A 'Blokey' Christmas Present

I know I know, Christmas is over and here is a post about a Christmas present. So my heartfelt apologies that I am talking Christmas in February but I seriously feel as though its only December!

Its become a recent tradition in our family that the adults participate in a Kris Kringle when it comes to gift giving. It has become a really special tradition where we all really love and appreciate the year long thought that has been put into the present. When it comes to the gifts I like to give, it is usually something handmade by me.

For Christmas 2013 I drew my cousin's partner - they currently live in WA so I've only meet Russell a handful of times. Thankfully the wonders of a little Facebook stalking has given me a little insight into his hobbies and interests. Namely, cycling and triathlon, so I knew I had to do something for him along those lines - but I was super stumped as I am not great when it comes to doing 'Bloke' in my scrapping style. In fact I was a little stressed that I wasn't going to come up with the handmade goods, I thought he would simply have to suffice with a gift from the cycling shop. In the end persistence paid off and I made him his own one off album.

I was going to use the title 'tri-man' and show off photos from both his cycling and triathlon pursuits but Darling Husband vetoed that and I ended up limiting my photo selection to just cycling photos.

I used an Ali Edwards stamp to create the 'awesome' arrow and adhered it using a bit of mounting tape.

I think that Chevron's are particularly blokey! I love how with the acetate albums you can see your elements through the pages. I think it adds a bit of interest and its exciting to turn to the next page and see what's there. Its also pretty cool that you only have to stamp once and you can see it on the next page.

Geotags - another cool blokey element! I also really am in love with the word bubbles from WOW chipboard.

Here I've used another Ali Edwards stamp and cut it out them adhered it with mounting tape. I'm using a lot of stamps in my scrapping of late. It is just so using to create cool little embellishments using them. I've used the Pink Paislee Sentiment stamp in the picture below.

Stars and arrows were definitely the go in this album. On this last page I've used the the Luxe Chipboard Stars by Pink Paislee. Oh and the Papers are from Simple Stories 24/Seven range.

I'm really happy with how this turned out - in fact I'm totally stoked.... and despite the fact that Darling Husband said that the gift would only make an appearance to family on Christmas Day (thanks dear) it turns out Russell has shown it to his mates as well!

Happy Scrapping

Fleur x

De-constructing Project Life!

Its been hard not to miss all of the hype surrounding project life especially in the lead-up to its release for general retailers in Oz. For the past little while it was mainly a phenomenon in the USA and for those of you who follow some of the celebrity scrapbookers such as Amy Tangerine or Ali Edwards I am sure that you have seen some stellar examples of their take on Project Life.


So what is Project Life? - Lets go through the concept just to make sure we are all clear!!!!

Project Life has been designed by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify the scrapbooking process. Becky's view is that she has taken the hard work out of scrapbooking by designing all the ""bits" (including the layout of your page).  It is meant to be a back to basics approach for the complete novice or scrapbook guru where you can display your photos with as little or as much detail. The way that you may see many scrappers using the system is via a week at a time approach, however it is pretty easy to adapt this system in any way you see fit.

Ok - so I've been hanging out to try this system simply because I've had a project in mind. I want to record the journey of our house as it changes through the years. I've been taking photos as we do various bits and pieces around the place. So here comes the challenge for me. Simplifying things is not my forte and I'm a more is less kinda gal but I'll see how I go. I'm also not so great with ongoing projects but hopefully I can stick with this and make it work with my hectic schedule.

For my Project Life I am using the Becky Higgins Kraft  core kit, the big variety pack #1 of page protectors and a D ring album.

Ok so with a glass of red in reaching distance - I'm all set to go!!!! Let's crack the kraft kit!!!

Ok - inside the core kit you have 616 cards in a combination of 4 x 6, 3 x 4 sizes. Some cards have been specifically designed to be first page or last page cards while others show suggested layout placement.

Inside the page protectors box you get 60 page protectors in 6 different styles so 10 of each.

So now the assembly begins! Let's see how easy this really is!!!

So with the assistance of a kind helper (a.k.a hubby dearest) it appears that this process may work in terms of my poor time management. My downfall will be keeping up with the journalling - but perhaps that's a good on the train job?

So here is my first completed page - with some embellishment.  I just couldn't help myself!! I made the disclaimer earlier I am a more is less kinda girl!

Tracey has recently added all our our Project Life products to our webstore http://www.dizzyizzyscrapbooking.com.au/ .

I'm interested to hear your project life journey's - how are you using it to suit your lifestyle? Please comment in the links below, tag us in pics via facebook (dizzy izzy scrapbooking) or send photos to dizzyizzy@y7mail.com

Happy Project Lifing!

Fleur x

Adventures in SE Asia Travel Album Pt 3: Thailand

So here is my final installment in this series of my travel adventures in SE Asia. What a great trip! I can't wait for the next one. Hubby and I are thinking Vietnam in October as he hasn't had a chance to visit and there is so much more to explore!

Ticket stubbs also make great embellishments -
a lot of them will have information, the date and of
course the correct spelling of the places you have visited.

Did I say I love the WRMK page protectors! - lol.

I used the Amy Tan roller date stamp on a lot of  my pages
- it made for very simple journalling. I have also found
the Amy Tan love-struck stamps (flower & camera) to be
super versatile.

For a lot of the embellishments I cut elements from
the paper lines then added a
bit of mounting tape to the back. 

Fleur x

Adventures in SE Asia Travel Album Pt 2: Cambodia

I loved my time in Cambodia, not only for its historical sites but also for the beautiful people we met along the way. I think that my photos tell the story here!

I tried to use kraft cardstock as my primary base, I then
grunged it up using a textured stamp.

Using ephemera such as a map helps to tell the story
of your adventure.

This is hubby's favourite layout.
 I really tried to simplify my layout style for this album,
by using simple sketches and minimal embellishments.

These papers by Bo Bunny are so beautiful - I really didn't
need to add much to them to get the effect I wanted.

Fleur x

Adventures in SE Asia Travel Album Pt 1: Vietnam

Well my Adventures in SE Asia travel album is finally done!I am really excited that I have finished a project just for me and it has only taken me about three months of grabbing an hour here and there. Not bad since I had about 3000 photos to choose from and have now ended up with a 64 page album that I feel really captures our trip. My last travel album took me over to 2 years to complete - we won't even talk about how long the first one took me!

For those of you who know me I am a 'more is less' kinda gal who loves to add as many embelli's as possible and jus' up a page - however for this album I really tried to simplify my process. Firstly I've integrated a lot of photos by using the very versatile WRMK page protectors. I have also tried to stick to just two paper lines - Bo Bunny's Serenity and Serenade which both had Asian influences.

Today I've shared a few pages from the Vietnam component of my trip. I'll be sharing more in coming posts.

I love scrapping ephemera - these were some prints
I picked up at the Ben Thanh market.