" In each person's life there are always highs and lows and how we react to these moment have so much to do with the influences of family and social environment when we were young. My tale is about growth, about how much I have learnt through relationships with family, friends and co-workers. I used Buzz and Bloom's Unmounted Stamps Pretty Things III which are both elegant and perfect for this project. For an added twist, instead of pigment ink, I used thick acrylic paint in dauber bottles and stamped the designs on transparencies. This gave the images a chalky, old style look I wanted to use for the album. Be sure to wash the stamps throughly using a soft small brush making sure the acrylic does not dry in the grooves. For the cover, cut out a window to fit the design on the tranparency and attach. Continue stamping... Continue reading

This page is about my daughter, who is the princess in my life. (My daughter's name is Sarah which actually means princess.) I used the Buzz and Bloom Billy the Kid Alphabet stamps for my title and the font was just perfect for this page. I also used Buzz and Bloom Garden Sketchbook stamps to create the flower accents. I placed a pop up glue dot under one of the stamped flowers which provides a little dimension. To create the dots under the title, I just use my hole punch until I punched a bunch of dots, and then glued them down. Continue reading

A simple layout about my daughter's new love of reading. I am so glad she enjoys it! Both my husband and I are huge readers, not so much now that we are tired parents but we are getting back into it. I lost a lot of my childhood books over the years but I do have a few special ones that I am passing onto my children as they reach an age to read them. Two of my favourites are Grimm's Fairy Tales, and English Fairy Tales. Both of which I received for Christmas 1979! To create the background of this layout, I used the Buzz & Bloom Misprint Uppercase Large alphabet. I stamped the "O" first, using black pigment ink and embossed with black embossing powder. I then stamped lots of other letters in rows using Versamark ink. It stays sticky for quite a while, so gave me plenty... Continue reading

< Our wedding in 2000 was like a fairly tale, we had a very small intimate wedding and reception and I enjoyed every single minute of it! For the photo mat I used the the vine stamp from Pretty Things I as a background pattern and inked the edges. For the title I stamped the word "Prince" with the Billy The Kid alphabet stamps and colouring them with chalk so they blend in the the green colour scheme I chose for this page. Continue reading

< Our wedding in 2000 was like a fairly tale, we had a very small intimate wedding and reception and I enjoyed every single minute of it! For the photo mat I used the the vine stamp from Pretty Things I as a background pattern and inked the edges. For the title I stamped the word "Prince" with the Billy The Kid alphabet stamps and colouring them with chalk so they blend in the the green colour scheme I chose for this page. Continue reading

To create this layout I knew EXACTLY what paper I wanted to use - and I also had the idea of using notepaper with the Buzz and Bloom Romance unmounted stamp sheet. The problem was I wanted the notepaper to match the background paper - so I did the old "soak them in tea" trick - and it worked!!! I also wanted the stamps to stand out, but to also blend in with the page - I first inked them with gold ink, then stamped again with Brown Ink. I stuck each notepaper down using double-sided tape at the top of each - this allows to be able to lift and read what it says.... I sanded down the gold chipboard "saved" then used the same brown ink over the top to also give the same colouring as the rest of the page. Then finished off with red and gold... Continue reading

When I was asked to do a project about a real-life fairytale, all I could think of was how I found my very own real-life prince.... "Prince Theo". I think every little girl dreams of finding a prince someday. Someone who is kind and gentle, intelligent, honest, hardworking, fun, and handsome. Through the years it seemed like I met many frogs (even a few "toads"). I quickly knew they would never become my fairytale prince. But, one day I met Ted. I knew from the moment I met him, he was my prince... "Prince Theo". I made this altered cd folder to share a little of my personal fairytale. I made this using a blank cd folder, as It offers a sturdy base, and has pockets to tuck away small surprises. For this book I used one blank cd folder, a couple of sheets of coordinating Basic Grey paper, ribbon,... Continue reading

I had yet to use some of my Buzz and Bloom stash on a card and since it seems to be the time of year of graduations, weddings and babies I decided having an extra one on hand would be a good idea! I have been getting lots of handpicked bouquets by one certain 4 year old so I thought using the CB Fancy Pansy was the perfect fit. I misted the chipboard using a metallic orange color to compliment the colors in the patterned paper and layered some of the elements on top of one another for a dimensional effect. Now I have a pretty handmade card all set to deliver! Use some Buzz and Bloom chipboard on a card and share your results! Have a beautiful day! Lexi Continue reading

I'm not sure about you, but for me, sometimes in the process of creating, a piece of work does not quite turn out the way I had originally envisage it to be. See the brown crochet flower in the photo? Continue reading

For this project I went way off the page and created this mini mobile using CB Fly Away Peter - large. Continue reading

At the end of this month, my son's teacher is leaving to have her first baby. We are very fond of her as she is the sweetest thing, and has taught our son for the last two years. We wanted to do something special as a parting gift. Continue reading

Hello all :) I've scrapped a holiday snap of my girl during our visit to the Melbourne Museum last year. A highlight for her was an exhibition called 'The Mind: Enter the Labyrinth.. I loved this photo of Jem tracing the path of the labyrinth... and found the geometric style of some Buzz and Bloom acrylic and chipboard the perfect embellishments to use... Continue reading

Seven years ago today, Buzz and Bloom was born. Mum, my sister Gitta and I had a meeting, decided on the name - Buzz and Bloom. "Devorah" means bumble bee - "BUZZ"! And for the Bloom, well, here's the background... As a child Gitta was very upset that she didn't have a middle name and decided that she ought to. She decided it would be "Flower" - hence, "Bloom". We made albums on the kitchen table, and we put them in the boot (trunk) of the car and drove around to scrapbook shops to sell our wares! Soon, we were going to craft shows and people were starting to know us by name! Then we introduced some stamps, unmounted red rubber beauties. Far and away, the most poular stamps we had were our hat ladies. Taken from my Nana's old millinery sketches, these ladies in their hats were in high... Continue reading

You're intrigued by the title alone...I know! There's something about me that not too many people outside of my family know (UNTIL NOW...feel special much???) My Mom even asked me to not tell my husband before we were married because she thought he'd be THAT GROSSED OUT that he'd call off the wedding! When I was a little girl...when my maternal Grandfather was still alive, he, my Mommy and I would sit down together and eat a big plate of red beans and rice...with a banana on the side! The FIRST person who laughs gets her scissors taken away!!!! Even though I've never been as much of a fanatic as a lot of my family members (my Mommy would eat a banana with cabbage, white beans, spaghetti...WHATEVER!) I've NEVER lost my love for a banana with my beans (or roast and gravy). It's SOO serious with my family that, when my Mom came out of a coma and no longer LIKED bananas, we all GASPED...it was just like a MOVIE!!!! So, when Div asked us to scrap about a secret, I chose to share a FAMILY secret! Continue reading

The DT was challenged to scrap something about themselves. Having 4 teenyterrors, they're mainly the focus of my layouts... so it was a challenge for me to do. There's so many ways one can go with this. while thinking and thinking... I kind of fell upon scrapping what it is I mainly do... and that's dream. I am a busy bee... as you can imagine with 4 teenyterrors, but I find myself often dreaming and thinking about scrapping... so of course, I chose to scrap about it!!! Continue reading

Hello Hello! Ok, this post is going to be super quick! This project is also something super quick, and easy too, a cute off the page, that you could knock up in no time at all! Perfect to decorate a wall, or give as a gift, all you need is: A block of wood, or canvas, Some scrap paper Buzz and Bloom fabric - I used FABRIC: PATCH WORK - Fineliner (Airforce) Vintage Golden book, or childrens book (or really any cute artwork you like) CB: Buttons which you can paint, or decorate how you wish, I chose to ink mine. Some decorative flourishes like CB:Round Corner Flourish once again, painted, or inked. And lastly some alphabets to spell out your word, I used CB:Shelby Alphabet - Lower Case Then you take out your glue, and spread it over the wood, attach your paper, sand off the edges for a... Continue reading

Thank you all so much for all of the comments, emails and calls we've had since we announced that Buzz and Bloom is closed. The last 7 years have been an amazing journey. We've really enjoyed being a part of this industry, filled with so many warm, friendly, supportive and artistic people. We've been clearing out our warehouse and all the discontinued stock we're finding is being put up for sale on our eBay store. Once these items sell out, that's it! There are some amazing deals on many of the products that we manufactured ourselves under the Buzz and Bloom brand, as well as some great bargains on items from our old retail web-store. We've got many of our popular laser cut/engraved chipboard, fabric and acrylic items, as well as discontinued unmounted rubber and clear stamps. We've got ribbons and embellishments packs and we're adding to it all the... Continue reading

My family and friends know me as someone who is confident and sure of her decisions in life. There are times though, that I get lost and overwhelmed with things. In those times, this is what I always tell myself: Continue reading

This month the DT were asked to produce a LO about ourselves; a secret, an idiosyncrasy that would normally go unscrapped. So here is a little something about me you may not know – I am football mad! Australian Rules Football that is. And in particular, mad for my team the Fremantle Dockers. Now, I’m going to try very, very hard not to turn this blog post into an essay extolling the virtues of my game and my team. But here is a little background info on this LO, to let you in on how just how obsessed - I mean passionate we are. Continue reading

hmm, so what's my scrap process? I say this is a tough one for me, given the sporadic nature I work. However, with that said, more often than not, I start with a story in mind. Continue reading

How do I get from a blank page to a completed scrapbook page? Sometimes I get inspired by a photo or by a layout in a gallery. Other times, I might just find inspiration in a product or a technique... My usual scrapbooking work flow goes like this: Continue reading

Since it's beginnings in 2003, Buzz and Bloom has operated as a small part of a family-owned company. Over the years we've seen many 'versions' of the business. We've done many things... starting with albums, moving into unmounted rubber stamps, a retail webstore, introducing chipboard to our range, going wholesale only, taking our range to CHA and winning first prize in the Innovations Showcase for our denim and cord products and so much more... It's time again for a change. Buzz and Bloom as we know it is currently closed. In the wake of the illness of one of our family members/directors of the company, we are focusing our resources into other areas of the company. So we're closing our manufacturing and wholesale business for now. We want to thank everyone out there for supporting us. Whether you love our products and scrap with them, or whether you are one... Continue reading

I am back again with a really fun post!! We were given an assignment to scrap our "scrap process". I had to think long and hard about this because there's really no particular order in which I scrap, so I figured... why not scrap that? I pulled out papers in my favorite colors (to scrap with) and went to town. I decided to go photo-less which left PLENTY of space to load up my layout with Buzz & Bloom products!! Continue reading

Today I wanted to share with you my process for creating a layout. Everybody has their own creative way of getting to the end result. Some people are inspired by a product, others the picture. But more often than not, for me, I am initially inspired by a story I want to tell. Sometimes I will have a picture that inspires that story, other times it is something about myself or life I want to document and will search out pictures I may already have or pictures I want to take. Then I look for products that I feel coordinate well. Those two steps are the only steps that are pretty consistent for me. From there it is all about trial and error. I do a lot of paper shuffling and embellishment placement and removal. Embellishments are the hardest part of it all for me. I can usually get the... Continue reading