Zva Creative Project No.3 July.

Purple is sneaking into my layouts, more and more! And I think I'm finally coming to terms with it. (-: I decided to play around with some Tattered Angels masks, and a little Purple Grape Chalkboard mist. And then I added some Lily Bee papers into the mix. And I finished it all off with a big slpash of Zva Creative bling and flowers. Titled: Such Intense Concentration.

Here's a close up of the journalling.

The pearl bracket, individual pearls, and pearl brads were all the wrong colour (cream). So I found a couple of different shades of purple copic pens, and altered the pearls to the colours I needed. That's one of the things I LOVE about my Zva Creative rhinestones and pearls - althought they come in lots of pretty colours already, it is not just limited to those. Not when you have a copic pen. (-:

Challenging Myself Again...

Right. So the deal is, the more cards I make, the easier it will get for me! Are you sure about that people??? Why is it then, that it takes me twice as long to make a card, as it does to make a layout? Hmmmmm..... I did this card for a blog post over at Helmar USA. Details are here.

This time around, I opted for an all white on white card (except for the alphas). Although the bloomers and pearls have come up very cream coloured in the photo. Strange that! They are not that cream in real life. I have embossed my background with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and painted and glittered the metal photo corner white (it was originally green). Products used: AC cardstock, AC Thickers, AC bloomers, AC metal photo corner, Prima flower, and Prima pearls. Oh, and lots of Helmar glues, lol!!! (450 Quick Dry, Permanent Adhesive Runner, Gemstone Glue, Liquid Scrap Dots, and Craft Glue).

How Rude?

Sometimes, when in public, you can't help but burst out laughing, because of something you've seen or heard. Yes, it happened to me today - in the library of all places. I was checking out some books to take home, when a mother walked past, with her young daughter (maybe 5-6?) following up behind her. And as she walked past me, she said to her mother, "3 books? I only get 3 books???? How rude are you!!!". (She didn't say it in a nasty tone, she said it in a very disappointed tone). Seriously, I was howling with laughter. Most parents fight to get their children to read, but here was one little girl, getting upset because she couldn't have more books to read. This made my day. (-:

All Worthwhile...

Sometimes you wonder whether the whole blogging thing is worth it. After all, who really reads my blog? But then, I receive emails like the one below, and I realise, it's all worthwhile. Every single word.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Gone...":

Hi,
I am Cheryl's niece and after Cheryl passed away, our family was told of this blog. Reading these comments in the week following her death was so lovely. I still have this saved in my favourites and come on to read all the wonderful comments about her.
It's been a great pick me up for when we are feeling down and missing her.
She was the most amazing person and I just wanted to say thankyou on behalf of my family for all the wonderful comments we get to read and remember her for. x

This email nearly had me in tears. To know that I have helped Cheryl's family deal with their loss, and touched their lives, makes me happy. Why? Because I know this little effort on my part, has made the world a slightly better place for someone else. I am so glad I was able to help...even if it is only a blog post. (-:

June Zva Blog Hop Winners Announced

I decided it was time to do something with my Zva Creative flowers, other than put them on my layouts. So I got creative, and made a headband and some hair clips for my two girls.
Here, I used a large hot pink flower (FL-04CA-103), which I have sprayed with some Dazzling Diamonds Glimmermist, for that extra sparkle. I simply glued it to the headband with a strip of material and a hot glue gun.
Next, graceful roses (FL-04CA-132), in pale pink, added to hairclips.

Again, I simply used a thin strip of material, and a hot glue gun. I also sprayed them with Cosmos Pink Glimmermist, to enhance their colour.

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

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

Zva Creative July DT Blog Hop!

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

We know that it's a busy time of year with kids home from school and vacations, so we thought it would be more fun to add even more chances to win our blog hop prize! Details below.

It's CHA time which means brand new products. So please keep an eye out for them at your local stores.

As you know, Zva 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, July 25th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, July 26th and the 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, July 27th 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.

To increase your chances of winning:

Comment to let us know that you posted on your Facebook page about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

Comment to let us know that you "tweeted" about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

Comment to let us know that you asked your local store to carry Zva Creative products. If they already do, that's fantastic, maybe you can suggest other products that they don't carry

Sooo, you have FOUR chances on each blog to win one of our FIVE prizes! That's technically OVER 50 chances :)

I haven't played with pink for a while, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to do so. Titled: Party Girl. This is a layout about my eldest daughter who just turned 9.

A close up of my journalling and bling title.

A close up of the beautiful felt flowers (one of my favourite products), the rhinestone flourish, and the rhinestone brads.

Zva Creative Products Used: CR-04CA-101 (rhinestone flourish); CRP01CB102 (rhinestone alphas); BRBK02CA102 (1/8" rhinestone brads); CR-02CB-101 (coloured rhinestones); CR-01CB-111 (rhinestone strips); FL01CB115 and FL01CB117 (felt flowers); AD01CB101 (1mm foam dots); and AD01CB102 (2mm foam dots).

The blog hop begins here: Kim Hughes

Your next stop is here: Nancy Doren

Thank you SO MUCH for joining us. And don't forget to drop by on Wednesday to find out who the lucky winners are!!!

Steep Learning Curve...

Who knew having a store would be sooooo challenging. Thank-goodness I'm a quick learner. The only thing I haven't worked out is how to get more hours out of a day, lol! But I have managed to upload my first set of kits. There are 8 different styles, and their numbers are limited. Here's a little sneek peak: BE CREATIVE
PRETTY IN PINK
ROCK STAR
CAMEO GIRL

You can view the rest in the store: here. And yes, I would love some feedback. What do you think? - good, bad, ugly, too big, too little?

A Funny Thing Happened...

Like most parents, mornings are hectic around here. My youngest (Keana) isn't a problem - she can feed herself and get ready in no time flat! But my eldest (Malayla), that's a whole different story. She's a perfectionist (wonder where she got THAT from?), gets distracted easily, and hates to rush anything. Drives me crazy!!! Which left us with a dilemma this morning - we had no time left to test her spelling (they have their spelling tests at school on Fridays). What to do? I had the perfect solution. Keana tested her older sister for her spelling on the drive to school. Do you want to know how she commenced this activity? She told her older sister to "GET YOUR MOUTH READY!". Seriously, ROFL!!!! I nearly cracked up totally while trying to drive. Yeah, my youngest is also a comedian!!!!! (-:

She's A Lunatic!!!

My cat Jellybean is an absolute lunatic. No, really!!!! I was packing the girls lunch boxes yesterday, and I turned around to find Jellybean on the bench, checking out everything that I had placed into the lunch boxes. So I semi-closed the lunch box lids, put her on the floor and got rid of her (or so I thought), and went back to preparing lunches. The next thing I know, my girls are absolutely roaring with laughter. What the???? I turn around to find Jellybean, with her head stuck in the lunch box, pulling all the snack bags out. Yes, seriously!!!!! She was unpacking for me! Carrots, apples, cheese and crackers - everything was fair game. But strangely enough, it was the carrots she was most attracted to. She really wasn't happy when I took that bag away from her. I had a cat (Banjo) about 4 years ago, that absolutely loved the scent of carrots and would rub all over them. I think Jellybean must have the same attraction. Does anyone else have cats that are attracted to weird things? I'm guessing carrots are the equivalent of catnip for my darling furry girl...sigh...so not NORMAL!!!!!

The Team is Up...

Meet the new Scrapbook Kits team for the next 6 months:

CAZ HANCOCK - NZ
HELEN TILBURY - STH AFRICA
RAISSA COSTA CARVALHO- BRAZIL
PETRA OFFRELL - SWEDEN
JUANNA SIA - SINGAPORE
YVONNE SHEPHERD - AUS
HOLLY CONNORS - AUS
LISA KAMPHIUS - AUS
LEAH SCHAEFFER - USA
KIM KENDALL - AUS
ERIN REED - USA
PAM PRITZL - USA
AMY BENDER - USA
KRISTIE TAYLOR - USA
KIRSTEN CASEY - AUS
REBEKKAH MITCHELL - AUS
MICHELLE WALLACE - AUS
NICK KNOPKE - AUS
VALERIE BISHOP - USA
ANNETTE GEARSIDE - AUS - CARD KIT DESIGNER
JODI DOLBEL - LIMITED EDITION KIT DESIGNER

Here's my original post on the Scrapbook Kits blog.

Zva Creative Project No1. July 2011

Here's my first project this month for Zva Creative. Titled: Never Enough Kisses. I wanted a neutral background that didn't compete with all the flowers colours and photos. But I'm not sure if I acheived that...sigh!

Here's a close up of the title and journalling.

Lots of layered flowers, pearl flourishes, and butterflies. The pearl flourish was much larger and didn't fit the page, so I simply cut it up into smaller pieces. (-:

And what layout is complete without a little bling, lol!
Zva Creative products used: pearl flourish (PEB-02CB-113); rhinestone title (CRW01CB117); 1/8" gem brads (BRBK02CA102); rhinestones (CR-02CB-101); pearls (PE-02CB-102); silk flowers (FL01CB110); felt flowers (FL01CB114, FL01CB115, FL01CB116, and FL01CB117); and 2mm foam dots (AD01CB102). Other products used: Amercian Crafts papers, lace paper, and material paper; Tattered Angels Glimmermist; Heidi Swapp mask; Martha Stewart punch; crotcheted white doily: white gell pen; black journalling pen; and mini alpha sticks from My Little Shoebox.

What Green Thumb?

I definitely don't have a green thumb. That's why I created this beautiful pot of paper flowers as my DT assignment for Helmar USA. You can find all the details and products used on the Helmar USA blog site here.
The papers are from American Crafts, as is the material paper, brads, and white rose ribbon. I have used Prima leaves, and some green spotted felt from my stash. The pearls are from Zva Creative. All glues used are from Helmar USA. The punches are from Martha Stewart.

Just a little close-up to show you the detail on the flowers.

And that shimmer on the flower petals is Dazzling Diamonds Glimmermist. And I finished off my beautiful pot of flowers with a little chipboard bird house, painted with Twinkling H2O's.

Have a happy, scrapp weekend everyone. I'm teaching at Arnold's tomorrow, so it's going to be busy, busy, busy...as if I'd expect anything else, lol!!!

A New Sketch...

We have a new sketch up for you to play with over at Scrapbook Kits By Scrap With V. You have until the end of the month to join in the fun. All the details can be found on the blog here. Hopefully, by next month my time will be better organised and I can join in the fun too. (-: I love this sketch (designed by Leah Schaeffer) - it has so many possibilities!

Up And Running...

I'm getting there. Most of the boxes have been unpacked, and the first round of kits have been put together. I've even posted some sneak peeks of two kits on the shop's blog site.
I've had over 35 applications for my first ever DT call. And there is still another 5 days to go before it closes. Life is busy (such an understatement, lol), but at least my girls are fed and clothed. Hopefully, if all goes as planned, next week will be a little easier. I just have to remember to breathe... sometimes easier said, then done, lol!!!!

This Crazy Life...

Time is going to quick. I need it to stop. I can't believe my nephew Theo is nearly 6 months old already. Where did that time go? I haven't even had time to blink and it's already gone.
And my eldest baby has just turned 9. Malayla had her birthday on the 4th July, but I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to blog about it yet. She wanted a real digital camera for her birthday. I was so happy, and excited when she asked for that gift. It made me proud. (-:
Here is my little miss at her birthday party. She had a "Papparazzi Disco Party" at a local beauty parlour (Petite Princess Parlour, to be exact). They had a "pretend" security guard, personalised lanyards, and a danced for 2 hours (with a disco light, smoke machine, and flashing lights). Malayla and her girlfriends had SO MUCH FUN!!! Oh, and they got their nails painted too, lol!
This is one of the reasons I fell in love with Adelaide, and want to move there. You can actually have rabbits as pets. And ferrets too (but not at the same time as they are natural enemies). I found this black and white pair at the Adelaide Zoo. They were so soft and cuddly. Sigh...I want my girls to be able to experience this. Adelaide, here we come!!!

I've nearly finished unpacking all the boxes for my store. It has taken forever because one, I have had the flu and can't seem to shake it off, and two, it is school holidays. Hopefully, my life will return to some form of normality by the end of next week. But maybe not...my life was never normal to begin with, lol!

Red, White And GLUE!!!!

It's challenge time over at Helmar. The July Sketch Challenge is up on the Helmar Blog. This sketch was created by our very own Lydell Quinn. And this month's challenge is to use Helmar Gemstone Glue and gemstones on your layout.


Here's my take on the challenge. Titled: Her Beauty. I love, love, love Lydell's sketches. They suit my style of scrapping so well. And I had a great time with this one using Prima products that I haven't played with in so long. (-:

Crafty Sketches July Sketch Challenge...

Here's the sketch, designed by myself, for the Crafty Sketches July Sketch Challenge. Want to see some inpspiration? Just click here to see all the amazing layouts created by the Design Team. You will find my layout here too. I think they have outdone themselves!!! This is really a fun sketch so I hope you can come and play. I would love to see what you can create with this! What do you think? Maybe I should take up designing sketches as well, lol!!! (-:

Zva Creative June Monthly Project No.3

I've been so busy with life, that I haven't had a chance to share this layout with you. Titled: One Fine Day. I created this as combined DT assignment for both Zva Creative and Helmar. I don't usually combine my assignments, but I've been busy with the purchase and set-up of my new store, my daughter having her 9th birthday party, and coming down with another nasty cold/flu that has left me bed bound for a couple of days. I did my Helmar post a couple of days ago. You can find the details here.

I didn't have any red rhinestones to match the red rhinestone flourish, so I simply coloured them with a red copic pen. I love that I can colour the Zva Creative clear rhinestones to any colour, to match any layout. Pure genius!!!

The rhinestone flourish was originally too large, so I simply cut it into smaller pieces. The chipboard frames were black, so I covered them with gesso, then brown paint. Once dry, I coated them with Helmar Crackle Medium (steps 1 and 2). The chipboard bracket was also black. Again, I coated it with gesso and brown paint. Once dried, I coated it with Helmar Acid Free Glue, and sprinkled it with brown glitter.

Zva Creative products used: rhinestone flourish (CR-04CA-105); rhinestones (CR-01CB-101 and CR-02CB-101); felt flowers (FL01CB115 and FL01CB117); and 1/8" rhinestone brads (BRBK02CA102).