Bella BLVD | Saturday Sketch...

Just a quick post here to let you know that Bella BLVD has the first Saturday Sketch for March, up on the blog today.

 

"Beach Party"

 

products used: cs - Kaisercraft; Bella BLVD - Sand & Surf: Borders, Surfs Up, Paradise, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Ciao Chip Icons; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Saltwater; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Oyster; High Five Alpha Stickers: Gulf; Designer Tape: 12mm combo; tools - machine stitching, black pen.

I've played with the beautiful Sand & Surf paper collection.  Absolutely ideal to document my daughter's beach themed, swimming carnival.

 

 

Head on over to Bella BLVD today to check out which amazing DT members played along.  Thanks for visiting..x

 



Bella BLVD | Splash...

Hello Friends!  phew.  So far we have had a very busy week-end in the Allinson household and it is still early morning here on a Sunday!  lol!  Tahlia has now finished up her dance commitments for another year and we can finally relax and not worry about getting to dance 3-4 times a week! yay!  Last night she had her final dance concert.  It was a beautiful tribute to her teacher who, after six years of teaching Tahlia to dance, is leaving to go to the US.  *very sad face*

 

Anyway... Today I wanted to share a little Bella BLVD.  The Saturday Sketch is live and I got the chance to play along!

 

 

Here's my take on the sketch...

 

 

"Splash"

 

products used: cs - Stampin' Up, Kaisercraft; pp - Bella BLVD (Kiss Me); alpha - Bella BLVD; other - Bella BLVD: designer tapes & stickers; tools - typewriter, machine stitching, black pen.

 

 

 

 

I've turned the sketch on it's side and created a feature out of the designer tapes.  The tapes were adhered to white cardstock before being added to the layout.  If you would like to see a few more details, head on over to the Bella BLVD website. 

 

Thanks so much for visiting..x

 

 





Stuck?! | Little Fish...

Hi Everyone!  Have you all been playing along with Stuck?! Sketches??  I just wanted to let you know that the mid-month sketch is now available to inspire you all! 

 

 

And here is my layout...

 



"Little Fish"

products used: cs - Stampin' Up, Kaisercraft; pp - American Crafts (Dear Lizzy); alpha - American Crafts thickers, Carolee's Creations tiny alphas; other - Greatest View sequins, Dear Lizzy pinwheel, Bella!/Ruby Rockit cardstock stickers; tools - corner rounder, machine stitching.

I wanted to create a sunburst in the patterned paper space on the sketch.  This still gave me some room to have my white space below.

I quickly snapped this photo of Cameron as he got out of the pool from his swimming lesson! hee hee.. It was a bit of a covert operation as no photos are allowed.  But since I was taking a photo of my son only.. I thought I could get away with it just this once!  *smile*  Do you know how hard it is not to be able to take a photo of your kids and their milestones!!! I struggle with this one every week.  Still, this is the only photo and I have none of Ethan at his swimming lessons.

Anyway... Getting back to Stuck?!  :)  I hope you get to play along this month, because there are some wonderful prizes up for grabs.  Thanks for visiting..x

 

 

Stuck Sketches...

Hi Everyone!  What a whirlwind week it has been!  I have spent the last three days at the Brisbane Quilt and Papercraft Fair helping out at The Papercraft Hub's stand.

There were so many beautiful things to see!  Including the "wall of washi" tape I was standing next to for some of the time!  *grin*  Also, don't forget about the Design Team call over at The Papercraft Hub.  The call finishes soon and I don't want you to miss out!

 

........................................................

But today I want to share my layout created for the mid month Stuck?! Sketches challenge.  Here is the sketch...

 

 

and my layout...

 

 

"Bookends"

 

products used: cs - kaisercraft; pp - Bo Bunny, American Crafts; alpha - American Crafts (Amy Tangerine); other - Greatest View sequins, Bo Bunny brad, vellum, ink (versacolor), Mister Huey's color mist, staple; tools - Martha Stewart pinking circle, fiskars: small & medium circle punch, typewriter.

 

I have often referred to my eldest and youngest children as the bookends.  :) Not only do they have two other siblings (Liam and Ethan) between them, but Tahlia and Cam have the same hair and eye colouring as opposed to the other two.  hee hee... Does that make sense?  These two look alike, while the middle two resemble each other.  :)

As you can see from the sketch, I have really condensed it to suit my style.  Lots of layers and plenty of white space.

Please feel free to join in on the fun over at Stuck?!.  Paper Stories is this month's sponsor and there is a great prize up on offer!  So good luck if you are thinking of participating!  And thanks again for visiting..x

 

Create + Fancy That...

Remember that sneak from last week? 

Well... Today I can share the full reveal.  :)

{6}



products used:  cs - kaisercraft; pp - Pretty Little Studio, Nikki Sivils, Ruby Rock-it, Bella!, Jenni Bowlin; alpha - American Crafts; other - button (MME), kaisercraft: ribbon, ticket & doilies, maya road: flower & kraft calendar, string, staples, versacolor ink, martha stewart circle punch, jillibean soup: corrugated butterfly & butterfly pin, cupcake topper, typewriter, glimmermist.  FTD - delightful doily duo, fiesta flags.



 I've been playing with the Fancy That Dies from The Papercraft Hub.  In particular...  this one

and this one.  :)

I am loving the detail created from these dies!  I've chosen to use all three different patterns created from them but you could easily stick to just one die and repeat it again and again. 

Thanks for visiting..x

Create...

Here is a little share from Pretty Little Studio and one of the sneaks I released before I went away camping. :D

It comes with a step by step tutorial on how I created this zesty orange and lime layout!! hee hee..

[Just Come a little bit Closer]

products used: cs - kaisercraft; pp - PLS; alphas - AC fabric thickers, kaisercraft mini alphas; other - PLS: train ticket, clown tag, large boy word flashcard, funny talk journaling cards; maya road vintage stick pin; kaisercraft organza ribbon, rhinestones; jillibean soup label sticker; glimmermist (sunflower); tim holtz distress stain;  office date stamp; sharpie pen.

As you can see, I ran out of the letter "s" and substituted with an up-side down question mark!  Whatever works huh!?

Thanks for visiting..x

52 photos ... week 3

{The line in the sand}

We've been camping.  But it was camping in the hottest week of Summer so far!  Thank goodness we went to a large body of water... Wivenhoe Dam.  And the kids were incredibly eager to get in the water.  Most of them would have stayed in there all day long.  If allowed.  But like I mentioned... It was the hottest week of our Summer so far and that meant sun safety.

Swimming was encouraged.  Oh!  It was definitely encouraged.  On the first day of setting up in 40+ degree heat, I think we all got into the water with the clothes we were wearing!  We went through litres of sunscreen.  And the hats had a massive workout.  But... during the hours of 10.30am til 3pm, there was strictly no swimming allowed.  The sunlight reflecting and bouncing off the water would have had us severely sun burnt within the first five minutes.

So we drew a line in the sand... sort of!  LOL!  We set up a large shade area down by the waterline and used the shadow it cast, as the barrier to which the kids could sit along and wait, not so patiently, until 3 o'clock.

On this day, it was sweltering.  They were all lathered up with sunscreen ready to go and watching the water and the time closely.  In fact, I got so tired of somebody asking me what time it was (and they started at approximately 11.30am) I made a new rule.  Each time the question was asked, I add an extra five minutes of waiting time before they could enter the water.  The twist was, it was added to the group collectively.  Not individually!  LOL!! I think they made the wait time last an extra 40 minutes!! (But we didn't hold them to it!)...x

Spring waters...

You know it is Spring when the cool water beckons for you to make a splash...

... but even though it looks really tempting....  you still find yourself sitting on the edge of the pool...

because... the water's frigid temperatures are too icy to contemplate fully emerging yourself.  Unless of course, you are coerced, pushed or simply tricked into going under...

 

Then you have no choice but to toughen up and not act like a little princess (which is not a good thing in a household of mostly males!).  So you get on with the job of pretending the water isn't freezing and stay in the pool for at least... a full 10 minutes!!  LOL.

 Hope you are making a BIG splash of your own somewhere today!  Have a great one...x