Our Scrapbooking Retreat: 20 May to 24 May 2016

Happy Wednesday Everyone,


I finally feel like I am back in the land of the living.  I do it every time my group of friends gets together for a scrapbooking/papercraft retreat.  I stay up for ridiculous amounts of hours without any sleep and then I get home and crash and burn.  Today though I can say I am back!!!

I thought I would share with you a few photos from our retreat.  It runs from Friday afternoon, and for those who wish to stay we stay until Monday morning.  We fully cater and clean up ourselves but we have the entire centre to ourselves for the entire weekend.

Here are a few photos of our shannigans.  We do a theme night on the Saturday and this time was Black and White with a splash of colour.  Some of us dress up and have heaps of fun.

Friday night shannigans - well, this was the wee hours of saturday morning when all the other girls had gone to bed.  We had a newly formed 'group' of ladies who called themselves U.L.P which stands for 'United By Photography'.  We decided to turn their area into a P.U.B.  Here we are creating havoc!!

This is the lovely Lesa one of our Scrap Retreats founders.  Lack of sleep on the friday night / saturday morning had her making concrete angels on the floor.  Please note, very little alcohol has been consumed :)

Saturday night has brought out our theme night of Black and White with a splash of colour.  Here are our main participants to dressing up :)

 Our Card Mafia girls as the Penguins from Madagascar

We even had Beetlejuice (aka Tanya Weier) with his wife Barbra (aka Lesa Bird)

 Some of the Craft Alliance girls - Lesa, Tracey, me and Ellie

 Mother Superior (that's Me) with Barbra (my sister-in-law Lesa)

 Our two mimes - Tracey Rohweder and Ellie Corbett

Our very own Zebra - Tracey Cooley - retreat founder

Such an amazing retreat. I even got to create some pages.  I also did a couple of cards, an OTP and a layout for the Couture Creations Design Team (you'll have to wait for that one :)  and of course there were a few unfinished as I couldn't pack the kitchen sink so the finishing touches will have to wait.

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you got a little laugh from our dress up photos.

Ciao for now,

Anita

Trinket Box

Hi Everyone,

I have had a lot of fun with my creation for the Couture Creations blog.  I don't do much off the page work but I had a raw MDF box with lid sitting in my cupboard for ages.  And of course we have the perfect collection at the moment to use, Magnolia Lane,  and it came out better than expected.

I lightly sanded the mdf box and then painted it in a very pale pink.  I jut kept adding white paint until I got the colour I wanted.  Once dry I cut papers, Fancy Floral, to cover the top and sides.

I then stamped the top and sides of the box with a script stamp from my collection.  Using texture paste I then added a 3d affect to the paper.

 Next I die cut about a dozen leaves from the rose cutting die set in white pink and black.  I did the same with the flower from the same set. I heat embossed the leaves with a clear powder to give them a gloss, and layered the flower mixing up the colours.

I blinged up two of the paper magnolia flowers using pink and black glitter.  Then added some white glitter over the top to soften the black a little. I found a metal bee in my stash and covered it with gesso.  Whilst both were set aside to dry I attached the leaves to the lid of the box.

To the outside sides of the box I added both some venetian lace that I had and some of the black lace from the Magnolia Lane collection.  I added some more of the black lace to the inside of the box.  I also chose one of the ladies from the Pretty Patches paper to the inside bottom on the box and edge it with some pearls.

Build up your flowers and add them on top of the leaves on the lid.  I used some pink Inka Gold paste to colour my bee and used a hot glue gun to attach it to the lid. Finally I added a few pink and black flowers from my stash and it was done.  

Products 

ULT157489 Magnolia Lane - 12x12 patterned paper - Floral Fancy

 ULT157507 Magnolia Lane - Black Decorative Lace Ribbon

ULT157508 Magnolia Lane - Paper Magnolias

ULT157523 Magnolia Lane - Rose Cutting

Thanks for stopping by

Couture Creations 2016/17 Design Team Audition

I have to say that I am loving the opportunity to apply again for the Couture Creations Design Team. I have spent the last year cultivating my creative flair and working outside of my comfort zone and that is due to being part of such an amazing team and working with some truly awesome women. For that I have to thank everyone at ArtDeco Creations for the privilege of working on the 2015-2016 Design Team.

I love that they are an Australian company, so I get to support Australian craft! The products are amazing and of great quality so it is and has been a pleasure to work with them.

Enough said.... Below are my five designs that showcase my use and love of Couture Creations products. 

For my 1st Creation I have used the stunningly beautiful Australiana collection by Ultimate Crafts and designed by Denise Boddey. I have used a mix of dies from both current and past Couture Creations collections. Using some machine stitching, fussy cutting, ribbon and a hessian flower rounds off my card.

My 2nd Creation is a layout that I have done of my cute niece Lilli. I have played around with gesso, paint and texture paste making my own stencil using one of my Couture Creations dies.

 

I am so so in love with the Magnolia Lane Drifting Feather that it has once again appeared in a layout. You will also notice that I have used some of the Ultimate Crafts Quick Release paper in the background.

My 3rd Creation is a mini canvas. I am enjoying using mixed media on some of my projects and now starting to feel more confident using them. This project is definitely out there, but I love the colour combination of the blue with the purple.

Magnolia Lane has some stunning dies and I love the leaves that are part of the Rose Cutting set. All the leaves were heat embossed using several different colours of embossing powder. I added some Inka Gold to the leaves and other areas to soften and blend some of the colours.

 

The 4th Creation is a wedding invitation and place setting combination using a couple of dies.  I have my younger brother's upcoming wedding in October as my inspiration as I can see their wedding being a very classy and elegant affair. The use of gold with navy is extremely striking.

My 5th and Final creation my second layout for the Design Team call. 
I have continued my love of texture paste on this layout. The Petite Doilies dies have been enhanced with stamping and then embossed.

  
Below are a couple of photos showing the detail on the doilies that line the bottom of the layout.

More Creations
I have also included a couple of other creations that I have done during the last 6 months, including a few of my favourite Design Team creations from last year that I did.

Thank you so much for taking the time to view my Audition. I have loved creating everything you see.
I would feel so blessed to be part of the 2016-2017 Design Team team. I truly love this company and their wonderful ranges of products.

I would also like to wish everyone that applies the very best of luck. Maybe one day we could be working together creating some amazing projects.

Ciao,
Anita E