Zva Creative April DT blog hop

Zva Creative and our talented Design Team welcome you to join us for our April Blog Hop! We are happy to have you join us and hope you enjoy all that we have to share with you along the way!

The Blog Hop begins at Zva Creative's NEW blog! Be sure head on over to check it out! Leave a comment there for a chance to win an extra prize package just for visiting the blog and telling us that you stopped by! You will also find a complete list of all the participating blogs there (in case there is a glitch along the way).

As you know, Zva offers many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers and crystals. We want to make sure that they shine bright for you, so each designer was asked to share a creation using a specific color or color combination on their blog hop project. If you like what you see you can find a list of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE.

My colour combo for this month was 'Blue and pearl white'. The new Graphic 45 'Little darlings' is one of my all time favourite collections, so I was very happy that my colour combo made it possible for me to use it. The Zva 'graceful roses' in blue, and the white 'Frosty flower' were the perfect match for the G45 papers. And the pearl flourish just finished the layout off beautifully.

Zva products used:

Symmetrical Flourishes - Basic Pearl (F) - [PEW-03CA-103],

Triumph - White Pearl - [CRB-04CB-10), 1.5 Graceful roses-blue FL-04CA-133]

3" Dual-Frosty Flowers - White & Pink - [FL-04CA-124]

36pc leaves #I - 1" - [FL-04CA-112]

If you would like to play along with our design team, just follow along the blog path. I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way!

Hidden on FIVE of the designer's blogs is a Zva Creative prize package! Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over, so it's important to leave a comment on as many blogs as you can along the way.

The Blog Hop starts today, April 30th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, May 1st.

The 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, May 2nd on each of the five winning blogs. The full list will be found on Zva's blog as well. We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to all of the blogs once again on Wednesday... plus, you never know what kind of inspirational creation that you may find there.

All you need to do is leave a comment on this Blog Hop post... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. However, the more times you comment along the blog hop path, the more chances you will have to win.

We also thought it would be more fun to add even more chances to win our blog hop prize! To increase your chances of winning:

* Comment to let us know that you posted on your Facebook page about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

* Comment to let us know that you "tweeted" about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

* Comment to let us know that you asked your local store to carry Zva creative products. If they already do, that's fantastic, maybe you can suggest other products that they don't carry.

*Hop over to Zva's blog and leave a comment there to tell us that you made it there!

The blog hop begins here at Zva Creative's blog. Your next stop is Christin Grønnslett  Enjoy!

Thank you for joining us!

P.S. Mark your calendar to join us again on May 28^th for our next Zva blog hop!

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My Grandfather the P.O.W

Hi,

Today is ANZAC day here in Australia. Its a time we all reflect, and pay tribute the the brave young men and women who fought and died for our country.

Both my Grandfathers fought in World War 2, my Grandad in the Navy, and my Grandpop in the army. I wanted to share these photos below of my Grandpop, taken during the war. He was only 19 years old, when he was captured by the Japanese in New Guinea. He was taken to Changi, as a POW and was forced to work on the Burmese railway. He remained a POW for almost 4 years. He saw so many horrific things that no one, let alone a boy so young should see. My Grandmother was back in Australia, and for 4 years, didnt know if he was alive or dead. She gave birth to my Dad alone, and my Grandfather didnt see his son until he was almost 4.

My Grandpop died when he was only 60, and the Drs said his early death was caused from all the stress that was put on his young body during those 4 years in the prison camps.

As a Mum to 5 children, 4 boys, one 19 and one 18 years old, I find it so hard to imagine sending my boys off to a war. How heartbreaking it must have been for my Greatgrandmothers, and all the Mums of all those boys. The bravery of  these young men and women is amazing. I give thanks to every one of them for the sacrifice that they made, and continue to make. So that we may live in peace, and safety today.

LEST WE FORGET

Wanna win this ?

Hi lovely scrappy friends,

Manor House Creations is having its first ever blog hop. It begins Sunday 6th of May at 8am ( Australian Eastern Standard time) at the Manor House Creations blog , throught until midnight on Tuesday 8th of May. There are 4 fabulous prize packs, chock full of beautiful Manor house creations flowers to be won .

We want to get the word out to as many people as possible , so, as well as these prizes, we are also offering one bonus 'mystery' prize for anyone who advertises our blog hop on their blog. ( prize drawn randomly).

All you have to do is advertise our blog hop, on your blog, up to 2 weeks prior to the start of the hop to be in the running to win this prize, and leave a link to your post on our blog, or facebook page. We cant tell you what the prize is, but we can tell you it contains some gorgeous Manor House Creations flowers :).

And remember to put the 6th to the 8th of May in your diary, cos you dont want to miss this one.

*****

Manor House Creations

Hi there,

Today, I want to share with you a DT layout I did for Manor House Creations. This is a photo of my best friend in the world, Stacey, and I. She has moved interstate in the last year, and I miss her, and her family alot :(  ....   But, I am very excited that we are going together to the Brisbane papercraft expo in June. I cant wait to see her.

'Friends, always and forever'

MHC flowers used: Wishes-hope, Cottage garden-peach, Rose leaves-meduim.

*****

We have something exciting happening at MHC in early May, over the Mothers day weekend. I cant tell you what it is yet, but I can tell you that it will involve lots of Manor House Creations giveaways.

So, be sure to call in again early next week for the news.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Latest publications

Hello my lovely blogging frineds,

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend,

We had quite a busy one. On Friday went to the beach, down to my hometown, where I was bought up. I took my 2 littlest, and showed them my home, my school, and all the places I used to hang out as a kid. It was a wonderful day. then Saturday, we had a birthday party/BBQ for a friends little 2 YO, then out for dinner with other friends last night. Had a quiet on on Sunday though, getting everything ready for Jack to go back to school this morning :) 

Today, I wanted to share with you a few projects I have had published lately.

The first one is a layout I had published in Creating Keepsakes in March. This is a fairly old layout, but I still love it. Its a photo of my daughter, on her 18th birthday. Her face says it all. LOL... she was so happy to finally be turning 18. We live on a farm, a fair way from anything, so her turning 18, and more importantly, getting her drivers licence, meant FREEDOM to her :) ...

These next 2 are some cards I had published in Scrapbook Creations in March.

And this last one is another older layout that was published in Scrapbooking memories. Some photos of Harry, just being cute :)  He was such a happy, low fuss baby. I suppose, being the youngest of 5, he really had no choice but to be low fuss LOL.

Thanks for calling in, and thanks as always for the wonderful comments. Have a fantastic week.

A shabby share and a sketch comp

"I love shabby chic style layouts, and found these gorgeous papers from The Scrapcake called 'One moment in time' perfect for my style, the papers made it simple for me to achieve the shabby look I was after. I have used lots of distressing, and inks,

and I got to do some fussy cutting also, which is one of my favourite techniques. I am quite happy with how it all came together. Of course, I can't take all the credit, the stars of the show are obviously the beautiful Manor House Creations flowers that match so perfectly with the collection. Oh, and 2 of my gorgeous boys, Jack and Harrison".

Products used: MHC flowers, Fairy floss-soft pink, Finesse, Prior roses-cream and chocolate, rose leaves-medium, TSC 'One moment in time' papers.

*****

And take a look at this fabulous sketch from Monika Martinson. Its the sketch over at Manor House Creations for April. Every entry will be featured on the Manor House Creations blog at the end of the month, and take a look below at the fabulous prize you can win.

SO time to get busy and send your version of our sketch to designteam@manorhousecreations.com. And just a reminder of the rules….you must use some MHC flowers on your project.

So what’s this month prize?

A party pack!

Entries close Midnight April 30th EST.
Send yours to designteam@manorhousecreations.com

Zva Creative and Pink Paislee

What a great combination. The Zva Creative pearl flourish is a perfect match with these gorgeous papers from Pink Paislee dont you think?. I really enjoyed making this layout. Theres lots of fussy cutting, handmade flowers, punches and die cutting, all my favorite thngs :). I find the photo a little weird to look at though, it is quite strange seeing your own eyes, so intensely looking back at you ??  But I am happy with how this turned out.

I used a really simple water disressing technique for my handmade flowers. I used a My favourite things die to cut the flowers from cardstock, then you simply spritz a little water on each flower, and scrunch them up a little. I also use a skewer to turn a few of the edges of the petals over, shape the blooms to how you want them, then you just set each flower aside to dry. Once dry, they will hold their shape. Then you simply adhere the flowers together ( I hagve used 3 sizes for mine) then add the centres. The centres I have used are a part of the MFT die also.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter, and I hope Easter bunny was good to you :) I know my little ones are bouncing off the walls after their Easter egg breakfast this morning :)  Ah, once a year wont hurt right lol !!! 

Some good advice, and a share

Hello my scrappy friends,

Today, Id love to share with you my latest creations I made for the current Australian Scrapbook Ideas magazine.

BUT first up, I have some good advice for you !!!!  Check out the photo below from the ASI mag of one of my layouts..... Can you see anything weird looking ???

I certainly can.

 Heres what happened. The middle photo, which is WAY UP THE TOP of the layout, soooo shouldnt be up there !!!!   It has obviously come unstuck during the trip up to QLD to be photographed by ASI, they didnt pick up on it before photographing, and now obviously theres nothing anyone can do once its been printed :(   SO. my advice is ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU STICK STUFF DOWN PROPERLY, and WHEN SENDING YOUR WORK IN, ALWAYS INCLUDE A PHOTO OF YOUR LO WITH IT !!!!

Anyway, so heres what the layout is supposed to look like, much better I think LOL.

 

All 3 of these layouts are very YELLOW, in case you didnt notice LOL. ASI has started a colour focus segment each month, using a new range of papers each time. My colour was YELLOW (yep, surprise), and I had to use Authentique 'Blissful' papers. I tried to show 3 very different styles of scrapping here, so Ive done a masculine LO, a rustic type, and a very feminine LO as well.

This next one is my favourite, I LOVE the way the title looks, cut from the photo ( theres a step by step tutorial on how I did this in the mag) But, I will share the technique here too a little later on.

 

And this last layout is a very feminine one, using some Pink Paislee 'Sweetness' papers ( I have used this paper on so many projects) Its a lovely photo of my niece Zoe.

Thanks so much for calling in, and thankyou to everyone who leaves me a comment. I do try to get round to everyones blogs, but we are in the country here, and our internet connection is a bit dodgy to say the least, sometmes it works, other times not !! ( especially if it is overcast, or raining)   It is very frustrating. But when it does work, blog hopping is the first thing on my agenda.

Have a wonderful Sunday