It is Wednesday again!!

Hi there....
The weeks are flying by in a complete whirl for me....
It is wednesday again and as you all know by now I love to share my messy desk on WOWW over at Julie's blog.
My life has been in a complete chaos since I have come back from Lesvos, I went to Scraptastic 2013,and now I have full house here, seeing that my Hubby and son are home including my FIL...

My desk is in total dissary....I have the begining of a L.O. for Case File 40 for CSI all worked out...but never had time to put it together...it is still waiting...
The vellum paper is from a friend Roulla,,,re-cycling at its best, you can spot some shopping, new stamps and some ATC glue, the left-overs from yesterdays card ect ect...oh yes plus a lovely carved heart from my hubby...will give you a close up next week....

I have being drooling over the retro trolley at IKEA for my journalling stuff, but 46 Euros was a bit too steep for me, so I settled for this cheep trolley for 9.99....not 100% happy but I guess it will have to do for now...I have just thrown in everything .....need to sort it out a bit more....can you spot my new Pan Patels??
Here is a photo of the cake my daughter Raphaella made for my DH...she is making these cakes on order...my hubby had difficulty cutting his cake...at first....

That is all for now ...have a wonderful Wednesday...I am off for lunch with the Familia!!!

Love.

Zeffy

 

 

Birthday!

Hi there Dear Friends,
Yes I have been an absent blogger, but life has been hectic!
Yes I went to Scraptastic 2012 in Belgium, yes I do have photos ,but no I.will not post them today.
Today is my darling Hubbies' BIRTHDAY and as you all know he works far away from home as does my son.And...they are both home!!
Yesterday we went over to our eldest daughter's home, Faye said" Dad come get your Pressie...it is too big for me to bring."...so this huge box was in the middle of the lounge with a ginormous red bow on it.
SURPRISE surprise, the girls had wrapped our son Michael in the box, and that was Pano's gift, all 3 of them had paid for an airline ticket so that Michael could spend time with us over Pano's birthday.

This is the birthday card I have just made for him, he is out at the moment, and Raphaella is downstairs creating an awesome cake for him.....promise you lots of photos in my next post.
I used the sketch from the October 15th challenge at Get Creative,hope you like it...
Keep well.
Zeffy

September Comes To An End

Hi there fellow bloggers..
I am writing this post from my daughters pc..my laptop is out of order yet again...so so frustrating.
Anyway this is the end of September,  the end of a very special month for me, as it is my birthday month, and I also had fun being a Special Investigator on CSI this month.
You may also know that during September  CSI playing along with Once Upon A Sketch
So the sketch is from OUAS and the color combo and evidence as well the testimony is from CSI.
As you can see this L.O. has a photo of a church altar....it is a long story .

Why did I choose this photo??

Firstly, this was the setting of my GS's baptism you can see the font in the foreground, flanked by 2 Basil plants .

Secondly, the week that I made this L.O. I was humbled and inspired by this amazing book by Judith MacNutt called Angels are for real The church with this beautiful altar is in the village of Taxiarches, the village gets the name from the church which is dedicated the the Archangel Michael. Both my FIL and my darling son are named Michael.

Thirdly, the colors o the icons on the altar were perfect for this Case File 39.

And so this L.O came to be....

 

I have used most of the suggested evidence, even though you only need to use two..
I have leaves, in my masked misting, and in my clusters.
There are 3 stars tucked around the L.O lets see if you can find them!
Lots of bits and pieces, my bling is re-cycled jewellary, I have crochet flowers,gems and diecuts.
I have wings.
One of my photo mats has some printing on it...not exactly a book page,but an inspiration nevertheless....
My journaling is in a frame,and it is about a lesson that I need to learn over and over again.It reads
"A lesson to remember each and every day BE HUMBLE! It is the essence of being a good Christian."

That is all for now my dear friends, I am going to the island of Aegina I will be spending time with scrapbooking friends on Saturday afternoon and the whole of Sunday....what fun...I still need to decide what I am going to make while I am there...I do not function very much in company...I talk too much and spend too much time watching what others are making...

Actually I need to unpack and then pack again......oh just  a little secret before I log off ....I am going to Scraptastic 2012 next week end.!!!....

I am SO blessed!

Love.

Zeffy

Home-Time.

Hi there Ladies.
Yes I am finally packed and I have taken a break from laundry to add my post for WOWW.
I also finished my L.O. for Scrapbookers in Greece last night.
I do mention in my L.O. that this Island,Lesvos has become home from home for me after visiting it during the 30 years of my marriage.
My secret journaling at the back if my tag also mentions some words about my dear FIL again.

My bags are pretty much packed up...I have my tool caddies handy and a basket with my Explore booklet ,see Shimelle's online classes, hopefully I will get some pages done this evening before I sail....that is if I do !! (we have strikes here again!)

Unlike my previous L.O. this one came together chop chop chop!! I knew exaclty what I wanted to do with it!!

Oh yes,yesterday I went to the local antique (junk) shop and I found these torn Drachma notes....is it defacing currency to use them on a L.O.???

My tag pulls out...I used a seahorse as a stop, so that the tag does not slip under the photo completely.  

My MIL would always refer to my children as seahorses because as babies they a wanted to stant up straight all the time.

Talk again later...WOWW  Ladies I will get to your desks this afternoon...
Zeffy

My Sweet Heart

Hi there .
Today I would like to share 2 projects with you.
Let us start with my Sweet Heart, my Son-in law took these photos and  I knew I had to scrap them.
Get Creative has a 3 photo L.O  as a challenge this month....and so my problems began, unlike some of my friends I very seldom have a pre-conceived idea of exactly how my L.O will look...I battled with the concept for most of Saturday, at sunset,after achieving absolutelly zilch, I just packed everything up! Over the week-end besides making a Mini Album, I was surfing the net and  I clicked onto Shimelle's blog and she had a post called" Scrapbook Starting Points"....and yes,that was that! I relooked at my papers...found something I loved and voila this is what I came up with.

I did not have any appropriate embellies,so I customised some die cuts and proceeded to make the rest with odds and ends.
Here is the mini that I made on Sunday I used old Prima Paper... see the video below for more details.
It is super easy...give it a try....and show us...

Well ladies...I am off I want to finish one more L.O. before I start packing,
Keep well...oh and remember tomorrow is WOWW so stay tuned.
xx
Zeffy

Coffee Anybody?

Hello fellow Crafters.
September is rolling by, it is starting to ger cooler here in Greece, I am still in Lesvos and I am still having my daily swim even though the water is getting a little chilly....don't know about today...I had to cover myself with a blanket last night? Will see late on.
This is my 3rd week as Special Investigator at CSI and I decided to make a L.O. about how I love my coffee, my hubby spoils me with coffee in bed, my best!!
And because CSI is playing with Once upon a Sketch this month I used Nadia's interesting sketch, as seen below.

I loved the sofy muted colors of this weeks' Case File#38. I used papers from My Minds Eye"Follow your Heart" and Websters Pages for this L.O.

Evidence used:
Birds ,flowers,china (Thanks Eleni for the cups!)

The bird washi tape is my own as is the one flower with the metal brad.
My Testimony tells about our coffee routine and uses the words,daily and together.
"Pano now that you are away, I miss you so much. I miss our early morning coffee in bed and our chats.I miss our afternoon coffees on the balcony. I miss how we would sit together with a good cup of  cuppuccino! You would read your paper and I would surf the net.But i await in hope,soon you will be back."
It is 06H30 ......time for coffee
Ciao for now.
Zeffy

My workdesk today....

Hi there my Friends,
It is amazing how time flies...it is almost the end of September and soon we will be unpacking our Christmas decorations.
It is my last week on the island and I will be returning to Atheerns and my craft area...
Here is my little table....I am late in posting this as I went down to town today.....I visited the 1 euro shop and bought some harware, as you can see, I also found some jewellary at a good price....As you can see I printed some photos too, I am begining Explore today one of Shimelle 's lessons...I know it is a bit late, but better late than never.

Yesterday I made a video of my crafting area here in Lesvos....It is rather funny as you see me, more than my area and my camera also goes flying on one or two occasions! Then again it was balanced on a detergent bottle, what does one expect?

If you want to see more work areas why don't you pop over to Julia'sblog...the desks there are definately more tidy than mine.... That is all for now, I am going to take a quick look at my new magazine and have a cup of tea on the balcony before I begin my Explore Book. Keep crafting. Love. Zeffy.

Its My Birthday

It's my Birthday and I can Scrap if I want to!

 Hi there Friends, it was my birthday at the beginning of this month and I decided to scrap about me this week...
I decided to treat this L.O. like a journal page, I also wanted to use the napkins that my daughters' bought to decorate the lunch table, on the day of my ?? Birthday, as a background for my L.O.
As you all know I am a Special Investigator on Color Stories Inspiration this month, and you must also  know that CSI has teamed up with Once Upon A Sketch for this month...so its double the challenge!!

It is a well known fact that I am the worlds worst hoarder! I also love to up-cycle so this Case File was up my alley! I have used 5 pieces of packaging on this L.O. plus the napkins!!

My table before starting

The creative process.

1.White Cardstock that I masked with a plastic "lace" tablecloth bought in the town of Mytilene.
2.Fussy cut flowers off my napkin.determined where I would place them.
3. Shaded the area behind my flowers with blue.Then I glued down the flowers with CH multi-
medium
4.I had painted white canvas with red...then I masked with white 3D paste and re-painted the canvas.
5.The blue leaf is also from the napkin, I mounted it onto white cardstock.
6. I matted my photo with the diamond pattern paper cut from shopping bag from a local accessory
shop. And above that you will see a piece of acrylic that came from the packaging of a ccellular
phone cover.
7. The plastic with the blue diamonds shapes acts as a pocket for my tags.......well when I opened a new pack of Feta cheese this was on top of the cheeese....I thought wow this colour is perfect for CF#37!! So I washed and kept it. I trimmed it down considerably.
8.I doodled my border with a white and black markers. I have also doodled a little on my tags...my journaling is on my tags.
9.I used pieces of bookpages on my background, I covered them with a light coat of gesso.
10. Lastly I added some die cut damasks,I added my chocolate wrappers and my hand-made flower and a little bit of lace and 2 vintage buttons to complete my L.O.
Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. i also would like to thank you for all of your sweet comments.
Keep well.
Zeffy

It's My Birthday

 



Adore You

Hi there my Friends
I want to share a quick L.O.that I made this morning, the photos that I used are not very good, but I wanted to scrap them because they capture the emotion on my DH face.
Our baby Nino almost looks like a little girl here.....these photos were taken at the reception after his Baptism. It was very hot so he is dressed in his under-garments.

My Husband Pano is working in South Africa and he and lots of our family joined us for the occasion, of our Grand-Sons' Baptism ,it was a highlight of our summer holidays.

I thought that these photos would be perfect for CSI Case File # 35 I decided that the Baptism was the Highlight of our summer!
I used the sketch from Sketches with a Twist we needed to use embossing on our L.O....I have used dry embossing on the top and bottom details. I will be joining Scrapping Outback too, who knows I may win some spending money!

Now for the details of the L.O. I wanted this project to be clean and simple....

 One only has to use 2 scraps of evidence for CSI but, I like to use as many as I can so I used beads,  my one flower is made of beads, flowers, a photo corner, hearts, I did not use starfishes, but I used a fish instead as a fish symbolises Christianity.For my testimony I documented an inportant event of the summer of 2012 as well as random facts about the day!
In case you were wondering my friend Irini makes and sells the crochet flowers on her Etsy shop...
I wish you all a peaceful Sunday evening and all of the best for the week ahead.
God Bless.
Zeffy

Special Investigator for CSI

Hi there Friends.

Today I am very honoured to tell you that I was asked to be a Special Investigator on Color Stories Inspiration for the month of September.

We will be working with sketches from Once Upon A Sketch so we have twice the challenge this month.
As you all know I really enjoy taking part in the CSI challenges and I find them very, very stimulating as I always have to think out of my comfort box!!
This week I chose a photo of my Nephew and God-Son, Peter  it was taken on holiday last August.....ok I am a year behind on scrapping some memories....it happens to the best!

I used My Minds Eye paper "Follow Your Heart" I selected this paper because of the colour  and of the "net"shape. I like to use as much of the evidence as I can on a L.O

Evidence: Mesh, shown in the paper, stamping and scrap of lace.

                  Letters, stamped onto my Bazzilll to make a background paper

                  Fibres, frayed ribbon and cord.

                  Tone on tone, papers backing my photo match Peters' top.

                  Embellishments that float, my title is propped up and my frame and heart float
                  off my page,lets not forget the balloons.

Testimony: I selected some of the letters from the inspirational photo to inspire my title.

"Be Amazing"

My Acrostic reads. PETER

Ponder,persevere and persist. But,above all be passionate!
Energy positive energy is what it takes....
Think and follow your heart,
Elect what is good for you and dare to be amazing
Remember you are special. You are PETER!

It will be fun to see you play with us on CSI I dare you to take up the challemge and have you join us on this fun Case File.

Zeffy.

My Holiday Workspace

Hi there dear Friends, especially the followers of WOYWW.....I have been negelecting my poor blog....why?  I am still on the island of Lesvos and I think that my poor FIL must be rather tired of us by now....
Suffice is to say that I have had a HECTIC August, my family was together,my hubby ,my son and my 2 sisters and their families as well as my daughter and her in laws ,some friends from America and the UK....we baptised my Grand Son and now  that things have calmed down and I can at last take half an hour to post and show you my workspace here.....I have claimeded the little nook in the lounge, if it is not windy I open the door and scrap watching the stunning view.

All the crafters that  follow Julie's blog The Stamping Ground love to see what we are up to. Well I work on this tiny table and I am about to start a L.O. using re-cycled materials the blue checked plastic is from a feta cheese tub and I also have a shoe box from my grand-sons'shoes as well as some acetate from a cellular phone packaging.

Hopefully I will make a video of my area in the next few days ,I did pack lots of things this year,I had great intentions! But it is so pleasing to just sit and gaze at the scenary and just chat with my daughters and play with the baby!!
Kisses.
Zeffy

Holiday Fun

Hi there Friends.
I have been having a fantastic frantic time with my sisters and their families. We all met up in Lesvos Greece for a reunion and for the baptism of my Grand-Son.My whole family was together, as well as close friends....our daily group consisted of just over 30 people...frantic I tell you.

Today I decided I needed to scrap.....my sisiters are playing Scrabble.
This L.O. is inspired by Case File 33 from CSI I love taking the challenge....and I used the sketch from Sketches With A Twist. I twisted up the sketch a little.

I used acetate for my swirls so that added a transparednt watery elemeny to my L.O. I used white embossed paper for my background that I masked and  misted and  I also added some acrylic splatters.
This photo was taken by my sister Vickie as I was holding on to a boat.
My journaling reads  "3 Facts. 1. I first saw the sea at 13. It was in Port Elizabeth.S.A The Indian Ocean. 2. I was 18 the second time I saw the sea. I discovered the Aegean. 3.I love the sea it is in my blood, it is part of my DNA. It is my heritage.

Here is a photo of the youngers on the boat and one of my two sisters.

 

That is all for today ladies, the company is calling, I will be back with some photos of the Baptism.
 

Baby Boy Panos.

Hi there Friends.

As you all know I am visiting my FIL in Lesvos…..we had internet at the house here, but for the sake of economy for the months that we are not here, my FIL dis-connected it and they told him no problem, we could ask to reconnect with 3 days notice.…..no chance….there are no more internet lines in our area…the hairdresser down the road has been waiting for 5 months…..can you believe it…so no I am on the net with a mobile stick…..I have no clue how long my 10gbites will last…..

I have not done much scrapping….only one L.O this week…yes, you guessed it is for CSI this one gave me a hard time…..and I need to work on my DRIP technique…in fact I do not have a DRIP technique…and tips? I used the July sketch from Get Creative

This cute little guy is my darling hubby Panos…I found these photos here at the house and I had to scrap them...my back-ground paper is Pinkpaislee,  London Market “Royal Charm” I first used some Lindy’s for my drips….then decided on some Gesso….a no no..( it picks up the mist) then I added more drips, but did not like colour, nor  the shape…then I sprayed some Tattered Angels “Lily Pad” mist and more Lindys…then I added some Distress Ink….Vintage Photo and Victorian velvet…Long story….

Oh, by the way for my evidence for childlike things I used a sheet of paper that I downloaded from Garreth Smith, it has an advertisement for Vintage toys on it. I also used some metal brads and a hinge  die-cut from  Sizzix, Ideology, that I colored with some Lindys “Tawny Turquoise” Even though you only need use 2 items of evidence I like to go overboard…so I distressed like crazy and used a scrap of ribbon under my flower too…..For my testimony I wrote what a cute baby boy my DH was and how when I met him when I was 19 I never ever thought that I would marry him…he became my best friend and I fell deeply in love with him…..I also mention how people love to confide in him and how he makes all of our  lives  beautiful!

Here is the full moon from yesterday...you do know that we are going to have a Blue Moon at the end of this month??

Keep cool.Be Romantic.

Zeffy.

Hi there Friends.

Firstly, excuse my absence, I have been on an internet detox for this week….no internet here at my FIL ‘s house…I am writing this at a WIFI cafeteria….hopefully we will have internet at home by MONDAY…otherwise I may start pulling out my haiR!!!

Here is a L.O. of my dear Father-in-Law, I took this photo one morning last August after his swim. He loves swimming in fact he swims in the sea the whole year round! I have been joining him at 7am each morning!!! In fact he told me yesterday that it is time for him to throw away his beloved hat…it has a big hole in it!!

My L.O. was inspired by CSI...Case File 29. When I saw Michele’s distressed woodgrain paper I knew it would be perfect for the weathered look of my photo. So that took care of two pieces of evidence, then I rolled some striped paper into straws to use as embellishments….I had to use the sprig of flowers because my FIL often tucks Basil or Lemon Verbenia behind his ear….he has also come home with Origanum behind his ear, after his jogs.

I used a little bit of music in the background because he loves to dance. In fact he has so much energy, Bless him that he have nic-named him Duracel

I have used the Top 10 list to name a few of his many endearing characteristics.

 My journaling reads. “Papou you have always been the driving force of our sumers in Lesvos. You are the one that plans our daily excursions. The first to get into the sea and to go for long swims, you always choose the best place for us to eat and have high expectations! You have the energy to go jogging on warm summer evenings and even go cycling. You still take spare shirts with you to dances because you dance all night and need to change out of your wet shirt!

You are the driving energy of our family. You achieved your lifelong dream and built this amazing home for us at the age of 75! You know what you want and you achieve it!”

That is it for now people…I am off …I need to keep up!

have a great day!

Love Zeffy

Hot hot hot.....

Hi there Folks.
It has been super hot in Athens so I have not done much scrapbooking!
Yesterday I scrapped with friends and I made this L.O. of my sweet sweet Grand-Son.
I used  CSI Case-File #28.My sketch is from The Studio Challenges.Sketchy

This is one of many photos taken by my SIL during baby's bath time....such a Silly face...the journaling reads "Mummy in this day and age,us babies should have goggles to wear when having our hair washed!"

As you can see I did a lot of painting and stamping as I did not have many papers in my stash to match..the little wooden embellie at the bottom of the page is made by me!

Greetings...I need to go and finalise my packing, my next blog post will be from Lesvos....maybe we will do some USTREAMING too.
Keep Cool.
Filakia.
Zeffy.

Son By Choice

Hi there Ladies and Gents.
Today I want to share a L.O. that I made with the last few photos that I still need to scrap from my daughter's wedding! Yes is was a 2 years ago...and I still need to get them all into an album!!
I used Case File #26 from CSI as an inspiration.I also used Melenia's sketch from Get Creative even though I changed it up a little.....you know me!

Background paper is from Prima "Songbird Collection" and the other 2 papers  and the canvas resist flowers I sprayed with my Lindys and my Tattered Angels sprays...

I hace some translucent flowers and some home-made flowers in my spray as well as a little die-cut crown ...Prima I think.

I crackled my Fleur-de-Lys using balck acrylic paint as a base and the Cool Peri Dabber on the top then I accented it with a metal fleur-de lis.

Keep cool. I am off for a little dip in the pool...the beaches are too hectic on a Sunday .

Love Zeffy.

P.S. thanks Eleni(Guru) for my clever title!

Better Late Than Never!

Hi....
I am all over the place this week..not up to anything very special...I have a L.O. that I made last week-end to share.
I was inspired by CSI:Color,Stories,Inspiration Case file NO 26 and the L.O.was put on the Watch List! I am so happy.
Well it started like this.....MY Favourite photo from last year...and things that I pulled from my stash that I could potentially use.

I used blue cardstock as my base and a sheet of the free downloadables that Michele Singh designs for CSI.

I knew I wanted clouds, they were part of the evidence so I randomly added some with some white 3D paste and a spatula...what gave me the biggest headache was the photo of the statue of Robert the Bruce...I wanted to use it, believe me I had it placed all over the place!! At the end I fussy cut it  and placed it in the Garden...even though at Sterling it stands outside the castle gates!

I did not have a leaf die so I stamped the leaves using the Dylusions "Doodle Parts"stamp and fussy cut the leaves....on Sunday at the crop I die cut 4 more stems...you can see they are different...

I used my Martha Steward punch for the little gold railing that is heat embossed gold. I used the brick paper and embossed it with an Alterations embossing folder and then I inked the bricks a little too.

The "washi"tape at the bottom of the page is made by me.. I liked the design it added and architectual feel to the L.O. as did the lace under the leaves.

Here are a few photo of the crop at Perahora, near Corinth...thank-you Amalia and Co. for an amazing day!

I had to go and rescue my L.O out of Amalia's craft room...she wanted to keep it...Amalia your project from me is coming( had to promise her one in order to take back my L.O!!)

Stella taking amazing photos of the day....we each made a page for Joanna that is leaving for Chicago.(lady looking at me) I will show you the album we compiled for her in my next post.

Eleni our Guru -or Guru Gonzales fromSpeedy Gonzales...taking a break after finishing her 4th or maybe even 5th L.O.of the day! I lost count...ps.I have just seen that Eleni has posted pics of the album oon her blog.But First I...

Thats it ladies....wishing you a great week-end ...keep cool it is going to reach 37 degrees in Athens!!
Love.
Zeffy

Wednesday here again...WOYWW

Hi there Dear Friends.
Yes it is time for WOYWW once again...so if you have 15 minutes to spare pop over to Julia's blog and have a look at what everybody is up too.

Yesterday I played a little, making some new things and trying some new techniques, I made a pocket/box with some of TimHoltz's craft Paper Stash( it is standing in the back-ground) I am not happy how the paper  goes when misted it gets very wonky...I also made a tag  inspired by Finnabair on the Sizzix blog, I also used an ATC for mopping up mist,and you can see my junk journal in the corner that helped mop up some of the odds and ends too.

Tag has a Distressed Doily from Alterations on it as well as some micro beads and beads.

Have a great day.

Zeffy

P.S. Remind me to buy a new craft mat...mine is looking bad!!