Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Getting inky once more


Wow!  I have not picked up an ink pad in well over 6 months, but then so much has happened in that time.  In January we moved home, fully renovating the new home, that took us a crazy 6 weeks, walls came down, bathroom, toilet and kitchen were gutted and re done, tiled floors and carpets pulled up and replaced with floorboards throughout and a fresh coat of paint after that. It was just plain crazy.

Prior to that move though I was struggling with lots of things.  I needed to make some serious life changes, One major change I really wanted to was to downsize our home,  I felt it far too big for 3 of us, it was making me mad to have to spend all our free time and money looking after it.  So here I am today in my smaller home and am quite content.  It is all easy maintenance and takes me next to no time to look after.

Amongst this I was deciding whether to stamp again or not, I really was too tired and too bored to care.  So last October, when we put the house on the market, I packed all my stuff up and left it there until this past Sunday.  What changed? This month we took a trip to the USA.  It was my first 4 week holiday ever, and it was magnificent, but mostly it was needed, for me as a person, for me as a mum, and for me as a wife, to reconnect with my family and try and find what I felt my life was missing. We saved and saved like crazy, the idea for this trip came about a long, long 4 years ago,  and this trip was definitely going to be paid for in cash lol, so thats what we did.  We cut everything back, didn't go out much if at all, and saved saved saved saved.  While I was away, for the first time I actually felt like getting a little creative, and by the time we got home I was itching to, so hubby set me up a small space in our garage to use for now and today I thought I would get a start on my project life album of our California trip.

So I am rusty, I mean really rusty but I gave it a whirl,  I used the design over at Just Add Ink this week, coz seriously after 6 months where the hell does one start?  I guess the majority of my next posts will be about our trip, scrapbook pages, project life pages or inserts that sort of thing, but I want to use up a heap of stuff I have here already. Heres the sketch.


Well enough talk ha ha, thanks for taking the time to have a look.

We arrived in LA on the 21st April, wow what a massive and I mean massive airport, and we had our first sighting of a star, waiting outside was Jessie J looking all sorts of normal lol, almost blended in with the rest but not quite lol.



Items Used:

Tim Holtz : stencil, story stamp, fired brick distress ink
Stampin' Up: Back to basics alphabet and a rotary stamp, 13/4 circle punch
Avery Elle: Count on it number dies
Divine twine,
MME: 6x6 paper pad - wood
stonehenge watercolour paper

7 comments:

  1. Wow, Melissa, what a busy time for you! I'm sure L.A would've been amazing especial having been looking forward to it for so long. I'm so happy for you that it's led to you wanting to craft again after your break. Your card, is fabulous- the detail in your stenciling and variation of colour is stunning and I love how the eye is drawn in the dramatic 21. Thanks for sharing with us at Just Add Ink.

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  2. Melissa this is awesome! I love your idea of using the sketch as the beginning of the record of your trip. Loving the grungy texture and depth. Thanks for joining us at Just Add Ink this week.

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  3. if that's feeling rusty, I think you're doing great, Melissa. Love the creative layout. I think your album will look amazing. Hope to see you at JAI again soon.
    Di :)

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  4. Welcome back to creating! Souds like it was the break that you needed to rejuvenate yourself. Love the idea of a 4 week holiday abroad. Sounds like fun! Love all the elements and textures to your card. The distressed edges give the layers a fun look and the colour combo with the pops of black is fabulous. Thanks for choosing Just Add Ink to get your creativity going again and thank you for playing along with us this week. Rochelle xo

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  5. This is awesome Melissa! The textures and layers are so, so effective...For rusty, you're pretty on point! Thanks for coming to play at Just Add Ink after your mini retirement..:0) Look forward to seeing some more.

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  6. Oh how exciting! What a cool background you have made. I really like the textured look you have created. Chantell Just Add Ink

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  7. OMG you're back! I had NO idea you'd sold, and purchased a new home, and all those renos on top - super woman. Your trip was amazing, as you know I kept a close eye on fb and followed you every step of the way. So so glad you got the itch to start crafting again, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing all your holiday pics in albums in the near future. Thank you for choosing JAI as your first challenge back - absolutely love your card (can't see any rustiness here)! How HOOOOGE is LA airport? Only star spotting I did last year was Claire Danes (Homeland) brushed my shoulder while out jogging the High Line in NYC. It was a real up close and personal encounter :) xx

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