Living my dream

Sunday Shake up

I came across this amazing site when scrolling through Pinterest.

As a scrapbooker, I've always been interested in my history. My families history. My childrens history. Life and it's little meanings have become something I like to record for future generations.

But a) sometimes I run out of ideas on what to write and b) if you're not a scrapbooker, you may not do this.

Sooooo, I decided to share this site with you so you can give it a go. Get reinspired if you already journal your history, or start if you've never done it before.

If you're not a scrapbooker, that's ok. Just grab a journal that you can dedicate these questions/information to. Start with the question at the top of the page, then just write. Don't be shy. Just let it flow. If you want to, you can add photos, but it's not necessary. The most important thing is recording this information.

If you don't like writing, then type it. If you can't type, then record it on something.

There are so many options it's just up to you and what you want remembered.

So this week, it's all about you and your history. Check out that site above for questions to get you started. Or come up with your own.

Dare ya to give it a go.

 

My Scrapbook Ideas, Prima, Spellbinders and me. Loving my classes for Indonesia....

Gosh I'm excited about traveling to My Scrapbook Ideas to teach.

I've just had confirmation from Spellbinders that they will be providing me with a die for each participant as a part of my class kit.

How generous and exciting is that news?

On top of the already incredible amount of gorgeous Prima product, I'm just so excited to be teaching these classes.

If you're in Jakarta or Surabaya, or you have friends there, let them know and get them to book in.

Can't wait to see you there!

PS: Talking about Spellbinders, have you seen my latest creation on their blog? Check it out in full here.

A shadowbox for PaperHaus

I have wanted to create something a little different for a while, so when I saw this gorgeous plain wooden shadowbox in Spotlight I had to buy it.

I've since gone to town decorating it up to make it pretty enough to hang somewhere, or maybe even give away?

I've used some gorgeous 'old' Prima papers and a few of their delightful flowers and resin pieces.

Let's take a look at how I decorated the front of the box....

First off, I painted the box itself, plus the little inside piece.

Once it was dry, I drew around the box onto the paper I wanted then cut out the pieces.

I adhered the paper to the wooden box. Then cut off any extra pieces. I also inked around the edges. It helps hide any bits that aren't quite perfect, and gives more dimension to the look of the box.

Finally I added in some decorations. A few flowers, a little resin bridge...

And of course the journaling.

The journaling means alot to me at the moment. With Xmas, the new year upon me I find myself reflecting on the past year. Realising that this life is not a dress rehearsal, but this is it. We don't get second chances. So am what I doing today what I want to swap a day of my life for?

Of course when I'm scrapbooking, I'm doing something I consider very important. Recording my life history, making presents for myself or other friends.

I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at this wee box. I certainly had fun making it.

Happy new year everyone!

Trina

Merry Christmas

From my family to yours, I wish you a very Merry Christmas this holiday season, and a safe and happy 2013.

Sunday Shake up

OMG, I've just realised it's Sunday. And I have't done my Sunday shake up!

Obviously the holidays are taking their toll on my time frames.

And what challenge do I have for you this week?

To enjoy time with your family.

So often Xmas is spent rushing around, quickly going from place to place. And we have to do that to make sure we see everyone. But how about just chilling and chatting to the people you've gone to see once you are there?

Really enjoy the moments you have.

T

Red Velvet Cupcake receipe and a couple of tips

(Red velvet cupcakes I made for Sarah's birthday party)

Hey there! A couple of weeks back I took some red velvet cupcakes to my class at Scottie Crafts. They went down a treat and I was asked for the receipe.

So ladies, I thought I'd share where I found it.... right here.

'Divas can cook' is a fabulous new site I've found which is "Old school cooking for the modern woman". That sounds like a bit of me. Grin.

Anyway, her receipe (linked above) is amazing. It's actually a 'cake' receipe, but I just divy it up and put into cupcakes patties as is and it's perfect for them too!

Tip: I've noticed a lot of receipes are putting coffee into their cakes now a days. Dare I say this out loud? I don't like coffee!!! But in the cake receipes, you can't taste it. So don't leave it out! Whatever it does, works!

I've also noticed buttermilk being used in a lot of receipes I use lately. It gives a lovely taste and texture so again, if you don't have any, pop up the road and grab some from your local supermarket. It really does make a difference!

The icing receipe I use comes from I am baker. She has a billion different versions (all of which are amazing), but the one I tend to use the most is this one. I LOVE the addition of salt to the mix. It really does give it something special!

Tip: if I don't have cream to hand, I use milk or water. It doesn't make too much of a difference to the texture, but the taste is ever so slightly different. If you've never tasted it before, or for a long time, you won't notice. But it does the trick if you in a tight situation.

(Red velvet cupcakes I made for Scrapfest by the Sea Christmas party)

Now here comes my big tip of the day.... when I'm baking, or cooking for that matter. And I have an idea in my mind of what I'd like to do, but don't know the receipe. I just google "Best xyz" and then have a look at the receipes that come up.

I then choose one that has lots of good feedback that I can read to ensure it's

a) easy

b) tasty

Or that has lots of comments that I can read to ensure it's what I'm after.

So far it has been the single best way I've found interesting, new, easy, fun, YUMMY receipes ever.

Hope that's helpful! 

Sunday Shake up

This one is going to be really easy, unless you're in a hurry.

We've done it before in a similar way just using money. This time around we are going to give away time.

With Xmas just around the corner, we're all running around trying to get things done. It's a rush. Nothing new there.

Imagine this.....Here in NZ it's hot. Kids get scratchy. Mum's are trying to copy with crying babies, juggling the pram with 25 presents in their trolley and none of it quite working. What if you let them in front of you at the checkout line? What if you let them go before you and it meant they could cope a bit better that day?

Imagine this......An elderly person is taking their time to cross the road. They walk slowly. It holds up traffic. What if you stop and help them. What if you give them a wave and call out Merry Xmas as you drive past instead of honking your horn and telling them to hurry up?

Imagine this.....A man and his guide dog are trying to find the entrance to a shop, but because it is all glass the dog is getting confused. The man can't see and so they walk up and down, knowing they want to go into the shop, but not knowing how. Imagine if you stopped and said, 'Hi, I think you're dog may be confused, would you like me to help you find the entrance to the shop?'.

These things do not cost us a cent. But they do cost us time. Time to stop and help someone. Time to let someone in the que in front of you. We're all in a hurry, but so much so that we can't see the peace in this season? If you can't see the peace, I think giving peace to someone else will give you some yourself.

Dare ya.

PS: I just saw this online and thought it was too good to be true. It also fits into the Sunday Shake up this week, so just had to share. Check it out here, it's called: 26 moments that restored our faith in humanity.

Oh and a big thank you to my friend who chatted to me this week about this idea. You are one in a million!

'My Scrapbook Ideas' and I team up

I am thrilled and excited to announce that I'll be teaching at My Scrapbook Ideas stores in both Jakarta and Surabaya in January 2013. I will spend a whole day in each city to teach 2 layouts, a mini album and a card.

MSI is a FABULOUS group of scrapbooking stores in Indonesia. You can click on those links back there to check them out. 

I can't wait to share my work with the students and am looking forward to meeting Grace, Ina and their teams and customers.

And as for the kits, they are divine! Filled with all sorts of Prima goodness. During the classes we'll be making a few of our own flowers, using muslin as a backing and a huge number of other fantastic techniques.

I can't wait to see you there!

PaperHaus last day for blog hop and a wonderful wonderful prize....

I've taken this directly from the Paperhaus blog as it's such a great prize, I'd hate for anyone to miss out on it!

Now for the last giveaway of our event.  If you've followed us throughout this event, you will recall that the first day started with a blog hop.  Today is THE LAST day to hop along with our team to win the AMAZING prize that is up for grabs.  You can find the blog hop and the details here at this post.  Be sure to do the hop and leave a comment on THAT POST to be entered to win.  You can comment here but the winner will be chosen from the blog hop post.

Now for the prize, and it's a doozy.  As you know, we do team up and love Gauche Alchemy.  They are a small mixed media shop and they specialize in eclectic, kitschy, cool ephemera and supplies.  They provided the prize pack for today.  Trust us.  It's a prize like no other we've seen offered as a giveaway.

The prize is a full blown Alchemist box!  By "Alchemist box", we mean that you will win one of the HUGE boxes they send to their alchemists for their term and are not available to the general public.  It's chock full of mixed media awesomeness and it retails for approximately $250-$300.  You will get a sampling of just about everything they have in stock.  The picture collage and list are representations of some of the things that are included.

• 1 yard of every Punchinella in stock
• 1 yard of every lace in stock
• 1 of each of the 8 color kits (except limited edition kits)
• assorted ephemera
• 1 napkin art kit
• ouchless cardboard (in both kraft and white)
• 1 foreign text kit
• ...and WHOLE BUNCH MORE!

Don't forget to hop along with the creative team

Class kits for sale - A brand new class exclusively for sale right here.

I had some spare time the other day. As well as some spare product left over from classes I've taught this year. Plus a few new things I wanted to try, like the gorgeous Spellbinders dies I've used and the cool rectangular doily!

So I thought self, why not make up a BRAND NEW class kit and sell it on your blog. So I did, and I am.....
Making use of Prima's delightful papers, flowers, resin pieces, lace and Say it in crystals, I've come up with this gorgeous layout.

In the kit:

Full colour class instructions.

All product needed to complete the layout.

Die cut pieces to use (sorry not the die itself).

What you will need to add: adhesives, white paint and your time.

Cost $45 + P&P

Postage:

Anywhere in NZ $7.50 flat rate for up to 3 kits (chat to your friends see if they want any and combine postage to make things cheaper!).

Australia $14.00 (up to 3 kits)

USA $19.00 (up to 3 kits).

I can give quotes for postage to other countries, please just email me (see link at top).

Payment to be made via paypal (overseas) or direct deposit NZ. And please note, these prices are in NZ$

I look forward to hearing from you.

Have a great day.

Trina.

Rambling

The other day I was doing something and chatting to my MIL about making Matt's cake and she asked me if I ever stopped thinking.

I replied no and we laughed.

But some days I wish I could stop thinking, birthdays, chickens hatching, Xmas, end of school concerts, assignments, end of school.

I like thinking. It's never a problem. I love having new ideas. And yes, I have a billion ideas a day. I'm sure if I made one of them work I'd be a billionaire. But I don't have the nouse or energy or whatever it takes to do that. Grin. And some days. I'd quite like to just have a quiet brain. Trying to think how to do that....

Anyone else feel like that?

Scrapfest by the sea Xmas party

I've had 3 parties in the last couple of weeks so thought I'd better share some of the photos. Since I was a slacker at our Scrapfest by the sea party and didn't take too many photos, you get to see them first.

These are the wonderful ladies who came along and shared the afternoon with me. We chatted constantly, laughed alot, ate more. It was a wonderfully relaxing way to spend some time.

Everyone brought some food with them - thanks guys but as I said, I was a slacker with the camera, and didn't get pictures of everyones.

I did however, get some of mine before everyone arrived.

With Matt's party the following day, I just had to get out gumball machine and make sure it was working. It was.

It's so much fun. The kids love it and the gum is really nice!

Being Christmas, I had to try a new idea of Xmas cupcakes. Complete with snow beneath the tree, and a white chocolate star.

And what Xmas party would be complete without some chocolate dipped strawberries?

Of course my old favourite fudge receipe came out.

Along with my new favourite receipe for coconut ice...

All in all it was a sugar filled, indulgent day.

Goody bags were even arranged for everyone and waiting as they arrived...
And yes, that is Christmas bark made in a cool Christmas shape. I'll have to give instructions here one day soon.

A wonderful time was had by all.

 

A layout for paperHaus. It's all about the journaling.

Hi everyone! It's Trina here. I hope you're having a fabulous start to the week! Christmas is getting closer and with it alot of stress but also alot of fun! And that's what I had with a few of my scrapbooking buddies this weekend. It's all in the layout below. And the journaling tells a wonderful story which will remind me of this day for years to come.

Journaling, for some it's hard, others not so. I have always loved to journal on my scrapbook pages. I don't find it a chore, and in fact I often have journaling on the BACK of my layouts when the asthetics on the front don't allow it. It's funny because my husband and I were discussing this the other day and he said it was one of the things he loved most about my pages.

But journaling doesn't always have to be the same. You can change it up. And that's what I've done in this layout.

Ok, so it doesn't look too different does it? But the difference here is that all the people in the photo created the journaling.

I was creating this layout at a special Xmas Crop for Scrapfest by the Sea. A luxury weekend retreat I and a friend are running in NZ next year. Anyway, we were having a fabulous time, chatting, laughing, eating, and using skype to call our sister party being held in another part of NZ at the same time. It was fabulous. I decided that as I hadn't worked out what photo I'd be using on the layout, I'd take one and use that. This layout could be Scrapfest through and through.

And that's when the idea hit. We all make up the journaling.

The ladies decided they wanted to have the journaling typed (chickens! grin) and so they called out what they wanted to say and I typed it. I printed it and tada. A fabulous story about a fabulous day written by a group of fabulous women.
From there, it was easy to finish off the layout. A few Prima flowers, a gorgeous Prima resin angel (just like us ladies! Grin), and of course the photo.

Did you notice how I've cut the photo into a scalloped shape? I did this to add some interest and help it blend into the rest of the layout - lots of gorgeous layers of similar shapes. 

I know it's not always possible to do what I've done. But the good part is that even if your friends aren't around you, you can email/text/message them and get their point of view.

I dare you to do something different with your journaling on your next layout.

Trina.

Sunday shake up

It's simple this week. It's well into December and time to get into the Christmas spirit. So my challenge to you this week is to dig out your christmas music and play it!

I know some of you will have already. But if you haven't. Now's the time!

My all time favourite is Snoopy's Christmas. Followed closely by a million others. Grin.

What about you?

A Primalicious xmas

Hi there! It's my turn on the Prima Educator blog and I decided with Christmas coming up what better time to start thinking cards and decorations?

I know my own schdule leading up to Christmas is pretty hectic, and I'm betting yours is too, so if we can do small bits of crafting now and then, I recon we can get enough done to satisfy gifts and our own families.

These little decorations are very quick and easy to make so let's see how I created them.

Let's start with the card as if you're giving these decorations, it's probably the first thing they will see....

I started with a standard 6x4" base card. Cutting it down to 4x4" so it made a square.

Then I used Prima's beautiful patterned papers to create a base, layering it with some muslin (cheese cloth) and a Spellbinders die cut scalloped circle.

This gave a base to the journaling card which I cut out from another piece of Prima's PP.

Then just add some flowers and leaves and you're done.

It's a quick card, should take about 10 mins to make.

Next is a home made tree ornament. I notice Frank made a gorgeous one for Prima recently. You can view it here. These ones are similar but includes a photo of someone special inside. I'm thinking it could make for a wonderful new tradition making one each year for your tree with a picture of your family inside.

Using some of Prima's gorgeous Xmas flowers make it particularly festive.

Prima's Say it in crystals are perfect to add to a project like this as they will glitter beautifully when the tree lights shine on them.

Of course, knowing how many colours you can get in both SIIC and tree decorations, you could have so much fun creating any number of coloured Xmas globes.

Like I have with my next one.

Stunningly simple. White.

This time instead of a photo, I filled the globe with a small piece of scrunched up muslin, then I simply added some Say it in Crystals to the outside.

You could fill it with anything, but I'm thinking some glitter would look spectacular as well!

As a lovely finishing touch, I covered the gold top with white embossing powder and it was done.

Some lovely, quick and easy treats for your family or friends.

Here's a list of the products I used to create these projects:

843281 - North Country Forest Notes

843250 - North Country Col. Red Deer

844530 - Rosarian Constance

540173 - Innoscence Collection

546717 - Audry Rose Col. Scarlett

A variety of SIIC: 540630, 540616, 535261, 535940

Other: Seam binding, muslin, plastic snow globes

Merry Christmas.