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Did you think I'd forgotten this week?
Nope! Grin. But this is part of my shake up. Try to do something that you 'normally' do at the same time each day, at a different time in the day.
You might wake up 10 mins earlier. Or catch a later bus home. Or eat dinner an hour later. Or scrapbook longer (Love that one!).
Choose something that you have a 'normal' time for and do it at a different time. Shake up your week.
Dare ya!
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Today was delivery day for "You are special". I just had the one cake this month so it made it easy.
I decided to try the 'zebra' design I initially saw Ruth try. But mine is pink and yellow instead of brown and white.
I then cut the cake in half, filled it with buttercream, and then iced it with two colours. The crumb coat was yellow. With pink as the main colour.
From there I decorated it with lots and lots of jellybeans. I decided to just go for it and see where it took me.
Loving the flowers!
And of course I added in some glitter. Grin.
Next month I've got about 5 to do. They will need to be done for I think the 29th November. I know a few of you were keen on contributing when I first started talking about this, so if you still are, please flick me an email or leave me a comment and I'll get in touch with more details.
I'm really enjoying the process of making cakes and delivering them. Knowing that someone is going to love it.
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Halloween is right around the corner and that means there is alot of halloween related creations on the internet right now.
I created a little something for paperHaus. It talks about what Halloween means for me as a New Zealander who was brought up without all the 'hype' that surrounds Halloween now.
So I just went wild with what is my 'typical' Trina style with lots of journaling. And I even created my own backing paper. LOTS of ink, stitching, glimmermist, & stamps. So much fun. In fact so much fun that I decided to do something special. Check out below for more info... in the meantime, take a look at some of the close up's.
I've used some delicious Prima flowers that I've sprayed with glimmermist, then added in some iridescent medium.
Can you see that glorious shine on the flowers? That's the iridescent medium. Just use it like paint on your flowers and you get a wonderful shimmer!
I also found some gorgeous old Sassafras alphabet stickers. Just the perfect colour and size!
And as for punches and dies, just adore them. They can add so much interest to your pages without added dimension. And the best part is once you've brought them, you can use them over and over again!
So, as promised, I had so much fun creating my own paper, that I decided to make some more and GIVE IT AWAY!
That's right. Below are the two papers as a free download (without the watermark!).
and
If you would like to download these papers to use for yourself in your own projects, or digital projects, please feel free!
You can view and download my free papers right HERE for the brown paper or right HERE for the orange paper.
Thanks so much! Have a wonderful day and don't forget to visit paperHaus for more great ideas from the paperHaus DT!
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Passion.
What do you feel passionate about?
Last week, in fact a week ago today, I was dropping some friends off at the airport and we saw a couple greeting each other. Obviously he had been away and she was picking him up and they were very happy to see each other, if you get my drift.
So much so, that one of the ladies I was with remarked about getting a room and we all giggled.
But it got me thinking about passion and how easily it can leave our life, yet how important it is. Often things we are passionate about start off with a hiss and a roar, then over time, as the newness and intrique becomes the norm, the passion leaves.
So I'm challenging you to shake up your passion this week. Now, my example above was only one type of passion and if you're married, then giving your partner a great big juicy kiss will undoubtedly be greeted with a wonderful response. Wink.
But you could apply this to anything you're passionate about. Passion is not restricted to dare I say it...probably not that word on my blog, anyone googling it well, don't really want them here. LOL.
So have a think about your passions and if they've gone into hibernation mode, then give them a bit of attention and get them reving again.
Dare ya.
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Do you want to have a bit of fun before the Xmas craziness starts?
Do you want to feel like you've achieved a ton of scrapping in just 2 hours?
Do you want to join me in a class I'll be teaching in Auckland?
I'm thrilled and excited to announce that I'll be teaching again at Scottie Crafts! Yay!!!
If you're interested in coming along, then please give Scotties a call (Ph. 09 415 0040). The class will run on Saturday 1st December from 10am-12pm (depending on numbers we may add another class from 1-3pm, but this is not guaranteed).
The class I'll be teaching is my ever popular '3in1' class. This means you'll be finishing 3 beautiful layouts in just 2 hours.
Below are a couple of examples of my '3in1' classes.
However, this class will be different to these!
Class cost is $55 NZD.
Don't forget if you're looking at making some amazing gift boxes, that Wendy Jones has a class on 27th October. Check out the details here.
Wendy is incredibly talented and clever. She comes up with the coolest ideas and techniques, so make sure you pop along and see what she's up to.
I can't wait to see you there!
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Yes, today is my birthday! 18th October. Such a great day! Grin.
I also know a few other people having birthdays this week. Happy birthday Lisa, Michelle, Jan and Esther. I hope you've had/will have special days!
I woke up early today. Didn't sleep well last night (but that's a whole other story) and the kids and Andy presented me with some glorious gifts.
A huge bunch of spring flowers which smell absolutely divine.
A very cute cake tin with a country theme and chickens around the outside!
Some cool nutrafresh fruit glitter for my baking. Check them out here. They are sooooo cool and different!
A gold bead for my pandora bracelets.
Plus some gifts from World Vision. This is something we started talking about the other day with the children. They sponsor a child of their age each and so of course get promotional material sent to them. The mail we received explained how you can buy things as gifts for people (instead of a 'standard' gift) but whatever you buy actually goes to people who need it. We decided that whatever the kids put into the gifts we would double.
Anyway, they all decided to buy 3 chickens and a rooster, a goat and a piglet for me to give to kids in need around the world. LOVED IT!!!!
Then this afternoon Sarah and Matt made me a cake. Very cool!!!! You should have heard them though. Matt doesn't bake too much, but really wanted to today. And Sarah's all like "but this isn't the way I like to bake Matt". Too cute!
And Dan made us all some chocolate covered bananas. He had Drinking chocolate, milo and sugar and he was dipping the bananas in them all, then taking spoonfuls of milo for himself. Too funny!
But something we are very proud of them all for doing.
I feel really blessed with my family today.
Plus of course I had calls from everyone, a visit from Val. And a TON of messages on facebook. Thanks you guys!!!! Know how to make a girl feel loved!
There were a couple of lowlights in the day. Andy and I have been under some external stress lately that we're still undergoing, it peaked the night before, and I'm not sure when it will be over. I sure hope it resolves soon and in our favour. The other thing was that one of my beautiful chooks died. I don't know what happened. I was showing Val our new chicks and saw Adah. Incredibly sad.
That's Adah there with Sarah. A silver laced wyandotte. So pretty.
Again, thanks for all your best wishes today. You don't know how much the support and love has made me feel today.
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Earlier this month Lyn and I started a tag swap on our Scrapfest by the sea facebook page.
We have 4 groups with 29 people participating (one person twice!). Wow!
All the tags are due to me by Thurs. And I've just about got them all. I have a large cardboard box filled with parcels of tags, it's so exciting.
I can't wait to get the last few in so I can sort them all and get them back to their owners.
And for those of you who missed out. I'm sorry! But the good news is that we have another cool 'project/event' coming up mid Nov so keep an eye on our facebook page, and if you're interested in participating, or seeing what we're up to, make sure you ask to be part of the group or let me know you're keen and I'll add you!
Whether you're coming to Scrapfest by the sea or not, these swaps/events/projects are for everyone and we'd love to see you there!
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A week ago, we spent time with my Dad's side of the family for my uncles ashes scattering. It was a lovely day and especially nice that we had friends and family together who haven't seen each other in a long time.
Seeing Dad and his brother scatter their other brothers ashes over the water, I realised how much older my Dad is looking. And it reminded me we're all getting older.
I've always known how important the 'elderly' are (and to be honest, what is elderly now?). But as I get older, it also gets a little closer and thus a little scarier.
But really, their worth is undervalued here in NZ and around the world. We used to look after our parents as they got too old to look after themselves. As a family people would gather around and support each other. Now you get too old to live in your own home and most likely will be shipped off to a rest home.
I know life is different now, that's the reality, and relationships are such that sometimes you can't bring yourself to help your parents/grandparents. But what about other elderly people you might know, love and respect?
Life is full of wisdom held in the minds of our elderly. They are to be treasured. Looked after and made to feel important in their retirement.
So my challenge to you this week, is to visit with someone at least 20 years older than you (if you're in your 20's then they need to be at least 40 years older than you). Spend some quality time with the ones you love. Talk to them about their past. About things they remember, write notes, get out their pictures and treasure their experiences.
Not only will you get a lot from the time you spend together, you will make someone else very happy.
Dare ya.
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Well, we've had a busy couple of days around here. Eggs hatching, dying, surviving. And today chicks playing.
It's been a wonderful experience (again) and I can't wait to see them grow and find out who is going to be a girl/boy.
But in the meantime, here's some pictures I took today while we were hanging around with them outside...
This is one of our gorgeous Araucana chicks hiding inside her Mum (Tiny) feathers. Awwww.
Tiny, one of our Mum's, looking quite iritated with me taking so many photos.
Here we have Flame (the orange chick) and Bomb, taking a wee break amongst the daffodils.
One of our campine chicks (left) and another Araucana (right) taking a wee walk in the grass.
Both 'families' hanging out together.
Tiny. Gosh she's looking amazing right now. She is a frizzle. This means her feathers all stick out instead of down and close to her body. With her getting all 'fluffed up' to accommodate her chicks, she's grown about 2 feet and looks amazing!
Flame in the foreground and Caramel in the background. Both Buff Sussex chicks. Flame has a black stripe running down it's head like a flame. Thus the name.
Flame and Caramel with their "Mum" Blondie. Blondie is a Chinese Silkie cross that is also frizzled.
Blondie and Bomb. Bomb is a black Leghorn.
Caramel taking a wee snooze inside her Mum's feathers.
We started off with 18 eggs under 2 chooks.
4 were infertile when we candled.
2 were taken by our neighbour for her dinner by accident.
1 died during hatching.
1 died 12 hours after hatching.
1 didn't hatch.
9 survived and are beautiful little chicks.
Yes, you will see more chick photos on here over the next few weeks. Grin.
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Had a wonderful weekend just been! First the classes at Scotties, then some time with family.
The first thing was straight after my classes. I headed up to Snow Planet where I met two of my sisters, their children a cousin and aunty. We all got dressed up and then hit the taboganing (sp?) slopes before having dinner.
It was soooo much fun with lots of laughs!
Snow planet is an indoor snow area. You can ski/board, play in the snow and tobogan.
The Ashby's take up the whole toboganning area!
The kids had a ball. Making up long chains then getting stuck half way down. Then us adults would come hurtling along and bump them into moving again.
It really was a huge amount of fun.
I can highly recommend it to anyone, and it seems Sat night is a great night. There was hardly anyone there!
After our 'snowed out' ski trip earlier this year, it was nice to get into some snow again!
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I was really excited to be teaching at Scottie Crafts on Saturday. It's the first time I've taught in Auckland for ages and it was nice to just drive down the road.
We were doing a 'Texture Throughout' class and this one was full of layers. In fact I think we counted 10 (but there were possibly more!).
I used the amazing Zephyr collection from Prima. Gosh it's beautiful!
Then we built the layout up from the bottom. Layers of paper, corrugated card, a doily, flowers, resist canvas. We even made our own flowers using a Spellbinders die called Bitty Blossoms and some resin leaves using the amazing Easycast from Scotties.
Scottie's had set up their classroom beautifully (thanks ladies!) and it was easy to just set up and go...
I always like to give little treats in my classes. And because I didn't have to pack them away this time, I was able to make some cupcakes...
Of course I had to make them in pink foil wrappers and pink icing to match Scottie's theme colour.
The classes were designed to be small so we could be really 'intimate' and I loved it. I haven't taught a class this small in ages.
In fact the class was so popular, we put on another class and still had a waiting list.
The good news ladies is that I am planning more classes in Auckland (and so are Scottie's!), so keep an eye out here and on the Scottie's website. I'll announce things as soon as I can confirm them.
And can I say a big thanks to the ladies who came along, and Scottie's themselves. I'm constantly amazed at the generousity of spirit of the people who attend my classes and put them on. It's always such a joy and this Saturday was no different. We had so many laughs and again, I learnt some cool new things while teaching. It's one of the things I love most about teaching. The sharing, and community involved. Whether it's a large class or small. It's always full of fun, joy and sharing.
Thank you.
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Driving to the gas station at 10.30pm the other night to get some milk, I heard people on the radio talking about how life has changed. How we didn't used to have things like txt, facebook, or even computers (and we certainly couldn't buy milk at 10.30pm)!
So I came up with my Sunday Shake Up for this week.
Let's try and go a week (or even just a day if a week is too hard) where instead of texting, we actually pick up the phone and talk to people!
Uh huh! A bit of a hard one! Grin.
But I know you can do it.
Dare ya!
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Hi there everyone! It's my turn to share some Primaliciousness with you today.
As it's the school holidays in NZ we've been hanging out with my nieces a bit meaning I've had some great photo opportunities. I took this photo just the other day and decided it 'had' to be scrapped.
I'm stoked as it seems to have caught each of their individual personalities in just the one photo.
Here's the layout I created with the photo.
To create this layout I've used the beautiful Zephyr collection, making the most of it's 'softer' sides.
To see how I put it together, please take a look at this short (1 minute) video....
In preparation, I did add the muslin to the back of the photo mat. This was pretty easy. I just popped a border of glue around the outside of the back of the mat, then scrunched and adhered the muslin as I went around the mat.
Here's a close up
and
and
Supplies used:
Supplies used:
844455 – Zephyr Gramercy
844486 – Zephyr Tempore
556808 – Miss Godivas Caladon
556846 – Miss Godivas Marshmellow
554613 – Decorative Wood embellishments
559267 – Wood Buttons Romance Novel
554705 – Resist Canvas
544232 – Alphabet Stickers
891428 – Eros Shabby Chic Treasures
891442 – Shabby Chic Treasures
557621 – Parisa Aspen Mix
557997 – Hermosa Teal
557652 – Laraine Blue Lagoon
Other: Spellbinders die (Ribbon Banners large), Muslin, Doily.
I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at how this type of layout can be made. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you!
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HI. It's Trina McClune here and I'm really excited to be sharing my first tutorial with you on the paperHaus blog!
I've had this project in mind for quite some time and I'm thrilled to have finally made it happen!
You see for me, scrapbooking is more than 'art' (although that is the FUN part of it! Grin), I love to tell stories, and I do alot of journaling in my projects.
This mini album celebrates the 'old' (yes literally!) about me. It is all about the year I was born.
Inside I've created a little story about what happened that year. I'm still to complete it, and will be adding in things like what the cost of bread/milk/eggs/sugar were in 1969. Who the NZ Prime Minister was, Songs that were popular etc etc.
But for now, let's have a look at what I've done....
A close up of the front cover.
Page one is all about the year, it's my title page.
Page 2-3 gives a few details about me, plus some 'highlights' of the year.
Page 4-5 give some pictorial details of the highs and lows (according to me).
As you can see, I've deliberately kept the 'decorating' to a minimum as I'd like the details to be the main focus. I've also used a monotone colur palette to help with this.
Here's how I created the front cover....
Step 1:
Cut your covers from some thick card in the shape you want. I've used a Spellbinders die for mine.
Then cut two pieces of canvas for each cover, slightly larger than your covers.
Step 2:
Adhere the canvas to both sides of your card using a glue stick.
Then stitch around the edge of the card to ensure it's is really stuck on (plus it looks good!)
Step 3:
Use a mask (I used Prima's brick wall mask) and some texture paste to create a wonderful textured design on the front cover.
Step 4:
Add some muslin. The way I do this is to cut a piece that is alot larger than the area I want to cover. I then add some glue to the area I'm covering and scrunch the muslin over the area, squishing it into the glue to adhere.
Step 5:
Decorate. In this instance I used Prima flowers, vines, a hand cut clock from some Prima packaging, a doily, and a gorgeous new medium (Windsor and Newton watercolour Iridescent Medium) I've discovered through Janine Koczwara (Thanks Janine!!!).
Supplies used:
Prima flowers, alphabet, Say it in crystals, paper and other embellishments, Prima brick wall mask, Canvas, muslin, iridescent medium, texture paste, Spellbinders dies, white tag, doily, seam binding, white cardstock, Cuttlebug alphabet, and home made resin pieces (you can view a video on how to make these here).
I hope you've enjoyed my project today. Please feel free to leave me a comment or question and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Have a great day.
Trina.
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I love how Prima always has something to get our creative juices flowing each month.
This month I decided to give the BAP a go and came up with this layout...
I decided to try a totally different style than I normally would and kept it quite clean and simple plus added in some misting.
It was fun. And the best part is that when you've got a sketch to work with you can come up with something new like this.
Pop on over to the Prima blog to check out all the other designers takes on the sketch and also the PPP.
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