We've been counting down to Christmas on the Darkroom Door blog! Each day we've been sharing Christmas projects to hopefully inspire you and get us all into the Christmas spirit!
Here's a couple of projects I've created:
Full details here.
Full details here.
Full details here.
Full details here.
Here's my segment from the Scrap It TV Christmas Special:
I hope you're all enjoying the festive season!!
School summer holidays have begun here! Since Zoë has finished pre-school it will be the first time that she will be on holidays over the summer with Ethan, so with two siblings now at home for 6 weeks we're going to need lots of things to do to keep us all entertained! We don't want to break the bank, so we came up with a list of 100 things you can do over the summer holidays for free! The guidelines for the list were: you can use whatever you already own, or petrol that's already in the car, and things you have easy access to. But you cannot spend any money.
It was pretty challenging to come up with 100 different things, but it was great to do!
Here's our list:
1. Bake cookies
2. Play Uno
3. Write letters to friends, family & pen pals (ok, so the stamps cost money, but we've already bought those!)
4. Look through photo & scrapbook albums
5. Read a book or two or three
6. Go to the beach
7. Watch a movie from our DVD collection
8. Go for a bike ride
9. Make greeting cards from the craft stash
10. Sing a song or two or three
11. Do some gardening
12. Build something with Lego
13. Write a creative story
14. Play hopscotch
15. Fly a kite
16. Make potato head creatures
17. Find different species of wildlife in the backyard
18. Make something on the sewing machine with the fabric stash
19. Create a scrapbook layout
20. Play the piano
(this is my Dad with my daughter Zoë. My Dad taught me how to play the piano years ago and I'm now teaching my kids)
21. Draw a picture
22. Colour in
23. Play with pets
24. Skip rope
25. Clean up the house
26. Read old magazines
27. Visit a free museum or gallery
28. Plant a tree
29. Take photos
30. Catch up with friends
31. Listen to music
32. Press flowers found in the backyard
33. Jump on the trampoline
34. Dance
35. Edit digital photos
36. Play the playstation
37. Bake a cake
38. Play Scrabble
39. Complete a jigsaw
40. Go for a bushwalk
41. Have a BBQ
42. Paint your fingernails & toenails
43. Learn some phrases in a different language
44. Climb a tree
45. Write in a journal
46. Make a cubby house out of sheets and blankets
47. Have a slide night
48. Watch home-made movies
49. Have a pillow fight
50. Play dress ups
51. Have a tea party
52. Or a teddy bears picnic
53. Learn how to crochet
54. Play handball
55. Play the guitar
56. Collect bugs
57. Read old letters and diaries
58. Look at the stars and moon
59. Watch the sunrise
60. Watch the sunset
61. Play I Spy with my little eye
62. Camp in the backyard
63. Wash the car
64. Go bird watching, train spotting etc
65. Collect sea shells on the beach
66. Play elastics
67. Create crazy hair styles
68. Play marbles
69. Paint a picture
70. Visit the library
71. Make sandcastles at the beach
72. Go yabbying (crayfishing)
73. Share scary ghost stories
74. Climb a mountain
75. Tell funny jokes
76. Have a wrestle with someone (rules: no bloodshed)
77. Learn a new cool handshake
78. Go for a walk around the neighbourhood
79. Create a puppet show
80. Play Monopoly
81. Watch TV
82. Make daisy chains
83. Go for a swim
84. Throw a Frisbee around
85. Try to juggle
86. Practice hula hooping
87. Play catch with a ball
88. Make handmade paper
89. Make origami creations from scrap paper
90. Play hangman
91. Play charades
92. Finish a craft project
93. Make a treasure hunt
94. Interview someone you love
95. Make a home movie
96. Help someone in need
97. Walk along the lake
98. Kick a ball around
99. Watch old episodes of Seinfeld or X-Files or Ghost Whisperer or
True Blood or whatever show you enjoy!
(for the adults) Ben 10, Dora The Explorer, The Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle for the kids!
100. Make creatures out of egg cartons
Is there anything I've missed? What else would you put on there? I'd love to hear your ideas. At the end of the holidays I'll let you know how many things we did from this list :) Should be an interesting summer!!!
The weeks are starting to blur... turning into months... and 2010 will be here before I know it! Stewart went down to the Paperific Trade Show last week, and I didn't. It was the first trade show I have missed in such a long time. I missed seeing everyone and catching up with friends & customers. Stew did a great job - we've now been busy filling the orders and getting them out to the shops! We've completed that in record time. All orders from Paperific are on their way to the stores.
I've been introduced to Swap-Bot. Thought it might be a bit of fun, so I participated in a Love Postcard swap where I had to send out 7 postcards to different people with a 'Love' theme. I pulled out some stamps and created 7 different postcards. It was fun to see how many love themed stamps I have! It was nice to send out some good mail :)
Stamp Credits Top Photo:
Stamp Credits Bottom Photo:
Cheers,
Rachel
We've released a whole new range of products with Darkroom Door recently... it has certainly been keeping me busy! Here's what's new:
Check out these big honkin' backgrounds! Our new Background Stamps are 155mm x 110mm which completely covers an A6 card front with ease! That means you can create amazing backgrounds in just one step! Woo hoo!!!
The new Photo Stamps are created exclusively from my photographs. Finely detailed, they can be used with inked backgrounds, coloured with markers, stamped onto textiles and so much more! Each stamp measures: 118mm x 80mm.
The new Pearlescent papers include pretty pink and purple butterflies that little girls (and big girls) will love. Our new Gerbera 12up's are so versatile! Each image can be used individually, or use several images together to create a variety of cards and projects. Suitable for party invitations, greeting cards, scrapbook layouts and more! I'm really enjoying these new papers!
We also have some new Notepads! Suitable for journal blocks for scrapbook layouts, inserts for greeting cards, notes for your teachers, friends and family. Great stocking fillers for Christmas too!
Check out the Darkroom Door website and blog for all the details and samples with these new goodies!!!
I've had a set of Christmas Cards published in Handmade magazine Vol 27 No 3. The cards feature some of the stamp designs I created for Stamp-It which are still available for purchase. I've used Ranger Alcohol Inks for the backgrounds - which are fun and easy, especially for mass production of Christmas cards!!!
Here's a sneak at the cards in the mag:
Not long now until Christmas! We're starting to think about our usual family Christmas photo that we do each year... we have some ideas, but just have to get out and do the shot! Who knows which idea we'll end up doing... depends on the kids!
Growing up, dinner was usually served on cork-based placemats with varying designs... mainly country style since we lived in the bush. I ate at different houses regularly (Mum's, Dad's, Grandparent's, and friends houses) each with their own set of placemats. Grandma & Grandpop Greig's house always had a good assortment to choose from! I remember watching Grandpop trace around the edge of the placemats with his fingers as he told stories. I remember Grandma setting out the table with the different designs. Even now when I visit Mum's house I like seeing what she has in placemats to choose from!
But I never bought a set for myself. Even with messy kids who can sometimes cause chaos at the dinner table, I only had material or thatched style placemats. I guess I wanted my first set of real placemats to be special!
Truth is, I always thought it would be fun to have my own photographs featured on a set of placemats & coasters. So a couple of years ago I contacted Jason Products to see what their requirements were for licensing of images. After working together to find the right design to compliment their current range, they contacted me in May this year to ask if they could use one of my frangipani images. I was sitting in an airport in Malaysia when I received the news and I was so excited! To me it's not just about photographs on placemats... It's about dinner time, it's about getting together with family, hearing stories, choosing your own placemat, talking about the pictures, the artwork, and of course how easily they can be cleaned after a messy dinner!
So after much anticipation, Jason Products have released my first set of placemats and coasters:
Bright and cheery! Anyone own a beach house? These would be great in a sunny kitchen or dining area! Currently the placemats are available in New Zealand and Australia. I also love some of their other new designs. Especially the Animal Collection and Seaside Memories. Think I might need to invest in a few extra sets!! If you're interested, contact Jason Products for information on stockists.
On a personal note, I wish Grandma & Grandpop Greig were still around. I think they would have gotten a real kick out of using placemats that featured my artwork! I'll enjoy it for them :)
It's going to be a merry Christmas this year!!! I'm teaching a Yuletide Alcohol Inks class at Erina Scrapbook Store on Wednesday 4th November from 7pm-9pm. We'll use the new Darkroom Door Yuletide rubber stamps and Adirondack Alcohol inks - which will make one very merry Santa!
If you'd like to book in, please call the store to secure your place: 02 4365 0770.
Hope to see you there!
I was reading a post on Mel's blog last week that shared a sewing instruction sheet for the Lazy Days skirt. Mel decided to have a challenge for her readers to create our own versions of the Lazy Days skirt. Since the skirt essentially doesn't need a pattern (because it's that easy) I decided to give it a go!
Zoë picked out the fabric at Spotlight (for $1.50! Bargain!) and I already had some white pom pom trim in my stash. So we were ready to go. It hardly took any time at all, and here's the result:
I wasn't sure whether the white ribbing above the pom poms should be on the outside or the underside, I'm sure both would be fine. We picked the outside to give it an extra edge.
If you'd like to see some of the other skirts, check out Mel's blog or look through the Oliver + S patterns Flickr group!
I've been busy this week and have created a bunch of black & white photo notecard packs and have added them my Etsy store. Here's a peek at them:
Floral Notecard Pack:
All cards are blank for your own message and are perfect to have on hand for yourself, or as gifts for friends, family, teachers, co-workers... anyone!
We're in the last week of our school holidays, and so far we have been to a wedding, a trip out to the country, visited Jenolan Caves, seen 'UP' at the movies, made a skirt for Zoe, installed another stamp press and have had a BBQ with friends. :)
Hope you're having a great week!
