Christmas Countdown

I do love advent calendars!  Last year I made up the Kaisercraft one with all the drawers and really enjoyed doing it.

This year, I purchased Kerri Bradford’s cutting file project for use with my Silhouette.  I stuck to her colour scheme and used the print files that came with with the kit.  I also added a bit of bling here and there to finish it off.

There are, obviously, 24 Tag Boxes so I mounted them on a black canvas using Velcro Dots.  At a squeeze, each box will hold a pack of Tic-Tacs but I think I will pop a mini treat bar in each one.

Not like me to be excited about Xmas this far out but I had such fun making this the other night that I stayed up till 1.30am to finish putting it all together.

I might just make another to give away, in another colour scheme, if I don’t get distracted by something else new and wonderful, lol.

Cheers,

Esther

The De Vinci Code

I haven’t read the books or seen the movie/s and I was disappointed to think I didn’t have any stamps that I could use for this weeks challenge at Dragons Dream Tag It On.

Huh!  I jolly well did have something I could use!  I admit that I had forgotten about quite a few stamps that I have still stored in CD cases (my first storage attempt).  I have so many stamps now (please don’t tell hubby) that I have moved the majority to expanding pockets in ring-binders.  Much easier to flick through to find what I want to use.

Anyway – this is what I came up with and I am pretty happy with the end result.

You cant see the sparkle in the first photo but you can in this one, I hope:

Asian Influence

The challenge this week at Dragons Dream Tag It On was to create a tag with an Asian theme using at least one real stamp.

I coloured my tag with Distress Ink sprays in Worn Lipstick and Broken China.  I stamped the Asian writing and the rays at the top with a glue pad and laid foil leaf over the top.  I was so pleased with the way this turned out that I swiped the edges of the tag with the glue pad and went to town with the foil again.  The Girl With Umbrella is part of a stamp from Stampington & Co.

Thanks for popping in to take a look this week.

Cheers – Esther

The Great Outdoors

.The 1st challenge theme for November over at Scrapbook Dreams is to complete a layout involving the great outdoors in some way.

A real challenge for me as we are not an outdoors kind of family. On reflection, we all have indoor hobbies – James has his study (rather him than me, lol), I have my scrapbooking and Liam has his ever present laptop (I really must get myself one of those)

Thank goodness the school program ensure some outdoor time for Liam. He does not see a lot of sun and is quite pale really.

I went with Liam and his class (plus a 3 other classes in the syndicate) on their Education Outside The Classroom trip earlier this year. We went to Zelandia Wildlife Reserve in Karori and the Aquarium at Island Bay. It was great day spent outdoors - not something Liam does often

Thanks popping in to take a look – why not join us at Scrapbook Dreams with your Great Outdoors layout.

Cheers, Esther

Letters to Juliet

I was super excited when this movie title was offered as the inspiration at Dragons Dream Tag It On this week.

I had so many ideas and stamps that I wanted to use and yet the tag, once again, turned out to be a long way off what I had imagined.  Still, I am pleased with it.

The multiple pen nibs stamp is from Tim Holtz and the typewriter from Rubbadubadoo, as is the full pen stamp that I foiled.  I slit the tag and inserted some printed paper (I printed 3 copies, really small), distressed another copy and rolled a third copy to pop into the tiny bottle.  I added a bit of gold glitter in there too, popped on a pen nib and hot-glued the flowers in place.

Thanks for popping in to take a look.

Cheers, Esther

Steampunk Tag

The whole Steampunk thing intrigues me but I am not very good at producing work in this style.

The theme this week at Dragons Dream Tag It On is inspired by the movie Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. I had not seen the movie so I hired it from the local library – still have not seen it and it is almost due to go back, lol.

I based my tag on those created by the fantastic design team. Firstly, I masked the tag and sprayed various ink sprays to produce the background then I embossed the tag using a gear & cogs folder. The dress form was cut on my Silhouette and I added metal elements and charms from my stash. The wings are stamped onto acetate using a Tim Holtz stamp from the Regal Flourish set.

I am reasonably pleased with how it turned out.

Thanks for popping in to take a look.

Cheers, Esther xoxo