Lying Low

Hi there Dear Friends...
I have had a bad time these past two weeks...My Dear Dad passed away on the last day of November on his Feast day....His name was Andrew...
That is the reason I have not been around...today I forced myself to go to the crop held at Efi's home, we had a great time...Efi and her hubby Costa were perfect hosts, thank you guys! I am blessed to have such fantastic scrappy Friends....and I am going to share Eleni's photo off Facebook.
Efi is the lady in grey sitting at the bottom of the photo.

 

I have not done much scrapping,I did however begin my December Journal .  It has started on a sad note, but I guess this is what my December is all about!

I have as yet to decorate my home...Maybe tomorrow Raphaella and I will put up one or two decorations...I don't know if a tree will feature this year...

And to leave you with something creative....

Here is a photo of some of the altered dominoes that a made a couple of weeks back.

 

 

Keep well..enjoy this special time with family and friends......they are special.

God Bless.

Zeffy

 

P.S. Christina thank-you for the perfect gift I received from you in the Secret Santa...I loved your hand-made flowers, trims and most of all thank-you for sharing your precious Websters Pages with me!!

What's On your Workdesk Wednesday #182

Hi there WOWW Ladies and Gents...
This week has just flown by and I missed last Wednesday completely...
Short post as I have just started my December Daily...I am making it large this year!!

Here is a pile of things I have on my desk today....  I started this album at PACS Paris in 2009, with a lesson from Flo the Kit was called Etoile Blue Marron....I only made the covers in the class...So, now I am going to wing it and add lots of space for my Journal for December...and I also have to make a lot of Christmassy embellies, including Numbers as I have nothing in this color scheme...do you think I have bitten off more than I can chew??

Last year I followed Journal your Christmas with Shimelle I made a 10x15 cm Mini,,,,,it had too many pages ...so I made 2 minis that I bound in a long box...

Here is the top half.....
Anyway in a big rush today and I have no time to post more pics...pop over to Julia's blog to check out lots of crafty desks...
Kisses Zeffy

What's Funny???

Hi there Friends..

Yes life is funny indeed ...or should I say slightly strange and out of our control.
I started this L.O. yesterday at about lunch time....I knew my title and my journaling before I started..
I completed this L.O.late last night.with a very heavy heart...maybe the color purple is apt??
My dad who lives in Pretoria, South Africa, is very ill....I was on the phone with my sister all day yesterday...and now too.....Anyway we always live in hope, for the best.

Back to scrapbooking.....I decided to play a little in my home garden this week, so I took up the challenge at Scrapbookers In Greece and wrote about something that makes me smile and used their sketch.
You all know that I am addicted to CSI so I used Case File No.46.too.

This photo was taken one day when we were all at the beach this summer...both my sisters and our families...a big crowd, believe me....almost everybody was swimming, I was dog-sitting with my sister Vickie...Winston, said dog was very restless...I let him go and he walked around and onto most of the deck chairs...had a good smell and eventually settled on Raphaella's chair...No he is not her dog, she loves him, yes, but she loves a clean beach towel too....we thought it was funny she did not!!

For my evidence I used the grid pattern, I painted and I used texture....( My background is masked and misted,gessoed, 2 layesr, has tissue paper decoupaged onto it, is re-painted, inked ,and re-masked,and re-gessoed and re-painted!!) My translucent element is the vellum element....one only needs to use 2 pieces of evidence,but I like to go to town!!.
Keep well .....
Zeffy

My Little Cherub.

Hi there people in Blogland...
I hope that you are all very well...
Imagine my surprise when I popped into CSI to check out the colors for case File 45,  to see my face on the home page!! I took a double take and looked again yes indeed I am the lucky winner of the prize for Week 1 from The Flying Unicorn.Thank -you for your generosity!

The Little Cherub in the photo is my DGS.The photo was taken on the beach this summer.What inspired this L.O. this week, were the "Testimony" prompts.To weave a tale and the 3rd one about family and the word home in the greater sense kept on popping into my head.

As you all know I do not start with a grand plan when I scrapbook...I look through my photos and see what sparks off a little inspiration and decide what story I feel like telling...
My 'Evidence' that makes this page is:
Only one pattern paper Basic Grey, Curio 'Estate' (it has old ephemera on it)
Some cardstock, I embossed the C'ordinations for some texture.
Used a button and some metal embellishments ( fish symbolical of Christianity)

I wove a long and true story..and that decorates the one side of my L.O.and so my L.O. got its title.

"Bathing in the Seas of his Forefathers"

"Once Upon a Time a girl called Faye lived far away in Africa. One day her parents decided to move her entire family back to the land of their roots, for a safer and a more secure future. Faye was 18 and very emotional, sad and upst, she cried a lot!
Once in Greece Faye and her siblings settled down into their daily routine.One year later Faye met her Prince, later they were married. A little boy was born.

Faye took her baby to spend his first summer, home, to the island of her father and his father. The island that Faye's family call home is Lesvos. Faye was baptised there and so was here baby, that summer. He was named Synothinos.
It is custom for the Baptismal Oil and the Christmation to be washed away 3 days later by the Godparent.Little Synothinos, or Nino as we call him, was bathed in the seas of his Forefathers.

May they all live happily ever after, and may Nino grow big and strong and be blessed to also be able to go and visit the land of his father's father and his other forefathers, Constantinople."

Have a great Sunday
Love Zeffy.
ps.Constantinople is now called Istanbul.
 

Dominoes Anybody?

Hi there Crafters from all over the world~~
This is a shot of my desk this morning....it is Wednesday (again!)and WOWW
I was making altered dominoes and some fabric flowers last night...

I the corner you can see my basket with my new stash of ribbons that I won from Scrapbook Fantasies on OUAS...well almost see them as I have packet them into baggies so that the trims don't frey!

And just in case you were wondering the little pink dress is filled with all sorts of findings ,a gift from my very sweet and generous friend  Efi I believe it is a Sizzix die.
Keep well I am off for a quick squiz around on the Stamping Ground then its off to town I go.
Zeffy.

Got to love a challenge

Hi there people...
Here is a L.O. done with 3 old photos that were just lying around, they are not perfect, but I decided to tell their story.
I was inspired by various  challenges to create this L.O.
Firstly the colors at CSI #44 and then  because the main sponser there is My Minds Eye this month I challenged myself  to only use My Minds Eye papers.
As you all must have seen I was the winnner of the 50$ voucher on Sketches with A Twist last month, so I followed their sketch again and used lot of stamps to embellish my L.O.

CSI#44
I used a lot of the evidence needed this week:
 Stripes,flowers,swirls,something transparent,doily pattern.
For my testimony I wrote 4 facts about our trip to Paris on the tag and a few more details around my page.
Tag says.(in tiny writing!) "Remember how I made you walk all day in Paris, the October of '98, we were actually staying at the Ritz and you would beg that we go "home" to our comfy room and rest! I just wanted to walk and explore around the next corner and walk along the Seinne. Remember our lunch at the Jules Verne restaurant on the Eiffel Tower."
My border says" I love Paris with Pano. Remember how you surprised me with the Paris trip,  an unexpected special at the Ritz!!I mean who can turn that down? Remember how we were an hour or maybe 2 , late for lunch at the Jules Verne, due to the time difference?

For SWAT
I used the following stamps to embellish my L.O.
Hero Arts "Circle Lace" heat embossed and fussy cut.
I used this travel set a lot....can't remeber the make...help!...any way I stamped the bottom border on my page and then the film strip on acetate and I heat embossed the Fleur de Lis and the other circles.
I stamped the Hydrangea from Laura Ashley 3 time and fussy cut it...but at the end I only used a tiny centre piece.
The other 2 stamps I used for my background...the blue in the background is actually a heart I drew and stitched.
The papers I used are form My Minds Eye " The Sweetest Thing" and I fussy cut the Eiffel Tower  from a "Follow Your Heart" paper.

In fact the first inspiration about using 3 photos on a L.O. was from Get Creative, they posted first thing this month and that is when I started scratching for 3 photos that told the same story, that were already printed...that is another challenge to myself... to scrap the printed photos I have ...I mean we have an economic recession...remember?
 Go scrap an old Photo!
Bye now.
Zeffy
P.S.
TIP...when sewing over alphas put your stitch length to the max.....you see mine is a bit wonky in the beginning...
TIP 2 Mind that you don't fold alphas over as you are sewing!



 

It is still Wednesday!

Good Afternoon fellow Crafters.
Yes it is Wednesday again today....and time for WOWW over at the Stamping Ground.
I worked on two minis until late last night, and I only went to my desk now, to take a photo or two..

I finished my 'Pink' Mini for Breast Cancer Month (October) I make one each year celebrating my life, I started it at a crop on Sunday...and I want to thank my friends for the motivation, as I had no Mojo for making this mini this year, as things are very difficult in my life at the moment with this huge financial crisis in Greece!!
Anyway we were a bunch of girls and we all worked on the same project this time, a mini, it class #2 from the Cyber Crop over at UK Scrappers. It was fun working on the same project, very motivating and rather stressful as you compared your progress continuously, with the other girls...bottom line the mini got done!!
You can also see the box  for a mini that I made from Prima" Zephyr" I started this project with my friend Elvira previous crop at the begining of October,it has a mini with tags...you see it under the blue rose, I need to embellish that and stamp my tags..then it is also done.

I bought this bag at IKEA for 9.99 Euros, I thought it would work well for crops. We are a big crowd ,in fact so big that it is impossible to invite everybody to a crop at home, anyway the table is always crowded, so I thought that the bag can stand besides my chair and I can have easy access to my cutter and 30x30 papers,ect ect......it worked pretty well....word of warning, if it gets too full  and heavy it tilts over a little!!! It got full and heavy....I mean how do you know me?
Keep well, I hope that the rest of the week is good for you.
Love
Zeffy

My favourite photo

Hi there Friends.
This week I want to show you another L.O.that I made last week-end...
This photo was one of my top favourites of this summer!! It is a photo of my daughte Raphaella holding her Nephew (my Grand-Son) Nino....it was taken by my son, Michael at the luncheon after Nino's Baptism.
I want to thank the team on CSI for always inspiring me to make more L.Os!! This weeks challenge was super, and perfect for my photo!! I can't wait to see what challenge #44 will be when it gets posted tonight!

 

My paper is Glitz "Love Nest" I have used a lace die cut from Basic Grey for my mask and my mat.....GRRrrr my title and design were inspired by the challenge on Once Upon A Sketch my L.O. was finished last Sunday and but I forgot to post it on time! You snooze you lose!
Anyway back to Case File #43
I have evidence, lots of it....Damask, frame (Heidi Swapp) foilage,something transparent, patterned brad and rub-ons.
Testimony...I documented Nino's baptism that happened on the 14th of August and also how Raphaells and Nino have a special bond between them!

Happy Scrapping.
Zeffy

5 Souls I Love

Hi there dear Friends.
I spent a very peaceful day at home today...I have completed a L.O. for CSI Case File # 42

And it is a long story........My friend Eleni see previous post, did the cyber challengs on U.K Scrappers ,and she had linked up to a L.O. done in patchwork fashion, so I thought I would do that....but it never worked....late last night I received mail from Heart 2 Craft saying that Voulla challenges us to make your own Pattern Paper...and win some scrapbooking supplies!! This morning I trashed the patchwork and started making my paper.

I started with some Craft Flora Noce... I first stamped my swirls with Cobalt Archival ink, then used a cork and black Archival to stamp my circles and my script which is 1. Corinthians13, I then masked my circles with gesso.

When dry I coloured the circles with Neocolor II, colour sticks, then I sprayed with various mists,( colours on my circles changed...obviously!) and I have a large variety here!!. ...this is the result.....

Oh yes I also inked the edges...I wanted them to pick up the woodgrain of the door in my photo..I used my new  Walnut Stain...yummy colour, almost better than Vintage Photo!!

 

 

Here is my L.O

 

 So evidence is as follows....Woodgrain, in my photo and embossed on my cardstock, circles, flowers, polka dots, embossed paper.

My testimony is soppy Mom's stuff....I have written it lightly in pencil, because L.O. was too busy...and secondly the kids will tease me....I have written how Ican't live without them and  without all of their wonderful characteristics!!

I was influenced in choosing my topic for todays L.O. by Scrapbook Fantasies I hope I will get forgiven for changing up the title a bit....baby is  a little people, actually still a little soul!

Keep well....off to tackle #43

Love Zeffy.

 P.S.  XAPA means JOY in Greek...

 

Another card

Hi there Friends.
Today I played a little I made this card and a L.O.
I was inspired by Eleni or better known as the Guru, Eleni is totally into Doodling and that is why she set this card challenge at Get Creative .Pop over to her blog and take a look at all of her wonderful work!

Father Christmas is a stamped image as are the stars..I only doodled the edges, I love doodling but it is really tough on my wrists, detailed work is really hard for me after my Carpal tunnel op.
Have a good week-end.
Filakia.
Zeffy

Christmas is 2 months away!!

Hi there Scrapbooking Friends.
Even though I have not yet even thought of my Pink -Me-Mini (Breast Cancer Month),and even though I have 3 unfinished projects ....I decided to make a Christmas card!
I was so inspired by Marie's card..and Get Creative  has me in a total spin with all of their challenges!
So here it is as clean and simple as can be....

The Ballerina is from the Nutcracker Sweet stamp set from Hampton Art, and she is holding a hand-made beaded flower...
Have a good week-end .
Love Zeffy.
p.s. who feels like joining me for a little crop??

Gloomy Greece

Good -Morning Googlers...
Good-Morning from a grey and gloomy, Greece...Athens in fact.
It is Wednesday again,I mean how do the days fly by?
As you all know Wednesdays are days for a snoop around, and Miss Julia who hosts WOWW seems to be doing a bit of Halloween sewing, I think, pop over and take a look.
My desk is tidy!! Yes this is what I call tidy!!

Photo is a bit shitty due to the gloominess....center stage is my Hubbie's blue heart, he is back in S.A. so now I look at the heart...more gloominess....I also unburied a roll of genuine antique trim, that I had bought in Lesvos last summer...it is still in its original packaging!
I have half-heartidly staerted some Christmas stamping...my heart is not into it yet,,,maybe I should rather make my Pink October mini...celebrating  mr, and my life for Breast Cancer month...what do you think?

My Daughter Raphaella also left that cookie cup die-cut on my desk...I will use it as a mask...sweet.

Here is a close up...oh yes I also experimented with making some wired beaded flowers last night.
Have a happy week!
Zeffy.

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