End of year wrap up

 I have been making Xmas pressies lately, hence why I was so quiet on here.

I made the Creeper wall art at camp earlier this year.  The light shade was more difficult, not many square light shades available.  Daniel is very happy with his 'new' green room.

We got Nicola a Furby for Xmas & I made her a 'doll suitcase' for it (& her iPod  to live in.  It took ages to make, but she is happy.

We also got her rings for the swing-set "the best present ever"  She got a certificate for consistent effort at gym this year.  She also got a certificate at school prize giving for academic achievement which we weren't expecting, she is  so clever!

Daniel also decided to save his best for last, producing work that blew the teacher away on the last day at school when it was to late to count!  He directed,edited, produced & was camera man for Xmas production for his area (about 90-100 kids).  He does like telling other people what to do, hehe.

I have been very tired & over worked for the last few months.  I have not had the energy or inspiration to do any scrapbooking, but i am hoping that over the Xmas holidays I will get some energy back.  I want to scrap, but it just feels like work ATM.

Anything Goes

This is my entry for the latest Challenge Me Happy challenge. It's a bit different to my usual style, but it was lots of fun.

I have no idea what paper it is, I have had it in my stash for as long as I can remember.  First I clear embossed the background with my Star Wheel from Stampin' Up! Then I painted over it with white acrylic paint & wiped it back off before it was properly dry.  I think it looks cool & I might have to do this technique again. Then I used gesso through my Tim Holtz mask & painted over it red.I ripped the hole for the pic & peeled as much paper off the back as I could so the curls were while, not green as other side of paper.  I used Tim Holtz walnut distress Ink on applicator to do some spot thingys & make it less 'clean'.

The cluster in the bottom corner is a Prima wheel, a stamp, some buttons & beads, piece of cork tile, art sand, a brad, mini razor wire (Warhammer, thanks hubby), the electronic thing from something & some old Basic Grey Chipboard stickers.

The title is some old chipboard lettering, embossed through cuttlebug, painted white, inked green, then inked with walnut ink.

Here is latest school LO I have done.

This is a fob watch thing I got from Spotlight to hang on my handbag.  It didn't work as expected.  The plastic cover was really difficult to get off & not sure how you would put it back on, but what is the point if you can't open it to put something inside?  I accidently filled the hinge with dimensional magic so had to take the cover off.  Still looks ok & does the job I wanted.

Blyh Middie is here!

I know she is a fake, but she is for my baby & I was interested in the differences between the very expensive 'real' Blythe dolls & a fake.  A 'real' Middie is 160USD & upwards, not including postage, this one was 20USD including postage.

 Hmmmm....I think a lot got lost in translation......Not how I would describe a Blythe.....

 First impressions.  She was selotaped into the box!!!!!!!!!  So she has sticky stuff on her legs.  She has ball jointed sholders which is not right, but cool.  She has tiny extra bits of plastic from molding on her hands & bottoms of feet, easy enough to remove.  Her hips are so well jointed she has difficulty standing up as her head is to heavy!  Knees don't bend.  Do those look like Blythe flat feet??? However will be easier to get her new shoes I think.  The dress was hideous & went straight in the bin.  She is 8" tall like the 'real' one.Hair is ok, but planning reroot anyway.  

This is exciting!  Her eyes change colour.  The 'real' Middie eyes only go side to side.  Colours aren't bad either.  Green/Turquoise; grey; blue/purple; pink.

I can't wait to pull her apart later tonight.

Busy Creating OTP?

Do all these count as OTP projects? Can't get any more off the page than a bed!

Nicola got a new bed for her birthday & wanted it painted rainbow.  So each draw is a colour of the rainbow & the base is her fave pink.  I think it worked well & she is very happy.  She has even made her bed properly every morning since she got it.

I saw this rose iron candelabra on the footpath outside work & had to take it home. 

 It is now the centerpiece of our dining room table.  Thanks to Louise for the birds.  The paper roses are Kaiser & the bird cage is Twiddleybitz.  The velvet leaves are from Spotlight.

 While I was a Spotlight looking for something unrelated i saw that patterns were on sale.  I accidently collect fabric but it just sits in the cupboard.  Baby needed a new sweat shirt & pants & when I saw the patterns.  She chose which patterns we were buying & what I made. I wanted a sweatshirt, she wanted the poncho.  She loves the  trackpants & barely takes them off.  The dress fabric I bought when we lived in Napier.  I finally made the Creeper face for the back of D's sweatshirt.  He is very happy.

 I made this little Teddy bear from a Scrapbooking stencil, it is felt.  It is small enough to  be posted to my B.I.L. for his baby. Don't tell them, it will be a surprise!

 What is this? A Layout???  I know I am shocked too.  I have been trying to finish sewing before I start on scrapbooking again. (shhh...I still have I more teddy to make)   I took these photos of my boy when we were away last school holidays & I love them.  They are just so him.  This LO came together quiet easily as I have heaps of stuff i have got over the years for his gaming pages.  The paper is DCWV Generation Tech & the stickers are Jodie Foster.

Basic Grey Marrakech Layout

These photos are from our trip to South Africa when I was a kid.  It took awhile for me to be happy with it.  That Marrakech paper is perfect for the photos, but difficult to work with.

ssssssssssssssssssss...............................

I have finally finished making Daniels creeper.  It is made of stiffened felt, which is horrible to sew, but keeps the square, pixalated shape that he needed.  He is very happy :)

 Happy mail! 3 pairs of Blythe shoes & socks :)

Happy Birthday to my Baby

Nicola turned 8 last week! We went to see the Disney Classic Aristocats a the movies.  Unfortunately the cake pic is blurry but the kids ate it so fast I didn't have time for another shot.  We stuck to our tradition of letting kids decorate their own cakes, hers was obviously the girl kitten from the movie.

She was also a well deserved Player of the Day at hockey.  She played hard & even got a little bit hurt, her team mates looked after her :)

Blythe update.  I forgot to post the pic of the lips before any carving.  The hair/wigs arrived from eBay & they are more beautiful in real life than they looked on the net.  They are wigs, not re-roots.  They cover the whole head & you couldn't use them for pig tails & you can't expose ears as they end up under wig.   I am trying to do a French Roll hairstyle, I gave up....will try again later....... As you can see she is reattached to her body.  I had to get Scott to help me modify her stand cos I didn't like the way it looked over her dress, now you wont be able to see it once she is dressed.  I 'sleepy eyed' her, hence the 2 strings.  The shoes are purple Barbie shoes in the right style that I painted, they don't fit very well as Blythe has flat feet, not like Barbie (trying to decide if i amend her foot shape)  I am not overly happy with her lip colour but I got frustrated so this will do (Notice a common theme?)  I am enjoying sewing for her as I don't need to worry about how comfortable things are or how to get them on & off, she shall be sewn in (like Olivia Newton John in Grease) 

I see this new hobby of mine might be more than just the 2 dolls as originally planned.  I already have 2 more in design stages..........

More work on Blythe number 1

My first go at lip carving.  Basically get a small file & scrape.  I did have difficulty with symmetry, especially the nostrils. I took kept referring back to the photo of the finished lips I wanted to achieve.  I am thinking of adding teeth. I haven't been able to find much information on this. I wasn't sure if they are carved as well or added somehow. From what I can gather vampire teeth are carved into the lip, normal teeth are added later, modeled out of Fimo, so I am going to give that a go. 

To remove the eyes from inside the eye lids you have to "carefully unclip the white arc"  It was really tricky, but I got there eventually.  I did not continue & takes eyes apart as I did not see the reason. I 'boggled' the eyelids. I painted the eyelids white with the boys War Hammer paint, then coated them in tacky glue & dipped them in glitter.  Then I coated them in dimensional magic to keep the glitter on.  Removing the eyelashes was easy, just dampen & pull.  I replaced them new ones from the $2 shop, much better.  Second pair of handmade eye chips inserted.  My new wigs are on there way here...yay ebay again. 

In other news. We are rearranging the kids rooms.  Nicola wants a rainbow room, so this weekend we did some DIY art.  The first one is from Pinterest- melted crayons.  They are just Warehouse crayons.  I took the wrappers off as I was worried about them burning.  Mine isn't as neat as the original, but I still think it is cool. The second one needs her name written across the pink stripe still.  The third is Nicola's art about where rainbows come from.  The fourth is a t-shirt we made using the die I bought at Scotties the other week.  Nicola's design, mum just behind the needle, hehe.

My first custom eyechips

Vanilla was the first to have open head surgery.  I used the tutorial here.  It was not to hard to get her head open, but I did need some man help to press hard enough on the ears to unclip one side of the back plate.  I used long nosed pliers to unhook the spring as I found the tweezers kept slipping. The eye chips came out on the end of a glue stick just like they said they would. 

This is the new eyechip I bought.  I did not know that the pupil was part of the chip, I thought the pupil was part of the eye socket or something. Ok the truth is I didn't really think about the pupil until I took the old chips out & looked at the new ones.  These chips have really large pupils compared to the stock chips.  By the way ebay is awesome!! I got the dolls & the chips from ebay.  As I am a scrapbooker I am trying to use things I already have to customise my girls. My husband & son are both into War Hammer so I used their paint & brushes too.  So here are my first custom painted chips.  They aren't perfect, but not bad for a first go (I think). 

Last night I tried to die her hair.  I used Dylon multipurpose with heaps of salt, but it barely held any colour when I rinsed it out.  But I have decided it is to short to do the hairstyle I want so will have to buy a new wig anyway. Ebay or Esty...hmmmmm.....

I have decided I am using my blog to keep track of my progress of their customisation for now.  I am sure i will get back to scrapping when i need a break.

Delivery!!!

It's finally here!!!!!

My first Blythe dolls!!!!

 Meet Chocolate & Vanilla

First Impressions: Their arms & legs are made from much softer plastic than I expected. Feet don't hold pointy shape like a Barbie.  The shoes are far to big, they keep falling off.  Earings are dumb too, studs are good tho.  I hate the dresses, but they wont be in them for long.  I bought 3 pairs of eye chips with the dolls so I can change them, I am not keen on the orange.

Hello everyone in Blogland

So I haven't been here for awhile.  Actually been pretty busy, some stuff I don't want to talk about, some I just can't be bothered.  I have found I prefer the instant gratification & two way conversations on Facebook  lately to me talking to myself on here. I usually use my blog to showcase my work; lately it has been either been gifts, OTP projects still not completed or work I feel is crap; so not been doing that. Or I use my blog as my diary, but FB timeline is pretty good at that ATM & I am scrapping pics soon after I take them so don't need this to record my journalling for me.  So the major things happening lately have been very personal & not really stuff I want to share with the whole world, all 7 of you.  So maybe I should take requests? Do you want to know my mental state? My LO's? My new hobby? My family? Anything else? Or shall I disappear from blogland?

Challenge Me Happy Recipe

I am working on a large OTP project for a gift & have been feeling over it, so I decided to take a small break. I did the recipe challenge on Challenge Me Happy.  Here is the recipe: 1 photo; 2 different card stocks; 3 journaling spots/tags/etc; 4 words in the title; 5 patterned papers; 6 butterflies; Mist/ink/paint & border punches are freebies! I am counting that as 6 butterflies, not 18, hehe.  Four of the patterned papers, large letter stickers & one journal spot are all Bo Bunny Peacock Lane.  Bazzil & Bling card stock.  Sam & Lucy Weave Extras Tag. The other patterned paper & tag is Kaiser. 

The Rain Dot letters are Cloud 9 & have been in my stash for ages.  I took an extra photo of them cos the are difficult to see in the main one. 

In other news.... here is Daniel ready for his first day at Farm Cove Intermediate.  He seems to be enjoying it so far :)

Back to work on Monday....

The holidays are drawing to a close (for the adults anyway) so I thought I would share some of our adventures.  The weather has not been kind to us so we took advantage of the first sunny day & went for a hike up Rangitoto Island.  It was a bit of a struggle, but we made it to the top.  No time to look around, we had to run back down to catch the ferry home.  It is amazing where you can find the energy when properly motivated.

We made it!

Man I was sore for the next couple of days, although not as bad as I was expecting or in places I was thinking either.  Why were my arms sore?

The last week consisted of child chosen activities, I think it might have been cheaper to put them ina  holiday programme & have week at home by myself....Monday we saw the new Chipmunks movie.  Tuesday we went bowling with a friend each.  Wednesday the cousins came for a swim.

Thursday we took the ferry to the CBD to have lunch with daddy.  Friday was Mission Bay for lunch with Nana & Popa.

I also managed to read the whole Twighlight series "Mum can you stop reading, u r boring"  I really enjoyed them (thanks Brenda)  I have only seen the first 3 movies & so far they don't compare to the books.  I am going to see the fourth movie on Monday.
My New Years Resolution was to do the Round the Bays this year, so we have been going for  walks (hence Rangitio)
I have also been working on 2 OTP projects, but no scrapping.