Diary of a Designer Vol # 9

Elnino SUCKS!

Monday the 4th September 2017

Dear Diary...

what's the go with this heat? and where has all the water gone?

Hubby just informed me that we down to the last dregs on our last tank...

I could have sworn it was flooding 4 months ago??

I'm feeling very suspicious of any water that comes from 'scraping the bottom of the barrell' ... I feel like if I were a germ that is exactly where I would live so I have decided to only drink vodka from now on ... germs can't live in vodka!

I'm too scared to scrapbook any more .... what if I get ink on everything and have to wash my hands? What if I gesso something, I'll have to wash everything up .... 

ALL THAT WATER !!😟

I have decided that only card making is safe to do until the next big rain gets here.

So here is my first card...

Fortunately it doesnt take much to fill a card up with gorgeous Imaginarium chipboard phrases, but I also couldn't resist adding a couple of these fabulous little branches as well 💜

Tuesday the 5th September 2017

Dear Diary...

Still no water 😟

We rang up the water delivery person to order a load. $350!!!!??!!!! ... for HALF a tank!!!

I'm pretty sure Coke is cheaper than this at wollies.

The worst part is that it's a 3 week wait...

Opps.

Probs should have ordered that two and half weeks ago!!

So now our whole house hold has gone into EXTREME water saving mode: 

*There's a bucket in the sink to catch wrince water.

*A bucket in the shower, to catch those bits you always loose down the drain at the beginning of a shower ... you know when you first turn the taps on but it takes like 90 seconds of it running full pelt to actually get any hot water.

* A 3 minuet egg timer in the bathroom to ensure very quick showers.

*The washing machine is hooked up to a huge recycling barrel 

just outside the laundry door  

...and my LEAST favourite of all water saving measures...

* A sign on the toilet door that reads

'if it's yellow let it melo, if its brown flush it down'

IS THIS WHAT MY LIFE HAS COME TO??

For the record, I strongly disagree with this last measure.... all colours should be flushed ALL THE TIME. Sadly I was over ruled. Stuff global warming and holes in the ozone ... this is the true tragedy of global warming 😭

I would console myself with vodka but sadly that has also run out. Damn you elnino.

Card making it is then...

Today I tried to created a gilded frame look, which I just adore, and incidentally requires no washing up after at all 👍

I took this groovy chipboard frame, added glue and then pressed some flakes of rose gold all over it very roughly so that it would maintain that beaten metal look.

Super happy with the outcome.

Wednesday the 6th September 2017

Dear Diary...

This shortage of water thing is getting out of hand ... I caught one of the kids standing IN a bucket in her swimmers washing herself with a dribble coming from the shower head!! 

I explained that it wasn't quite that bad yet ( post apocalyptic that is)  but she was sooooo very proud of how little water she had used and how she had recycled 100% of the water she did use... I took a photo of her so she could use it on an inevitable 'recycling' school project one day.

She excitedly exclaimed that I could do the same thing...
A very awkward conversation followed where I had to explain the flaws in any plan where I am required to stand in a bucket!!

I was off to my happy place after that brief yet troubling interlude to indulge in
more card making. This time I made a very simple but colourful card using one of the sentiments that Imaginarium do so well.

These boards with repeated sayings are AWESOME ... I keep a dozen different ones on hand always in case I need to whip up a card for some reason

Add a simple flourish and card making is just too easy!

Thursday the 7th September 2017

Dear Diary...

today we have entered a whole new level of water saving skills....

WE ARE LIKE WATER SAVING NINJAS NOW!

We convinced our teenagers to shower at school ... 'tell them you have been doing sport and just need to freshen up' ... hopefully the school won't notice the ALARMING amount of hair care products my 17 year old daughter took to school with her this morning!

My husband also said he will use the showers at work ... despite them not having doors!!???! WHAT THE? 

I have committed to visiting friends in town once a day ... mostly in order to avoid my own toilets, but also to use all their water by drinking large amounts of coffee.

This is todays card effort... 

Still maximising the use of my sentiments boards.

no gesso on the title though ( as per my no washing anything ever again commitment) This title was simply coloured in with my white gel pen 😎

Friday the 8th September 2017

Dear Diary...

I GIVE IN.

This simply has to come to an end ... the kids came home and informed me that it was 'just creepy' showering at school and refuse to ever do it again, My husband  said he just couldn't go through with the 'no door' thing. And I dont know who is going to clean the toilets in my house  after this last week ... 

BUT ITS NOT GOING TO ME!!!!

We are half way down the outlet valve on our last tank and I just can't live like this anymore... I spent the morning calling every single water delivery company within 100km and managed to get someone who would deliver a half load tomorrow.

THANK GOODNESS! 

The madness can't end quickly enough for my liking. Feeling very pleased with myself I ducked off and created this birthday card.

I frivolously used watercolour paint on the balloon and black marker and crystalina kindy glitz on the writing chippies.

While making these cards I was listening to the radio ... the news report said that the current drought in our area could last until Christmas! I asked my husband how long the load of water we are getting will last us ... he said that at our current rate of consumption ... 3 weeks.

I'm moving to England.

Excerpts from the Diary of a Designer

My last post over on the 
Imaginarium designs Blog...

Monday 7th November 2016

Dear Diary .... 
received a card from post office saying I had a parcel waiting to be picked up :)

Broke speed limit twice getting to town and back but did not get booked this time.

Opened package to find to my utter delight a huge pile of Imaginarium chipboard products ... 

THEY SMELL SOOOOOO GOOD!! 

My heart skipped a beat as I looked through them and my mind started whirring with ideas ... actually had a moment of light headedness ... is it normal to experience such euphoria over craft products I wondered???

YES .... yes it is! was the resounding answer ... 

if chipboard can make me feel this good then I will never have need of illicit drugs  
which is only ever a good thing :) 

Couldnt stand the stampede of ideas any longer and sat down and did a page immediately.... 

I had a new paper collection from Kaisercraft - 'P.S. I Love You' sitting on my desk so I grabbed them and got to work :)

I just loved using distress inks on the deep raw chipboard... even the white ink came up a treat on the butterflies on this page. Couldnt resist using some bright green glimmer mist on the rosette circle though just to add that lift of colour to the layout. 

Wanted to get started on another layout straight away... but had to go cook dinner for hubby and 7 kids ... Gosh I hope one of my kids decides to become a chef and starts practising at meal times sooner rather than latter!

Tuesday 8th November 2016

Dear Diary .... 
woke up soooooooo excited about getting to do another page today with my new Imaginarium chippy supply... thought about it while getting breaky...thought about while getting kids ready...thought about while dropping them at school.... thought about it while at the gym .... didnt think about it much after the gym ... was just kind of trying survive the walk back to the car!

Finally got home and got into it .... todays theme .... ARROWS and CLOCKS :)

This page came together in a snap of the fingers ... I was of course swept away with the romance of the layout ... staring affectionately at the hero on the page... 

which was the beautiful THE RAW CHIPBOARD of course!

I did end up using some white gesso to get a nice bright white finish on a couple of the pieces :) 

Wednesday November 9th 2016

Dear Diary .... 

had to go to the kids school for an assembly today .... OMGosh those things are mind numbingly  BORING .... why why why do they invite parents? What do my kids always want me to go? what benefit is there to us all having to suffer through that??

Regardless of horror at having to attend yet another of these events I did my best impersonation of a focused, dutiful stay at home mum .... felt like I totally smashed it!! 

I then bolted back to my workshop to get working on a third layout I had planned.

This time I wanted to try cutting up an ornate frame and using the pieces as corner adorners ... 

I LOVED how the effect turned out ...

I ended up using some beautiful soft finish embossing powders on the title, the circle frame and the two corners around the photo. I used white embossing powder on the butterflies and the hearts. 

After that I really wasn't sure what to do about the outside corner adorners? I got really stuck there for a while and then I thought to myself ... 

WHAT WOULD NATALIE MAY DO? The answer was obvious...

- eat some jellybeans and try again!

 .... so thats what I did ... and it worked - while I totally couldn't find my black embossing powder, I did find a sharpie that managed to do an equally awesome job of getting those corners to compliment the B&W photo :)

When the kids got home from school one of them asked if I knew who the parent was that snored during the assembly that morning... 

managed to smile sweetly and state very matter-of-factly that I had no idea!!?

Thursday November 10th 2016

Dear Diary .... 

I had a class booked to teach this afternoon so I knew for sure I would NEVER get to make a whole layout today so ignoring all house work I got started on a step card the second the kids were at school.

I love step cards ... I can't actually remember how to make a normal card anymore !! oh well...

All I really wanted to do was find a way to use this off-the-charts cute bicycle chippy that Imaginarium created ... it's THE PERFECT size for a card so I was determined to make it the centerpiece.

 At first I thought I would make it silver like a real bike ... but then as I was digging through my embossing powders looking for silver ... I found my lost black  pot YAY !! 

If there is better feeling in the world than finding a long lost craft tool/embellishment 

than I know it not :) 

[inset picture of me doing happy dance]

Providence demands that I now use Black ... so shinny black it is :)

I just got it finished when people started turning up for the class ... tucking it away I was quite pleased that I had managed to finish on time ... class went well .... but I had one last idea kicking around in my head for a project with some of the butterfly chipboards .... bring on tomorrow!!

Friday 11th of November 2016

Dear Diary .... 

the kitchen floor actually made a crunching sound as I walked through it this morning :( 

My mind is telling me to do house work but my heart is crying 'OFF THE PAGE PROJECT'...

I am a creature of instinct if nothing else and must follow my heart in all matters.

As the Michael Lee quote goes...

'Follow your heart, and happiness will follow you.' 

How true Michael ... how true :) 

So it's off to the workshop I go ...

Today I was excited to be using Colour Blast Mica powders as paints on the chip board to create what I hoped would be beautiful iridescent butterflies on a mobile with dangling hearts :) 

start: BUTTERFLIES AND HEARTS

add: MICA POWDERS

Imaginarium chipboard is so generously thick that I decided to decorate the beautiful big butterfly with some Pebble Rock too... I used clear embossing powder to stick them on with :)

Next I twisted some wire together and used some invisible thread to string the whole thing up ... 

add some little rhinestones back to back on the strings and its done !

      

 

The clean up after this last project was of course EPIC ... whilst wishing I had a small army of forest animals to help me with this task ( not unlike snow white) my husband popped his head in the workshop and suggested I get a real job to pay the house cleaner we now need to hire for inside the house ... he gets the cast off next Friday. 

He also gave me a card from the post office, it appears there's another parcel for me to pick up....

I cant wait to get to town in the morning!!

Kelly-ann Oosterbeek has been a scrapbook and paper craft designer for the last 17 years and lives in Northern NSW with her super-sized family.

She has her own line of gloss finish butterfly stickers ( featured on the projects in this post), and sells these along with Kaisercraft Collections and layout kits online ...

You can find her and all her links at :

www.kellyanno.com