Living my dream

Check out paperHaus's new video....

PaperHaus have the new issue coming out on June 1st and we're so excited.

 

Come and join the fun!

PS: Just a weeeee bit excited as I put this video together and it was a new venture for me!!!

Sunday Shake up

This afternoon I went to a meeting at Takapuna Grammer. The hall was full. Standing room only.

The meeting was about Aucklands unity plan for the city.

It has a lot of people worried. Enough so that Andy and I decided that at least one of us needed to go along. And I'm glad I did.

It was incredibly interesting, well read, well thought out.

There was no shouting or sillyness. Just people who care about their community finding out what it all means for them.

I found out that it means ALOT for Andy and I. We are zoned for an area which could potentially have 3 story buildings around us, with no need for neighbours to get permission from each other to go that high.

Plus many other things.

I realised that to have an opinion on something like this (well anything really) I need to be more aware, more informed. For me that means reading up on things, going to meetings like todays one etc.

And I have to say I actually enjoyed hearing the different people that spoke and finding out more about what is going on in my community.

So this week, the Sunday shake up is a challenge to get more involved in what interests you. Read up a bit more, go to a meeting, or do something so you can feel more a part of whatever it is that you enjoy.

Dare ya.

 

A couple of scrapbooking shares....

The other day I talked about the Prima NSD blog hop winner. Well, as part of the prize package, I made one of my little one page mini albums to give away. Here's a wee look....

Of course it's made with Prima products.

Yummo! I'm just LOVING Prima's resist canvas and chalk inks right now. Beautiful.

I left the sentiment off the front so it can be made into an album on any topic.

There was also a palette from The Colour Room that I took part in last week......

I adore The Colour Room for inspiration on colour ways that work well together and that I may not have tried otherwise. If you haven't taken a look, then pop on over to TCR website. You won't be disappointed.

Mothers day Guilt - an inner dialogue written out loud.....

The older I get the more I realise that guilt seems to be an inbuilt, innate part of being a woman. It doesn't matter what you do, there is usually something to feel bad about. If you work and have children, you feel guilty for working. If you don't work, you feel guilty for not contributing. etc etc

On mothers day after a day of being spoilt and treated like a princess I still felt sad, I was assuaged with guilt. Why did I feel so sad when my family had treated me so well? When they had made an effort to make my day special because they wanted to show me how special I am to them.

What was with the sadness? And why was I feeling guilty for feeling sad?

And as usual with my brain, it goes on overdrive (even when I'm sitting watching tv you can guarantee it's thinking about something else) and I realised that Mothers day was a pretty powerful day for me, but not for the reason you're thinking.

You see, and this is where it gets hard. I don't have a relationship with my Mum. To say it is a 'bad' relationship would be an understatement.

And there are many wrongs on both sides of this relationship. I could go on about the different factors that have put me in the space I'm now in, as I'm sure she could too. But that doesn't make it right, or better.

And what it boils down to is that I don't feel like I have a Mum.

And yet I have friends who would desperately love to have a Mum because theirs is literally no longer here. 

And I try and make that right in my head by saying, would they really want a bad/nothing relationship or one that was wonderful if short? But neither is right and it still makes me feel sad and guilty.

Guilt for not making the most of something that others would love to have.

And then there is the fact that I didn't contact my Mum on mothers day. Deliberately. Because contact hurts more than non contact.

But then the guilt comes and the inner dialogue...... Trina you should be the bigger person...... But every time I am I get hurt.......... But you should just suck it up.......... Why? ........

Guilt for not making contact with my mother on mothers day.

And so while working in an industry where Mothers Day is a big day of the year with lots of preparation and celebration, I sit on the side lines wishing I could feel the same as so many other women. Wishing I had a different relationship with my Mum and knowing it can never happen.

And that's part of another guilt. Seeing the relationships that so many of my friends have with their mothers and being jealous of that. Wishing for something that can't happen. Wishing....

Guilt for feeling jealous.

Wishing I could be as excited as others about a day that should be a celebration instead of a day filled with guilt and sadness for something that isn't.

And sitting here feeling guilty for even thinking these things, let alone saying them 'out loud' I wonder if I will press 'publish' on this post? I guess only time will tell. 

PS: If you are reading this it means I did press publish and the reason I did was to share my thoughts with others who may be in the same boat.

I'm sure there must be other people out there who don't have the perfect relationship with their mother?!

Yet, the world says we should, that we should have a perfect mother/daughter relationship. So Those of us who don't have that perfect relationship and feel bad/guilty for not having that. There's yet another guilt.

So, if you're reading this, I must've decided that sharing was more important than being 'normal' in respect to what the world thinks we should all feel towards our mothers.

My hugs go to those who can't celebrate mothers day, for any reason.

PPS: I don't feel guilty today. I am totally ok and happy. But it was a process I had to work through to get through mothers day.  

A bright and beautiful tag

Recently I've had a couple of projects up on the paperHaus blog. The following is one I haven't shown here yet....

A tag is a wonderful thing to make. It's quick, it's small, it's easy and yet, it can still be creatively challenging. I love to work with these smaller sized items and had fun making this. I wonder if the colours helped me smile the whole time I was creating?!

As usual, I have used Prima, Spellbinders dies, lots of layering and a great deal of love.

PaperHaus is a fabulous blog which has a new project to draw inspiration from every day.

Take a look at this post or this one for some gift wrapping ideas.....

Or how about this post on finding your lost mojo....

Or what about our monthly sketches? Out each 1st day of the month. You can check out May's sketch here along with our designers takes on the sketch.

We've also had a series on fabulous designers we're seeing around the web. You can check out the last post by Emeline Seet right here.

We are also starting a new series, where the design team will answer your questions. Feel free to add one here, or on the paperhaus blog. The team will try and answer as best as possible.

Whatever you're looking for, paperHaus has it. Make sure you pop it in your blog feeds so you don't miss out on the next great post.

Prima blog hop winner

I always have fun thinking of ways to pick a winner for my prizes.

Often the kids are involved. But feeling sick today (flu type symptoms! Argh!), I decided to go back to basics and used a random number generator.

"It" chose number 9

True Random Number GeneratorMin:Max:Result:9Powered by RANDOM.ORG

And that person is Danielle Tilley with this comment:

Happy International Scrapbook Day Trina & Prima!! OMG Trina where have you been hiding those beautiful pieces?! They are gorgeous!! That crown is to die for and I love your divine layout too. I was just saying how beautiful it is and how it makes working with it so much easier! Well I can't wait till September to take a class of yours!! 'Chink chink' - Thanks for sharing! x

Posted by: ~ Danielle Tilley

Danielle, can you please contact me with your address and I'll get your prize off to you asap!

Thanks so much to everyone who hopped along to my blog. I hope you had a wonderful day and enjoyed all the inspiration around the web!

Trina.

Thoughts about classes

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about classes this year. I've taught more this year than any other year. And have more to come.

I'm looking forward to teaching at Create for a Cause,  SENZ, Scrapfest by the Sea, Heartistry retreats, Prima Artventure and still to be released details of a trip to where Scrapbooking began.

What I love most about teaching is getting to meet ladies just like me who are addicted to this amazing craft of ours. Or who are on the journey to being addicted. Grin. We all come from different and unique places, but Scrapbooking brings us together in a way that not much else could.

Somehow memories bring out the best in people. Even the hard memories, the horrible things, bring out how well we've survived. Moved on. Grown stronger.

And this is one of the reasons I love to spend time teaching, getting to know people. Showing them new ideas on how they can make those memories come to life and be remembered.

So if you're looking for a great retreat, take a look at the above links. They are all different, unique, and special, some are sold out, but it's worth taking a look and preparing for next year if this year is all finished.

I look forward to seeing you around the country sometime soon!

Scrapfest by the sea class release

Download Class release

Gift wrapping for mothers day

We had an early mothers day dinner for Andy's Mum Val tonight and it was wonderful to get together with the family again. It's so nice for the kids to know they are part of something bigger than themselves and to know that whatever happens, these people will be there for them. I feel priviledged to be part of this amazing family!

So as Andy went off to work this morning he asked me to 'make Mum a card will you?'. Sure I said. Thankfully as it turned out as I needed to use it for the paperHaus blog. LOL.

Anyway, here's a quick look at what I did.....

If you'd like to see instructions for the wrapping and card, and a better look at the card too, just click on THIS link to the paperHaus blog.

 

Exciting Scrapfest Newsflash - regos and classes

Also, classes to be released 10th May. Keep an eye on your inbox and the facebook page.....

NSD (National Scrapbooking Day) with Prima - Blog hop

Hello everyone! If you've come here via the Prima Blog, a very big welcome to my little part of the webisphere. If not, then please feel free to join in anyway! There are a ton of beautiful Prima educator and DT blogs you can have a look at and potentially win prizes on.

Here is the blog hop order:

Prima Blog

Sharon Laakkonen

Cari Fennell

Jamie Dougherty 

Frank Garcia 

Nic Howard

Janine Koczwara  

Heidi Kelley 

Brit Sviggum

Trina McClune (you are here!)

Gerry van Gent

Lene Bjornerud 

Magda Bolinska  

Anna Dabrowska

Maiko Kosugi  

Felicity Wilson  

Larissa Albernaz 

Marie-Nicolas Alliot 

Louise Nelson  

Juliana Montoya  

Steph Devlin

Stephanie Miller 

Solange Marques

Prima are having an amazing day today with tons of classes at Live With Prima. The first one starts at 9am EST and they run all day!

Please join us for the live chats and see what gorgeous creations you can get instructions for.

And because we're looking at Prima stuff, here's a couple of my fav projects I've created for Prima over the time I've been designing for them....

Ruby Violet Necklace

I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at some of my creations. Your next stop is Gerry Van Gent, but before you move along, I'm giving away a beautiful Prima RAK so leave me a comment and in a few days come back to see who won.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Comment verification - sorry folks

Hi everyone.

Since yesterday afternoon I've got over 500 spam comments on my blog. They are those horrible ones with words that aren't necessary to see every 5 minutes.

So I've turned on comment verification for a day or so to see if that will stop them. I've never had this before and hope it will go away again SOON. But for now, I can't keep up with the amount of craziness this causes my inbox.

So please bear with me as we ride this wave and move on.

THANKS!

Trina.

PS: Make sure you come back for a cool blog hop on Sunday with PRIMA!!! I hope to be back to normal by then.

Spellbinders International Flair

Did you know that Spellbinders have a (relatively) new section on their website that you can look at and gain inspiration from? Uh huh! They do!

It's called 'Explore Blog'.

If you take a look (not right now, wait til the end! Grin) at the Spellbinders website click on the header at the top called 'Explore Beyond'. Then go down the list and click on 'Explore Blog'.

Here you'll find a ton of inspiration. Including 'International Flair' posts from the Spellbinders International Blog Ambassadors (yep, that's me!).

On the 3rd of May I'll have my first post go live for International Flair showing you this gorgeous wee mini album.

It's another of my 'one page' mini albums.

In fact its smaller than a normal mini because instead of starting with a 12" x 12" piece of cardstock, I used a Grand Nestabilities die to create the gorgeous design around the edges of the paper, thus it's smaller.

I then filled it with photos of our bike trip on Wednesday and decorated with some flowers, journaling and another Spellbinders die cut (the leaf).

A full tutorial for this mini album can be found at this earlier post. Just substitute the sizes slightly as instead of working with a full sized 12" x 12" page, I've used a die cut piece of paper.

Ok, now go back and check out the Spellbinders Explore Blog!

A sketch by moi for paperHaus

I haven't created a sketch in for.eva.

Sooooo, decided that I'd give it a go again for paperHaus.

Every month over at paperHaus we have a monthly sketch. The DT show us their takes on the current sketch and if you want to, you can have a go and could be part of the reveal in upcoming months.

Take a look over here at this months sketch and all the different ways its been used...

Would love to see your take on it!

Sydney class at Scrapbook Superstore

Two weekends ago, I was lucky enough to teach a class at Scrapbook Superstore in Penrith.

And what a store it is! If you're in Sydney or get a chance to visit Penrith, make sure you go to Scrapbook Superstore. It's HUGE! And it has it's own classrooms instore which makes teaching sooooo convenient!

Here's the class I taught.

The photo is of my beautiful niece Jess at her Hen's night.

I used a fabulous Spellbinders scallop die to cut the photo into a cool shape that suited the layout's design. Especially as it sat in amongst some doilies!

As with most of my classes you can see there is a ton of layering. When I was counting the layers I stopped at 10 cause it got too hard to work out from there. LOL.

To create the layout, I used the divine "Divine" collection from Prima. and we did a lot of cutting and painting and masking/stenciling, punching, reusing of packaging etc etc to get the layout looking the way it does.

I have a few kits left over from Sydney, so thought, why not do a very limited edition class at SENZ?

So that's the plan. For a lucky few (and it really is limited) I'll be teaching this class again. Keep an eye on the SENZ site for more information. Full class details will be released end June.

I forgot to add in photos from the class with the LOVELY group of ladies that came along. So I'm editing to add them in now....

This is just one of the two classrooms Scrapbook Superstore has.

Working hard.

Trouble makers at the back of the room.... Kylie (left) and Dee (right). Kylie owns Scrapbook Superstore. They were a lot of fun. But I'm still to hear Kylies singing!

Hope to see you at SENZ for some more Trina Classes!