Whats on my Workdesk Wednesday 169? A test run

Hello fellow desk hoppers

I was absent from last weeks snoop and swoop round the world via Julia's place because I was too busy fighting our ridiculously sow band width to upload my first video for CC101 Chemists University where those of us who have done the Creative Chemistry 101 with Tim continue our journey of discovery together.

As I type this, I am listening to Paperclipping where Tim Holtz, Laura Denison together with Jennifer Mc Guire are chatting to Noell Hyman, so cool, kind of feels like they are in my studio chatting.

Here is a test run on my desk where I stamped with Pearl Paint Dabber first and sprayed my Color Wash over the top.  I ran a class on Saturday where 3 ladies were sick and so I have to kit up for them which becomes tricky as I run hands on techniques pages using my personal tools so I am stamping, inking and cutting so they can put their page together as they won't have my stuff on hand to use, because a kit with 5 blank sheets of cardstock and instructions would not go down too well I think...

What I needed to see was if the Dabber would resist the sprays which it did, like the distress inks do too...I was hoping this would be as effective, because then at least they get to do some of the techniques I taught this page for....This way I can stamp the page for them using my Fabulous Flourish stamp and they can add their colour to it later.  Below is the finished page so you can see what I am waffling on about...

Here are Barbs and Laura who will be AWOL from my classes for the next 2 months as they have other commitments (How Rude, they have a life...!) So I thought I would post this pic of them from class as it is the only one I took this time cos I was kept rather busy with 25 peeps in the room...gonna miss you guys, class won't be the same without you, looking forward to November....

Thanks for visiting my desk in Cape Town, South Africa

Bella

Exciting News! CC101 Chemists University!

Well, I can finally let the proverbial cat out the bag!  For those of you wondering why I have been so quite lately it is because I have been on a You Tube learning curve of NOTE!  Thanks so much to Sylvia who held my hand and saw my video through all the teething trouble and onto the net.

You see there is a special group on FB for those of us who have gradated from CC101...(email me if you are a graduate and don't belong to this group) approved by Tim himself!

I volunteered in July to do a live stream of one of my favourite techniques and then it was decided that the five of us who volunteered would each do a You Tube video.  Good thing too 'cos I have been down with the flu again and had no voice to speak of on Friday so a live stream would not have worked at all!

We now have a CC101 home blog too and you can view all the videos there.  So far there are 4 that have been uploaded.

This has been such a privilege to be part of and I hope to be able to do another video to add to the ones already made, and if you are a graduate and would like to do a video, you can contact Sylvia on the FB group.  If I can do it, you surely can too!

Bella

Whats on My Workdesk Wednesday 167? Lables

I forgot to take a before shot so this is from a while back...

This is the after shot:

A while ago Julia our WOYWW hostess asked to see what was in all my drawers...this got me thinking...

Then a friend of mine said she was on my blog during lunch time looking at a WOYWW post when a colleague walked passed and asked in horror..."WHAT'S THAT?"

So these two comments made me think that a labelling and make over type event was needed...

 Behold:  The new look

I am however a visual person and sometimes just peruse my boxes for inspiration which is now hidden behind all these neat labels...time will tell how long this lasts!

Thanks for visiting my desk in Cape Town, South Africa.  I am off to see what I can see on your desk if you have joined in over at Stamping Ground...

Bella

Walk With the Elephants

It has been a productive evenings work, to make up for yesterday I guess...It obviously helps to sleep on a project as I had NO inspiration for these pages yesterday, they just went nowhere in a hurry!

We had the most amazing experience while we were on vacation in July at a place called Knysna Elephant Park where they nurture rescued elephants who have been orphaned due to poaching.  We literally walked with them after we fed them and stroked their rough skin.  I asked one to hold my hand and it put its trunk in my palm.  They are such intelligent, beautiful and sensitive animals.

I have had such fun with Color Wash, paint dabbers, stamps, punches and more of my son's disintegrating trampoline cover.  I might add some embellies later if I find some appropriate ones, but for now, I will let the photos do the talking.

Thanks for the visit.

Bella

Our Fishing Adventure for CSI

I told you I was addicted to CSI!  Here is what I did with the left overs of the print outs from yesterdays layout.  I added some Karen Foster images of the postage stamps which I scanned off her sticker sheet and enlarged.  The silhouette and title are from the lazer cut company Celebra8, which I painted with paint dabbers.

The little fish is done on shrink plastic, you can see the original image stamped below him on the blue paper.  The little compass is also done with Ranger's shrink plastic.  I LOVE this stuff.

I have not been quite as productive as I hoped today, but one finished layout is more than nothing I guess.

Thanks for the visit.

Bella

Been Scrapping weather

We have had the most outrageous storm last night and today, we knew it was coming so I was ready to scrap up my own kind of storm and not leave the house! Good thing too cos we had hail that covered the lawn and patio looking every bit like snow (which we don't get in our city!)

Starting when I woke up this morning, I did the page about me which I have already blogged about  in the post below.

Here is the layout from the Women's day convention with photos. (tick that box)

Then it was back to holiday photos...this is us at the carnival where my Hubby does his Mountain bike race in Knysna.

This is the page I have just finished of my Mom, myself and my son on my Mother's 73rd Birthday.

All quite varied pages, depending on the photos and the colours involved.  I have had a blast and am printing up the next batch of photos to tackle tomorrow cos I don't think the weather is going to improve much....

Thanks for the visit

See you tomorrow

Bella

Look! I was There Too!

I have a new addiction...It's called CSI!  No I am not talking about the TV program, rather 

 it is an on line scrapping site that issues a new Case file every Friday to inspire you to Scrap!  Boy have I needed that 'cos I have no trouble doing tags and cards, and because I follow so many Challenges, they get done all the time, but that has meant that my Scrapbooks have been sorely neglected!  Together with CSI, I am playing catch up and having such fun in the process.  They give you PDF files to print out (which I have used here) to help you on your way.  The only sticker I used was one of Tim's compasses, the rest of the embellies on this page were from their printouts.

I used Tim's compass mask with Black Soot Distress ink to create a back ground on my card stock as well as Archival ink used on the dots stamp for texture round the edges of my page.  I also used his black plastic lettering and his Word Play die for the blue lettering as well as his game spinners to attach the clear fragments to the page.  The gauze is off my son's trampoline cover which is in dire need of replacing...can you tell...this is the lining!

Thanks for the visit

Bella

Compendium of Curiosities 2 Challenge 17

Well it has been a while since I have been able to participate in this challenge on Linda's site called Studio L3, every week I keep thinking...next week I will get it done and don't!

So here is my entry to the CC2C No17  Where we are to follow the instructions on page 61 from Tim's book.  Simon Says Stamp is also offering a chance to win a shopping spree if you enter, so come join in if you have the book.

I used one of my new embossing folders which I purchased yesterday while attending the Women's Day Event at the Scrapbook Factory Shop, the ribbon we got on our gifts and the candelabra is one I made out of clear UTEE in my melt pot from a mould I took of the Prima one which is now not available here any more.   I then added some snow cap white paint dabber to the raised areas and then some Picked Raspberry Distress ink.

Thanks for the visit

Bella

CC101 Challenge

This is my entry for the August Challenge being hosted for all the Chemists who completed the CC101 course. I am just loving working with the Spring Distress Ink collection.

Women's Day event at the Scrapbook Factory Shop

Today in South Africa we celebrate Women's Day with a public holiday, so to mark this special day dedicated to us, the Scrapbook Factory Shop held a whole day event. from 9am to 5pm with the yummiest lunch catered by Yvette on the right of Carolyn in the photo below.

We arrived to a wonderful selection of gifts on our desks which I have unpacked and put out for you to see below.

This was my spot in the corner together with my friends (please note I really stuck to my guns and travelled light! - that tote bag is all I took)

Then Carolyn made sure that each and every one of us got a fabulous lucky draw prize all to the same value and then there were some lovely big prizes up for grabs for which our names all went back into the hat. I was lucky enough to be one of the pus minus 7 winners in this category where I won the 3 embossing folders tied up with ribbon on the left hand side of the pic below and the rest was from my lucky draw earlier in the day.

I also did some retail therapy...

To make my day Extra special, a fellow on line Scrapper, Anita popped into the shop and heard I was in class, so she came in to say hello...how cool is that?

We made 6 cards before lunch and did a double page spread after lunch followed by a 12"x12" board with a  mirror which I still need to tackle.  I have a humdinger of a cold so by 4:30 in the afternoon I was a little past it, and I will do it another day...

I will add my photos to this as soon as I work out what set will go with this  layout.

Thanks so much to Tanya our teacher for the whole day (who I quite forgot to take a photo of) and Carolyn (our Host) for a fabulous day spent in wonderful company, doing what I love best!

Bella

What's on my Workdesk Wednesday 166? Frames

Well I posted about the frames yesterday and the one is still languishing on my desk while the other is hanging in my passage.

So I am showing you the fold out table to my left where I have been working and storing my projects that I am busy with for a craft market on 2 September...not many week-ends between now and then so I am in hyper create mode...any spare minute I get, I am here creating, gluing, and finishing off...

Over at Julia's place the Mr Linky seems to be AWOL, but we are a feisty bunch and march on with our world wide desk hop and snoop, so see you at your desk soon.

Vintage frames for Tim's 12 tags of 2012

 I came across this set of frames at a second hand type shop and bought the pair off them before they had time to spruce them up...They had just arrived and I wanted them as original as possible.  So I washed the years of dust off and gave them some extra staples for stability and then added the twine to peg my tags onto.  I am very pleased with the final result and have made this project pride of place in my passage for all to see.  I don't know where my hubby is going to hang his car keys when he gets home as that is where the hooks were previously, but hey those can go on a shelf (and often do) so I figure he won't mind too much!

The tags from behind

From the front

The second frame ready for the next 5 tags

The back of the frames, I just eyeballed the string, I did not measure as I stapled.

CSI challenge #31

I first came across CSI about three weeks ago, but due to my rather busy schedule, I have not been able to participate.  So I have decided to start with the latest challenge and see if I can still squeeze in the one that finishes tomorrow...only time will tell.

They give you the greatest inspiration and printables to use on your pages which is the reason for creating this page as they were so appropriate.

Tim's 12 tags of 2012 - August

Above is Tim's original, below is my take on his tag.

This is the only day I wish would come round faster!  Every other day can have a pause button so I can get everything done that is on my list... However...I live for the first day of the month as Tim Holtz publishes his technique tag for us to learn from  and enjoy.

I have done some changes as usual to fit in with my arsenal of stuff.

I don't have his latest release of stamps with the silhouettes and frame though I have been making cameos in my melt pot (see below) and have a similar frame from another stamp set.  I also used pearl earrings (bent the bar with my trusty pliers) in blue yellow and pink which I "antiqued" by adding some espresso alcohol ink to them in a plastic bag to take the brightness down a notch. Oh and I don't have his die to cut the bottom with so swapped that out too.  I found the lovely velvet ribbon in my stash and so I used that instead because I thought it looked more vintage.

Thats that done then till this time next month!

Thanks for the visit.

Bella