My Secret Is Out...

No, I AM NOT pregnant, lol! But I do have a new "baby". Much to my shock, I have just purchased an online scrapbooking store. My dear friend Vanessa has decided that it is time to move on from Scrapbook Kits (by Scrap With V), and I have put my hand up to take on the challenge. Now, you will have to bear with me, because while I have run a business before, I have not run a scrapbooking store. So undoubtedly, my life might be a little crazy for the first few months, lol! But Vanessa has promised to stick around and show me the ropes (phew!!!).
Which leads me to my next announcement...
I need a new Design Team!!!! Design Team commitments will include working with a monthly kit, and posting on the Scrapbook Kits blog on a rostered basis. The term will be for 6 months (September 2011- February 2012), with the option to extend at the end of the 6 months. Are you interested? Would you like to join my team? To apply, send me a short paragraph about yourself, and 3-5 images of your best layouts, cards or off the page projects. If you have a blog, please include a link. But don't sress - a blog is not essential. Please keep each image to 200kb or less.
Send email to julianna@powerup.com.au. This call is open until the 10th July 2011. I will then try to announce the new Design Team within a week. So, now I have turned my life upside down, are you ready to join me? LOL!
PLEASE NOTE: This call has now been extended until the 20th July.

Title: June Zva Blog Hop Winners Announced

We'd like to congratulate the FIVE June Zva Blog Hop winners! Their names will be found on the following blogs:

Julianne
Congratulations to Margie! You're my lucky winner on this blog hop! Please email me your mailing address as soon as possible, and Zva will get a prize package out to you. You can find the link to my email under my Blogger profile.

Benedicte
Windy
Camilla
Jolanda

One winner from each of the 5 blogs will receive a Zva prize package worth $30.00. Congrats winners!

Today, I wanted to share this photo with you (instead of a layout). I just wanted to show you how much my Jellybean loves her Zva Creative. Here she is keeping it warm for me on my computer desk, lol! (-: Yes, when I am scrapping this is where she usually sleeps.

Zva Creative June DT Blog Hop!

Zva Creative and the Design Team welcomes you to join us this month for a blog hop that we feel is always extra special!

As you know, Zva Creative offers so many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers and crystals. We want to make sure that they shine bright for you, so each designer was asked to share a creation using a specific color or color combination on their blog hop project.

The Blog Hop begins at Kim Hughes' blog. She will have the complete list of all blogs that are participating in case there is a glitch along the way. If you would like to play along, just follow along the blog path. I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way. Hidden on FIVE of the blogs is a Zva Creative prize package ...YAY! Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over, so it's important to leave a comment on as many blogs as you can along the way.

The Blog Hop starts today, June 27th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, June 28th and the 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, June 29th on each of the five winning blogs. The full list will be found on Kim Hughes‘s blog as well (linked above). We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to all of the blogs once again on Wednesday...plus, you never know what kind of inspirational creation that you may find there. All you need to do is leave a comment on this Zva Blog Hop post...you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. The more times you leave a comment along the blog hop path though, the more chances you will have to be one of the lucky winners.
This month I wanted to share a nice, bright, colourful layout with you. Titled: Hush Now. It features the newest addition to our family, "Jellybean". I don't often use bright cardstock for my background page - I tend to stick with white, black or kraft. But in this case, I wanted something bright like the colours of jellybeans. And these colours just work so amazingly together. Yes, sweet and cute and colourful - just like jellybeans, lol! Zva Creative products used: rhinestone swirls (CR-04CA-124); pealrs (PE-02CB-101/CR-02CA-127); rhinestones (CR-02CB-101); rhinestone strips (CR01CB113); silk flowers (FL01CB106 and FL01CB112); 1mm foam dots (AD01CB101) and 2mm foam dots (AD01CB102). Other products used: Noel Mignon Mary Ellen kit; Tattered Angels Glimmermist (Santa Baby) and Glimmer Glam (Mermiad); and Glitz mini alphas.

A close up of my flowers, bling and journalling.

More flowers, and lots of bling. I've added pearl rhinestones to each red polka dot.

The blog hop begins here: Kim Hughes

Your next stop is here: Tara Orr

Thank you SO MUCH for joining us. I hope you have found plenty of inspiration along your way, and I really hope we see you back here next month for the Zva Creative July Blog Hop! Happy scrapping! Don't forget to check back on Wednesday for the names of the winners, and a little more inspiration. (-:

Helmar And Best Creations...

I should have posted this a week or two ago, but life has been crazy hectic, plus I've been in Adelaide for a week. Two weeks ago, Helmar and Best Creations (preferred partner) teamed up to see what amazing creations the Design Teams could create with their products. You can find all the team's creations on the Helmar Blog. You can find mine here. I will admit this was my third attempt at this assignment. Sigh...I struggled with the themed products...I really had to find a way to use them untraditionally. Titled: Life Is A Circus, Hope On And Enjoy The Ride.

You can find the details of my techniques and products used on the Helmar Blog.

Here's a close up of my journalling - yes, we were swimming in winter - that's how this whole layout came about, lol!

Just A Little Different...

Here's part of the main reason I went to Adeliade. I wanted to catch up with Steph Devlin and attend her layout class. I love doing Steph's classes because of all the new tricks and techniques that I pick up along the way. Steph's style is a lot different to mine, so I always have fun with her creations. This layout is no exception - her original layout looks quite a bit different to mine. And man, can that girl layer...whew!!!!

Here's a close up of the title - Love You Forever. I've coated mine with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam (Chandelier) to give it some added sparkle.

I've added pink Liquid Pearls for some added colour. And some Kindy Glitz for even more sparkle, lol! I can't thank Steph enough for this class, it was pure fun. I loved being able to scrap just for me, without having to think about it. I don't get to do that often. Mmmm...might have to do something about that!!!!

Not In My Wildest Dreams...

I'm an animal lover. Always have been. Always will be. But never, ever in my wildest dreams, did I think I would get the opportunity to feed three lions, and pat a tiger. Seriously. I did. On our trip to the Adelaide Zoo yesterday, Annette and I paid for the glorious privilege of feeding the lions. OMFG!!!!! We took turn feeding the two lioness' first (will put up photos for that tomorrow - still have to scan them). The girls are huge. They growl and hiss. And I was in absolute awe. And then we literally, went into the lions den. Steve (the zoo keeper) locked the lion in a small cage beside the den, then Annette and I lugged this huge piece of meat around the lions den, wiping the scent of the meat everywhere, before Steve was kind enough to place it up in the tree branch for us (it was too heavy for me, lol!). Here, you can see the lion finding his meal and pulling it out of the tree. You can see the crown standing around the fence watching. Yes, we were out the back, watching from behind the barred door that leads into the den.

This is the lion less then 1 metre away from me. He jumped up on the barred door to let us know he wanted more food. Look at the size of him, and those paws were huge!!!!!

And then we got lucky with an added bonus. The tiger came up to the fence for a pat, and a scratch. I was nearly delirious with excitement. I actually got to pat a tiger. Holy crap!!!!! I cannot even begin to explain how all this felt. It was (besides the birth of my two girls), the most awesome, amazing, overwhelming thing I have ever done. Ummm, did I mention I am taking the family back to Adelaide at Christmas time so we can all do it together? Yes. Seriously. We are going to spend Christmas with the wild animlas, lol!

Adelaide From My Camera...

I love Adelaide. I cannot deny it, and I cannot fight it. I want to move here - NOW!!!!! The shopping is out of this world (wait till I show you the shoes, handbag, and jewellery that I have purchased). It's clean. The people are friendly. And it is so easy to navigate around the city and suburbs. Here's a shot of King William Street. This is one of the main streets, and leads down to Rundle Mall and the Torrens River.
A lolly shop that we found in a side street of Rundle Mall. Isn't it amazing! Plus there was a really cheap and amazing bookstore directly opposite. (-: Annette went to the lolly store, I went to the bookstore, lol!
Piggy in the Mall. There are three of these statues, all different, and all gorgeous.
We found the black swans down near the Torrens River. They were very friendly (which we did not expect), and very vocal. They make the most amazing noises.
And here are the Kangaroo Paw wild flowers coming into bloom...glorious!!! Today we wandered down to Glenelg (more photos to come), and tomorrow we are going to the zoo. Friday we fly back home. I'm going to miss this place.

Captured Moments...

Just sharing a layout I created while I've been down here in Adelaide. Shock! Horror! I actually used some old Kaisercraft paper that I found while at the scrapbooking retreat. And some old Fancy Pants chipboard pieces that I purchased. And I got to play with my new Tim Holtz stamps. (-:
Here's a close up of my flowers. I simply cut them out and adhered them with some Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots. So, so easy to do. Then I coated around the edges with some Kindy Glitz for sparkle and shimmer.
Those black alphas were originally pale pink. I simply coloured them in with a black Sharpie pen, stuck them to my page, then coated them with Dimensional Magic for a little shine.

Hello Adelaide!!!!!

Meet Bill and Mac. These are two of the Clydesdales that pull the tram down at Victor Harbor. The tram goes out to Granite Island.
This is Mac. Isn't he gorgeous!!!!

Here you can see the bridge that leads out to Granite Island. This is where the tram is pulled along by the horses.
Here's Annette busy taking photos, while I take photos of her. Fair game, I say!!! (-: We are loving every second of our time in Adelaide. It's beautiful!!!!!!!!! I'll be back tomorrow with a layout share.

Where Am I?

I'm in Adelaide. At a scrapbooking retreat. Yes, I went all the way to Adelaide for a retreat. Yes, I know I am crazy but I had an ulterior motive! I wanted to catch up with Steph Devlin who was teaching a class at the retreat. And I wanted to have some downtime to myself (plus I have my good friend Annette with me). We are having a blast, and will be in Adelaide until Friday. Here's a layout I have done, and can share with you. I created this layout for myself, no Design Team commitments, or assignments. Just for me!!! I have used a Noel Mignon kit.
Just a couple of close-ups. I've fallen back in love with stamps - this is a new one that I got from Glitz Designs. The mini alphas are also from them (and not part of Noel's kit).
Another close-up of the journalling, and a new Tim Holtz stamp.
For the retreat we are staying at Adare House which is at Victor Harbor. The retreat finishes tomorrow afternoon, so then we will pack up and head back to Adelaide city. Here's a couple of pictures of the views from where we are staying.
I haven't had a chance to edit or photoshop these photos - they are "as is!". I know hubby and I have been talking about moving to Perth, but after coming back to Adelaide, I am having second thoughts. I really think I would prefer to move here. Seriously. I'll be back tomorrow or the next day with some more photos. Stay tuned...

Not "Me" Layouts...

This week, over at Helmar, we are celebrating the partnership between Helmar and Best Creations. But sometimes things just don't go as planned. Like these two layouts I tried to create for this DT assignment. Let's just say, they are NOT going to be seen on the Helmar blog. Nope. Definitely not. But I am happy to say, my third attempt at this assignment did work out, and you will see it up on the Helmar blog on Thursday (USA time).
I don't know what is is about these layouts, but they are definitely "NOT ME" layouts. Know what I mean? I don't know if it was the themed papers, the colour palette, or the fact that I had a nasty cold when I created these, but I definitely struggled. As the saying goes, you win some and you lose some. Or in my case, it's the third time lucky, lol! Thanks for dropping by.

Can A Girl Have Her Life Back?

I'm so sorry for neglecting you my sweet blog readers. It's been a crazy week. Jellybean (our cat) is on heat. So I have been kept busy keeping an eye on her. She is booked in with the vet to be desexed next Thursday. Let's hope it not to late. If it is, does anyone want kittens???

I wanted to share this photo from our Sunday trip to Wet And Wild. My darling hubby took this photo, and it's actually one of my favourites. The three girls (Alex is Malayla's buddy) had the best time ever.

Then on Monday we all got sick. (Except Alex. She was fine, lol). So I've had one or more children home for the first three days of this week. Then on Thursday and Friday they had their school sports carnival.

On Tuesday hubby went back to work. I'm on my own again for 3 weeks.
On Friday coming, I fly out to Adelaide for a week of scrapping, shopping and sight-seeing. I'm going with my dear friend Annette. Let's see how much trouble we can get ourselves into, lol!!! Grnadma is going to hold down the fort (scary, scary thought!).

And all day Friday and Saturday I spent cleaning out the house of rubbish and unwanted stuff. I've done all the rooms except my scraproom and the garage. They will have to wait until I get back from Adelaide.

On the scrapping front I have some exciting news. I have had my first ever layout picked up by Scrapbook Trends (USA magazine) for publication. It will be in the November 2011 issue. Yes, I am excited. But probably not as excited as my dear friend Jodi Dolbel. She made the Kaisercraft Design Team 2011-2012!!! Woo-hooo!!!!!!!! Way to go Jodi. I am so proud of you. xxx

And hopefully by tomorrow I will have a layout or two to share with you. My urge for cleaning is over, so I should be able to sit down and scrap without problems now, lol! (-:

Get Your Glue On!!!

Guess what? We have a challenge for you up an the Helmar blog site (believe me, the Design Team have been very busy creating lots of inspiration for you!!!). Yes, every month now, we are going to find new ways to inspire and challenge you. So, are you game? Are you up for it? Come and join us this month for a sketch challenge. All you need to do is link your layout to Mr Linky on the Helmar Challenge blog post, and you will automatcially be in the running to win some awesome Helmar prizes.

Here's my take on the Helmar June Sketch Challenge. Titled: 4 Ever. I hope you come and join in the fun. I'd love to see how Helmar inspires you!

Do You Etsy?

I've been wanting to open an Etsy store for some time now. But I haven't found my "niche" yet. So, in the meantime, I will enjoy those stores that my friends have opened (and I will watch and learn, lol!). My dear friend Gail Linder, has been busy sourcing, and restocking her new Etsy store Greatest View. I'm a sucker for Baker's Twine, and Gail has a store full of it!!! (-: In lots of different colours. Not to mention the doilies, stick pins and rosettes. So many pretty things to choose from. Yes, I am restocking my scrapping supplies...(-: Look at what will be making it's way to my supplies shortly...

I'm a kraft addict too, lol!

So many colours and shapes... Stunning paper doilies!!! With polka does. Swoon!!!!!

How divine are these felt rosettes? But hurry. Supplies at Greatest View will be limited once I have finished shopping, lol! Get in quick!!! (-:

Share Time Already...

I'm getting off to an early start with my DT commitments for this month (as I have a week away at the end of the month). Plus I have a lot of other crazy stuff going on in my life (will give you more details down the track when I am ready). Here's my first project this month for Zva Creative. Titled: 24-7 Chocolate. Zva Creative Products used: rhinestone bracket (CRB-02CB-109); Dual Flowers (FL-4CA-128); Graceful Roses (FL-04CA-131); rhinestones (CR-02CB-101); rhinestone strips (CR01CB113); bulk 3d roses in lime green - 2 sizes; and 2mm foam dots (AD01CB102).

Here's a close up of some of the flowers I have used. The Graceful Roses and Dual Flowers were white, which didn't work for me, so I simply sprayed them with some Glimmermist. I used Lime Twist, Inchworm, and Sprout to get the right shade of green.

And I know it's hard to see, but I filled the negative space in the letter "o" with rhinestones. I have used the Noel Mignon Mary Ellen kit to create this layout (papers, foldies etc.). I have used some Hambly Washi tape, and a mask from Tim Holtz.

It's Arrived!!!

My Helmar box of goodies has arrived. And there are heaps of new things to try. Like the adhesive runner - I've never, ever used one before. And the crackle medium (step 1 and step 2). So many possibilities with that stuff! And the Helmar Remove Cleaner. Heaps of new products to experiment with. This is going to be a lot of fun!!!! Keep an eye out for some new projects coming your way! And don't forget, next week Helmar and Best Creations are teaming up to present you with a whole tonne of inspiration. I hope you'll drop by the Helmar Blog to see what we've been up to!!!

May Zva Blog Hop Winners Announced...

We'd like to congratulate the FIVE March Zva Creative Blog Hop winners!
Their names will be found on the following blogs:

Carole Maurin
Susan Lui
Tara Orr
Kim Hughes
Tanya Tahir

Here's a little more inspiration for you. Titled: A Lovely Day. I have totally fallen for the bright colours in the Mary Ellen kit from Noel Mignon. Zva Creative products used: Pearl leaves PES-03CB-103; Rhinestones CR-02CB-101; Rhinestone strips CR-01CB-109; Pearls PE-02CB-101/CR-02CA-127; and 2mm Foam Dots AD01CB102.

A close up of the journalling and details.
And lots of pretty flower, leaves and bling.
One winner from each of the 5 blogs will receive a Zva Creative prize package worth $30.00. Congratulations to the winners!
And I hope we see you back here at the end of June for our next blog hop!

Crafty Sketches June Sketch Challenge...

Woo-hoo! It's the start of a new month, so we have a new sketch for you up at Crafty Sketches. This lovely sketch was designed by Eve. Don't forget to join and the fun and link your creation to Mr Linky before the end of the month.

Here's my take on the sketch. Titled: Pose And Click. I've used the Noel Mignon "Mary Ellen" kit to create this layout (plus same Hambly Washi tape). And that wood grain paper is growing on me - I think I'm now addicted to it, lol! (-: Happy scrapping everyone!