Alice In Wonderland - The Mad Hatter

Okay, so we don't really celebrate Halloween here in Singapore, but what can you do when you have such lovely papers as Graphic 45's Hallowe'en in Wonderland Collection? Well, I happen to have this promotional card of Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, so I thought, why not? Quite appropriate, don't you think? Besides, the picture and colours match so wonderfully together!

I did quite a bit of distressing and inking of the papers, to give them a really "old" and vintage look, and then added the Blossom Branch from Prima, which I thought gave the layout a bit of a "haunted" feel.

I also applied some distress embossing powder to the photo corners to give them a faded, almost rusted look.

I then placed some laces peeking out from behind the distressed papers to soften the overall look a little.

This was a really fun layout to do! Thanks so much for dropping by, and Happy Halloween! :)

Materials used:
Patterned Papers - Graphic 45 - Hallowe'en in Wonderland Collection - Alice's Tea Party, Jabberwocky, Wonderland Classifieds, Square Hare, Hallowe'en in Wonderland Borders, Hallowe'en in Wonderland Tags; 7 Gypsies - Conservatory Collection - Mesofauna
Vines - Prima Marketing - Blossom Branches - Truffle
Laces - Prima Marketing
Photo Corners - Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Corners
Adhesives - Beacon's 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, EK Success 3D-Dots
Others - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Black Soot, Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder - Frayed Burlap

Baby DJ

I did this layout for a friend's baby who turns one today! I immediately knew I had to scrap this photo as soon as I saw it! Don't you just love that cheeky face?

I used papers from My Mind's Eye's Alphabet Soup Girl collection as I thought the "Sweet Song" paper especially, with its colourful music notes, was most appropriate for the photo of the little sweetheart having a spin at the turntable.

I lightly distressed and inked the papers, and then used my Martha Stewart Crafts Arch Lattice edge punch on strips of patterned paper which I then lined around the circular paper at the base of the layout. It gives a pretty lace-like effect to match the lace strips I placed below the photo.

I then added some flowers and pearl flourishes to complete the layout.

Happy Birthday Gaby! :)

Materials used:
Cardstock - Basic Grey
Patterned Papers - My Mind's Eye - Alphabet Soup Collection by Zoe Pearn - Alphabet Soup Girl "Sweet Song" Paper, Alphabet Soup Girl "Sunny Stripes" Paper, Alphabet Soup Girl "Flower Patch" Paper
Laces - Prima Marketing
Twill Ribbon - Creative Images
Flowers - Prima Marketing
Pearl Flourishes - Prima Marketing - Say It In Pearls (Pink)
Alphas - American Crafts Thickers - Puffy Honey in Metallic Copper
Edge Punch - Martha Stewart Crafts - Arch Lattice Edge Punch
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Walnut Stain
Adhesives - Beacon's 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner

A Cherry On Top Blog Award

I received a message in my email this morning that said I had been given a blog award. What a lovely surprise and a great way to start the day! The award was passed to me by Dolly Marshall, a wonderful scrapper herself, and I have to now pay it forward. :)

The rules for this award are:

1. Thank the person that passed it to you - Thank You Dolly ... it was really sweet of you and I must say I always appreciate your comments on my blog!

2. Copy the award to your blog.

3. Share three things about yourself that you enjoy doing.

4. Pass the award to 5 others.

So, what are three things I enjoy doing?
1. Spending precious time with my two girls and my hubby, especially since the girls are growing up so fast and will soon want to spend more time with their friends than their parents!
2. Scrapping of course (and shopping for scrap materials)!
3. Photography, both portraits and landscapes.

And now, to share with you five blogs I enjoy visiting and am passing the award to! Please click on each gal's name to a direct link to their blog!

Susan Lui - Susan's a good friend of mine and a very talented scrapper whose work is nothing short of beautiful!

Sharon Ong - Sharon's another amazing scrapper from Singapore who is pure inspiration when it comes to scrapbooking!

Angelica Franssen - I love Angelica's works - they're just gorgeous!

Ingvild Bolme - Ingvild is one of my first and major sources of inspiration and remains so. Her work is just stunning!

Anam Stubbington - Anam is not only an inspirational scrapper but also a very talented sketch artist!

Please also take a moment to peek in on Dolly's blog, and leave her some love!

October Zva Blog Hop Winners Announced

We'd like to congratulate the five October Zva Blog Hop winners! Their names will be found on the following blogs:

Jillian Deiling Cassity's blog: Jillian Deiling Cassity
Veronica Goh's blog: Treasured Moments (Yes, mine! So please see below for my winner.)
Ingrid Danvers' blog: Scrapbook Mania & More
Teri Anderson's blog: A bit of this. A bit of that.
Carole Maurin's blog: Scrap Alolette

One winner from each of the 5 blogs will receive a Zva prize package worth $30.00.

Congrats winners!

And now.... to announce my winner (chosen via random integer generator), and she is........

No. 29: DONNA!!!

Congratulations Donna!

Donna said: "I love the play on words! Great layout!"

Please email your address to me at nica@starhub.net.sg so we can get your yummy Zva prize to you as soon as possible!

And I would like to thank EVERYONE for joining in the hop and for leaving such wonderful comments - I did indeed read all of them and really appreciate them very much! :)

Now I’d like to share a quick little project I did over the weekend. It’s a little tag I made out of plain white cardstock.

I stamped a pretty little birdcage image onto it, misted the background, and then decorated it with lace, ribbons, twine, and some lovely Zva goodness. :)

And instead of just tying a ribbon to the top of the tag, I adhered it with a Zva crystal brad. Isn't it pretty?

Thanks for dropping by, and congrats once again to Donna! :)

Materials used for the tag:
Cardstock – Bazzill Basics – White
Mists – Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist – Jazz Blue, Purple Pansy, Pink Bubblegum
Mask – Tattered Angels Glimmer Screens – Garden Blossom
Stamp – Glitz Designs – Love Nest Bird Cage Stamp
Ink – VersaFine – Onyx Black
Embossing Powder – Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel
Flowers – Zva Creative Bulk Flowers
Pearl Flourishes – Zva Creative Self-Adhesive Pearls – Pink (PES-02CB-109)
Brad – Zva Creative Crystal Brads – Pink (BRBK-02CA-101)
Eyelet – We R Memory Keepers
Lace, Ribbon, Twine – From own stash
Adhesive - Beacon's 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue

Zva Creative October DT Blog Hop!

It's time again for the Zva Designers to join together to share a project that we have created using some of our favorite Zva Creative products. I am hoping that you will take some time to join us for a little bit of fun again this month!

The Blog Hop begins at Kim Hughes' blog: Paper Hugs . She will have the complete list of all blogs that are participating in case there is a glitch along the way. If you would like to play along, I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way. Hidden on 5 of the blogs is a Zva Creative prize package ... YAY! Those blogs will be randomly chosen after the hop is over, so it's important to
leave a comment on as many blogs as you can along the way.

The Blog Hop starts now and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, October 26th and the 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, October 27th on each of the five winning blogs. The full list will be found on Kim Hughes‘s blog as well (linked above). We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to all of the blogs once again on Wednesday ... plus, you never know what kind of inspirational creation that you may find there. All you need to do is leave a comment on this Zva Blog Hop post ... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. The more times you leave a comment along the blog hop path though, the more chances you will have to be one of the lucky winners.

My project today is this layout titled 'Best Buds Always', using Zva Creative's new pearl embellishment and flowers, together with Pink Paislee's Sweetness collection paper.

I layered the horizontal borders below the photo using lots of 3D dots, and also used 3D dots for the photo itself and the hand-cut flowers. This gives the layout lots of dimension.

I added texture to the layout with the laces, canvas border and faux suede leaves.

Add on the lovely flowers, pearls and crystal brads from Zva Creative and the layout's good to go! :)

So, the blog hop begins here: Kim Hughes' blog - Paper Hugs

And your next stop is here: Lynn Mercurio's blog - Stamperosity

Thank you SO MUCH for joining us! :)

Materials used for my project:
Patterned Papers - Pink Paislee - Sweetness Collection - Love Blooms
Cardstocks - Bazzill Basics
Fabric Border - Pink Paislee - Sweetness Collection - Canvas Borders
Laces - Melissa Frances, from own stash
Flowers - Zva Creative Bulk Flowers - Paper Roses (Cream 7/8", Peach 7/8", Peach 5/8")
Pearls - Zva Creative Self-Adhesive Pearls - Leaved Branch - Meadow Vine - Chocolate (PEB-03CB-106)
Brads - Zva Creative Crystal Brads - Pink (BRBK-02CA-101)
Leaves - May Arts Faux Suede Leaves Ribbon - Olive
Alphas - Pink Paislee - Expressions Chipboard Alphabets - Black
Dimensional Sticker - K & Company - Life's Journey Grand Adhesions - Words
Edge Punch - Martha Stewart Crafts - Picket Fence Edge Punch
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Walnut Stain
Adhesives - Beacon's 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, 3D-Dots

Basic Grey Gallery

Basic Grey's new gallery is up and two of my layouts are currently featured in it. :)

Featured Layouts

My layout 'What Dreams May Come' is one of the featured layouts at the Webster's Pages gallery this week.

And 'Remembering' was among the Layouts Of The Week at Made With Love for the week of 26 September.

My Girl

I did a quick layout last night using Basic Grey’s Olivia Collection papers. I just love the greens and pinks of the papers, which were a perfect match for the colours in this photo of my DD.

I used my edge punches to create the borders for the horizontal strip behind the photo.

The Birds On A Wire one from Martha Stewart Crafts, I thought, was a fitting design as it matched the nature backdrop of the photo very nicely.

I then hand cut the flowers from the Emma paper and used them as embellishments for the layout, overlapping them and adhering them with 3D dots to add dimension to the design.

For a bit of contrast, I added this metal embellishment from Making Memories to complete the layout. I like its ornate-looking frame.

I managed to finish this layout in one night, so I’m quite pleased with myself for that. :)

Thanks for dropping by! :)

Materials used:
Patterned Papers - Basic Grey - Olivia Collection - Emma, Kembrie, Sydney
Die-cut Pieces - Basic Grey - Olivia Collection
Metal Embellishment - Making Memories - Eclectic Metal Signs – Memories
Alphas - Making Memories - Tiny Alphas - Brown Ledger
Lace - Prima Marketing
Punches - Martha Stewart Crafts – Birds On A Wire Edge Punch, Fiskars - Sunburst Border Punch
Inks - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Worn Lipstick, Walnut Stain
Adhesives - Kokuyo Dotliner, EK Success 3D-Dots

Seeking Adventures

So yes, I'm into a "beach" phase here - pulling out all the beach photos to scrap! This one was taken earlier this year at Changi Beach. I chose these papers from MME because they match the colours in the photo so nicely, and I just love the postcard design.

I did some major tearing here, for a really distressed and vintage look, and came upon this idea to actually tear a large chunk of the paper out from one side and insert my stamped journaling under it. I like how this turned out.

And not to mention some lovely and very matching embellishments from Prima. I love their new crystal and pearl flourishes with lace attached. Aren't they gorgeous?

Thanks so much for dropping by! :)

Materials used:
Patterned Papers - My Mind's Eye - Lost & Found Collection - Portobello Road "Family" First Class Paper, Portobello Road "Family" Brocade Paper, Market Street "Happy Birthday" Tapestry Paper
Flowers - Prima Marketing - Grand Dame "Mermaid", The Roosevelt Collection "Edith"
Leaves - Prima Marketing - Velvet Heirloom Rose Leaves - Sage
Flourishes - Prima Marketing - Say It In Crystals - Swirl with Lace - White, Say It In Pearls
Laces - Prima Marketing
Alphas - Making Memories - Tiny Alphas - White On Black
Stamp - Teresa Collins - Travel Ledger Clear Stamps
Inks - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Weathered Wood, VersaFine - Onyx Black
Adhesives - Beacon's 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, EK Success 3D-Dots

Create Happiness

Here's another layout I did using Zva Creative's gorgeous new products. I've been wanting to scrap this photo of my DD, taken by the beach at Club Med Bintan, for the longest time but could not find the right papers until I came across these new Lilac House papers from Fancy Pants Designs.

I did alot of layering, distressing and inking for this layout. I inked the edges of the papers in Dusty Concord Distress Ink, and I love how the darker purple of the ink gives a lovely highlight to the pastel shades of the papers, and also complements the stark colours of the photo.

And for embellishments? These lovely matching flowers from Zva Creative.....

......and this absolutely gorgeous lavender and grape crystal butterfly, also from Zva. This must be one of my fave products from them this season!

And in case you're wondering about the little vine stems and leaves in the layout - well, I actually made the vines myself using the stems from Zva Creative's bulk flowers, and the leaves are also from their bulk flower buds! Don't you just love how versatile their products can be?

To complete the layout, I used a matching and fitting journaling strip across the bottom, also from Fancy Pants' Lilac House collection, and trimmed it with some matching patterned paper and lace. I like what the journaling says and thought it was very appropriate for my DD - she finds joy in the littlest things, like walking along the beach at night!

Thanks so much for coming by. :)

Materials used:
Patterned Papers - Fancy Pants Designs - Lilac House Collection - Lavender Leaves, Chamomile, Heirloom, LH Strips
Transparency - Hambly Screen Prints
Flowers - Zva Creative Bulk Flowers - Paper Roses in Cream 7/8", Paper Roses in Olive 5/8", Paper Roses in Lavender 5/8", Mini Paper Roses in White
Vine Stems and Leaves - Zva Creative Bulk Flowers
Crystal Butterfly - Zva Creative Self-Adhesive Crystals - Fancy Butterfly in Lavender and Grape (CRB-03CB-112)
Lace - Daiso
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Dusty Concord
Adhesives - Beacon's 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, 3D-Dots

It's A Beautiful Life

I love this photo of my DH and DDs taken earlier this year at Changi Beach. It has such an idyllic look about it somehow, and I found this little die-cut journaling tag taken from MME's Lost & Found's Accessories Sheet just the perfect title for the layout.

Also using papers from MME's Lost & Found collection, I tore and distressed the edges and layered them beneath the photo, and then embellished the layout with laces and twine, and some beautiful flowers and crystals from Zva Creative.

I anchored the layout with chipboard frames from Tattered Angels, to which I had applied some distress ink and crackle paint. I then created mini collages with the frames using the flowers from Zva Creative, as well as some twine which I had inked, and the little die-cut journaling tag and shape from MME for the bottom frame.

And I even decorated the little birdcages on the left of the patterned paper. Aren't they cute? :)

Thanks for dropping by!

Materials used:
Patterned Papers - My Mind's Eye - Lost & Found Collection - Madison Avenue "Happily Ever After" Delightful Paper, Market Street "Princess" Lovely Lady Paper
Cardstock - Bazzill Basics
Flowers - Zva Creative Bulk Flowers
Crystals - Zva Creative Self-Adhesive Crystals - Northern Lights - Chocolate (CRB-03CA-111)
Chipboards - Tattered Angels - Framed Fonts 'Tattered Traveler: Postage Stamps' 3-In-1 Alpha Chips
Crackle Paints - Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy
Inks - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Frayed Burlap, Victorian Velvet
Die-cut Shapes - My Mind's Eye - Lost & Found Collection - Union Square "Home Sweet Home" Glittered Accessories Sheet
Trim and Lace - Maya Road
Twine - From own stash
Adhesives - Beacon's 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, 3D-Dots