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

Marion Smith Hybrid Journey Journal - Blue 21st Present

Hi Everyone
I have been busy playing with the fabulous downloadable kit from Marion Smith.
This is the link to view the kits available from Marion
http://www.marionsmithdesigns.com/marion-smith-designs.html
I have made several of these in different sizes, and with different colours and themes. This book I printed on A3 size paper which gave me a book of 81/4" by 51/4". It is a great size and fabulous for a smash book style journal. A Smash book is a great way to keep and remember all the bits of emphemera that we collect in our daily lives, movie tickets, beautiful packaging, or packaging from a favourite store, little notes from people we love, all those 'treasures' that we can't quite throw away but don't know what to do with.
This journal was made as a 21st present. I included tags with ideas of things to remember from a special party - the food, the people, the decorations. You could have guests sign it autograph style or add quotes of things people said. It is a great place to keep all the memories together.
I created a box to match and in my excitement I didn't take one photograph!! I can't believe it, but I did remember to video it and you can view that here

I have created another couple of these books as presents and will upload the photos in the next couple of days. I must remember to take photos before I give them away!

This book was so well received that I have orders to fill - that will keep me busy!

I will be adding a seperate blog for the links of all the fabulous places I visit for free graphic images. Some of those images are included in this and my next few journals.

Wishing you all a fabulous day

xxx Michelle

New Zealand Junk Journal

Hi everyone
As you may know I am a member of Life on the Scrapbeach. It is a really cool site for meeting and sharing and learning with and from other crafters. Last November I decided to push myself and join a swap called Let's get Creative. I was really nervous as I am a beginner and was not sure if I could make something good enough to swap. The previous post shows my Kathy Orta Paper Bag Mini which I made. My swap partner was a lady called Rose from Texas. Rose had never been to NZ and was really interested in my country, she asked if I could use packaging and things from NZ that didn't cost money. I really wanted to use Tim Holtz paper for my mini so I decided to make a Junk Journal as an extra.

I made a simple charm for the cover with a rugby ball  to celebrate

the 2011 World Cup, a Silver Fern and a Koru charm.

The Silver Fern is a special emblem to Kiwis.

I added some maps to show our place in the world and made collages of photos of our beautiful country.

One of the best things about making this fun book was looking and appreciating where I live.

Some of the images I collected, have been added to my own Must See List!

I have lived in Wellington all my life and had to include our beautiful harbour. It might be windy here occasionally!....but we do get incredibly clean and clear days.

My journal used packaging in the simplest way as pockets. I sealed up one end, trimmed off what I didn't need and retained the images as even though they are found in my everyday life (some of them are just at Christmas time! I do love Scorched Almonds) they will be different for Rose and her family in Texas.

Our family are all mad about the movies, and we all loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy. No visit to NZ is complete without a view of the talent that is here in our Movie Industry.

I found some vintage NZ ephemera that I had forgotten I had collected... it was a long time ago! Some of these things were collected on holidays with my family when I was a child.

Some more vintage ephemera that will be fabulous for use in future projects. Old vintage images, old stamps and Health stamp envelopes.

If you would like to see the video for further photos and information on this journal, please click on the link below.

I hope you will think about making a journal of the place you live, it can be as easy as mine, and I promise you will have fun and look at your place in the world with fresh eyes!

Take Care until next time

xxx

Michelle