best of british.

i discovered these awesome cupcake toppers on The Tomkat Studio blog and although extremely last minute, well it would just be wrong not to join all the pomp and circumstance today, wouldnt it. As these beauties were very kindly offered as free printables, i set to work. dusted off my fiskars scalloped edge punch and made confetti out of all the scraps. the glassine bags were the perfect packaging with just a touch of maraschino twine from the Twinery to tie them up. ok, if youre looking for me i am down at the Abbey showering Will and Kate with the very best of british! now if i could just remember where i left my tiara??? can never find that thing when i need it!!! lol.

happy easter everybody!

I hope these little guys delivered today!!

the "Twinery" letter

my very first sighting of twine was on a plain brown paper package. it was definitely a love at first sight type of moment. not only was it practical but it added a dash of colour and took the package from simple to classy. my project idea this month is something that stemmed from that occasion.

we have a yearly tradition which we have celebrated with the same famlilies for the last seven years. amongst other things the children each have to recite a poem or sing a song. this year we changed it up and the adults were made to take the stand! our friends totally got into the spirit of it and not only wrote a letter to their two almost teenage boys but sung it, more or less in tune, to the Beatles favourite of "Let it be"! The sentiment was fantastic and something i am sure their boys will treasure forever - sadly the singing is possibly something they would rather forget forever!! nonetheless they got an A+ for effort.

i came across the mini envelopes at a craft fair i attended in germany last month and knew immediately where they were destined. to match each twine colour and make the envelopes a little more authentic i punched a postage stamp from cardstock and sealed the deal with a postmark. the journaling was printed directly onto the last envelope and a copy of the actual letter is inside. the finishing touch was of course the tying of the package with maraschino, cappuccino, lemondrop and lilac twine - as previously mentioned, one delightful strand of lovely Twinery twine took them from simple to classy!

my Core'dinations Creative frenzy

i still remember the day almost two years ago when i received the email asking me to become a design team member of Core'dinations Cardstock. stunned and shocked were my first reactions, overjoyed screaming and yelling shortly followed. to say it has been a dream would be an understatement - it has been an amazing time where i have not only been overwhelmed with wonderful product but have also come to know a great team of uber-talented crafters. There is no question, i would love to remain a part of the squad! Subsequently the below is my plan to lure them into keeping me for yet another term :-)

step one:    KILLIN' TIME

this page uses a multitude of Graphic45 Timeless Core Impressions which come readily embossed to boot. a light sanding with my trusty Core'dinations sanding gadget and each of those squares pretty much became a part of the beautiful old Zurich University buildings we were resting in front of. the essence of this page i believe is that the texture in the sanded cardstock meant all the hardwork was done and i then got away with a title, a place name label and a button! that rocks when youre a busy mother of two.

 

step two:   COCO

Cosmo Cricket Classic Core Impressions take the limelight on this layout. once again these papers come pre-embossed with fabulous patterns - seedlings and criss cross, sparkle and kitchen dots - just the names get your imagination rolling. The kitchen dot (red) reminded me of snow chains - not that we needed them on this gorgeous winter day! and the seedlings (green) provided some tracks in the snow, no?? (its early, i havent had my coffee yet i am thinking now might be a good time??) Finally i wanted to illustrate that you dont always have to sand the cardstock - it takes centre stage simply due to the fantastic embossed designs.

step three:   EASTER TABLE DECOR

initially these were destined for the christmas table but

with a little Stacy Julian Core Impressions as the green background "egg" and some Whitewash they evolved into Easter place name baubles. The whitewash is embossed with a polka dot Cuttlebug folder and then sanded to give that subtle hint of green. Brilliantly, the Stacy Julian cardstock is embossed with words rather than patterns which means you can forget your morning paper; if you happened to be sitting at the rear of the place name bauble, you are warmly provided with some most attractive reading. now thats a bonus i am sure most easter decor cannot boast! I cant tell you enough, this cardstock once again, rocks!

our cheeky easter rabbit has planted them in the garden so we have to find them on our egg hunt before we get a place at the table.. i think i might just sit where i find mine and plough through my stash of eggs right there. lol.

so if youre looking for me over the next few days, i will be killin time in the snow with Coco waiting for the Easter Rabbit to load up my basket :-)

ps. Here's hoping my plan is going to work because contrary to my Dad's best advice, i dont have a plan B!!!! Wish me luck!!!

prague love.

according to those in the know, yesterday was the highest recorded temperature in zürich for april..it was a stunner. not that i am complaining but is spring the new summer, then? in which case that totally works for me :-)

speaking of heat -  exactly one year ago we were visitng these friends in the city of spires where the heat was incredible - extremely unexpected i might add. we packed the jackets and boots but were totally overdressed for the ocassion. in fact i believe we HAD to go shopping for lighter attire lol.dont you hate it when that happens!! nonetheless i rated it right below paris which is top of my romantic city list :-) not to mention super interesting! the spires as suggested are indeed in every direction and really are quite magnificent. this was our second visit but unlike the first trip - to have your own personal tour guides, to be taken to their favourite spots, have all the delicacies explained to us and of course not even have to attempt a word of Czech - thats my kind of travel! i dedicated this page to our tour guides (with the prague castle in the distance) who recently moved to singapore. we're giving them time to settle in and then we just might plan a tour once again. :-)

lots of yummy new JBS Core'dinations here too.. i am working up to a frenzy (wink wink -watch this space!!)

my scrappy crush!

in case it wasnt obvious, Jenni Bowlin is one of my all time favourite scrap idols. Love her vintage style and wish i could do it too but unfortunately thats not to be so i have to remain content with just using her products and dreaming LOL. Core'dinations and JBS are having a blog swap this week and in honour of that i present you with this layout. A very dear friend of mine from Germany who is coming to visit next week - am just a tad excited to see her. The red and black cardstock are both JBS Core Impressions but if  you go check out the blog  you will see some of the newer collections as well.
heres a wee tease using one of the new JBS Core Amour Collections.