New Hobby for The Studio Challenges

Good morning!

There's a new challenge on The Studio Challenges today, and it's a sketch challenge.

Here's the sketch:

And here's the layout that I made, about my new "hobby", cooking:

BTW, I have to find a way to take satisfactory photos of my projects... Since I moved to the new house a few months ago, I have trouble finding a good light. Oh well.

So, the journaling written on the tag that I have inside the pocket says that until two months ago I hated cooking. I found it extremely stressful and I avoided as much as I could. I knew as long as I would avoid cooking it would be hard to find and stay at my "true weight", so a couple of months ago I decided to give it a go, just for fun. And I was hooked. Now I find it relaxing, I love experimenting and discovering new tastes and combinations... and if some of the food I cook goes to the rubbish, it's just a learning experience!

This is the first dish I was really proud of and thought it deserved its own layout ;)

So come on over at The Studio Challenges to see how the DT have interpreted the sketch and to play along with us!

I hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

The Studio Challenges: Big photo

Hello!

Have you ever scrapped with a really big photo? If not, now is the time to do it!

The new challenge at The Studio Challenges asks exactly that: to make a layout using a big photo, which means a photo larger than 4x6.

Having made relatively recently a large photo layout for the first time, I was a bit troubled... What should I do this time? So the first thing to decide was the photo. And I thought to myself "which is the first photo that comes to my mind that I really love but I have never scrapped?". And Lola's layout back when she was less than two months old and we were still looking for a home for her (although I think I knew from the beginning I wanted to keep her) came to my mind. And here is what I made:

Isn't she the cutest ever? I just sooo love this picture!

I used PL cards for the bottom half of the layout and printed the journaling on vellum paper. On the red tape I have the words of Kinks' song "Lola" that comes to my mind when I think of my cat... although the rest of the song obviously has nothing to do with cats and kittens, lol!

So come over at The Studio Challenges to see what the design team has come up with for the big photo layout and get inspired to make your own big photo layout! I think this is one of my favourite challenges ever!

Hope you like it,

Hugs,
Anastasia

Scraplifts

Good morning!

Another Sunday morning with a new challenge at The Studio Challenges: Scraplifts!

So the challenge is about scraplifting one of the layouts the design team members made for this challenge. All of us in the design team picked another member of the team to scraplift for this challenge, so you will be scraplifting our scraplifts!

It was a bit hard to chose as really there were so many layouts that I would like to scraplift. But at the end the very first thought won. Because as soon as I saw HeeSun Kim's layout for last month's tic-tac-toe challenge, I had a "I wish I had thought of that" moment. Like HeeSun Kim, I have plenty of washi tape that I really like but I barely use. I loved the way she had used the washi tape and her super-cute and beautiful layout:

Since the theme of the layout is my nephew's love for doodling with his markers, I went for a rainbow layout and the result kind of reminds me of his markers. 

I painted the wooden stars with acrylic paint and added glossy accent to make them pop more:

We would love to see which of our scraplifts you chose to lift! So come over at The Studio Challenges to see what the design team has made and pick the layout you want to scraplift...

 

Hope you like it!

 

Hugs,

Anastasia

 

 

 

 

School friends... stay gold!

Good morning!

A new challenge at The Studio Challenges today... It is a sketch challenge this time:

And here is the layout that I made:

Regarding the theme of my layout... About two years ago and thanks to facebook, five best friends  from school (Marilena, Anna, Tonia, Valia and myself) met up again after almost two decades of having lost contact (well, I had lost contact with three out of four!). When we met it was as if not a day has passed. It goes to show that true childhood friendships really hold over time. A year later, Pavlos (our mustache man!) joined the team of reunited school friends.

Two years later, we still have weekly contacts, certainly via facebook but usually meeting up. With this layout I just wanted to highlight how much I value, appreciate and love our little team and our "sessions".

And that is why I wanted to go with the gold colour, as I consider them "gold" friends.

For the sketch, I used embellishments for the circle. 77 sequins glued, then sewn with my sewing machine (I so enjoyed this time consuming process... my sewing machine not so much! lol!). I added wood veneers and used glitter gold stickers and thickers and paper for the title, subtitle and frame.

I hope you like it! Come over at The Studio Challenges to see how the DT has interpreted the sketch and to play along with us!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Happy Young Hipster

Hello!

A new challenge today at The Studio Challenges which I really liked: tic-tac-toe! Here is the board:

Usually I have difficulty choosing a line because there is almost always a material that I don't use. This time I had difficulty choosing a line because I liked them all! Finally I went for the last vertical row: stars - paint splatters - at least 3 types of alphas. And here is what I came up with:

I didn't like the green colour of the card in the background and I didn't want to make a white-red-blue layout, so I focused on the red colour of my nephew's amazing hipster (sun?)glasses and the heart on his shirt.

So come over at The Studio Challenges to play with us. The lucky winner will get a package of chipboard from our sponsor A2Z Scraplets.

Hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

The Studio Challenges - Mood Board Challenge

Good morning!

I have some great news today! After the short break I took from scrapping, I am very happy to announce that I am back as a member of the great The Studio Challenges DT team! It has been a great experience to be part of this super-talented team in the past and I am so happy to be back!

So, there is a new challenge on the blog today: to create a layout inspired by the following mood board created by Tessa:

As I still haven't been on summer holiday (well, by the time this post is being published, I will be enjoying my one week holiday ;) ), I was inspired by the sea. Especially the turquoise colour in the first picture reminded me of my favourite beach Elafonisi in Crete. And here is what I created:

I've been wanting to create a large photo layout for some time now, but didn't have the chance so far. I thought this was the perfect chance, what with the most amazing colour of the sea in Elafonisi. Although the photo is not mine (I wasn't into scrapbooking way back when I went to that beach), so I found it on google here.

Lately it seems like I'm addicted to glitter... couldn't resist this time either, so I "dressed" wood veneers with gold glitter.

Also I printed the photo in two different sizes and used part of the photo that I didn't use below the negative "cool" part of the bubble:

Hope you like it!

So come over at The Studio Challenges to get inspiration from the super-talented team and to play along with us. The winner of this month will receive a package of chipboards from this month's sponsor A2Z Scraplets!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Starry Eyes

Hello!

Well, it seems like I don't have time at all for blogging... I made this layout 10 days ago and I still haven't had time to blog about it!

So this is a layout about my nephews big, big eyes which I really, really love!

The papers are from Simple Stories Hello Baby - I just loved the pastel colours.

The sketch is inspired by Scrap365 sketch challenge:

I hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

5 Years...

Hello!

I have a layout to show you that I actually finished last weekend but didn't have time to blog about it. It is about going back to the city where all the craft adventure started for me - Edinburgh.

Five years after I spent some time on that city where I discovered a book that made me fall in love with crochet and magazines that convinced that card making was a hobby I wanted to try, I went back to Edinburgh again. So I took some pictures of the bookshop where I bought the crochet book and the paper store where I bought my first paper craft supplies:

I added some small journaling on the photos which I printed with my very favourite Instax share and I decided to hide the rest of the journaling behind vellum paper and a vellum embellishment just to make it a bit more playful and balanced:

The sketch was inspired by Chic Tags July Sketch It Out sketch:

Hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

A dirty boy is a happy boy

Hello!

Today I have a layout for the Scraps N Pieces challenge Men like you - which means they only only to see males - females are forbidden!

We had recently been with my nephews and took tons of photos which I wanted to scrap, so I thought I should go for this challenge.

The result (the face is blurred after his parents' request):

Hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Summer Lovin' for CAS-ual Fridays

Hello again!

Two days in a row! Looks like I'm finally getting my mojo back! (Hope I don't jinx it!)

So... after the card I made yesterday morning, I just wanted to make another one - my birthday cards stock is non-existent as well after so long without making cards. So last night I was looking for some inspiration online. As soon as I so the summer lovin' challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays, the idea came instantly. I mean, the challenge is to make a card with lots of hearts in summer colours... how can one not be inspired by such a challenge?

Here is the result:

So yes, I finally dusted off my big shot! And I used the super-delicious and happy "hello sunshine" paper pad from Lawn Fawn. I even took out my sewing machine just to sew the three hearts together and on purpose I left long tails which I used for extra effect behind the hearts.

And a close-up to see the hearts 3-D effect a bit better:

I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making this card!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Happy Birthday Kylie!

Hello everyone!

Today I prepared a birthday card for wonderful Kylie, who was my "boss" over at Addicted to CAS. Although I haven't had the chance to meet her in person, from my months in ACAS I can say that she is a wonderful lady!

Loll has organised a linky party for Kylie and of course I couldn't miss it! So click here to see all the wonderful creations Kylie's friend have made for her.

So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLIE!!!!

Oh, I almost forgot my card ;)

Cheers,
Anastasia

I'm still here!!!

It's been a while and so many things have happened... I moved to a new house (yes, the craft room was the last one I finished - only a few days ago!) and several other personal things so I didn't get to do anything crafty for almost three months!!!

But now I'm back with two layouts:

The first one is for  Scrap 365, inspired by its sketch this month:

And the layout that I made with the help of my new favourite gadget, the instax share, which is the subject of the layout:

And it might well be the first time that I share two layouts in one post. Yes, I did two layouts in one day (well, 2,5, but the third one is not finished yet ;)

And this is thanks to my great-great crafty friends. I finally met them again after a really loooong time, and this layout is dedicated to them mostly - but all the lovely crafty friends I have met these last few years. The paper talks for itself (oh well, let's admit it, it's the practice that I lack!), so I think this is by far the simplest layout I have ever made:

I hope you like them!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supreme Scrap Tournament - Grand Finale Layouts

...And a second post for today, this time for my layout participation to the Supreme Scrap Tournament Grand Finale.

Boy, was this challenge tough! I find it difficult not to have some kind of flexibility with my layouts. Even at crops, I almost never finish a layout 100% during the crop, most of the times I add some details when I go back home. But, we had to use only the items we had chosen in the first step (without even knowing what we were going to do)

It turned out that we had to do a double layout (I think this is the last double layout I'm doing, at least for a while!!!!) with the title "This is me".

So I grabbed my instax, I took a photo of me and of what is important in my life: Family (I had to take a photo of a photo!), work, travels, my cats and my craft room of course! Here is what I came up with at the end:

Not one of my favourite layouts, that's for sure... but the best I could come up with.

With numbers about what I have used and where:

And as a reminder, here was my "trash":

And... that's it for SST!!!! wow, has it been a loooong drive!!!!

Hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supreme Scrap Tournament 2014 - Grand Finale Card

Good morning!!!

I think these last few days have been one of the craziest ever. Endless hours of work, preparing for my move to the new house, some family issues... and the tournament! Plus, tomorrow morning I leave for a business trip and I have one day less to finish my projects!

Remember the previous post where the step 1 for the grand finale was to chose at least 10 items that would belong to trash and at least 3 30x30 papers? Well, step 2 asked us to use all the trash that we had chosen (after clarifications, not all the quantity, but all the type of trash) and all the papers, at least half of them.

So, I just finished the card. I will give you a picture: 7:30 in the morning I was sewing blanket stitch around a heart cut out from a baking paper... Crazy or what???

I went for a "card in a box" approach. And here is the result:

A few words: I cut the title with my Cameo and what was left of the papers.

I used gesso (which was the only thing allowed apart from what we had chosen and glue) around the papers.

I did blanket stitch around the hear that is filled with the little brown hearts.

For the banner, I used round foam stickers, put the little pink hearts on them and the used powder so that the rest of the foam stickers wouldn't stick.

Oh, and I crocheted a pink heart as well ;)

...And I stitched almost all hearts as it was the easiest way to "glue" together different types of materials, such as the fabric with the baking paper, the net with the napkin etc. (And yes, I really DON'T like stitching!!!)

And a tip: it is really, really hard to glue baking paper on anything. I only found one glue that would work (zing glue), so I had to stitch almost everything... and did I say that I don't like stitching???

For a better look of the photos:

And numbering the materials that I used, according to the challenge rules:

And as a reminder, my trash:

So this is the end of the SST cards part... Have to prepare the layout as well now!

Hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

SST Grande Finale - Part 1 - "Saved from the trash"

oh my, oh my...

These last few weeks have been crrrrazy! And it will continue like this for the following few weeks. So many things are happening, some good, some bad... One of the good ones is the following:

Yes! I've made it to the grande finale of Supreme Scrap Tournament 2014 both in cards and layouts! yoohoo!!!!

Another of the good news is that I'm moving to a new house! Which means that I am in a process of a huge clearance of my belongings. Which also means that I have already thrown or given away lots and lots of stuff.

And just three hours after I threw away three big bags of trash... the first part of the SST grande finale came:

Step 1:
1. Collect at least 10 different materials/objects that you would normally throw in the trash!
So collect stuff that you can’t buy in a store as a craft element/embellishment.
Examples are: labels of clothes, paperclip, aluminium foil, napkin, piece of cloth.
2. Collect a minimum of 4 sheets of scrapbooking paper size (30,4 x 30,4 cm) - 2 sheets for cards
3. Posting your choice:
Make a photo of these objects and the sheets that you choose
Number the elements and the papers and write this in your post.
We will tell you about the rest of the challenge after you post the photos!

And my first reaction was to cry out: WHAT A BAD, BAD TIMING!!! If only I knew about that a few hours earlier!!!

But then I thought wait... I haven't finished cleaning up my stuff. And I remembered a box of "memorabilia" that I've been collecting from my travel trips which I haven't used in the layouts I have made and I was going to throw everything away. So no wonder that I have chosen a number of tickets, maps, a boarding pass (I mean really, why have I kept that???) etc as big part of the chosen "escaped from the trash" elements.

So here are the photos of the elements I have chosen:

For the layout:

1 - protective plastic thingy that I found between some forgotten IKEA plates (the treasures one can find!)
2 - protective net around vases of chocolate spread
3 - tube tickets
4 - receipts (a few years old!)
5 - boarding pass
6 - IKEA fabric which have remained after I sewed my new pillow cases
7 - aluminum foil
8 - pages from a book I am not going to read
9 - credit cards statement inserts
10 - threads - again from sewing the pillows
11 - yarn - well, you know by now, from the pillow case I have crocheted
12 - napkins - I was collecting napkins that I liked for some reason and had thrown them away just a couple of hours before the challenge went on air. Luckily I found some more in another box!

And the papers, 3 from Pink Paislee Color Wash collection and two from Amy Tangerine Yes Please collection.

For the card:

1 - Tissue paper from a gift - I normally keep them because I love tissue paper, but this was too creased for me to use (I thought! ha!)
2 - protective net around vases of chocolate spread (same as in layout, but I have too different ones)
3 - fabric - had to cut some off from the layout stash
4 - napkins - from the same box as for the layouts
5 - book pages - from the same book as for the layouts
6 - Sweet & Low sachets - I hate them, but the cleaning lady is using them, she thought I am crazy and I asked her not to throw this away!
7 - rolling cigarette papers
8 - yarn - again had to take some from the layout stash
9 - thread - same story
10 - map - I think from Copenhagen?

And the papers:

A kraft paper, one from Heidi Swapp Serendipity collection and one from Crate Paper Story Teller collection.

So... let's see what the challenge is going to be about... only a few hours left before the second "stroke"!

Hugs,
Anastasia

3 is a magic number

...aka a night crop with super amazing friends!

...aka no matter the distance, we can still be together... and here's where I'll stop with the alternative post titles ;)

Last week I had the chance to spend a few days in Drama with my friends Maria and Elena, two of my very favourite Greek scrappers that I admire not only for the quality of their creations, but mostly for their quality as persons. And I will stop here again, they know ;)

So... of course Elena and I had brought with us some supplies and our hostess Maria helped us with her own stash. So we decided to have a night crop after the children went to slip. And since the March challenge over at Scraps n Pieces has the theme "3 is a magic number", I took three photos with what each of us started to create. So this layout is dedicated to the triad:

A conclusion: it is really difficult to take a photo of watercolor paper!

Hasta la proxima chicas! Thank you for the GREAT time!

Hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supreme Scrap Tournament - Round 4: Hide and Seek (card)

Hello again!

As I said yesterday, today I want to share with you the card that I made for the fourth round of Supreme Scrap Tournament.

The challenge is the following:

Theme: free
Colour: free
Size: free
Type: free
To be used:
- Make hidden elements on the card: minimum of two.
- The hidden part of the elements should not be visible at first sight! It needs opening before we can see the hidden inside.
- Size of the elements is free
- Type of the elements is free
- One element has to be on the top of the card, the other(s) can be on to of the card or the inside. Your choice.
- Think of elements that needs to be moved or turned in order to read the title or quote of the card. Like a hidden note under a flap, a wheel that can be turned, popup etc.
- It is ok if a pulling mechanism is visible. Such as a piece of paper, a fiber or ribbon, a brad used for turning a wheel.
Not to be used:
- All kinds of ink (including spray ink and misting ink)
- No paint of any sort
- No stamps
- No gesso
- No chalk


No stamps for a card again... now this is hard! Luckily, there are rubons ;)

So, looking at the internet for some inspiration, I found a card called "iris mechanical card". I fell in love instantly. I thought that with my Cameo it would be easy to make. End result: it took me more than 4 hours!!!! Yes, I did enjoy it, but it was wayyy harder than what I thought! Here is the link if you want to give it a try anyway ;)  Iris Mechanical Card

And here is what I made:

So, my two hidden elements are one inside the other. With the "mechanism" I made, you pull down the lever and the widow opens to reveal an envelope. Inside the envelope, there is a message.

All alphabets used are rubons.

Hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supreme Scrap Tournament 2014 - Hide and Seek

Hello!!!

Oh yes, I made it to the fourth round of the Supreme Scrap Tournament 2014, yoohoo!!! I am so happy as there are so, so many wonderful layouts and cards participating that I feel honoured I have made it so far!

So, here's the challenge for the fourth round, which I have to admit, I really, really liked!

Layout: Double page layout
Size layout: 2 pages of 30,4 x 30,4 cm (12 x 12 inch)
Photos:
- eight or more
- no duplicate photo's
Theme: free
Colour: free

You must make:-  Make hidden elements on your pages. Minimum of three
-  The hidden part of the elements should not be visible at first sight! It needs opening before we can see the hidden inside.
-  Size of the elements is free
-  Place of the elements on the pages is free
-  Type of the elements is free. The three hidden elements may be of the same type. But you can use 2, 3 or more different elements. Your choice.
-  Think of flaps that can open, elements that can turn, secret elements that you have to pull out of their hiding place.
-  It is ok if a pulling mechanism is visible. Such as a piece of paper, a fiber or ribbon, a brad used for turning a wheel.

Not to be used:
- All kinds of ink (including spray ink and misting ink)
- No paint of any sort
- No stamps
- No gesso
- No chalk

And here is what I came up with:

And the three hidden elements:

First, the journaling, sliding with the help of the "love this" arrow (supposed to be a hint!):

The other two are close-up photos of the two protagonists, my nephew Andreas and my cat Lola.

Lola's photo is under a flap:

Andreas' photo is pulled up with the help of the tab that actually says "pull". It actually turns with the help of the small star brad on the corner. The black arrow below the tab is supposed to give a hint as well ;)

Hope you like it!

Tomorrow I should be back with my card as well, as I won't be here for the rest of the week, so I have to make it before I leave tomorrow!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supreme Scrap Tournament Round 3 - Doodling

Soooo... I made it to round 3 of the Supreme Scrap Tournament both in layouts and cards! Yeaaah!!! I huge thank you to all who voted my projects!

The new challenge is about doodling. I love doodling. I really do. But oh my, was it hard to make both a layout and a card with all the challenge restrictions!

For the layout, the rules ask for a single page (yes!!!), minimum four photos.

Restrictions: No people in the photos, no flowers (not a difficult one this for me, lol!), no alphas in any type of form other than handwritten.

Additional requirements: Doodling on two photos (not one, not three, not four), title and journaling directly on the layout.

...I mean, oh boy.

Since it is the last day of carnival in Greece, I thought of using one of the funniest photos of Lola and disguise her, using doodling as part of the disguise. So here is what I came up with at the end:

And a few close-ups:

So I turned my female cat Lola into a strange male with Dr. Seuss hat. She wasn't very happy about it. I doodled arrows, heart, star, exclamation mark, cut them out and glued them with foam stickers:

For the journaling I made Lola talk - and to keep it on the layout, I used white acrylic paint for the bubbles and wrote on them Lola's thoughts with Micro pens:

And for the title I tried a technique I've been wanting to try for some time now - using acrylic paint and a round brush for what is supposed to be a kind for brush script:

And now for the card...

Doodling again and the restrictions here are:

To write the sentiment directly on the card, not to use stamps or any images from any medium (stamps, papers etc), to doodle at least on three elements.

Inspired by Stephanie Ackerman, this is what I made:

I used glossy accent on the heart and the sentiment to add some dimension, and for the same reason I used foam stickers to glue the heart, houses and clouds:

Hope you like them!

Hugs,
Anastasia