BITW & Scrapmatts Challenges

Hi Girls,

Well I have two challenges to share with you today.  First up is the new word for Bird is the Word which is:

Journey

To play, all you have to do is use the word somewhere on your creation.  There is also an optional sketch from the talented Mary Thomas to inspire you.  Pop on over and check out the gorgeous creations from the DT to get the juices flowing.

Family: A journey to forever

Here is my take on this fortnight's word.  I have used it in my title and my journaling to convey how this old pic taken of my babies when they were just 2 & 4.  This pic just melts my heart and is one of my favs, as I don't have many of my children when they were young.  I used some Simple Stories - Generations and some old Scenic Route for my pp's.  Went for a bit of an old world feel with some antique lace, a couple of crochet doilies and my fav Martha Stewart butterfly punch with some bronze filigree butterflies from my2angels and some pretty micro chippy flourishes from Scrapmatts.

Sketch created by: Mary Thomas

Scrapmatts February Challenge

It's All About LOVE
Well this month is my turn to host the challenge, and I am hoping you will be inspired to play along and get the chance to win a fabulous prize of a $25 Scrapmatts gift voucher.

How to Play:
As February is the month of love, I decided to have a word challenge. Use the word "LOVE" anywhere on your LO, card, ATC or OTP. The word can be in your title, journaling or on an embellishment. You don't have to create a romantic page, as you could use the word to convey something you love to do, to eat, to wear... the ideas are endless!!

I also have 2 other criteria for this challenge which are:

1. Have a heart (can be more than 1) somewhere on your project
2. To use some paint on your creation also.

To be eligible to win the prize, your creation MUST also use some Scrapmatts.  Members need to upload their entry into the gallery by the end of the month and call it 'February Challenge'.  Check out the gorgeous examples from the DT girls HERE for some inspiration.  Can't wait to see how you all interpret the challenge.. good luck!!

Cherish

I went for a very feminine LO (surprise surprise) and decided to use a pic of me and my DH taken when we were dating and I was 19... OMG, such a long time ago!!  I used quite a few different Scrapmatts chippies on this page... Heart Frames 01 and 04, Keys 01 and Assorted Words 03.  The word love was used on my heart embellishment and I used paint on my masking and to alter my chippies.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and leave some love.  Your comments really make my day!!

Cathy :))

A Bit of This and a Bit of That - Scrapmatts

Hi Girls,

This month my creations for Scrapmatts are a little bit of everything. I have a Canvas, some cards and a L/O to share.

The Voice of the Sea

First up is a LO of a recent photo of Brittany taken at Omapere Beach in New Zealand.  I created this LO with the gorgeous Shells 01 chippies (CB6061), which of course are perfect for those beach photos. These came in the mist colour, so I left them as is and just highlighted with some Ranger liquid pearls.  Used some of my old Webster's stash for this one.


Cooking is Love Made Visible

Decided to have a go at making a little canvas as a gift for a friend who loves anything retro, using Kitchenware 06 and 07 chippies (CB5073 and CB5074). I inked the chippies then coated with 3D Paper Tole Gloss. These chippies went beautifully with some of my old stash from Graphic 45 and Websters.

Best Friends

My sister turns 50 tomorrow, so I have made this pretty card using the Federation Corners 03 (CB1127) and Butterflies 18 (CB1028) which came in the mist colour and went beautifully with the Kaiser Sweet Nothings pp's... LOVE this paper range!!

Just My Cup of Tea

This sweet little card was made using Tea Set 01(CB1141). I painted the teapot and teacup cream, added some pretty floral pp, lightly inked around the edges to give a little dimension and added a pearl on the lid. I mixed some Websters pp's with a gorgeous Crafty Secret vintage image and a pretty layered butterfly from K&Co.

Love Ewe

Lastly, a cute card for Valentine's Day using the Heart Frame 07 (CB5055) which was altered with some pink Smooch ink and red Ranger Stickles. The cute stamp is an oldie but a goodie from Unity Stamps.

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving some love.

Cheers
Cathy :)) 

White With 1 Jan Challenge

Hi Girls,

Happy Australia Day... hope you all have a fabulous day!!  It's been very busy here as I've had a lot going on and haven't had much time to scrap other than commitments for next month, but I decided to stay up last night and spend a bit of time scrapping and created a LO for this month's White With 1 challenge, which is:

WHITE + LIME GREEN + BUTTONS

A Beautiful Life

Love the contrast of white with lime green.  I wanted the focus to be on this lovely photo of Brittany which I took recently, so I used a gorgeous chippie frame from Scrapmatts to draw the eye.  I painted the frame green and accented it with some flowers, muslin, sweet pearl buttons and a few Scrapmatts flourishes.

My mojo has been a bit sluggish lately, so I was pleasantly surprised with how this page came out.

A couple of Sneaks

Will be around in the next few days, checking out all your beautiful blogs and leaving some love. Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving some love.  Your beautiful comments really make my day :))


Cathy :))

Bird Is The Word - Remember

Hi Girls,

This fortnight's word at Bird is the Word is "Remember".  Just use the word on your LO, Card or OTP creation in your title or journaling.  Pop on over and check out the amazing creations from our super talented Design Team for some inspiration, and you also have the option of using a fab sketch designed by Mary Thomas.

Remember, You Are My Most Favourite Memory

When we were overseas recently my SIL pulled out some old photos of the kids I had sent to her years ago.  This was one I just had to copy, and I couldn't wait to scrap those cheeky little faces.  I think the kids were 4 and 6 years old here and so darn cute.  I have used some gorgeous Crate Paper pp's which of course I had to fussy cut and the background is an old Bo Bunny paper.  The little chippie hearts are from Scrapmatts and I just left them raw and backed them with some pp.  I have been seeing the torn and folded edges on some gorgeous creations from Melinda Thompson and Julie Winks for a while now and was inspired to use this technique on my LO... I love how it came out!

Designed by Mary Thomas

(Use of sketch is optional)

Guest Designers

BITW will now have guest designers!! I think this will be a super fun opportunity for all of us to meet some new people and get some fresh ideas.  The winners will get to be a guest designer for a word to be announced one month from their winning entry....this means the guest designers will get one month to work on their layouts or projects. We are also going to have a random guest designer position as well. I will randomly choose a winner from the ended challenge to be a guest designer too!! Being a guest designer is optional and is not a requirement, so if you do not have time or do not wish to participate, feel free to say no.

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving some love.  Your comments really make my day.

Cathy :))

A Couple of Cards + Scrapmatts Jan Challenge

Only a couple of cards to share at the moment as I am catching up on some DT creations which I can't share just yet.



16th Birthday Card

A birthday card created for one of Brittany's girlfriends for her 16th birthday using a funky grungy girl stamp from Green Pepper Press and some MME Lost & Found 6x6 paper pad and bit of BG Boxer from my old stash.

Brittany has quite of few birthday's to attend of late. One for twins who turn 17 and one for triplets who will be turning 18, so I will have a few cards to share this coming month.

Scrapmatts January Challenge

This month at Scrapmatts our challenge is by the talented Ilene Tell is to create a card that uses black Scrapmatts chipboard. Of course this can be chipboard that came in black already, or one that you color black using any method you like. See....super easy!! And at the end of the month, a winner will be picked and will get $25 gift certificate to Scrapmatts.

Here is my take on the challenge with a quick masculine card using the Penny Farthing chippie in black (CB1012), which I altered with a BG sticker and some red buttons.  The pp's are from Simple Stories Destination range and I also used a Sizzix gears embossing folder for a little texture.

A Couple of  Sneaks

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving some love, your comments really make my day :))

Scrapmatts - More Christmas Creations

This month at Scrapmatts the theme is still Christmas and I have a few creations to share with you.  Don't forget you still have time to enter Angella's 12 Days of Christmas challenge to be in the running for a $25 Scrapmatts chippie voucher.  Pop on over to the blog site for details.

Noel

As you may have noticed from previous projects I created last month, I am just loving the Christmas bauble chippies and I have used them on a LO this time.  They went so perfectly with the Fancy Pants pp, that I had to use them.  I used some stickles glitter glue and a pearl to alter them and topped them with a twine bow.  The sweet angel charming chain is handmade by Tracy at my2angels.

Poinsettia Christmas Tree

I'm sure you all know by know how much I love flowers, so when I got my hands on some of these cute poinsettia blooms I thought I would use them to decorate the fabulous Scrapmatts Christmas Tree OTP chippie.  I painted the tree green then coated with Jo Sonja Opal Dust and used some gold glitter glass to make the star sparkle.  To give an overall soft and pretty look, I backed the flowers with some distressed muslin and placed them randomly on the tree, then twined some strips of red tulle to fill in the spaces.

Christmas Robin Card

I used a gorgeous Scrapmatts frame for this card and just highlighted it with pearls and a pretty Christmas robin which I hand cut and layered, then added a Martha Stewart border punch around the card to tie in with the frame.

Joy Card

On this card I used the Joy chipboard words which I inked in gold.  I layered different flowers and added some berries and a gold button to make a beautiful focal point on the white card.


Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving some love.  Your comments really make my day :))

Bird is the Word - WISH

Have been a bit absent of late as my mojo has been very low and I spent most of last week at the Craft and Quilt Show in Brisbane doing demonstrations for Sofie and Andrew at Scrapmatts.  Had a lot of fun and met so many lovely ladies, and I was able to see all the gorgeous creations from the Scrapmatts Design Team up close... they are such an amazingly talented bunch of girls!!

The new word is up at Bird is the Word which this fortnight is WISH.  All you have to do is use the word WISH on your project somewhere in your title or journaling and link it up at BITW for your chance to win a gorgeous kit from Wendy at Tidbitz In Time.  All featured winners will receive a special badge for their blog.  There is also a fab sketch from Mary Thomas (optional) which you can use to get the creative juices flowing.  Pop on over and check out all the gorgeous examples from the Design Team for some inspiration.

The winners for the YOU & ME challenge will be released next Sunday.

You Are My Wish Come True

Used some of the yummy MME Lost & Found II papers for this LO and made a cluster with some Prima flowers which I jazzed up with some raffia to add a bit of texture and the most gorgeous little glass ladybird pin from Tracy at my2angels.

(Sketch use is not required to win the challenge)

I'm off to catch up on a some DT work which will keep me busy for the week, but I promise I will be taking some time to stop your blogs and leave a little love during the week.

Cheers

Cathy :))