28 February 2008

Back at last!

Isn't it strange how you get so used to being 'connected' that when you lose your connection for any reason you feel at a loss? I've only been without internet for a couple of days but it's been weird...and once back online my priority was to catch up on work, but now finally I'm back. Nothing for you today (for all the obvious reasons lol!) but I've been furiously trying to get some Mother's Day cards finished (it's on March 2nd) and thought I'd share them with you:

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Credits: Flowers by Anna Benjamin of Paper Moons, Lace Action by Karen Stimson of WoolSweater Street, Pearls from Jenn Trippetti's Rosy Outlook, Actions by Atomic Cupcake, the rest by me.

Of course, this size and resolution doesn't really do them justice, but I kinda like them. I was working a bit outside my comfort zone because the palette came from this month's colour challenge at Deco Pages. I think they only want layouts rather than kits submitted, but since I did create papers for these, let me know if you'd like them. There's a stone texture (for my mom's strength) and a damask print (because she was a weaver before she married and made damask).

Really glad that so many of you are finding the Asphalt Farewell kit useful, I was disappointed at not being able to submit it, but I feel heaps better about it now.

22 February 2008

Just a slight detour...

Now this little kit may seem kinda odd, but there's a story behind it. I've been keeping an eye out for colour challenges, because a) I enjoy them, b) they stretch me and c) it's always eye-opening how people can create such diversity from a handful of colours.

Anyhow I came across another today and it had a theme as well as a palette...it was in response to a kit request from someone who's hubby was retiring from working in road construction...so a combined theme of 'retirement' and 'road works'. Sounded like fun so I gave it a shot.

But when I'd finished and went back to look at the submission guidelines, I realised that the site was planning to sell the submissions, so I didn't send it in. Don't get me wrong ... I'm not criticising them, they were stating it clearly and it was my fault that I hadn't read it properly first time around...it's just that I didn't feel comfortable submitting on that basis. So I decided to release it here as normal...though because it's a fairly specific theme, I'm not sure how much use it will be to anyone else lol!


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There are four plain papers with an asphalt texture (which the preview really doesn't do justice), and four patterns on an asphalt background, and a total of twelve stickers...hopefully you'll find some that you can use...if so I'd love to know what lol!!!!

Belanna's Asphalt Farewell - Papers
Belanna's Asphalt Farewell - Elements

Making a name for myself....

Okay it's a weak pun, but I couldn't think of a title! Never mind, the thing is that in the midst of my playing I've been trying out some freeware actions and came across a really cool one that essentially creates a word of your choice in glass witha photo of your choice behind it...so courtesy of clickBoom's action, may I introduce...

(Click on it to see it enlarged in all its glory!!!)


Yeah, I know, it's kinda sad using multiple pictures of my avatar but it seemed like a good idea at the time! In the process of playing today I learned tons of stuff and I have ideas just brimming at the moment. I'm working with some really great images of Celtic mythic beasts, the kind you see in the Book of Kells and I can't wait to show them to you...but I'm having too much fun at the moment to package anything and upload it. And besides, just when I think something is finished, I discover half a dozen other cool things to do with it...lol!

On another topic, I'd really like to mention Bookcrossing. I discovered the site a couple of years ago and love it. If you read any kind of books at all, you just have to go and have a look. The concept is that once you've read your books you 'free' them...by registering them on the site and then either release them into the wild or pass them on to friends or other Bookcrossers. Hopefully whoever finds or receives the book will visit the site and add a journal note telling you what they thought of the book and how they intend to pass it on. I used it to 'free' my entire library before we emigrated and it was a very liberating experience. But wait...that's just one side...the other side is that it's a huge and growing community of people from all over the world who share a love of books and chatting. I've met some wonderful people there, and had some wonderful books sent to me by many of them once we were settled again.

Anyway, I just wanted to mention it because you may not have heard of it, and if not, you'll thank me for it!

20 February 2008

Challenging colours...

I came across another colour challenge at Stone Accents run by Boo (of Booland Designs) and the palette looked lovely so I thought I'd have a play. And this is the result:

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I find the challenges are a real incentive to get me to try different things. I struggled with the colours initially because although they looked lovely, they're really not 'me' if ya know what I mean, but I was pretty pleased with the final results for the papers.

Still not overly happy with the elements, but I used Atomic Cupcake's cutout action which worked like a dream for the stickers. After months subscribing to Atomic Cupcake I'm so pleased that I can finally use the actions now that I've got CS3 (couldn't used them before coz my version of PSE was so old it was made out of chipboard and wood glue lol!) ...so that's a whole other list of things I have to play with in addition to all the presets in the program itself!

Anywho, here are the links, and be sure to let me know what y'all think...
Belanna's Classical Reverie - Papers
Belanna's Classical Reverie - Elements

19 February 2008

Fancy three dozen eggs?

Or even three dozen fancy eggs? I've been playing with CS3 and trying to get the hang of shapes and depth and this is what I came up with...


When I tried to do the preview, I started with a little basket, realised they weren't going to fit and ended up with a wicker trunk lol! The egg shape isn't perfect because it's extracted from a photo of an egg that wasn't perfect either, so I thought it might be better to leave as is (i.e. I got lazy!). Anyway, I used some of the liquid metal papers to decorate them, and I kinda like how they turned out so I thought I'd share them with you. There's three dozen so far...well, eggs normally come by the dozen don't they? Actually I've always wanted to handpaint eggs and never had the chance, so this is my 'virtual' equivalent...less messy too lol!

Thanks for missing me Carol! And I haven't forgotten that you tagged me, but I'm not sure that I even know seven other people with blogs that I could tag, so I'm racking my brain trying to think of any!

I'm still working on some more Celtic stuff and I came up with a lovely alpha yesterday (at least I think it's lovely!), but I want to play with some different elements before I release the next kit...so it might be next weekend, still in plenty of time before St Patrick's Day though.

Ooops! Nearly forgot the links for the eggs...
Belanna's Basket of Eggs - First Dozen
Belanna's Basket of Eggs - Second Dozen
Belanna's Basket of Eggs - Third Dozen Plus Eggstras

Hope they come in useful!

18 February 2008

Miss me?

Probably never even noticed I was gone lol! Never mind, just popping in to add a new blinkie and say that I'm working on some new stuff, but it's slow going coz I've got a steep learning curve to get to grips with CS3.

Valentine's Day was lovely, and it took us two days to find all the cards hidden around the house lol! My other half (who does most of the cooking anyway) cooked me a lovely dinner and we consumed a lot of bubbly to wash it down and had a warm cosy evening watching silly movies and scoffing chocs. So no complaints from me on that score!

So enjoy the music while I get back to the grindstone...and once again thanks for all the lovely comments on 4shared, they're really appreciated!!!!

12 February 2008

A little lace for Valentines...

I have long had a penchant for lace...and recently discovered somewhere to feed my addiction, so I wanted to share it with you all...

So let me start by saying a big old 'Hi! to Karen at Wood Sweater Street who designs (amongst other things!) the most intricate digital lace I've ever seen. And she very kindly allowed me to use some of her fabulous lace and embroidered goodies to create these quick pages for Valentine's Day.

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Click on the preview or the link above to go to Karen's site to download them, and take some time to browse through Karen's fabulous designs (including lots of freebies lol!). Hope you like them...and don't forget to leave a little love for Karen on her blog.

10 February 2008

An early bit o' green...

Firstly, a wave to Catriona MacGregor of the Digital Celt...many thanks for stopping by, you really made my day!

Next, as promised, I've made another version of Claddagh Love, this time in greens and golds, and with a little bit of shamrock added for good luck. It also contains, as promised, some Claddagh frames...I hope these are what you had in mind...but let me know if not. Still have to do some to match the earlier Claddagh Love kits, so let me know if you're looking for something different.

Actually, I remember seeing some St Patrick's Day kits last year and cringing, neon greens and plastic shamrocks are just too over-the-top for me lol! I like my greens muted, dark, rich reflecting the greens in nature, which is after all what Ireland's famous for...with just a touch of gold or silver for contrast...so I hope you like this...

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The frames have made the kit size somewhat larger, so I've had to zip it in two files, so here they are:
Belanna's Claddagh Love (Green Elements)
Belanna's Claddagh Love (Green Papers)

If you've got your speakers on, you may have noticed by now that I've been playing with the blog a little! If you scroll right to the end of the page you'll find the music playlist, together with a couple of slideshows...one of freebies and one of layouts. I've also added some blinkies to the side-bar, and some links to places I can't do without...more of those as I get time....and of course my avatar...so it's finally beginning to feel a bit more lived in around here lol! Hope you like the music, it's a pretty eclectic mix, but that's me all over.

Slainte!

07 February 2008

A word of thanks!

Just a quick post to say thanks to all of you leaving comments both at 4shared and here, it's really very much appreciated! I was absolutely delighted that I even recognised some owners of blogs I've haunted for the last few months...thanks for dropping in!!!

Now, in response to a couple of questions...

For Cheri and others...well, I'm surprised you had to ask lol! Of course there'll be a green-hued version of Claddagh Love before St Patrick's Day...and hopefully more besides...I'm currently looking at some great celtic patterns to work with and for greens I'm thinking soft and mossy, and rich & dark. Keeping my fingers-crossed that you'll like the results!

For Blueberry Kitty...there will definitely be some Claddagh frames! (Actually if I have time over the weekend, I'll try to get some done to match the two existing Claddagh Love kits before I start working in green.) And if anyone wants to suggest anything else for me to try to include...especially for the St Patrick's Day version...feel free! I say 'try to include' because I don't know how successful I'll be, but I'll give it a go!

For Ephemere... can't wait to see your page...don't forget to send me a link! And the sames goes for anyone who uses anything I've created (it doesn't have to be all mine lol!) I would really love to see it!

I think that's about it for now...I just got eliminated from the Last Scrapper Standing competition at Divine Digital so I'm off to drown my sorrows...

06 February 2008

Paddington Bear is 50!

And that's a very great age for a little bear, even one who's travelled all the way from Peru. Don't believe me? See for yourself...Paddington Bear's 50th Anniversary

I grew up with Paddington, so this makes me feel rather old to say the least! Anyway, to commemorate his big five-oh, they've released some special edition Paddington Bears, one of which comes inside his very own suitcase, you know, the one he used to carry his marmalade sandwiches in (when they wouldn't fit under his hat!) - though obviously they've made it a little bigger so he can fit inside lol!

So in honour of the 'year of the bear', I came up with my very own little 'Bag of Bears' or to be more precise...two! One full of adorable little pink bears to match Cutie Pie, and one full of equally adorable little blue bears to match Lil Boy Blue. Of course they're not Paddington, and they haven't travelled from deepest darkest Peru, but I hope you'll find it in your hearts to give them good homes just the same.

Belanna's Bag of Bears (Cutie Pie)
Belanna's Bag of Bears (Lil Boy Blue)

Some are bears and some are bear stickers ...both of which are a first for me, so I hope the quality is okay, but you'll have to be the judge of that! And here's another first for me...just recently I learned how to add a blinkie to my signature in forums, and then today I learned how to create my own! I still have to learn how to put it in the sidebar of my blog...but for now I'm gonna post it here just to show the world I did it!!! (Yes, I know that's sad, but humour me lol!)

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05 February 2008

More Claddagh Love....

I was so happy with the little kit I posted for the DSO challenge, that when I saw the colours for the RAKScaps members kit this month, I couldn't resist doing another version in that palette.


Obviously it's very similar (though not identical) but I think the two palettes are similar enough that both kits should work well together. If you like it, grab it here...Claddagh Love 2

And finally.... Lil Boy Blue

Here's the boy's version of Cutie Pie as promised...

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I should have managed to get it posted earlier, but everytime I tried to upload the power went lol!!! Anyway there are five separate downloads - the first three being the papers and the last two being the elements - so here are the links...

Belanna's Lil Boy Blue (1)
Belanna's Lil Boy Blue (2)
Belanna's Lil Boy Blue (3)
Belanna's Lil Boy Blue (Elements 1)
Belanna's Lil Boy Blue (Elements 2)

Hope you like it and as always, if you do use it, I'd love to see your pages, so send me a link!

04 February 2008

Watch this space...

A few people asked for the Cutie Pie baby kit in blue, and since I've been up all night (don't ask!) and therefore had time to kill, I've been working my way through it re-creating it in a soft blue and turquoise. I'm finished all the papers, still have to do the elements and then zip and upload, but I'm hoping to have them available for you later today.

At the same time, I've released so much recently that my 4Shared folder is getting a bit tricky to navigate, so it needs some organising...and I'm not sure if that will mess with the links. So if you're downloading today or tomorrow and you get a link that doesn't work, come back later, because once I'm finished tidying I'll re-check and correct any links that have been affected.

For the love of Claddagh...

For quite a while I've been wanting to do something Celtic, maybe for St Patrick's Day...but then I thought, why not do something for Valentines? Y'see the Claddagh Ring is a Celtic symbol of eternal love (and I should know being Irish eh?). And I was so bowled over by Kim's colour palette for this month's challenge at DSO (check it out here) that I really wanted to do some more with it...et voila - Claddagh Love was born...whadya think?

It's got another 8 papers, 4 brads, 4 stamps and 4 ribbons all in the same yummy colour scheme as Muted Love...so they should work together nicely which is a bonus lol! You can grab it here...Claddagh Love

If you use it, please, please let me know, I'd love to see what you scrap with it! Personally, I'm thinking of making some QPs with it, or maybe some Valentine cards...or maybe even an alpha lol!!!

03 February 2008

Time for a little Muted Love...

Kim's February colour challenge is up at DSO (check it out here), and I absolutely love the colour palette this month - great colours for Valentines without being 'over-the-top-shout-out-loud-reds', if y'know what I mean. Which means I finally had the kick I needed to do something for Valentines, so here's my little effort:

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It has 8 papers, 8 frames, 8 little heart brads and a couple of heart borders...so you could say it's my first proper all-in-one mini kit...if you fancy it, you'll find it here: Belanna's Muted Love

Hope you like it, if you do please let me know! I must admit I'm kinda pleased with it, I may even use it to make some actual Valentine cards for my long-suffering better half!

Cutie Pie Elements...

Well, I think I've finally managed to put together some half-decent elements, so I hope y'all like them too. Now as this is my first serious attempt at an element pack, I really have no idea if the sizes of individula elements are too large or too small...so feel free to let me know if I'm on the right track please!


The element pack includes heart frames, postage stamps, stickers, speech bubble frames, sheer ribbons, bows, cloth teddy bears, and some journals (with and without birth details)...and many thanks to Royanna Fritschmann of Studio RA Designs for the use of her Bow Beauties which are simply divine!

If you like the look of it, here are the links...there are two parts to download - it was just too big to squeeze into one file lol!

Belanna's Cutie Pie Elements 1
Belanna's Cutie Pie Elements 2

I'm working on one more set of papers and an alpha...but then again I might detour back to the Valentine stuff before I finish them lol! Oh, and if anyone really wants a baby boy version, let me know...

02 February 2008

Everybody loves a cutie pie....

I find that whenever I plan to do something...especially once I've actually said it to someone else...I'm invariably distracted by something else and the original something rarely happens lol! Which is a rather long-winded way of saying, I said I was going to work on some Valentine goodies, and ended up making baby things instead...there really is no hope for me, sigh...

Anyway, as anyone who's read my holiday entries will know, we travelled all the way back to Guernsey in November to meet our new grandchild, Amy (a real cutie pie!). Then my friend Nicole recently had a little girl, Maddy ...and she's a real cutie pie too! Anyway, Nicole mentioned that she was looking for some 'baby girl' themed stuff to scrap baby invitations with, and I was struck with guilt because I haven't yet scrapped any of Amy's photos ... and I went looking for something appropriate and couldn't find anything I really liked. So then I thought what the heck, I'll have a go at making some. And hence 'Cutie Pie'....

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The first three packs have two patterns each in four finishes, so eight papers in all. Then I thought, someone's bound to want some 'baby boy' versions, so rather than make you wait while I find the time and inclination to do the 'blues', I created a fourth pack that contains overlays of the six patterns, plus a couple of plain papers. So now you can use them on whatever colour backgrounds you prefer...though bear in mind that a couple of the patterns clearly say 'It's a girl' lol!

So if you'd like them for your own 'cutie pie' (or one on the way!) here they are:

Belanna's Cutie Pie (Part 1)
Belanna's Cutie Pie (Part 2)
Belanna's Cutie Pie (Part 3)
Belanna's Cutie Pie (Part 4 - Overlays)

Anyway, I hope you like them, cos I've already got some ideas for elements to go with them...and if you use do use them, let me know, cos I'd love to see!