"CURIO" Album

Hi there my scrapbooking friends,
Here are some photos of the album that I am making on my Greek Scrapbooking show Zeffy Scraps on USTREAM.
Lena from Enjoy Scrapping ask me to be a Guest Designer and create a mini from her shop's "Curio Kit'
I decided to stretch the 6 sheets of pattern paper to the limits and create an envelope album, the envelopes are 16X23cm, I as you can see I have not bound the album yet. I am planning to bind it with my Zutter Bind-It-All on my next show on wednesday.

I decided to keep all the pockets closed with the chipboard die cuts that were in the kit....everything that I used except for the envelopes,lace ,brads and fibre was from the kit.
Keep creating.
Zeffy

Greek Superstitions and Mondays.

Hi there Scrapbooking Friends..
My dear old Grand-mother, rest her soul, died  20 years ago at the ripe old age of 93....
She was a very practical woman ,who could do almost anything she set her heart on.She did a lot of embroidery and crochet work.
Anyway lets get onto the superstition part of my blog. This "Giagia" granny  used to tell me " Always start a new project on a Monday or a Wednesday,if you want it to be a great project."
So today is Monday and this is my new project!
A Fairy Guest Book for  Baptism in February...( I don't get the connection between fairies and Christian Baptisms...but that is a discussion for another day!)

Papers are Graphic 45 "Once upon a Springtime" the chipboard book and pages as well as the lazer cut papers and name are from Sfragidomania and the stamped fairies are acrylic stamps from Pergamano.

I wish you all a good creative and carefree week.

Love

Zeffy.

Greek Scrapbookers

Hi to all my Greek scrapbooking friends...
I hope that you are all having a great Sunday.
Just a quick posting to tell you that I will be streaming "live" on Zeffy Scraps on USTREAM  to-night at 20H30 and on Wednesday evenings at 21H00...I am currently working on a envelope mini album made from Basic Grey "CURIO" papers.
Come by for a chat.
Filia (kisses)
Zeffy.

Prima Mini

Hi girls..

The moment I received  my kit with the Prima Annalee Collection papers I knew that I had to make a mini for my neice Athina...the papers just reminded me of her!

I combined two chipboard minis from Sfragidomania, I used a flower page on the cover and I made a concertina mini for the inside of the book with the other flower page..

I also used  paper from previous collections namely Flights of fancy and Rasberry Tea Collections.

I started this Mini on my USTREAM show Zeffy Scraps, the first time the video would just not play, and during the second show,during which I recapped on every step, I had not pressed the record button!!

 So enjoy the video...I must have filmes this about 4 times...this mini did not want to be taped ! What can I say?

On Wednesday the 19th ( today! ) I will be streaming " live "on USTREAM. I will be making an envelope mini album, with a kit that was sent to me by my friend Lena from Enjoy Scrapping. So sign up, login, gather aroung your latest project and come and join as for an hour ot two.
Thats all for now.
Chat to-night.
Zeffy

Time for some Lay- Outs! edited..and added.

Good-Morning my Friends,
I was a busy bee yesterday,I made a  couple of lay-outs thanks to Kathryns' challenges on  one of my favourite sites The {Scrap}Beach Thanks Kathryn you always motivate me and I know I will always get a couple of projects done during your "CROPS"
(Just added and edited this post....Challenge # 1 ...has just been completed......here it is..My special place for my time)

I began with Challenge #6.....New Beginnings.....used Bo Bunny paper from my December kit,for this Christmas page.the title is from Teresa Collins

Challenge # 5 was Use it or Lose it!.....

I had this Die cut from Pink Paislee,Porch Swing in my stash since the beginning of 2010.in fact some of the little knobs had broken off, I have even lost one...can you spot the  empty space? The flowers I fussy cut off  GCD Studios,Melody Rose paper.

Challenge #4 ...Get 'Er Done.....

These next two L.O. I had started during a lesson at PACS,Paris, taught by Vicki Boutin , she is such a fantastic lady!! We glimmer misted the doily used it as a mask and then used the blue doiley... I had decided on a background paper and a photo as well as embellishment....what a perfect opportunity to finish off this project...thanks again kathryn! I had almost completed 'Pretty" I just blinged it up with Stickles and pearls and glitter gel pens for the next challenge.

Challenge # 3...Sparkle it Up!

Challenge #2.....I {Heart} the Beach!

I went a bit crazy with this one....coloured the background with aquarelle crayons used some gesso.Journalized(checked this word in the dictionary!),border punched, used tissue paper, ect....

Need to go...maybe I will have time for coffee and challenge #1!
I leave you all with this thought and maybe you can tell me what I do wrong....
"Why do we never have enough time to do what we LOVE to do???"
Keep happy and may you all have a great week!
Love Zeffy.

Simon says "Stamp!"

 Good Morning Ladies......Happy New year!!
I was feeling a bit flat after all the festivities.... as I browsed over at  Simon Says Stamp and Show  I was inspired ...at first I thought I don't have any new stamps....until I started looking through my stash, these are all my unstamped stamps!!! Not bad for someone that thought she had no "NEW" stamps!
SO ...I decided to make one or two elements for my New Year L.O. that I am planning to make today.
As is the rage over at the Scrap {Beach}I have been playing with toilet paper rolls!!

This is my take on a journaling pocket.....what I love about it is how easy the tags slide in and out.... I used the New Years Fiskars Stamp set that I won at PACS and a little random bird wood mounted stamp that I had. I embossed the champagne bottle in black and then coloured the image with glitter pens ..the fibre and pearls are meant to look like the champagne froth and bubbles.....I also embossed the birdie with Copper Kettle  embossing powder....I still don't know how I am going to use this little fellow..will see...........

That is all for now I must be off, to take down the Christmas tree and then if I have the energy to make my L.O.

Have a good week-end !

Love Zeffy.

Highlights from 2010...

Good Morning friends,

Happy, happy ,New Year to all of you, may it be filled with health and happiness and and hectic creativity!!!!

Now lets see ......the highlight from 2010 for me was Faye's wedding to my wonderful son -in-law Panagioti.

Here is a L.O made for a challenge at Crafty Croppersgr using only one sheet of paper...Mariposa.

Having my fantastic Hubby Pano  here with me everyday..

My son's Michael graduation in June......I used basic Grey and the placemat and business cards from the resaurant  Kozies for this LO .

Going to PACS Paris.....this was a month before departure date. 2010 was HECTIC to say the least.Oh yes and  confirmed this passed year that most scrapbookers including myself are really a little crazy...I confirmed this while lugging my huge, heavy suitcase, crammed with scrapping toys around the Paris metro!!!

A photo of my family that I still need to scrap.

And I was blessed to be with both my sisters at the same time twice this year!!!

So ladies, I drink to Family and Love....that is what scrapbooking is all about for me...a means of recording my family's trail through this life and a way to express myself and to find inner peace and a great satisfaction in creating.......and last of all Idrink to You...my new and old scrapbooking Buddies!

CHEERS!

WELCOME 2011!!

Something from Yesteryear

Hi there Ladies,
a quick post to show you what I made for Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.We had to make something from yesteryear, something that looks vintage. I had this birdcage ,so I decorated it to put on my balcony for Christmas eve. I used Prima Flowers plus some others from my stash, I  cut the little bird with a Sizzix die, using some Christmas paper with glitter on it, added the feathers and bling for its eye, I have cut 2 birds so it looks pretty from both sides. I then coloured the white pearls with some mushroom alcohol ink,to make them look old. I have wedged a charm under the lid of the cage and tied it with the white ribbon,that keeps the top from closing.
This was a very quick project ,it must have takem me half an hour, I made it just before my guests arrived.
Keep well, I am off to Cyprus at 6am tomorrow morning!
Love Zeffy.

Time to Give!

Hi there and a very Merry Christmas! I hope that have all had a magical day,with family ,good friends and food,hopefully you don't all feel as stuffed as I do!
This year for the first time I roasted a full suckling pig!! Poor Babe...I felt like a murderer...maybe I will post a picture of him on facebook....a before and after type of thing.

Anyway for the matter on hand...I made 3 broaches for my friend Chrystel she asked me for  a flower broach ages ago....I eventually made her 3, then I decided to decorate her card with the 2 of the broaches and her envelope with the 3rd...

I needed a big envelope and was about to make one when....my friend Irini on Get Creative got creative agin....thanks Irini  for being such an inspiration!
This is what I made. Oh yes and the Poinsettia was inspired by my hero Tim Holtz!

Anyway Ladies I wish you all a fantastic festive season full of joy, health and happiness......

Filakia Zeffy.

Flowers

This is what my table looks like, the left-overs  from my fabric flowers,maybe I will make one or two more, my Countdown-to Christmas Jouranl, getting filled up day by day, no place for it on my desk as that is strewn with a new project, my sewing machine is out as there is some sewing to do. Christmas shopping to do, grocery shopping to shop,cakes to bake, food to freeze....and most important of all, to help my son get organised and help him with his move to Cyprus for his first job....

As I had said in my previous post, the elves did come and help and my flowers are almost finished, I will add the finishing touches on the 23rd when I lay my table, and make an arrangement with my paper tree ( see previous post)and candles in silver candle-sticks and silver stars....will post pics.

These flowers were inspired by none other than the amazing Tim Holtz...he made the Poinsettia  on day 7 with the  Alternations Tattered Florals die.  I had some off-cut from one of my husbands Chino pants, I cut the shape ,then dipped them into plaster of paris,with some gold mica and shaped them...once they were dry I never liked the colour so mich so I painted them a little with gesso....
Once dry they were glued onto cereal box circles with the glue gun and glitter circles were added.....
The round flowers are a thin muslin, also dipped into Plaster of Paris and all scrunched up.with a tulle backing.

Tree Time Video

A quick video made on the spur of the moment whilst assembling my tree...I was not even sure that it would stand!! View Video More detailed instructions are in the previous post...
Now for the flowers!!!

TREE TIME

Hi gals this week-end a few of my scrap-buddies and I got together...this is what I started making amongst all the chaos and fun...a paper tree for my centre-piece on my Christmas table.

 I cut about 24 of these tree shapes from cheap drawing paper, I then diveded them into 4 stacks and sewed down the center of each.

I then took the inner tube of wrapping paper...we have ample of those these days!!And cut two strips that I folded and sandwiched between the two sections of tree....once the two pieces were stuck to each other  I also added a piece of steel cut of a coat-hanger for extra support then I stacked the 2 glued sections together...I had a pile of 4!.once that was done I just opened that up...and voila....you can see from the photo above that the paper tends to curt a bit.....so I added strips of cardstock at the bottom for some extra standing 'Feet"...see video which I will post in the course of today!!!

As you can see in the photo above I have pieces of fabric all around my tree.....I am hoping that the elves will appear this evening and turn those into beautiful flowers.....they will then add extra interest to my table...we will see..

Bye for now...must fly busy, busy ,busy!!

A Quick Mini Album

Hi there Ladies
Join me this afternoon Wednesday 8th at 4pm on USTREAM to make a quick mini album for a friend.This album is embellished with Tim Holtz Idea-ology and Alterations embellishments. Linda Elbourne demonstrated this mini at one of her lessons at PACS and I loved it so much, that i decided to make another for a good friend for Christmas.
See you there....the show is in usually in Greek,but if we have any non Greek speaking guests I will broadcast in English..
Love
Zeffy

I AM Zeffy and I LOVE to Scrap!!

Hi ladies,
yes after a week-end in Paris at PACS I have decided that I love to scrap !! 3 days of cutting ,tearing painting and glueing...and I loved every minute! I chose a very full programm, I decided seeing that I am there I may as well learn as much as I can, so I chose lessons in mixed media and some painting ,two things that I would like to continue implementing into my work, two mediums that I am not familiar with.
My first teacher was Nathalie Kalbach, imagine we used paper that she designed!!You can see her name at the bottom of my canvas. Nathalie was super friendly and funny too ,a lovely humour that immediately set the tone of her class, she encouraged us to explore and express ourselves...so this is who I am and the things I love...I love to express myself, travel, romance,laugh,and I love trees and Iwish I could put them into a cage and protect them...especially here in Greece where burning trees seems to be a national passtime!Please note the pre-menopausel, thin I wannabe me...ha ha!
Nathalie is also a Tattered Angel demonstrator so we did a lot of glimmer-misting too...

The next canvas I have posted for the lovely Sophia whom I met in  Julie Fei Fan Balzer clas, amazing how you get to meet such lovely people...check out Julie's blog lots of pictures of Pacs there...So anyway this is a self potrait of me the first I have painted since junior school...a good 40 years ago..Julies class was also very interseting we first collaged our canvas with gel medium and paper scraps, a great way to use all those left-overs and then we learned the basics of potrait painting Da Vincis' golden rule of thirds or should I say PHI , ok I am rambling now, Julie did not go into such detail she just showed us how to divide our oval and position all our facial features,and then also how to highlight and shade our image....a far way I have to go to discover the real Zeffy!

I think that this is enough for now...I have much more to share...so join me on Zeffy Scraps on USTREAM on Monday 6 December at 21H00 and get ready so that we can make a mini for you ladies to give away as a Christmas gift.
have a lovely week-end and remember to have fun!
Filia
Zeffy

Paris PACS here I come!!!

HI there ladies,
My bag is packed ...I don't know how i am going to lug it onto the trains!!! I have re-packed it 3 times!!! Only to take out a paint brush or 2 ,a steel ruler and a track-suit...lets not forget that the max. temp is 4degrees! and the venue is in a forest...who know how warm our rooms will ??
I wanted to look smart in Paris but how chic can one look with snow boots and a waterproof jacket?

This is a photo of one of our my projects.

I will be srteamiing when I get back, I will post day and time on tuesday,then I can show and tell you all about our adventure.
keep well.
Will chat next week.
ps. please excuse this odd post but its 1:28am and I am exhausted!

Let the Countdown Begin!

This is what my daughter Raphaella is saying" I wish it was the first of December!" Why?  Even though  she is 20 years old ,she still LOVES Advent Calenders and has  had one, every year, ever since she was 2!When Irini from Get Creative asked me to do an advent challenge for November, I knew that I had to make something for Raphaella, so I made her a Matchbox House, here it is. She is dying to tear the first opening to reveal what the matchbox has inside......

I don't have many Christmas paper, but I did have a pack of 15x15 Websters Holiday Collection Combo pack, and I thought it would be perfect to decorate the house...so I started cutting away...bliss I had so much fun! Here are some details........

I used my Nestabilities ClassicScalloped rectangles to cut the window and the door details. I added a Basic Grey brad for a doorknob.I added Transparency to all the windows to give the glazed effect and I also stamped the chandelier and added ribbon and lace to the windows to create a real effect. If I had a smallish dress form I would have used it for the attic window, but I don't so I settled with a stained glass effect,with some left over Graphic 45 paper ,a flower brad and some Sepia Glossy Accents

was looking for a fence in fact I asked a couple of friends, for a die,but to no avail, so when I saw the fence dies at the opening of Sfragidomania I thought there is a God...and then when  I saw the little key dies I was ecstatic!! This is what I  did with them.

For the detail on the other side I cut out the tree and birdhouse, coloured the birds and covered them with Glossy Accents,  for some definition, I also used Stikles on the Christmas Tree and on the Holy and some of the roses. 

                                       

I have left the back for last, even thought I finished the back of first...this is what I did....I first added ribbon tags on each box so as to pull open easier, then I added the little something into each box.....#25 has the main part of her christmas presant in it.I stacked and glued boxes together leaving 6 for the roof.I then drew there shape onto the back of the Jillibean  paper and serrated 3 of each side of each box and punched a hole at each box too,  I wanted a way to seal the boxes so as no cheating could happen. Once all this was done I stuck the paper onto the sides of the boxes and  also to the sides and top of the house.

Once that was done I covere the side of the remaining 6 boxes and the stuck them together to form the roof and then I stuck the roof structure onto the main body of the house with masking tape.I then cut out rectangles of Prima Annalee,Parlour and trimmed them with my Fiskars border punch to make the roof  look "tiled"

I then added the little bird and some icicle dies as well as some wool to give a snowy effect.

I also decorated the house with some ribbon to make it more dimensional and I also did some finger stamping to give the walls some texture, Lastly I added some roses.......

Make one its fun!

I will stream tonight at 9pm at  Zeffy Scraps USTREAM so as to answer any questions, this show will be in English so as to accomodate my English speaking readers as well.

Keep well.

Love Zeffy

Gate- Fold Mini

Hi there ladies,
I have not been aroung much as I have had a lot on my plate recently. Anyway things are on track now, still have a lot to do but I will get there.
The videos of my first gate- fold mini, are just before this post so scroll back to see them or click here for PART 1. and PART 2 It is rather big and chunky,maybe I should have used a different binding! I used a lot of Pink Paislee papers as well as some Basic Grey,7 Gypsies and Bo Bunny.
I have not even had a chance to photograph it so the video will have to do for now. The video has two parts...enjoy.
I have also just finished a very exciting project for Irinis' blog Get Creative so keep a look out for the next post!!
I am going to PACS in Paris on the 25th of November ,so a lot of things need to get prepared, I have also started a new mini album so join me on Zeffy Scraps on USTREAM on Sunday the 14th  at 9pm so that you can have a chat and take a loook at what I am up too...
Be happy, love
Zeffy.

S.A. Surprise Part 2

S.A. Surprise- part 1

Its almost Christmas.

Hi there  Friends.
I wish you all a very good month...
I was very honoured when Irini from Get Creative asked me to be the Guest Designer  for November. And the challenge for this half of the month was to make a Christmas Card.
I have always said that for commercial purposes to make Christmas more attractive to all Christ has been taken out of the picture so we have the word Xmas....and X can be all sorts of other things.
So when Irini asked me to make a card I started looking for a picture of the birth of Christ....thats whats its all about!!
I decided to draw onto our rich Orthodox heritage  and make a card depicting the Nativety  of Christ.
I had a sketch that the Nuns at the Monestry of the Dormition of theTheotokos in Panorama, Thessaloniki gave me, they use these big sketches 20x30 for  their iconography classes. So I scanned and shrunk it down to 10x15 and then printed it on matt photo paper.

Once I printed my image I coloured the halos with gold paint. For the patterned paper I used Graphic45 Renaissance Faire Collection, Awakening and for the solids I used Core Color Core'dinations. The little title is stamped and heat embossed with gold.
I wish you all a very creative November...its going to be a busy month!!!
I will be streaming on USTREAM on Wednesday evening at 21H00.I will be making Christmas tags.Join me.
Talk again later..
love Zeffy.