CSI 95 Friends

Blue is my absolute favourite colour, so I thought this week’s challenge would be a doddle.  Not so....trying to find the right blue proved to be difficult.  Eventually I found some tiny scraps of the teal from eons ago and an ancient Wild Asparagus grey card stock.  Woo Hoo...good to go, but whoops, no brown......further fossicking revealed a venerable journalling card by Bo Bunny and some blue flowers on a dessicated Daisy D. paper, which I fussy cut.  Problem sorted.

This is what the challenge looks like

Here is the link

I came across an old corner punch while I was rummaging around.  It seemed to fit the era, so it had a day out too.   I did use a few newer things, like the stencil, the wooden camera and the stamp.

EVIDENCE

Distressing

Wood

Flowers

Fabric

Tie something

Metal

Textured paper (grey and brown under the photo)

Tearing (the brown mat)

TESTIMONY 

Write about a sad memory.  The memory is DH’s from when he was about five years old.   I persuaded him to do the journalling, so the words are his. The journalling is on the back of the page

JOURNALLING

I’m not sure how much of this incident is my actual memory and how much relies on what has been told to me by my family.

I had received a beautiful new blow up beachball for Christmas when I was about 5 years old. My friend, Gangy Wilton who lived over the road from us had been given an Air Rifle. 

His Father was Headmaster at the local Primary School and my Father one of the teachers.

I remember, Gangy leaning over our side fence with his Air Rifle and shooting my beachball!! 

My Mum and Dad weren’t very affluent then and were not able to replace the ball, so sadly my joy with my new toy was very shortlived.

I can’t recall my reaction to this catastrophe but I have a faint recollection that the rifle was removed from Gangy’s hands for a looooong time!  

MATERIALS
Bazzil Cardstock - Pale blue and grey
My Mind's Eye - Wild Asparagus, "Adorable" (grey)
Daisy D - Modern Romance (fussy cut flowers)
Making Memories - Speckle collection, "Ocean" (dark blue)
E.K. Success - Grey textured card behind the photo
Bo Bunny - Journalling card, "Noteworthy" 
Carl Punch - Corners
Kaisercraft clear stamp - Arty
Kaisercraft - Brad "Old world"
Spellbinder die - Grommet
Die Namics Die - Decorative duo doily
Donna Downey mask - Hollyhocks
Prima mask - Elementals, Half tone
Studio Calico - wooden camera
Imaginarium - Alphas
Colorbox ink - Dark Brown
Perfect pearls mist - Interference blue
Tattered Angels Glimmermist - Blue skies
Derivan - Impasto

Meg's Garden DT - Ellen Kean

It's a joy to work with the luscious papers from Meg's Garden and I chose to use the 

Dreaming in the Meadows collection “Dreaming in Mulberry”

The strip I fussy cut and used to trim the top of the page.

The beautiful “Emperor pin”  is tucked into the cluster on the right 

along with “Organza lace flower with diamante”

The “Small rectangular Parisian frame”, I painted with Croco crackle and burnished with some gold acrylic glaze

THE STORY

Ellen Mary Kean (Nell) was my husband's Grandmother, she was born in 1869 at Seven Hill in South Australia.  This is a little of her story and demonstrates her strength of character.

Unlike a lot a women of her era, Ellen was an anti-monarchist and a pacifist.

Once, when she was walking from the train station to the Roayl Adelaide Hospital to visit her dying  husband, she berated the soldiers standing guard at Government house. She let them know her opinions on the futility of war and her absolute contempt for the Monarchy. 

Ellen’s husband died after fifteen years of marriage, leaving her to raise five children alone. There was no widow’s pension in 1917, so she was reliant on the kindness of relatives and her skills as a seamstress to help feed and clothe her young family.

MATERIALS

Meg’s Garden - Dreaming in Meadows, “Dreaming in Mulberry”

Meg’s Garden - Emperor pin

Meg’s Garden - Organza lace flower with diamante

Meg’s Garden - Small regtangular Parisian frame

Prima flowers

Prima “Say it with crystals”

Kaiser flowers

Martha Stewart punch - Embossed zig-zig

Life’s Journey - Stamp

Wild Asparagus - Pale pink cardstock

Bazzil - Purple cardstock

Imaginarium  - alphas

Tattered Angels Glimmermist - Pashmina

Tattered Angels Chalboard - Astrid

Cheery Lyn die - Large Sunflower Doily

Melissa Frances - Vintage Embellishment (key)

Silks acrylic glaze - Solar Gold

Croco Crackling Colour - White

Ribbon - Spotlight

94 CSI Challenge - On this day

These colours are not my “go to” shades and we have no pets, so it took a while to come up with an idea for this challenge. Then I made a frightful mess of the background paper by trying to take it one step to far, but managed to salvage the border. 

If you'd like to play just use all five colours, at least two pieces of evidence from the list and at least one piece of testimony from the list.

Here is the link

And a closie - Dont we look cute in our Sunday best?
The biggest girl in the striped top is my older sister, my cousin is in the middle and that's me on the right, wearing my favourite blue pleated skirt and beret.

The leaves are actually grey, but they look a bit greenish here

I daubed the title in gesso and the piled on the embossing enamel before hitting it hard with the heat gun to make the gold flecks pop.

The big flower is made from book paper coloured with distress ink and cut out with the Magnolia die.

EVIDENCE

Book pages (the big flower)

Stack something (rows of journalling)

Black background

Silver Metal (middle of the flower)

TESTIMONY

Use a typwriter font

Record a funny story

The journalling reads

“I’ve got a secret”! whispered our cousin Elisabeth, full of importance,as she proceeded to tell us where babies came from.   She had all the gory details, which she relayed with great relish.  We were incredulous and simply did not believe her.  It all sounded too rude and ghastly to be true.  We knew better, because we had seen our cat soon after she had given birth, when there was a lot of vomit and mess around.  We proudly set her straight, by telling her, that we knewfor a fact that Mothers actually vomited their babies out.  AND what’s more, we were going to tell our Mum and hers, that she had been telling us bare faced lies. 

MATERIALS 

Bazzil cardstock - Black

Maja paper - Walking in the forest, “Knitted sweater” (the border)

Simple Stories paper - Harvest lane, “Homemade happiness” (both sides)

Martha Stewart punch - String lace

Tattered Angels chalk mist - Monolith

Tattered Angels Glimmermist - Golden Terracotta

Stampendous embossing enamel - Aged black

Ranger archival ink - Jet Black

Tim Holtz Ranger distress ink - Dried Marigold

Imaginarium - Chipboard title

Scrapmatts - Chipboard Ornate frames 17

Prima - flowers

Kaisercraft - flowers

Green Tara - flowers

Prima - crystals

Spellbinders Die - Romantic rectangle

Cottage Cutz Die - Leafy foliage

Magnolia Doohickey Die - Doily flower

93 CSI Challenge The Boys

There is a bonus sketch this week at CSI from the talented Emma Stafrace.  The colours lend themselves to any kind of layout as you can see from the examples by the Design Team.

http://csicolorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/forum/topics/case-file-no-93-case-closes-on-october-20-2013

The idea is to use a minimum of two pieces of evidence and a minimum of one piece of testimony. I chose to reverse the sketch to suit my photo.

This weeks whimsical photo was such fun to work with. Thanks Debbie, you always come up with something wonderful to inspire us.

EVIDENCE

Airplane accent

Numbers

Something dangling (the twine)

Pinwheel

Plaid (the red and yellow pp)

Mixed media background

Triangles

String

Tags

TESTIMONY

I was daring and went to the journal prompt.  This lead me to write about something which makes me laugh.  I didn’t have far to look.  The journalling reads.

You little boys make me laugh every time we see you.  Your honesty and lack of inhibition allows you to say what you think and ask what you need to know.

One of you innocently asked me “Granny, do you know you’ve got a big bottom?”   The other one suggested, having noticed my daggy threadbare grey cardigan.  “Take that off, Granny, it’s just not nice.”  You crack me up little boys.

On this stinking hot summer day you had been in a little plastic pool, pouring water over each other and shrieking with delight.   All it took was for one of you to seize the other’s bucket and a tussle ensued.

Here you are looking a bit sombre, because Pa and I had declared a cease fire and you were miffed about having to sit on the bench for a couple of minutes.                    Love Granny,  January 2013

MATERIALS

Carta Bella - Alphabet Junction, “Dear little dots” (background)

October afternoon - Farm fresh “Root cellar”

My Mind’s Eye - Find your wings and fly, “Admit one” (Tags)

Making Memories - Casual Plaid “Lemon”

Making Memories - NW Delaney Die Cut Stamp (Stamp like border)

Green spot paper and Snoopy images (unknown from a $2 shop)

Bo Bunny Chipboard - Double dot (the number 2)

Stamp it stamp - Mixed numbers

Colorbox ink - Olive pastel

Ranger Acrylic paint - Citrus

Derivan Matisse - Texture paste

Atelier - Gesso

The crafter’s workshop Stencil - mini Aztec

Tomorrow’s Memories - Twine

Prima wood embellishment - Aeroplane  

Imaginarium chipboard - Title

92 - CSI Challenge "Tutu"

CSI challenge this week has soft pinks and blues to challenge you.  Why not hop over and be inspired by the Design Team and lots of talented Guest Designers.  It's easy to play; simply use each of the five colours, choose at least two of the Evidence items and at least one of the Testimony prompts.  CSI loves to promote journalling, so come on over and spin us a yarn.

Here is the link

http://csicolorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/forum/topics/case-file-no-92-case-closes-on-october-13-2013

My page was inspired by the photos and the chippie by Imaginarium....I haven't done a double for ages, but just could not decide on one or two photos from this day...so I had to be a pictorial approach

I had fun playing with mists,  stencils, pastes, inks and dies....such fun, except when it comes to putting everything away again.

Because I'm blogging impaired I don't know how to get these layouts to sit side by side so this is the Left side and the one underneath is the Right side.

A few closies of our gorgeous wee ballerina &  yummy new die

Chippie from Imaginarium

Another yummy new die

EVIDENCE

Rhinestones

Pearls

Hearts (on her top)

Velvet ribbon

Something that dangles

Silhouette (cameo)

Lace

Stack elements (the stacked photos)

TESTIMONY

I used the inspiration word “Sparkle” to kick start my journalling.

It reads:-

When you were 16 months old, we bought you this pink Tutu for Christmas.  You fell in love with it and never wanted to take it off. You’ve worn it when camping, to the shops & outside in the garden; it’s an all occasion outfit. On this day, you danced spontaneously for us, having gathered up your bag and your ribbon as props. I loved the poise and lack of inhibition, you had, as you gracefully dipped and twirled.  I hope you will always feel so liberated. Never let anyone dull your sparkle.  6 July 2013          Love Granny

MATERIALS
Watercolour paper
Bazzil cardstock - blue
Bazzil cardstock - white
Kaiser craft - Pink cardstock
My Mind’s Eye - Cut and Paste, Adorbs, “Special” (floral)
Carta Bella - True Friends collection, “Forever friends cards” (reverse) blue mat
Kaiser craft - Bonjour collection “Dijon” (butterfly)
Kaiser craft - Stamp, “Bloom”
The Crafter’s Workshop stencil - Circle explosion
The Crafter’s workshop stencil - Mini Garden Gate
Prima Stencil - Art Deco Design, 569471
Prima ink - Worn Jeans
Prima - flowers
Prima - Say it with crystals
Kaisercraft - Pearls
Tattered angels glimmermist - Pink taffy
Luminarte paint Twinkling H2O’s- Chiffon pink & Bashful blue
Tim Holtz distress ink - Spun Sugar
Imaginarium - Chipboard
Atelier - Gesso
Derivan Matisse - Impasto medium
Stampendous - embossing enamel “aged ivory”
La La Land die - Open leaf flourish
La La Land die - Heart banner
Spellbinder’s die - Parisian motifs
Millinery netting - Mother’s stash
Ribbon - Mother’s stash
Cameo Cabachon - from Monica at the Trinket Truck 
http://thetrinkettrack.com/category_33/all/Resin--Cameos.htm
Martha Stewart punch - Pansies

S365-2 combined with CSI - Life is good

This was a combined challenge from Scrap365 (an English scrap booking magazine) and CSI.
I had a lot of fun with an older photo of our DGS.
Books are such an enjoyable part of my life and it's a joy to foster another generation of readers.

http://csicolorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/forum/topics/case-file-no-s535-2-special-scrap365-case-file-closes-october-31-

I used a sketch from Scrap 365

http://sketchbook365.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/august-winner.html

Love the little bird button from October Afternoon

 Grandson enjoys reading his special book when he comes to stay

The journalling is tucked inside

 A mixture of new Simple Stories papers and ancient heart stickers

EVIDENCE
Circles
Bird (on flair button)
Stitching (faux around the top)
Buttons
Hearts

TESTIMONY
Document something about books/reading
Use a book title as a jumping off point for your story
Begin with "Once upon a time"
Used inspiration words, read, together and magic

The journalling is in the little book and it reads.

Once upon a time there was a little boy who lived in a two story house not far from his Grandparents.  They were happy to come to his house one day a week to look after him while his parents went to work.  The little boy came running to the front door, with a big grin on his face, yelling “Granny and Pa are here!” The three of them had such fun, playing outside, going to the park and reading books together.  Mummy and Daddy read to him every day and he always had stories before he went to sleep at night. The little boy was interested in new words and asked many questions about the stories. He asked “What does that mean” when he heard a word he didn’t understand.  He developed a huge vocabulary and was eager to learn to read the black marks on the pages for himself.  When he went to school, he rapidly advanced through the series of readers and by the middle of the year was reading small novels.  The little boy especially loves ABC books and Dictionary type books. He knows that reading is the magic key which opens the door to infinite knowledge, information and relaxation.  Story by Granny Wallace Sept 2013  The End

MATERIALS
Simple Stories - Summer fresh, “Bits of Summer” (background)
Kaisercraft - Bundle of Joy collection, “cradle” (spotted banner)
Kaisercraft - Old world, “Yonder” (brown)
Sei Patterned paper - Granny’s kitchen, “Paperbag daisy”
Bazzill cardstock - Yellow
Prima - Tags, “Allstar”
Prima - Sunrise sunset vintage trinkets “Epoxy sticker”
October Afternoon - Tin pins, “Sidewalks”
Little Yellow Bicycle - Baby Safari collection “Buttons stickers”
Making Memories - Shimmer black Alphas (the black hearts)
Random buttons from my Mother’s stash
DMC - embroidery thread