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!!

Wednesday's Post WOYWW

Hi there...

From a very very hot Athens.....The photo I have today is of my balcony...I have taken my journalling box upstairs and I have spent the past 3 mornings journalling on my balcony with my morning coffee. I stay up there until about 10am...then it starts getting hot...
The page you see is a bad water-colour painting....waiting for it to dry so that I can journal around it...
If you want to eye out somemore crafty workspaces pop over to the  Stamping Ground to have a peek.
Oh yes... before I lof off I want to mention that I will be streaming this evening at about 22h00 on Zeffy Scraps
Keep cool.
Zeffy.

The Colors of Me...

Hi there my Friends.
Another Sunday has rolled by,this week my L.O. for CSI was finished yesterday. So without further ado here it is. Oh yes it follows on the previous L.O. you know the "I am Queen of my Castle" type of scene, the who am I? Kind of feeling....

A close-up of my flowers.

My page design was based on Elina's sketch on the Get Creative blog chaleenge, and my title was inspired by the word COLORS from Bird Is the Word.

Ok.Now something about how I set about making this L.O. I first cut out a circle on scrap craftstock and masked My Minds Eye paper using watered down Gesso. I then stitched around my circle (Darker grey as that was the circle that was masked) I then carefully cut around the circle with my craft knife and added 2 papers, pink is Echo Park and the music is a free downloadable from CSI.

Then I stitched a red border around my L.O. and painted the border with silver acrylic paint....took ages to dry and wrinkled my paper..

I made some flowers and added a lot of bling and Stickles

My journalling was done around the page and I have described some of the things about me eg. passion being the colour red...how I am usuallly positive and how sometimes I may not be so cool and charming as I am always dashing around trying to get stuff done to the best of my ability...ect ect....Some of the journalling in the circle is not visible, but that's ok as it is repeated in the border journalling..

Be postive and PASSIONATE.

Love Zeffy.

Yes it is WOYWW again!

Hi Ladies.
It is Wednesday again so it is time for me to share my desk with you again...
Last night I was a busy bee...I re-organized my acrylic and rubber stamps..
I had originally had them is plastic sleeves,but they were all bunching up into one corner and the file was all lopsided, then I thought to sew a sean down the centre of each sleeve so stamps would be in compartments...but that never worked as  they then just would slide out of the sleeves and land all over the floor....
Now I have found file pockets with studs, so each pocket closes...we will see how this work...the studs may drive me crazy...I want things to work quickly..I hate fussing around!

I did sew a seam down some of the pockets so that I can use them for my smaller stamps. See video for more details and a more in depth look at my enviroment.

After watching the video I have spotted my next project...I need to tidy up the pizza boxes with papers as well as that old white box with my dies...the one under the ribbon box!....it never ends..
Don't forget to pop over to the Stamping Ground and see what all my other friends are up to!
Have a good week.
Zeffy.

I am Zeffy....

Hi there Ladies..
Today I want to tell you a little about a L.O. that was almost trashed!!
Late on Sunday afternoon/evening  it gets dark here at about 9pm and that gets my South African mind a bit confused!!
Anyway it was my SIL birthday and I had spent the whole week-end making him a Notebook/Journal, see video at the end of post.
So when I got home I knew I wanted to scrap this photo that my uncle (6 years older than me) took of me when I was abot 13...his son had discovered it and had posted it on facebook a while back...and it triggered memories of my youth and how I felt about myself...

I always enjoy the challenges on Color Stories inspiration and I knew this photo would be perfect for the case file....I also knew I wanted to write and write a lot....so I treated this page almost like a journal..I wrote about how I was brought up in a classical old-fashioned way....I never got praised for anything and I was a good kid...believe you me..I looked after my siblings,behaved and I made endless platters of meze! And yet I  always felt shy, timid almost as if I was an inferior child....I was always the little Greek girl, different growing up in an S,African enviroment...never allowed on play dates nor school trips!!

One day at about 16 ...maybe even closer to 17 something just clicked!! And I thought well hell, why are these girls better than me??? I can do this, this and that and maybe even better...that is when the gate of my mind opened up and I allowed myself to become the princess that I was not allowed to be!!

I almost never posted this L.O. and I had no intention of blogging about it.....but I guess some things are just meant to be....You guys need to know that today I am Queen Z!! ( I still think this L.O. needs some work..but at least the story is told and that is what scrapbooking is all about!!!)

I am mistress of my home and family...I even wear a tiara when the housework drives me crazy and does not allow me to scrap....I wear it and say " I am the Queen of my castle."..and then I see how quickly I can get things done so that I can play!!

Thanks for reading this far......here is a video of my Son-In Law's Journal/Notebook. I did not photograph the project.

Thank-you for all of your lovely and kind comments in my previous posts,,they make me happy!
Keep well....
Love.
Zeffy.

WOYWW

HI...
I know it is late ...very late for WOYWW ...but it is still Wednesday here in Athens.

Yes, yes, my desk is completely rigged up for the photo today! Why you may ask? Well firstly I have just finished my mystery project...and was about to shoot the video.(No.1)
Secondly, I wanted to show you the two ATC's I have received...funnily enough the ones from very far have arrived first. Oh you all know that we did an ATC swap on Julie's Blog the Stamping Ground she also hosts Whats on Your Workdesk Wednesday.
As I was saying the 4 from the UK have not arrived but, (No3) Princess Judy from Arizona sent me 2 ATC's and they are both so special as well as a  little note and a post-card .
My second ATC (No 4) arrived from Cape Town, yesterday and this one is so special because I was born in South Africa and have seen elephants up close...Amazing creatures. Thank -you Belinda Basson your Atc is stunning and so is your card... feel bad as I did not send cards...I owe you one ladies!!
And last but not least in the corner of my desk there is a little photo booklet  sample made from re-cycled envelope( No2) that is a very interesting tutorial on Get Creative, I like to make little saples to have in my idea file.Take a look it makes a great quick gift!
Anyway Ladies that is all, I am basically all scrapped out after our marathon cyber-crop here in Greece...see my previous posts.
Good-night I am off to snoop around and see what fellow crafters all over the world are up to.!!
Hugs.
Zeffy

phew!!

Hi there girls ...today I am all scrapped out!!
After falling into bed exhausted last night I got up early this morning to make my last item for the Cyber challenge on Scrapbookers In Greece.
I am late in posting , as this evening we had a power failure, and my daughter Raphaella and I sat on the balcony in the dark and just chatted..no lights, no TV, no internet....a much needed break. And now blogger will not upload photos..so the post is written and waiting!!
Here are a few more things I made for the cyber crop.
This was for Katerina' challenge, she had drawn a page map.

This little booklet was made for Roulla's challenge, "to alter and decorate something."

This darling little bound book already has a home, as my sister was looking for a gift for a school teacher, so she decorated the inside pages this evening and hopefully Antrea's teacher will like it...she
loves butterflies, and this booklet had 2 on it...how is that for coincidence.
Anyway this booklet started its life as a spagetti box, I had started it at the crop on Saturday, I had added chipboard onto the cardstock, then painted it with Faded Denim Distress stain and the added a liberal dose of glitter, it was a challenge by the Greek Glitter Queen after all!!
I bound the interior of the book...and then decorated it with flowers and bling.

Happy Baby was made for Eleni's Bingo challenge I misted, added washi tape ,2 pattern papers and some flowers

My last project was this card with a window, which was Natassa's challenge, she wanted us to use a Smiley face...perfect.
These little people were designed by Faye, for Nino's Baptism invitation, so I used them, I made a card with a window so that I can also enter this card for the challenge at Get Creative.
Zeffy.
p.s.this post was written very late on Monday night!

It is me again...

Hi there again

Last year when we went to Scotland for the first time, a wish that I have had forever. I heard what was being planned for the Queens Jubilee, a huge pageant on the Thames, I decided that I would love to see such a spectacle. Unfortunately I did not manage to go to London to visit the Queen.Some details here

Last week as I watched on TV I knew I had to make a L.O. to commemorate the event.I am so lucky that the superb team on Color Stories Inspiration came up with a perfect challenge for case#22, and once again I must thank Michele Singh for her free printables, as I had no Britannia supplies in my stash!

I used Sketch#42 from Frosted Designs as a base, I hope  that the girls there like my take.

My page is a bit wonky as I painted and misted the music mask, I loved the music on the river.I also used 2 trims and 2 brads to the L.O.I  also had to have a bunting , did you see how good those vessels looked?

I need to leave you know so that i can go and work on some more challenges..

Keep scrapping.

Zeffy.

Sunday Morning

Hello Ladies.
Today I want to show you what I managed to make yesterday for our on-line crop at Scrapbookers in Greece
Here is the tag for Irini's challenge.

And here is my L.O. for Nektaria's challenge,she had challenged us not to use any scrapbooking supplies...so I used corrugated board from packaging,some baby wipes for my grass and paper from my misting box for my rhinos and my clouds and my flower..I also used my fingers to make my red little flowers...oh yes there also is a little 3D paste in the back-ground

The design of this Lo was inspired by the challenge on Get Creative that wanted us to be inspred by the sun.

OK I am off to make one or two more L.O.s
Love Zeffy!

Let's See Your ATC!!

Hi there my Friends.
Today is a super exciting day here in Athens, because Scrapbookers in Greece are having an on-line crop.
So today I am here to inspire you to make some ATC s to showcase your art....ATC is short for Artist Trading Card see here.
I like my cards to be dimensional and chunky...you all know I love flowers nd lots of embellishments!
I also like my cards to have a word and something metal on them.
Besides that you also know that I LOVE re-cycling or up-cycling as it is also called..so you will see candy-wrappers as well as daily ephemera such as stamps or othe images on some of my cards.
I did a USTREAM show on Zeffy Scraps last night, but I lost the recording...so I made this short video to show you the 2 ATCs I had made on the show.

Here are a couple of my ATCs that I recently made for a swap on the Stamping Ground

ATC.s I made last night.

And so I wish you all a creative week-end..if you have made an ATC that you want to share leave a comment and I will pop over to your blog and take a look..

Zeffy