It's been a while...

Actually, I'm a little surprised it's been only a month since I've last written here, cause it seems like it's been so much more then that.

In that time I've opened a new blog, in Hebrew, and I've been seriously busy with swaps and creations, and so many things, I'm not sure I'll be able to put them all in here now... But I sure will try.

The first thing to show is another altered notebook I've made to a friend, in an altered notebook swap. Her nick is "Butterflies", and this is the notebook she got:

And this is the card that went along with the notebook:



I made some fabric ATC's :





And a little too late I realised I forgot to leave a space to write my details on the back, so I embroidered my name on the back:

I was quite saddened to realise that the envelope containing Fabric ATC's I was supposed to get went missing, and never reached me...

I also participated in a couple of Deco's:

Miniature - in which I created a mini puzzle. I started with a simple frame, and the idea built from there.



The second Deco was "Home", and I based my page on a song about a snail:



The words say, roughly translated:
"It's hard being a snail
That want to go abroad
To it's house it's bound
All the time..."

Working on these Deco's gave me the urge to create my own, So I did. I created 2 Deco's, that have started they're journey:

Scrapbooking -

And Songs -




I created my own Button Fairy:



Actually I made two of those, and both ended up in other homes, but I got one as a gift from a friend:



There are other swaps and even a card tutorial, but I'll save those to another post, another day, soon.

Have fun.

Aqua Swap

In the "Frida and Numa" Communa we had an Aqua Swap.
you were supposed to send 5 items: 1 handcrafted item, 1 handmade card, and three craft supplies.

I got to send to a friend in Canada - Mira.
This is what I sent:


An altered notebook from the front:
Made with Basic Grey papers. The letters were cut by cuttlebug (I think it's You're not the boss of me set). The ribbon is one if the gorgeous ones i got for my birthday last year from Limor and Sharon.

Altered Notebook from the back:

On the side I wanted to hide something that was written there, so I punched out 3 circles from left over pieces I had from the papers I used for the notebook, and glued them on.

I also sent Mira some Basic Grey papers in Aqua colors, some ribbons and a little bag with eyelets and brads in Aqua colors.

This is the card I made for her.

And this is a little part of what I got, my favorite things: the mobile and the card.

My friend, hagar, made me a mobile, and decorated it from both sides. Isn't it absolutely gorgeous? I LOVE it.

The "D" if of course for my name!
And this is the card She made for me. Love it too.

I think I was very lucky to get what I got.

Thanks Hagar.

Altered Coffee Tin

Last week, on Thursday, I met some friends from one of the forums.

We decided to create an altered Coffee Tin or any other tin or box of same size, and fill it with candy.
What a great Idea!

Here's my altered Coffee Tin:







It's made basically of simple cardstock paper, in plain colors. I cut it into pieces that would fit the embossing folders of my cuttlebug. Then I embossed two pieces of each color, and I used a couple of embossing folders: Birds & Swirls on the yellow paper, Stylized Flowers ob the Orange, and Floral Fantasy on the Pink and Red.
Then I cut those embossed pieces into much smaller pieces, and started gluing them to a base paper, creating a collage of colors and textures.
When Finished, I glued the collage to the Tin, and covered the whole think with a clear self-adhesive film.
The top used the same technique of embossed papers, and I cut circles using different styles of scissors.

Hagar got my tin, and I was really pleased, cause she seemed to love it, and I love that the person receiving my creations really loves it.

I got a beautiful box from Adi, and here it is:

It was filled with chocolate and candy!

Did I mention it was a great Idea???

Another Challange

May's challenge was a real challenge to me.
What does being an Israeli mean to you? Scrap a page...

At first I thought I'm not going to participate this month.
During the last week of May I found myself categorizing everything I saw as good or bad qualities of Israelies.

The night of submission I found myself sitting at the computer and searching for information, photos, trying to figure out how to scrap my thoughts, but my mind was racing with ideas, so the page turned out a mess.

So I started anew, with a different take.




The photos were taken from these sites, and credit is due:

The flower: http://totolotek.org/he/wiki/%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9D_%D7%94%D7%96%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9F_%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%9C%D7%99_%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C.html

Flags flapping: http://www.jerusalemshots.com/Jerusalem_he103-1444.html

Hat: http://www.notes.co.il/eshed/32372.asp

Falafel: http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-1939000,00.html

Candles: http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/650/029.html

Prickly Cactus: http://www.tiuli.com/flower_info.asp?flower_id=169


The text reads:
"In one of my favorite episodes of "the west wing", the following question appears:
So What do you call a Society that has to just live every day with the idea that the pizza place you’re eating in can just blow up without any warning? ("Isaac and Ishmael", season 3).
And the answers was, of course, Israel.
During the last decade and a half that has been the essence of being an Israeli, in my mind. Living every day under a threat. Living home everyday with the promise of not giving in to that threat. That we'll keep on living our lives no matter what.
What else is an Israeli? Symbols. A lot of symbols."

The flower (French Lavender) is the one that appears on stickers I used to get every year in Memorial day as a child in school. I think they still give them out. Every memorial day, and only on memorial day.
The flags flapping on top of cars during Independence day and usually the week before and the week after.
The hat is the one everyone used to wear when I was a kid. It's the symbol of the pioneer Israeli, the one that came to this country to build it.
The candles were lit on the floor in a huge square in the middle of Tel-Aviv 13 years ago, right after PM Rabin was murdered. People kept coming to the square where it happened, lit candles, and cried together.
The Falafel - food that's considered to be very much Israeli, and stands for Israeli.
And last - The prickly cactus. It became known as a Nick-name for Israeli-born. They' like the cactus, are prickly on the outside, but sweet and soft on the inside.

Fun Stuff #2

Remember the workshop I did With Nili on April? (See here if you don't)

Well, I finally found the time to finish that plaster basket, and I love how it turned out.

It's so colorful, and looks great on my table!

Then, I found the time to start working on my new block. It's been sitting and waiting for me for over two weeks, and all I did in that time is choose the background papers...

So this morning, after realising I don't feel good enough to go to work, but don't feel bad enough to stay in bed all day, I decided to make good use of that time, and sat down to work. It took a long time - much longer then I had anticipated, but here it is:

These are the four sides:

And this is the top:

And here's the surprise:

Yes, it's a box! This is the inside of the lid:

And this is what it looked like before I started working on it - bare wood and nails.

Now I only need to find the time to create two more... for my sisters.

Memorial Day

One of the hardest days in Israel is today. Memorial Day. It's a day of sadness, of crying, of remembrance.
Today we cry over all the sons, daughters, fathers and mothers who fell and died in all Israeli wars.
Being that is hard enough. What makes it harder in my eyes, is the fact that tomorrow, right after Memorial Day ends, Independence Day starts.
It does have a sense, in a way, being that the wars have led to our Independence, but the sharp change from crying and sadness to laughing and happiness is too hard sometimes. Most times.

Being the empath that I am I promised myself that this year I wouldn't open the TV, wouldn't listen to stories, wouldn't listen to the songs that are so special for this day, that touch the very core of emotions in me.
And as always, I can't seem to pull away. It's like there's a little masochistic piece in me that has to listen, has to see, has to feel, has to be a part of it.
I'm not even thinking about tomorrow. I'm just breathing slowly right now, trying to get over tonight...

Another Month... Another Challenge

I think I mentioned before about the challenges we now have in the Israeli Forum for scrapbooking. Since April is the month of Passover, which is also known as "Festival of Freedom", Keren decided to challenge us with the subject of Freedom.

What is freedom to you?

After taking a long time to think about it, I came to realise that I have lots of freedom: to be who I am, to do what I want. But there were two things that kept coming to me, as items I would LOVE to be free of...

So that's my page. My wishful thinking. My dreams that will never happen in this lifetime, for these are curses I have no control over...

Credits:
Brushes by:
Hawksmont (http://hawksmont.com/)
The Krako (http://krakografik.canalblog.com/)
Obsidian Dawn (http://www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com/index.htm)

Alpha: LT_RD_Wallflower_DSF_Alpha

I always associate Black and Red with pain.

Prurigo is an annoying disease. It's a skin condition. It itches all the time. and it's very anesthetic... And the worst part is they STILL don't know what causes it!

Being an empath can be a blessing if you can cope with it, or control it. Being an empath means you feel what other people are feeling.
In my case - I feel people's pain. Lots and Lots of pain.
It's really overwhelming sometimes...