Finn's CreARTe Tour in Australia and NZ

I was fortunate to be able to go to not one, but two of the classes that Ania Debrowska (from Poland) has been teaching on her tour of Australia and New Zealand.

OMG – what an amazing, talented and friendly lady she is!  Ania is better know as Finnibar or simply Finn.  Please check out her amazing work here.

To add to my excitement, the lovely Miss Brenda McKay was able to come over, stay with me Friday night and come to the classes too!

The first class was a layout involving loads of layers, metal, paper, lace, ink, paint ……..

I chose a sepia photo that the gorgeous Shell from Scrapbook Dreams took a couple of years ago.  I am really pleased with the finished project.

The second class was a long one.  It needed to be – there was a lot of drying time needed!

Again, loads of layers, metal, paper, lace, ink, paint …….. This time for a Journal cover.

and the back …

Strangely, this was not the colour palette I was aiming for but, hey, who cares!  I love it!

Huge thanks, from the bottom of my heart, goes to Lesley Seabright.  Without her the classes at Kapiti would not have happened and I would have missed one of the most amazing experiences.

More photos of other antics in my next post.  Hold ya breath, lol!

Cheers, Esther xoxo

Scrapfest By The Sea Blog Hop

I have indulged myself by signing up to go to an awesome scrapping even in Nelson in August this year.  Scrapfest by the Sea has been carefully planned by Trina McClune and Lyn Jordan and we will be staying and playing at the fabulous Monaco Resort in Stoke, Nelson.

I grew up in Blenheim and remember well when this beautiful resort was built.  Even though I lived in Nelson for 3 years as an adult I have never been there so I am really looking forward to it.

Trina and Lyn have set up a Facebook group and we have had several activities to take part in during the build up to Scrapfest (and there will be more to come) and this blog hop is one of them.  Another first for me.

Please start at with Trina’s blog and if you follow the links one by one you end up back there and get some great inspiration along the way.

This is what I have to show you today:

My somewhat amateur attempt at a mixed media canvas.  Lost of gesso, stencils, meta, resin, paper flowers, shells and the scraps from the ends of Mum’s weaving.  Not mention the leather watch strap!  I sprayed with Adirondack Colour Wash sprays.  The blue strikes me as too vibrant and one day I might have a go at “fixing” it, lol

Please take the next hop to see what Denise Spicer-Boyes has been up to. Click Here.

Cheers, Esther xoxo

Tag It On #137

So  it is the turn of the talented Trace to tempt us with the challenge for this fortnight at Dragon’s Dream Tag It On 
The recipe is : Green, die cuts and cogs

My green looks far more like grey in this photo, sadly.  I promise it is green though, lol

I started with a Vanilla Tag and covered it with a cog printed washi tape that had a cream/yellow background and brown cogs.  I thought that alcohol inks would the best to colour it with.  WRONG!  It look most of the print off but I just went with what I had left.

Through the Cuttlebug with a cog embossing folder and hey presto, not too shabby so far.

I have a massive bag of die cuts and odds and sods so I sat on the spare bed and spread them all far and wide to what was in there.  All the embellishments on tag were in that bag, hehehe.  The pen nibs had been stamped on acetate so I secured that to the Journal Tag.  The cogs and flower had all been cut on my Silhouette so there were my die cuts – ready and waiting.  I had stamped the flower parts with a crackle stamp prior to inking and assembling.

I am actually pretty pleased with this tag and I hope you like it too.

Why not go through your stash, make a tag to the recipe and join the fun at Dragons Dream Tag It On 

Cheers, Esther xoxo

Tag It On #136

This fortnight over at Dragon’s Dream Tag It On  May has set the recipe...”Orange....Purple....Butterflies...”

The only rule is that you must use at least one real stamp.

I dithered about a bit – not really knowing where to start on this one.  I just felt I wanted to do something other than blended distress inks.  I mean, I use that technique all the time and while I am by no means “over it” I just felt like doing something else for a change.

So I grabbed my new pastels, scribbled my heart out and blended with a water brush. I had used two stamps from Stamp It, that I have had for about 4 years, on to the tag before I started.

I used the Martha Stewart mould to make the butterflies using orange for the bodies and purple for the wings.  While one was still a bit soft, I pulled the wings up a bit for some extra dimension and really like the look of it.

I felt it needed something more so I added the zipper edge.  It probably needs to be stitched really but to be honest I couldn’t be bothered hauling the machine out.

So, there you have it.  Thanks for taking a look.

Esther x0x0

Self Portrait

I belong to a facebook group for NZ Project Life participants.  I have the album, I have the page protectors, I have yet to do anything with them!!  What is with that???

Anyway, there has been a bit of a challenge this past week to take a photo of yourself and use it in a layout or in Project Life.

I used the web-cam on my laptop to take some photos.  Huh! Not as easy as it sounds – not to get something half-decent anyway.  I took about 25 altogether and there are a few that are ok which is good because I need two for the Finnibair workshops that I am doing in March.

It has been so long since I have done an actual layout and I was a bit worried I had forgotten how (James laughed when I said that).

For the journaling, I used a Smash Ticket that came in a surprise RAK from Brenda and Carol.  Thanks girls – perfect!

Scary how often Mum comes into the equation, lol.

Cheers, Esther xoxo

Dragons Dream Tag It On–Night Riverbank

....Driftwood...Boats... and Insects....

What cool ingredients for this fortnight’s recipe over at Dragons Dream Tag It On – hop on over there, get some inspiration from the Design Team and play along too.

I love this boat stamp!  I don’t get to use it very often.  I coloured the boat/sand/grasses with water soluble pastels (Warehouse Stationery) and painted the main background with some beautiful shimmer water-colour paints I have.  The dragonfly was stamped twice onto acetate and layered for dimension.  I raided the grapevine (what’s left of it, lol) for the “driftwood” which is placed over some butterfly washi tape.

This tag has a lovely serene feel to it and I am very happy with the way it turned out considering I did it in the 20 minutes between Liam going to school and me going to work, lol

Thanks for taking a peek.

Esther xoxo

Dress To Impress

I missed last fortnight’s challenge at Dragon’s Dream Tag It On however, this time round its a different story.

Trace has set the recipe this time: A dress or dress form, an embossed impression and some bling.

I stamped the corset with embossing ink and brushed over it with chalks finishing it off with a layer of Dimensional Magic.  I made the skirt from one of those bags that fruit or onions or some such thing come in.  It was the netting that determined the colours really.

I covered the tag in printed tissue using matte medium and when it was dry I ran it through the cuttlebug.  I was a bit concerned that the impression couldn’t be seen but it popped once I added my sparkly ink sprays.

All that was needed now was the addition of some buttons, some bling and the ruler ribbon (from Typo) that I inked when I sprayed the tag.

Cheers, Esther  xoxo