Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Crop Group - Mirdif

Hi fellow addicts!!

As you may or may not know, I have a small crop group which meets on Monday mornings.  We scrap together and share inspiration and ideas.  I have suspended the get togethers for the Summer Holidays but will resume in mid September or October 2010.

If you are interested in getting together with like minded scrap-a-holics, or would like to learn the craft from the ladies who currently scrap with me, please contact me on jobrown0@gmail.com (that is the number ZERO after my name!!) and as soon as the crop days resume, I will contact you via e-mail.

I am playing with the idea of creating a Tips 'n Tricks book, whereby each crop session, I will show you a little something that can be added to your page, whether it be making paper flowers or stamping a background.

Once again, your feedback is awesome!!!  Knowing what you think ensures I offer information that is valuable to you.

Happy Scrapping

Jo

Monday, July 26, 2010

Layout using Prima Stash

Hello fellow scrappers!!

I haven't had a chance to sit down and use my stash from my Lil Bees July Kit stash.  SO, last night, I decided to pull the papers and the stamps I got and see what I can come up with.  I recycled a lot of the items and used the packaging from both the Mulberry paper as well as the Swirl embellishment I used on the page.

I also got the opportunity to use the stamps I got from the online order I spoke about in the previous post.


Ordering Online

Hello scrap-a-holics!!

This is just a quick hi to let you know that I have successfully ordered my first little bit of scrapping stuff, online!!!

I was not sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised!!  I placed an order with www.stuff4scrapbooking.com on the Saturday the 17th of July, and received my goodies, at my door on Saturday the 24th!!!

ALL the spoils I ordered were in the package, in perfect condition and best of all...THE PRICE.  Even with the internal shipping cost in the States and the Aramex delivery cost, the goods came in at around a 20% saving!!!  Aramex charges per 500g so the heavier the package, the greater the delivery charge.  It is something to keep in mind when you are ordering huge amounts of stash!!!  It works out to roughly AED40 per 500g, so if your package is 505g, you will pay AED80!!  The solution to that is make sure you use up your whole 500g!!!  (Any excuse to add more to the shopping cart!!)

I can recommend using Stuff 4 Scrapbooking should you want to try out ordering scrapping goodies online.  I will try another store next month, and let you know how that goes :)

If you have any comments or have ordered online and would like to share your favorite store, please let me know!!

Happy Scrapping

Jo

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Twilight Saga

Hi!!

It has been busy since my last posting!!!  I have had my niece here with me, I have been helping her with a mixed media art project for the last few days.  What fun!!!  I have had loads of fun with paint and glue guns...when she will give me a chance :)

I recently got some pictures of the kids printed, and was panning on doing one about "FRIENDS" with a picture of my son and two of his friends at his school swimming gala earlier this year.  When I brought the pictures home, my other niece was looking through them and pointed out that the picture of my son and his friends looked like it could be a photo of a younger wolf pack (Twilight Saga).

I LOVED the idea and decided it would be a nice fun way of portraying the three friends!!  I did some browsing on the internet and got some Quileute Wolf Pack nick-nacs like the tribal tattoo they all got and a fun little image of a button.

Having some fun with embossing powder, I did the title on to acetate and used some acrylic paint for background effects and printed the images found on to photo paper.

Happy scrapping :)

Jo

Monday, July 12, 2010

Swim Star Tutorial

Hi!!

I am hoping you are enjoying the summer break as much as I am.  I cannot tell you how wonderful it is for me have some spare time on my hands as for 9 or so blissful weeks, I don't have to run around on a school schedule!!!

I have managed to put together another video tutorial for you all...

Enjoy!!

Happy scrapping

Jo

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Rahel Menig of swissgirlDesigns







For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, you will know I have been going on a bit about swissgirlDesigns.  Well, I have been fortunate enough to get in touch with Rahel Menig and as her a few questions.

I am a huge fan of Rahel and her style of scrapping.  I am always grateful when I stumble across someone with a fresh take on scrapping.  I know that I often get stuck in a rut and sometimes need a kick in the butt to try out something new.  I received that “kick” while surfing YouTube for anything scrapping related and came across Rahel's fantastic tutorials.

Without further ado, let me introduce Rahel Menig of swissgirlDesigns…..

1.How long have you been scrapbooking and how did you start?

I started scrapbooking as a 14-year-old teenager in 2004. At that time I had no idea what I was doing and I had no special scrapbooking supplies, just normal colored paper, glue and stickers. Later on I started to surf the Internet for ideas and finally found an online store in Switzerland where I lived at that time.

2.What is your favorite scrapbook tool?

Now this is a hard one! I would love to say "my Cricut Expression" but unfortunately I don't have one ;) So I think it's either my acrylic block for stamping of my Martha Stewart Butterfly punch.

3.What would be the best advice you would offer someone who would like to start scrapbooking?

I guess I would say "There is no right or wrong" because with scrapbooking you don't have to follow any rules, that's why I love it so much.

4.What element or embellishment makes a regular appearance on your pages and why?
I use a lot of untraditional things like price tags, chewing gum wrapping paper and other such things. But other than that I love to use stamps, especially my own stamps, swissgirlDesigns. I love to use them over and over again and find new ways to combine them and give them a new and unique look.

5.What is your advice to someone scrapping on a budget?

I have been scrapbooking on a budget since I started. Even now I have a super tight budget and that leads to the fact, that I have almost no paper, embellishments and tools. One great way to save money is to use chipboard alphabets as a pattern. It might take you some time to cut the letters out, but you will save a lot of money, I promise! Another advice that I can give is to buy paper pads instead of the open stock paper. I for myself prefer My Mind's Eye and K&Company paper pads. You pay little for a lot of matching paper. Also stamps are a great way to save money. Buy stamps that you can use over and over again. Go with words or phrases or images that you can use more than just one time. 

Rahel is also a photographer, which I suppose goes hand in hand with the wonderful addiction hobby of scrapbooking!!!

Here are some of Rahel's amazing photographs.






Here are a few of Rahel's stunning scrapbook pages.  For tutorials type in swissgirl90 in a YouTube search or you can go to Rahel's blog at http://www.swissgirldesigns.com










These are the clear stamps Rahel has designed and from what I hear, there are 4 more designs on the cards.  Keep visiting http://www.swissgirldesigns.com to see what the stamps are and when they will be available!!




Once again, a huge thank you to Rahel for sparing the time to answer a few of my questions!!


Happy Scrapping!!

Jo



Friday, July 9, 2010

It's been a while...

Hello!!

It has been a while since my last post....thanks to all of you who have viewed my video tutorial.  I have had 39 hits on the video and it's only been live for 5 days!!!  I am so excited!!!

Due to a series of unfortunate events, I am not going to be able to make the TEN crop at Creative Hands tomorrow...ho-hum!!!

I am going to be scrapping my heart out at home tomorrow...ALL day.  I have a good friend coming over to keep me company and keep the missing-a-crop-along blues away.  I will post pictures of our day's creations!!!

Happy scrapping

Jo

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Page Layout Tutorial - Treasure




Here is the video tutorial for the page above.


If you use this tutorial to create your own page, please send me your pages via e-mail to
jobrown0@gmail.com in low resolution and I will happily post them on the blog.

Happy Scrapping!

Jo




Saturday, July 3, 2010

Lil Bee's Launch

Hello, Hello!!!

Wow, what an awesome afternoon we had yesterday.  We were treated to a lovely afternoon tea at the Grand Millennium Hotel in Al Barsha for the launch of Lil Bee's Monthly Kits.

Hana has done an awesome job of creating stunning monthly kits at an awesome price!!!

The kits have been broken up into 3 sections:


  • Monthly Main Kit
  • Monthly Stamp Kit
  • Monthly Exclusive Kit

Lil Bee's offers the kits to subscribers, who commit to purchase the kit or parts of it every month, or non-subscribers who can purchase the kit on an ad-hoc basis.

You have the option of purchasing ALL THREE kits for an outstandingly low price of Dhs 200 per month for subscribers or Dhs 230 for non-subscribers.

Alternately, you can purchase the kits separately at the following pricing:

Monthly Main Kit
Pack of coordinating papers and embellishments
Subscribers Dhs 75 
Non-subscribers Dhs 80*

Monthly Stamp Kit
Set of clear acrylic stamps and a stamping related extra (ink pad, tool, pearls etc.)
Subscribers Dhs 65
Non-subscribers Dhs 70*

Monthly Exclusive Kit
Pack of prima papers and embellishments
Subscribers Dhs 80
Non-subscribers Dhs 85*


*Please note that the prices for non-subscribers may not be the same for each month.


Please feel free to contact Lil Bee's directly at dml.dubai@gmail.com or visit their site at http://lilbeesboutique.blogspot.com/ for more details and information.

I fell hook line and sinker for the stamping pack and have subscribed for it monthly.  I am also a huge prima fan, but have opted to see that one out before I subscribe, and will just purchase it monthly if it tickles my toes!!!!  I also opted out of the main pack for now as I have a huge haul of paper in my craft corner that needs using before I add to it (unless I LOVE the pack so much I just cannot say no - ha ha ha!!)

Here is my haul - please excuse the picture quality, the light was not so good....


This is the my entire haul from the Lil Bee's Boutique launch.



Monthly Exclusive Kit (Prima Kit)
1 Prima Art Stitched Mulberries Paper
2 Prima Pattern Papers
1 Prima Paintables Collection II - Love
1 Prima Clear Stamp - Garden Train
5 Assorted Prima Flowers
1 Prima Say it with Pearls Swirls



Monthly Stamp Kit
1 Large Dear Lizzy & American Crafts - Warble Stamp Set
1 Ranger Liquid Pearls - Baby Blue



I couldn't resist a couple of extras, I got 2 of the prima papers above (The yellow check is the reverse side) and a Tim Holtz Distress Ink



I have taken this image of the Monthly Main Pack from the Lil Bee's site, just so you can see what was in it!!!


I wish Hana all the luck with her new venture!!  This is something unique to Dubai and will suite new and seasoned scrappers alike!!!


I am working on a step by step page construction demonstration which I will be posting shortly!!  Once again, please give me some feed-back!  I love hearing from you:)


Jo