CSI - Case File 73

I have noticed a few mentions of CSI (Colour Stories Inspiration) floating around Blogland and they intrigued me.  I thought that I would have a go with this week's Case File.  If you have no idea what I am going on about I will explain in a minute.  Here is this week's Case File.

Here is how they explain the challenge ...

"The Scene" - This is the inspiration image from which the color palette, inspiration, and story starters are drawn.
"The Scheme" - This is the palette of five colors you must use. You may add neutrals (black, white, kraft, cream, gray, brown) to these colors. Please try to get your colors as close to this swatch as possible, but don't drive yourself crazy or not play because you don't have the exact shade of a color. If you'd like to add an additional color to accent, please restrict it to about 10% of your page.
"Evidence" - These are elements drawn from the inspiration image that you should include on your page. They may be products, techniques, or other design ideas. Choose two or more to include in your layout. If you see other elements that inspire you in this picture, feel free to add those, too!
"Testimony" - This is the journaling part. Choose one (or more) elements for your journaling. The journaling elements are also drawn from the inspiration image and may be in the form of topic ideas, journaling formats, journaling approaches, or words to inspire your stories. They are meant to spark ideas for you to tell a story on your page. You can combine them, use them as a jumping-off point, or you can always use The Scene (inspiration image) as inspiration for your journaling.

I thought it would be fun to give it a go and so I dived into my patterned papers to see what I could come up with, but I struggled with the shades of teal!  I ended up finding the colour 'rules' too constricting as I easily found papers with some of the colours, but they always had an additional colour which would have broken the 'rules'.  I almost gave up but I was determined to do it!  That was when I decided to use plain old grey as the background and forget about my beloved patterned paper for a while!  I have a beautiful shade of mist from Mr Huey called 'heirloom blue' which gave me my teal :-)

I didn't journal so I technically didn't complete the Case File.  This photo was taken on one of our camping trips to France and I didn't think it needed journalling as the photo is the story.  I used tone-on-tone paper and the pom-pom trim from the 'Evidence' section.

I did this challenge over a couple of hours and was very relaxed by the end of it.  I didn't spend time over-thinking it and spent more time waiting for things to dry than anything else!  This is not a colour combo I would have come up with on my own but I love it.  I will probably come back to the CSI Case Files even if just for the colour challenge.  If you are feeling like you need some fresh inspiration pop on over to them and look at their Case Files.  A new one goes live each week so there is always plenty to keep you going!

It is a long weekend here and I am working but I am crafting with friends tonight.  I am hoping to have my story ready for Story Telling Sunday with Sian this month so why not pop back for it :-)

Happy Crafting,

Chipper

Congratulations!

Do you know what this is?

It is an Australian Army Cadet Lance Corporal badge. Congratulations to BOTH The Extrovert and The Thinker who were promoted tonight! Needless to say they are very excited!!!

Congrats boys! I am very proud of you and the extra work you have done to earn this promotion. 

Chipper

Happy Birthday Princess

Today our beautiful Princess turned 12.  It's hard to imagine that twelve years have passed, where has the time gone!  In recognition of the digital age we now live in, we received her Birthday List via email.

My birthday list
1. The ultimate decorating set
2. Match Attax 2013
3. Craft stuff
4. Books ( Fairy books, I don't have-1, 9, 13-20, 23-29, 31-50, 57-58, 60-61, 63-65, 68-79, 81, 83-87, 89-93, 95, 98, 101, 103)
5. Panting stuff
6. Playstation games
7. Playstation romot (PINK or blue)
8. CD
9. DVD (the rise of the gardens and Scooby Doo)
10. Headphones (the ones from the smiggle shop it needs to be PINK)
11. Shoes
12. Cooking stuff

BREAKFAST
Pancakes

DINNER
Tunacasharoll
DESSERT
Cake- I am going to make it and decorate it too

In our family the birthday person gets to choose whatever they want (within reason!) for breakfast and dinner.  They also get to choose the type of cake/dessert they want.  Pancakes and waffles are the most popular breakfast choices with dinner usually being something more unusual.  The Princess' favourite dinner is Tuna Casserole and as we only have it on a rare occasion she has started requesting it every year.

I took the day off today and decided to make her a special layout for her own album all about her birth.  I haven't scrapped any of the kids early years yet and I thought she would appreciate it and it was a good way to kick start my crafting again after the shop closing.  I used an old favourite paper of mine that I now wished I had bought more of!  It was the 'Katlin Collection' by Crate Paper.  Add in a few newer pieces like the overlay and the glassine envelope and you would never know the paper was old.

The tag has writing on both sides and tells the following story ...  "Early in the morning on Wednesday the 23rd of May you decided that this was the day you were going to be born!  Grandma and Pops came and collected the boys while we waited for the contractions to get closer.  The Doctor had said to leave for the hospital when the contractions were 15 minutes apart.  As I was walking in circles around the backyard, your Dad decided to cut the grass while he waited.  He walked up and down with the lawn mover, I walked around and around.  Neither of us were really paying much attention to the time.  Thankfully the mower ran out of fuel or this story would have a very different ending!!!  That was when Dad decided to time the contractions, they were only 5 minutes apart!!!  We quickly got in the car and drove to the hospital.  Dad dropped me at the door while he parked the car.  The receptionist wanted me to wait for an orderly to come with a wheelchair.  I told her that I didn't have time and to let the ward know I was on my way up.  I got into the labour room and Dad arrived just as I was getting changed.  I hopped up on the bed and you decided you weren't waiting any longer!  5 minutes later and you had arrived!!!!"

The Princess chose to make carrot cake for her birthday and she wanted to bake it and decorate it herself when she came home from school.  We bought her a cake decorating kit for her birthday (number one on her list) and she can't wait to use it on her next cake.  I think there will be a few cakes and cupcakes in our future :-)

I couldn't resist this flannel sheet set and had to get it for her birthday.  Her pre-teen genes are kicking in and she has started to sleep in on the weekend.  She saw the funny side and as you can see they are already on her bed along with the soft, fluffy pink pillow from The Thinker.  We also bought her some more painting supplies (number 5 on the list).  She loved the canvas brush roll and the new brushes.

We have had a very special day.  Happy Birthday Princess!

King of the Castle

Did you ever find the need to climb to the top of everything when you were a child?  The Extrovert does!  And he always has to pose too :-)  I wonder if I was like that too????

I loved the papers from My Minds Eye's 'Indie Chic'.  I love the colours, patterns and texture so I just couldn't cover it all up.

Hope you had a great weekend,

Chipper

Sian's "Great Big Swap of Very Small Things"!

Most of you also follow Sian over at From High In The Sky ... did you sign up for the "Great Big Swap of Very Small Things"?  It is ever so exciting to be joining in for a big bit of fun in a small envelope.  It is a great idea as it fits in with my equally as small budget as it call all be sourced from your own stash :-)  The Flopsy Bunnies are on their way to Cate at Life Behind the Purple Door with a cute envelope of fun!

I even found a funky envelope to pack it all in!  Thanks Sian for organising this!!!  Everyone sends something to the person on the list after their name and Lou from In This Life has already contacted me for my address.  It will be a very exciting month for everyone involved!

Enjoy stalking the mailman!

Chipper

Latest News

I have started many posts in the past few weeks but none seemed right, so I am going to update you all.  A few weeks ago we finished up closing down our shop.  I thought I had distanced myself emotionally from when I started my new job, but it seems I was only fooling myself.  I am physically and emotionally drained (especially from hurtful comments by customers) and only now finding a new routine.

Here we are finishing things up ...

I am thankful for ...

my family

my friends

a roof over our heads

a lovely commercial landlord

my job

and the future.

After we handed the keys back we celebrated with the kids :-)

Onwards and upwards,

Chipper