Wednesday 29 February 2012

Bird is the Word DISCOVER { How to Live a Beautiful Life} Layout (Glitz Design/Prima/Imaginarium Designs)





Hi everyone!  So as usual Sunday saw the unveiling of
 another great word over at Bird is the Word Challenge Blog
 - this time the word for the next month is DISCOVER. 
 Head on over here to see the wonderful and varied 
interpretations from the Design Team.


So I started out with some glorious pink Glitz Design paper, 
specifically chosen so that I can enter this over
at Scrapbookers Anonymous for their A-Z challenge
(Letter G).  I laid another sheet of Glitz paper on top,
cut down by 2cm side to side and top to bottom,
 then inked it heavily and laid a mask over the top
(actually a piece of Studio Calico die-cut paper) and
 inked over that too, varying my pressure intentionally -
 using inks, as you can see, has a very different effect to
 using mists and the results can be even more interesting!

I used Sketch 195 from Creative Scrappers as my inspiration,
so I began building up my layers using co-ordinating Glitz
 "Layers" and "What Nots" - to make them go further I cut
 them and extended them as you can see with the grey text
 card on either side of the main piece and the "Dream" text
card at the top and again on the right-hand side (both those
cards have been cut down so that I could use them in 2 places).


Instead of the stars I positioned the doilies as my
embellishments,inking as I went along (using mustard
 and pink on the cards & bronze on the doilies),
 then, once I had all the layers adhered together I laid
 them all down on top of the papers and got everything
stuck down together & added my first photo.




Next I added the Imaginarium Design chipboard 
embellishment, also inked up in bronze then embossed
 with clear embossing powder, added the second photo
 and  a couple of thin strips of paper under the photo
 to ground the design, and in keeping with the sketch.


My second photo was also landscape orientation but I decided
that portrait would look better so I scored it at each side using
my awl, then folded it back on itself and adhered it underneath
so that it was raised up in the middle section, using some 3D
board underneath it at the back, for some extra dimension.


And voila!  I got too excited to get finished and forgot
to take any more pictures along the way!!  I doodled
around the edge, adding some bling every so often,
added my embellishments, hand-journaled and
created a long title using 5 different types of alphas.



I hand-dyed some gauze, popped on a crochet flower
hand-crocheted by my friend Irini, and sent to me all the
way from Greece (along with the doilies), added some
October Afternoon "Butterfly Garden" rub-ons (the
butterfly, etc) and some locally found metal 
embellishments - the cameo and the clock.  



I painted up a couple of small Imaginarium Designs Butterflies
 and added in some tiny Prima roses, a bigger Prima flower 
with an Imaginarium Designs oval frame (inked and embossed)
 then laid over the top of it, an idea I've seen over at my
friend Nadia Cannizzo's blog recently.



I inked the DISCOVER chipboard (also Imaginarium Designs
 of course) with pink ink at the top and brown at the bottom, 
for a dip & dye 2 tone effect before clear embossing each
 letter (tip - paint the chipboard with gesso first to create
 a less absorbent surface).  I also glitter embossed the word
"Beautiful" with Pink Glitter Zing from American Crafts.



If you look above you can see how I folded back the photo.



I never throw away my alphas, even when I am down
to some very limited options,as I like long titles and
varying your alphas per word can be a great way
to add interest to your layouts.



If you want to play along at Bird is the Word 
all you need to do is use the word DISCOVER
 anywhere on your layout/card/project, to stand a
 chance to win a sponsored prize as well as a Guest
 Designer position, voted for by the Design Team,
 based on merit, as well as one random draw too,
so please join us if you can!



The way it works at Bird is the Word is that there is
 a new word revealed once a fortnight, so there is
 always a 2 week overlap of words, meaning that
 the last word challenge, using the word HEART
 is still open for another 10 days or so.



You can stock up on Imaginarium Designs Chipboard
 here,and they will post anywhere in the world (they are
 based in Australia) for actual postage costs, and it is 
very light and flat so postage is not a big deal. They also
 have a new Ning community where you can upload
 your layouts and they have weekly featured layouts.


Supplies List for
 "Discover How to Live a Beautiful Life" Layout

Border Paper - Glitz Design 'Beautiful Dreamer' Stripe
Base Paper - Glitz Design 'Beautiful Dreamer' Floral
Dot stencil - Studio Calico die-cut paper
Layers & What-Not Cards - Glitz Design - Beautiful
Dreamer and Vintage Blue
Doilies, Crochet flower,metal findings & gauze - stash
Inks - Yellow Cadmium, Lime Pastel and Candy
Pink - Color Box
Rub-ons - Butterfly Garden - Pink Paislee
Doodles - using Creative Memories Journaling Pen
Bling - Kaisercraft
Mist - Tattered Angels - Meadow Green
All chipboard embellishments and alphas - 
Imaginarium Designs
Flowers & small brown alphas - Prima
Embossed pink alphas - American Crafts Thickers
 "Marquise" 
Embossing Powder - Clear {Ranger} Pink Glitter - Zing 
- American Crafts
Brown alphas - Delish
Small pink alphas - October Afternoon 'Mini Market'





Sunday 26 February 2012

How to Photograph your Scrapbooking Layouts





Ain't that something we all need to know???
Not many of us have it prefect but I have been
on an endless mission for the last 3+ years to 
get there.  You only need to hit my archives when
I first started this blog to see that I was CLUELESS
as to what I was doing.  I am vastly improved now
BUT there is still one thing I am doing wrong.

Funnily enough it has only started bothering me in the
last few months...It's like I'd never "seen" it before...
just like this article says.  Distorted perspective - yup,
got that!!  Very marginally but it's there.  I haven't
actually tested out this tutorial on my version of PSE
so I'm hoping that it will be as simple as it sounds here
when I do. I'll bullet-point my top layout photography tips.

1.  Check your layout before you start by scouring
every millimetre of it with your eye, for fluff, remnants of 
embossing powder, bits of glue, etc - have a large
 face-powder  brush kept specially for brushing off your layouts
 before you  start photographing them (You don't notice these
 little things when taking a quick look at your layout - but you 
DO notice them once you have uploaded your images - then
 you have to start again!

2.  Check your camera settings.  Shoot on manual or aperture-
priority and adjust your F-stop to the lowest number possible
without blowing out highlights.  Make sure your white balance
is set to CLOUDY and you shoot in the SHADE - there have
been a few very annoying times for me when I have
 photographed a bunch of layouts only to discover, once uploaded,
 that they were all "blue" from having my white balance set to 
"Flourescent" from shooting indoors the night before.  

3.  Adhere your layout to the wall of your house or to a pillar/
column etc (any vertical flat surface) using removable adhesive
(I use Prestik but in the UK it goes by the name of Blu-Tack,
some people call it "Sticky Stuff" - hope you all know what I
 mean - it looks like grey or sometimes blue, chewing gum!

4.  Photograph your layouts HEAD-ON.  Do NOT photograph 
them standing over them on the floor - your results will NOT be
as good and you will have problems with llight and perspective 
control.

4.  Have a very steady hand (like me - lucky!) or use a tripod -
you do not want ANY shake at all.  Lucky for me there is 
A LOT of light where I live so I always have a huge aperture
 (a very low F-stop number) so the shutter speed is so fast
 that there is no time to shake or blur at all.

5.  Stance & Angle.  Stand with your legs as wide as you
can (like a giraffe) to stabilise yourself and get a good 
distance between you and the photo (a couple of yards
 on average) - try taking some photos closer & some further 
away too (not more than  about 1 metre) & do your best to
 make sure that you are  HEAD ON with the image - 
not shooting down or up to it.

6.  Take a lot of photos.  Typically I take about 40 images
 of a layout - including close-ups and dimension shots,
 then choose  & edit the best, and once that's done I delete the
 rest immediately.  It's all digital now so no problem with that
 -  better to have a good selection so click away! Every click 
makes you a better and more confident photographer too!!

7.  Edit your layout photos.  Start with the proportion control
(see link above), or if that's all a bit fancy for now, just use
 the  straighten tool like I have done for years!  Then use the
crop tool - set to MANUAL so you can adjust it just right - 
around the edges of your layouts - then brighten it up as much 
as you can  by adding "fill light" - then a touch of highlights 
(don't overdo this or you lose detail) and a teeny touch of
  shadow.  This will immediately pack a mean punch.  Now 
desaturate so you don't all look like you have a fake tan 
(orange) and lastly sharpen for a crisp image. Be careful 
with this last one as it will add grain if  you have a bad
 quality image to start  with so you may only be able to 
adjust slightly.  

This may all sound very complicated but I've done it so often 
I can do it with my eyes closed now (so you will be able to
 as well, with some perseverance) & if I have a whole lot of
 images taken under exactly the same circumstances, once I have
 them cropped & straightened I can batch edit them all
 together as  opposed  to individually.  You can do this all 
FOR FREE in Picasa  (and probably other free software 
programs)  well - everything  except the  proportion control, 
which you will need PSE/Photoshop for.

And there you have it - layout photography demystified.  It's
 an important skill to learn if you want to show off your layouts
 online  - you take hours to create them so you want them to
 look their  very best for the whole world to see!  Helloooo? 
 Are you still there??  Well this was rather long...
hope it was helpful!?!





Thursday 23 February 2012

Meeting Blogging Friends in Real Life...





Yesterday was the hottest day of our Durban Summer
this season - SWELTERING... I went out to Salt Rock,
further down the North Coast, to meet this lovely lady,
Evgenia Petzer, who I've only known online up until now.


She is the 4th online friend I've met in real life now
& every time has been perfect.  We have always
had so much to talk about and yesterday was no
different!  


I had this handsome young man for company,
much appreciated on the long drive.


As you can see it is rather idyllic out there ...
I had an overwhelming urge to just stay there
& run away from my "life as I know it" but
alas, I made my way back down the freeway...


We dined here on Meditteranean pizza
whilst enjoying glorious scrappy conversations...
Wow, how I love to speak to someone who
speaks my language - yes!  Evgenia may be
Russian but say the words "Scrap Cake" to her
and she understands EXACTLY what you are
talking about!!  Just kidding, her English is excellent!


She has the most beautiful young boy, Anton,
who was captivated by the coconuts!  So Sweet!!


Our two hours together flew by & before we knew it
it was time to kiss goodbye to each other & the ocean.
I loved having a "different day" away from my normal
humdrum routine, meeting a special friend & enjoying
the company of my son, it was wonderful!  And
tomorrow is Friday, Happy Weekend Everyone!!





Wednesday 22 February 2012

Big Sale on at 3 Scrappy Boys - New CHA Arrivals & Where to go for a Good Challenge {my weekly blog post at 3 Scrappy Boys}





Collect your coupon here for the President's Day Sale
that EXPIRES at the end of tomorrow (midnight EST)
over at 3 Scrappy Boys!  I would screen-snip it for you
would that it were possible but my computer has DIED
and I am working on a very basic laptop designed for
browsing only, at the minute, with no capabilities beyond
internet, sigh....

There are some BRAND NEW CHA ARRIVALS in
the store too - some of my favourites are already there
- My Mind's Eye, Webster's Pages, Authentique & 
3 Bugs in a Rug to name a few.

----------------------------------------------

Every Wednesday is my posting day over at the
3 Scrappy Boys blog and this week I gave a shout-out
to several of my favourite challenge sites.  I am copying
and pasting the post here for your interest too!

---------------------------------------------

Where to Go for a Good Challenge

There are SO many great challenge sites all over the
 internet, providing regular inspiration, fun and prizes too!  
I like to play as often as I can at these types of sites as
 it's a great way to meet and make new online friends,
 find inspirational scrapbookers to follow, and get your 
work and your blog address out and about on
 the internet & just to connect!

So today I am sharing some places for you to bookmark
 or add to your blog roll/Google Reader.  These are FIVE 
of the best challenge sites around, who all award their
 prizes/features by MERIT -  in other words they judge 
the best layouts.  I prefer this to "random draws" because
 I want to constantly improve the quality of my scrapbooking.

Another thing that I always look out for and is important
 to me as an international, is a site that welcomes participants
 from all over the world and is prepared to send their
 prizes out to any destination.

1.  ONCE UPON A SKETCH

This site has a fantastically diverse design team so the
 fortnightly eye-candy is an inspiration in itself, not to 
mention the high-standard of the entries and the 
generous prizes and guest designer positions on offer.

2.  BIRD IS THE WORD

This site also offers fornightly challenges with an OPTIONAL
 sketch as well, but the emphasis of this challenge site is on a 
WORD that you need to use ANYWHERE on your project, for 
example in your title, journaling or written on an embellishment.

3.  THE COLOR ROOM

These colour challenges teach you a different approach 
to putting together a project - through the use of colour. 
This is a great skill to learn and results in highly effective
 pages.  Many well-known scrapbookers participate 
regularly and only five are featured each WEEK.  There 
is also a regular random draw for some sponsored goodies
 but participation is more for kudos than prizes on this site.

4.  BERRY 71 BLEU CHALLENGES

Each month this site has a different inspiration based challenge
 up.  This month the theme is LOVE for example.  Play along
 here each month for a chance to win a BEAUTIFUL 
selection of goodies if you produce the most stellar project!

5.  WEBSTER'S PAGES CHALLENGES

Once a month Webster's Pages challenge you to use one of
 their products in an specific way.  Each month you can find 
full details of the exact challenge up on their blog.  Right now
 one of their brand new lines is IN STORE so get shopping so 
you can join in!

-----------------------------------------------

One WEDNESDAY of  EVERY month I will feature a new 
selection of FIVE challenge blogs, so keep coming back for 
more & adding them to your list!  Once I've supplied you with
 a comprehensive list of "places to play" I'll post some of the 
actual challenges/sketches here to make it even easier for 
you to play along!!

If you do decide to enter at any of my recommended 
sites I would love it if you came back here and left a
 link to your project in the comments section so that I 
can come and take a look! Happy Hump Day!!
Helen



 

Tuesday 21 February 2012

The Color Room 98 & Creative Scrappers 193 {Behind That Smile Layout}





I ALWAYS want to play over at The Color Room.
Ever since I discovered colour challenges I have LOVED
them.  As an artist all my life I have always loved putting 
anything together using colour as the glue that ties it all
together.  I hear that it is difficult for some but not for me!
Luckily it's one thing that comes easy...


I'm sure you've noticed that purple has been making
a minor comeback for the last year or so.  It's a very
regal and Victorian colour so in keeping with some of
the fashion trends of the moment.  Generally I pretty
much LOATHE purple but these are the nicest
purples possible & teamed with great colours.

I got to use this ***gorgeous*** Creative Scrappers 
sketch & finished off some of last year's Pink Paislee
papers, starting by adhering my chosen elements together.


Then inking over a stencil and stitching around the edge to 
give a bit more depth & to bring in the lilac colour some more.


I often start my layouts like this - by creating a "back board"
before I start layering up my elements - if you haven't done
yours this way before you should try it - 
gets you off to a good start!


Next I added the photo but before I did I cropped and corner-rounded it
then layered it up on several different papers, some torn, some punched,
all propped up on some 3D board, again just to make it more interesting.


I added the chipboard die-cut lady & only gave her a flower
at her waist as that area of my page is the quiet spot - every 
page needs somewhere the eye can rest.


Once I had the photo down I added the cluster around and beneath
it, using Etsy handmade embellishments interspersed with die-cuts
 from the same line of papers & a bit of obligatory bling.


LASTLY I added the paintwork and the tiny bling dots.
USUALLY I do this first so this was rather nerve-wracking!
To paint/mist/ink on your pages you need to be brave.
You just have to bite your lip & go for it - it's great for your
breathing!  I hold my breathe the whole time LOL!!

Again I used a metal lid (from my old eyeliner actually!)
dipped in gesso to create the dots, aswell as several different
shades of paint and some bubble wrap.  Awesome fun...

Supplies List for "Behind that Smile" Layout

Navy cardstock - American Crafts
Green Print - Crate Paper - Portrait collection -
"Bouquet" B-Side
Floral Paper - Pink Paislee "Vintage Vogue" Collection
Die-cut Paper - KI Memories -Leafy Calendar

Other paper - Vintage Vogue offcuts and packaging
Border punches - Martha Stewart Crafts Scallop Dot
& Giant Daisy
Purple Ink - Pretty Color
Stencil - Crafter's Workshop 12" chicken wire
Cream embosssed elements - Artisan Elements -
Pink Paislee
Cardboard & felt flowers - Precocious Paper (Etsy)
Die-cut Elements - Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue
Bling - Kaisercraft

Gesso - Paper Plus
Navy, green & purple paints - Making Memories
Bubblewrap & thread - stash
Teal alphas - Basic Grey for Studio Calico
Tiny alphas - Making Memories
White pen - Uniball Signo




A Giveaway too Good not to Post!

 
 
 


... to coincide with my Creative Bits clearance
 sale, I'm also having a give away.

* a pile of coloured doilies
* bag of mini doilies
* bag of wooden buttons
* pink, blue and green paper flowers
* small bingo cards
* story book cards with twine
* 5m pink twine
* 3 white blooms
* vintage book print paper doilies
* white paper doilies

All you need to do is leave a comment and be a follower 
of CHANTELLE'S blog.  If you share this on your
 blog, she will add your name twice to the draw.

Winner will be drawn on Wednesday 29th Feb.




Monday 20 February 2012

Guest Designer @ Scrap Africa {Entering Adolescence Layout} American Crafts





There's a new challenge blog in town - have you seen it yet?
It's called Scrap Africa & to my knowledge is the first
challenge blog to be launched in Africa.  

I was their Guest Designer there this month and got 
this sketch to work with, as well as being required to 
use any Fabscraps product (I used a chipboard fence
 that I bought locally online as they are a South African 
company).

I have copied & pasted what I submitted there for you to see.

I met the founder, Evgenia Petzer, online, she found me!
She is a Russian living in Gauteng & a talented 
paper-crafter who I shall be meeting for lunch this week!

Yippee!!  Meeting online friends in real life is
fantastic & she will be only the 2nd that I have
met IRL that also lives here in South Africa.

-------------------------------------------------------

Hi Everyone!  I am so happy my friend Evgenia asked 
me to Guest Design here at Scrap Africa this month!

I have been scrapbooking for the last 8 years, thanks
 to my daughter, who was invited by her friend to a scrapbooking
 workshop!!  If it wasn't for that who knows how much longer 
it would have taken me to discover scrapbooking, but boy 
I am so glad I did as I eat, drink and breathe scrapbooking!!!

I am a Durban-based scrapbooker, having lived here for the
 last 6 years, after escaping Zimbabwe, where I was born and
 raised.  I have my own blog at http://helentilbury.blogspot.com 
where I share my love of scrapbooking and photography and have 
been lucky enough to have been published in Creating Keepsakes
 magazine and Scrap Street Ezine as well as in a sketch book,
"Working with Sketches" available online from Creative Scrappers
in both e-book and print format.

I design for several websites, a wonderful Australian based
 international challenge blog, Once Upon a Sketch,  an 
American based word challenge blog, Bird is the Word,
a well-known international sketch blog - "Sketchabilities"
 and I work with products sent to me by Imaginarium Designs
 (a chipboard company in Australia, who sell
their products online through "Seriously Scrapbooking". 

I also work for"Scrapbook Kits with a Difference" – An 
Adelaide-based online scrapbook Page kit club, designing
 layouts and cards for them each month and last but not least 
for a great little kit club in America called 3 Scrappy Boys, 
that sends me the latest and greatest products to design with. 
 If you visit me at my blog you will see links in my sidebar
to all these awesome organisations!



I loved working with Evgenia's sketch and flipped it over, 
added a couple of portrait-orientation photos in place of the
 3 landscape ones & used some gorgeous American Crafts 
"Campy Trails" papers to create this layout about my 2 eldest 
kids.  I also used some Studio Calico mists and a Crafter's
 Workshop  Chicken Wire stencil.  


Most importantly I have used a gorgeous chipboard fence from 
FABSCRAPS, a South African company,  that is sponsoring 
Scrap Africa this month! I love to add "artiness" to my pages
 by playing with paints, mists, masks and stencils also 
strive to include meaningful journaling to everything I do
 as well. 

I hope you play along, wherever you are in the world!! 

Thank you SO much Evgenia and team for having me 
on board this month!


------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are some close-ups of all the details...


I love those tiny alphas from Making Memories and my 
vowels are almost out now!  I don't see anything similar
available now - I love how you can position them so 
randomly and think that creates interest all on it's own.



I love these night photos of my teens.  I had to 
contrast edit them a lot to clear the shadows but
I like the Pop Art effect that that created.



The printed paper is a gorgeous embossed design from 
American Crafts.  I created my own pale green mist out
of necessity & laziness.  My Calico White was almost
out (insert sobs here!) as was my Clover, so I combined
the two as the one spray bottle had ceased to "spray" 
despite my best flushing efforts.  Mixing mists works fab!!



I embossed the chipboard gate using clear embossing
 powder after inking in 3 different ink colours.



I used my trusty Crafter's Workshop 12" chicken wire
 stencil again, as well as shaking drops onto the layout by
 taking off the lid and tapping on top of the aerosol 
push-button so it drips out of the suction straw.  



Supplies List for "Entering Adulthood" Layout

Printed Paper - American Crafts "Campy Trails" 
Sweetwater Cabin {Floral}
Wood Grain Paper - American Crafts
 "Campy Trails" - Cedar River "Trail"

Mist - Studio Calico White & Clover
Mask - Crafter's Workshop Stencil
(12" chicken wire)
Chipboard Picket Fence - Fabscraps
Brown inks - Color Box
Clear embossing stamp pad - Tsukineko
Clear embossing Powder - Ranger

Thickers - American Crafts "Sunrise"
Yellow alphas - October Afternoon Mini-Market
Tiny alphas + felt embellishments + staples
+ "Call Me" Embellishment 
Thread & Buttons - Stash




Sunday 19 February 2012

The Leibster Award {Receiving it & Passing it On} & the February Crate Color Palette {as well as 10 New Inspiration Stations}!






***Dozy me forgot to include the Color Palette from Crate
in yesterday's post so scroll down to take a look if you like -
I've inserted it in where it always should have been - at the
top of my last post!***

When I first started blogging 3 years ago awards were all
the rage & I had them all over my mantelpiece sidebar...
These days they seem to have disappeared & I don't think
we missed them & all the rigmarole that came along with
them....BUT...absence makes the heart grow fonder & one
little award has snuck in - a new one to me - the Leibster!

Dear Jeanie & Kristie have both awarded me the Leibster
{mwah - mwah} -
 I met Kristie through Scrapbook Kits with a Difference
when we were both Design Team members (she still is
but I resigned after my 6 month term as I am taking
some different turns this year - a couple of them I
will be announcing soon!) and Jeanie at Color
Combos Galore.  Those were the days aaay - LOL - 
*wink* to my fellow DT's there - GOOD times...

Apparently "Liebster"  is German for 'dearest' or 'beloved' 
{aaaaaw...} but it can also mean 'favourite' {oooooooh!!}.
I'm told the idea of passing on the Liebster Award is to
 bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers. 

Well that would be nice after 3 years of slog so woohoo!
Bring it on!!  Please "follow me" if you don't already 
do so and you visit me regularly and think my  content
is worthy.   

The Rules
1. show your thanks to the blogger who gave you 
the award by linking back to them.

2. reveal your five picks for the award 
and let them know.

3. post about the award on your blog.

4. bask in the love from the most supportive people
 in the blogosphere!  {aka your followers}

5. finally have fun and spread the love!
Here are my 5 picks, just a quick "word"
beforehand.  I actually HATE to give awards
because I worry about the rejection those who
do NOT receive the award will feel (and as it
is most of us apply regularly for Design Teams
so are rejected on a weekly basis LOL)

SO
please bear in mind that I can ONLY CHOOSE 5,
that they all need to have UNDER 200 FOLLOWERS
and that I have tried to choose blogs that have NOT
ALREADY BEEN NOMINATED!!  Okay?!

1.  Alison @ Life in the Slow Lane
SPAIN
( an old friend from Scrapbook Challenges)
WHY?  Because I yearn for "life in the slow lane" too
and love to learn about other countries, especially when
the person retelling the tales is NOT a local as I am 
always in that same position too...not originating from 
South Africa.

2.  Debbie from Live, Life, Loud
USA
(a faithful friend from Color Combos Galore)
Debbie inspires me through the hectic life
she leads, yet still manages to produce prolifically
and beautifully and makes lots and lots of cards...
whereas you know I am not much of a card maker -
sooo...when the need arises I head on over to Debbie's
for some inspiration!

3.  Erin & Kelly {Scrappin' Sisters)
USA
{new friends from Once Upon a Sketch}
because they are too sweet & sooo creative!
They create GORGEOUS WORKS and I LOVE
that they share a blog {my sister and I can't share
oxygen so I live vicariously through them!}

AUSTRALIA
{my friend and soul mate from Inspired Blueprints}
because she deserves global success!!  Her work
is TOTES AMAYZE!!  {totally amazing!!} & she
should be world-famous by now...really...

5.  Sabrina from Sabrina Scrapbook 
MALAYSIA
{fellow ex-DT members of Scrapbook Challenges}
because she makes the most DROP DEAD 
GORGEOUS creations on the planet and you NEED
to see them...REGULARLY!!!

6.  Sandi from Scrapping as I go
USA
{fellow DT member at Once Upon a Sketch}
because her work is 100% ORIGINAL and
she also happens to be a kind and generous
commenter - never failing to pitch up with
a word of encouragement at the perfect time!}

7.  Tina from "A Dog's Life"-
USA
{we became good friends through CCG DT}
Because her creations are awesome...
 Talent with a capital TTTTTTTT!!!

8.  Marivic from A Paper's Purpose 
USA
{best blogging buds through BITW DT}
because her creations are so decadent I find
myself licking the screen...not to mention
she is one of the nicest people online...

9.  Agnieszka from Bellaideascrapology
CANADA
{old friends through Scrapbook Challenges}
Because her work epitomises pretty and she
is an up and coming "mover & shaker"!!

10.  Eila from Dollops of Scrap
{my great friend from Color Combos Galore}
Because she deserves it.  Her creations are an
absolute labour of love & she writes
 BEAUTIFULLY so I am regularly transported to
a snowy Stockholm - exotic bliss!!!

Phew!  That was TOUGH!!  Yes I decided
mid-way to make my own rules and up it to TEN
and yup I still couldn't include EVERYONE....
Aaaaanyway!!!

If you are looking for NEW INSPIRATION
check out my recommendations and
BECOME A FOLLOWER of their blogs - 
that's the whole idea remember?!?

Have a great Sunday!
I am incapacitated by my foot injury which is 
playing up "real bad" right now so I can't scrapbook
 {I have always done that standing up} so I am lying
on the bed reading!  Aaah Sunday bliss!!!