August Blog Hop - Jack

Welcome to this month's Australasian Blog Hop featuring the "Jack" paper collection.  Just click on Megan's Blog to go backwards and the one at the bottom of the page to continue around on the blog hop.

This pack is the most masculine of our paper suites in the Seasonal Expressions.  It is perfect for camping, bushwalking, scenic shots and bonfires but it also works brilliantly for Christmas.

I want to share a page layout with you. I created this for our SA consultant group a couple of months ago and have been getting lots of mileage out of it every since!

Jack Double Layout

You will need:

2 sheets of cardstock for background (I used Sweet Leaf)

2 sheets of White Daisy

I sheet of Jack B and T (I used the tree paper)

1 sheet of cardstock for mats (I used Cocoa but you could use the new Espresso)

Juniper, Ruby and Cocoa or Espresso inks

The Jack Cardmaking Stamp

Journal box/PML card (I used the juniper one from the Jack paper)

Storybook Alphabet July SOM or other suitable letter stamp for title

Cut the white daisy card to 11x11 ½ “

Adhere it to your background paper as shown.

Cut the B and T paper into two 3” strips

Cut the cocoa into four ½” strips and then cut the remainder into two photo mats 6 ¼ x 4 ¼ and one mat 5 ¼ by 7 ¼ “  Assemble layout as shown.  Stamp a sentiment/title onto the PML card using cocoa ink

Stamp the bear and two arms onto a scrap of cardstock. Then stamp 1 juniper hat and 1 ruby heart onto the leftover strip of white daisy.  Fussy cut out and adhere to page just above PML card.  Please modify and change according to what you are working with.  This can create beautiful pages using any paper and embellishments.  

Here it is with lots of different options:

Apologies that some photos are sideways - I keep trying to find out how to fix this but to no avail? Please leave me a comment if you can help - it doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason why some go sideways and some don't as they are all taken the same way!

I just love that tree paper!

It will work with any type of paper, I know we are focussing on Jack but how cute is it using up old scraps?

I love the style of the Jack Complements. They also match perfectly with the stamps from our new Travel themed Cricut Cartridge.

If you love "Jack" then you really need to get in and contact your consultant (or if you don't have a consultant you can order online from me here www.nellward.ctmh.com.au ) as this will be gone by the end of the month!

That is it from me this month, pop over to Vandra's Blog to continue the hop!

August is a Wicked Month

Oh yes, August is a wicked month, in more ways than one..
Not only are there those treacherous clear days with the promise of Spring, and the cheerful nodding of jonquils, and sightings of Magpies with nest supplies firmly clenched in their beaks. It is not just the cold and the wet and the little tease of Spring that makes August wicked. No. August is also wickedly busy and wickedly expensive.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a galaxy without children, in what seems like a former and foreign life, I was a lacemaker. I made beautiful bobbin lace with my own two hands. There is a magic to bobbin lace - it is essentially weaving with little bits of stick and lots of pins. The magic is what you create, inch by painstaking inch. It is not a quick craft, and it requires a high level of patience, and a commitment to the task, which is probably why I have been a lapsed lacemaker for a decade and a half. Anyhow, this weekend I made a comeback.  Travelling by myself still seems a very decadent and grown up thing to do, but I packed up my bobbins and flew to Melbourne for a wonderful reunion with my old lacemaking friends. It was lovely.

These little guys are Judy's amigurumi dogs - I loved them!

My lace-making - you can see how it is easy to get excited by all of the lovely turned wooden bobbins and spangles.

This remarkable lady was my Mum away from Mum when I was first in Melbourne.  She is a dear friend - sooooo wonderful to catch up!

My amazing friend Helen is almost finished an entire bobbin lace shawl! That is true commitment! She is so clever!

This weekend coming I am heading off to the Mt Pleasant Fibre Fair to indulge in some spinning stash enhancement. We will visit the farmers market and Repurpose (which is a lovely op/junk/recycling shop full of nana-ish treasures like old cutlery and remnants of vintage fabric etc)

The week after that is our Quilting retreat down at Goolwa - and that is always worth a visit to my current favourite Patchwork shop and some great secondhand stores.

After that I will pull my head in. I really will. Because you know what, that takes us pretty well right up to Spring and unless something drastic happens within the next 3 weeks I think I can congratulate myself on a remarkably grump free, almost happy Winter!

Have a great week folks!
Keep smiling,
Nell

August SOM Australasian Blog Hop

Welcome to our August Stamp of the Month blog hop featuring the S1708 "School Year" stamp.  If you have arrived here from Doris' Blog then you will already know how the system works. For those new to Blog Hops just follow the links at the bottom of each blog to check out more awesome ideas from our Aussie and Kiwi consultants.

With three school aged children I know I will get lots of use out of this stamp.  I take photos of my children at the start of each school year and then there are the inevitable school photos, school camps, concert and excursions to scrap!  For anyone with kids this stamp is a no-brainer but I also wanted to show you how to use it for non-school pages.  This stamp will extend the life of some of my other faourite stamp sets.

It works so well with the School Kids Day to Day Stamp. To celebrate end of term I used some of our retiring papers and the SOM with the School Kids Day to Day set to create some little teacher gifts.  This is an idea I come back to again and again.  When you next see chocolate on sale grab a few bars and put them away as little pick-me-up gifts.  Just lay the chocolate on the paper. Mark where to cut it and fold up into a basic sleeve then decorate with a tag and some twine or ribbon.

The little heart trio on this set works beautifully with our new colour of the year "Bashful" and the new Basics Fundamentals, and Whimsy Fundamentals range.  I also used our new Close to My Heart branded tape runner (which I love) and our foam dots (which come in two convenient sizes)

And do you notice the lettering?!?! Our beautiful new Alphabet thin cuts!  I am so excited by these!

You know how I said this stamp works so well with other sets? Well I couldn't resist teaming it with our new Operation Smile stamp "Punny Pals" D1751  See how easily the speech bubble and wood grain frame can be used with other sentiments?

And for this very last one I combined the SOM with the School Kids Day to Day and the "Pack Your Bags" sentiment from our new cricut cartridge "You Are Here" bundle. Cute huh?

I actually had school photo pages to show you as well but they keep loading sideways, and I had to blur out classmates faces so I have let them go this month. Hopefully this has given you some food for thought for how this can be used for non-school themes anyhow!
Now hop over to Shaunna's Blog for some more inspiration!

Till next time, keep smiling,

Nell