Heidi Swapp Make Pretty Stuff Downunder Tour - After Class Challenge

In the exciting whirlwind that was the Heidi Swapp Make Pretty Stuff Downunder Tour, I was lucky enough to be one of the group of ladies at the gorgeous Petrie School of Arts for the Brisbane leg of the tour on the 9th November.

It was a truly inspiring day, and such a treat to be taught classes by two so very talented ladies in Heidi Swapp and Kim Jeffress.

This is me with Heidi on the day.

Today I'm sharing my entry in Heidi's after class challenge.  A couple of days ago I realised just how close to Christmas we are, and how much I still need to do before the big day!   Being a list maker I went straight to one of my spare notebooks from Typo and made sections for our upcoming holiday, presents to buy, jobs that need doing before Christmas, and food that I need to plan for our guests' extended stay.  I really wanted to make it feel Christmassy though...  

If you've had an A5 spiral notebook from Typo you'll know that underneath the protective plastic cover the first page is a cardboard page with a pocket to slip little bits and pieces in.  My notebook had a black cardboard page, which worked really well with the chalkboard art theme in the Heidi Swapp 'Believe' collection.

I folded the plastic cover page to the back (because we are travelling away on our family holiday shortly, and I can fold it back over to protect my sequins and embellishments on the cover while it's in our suitcase), but if you prefer, you could trim the plastic cover off with scissors. 

I used my We R Memory Keepers file tab punch using different patterned papers from the collection to create tabs, and added labels from an old fashioned Dymo labeller.   The challenge was to use at least 5 items from the kits we were given on the day.  I used bits and pieces of patterned paper, one of the 3x4" filler cards and three items from the ephemera pack.

I love that my list-making can be so festive!  

Heidi was very generous with her gifts on the day, and we were all given the 12x12" "Believe" collection paper pad.  These are a couple of cards I made with some of this gorgeous product.

The Joy to the World bauble / tag was actually from a sheet of patterned paper.  You can see a glimpse of it here on Heidi's website.  I used a 2" circle punch to make my own Joy to the World embellishments.

How are you going with your Christmas countdown?  Maybe a festive little notebook will help get you in the spirit!

Project Life - Week 42

It's Sunday night already!  Hope you've all had a lovely weekend putting up Christmas trees and decorations!

My last post I shared with you first project life page.  After a break for a couple of months around the middle of the year I have been documenting each week since the start of August.  Already I love leafing back through each week, seeing everyday photos, screenshots of texts the kids and I have sent  to each other, and even some of the funny things that they say.  

It would take me a bunch of posts to share each weekly spread I've already done, so I'll jump forward a few months to week 42.  I'm still getting used to referring to each week as a number, and not the actual date.  I think for the remainder of 2013 at least I'll document by the date and start the 2014 with week numbers.  I'm already thinking of ways to improve what I'm already doing in PL in the new year, and I'll share some more of those thoughts closer to the end of this year (which really isn't that far away!).

The left side.

I'm using the Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party collection at the moment.  Loving the mix of feminine florals and pastels with some bold colours and graphic designs thrown in for good measure.

The right side.

This week is mostly about our mini vacation to the Gold Coast.

For the date card I used one of the 6x4 cards on the Warm Welcome paper.  Can you tell I'm having a 'slight' obsession with anything gold at the moment?!!  I've also really gone back to using a lot of stitching lately.

I hope the chalkboard trend stays around for a while longer.  

As a compromise between my handwriting, which I find is the fastest method of journalling (but I'm not a super fan of my own handwriting), and printing journalling on the computer (which is great but can take a bit longer), I have been using my typewriter for most of my journalling recently.  Yes there's the occasional typo, but it doesn't worry me too much, and kind of adds to the rustic charm I think!

What's your choice of journalling for your own PL?  I often see scrapbookers comment that they don't like their own handwriting and think its a shame, but really I'm exactly the same!  I know I should use some handwritten journalling, and just between you and me, I'm actually practicing making my handwriting prettier!  We'll see how we go with that haha.

The Studio Calico wood veneer chevrons are another crush I have right now.  The Authentic Handmade journalling 3x4 was perfect to document our visit to the Gold Coast Lush store.  I'm just like a kid in a candy store visiting Lush!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.