Just dropping by quickly to let you all know that Issue 10 of Etzcetera Magazine is OUT NOW!

 

Kim and her team do such an awesome job creating this delightful publication.

It's always overflowing with oodles of inspiration and uplifting articles and this issue is no exception.

So head over now and grab your copy HERE!

 

Or if you are keen to get every issue of the Etzcetera magazine (before it goes on sale to public I might add) PLUS the new and totally awesome Jot Magazine PLUS access to all of Kim Archer's workshops PLUS access to galleries and forums and much more -

You can grab a yearly membership to the ETZ Club and get ALL that!

Check it out and purchase your membership HERE!

 

It's the ultimate creative hub for all crafty and creative minded souls!

 

With Sprinkles of Sunshine...

 

Anna

 



Yep, I'm a busy bee!!

It's been rather hectic around here the last few weeks.

Mr Awesome has accepted a new job in town (YAY - we are gonna be townies now! hehe!)

I've been viewing rental properties and applying for various ones.

Long story short - we now HAVE ONE!

So we've started moving!

[thanks to the supermarket for the boxes!]

 

On the creative front - I have been plugging away with lots of scrapbooking. Much discussion and preparing has been going on amongst the Jot Team ready for Issue 2. It's gonna be AWESOME! As always of course ;-)

 

It has been interesting juggling packing and 'Jotting' and trying to maintain some normalcy in every day life at the moment but we'll get there. We definitely don't do things in halves we Allan's! LOL!

 

So if I'm not around here much in the next week or two, you know why.

I will, however, share this little project that I whipped up inspired by Kim over on the Jot blog - she got the idea from one site who got it from another site...

through Pinterest of course!

Pinterest is good like that hey!?!

;-)

 

WASHI TAPE MAGNETS!

Pretty and practical!

Can't go wrong :-)

And, seriously, they take like - less than 5 minutes to make. Totally easy.

 

 

So until next time (hopefully when there is no more boxes in my sight!)...

Keep Smiling.

Be Creative.

Love Life.

 

And take care :-)

 

With Sprinkles of Sunshine...

 

Anna







Well, it's here.

A new challenge. A new colour palette.

 

And I am loving the soft tones and dreaminess of this mood board.

 

 

My initial thought was to create a card. There is an upcoming birthday for a member of the family soon and she adores purple. So I gave it a go!

 

I used a hexagon template (Studio Calico Huey's masks) and sprayed a background using Mr Hueys colour mist in Mist Julep.

 

I stitched a heart out of mint stripe twine onto some purple paper. For the white tag, I 'inked' the edges with a mini ink pad in purple.

 

Then it was just a matter of placement and adding embellishments which were:

- mini pom pom ribbon

- purple feather

- mint coloured brads

-lilac tiny buttons

- frilly mint ribbon

-a chip board letter 'J' (for the start of the recipient's name) and I covered that in a purple print washi tape (washi tape really is so awesome and versatile!!)

 

I wrote the text on myself with a journalling pen.

 

I hope she likes it :-)

 

When done with this, I had a hankering to do a layout. I knew that I would have some photos somewhere with purple in them so went on a hunt in my photo stash. Sure enough I found some that I knew just had to be scrapped onto a layout with this colour scheme!

 

So I got to work...

 And the full reveal...





Can I just say straight up -

THANK YOU for all the lovely comments left on my last post.

It is such a thrill to be on the Creative Team at Jot Magazine and it makes it even more meaningful to have people cheering me on and supporting me in this endeavour!

So thank you readers - you are all so kind :-)

 

So, on the topic of Jot...

 

 

THIS is the current Jot Mood Board Challenge!

 

And I have joined in again but this time as a part of the creative team!! Woohoo!

So this is a part of my contribution to this fortnight's challenge...

 



I have always loved memory keeping.

As a child and into my teens, I always kept a diary - recording various events, experiences and feelings. You remember those kinds of diaries?

Dear Diary, [such and such] was mean to me today...
Dear Diary, [this certain boy] told me he likes me today...
Dear Diary, Today was awesome. I got 0 mistakes on my spelling test today. Everyone rolled their eyes cos I had made no mistakes again like every week...

Laugh out Loud. I wonder where I've put them? Hmmm...

 I, later, received my first point-and-shoot camera from my Mum and Dad for a birthday and my love of photography and capturing memories flourished. I had quite a stack of photo albums.
Then, enter scrapbooking.
And I was hooked.
I created many (very amateur) layouts and enjoyed the process of working photos and paper and other goodies on a page to make another whole piece of art. And a memory recorded in a decorative, meaningful way.

I love to create. I enjoy many a craft. And I have created lots of things over the years. Whether it be knitting, crochet, paper-crafting, sewing, quilting, writing, drawing - I've dabbled in many crafty, creative areas. And one of my creative dreams was to one day maybe create for a particular brand or organisation/publication, to write, to be published...

Enter Jot Magazine.

 

Yes, I have mentioned this wonderful publication before but I am bringing it up again - with a good and exciting reason.

Becauase I am ultra passionate about Jot and everything about it - when the call for a creative team came up, I was KEEN.
Jot Magazine and their Mood Board Challenges were the reason I had gotten right back into scrapping more regularly again. The love was always there but I always put it off due to time constraints or the fact that my studio workspace was not much of a workspace. Well, I'm still working on the workspace bit but I AM scrapbooking and paper-crafting again. I am making time to create - because I love it and it's a part of me and what I like to do!

I must admit, I did slightly waver in applying, as doubt and a lack of confidence set in. Why would I be picked? Everyone I've seen is soooo much better at this than me!
But I sat down one night and created a random layout (refer HERE for the mentioned layout) and when I finished it, I was a tad shocked at myself that I had created it. I loved it.
And my thinking began to change.
So with renewed confidence, I wrote my application, attached some photos of current works, clicked send. Step one DONE in chasing my dreams.

Then the wait.

A few days later, the 21 finalists were announced...

Last night, when the kids were in bed, I got out my scrapbooking supplies and created a layout.

I had some layout ideas swirling around in my head and I had chosen the photos I wanted to scrap with.

When I sat down to do it, I started moving papers and photos around the page and the design in my head just didn't quite fit for the photos so it ended up turning out entirely different.

But I'm okay with that.

Because I LOVE how it ended up!

 





Yes, I am a Project Lifer :-)

Haven't heard of Project Life? Well I highly doubt it but just in case - you can find out more about it HERE from the creator herself! There is a lovely little video clip right there on the home page that explains EVERYTHING!

 

Well, my story is...

I purchased a couple of kits back in 2011 ready for putting together a Project Life album of family life in 2012. Also another personal album just for me.

 

It didn't happen.

 

But 2013 comes along. Determination sets in.

And I am up and away!

 

I have two albums underway.

The main one is a colourful, mismatched, quirky album documenting everyday life of us - the Allan's!

The other album is one I will add to each year as I participate in the One Little Word phenonemon created by Ali Edwards. But more on that in another post later on.

 

Today I thought I would give you a peak into my main album.

It's all still a work in progress.

I am up to date with photos but a tad behind in journalling and prettying up the pages.

Other things just pop up and take away my time but that's life hey!?!

 

So I will start with my cover page.

 

For the title of our family album I have used a 6 x 12 insert. I loved the doily cut paper so used that as a base for my title page and prettied it up with some coloured doilys and a 2013 badge. It sits over the page underneath still showing off the family photo and the journalling cards. I used a grid card and wrote all our names in a crossword style - it just so happened that our names all work together really well :-) I think it adds a nice touch  - one of my fave ideas I've had for my PL album so far!

Here is more of a close-up on that particular journal card.

 

And here are a few other pages I like...

 

 These individual shots of some journalling or photo pockets show how I've added my own little touch to the layouts. When writing on the photos, I've used Precision Pens by American Crafts (for sale in Spotlight which is where I got mine from!) I love this! It adds a whole new dimension to the photo that makes it so much more fun and snazzy to look at! And of course, you can't go wrong with stickers and washi tape to lift the look too :-)

 

I made these inserts by cutting some Kraft card into 3 x 4 inch cards. Using two of these, I adhered a paper doily to them (cutting in the middle to enable insertion into separate pockets) then the photo (again cutting down the middle for insertion into album pockets), and used up some other items in my stash - ribbon, washi tape, tag, wood bracket, lettering stickers, decorative badge etc.

 

I have a few other journalling cards in the making but will share them in another post :-)

 

For now, I will leave it there.

This is quite a hefty post but I hope you have enjoyed looking through some of my album.

There will be more as I get to complete and photograph them.

 

Thanks for popping by.

See you again soon :-)

 

With Sprinkles of Sunshine...

 

Anna