For the love of gold....

Recently, I discovered the merits of gold glitter eye shadow  It instantly brightens up your eyes and gives a warm glow to your skin. :) Since art imitates life, I had to to implement it somehow right?*winks*

I started with wrapping tissue and paint for the base. Then I added a thin layer of mica gold flakes. Some gold "accessories" finished my monogram! I love how shiny and glittery it looks!

P/s: Happy weekend friends! If you have time, come play along with my guest Shahrul's stitching challenge, LESSology Challenge #25: For the love of fabric, Purple Pumpkin's May sketch and the mood board challenge at Zeus and Zoe! 

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The 20 minute layout

Sometimes, limiting your craft supplies makes it much easier and faster to complete your layout because there are fewer elements to fiddle around with. 

For this layout, I challenged myself to use only black or white embellishments [to match the photos taken with my bloggy pal Lynnda when we met in Melbourne]. Once I adhered the photo and the largest element - the swirl, the rest of the elements fell into place quickly and I had this layout done in 20 minutes. :)

Playing along with the challenges at Skissedilla and Bird is the word.

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The case for clear organization...

Previously, I showed you what was on my craft desk. You would have noticed that I love organizing my craft supplies in clear containers. :) Today I want to share with you why I love clear organization.

1. When you "see" something, you are more likely to use it.

These are my "staples". I like to store them by colour because I design by colour. Some people like to store products by type.

2. You don't need to label them because you can see what's inside.

I'm constantly reorganizing my supplies based on what I like to use at that point in time. Rotating my supplies means all my supplies get my love. Eventually. *winks*

3. Neatly organized containers with their pretty colours can jazz up a craft space.

Because you can see through them, they take up less visual space in your craft area.

On days when I don't feel creative, I like to admire how pretty my supplies are....yeah, I'm weird.


What about you? How do you like to store your supplies?

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Don't throw away that soda can!

Yep, run that soda can panel along with an embossing folder for awesome metallic texture. Pounce on some alcohol inks and you can get really cool "patterned paper". :)

Embellish with chipboard, bloom, ribbon, tulle and button. And you are all done. :) So don't throw away that soda can!

If you like what I've used on my card, do consider joining the Zeus and Zoe design team. They are having a design team call right now. Some of my fave projects created this year were using the vintage goodies from Zeus and Zoe.  :)

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Old world charm tea rooms, glitter and lace...

There's something appealing about old world charm tea rooms. Like the Hopetoun Tea Rooms at The Block Arcade in Melbourne. With its incredible array of delightful treats. A visual feast for the eyes and a calorie-laden one for the tummy...*LOL*

Lots of glitter under the lace..And can you tell that it's not one big piece of lace...but carefully pieced together pieces? 

The glitter, pearls and butterflies are supposed to help to distract...it is called "scrap"booking right? *winks*

Playing along with the challenges at Scrap Africa to use chipboard and the sketch at Scrap Around The World.

P/s: Come play along with my guest Shahrul's stitching challenge!

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The importance of flexibility...and chocolate

It's been trying these days to get a decent shot of my littlest nephew J and niece S.

They would make funny faces OR cover up their faces with a toy...

Here they are...at 10.21am. Totally determined not to let Aunt Y get a shot of them....

Here they are at 10.22am...one minute later...[when Aunt Y promised them chocolate for posing]

Yep. The importance of flexibility is key when it comes to chocolate. *LOL*
Inspired by the challenge at Once Upon a Sketch.

P/s: Happy weekend friends! If you have time, come play along with my guest Shahrul's stitching challenge, LESSology Challenge #25: For the love of fabric, Purple Pumpkin's May sketch and the mood board challenge at Zeus and Zoe! Working on a super secret project....*winks*

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Do you love stickers?

Do you love stickers? I do! They are easy to use and add interest to your page without bulk. Perfect for your art journal...:)

I started with gesso on the base....some masking and misting...a little stamping...punched out windows for cute photos of my niece, then washi tape and stickers!

P/s: Come play along with my guest Shahrul's stitching challenge and LESSology Challenge #25: For the love of fabric!

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Celebrate .... a giveaway winner! :)

Sometimes it's hard to find a huge chunk of time to sit down and craft. Or when you finally have time to sit down and craft, all you hear are crickets chirping....*LOL*

I try to sneak in little bits of creative time here and there on weekends...like fussy-cutting when the nephews are watching the same cartoon for the 100th time....or adding glass bead gel medium to a project...

This tag was done during a screening of Madagascar 3. Love when I get something done and spend time with my fave little people. Celebrate the little victories in life right? :) 

Playing along with the gift tag challenge at Moxie Fab World.

______________________________

And now it's time to for someone to celebrate with a little happy dance! Thanks to all who entered the  Faber Castell giveaway ...

And the winner is....

Congratulations Lizzy Hill! Please email me your mailing details so that the kind folks at Faber Castell can ship out your goodies to you pronto! :)

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Exploring styles: Eclectic freestyle

When I am forced to define my style, I usually say "eclectic" which is really euphemism for "anything goes". :)

Eclectic: selecting/choosing from various sources; made up of what is selected from different sources; not following one particular system.

The elements don't have to make sense.

The background of this layout was created by leftover residual mists, freshened up with a few ink splats and texturized with a little washi tape and fiber paste.




It can be pretty.

I added a lot of different elements and textures here....felt swirls, pleated ribbon, fabric buttons, text overlay, kraft envelope, wood letters...but I kept to two main colours to create a coherent piece.




Incorporate lots of found elements and make it whimsical.

So the theme was to use postage stamps....but the photo I really wanted to use was blurry...so I made "it" into a postage stamp. Then, when I was trying to cut the gauze with the lousy travel scissors, I decided that I should just get a better pair *LOL* and glued the scissors on my layout.





Use unexpected colours to draw interest.

Sticking to gender-specific colours just limits your colour palette. Pair unusual colours together to create a greater impact. I added red as a grounding colour to brighten up the dark colour palette.



Go wild with patterns and colours.

When everything is bright and colourful, no one really notices that your patterns clash [or do they? *winks*].



Make the most out of an "accident".

Removing the clog from my black mist bottle resulted in a heavy over-spray. I added some punched black butterflies, matted the photo in a black and white mat along with black and white brads to complete the illusion that the black mist was intentional.



Inject a little humour.

Did you notice that this "scene" doesn't make any sense? Distracted you with those arrows, funny faces and cute ducks right? Mission accomplished! *LOL*

So what do you think? Is eclectic freestyle your style of choice? Are you more of a minimalist? Or pattern mixer?

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Thank you friends! :)

My friends, thank you for the comments in the post How to grow a blog following. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that blogging is hard work! *LOL* 

One of the ways I get projects done quickly is to "scraplift" myself. This is a huge time-saver because you have done certain steps before so you spend less time fiddling. For instance, this base of this CD/DVD cover is adhered in washi tape like a previous upcycled CD/DVD holder project. 

The key is to vary the layout and the elements. That switches things up and keeps it looking fresh and interesting when it essentially is the same project [uh..huh...I hear glass shattering...less impressed by me now eh? *LOL*]

Here are the projects side by side...

Need to pass some photos to someone? Why not burn them on a rewritable disc in a upcycled decorated cover like this? Playing along with the gift-packaging challenge at Moxie Fab World. 

P/s: Last day to enter my Faber Castell giveaway!

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