Be.YOU.tiful

Hi there!! Gosh, I feel like a stranger to my own blog :( It's been such a long time since I visited my little space here that I can barely remember how to do this bloggy thing. I'll just have to wing it as I did with my first scrapbook page in over a year and just hope for the best. Last night I was not a very happy camper when I went to bed. I was irritated, angry, frustrated and so disappointed in myself because I just couldn't get my page to even remotely look balanced or even slightly acceptable for that matter. I woke up this morning and somehow it all kind of came together after I literally spread all my stash all over the floor. It was like Christmas all over again and I felt like I met up with lots of long-lost friends and new friends too because even though I didn't scrap during this past year, I still collected a few new little items here and there. It was rather exciting. I guess the saying "once an addict, always an addict" is so true :) I am still undergoing treatment and still have a few months to go and that is okay because you know what? I will get to see my daughter walking down the aisle on her daddy's arm. A year ago I thought that I may never see that day. Now, besides my daughter's wedding, I can only hope that everything is going to be okay so I will get to see my grandchildren some day too :) I am eternally grateful for all the wonderful support I've had and am still having from my family and friends. You just cannot do cancer on your own. I've always thought of myself as a very strong person but cancer has a way of bringing you down a notch or two and that is when you actually realize how fragile life is and how vulnerable we really are. But, enough of that now...

I made this layout as my first project for Maja Design after a long leave of absence. It is wonderful to be back there. Thanks so much for dragging me back here Jenny. If not for you I would still not be scrapping and I would still not remember how much I loved it and still do :)  This beautiful girl in the photo is my darling daughter Heidi. Yes I am biased and I am allowed to be ...hahaha!!

I used paper from three beautiful collections as seen below:)

Here are a few close-ups of my page:)

The flowers and the brick stamp is from Prima. The little wispy bits you see amongst the flowers are just pieces of paper which I sliced super-thin and that way you achieve a natural sort of curl. The peachy ribbon flowers came out of my stash and goodness knows where I got them from. The branches were cut with a die from Memory Box called "Woodland Branch" and I got all these yummy items from my special friend Merle at  Scrap and Card Boutique.

The beautiful leafy circle is also from Memory Box called "Tupelo Circle" and I adorned it slightly with some Perfect Pearls. Both butterflies are stamps from Marianne Design called Eline's Huis. I stamped them, cut them out and stuck it on. The title work is done with clear stamps fromChiswick and the stamp on the corner of the photo is a tiny little Prima stamp.

The little circles above and to the bottom left of the photo (sorry, I forgot to take a close-up of them) is just a little bottle top I saw lying on my shelf and I grabbed it, dabbed  on some ink and stamped it on the page and stuck a drop of Perfect Pearls inside the little circles. I liked it:)

This page is also my entry for the July challenge at Scrap Around The World. I was very much inspired by the little photo on the top left. The colour in Heidi's scarf  is almost a perfect match to the colour of that beautiful little chest of drawers:)

And that my friends, is my story for today:) Now, I just need to keep on scrapping so my mojo can start flowing and if all goes well, I will see you again real soon :) The last few days have been absolutely freezing here but I love the cold weather right now. So for those of you experiencing winter in all its' glory, keep warm, be happy and take care. :) xxx

My Molly - Maja Design

Hi friends!! I have another project to share with you which I did for Maja Design and I'm feeling rather sad that my month as guest is almost over :( I am loving each and every one of these papers and I would just like to mention to my South African friends that these papers are available from Scrap and Card Boutique . Merle has a lovely selection of Maja Papers.  The little lady in the photos is as most of you know by now, my sweet Miss Molly. The two of us are joined at the hip :) If you're curious to know how I made the beaded flowers on this layout, I have done a little tutorial which you will find at the end of this post. I have no idea what flowers they are so I kind of invented a name for them and called them "Beaded Delphiniums"..lol!! They look so cute if you do them in blue because then, at a glance they really do look like little Delphiniums.:) AND they are super easy to make.  Yes, I know that Delphiniums don't hang downwards and they are not viny either but in the scrapping world we don't care, do we?? LOL!! Oops, almost forgot to give Vicky Alberto credit for teaching me how to make the white flowers with her wonderful tutorial which you can find here. Whilst mine are not nearly as pretty as Vicky's, I just love them and loved making them :) Thank you Vicky...your flowers are just awesome :)x

Products used:

Vintage Summer Basics - 1922

Vintage Summer Basics - 1904 BS

Vintage Summer Basics - 1933

I have also used the beautiful flourish from Flourish With A Bling being FWAB Grace Pearl Flourish.

Other products used:
Imaginarium Designs - Silver fern leaf
Imaginarium designs - 4 Small Butterflies
Martha Stewart Punch
Clearly Impressed Stamp
Prima Bird Cage
Chiswick Alphabet 2

I also stumbled upon a beautiful sketch on Pinterest and traced it back to Scrap Friends. 
I thoroughly enjoyed working with this sketch and just wanted to say thank you for the inspiration :)

Here is the littlle tutorial as promised. Should you give it a try, please send me a link to your layout so I can admire your beautiful little "Delphiniums"...lol!

Materials needed:

Wire
Florists tape
Seed beads (colour of your choice)
Glue gun
Wire Cutter

Step 1.
Cut a few pieces of wire in different lengths.

Step 2.
You now have to work relatively fast as hot glue dries very quickly. Heat up the glue gun. Take one strand of wire and adhere hot glue to one end of the strand. It looks very "blobby", but don't worry about that. I covered about 3.5cm with hot glue.

Step 3.
While the glue is still hot, dip it into your little bowl of seed beads and twirl it around so the beads can cover all the glue.

Step 4.
Whilst the glue is still warm, press the beads firmly into the glue using your fingers. If you find that not all the spots are covered, you can always just add an extra little bit of glue on those spots and then dip it back into the bowl of beads.

Step 5.
Gently remove any excess loose beads and this is what it should look like when it's nicely covered.

 

Step 6.

Now you can take a strip of florists tape and start winding it around the wire starting close up against the beads, working your way down.

And this what they look like when they are all finished and ready to "prettify" (is that a word?) your page!!

I think they are just too cute and the nice thing about them is that there are no two that are the same. Have fun and I hope you enjoy making them as much as I did!! 

I have the flu so I'm on my way back to bed and no doubt Miss Molly will join me :)

Till next week, take care and stay safe!! xx

Treasure

Happy

Hello friends :) This week I played around with some Prima papers and because I couldn't decide which one of the two to use, I decided to use both and make them companion pages. As always, my darling little niece is the focus of my layouts. Tomorrow I am off to Cape Town for a Scrapbook Marathon and till next time, take care and be good :)