December Club Scrapp-it now Pages

Hi everyone and here's hoping you all had a very happy and safe Christmas!! I just wanted to come on quickly today and share some more of the pages I created using the December club kit. This kit was sooo much fun to use -

I love the photo's for this double page, I bought one of the jumbo crackers that is supposed to hold everything for one party. The kids had a ball playing with it and couldn't wait to get into the goodies once they finally broke it open!!

For my family, Christmas is usually heralded in by the arrival of Santa at the Christmas pageant. We always go in to see the pageant and usually leave straight away but this year we hung back and the girls got to meet some of the pageant characters!!

Christmas Wishes

Hi everyone,
2008 has been an up and down year for lots of reasons and circumstance, not just for Scrappit but our community here in Australia. At this time of year we celebrate Christmas and all the definitions of the season, I often think that it is also a time of reflection. A large portion of people will spend Christmas Day alone, perhaps without many of the physical things we take for granted, gatherings of loved ones, large meals with all the trimmings, laughter and love. New Year always gives us the opportunity to express resolutions - some harder to keep than others.
In 2009 perhaps we could aim for more tolerance, respect and understanding.
The team at Scrappit would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for your loyal support and we look forward to another exciting year in the Papercraft Industry.

Xmas Gift by Penny

Merry Christmas Everyone

I thought I’d take this week’s Inspiration date to share a little gift I gave to the ladies I work with.
Every year I have worked at my current job I have given the ladies a little handmade item as a special gift just from me. Although I think and think what I can do differently this year, I decided to fall back on a favourite Cookie recipe. I purchased some glass jars, plonked in a dozen or so cookies, attached my recipe with a picture included and tied it all together with a tag and a cookie cutter. Well, I have to admit I didn’t realise what a bunch of hungry people I work with when one of the ladies had half finished her jar within the same day. Trust me these are some seriously yummy cookies. Feel free to try them for yourself and see what I mean.

Choc Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease and line baking trays.
In a very large bowl cream together 500g butter, 1¼ cups castor sugar and 385g can Condensed Milk until light and creamy.
Add 6½ cups SR flour, 1pkt white choc bits and 2pkts dark choc bits and mix well. Using 1 tablespoon of mixture roll into balls. Place onto prepared trays and flatten slightly with a fork, leaving plenty of room for spreading.
Bake 16-19mins or until light golden. Allow to stand on the trays 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
Makes 100

Again, best of wishes for the festive season, stay safe and let those creative juices fly on your next scrapping project.

Penny

Shaving Cream card background

What do you think? When I first read in a magazine a couple of weeks ago about marbelling using shaving cream I thought the magazine was run by madmen but it actually works out really well. I've since played around with the technique and created an easier way of creating my backgrounds with acrylic paints instead of inks!!

To create –

1. Cover the base of your container with shaving cream and spread it so that it is roughly covering the bottom of the container by at least a centimetre.

2. Squirt paint over the surface of the shaving cream. I used 2 different coloured green but you could easily use more than two colours or even use different contrasting colours like red and green.

3. Use the back of your paint brush and swirl the colours together through the shaving cream until you are happy with the effect you are seeing.

4. Place you card flat on top of the shaving cream mix and gently press the card onto the surface of the mixture. Using both hands, lift the card straight up and place onto a flat surface. Use the scrapper to gently scrape away the excess mixture on your card to reveal a swirly paint effect on your surface, much like marble.

5. Leave to dry thoroughly then use to create your card.

Heidi Swapp

Hi everyone,
Well I don't normally post these sort of things, but I did want to share with you a couple of images. We were entertained by the beautiful Heidi Swapp last night, who guided us through a delightful and very inspiring workshop in Surrey Hills (Melbourne). Thank you to both Heidi and Chanel for organising this event it was wonderful and went far far too quickly.

Card Class

Card Class - January 10th 2009 at 1.00pm
A beautiful selection of general cards - 10 per kit using Basic Grey Eva Collection. Everything is supplied in the kit. Cost: $20.00 Time: 1.00pm Sharp. Bookings Essential - call 9749 1006 to reserve your seat.

December Scrap-it-now Sneaky

Its nearly that time and I've been working hard to get out my share of the goodies for the newsletter!! While I havent managed to get everything finished as yet I did manage to make a little something and took some quick pics to give everyone a taste!!

I can't wait to be able to share this in all its glory - not long now I guess!!

Canberra Album with Tag by Penny

Hello Everyone

Back in week 23 of the Elsie Flannigan challenges, the Design Team were asked to create our own buttons. I created a small tag to go with an album I've been meaning to do since our family trip to Canberra last July.

As promised, I completed my 8x8 album a little while ago and thought I'd share it today. I started with the Album cover and inserted my cover page photo and attached my tag.

To help the album progress quickly, I stuck to the same type of theme for every page. I inked the backgroud page and stitched a piece of cardstock and patterned paper. I chose a range of papers by My Mind's Eye to help the papers blend together. I also kep the font on my journalling the same for every page to continue the theme throughout. Although each days siteseeing experience is slightly different from the next, the whole album still carries the theme from page to page.

Here's a small selection of the pages within my album.

I completed this 8x8 album over a weekend and although the inking and stitching did take some time, overall I was very pleased with the outcome. Some basic staples ie blending the theme over the entire album with some minor changes per page/trip/item, 4x6 photos, brads, rubons, flowers and journaling and your album is complete.

Till next week

Penny

November Club Pages

Have you had a look at this months Club pack yet? They are really pretty papers that are very versatile and easy to use with a really wide variety of photo types. I chose to use most of my pack to create a photo carousel. You can see photo's of the completed carousel in the club newsletter along with instructions for how I completed mine!!
In addition to the carousel I also created 3 pages with the left over papers. Here they are -

Candle Soot & Stamping Technique

Today I thought I would share a technique that I spotted on the web some time back and that I've finally had a chance to finish off into an actual project!

I know this particular Christmas card is not 'traditional' in any way - infact I don't think I've ever created a black Christmas card BUT I must say that I am pleased with the results and of course ANY themed stamp can be used for this technique as well!

I used a little Kaisercraft pattern paper, some silver stickers, a little silver thread, some bling and a stamped 'soot' image on the above card!

To create the 'soot' image you'll need a lit candle, white glossy paper, versamark ink, a rubber stamp and a can of matt clear sealer!

The technique involves standing a lit candle in your kitchen sink - or some place else that is safe, particularly if your glossy paper ends up catching on fire - we don't need any accidents! Hold the glossy side of your paper horizonatally over the flame - you'll actually need to have the top of the flame touching your glossy paper BUT keep it moving so that it doesn't catch on fire. You'll quickly notice how 'soot' will start collecting on the surface of your glossy paper.

NOTE: Make sure you actually create a 'sooted' area that is larger than the image you want to stamp - this way you can pick the best area to stamp on AND later, cut the image to your chosen size more easily as well. Continue moving your glossy paper about in the candle flame until you are happy with the coverage you have created. Remember you don't need to have a thick layer of 'soot' on your glossy paper, a little variation in the coverage will add to the overall finished result!

Now carefully lay your 'sooted' paper face up on your work surface, being VERY careful that you do not touch any portion of the 'soot' because it will immediately come off and you'll end up with black fingers!

Next, take your selected stamp and press it onto a Versamark Ink pad until you have an even coverage - then, carefully stamp your image onto the 'soot' surface of your glossy paper. What will happen is that your stamp will 'pick up' some of the black, leaving behind a negative image of your chosen stamp! Pretty cool huh! I have read that some people don't use any ink on their stamp BUT I found I got the clearest and best images when I used a little Versamark Ink on my stamp - try it both ways yourself and see which way you prefer!

All you need to do then is to give your image a coating of matt clear sealer to fix the 'soot' and to protect the image from smudging - I actually applied two thin layers, allowing each one to dry thoroughly inbetween.

I then simply cut my image to size, applied a little Christmas bling to the tree branches and then added it to my card!

So what do you think? Have you tried this technique before? I'd love to see your results of playing around with 'soot' - please make sure you share them in the Scrappit Gallery with us!

Have a wonderful day!

Shirley