TCR #69 Pastoral Beauty and a couple of cards

Coming to the end of my summer hols and this Sunday.  As usual weekends are far too short don't you think?

Had a temporary dip to my good spirits at the end of last week when I had left a just finished layout on my work table for a short while and heard a frightful crash boom bang ... had a bad feeling in my tummy that I wouldn't like what I was going to see and sure almost started bawling my eyes out when I saw the disaster. My own fault for having left a mug of half-drunk coffee next to my page. Curiousity didn't kill our cat Elsa for having unleashed all that liquid, felt like everything was practically soaked in the coffee ...

Ripped and cut away the little bit that could be saved and then put it aside waiting for my mojo to come back from its hike. Best remedy in such circumstances, is to create something just for for your own pleasure, so that's what I did. Had found several different packs of unopened paper at the bottom of my piles when purging for the move to my itty nook. That's the plight of the hoarder, forgotten treasures ...

Here's what I made with K&Co Flora&Fauna:

So happy the sun was out of the clouds when I photographed it. The sparkly silver print is just lovely IRL.



Am trying to use up as much as possible of my stash to make space for the new CHA releases so here is a little something from the K&Co ephemera pack and a Melissa Frances mini envelope. A chippie corner from Imaginarium Designs.



A Prima silk bloom and pearl swirl, and really thick and luscious brown silk ribbon from my stash.



Now I was feeling a lot happier and thought I'd make another card:



The dotted pale blue and lime green paper is Prima Sparkling Spring.



The Australian online Maxine's Mélange store has the most gorgeous German Scrap, here I've used Victorian Lace.



The yellow bloom and the lime cabochon rose are from Prima. The tiny yellow paper roses are from my stash. The white Anette silk bloom is from Prima but I pulled out the stamens and replaced them with a flower centre from Maxine's Mélange. The teal fabric circle is from Webster's Pages, as are the creamy sticker alphas. A couple of grey pins from my colourful scrappy friend Rebekah in Florida. Thanks Mrs K!

TCR released a new palette #69 on Friday. We are looking at Stucco, Rusted Orange, Pool Blue and Bright White. Hmmmm .... orange but hey presto, one of the unopened paper packs I found was KaiserCraft's Devonshire. Perfetto! Just made for fussy cutting!

And here is the page I made:



The chippie gates are from Dusty Attic and the little key hole is from Melissa Frances. I painted, misted and chalked to my heart's content on the gates and then touched up everything with a bit of Stickles in Gold to remind a bit of scuffed splendour of old.



England has a very special place in my heart. Some years ago hubbs and I toured the Cotswolds which is about an hour's drive to the west of Heathrow Airport in London. Just to give you a hunch of where on the map it is.

We stayed at an adorable inn/hotel in Stratford Upon Avon and made day-trips from there. This is what the inn looked like.

I thought these grazing woolly little friends looked so picturesque that I wanted to take a close-up of them. Oh no, not another tourist! they must have thought as the whole heard of them turned around and showed me their butts as soon as I stepped any closer. Cheeky little chaps! Well, I still think the scenery is really so peaceful and pastoral.

And while on peaceful and pastoral, here's a close up of the little bird and its nest. I tore out strands from really rough Hessian and used as grass/nest. The bird is from K&Co Flora&Fauna and the flowers are Prima.



So happy you could come for a visit, thank you very very much! I will be back on Wednesday with some photos of my next layout over at Les Papiers de Pandore.

Now hubbs and I are off to see that last Harry Potter film! xoxoxox Eila

GDT at French Les Papiers de Pandore and CCG 201 in a combo with UOAS

Bonjour à toutes!

I have some very exciting news from France to share with you this Wednesday!

A short while ago I was asked by the lovely and super talented Julie Blanc, owner of Les Papiers de Pandore, or LPdP in short, if I would be interested in guest designing for them.

Those of you who visit The Color Room (TCR) know that DT Julie's signature style is very strikingly elegant with a unique flair. All collections from LPdP bear the same trademarks as Julie's work. Not only are they very beautiful, but they are also produced from recycled paper and printed in Provence, France. Visitors to Bente Fagerberg's blog Paper and Glue Heaven will have seen what gems the papers are and what gorgeous pages Bente has created with them.

My reply to Julie's question? of course I said YES!!

 HERE  is the link to LPdP's website with the announcement of my GDT assignment and below are some close-ups of the first LO that I've created mainly with their current collection "Garden Party".



If you've visited my blog before, you know that DH and I live in the town centre and take every opportunity possible to drive out on little excursions on the country side. Visiting manor houses, drinking coffee, having lunch and just enjoying beautiful sceneries. I have always thought that cows grazing are so peaceful, and watching them do what cows do in nature, gives me a real feeling of harmony.

This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago at a large country estate about 2 hours drive south from Stockholm. The estate is situated on a very luscious island in the same lake Mälaren that I wrote about in my post titled "Guresome Murder ...." The title for the LO came by itself - the cows are enjoying their garden party!



I made the fuchsia pink flowers from one of the papers in the collection. Misted what was to be the inside of the punched-out petals in TA Vintage Pink and plopped a large pearl into all of them.



To nobody's surprise, I'm all hooked on chippies now. This fence is from Australian online store Maxine's Melange. I painted it first in TH crackle paint in Picket Fence. Then touched it up with chalk in Chestnut Roan before putting some TH crackle paint in Rock Candy as finishing layer. The little birdie is cut out from an old WP paper.



Some more peones made from the fuchsia papers and a teeeny sneak from the new collection to be relased on 3 August.





TCR DT Naomi Capps makes the most brilliant brown splatter with NESCAFÉ! smells good too! Here's a close-up of the banner; punched out green Martha Stewart doily topped by an orange scallopped circle one and then alphas from the collection.

Love those cows so I had to give you a close-up of them as well.



Next Wednesday, 3 August, sees the launch of LPdP's new autumn collection, which is every bit as fantastic as all the previous ones. If you would like to visit me then, I will have some new photos to share with you of a layout that I made with the fantabulous papers.

And now to CCG palette 201 - isn't it just fantastic to have reached over 200 combos!! amazing is the word! and here's the yummie scrummie palette itself:

For this challenge, we are asked to include polka dots, metal, leaves, 3 circles, and fabric. Well, I'm a colour and paper girl and don't get much inspired by this kind of prompts, it's stressing me out instead of firing up my mojo.

Over at Once Upon A Sketch (UOAS) the 15 July challenge has accumulated almost 60 contributions at the time I'm writing this. Absolutely amazing layouts and the work of the DT always have the highest drool factor.

Here's the sketch and the journalling criteria : your journalling has to be a quote (handwritten, printed, rub on etc. ). As an option you can include journalling in the lines on sketch but this is not necessary.

Read more about the challenge and check out the work submitted HERE

Even if the CCG's designer challenge with metals etc doesn't appeal to me, I still think the colours are divine. The teal and the pink made me think of the new Scrap Cake papers designed by Karola Witczak, and as they were waiting for me on my desk to be scrapped, I decided to try them out even if the pink is off by several notches, I've at least got the dots!

I know that the Scrap Cake papers sold out in 24 hours in the Australian online store Anne's Crafting Cupboard, but you see, I bought mine online in Poland! the lovely lovely shopowner Anna even updated her store and made it possible for Swedes to order directly from it! Eventhough everything reads in Polish, I managed to press the right buttons and after a short email conversation with Anna, I settled my order through PayPal - easy peasy as that!

HERE IS A LINK DIRECTLY TO THE PAGE WITH THE PAPERS FROM SCRAP CAKE

Enough talk, here's my layout that I have called "Love and Cherish". I know, I know, it's a cheesy title but hey, it's rather tricky to come up with brill titles.

My quote is a very short one; "A kiss is a rosy dot over the "i" of loving" by Cyrano de Bergerac and the journalling says; "When I met you, my heart was broken and my soul in ashes. Your love has made my heart whole again, and swept clean my soul of cobwebs". I was a sad middle-aged divorcee when I met Bengt, and also he had had his fair share of sorrow. Together we have found happiness again in our lives.



The photos of my DH were taken last week in the museum gardens of the place where we saw the fantastic exhibition of haute couture dresses.



It being the ice cream month over at CCG, I decided to go for some icicle feel to my title chippies. I first chalked them in Chestnut Roan, then coated them thickly in Shimmerz Blingz in Choc-o-lot and finally doused everything in Glaze. May I say it looks rather yummylicious, just like dark Belgian chocolate!



The Scrap Cake collection has tags as well, gorgeous gorgeous tags so totally desirable. The brown WP sparkler is placed on a letter "o" from an old BG chippie collection and then again on top of a round, old adhesion sticker from my stash. White liquid pearls.













After a long post and many photos, it's time to say merci kind visitor, hope you have enjoyed browsing just a little bit. I so love reading every single comment that you leave, they really mean the world to me. Thank you!!

Please do come again if you have the time! xoxoxox Eila

TCR #68 Precious and a Card to a special friend in Brisbane

Cannot believe how fast time flies, it's Friday again! This week has been a combo of working on scrappy things that I cannot share with you yet, and the outings in summer Stockholm that I so love.

It's time for the release of palette #68 over at The Color Room, a pretty pretty palette of Raspberry Pink, Beige Bisque, Bubble Gum Pink and Bamboo Blind.

As I've been working on purging my stash since last week (my mini nook taking shape slowly but rather nicely), I've found many long since forgotten treasures but also lots of stuff I cannot understand I ever bought in the first place. The backing papers for my layout are from DCWV Lace and Linen. The resin guarland is from Melissa Frances and the chippie title is from a sheet of words that I found at an online store called The Craftz Boutique in the UK. You will find the link to their online store further down in my post.



*giggle* as you can see, I was into the pink mood already last week when I made the birthday card for my MIL.



The photos are of little Miss M whose acquaintance you have already made in previous layouts. The pics were taken on midsummer 2010, I just love her facial expression so full of excitement and concentration. The kids and adults were having an egg race and M is working hard on keeping her egg in the spoon.

The raspberry pink cut-out flowers are from Danish Tilda and the pink&white stripey matting is from Inkido. No handstitching this time, instead I used black faux stitching around the photo.



The cluster is full of Prima goodies. I brushed some TA Glimmer Glaze in Pink Lady on the petals of the big beige flower. The creamy pinkish "leaves" at the bottom, are cut-out from the DCWV stack Lace and Linen, I added some Liquid Pearls in White Opaque. The tiny green sprig is cut-out from Anna Griffin Francesca. A Maya Road trinket leaf pin and a birdie from K&Company Flora & Fauna.

The chippie ferns have very quickly become one of my faves, I first bought them from Australian company Maxine's Mélange, you can find them if you click HERE. Unfortunately it seems they are sold out at the moment but they normally renew their stock in a while. I have also found them in the UK at The Craftz Boutique, you will get to their online store if you click  HERE

Stuck in at the top of the cluster is also a white crackle painted chippie frame that I cut into half, the other one I chalked in Chestnut Roan and put at the very top of the page above the title. Thanks Nat Mae over at Imaginarium Designs for the tip on how to make chippies last!! You can find their gorgeous chippies in their online store Seriously Scrapbooking if you click HERE. Beware, shopping there is seriously addictive! cannot live without my chippies now, even if buying them and paying import tax and customs fee make a substantial impact on my bank account  :))



Here you can see another absolutely gorgeous chippie frame from Imaginarium Designs. I painted it first in white acrylic paint before touching it up heavily in Shimmerz Blingz Bubble Gum. I just love this pretty frame with its flourishes and the birdies.



Love the romantic and soft papers from DCWV. I matted them in two different shades of brown cardstock. Both are misted in DA Creme de Rouge + Tattered Rose + Sand + Suede. The rub-on quote is from KaiserCraft and the buttons are from DoodleBug and BG.





On 3 August my very dear scrappy friend Lindy in Brisbane has a very special birthday. As she has confirmed that the postman has delivered the card I made for her, I can share it with you already now even if we are foregoing the proper date. Considering the fickle post service, I wanted to make absolutely sure the card would reach her in time and sent it rather early.



The teal/blue papers are from Inkido, the little maiden is from Melissa Frances and the rest is either Prima or from my stash. I won't say Happy Birthday yet though!



And so we've come to the end of this post. Thank you dearly for having a peek! I would love reading any comment you might want to leave me.

Wishing you all a glorious weekend, take care! xoxoxox Eila

Earth shattering news - I've been accepted as DT member at TCR!!

This is indeed a time of miracles! The excitement of keeping the news to myself during the past few weeks have been really nerve wrecking. As the news was released over at TCR this morning, I can let the cat out of the bag too - I'VE BEEN ACCEPTED AS DT!!! I have no words to describe the joy and pride I feel having been given this second opportunity to work with the awesomely talented ladies of the DT.

I am very humbled by the faith they show me and extremely nervous to play in such stellar company. Still, I cannot be but who I am and if anything of what I create can bring the ittiest bit of inspiration or pleasure to anyone, I am truly truly happy. I thank you all!

The other DT member to be announced, is the talented Kerry Murray. She makes the most lovely lovely floral pages imaginable.

So, firstly to the palette #67 itself. We are in the Family Room this week and the colours are Chamois Brown, Mint Green, Cement and Charcoal. Rather challenging at first glance but boy can you create something wonderful using more or less of some speficic colours as you will see if you check out what the girls have come up with HERE ON TCR
 

This is what I came up with.



The lovely lovely wisp of a girl in the photo is the daughter of our friends. I made the LO as a gift to her parents.

I have no clue what the papers are, had them in my stash without any reference to the line. MME?



Recently I've invested in some chippies from Dusty Attic, Imaginarium Designs and Maxine's Melange. Fabulously fun to alter them with mists and paint and whatever comes up in your mind.

The flourish that I've used here is from DA. I started by misting it in TA Sand + Crème de Cocoa + Suede + Patina + Clover to get as close as possible to the Chamois of the palette before touching it up with Shimmerz Blingz in Jilted Jade and Stickles Waterfall.



A centre of Prima blooms to start with, some golden stamens tucked in. Then I cut-out leaves from Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden and paired them with chippie twigs from Maxine's Melange. The chippies I first painted in TH crackle paint in Peeled Paint before touching up the leaves with chalk in Chestnut Roan. It gives them the matted effect that I wanted. The buttefly is from Imaginarium Designs and I've only used Stickles Gold on it.



The chippie frame at the bottom is from Imaginarium Designs and here I used crackle paint in Picket Fence and Rock Candy before adding some Shimmerz Blingz in the same Jilted Jade as on the flourish. The alphas forming the title are Anna Griffin Francesca.

I also want to share a card that I made for my MIL's 86th birthday, which was yesterday. We drove her to special places that she wanted to visit and it was a day of many memories, some really sad and others very happy ones. Even being close to 90, the wrongdoings of her childhood are still very painful. Good thing is we also visited places where she had spent the happiest moments of her life as newly married with the light of her life, her newborn, only child (my DH).



The papers and ribbon are all from Danish Tilda. The white fabric bloom is a TH Tattered Floral and a gift from my lovely scrappy friend Scrapbooktiner aka Doreen in the UK. Thank you darling!



I misted the centre and some petals of the fabric bloom in TA Tattered Rose. The centre is a left over carnation from a Prima vine. A green organza ribbon and some golden stamens.

Well, I think that's enough of groundbreaking news for today. It's Friday and the fridge is echoing empty. Time for major grocery shopping with hubbs, not much exciting happening in my life today. Wish you all a wonderful weekend wherever you may be! Thank you so much for having a peek! will be visiting you soon, promise.

xoxoxox

Gruesome Murder and Sweet Birthdays

Weather forecast obviously got it entirely wrong, the sun has been showing her dazzling face since our hols started only temporarily clouded by a couple of short and light drizzles. Just the perfect weather for picknicks and cheery outings with friends.

Just before the weekend, one of our dear friends had his birthday. As hubbs and I have absolutely no character at all when it comes to calories and a jolly good time, we happily tugged along when the partner of the said friend suggested we take him out on spin in the country side.

Said and done, we started off his day by having breakfast at a bakery cum very chic café only a stone's throw from where we live. Nothing beats a really strong latte with a couple of extra shots of espresso, croissants & bread rolls almost straight out from the oven and freshly squeezed orange juice.

Here's the birthday card I made for him:

The papers are from Swedish designer Maja. Clocks are cut-out from a WP mini pad, put them there to tease him about the fact that time flies and next year he'll hit the "big oh" celebrating his bi-centennials he he he. The paper with pears on also has a subtly printed recipy for a pear crumble. The very chocolate brown felt and lace bloom is from Precocious Paper on Etsy, don't be scared of their brights, just scroll down the page and you'll find lots of other colours too if you click  HERE 

Tummies full we then drove out to the coast and a visit to the 16th century castle called Gripsholm. It has a very colourful history of imprisoned royalty and gruesome murder, but also an enchanting 18th century theatre and absolutely divine 18th century rooms within its impressive stone walls.

This is what welcomes you when entering the grounds.

Castle Gripsholm is located in the very heart of what used to be prime viking territory, located on the shores of lake Mälaren. The rune stone is a reminder of this. For those of you unfamiliar with these stones, they are letters or memorials to loved one and often tell of a father or a son departed to far far away countries, never to return home.

The part of the coast where we live and the cities around lake Mälaren, are incredibly lush as you can see from the next photo. Reminds me a lot of some parts of the British Isles. The grass and trees stay pretty green all summer through with the proximity to water.

Finishing this trip to Castle Gripsholm with two more photos with a feel of the Tudor quarters of Hampton Court palace outside London. Love the burned tiles of different hues and the lead windows. The scrummie end to our day will follow in another post.

While I'm at birthdays, here's a girly birthday card to my friend Margareta. She's all into shabby herself.

Papers and the little vintage maiden are Melissa Frances 5th Avenue.  Leaf trinket pins Maya Road, and white crocheted doily from Leeann Pearce's Chip Chop Shop. Blue gardenia was originally white and is misted with TA Glimmer Chalk in Cornflower, peach roses, scrunchy seam binding and lace from my stash.

Now off to pick strawberries and a leisurely lunch under the apple trees in an orchard before bracing myself for a tour to the world's first ever and now largest IKEA, which happens to be only minutes away by car from where we live. HAVE to get some sorts of little scrap nook in our tiny spare room as the stash is flooding our bedroom and things are getting rather desperate.

Be good, be well and have a wonderful start to the week folks! Thank you so very much for visiting and having a peek!

xoxoxox Eila