OUAS 15NOV2011 "Life's Journey" and TCR #86 "Ann's Cottage"

My goodness what a week! am behind with just about everything both at work and in blogland. My apologies to all of you!

Friday I was at a meeting in Gothenburg, which is on the south-west coast of Sweden. The alarm clock rung at 04.30 a.m. and I can tell you - IT'S PITCHBLACK out there at that time!! Had premonitions when I got the Gothenburg airport for my flight back home in the evening; massive queues everywhere ... and sure, I was right. The carrier that was supposed to take us home had been hit by lightning (simply never happens in our parts of the world) and had been taken out of traffic.

I am normally a very kind and accommodating person, but when 120 people charged up to the service desk demanding a seat on the next flight I almost flipped out. Smug 30 something business men in slick suits waved their gold cards and what do you know, they were first in line to get onboard. Do I have to say I had to wait for another 2 flights before finally heading home.

Well enough of that. Today is Sunday and in Scandinavia it also means it's First of Advent. From all windows electric candle sticks and/or electric advent stars spread their soft glow into the darkness. Some families start baking ginger breads and most people also have their first of maaaaany drinks of the traditional GLÖGG. It's similar to mulled wine but about twice or thrice as strong as we put in brandy or vodka or rhum together with cinnamon sticks and lots of other Christmassy spices before we let the brew simmer gently.

Before I tuck into my first saffron bun and first cup of glögg, I'd better share the page I made for OUAS 15 November challenge.

This time the journalling criteria focuses on YOU as a woman OR ANY female in my life. What is the best thing about being a woman? Motherhood? Shopping? Make Up? Girls nights? Gossip? The journalling can be as long as you wish and in any language, but one must journal at least 2 sentences on the best part of being a woman. The journalling critera has to be combined with Nadia's pretty sketch.

I flipped the sketch and had a horizontal line instead of a vertical one. Here it is.



Been admiring and saving the new Basic Grey Piccadilly papers since I got them, how pretty can papers get?! feminine, sweet, bright and happy absolutely gorgeous colours/patterns. With the challenge I wanted to use some really wonderful papers and finally got the courage to cut into the pack. Well, I'm sure you recognize me in the photo. It was taken last summer right after my birthday.



Self-explanatory journalling. Oooh just look at the red and blue in combo!!



Instead of punching and layering across my page, I used a wooden leafy branch from KaiserCraft. Chalked it in green, mixed Gesso with water and washed everything several times for a mat effect. IRL the milky whiteness has dried in really cool soft and subtle patterns. Then I touched up the edges in a darker green + Chestnut Roan.

After my two passed weekends of Christmas card making, I had some left over fabric strips. Cut off some snippets and tied them around the branch as a reminder of all the good things of being a woman. You know, like the old-fashioned way of tieing a string around your finger to make you remember something.



I had some left over squares from a chippie window that I've used in a couple of previous layouts. Covered them in different patterned papers and in a jiffy I had dimensional tiles without having to wait for them to dry.

Nothing but pure Prima sweetness in this cluster. Also in the cluster at the top of the page. Don't know if you can see the itty bitty yellow bloom nesting between the blue roses, it has a dark blue pearl centre. I ordered a bunch of them in assorted colours and matching jo jo fabric bloms on Etsy from one of the most sweetest ladies that I've ever met online: Natalie Jo from PiccalilliPatchwork. She custom made the cutest little pieces of magic for me, I'm still saving the little treasures for something very special.

Check out her shop HERE




Friday was also release day of a new palette over att TCR. We're in His Room this week and playing with these elegant colours; Rusty Red, Light Grey Blue, Pale Beige and Dark Grey Blue.

Here's what I came up with;

The cottage in the photo is the birth place of William Shakespeare's wife Ann Hathaway. I took the photo back in 2006 when hubby and I spent a week in the Cotswolds, UK. Almost surreal to walk around in her house, it's been beautifully kept.

The red backing paper that peeks through the punched pattern of the blue paper, is from Swedish Maja Design's latest collection, Vintage Winter.

The blue paper is from Paper Studio's collection Déja Blu. And the beige paper with the script is from Paper Studio's collection Countryside.

I have written before about the amazing online store in Holland that I found earlier this year. Bea, the shopowner, is a miracle of service and she offers the most astonishing collections of current and older collections that have been discontinued in other places. If you're a K&Co fan as I am, Bea's shop is the place to visit.

Go have a browse in her shop Scrappapier, if you click HERE you will come to the page where you can see ALL the lines that she offers.



More Prima goodies and a Dusty Attic chippie frame that I've left raw.





I am so happy you wanted to come for a visit, thank you ever so much! Have a wonderful week whereever you are, take care!

xoxoxo Eila

TCR #85 Bicicletta

Saturday morning and the roof tops of Stockholm are glistening white with frost in the sunshine. No snow yet, but soon ....

The passed week has been a busy one, attending a conference and planning for the Big Ones in February and April 2012. Lots of stuff happening at work with downsizing carried out in our organization but still full throttle ahead - business ain't waiting.

Yesterday saw the release of a new fruity and vibrant palette over at TCR, we're in Her Room this week.

Woohoo for Raspberry, White, Fuchsia and Sunflower!

Here's my take on the palette:



The checkered yellow/white paper is the reverse of a paper from Authentique. For the first time ever I have played with Gesso on a bigger scale than just dabbing a bit here and there. At first it looked really something that I wanted to chuck into the bin, but after having dried over night it had assumed a rather cool texture.

The title "Andiamo in Bicicletta" means let's go for a bicycle ride.



The stamps are from 7Gypsies Venice. I misted one of the tags in TA Sunflower. A snippet of Tim Holtz tissue tape, some hessian, and a Prima toggle. Splatter in fuchsia TA Glimmer Glam, think the colour is called Pink Tutu.

The black bling is cut off from a Prima Printery Line lace/jewel swirl.

Here you see what the Gesso looks like with the chalk in fuchsia and raspberry and squirts of the TA glimmermist in Sunflower. Think I have to experiment some more!



Really love this cute little bicycle from KaiserCraft. Jazzed it up a little bit with a dainty yellow satin ribbon and a couple of Webster's Pages Rose&Pearl sparklers.

Tore off the border of a couple of mini doilies and scrunched them up before tucking them into the flower cluster, which is made of cut-off flowers from a couple of old Prima Debutantes and some other odd small Prima blooms.


Isn't the electric blue bike just so cool! I understand why it had to be photographed, just too good an opportunity to be missed.

The double matting is with papers from Authentique and the reverse side of a paper from Crate Paper. The big sunflower was fussy cut from a paper from K&Co. The filmstrip is an overlay from KaiserCraft and the chipboard is Dusty Attic of course.

I have been busy making Christmas cards and layouts that I cannot share with you just yet.

A piece of big bang news is going to be released shortly, I am super excited about it but have to wait for a bit before it can be shared. Something really lovely is also happening in March.

Life really is so good and I am infinitely grateful to so many lovely and caring people out there. Thank you warmly for all the incredibly kind comments you leave me and all the wonderful love that you leave! I am truly so blessed!

Have a wonderful weekend all of you! More Christmas cards waiting to be scrapped!

oxoxox Eila

TCR #84 Cookies for Santa

My goodness ladies, I am overwhelmed by the fantastic beautiful comment that you have left on my previous post! thank you so very much!

Yesterday evening I met a bunch of fellow PAs over some bubblies and canapés. We were invited by the newest and poshest hotel in Stockholm for a viewing of their facilities. The hotel is the very same building in which the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken took place in 1973. The bank employees were held hostage in the bank vault and became emotionally attached to their captors just like Patty Hearst did to her kidnappers. The bank robbery is what coined the syndrome called The Stockholm Syndrome.

The hole that the police drilled through the ceiling of the vault is still there as a reminder, although it's now embedded into the tiled floor of the shower room of the hotel gym.

Well, from canapés and bank robbery to Cookies for Santa. That's the title of my layout for the TCR #84 palette released today.

This week we are in the family room with a whitewashed palette. The colours are Woodgrain, Hazelnut, Burlap and White. To me they shouted ginger breads!



As I don't have kids of my own or any pics of baking with my stepdaughter Em, I found this photo of the two little girls baking ginger breads from a home journal from 1939. Can you see how concentrated the bigger girl is at rolling her dough?

Rather unusal for me, but I have used only two layers of paper for my layout. Both are BoBunny Etc. The top one I stamped with snowflakes using chalk in Pine Cone and some splatter in TA Walnut Gold and Suede. Some small roses, pearls and acrylic stars sprinkled here and there.

Do you see that yummilicious DA Christmas flourish under the cluster? I painted it in white acrylic paint, let it dry. Then rubbed it entirely in Stickles Star Dust and immediately generously sprinkled glitter on it before it dried. Then dipped the ends in Flower Soft Diamond White. The texture is really neat IRL if I may say so.



I cut out a heart in brown felt, blanket stitched in white around it and then I layered hessian and different strips of lace on it. Finished with a white button, the twine is actually a pulled-out strand from the hessian. A bow from a strip of muslin and a rose from my stash.

The 2 and 5 are from my stash. I plopped some "snowpaint" and a dollop of Stickles Diamond Ice here and there. A mini clothes pin that I painted randomly in white acrylic paint before misting in TA Sand.



My new fave Martha Stewart punch to give a bit of old worldly feel to the pics that I have dry stippled with Gesso. Some aniseeds for additional feel.



Here you can see the double punching more closely and the cluster. The sleigh was originally in a sort of pale pine colour. I painted it in TH crackle paint in White Fence and misted it in TA Sand, just like the mini clothes peg. Then I sprinkled it in Flower Soft Diamond White to mimic snow.



I covered the other felt heart in buttons for no other reason than it looked pretty.






I like using dried spices associated with Christmas on my Christmas cards, especially cinnamon.



I made the rolled fabric flower and sprinkled it in pearls and bling.

There it is, my Cookies for Santa. Thank you for taking the time to have a peek!

Wish you all a beautiful scrappy weekend! I'll be making Christmas cards.

xoxox Eila

OUAS 15 October in the top 5 featured and my OUAS 1 November page

It's Tuesday and the week is almost halfway through even before I got used to it being Monday.

I was ever so happy to see that my LO for the UOAS 15 October challenge was voted among the top 5 featured after the 3 (yes 3!!) winners; Shona Keen, Wendy Kwok and Marilyn Rivera. Thank you DT!! *toot toot* to all the winners!

Time for a new challenge and this time the journalling criteria is to journal at least 2 sentences on when you started scrapping and why.

The journalling criteria must be combined with this pretty sketch.

I remember it really well when I bought a really glitzy ladies' magazine in November 2009 and saw a feature on Scandinavian white-on-white Christmas. On one of the pages was the most dreamy Christmas cards in what I later learned, was called shabby chic.

There and then I decided to make my own Christmas cards in that same gorgeous style. Off I went and bought what I thought would make stunning cards. Well, all of it ended up in the bin and I sent store-bought cards to friends and family that year. However, I was totally hooked on the paper and scissor thing even after the card incident.



As I don't have a photo of that magazine, I thought I would make a shabby chic card and place it where the photo would have been.

All the papers are from the Swedish Maja Design's Christmas line that has just landed in the stores. I LOVE the combo of blue and brown!




I doused the whole card very generously in Tattered Angels glimmermist in Dazzling Diamond and then I gently rubbed some Stickles Star Dust over the whole surface too. It shimmers and shines sooooo gorgeously IRL!

Lace is from Webster's Pages and the totally scrummylicious stick pin is from Australian online store Meg's Garden. Check out Meg's treasure trove of many wonders  CLICK HERE to come to Meg's shop!




My new fave Martha Stewart punch for the horizontal blue strip and some white German scrap.

I threaded white and silver pearls alternating with acrylic stars. The yummie blue glittery chippie snowflake is from Dusty Attic. I used Tim Holtz crackle paint in Faded Jeans on it, then dabbed lightly and randomly with white acrylic paint and finished with a generous dollop of Stickles Diamond Ice that I smeared out with a finger. The brown/amber bling is cut off from a strip of jewels that I bought at a local store. Brown and white alphas from Prima.



Here you can see the structure of the creamy rough top layer with its coating of glimmer and shine. More German scrap and a cut-off edge from a square doily on the left. Another smaller snowflake that had the same treatment as the big one.



A Dusty Attic flourish that I left untreated. The roses are from KaiserCraft. A cut off piece from a Prima pearl swirl and a couple of acrylic chandelier drops bought at a local craft store.



A white chiffon double bow with a cream button. I touched up the edges of the bow in Distress Stickles Old Paper and very lightly touched up the roses and the ribbon with Gesso.



And there's the yummie snowflake again!

Thanks for popping by! have a lovely rest of the week. cheers!

xoxoxo Eila

TCR #83 Dimples + visit by a dear scrappy friend + a parcel with attitude

Hello friends near and far!

First of all I want to thank all of you for leaving such beautiful comment on my previous post and the Christmas Wallhanger. It truly brightened my day!

The weather is unusually mild and fine for the time of the year, so even though it has been rather cloudy these passed few days, the temperature has been hovering between wopping +13C and +10C all week.

It has been the autumn school holiday this week. On Wednesday a dear scrappy friend from the south of Sweden, Bente Fagerberg, came for a visit to Stockholm together with her youngest daughter, Bea. I had a day off from work and spent the most wonderful day together with the girls.

Just want to share a few highlights with you. We went to the Hallwylska Palace, a magnificent 19th century city palazzo. Have a looksie at the photos and you'll get the picture I'm trying to paint for you:

Click HERE

Not sure if there is a translation button anywhere, if not - just enjoy the richness of the photos!

As it happened, there was a special tour just starting when we got there. The guide was dressed in period clothes and acted the role of the governess of the household. A crowd of excited kids and their parents in tow. Bea quickly joined in and left Bente and I to roam the house on our own. Spectacular house! Bea sent us texts saying things like" ooooh this is really so scary" and "heeeelp this is deliciously yukkie". Turned out the tour had a Halloween theme (it figures when I think about it) and they had experienced oodles of scary but yummie things to their utter delight. Bea said it was THE bestest she had experienced.

Next we hopped on the bus and took ourselves to the Royal Palace in Stockholm's Old Town. To the joy of us, there was another guided tour starting only 10 minutes later. This one also had a guide dressed in period costume though now in the style of the royal court in the 1700's including a wig.

Check out the photo of the man to the right HERE

and imagine that everything that is blue was actually bright red. Also this guided tour was superb although no Halloween in sight.

Friday means the release of a new palette over at TCR. This week we are in the Sun Room, the colours have deliciously fruity names such as Pretty Pink, Total Tangerine, Pale Grey and Sky Blue. I'm sure we are going to see many lovely feminine pages this week in the gallery.



Very often I end up with something totally different than I had planned. This was once again the case with my page that I wanted to make with the pink and orange as mains. Just go with the flow, as my DH always tells me.



The young lady in the photo is my step daughter Emelie, it was taken about 4 years ago when she was 18. She went to a studio and had a full make-over. The photos from the shoot are absolutely adorable! She is still a most lovely young woman today at 22.




I used a brown Bazzil cardstock as base. Then the originally cream/brown spotted paper which I misted and chalked in pink.  On top of that a creamy paper with a subtle swirly pattern from MME that I punched with a lacey punch from EK Success and handstitched in dark brown. Randomly cut up the stitching and sandpapered it for a worn look.

Tore off random pieces of the punched border and chalked in Tim Holtz Old Paper + Chestnut Roand and then finally randomly with Tim Holtz Black Soot. Used a finger dabber which I find gives me better control of where the ink ends up and how much I dab on.

A Prima pearl swirl and pale blue roses from my stash. The die cut label is cut from an MME Lost & Found 2 paper, the dimensional sticker is also from the same collection. A crocheted doily from Leeann Pearce's Chip Chop Shop on Etsy.



I piled up buttons and used that same really strong stone glue that I used to stick down the pearls with on my X-mas wallhanger. It's of a local brand so I don't know what the equivalent product would be elsewhere.

I used the same MME L&F 2 collection for the matting and the pennants. Just look at the tiiiiiny thread spool upon which I rolled a strip of music sheet. Absolutely the cutest ever! Thank you darling Lean de Ruiter for sending it to me! 




I've been buying mists over the passed year, love my colourful collection of yumminess. If I may say so myself, I absolutely adore this little dress form with its dress of misted muslin strips and pearl bustier. I got the inspiration from Tattered Angels' blog.

I used several hues of pale and icy blue mists on a piece of muslin and then cut it in strips that I layered randomly around the chippie dress form. Here it looks rather the same hue of blue but IRL the effect is quite lovely. Thank you darling wonderful Lean Pearce for sending me the dress form, mwah!! I then drenched the whole thing in TA Dazzling Diamond. You might see the shimmer on the dress form if you click on the photo and look at it on Flickr where you can see a larger copy.



The orange fussy cut flowers that I tucked in behind the matting, are from BG Curio. The pink banner with birdies is fussy cut from the same MME L&F 2 collection that I have used throughout my page.

Getting parcels really makes me ridiculously happy, I know that I have ordered the items and I know that I paid for them but still I get seriously giddy. Today I got one unexpectedly delivered to my door, they normally have to be fetched from the post office. This one was so beautifully done up that I had to photograph it and show you. Do I want to come back and buy more stuff from this shop? DEFINITELY! Check out their awesome range of Dusty Attic chippies!

This is where it came from,  CLICK HERE



How sweet is that, just look that personalized tag with my name on!! *swooon*

On this happy note, I have also come to the end of this post. Thanks my dearies for having followed my ramblings this far! Have a wonderful weekend and scrappy week!

Cheerio! xoxoxo Eila