spellbinder christmas ornaments

I havent update blog for a long time as we have all been busy with christmas schedules and making things ahead of time, i have just completed 3 things that i am really happy with and i shall upload the photos. and doing lots of cards with spellbinders nestabilities and pendants, i just love them. first i did a Halloween house made from a ply kit for the window display at Paper Trenz, complete with lights and a spooky cackle box that was set off when you clapped your hands. this was so succesful i decided to do a christmas themed one as well. so did a lot of my scrapbook friends, before i could begin to think 4 of us were making christmas houses at my workshop at home. we had a great amount of fun finding furniture and things to put in them. and it is a work in progress as i will add things as i find them. we have painted and papered our houses and applied texture paste and lots of pearl paint and glitter. to complete the frosty look. then i wanted the inside to look warming and homey, like santas house would look... sorry the pics are side on i forgot to rotate them first!! halloween house

santa's house

this year i designed and completed a sample for my gingerbread house, which i have been working on for some time. if you want a kit to make the gingerbread house simply contact paper trenz as we have them for sale, they are cut for us by the House of Scrapbooking.

my gingerbread house

i loved the kaiser bird house so much i have adapted it to christmas and used it as a card holder. this will be one of our classes at Paper Trenz

Also for our schedule i have done a sample of the Kaiser Advent calender, i already have 3 calendars that i have done, so i wasnt sure about doing yet another, but i must say it was really easy to do and i love the effect. i used lots of bling and glitter...and it will fit a ferro rocher just nicely in each box, shame it is only one though, oh well i will have to eat it, not the kids!!!

also this year i have designed a patty cake box that is die cut and can be purchased from Paper Trenz, to alter and ink as desired. the top of the box is the same size as the carl punch circle and these cut cup cakes can be made for weddings or parties, i am doing some as christmas puddings for christmas. if you like the gingerbread house or the patty cakes, just contact me at Paper Trenz at wynnum.. or Desk top papers website

cheers sue smyth

EKKA Winner for 2009

i had lovely news today that i won the first prize in the QLD ekka in the teacher/professional section of scrapbooking, it was for a double page heritage layout, which i was really happy with when i finished it. i will be teaching it at Craft a lot and perhaps Paper Trenz . look out for the schedule from those places. i will be teaching at Craft a lot every week on fridays from now on as well as the once a month night time class and of course regular classes at Paper Trenz on Mondays and Saturdays. i have up loaded a photo of the winning entry i hope you like it sue

i have been working at Craft a lot at shailer park, with colleen and the girls once a month, but i am going to be teaching every week soon, on a friday. so if you want to catch up with me you can now find me at Paper trenz in wynnum and Craft a lot at shailer park. i get around. lately i have been busy doing some pages for AS4E and my schedule for paper trenz. but i had better get busy and do some for Craft a lot ...cheers sue

kaiser family tree OTP

i have just finished the kaiser family tree off the page project, it is sooo lovely and i am really happy with the result. having designed a tree like this earlier this year i can relate to the problems they have faced in designing it, i and i like their version. you can decorate the back of the tree, and add more hooks for extra family if you like, you can also just use the frame of the tree and not the backing wood, this way you could hang the cameo's off the branches with ribbon instead of the hooks. i can see lots of ways to use this project and will be teaching this project at Paper trenz in wynnum this month. what a lovely gift for an elderly relative or for a new born child with extra hooks for future brothers and sisters. hope you all agree it is a lovely project.

i have done up the bird house too, but i will keep this idea for christmas time...cheers sue

fairy cards 3D

have been busy with new schedules and doing pages for AS4e as well as a friend for the june
show, i have also entered a few pages in the ekka, i will wait to see what happens there, meantime i had great fun doing a few fairy cards, though i dont always like using stickers for cards, i couldnt resist the new crafty stickers featuring the Cicley Mary Barker illustrations made into card stickers. they are so easy to use and if you are like me and already own some stamps featuring the same illustrations, they will be easy to mix and match...here is a look at what i have done so far and i have a few other ideas ahead....

paris style

i havent had the time lately to put any new work in the blog site, it is a case of too much to do, at paper trenz we are expanding out scrapbooking side of things and sunbird is as busy as ever, i have been designing some things for the future for the House of scrapbooking...i will pop a page on using HOS chip pieces, it makes a page so much easier to do and i just love using glimmer mists on chip and making my own background papers. just now i have been in cardmaking mode, so i will put some of them on later..cheers sue

pioneers

this is one of the latest pages I have done, i will upload pages from time to time to share with you

My name is Sue Smyth and I live in a fairly rural suburb of Brisbane and have been married for 22 years to the one man, and we have three young children and over the required amount of pets and plants. I love my life and am luck enough to work at my passion…scrapbooking

I have been an artist all of my life in some medium or other. I have had work published at the young age of 11years of age until 17 years of age in newspapers and magazines. With my interest in sketching and design, and straight A’s in Art, it was inevitable that I go to Art College when I finished school. I studied for 3 years for a Diploma of Visual Communications at the then Seven Hills College of Art in Brisbane. While there I achieved honors and credits in such subjects as Photography,Illustration, Design, Philosophy, Psychology of colour and colour theory.

After finishing Art College, I took a long rest from painting and drawing, as I was tired of the deadlines and doing work for others. So I learnt to type and worked as a Data entry clerk. While working I completed a train the trainer and calligraphy1 course and contemplated becoming an art teacher.

But I always dabbled in Painting ,Pottery and Drawing and applied what I had learnt to every day life, I would hand draw my Christmas cards and collect pretty stationery to cut up and place with my photos. When rubber stamps were first introduced to Australia some 20 years ago I was instantly interested, and started making cards.

Once my children were born, card making took over from all other crafts such as cross stitch and pottery as it was tidier and not so messy. When a newborn cries it take time to wipe turps or clay off your hands, so cardmaking became my sanity amongst 3 children in 3 years. I began to teach what I had learnt and some years later was asked to teach scrapbooking too. So I took a lesson and instantly, saw the connection with what I had learned in Art college, in design drawing and collage. That was ten years ago and I have been Scrapbooking and teaching my designs ever since.

I have had the privilege to teach at many stores in Brisbane, including Myers, Spotlight, Scrap Art, Think Crafty and TAFE, my style has developed over the years to be quite different than the main stream, and I have had my work displayed at shows and websites. I have taught large numbers and small, and really try to design a page that anyone can adapt to their situation and achieve a pleasant result.

I specialize in Canvas Art and small off the page projects, I also love interactive pages with many layers and textures with attention to detail and a point of difference. Currently I teach and work in two stores and have classes at home in my workspace. I am launching a range of trifold cards custom cut to my design and also working on designing my own papers. I have a large workshop coming up in August and have been asked to feature in a book coming out next year, we will wait to see that one.

I love scrapbooking because you can put so much love and care into your work and the viewer can see that and what is more it is all about the people and times you love. All of our work will be left for the generations to come, and they will see into your life and heart by the work you leave. I love to teach that same thing to others so the can realize the sense of satisfaction and achievement I do when I finish a page that speaks to me of the journey that is my life.

first edition 02 09

My Name is Sue Smyth and I am a Scrapbooking teacher at 2 stores one on the gold coast and one at wynnum