it's time for another challenge over at Scrap Africa. This time the challenge is to use 90% white and 10% colour and i love those kinds of layouts - white is just my thing! i wanted to use my cricut machine and create a bigger scale of white on white than what i recently did in my Project Life album class i did for scrapbook studio at pine lodge. i love the effect.

this time around i cut several hearts using my Cricut Expressions 2 machine. some of the hearts were left white and i added some sewing around the edges to make them stand out a bit more. other hearts were filled in with paper to add some colour and some hearts i only used the border with some stamping on them. i added gold dots onto my background to pick up on the gold in the washi tape and embossing i used - i used these earlier in the year after having them for about 10 years in my stash. now that i am in love with them, i am just wondering why i threw out the rest and how i can get more! typical scrapping illness....collect just to purge to look for it later!

i used the lovely Kaisercraft patterned paper as inspiration and the starting point for my colour combination. i also added some washi tape strips and this gold script is a firm favourite. the gold dot heart in the bottom right hand corner was covered completely in washi tape, also a gold dot, and then trimmed around the edges for a nice clean finish.

i love how this turned out! to play along head on over to the scrap Africa blog - you can also see what the other design team members did with their challenge layouts. hope you have a wonderful creative week filled with lots of white and some colour too!

since i was a little girl i always knew that i would work for a magazine one day when i was big. well at an early age this came true and i have gone from publishing to being magazine editor and now i can proudly say photographer for a magazine as well. for the past couple of years i have been involved in the Christmas Magazine making craft projects that can keep the kids busy over the holidays and festive season. This year i got to photograph the projects myself too, did the styling for a fun and brightly coloured Christmas Table and some gift wrapping ideas too. I loved every minute of it and it just reaffirmed that my heart and passion does lie in publishing crafts!

so if you are in South Africa...have a look out for this copy in stores now! and one of the photos in the magazine and my absolute favourite one - it was a case of that AHA light bulb kind of moment Oprah always talked about!

i hope you are getting into the festive spirit! we have our BIG Santa's Workshop coming up next week Saturday and it's going to be a blast! the day will include 2 double page layouts, cards, gift tags and a gift wrapping demo, oh and we will eat lots of Christmas inspired foods and drinks. i am working on some fun decor elements to get the ladies in the mood! i promise to share photos! here's hoping they all dress in blue, red, white and green so we have some awesome photos to scrap!

this creative season...all you really need is a Cuttlebug. so start making those wish lists ladies and a hint or two may also be appropriate. i am lucky enough to own one of these babies and let me tell you i use mine on a daily basis. it is so versatile and can be used in a myriad of different ways. i use mine for die-cutting title for layouts, small elements for cards and embossing of bits and piece to add loads of interest on my projects.

watch this space for my 25 days of bugging starting 25 November. each day i will post a tip, hint, short cut or small project using my Cuttlebug. so join in the fun - wishing you a creative week.

Are you in the mood for something a little different this Festive Season? Well then you are in the right place. This season Couture Creations brings you everything that is hip and happening, bright and beautiful, classic and elegant – everything you need for everyone this Festive Season. I love how they have incorporated beautiful designs into these economical paper pads that can be used for layouts, cards and tags. You literally get so much you can use all in one place – all you have to do is select a colour scheme and start creating.

 Merry Christmas Reindeer card

For this card I chose the Jolly Christmas Paper Pad – I love this colour scheme – it basically incorporates traditional but bright and modern. I used the paper pad to create my background and then added a die-cut element using my Cricut machine as a focal point. I used American Crafts textured cardstock to die-cut my reindeer and loved how clean the cuts were on this cardstock. I used the same colours incorporated in the papers to create it and love the bright and funky look it created in the end.

i love the layering of this reindeer using the Quilted Christmas Cartridge 

and my Cricut Expressions 2 machine

My passion for Project Life continues as i start to share more of it across the country bit by bit. At the end of October Scrapbook Studio had their Pine Lodge event and i got to teach 6 hours of Project Life. it would have been a grueling task but the ladies were so excited and took to it like ducks to water which made it a really wonderful experience. it was either going to be a hit or a miss and it was a BIG hit with the delegates. i loved how they carefully selected their little cards (which took the longest of time by far) and then carefully placed them in the pockets after dressing them up with loads of techniques. i am so thankful for the opportunity through various people but most of all to The Wholesaler for listening and taking advice to bring in this wonderful concept to South Africa.

i am by no means caught up with my album - but that's the great thing - it's OK. because in the end i have loads of half empty pockets with sticky notes of what happened where and when and i can take my time and journal and add them at my leisure! i can be as creative as i want to be...or do a simplistic layout - whatever gets me going that week. Hope you Project Lifers are still hanging in there. wishing you all a real life experience this week - filled with creativity off course!