The Days of Summer fly by

The days of summer here are flying by. While tales of snow and flood reach us down here in New Zealand, we have days of hot summer sun interspersed with grey days with rain tossed in to keep everything green. 

In the weeks since I last visited I have

 from South Seas Film school

went on a road trip at Christmas and missed all the holiday traffic!!

Had a blast in Auckland.

Spent Christmas with family at a farmstay cottage here. We had no internet access and I will admit I did switch off completely. We relaxed, read books, played games and watched movies.

I learned how to make these paper dresses and shared them on my favorite addiction at the moment .... Instagram. I am here

Worked in my vintage collage journal.

Got very messy with some faux metal techniques for some new books I am making.

and finally .... decided this was the year that I will get over my phobia about being in front of the camera instead of behind it.

Hello this is me - I hope you are having a fabulous 2014.

Thanks for visiting 

xx Michelle 

Great Plans

I had great plans over the weekend after a terrible week, I planned to shock my youtube subscribers by catching up on all my videos. One a day for three days - great plan - the first one went so well - uploaded without a problem but I have spent the rest of the weekend trying and failing to upload the second vid.
My fabulous birthday present of an idiot proof camera - the bloggie - which in theory is supposed to be for idiots like me - is not working - I am going to ruin some poor techies day by ringing them!!! No email - I want to speak to someone!!! Whoever answers that call is going to wish they didn't after they try to explain what - An unexpected error is - It is not unexpected to me - I have seen this message many times and I have only had the camera less than 1 month!!
I did manage to upload the vid of my Altered Letter Stand - I love this and have been trawling the junk shops in the hope of finding more. I think I cleared out all of the good stuff in the last creative burst! But the fun and frustration of junk shops is you never know when or where you will find something  fabulous!

Here is the link to my Letter Stand

I hope you enjoy it and I hope your computer is your friend today.

Thanks for visiting

xx Michelle

Happy Birthday to me - Leibster Blog Award

What a fabulous present I got for my birthday - the Liebster Blog award. 
I was awarded this from the fabulous Kit of PaperKitz.

The Liebster Award takes it's name from the German word
meaning Beloved, Dearest or Favorite.

It is given to bloggers who have a small following - under 200 followers.

As part of the tradition it is passed along to 5 bloggers that have
motivated and inspired.
To accept the award you must:
1. Link back to the person who gave it to you and thank them
2. Post the award to your blog
3. Give the award to 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers
that you appreciate and value.
4. Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have been offered this award.

I am so flattered and thrilled and will be trawling through my favourite blogs to find my absolute favourite five - this could take a while... alot of research and inspiration is required ... no housework possible until this mission is completed!!

I found Kit on You tube and love her channel so much I tracked down her blog - you will love her too
visit her at ...

http://paperkitz.blogspot.co.nz/
http://www.youtube.com/user/Paperkitz

I have been distracted inspired by her channel and have made a couple of her gorgeous little books from one sheet of 12 x 12. Photos to follow - apparently my camera is exhausted - that is seriously what is says!!!! I am recharging all batteries and will be back in full production shortly!!

I am so behind on my videos and blogging - I will try and update daily to catch up! We have been experiencing technical difficulties and I will explain more in my next blog.

Hope you are all well and having fun playing!!!
Thanks for stopping by - see you soon
xxx Michelle

Graphic 45 Design Team 2012 Audition

Hi Everyone
It has been a crazy week in my house since I decided to try out for the G45 design team. Not only did I decide to try out - I thought (why??) that I would create all new projects with the items already in my stash!
I love repurposing items and I had some goodies from my local charity shops.

My vintage inspired collection.

This was a wooden cutlery drawer - love it as wall art!

The plastic cotton reels were inked to look old and covered in G45 paper.

Another charity shop find - a photo frame restyled.

I created the flowers on all the projects from G45 papers and Kraft paper.

A restyled letter rack - love my charity shop!

Mini books featuring the tags from the Transatlantique collections and the G45 sticker sheet.

Notebooks altered with the Curtain Call collection and more fabulous stickers.

Tag Book created with recylced card and black and creme papers from various collections.

Everyone needs a secret drawer!

I love the little secret inside the love letters - it is tiny. Approx 1" x 3"

My new Paper bag mini - vintage inspired on the outside.....

Full of fabulous graphics and colour on the inside!

I created this tag tree fom a coffee mug tree. Love this idea and I am hunting for more of them. Wouldn't this look great decorated for the various seasons - and if you find them at your local charity shop it is great for the budget too!

I love TPR mini books - I created this with 1 sheet of G45 stickers, 1 pack of G45 chipboard buttons, and 1 pack of G45 chipboard flowers.

My first altered book - fabulous to make. Vintage style on the outside...

And the gorgeous steampunk debutante on the inside.

I hinged all the doors and added lots of hidden pockets and movement.

Door after door!

Love all the movement on this page - flick to the next photo to see it swing!

Gotta love a leg with a kick to it!

See through window

I loved making these projects. I have used many different paper lines from Graphic 45 with vintage treasures from my family. They will be enjoyed in my home for a long time to come.

Thank you for looking and Thank you to Graphic 45 for the inspiration to create these treasures.

I hope you like them  - I do!!

xxx Michelle