my ramblings

maya road scroll binder book & chipboard wings album

Here's a couple more Maya Road project using two of their new chipboard books, the Scroll Binder Book and the Wings Album, both released last week at CHA-S 08.

First up is the Scroll Binder Book. The shaping of this book is gorgeous. The paper I've used throughout this book is from the Office Lingo collection by Pink Paislee, one of my new favourites.

The "phoebe" is made from the Maya Road Noah chipboard alphabet set. The letters in this set are a great size. Being smaller than the original MR chipboard letters you can fit a larger title to the front on a book:

The 100% Girl Sheer Calendar Turn fitted well with the theme of this little book:

Inside page, a MR chipboard tree shape and a new sheer ticket:

And a few inside pages from the book, my favourite photos of Phoebe growing up over the last 10 years:

And another newly released album from Maya Road, their chipboard Wings Album. This little book now documents the lullaby I used to sing to my girls when they were babies and little girls. They used to love this song, and as they got a little older would sing along with me. I wanted to put the words down in writing, just so we have them around. Papers used inside the book are by Sweetwater from their Giggle Girl collection.

Some inside pages:

That's me and Emily over 12 years ago:

And me and Phoebe over 9 years ago:

I've a few smaller Maya Road projects to show, but I think that's about enough for today's blog post!

Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope you're all having a great week.

Cheers

Fiona x

Scrap-n-Crop, Malaysia

Valerie from Scrap-n-Crop in Malaysia asked me to be a guest designer for her store this month. Here's a little look at a few things made. The full gallery is up on the Scrap-n-Crop site now. Thanks Valerie for inviting me to work with you this month, it's been fun creating!

Here's a few of the new things I made...

This layout is just about documenting my girls at the moment, a little memory for the album, about how they make me laugh in such different ways.

I was just trying to take a photo of them together. Phoebe stood and waited patiently... and Em, well she was just being Em!

After a short time Phoebe looked at me very seriously and said "can't you just photoshop us together?"  A classic Phoebe comeback.

I love writing little messages on my layouts, like the one above "good idea gorgeous!" I'm thinking well into the future here, when, hopefully, my girls might look through these scrapbooks and read little thing's I've written to them.

Another project for the store, Maya Road Bottlecap Memory Game...

I've used the Maya Road chipboard Motifs set and set them into the Maya Road Mega bottlecaps.

I've been enjoying many Memory games in the evenings recently. Phoebe beats me every time.

I also made a set of cards, this one was a spare one, the rest are in the gallery.

The rest of my projects are over in gallery at Scrap-n-Crop.

That's about all from me today. Thanks for visiting.

Hope you have a great day.

Fiona x

Birthday month

June sees the start of birthday month in our house. Both Phoebe and I have June birthdays, my niece and a few friends also celebrate during this month. But for some reason Phoebe's birthday celebrations seem to last the whole month... (usually overshadowing my birthday completely).

On the weekend we took Phoebe and a few friends to the Sydney Observatory for her birthday celebration. She wanted to go to the Observatory last year, but we left it all too late to arrange, so this year we started early. Just as well, as we couldn't get in next weekend as planned (that's the Observatory's 150th birthday and there's big things planned there) so we had to go a week early for Phoebe's birthday.

We arrived at Observatory Hill early, and the girls had fun running around the rotunda. They watched a bridal party have their photos taken, then the girls insisted the bride and groom kiss, which they willingly obliged.

I tried to take some creative photos, but without my tripod, they didn't really work out. Here's one of the better ones.

The view from the rotunda was beautiful looking north over the harbour to the Harbour Bridge and Luna Park.

The Observatory was great. We looked through two big telescopes including the large one in the domed roof. The most amazing thing we saw was Saturn, we could actually see the rings around the planet. Quite amazing.

After the visit to the Observatory, it was back home for the Starry-Starry night pinata cake. We saw this cake being made several weeks ago on Better Homes and Gardens. Phoebe loved it when she saw it and ordered one (from mum) for her birthday.

Armed with wooden spoons the girls had to smash their way through the chocolate outer shell to reach the cupcakes and lollies hiding underneath.

Phoebe and I made little starry time capsules for the lolly bags. We found the plastic containers at Reverse Garbage. We then wrapped a strip of Scenic Route paper around each container, added a scalloped punched oval shape, a star shape (with doodling) and a Maya Road chipboard letter to finish.

I just have to say I love my new Marvy Uchida scalloped punches. After searching here in Australia for them, and not being able to find them, I finally bought several from Papertrey Ink in the US recently.

That's about all for now. Thanks for visiting!

Cheers

Fiona x

Ribbons Galore

These Ribbon Bundles are now on their way to Italy...

Lory from Scrapbookiando asked if I'd send some ribbon goodie bags for the upcoming Paper & Co Show in Italy at the end of this month. This looks like such a fun event with great tutors. I think I'll start saving for next year... mmm Italy in May... perfect, who wants to join me?

I've added Dolly's Ribbon Bundles to Ribbons Galore this week. Here's a few of the bundles available.

I also receive enquiries about international postage for Ribbons Galore. The postage costs, as well as the bulk discount policy, can be found on the terms and conditions page. The international postage charge from Sydney, Australia starts from AUD4.00.

Hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for visiting.

Cheers

Fiona x

Maya Road projects

Maya Road is exhibiting at the National Stationery Show in New York. The design team has been creating some new projects to display at the show. Make sure you check the Maya Road DT girls blogs (they are listed in the left column) to see their projects.

Here are my projects, using lots of the recently released products from CHA-W. One of my favourite new products are the MR Johathan Chipbaord Alphabet Set. They are such a great sized chipboard alphabet (small than the other MR alphabet sets).

Thank You Card materials:

• Maya Road Johathan Chipbaord Alphabet Set
• Maya Road Trinkets Ribbon - Forest
• Maya Road Trinkets Textured Knit Blossoms

Love Card materials:

• Maya Road Stamp Seals Set
• Maya Road Microchips - Hearts Chipboard (both neutral and brights sets used)
• Maya Road Las Vegas Ribbon - Avenue

Journey Card materials:

• Maya Road Travel Keychain Set
• Maya Road Trinkets Buttons - Grass
• Maya Road Air Mail Rubons

The Girls Frame materials:

• Maya Road Scroll Frame Chipboard Accordian Album
• Maya Road Microchips Neutrals - Hearts Chipboard
• Maya Road Stamp Seals Set

Nature Girl album materials:

• Maya Road Sheer Butterfly Coaster Album
• Maya Road Jonathan Chipboard Alphabet Set
• Maya Road Trinkets Crochet Shimmer Butterflies
• Maya Road The Cubicle Rubons

Thanks for visiting.

Hope you all have a great week.

Cheers

Fiona x

Good service

I thought I'd mention a few stores which, over the last few months, have provided great service. I think in the world of online shopping, good service can still be provided. We don't get a friendly smile or greeting as we do when we walk into a physical shop, but service can be provided in a few ways by online stores. I think having the product in stock when you order is important, receiving the goods in a timely manner is important and receiving goods in top condition (that is, the goods have been packaged well) is very important. Here's a few stores which I've had good shopping experiences with lately.

• Emma's Paperie in the US. I ordered some Scenic Route papers plus some extras from here and my order arrived a week from it's departure in the US. I was so surprised to open my box to find my goodies wrapped so beautifully by Cindy...
• Scrapapple. Prompt service and my parcel arrived safe and well. Scrapapple has a great range of both new and some not so new papers (not that they are old, they are just not THE latest release - IYKWIM). It was this that appealed, as I was after some papers which had been around for a little while. I was able to get all I needed in one spot.
• Craftainers. I am fortunate to live very close to the Craftainers warehouse, which does open to the public sometimes. I loved visiting here, picking up some things to help organise my life. One favourite was a small DMC mini travel bag for my embroidery threads. This has changed the way I store and organise my threads, and I'm no longer buying more pink threads when I already have plenty at home (and just can't find them). When I do away and I want to do some sewing, I can now just grab my little travel bag and run. I keep my needles in there and a small pair of scissors, so I have everything together.
• Karen's Scrappin' Kupboard. Karen's is responsible for my stash of Ranger products, particularly my Ranger Distress Crackle paints. A great range was available, great service was provided, and my goodies arrived promptly.

Completely off the subject of craft, I was surprised to find this little bit of brightness in our front garden over the weekend. We've only just started getting cooler here in Sydney. It is not even winter yet and already my jonquils are appearing.

Better run. Have a good day. Thanks for visiting.

Fiona x

Pursuit of Craftyness blog

This is a very short post to share some news about the Paper Salon design team, a team I've been a part of for the last two years. Paper Salon has been sold to Gartner Studios and they have decided they do not have the immediate need for a design team.

The good news is we, the members of our design team, are staying together. We have created a new venture and you can visit our new blog Pursuit of Craftyness.

I'm looking forward to being part of this creative blog with these very creative ladies. We look forward to your visit soon.

Cheers

Fiona

more Maya Road projects and some new CHA products

Just thought I'd share a few more Maya Road projects with some of the new products being released at CHA.

Following is a birthday/anniversary reminder book created with a Maya Road Scalloped Chipboard book. I've used a combination of stamps from the Make A Date Clear Stamp set and the Sealed with a Kiss Clear Stamp set both from Maya Road. The cover of this book has three Textured Cord Blossoms from the new Trinkets Collection. All these products can be seen in the Maya Road CHA-W 2008 catalog.

Close ups of those gorgeous new Textured Cord Blossoms....

An inside page of the book...

Next book uses the Maya Road Rectangle Chipboard Banner Book as its base. Its covered with felt and decorated with Velvet Blossoms and gathered Ric Rac. The title is created with the Noah Alphabet Clear Stamps.

New Trinkets Ribbon, from, you guessed it, the Maya Road Trinkets Collection (can you tell I love this new collection).

This book documents my soft toy making. Starting with Bunny which I made sometime during my primary school days, there is a little story of some of my favourite toys I've created.

And finally, the Maya Road Design Team girls created a canvas to display at the MR Booth. Mine follows. All the DT girls canvases can be seen at the MR DT Blog.

Some new Sheer Ribbon:

Maya Road Microchip Foundations Buttons:

And looking around at some new things being released at CHA, these are some of the things I'm loving...

• Scenic Route: Grafton, Providence and Lynden collections.
• Luxe Designs: Cashmere Sweater II,  Classic Black II, Capris and Flip Flop collections, as well as some gorgeous stamps.
• Sassafras Lass: view the whole release HERE. Love the Serendipity "Sunshine Lollipop" and the new buttons and blossoms.
• Piggy Tales: new products can be seen HERE. Piggy Tales is now using recycled paper for their paper collections.
• Paper Salon: new products are appearing on the DT Blog. A couple of favourites of mine are the GRAB BAGS (full of coordinating embellishments) and the Designer Labels.

That's about all to share today. Hope you have a great week. Thanks for visiting.

Cheers

Fiona

Paper Salon CHA-W 2008 sneak peeks

Paper Salon has some gorgeous new projects being released at CHA-W very soon. They can be seen over at the PAPER SALON BLOG. Be sure to keep checking back there as new things are being added every couple of days.

I just have to share a couple of my favourites...

Just in time for Easter there's the new KN Sorbet Easter & PS Hoppy Easter Tailored Tin being released. These co-ordinate with the Sorbet collection released at the end of last year. I just have to share two papers which will be so cute for all those Easter projects... Glitter Bunnies and Thermography Chicks (there are six new double-sided papers in this set, as well as die-cut stickers and stamps, so make sure you peek at the Paper Salon blog to see them all)

Another new product for Paper Salon ... Lovely Lace 12x12 double-sided die-cut papers. They have die cut holes around the edges perfect for threading some beautiful ribbon and so much more... These will be available in four colour collections. Take a look at the Paper Salon Blog for some Lovely Lace projects by the design team girls.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you're having a great day.

Cheers

Fiona

Maya Road CHA-W 2008 sneak peek {part 2}

Time for another Maya Road project....

This is one of my favourite little mini books from Maya Road, the Vintage Purse Album.

The outside is covered with Luxe Designs paper {Snow Board paper from the Ski Parka collection}.

To cover the 'clasp' part of the purse, I've used a new Maya Road VELVET PLEAT BLOSSOM. These are so divine. These velvet flowers are part of the TRINKETS Collection being released at CHA-W.

Hanging from the handle {cause all girls need dangle-ey things from their purses} is a MR Chipboard 'e' and a little person from the Maya Road People Chipboard Key Chains. Both have been coloured with ink and heat embossed. The small star on the little person is also from Maya Road part of their MICROCHIP range.

Inside the book: The lettering is from the Maya Road Jonathon Rub-on set and the date stamp is from the MR MAKE A DATE Clear Stamp set. Both these products were released at the last CHA and can be seen in the latest catalog. And another Velvet Pleated Blossom to finish.

The rest of the pages hold photos from Emily's graduation dinner.

Thanks for visiting and for your comments. I do appreciate hearing from you.

Hope you're having a great day.

Until next sneak peek....

Cheers

Fiona