New Year Tutorial

I set a challenge ages ago on the kal-scraps blog for people to use ONLY scraps to make a layout. It isn't until the last week that I have gotten around to taking that challenge myself! Here is the layout that I made (it is sitting on my layout shelf with a heap of other layouts and projects behind it - it isn't actually a weird shape!).



I made some cool flower accents on my page that added interest but didn't overpower what I thought was becoming a busy layout already.


To make the flowers:
1. Choose some flowers out of your stash. It doesnt matter what colour they are or what they are made out of because you are going to use them as a mask. You could use any shapes you desired, it doesn't need to be a flower.

2. Position your flowers on your project.

3. Choose a spray - I used Glimmer Mist in Creme de Cocoa, which is a very subtle gold spray with almost no background colour. Colour wash, walnut ink or any other favourite spray would also be great.

4. Spray this over your layout. I kept it fairly confined to the area where I was putting my flower accent. Remember to cover your photo if it is already on your layout because you don't want any over-spray damading your photo.

5. Remove the flowers or shapes from your project and dry off your paper/card with a heat tool.

6. Once dry, outline your flowers with a white gel pen. My favourite white pen is the Uniball signo. I buy these from my favourite Stampin' Up demonstrator, Leonie.

Finished!

For the ink splotches on my layout, I sprayed 2 sprays of colour wash (my favourite, lettuce) into a medicine cup. I then dipped a dry paint brush into it and flicked this over my page, making a splatter pattern over the layout.

Happy Creating!

Extremes of the Outback

It is over 35 degrees here already at just after 9am. Today is expected to be 42 degrees and catastrophic fire danger! We were going to go out and do something nice like go to the library, but I think that we will give that a miss!

The Kids cubby house that they got for Christmas as a family gift is coming along nicely. At tools down yesterday, all that was left was a couple of final trimmings and the windows and planter boxes. When I download my photos I will post some progress shots. They are loving it already! We have revised where we are going to put it. It will be going between the house and laundry, which we decided the kids will be more likely to go to. Also, the spot near the shed gets no shade in summer, which is a huge issue.

Fun with Christmas Goodies

I wanted to post some creative stuff for a change!

The canvas below is one that I made at the end of November when my friend Bec gave birth to her fourth baby girl! It is only 10cm square, so is very cute!

I love gel medium image transfers and have wanted to use the image of the fairy for ages, so I applied it using an image transfer onto this little canvas. There are heaps of layers of paper, paint, gel medium and spritz on the canvas and I have dyed some gauze and also some paper flowers to add to it. I used a good dose of glitz spritz over the whole thing for some great shimmer. I also used some of my favourite Collections chipboard for the butterfly hanger and the butterfly embellishment, sprayed with a huge dose of glitz spritz (did I say that I love that stuff?). It was heaps of fun and I hope that my friend liked it.

Now for a mini tutorial on faux wax seals. These little blobs are so much fun and very addictive.

1. Using your hot glue gun, squeeze out a blob of hot glue about the size of a 5-10 cent piece. Use a teflon craft sheet to work on, or if you don't have one, use a piece of baking paper. You don't have to work super fast because the glue stays pliable for quite a while.


2. Choose a stamp with some detail in it. I have used proper wax seals and an assortment of rubber stamps. Be cautious using acrylic stamps because they are not as resistant to heat (hot glue!) as rubber ones, so may melt.

3. Ink up your stamp with Versamark (my preference) or a coloured ink. I have used black Versafine and this worked well, but I think Stazon would work best if using coloured ink.

4. Push your stamp into the blob of hot glue and squash it down a bit. Don't use too much force or you will squash too much glue out from under the stamp, making it too thin and also a weird shape!

5. Give your seal 30 seconds to cool a bit and then peel it from your craft sheet. Your glue blob will be stuck to the stamp.

6. Ensure all glue is set and then peel the glue from your stamp. Don't leave the glue on your stamp for too long, perhaps not even until it is completely cold, as it will stick to any areas of your stamp that don't have Versamark on it (ie, the most indented areas) and will increase its grip on your stamp as it cools!

Here are some finished examples. Clockwise from the top are: 1. hummingbird wax seal, 2, 3, 4, 5. Tim Holtz Ultimate Grunge unmounted stamp set (mesh, crackle, dates, bubble wrap) and 6. Stampington & Co Temptress stamp (clocks on her head only). If you are in Kalgoorlie, all the supplies I have used are from Keepsake Krafts except from the glue which is from Chez's Crafty Affair.


I love how the impressions are shiny where the stamp presses into the glue and mat where the glue pushes up into the indented areas of the stamp.They look great with some coloured paper behind them and I also think they would look good with some Stazon rubbed over the high spots to give it a bit of definition. I think you can also get coloured glue cartridges, so seals made from melted coloured glue would be very cool.

The glue is really flexible when dried, so it attaches to your layout or art really easily with glue or staples, brads etc.

Hope you have fun creating faux wax seals!

Christmas with Team Slater

This year was so much fun on Christmas day in our house. Caitlin was getting so excited before the big day and we expected her to be out of bed to check if Santa had been at about 5am. She was really considerate and actually stayed in bed until Callum woke up (I couldn't believe it - bet it never happens again!!). She said she was awake and waiting for ages!

Caitlin was all eyes when she was faced with her Santa sack full of presents.


We shifted the coffee table so we could sit on the mat and look at what Santa had been generous enough to leave for us. All Caitlin really wanted was a Hannah Montanna microphone that records your voice and then plays it back. Santa's elves must have been listening because Santa left one for her.


Caitlin got make up and dress ups and a new summer dress. This is a pic of her giving a fashion parade.


The biggest hit was a fantastic kitchen that Craig and I bought for the kids as a joint present. They both love it, but I think that Cal will be getting the most use out of it! He also got some kids pots and pans from Santa, so they are a hit in the little kitchen.


And of course the biggest hit with the littlest man of the house is the little person sized garbage bin. You can't believe the amount of joy one garbo bin can bring one little man (actually, Mum and Dad, you probably have some idea!)! All we heard on Christmas morning when he ventured out to the living room was "ooooh, biiiin"! I think we may have to have daily "what's in your bin?" photo shots!


Christmas night was a hit too. We had Leoni and Gary and their kids and also Kylie and Gavin and their kids around for tea. It was such a great night, we all got on well, there were no kid arguments and all were happy and merry! I must say tea was pretty yum too, with each of us chipping in with some food.

Hope you had a great Christmas too and that Santa was kind!

Summer rain

Right at the moment in Kalgoorlie, it is raining iceblocks (as Caitlin would say). The weather has me completely baffled! The picture above is of the wet grey sky, and below is a little video of the hail hitting the ground. The hail stones are between the size of a 5c piece and a flat stone of about 50c size!

Pool Time

Summer has really hit here! We have had a run for the past week of super humid weather and hot to go with it. I am so ready for some "normal" weather!

We have had the paddle pool out for the kids and they had so much fun in it. I have taken a video of them, but after two attempts to upload it, it just isn't happening. I will post some photos instead.







I was at Cindy's on the weekend and she had some water pumper things that I might get for the kids to use in the paddle pool. Caitlin had heaps of fun sucking up water from their pool and squirting it out.

Our fridge has broken down and has been out of action for a week now. It started with it making a terrible loud noise, but deteriorated into it keeping a temperature of between 16 and 21 degrees! We have moved everything into the bar fridge and has been very interresting to say the least! Samsung and also Harvey Norman have not been as helpful as they could have been. There seems to be no service person in town, so that has made it extremely difficult. The last lady I spoke to on Friday told me that she would have it sorted first thing on Monday morning. Needless to say, we haven't heard a thing from them yet!

It has been reconfirmed over the weekend that there are some people in this world that are not as nice as they could be. It always disappoints me when people are mis-informed and will not listen to another point of view. Those who think they are "right" seen always to be "righteous" (unfortunately there is a really good reason for this gem of wisdom!).

I just did a dash to the clothes line because there is a thunder storm brewing. While I was out there Caitlin was jumping on the trampoline with her umbrella so she didn't get wet! She is such a funny little bunny!

I have been having some fun with my scrapping recently. I have been making some Christmas decorations out of paper and also some altered glass ones. I am so happy with how they have come up. I will post a photo when I have some.

I have found some cool web sites recently.

Wednesday's Wishes is a new online shop by Maxine Hazebroek and Audrey Underwood. They make the most divine off the page items and sell kits for them on their site. I love drooling over their great works of art!

Tammy's Recipes is a cooking site that I came across when following some links from someone else's blog. I love the look of her apple brownies.

Empire Beads is a bead shop (obviously!) and it has great beads for craft work. I love their huge range of pearls. You can get a bag of about 20 8mm pearls for 88c. Wow, that is great value!

Caitlin is itching for me to play and paint and draw (she just won naughts and crosses), so I had better get moving!

Time Off!

Finally I am back blogging after a long break! I think I needed some time to get back on track with life and also winter always makes me lazy.

So much has happened in the interim, but here are a couple of pictures as a quick update.

Callum turned two at the end of September and we had a cellebration at playgroup and also a party on the day of his birthday, when we were in Perth, with BOTH sets of grandparents and Aunty Pam and the kids. The pic below is from playgroup.

We had a trip to Perth which was intended as a little holiday, but turned into Callum having his tonsills out and adenoids reduced in size, so it has been a slightly stressful time here. Poor boy had his op 2 days before his second birthday, so he was feeling slightly under the weather for his special day! All better now though.



Miss Caitlin is growing up so fast. School has changed her, for the better mostly I think.



This is a pic of Cal and Daddy. The kids had been playing in a big cardboard box and having heaps of fun.


Callum has moved into a "big boy" bed. Caitlin was just as excited as Cal was. This picture was taken on the new bed, after the kids had been jumping and playing and messing up all of the new bedding!


I will aim to update regularly again and I would love to put up much more of my craft things too.