Tocal Retreat August 2016

I've just returned home from an awesome weekend away up in Tocal with 20 other like minded people. We ate waaaay too much, laughed loads, caught up with old friends & made new ones. I am very happy with my creations & wanted to share them here. The first Layout is a very special one. This is for a young girl named Jessie who lost her Mother to Cancer. Her Mum was a scrapbooker, and as she can no longer create memories with Jessie or scrap them, group of creatives are scrapping her photos to create an album of memories of her life. This Layout is of Jessie as a young ballerina

This second Layout if of my Daughter Emily & our Puppy Lola

This next one is an 8x10 size, of my Sister & Cousin. I used gesso on the background & went over that with some watered down Dylusions paint.

If you have any questions on any of these layouts, please let me know!

Diemond dies guest DT

I'm very excited to announce that I will be creating for www.diemonddies.com on Thurs June 23rd & Tues July 19th as a guest design team member. Stay tuned to my blog www.jaimier.blogspot.com.au or to my YouTube channel jaimier78 to check out my creations and join in the fun on the 60 days of diamond dies event. I will also be contributing to a blog hop, so stay tuned for details. BEST of all, I have a discount code to share with you all - thanksjaimie which entitles you to 10% off, free shipping with the USA & free international shipping on orders of $35 or more. These dies are all made in the USA and are high quality. You get a lot of dies for your money and the designs are fantastic! Happy creating :)

Diamond Press stamp & die storage

I wanted to find a more user friendly way to sort & store my stamp & die sets & my dies for the Diamond Press. I haven't had them for very long & already the paper packaging is getting tattered & worn. So I decided to use my Fuse tool & some good quality A4 sheet protectors from the office supply store & create my own solution. I incorporated the front of the original packaging & fused 2 pockets into the reverse side so I can easily pull the stamps & dies in & out. I also took the dies off their original backing sheet & put them onto magnetic sheet to make them easier to remove & replace as the adhesive on the original is super strong & I was worried about bending the dies & also the adhesive remaining on the dies & adhering to the paper I tried to die cut. The other benefit of the magnet is less chance of losing any tiny dies as they stay in the one place. I hope you like my idea!

Diamond Press tool

I LOVE die cutting. I love the flexibility of creating shapes, words, borders in any paper or card stock to match a project. I love customising my layouts, cards, mini albums & off the page projects. And I love my big shot. BUT I wouldn't take my big shot to a crop or retreat as: a) it's too heavy b) it takes up too much room So after seeing Adele Toomey (aka Inkie Quill) 'Up close & personal' product review video I decided to invest in a Diamond Press machine myself. It's so small & light it will be perfect for die cutting when I'm out & about. Here is what the packaging & machine itself look like:

Now, I can only fit dies smaller than the 2 folder sizes: Small - 1.89" x 3.15" (4.8cm x 8cm) Large - 1.89" x 6.3" (4.8cm x 16cm) But this still gives me a lot of options! I've tried numerous brand dies & they all work. But of course I had to buy some stamps, dies & teeny embossing folders to go with it!

This machine is SO much fun! I highly recommend it as a cheap option for any one starting out, for carmakers or for those who like to make their own embellishments. It's a great option for creating on the go & well worth the investment!

12 hr scrap day

I attended an awesome 12 hr scrap day yesterday, in aid of charity. It was in Newcastle & I thought it was the perfect opportunity to meet another local creative - Inkie Quill aka Adele Toomey. I was also blessed to catch up with so many other local crafty peeps I know & Love. The SFS store was there & we all shopped up a storm. All in the name of charity!

I was loving being with 'my people' & was totally distracted being surrounded by Amy Prior, Adele Toomey & Tracy Henley, watching them create! I only managed ONE layout! I'm happy with it :)

WRMK next level embossing folders

W.O.W I just tried out the new We are Memory Keepers next level embossing folders. I have always had a love of embossing, but these babies really do take it to the next level! The dimension and texture is truly amazing and so different to what we have seen before. Here are a few pieces I have simply water coloured and then run through the big shot using the folders. I think I am in love!

Bird crazy birthday card

Well, it's my lovely Hubby's birthday coming up & I needed to make a card. I also wanted to use some new supplies I got recently being the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamps & Zig Clean Colour real brush markers, so it was a match made in heaven to come up with this card for him. I love how the eyes & beak & wings can be cut out separately (using the dies, which Yu can buy separately) with no white outline. How cool is that?! Also, I used the dies that I bought that go with the 'crazy things' stamp set to cut out the balloon, hat & present. Saved me from having to mask out the hat. Gotta be happy with that right? I splatters some rally watered down zig markers for the background, which is on a lawn fawn stitched rectangles die. I stamped the 'happy birthday' Se time to from the 'crazy talk' stamp set. This stamp set is a great one I probably word have purchased even without the bird sets, I love the fun sayings & fonts on it for so many different occasions. I used a little wink of Stella on the hat, balloon and ribbon on the gift. Then for some shine added glossy accents on the ballon. It was all mounted on some lawn fawn patterned paper to frame it up. On the inside I will stamp 'you're how old?' - how funny is that! Hope you like my little card, and most importantly, I hope Hubby does too!

Minc foil storage

Hi there people! I have a problem.. No it's not hoarding! Lol (well, it kinda is.. It we'll get to that!) I recently got a Heidi Swapp Minc machine, which I LOVE! But (this is the hoarding bit) I can't stop buying all the gorgeous foils out there! And I need a better way to store them. I don't want to lose any off cuts, or damage all that gorgeousness! So I will do some thinking & let you know what I come up with.

If you have any ideas, please be sure to let me know. Happy foiling!

Spotlight sale

Spotlight had a 30% off sale recently, so of course I had to see what goodies I 'needed', lol. I got some paper pads I've been wanting, some Heidi Swapp Minc Foil, some enamel dots, stamps, ephemera.. Here it is. Can't wait to get creating!

I've been shopping!

I have wanted some of the gorgeous Altenew stamps, and did a Google search & found www.craftsuppliesaustralia.com.au. I got three stamp sets, and some DCWV 6x6 paper pads I've been wanting for a while, but are hard to find. Check out the yumminess!

Been making cards

Just a quick share of this watercolour background card I made using a gold butterfly die cut I received in a swap. I must say I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

Lawn Fawn 'Juice box' ink in action

My good friend Renae said she couldn't wait to see what I did with my new 'Juice Box' ink from Lawn Fawn, so I just had to unwrap the little beauty & make something with it. This is using a stamp from Stampin Up! From the 'Seasonally Scattered' stamp set. It's just beautiful and a perfect way to showcase the ink. I used my MISTI tool to stamp the image, as I wanted to put clear embossing powder over the top, so I was able to re-stamp the sentiment in versa mark ink perfectly (LOVE my MISTI!). If you haven't hard of the MISTI you can check it out at www.mysweetpetunia.com but be warned, you will want one! I used the stitched rectangles from lawn fawn to cut around the stamped & heat embossed sentiment. Which I layered on another stitched rectangle die cut. I made a matching layer by simply rubbing the Juice Box ink pad directly onto the card stock around the edges. I used a cuttlebug 'Musical Flourish' embossing folder on the Stampin Up! Whisper white card base for some added interest on this pretty simple card. I then popped up each layer on foam tape & added a few clear sequins to finish off. This card was super quick & fun to make.

Lawn Fawn Haul

Hi everyone! I have a bit of a lawn fawn obsession, and have been buying some more yummy goodies from the most recent release. The lovely Aperial from 'Create by Me Studio' on FB is where I buy all my lawn fawn goodies. Aperial is on a well earned break, so her helper Mel is looking after things. If there is anything you want, Mel is really knowledgeable & helpful and so easy to deal with. Anyhow, I got the 5 new ink colours to complete the set of Lawn Fawn inks I have. The colours fit in really well between the dirty colours of my Distress Inks and the clean bright palette of the Stampin Up! Inks I have.

I also got some super cute mini stamp sets & matching dies. You colour my word, so jelly & treT yourself. Loving these sets!

We LOVE to BBQ, so I count pass up the 'Let's BBQ' stamp set & matching dies. I am thinking this will be good for mini albums, layouts and cards too. I also thought I could do some invites to a BBQ with this set, how fun!

And last, but not least are the word & border dies. I 'died' (pardon the pun! Lol) when I saw the puffy cloud borders and the ocean wave border dies. These will be a staple in creating backgrounds, embossing and scenes. They will layer up really nicely and I can see myself using these a lot. I also grabbed the 'Scripty Congrats' die, love that sentiment. And I couldn't pass up the 'Thinking about you' border. I just love how they stretch across the entire front of a card.

So I hope you enjoyed seeing what I bought, I can't wait to start playing with them! I'll be sure to come back & share some of my creations. Happy scrapping!

Mini waterfall folio

My lovely Hubby organised a day out on Sydney Harbour at Fort Dennison with his Parents for Mothers Day. I wanted to commemorate the day with a mini album for my Mother in Law. I used Ginger Ropp's 'waterfall folio' idea & came up with a larger version to accomodate 6x4 photos. This is what I created.

Ink smooshing

So over this long weekend I wanted to try a new technique called 'ink smooshing'. I believe Laura Bassen (you can find this talented lady on You Tube) coined the phrase. It is a gorgeous way to add watercolour (or in my case, watered down distress ink) to a card, whilst maintaining some control.. I hope you like my first attempt!

Thickers organisation

Thickers... I can never seem to get enough of them! But I have found that over time the packaging rips & the letters end up everywhere! This led me to a mission of finding a better way to sort, store & organise my collection. Who knew there was such a thing as thinkers storage pockets? I was thrilled to find these! I bought mine at wwww.papertrendz.com.au (just search for thinkers storage) at $5.95 a pack of 10, they were a great price! I can also highly recommend the communication & service at Papertrendz, well worth checking out!

Card making with Lawn Fawn

I have been having some fun with Lawn Fawn stamps & dies making some cards. As always, I couldn't resist using my wink of Stella clear glitter brush pen to add some sparkle & shine. I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out!

March Big Savvy Sketch / Scrap the Girls March challenge

OK, so I am on a roll today! I have had such a great day at my craft desk! Em was at her little friend's house.. Gus was finishing off our brand new letterbox, cleaning the pool & mowing the lawn.. And Me? Well (aside from the washing & cooking..lol) I got to spend some "Me" time at my craft desk. I have been enjoying getting inspiration from some awesome challenge blogs. This one is from the www.scrapbooksavvy.com.au March Big Sketch Challenge. http://www.scrapbooksavvy.com.au/blog/?p=1807 I had a pic of Em & her little Friend Scarlett I wanted to scrap, and this sketch was just perfect! I figured, while I am at it, I may as well kill 2 birds with one stone right? So... I also used the criteria from the "Scrap the Girls" March challenge of using a heart &/or doily (which, lets face it would probably have happened anyhow!). I enjoyed using the SU! Inks and trim, as well as the 'gorgeous grunge' stamp set. It's so cool! A bit of "Knee highs & bow ties", Washi, Thickers & Kaiser flower ribbon.. as well as some buttons & MME enamel dots. It was so much fun & really quick to put together! Here is what I came up with:

some cards

Here are some cute cards I made today for someone special! I have been you tubing.. (best inspiration ever!) and came across Kristina Werner. I got the idea for the rainbow card from her. I think it turned out ok? Not too bad for a first go :)

Bella is One

I thought I would share a LO I did a little while ago. It is of a fantastic day we had at the Manly Dam for our gorgeous Niece Bella's first birthday. I wanted this to be very girly & vintage.. my favourite style to scrap. And what a beautiful subject!