Perfect Girl

Here is one more layout created with the July kit from C' est Magnifique which is now available right HERE  together with the add ons and others individual items.

All Items from the main kit

For this layout I decided to use a bit of white space which is unusual for me. 

I will confess here that I was partly inspired in my design by a layout I had seen from the SUPER talented Trudi Harrison a while back... I cannot remember exactly which layout it was (sorry!) but I had this design in mind when I was creating this layout so THANK YOU Trudi for the inspiration. You are amazing :)

*I used a few different dies to create the frames and the vines out of the patterned paper. 

* I decided not to waste the strips of paper that were cut when I trimmed the background and so I created the strips going down behind the photo. 

* The Kaisercraft chipboard leaf was painted white and then I dabbed some crackle paint on it to give it an aged look.

This little girl is absolutely perfect...I am not just saying that. There are many many personal reasons she is perfect to me and although its not something I want to share in detail I want to leave you with this quote I found online which some of you might have seen before..

I need to remember that this girl right here was among the things I only ever hoped for. I HOPED to have children, I HOPED to have a little sister for my 2 year old girl..I hoped and hoped and hoped..I wished for her and she came and looking at it now, at the time I took her for granted because ...well...having children was a BREEZE for me and there were going to be many after her right? Well I learnt fast that it wasn't going to happen. This girl right here most probably will be my last..I do not foresee having another one. I am not losing hope..It just feels like the dream is getting further and further away and if it was meant to happen it would have happened by now I think..I think my baby making days have come to an abrupt end and I better get used to it. 

But, what is even more amazing is having my first daughter. Now she...well..she was the biggest miracle of them all. With her came the attached stress of course of " can I have children?" because I had never had one before  of course. But she made things easy for me and I did not have long to worry because she came just like a miracle from God..I pretty much thought about her and she was conceived! 

This is the reason my youngest was taken for granted...because she came easy too. But if ONLY  I knew then what I know now or what would follow in the years to come huh? 

Have a great weekend  everyone and thank you for letting me share ;) Well..you had no choice really LOL! I just blurted all that out ..LOL!

I hope you always remember what it was you hoped for..

Traditions

Hey everyone! 

Continuing today with 1 more layout I created with the July kit from C' est Magnifique which has been released and is now available right HERE  together with the add ons and others individual items. 

" Traditions" 

Here are my 2 girls, on the 25th of March this year. This is a very special day for us. As you can see they are holding Greek flags which I left blue. This is the day Greece and Greeks everywhere celebrate our Independence Day. It is also the day that we celebrate the Annunciation of Mary, which is one of the biggest religious celebrations in our culture.  Its a tradition in Greece and in Greek school abroad to have a march wearing a white top and blue or black bottoms. This is something that we all did as kids and to see my children continue in this tradition was more than just rewarding. It was .... fulfilling. 

This is the first year my daughters participated because this year Maria has been attending Greek afternoon school. Ioanna just decided to join in anyway LOL. 

It is a pretty major event here in Sydney. It is usually held at the steps of Sydney Opera House which most of you would know is one of Sydney's , if not Australia's most famous buildings. The march begins in the centre of the city and it is still amazing to me that this big city would shut part of its streets down to accommodate us. We live in a wonderful multicultural nation!!

For those of you that dont know this, I was born in Greece and moved to Australia with my family when I was 11, in 1989. I spoke NOT a word of English....but I managed to get to university and become a teacher. I married my Italian husband when I was 20 and our children are lucky to be brought up in 2 very dominant cultures and we speak all 3 languages at home. We sure are a mix of characters in this household.....LOL!

SO anyway..there is a little historical lesson for you from the teacher LOL!

Here are some close ups.. 

Hope you are having a great week everyone. 

Thank you always for your love and support and lovely comments you leave me :) Wishing you all the best always..

xoxo Nadia

You Make Me So Very Happy *C' est Magnifique July Kit Reveal*

Hi everyone!!!

Nearly the end of the month and today is the reveal of the full kit from C' est Magnifique. 

The kit is a STUNNING one. It includes beautiful Inkido papers which are just my style. It also includes My Mind's Eye embellishments amongst other beautiful things and in the next few days I will be showing you 4 layouts I have created with this kit. 

I start today with this first one, which is actually a scrap lift of my self from this layout HERE.

" You Make Me SO Very Happy" 

** I used white card stock as my base and used my own Prima Marketing brick mask to create the background 

* The embellishment add on comes with a Prima Marketing stamp set (Fairy Belle) which is what I used to create the floral pattern in the background. 

Flower Add-On

Prima: Merelle: Nectar

Prima: Tasha: Frost

Petaloo: Daisies: Blue & Green

Embellishment Add-On

My Mind's Eye: Be Happy Chipboard Elements

Pink Paislee: London Market: Collage Sheets

Prima: Fairy Belle Stamps

Maya Road: Vintage Pearl Centers

Prima: Nature's Garden Crystal Border

To see where you can join the kit club, please visit the web site HERE  and you can buy this kit and the add ons in the store HERE 

Keep an eye out for the next few layouts I will share with this gorgeous kit!

Have a great week everyone :)

Giveaways Giveaways Giveaways !! and some reminders..

No not one of mine this time, but I thought I would direct you to a couple of good giveaways happening in blog land at the moment. 

Firstly, Imaginarium Designs is having a giveaway on their blog HERE . All you need to do is leave a comment on that post to be in with a chance to win some beautiful chipboard. You have until Monday, Australian time. 

Secondly, my very talented friend Erin Blegen has started a new blog and to spread the word she is giving away some beautiful things there. Please support her new blog by following her and give your self a chance to grab a giveaway HERE . She is pretty talented..you won't regret it..trust me!

Another good friend of mine, Helen Tibury is also having a giveaway on her blog right HERE. It looks amazing! Go on..put your name down..you never know your luck!

So now while I have you here I might as well remind you of some awesome challenges that you have till the last day of June to enter based on some of my sketches..

1. Once Upon A..Sketch with the theme BIRTHDAYS. Here is the sketch for that one..

2. C' est Magnifique kit club June challenge

3. Handmade By Suzanne June Sketch Challenge

4. Berry71Bleu June challenge using chipboard

5. Zeus and Zoe monthly sketch challenge 

There you go! I hope you get busy the next week or so before June ends! Good luck in any challenge/giveaway you enter 

Have a GREAT weekend ahead. 

Bye for now :)

And the *WINNERS* are..

WOW..I am incredibly overwhelmed with the support for my giveaway and your lovely birthday messages everyone. Thank you so very much!

It's time to announce the winners ....

Good luck everyone!

Winner of Box#1 

122.	Lisa Amiet

Winner of Box#2

58.

Emma Eads

Winner of Box#3

85.	Lillian Child

Winner of Box#4

90.	Catt Bautista

Winner of Box#5

153.	anita kejriwal

HUGE HUGE Congratulations girls!!! I am so happy to send you these giveaways. 

PLEASE email me at nadiac78@hotmail.com with your details so I can send these out to you right away!

Thank You so much everyone :)

Handmade By Suzanne June Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone. 

I know this is a little bit late, but you still have plenty of time to enter the sketch challenge at Handmade By Suzanne. The prize is an impressive $30 store voucher (including free postage)! 

I have designed the sketch once again this month ...

 

Here is my interpretation..

These are my daughters and their oldest cousin from my side, on Christmas Day. The journalling on the back of the layout describes the special childhood memories made on such days between cousins. 

Paper is Sweet Nothings from Kaisercraft. 

I used gorgeous Prima Marketing flowers and tucked them right under my Imaginarium Designs chipboard. 

I inked the chipboard with white and brown ink, before going over it with Glossy Accents. 

Here I used more Imaginarium Designs chipboard corners, a Prima Marketing mask and Zva pearl flourishes. 

You can find more examples of the sketch in the gallery HERE

Hope you get the chance to play along!

Have a great week :) 

Sugar 'n Spice (C' est Magnifique July Kit Reveal)

Hi everyone..

Before everything went a bit crazy for me a few weeks ago, I had the chance to really get into my July kit from C' est Magnifique which has just been part-revealed. The full kit will be revealed later on in the month but to be assured you will receive this kit (at a discounted price) please visit our join page for the details.  We also have these paper packs available in our Store. 

Here is my first layout out of 5 that I can show you today which has been shown at the C' est Magnifique blog

" Sugar n' Spice" 

* I  used a die from Cheery Lynn designs to create the vine

* I stamped some images from the Fairy Belle stamps onto some white cardboard

 and then coloured them in using Copic Markers.

This is part of what the July kit looks like and you can check out more HERE

Paper from Swedish company Inkido and Teresa Collins

Flower Add - On

Embellishment Add - On

Hope you are well everyone! Hope you are happy. 

I want to leave you with this quote I read recently which has stayed with me .. 

"Someone will always be prettier. 

They will always be smarter. 

They will have more money in their checking account.

Their house will be bigger. 

They will drive a better car. 

Their children will do better in school. 

And their husband will fix more things around the house. 

So let it go, 

and love you and your circumstances....

Think about it.

The prettiest woman in the world can have hell in her heart. 

And the most highly favored

woman on your job may be unable to have children. 

And the richest woman you know, 

she's got the car, the house, the clothes....might be lonely. 

And the world says "If I have not Love, I am nothing." 

So, again, love you. 

Love who you are. 

Look in the mirror in the morning and smile and say 

'I am too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed!' 

'Winners make things happen. 

Losers let things happen.' "

~Author Unknown

Just a thought anyway :) 

Three & Five - Zeus and Zoe /Berry71Bleu/ Imaginarium Designs DT Work

Hey there everyone. 

Today I wanted to share with you some work that I created using some lovely handmade tags that I was sent to work with from Zeus And Zoe etsy shop. 

I based this layout on the my current sketch and challenge at Once Upon A..Sketch where the theme is Birthdays. 

This is a picture of my daughters in September last year. As you might recall their birthdays are 2 years and 1 day apart, 21st of September and 22nd of September. So we have been celebrating their birthdays together. 

Here is a close up of the metal key that is available at Zeus and Zoe HERE. The flower and pearl are also part of a collection from Zeus and Zoe which was sent to me.

I also used a number of Imaginarium Designs chipboard here. 

James Border Code: IDB0009 

Four Small Butterflies Code: IDT0014

Now I want to share with you this card that I made with a beautiful handmade tag that I was sent to work with from Berry71Bleu . 

I once again added some Imaginarium Designs chipboard

Four Small Butterflies Code: IDT0014

Wishing You Happiness title Code: IDP0036

Hope you are having a great day everyone :)

Are you ready for my birthday *GIVEAWAY(s)** ???

So as I mentioned in yesterday's post it will will be my birthday on June 21st and for the last couple of years that I have had this blog I have had a big giveaway in June. 

I also mentioned yesterday that I made the 2012 Kaisercraft team and today I received my next few month's product and I am amazed at their generosity. This made me generous my self.. More generous I guess than ever because I have done a HUGE clean up of my stuff (yes again! LOL) and I have come up with what I think is my biggest giveaway to date. 

It is 5 boxes FULL of stuff. I think you all deserve it after all the love and support I receive from all of you. Its my birthday , and I want to share the fortune I have had over the last couple of years through winning stuff and DT stuff etc. with you all. Now I need to make a point here that yes some of this stuff is half packets or some cut paper etc but most is untouched still in their packs. Please keep this in mind! 

1. A pizza box FULL of current and past paper collections. 

2. A pizza box FULL of mixed embellishments and tools

3. A pizza box full of alphas 

4. A pizza box full of flowers

5. A pizza box FULL of ribbon, Webster's Pages unopened packets of flowers and trim etc. 

So what do you need to do to be in the running for 1 of these boxes? 

Here are the rules

1. PLEASE be a become a follower of my blog if you are not one already. 

2. For a giveaway this big I would LOVE it if you could post about this on your blog or Facebook page IF you can. 

3. This is open INTERNATIONALLY to anywhere in the world and postage will be covered by ME.

4. Please link your name using the Linky button at the bottom of this post

5. You have until midnight June 20th. I will announce the winner the next day on my birthday :)

Good luck and I can't wait to send all this to 5 lucky people !!

Exciting Days!

Well I have missed you all very much. I feel a LOT better after a self imposed scrapping break for the last 2 weeks. For me that's a LONG time to be away from my scrappy world. It feels great to stop for a while, recharge the batteries and come back refreshed with a new outlook. I thought I would be gone much longer..but it didnt take that long after all. Thank goodness :)

We had a health scare with my mother in law, who is (hopefully) better now but she is going to go through about 6 months of chemotherapy after being diagnosed and cleared of the big ugly *C* word. I don't even want to mention that word because I get chills up my spine as I recall the night we got a phone call telling us what her problem really was. But ...we have been told to stay positive and that is what we are doing. 

With this sad news lingering in the air and at the back of my mind, I decided that the time is NOW to change some pretty minor things in my everyday life that make me happy..one being bringing my scrap area back downstairs in front of a HUGE window overlooking our beautiful landscaped garden and our street. Its a pleasant site that makes me happy. This is our " formal"  lounge and an Ikea desk doesnt really fit in here but I have changed some things around to make everything look in place. Its freezing cold here and raining non stop and being in this room. close to my family and kids is priceless. Its wonderful :) 

So anyway, its little things like that that I have been doing the last couple of weeks as well as being there for Sam and his parents and really trying to hold it all together. Its has been nice and all my Design Team bosses have been extremely supportive and let' s face it..I am just lucky to have such understanding people around me.

Many many thanks once again for your words of concern and  love. You always leave me overwhelmed with gratitude and I am so glad I have such a supportive bunch of ladies to keep me floating while the rest of my world wants to drag me down . Thank YOU! I was recently saying in one of my DT forums that I am so sorry for all the drama lately! I am...! I am positive and happy and just want to live life but I swear some days I think someones got it in for me. But its OK ,...things could be worse and I am lucky!

SO on to some exciting news..firstly a new team has been announced at my challenge blog Once Upon A..Sketch. SO excited to be able to work along side these awesome team. Of course with that comes the end of an era at OUAS. The era of the old team and the bond we shared and for that I am truly sad. We were together for a long time..some for about 18 months. It's sad... I will miss them...terribly. 

But anyway, something else exciting happened yesterday..that is that Kaisercraft announced their new Design Team for 2012-2013 HERE and I am happy to say I am on it! Happy days!!! I received a VERY generous pack of Kaiser products JUST for the application process and ...apparently we should be receiving the real deal soon. I mean...I still have SO much product left over . How much bigger can it be? LOL! But anyway..getting excited now  and looking forward to creating and starting a new phase in my scrapping! I wish you could all see some of the gorgeous collection which will come out soon! LOVE them! 

SO anyway..how about a scrappy share? 

The challenge I set at Once Upon A..Sketch this month is this BIRTHDAYS. This can be interpreted any way..

Here is the sketch to go with this theme ..

Well..its no coincidence I chose birthdays for OUAS this month....Yep it is my birthday on June 21st so yes I was a bit biased this month. LOL!

I will be 34! Doesn't make me sad at all. Don't care much about age. Actually when I turned 25 I cried ..LOL! That was it. After that every year seems the same to me. I dont feel any older but sure do feel much wiser. 

I have my journalling at the back of the layout. I wrote about who I am at (almost) 34. 

All the chipboard here is from Imaginarium Designs , while everything else is Prima Marketing. 

Well that is it from me today. Oh before I go I wanted to divert your attention to the giveaway at C' est Magnifique blog HERE. Hurry! You still have just over 1 day to put your name on that list!

Thank you for everything everyone :) 

Take care always, Nadia.