The Twinery and Authentique Blog Hop...

welcomes you! If you came here from Emily Lanham's blog you are right on track.

I hope you are enjoying the hopping as much as i did playing with the gorgeous Authentique and Twinery products. They have the most amazing colour combinations in the Authentique lines so it was hard to choose just one to scrapbook with let alone matching the great Twinery twine selection up to them - so many awesome combinations are possible when these two fun companies come together..nonetheless i managed to narrow it all down and made the following page.... but first a little background to it..

I left New Zealand 16 years ago with a young and single, excited and positive outlook to what might await me in Europe..well Frankfurt to be exact which was my first port of call, so to speak...turns out i was there for five years although my intention was three weeks or so and then make my way round Europe.. one never knows what tomorrow may bring, right? So rolling it into a short story - flew to Germany, met and married future (Swiss) husband, son #1, moved to Switzerland, son #2 = 16 years! and here i am...
As you can imagine my "excited, positive" outlook back in 1995, took a hammering here and there and although pretty much still in tact i do have the odd day where my thoughts wander back to those last words of wisdom from my Dad... (as i was about to step on the first flight in a total of 24 hours flying) his words were - "don't forget - home will always be here for you whenever you want to return". Those words were comforting then and many moons later they still make me smile. Having now had children of my own though i realise how he must have felt as he watched me go... at the time i remember trying to make myself focus on what the world held for me rather than what i was leaving behind..as a parent i am sure it would, and will be, much more difficult??! I love my Dad for being so supportive at that particular moment - those few words gave me strength and courage as i took the first step of that 'big' journey. I just hope that I too, can be together enough to pass those exact same sentiments on when the day comes for my little darlings to spread their wings! I trust that's still a long time away, i might add, even though that old cliche..they grow right before your very eyes.. kind of rings true. In any case, one fine day i want them to know...home will always be here for them.

i was so glad to get these feelings down on paper together with this photo taken a couple of years back of  my Dad and me. The vintage feel of the Authentique papers in soft yellows and greys were just what i needed to portray my thoughts and the stone twine matched perfectly with them. Lemondrop or Pink Sorbet would also have done the trick but i wanted a more subtle look to coincide with my quiet thoughts of home - so stone was indeed the lucky one!! Rather than leaving it loose, I pulled the twine tight and stapled it at either end to remind me of the strength my Dad gave me...

But enough deep and meaningful....moving right along, as I mentioned above i couldnt resist all of the beautiful Authentique collections so in honour of the big day coming up in less than six weeks!!! (scary thought) i cut up a few more papers and made this layout "also about home" when we were lucky enough to be back in New Zealand for a white oops i mean, warm Christmas. I tied the whole layout up like a parcel with none other than.... maraschino twine of course and it was all done and ready to pop under the tree. LOL!

Last but not least, be sure to leave a comment here to go into the draw to win some goodies..

The Twinery will be giving away a 'Colorful Bunch Sampler Pack' (retail value $20)

and Authentique will be offering a prize package of the same value.

The next stop on the blog hop is Heather Conklin - many thanks for stopping in today and i wish you much inspiration throughout the remainder of the Authentique and Twinery  blog hop.

Stamps of Life and the Twinery Blog Hop

Hello and Welcome -

Are you ready for some fun?

The {Stamps} of Life and The Twinery Design Teams are playing together for this hop!

 If you came here from Beverley Sizemore's blog you are right on track.

I was priveleged to be able to design with a fun Christmas set of stamps called Christmas2Build from Stamps of Life. The details in these stamps are just beautiful and i loved the font that the sentiments came in as well.

I have been wanting to scrap our tradition of placing boots at the door, forever..well not just any old boots of course :-) they have to be red and glittery!! subsequently when i saw the "boots" included in this stamp set it was the perfect opportunity to do that. i was equally delighted to find that the teeny tiny snowman also fitted right inside the cuff of the boot making a great little decoration. The Merry Christmas stamp filled the gap across the top of my page like a glove or should i say like a mitten LOL! Last but not least i stamped a little border of snowflakes along the bottom for my title to rest on. I left the cappuccino twine simply  flowing across the stamps to give the illusion of a banner. i think it makes the sweetest addition, dont you?

Loved the snowflakes so much I couldnt resist just stamping a couple of extra little ones on these tags.

I picked up the ribbon at a local craft fair and thought its cuteness factor was right up there with these little stamps so put the two together! They rock, right? LOL. Not to mention the sentiments.. Little Red Riding Hood saying - Merry Christmas from our "woods" to yours. The knights in shining amour saying - Merry Christmas from our "castle" to yours and the pirates saying - Merry Christmas from our "ship" to yours :-) and of course the finshing touch is the Twinery twine in coordinating stone, maraschino and cappuccino.

As you make your way through the hop make sure you comment on each and every post. There will be 2 prize winners chosen randomly among the blogs:

One winner will win 2 stamp sets  (winners choice) valued at $12.95 -total retail value: $26.90 per prize! from The {Stamps} of Life.

&

One winner will win the Ultimate Color Sampler Pack ($25 value!) from The Twinery!!!

The prize winners will be announced on The {Stamps}of Life and The Twinery Blogs on Wednesday November 16th.

Thanks so much for coming by today and I hope you enjoy the rest of the blog hop - your next stop is Tami Mayberry!