Eye candy: Pom poms!

Source: blueeyedyonder.blogspot.com via Leonie on Pinterest

I adore these soft colours, even though they make me think of granny knickers! :)

Incorporating vintage paper into your layouts, Part 3

Following on from this post and this one, here is another little layout in a bit of a different style - it's quite bright and modern but I have still managed to include some vintage paper. In this case I found a few lines of text from a 1950's children's book called Little Penguin. It reads -

"How surprised the zoo-keeper was!
And so were all the people.
The other boys and girls came running."

I thought it was really cute and fitted well with the pics of my nut-case kids upside down in a ball pit. I included the accompanying pink and black illustration as well to balance the mix of vintage and new.

I love how bright and colourful this layout is. Note that I have used some Japanese washi tape around the edges as well; I love this stuff and have to stop myself from using it on EVERYTHING.

Happy crafting!

Incorporating vintage paper into your layouts

On the rare occassion that I get a chance to scrap, I'll occasionally raid my shop supplies, so I thought I might share a few of my pages that feature the kind of vintage papers that can be found in the RaineCloud store.

In this little layout I've used a page from a children's book as a bit of a frame for a photo of Holly. Now, I must apologise for not crediting sources of anything else on this page as I am hopeless at remembering what's what, plus I like to take all my embellishments out of their packets to store them and I never remember what brand anything is, hence the reason for me never submitting layouts to magazines that require a materials list!

Having said that, I'm pretty sure the gold patterned paper (and the fairy in the mini cluster) is a Graphic 45 paper. Other than that, I got nothin'.

Have you completed many layouts or projects using vintage paper? I'd love to see some! Post links if you like. I will post more of my pages in the coming weeks.

Happy crafting!

Eye candy: Quill & ink

Source: wwwinspiration.tumblr.com via Leonie on Pinterest

Swoon... I'd love to get my hands on those books!

Have a fantastic Australia Day,

Sunbeams and wings...

1. Trio of glass inkwells from Jersey Ice Cream Co
2. Intertwined print from Ground Work
3. Lovebird soaps from Bubble Lane Handmade Soap
4. Bee watercolour print from SplodgePodge
5. Fluttery breath of life organza necklace from JewelEra
6. Birdcage air plant garden from Earth Sea Warrior
7. Crinoline Chandelier from Saffron Coloured Pony
8. Giant moth photograph by Carl Christensen
9. Cranberry glass suncatcher from Marble City Glassworks

Giant sandwich cake!

Ty really wanted a giant sandwich for his 4th birthday. It was my first time working with fondant but I think it turned out pretty well! Only a few little cracks in the 'cheese' from the substantial weight of the top layer, other than that it held together well on the way to the bowling alley for his party.

I used two packs of Betty Crocker chocolate cake (ugh I hate cheating with packet mix, but I figured I'd have enough trouble with the decorating), plus nearly a whole can of ready made vanilla frosting, some of which I coloured brown for the crust and 'BBQ sauce' filling. The white top is fondant with sesame seeds to make it look extra authentic!

I made the ham and salad pieces by hand from fondant coloured with Wilton gel colours. It was my first time using these colours too, hence my ham being a bit on the hot pink side. I made the pieces back in November and had them hardening in airtight containers in the cupboard which I think helped the cake to be a bit more robust - both of my kid's cakes need to withstand the heat, as they are both January babies (see Exhibit A - the bee with cellulite. Cake FAIL. It was about 40 degrees that day.).

One person's trash...

One of the most enjoyable things about trading in vintage papercraft goods is being able to justify regular day trips and local treasure hunts for old, long-forgotten paper ephemera - those newspapers, tickets, books, patterns, music, photos, packets, receipts, payslips, plans, and other everyday bits and pieces that help shape the lives of those that have gone before us.

Coming across someone's old holiday snaps, mail and collection of bus tickets is a wonderful feeling, but finding a handwritten letter just makes my day. I must admit that although these little missions - Sundays spent with bored husband in tow, to the tune of 'just one more shop' - are ostensibly to find stuff for my store, when I come across a fountain-penned letter written in a quavering looped hand, it won't often make it into my list of items for sale.

These flimsy little letters seem so incredibly special, like hidden treasure: sometimes lost or misplaced for nearly a century, uncovered within the pages of books, the bottom of boxes, and once, inside a well-worn shoe. Sometimes it doesn't seem right to part with them, and especially not to sell them.

I don't look at them often, lest they lose their magic - but they are close to me now, safe in a little box on my shelf. I love the mysteries within: who wrote these letters? Who were the people behind the handwriting? Would they be amused or appalled that I am reading their private thoughts? And how did they end up in my hands, sometimes half a world away from their original owners? Sometimes it makes me feel almost shamefully voyeuristic, sometimes incredibly thankful, and sometimes patriotically proud to read the stories of people long gone. And they nearly always makes me sad - sad that something beautiful and precious is being lost in this world of email and facebook and smart phones.

What will our grandchildren use as a window to our private selves? Sure we have our photos stored online, we keep the occasional email, and we can find all sorts of things when we Google ourselves. But the tactile, physical connection to our past, both within our families and as a link to our social history, is becoming more and more frail.

There is such a difference between reading an email on screen and holding a hand written letter in your hands. Even an email, printed out, holds more soul than pixels on an LCD screen. And one day, even our new, shiny, cheap, post-consumer recycled printer paper will be torn, softened, age-spotted; the pages will smell dusty and stale, and our quick, inconsequential note to a friend will fascinate another pack-rat collector fifty years from now.

Those of us that scrapbook know that feeling well and cling to our family's stories and histories with dogged determination. We will not lose the first lock of baby hair, the first merit award, the grand final tickets when our team won, the map from that special place. But what about the stories between the lines? The things that don't make it into our layout albums?

I have completed one layout about myself in five years of scrapping. It's a deeply personal one, admittedly, but it's only one tiny piece of the puzzle. I have albums full of my children, husband, family, birthdays, Christmases and our wedding - but the little stories between the lines are preserved in the bits and pieces we keep in drawers, boxes and filing cabinets.

I have a manilla folder full of letters between my friends and I in high school. The everyday dramas that I can't even comprehend now seem monumental when reading through these old notes, written furtively during maths class when Mr Uren wasn't looking. I have a little pile of cow pictures too. Nobody knows how much I used to love cows. I have teen angst poetry, and pages of poems about the ocean. I have pages torn from magazines of all my favourite painters and artists. Tickets to an art show I went to I was younger (that made me feel so trendy and cosmopolitan). And I have a hang tag from a troll doll owned by my primary school friend Katie. It fell off her new troll and landed under my bed during a play date one winter afternoon. A week later she was killed crossing the road after school.

These little things that we keep often say more about us than our lovely, glossy, beautifully presented albums. So please, think twice before you throw out that next letter, ticket, receipt. Your weekly return to Central might bring back fond memories one day - perhaps for someone you don't even know.