Happy Halloween! - BoBunny DT

For most New Zealanders Halloween is not something we really celebrate - we have the odd trick or treaters knock at the door but thats about it.  I do have some friends though that love it and really get into it.  So this post is for them and those of you out there that celebrate Halloween.

BoBunny's range this year was pretty cool, even if Halloween does'nt really float my boat I can still appreciate the colours and art behind it.  This range had loads of lime green, purple, orange and black with everything you would associate with Halloween; bats, skulls, skeletons, spiders and tombstones.
I decorated some Kaisercraft wooden letters, firstly BOO! which you can see here on the BoBunny blog.

I then decided to decorate some more letters spelling WICKED! This time I made use of the chipboard embellishments and the decorative elements on the papers - another words  lots of fussy cutting!

I chose to photograph each letter individually because too much detail was missing when photographed as a group - they are left singular to display on the mantle over the fireplace, or they could be strung together like BOO has been.

 

Some of the layered stickers and chipboard I have altered.  Just because something is presented in whatever way I reckon does'nt mean it has to stay like that, afterall is'nt that what creativity is all about?  On the E the trick or treat tombstone was attached to three chipboard banners, I just removed them and saved them for later use; the dimensional October 31 sticker was actually a tag, I just cut that section off; on the C the skull beware sticker was part of a yellow background, and I cut that off as well, the banners underneath were'nt actually banners they were tags attached to a much larger tag - part of the Noteworthy collection - I cut off the larger tag and made the remaining tags into banners.  Nothing often looks as it seems ;)
Both of these are winging their way to some friends as I type this, I hope you like :)
Happy Halloween everyone!

Scrappin Patch Retreat

Back in September I was teaching a class at Scrappin Patch Retreat.  Its the second time Ive taught a class there - the venue is at Glentui, out the back of Oxford nestled in the hills, its just beautiful with spectacular views and absolutely delicious food :)
Anyway, back to class!  This time people were asking for heritage layouts so I chose to use Kaisercraft 75cents and created two layouts.  Usually layouts of mine have heaps of flowers which makes the cost per page high, but this time I purposely did'nt want to do that.  I really wanted to show how to use the Collections pieces and not just using them as they are.  I got a bit carried away with all the layering lol and one layout had 21 pieces of collections on it!

This layout is the culprit, 21little items layered in there!  The photo is my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother on the train to Kaikoura, the person you can see in the background is my mum :)

The second layout I made for a friend of mine, and Ive attached a tag in behind the photo for him to place his journalling of his Great-Grandfather during WWI.

This was a small class this time, just 9 pupils which was probably just as well separating out all those Collections items and then layering them all!  They all got a wee treat as well thanks to a very generous friend who created cupcakes for all of them - themed just for me, blue icing and little paws - blues my favourite colour and we have two little white fur babies :)

And the little gift bags Francine helped me to get done :) to put them in.  Can I just say the cupcakes were absolutely devine!!

Here at the attendees - great bunch of ladies to teach :)

Ive been asked to teach again at retreat next year in May, which Im thrilled about!  Its a great place to crop with a nice friendly atmosphere.  At the moment Im deciding on whether to do two or one class, mini album or layouts, or one of each - decisions decisions!

Thanks for popping by!

Zip-A-Dee Doodle - BoBunny DT

I love the 70's which is no surprise since I was born during that era.  The fashion style does'nt do anything for me at all! but I love the patterns and the music.  LOVE the music! :)  Bit of a bone of contention when Forbes and I go away, he hates it, he's into the 80's - yick!
The Zip-A-Dee Doodle collection reminded me of that with its doodles and paisley patterns.  It does'nt have  that eclectic mix of colours that you would associate with that era but it does have my all time favourite colour, blue and Forbes's favourite colour, green so its gotta be good right?!  Of course, those of you who know me know Im really not a doodle chick, Im a neat freak, with just a tad of analness :)  yes Im happy to admit Im anal, about somethings!

This week its a card themed week over at BoBunny, with Sunday 29th Sept being international card making day.  This week we are bringing you a whole range of ideas using the different collections - there'll be something there for everyone!

I used the Collage sheet of paper for both my cards - I had spotted this saying on the reverse and thought it was a perfect 'cutesy' saying for Forbes's birthday card.  I might not have the perfect husband but he's always there for me when I need him.  I'ved fussy cut the white rectangle out from the green background paper and layered it onto chipboard, placing it off centre.  The heart and banner are also cut fussy cut from the same piece and layered with foam before adding a jewel, dimensional sticker and bakers twine in a double bow.

The second card I had in mind for a friends birthday - and before some of you get excited I have a few friends celebrating birthdays in the next month or so :)  so that will keep a handful of you guessing lol.   I wanted it to have feminine look to it, so out came the dies to make some flowers.  Ive used Tim Holtz's tattered florals and My Favourite Things and used double dot card stock.  I love this stuff it comes in a huge variety of colours with either a fine polka dot, stripe, flourish or heritage design.  The flatter flowers on the bottom of the cluster are a mixture of old and new BoBunny.

Ive done the same technique here, separating the base of the design from the white bracket, and then distressed the edges before popping it up with chipboard.
Rhonda, Ulrika and Ilene have created some equally fabulous cards, and you can see them here
Thanks for popping by!

Autumn Song - BoBunny DT

Ive been to that Typo shop AGAIN!  Seriously they have some cool stuff there just perfect for scrapping :) I saw this caddy there and realised when I got it home, and was trying to sort out what to scrap it with, thought it would go perfectly with Autumn Song and the bonus is I did'nt have to paint it!, the whole rough wooden look matches in with the paper really well.

So Autumn Song.  Its gorgeous!  Beautiful hues of reds, golds, greens and browns, true autumnal colours - reminds of Central Otago here in NZ, which is just gorgeous at that time of year.  Sadly this is probably a range that won't be bought in by retailers in NZ I don't think - I could be wrong, hoping I am! - mostly because its the wrong time of year for us, its spring here now, which is a shame its become one of my favourite ranges, and as bonus purely just for me, it contains my favourite colours :)  

So a few closeups of the caddy for you complete with mini gardening tools and coriander - I had no idea it came in purple too!

A smidgen of Dusty Attic and wooden Prima leaves.  The flowers are BoBunny, and to make them go further Ive split them in half.

Here Ive used one of my favourite stamps from BoBunny, the brick wall!  It comes with two others in the set, wooden fence palings and cobble stones.

 And a simple tag with the perfect sentiment to finish!
Thanks for popping by :)

San Francisco - BoBunny DT

Way back in 2004 my sister asked if I was interested in going to San Francisco for a couple of weeks holiday.  I was soooo keen it was'nt funny!  All the travelling I did in my twenties I loved but had never been to the States before,  and San Francisco was just one on my wish list to visit.  She wanted to go in November just before Thanks Giving did I have any issues with those dates?  No, could'nt think of anything, so we booked the tickets.  And then I remembered..................................my first wedding anniversary was Nov 29th!!!  Thankfully I have a very understanding husband because the tickets were non-refundable, non-transferable, and it could've turned into a bit of a nightmare!  9years later and I still had'nt got round to scrapping those photos :(  and then BoBunny asked me to create my first project using travel as my theme, problem solved!  

So what to do?  Well, you need a suitcase don't you?  So I covered a wooden box I found at Typo, and added a strap of leather to make my handle.  I also wanted it to be a battered suitcase.  The papers I picked were from the The Avenues range and Double Dot Vintage.

Ive used BoBunny texture stamps to create the water mark effect  and inked around the edges with Frayed Burlap distress ink.

On the inside of the lid I created an 'pocket' to hold brochures and postcards that I had purchased.  Ive also added a custom made envelope from the The Avenues papers to store the extra photos I had.

On the cover I have split the flowers to make them go even further, and used the new Kraft collection embellishments, wooden clocks.

Bubba Gump's restaurant in Monteray Bay was very cool, there was even a bench seat outside with Forrest's shoes and suitcase and box of chocolates - do you think I can find that photo?!!

Tip: change paper patterns to suit your own needs.  This little pennant on the birdcage has been altered, by using a pennant from another page and placing it on top with some foam for dimension.  Now it says amazing, instead of love.  Perfect!

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.  I found this house fascinating, and the history behind its owner Sara Winchester quite sad.  Overcome with grief from the death of her baby daughter and 15yrs later her husband, Sara Winchester began building this house, and kept going for 38 years!  By the time she passed away, she had built, 160 rooms, nine kitchens, 10,000 windows, 47 fireplaces - no two carved a like.  There were a few quirks too; a spiral staircase has 42 steps, each two inches high.  Other stairways melt into blank walls.  A fascinating place to visit!

The next day we were off to the tourist attractions in San Francisco.  First stop was Alcatraz.  It opened as a federal penitentiary in 1934 and of the 1545 inmates who did time on Alcatraz, only a handful were notorious, one of them being Al Capone.  One of the bits of information I was amazed with was the families who lived there rarely locked their doors!  The average stay for an inmate was 8-10 years.

I had quite a few photos I wanted to include here, so I created a flap.

Golden Gate Bridge.  When we got to the view point to get a good photo, we found a group of highway patrol men gathered.  Perfect photo opportunity!  Their bikes looked just like they did in Chips!  remember that programme?

The Arts Centre. A glorious place, some amazing architecture, just beautiful.

Pop on over to the BoBunny blog today and you'll see another example of travel.  Tracee has done an awesome travel layout using Elf Magic.
Thanks for popping by :)

Its a BoBunny Christmas!

This past weekend I have been helping out teaching make n takes at Scrapfest by the Sea.  As well as sorting out those for the weekend I was also asked to create some Christmas decorations for display, because the weekend had a midwinter Christmas theme to it.  I tend to be a bit of a hoarder of Christmas papers and embellishments ;) yes I freely admit it lol :)

I ended up making quite a few things so I thought I'd show them to you in two posts, because theres a lot to show!  The first two are my favourites.

Ok, so the first is a 10x20" canvas using Kaisercraft wooden word.  Ive used papers from the Snowfall range from BoBunny - this was one of my absolute favourite ranges ever released! Why? Because it encompasses everything I love, Snowflakes!!! and glitter and the colour scheme, well it all just made swoon with delight :) - you'd think they made it just for me ;) lol.  I used eight papers to get three layers, tearing and ripping as I went popping doilies and snowflakes in the ripped sections as I went.  Some of those snowflakes are Kaisercraft, K&Co, Maya Road and Dusty Attic.  That large teal snowflake was a Christmas decoration I found at Spotlight, that I split in half, and theres BoBunny buttons scattered around too.

 And a few close ups for you.  Some of the chipboard I left 'naked' the rest I have either covered in glue and dipped in glitter, or embossed with white embossing powder.

 This snowflake Ive layered up with foam dots, and then added a BoBunny chipboard snowflake, - the embossing powder has ended up giving the chipboard a distressed look to it, not quite what I had in mind but it works!

The second one I have to show you is my other favourite.  Ive had a 7Gypsies house in my stash for a long time but never got around to doing anything with it.  I decided to have a go at turning it into a Christmas cottage, complete with trees and rambling vines.  Vines incidently are one of my all time favourite OTP embellishments!

The paper this time is really old, but still BoBunny of course ;)  its Noel - it has a lovely heritage feel to it.  Ive randomly stamped along all the edges of the house with a new brick stamp that BoBunny has brought out recently, and then attached the vines.

The little red berry mini vines can be found at Scrap it Simple, they've been handmade by Hilary and come in a packet of two - they are beautiful!

So theres the first few for you, I'll be back later with some more :)
Thanks for popping by!

A little of this and a little of that

Today I have a few things to share that have been gifts recently.  

The first is a Kaisercraft frame that I teamed with some old Websters Pages - this went in a completely different direction that what I had originally thought of but I love how it all came together in the end.  Ive painted the frame with gesso and then layered the paper so that all of the design was still there - this was'nt the plan either, but I could'nt bring myself to cut up the paper, it was just too gorgeous!  I cut the stacked the animals out twice before adhering them with foam tape  to given them a bit of dimension.  The rubon is an old Basic Grey, and Ive added some texture paste to a damask stencil on the background.  The white frame was just two pieces of scrap  chipboard stacked on top of each other, painted with gesso and stamped.

And heres the matching card with scraps made with the leftovers.

Another Kaisercraft frame this time with some old Prima papers combined with Kaisercraft corner flourishes and flowers - bit of a mixture of flowers lol, some Prima, BoBunny, and Manor House :)

This photo was taken when I did my trip to England last year - yet another thing to add to the list of things to do, scrap those photos!, and yet another two old paper collections have now bit the dust, I love it when I can finally use something Ive had for ages :)  course it also means I can go shopping ;)

An eventful week coming up for me, birthday cards to make, Scrapfest 'things' to finish, - can't show you those til next week ;) - more BoBunny goodness to share, and night shift starting tonight :(  And now I have the beginnings of a head cold, I hate that!

Thanks for popping by!