Hi Everyone - today we are introducing Ngaere Bennetts who won a spot on our Design Team for a month when she won our "Travel and Treats" challenge with this entry.

First of all - here is a little more about Ngaere and how she scrapbooks!

"I am in my late forties and I have two adult children, a son and a daughter. My son and his partner have given me two gorgeous grandsonswho are the subject of lot of my scrapbook pages. I am also attempting to scrap my parents old photos and to get the stories behind them while Mum and Dad are still around to tell them to me. I was a manager for 16 years but last year I quit to pursue a different lifestyle and at the moment I am working as support worker for young adults with physical and mental disabilites. Something very different and very rewarding"


"I have been scrapbooking for a number of years but have found myself drawn more and more to the off the page and altered art stuff. I love to learn and combine new techniques and once I have learnt a technique I use it as much as I can before I get sidetracked onto something else. I also am involved in the local Creative Fibre Group. Currently I am intrigued by assemblage art and I find it is a great way to incorporate all of my different interests. I love making mini albums for friends and family and enjoy incorporating interactive elements into the mini albums and into the pages. While I like the heavily layered pages that are the rage at the moment I also enjoy pages that are simple and clean. My style is eclectic and I do like to "upcycle" incorporating found and junk materials into my pages, albums and art. Oh the possibilities!!"


"I do not think of myself as very creative especially when I see what other people can achieve but I get a great deal of enjoyment out of taking bits and pieces and making them into something unique. I have learnt over the years that you have to be true to your own creative style and let it reflect your vision rather than other people’s expectations."

Ngaere has created these wonderful two albums shown above - both of which have some really neat design ideas!

In this fabulous "Gratitude" layout which opens up, she has used some Teresa Collins "Giving Thanks" products and some beautiful mini-flowers.



In her final page for today, Ngaere has made some wonderful "Serendipity" paper and below, she shares just how she did it.


Materials List and Instructions - Serendipity Paper

1 piece of 12 x 12 white card or heavy paper
1 piece of tissue paper 13" x 13"
Stamps
Inkpads in various colours
Black Ink
Gold/Silver Embossing Powder and Ink
Paintbrush

1. Cover white card with Modge Podge (matt or gloss)
2. Scrunch tissue into a ball then open out and place over wet modge podge.
3. Press down on to modge podge then paint modge podge over the top of the tissue. Leave to dry.
4. When dry rub coloured ink on to a craft mat. Spritz with water. Using a sponge or Cut N Dry foam transfer the ink to the paper.
5. Heat set ink with heat tool
6. Stamp images randomly on to paper using coloured inks. Heat set ink.
7. Using black ink stamp flourishes randomly on to paper. Heat set
8. Using Cut N Dry Foam or sponge transfer embossing ink randomly over the paper. Sprinkle embossing powder on to paper, shake off excess.
9. Heat embossing powder until melted.

We look forward to seeing more of Ngaeres' work later in the week and if you have a question - please leave a comment and we will try our best to answer!

Lowri :-)

Hi Everyone - this week has gone by so quickly!

Today we are featuring our Challenge entries for the month and tomorrow - we will be posting the work of last months Challenge Winner Ngaere Bennetts. She won a spot on our DT for a month and it will be the first of the posts showcasing her great work. We also have some news about entering the Challenges in the future - we hope it will encourage more people to give it a go!


Weekly Round-Up
There has been some gorgeous work posted on the blog again by the Design Team. We have had lovely layouts with flowers from Tina.....


Shirl posted a wonderful layout using the upcoming Velvet Ensemble collection from Kaisercraft....


Lowri posted a 70th Birthday album using Kaisercraft collections too.


Liz also posted a little about the organization that goes into running the SENZ classes - it's well worth a read and we had some useful scrapping tips from Joanne.


Challenge Entries and Winners
We had some great entries again this month, and several people entered for the first time which is really exciting. From now on there will be 2 prizes each month - one for the "Best Entry" and an additional prize for the best "New Entry" (a submission from someone who has not submitted before). This month most of our entries were Layouts - let's take a look....

Super-fun "Blade Girl" LO from Connie

Gorgeous "Love my Dad" LO from Michelle

Wonderful colours in the family layout from Susanne

Super "Friends" LO from Kay O'Connor

"Forever" LO from Mazz Carins

"Twins" LO with great journalling from Michelle Cochrane

So much lovely detail in this LO from Vicki Parker

Adorable card from Ann Barrow

Lovely family themed BTP Frame from Karyn Willis

Thank you SO much to everyone who entered. It was a tough decision but this month our winners are:
Vicki Parker for her "Just Us" LO
(Vicki's blog is http://vickiparker.wordpress.com/)
Kay O'Connor for her "Friends" LO (New Entry Prize)
(Kay's blog is http://fussyblogspotcom-fussy.blogspot.com/)
CONGRATULATIONS - we will be in touch regarding your Kaisercraft prizes!

June Challenge
This month we are not going to have a specific theme BUT we want you to....

We want to see your favourites. Projects you have made that you love - and we want to hear about the products you used to make them. Do you have a great tip to share? We want to hear about that too!

We would love to be able to feature some of the great ways you use products - maybe it's not quite what they were intended for! Do you use a toothbrush to spatter ink onto your paper? Have you made any cool embellishments? Found a new technique on another crafting blog?
Send them to us at artfullcraftsdt@gmail.com


Here's one from me to start you off! It's a great way to recycle crayons!!

1. Gather all your old and yukky crayons - peel off the paper (yep - i know you spend ages trying to tell your kids NOT to do that!)
2. Sort into colours in order to take gratuitous colour photo
3. Break up crayons and put into silicon moulds. I think this was an ice-cube tray
4. Put into oven on really low heat (maybe 90 degrees Celsius?)
5. Wait (be patient - lots) as the crayons will eventually melt.

Let them cool and then press out of moulds. As you can see from picture 4 - some of the crayons (especially the really cheap ones!) break down into some sort of component pigment/waxy mess - but when they harden up you can turn them out and....

Hi, it's Tina with a few layouts to share.  I love making and using flowers on my pages, luckily I have daughters!

 All these flowers are handmade, or fussy-cut from the Pink Paislee and Graphic 45 papers.







Another layout, this time with Prima flowers.




I altered these chipboard flowers by Glimmer Misting, embossing (heat & dry), inking, and adding glitter.





I've been busy scrapping lot's of things to send  to Liz for SENZ.  I've finally finished my travel journal...think I should have picked a shorter holiday to scrap.

Good Evening Scrappers!

I really love the Kaisercraft range "Velvet Ensemble" so I went thru my photo stash and found one of my favorite photo's of my Dad...
This photo was taken on my Dads 21st Birthday, he's holding a beautiful old "Gibson" guitar which he got for his birthday....He really was a "Traveling Showman"... he toured Australia for my years with other great Australian artists...Country Music was his life, he brought happiness to many people with his music.
He had many guitars over the years but his favorite was his "Gibson"
He was Australia's answer to Johnny Cash and sang many of his hits, Walk the Line, Folsom Prison Blues & Jackson.


It was a fitting tribute for my Dad, that at his funeral in 2005, my Uncle (Dads brother) played the Gibson & sang Folsom Prison Blues along with the whole congregation, it was very emotional, and very moving, but just perfect for my Dad...
I miss him so much and some days when I'm feeling a bit low I can drag out that old Gibson from under my bed, have a bit of a play and I can hear him singing along with me.....

Edit by Lowri
The Velvet Ensemble Range is due out in June - so it is a treat for us to see Shirl's LO already!
You can see the full Collection on the Kaisercraft website - and we will let you know as soon as it becomes available for purchase from the shop!

What a great week!

We're always a bit nervous when we release a line-up of 8 classes for an event like SENZ. You aren't sure whether you've chosen the right products or prices etc. So we anxiously awaited the release of the SENZ classes to the VIP's and then the public this week.

We have good news! They have been well received and the bookings are still coming in. We do have spaces available for you - so don't delay and book now.


We have had to make one change to the original timetable. The Timeless Chest of Drawers Class was the stand-out winner and it's now completely filled up. So we made the decision early on the pull the pin on the Party Animals Card class and swap it for another Timeless Drawers Session on Friday 12pm - 2pm. Don't miss out on it!

Don't fear though - we are still going to have the Party Animals packs and instructions at SENZ for you to purchase. You could create the cards at the Crop event on the Saturday night. Here's the sneak peek of that fun kit!


We hope you have been to the SENZ website and seen the line up of classes we have for you. We spent weeks preparing them and days and nights loading them online for you. Our classes are going to be fun and we hope you enjoyed the quirky class descriptions. We've always believed that craft businesses should be leading the way in creativity and fun - that's why we spend hours making nice shop window displays, updating the website, and creating fun classes.

We had a heap of fun coming up with the class descriptions and I have to give the credit to the lovely husband for much of the inspiration. I was so tired on the night that we had to load up the classes that I could have fallen asleep at the laptop! So Graham came to the rescue coming up with the great ideas that summed up the vibe of the classes.

Here's the description for the Timeless Drawers:
"Dim lights; musty smells, curiosities left and right. You pull back the dust cover to find what you've been looking for. Antique Dealers Mel and Al will help you create your own timeless masterpiece - a Chest of Drawers for your treasures. You'll learn antiquing and aging techniques, as well as playing with some of the industry's favourite products. If you've always wanted to know how to make beautiful flowers, then book in your time with the experts at the Roadshow..."

We appreciate all the lovely feedback you leave us too. It makes all those late nights worthwhile!! (This is likely to be another late one!)

You might wonder what goes into working out a class for an event - so here's a basic outline for you:
I dream up the project that I think will be interesting (ie Chest of Drawers), think about some papers that would be good to use, email the tutors Mel and Al at Kaiser and throw the ideas around. They chat about products that could go with it and new techniques that we would like to teach. I put a pack together and send bits and pieces to Aussie for the girls. They create the project, send me a document with codes of what is being used in packs and what is being shared. More discussions, any changes made. Completed projects professionally photographed at Kaiser. Emailed to me. I create Collages. Load the class on the website - this involves checking schedules, writing descriptions (30 mins or more on each one!), uploading images, formatting, saving, checking, previewing, saving, checking 5 times for every detail to be accurate - spelling, bolds, underlines, links to websites etc.) An hour or two later final SAVE! Then load up on the Artfull Crafts website (create class category, cut, paste, format, upload photo, check, check etc!). Liven them up and wait for the bookings! Ring ring first thing in the morning. Check emails - on computer all day printing them, taking phone bookings etc.

Kaiser girls create instructions, show me to check we're all on the same page. Then I order the products for the packs and the share goodies (could be 4 or 5 companies to order from). Waits for goodies to arrive. Packs are created at Artfull Crafts by the capable staff. I think about the class and what other projects can be created in that same range (to show it off). Send packs off to the Design Team and staff to create projects (I'm so busy I don't have time to play!). Lowri, myself and the Team think about the table settings and what special little displays could be in the table centres... Organises it all...

Repeat seven more times...

We've got less than 5 weeks to go...

Nighty Night
:-) Liz

Hi Everyone - Joanne here. Today I've got a few simple little tips to share that I have learnt over the years that have helped me a lot!

First up - Babywipes! These things are amazing! I always keep a packet on my desk to clean stamps mainly but they clean a lot more! I use them to clean down my desk also - they remove glue and paint with ease. Ive also heard they work wonders on things like GlimmerMist and even Vivids!

Nail files - If you are working with chipboard and don't have sandpaper or sanding files available try your trusty nail file. They also work great for distressing.

Problems with new clear stamps not stamping nicely? Try rubbing an eraser over the stamp, then ink and stamp on scrap paper. Repeat this a couple of times and you should have a lovely nice impression.

And last, but not least, if you don't have an block big enough for a clear stamp try using your Cuttlebug plates! I find the bottom one works the best because its large and doesn't warp in the Cuttlebug.

If you have any simple little tips that you love please comment and let us know!

Joanne :)

Hi Everyone - hope you are having a lovely weekend.

Some great posts this week again from the Design Team -  gorgeous layouts from Joanne and a cute kitchen cardset from Lowri.

We don't have a guest artist this week but I thought I would share some of the SENZ ideas I have been working on.

SENZ Banner with Party Animals

This latest "Party Animals" Collection from Kaisercraft is nothing short of gorgeous! I love working with bright and bold colours and with my kids still being in that animal-crazy phase - there were heaps of possibilities for me to create something just for them.

These Kaisercraft pennants were also released this month and it is the perfect project to start with if you are new to Kasiercraft BTP projects as it is so simple to paint and cover with paper.



Here I have attempted to photograph it hanging up - which was really tricky!!

I simply painted the pennants and then cut triangles of paper to layer up with tape for some dimension. I made the flowers with patterned paper and then created the centers by punching a circle from one of the sheets in the 6x6 paper pads. I have then covered some old chipboard letters with scraps of paper and cut round them with a sharp knife.


Photo Frames with Party Animals
I have also made these 3 frames for my son's new work desk - the photos inside are not great - but he picked them which makes them special!

To decorate I have used the Party Animals rubons, sticker sheet and chipboard pieces which are all so much FUN!!





If you want to know more about SENZ - be sure to check out all the information on our website here.

Classes go on sale to the public TOMORROW and they have been very popular in the pre-sale to ticket holders - so be sure to get in quick!

Monthly Challenge
Still heaps of time to enter our challenge!
To enter the challenge - send a picture of your project to the Design Team. You can send us as many entries as you like. We will be featuring all entries on the blog later in the month.


Lowri :-)