Cheaper Than Therapy Challenge #23- My Creation and Challenge 24

I've gone all the way back to June 2000 for this week's Challenge. These are photos of Tim and I with my gorgeous cousin Abbey at my aunty and uncle's house in Laurieton. Abbey was one of our flower girls in January of that year, and was so cute! She is now a teenager, and is still ever so gorgeous.

The colours I have used are Stampin' Up!'s Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, and Orchid Opulence (retired). I have used a piece of Razzleberry Designer Series paper from the "Pocketful of Posies" pack as my background, and have stamped some flowers in Black ink on it. I have punched some flowers from Orchid Opulence Cardstock and "Cottage Wall" paper (retired), with the Boho Blossoms Punch. I added Rhinestone Jewels and ribbon roses for a bit of bling, and I even cut out two tiny butterflies from the "Cottage Wall" paper! Hope you like it!

Don't forget to check out what Maree and Adele have created.... and have a look at Nicola's creation- she is joining in our challenges from home- why don't you have a go too?

This week we are using another sketch from the wonderful Becky Fleck....I think we are slightly addicted to her sketches as well as greatly inspired by them. You may use whatever papers/colours/embellishments you have in your stash, so long as you follow the sketch:-

Have a great week,

Rach x

My Craft Room- Part 1

I often have people ask me about my craft room, and about storage ideas and how I store particular things, so I thought I would start giving you a tour of my craft room, and share some of my storage ideas with you! I have been busy since Christmas, using every spare minute re-organising my craft room, cleaning out (and re-selling unwanted items) my supplies, and re-organising my embellishments so that I can see them and remember to use them. My scrapbooking goal this year is to stop spending money (ha!) and use up all the beautiful embellishments I have in my collection. After searching high and low, I finally found some storage containers that were clear, a good size, and cheap enough to have one for every Stampin' Up! Colour plus extras for chipboard, tags, flowers and other embellishments. I bought these from K-Mart for only $2 for 3x 500mL containers; or $2 for 2x 700mL containers. I have arranged the ribbon/flower ones in colours, and I love the effect it gives- it brightens up my whole room, and I have used more embellishments in the last month than I did all of last year!

I call this my "EMBELLISHMENT WALL":

Above it is a decorated canvas that I hang samples of cards I have made on; and below it is a 2x4 Expedit shelf from IKEA (LOVE IKEA!!!!) with all my 12x12" papers and cardstock; as well as A4 Cardstock in clear plastic wallets for each colour.

Finally today I'd like to show you some wooden words that I painted my favourite colour (teal) and decorated. This is my craft motto (and is almost the same as the Stampin' Up! one coincidentally):-

They hang above the windows in my craft room, and above the beautiful Shadow box Butterfly frame that my bestie Maree made for me:-

Finally, I have just finished decorating this timber sign that another of my besties Nicola gave to me, but have yet to hang it on the wall:-

Hope this post leaves you feeling inspired!

Rach xx

Cheaper Than Therapy Challenge 22- My Creation; and Cheaper Than Therapy Challenge 23.

Challenge #22 was to use this sketch by Becky Fleck with Stampin' Up!'s Sale-a-bration Designer Series Paper "Everyday Enchantment". As my photos were landscape ones, I rotated the whole sketch clockwise 90 degrees, and here's what I came up with:

These photos are of my son Max and I when he was only two months old (April 2004). Max has just celebrated his 8th Birthday, so it was lovely to look back on how small he was (and how young I look- LOL!)

If you haven't already, pop over to see what Adele and Maree created with this sketch.

This week, we will be doing another Palette (#49) from the talented ladies at "The Colour Room" for our challenge:

 

Here is a closeup of the sketch....

Why not join in the fun and have a go yourself? Come back next Tuesday and see what Maree, Adele and I have come up with. Have a great week!

Cheaper Than Therapy Challenge 21- My Creation and Cheaper Than Therapy Challenge 22.

Here is my creation for Challenge 21:

And here is Challenge 22- why don't you have a go at home?

This week we will take this great sketch layout by Becky Fleck:-

and put it together with the 2012 Sale-a-bration gift paper pack - 'Everyday Enchantment'. This gorgeous paper pack uses the colours Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Peach Parfait, Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, VeryVanilla and Soft Suede.

I can't wait to see what we all come up with Adele and Maree!! These papers are so pretty! I hope you all have a great week and get lots of creating done!  xx

Cheaper Than Therapy Challenge #21

Welcome to 2012! Here is challenge for this week..... another Palette by the talented girls at The Color Room:-

the sketch close up looks like this:

The colours for this challenge are most like the following Stampin’ Up! colours Tangerine Tango, Regal Rose, Baja Breeze and So Saffron

Don't forget to check in and see what Adele, Maree and I create for this challenge. Have a great week!

PS - In the interests of fair play - for those who wish to join in from home - we will allow colour substitutions if absolutely necessary (for your own sanity, forget any silly rules we have for each other, lol!) Swap Tangerine for Peach Parfait or Calypso Coral, Swap Regal Rose for Blushing Bride or Melon Mambo. Adele, Maree and I will stick to the original choices because we are crazy!

Stamp & Scrap Club #3- Embossing!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic break and got to spend some quality time with the ones that mean the most in your life- I certainly did. With Christmas, My Birthday, and New Years' all in one week, I have been busy enjoying time with my family. Now that my hubby has returned to work, I am spending every spare minute in my craft room- having a big clean up, reorganising my craft supplies, and finally.... getting creative again!

This Friday night is the 3rd get together for my second round of Stamp & Scrap Club- a wonderful group of six ladies who meet every 6 weeks to create together; and whom I am really looking forward to catching up with. We have been focussing on different techniques this time round, and this week we will be embossing! And to make it more exciting, I am showcasing many new Stampin' Up! products from their Summer Mini Catalogue.

Here is a look at what we will be making:-

Embossed Valentine's Day Card (inspired by Andrea Walford)

and

Scrap layout featuring Embossed photo mat and embellishments
(inspired by the Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalogue).

Have a great week! Rach x

Stamp & Scrap Club #2

This Friday night is our second round of Stamp Club Number 2. We will be continuing with Distressing. Here is a picture of the two 12 x 12" Scrapbook layouts we will be making with our new "Letters To Santa" Designer Series Paper:

And here is a list of the wonderful products you will be getting in your bundle:

DISTRESSING BUNDLE 2
Page	Item	Description	Qty	Full Cost	Cost
147	118762	Distressing Essentials Kit (½ now, ½ next time)	1/2	$37.95	$18.98
130	122349	Designer Series Paper Letters To Santa	1/2	$18.95	$9.48
123	124293	12 x 12” Cardstock Riding Hood Red (3 sheets)	1/4	$11.95	$2.99
121	124284	12 x 12” Cardstock Old Olive (3 sheets)	1/4	$11.95	$2.99
122	124279	12 x 12” Cardstock Marina Mist (2 sheets)	1/6	$11.95	$2.00
123	116205	A4 Cardstock Riding Hood Red (1 sheet)	1/24	$13.95	$0.59
121	106576	A4 Cardstock Old Olive (1 sheet)	1/24	$13.95	$0.59
122	121682	A4 Cardstock Marina Mist (1 sheet)	1/24	$13.95	$0.59
124	121686	A4 Cardstock Early Espresso (1 sheet)	1/24	$13.95	$0.59
144	104430	Stampin’ Dimensionals (1 Sheet=100)	1/3	$7.50	$2.50
Mini	124005	Glimmer Paper- SILVER (1 Sheet)	1/2	$8.95	$4.48
Mini	121790	Glimmer Paper- RED (1 Sheet)	1/2	$8.95	$4.48
		Total Cost Postage 5% Grand Total		$173.95 $8.70 $182.65	$50.26 $2.52 $52.78

Don't forget to bring your Distressing Essentials Kit with you, and bring along a Santa photo and a photo of your tree (or 2 other Christmas photos). I have used 4 x 6 photos with a Marina Mist mat around them- the cut out is 5 X 7 if you wish to use 5x7 photos.

See you Friday!

Rach xx