whats saving my sanity right now.......

.......measures 5 x 8.5 inches and is my go-to guy for some relaxation and unwinding at the moment.....no Allan hasnt shrunk LOL its my beloved art journal :) I {heart} it so so much......In the last few weeks alot has happened in our little world and the stress is getting to me in alot of ways. Many dont  know but I suffer terribly with anxiety as a result of stress.... there are days when I dont answer the phone and will go into panic mode if there is a knock at the door. This is all part of my anxiety and while most times I can control "it" there are many that I cant and Im trying to use my art journal to let it all out and use some positive affirmations in my text to try to encourage myself to -stop over thinking,stop worrying,stop wondering and just breathe.....I cant control everything and make everyone happy I have to just try to get on with things and let whatever happens happen.......My inner control freak is squealing "noooooooooo" but my heart says "yes it has to be this way".

I constantly over think what people say,what people think,how I should be and what I should be doing.....Ive always done it but am hoping to help myself and stop!

So anywhoo.....the "journal girls" I have been drawing and painting started out as just for fun but they seemed to reflect my feelings in their expression (totally unintentional) so they have become a bit of a selfie thing with me venting my feelings into the paint,chalks and crayons and for whatever reason it seems to help. Im noticing a transition in their expressions since I started and will share a flip through in my next blog post if anyone wants to have a lookie at the journal so far? Leave me a comment if you would like to see :)

Im starting to do little tutorials (photos and videos) on the forum in my shop here starting with a nice cruisey watercolour background :) Next will be stamping and paint yummmmm.....are you going to check it out and have a go?

Heres a little taster of whats in my journal so far -massive thanks to my Ma for buying it for me too *mwah* loveyalove xx

 "Today I choose positive nuturing thoughts that nourish me on all levels"

 The latest art journal girl and my fave so far I think....this one isnt finished yet ;-)

 This little lovely will be my art journaling video I will share once my hubby has edited the video for me ...im too technically challenged lol

So dont forget leave me a comment if you want to see a flip through of my art journal ;-)

Have a fab weekend and thanks for visiting

Krissy xx

Last day......

......of being 30..........yep tomorrow its the big 31 for this princess, we normally do the big get dressed up and go out for dinner thing but this year I have requested fish and chips on the beach with my honey :) We may drag the dog along too seeing he quite enjoyed his first beach adventure last week when I visited the beach in the hopes that mother natures healing waves would fix my skin woes.....she rocks....nearly all healed woohoo!

I had to have a few days off thanks to extreme pain and couldnt sit comfortably so it was a case of lying down or standing up which meant I couldnt sew or scrap but I discovered I could draw in old book pages so I set about scribbling some girls faces so I could paint them when I could sit again. I used one on this art journal page...........

Im having fun with this art journally stuff -having a play with colours and some of the art stuff I learnt at school :) Ive done a few more paintings too...including a commissioned piece (SO thrilled about it ....it makes my heart smile that someone wants a piece of my art in their house :D)

Okies Im off to play with some fabric or paint or paper........

Enjoy your valentines day tomorrow :)

Krissy xx

Scrapping and the gratitude journal

Back again as promised with some scrappy shares :) I had a play with the new "Tranquility" kit in the shop now at Wicked Princesses. I have had all the photos of my Kloe girl printed since just after she passed away last year but wasnt brave enough to scrap them til sunday when I just felt it was time.....I had friends over to scrap and broke my 8 week scrapping drought with these four :) I didnt cry at the time but had a little one later when I was remembering some of her little quirks. She deserves an album of her own and so it shall be...Im determined to scrap each and every one of her photos and document all our memories of her :) I know some of you are probably thinking "Its just a dog!" But Al and I dont have kids so our fur and feathered friends are like our kids and an important part of the Christie house so when we lost her  lost a little piece of ourselves too. Anywhoo enough of my waflle.......

It would seem my style has warped again lol This is a regular occurence after a scrappy break for me.....maybe its my getting back into art thats influenced it this time?

This one is my fave ......

No about the gratitude journal......Im a firm believer in things happening for a reason. The reason isnt always obvious at first (or ever sometimes) but there is always one. A few weeks ago my beautiful friend Tam was chatting to me on msn about doing a gratitude journal swap at WP and showed me a link to what they are all about. I was in a tizz and flat out,stressed and made a mental note of the concept but was too flat out to do anything about it at the time.

I was at the local junk shop on thursday and bought 2 x notebooks (I have a stationery fetish lol and had plans to make journal covers to sell at Kaycees) I brought them home sat them on the shelf and forgot about them. I got a text from a friend asking if I wanted some scrappy company at the weekend and we made a date for sunday. Sunday morning im faffing about on the internet and what pops into my head? The gratitude journal :) I googled it again and found this site and the first thing I read was...

 'Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.' -Melody Beady

I then decided that sunday night I would start saying thanks and keeping my gratitude journal every night full of positive things that I an grateful for. It turned out that my friend loved the idea too and I thoguht it would be helpful to both of us and hey presto I remembered the 2 notebooks I had bought *insert cheesy grin here* So there you have it the reason for the two books was found and my gratitude journal was born :)

So thats that :)

Ive been painting again .....a spot of mixed media fun on a canvas ...now that she is out of my head I can play with some other ideas :)

Sending lots of good vibes to my QLD friends during this awful weather and the flooding {{huggles}}

Thanks for visiting and for leaving comments on yesterdays post *mwah* I appreciate it xx

Krissy xx

Remember me?

Im the girl that used to blog all the time? Occassionally scrapped and always waffled on about all sorts....well I still waffle thats never going to change lol

Its been a mighty long time between posts on my little old blog and to be honest I wasnt sure if Id be back at all......last year was shall we say "less than fabulous" in my little world and as a result of heaps of stress,lots of tears and being sicker than Ive ever been in my life my creative mojo and my happy bubble was rather deflated :(  But Im not going to bore you all with the gorey details of it all because 2011 is gone and 2012 is a new year with new chances,new ideas and a new outlook :) Well its not all new really some things I had forgotten and have re-newed love for :)

 It wasnt all bad in 2011 though 2 of my closest friends had beautiful baby girls, my Dad got a clean bill of health after a scare with his kidneys and I started Kaycee's handmade for all my sewing adventures :) (Find me on facebook-heaps of bags,hair accessories and more)

I once was the sort of person that would draw and paint everyday......my hands where always busy expressing what was in my heart and mind with the help of paint,pastels,pencils and paper. I would lock myself away for days doing my "thing" then I would be totally drained afterwards. I loved every minute of it......my first drawing was when I was about 4 (I know crazy that 1.I remember and 2.I could draw at that age :O ) It was pebbles from the flintstones (hehehe showing my age now)....mum carried around those little yellow sticky note sized pieces of paper in her handbag for years lol I wish I still had them but they where lost in our journey from the UK to Australia when we emigrated...... from then on I was always drawing,making,creating something or another. A relative asked me when I was about 10 what I wanted to be when I grew up and I told him "An artist" he laughed and told me that it "wasnt a real job thats a hobby" (I giggle now when I think of it because my job is art related and yes it is a hobby but a business too *pokes out tongue* The last drawing I did was in 2001 for Al and I's 1st christmas.....we where love-rich but dollars-poor so I decided to do a drawing for him and frame it as a pressie.....then that was it I stopped drawing.....no idea why or how or when it all stopped but it did......Until November last year that is lol

I had the great pleasure of being invited to my gorgeous friend Donna's retreat at her home and me being a slacko non-driver asked if anyone would be interested in having some company for the drive and the fabulous and lovely Gigi (uber talented mixed media artist and owner of Gist-Creative) offered me a lift.I had met this fabulous lady years before at a crop day but hadnt seen her since so it was great to catchup in the car then have the pleasure of sitting beside her all weekend........and it is her I have to thank for reigniting my artistic flame :) I was sitting there shuffling papers and thinking about all my worries when she offered me some of her mixed media paper and the use of her scrummy art supplies and this is what happened..........

The one on the right (Never give up) was my first attempt at some mixed media fun ,her wings followed and "hope" was when I got home :)

some close ups.....

 my favourite quote and was very appropriate for my mood at the time...

 There is always hope....

These where all in November and my mum was most chuffed to see me using some of my arty style again so she and Dad got me a huge stash of yummy art supplies for christmas and from there came these.......

The ballerinas.......

I christened my new sketchbook with this scribbly doodly figure in late December 2011.......

Ive since done a drawing for Al's birthday too but cant show that til he gets it ....he told me he didnt want me to "buy him a present" so I didnt I made one instead lol

Then came this .........."The light at the end of the tunnel" Im having this outlook for this year.....there can be no light without the dark....I will find my way through the forest and into the happy light again.

A bit of mixed media therapy after I finished my housework on saturday afternoon I have to say I {heart} this painting....and thats not something I normally say about my art but I really enjoyed working on it and I think it showed me a new mindset....

SO thats where Im at .....happily creating through not just scrapping but also sewing for Kaycees and painting for me :) This year WILL be better ......I intend to make it bigger and better and happier.....

Ive started my gratitude journal too....giving daily thanks for all my positives and steering clear of the negatives from now on :)

If you are still reading my blog after this humungus post or are a follower then thanks ....for reading,for sticking around and for being fabulous xx

Signing off with paint on my hands and happiness in my heart once again.....

Krissy xx

P.S I did scrap too , I will share those tomorrow :) xx

Its been a while....

between posts and lots has happened including me having a week off from working and the internet but im back revitalised,recharged and scrapping again :) Heres a few of the LO's Ive done lately....

Everyone who buys the "In Bloom" kit from Wicked Princesses will be sent the instructions for 5 LO's using the kit too so its a bargain ;-)

Ive also been a busy bee organising a new blog the "Blossoms blog" which will be having a new release sale on Friday and a DT call so why not pop over and try out for the DT and make sure you dont miss the releases on Friday 7pm :D

http://myvintageblossoms.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting *mwah*

Krissy xx

Which one........

should I scrap with first?

Its all too tempting!!

Septembers new kits released early for all you keen princesses ;-)

Im off to do eeny meeny miney mo and have a play :D

Krissy xxx

P.S I will be back with scrappy stuff tomorrow :)

This weekend @ Wicked......

.................im having a massive sale :D

ALL kits $25 each!!

*no further discounts or vouchers valid during sale*

*no free post during sale*

*sale orders are included in the winners are grinners raffle!*

Some kits are a saving of or above $10 :O so you will be getting some fabulous products for a bargain price :)

Sale starts midnight tonight and ends midnight sunday :)

Happy shopping!

Click on the Wicked Princesses banner to go straight to the shop :)

Thanks for visiting and have a fab weekend!

Krissy xx



wowsers 88!

Followers on my little ole blog :D How fandabbydosey :D Im thinking a giveaway will be in order when I hit the 100! It will be something wicked I promise .....so if you arent a follower then clickety click so I can give away something cool when I hit the big 100 :D


I have been scrapping and cardmaking my little heart out......my mojo comes and goes at the moment so when she is cranking Im in princessland blasting some tunes,singing badly and scrapping myself happy :) Yesterday was cold,drizzly and overcast here in Brisbane (well Burpengary at least -mind you it seems to ALWAYS rain here for some reason lol) so I put on my super comfy clothes -daggy trackies and my ancient billabong jumper- a girls gotta be comfy to scrap ;-) and scrapped the afternoon away :D I was late doing last weeks sketch (July snuck up when I wasnt looking :O) but I still wanted to do the sketch anyway so heres my layout ......Ive been doing heaps of vintagey stuff lately and thought something different was in order and hey presto ask and you shall receive it would seem lol.........

Beautiful Miss Morgan is soon to be 6 so Auntie is a wee bit behind on her scrapping of birthdays it would seem lol I couldnt resist adding an MVB owl :D

This layout was totally different in my head lol but once I had done all the misting and painting with the masks and smooshed (yes very technical with the terms today arent I lol) the bubblewrap on I didnt want to cover it with paper so I didnt :D I have to say I love it! But not in a weird swell head kinda way it could just be because its my honey on there hehehe I got to christen my new TCW circle grid mask too wooot I {heart} it!

 awww all lovey dovey lol...Al had the Bruno Mars song "Just the way you are" playing when I walked into my surprise 30th birthday and later told me it always makes him think of me when he hears it on the radio .....it made me cry is was so gorgeous from my gorgeous man who 1.hates music after the 90's and 2.doesnt normally say that songs make him think of me :) Made me feel special :)

So anywhoo thats about it for me for today......IM listening to Adele (much to Al's disgust lol) and waiting for the washing machine to finish before I go for my walk .......have a fandabbydosey day peeps :)

Have you seen the winners are grinners raffle at WIcked Princesses? You should check it out the prizes are WICKED! Even if I do say so myself lol

Krissy xx

I {heart} messages

.....from followers and lovely emails saying hi and asking about how I do things :) Its a massive compliment to me and I always appreciate it :)

I recently had an email from a lovely reader called Kellie Daley asking me about the rolled roses Ive been using on my work alot lately-they are a wee bit addictive hehehe Kellie asked if I could tell her how I make mine more dimensional than other rolled roses so I quickly volunteered to do a quick tutorial to share how I make them so here you go lovely I hope you like it :)

I must add these where not my original idea I was shown how to make them at creative block 2 years ago and have just remembered how much fun they are :D

Heres a quick tutorial on how I made mine.....

Heres a quick list of what you need and how to do it

You will need:

Thick patterned paper or cardstock (I used bo bunny pp's)
scissors
ink
glue (450 is good it dries nice and quick)
sandpaper


The main steps are as follows:

Cut out some squares of patterned paper ( the smaller the square the smaller the rose-Ive done 3 roses to display this ;-))

Cut into the squares a snail shape (like the ones we used to make in kindy or those spirally things we used to hang off the ceiling) Snip off the excess from the square. Dont snip off the little curly tail in the middle we need that later ;-)

Use your fingernail to gently turn over the outer edge so it has a little lip- do this for the whole snail shape.

You can now ink the edges if you like.

Starting at the end fold a small piece to your left as shown in the picture and start rolling it around tightly until you get to the end of the snail. If you get a long bit sticking out of the middle you can snip a little bit off with your scissors.

Keep holding the snail tightly and add a blob of glue to the little curly tail bit and press it to the bottom of the roll. Gently let it loosen slightly to make a rose shape you desire-if you want a tight rose just let it loosen a little bit ,if you want a big loose rose let it loosen more....hope this makes sense :$

Hold the rose with your finger and thumb until it is firm enough to hold, then you can ink,paint or sand the edges.

The final step I do in once it has dried I place the rose on the table and with the palm of my hand I gently press on it to smoosh it down a bit (hehehe im good at the technical terms hey LOL) this makes it more rose-ish I think ;-)

Anywhoo they are a great way to make matching embellies or to use up scraps :D

If you have a go make sure you leave me a link so I can have a lookie :)

Heres a sneaky of  a LO I did using the roses I made in this tutorial

Hope you all liked the tutorial :)

Who wants a tutorial on how I do my vintagey backgrounds?

Thanks for visiting and please take the time to say hi and let me know you popped by :)

Krissy xx

Cybercrop this weekend @ Wicked & a Massive sale!!

Ive been shopping again and am running out of space in Princessland so a sale is in order to help me make room for all the new goodies!!

50% off selected kits!!

20% off all other kits!!

15% off MVB's,alphas,masks,mists and more!!

Happy shopping! Sale is for one week only starting today

*no further discounts or vouchers are valid during the sale*

FREE post on all orders over $70!

 

Happy shopping and see you at the cybercrop!

Want to win a prize from Wicked Princesses?

The gorgeous Tanya and Nikki from Get Picky asked little ole me to be guest DT this month woot wooot!! So chuffed!! Im sponsoring too and have put a lovely gift worth $50 up for grabs so why not have a go at the challenge! :D I had done another LO for the challenge example but it was accepted for publication by Scrapbooking Memories so I whipped this one up quick as a flash :) If you like the papers you will love on of the new kits for the shop next month ;-) Love these photos of my gorgeous little niece at the park :) It was something different for me to do a little miss layout with vintagey papers and bits ...it was fun!

Lots to share.....

I just realised I havent shared some of my retreat layouts yet *oopsies* and I have some from before and some since so prepare for a biggish photo fest :D I have long been a mist-o-phobe but have recently fallen in lurve in the hugest way possible with mist.......im now finding myself wishing I had every colour available to that I could mist every LO hehehe I got some of the Maya Road mists into the shop last week and oh my I am SO lovin the charcol....check out how cool it is on this Josh LO.....no shimmer so its almost teenage boy friendly ;-) Very grungey and cool :D

*removed for publication :D *

More misting hehe and stamping and inking......my goodness I loved this kit....so much that I ordered the goodies twice so it will be a WP kit next month ;-) with a few extras the one at the retreat didnt have ;-) My gorgeous friend Nic I {heart} her she is always there for me and I truely am lucky to have her as a friend :)

close up.............

My other gorgeous friend Missus -AKA Tam :D Challenged me at the retreat with "Do a Morgan layout...." my reply was "too easy!" then she finished her challenge with "Do a Morgan layout with NO flowers" I sat rocking back and forth in the corner for a while trying to get my head around the no flowers on a Mo LO then I was up for the challenge....this LO took me twice as long as normal but I like it! Im proud to say too that I didnt put any on when I got home missus ;-) I used the Vicki B kit from the shop at WIcked :D

More Morgan and :O I just noticed no flowers What the!! 2 in a row :O now im going to have to do one covered in flowers to get back to normal hehehe this is the "School days" kit in the shop...only one left girls!

Two of my favourite ladies in the whole wide world.....my mum and my Granny I {heart} this photo so so much.....they where having a good ole giggle and I managed to catch it at the right time :) I used the "Happy go lucky" kit and made the vine and big rose myself :D

It seems that all my photos of my nephew Josh he is doing something with his tongue -I secretly think he might be trying to put me off taking his photo and scrapping them.....it will take more than that to put me off mate! Hehehehe

I think I used the "up and away" kit from the shop for this one.....yummy colours I love it :D

and another one with the "School days" kit :D Its such a versatile kit I love it :)

I was going to share the other layout I did the sneaks for the other day but it has been picked up for publication so sorry peeps :(

Thanks for coming to visit my little ole blog ....please leave a message and say hi so I know im not waffling to myself lol

Krissy xx