After much anticipation and many phone calls to FedEx to track my missing parcel, they found it and now I have my first shipment of Imaginisce products... Woohoo!

So last night I sat down and played... and this is what I created with the wonderful Polar Express range of products. I decided to make a wine bottle topper because we have quite a few to give away for presents this year and I really wanted to dress them up. These little boxes are an ideal way to add a bit of Christmas cheer so the bottles can take their place under the tree. I even got to play with my new i-top to make the buttons in the centre of the Imaginisce Poinsettia petals, so easy and so effective... I must say... I love my new toy!

I have made a template for these little boxes but haven't quite worked out how to get it onto the blog... still a work in progress. Update... I finally did it, couldn't quite work out how to upload it in a pdf so took a photo of it. LOL! I haven't put any instructions as it is fairly easy to make. Have fun!

From farm to you...

Melinda x

After six long weeks of fabulous, mind-blowing challenges at CreativeGirls - ScrapnCraft with T they picked the winner of the competition and I was chosen (little old me)! I am soooooo excited, have been doing little dances of joy since the results were announced. However, I must say that I am also very humbled as  I was in some amazing company with Ingeborg, Linda, Manda and Nic who put up fabulous  and inspirational entries which you can take a look at here, well worth it! The level of creativity was extremely inspiring and Tanyah and the Creative Girls team did a wonderful job co-ordinating the entire comp, it really was a credit to them!

I think I may have a small break from scrapping as this last challenge kept me up way past my bedtime on several nights and the house-work has really suffered. I did clean the kitchen table off today, so now we can all eat together again! Thanks for sharing my news!

From farm to you...

Melinda x

 

Atlast I have something to show for my final challenge entry in the Embellish It competition at 'Creative Girls @ Scrap n Craft with T'. It took me the best part of the weekend but I'm finally done and laying the last pic on today was done with such elation that it was over and our table can be used for its intentional purpose.

Week 6 Challenge Criteria:

This week we are asking you to return to the grass roots of scrapbooking and create a single or double page layout. You will need to use three or more photos; the theme is 'let the love shine through'; the required colours are the 'cool shades' of summer; your primary handmade embellishment must be made from sequin strands; and finally you must use at least ten different techniques to ALTER the products/items you use to create a harmonious layout where the photos remain the focus of the layout, not the techniques.

Alz:)

From farm to you...

Melinda x

Okay, I have made it through to the fifth round of challenges at Creative Girls @ Scrap n Craft With T. And OMG what a challenge... I had to read it about three times before I got the everything that it required. Have a read of what the criteria was...

The Recycle It Challenge week is all about using your ingenuity.
There are so many items that we can incorporate into our scrapping, and every time we create, we make ourselves an item of pure brilliance.This week’s challenge will find you testing the boundaries if you have not already done so. So here are the rules:
• Use toilet rolls – you can prepare these by microwaving for approximately 20-50 seconds
• Use something metallic tin foil or silver patty pans on your project
• Use 3 types of visible ‘paper clipping’ – staples, a variety of paperclips, safety pins, pins, brads etc
• Use a handle on your project – you can create this or buy a readymade handle. It does not need to be functional it can be purely for an aesthetic look
• Use tags in your project
• Distress your project – help age it by 'roughing up the paper & inking
• Bind your project – you can do this with various methods but there should be some form of binding shown on your project
• Use stamping
• Use stitching
• You are to use NO flowers on your project

What an amazing challenge! So after much pondering I decided to do a 'secret mini album' just for me, containing my favourite pics of my husband and I before we were married. I used the toilet roll cut in strips to quill the emblem on the front cover, I rescued the foil from inside the tin of milo to etch and emboss the corners, handle and inside cover, various paper clipping, tags, lots of distressing, I bound it, I stamped it and I stitched it and I didn't use any flowers, not one single solitary little flower (and boy was that hard).

I almost think that I'd be a little too scared to move on to the final round because if this challenge was anything to go by, I'd hate to see next week.

Thanks for sharing this with me!

From farm to you...

Melinda x

(Sketch by Monika)

The Rules:
You need to create a layout based on the sketch above.
Its open to your own interpretation, but it must be recognizable.
One entry per person.

How To Enter:
Email your completed layout by 27th November 2009,
to
challenges@a2zscraplets.com.au
Please make sure images are re-sized to max of 600x600 pixels and no larger that 200kb,
and that you name the file with your name. 

Here's my take on the challenge:

 

In celebration of the launch of Imaginisce and GlueArts face-book fan pages, they are running a 'friendly' competition to see who can get to 1,500 fans first! And guess what's up for grabs... two fabulous gift baskets of Imaginisce and GlueArts products valued at over $300 each!

Here's what you need to do:  Visit the Imaginisce fan page, click to become a fan and post on their wall: "I'm a Fanatical Facebook Face-off Fan!"

Then...  
Jump over to Glue Arts Facebook page and be sure to leave them a note so they know what great fans we have!!

Go Imaginisce!!!

From Farm To You...

Melinda x

 

 

Creative Girls @ Scrap n Craft with T challenge for week IV: ... Here is Kylies challenge....quote.."I don't know about you, but before finding scrapbooking, I tried my hand at just about every craft available. In my craft cupboard I have - a scarf I started knitting in high school, a long-stitch my ex-boyfriend gave me and I refused to finish, a patchwork quilt with about 20 squares on it, numerous bits of sewing, a cross stitch bookmark that my grandmother gave me ages ago, my old latch-hook tool, an applique quilt that I've never finished, a broken quilling tool, plenty of jewellery and beading sets that I always planned to do, a canvas I never painted, Christmas decorations from around 1999 that I never finished, some paper tole and decopage things, and... well, you certainly get the idea!

We have all this wealth of knowledge floating around in our heads, and this is the week to put it all to some use!
Your challenge this week is to "Embellish it and MIX it"!
Combine 2 techniques from some other craft you've tried (or wanted to try) with papercraft, and use them all to create something new!

1. I Don't mind if you use a piece of knitting as a base for a photo with a beaded edge,
2. a crocheted flower on a painted ATC,
3. embroidered leaves for a quilled flower,
4. whatever you choose to do, have fun!

Well... I really had to push myself to come up with something that would be worthy of submitting. It took me a couple of days to even come up with an idea which seemed to change at every stage of the process. However, I have finished, it is uploaded and I am happy with the end result. Phew!!!

I really wanted to try my hand at quilling on the layout so trawled through Imaginisce Twitterpated range to find some inspiration when I found the little tree on the 'Hey Foxy' paper and thought that I would love to recreate a larger version using the quilling, then I decided that I would blanket stitch around an applique of the tree trunk which would fit with the criteria of the challenge. I then got a bit carried away and had fun stitching the grass and using paper toll for the wee critters and clouds. Had fun and it's done!

From Farm to You...

Melinda x

I am super excited today as I have been officially inducted into the Imaginisce hall of Design Team fame. I am still in a slight state of shock and will probably take some time coming down out of my cloud.
There are so many talented and wonderful ladies on the Design Team list that I almost feel a little like I'm in the wrong paddock. However, I am seriously looking forward to getting to know everyone and excited to continue using the Imaginisce products because they are perfect for my whimsy ways.


The new team...

1. Sarah Guzman (California)

2. Liz Qualman (Colorado)

3. Heather Carpenter (Louisiana)
4. Lisa Day (Michigan)

5. Aphra Bolyer (Louisiana)

6. Cristal Hobbs (Tennesse)

7. Erin Bassett (California)
8. Kim Holmes (Washington)
9. Penny Smith (Iowa)
10. Julie Bonner (Maryland)
11. Robyn Schaub (Texas)
12. Shemaine Smith (California)

International Team Members

1. Tomomi Hiramaru (Japan)
2. Akiko Kuroki (Japan)

3. Aida Haron (Singapore)

4. Tammy Wark (ON/Canada)

5. Melinda Spinks (Australia)

6. Samantha Hauzer (Australia)

7. Cindy Stevens (MB/Canada)

8. Cari Locken (BC/Canada)

9. Tracy Gardiner (Africa)

10. Renata Moni Bidini (Brazil)

So come and visit the Imaginisce blog at http://imaginiscescrapbooking.blogspot.com and if you sign up to follow them and/or follow their FACEBOOK page you may be the recipient of some wonderful goodies. Imaginisce are forever on the look-out and select people all the time to receive free products just for being a fan of their products. What have you got to loose?

From Farm To You...

Melinda x

November Sketch...

Well its time for a new sketch at Totally Addicted To Sketch so if you have lost your mojo and don't know where to begin on your next layout then try Karen and Shell's gorgeous November design to give you that inspiration you are looking for. Its such a pretty layout and uses multiple pics which is great for telling a story in your layout by using a few different photos. I had some cute pics of my little man at a local play-centre which were bright and colourful so the Imaginisce "Lets Roll" papers were ideal, not to mention all the cars, trucks, trains, planes... which is everything Ben loves to play with. He even had fun trying to pull the wings off the little planes on my layout whilst I wasn't looking... bless him!

From Farm to You...

Melinda x 

 This is a little card I made for Bo Bunny's Breast Cancer Awareness campaign in October using their delightful 'Alissa' Paper Range. I took inspiration from a step x step card challenge that the very talented Miss Helen put together for the August Cyber-Crop at Little Scrap Book Shop

Definitely ready for bed tonight... I think hay season is catching up on us all. It's almost midnight and my poor husband has just staggered out to go bailing for the night. I packed him a thermos full of coffee and some store-bought biscuits as I haven't had time to do any baking... must get onto that tomorrow after I pack my daughter off to school camp.

From farm to you...
Melinda x

Can anyone believe how fast this year has gone? Another four weeks and the kids will be begging to put up the Christmas tree! I had purchased some really cool Imaginisce Christmas Paper in the hope that I would tackle some cards until I had a 'moment-of-madness' late one evening and decided to have a go at making some Christmas ornaments from Origami flowers that I'd seen on the KaiserCraft blog. Well one thing led to another and the ornaments turned into a Christmas Wreath. I decided to send a pic to the Imaginisce crew and guess what happened??? Surprise!
From Farm To You...
Melinda x 

Embellish This!... Round III

6 Week Competition compiled by Creative Girls @ Scrappin Craft With T

(Week III Submission)

(Close Up of the handmade flower)

Challenge compiled by Michelle Jamieson: My Challenge for you this week, goes hand in hand with a big event on the Australian Calendar...the Melbourne Cup. It's always a big event that gets the whole nation involved. Seeing there's always a 1st, 2nd and 3rd...my challenge is all about 3's!

So, the first part of your challenge is to use the Melbourne Cup logo as your inspiration and create a layout using the colours of teal, hot pink, black and white. Bright and very funky!!

NOTE: You can use tiny hints of other colours but the main focus is on this colour scheme.

The second part of the Challenge is to create an interesting background, and it must have 3 elements to it. For example, my background has painting, sewing and a weaved paper background. You can do whatever you like here, but it MUST have 3 parts to it!!

As you know, the Races are all about fashion, feathers and bling, so guess what the third part of the challenge is about?? You MUST use: Fabric, Feathers and Bling on your layout somewhere.

As an BONUS part of this challenge and sticking with the theme for our "Embellish This" competition...You MUST create a handmade embellishment out of fabric. It can be anything at all. There are plenty of tutorials on the web, showing you how to make various embellishments. Let your mind run wild...I can't wait to see what you create!!

~~

Okay, so this challenge was quite complex with all its components, had to really stretch the gray matter to make everything work. Decided to go for doodling, bling flourishes and stamping as my three background altering techniques. Used all four colours. Made the flower and used feathers. Done!

Farm Flash: I am so honoured to have this layout chosen as the Round III winning entry and have now moved on to round IV.

From Farm to you...

Melinda x

Embellish This!... Round II

6 Week Competition compiled by Creative Girls @ Scrappin Craft With T

(My Round II Entry)

(Top view)

WEEK 2 CHALLENGE.....

• Create an embellishment to be used to decorate the outside of your gift wrapping, using the colours red, white and green and also using some wire.

• It is preferable to have it attached to your gift wrapping, whether that be a gift box or gift bag, or alternatively it can be attached to your layout or card.
  

• The embellishment will be judged only... not the wrapping/layout or card.
  
  Farm Flash: Have now moved on to round III... bit excited!
  
  From Farm to you...
  Melinda x