Something new from something old

I have been looking at ways of making my scrapbooking a bit different for me as I have been scrapbooking for over 8 years and I have been finding it a bit unexciting for a while. There are loads of new paper products coming out all the time, but I don't want to spend lots of money to keep my creative inspiration flowing. One thing I have decided to do is to limit the manufacturers I buy from. I have already found this really helpful. I have decided to stick with Cosmo Cricket, Echo Park, Prima, Sassafras Lass and Maya Road (with a bit of American Crafts - I love Thickers!). So even though Basic Grey has just released some fantastic new papers I am not tempted to buy.

I really enjoy taking part in online classes and I like learning from a variety of teachers to gain new perspectives. One class I am taking part in at the moment is called "Re-purpose, re-think, re-invent" with Jenni Bowlin at Big Picture Classes. Jenni has been giving us tips for using vintage materials in all sorts of ways and the class included a little pack of items to use during creative challenges. The layout at the top has been made using some vintage milk tops (along with Echo Park's "Summertime" range). I love this page!

The class has been leading me to look at things in a different light. We have had some kids birthdays in our house lately and some of the toys were wired into the packets with the plastic tags below. They look like robot parts to me! I added some wire spirals, beads and wobbly eyes (because everything looks great with wobbly eyes) on a birthday card for a little boy.

This class has also left me dreaming up a piece of wall art for our porch based on the cover for

an old fan. I have been making tips to our local recycling centre to try and find one in the "Small electricals" skip. After a few unsuccessful trips, I was very excited to find this a couple of days ago...

My Day in Photos

See more days here

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! We've had a beautiful sunny day here and another great opportunity for taking pictures! We joined friends and family at church this morning and had great fun with an Easter egg hunt this afternoon.

I guess there's just one question left - is there such a thing as too much chocolate?

An Easter chick card

My post for today over on Bubbly Scrumptious is a little Easter chick card using Madeline papers by Prima, and you can see more about it HERE.

This is going to be my last post on there for now, as I've asked to step down from the design team due to family stuff. I want to thank Caroline for the fantastic opportunity she gave me when she asked me to be part of this fantastic design team. I have been truly amazed to have been able to place my work next to the amazing creations of the talented ladies on there. I have learnt so much over the past year and it was a fantastic introduction to blogging. I've also been able to play with some lovely craft materials from Bubbly Funk.

Something new

This might not look like much, but this is my first fabric yoyo. The fabric isn't very exciting as I was experimenting. I LOVE this!! I am going to make LOTS of these! Coming soon to a scrapbook page/card/cushion/quilt/hairband/bag (I'm sure I can think of more uses..). How excited can a person be over a gathered circle of fabric?... Very!

A scrapbooky sneaky peek

Here's a sneaky peek at my layout that appears in the current issue of the Scrapbook Magazine. It's one of my favourite layouts that I've made recently.

A feathery ATC

This week I've been thinking of a friend of mine and I wanted to send her a bible verse in the post, so I thought this was a great chance to make an ATC. I've only made a couple in the past but I really enjoyed making a pocket sized piece of artwork. Continuing on my quest to use up my scrap paper, I created the background using torn strips of patterned paper, with a Martha Stewart bird punch over the top. The main bird image is one of my lovely new Crafty Individuals stamps.

Here's the back, where I printed the verse on the computer and used a feather stamp over the top.