Teaching

Last night I taught a class at Chandon Craft. I've done 3 now over the last few weeks. Really enjoyed last night, I think I was relaxed more and in a bit more of a rhythm if that makes any sense. This is the class I did last night. I had done a single page very similar to this one and adapted it for a double page class. The pics are of my gorgeous newphew. The focus on these pages was using the Slice machine.

This next one is the class I'm teaching next week, another double page I adapted from a single one I'd done.

These next 2 were from my last 2 classes I did. The first one is a pic of one of my sisters and myself many years ago, and the other is my beutiful niece at Sovereign Hill.

It's a bit crazy for me to be teaching classes, I've never really been able to speak in front of others without being so nervous.

This next pic is of cards I made the other day using my Slice machine. I haven't been using it as much as I should and wanted to experiment with it. They're all done using the design cards, basics 1 and back to school. The 2nd one is done with the flower shape and I've cut it 7 different sizes and layered them with foam tape. I got this idea from Simonne. My favourite is the one with the tree on it. I put the tree through the cuttlebug embossing folder with the distressed lines.

This next one is just cause I wanted to stamp. The stamps are Autumn Leaves and Inkadinkado. I've also used a Heidi Swapp mask on this one.

So the other day we trialled the bus. He walked in the door so proud of himself.....I don't know what I was so worried about.

What's up? chicky babes

This is what I've been working on the past couple of days. I really enjoyed doing this page, love the browns and blues together. I've used a Hambly screen print transparency, Heidi Swapp rubons and felt flowers, prima flowers, queen & co felt, bazzill edges, hero arts stamp, kaisercraft pearls. I used spellbinders to cut the 'chicky babes' sign and my slice to cut the 'what's up tag'.

So I made a resolve to myself after the Heidi Swapp day that I was going to use my stamps on most layouts I do, which I have done again. Another one to blow the dust off of. I've also challenged myself to try and use my Slice on most pages I do as well. No use that baby collecting dust.

I thought I would include some pics of my fave tool. This is my Basic Grey magnetic mat that I bought here, I blogged about this a few post back. I can't stop telling people about this. Am so in love with this little black mat. In the pics I've taken you can see that the mat can be held upright and the magnets don't budge at all. It really is like having extra hands. Everything stays in place til I'm ready to stick.

Great day today with my separation anxiety from Jordan. When I picked him up this afternoon, we stayed back a little to watch where and when the bus comes and then followed it home. Feeling really confident about him getting this now, all though I think the bus driver thought I was a stalking loony.

He also announced today that he made a friend :) :) ..... v.happy mum.

I got him a key cut on Monday and put it on a billabong lanyard for him.....I swear it was Christmas. He had this clutched in his hand ready to go when he opened the car door today....I think no one else will be allowed to unlock the front door for long time. hhhmmm...sigh... serenity, really happy mum!!!

I survived my first day.

My baby was off to high school today. I'm still on holidays and the house was so quiet. I felt lost. He really is my best buddy and of course I cried. wa wa wa. Anyways some of the worry I've had is knowing how he's going to be getting home from school when I go back to work next week. All sorted now and feeling so much better. Still suffering mum guilt for sending him to a school that none of his mates have gone to but the mood he came home in whittled a little of this down. He jumped in the car and yelled ' the bullshit mood I was in this morning was a waste of time, it's so cool mum'.

So if u look close enough in the pics u will see the top right one is me trying to get a photo of him this morning, in his grump, not wanting to go to school. The other 2 he's home from his day and he's smiling, which makes mum smile too :)

No craft to show, I've made a couple of cards, will put up later and a couple of pages I did for Chandon, will share once they're on the Chandon blog.

My nan and I

I've again used Little Yellow Bicycle love letters paper for this page. The grey swirly bit is a T!m Holtz mask. How cool. I've used the negative of the mask which I don't think they were designed for cause if was a lot of work to make it happen. The black chipboard swirls were silver bella ones and I've just coloured them. Flowers are prima, kaisercraft droplets and a fiskers punch. The distressed corners is something that Mel Cook taught me. Thanks Mel, ur a gem.

Just a card

Have used the slice machine to cut out the leaves, prima flowers, kaisercraft brad and my minds eye paper. The scallops were made with spellbinders and the stamps are hero arts, inkadinkado and autumn leaves. The pic on the right is the inside.

forgive the photography

I've stamped acetate and placed it across the photos. How hard is it to get a decent shot!!! I've taken about 40 pics of this layout and this is the best I can get it. I've used Little Yellow Bicycle love letters paper, acetate, maya road chipboard tree, bazzill scalloped edge and the stamps are Heidi Swapp, Hero Arts and Autumn Leaves (trying to keep promise to self to use my stamps on pages more often).

A couple of weeks ago I bought a Basic Grey magnetic cutting mat. Apart from a bit of cutting this is the first layout I've done that I used it for. I love it. It is like having four extra hands. The little magnets hold everything in place and each time I picked something up to apply adhesive the little magnets were able to be used like guides to where it was to be stuck. No more knocking my page and bumping stuff all over, and also when I'm trying to work my pages out, I like to hold them up and look at them vertically. Love it!! Best tool I've bought in ages. Got it here.

ink blending tools

Look what my husband has done for me. I found something similar on a blog I was reading last week. Instead of having to spend $12- each time I want another blending tool he bought a piece of timber from Bunnings for $4- and there was enough to cut 23 blocks the same size as my tim holtz ones. I've glued the blending foam to each one and labelled them. On the ranger site they have PDFs of all the ink and paint names and you can just print them from there. I'm not going to put any handles on them cause you don't use the handles anyway. You can see in the picture that I don't have enough foam pads to do them all so if anyone knows where I can buy more please let me know. The blog I saw this on is craftystorage and there's heaps of great storage ideas.