CSI - 108 - Art Award

I LOVED these colours!  In fact, I loved the inspiration piece so much that I may have a go at a similar style canvas!


Here is what I did with it:

Here is how I solved case 108:
Scheme - the colours are all there
Evidence – Mixed media background, bird, newsprint, music element, hearts, flowers, border punch, stamps and pen work

Testimony – Tell a story you haven’t shared before.  IW:  Share, story & everyone “I had one of those proud Mommy moments when I was told to attend the annual prize giving at Bayview School.  I was told that Madison was getting an award, but I wasn’t told what it was for.  You can imagine the pleasure I took from watching Madison get her name called out for the winner of the Visual Artist of the year Award!  Out of the entire school, she won the highly coveted award with a still life drawing of a hanging floral basket.   She was nominated with two other strong artists and her teacher was blown away by the realism of her drawing and the shading used to create a 3D look. The next day, her teacher told me the story of how Madison won the award with her still life drawing and that Madison deserved to win. Everyone in her class was impressed with the art that she shared throughout the year.  I just love that Madison loves art as much as I do!”

CSI 107 - Our kittens are a buy 1 get one free special

and here is what I did:

Here is how I solved case 107:
Scheme - the colours are all there
Evidence – flowers, badge, heart, splashes, wet medium, long title, stripes and harlequin pattern.

Testimony – IW:  know, cool and awesome “I found a listing on Trademe for the cutest kitten.  He was a little boy, with cool grey tabby markings on his head and back.  I arranged with the owners to go and have a look and as they were leaving the country the next day.   I took my money with me to buy him (if he was as cute in real life as he was in the photo’s).  When I got there, the lady picked him up and bought him over to me.  He was so tiny that he fitted in my hand.  He was a little bit timid, and I thought he was AWESOME!  So I handed over the money and went to go.  The lady and her daughter started shouting at each other in their mother tongue and the daughter said, “My mother wants to know if you want the last kitten as well?”  I said, “no thank you, I only bought enough for one kitten” and the mother said, “no money, no money – you take”.  The daughter was very upset and she whispered to me, “please take her, we leave the country tomorrow and we will have to ‘get rid’ of her, if you don’t take her”.  I called Jack and he only had one word…  NO.  So I packed up the little guy in a box and got in the car and started to drive home.  Jack called me before I got to the end of the street and said, “Oh… All right…”  I ended the call and raced back to the house and knocked on the door and took the little girl.  When I got home, Jack and I both agreed that they were better together and I know that it will cost a little bit more, but the look on the girls face when they saw that we had two new kittens was worth it.  When I told them the story of how we ended up with two kittens, they were relieved because they both thought that they had to choose one…  I explained to them that while I chose the little boy, the girl was special as she was our Buy one get one free kitten.

CSI - 106 - A New Year

So last weeks challenge was a bit self reflective for me, but it fitted the "case":

I was really surprised when I saw the colours because I had just got Kaisercraft SweetPea on sale and the colours were perfect.  I got the collection to use on the girls 2014 dance pages, but I am sure there is enough in the pack to do this challenge.  Any way, here is what I came up with:


Here is how I solved case 106:
Scheme - the colours are all there (with a few greys too)
Evidence – arrows, gold, cloud, numbers, circles and stripes.
Testimony – Write about resolutions, number your journaling and IW: good and be “Like many of us, we celebrate New Years Eve and during the night, I sit and contemplate the year that was. I was a little sad this New Years to say good bye to 2013, as I have accomplished so much. I feel better within myself and have been actively trying to get fit by going for my morning walks and drinking more water than usual. I put myself out there by starting my own blog and posting some of the scrapbook layouts and cards that I make. I smile as much as I can and laugh with my children. These were my resolutions for 2013 and they have all been achieved. So on reflection, 2013 was a good year for me and now I get to close the door on it and start thinking about 2014.
Unlike most of us, I don’t set my new year’s resolutions on the 1st. This is because I found over the years that I would forget what I was going to try to achieve or I would set my goals so high and unrealistic that it just never happened. Instead, I ruminate on it over a few weeks – until I get an idea of what I want to achieve. This works well for me as I often can’t make snap decisions.
So what do I want for 2014 for me personally?
1 Sign up for a new crafting challenge
2 Be more confident when looking at others blogs – write comments
3 Get in front of the camera more
4 Get to the beach more often
I am really looking forward to 2014 – Madison is starting Intermediate and Katie Rose will be on her own at Primary school, so both girls get a chance to be independent from each other. Riley is going to have his first season of football and is now one of the big boys at Kindy.
Without even realising it, I am already achieving some of my resolutions. Today, I spent the afternoon with Leanne, Emily, Katie Rose and Riley at Milford Beach. I put myself in front of the camera and let Leanne take photos of me and then printed them before I could delete them!
I don’t know what else will happen this year, but I am sure that there will be plenty of opportunities to keep my New Year Resolutions and create new memories!”

Astro Boy

I have been a very lucky girl!  For Christmas, Jack ordered me two new BIG sets of Spectrum Noir Pens...  Lights and Brights and they finally arrived last week!!  Then Lili Of the Valley had a huge sale on 140 of their stamps and I got 6 new ones which arrived at the beginning of this week.  So I am feeling rather spoiled at the moment!  I am afraid to say that my current addiction (which changes from week to week!) is colouring stamped images to use for my card toppers.  I really love that I can personalise cards even further making sure that the recipient gets something that they love!

We have a 7 year old boys party to go to on the 02/02/14, and I originally was going to use a stamp of a surfing cat by Penny Black to make him a birthday card, but his pet Kat passed away yesterday - so a change of tactics is required!  I have coloured in one of my new LOTV stamps "Astronaut" and made a space card for him. He is really into Star Wars, so it's not quite right, but I just loved the stamp and had to use it!


I have stamped the image using Tuxedo Black Momento Ink and coloured with Spectrum Noir Pens.  The background papers are from an old Rosies Studio A5 pad.  The Birthday Wishes stamp is Wild Rose, the ribbon is American Crafts and the star sequins are from Spotlight.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge #3: Stamp on patterned paper

I love stamping, and have a huge collection of stamps, but it is not often that I stamp onto patterned paper!  I decided to do a smaller project for this, and made a birthday card as I wanted to use one of my Gorjuss girls...

I really love these stamps, and normally I would colour them so for this challenge, I decided to paper piece the dress, tights and birds and then colour her skin and hair.  I even stamped a brick wall stamp (Prima), to stick underneath her.  When I was layering up the Happy Birthday, I didn't have the right colour card - so I just used my washi tape on white cardstock then die cut through a small scallop circle.

The only problem is that I love it so much that I just dont know if I can give it away...

Counterfeit Kit Challenge #1 - Subway Art

I had so much fun creating subway art with a holiday/snow/family theme!  I did this on an A5 card and then stamped with all the word stamps that I have that were in the right theme to go with my page. I didn't want to use the whole sheet on this one page, so I die cut a circle and a heart to use and the rest I can use on another project!

The background paper is counterfeited and I loved it so much, that I decided to do this for all my background pages for this holiday!

CKCB Hop Challenge January 2014

Welcome to my blog - my first ever blog hop challenge!  You have arrived here from Milissa


I loved the idea of putting a container on my layout, so here is my page with a jar of "snow":

CHALLENGE #2:  Use a container on your project

I found these little glass jars at the $2 shop years ago, and I never thought of using it in a layout!

All the papers used are from my counterfeited kit.  The photos are of my eldest skiing the Rock Garden on Whakapapa in NZ for the first time!  In fact I used this kit to scrap the whole holiday!!!  Any way, enjoy the rest of the hop, from here you need to go see Elaine

Thanks for joining us on the hop!