Look Ma, I finally finished!

The scarf I have been knitting for my friend Liz, is finally finished. I used 4ply 100% wool from the Nundle Woollen Mill (a bundle of Nundle!) and a chevron pattern from a Jo Sharp knitting book.

I hope it keeps Liz's neck warm and cosy when she moves to New Zealand. Happy VERY belated birthday Liz :)

Inkurable twinchie

My entry for the November challenge at Inkurable Stampers (twinchie theme this month). It was very fun working in miniature. I used grungepaper for the window frame because it is thin enough to cut through easily with a craft knife, but more flexible and durable than normal cardstock and paper, and takes vintage photo distress ink beautifully too.

Here it is incorporated into a project- a Christmas decoration box.
Paper BasicGrey, stamps Paperartsy.

One stamp, four ways

I sat down this week with a new small set of Hero Arts stamps- Sparkle Clear Merry Christmas. These are the first four cards I have made with it.

This is the one I like the best I think:


The tree images, star and sentiment are all from this one mini set. I have posted tips and information about the techniques I used in this post at Scrapz.biz, where you can also purchase the set for yourself!

But in the meantime, here are a couple more tips from this card:

Use a fine brush and plain water to 'draw' a line along some patterned paper. Then tear it carefully and it will naturally follow the wet line. Much easier to control the tearing!

Make a DIY embossing buddy by sewing up a hankerchief into a pocket. Fill it with cornflour and sew up the last side. Swipe it over your cardstock and flick off excess before stamping and embossing. No more stray bits of embossing powder around the image.

Have yourself some merry Papertrey

After shedding many a sigh over the gorgeous stamp designs at Papertrey Ink, I finally managed to get my hands on some! I am IN LOVE with the whole "button bits" concept (stamp sets specifically designed for buttons to form part of the image).

I am really happy with the quality of the stamps and cardstock. The only real drawback is that they only sell direct, which mean MEGA shipping costs for those of us living outside the USA. If you are also a Papertrey Ink fan possibly interested in sharing orders of PTI products with other Aussie stampers to reduce shipping costs, then leave me a comment with a way to contact you.

L is for Letterpress

Have you heard about the new Letterpress from Quickutz? I was so tempted to order one a little while ago. The thing that stopped me in the end was the fact that you have to use it with their specially formulated paper. But I wouldn't complain if someone wanted to just GIVE me one. Like the folks at iDiY. The giveaway is here.

Sketch challenge

The new weekly challenges are up at Scrapz.biz now that The Scrapper of Oz has moved into finals mode!

This week I have done a layout based on a PageMaps sketch. If you like the sketch, why not do a quick layout and go into the running for a shopping voucher at Scrapz.biz? Details are here.

Kaisercraft advent calendar: FINISHED!!!

So here it is! I have left the center area almost completely blank b/c I will be putting nativity stickers in the drawers. Each day the boys will open a drawer and we will look up a verse of the bible related to the account of Jesus' birth and they can put the stickers in the middle. Some days they might even find something yummy in there too. Next year I can change what is in the center (I used repositionable tape).

Final thoughts:
pros
* quality of the materials used for the kit are very good
* I still really like the overall design
* Reasonable price
* Starting with a raw product means that your advent calendar is unique.

cons
* time- hard to know how long it took me in total to do this, but probably 10-12 hours with waiting time in between for paint to dry.
* NO INSTRUCTIONS (I'm sorry, am I repeating myself?)
* heavy item- if you are paying for shipping you might be charged extra.

My supplies:
Cosmo Cricket Early Bird collection, Reeves acrylic paints, thickers for some of the numbers & alpha, kraft cardstock, Papertrey Ink stamp (Silent Night set).

If you are interested in having bible verses as part of an advent activity, the verses I am using are below. We are only doing a 14 day countdown since 24 days is way too long for a 2 & 4 year old!

Thanks for taking the advent calendar journey with me :)

1) Micah 5:2 Bethlehem

2) Isaiah 9:6 Virgin with child

3) Luke 1:26-28 Gabriel

4) Luke 1:29-31 Mary troubled

5) Luke 1:32-33 Eternal kingdom

6) Matthew 1:18 Mary pregnant

7) Matthew 1:20- 21 Name Jesus

8) Luke 2:7 Manger

9) Luke 2:8-9 Shepherds

10) Luke 2:10- 12 Angels speak

11) Luke 2:13-14 Angels praise

12) Luke 2:15-16 Shepherds find Jesus

13) Matthew 2:1-2 Wise men see star

14) Matthew 2:10-11 Wise men give gifts

Kaisercraft advent calendar: part 3

We are in the home stretch now! It took me longer than I expected to paint, assemble and cover all the drawers (an estimate would be 6 hours) and even painting the shell was time consuming because of all the small corners. I am pretty happy with the result though, this is just a sneak peek :)

I used Cosmo Cricket Early Bird collection for the paper. It isn't a Christmas themed collection, but I really like the greens and red they used and the splashes of non- traditional blue and yellow.

So now it is time to tackle the final touches of numbers, the central blank area, any other embellishments and finally the contents and come back with some final photos!

And I should also note that Kaisercraft DOES give you an extra drawer to make mistakes on- you get 25, but only need 24- THANKS Kaiser! :)